時報
- Movements of Zhou's Troops at Nanjing and Changzhou
- Zhejiang Gentry Telegraph Sun, Zhou and Chiang
- Zhang Zuolin's Attitude
The Shibao of 16 October 1926 looked at the war between Sun Chuanfang's Allied Army and the southern Northern Expedition forces from three angles. A Nanjing dispatch quoted the Allied Army's own daily as saying that fighting in Jiangxi was easing, that both sides would cease fire, and that Sun had ordered his armies onto the defensive. The same report described rear-guard troops of Zhou Fengqi's 3rd Division leaving Nanjing at night, while the city tightened martial law, changed passwords and searched baggage at stations, wharves and gates. Leading Zhejiang gentry, among them Chu Huiseng and Yu Qiaqing, telegraphed Sun at Jiujiang asking for an immediate ceasefire, a buffer zone and the return of Zhejiang troops to their home province. They cited a province left without defenders, the coming winter and rumors that Shandong troops would pass through. Telegrams from Beijing portrayed Zhang Zuolin as cautious, unwilling to cross the Pass and ready to refuse leadership of the central government.
This reading covers three news items from the page: the Nanjing report on Zhou Fengqi's troops, the Zhejiang gentry telegram and the Beijing telegrams on Zhang Zuolin. The texts were transcribed from the tile images because the OCR scrambled the column order. The Nanjing report and the gentry telegram break off mid-sentence at the tile edges, and only the first of the gentry's three telegrams is included. The advertising rate table and the contents of the Pictorial Times supplement are in very small type, are only partly legible and are not translated.
Translation
Movements of Zhou's Troops at Nanjing and Changzhou
◎ According to the Allied Army Daily, military affairs in Jiangxi province are already easing, and both sides are about to cease fire and negotiate peace. Apart from clearing obstacles from the battlefield, the generals of the Allied Army will shortly return to their original garrisons, showing that they are carrying out their original intention. Sun Chuanfang's replies to telegrams from all quarters have endorsed peace, and he has ordered all his armies to take a defensive posture to show his resolve. (Dispatched from Nanjing on the 15th)
◎ Movements of Zhou's Troops at Nanjing and Changzhou ◎ After Zhou Fengqi's 3rd Division set out for the Jiangxi front, part of the troops left behind, quartered at the 3rd Division's rear headquarters in the former Jiangning prefectural office, at the Chaotian Palace and at other places, left the city of Nanjing on the night of the 14th. Special martial law was imposed that night. The troops of the 8th Division stationed in Nanjing, the joint military-police inspection office and the police stations of every district stepped up their patrols, extra sentries were posted at every strategic point, and the passwords were changed on short notice. Since the 14th, inspections at the railway stations, steamer wharves and city gates have been exceptionally strict, and all luggage and other articles, whether leaving or entering the city, must be opened for inspection. In addition, the provincial office has received a telegram from the magistrate of Wujin county that the troops stationed at Changzhou…
Zhejiang Gentry Telegraph Sun, Zhou and Chiang
◎ Zhejiang Gentry Telegraph Sun, Zhou and Chiang, Urging Peace and Asking That the Zhejiang Troops Return to Zhejiang!!! Because the province of Zhejiang has been left without defenders and public order is a cause for concern, the Zhejiang gentry Chu Huiseng, Yu Qiaqing, Yin Zhufu, Wang Xiaolai, Wu Zhihao and others met yesterday and specially agreed to send three telegrams, asking both sides to stop fighting and requesting that Mr. Sun order the Zhejiang troops back to Zhejiang. The telegrams read as follows:
▲ Telegram to Sun Chuanfang. To Commander-in-Chief Sun, Jiujiang: We hear that the peace delegates have proposed a ceasefire and the withdrawal of troops, and that contacts between the two sides already show signs of progress. The people of the southeast raise their hands to their brows in rejoicing. In recent days, however, rumors that the Shandong army will pass through have been rife; people are alarmed and the towns and villages are shaken. Moreover, the season for winter security has arrived, and this too must be attended to. To halt the spear is the true meaning of martial virtue; the moment must not be lost. If you take the first step yourself, your noble virtue will shine all the more. We earnestly beg you to resolutely declare a ceasefire this very day and to mark out a buffer zone, and then to deliberate publicly on the settlement. The countless millions of living souls would truly benefit…
Zhang Zuolin's Attitude
◎ Zhang Zuolin's Attitude ◎ According to Fengtian leadership sources, Zhang Zuolin is still carefully planning how to deal with the situation. For the present he maintains a calm attitude toward the central government and does not lightly interfere, and recently he has also had no intention of coming inside the Pass. (Telegram from Beijing, 10 a.m. on the 15th)
◎ Zhang Zuolin is rather passive about the political situation. Even if someone were to put him forward as provisional head of the central government, he would certainly declare that he will not take it. (Telegram from Beijing, 3 p.m. on the 15th)
Context
Why the Zhejiang gentry wanted Zhejiang's troops sent home
The gentry telegram complained that Zhejiang had been left without defenders and asked Sun Chuanfang to order the Zhejiang troops home. It was sent on the eve of an open break in the province. Zhou Fengqi, whose 3rd Division the Nanjing report names, was an old associate of Zhejiang's civil governor Xia Chao: in 1916 the two had plotted together to overthrow the province's governor. In 1926 Xia reached a secret agreement with Chiang Kai-shek and promised to defect if the National Revolutionary Army defeated Wu Peifu at Wuchang, which it did on 10 October. Xia cut the railway between Zhejiang and Shanghai and dispersed the Hangzhou garrison to weaken Sun's grip. On 16 October 1926, the date this page was printed, Xia declared Zhejiang independent and called on all soldiers from Zhejiang to return home. The telegram itself explains its request in terms of public order and winter security, and nothing in its text ties the signatories to Xia's plan. Still, the gentry's demand came at the same moment as Xia's appeal, which shows that the return of Zhejiang units had become a pressing political issue in the province.
The Jiangxi front in October 1926 and the ceasefire report
The Allied Army in the Nanjing dispatch was Sun Chuanfang's Allied Army of the Five Provinces, raised in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui, Fujian and Jiangxi. The National Revolutionary Army attacked across the Jiangxi border on 4 September 1926 and held both Jiujiang and Nanchang by 19 September. Sun then arrived from Nanjing with reinforcements on 21 September, forced the southern offensive back and retook most of the lost ground. The gentry addressed their telegram to Sun at Jiujiang, which places him at the Jiangxi front at this time. The report that fighting was easing and that Sun had ordered a defensive posture came from the Allied Army's own newspaper and reflects how his side presented the situation. In fact, bloody fighting continued in Jiangxi, and in the middle of it Xia Chao defected to the Guangzhou government. By the end of October Sun's forces were again retreating across Jiangxi and Fujian, so the ceasefire the dispatch predicted did not come about.
Why Zhang Zuolin kept his distance from Beijing
The two Beijing telegrams describe Zhang Zuolin as calm, passive and unwilling to be made provisional head of the central government. By mid-1926 his Fengtian clique already held the dominant stake in the Beiyang government, but Zhang was also under pressure from an unstable government in Beijing and from Japanese and Soviet influence. The southern campaign had so far been aimed elsewhere: the National Revolutionary Army's first strategy was to defeat Wu Peifu and appease Sun Chuanfang while ignoring Zhang. The reported reluctance did not last. In November 1926 Zhang gathered his Fengtian commanders and other warlords, among them Sun Chuanfang and Yan Xishan, and founded the National Pacification Army. Sun and Zhang Zongchang became its deputy commanders, and its headquarters was set up in the Pukou–Nanjing area. In June 1927 a conference of its leaders set up a military government and proclaimed Zhang Generalissimo. The page therefore records Zhang's public posture only weeks before the Fengtian clique committed itself openly to the war on the Yangzi.
Why rumors of Shandong troops alarmed Zhejiang
The gentry cited rumors that the Shandong army would pass through as a reason for public alarm. Shandong was then governed by Zhang Zongchang, a Fengtian commander. Only a year earlier, in the autumn of 1925, Sun Chuanfang had counterattacked and driven Zhang Zongchang's forces out of the Chinese districts of Shanghai. Northern troops entering Sun's territory as allies would therefore be former enemies of the region, and the gentry's wording suggests they feared such a march would bring new disorder rather than protection; the telegram presents the passage of Shandong troops only as a rumor. The link between Sun and the north grew closer soon afterward. Sun joined Zhang Zuolin's National Pacification Army in November 1926, and after he was driven out of Jiangsu and Zhejiang in early 1927 he was supplied by the Fengtian clique.
Original
南京常州周軍行動
◎ 聯軍日報消息、 贛省軍事已趨和緩、 雙方均將停戰議和、 聯軍各將領、 除掃除戰地障碍外、 不日將各歸原防、 表示實踐初旨、 孫傳芳復各方電均贊成和平、 且下令各軍取守勢以示決心、 （南京十五日發） ◎ 南京常州周軍行動 ◎ 周鳳岐第三師開赴贛方後、 有一部分留守軍隊、 分駐於舊江甯府署三師留守司令部及朝天宮等處、 於十四日夜間出南京城、 當夜特別戒嚴、 駐甯第八師軍隊、 及軍警聯組稽查處、 各區警察署、 加緊梭巡、 各要隘均加崗防衛、 臨時更換口令、 自十四日起、 各車站輪埠城門、 檢查格外嚴密、 無論出城進城行李等件、 均須啟視、 又省署接武進縣知事電、 駐常
浙紳致孫周蔣電
◎ 浙紳致孫周蔣電主張和平並請浙軍回浙!!! 浙紳褚慧僧、 虞洽卿、 殷鑄夫、 王曉籟、 鄔志豪等、 因浙省地方空虛、 治安可慮、 昨特議定發出三電、 請雙方停戰、 並要求孫氏令浙軍返浙、 電文如下、 ▲ 致孫傳芳電九江孫總司令鑒、 聞和平代表提議停戰撤兵、 雙方接洽、 已見端倪、 東南人民、 額手稱慶、 惟邇日魯軍假道、 風傳甚盛、 人心惶恐、 閭閻震驚、 復以時屆冬防、 尤宜兼顧、 止戈爲武、 時不可失、 自我先施、 益昭令德、 尙祈毅然即日宣佈停戰、 劃地緩衝、 然後公議善後、 億兆生靈、 實利
張作霖態度
◎ 張作霖態度 ◎ 奉方幹部息、 張作霖對時局之應付、 尙在愼密籌劃中、 目前對中樞仍持鎭靜態度、 不輕過問、 最近亦無入關意、 （北京十五日上午十時電） ◎ 張作霖對政治狀况、 頗爲消極、 縱有人擁爲中央臨時首領、 亦必表示不幹、 （北京十五日下午三時電）