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The first intimation I had of the rising was on the 29th November, when it was reported to me that a small body of troops had been sent from Changsha to suppress some trouble on the borders of Hunan and Kiangsi, in the three districts of Lin-yang, Li-ling, and Ping-hsiang. No importance was, however, attached to the movement; in fact, it was stated that the ringleader had already been arrested and was to be beheaded. On the 6th December further rumours reached me; and on the following day I received a letter from the Foreign Bureau asking me, in view of the disturbed state of affairs in the Lin-yang and the Li-ling districts, to direct British subjects not to travel there for the present, and informing me that the German community at Pring-hsiang, as well as the foreign Manager of the Ping-hsiang-Chu-chou Railway, with his wife and family, who resided at Li-ling, were being brought down to Changsha until all danger was over. When they arrived in Changsha, on the Sth December, I inquired of Mr. Leinung, the chief mining engineer at Ping-hsiang, as to the state of affairs; but he informed me that everything was absolutely quiet, and that they had seen no trace of any rebels, but that they had come away in deference to the wishes of the Chinese authorities, and hoped to be able to return in a few days. He added that work was proceeding as usual at the collieries, and that neither the railway nor the telegraph lines had been interrupted.
On the 10th December fuller details about the rising came to band.
I was informed that the rebels, who called themselves the Ko-ming Chun, numbered several thousands; that they were well armed with rifles, and were distinguished by the white uniforms they wore. The number of troops at the front being insufficient, and the rebels gaining ground daily, I learnt that the Governor had dispatched an additional 1,000 men.
On the following day, the 11th December, refugees in large numbers began to arrive from Liu-yang, some 45 miles distant, who stated that the rebels had occupied. that city and that all the inhabitants had fled. It was also said that the rebels, who displayed banners hearing the legend, Expel the dynasty and exterminate the foreigners!"
were about to march on Changsha. A state of something like panic began to prevail, and a large proportion of the population began to make hurried arrangements for flight. I lost no time in seeing the Japanese Consul, to consult with him as to the steps it might be advisable to take in the interests of the foreign community; and we paid a joint call on the Head of the Military Bureau, Taotai Ÿá Ming-i, to ascertain from him the true state of affairs. He informed us that, although the rebels had not yet occupied Liu-yang, they were encamped just opposite, on the other side of the river, but that the city itself was in the occupation of the troops, who were being reinforced with the utmost possible dispatch. He added that his chief apprehension was that the rebels might capture Liu-yang, after which they could march on Changsha without meeting with much opposition, or else that they might make a detour to avoid Liu-yang, and march on Changsha direct. He said, however, that he was dispatching a body of troops to occupy a strategical point on the road from Lin-yang to Changsha, whereby he hoped to check their advance; and that, in the meantime, other troops would be sent to Li-ling by rail, whence they would take the rebels in the rear, while the Kiangsi troops would co-operate on their side in the Ping-hsiang district. Yu Taotai went on to say that he himself was proceeding on the following day to Liu-yang, as the most convenient spot whence to direct the operations. The town, he said, was utterly deserted by the inhabitants, those who could afford to do so having escaped to Changsha, while the bulk of the population had fled to the hills, where they were at present in hiding.
The general plan of campaign seemed to be to surround the rebels on three sides, hemming them in ever closer, and thus preventing the rising from spreading to the adjoining districts. The dispositions were not ill-conceived, and had the Hunauese troops been reasonably efficient no anxiety need have been felt as to the result, Unfortunately, apart from their inadequate training and discipline, the troops, unless in overwhelming numbers, could not be prevailed upon to meet the rebels in open fight, and had already on several occasions thrown away their arms and fled; besides which there is no doubt that a considerable proportion of them were in sympathy with the rebels, and were themselves members of Secret Societies. Yu Taotai evidently considered that the need for the arrival of the Hupei troops was urgent, and was making preparations to act more or less on the defensive until they came.
In response to a question put by me, he said that about 3,000 local troops, drawn from the Chang-pei Chun and the Hsin-fang Tui, as well as three machine-guns, had already been drafted to the front; while a regiment of Hupei troops with six
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mountain guns had already arrived at Yochow, and would be dispatched with the least possible delay viâ Siangtan to Chu-chou, and thence by rail to Li-ling
To a further question he replied that some of the rebels had rifles, but that the bulk of them were armed with shot-guns or with jingals, and that in some cases they made use of hollowed-out tree-trunks as canuon. In fact, he evidently considered that the critical nature of the situation arose less from the preparations of the rebels than from the unreliability and the inefficiency of his own troops.
As to the number of the rebels he could give me no definite information, but stated that those encamped opposite Liu-yang might number some 3,000; while there was another large body of them at Li-ling, and a number scattered about all over the country.
On the following day the Japanese Consul and I addressed a joint note to the Governor, asking him what measures he proposed to take to insure the safety of the foreigners in Changsha and elsewhere in the event of any serious disturbance. The Governor replied in general terms, but sent the Customs Taotai to see me on the 14th December. After we had discussed the necessary precautions, the Taotai informed me that two battles, near the cities of Li-ling and Liu-yang respectively, had been fought on the 10th December, in both of which the rebels had been defeated with considerable loss and compelled to retreat, having been driven back from Liu-yang a distance of some 40 li. He considered that these successes, coupled with the arrival of the Hupei troops, had relieved the tension of the situation, and that there was no further need for serious apprehension. I mentioned that it was rumoured that the rebels numbered some 30,000 or more, against whom were opposed only 4,000 or 5,000 troops. He admitted that the number of the rebels was very large, but said that they were scattered all over the three districts of Liu-yang, Li-ling, and Ping-hsiang, and that since the two battles mentioned above there were no large bodies of them anywhere. He also stated that many were now giving themselves up, the number of surrenders at Li-ling at the present moment amounting to about 100 a-day.
Since that date and the arrival in Changsha of the regiment of Hupei troops, nearly the whole of which was immediately sent to the front, the state of affairs has steadily improved. The rebels got disheartened as soon as the tide began to turu against them, and the defections from their ranks grew more numerous daily. They endeavoured to make these defections good by sending out parties in all directions to induce recruits to join their standard. These parties went as far afield as Siangtan and Pao-ching-fu, and one of them appeared in the immediate vicinity of Changsha. These isolated attempts were, however, suppressed by the authorities without much difficulty.
The rebels are now mostly in hiding in the hills between the Liu-yang and the Ping-chiang districts, their last appearance in large numbers having been in the latter half of December, when they made an irruption into the Ping-chiang district, which at first caused some alarm, and in consequence of which the two British missionaries residing there came in to Changsha for safety. These rebels, however, were merely a disorderly rabble, forming part of the main body which had been defeated by the troops at Liu-yang, who had made their way through the hills into the adjoining district. While still giving the authorities there a considerable amount of trouble, they are gradually being driven back to the hills, and must eventually disappear altogether. At the worst there is a second regiment of Hupei troops stationed at Yochow, ready to lend assistance in case of need."
Since the middle of December the history of the rising has practically been a tale of rebels killed in fight or captured and beheaded. No quarter is given, and the authorities have set themselves the task of exterminating them altogether, as far as possible. The German engineers and the manager of the railway returned to Ping- hsiang and Li-ling respectively in the first days of January. During the whole time they had been away, neither the railway nor the telegraph line between Ping-hsiaug and Chu-chou had ever been interrupted, nor had work at the Ping-hsiang collieries ceased even for a day.
As regards the future, the rising, though quelled for the time being, has by no means been definitely stamped out, and there seems to he every probability of a recrudescence of the troubles at the first favourable opportunity. The officials fully realize this, and are still prosecuting with the utmost vigour their search for the rebels, on the heads of the most important of whom prices of 1,000 taels and 500 taels have been set. Most of the leaders of the movement have, however, already made
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