When he was around 17, to escape arrest he went to live with an acquaintance Gentleman Chang (常氏) in Huguan close to Luzhou (潞州, modern Changzhi, Shanxi), shortly before joining the army of Luzhou's interim regent (留後) Li Jitao.
Hinton later accepted a post as an English teacher at the Northern University in Southeast Shanxi province, near Changzhi City, in a liberated district.
Changzhi |
Three Nationalist divisions were stationed in the largest city of the region, Changzhi, while the rest were stationed in the following cities/towns: Xiangyuan (襄垣), Changzi (长子), Tunliu (屯留), Lucheng, Huguang (壶关), and other counties; and, from these newly established bases, the Nationalists planned to take the entire southeastern Shanxi region from the Communists.
Tian took control of four of the six Zhaoyi prefectures, and the Tang imperial government retained control of the other two, eventually merging it with nearby Zelu Circuit (澤潞, headquartered in modern Changzhi, Shangxi) and maintaining the Zhaoyi name for the merged circuit.
Erzhu Rong's wife (Yuan Ye's aunt), along with Erzhu Rong's cousin Erzhu Shilong, fought their way out of Luoyang and headed back north, meeting up with Erzhu Rong's nephew Erzhu Zhao at Zhangzi (長子, in modern Changzhi, Shanxi).