Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/459

Rh received help from Siam. As Juan Kuang-tsan was hard-pressed financially, he permitted part of his fleet to make piratical raids off the coast of Kwangtung. In time Chinese pirates joined them and the Chinese leaders received Annamese official ranks in exchange for their plunder. From 1795 the pirates began to operate along the Fukien coast and then off the coast of Chekiang. The Chinese pirates belonged to two main bands, one from Fukien under Ts'ai Ch'ien 蔡牽 (d.1809), the other from Kwangtung under Chu Fên 朱濆 (d. 1809). These pirates enriched themselves by exacting 'protection' fees from merchant ships and by plundering those that refused to pay (see under ). Late in 1799 Li Ch'ang-kêng gained several victories over them and chased them to the northern border of Kwangtung. In that year was appointed governor of Chekiang and soon was impressed by Li's abilities. Therefore in 1800 he and the governor-general, Yü-tê (see under ), requested Emperor Jên-tsung to appoint Li commander of the naval forces of Chekiang. In August of that year a pirate fleet of more than thirty Annamese ships and many smaller vessels anchored near Sung-mên with a view to making a landing: Li's fleet was anchored a little to the north. But on August 11 a typhoon which raged along the coast destroyed nearly the entire pirate fleet and about half of the government ships. More than a thousand pirates who swam ashore were captured, including a native of Kwangtung who held the Annamese rank of marquis. Thus ended Annamese piratical activities in China. When two years later Juan Fu-ying became king of Annam he formally put an end to the system.

But Chinese pirate fleets continued their operations, and in Chekiang at least Juan Yüan was determined to suppress them. He organized the residents of the coast into defense units, forbade all trade with the pirates, and entrusted Li Ch'ang-kêng with expanding the naval forces. As Li's vessels were smaller than those of the pirates, Juan encouraged the provincial officials to contribute a fund with which to build larger ships for the navy. He entrusted Li with money to construct thirty large vessels and these were completed in June 1801. Each ship was manned by eighty men and was equipped with cannon and other arms. After gaining several victories Li was made, late in 1801, naval commander-inchief of Fukien. But as he was himself a native of that province, he was soon transferred to Chekiang. Early in 1803 he dealt a crushing blow to Ts'ai Ch'ien's fleet near Ting-hai and chased the remaining ships to the Fukien coast. Finding himself overwhelmed, Ts'ai got into communication with Governor-general Yü-tê. Believing in the protestations of Ts'ai that he would surrender, Yu-tê ordered Li to relax his pressure. Ts'ai took advantage of the situation to escape, and it was not long before he recovered from his defeat. By offering large sums he persuaded unscrupulous ship-builders of Fukien to supply him with ships larger and better armed than the government vessels. With these he attacked in 1804 the rice transports of Taiwan Island. He combined his fleet with that of Chu Fên and in July of the same year he defeated a fleet of government ships off Foochow Bay. To counteract this formidable alliance Li Ch'ang-kêng was given the command of a combined fleet of Fukien and Chekiang forces. In September 1804 Li again defeated the pirates, forcing Chu Fên to break with Ts'ai and return to Kwangtung.

Early in 1805 Li was transferred to Fukien for about half a year but was then ordered back to Chekiang. In January 1806 Ts'ai Ch'ien, calling himself Chên-hai wang 鎮海王 (King who Stabilizes the Seas), led an attack on Taiwan with more than 100 ships. Augmented by the ruffians of the island, his force reached more than ten thousand. Li led his fleet to the Island and won several naval and land engagements. Ts'ai's fleet was bottled up in a bay with sunken boats, but late in March 1806 an unusual tide and severe winds so altered the position of the boats that Ts'ai escaped. For this reverse Li was stripped of his decorations. In the meantime he reported that he failed to capture Ts'ai because the pirate ships were larger and higher than any of the government vessels, and that after the retirement of Juan Yüan (August 1805, owing to his father's death), the governor-general, Yü-tê, refused to build more powerful vessels. In consequence of this report Yü-tê was removed and sent into exile.

When the new governor-general, A-lin-pao 阿林保 (d. 1809, posthumous name 敬敏), arrived at Foochow, his first act was to submit a series of memorials condemning Li as incompetent and cowardly. He reported that Li would linger for undue periods at some anchorage and then report false victories. However, an investigation by the governor of Chekiang, Ch'ing-an-t'ai 清安泰 (d. 1809, chin-shih of 1781), disclosed the fact that A-lin-pao's reports were 447