Sir Edward Seymour was now the senior officer in Tientsin, and took over the command of the place. Affairs in Tientsin since the relief force had started, had not been altogether devoid of interest. The Commissioner of Customs had received a note from Sir Robert Hart to say that the Legations had been commanded to leave Pekin in twenty-four hours, and the letter was dated the 19th. This very naturally caused the greatest alarm about the persons of the Ministers and the Legation Guards; for after Seymour’s experiences, every one knew what the order meant. If the command had been obeyed it simply spelt disaster, for once outside the city walls an army of 30,000 men would have slain them to a man! Another item of interest had been the arrival of a further detachment of the Chinese regiment. A fine, well set up, smart body of men, who seemed to have about as much objection to slaying their brother Chinese, as had the rest of the Allies, who were by this time getting rather bitterly disposed. A few shells were fired into the settlement towards evening, and it was noticed that the rifling of one of the heaviest was getting worn, for his projectiles used to turn over and over, making a most weird noise as they did so. But even these idiosyncrasies were insufficiently alarming to drive away sleep from the weary men of Seymour’s column.
CHAPTER VII
PEI-YANG, SECOND SIEGE OF TIENTSIN
The next day, June 27th, the Russian General decided that it was necessary to take the large eastern arsenal, about three and a half miles away, as it was known that it sheltered large bodies of the enemy, besides commanding the railway communication to Taku. Immediately the Commander-in-Chief heard of the project, he offered British assistance, but the Russian General replied that he felt able to take the place without aid, and so orders were given that the British would be granted a day’s rest, after the arduous operations of the last few days. This was welcome news, and officers and men changed all their apparel, and made themselves comfortable preparatory, as they thought, to having a good day’s sleep.
At 11 a.m., however, the “general assembly,” was sounded, and orders were given that the utmost dispatch was necessary. In an incredibly short space of time, 500 of the naval brigade, two companies of the Wei-Hai-Wei regiment, and 50 American marines, under Major Waller, were under arms, and ready to proceed in any direction. It transpired that the Russians had been brought to a standstill by shell fire, while yet at extreme rifle range, and that their own fire had been rendered singularly ineffective by a very annoying mirage, which made it next to impossible to judge ranges at all accurately, or to discern any details at the point of attack.
When the force got under way, the diversity of uniforms caused much amusement. The marines were in their shirt sleeves, except those from the “Terrible,” who still donned their khaki, which they had worn in South Africa only a few months before. The bluejackets were in their ordinary blue ‘jumpers,’ but a great many of the officers had indulged in the luxury of a clean white duck uniform, which of course they had no time to change; so they perforce had to remain by far and away the most conspicuous objects on the fields. On their way, the force passed the 12-pr. from the “Terrible,” which had been ineffectively shelling the position at 5000 yards’ range, and was waiting for more ammunition. This arrived just as they passed, and the gun began to drop shells with great accuracy on the base of the large chimneys, which betrayed the whereabouts of the powder manufactory, and other store-houses and workshops.
Advancing under cover of the line, which connected the arsenal with the railway, the reinforcing column reached a point where the cover ceased, and it became necessary to deploy under fire. On the British right lay long lines of white-coated Russians, with three maxims and a battery, and it was thought from their distance to the arsenal—some 3,000 yards—that they had delivered an attack, but had been beaten off. This proved not to have been the case. They had merely exceeded even their usual slowness in the attack, and had fired volleys steadily for some time at an object, the detail of which, as I have said, was invisible. Eventually, finding that the Chinese meant to stay, their commanding officer had sent in for reinforcements.
As they were all under some sort of cover, and our men were obliged to lie down in the open on a perfectly flat plain, it wasn’t long before the Chinese turned their undivided attention to the British, and subjected them to a well-directed shrapnel fire from two field guns, mounted in the south-west corner of their position.
After waiting for ten minutes, a message was sent to the Russian General that the British wished to advance to within effective range. The reply to this was to the effect that the advance would begin in five minutes. Ten minutes passed, but no advance, so another message was sent saying that the British would advance alone, if the Russians did not move forward in ten minutes’ time. The same reply as before was received; but as no movement became visible for a quarter of an hour, and several men had been hit by shrapnel bullets, the “advance” was sounded and the line swung forward. Before the sound of the bugle had died away, there was a tremendous explosion in the arsenal, caused either by the “Terrible’s” 12-pr., which was now making beautiful shooting, or by the Chinese themselves. Our gun had also knocked out a small quick-firer, which had greatly harassed the Russians, and had temporarily silenced one of the two guns, which were playing on the left of the advance.