ABSTRACT
Five years had passed since Assistant King Shi Dakai departed the Heavenly Capital at the head of a large force of men. It was 1862, the first year in the reign of the Tongzhi Emperor. In the system of the Qing dynasty, each emperor had only one title for his entire reign, and thus the first year of a reign implied that in the previous year, an emperor had died and a crown prince had acceded to the throne.
