,.. • Ile crumbling away of theShantung troops, who were
the nominal defenders of Shanghai, was much more rapid than had been expected.. It is impossible to say how far the collapse was due. to incompetence and how far to bribery and such compacts with the enemy as are familiar in Chinese warfare. At all events, Pi Shou-chen, a general on the Northern side whom we heard of not long ago as an admiral, suddenly announced that he had accepted the command of Cantonese troops. The . only certain thing is that there has been no pitched battle. The Cantonese have advanced steadily, using their well-known propagandist methods both in front and in the rear of the armies. The Shantung troops remained in possession of Shanghai even after the Nanking-Shanghai railway had been seized by the Cantonese and communi• cation with the north had been cut.
