Page:Tseng Kuo Fan and the Taiping Rebellion.djvu/141

Rh 525 men, and is distinguished by a flag three feet and a half long and as many broad.

A prefect commands five tribunes, having under him 2,625 men and is distinguished by a flag four feet long and as many broad. A dux commands five prefects, having under him 13,125 men, and is distinguished by a flag four and one half feet long and as many broad.

This dux, or brigadier general, as he may be called, had above him an inspector, a regulator, and a generalissimo, one of these for each complete army, the flag of each being half a foot larger than of the officer below. Above these in turn were a director, an arranger, and a minister of state. In the completed Taiping scheme there were said to be ninety-five armies of land forces, nine of naval forces on the rivers and lakes, two of engineering forces, sappers, miners, and the like, and six of metal workers, wood workers, and other artificers. The total number of officers, men, and other employees of the armies, including secretaries and servants, is given as 3,085,021.

The officers named above were commoners. Above them stood those who had rank as nobles or princes and kings. Some of them held active commands in the military forces and some were apparently in the civil government. The Eastern and Western kings had flags nine and a half feet square, and down to the fourth grade of kings the flags were square; the fourth grade of kings, the nobles, and the higher military officers, down to the generalissimo, had triangular flags with borders; all the others had triangular flags without borders. The size of the flags was half a foot smaller for each grade below. The seals were