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卷406 列傳一百九十三 骆秉章 胡林翼

Volume 406 Biographies 193: Luo Bingzhang, Hu Linyi

Chapter 406 of 清史稿 · Draft History of Qing
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Biography 193.
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Luo Bingzhang and Hu Linyi.
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便 使 使使調
Luo Bingzhang, whose original name was Jun and who was commonly known by his courtesy name, later changed that name to Yuemen; he came from Huaxian in Guangdong. He earned his jinshi degree in 1832, entered the Hanlin Academy as a bachelor, and was made an editor. Promoted to censor, he audited the silver treasury, rejected customary kickbacks, and enforced inspections rigorously. The clerks resented his ways and tried to slander him out of office, but their own corruption came to light, and the plot failed. He rose through the posts of supervising secretary, vice minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, and Fengtian deputy magistrate with concurrent duties as educational commissioner. In 1843 the treasury shortfall came to light; blamed for failing to detect it, he was dismissed and ordered to pay part of the loss. When the judgment was settled, the Daoguang Emperor, knowing that Bingzhang alone had acted with rectitude and no private interest, specially ordered him restored as a subordinate tutor in the heir apparent's academy. He soon went into mourning for his mother. After mourning he was made right subordinate tutor and was repeatedly sent to investigate cases in Shandong, Henan, and Jiangsu. It was rare for a literary official to be dispatched on such missions, and every case he handled won the emperor's approval. In 1848 he was promoted to expositor of the Hanlin Academy. He left the capital to serve as Hubei judicial commissioner, then became Guizhou provincial treasurer before being transferred to Yunnan. In 1850 he was appointed governor of Hunan.
4
西-{}- 退
In 1851, as rebellion in Guangxi intensified, Governor-General Cheng Yucai of Huguang was ordered to Hunan to oversee defenses, assisted by Bingzhang and Regional Commander Yu Wanqing. Grand Secretary Sai Shanga passed through at the head of the army; resenting the scant hospitality, he secretly reported that Hunan's administration had fallen into disorder. In 1852 he was ordered to vacate his post and come to Beijing, even as the rebels had already broken north from Guilin into Hunan. Hearing the alarm, Yucai withdrew from Hengzhou to Changsha and soon returned to his post. Wanqing held Daozhou but the city fell to the rebels. Jianghua, Jiahe, Guiyang, Chenzhou, and Youxian fell one after another, and Wanqing was arrested. Bingzhang was stripped of rank for failing to prevent the losses but was kept in office. Work on Changsha's walls had only just finished when the rebels surged in from Liling to attack the city. Bingzhang sealed the city and held on. The fierce rebel Xiao Chaogui, having scouted weak points in the walls, led a light force to raid but failed; he was soon killed by artillery. Brigade General Deng Shaoliang was first to reach the city with reinforcements and took charge of its defense. The rebels repeatedly tried to blast the walls with mines, but each assault was repulsed. When the newly appointed governor Zhang Liangji arrived, Bingzhang was ordered to stay and help defend the city. When Hong Xiuquan brought his main force to besiege the city, reinforcements under Xiang Rong, He Chun, Zhang Guoliang, and others also arrived; the defenders held and fought for more than eighty days. The rebels withdrew, captured Yuezhou, and marched toward Hubei. Sai Shanga and Cheng Yucai were both disgraced and dismissed for having lost the initiative. For his role in defending the city, Bingzhang was spared further punishment and summoned to Beijing. He was soon ordered to stay in Hubei to help with defense, but Wuchang fell before he could take up the assignment. In the spring of 1853 government forces retook Wuchang, and he served briefly as acting governor of Hubei. He was ordered to the grain depot at Xuzhou, but before he left he was again made acting governor of Hunan and soon received the full appointment.
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西西西 調 使使 西
Zeng Guofan, a metropolitan graduate serving at home as vice minister, was ordered to organize militia and founded what became the Hunan Army; Bingzhang gave the project his full support. He also brought in the Xiangyin scholar Zuo Zongtang to run his military staff, recruited able men widely, trained local militia to join the campaigns, and the army's standing gradually recovered. He first secured the province, sending columns to defeat Jiangxi rebels at Guiyang, Guangxi rebels at Yongming, Lingling, and Jianghua, Guangdong rebels at Xingning, and Jiangxi rebels again at Chaling, while bandits in Changning and Yongxing were also suppressed. When rebels advancing from Hubei captured Yuezhou, he sent Wang Zhen and Zeng Guobao to cut them off by land and water, defeated them, and retook the city. He ordered Guizhou circuit intendant Hu Linyi to lead Guizhou troops in pursuit, driving the rebels to the border. In 1854 Governor-General Wu Wenrong's army was routed at Huangzhou and Hanyang fell again. After Zeng Guofan's river flotilla was ready, it advanced to aid Hubei, but the vanguard was beaten and Yuezhou fell again. The rebels struck Jinggang and Zhangshugang, only a few dozen li from Changsha, and also captured Ningxiang and Xiangtan. Bingzhang detached Hunan provincial troops to reinforce Taqibu's force and ordered them, together with Yang Yuebin and Peng Yulin, to relieve Xiangtan. Guofan personally led the river flotilla into battle at Jinggang and was defeated again. Provincial treasurer Xu Youren and judicial commissioner Tao Enpei asked the throne to impeach Zeng and disband his forces. Bingzhang said, "Lord Zeng's loyalty to the state cannot be judged by a single battle's outcome." The next day Taqibu and his colleagues routed the rebels at Xiangtan and retook the city; the force at Jinggang also withdrew, and Changsha was safe. The rebels swung around West Lake and captured Huarong, Longyang, and Changde; he put Hu Linyi in charge of clearing that line. Taqibu and Luo Zeyuan pressed to retake Yuezhou, Chongyang, and Tongcheng; soon each city was recovered, but Wuchang fell again. Guofan reorganized his army for the eastern campaign, and Bingzhang supplied funds and weapons without stint; in October Wuchang was captured. From that point the Hunan Army made its name.
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西 西祿 祿 西 使 退 退退退 西
In 1855 Wuchang fell for the third time; Hu Linyi, now acting governor, sent urgent appeals for help. Bingzhang sent Bao Chao ahead with the river flotilla and had Peng Yulin raise more troops to follow. Yang Yuebin was called back from retirement to hold the northern line, even as rebel bands from Guangdong and Guangxi raided the southern border and local bandits rose to join them. He put Tian Xingyu on the eastern front and Wang Zhen on the south, cleared the local bandits first, captured Dong'an, and killed the Guangxi rebel leader Hu Youlu. The remaining rebels raided Yongming and Jianghua again and were beaten back. His forces retook Guiyang, Yongxing, Chaling, Chenzhou, and Yizhang, killed the Guangdong rebel leader He Lu, and secured the south. Miao raiders from Guizhou struck Huangzhou, Yuanzhou, and Mayang, and were driven off in each case. After Wuchang fell, Governor-General Yang Fu memorialized ordering Hu Linyi to cross the Yangzi and hold Hanchuan to secure the Jing-Xiang region. Bingzhang submitted a counter-memorial, arguing in essence: "Yang Fu has always insisted on blocking a northern rebel breakout, yet as matters stand Jiangxi and Hunan are still largely intact. If Hubei's land and river armies are moved to Hanchuan, a thousand li of the Yangzi would be handed to the rebels—are we to abandon the southeast entirely? That is my first objection. A post at Hanchuan could only block rebels moving up toward Xiangyang; it would do nothing for Jingzhou. If the rebels advance by land and water together, who will hold the gateway of Jingzhou? That is my second objection. Land and river forces must support each other; once Hu Linyi is at Hanchuan, the flotilla would have to fall back to Jianli or anchor at Yuezhou—which might still serve Hunan's interests. But can we simply write off the gateway of Wuhan? That is my third objection. If the claim is that the rebels outnumber us, consider the first defeat at Guangji: the governor-general's army of more than ten thousand could not hold off a little over a thousand rebels, retreated to Huangzhou, fell back to Hanchuan within a day, then to De'an, Suizhou, and now Zaoyang. It is the rebels who flee north—but who is driving them north? That is my fourth objection. To stop a northern breakout one must hold Jing and Xiang; to hold Jing and Xiang one must hold Wuhan—that is the fixed pattern of the war. With Hanyang still in rebel hands one cannot even reach Hanchuan; Wuhan is entirely enemy-held. If Hu Linyi goes to Hanchuan with a lone detachment surrounded on every side, how can he guard the gateway of Jing and Xiang? That is my fifth objection." Fu's obsession with blocking a northern breakout arose from pandering to the throne. When the memorial arrived, an edict rebuked Bingzhang for going too far in attacking Fu. Yet the throne took his point; Fu was soon dismissed, Guan Wen replaced him, and together with Hu Linyi they turned to recovering Wuhan. Bingzhang supplied Hu Linyi's army without stint, just as he had supported Zeng Guofan. After Linyi and Luo Zeyuan defeated Shi Dakai at Xianning, Dakai swung into Jiangxi, captured Ruizhou and Linjiang in succession, and raided many counties under Ji'an, Fuzhou, and Jianchang.
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西 歿 -{}- 西
Since his defeat at Jiujiang the year before, Guofan had lingered at Nanchang with an isolated force that could make little headway. Bingzhang now threw himself into eastern relief, sending Jiang Zhongji out from Tongcheng to secure Yuezhou and Liu Changyou and Xiao Qijiang into Jiangxi by separate routes. In 1856 Liu Changyou and his colleagues captured Pingxiang and Wanzai in succession and advanced on Yuanzhou. Jiang Zhongji was killed at Tongcheng; Wang Zhen replaced him and retook Tongcheng, Chongyang, Puqi, and Tongshan in succession. By winter Changyou had taken Yuanzhou, Fenyi, and Xinyu; Zhao Huanlian advanced from Chaling to recover Yongning, and Yu Xingyuan from Lingxian to recover Yongxin and Lianhua. The original plan for Jiangxi divided forces into three routes: north from Ruizhou, center from Yuanzhou, and south from Ji'an. Liu Changyou's Yuanzhou column already exceeded nine thousand men, and further funds were hard to find. Only then were Zhou Fengshan and Zeng Guoquan each told to raise two thousand men and advance together on Ji'an. An edict praised Bingzhang for crossing provincial lines to destroy the rebels and awarded him the peacock feather.
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西西 沿 仿 西 西 西
In 1857, with Wuhan recovered and the lower Yangzi secure, the Hunan Army fanned out on every front. Jiang Yili led Yongzhou troops to aid Guangxi, Wang Zhen reinforced Jiangxi, and Zhao Chen and others aided Guizhou, and the demand for funds grew sharply. Since the war began Hunan had stopped the grain tribute transport; rice was cheap, yet tax assessments still used old rates, leaving the people strained and revenue short. Bingzhang cut inflated surcharges and audited graft; taxpayers paid less while the treasury collected more. Following the Yangzhou model, he levied a transit tax on salt, bringing in well over a million taels a year and keeping the armies supplied. Wang Zhen fought in Jiangxi, repeatedly defeated tough rebel bands, captured Le'an, and soon died in the field; Zhang Yunlan and Wang's younger brother Kaihua split command of his troops. Liu Changyou besieged Linjiang and captured it in December. In 1858, at the capital performance review, he was awarded the first-rank official's hat ornament for merit. Liu Changyou went home ill, and Liu Kunyi took over his command. They pressed on to retake Fuzhou and Jianchang, recovering both in turn. In August the combined forces took Ji'an. Shi Dakai was beaten and fled into Zhejiang, and Jiangxi was largely secured. Bingzhang argued that massing armies was difficult and that they ought to strike while victory was fresh. He memorialized the throne to recall Zeng Guofan to command the relief of Zhejiang, retaining only Xiao Qijiang's and Zhang Yunlan's corps for the expedition and pulling back the rest. Since the fifth year of the war, Hunan had poured 2.6 million taels into the Jiangxi campaign alone, apart from coordinated subsidies from other provinces.
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西 調 調西調 西 西
Shi Dakai marched from Zhejiang into Fujian and Guangdong and hovered along the Five Ridges. In the spring of 1859 he invaded Hunan again from Jiangxi. Bingzhang posted Wei Yuyi and Chen Shijie on the Kui River, called Liu Changyou out of retirement, and had him and Liu Kunyi recruit forty thousand militia to intercept the rebels. He redeployed Xiao Qijiang and Zhang Yunlan to Jiangxi and Tian Xingshu to Guizhou, but the rebels struck before the columns assembled, seized Guiyang, Yizhang, and Xingning, threatened Hengzhou, were checked at the Kui River, and doubled back through Jiahe, Xintian, Linwu, and Ningyuan. Dakai led his main force into Yongxing to secure the upper river line. Liu Changyou marched from Qiyang and locked horns with them. They swung against Dong'an and Xinning; Liu Kunyi beat them twice, and they then bore down on Baoqing with a host said to number three hundred thousand, most of them a disorderly mob. Bingzhang proclaimed an amnesty and dispersed tens of thousands of them. By then Zhao Huanlian, Tian Xingshu, and other columns had already arrived and encamped outside the city. Rebel camps stretched two hundred li around the field and hemmed the imperial forces inside. Hu Linyi dispatched Li Xuyi with reinforcements, and Bingzhang sent Liu Changyou, Liu Yuezhao, and He Shaocai forward in three divisions. In June they fought under the walls of Baoqing, attacking from inside and outside at once. The rebels were numerous but starving; beaten twice in succession, they broke eastward. Xiao Qijiang intercepted them at Yongzhou and routed them again. They bolted through Quanzhou into Guangxi; Qijiang harried their rear while Liu Changyou pressed after, crushing them at Darongkou and again at Guilin until they fled toward Qingyuan. Bingzhang left Changyou to hold Guangxi, sent Tian Xingshu back to Guizhou, and sent Xiao Qijiang down the Yuan River to cover Sichuan and Guizhou as well. Guangdong rebels were raiding the frontier again; he had Zhang Yunlan and Huang Chunxi hit them at Jianghua and Yizhang and wiped them out.
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調
In 1860 he was ordered to Sichuan to take charge of military affairs. Zuo Zongtang had already been commissioned to raise troops for Zhejiang and had hired Liu Rong of Xiangxiang as his military adviser. Most of the Hunan Army's star commanders served under Zeng Guofan and Hu Linyi; only Liu Yuezhao and Huang Chunxi were still in Hunan. He called both corps to march with him, but as his successor was preparing to depart Shi Dakai again crossed into Hunan from Guangdong, and officials and commoners pleaded that he remain. He sent Yuezhao and Chunxi to pursue them, and the rebels soon pulled back. In the first month of 1861 he at last departed, reached Yichang, learned that Chen Yucheng was attacking Hubei, detached Yuezhao to reinforce there, and entered Sichuan with five thousand men.
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歿 綿 綿 綿退
The turmoil in Sichuan began in 1859. Among the Yunnan rebels were Lan Dashun, also known as Lan Chaozhu, and Li Duanda, also known as Li Yonghe. They organized to traffic opium illicitly; when members were arrested they rose in arms, seized Yibin, struck at Xuzhou, and ravaged Jiading until their following was said to exceed a hundred thousand and brigands flared up everywhere. Governors-general You Feng and Zeng Wangyan could not contain them and requisitioned Hunan troops, dispatching Xiao Qijiang's force first. Qijiang soon fell ill and died; the court then ordered Zeng Guofan to command in Sichuan, but the appointment was suspended before he marched, and General Chong Shi of Chengdu served as acting governor. Once Bingzhang received his commission he worried that outside troops would meet local obstruction and held back. Chong Shi urged him forward by letter, welcomed him frankly, released Kui Pass customs receipts for the troops, and when the army arrived the reception surpassed all expectation. Rebel leaders Li Yonghe and Mao Dexing held Qingshen, Lan Chaozhu besieged Mianzhou, Zhang Dicai and He Guoliang besieged Shunqing, and more than forty counties lay wasted as the rebels closed on Chengdu. Reaching Wanxian, Bingzhang immediately sent Huang Chunxi to relieve Shunqing; at Dingyuan they killed He Guoliang in the line and routed the rebels. Pursuit carried them to Erlangchang in Tongchuan, where they were ambushed and Chunxi fell, but the rebels, shaken by the Hunan troops' ferocity, pulled away. Bingzhang moved from Shunqing to Tongchuan, put Hu Zhonghe, Xiao Qing, and He Sheng bi at the head of Qijiang's veterans, had Zeng Chuanli replace Huang Chunxi's command, Liu Deqian lead the personal guard, and Tang Yougeng the Sichuan forces—nineteen thousand men in all—to relieve Mianzhou, while other columns held Qingshen and sealed the northeast. On the accession of Emperor Muzong, Bingzhang was appointed governor-general of Sichuan. In August the combined forces met below Mianzhou, stormed more than ten rebel camps in turn, drove the enemy back across the Fu River, and penned them on the far bank. Imperial troops threw five pontoon bridges across the river and beat them again. The rebels fled through Shifang and Chongqing toward Danling, and Bingzhang finally entered Chengdu.
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使 使 西 西 調
Upon assuming office he impeached Administration Commissioner Xiang Kui and deputy commander Zhang Dingchuan for neglect and removed them. He recommended Liu Rong, and the throne abruptly promoted him to acting administration commissioner. He swept military and civil administration into fresh order, then split his forces against the scattered rebels and bore down on the Lan and Li factions. Tang Yougeng was posted at Hongyan in Meizhou to sever Qingshen's support, while Hu Zhonghe and the other columns besieged Danling behind long trenches and timber forts, tightening the ring by stages. The rebels abandoned the city and ran; Lan Chaoding was run down and killed in the fighting. The survivors scattered along several routes and were almost entirely cut down by local militia and garrison troops. Lan Chaozhu escaped into the hills with two hundred followers, later re-emerged to join other brigands in seizing Xinning, and was scattered once more by government forces. Later, brigands routed from Zhouzhi toward Xing'an were caught by militia; men who called themselves Lan Dashun and his brothers Third through Ninth Dashun were all put to death. When Danling fell Li Yonghe fled as well; detachments pursued and trapped him at Tieshan. In 1862, at the capital review of officials, an edict commended Bingzhang for quickly crushing the rebels and restoring local order and made him Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent. Qingshen was soon recovered; Li Yonghe and Mao Dexing broke out of Tieshan, were chased to Yibin, and captured. Circuit intendant Zhang Yougeng recovered Xinning; the rebels scattered, Zhang Dicai slipped into Shaanxi, and Cao Shenzhang vanished into the old-growth forests. Brigade general Zhou Dawu relieved Fuzhou, ran down Zhou Shaoyong at Dazhu, and seized Guo Daodao at Bazhou. Zhou Chanchan crossed from Yunnan into Yuechi, Hezhou, and Xinning; Zhang Yougeng beat him back and the cities were all restored. By winter the province was quiet north and south; an edict praised his coordination and granted him preferential honors.
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退 調 西 退
Shi Dakai, noting that Sichuan was still fully engaged, repeatedly probed the borders from Guizhou and Huguang. That spring he seized Shizhu and lunged at Fuzhou, was checked by Liu Yuezhao, and bolted into Guizhou. He soon re-entered Xuyong, struck Jiang'an, captured Changning, and raided Gong, Gao, and Qingfu before Liu Yuezhao, Zeng Chuanli, and others drove him off. He withdrew into Yunnan and split his force through Junlian and Gaoxian while government troops guarded the Jinsha River line. The rebels aimed to enter Sichuan in three columns; Bingzhang redeployed his generals and native levies to block each approach. In the first month of 1863 Lai Yuxin marched from Ningyuan against Mianning as far as Yuexi and was slain by Ling Chengen, chieftain of the Gongbu tribe. Survivors raided a dozen western counties but were largely cut down by troops and militia and finally wiped out in the Pingwu ravines. In March Shi Dakai crossed the Jinsha River, was checked by Tang Yougeng and others, and turned onto a mountain track toward the native territory of Zidade. The Dadu was in flood; imperial troops hit them mid-crossing, and when they fell back toward Songlin and Xiaohe they were stopped again by the native chieftain Wang Yingyuan. Ling Chengen attacked by night, smashed the rebel camp at Ma'anshan, and severed their supply line. They tried both river crossings again and failed; with food gone they slaughtered their horses and ate leaves to survive. Tang Yougeng and combined Han and native forces stormed them, burned their encampments, and countless rebels plunged from the cliffs into the river. Seven or eight thousand survivors fled to Laoyaxuan and were hemmed in once more by native troops. Dakai came forward with one son and three lieutenants to surrender, released four thousand men, and the remainder were put to death. In May Dakai was carted to Chengdu in a cage and executed by dismemberment in the public square. News of the victory brought an edict of high praise, the rank of Senior Guardian of the Heir Apparent, and graded promotions for the officers and men. Li Fuyou, a die-hard of Dakai's, had originally planned to enter Sichuan from Guizhou. Bingzhang had Liu Yuezhao cooperate with Guizhou forces to exterminate him, and he was soon wiped out on Guizhou soil. With that, Dakai's remaining followers were extinguished.
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西 西 西
Guangdong rebels raided Shaanxi and besieged Hanzhong; Bingzhang sent circuit intendant Yi Peishen to relieve the city and kept Zhang Yougeng on the Sichuan frontier. He now sent Xiao Qinggao and He Sheng bi to join the campaign. An edict elevated Liu Rong to governor of Shaanxi to direct the forces. Bingzhang, troubled by eye disease, requested leave but was told to carry on despite his ailment. In 1864, when Nanjing fell, an edict tallied his services past and present, made him a first-class commandant of light chariots with hereditary right, and awarded the double-eyed peacock feather. In 1865 the Guangdong rebels in Shaanxi were beaten, fled to Jiezhou in Gansu, and were finally crushed in a joint campaign under Zhou Dawu. He then turned back to the Fan rebels of Nanping, where the chief Ou Liwa submitted. Operations at Mabian brought the capture of Song Shijie, and the frontier was fully quieted. He sent Liu Yuezhao to aid Guizhou, opening the road to Zunyi through Suiyang; the later push from Guizhou toward Yunnan likewise followed plans he had left behind. In the summer of 1867 he recovered enough to resume office and was appointed a grand secretary while keeping the Sichuan governorship. In November he died in office; the throne granted generous mourning honors and praised him as "loyal, sincere, bright, and upright; pure, clear, diligent, and discerning," posthumously raising him to Grand Tutor, enrolling him in the Hall of Worthies, and ordering temples in his name in Sichuan and Hunan. His son Tianbao was made a secretariat director and Tianyi a provincial graduate; grandsons received offices as well, and his posthumous name was Wenzong.
15
西 歿
In his later years Bingzhang's standing only grew; the court consulted him on weighty policy, and the armies of the southwest looked to him for direction. Every man of talent he recommended was taken up and went on to earn distinction. Sichuan's people credited him with ending the chaos that had drowned them in misery; at his death alleys filled with mourning and shops shut their doors. The affection he left behind is still ranked with Zhuge Liang of Han and Wei Gao of Tang.
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Hu Linyi, styled Runzhi, came from Yiyang in Hunan. His father Hu Dayuan had placed third in the palace examination in 1819, rose to junior mentor, and taught the Song Neo-Confucian masters. From boyhood Linyi was drilled in Neo-Confucian moral philosophy, yet he was gifted and unruly; marriage to Tao Shu's daughter steeped him in high policy and fed his ambition to remake the world.
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調 調
In 1836 he earned his jinshi degree, entered the Hanlin Academy as a bachelor, and was made a compiler. In 1840 he served as associate examiner for the Jiangnan region and was demoted one rank for not catching chief examiner Wen Qing smuggling candidate Xiong Shaomu into the hall. After his father's death and the mourning period he bought a secretariat post, then took appointment as prefect of Guizhou. At Anshun and Zhenyuan, both notorious bandit country, he trained fighters by Qi Jiguang's methods, combed the wooded gullies himself, and shared the soldiers' hardships. He repeatedly seized notorious outlaws, quieted Miao disturbances, and earned the peacock feather for his service. He was later commissioned as a circuit intendant to guard against and suppress the Xinning rebel Li Yuanfa. Governor-General Wu Wensha and Governor Qiao Yongqian both recommended him as a man of outstanding capacity. In 1851 he took charge at Liping, organized baojia militia across more than fifteen hundred hamlets, erected over four hundred blockhouses, sealed the strategic passes, and stockpiled grain for a siege. Near Hunan and Guangxi, banditry was subdued and the people lived in peace. In 1853 he crushed the Lang rebels of Weng'an and put their leader to death. Hunan's governors Zhang Liangji and Luo Bingzhang twice sought to transfer him, but Guizhou kept him and he never left. Censor Wang Fagui memorialized praising Linyi's success against bandits, and the court ordered him to Hubei for service.
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歿 調使調 使 退 退 調西 西
In 1854 he was made intendant of eastern Guizhou, led a thousand Guizhou troops toward Tongcheng, learned that Wu Wensha had fallen at Huangzhou, and marched to relieve Wuchang. When rebels struck Hunan, Luo Bingzhang recalled him; he pacified the native bandits of Anhua, was made Sichuan's judicial commissioner, and was soon shifted to Hubei. After Zeng Guofan recovered Wuchang, he directed Linyi and Luo Zinan against Jiujiang; they encamped at Hukou and took the rebel position at Meijiazhou. In the spring of 1855 he was made Hubei's provincial treasurer. When Governor-General Yang Fu's army broke at Huangmei, Linyi hurried back to Wuchang and subordinated Wang Guocai's brigade; before they arrived Hanyang fell, the assault failed, and the army camped at Zhuankou. Wuchang fell again; Linyi sent a covert force across the river toward the city, was encircled with scant supplies, and withdrew to Jinkou. The court named him acting governor of Hubei, while Yang Fu ordered him to block Hanchuan upriver. Linyi argued that only a swift assault on Wuhan could secure Jingzhou and Xiangyang; the emperor agreed. Rebels held Wuchang, Hanyang, Huangzhou, and De'an; Chongyang and Tongcheng behind him seethed with ambushers; treasury and household alike were bare, and pay ran dry. Linyi begged loans across the province and fed the troops from his own family's granaries. He raised more troops, guarded both flanks, fought dozens of engagements, won some and more than once nearly perished. In July he recovered Hankou and seized the rebel forts on Dabie Mountain. Soon rebel reinforcements came down from Hanchuan and burned Hankou. Bandits from Chongyang and Tongcheng combined with the Wuchang garrison and struck the main camp at Jinkou. The throne, remembering his military talent, urged him to rally the broken ranks. He soon fell back to Zhashan; supplies gave out, the army scattered, and the ministries moved to discipline him. He shifted to Dajun Mountain, gathered the fugitives, and held Xindi and Jiayu. His land and river force barely reached ten thousand, half of them raw recruits; rebels often came in the tens of thousands, and his men lost heart. Linyi held his ground with calm, rallied the troops on duty and honor, and slowly steadied the army. He called Luo Zinan from Jiangxi; Tongcheng and Chongyang fell in turn, and Linyi rode out to meet him at Puqi. Together they shattered Wei Jun and Shi Dakai's relief column at Xianning and retook the city. Pressing the advantage they besieged Wuchang: Linyi led Pu Chengyao and Tang Xunfang up the center, Luo Zinan blocked the west, Yang Yuebin's fleet joined at Jinkou, and Guan Wen posted Duxing'a's cavalry on the north bank. Linyi smoothed relations among his commanders; the army's strength rose day by day and battle after battle went their way.
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西 調 退
In March 1856 Luo Zinan, pressing the assault, was struck by cannon fire and died on the spot. Li Xubin took over his corps and the fighting never slackened. Routed at Xianning, Shi Dakai fled into Jiangxi and seized one prefecture after another. Zeng Guofan repeatedly called Luo Zinan back, but the siege could not spare him. Linyi sent Liu Tenghong and Pu Chengyao with separate columns to aid Jiangxi. The court, impatient that Wuhan still stood, ordered the assault pressed. Linyi wrote in reply, in part: "Your servant has camped beneath the walls for more than five months. Men face shot and shell every day; over three thousand soldiers have been killed or wounded on land and water; Luo Zinan, Zhou Dekui, and more than a hundred other officers are dead; Li Xubin has been shot from his horse more than once. Soldiers are easy to recruit but generals are not; I read how Li Zuoche warned Han Xin that stalemates beneath city walls expose weakness and court disaster. Field battle is easy; taking a fortified city is hard, and always has been. Since the fourth month I have forbidden uphill assaults, sent columns through Xianning and Puqi to seize Yining, and won all four engagements. I detached the fleet to clear the lower Yangtze as far as Jiujiang. I hold the southern approach to Wuchang with five thousand men; Li Xubin blocks the eastern Hongshan with sixty-three hundred and clears the north road. Six river battalions are posted downstream at Shakou. Rebels from Jiujiang and Xingguo advanced in separate columns; I had already sent more than three thousand men to meet them a hundred li off. This humble servant is resolved to see the war through to the end. If fortune turns against me, I will not retreat in cowardice or disgrace myself by clinging to safety. The emperor read the memorial and sent him special encouragement.
20
調 退 西 調
In May the rebels fortified Baozixie and other points outside Wuchang; Linyi struck their works and then dug entrenchments at the key passes to pin them in. Repeated rebel sorties were beaten back. Intelligence reported that Gu Longxian was marching from Jiujiang; he had reached Fankou and sent several thousand men ahead to seize Geidian. He sent Jiang Yisui with picked troops to meet them at Geidian, broke them utterly, and burned their fleet. The pursuit reached Fankou, where Yang Zaifu's flotilla joined; together they killed several thousand rebels. They took Wuchang county and crossed the river toward Huangzhou. Meanwhile Shi Dakai fled from Jiangxi toward Nanjing, rallied his force, and struck upstream on several roads. In July he recalled the Huangzhou column. Rebels drove from Jinniu toward Geidian, and Gu Longxian rose to join them. Linyi divided his land and river forces to meet them, fighting at Youfangling, Lujiagang, and a string of other points; in ten days he won more than twenty engagements, killed and captured without count, released over ten thousand pressed men, pursued a hundred li to Huarong, and the rebels fled altogether. In September Yang Yuebin chased them to Qizhou, burned their boats, and drove as far as Tianjiazhen. With reinforcements cut off, he raised five thousand infantry and six river battalions for a long siege. In November he and Guan Wen agreed on a date for the general assault. Yang Yuebin cut the Yangtze iron chain and burned every rebel vessel. The rebels hurled their full strength outward; after three hours of slaughter they broke and ran; the pursuing columns retook Wuchang. They seized chiefs including Gu Wenxin, executed hundreds in batches, and took four thousand prisoners alive. That same day Guan Wen recovered Hanyang. The court confirmed Linyi as governor of Hubei and granted the first-rank official's hat knob. Columns then recovered Wuchang county, Huangzhou, and Xingguo, Daye, Qishui, Qizhou, and Huangmei. He sent Li Xubin on toward Jiujiang, posted Duxing'a, Yang Yuebin, and Bao Chao at Xiaochikou, and remained at Wuchang to direct the campaign.
21
使使使 退 西 稿
He memorialized on war and administration, writing in part: "Hubei's armies have been lawless for years; rebels large or small find them panicking at the first alarm and routed at the first blow. Officers and men deceive one another and feel no shame. They thought to use the greedy and crafty, but are themselves used by greed and craft. Militia leaders from Sichuan, Huguang, and Henan recruit riffraff, report one man as ten, and draw rations for phantoms. They flee at contact, then enlist under another commander. The treasury is squeezed dry merely to glut desperadoes. When disbanded improperly they band together again as brigands. Recruited braves are the plague of recent years; the Green Standard troops are cowards by habit, rolls are padded, and army discipline has ceased to exist. This is the first military reform to undertake. From antiquity the Jing-Xiang region has been the pivot between north and south, and Wuhan its throat. Alarm at Wuhan shakes every neighboring province. In four years Wuchang fell three times and Hanyang four. Of the southeastern provinces none suffered like Wuhan. A skilled fighter seizes his foe's throat; a skilled commander reads the terrain. A stronghold at Wuhan would give the eastern armies a base with steady arms, grain, and convoys, and a place to heal the wounded. To pacify the lower Yangtze one must first hold Hubei: that much is plain. To hold Hubei one must first secure Hanyang. Hubei was lost because Hanyang stood unguarded. A minor setback downstream let the rebels pour straight in. I urge establishing eight thousand infantry and two thousand sailors at Wuhan with constant drill. In peace they would deter brigands even from the roadside weeds; in war they could check an enemy a thousand li away. The eastern armies fight far from home; hard battle wears them down and long service exhausts them. Sick men left in the ranks harm both fighting power and the pay rolls. Rotating Wuhan garrisons would keep morale fresh and the march easier. This is why Wuhan needs garrison and drill without delay. Many Hubei riffraff joined the rebels; chasing them with troops only harasses the innocent. Only baojia registers, family bonds, and binding offenders for judgment, sparing some and executing others, will serve. Without fit magistrates, the law cannot be enforced. How officials act is what scholars and commoners follow; and how the gentry act is what simple folk imitate. No one ever won the people without nurturing scholars, or kept them quiet without watching officials. In 1855 the harvest was abundant yet some counties reported disaster; in 1856 famine struck yet some still collected taxes. Calling plenty famine cripples the treasury; Calling lean years prosperous harms the people and, in the end, the treasury. In famine years officials pocketed tax relief that never reached the people. Every fee called an 'extra levy' or 'urgent contribution' drains the state and burdens the people. Business with superiors he palmed off on secretaries; dealings with the people he left to gatekeepers. Lawsuits rotted in backlog; theft and outrage festered while officials dithered. What magistrates dismiss as trifles are calamities for commoners; today's petty thief is tomorrow's rebel chief. It is fire heaped on kindling; the hidden danger grows by the day. Donation drives brought 'hall treading' and greeting gifts; license brokers extorted; likin offices levied off-the-books charges. Since taking office I have impeached official after official; the court has its laws, and I accept whatever hatred follows. Dismissing the corrupt is easy; finding able men is hard. Remove one man and the next does the same under another name; the abuses would be beyond counting. I urge banning official banqueting, starting afresh with every clerk, honoring plain duty and driving out display. In a few years the administration might look different. Many county posts stand empty; I ask the Board not to limit appointments by examination seniority alone. This is the urgent heart of civil administration. Wuhan has only just been retaken yet some call it settled; I am uneasy. If we call this peace, remember we had 'recovered' it twice before. Seven Jiangxi prefectures lie in rebel hands and raiders strike from every flank—not only Jiujiang and Anqing should worry us. Before recovery the crisis kept civil and military officials afraid; after recovery work is easier, but I fear both will grow reckless. Your Majesty has long seen through provincial window-dressing. Forgive my bluntness; I speak plainly. The memorial reached the throne and won the Emperor's praise and assent. He disbanded useless militia, trained new troops, and remitted land tax in forty-six counties to ease hardship. A verification office audited every warehouse in the province; a bureau of integrity honored officials, gentry, and women who died loyal; and a supply office stocked the eastern expedition. He tightened civil rule, impeached dozens of officers, elevated the honest and capable, and wrote personal admonitions to his commanders like letters to sons. Early on his officers played the governor-general against the governor; he ordered: "Anyone who gossips again about northern shore armies or civil affairs will be punished for sedition. Guan Wen met him openly and no longer hamstrung him. Lin Yi drafted military and civil policy, gave credit and took blame, and governor-general and governor worked in harmony. Hubei's revival rested on that accord. Bandits ravaged Xiangyang and spilled into Henan; he sent Tang Xunfang to suppress them.
22
調 宿 調 宿 滿 歿
In spring 1857 he captured the bandit leader Gao Xian'er and others. Chen Yucheng drove north from Anhui and no army could stop him. Lin Yi took command at Huangzhou while more than a hundred thousand rebels held the east bank of the Ba River. When floods rose he destroyed the Santai River stone bridges and held the choke points. A hidden detachment marched from Huilongshan to block their upstream escape. He brought Li Xuyi with Hunan troops and led a joint assault at Sunjiazui, Majiahe, and Yueshan; the rebels were routed and fled. Du Xing'a and Li Xubin followed with victories at Huangmei and Susong, and northern Hubei was cleared. He then inspected forces at Jiujiang, set the encirclement plan, and returned. In April 1858 Li Xubin took Jiujiang and had the rebel chief Lin Qirong executed by dismemberment. The throne praised his command and made him Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent. Lin Yi turned to Anqing: Yang Yuebin sailed from Jiujiang, Du Xing'a marched from Susong and Wangjiang, and both closed on the siege. Li Xubin aimed to retake Taihu, Qianshan, and Tongcheng as a pincer with Du Xing'a. In May he began mourning for his mother; the court gave him a hundred days' leave and ordered him back to the governorship when it ended. In July Luzhou fell; Li Xubin rushed with a light force and was killed at Sanhe. Lin Yi was escorting his mother's coffin home when an urgent edict recalled him; he wept, rose, and marched straight to Huangzhou, steadying the armies.
23
西 -{}- 調
In 1859 he encamped at Shangbahe, joined Li Xuyi in drilling the ranks night and day, and planned a major offensive. Shi Dakai invaded Hunan from Jiangxi and besieged Baoqing. He sent Li Xuyi with Shu Bao's cavalry and detachments of sailors to hold the rivers; Baoqing was relieved, and he joined Zeng Guofan to retake Anhui. Zeng Guofan would advance downriver as the first column; Duo Long'a and Bao Chao would take Qianshan and Taihu as the second; Lin Yi would march from Yingshan and Huoshan as the third; Li Xuyi would come through Songziguan toward Shangcheng and Gushi as the fourth. In October he moved headquarters from Huangzhou to Yingshan. Chen Yucheng, the rebels' craftiest commander, saw Taihu hard pressed and rallied the Nian leaders Zhang Luoxing and Gong the Blind with hundreds of thousands of men. Lin Yi massed his best troops for a battle meant to destroy them in one blow. He and Zeng Guofan deployed the generals and set strategy. They needed a field commander; Duo Long'a had both brains and nerve, but Bao Chao would not defer to him until Lin Yi exchanged a dozen personal letters of persuasion. As insurance he sent Jin Guochen and Yu Jichang with eight thousand men through Qianshan's Tiantang to hit the enemy's rear. In December the rebels arrived; Bao Chao held Xiaochiyi on the main road and they concentrated their assault on him. Duo Long'a feared splitting his force and held back, then sent Tang Xunfang to help. As the crisis peaked, Jin Guochen's men marched beating drums from the hills and the rebels' morale broke.
24
西 -{}-
In the first month of 1860 Duo Long'a struck Luoshanchong on the west and Bao Chao on the east at Xiaochiyi; Zhu Pinlong, Jiang Ningxue, Tang Xunfang, Jin Guochen, and others joined the assault, killing more than twenty thousand rebels and recovering Taihu and Qianshan. It was a victory seldom matched in the war, and Anqing was left isolated. Then the Jiangnan armies collapsed and Suzhou and Changzhou fell; Zeng Guofan became governor-general of Liangjiang and took command. Lin Yi drafted a multi-pronged offensive; Zeng Guofan used only part of it, camping Bao Chao at Qimen to recover the lower Yangtze while his brother Guoquan besieged Anqing. Lin Yi had Duo Long'a besiege Tongcheng and Li Xuyi hold Qingcaodi in support; Du Xing'a operated north of the river with divided columns for supplies, and Lin Yi left all of it to them. In October Duo Long'a and Li Xuyi routed the rebels at Guache River near Tongcheng. Lin Yi moved to Taihu, reasoning that if relief for Anqing failed the rebels would plunge into Hubei's heartland to split his forces. He posted Yu Jichang at Le'erling in Huoshan and Cheng Daji at Songziguan in Luotian, ordering them not to offer reckless battle but to hold until reinforcements came.
25
西 西
In spring 1861 the rebels joined Nian forces in a western drive; Cheng Daji defeated them at Songziguan and killed the Nian chief Gong the Blind. The Huoshan garrison disobeyed orders, was beaten, and the rebels took Huangzhou, De'an, Xiaogan, and Suizhou; Lin Yi recalled Li Xuyi. Rebel detachments swept back through Qizhou and Huangzhou toward Anqing to coordinate with the garrison in a pincer. He sent Cheng Daji south; Bao Chao came up from the south bank, smashed the rebels at Jixian Pass, killed thousands, and executed their leader Liu Qilin by dismemberment. Duo Long'a routed the relief force at Tongcheng; with their plan foiled and provisions inside Anqing nearly gone, the defenders grew desperate. Rebels south of the river struck from Jiangxi into Xingguo and Daye and as far as Chongyang and Tongcheng, shaking Wuhan. Though ill and coughing blood, Lin Yi led troops back to rescue Hubei even as the siege of Anqing tightened. By the time he reached Hubei the rebels had fled at the news of his approach. On the first day of the eighth month Anqing fell. Zeng Guofan credited Lin Yi as chief architect of victory; the throne made him Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent and granted a hereditary commandant's rank. Tongcheng, Lujiang, and Shucheng were retaken; rebels in Huangzhou and De'an were hunted down; Hubei was fully pacified.
26
Long ill, he learned that Emperor Wenzong had died at Rehe, grieved until he vomited blood, and died in the eighth month. The court posthumously honored him as governor, enshrined him in the Shrine of Worthies, built temples in Hubei and Hunan, granted his son Ziqin the juren degree, and gave him the posthumous name Wenzhong. In 1862 the court declared: "Lin Yi died before finishing his work, yet his feats were supreme and his fame still fills the land; the people of the middle Yangtze and Hubei praise him to this day. It ordered one imperial sacrifice at his ancestral hall in his home county." After the lower Yangtze was pacified he received an additional first-class Light Chariot Commandant hereditary rank, which his son Ziqin inherited and later merged with the earlier rank into a baronetcy. In the Guangxu era his grandson Zuyin inherited the title and served as secretary in the Ministry of Posts.
27
退 滿 欿
Lin Yi looked imposing, with a rock-steady gaze that awed those around him. When business came he decided it on the spot without delay. He excelled at auditing accounts, reformed Hubei's corrupt grain-tax system on the basis of the Board rate, and adjusted surcharges by locality—cutting more than a million strings from the people's yearly burden, adding more than four hundred thousand taels to revenue, and banking over three hundred thousand taels in savings. With Huai salt cut off, Huguang lived on Sichuan salt; he taxed it at Yichang, Shashi, Wuxue, and Laohekou at several times the old rate. While southeastern provinces used likin to fund armies, Hubei mostly put scholars in charge of collection and kept the levies honest. He ran the army with strict discipline, wrote the regulations himself, and cultivated commanders. He said: "Boisterous troops always fail; greedy generals always flinch; study the commander and you know the army, study the army and you know the commander. A supreme commander must grasp the big picture and know when to advance, retreat, or wait; next know formations and win in the field; last comes mere bravery—that is the least of the three. He led his officers with sincerity, shaped them to their gifts, and many rose to fame and rank. He scrutinized officials rigorously yet never let a good deed pass unnoticed, wrote personal letters of praise, and recipients felt more honored than by an official recommendation—so men of every rank were eager to serve him. Men of talent and principle who shunned official careers he drew from afar, housed at the Baoshan Hall in Wuchang, and held up as models for others. He once said, "A state needs talent the way fish need water, birds need forests, people need air, and plants need soil. With it they live; without it they perish. Talent does not petition the world—the world must go out and find it." He recommended men he did not always know personally, yet never chose wrongly. When Zeng Guofan said his recommendations of talent had filled the empire, it was no exaggeration. He felt he had come to the Way late, held himself to stern discipline, and stayed modest as if he never measured up. His family held several hundred mu of land; on first taking office he swore at his ancestors' graves never to pad his private purse with public pay. His father had published Admonitions for Disciples; he carried on that aim at the Zhenyan Academy, teaching students practical, useful learning. On his deathbed he said, "If you wish to honor me after I die, give only to the academy—do not provide for my family." His Reading History and Military Stratagems, memorials, and correspondence were all classics of statecraft.
28
使
The historian writes: Luo Bingzhang was broad-minded and tolerant, always drawing out the best in others. Hu Linyi matched deeds to names and in practical statesmanship stood above his contemporaries. Their styles of administration—lenient or stern, loose or tight—seemed worlds apart, yet both governed from a distance, marshaled a host of talent, and thereby built towering achievements. The regions they oversaw sprawled across a thousand li, and their plans routinely shaped the war as a whole. Without them, Zeng Guofan, Zuo Zongtang, and their peers would have lacked the backing they relied on, and victory would have been far harder to win. Looking back on the revival of the dynasty, how immense was the stake these two men held?
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