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engagement in which his men are said to have disarmed
a Nationalist force advancing up river by steamer he
turned South with as many of his men as would follow
him and entered Hunan where he was last reported to
be at Shen Chow Fu.
move.
3. It seems probable that his hand was forced
by the action of the Central Government which was
contemplating the disbandment of his army; but in
Hong Kong it was freely rumoured that an early and
decisive success would bring him support not only
from the expelled Kwangsi clique but also from
Feng Yu-hsiang, Yen Hsi-shan and Tang Shang-chi
as well as from one or other of the factions in
Szechuan. This belief would account for his
attempt on Hankow and subsequent retreat to Ichang.
In fact none of the northern militarists made a
The rebels however managed to find an ally
in Yu Tsok-pak the new chairman of the Kwangsi
Provincial Council and for a while the situation in
the South seemed full of danger. Yu Tsok-pak
himself had no troops directly under his command but
he had control through his subordinates Lei Ming-sui
and Yeung Tang-fai of a force of about 10,000 men,
the re-inforcements from Nanking who had taken a
prominent part in the expulsion of the Kwangsi clique
earlier in the year. Outnumbering his force by
about two to one was the army under Lui Wun-yim which
had formed the garrison of Kwangsi under the former
regime.
4.
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