ABSTRACT
The rendezvous for the expedition was the island of Matsu, where at the end of September the promised reinforcement of two thousand men from Tongking joined the flotilla, which appeared in front of Keelung at daybreak on October 1st. Keeping close inshore the ships opened fire on the hill-top forts overlooking the town, while the troops were landed at a spot from which they could make a detour and scale the heights from the rear. Out in the China Sea, too, the war was entering upon a new stage. So far no third power had felt that the hostilities required formal acknowledgment. It was known that with the blessing of the Marquis Tseng a bureau had opened in London to recruit soldiers of fortune under the Chinese flag. To seal the passage through the straits, it was decided to occupy the chain of islands called the Pescadores, which extend between the southern tip of Formosa and the mainland.
