Page:Tseng Kuo Fan and the Taiping Rebellion.djvu/139

 CHAPTER VI

THE MILITARY, POLITICAL, AND SOCIAL ARRANGEMENTS OP THE INSURGENTS

A. The Taiping Army,

The dash and élan of the rebel army excited the admiration of Chow T'ien-chioh, governor of Kwangsi, who in 1851 addressed his colleague, the governor of Hupeh, regarding the prowess of Hung and his followers:

Hung Tsuen is a barbarian, who practices the ancient military arts. At first he conceals his strength, then he puts it forth a little, then in greater degree, and lastly comes on in great force. He constantly has two victories for one defeat, for he practices the tactics of Sun Pin. The other day I obtained a book describing the organisation of one army; it is the Sze-ma system of the Chow dynasty. A division has its general of division; a regiment has its colonel [literally, a Sze has its sze shwae, a leu has its leu shwae]. An army consists of 13,270 men, being the strength of an ancient army with the addition of upward of a hundred men.

Their forces are divided into nine armies, in accordance with the system of nine degrees in the tribute of Yu. In this book is specifically described the first army, that of Grand Generalissimo Hung; and it states at the end, that all the other nine armies are to be arranged and organised in the same manner.