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卷369 列傳一百五十六 林则徐 邓廷桢 达洪阿

Volume 369 Biographies 156: Lin Zexu, Deng Tingzhen, Da Hong A

Chapter 369 of 清史稿 · Draft History of Qing
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Chapter 369
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1
西 使 使 使 西使 使 使調調 調 宿 西 沿 貿 調 貿 沿 貿 沿調 西 西西 歿 西 西西 使使 沿 西使 西 西使使 沿 調調 貿 沿 使 西 西 西 滿 調 西 西西 西 退 使
Lin Zexu, styled Shaomu, was a native of Houguan in Fujian. From boyhood he was quick-witted and perceptive, and showed uncommon ability. At twenty he passed the provincial civil service examination. Governor Zhang Shicheng brought him onto his staff as a secretarial aide. In 1811 he passed the palace examination, entered the Hanlin Academy as a bachelor, and was appointed a compiler. He went on to supervise the provincial examinations in Jiangxi and Yunnan and served as an examiner for the metropolitan examination. Promoted to censor, he memorialized that Vice-Commander Zhang Bao of Min'an in Fujian, a former pirate who had submitted to the government, ought to be kept firmly in hand lest he grow arrogant and unruly. The throne approved his advice. Soon afterward he was posted as intendant of the Hang-Jia-Hu Circuit, where he repaired sea walls and developed irrigation works. In 1821, on learning that his father was ill, he asked leave on grounds of sickness and went home. The following year he was recalled and appointed intendant of the Huaihai Circuit, though before assuming that office he served as acting commissioner of salt transport for Zhejiang. He was then made judicial commissioner of Jiangsu, where he tried cases with firm and impartial rigor. In 1824, when severe flooding struck, he acted as financial commissioner and directed famine relief. He soon entered mourning for his mother, but was ordered to the Southern Rivers to repair the Gaojiayan embankment. When the project was complete he returned home. In 1826 he was ordered to act as salt controller for the Two Huai districts, but declined because he was still in mourning. After the mourning period he was appointed judicial commissioner of Shaanxi. He was transferred to financial commissioner of Jiangning, then went home to mourn his father. In 1830 he was appointed financial commissioner of Hubei, then transferred to Henan and afterward to Jiangning. In 1831 he was promoted to governor-general of the Eastern River conservancy. He memorialized that straw supplies were the greatest source of abuse in river engineering and personally inspected every office involved; he also argued that crushed stone could usefully supplement revetment work and ought to be deployed wherever appropriate. In 1832 he was transferred to governor of Jiangsu. When famine struck the Wu region again and again, he memorialized for remission of back taxes and organized relief and compensation. During an earlier term as provincial treasurer he had drafted relief regulations that worked well, and he now applied the same methods again, clearing away entrenched abuses at a stroke. Once relief was complete, he set about building up grain reserves against future dearth. He straightened out administrative transitions and cleared the backlog of cases appealed to the capital. When reviewing subordinate officials he memorialized: 'The best way to judge officials is to begin by judging oneself. One must master every major and minor affair under one's jurisdiction before one can tell whether one's subordinates are truly doing their duty. If a senior official has not first mastered the work himself, how can he discern sincerity from pretense? I hold myself to this standard of undivided effort and pursue practical results in every matter together with my colleagues.' The throne commended him and urged him to carry the principle through in action. Earlier, Governor-General Tao Shu had proposed dredging the Three Rivers. Lin, then serving as judicial commissioner, had overseen the project, but soon left office to mourn. By then work on the Huangpu and Wusong channels was complete, and Lin took charge of what remained. The Liu River was the priority, funded with more than 165,000 taels from the treasury; the Baimao River was secondary, with officials and local gentry contributing 110,000 taels. Both projects were dredged at once, with labor substituted for direct relief. Both rivers had originally reached the sea, which made them prone to silting and entailed enormous dredging costs. They were therefore converted into long freshwater channels that fed into the Huangpu and Wusong. Sluices and dams were built near the coast so that tidal mud and sand could not choke the channels; when the inland rivers swelled, the excess water was discharged through the dams back to the sea. Straightening the old river bends saved more than 30,000 taels, which was applied to dredging the Qipu River near the Liu River and the Xu Liujing and East and West Hutang channels near Baimao. He also dredged the canals at Dantu and Danyang and the works at Baodai Bridge and Maodian, launching these projects in turn and securing benefits for the Wu region that would last for decades. He twice served as acting governor-general of the Two Jiangs. In 1837 he was promoted to governor-general of Huguang. The Jing and Xiang regions had suffered flooding year after year; he launched major dike repairs, and the disaster was finally brought under control. He reformed the salt tax. Cutting official prices to undercut smugglers had failed, so he concentrated on enforcing the ban on illicit trade, and legal sales rose sharply. The garrison at Zhenqian in Hunan was unruly and had repeatedly stirred up trouble. Lin toured the region, restored discipline, and privately recommended Brigade Commander Yang Fang for promotion to provincial commander with headquarters at Chenzhou, tightening the defenses of the Miao frontier. In 1838 Huang Juezi, grand secretary of the Court of State Ceremonial, memorialized for a ban on opium, and the throne ordered ministers throughout the empire to discuss the proposal. Lin called for harsh penalties, writing: 'Unless this scourge is uprooted, within ten years the state will lack not only funds to levy, but soldiers fit to fight.' The Daoguang Emperor strongly agreed, summoned him to court, and conferred with him privately nineteen times. He was appointed imperial commissioner and sent to Guangdong to conduct the investigation. He arrived there in the spring of 1839. Governor-General Deng Tingzhen had already tightened enforcement of the ban and arrested opium offenders; the merchant Dent had already fled home. Lin judged Naval Commander Guan Tianpei loyal and capable, and ordered him to ready the fleet and tighten defenses. He ordered British consul Charles Elliot to surrender all opium and expel the receiving ships. More than 20,000 chests were turned over; Lin personally supervised their receipt at Humen and had them burned on the shore, a process that took more than forty days to complete. He proposed fixed penalties for foreign merchants caught smuggling opium: under the law governing foreigners who commit crimes, the offender would be executed, the goods confiscated, and a written pledge of compliance required. Merchants of other nations complied, but Elliot alone stalled and refused. He then inspected the coastal fortifications, treating Humen as the outer gate, Hengdang and Wushan as the second line, and Great and Little Tiger Mountains as the third. At Hengdang the channel split in two: the right branch was riddled with hidden shoals, while the left, passing Wushan, was deep enough for foreign ships to use. Guan Tianpei proposed installing two layers of chained timber booms there and building the Hejiao battery at Humen. British merchant ships that arrived afterward did not dare enter. Elliot asked to be allowed to load cargo at Macao, evidently intending to stockpile opium for illicit sale. Lin refused him sharply, and Elliot lay at anchor secretly off Chunshui Tsui. When a British subject beat a Chinese man to death and refused to surrender the culprit, Lin cut off their supplies and withdrew purchasing agents and workers to isolate them. In the seventh month Elliot, claiming he needed provisions, sent merchant ships carrying troops against the Kowloon Hill battery. Assistant Commander Lai Enjue repulsed them. When Lin's report reached the throne, the emperor was pleased and replied: 'Now that this stand has been taken, you must not show weakness again. I am not afraid you will be too bold; I warn you only against being timid.' Censor Bu Jitong argued that demanding written pledges was mere empty form. Lin replied that since the British prized their word, their refusal to sign made the demand all the more necessary, and he held his ground more firmly. Elliot soon asked the foreign chief at Macao to mediate, agreeing that opium ships would return home while cargo vessels would submit to official inspection. In the ninth month merchant ships that had signed bonds were entering port when Elliot sent warships to block them and opened fire. Guan Tianpei, with Battalion Commander Mai Tingzhang, fought back vigorously and routed them. In the tenth month the British attacked Guanyong at Humen again. Government forces advanced in five columns and won six successive engagements. An edict halted trade with Britain, published a list of its offenses, and ordered Fujian, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu to tighten coastal defenses. Lin had already been appointed governor-general of the Two Jiangs; he was now transferred to the Two Guang. Prefect Zeng Wangyan proposed cutting off trade with all nations and banning fishing boats from going to sea. Lin memorialized: 'Since we have cut off trade with Britain, the other nations are pleased. One side gains what the other loses—this is precisely the moment to play foreign powers against one another. If we break with them all indiscriminately, we may drive them to unite against us. The people of Guangdong live from the sea; a total ban on going to sea could not be sustained for long. Meanwhile British ships lay at anchor off Lintin, using profit to lure local collaborators into supplying them and selling opium. In the spring of 1840 he ordered Guan Tianpei to secretly arm boats, hire fishing vessels and Tanka boatmen for an ambush at sea, and on a favorable night set fire to the collaborators' supply ships. Only then was the illicit traffic cut off. In the fifth month he burned more foreign ships at Modaoyang. Intelligence reported that newly arrived enemy ships had sailed north, and he memorialized for coastal provinces to go on alert. He also warned that the foreigners were cunning and unpredictable: if they sailed straight to Tianjin to demand trade, he asked that they be treated with deliberate courtesy and, following the Jiaqing precedent, that their envoys be escorted overland to Guangdong. In the sixth month British ships reached Xiamen and were turned back by Governor-General Deng Tingzhen of Fujian and Zhejiang. Those that struck Zhejiang captured Dinghai and raided Ningbo. Lin memorialized asking to be punished and privately argued that the war must not be stopped. In summary he wrote: 'The British grievance began in Guangdong, yet they are now spreading trouble into Zhejiang. The turn of events may be unexpected, but their desperation is not. Arrogance is bred in them; the more cornered they become, the more they wish to show defiance, test our resolve with threats, and even hatch secret schemes to advance their designs; but when none of this succeeds, they will still have to submit in the end. My fear is that some advisers will say our ships and guns cannot match the foreigners, and that rather than fight a protracted war we should seek to appease them. Yet the foreigners are insatiable: yield an inch and they take a mile. If force fails to check them, the trouble will never end. Other nations will follow their example one after another, and that danger cannot be ignored.' He therefore asked to go to Zhejiang at his own disgrace and serve with the army there. In the seventh month Elliot reached Tianjin and wrote to Governor Qishan, blaming Lin and Deng Tingzhen for the Guangdong opium burning, claiming they had refused compensation and driven him out, and had therefore come north to petition. Qishan reported this to the throne, and the emperor's resolve began to falter. Meanwhile British ships were lurking off Guangdong, and Lin defeated them again below Lianhua Peak and at Longxuezhou. Before the victory report reached court, an edict issued in the ninth month declared: 'Opium poisons the empire. Lin Zexu was specially dispatched with Deng Tingzhen to eradicate it at home and cut off its source, handling the matter properly as circumstances required. Yet since the campaign began, smugglers at home have not been fully suppressed, the source abroad has not been severed, and coastal provinces have been mobilized at great cost in funds and manpower—all because Lin Zexu and his colleagues handled the affair badly. Lin and the others were referred for severe punishment, ordered to come at once to the capital, and Qishan was appointed in Lin's place. He was soon stripped of office and ordered back to Guangdong to await inquiry and further assignment. When Qishan arrived, Elliot demanded compensation for the destroyed opium and the opening of Xiamen and Fuzhou to trade. The emperor was enraged and ordered war preparations resumed. In the spring of 1841 Lin was given fourth-rank court officer status and sent to Zhejiang to help defend Zhenhai. By then Qishan had been arrested for ceding Hong Kong on his own authority, but whether to make peace or continue the war remained unsettled. In the fifth month an edict rebuked Lin for failing to combine persuasion and force in Guangdong, stripped him of his court rank, and banished him to Yili. The Yellow River burst its banks at Kaifeng, and en route he was ordered to help seal the breach. When the work was finished in 1842 he resumed his journey into exile, even as imperial forces in Zhejiang and Jiangnan suffered defeat after defeat. That autumn peace was concluded. In 1844 colonization projects were launched in Xinjiang, and General Buyantai asked that Lin oversee them. He toured the eight southern cities, opened water sources, dug canals, and reclaimed more than 37,000 qing of land. He proposed assigning the fields to Hui farmers for cultivation and converting garrison troops to drill-and-defense duty, and the plan was adopted. In 1845 he was recalled to serve as a fourth- or fifth-rank capital official awaiting appointment. He soon served as acting governor-general of Shaanxi and Gansu. In 1846 he was appointed governor of Shaanxi but remained in Gansu, where he and Buyantai suppressed rebellious tribes and captured their leader. In 1847 he was appointed governor-general of Yunnan and Guizhou. In Yunnan, Han and Hui communities had been fighting, burning, and killing one another for more than a decade. When Hui petitioners from Baoshan appealed in the capital, local Han seized the prisoners, wrecked the yamen, and tore down the Lancang River bridge to block pursuit. The regional officials could not restore order. Lin held that officials should distinguish the good from the bad, not Han from Hui. In 1848 he personally led an expedition against the rebels. En route he learned that guest Hui in Midu had risen in revolt, diverted his forces to destroy their stronghold, and killed several hundred insurgents. The people of Baoshan were terrified into submission: they bound up the culprits and welcomed his army, executed the ringleaders, released those who had been coerced, and gathered Han and Hui elders to hear his assurances of clemency. He then hunted down major offenders in Yongchang, Shunning, Yunzhou, and Yaozhou who had murdered officials over the years. His authority and magnanimity restored calm to the frontier. He was made Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent and awarded the peacock feather. In 1849 tribes beyond the Tengyue frontier stirred up trouble, and he sent troops to suppress them. He asked to retire on grounds of illness. The next year, after Emperor Wenzong succeeded to the throne, repeated summons reached him, but before he could arrive Hong Xiuquan had long been in rebellion in Guangxi. Lin was appointed imperial commissioner to lead a punitive expedition and also served as acting governor of Guangxi. He fell ill and died at Chaozhou on the march. Lin's authority and benevolence had long been famed in the south, and the rebels were terrified when they heard he was coming. His sudden death on the road was mourned throughout the empire. When his final memorial reached the throne, the emperor granted generous posthumous honors, made him Grand Tutor of the Heir Apparent, and gave him the posthumous name Wenzhong. Yunnan and Jiangsu both enshrined him among eminent local officials, and Shaanxi petitioned for a temple in his honor. Lin's talent and judgment were exceptional, yet he treated subordinates with genuine openness, and men were eager to serve him. Every post he held yielded outstanding results. In the late Daoguang era the southeast was crippled by the grain-transport system. When the emperor privately asked about remedies, Lin memorialized on fundamental reforms and submitted a plan for waterworks in the capital region. Emperor Wenzong intended to put him in charge, but the plan never came to fruition. When trouble on the coast began, most feared Britain above all. Lin alone said: 'The power that will truly threaten China—is it not Russia?' Time would prove him right. Deng Tingzhen, styled Xiejun, was a native of Jiangning in Jiangsu. In 1801 he passed the palace examination, entered the Hanlin Academy as a bachelor, and was appointed a compiler. He served repeatedly as an examiner for provincial and metropolitan examinations and was praised for recognizing talent. In 1810 he was appointed prefect to fill a vacancy in Taiwan, but Governor Jiang Youqian of Zhejiang asked that he remain in the province, and he was posted to Ningbo. After mourning his mother he was assigned to Yan'an Prefecture in Shaanxi, later served in Yulin and Xi'an, and won renown for his skill in adjudicating cases. He overturned wrongful convictions in Hancheng and Nanzheng and saved a widow and her son in Tongzhou from injustice. The people of Shaanxi praised him, and word of his deeds reached the capital. In 1820 he was promoted ahead of schedule to judicial commissioner of Hubei and acted as financial commissioner. Farmland along the river had been flooded for years while tax quotas remained unchanged, burdening the people. He memorialized for full remission. In 1821 he was transferred to financial commissioner of Jiangxi. He was stripped of office for having failed, while serving in Xi'an, to detect that the magistrate of Weinan had improperly released a county man named Liu Quanbi from a murder charge. Although exile to a garrison post was proposed, Emperor Xuanzong knew he had acted without private motive and specially exempted him from banishment, gave him seventh-rank status, and assigned him to service in Zhili. He was soon appointed intendant of the Tongyong Circuit. In 1824 he was promoted to judicial commissioner of Shaanxi and then to financial commissioner. In 1826 he was promoted to governor of Anhui. Since the Jiaqing era Anhui had been plagued by major cases. Feng and Ying prefectures were especially unruly, and troops had often been needed to restore order. Although weapons were ordered surrendered, many remained hidden. Deng set a deadline, held baojia heads responsible for compliance, and punished anyone who missed it or manufactured weapons in secret. He appointed capable officials at every level, and the region's lawless temper gradually eased. Under old regulations, when three or more persons in Yingzhou wounded someone with a lethal weapon, the offenders were exiled to the farthest malarial frontier and their wives were banished with them. Deng memorialized: 'These violent customs deserve harsh punishment, but women mindful of their reputation often mutilate themselves to avoid banishment, or take their own lives. Their plight deserves compassion, and I ask that this regulation be suspended.' When floods struck, he personally went out by boat to inspect the damage and direct relief. He restored the Anfeng Pond and the Quepi sluice gates, dredged the Mo River in Fengyang, and strengthened dikes and floodgates. He tightened pursuit of criminals and repeatedly captured major bandits. He won imperial commendation for capturing Chen Duan, ringleader of the Southern River dike-breach conspiracy. He governed Anhui for ten years with a policy of quiet administration, and the province enjoyed broad peace. In 1835 he was promoted to governor-general of the Two Guang. Opium was then rampant, and the drain of silver abroad had become a grave national problem. In 1836 British merchants used receiving ships to store opium offshore. Deng barred import, but the ships remained at anchor in outer waters until stern edicts ordered them driven away. Coastal collaborators kept the trade alive, and the ban could not be cut off overnight. Deng and Provincial Commander Guan Tianpei strengthened coastal defenses, repeatedly seizing smuggling boats at Dayushankou and Jishuiyang laden with tens of thousands of taels of silver. The confiscated funds were distributed as rewards, and they broke up opium stockpiles and illicit trafficking rings. In 1838 British ships brought more than five hundred dependent natives, men and women, to settle at Macao. Deng ordered them sent home. When the throne ordered debate on banning opium, he memorialized: 'If the law is enforced first upon the powerful and well connected, ordinary people will follow more easily; if the prohibition is strict within China itself, foreign opium will lose its market.' In 1839 Lin Zexu arrived in Guangdong on imperial orders. Deng worked with him in full concert, seized all opium stored on receiving ships and burned it, and imposed severe penalties on smugglers; backed the policy with military force and won repeated victories. The details are given in Lin's biography. Smugglers who had lost their livelihood spread malicious rumors everywhere. Deng memorialized in summary: 'I have pursued and punished the opium trade for three years now. Powerful ruffians, punished and driven into flight, have lost their fortunes and now vent their resentment in slander. Inspections are called currying favor; secret arrests, greed for credit; surveillance, conspiracy; and forced confessions, cruel punishment. They accuse us of taking bribes and pursuing private profit. They mock the policy as a rush to raise revenue and denounce the new regulations as reckless changes to the law—all of it nothing but the opium traffickers venting their rage.' The throne replied with words of comfort and encouragement. He was transferred first to the Two Jiangs and then to Yunnan-Guizhou, but took neither post. With Fujian's defenses under pressure, he was made governor-general of Fujian and Zhejiang. He purchased fourteen foreign cannon for Fujian. Because the Fujian coast lacked inner harbors and beach batteries rested on shifting sand, he proposed gun platforms built of sand-filled bags and shielded by boats. He recruited naval militia, fitted out merchant vessels, and sent them to sea on patrol. In the third month of 1840 British ships probed Xiamen. He sent Provincial Commander Cheng En'gao and others to meet them at Meilin Bay and drive them off. Local collaborators continued to carry opium out to sea. He assigned naval and land forces to pursue them relentlessly, attacking on sight and repeatedly killing or capturing offenders. In the sixth month enemy ships entered Xiamen demanding trade. When refused, they opened fire and assaulted the batteries. Assistant Commander Chen Shengyuan and Garrison Commander Chen Guangfu fought back fiercely, killing several in the enemy vanguard and wounding many more with cannon fire until the enemy withdrew. Other enemy ships that struck the Zhejiang coast captured Dinghai. Deng marched to suppress them, but at Qingfeng Ridge an edict halted his advance, citing the urgency of Fujian's defenses. He then stationed troops at Quanzhou and recruited militia. He memorialized: 'More than twenty British ships are gathered at Dinghai. Our coastal junks probably cannot close with them quickly. We must build stouter, larger vessels, arm them heavily, and advance by indirect routes if we are to prevail.' In the ninth month an edict blamed Deng and his colleagues for mishandling affairs in Guangdong and provoking further trouble. He was dismissed from office together with Lin Zexu. In 1841 Qishan withdrew coastal defenses and Humen fell. Deng was again blamed for lax military administration during his long tenure in the Two Guang and was banished to Yili together with Lin. In 1843 he was released and allowed to return. He was soon given third-rank insignia and appointed financial commissioner of Gansu. When a survey of wasteland was proposed, he inspected the territory in person from Yinzhou east to the Tao and Long regions and west to Jiuquan. He identified more than 19,400 qing of fields, 1,500 qing of tribal tribute land, and more than 100 qing of Ningxia horse-pasture returned to the state. Cultivated land was brought onto the tax rolls and wasteland opened to settlers. The throne praised his diligence and restored his second-rank insignia. In 1845 he was promoted to governor of Shaanxi and acted as governor-general of Shaanxi and Gansu. When tribal bandits raided the Mongol territories, he sent troops to intercept them at Liuhuang Gully and restored order. He soon returned to his regular post. In 1846 he died in office. Deng's record in office had long been admired. Though he fell and rose again more than once, Emperor Xuanzong knew him well and in the end continued to use him. A scholar himself, he loved to gather men of learning; his staff included many distinguished figures, and he never stopped discussing scholarship. He was especially expert in phonology, and his notebooks, poetry, and song lyrics all circulated widely. His son Erheng also rose to governor of Shaanxi and has a biography of his own. After Deng left Fujian, British forces returned the following year, captured Xiamen, and then turned toward Taiwan. Brigade Commander Da Hong'a and Taiwan Circuit Intendant Yao Ying repeatedly drove them back. When peace was concluded, both were punished. Da Hong'a, styled Hou'an, of the Fuca clan, was a Manchu of the Bordered Yellow Banner. Starting as a guardsman, he rose step by step to brigade commander. In 1835 he was transferred to command the Taiwan garrison. In 1838 he suppressed the bandits Shen He and others in Jiayi County, was awarded the peacock feather, and given provincial commander rank. In the eighth month of 1841 British warships reached Jilong Harbor. Da Hong'a and Yao Ying directed the defense. Vice-Commander Qiu Zhengong fired a heavy cannon and snapped the enemy mast. The enemy ship struck a reef and broke apart, and many of the crew were captured or killed. Da Hong'a was awarded the double-eyed peacock feather. In the ninth month enemy ships returned to Sansha Bay at Jilong, and he drove them off again. He suppressed bandits in Jiayi and Fengshan and was granted the hereditary rank of Cavalry Commandant. In 1842 enemy ships attacked Da'an Harbor between Tamsui and Zhanghua, intending to force their way in. Da Hong'a consulted Yao Ying, who said: 'We cannot meet them head-on at sea. They must be destroyed by stratagem.' They recruited fishing boats and sent men to pose as guides for the enemy, luring the ships into Tudi Gong Harbor where they ran aground midstream. An ambush was sprung, the enemy was routed, countless men drowned, and those who fled into fishing boats were nearly all killed. An edict commended Taiwan's three victories over the enemy, praising Da Hong'a and his colleagues for combining strategy and courage and greatly enhancing national prestige. He was granted the title Akedachun Baturu and the rank of Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent. When enemy ships cruised offshore, Da Hong'a struck at every opening, repeatedly taking prisoners, and the enemy did not return. Soon afterward British forces captured Dinghai again, imperial armies in Zhejiang and Jiangsu suffered repeated defeats, and peace negotiations began. British general Pottinger claimed that those killed in Taiwan were shipwrecked civilians and that Da Hong'a and his colleagues had fabricated their reports to claim false credit. Governor Yiliang was ordered to Taiwan to investigate. On his arrival an edict immediately dismissed Da Hong'a from office and ordered his arrest. Soldiers and civilians were outraged and the situation grew volatile until Da Hong'a and his colleagues calmed the crowd. When he reached the capital he was imprisoned by the Ministry of Justice, but was soon released, given the rank of third-class bodyguard, and appointed commissioner at Hami. He later served as assistant commissioner at Yili and commissioner at Xining. In 1846 he joined Governor-General Buyantai of Shaanxi and Gansu in suppressing the tribal insurgents at Heicuosi. In 1850 he was appointed vice commander-in-chief. In 1851 he followed Grand Secretary Saishang'a to suppress rebels in Guangxi and captured the southwest battery on Zijin Mountain. He returned to the capital on grounds of illness. In 1853, when Guangdong rebels threatened the capital region, he led Eight Banner troops to Linming Pass to attack them. Serving under Imperial Commissioner Senggelinqin, he fought rebels at Jinghai, won four successive engagements, and pursued them to Xiaxihe. Vice Commander-in-Chief Tong Jian and Tianjin Magistrate Xie Zicheng were killed in action. An edict rebuked Da Hong'a for having retreated first, stripped him of office, and ordered him to remain with the army to redeem himself through service. In 1854 he defeated rebels at Xian County and was restored to his former rank. He soon pursued the rebels to Fucheng, was wounded, and died in camp. He was posthumously granted commander-in-chief rank, awarded the hereditary ranks of Cavalry Commandant and Cloud Cavalry Commandant, and given the posthumous name Zhuangwu. Yao Ying has a biography of his own. The commentators say: Lin Zexu's talent and strategic vision were unmatched in his day. In the opium suppression campaign he carried out Emperor Xuanzong's stern orders, but pressed the policy too hard; when the enemy exploited the opening and struck elsewhere, he fell victim to slander and was driven from office. Some argue that if Guangdong affairs had been entrusted to him throughout and he had been given full control, the collapse would never have gone so far. On the verge of dismissal, Lin memorialized: 'Since 1821 the Guangdong customs have collected more than thirty million taels of silver. Whoever reaps such profit must also guard against its harm. If even one-tenth of customs revenue were devoted to casting cannon and building ships, we would already have ample means to check the foreigners.' That was sound counsel indeed. Yet at the time internal governance was slack, foreign realities were poorly understood, and whether advisers spoke for peace or war none grasped the moment. How could disaster have been avoided? Deng Tingzhen worked in full concert with Lin to resist foreign aggression and successfully defended the coastal frontier. As for Da Hong'a and Yao Ying driving back the enemy in Taiwan, their success owed something to sound defense but also to the fact that the enemy was not fully committed. The court punished them under political necessity, yet all eventually rose again, and their reputations spread throughout the empire and endure brightly in the historical record.
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