時報
- Sun's Army Sends 8 Trains Toward Zhejiang Yesterday
- Gunboats Head for Songjiang
- Whether Shanghai–Songjiang Passenger Trains Will Run Is Undecided
This page of the Shanghai Shibao followed Sun Chuanfang's move against Xia Chao's revolt in Zhejiang. A Far Eastern News Agency item said Director-General Ding had received a conciliatory telegram from Xia in Hangzhou that blamed a "misunderstanding" and asked the front to stop advancing, though the paper left any decision to Sun. The paper then listed, train by train, how some 6,500 troops loaded into 157 cars at New Longhua left for Songjiang on 20 October, while men and munitions came in from Nanjing, Zhenjiang and Nantong. Shorter items covered warships at Gaochangmiao, Zhejiang troops halted at Changxing, wealthy families leaving the area, and the still-undecided restart of Shanghai–Songjiang passenger trains, which had been stopped for five days.
This is a partial reading. The OCR for this page is badly scrambled, with columns out of order and many misread characters, so the three excerpts are fragments joined across breaks. Ellipses and [?] mark text that is missing or could not be read, including a garbled opening line in the first excerpt. Not transcribed: small-print advertisements, the dispatch on Zhejiang troops guarding Changxing, several station and personal names in the train lists, the name of the vessel before 'patrol vessel', the station names in the Shanghai–Hangzhou western-section paragraph, and most of the masthead rate tables. Unit names such as 'Ningsheng railway' and 'ammunition vests' follow the characters as printed.
Translation
Sun's Army Sends 8 Trains Toward Zhejiang Yesterday
[?] … [?] … [?] … The Far Eastern News Agency reports: According to reliable information, yesterday afternoon Director-General Ding received a reply telegram from Xia Chao in Hangzhou. In substance it said that there had at first been a misunderstanding; that restoring communications now is truly a matter of urgency; that Chen Qicai is being sent from here to confer with the brigade commander and explain; that orders should by all means be given to the forward defenses not to press any further; and that there is no disturbance of any kind in Zhejiang. From this it appears that Xia Chao has already made his position known, and the Zhejiang question also seems likely to be settled easily. However, what attitude to take toward Zhejiang from now on must naturally await instructions from Commander-in-Chief Sun before it can be decided.
◉ Sun's Army: 8 Trains Advanced Toward Zhejiang Yesterday ▲ Troops Number Some 6,500 ▲ Song Meicun Is Commander-in-Chief at the Front
◎ The various units of Sun's army, on the orders of Commander Li Baozhang, concentrated at New Longhua on the evening of the day before yesterday (the 19th). Troops and military supplies were loaded into a total of 157 cars, and yesterday (the 20th) they went in eight trains to Songjiang, where they will await orders before advancing further. The departure time of each troop train, and whose units it carried, are recorded in detail below.
▲ The first train, of 14 cars, carried the whole 1st Battalion of the 13th Regiment under Liu Guocai, led by the battalion commander, and left at 3:05 a.m. yesterday (the 20th).
▲ The second train, of 27 cars, carried the 2nd Battalion of the 13th Regiment together with an artillery company and a machine-gun company, as well as three field guns and six machine guns, … troops of the regiment's 6th Brigade came to Shanghai to go on to the front line; the cars needed were fully assembled, and [?] already loaded … one train of 10 cars, from Nanjing to Suzhou; 12 cars, from Nanjing to Longhua; …th) left one after another from 11 p.m.; (8 p.m. on the 20th …
◎ … on the (20th) the 2nd Battalion of the 1st Regiment arrived from Nantong and is quartered at Tianning Temple; (Yangzhou, the 20th, p.m. …
◎ The 76th Mixed Brigade stationed at Zhenjiang yesterday had more than 1,500 sets of ammunition vests loaded into two cars and attached to freight train No. 32; after reaching Shanghai, yesterday (… to Longhua.
◎ On the night train that reached Shanghai from Nanjing yesterday morning were ten-odd men of the 76th Mixed [Brigade], who were promptly sent on to Wusong.
◎ Yesterday the 76th Mixed Brigade had ten cases of rifle ammunition and … brought to Shanghai by train from Zhenjiang, to be handed over for use at the front.
◎ The Allied Army General Headquarters in Nanjing yesterday (the 20th) had a special munitions express brought to Shanghai.
◉ 30th Regiment of the 8th Division Leaves in Detachments for …
◎ The 30th Regiment of the 15th Brigade of the 8th Division, on the afternoon of the (…th), from Nanjing by the Ningsheng railway …
Gunboats Head for Songjiang
… 21 cars, carrying the 2nd Battalion of the 151st Regiment, machine … about three companies of soldiers of Lu Xiangting's force who had been left behind to guard Hangzhou and had been disarmed, at … departed; 26 cars, carrying three infantry companies of the 2nd Battalion of the … Regiment, provisions and so on, under battalion commander Zhao Yan, left at 10:42 a.m. … evening
◉ Gunboats
◎ At the riverside at Gaochangmiao, the …he patrol vessel, having received … at 8 o'clock, from the Nanpu River moored at the Gaochangmiao wharf …
◎ The Jiangsu anti-smuggling battalion, Minhang, …
◉ Returning to Zhejiang … Huzhou correspondence of the 18th: … the 2nd Battalion arrived at Changxing. Changxing occupies a strategic position; the defense …
Whether Shanghai–Songjiang Passenger Trains Will Run Is Undecided
… the 9th Regiment of the Zhejiang Army's 3rd Division, which marched out of Suzhou to return to Zhejiang, and … was reported in yesterday's paper. That battalion had originally planned to return to garrison the provincial capital, but later, because precautions had to be strict, it has already given up returning to Hangzhou and is stationed on the border of Changxing County; the story that it had gone missing is in fact groundless. However, the wealthy households there, finding the situation worrying, have already left one after another to take refuge elsewhere. As for the territory of Wuxing County, it is calm and …; only the business community has been affected.
[?] Whether Trains Will Run Is Undecided [?]
… headquarters telegraphed the Songjiang headquarters about whether trains could run between Shanghai and Songjiang on the (…1st); therefore whether trains will run today has not been decided. (News as of 3:30 this morning) … train service has been suspended for five days; now New Long…
Context
Xia Chao's 'misunderstanding' telegram and Sun's counteroffensive
Xia Chao, the civil governor of Zhejiang and one of Sun Chuanfang's subordinates, declared Zhejiang independent on 16 October 1926 with the backing of local commanders and officials. He then attacked toward Sun-held Shanghai but was almost immediately forced back into Zhejiang. Historical accounts say he next sent a message to Sun's subordinates claiming he had been deceived into defecting to the Kuomintang. That fits the telegram the paper says Director-General Ding received, in which Xia spoke of an initial misunderstanding and asked that the front press no further. But Sun's army marched into Zhejiang on 20 October, the same day the paper's eight trains left New Longhua, and that night it ambushed the rebels near Jiaxing. Sun's forces took Jiaxing on the 21st and Hangzhou on the 23rd, which ended Xia's revolt. The paper's hope that the Zhejiang question would be 'settled easily' through Xia's conciliation therefore ran against what Sun's troops were already doing.
Why passenger trains between Shanghai and Songjiang had stopped
The Shanghai–Hangzhou line was cut by both sides in the crisis. While preparing his bid for autonomy, Xia cut the railway from Zhejiang to Shanghai and dispersed the Hangzhou garrison. Sun, who had few troops to spare for the defense of Shanghai, ordered the line from Hangzhou to the city torn up. The paper of 21 October said passenger service had been suspended for five days. Counting back, that puts the stoppage at about 16 October, the day Xia declared independence. The same page shows what the line was being used for instead: 157 cars of troops and supplies moving from New Longhua to Songjiang, plus munitions trains from Nanjing and Zhenjiang. The report that a headquarters had telegraphed the Songjiang command to ask whether trains could run shows that restarting civilian service depended on the military's decision.
Who 'Director-General Ding' was
The 'Director-General Ding' who, according to the paper, received Xia's telegram is most likely the geologist Ding Wenjiang (V.K. Ting). In 1926 he was general manager of the Songhu Commercial Port Supervision Office, the administration for the Shanghai–Wusong area. He had represented the Jiangsu provincial government in negotiations with foreign delegates in Shanghai. Sun Chuanfang himself is recorded as having become director-general of the Shanghai–Wusong port. That chain of command helps explain why the paper said that, whatever Xia's message, policy toward Zhejiang had to wait for instructions from Commander-in-Chief Sun.
Lu Xiangting's disarmed soldiers from Hangzhou
The fragmentary train list mentions about three companies of Lu Xiangting's troops who had been left to guard Hangzhou and had been disarmed. These were part of the garrison Sun had placed in Zhejiang. On 25 January 1926 Sun sent his subordinate Lu Xiangting to Hangzhou and made him Zhejiang's military commander-in-chief, putting a force loyal to himself in the provincial capital. Before the revolt, Xia dispersed the Hangzhou garrison to loosen Sun's grip on the province. The paper's mention of disarmed men from Lu's force appearing in the train records shows what that dispersal meant on the ground: soldiers Sun had stationed in Hangzhou had been stripped of their weapons.
Why the troops came from Nanjing, Zhenjiang and Nantong
The reinforcements listed on this page came from all over Jiangsu because Sun Chuanfang headed a coalition controlling Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui and Jiangxi. He had set up his headquarters in Nanjing as military governor of Jiangsu on 25 November 1925, and the 'Allied Army General Headquarters in Nanjing' that sent the munitions express was that command. Xia's defection came while heavy fighting against the Kuomintang's Northern Expedition was still going on in Jiangxi. Sun therefore had to put together a force against Zhejiang from garrisons along the Yangtze, which is why the paper reports units from Nantong, Zhenjiang and Nanjing gathering at Shanghai and Longhua.
Original
孫軍八列車昨向浙進
[?] 增年業見萬許界相七千在室 [?] 救 [?] 係請角元七遠東通信社云、 據確息、 昨日午後丁總辦、 接到夏超由杭州復電、 大致謂初有誤會、 今恢復交通、 誠爲急要、 此間派陳其采前來旅長接洽解釋、 務請飭令前防、 勿再進逼、 在浙概無何種騷動云云、 觀此則夏超已有表示、 而浙江問題似亦容易解決、 不過此後對浙究抱如何態度、 自須請示孫總司令、 方能定奪也、 ◉ 孫軍八列車昨向浙進 ▲ 兵士約六千五百餘 ▲ 宋梅村爲前敵總指揮 ◎ 孫軍各部、 經奉李寶章司令命令、 於前 (十九) 日晚間、 集中新龍華、 軍隊及軍用品共裝車一百五十七輛、 昨 (二十) 日分八列車開至松江、 再聽令前進、 茲將各兵車開行時間及何人所部軍隊、 詳誌如下、 ▲ 第一列車計挂車十四輛、 載運十三團第一營劉國才全營、 由該營長率領、 於昨 (二十) 晨三時零五分出發、 ▲ 第二列車計掛車二十七輛、 載十三團第二營及砲兵連機關槍連、 並大砲三尊、 機關槍六架、 由該團六旅兵隊來滬、 轉往前線、 將需用車輛配齊、 並已裝 [?] 一列掛車十輛、 由甯開蘇、 車十二輛、 由甯開往龍華、 十) 晚十一時陸續開行、 (二十日下午八 ◎ 晉 (二十) 日由通開到第一團第二營駐天甯寺、 (揚州二十日下 ◎ 駐鎮七十六混成旅昨有砲彈衣一千五百餘套、 裝車二輛、 附掛三十二次貨車上、 抵滬後於昨 (往龍華、 ◎ 昨晨由甯抵滬之夜車上、 有七十六混十餘名、 旋即運往吳淞、 ◎ 昨日七十六混成旅有槍彈十箱、 及子、 由鎮江夾火車帶滬、 交前線應用、 ◎ 南京聯軍總司令部、 昨 (二十) 日有軍械特別快車帶滬、 ◉ 八師三十團分赴 ◎ 第八師第十五旅三十團、 十) 日下午由甯乘甯省鐵路
兵輪開往松江
挂車二十一輛、 裝載百五十一團第二營機盧香亭部留守杭州被徒手兵士約三連、 於發、 掛車二十六輛、 係載團第二營步兵三連、 養品等、 由營長趙彥上午十時四十二分出晚 ◉ 兵輪 ◎ 高昌廟江邊和巡艦、 經奉上八時、 由南浦江泊高昌廟碼頭 ◎ 蘇屬緝私營閔行、 ◉ 回浙湖州十八日通信、 第二營、 開抵長興、 長興地處扼要、 防
滬松客車開否未定
、 自蘇開拔回浙之浙軍第三師第九團與、 已誌昨報、 該營原擬回駐省垣、 嗣因防範宜嚴、 業已中止回杭、 填紮長邑邊失蹤說、 實係無稽之談、 惟該處富戶、 以可慮、 已相率他避、 至於吳興縣境、 安謐與、 商界受其影響耳、 [?] 車開否未定 [?] 司令部、 電松江司令部、 十一) 日滬松間能否通車、 故今日通車否未決定、 (今晨三時半消息) 通車、 已停駛五日、 現新龍