Chapter - 526 Great War of Xiangyang (8)

Huang Yaoshi said, "The Mongolians are using 40,000 soldiers to surround the tower. If we use more soldiers to defeat them it wouldn't require much skill. So we'll also use forty thousand soldiers. In Sun Zi's Art of War, using surrounding the enemy when you outnumber him ten to one is no big deal, but it needs some skill to surround the enemy one on one." He stood on the command post and said, "This "Twenty-eight Star Formation" follows the Five Elements." He waved the command flag and briefed them. Then he said, "The changes are complex and you can't be familiar with this in a single day. So for this battle we must appoint five skilled martial arts experts familiar with the Five Elements to command the five divisions. Everyone is to obey their commands to carry out the formation." They all waited eagerly.

Huang Yaoshi said, "The central division represents Earth and it shall be commanded by Guo Jing with eight thousand troops. Its mission is to rescue Guo Xiang and not to battle the enemy. All the soldiers are to carry a bag of sand on their backs to put out the fire if necessary." Guo Jing received the order and stood aside.

Huang Yaoshi continued, "The south division represents Fire and it shall be commanded by Reverend Yideng with eight thousand troops. One thousand men will escort the commander and the other seven thousand will be split into 7 battalions commanded by Zhu Ziliu, Wu Santong, The Fisherman, the Wu brothers, Yelu Yan and Wanyan Ping." Reverend Yideng accepted the command.

Huang Yaoshi continued, "The north division represents Water and it shall be commanded by Huang Rong with eight thousand troops. One thousand men will escort the commander and the other seven thousand will be split into seven battalions commanded by Yelu Qi, Elder Liang, Guo Fu and other senior Beggar Clan members." Huang Rong accepted the command. This division was made up mainly of Beggar Clan members and all were tried and valiant veterans.

Huang Yaoshi then said, "The east division represents Wood and it shall be commanded by me, Old Heretic Huang, and there shall also be eight thousand men under me. All my disciples are dead with the exception of Cheng Ying and Sha Gu, but they are not present." So he appointed six heroes who had attended the 'Heroes' Meet to command the battalions in his division. He said, "The east division shall also be divided into eight battalions of one thousand men each and 1 battalion will escort me."

Finally he appointed the west division's commander, saying, "This division shall be commanded by Quanzhen Sect Leader Li Zhichang…" As he said this, everyone felt that in terms of martial arts, this division's commander had the weakest martial arts among the five divisions. Suddenly someone shouted, "Old Heretic Huang, how could you ignore me?" Everyone turned around and saw Zhou Botong. Huang Yaoshi said, "Brother Zhou, you're injured, you shouldn't exert yourself, I originally wanted to appoint you to this position but…"

Zhou Botong said, "It's such a minor injury; it's not important. I'll take it. Zhi Chang, you dare to vie with me?" Li Zhichang bowed and said, "I do not." Zhou Botong laughed, "Good, I knew you wouldn't dare." He then took the command token from Li Zhichang. Huang Yaoshi just said, "Brother Zhou, be careful. You shall take eight thousand troops and one thousand of them shall be under Yinggu to escort you. The other seven battalions shall be commanded by Li Zhichang and other third Generation Quanzhen disciples. Your division represents Metal."

After appointing the commanders he ordered the sergeant-major to prepare the weapons and equipment. He then waved his command flag and the forty thousand men got into formation. He shouted, "Legend has it that "Twenty-eight Celestial Generals" subdued the Demons long, long ago. Although we are not some Heavenly Army, we shall repel the invaders and protect our land from the Mongolians or we shall die trying!" Everyone cheered like thunder and the five divisions left the city in all directions.

The west division marched out and each soldier carried a wooden pole on his back and they attacked the tower. One thousand of them carried shields and warded off the arrows while the remaining seven thousand threw down their poles and quickly built a structure which followed Huang Yaoshi's diagram based on the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams. Soon they blockaded off the eastern side of the tower.

The west division was made up mainly of Quanzhen disciples and they were familiar with the Dipper Formation, so their swords flashed like lightning and they formed groups of seven and platoons of forty-nine darting left and right, causing the Mongolians to see blurry images and could only fend them off with arrows.

The north division roared in and Huang Rong, together with the Beggars' Clan members, brought hoses with them and they sprayed poison onto the Mongol troops. The poison caused severe pain and corroded the skin. The Mongols could not take it and retreated south.

The south division appeared through a great cloud of smoke and the 8,000 troops led by Yideng attacked with fire. The soldiers had some sort of fire thrower which spewed out flames at the enemy soldiers. The Mongol troops saw that things were really going wrong and were pushed towards the centre. Guo Jing and his eight thousand troops moved forward gradually and when they saw the Mongol soldiers thrown into confusion, they charged straight to the tower.

Suddenly an alarm was sounded and many heads popped up from the ground. The Mongols were also well-versed in warfare and they also placed more than ten thousand troops in ambush. Guo Jing saw this and knew it was a trap. The Mongol troops were already in chaos under the onslaught of the "Twenty-eight Star Formation" and the Song troops were about to reach their objective; but now they could not advance.

The drums rolled like the rumbling thunder and the Song troops were engaged in a bitter fight with the Mongol troops. The soldiers protecting the tower were some of the best archers and their arrows descended like rain and hindered the advance of Guo Jing's central division. Huang Yaoshi waved his flag and changed the formation; now it was Fire against Wood and Metal against Water.

The "Twenty-eight Star Formation" followed the principles of the Five Elements. The south division's Yideng attacked the centre, Guo Jing's central division attacked the west, Zhou Botong and the Quanzhen Sect attacked the north, Huang Rong and the Beggars' Sect attacked the east and Huang Yaoshi's division attacked the south. The formation's status now was: Fire and Earth, Earth and Metal, Metal and Water, Water and Wood, Wood and Fire. The Song regiment only had forty thousand men but the formation was ingenious and the division commanders were highly skilled fighters. Moreover the Song soldiers were all grateful towards Guo Jing and Huang Rong, so they risked their lives to save his daughter. Even though the Mongolians outnumbered them almost two to one, the Mongolians could not fend them off.

They fought for a long time and Huang Yaoshi waved his flag again. One division withdrew to the central position, Guo Jing's division attacked north again, Yideng's division returned south, one division went west and another attacked the east. The formation changed and now the status was: Wood against Earth, Earth against Water, Water against Fire, Fire against Metal, and Metal against Wood.

The principles of the Five Elements seem mysterious but was actually discovered when the ancient Chinese people studied the changes in the environment. The principles were derived from the Tao of the Yin and Yang, religious worship, medicine and mathematics etc. all depended on these. This was said to be unique in the whole world. The Mongols were brave and fierce warriors and their fighting skills were excellent. But their knowledge of such matters was rather shallow; how could they be a match for someone like Huang Yaoshi? After a few changes, the soldiers guarding the tower became very confused as they saw groups of Song troops moving back and forth and they did not know how to deal with them.