In winter 554, Yuwen Tai launched his attack, commanded by Yu Jin () and assisted by Yang Zhong and Yuwen Tai's nephew Yuwen Hu; Xiao Cha served as guide. Receiving mixed intelligence reports, Emperor Yuan continued to take no major precautions other than to summon Wang back to the capital, but Wang, being geographically distant from Jiangling, could not arrive quickly. Wang Lin did turn back his forces and try to come to Jiankang's aid, but was also not able to arrive before Western Wei forces surrounded Jiangling. Emperor Yuan, believing that he was on the verge of being captured, set fire to his great collection of ancient books and began to draft articles of surrender. When Xie Daren and Zhu Maichen suggested that he make a surprise dash out of Jiangling to try to join Ren Yue, whose forces were just across the Yangtze River, Emperor Yuan initially agreed, but later, believing that the plan would not succeed and would only bring further humiliation, changed his mind, and walked out of Jiangling to surrender.