Ran Min readily agreed to the proposal of attacking Duan Kong.
Yecheng is about to reach the point where people cannibalize people. It is the time when hunger makes no choice but to eat.
The two sides discussed the matter very happily. The grain and livestock belonged to Ran Min, and the prisoners and war horses all had to eat the grain, which belonged to Li Yue.
At the end of spring plowing, Li Yue led 20,000 Heiyun troops northward to join Xu Cheng.
Ran Min personally led 10,000 cavalry southward and stationed in Yuanfu City.
Duan Guan gathered all the young men and women in the clan to defend the city wall, and raised a force of 40,000 horses. He left his younger brother Duan Zhi to guard the city, and led 5,000 fine cavalry to wander west of Qishui River.
Li Yue's army had just left Liyang, but Ran Min was already attacking the city in a hurry.
After the Yongjia Rebellion, Duan Xianbei's strength was not inferior to that of Murong. He was once the overlord of Liaodong and fought back and forth with Shi Le.
Three years after Zhao Jianwu, Murong Huang proclaimed himself king of the Yan Kingdom. He was invaded by the Duan family and once threatened his capital, so he surrendered to Jie Zhao and sent his younger brother Murong Khan to Zhao as a hostage, agreeing to attack the Duan family from the east and west.
The Duan family was defeated by Shi Hu and Murong Hui, and the Liaoxi Principality was destroyed. However, the Duan family of Xianbei was not extinct. It jumped repeatedly in the cracks between Yan and Zhao, provoking a rebellion between Yan and Zhao.
Thirteen years have passed, and Duan's strength has recovered somewhat.
Especially during the chaos in Hebei, Duan Gong took the opportunity to recruit Jin, Wuhuan, Hu, and Jie people, and even occupied a strategic location like Fangtou, eyeing Yecheng.
Without certain strength, he would never have the courage to come under Ran Min's nose.
However, Ran Min's attack on the city did not go smoothly, and he encountered Duan Zhu's stubborn resistance.
After seven or eight days of continuous fierce attack, the city remained standing.
The topography of Fangtou is similar to that of Lukou, surrounded by water on three sides, Qishui to the east, Qingshui to the south, Wanshui to the east, and a three-foot-high Great Wall built by Fu Hong to the north.
Fu Hong was jealous of Shi Hu, so he fortified Fangtou City and prepared for the worst.
Duan Qin was able to capture the city in the first place because he took advantage of Ran Min's 100,000 elite expedition to Xiangguo and made a surprise attack when Fangtou's troops were empty.
Li Yue took his soldiers to inspect the nearby terrain. He didn't know how many soldiers' lives it would take to fill it with manpower.
After so many years of hard work, I only have 30,000 elites on hand.
There is no end in sight for these troubled times, so Li Yue has to be cautious.
"Your Majesty has an order to build weirs on the upper reaches of Qishui River and Qingshui River to flood Fangtou City!" Dong Run, who had not seen him for many days, became the liaison between the two sides again.
Chang Wei disagreed and said: "Lu Lingjun once wrote in "Zheng Difu": There is a huge weir behind the flood, a deep canal and a high embankment. Fangtou City stands on a high embankment and a huge weir, so it is difficult for water attacks to be effective. The only The only way to attack a city is to besiege it, wait for it to change internally, and then you can win!"
Lu Lingjun was Lu Chen who was killed in Xiangguo.
If he wants to attack Fangtou with water, he is afraid that Ran Min's Yuanfu City camp will be flooded, but Fangtou will be fine.
If the water attack had been effective, Murong Ke and Murong Chui would have flooded Lukou City long ago.
Cao Cao, who chose Fangtou as a place to store grain, and Sima Yi, who chose Lukou as a rear base, were both once-in-a-century heroes, and their strategic vision was never bad.
"Even so, Your Majesty may not be so patient." Dong Run reminded in a low voice.
"The water attack wastes people and money, and may not be effective. Don't forget that Duan Kwan still has an elite cavalry outside, which can attack at any time." Li Yue also had a headache, and Ran Min would not care so much.
Chang Wei cupped his hands and said: "Duan Gong's troops are well-prepared. They are not afraid of us waiting for a quick battle, but they are afraid of us waiting for a long siege. I hope General Dong will give more advice to Your Majesty."
Dong Run's face was full of embarrassment. Ran Min first killed Wei Huan, who had directly remonstrated with him, and then killed Wang Tai. No one dared to remonstrate with him anymore. "I'll do my best..."
This war is both simple and difficult.
It depends on who can keep calm.
Duan Gong went south alone, and there were almost no forces around him that could support them. There were various forces inside. If they were surrounded for a month or two, there would definitely be changes inside.
Dong Run and Chang Wei returned to the Wei army camp in the north of the city. This time, Ran Min did not insist on going his own way. He canceled the strategy of attacking Fangtou by water and built a camp in the north of the city, reclaimed fields and replanted crops as a long-term solution.
Li Yue also took the opportunity to open up fields in the surrounding areas and replant crops.
To the east of Wan River are Tongshan Pi and Baisi Pi.
Pei is actually a field with water. These two pieces of Pei have always been the granaries of Fangtou. Now that they have shrunk into the city, these two pieces of fertile land will naturally fall into the hands of the Heiyun Army.
Li Yue simply built the camp between Tongshan Pi and Baisi Pi, and took these two large fields into his pocket.
The two armies would occasionally join forces to launch a surprise attack, but Duan Zhen was no ordinary person. His defense was impeccable. Neither the Heiyun Army nor the Wei Army once climbed onto the city wall.
Ran Min built more than two hundred catapults and bombarded Fangtou day and night.
However, the Fangtou is really strong. A stone weighing ten to twenty kilograms is as light as a dragonfly touching water.
When the water attack failed, Ran Min used fire attack. He brought kerosene from Yecheng and threw the wood and wood at Fangtou North City. Duan Zhi covered it with earth and sand to destroy it.
Duan Gong, who was wandering outside the city, harassed the rear from time to time, making the Wei army tired of dealing with it.
The Wei army was exhausted, and the Xianbei people laughed and insulted them on the top of the city.
Ran Min was so angry that he was invincible in the field, but facing a fortified city, he was also helpless. Today's Wei army is no longer the Wei army before. In the battle of Xiangguo, more than 100,000 elite troops were wiped out, which was almost a fatal blow.
Ran Wei's back was broken, and he fell from the top to the bottom.
If Ran Min hadn't created a military miracle here, Ran Min would have almost perished.
Unable to conquer for a long time, Ran Min could only listen to Chang Wei's advice and shoot letters of persuasion to surrender into the city every day.
Anyone who takes Duan Zhen's head will be promoted to general and be granted the title of a hundred households. Those who surrender in Kaicheng will also be granted the title of a hundred households and be rewarded with thousands of gold.
On the contrary, Li Yue became calm. There was no point in being impatient when attacking a fortified city like Fangtou.
The soil and water here are fertile, so Li Yue simply asked Zhou Qian to lead his slaves and the southern army northward to cultivate fertile fields from Liyang to Fangtou and replant some bean sprouts and vegetables.
Slaves farmed, while the Confederate army set up camp to guard against Duanggong's cavalry.
However, Duan Gong seemed to like Ran Min, and kept harassing the rear of the Wei army. Sometimes he even invaded the surrounding areas of Ye City, burning many villages, and once advanced to the bottom of Ye City to show off his power.
This siege, confrontation, and tug-of-war lasted for two months.
While the Wei army was exhausted, the hearts of people in Fangtou City began to rise.
Some soldiers from Jin Dynasty fled the city at night, exposing Fangtou's reality.
The Jie people and Hu people in the city naturally wanted to fight to the death, and their will to resist was not high. The Jin and Xianbei people promised to let things go by Ran Min and not blame the marquis, so their fighting spirit was not high.
The Duan family is very different from Tuoba and Murong. They are not purely Xianbei people. Their ancestor, Duan Rilu, was once a slave of a noble family in Wuhuan. When there was a severe drought in Yuyang, Duan Rilu and his family led more than 200 people to beg for food in western Liaoning and recruit Exiles of all ethnic groups grew rapidly.
"In one month, this city will be almost ready." Li Yue looked at the Fangtou city wall. The defenders were showing signs of fatigue, and more and more people were fleeing the city.
"Captain, a secret message has arrived at Duan Niu!" Zhang Shengye suddenly came to report.
"Duan Gong gave a secret message to someone?" Li Yue was a little unbelievable. After a war like this, he couldn't shake hands and make peace, right?
(End of chapter)
