← Back to 清史稿

卷424 列傳二百十一 吴振棫 张亮基 毛鸿宾 张凯嵩

Volume 424 Biographies 211: Wu Zhenyu, Zhang Liangji, Mao Hongbin, Zhang Kaisong

Chapter 424 of 清史稿 · Draft History of Qing
← Previous Chapter
Chapter 424
Next Chapter →
1
== 使 西使 西 調西 西 便
=Wu Zhenyu= Wu Zhenyu, courtesy name Zhongyun, was a native of Qiantang in Zhejiang. He earned his jinshi degree in the nineteenth year of the Jiaqing reign, entered the Hanlin as a bachelor, and was appointed Compiler. In 1822 he was posted as prefect of Dali in Yunnan, and later served successively as prefect of Dengzhou, Yizhou, and Jinan in Shandong and of Fengyang in Anhui; as intendant of the Deng-Lai-Qing Circuit in Shandong; as grain intendant of Guizhou; as judicial commissioner of Guizhou; and finally as provincial administration commissioner of Shanxi and Sichuan. In 1852 he was promoted to governor of Yunnan. When Hui rebels rose in Xundian and Dongchuan and Guangdong bandits from Guangxi invaded Kaihua and Guangnan, he and Governor-General Wu Wenrong sent troops in succession until both disturbances were suppressed. In 1854 he was transferred to Shaanxi as governor, but before he could take up the post he acted as governor-general of Yunnan and Guizhou. When rebels broke out in Xingyi and Pu'an in Guizhou, he ordered Regional Commander Jin Gangbao of the Anyi garrison and others to suppress them. Zunyi too came under rebel siege; he combined Yunnan and Guizhou troops, won a series of victories, and captured the rebel leader Yang Fengxian at Gezhuang in Shiqian. Not until the autumn of 1855 did he finally reach Shaanxi to assume office. The rebel chief Chen Tongming, directed by Guangdong bandits, mustered men at Tong Pass to join the uprising; Zhenyu captured him by stratagem, seized his associates Zhang Shun and Luo Jixiang, and had them executed, for which he received an imperial commendation. Because the salt tax folded into the land-and-poll assessment had risen several fold, he memorialized for licensed private salt sales with tax collected before delivery, a reform the people welcomed. Soon afterward he was promoted to governor-general of Sichuan.
2
調 使 調 西 調 調
In 1857 he was transferred to governor-general of Yunnan and Guizhou. Yunnan was torn by long-standing Han-Hui hatred; with the empire consumed by war in the central provinces, relief funds never arrived, and the Hui rebellion grew worse. Local militia ran rampant, killing and looting at will, and the provincial capital was placed under martial law. Former Governor-General Hengchun proved unable to restore order and hanged himself with his wife; Governor Shu Xing'a resigned on grounds of illness; only Provincial Administration Commissioner Sang Chunrong remained, holding the besieged capital. Knowing Zhenyu's familiarity with Yunnan, Emperor Wenzong appointed him to replace Hengchun. He was ordered to take three thousand Sichuan troops and fifty thousand taels of silver to Yunnan, with former Shandong Governor Zhang Liangji assigned to assist him in military affairs. When Zhenyu arrived he first halted at Xuanwei and then advanced to Qujing. In a memorial he wrote: "Suppress first and pacify afterward—that is the easier course, and needs no sage to see it. With ample troops and funds, that is surely the right course. When Governor Lin Zexu suppressed the Hui rebels of Yongchang, he had more than ten thousand regulars and militia and could raise supplies within the province; after victory at Midu the rebels soon submitted; that trouble was confined to a single corner of western Yunnan. Now rebels roam all three western circuits of Yunnan—a wholly different situation that cannot be settled with a few thousand men and a hundred thousand taels of silver. To rush ahead regardless would only damage imperial prestige without advancing the cause. When I first reached Yunnan I bore no grudge against either Han or Hui; I would rely on military strength, win them with kindness and trust, and judge every petition fairly. The capital is the root of the province: disband the Hui there first, then handle the rest step by step, while still crushing those who stubbornly resist. The rebels would grow isolated and be easier to defeat. Otherwise, if we overreach and press the attack, there will be no room to retreat and the disaster will only worsen. At present there are no troops to mobilize and no funds to raise; the emperor labors in ceaseless anxiety, and this is not a crisis for Yunnan alone. I must plan for Yunnan and for the empire as a whole; how can we risk another mistake that would bring endless troop levies? That is why I speak of pacification before suppression—not from choice but from necessity; though the outcome cannot be foreseen, I see no better course."
3
調 西 西
He also reported: "Retired Vice President Huang Cong, Censor Dou Yong, and Regional Commander Zhou Fengqi were ordered to organize militia and set up a general bureau in the capital. Zhou Fengqi disagreed with their views and, pleading conflict of interest, refused to participate. Huang Cong and Dou Yong issued joint proclamations calling for ruthless suppression; civilians rushed to form militia bands, and Hui suspicion deepened daily. Local officials struggled to disband the militia, but Han mobs often stormed government offices and forced officials to kill Hui. What was an essential tool in other provinces became a grave disaster in Yunnan. Huang Cong and his allies claimed the provincial militia could field six hundred thousand men and that bandits need not be feared. When the Hui rebels first appeared outside the walls there were fewer than a thousand; militiamen would not answer the call, and those who did fled at once. The capital militia now exceed ten thousand men and cost tens of thousands of taels a month—far beyond available funds. Militia leaders commanded their own followers rather than answering fully to official appointment. Many Hui were ready to submit, but hard-liners sent militia against them, killing indiscriminately for credit, so that those who might have been pacified never could be. Huang Cong and Dou Yong were imperial appointees beyond my authority to restrain; I beg Your Majesty to decide. I have already instructed Sang Chunrong to audit the capital garrison militia strictly, cut redundant numbers, and curb waste. Militia must return to official command; any who march out without orders should face military law, so that authority is unified and interference ended." When the memorial arrived, the court stripped Huang Cong and Dou Yong of office, allowed repentant Hui to reform, and ordered ruthless suppression of those who still resisted. Han who used the militia as a cover for killing and looting were to face military justice. Zhenyu then sent Han and Hui commissioners to the capital to explain the settlement, assign residential streets, allocate abandoned property to refugees, set regulations, and send people home to their trades. He successively suppressed the Hui rebels of Zhanyi and destroyed the Xianning bandit Li Guangyuan. In the fourth month of 1858 the pacification was roughly in place; he moved into the capital and, with Zhang Liangji, organized suppression and pacification in western Yunnan. When Lin'an Hui rebels attacked the prefectural seat, he drove them off, defeated them at Ami, and lifted the siege of Hexi County.
4
西 西
That winter he resigned on grounds of illness and went to Shanxi to live with his son Chunjie, who held the Yanping intendant post. In 1862 he was ordered to join Governor Yinggui in river defense, and soon after was sent to Shaanxi to assist in military affairs. He died in 1871, and the court granted the usual posthumous honors.
5
== 西 調 使使
=Zhang Liangji= Zhang Liangji, courtesy name Shiqing, was a native of Tongshan in Jiangsu. He passed the provincial examination in 1834 and purchased appointment as a secretary in the Grand Secretariat. He accompanied Grand Secretary Wang Ding to Henan for river control and supervised construction of the western embankment. When the project was finished he received the peacock feather and was promoted to Reader. In 1846 he was posted as prefect of Lin'an in Yunnan; Governor-General Lin Zexu, who had worked with him on river projects, recognized his ability and secretly recommended him for higher office; he was transferred to act as prefect of Yongchang. When border tribes grew restless, Liangji used the native officer Zuo Daxiong to capture the rebel chief and restore order. He was promoted out of turn to judicial commissioner of Yunnan and soon after to provincial administration commissioner. In 1850 he became governor of Yunnan and also acted as governor-general of Yunnan and Guizhou. As Guangdong rebels grew stronger, he submitted a secret memorial on military affairs that Emperor Wenzong endorsed.
6
調 西
In 1852 he was transferred to Hunan; en route he learned that rebels were besieging Changsha and memorialized to halt at Changde. Ordered to relieve Changsha, he entered the city by scaling ladders, led repeated sorties with outside relief forces, and drove the rebels away. The rebels took Yuezhou and swept into Hubei; Hanyang and Wuchang fell in turn; Governor-General Xu Guangjin was dismissed, and Liangji was appointed in his place to organize a counteroffensive. Liangji argued for guarding against a rebel return into Hunan—a move seen as self-serving—and the court ordered him to advance at once. In the spring of 1853 the rebels abandoned Wuhan and marched east; Liangji reached Hubei to organize recovery and relief. He suppressed bandit outbreaks in Tongcheng, Chongyang, Jiayu, and Guangji. When rebel detachments from downstream raided Jiangxi, Liangji personally held Daoshifu and Huangshigang and sent troops to reinforce. That autumn a rebel column from Henan entered Huang'an and Macheng in Hubei via Luoshan; he destroyed them in a combined land-and-water attack.
7
調西 使宿
Transferred to Shandong before he could leave, he sent Circuit Intendant Xu Fengyu to meet Jiangxi rebels from Jiujiang at Tianjiazhen; the battle was lost and Fengyu was killed; Liangji was demoted four ranks but kept his post. Meanwhile Li Kaifang and other Guangdong rebels invaded the capital region and occupied Jinghai. On reaching Shandong, Liangji was ordered to hold Dezhou and block a southern escape. Southern rebels sought to move north through Huai and Xu in support; he stationed Judicial Commissioner Li En'guan north of Suqian to block them. In 1854 rebels entered Shandong; Liangji rushed to Jining to block their northward flight. They soon took Yancheng and raided Fan, Shouzhang, and Dongping; he cut ahead of them and defeated them at Heijiazhuang near Linqing. After he reported victory, Sheng Bao accused him of claiming false credit; the court denounced Liangji as deceitful, cited his delay in relieving Changsha and his self-preservation in Hubei, dismissed him, and sent him to exile at the military garrison. More than a year later, Mao Hongbin argued that Sheng Bao's impeachment over Linqing was false, and Zong Jichen said Liangji was capable and underused; he was released, assigned to the Eastern River service, and soon sent to assist military affairs in Anhui.
8
使 祿祿
In 1857 he received the fifth-rank cap button and was ordered to Yunnan to assist in suppressing rebels. Hui rebels were raging in Yunnan and militia terrorized the capital; Governor-General Wu Zhenyu had just arrived at Qujing, where he curbed the militia and sought to pacify the Hui. The Zhanyi Hui were the fiercest; when they attacked Xuanwei, Liangji led Judicial Commissioner Xu Zhiming and others to repulse them. In the spring of 1858 he defeated them again at Yuanjiatun, killed many rebels, and received the surrender of the rest; the court commended him and appointed him governor of Yunnan. When Zhenyu resigned, Liangji was promoted to governor-general of Yunnan and Guizhou and recommended Xu Zhiming as governor. When Lin'an Hui rebels attacked cities and spread to Ami, he suppressed them. In 1859, after capital Hui had submitted, some occupied Biji Pass and raided the suburbs until detachments dispersed them. He also suppressed rebels in Yi, Anning, Mianning, and Chuxiong, and recovered Wuding, Luoci, Fumin, Lufeng, and Luquan in turn. Yet Hui and militia remained mutually suspicious, and unrest broke out repeatedly.
9
椿 使西 使
Once Xu Zhiming became governor, his greed, cruelty, and treachery put him at odds with Liangji, and he constantly stirred trouble between them. In the autumn of 1860, Ma Dexin, Xu Yuanji, and Ma Xian led Hui from the districts to the capital to seek pacification and lodged at the Jiangyou Lodge outside the walls; Liangji asked Zhiming to join him in receiving them. Zhiming secretly roused disbanded militiamen to block the governor-general's yamen; they would not listen, killed Tonghai Magistrate Lei Yan at the gate, and then murdered pacification commissioners Ma Chunling and Sun Jun. Coerced by the mob, Liangji dared not report the affair; he resigned on grounds of illness, and Liu Yuanhao was appointed to replace him. When Yuanhao failed to arrive, Liangji left without waiting. In 1861, reaching Hubei, he memorialized on Yunnan affairs and impeached Zhiming for misconduct. When Provincial Administration Commissioner Deng Erheng was promoted to Shaanxi and left Yunnan, Zhiming incited bandits to murder him on the road. Yuanhao was dismissed, Pan Duo was made acting governor-general, and Liangji was ordered to Yunnan to investigate the situation and command troops against the rebels. Liangji asked for ministry authorization to raise funds through office sales and to recruit a thousand braves before setting out; he and Pan Duo reached Sichuan in turn, hoping to draw on its funds and troops. Sichuan's own war was still unsettled, and nothing could be spared to help. Lin Ziqing, Liangji's former subordinate and acting provincial commander of Yunnan, was at odds with Zhiming, Ma Rulong, and others, and the Hui hated him. Hearing that Liangji was in Sichuan, he led his troops—claiming ten thousand men—into the province on his own authority to offer his services; they were stopped but refused to turn back. The court ordered Liangji to pacify the force and send it home, but Zhiming incited Ma Rulong and others to declare they would bar Liangji from entering Yunnan, and the deadlock continued. In 1862 Pan Duo took up his post first and asked that Zhiming be kept on to finish the pacification; Liangji was reassigned as acting governor of Guizhou with governor-general rank. Before long Zhiming again secretly roused the Hui to revolt; Pan Duo was murdered, and the chaos in Yunnan grew worse still.
10
西 西 西 輿 調 使
In the second year Liangji reached Guizhou; Yellow Banner, White Banner, Miao, and sect rebels were all on the rise, and bandits filled the province from headwaters to lowlands. Liangji sent Regional Commander Shen Hongfu and others against the Snail Embankment at Zunyi, took it, and wiped out the survivors at Shangji Field. He sent Regional Commander Liu Yifang against the sect rebels in Sinan, recovered Pu'an and Annan, then broke Miao bands at Dingcheng in Tongzi and Malongkuai in Shuicheng, captured the chief He Runke and others in western Guizhou, and accepted ten thousand surrenders. In the third year rebels from Shangdaping threatened the capital; he led Shen Hongfu and others in a suburban battle, killed several thousand, and recovered Xiuwen. Lin Ziqing and Zhao Dechang took Longli, recovered Xingyi, lifted the siege of Qingzhen, retook Dingfan, Guangshun, Changzhai, and other towns, destroyed Yellow and White Banner strongholds at Longquan and Meitan, and captured the Dianxiwei garrison. In the fourth year they took Shiqian, Yongning, and Libo in western Guizhou; the province was poor and funds short, hungry troops clamored for pay, and mutiny was feared at any moment. Liangji held the province together by pacification and defense, achieving only rough stability; many of his generals were arrogant and insubordinate, opinion turned against him, and Academician Reader Jing Qijun impeached him. Liangji in turn impeached Lin Ziqing, Liu Youxun, Chi Youlian, and others for looting, withholding pay, and defying orders, and asked that they be severely punished. The court ordered Provincial Commissioner Yan Shusen to investigate; Liangji countered with a memorial accusing Shusen of avoiding Guizhou and staying in a neighboring province; both men were dismissed.
11
In the tenth year he died. Governors Wang Wenshao of Hunan and Zeng Biguang of Guizhou successively asked that his former rank be restored, and each province built him a shrine. In 1908 officials from Hunan and Guizhou in Beijing jointly memorialized on his public service, and he was posthumously given the temple name Huisu.
12
== 調使使
=Mao Hongbin= Mao Hongbin, courtesy name Yiyun, was a native of Licheng in Shandong. He passed the jinshi examination in 1838, was selected as a Hanlin bachelor, and was appointed Compiler. He rose to censor and supervising secretary and repeatedly submitted sealed memorials on military affairs. In 1853, on Minister Sun Ruizhen's recommendation, he was ordered home to organize local militia. In the fourth year he impeached Assistant Grand Councilor Shengbao and asked for a stern edict to investigate and punish him. In the fifth year he was made intendant of the Jing-Yi-Shi Circuit in Hubei, then of the An-Xiang-Yun-Jing Circuit, and later served as Anhui judicial commissioner and Jiangsu administration commissioner.
13
使 使
In the eleventh year he was acting governor of Hunan and soon received full appointment. He memorialized: "Hunan lies in a remote corner and has never been wealthy or strong; yet former governors Zhang Liangji and Luo Zongzhang worked hard at governance and local custom, cut down bandits, and made the province a pillar of the upper Yangzi—the proof that good appointments matter is plain to see. I hold that famous generals win no more than battlefield glory; it takes worthy governors and governors-general to bring peace and prosperity to a province. Zuo Zongtang's vision surpasses ordinary men; his ability matches Zeng Guofan and Hu Linyi. Yet he is only allowed to lead troops, which wastes his gifts; give him a major frontier post and he will secure the province, calm the people, and serve the larger cause. Former governor-general Zhang Liangji is resolute and capable, but Yunnan borders foreign lands, pay is short, and Han-Hui strife never ends; even perfect management there would help only one corner. Better assign him to a key post where he can do his best work. If the southeast turns the corner, the unrest in Yunnan and Guizhou can be swept away quickly—that is why one must weigh priorities carefully." By then the Hunan armies were winning wherever they fought, and provinces rushed to recruit from them; Hongbin warned of the abuses of indiscriminate recruiting and asked that commanders be chosen carefully for real results, and the court approved.
14
椿椿 椿
When Shi Dakai fled into Hunan, Hongbin sent Prefect Xi Baotian, Vice Commander Zhou Dawu, and Regional Commander Zhao Fuyuan by separate routes, lifting the sieges of Huitong and Qianyang. In 1862 he recovered Laifeng; Guizhou commander Tian Xingyu, also acting governor, filed false reports and trusted his favorites, and Hongbin impeached him. He sent troops across the border against Guizhou rebels and recovered Tiancheng. He also attacked Zhang Family Stockade in Tongren; the chief Xiao Wenkui surrendered with his men, and the Daqing and Xiaoqing forts were taken. Subprefect Chunling of Jianglan Department denounced militia leaders as bandits; Hongbin found he had tortured men to extort loans and had him dismissed. Chunling appealed in Beijing, claiming Hongbin had retaliated over a refused loan; Hongbin asked for an inquiry; Governor-General Guan Wen tried the case and cleared him.
15
使
Promoted to governor-general of the two Guangs, he sent Judicial Commissioner Zhang Yunlan to crush bandits who had risen in Yingde. Together with Governor Guo Songtao he drew up flexible regulations for pursuit and arrest, with preferential promotion for the capture of major bandits. The court approved.
16
西 西 調
In the third year, though Jiangnan had been recovered, unrest still lingered in Zhejiang and Jiangxi. Hongbin memorialized: "Southern Jiangxi remains inadequately defended, and along the Fujian-Guangdong border there are no troops at all. I fear the rebels will flee northward and make eastern Guangdong their last refuge. Jiangxi sits at a crossroads of four routes; we should combine troops from several provinces, press our advantage while victory is fresh, and destroy them in one concentrated strike. I have already asked Zeng Guofan to send crack troops around Ning Prefecture and Shicheng to block the rebels' southern escape routes; I will dispatch a force to the Fujian-Guangdong border to join the campaign. I also ask that the court order Zeng Guofan to hold southern Gan firmly so the rebels cannot slip through."
17
調
In the fourth year he was punished for an earlier affair in Hunan, when Intendant Hu Yong had sought permission for an imperial audience: the referral was withdrawn, an acting circuit post was voided, he was demoted one rank and transferred, and sent home. In the seventh year he died. Early in Xuantong, Shandong Governor Yuan Shuxun memorialized Hongbin's achievements; his former rank was restored and he was entered in the local worthies' shrine.
18
== 西 調 使使使 鹿 使
=Zhang Kaisong= Zhang Kaisong, courtesy name Yunqing, was a native of Jiangxia in Hubei. A jinshi of the twenty-fifth year of Daoguang, he was appointed expectancy magistrate in Guangxi and served successively as magistrate of Xuanhua, Huaiji, and Lingui. Li Xingyuan and Lao Chongguang both praised his talents; in the fifth year of Xianfeng he was promoted to Prefect of Qingyuan. After suppressing bandits such as Wang Desheng, he was promoted to Intendant of the Left River Circuit and transferred to act as Intendant of the Right River Circuit. When Qingyuan fell he was stripped of rank but kept at his post. In the eighth year he and Judicial Commissioner Jiang Yizao defeated the rebels, retook Qingyuan, was restored to office, served as acting and then substantive judicial commissioner, and rose to Provincial Administration Commissioner. In the first year of Tongzhi, Governor Liu Changyou went to Xunzhou to direct pacification; Kaisong was left to manage logistics on the rear lines. Zhang Gaoyou of Lipu seized Yangshuo; Kaisong sent troops, routed the rebels at Partridge Rock Pass, recovered the city, and was promptly promoted to governor. Huang Dingfeng and Zhang Gaoyou were the fiercest among the rebels, overrunning Guixian, Yangshuo, Dalutan, and Malai. He ordered Regional Commander Li Minghui and Provincial Commander Jiang Zhongyi to clear Malai first, then advance on Guixian; at Guiling he routed them and killed or captured Zhang Gaoyou and Chen Tuyang. In the second year he ordered Administration Commissioner Liu Kunyi to attack Huang Dingfeng at Denglong Bridge. The rebels fled to Qintang and he pressed the siege. Chen Jingang of Xindu and others marched to relieve the siege; Intendant Jiang Zechun intercepted and routed them, recovered Rong County, and Kunyi took Qintang. In the third year he seized Tianping Stockade and captured Huang Dingfeng. With Guixian pacified, he was granted an elevated honorary cap button as Qing rank insignia.
19
西西
He memorialized that banditry still festered on the Left and Right Rivers and proposed a three-pronged advance: Liu Kunyi with seven battalions to hold Xunzhou, Yi Yuantai with eleven battalions through Binxian and Qianjiang toward Si'en, and Li Shien with eight land and water battalions from Hengzhou toward Nanning, pressing forward in stages. In the fourth year Kunyi took Damiao, Jiangkou, and Pingqin, beheaded the rebel leader Liang Anbang, and the waterways to Nanning were finally open. Yuantai suppressed Shanglin and pacified it. Kunyi was promoted to Jiangxi governor and departed; Subprefect Liu Peiyi took over his forces. Kaisong was preparing to lead the campaign at Nanning in person when the Taiping Prince Kang Wang Wang Haiyang fled into Guangdong and threatened Guangxi; the court ordered Kaisong to hold Xunzhou. In the fifth year Kaisong reached Nanning, attacked Shanzhe, directed his troops in mining and breaching the walls, stormed the heights, and captured the Taiping chancellor Su Zhongxi and others. Sun Renguang fled alone toward Wanglong and was run down and killed. Shanzhe had been held by rebels for more than a decade; at last it was wholly pacified.
20
使 調 西西
In the sixth year he was promoted to Governor-General of Yunnan and Guizhou. Since Pan Duo's assassination, Yunnan affairs had grown ever more chaotic. Reaching Badong he pleaded illness and thrice asked to be relieved; convicted of shirking duty, he was dismissed. In the sixth year of Guangxu he was recalled as a fifth-rank capital official, made Counselor of the Office of Transmission, promoted to Reader in the Grand Secretariat, served as acting Governor of Shuntian, and was appointed Governor of Guizhou. In the tenth year he was transferred to Yunnan. He proposed a provincial bureau to develop the five metals and revive mining revenues, and joined Grand Secretariat Academician Zhou Derun in surveying the Vietnam border. In the twelfth year he died in office. Guangxi Governor Li Bingheng memorialized Kaisong's record and asked for a private shrine; Guangxi officials in Beijing objected, and the request was denied. His son Zhongxin, a jinshi of the third year of Guangxu, rose from Hanlin censor to Counselor of the Office of Transmission and won renown for outspoken memorials.
21
==
=Commentary= Commentary: Yunnan lay on a distant frontier where Han and Hui nursed old hatreds; while the heartland was torn by troubles, the province nearly slipped beyond imperial reach. Wu Zhenyu had to balance suppression and pacification at once—a fair measure of how hard the court's task was. Zhang Liangji was capable enough to make a difference, but misused Xu Zhiming, was driven out by him, and the situation became irremediable. After Pan Duo's murder, no one would take on so perilous a post. Mao Hongbin was right to argue that once inland rebellion was crushed, the borderlands would settle of themselves. Zhang Kaisong was cashiered for shirking duty, yet later restored for past service—the court had long understood his situation.
← Previous Chapter
Back to Chapters
Next Chapter →