On the twenty-first day of the first month, Jin's Grand Marshal Huan Wen swore an oath before his troops and set out on campaign. His naval force of fifty thousand sailed down to Guangling, then entered Fanliang Lake (present-day Gaoyou Lake) from the Yangtze River, winding through the waterways into Pofu Pond (present-day Hongze Lake). They reached Huaiyin on the fourth day of the second month. The Northern Headquarters commanders Tian Luo, Cai Guang, and Wei Qian had already assembled there with their respective troops, more than fifty thousand men in all, awaiting orders. Xi Yin, Provincial Governor of Xu and Yan Provinces, led five thousand infantry and cavalry under his command to join the campaign in support of the Wang. Thus, the Jin army's hundred and twenty thousand infantry and cavalry advanced together by land and water, traveling upstream along the Hong-Ru River and Si River to Pengcheng in Xuzhou. By then, it was the fifteenth day of the second month.
At Pengcheng, Huan Wen received an urgent military dispatch from Gao Rou, Governor of Yingchuan, reporting that Murong Chui had come over to their side. Delighted, Huan Wen immediately summoned Huan Chong, Xi Yin, Huan Xi, Chen Caozhi, Huan Shixiu, Huan Shiqian, Xie Xuan, and Zhu Xu to his command tent for a council. Showing the eight men Gao Rou's urgent report, he said, "Murong Chui has come over to us, and Yan has lost an arm. Heaven is aiding me! On this Northern Expedition, I swear I will not return unless I achieve a great victory!"
Huan Wen had poured all of Jiangdong's strength into this campaign, determined to win. Now that he had received news of Murong Chui's submission as well, his spirits naturally soared, prompting his vow not to return without a great victory.
Chen