Page:Tseng Kuo Fan and the Taiping Rebellion.djvu/294

 CHAPTER XIII

THE STRUGGLE FOR NANKING AND COLLAPSE OF THE REBELLION

progress of the imperialists during the summer of 1862 was seriously interrupted by the heat and the resulting pestilence among the soldiers. In Anhui, Chekiang, and at Nanking great numbers of them died and countless others were ill and weak. Operations about the Taiping capital were therefore practically suspended.

In the northwest, however, scattered rebels, chiefly the Nienfei, were unusually active. Li Shou-i, who had started for his home to mourn for his parents, was appointed imperial commissioner (ordered to serve during the period of his mourning with the rank of acting governor), and the military authorities of Shantung, Honan, Chihli, and Shansi were commanded to consult with him on measures of united action against both the Taiping and Nien rebels. Sheng Pao was also sent as an imperial commissioner into Shensi. So many imperial commissioners scattered about show us how seriously the government now regarded the situation. By their careful measures danger from the north was greatly minimised.

The pestilence was long continued. In October it was especially severe in its ravages about Ningkuo, and