ow. The not less important town of Wouchang, on the
opposite or southern bank of the river, was then attacked, and after a
siege of a fortnight carried by storm. The third town of Hanyang,
which completes the busy human hive where the Han joins the great
river, did not attempt any resistance.

These successes raised the Taepings from the depths of despair to the
heights of hope. The capture of such wealthy places dispelled all
their doubt and discouragement. They were able to repay themselves for
the losses and hardships they had undergone, and the prize they had
thus secured furnished ground for hoping for more. But even now it was
no part of their mission to stand still. They waited at Hankow only
long enough to attach to their cause the many thousands attracted to
Tien Wang's flag by these successes. The possibility of pursuit by
Tseng Kwofan at the head of the warlike levies of Hoonan, where each
brave is considered equal to two from another province, was still
present to their minds. But he unfortunately rested content with his
laurels, while the Taepings swept like an irresistible wave or torrent
down the valley of the Yangtsekiang.

The capture of Kiukiang, a town situated on the river near the
northern extremity of the lake Poyang, and of Ganking followed in
quick succession, and on 8th March the Taepings sat down before
Nanking, the old capital of the Mings. The siege lasted only sixteen
days. Notwithstanding that there was a considerable Manchu force in
the Tartar city, which might easily have been defended apart from the
Chinese and much larger town, the resistance offered was singularly
faint-hearted. The Taepings succeeded in blowing in one of the gates.
The townspeople fraternised with the assailants, and the very Manchus,
who had looked so valiant in face of Sir Hugh Gough's force ten years
before, now surrendered their lives and their honour after a mere show
of resistance to a force which was nothing better than an armed
rabble. The Manchu colony of Nanking, to the number of some 4000
families, had evidently fallen off from its high renown. Instead of
dying at their posts, they threw themselves on the pity of the Taeping
leader. Their cowardice helped them not; of 20,000 Manchus not 100
escaped. The tale rests on irrefragable evidence. "We killed them all
to the infant in arms; we left not a root to sprout from; and the
bodies of the slain we cast into the Yangtse."

The capture of Nanking and this s