At noon on the fourth day, the Imperial Army suffered a defeat.
Liu Cheng clearly bore responsibility for this. He had ordered every unit to maintain strict formation and forbidden them to advance beyond their lines without authorization, so right up until noon, the Right Wing troops under his command had dawdled on the southern side of Shouyang Mountain without entering Jia Shan Pass. Instead, Dai Shi, approaching from the west, and Chen You's troops, coming from Luoyang, had plunged in first.
Then the Qiang people, fighting with their backs to the mountain and striking back with a resolve to die, had battered them into an outright rout.
Liu Cheng reflected on his conduct on the spot.
Especially after the instruction by word and example he had received from Huan Wen and Xie An yesterday, he had long since prepared himself to act impartially. He immediately acknowledged his responsibility: as commander of the flanking force closest to the battlefield, and bearer of Huan Wen's Red Banner, he had actually failed to restrain these officers and soldiers and bring them under unified command. Surely he had to mend the pen now that the sheep had escaped.
Accordingly, he immediately dispatched Shen Jin forward to establish a line beside the mountain, facing the road. He then sent Mao Qiu's troops, who remained with him, on a simple westward flanking maneuver to help Shen Jin gain a foothold.
He himself continued to command the remaining troops, setting them in motion again and heading west past Shen Jin and Mao Qiu's forces to climb the hills on the western side of Jia Shan Pass and attempt to rally the routed soldiers.
Indeed, although this was a passage running north to south between hills, Mangshan as a whole was merely typical low, rolling hill country.