It is Yang also, when the troops are still exhausted and nursing their heavy casualties from that protracted battle, who decides with great strategic insight that this is the time to launch an all-out assault on the vast Qing base camp that spreads around the eastern flank of the Heavenly Capital itself. Though protesting vehemently, and close to open disobedience, the tired generals rally their soldiers and in three days of savage fighting in the month of June 1856 use the element of surprise and all their battlefield experience to hit the base camps in succession with such impact and success that more than ten thousand Qing imperial troops are killed or routed, their encampments all destroyed, and their discredited leaders sent fleeing scores of miles to safety. The Qing commandant, Xiang Rong, who has been dogging the Taiping's heels since the campaigns in Yongan and Guilin five years before, broken by this last humiliation, falls ill and dies.15
The East King views these victories as proof of his powers, and his ambitions grow accordingly. It pains him to see his titles less than those of the Heavenly King, whose glory as "Lord of Ten Thousand Years" outshines Yang's "Nine Thousand Years" by what seems to Yang too large a margin. Planning with care, Yang sends the generals most loyal to the Heavenly King on important new assignments, even though they and their troops are still not fully rested up: Shi Dakai to Hubei province in the west, Qin Rigang to Danyang in Jiangsu, and Wei Changhui, North King, to Nanchang in Jiangxi. Once they have left Nanjing city with their troops, Yang tells his Heavenly King that he too would like the title of "Ten Thousand Years." Without his loyal commanders near him, the Heavenly King is trapped, but pretends to accede. He suggests Yang's coming birthday, still two months away, as the time for this auspicious event. And then, somehow evading Yang's omnipresent spies, Hong sends trusted messengers to Shi and Qin and Wei, ordering their instant return to the Heavenly Capital to thwart this design at treason.16
By the strangest of coincidences, the best description of what happens next comes from a restless Irishman, who can barely read or write, and whose name is no longer even known to us. After the months he spends in Zhenjiang and Nanjing during 1856, the Irishman dictates his story that same year to a ship's officer named Reynolds. Reynolds is a man who knows China well and believes in the truth of the Irishman's strange tale. So do experienced missionaries living in Shanghai.17
The presence of an Irishman in the Taiping base areas in 1856 can be explained by the desperate nature of the times. The strict neutrality laws that the diplomats try and follow cannot prevent a certain number of rootless men from drifting into the Taiping camp to offer their services to the Heavenly King. From the earliest days of 1853, Westerners have been selling guns and ammunition to the Taiping, along with their services.18 Amongst such mercenaries one finds "3 black men," perhaps from India, for all are described as British subjects, who have made their way to Zhenjiang to join the Taiping.19 Some Englishmen continue in the lucrative if risky business of trading forbidden war goods with the various rebels by using false bills of lading, gunpowder being itemized as "Chinese snuff' and Enfield rifles as "umbrellas."20 Even the simpleminded can play such games, like the Englishman discovered by the mate of the Hermes, but not taken seriously, for he seemed "too stupid-looking ever to have been in a ship of war."21 An American named Drinker begins to recruit a small army of foreign mercenaries—many of whom are British—in the Canton region, till prevented by the joint action of the British and Americans.22 To the British governor in Hong Kong, these exemplars are only a sampling of "a host of filibustering cutthroats and deserters (subjects of the Queen) who, under the pretence of joining the patriots, are committing every species of robbery and outrage."23
Such adventurers are not just drawn from British ranks: the French captain de Plas has placed in irons on the Cassini a French deserter, who tries to pretend he is an Italian, and observes large numbers of deserters crewing on an American ship, the Challenge, where they far outnumber the Chinese seamen.24 An Italian, known by the name of Antonie, or Antonio, has joined the Taiping as early as 1853. He is a powerful man, whose pride is a sword weighing almost twenty pounds—his specialty lies in pretending to fall down dead on the battlefield till Qing troops approach his body, at which point he leaps to his feet, decapitating several of the astonished enemy. His foreign status gives him special dispensations, for the Taiping allow him "money for his Opium pipe and Grog of which he seemed very fond."25 There are at least five "Manilamen," longhaired and dressed in Chinese style, and worshiping God the Taiping way, also stationed in Zhenjiang. They serve as executioners for their Taiping masters, one of them being assigned to kill women found guilty of breaking the Taiping laws.26
The Irishman knows his weapons well, and is flexible in his allegiances, having been fighting for a time with the Triad rebels in Shanghai, and for a period with the Qing. Choosing, for obvious reasons, not to stay on in Shanghai when the Qing recapture the Chinese city, he makes his way overland to Zhenjiang, where, knowing no Chinese, and interpreters being rare, he shows his loyalty to the Taiping leaders by kneeling on the ground before them, and by participating in their religious services, both before each meal and on the Sabbath day.27 The advent of the Sabbath is announced in a way that even illiterate Westerners and Chinese still puzzled by the new Christian weekly calendar cannot miss, with large flags hung across the main streets of the town.28
Arriving in April 1856, just after the triumphal raising of the Zhenjiang siege, with an American companion, Charles Thompson from Boston, the Irishman is first assigned to help supervise the collection of rice supplies from Yangzhou on the Grand Canal. For a full month, dressed now in Chinese clothes, he works at this task, estimating that thirty thousand Chinese, men and women, old and young, have been conscripted for the labor. When that area is exhausted, he ranges farther afield with the Taiping troops and a body of one hundred cavalry, throwing up temporary earthworks to defend themselves from Qing patrols as they scour the more distant countryside for stores of grain. He estimates that the colossal foraging party gives the Taiping forces in Zhenjiang two years' food supply. Nanjing itself reputedly has enough grain stored to withstand a six-year siege.29
In May, two more Europeans join them. The four Westerners are assigned to the main Taiping army commanded by Qin Rigang as it fights successively against the remaining Qing encampments near Zhenjiang, where the Taiping obtain massive supplies of ammunition and many cannon, prior to returning to Nanjing for the triumphant strike ordered by the East King against the Qing encampments there. In the hard-fought battles these Western observers note the finer points of Taiping battle technique: their speed at throwing up defensive works, their use of mobile pontoon bridges, their courage under fire, and their strategy of collecting all flammable material from houses around a given Qing emplacement and ringing it with fire, then cutting down the Qing troops one by one as they flee the blazing circle. The Irishman also notes the Taiping practice of destroying every "large building" that they find—these being presumably temples, the homes of the wealthier landlords, or the headquarters of local officials—while leaving intact all those "belonging to the poor," even though the villagers "would all flee on our approach" in any case. In one of these engagements his Boston friend, Charles Thompson, is fatally wounded in the chest, dying after ten days, although no fewer than three doctors in the Taiping service attend his wounds. As he "frets" before his death, Charles Thompson tells the Irishman he would rather spend three years in a United States prison than three months longer with the Taiping troops.30
Having proven his loyalty and effectiveness, the Irishman and one of his new companions are summoned to meet General Qin Rigang himself.
Qin offers them horses for their use, and a transfer to Nanjing. Accepting the offer gladly as indicating a rise in status, they travel to the Heavenly Capital and—after careful scrutiny from the guards and several hours' delay—are allowed inside the gates. Here they meet again with General Qin and his associate General Hu Yihuang, th
e two "kings" added to the roster by Hong Xiuquan but soon to be demoted by Yang Xiuqing. After being carefully searched for concealed arms, the two Westerners are taken to audience with the East King, Yang Xiuqing. Unable to speak Chinese themselves, they can do no more than observe that not only do all those present kneel before the East King and utter a short prayer, but that everyone is also made to kneel whenever either of Yang's two young sons, aged three and seven, are present in the room with their father—as long as ten minutes at a stretch on some occasions.3'
By the summer of 1856 the Irishman has found an English-speaking interpreter living in Nanjing, a Chinese man "formerly a carpenter at Canton," so when he is next summoned with his friends for an audience with Yang Xiuqing, whom the Irishman refers to simply as "Number 2," the dialogue is somewhat more protracted:
The next morning about six we were brought up before No. 2, who enquired how we fought thinking we only used our fists—We shewed him, we could use both a sword and firearms, upon which he gave us a stick and we shewed him the cuts and guards as well as we knew. We told him we only used our fists when we were drunk, showing our meaning by lifting a cup and motioning to be drunk. They made us go through a little pugilism, which amused the second King very much, he laughing heartily. They brought us an English pistol asking me to fire it off—placing a piece of paper against a wall some fifty yards distant. I put the ball into the centre— No. 2 standing behind me while taking aim appeared nervous while I was using the weapon.
Looking round and taking notice of his Palace which was very extensive, he asked us whether our Emperor had one similar to his, to which we, of course, answered—No!32
The Irishman finds Yang himself to be a not unattractive figure: "He was up early and retired late—and appeared to get through a mass of business. In person he was a fine noble looking man, with a pleasant countenance and mild affable manner."33
Given comfortable lodgings by the East King in the house of one of his brothers-in-law, not more than fifty yards from the East King's own palace, the Westerners—though they pine for action—pass the next three months in enforced idleness. Sometimes they sing whatever songs they know, to pass the time, and their host, amused, provides them with wine, which he keeps in his mansion despite the prohibitions and likes to drink himself. In the main, as the Irish narrator puts it, there is little to do "but wander through the city, amusing ourselves as well as circumstances would allow us." To their surprise, the women seem to roam around quite freely, at least when they are at work, carrying bricks and stones, wood, and rice. Not all entertainments are banned, and they see, on two occasions, "very long processions formed of dragons, and representations of all sorts of animals made of paper."34
Though trade is formally banned within the city, the Westerners note there seems to be a fascination with Western objects—musical boxes, gloves, umbrellas, and watches and clocks, which are sold on "almost every street." Pistols are on sale too, and the Westerners are able to buy not only a sword but a "Deane and Adam's revolver."35 Two examples of these latest Western manufactures are given the pride of place outside Hong Xiuquan's palace, a spot one might expect to be reserved for the decorative spirit tablets that protect the palaces and mansions of the wealthiest Chinese: "two handsome brass 12 pdr. [pounder] shell guns, marked Massachusetts 1855, with American oak carriages," in perfect condition, down to their "gutta percha buffers," and the wads "attached to the tomkin." Bought by the Qing for use against the Triad rebels in Shanghai, and transferred to the garrison force outside Nanjing, the guns have now been dragged into the Heavenly Capital and this honorable resting place.36
The two foreigners also acquire, from somewhere, a Chinese "boy" who speaks Portuguese and English and gives them greater mobility and familiarity with the city through his skill with languages.1' During this period the generals who first hired him have all been sent away on campaigns by Yang, so the Irishman is ignorant of the plots and counterplots that are swirling all about him. It is not from these Westerners but from a Taiping text that we know the East King's last utterances in God's name—two brief and anguished cries on August 15, 1856, unlike anything he has said before. The first, at dawn: "Qin Rigang is helping the demons, Chen Chengyong is helping the demons, ensuring that the city of your God is set aflame. There is no way to save it." And at noon: "The officials in the Court can acquire no strength, for they do not with true reverence worship the Lord their God."38
We cannot tell, from our current vantage point, whether this cry of frustration refers to defeats in the field just suffered by Generals Qin and Chen; or to some knowledge Yang has acquired through his omnipresent informants that these and other generals are heading back toward the Heavenly Capital at the urgent summons of their Heavenly King; or simply to his intuitions of impending catastrophe to himself and his plans. But the same Irish mercenary does leave a gentler but still haunting picture: "The last time we saw him [Yang] he was lecturing in a public place to about three thousand Canton men .. . who were all on their knees. We heard they had hesitated to go out to fight."39
On September 1, 1856, around midnight, the North King, Wei Changhui, having handed over command of the Jiangxi campaign to subordinates, reaches Nanjing, with about three thousand of his veteran troops. General Qin Rigang, having had less distance to go, is already in the city, with selected troops from his army, the victors of the summer battles both at Zhenjiang and outside Nanjing itself. After swift consultations with Hong Xiuquan's brother-in-law, and Hu Yihuang—the other recently deposed king—and a brief talk with Hong Xiuquan himself, the two generals decide not to wait for Shi Dakai but to move at once, before Yang can rally the more than six thousand troops in the city who are believed totally loyal to him. Led by the North King, so long humiliated by Yang Xiuqing, the troops storm Yang's palace, and cut Yang down before he manages to flee—into a "hollow wall" that he has prepared for such emergencies, according to one account. Then, despite a prior agreement with Hong that Yang should be the only one to die, in a few murderous hours, Qin's and Wei's troops slaughter every one of Yang's family and followers who can be found in his palace, male or female, of whatever rank or age or occupation. Yang's own head is severed and hung from a pole in the street.40
Wakened by the sound of cannon fire at four in the morning, the Irishman and his friend, sleeping near Yang's palace, hurry at once to the street door of their residence, but the streets are lined with troops from Qin's and Wei's armies, who will not let them leave their lodging. By daybreak, when they are able to make their way to Yang's palace, they find the streets full of corpses—"the bodyguard, officers, musicians, clerks and household servants of No. 2"—and the palace being looted. Within a few hours the huge complex is "completely gutted."41
There remains, for Hong Xiuquan as for Wei and Qin, the problem of the six thousand or so loyal followers of the dead East King, many of them veterans from Thistle Mountain, who are still at large, scattered across the entire city of Nanjing. Though many of these soldiers have been loyal God-worshipers for five years or more, it is not clear whether their deepest allegiance is to Yang or to Hong. One can risk being wrong about their future conduct, or one can preempt the question. Hong Xiuquan, in consultation with the North King and the other generals, decides not to take the risk. The plan they arrive at is devious and effective. In an angry edict the Heavenly King denounces the senseless slaying of all Yang's family and palace staff, and the bloodbath and looting that have followed. North King Wei and General Qin Rigang are arrested and made to kneel with chains around their necks in front of Hong's palace gate. Hong's palace women issue forth with a huge proclamation written in vermilion ink on a length of yellow silk, seven or eight feet long. The edict sentences the two men to a savage punishment of five hundred blows, the same punishment once meted out to traitors in the Taiping ranks during the Thistle Mountain days. The Heavenly King's decision is read out in clear, commanding tones, by Hong's palace women at the gate, and some of the East King's s
urviving followers press close to read the message while others listen with attention. All of Yang's followers are invited to witness the beatings, which are to be administered inside the walls of Hong's huge palace. As the blows begin to fall on the erring generals, who are kneeling on the ground in the outer courtyard of Hong's own palace, Yang's surviving followers crowd in to watch. They leave their arms at the gate, as is customary for security, and are seated in comfort in two long halls on either side of the central courtyard. When it is estimated that almost all are there, the doors and gates are closed, hemming them in. The beatings stop. Yang's followers are trapped.
Among the guards at the front of the Heavenly King's palace are the Western mercenaries. As the unnamed Irishman then tells the story:
Next morning at daylight the doors and windows of these prisons were opened, and several powder bags thrown in on the prisoners, while the entrance was strongly guarded. In one house the soldiers entered with little resistance and massacred the whole, but in the other the prisoners fought with the bricks from the walls and partitions, most desperately for upwards of six hours before they were got under. In addition to musketry, a two pounder discharged grape at them.—These poor devils then stripped themselves, and many were seen to fall from sheer exhaustion. At last Nos. 5 and 7 [Wei and Qin] called upon their men to draw their right arms from their sleeves, so as to distinguish them from No. 2's men; they then rushed in and massacred the remainder—We shortly after entered, and, good heavens! such a scene, the dead bodies were in some places five and six deep; some had hung themselves and others were severely scorched from the explosions of the powder bags thrown in.—These bodies were removed from this to a field and remained uncovered.—After this every master of a house in the city had to give an account of how many men, women and children were residing under his roof, to every one of whom was given a small chop [seal imprint] which they wore on their breast, and if they found any of No. 2's men they were to secure them—For several weeks these people were brought to the execution ground in parcels of fives, tens, hundreds, and thousands, who were all beheaded. All the women and children also, any one who had eaten of No. 2's rice suffered.42
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