With The Year 1867, Both Sides Having Collected
Their Strength, More Active Operations Were Commenced, And Ma Julung
Proceeded In Person, At The Head Of The Best Troops He Could Collect, To
Engage Tu Wensiu.
It was at this time that the imperialists adopted the
red flag as their standard in contradistinction to the white flag of the
insurgents.
A desultory campaign ensued, but although Ma Julung evinced
both courage and capacity, the result was on the whole unfavorable to him;
and he had to retreat to the capital, where events of some importance had
occurred during his absence in the field. The viceroy, who had been
stanchly attached to Ma Julung, died suddenly and under such circumstances
as to suggest a suspicion of foul play; and Tsen Yuying had by virtue of
his rank of Futai assumed the temporary discharge of his duties. The
retreat of Ma Julung left the insurgents free to follow up their
successes; and, in the course of 1868, the authority of the emperor had
disappeared from every part of the province except the prefectural city of
Yunnanfoo. This bad fortune led the Mussulmans who had followed the advice
and fortunes of Ma Julung to consider whether it would not be wise to
rejoin their co-religionists, and to at once finish the contest by the
destruction of the government. Had Ma Julung wavered in his fidelity for a
moment they would have all joined the standard of Tu Wensiu, and the rule
of the Sultan of Talifoo would have been established from one end of
Yunnan to the other; but he stood firm and arrested the movement in a
summary manner.
Tu Wensiu, having established the security of his communications with
Burmah, whence he obtained supplies of arms and munitions of war, devoted
his efforts to the capture of Yunnanfoo, which he completely invested. The
garrison was reduced to the lowest straits before Tsen Yuying resolved to
come to the aid of his distressed colleague. The loss of the prefectural
town would not merely entail serious consequences to the imperialist
cause, but he felt it would personally compromise him as the Futai at
Pekin. In the early part of 1869, therefore, he threw himself into the
town with three thousand men, and the forces of Tu Wensiu found themselves
obliged to withdraw from the eastern side of the city. A long period of
inaction followed, but during this time the most important events happened
with regard to the ultimate result. Ma Julung employed all his artifice
and arguments to show the rebel chiefs the utter hopelessness of their
succeeding against the whole power of the Chinese empire, which, from the
suppression of the Taeping Rebellion, would soon be able to be employed
against them. They felt the force of his representations, and they were
also oppressed by a sense of the slow progress they had made toward the
capture of Yunnanfoo. Some months after Tsen Yuying's arrival, those of
the rebels who were encamped to the north of the city hoisted the red flag
and gave in their adhesion to the government. Then Ma Julung resumed
active operations against the other rebels, and obtained several small
successes. A wound received during one of the skirmishes put an end to his
activity, and the campaign resumed its desultory character. But Ma
Julung's illness had other unfortunate consequences; for during it Tsen
Yuying broke faith with those of the rebel leaders who had come over, and
put them all to a cruel death. The natural consequence of this foolish and
ferocious act was that the Mohammedans again reverted to their desperate
resolve to stand firmly by the side of Tu Wensiu. The war again passed
into a more active phase. Ma Julung had recovered from his wounds. A new
viceroy, and a man of some energy, was sent from Pekin. Lin Yuchow had
attracted the notice of Tseng Kwofan among those of his native province
who had responded to his appeal to defend Hoonan against the Taepings
sixteen years before; and shortly before the death of the last viceroy of
Yunnan, he had been made Governor of Kweichow. To the same patron at Pekin
he now owed his elevation to the viceroyalty. It is said that he had lost
the energy which once characterized him; but he brought with him several
thousand Hoonan braves, whose courage and military experience made them
invaluable auxiliaries to the embarrassed authorities in Yunnan. In the
course of the year 1870 most of the towns in the south and the north of
Yunnan were recovered, and communications were reopened with Szchuen. As
soon as the inhabitants perceived that the government had recovered its
strength, they hastened to express their joy at the change by repudiating
the white flag which Tu Wensiu had compelled them to adopt. The
imperialists even to the last increased the difficulty of their work of
pacification by exhibiting a relentless cruelty; and while the inhabitants
thought to secure their safety by a speedy surrender, the Mussulmans were
rendered more desperate in their resolve to resist. The chances of a
Mohammedan success were steadily diminishing when Yang Yuko, a mandarin of
some military capacity, who had begun his career in the most approved
manner as a rebel, succeeded in capturing the whole of the salt-producing
district which had been the main source of their strength. In the year
1872 all the preliminary arrangements were made for attacking Talifoo
itself. A supply of rifles had been received from Canton or Shanghai, and
a few pieces of artillery had also arrived. With these improved weapons
the troops of Ma Julung and Tsen Yuying enjoyed a distinct advantage over
the rebels of Talifoo. The horrors of war were at this point increased by
those of pestilence, for the plague broke out at Puerh on the southern
frontier, and, before it disappeared, devastated the whole of the
province, completing the effect of the civil war, and ruining the few
districts which had escaped from its ravages.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 155 of 188
Words from 156971 to 157975
of 191255
