Hengdao Sixteen Kingdoms

Chapter 261 Fangtou
When confronting Duan Kan's proposal, Ran Min readily agreed.

Yecheng is almost at the point of cannibalism, and it is the time when the hunger does not choose what to eat.

The two sides negotiated very frankly, the food and livestock should go to Ran Min, and the captives and war horses should eat food and go to Li Yue.

At the end of spring plowing, Li Yue led [-] Heiyun troops to the north to join Xu Cheng.

Ran Min personally rode [-] paces southward and stationed in Yuanfu City.

But Duan Kan made all the young and strong of the clan, even the strong women went up to the city wall to defend, pulled up a force of 4 horses, and kept his younger brother Duan Wei to guard the city, and led [-] elite horsemen to wander west of Qishui.

Li Yue's army had just left Li Yang, but Ran Min had already rushed to attack the city.

After the Yongjia Rebellion, Duan's Xianbei was not inferior to Murong in strength, and was once the overlord of Liaodong, and fought back and forth with Shi Le.

In the third year after Zhao Jianwu, Murong Hao became the king of Yan State, but was invaded by the Duan family and once threatened his capital.

The Duan family was defeated by Shi Hu and Murong Hao, and the Principality of Liaoxi was destroyed, but the Duan family Xianbei was not extinct.

Thirteen years have passed, and Duan's strength has recovered.

Especially during the turmoil in Hebei, Duan Kan took the opportunity to absorb Jin people, Wuhuan, Hu people, and Jie people, and even occupied a strategic location like Fangtou, eyeing Yecheng.

Without a certain amount of strength, there would never be such courage to come under Ran Min's nose.

However, Ran Min's siege did not go smoothly, and was met with stubborn resistance from Duan Zhen.

After seven or eight days of continuous onslaught, the city stood still.

Fangtou is similar to Lukou in terms of terrain, 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 suspected by Shi Hu back then, so he fortified Fangtou City and prepared for the worst.

Duan Qin was able to capture this city in the first place because he took advantage of the fact that Ran Min's [-] elite troops were marching to Xiangguo, and Fangtou's troops were empty.

Li Yue took his soldiers to inspect the surrounding terrain, relying on manpower, I don't know how many soldiers' lives will be needed to fill it.

After so many years of hard work, the elite in hand is only [-].

There is no end in sight to this troubled world, and Li Yue has to be cautious.

"Your Majesty has an order to build a weir upstream of Qishui and Qingshui to flood Fangtou City!" Dong Run, who had not seen him for many days, became the liaison of the two sides again.

Chang Wei disagreed and said: "Lu Lingjun once wrote "Zheng Di Fu": "The one with the huge weir behind the flood is also the one who has a deep canal and a high embankment. Fangtou City stands on a high embankment and a huge weir. Water attack may not be effective. The only one The only way to siege a city is to siege, wait for internal changes, and then you can plan!"

Lu Lingjun was Lu Chen who was murdered in Xiangguo.

If he wanted to attack Fangtou with water, he was afraid that Ran Min's camp in Yuanfu City would be flooded, and Fangtou would be fine.

If the water attack could have worked, Murong Ke and Murong Chui would have flooded Lukou City long ago.

Cao Cao, who chose Fangtou as the place to store grain, and Sima Yi, who chose Lukou as the rear base, are heroes once in a century, and their strategic vision has never been bad.

"Even so, His Majesty may not be so patient." Dong Run reminded in a low voice.

"Water attack is laborious and wasteful, and it may not be effective. Don't forget that Duan Kan still has a fine cavalry outside, which can be harassed at any time." Li Yue also had a headache, and Ran Min would not care about it so much.

Chang Wei clasped his hands and said: "Duan Kan's soldiers are well-equipped with fine food. He is not afraid of us waiting for a quick battle, but he is afraid of us waiting for a long-term siege. I hope General Dong will give more advice to His Majesty."

Dong Run's face was full of embarrassment. Ran Min killed Wei Jian who was directly admonishing him first, and then killed Wang Tai. No one dared to admonish him anymore, "I will do my best..."

This battle is easy and simple, but difficult to say.

It depends on who can hold their breath.

Duan Kan's army went south alone, there were almost no forces around them that could support them, and there were various forces inside. If they were surrounded for a month or two, changes would inevitably occur inside.

Dong Run and Chang Wei returned to the Wei army camp in the north of the city together. This time, Ran Min did not insist on going his own way. He canceled the strategy of attacking Fangtou with water, and built a camp in the north of the city, reclaimed the fields, and replanted crops, thinking that it would be a long-term solution.

Li Yue also took the opportunity to reclaim the surrounding fields and replant crops.

To the east of Wanshui, there are Tongshan Pi and Baisi Pi.

Bei, in fact, is a field with water. These two fields have always been the granaries of Fangtou. Now that they have shrunk into the city, these two good fields will naturally fall into the hands of the Heiyun army.

Li Yue simply built the big camp between Tongshan Pi and Baisi Pi, and took these two large fields into his pocket.

Occasionally, the two armies would join forces to launch a surprise attack, but Duan Wei was no ordinary person, and his defense was impeccable. Neither the Heiyun army nor the Wei army had climbed the city wall once.

Ran Min made more than 200 catapults and bombarded Fangtou day and night.

However, the Fangtou is really strong, and a stone weighing [-] to [-] catties is like a superficial touch.

When water attack failed, Ran Min resorted to fire attack again, transporting kerosene from Yecheng, and throwing it together with logs to Fangtou North City, Duan Zhen covered it with earth and sand to destroy it.

Duan Kan, who was wandering outside the city, harassed the rear from time to time, making Wei Jun tired of coping.

Wei Jun was exhausted and exhausted, and the Xianbei people laughed and insulted at the top of the city.

Ran Min hated his teeth itching. He was invincible in field battles, but he was also helpless in the face of a fortified city. Today's Wei army is no longer the previous Wei army. In the first battle of Xiangguo, more than [-] elite troops were wiped out, which was almost a fatal blow.

Ran Wei's spine was broken, and he fell from the peak to the bottom.

If Ran Min hadn't created a military miracle here, Ran Min would almost have perished instead.

Unable to attack for a long time, Ran Min could only listen to Chang Wei's opinion, and shot letters of persuasion into the city non-stop every day.

Those who took Duan Gu's head were promoted to generals and granted the title of marquis of a hundred households, and those who surrendered in Kaicheng were also granted titles of marquis of a hundred households and rewarded with a thousand pieces of gold.

On the contrary, Li Yue calmed down, attacking a fortified city like Fangtou, it was useless to be impatient.

The soil and water here are fertile, so Li Yue simply asked Zhou Qian to lead the slaves and the southern army to go northward, trim the fertile land from Liyang to Fangtou, and replant some beans and vegetables.

While the slaves were farming, the Southern Army set up a camp to guard against Duan Kan's cavalry raids.

However, Duan Kan seemed to be pleasing to Ran Min, and kept harassing the Wei army's rear, and sometimes invaded the surrounding area of ​​Yecheng, burned many villages, and once advanced under Yecheng to show off its might.

This siege, confrontation, and pull lasted for two months.

While Wei Jun was exhausted, the hearts of the people in Fangtou City also began to float.

Some Jin soldiers fled to the city at night, exposing the reality of Fangtou.

The Jie people and Hu people in the city naturally had to fight to the death, and their will to resist was not high. The Jin people and Xianbei people had low fighting spirit when Ran Min promised not to blame the past.

The Duan family is very different from Tuoba and Murong. They are not pure Xianbei people. Their ancestor, Duan Ri Lu Juan, was once a slave of the Wuhuan nobles. When there was a severe drought in Yuyang, Duan Ri Lu Juan led more than two hundred people to beg for food in western Liaoning. The exiles of all ethnic groups grew rapidly.

"In another month, the city will be almost finished." Li Yue looked at the Fangtou city wall, the defenders were exhausted, and more and more people were fleeing the city.

"Captain, there is a secret message from Duan Kan!" Zhang Shengye suddenly came to report.

"Duan Kan sent a secret letter?" Li Yue was a little unbelievable. He had already fought this battle, so he couldn't shake hands and make peace, right?

(End of this chapter)