At a glanceKnown key applied · complete
- The telegrams
- Two telegrams of 20 May 1916 to Huang Xing in Tokyo, from the Military Affairs Council and from six of its members at Zhaoqing, and Huang Xing’s reply of 25 May. All three went through Japanese hands: the consul at Zhaoqing and the Foreign Ministry relayed them.
- Where
- Diplomatic Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, via JACAR: B03050731500 frame 0246 (the reply, with a decode on frame 0247); B03050089100 frames 0076–0078 (the 20 May stream, with 1916 worksheets); a second copy of the stream in B03050731100, images 24–26.
- The cipher
- Each character’s four-digit standard telegraph code is written as three kana by a fixed arithmetic rule, and the kana are sent as romaji in ten-letter words.
- How it was decoded
- Tomokiyo identified the rule in September 2026. The reply was decoded here from this project’s own transcription with one correction. The 20 May telegrams were transcribed, corrected and read by Harumi-Matsuba, and checked here with an independent decoder.
- Credit
- Satoshi Tomokiyo (the formula); Harumi-Matsuba (issue #48, the 20 May telegrams and the reply’s addressees); saberwatchmanga (the 1916 print of the first telegram).
- What it says
- Welcome and thanks from the Council; the Zhaoqing leaders’ plans to march on Jiangxi and Hunan; Huang Xing asks when Zhang Shizhao sails for Japan.
- Still open
- Five garbled groups of the first telegram filled from its print, four of the second inferred; 86 of the 229 groups of the 20 May stream read only after correcting a misspelling. All transcriptions were made by AI and not checked by a person.
01 The telegrams
In May 1916 Huang Xing was in Tokyo and the provinces that had risen against Yuan Shikai’s monarchy had set up a Military Affairs Council (軍務院) at Zhaoqing in Guangdong. Messages between them went through the Japanese: the consul at Zhaoqing, Ōta, telegraphed them to the Foreign Ministry, which passed them on, and the Ministry filed copies.
20 May. Ōta’s telegram no. 42 of 21 May (B03050731100) forwards, at Cen Chunxuan’s request, a cipher text that his cover note says holds two telegrams: one from Cen and the provincial leaders, one “from Li Genyuan and others to Huang Xing” about the Xiehe army entering Hunan and Jiangxi. The same romaji, 126 ten-letter words ending owari, is copied a second time in the series on Sun Yat-sen’s circle (B03050089100, frames 0076–0078), where the Ministry’s analysts worked on it in pencil on frames 0079–0081 and got about 83 characters of the second telegram.
25 May. Huang Xing’s answer went the other way. Foreign Minister Ishii’s telegram to Ōta of 25 May, 4.35 p.m. (B03050731500), asks him to pass on to Lin Hu and Li Genyuan a telegram from Huang Xing, “an acknowledgement of the telegram received the other day”. The cipher is on frame 0246, and the Ministry filed a cursive decode (frame 0247) and a clerk’s Japanese rendering (frame 0248) with it.
02 The three-kana rule
The plaintext is the standard Chinese telegraph code, in which every character has a four-digit number (一 = 0001, 行 = 5887). Each number c is written as three kana. Tomokiyo found the rule and published it as a spreadsheet formula on 23 September 2026:
| kana | rule | table |
|---|---|---|
| first | S1[c div 200] | the 46 kana of the syllabary column by column: a ka sa ta na ha ma ya ra wa, i ki shi chi … wi, u …, e … we, o … ro |
| second | S2[(c − 1) mod 10] | a i u e o ka ki ku ke ko |
| third | S3[((c − 1) div 10) mod 20] | ho he fu hi ha no ne nu ni na to te tsu chi ta so se su shi sa |
So 隱, code 7148, is RE-KU-TA, and 行, 5887, is KE-KI-NI wherever it occurs. The rule reaches code 9199, and a telegraph clerk who did not know it saw only pronounceable Japanese syllables. This project had looked at the reply in September 2026 without the rule. It found three kana to the character and that the same character always gave the same three kana, but took the code for a private code book. It also posited one superfluous kana, which was in fact a CHI misread as O-HI.
03 Huang Xing’s reply
A decoder written here from the rule alone, with the repository’s own telegraph-code table, was run on the transcription of frame 0246 made here on 15 September, before the rule was known. With one change, Tomokiyo’s reading of O HI as CHI, all 46 groups decode:
隱印崧詔鬯行諸兄鑒：正寄函間，適接哿電，敬悉一切。護國軍能速入湘贑，甚好。行嚴何日東渡？望速啓行，先電示。興。徑
“To Yin, Yin, Song, Zhao, Chang and Xing, brothers: just as I was sending a letter, your telegram of the 20th arrived, and I have noted everything. It is very good that the National Protection Army can move quickly into Hunan and Jiangxi. What day does Xingyan cross east? I hope he sets out soon; wire me first. Xing, the 25th.” 哿 and 徑 are the rhyme characters for the 20th and the 25th, and 徑 matches the date of Ishii’s telegram.
The 1916 decode, corrected. Harumi-Matsuba pointed out (issue #48) that the cipher disagrees with the text this page gave in September, taken from the cursive decode on frame 0247. The decoder here confirms it from an independent transcription. The addressees are 詔 and 鬯, not 誥 or 蕘 and 邕; the second clause is 正寄函, not 正發書; and there is no 章 before 行嚴, which is an interlinear gloss on the decode and is not in the cipher. The text printed in 近代史資料 no. 50 agrees with the cipher on all of these, but lacks the 速 of 能速入湘, which the cipher and the Japanese copy both have. The six addressees are courtesy names: Lin Hu (隱青), Li Genyuan (印泉), Cheng Zikai (崧生), Wen Qun (詔雲), Yang Yongtai (暢卿, written 鬯) and Zhang Shizhao (行嚴). Harumi-Matsuba identified them from the 1916 staff lists of 軍務院考實; the footnote in 近代史資料 has four of them and other names for the fourth and fifth.
04 The telegrams of 20 May
Harumi-Matsuba transcribed the stream with Claude from the JACAR images, compared it with four blind transcriptions by OpenAI Codex (94.6% letter agreement for the run made after the corrections), and decoded it with the same rule into 229 groups (sankana-public, 20 October 2026). An earlier public audit of the same stream, saberwatchmanga’s sun-circle-cipher-1916 (10 October), found that the first telegram had been printed in 1916 and left the second unresolved.
Telegram 1, groups 0–107, the Council’s welcome. Printed in 1916 in 護國軍紀事 no. 5 as 軍政府歡迎黃克強電, so this is a check, not a new reading. The decoded text matches the print in 102 of 107 characters. The differences are 我, only in the print, and three places where the telegram reads 慮, 提挈公 and 查 against the print’s 憂, 教言 and 察:
黃克強先生鑒：奉删電，知公抵日，歡躍逾恆。堯等碌碌庸才，勉起討賊，正慮綆短，適逢公歸。願承不遺，俯賜提挈。公首倡共和，富有方略，各國情勢，考查復殷，將來內政外交，諸賴指導。大局所繫，惟公圖之。唐繼堯 岑春煊 梁啓超 劉顯世 陸榮廷 龍濟光 呂公望 蔡鍔 李烈鈞 陳炳焜 哿
Telegram 2, groups 108–228, from six at Zhaoqing. No print has been found, and the continuous reading is new:
公抵日，喜甚。潤輔當告公近形，以定進行方略。軍務院僅擁虛名，委員、代表等會皆未組織。協和軍旬內可齊，卽由韶入贑。非俟幹卿協和兵入湘贑，吾人恐難發言。馮段調停。此間暫置代理參謀事，源專任之。虎任第四師長，收集舊部約萬，亦卽出贑。楷調粤中湘軍卽出湘。釗擬來東，面達近情。虎、源、楷、羣、泰、釗。哿
“Glad you have reached Japan. Runfu will tell you how things stand here, so that we can settle our plans. The Military Affairs Council exists only in name: its committees and the delegates’ meeting are not yet organised. The Xiehe army will be assembled within ten days and enter Jiangxi by Shaozhou. Unless Ganqing and the Xiehe troops enter Hunan and Jiangxi, we can hardly make ourselves heard. Feng and Duan are mediating. For now the acting chief of staff’s duties here are given to Genyuan. Hu becomes commander of the 4th Division, gathers about ten thousand of his old troops, and also marches into Jiangxi. Kai will move the Hunan troops in Guangdong and march into Hunan. Zhao will come east to report in person.” The signatures are Lin Hu, Li Genyuan, Cheng Zikai, Wen Qun, Yang Yongtai and Zhang Shizhao, the same six that Huang Xing’s reply addresses. The consul’s cover note confirms that Li Genyuan was among the senders. Who “Runfu” is has not been settled, and Lin Hu’s title does not match later staff lists, which make him commander of the 6th National Protection Army.
05 How much was corrected
| reply | telegram 1 | telegram 2 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| decoded as written (H) | 45 | 60 | 73 + end mark |
| after correcting a misspelling (M) | 1 | 43 | 43 |
| filled from the print | — | 5 | — |
| inferred from context (I) | — | — | 4 |
The rule itself is exact, but the romaji of the 20 May stream is not: 86 of its 229 groups decode only after a misspelling in the romaji is corrected. A dropped or misread kana shifts every later group, so the stream as written goes wrong early. The two copies agree in 114 of 126 words, so most of the errors were already in the transmission. The corrections are listed with their reasons and certainty in the contributor’s corrections.csv. How far they can be trusted differs between the telegrams. In the first, the print was in view when they were made, so their agreement with it proves little; the fair test is the 59 groups that needed no correction, of which 54 match the print and the other five are the wording differences above. In the second there is no outside check except five spellings that the second copy writes as corrected. Its 43 corrected groups are graded M and the four inferred ones I (underlined above where the reading is inferred or of medium certainty, as the contributor marks them).
06 What was checked here
- A decoder was written from the rule alone (
threekana.py), with this repository’s telegraph-code table rather than the contributor’s converter or table. - The reply, from this project’s own transcription of 15 September with Tomokiyo’s one correction: 46 of 46 groups, the contributor’s text exactly.
- The contributor’s final table: all 219 coded groups decode to the contributor’s character, 219 of 219. This checks the rule and the code table. It does not check the transcription or the 86 corrections, which were not redone.
- Telegram 1 against the print as transcribed by saberwatchmanga: 102 of 107, as claimed (刪 and 删 counted as one character).
- The second copy: B03050731100 was fetched, and images 24–26 are Ōta’s telegram no. 42 with the same romaji.
Nobody has checked the transcriptions letter by letter: the reply’s was made by Claude here, and the stream’s by Claude for the contributor, compared only with other AI transcriptions.
Full texts
The transcription and the decryption of every document on this page, so that the reading can be used and checked. Short files are shown here; all are in the repository.
Huang Xing to Lin Hu, Li Genyuan and others, 25 May 1916 (B03050731500 fr. 0246)
Huang Xing's reply, addressed by courtesy names to Lin Hu, Li Genyuan, Cheng Zikai, Wen Qun, Yang Yongtai and Zhang Shizhao: he has their telegram, is glad the National Protection Army can enter Hunan and Jiangxi quickly, and asks when Zhang Shizhao will cross east to Japan.
Transcription
# Huang Xing reply, B03050731500 fr. 0246: 46 kana triples (O HI -> CHI corrected), from threekana.py RE-KU-TA TA-U-HO YA-KA-TE SE-KA-NA O-KU-SA KE-KI-NI SE-O-SU KA-KU-CHI RE-U-HO NI-U-SU MA-KA-SU SA-KU-FU RE-O-HI HE-YE-NI KI-YE-HI TA-KA-SU RE-U-SA SHI-KI-HE WA-O-NI A-A-HO SA-YE-HI TE-U-HI NA-KU-TA NE-A-TE MU-YE-SU HE-U-HA KA-YE-SO MI-KA-NU TE-A-SU U-KU-TSU HA-KO-SE KE-KI-NI NA-KI-TE A-KE-TA SHI-KO-NU CHI-KE-HI MI-KA-NO SHI-KU-SA HE-U-HA TA-KA-SA KE-KI-NI KA-A-TA RE-U-SA SU-O-SO YU-A-NI RA-KI-SU
Decryption
as transcribed | groups 46 | left over ['su'] 隱印崧詔鬯行諸兄鑒正寄函間適接哿電敬悉一切護國軍能速入湘贑甚好行嚴何日??????????? with Tomokiyo correction | groups 46 | left over [] 隱印崧詔鬯行諸兄鑒正寄函間適接哿電敬悉一切護國軍能速入湘贑甚好行嚴何日東渡望速啓行先電示興徑 0 re-ku-ta 7148 隱 1 ta-u-ho 603 印 2 ya-ka-te 1516 崧 3 se-ka-na 6096 詔 4 o-ku-sa 7598 鬯 5 ke-ki-ni 5887 行 6 se-o-su 6175 諸 7 ka-ku-chi 338 兄 8 re-u-ho 7003 鑒 9 ni-u-su 2973 正 10 ma-ka-su 1376 寄 11 sa-ku-fu 428 函 12 re-o-hi 7035 間 13 he-ye-ni 6684 適 14 ki-ye-hi 2234 接 15 ta-ka-su 776 哿 16 re-u-sa 7193 電 17 shi-ki-he 2417 敬 18 wa-o-ni 1885 悉 19 a-a-ho 1 一 20 sa-ye-hi 434 切 21 te-u-hi 6233 護 22 na-ku-ta 948 國 23 ne-a-te 6511 軍 24 mu-ye-su 5174 能 25 he-u-ha 6643 速 26 ka-ye-so 354 入 27 mi-ka-nu 3276 湘 28 te-a-su 6371 贑 29 u-ku-tsu 3928 甚 30 ha-ko-se 1170 好 31 ke-ki-ni 5887 行 32 na-ki-te 917 嚴 33 a-ke-ta 149 何 34 shi-ko-nu 2480 日 35 chi-ke-hi 2639 東 36 mi-ka-no 3256 渡 37 shi-ku-sa 2598 望 38 he-u-ha 6643 速 39 ta-ka-sa 796 啓 40 ke-ki-ni 5887 行 41 ka-a-ta 341 先 42 re-u-sa 7193 電 43 su-o-so 4355 示 44 yu-a-ni 5281 興 45 ra-ki-su 1777 徑
Reading
# Huang Xing to Lin Hu, Li Genyuan and others, 25 May 1916 (B03050731500 fr. 0246): reading Written 23 Oct 2026 (Claude Opus 5.5, verification 4) from `../reply_out.txt` (the three-kana cipher decoded with the telegraph code; the line "with Tomokiyo correction", which reads all 46 groups). Punctuation is mine; the cipher has none. Every character is the group's value. 近代史資料 no. 50 prints the reply (without 速); the Japanese clerk's cursive decode (frames 0247-0248) agrees in sense (NOTES, section 2). 哿 = the 20th, 徑 = the 25th (rhyme day codes). ## Reading 隱、印、崧、詔、鬯、行諸兄鑒：正寄函間，適接哿電，敬悉一切。護國軍能速入湘贑，甚好。行嚴何日東渡？望速啓行，先電示。興。徑
Translation
# Huang Xing's reply, 25 May 1916: English Translation of `reply_reading.md` (23 Oct 2026). ## Translation To brothers Yin[qing] (Lin Hu), Yin[quan] (Li Genyuan), Song[sheng] (Cheng Zikai), Zhao[yun] (Wen Qun), Chang[qing] (Yang Yongtai) and Xing[yan] (Zhang Shizhao): just as I was sending a letter, your telegram of the 20th arrived, and I have respectfully noted everything. That the National Protection Army can enter Hunan and Jiangxi quickly is very good. On what day does Xingyan cross east? I hope he sets out soon; wire me first. Xing. The 25th.
Military Affairs Council to Huang Xing, 20 May 1916 (groups 0-107)
The Military Affairs Council welcomes Huang Xing's arrival in Japan and asks for his guidance on domestic and foreign affairs, signed by Tang Jiyao, Cen Chunxuan, Liang Qichao and others; already printed in 1916 (護國軍紀事 no. 5). Transcription and corrections contributed by Harumi-Matsuba (issue #48).
Transcription
# B03050089100 fr. 0076-0078, telegram 1 of 20 May 1916: final kana triples 0-107 from sankana/groups.csv (Harumi-Matsuba, CC BY 4.0) ソカホ カエタ ラコツ カアタ ウイチ レウホ ハエタ サエハ レウサ スケハ カアセ イキト シコヌ ニコセ ネコノ ヘアネ ワエノ ハアヒ ツウシ スエナ スエナ ラアネ イクニ サキテ テカシ セイネ テケツ ニウス ワイシ フキヒ スイノ ヘエニ ヘカハ カアセ ニアシ ヱケタ イコト アクホ ヘオナ カエヘ テキチ キアノ イウス カアセ オオハ カオヒ カエセ タオチ ニアウ シシケ シシオ ウコセ タヌキ ナクタ ワカト サクツ ムイヌ チカニ ラクエ ヒケホ ヤイヘ アアス カオソ キクサ ハコテ アエヌ セオス テアソ イイス ヤクヘ ハケツ ヤエハ イカヌ フアタ ワケテ カアセ ナカソ アキヒ タアシ フケタ ハアヒ ヤクヌ シエト リアソ チウチ タカサ テケシ サアナ ヱケソ アウヘ レコテ ニキヒ ラエナ ソウナ リエハ カイタ タイテ カアセ シクサ ルアサ メクタ チアフ リオツ メエヌ レオテ リアツ リコチ タカス
Transcription
# JACAR B03050089100 コマ0076-0078 ローマ字原文（字どおりの転写。画像から読んだもの）。1行=用紙の1行（3語） # 1行＝用紙の1行（3語）。語の区切りは原文どおり（電信の1語は最大10字）。 # 原文の綴りを字どおりに写したもの。読み直しや修正はここには入れず、corrections.csv に記録する。 # 記号は使っていない。上付きの書き足し（例：at°akitets の o）は書き足された位置に入れた。 # 2026-10-19：Codex（gpt-6.1-sol）による答えを見せない転写3回、先行リポジトリの転写と照合し、画像で見直して5語を直した（語46・58・63・96・116。docs/VERIFICATION.md）。 # sheet1 (0076) sokahokaet arakotsuka atauichire uhohaetasa ehareusasu kehakaasei kitoshikon unikosenek onoheanewa enohaahits uushisuena suenaraane ikunisakit etekassise ineteketsu niusuwaish ifukihisui nohiinihek # sheet2 (0077 upper) awakaasene ashieketai kotoakushok eonakaehet ekichikian oiusukaase oohakaoika esetaochini aushishike shisiolu kosetanuki nakuttawaka tosakutsum uinuchikan irakuewhik ehoyaiheaa sukaosokik usawaktaae nuseosutea soiisuyaku hehaketsny aehaikanuf uatawakete kaasenakas oakihitaas kifuketaha ahiyaknush iutoriasac hiuchitaka satekeshis # sheet3 (0077 lower) aanaekesoa uerekoteni kihiraenas ounariehak aikutaitek aaseshikus aruasameku tachiofure otsumeenur coterriatsu rikochitak asukaaseik itoshikonu naufuukuts umikishine echinashit akitokaase heihorakut aakotomases oheanokeki nishionouk oseneatesa utsurekuto kaenukikoc hieatetain imaahotaos eakutokeut otsuushish ioshikuoto chikihofuk # sheet4 (0078 upper) ehofukotsu sakushichi ochineates hienikaoso takunesoan tauhenotae konakaesot easuekahik auhoraahit athesakush ichitochica osekaesomi kanuteashi takotoakan iwatunorea shikutenas ekanookuno hikuhoseku takaononie sureohishe kutafukesa akusoukoho takehiseko shiakinomi unayauheak iteakihiek atoakitets uesunaechi yakisureif ukiisareis # sheet5 (0078 lower) iyunikeiso nukaseruit oakanutauh esakifutea sunikuhese kutanukits uaifumikan uneatetauh esatefmika numekanoki iseaasuchi kehiyekohi heanuheiho wakataekat ominunanuku henukufunu atamekanot akasnowari
Transcription
# JACAR B03050731100（外務省記録「袁世凱帝制計画一件（極秘）／反袁動乱及各地状況」第十五巻の1）、画像24〜26ページ。 # 大正5年5月21日発、肇慶の太田領事から石井外務大臣への電報 第四二號に付けられた「支那側暗號」の全文。 # コマ0076〜0078（data/romaji_raw.txt）とは別の、同じ電文の写し。Claude が画像から字どおりに読んだもの（人による1字ずつの確認はしていない）。 # 1行＝3語。上付きの書き足しは ° で示した（° は小さく書かれた o）。 sokahokaet arakotsuka atauichire uhohaetasa ehareusasu kahakaasei kitoshikon unikosenek onoheanewa enohaahits uushisuena suenaraane ikunisakit etekassise ineteketsu niusuwaish ifukihisui noheenihek awakaasene ashieketai kotoakushoh eonakaehet ekichikian oiusukaase oohakaoika esetaochini aushishike shisiolu kosetanuki nakuttawaka tosakutsum uinuchikan irakuewhik ehoyaiheaa sakaosokik usawakteae nuseosutea soiisuyaku hehaketsny aehaikanuf uatawakete kaasenakas oakihitaas hifuketaha ahiyaknush ietoriasac hiuchitaka satekeshis aanaekesoa uerekoteni kihiraenas ounariehak aitataitek aaseshikus aruasameku tachiofure otsumeenur coteriatsu rikochitak asukaaseik itoshikonu naufuukuts umikishine echinashit akitokaase heihorakut aakotomases oheanokeki nishionouk oseneatesa utsurekuto kaenukikoc hieatetain imaahotaos eakutokeut otsuushish ioshikuoto chikihofuk ehofukotsu sakushichi ochineates hienikaoso takunesoan tauhenotae konakaesot easuekahik auhoraahit athesakush ichitochica osekaesomi kanuteashi takotoakan iwatunorea shikutenas ekanookuno hikuhoseku takaononie sureohishe kutafukesa akusoukoho takehiseko shiakinomi unayauheak iteakihiek at°akitets uesunaechi yakisureif ukiisareis eyuniheiso nukaseruit oakanutauh esakifutea sunikuhese kutanukits uaifumikan uneatetauh esatefmika numekanoki iseaasuchi kehiyekohi heanuheiho wakat°ekat ominunanuku hemukufunu atamekanot akasnowari
Decryption
groups 229 | groups with a code 219 | formula + tw.csv agree 219 | disagree 0 telegram 1 修正読み 43 telegram 1 刊本で補う 5 telegram 1 変換式どおり 60 telegram 2 修正読み 43 telegram 2 変換式どおり 73 telegram 2 推定 4 telegram 2 終わりの印 1 T1 黃克強先生鑒奉删電知公抵日歡躍逾恆堯等碌碌庸才勉起討賊正慮綆短適逢公歸願承不遺俯賜提挈公首倡共和富有方略各國情勢考查復殷將來內政外交諸賴指導大局所繫惟公圖之唐繼堯岑春煊梁啓超劉顯世陸榮廷龍濟光呂公望蔡鍔李烈鈞陳炳焜哿 T2 公抵日喜甚潤輔當告公近形以定進行方略軍務院僅擁虛名委員代表等會皆未組織協和軍旬內可齊卽由韶入贑非俟幹卿協和兵入湘贑吾人恐難發言馮段調停此間暫置代理參謀事源專任之虎任第四師長收集舊部約萬亦卽出贑楷調粤中湘軍卽出湘釗擬來東面達近情虎源楷羣泰釗哿
Decryption: groups.csv
Reading
# Military Affairs Council to Huang Xing, 20 May 1916 (B03050089100 fr. 0076-0078, groups 0-107): reading Written 23 Oct 2026 (Claude Opus 5.5, verification 4) from `../stream_out.txt` (line T1) and `../sankana/groups.csv` (Harumi-Matsuba's groups and corrections, issue #48). Punctuation follows the 1916 print (護國軍紀事 no. 5, 軍政府歡迎黃克強電), which the decode matches at 102 of 107 characters. Five groups (48-50, 52, 58: 富有方, 各, 復) were garbled in transmission and are filled from that print; they are carried by the printed text, not by the figures. The cipher's wording is kept where it differs from the print (慮 for 憂, 提挈公 for 教言, 查 for 察; no 我). 删 = the 15th, 哿 = the 20th. ## Reading 黃克強先生鑒：奉删電，知公抵日，歡躍逾恆。堯等碌碌庸才，勉起討賊，正慮綆短，適逢公歸。願承不遺，俯賜提挈。公首倡共和，富有方略，各國情勢，考查復殷，將來內政外交，諸賴指導。大局所繫，惟公圖之。唐繼堯、岑春煊、梁啓超、劉顯世、陸榮廷、龍濟光、呂公望、蔡鍔、李烈鈞、陳炳焜。哿
Translation
# Military Affairs Council to Huang Xing, 20 May 1916: English Translation of `t1-0520_reading.md` (23 Oct 2026). ## Translation Mr Huang Keqiang: we have received your telegram of the 15th and learn that you have arrived in Japan, to our exceeding joy. We, [Tang Jiyao] and the others, men of ordinary talent, have exerted ourselves to rise and punish the traitor, and were just fearing that our rope was too short when you returned. We hope you will not cast us aside and will deign to lend us your hand. You first called for the republic and are rich in plans; you have studied the situation of the powers closely; in the future, domestic and foreign affairs will all depend on your guidance. The whole situation hangs on it; we look to you alone to plan it. Tang Jiyao, Cen Chunxuan, Liang Qichao, Liu Xianshi, Lu Rongting, Long Jiguang, Lü Gongwang, Cai E, Li Liejun, Chen Bingkun. The 20th.
Lin Hu, Li Genyuan and four others to Huang Xing, 20 May 1916 (groups 108-228)
The six at Zhaoqing report that the Military Affairs Council holds only a name, its committees not yet organised; the Xiehe army will soon enter Jiangxi from Shaozhou; Lin Hu takes the Fourth Division; and Zhang Shizhao plans to come east to report in person. Transcription and corrections contributed by Harumi-Matsuba (issue #48).
Transcription
# B03050089100 fr. 0076-0078, telegram 2 of 20 May 1916: final kana triples 108-228 from sankana/groups.csv (Harumi-Matsuba, CC BY 4.0) カアセ イキト シコヌ ナウフ ウクツ ミキシ ネエチ ウアシ タキト カアセ ヘイホ ラクタ アコト マウソ ヘアノ ケキニ シオノ ウコセ ネアテ サウツ レクト カエニ キコチ エアテ タイニ マアホ タオセ アクト ケウト ツウシ シオシ クオト チキホ フケホ フコツ サクシ タオチ ネアテ シエニ カオソ タクネ ソアヌ タウヘ ウオタ ヱコナ カエソ テアス ヱカヒ カウホ ラアヒ タオヘ サクシ タオチ カオセ カエソ ミカヌ テアシ タコト アカニ ワクノ レアシ クケナ セカノ オクノ ヒクホ セクタ カオノ ニエス レオヒ シクタ フケサ アクト ウコホ タケヒ セコス アキノ ミウナ ヤウヘ アキテ アキヒ エカト アキテ ツエス ナエチ ヤキサ レイフ キイサ レイセ ユウニ ヘイソ ヌカセ ルイト アカヌ タウヘ サキフ テアス ニクヘ セクタ ヌキツ アイフ ミカヌ ネアテ タウヘ サテフ ミカヌ メカノ キイセ アアス チケヒ ヱコヒ ヘアヌ ヘイホ ワカト エカト ミウナ ヌクヘ ムクフ ヌアタ メカノ タカス オワリ
Transcription
# JACAR B03050089100 コマ0076-0078 ローマ字原文（字どおりの転写。画像から読んだもの）。1行=用紙の1行（3語） # 1行＝用紙の1行（3語）。語の区切りは原文どおり（電信の1語は最大10字）。 # 原文の綴りを字どおりに写したもの。読み直しや修正はここには入れず、corrections.csv に記録する。 # 記号は使っていない。上付きの書き足し（例：at°akitets の o）は書き足された位置に入れた。 # 2026-10-19：Codex（gpt-6.1-sol）による答えを見せない転写3回、先行リポジトリの転写と照合し、画像で見直して5語を直した（語46・58・63・96・116。docs/VERIFICATION.md）。 # sheet1 (0076) sokahokaet arakotsuka atauichire uhohaetasa ehareusasu kehakaasei kitoshikon unikosenek onoheanewa enohaahits uushisuena suenaraane ikunisakit etekassise ineteketsu niusuwaish ifukihisui nohiinihek # sheet2 (0077 upper) awakaasene ashieketai kotoakushok eonakaehet ekichikian oiusukaase oohakaoika esetaochini aushishike shisiolu kosetanuki nakuttawaka tosakutsum uinuchikan irakuewhik ehoyaiheaa sukaosokik usawaktaae nuseosutea soiisuyaku hehaketsny aehaikanuf uatawakete kaasenakas oakihitaas kifuketaha ahiyaknush iutoriasac hiuchitaka satekeshis # sheet3 (0077 lower) aanaekesoa uerekoteni kihiraenas ounariehak aikutaitek aaseshikus aruasameku tachiofure otsumeenur coterriatsu rikochitak asukaaseik itoshikonu naufuukuts umikishine echinashit akitokaase heihorakut aakotomases oheanokeki nishionouk oseneatesa utsurekuto kaenukikoc hieatetain imaahotaos eakutokeut otsuushish ioshikuoto chikihofuk # sheet4 (0078 upper) ehofukotsu sakushichi ochineates hienikaoso takunesoan tauhenotae konakaesot easuekahik auhoraahit athesakush ichitochica osekaesomi kanuteashi takotoakan iwatunorea shikutenas ekanookuno hikuhoseku takaononie sureohishe kutafukesa akusoukoho takehiseko shiakinomi unayauheak iteakihiek atoakitets uesunaechi yakisureif ukiisareis # sheet5 (0078 lower) iyunikeiso nukaseruit oakanutauh esakifutea sunikuhese kutanukits uaifumikan uneatetauh esatefmika numekanoki iseaasuchi kehiyekohi heanuheiho wakataekat ominunanuku henukufunu atamekanot akasnowari
Transcription
# JACAR B03050731100（外務省記録「袁世凱帝制計画一件（極秘）／反袁動乱及各地状況」第十五巻の1）、画像24〜26ページ。 # 大正5年5月21日発、肇慶の太田領事から石井外務大臣への電報 第四二號に付けられた「支那側暗號」の全文。 # コマ0076〜0078（data/romaji_raw.txt）とは別の、同じ電文の写し。Claude が画像から字どおりに読んだもの（人による1字ずつの確認はしていない）。 # 1行＝3語。上付きの書き足しは ° で示した（° は小さく書かれた o）。 sokahokaet arakotsuka atauichire uhohaetasa ehareusasu kahakaasei kitoshikon unikosenek onoheanewa enohaahits uushisuena suenaraane ikunisakit etekassise ineteketsu niusuwaish ifukihisui noheenihek awakaasene ashieketai kotoakushoh eonakaehet ekichikian oiusukaase oohakaoika esetaochini aushishike shisiolu kosetanuki nakuttawaka tosakutsum uinuchikan irakuewhik ehoyaiheaa sakaosokik usawakteae nuseosutea soiisuyaku hehaketsny aehaikanuf uatawakete kaasenakas oakihitaas hifuketaha ahiyaknush ietoriasac hiuchitaka satekeshis aanaekesoa uerekoteni kihiraenas ounariehak aitataitek aaseshikus aruasameku tachiofure otsumeenur coteriatsu rikochitak asukaaseik itoshikonu naufuukuts umikishine echinashit akitokaase heihorakut aakotomases oheanokeki nishionouk oseneatesa utsurekuto kaenukikoc hieatetain imaahotaos eakutokeut otsuushish ioshikuoto chikihofuk ehofukotsu sakushichi ochineates hienikaoso takunesoan tauhenotae konakaesot easuekahik auhoraahit athesakush ichitochica osekaesomi kanuteashi takotoakan iwatunorea shikutenas ekanookuno hikuhoseku takaononie sureohishe kutafukesa akusoukoho takehiseko shiakinomi unayauheak iteakihiek at°akitets uesunaechi yakisureif ukiisareis eyuniheiso nukaseruit oakanutauh esakifutea sunikuhese kutanukits uaifumikan uneatetauh esatefmika numekanoki iseaasuchi kehiyekohi heanuheiho wakat°ekat ominunanuku hemukufunu atamekanot akasnowari
Decryption
groups 229 | groups with a code 219 | formula + tw.csv agree 219 | disagree 0 telegram 1 修正読み 43 telegram 1 刊本で補う 5 telegram 1 変換式どおり 60 telegram 2 修正読み 43 telegram 2 変換式どおり 73 telegram 2 推定 4 telegram 2 終わりの印 1 T1 黃克強先生鑒奉删電知公抵日歡躍逾恆堯等碌碌庸才勉起討賊正慮綆短適逢公歸願承不遺俯賜提挈公首倡共和富有方略各國情勢考查復殷將來內政外交諸賴指導大局所繫惟公圖之唐繼堯岑春煊梁啓超劉顯世陸榮廷龍濟光呂公望蔡鍔李烈鈞陳炳焜哿 T2 公抵日喜甚潤輔當告公近形以定進行方略軍務院僅擁虛名委員代表等會皆未組織協和軍旬內可齊卽由韶入贑非俟幹卿協和兵入湘贑吾人恐難發言馮段調停此間暫置代理參謀事源專任之虎任第四師長收集舊部約萬亦卽出贑楷調粤中湘軍卽出湘釗擬來東面達近情虎源楷羣泰釗哿
Decryption: groups.csv
Reading
# Lin Hu, Li Genyuan and four others to Huang Xing, 20 May 1916 (groups 108-228): reading Written 23 Oct 2026 (Claude Opus 5.5, verification 4) from `../stream_out.txt` (line T2) and `../sankana/groups.csv` (Harumi-Matsuba's groups and corrections, issue #48). No print is known. Punctuation is mine (as in NOTES). Every character is the group's value, 43 of them after a spelling correction of the romaji (grade M in NOTES); the four groups that are inferred, not decoded (164, 211, 223, 225), are `[?x]`. Signatures: 虎 Lin Hu, 源 Li Genyuan, 楷 Cheng Zikai, 羣 Wen Qun, 泰 Yang Yongtai, 釗 Zhang Shizhao; 哿 = the 20th. ## Reading 公抵日，喜甚。潤輔當告公近形，以定進行方略。軍務院僅擁虛名，委員、代表等會皆未組織。協和軍旬內可齊，卽由韶入贑。非俟幹卿協和兵入湘[?贑]，吾人恐難發言。馮段調停。此間暫置代理參謀事，源專任之。虎任第四師長，收集舊部約萬，亦卽出贑。楷調粤中湘軍卽[?出]湘。釗擬來東，面達近情。虎、源、[?楷]、羣、[?泰]、釗。哿
Translation
# Lin Hu, Li Genyuan and four others to Huang Xing, 20 May 1916: English Translation of `t2-0520_reading.md` (23 Oct 2026), same holes. ## Translation [We are] very glad that you have reached Japan. Runfu will tell you of the recent situation, so that the plan of action can be settled. The Military Affairs Council holds only an empty name; the committee, the delegates' meeting and the rest are not yet organised. The Xiehe Army can be assembled within ten days and will then enter Jiangxi from Shao[zhou]. Unless we wait until Ganqing's Xiehe troops enter Hunan and [?Jiangxi], we fear we can hardly speak out. Feng and Duan are mediating. Here the business of acting chief of staff is provisionally arranged, [Li Gen]yuan taking it alone. [Lin] Hu is made commander of the Fourth Division, gathers his old units, about ten thousand, and will also go out into Jiangxi at once. [Cheng Zi]kai is moving the Hunan troops in Guangdong to [?go out] into Hunan at once. [Zhang Shi]zhao plans to come east to report the recent situation in person. Hu, Yuan, [?Kai], Qun, [?Tai], Zhao. The 20th.
07 Sources
- JACAR (Japan Center for Asian Historical Records), Diplomatic Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: B03050731500 (袁世凱帝制計画一件（極秘）／反袁動乱及各地状況 第十五巻, 1.6.1.75-1_015, frames 0244–0248); B03050731100 (same volume, images 24–26); B03050089100 (特定人ノ発受郵便物取調 vol. 3, frames 0076–0081).
- S. Tomokiyo, “Solution of Two Chinese Cipher Telegrams Archived in Japan (1916)”, Cryptiana (the formula, added 23 September 2026), and his blog post “Chinese Coded Telegram (1916) from Huang Xing”.
- Harumi-Matsuba, sankana-public (data CC BY 4.0, code MIT), and issue #48, 20 October 2026.
- saberwatchmanga, sun-circle-cipher-1916, 10 October 2026.
- 護國軍紀事 no. 5 (Shanghai, 1916), 軍政府歡迎黃克強電; scan on Wikimedia Commons. 近代史資料 no. 50, item 3 (Huang Xing’s reply).
- The Swatow condenser telegrams of the same months are a different system: the Swatow telegram and Sun Yat-sen’s intercepted telegrams.
Decoder, transcriptions and the contributed tables: targets/huangxing/ (threekana.py reply | stream). The September analysis that preceded the rule is kept in its NOTES.md.