In November 1075, Nùng Tông Đản advanced into Song territory in Guangxi while a naval fleet commanded by Lý Thường Kiệt captured Qinzhou and Lianzhou prefectures. Lý Thường Kiệt calmed the apprehensions of the local Chinese populace, claiming that he was simply apprehending a rebel who took refuge in China and that the local Song authorities had refused to cooperate in detaining him. In the early spring of 1076, Thường Kiệt and Nùng Tông Đản defeated the Song militia of Yongzhou, and during a battle at Kunlun Pass, their forces beheaded the Governor-General of Guangnan West Circuit, Zhang Shoujie (d. 1076). After a forty-two-day siege, Yongzhou was breached and razed to the ground. When Song forces attempted to challenge the Vietnamese forces, the latter retreated, with their spoils of war and thousands of prisoners.