The breeze blew through the sky, rolling up a few withered yellow leaves, but it couldn't blow away the haze above the battlefield. The rumbling war drums spread throughout the four fields, and the shouts of killing were deafening. The whirring wind brought a strong smell of blood.

The battlefield was littered with corpses, broken and broken weapons, and overturned chariots.

The fierce battle lasted from morning to evening, and the two sides of the battle had rotated several times, but the battle was still undecided.

With a battle of this intensity, the Huai State and the Qin State had been fighting in this narrow land for ten days. Both sides suffered heavy casualties, but the victory was still scoreless.

This battlefield was already narrow, with the Yellow River on one side and the mountains on the other, and only the area between the mountains and the Yellow River could be used for large corps.

Bai Qi and Le Yi have been competing here for nearly two months. Because of the narrow terrain on the battlefield, only so many troops can be invested, and no matter how much, even the deployment of troops will not be able to be used.

Of course, on the surface, it seems that the casualties on both sides should be close, but only Le Yi knows that the casualties of Huai are less than those of Qin. After all, the weapons and equipment of the Huai State were better, and because the Huai State paid more attention to medical skills, especially surgical skills, the probability of soldiers being killed and wounded on the battlefield was less than that of the Qin State.

In this era when there are no antibiotics, sometimes the body is cut with a small wound, and sometimes a small life is lost. Thanks to the tradition of attaching importance to medical skills in the Zijue era, the mortality rate of Huai soldiers after being injured was three to four percent lower than that of other countries.

The combat casualty rate of cold weapons is about 30%, and many of them are injured, but because there are no antibiotics, the mortality rate of wounded soldiers is extremely high. Almost sixty percent, while the Huai country's casualty rate is only thirty percent. This ensures that more veterans will survive.

Recruits and veterans are two different concepts entirely.

The Qin army and the Huai State fought here, because of the advantage of equipment, the Qin army's casualties were larger, and after the doctor's treatment, the Qin army's mortality rate was much higher than that of the Huai army.

This situation will not be visible for a while, but after a long time, it will be very obvious.

After seeing that the Qin army was so elite and Bai Qi's command was flawless, Le Yi had already changed his mind about a quick victory. Generals of their level are basically very difficult to make mistakes, and all kinds of strategies are almost impossible to use. What follows can only be a competition of national strength between the two sides.

Bai Qi wanted to gather superior forces to break through Shangyangyi, and then occupy Hangu Pass. The terrain of Hangu Pass is dangerous, and the number of people attacking each time is limited, but this also means that the number of defenders will not be too large, after all, the space of the city wall is not large. If the rear of Hangu Pass can continue to replenish, it will be a refueling tactic. Moreover, Hanguguan consumes less and is convenient to replenish.

But if the front and back attack together, Hangu Pass will be cut off and the logistics will be replenished, and after the personnel are replenished, as long as the attacker is willing to pay casualties and is willing to fight for consumption, all the people can be consumed. In addition to the dangerous terrain, another reason why Hangu Pass is difficult to break is that it can always obtain logistical supplies, and it will never lose casualties if it is consumed.

Le Yi firmly held Shangyangyi in his hands, preventing the Qin army from forming a front and rear attack on Hangu Pass, and then fought with the Qin army here. Even Maojindu, the important place where the Qin army transported grain and grass soldiers, did not attack, in order to turn this place into a bloodletting and carry out continuous bloodletting on the Qin State.

At first, Bai Qi wanted to fight with the Huai army, but after this battle lasted for ten days, he keenly found that the Huai State was lower than the Qin State in terms of casualties and attrition. If it continues like this, there is only one result, that is, the Qin State was exhausted of soldiers and grain and grass by the Huai State.

After seeing all this clearly, Bai Qi's face became more and more gloomy, and he understood that the more he consumed, the more unfavorable it would be for the Qin State, and he quickly made a decision in his heart to prepare to withdraw the army.

For commanders like Bai Qi, they are very calm and rational, and after discovering that they can't do anything, they will never drag their feet. After the day's fighting, Bai Qi began to prepare for the withdrawal of his troops.

The armies of the two sides are like dogs' teeth intertwined, entangled, and it is very difficult to withdraw the troops. The retreat of a large army can easily turn from a retreat to a rout. Bai Qi ordered the army to retreat alternately, covering each other, and dispatched the Qin State Iron Eagle Ruishi as a reserve, once the Huai army attacked, let the Iron Eagle Ruishi attack.

After Le Yi saw the retreat of the Qin army, he immediately understood that the Qin army was preparing to withdraw, and immediately ordered the army to attack, and at the same time sent a large army to attack Maojindu, wanting to cut off the Qin army's back route and swallow this Qin army.

Maojindu, as the back road of the Qin army, has always been heavily controlled by the Qin army. The Huai army attacked, directly sent a crossbow array, three thousand crossbowmen lined up in a formation to the left and right, suppressed the Qin army archers, and at the same time mobilized the vine armor army in the Huai army, which was a big attack.

Compared with crossbows, bows and arrows are easy to make, low cost, flexible to use, fast in rate of fire, and okay in power, but the range is much closer than that of bows and arrows. Even if it is difficult to wind, slow to attack, expensive to build, and easy to damage, it has a long range, high accuracy, and a powerful attack. Although there are all kinds of shortcomings, in the eyes of the wealthy Huaijun, these shortcomings are acceptable.

After adopting a three-stage shot, the Qin army could completely suppress the Qin army in a short time. The rain of crossbow arrows continued to shoot, and even if you were wearing heavy armor, you couldn't resist the crossbow arrows.

The three-stage shooting caused the Huai army's array to burst out with astonishing lethality in a short period of time, and the Qin army suffered heavy casualties under the crossbow array. The humming bowstring snapped like the call of death. The crossbow arrows easily pierced through the Qin people's armor and penetrated their bodies. If you look at it from a high altitude, you will find that the battle formation of the Qin army seems to have been suddenly gnawed down.

The dense crossbow arrows continued to accumulate, and the Qin army's military formation became scattered in just a few breaths, and the Qin soldiers fell down in rows like cutting leeks.

The Qin army is well-organized and has harsh criminal laws, but it is still human, flesh and blood, and it is impossible to break through the limits of human beings. They will still be afraid, will die, will panic, they will be suppressed, they were suppressed by the strict Qin Law before, and when these emotions accumulate to the limit, they will collapse.

Gongzi Kang watched the Qin army being defeated under the full burst of the elite of the Huai army, and then the elite rattan armor army charged, instantly breaking through the defense line of the Qin army, he was shocked, and hurriedly commanded the army to continue to resist. However, the Huai army had already prepared, and the Tengjia army raised their crossbows one after another, and shot at the Qin army that rushed up.

This type of hand crossbow is less powerful and equally difficult to wind, but it is extremely effective in piercing armor at close range, and is specially used for the attack of the vine armor army. It can break through the enemy's battle formation in an instant, causing chaos and allowing the Fuji Armor to take the opportunity to break into it.

(End of chapter)