under his reign-title Tung Chih. The Emperor was delighted beyond words. Yehonala was now further advanced in the hierarchy of the seraglio–she was immediately elevated to the rank of Kuei Fei, and given the title of Empress Hsiao Ch’in. So pleased was the Emperor that his favourite had produced the long-sought heir, he took the new Empress completely into his confidence, and taught her to classify his memorials, so that there was good reason for her to be constantly at his side. And so the young concubine obtained her first inside view of the workings of the Manchu regime, and took her first taste of power. Such a position made her privy to most state documents, a position she was not slow to exploit. She read avidly, devouring everything that came within reach and was soon acting as an unofficial adviser to the Emperor.
During 1856, as Yehonala began her work of classifying the memorials sent to the Emperor, she would have quickly realised just how great a threat the Tai Ping rebels had become. The insurgents were now well ensconced in Canton, Guanxi and Guelin Provinces and had held the southern capital of Nanking against all-comers for the past three years. During this time the nature of the rebellion had changed out of all recognition. Once again, as in all China’s rebellions, the ‘imperial infection’ had blighted the revolutionary purity of the Tai Ping revolt. Hung Hsiu-chuan and his close confederates, the defenders of women’s rights, the champions of equality and the scourge of privilege, had been seduced by power and had begun to reap the personal rewards of victory:
Hung had taken to wearing yellow dragon-robes in imitation of the Emperor, calling himself The Heavenly King. His allies had given themselves equally grandiose titles, styling themselves, The King of the East, or The Loyal Prince, and they had all begun building elaborate palaces and pleasure parks where they each held state like the Emperor himself. All had procured for themselves harems of fabulous proportions: Hung’s own stable of beauties numbered three hundred ‘wives’, and on certain of his birthdays he graciously increased the number of odalisques each of his allies was allowed to possess. At the same time, the Tai Ping rank and file were subject to draconian discipline: all goods were held in common, and men and women were strictly separated, with sexual relations even between married couples punished by beheading. 5 Despite the obvious discrepancies between rhetoric and practice, many of Hung’s followers retained a Messiah-like belief in their leader, and were willing to fight and die for him on a scale not seen among the Manchu forces, who laboured under the weight of centuries-old corruption. The vigour of the revolutionaries brought them more victories than defeats and slowly, but inexorably, their sphere of influence expanded. At the Beijing court it was whispered that if the Tai Ping successes continued, Hung Hsiu-chuan might bid fair to be the next occupant of the Dragon Throne.
Yehonala, true to her pugnacious temperament, counselle d the Emperor and stiffened his resolve in the face of these setbacks. She was said to be responsible for the appointment of a capable general, Tseng Guo-feng, as commander-in-chief against the rebels. Tseng travelled south, provided with adequate funds to reorganise the Imperial troops, and to raise additional forces in Hunan Province. In the same year that Yehonala gave birth to the Emperor’s son, Tseng Guo-feng’s reforms began to bear fruit when he won a number of minor victories against the Chang Mao . These successes made Yehonala’s stock rise even higher at court, much to the chagrin of those Manchu nobles who had heretofore been the bosom friends of the Celestial Prince.
These worthies, along with his eunuch servants, had encouraged and accompanied Hsien Feng on ‘secret’ visits outside the Forbidden City where, like Nero in Rome, a disguised Emperor had for several years
During 1856, as Yehonala began her work of classifying the memorials sent to the Emperor, she would have quickly realised just how great a threat the Tai Ping rebels had become. The insurgents were now well ensconced in Canton, Guanxi and Guelin Provinces and had held the southern capital of Nanking against all-comers for the past three years. During this time the nature of the rebellion had changed out of all recognition. Once again, as in all China’s rebellions, the ‘imperial infection’ had blighted the revolutionary purity of the Tai Ping revolt. Hung Hsiu-chuan and his close confederates, the defenders of women’s rights, the champions of equality and the scourge of privilege, had been seduced by power and had begun to reap the personal rewards of victory:
Hung had taken to wearing yellow dragon-robes in imitation of the Emperor, calling himself The Heavenly King. His allies had given themselves equally grandiose titles, styling themselves, The King of the East, or The Loyal Prince, and they had all begun building elaborate palaces and pleasure parks where they each held state like the Emperor himself. All had procured for themselves harems of fabulous proportions: Hung’s own stable of beauties numbered three hundred ‘wives’, and on certain of his birthdays he graciously increased the number of odalisques each of his allies was allowed to possess. At the same time, the Tai Ping rank and file were subject to draconian discipline: all goods were held in common, and men and women were strictly separated, with sexual relations even between married couples punished by beheading. 5 Despite the obvious discrepancies between rhetoric and practice, many of Hung’s followers retained a Messiah-like belief in their leader, and were willing to fight and die for him on a scale not seen among the Manchu forces, who laboured under the weight of centuries-old corruption. The vigour of the revolutionaries brought them more victories than defeats and slowly, but inexorably, their sphere of influence expanded. At the Beijing court it was whispered that if the Tai Ping successes continued, Hung Hsiu-chuan might bid fair to be the next occupant of the Dragon Throne.
Yehonala, true to her pugnacious temperament, counselle d the Emperor and stiffened his resolve in the face of these setbacks. She was said to be responsible for the appointment of a capable general, Tseng Guo-feng, as commander-in-chief against the rebels. Tseng travelled south, provided with adequate funds to reorganise the Imperial troops, and to raise additional forces in Hunan Province. In the same year that Yehonala gave birth to the Emperor’s son, Tseng Guo-feng’s reforms began to bear fruit when he won a number of minor victories against the Chang Mao . These successes made Yehonala’s stock rise even higher at court, much to the chagrin of those Manchu nobles who had heretofore been the bosom friends of the Celestial Prince.
These worthies, along with his eunuch servants, had encouraged and accompanied Hsien Feng on ‘secret’ visits outside the Forbidden City where, like Nero in Rome, a disguised Emperor had for several years
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