From Our Own Correspondent, Changsha, July 18.
Troops are being rapidly moved from Changsha to Changteh, but whether they will advance beyond that and confront the troops that swear by Gen. Chai remains to be seen. There is a distinct difference of opinion between the officers in command in the southwest and those in the northeast, but rumour attributes a unity to the former group which is denied to the latter.
Gen. Chao Hong-ti, since his election to the Provincial Governership in accordance with the regulations of the new Provincial Constitution, has not "won" his title of Commander-in-chief. No one else has assumed it, in either mame or deed. Gen. Sung Ho-ken, who stands next in repute to Gen. Chao, only commands the First Division, and Gem Lo Ti-ping, the second. Gen. Yeh Kai-hsing, the commander of the First ixed Brigade, has more soldiers in and around Changsha than either of the divisional commanders, but he would be overwhelmed if he attempted any move against either of the two divisions. Not one of the three, acknowledges any title to command him as belonging to either of the other Gen. Yeh is Gen. Chao's right-hand man. One of his regiments is nicknamed the Chao Chien Sz T'ang"—"The Chao Ancestral Clan''~ag. a majority of the officers and a goodly proportion of the men answer to the name Gen. Chai is nominally in_command of only one mixed brigade stationed at Hungchieng, the first important town passed by the-river Yuan after it enters the province from the south west. But Gen. Chai wields actual power over two or three other brigades and really controls the whole of the Yuan valley as far as Shen-chew.
No love is lost between him and Generals Chao and Yeh. To him have fled Sen. Chen Chien-fu (defeated by Gem Sung last year in the neighbourhood of Hengchow) and al] other supporters of Gen. Tan Yen-kai.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.