thousand men placed in Anhui, north of the river, under Tuhsinga, Li Shou-i, and Pao Ch'ao; twenty thousand under his command south of the river, and ten thousand led by Yang Tsai-fu and P'eng Yu-ling.[1] Tsêng thought that he could thus hold northern Kiangsi, leaving the governor to care for the southern portion, then fairly free from the rebels. He further advised the emperor that about three thousand Mongolian cavalry would be necessary in northern Anhui in order to cope with the Nien-fei.
With Kingtechen as the first objective under the new plan, Chang Yun-lan had already been recalled from Fukien and had gone forward during January, 1859. The imperialists were successful in a few skirmishes, but were not sufficient in numbers to take the city, and were therefore forced to wait for the coming of the P'ingkiang 'braves.'[2] The last of Shi Ta-k'ai's army in southern Kiangsi was driven out by the efforts of Hsiao Ch'i-kiang, who defeated the invaders at Nank'ang-hsien and Nanan in February and March. They went over into Hunan, however, thus making it necessary for the governor to recall Hsiao and his men to defend the province.[3]
Tsêng moved his headquarters, now that the campaign into Fukien was definitely abandoned, to Fuchow, and sent to Hunan for additional recruits, which to the number of four thousand arrived in May, followed a little later by Tsêng Kuo-ch'üan. This general then led all the available men, about 5,800, to Kingtechen. He was accompanied by Li Hung-chang. The arrival of this contingent gave the imperialists strength enough to capture the
