ABSTRACT
Following the Battle of the Mang Hills in 543, in which the Eastern Wei trounced the Western Wei, a period of relative peace set in for Luoyang. 1 In 564, after a lull of 21 years, it again became the target of contention. Commanding a force of 100,000, Yuwen Hu, the true power holder of the Northern Zhou, launched an eastern expedition in the tenth month. In their attempt to sack the city, the Zhou troops built mounds, dug tunnels, and even blocked a major road, but eventually they were routed by a contingent of Northern Qi cavalrymen from Jinyang. 2
