626 CHAPTER XVI.

CONCLUDING OPERATIONS OF THE WAR.

WHILE MarshalOyama and Admiral Ito were attacking Wei-hai-wei by land and sea, there had been a lull in the operations of the armies that faced each other amid the northern snow and icein Manchuria. But in the middb of February, after the fall the country round is so flat that this isolated eminence commandsit for a great distance. It is known by the name of Tai-ping-shan, " the Hillof Great Peace," a name that proved most inappropriate when the outposts of Nogi's brigadeoccupied it on February 20th. For the of Wei-hai-wei, fighting began again in Manchuria.

On the 16th Iko-tenga and two other Chinese generals, with a force estimated at about 15,000 men, made an attack on the Japanese garrison at Haicheng. They were easily driven back, leaving 150 dead in front of the town, while the Japanese only lost three killed and eleven wounded. On the 17th a Japanese battalion in garrison at Hsi-mu-cheng was attackedby a force of about a thousandChinese, andrepulsed them withoutsuffering any loss. The attacking party were afterwards found Chinese made desperate efforts to drive them from it, and the "Hill of Great Peace " became the centre of some of the hardest fighting that had occurred during the war. On the 2ist the Chinese General Ma-yu-kun, with a portion of Sung's army, drove the outposts from the hill and occupied it in force. Yamaji resolved to recapture it, and the result was a fierce battle on February 24th, in which the whole of the Japanese ist Division was engaged.

Yamaji had massed his division on the north sidecf Kai-pingonthe23rd. Shortly GENERAL OSEKO. In CommandofaBrigadeoftheJapaneseArmy inManchuria.

to have beennot Chinese troops butalargeband of brigands and outlaws. On the 21st Ikotenga again threatened Hai-cheng, but he did not venture on a real attack, and all that happened was an exchange of artillery fire at long range, after which the Chinese again retired.

By this time both armies had been reinforced. On the Chinese side 10,000 troops had been sent up to the neighbourhood of Niu-chwang from Shan-hai-kwan. On the Japanese side the whole of Yamaji's division (Nishi's and Nogi's brigades) had been transferred from the Second to the First Army, and had concentrated at Kai-ping. Yamaji and his troops were henceforth under the orders of General Nodzu.

About twelve miles north of Kai-ping a remarkableridge,about twomiles long, rises from the plain. It is less than 200 feet high, but after midnight he formed his troops in two columnsfor theadvanceonTai-ping-shan. Nishi's brigade was to move on the left and attack the Chinese frontat dawn on the 24th. Meanwhile, Nogi, with the right column, wasto have worked round to the eastward of the hill, and was to attackthe enemy's left flank and threaten their line of retreat. There were two feet of snow on the ground, and the thermometer was down to zero. The men suffered intensely during the night march and the wearyhalt in the snow, waiting for the dawn to give them light to open fire on the Chinese position.

Nishi's brigade was the first to come into action. It drove some 2,700 Chinese out of a village at the west end of Tai-ping-shan. Nogis attack had meanwhile begun to develop further to the eastward. By nine o'clock the Chinese had been driven from Tai-ping-shan, and the