Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1875-02-10
Ancient Chinese Warfare.

! ESQ gives, an interesting. description
of the gallant struggle Of the little earl
dom Of Ching against the royal forces
and their allies. The Earl drew up his
men IN squares, as our great duke did
at Waterloo. Each square contained
twenty-five chariots, each chariot, sup
portedby five files of five men each. The
square, therefore, consisted of 1,45O
men. The total of Chi'ngs army is not
given, piece of information generally
omitted in these narratives. But the
army was marshaled in the orthodox
way, having center and right and left
wings. The Earl stictly charged his
squares not to move until they saw his
flag wave, and then advance with drums
beating and fall upon the foe. The
moment came, and the Ch'ingites
charged the Kings allies, who could
not stand the shock, but broke and fed
The three divisions then made COM
blned attack on the royal army, which
received great defeat, the King him
self being wounded by an arrow in the
shoulder The Earl was overawed by his
own success, and stopped the pursuit,
for reverence for the royal dignity was
still strong enough to make him shrink
from the reputation Of having not only
defeated, but captured or slain, his
iege lord. This narrative is brief: but
some of Tso's descriptions of battles
cover two Or three pages, and we find
abundant Indications that the states of
the Chow dynasty were not novices in
the art of war. Yet the primitive age
Of war, in which the personal prowess
of the individual warrior was almost as
effective in deciding the battle as the
skill of the General, had not wholly gone
by. We read again and again of the
exploits of doughty chieftains who sig
nalized their strength and valor in
many tough conflict. One incident is
peculiarly interesting because the hero
was no other than the father of the
great sage Confucius. Shuh Leang
Heih was one of a band who attempted
to surprise strongly fortified place, by
the common expedie1t of getting the
gate opened to admit wagon-load of
provisions. But, once in, the attacking
party found themselves in trap, for the
townsmen were ready in force, and be-
hind them the portcullis was being low
cred. Heih, who was possessed of ex-
traordinary strength, sprang back and
held up the portcullis with both hands,
keeping his post until the storming par
ty was safe outside. The war-chariots
give quite an Homeric flavor to these
battle pieces. Cavalry appear never to
have been employed, but the chiefs led
their hundreds or thousands of cha
riots, drawn by four horses abreast, to
the field, each of which carried three
men-the charioteer in the center,
bowman on his left, and spearman on
his right. When two armies were en-.
camped opposite to each other, hesitat
ing to begin the decisive battle, some
times chariot went out to hout the en-
envy, and provoke him to the fray. On
one occasion three gallant warriors
drove up to the camp Of Tsin;s the arch
er shot an arrow into the camp,
the spearman entered, slew his man,
and cut off his ear as a trophy,
carried another bodily away, while the
charioteer coolly busted his horses and
arranged the harness. The soldiers of
Tsin could not stand this insolence, and
their chariots were quickly in pursuit
in two divisions. Yoh Peh, the archer,
kept them in check by shooting horses
and drivers right and left, until he had
but one arrow left. At that moment a
stag bounded up from the forest, and
crossed right. before his chario-. Yoh
Peh shot the animal with his last ar
row, and the spearman, Sheh Shuh, de-
scended from his chariot, took up the
venison, and politely offered it to the
foremost pursuer, with the remark, st
is out of season, but [ venture to pre-
sent this to feast your followers. Paou
Kwei, of Tsin, was struck by the cool
gallantry of the deed, and stopped the
pursuit; SO the chariots returned in
safety. There, was no lack of
courage among those buff coated
warriors Here is an account of des-
perate fight between Tsin and Use. The
signal to advance,was given by beating
drum in the communicating chiefs
chariot. which also bore his flag. Early
in the fight the general of Tsin was
wounded by an arrow, but he continued
beating drum till the blood ran down
his shoes, when he began to waver. His
charioteer said, Il have had one ar
row through my hand, and another
through my arm; but while one OF us
three is alive to hold the reins, this
chariot must go forward. The eyes
and ears of the army are on our flag
and drum He then held the reins in
his left hand and beat the drum with
his right The we'll trained steeds
rushed on, and that day the Tsinites
gained great victory.-Corra1saz Mag
uztne. r-Ha. .s zu..,#us. .as
Col, Ethan Allen and the Olive.
Col. Ethan Allen, of Revolutionary