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the 10th and 19th May, one Kwangsi army, numbering perhaps six thousand men, advanced from Sze-wui and forced its way across the North River at Tai-tong and Shek-kok, while at the same time another Kwangsi army, about eight thousand strong, having crossed the North River near Tsing-yün, advanced down the Canton-
On the 19th May Hankow Railway as far as Yün-tam.
The
the situation at Canton seemed desperate. silver in the Treasury and at the Central Bank was
1.
removed to Shameen or to gunboats, and the Canton officials prepared to take refuge in Hong Kong.
?
At this crisis a force of five thousand men 5. under one Tai Kik, a subordinate of General Chan Ming- shü, arrived in Canton from the south of Kwangtung, and was immediately hurried up to the fighting line north of the city. The arrival of this body, assisted by aeroplanes, which bombed the Kwangsi troops, turned the tide of battle, and after serious fighting, during which the casualties on both sides were reported to have numbered several thousands, the invaders were driven back from the vicinity of
Canton.
Encouraged by these events, General Chan Ming-sht returned to Canton on the 24th May, after his long stay in hospital at Hong Kong.
Two days
later a number of transports arrived from the
Yangtze, carrying a force of about six thousand men, under the command of General Li Ming-sui.
Then
began the third phase of the campaign, for these
men were at once despatched up the West River to take part in a punitive expedition, which is now being
organized
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