Late in 1867, soon after Ts'ên had returned to Ch'ü-ching, he was called to defend the capital of the province against a severe onslaught of Moslems led by Tu Wên-hsiu. Early in 1868 the latter laid siege to Kunming, and Ts'ên had to fight step by step to open communications between Ch'ü-ching and the capital. Faced thus by a common enemy, Ts'ên and Ma Ju-lung composed their differences. When Ts'ên reached Kunming he was promoted to be governor of Yunnan. He and a protege, named Yang Yü-k'o 楊玉科 (T. 雲階, d. 1885, posthumous name 武愍), fought bitterly against the rebels, and gradually recovered a number of cities, thus relieving the pressure on the capital. In June 1869 Yang brought about the surrender of the female rebel commander who was a daughter of Tu Wên-hsiu. Three months later another rebel headquarters was taken and the siege was raised. Then the government troops under Yang Yü-k'o advanced westward while Ts'ên maintained order in the east. After three more years of warfare Yang reached the rebel capital in Tali (late in 1872). Tu Wên-hsiu attempted suicide, but before his death his guards brought him to Yang's camp to be beheaded. Those of his followers who continued the revolt in parts of the city were overcome early in 1873. Several months later the whole province was pacified, and Ts'ên and Yang were each rewarded with the hereditary rank of Ch'ing-ch'ê tü-yü (Yang's rank being raised to a baron in 1875). In 1874 Ts'ên ordered the arrest and execution of Ma Tê-hsin, denouncing him as the actual instigator of the Mohammedan Rebellion in Yunnan. Of an estimated eight million people in the province before the revolt only about three million were said then to be left—the rest having perished or moved away. The rehabilitation of the devastated area was a long and tedious task, and for his part in it the people of Yunnan hailed Ts'ên as their saviour and ruler. In recognition of his services the Peking government appointed him governor-general of Yunnan and Kweichow.
But before long, the murder of a British subject, Augustus Raymond Margary 馬格里 (1846–1875), on the Yunnan-Burmese border, caused Ts'ên to be denounced as an anti-foreign agitator. In the autumn of 1874 Margary made a five months' overland journey from Shanghai to the Burmese border to meet a British trade mission from Burma and to act as guide and interpreter during its travels in China. He met the expedition at Bhamo in January 1875 and then recrossed the border into Yunnan a little in advance of the party, to prepare for its arrival. On February 19, 1875 he reached Manwyn, Yunnan, and two days later was murdered in the jungle not far from the town. When, a day later, the mission was on its way to Manwyn, it was attacked by armed bands and was forced to return to Burma. A report of the incident was sent from India to Shanghai by cablegram and was forwarded to Peking. Sir Thomas Wade (see under Tso Tsung-t'ang) the British minister, received it on March 11, and two days later sent a memorandum to the Chinese government demanding that an investigation be made on the spot in the presence of British officials, Having no swift means of ascertaining the facts, the Chinese government had to wait until Ts'ên's report was delivered by courier, before it could reply to Wade's demands. Wade took advantage of this necessary delay to increase his demands to include the settlement of all outstanding issues, such as the question of granting an audience to foreign diplomats and the exemption of foreign goods from likin taxes—threatening a break in relations, or even war. To show his impatience he left Peking in April 1875. In July Ts'ên's official report reached Peking, stating that Margary had been murdered by native bandits and that the authorities at Momein (Têng-yüeh) had aroused the hostility of the local people against the British expedition. On receipt of the report, the Peking government at once ordered Li Hung-chang and Ting Jih-ch'ang [qq. v.] to negotiate with Wade at Tientsin; and dispatched Li Han-chang (see under Li Hung-chang) and Hsüeh Huan 薛煥 (T. 覲堂, 1815–1880, in charge of foreign affairs at Shanghai from 1857 to 1863) to Yunnan to conduct the investigation (early in 1876) in the presence of British officials. The inquiry confirmed Tsêng's report, and several persons who had confessed to the murder were convicted. Wade, however, had no faith in the investigations, insisting that Ts'ên was really responsible. Since the Peking government was unwilling to summon Ts'ên for trial, Wade was given concessions in other matters, and the case was settled in September 1876 by the Chefoo Convention (see under Li Hung-chang). In addition to the opening of more ports to foreign trade and regulations, likin taxes on foreign goods, one important result of this episode was the appointment of China's first minister to the Court of St. James (see under Kuo Sung-tao).
It is safe to say that Ts'ên did not order an attack on the British expedition. If any such
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