Who can tell me about the various formations in ancient times?

Simply put, "Formation" is the field formation of the ancient army, which is the product of the development of human war to a certain stage of history, prevalent in the era of cold weapons, and died out in the era of hot weapons. Clan society, the human war for tribal conflicts, there was no army, there is no command, most of the battle is a swarm, like a group fight, naturally, it does not matter "formation". With the development of history, the emergence of slave states, slave owners in order to consolidate the rule and plunder slaves (war captives are the main source of slaves), began to prepare organized armies, and the use of certain formations, which is the original "formation". "Formation" is in the process of the army, because of the organization of the army and the need to command the battle and appeared, the integration of the ancient military system of science and tactics of the results. The Eastern battle formation originated in China.

China's earliest formations, it is said to have begun with the Yellow Emperor, the Yellow Emperor in order to defeat Chiyu, from the God learned formations, but this is only a legend, well-documented is in the late Shang Dynasty. The 12th century BC, King Wu B to Wu Ding compiled the left, center, right "three divisions", from the "three divisions" named, has adopted a fixed formation. In 1066 B.C., King Wu invaded Zhou, "the Zhou division of 350, Chen in Muye", "Chen" through the "formation".

Early formations were relatively simple, in accordance with the establishment of the "three divisions", arranged in a word or a square, and the formation method of warfare was extremely prevalent in the Western Zhou Dynasty and the Spring and Autumn Period, when it was common to see such a situation: the two armies would meet at a certain place to fight, and form up neatly to attack and attack each other... ... Chinese formations were developed and matured in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and the representatives of this achievement are "Six Towers", "Wu Zi" and "Sun Bin's Art of War". Six Towers", also known as "Taigong's Art of War", is rumored to have been written by Jiang Shang in the Western Zhou Dynasty, which is believed to have been forged by later generations and written in the pre-Qin or early Han Dynasty, which is still inconclusive; "Wu Zi" is the art of war of Wu Qi, a famous general of the Warring States, which is slightly more credible. The above two art of war mainly introduced the chariot formation. After the Warring States period, the foot and horsemen replaced the chariots as the main formation of the army, and the formations changed and developed again. In 1972, Sun Bin's Art of War was unearthed, which describes ten types of formations (square formations, round formations, conical rows of formations, etc.), and the methods of their use. At the same time, there was also a "Formation Chapter" in "Yuliao Zi", which has been lost now. After the Qin and Han Dynasties, China's militarists on the development of the formation there: Wei Cao Cao, Emperor Wu of the Three Kingdoms, wrote "Meng De Xin Shu" (has been lost, only a number of references), a special chapter on the marching method; (Shu) Han Prime Minister Zhu Geliang, "deduction of the art of war, for the eight formation charts," "Wuhou eight formations Wuhou Eight Formations" has been passed on to future generations and has had a very wide influence. Tang Taizong and Li Weigong ask the right" deep research formation. Yue Fei of the Southern Song Dynasty left a remnant of the art of war to teach the formation. Qi Jiguang of the Ming Dynasty wrote "New Book of Discipline and Effect" and "Records of Military Training", explaining the formation method in detail, and Qi Jiguang also created his own "Yuanyang Formation" and "Three Talents Formation", which showed its power in the war against Japan. The armies of the various dynasties in China practiced the formation.

Japanese formations originated in China. On the 10th day of the 11th month of the 4th year of Tenpyo Boshi (760), six men, including Kasukabe Sankan, a sword-authorized warden, and Tushi-juku-nee Sekisei, a middle-guard warden, together with Dazai-fu's Daihaku Yoshibe Zenbiki and other generals, practiced the "Wuhou Bashi" (Eight Formations of the Martial Marquis) and Sun-tzu's "Nine Grounds" (Nine Grounds), and they were commonly used in actual battles since the Genpei Battle of the War. Since then, it has been widely used in actual battles since the Battle of Genpei. The "Marquis Eight Formations" were developed through many wars and combined with the actual situation in Japan, and became the "Fish Scale", "Front Yagami", "Crane Wing", "Crescent Moon", "Square Circle", "Wild Goose", "Long Snake", and "Heng Yoke", and the person who made up these formations was the famous general of the Warring States of Japan, Shingen Takeda, and therefore they are also called the "Takeda Eight Formations". The following is a brief introduction:

Fishscale formation: the general is located in the center of the formation, the main force in the center of the assembly, divided into a number of fishscale-shaped small squares, according to the configuration of the ladder, the front end of the slightly convex, belonging to the offensive formation. Tactical Idea: "Central Breakthrough". Concentrate forces on the enemy formation center to launch an onslaught, has been used when the advantage, the weakness of the formation is the tail side.

Front Vector Formation: The general is located in the middle and back of the formation, the main force is assembled in the center, and the front is open in the shape of an arrow, which also belongs to the offensive formation. Tactical idea: "central breakthrough". The defense of the Vanguard Formation is better than that of the Fish Scale Formation, and the open "arrows" in the front can withstand the pressure from the enemy's flanks, but the offense is a little worse, and the weak point of the formation is still at the tail side.

Crane Wing Formation: the general is located in the center of the formation, surrounded by heavy troops, the left and right open as the wings of the crane, is a kind of both offensive and defensive formation. Tactical thinking: left and right encirclement. Crane Wing Formation requires that the general should have a high tactical command ability, the two wings open and close freely, can be used for both sides of the enemy, but also can be combined to attack the enemy into the middle of the formation, the general of the formation should be tight defense to prevent breakthroughs by the enemy; the two wings should be mobile and flexible, closely coordinated, attacking fiercely, or else it will not be able to achieve the purpose.

Laying down the moon array: the whole army was curved configuration, shaped like a curved moon, is a kind of asymmetric formation, generals this array is usually located in the bottom of the crescent moon concave. When fighting, focus on attacking the flanks, with a thick moon wheel to resist the enemy, the crescent moon concave seems weak, but hidden danger, the generals should be strong in this formation, strong soldiers and generals are suitable, but also applicable to certain asymmetrical terrain.

Square Circle Formation: the general is located in the center of the formation, the peripheral forces layer of defense, lances, bows and arrows outside, mobile forces inside, and the superiority of the enemy army to use, the tactical idea: intensive defense. The formation of the square and circle formation is dense, strong defense, because the formation is dense to limit the mobility, the lack of change, the enemy is also difficult to chase after the defeat, the aggressiveness is poor.

Goose formation: the configuration of troops such as geese flying through the diagonal line, in order to give full play to the power of shooting troops. Cold War era to the white-knuckle combat, goose formation is less used, but should also be combined with the specific situation. Personally, I think the "riding iron" is very suitable for use.

Long Snake Formation: used for marching or pursuing all the way column, strong dynamics, weak combat power.

Hengyu Formation: similar to the Long Snake, used in the form of multiple columns side by side, with stronger combat power than the Long Snake Formation.

"Takeda eight formations" is very representative of the formation, but also introduces a car hanging formation, car hanging formation for the Japanese warlords Uesugi Kenshin created. The car hanging formation and the square circle array similar, generals are located in the center of the formation, the peripheral forces layer by layer, the difference is that the mobile forces outside, formed a number of swimming array, when the battle rotates in the same direction, take turns attacking the enemy array, like a rotating wheel. The significance of this is: to exert constant pressure on a part of the enemy army, so that it collapses due to fatigue, and its own side will be replenished and recuperated because of the rotation of attacks, so as to restore its combat strength. Unquestionably, this tactic was excellent. The chariot-hanging formation was greatly constrained by the terrain and had to be easy to maneuver; it required the general to have superior tactical command ability, and should be good at looking for opportunities and avoiding oversight in the rotation of armies; and it was durable but not conducive to a quick decision.

In addition, there are Tiger Towers, Crouching Dragons, Wheel of Violation, Great Delusion, Tiger Chaos, Chaos of Swords, Clouded Dragons, Flying Birds, Loose Skin, Pop, Well Goose Row Straight, General Chess Head, and Other Hands Straight formations, which will not be explained in detail.

Formation drilling is an important method of military governance in ancient times. Through drilling, teach the soldiers the rules of advance and retreat, gathering and dispersing of the law, so that they are familiar with a variety of signals and commands, and in battle to do the order of the forbidden, coordinated, and only in this way, can play the overall synergy. Formation drill is an effective way to train the rabble into an army. Today's national armies use the formation, is the remnants of the ancient formation drill. At present, all countries use Western-style formations, and the original Eastern-style formations are no longer visible, but the basic principles are the same. Western-style formation is more serious and neat than the Eastern-style formation, the command is more oral orders, the Eastern-style is based on flags, gold, drums, Japan uses the military flag, the law shells, Taiko drums, bells and military match. Warring States general Takeda Shingen specializes in formation training, Takeda's military appearance, often make people feel dangerous.

Chinese art of war emphasizes strategy, and formation is in a secondary position, while in Japan it is given considerable importance. This is because, China's war scale is far larger than Japan, at every turn to "good generals thousands of members, with armor 100,000" of the war, the commander-in-chief of the army is mainly strategic and battle level thinking, tactics are secondary, but also because of respect for Confucianism, the emphasis on literature and light military, the formation of the study of the lack of attention; and Japan's war is more than 1,000, the army commander-in-chief, can not help but to refine the tactical commanders, can not help but to refine the tactical commanders. Is a tactical commander, can not help but study the formation, Japan since Kamakura has been the martial regime, formation in the successive wars have been honed, and finally bore fruit.

Ancient Chinese combat is very concerned about the formation that combat formation, called "Bushan". If the formation is correct, it can give full play to the army's combat power and defeat the enemy.

There are three famous combat formations in the ancient Chinese military history:

One, eight array which is a great military Sun Bin created during the Warring States period, is said to have been inspired by the "I Ching" gossip map, so also known as the gossip array. Specific position is the general in the center, each side of a team of soldiers, soldiers and then send four teams of mobile combat between the odd soldiers, constituting eight formations. Eight array scattered into eight, compounded into one, and changes, and can be composed of sixty-four array. Back then, Zhuge Liang also used stones in Fengjie, Sichuan Province, laid out the orientation of the eight formations, as a coaching generals to practice the formation of the use of the name "eight formations."

Two, scattered star formation is the famous general of the Southern Song Dynasty, Yue Fei broken Jin soldiers "abduction horse" formation. Spreading the star formation is laid out like a star, connected to a row of "abduction horse" when the soldiers scattered but not gathered, so that the enemy pounced on the air. When the enemy retreated, the scattered soldiers gathered together again, pounced on the enemy, and used the knife to cut the legs of the horse, in order to break the "abduction horse".

Three, mandarin ducks formation is the Ming Dynasty general Qi Jiguang to fight the Japanese and created a formation. He divided his soldiers into three teams, the first team of soldiers fired firearms when the enemy advanced to 100 paces; the second team of soldiers fired crossbows and arrows when the enemy advanced to 60 paces; the third team of soldiers charged at the enemy with swords and spears when the enemy advanced to 10 paces. These changes reflect the evolution of Chinese combat formations from traditional square formations to multi-soldier group formations.