Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 2.pdf/161

 Doubtless the study of these works inspired a life-long interest in the topography of the Chinese Empire and later helped him considerably in military strategy. After his father's death, in 1830, the financial condition of the family became worse, but in the same year he met, who saw in him great promise and gave him access to his own library. In the following year he studied in the Academy, Ch'êng-nan Shu-yüan 城南書院, in Shan-hua, Hunan, where Ho Hsi-ling (see under ) was director. Both he and his older brother, Tso Tsung-chih 左宗植, became chü-jên in 1832. In the same year he married Chou I-tuan 周詒端 who left a collection of verse, entitled 飾性齋遺稿 Shih-hsing chai i-kao. They made their home with his wife's family in Hsiang-t'an, Hunan, until 1844. In the meantime Tso participated three times (1833, 1835, 1838) in the metropolitan examinations, but failed to qualify for the chin-shih degree. In 1837 he lectured in the Lu-chiang Shu-yüan 淥江書院, in Li-ling, Hunan, where he made the acquaintance of who was then viceroy of Liang-Kiang (Kiangsu, Kiangsi and Anhwei). After failing for a third time in the metropolitan examination (1838) he determined not to try again.

Tso then studied seriously works in the fields of history, classics, geography and agriculture, particularly the last two. During this time, too, he familiarized himself with the 欽定皇輿西城圖志 Ch'in-ting Huang-yü Hsi-yü t'u-chih, an official work on Chinese Turkestan compiled during the years 1756–1782. In 1839 he compiled an historical atlas of military strategy which seems not to have been printed. He also promoted the planting of mulberry trees and introduced the members of his family to the art of sericulture. When his friend, T'ao Chu, died (1839) the latter left a request that Tso be the teacher of his son, T'ao Kuang (see under ), who later became Tso's son-in-law. Thereupon he taught in the T'ao family in An-hua, Hunan, for eight years (1840–48). During this period there occurred the Anglo-Chinese War (1840–42), and though he took no active part in it, he was deeply concerned over the course of events. In this period, also, he first made the acquaintance of who had great respect for his talents and did much to bring him to the position and the fame which he later achieved. As Tso's financial condition improved he bought a farm in his native district and moved his family there in 1844. He experimented in ancient methods of agriculture; he cultivated tea; he promoted sericulture; and therefore styled himself, "Husbandman of the River Hsiang" (湘上農人). In 1845 he wrote a work on agriculture, entitled 樸存閣農書 Pu-ts'un ko nung-shu. In 1848 he was recommended to, but for some reason did not join his staff. Yet when Lin was on his way from Yunnan to Fukien in the following year, Tso had an interview with him in Changsha. During the initial stages of the Taiping Rebellion in Kwangsi Tso and his fellow-townsman,, found a place of refuge in the mountains east of Hsiang-yin. By 1851 he was already forty sui and that year marks the end of his early years of seclusion and comparative inactivity. From the year 1852 till his death in 1885, he was continuously connected with, or in charge of, military operations—campaigning against the Taipings, the Nien-fei, and the Muslims of the Northwest, or preparing for hostilities with the French on the question of Annam.

In 1852, on the recommendation of Hu Lin-i, Tso Tsung-t'ang was invited to the secretarial staff of Chang Liang-chi 張亮基 who was then governor of Hunan and later acting governor-general of Hu-Kuang (Hupeh and Hunan). Tso was given full responsibility in all military affairs. The Taiping forces were launching attacks at many points in Central China, with the result that Wuchang, the capital of Hupeh, fell early in 1853. But this city was recovered soon after, and when Tso's merits were reported to the government he was given the rank of a magistrate. In the same year (1853) Nanking fell into the hands of the rebels. Chang Liang-chi was transferred, in the autumn of 1853, to be governor of Shantung, and Tso then retired and went home. In the following year, in consequence of an interview with, he went to Yochow, Hunan, to serve on the secretarial staff of , governor of that province. For more than five years he acted as Lo's chief assistant in supervising military affairs in Hunan. But the weight of his influence, and the frankness and self-aSsŭrance with which he performed his duties, aroused the jealousy of his colleagues, so that in 1859 charges of corruption and unruliness were lodged against him and he was ordered to Wuchang for inquiry. However, his friend Hu Lin-i came to his rescue and the charges were dropped.

He then decided to participate once more in the metropolitan examination, and early in 1860 763