Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/358

Rh dressed petition after petition to the Emperor pleading for Ch'ien's life. On June 12, 1631 Ch'ien was released, but six months later (December 19) Huang was dismissed from office. Before leaving, Huang presented another memorial in which he severely attacked Wên T'i-jên (see under ) and Chou Yen-ju (see under ). He left the capital early in 1632 and was welcomed by the scholars of Chekiang at whose wish he founded a school at Ta-ti shan 大滌山 near Yü-hang, Chekiang. In the following year (1633) he returned to his native place where he delivered lectures on philosophy; and finally (1634) selected the Tzŭ-yang Academy 紫陽書院 at Chang-p'u as his lecture hall.

In 1635 he was recalled by the emperor and, late in 1636, went to the capital. Early in 1637 he was re-instated in his former post. Despite his request to resign, he was promoted in the following year to the post of Supervisor of Instruction. As a member of the politico-literary party known as Tung-lin, he stood definitely against the enemies of the party who at that time were led by Grand Secretary, Yang Ssŭ-ch'ang 楊嗣昌. In 1638 Huang Tao-chou's opposition to Yang, and his bold defense of Chêng Man, resulted in his being relegated to the position of corresponding secretary for the provincial judge of Kiangsi. Huang declined to accept and returned home. Before he left the capital he presented to the Emperor four works by himself, all on the Classics, namely: 洪範明義 Hung-fan ming-i, in 4 chüan; Yüeh-ling (月令) ming-i, in 4 chüan; 儒行集傳 Ju-hsing chi-chuan, in 2 chüan; and Tzŭ-i (緇衣) chi-chuan, in 4 chüan. Accused in 1640 of a hostile political move, he was summoned to Peking, flogged and put in prison. Finally, early in 1642, he was punished by banishment to Hunan but did not get farther west than Kiukiang where he took ill and pleaded for mercy. Meanwhile the death of Yang Ssŭ-ch'ang changed the situation in Peking, making it favorable to Huang Tao-chou who, in the autumn of 1642, received an invitation to return to the capital. Declining the invitation, he went in the following year to his home in Fukien where he continued his lectures on philosophy.

In 1644 Peking surrendered to. When the Prince of Fu (see under ) became Emperor at Nanking he appointed Huang Tao-chou senior vice-president of Civil Office and reader of the Hanlin Academy. On his way to Nanking Huang learned that he had been promoted (October 19, 1644) to the presidency of the Board of Ceremonies, a post which he assumed in the beginning of the following year. But he soon discovered that his position was merely nominal, since the new regime was completely under the sway of and his party. Soon after arriving at Nanking Huang memorialized the new Emperor (March 19, 1645) to send him to sacrifice at the tomb of the Great Yü (大禹) at K'uai-chi (Shaohsing), Chekiang. The request was granted and Huang arrived at Shaohsing on May 3, 1645. Learning, before his return to Nanking, that the city had been taken (June 19, 1645) by the Ch'ing forces, he went to Foochow (July 31, 1645) to join the new court of the Prince of T'ang (see under ) who appointed him concurrently president of the Board of Civil Office and a Grand Secretary. These likewise were nominal positions under the control of, the actual leader of the Court. Chêng, as the financial supporter of the Fukien regime, showed no inclination to engage in military activity in Kiangsi—a strategy which the Prince of T'ang, Huang Tao-chou, and other loyalists were, however, most anxious to press in the hope of reviving the defunct dynasty. Although helpless without the financial and military support of Chêng, Huang's decision to raise a loyal army was spurred by manifestations of goodwill on the part of the prefect of Kuang-hsin-fu, Kiangsi, where Huang had previously planned to establish his military base. After a struggle with Chêng Chih-lung for leadership in the court, Huang left Foochow (September 11, 1645) for Yen-p'ing, Fukien, where he summoned more than one thousand loyalist soldiers. According to some accounts his forces increased to five or even ten thousand men before he reached the borders of Fukien and Kiangsi. One week before his arrival at Kuang-hsin the city of Hui-chou, Anhwei, fell (November 10, 1645) to the Ch'ing army. Thus his cherished plan of creating a united front between these two cities was frustrated, and he was forced to rely wholly on his own resources. The attack by his fellow commanders on Fu-chou in Kiangsi, and on Wu-yüan and Hsiu-ning in Anhwei failed, and when Huang marched into Wu-yüan, early in the following year, he had, it is said, only about two thousand men. 346