by G. A. Henty
Many small forts round the town were captured without resistance. These mounted many guns, and the fact that the garrisons abandoned them without resistance showed the complete demoralization of the Chinese. If only the assailing force had been in a position to follow up their work, there is little doubt that they could have arrived at Pekin almost without striking a blow.
After extinguishing the fire the troops set to work to render the town habitable. Great numbers of dead were removed from the houses that had been destroyed by shell fire, and from the streets, and in a very short time the town was brought into a satisfactory sanitary condition.
There was now a long pause. While the British and Americans were eager to advance towards Pekin at the earliest opportunity, the Russians fell back. There were but two of their people in Pekin, and it was evident that they were far more desirous of getting political advantages out of the situation than of reaching the Legations. They maintained that it would need an army of sixty thousand to force a way up. The differences between them and the other nationalities became more and more acute, and matters dragged on painfully. It was true that there was still an immense deal to be done before a force of even twenty thousand men could be ready to advance, but in spite of disagreement between the commanders, work was carried on vigorously. Junks and carts were collected, guns, and great stores of provisions and ammunition were brought from the coast, and troops poured in; but still no day was named for the advance.
The anger and discontent among the merchants and traders who had friends in Pekin increased daily. Men talked angrily and despairingly at the corners of the streets, and cursed the hesitation and bickering on the part of the military. Rex went about with his hands deep in his pockets and his head bent down, raging and pouring out abuse against the generals. His father in vain tried to calm him.
“My dear boy,” he said, “you may be convinced that the five thousand or six thousand men that we have here are sufficient for the advance, but even I, anxious as I am to see an expedition set out, cannot agree with you. I quite believe that if on the day after we had taken Tientsin we had been ready to start, five thousand men might have done it. The news taken by the flying Chinese would have sufficed to demoralize the enemy all over the country. But we were not ready, and the delay that has occurred having been sufficient to allow the Chinese to get over their scare, an expedition of only five thousand men would inevitably terminate in a fiasco, as did that under Seymour.
“I think myself that at least ten thousand men will be necessary to relieve Pekin. That force will require a large transport train. Besides, though we have taken a great number of Chinese guns, few of these are field-guns, and, as you know, we are at present terribly deficient in artillery. Even for the guns we have there is no ammunition, for nearly every round we had was fired away the other day. We have no provisions for the troops, and must wait till a sufficient supply is collected and brought up here, together with the guns and an ample supply of ammunition. All this cannot be done in a day. I grant that we do not seem to be pushing on matters as quickly as we should wish, but already five trains a day run down to Taku, and an immense deal of work has been quietly carried on. Besides, the military commanders are convinced that Pekin has already fallen, and that there is no occasion whatever for haste. Troopships are expected in every day with reinforcements from India. Japan, Germany, and France, and when in another week we may have twenty thousand troops here, the military authorities may be well excused for not deciding upon making an attempt with a quarter of that force.”
“Well, Father, I hope that when we do go you will get me attached to the force as interpreter.”
“Certainly, Rex. I have no fear that when the force does go on there will be any hitch this time. Which section would you like to be attached to?”
“Well, I think, Father, if I have the choice, I should like to go with the Japs. They are awfully good little fellows, and as plucky as lions, and I fancy that as they are so strong they are certain to be well in front. I should really like to go with them.”
“Very well, I have been supplying them with a great many goods, and have spoken to their general several times. He talks English very well. When I tell him that you have been twice into Pekin since it was besieged, and brought down the last message that got through from the British Minister, I should think he would be glad to take you.”
Two days later Rex learned that he had obtained an appointment as interpreter with the Japanese troops, and that the general requested that he should begin his duties at once. It was a great relief to him to be employed again, as it took his thoughts off his friends at Pekin. There was not, however, much to do. The Japanese arrangements were all so perfect, the men so quick and handy, that there was no occasion for his services except in making small purchases, and in arranging with Chinese coolies to man the junks, and with country-people for carts. There was some difficulty in obtaining provisions, for the Russians had carried fire and sword among all the villages to a considerable distance on their side of the river, burning the houses and generally killing the inhabitants. The consequence was that no supplies could be got on that side of the river. The villagers, however, began to come in from the north side, very timidly at first, but more boldly when they found that they were unmolested by the soldiers, for American, British, and Japanese all treated them well, and, after the sack of the city was over, resumed their ordinary discipline.
Stores were now accumulating fast. Every train from Taku brought up troops, guns, ammunition, and provisions. The greatest difficulty was the disembarkment of these from the ships thirteen miles away. Some of the merchant ships of light draught were able to come in and unload at the wharves. The blue-jackets and marines in the men-of-war aided in loading up the trucks, and the work went on with great rapidity.
Many of the Japanese officers spoke English, and Rex was soon at home among them, and found them very cheery, pleasant companions. Their general was a very agreeable man, with charming manners, and immensely popular among his troops. The greater portion of these were stationed in Tientsin, where they maintained perfect order in the district assigned to them, and Rex found that the natives returned more fearlessly to their districts than to those occupied by other nationalities.
On July the 20th a letter came down from Mr. Conger, the United States Minister at Pekin, saying that they had been besieged for a month under continuous shot and shell from the Chinese troops, and that quick relief only could prevent general massacre. This woke up the military commanders. General Gaselee, who commanded the British contingent, and General Chaffee, who commanded the Americans, insisted that an attempt at relief should be made at all hazards. To wait until sixty thousand men were assembled would be simply to sacrifice the Legations, and they informed the other commanders that they were determined to start even if they had to go alone.
There was still much to be done before arrangements were completed, but the work went on with increased life and spirit now that it was certain that the Legations were still holding out. It was not, however, until August 4 that all was ready. Even then jealousies had arisen; both the Russians and the Japanese wished to lead the advance, and none wished to accept a position behind the others. General Gaselee then said that the British would take the rear-guard, as he only wished to get to Pekin, and did not care in the least which of the columns got there first so long as they reached it in time to relieve the Legations. After this act of abnegation it was very satisfactory that the British force was the first to enter the Legations.
The force was made up as follows:—Eight thousand Japanese under Lieutenant-General Baron Yamaguchi, with Major-General Fukushima as Chief of the staff; four thousand five hundred Russians under General Linievitch; three thousand British under Lieutenant-General Sir A. Gaselee, Major-General Barrow being his Chief of the staff; two thousand five hundred Americans under General Chaffee; eight hundred French under General Frey. The total force amounted to eighteen thousand eight hundred. No Germans took
part in the expedition, and it was generally supposed that they preferred taking care of their own possessions at Shantung to rescuing the Legations. The total Japanese force, if they had all arrived, would have been twenty-two thousand. The Russians had three thousand men at their camp between Tientsin and Chefou, and a few British troops were left in Tientsin. It had been originally intended that Sir A. Gaselee should have a force of over seven thousand, but half the troops he brought with him had stopped at Shanghai by telegraphic instructions from home. This, though no doubt the presence of so large a force at Shanghai was useful in preventing trouble in the south of China, caused us to assume a very subordinate position in the expedition to Pekin, the Japanese, with their large force, doing the principal work of the campaign.
As the time advanced, Rex, whose despair at the long delay had driven him almost distracted, began to fear that the expedition would arrive too late. He was, of course, ignorant that the capture of Tientsin had had a powerful effect on the position at Pekin. The Chinese had believed that the place was impregnable, and so long as it was there to menace the rear of an invading army they felt perfectly safe. It was a tremendous blow to them therefore to learn that this city, with all its forts, guns, and supplies of ammunition, had been captured after a single day’s fighting, and the consequence was that their indecision increased.
The war party were confused, and the peace party, headed by Prince Ching, gained vastly greater influence in the councils of the Empress. The consequence was that for twenty days after the arrival of the news something like a truce prevailed. The besieged were even able to purchase small supplies of provisions and fruit, and their condition became much more tolerable. It was probable that the Empress would have thrown herself altogether into the hands of the peace party had it not been that the delay on the part of the allies had enabled the panic-stricken Chinese soldiers to recover their morale and discipline. They had been very strongly reinforced, and it was confidently hoped that they would be able to defeat the allies when they advanced. Thus the miserable delays caused by the jealousy of the allied commanders were not as prejudicial to the Legations as they otherwise would have been.
When hostilities were renewed, had the Chinese attacked as actively as they had done before the fall of Tientsin, it is morally certain that the defenders of the Legations would have found it impossible to continue their resistance, and that they would have been massacred.
“The Russians are at the bottom of all this hateful delay,” said Rex. “I am convinced that the Japs, though the strongest in numbers, would give in willingly were it not that the Russians are always making fresh demands. We and the Americans only want to get there, and the French are in such small numbers that it does not matter a rap what they think of it. It is the Russians who are to blame.”
“There is no doubt about that, Rex,” his father said. “I believe they are playing a double game. They want to pose as the friends of China and thus obtain concessions and an overwhelming influence at Pekin. This, it would seem, they try to do by all sorts of delays, by advancing petty claims, and by generally putting their spoke into the wheel. They have already got Manchuria under their thumb, and they will certainly stick to it unless China is backed up by the other powers and they unite in insisting that China shall not suffer further loss of territory at the hands of the Russians or anyone else. There is no question that that is our best policy. It is to our interest that China shall remain whole and united and capable of holding her own against Russia. Neither Britain nor Japan can have any desire for territory, and after the war is over, an alliance offensive and defensive between these two nations would be worth all the loss of life and property we have incurred.”
“That would be grand, Father. There is no doubt that the Japs are beggars to fight. The way they smashed China showed that, and the other day they certainly did at least as well as the other nationalities. With their fleet and ours combined we could hold our own with the greatest ease against Russia and France, even if Germany were to join them. We are showing them now in South Africa what an army we can put in the field, and with our Indian army and that of the Japs we could, if pressed, drive the Russians out of Asia.”
“That would be a big order,” his father laughed, “but we could certainly effectually prevent them from meddling with China and make them keep within their own boundaries. Besides, we should have China to count with also. China has wakened up since the war with Japan, and has gone in for the best modern guns and rifles. If she had let two more years pass before beginning this row we should have found her a very formidable opponent. Her troops would then have become as well-disciplined as ours.”
“Well, then, I am very glad, Father, that they did not wait for another two years. We found it pretty hard work as it was to take Tientsin, and if the greater part of their army had not moved out during the night I doubt very much whether we should have captured it. It was lucky indeed that we stuck to it during the night; it was only that that turned the scale. You know the old story, Father, of a Chinaman who excused defeat by saying: ‘Two men cannot be in one place; if one must come the other must go.’”
His father laughed.
“Well, I have no doubt it is something like that, Rex. When the Chinese saw that we were quite determined to get into Tientsin, our obstinacy and fixedness of purpose told upon them, and they began to say: ‘These people have made up their minds to come, therefore we had better go.’ Certainly they showed a great deal of pluck during the first day’s fighting; even the tremendous cannonade to which they were exposed did not seem to shake their courage at all, for they fought as stoutly at the end of the day as they did at the beginning. We can hardly say that we gained any advantage whatever. We certainly have every reason to congratulate ourselves on the fact that they lost courage when they came to think it over after nightfall. Well, I have not the least fear that the force that is starting tomorrow will fail. If the Chinese did not stand when fighting behind strong walls, supported by a circle of strong forts mounting a prodigious number of cannon, it is hardly likely that they will make anything like a determined resistance in the open. I anticipate that the difficulties will rather be in getting to Pekin than in defeating the enemy. We know that the banks of the Peiho have been cut and a large stretch of country inundated, and consequently the river is so sunk that it is very doubtful whether even the lighter craft among the junks will be able to get up. If they cannot, the expedition will be in nearly the same position as that of Admiral Seymour. They can’t march without provisions, ammunition, and guns, and certainly the amount of land transport they have collected is nothing like sufficient for that. They must chiefly depend upon their junks, and if the river fails them they are brought to a stand-still.”
“I am afraid that is so, Father,” Rex said; “but at any rate we must hope for the best.”
CHAPTER XIII
CAPTURING THE TAKU FORTS
One afternoon Rex went to see his friend the midshipman at the barricade.
“I wish you would tell me,” Rex said, “all about the capture of the Taku Forts. Beyond the fact that they were captured I have heard next to nothing.”
“Well, it is rather a long story,” the middy said, “but as everything is quiet, I don’t mind telling you about it if you like.”
“I should be very much obliged if you would,” Rex said.
“Well, then, here goes. You have not seen the place, I suppose?”
“No.”
“Well, the mouth of the river is strongly fortified, especially on the north side, where there is a big casemated fort with earthworks, mounting altogether some fifty guns of different sizes. A third of a mile farther up the river is the inner fort, which is very strong, but smaller than the other, and mounts about thirty guns. An earthwork covered-way connects the two forts, and the parapet is pierced for many small guns. On the south side, extending a mile along the shore, are a number of casemated batteries, mounting about one hundred and twenty guns. These are good guns,
and for the most part modern. There is also an inner fort a mile inland, built for the defence of the main magazines.
“All these fortifications consist of earthworks with cement and concrete galleries. They are wonderfully well built; certainly as good as any I have ever seen. You see, mud is the usual substance with which they build houses in China, and they are wonderfully clever with it. At many points of the fortification there are high and very powerful redoubts, which carry at their angles very big modern guns, mostly Krupp quick-firers. All these forts seem to have been designed by foreigners; I don’t think the Chinese would ever have been up to such work if they hadn’t had foreign instructors. Apparently, however, they sacked these fellows when they had finished the batteries, and themselves carried out the rest of the work. There hasn’t been any regular garrison in these forts for some years, but officials and hangers-on have resided there. When the row began, however, troops came marching in, and we calculated that at the time of the bombardment they were occupied by some eight thousand men. I fancy they were good soldiers, for they came from Hunan, which province is considered to turn out the best soldiers in China. Their general, Liu, came from the same place.
“Unfortunately the water near the forts is very shoal, and war-vessels that drew twenty feet of water were obliged to heave-to five miles off the bar; that is to say, ten miles off the forts. By the fifteenth there were twenty-five foreign men-of-war here—British, French, German, Austrian, Russian, Italian, and Japanese. An American ship came up a day or two before the battle. It was difficult getting news so far out, so the admiral’s light-draught yacht anchored close outside the bar, and they ran a wire into the destroyer Fame, which was anchored just outside the fort. By this means despatches were wired out to the yacht, and either flashed or semaphored to the fleet. A mile above the fort was the Imperial naval yard and docks, and lying moored to the wharves were four very fine thirty-two-knot German-built destroyers, with full Chinese crews on board.