The fighting broke out in the early hours of the eighteenth. Before that, Dan Tonghai had rejected Zhang Xing's order for Jia Yue to lead his troops out first, insisting on personally leading the detached force back across the river to strike the enemy camp and mount the main assault.
He gave two reasons:
First, the reinforcements had just arrived and had rested for less than an hour. The detached force might look as though it had been marched back and forth, but it had actually rested for most of the night and had more strength to spare. Second, they had built the camp and discovered the shallows while crossing the river back and forth, so they knew the terrain better. Moreover, they had deliberately damaged some fences and trenches during this retreat. The Wei troops had occupied the camp at night and might not have had time to repair them; only his men knew these details.
Zhang Xing naturally accepted the sound advice.
"Dan Dalang, Chang Fu, Liang Jiading, Huang Junhan, and Meng Ghost-Eater will mount the main assault with their five camps, six thousand infantry and cavalry in all. Wu Erlang, leave your troops with Third Lady and go keep watch on Zhao Xingmi." Zhang Xing amended his orders accordingly. "Zhou Xingfan, Liu Heihuang, and Fan Bao will follow, crossing upstream with one camp of armored cavalry and two camps of light cavalry, then circle around the west side of the main camp to assist the enveloping attack. Jia Yue, Wang Xiongdan, and Tang Bairen will cross with their three camps, four thousand men, and establish a position on the southern bank. Bai Yousi, Wu Jingfeng, Xu Shiying, and I will not cross. We will hold on the northern bank of the Bian River. Those six camps will