REVIEW OF CHINESE TROOPS AT PORT ARTHUR.
The following year Emperor Hien Feng died, leaving a son as heir, whose age was only five years. Four of Prince Kung’s elder brothers were already dead, and the fifth had lost his position in Emperor Tankwang’s household by being adopted into the family of another emperor. There was thus no one to claim precedence of him as the first prince of blood royal, during the minority of Tung-chi, the new emperor. A conspiracy had, however, been formed against him, with which he found it necessary to grapple immediately. The late emperor had left the administration of affairs practically in the hands of a council of eight, of whom Prince I was at the head. This council had decided upon a plan of action for seizing the reins of power. They proposed to obtain possession of the emperor’s person, to put the empress-regents out of the way, and to kill Prince Kung and his two surviving brothers. Prince Kung, however, was not to be found napping. Having received news of the plot, he at once took measures to prevent its successful accomplishment, by carrying off the young emperor to Peking. The conspirators were then arrested and brought to trial. The Princes I and Chin, being of the blood royal, were permitted to take the “happy dispatch.” The rest of the conspirators were either beheaded or banished. Thus did Prince Kung save from destruction the reigning dynasty of China.
For his great services he was at once proclaimed “Regent Prince,” and in conjunction with the two empress-regents assumed the government of China. He immediately adopted a vigorous policy in dealing with the Tai-Ping rebels, which was crowned with success. After Colonel Gordon’s capture of Suchow, at the head of his ever victorious army, Prince Kung bestowed upon him a medal and ten thousand taels, which were refused. Prince Kung also successfully put down the Mohammedan rising in Yun-nan and Kan-pu, and opened up diplomatic intercourse with European powers. Prince Kung’s determination not to accept the gunboats purchased in 1861 nearly led to serious results, and cost England $5,000,000. This crucial period was followed by another in 1870 when the Tien-tsin massacre occurred. In all these events Prince Kung showed that he possessed the gifts of a great statesman. When Emperor Tung-chi died childless in 1875, the choice of a successor to the dragon throne lay between Tsai-ching, the son of Prince Kung, and Tsai-tien, the son of Prince Chun, his younger brother. As the election of the former would have compelled the retirement of Prince Kung from active participation in the government of China, and as a continuance of his services was a matter of absolute necessity for his country, Tsai-ching was passed over in favor of Tsai-tien, a child of only four years of age, who adopted the name of Kwang-Su, or illustrious successor. Prince Kung, however, continued to act as regent of the country. The present emperor assumed the reigns of power in 1887, and subsequently he dismissed with disgrace the man whom he was afterwards pleased to honor, and who had rendered to China and the reigning dynasty such services as ought never to be forgotten.
When the Chinese fled from Ping-Yang towards Wi-ju they left behind them nearly a million dollars in treasure, thirty-six guns, two thousand tents, one thousand three hundred horses, and a considerable quantity of rice and other stores. Hard pressed by the pursuing Japanese, they abandoned their remaining four guns at An-ju, a town some seventy-five miles north of Ping-Yang. Thirty miles farther on, at Chong-ju, an important provincial town, they made a temporary halt, having received orders to hold the place pending the arrival of large reinforcements from the north. But the pursuit was too hot, and Chong-ju was evacuated without fighting. The next stand attempted to be made was at Ngan, where the troops were reinforced by orders from Shin-King, the province in which Mukden is situated. For a few days it was prophesied that the decisive battle of the war would be fought there, but the Chinese again abandoned their position and fell back upon Kaichan.
The Japanese army, while pushing forward towards Manchooria, showed the greatest consideration in their dealings with the Coreans, and any attempt at robbery or outrage on the part of the soldiery was most severely punished. The private soldiers were under the strictest orders to pay cash for everything that they obtained from the natives, and pains were taken to see that they should carry out their instructions. The result was that the Coreans began to appreciate that the Japanese were better friends to them than were the Chinese. The latter had been very severe in their exactions of supplies from the populace, and even though the Corean sympathies had been with the Chinese, the common people objected to the expense of quartering the army without recompense.
JAPANESE SOLDIERS DIGGING A WELL.
On the 4th of October the main portion of the advance Japanese column reached Yong-chon, a little to the south of Wi-ju, after the difficult march from Ping-Yang, retarded by an extensive commissariat department and many guns. No sign of the enemy was reported at this place. Four days later, scouts reported that a small Chinese force still occupied Wi-ju, and a detachment of Japanese infantry and cavalry was thrown forward, supported by light artillery, to dislodge them. The Chinese offered but a slight resistance and fled precipitately before the smart attack, finally succeeding in getting across the Yalu. The larger body of Chinese troops had withdrawn across the river before this time, so that the forces remaining in Corea numbered not more than two thousand. Their loss in killed and wounded probably did not exceed one hundred. Wi-ju was occupied by the Japanese on the same day, and on the day after they began a reconnoissance which revealed the fact that the Chinese were still in force in the northern bank of the river. Eight intrenched batteries were discovered, and the enemy were rapidly throwing up fresh earthworks and building new batteries. Obviously the next fight was to be expected at this place, and if the Chinese held their grounds it would be a sanguinary one.
Marshal Yamagata still maintained his base at Ping-Yang, as being more convenient for securing his supplies by sea, while General Nodzu remained in advance with the forces. The Japanese line of communication was now complete throughout Corea, a sufficient number of troops being scattered through the peninsula at Fusan, Asan, Chemulpo, Seoul, Gensan, and Ping-Yang to guard against any hostilities on the part of the natives, and to make reinforcement by land safe. The government of Wi-ju was placed in the hands of a Japanese officer acting as special commissioner. The field telegraph was established in working order within two days after the capture of the place, and a regular courier service to the rear was inaugurated at once.
At the same time two or three detached revolts were in progress, the most important one being that of the Togakuto rebels in the province of Kiung-sang. These rebels were still in arms and in the mountain fastnesses it was hard to get near them. They had with them fifty Chinese soldiers who escaped when the Chinese were defeated at Asan and then joined the rebels. Those who had taken up arms against the corrupt Corean officials in the Province of Chung-chong had been dispersed, however, and the more formidable ones were now being gradually hemmed in.