Page:Tseng Kuo Fan and the Taiping Rebellion.djvu/175

Rh already gone forward under Kiang Chung-yuan, his brother, and another general, and these might be called on for any emergency. Third, Tsêng had been in correspondence with the governor, with Kiang Chung-yuan, and with others regarding the possibility of uniting the strength of several provinces to hold Hupeh firmly. The three Wuhan cities were the most strategic places in the middle Yangtse, commanding the passage to Ssuch'uan, Kwangtung, and the north. The aim of the rebels in crossing Anhui towards Hwangchow and Pa-ho was to secure and hold Wuchang. Control of this point, giving command of the river all the way to Nanking, seemed far more important than the immediate expulsion of rebels from Anhui. His suggestion was that the forces of Hunan and Hupeh unite to prevent the rebels from recapturing Wuchang; then step by step they could be dislodged from the several points along the lower river, and if after that the power of Anhui and Kiangsi could be mobilised, the rebellion could be eventually crushed. He had worked out this plan in consultation with men like Kiang Chung-yuan, Lo Ping-chang (the governor), and others. Fourth, Hunan was overrun with bandits. Hengchow, Ch'enchow, Yungchow, and Kweiyang in the southeast were in their power; many were coming over from Kiangsi to Ch'aling and Anjen; Changning, Kiaho, Lanshan, and Yunghsing were also suffering from their depredations, and troops had been dispatched in all these directions. Could he recall them now, leave his unfinished and unarmed boats, and go half prepared while chaos reigned behind him? Fifth, the question of financing the expedition must be arranged. It was already a drain on the Hunan treasury,