Besiegers Repulsed by Northern Troops: Fortuitous Arrival of Reinforcements From Our Own Correspondent, After two days of steady fighting, the Wu Pei-fu garrison here has repulsed the insurgents besieging the city and the latter are retreating upon Chungchow closely pressed by a pursuit force of northerners. It is the apparent intention of the "nsurgents to make a stand at Chung-chow and attempt there to cut the northern line. of communications as they intended doing upon the capture of Wanhsien. The northern force is designing surrounding manoeuvre to isolate and capture the entire band.
Except for the arrival of a transport loaded with Kueichow and Hupeh troops, Wanhsien would to-day be in the hands of the attacking force, Until this relief arrived, the city was protected by but a few hundred young and unseasoned guards who were no match for opponents of their own number, not to consider a belligerent army of several thousand men. That the escape was not only narrow, but that the fall of the city was actually reduced to a matter of hours is admitted by those in command hr.
General Chang Huei, who had engineered the mutiny of the former northern troops who made this attack, was apparently relying not- only upon the defencelessness of the city but algo upon aid from the First Szechuanese Army, which is op-Min River section of the proing Wu Pei-fu's forces in the
vince, and from the Yunnanese who are concentrated along the Yangtze above Chungking. This aid did not materialize and the otherwise, menacing assault rapidly developed into a Don Quixote enterprise.
The insurgents were further *weakened by lack of equipment and ammunition. The entire force had but three machine guns and it is reported that there were three men for every rifle. They were so pressed for supplies that one band of 60 men is reported to have rushed a defence machine gun empty bandad, failing, of course, to take it and paying heavily for the attempt. Had the attacking party been possessed of a field Piece or even of sufficient rifles and rifle ammunition, the defence might not have held.
In spite of these handicaps and miscalculations, the assault was surprisingly spirited and successful. Disregarding Chinese military traditions, the attack was launched at wight and in a pouring rain—two conditions under. which armies in Szechuan usually refuse emphatic-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.