6co A JAPANESE OFFICER LEADING HIS MEN ACROSS A RIVER.

(By aJapanese artist.)

CHAPTER XII.

THE WINTER CAMPAIGN IN MANCHURIA. AT thebeginningof December the Japanese First Army in the Yalu countryhad between 40,000 and 50,000 Chinese troops in its front. But these were not concentrated underone leaderor availablefor combinedoperations. Six or seven thousand were holding the passes over the central range of hills that runs down into the Liao-tung Peninsula, so as to guard against a Japanese advancedirectly westwardagainst Hai-cheng and the treaty port of Niu-chang. Five thousand more further north heldtheMo-tien-ling Pass, inorder toprotect the way to Mukden. To thenorth ofFeng-huangcheng there was a field army of about 10,000 menunder the command of the Tartar general, Iko-tenga. This number was made up of the remains of his old army, together with a large reinforcement he had lately received. The Japanesesay thatIko-tenga was the best of the Chinese generals opposed to them. The rest were, as a rule, content to await attack behind fortifications and in walledcities, but Iko-tenga repeatedly attempted active operations in the open, and took the initiative instead of being content to be always on the defensive.

east corner of theGulf of Pe-chi-li. These troops were made up of the force that had failed to recapture Kin-chow, of fugitives from Port Arthur and Ta-lien-wan, and of local levies. About q,ooo more troops, reinforcements lately despatched by the Pekin Government, were marching to his assistance, and were near at hand.

General Tachimi,whoheld Fenghuang-cheng with the Fifth Division, was ordered to check Iko-tenga's advancein the first week of December. He marched northwards to meet the Tartar general, leaving a small detachment to hold Feng-huang-cheng,and watch the country towards the Mo-tien-ling Pass. He had ten days of difficult marching and manSuvring in the snow-coveredhillcountry,whereno existing maps gave much help, andhis staff had to carry out a series of extensive reconnaissances as a prelude to every move. He encountered first the Chinese advanced guard and then then main body, and defeated them in two hardfought actions, in which they made a most determined stand. Iko-tenga retired towards the north, but the Japanese were so impi by his enterprisingcharacter that Tachimi's force was kept watchingfor another possible attack. Another army under General Sung, about 16,000 strong, was near Kai-ping at the north-