The long-range attack lasted about half an hour, and although the hit rate was not high, the three fortresses on the periphery of the defense line were also somewhat damaged by some ballistas and stones. The side walls of two fortifications were hit, several sandbags were knocked down, and the top of one fort was hit twice, but it was not damaged because the top was made of thick logs and supported by columns.

And although the soldiers were hiding in the trenches and were generally unwounded, there were always a few unlucky people, so three were killed and five others were wounded, but the losses were minimal.

But the Qin army was not so lucky, whether it was a bed crossbow or a trebuchet, they were all within the range of the opponent's attack, and there were more than a thousand Qin troops operating these equipment, and they were not as protected by bunkers as the soldiers of the coalition army, so they could only resign themselves to fate.

Moreover, the small stones thrown out of the city weighed twenty or thirty pounds, more than twice the number of the Qin army, and the queue of the Qin army was dense, so after this round of attack, the Qin army lost nearly fifty people, another sixty or seventy people were injured, and several bed crossbows and trebuchets were hit and damaged.

Compared with the two sides, it is obvious that the losses of the Qin army are much greater.

Although Xin Sheng did not know the casualties of the defenders, from what he saw, the Qin army's blows to the enemy were indeed limited, because whether it was a crossbow gun or a stone, when it fell into the opponent's position, it was basically silent and did not react at all, Xin Sheng even doubted whether there were any defenders on the position.

Of course, this is just thinking about it, Xin Sheng didn't take it seriously, but the effect of long-range strikes is not great, it is obvious. So Xin Sheng ordered to send 2,000 Qin troops to launch a formal ground attack on the defenders' positions.

The Qin army was still targeting the three forts on the periphery, and was divided into two groups of attack, the first group was three armies of 300 people, each with ten siege ladders, attacking the three forts respectively, followed by a thousand Qin troops, pushing more than 100 engineer carts, filled with dirt and gravel, to fill the trenches.

The sapper vehicle is an auxiliary vehicle, two-wheeled, double-wheeled, pushed by two people together, the body is relatively slender, equipped with a baffle, which can block the bow and arrow, and there is an opening at the front end, only to push to the edge of the trench, you can directly dump sand and gravel in the trench.

Two groups of Qin troops crossed the trebuchet and bed crossbows and advanced towards the defenders' positions, and the plateau was very clear from the city tower, and immediately ordered the Qin army to be the main target. Because the Qin army pushed closer, the range requirement was also lowered, so each trebuchet could throw four or five small stones at a time, and this time the stones were still drenched with grease and projected after ignition.

As a result, flints with thick smoke fell from the sky, like flying fire meteors falling from the sky, smashing into the array of the Qin army.

Although the defenders threw small stones, they fell from a height of tens of meters, and once they were hit, they would still be smashed to the point that their heads were broken and their bones were broken. Moreover, the defenders threw flints, so even if they were not stoned to death, they would be smashed to the point of fire and screaming. And in the meteor flint, there are also many crossbow guns, which will be used to the body of the soldier who has escaped the flint but has not had time to rejoice.

However, despite the fierce blows of the defenders, the Qin army still advanced very firmly towards the defenders' position, they set up ladders to climb the city, held their shields high, and tried their best to block the blows of stones and crossbow guns, while moving forward vigorously, but behind them, a lot of corpses were left.

The distance was getting closer, and gradually reached the dead end of the bed crossbow and trebuchet, although the three Qin troops had not advanced to the front of the defenders' positions, and more than 100 people had been killed in each way, but they still entered the area of attack.

But at this moment, suddenly countless defenders seemed to grow out of the ground, densely packed, covering the low walls of the entire position defense line at once, and facing the Qin army, it was a dense rain of arrows, with projectiles and direct shots. I don't know how many times denser than the crossbow guns and stones just now. Although the Qin army was all wearing shields, they were caught off guard and were shot down in large pieces.

At this time, the three Qin armies attacking the castle had already lost about 100 people, but they had already entered the defenders' defense line and were about to enter the distance of hand-to-hand combat, and then the Qin army found that the number of soldiers guarding the position was at least more than double that of itself.

It turned out that although the defenders of each fortress were only 200 people, the front and rear trenches were all connected, so when the Qin army attacked, the eight forts in the back row were divided into 100 soldiers to reinforce the front line. Thus, the defenders of the front line actually amounted to 1,200 men. Moreover, the defenders also had a defensive line made of wooden fences and sandbag walls, although this line of defense was only a few feet high, but it was not possible to climb it with bare hands, and it was necessary to use siege ladders.

But having reached this point, the Qin army had no way back, and the military discipline of the Qin army did not allow the Qin army to retreat, so the Qin soldiers set up siege ladders on the wall and then climbed up.

At this time, the archers in the defending army immediately retreated from the defensive line and gave up the defensive position to their comrades with spears, and some soldiers threw away their bows and crossbows, picked up their spears, and started a white-knuckle battle with the Qin army.

At this time, the defenders were mainly composed of the Wei army, only 300 substitute troops, but at this time, the morale of the soldiers of the Wei army was high, and although the defense line was not very high, it was still a condescending advantage for the defenders. In addition, they still had a large advantage in numbers, so the defenders waved their spears and stabbed at the Qin army. The archers in the fortress also climbed to the top of the fortress and shot arrows with their bows to assist the defenders in killing.

Although the Qin army was as strong as ever, it was passive and restrained everywhere at this time, so it was also killed by the defenders one after another, some were pierced through the body by spears, and some were shot by bows and arrows. Many siege ladders were also knocked down, and in the blink of an eye, the Qin army's offensive had been killed by the defenders. Some of the defenders' soldiers even jumped off the sandbag wall to pursue the Qin army.

At this moment, the rear team of the Qin army also rushed to the battlefield and joined the battle group, and finally stabilized the rout of the Qin army.

The soldiers on both sides expressed their bravery very bravely, and needless to say, the Qin army, stimulated by strict military discipline and military merit awards, was not afraid of life and death at all, and fought hard to attack the sandbag wall. Some people grabbed the spears of the Wei soldiers and pulled them down the sandbag wall, while others threw themselves down from the siege ladder and knocked the Wei soldiers down, completely desperate.

However, the appearance of the Wei army is not inferior to the Qin army in the slightest, although there is no restraint of military discipline, there is no stimulation of military achievements, but the Wei army is fighting to defend the homeland, and it is the plateau that seized the Qin army's previous massacre to make a big fuss, so the Wei soldiers all believe that once the Wei State is destroyed, their parents, daughters, and relatives will be slaughtered by the Qin people, and they will naturally fight to the death for the lives of their relatives.

Some people desperately stabbed the Qin soldiers with spears, and some people struggled to push down the siege ladder, even if they were dragged down the sandbag wall by the Qin soldiers, they would hold on to the Qin soldiers, punching and kicking their heads and teeth, and fighting with the Qin soldiers with all the means they could use.

The battlefield temporarily entered a stalemate, and the defenders held the line steadily, and did not give the Qin army any opportunity to take advantage of.

Gao Yuan stood on the city tower, taking in the situation of the entire battlefield, and knew every detail of the battlefield, and the battle was carried out so far, the appearance of the Wei army was still satisfactory, and it was in vain his hard work these days.

At this time, Su Hu, who was beside the plateau, was also quite excited, although he was a brave general in the Wei army, and had experienced a lot of battles, but he had never seen the Wei army fight so bravely, he had only seen the Qin army fight to the death on the battlefield like this, but he didn't expect the Wei army to be able to do this, so Su Hu only felt that the fighting spirit was high, and he also wanted to join the battlefield and go to a big battle with the Qin army, so he said: "Dao:" Wu Anjun, the offensive of the Qin army is very strong, let the last general lead an army to rush to reinforcements, must kill the Qin army without leaving a piece of armor. ”

Gao Yuan shook his head and said with a smile: "General Su, no need, now the Qin army is at the end of the crossbow, and it won't last long, and this attack is just a temptation of the Qin army, they still have a large number of troops behind, so you don't have to be busy fighting for reinforcements, stay to deal with the main force of the Qin army behind." ”

As he was talking, he only heard the horn in the Qin army's array, and the Qin army really retreated like a tide. The defenders chased after more than a hundred paces and killed dozens of Qin soldiers, and then they all retreated into the defensive line. And all of them were in high spirits, discussing the battle just now, boasting about how brave they were, and comparing who killed more Qin soldiers.

Gao Yuan immediately ordered the military doctors and fortifications to go out of the city immediately, treat the wounded soldiers, count the losses, and make simple repairs to the fortifications damaged in the battle just now, and prepare to meet the next round of attacks of the Qin army.

So the gate of Xingkou was opened, and the military doctors and fortifications drove out of the city, and the fortifications immediately dug up the earth and bagged them, and drove piles to reinforce them, while the military doctors carried the wounded soldiers into the city, washed their wounds, bandaged them, and carried out everything in an orderly manner, busy but not chaotic.

At this time, Gao Yuan asked again, "How is the situation outside the city?" Need our reinforcements. ”

Ling Feng was responsible for the contact between inside and outside the city, and immediately said: "Don't worry, my lord, I just went to the south city to see, although the fight is much fiercer than ours, but the outside of the city is also well guarded, and we don't need our reinforcements." ”

Gao Yuan nodded and said, "That's good." ”

At this moment, I saw that an army was dispatched again in the Qin army formation on the opposite side, advancing towards the defender's defensive line. Gao Yuan said: "General Su, this time you will lead the army to attack and meet the Qin army." ”