Siege and fall of Luocheng

The siege and fall of Luocheng mark a decisive step in Xuande’s campaign to take control of Yi Province. The city is defended as a key barrier protecting Chengdu, but its resistance is weakened by divisions among its commanders and by Xuande’s combination of military pressure and offers of clemency. The episode culminates in the capture and execution of Zhang Ren, whose refusal to serve a second lord gives the fall of the city a moral dimension beyond its strategic outcome.

The defense of Luocheng

As Xuande’s army approaches, the defenders divide their forces. Ling Bao and Deng Xian establish two camps outside Luocheng, while Liu Gui and Zhang Ren remain responsible for the city itself. Xuande’s forces, meanwhile, must decide who will lead the assault on the outlying positions. Huang Zhong volunteers, but Wei Yan challenges him, arguing that he is too old for the task. Rather than let the dispute escalate, Xuande assigns each commander a separate camp. Pang Tong advises Xuande to follow their forces with his own troops, anticipating that the rivalry might create further trouble.

The arrangement fails because Wei Yan acts on jealousy rather than the agreed plan. After learning from spies that Huang Zhong will depart at the fourth watch, Wei Yan secretly sets out an hour earlier. He intends to attack both camps, beginning with Ling Bao’s, rather than limiting himself to the position assigned to him. Ling Bao’s men detect the approach and counterattack; Deng Xian’s forces join the fighting. Wei Yan is nearly killed by Deng Xian, but Huang Zhong arrives and turns the immediate course of the battle: he attacks Ling Bao, who retreats, while Deng Xian is killed. The Shu forces are scattered, and Wei Yan’s premature move has endangered the operation rather than secured an advantage.

Reversals, capture, and clemency

The disorder does not prevent Xuande from gaining ground. Ling Bao retreats toward Deng Xian’s camp, only to discover that Xuande has occupied it. He escapes by country paths, believing he can return safely to Luocheng, but Wei Yan anticipates his route and captures him. Xuande then addresses the surrendered soldiers as men with families in the region and tells them they may join his forces or return home. Their sustained cheers register the effect of a policy that treats surrender as an available choice rather than demanding that the defeated continue fighting.

Wei Yan avoids dismissal only because he has captured Ling Bao. Xuande also makes him acknowledge publicly that Huang Zhong saved his life. The rescue thus exposes the cost of Wei Yan’s arrogance while preventing the rivalry from being settled simply by removing him from command. Xuande then releases Ling Bao, trusting that an act of mercy will persuade him to bring the other defenders over. Wei Yan protests, but Xuande explains his decision as benevolence and mercy and predicts that Ling Bao will not betray him.

Ling Bao does not keep faith with that expectation. On returning to Luocheng, he conceals that he was captured and released, instead presenting himself as a hero who fought his way free. The episode contrasts Xuande’s attempt to turn clemency into allegiance with a commander’s willingness to reshape the story of his defeat. When news of the earlier setback reaches Chengdu, Liu Zhang sends his eldest son, Liu Xun, to reinforce Luocheng. Ling Bao proposes diverting the swift River Fu to wash away Xuande’s camp, but the available account moves on to the renewed siege rather than describing the result of that plan.

The renewed assault and Zhang Ren’s stand

At Luocheng, Xuande has waited through Zhang Ren’s repeated taunts without responding. He then orders an assault. Zhang Ren exploits a gate Xuande has not attacked, launching a counterattack that catches the besiegers off guard and drives Xuande into retreat. Zhang Ren pursues him into the hills, where Zhang Fei arrives and confronts him. Zhang Ren withdraws toward the city as Zhang Fei pursues him to its walls; he makes it through the gate in time.

The defenders also try to trap Zhang Fei. They challenge him to a duel, feign retreat, and lead him toward an ambush. The plan puts him in danger, but Zhao Zilong arrives at the last moment and rescues him. In a separate encounter, Huang Zhong and Wei Yan defeat another enemy division and accept its surrender, further reducing the forces available to Zhang Ren. These episodes make the contest turn on both personal rivalries and the timing of reinforcements: an impetuous advance nearly costs Wei Yan his life, while timely arrivals save Xuande and Zhang Fei from capture.

Kong Ming arrives and uses a different form of bait. Wearing Daoist robes and riding in his carriage before Luocheng’s main gate, he appears unconcerned and is followed by troops deliberately made to look unimpressive. Zhang Ren is drawn out of the city and captured in the ambush prepared for him. The tactic converts the defender’s willingness to seize an apparent opportunity into the means of his defeat.

The city falls; loyalty remains contested

Brought before Xuande, Zhang Ren is asked why he continued to resist after the others had surrendered. He answers that a loyal servant cannot have more than one master. Xuande replies that submission is the practical means of survival in the present age, but Zhang Ren says he might feign submission and strike again later; he asks to be killed instead. Xuande cannot persuade him to change his allegiance, and Zhang Ren is executed.

The contrast is deliberate: other defenders and soldiers have accepted surrender or been offered a return home, while Zhang Ren treats submission as incompatible with loyalty. His death does not reverse the military outcome, but it makes the capture of Luocheng a test of what service to a defeated ruler requires. The verse that follows preserves his honor in the city’s memory, presenting him as steadfast even in defeat.

After Zhang Ren’s death, Xuande’s army returns to the walls and calls for the city to surrender. The gate opens, and Xuande enters Luocheng. Liu Xun escapes through the opposite gate and carries the news to Chengdu. Thus the fall is both a physical transfer of the city and a political turning point: resistance at this strategic position has ended, while Liu Zhang must now face the threat at the provincial center.