CHINESE TROOPS ON THE MARCH
The weeks which I spent in Mukden were full of rumors and excitement.
A few words on the origin of the war with Japan may make the situation
intelligible.
The Tong-haks, as was mentioned in chapter xiii., had on several
occasions defeated the Royal Korean troops, and after much hesitation
the Korean King invoked the help of China. China replied promptly by
giving Japan notice of her intention to send troops to Korea on 7th
June, 1894, both countries, under the treaty of Tientsin, having equal
rights to do so under such circumstances as had then arisen. On the
same day Japan announced to China a similar intention. The Chinese
General, Yi, landed at A-san with 3,000 men, and the Japanese occupied
Chemulpo and Seoul in force.
In the Chinese despatch Korea was twice referred to as “our tributary
state.” Japan replied that the Imperial Government had never recognized
Korea as a tributary state of China.
Then came three proposals from Japan for the administration of Korea,
to be carried out jointly by herself and China. These were--(1)
Examination of the financial administration; (2) Selection of the
central and local officials; (3) The establishment of a disciplined
army for national defence and the preservation of the peace of the land.
To these proposals China replied that Korea must be left to reform
herself, and that the withdrawal of the Japanese troops must precede
any negotiations, a suggestion rejected by Japan, who informed China
on 14th July, that she should regard the dispatch of any more troops
to Japan as a belligerent act. On 20th July Japan demanded that the
King of Korea should order the Chinese troops to leave the country,
threatening “decisive measures” if this course were not adopted.
Meanwhile, at the request of the King, the representatives of the
Treaty Powers were endeavoring to maintain peace, suggesting the
simultaneous withdrawal of the troops of both countries. To this China
agreed, but Japan demanded delay, and on 23rd July took the “decisive
measure” she had threatened, assaulted and captured the Palace, and
practically made the King a prisoner, his father, the Tai-Won-Kun, at
his request, but undoubtedly at Japanese instigation, taking nominally
the helm of affairs.
After this events marched with great rapidity. On 25th July the
transport _Kowshing_, flying the British flag and carrying 1,200
Chinese troops, was sunk with great loss of life by the Japanese
cruiser _Naniwa_, and four days later the Japanese won the battle of
A-san and dispersed the Chinese army. Before 30th July Korea gave
notice of the renunciation of the Conventions between herself and
China, which was equivalent to renouncing Chinese sovereignty. On 1st
August war was declared. Of the sequence of these events, and even of
the events themselves, we knew little or nothing, and up to the middle
of July Mukden kept “the even tenor of its way.”
Manchuria is far less hostile to foreigners than the rest of China, and
the name “devil” may even be used as a polite address with the prefix
of “honorable”! No European women had previously passed through the
gate of the inner wall and through the city on foot, but I not only was
able to do so without molestation, though several times only attended
by my servant, but actually was able to photograph in the quieter
streets, the curiosity of the crowd being quite friendly. The Scotch
missionaries had then been established in Mukden for twenty-two years,
were on very friendly terms with the people, there was much social
intercourse, and altogether their relations with the Chinese were
unique.
Before the end of July, however, the many wild rumors which were
afloat, and the continual passage of troops on their way to Korea
(war being a foregone conclusion before it was declared), produced a
general ferment. I had to abandon peregrinations in the city, and also
photography, a hostile crowd having mobbed me as I was “taking” the
Gate of Victory, in the belief that I kept a black devil in the camera,
with such a baleful Cyclopean eye that whatever living thing it looked
on would die within a year, and any building or wall would crumble away!
After war was declared on 1st August, 1894, things grew worse rapidly.
As Japan had full command of the sea, all Chinese troops sent to Korea
were compelled to march through Manchuria, and undisciplined hordes
of Manchu soldiers from Kirin, Tsitsihar, and other northern cities
poured through Mukden at the rate of 1,000 a day, having distinguished
themselves on the southern march by seizing on whatever they could
get hold of, riotously occupying inns without payment, beating the
innkeepers, and wrecking Christian chapels, not from anti-Christian but
from anti-foreign feeling. Their hatred of foreigners culminated at
Liau-yang, 40 miles from Mukden, when Manchu soldiers, after wrecking
the Christian chapel, beat Mr. Wylie, a Scotch missionary, to death,
and attacked the chief magistrate for his friendliness to the “foreign
devils.”
Anti-foreign feeling rose rapidly in Mukden. The servants of
foreigners, and even the hospital assistants, were insulted in the
town, and the wildest rumors concerning foreigners were spread and
believed. The friendly authorities, who took the safety of the three
mission families into serious consideration, requested them to
give up their usual journeys into the interior, and to avoid going
into the city or outside the walls. Next the “street chapels” were
closed, the native Christians, a large body, being very apprehensive
for their own safety, being regarded as “one with the foreigners,”
who, unfortunately, were generally supposed to be “the same as the
Japanese.”
[Illustration: GATE OF VICTORY, MUKDEN.]
The perils of the roads increased. Not a cart or animal was to be seen
near them. The great inns were closed or had their shutters wrecked,
and the villages and farms were deserted. All tracks converging on
Mukden were thronged with troops, not marching, but straggling along
anyhow, every tenth man carrying a great silk banner, but few were
armed with modern weapons. I saw several regiments of fine physique
without a rifle among them! In some, gingalls were carried by two men
each, others were armed with antique muzzle-loading muskets, very
rusty, or with long matchlocks, and some carried only spears, or
bayonets fixed on red poles. All were equipped with such umbrellas
and fans as I saw some time later in the ditches of the bloody field
of Phyöng-yang. It was nothing but murder to send thousands of men so
armed to meet the Japanese with their deadly Murata rifles, and the
men knew it, for when they happened to see a foreigner they made such
remarks as, “This is one of the devils for whom we are going to be
shot,” and when a large party of them, in attempting to make a forcible
entry into the Governor-General’s palace, were threatened by the guard
with being shot, the reply was, “We are going to be shot in Korea, we
may as well be shot here.”
The nominal pay of soldiers is higher than that of laborers, and it was
only after the defeat and the great slaughter at A-san that there was
any unwillingness to enter the ranks. The uniform is easy, but unfit
for hard wear, and very stagey--a short, loose, sleeved red cloak,
bordered with black velvet, loose blue, black, or apricot trousers, and
long boots of black cotton cloth with thick soles of quilted rag. The
discipline may be inferred from the fact that some regiments of fine
physique straggled through Mukden for the seat of war carrying rusty
muskets in one hand, and in the other poles with perches, on which
singing birds were loosely tethered! The men fell out of the ranks
as they pleased, to buy fruit or tobacco or to speak to friends. Yet
they made a goodly scenic display in their brilliant coloring, with
their countless long banners of crimson silk undulating in the breezy
sunshine, and their officers with sable-tailed hats and yellow jackets
riding beside them.
Those who had rifles and modern weapons at all had them of all makes;
so cartridges of twenty different sorts and sizes were huddled together
without any attempt at classification, and in one open space all sorts
were heaped on the ground, and the soldiers were fitting them to their
arms, sometimes trying eight or ten before finding one to suit the
weapon, and throwing them back on the heap! There were neither medical
arrangements nor an ambulance corps, Chinese custom being to strip the
wounded and leave them, “wounded men being of no use.” The commissariat
was not only totally inefficient but grossly dishonest, and where
stores had accumulated the contractors sold them for their own benefit.
Thus there was little provision of food or fodder in advance, and in
a very short time the soldiers were robbing at large, and eating the
horses and transport mules. The Chinese soldiers, bad as their drill
and discipline are, are regarded by European officers as “excellent
material,” but the Manchus of the North (Tartars) are a shambling,
disorderly, insubordinate horde, dreaded by peaceable citizens,
presuming on their Imperial relationship, and in disturbed times little
better than licensed brigands.
Among the first troops to leave the city was the Fengtien Chinese
brigade of cavalry 5,000 strong, under General Tso, a brave and
experienced officer, who was at once feared and trusted, so that
when he fell with his face to the foe at Phyöng-yang, his loss
demoralized the army, and the Japanese showed their appreciation of
him by erecting an obelisk to his memory. His brigade was in a state
of strict discipline, admirably drilled, and on the whole well armed.
The troopers were mounted on active, well-built ponies, a little over
13 hands high, up to great weight. After leaving Mukden they were
entangled in a quagmire which extended for 100 miles, and the
telegrams of disaster were ominous. On the first day their commander
beheaded six men for taking melons without payment, and on the second
fourteen were decapitated for desertion.
[Illustration: CHINESE SOLDIERS]
After General Tso’s departure with his disciplined force the disorder
increased, and the high officials, being left with few reliable
soldiers, became alarmed for their own positions, the hatred and
jealousy between the Chinese and Manchu troops not only constituting
one of the great difficulties of the war, but threatening official
safety.
Rumors of disaster soon began to circulate, and with each one the
ferment increased, and an Imperial proclamation sent by courier from
Peking in the interests of foreigners, declaring that the Emperor was
only at war with the “rebel _wojen_” (dwarfs), and was at peace with
all other nations, did little to allay it. The able-bodied beggars
and unemployed coolies in the city were swept into the army, and were
sent off after three weeks’ drill. The mule carts of Mukden and the
neighborhood were requisitioned for transport, paralyzing much of the
trade of the city. Later, many of these carts were burned as fuel to
cook the mules for the starving troops. As Manchu soldiers continued
to pour in, the shops were closed and the streets deserted at their
approach, and many of the merchants fled to the hills. A Japanese
occupation, ensuring security and order, came to be hoped for by many
sufferers. The price of provisions rose, because the country people had
either been robbed of all or did not dare to bring them in, and even
the hospital and dispensary for the same reason began to be scantily
attended. After Mr. Wylie’s murder, things became increasingly serious,
and by the end of August it became apparent to the authorities that the
safety of foreigners would be jeopardized by remaining much longer in
Mukden. Somewhat later they left, Dr. Ross and Dr. Christie remaining
behind for a short time at the special request of the Governor. I
left on 20th August, and though my friends were very anxious about
my safety, I reached Newchwang five days later, having encountered no
worse risk than that of an attack by pirates, who captured some junks
with some loss of life, after I had eluded them by travelling at night.