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defiance of the Nanking Government.
General Chan
assured me that personally he had always been friendly with
the Kwangsi leaders, and that all his dealings with them
had been fair and square. He said that he had in fact
recently sent a deputy to Nanking to intercede with
Marshal Chiang Kai-shek for the release of Marshal Li Chai- sum, upon his (General Chan's) personal assurance that
Marshal Li would not concern himself in active politics and
that he would go abroad for a while.
I asked General Chan what was the strength of the
He said
Wuhan armies during the fighting at Hankow.
that as far as he knew, the combined Wuhan forces numbered
about 60,000 men. Of this number, two-third had been
killed or scattered in the fighting, and the remaining one-
third had been incorporated into other armies; so that of
these forces not a single man was likely to return to
Kwangsi. Regarding Wu and Tao, the two Wuhan generals,
General Chan Ming-shu assured me that they had surrendered
to the Nanking Government, and that they were to go abroad
for a rest.
Asked as to the strength of the forces in Kwangsi
under General Wong Shiu-hung, General Chan estimated that
it could not be more than 20,000 men all told. Once they
were attacked, by either Hunan or Kwangtung, it would be
difficult for them to hold their own.
General Chan said that Chang Fat-fui had about
10,000 men under him, at present stationed on the south-
western border of Hupeh. There was no feat of Chang Fat-
fui coming down to Kwangtung at present, as without orders from the "anking Government he could not leave his present
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position.
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