While Emperor Taiwu was on his Xia campaign, his generals, as he instructed, crossed the Yellow River when it froze in winter 430, and quickly recaptured Luoyang and Hulao. They soon forced the retreat of the main Liu Song force, under the command of the Liu Song general Dao Yanzhi (到彥之), and trapped the remaining Liu Song troops at Huatai (滑台, in modern Anyang, Henan). A relief mission by the Liu Song general Tan Daoji could not reach Huatai, and by spring 431, Huatai fell. All the lands lost to Liu Song a year earlier had been regained. (Emperor Taiwu, in another action typical of him, rewarded the Liu Song general Zhu Xiuzhi (朱脩之), who had held Huatai for months faithfully, by giving him a daughter of an imperial clan member in marriage.)
