of the imperial government no remedies were possible for the difficulties in which Tsêng found himself; therefore the Taiping rebels were destined to go on winning victories for many years and to do incalculable damage. But now they were being driven back from the north, where Mongol tribesmen had been brought into action, and in Hupeh by country recruits which were winning victories over superior forces in nearly every engagement. Even the regulars, with a small intermixture of 'braves,' were winning some advantages near Nanking. In Anhui, where Li Hung-chang was fighting with forces similar to Tsêng's, some victories had been reported.[1] Large sums of money were being spent, but under such conditions as to waste it in the old way upon the old type of forces rather than to spend it profitably for new, effective armies.
Separating his army and navy into three divisions, Tsêng set off, early in November, towards Nanking. One division of Tsêng's land forces, under T'a Chi-pu, marched along the road south of the river through Tayeh (now the center of the great iron mines) and Hsingkuo. Similarly Kwei Ming, leading Hupeh forces, marched north of the river, with orders to take Kichow and Kwangchih. The flotilla under Tsêng himself went down in two divisions. The army under T'a Chi-pu and the water force under Tsêng followed their programmes and reached T'ienchia-chen, about forty miles above Kiukiang. But the second division under Kwei Ming was delayed through the inefficiency of that commander, and he was finally relieved of command and his force attached to Tsêng.[2]
