Season 3: Chapter 292. Tang and Pang (2)
“The unit led by Zhang Fei is breaking out of Joseon’s encirclement!?”
“This isn’t a complete breach. It looks more like Joseon let them out on purpose!?”
“It seems like Guan Yu realized what’s happening from how he’s shouting, but there’s a blender waiting outside! Ughhhh─”
Malatang’s cavalry unit circled wildly around the perimeter and collided with Zhang Fei’s forces just as they escaped. Having focused entirely on breaking out of the encirclement, the Chinese soldiers could not react to the Joseon cavalry charging at full speed.
BANG!
The powerful impact flung Zhang Fei and his men far away.
— Blender mode activated lol
— Guan Yu, quick on the uptake
— Is this the infamous Zhang Fei home run?
— Damn...
Zhang Fei flew through the air, but only his body went flying, unlike the others. Everyone else lost their heads.
“Aaaaaah! Joseon’s cavalry has a speed based bonus damage proportional to their movement time just like knights! Everyone’s heads flew off!”
“Only the vice commander Zhang Fei survived due to his extra health! But what can he do alone!?”
— Poor Guan Yu...
— Damn, this is like a horror movie for Zhang Fei lol
— Zhang Fei’s gonna have nightmares
Even though Zhang Fei was alone, he gripped his spear tightly and stood up, ready to fight the entire Joseon cavalry unit by himself.
“Zhang Fei!? He’s standing up and confronting them!? Is this even possible!? The way he’s carrying himself says he’s confident!!”
His attitude seemed imposing, but the reality was harsh.
“Can he really do it!? If he manages to─”
Thud!
With a single light arrow to the head, Zhang Fei collapsed helplessly.
Thump.
As his body hit the ground, the Chinese spectators stirred in shock.
"Aaaaaah!"
“It’s like Pang’s saying, ‘This isn’t the Changban Bridge!’”
— LOL
— When did he get there?
— What an anticlimactic arrow ending lol
— Poor Zhang Fei, went down without a bang
Smack!
Pang and Malatang high-fived each other as the cavalry archers and cavalry swordsmen crossed paths. The Korean crowd roared in response.
"Waaahhhhhhh!!!"
***
Liu Bei clenched his eyes shut. He didn’t normally show much expression, but Zhang Fei could have avoided dying.
‘So that was waiting outside.’
He had underestimated the encirclement. He thought it was a weak formation, but the cavalry circled outside like a blender and waited to tear through anyone who tried to escape. Joseon had left a gap intentionally, only to close it at the perfect moment with their cavalry.
The lack of visibility was a problem, but so was the unpredictability. Even Liu Bei had never seen this kind of tactic before. It was undoubtedly a new formation prepared to counter the Chinese team.
How had the Joseon team managed to prepare so thoroughly for this? Had Cookie really spent all his time developing these strategies while staying out of sight? It seemed impossible to pull off such a sophisticated formation in such a short time.
Successfully executing a formation didn’t just rely on the commander having a mental image of the battlefield. The soldiers had to understand their roles, the structure, and how to move within the formation. A long period of practice and experience was needed to implement a new tactic, yet Joseon brought out an entirely new tactic seemingly overnight.
‘Anto...’
Only one possibility came to mind. The infuriating Italian, Anto, who commanded the Roman team.
‘Did they really have to go this far?’
Rome was the only team in the tournament with a deeper understanding of tactics than China. They could have passed on this knowledge to Joseon during their scrimmages. It wasn’t that Rome wanted Joseon to win. They wanted Joseon to expose all of China’s strategies so Rome would have an easier time in the finals. This left Liu Bei in a dilemma.
‘Should I do it here?’
He pondered whether to reveal all his strategies now and looked down at the battlefield again. The Chinese troops were falling apart. The Joseon cavalry circled them like a blender. The Joseon archers had also rejoined the fight, raining down arrows as they rode around.
Cookie’s intent was clear. He wanted to wipe out all 200 Chinese troops completely.
Liu Bei had no choice but to admit it. Joseon had won this battle.
[Retreat]
He issued the order to retreat. Joseon had now gained control of the central plains.
***
"China is helplessly getting slaughtered right now!!"
"No one expected this! We didn’t expect it and I don’t think anyone else did either! For Joseon to win this overwhelmingly in a 200 vs 200 battle!"
"Of course, China is still producing troops like crazy with their monstrous production capabilities! But it’s clear that Joseon has completely taken over the central plains here!"
OrangeKing declared that Joseon had claimed the central plains.
"Is that it then?! No more twists or surprises?!"
The battle still seemed far from over to the caster, which was hard to believe.
"From what I can see, China has already issued a retreat order!"
OrangeKing saw it clearly. China prepared to break through and retreat, doing whatever they could to escape.
"Cookie must have noticed it too! He’s probably deciding whether to kill every last one of them or just let them retreat and secure the central plains!"
"Wouldn't it be better to kill them all?!"
"Total annihilation takes time! If you aim for that, the enemy will fight to the death in desperation! So usually─"
Boom!
Guan Yu, leading the vanguard, broke through the rear of the encirclement in the exact opposite location from where Zhang Fei had broken through earlier.
"Ohhh! They’re breaking out!"
This time, the Joseon cavalry couldn’t sweep in and crush them. China had prepared and deployed their own formation to break through.
[Liao → Jin]
China even switched from the Liao dynasty to the Jin dynasty. Jin dynasty units gained special effects depending on their formations.
[All cavalry charges blocked by spears]
[50% counterattack on successful charge prevention]
[30% reduction in movement speed]
They used a circular formation designed to block cavalry charges. The Joseon cavalry would suffer heavy losses if they charged into it, so they didn’t pursue.
"They’re letting the remaining troops go? Joseon doesn’t want to lose more soldiers! They need to maintain this number to secure the central plains and quickly recover to full strength for another attack at the right time!"
China’s remaining forces had been allowed to return to their base. At least, everyone thought that.
Clip-clop! Clip-clop!
Until, in the distance, a cavalry unit could be seen following them from a distance.
"Wait, what is this?!"
One cavalry unit continued pursuing them, moving through the scattered formation. Pang rode at the front of this unit. It was the cavalry archers.
"They’re cavalry archers!?"
"Are they really going to chase China down?!"
The Chinese troops led by Guan Yu were using a circular formation that was very effective against cavalry charges, but not against long-range attacks.
"They’re shooting!?"
Twang! Twang! Twang!
The cavalry archers scattered and began firing arrows. The retreating Chinese soldiers were thrown into chaos as arrows rained down from all directions. Moreover, with their formation’s movement speed reduced, they became even more vulnerable to the arrows.
"They’re changing formations again!?"
Thud.
China switched to a defensive turtle formation, increasing their protection against ranged attacks. The arrows that had been hitting them bounced off the shields. The Joseon cavalry archers began firing less.
"What the─!?"
Just then, in the distance, Malatang’s cavalry charge unit appeared and closed in.
"Now Malatang is chasing them!?"
"Wait, what’s going on?! Did they never intend to let them go in the first place?!"
The common drawback of defensive formations was the reduction in movement speed. Even though Malatang’s cavalry charge unit had fallen behind momentarily, they could easily catch up.
"Are they going to catch them!?"
"China is switching back to the charge formation to escape!"
China used a formation that increased movement speed, intending to switch back to a defensive formation when the cavalry arrived.
"And Pang’s archers are firing again!"
As soon as they switched to a charge formation, they became vulnerable again to long-range attacks.
"Ahhh! China is completely cornered! They can’t turn around and fight with these infantry units!"
"They’re basically saying, ‘Take as many hits as you can before reaching your base!’"
"That’s right! Pang! Malatang! Pang and Tang! They’re taking turns wiping out the retreating soldiers!"
— LOL
— Pang and Tang tag team
— This is like a military cartoon
— Absolutely brutal haha
"When they change to the charge formation, Pang shoots them! When they defend with their shields, Tang attacks! Back and forth, China is going crazy!"
"Even if Guan Yu turns around and tries to fight, the cavalry archers can just keep shooting while retreating! Ahh, China has no choice! They have to make a decision!"
In the end, China abandoned its infantry. Guan Yu and the remaining cavalry units ran desperately toward their base.
"Oh no! This is a massive loss!"
"They should’ve fought instead of running!"
"No matter how many soldiers China has, losing all of these troops will leave them with almost nothing! Even China, with its huge population, can’t handle this kind of loss! Their birth rate is catching up to ours anyway!"
— How do they even handle 0.5?
— LOL
— Total wipeout courtesy of South Korea
— Friendly fire is a nightmare!
— Haha!
The remaining Chinese infantry tried to put up a final stand, but they could do little against the mix of cavalry archers and cavalry swordsmen.
"China has been nearly annihilated!!"
Ultimately, China lost all its infantry. Only their cavalry managed to make it back alive.
"Even though China’s production capabilities grow stronger as the game progresses, if Joseon keeps pushing after taking the central plains─"
"Yes! It might actually be possible! The resources in the central plains are just too good! That’s why China was so desperate to take it in the first place!"
The Chinese camp was shrouded in the gloom of defeat. No one in the Chinese audience cheered or made any noise. They felt completely deflated. The final chase had been a devastating loss for them.
Then—
Dun, dun.
"!"
OrangeKing’s eyes widened.
[Jin → Ming]
At that moment, China successfully transitioned to the Ming dynasty.