The biography of Yue Fei in Chapter 365 of the History of Song records: "The Jin attacked and surrounded Bo (亳; near modern-day Bozhou City, Anhui Province) whereupon Liu Qi (刘锜) requested emergency assistance from the Imperial court.

Yue Fei then sent Wang Gui (王貴), Niu Gao (牛皋), Dong Xian (董先), Yang Zaixing (杨再兴), Meng Bangjie (孟邦杰) and Li Bao (李宝) amongst others to defend the western capital and the prefectures of Ru (汝), Zheng (郑), Yingchang (颍昌), Chen (陈), Cao (曹) Guang (光) and Cai (蔡).

Next Yue Fei ordered Liang Xing (梁兴) to cross the Yellow River, assemble citizens loyal to the emperor and attack Beizhou County (北州县).

On August 21, (the 8th day of the seventh month in that year of the Chinese calendar), Wuzhu launched a surprise attack, heading a force of 15,000 horsemen and 100,000 infantry.

After the battle Yue Fei left for the Imperial court where he presented a memorial to the emperor saying: "On the 8th day of this month whilst out scouting, I saw four evil foreign princes, their mighty warriors and Wanyan Zongxian (完顏宗賢).

They seized the road 20 li (6.6 miles) to the north of Yancheng where our cavalry engaged the enemy in the early evening when officers and men hacked and chopped at the foes with maza swords (麻扎刀), griffes (提刀) and large hatchets.

"[2][3] Following his defeat at Yancheng, fourteen days later Wuzhu attacked Yingchang Fu (颍昌府; modern-day Xuchang City in Henan Province).

Yue Fei's army recaptured Zhengzhou and Luoyang leaving his troops facing Zhuxian Town (20 kilometres (12 mi) south of modern-day Kaifeng City), Henan.

The Han people praised the victory whereupon Yue Fei shouted "Onward gentlemen to Huanglong Fu (黄龙府 near modern-day Nong'an County, Jilin Province), where we can drink our fill!

[7][5] When Emperor Gaozong heard the news, he was exultant and exclaimed: “If we have worn down the enemy's strength and left them exhausted it will be easy to seize the chance to exterminate them, if they are hiding some wicked plan we should understand and second guess them.”[8] When Yue Fei's army arrived at Zhuxian the two sides opposing stood facing one another.

[10][11] Emperor Gaozong was unwilling to let Yue Fei continue his advance and in succession sent out twelve gold medals recalling the troops stationed in Zhu Xian under the general.

[15] According to Ma Duanlin "Investigation of the meritorious service of the followers of Zhang Jun, Han Shizhong, Liu Guangshi (刘光世) and Yue Fei shows that they also had some internal strife.

"[citation needed] Contemporary Song Dynasty historian and expert Wang Cengyu (王曾瑜) notes that: “The great battles of Yancheng and Yinchang took place during the wet months of June and July in the Central Plains area.

Here the Jin cavalry showed off their speed and skill making the few victories achieved difficult for Yue Fei and his army.”[17] and "Comparative evidence from the Zhuzi yulei[18] regarding the battle at Zhu Xian shows that "Two separate parts of Yue Fei's army marched from the approximate locations of Linying and Yingchang to Xiangbian Du (向汴都), when there is the strong probability that they attacked and slaughtered the Jin army at Zhuxian.