After A Siege Of
Eighty Days, And Having Suffered Very Considerable Losses, The Taepings
Abandoned The Attack, And On The 1st Of December Resumed Their March
Northward, Which, If Information Could Have Been Rapidly Transmitted,
Would Have Soon Resulted In Their Overthrow.
On breaking up from before
Changsha they succeeded in seizing a sufficient number of junks and boats
to cross the great inland lake of Tungting, and on reaching the
Yangtsekiang at Yochow they found that the imperial garrison had fled at
the mere mention of their approach.
The capture of Yochow was important,
because the Taepings acquired there an important arsenal of much-needed
weapons and a large supply of gunpowder, which was said to have been the
property of Wou Sankwei. Thus, well equipped and supplying their other
deficiencies by celerity of movement, they attacked the important city of
Hankow, which surrendered without a blow. The scarcely less important town
of Wouchang, on the southern and opposite bank of the river, was then
attacked, and carried after a siege of a fortnight. The third town of
Hanyang, which forms, with the others, the most important industrial and
commercial hive in Central China, also surrendered without any attempt at
resistance, and this striking success at once restored the sinking courage
of the Taepings, and made the danger from them to the dynasty again wear
an aspect of the most pressing importance.
It would be difficult to exaggerate the effect of this success on the
spirits of the Taepings, who had been seriously discouraged before they
achieved this gratifying result. The capture of these towns removed all
their most serious causes of doubt, and enabled them to repay themselves
for the losses and hardships they had undergone, while it also showed that
the enterprise they had in hand was not likely to prove unprofitable.
After one month's rest at Hankow, and having been joined by many thousands
of new followers, the Taepings resolved to pursue their onward course. To
tell the truth, they were still apprehensive of pursuit from Tseng Kwofan,
who had been joined by the Triad loader, Chang Kwoliang; but there was no
ground for the fear, as these officials considered themselves tied to
their own province, and unfortunately the report of the success of the
imperialists in Hoonan blinded people to the danger in the Yangtse Valley
from the Taepings. The Taepings resumed active operations with the capture
of Kiukiang and Ganking, and in March, 1853, they sat down before Nankin.
The siege continued for a fortnight, but notwithstanding that there was a
large Manchu force in the Tartar city, which might easily have been
defended against an enemy without artillery, the resistance offered was
singularly and unexpectedly faint-hearted. The Taepings succeeded in
blowing in one of the gates, the townspeople fraternized with the
assailants, and the very Manchus who had defied Sir Hugh Gough in 1842
surrendered their lives and their honor to a force which was nothing more
than an armed rabble. The Tartar colony at Nankin, numbering 2,000
families, had evidently lost the courage and discipline which could alone
enable them to maintain their position in China.
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