Flight Back East and Collapse
In autumn 26, The Chimei forces attacked the territory held by the regional warlord Wei Xiao (隗囂), but were repelled by Wei. At this time, they suffered from a sudden cold spell that froze many soldiers to death. They headed back east and reentered Chang'an and engaged in a series of battles with Deng and, despite their reduced strength at this time, continued to defeat Deng regularly. The wars led to a severe famine in the Guangzhong region, which affected not only the people of the region but also both Chimei and Deng's forces. Chimei, lacking food, eventually abandoned Chang'an and headed east. Liu Xiu set up two forces at Xin'an (新安, in modern Luoyang, Henan) and Yiyang (宜陽, also in modern Luoyang) to block their progress, as his forces under Deng and Feng Yi, whom he had sent to relieve Deng, continued to battle the Chimei. In spring 27, the Chimei won a great victory against both Deng and Feng at Hu (湖縣, in modern Sanmenxia, Henan) -- a rarity in the records regarding them in that the battle tactics demonstrating Chimei generals' brilliance were recorded in historical accounts. The Chimei general engaged in the tactic of feigning defeat and retreat—abandoning what appeared to be supplies of food. Deng's forces, also hungry, tried to take the food, which turned out to only contain one layer of beans with dirt underneath. Having locked Deng's forces into this frenzy, the Chimei forces then collapsed on them, defeating them.
However, this victory would be the last for the Chimei. About a month later, they suffered a major defeat at Feng's hands—in which Feng created confusion for the Chimei by also coloring his troops' eyebrows red. The remnants of the Chimei withdrew east toward Yiyang. Liu Xiu personally led the troops to wait for them. As the Chimei arrived at Yiyang, they were surprised to see Liu Xiu's overwhelming forces, and decided to negotiate surrender terms. After Liu Xiu agreed not to execute Emperor Penzi, the Chimei emperor and generals surrendered.
Read more about this topic: Chimei
Famous quotes containing the words flight, east and/or collapse:
“In all her products, Nature only develops her simplest germs. One would say that it was no great stretch of invention to create birds. The hawk which now takes his flight over the top of the wood was at first, perchance, only a leaf which fluttered in its aisles. From rustling leaves she came in the course of ages to the loftier flight and clear carol of the bird.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Biography is a very definite region bounded on the north by history, on the south by fiction, on the east by obituary, and on the west by tedium.”
—Philip Guedalla (1889–1944)
“Newspapers are unable, seemingly, to discriminate between a bicycle accident and the collapse of civilisation.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)