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Show v FENGTIEN ARMY BLOCKS PEI-FU DIEJPIN Temporary Succcw Proves Costly to Forces of Gen-, eral Tso-Lin, Who Hold Ground at Changsintien ' A LEADERS PREPARE FOR DECISIVE BATTLE : Southern Government Under Un-der Sun Yat Sen Is Pre-N Pre-N paring to Aid Tso-Lin; J v Fighting on Long Front , ! PEKING, May 3 (By A. P.) H ' was announced at Oonoral Chang Too , Lin'a headquarters today that Conoral Wu coi Fu, tho cantral Chinooo leader, ' had boon killod in action. Tho an- nounctmtnt haa- not boon otherwise , oonfirmod. Tho foreign legations horo are invoatigating. j PKK1K. Mavl TfTy A. TM-The Feng-tlen army, under General f'hnng Tso-Un. has. for tne moment Ht least, successfully wit hat nod t he drive on Changsintlen. and stopped Onera! Wu , Pel-Ku's mnvfmnt toward Pekln. Tha coat, howfvfr. hns hern henvv ami Changsintlen in filled with woiinrtoil, many of whom are dying for lack of medical attention. i While Chan; has once reded In this anion, there haa heen no apparent advantage ad-vantage of consequence for either aldo In the general fighting aloriK the 100-mlle 100-mlle front from here to Tlentaln. and both commanders are rushing up re-Infnrcementa re-Infnrcementa in preparation for a de- t clelve action. CJeneral Chang's communications are ( threatened. both from front and rear, J it for Wu haa thro wo 40.000 troops I ' i against his right center In an rffort . .j to cut the Pekln-Tientsin railway, Jk while Admiral Tu Khih Kc haa notl- fled the Nanking consular Imdv of hla Intention to cut the railway connect- Ing the Pekin-Tlentsln mad with Mnk- of the American Anttlc fleet, after a conference w 1th Minister Hchtirmin. ordered the gunlmut Wilminglon to proceed Immediately from Hon; Konx to Tlintntn. The foreian veenela now "t Tientsin Include thre Jnpnneae tor-leilo tor-leilo honta, a Uritlsh aubmarlne tender, a 1-Yench Kunliont and an Italian gunboat. gun-boat. They will guard the I'el-Ho, tho river runinnK Inland from Taku to Tirntaln. Kepr.rtH that he had reaigned were denied tod y by Acting Premier Chow Tnu-Chi. Me aald ho Intended to retain re-tain hU poat. I'reldcnt Htm Shih-Chnnr and Ma cabinet In l'ekin continue to profesn neutrality. len, enerai)ChanK'a haae. Thia railway rail-way 1m within the range of naval guna at ChlnwangtHo. At the eastern end of the battle front. (Jeneral Wu la marching 20,000 trooa toward MachanK. one of the Kenatln-ern' Kenatln-ern' atrongholdH. where heuvy fiKhtins haa occurred for three daya. ! AID FOR TSO-LIN. Meanwhile word cornea through SiMnahal that Sun Yat Sen. president I of the aouthern government, la prepar-j prepar-j ins to wend aid to Chang Two-Lin. He j will atrlke hi the psyrTiologlcal nm-I nm-I ment. It wan aald, lending troop j either through Kunkow or Nanking, the route depending on the outcome of the preaent conflict. Today' advlcea to the American I mthtary attaches atato that (ieneral j Wu a main army appear to bv en -! gaged In a drive toward Tlentaln. Se-i Se-i veru fighting ha occurred along t he i Hun river, which Indicates that unit I of Wu's force are crossing the coun-; coun-; try from I'au-TiiiKM towards the ; northeaat. Artillery firing la lo reported to have opened along a wide front at ! Machang. aoulh of Tientsin on the !u- kow railrouil. whert large forces of i (ieneral Chang' troopa are concen-J concen-J trutcd under the commaml of the Man-I Man-I chin lan leader's 25-year-old aon. Wu I'el-Ku drive toward Tlentaln Is denigned to l.tolate ('hang Tao-Lln forces by cutting their line between Tientsin and Taku on Jhe sen, Suc-ct?n Suc-ct?n of this move would aUo result I the cutting off of fleneral Chang's 40,-000 40,-000 men north of Tientsin. CRUISERS IN ACTION. Meanwhile three Chinese emitter are engaged In an attempt to destrov the Mukden railroad at Hhankaikwan. Fighting ha been resumed south of the IVkln wall. A terrific explosion this morning shook tho windows of the city. It was attributed to tho deatruc-j deatruc-j Hon of an araena) by bombs dropped ! from airplanes operating for Uenerul I Chang s army. i Admiral Joseph Hfrauss, commander |