After General Liu's flight, the remains of his party wandered about the city not knowing what to do, until the foreigners, afraid that they would begin plundering, managed to persuade them to lay down their arms. This operation took the whole of one day, between 7,000 and 8,000 rifles being eventually placed in secure custody. Then two English missionaries, Messrs. Fergusson and Barclay, went to the Japanese headquarters a few miles south of the city, bearing a letter from the Chinese residents saying that the soldiers had all laid down their arms and disappeared, and asking the Japanese to come quickly and enforce order. General Nogi entered the city on 21 October and the rest of the army soon followed. Thus Formosa came into our possession in reality as well as in name.