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authorities. Should that contingency arise there would be a grave risk of the unpai Huang Shih-lin has been defeated somewhere in the Nanning district, and there has soldiers joining the bandits, an event which would, of course, greatly aggravate the been a successful engagement with the robber Chief Na-hsiao on the borders of the Yung and Lung districts, and also two successful encounters with the bandits in the
situation.
I have endeavoured to ascertain the strength of the military forces at the dispos Lai Pin Department. of the Government, but have only succeeded in obtaining data, and those not reliable Cases of brigandage are frequent around Pose, and the Taotai of Nanning reports for forming an estimate for certain parts of the province. In this prefecture there a that the robber bands have assembled together to the number of over 3,000. He about 500 soldiers and braves," armed for the most part with Mauser rifles, but with further states he has no troops to detach to places in need of assistance, and that he has out artillery, and fifteen native gun-boats, all of which carry only old-fashioned cannot sufficient arms for the men already enlisted.
but ten of them have Mausers, the rest being armed with old foreign muzzle-loaders The crew for each boat is nominally fifteen or seventeen, but in reality all are som 30 per cent. below their complement.
On the Tonquin frontier there are about thirty battalions ("ying "), say 15,000 probably well armed for the most part, about 5,000 at Nanning, at least 2,500 on th Yu Chiang and an equal number on the Tso Chiang. In all the prefectures there t probably a small force of at least a few hundred men for police work.
Of the numerical strength of the bandits little or nothing appears to be know Several bands are referred to as numbering several hundred; around Pose there an supposed to be a couple of thousand or so, and the number of those infesting the Nanning district is put by the Prefect here at as high a figure as 10,000-probably : wild guess.
Whilst I am still of opinion that the disturbances have no political significance, and do not imperil the authority of the Provincial Government, I have thought it well, i view of the alarming accounts that appear in the papers, to communicate to you all the information that has reached me.
I have, &c. (Signed)
H. A. LITTLE.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
H. A. LITTLE
Inclosure 2 in No. 1.
Acting Consul Little to Sir E. Satow.
(No. 6.) Sir,
Wuchow, April 12, 1902. WITH further reference to the disturbances in the interior, I have to-day obtaine information which throws some light on the numbers and plans of the bandits in th Nanning district.
According to the evidence of some bandits recently captured in a successful attac on one of their strongholds in that part of the country, the band to which they belonged numbered over 1,600 men, under the leadership of one Ch'en Ta. On the 23rd Marc the robber Chief Li Erh, from Ling Shan, joined them, with a view to making a jelz attack on Ku Lien. In the event of success the plan was to occupy Ta Tang an neighbourhood and collect together all the robber bands in Wu Liu Tang and W Yuan for a combined assault on Nanning. The attack on Ku Lien failed, which together with the reported advance of large forces of soldiers, led to their dispersal i the bills. Ch'en Ta seized Yuan Hua, but being attacked on three sides, his followe lost heart and scattered, afterwards fleeing into Kuangtung, where, on the 7th instan Ch'en Ta, Yang Ynan Kuan, and Chiang Sau were badly defeated. These Chiefs the fled far into Kuangtun, whilst Li Erh and Chang Shih Ch'ang are hiding in Kwanghsi. If this band, as the name of its leader would seem to indicate, is distinct fro those mentioned by the Nanning Prefect (vide my despatch No. 4 of the 3rd instal then there are in the Lung-an, Yung-shuu, and Hsuan Hua districts and thereabon five separate bands, the aggregate numerical strength of which is probably at lea 3,000. The mention of the Chiefs Yang and Chang suggests, however, the possibilit of this band being the same as that reported by the Nanning Prefect to be under th command of these two men in the Yung-shun and Ling Shan districts; if it is not, th two bands must be working together.
The statement of the prisoners as to their proposed plan of operations is the fit indication of any attempt to gather together the different bands, and the fact that a attack on so important a place as Nanning was contemplated shows that the leade counted on being able to collect a large force.
Whilst writing this despatch, I learn from a good source that the rebd of
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