ABSTRACT
SHANTUNG was still a “Northern” province, and the Japanese expedition’s nominal task was to protect the couple of thousand Japanese residents in Tsinan, in case the advancing Southern forces collided with the Northern troops there. Everybody took it for granted, however, that the real task of the expedition was to prevent the Kuomintang army from advancing further north, though there was some talk of leaving Chang Tso-lin to his fate. It was complained that since he had left Mukden for Peking the financial condition and the currency of Manchuria had deteriorated; still worse, that the Marshal grew less amenable to Japanese advice, constructed railways that he wanted and left unconstructed the lines that the Japanese wanted. That feelings were far from cordial and were, in fact, approaching a crisis was shown by the fact that, when the Marshal ordered some troops from Mukden to Peking, in view of the approach of the Kuomintang army, the Japanese withdrew rolling-stock to the South Manchuria line so that the Manchurian troops were immobilised.
