Page:Tseng Kuo Fan and the Taiping Rebellion.djvu/179

Rh employed to give them the necessary training. When Tsêng was ready to set off down the river he had five thousand marines in ten ying, of which the half who were placed on the k'wai-hai boats were regarded as the active force and those on the ch'ang-lung the reserve. They were distinguished by their flags: the active force having a single color on theirs, while the reserves had variegated banners. Chu Yu-hang was in general command of this flotilla.

The land army also consisted of five thousand men under the general command of T'a Chi-pu. Here the ying were not uniformly made up of five hundred men; some totalled more and some less.

Including soldiers, artisans, servants, and laborers, the whole expedition numbered about seventeen thousand men, and it was accompanied by stores of ammunition and weapons as well as quantities of provisions which were carried on supply vessels. The expedition set off down the river with 12,000 piculs of rice, 18,000 piculs of charcoal, 40,000 catties of salt, and 30,000 catties of oil.

The financial burden for the support of this expeditionary force was estimated at 80,000 taels per month, but a revised estimate reduced the total by 10,000 taels. The ordinary revenues were insufficient for such a sum. Tsêng therefore begged the emperor to designate special officials and gentry to raise the necessary sums by collections in Hunan, Kiangsi, and Ssuch'uan. He furthermore requested that four thousand blank patents to official rank, actual and honorary, be supplied, through the sale of which large sums might be realised in these three provinces. These extraordinary measures were