The following disposition of the Imperial forces in the-event of war with a foreign Power has been determined upon by the Imperial Grand Council of War at Peking, sanctioned by special Imperial de-
Liu Kun-yi, Viceroy of the Liangkiang provinces, will be Generalissimo of the Army of the Yangtze Valley with headquarters at Tsingkiangpu, on the Grand Canal, his northern outposts to be in the ity of Hsiichou, on the Yellow River, and in touch with the troops of the Governor of Shantung, Chang Ju-mei. He will then be able to ce-operate with the latter: in' the event of reinforcements being needed north of the Yellow River, while, on-the other hand, the said Viceroy will be able to guard the entrance of the Yangtze Valley from seaward, this being his To Chang Chih-tung, Vice-hukuang provinces, is assigned the duty of safeguarding the central portion of the Yangtze Valley, while the safety of the portion west of the Tungting Lake is entrusted to Tan Chi-hsun and Chen Pao-chen, Governors of Hupeh arid Hunan, respectively. The waterway of the Yangtze River shall be placed under the care of Huang, Admiral of the Yangtze, with headquarters at Kiangyin. General Hot Anhui_is appointed Commander-in-chief of the Nanyang Squadron and the troops garrisoning the places east of Chinkiang, including Tsungming, Woosung, ete., etc. The troops of Liu Kun-yi, Chang Chih-tung, Tan Chi-shun, and Chen Pao-chen shall be so disposed as to be able to converge upon Shantung if needed and if the Capital be threatened they will join Chang Ju-mei, Governor of Shantung, to relieve Peking from the South, whi Tung Fuchsiang, Generalissimo three provinces of Shensi, Shansi, ai Honan, will march to Peking from the West. To Kuei Chun, Governor of Kiang-'Té Shou, Governor of Kiangsi, Teng Hoo-hsi, Governor of Anhui, and Lino Shou-feng, Governor of Chekiang, are entrusted the duty of providing the: rice and food supplies for the various army corps in the field, while also on them is devolved the guardianship of the various ports within their jurisdiction. We also hereby sanction the memorials of Liu Kun-yi and his colleagues in command of the various army corps, reporting the number of troops 63,500 Chang Chih-tung, 48,000; Tan under them, viz: Lia Kun-yi, total
Chi-hsun, 18,000; Chen Pao-chen, 30,000 Kuei Chun, 24,000; Teng Hua-hsi, 21,500; Shou, 26,000; Liao Shou-feng, 28,000 Hoang, 'Admiral' of the Yangtze, 40,000, and Hot Anhui, 34,000 men. The Germar modelled Brigade at. Woosung to be also under the special orders of the last-named General.—Of these troops one-third are armed with breech-loaders, and the remainder with muzzle-loaders,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.