More than three hours had passed, and the sun had risen from east to west, but on the battlefield, fierce battles were still going on.

At this time, on the edge of the western position of Handan, the corpses of soldiers on both sides had been piled up, but the living soldiers were still fighting hard, not giving in at all, and at the same time creating more casualties.

Although the Han and Qin coalition forces built strong fortifications, but after all, they were built outside the city, and the main materials were wood, stones and soil, and they were only more than one zhang high. However, first, the Han and Qin coalition forces still retained a considerable reserve force, and once they found a gap, they immediately reinforced them and fought to the death; Second, a large number of knife carts were also prepared, which were specially used to plug the gap, so they always held the position firmly, and did not leave too many opportunities for the Qin and Han coalition forces.

However, at this time of the battle, the casualties on both sides were very huge, the Han and Qin coalition forces on the defending side had killed a total of more than 6,000 soldiers, more than 5,000 soldiers were wounded, and more than 20 large equipment such as trebuchets and bed crossbows were destroyed; On the side of the Qin-Qi coalition army, the loss of troops was close to 10,000, the number of wounded soldiers was as high as more than 6,000 or 7,000, and the loss of 50 or 60 large equipment and furniture.

However, at this time, there were a large number of Bailing women and children in the military camp in the western position of Handan City, so the injured soldiers of the Han and Qin coalition forces basically received extremely timely treatment, and the vast majority of the injured soldiers could continue to participate in the battle immediately.

At the same time, this also greatly encouraged the morale of the soldiers, because they were Qin soldiers, because there were many Qin soldiers who had heard of it before, there were a group of strangers in the Han army, all of whom were white-haired, but they had strange skills, which could quickly heal injuries. But now it's different, I'm fighting side by side with the Han army, so I can fight boldly with confidence, and I don't have to worry about getting hurt anymore. And the soldiers' ideas are much simpler than the generals, in their opinion, they have strong walls and positions, and the Bailing people who can quickly heal the wounded, are they afraid that they will not be able to defeat the enemy army on the opposite side?

At this moment, Wang Ben, who was commanding the battle on the command platform of the Qin-Qi coalition army, suddenly said: "Let's stop here today, Mingjin collects his troops." ”

Lu Xiuhong on the side listened, a little stunned, his eyes were sharp, far better than ordinary people, although the battlefield was far away, but he could also see clearly, seeing that the Qin Qi coalition army had broken through the opponent's position several times on the battlefield, Lu Xiuhong was also very excited, thinking that the Qin Qi coalition army could break through the position outside the city today, but every time he broke through, he was blocked by the opponent at the very time, and it was difficult to develop in depth, and then he would soon fight back, which made Lu Xiuhong sigh again.

But after all, there was a breakthrough that made Lu Xiuhong see hope, and he felt that there was still a great chance for today's battle. Therefore, Wang Ben ordered the collection of troops at this time, naturally he was very puzzled, and he couldn't help but say: "General, why withdraw the troops now, our army has already attacked the opponent's position several times, as long as you hold on for a while, maybe you can break through the opponent's position." ”

Wang Ben glanced at Lu Xiuhong, shook his head, and said: "Zhong Xuan first, although we have attacked the opponent's position several times, but every time we break through, we are blocked by the opponent at the right time, and it is quickly blocked, which shows that the other party still has a considerable amount of spare strength, and the current battle is not done at all, so we are unable to break through the opponent's position today, and now our army's casualties are extremely large, after continuous fierce battles, the soldier's body is insufficient, and the sharp spirit is also exhausted." If we do not withdraw our troops, the other side will definitely take advantage of the situation to attack, and then our army will definitely be defeated. ”

It turns out that Wang Ben is proficient in the art of war, and experienced in a hundred battles of the famous general, not only the insight into the battlefield is far better than Lu Xiuhong, but also the strength of the two sides of the comparison, the advantages and weaknesses are also well understood, whether it is the Han army or the Qin army in the opponent's formation, the combat effectiveness is not under themselves, and there are famous generals such as Gao Yuan in the city in the city, (Wang Ben of course does not know, at this time the plateau is no longer in Handan City) and there is a strong city position to rely on, so it is not expected to break through the opponent's position in an attack. If you want to win this battle, you can only rely on your absolute superiority in troops, fight with the opponent, and wear down the opponent's strength little by little, and it is absolutely impossible to win quickly.

As far as the battle in front of us is concerned, the combat attrition of the Qin-Qi coalition army has exceeded 15,000 people, accounting for nearly one-sixth of the entire army, because the Qin-Qi coalition army does not have such good treatment conditions as the Han army, and the wounded soldiers have basically lost the ability to fight. Although Wang Ben didn't know the losses of the Han and Qin coalition forces, he could guess that it must be far less than himself, and the Han and Qin alliances were backed by Handan City, and they could get reinforcements from the city at any time, so this battle could be fought to the point where it is now, which is already very good, but it will be unfavorable to fight again, it is better to collect troops as soon as possible, anyway, this battle is a protracted war of attrition, and it will take a long time?

Lu Xiuhong's explanation of Wang Ben was also half understood, but he finally knew that he was far inferior to Wang Ben in terms of leading the army and commanding the battle, and he would have to count on Wang Ben in future battles, so although he still had some objections to Wang Ben's decision, he did not object, so after Wang Ben's order was handed down, the Qin-Qi coalition army immediately retreated from the battlefield and broke away from the defense line of Handan Xicheng.

Because there was no order to attack, seeing the withdrawal of the Qin-Qi coalition army, the Han-Qin coalition army only pursued with long-range weapons such as bows, bed crossbows, trebuchets, and lightning strike vehicles, but did not kill the position to pursue the enemy. As the Qin-Qi coalition army gradually moved away, the bow and crossbow and trebuchet basically could not hit the enemy, and only the bed crossbow and lightning strike vehicle with a long range were still chasing and attacking the enemy, but the threat to the Qin-Qi coalition army had been greatly reduced.

At this time, Zhong Sunqi, who was in command in the position, ordered the soldiers of each village to strictly hold their positions, not to go out of the camp to pursue without authorization, and immediately clean up the corpses of the soldiers in the camp to repair the gaps and losses in the position.

Chunyu Zhongxiu, who was watching the battle on the high platform, was a little puzzled, and asked Li Yinghong: "Now that the enemy army has retreated, why don't we take advantage of the victory to pursue it?" I remember that when I went to fight with the Huns with my husband last year, my husband often took advantage of the withdrawal of the Hun army to launch a pursuit, even if he could not achieve a big victory, but he also annihilated some enemy troops. ”

Li Yinghong said: "The Qin army is not comparable to the Huns, although it is said that the Huns are brave and good at fighting, the Huns are not under the Qin army, but the untrained formation of the Hun army is not rigorous, lacks discipline, lacks mutual cooperation, just with a brave fight, so when the attack is unstoppable, but when retreating, it is a plate of scattered sand, but the Huns are all cavalry, coming and going like the wind, and the general army can not catch up with them, but our Han army has a cavalry army that is not inferior to the Huns, and can take advantage of the Hun army to retreat when it pursues; However, the Qin army is well-trained and rigorous, and the main general Wang Ben is proficient in the art of war and has been in battle for a long time. ”

As he spoke, Li Yinghong pointed to the array of the Qin-Qi coalition army far away, and said: "Look at the Qin army's main formation, the formation has not dispersed, and the soldiers are all in strict formation, just to prevent us from sending troops to pursue, so if we send troops to pursue at this time, we will immediately be counterattacked by the Qin army, and we may not be able to annihilate some more enemy troops, on the contrary, we may be forced to fight head-on with the Qin army." Although we are not afraid to fight with the Qin army, in this way, we lose the advantage of our position and can only fight hard with the Qin army, which is exactly the most desired way of fighting by the Qin army. ”

Listening to Li Yinghong's words, Chun Yu Zhong Xiu only understood a little, although in terms of knowledge, experience, political opinions and judgment of the overall situation, Chun Yu Zhong Xiu is stronger than Li Yinghong, but only in the military aspect, because it is in the tactical aspect, Chun Yu Zhong Xiu is not as good as Li Yinghong, not that Chun Yu Zhong Xiu has not read the military book, but lacks actual combat experience, and in this regard Li Yinghong is much better, not only has he participated in the military since he was a child, his adoptive father Li Mu is a contemporary master of the art of war, and there has been no shortage of famous generals who have been in battle for a long time. Taught by their words and deeds, coupled with Li Yinghong's own talent, so as long as he is on the battlefield, Chun Yu Zhongxiu can only honestly ask Li Yinghong for advice.

Chun Yu Zhongxiu said again: "I think in today's battle, the Qin army has broken through the gap several times and attacked our position, so our position outside the city can still hold on for a few days?" ”

Li Yinghong said with a smile: "Don't worry, the position outside the city was not intended to be held for long, just to wear down the enemy's spirit and strength, and in the end, if you want to hold Handan, you still have to rely on the city wall of Handan, otherwise what are you going to do with such a tall city wall?" Moreover, we are here to defend Handan, and there is another purpose, which is to attract Han Teng's attention and troops, and create better conditions for Fujun and Hehua to raid Xianyang. ”

Chun Yu Zhongxiu said: "Also, husband, they should have set off from Lingshou now, but this time it is not easy to raid Xianyang, I don't know if they can succeed." ”

Li Yinghong said: "I believe that Fujun will be able to succeed this time, and we must fully trust Fujun now, so we should first do what we should do well." ”

Chun Yu Zhongxiu nodded and said, "You're right, we should trust our husband completely, what should we do now?" ”

Li Yinghong said with a smile: "Let's go, now we should go to visit the soldiers in each village, anyway, we defeated the attack of the Qin army and won the victory, the two of us are here to supervise the battle, of course we should go to see the soldiers and encourage the morale of the whole army." ”