Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Révolte des Dounganes" in French language version.
« . As one of them expressed it, in pathetic language, "During the Chinese rule there was everything; there is nothing now." The speaker of that sentence was no merchant, who might have been expected to be depressed by the falling-off in trade, but a warrior and a chieftain's son and heir. If to him the military system of Yakoob Beg seemed unsatisfactory and irksome, what must it have appeared to those more peaceful subjects to whom merchandise and barter were as the breath of their nostrils? »
« The Ch'ing began to win only with the arrival of To-lung-a (1817–64) as Imperial Commissioner. Originally a Manchu banner officer, To-lung-a had, through the patronage of Hu Lin-i, risen to commander of the Hunan Army (the force under him being identified as the Ch'u-yung). In 1861 To-lung-a helped Tseng Kuo-ch'üan to recover Anking from the Taipings and, on his own, captured Lu-chou in 1862. His yung-ying force proved to be equally effective against the Muslims. In March 1863 his battalions captured two market towns that formed the principal Tungan base in eastern Shensi. He broke the blockade around Sian in August and pursued the Muslims to western Shensi. By the time of his death in March 1864—in a battle against Szechwanese Taipings who invaded Shensi—he had broken the back of the Muslim revolt in that province. A great many Shensi Muslims had, however, escaped to Kansu, adding to the numerous Muslim forces that had already risen there. »
« While the revolt in Shensi was clearly provoked by the Han elite and Manchu officials, in Kansu it seems that the Muslims had taken the initiative, with the New Teaching group under Ma Hua-lung playing a large role. As early as October 1862 some Muslim leaders, spreading rumors of an impending Ch'ing massacre of Muslims, organized themselves for a siege of Ling-chou, a large city only 40-odd miles north of Ma Hua-ling's base, Chin-chi-pao. Meanwhile, in southeastern Kansu, Ku-yuan, a strategic city on a principal transport route, was attacked by Muslims. Governor-general En-lin, in Lanchow, saw no alternative to a policy of reconciliation. In January 1863, acting on his recommendation, Peking issued an edict especially for Kansu, reiterating the principle of non-discrimination towards the Muslim population. »
« Tso had also been assured of a solution to his financial and logistical problems. In war-torn Shensi and Kansu, food was scarce and prices extremely high. Tso declared that his forces would go into major battle only when there were three months' supplies on hand. In addition to munitions, large amounts of grain also had to be brought to Shensi and Kansu from other provinces. To finance the purchase of the supplies, Tso had to depend on Peking's agreement to the formula adopted by many dynasties of the past: "support the armies in the northwest with the resources of the southeast". In 1867 five provinces of the southeast coast were asked by the government to contribute to a "Western expedition fund" (Hsi-cheng hsiang-hsiang) totaling 3.24 million taels annually. The arrangement came under the Ch'ing fiscal practice of "interprovincial revenue assistance" (hsieh-hsiang), but at a time when these provinces were already assessed for numerous contributions to meet the needs of Peking or other provinces.58 Tso reported, as early as 1867, to a stratagem that would compel the provinces to produce their quotas for his campaigns. He requested, and obtained, the government's approval for his arranging lump-sum loans from foreign firms, guaranteed by the superintendents of customs at the treaty ports and confirmed by the seals of the provincial governors involved, to be repaid by these provinces to the foreign firms by a fixed date. »
« Tso's preparations for his offensive in Kansu were nearly complete. From Hunan his veteran officers had recruited a new force of some 55,000 troops. In addition, Tseng Kuo-fan had transferred to Shensi in 1867 the only unit of his Hunan Army that was not disbanded—about 10,000 men under Gen. Liu Sung-shan, one of Tseng's best generals. The government had also assigned to Tso's command 10,000 men from the Szechuan Army (Ch'uan-chün) under Huang Ting; 7,000 men of the Anhwei provincial army (Wan-chün) under Kuo Pao-ch'ang; and 6,500 men of the Honan Army (Yü-chün) under Chang Yueh. These forces all had experience in fighting the Taipings or the Nian, and they included 7,500 cavalry, reinforcing the 5,000 mounts Tso himself procured.55 However, apart from employing Manchu officers from Kirin to instruct his cavalry, Tso seems to have paid little attention to the training of his forces. He appreciated the fact that Liu Sung-shan's troops were adept in tactical formations and sharpshooting, but from his own experience in the Taiping Rebellion, he was convinced that the two essentials for victory were courageous men and ample rations. »
« Tso's preparations for his offensive in Kansu were nearly complete. From Hunan his veteran officers had recruited a new force totalling some 55,000 men. In addition, Tseng Kuo-fan had transferred to Shensi in 1867 the only unit of his Hunan Army that was not disbanded—about 10,000 men under Liu Sung-shan, one of Tseng's best generals. The government had also assigned to Tso's command 10,000 men from the Szechwan Army (Ch'uan-chün) under Huang Ting; 7,000 men of the Anhwei provincial army (Wan-chün) under Kuo Pao-ch'ang; and 6,500 men of the Honan Army (Yü-chün) under Chang Yueh... and they included a total of 7,500 cavalry, reinforcing the 5,000 mounts Tso himself procured. Liu Sung-shan's troops were adept in tactical formations and sharpshooting, but from his own experience in the Taiping Rebellion, Tso was convinced that the two essentials for victory were courageous men and ample rations. He had briefly tried Western drill »
« on his troops late in the rebellion, but found that "command words cannot be used for large formations of soldiers". Although Tso equipped his troops with Western firearms, somehow he came to think that target practice "twice a day for ten days" was sufficient before the troops were sent into battle.56 Fortunately for him, in the forthcoming offensive in Kansu he was to engage in actions that, despite the more difficult terrain, chiefly involved attacks on stockades and walled cities—not altogether different from the Taiping Rebellion. However, Tso did value the large siege guns, which a few of his veteran officers had learned to use. »
« When Tso Tsung-t'ang constructed the Lanchow Arsenal in 1872, he called for workers from Canton because of their well-known skill. »
« Tso Tsung-t'ang moved into his governor-general's seat at Lanchow in August 1872, but he concentraded first on Hsi-ning, 120 miles northwest of Lanchow, because in 1872 it was under the control of Shensi Muslim leaders, including Pai Yen-hu who had been Ma Hua-ling's partisan and now had more than 10,000 seasoned Muslim fighters at his disposal. The task of attacking Hsi-ning was undertaken by Liu Chin-t'ang in August. It took three months to penetrate the difficult and well-defended terrain into Hsi-ning, but he finally took the city. He annihilated the 10,000 Muslim partisans but Pai Yen-hu escaped. Ma Kuei-yuan, the "Muslim gentry leader" of Hsi-ning who protected the New Teaching, was tracked down in the Tsinghai Salar territory.81. All this time Tso had in fact been preparing for the crucial assault on Su-chou, where New Teaching commander Ma Wen-lu (originally from Hsi-ning) and numerous tungan leaders had gathered. To add to Hsu Chan-piao's forces, Tso sent to Su-chou 3,000 men from his own Hunan Army in December 1872, and at his request, both Sung Ch'ing and Chang Yueh of the Honan Army were ordered to join the campaign. Chin-shun, the recently appointed general-in-chief at Uliasutai, also participated. Tso had his hands full arranging finances and supplies, including the establishment of a modest arsenal at Lanchow where Lai Ch'ang, a Cantonese and a talented artillery officer with some knowledge of ordnance, began manufacturing extra shells for the German siege guns. Tso was obsessed with the organization of the war, yet both conscience and policy called for making arrangements for the livelihood of "good Muslims", with a view to removing the root causes of communal conflict. »
« Tso's arsenal at Lanchow, besides manufacturing cartridges and shells (some of which did not prove to be entirely satisfactory), even succeeded in 1875 in producing four "steel rifle-barreled breechloaders", witnessed by a Russian official. »
« The Shensi Muslims now entrenched themselves in Tung-chih-yuan, a fertile plain in southeastern Kansu, where their "Eighteen Great Battalions" continued to conduct raids in every direction. Further north, meanwhile, the New Teaching leader Ma Hua-lung, ever since his "surrender" to the Ch'ing early in 1866, had built up Chin-chi-pao as an economic as well as military base. His followers included many Muslim merchants with long experience in the trade between Kansu and Pao-t'ou in Inner Mongolia, employing caravan routes as well as rafts made of inflated hides that navigated the eastward great bend of the Yellow River. Ma himself owned two trading firms and invested in the businesses of many of his followers. He was situated as to be able to control the entire trade between Mongolia and southern Kansu.53 His interest was, however, religious and military. He purchased firearms from as far as Kuei-hua (present-day Huhehot) and forwarded them to the New Teaching centers elsewhere in Kansu. Ma also traded with the Shensi Muslims at Tung-chih-yuan, selling horses and munitions and buying grain. When Tso returned to Shensi in November 1868, he was convinced that Ma Hua-lung not only had connections in Sinkiang but had designs on Mongolia "both north and south of the great desert".54 »
« Moving southward from Ling-chou, Liu Sung-shan had to fight his way through hundreds of fortified villages, enclosed by hills on three sides and by the Yellow River in the west. The rural defenders, who possessed firearms, were also Ma's staunchest devotees. Liu had to advance slowly, and on 14 February 1870, he met his death under 'cannon fire'.79 Although his able nephew and former staff officer, Liu Chin-t'ang (1844–94), managed to hold his force together, its forward movement came to a halt. »
« Tso's immediate appointment of Liu as commander of the 'Old Hunan Army' (Lao Hsiang-chün)added to the youthful commander's prestige... By September 1870, Liu Chin-t'ang had reduced all but a score of the 500-odd forts around Chin-chi-pao. Krupp siege guns shipped to Kansu form Shanghai were now sent to Liu along with an officer who had served Tseng Kuo-fan as a gunner. The shells failed to breach Chin-chi-pao's heavy walls (said to be thirty-five feet thick), but in October Liu Chin-t'ang built a high gun position from which he bombarded the city over its walls... Chin-chi-pao's dwindling number of inhabitants were now surviving on grass roots and flesh from dead bodies. In January, Ma Hua-lung finally surrendered to Liu Chin-t'ang, »
« In mid-September, Tso himself was on the scene, with his arsenal manager, Lai Ch'ang, who was also an expert gunner. The Krupp guns now bombarded the heavy walls, their fire being coordinated with mines that exploded under the walls. »
« Yakub-Bek may also be well inclined towards Russia, but a suspicion of it in Kashgar might ruin him, for the Russians are unmitigatedly hateful to the native population. »
« Ya'qub probably had been in touch with the Ottoman sultanate in the late 1860s, but it was not until 1873 that the Sublime Porte's recognition of his kingdom was made public. He was made an emir and in the same year the sultan-caliph sent him a gift of three thousand rifles, thirty cannon, and three Turkish military instructors. Meanwhile, exploratory visits to Kashgar by R. B. Shaw in 1868 and by D. T. Forsyth and others in 1870 had aroused British enthusiasm for Ya'qub's regime. Forsyth was sent to Kashgar again in 1873, when he presented Ya'qub with several thousand old-style muskets from British India's arsenal. Early in 1874 he concluded with the emir a commercial treaty that also conferred diplomatic recognition upon the new Kashgarian state. »
« Meanwhile, under Liu Chin-t'ang and the Manchu General Chin-shun, Tso's offensive in Sinkiang had started. »
« But in April, after the snow on the Ti'ein Shan foothills melted making operations again possible, Liu Chin-t'ang attacked Ta-fan-ch'eng and reduced it in four days.98 More desertions from Ya'qub's army ensued and his officials in such oasis cities at Aksu, especially those who had been begs or hakim begs under Ch'ing rule before 1867, now contacted the Ch'ing forces and offered their services. »
« On 26 April, Chang Yueh entered Turfan, and on the same day Liu Chin-t'ang took Toksun, forty miles to the west... Ch'ing forces now re-won one oasis town after another... Tso's proposal, though modified as to detail, was realized in 1884, when Liu Chin-t'ang became Sinkiang's first governor (serving 1884–91). Peking's most tangible motive was to reduce the cost of maintaining large yung-ying armies in Sinkiang, which even after the Ili crisis cost as much as 7.9 million taels annually. The conversion of Sinkiang into a province presupposed the reduction of existing troops there to only 31,000 men. They were to be placed under the Green Standard framework and maintained by interprovincial revenue assistance pared down to an annual total of 4,8 million taels (30 per cent of this amount was to be delivered to Kansu, supposedly to cover expenses incurred in that province on behalf of Sinkiang, such as forwarding of military supplies). »
« 25th Januarv, 1891. Temple Erected To Those Killed In The Revolt. Wei Kuang-tao, acting Governor of Kansu and the New Dominion, reports the erection of a temple in the provincial capital of Kansu to the memory of those killed in the Revolt, consisting of Manchus, Chinese, officials, gentry, soldiers, peasants, matrons and maidens massacred in Songaria and Kashgaria, —the two provinces known as the "New Dominion,"—and amounting to 24,838 souls. The temple has been erected at the expense of Liu Chin-t'ang (Governor of Kansu, at present on a mission of pacification of the Miaotze on the confines of that province) and Kung T'ang, Military Lieut.-Governor of Urumtsi. The temple named Chun Yi-t'sze is inside the East gate of the capital; all the paraphernalia have also been purchased by the officials named, and therefore no call need be made on the Board of Revenue ; the Imperial permission is, however, asked that the local officials may worship there in the Spring and Autumn. Memorialist adds that a temple had previously been erected by Liu Chin-t'ang at his own expense to the memory of the soldiers from Hunan who fell in the revolt.—Rescript: Let the Board concerned take note. Favours To The Family Of Si. L&ng-o, Former Governor Of Iii The same official reports that in accordance with instructions given him by the Board of Rites, he has made enquiries as to the family left by Se Leng-o, and has ascertained that the latter's only son having died young he had no grandsons, but had some nephews who are all employed in Peking. Memorialist adds that when the body arrives in the capital, the deputy Lieut.-Governor of the deceased officer's banner will be able to report fully to the Emperor. Meanwhile, memorialist has carried out his instructions.—Rescript: Let the Yamcn concerned take note. Forced Change Of Residence Of A MonGolian Saint. Wei-kuang-tao in a postscript reports the arrival of the Kun-ka-clia-la-t'san Saint (Hut'ukht'u), on the 15th of the 10th moon. A memorial had first been presented by Liu Chinfang asking the Emperor to command the Saint through the Mongolian Superintendency to take up his residence in the New Dominion. Afterwards, the Tsung-li Yamdn and the Mongolian Superintendency reported that the Saint had, on being asked, agreed to move into the "New Dominion" of Kansu, with his following of disciples, but asked that transport should be provided for him. Memorialist adds that when the Saint is thoroughly established in the capital of the New Dominion, he will report further and in detail to the Emperor.—Rescript: Let the Yamen concerned take note. 26 January, 1S91. Court News. The Board of Rites have memorialized the Throne to depute two officials to pour libations at the Gate and the Bridge (the Hsi-chih-men and the Yi-hung-ch'iao—popularly known as the Bridge of Kao Liang a mythical military character in history, see note on the route of Prince Ch'un's funeral procession), and the Emperor has accordingly appointed Prince Chuang, and En Chung-t'ang. [The legend of the Bridge of Kao Liang is told as follows: During one of the early dynasties the people of Peking having somehow offended the wife of the Water Dragon, she determined to bring about a drought which should kill off the whole population. In order to effect this she resolved on a certain day to collect all the well and river water in and around the capital in barrels, to be placed on a water-barrow, which she would then wheel away. A military governor of that time named Kao Liang, was however, warned by a good fairy in a dream of the threatened vengeance, and told that on the following morning the goddess, under the disguise of an old woman, would pass over the bridge wheeling a water-barrow. Next morning by the Fairy's advice, Kao Liang mounted a fast horse, armed himself with a spear, and took up his post on the bridge. After a time the old woman appeared trundling her barrow at a great pace towards it. Kao Liang thereupon grasped his spear and galloping alongside, pierced all the barrels with successive thrusts, when the released water flowed back to the rivers and wells, the wicked goddess vanished, and the capital was saved.] »
« The Russians, who secretly feared war at this point... The Russians finally acquiesced but negotiations progressed slowly. The Russians were in no position to wage a distant war, due to their depressed economy following the Turkish War of 1876–7 and their international isolation after the Congress of Berlin in 1878. The St Petersburg government was further restrained by fear of revolution at home, and concern that the adverse effect of war on trade might goad Europe and America into taking sides with China. »
« The court did not intend to precipitate a clash, but was pushed by literati-official sentiment into taking a stronger positions than it wanted. To prepare for the eventuality of war, it installed several Hunan army officers of Taiping fame in key positions, and through Robert Hart invited Charles Gordon to China to help with defence. »
