1
=李續賓=李續賓，字迪庵，湖南湘鄉人。 諸生，膂力過人，善騎射。 羅澤南講學里中，折節受書。 咸豐初，澤南募鄉勇殺賊，續賓奉父命往佐之，從平桂東土匪。 三年，援江西，令將右營。 澤南每戰，續賓皆從。 歸湖南，屯衡州，复永興。
Li Xubin, whose style was Di'an, came from Xiangxiang County in Hunan. A degree-holder, he possessed unusual strength and excelled at horsemanship and archery. When Luo Zeren taught in their home district, he set aside his pride to study under him. Early in the Xianfeng reign, when Zeren raised local militia to fight the rebels, Xubin's father sent him to serve under him, and he helped put down the Guidong bandits. In the third year he marched to aid Jiangxi and was placed in command of the right battalion. Xubin accompanied Zeren on every campaign. They returned to Hunan, encamped at Hengzhou, and retook Yongxing.
2
四年夏，從澤南規岳州，湘軍僅千人，戰於大橋，續賓率數騎駐山岡，賊至不動，俟兵漸集，親搏戰，馳斬賊目，奪其旗，追北十餘里。 次日，塔齊布至戰地，服其勇，由是知名。 連旬與賊戰，續賓曰：「賊不得擄掠，今且盡，可乘機薄其壘。」 塔齊布從之。 會風雨，奮擊，連破賊壘，賊乃棄岳州而遁。 論功，累擢知縣。 從澤南克崇陽、咸寧，規武昌，大戰於花園，及破鮎魚套賊營，功皆最。 武漢复，擢直隸州知州，賜花翎。 進攻田家鎮，賊水陸數万，塔齊布阻於富池口，湘軍合寶勇僅二千六百人，咸色沮，續賓手刃逃者三人，軍心始固。 大戰於半壁山，殺賊數千，焚其巢，遂平田家鎮。 擢知府，賜號摯勇巴圖魯。 尋授安慶知府。
That summer of the fourth year, marching with Zeren against Yuezhou, the Hunan forces numbered barely a thousand. At the battle of Daqiao Bridge, Xubin took a few horsemen to a hillcrest and held his ground as the rebels approached. Once reinforcements had gathered, he joined the melee in person, rode down a rebel chief, captured the enemy standard, and drove the foe north for over ten li. The next day Ta Qibu came to the field, was impressed by his valor, and from then on Xubin was widely known. After weeks of fighting the rebels, Xubin said, "They have been unable to forage for supplies and are nearly spent—we should take this chance to storm their stockade." Ta Qibu agreed. A storm arose; they attacked with vigor, took one rebel fort after another, and the enemy abandoned Yuezhou and fled. For his merits he was promoted repeatedly, eventually to the rank of district magistrate. He followed Zeren in the capture of Chongyang and Xianning and the advance on Wuchang, fought a major battle at Huayuan, and led the charge in the storming of the Niuyutao camp—on every occasion his service ranked first. After Wuhan was retaken he was raised to prefect of Zhizhou in Zhili and awarded the peacock plume. In the assault on Tianjia Town the rebels mustered tens of thousands by land and water, while Ta Qibu was stalled at Fuchikou. The Hunan forces and the Baoyong contingent together numbered only 2,600, and spirits sank until Xubin cut down three runaways with his own hand; only then did the army steady itself. At Banbishan they fought a major engagement, killed thousands of rebels, burned their stronghold, and secured Tianjia Town. He was promoted to prefectural intendant and given the honorific title Resolute Brave Batulu. He was soon appointed prefect of Anqing.
3
於是從羅澤南、塔齊布連复廣濟、黃梅，破賊於翟港、孔壟，每戰率為軍鋒。 進規九江，九江城堅，賊所聚合，攻不能下。 議分兵剿湖口、梅家洲，從澤南屯盔山。 十二月，水師失利，入彭蠡湖，為賊所扼。 續賓憤甚，請於曾國籓，自率千人渡江攻小池口，塔齊布率二十人偕行。 塔齊布與續賓皆恃勇，每合戰，逼賊，席地坐，槍彈如雨，不顧，忽躍起突陣，橫厲無前，習以為常。 至是眾寡懸絕，戰竟日不能克，暮收隊，而塔齊布失踪，欲再渡江入賊壘覓之，塔齊布旋自返。
He then campaigned with Luo Zeren and Ta Qibu to retake Guangji and Huangmei, routed the rebels at Zhaigang and Konglong, and in battle after battle led the van. They moved against Jiujiang, whose walls were strong and where the rebels had massed, but the city could not be taken. They decided to detach forces against Hukou and Meijiazhou while Xubin followed Zeren in encamping at Kuishan. In the twelfth month the fleet was defeated and driven into Poyang Lake, where the rebels bottled it up. Furious, Xubin asked Zeng Guofan for permission to cross the Yangzi at the head of a thousand men and strike Xiaochikou; Ta Qibu went along with twenty followers. Both Ta Qibu and Xubin were famed for daring: in every fight they pressed the enemy, would sit on the ground under a hail of musket fire without flinching, then spring up and charge the line, cutting through with reckless force until it became their custom. This time they were hopelessly outnumbered; the fight lasted all day without success, and at dusk they drew off—only to find Ta Qibu missing. Xubin was ready to cross again and search the rebel lines, but Ta Qibu soon reappeared on his own.
4
五年春，粵匪由江寧大股上犯，武昌再陷。 曾國籓頓兵江西，續賓偕澤南從之。 尋分赴贛東攻剿，連复弋陽、廣信、德興、義寧，記名以道員用。 是年秋，回援湖北，克通城、崇陽，分兵趨羊樓峒。 策賊遠道赴援利速戰，堅守俟之。 明日賊至，相持至暮，瞰其怠，突擊之，大潰。 蒲圻、咸寧相繼复，加鹽運使銜。 十一月，進攻武昌，破塘角賊壘，又敗賊於窯灣，屢戰皆捷，蹋平城外賊壘。 六年二月，羅澤南以砲傷卒於軍，軍中新失帥，人情洶洶，賊復增壘抗拒。 巡撫胡林翼奏以續賓代領其眾，軍勢復振，盡剷平城外新壘，連於賽湖堤、小龜山、雙鳳山破城中出竄之賊。 七月，石達開糾江南、江西各路賊七八萬來援，城賊將應之，續賓御之魯家港，旬日內大小二十餘戰，解散脅從萬餘，破賊二十餘壘，加布政使銜。 賊閉城不出，乃開壕引江水灌入，為長圍困之。 十一月，克武昌，記名以按察使用。
In the spring of the fifth year a large Taiping force from Nanjing marched upriver and Wuchang fell once more. Zeng Guofan held his forces in Jiangxi, and Xubin followed Zeren to join him. They were soon sent to campaign in eastern Jiangxi, retaking Yiyang, Guangxin, Dexing, and Yining in succession, and Xubin was placed on the rolls for appointment as a circuit intendant. That autumn they marched back to relieve Hubei, took Tongcheng and Chongyang, and sent a detachment toward Yangloudong. He reasoned that enemy reinforcements marching from a distance would want a quick fight, so he stood on the defensive and waited. The rebels came the next day; the standoff lasted until evening, when he saw them flagging, charged, and put them to rout. Puchi and Xianning were retaken in turn, and he received the brevet title of salt transport commissioner. In the eleventh month they pressed the attack on Wuchang, stormed the Tangjiao forts, defeated the enemy again at Yaowan, won a string of victories, and leveled the rebel works outside the city. In the second month of the sixth year Luo Zeren died of a gunshot wound in camp; with their commander gone the troops were unsettled, and the rebels threw up new works to hold them off. Governor Hu Linyi recommended that Xubin take command of Zeren's troops; the army rallied, cleared every new fort outside the walls, and repeatedly smashed rebel sorties at Saihudi, Xiaoguishan, and Shuangfengshan. In the seventh month Shi Dakai gathered seventy or eighty thousand rebels from Jiangnan and Jiangxi to relieve the city; Xubin met them at Lujiagang and in ten days fought more than twenty engagements, disbanding over ten thousand pressed men and destroying more than twenty enemy camps, for which he received the brevet rank of provincial administration commissioner. When the enemy refused to sally, he dug trenches and diverted the river to flood the city, tightening a long siege around it. Wuchang fell in the eleventh month, and he was placed on the rolls for appointment as provincial surveillance commissioner.
5
渡江克黃州，連復大冶、興國，直薄九江城下。 九江賊首林啟榮堅守苦戰。 續賓復用攻武昌法，濬長壕三十里。 七年三月，壕成，湖口、安慶賊迭來援，皆擊走之。 六月，賊犯蘄州、黃梅，續賓渡江迎擊於廣濟童司牌，大破之。 合水師進攻小池口，毀其城。 策九江賊恃湖口為犄角，不拔湖口，九江不可得。 九月，令弟續宜攻梅家洲，自率師揚言往宿松，潛伏湖口後山。 水師並至，分攻，賊方悉銳以拒。 續賓率士卒攀蘿至山椒，破空下，賊大駭，盡殲其眾。 立克湖口縣城，梅家洲賊亦遁，乘勝克彭澤及小姑洑。 捷聞，授浙江布政使。 於是賊援遂絕。 八年四月，以地雷轟城百餘丈，梯而登，殄賊萬餘，擒林啟榮及李興隆等磔之。 九江平，加巡撫銜，賜黃馬褂，許專摺奏事。
He crossed the Yangzi, took Huangzhou, retook Daye and Xingguo in succession, and marched straight to the walls of Jiujiang. The rebel commander at Jiujiang, Lin Qirong, defended the city in a desperate fight. Xubin again used the siege method that had taken Wuchang and dug a trench encircling the city for thirty li. By the third month of the seventh year the trench was finished; rebel relief columns from Hukou and Anqing came one after another, and each was driven off. In the sixth month the rebels threatened Qizhou and Huangmei; Xubin crossed the river and crushed them at Tongsipai in Guangji. He joined the fleet in an assault on Xiaochikou and demolished the town. He judged that the Jiujiang garrison depended on Hukou as its flank; until Hukou fell, Jiujiang could not be taken. In the ninth month he sent his brother Xuyi against Meijiazhou while he marched in the open toward Susong, then hid his main force on the ridge behind Hukou. The fleet joined the assault on several fronts, drawing the enemy's best troops into the fight. Xubin led his men up the cliffs by the vines to the summit, then charged down from above; the rebels were thrown into panic and wiped out to the last man. Hukou county fell at once; the Meijiazhou garrison fled, and the victors pressed on to take Pengze and Xiaogufu. News of the victory brought his appointment as provincial administration commissioner of Zhejiang. Rebel relief was now cut off entirely. In the fourth month of the eighth year a mine breach opened more than a hundred zhang of wall; his men went up the ladders, killed more than ten thousand defenders, and took Lin Qirong, Li Xinglong, and others, who were executed by dismemberment. With Jiujiang pacified he received the brevet rank of governor-general, the yellow riding jacket, and the right to submit memorials directly to the throne.
6
續賓既下九江，請假省親，抵湖北，陳玉成陷麻城、黃安，移兵擊走之。 時續賓威望冠諸軍，浙人官京師者，合疏請飭援浙江。 胡林翼議大舉進規安徽，詔將軍都興阿、總兵鮑超由宿松趨安慶，續賓由英山趨太湖。 續賓乃留弟續宜屯武昌，自率八千人行，會起曾國籓視師，續賓復分所部千人與之，至太湖而署巡撫李孟群師潰廬州，改道赴援。 八月至九月，克楓香鋪、小池驛、梅心驛，复太湖、潛山、桐城、舒城，賊望風潰走。 軍無留行，進規廬州。
After Jiujiang fell Xubin asked leave to visit his family; on reaching Hubei he found Chen Yucheng had taken Macheng and Huang'an, and he marched to drive him off. Xubin's fame now stood above every other commander, and Zhejiang officials at court joined in a memorial asking that he be sent to relieve their province. Hu Linyi urged a major offensive into Anhui; the court ordered General Du Xing'a and Brigadier Bao Chao from Susong toward Anqing and Xubin from Yingshan toward Taihu. Xubin left his brother Xuyi to hold Wuchang and marched with eight thousand men; when Zeng Guofan was appointed to oversee the armies, Xubin detached a thousand troops for him. At Taihu he learned that Acting Governor Li Mengqun's force had been shattered at Luzhou and turned aside to relieve him. Between the eighth and ninth months he took Fengxiangpu, Xiaochiyi, and Meixinyi and retook Taihu, Qianshan, Tongcheng, and Shucheng; the rebels broke and ran wherever he appeared. The army did not pause and pressed on toward Luzhou.
7
賊於三河鎮築城，外列九壘，憑河設險，我軍非得三河不能進。 續賓克桐城、舒城後，各留守兵，所率臨敵僅五千人。 十月，分三路攻賊，九壘皆下，殺賊七千餘，我軍傷亡亦逾千人。 趣後軍未至，而陳玉成、李世賢糾合捻匪來援，眾十萬，連營十餘里。 諸將議退守桐城，續賓不可。 夜半，部勒各營，旦日迎擊，至樊家渡，天大霧，賊分隊包抄，我軍驚潰，副將劉祜山，參將彭友勝，游擊胡廷槐、鄒玉堂、杜廷光，皆戰死。 續賓衝盪苦戰，賊集愈多，營壘皆破。 或勸突圍出，圖再振，續賓曰：「軍興十年，皆以退走損國威。 吾前後數百戰，出隊即不望生還。 今日必死，不原從者自為計。」 諸將士皆曰：「原從公死！」 日暮上馬，開壁擊殺數百人。 總兵李續燾、副將彭祥瑞越壘衝出，賊踞其壘，決河堤，斷去路。 續賓具衣冠望闕叩首，取所奉廷旨及批摺焚之，曰：「不可使宸翰污賊手。」 躍馬馳入賊陣，死之。 同知曾國華，知府何忠駿，知州王揆一，同知董容方，知縣楊德訚，從九品李續蓺、張溥萬，皆殉焉。 道員孫守信、運同丁銳義猶守中右營，越三日營陷，同死之。 是役文武官弁死者數百人，士卒數千人。
The rebels fortified Sanhe Town and ringed it with nine outworks along the river; the Qing forces could not advance until Sanhe fell. After taking Tongcheng and Shucheng he left garrisons behind and went forward with only five thousand men. In the tenth month he attacked on three fronts, carried all nine forts, killed more than seven thousand rebels, and lost over a thousand of his own men. Before his reinforcements could come up, Chen Yucheng and Li Shixian rallied the Nian and other allies until a hundred thousand rebels were camped in a line more than ten li long. His officers urged a retreat to Tongcheng, but Xubin refused. At midnight he drew up the camps; at dawn he marched out to meet the enemy. At Fanjiadu a thick fog settled; rebel detachments swung around both flanks, the army broke in panic, and Vice Commander Liu Hushan, Staff Commander Peng Yousheng, and Mobile Corps Commanders Hu Tinghuai, Zou Yutang, and Du Tingguang were all killed. Xubin fought on in the thick of it as the enemy closed in from every side and overran the camps. Some urged him to break out and fight another day; Xubin said, "For ten years of war every retreat has cost the dynasty its prestige. In hundreds of battles I have never marched out expecting to come back alive. Today I shall die; whoever does not wish to follow me may save himself." His officers and men cried, "We will die with you!" At dusk he mounted, threw open the stockade, and cut down several hundred of the enemy. Brigadier Li Xudan and Vice Commander Peng Xiangrui broke out over the wall, but the rebels seized the camp, breached the river dike, and cut off the escape route. Xubin put on his full dress, bowed toward the palace, and burned the edicts and annotated memorials he carried, saying, "The emperor's writing must not fall into rebel hands." He spurred his horse into the enemy ranks and was killed. Subprefect Zeng Guohua, Prefect He Zhongjun, Prefect Wang Kuiyi, Subprefect Dong Rongfang, Magistrate Yang Deyin, and subofficials Li Xuyi and Zhang Puwan all perished with him. Circuit intendant Sun Shouxin and transport subcommissioner Ding Ruiyi still held the central right battalion; three days later the camp was overrun and they died with him. In that battle several hundred officers and several thousand soldiers were killed.
8
時方有旨命會辦安徽軍務，及死事上聞，文宗流涕，手敕曰：「惜我良將，不克令終。 尚冀忠靈不昧，他年生申、甫以佐予也！」 贈總督，入祀昭忠祠，立功地建專祠，諡忠武。 賜其父一品封典，子光久、光令並賜舉人，予騎都尉世職。
An edict had just appointed him to assist in Anhui; when word of his death reached the court, Emperor Wenzong wept and wrote in his own hand, "Alas for my fine general, denied a peaceful end. May his loyal spirit endure, and may Heaven one day send another Shen Bo or Fu Shang to aid me!" He was posthumously made governor-general, enshrined in the Shrine of Loyalty and Fidelity, granted a private temple at the scene of his service, and given the posthumous name Zhongwu (Loyal and Martial). His father received a first-rank ennoblement, his sons Guangjiu and Guangling were both granted the juren degree by imperial favor, and the family received the hereditary rank of Commandant of Cavalry.
9
續賓既歿，曾國籓疏上其生平戰績，略曰：「續賓隨羅澤南征剿，循循不自表異。 岳州之戰，所將白旗，號為無敵，田家鎮以少勝眾。 九江之敗，士卒多逃，獨所部依依不去，眾稱其能得士心。 軍中人人以氣節相高，獨默然深藏。 然忠果之色，見於眉宇。 遠近上下，皆信其大節不苟。 臣所立湘勇營製，行之既久，各營時有變更，獨續賓守法，始終不變。 歷年節省餉項及廉俸，不寄家自肥，概留備軍中非常之需。 量力濟人，不忍他軍飢而己軍獨飽。 馭下極寬，而弁勇有罪，往往揮淚手刃之。 至於臨陣，專以救敗為務。 遇賊則讓人御其弱者，自當其悍者。 分兵則以強者予人，而攜弱者自隨。 弱者漸強，又易新營。 軍中每言肯攜帶弱兵，肯臨陣救人者，前惟塔齊布，後惟續賓。 三河之敗，亦由分兵所致。 此軍民所由感泣不忘者也。」 於是特詔嘉其有古名將風，以國籓疏宣付史館，用示褒異。 洎江南平，軫念前勞，加二等輕車都尉，並為男爵，子光久襲。
After Xubin's death Zeng Guofan submitted a memorial on his career, writing in part: "Xubin campaigned under Luo Zeren with steady modesty and never put himself forward. At Yuezhou his white-banner battalion was called invincible; at Tianjia Town he beat a larger force with fewer men. When Jiujiang was lost many men ran, but his own troops would not leave him, and men said he alone knew how to hold an army's loyalty. In camp every man made a show of high principle, but he kept his own counsel. Still, loyalty and resolve showed plainly in his face. Men high and low, near and far, all believed his integrity was absolute. The Hunan militia regulations I drew up had long been in use, and other camps often bent them, but Xubin alone held to the rules without change. Year after year he saved from rations and his official salary, sent nothing home for his own gain, and kept it all for the army's emergencies. He shared what he could and could not bear to see other units go hungry while his men ate their fill. He was very easy on his men, yet when an officer or soldier deserved death he often killed him with his own hand, weeping as he did so. In battle his one concern was to retrieve a lost fight. When the enemy appeared he left the weaker foes to others and took the toughest himself. When he detached units he gave others his best men and kept the raw recruits with him. Once the weak had hardened into veterans, he took on a fresh batch of green troops. Camp talk had it that only Ta Qibu before him, and only Xubin after, would march with weak troops and risk himself to rescue others in a fight. The disaster at Sanhe, too, came of his habit of splitting his force. This is why soldiers and civilians wept for him and would not forget him." The throne then issued a special edict praising his ancient general's spirit, ordered Zeng's memorial published, and sent it to the Historiographical Office as a mark of exceptional honor. After the south was pacified the court remembered his service, raised his hereditary rank to second-class Commandant of Light Chariots, made him a baron, and his son Guangjiu inherited the title.
10
=丁銳義=丁銳義，字伯冕，長沙人。 治鄉團有聲，咸豐四年，從胡林翼援湖北，募壯士百人，後增至千人，號義字營。 戰武漢，以勇聞。 六年，羅澤南傷殞，賊酋古隆賢率眾犯官軍後路。 諸將以新失帥，皆主堅守。 銳義曰：「我軍頓城下六閱月，求戰不得。 今賊來乘我，出其不意，可一鼓滅。」 林翼壯之，令與唐訓方、蔣益澧、孫守信等夜出掩擊，大破賊於豹子海。 又戰葛店、華容，奪樊口賊舟，克武昌縣，圍黃州。 會大水，退軍屯青山。 武漢复，擢知縣。 駐防蘄、黃間，屢與鄉團卻敵。 八年，破黃泥畈、青天畈賊壘，擢同知。 又破賊於南陽河、阿彌鎮，擢運同。 遂從李續賓進剿安徽，破石牌賊壘，連下數縣。
Ding Ruiyi, whose style was Bomi, came from Changsha. He won fame organizing local militia; in the fourth year of Xianfeng he followed Hu Linyi to Hubei, raised a hundred men, later a thousand, known as the Yizi Battalion. He fought at Wuhan and earned a name for courage. In the sixth year, after Luo Zeren was killed, the rebel leader Gu Longxian struck at the army's rear. With their commander just dead, the other generals all favored staying on the defensive. Ruiyi said, "We have sat before these walls for six months without a fight. Now they come to catch us off guard—we can crush them in a single stroke." Hu Linyi approved; that night Ruiyi joined Tang Xunfang, Jiang Yili, Sun Shouxin, and others in a surprise attack and routed the enemy at Baozihai. He fought again at Gedian and Huarong, seized rebel boats at Fankou, took Wuchang county, and besieged Huangzhou. Floods forced a withdrawal to encamp at Qingshan. After Wuhan was retaken he was promoted to district magistrate. Stationed between Qizhou and Huangzhou, he repeatedly drove off the enemy with local militia. In the eighth year he stormed the forts at Huangnifan and Qingtianfan and was raised to subprefect. He defeated the rebels again at Nanyang River and Amizhen and was made transport subcommissioner. He then followed Li Xubin into Anhui, stormed the Shipai forts, and took several counties in succession.
11
將進攻三河，銳義諫曰：「孤軍深入，留兵四城，分力之半，死傷復多，士罷將驕，賊援將集，而貪進不已，此所謂強弩之末也。 使賊斷絕我餉道，舒、桐、潛、太兵少，見勝則怠，見敗必潰，四城將並覆。 乃令退師桐城，休息待援，僅可不敗耳。」 續賓不聽，銳義乃馳書湖北請援。 續賓讓之曰：「君嘗以千人破賊數万，乃何怯耶！」 及續賓軍敗，銳義率所部急救，身被數創。 續賓突圍戰死，銳義偕孫守信堅守其壁。 三日壘破，死之。 銳義耳聾，喜論兵，戰每孤軍勇進。 獨三河之役主持重，而說不見用。 卹贈鹽運使，加太常寺卿、騎都尉世職。
As they prepared to attack Sanhe, Ruiyi warned, "We have marched deep with a single column, left men in four towns, and halved our strength; casualties mount, the men are tired and the officers overconfident, and enemy reinforcements are gathering—yet we press on. This is the last force of a spent bow. If the enemy cuts our supply line, the garrisons at Shucheng, Tongcheng, Qianshan, and Taihu are too weak—they will slacken after a win and break after a loss, and all four towns will fall. Withdraw to Tongcheng, rest, and wait for reinforcements—that is the only way to avoid disaster." Xubin would not hear of it, and Ruiyi sent an urgent plea to Hubei for reinforcements. Xubin rebuked him: "You once routed tens of thousands with a thousand men—what makes you timid now?" When Xubin's army was beaten, Ruiyi rushed to the rescue with his own men and was wounded several times. Xubin broke out and was killed; Ruiyi and Sun Shouxin held the stockade. Three days later the fort fell and they died with it. Ruiyi was deaf, loved to talk strategy, and in battle often charged ahead with a lone detachment. At Sanhe alone his counsel carried weight, and it went unheeded. He was posthumously made salt transport commissioner, with the added ranks of Grand Master of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and hereditary Commandant of Cavalry.
12
孫守信，亦長沙人。 由內閣供事敘從九品，官湖北，從軍積功，累擢道員。 未嘗獨將，與銳義為友，臨危不去。 同及於難。 贈按察使，加太常寺卿、騎都尉世職。
Sun Shouxin, too, was from Changsha. He rose from a ninth-rank clerk in the Grand Secretariat to office in Hubei, campaigned with the army, and was promoted repeatedly to circuit intendant. He had never held independent command; he was Ruiyi's friend and would not abandon him in danger. He perished in the same disaster. He was posthumously made provincial surveillance commissioner, with the added ranks of Grand Master of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and hereditary Commandant of Cavalry.
13
=曾國華=曾國華，字溫甫，國籓弟。 咸豐五年，國籓兵困於江西，國華請於父，赴湖北乞師。 胡林翼令劉騰鴻，吳坤修、普承堯率五千人往援，以國華領其軍。 攻克咸寧、蒲圻、通城、新昌、上高，以達瑞州。 騰鴻戰城南，國華偕承堯戰城西北，屢破賊。 國籓至，乃合圍，掘塹周三十里，斷賊接濟。 會丁父憂，偕國籓奔喪去軍。 與李續賓姻家，招佐軍事。 當連克四縣，軍勢銳甚，國華以常勝軍家所忌，時與續賓深語，並書告國籓。 及軍敗，從續賓力戰死，贈道銜，予騎都尉世職，諡愍烈。
Zeng Guohua, whose style was Wenfu, was the younger brother of Zeng Guofan. In the fifth year of Xianfeng, with Guofan's army trapped in Jiangxi, Guohua asked his father's leave and went to Hubei to raise reinforcements. Hu Linyi sent Liu Tenghong, Wu Kunxiu, and Pu Chengyao with five thousand men to relieve him, with Guohua in overall command. They took Xianning, Puchi, Tongcheng, Xinchang, and Shanggao on the march to Ruizhou. Tenghong fought south of the city while Guohua and Chengyao fought in the northwest and repeatedly routed the enemy. When Guofan arrived they closed the ring, dug a thirty-li trench, and cut the enemy's supply lines. When their father died, he and Guofan left the army for mourning. Related by marriage to Li Xubin, he was invited to serve on his staff. After four counties fell in a row the army was at its peak; knowing that constant victory breeds envy, Guohua often spoke frankly with Xubin and wrote to Guofan as well. When the army was destroyed he fought beside Xubin to the death; he was posthumously given circuit rank, the hereditary Commandant of Cavalry, and the posthumous name Minlie (Sorrowful and Fierce).
14
=李續宜=李續宜，字希庵，續賓弟。 同事羅澤南。 以文童從軍，援江西、湖北，積功累擢同知，賜花翎。 武昌、漢陽复，胡林翼疏陳續宜功多為續賓所掩，詔以知府選用。 從續賓攻九江，賊由安徽上犯蘄、黃以牽我師。 咸豐七年，續宜率兵千七百人回援湖北，戰於黃州壩崎山，分三路進，毀賊壘，次蘄水、黃岡界。 上馬家河、火石港、郴柳灣賊壘林立，傾巢出撲，續宜伏兵山下，驟起突擊，賊大亂，譟，乘之，破壘四十，移屯蘄水。 遇援賊於月山，誘至山角，發砲擊之，潰，直搗其巢，焚屯聚數十處，破偽城五。 會克小池口，以道員用，賜號伊勒達巴圖魯，由是續宜之名與其兄相頡頏。
Li Xuyi, whose style was Xi'an, was Li Xubin's younger brother. He had studied under Luo Zeren with his brother. He joined the army as a young scholar, served in Jiangxi and Hubei, rose through repeated promotions to subprefect, and received the peacock plume. After Wuchang and Hanyang were retaken, Hu Linyi reported that much of Xuyi's merit had been credited to Xubin; the court ordered him selected for appointment as prefect. He followed Xubin against Jiujiang; rebels from Anhui struck Qizhou and Huangzhou to pin down the Qing forces. In the seventh year of Xianfeng Xuyi led 1,700 men back to Hubei, fought at Baqishan in Huangzhou on three fronts, destroyed enemy forts, and pushed to the Qishui–Huanggang border. At Majiahe, Huoshigang, and Chenliuwang the rebels had fortified in depth and came out in force; Xuyi hid men below the hill, sprang the ambush, threw them into chaos, and pressed the attack, taking forty forts before moving camp to Qishui. At Yueshan he lured enemy reinforcements into a corner of the hills, shelled them into flight, stormed their base, burned dozens of camps, and took five rebel strongholds. After Xiaochikou fell he was placed on the rolls as circuit intendant and given the title Yileda Batulu; from then on his fame matched his brother's.
15
回軍江西，會攻梅家洲，克湖口。 十月，賊酋韋俊率眾二萬复犯湖口。 續宜駐蝘蚘山，分兵三路，一出馬影橋，一出流澌橋，一扼勞家渡，賊來，擊卻之。 而賊由西洋橋、排龍口、二賢寺直趨蝘蚘山，續宜麾諸路奮擊，斬獲千餘。 馳抵磨盤山，設伏破泰坪關援賊，賊乃遁。 八年，九江既克，陳玉成由安徽竄蘄、黃，陷黃安。 續宜馳援不利，續賓繼至，合擊。 續宜攻北門，破其壘，賊夜遁，复黃安。 進至麻城，賊不戰引去。 續賓出師規安徽，胡林翼疏請留續宜固楚疆。 洎三河師熸，續賓戰歿，續宜在黃州，收輯殘部，思鄉者遣歸，原留者歸伍，差汰罪將，簡用其良，申儆訓練，經歲軍氣始復振。
He returned to Jiangxi, joined the attack on Meijiazhou, and took Hukou. In the tenth month the rebel commander Wei Jun returned with twenty thousand men to retake Hukou. Xuyi held Yanshan and divided his force: one column at Maying Bridge, one at Liushi Bridge, one blocking Laojiadu; each enemy attack was repulsed. Rebels then advanced from Xiyang Bridge, Pailongkou, and Erxian Temple straight on Yanshan; Xuyi ordered every column forward and killed or captured more than a thousand. He raced to Mopanshan, ambushed and broke the relief column from Taipingguan, and the enemy fled. In the eighth year, after Jiujiang fell, Chen Yucheng slipped from Anhui into Qizhou and Huangzhou and took Huang'an. Xuyi's rushed relief failed until Xubin arrived and they attacked together. Xuyi stormed the north gate, broke the works, and the enemy fled by night; Huang'an was retaken. At Macheng the rebels withdrew without a fight. When Xubin marched into Anhui, Hu Linyi asked that Xuyi be left to hold Hubei. After the disaster at Sanhe and Xubin's death, Xuyi was at Huangzhou; he gathered the survivors, sent the homesick home, kept those who wished to stay, cashiered guilty officers, promoted the able, tightened discipline, and within a year the army's morale returned.
16
九年，授荊宜施道。 石達開由江西竄入湖南，眾號三十萬，圍寶慶府城。 胡林翼檄續宜率兵五千馳援，諸援軍悉歸統屬。 時援軍三萬餘，城被圍兩月。 賊眾，食且盡，野掠無所得，聞續宜至，攻愈急。 續宜渡資江而軍，與劉長佑軍當賊衝，四戰而圍解，賊竄廣西境。 詔嘉續宜赴援迅速，加布政使銜。
In the ninth year he was made circuit intendant of Jing-Yi-Shi. Shi Dakai broke from Jiangxi into Hunan with a host said to number three hundred thousand and besieged Baoqing. Hu Linyi ordered Xuyi to the relief with five thousand men and placed every other relief column under his command. Relief forces now numbered more than thirty thousand; the city had been under siege for two months. The rebels were many, their food nearly gone, and foraging yielded nothing; when word came that Xuyi was near, they pressed the assault all the harder. Xuyi crossed the Zi River and, with Liu Changyou's force blocking the enemy's main thrust, fought four engagements, lifted the siege, and drove the rebels into Guangxi. The court praised his swift march to the relief and gave him the brevet rank of provincial administration commissioner.
17
十年，遷安徽按察使。 曾國荃方圍安慶，多隆阿攻桐城，續宜率萬人屯青草塥，在安慶、桐城之間。 陳玉成以十萬眾來援，續宜與多隆阿夾擊於掛車河，盡破棠梨山、尊上庵、香鋪街、望鶴墩賊壘，斬馘無算，追奔二十餘里，玉成走廬江。 捷聞，賜二品頂戴。 十一年，擢安徽巡撫，疏言：「陳玉成圖解安慶之圍，悉銳西竄，以攻我之所必救。 湖北為眾軍根本，臣宜提師回援，不能遽任皖撫之事。」 比抵武昌，賊已陷黃州、德安兩府五縣，乃會彭玉麟水師夾攻孝感，乘夜縱火，復其城，進攻德安，穴地道克之。 武昌、通城、咸寧、蒲圻諸縣相繼皆下，賜黃馬褂。 胡林翼病歿，詔授續宜湖北巡撫，駐黃州督師。 捻匪犯光化、穀城、均州及棗陽、襄陽，皆擊走之，調安徽巡撫。
In the tenth year he was transferred to provincial surveillance commissioner of Anhui. While Zeng Guoquan besieged Anqing and Duo Long'a attacked Tongcheng, Xuyi encamped ten thousand men at Qingcaogai between the two cities. Chen Yucheng came to relieve the city with a hundred thousand men; Xuyi and Duo Long'a caught him at Guache River, stormed the forts at Tanglishan, Zunshang'an, Xiangpujie, and Wanghedun, killed countless enemy, pursued them twenty li, and drove Yucheng back to Lujiang. News of the victory brought him the second-rank official button. In the eleventh year he was made governor of Anhui and wrote, "Chen Yucheng means to break the siege of Anqing by marching west in full strength to strike where we must relieve. Hubei is the base of all our armies; I must march back to relieve it and cannot yet take up the governorship of Anhui." By the time he reached Wuchang the enemy had taken five counties in Huangzhou and De'an; he joined Peng Yulin's fleet in a night assault on Xiaogan, retook the city by fire, then mined and took De'an. Wuchang, Tongcheng, Xianning, Puchi, and other counties fell in turn, and he received the yellow riding jacket. When Hu Linyi died, Xuyi was appointed governor of Hubei and stationed at Huangzhou to command the armies. He drove off Nian raids on Guanghua, Gucheng, Junzhou, Zaoyang, and Xiangyang, then was transferred to governor of Anhui.
18
同治元年，命幫辦欽差大臣勝保軍務。 時苗沛霖叛服無常，勝保袒之。 詔密詢續宜剿撫機宜，覆疏略謂：「苗沛霖官至道員，公犯不韙，圍撫臣於壽州，陷其城，屠其眾。 乃復詭言求撫，此豈足信？ 不過假稱反正，號召近縣，養成羽翼。 若正彼叛逆之名，人人得而誅之。 寬其黨羽，使為我用，彼勢孤，終成擒耳。」 上韙之。 續宜駐臨淮，令提督成大吉、總兵蕭慶衍，渡淮援潁州，破捻匪張洛行於大橋集，潁州圍解。 又令蔣凝學克霍丘，撫綏各圩，解散逆黨。 沛霖懾湘軍兵威，請討捻自贖，而勝保終欲養沛霖以自重，轉嫉湘軍，勢不相下。 會袁甲三以病請去，命續宜代為欽差大臣，督辦安徽全省軍務。 續宜旋丁母憂，奪情留軍。 三疏陳謝，舉唐訓方自代，允假百日。 回籍病咯血，六次詔促起視師，不能赴，二年十一月，卒於家。 詔加恩依總督軍營病故例賜卹，立功地方及原籍建專祠，諡勇毅。 賜其父人蓡四兩，地方官以時存問。 子光英，予官直隸州知州。
In the first year of Tongzhi he was ordered to assist Imperial Commissioner Sheng Bao. Miao Peilin was shifting between rebellion and submission, and Sheng Bao protected him. The court secretly asked Xuyi how to handle Miao; he replied in part, "Miao Peilin rose to circuit intendant, then openly rebelled, besieged the governor at Shouzhou, took the city, and massacred its people. Now he pretends to seek peace again—who can believe that? He only feigns loyalty to rally the neighboring counties and build his strength. Proclaim him a rebel, and any man may strike him down. Win over his followers and use them; isolated, he will be taken in the end." The emperor approved his plan. Xuyi stationed himself at Linhuai and sent Brigadier Cheng Daji and Commander Xiao Qingyan across the Huai to relieve Yingzhou; they defeated the Nian leader Zhang Luoxing at Daqiaoji and lifted the siege. He ordered Jiang Ningxue to take Huoqiu, pacify the walled villages, and disband the rebel bands. Peilin feared the Hunan army and offered to fight the Nian to redeem himself, but Sheng Bao wanted to keep him as a pawn and grew jealous of the Hunan forces; the two factions were at odds. When Yuan Jiasan resigned on grounds of illness, Xuyi was made Imperial Commissioner in charge of all military affairs in Anhui. Xuyi was soon in mourning for his mother but was kept on duty by imperial dispensation. He declined three times, recommended Tang Xunfang as his replacement, and was granted a hundred days' leave. He returned home with a consumptive cough; six edicts ordered him back to command, but he could not go; he died at home in the eleventh month of the second year. The court granted posthumous honors on the precedent for a governor-general dying in camp, ordered temples at the scene of his service and in his home county, and gave him the posthumous name Yongyi (Brave and Resolute). His father received four taels of ginseng, with orders that local officials visit him regularly. His son Guangying was granted the post of prefect of Zhizhou in Zhili.
19
續宜治軍嚴整，與兄續賓同負重名。 曾國籓嘗論其昆弟為人，續賓好蓋覆人過，續宜則嫉惡稍嚴。 續賓戰必身先，驍果縝密，續宜則規畫大計，不校一戰之利，及其成功一也。
Xuyi ran a tight army and shared his brother's great fame. Zeng Guofan once compared the brothers: Xubin was inclined to cover others' faults, Xuyi somewhat sterner in condemning wrong. Xubin always led the charge, fierce and meticulous in detail; Xuyi planned the larger campaign and cared little for a single engagement—yet in the end they achieved the same renown.
20
=王珍=王珍，字璞山，湖南湘鄉人。 諸生，從羅澤南學，任俠好奇。 咸豐二年，粵匪犯長沙，上書縣令硃孫詒，請練鄉兵從澤南教練，屯馬垞埔，以團防勞敘縣丞。 剿桂東土匪有功。 廣東邊境匪犯興寧，率死士百人馳擊，殪賊甚多，累擢同知直隸州。
Wang Zhen, styled Pushan, came from Xiangxiang in Hunan. He held licentiate rank, studied with Luo Zeren, and was adventurous and fond of feats of daring. When Guangdong rebels besieged Changsha in the second year of Xianfeng, he petitioned County Magistrate Zhu Sunyi to raise local militia trained by Luo Zeren. Stationed at Macuopu, he earned appointment as assistant magistrate for his service in organizing local defense. He distinguished himself suppressing bandits in Guidong. When border bandits raided Xingning, he rushed forward with a hundred picked volunteers, killed many of the enemy, and rose through repeated promotions to sub-prefect of Zhili Department.
21
三年，羅澤南援江西，初戰多死傷。 珍請於曾國籓，增募三千人，將往援，會南昌圍解。 國籓議裁汰其軍，巡撫駱秉章見所募勇可用，留二千四百人防湖南。 珍精於訓練，令士卒縛鐵瓦習超距。 自以意為陣法，進退變動，異於諸軍。 四年，粵匪踞岳州，珍由湘陰進攻，敗賊於杉木橋，乘勝克岳州，曾國籓率水陸軍並至。 珍出境進剿，遇賊羊樓峒，失利，賊躡其後，岳州复陷。 珍所部死者千人，坐輕進奪職，留營效力。 既而羅澤南從國籓東征，珍收集散眾，留未遣，駱秉章令率五百人徇郴州。
In the third year, when Luo Zeren marched to relieve Jiangxi, the opening engagements cost heavy casualties. Zhen asked Zeng Guofan to recruit three thousand more troops and was preparing to march to the rescue when the siege of Nanchang was already broken. Zeng Guofan planned to disband most of the force, but Governor Luo Bingzhang judged the new recruits effective and kept twenty-four hundred men to guard Hunan. An expert drillmaster, he had his men train by strapping on iron weights and practicing leaps and vaults. He invented his own tactical formations, and the way his units advanced, withdrew, and shifted was unlike anything in the other Hunan forces. In the fourth year, when Taiping forces held Yuezhou, Zhen advanced from Xiangyin, routed them at Shanmu Bridge, and pressed on to retake the city just as Zeng Guofan's combined army arrived by land and water. Pressing the pursuit beyond Hunan, he met the enemy at Yanglou Cave and was beaten; the rebels trailed him home, and Yuezhou fell once more. His command lost a thousand men. Punished for reckless pursuit, he was dismissed from rank but allowed to remain with the army and redeem himself. When Luo Zeren marched east with Zeng Guofan, Zhen was kept behind to rally stragglers. Luo Bingzhang then sent him with five hundred men against Chenzhou.
22
時兩廣交界土匪蜂起，硃連英、胡有祿最強，各擁萬人，稱王號，時時擾湖南邊境，珍與參將周雲耀協防江華，數擊走之。 援道州，解其圍。 策賊必乘虛襲江華，日馳百餘里，先至，待賊至迎擊，大破之。 進搗桃州，出龍虎關，破恭城賊於栗木街，回軍解寧遠、藍山圍。 別賊掠零陵，周雲耀困於隘。 珍率數十人馳進，令曰：「寇眾，退且死！」 據險夾擊，逐北數十里，轉戰深入九嶷山，賊氛漸清，復原官，賜花翎。 五年，土匪何賤苟勾結硃連英陷富川、江華，進犯永明。 珍偕周雲耀往剿，迭敗之。 連州匪自龍虎關來犯，勢甚張，疾趨迎擊，殪賊二千，擢知府。 餘賊走陷灌陽，復由全州襲陷東安。 珍會廣西軍克灌陽，馳至東安城下，環攻兩月，始克之。 賊竄出，合胡有祿，將入四明山。 分路抄襲，擒有祿，焚山中賊巢，餘黨悉盡。 時別賊何祿踞郴州，陳義和踞桂陽，分擾永興、茶陵、耒陽，窺衡州。 珍增募至千五百人，分兵守耒陽，自率千人攻桂陽，再戰克之。 賊聚糧於瓦蜜坪，火其屯，出奇兵攻郴州，賊遁走尚萬餘，合鄉團邀擊於黃沙堡，追至兩廣墟，賊方食，縱擊殲之。 乘勝破永明、江華踞賊，窮追至連州，硃連英僅以身跳免。 六年春，又破賊於陽山，賊遁英德。 駱秉章上其功，迭詔嘉獎，予四品封典，以道員即選。
Bandits were erupting all along the Guangdong-Guangxi frontier. Zhu Lianying and Hu Youlu were the most powerful, each commanding ten thousand men and proclaiming himself king. They repeatedly raided Hunan. Zhen and Assistant General Zhou Yunyao held Jianghua together and beat them back again and again. He marched to relieve Daozhou and broke the siege. Anticipating a strike at undefended Jianghua, he forced a march of more than a hundred li in a day, arrived first, and when the enemy appeared met them head-on in a crushing victory. Pushing into Taozhou through Longhu Pass, he routed the Gongcheng rebels at Limu Street, then swung back to raise the sieges of Ningyuan and Lanshan. When a separate rebel force pillaged Lingling, Zhou Yunyao found himself pinned in a defile. Zhen galloped forward with only a few dozen men and shouted: "The enemy outnumber us—retreat means death! He seized the high ground, struck from both flanks, and pursued the rout for miles into Jiuyi Mountain. As rebel activity waned, his rank was restored and he was awarded the peacock feather. In the fifth year, the bandit He Jiangou allied with Zhu Lianying, captured Fuchuan and Jianghua, and marched on Yongming. Zhen and Zhou Yunyao pursued them and inflicted defeat after defeat. When Lianzhou bandits poured through Longhu Pass in great force, he rushed to intercept them, killed two thousand, and was promoted to prefect. Survivors fled, overrunning Guanyang and then striking Dong'an from Quanzhou. Linking up with Guangxi troops, he retook Guanyang, then raced to Dong'an and invested the city for two months before it fell. The defeated rebels slipped away, joined Hu Youlu, and made for the Siming Mountains. Splitting his force to surround them, he captured Hu Youlu, burned the mountain hideouts, and exterminated the last of the band. Meanwhile the rebel He Lu held Chenzhou and Chen Yihe held Guiyang; their raids across Yongxing, Chaling, and Leiyang threatened Hengzhou. Zhen expanded his force to fifteen hundred names, posted troops at Leiyang, and personally led a thousand men against Guiyang, which fell after two hard fights. He burned the rebel grain depot at Wamiping, then surprised Chenzhou with a flanking column. More than ten thousand rebels fled, but local militia blocked them at Huangshabao. Zhen pursued them to Liangguang Market, where he caught them at mealtime and wiped them out. Pressing the victory, he cleared Yongming and Jianghua and chased the enemy all the way to Lianzhou, where Zhu Lianying barely escaped with his life. In the spring of the sixth year he routed another force at Yangshan and drove the survivors toward Yingde. Luo Bingzhang memorialized his record; the throne issued repeated commendations, a fourth-rank patent of nobility, and immediate appointment as a provincial commissioner.
23
珍專辦南防凡二年，湘、粵間諸匪誅殄幾盡，軍士死亡亦多。 請假將還，會羅澤南卒於武昌，李續賓代將其軍，粵匪石達開自江西窺湖北，續賓招珍助剿。 遂進屯岳州，轉戰崇陽、通城、通山、蒲圻，复四縣，殲賊首張康忠、陳華玉等，興國、大冶匪眾亦解散。 武昌尋克復，加按察使銜，以湖北道員記名簡放，仍駐軍岳州。
For two years Zhen held sole charge of Hunan's southern frontier. Rebels along the Hunan-Guangdong border were virtually wiped out, though at great cost in dead soldiers. When he applied for leave to go home, Luo Zeren died at Wuchang and Li Xubin took over his command. As Shi Dakai probed Hubei from Jiangxi, Xubin called Zhen back to help. He pushed into Yuezhou and fought through Chongyang, Tongcheng, Tongshan, and Puqi, recovering all four counties. Rebel chiefs Zhang Kangzhong and Chen Huayu were killed, and bandit bands in Xingguo and Daye melted away. After Wuchang was retaken, he received the rank of surveillance commissioner and nomination for a Hubei circuit post, while remaining encamped at Yuezhou.
24
七年，調援江西，五月，抵吉安。 先是官軍水陸合圍吉安，其攻臨江者，亦掘長壕困賊。 賊渠胡壽階、何秉權率眾數万來援，據水東，與城賊夾江相望。 珍沿贛江而南，自三曲灘濟，結營水東東南山上。 賊鼓譟乘之，珍登望樓，令士卒築壘不輟，毋許仰視，賊疑不進。 俄山後一軍出賊背，鼓聲起，築壘者投畚大呼馳擊，左右伏起，陣斬秉權，蹙賊眾於水，餘走水東。 軍中方具餐，珍曰：「不克水東不遑食！」 揮軍搗賊壘。 都司易普照，勇士也，先登中砲殞，眾憤，爭入壘，殺賊數千，壽階遁。 珍渡江壁藤田，壽階自寧都、沙溪挾援眾來犯，珍分兵擊其左，自率百人搗其右，賊崩潰，蹙之瑤嶺，擒壽階，斬馘數千。 是役悍賊俘斬殆盡。 閏月，援賊復自寧都出永豐。 珍以千二百人迎擊之，追至寧都之釣峰。 賊背水以拒，既敗，盡沒於水。 斬賊首蕭复勝等，拔難民萬餘； 六月，再破新城賊於東山壩，斬賊首張宗相等。
In the seventh year he was ordered to Jiangxi and reached Ji'an in the fifth month. Government forces had already invested Ji'an by land and water, while another column digging trenches around Linjiang was starving the defenders there. Rebel commanders Hu Shoujie and He Bingquan marched tens of thousands to the relief, seized Shuidong on the east bank, and faced the Ji'an garrison across the river. Zhen marched south along the Gan, crossed at Sanqu Beach, and fortified a camp on the southeastern hills overlooking Shuidong. Rebels surged forward with drums and shouts. From the watchtower Zhen ordered his men to keep building ramparts and forbid them to look up. The enemy suspected an ambush and held back. Suddenly a hidden column burst from the hills behind the enemy. At the drumbeat the men building ramparts dropped their tools, shouted, and charged. Ambushers rose on both flanks. He Bingquan was killed in the melee, masses of rebels were driven into the river, and the rest fled toward Shuidong. As his troops were sitting down to eat, Zhen declared: "No meal until Shuidong falls! He immediately ordered an assault on the rebel works. Division Commander Yi Puzhao, a fearless fighter, was first over the wall but fell to cannon fire. Enraged, the troops surged into the fort, killed thousands, and Hu Shoujie escaped. Zhen crossed the river and fortified Tengtian. When Hu Shoujie brought reinforcements from Ningdu and Shaxi, Zhen struck their left with a detachment and personally led a hundred men against their right. The rebel line collapsed; pressed to Yaoling, Hu Shoujie was captured and thousands were slain. In that campaign the hardest rebel fighters were killed or captured almost to a man. In the intercalary month fresh rebel reinforcements marched from Ningdu toward Yongfeng. Zhen met them with twelve hundred men and chased them to Diaofeng in Ningdu. With their backs to the river, the rebels made a stand but were driven into the water and drowned. Rebel leaders including Xiao Fusheng were killed, and more than ten thousand captives were freed; In the sixth month he routed the Xinjiang rebels at Dongshan Dam and killed Zhang Zongxiang and other rebel leaders.
25
時悍賊楊輔清憤屢敗，糾眾十萬踞廣昌頭陂，誓決死戰。 珍笑曰：「賊聚此，可一鼓殲也！」 勒兵大戰，先馳馬陷陣，眾從之，賊大潰，逐北六十里，斬馘無算。 捷聞，詔嘉獎，稱其以寡敵眾，殲除鉅憝，賜號給什蘭巴圖魯。 方拔樂安，進規撫、建兩郡，會周鳳山兵潰吉安，乞援。 珍令鄉團張己幟趨建昌，而潛返藤田規吉水。 楊輔清聞珍去，以七萬眾圍樂安。 珍夜入城，誘賊至城下痛殲之。 輔清屯林頭，珍進擊，賊以馬隊數千突陣，令火箭射之，藤牌兵俯首砍馬足。 劉松山、易開俊左右合擊，自率精銳貫賊陣，斬級數千，獲馬三百匹，俘八百人，輔清遁走。 珍感疾返樂安，九月，卒於軍，年僅三十有三。 詔嘉獎紀律嚴明，身經數百戰，前後殺賊十餘萬，克復城池二十餘處，厥功甚偉，贈布政使銜，依二品從優議卹，予騎都尉世職。 江西、湖南建專祠，諡壯武。
The hardened rebel Yang Fuqing, stung by one defeat after another, mustered a hundred thousand men at Guangchang Toupi and swore to fight to the death. Zhen laughed and said: "Gathered like this, they can be crushed in a single rush! He massed his troops for a pitched battle, spurred his horse into the enemy ranks first, and his men followed. The rebels broke completely; he chased them sixty li and the dead and captured were beyond count. News of the victory brought an imperial commendation praising how he had defeated a vast enemy with a small force and destroyed a major rebel leader. He was granted the title Shilan Batulu. He had just taken Le'an and was planning moves against Fuzhou and Jianzhou when Zhou Fengshan's force collapsed at Ji'an and called for help. He sent local militia toward Jianchang under his banners as a feint while slipping back to Tengtian to threaten Jishui. When Yang Fuqing learned Zhen had left, he invested Le'an with seventy thousand men. Zhen slipped into the city at night, drew the rebels under the walls, and slaughtered them. When Fuqing held Lintou, Zhen attacked. Thousands of rebel cavalry charged the line; he ordered fire arrows loosed, and rattan-shield men ducked low to hack at the horses' legs. Liu Songshan and Yi Kaijun struck from both flanks while Zhen personally led an elite column through the rebel center. Thousands were killed, three hundred horses and eight hundred prisoners were taken, and Yang Fuqing fled. Stricken by illness, Zhen returned to Le'an and died in camp in the ninth month. He was only thirty-three. An edict commended his iron discipline and record of hundreds of battles in which he had killed more than a hundred thousand rebels and recovered over twenty cities. For these signal achievements he was posthumously given the rank of administration commissioner, accorded second-rank funeral honors, and granted a hereditary captaincy. Dedicated shrines were erected in Jiangxi and Hunan, and he was posthumously titled Zhuangwu, "Valiant in War."
26
珍貌不逾中人，膽力沉鷙，用兵好出奇制勝，馭眾嚴而有恩。 所著有練勇芻言、陣法新編，皆出心得。 劉松山為湘軍後起名將，舊隸部下，後其軍皆用珍法。 珍既歿，所部歸其弟開化及張運蘭分統之。
Zhen was unremarkable in appearance, but his courage ran deep and cold. He won battles through surprise, and though strict with his men he treated them with genuine kindness. He wrote Draft Remarks on Training Braves and New Compilation of Battle Formations, both drawn from hard-won experience. Liu Songshan later became one of the Hunan Army's most celebrated generals. He had once served under Zhen, and afterward his entire command followed Zhen's drill and tactics. After Zhen's death his troops were divided between his younger brother Kai Hua and Zhang Yunlan.
27
弟開化，年十七從珍軍中，南防剿匪功最多，累擢知縣。 及援江西，寧都釣峰之戰，率伏兵潛襲賊營，遂大捷，無戰不與。 駱秉章疏陳其功，擢知府。 遂令分統珍軍，偕張運蘭攻吉安，連戰皆捷。 八年，克樂安、宜黃、崇仁、南豐、建昌，擢道員，加按察使銜。 病歸里。 十年，左宗棠初出治軍，開化從之，戰鄱陽、樂平，皆有功。 及宗棠大破李世賢於樂平，開化與劉典各當一路。 是役官軍不及萬，破賊十萬，稱奇捷，加布政使銜。 江西既平，從宗棠援皖南。 十一年，卒於軍。 開化在軍先後八年，勇毅亞於其兄。 詔優恤，予騎都尉世職，諡貞介。
His younger brother Kai Hua joined the army at seventeen. In the southern bandit campaigns he won more distinction than anyone and rose repeatedly to county magistrate. In Jiangxi, at the battle of Diaofeng in Ningdu, he led an ambush that stormed the rebel camp and turned the day into a rout. He fought in every engagement. Luo Bingzhang cited his record in a memorial, and he was promoted to prefect. He was then placed in joint command of Zhen's old army and, with Zhang Yunlan, attacked Ji'an in a string of victories. In the eighth year he took Le'an, Yihuang, Chongren, Nanfeng, and Jianchang, rose to circuit intendant, and received the rank of surveillance commissioner. He went home on sick leave. In the tenth year, when Zuo Zongtang first took the field, Kai Hua served under him and distinguished himself at Poyang and Leping. At Zuo Zongtang's great victory over Li Shixian at Leping, Kai Hua and Liu Dian each commanded a separate column. In that fight fewer than ten thousand government troops routed a hundred thousand rebels—a victory hailed as miraculous—and he received the rank of administration commissioner. Once Jiangxi was pacified, he marched with Zuo Zongtang to relieve southern Anhui. He died in service in the eleventh year. Kai Hua served eight years in all. In courage and resolve he ranked just below his brother. The throne granted him preferential funeral honors, a hereditary captaincy, and the posthumous title Zhenjie, "Upright and Incorruptible."
28
=劉騰鴻=劉騰鴻，字峙衡，湖南湘鄉人。 少讀書，未遇，服賈江湖間。 ，夜泊湘江，遇潰卒數十輩行掠，誘至湘潭，白縣令捕之，由是知名。
Liu Tenghong, styled Zhiheng, came from Xiangxiang in Hunan. He studied as a youth but never passed the examinations and took to trade along the rivers. One night, moored on the Xiang River, he encountered several dozen demoralized soldiers looting the countryside. He lured them to Xiangtan and had the magistrate arrest them, and thus made his name.
29
五年，巴陵土匪起，巡撫駱秉章令率五百人往戰於毛田，擒賊渠，又敗之於三林坳，散其黨，遂駐岳州。 從羅澤南攻通城，攀堞登城，克之。 參將彭三元等戰歿崇陽，澤南調騰鴻往，而石達開驅悍賊二萬來撲，騰鴻與游擊普承堯夾擊破之。 蒲圻賊壘臨河，騰鴻由寶塔山截渡河賊，直抵城下，與普承堯循環攻擊，克蒲圻。 連下咸寧，抵武昌。 騰鴻偕蔣益澧為後隊，搜伏賊，殲斃甚眾。 論功，以從九品選用。 羅澤南愛其才，令增募五百人當前敵。 騰鴻遂師事澤南，列弟子籍。 攻克十字街、塘角賊壘，毀其船廠，進據小龜山。 賊七八千由塘角沿湖而下，澤南自率中營出洪山西，令騰鴻出洪山東，夾擊，斃賊無算，蕩平賊壘。 胡林翼奏騰鴻身先陷陣，七戰皆在諸軍前，超擢知縣。 六年春，賊踞賽湖以阻官軍，騰鴻與戰於堤上，追及長虹橋，遇伏，賊七倍我，奮擊，殺賊五六百。 羅澤南欲扼窯灣，賊出爭，大戰於小龜山，斬級六百，遂偕李續賓同駐其地。 騰鴻所將號湘後營，樹黑幟，賊望見輒走。
When bandits rose in Baling in the fifth year, Governor Luo Bingzhang sent him with five hundred men to Maotian, where he captured a rebel chief, routed the band again at Sanlin'ao, broke up their following, and then stationed at Yuezhou. Marching with Luo Zeren against Tongcheng, he scaled the walls and helped take the city. After Assistant General Peng Sanyuan was killed at Chongyang, Luo Zeren sent Tenghong to the front. Shi Dakai then threw twenty thousand hardened rebels into the attack, but Tenghong and Brigadier Pu Chengyao caught them in a pincer and broke them. Rebel works at Puqi lined the river. Tenghong cut off ferry traffic from Baota Mountain, pushed to the city walls, and with Pu Chengyao hammered the position from every side until Puqi fell. He pushed on through Xianning to Wuchang. Tenghong and Jiang Yili brought up the rear, flushed out ambushes, and killed a great many rebels. For his service he was appointed at the rank of subordinate clerk of the ninth grade. Impressed by his ability, Luo Zeren had him recruit five hundred more men for the front line. Tenghong formally became Luo Zeren's disciple and was entered on the roster of his students. He took the rebel forts at Shizijie and Tangjiao, destroyed their shipyard, and seized Xiaoguishan. When seven or eight thousand rebels marched down the lakeshore from Tangjiao, Luo Zeren led the center out west of Hongshan while Tenghong struck from the east. Caught between them, the rebels were slaughtered and their forts were leveled. Hu Linyi reported that Tenghong had personally led the charge in seven consecutive battles, always out in front of the other columns, and he was promoted directly to county magistrate. In the spring of the sixth year rebels held Saihu to block the army's advance. Tenghong fought them on the dike and pursued to Changhong Bridge, where ambushers outnumbered his men seven to one. He fought on regardless and killed five or six hundred. Luo Zeren sought to seize Yaowan, but the rebels sallied out to oppose him. At Xiaoguishan a major battle ensued in which six hundred of the enemy were slain, after which he and Li Xubin established camp there together. Tenghong's command, known as the Hunan Rear Battalion, flew black standards; rebels fled at the mere sight of them.
30
會江西軍事棘，胡林翼令騰鴻率所部千人從曾國華赴援瑞州，道為賊梗，轉戰而前，連捷於羊樓峒、分水坳，擒斬偽總制三十餘人，克上高、新昌。 七月，進攻瑞州，郡治有南北二城，中貫一河，聯以長橋。 先拔南城，賊酋韋昌輝自臨江來援，軍容甚盛。 騰鴻曰：「是羊質虎皮，不久見鞹。 宜乘其敝攻之。」 相持旬日，賊氣衰。 乃從北岸渡兵抄其後，與南城兵夾擊，大敗之。 偽指揮黃姓來援，列陣出岡，兩軍對峙。 別賊馳截我後路，圖夾攻，俟其近，發劈山砲擊之，再至，皆擊退，追奔三十里。 石達開適自九江來，勒賊復還，築五壘於東北。 騰鴻曰：「不急破之，壘成則難制矣。」 令楚軍防城賊，江軍進剿，自率死士三百督戰。 賊見兵少，先犯之，三百人植立無聲，伺近乃發砲，凡衝突六次不為動，賊氣沮，諸營效力猛攻，賊大敗，盡平其壘。 捷聞，擢直隸州知州，歸江西補用，賜號衝勇巴圖魯。
Military affairs in Jiangxi had become critical. Hu Linyi ordered Tenghong to lead his thousand-man force with Zeng Guohua to relieve Ruizhou. Rebels blocked the route, but they fought through, winning successive victories at Yanglou'dong and Fenshui'ao, capturing and executing more than thirty rebel brigade-generals, and taking Shanggao and Xinchang. In the seventh month they advanced on Ruizhou. The prefectural seat comprised twin walled cities north and south of a river, joined by a long bridge. They first took the southern city. Wei Changhui, a rebel chief, marched from Linjiang to relieve it with an imposing force. Tenghong said, "They are sheep in tigers' clothing—the pelt will soon be stripped away. We should strike while they are spent." After a standoff of ten days, rebel spirits flagged. Troops were then ferried from the north bank to strike the enemy's rear, and in concert with the forces at the southern city attacked from both sides, routing them completely. A rebel brigade-commander surnamed Huang arrived to reinforce them and deployed his men on a ridge; the two armies stood facing each other. Another rebel force rode to cut off their line of retreat and attempt a pincer. As the enemy drew near, mountain guns opened fire. When they returned, they were driven off again, and the pursuit continued thirty li. Shi Dakai arrived from Jiujiang, rallied the rebels, and erected five fortifications in the northeast. Tenghong said, "If we do not smash them quickly, once those fortifications are finished they will be hard to subdue." He ordered the Hunan troops to hold the rebels in the city at bay while the Jiangxi army pressed the attack, personally leading three hundred shock troops into battle. Seeing how few they were, the rebels attacked first. The three hundred men stood silently in place until the enemy drew near, then opened fire with artillery. They held firm through six charges without budging. With rebel spirits broken, the other camps joined the assault. The rebels were routed and all five fortifications were destroyed. News of the victory reached the throne. He was promoted to prefect of Zhili Prefecture, assigned to Jiangxi service, and granted the title Chongyong Batulu ("Fearless Brave").
31
自克南城後，賊萃於北城。 騰鴻欲斷其接濟，取南城磚石築壘造橋，賊來爭，且戰且築，又於北岸石封嶺築新城以逼之。 七年春，曾國籓巡視瑞州，用騰鴻議，為長壕三十里，絕賊餉道。 國籓尋以喪返湖南，囑騰鴻主南路軍事。 先後遏賊於馬鞍嶺、陰岡嶺，戰皆捷，於是會諸軍克袁州、分宜、上高、新喻。 劉長佑與賊戰於羅防，不利，騰鴻往援，擊敗之。 七月，回攻瑞州。 時李續賓進兵九江，胡林翼疏調騰鴻回湖北。 騰鴻以功在垂成，先分兵應之，而攻城益力，奪南門砲臺，复撲東門，毀其城樓，身自督戰，中槍子五，臥不能起。 次日，裹創舁往，城垂克，忽中砲，洞穿左脅，移時殞。 語弟騰鶴曰：「城不下，無斂我！」 一軍皆泣，冒砲火登城，斬殺悍賊過半，即夕克瑞州，迎騰鴻屍入城治喪。 事聞，卹典加等，依道員例，予騎都尉世職，於瑞州建專祠，予其父母正四品封典。 洎江南平，曾國籓追論前功，詔嘉其忠勇邁倫，加恩予諡武烈。
After the southern city fell, the rebels concentrated in the northern city. Tenghong sought to sever their supply lines. Using bricks and stone from the southern city, he built fortifications and a bridge under fire, fighting as he built. He also erected a new fortified position at Shifengling on the north bank to tighten the pressure. In the spring of the seventh year, Zeng Guofan inspected Ruizhou and, following Tenghong's plan, had a thirty-li trench dug to sever the rebels' supply lines. Guofan soon returned to Hunan to observe mourning and entrusted Tenghong with command of operations on the southern front. He repeatedly checked the rebels at Ma'anling and Yingangling, winning every engagement, and then joined the allied armies in capturing Yuanzhou, Fenyi, Shanggao, and Xinyu. Liu Changyou met defeat fighting rebels at Luofang; Tenghong marched to his relief and routed the enemy. In the seventh month he resumed the assault on Ruizhou. Li Xubin was then advancing on Jiujiang, and Hu Linyi submitted a memorial requesting Tenghong's recall to Hubei. With victory within reach, Tenghong detached part of his force to answer the recall but pressed the assault harder. He seized the gun emplacement at the southern gate and again stormed the eastern gate, destroying its tower. Leading from the front, he was hit by five bullets and collapsed. The next day, his wounds bandaged, he was carried forward to the front again. The city was nearly taken when a cannonball pierced his left side; he died shortly afterward. He told his brother Tenghe, "Do not bury me until the city has fallen!" The entire army wept. Braving cannon fire, they scaled the walls and cut down more than half the rebel garrison. That very night they took Ruizhou, brought Tenghong's body into the city, and laid him to rest. When word reached the throne, his funeral honors were raised. He was granted a hereditary captaincy at the rank of a circuit intendant, a memorial shrine was erected at Ruizhou, and his parents received fourth-rank honorary titles. After the Jiangnan region was pacified, Zeng Guofan commended his earlier service. An edict praised his loyalty and valor as surpassing the ordinary and granted him the posthumous title Wulie ("Martial and Stern").
32
弟騰鶴，隨軍將中營。 先數月，因攻城傷左臂，創甚。 騰鴻命歸，不可。 及騰鴻殞於陣，騰鶴號泣督戰，克竟厥功，遂代將其軍。 進援臨江，复峽江。 會攻吉安，當西南路，掘長壕久困之。 八年秋，賊乘江漲突圍出，兩次皆擊退，尋拔其城。 率所部窮追，斬馘過半。 調防九江，屯彭澤。 九年二月，戰牯牛嶺，進攻建德風雲嶺賊巢，破其二壘。 賊大至，被圍，力戰死之，年二十有八。 官候選知府，詔依道員例賜卹，予騎都尉世職，附祀兄祠。
His younger brother Tenghe served in the army as commander of the central battalion. Several months earlier he had been seriously wounded in the left arm while assaulting the city. Tenghong ordered him to withdraw, but he refused. When Tenghong fell in battle, Tenghe fought on through his tears, carried the victory to completion, and succeeded to command of the army. He marched to relieve Linjiang and recaptured Xiajiang. In the joint assault on Ji'an he held the southwestern sector, digging a long trench to starve the garrison into submission. In the autumn of the eighth year the rebels exploited the flooded river to break out; twice they were repulsed, and the city was soon taken. He pursued relentlessly with his own troops, cutting down more than half the fleeing rebels. Reassigned to defend Jiujiang, he encamped at Pengze. In the second month of the ninth year he fought at Guniu Ridge and advanced on the rebel stronghold at Fengyun Ridge in Jiande, destroying two of their fortifications. A large rebel force arrived and surrounded him. He fought to the death at the age of twenty-eight. He held the rank of expectant prefect. An edict granted him funeral honors at the rank of a circuit intendant, a hereditary captaincy, and a place in his brother's memorial shrine.
33
=蔣益澧=蔣益澧，字薌泉，湖南湘鄉人。 少不羈，不諧於鄉里，客遊四方。 湖南軍事起，從王珍攻岳州，以功敘從九品。 复隸羅澤南部下，勇敢常先人，澤南異之，許列弟子籍。 從克黃梅，擢縣丞。 進剿九江，連敗賊於白水港、小池口。 咸豐五年，進攻廣信。 大軍駐城西烏石山，益澧屯山右。 賊覷其壘未成，來攻。 益澧堅壁不動，伺懈縱擊，斬賊首於陣。 進逼城下，諸軍蟻附而登，復其城。 進攻義寧，澤南潛師進鼇嶺，令益澧分駐乾坑。 賊來爭，分數千人抄官軍後。 益澧曰：「今以數百人當大敵，不死戰，將殞。」 揮兵直薄之，當者披靡，遂會師鼇嶺，乘勝复義寧，擢知縣。
Jiang Yili, whose style was Xiangquan, came from Xiangxiang County in Hunan. As a youth he was wild and ill at ease in his home village, and wandered far and wide. When the military crisis erupted in Hunan, he joined Wang Zhen in the assault on Yuezhou and was appointed a ninth-rank clerk for his service. He later served under Luo Zeren, always leading the charge in battle. Zeren singled him out for his bravery and enrolled him among his disciples. He took part in the capture of Huangmei and was promoted to assistant magistrate. In the drive against Jiujiang he won successive victories over the rebels at Baishuigang and Xiaohekou. In the fifth year of the Xianfeng reign he marched on Guangxin. The main force encamped at Wushi Mountain west of the city while Yili held the right flank of the hill. Seeing that his fortifications were incomplete, the rebels attacked. Yili held his position behind stout defenses until the enemy slackened, then sallied forth and killed a rebel chieftain in the fighting. Pressing to the walls, the allied armies swarmed up like ants and recaptured the city. In the advance on Yining, Zeren secretly marched on Aoling while ordering Yili to hold Qiankeng with a detached force. The rebels came to dispute the position, detaching several thousand men to strike the imperial forces from the rear. Yili said, "With only a few hundred men against a massive enemy, if we do not fight to the death, we are finished." He charged straight at the enemy; none could stand before him. Joining Zeren at Aoling, they pressed their advantage and recaptured Yining, and Yili was promoted to county magistrate.
34
從澤南迴援武昌。 在軍與李續賓論事不相下，及澤南歿，續賓代將。 益澧屯魯港，賊攻之急，請援，續賓置之。 益澧大恚，憑壘死守，賊旋引去。 益澧遂告歸，不待報而行。 嗣武漢克復，仍論前功，擢知府，賜花翎。
He accompanied Zeren back to relieve Wuchang. In camp he and Li Xubin quarreled as equals over military matters. After Zeren's death, Xubin succeeded to command. Yili was encamped at Lugang when the rebels pressed him hard. He appealed for reinforcements, but Xubin ignored him. Furious, Yili defended his fortifications to the last. The rebels soon withdrew of their own accord. Yili resigned and went home without waiting for approval. After Wuhan was recovered, his earlier service was recognized with promotion to prefect and the award of a peacock feather.
35
益澧家居，悒悒不得志，會廣西匪熾，乞援於湖南，湖南宿將盡出征，駱秉章顧左右無可屬者，益澧請行，乃令率千六百人赴之。 七年五月，連破賊於賣珠嶺、唐家市，復興安、靈川； 艇匪踞平樂二塘墟、沙子街，進破之，焚賊艇，薄平樂，克之：擢道員，賜號額哲爾克巴圖魯，加按察使銜。 巡撫勞崇光疏請留於廣西補用，八年，入屯桂林。 時廣西兵食並絀，率藉招撫馭盜，兵賊相糅，橫行無忌，疆吏不能制。 益澧至，乘兵威，悉按誅桀黠者，易置守軍，人心始定。 駱秉章奏助益澧軍月餉二萬，造船六十艘，募水師以益其軍。 省城既固，進規右江。 賊踞柳州，連結洞砦，恃水師不能至。 益澧具舟修仁，令軍士舁舢板陸行九十里，置洛青水中，載砲而下，遇賊洛垢墟，火賊舟。 次日，賊水陸並集，力戰斬賊數千，進鷓鴣山，攻柳州克之，加布政使銜。 偕右江道張凱嵩會剿慶遠，掘長壕斷賊出入，賊渡河竄，邀擊敗之。 慶遠平，以按察使記名。
Living at home in frustrated obscurity, he volunteered when Guangxi's bandit crisis deepened and Hunan was asked for aid. With every veteran general already in the field, Governor Luo Bingzhang could find no one else to command the relief force. Yili offered himself and was sent with sixteen hundred men. In the fifth month of the seventh year he routed the rebels at Maizhu Ridge and Tangjia Market and recovered Xing'an and Lingchuan. Boat pirates held Ertang Market and Shazijie at Pingle. He attacked and broke them, burned their vessels, pressed on to Pingle and captured it. He was promoted to circuit intendant, granted the title Ezeker Batulu, and given the rank of surveillance commissioner. Governor La Chongguang petitioned to keep him in Guangxi service. In the eighth year he entered the province and established headquarters at Guilin. Guangxi at the time suffered from shortages of both troops and provisions. Bandits were kept in check only through a policy of enlistment and amnesty, soldiers and outlaws mingled freely, and they terrorized the countryside with impunity while provincial officials proved powerless to stop them. When Yili arrived, he used military authority to execute the most notorious ringleaders, replaced the garrison troops, and only then did public order begin to return. Luo Bingzhang secured a monthly subsidy of twenty thousand taels for Yili's army, the construction of sixty boats, and the recruitment of a naval force to strengthen his command. With the provincial capital secured, he turned his attention to the Right River region. Rebels held Liuzhou and a network of cave fortresses, confident that government forces could not reach them by water. Yili had boats prepared at Xiuren and ordered his men to portage sampans overland for ninety li, launch them on the Luqing River with artillery aboard, and float downstream. At Luogou Market they set fire to the rebel boats. The next day the rebels massed by land and water. After fierce fighting in which thousands were slain, he advanced to Zhegu Mountain, stormed Liuzhou, and was granted the rank of administration commissioner. Together with Zhang Kaisong, the Right River intendant, he jointly suppressed Qingyuan, digging a long trench to block rebel movement. When the rebels fled across the river, he intercepted and routed them. With Qingyuan pacified, he was registered for appointment as surveillance commissioner.
36
九年，石達開竄湖南，前隊掠全州，益澧分兵守柳州，自回援省城，授按察使，尋遷布政使。 出剿恭城土匪，扼平樂。 粵匪石國宗由全州、興安窺桂林，勢甚張。 學政李載熙劾益澧失機及冒餉忌功等事，詔念益澧前勞，降道員，留廣西，並下疆臣察奏。 會湖南遣劉長佑、蕭啟江率師來援，益澧與合剿，解桂林圍。 駱秉章、曹澍鍾並為疏辨，得白。 十年，賀縣匪分擾昭平、平樂，益澧擊走之。 進破賊首陳金剛於大灣嶺，焚沙田賊寨，复布政使原銜。 又會廣東援師破賊於竹洞嶺。 十一年，复授廣西按察使，進駐平南。 偕總兵李揚升复潯州，复布政使原官。
In the ninth year Shi Dakai fled into Hunan and his vanguard raided Quanzhou. Yili detached troops to hold Liuzhou and returned personally to relieve the provincial capital. He was appointed surveillance commissioner and soon promoted to administration commissioner. He marched against bandits in Gongcheng and secured Pingle. Cantonese rebels under Shi Guozong, advancing from Quanzhou and Xing'an, threatened Guilin with formidable strength. Education Intendant Li Zaixi impeached Yili for missing opportunities, padding payrolls, and resenting others' achievements. The throne, mindful of his earlier service, demoted him to circuit intendant but kept him in Guangxi and ordered a provincial investigation. Hunan then dispatched Liu Changyou and Xiao Qijiang with relief armies. Yili joined them in a joint campaign that lifted the siege of Guilin. Luo Bingzhang and Cao Shuzhong both submitted memorials in his defense, and he was exonerated. In the tenth year bandits from He County raided Zhaoping and Pingle; Yili drove them off. He defeated the rebel chief Chen Jingang at Dawanshan, burned the stockade at Shatian, and was restored to his former rank of administration commissioner. He again joined Guangdong relief forces to defeat the rebels at Zhudong Ridge. In the eleventh year he was reappointed Guangxi surveillance commissioner and advanced his headquarters to Pingnan. Together with Regional Commander Li Yangsheng he recaptured Xunzhou and was restored to his former post of administration commissioner.
37
益澧年少戇急，曾國籓、胡林翼素不滿之，而左宗棠特器重。 至是宗棠規浙江，疏請以益澧為助。 同治元年，調浙江布政使。 自湖南增募八千人，道廣東，總督勞崇光資以餉械。 九月，至衢州，分兵复壽昌。 賊酋李世賢屯裘家堰，按察使劉典兵先進，益澧繼之，降賊李世詳為內應，襲破之，悉毀賊壘。 二年，克湯溪，被珍賚優敘。 宗棠進屯嚴州，規富陽，援賊麕至，益澧渡江築壘新橋，分三路迎擊，大敗之。 會游擊徐文秀等攻雞籠山，益澧自督戰，盡破十餘壘。 八月，克富陽。 自杭州至餘杭，賊營連數十里。 益澧沿江下逼清波、鳳山兩門，據十里街、六和塔、萬松嶺，俯瞰城中，自駐東嶽廟，賊屢出犯，皆擊退。 分兵會道員楊昌濬、總兵黃少春攻餘杭，敗賊城下，匿不出。 又破鳳山門、清泰門賊壘，由錢江入西湖，奪賊舟。 平湖、乍浦、海鹽皆下，海寧守賊蔡元吉、桐鄉守賊何紹章先後投誠效用。 三年，令紹章扼烏鎮，元吉會蘇師复嘉興，賊勢日蹙。 二月，饅頭山地雷發，壞城垣，諸軍擁入，戰竟日，悍賊多斃，餘夜遁，遂復杭州，餘杭亦下。 詔嘉其功，賜黃馬褂，予雲騎尉世職。 分軍克德清、石門，進攻湖州。 蔡元吉深入，為賊所圍，益澧自往援之。 轉戰而前，距元吉營隔一河未達。 時偽幼王洪福瑱遁入湖州，悍酋黃文金眾尚十餘萬。 七月，作浮橋通元吉營，出湖趺漾襲賊後。 降賊譚侍友出太湖攻袁家匯，賊棄城走，邀擊之，解散數万人。 浙境肅清，晉騎都尉世職。
Young, blunt, and hot-tempered, Yili had never pleased Zeng Guofan or Hu Linyi, but Zuo Zongtang held him in special esteem. When Zuo turned his attention to Zhejiang, he petitioned for Yili to join him. In the first year of the Tongzhi reign he was appointed administration commissioner of Zhejiang. He raised an additional eight thousand men in Hunan, marched through Guangdong, and Governor La Chongguang furnished him with funds and weapons. In the ninth month he reached Quzhou and detached troops to recapture Shouchang. Rebel chief Li Shixian held Qiujia Dam. Surveillance Commissioner Liu Dian's force led the attack with Yili following. Li Shixiang, a rebel defector, served as inside collaborator, and in a surprise assault they smashed the position and destroyed all the fortifications. In the second year Tangxi fell, and he received imperial gifts and special commendation. Zuo advanced to Yanzhou to prepare an assault on Fuyang. Rebel reinforcements massed in force. Yili crossed the river, fortified Xinqiao, and engaged them on three fronts, routing them completely. Meanwhile Brigadier Xu Wenxiu and others assaulted Jilong Mountain. Yili personally directed the fighting and destroyed more than ten rebel fortifications. In the eighth month Fuyang fell. From Hangzhou to Yuhang, rebel encampments lined the route for dozens of li. Yili pressed downriver toward the Qingbo and Fengshan gates, seizing Shili Street, Liuhe Pagoda, and Wansong Ridge to overlook the city from the heights. He established his headquarters at the Dongyue Temple, and repeated rebel sorties were driven back. He detached troops to join Circuit Intendant Yang Changjun and Regional Commander Huang Shaochun in the assault on Yuhang, routed the rebels at the walls, and they withdrew into the city and refused to emerge. He stormed the forts at Fengshan and Qingtai gates, entered West Lake by the Qiantang River, and captured the enemy fleet. Pinghu, Zhapu, and Haiyan fell; the Haining garrison commander Cai Yuanji and the Tongxiang commander He Shaozhang surrendered in turn and entered Qing service. In the third year he posted Shaozhang at Wuzhen while Yuanji joined the Jiangsu forces in retaking Jiaxing; the rebel position tightened by the day. In the second month a mine at Mantou Hill breached the wall; the armies poured in and fought all day. Most of the hard core were killed and the rest fled by night; Hangzhou was retaken and Yuhang fell as well. The court praised his service, awarded the yellow riding jacket, and granted the hereditary rank of Cloud Commandant of Cavalry. He detached columns to take Deqing and Shimen and pressed the attack on Huzhou. Cai Yuanji pushed deep and was surrounded; Yili went to relieve him in person. He fought his way forward but was stopped a river short of Yuanji's camp. The Taiping Young King Hong Fuzhen had fled into Huzhou, and the fierce commander Huang Wenjin still commanded more than a hundred thousand men. In the seventh month he bridged the river to Yuanji's camp, sortied from Hudieyang Lake, and hit the enemy from the rear. The defector Tan Shiyou attacked Yuanjia Hui from Taihu Lake; the rebels abandoned the city and fled, were intercepted, and tens of thousands were dispersed. With Zhejiang pacified he was promoted to hereditary Commandant of Cavalry.
38
左宗棠追賊赴福建，益澧護理巡撫。 疏陳善後事宜，籌閩餉，濬湖汊，築海塘，捕槍匪，又覈減漕糧，酌裁關稅，商農相率來歸。 增書院膏火，建經生講舍，設義學，興善堂，百廢具舉。 東南諸省善後之政，以浙江為最。 逾歲，乃回本任。
When Zuo Zongtang pursued the rebels into Fujian, Yili served as acting governor of Zhejiang. He memorialized on reconstruction: raised funds for Fujian, dredged lake channels, built sea walls, suppressed gun-runners, cut transport taxes and customs levies, and merchants and farmers returned in numbers. He increased academy stipends, built lecture halls, founded charity schools and benevolent halls, and revived a hundred neglected institutions. Of all the southeastern provinces' reconstruction programs, Zhejiang's ranked first. After a year he returned to his regular post.
39
五年，擢廣東巡撫，奏裁太平關稅陋規四萬兩，斥革丁胥，改由巡撫委員徵收； 五坑客匪投誠，分別安插高、廣各府，另編客籍； 設學額：並如議行。 六年，以病乞休。 尋為總督瑞麟疏劾，下閩浙總督吳棠按奏，坐任性不依例案，部議降四級，改降二級，以按察使候補，命赴左宗棠軍營差委。 尋授廣西按察使，以病回籍。
In the fifth year he became governor of Guangdong, abolished forty thousand taels of corrupt levies at Taiping Pass customs, dismissed abusive clerks, and put collection under commissioners appointed by the governor; Hakka bandits of Wukeng surrendered and were resettled across the Gaozhou and Guangzhou prefectures under a separate guest register; and established examination quotas, all as proposed. In the sixth year he retired on grounds of illness. Soon Governor-General Ruilin impeached him; Fujian-Zhejiang Governor-General Wu Tang investigated and found him guilty of willful disregard of regulations. The Board proposed a four-rank demotion, reduced to two; he was to await appointment as surveillance commissioner and was ordered to Zuo Zongtang's camp for assignment. He was soon made surveillance commissioner of Guangxi but returned home on grounds of illness.
40
十三年，日本窺臺灣，召至京。 未及任用，病卒。 太常寺卿周瑞清疏陳益澧廣西政績，詔復原官，依巡撫例賜卹。 浙江巡撫楊昌濬、梅啟照先後疏言平浙功尤鉅，詔允建祠，諡果敏。
In the thirteenth year, when Japan threatened Taiwan, he was summoned to Beijing. He died of illness before any new appointment could be made. Zhou Ruiqing of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices memorialized on Yili's record in Guangxi; the court restored his former rank and granted posthumous honors on the governor's precedent. Governors Yang Changjun and Mei Qizhao both stressed his outstanding role in pacifying Zhejiang; the court authorized a temple and gave him the posthumous name Guomin, Resolute and Keen.
41
=【論】=論曰：李續賓果毅仁廉，治軍一守羅澤南遺法，戡定武昌、九江，戰績為一時之冠。 李續宜獨以持重稱，殆鑑於其兄之銳進不終而然耶？ 王珍、劉騰鴻皆出奇制勝，駿利無敵，惜早殞，未竟其功。 蔣益澧經挫折而奮起，平浙、治浙，並著顯績，信乎能自樹立。 諸人並湘軍之傑，不以名位論高下也。
The historians comment: Li Xubin was resolute, humane, and incorruptible. He ran his army strictly by Luo Zeren's methods, pacified Wuchang and Jiujiang, and for a time his record of battle stood above all others. Li Xuyi alone was known for caution—perhaps he had learned from his brother's daring advance and tragic end. Wang Zhen and Liu Tenghong both won by surprise and seemed invincible in their prime, but died young and left their work unfinished. Jiang Yili rose again after setbacks, pacified Zhejiang and governed it to lasting effect—truly a man who made his own standing. All were eminent men of the Hunan Army, and their worth is not to be measured by rank alone.