God's Chinese Son (38 page)

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.
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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, the 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.
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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!
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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."
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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."
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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."
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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.
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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.
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' 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."
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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."
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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.
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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."
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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 surviving 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.
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Even after this horrendous slaughter, neither Wei nor Qin is satisfied, and the killing continues for three months, until thousands more have lost their lives, including all five hundred of Yang's former palace women and female retainers.
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Shi Dakai, the Wing King, has had to travel much farther than Wei or Qin to reach Nanjing, from far up the Yangzi River, near Wuchang. He reaches the Heavenly Capital in early October, having been informed on the way of the incredible slaughter. Revolted and angry, Shi meets with North King Wei, and blames him for the excesses of the killing, warning that such action will only lead to Qing victory. Wei, furious in his turn, suggests that Shi may be in Yang's camp, or a traitor for the Qing. Warned by friends that he too may be assassinated, and finding the gates closed against him, Shi slips out of the city in secret, the same day on which he entered it. Late that night, Wei and Qin surround Shi's mansion, as they had the East King's, and force their way past the guards. Finding Shi gone, they kill his wife and children, and all his retinue.
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