In order to reach their position on the 26th the Guards Division began their advance three days before. The roads were quagmires, and had to be made good for the passage of field guns. Reaching Karoko on the morning of the 23rd the fighting force repaired the road, and on the following day came to the high ground North-west of Henkowan, and South of Sanuipu where it encountered three battalions of Russian infantry from Daisotung and a smart skirmish took place. On the 25th, after another contact with the enemy, the division advanced to the appointed line of Heilintzu. The Guards having begun their march a little earlier than the rest of the army, General Kuropatkin withdrew part of his force from Am-ping and Liao-yang, and strengthened his army to meet the attack on the main road. This movement, while endangering the position of the Guards, proved to be of benefit to the general plan of the Japanese, for it relieved the pressure on the Twelfth Division. Four battalions of this division--the Unizawa Brigade--had been ordered to Kiao-tao to protect the right flank against a force of the enemy coming from Ponchiho, while the main body of the division advanced from Yu-shu-ling, and assumed the offensive at dawn on the 26th, after the attack made by the Second Division. The reason for this was obvious. The country in front of the Twelfth Division was especially difficult, and they were in close contact with the main force of the Russians, who occupied a very strong position. Any advance of the Second Division would, therefore, be useful to the Twelfth Division, whose mountain guns meanwhile were able to harass the enemy. The situation on the left flank did not improve, and threatened to become critical, for the enemy continued to strengthen his front. General Kuroki accordingly despatched his reserves to reinforce the Guards. This decision was arrived at after the most careful deliberation, and was fraught with immediate consequences that menaced the advance of the Second Division. Scarcely had the reserves moved away to the assistance of the Guards than the enemy delivered a vigorous counter attack against the left flank of the Second Division. This movement was unexpected. It was too late, however, to recall the reserves, and General Kuroki had no choice but to order the Guards Division instantly to press their attack on the left, in the hope that this would lighten the unforeseen strain on his centre. Though successful in the night attack, the Second Division had not been able to make the immediate advance anticipated. On the other side of a narrow valley, fronting the ridge which had been carried at the point of the bayonet, ran another ridge with a razor like summit flanked by conical peaks and traversed by a buttress of rock descending almost at right angles from the enemy’s trenches. There the Russians, reinforced from Am-ping and covered by guns that kept up a heavy bombardment, made an obstinate defence.