The Great Difficulty Was To Discover A Way Of Getting From
Pehtang On To Some Of The Main Roads Leading To The Peiho; For The Whole
Of The Surrounding Country Had Been Under Water, And Was More Or Less
Impassable.
In fact, the region round Pehtang consisted of nothing but
mud, while the one road, an elevated causeway, was blocked by the
fortified camp just mentioned as having been discovered by the
reconnoitering party.
A subsequent reconnaissance, conducted by Colonel
(now Lord) Wolseley, revealed the presence of a cart-track which might
prove available for the march of troops. This track was turned to
advantage for the purpose of taking the Chinese position in flank, and to
Sir Robert Napier's division was assigned this, as it proved, difficult
operation. When the maneuver of out-flanking had been satisfactorily
accomplished, the attack was commenced in front. Here the Chinese stood to
their position, but only for a brief time, as the fire from eighteen guns,
including some forty-pounders, soon silenced their gingalls, and they
precipitately abandoned their intrenchments. While the engagement in front
had reached this favorable termination Sir Robert Napier had been engaged
on the right hand with a strong body of Tartar cavalry, which attacked
with considerable valor, and with what seemed a possibility of success,
until the guns opening upon them and the Sikh cavalry charging them
dispelled their momentary dream of victory. The prize of this battle was
the village of Sinho with its line of earthworks, one mile north of the
Peiho, and about seven miles in the rear of the Taku forts.
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Page 476 of 704
Words from 129391 to 129658
of 191255
