Holding a sturdy tower shield above his head with both hands, guarding against stones and timber projected by the rebels' catapults, Guo Rong was at the battlement, observing the movements of the rebels under the palace walls.

At the same time as the catapult was throwing, nearly 1,000 rebels in full armor pushed five ladders, and dozens of ordinary bamboo ladders advanced towards the palace wall under the cover of the catapult.

Under the cover of the catapult, because there were no arrows from the palace wall, the rebels walked into the cart and advanced slowly, and Guo Rong was an abnormal nest fire.

If there is no cover of catapults, with the high wall, the enemy army will pay the price of blood without taking a step, but now, Guo Rong can only watch and the rebels approach the palace wall without any losses.

It wasn't until the rebels' ladder approached the palace wall fifty paces that the sound of drums among the rebels suddenly stopped, and the catapult stopped projectile.

However, the drum beat stopped for up to three breaths, sounded again, and with the drum beating again, the junior military academy of the rebels shouted the order, and the rebels, dressed in heavy armor and carrying bamboo ladders, began to run wildly.

At the same time, Guo Rong directly threw away the tower shield above his head and shouted loudly:

"Everyone, prepare for war!"

There were only a few dozen steps left, even for the heavily armored rebels, who would not have taken more than 20 seconds, and when the defenders on the palace wall returned to their positions from their hiding places, the rebels at the front had already rushed to the palace wall, put a bamboo ladder on the palace wall, and began to climb.

Seeing that the defenders were basically in place, Guo Rong stood on top of the palace wall, hissing and roaring.

"Shoot the arrows!"

Rows of archers, crossbowmen, frantically shot arrows at the enemy soldiers below the city, and arrows rained down.

The armor-piercing arrows shot by the strong attack and heavy crossbow could easily break through the single-layer armor piercing with the blessing of the height difference of seven or eight meters of the palace wall, and soon the first wave of climbers fell to the ground under the fire of the strong bow and the crossbow.

The fierce rebels continued to climb along the bamboo ladder and began to climb......

While the archers and crossbowmen were fighting with the rebels along the bamboo ladder, the five ladders were slowly approaching the palace wall, and Guo Rong could even see the smile on the face of the rebel military academy under the palace wall.

At the same time, Guo Rong's face also had a sarcastic smile on his face, and seeing that the cloud ladder was twenty steps away from the palace wall, Guo Rong turned around and shouted back.

"Eight Bull Crossbow!"

As the sharp weapon of the Tang Army and the peak combat power of the city defense war, how could Guo Rong not equip Xingqing Palace with a Eight Bull Crossbow?

However, from the very beginning, Guo Rong's defensive strategy was formulated in the face of the rebels' possession of catapults, in order to prevent the big killers from being destroyed by the rebels' catapults, a total of more than 20 eight-bull crossbows were all placed in the corners and cracks of the palace wall, and covered with hardwood and iron plates.

Under this protection, all twenty were intact.

With Guo Rong's order, the defenders who were responsible for controlling the Eight Bull Crossbows quickly removed the hardwood and iron plates that protected the Eight Bull Crossbows, and several people worked together to set up five Eight Bull Crossbows in the positions that had been prepared long ago, aiming at the ladder that was already close to the palace wall!

The well-trained defenders began to reload the bolts of the Eight Ox Crossbows, and then struck the mechanism with heavy hammers, and the arm-thick bolts flew out.

At a distance of less than ten meters, in a matter of dozens of breaths, as several crossbow arrows were fired, the five ladders completely fell apart in a short period of time, and the defenders who controlled the eight-bull crossbow continued to use the eight-bull crossbow to shoot at the rebels under Miyagi.

Under the arm-thick crossbow arrows, the heavy armor on the rebels was like a thin sheet of paper......

Seeing that the siege weapons that he had spent a lot of effort to transport into Chang'an City, and then spent a lot of energy to advance to the palace city, were completely destroyed, Ju Wenzhen, who was furious, once again ordered all the catapults to shoot!

Unconventional stones flew out from dozens of catapults, although Guo Rong saw the catapults start shooting at the first time, and immediately ordered everyone to dodge, but it was still too late!

The first wave of irregular stones such as stones, wood, and mud had already smashed into the palace wall, flew into the palace wall, and smashed to the ground with a dull sound.

Although stones, mud blocks, tiles, etc. are not as hard as standard stones, these things often shatter after colliding with the hard palace wall, which will cause a wider range of secondary damage!

Although after two waves of rocks, all the defenders who could still move had already taken refuge in the predetermined dodge position, but the rebels' catapults did not stop firing, Guo Rong knew that the rebels were going to make sure that all the exposed eight-bull crossbows were killed!

It wasn't until the catapult was damaged in a large area under the continuous ejection that the ejection began to stop slowly, and at this time, the palace wall and under the palace wall were again full of mourning, and the terrible wail made people feel chills down the spine.

Soon, the losses of this wave of battles were reported to Guo Rong's ears, because with a perfect defensive strategy and hiding places, the defenders actually only withstood the first two waves of stone attacks.

Rao is like this, there are still more than 30 people who died on the spot, surpassing the wizard and making people lose their combat effectiveness in a short period of time, and countless people were slightly injured.

As for the rebels under the palace walls, there is not one in ten!

The sound of gold sounded, and the rebels who were able to stand up on their own and retreat to their camp were less than a hundred!

However, less than a quarter of an hour after the attack ended, the drums sounded again, and after the three-wheeled catapult was fired, hundreds of rebels swarmed again.

At the height of the battle, Ju Wenzhen repeated his old tricks, and stones and wood once again descended on the attackers and defenders.

This is a naked conspiracy carried out by Ju Wenzhen by virtue of the superiority of troops, and he stubbornly grasped the disadvantage of his insufficient troops.

If you don't defend, the rebels will go to the city, and if you defend, you will be waiting for catapults!

Normally, this kind of indiscriminate attack can easily lead to the collapse of your own morale, but under several waves of attacks, the morale of the rebels did not fluctuate at all.

Guo Rong couldn't believe his eyes, but this is the truth, in the case that the rebels can maintain a continuous siege, Guo Rong has to admit that this tactic is a scoundrel, but it is also misunderstood!

In just two or three hours, the rebels had launched wave after wave of ferocious attacks.

Guo Rong relied on the fortified city and prepared to hold on, but under the rogue and inexplicable tactics of Ju Wenzhen, the casualties continued to increase.

From early morning to early afternoon, for four full hours, the rebels launched more than ten waves of attacks endlessly, and according to Guo Rong's estimates, under the combined attack of the defenders and the rebel catapults, at least 6,000 people sank under the palace walls of Xingqing Palace.

So much so that the height of the ground from the top of the palace wall was forcibly raised by nearly one meter.

Rao is so, with the high walls of the fortified city, under the flexible command of Guo Rong, and under the fierce fighting of the defenders, Xingqing Palace is still standing.

The cost of the defenders was also staggering, in four hours, more than 500 people were killed in battle, more than 300 were seriously wounded, and the rest of the people, including Guo Rong, were also wounded.

In total, there were only 2,500 defenders, and the defensive strength of Xingqing Palace was sharply reduced by one-third.