Page:Tseng Kuo Fan and the Taiping Rebellion.djvu/305

282 of Fu-yang then returned to Ningpo. The defeated forces at Shao-hing and Siao-shan retired to Yu-hang, where they entrenched themselves and threw up works. They were attacked incessantly by Governor Tso, and daily fights took place. Our object was to keep a firm hold on Yu-hang, as affording a guarantee for the safety and security of Hangchow. Governor Tso, with a naval and military force, then proceeded to Hangchow.

His lines extended from Yuhang to the West Lake, a distance of thirty miles.

In November the insurgents in southern Anhui were weakened by the defection of one of their commanders, Ku Lung-hsien, at Shit'ai. This made it necessary for them to evacuate this region. In Kiangsu, as we have already seen, the "Ever Victorious Army" and General Ch'en had been steadily pushing their way towards Nanking, capturing Soochow and driving the Chungwang back to Ch'angchow and Tanyang. The Shiwang, Li Shi-hsien, was at Liyang Hsien, about sixty miles southeast of Nanking, whither he was trying to bring his cousin in the hope of detaching him from the T'ienwang's cause.

Everything pointed to the early capture of the beleaguered city. Throughout the autumn the cordon was more and more tightly drawn about the walls. Finally, on the eighteenth of December, a mine was exploded under the wall, but the Taipings were strong enough to keep their opponents from entering through the breach. Of this attempt the Chungwang wrote:

In the 11th month of last year, when General Tsêng blew up part of the wall near the south gate, the troops in the city had then sufficient food, and, with the creek intervening, were able