Rise of the Horde

Chapter 13

The following days Xiao Chen was busy guiding his subordinates in familiarizing with the phalanx formation and explaining to the group leaders of its strengths and weaknesses. Much like the ancient Greek phalanxes in his old world, its weakness would be its flanks and rear.

If they spot enemies trying to flank them, the Black Tortoise and Vermillion Bird group will lag behind the first two groups and change to vertical formation facing towards the enemy while moving sideways slowly and the White Tiger and Azure Dragon must change their pace to that of the two protecting the flanks. When enemies try to go for the rear, Vermillion Bird will move to the rear, the Black Tortoise on one side while the White Tiger to the other side, forming a box.

Xiao Chen commanded them to transition from the normal horizontal battle line to the box battle line to protect the rear and it was a disaster. There were tremendous gaps in their formations which can be easily seized by enemies.

He forgot that since some distances separated them, the leaders can’t really see the others really well and they needed something to rely on and serve as the guide for their pace, which Xiao Chen easily neglected. He forgot that in-order to be at the same pace even if not seeing your comrades, as long as you move to sound of something, you can be in sync.

Making a crude bass drum out of Thyrian skin and a huge circular tree trunk hollowed in the middle, Xiao Chen could make a loud and booming sound with it, with a stick covered in soft furry leather to protect the Thyrian skin from being easily damaged.

“Boom… Boom... Boom... Boom”

The first boom pausing longer, followed by three successive booms, then a brief pause and repeat. Xiao Chen then assigned a non-combatant to beat the makeshift bass drum. The beat of the drum served as the guide for the marching pace of the orcs and they successfully transitioned from the normal battle line into the other two battle lines with the beat of the makeshift bass drum.

Xiao Chen then requested the non-combatants to make what they commonly called a war drum which Xiao Chen referred to as a bass drum and with it, the army became in sync after a few more weeks of training.

.....

Xiao Chen also showed to the orc Craft workers the creation of circular shields by piecing together different sizes of wooden planks held by tough leather on both sides and further strengthened with iron in the center where the grip would be at. The round shield was around four feet in circumference, bigger than the human round shields but considered small for the orcs.

He then introduced the orc combatants to the phalanx offensive maneuvers, push with the shields, then stab with the long spears, which Xiao Chen had their shafts replaced with thicker ones since he deemed it not sturdy enough to withstand a heavy charge from an orc.

By using carrots and sticks, Xiao Chen was able to train his army with discipline, their cohesion rising as high as 93% which he considered being really high enough to witness actual combat within a few months.

*****

Surveying the maps, he soon found the nearest orc tribe, the Galuk Tribe, which was located roughly a week’s march from Xin Village. Xiao Chen proceeded assigning Sakh’arran, Gur’kan, Trot’thar, and Drae’ghanna as his combatant officers and two orcs named Kul’tha and Xor’tharr as the non-combatant officers in charge of the war drums and logistics.

Xiao Chen then started stock piling enough supplies for his expedition, his very first battle with his own army to command. He wanted to create a missile unit, but only Trot’thar was one who had the talent for it, instead he armed his combatants with two throwing spears designed after the roman legionnaire’s pilum which would be excruciating to pull out of the body because of the barbed design of its tip much less thrown back since it was designed to be disposable for range attack right before melee and with the orc’s natural strength, throwing it a hundred meters away was no problem.

So, each combatant was armed with two throwing javelins, a very long spear and a round shield. The warg riders, except for Sakh’arran, served as the scouts of the First Xin Infantry Battalion.

Marching in sync for a few days with the beat of the war drums and creating a trail of dust cloud as they move and behind them were the logistics unit, 50 non-combatant units in charge of the food and tents of the army in carts pulled by the beasts of burdens.

Xiao Chen left behind Rakh’ash’tha and Aro’shanna at the Xin Village at ease since with the wooden palisade, they could theoretically resist for a few days even without many combatants and only relying on the traps and defenses that he left behind.

The First Xin Infantry Battalion then made camp a suitable distance away from the Galuk Tribe, making their intentions very clear. They had come to assert their dominance over the Galuk Tribe.

*****

The very next day, the Galuk Tribe formed a massive, disorganized army, numbering around four thousand or maybe more, but the disciplined army of Xiao Chen was steady and ready with ears open for the beat of the drums.

“See those disorderly bunch...they are our enemies!!! show the chieftain the result of your hard work...pour out all your frustrations on them!!!it was because of them!!! that the chief made us experience such painful and tiring routines for months...show no mercy!!!”

Gur’kan bellowed as loud as he can and was replied with a unified sound by the First Xin Infantry Battalion,

“Awooh!!!”

and along with it was the single yet unified sound of banging their shields with their spears.

Xiao Chen was surprised. It seemed like they had caught on to his ‘awooh’ expression during their training. It seemed that they would do fine even without his presence, but just to be sure, he had to oversee the battle.

“Boom.. bu boom-boom... boom... bu-boom-boom-boom...”

The war drums started beating at a fast-paced signaling the army to be at the ready, then died down only to be heard again, but this time at the rhythmic pattern of the marching pace.

Slowly and steady the army moved forward in sync as the enemies rushed at them in a disorderly manner. The war drums then sounded the distinct halt command under Xiao Chen’s orders after the two armies were roughly around four hundred meters apart and the army of Xiao Chen halted, all at once keeping a straight horizontal line. With the new beat of the war drums, they then prepared their throwing spears, aiming at the unorganized enemy, who were unaware of the danger they were in.

With the sound of the war drums, they then threw the first volley of javelins with a swoosh, then quickly followed by the next. Under Xiao Chen’s orders, the sound of the war drums again sounded but with a different rhythm, signaling the army to prepare for melee combat.

The First Xin Infantry Battalion then lowered their spears at the position like when they were training, the first two rows pointing forward directly, the third and fourth angled slightly upward, then the last rows almost pointing upwards.

The enemies soon were in for a terrible surprise as walls of long spears were pointed at them, even jumping towards the formation was not an option since they will surely be skewered by the spears of the third and fourth rows and with their momentum and their allies pushing them forward, they met their end at the forest of spears.

“Hold!!!”

Sakh’arran, Trot’thar, Gur’kan and Drae’ghanna soon yelled at the same time at the very back of their groups, overseeing the army at closer range than Xiao Chen and with the beat of the drum they also yelled at the same time.

“Push!!!”

Then the army push away the enemies with their shields, who were crazily attempting to disrupt the formation by trying to pry open a path inside the formation by going under the spears.

“Strike”

“Restore”

The four assigned officers of Xiao Chen were performing very well and, with every beat of the war drums, they issued commands at exactly the same time. Like a well-oiled harvesting machine, the Galuk Tribe warriors continued to fall in great numbers. The First Xin Infantry Battalion continued on their attack routine, holding the line, pushing with their shields, stabbing with their spears, then restore back to holding the line. The simple yet effective attack pattern continued to decimate the enemy numbers despite them outnumbering them greatly.

For hours, the First Xin Infantry Battalion wreaked havoc as a single unit, killing the undisciplined Galuk Tribe members. Xiao Chen was smiling proudly and happily at the very back, at the performance of his army and to the continuous rising of his total points.

The Galuk Tribe members, now more or less than half their initial numbers, scattered and started retreating. The First Xin Infantry Battalion stood their ground and didn’t give chase since someone strictly trained them not to break formation no matter what happens or else, their evil chieftain won’t give them prime beef to enjoy after the battle.

“Victory!!!”

Gur’kan bellowed loudly as the army loudly replied with the unified ‘Awooh’ which further demoralized the enemies.