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卷394 列傳一百八十一 徐广缙 葉名琛 黄宗汉

Volume 394 Biographies 181: Xu Guangjin, Ye Mingchen, Huang Zonghan

Chapter 394 of 清史稿 · Draft History of Qing
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Chapter 394
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Biography 181
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Xu Guangjin, Ye Mingchen, and Huang Zonghan
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鹿 西西使 使 使 調
Xu Guangjin, whose courtesy name was Zhongsheng, came from Luyi in Henan Province. He received his jinshi degree in the twenty-fifth year of the Jiaqing reign (1820), entered the Hanlin Academy as a probationary academician, was appointed revising compiler, and later became a censor. In the thirteenth year of Daoguang (1833) he was posted as prefect of Yulin in Shaanxi, then served in turn as intendant of the Huining–Chizhou–Taiping circuit in Anhui, Jiangxi grain transport commissioner, and Fujian provincial judicial commissioner. He was promoted to governor of the capital prefecture of Shuntian, and shortly afterward was appointed provincial treasurer of Sichuan. After his mother's death he left office for mourning; when the mourning period ended, he was appointed provincial treasurer of Jiangning. In the twenty-sixth year of Daoguang (1846) he was promoted to governor of Yunnan and then transferred to Guangdong. In the twenty-eighth year (1848) he was promoted to governor-general of the two Guang provinces and concurrently appointed superintendent of foreign trade.
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Under the Treaty of Nanjing, which opened five treaty ports, Canton had been allowed to set up bonded warehouses in the provincial city and foreign consuls were to enter the city and be received on equal terms. The Cantonese clung to the old prohibition on foreigners entering the city, rallied in crowds to resist, and the authorities could not settle the matter. Governor-General Qishan had already negotiated with the British to postpone entry for two years; he was soon recalled to the capital, and Guangjin took his place. When villagers at Huangzhuqi killed six Britons in a beating, Consul Davis pressed for compensation and guarantees; Guangjin punished the killers but refused his unreasonable demands, warned the populace against violence, and the incident was closed. When Davis went home, Bonham became consul in his stead and on arrival asked for an official audience. Guangjin went to Humen to inspect the forts, received him there, and even boarded his ship to show openness and good faith. In the twenty-ninth year (1849) Bonham argued that the two-year deferral had expired and demanded that the agreement be honored; Guangjin cited the terms Qishan had granted. He offered a provisional compromise: the people were furious, public anger could not be defied, and the government could not hold them back. Bonham held firm to the treaty, countered by pointing to foreign access in other provinces, and threatened to send warships to Tianjin to lodge a complaint in the capital; neither side would yield.
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貿 巿 沿 貿
Guangjin reported the situation to the throne and asked to be held strictly accountable. A secret edict allowed a single temporary entry to honor the earlier pledge, on condition that it not become routine. Guangjin memorialized again: "Allowing entry into the city is utterly out of the question. The people of Guangdong are far fiercer than those of Fujian, Zhejiang, or Jiangsu. If we keep them out and trouble follows, the people will stand as one and we will still have forces we can count on; but if we let them in and trouble follows, morale will collapse and we will face rebellion within and without. Knowing full well that the harm outweighs any gain, how could I dare experiment lightly?" In the end he stood firm and refused. The British then concentrated three warships at Hong Kong and sent launches to sound the harbors along the coast as a show of force. Guangjin reinforced the forts and key passes and made ready for whatever might come. Local militia at the time claimed a strength of one hundred thousand, and their presence was formidable. Chinese merchants agreed to suspend trade with all foreign powers and quietly told the American and French consuls that the British had provoked the crisis. Foreign traders then feared they would bear the cost of the disruption and looked to their consuls to answer for the losses. Local gentry sent Bonham a joint petition, pressing him again and again on the stakes involved. Caught between pressures, Bonham dropped the demand for entry and asked only that trade resume as before. They agreed that neither closing nor reopening the market would be by official decree; trade would continue without entry into the city, and any later breach would bring a renewed boycott. Once the affair was settled, Guangjin reported to the throne, and the Daoguang Emperor was delighted. An edict declared: "Foreign relations have troubled us for nearly ten years. The coastlands have been harried, treasure spent, and troops worn down; though things have lately grown somewhat calmer, we have not struck the right balance between firmness and concession, and new abuses keep appearing. Fearing harm to our coastal people, We have endured much in silence. When the British envoy again demanded entry into the city, Xu Guangjin and his colleagues handled the matter with care, and their measures were well judged throughout. The entry question was dropped, and trade went on as before. Not a man was lost, not an arrow fired; peace was restored at home and abroad, and lasting calm seems possible—We are deeply pleased!" Guangjin was then created a first-class baron and granted the double-eyed peacock feather. In this affair merchants and commoners stood together, with particular help from the gentrymen Xu Xiangguang and Wu Chongyao, both of whom received exceptional promotions. Months later Bonham wrote that his king felt humiliated because entry had not been granted as promised and asked that the matter be referred to Beijing; Guangjin replied that trade had resumed only after the entry demand was dropped and refused to reopen the question. In the thirtieth year (1850) Bonham again wrote to Grand Secretaries Mujangga and Qishan and sent couriers to deliver the letters at Shanghai and Tianjin. Bonham soon went to Shanghai in person hoping to lodge petitions, but was turned away each time; he then returned to Hong Kong, his designs evidently not yet abandoned.
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西 西
Bandits were rising throughout the two Guang provinces, and the fiercest leader was Hong Xiuquan of Jintian in Guangxi. Governor Zheng Zuchen was timid and let the rebels grow; Guangjin impeached him for indulging the threat and had him removed. Rebels also spread through Shaozhou and Qinzhou in Guangdong, and Guangjin sent troops to block them at Wuzhou and Zhaoqing. The court ordered Guangjin to Guangxi to suppress the rebels; Lin Zexu was soon recalled to take command, and Guangjin was told to clear the roving bandits of Guangdong. In the first year of Xianfeng (1851) he took the field and established headquarters at Gaozhou. The rebel leaders Ling Shiba, Chen Er, Wu San, and He Mingke held Luojing Market and Xinyi, coordinating their strength with Hong Xiuquan. Guangjin sent troops against them, destroyed Wu San's force, pursued He Mingke to Guixian and captured him; he also defeated the Qinzhou rebel Yan Pinyao and took Li Shiqing prisoner. In the spring of the second year (1852) he pressed the advantage, stormed Luojing Market, and captured Ling Shiba. On news of the victory he was made Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent. He was ordered to rush to Wuzhou, but Hong Xiuquan's main column had already struck Guilin and slipped into Hunan. Saišangga was disgraced and removed; Guangjin was made imperial commissioner and acting governor-general of Huguang. In the tenth month he reached Hengzhou. The rebels were pressing Changsha hard; Luo Bingzhang and Zhang Liangji held the city and beat them back repeatedly, and the rebels finally broke south toward Yuezhou. Guangjin arrived at Changsha only after the crisis had passed. Before long, Yuezhou fell as well, and the rebels drove straight on Wuchang. Guangjin moved up to Yuezhou, yet Hanyang and Wuchang fell one after another.
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調
An edict condemned Guangjin for slow advance, missed chances, holding uselessly at Yuezhou, and keeping a large force under his personal control; he was dismissed, arrested, his property seized, and sentenced to death. In the summer of the third year (1853), when Guangdong rebels entered Henan, Guangjin was freed, placed at the disposal of Governor Lu Yinggu, and ordered to win back his honor through service. He led troops to Guide, where he helped guard against and suppress the Nian rebels with distinction. In the eighth year (1858) he was sent to Sheng Bao's headquarters; he soon received fourth-rank ministerial rank and stayed at Fengyang to campaign against the Nian under Yuan Jiasan. He died not long afterward.
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西 西西使使 貿 西
Ye Mingchen, whose courtesy name was Kunchen, came from Hanyang in Hubei Province. He received his jinshi degree in the fifteenth year of Daoguang (1835), entered the Hanlin Academy as a probationary academician, and was appointed revising compiler. In the eighteenth year (1838) he was posted as prefect of Xing'an in Shaanxi. He served in turn as intendant of the Yanping circuit in Shanxi, Jiangxi salt controller, Yunnan judicial commissioner, and provincial treasurer of Hunan, Gansu, and Guangdong. In the twenty-eighth year (1848) he was promoted to governor of Guangdong. In the twenty-ninth year, when the British sought to enforce the entry agreement, Mingchen joined Governor-General Xu Guangjin in a firm refusal, rallied the militia, and put the province on a war footing. Chinese merchants imposed a trade boycott to pressure them, and the British finally dropped the demand. For his service he was created a first-class baron and granted the peacock feather. In the thirtieth year (1850) he suppressed bandits in Yingde and received special commendation. In the first year of Xianfeng (1851) he destroyed the Luojing rebel Wu San and was made Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent. In the second year, when Guangjin went to Guangxi to command the campaign, Mingchen was assigned the Luojing suppression and took the field from Gaozhou. That autumn Ling Shiba, the Luojing rebel chief, was destroyed; Mingchen received governor-general rank, served as acting governor-general, and took charge of operations in the Nanxiong and Shaozhou districts. He was soon appointed full governor-general of the two Guang provinces and superintendent of foreign trade.
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Bandits were rampant in Guangdong; in the fourth year (1854) mobs threatened the provincial capital itself. He sent generals on several columns and won a string of victories. Foshan, Longmen, Conghua, Dongguan, Yangshan, Heyuan, Zengcheng, Fengchuan, Haifeng and Kaijian in Shaozhou, Huilai in Chaozhou, and the prefectural seats of Zhaoqing and Deqing all fell and were retaken in turn. Neighboring provinces were hard pressed in the war and depended heavily on Guangdong for grain, funds, and arms; Mingchen kept the supplies flowing and won still greater praise. In the fifth year (1855) he was made assistant Grand Secretary while retaining the governorship. In the sixth year (1856) he was appointed Grand Secretary of the Birenjian Pavilion while continuing as governor-general.
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退 使 退
Mingchen was stubborn by nature, tireless in administration, and his subordinates stood in awe of his authority. He had first won exceptional favor for joining Xu Guangjin in blocking British entry into Canton; resting on that success he grew arrogant, spoke in grand terms, and on foreign affairs would scribble a few lines in reply—or ignore the message altogether. When rebels threatened Guangzhou, some suggested hiring foreign troops to help; he dismissed the idea out of hand. After the rebels were suppressed, Judicial Commissioner Shen Dihui had done the most; Mingchen drew up a list of officials, gentry, and militia deserving reward but refused to submit it, and the militia drifted apart. He also cracked down harshly on those accused of aiding the rebels; some used the campaign as cover for private vendettas; former followers fled and dared not return, and the cleverest took refuge in Hong Kong and urged the British to attack Guangzhou. A naval patrol lieutenant on river duty came upon a rowboat flying the British flag, searched it, seized thirteen men, and tore down the flag. Consul Parkes could not get them back and wrote to Mingchen in protest, arguing that suspects should be handed over on request, not seized unilaterally, and that tearing down the flag was an insult. Mingchen ordered the thirteen men delivered to the consulate; Parkes refused them and also demanded the lieutenant; Mingchen let the matter drop. Soon an interpreter came with a warning: "If your terms are not met by noon tomorrow, we will attack the city." At the appointed hour British troops seized the Liede and Zhongliu forts. Mingchen said, "They will withdraw on their own." He ordered the navy not to engage. The British then took Fenghuang Hill, Haizhu, and the other forts, shelled the city, and on the first day of the tenth month breached the wall, entered, and withdrew again. He sent the prefect of Guangzhou to ask why force had been used; the British replied, "When the officials of our two countries do not meet, there can be no mutual trust. Misled by rumors, we have repeatedly fallen out. They asked to enter the city for a face-to-face meeting." Mingchen refused. When they asked to meet outside the walls, he refused that as well. Tens of thousands of militia came to help, but they feared the enemy's firearms and could not put up a real fight. Public fury ran high; mobs burned the quarters of the British, French, and Americans, and the old Thirteen Factories district was left in ashes. British troops burned thousands of civilian homes in return, withdrew to Whampoa, and each side reported home.
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Britain sent Lord Elgin to Canton, concentrated troops at Macao and Hong Kong, and demanded indemnities in writing. Mingchen judged his demands outrageous and did not answer. The French and American consuls also demanded compensation and warned that British forces had resolved to storm the city, offering at first to mediate. Mingchen feared they would combine to coerce him and would not hear them out; nor did he make any preparations for defense. In the seventh year (1857) British forces attacked Dongguan; Regional Commander Dong Kaiqing met them in battle and his army was routed. Elgin sent a launch with an official note; Mingchen replied that beyond continuing trade he would agree to nothing. He sent repeated memorials claiming: "The British queen is weary of war; the trouble in Guangdong is entirely the work of Elgin and his party. I have held firm throughout; when they are cornered they will yield on their own." A secret edict warned him not to underestimate the enemy, but the court still believed he had matters under control and continued to praise and encourage him. In the ninth month British forces arrived without warning, with French and American troops following. Generals, provincial officials, and merchants debated war and defense, while Mingchen relied solely on his interpreter Zhang Yuntong as a go-between and waited for the enemy to collapse. The people saw him show no alarm and keep everything secret; they began to suspect he was defying the foreigners in public while appeasing them in private, and morale fell apart. In the eleventh month the allies posted notices outside the walls, giving twenty-four hours before the city would fall and urging merchants and residents to flee. They shelled the governor-general's compound, fire spread through the markets, and the city fell. Governor Bogui summoned gentry including Wu Chongyao to negotiate peace; Mingchen still clung to his refusal of entry into the city, fled at night to a Manchu banner office, was hunted down by the British, and carried off to their ships. The general and governor reported to the throne; an edict condemned Mingchen for stubbornness and gross mismanagement and stripped him of office. The British then held the provincial capital, confined Bogui and other officials inside, and ordered them to keep the peace. The people organized militia companies and set up a headquarters at Foshan; the stalemate lasted several years. The allied powers then marched on Tianjin, and the crisis grew far worse.
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Once Mingchen was a prisoner, the British took him to Bengal in India and kept him in the Zhenhai Tower. He still painted and wrote calligraphy, signing himself "Su Wu upon the sea," wrote poetry to declare his loyalty, and recited the scripture of Patriarch Lü every day without fail. In the ninth year (1859) he died, and his body was sent home. Cantonese who blamed him for ruining the country composed a rhyme: "He would not fight, would not treat, would not defend; would not die, would not surrender, would not flee; the magnanimity of a Grand Secretary, the resolve of a frontier governor; unknown in antiquity, rarely seen today."
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調使 使 調 使椿
Huang Zonghan, whose courtesy name was Shouchen, came from Jinjiang in Fujian Province. He received his jinshi degree in the fifteenth year of Daoguang (1835) and entered the Hanlin Academy as a probationary academician. After completing his Hanlin training he was appointed a clerk in the Ministry of War and served on the staff of the Grand Council. He rose through the ranks as vice director and director, then became a censor and supervising secretary. In the twenty-fifth year (1845) he was posted as Guangdong grain transport commissioner, transferred to the Leizhou and Qiongzhou circuit, and later served as judicial commissioner of Shandong and Zhejiang. Early in Xianfeng, Governor Wu Wenrong recommended Zonghan for higher responsibility, and he was appointed provincial treasurer of Gansu. In the second year (1852) he was promoted to governor of Yunnan but never took up the post and was transferred to Zhejiang instead. While a trial of grain transport by sea was under way, tribute boats on the lake routes ran aground; the grain was sold locally at a loss of more than three hundred thousand taels, and Provincial Treasurer Chunshou hanged himself in despair. Zonghan memorialized that the stranded grain should be forwarded to Beijing with the new tribute shipment, and the court agreed.
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調 西
In the third year (1853), when Guangdong rebels threatened Nanjing, he sent two thousand Zhejiang troops to help defend the city. Nanjing soon fell; Zonghan went to Jiaxing and Huzhou to organize defenses and argued in a memorial that Zhejiang could not simply defend its own borders. He then sent troops into Jiangsu and Anhui to help hold the line, and the court praised his sound judgment. When rebels seized Shanghai, he asked that the sea transport route be shifted to Liuhe for collection of tribute grain. The great Jiangnan camp needed vast supplies; Zonghan wrote to Xiang Rong with a comprehensive plan to fix monthly quotas from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi. Xiang forwarded the plan to the throne, and the Xianfeng Emperor approved it. In the fourth year (1854) a special edict praised Zonghan for his defense work, sea transport, suppression of bandits, and inspection of officials—praising his thoroughness and courage—and granted him an imperial plaque inscribed "Loyal, diligent, upright, and straight," urging him to finish as he had begun and become a minister worthy of his age.
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調 調 調
He was promoted to governor-general of Sichuan. Supervising Secretary Zhang Xiuyu memorialized: "Zonghan's administration of Zhejiang is soundly arranged and he should not be moved." The court did not agree. When he failed to report for several months, the throne inquired; he pleaded illness and was rebuked; demotion by three ranks was proposed, but as a favor he was allowed to keep second-rank insignia and remain in the Sichuan post. In the fifth year (1855) tribal rebels rose at Mabian on the Sichuan frontier; he suppressed them. On imperial orders he sent Regional Commander De'en of Songpan with two thousand men to relieve Jingzhou, dispatched four thousand troops to Guizhou against the Miao rebels, and contributed one hundred thousand taels of silver. In the sixth year (1856), again for long silence in reporting, General Leqin was ordered to investigate; Zonghan cited phlegm illness; the ministry proposed demotion; he was recalled to Beijing to await a new appointment. He was appointed a Grand Secretariat academician and concurrently served as vice minister of justice and governor of the capital prefecture of Shuntian.
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When war broke out in Guangdong and Ye Mingchen was taken prisoner, Zonghan was appointed governor-general of the two Guang provinces and superintendent of foreign trade. Canton was then in British hands, and Governor Bogui inside the city was under their control. Militia sprang up everywhere; recalling how Xu Guangjin had blocked British entry with gentry and commoners behind him, the Xianfeng Emperor wanted to revive that strategy and ordered retired officials Luo Dunyi, Long Yuanxi, and Su Tingkui to organize the militia. Luo Dunyi and the others raised village militia numbering tens of thousands, fixed a date to storm the city, and failed; they also forbade Chinese from working for foreigners in order to pressure them.
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調 退 使
In the spring of the eighth year (1858) the foreign powers sent envoys to Jiangsu with letters to Grand Secretaries in Beijing about the Canton crisis, asking that a senior minister come to Shanghai for talks; and threatening to proceed to Tianjin if the deadline passed. An edict ordered the envoys back to Guangdong to await Zonghan's investigation, but British and Russian warships were already at Wusong. Zonghan passed through Jiangsu; Governor He Guiqing pressed him to stay in Shanghai for negotiations, but Zonghan refused and hurried on; traveling through Zhejiang and Fujian, he could raise no troops. By the time he reached Guangdong, the allied forces had already struck Tianjin. Zonghan stayed at Huizhou, relying only on links with local militia and empty proclamations to rouse them; the British blocked such messages from circulating widely. When the Treaty of Tianjin was signed, the allies agreed to leave Canton only after six million taels of indemnity had been paid in installments; the Cantonese grew still angrier. When the British consul posted the peace terms, militia from Xin'an Town killed several men who put up the notices, and British troops seized the town in retaliation. Militia mounted a major assault on the city, winning early fights but losing in the end; rewards were offered for foreign officers' heads, but only a few were killed in ambushes here and there. Zonghan feared the foreign enemy abroad and popular fury at home, and could devise no effective policy. When Grand Secretary Guiliang reached Shanghai to negotiate tariffs and treaty revision and to discuss the return of Canton, he asked Zonghan for reports on the situation, but Zonghan would not reply. The British, noting that fighting continued among militia even after peace talks, pressed for explanations and produced militia proclamations bearing edicts that did not match the court's texts, demanding the removal of Zonghan and the three militia leaders. Guiliang reported to the throne; an edict ordered Zonghan to arrest those who forged imperial edicts, stripped him of the trade superintendency, and gave the post to He Guiqing. Lord Elgin was still not satisfied and abruptly led his staff back to Guangdong. In the ninth year (1859) the allies struck Tianjin again.
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調
He was soon transferred to Sichuan as governor-general, recalled to Beijing, and reduced to await appointment as a vice minister. In the tenth year (1860) he served as acting vice minister of personnel and soon received the full appointment. Sichuan officials in Beijing petitioned that he be sent home to organize militia; the request was denied.
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Zonghan was allied with Zaiyuan, Duanhua, Sushun, and their faction. In the eleventh year (1861) the Tongzhi Emperor ascended the throne, and Zaiyuan and his associates were condemned. Junior Mentor Xu Pengshou impeached Zonghan along with Chen Fu'en and Liu Kun as close associates of Sushun's faction. An edict declared: "Huang Zonghan went to Rehe this spring and used alarmist language to block the emperor's return to Beijing. When Our late father's coffin was about to return to the capital, he spread word that the city was unsafe, telling everyone he could in hopes of stopping the move. His aim was plainly to curry favor with Zaiyuan and his party, as everyone knew. With a reputation and conduct such as this, how can he be allowed to hold high office and set an example for other officials? Strip him of office and never employ him again, as a warning to high officials who cringe before power." The court also revoked the imperial plaque "Loyal, diligent, upright, and straight" that had been granted earlier. He died in the third year of Tongzhi (1864).
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The historian comments: In the Daoguang and Xianfeng eras the maritime frontier was thrown open, yet court and country alike were blind to foreign realities. Cantonese who had suffered deeply from foreign aggression and watched national prestige collapse were torn between anger and fear; the refusal to let foreigners into the city thus ignited a far greater crisis. The court wrongly believed popular fervor could be harnessed, not understanding that bluster alone could not be trusted. Xu Guangjin knew how to manage the situation and secured a temporary peace; Ye Mingchen rested on his earlier success, and arrogance and obstinacy brought him down—as he deserved. Huang Zonghan's vacillation caused harm, and in the end he was punished for siding with the ruling clique. Guangjin earned credit for suppressing the Luojing rebels in eastern Guangdong, but when he replaced Saišangga in command the war was already lost; his panic and indecision left him with no excuse.
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