—I mean how it is composed?" asked Gilbert of Captain Banner, as they continued to watch the shipping in Nagasaki Harbor.
"I do, because that is another play on my name," replied the commander of Company A. "The Chinese army is made up of eight divisions, called the Three Superior Banners and the Five Inferior Banners, and number from two hundred thousand to three hundred thousand men. Each Banner has ten army corps; and these are divided into Lyanza, of about two hundred and fifty men each."
"Then we have a pretty big crowd to whip," was Gilbert's comment.
"That is the Chinese army on paper. In reality, the standing army is much smaller; for each viceroy of a province keeps as many troops as suits him. The army is made up of the very scum of China, and a soldier is an object of ridicule to the ordinary merchant or artisan."
"I've heard that many Chinese officers go to war in their robes."
"They do more than that," put in an officer standing near. "They take their big umbrellas as well, and on many a battlefield the head officers have sat
