'There has been a condition of preparedness in this province for many weeks past. General Chin 'Yun-ngoh, who has his permanent home in' the Chikungshan Hills, arranged a meeting of the Honan and Hupeh Warlords at that resort during the holidays, and immediately it was noticed that the rumours of possible trouble between Hupeh and Monan were allowed to drop. And most assuredly there seemed to be anything but a good feeling between the Honan authorities and the Feration command, as witnessed way from the Shansi Border to the many massed Anhui function of Honan, Empty trucks and better cars of several Nines stood on the Lung-Hai tracks at this Kaifeng station, and at the station in. Chengchow, for many weeks, idle when the greatest demand for transportation facilities was made by the merchants.
All of these signs pointed to an eventual clash with the Fengtien forees if there was to be any clash at all, During the first few days of expectation, after Marshal Wa Pei-fu made his re-entry. on the stage, the bank notes of the Honan Provincial Bank rapidly depreciated Lill they stood at about 50 per cent. One day it was said that there was no train through to Hauchowfu, reports were current that Honan troops were across the border in Kiangsu, and would be battling for Houchow in a few days,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.