Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/118

Rh to control. As it was necessary for Li Hsiu-ch'êng to guard Nanking, Ch'ên was sent to the relief of Anking. As Ch'ên's forces drew near the besieged co-rebels the latter made a sortie from the city while Ch'ên himself confronted the imperialists on the outside. The imperialists thus menaced from both sides had a difficult time, but the stubborn Hunan Braves, commanded by the equally stubborn general, Tseng Kuo-ch'üan, withstood the attack and continued the siege through 1860–61. In the meantime Li Hsiu-ch'êng was successful in luring the imperialists to the rescue of Hangchow. Li at once summoned the forces of Ch'ên Yü-ch'êng and of other generals to Nanking where the imperialists' headquarters outside the city were decisively defeated (May 1860) and the commanders, Ho-ch'un and Chang Kuo-liang, were killed in battle (see under ). Thereupon Ch'ên returned to Anhwei to continue the warfare against Tseng Kuo-ch'üan. In the winter of 1860 Li Hsiu-ch'êng joined Ch'ên, but instead of attacking Anking they proceeded to southwestern Anhwei, and to Kiangsi and Hupeh. They harassed Tsêng Kuo-fan at Ch'i-mên in southern Anhwei in the winter of 1860 and the spring of 1861. But contrary to their expectations and regardless of the difficulty of the position of his brother at Ch'i-mên, Tsêng Kuo-ch'üan steadfastly continued to besiege Anking. Failing thus to disperse the government forces, Ch'ên again attacked the besiegers of Anking from April 27 to May 17, 1861. But the Hunan Braves were firmly intrenched, and the attacks were fruitless. After retiring to T'ung-ch'êng for a few months Ch'ên, in command of more than 100,000 men, made a desperate assault on Anking for six days and nights beginning on August 21, 1861. But in the end the city of Anking, which had been held by Yeh Yün-lai 葉芸來 (d. 1861) for nine years, was taken by Tsêng Kuo-ch'üan's forces on September 5. Henceforth Anking served as a base for the recovery of Nanking.

As a punishment for his loss of Anking Ch'ên Yü-ch'êng was deprived of his ranks, but still retained command. Disheartened and mortified, he retired to Lu-chou. After further fighting he was forced by To-lung-a (see under ) to retreat from Lu-chou (May 13, 1862) to the region of Shou-chou (May 15), also in Anhwei. Here Ch'ên hoped to obtain refuge with his friend, Miao P'ei-lin (see under ), who, after some years as a Nien bandit chief, had surrendered to the Ch'ing government but at the same time maintained secret connections with the Taipings. Most of Ch'ên's troops were killed and scattered by To-lung-a's pursuing forces but two or three thousand of his bodyguard followed him in numerous battles. Perhaps hoping to obtain these veterans for his own use, Miao betrayed Ch'ên and turned him over to the imperialists with the result that Ch'ên was executed by order of the court at Yen-chin, Honan, probably in May 1862.

Ch'ên Yü-ch'êng and Li Hsiu-ch'êng were, after 1856, the two ablest generals of the Taiping Rebellion. Apparently Ch'ên was less skillful in military tactics than Li Hsiu-ch'êng but he was more courageous and also more cruel. In his army he had a contingent of youthful soldiers who fought with great recklessness and slaughtered non-combatants without mercy. Ch'ên himself is described as valiant but bloodthirsty, with a stout physique, an angular white face, a large mouth and two dark spots under his eyes. Owing to this last-mentioned peculiarity and because of his ferocity he was nicknamed Ssū Yen Kou 四眼狗 or "the dog with four eyes". By Ch'ên's death Li Hsiu-ch'êng was deprived, as it were, of his right hand.

[1/481/1a;, Li Hsiu-ch'êng kung-chuang; See bibliography under ; , Pao-kung nien-p'u; 中國近百年史資料 Chung-kuo chin-pai-nien-shih tzŭ-liao, first collection.]

2em

 CH'ÊN Yüan-pin 陳元贇 1587–1671, was a native of Hangchow, Chekiang. In the spring of 1621 he accompanied Shan Fêng-hsiang 單鳳翔, an official of Chekiang, on a journey to Japan to lodge a protest against piratical activities along the China coast. During his sojourn in Japan, Ch'ên composed verses with Hayashi Nobukatsu 林信勝 and others. He went back to China but in 1638 returned to Japan. Soon after his arrival in Nagasaki he fell ill, but later he secured a position with the Lord of Owari at a stipend of 60 koku of rice per annum. He produced one scholarly work on Lao-tzŭ, entitled 老子通考 Rōshi tsukō. Together with a priest, Gensei 元政 (1623–1668), he composed and published some eighty poems under the title, 元々倡和集 Gen Gen shōwa shū, in 2 chüan. By introducing the poems of Yüan Hung-tao 袁宏道 to Gensei he indirectly made a valuable contribution to the 106