Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 2.pdf/16

 he was sixteen he accompanied his family to Hêng-yang where soon thereafter his father died. The family lost much of its property to rapacious neighbors and as a youth P'êng had to support his mother as a copyist in the imperial regiment of his native city. By chance, his skill in penmanship came to the attention of the local prefect who took him under his personal tutelage, so that after a few years P'êng obtained a hsiu-ts'ai degree.

In 1850 P'êng Yü-lin accompanied the imperial regiment when it suppressed a riot and was offered the rank of sergeant, which he declined. Soon thereafter he became treasurer of a pawnshop in the neighboring city of Lei-yang. He was generous in his treatment of the poor and at one time by a loan from the shop gave financial aid to the local magistrate who was organizing the militia against a threat of the Taipings. In 1853 his liberality caught the attention of who was then at Hêng-yang building gunboats and enrolling troops to man them, and Tsêng placed him in command of a portion of the newly-organized river patrol. Both P'êng and Yang Yüeh-pin 楊岳斌 (original ming Tsai-fu 載福, T. 厚庵, 1822–1890), a native of Shan-hua, Hunan, were fitted by temperament and education to initiate plans and prepare reports for the naval forces. On February 25, 1854 Tsêng Kuo-fan led the newly-built flotilla in a punitive attack on the Taipings who had made Nanking their capital and were pressing upstream on the Yangtze to Hupeh and Hunan (see under ). Unfortunately Tsêng's first effort met defeat at Yochow, making necessary a retreat to Changsha, the capital of Hunan. The Taipings followed him to a place sixty li north of Changsha, and after a detour, captured Hsiang-t'an. then led a strong detachment to retake the latter city and dealt the rebels a crushing blow—aided by the naval craft of P'êng Yü-lin who set fire to much of the enemy's cargo—and compelled them to flee eastward in great confusion (May 1, 1854). The menace to Changsha was thus averted, and the disheartened Tsêng Kuo-fan was much encouraged. Following this victory P'êng Yü-lin was promoted to the rank of magistrate.

After reassembling his forces Tsêng Kuo-fan again attacked Yochow, with the result that this city fell into his hands (July 25, 1854). Wuchang having been taken by the Hunan forces on October 14, 1854, the Taipings concentrated at T'ien-chia-chên, a strategic point along the Yangtze about forty miles above Kiukiang, where they built a strong defense on the river in anticipation of a decisive battle. The Yangtze was blocked by a pontoon held together by a heavy iron chain fastened to Pan-pi-shan, a steep slope on the river's bank opposite Pien-chia-chên. It was guarded by a flotilla of gunboats, timber rafts, junks and sampans, giving it the appearance of a town on the river's surface. Assisted primarily by the land force of T'a-ch'i-pu and which attacked the hillside, P'êng Yü-lin and Yang Yüeh-pin stubbornly assaulted the flotilla in an effort to break the chain. Yang led a dare-to-die fleet in tactical formation which dashed through the enemy's position. Yang and P'êng attacked and set fire to the vessels from both sides, winning the engagement after a furious battle (December 2, 1854). The Taipings were forced to retire to Kiukiang, which they held for several years. Detailed plans of this engagement were brought to the attention of the Emperor, who caused them to be distributed as a model to naval circles within the empire. But the renown which the Hunan naval forces thus achieved and the successive victories which they won on their advance to Kiukiang, made them over-confident. Their flotilla of 120 boats and 3,000 marines went as far as Po-yang lake but there they were bottled up by the rebels, who then proceeded to attack with fire-boats, even capturing Tsêng's flagship. Thereafter the flotilla was divided, one part being stationed in Po-yang lake, the other outside of it. The latter had to withdraw from Kiukiang to a place near Yochow for necessary repairs while Tsêng went to Kiangsi to reorganize the forces within the lake.

On April 3, 1855 Wuchang again fell to the Taipings. The flotilla inside Po-yang lake was also harassed. Tsêng urgently called P'êng to Kiangsi, but the latter found all routes controlled by the enemy. Disguised as a merchant speaking the dialect of Anhwei, P'êng walked the long distance to Nanchang, where he was ordered by Tsêng to take command of the navy. While, Lo Tsê-nan, Yang Yüeh-pin, and others attacked Wuchang (1856), Tsêng and P'êng fought in Kiangsi. But in the following year Tsêng had to return home to mourn the death of his father and Yang was made commander-in-chief of the navy with P'êng as associate commander. When the navy and the army advanced on Kiukiang, P'êng fought desperately to effect a reunion with the marines outside the 618