Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/538

 LIU Ming-ch'uan 劉銘傳, 1836–1896, Jan. 11, soldier and official, was a native of Ho-fei (Lu-chou), Anhwei. His ancestors had for generations been farmers. Resourceful, ambitious, and discontented with his father's occupation, he became the head of a band of freebooters who were engaged in the illegal sale of salt. When he was eighteen sui he is said to have murdered a rich villager. When the Taipings threatened Lu-chou (see under ), he organized a powerful volunteer corps which became famous under the name, Ming-tzŭ Chün 銘字軍. A few years later his forces participated in the campaign against. Having attained the rank of major, in April 1862 he followed to Shanghai, and from May to June resisted the Taipings east of that city. After taking the fortress at Chin-shan, a strategic point in the prefecture of Sungkiang (July 17), he rushed back to Shanghai which was again menaced, and by the end of the year overcame the insurgents there. In order to aid the naval force under Huang I-shêng 黃翼升, Liu advanced on Fu-shan by boat early in 1863, and on June 8 he and Huang took the strategic fortress at Yang-shê 楊舍堡 in Kiangyin and occupied the district city three months later (September 13). After the general attack on Soochow by Li Hung-chang's army, Liu and his forces, early in 1864, pursued to Nanking. In co-operation with the commanders of other volunteer corps, he finally took Changchow (May 11) and captured a powerful insurgent commander, Ch'ên K'un-shu (see under ). In this battle Liu was injured in the forehead. For restoring peace to Kiangsu, this rustic of only twenty-nine sui was made an official of the first rank and commander-in-chief of Chihli (1864). He did not assume the post, however, as he was sent elsewhere to fight. Having already in 1862 received the honorary title of military merit, baturu 巴圖魯, he was in 1864 awarded the Yellow Riding Jacket.

In the spring of 1865, under the command of, Liu Ming-ch'uan was ordered to subjugate the rebel bands known as the Nien-fei (see under and ). Marching into northern Anhwei, he and Chou Shêng-po 周盛波 captured (July 25) Chih-chia-chi 雉家集 (present Wo-yang), a strategic base of the rebels. Thereafter, with Chou-chia-k'ou, Honan, as headquarters, he took part in various campaigns against the insurgents who were overruning Honan and adjacent regions. Late in the autumn of 1866 he and a fellow-commander, Pan Ting-hsin (see under ), attacked the Nien-fei in western Shantung, dividing their forces. One contingent, known as the Western Nien (西捻), fled to Shansi (see under ) under the leadership of Chang Tsung-yü (see under ), while the Eastern Nien (東捻), led by Jên Chu 任柱 and Lai Wên-kuang 賴汶光, remained in Shantung. Under the direction of Li Hung-chang, who replaced Tsêng Kuo-fan late in 1866, Liu drove the Eastern Nien to Kiangsu and then to Hupeh (see under ). In the spring of 1867, however, the latter again invaded Shantung, and made their way eastward. Liu pursued and defeated them at Jih-chao, Shantung and at Kan-yü, Kiangsu, in November; and at Wei-hsien and Shou-kuang, Shantung, in early December—thus driving them to the mouth of the Mi River (瀰河) where he annihilated them on December 24, 1867. Liu's men are said to have killed some 20,000 insurgents and taken about 10,000 captives. Jên Chu died in the battle of Kan-yü; and Lai Wên-kuang, after narrowly escaping massacre at Shou-kuang, was captured at Yangchow (January 5, 1868). As the most distinguished commander in this three-year war, Liu Ming-ch'uan was given the rank of Ch'ing-ch'ê tu-yü of the third class. After a few months of retirement he was ordered (May, 1868) to participate in the suppression of the Western Nien who invaded Chihli and Shantung in the spring of 1868. Though Liu was temporarily at variance with Li Hung-chang, Tsêng Kuo-fan succeeded in reconciling their differences in order that they might unite their forces against the enemy. When the rebels attempted to break across the Yellow River to invade Southern Shantung, Liu, in co-operation with Kuo Sung-lin 郭松林, overwhelmed them in a battle near Chih-p'ing on August 16. Chang Tsung-yü is said to have drowned himself during this engagement. As a result of this victory the Nien-fei were completely subdued. Liu was promoted to the rank of a baron of the first class and returned home.

At his native place Liu Ming-ch'uan built a luxurious residence named Ta-ch'ien Shan-fang 大潛山房 where he devoted his time to study, and to which he invited many scholars of note. It is said that only by having sequestered large quantities of silver obtained in the wars was he able to live in such an imposing style. He pub- 526