Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 2.pdf/282

 Manchus got control of Kwangtung Yang Chieh, with three thousand men, was ordered in 1647 to go there to garrison the province. In the following year, while passing through Kiangsi on his way to Kwangtung, he was made brigade-general with headquarters at Kiukiang to fight the armies of and. He attacked and recovered Tu-ch'ang and captured and executed several of Chin Shêng-huan's officers. In 1653 he helped to pacify Kwangtung, and in the following year was sent to Fukien to fight. In 1659 he was promoted to the post of commander-in-chief of Kiangnan, and in the winter of 1661 was transferred to eastern Shantung where he crushed the rebellion of Yü Ch'i (see under ). He returned to his post in Kiangnan in 1673.

In 1678, when attacked Chang-chou and took Hai-ch'êng, Yang Chieh was sent once more to Fukien where he engaged in a struggle with one of Chêng's commanders, Liu Kuo-hsüan (see under Chêng). At his own request, he was relieved in 1678 of the command of sea forces, and in 1679 was given the title, Chao-wu chiang-chün 昭武將軍. In 1680 he personally led a strong army against the defenses of Liu Kuo-hsüan, and with succeeded in capturing nineteen camps and recovering the city of Hai-ch'êng, after which he took part in the recovery of Amoy. Following these victories, Liu Kuo-hsüan fled to Formosa. Suffering from malaria during his second year in Fukien, Yang asked to be released and was given permission to return to Kiangnan, but before he left he assisted the forces of Chekiang to recover the Chusan Islands and to set up the local administration. In recognition of his victories he was given the hereditary rank of the sixth class known as Ch'ing-ch'ê tu-yü. He died at his post as commander-in-chief of Kiangnan and was given the posthumous title Min-chuang 敏壯. On two of the Emperor's visits to south China honors were bestowed upon him. He is said to have been humane, having consideration not only for his soldiers' but for the people's welfare. His grandson inherited his hereditary post and the family was allowed to adopt Yangchow as its native place.

[1/267/1a; 2/9/19a; 3/274/30a; 4/14/26a; Yangchow fu-chih (1733) 31/47a; E. Haenisch, T'oung Pao, 1913, p. 109, for biog. sketch.]

2em

YANG Fang 楊芳, 1770–1846, general, the first Marquis Kuo-yung (果勇侯), was a native of Sung-tao, Kweichow. At sixteen sui he joined the local battalion as a clerk. In 1795 his military talent was recognized by his benefactor,, then a second captain under fighting rebellious Miao tribes in Hunan and Kweichow. On Yang Yü-ch'un's recommendation Yang Fang was made a sub-lieutenant and took part in the campaign against the Miao rebels. In 1797 he began to serve under the command of in fighting the rebels known as the White Lily Sect—the fighting taking place on the borders of Hupeh, Szechwan, Kansu, Shansi and Honan. Yang Fang was the hero of many battles and was rapidly promoted, In 1801 he gained a spectacular victory at T'ung-chiang in northern Szechwan in which he annihilated a rebel contingent. For this he was appointed brigade-general in command of the garrison at Ning-shan, Shensi, and in the following three years (1801–04) he fought bravely defending the southern part of Shensi along the upper Han River until the rebellion was temporarily crushed in 1804.

In this war, lasting from 1796 to 1804, the decadence of the Manchu soldiery and the unreliability of the regular Chinese troops became manifest, the uprising being finally suppressed, mostly by volunteer militia composed of farmers. When the war ended, many of the volunteers returned to their farms but some enlisted in various garrisons as regulars. The garrison of Ning-shan had been established by decree in 1800, and was composed mostly of disbanded volunteers. Yang Fang listened patiently to their grievances and so commanded their respect and love. But in 1806 he was ordered to be acting provincial commander-in-chief at Ku-yüan, Kansu. Unfortunately he left in charge a lieutenant-colonel who treated the soldiers harshly—one of their grievances being that their stipends were deferred, in the end being paid merely in poor rice. As their complaints brought only chastisement from the lieutenant-colonel, some two hundred of the most hardened fighters revolted (August 1806), killing several officers. Nevertheless they remained faithful to Yang Fang and escorted his wife (née Lung 龍氏), then twenty-four sui, out of danger. In a few days their number increased a hundredfold and large armies were sent to quell them. Yang Fang quickly returned and brought under his command those who had not joined the 884