For safety reasons, both sides used long and short sticks to simulate swords and spears. Upon hearing the signal, Luke gave the order and divided his troops into two groups: one group, armed with short sticks and shields, attacked from the front, while the other group, armed with long sticks, attacked from the flanks.
Arthas stood in the middle of the ranks, raising his banner and waving it wildly back and forth. The soldiers quickly formed a square. Shields faced outwards on all four sides, and long clubs, like spears, were placed on the shields and thrust outwards with a sudden burst of energy.
The onlookers cheered and shouted, quite satisfied with this after-dinner entertainment, and excitedly watched the two teams of a hundred people collide.
"Lorraine, during a siege, will troops come out to fight?" Yun Zhe leaned closer to Lorraine and asked in a low voice. He was puzzled by the setup of this duel, feeling it didn't quite fit into real combat, so he wanted to ask someone knowledgeable.
"Usually, soldiers will come out to fight at the city gates during battles for the city gates. But most of the time, it's a counterattack, such as when the siege is faltering and soldiers come out to strike the enemy. Of course, there's also the possibility of a desperate, all-or-nothing charge, but this usually happens in pure fortress battles." Lorraine was very enthusiastic, answering all his questions without reservation.
Yun Zhe nodded. "You see, this is what you can only see and learn by being there in person," he thought to himself.
Luke split his forces to attack from both sides, but this didn't achieve his desired effect. The enemy's formation, with its long spears and shields on all sides, left him in a very difficult position. He quickly regrouped his troops and launched a fierce attack from one corner of the enemy formation. This attack was quite effective, but it still didn't completely break the enemy's formation. He finally managed to close in on the enemy troops and engage in brief hand-to-hand combat. The combat was brief mainly because Arthas's soldiers were very brave and quickly knocked away the short clubs of anyone who approached.
Luke's first attack failed, so he split his forces again. While one force captured a corner of the formation, he quickly deployed another force to launch a fierce attack from one side, attempting to create a situation where they could attack from two directions simultaneously. However, perhaps due to the large number of men lost in the previous two attacks, this new attempt did indeed leave Arthas somewhat flustered. But with his strength waning, this split only resulted in the army scattering even faster.
After three charges, Luke abandoned the charge. Half of his soldiers were bruised, wounded, or had their weapons knocked away, yet not a single one had broken through Arthas's shield phalanx.
In the first duel, Arthas's porcupine formation emerged victorious with overwhelming superiority. Lorraine's first two attempts drew excited cheers and applause from the onlookers, but his final defeat was too swift, provoking boos and discontent. Moreover, the entire duel was far too short, lasting less than half an hour, with the result already clearly evident. It obviously failed to meet the refugees' expectations. However, while the refugees were merely spectators, those truly moved were the soldiers watching.
The ordinary soldiers watching were stunned by the battle. Most of them had never been on the battlefield. What they witnessed was Lorraine's bravery and resourcefulness, but they also saw the formidable fighting power of Arthas's hundred-man squad and the powerful defensive capabilities of their formation. Before the confrontation, they had a general idea of the relative strengths of both sides. Now, they suddenly realized that if they encountered Arthas's army on the battlefield, and if they were using real spears and swords instead of wooden clubs, their fate would be far worse than Luke's. The other soldiers who had returned with Luke stared in disbelief, their mouths agape. They had just achieved a great victory, their morale was high, yet they couldn't even break through a simple formation. They found it hard to accept. Of course, some squad leaders and soldiers were also secretly pondering how to break through Arthas's formation.
Arthas stepped out of formation and patted Luke on the shoulder encouragingly. Luke, dejected but still polite, returned the gesture. The two looked up at the castle battlements, where figures were bustling about. After arranging the troops' follow-up work, they went up to the castle together.
Arthas naturally received a warm welcome. But Luke wasn't left out either; everyone applauded, and Nyrent even went up and put his arm around Luke's shoulder, laughing and joking.
Yun Zhe recalled the previous duel. Luke had split his forces into two groups, one using short weapons against long ones—a strategy Yun Zhe had already ruled out in his analysis. The other group, with their long spears, hadn't had any effect. The two subsequent tactical changes, especially the second one, felt like they were just a hair's breadth away from defeating their opponent. But they were always just a little short. Logically, even if they couldn't gain any advantage, it shouldn't have been a one-sided defeat. Could it really be a difference in the soldiers' experience that led to the difference in the game?
"Of course, the phalanx itself still has some problems. The four sides are like shields, which look impenetrable, but in fact, they have lost their mobility. If the battlefield were larger, they could easily bypass it and attack other teams first, and then take it out. Even if it's just this one formation, archers and cavalry should be good means of attack." Yun Zhe recalled the duel just now and was also thinking about a way to break the deadlock.
Yun Zhe's mind raced. Suddenly, he realized that this formation was actually quite suitable for their grain transport team. Not only was it easy to operate, but it could also maximize the effectiveness of formation training. At this thought, Yun Zhe couldn't help but laugh out loud.
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