Unlock the eight formation map: how did Zhuge Liang line up?

1. The origin of the eight formations

Du Fu wrote in the "Eight formations" that "Gong covers three parts of the country and is famous as the eight formations." In the eyes of the poet, the eight formations are Zhuge Liang Of fame. In fact, Zhuge Liang made many inventions such as Zhuge Liannu, Mu Niu Liuma and so on, and the Eight Formations made these inventions appear in a concentrated manner. "Three Kingdoms" records:

"Brightness is better than ingenuity, gains and losses are continuous, wooden cows and horses, all unexpected; deduction of the art of war, making eight formations, salty and salty."

History book mentions As for the existence of the eight formations, there is no detailed explanation. After the eight formations were lost, future generations deduced the eight formations we know today based on the remaining formations and the relics of the training. Array, wind rising array, cloud hanging array, dragon flying array, tiger wing array, bird flying array, snake pan array. The eight formation map is a peak in the development of ancient formations and is highly respected in the past. "Tang Li Wen Dui" records:

"Chen Suo Zhuge Liang's eight formations. The big formations include small formations, and the big camps include small camps. The corners are connected with each other, with twists and turns. The ancient system is like this, and the minister is the figure. Therefore, the square of the outer painting and the circle of the inner ring are formed into six flowers, and the common name is "

The formation was born with the formation of the early state, and it is human. The product of civilization development to a certain degree. With the advancement of technology, a deployment map of different arms has gradually formed. This is the early formation. The formation has evolved from the initial three formations to five formations, and then eight formations. In the "Eight Formations" chapter of The Art of War by Sun Bin, the name "Eight Formations" first appeared, and it will be used by later generations.

The Eight Formation Diagram was not created by Zhuge Liang. The earliest "Eight Formation Art of War Diagram" is said to be created by Huangdi and his general Fenghou. It was improved by Jiang Shang, Tian Rangju, Guan Zhong, Sun Wu and other strategists in the Three Kingdoms period. , Zhuge Liang upgraded it to version 2.0.

The tactical background of the second and eighth formations

The selection of the formation should take into account the advantages of its own arms and adapt to the situation of the enemy and the terrain. Zhuge Liang's deduction of this formation is a product of Wei Qiangshu's weakness and mountain combat. The eight formations are dominated by infantry, with crossbowmen, pikemen, sword and shield soldiers and other arms coordinated with each other, supplemented by carts, antlers, and horse pits. Such obstacles are mainly used to defend the cavalry. It is a variant of the defensive formation-the round formation.

The description of Lu Xun’s trapped eight formations in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is not historical fact. In fact, the direction of the Northern Cao Wei is the center of Shu Han’s external defense. At that time, Wei and Shu confronted the Qinling and Longyou areas, and the mountains were the main battle terrain. Based on the special terrain of Qin and Long, Zhuge Liang transformed the ancient eight formations that were originally used in the plains into eight formations suitable for mountain formations. Figure. In order to compensate for the incompatibility caused by the switching of formations, Zhuge Liang made a lot of patches, which were reflected in the changes in his formations and integrated into actual combat.

At the same time, in order to reduce the adverse impact of the power gap between the two armies on combat and give full play to the power of the Shu army’s projectile weapons, Zhuge Liang upgraded the independently developed Zhuge Liannu into a new type of Liannu called "Yuanrong", which can be " "One crossbow and ten arrows will strike each other", giving the enemy a saturated attack, increasing the lethality of the cavalry, thereby exploiting strengths and circumventing weaknesses, and defeating the enemy with one move.

The layout principle of three and eight arrays

1 The commander’s Chinese army is located in the center and consists of sixteen small formations. The surrounding eight formations are each composed of six small formations. The main force is deployed on the periphery, while the central force is small. And refined, forming a "thick outside and thin middle" layout with mutual cooperation and horns. In the actual process of actual combat, according to different situations, the central commander is responsible for deploying the force deployment of the entire formation and maintaining the balance of the formation.

2, Qizheng Clutch

The eight formations are composed of four normal and four odd formations. "Zheng" refers to conventional warfare, and "odd" refers to unconventional warfare. In combat, the normal soldiers and the auspicious soldiers rely on each other and the immediate mechanism changes, making the enemy unable to distinguish between the righteous soldiers and the auspicious soldiers, achieving the effect of surprise and attack. MeansWhen deploying troops to the outside world, the wielders must also ensure that they are in contact with each other, so that they can "spread into eight and become one" and be able to support each other as a whole.

3, focus on defense

The eight formation map is a defense-focused formation. Zhuge Liang was able to retreat from the Northern Expedition, which is a powerful manifestation of the defense principle of the eight formation map. Zhuge Liang always bases his troops on stability, adheres to the guiding ideology of "perfectly must overcome without fear", fights steadily, never risk attacking easily, and better protects the weakened Shu army. He once said that "the eight formations have been completed, so far, they are undefeated." This shows that although the eight formations are used for offense, they are defensive offensive formations, and ensuring undefeated is the first place. This not only originated from Zhuge Liang's caution in using soldiers, but also adapted to Wei Qiangshu's weak reality.

4, arms coordination

The eight formations are composed of infantry (including crossbowmen), chariots, cavalry, etc., crossbowmen, pikemen, and sword and shield soldiers Deployed in the formation, antlers and other obstacles are arranged on the periphery of the formation, and 24 cavalry formations are deployed behind the formation. The line is the front and the stop is the back. In addition, due to the weak self-protection ability of infantry (including bow and crossbowmen), they are prone to rapid assaults by the northern cavalry. Zhuge Liang used vehicles as a cover for the protection of the Shu army. The vehicles used for sheltering were invented by Zhuge Liang. The wooden cattle and horses on the rugged Shu Road.

Practical use of the four and eight formations

After the battle begins, when the enemy cavalry initiates an attack, the crossbowmen in the formation first fire their crossbows far away , When the enemy cavalry rushed to a distance of several hundred meters, the crossbowmen in the formation quickly launched the "Yuanrong" continuous crossbow.

When the enemy cavalry rushed to the front of the formation, the pikemen used a special bamboo spear to stab the enemy cavalry. When the enemy cavalry rushed into the formation, the infantry in the formation used various short weapons to fight the enemy.

At the same time, the cavalry detoured back to the flanks and backs of the enemy cavalry from both sides to carry out flanking and encircling attacks. When the enemy cavalry retreated, the cavalry could pursue or volley.

In a mountain encounter, when facing cavalry flanking from left and right, the infantry shifted from marching to defense, placing the chariots out of the formation in a jagged pattern to block the impact.

V. How to evaluate the eight arrays

Zhuge Liang's cloth array of "big arrays of small arrays, large camps of small camps", plus Zhuge Liannu and Mu Niu Liuma Use to make the eight-array map a set of group-based operations, which is equivalent to expanding the original 2-dimensional array to 2.5-dimensional. The enemy forces entering the array suffer multi-level and three-dimensional "dimensional reduction strikes." This is undoubtedly a pioneering work in ancient wars where no air power has participated.

The eight formations are defensive formations, the layout is stable, there is no obvious weakness, any direction is attacked, the adjacent formations can provide support, effectively weakening the impact of the cavalry cavalry.

The eight formation plans to invest a large number of troops to build a defensive position, resulting in insufficient offensive capabilities. The cavalry responsible for the main attack task is weak and tactical, and can only play a limited role in defensive counterattacks. In addition, the tactical arrangement of "no speed to advance, no rush to retreat" resulted in its weak ability to move quickly and easily missed fighters.

Zhuge Liang made several Northern Expeditions. Although he has never overthrown, he has not made any big gains. This is not unrelated to the use of the eight formation tactics. He didn't want to win by surprise, but for him, behind the ideals of reviving the Han Dynasty was the huge gap in the strength of Wei and Shu. No wonder Du Fu said with emotion, "He died before he succeeded, and the hero was full of tears."