sands to his standard.

In the Yangtse valley--in fact, wherever Chung Wang was not--the
Taepings met with many reverses that counterbalanced these successes.
Several Chinese armies approached Nanking from different sides, and
Tien Wang in a state of panic summoned Chung Wang, his only champion,
back to his side. That warrior obeyed the summons, leaving Mow Wang in
charge of Soochow, but he could do no good. He found nothing but
disorder at the Taeping capital, and no troops with which he could
venture to assume the offensive against the powerful army, in numbers
at all events, that the two Tsengs had drawn round Nanking. In this
position his troubles were increased by the suspicion of Tien Wang,
who deprived him of all his honours, and banished him to the province
of Anhui, adjacent to both Kiangsi and Kiangsu, and joined with them
in the same viceroyalty. This order to depart was a relief to Chung
Wang, who was thus able to complete his own measures for the defence
of Soochow and the other places along the Canal that had fallen to his
arms. He saw clearly that the success of the foreigners in keeping him
back at a distance of thirty miles from Shanghai, and in expelling him
from Ningpo, signified his being shut in just as effectively on the
east, as he already was on the west by the fall of every place except
Nanking, and by the miserable inefficiency of the garrison in that
place. He may have really despaired, but this Chinese Frederick was
resolved, if he could, to break his chains. Unfortunately for him, a
new and more formidable antagonist than any he had met appeared on the
scene at this juncture, in the person of Gordon.

This summary of the progress and nature of the Taeping rebellion up to
the 25th March 1863 when Gordon assumed the command will make clear
what follows to the general reader. It would be as great a mistake to
minimise the fighting military strength of the Taepings as it would be
to exaggerate it. There was a moment, years before Gordon came on the
scene, when the Imperial commanders by a little energy and promptitude
might have stamped out the rebellion; but having missed the
opportunity the military skill and daring of Chung Wang had revived
the Taeping cause, and made it more formidable than ever from a
military point of view. The blunders of the Imperial commanders
precluded any confidence as to their superior numbers and resources
effecting their natural result, and although Gordon himself