The Chang brothers replied promptly inviting him to a conference at a place within the Yungeh'eng district named Taiping-chi. Hsiao Ch'un-tze came along in due course with a following of braves and was ushered into Lao Yang-jen's presence. As he entered the room, Lao Yang-jong pulled out his Mauser istd and shot him dead. Hsiao's allowers put up a furious fight but 40 or 50 of them were killed and a number wounded In the skirmish Lao Yang-jong him-st]f and one of his lieutenants were shot through the body. When Chang Eu-lai, Tuchun of Honan heard of this affair, he sent officers and doctors to the soldier-bandit camp to congratulate the Chang brothers and care for the wounded.
The Honan people are pleased to be rid of Hsiao and the nucleus of band and are duly entertained by the recital of this picturesque incident; they are urging the authorities to hasten Lao Yang-jen's departure for Szechuan; but the Hupeh people, through whose country these worthies are to pass, are just_as loth to receive them as the Honanese are to get rid of them.
AN AMMUNITION SHORTAGE, The "Ch'en Pao" goes-on to say that as things go from bad worse with the Szechuan campaign, Wu Pei-fu gets more. obstinately determined to keep up the fight. It is reported that in a response to an appeal from Yang Sen, Wu Pei-fu took about. 350 chests of ammunition of alk sorts out of his own 3rd Division stores and shipped them off to Szechuan in care of two of his aides.
One cannot help reflecting that if these supplies were expense in a campaign against the bandits in Honan and Shantung, there would be less talk of special railway guards and armoured cers to protect the main lines of communication.
The "Ch'en Pao" algo reports that since the Hanyang Arsenal cannot turn out ammunition fast enough to supply Wu Pei-fu's various expedition on various fronts, the Tehchow Arsenal has been called upon to ship 300,000 rounds of rifle ammunition to Hankow without delay.
The only consolation is that at least 99 per cent. of all these bullets will never find a billet and that, with the prospective tightening up of the embargo on arms, the point at which the military will exhaust their resources is within sight.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.