In less than five days, the very thing Cheng Ziang had feared most still came to pass, as the Yichuan Clan's Nine Thousand Battalion took the initiative to attack the Demon Clan's troops, intending to break the standoff.
As the Dongsheng troops were routed, the three major aristocratic families incessantly gathered forces, amassing an army over a hundred thousand strong. Of these hundred thousand, the Yichuan Clan accounted for nearly half, that is, fifty thousand men, while the remaining fifty thousand were divided between the other two major families.
Despite being cobbled together on short notice, the majority of the army consisted of veterans from the defeat and some conscripts who hadn't managed to flee, all of whom were ideal soldiers.