Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 2 (1876).djvu/156

134 decided measures. The governor of Kan-su resided at Djung-ling, while a Dungan akhun ruled at Si-ning.

At length the authorities at Peking determined to resort to more energetic measures, and accordingly despatched a new army of 25,000 men to the scene of action. Their chief object was to capture Si-ning, an important commercial city with a large population. Advancing in échelons, the Chinese troops only arrived in Kan-su by the month of June 1872, and quartered themselves in the towns of Nim-pi and Ou-yam-pu, about thirty miles from Si-ning. Here they passed two months in complete idleness, merely pillaging the neighbouring country, and giving the Mahommedans time to assemble 70,000 men in Si-ning. Not till September did they advance against this town, and take up their position beneath its walls, within which the defenders had as usual retired. Four European field-pieces, brought from Peking, struck terror into the insurgents. Each of these guns was drawn by six mules caparisoned in silk, and none durst approach them under fear of immediate death. They were furnished with grape shot and small shells, which were of the greatest service to the Chinese.

At the assault of the town, some of these shells burst in the streets, and created a panic among the defenders. To make matters worse, one of them which had not exploded on falling suddenly burst