Page:Tseng Kuo Fan and the Taiping Rebellion.djvu/359

336 1856, when the cause of the imperialists was most gloomy, Tsêng being confined to a small area in Kiangsi, Kuo-ch'üan was in Changsha assisting in the recruiting of men. There he was "discovered" by Hwang Mien, who had just received appointment as prefect of Kian, then in the hands of rebels against whom he was to move. In conferences with Kuo-ch'üan, Hwang Mien found him uncommonly shrewd. Kuo-ch'üan said to Hwang: "Whereas my brother has had success in warfare, nothing comes to me to do. Because I never went to camp and interviewed him I now sit helpless in a small corner. It is but right that I should go to the front, but I am poor and lack the financial ability to raise forces. If you are only able to command the necessary funds I will personally raise an army and go to the aid of my imperilled country." Through this prefect, therefore, not through Tsêng himself, the captor of Nanking embarked on his military career.

Throughout his life this same truculence towards Kuo-fan seemed to poison the mind of the younger brother. Although from an outside point of view it sometimes appeared as though Tsêng were doing all that a brother could, even to risking the charge of nepotism, he continued to nurse a feeling of resentment. Yet Tsêng gave the command at Anking to him, and permitted him to remain in sole control at Nanking even when it imperilled the whole cause. When the imperial mandate suggested his being sent to Hangchow or Shanghai and he preferred to remain at the post of greater glory, Tsêng yielded to his brother's preference, sending Li Hung-chang to Kiangsu and Tso Tsung-tang to Chekiang. During the period of extreme danger, when Kuo-ch'üan was being terribly punished by the Chungwang, in spite of Tsêng's great desire to call for aid from Li