The World of a Tiny Insect: A Memoir of the Taiping Rebellion and Its Aftermath

Part 3.

109 Part Three The Nian Uprising I have given a full account of my experience during the chaos caused by the Yue bandits. As for Yuanjiang’s sufferings during the Nian Uprising, there are things I cannot bear speaking of. When the Nian bandits were advancing toward Yuanjiang, the director-general of the Grand Canal, whose name will not be mentioned here, was giving drinking parties, complete with musical performances, to entertain himself and his staff.1 Although the alarm had been raised and was in fact growing more and more urgent with every passing day, he paid no heed to it. Only when the bandits reached Wang’s Camp, which was no more than ten leagues from Yuanjiang, did he begin to panic. He tried to commit suicide, but was stopped by his concubines and servants. So he threw his snuff bottle on the floor and said, “It is all over!” By that he meant he was going to give up on his reputation and flee. He escaped by taking to the Huai River. That was on the twenty-ninth day of the first month in the —— year of the Xianfeng era [February 20, 1860].2 I escaped from Yuanjiang unharmed thanks to young Zhou, who carried me on his back and saved my life. My three mothers went south, 1 This was the Manchu official Gengchang. Later he was sent into exile at Xinjiang as punishment for his negligence. 2 The year was left blank in the manuscript. It should be the tenth year of the Xianfeng era. 110 The World of a Tiny Insect and our old house at Dusi Lane was burned to the ground.3 The bandits pillaged the city for eleven days, and over two hundred thousand people died. How lamentable. This might have been destined to be; nevertheless , if preparations had been made earlier, or if afterward the government troops could have driven the bandits away from the city sooner, it would not have come to that. The Nian’s strength was their cavalry. They used long spears and halberds as weapons. Fast and vigorous, they could easily traverse a thousand leagues. They valued money and material goods but cared little for land, a characteristic that was quite different from the Longhairs. To entrap the Longhairs, it was appropriate to surround them on all sides, but to crush the Nian bandits, it was best to fortify the defense works and clear the fields of supplies, as these were the only proper methods to subdue them. Because of this I have come to realize that the most important thing in fighting is to identify the effective strategy, not to rely on strength and numbers alone. Creatures such as whales, salamanders , sharks, and crocodiles are so mighty that they can swallow a boat, but when they are deprived of water, they die. If one knows the correct way of overpowering them, what is the point of risking one’s life to battle them among crushing waves, and shaking up heaven and earth during the process? Reflect on this well, and one may be able to communicate with gods and spirits. As long as one learns how to take advantage of the enemy’s shortcomings, it is not so difficult to clear the air breathed out by the giant clam.4 Chen Laomo was a native of Zichuan County of Shandong. After a famine caused by a poor harvest, he and his wife became our household servants. When the Nian came, they stayed behind and would not leave the house. The bandits set fire to the house, and people dragged them out. A cat died in the fire. Laomo and his wife wept bitterly over the cat, and thought that they were not as good and honorable as it had been. At the time, my father was under orders to guard Chengzihe. After the bandits were gone, he went home to inspect the situation. Laomo suffered seven wounds, and his wife almost died from burns. My father admired their loyalty, and provided for them for the rest of their lives. 3 That is, his legal mother, his birth mother, and his concubine mother. 4 Mirages were believed to be produced by a gigantic clam breathing out air. Part Three 111 Among our servants Laomo was rather slow on the uptake, and yet, when calamity befell, he did not betray us. If the director-general...