The Lin Tian army marched to war and naturally needed to practice with the main army commander.
The commander of the Zhao attacking army was the Great General Wang Jian.
Wang Jian was of commoner origin and was favored and promoted by Ying Zheng due to his outstanding combat abilities.
His combat style was always cautious and steady.
Especially after Huan Yi's defeat and escape, Wang Jian became even more careful.
When facing Li Mu, he constantly self-examined, reminding himself to be cautious. Even with a ninety percent certainty, he would ponder thrice.
He understood that in facing a master like Li Mu, every step had to be taken with extreme care, for one wrong step could lead to a complete loss.
Therefore, his military arrangements all had his special considerations.
Lin Tian's fifty thousand strong army was stationed by Wang Jian in Dai Commandery.
Wang Jian's task for Lin Tian was to defend Dai Commandery and several surrounding counties, preventing them from sending troops to support Li Mu.
Historically, this task originally belonged to Li Xin, but after Li Xin challenged Lin Tian, he was completely sidelined by Ying Zheng.
Thus, this task fell to Lin Tian's army.
However, compared to Li Xin, Lin Tian's army had more freedom.
Wang Jian told him that if necessary, he could proactively attack Dai Commandery and other places, as most of the soldiers in these counties had been withdrawn, leaving them with little combat power.
Indeed, many cities were only defended by two to three thousand soldiers.
This number was sufficient for Lin Tian to hone his fifty thousand strong army.
Upon receiving this order, Lin Tian did not linger in Jinyang but led his fifty thousand strong army straight to Langyu, a strategic pass near Jinyang.
This place was narrow and could not allow the entire large army to pass through directly, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack.
Therefore, although Jinyang was captured by the Qin army, Langyu was still under the control of the Zhao army.
Here, they had stationed three thousand troops.
In Wang Jian's estimation, it would cost at least five thousand lives to forcefully capture this place, making a direct assault unfeasible.
It was more appropriate to let Lin Tian's army grind them down slowly.
However, Lin Tian did not want to grind them down slowly; he had a complete combat plan in mind.
He intended to directly assault and capture Langyu.
He planned to use this opportunity to attack Langyu to thoroughly test the effectiveness of the Yuanyang formation his soldiers had practiced.
Thus, Lin Tian's fifty thousand strong army appeared two kilometers away from Langyu.
The appearance of such a massive army naturally attracted the attention of the Zhao soldiers within Langyu.
"General, the situation is dire. The Qin army led by Lin Tian intends to assault our Langyu!"
"Assault? Our Langyu is not afraid of an assault!"
"But they have tens of thousands of troops!"
"Although their numbers are large, our terrain here is narrow, and there are many small, rocky hills around, making it impossible for many people to stand. Therefore, if they want to attack the city, they will have to rely on a small vanguard!"
"And we have three thousand men in the city; are we afraid of their mere vanguard?"
"Not to mention, I heard that Lin Tian's army consists of recruits with little combat experience. If they truly charge, we will make sure they never return!"
Their Langyu held a geographic advantage, and with Lin Tian's army being composed of recruits, the commander of Langyu was indeed not afraid of Lin Tian's charge.
Unless he truly disregarded the lives of his soldiers and used them as cannon fodder, Lin Tian would find it difficult to capture their Langyu.
Once the commander of the Langyu Zhao army spoke these words, others found them very reasonable, and after listening, they all breathed a sigh of relief.
They no longer panicked but moved all their defensive weapons to the city walls.
Half a day later, Lin Tian's army appeared.
In this siege, Lin Tian did not lead the charge at the very front. Instead, he had his soldiers advance step by step in the Yuanyang formation.
They were indeed a group of recruits and needed sufficient tempering to fully adapt to the battlefield and maximize their combat effectiveness.
Furthermore, the Yuanyang formation could be expanded or contracted, making it suitable for this narrow terrain.
Therefore, Lin Tian did not intend to intervene this time.
This caused the Zhao army in Langyu city to first see not the Qin army, but continuous shields.
Some were large and some were small, perfectly blocking the soldiers behind them.
The Zhao army had never seen such a formation before.
"What is this...?"
If it were just shields placed in front, the Zhao army would not have been surprised.
After all, during sieges, many shield-bearers would place their shields in front, then let their army advance.
However, the Qin army before them clearly did not deliberately place shield-bearers in front. The distribution of troops was almost equal everywhere, indicating a clear formation.
It was just that this was a formation they had never seen before.
"General, what... what should we do?"
"What to do? The enemy is attacking, of course, we shoot them!!"
"Let our trebuchets move as well. With so many people gathered together, we're bound to kill some with the trebuchets!"
"When the giant stones roll down, their formations will be shattered into pieces!"
Although they had not seen this formation before, since the enemy was attacking, the Zhao army naturally had to respond.
Therefore, their trebuchets and archers all sprang into action.
Perhaps in the next moment, they would launch a fierce assault on Lin Tian's army.
And Lin Tian's army was also changing.
Sensing that the Zhao army on the walls of Langyu was about to act, the soldiers slowly gathered together.
Their distances shortened, and their hands rested on the shoulders of those in front.
The person at the very front raised a large shield, blocking everyone behind him.
On his sides, two people held smaller shields, also protecting those behind them.
As their formation tightened, the Zhao soldiers seemed to see only moving shields.
Many archers, holding their bows and arrows, were at a loss.
They found they didn't know where to aim.
Their enemies were too close, their figures obscured by shields. In such a situation, they simply couldn't hit their enemies.
Firing arrows now seemed like a waste of their arrows.
Therefore, they all turned their gaze to their commander, hoping he would give them a clear command.
The commander also clearly felt the difficulty of the Yuanyang formation after its transformation.
He understood that his archers could not effectively fire, and even if they did, they would not pose any threat to the Qin army.
Therefore, he could only hope that their trebuchets would break the deadlock.
"Trebuchets ready, fire!!"