Unfortunately for Xiang Yu, after he left the canyon, he soon got lost. He tried to ask local people for directions back to Chu, but they pointed him in the wrong direction, with this being possibly intentional given their loyalty towards Han. Xiang Yu then went into the swamps, costing him valuable time for escape. (The fact is disputed, as it is absent from certain Chinese historiographies, and most historians believe it to be fictional.) At the end, Han Xin's elite cavalry chased him to Wu River (烏江). There, Xiang Yu refused to surrender. Xiang Yu had an opportunity to use a local boatman to escape across the river back into Chu territory, but he had too much pride to do so. Instead, he tried to persuade the last 28 of his loyal soldiers to escape, but they all refused and wished to make a last stand against the soldiers that attempted to capture their lord alive. The 28 soldiers killed hundreds of Han Xin's soldiers in the battle. Just then, Xiang Yu recognized an old friend Lü Matong among the Han soldiers, and he said to Lü, "I heard that the King of Han (Liu Bang) has placed a price of 1,000 gold and the title of "Wanhu Marquis" (萬戶侯; lit. "marquis of 10,000 households") on my head. Take it then, on account of our friendship." Xiang Yu then committed suicide by slitting his throat with his sword, and a brawl broke out among the Han soldiers at the scene due to the reward offered by Liu Bang, and Xiang Yu's body was said to be dismembered and mutilated in the fight. The reward was eventually claimed by Lü Matong and five others.