Page:Tseng Kuo Fan and the Taiping Rebellion.djvu/194

172 waters of the Yangtse from Ssuch'uan and those of the Hunan-Kweichow basin. At Hankow it receives the drainage of northern Hupeh and a part of Honan from the Han River, and, through the Poyang Lake, the outlet by water to all of Kiangsi. For the portion between Hukow and Nanking the city of Anking and Kingchu-kwan are of the greatest importance.

Although Tsêng could not move his armies forward until after the capture of Ts'ungyang and Hsienning on September 25 and 30, the siege of Wuchang had already been started by a portion of his force under Lo Tse-nan and T'a Chi-pu, who gave help to Kwan Wen (September 22). As soon as the main force arrived the siege began in earnest. In a general assault on October 12 and 13 the outer defences were shattered and a thousand boats burned. After several hours of fierce fighting on the fourteenth, Hanyang and Wuchang fell simultaneously. This was a fearful blow to the Taipings, who had placed great stress on holding these cities and believed them to be impregnable, particularly Wuchang. Their capture was therefore a cheering victory for the imperialists, particularly since the rebels had abandoned Hwangchow, a strategic town near the Anhui border north of the Yangtse, and Wuchang-hsien opposite, thus practically clearing Hupeh of rebels.

In reporting these victories Tsêng not only made the usual recommendations for rewards to his own followers, but urged the restoration to office of former officials relegated to private life for trivial or technical faults. His own share in the honors awarded was the right to wear a single-eyed peacock feather and appointment as acting