Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 2.pdf/85

 general and with the title of I-yung baturu 毅勇巴圖魯. Thereafter the troops under his command came to be known as I-chün 毅軍.

Late in 1861 Sung Ch'ing was sent to Honan where he co-operated with and Chang Yüeh (see under ) in combating the Nien bandits. In 1865 his I-chün and the Sung-wu chün 嵩武軍 under Chang Yüeh were officially designated Yü-chün 豫軍, or the troops of Honan province. Sung was made brigade-general at Nan-yang, but continued to fight the bandits. Under the command of, he took part in the campaign to annihilate the eastern arm of the Nien bandits in 1867 and the western arm in 1868 (see under ). Possessing then the rank of provincial commander-in-chief of Hunan, he was now given the minor hereditary rank of Ching-chê tu-yü.

At this time the Muslin rebellion (see under ) was raging in Shensi and Kansu and Sung was ordered, in 1868, to go to northern Shensi to subdue these rebels. But Tso Tsung-t'ang, as commander-in-chief of the armies in the northwestern provinces, was biased in favor of the forces from Hunan and would not have Sung's troops in active fighting—only a few men commanded by Sung, particularly those under Ma Yü-k'un 馬玉崑, actually took part in the campaign. In 1873, after most of Kansu and Shensi had been recovered, Sung was ordered to assist in the taking of Suchow, Kansu, to clear the way for Tso's expedition into Turkestan. This was the only campaign in which he took an active part under Tso. After the taking of Suchow he was decorated with the double-eyed peacock feather and was made assistant commander to Tso. But the latter pressed onward without him. Thereafter, Sung stayed at Liangchow for two years, during which time he was given the rank of provincial commander-in-chief of Szechwan (1874), with headquarters in Kansu.

In 1875 Sung led his men back to Honan with headquarters at Tungkuan, in adjacent Shensi. There, in order to lessen expenses, he disbanded a large part of his command. In 1880 he was made assistant to Li Hung-chang in directing the defense of the Manchurian coast against a possible attack by France. Two years later he and his troops were stationed at Lü-shun (Port Arthur). In 1890 he went to Peking for an audience and was given the title of Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent, and four years later was granted the title of the president of a Board. But during his twelve years as an important military commander in Manchuria he apparently did very little to modernize his army, which consisted of one cavalry and eight infantry battalions. It was with this small, poorly equipped, force that he suddenly was ordered to fight the Japanese in Korea in 1894.

When the Sino-Japanese War broke out in July 1894, China had about 5,000 men under General Yeh Chih-ch'ao 葉志超 at Yashan on the west coast of Korea. On July 29 this army was attacked and routed by a Japanese force of about equal strength. As the remnants retreated northward to Pengyang (平壤 P'ing-jang), war was declared and a Chinese contingent from Manchuria went southward to that place. This body of 3,500 men was commanded by General Tso Pao-kuei 左寶貴 who had come to Mukden with  in 1875 and had subsequently served there. Later he was re-inforced with 6,000 men of the Shêng-chün 盛軍, an army organized in 1853 by Chou Shêng-po (see under ); by 1,500 men from the forces in Mukden; and by 2,000 men from the I-chün. This last detachment was sent by Sung Ch'ing and commanded by Ma Yü-k'un. Unfortunately, Yeh Chih-ch'ao was made commander-in-chief, and the other generals were not co-operative. When the Japanese army, some 17,000 strong, attacked Pengyang on September 15, only the forces of Tso Pao-kuei resisted, and he was killed in action. Yeh once more fled and later was imprisoned for cowardice. The remnant of the Chinese army retreated to the Yalu River. The I-chün suffered the fewest casualties, and took up a position at Chiuliencheng north of the Yalu River. Meanwhile (September 17) the Peiyang fleet under Admiral Ting Ju-ch'ang (see under ) suffered serious losses in a battle southwest of the mouth of the Yalu.

After the battle of Pengyang Sung Ch'ing was made assistant to Li Hung-chang in directing the war against Japan, and on September 30, 1894, was given the command of the reorganized army. With some re-inforcements he tried in vain to stop the Japanese advances, but was defeated in successive engagements. As the Chinese army retreated westward from the Korean border, Port Arthur fell (November 21). 687