THE CHINO-JAPANESE WAR, 1894—95. 602 Hai-cheng,and made an attempt to recover it. It is curious that during this time Oyama and the Second Army remained inactive. If they had movednorth, Sung wouldhave beenhelpless. Even if Nogi's brigade had threatened Kai-ping from Fu-chow, the Chinese general would have been too anxious about taking care of himself to think of any enterprise against Katsura. Probably this inactivity of the whole Japanese Second Army was due to transport difficulties.

Meanwhile, on December 3rd, General Katsura, with the Third Japanese Division, had marched westward from his camp at An-tung on tlae Yalu. His objective was Hai-cheng. To reach it he had to fight his way through the low hills that form the southern part of the watershed between the Yellow Sea and the Gulf ofPe-chi-li. Further north thisrangeis crossed by tlae roadto Mukden at the Mo-tien-ling Pass. IfKatsura could clear thehillsof the enemy and capture Hai-cheng, he would be in a position either to march directly on Niu-chang,or, turning northward,he would threatenMukden and the rear of the force holding the Mo-tien-ling, which the Chinese would probably evacuate on the first sign of his moving northwards. It is true that at Hai-chenghe wouldbein the midst of the Chinese armies, which in the aggregate wouldoutnumberhis three toone. Sung'sarmy aboutKai-pingwouldbe on one side of him,the troopsholdingNiu-chang anditsneighbourhood on the other, and the Mukden garrison, the Mo-tien-lingdetachment,andperhapsIko-tenga's army on a third. But by this time theJapanese did not mind meeting superior forces of their enemy. Katsura, in the middle of the hostile circle,countedon beating his enemies in detail. Moreover, he would have the help of Nogi's brigadeat Fu-chow to keep Sung occupied, and if Iko-tengamovedagainst him, Tachimi would be able to co-operate by marching over the Alo-tien-ling.

Sung marched on Hai-cheng with about 10,000 troops, leaving the rest of his army to hold Kai-ping. On December 18th Katsura became aware of his approach, and, leaving a small detachment strongly entrenched at Haicheng, he marched out to meet the enemy. The battle was fought on the 19th at Kangwang-sai, and was the sharpest encounter since Ping-yang. It was the only battle during the whole war in which the losses on both sides werenearly equal, a proof that the Chinese for once made a good stand. The Japanese had not quite five thousand men in action. They fought in deep snow, the Chinese holding a number of villages and some belts of pines and evergreen oaks. Again and again Sung's men heldtheir ground against heavy riflefiring until the Japanese closed with them with fixed bayonets. The village of Kang-wang-sai, entrenched and provided with artillery, was stormed just before sunset. The Chinese retreated under the cover of darkness,andKatsura did not attempt a pursuit. Next morning he returned to Hai-cheng,leaving a detachment to bury the dead and also to give warning of any signs of theenemyreappearing. Thelosseshad beenabout400killed and wounded oneach side. Sung's army did not return to Kai-ping. It broke up into two parts— one retreated westward under Sung's command by the road to Niu-chang;the other went away towards the south-west in the directionof Ying-tzu, a town on the north shore of the Gulf of Pe-chi-li at the mouth of the Liao River, the waterway whichgives access to Niu-chang On December 8th Katsura concentrated his divisionat Hsiu-yen, where he gavehis troopsa day'srest. On the 10th he resumed hisadvance in three columns. On the left was a small detachment under Colonel Sato, which moved directly on Kai-ping inorder to guard against a possibleattempt of Sung's army to attack from that side. InthecentreKatsurahimselfmarched with the main body. On the right a smaller column underGeneralOsekoguarded that flank. On the nth Katsura defeated anddispersed two bodiesofChinese troops,4,000 and 2,000 strong. Nextday Oseko, on the right, encountered and drove off a force of 3,000 more. Inthese three skirmishes the aggregateloss of the victors was sevenmenwounded,so thatit is clear the Chinese made no serious stand. On the 13th it was found that the Chinese had abandoned Haicheng, and Katsura occupied the city without firinga shot.

After thebattleof Kang-wang-saiGeneralKatsura was left undisturbed at Hai-chengfor some weeks. On December 30th General Nogi received orders to advance on Kai-ping with his brigade, drive out the Chinese garrison, and open communication with the First Army in Manchuria. He began his march on January ist, 1895, with a force of about 8,000 men, including six battalions of infantry, two The nearest Chinese army of any importance was General Sung's gathering at Kai-ping. Sung heard with some surprise of the loss of