Page:Tseng Kuo Fan and the Taiping Rebellion.djvu/289

266 the advice of friends. When he was about to leave for Shanghai (August 8) he learned that Burgevine had started with three hundred men to join the Taipings at Soochow with the eventual hope of winning for himself an empire. The general opinion at Shanghai was that the K'unshan force would go over to their beloved Burgevine and make the situation serious. Gordon therefore resolved to continue his work.

Meanwhile the little army had pushed on from K'unshan towards Soochow. On July 29 it aided in the capture of Wukiang, an outpost in the defence of Soochow, followed August 25 by the capture of Taihu-hsien, at the tip of the peninsula that extends into the lake. A detachment took Kiangyin about September 30, and the combined forces were now ready to advance on Soochow.

This important center was held by the Muwang (T'an Shao-kwang), the favorite officer of the Chungwang (the latter being absent in Nanking, endeavoring to persuade the T'ienwang to flee from Nanking and establish himself elsewhere), and several other wangs and generals. From his Autobiography it seems clear that the Chungwang expected them to go over to the enemy, but realised that he himself could never join them in such a move, since he was one of the original Kwangsi men against whom the imperialists were especially severe. So he said to them in parting: "The present time is not one that will admit of my detaining you, if you have conceived any plans of your own." Their reply denied harboring any intentions of going over, but their actions gave the lie to their words. It was a part of their plot, which the Chungwang did not foresee, to slay the Muwang.