Page:Tseng Kuo Fan and the Taiping Rebellion.djvu/221

Rh military standpoint ought to be defended from Kwangtung. The defeat at Kiench'ang was one inflicted on Fukien soldiers, whose withdrawal deprived Tsêng of forces in that direction. He was holding fast the city of Shuichow, the key to western Kiangsi, and commanding the roads into Hunan and Hupeh. Finally, Shi Ta-k'ai, whose movements Tsêng outlined for some time previous, once had the strangle hold on southern Anhui, and now had a similar hold on the prefectures of Shuichow, Lingkiang, Fuchow, Kian, and Kiukiang. If overtures were made looking to his submission, proof of the chief's sincerity would have to be exacted first by requiring the surrender of one or two of the cities he held.

The emperor accepted these explanations with commendation. Following the advice of the governor of Hunan he also granted to the native district of Tsêng Kuo-fan, Siangsiang, the right to eighteen instead of fifteen literary graduates and fifteen in place of twelve military, a signal honor for Tsêng. In this unusual distinction he was supposed to have ample compensation for the previous rebukes.

If the year 1856, now closing, had been one of darkness, there was nevertheless another side which was much more hopeful. Wuchang fell on December 19, 1856. The strategic city of Shuichow was being held by Tsêng Kuo-fah; Tsêng Kuo-ch'üan was with Chow Hung-shan laying siege to Kian. The rebels were at swords' points in Nanking. It had been a year of great strain, of crisis. But reinforcements were now available. The army and navy released by the capture of Wuchang were on the way down the Yangtse and Tsêng was able to meet them