Page:Tseng Kuo Fan and the Taiping Rebellion.djvu/209

Rh At last he demanded imperial rank. "He wanted the Tienwang to make him a Wan-sui, and on account of his wielding the power single-handed he finally compelled the Tienwang to proceed in person to his palace and perform the ceremony there. The Peiwang and Yiwang were moved at this and determined secretly to exterminate the Tungwang as well as his three brothers, but no more."

Before proceeding with this story let us glance for a moment at the progress of the loyalists. The beginning of 1856 found them gathering for the attack on Wuchang and winning minor victories in the outlying districts. In this campaign Lo Tse-nan, who had been reckoned one of Tsêng's best generals next to T'a Chi-pu, received a mortal wound below the walls of Wuchang, April 6, and died on the twelfth. He was granted the posthumous rank of governor in recognition of his great services. It was not until the very end of the year, however, that the city of Wuchang fell to the imperial armies after having been in rebel hands for more than eighteen months, and practically under siege nearly a year. It was only when all the roads over which grain could reach the rebels were blocked that they issued forth from the gates and escaped. As a capture the achievement was valuable but it was not spectacular.

In June came the most severe blow the regular army had experienced since the first days of the rebellion. From the "great camp" outside Nanking had gone a relief expedition to Chinkiang, where the imperialists were in difficulties. The Eastern king chose that moment to order