These Preliminary Encounters
Were Followed By A Declaration Of War On August 1, 1894.
During the
ensuing six weeks, Japan poured her troops into the peninsula, while the
Chinese fleet, instead of harassing the enemy, remained in the harbors of
Port Arthur and Wei-hai-Wei.
On September 15, the Japanese army in Corea
was strong enough to detach a corps of 14,000 men to attack the Chinese
position at Pingyang, a town on the northern banks of the Paidong River.
The passage of the river was difficult, and the Chinese might have
overwhelmed the Japanese when crossing it, but they took no measures to
this end, and the battle began at sunrise on the day just named. There
were five forts to be captured, and some of them were vigorously defended,
nor was it until night set in that the garrison finally determined upon
evacuating the place. In the battle itself and the retreat, over 2,000
Chinese were killed, to say nothing of the wounded and the prisoners. The
Japanese themselves lost 162 killed, 438 wounded and 33 missing, and there
seems to be no reason to doubt that, had all the Chinese officers been
capable of the valor displayed by the general Tso-pao-kuei, the Japanese
would have been repulsed. As it was, the battle proved decisive, for not a
Chinaman paused until he had reached the other side of the Yalu River,
which forms the northwest boundary of Corea.
On the very day of the fight at Pingyang, a number of Chinese war vessels,
under the command of Admiral Ting, were transporting troops to the mouth
of the Yalu, where the Chinese were assembling a second army.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 665 of 704
Words from 180534 to 180816
of 191255
