On this same seventeenth day of the seventh month in the fifth year of the Emperor whose national designation was “General Prosperity,” there had been a battle at Hwangchow, fifty miles down the Yangtse. It began in the early morning. Both sides lost heavily, but in the end the rebels gave way, and were chased by a band of three hundred of the militia southwards toward Hankow. At dark the pursued had reached Yanglo, twenty miles from the central cities. They seized the boats anchored there, slaughtered the boatmen, and having a fair wind and almost a full, though at times cloud-covered moon, set sail up the Yangtse. It would be hopeless for them, weary with the battle, the flight, and not a few wounds, to attempt to take Hankow by martial force.