Page:Tseng Kuo Fan and the Taiping Rebellion.djvu/106

86 which they reached on the thirty-first. This place and Tuhliu, near by, became the limit of their advance. They were a scant thirty miles from T'ientsin.

In this recital of the progress of the Taiping rebels from their Kwangsi home to Nanking and almost to Tientsin, we have shocking proof of the utter worthlessness of the regular armies, and the cowardice of many of the civil officials as well. The Peking Gazettes of the day are full of frank condemnation for magistrates, prefects, and even governors, generals, and viceroys who abandoned their posts and ran away, pretending to be sick and under necessity, in critical moments, of seeking medical aid, rushing oflf to recruit forces when the enemy stood at the city gates, or claiming victories when they had caught a few detached rebels and executed them, or had entered some town just abandoned by the rebels. Even Hsiang Tung, with several providential opportunities to destroy the rebellion, had always displayed his energies when it was too late, and was now settling down to a long-protracted but ineffective siege of Nanking; while Sheng Pao, who had just caught up with the rebels at the outskirts of Tientsin, had kept them at a safe distance in front of his pursuing army, careful not to reach them lest he be defeated and disgraced.

Indeed, at this supreme moment of peril, the emperor had been obliged to overcome his aversion to the terrible Tartar tribesmen, and summon to his aid their prince, Senkolintsin, with Ms desert warriors. They and the Manchu forces made Tsinghai and Tuhliu the limit of Taiping advance. Even with these dreaded foes opposed to them, the rebels stubbornly held their ground for two or three months during bitter winter weather, only to be dislodged at last and forced back, step by step, to the Yellow River, where their leader received reinforcements