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 defences held on until Liu Xiu returned with 10,000 foot soldiers and cavalry on 7 July. By then, the Xin forces' morale was dropping while the Lulin forces' morale increased 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 Lulin 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 Lulin 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. Aftermath Unable to gather most of his men, Wang Yi had to withdraw with his remaining several thousand men back to Luoyang. Once the news about the outcome of the Battle of Kunyang spread throughout the empire, the people rose across the empire, with many killing local government officials while others claimed to be officials under the new Han regime. Within a month, most of the empire had slipped out of Xin control. Notes References Crespigny, Rafe de. (2007). A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23–220 AD). Leiden: Koninklijke Brill. . This article uses the translation of the corresponding Chinese-language article, retrieved on August 18, 2006. Kunyang 23 1st century in China Military history of Henan Kunyang 23 Xin dynasty Emperor Guangwu of Han 20s conflicts