The collapse and withdrawal of the undefeated and handsomely kept ongtien army still has to be satis-actonly explained, but it will probably be a long while before anyone is prepared to do this with authority, "In all Chinese circles taken for granted, however, that Generalissimo Chang Tso-lin was some way "let down" by his. son, hang Hsueh-liang, and by Yang Nu-ting, and that some arrange-mont which they had with'Yen Hsi shan and the South then came to naught because of Feng Vu-hsiang's, xéfusal to abide by it whom it was too late to check the retreat and mike a stand, More than a year ago, just before hostilities with Shansi broke out, it was widely, rumoured here that Yang Vu-ting and Chang Hsueh-liang were parties.
a conspiracy to force Chang Tso-in's retirement to Manchuria, "nationalize" themselves and the Fengtien army and come to terms with the other Nationalist. groups. This scheme, according to popular tradition, was spoiled by the loyal! and conservative commanders wh took the father's and not the orders and dealt with the Shansi invaders of 1927 us enemies instead of a8 political demonstrators, It is now assumed that the younger leaders in the Fengtien Stoop saw in the defeatism that through the ranks after the ithdvawal from Changteh and th> agitation for a withdrawal to manchuria, afresh opportunity to create a situation, in collusion with Shansi, which would force Chang Tao-lin's retirement and that the apparent collapse was caryled out under their orders—the idea being that, after Chang Tso-lin had been persuaded to retire to Mukden, the collapse would come abruptly to an end while Poking was still in Feng tien hands and while it was stil possible to form a strong line of defence from Liuliho to Machang, Tet us say, within which the young and "progressive" could ther supposed that when Yen Hsi-shan announced on behalf of his allies that neither he nor Feng hsiang would bring troops into, the smétropolitan district, he waa public-voicing his own and possibly Naviking's concurrence inthe scheme, but that Feng Vu-hsiang threw the whole plan out of joint cly letting it be known that he would not be checked by an espousal of Nationalism by the younger Fengtienites, but was devoted the crushing of their organization. This," say a great many Chinese! observers, was announced to the "young General" and to Yang Yuting at just about the time that the nows of the dynamiting of the Genoralissimo's train reached them and it throw them into such panic that they called for their motor cars and bolted to Tientsin without further thought for the disposition of the great army that Chang Tso-lin had left to their care, Who Will Bell the Cat?
This story is told with many variations in detail but is always the same in essentials, After the complete collapse of the military: organization and the flight of the principals it developed during the ast few days of May, when Paoting-fu was being evacuated and while the Dictator and his Toco! stall avera still seemingly confident: and "replying upon 'a froth drive ES rds Shihehiaehuang to force.
in, that Chang Hsueh-liang, [Yan Ya: ting and Sun Chuan-fang were-debuting among themselves about the best way to tell the Generalissimo that he must go, each shirking the unpleasant task of telling the organizer of a huge, expensive and undefeated fighting machine that there waS to be no effort at defence.
During the last few days of May and the first two days of June ie seems likely that Chang Tso-lin was the only man in Peking who did not know that his armies were in full retreat and that he would have to return to Mukden, He was persuaded to believe that the lines on the Kin-Han railway were being. shortened to strengthen the centre! at Hochien, where 'Sun Chuan-fang' had either collapsed again or was, preparing to repeat his usual performance, and on the Tsin-Pu railway towards which the Kuominchun was pressing. Weeks before this was aware that his son and his son's "modernist". colleagues were not putting the heart into their campaign which their military strength warranted and Peking was diverted with a story of how the elder Chang slapped the younger Chang's face en. -he explained dilatory procedure by saying that the army was! tired of the campaign and wanted an understanding with the enemy. He was then quoted as saying that if the Jacked spirit, the 2 responsibility lay with its spiritless leaders.
Tt would appear, however, that rio one had the courage to tell him how Dadly he was being "let down" until some time on Saturday, June 2, the day before he announced his' departure, Even then he evidently had enotigh confidence left in his son and his son's colleagues to believe hat they would execute an orderly and well covered withdrawal and suspected neither that they were inlying with his enemies iationalize" his armies and stay on in Peking nor that they would fly in a panic and leave his army to find its own way home, The Dream Shattered Chang Tso-lin loft Peking after midnight on Monday, June 4, and arrived on the outskirts of Mukden early on Tuesday morning where his carriage was so thoroughly and scientifically bombed. It was during that same Tuesday (June 5), before the news of the attempted assassination reached Peking that the news leaked out through a dozen channels that, with the "old man" gone, there was no urgent need for the departure of the younger leaders and that they might not, indeed, go at all, Tt had scarcely been clearly understood hat they proposed to remain in Peking as the heads of a nation-ien army, by virtue of fan agreement with Chang Kai-shek and Yen Hi 1an, when the further news went ment had been cancelled because of Feng Vu-hsiang's determined opposition. According to subsequent. additions to the account Yang ting came into possession of a tel gram from one Nationalist camp <9. another, in which it was pointed out that since the young Fengtien leaders had retreated too far to set up a business-like defence against Feng Vu-hsiang, and. since Feng seemed determined to ignore all understandings with Yang Yuting, ft behaved the Shansi and other nationalists to ignore the agreement also and forestall Four to Peking.
'In something of a panic, the Fengtien conspirators wired to Yen Hsi-shan asking for an explanation and received a reply which: they, considered evasive enough to be very alarming. That same day' came the news of the bombing of Chang Tso-lin's train and evidence that both the Shansi armies and Hon Fu-chu's Kuominchun were racing towards to the capital. All Fengtien guards were down and it was-too Into to organize a defence so that the watched conspirators took to theft motor ears and bolted. Nothing has been heard directly from either young Chang or Yang Yucting since.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.