Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 2.pdf/150

 and Chiang Chung-yüan's "Ch'u Yung" (see under Lo and Chiang). These constituted Tsêng's land force. With foresight, characteristic of his later campaigns, he laid careful plans for the training of his troops and initiated methods of discipline and organization which greatly contributed to his ultimate success. He established central training camps at which those troops with previous military experience received further instruction, and opened recruiting stations in each district of Hunan where new recruits received initial preparation. He determined to send his troops first against local Bandit groups, to give them experience in fighting before taking them outside the province to war against the Taipings. For this he was severely criticized by those generals who were vainly fighting the Taipings, and even by the Emperor himself, to whom he addressed a long memorial explaining his plan for the campaign. Stubbornly refusing to be moved, either by ridicule or pleas for aid, he kept on with his organization of the poorly disciplined and untrained militia. The success of his plan depended upon funds given by Hunan officials and gentry. They proved lukewarm in their support until a victory by Chiang Chung-yüan and Lo Tsê-nan at Hêng-shan-hsien so impressed the Court that local officials found it expedient to give him the necessary funds. Tsêng was embarrassed in all his campaigns by lack of support of the officials until he finally accepted an official post himself, which placed him in control of the finances of the provinces in which his campaigns were waged. Within a few months he acquiesced in the urgent proposal of Chiang Chung-yüan and to build gunboats and to train marines under the command of Yang Yüeh-pin (see under ) and others, in the hope of driving the Taipings off the Yangtze.

After the conquest of Nanking in 1853 the Taipings were pressing two major campaigns: one to North China (see under and ), the other westward to Anhwei, Kiangsi and Hupeh. At that time Tsêng Kuo-fan, though again besieged by requests for aid, had no force which he could spare for the defense of Hupeh. A large part of the Hunan Braves already had been sent to the rescue of Kiangsi, and the rest were occupied in quelling local uprisings in Hunan, while the "navy" was still in process of organization. When, however, a few months later the Taipings from Hupeh pressed upon his forces in Hunan, Tsêng mobilized (February 25, 1854) his new flotilla of 240 boats with 5,000 marines, and a still larger army under the command of, to stem their advance. But owing to a storm which rendered many boats unfit, and to the inexperience of his troops in fighting, Tsêng was twice defeated in Hunan—once in Yochow and again at Ching-chiang 靖港. So mortified was he that he ittempted to commit suicide. Fortunately T'a-ch'i-pu and P'êng Yü-lin triumphed over tbr Taipings at Hsiang-t'an (May 1, 1854), forcing them to retreat to Yochow, which was finally taken on July 25, 1854—a victory which much encouraged Tsêng. On January 12, 1852 the Taipings had taken Wuchang—the first of three occupations—but had lost it to the government forces in February of the same year. They again seized the city on June 26, 1854, and successfully defended it until October 14 when they were oten come by Tsêng's forces under Lo and Chiang—a severe blow to their plan of conquest. On December 2, 1854 Tsêng also won (see under ) a signal victory over the strong defense which the Taipings made at T'ien-chia-chên. Meanwhile the city of Shanghai, which had been taken by a band of local rebels in 1855, was recovered in February 1855 (see under ). By the end of May 1855 the northern expedition of the Taipings was finally suppressed (see under ).

The victorious advance of Tsêng Kuo-fan's forces was stemmed at Kiukiang, however, by the stubborn resistance of the rebel chief, Lin Ch'i-jung 林啓容 (d. 1858), who had fought for the Taipings from the beginning of their activities. A part of Tsêng's navy was bottled up in Po-yang Lake; that part which was in the Yangtze was defeated, even Tsêng's flagship being captured by the rebels; and a storm damaged many of the remaining boats. The morale of Tsêng's troops, disheartened by these reverses was now at a low ebb. After making the required adjustments, he went to Nanchang, capital of Kiangsi, to rehabilitate the imprisoned fleet which was on the west shore of Po-yang Lake. The Taipings, on the other hand, hoping to weaken the attack which the government troops were making on Kiukiang, retook Wuchang for the third time on April 3, 1855. Despite this threat, Tsêng ordered T'a-ch'i-pu to keep an assaulting Kiukiang while Lo Tsê-nan and were sent to attack Wuchang, he himself remaining at Nanchang. The situation became all the more grave when T'a-ch'i-pu and Lo Tsê-nan both died and Tsêng himself was harassed by the almost invincible Taiping leader, 752