Battle of Kunyang - The Battle

The Battle

With the Xin forces approaching Kunyang from the north, Liu Xiu led 13 horsemen out of Kunyang at night to rally for reinforcements from Dingling and Yanxian.

The Xin commander, Wang Yi, confident of his overwhelming numbers, stated that his army would "annihilate all in his path, massacre the town, and dance in its blood", and laid siege to the town. Faced with siege towers and tunnels dug under its castle walls, Kunyang's defenses held on until Liu Xiu returned with 10,000 footmen and cavalry on July 7. By then, the Xin forces' morale was dropping while the Han forces' morale was booming with Liu's return. Liu Xiu took this chance to lead 1,000 men to engage the Xin forces, while another brigade of 3,000 marched around to the rear of the Xin army and attacked the Xin's main camp. Wang Yi, still underestimating the Han forces, led 10,000 men with Wang Xun to meet the enemy, while ordering the rest of his troops to stand their ground unless he ordered them to attack. Once they engaged in battle, however, after minor losses, the other units were hesitant to assist them, and Liu Xiu killed Wang Xun in battle. Once that happened, the Han forces inside Kunyang burst out of the city and attacked the other Xin units, and the much larger Xin forces suffered a total collapse. Adding to the misery of the Xin forces was a sudden rainstorm which caused a flash flood, drowning many of the fleeing men.