Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/473

Rh effective force paid by the local government of Shanghai. In several inconclusive engagements Li was slightly wounded by shrapnel (August 22, 1860). As government troops at Kashing, Chekiang, were threatening his rear he went to rescue that city and thence to Soochow. When he arrived at Soochow he had word of a large number of volunteers in Kiangsi and Hupeh who desired to join him. On his way west he stopped at Nanking and urged the Celestial King and his high officials to lay up provisions against a probable long siege. The Celestial King reproached him for his anxiety, but the high officials thought well of his advice. Their plan, however, was frustrated by Hung's brothers. When Li reached Kiangsi he found many followers of Shih Ta-k'ai under the command of T'an T'i-yüan and Wang Hai-yang (see under ) ready to join him. Others, also from Kiangsi and Hupeh, flocked to his standards, so that his force is said to have been increased by 300,000 men. He conquered most of the cities in Kiangsi and harassed at Ch'i-mên in southern Anhwei (1860–61). He also overran a considerable part of Hupeh. But as defeated Li's cousin, Li Shih-hsien 李世賢 (d. Aug. 23, 1865, Prince Shih 侍王, a brave general of the Taipings), at Lo-p'ing, Kiangsi, and as  was persistently besieging Anking, Li Hsiu-ch'êng, fearful of being shut up in Kiangsi and Hupeh, withdrew his forces to attack Chekiang. There he quickly took many cities, including Hangchow (December 29, 1861). In these victories he was considerate of his enemies. All government officials who lost their lives in the conflict were buried with due ceremony and those captured were treated with respect. He provided some 10,000 coffins to inter the refugees who died of hunger, and those in need were supplied with rice and were granted loans without interest until they recovered their means of livelihood. In the meantime the Taipings lost Anking (September 5, 1861). In this reverse they also lost their brave general, Ch'ên Yü-ch'êng who was pursued and died in May 1862. The loss of Anking was a step toward the fall of Nanking, and the death of Ch'ên deprived Li of his best general.

Li Hsiu-ch'êng went from Hangchow to Soochow to spend the Taiping New Year (February 10 or 11, 1862). On his way he received many petitions charging his able subordinate, Ch'ên K'un-shu 陳坤書 (d. 1864), with misgovernment in Soochow. Li had entrusted Ch'ên with the rule of that city after it was taken in June 1860. Fearing Li's wrath, Ch'ên fled with his forces to Changchow before Li could arrive. Hoping to gain for himself equal rank with Li, Ch'ên had offered large bribes to the high officials of the Taiping court to make him Hu Wang 護王 or Prince Hu. Ch'ên, now no longer under the command of Li, encamped his force at Changchow and fought effectively in the area west of Shanghai and south of Nanking but was finally besieged at Changchow by, and the Ever Victorious Army. After sanguinary battles, the government forces took that city on May 11, 1864, and Ch'ên K'un-shu was captured and was soon afterwards executed.

After remaining in Soochow for four months to reorganize the local government and improve the people's condition, as was his custom, Li Hsiu-ch'êng again proceeded (1862) to attack Shanghai which in 1861 had been assaulted only by small brigades. On January 8, 1862 he publicly announced to the people of Shanghai and Sung-chiang that the Taipings were about to take those cities. He urged the imperialists to submit to him, the Westerners to remain neutral, and the populace to be quiet. A few days later he advanced upon the city, but his assault was repulsed, chiefly by French and English forces and by Ward's "Ever Victorious Army" (常勝軍)—so called by the Ch'ing government to encourage the Chinese to enlist in it. Simultaneously Li Hung-chang ordered 5,500 Anhwei soldiers under the command of and Liu Ming-ch'uan to come to the rescue of the city (April 8, 1862). These allied forces captured Chia-ting (May 1, 1862) and Ch'ing-p'u (May 12) and then proceeded to attack T'ai-ts'ang and K'un-shan, all in the neighborhood of Shanghai. At this critical moment Li Hsiu-ch'êng took personal command of 10,000 veterans and proceeded from Soochow to the front. After furious encounters Li defeated the allied forces of Ward and Li Hung-chang at T'ai-ts'ang (May 21, 1862), retook Chia-ting (May 26) and Ch'ing-p'u (June 9) and subjected Sung-chiang to a long siege. When the latter city was about to fall, Li Hsiu-ch'êng received three messages daily from the Celestial King, begging him to relieve Nanking which Tsêng Kuo-ch'üan's Hunan Braves were assaulting.

Toward the end of August 1862 Li Hsiu-ch'êng withdrew his force, said to number 300,000 men, from Shanghai to Nanking. Day and night, for 461