Page:Tseng Kuo Fan and the Taiping Rebellion.djvu/211

Rh Inside the city of Nanking the jealousies among the chiefs culminated, after the rebel successes earlier in the year, and especially after the great defeat of the besieging army in June, in the murder of the Eastern king and all his relatives by the others combined against him. But matters were not remedied by his death, because the Northern king, Wei Ch'ang-hui, followed in the footsteps of Yang, and, with insane jealousy of Shi Ta-k'ai, forced that able man to flee from Nanking. After he was gone to Ningkuo, Wei set upon his family and butchered them in cold blood. Then this maniac commenced a series of cruel and indiscriminate butcheries of men, women, and children which at last caused the people of Nanking to rise against him. His head was sent as a bloody trophy to the Assistant king in Ningkuo, and the latter returned to Nanking prepared to take his place in the government of the rebels. He secured high place in the government, but it became apparent to him that the T'ienwang preferred to rule through his own brothers. These brothers had no gifts either in military strategy or in the management of state affairs, and inasmuch as their divine brother was obsessed with the belief that God would always intervene on their side, they insisted on overriding whatever prudent policies were initiated by Shi Ta-k'ai, who was a skillful and talented general. Hence he left the capital and preferred henceforth to carry on operations where he would not constantly be under their jealous eyes.