Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 2.pdf/147

 were the rightful rulers of China; and that the rumors about the Emperor's character and conduct had been invented by unscrupulous persons.

All the arguments of the Emperor in defense of himself and his throne, as well as the testimony of Tsêng Ching, were finally edited into a work entitled 大義覺迷錄 Ta-i chüeh-mi lu, 4 chüan, which was printed in 1730 and was at once distributed throughout the country. Every licentiate in the empire was required to read it. At the same time (1730) Tsêng was sent back to Hunan, not only unpunished but as an official to serve under the commissioner appointed to "examine and rectify social abuses" (see under ). The Emperor justified this lenient treatment on the ground that Tsêng had only offended his (the Emperor's) person and that as Emperor he was free to treat the criminal in the way he thought best. Furthermore, since Yüeh had taken an oath of allegiance to the plotters, he could not, in consideration of his loyal general, break the oath by punishing the offenders.

When Tsêng returned to Hunan he became something of a hero, for he was granted leave, in 1731, for a year's rest in his home district, and was given funds to purchase for himself a house and lands. In 1735, however, the succeeding Emperor Kao-tsung, after he ascended the throne, commanded that Tsêng and Chang Hsi be arrested and brought to Peking. On January 30, 1736 he ordered that both should be executed by the "lingering death" (ling-ch'ih) process. The Emperor justified this action on the grounds that as a filial son he had merely followed his father's conduct in the case of Lü Liu-liang. In addition, Emperor Kao-tsung, disliking the freedom with which his father had exposed the affairs of the Imperial House, ordered all copies of the book, Ta-i chüeh-mi lu, returned to Peking and destroyed. An edition of the Yung-chêng period is to be found, however, in the Library of Congress. There are numerous discrepancies between the official records of the life and sayings of Emperor Shih-tsung (compiled in Emperor Kao-tsung's reign) and the edicts printed during his life-time. Particularly in the Ta-i chüeh-mi lu, there are documents which have been omitted in other official compilations and which stand as proof of Emperor Shih-tsung's guilty conscience.

[Ch'ing-tai wên-tzŭ yü tang (see bibl. under ), no. 9 (1934); Ta-i chüeh-mi lu; Ch'ing-ch'u san ta-i an k'ao-shih (see bibl. under ).]

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TSÊNG Kuo-ch'üan 曾國荃, Oct. 12, 1824–1890, Nov. 13, a native of Hsiang-hsiang, Hunan, and younger brother of , was the leading general in the taking of Nanking after it had been eleven years in the hands of the Taiping Rebels. He obtained a hsiu-ts'ai degree in 1847 and a senior licentiate in 1855, at the same time greatly assisting his brother, Tseng Kuo-fan, in organizing the "Hunan Braves". In 1856 he raised reinforcements and rescued his brother who was being harassed in Kiangsi. In the following four years he fought in various places in Kiangsi until the Taipings were fairly well cleared from the province. In May 1860 he left Kiangsi to take part in the advance on Anking, the capital of Anhwei province. This move was the first step in Tsêng Kuo-fan's far-sighted plan for the taking of Nanking. Though the imperialists had previously suffered a severe defeat at Nanking (see under ) and though his brother was dangerously harassed at Ch'i-mên, Anhwei, in the winter of 1860–61, Tsêng Kuoch'üan held steadfastly to his policy of besieging Anking. In this campaign he had the help of, , Li Hsü-i (see under ) and others. He had to defend himself not only against the rebels' sorties from the city, but also against the fresh Taiping relief forces brought from outside the region by and. His campaign to take Anking was a prolonged one—lasting from May 17, 1860 to September 5, 1861—the city having been held by the strongly entrenched Taipings for nine years. For his prowess and his military strategy in this campaign he was given the title of financial commissioner (1861), was made an expectant provincial judge, and was allowed the privilege of wearing the yellow riding jacket.

Undeterred by other alluring appointments, Tsêng Kuo-ch'üan pressed on with the campaign to Nanking, the capital of the Taipings. With a force of about 30,000 veterans (including P'êng Yü-lin's marines) he fought his way from Anking down to Yü-hua-t'ai 雨花臺 under the very walls of Nanking where he encamped on May 31, 1862. This date marks the beginning of the great campaign which the Hunan Braves waged 749