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10.

24.

IV. INTERNAL DEFENCE.

Since the old régime had been swept off the board, the

first task of the new was to restore the reign of law and order.

This was simple enough in the middle and weat of the country

which for the most part is flat or rolling country but it has

proved harder in the eastern half where the terrain is hilly

and communications are difficult. Remote portions of this area

have always been the happy hunting ground of the bandits who

descended from their mountain fastnesses to levy toll both on

the farmer and on the traveller.

25. Bandit ranks were swollen by the soldiers of the old

régime and for some years conditions were far worse than they

had been before the 'incident'. Punitive expeditions seemed at

the time to have little effect since the moment the troops re-

tired the bandits re-appeared and resumed their raids. The size

of the bands, their guerilla tactics and the necessity under

which the government found itself of engaging in large scale

military engagements showed that they were insurgents and not

brigands pure and simple.

26. They continue to operate in remote districts and are

still a thorn in the flesh of the government but the scope of

their activities has been confined. The eastern half of the

country is being gradually opened up as new railways and roads are built and the gathering of scattered communities

into fort-

ified villages, unpopular though it may be with the peasant who cannot live right on his little plot of land, facilitates the problem of his defence. It appears therefore that the bandit menace is rapidly abating though whether it can ever be entirely

eradicated is open to doubt.

27. In the spring of 1938 guerilla bands from China entered

Jehol and for a time caused trouble on the borders of liopei, and in various parts of the country the withdrawal of troops for

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