Page:Chinese account of the Opium war (IA chineseaccountof00parkrich).pdf/81

 and NIU KIEN, after failing to close the Wusung river to attack, should have hastened to Chinkiang, concerted measures of defence with the Associate TS‘ISHEN and the General LIU YÜN-HIAO, and assumed supreme command over the Tartar HAILING: if this had been done, the foreign ships would not have gone straight on to Nanking, and we might have tried to burn them; or, anyhow, should have treated with them without being at their mercy. But NIU KIEN fled straight to Nanking, and HAILING told TS‘ISHÊN and LIU to leave him alone and defend the outer city. He would not allow any one to leave the city, and slaughtered a number of disloyal Chinese, thereby exciting a general panic of indignation.. He made no preparations, collec- ted no stores for defence, and made no attempt to organize a volunteer force. The thousand or so of Manchu garrison troops, and the 600 Chinese troops were scattored about anyhow. The troops outside the city kept off those pirates who had landed during a couple of days; after which the Eng- lish, whilst making a feint of an attack upon the north gate, secretly sent a body of men to scale the wall on the south-west side, and swarmed into the city, with a loss of only one or two men. The English first burnt the Manchu camp, HAILING