Page:Tseng Kuo Fan and the Taiping Rebellion.djvu/316

Rh officers also received suitable rewards in the general dis- tribution. Li Hung-chang became an earl of the first grade with a double-eyed peacock feather. The imperial re- script concerning Tsêng Kuo-fan reads as follows:

The Imperial Commissioner, Under Secretary of State, and Viceroy of the Two Kiang, Tsêng-kuo-fan, in the 4th year of Heen-fung, set on foot the volunteer movement in Hoo-nan and built several war boats. He obtained great successes in Hoo-nan and captured Wu-ch'ang and Han-yang, and cleared Kiang-se of rebels; and since his operations eastwards has passed through Su-sung, captured Chien-shan and Tai-hu, and occupied Ch'i- mun, from which place he effected the recovery of Ngan-king, making that place the base of operations for the conquest of the Lower Valley. He has fortunately so achieved his work as to cut up the original abettor of the mischief, and has on the whole shown his competence to select men suited to the exigencies of the time, and that he is possessed of great military tactics. We now, therefore, of Our favor confer on Tsêng-Kuo-fan the title of Senior Guardian of the Heir Apparent, and create him a Marquis of the first grade, which is to be hereditary, and We moreover reward him with a double-eyed peacock's feather.

The fall of Nanking brought the leaders of the rebel- lion to destruction, but remnants of the nation under different officers or wangs were gathered in other centers, notably in Kiangsi and Chekiang, and along the Hupeh- Anhui borders, where joint raids of the Nienfei and Tai- pings disturbed the countrysides. The Kiangsi rebels were defeated by Pao Ch'ao (August 7) at Hsuwan in Fuchow prefecture with a loss of forty thousand. In the next few days several district cities were occupied and several thousands of rebels submitted. The mass of home- less Taipings moved towards the southern border of the province, where the southern prefectures and the

58 Chungwang, Autobiography, appendix, pp. 91 ff. (Spelling as in the English translation.)