Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 2.pdf/152

 known as "the five official printing offices" (五局). At the same time he restored (December 20, 1864) the provincial examinations at Nanking where, owing to the Taiping occupation, they had been for many years discontinued.

In June 1865 Tsêng Kuo-fan was ordered, by hurried mandate, to Shantung where Prince Sêng-ko-lin-ch'in had been killed in battle (May 1865) while fighting the Nien Bandits. Tsêng, now in supreme command of military affairs in Shantung, Chihli, and Honan, at once reorganized his forces, distributing them at four points in order to draw a net about the elusive rebels. After more than a year in the north in an unsatisfactory campaign to exterminate these rebels, and increasingly conscious of the criticism of his enemies, he recommended Li Hung-chang as his successor (December 12, 1866), he himself returning to his former post as governor-general at Nanking.

In 1863 had recommended to Tsêng the establishment of ironworks at Shanghai—works which later became the Kiangnan Arsenal—and Jung had purchased the machinery for it from abroad. In 1868 the first steamship was built there by Chinese and brought to Nanking for Tsêng's inspection. The opening of these ironworks was one of the most important contributions Tsêng made to the future welfare of China.

In 1867 he was appointed a Grand Secretary, and in September 1868 was made governor-general of Chihli province. In the latter capacity he cleared up a large number of long-pending legal cases, improved administrative efficiency, and set up a plan for a standing army which, however, was not carried out. In 1870 he was ordered to investigate and settle the case of the Tientsin Massacre (see under ). Fully conscious of China's military weakness, he pressed for a policy of justice and conciliation toward the Western powers involved, and so incurred the ill-will of many officials in Peking who desired war. The case was nearly settled when, aged and ill, he was transferred (1871) to his old post at Nanking, made vacant through the assassination of. He was succeeded in Tientsin by Li Hung-chang. On August 18, 1871 he sent a joint memorial with Li, recommending the dispatch of young students to study abroad (see under ). Their plan was put into effect in 1872, but Tsêng died a few months before the students actually set sail. He was given posthumously the title of Grand Tutor, and was canonized as Wên-chêng 文正.

Tsêng was a man of great foresight, as evidenced not only in his preparation for military campaigns but in many other matters as well. Several times the Shanghai and Kiangsi gentry suggested to the Court that foreign troops, who had successfully defended Shanghai against the rebels, be sent inland in an effort to bring the Taiping rebellion to a speedier close. Tsêng, whose opinion in the matter was asked by the Emperor, pointed out that though there was justification for using foreign troops at Shanghai and Ningpo, where in reality they were defending their own interests, the situation in the interior was different. Here, should joint Chinese and foreign troops be victorious, complications would surely arise and the "guest-soldiers" might seize the land and become a danger to the empire. He urged that, even in the use of foreign troops at treaty ports, a careful understanding should be reached before any fighting was undertaken. la addition to being a man of great foresight and indomitable perseverance, he showed an extraordinary ability to select men of promise, train them for their posts, and to retain their loyalty. He had on his staff more than eighty able men—many of whom, like Li Hung-chang and P'êng Yü-lin, later became famous in history. He learned a great deal from personal experience in drilling soldiers, controlling subordinate officers, and co-ordinating troops from different parts of the country—and so finally was able to develop far-reaching plans which he carried out regardless of obstacles. Sometimes he is criticized for his loyalty to the Manchu dynasty for conservatism and obstinacy, and for cruelty in his treatment of the rebels. Yet the times in which he lived called for stern action, and however strict he may have been with others, he was even more strict with himself. He sought daily to improve himself by constant examination of his own mistakes and short-comings, as shown vividly in his diary which he kept from January 1, 1839 to March 11, 1872—the day before he died. The same habits of rigid self-examination are shown in the letters which he wrote to his parents, to his brothers, and to his sons; and in the admonitions he gave to the young to live lives of frugality, diligence, and integrity.

Tsêng was an honest and upright official. We are told in the nien-p'u (see below) of his young daughter, that during the years he lived in Peking, he was always poor; and that even when he held high command in the army, he sent home annually to his family not more than ten to twenty taels silver. It was not until he became 754