A new book

There had been a moment during which Xiao Fan was a calm leader, who without heeding his instinct or fears had been executing the best ideas he came up with. It had been thanks to him being so exhausted that he could have done so, but now, seeing his plans being foiled was he back to the usual man that wouldn't think of the best ideas anymore.

¨We have more bowmen?¨ Xiao Fan having seen two arrows shot down asked if they could simply send more flaming arrows into the sky 'They can't possibly shoot every arrow we shoot?' Was his thinking.

¨No we do not have more bowmen with us¨ Yi Meihui knowing everyone's occupation in the group told that they didn't.

¨Do we have anything else? Flares?¨ Communication flares might work just as well, and he wasn't coming up with anything else.

¨All the flares we have are in the caravan, somewhere in the middle, locked in boxes¨ Yi Meihui gave Xiao Fan the update on flares ¨Anything else... no, I don't think we have anything else¨

Xiao Fan was getting a bit frustrated from hearing all of that, but it wasn't her fault ¨How many flamer arrows do you have?¨ The next option he had was this.

¨We carry five each, so four more¨ One of the archers responded.

¨Get ready to fire them on my mark¨ He would make sure that the next volley would make it to the other side. And to do this, he walked into the front, just behind the first line of men; nevertheless, when there he drew his sword.

¨They are only a few men. Overrun them! Slowly forward!¨ He called the men to advance into the forest. A foolish decision, but having nothing else, he needed something to keep the ambushing archers busy.

'Either show yourself or let us go' This might cost him, but then again, as long as he was fine, he didn't care much if few of these people got shot.

The men listening to their newly appointed leader changed their formation from the circle to a turtle formation, which when formed advanced towards the direction they had been shown.

¨Shoot¨ Xiao Fan inside that formation told the two archers to shoot out from the cracks that the turtle formation had.

Still, the flame arrows they had released towards the wall were shot down, again.

¨Did anyone see wherefrom those arrows left!¨ Xiao Fan noting this, immediately asked if someone had seen wherefrom those intercepting arrows came.

¨They came from there. One o clock!¨ The voice that spoke must have been from the first line of men, for no one else could have seen it.

¨Towards one o clock everyone!¨ Now knowing Xiao Fan redirected them.

Shouting the orders was the easy part in this, the hard part was to keep the formation as a coherent one. Sure, these men were excellent when it came to tactics, but even then would a turtle formation be easy to keep in a jungle? No, no, it wasn't.

The captains and squad leads were constantly giving out their own minor orders so that when they met, for an example, a tree could they move around it without destroying the whole formation.

'These guys are pretty impressive' Xiao Fan was very impressed. These were somewhat fresh recruits so keeping this going was impressive to him ¨Shoot again¨ Xiao Fan commanded the archers to shoot another flame arrow.

They did so, yet like the two times before they were shot down, again.

¨Did anyone see wherefrom those arrows left¨ He shouted out the same question.

This time he was replied with multiple conformations and sightings concerning the direction. Heeding these calls, he changed their direction.

Sooner or later, those who were trying to ambush them would need to move.

'Just let me go home' Xiao Fan, not seeing any major danger in this was getting annoyed again. To him, this was but a way for the Holy Coalition to bog them down and a way to get on their nerves. There was no actual army hiding in here, that's for sure.

Indeed he was right, for the people they were slowly advancing towards where only two men, two bowmen who had been told to take care of this area of their rear.

¨We should leave¨ The two men were hiding in the same tree, though on different sides of the trunk, and by now, one of them wanted to withdraw.

The other one who was older responded ¨Shoot a few arrows into the formation. Then we'll leave¨ He was the senior, so he called the shots.

¨How are you going to hit them?¨ The younger one asked, confused. To him, there was no way to inflict damage into that formation.

¨Youngsters¨ The other one didn't speak anything else before drawing his bow fully and then releasing an arrow towards the tight turtle formation.

¨Look at that¨ The younger one was amazed when seeing that the arrow went between a crack in the shields.

¨Soft inside. The people in the middle are holding their shields up, so if you get past the tough outer layer, it is a guaranteed hit¨ The older one taught while shooting more arrows which shot down more men, confirmed by how shields began to fall.

Inside the turtle formation.

¨We are getting shot by them!¨ Came this and a few other notes all the way to the ears of Xiao Fan, who couldn't see what was happening in the front.

However, from getting the information, he could reason ¨They must be close! Open the formation! Scare them away!¨ From his reasoning came these orders and notes.

Then not a second later the formation broke off, and while a few more men were hit, the enemy location was now revealed.

¨Go get them back¨ He spoke to someone important-looking next to him ¨Guard the perimeter¨ Then turning around to another important looking man, he gave another set of orders, then to Yi Meihui he gave the last set of orders.

The situation was now over 'What a fucking hassle' From the start he had the notion that this wasn't anything serious, just a trick, nothing else, but still, it was annoying as hell to deal with since you never know if the whole Holy Coalition would be there.

'I'll go check on the men who were shot' Having delegated everything he had, he decided that as the leader it would be a good show to visit the injured.

¨Well, you guys are lucky¨ He spoke to the men who were squirming in pain.

¨That is true¨ They were of the same opinion.

Why were they happy? Why was Xiao Fan so happy when seeing his subordinates having been nailed by arrows? Well, it was because those arrows while they might have hit, they hadn't done much damage. It was the same thing with him and Du Lan, the arrows might have hit him, but the damage they inflicted was superficial.

¨How was my leading?¨ Now having made a bit of small talk, he tried to get some reply on how his orders had been during this ambush. His intentions clear.

¨Have you ever read the book?¨ One of the ten or so men who had been shot asked.

¨What book?¨

¨The Bald Eagle Dynasty's order of combat, of course, but you asking this it means that you haven't¨ The others alongside him nodded.

¨Order of combat? That is like the basic book for you guys?¨ From the name alone, he could get what that book told off.

¨Yeah, you should really read it, so you would know how to order us around in combat¨ The man didn't save a lot of words.

Thankfully Xiao Fan liked being told stuff clearly, no roundabouts ¨You have any of those with you?¨ And wanting to read it anyway, he asked for one.

¨We have the small manual, the real book, no¨

¨Extra copy I could get?¨

¨You should ask Yi Meihui for one. I would loan it to you myself, but we can't, you understand¨

¨Regulations, orders, got it. I'll ask Yi Meihui for one¨ He could see that the man would do it, but the Bald Eagle Dynasty and Yi Family most likely didn't let them.

Moments later.

¨You have any manuals of the order of combat? I would like one?¨ He was now talking to the girl in question, and while she was ordering the moving of supplies, she still found time to answer to him.

¨Sure, we have a few extra ones. However you sure you don't want the book?¨

¨You also have the book?¨ Didn't the soldier just say that they didn't have those?

His question wasn't answered right back this time since before it Yi Meihui shouted a few more orders and moved her hands ¨Yi Lin told me to pack one for you. It's even marked on the list¨ She pointed out the item and then continued to multitask him and the job he had given.

'Nice' Indeed, there was a listing of said book 'Nice that the Queen is so welcoming towards me' He still didn't know why the Queen was doing all this, yet as it helps him so much, he didn't pay much mind. Surely it wasn't anything bad, right?

¨I'll go get that and leave the rest to you three¨ Seeing that Yi Meihui wanted nothing more than to be left to her own devices, he spoke this and left towards the caravan.

She was very much so engrossed in the job, for she didn't even say goodbyes to him, just continued to manage the moving of the supplies.

'Better leave her be' He was a little insulted from this, if being all honest, but he didn't want to make a scene out of it and simply went to get the book from the caravan.

Then leaving back to the tower, the book now in his hands.

'Hey, old fart' Going towards the tower Xiao Fan called for Cao Cao, who didn't respond.

'Hey, old man' He knew that he was here, but wasn't showing himself.

'O mighty God of Chaos Neutral, could you help' Calling him with such a name did the white projection of Cao Cao appear in front of him.

¨What does the young one need¨ Cao Cao being called such had happily come forwards to help his project.

¨Can you rate this book?¨ He nudged the book that was on his hand.

¨Sure¨ Cao Cao saw no reason not to, and so he got to work, which to him was just to see the book being flipped over once by Xiao Fan. That was enough for him.

¨Pretty good. Something you would expect from a nation in constant war¨ He gave the review of the order of combat.

¨Anything I should not take note of¨ He was pleased to hear that Cao Cao didn't see this book as a useless stack of papers.

¨The cavalry part you can forget. That isn't usefull¨ To that Cao Cao had this to say. His meaning was that later on, no one used horses, not in a way the Bald Eagly Dynasty used.

¨Thanks for the free help¨ Xiao Fan getting everything he wanted, thanked Cao Cao since he hadn't asked for payment.

¨Wait?¨ 'fuck!' Cao Cao realised this himself.