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small group of soldiers there, so the risk of attack was then real. This was particularly so since pirates were a notorious risk in the waters between Kowloon City and the Lei Yue Mun Passage throughout the period from the middle eighteenth century to the late 1840s, and Nga Tsin Wai was both relatively wealthy, and only a few hundred yards from the coast. After 1841, when the Sub-Magistracy, and the local garrison command were moved back to Kowloon City, the number of soldiers posted near Nga Tsin Wai should have been enough to frighten off bandits in most circumstances. However, the League of Seven faced one major attack, in 1854.
In 1854 a group of Taiping rebels approached Kowloon City25. The villagers of Nga Tsin Wai believe that the garrison at Kowloon City all fled, with the officials, and the traders in the Market. The League of Seven was thus left with no defence against the bandits except what they could muster themselves. The villagers of Nga Tsin Wai say that the elders of the League of Seven besought Tin Hau to help them with advice. They cast the divining-blocks (FF) - should they stay and fight, or flee? The Goddess told them to stay, and, in a spirit of devotion, they decided to follow her advice. The villagers of the undefended League of Seven villages fled inside the walls of Nga Tsin Wai, and the gate was heavily barred. Nga Tsin Wai had, as noted above, two iron cannon above the gate, and a brass jingal at each corner tower. These guns were all readied, and stocks of gunpowder gathered. When the Taiping bandits appeared before the village, the League villagers fought them off valiantly, and the bandits eventually left, leaving the League of Seven untouched. The villagers consider this success to be a miraculous intervention by the Goddess: great drops of sweat were seen on the Goddess' brow, showing what a huge effort she was making to throw back the bandits. The leader of the villagers in this defence was Shue-tong (A), from the tenth descent line of the clan. He was later commended by the Ch'ing Government, and granted the honour of a peacock's feather for his role in this defence. The official records generally agree with the villagers' memory of this event. There can be little doubt that the merchants in the totally undefended Market at Kowloon would have fled on the approach of the rebels, but it seems likely from the official records that the garrison did as well, since the rebels, led by Loh A-tim (E), were able to capture the Walled City, seemingly without any fighting, on the 26th day of the 7th Moon, 1854. Seven days later, a relieving force of soldiers under the command
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