Zhuge Liang's army used scaling ladders and battering chariots in their assault on the outnumbered forces of Hao Zhao, but the defenders drove the Shu soldiers back with flaming arrows. Zhuge Liang had the moat filled with lumps of earth to give his men direct access to the city walls, but Hao Zhao had another wall built within the first one.
諸葛亮攻打陳倉的那一次，以雲梯、衝車攻打郝昭。郝昭也不以兵寡而輕易投降，「以火箭逆射其梯」，將梯上蜀兵燒死；諸葛亮以土丸填城溝，要直接攀上城牆，郝昭就在城牆內再築一道牆；諸葛亮要挖地道入城，郝昭就在城內穿地橫截。