Occupying Sichuan
2 min readOnce defeating Wei Xiao, Liu Xiu took Gongsun Shu as the next target of attack, hence the Chineseidiom of “coveting Sichuan after capturing Gansu”that suggests a person has insatiable desires.
By the yearend of AD 34, Liu Xiu finally ordered the Eastern Han army to advance by both land and water to Sichuan–Gongsun Shu’s base area. The following spring, nearly 60 thousand waterborne troops under the command of generals Cen Peng and Wu Han were assembled in Mount Jingmen(in present Yidu of Hubei Province)–the eastern gate of the Three Gorges on the Yangtze River, and soo went upstream to Chengdu. Around the same time, generals Lai xiand Gai Yan led another army to march southward and occupied Xiabian (in present Chengxian County of southern Gansu). Although Lai Xi was assassinated later, Gai Yan had successfully cut off Gongsun Shu’s retreat to the north.
Threatened by the approaching Eastern Han army, Gongsun Shu’s more than 100 thousand troops collapsed instantly. Liu Xiu then wrote him a letter, trying to induce him to capitulate. However, Gongsun Shu was determined to put up a desperate resistance. He even repeated the same old tactics, sending a killer to assassinate general Cen Peng. Flying into a towering rage, Liu Xiu gave orders to lay siege to Chengdu. Gongsun Shu was badly wounded in a hand-to-hand battle, and died that very night.
After destroying Gongsun Shu’s separatist regime that had existed for more than 10 years, Liu Xiu unified the country once again.
