CO129-500-4 Canton situation- governor's despatches 15-9-1927 - 24-11-1927 — Page 48

2.

48

As regards military matters, of late our troops along the Peking-Hankow Railway have exterminated the 1st and 8th

Armies of the Mukdenese rebels on the North Bank of the

Whang Ho, and our van-guards have advanced as far as Tsz Chow; there is no trace of enemies south of Poa-ting. The remnants of the Shantung rebels have also been repeatedly defeated. Our troops along the Tientsin-Pukow Railway have pushed up to Tai On from Lam Shing, and the men under me (Fung Yuk Tseung) have taken Tso-Chau. The People's righteous troops have risen between Kiao-chow and Ko Mat, and there will be no difficulty in conquering Tsai-nan. The two rebels, Chang Tso-lin and Chang Chung Chang, have desired to take their flight, and many of their men, in view of the activity of the proletariat have come over and incorporated themselves with our National Revolutionary

Armies at the front. Therefore the troops of the 2 Changs

were defeated before our advance, and totally lost their

morale. Thus we are full of hope for a success in our

Northern Expedition.

While we expect to settle all the disputes of our Party at a Conference to be convened when we reach Peking,

the parties on the upper and lower Yangtsz suddenly mede

preparations for war against each other. However unintell-

igent we may be, we can never approve of this. Though the

Mukdenese and Shan-tung rebels have been repeatedly defeat-

ed, if war breaks out among our National Revolutionists,

the troops at the front must be withdrawn for the purpose,

and the rebels will very probably avail themselves of the

opportunity to make a counter-attack. Should Ho-nan be

in any way shaken, Wuhan will be thrown into a dangerous

position, and when disturbances break out on the Tientsin-

Pukow Railway, Nanking will be in danger. Thus the dispute

among