meanwhile, a follower of liu xiu, geng yan, the son of the governor of shanggu commandery (上谷, roughly modern zhangjiakou, hebei), had fled back to his father's commandery, and persuaded both his father geng kuang (耿況) and the governor of the neighboring yuyang commandery (漁陽, roughly modern beijing), peng chong (彭寵), to support liu xiu. geng yan, being supported by gen kuang's deputy kou xun (寇恂) and jing dan (景丹), and peng's deputy, wu han, led the two commanderies' cavalry and infantry forces south to join liu xiu. the combined forces gave liu xiu enough strength to make a direct assault against handan, trapping and killing wang lang.