By 6 July 1904, Oku was ready to move north again, and his four divisions reached the outskirts of Kaiping on 7 July 1904 and through night movements, were into the hills behind Kaiping by the morning of 9 July 1904 and was prepared for either combat or twenty additional days of marching. The following two weeks were spent by both sides with artillery duels and cavalry skirmishes, without major fighting. On 20 July, orders for an attack on 23 July were issued, but again heavy rains delayed the attack, which was postponed by 24 hours.