Most of the villages in this] region have as a defence against, bandits walled themselves in with stout earthworks on the model of Esien city and in times of unrest the ramparts are manned, day] ard night, against a likely attack. Generally' speaking in the faes overwhelming forces of _well-farmed, hungry soldiers, the village Teaders showed a hospitable spirit and, to. avert the inevitable consequences of a siege, opened the gate and invited the troops to a hearty meaT, supplemented by} Hiberal contribution for travel-Ting expenses.' But once inside! the defences, no one could] guarantee the' safety of lives and property. Were the collection not considered sufficient, the soldiers; Just helped themselves, until the exasperated village-folk det to put up a fight age sequent intruders.
One heard several stories of stirring battles, in which the defenders were successful in beating] off persistent attacks and inflicting considerable loss on their persecutors, who dispersed in search of] easier prey. It is amazing what was done with prehistoric weapon3, locally made cannon and an extraordinary collection of firearms, by} fa few desperate men in defence of their hearths and homes These isolated and epic struggles probably account for the highly-Coloured versions of their harsh! Yenshan, circulated, by Li Jin's soldiers on] their arrival in Shantung, where their vast stores of plunder and diabolical deeds were conveniently} ignored, The ex-Tupan's Effrontery The ex-Tupan from his. camp in Tehchow has the effrontery to address a request to the Yenshas rate to repair without delay is august presence to be} interrogated on recent events his jurisdiction! "If," says the brazew militarist, "my soldiers have Leen guilty of oppressing _the people, they shall be _severeiy ed, but, on the contrary, the village-folk, made by my sorely-tried regarding their flight from Tientsin to. Shantung, are substantiated, they cannot be lightly passed over, for such evildoers deserve condign punishment."
'This pronouncement from the Commander-in-chief of the. Chili and Shantung army, as he contemplates a campaign to regain his lost territory, has filled the people Yenshan with _undisguised alarm, In' the event of a successful push by Fengtien troops from Lading across the Shantung Uorder into Yenshan and up) towards Tientsin, the plight of the unhappy farmers at the banis of hordes of vengeful soldiers bezgars the imagination.
Acting on instructions from Gen. Yao Wei-chun, Tupan of Honan, Mr. Chen Chi-how, Commissioner of Finance in Honan, left for Peking to confer with the Minister of Finanes for a loan of $1,200,000 to pay his troops in Honan, says the Chinese press.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.