and had to form his plans on the spur of the moment, his merit is all the more surprising: he had, in about an hour, to conceive evolutions for which he had no historical precedents, as no considerable naval battle had yet been fought with ironclads and none with quick-firing guns. The battle at Hai-yang Island, by its originality claims the attention of all students of naval tactics. It is truly wonderful that lessons in modern naval warfare should be given by Japan, a nation that a little over thirty years ago had nothing but a fleet of junks.

This naval battle exercised great influence over the whole war. In the Japanese campaign of 1592, Konishi, after the capture of Phyöng-yang, was arrested in the triumphant march through China, which he meditated, by the failure of the Japanese fleet to cooperate with him, after its defeat at the island of Ko-je. That was the turning-point in the Japanese invasion of the sixteenth century. It would be attributing an exaggerated influence to sea-power, to infer that without the victory at Hai-yang Island, the Japanese campaign in China in the present war would have failed. Japan's military superiority was so overwhelming and China's collapse so complete, that no single event could have altered the fortunes of the war. But the crushing defeat of the Chinese, the consequent command of the sea held by the Japanese, facilitated all their operations and enabled them to land their armies when and where they chose, and to conceive bold plans of campaign which would have been too

hazardous without such a naval supremacy. It is for this reason, that, though the battle of Hai-yang Island was fought only two days after the battle at Phyöngyang, and while all the Japanese troops were still in Corea, and remained there for over a month longer before invading China, this naval engagement is placed in its present place at the beginning of the campaign in China. The naval battle had no influence over the Corean campaign, which had already been decided two days before, but it was a most important factor in the next campaign of the Japanese, and contributed to their brilliant success.

CHAPTER II.

THE FIRST ARMY'S INVASION OF CHINA.

The Crossing of the Yalu.

THE battle of Phyöng-yang ended the war in Corea. The Chinese troops attempted no further resistance in that country, and retired to the Yalu, the river which forms the boundary between the Chinese empire and Corea. If they had been less dispirited they might have made a stand at two places offering good defensive positions. At An-ju, a strong town with very high walls, the main road passes through a defile which could have easily been defended by a small force; and during a retreat of forty miles the Chinese should have had time to recover their courage. At Chöng-ju, thirty miles farther away from Phyöngyang, instructions had been given to prepare some resistance, but the troops were disheartened and in a hurry to put the Yalu between them and their pursuers, so the place was abandoned.

The Japanese army, after the capture of Phyöngyang and a short rest, advanced north towards the frontier. Tachimi, with the advance-guard, was at An-ju on the 5th of October, at Ka-san on the 6th, at Chöng-ju on the 7th, at Sön-chhön on the 9th, and

at Wi-sun (near Wi-ju and the Yalu) on the 10th. But the Japanese scouts were at Wi-ju as early as the 6th of October, and a telegraph line from that place to Phyöng-yang was completed on the 18th of that month. The Japanese found the roads in Northern Corea from Phyöng-yang to Wi-ju much better than any they had met before. They had to thank the Chinese for this, as they had been obliged to mend the roads to convey their artillery to Phyöng-yang. About the 20th of October the whole Japanese army was around Wi-ju, on the southern bank of the Yalu. It was composed of the 3rd and 5th Divisions, which had now been formed into a corps d'armée, a novelty in the Japanese army, whose largest unit had hitherto been the division. This force was called the First Army, and was commanded by Marshal Yamagata.

The naval victory of the 17th of September, the consequent command of the sea, opened new views to the staff of the Japanese army, and they decided to continue on a vaster scale the principle which had hitherto governed their strategical movements. They were now able to use army corps as they had used detachments in the Corean campaign, and to advance them simultaneously, subservient to the great scheme of the invasion of China. A force, composed of a division and a brigade, and styled the Second Army, was being prepared, while the First Army was advancing in Corea towards the Yalu, and it was arranged that the invasion and advance into China of

these two armies should be almost synchronous and directed in such a way that in the unlikely hypothesis of a strong advance on the part of the Chinese, one army could relieve the danger of the other. To preserve continuity of narration it is impossible to describe the action of the two armies simultaneously, but cross-references will be made whenever any advance or engagement affects the other army.

The Yalu, between China and Corea, is a broad. deep river forming a formidable natural obstacle. The Chinese general Sung, the new commander-inchief, wisely chose it as the first line of defence against the threatened invasion of the empire. As. the defence of this river has always been an importantconsideration both for China and Corea, two strong towns are placed on the opposite sides of the river, Chiu-lien-ch'eng on the northern, and Wi-ju on the southern bank. These two cities now were the headquarters of Sung and Yamagata. As soon as the Japanese troops reached the Yalu they began to make preparations for crossing it. The engineers of the 5th Division, who had arrived about the 12th of October, proceeded to ascertain the width of the river, no easy matter, as the opposite shore was swarming with Chinese soldiers. The daring of the Japanese found a solution to the difficulty. Mihara, a soldier of the engineers, a strong swimmer, volunteered. to swim across with a line, but the numbing coldness of the water deprived him of the use of his limbs, and he was drowned, his corpse floating away to the other shore..