During the Northern Wei period of the Northern Dynasties, Hou Yuan was a sharp and daring general known for his quick thinking on the battlefield. He fought alongside Erzhu Rong and Erzhu Zhao in many campaigns, earning repeated merits. After the Erzhu regime collapsed, Hou Yuan defected to Gao Huan and helped him crush the Erzhu forces at Hanling, for which he was rewarded with the post of governor of Qi Province.
After Gao Huan defeated the Erzhu clan, he established the Grand Chancellor's residence in Jinyang and relocated the Six Garrisons' Xianbei to Bing and Fen provinces. Jinyang became Gao Huan's base for controlling the Central Plains. Hou Yuan colluded with Gao Huan, who appointed him to Qingzhou, encouraging him: "Do not hesitate to advance just because your troops are few."
Hou Yuan then led his troops to capture Gaoyang Commandery, settling his wife, children, and personal retainers within the city walls.
Wang Guiping, the Prince of Donglai, dispatched his eldest son to lead troops in an assault on Gaoyang, with reinforcements sent by Ru Huailang, the governor of South Qingzhou. The people of Qingzhou city flocked to deliver grain, their supply lines stretching endlessly in a grand procession.
Hou Yuan, aware that his own forces were outnumbered and the enemy had local support, decided to rely on strategy, knowing that cutting off their supply lines was crucial.
Hou Yuan personally led his cavalry to Qingzhou under cover of night and said to the grain-transporting civilians, "The imperial army has arrived and the fighting is fierce. We escaped from the city—how dare you still go there?"
The people, terrified by the news, abandoned their grain supplies and fled in panic, leaving the Guiping army cut off from their rear support and suddenly trapped in dire straits.
By dawn, Hou Yuan told passersby, "The imperial army reached Gaoyang last night. We are the vanguard, just arrived today. Who knows where the rebel leader is?"
Those who did not know the truth spread the news in a panic, and the entire city was thrown into chaos, eventually capturing Guiping and surrendering.
Later, the idiom "End to End" came to describe things that follow one after another without interruption.
Source: *Book of Wei*, "Biography of Hou Yuan"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "首尾相继" came to describe things that follow one after another without interruption.