The fighting began earlier than expected.
This was thanks to Great Wei's legacy... When Cao Lin had personally established the three-pass defensive line, he had also laid out three supporting supply-station routes in four sections along the Poison Desert and the Great River, inside and outside the river bend. These had allowed Dou Shang to rush reinforcements from Longshang earlier, and now the supply stations along the way had also helped Yu Jieluo return to the defense in time.
Thus, that morning, when the sun had only just reached the southeast, battle suddenly erupted.
The first troops to engage were none other than a force of Prefectural Soldiers from Lingwu... The Longshang reinforcements Dou Shang had brought were not to be underestimated. Lingwu in particular was the Dou clan's home base, which they had carefully cultivated since the establishment of the Eight Pillar State System. Its soldiers therefore had generations of fighting experience, considerable loyalty, and decent weapons and equipment. Although Lingwu was called the Jiangdong beyond the frontier, its surroundings still had no shortage of mountains, deserts, and rivers, and its people could certainly be called fierce.
On their westward march, Yu Jieluo had also promised these troops that, so long as they broke through the enemy before them, returned to Yulin, and rescued Dou Shang and Dou Ru, he would let them return to Lingwu... Naturally, their morale was high.
In stark contrast stood Lü Daobin and his Military Law Battalion on the Expeditionary Army's side.
This Military Law Battalion was attached to the Gang Affairs Department, but had actually been formed temporarily for the Expeditionary Army. Its core consisted mostly of surrendered Civil Law Officials from the Former Great Wei in Hebei. It had genuinely never been intended for combat, and even its battlefield supervision duties required