Page:Tseng Kuo Fan and the Taiping Rebellion.djvu/108

88 A second rebel expedition captured Anking, marching by land. The Assistant king, Shi Ta-k'ai, and Hu I-kwang then went through the province of Anhui where they captured a large number of cities. Towards the end of the year the first division from Hanyang fell back on Anhui, and the whole province lay at the mercy of the rebels. On the recommendation of Tsêng Kuo-fan and others, Kiang was now appointed governor of Anhui. He proceeded to Lüchow in the attempt to hold it against the insurgents, who under the leadership of Hu I-kwang brought 100,000 men to the attack. Bdang's brother and Liu Chang-yu tried to bring reinforcements to Kiang, but found the way effectually blocked by the enemy. On the night of January 14, 1854, they made their onset. The besieged were too few. Having held the walls as long as they could against overwhelming forces they had to give way, but not before Kiang committed suicide by drowning.

This unhappy occurrence robbed the imperial cause of one of its most brilliant generals; for, although Kiang is not enrolled in China's Hall of Fame because of his premature death, it was he who first demonstrated the value of the militia against the rebels in Kwangsi. At the Soh-yi Ferry he undoubtedly saved Changsha by deflecting the Taiping line of march, thus giving time to secure the defence of Hunan's capital. With the small force at his disposal he had played an important part in the defence of that city during the siege. It was he who gave Tsêng Kuo-fan the ideas of organising an army on the same model and creating a navy for use on the waterways of central China, Had he lived to participate in the later struggles of the war his name would undoubtedly have stood with those of Tsêng, Tso Tsung-tang, and Li Hung-chang, probably at the head of the list. His work