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 four foreign Powers were willing to guarantee the maintenance of a neutral zone north and south of Chinchow. Nothing came of the proposal. Meanwhile, conversations were initiated between Marshal Chang Hsueh-liang and the Japanese Chargé d'Affaires at Peiping, but these too were abortive for different reasons. The Chinese allege in their document No. 3, Annex E, that, at each successive visit, on December 7th, 25th and 29th, the Japanese delegate increased his demands concerning the Chinese retreat, and his promises with regard to the restraint of the Japanese troops became more and more vague. The Japanese, on the other hand, claim that the Chinese promises to withdraw were never sincere.

The concentrated attack of the Japanese forces began on December 23rd, when the 19th Chinese Brigade was forced to give up its position. From that day, the advance continued with perfect regularity and hardly met with any resistance at all, the Chinese Commander having given out a general order to retreat. Chinchow was occupied on the morning of January 3rd and the Japanese forces continued their advance right up to the Great Wall at Schanhaikwan, where they established a permanent contact with the Japanese garrison in that place.

The complete evacuation of Manchuria by the troops of Marshal Chang Hsueh-liang, practically without striking a blow, was not unconnected with the internal conditions of China south of the Wall. Reference has been made in an earlier chapter to the feuds between rival Generals and it must be remembered these feuds had not ceased.

The comparative ease with which the offensive down to Shanhaikwan was carried out enabled the Japanese to release some of their troops from their original positions and make them available for advances in other directions. The main force of the 2nd Division, which had done nearly all the fighting so far, returned to their quarters at Liaoyang, Mukden, and Changchun for a rest. On the other hand, the increased length of railway line to be protected against possible bandit raids at any point necessitated the use of a large number of troops the fighting strength of which was diminished by their distribution over such wide areas. The two brigades under the command of the Staff of the 20th Division were left for this purpose in the newly occupied zone, and the 4th Brigade of the 8th Division joined them more to the north. The Japanese military authorities assured us that, within these well-guarded areas, a state of law and order was soon established and that banditry was practically extinguished on both sides of the Liao River during the following weeks. This statement was made to us in the month of June, but, at the moment of writing this Report, we read of vigorous raids from volunteer troops on Yingkow and Haicheng, with threats even to Mukden and Chinchow.

The district which, at the beginning of this year, gave more trouble than any other was that north and east of Harbin, to which the remaining followers of the two former Provincial Governments of Kirin and Heilungkiang had withdrawn. The Chinese Generals in this northern sector seemed to have maintained some contact with Headquarters at Peiping, whence they received some support from time to time. The advance on Harbin began, as that on Tsitsihar had done, by an encounter between two Chinese forces. General Hsi Hsia at the beginning of January prepared for an expedition to the North with the view to occupying Harbin. Between him and that city were Generals Ting Chao and Li Tu, with what are described as anti-Kirin forces. According to information provided by the Japanese Assessor, when our preliminary report was under consideration, satisfactory terms would have been arranged by negotiation between the parties had it not been for the influence of the authorities at Peiping. Negotiations were in fact initiated and, while they were being carried on, General Hsi Hsia advanced with his troops as far as Shuangchong, which they reached on January 25th, but, when it came to serious fighting on