 This time, the nationalist garrison of the 5th Division of the 94th Army became the victim and was forced to abandon the city after suffering heavy loss in a fierce battle that lasted from September 6, 1947, to September 8, 1947.The three divisions of the nationalist 94th Army, the 5th Division, the 43rd Division and the 121st Division each sent out a regiment to reinforce the defenders at Laishui (涞水), while the 4th Division of the nationalist 13th Army and the 22nd Division of the nationalist 16th Army were mobilized for reinforcement by railway transportation.Although the nationalist response to sending out reinforcement was swift, the reinforcement was extremely slow in reaching their destination because major sections of the railway from Solid City (Gu Cheng, 固城) to Baoding, the important transportation the nationalists depended on, was destroyed by the enemy units from the communist 5th and 9th sub-Military Regions.