Gao Huan was from a poor family and had been serving numerous rebel warlords before meeting Erzhu Rong.

Thus another civil war broke out and by 532 Gao Huan had defeated and killed the Erzhus and took control of the imperial government.

[3][6] The new Emperor Xiaowu attempted to resist Gao Huan’s influence by aligning himself with another general called Heba Yue, who controlled many of the western provinces.

Even if he didn’t have 200,000 soldiers, Gao Huan’s army was certainly significantly larger than Yuwen Tai’s, who reportedly only had 10,000 men at his disposal.

Gao Huan planned to march into Western Wei territory and engage Yuwen Tai with his numerically superior force, however it is said that many of his advisors opposed this.

One councillor known as Xue Tang said that Gao Huan didn’t need to attack at all, as long as he prevented Yuwen Tai from getting any more food then the Western Wei army, and subsequently state, would break down from starvation.

With the benefit of hindsight, many modern authors think that these plans were both sound and had Gao Huan adopted them then he would have destroyed the Western Wei Yuwen Tai meanwhile was searching for a battlefield that would give him a chance of victory against Gao Huan and when he arrived near Shayuan his general Li Bi found a perfect site at the Weiqu marshland, ten miles away.

The area was covered in reeds which were perfect for ambush and was located within a bend in the Wei River so Gao Huan’s large army would be funnelled inward.

Some were located in a clearing in the reeds to draw in the Eastern Wei army while a large cavalry contingent under Li Bi lay in ambush.

[1][3] Yuwen Tai then commanded the camouflaged troops and launched a frontal assault against the Eastern Wei Army.