Page:Tseng Kuo Fan and the Taiping Rebellion.djvu/199

Rh Meanwhile the rebels about T'ienchia-chen had built very strong defences, and had stretched two great chains, fastened to pontoons, across the river, making it necessary for the imperialists to capture P'anpei hill as a preliminary to cutting the chains. The rebel strength was considerable at this point; they were led by Ts'in Jih-kang, the Yenwang. After stubborn fighting on three separate days, the hill was eventually captured, November 24, 1854, and ten thousand of its defenders were reported slain. By the last of November all the rebels were concentrated at T'ienchia-chen. A naval battle on December 2 resulted in their total defeat, four thousand of their boats being destroyed and the chains cut. This was by far the greatest contest that had fallen to the Hunan water forces. It was learned from intercepted papers that several thousand of the original rebels, together with "many tens of thousands" of their followers, had been sent there under orders from the Eastern king to hold the place at any cost. They were now forced to retire to Kiukiang.

Shi Ta-k'ai, the Assistant king, then hurried from Anhui to Kiukiang to prevent an imperialist victory in the Poyang region. By the time Tsêng arrived before the city the Taiping armies held it securely, and moreover they had seen to it that boats were stationed within the Poyang Lake. Try as he would, Tsêng could not make the slightest headway at Kiukiang, and the boats that he sent into the lake to attack Takut'ang were bottled up by the rebels, who now proceeded to attack Tsêng's larger vessels with fire-boats compelling them to retire to Kiukiang. The rebels from Huk'ow then skirted the opposite bank of the river until they got above Kiukiang, whence they attacked the main flotilla with fire-boats and