In August 1858 the Taiping Army took Luzhou (), in modern-day Hefei, Anhui, and the Imperial governor of Hunan-Guangdong Guanwen () ordered Li Xubin to counterattack by taking the cities and towns of Tongcheng, Shucheng, and Taihu (). Imperial Jiangning General Duxing'a () and Li Xubin consequently led over 10,000 troops and attacked Anhui from Hubei. On September 22 imperial troops took Taihu (). Afterwards, Li Xubin led 8,000 troops to continue the attack northward. On September 27 Li Xubin's imperial army took Qianshan. On October 13 they took Tongcheng, and on October 24 Shucheng. On November 3, after leaving behind 2,000 soldiers to guard the newly conquered towns, Li Xubin led the remaining 6,000 imperial troops to the outskirts of Sanhe ("Three Rivers"), around 25 km southeast of Shucheng.
