f (Ifarnell Uniuctaitg Hibrary Jtljara. Jftm fnrk CHARLES WILLIAM WASON COLLECTION CHINA AND THE CHINESE THE GIFT OF CHARLES WILLIAM WASON CLASS OF 1876 1918 (ji£>^kc A THOUSAND YEARS OF THE TARTARS. WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR . Chinese Account of the Opiinn War. ("Pagoda Libnirvj" Xo. I.) Demy 8v'0, 82 pp $0.75 "The storv of tlie Opium ^Val■ is to all inteiUs and purposes a translati(5ii of the last two chapters of the ShcHiT Wn-ii, or "Military Operations of the Present Dynaslv." l"he author is Wei Yiian, a Chinese, who held, about 40 vears ago, the post of Department Magis- trate at Kan-vu, north i>f Yangchow; and Wei Yuan's style has been followed in the translation." — Exlracl from I'refiKe. China's Inteicoin'sc ivith Europe. ("Pagoda Library," No. 2). Demy 8vo, 128 pp. ... 0.75 " These selections are a digest of eight volumes of verv intercsting matter The translator has chosen only those portions which are novel, curious or sugges- tive, — in fact he has picked all the currants out of the cake. The original work is called the Si-Cliung Ki-Slii, or a Rcconlcr cf Chnicsc niiii Weslcni Rcliilnni^^ published anonymously by one Hia Sieh'^ under the fancv name of "The Feeble ()ld Man of the River." . . '. . The book is bitterly hcstile to foreigners, and strongly pre- judiced, but apparently composed with the .strictest possible adhesion to truth as to facts." — Exlnict from Preface. Up the Yangtszc. AVith Sketch Maps. Demv Svo, 308 pp. ... ... ... $I.^o Biirnia. AVith special reference to her relations with China. Crown 8vo, cloth, 108 pp, So. 75 Comparative Chinese Family Law. [Reprinted from the China Review.'] Crown 4to, 41 pp. $1.00 A Thousand Years OF The Tartars. E. H. PARKER, Her Britannic Mdjcsly's Consul, Kiungchow. SHANGHAI, HONGKONG, YOKOHAMA AND SINGAPORE : KELLY & WALSH, LIMITED. 18 9 5 w m1^6 9G \ Copyright Entered at Stationers Hall PREFACE. ' I ^HE following pages are intended to give, in (it is hoped) readable form, the substance of all the Chinese have to say about the nomad Tartars previous to the conquests of Genghis Khan. Specialists and critics will doubtless find much which at first sight may- seem to require further explanation ; but when I say that I have translated, word for word, all the original Chinese authorities I can find, and that the explanatory references and manuscript notes attached to the translations reach to over seven thousand, it will be admitted that there is some ground for adopting the new course of omitting all justificatory matter what- ever. There is one exception. As, in order to make the narrative more readable, I have endeavoured throughout to substitute Tartar sounds for Chinese transliterations of those sounds ; and have almost uniformly used modern place names instead of the names they bore at the time each eyeiit is described ; PREFACE. I have thought it well to place the original Chinese sounds of all proper names in the margin, so that those who are competent to consult the originals may be able to search out the desired reference for themselves. I have done this in the Pekingese dialect. This, being a mere Tartar-corrupted jargon of standard (.Chinese, is about the worst that could have been chosen, so far as the chance of any resemblance to the Tartar sounds intended is concerned ; but it is the diali'ct best known to those students in (Jhina who are likely to require the references. Cantonese would have been the best of all, Init few Europeans know Cantonese. To explain the grounds upon which 1 arrive at my conclusions in this excepted department would require a separate treatise. I therefore enter into no further justifications. Armed with the original authorities, 1 am prepared to give satisfaction to all who can shew that they merit it. E. H. PARKER. CONTENTS. BOOK I. — The Empire of the HiiKu-xr. V-A're. CllAPTUR I. — Kurliest Notices uf the Hiung-nu 1 Chapter II. — Tlie Reign of tlie ('onriueror .Meghdrr - 10 Chapter 111. — Tlie Period of Contest for Jlastery with China 2.') Chapter IV.— The Period of Defent nnd Decline 41 Chapter V. — The Period of Semi-Independence Oli Chapter VI, — Di'pi'ndence. Disintegration, and Collapse 88 I'llAPTEtt VII. — Hiung-nu Adventurer.-* become Emperors of North China - ■ 103 BOOK II. — The Empire of the Sien-pi. Chapter 1. — Earliest Notices of the Wu-hwan Tunguses - 117 (Jhaptbr II. — The Empire of the Sien-pi Conc|ueror Dardjegwe - - - 12G Chapteb III. — Sien-pi Adventurers become King and Em- perors in North China - 138 Chapter IV. — The Tul^uhun Sien-pi of Koko-nor - 150 BOOK III. — The Empire of the Jwen-jwen or Jeu-.jen. Chapter I. — Their Obscure Rise and their Precipitate Fall 159 Chapter II.— Their Struggle with the Kankalis, Descrip- tion of the High Carts - • - 1G9 BOOK IV. — The Empire of the Turks or AssENA Family. Page. Chapter I. — Earliest Notices of the Turlis : Period of Peace with China 177 Chapter II. — Period of AVar with China, and Collapse of Gheri's Empire 194 Chaptek III. — The Rise and Fall of Mercho's Empire - 210 Chapter IV. — Resuscitation and Final Collapse - 223 BOOK V. — The Empire of the "Western TuRKy. Chaptek I. — Temporary Brilliance and Final Disappear- ance of the Assena Familj' - 231 Chaptee II.— The Turgis and Karluks Rule the West and Lose Touch with China 24.S Chapter III.— Turki,-,h Emperors o£ North China - 246 Chapter IV.— Ths Kirghiz • 252 Chapter V. -Miscellaneous Turkish Vassal Tribes 2C0 BOOK VI. — The Empire of the Ouigours. Chapter I. — Rise and Fall of the First Dominion in the North - - - - 265 Chapter II.— The Period of Wandering - - - 2S2 Chapter III.— The Later Ouigours of the West - 285 BOOK VII. — The Empire of the Gathayanb. Chapter I.— The Kingdom of the Founder Apaoki - - 297 Chapter II.— Conquest of the TurUo-Chinese Empire by Cathay - .... 313 Chapter III. — Period of Comparative Peace - - - 328 Chapter IV. — General Description of Cathay in the Eleventh Century - - - 343 Chapter V.— Insolence, Tyranny, Rebellion of the Niichens, and Collapse • - - - 353 A THOUSAND YEARS OF THE TARTARS. BOOK I. The Empike of the Hiing-ni'. CHAPTER I. Earliest Notices of the HiiiNVi-xu. ' I ^HE real history of the nomads of JCastern Asia -*- liegins about tlie same time ami ^•ery much in the same \va}- a< the historj' of the northern trihes ot Europe. The Chinese Emj)ire, lilve the Roman Empire, began a career of discovery and conquest, which resulted in closer and more frequent contact with and blending of races, inces.-ant frontier war,-, subversion of the Eni|)ire, and a general shiftiu"- of political centres. More ancient than the experiences of China and Rome were thoi-i- of Greece and Persia ; but the account of the Scythians given by Herodotus differs from the later Chinese and Roman records in being rather a a ivid picture of life and manners than an exact political history. Yet there is very 1 2 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. little in the descriptions of Herodotus which docs not perfect]}' accord with the Chinese portraj-al of the Hiung-nu on the one hiind and the Roman narrative Hsiung-uu. of the Huns on the other. Whether the Hiung-nu of China are to )je etymologicall}' connected with the Oui/vot , Huniien, and Huns of the we>t, is a question which is scarcely >u^ceptible of positive proof either one way or the other. Wo confine ourselves to gi\-ing a plain record of facts as gathered from Chinese historj', leaving each reader free to form theories for himself, and avoiding speculation unless we are tolerably sure of our ground. At the time when our narrative begins, nothing whatever was known by the Chine-^e of the Japanese, Burmese, >Siamese, Hindoos, Turke>tan races, or Southern Seas ; and there was only the verj' faintest knowledge of C'orea, the Tungusic tribes, the An- namese, the various tribes south of the Great l\i\cr or Yangtsze, the Tibetan nomads, or others. China's foreign relations were practically confined to the horse-riding freebooters of the north. In the oldest times they had been known Ijy different names more or less similar in sound to the abuve-mentioned appellation so familiar to general history : but it i> a mistake to suppose, as most European writers have done, that the term Hiung-nu only dales from the second century before Christ. The historian Ma Twan- lia himself combats this idea, and cites two instances A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 3 to prove not only that, long previous to this, the national designation was in use, but also that under the same name the power in question had already become a considerable one. In nearly every case the * 'hinese trace the political beginnings of their frontier kingdoms to some Chinese exile or adventurer who, accommodating hnnself to local circumstances, and doubtless easily gaining paramount influence through his accjuaintance with the all-important art of writing, succeeded in welding a series of homo- geneous tribes into a nation. It is quite certain that this was later the case in Corea, Foochovv, (Janton, Yiin Nan, Kan Suli, and Formosa ; and, this being so, there seems no good reason for reject- ing the traditions that the same thing took place with the nomadic races of Tibet, Mongolia, and Man- churia. The Chinese themselves do not mnke too . much of the liiung-nu tradition, (which, however, is there,) to the effect that about B.C. 1200 a royal personage, who had most probably been misconduct- ins himself, fletl to the nomads of the north and founded among them a sort of dynasty. But, although for many centuries previous to B.C. 200 the northern states of the Chinese Empire had trouble with these nomads, there was never any record of the generations and successions of the latter, and the amount of knowledge possessed concerning them was about on a par with that recorded in the pages 4 A TJwnsand Years of the Tartars. of HerodotiK concernin.ii; the Scj-thians. As yet nothing positive was known of tlie Tungusii' or eastern branch of nomads, with whom the ( 'liinese were not ljrou;^ht into close contact until several centuries later. It wa^ only the great and pi-e- < dominant nomad nation of the Hiung-nu of whieli they had any satisfactory knowledge. In later time< the word '• Turkish " or " Tiirko- Scythian " Im-; been ajiplied to distinguish the yarious homogeneous tribes whi(di formed the Eni])ire of tlie Hiung-nu ; but this word was totally nnknown previous to the atli century of our era, and it would therefore be an anachronism for us to speak of •" Turks " just yet. T;i-tiin:Ta- f.;,, with the. word "Tartar," — which, singularh- ta ; Ta-tzi'i. . . enough, is also used by the ('liinese in the same vague way as wil:h us ; — this word was certainly unknown to history in any form ])revious to the second century of our era, and even then, as in the subsequent ca-;e of " Turk," it was at first only applied to one petty tribe. So, whatever we may think of the identity between the word Hiung-nu and tile word Hun, it is as cei tain that the Chinese liad no other name for the horse-riding, flesh-eating, and kumiss-drinking nomads of North Asia as it is that the Europeans had no other name for the horse- riding, flesh-eating, and kumiss-drinking nomads of North Euro[)e, who only appeared there after the . ruling castes of the Hiuug-nu power had been driven A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 5 t'roni China. Moreover the Seythiiin-; of Herodotus who were brou;^iit into eontaet witli the Greeks and I'ersiaiis seem to \\\iw possessed exaetly the same nianncrs as the Hiung-nu of China and the Huns of Europe, >o tliat we may reasonahlv conelude that each of tiie three had some ethnographical (•(ninee- tion one with tlie other. The Hinng-nu lived on horsehack ; " their country was tlie hack of a liorse."" Thev moved from ]i!aee to ]ilace with their floeks and lierds, always in search of fresh ]]a^ture. Horses, cattle, and slieep wei-e tli(>ir usual jiossessioiis ; Imt tliej' also occa- sionally had camels, asse<, muli's, and other peculiar hr(H>ds of the equine family which it is not easy for us now to identify. They had no cities or towns of any description ; but, though their residence in one place never lasted long, each tribe had reserved to it a certain range of territory- ; and, though they liad no agricultural occupations, each tent or house- hold seems to have had a >hare of land for its own exclusive use. They possessed no written character, and all orders and administrative acts were conveyed bv word of mouth only. When mere babies, they were taught to ride on sheep and to shoot rats or bii-ds with a tiny bow and arrow ; as they grew older, they practised their skill upon foxes and hares. Everv grown-up man strong > enough to bend an ordinary bow was a trooper. Every one, from the fi A Thousand Years of ilip Tartars. lii^licst to the lowc-'t, foil upon flesh and milk ; n^cd the skins of the animal-^ slauo;htere(l as clotliincr and wore an overcoat of felt made out of the hair. The fighting men were always conceded the best enter- tainment, the old and feeble were desjiised, and had . to pick up what was left. A universal custom, wdiich, as we shall see, extended for a thousand years over the wdiole of Tartar}-, was for the son to iake over hi^ deceased father's wives, (with the exception of his own natural mother), and for j'ounger brothers to fake over tlie widows of their elder brethren. • It does not appear quite certain wdiether the son or the brother had first choice : perhaps the brother oidy took when thei'e was no son : possibly rii-c rcrsi'i. la times of peace, besides tending their herds, thev Jvcpt their hands in training l)v hunting and shootinir: at other times evei'v man wa'^ ready I'or a fight « or a raid. It was not considered shameful to reti'cat Iteforo an enenij- : in fact, their system of warfare seems to have been one of sudden ill-concerted rushes, feints, and ambushes. The}' were destitute of any considerations of mercy or justice : forct^ was their only law ; and, when hand-to-hand combats did take place, the}- possessed swords and daggers as well as their bows. Some of the oMest account^ seem to sliew that in winter there were cave-dwellers amongst them : but perhaps this statement has special reference to the Tungusic Tartars of the East, ^i Thousand Years of the Tartars. 7 It is nnuecessary to go into the earliest accounts of Tartar wars, which arc of the vaguest dcscri[ition. t^ufKco it to say that froiu B.C. 1400 to B.(J. 200 tlicrc are Liconic notices of L'hinese fights with the nomads, with dates given in each case, so that they may fairly be accepted as hi,-tory. The Xortheni' parts of the provinces now known as Shen 8i, Shan (Si, and ( 'hih Li were then in possession of the nomads. For many centuries, during what is known as the " (!onflicting State Period," the nomad power stood Clian-kuu on terms of equality with China. Both the Emperor of (.'liina and his restless vassal kings at different times formed marriage alliances with the nomad-- powers, and at least one Chinese king deliberately I'rinrc Wn- adopted the Tartar costume and mode of life. Another '"" " '''"' etymological (|ue-;tion now appears, and that is whether the Chinese word Tung-Jia or " Eastern Tartar-," (a term which is as regularlv applied to the ancestors of the Cathayans or Kitans, Manchu<, and Coreans as the term Hiung-nu is regularly applied to the ances- toi-s of the Turks, Ouigours, Khlrgiz, etc.), has any • etymological coimcutiou with the European word Tungusic or Tunguz. I have not the means of tracing back a careful <'n(|uiry into this point, whieli is discussed amiin in Book II : if the two words are in no wa}' connectt'd by etymology, it is a i-eniarkable instance of coTncidenee, for they both serve to indicate exactly the same idea. There is another incident 8 A Thousand Years of tlie Tartars. mentioned which tends to shew that the frontier states of China must have been deeply impregnated with Tartar ideas. One of the vassal princes had a beaker fashioned out of the skull of a rival >atrap, a ])rocecdiiin' as contrary to ( 'onfiician ideas of propiiety as it i-; consonant with all we know of Hiunji-nu and ' Scytliian customs. Towards the end of tlie third century befoi'e Clirist, and just before tlie menucinu; Western power of Ts'in succeeded in dc-.troying the old feudal system and reducing the whole of China inider one direct imjierial sway, the vassal state which then ruled over the Northern parts of what are now called Shan Si and Chih Li carried out a systematic policy of resistance, on Fabian principles, to the (ft'iieriii Li . jiouiad incursions, and at last succeeded in deco-siug tlie lartar king into the open, where he was utterlv defeated with tlie lo-s of 1II0,0(M) men. After IVmr had amalgamated thi^ >tate together witli the other.-, the celebrated genei-al Jleiig T'icn was sent at tlie head of s(!Yeral hundred thousand men to attack tlie Tartars ; the whole line of the Yellow lliver was recovered, including the Loop portion now known as tlie Ortlous country. The Tartars were driven awav to the north ol' the (iical D('--ert ; enormous number., of rriminals ami oth'r nn!orh.inat(i peo[ile wori^ drafted northward-;, in order to construct a iiiilitar\' road ami do garrison duty ; over forty citadels or I'ortiKed towns were built along the line of the A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 9 frontier ; and, finally, the so-called Great Wall was carried continuously from the sea to a point near the modern provincial capital of L;m-chou Fu in Kan Kao-ch'ueh. Suli. This Great Wall still exists in a more or less complete state throughout nearly its entire length ; and, as it is ilistinctly marked upo7i almost every modern map of China, the reader of the following pages will find his task much facilitated if he keeps this line well before his mind ; for it not only enables us to dispense with the necessity of introducing nmltitudinous strange Chinese names of places, — names, too, which often vary as to localify with each succeeding dynasty, — but it marks in a vivid way the blood-line along which millions of human skeletons are to lie bleaching without intermi>>i()n during a thousand years' struggle. It is jji-upci-, however, to remark that Meng T'ien with his half million of sha es did not do more than improve and consolidate already existijig walls ; for we are told tiiat the Chinese king Chao VVu- who adopted Tartar costume had already built a "'°'' Great 'Wall from north-east Shan Si to the western- most extremity of the Loop country, and a little before that the rising jiower of Ts'in had built another wall still further west. To the east, again, the frontier state of Yen, which roughly speaking may be taken to represent the plain of modern Peking, had con- structed a Great Wall from about the longitude of Peking to the sea, so that it is evident very little 2 10 A Thousand Years of tlie Tartars. remained for Meng T'ien to do but to improve and strengthen the ah'eady existing fortifications. In later times, too, various northern dynasties added to or laterally extended the line of the Great Wall in the east, more especially near Peking ; so that the magnificent and almost perfect structure which modern visitors make a point of going to see at a distance of about thirty miles from that capital is very far from being the ancient Great AVall of two thousand years ago. CHAPTER 11. Mao-tun or ThE ReIGN OF THE CoNQUEROR MeGHDER. Me-t'£. • As WO have seen, the Hiung-nu were oblio-ed to retire before the formidable power of the great Chinese Imperator, who was a man of the most uncompromis- ing and grandiose ideas. It is not improbable that his eternally execrated act of destroying all the literature and learned men he could lay his hands on worked some good in an indirect wav; for the necessitjr of reproducing this literature and of having some means of written communication for the immediate necessities of government probably stimu- lated the Chinese to invent objects less cumbrous than the old bamboo tablets and iron styles, and somethino- more potentially rapid of production than the clumsy old characters of innumerable strokes. Be that as it A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 11 may, MOiig_T'ien has not only the reputation of having been the original builder of the Great Wall, but also the equally unmeritetl one of having been the original inventor of the modern hair writing pencil : but competent Chinese critics prove that the utmost he did was to improve the hair pencil which had already been in use for some time. The , Hiung- « nu had to contend with another formidable power as well as with the Chinese. This was a nomadic nation known to the Chinese as the Yii eh-c hi". and YUeh-ehili, then in possession of the western half of the long straggling province now known as Kan Sub. The Chinese seem to have been almost totally ignorant of this people previous to the absorption of the feudal states in the new Empire of Ts'in ; and indeed this is no wonder ; for, previous to that important event, the state of Ts'in was the only one which could have conveniently had any relations with the West at all. At the time the Hiung-nu were forced to retire • before the all-pervading power of the Imperator, the Ch'in Shlh nomad Emperor (or Zenghi as he styled himself) shaT-yii. was called Deuman, and with the Zenghi Deuman T'ou-man. the history of the nomad empires may be said to begin. The new Chinese Universal Empire fell to pieces almost immediately after the death of its able founder, and during the anarchy which followed Deuman was able to recover and develop his reduced • power. The northern frontier was necessarily ne- 12 A Thousand Years nf the Tartars. elected (lurinfi the mortal struggle which took jilaor- < between rival (.!hiuc-o military adventurers. Deuman oradually moved southwards from liis inaccessible stronghold north of the Desert, and ended by ci-o-.>ing the Yellow River, repossessing himself of the Ordous territory; and re>unnng his old boundaries witli China : in other words, he once more occupied the eastern part of modern Kan Suh province. Deuman w-as now an old man, and unfortunately in the hands of a niueh-b(doved young queen. Listening to the voice of this female charmer, he allowed himself to be persuaded into accepting her son as his heir, to the prejudice of tlu^ legitimate aspirant, Avho was an able captain named Meghder. In order to encom- pass jMeghder's destruction, Deuman sent him as a hostage to the neighbouring state of Yiieh-chi and then attacked that power, hoping that in their indig- nation the Yiieh-chi would murder his son. But Meghder was too alert for them, and, mounting one of their fleetest steeds, succeeded in making his way safely home. Deuman was so pleased at this act of ])rowess that he at once placed his Aaliant son in command of ten thousand troopers. Meghder, however, was by no means so ready to forgive the uxorious father's initial disjilay of feebleness and treachery, so he carefully matured a scheme for Deuman's destruction. First of all he invented a new ming-ti. species of " singing-arrow," — the nari-kahura of the A Tlwvmvd Years of the Tartars. 13 early Japanese, — the iiso of one of which by him ii[)on an)' victim was to be a signal for all his attendants to fire instantly at the same object. After having tried their mettle, first upon his best horse, and next upon his favourite wife, with the result that several troopers were in each case executed for dis- obedience, he watched his opportunit}' one day when old Deuman was out hunting, and fired a sincjin"'- arrow at him. The result was that the Zenghi fell dead pierced through and through, and Meghder was immediately proclaimed in his place. A general massacre of his late father's family and household followed, but Meghder seems to have reserved at least one paternal widow to be his own wife. At this time it would appear that the Tungnses Wu-hwan. were a consolidated ])ower, little inferior to the Hiung-nu, and that a 3(U mile stretch of desert lay • between the two dominions as a sort of neutral zone. Hearing of Meghder's unfilial behaviour and usurped succession, they sent envoys to him to demand a present of the finest horses as the price of their non-interference. Jfeghder, who was as wary a diplomat as he was dashing a captain, affected to censure tho-;e of In's council who were in favour of war, and feigned anxietj' to conciliate the Tungnses by granting their I'eipaest. As he had anticipated, the latter now grew more presuming, and demanded one of his favourite wives. But Meghder's policy 14 A TJioiiscwd ] mM of the Tartars. wa> to give them plenty of rope before hanging them with it, and so off the queen went too, much to the consternation of the warlike council. The Tungusos now Ijegan to mass troops on their western frontier, and, liaviniT come to the conclu>ion that [Meghder had not the courage of his position, boldly demanded the ces>iun to them of the hitherto neutral strip. Meghder's councillors were some of them inclined to give up what they termed a useless piece of land, but the}' paid the penalty of their failure to penetrate tli'nr master's policy with their heads, and war was ])romptl3' declared. Immediate decapitation was to 1)6 the lot of every able soldier in the kingdom who should fail to present himself promptly at head- quarters, ileghder's calculations were perfectly soecessfiil : the Tunguses, having come to the con- elusion that he was a craven spirit, had neglected all j)rccaution3 ; their nation was utterly broken in one short campaign ; their flocks and herds were driven off, and the majority of the population were made slaves. A miserable remnant of them took refuge in the now Blongol plateaux north-east of modern Peking, where, as we shall see later on, they gra- dually developed into a formidable power. It is as well here to direct attention to a phenomenon in nomad history which at once explains how each successive dominion of Huns, Tunguses, Turks, Ouigours, Kitans or Cathayans, Mongols, and A Thousand Years of tJie Tartars, 15 Manchns were formed, and at the same time proves how utterly impossible it is to provide a definite locality for or clothe with an exclusive nationality any particular horde. The result of a great battle Avas that many of the women passed over to new masters ; the captive youths became warriors, usually under their own chiefs, but subject to the supreme control of the conqueror ; the old men were turned out to tend the flocks and herds, and the flocks and herds simply changed masters for a few years until another revolution occurred. Slave and master lived very much in the same way, the only difference being that one did the menial work whilst the other enjoyed himself ; meanwhile the women, habituated to the idea of passing from one man to the other even in their own tribes, only had to undergo the rough excitement of an extra embrace from a man who was not of their own particular choice. Under* such circumstances, though the main distinctions of Hiung-nu and Tungus are always preserved, it is not to be wondered at that languages get intermingled, tribes hopelessly mixed up, and customs interchanged. For the present the Tungusic power utterly dis- » appears. Up to this date the Chinese knew little of it as apart from that of the Hiung-nu, and for a couple of centuries at least this ignorance of their manners and customs continues. They had no re- lations with China of any kind, and we are told so. 16 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. Jlctrlider was one of the great conquerors of tlie world's history, and uuiy fairly be called the Hannibal of Tartary. It is the practice even amongst our most highly educated men in Europe to deliver >onorous sentences about being "ma>ter of the world," " briniTino- all nations of the eartli under her swav, ' and so on, when in reality only some corner of the Mediterranean is involved, or ^ome ephemeral sally into Persia or Gaul. Cyrus and Alexander. Darius and Xerxes, ( ':esar and Pompey all made very in- teresting excursions, but they were certainly not on a larger scale or charged with greater human intei-e>t than the campaigns which were going on at the other end of Asia. "Western civilization possessed much in art and science for which China never cared, but on the other hand the Chinese developed a historical and critical literature, a coarti'>y of de- meanour, a luxury in clothing, and an administrative system of which Europe might have been proud. In one word the histoi'y of the Far East is quite as intere>tiug as that of the Far We>t. It only requires to be able to read it. ^Vhen we brush away con- teni[)tuously from our notice the tremendous events which took place on the j'hiins of Tartar}', we must not blame the Chinese too much for declining to interest thems(dves in the doings of wliat to them appear insignificant states dotted round the Medi- terranean and Caspian, which, at this time, was A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 17 practically all the world of which we knew in Europe. Meghder, having thus disposed of the Tunguses, ' now turned his attention to the Yiieh-chi, who found it necessary to move farther away to the south and west. He recovered all ilic disputed territory which had been annexed hy Mcng T'ien, and also consider- ably advanced his frontiers fartlicr east in the neigh- bourhood of jnodern Kalgan and Jchol. As he had 300,000 troopers under his command, it would be fair to estimate his jiopulation at about the same number of tents. All the northern tribes in the neighbourhood of Lake Baikal and the Amur were Ting-ling, Ke- under his sway ; but, as the Ohinese knew nothing of ' these remote peoples at this time, we can only judge by slender indications that the Kirghiz, the future High Carts or Ouigours, and the Oruuchun or Fish- skin Tartars were certainly amongst those he had subdued. It is certain the Kirghiz were. A few words regarding the Hiung-uu adminis- ' trative system will not be uninteresting. The full title of the king or Emperor was Tengri Kudu Ch'eng-ii Ku- Zenghi, which we are distinctly told means "Heaven's Son Lnmcnse."' The word teiKjv/ is still both Turkish and Jlongol for ■" Jieaven," and it is not at all unlikely that the Gc^ngliis or Zenghiz Khan of the Mongols may be the old word Zenghi in a slightly changed form. It certainly was not his personal name. It is 3 18 A Thousand Years of tlie Tartars. for Turkish scholars to exercise their wits upon the ■word kudn. The next in rank to the Zenghi were t'u-ch'i. • the twotDugi, ope for the East and one for the West, the Zenghi himself ruling the central portion of the nomad Empire. The Chinese tell us that the word dugl meant "virtuous" or "worth}-," and as East and West are equivalent to Left and Eight in Chinese parlance, they almost invariahl}- translate instead of using the Tartar words, and say " Left and Eight . Worthy Princes." Of the two the Eastern Dugi was of the higher rank, and was usually heir to the throne. ku-li or lu-li. Then came the Left and Eight Eukle, Left and Eight Marshals, Left and Eight Chamberlains, and Left ku-tu. and Eight Kuttu Marquesses with a few others in similar pairs. The Left Eukle ranked before the Eight Dugi. There were twenty-four in all who had deca-chiliarch rank, that is, the right to command ten thousand troopers. The Eight and Left Dugi and Eukle formed the " Four Horns." Tlien came three other pairs called "Sis Horns.'" All these were N agnates of the Zenghi, aud the " white horn " of Genghis Khan and the Great Mogul is ])erlui[)s in some way connected with the idea. 1 cannot even guess at the word rvkle, but the word kuH ii which, in kii-tu-lu. this form and the form knfuluk, endures through the history of tiie Turks for a thousand years, is un- doubtedly the same et3'mologically as the modern Turkish word hutluk, " felicitous. " "We are told that A Tlwvsand Years of the Tartars. 19 the two Kuttu Marquesses were specially charged with the administrative business of the state, and that each of the twenty-four officers of the first rank had his own area within which to wander after pasture, and had besides the right to appoint his own chiliarchs, centurions, decurions, etc. The Zenghi's queen had ' th(> native title of Inchi, and she might be taken from Yen-chih. any one of the three or four great clans which, with the Zenghi's own private clan, formed the aristocracy of the state. It is not necessary to enumerate all the minor titles, but we may fitly mention that of Tsugu, chii-ch'ii, which, as we shall see later on, is the connecting link between the Hiung-nu and the later Turks. Every new year the Zenghi held a great religious festival at what the Chinese call Dragon CJity : it was evidently much the same kind of affair as the Mongol couroultai of Marco Polo's time. Sacrifices were then offered to ancestors, Heaven, Earth, the spirits and the genii. This fact, together with the Zenghi's title " Son of Heaven," distinctly points to a community of early religious ideas between the Tartars and the Chinese. In the autumn another great meeting was held for the counting of the population and the taxing of property and cattle. Crimes in the state were • remarkably few, and were summarily disposed of at one or both of these great meetings. Horse-racing and camel-fighting under the Zenghi's patronage were indulged in at the same time. Death or ankle-crush- 20 A TJiovfand Years of fhr Tartam. ing were flie piinisliments for offences anainst tlie person, whilst the members of a man's family were delivered ()\cr into >laver\' as compensation for attack- ujjon property. The Zen;;hi rose every morninii; to ;ircet th(^ sun, and in the r\-eninir per- fornKMl a similar oltei-ance to the moon. The ea-t or left -ide was mu~t honouraljle, as with the C'liiuese. It is only proi)er to mention, however, that some text^ say the right was most honourable, and it is certainlj- puzzlinp; to lie told that the Zenghi sat facing north, wdiih', as we all know, the Chinese Emperor faces south : bul it is at any rate certain that the Left Dugi was the more honourable of the two. There were also certain superstitions regarding the position of the sun, and touching certain days in the calendar. In all im- portant undertakings the state of the moon was taken into account, the waxing period being selected for commencin.rj operations, whilst the waning period was considered favourable for retiring homewards. It appears that individual liravery was encouraged by each man's being allowed to keep as his own property or as >laves all that he captured with his own hand ; l>esides wliich a goblet ol strong drink was the special reward for c\itting off the head of an enemv. There are several other doulitful passages which seem to reward a man for carrying off a friend's body from the battle-field by bestowing all the deceased's possessions upon the rescuer, and which A Tlwvmnd Years of tlie Tartars, 21 send all a man's servants, wives, and intimates after liis coffin (porliaps ratlier as mourners tlian as victims to be buried with him, thoujTli Gibbon mentions such sacriHccs liy tlie White Huns ot'Sogdiana). Valuable objects were buried with the dead, but no mourning was worn, and no mound, tablet, or tree was erected o\'er the grave, the native name for which was dorok. tou-lo. Meghder was now clearly recognized l)j' his own people as being a very great man, and he strengthened his position consideralily by securing the person of one of the best generals of the new Han dynasty, who Han Hsin. surrendered his army to the Hiung-nu together with one of the strong frontier cities in North Shan Si. The founder of the celebrated Han dynasty, himself a Hun Kao Tbu. great captain, liad just disposed of his chief rivals and was no sooner firmh' seated himself upon the Chinese throne, than he at once marched in person to the relief of the otlier orcut towns in the region menaced by the Tartar hordes. It was a terribly cold and snowy winter, and about a quarter of the vast Chinese host had their fingers frozen off. Meghder, seeing his op[)ortunity, had recourse to the usual Hiung-nu tactics, feigned d(>feat and flight, kept his be>t troops well out of siyht, and enticed tlie Chine-e army, num- bering 320,000 men, mostly infantrj', on a wild-goose chase northwards. The C'hinese Emperor reached a strongly fortified post only a mile dishmt from p'ing Ch'Cng. the nioderu Ta-t'ung Fu ia Shi^n Si some time 22 A TJimimvd Fcar.s of the Tartar's. })efore the biilk of hi^ army fould arrive, on which . Meolulcr let loose 300,000 of his best troopers, surrounded the Emperor, and cut oft' all communica- tions with the rest of the imiicrial army during a period of seven day^. It nnist have been a very ])ieturesque affair, for we are told that the white, grey, lilaek, and chestnut hor-cs of the Tartars were all ina<ent to offer him a lady of the blood in marriage, with an annual subsidy payable in silk piece- goods, refuse-sillc for wadding garments, rice wine, and choice eatables. The man who had recommended this prudent policy to the Emperor was himself selected as envoy, and the idea was at some future date A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 23 to utilise the offspring of the Chinese Inchi in the interests of the Empire ; but as we shall see, this ilangeroiis diplomatic tool could cut both ways, and had the contrary effect 500 years later of placing a ' series of Hiung-nu Emperors upon the throne of China Liu YUiui ; as the sole surviving; " leoitimists." During the rest of the founder's reign Meghder continued his raids and incursions, which however were moderated in consideration of the annual subsidj'. In his old age the Emperor imitated the uxorious « Ueuman, and was nearly persuaded by a bewitching concubine to set aside the legitimate successor in favour of her own son ; but the Emjiress-Dowager, aij^u hqu. woman of masculine vigour, not oidy succeeded in ])lacing her own son on the throne and in cruelly put- ting her rival to death, but actually ruled for a decade herself as a regularly recognized legitimate monarch. Meghder, evidently prompted hy one of the numerous Chinese renegades in his emplo}', sent the Dowager Empress a flippant letter placing his hand and heart at her disi)Osal. This created a tremendous flutter in the impei'ial council, and the question now was whetlier to send back the envoy's head or a civil answer. Bras and teams of horses were at the same time humbly offered to his 3I:i jc^ty. IMeghdcr seems to have felt I'ather ashumod of himself, for he sent an apology for his prc\'ious want of politeness I together with a present of Tartar horses. Things now went on (juietly until the accession of the philosophic but concubine-born Emperor Wen Ti, the Marcus Aurelius of Chinese history. Meghder evidently thought that the accession of an ii-regular or illegitimate monarch was a favoura))le moment for rhna To of renewing his depredations. The old king of Canton, a Chinese adventurer ruling over Annamese tribes, took the same view ; but by his courteous yet firm diplomacj' the Emperor Wen Ti succeeded in subduing both his rivals, and his letters remain on record ^till as niodcK of astute diplomatic fencing. In one of his despatches to the Emperor, Meghder took the opportunity of explaining that he had succeeded in welding all the Tartars, — or "all the nations who use the bow from horseback "' as he calls Hii-cliiuli. them, — into one dominion : the power of the Yiieh- Lou-lan. chi' had been annihitated and the trilies of Tarbagatai, Wu-suii. Lob Xor, Sairam Nor, and of twenty-sis other neighbouring states had all been reduced. In other A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 25 words he was in full possession of what is now the Chinese Eniiiirc beyond the Great ^Vall, except Tibet. He added that if tlie Empei-ur did not wisli the« Hiung-nu to trespass beyend the Great AVall he must not allow the Chinese to come actually up to the Great Wall : moreover his envoys must not be ke[>t in detention, but must alwa3's be sent l)aelv at once. This haughtj' standpoint taken by Meglider was naturally very distasteful to the Chinese, and several councils were held to deliberate tlie ipiestion of peace or war. It ended in the Chinese Emperor, who was dissuaded by his consort from taking the field in person, " respectfully asking after tlie liealth of his Zenghish Majesty," and sending hini a numljcr of magnificent robes, buckles, hair-iiin> for plaited hair, fine cloths, and other things. Shortly after this Meghder died, after a very successful reign of oG and was succeeded by his son Kayuk. « Chi-yii. years CHAPTER III. The Period of Contest iok Mastery with China. K' 'AYUK was generally known by the nickname of the " High Old Zcnghi." On learning of L-io-shanp- his accession the tlmperor of China sent him another princess, in whose suite was a palace eunuch or private chamberlain. This man did not at all like the Chung-hang . . Yiieh, the idea of Tartar life, and protested vigorously agamst eunuch. 26 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. the indignity. The Emperor, however, insisted ; but tlio eunnch was lieard to mutter as he stai'ted some- thing about beiuo' " a tliorn in the side of China." As soon as ever he reached the Tartar head-(|uarters he abandoned his Chinese nationahty, and before long became a great confidant of the Zenghi, whom he harangucil as follows : — " Your whole horde scarcely "equals in numbers the population of a couple of " Chinese prefectures, but the secret of your strength " lies in your iaidependence of ( 'hina for all your " real necessities. I notice an increasing fondness "forCliincse productions. Reflect that one-fifth of " the Chinese wealth would suffice to buy your people '■ all over. Silks and >atins are not half so well " suited as felts for the rough life you lead, nor are "the perishable delicacii's of China so handy as your " kumiss and cheese." The eunuch went on to instruct the Zenghi in the elements of accouat- keeping by means of tallies, and suggested that in his reply to the Chinese Emperor's letter he should use a tablet one-fifth longer than before, and that the envelope should be one of imposing size. The Zenghi was also adxised to style himself, "The " Great Zenghi of the Hiung-nu, burn of Heaven " and Earth, the equal of the Sun and Moon, "elc. etc." One of the ( 'liiuese connuissioners having made some remarks criticising the Tartar custom of despising the aged, the eunuch asked A Thousand Yearn of flic Tartnrn. 27 him :— " When the Chiueso armies set out, do not "their relative^ hy contribution Jcjirivo themselves of " some good thing, for the sustenance of the army ? " ''Yes." "Well then," said the eunuch, "the " Tartars make war a business : the weak and aged " cannot fights so the best food is given to their ••protectors." ■'But," argued the commissioner, ''the '• same tent is used l)y father and son, the son marries •• his step-mother, and the brother his sisters-in-law : " till' Hiung-nu have no manners and no ceremonies "at all." The eunuch replied : — '•Their custom is to "eat the flesh and drink the milk of their flocks and " herds, which move about after pasture according to " season. Every man is a skilful bowman, and in " times of peace takes life easily and happily. The "principles of government are simple ; the relations " between ruler and people are to the point and " durable : the administration of the state is as that of " the individual ; and, though wives are taken over by " sons and brethren, it is in order to retain kith and " kin all in the family : it may be incest, but it keeps " up the chm stock. In ( 'hina, on the other hand, " though (nominally at least) sons and brothers are "not incestuous, the result is estrangement, feuds, " and the breaking up of famihes. Moreover, rites " and rights are so corruptly managed that class is " set against class, and one man is forced to slave for " another man's luxury. Food and clothing can only 28- A Tlwvsaiid Yearn of the Tartars. "bo got by tilling the land and rearing tho silk- " worm. Walled towns have to be built for personal •• safety. Thin in tim<'s of danger no one knows how '■ to fight, whilst in times of peace every man exists '■ only by the sweat of his brow. Don't talk to me, '• von caged-ui) man-millinei-^ I What i~ the ii-e of "that trumpei-y hat of yours}'" This style of language, (which bears a wonderful resemblance to that of Attila's favorite, the lioman deserter, freedman of Onegesin~. who harangued the a<-i-^tant envoy Priscii- upon the vices of the l{omnn Empire.) was repeated whenever any ( 'hinese envoy shewed disposition to carp at his Tartar surroundings. The eunuch would say: — "You envoys should talk less "and contine yourselves to seeing that we get gooil "quality and good measure of silk, floss, rice, and " spirits in our annual subsidies. Talking is >uper- "fluous it' the supplies are satisfactory ; and we shall " not talk at all, but raid your frontiers, if the "contrary is the case." Thus the eunuch kept his word, and, by carefully t(>aehing the Zenghi where his true interest-; lay, was really a thorn in the Chinese side. After he had been on the throne about seven years, the Zenghi Kayuk at the head of 140,000 Chiii^,'. men made a raid upon the valley of the liiver King, which flows south-east to the old Chinese metropolis in South Shen Si : his scouts advanced almost up to A Thmisand YmrR of the Tartars. 29 tliP \vall> of tlie oapibil city of C'lranj;-iin (Si-iin Fn), and immense nnnibcrs of people and cattle were carried away. Great ]ireparation? were made to drive the invaders oti', but tliey always disappeared before the C'hine-^e troojis could come up with them, and for several years the whole line of tiie Great Wall was kept in a state of ferment and uneasiness. Resort was once more had to diplomatic neootiations, in the course of which the ]irinci]ile is distinctly laid down tliat "all nortli of the Great Wail is the '• country of the bowmen, whilst all south of the " Great Wall is the country of liats and girdles," — or, as the Romans would have said, " of the toga." It was during the reign of Kayuk that the Yiieh- ' ch'i were finally driven from their ancient seat be- tween Lob-nor and Koko-nor : they passed the great 'I'un-huang (Jelestial Range near tiie modern Kuldja, after having to fight their way past their congeners the Wu-sun of Cobdo and Hi, who were also emigrants from Kan Suh : thence they seem to have worked their way past Issekul and Tashkend to the Sea of Aral. K'ang. Turning south-east, they appropriated the realm of the Tocharoi. For some time their capital is distinctly Ta-hsia. stated by the Chinese to have been north of the Oxus. Kwei Shui, The last of the Greek rulers of Bactria, Heliocles,* died about this time, and the Rarthians and Yiieh- clu would seem to liave divided his kingdom between theni, They gradually extended their empire down 30 A Thoiimnd Year/^ of the I'artavf. Chi-|iin. to tile Pamir and the Puiijaub, and, abandoning their nomadic Laljits, soon formed a powerful state, known in the West as the Empire of the Haithals, Viddhals, Ephthaliti's or Nephthalites. European, l'er>ian, and Chinese writers are perfectly at one upon this point. In fact, the histories of the Manchu dynasty state in as many words that the Affghanistan ol' to- Yph-faor ,];,v is the Epthah of the r)th century, and that the Epthah were the ancient Yiieli-chi. Their congeners of ( 'obdo ar(> not so easily identified. Arguing solely from the similarity of sound, some European writers suggest Eusenii ; others Edones ; the latest ( 'hinese writers suggest Russians. I should be inclined to say that Awscn or Orson was the sound the rhines(^ wished to imitate 2,000 years ago ; whoeyer they were, they soon disappeared from Chinese records, and never exercised any appreciable influence upon her hi-;tory. AVe may discuss the (juestion again when we come to treat of Chinese relations with countries west of the Pamir, but in the present work our concern is only with Tartary wot of the Celestial Mountains, and it will suffice here simply to notice the fact that it wa>< Kayuk who fiually crushed the Yiieh-chY, and, in good old Tartar fashion, made him- self a wine-goblet out of their king's skull. Cliiin-fh'fn, * Kayuk was succeeded by his son Kyundjin in the year B.( !. 162. The eunuch continued in his post of adviser to the new Zeughi, and therefore it is not A Thousand Years of the Tartars. '61 to bo wondered at that raiding wont on as Let'ore. t'hina's iiositioii was the iiiorc^ difficult in that after ' the death of tlie Emperor ^Vi^n Ti iut(;sti]ie troubles broke out, both in the interior and on the frontier, and one founder's grandsons even entered into traitorous alliance with the Huns. But the Emperor King Ti encouraged frontier trade, sent liberal Ching Ti. presents to the new Zenghi, and gave him a fresh princess in marriage : the result of this conciliatory policy was that, though during the sixteen years of his reign there were petty frontier robberies, there was no raiding on a grand scale. This desirable state ' of affairs would probably have continued indefinitely, and the two empires might have learned to li^c in peace alongside each other, had not the counsellors of the youthful Emperor Wu Ti shortly after his acces>ion in B.C. 140 imprudently attempted a disgraceful act of treachery. It was in this wise. Frontier trade was going on quite flourishingly between the two peoples, and there were plenty of facilities for passing to and fro. A Chinese merchant was sent to offer the liiuug-nu for a consideration a city known as Ma Ch'cug, or ■■ Horse Oity,"' a place which alvvay,'> had been, and was for many centuries destined to be, one of the most contested places on the frontier : it was not far from the spot where sixty years earlier tlu> founder had been nearly captured by Meghder. The P'ing cii-Ong idea was to entice the Zenghi into a tight place and 32 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. then get rid of him and his best troops by a general massacre, and with this object in view ;-3U0,000 soldiers were set in ambush to await the arri\al of tlie Tartar-. The Zenghi, whose cupidity' liad been aroused by tlio prospect of phuidering so rich a town, had ah-eady passed through the Great Wall with an army of 100,000 troopers, and was witliin thirty English miles of Horse City, when he noticed that the herds of cattle scattered about over the plain had no one to tend them. His suspicions being aroused, lie made for the nearest C'liinese watch-tower, and soon captured the warden, who, to save his own life, di-closed the whole » plot. The Zenghi lost no time in retiring from so dangerous a situation, and of course the scheme fell through, while the general who had recommended it had to connnit suicide. The warden who had proved such a sodsend to th(> Zenghi was rewarded with the title of " God-sent Prince " and carried off to hll a high position in Tartarland. The result naturally \va> that, though the frontier trade was still kept up in the . interests of both |>arties, raids became very frequent, and the Hiung-nu now made no attempt to palliate or dissemble their hostile acts, which were openly declared to he in retaliation for Ghine-e treachery. For the next iew year^ there was incessant war, entailin"" camiiaiiins on the Chinese side followed again by cru(d raids on the part of the Hiung-nu : a recital in detail of the events which occurred in A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 33 succession would be as wearisome to read as mono- tonous to compose. It will be enough to say that tilings wore about as b:i(l as tliey could be when Kyundjiii died in B.C. 127. He was succeeded by liis younger brother Ichizia, who sot himself up in defiance of the rights of the late Zenghi's son, and drove the latter into the arm^ of tlie C'liinese. With the assistance of the (Jliincse officers who fell into his hands, the Zenghi Ichizia continued to l-chih-hsie. make things verj- uncomfortable on the frontier. Large Chinese armies one after the other made deep sallies into the nomad tenitory, cut oW innumerable heads, captured large numbers of sheep and cattle, and gradually pushed forward tlieir fortitied posts. The greater part of what is now called Kan Suh province was added to tiie Clilnese dominions, and it was in the cont^uest of the Kau-chou Fu of to-day chans-yeh ; tliat " a certain gold man used by the Tartar Prince "'*'"•'■'"• in the worship of Hea\'en " was taken amongst the plunder. By some Chinese authors it is considered that this was an image of Buddha ; by others that the introduction of Buddiiism into China two centuries later owing to an imperial dream was indirectly con- nected with this conquest, in that the Emperor's vision of a golden nuin was insjiired by the historical fact just recounted. In any case it was directly owing to these cont_[uests that a knowledge of India arid Bud- 5 34 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. dhism was first brought into China ; and here it is important to bear in mind that the earliest Buddhism Tien. entered ( 'hina, not by way of Burma or Yiin Nan, (as yet totally unknown countries) ; nor b}' way of Ch'iang. Tibet, which, besides being unknown, liad not yet any I political existence ; but by way of the Puujaub, the *^ii-lii- Pamir, and the Kashjraria-Sungaria main roads to to the east. It is worth while digressing here in order to describe precisely how all this happened. • When the Yiieh-chi were driven westwards by the Hiung-nu there was nothing to prevent the horse- riding nomads of the north from allying themselves Ch'iang. with the sheep-driving nomads of Tibet and keeping up a perpetual war of raiding and cattle-lifting along the whole line of the Chinese frontier. Hence it became a matter of vital importance to "amputate the Tartars' riiiht arm " and push forward a lonjr line of posts westward, which should keep the two nomad agglomerations apart from each other. It must have been about B.C. loG that the world- OhaugCh'ien. renowned tra\ell<,'r Chang K'ien made liis first discoveries in the west, for we are told that it was some tinic after the Yiieh-chi king lost his head that this intrepid adventurer volunteered to proceed on a dii)lomatic mission in searcli of the dispossessed people. He was stopped on the way and detained in captivity for ten years. The Wu-suu having suc nn were utterly defeated, and the Zenghi only just succeeded in effecting his escape with a few unen- cumbered horsemen. The slaughter was tremendous, and for some time the Zenghi, who could not be found, was replaced by his relative the Right Rukle. On this occasion it seems clear that the Chinese annies got as far as the modern Urga, now the seat TMen-yen. of a high Buddhist functionary, and they left records of their prowess carved in stone upon the side of a mountain north of the Ordous country not far Lang-chii- from the spot marked in modern maps as Kara Narin. After this great campaign there was no centre of Hiung-nu government south of the Desert; the Alashan or Eleuth country west of the Yellow Ling-chu. River was annexed by China ; and half a million agricultural colonists were drafted to the western 38 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. frontiers so as to secure a thorough hold upon the newly conquered territory. The Hiung-nu had lost 1)0,000 men during the year, but the losses of the Chinese were considerable too, numbering about 25,000 men and 100,000 horr-cs. At the advice of the renegade Beg (who liad formerly been employed • bj' Cliina) the Zenghi novv sued for peace, and it was a question in the imperial council whether the advantage should be further pushed so as to com- pletely crush and subject the enemy, or whether his l)eace proposals should be entertained. The former course was decided upoji in effect, and an envoy was sent to demand homage. The Zenghi was so highly incensed at this presumption that he detained not only thi-* special envoy, but a number of previous envoys, corresy)onding to the number of Tartars of rank who had, after the Hiung-nu defeat, elected to stand by ( 'hina. Another campaign on a vast scale was just being prepared for when (Jhina's greatest Ho Ch'ii- general died, and the expedition fell through. Ichizia also died three years afterwards and was succeeded Wii-wei. by liis son Achvi, or Oghmet. Just at this time the Chinese Emperor was making preparations for a grand tour of inspection throughout other parts of his empire, and, being Min-yiieh. engaged in subduing the two foreign states now amalgamated with Cihina under the names of Canton and Foochow, was unable to give much attention A Thousand Years of iJw Tartars. 39 to his northern neighbours. Three j-ears hiter, when these two southern states had been thoroughly subdued, the Eniporor himself came as iur as the Shuo-fang Alashan Mountains, and reviewed a line force of 150,000 cavalry so as to give weight to the diplo- matic overtures he was about to open. Like the Koman envoys to Attila, and like Rnbruquis on his way to Caracorum, the Chinese envoy sent to conduct the negotiations declined to discuss witli minor functionaries the nature of his mission, but demanded to be conducted into the Zenghi's presence, — somewhere near Caracorum. Here he at once com- menced to boast of the doughty deeds which had been done in the south, and challenged the Tartar monarch to sally forth and give battle to the Emperor, who was waiting for him on the frontier. The Zenghi's reply was imprisonment of the envoy and decapitation of the court chamberlain who had intro- duced him : the envoy was sent to do ignominious service in the neighbourhood of Lake Baikal. Yet Pei Hai. the Zenghi was chary of venturing south across the Desert just yet: he ])referred to feed up and recruit his horses and men until a suitable moment should arri\-c. Meanwhile he sent men skilled in the arts of diplo- » macy to temporise with the Chinese, who on their part sent spies ia the guise of ambassadors to watch what was going on in Tartarland : these envoys were not allowed to enter the royal tent unless they con- 4:0 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. formed to the local etiquette by blackening their faces iukI leaving outside their stick of office. [Perhaps this is like the " |)urirying by fire"' undiTgune by Zimurchus before he was admitted into tii(> tent of Dizabul the Turk.] Meanwhile the energetic Emperor Wfi-niO, \\'\x Ti had effected tlie conciuest of part of Corea and Cliao-hsieii. was busily engaged witli t]io-;e western embassies and intriiiues which led to tlie war witli Kokand men- >■ tioned above : the Chinese outposts now extended Heu:in-lei ; nearly as far as modern Tarbagatai (which, however, Hu-chieh, or " .,, .,.. -in i i Hu-kiii. was still a iliung-nu princedom) and all along both the northern and southern roails to Kashy-ar and Sij-lo;So-chu. Yarkand. Another envoy was sent to see if the Zenghi could be induced to carry out his promises and formally declare himself a vas>al ; but tlii> envoy . had to conduct his negotiations outside the tent, as he would not conform to the prescribed etiquette. Tlie Zenghi was quite ready to receive bis princesses, his silk ]iiece-20ods, and his other good thinirs, but he showed no disposition whatever to send hostages as security for the observance of the treaty of peace : like Attila in Europe, he demanded that envoys of the highest rank should be sent to treat with him, and he asserted a policy of strict retaliation for injuries received : in short '' do ut ties'' and "tit for tat" were the onlj' terms upon which he would treat at all, and even then on the most thorousrhsoin"- terms of equality. At the same time he was lavish of A 'Thousand Years of the Tartars. 41 soft words wliicli cost him nothing, and protested his desirr to see the Emperor face to face and to make an alliance with him. But with all this he ke[)t on the safe side of the balance sheet hy detaining Chinese envoys where there was any donht about the safety of his own, and by raiding the Chinese frontiers wherever any tempting op})ortunity occuned. CHAPTER IV. The Period of Defeat and Deci.ln'e. ' I 'HE Zenghi Achvi died after a leign of ten years. 1 an d was sneceeded by his son Cliim>iru, niek- Chan-shih-lu. named " the Boy Zenghi," a young man of restless and Erh Shan-vu. bloodthirsty disposition. Tiie Hiung-nu ^eem at this period to have lost their hold upon the Tungusic part * of their dominions, and to liave concentrated them- selves into two main bodies, the eastern one of which did not reach farther than the Chinese frontier at modern Ta-t'ung Fu in Slum Si, whilst the western Yiin-chung. one came into contact with the Chine-e at the great junction of roads eaos- session of the Chinese, and themselves nianoeuvring alon" the Caracorum, Uliasntai and Cobdo road. It was during the Boy Zenghi's reign that the already mentioned war with Kokand took place, but the op[)or- tune arrival of a great suow-storm, which carried oif a ii A Tliousancl Years of tlie Tartars. great number of the Hiung-uu sheep and catUc, prevented them from doing very much injury to the Chinese. Still, the frontier war went on ; the Chinfso armies once more fought their way to the Tula and Chiin-chi. Orkhon rivers, and the nomads found themselves unable to make any impression upon the line of Shou-hsiang Chinese posts north of the Yellow River Loop and Ch'Biig. ^ ... the Ordous country. Chimsiru only lived three years, and, as his son was too young to be of any use, his chii-li-hu, or uncle Kulegu, brother of Achvi, was elected to fill the vacant throne. The Chinese attempted to hold a line of fortified post-^ all the way north to the River Lu-cU'ii Ho. Kerulon, and there was a good deal of fiorhtinii; alonjj: this road ; but without any >ati^fartory results for the Hiung-nu. Kulegu's idea was to attack the successful Chinese army on its way back after its brilliant action in Kokand ; but no good opportunity occurred, and Kulegu sickened and died the next year. He was succeeded by his younger brother Chii-ti-hou. Ziitegeu. The successful war with Kokand had so raised the Chinese prestige that the Emperor began to think it a fit moment to crush the Hiuna-nu power once for all ; on the other hand the latter, feeling the danger of their position, adopted a more conciliatorjr style in their correspondence (managed ' of course by (Jhineso) ; the Zenghi was contented with the political status of "son" or "son-in-law" to the Emperor, and all the Chinese envoys who had A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 43 resolutolj- refused to accept Tartar nationality, office, or favours were sent back. It was now that the celebrated Su "Wu was sent to negotiate with the Zeii^hi, who in spite of the liberal gifts sent to him, assumed very arrogant airs. Su Wu, whose name is quoted to this day as a pattern of fidelity for envoys abroad, was kept in detention and put to the menial duty of tending flocks near Lake Baikal. But his political virtue does not appear to have been proof against the charms of Tartar maidens, for, when he ultimately returned to China, he brought a wife and a brood of hybrid children with him. Two thousand years later a Chinese envoy held in detention by the King of Burma was officially declared by the Manchu Emperor to be superior even to Su Wu because he had (according to his own story) spent his time at Ava in a monastery, and had refused to solace himself with a Burmese wife. On the other hand, only a few years ago th(> unhappy Ch'unghou was held up to derision by Chang Chi'-tung and gibbeted as a painful contrast to Su Wu because ( it was alleged ) he allowed himself to be coaxed by the Russians into betraying his august master's interests. During the rest of Ziitegeu's reign severe fighting went on between the two nations, chiefly in the region known as the " Mouth of the Desert," a little west of Mo-k'ou. the Yellow River Bend, — the site of Marco Polo's Tenduc, The Hiung-nu again thought it prudent to T'ien-te. 44 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. retire to the valleys of the Tula and Orkhon Rivers, and on the whole the advantage seems to have remained almost entirely with tlie Chinese. Ziitegeu only reigned five years, after which he was succeeded hy his son Hu-lu-ku. Hulughu. Hulaghu luul been not only the Left Dugi, and as such the heir-presumptive to the throne, but he had been >pecialh' designated as heir-a[)[)arent by his father. As Hulughu was out of the way when the demise of the crown took place, another prince was declared Zeughi, much against liis own will ; and after some di[)lomatic fencing between the two it was agreed that Hidughu should have the throne now, but that his successor should be the son of the prince who had resigned in his favour. Soon after the father of this prince designate died, and the Zenghi, instead Hsir-ii-hsien- of making liis son Senghendjeii Left Dugi, us would have been expected under the family agreement, made his own son Left Dugi, and conferred quite an inferior title u[)on the son of the deceased prince. As will be afterwards seen, this breach of faith led to serious civil war later on. in the seventh year of Hulughu's reign raiding was renewed, and several Li Knantc-li, distinguished general> once more made their wav to alins Erh- i /-, i n i i "' shih. the Laracorum and Barkul regions of modern times. }^lllg_ ' "^ Though these place> cannot all retrospectively be P'ulw Sea. exactly identified now, they can be positively as- sociated with places known to have been near the ancient localities and which were in the possession of A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 45 Turks and Ouigouvs a thousand years later. More- over oiises and watered valleys then, as now, must have always been chosen for nomad encampments. At tills time all the |ire>out roads to the west except two were undoubtedly known to the Chinese. Tlie two which were probably not yet known to them were the northernmost road from Urga and ( "a- racorum bv' wav of L liasutai to Kuldja, and the I'oad cuttinir north-west across the desert from Shan Si to Uliasutai. These two last roads are those which were followed by most of the Mongol armies moving westwards and by the eml)assies, whether from China to Genghis in Persia, or from Euroj)e to the later Khans at Caraeorum ; and consequently we know more, at lea>t from non-Cliine~e sources, about the roads which the Chinese did not know 2,000 years aoo than about those which they have been steadily using during the past 2,000 years. The road, now disused, from Etziiia to Caraeorum was probably travelled by (Jliinese armies. In the campaigns of B.C. 90 it is quite certain that the Chinese had possession for a time of both Karahodjo and Pidjan, Chii-shih. then the capitals of two petty kings of agricultural and settled tribes. In fact, as far back as history ooes, we find a string of cities from Harashar to Kashgar and from Kashgar to Khoten governing " Sart" populations of cultivators, apparently of old Persian stock, and probably ethnologically very much 46 A T/iovsand Years of the Tartars. <■ like what they are now. The Chinese wei-e again victorious in this Last oampaij^n and the Hiung-nu were driven far away to the north. The Chinese then, as now, liad an unfortunate liahit of decapitating generals and envoys who wei'(^ unsuccessful in war or diplomacy. The consequence was that some of their ablest officers, men who had suffered a reverse in the field or a check in diplomacy, were always to be found in the enemy's employ, having taken refuse with him in order to save their lives. In later times several Turkish and Kirghiz tribes or ruling families traced back their origin to this or that Li T.ing ; Wei renegade Chinese general. In the present instance China's best general, the one who had conquered Eih Shih. Kokand, hearing that his wife and children were - under arrest, was advised to go over to the Hiung-nu. The man was really no traitor at heart, and after some hesitation decided to attempt a grand roup in order to re-instate himself. Owing to the treachery or lukewarmness of his own lieutenants, who had no similar motive for running extra risk*, he suffered on Eivpi- Cliih- the contrarv a great defeat and fell into the enemy's hands : he was well received, and along with another renegade became one of the chief advisers of th(? Zenghi, who now sent an ambassador to (Jliina with the following letter: — "South is the "great house of Han; north are the powerful "Tartars. The Tarti:vrs tvre Nature's wivnton boys. A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 47 " who do not care to trouble themselves with petty " formalities. I now propose to havf frontier trade " with China on a large scale, to marry a Chinese " princess, and to receive annually 10,000 firkins of " spirits, 10,000 pieces of assorted silks, and besides " all the rest as provided b}' previous treaties : if this " is done we will not raid the frontiers." The Chinese ambassador sent to talk matters over was taunted with the fact that the Chinese heir-apparent was Li 'r'ai-t/.a. giving his father trouble, notwithstanding the much vaunted Chinese proprieties. The envov retorted by comparing the incestuous Tartars (and more especially the former Zenghi Meghder) to so many wild beasts : he was put into gaol, but managed to escape after three years' detention. The Zenghi's mother being ill, the Zenghi, like Attila his remote successor, con- sulted the haruspices. The two Chinese renegades Wi'i l,ii ; Kih were intriguino- asain^t each other for favour, and it ended in the conqueror of Kokand being served up as a sacrifice to the gods. But the gods were not appeased : for se^-eral months in succession there were heavy falls of snow ; beasts and their offspring perished ; the people suffered from epidemics, and the millet harvests would not ripen. lu addition to « all this there was defeat in the field, the best generals were killed, and the Hiung-nu were so discouraged that for several years they kept quiet. Meanwhile the Emperor Wu Ti, who in his old age repented him 48 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. of hi;; conquests iind concomitant waste of human life, » (lied, and three _years later Hulu;j;hu died also. The Tartar hordes wci-c in fnvonr of setting up Lis younger brother, a man of high character ; but the Dowager Inchi, who desired the suceession for her own son, had the brother murdered. The story now becomes a little intricate, but it appears that the son of another Inchi, who under the name of Chwangii plays an important part for many generations, with the renegade's assistance succeeded in getting her Hu-yen-ti. son recognized as the Khuj-ente Zenghi. The son and remaining brothers of Hulughu thereupon went off to their governments, and declined to attend the usual ceremonies at Dragon City. It is not clear whether Khuj-ente was the son, brother, or cousin of Chuan-ch'ii. Hulughu, or how many successive husbands C'hwangu had had up to the time of Hulughu's death : it is certain that tlie n:'w Zenghi was a very young man, and very mucli in the hands of the surviving Chinese renegade and of the (pu'cn-mother who seems to have been the renegade's paramour. Various intrigues went on with the Chinese to the east and with the Wu-sun nomads of Kuldja to the west, besides which raiding went on whenever opjiortunity oc- Wei Lii. •• curred. Tlie i-(^negade tried to persuade the Hiuug- nu that it would be good policy for them to build fortified places and store them with provisions ; but others pointed out that the Tartars were not used to A Thousand Tears of tlw Tartars. 49 ik'iVnsivo figlitino;, and tliat the result would probably be to supply tbc Chinese armies gratuitously with well-stocked recruitin"' stations. The renesade now advised the unconditional return of all faithful Chinese envoys, and amongst them was tlu^ renowned Sii Wu with his brood of hybrid children. The obstinate Tartars continued their reckless policy of raiding, notwithstanding the fact that tliey nearly always got the worst of it, and notwithstandini> the renc^ade's earnest reconuuendation of a jicaccful understanding. Still the Zenghi's younger brother niiinaged to use his influence in favour of law and order and was a strong supporter of the renegade, who died about now. But shortly after this the well-disposed younger brother died also, and the wearisome story of incursions, murders, kidnajipings, and punitory co- lumns is rc'peated for several years to come. The leading Tungusic nation, first known in Chinese history as the Wu-hwan, were now at war with the Hiung-nu, and the (Jhinese learnt from captured prisoners that the Tungusic armies had succeeded iu desecrating tlu^ tombs of tlie Zenghis. As the Wu-hwan were also giving the Chinese trouble to the east, it was endeavoured to set these two northern nations by the ears as much as possible with a view of subse([uent]y attacking the weaker. The Wu-hwan came oti' second best in their fighting with the Hiung- nu, and the Chinese therefore fell upon the former. 7 50 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. I The Hiung-nu were now alarmed for their own safety, and tried to form an alliance against the Chinese Chii-yen; \\\ih. the nomads of Kuldia and tlie king of Ushi, Wu-shih. ■ _ . their object being to get possession of the Chinese princess who had been given in marriage to the king of Kuldja. He on his part sent a piteous appeal for assistance, and the result was that a great expedition in five columns, numbering considerably over 100,000 troopers in all, received orders to march out 600 English miles beyond the Great "Wall. The king of Kuldja, at tlie head of his Begs and of half as many trooper> again, was to cooperate from the west with the Chinese marching from the east. On this occasion it is quite clear that the Chinese advanced as far as P'u-li Hou the neighbourhood of Hami and Barkul ; but the results were disappointing, for the Hiung-nu, receiving intelligence of the double ex]>edition which was advancing, drove their families and their herds pell-mell northwards in liot haste, after the fashion so gra.phicalh' described l)y Marco Folo in his chapter upon Charchan, leaving not a trace of their march behind. Several Chinese generals lost their heads or had to commit suicide in connection with this busiues-, but one or two were more successful and managed to come up with the euemj', who lost •about 40,000 individuals of all ranks and 700,000 animals : the Zenghi's uncle, sister-in-law, and several other high personages were also taken. The Zenghi and P'u-lei. A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 51 now tried to wreak his vengeance upon the nomads of ' Kuldja, but he had bad luck again with the snow, and not one tenth of his army ever got back again. To make matters worse, their northern tribes — variously identified by the historians with the Kirghiz and Ting-ling. Ouigours of later times — fell upon them from the north, and the Wu-hwan did the same from the east, so that the political power of the Hiung-nu was now • completely broken ; one third of their population were starved to death, and one half of their flocks and herds ; their subject nations fell off from their allegiance and attacked them ; the C'hinese lost no opportunity of striking a blow ; and thus it was that, when Khuj'ente died in B.C. 68, the fortunes of the Hiung-nu were reduced to a very low ebb. He was succeeded by his younger brother the Left Dugi who took the title of Hiilligwengii. It seems that at this HsU-lu- time they were still strong enough to keep a hold on Karahodjo. The new Zenghi dismissed the Inchi Chu-shiii. Chwangii, much to the chagrin of her father, and gave the first place in his harem to another lady. As he was too weak to carry on the old policy of raiding, the Chinese on their part thought the time had arrived for economising a little, and the garrisons along the extreme north line of the Yellow River were withdrawn. The Zenghi, who was peacefully • inclined, was pleased at this news, and took council with his nobles as to the desirability of cultivating a 52 A TJwvsand Years of the Tartars. fi'ientllv understanding- ; but other counsel prevailed, and a striii,'gle took place for tlio possession of Karaliodjo, tlu^ [)eoj)le of which place, inclining; to a ( 'hinese alliance, -were moved ea-^twards, whilst the Hiun Right Dugi before the usual council or vounudtai could be sunuiToned, and managed to get him proclaimed at Wo-yen-cli-ii- once under the title of Okyenhiite. It is not very clear whose son this Zenghi was : uU that is cei'tain is that he was Achvi's great-grandson, and that his father luul been Right Dugi before him. He at once made ovei'turcs to China, and sent his younger brother to ha\'e audience of the Emperor. Un- fortunately for the stability of his em[)ire, he was a ])rince of most brutal instincts, and inaugurated his accession by a series of bloody massaci'es, [)lacing himself entirely in the hands of C'hwangii and her Chi-hou-shan. brother. The legitimate heir to the throne, KefreUshar. son of Hiiliigwengu, took refage with his wife's Wu-shan-mo. father, who was prince of a petty foreign state A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 53 somewhere between SumarcanJ and Kulilja, and had tlirown himself iindei- Hiung-nu protection in order to escape the tyranny of ids neighbours of Saniarcand. Tins was in tlic time of Huhio-hii, who had "iven liini a niece in marriage : tliis niece was the sister of Sengliendjen wlio had, as above related, l)een mifairly deprived of the sncccs^ion, and who now went over with liis horde to the (Jlunese. In consequence; of this the Zenglii inurdered Senghendjen's brothers, and a oeneral civil war broke out, during: which tlu; tyrannical Zenghi's unpopularity went on dail^- increasing. The Tungu^cs seized the opportunity to ' attack his eastern dominions, and tlie wretched Zenghi, finding himself gradually desei'ted, in his despair committed suicides Kegenishar was now ^ declared Zenghi with tlie title of Khughanja, one iiu-lian- which, as we shall see afterwards, became more or less a ''" "^ '' hereditar}' one, and distinctive of the southern branch of Hiung-nu. Klmghanja had a hard ta-k before him, for iSenghendjen and a number of other dis- contented princes each formed a cabal of his own, and before long the whole Hiung-nu dominions from Issekul to ]\Ianchuria were torn by the internecine struoiiles of no fewer than five rival Zenghis, the - most formidable of whom was the Zenglii's own elder brother C'liircln'. It is not very easy to follow Chih-cliih. the tangled wel) of intrigue and war which follows ; but a great many Tartar princes found that their best 54 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. \ \ safety lay in surrender to China, and Khuganja liim«elf, after sufferino; a severe defeat at his brother's hands somewhere in the Caracorum region, came to tlie conchision tliat this would be the be?t thing- he could do too. He summoned a council of his nobles and ministers to consider the question : almost all of them disapproved of the idea, and it is interesting to read the arguments which they advanced. They said : — '" Our natural condition is one of brute force '■ and activity ; we are not suited to and we despise an '• inirlurious condition of servitude and ease. Fighting " from horseback is the essence of our political power, " and it is by this that we \vA\e always been able to '■ assert our predominance among barbarous nation- "alities. To die in battle is what every valiant " trooper of us looks forward to. Even though we "may engage in fraternal strife, if one brother does " not succeed, well then, the other will, and dominion '• will thus always remain in the family, while the " unsuccessful at least die a glorious death. Strong •• though the Chinese Empire is, it is incapable of " conquering and assimilating us. Why should we " abandon our ancient ways, do homage to the " ( 'hinese, disgrace the memory of the Zenghis our " ancestors, and make ourscdves a lauffhinii-stock in " the eyes of other nations? Though by doing so we " may attain peace, yet our career of domination will " be for ever i^t a,xx end," One of the princes favour- A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 55 able to surrender argued : — " Not so. All nations have "their opportunities and their vicissitudes. China '■ is in the hey-day of her power at present. Kuldja " is fortified, and all the other states in that "quarter are China's humble servants. Ever since " Ziitegeu's time we have been losing ground, and we " cannot recover it. We have been beaten along the " whole line, and it is surely better to bend our pride " a little than to go on fighting for ever. If we do "homage to China we preserve our lives in peace. If " we do not, we perish in the most dreadful way. " Surely the better course is plain." The Hiung-nu Zenghis must have possessed very absolute power, for we are told that, notwithstanding the determined opposition which all the leading men continued to offer to the scheme, Khuganja decided to send one of ' his sons to the Chinese court as a hostage-page. His rival and elder brother did the same thing. In the following year Khuganja presented himself at the Great ^Vall of modern Shen Si and offered to 'come Wu-yihin. to court in person. A strong and brilliant escort was sent to bring him to the imperial lodge, and he was received by the Emperor in a most distinguished manner : he was given precedence over all the imperial and feudal princes, introduced into the presence without having to undergo the usual degrading ceremonies, and was allowed to use the simple term "your liege" without having to add his own personal 56 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. name a^ required by ( 'liine^e etiquette. The Emperor made liim a number of ex(;ec(lini;ly ^'iduable presents, iiieludin;^' a gold ^eal with purple ril)ljon, a state sword and chariot, clothes, stuff'-;, liorses, saddles, and so on. After the audienc(^ a special envoy was sent to conduct the Zeni^hi to the hotel placed at his disposal, whilst his suite were jiermitted to witness the magnificent spectacle of the Emperor's return in >tate to Ins own lodge. After a stay of one month the Zenghi received his dimissal and returned to his own country. These important events, which may lie >aid to have closed the period of Hiung-nu independence, took [dace in the year B.C. 51 of the Emperor tSiian Ti. CHAPTER V. The PeI!101) of SKJII-IxHErEXDENCK. T7"HUGANJA offered to make his head-quarters Kivaiig-lu. -'-^ outside the Great AVall iiitlie Ordous country in order to guarantee the Surrender Cities in time of Slioii-h^iang danger. This name, which continues in use through- out later Turkish history, is given to a line of fortified posts extending from the modern Kwei-lnva (Jh'eng in Shan Si (the Tenduc of i\[arco Polo) to the Kao-chiiuli. extreme nortli-w">t corner of the Great Bend, and de.-igned to prevent the nomads from crossing the Yellow River. As has been mentioned above, niauv of the Chinese garrisons had recently been withdrawn A IViousand Years' of the Tartars. 57 iVoni motives of ecouomj'. An escort of 10,000 trooi)s conducted the Zenghi bej'ond tlie Great Wall, and the ' officers in command were ordered to assist him in punishing the I'efractorj^ and in seating him firmly on the throne. About a thousand tons of grain and other provisions were sent to the frontier in carts to keep the party well supplied in their new settlement. The rival Zenghi Chirche thought that he might ' as well have some of these good things too. so he also sent an envoy to the Chinese court where he was treated with great liberalitj'. The following year both Zenghis sent ambassadors, and Khugan ja"- was treated with special distinction. The year following that again, Khuganja came once more in ])erson, and was welcomed with exactly the same forms and with even more presents than on the first occasion ; but, as he had an encampment of his own this time, no corps of cavalry was collected on this occasion to escort him back. The jealous C'iiirche kept a watchful eye upon "■ all these proceedings, and came to the conclusion that Khuganja must feel his own power to be verj' weak if he was so ready to debase himself before China, and that he was evidently not coming back to the West. He therefore marched his whole horde westwards, and after some fighting with rival pretenders settled himself in what was called the Right Land (or AVe^t Land), at the same time making overtures to the nomads of Kuldja. So far from welcoming Chirche's 58 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. ambassador, the king cut off his head and declared war, thinking to best please China by acting in this » way. But Chirche defeated him, went on to subdue Hu-chieh. modern Tarbagatai in the north, and then, continuing his march west, reduced the Kirghiz and another Chien-k'un group of cognate Tartars who cannot easily be identified on account of there being an eastern and a western branch. For want of a better word we shall call them Kankali (meaning " Carts "j. It is interesting to learn that the Kirghiz head-quarters were 2,300 English miles west of the Zenghi's state residency (apparently Urga or Caracorum), and 2,000 (Jhii-biiih. miles north of the Turfan and Pidjan of to-day, so that their general area or position two thousand years ago must have been very much what it is now. In B.C. 48 a new Emperor came to the throne and one of his first acts was to respond to an appeal of Khuganja by sending him 20,000 measures of grain •. for his impoverished horde. Chirehe thereupon evinced his envious displeasure b}' recalling his son the page, and had the meanness to assassinate the envoy sent by China to escort the lad safely home. Of course ( 'hina put this dastardly act down to Khuganja, whose supposed offence was, however, pardoned in order to keep things quiet. His son was also sent back in charge of a couple of ambassadors. These ambassadors, keeping their eyes open, were surprised to find that Khuganja's horde was in a remarkably flourishing A Thousand Year's of tlie Tartars. 59 condition, and quite strong enough to match Chirche. Being afraid lost he should accept the advice which his nobles were now offering that, having killed off all the game near the AVall, he should move northwards to the old Zenghi head-quarters near Caracorum, the envoys took upon themselves to make the following treaty with him : — " Peace shall continue between " China and the Hiung-nu for ever, and they shall be " united as one family. Neither party shall deceive or " attack the other. If robberies take place, the com- " plaining party shall notify the other, who will punish " the offenders and cause compensation to be made ; and " if any raiding takes place each side will do its best to "suppress it. Whichever first breaks this treaty, " may Heaven do to him and his heirs as he shall " have done with the treaty ! " The sanction of the treaty was applied in the following way. The Zenghi and the Chinese ambassadors mounted a hill, a white horse was slaughtered, the Zenghi held in his hands a jewelled sword or dagger, and mixing blood and gold toorether in the skull of the Haithal king (evidently preserved as a state heir -loom), together with the envoys took a draught of this mixture. All this is very remarkable, and tends to connect the Scythians of Herodotus with the Huns and Mongols in one unbroken line. Herodotus mentions skulls covered with leather and lined with gold used 60 A Tliovsand Years offhe 'Tartars. as drinking cups. He also mentions the making of oaths liy pouring wine into a bowl, mixing it with the blood of them that swear and dipping a scimitar into tJie bowl. Besides this he mentions the sacrifice to the sun of a horse by the j\Iassagetae of the Cas])ian (a Scythian race wrongly identified by some, regardless of time and place, with tlie Haithal-; of the Oxus ^Yho came five centuries lat(n-). The ( 'hinese frequentl}* mention the sacrifice of white horses by the Tungusie rulers of China in the .^th century of our era, whilst Genghis Khan, as stated by ({ibbon, used the skull, enchased in silver, of the Khan of the Keraites and ratified his first military league by the sacrifice of a horse. The Roman Emperor Xicephorus' skull, enchased with gold, was put to a similar use by the Bulgarian-;. The same thing is told of Uunimund of the Gepidae. A storm of abu>e awaited the ambassadors on their retuin, and, like the unhappy Ch'unghou on hi-: return from Uus>ia, they were at once im[ieached for treason. It was argued that, Khuganja being a sort of ■' buffer "' power, would not leave the frontier he had engageil to defend any weaker by the mere act of moving farther north ; and that, in any case, the conduct of the ambassadors, in pledging the future good faith of ( 'hina with a barbarous nomad and allowing the Zenghi to put unseemly words into their mouths, had exceeded their powers and dis- A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 61 oraced the hononi- and prestige of China. It was recommended tliat other envoys should be sent at once to make tlie Zengiii solemnly cancel the treaty l)efore Heaven witii counter ceremonies of an equallv binding kind with tlie contracting forms. However, tiie Emperor ])ref(>rred to let matters stand. Kliu- ganja actually did move north, and he organizcil a powerful dominion tiiere. Meanwhile Chirche was feeling uneasy about the murder he had committed, and soon conceived a strong desire to edge away further west. Just then the kinn; of Samarcand was writhinj; under the Kan;; Chu. tyranny of the nonuids cf Kuldja. He and his Begs in council came to the conclusion that it would be well to assist Chirche in his difficulties, and to enable him to recover the former Hiung-nu suzerainty over Kuldja, when the new chief or king who would lie appointed would servi^ as a " buffer " state. They >■ sent ambassadors accordingly to Chirche who was then ill his Kirghiz province, and the result was that Samarcand sent several thousand camels, asses, and horses to assist Chiri'he, who at once started off on his mioration west. But the cold was so severe that nearly the whole horde perished, and only a dilapidated remnant succeeded in safely reaching Samarcand. Hither he was pursued by a detachment sent after him by the Chinese Proconsul for the West, who then had his residence at a place now by 62 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. Wii-lei. the Chinese called Tseter, between the River Kaidu and Kuche as marked upon modern maps, probably ([uite close to Yanghi. His head was promptly taken off, much to the consternation of his brother Khuganja, who on hearing the news lost no time in renewing protestations of devotion to China : he laid at his brother's door the responsibility of his havincr himself failed to come to court to congratulate the Emperor Yiian Ti ; having, he said, been in constant dread of Chirche's attacks. In B.C. 33 he did come to court, and was received with the same ceremony and rewarded with the same presents as on the occasion of his second visit in B.C. 49. He applied for a wife, and one of the Emperor's prettiest Wniig Cliao- handmaids who, owing to jealous feminine intrigues, had never yet once shared the imperial couch, courageously volunteered for the lively post of wife to a succession of vigorous Tartar monarchs. When she was marched forward for inspection she looked so inviting that the Emperor, who had never before noticed her, would gladly have kept her back ; but the Zenghi was so manifestly charmed with her appearance that withdrawal was out of the question ; so off she went, and a very important political • personage she afterwards proved. The Zenghi in his delight undertook to defend the whole frontier Rhan-ku to line westwards from Shen Si to Lob-nor, — the main un- ivvang. ^^^^ |^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ West ; he promised that his A TJiousand Years of the Tartars. 63 descendants should carry on this duty for ever, and suggested that the whole of the Chinese garrisons niiglit now be withdrawn. The imperial council was almost unanimous in supporting tliis offer. But one old councillor who had had plenty of local Hou Ying. experience strongly protested against this suicidal policy. He said : — " Tlie well-wooded line of moun- " tains which extends from Shen iSi to Corea was Yin Shan. " once the stronghold of the conqueror Meghdor, " whence he and his successors could always obtain " game and material for his weapons, and whence " he could choose his own time for raids upon China ; " and they did so until Wu Ti drove the Hiung-nu " to the north of the Desert and fortified the whole " line of the Great Wall. The character of tlic " nomads is such that they will be as ready to take " advantage of our weakness if we withdraw our posts " as they are anxious to give us a wide berth when " we shew our teeth. Even civilised China needs " punitory laws to secure obedience to restrictive " rules : how then can it be excepted that a pack of " unsophisticated Tartars will be law-abiding without " any display of power to compel it ? Tlie frontier " posts are as much needed for keeping Chinese " traitors out of Tartarland as for keeping Tartars " out of China, not to mention that a large part " of our own frontier population is of Tartar " stock now in process of assimilation. Of recent L'li'iaii" 64 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. " years we have begun to hold relations with the " Tibetans, who, it is sad to say, are justly incensed '■against us on account ot the greed and raj>acit3' of '■ our officers. Great danger will follow any alliance "of the Tibetans with the Tartars, and the free and "easy nomad life has great temptations for restless "people who find their frontier duties irksome." The councillor proceeds with some reniai'k-; which prove that the Emperor Wu Ti mu>t have done as much as Meno; T'ien towards completino; the Great AVall. He saj-s : — "It is now over a century since the Great " Wall was built. It is not by anj' means all of it a " mere mud rampart. Up hill and down dale, it " follows the natural configuration of the ground, is "honeycombed with secret pa>sages, and bristles with " fortified points. Is all this va>t labour to be allowed " to go to rack and ruin ? And if ever we have to " reconstruct everything, where are the men and the " money to come from ? 13esides, the more we "dispense with our own defences, the more we >liall " be beholden for our safety to the Zenghi, whose " pretensions will advance in proportion. If we "disappoint his expectations, it i^ impossible to " say what he may not do wdien once the thin end of " the wedge is inserteil." The Emperor had the good sense to issue the following rescript : — " Let the " proposition drop." The next thing was to compose a diplomatic letter worded so as not to wound the A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 65 Zenglu's susceptibilities. It ran : — " With reference " to the Zenghi's offer to protect the frontier, and his '■ suggestion that tlie Chinese garrisons might be ■' withdrawn, (jhina is much touched at the generosity '■ and courtesy with which so masterly an idea is " advanced. (Jhina, how'ever, has frontiers not only "in the north, but on all other sides, the defences of " which are kept up, not only to ward off attacks, but '"also to restrain lier own evil characters from "trespassing upon the rights of lier neighbours. '"AVhilst appreciating therefore the Zenghi's kindly "motives, and assuring him of the entire absence of " suspicion as to their genuineness, (Uiina feels " compelled to decline the offer, and ^cnd-; an envoy " of high rank with this note to explain matters in '• full to the Zenghi's complete satisfaction." Shortly after this the Zenghi expressed his thanks as follows : — " A simple individual such as 1 am is " perhaps incapable of evolving high notions of policy, " but at the same time it is a satisfaction to listen to " the expression of such generous sentiments from the "month of the exalted envoy sent b}' the Emperor." From this it will be evident that Greece and Kome had not by any means a monopoly of diplomatic brains at this period. The Hiung-nu supporters of a "forward [)olicy " The left never forgave the councillor who had backed up the ^"<''"""*''"- Zenghi's " [lolicy of scuttle,"' the more so as the said 9 66 A Thousand Tears of the Tartcv L'hao-chiin. councillor \va^ ?iu>[",'cted of pre-uniliiu" njiou \n- >crvices. Khu^aiija's joalou-\' wu-- ingeniously aronseJ liy the " u['[io-ition."' and the councillor, afraid for hi^ life, went over to China with hi- horde of aliout a tliou-and individual-. When the Zenghi next came to court he aildre>-ed the councillor, who had now become a ( 'hinese magnate, a- follow?: — "It ■■ i- entirely owing to your noble conception-. Prince, ■"that I have Im'ch able to live in peace with China. •• I am afraid that it i- solely my fault that you left ■' U-. and I jhotild now like to apply to the Emperor ■■ for permission to take you back with me." The councillor replied : — " Zenglii I It was the will of 'Heaven combined with your own in-pirution that ■guided yiiu to place your^elf under the Emperor"? ■ proti'ctioii ; but. a- I have become a (_'hine-e -abject, ■it would be a ilefrctiiin on my part to return : -till, •if you wi-li it, I will accept the pc-t of Himig-nu ■ re.-ideiit ainlia--ador at the Chinese court." Thoush the Zenghi tried '\ery hard to recu\er lii- -ervice-. it wa- withuiit -uei-c--. Jleanwhile the Chiiie-e handmaid had given liirth to a -on and lieeii promoted to the rank ot Inchi. Aniong-t the Hiaiig-nu there doe- not appear to have ever exi-trd the t Innr-,' notion under which the fir-t formally-married woman {•our'airvatio') alone ha- pre- eminent rank, no matter "whether -lie be Empie-- or pea^aul. Khuganja died in 13. C. 31 after a reign of A Tliovmnd Years of tJie Tartars. 67 28 years. He had first married two daugliters of the truant councillor now in China. One of these, the elder, was Chwaugii, apparently the same woman as the mother of Khuyente, who was clearly Khuganja's nncle : she bore Khuganja two sons. The younger sister, who enjoj'ed rank as Chief Inchi, bore Khuganja four sons, two of whom were older than her sister's elder son, and two of whom were younger than her sister's younger son, from which it would appear that Khuganja must have married the younger sister first, and taken over the elder after she had run through the gamut of his predecessors. There were also about a dozen other sons by minor queens, amongst whom no doubt were the Samarcand ladj' and Hulughu's niece mentioned towards the end of the last chapter. Chwangli was the noblest wife so far as blood went, belono'incr as she did to one of the three clans which, as we have seen, habitually Hu-yen. intermarried with the Zenghi's clan, and her eldest sou was Khuganja's favourite, and the one he wished to be his successor. Unfortunately he was, in the opinion of his mother Chwangli, too young and inexperienced to cope with these troublous times, and she thought her younger sister's eldest son would suit better. The C'hief Inchi was equally magnani- mous, and argued that the ministers could keep the state wheels going round notwithstanding this defect in years, and that a civil war would be sure to break fiS A Thnvamvl Yflara of tlic Tartar;'. out at some future time if the nobler })lood were I'cpliiceJ liy tlii^ iiiorc plebeian. As llie two sistei's were botli datigbters of the same man, if not of tlie same woman too, it is a ipiestion for antiquaries to solve whether the elder sister derived lier sui)erior nobility from a different mother, (for as we shall shortly see the Tunj^nses and the Turks both j^ave a first place in genealoo;y to mothers), or whether she went on growing nobler in the I'atio of the number of husbands she survived. ]'>e this as it niav, it was decided by Khuganja on his death-bed that the eldest son of all >hould be the immediate successor, and that the succession should be transmitted in due course to the elder son of the elder si-ter ( 'liwangii. Accordingly the Chief Inchi's son succeeded Fu-chn-lei with the title of Vnghturoi-yokte. It mn-t liere be <'xplained that yohtc-' is a Hiung-nu woi'd meaning '■ filial " or ^v'j/.s, a posthumons designation, like the Roman cliras. which was gi\ en to all Chinese Em- ]ierors at this time. It is not clear whether the Zenghis, who ha.d no idea of posthumous honours, used this addition during their lives, but at anv rate from this tinii' they all took the title in inutation of Chinese customs, a ])ractice followed also later on bv ( 'orea, Japan. Annani, and the Shans, as each of them in turn began to appreciate the value of letters and to yearn for (.'hlnese pomp. Vughturoi made his next brother Left Dugi, and his two brothers by y[ TJiovnand Yfiara of iJir Tartar's. fi9 f Ihwangii Right Hiikle and Right l^ugi respectively. Ho also took o\oi' his lather's ('hiiie.->e wile, who bore him two (laughters. To her credit it must be recorded that she at lea^t went throujih the form of a protest before sIk^ re-married. These things being comfortably arranged, the new Zenghi sent an ambassador to pay his res[)ects to the Emperor. This ambassador had his audience, and had not got very far from the metropolis on his way back when he suddenly turned to the envoj' who was escorting him home and said: — "1 wish to liecome " a Chinese subject, and will commit suicides unless '■ you will receive me. I dare not go back." This suspicious and startling incident was at once reported to the Emperor and referred by him for an opinion to the council, most of whom thought the offer should be accepted in accordance (they said) with the usual practice. Two ministei's, however, expressed them- selves as follows: — "In old raiding times, certainly, '"we used to offer inducements to renegades, but now •• that the Zenghi has accepted the ])osition of vassal '■ and ' buffer state, ' a different policy should be " pursued. We cannot on the one hand accept his " tribute and on the other harbour his deserters. " "What is the interest of one individual compared " with our duty to the Zenghi ? Moreover the new " Zenghi may have prompted this offer himself in " order to test the value of our alliance. Or perhaps 70 A Tlioumnd Ymnt of the Tartars. ■• lu' m;iv only want a pn^text for war, in wliich ca^p "we ^liall play straifflit into his lianJ it we take tlic " man in. Honesty is our bost policy, and we should " be wary." Th(> Emperor at once saw the force of all this, and sent a general to ask the envoy for further explanation^. The ambassador joked the matter off, and when lu^ not hack to the Zenfrhi's court was careful to keep out of the ( Ihinese envoj-'s way. The next year the Zenghi came to court in jierson, and, besides receivinij; s[iecial extra pre.-ents, wa-i treated exactly as Khuganja had been in B.t'. So. He died in B.C. 20 after a I'eign of ten j'ears, and was snccee(led b}' the Left Dugi, from which it is evident that the family agreement contem[)lnted the tiro eldest brothers reigning before Chwangii's -ion, as is plain also from the fact that the >econd had lieen at once made Left Dngi. He now took the title of Sou-hsieh. iSeughie-yokte. He reigned eight years, and died in B.(_'. 12 when on his way to the Chinese court. He was succeeded by his next brother the elder son of Ch'e-yn,. Chwangii, who styled himself Chega-yokte. Four years later Chega died, and was succeeded by his Wii-iliii-Iiu. next brother Olyuru or Atiurn-yokte. Now Otyuru bad take over his father's ('hicf Queen, ( his own mother's si>ter ) and made her his Second Queen. This arrangement would seem to shew that the ( 'hief Queen was one of the first, if not the first married to the Zenghi in possession : possibly the first virgin A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 71 married or perhaps the first to have a son. Otyuru made her two sons (his halt-brothers) Lett and Eight Dugi respeetively, and sent his own son to the imperial court as a page. Meanwhile the Chinese dynasty of Han was on its decline, and the Emperor's maternal nnele was "running"' thc^ government. Wmul; Ken. Some meddlesome individual suggested that it would be well to get hold of the well-wooded and well-stocked territory towards the modern Kan-chou Fu wdiieli Chimg-yeh. then, as now, ran like a wedge into Chinese territory. The Emperor expressed an opinion tluit were it not for the risk of a mortifying refusal, it would be best to apply frankly to the Zenghi for its cession. The uncle took this to be a hint to " go ahead," and instructed the Chinese envoys to "work the job somehow. " Accordingly the leading ambassador delivered himself as follows to the Zenghi : — " 1 have " observed that you have a wedge of territory running ■'into China: this necessitates China's keeping uj) " three stations along the Wall. To spare these jjoor " fellows their cold and irksome duty, and to --ave " China the expense of supporting them, it would be " a graceful return for the many favours you havt'. '• received to offer this strip to the Emperor, who will " certainly reward you very handsomely." Otyuru, who was evidently no simpleton, asked : — " Am I to "understand that it is the Emjieror himself who "sends this message?' If so, of course 1 will do it. ' 72 A Thousand Years of the Tartars, The envoy replied : — " The Emperor has as good as " said it, but it is 1 who sug;;est a good stroke of " pohcy for the Zeiighi." The Zeiighi i-ejoined : — " Pius Siiaii and Pius Yiian were very kind to my " father Khnganja and abandoned to him everything " north of the Wall. The land }0u speak of is " occupied by one of our princes, but, with your '• permission, I will send and find out what >ort of " land it is." The envdvs returned to (.'hina and were " re-commissioned. AVhen they reached the Zenghi's court they re-opened the question. The reply was: — "■ Durinii; the reigns of mv father and elder brothers " no demand for this possession of ours was ever " raised. Whj' should this pai'ticular piece be wanted \\\ii-ijii-t'u. " now ? The prince in jiosses^ion inform-^ me that "our vassal states in the west all derive from these " forests the wood for their tents and carts. More- " over I dare not give away the land of my ancestor-.'" Not content with this the Zenghi wrote to the Emperor about it, and the chief ambassador, who barely escaped with his head, was removed to a post where he would have no further dealings with the Hiung-nu for the rest of his life. The Zenghi's page son dying just now was replaced by another. The nomads of Kuldja soon after this made a predatory raid upon, hut were defeated bv, th(> Hiung- nu, and hastened to [)ropitiate them by sending a voung prince as page to the Zenghi, who then explained the A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 73 incident to China. The Emperor disapproved of the proceeding;, and ordered the piigo to be sent back. The Zenghi offered to come to conrt to congratulate the Emjjeror Ai Ti upon the occasion of the new year's festivities of B.(J. 2, but, as Ai Ti was unwell at the time, some wiseacre suddenly di>covered evil omen in these visits, which had on two occasions at least been immediately followed by an Emperor's death. The question of expense was also raised. The other side was championed liy a statesman named Yang Hiung, whose name stands almost on a level Yang Hsiung. with that of Mencius as one of (.'hina's greatest ' ]ihiloso[)hers. He recapitulated the whole Instory of China's relations with the Tartars : how ;\Ieno- T'ien with his 400,000 men had failed to reach the point (near Tenduc) he aimed at, and had been obliged to build the Great Wall as a defensive frontier ; how the founder of the Han dynasty with a host of Kao Tsu. 300,000 had only barel}- escaped with his life, thanks to some unspeakably shameful trick ; how Meghder had insulted the founder's widow ; how the ruse at lu Hou. Horse City had miserably failed, and had caused Jia Ch'eng. man}' years of cruel war ; and how e\x'n after the Hiung-nu were driven vanquished to the north of the Desert thej' had still scouted the idea of declaring themselves our vassals. Then followed our joint campaign with the nomads of Kuldja which, however, resulted in little for our peace and security. It was 10 74 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. only when the five rival Zenghis got to fighting together, and when Senghendjeu with Khuganja threw themselves upon our protection, that a nominal subjection was achieved : hut even then they only came to court when it suited their good pleasure to do so. Though we had succeeded in conquering Kokand, Ku-ts6ns ; []^q Tungusc^, tile wandering tribes of Kokonor, the Tang.tzil. o ' o Coreans, Llanton, and Foochow, yet we had never been able to do more than scotch the monster of the north. The Zenghi is now in just that frame of mind we haxe always desired and striven for. True, it is a costly business to keep him in good humour ; but look at the results ! Surely it cannot be supposed that we spend millions a year to maintain a proconsul in the West and keep a rein on the Turkestan states simply to hold Samarcand and Kuldja at a respectful distance ? No ! all this labour has been to protect ourselves against the Hiung-nu, and now it seems that the work of a century is going to be undone in a single day ! I\Ia3' ^"our Majesty think well of it before it is too late, anil before we are plunged once more into the miseries of war ! Thus reasoned the philosopher. The Emperor at once perceived the significance of his arguments and recalled the Hiung-nu envoj-, who had already taken his leave and was just starting to go back. A written rc[il3' was sent to the Zenghi accejiting his offer to \'isit the capital. But in the meantime A Thousand Years of tlie Tartars. 75 the Zenglii had fallen sick, and was obliged to postpone his visit for a year. Hitherto the Zenghis had brought with tliem a suite of about ^00 in- dividuals of all ranks. Otyuru now sent word that he should bring 500 the next time " so as to accen- tuate his appreciation of the Emperor's policy," or, in plainer language, so as to get more presents. In the year B.C. 1 he presented himself, and owing to something unusual in the aspect of the planet Jupiter, (which astronomers may perhaps be able explain,) quarters were assigned to him in the Zoological Gardens, with the explanation that this equivocal compliment was intended as a special mark of respect, — much as at the present da}' our European envoys are cajoled into paying their respects to the Manchu Emperor in some outside hall of the Peking palace. Presents were given as on the last occasion in B.C;. 27, with the addition of 30,000 rolls of silk and more clothes with floss for wadding. On each successive occasion the presents had been increased, or at any rate never diminished, so that the incidence of this regular tax was now becoming a serious consideration. Otyuru on his return sent two or three princes and their wives to serve as pages at the Chinese court. This new departure was probably owing to the fact that the boy-Emperor P'ing Ti (who commenced his reign A.D. 1) was in the hands of the Empress-Dowager, who again was more or less 76 A Tlwnsand Years nf the Tartars. a piip]>et of llio fntm-e usurper Wanp; Manp,-, nc]ibow of the aboYC-nientioiicil maternal nncle of < "li'eiig Ti, and therefore a sort of "outer" cousin of Ai Ti and P'in^- Ti, who were both nephews of Clh'cnrr Ti. The Empress-Dowager was flatteren all preparations had been made to receive them, he suddenly changed his mind, and sent (hem back to their own country : he at the same time asked for forgiveness. This was refused, and several Turkestan kings were subsequently beheaded as a warning, including the two offenders, at a grand Chine (^ dur- bar held somewhere in the West, to which as many as possible of the petty potentates were summoned. A new rule was now established to the effect that " in future no Chinese, Tunguses, Kuldjans, or natixes ," of states holding seals of office issued by China "shall be received by the Hiung-nu." Special envoys were sent to deliver this new rule to the Zenghi and to recover from liim the treaty sent in a casket by a former Emperor. At this time Wang Mang caused an innovation to be introduced into China by doing away with the practice of using two personal names, and invited Otyuru to conform to this rule of civilisation. It is not ■\'ery clear what were the rules governing either Chinese or Tartar names at that time, but the analogy of later history tends to shew that no Tartar races made a fuss about names at all, or had any 78 A TJwusand Years of the Tartar's. idea of the complimentary taboo (avoiding the private names of fathers and emperors) until the Chinese taught it to them. On this occasion Otyuru Naiifr-ohih- Zen "hi, whose personal name was Xancheiras, readily ya-ssu. ;^ ' 1 o ' , Chih-mang comphed by changing it to Chemantashwei ; though it is not by anj' means obvious how, by so doing, he conformed to the new rule, or what the rule really wa-^. The Chinese characters selected to transliterate this Tartar name were apparently chosen so as to convey a sort of punning personal com- pliment to Wang Mang. The Zenghi's obsequiousness only made the usurper more exacting. He now openly extended China's protection to Tungusic ^ envoys, and announced to the Tunguses that they need no longer pay taxes in skins and cloths to the Hiuntinacy, had no idea whatever of ^ivinj); way. lie had the accumulated treasure of several generation^ in his power, and he poured it out like water. He appointed twelve generalissimos, who were to take 300 days provisions and lead ;-'i()0,000 men hy ten different roads, swre[) the whole Hiung-nu dominions and drive the Tartai-s to the remotest fastnes>es of the Kirjihiz and Kankalis. The empire was rau-acked for stoi'es and supplies of all kinds to be carted io Yen Tu. the frontiers. His Ijcst general protested against this impracticable sclieme, and once more sketched out the whole history of China's relations with Tartary, which proves that even military men were then fairly well posted in the records of the past. He pointed out that it would take at least a vear before 300 days' food for ;iu0,000 men could be got to one place, and that the earlier arrivals would be demoralized long before the final drafts could reach the spot. He calculated that oxen, the only animals suited for the work, must be found to convey -Olt.OOO tons of food for the men, and, as grass was only to be found here and there, rather over another 20'>,00l) tons for them-elvc<. Experience, lie added, tends to >lie\v that before the first hundred days are out not an ox will be left alive, and the men can not carry their own food in addition A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 83 to their arms, pott;, pans, charcoal, etc. Besides which, a diet of rice and water continued for a long time produces a distemper, for -which reason one hundred days has always been the maximum length for a campaign in such cold and windy regions, iloreoycr, with such a stupendous baggage train, open on all sides to the attacks of the enemy, the fighting effecliyes will be comparatively few, and in anj' case they can not pursue the enemy far and leave the transport to take care of itself. As, however, the first arrivals were already waiting, he proposed that he should, if fighting must be done, do it at once, him>(df march the men into the enemy's country, and at least strike a vigorous blow to begin with. But Wang Mang would not listen, and both troops and grain were marched up from all parts of the distracted empire without ^tint. Meanwhile the " Filial Zenghi " seized the first opportunity to get bade and explain to his brother how the title had been thrust upon him. The Zenghi was evidently ill satisfied with the explanation given, for he changed his original title to one of much lower degree. The " Obedient Zenghi "' dying of sickness, his brother was appointed by Wang Mang to take his place. ] (aiding went on, and prisoners captured made it clear that a third son of the " Filial Zenghi " was amongst the raiders. Wang Mang thereupon assem- bled all foreigners in the great square of the metropolis 84 A Thousand Years nfthe Tartars. and liaJ ihc second "Obeilieiit Zcnuhi " executed in their iircsencc The resnlt of all this was that the frontier peoiile, who had grown rich and prosperous with fifty years of peace, lost their all, and were most of them killed or carried off into captivity. The armies acciTinnlatinij; without anything to do got weary of cani])ing in idleness ; nothing effective was done, and the plains, so lately covered with flocks and herds, were soon a howling \vildern('-> of bleaching bones. Otyiira died in A.D. \?> after a reign of 21 years; anil now the influence of the Chinese wife began to lie felt once more. ()ne of her daughters was married to the Hiung-nu minister then in power, and this daughter had not only iVeijueiitly spoken in fin'our of an allianc(^ with t!ie Empire, but had noticed with satisfaction that Wang Wang's " Filial Zcnghi," who was an intimate of hers, continued to receive complimentary advances from Cliina. She therefore thi'cw her weight into the scale, and secured his election in ])reference to that of the llight Dugi, that is, in pret'ei-enc(> to the brother who had come back with the Chini'se envoys to negotiate about the Wu-Iki. seal. The new Zenghi assumed the title of Orei- yokte, and conferred suitable rank upon the brother thus passed ovci-. It is not e\'iileut whv the term '■'passed over" is used, for Orel was strictlv the next brother, in point of age, of the six born of the two A T/iovsand Years of the Tartars. 85 sisters. Till' title of Left Dugi which had been liorne hy Otyurn's sun seems to have licen abandoned a few years before tliis for superstitious reasons ; but none the less the son was the proper heir, and Otyuru had, in fact, asked the son to pass on the succession to Orei. But Orei now paid off Otyuru for suspecting and degradini;- him b}- degrading liis own nephew, Otyuru's son, to the now discredited title of Left Dugi. Orei seems to liave allowed his patroness to conduct the dij)lomacy of the state, and accordinglv she sent to the Wall to say that she would like to see lier cousin, the son of her mother's elder brother. \V:uv<: Hsi. Two cousins (brothers) were sent instead of the one asked for as envoj's to congratulate the Zenghi. They tried, and apparently with success, to persuade him that his son, who had been so foolishly executed, was still alive. By heavy bribes, too, they succeeded in oVjtaining the surrender of the two clerks who had absconded from the proconsulate together with the actual murderer of the su])erior officer. They were roasted alive with exquisite refinement.^ of torture specially invented for their benefit by the vengeful Wang Mang. Though the Zeno-hi took all he could get in the way of presents, he seized every opportunity offering to raid and kidnap. His return envoys, moreover, soon learned the truth about his son's execution, on hearing of which he obtained the assistance of the 8fi A TJionsand Years of the Tartars. Tanguses and became more vicious than ever ; ho always gave the mo^t c^•a<^ve answei'^ vlien taken to task by tlie Chini'-<' envoys. The remains of the young •'Obedient Zonghi "' and his I'etinue were cari'tiilly >ent back to Tartarland under the escort of the (Jliine-ic Inchi's diplomatic cousin, and were received at the Great Wall b}- the son of the minister in power and his half-(]hin(>se wife. It wa^ announced to the Zenghi that the national desionation nmst in future be not Hiung-nu but Kung-nu. Th(> ('liinese eliaract<'rs selected to represent the original Tartar word mean " Fei'ocion^ Slaves,'' and thf)^e chosen for the new designation (which 2,000 ^-ears ago probably difi'ered in sound from the first much less than they do now) mean "" J{espectful Slaves." The long-headed Zenghi >imjdy >aid : — '" Good I "' He took his seal, presents, etc., and continued hi^ raids. Wang Mang, who made dulvc- on as wholesale a seale as Xa[)oleon the fir^t did, liberally rewarded the diplomatic cousin and his colleagues. Orei reigned five year-^ and died in A.D. 18 : he was succeedeil by his younger brother above men- Hii-tu-iJih- tioned, who took the ap[icllation of Khutulz-daokao- jokte. It is not clear whose son hv was on his motlier's >ide, but he was jiot the sixth son of the two sifters. He also developed a keen appetite for Chinese presents, and a son of each of the Chinese Inchi's daughters, two cousins, were sent to court, It shili-t:io-kao. A Thousand Tears of the Tartars. 87 seems that about uow the minister in power and his wife also came to the Wall, where they were July welcomeil by the diplomatic cousin ot their choice and induced to ^'isit the ca[iital. One of the two young cousins, not liking the look of thinos, escaped back, and when th(> minister in powei- reached the metropolis he found that "Wang Mang was bent on forcing him u[ion the Hiung-nu nation as their Zenghi. But these intrigues failed, and tlie unfor- tunate man died of siclvoess. Wang Mang gave a concubine-born daughter of his own to the late Tartar minister's son in marriage, and was about to make him Zenghi instead. But Wang Mang hini:-clf was shortly afterwards put to death by the soldiei'^ of the old Han party, and both the J'oung man and his mother perished in the general scrimmage which followed. In A.D. 24 th.' la-it Emperor of tlie Early or Western tlan dynasty sent a mission to the Hiung- nu with the old pattern of seal. The survivors of the Hiun'>-nu retinues were also sent safely back. The Zenghi put on great airs when this mission arriyed, and claimed the credit of having got rid of the usur[)er and the right to tlie same acknowledg- ment on the ])art of China as liis fatlier had rendered to China when the Hiung-nu usurpers were got rid of with her assistance. No ai'guments of the enyoys could shake him, and the envoys returned rather 88 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. Ch'ih-tnei. crest-fallen. Meanwhile tlic rel)(']s then infesting (Jhina entered the Chinese ca[iital, and the iirsf Han (ivnastv came to an end. (JHAPTER VI. DkPJCNDEKCK, DlSINTEGKATIOX, ANB (.'(JLLAPsE. D' iU1iIN(t the anarchy wliicli ]>receded tlie re- estal)hshn)ent of order l>y the Emperor Kwan;^^. wu Ti, founder of the second house of Han, Khutulz Lu Fang. gave lii^ assistance to a C'hinese Perkin "Warbeck near modern Pekinjj. Wlieu tliinos had >ettled down a little, the Emperor again sent a conciliatory messatre to the Zentrhi, who was as insolent a> on the previous occasion, and presumed to comjiare him>elt •with the great con(|ueror ileghder. Raiding went on actively, and the peo]iIe of North Slian Si had to migrate for safety eastwards of the well-known Nan- Chii-yung-. k'ou Pass near Peking. The Hiung-nu even planted tliemselve> on the Cliinoe ,--ide of tlie Wall ; but the Wu-hwan were now becoming a strong power, and soon thrust their livals once more to the north of the Desert. Khutulz, coveting the heavv rewards offered by China for the Pretender, sent that individual back under escort. But the Pretender, as soon as he realised what was taking place, was altogether too sharp for the Zenghi, and told the Chinese he had repented and come to surrender A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 89 voluntaril}'. Thus Khutulz never got any reward at all, and was ashamed to claim it. But he was the more incensed in consequence, and for mn,n\ years kept the whole nortli frontier line in a state of miserj' and wretchedness. It will be remembered that Khuganja had had one son born to him by the Clnnese handmaid, after- wards Inchi. At first she had objected to marry her husband's son, but the Emperor sent her word to conform to the custom of the country. Khutulz put this brother to death in order to reserve the succession for his own son. A\'hen Otyuru's son heard of this he was ver}' dissatisfied, arguing tlmt, if brothers were to be exhausted first, the murdered man was the proper successor ; if sons were admitted, then himself, as being the eldi'st son of Khutulz's elder brother Otyuru. He therefore abstained from taking part in the great assemblies, in consequence of which the Zenghi sent two nobles to take command of the truant's troops. Khutulz died in A.D. 46, and was succeeded by two sons in turn, one of whom died almost at once. Otyuru's son, seeing the prospects of his succession w-ere becoming more remote than ewer, sent a secret envoy to present the Emperor with a map of the Hiung-nu dominions (it is not said liy whom made) and offered to join the Empire. The two nobles reported at the Dragon Sacrifice in the b\h moon (July) that treachery was brewing, but 12 90 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. their conversation was overheard by another of Otj'uru's sons, who happened to be sitting outside the Zenghi's tent at that moment. He at once rode off to tell his brother, who proceeded to assemble the •45,000 troopers belonging to his appanage, (which seems to have included, at least nominally the Wu- hwan tei-ritory,) and resolved to kill the two uninvited nobles on their return. But they got wind of what was intended as they were arriving, and at once disappeared on fleet horses to inform the Zenghi, whoso available force, however, was not strong enough to attempt anything. In A.D. •i(S the chiefs of eight tribes asreed to elevate Otyuru's son to tlie dignitv of Khuganja Zenghi, and to make that title hereilitarv, in \iew of the polic}' of peace inaugurated by the grandfather, the first of that name. The new monarch, the first Nan Shan-yu. of what are called the Southern Zenghis, proceeded Wu-yiian. to the "Wall near where Slien Si and Shan Si join, and offered to be a " Ijuffer " state for evei', charged with tlie duty of keeping oft' the Northerners. This ofi'er was accepted, and llie vei-y ncxtj'car his Ijrother inflicted a serious defeat upon the ^Noillieni Zcni'hi's brother, who was take]i prisoner. The Northern Zenghi was so })anic-strickeu that he abandoned 300 English miles of territory to the South. An old tradition ef the Pjiniam "\Vo(jd lypi^ \\as now rake(l up to the cflect that "in the lith generation the A TJwusand Years of the Tartars. 91 " nomads shall be driven back 300 miles." It is not apparent wlicther this means the ninth in succession counting from Kbuganja, or the ninth generation fi'om Meghder ; but it comes about right both ways. It seems to have stimulated several of the Northern princes to come over to the Southern Zenghi with 30,000 men. The Chinese Emperor also invented a kind of turret-cart, yoked to a number of oxen, and capable of being moved to any point of the Great Wall threatened by the enemy. The Southern Zenghi's head-quarters were permanently established at a point 25 miles beyond the Great Wall in the Ordous Country at the North-east corner of the Great Bend, — possibly at the modern Kwei-hwa ( 'h'eno- or Polo's Tenduc. Envoys were sent to receive his formal submission, and the Zenghi came in person to meet them. They claimed that it was his duty to prostrate himself on receiving the imperial decree. The Zenghi after some hesitation did so, and formally declared himself a vassal. But after the obeisance had lieen performed he told the inter- ])reter to say to the envoys that, newly elected as he was, he felt the indignit}- very keenly, and that he would be much obliged if the envoys would in future refrain from humiliating him in the presence of his own people. The nobles, including those who had deserted from the North, shed tears of mortification as they witnessed these proceedings, all which was 92 A Tlwnsnnd Years of the Tartars. rpportf'il to the Emperor ; who, however, let thin;;s stand. The Northern Zentjhi's brother who had l)een taken prisoner effecteil his escape toojether with five nobles and oO,000 men, — probabl}- those who had come over for tlie superstitions reasons, — and the whole party encamjied at a distance of 7.') miles from the Northern head-qnartei-s, the exact position of which at that moment it is difhcult to conjecture now. There thev ao;reed to elect the brother as Zenghi, Ijut they soon got to quarrellino; amongst themxdves, and the result was they all ])erished one way or another. That autumn the Southern Zenghi sent one of his sons to court as a page, and received under special decree a very largo number of assorted presents of all kinds from the Emperor. A singular complinKmt was also paid to him liy sending fifty armed criminals, under an officer, to settle his bi-awls for him, and to follow his movements. At the close of each year he made a [)oint of sending a son with a submissi\e lettei', and ( 'hina ahvavs at once sent back the page who had already served a year under suitable escort. The duty of these sons was to present the Zenghi's respects at the new year, and to prostrate themselves at the deceased Emperors' tombs. Besides the annual presents to the Zeno-hi himself, his queens, sons, and those of his nobles A ThoiiR.mii Years of the Tartars. 93 who deserved it received various creature comforts, such as sauces, lichees, and orani;e.s, [the last of which — those from Weuehow — are still a speciality for the Mongols]. At the three amiual Dragon Festivals, in addition to the ancient sacrifices to Heaven, o{!'eriu;,'S were now regularly made to the tablets or effigies of Chinese Emperors. It is again recorded at this date that the Hiung-nu administra- tion was entirely carried on by word of mouth, and that there were no records or writings of ahv kind. We may therefore rest confident that Chinese were always emplo3'ed in connection with the diplomatic corres])ondence with the empire. The Dugi, Rukle, and " Horn " system was still in force ; the three ancient clans that monopolised the judicial business and could intermarry with the Zenglii's clan had now become four, and the clan to which the Chwangii sisters belonged was " Left," which partly explains Ilu-yen. why, notwithstanding her inferior status, that enter- prising female was so noble. That winter the sons of the five nobles who had all perished in squabbling endeavoured to regain the Southern head-quartei-s with their sadly diminished horde. They w-ere captured bv the Northerners, and the Southerners who came to the rescue were defeated. On this the Southern Zenglii was ordered by the Emperor to move farther south, and to establish his head-quarters west of the range which separates the valleys of the 94 A Thonsand Years of the Tartars. Fl'U and Yellow Rivers, in a tract of country where one or two small tributaries of the Yellow River run west into that great arterj'. It is well to specify this neighbourhood, now known as Lin Chou, becau-t younger brother succeeded, followed in a few months by his own vouniTer brother. All these Zenghis aJ the J'artars. the Wall to oft'or ?iil)inis:^ioii, but tlircc years luttr wc iiml bim raiJinff China and l)eining near his dominions.] Finally a total of 200,000 souls and 8,000 able soldiers of the Northerners came in parties to the "Wall at variouri points and surrendered to China. After this date the Northern Zeughi'^ are a mere shadow of their old 100 A TIiivi.oiDhl Yi-ai'f; of the Tiuiorf. selves, and quite a nogligoalile quantity in tlin history of China. In tact in the year A.D. S8. wiien the Soutliern Zenghi died and was succeeded by a cousin, it was decided to anniliilate the Xorthern Dominion pohtically, and to annex tlie remains of it to the South. A great army under the command of the Empress" Toil Hien. nephew and assisted hy the 30,000 troopers of the Southern Zenghi. inflicted a crushing defect upon the Northerners at the same spot whei'c the unfortunate conqueror of Kokand was lieatoi 180 ^cai's earlier, that is to say, somewhere in tlie (devated Hangai region, whence tlie Tula, Orkhon, and Kerulon all take their risi'- In this case llio ('hinese general i-ecorded liis exploits upon the face of a hill ; and possibly we may yet be fortunate enough to find it, as it seems the Iiussians have recently found a number of Turki-h tombstones with ('hinese inscrip- tions farther west. Two Ohiiie-e coUnnns wer<' sent in pursuit of the Xorthei-n Zenghi, who barely escaped with liis life, and lost the whole of his family and belongings, including liis seal of jade-stone. He was never heard of again, and tlu' Chinese, now in the neighbourhood of Inirkul, set up a puppet of their own. It was intended that a Ciiinese Resident l-nu. should take up his cjuartei-s at Hamil and keep the Northern Zenghi in a sort of tutelage like his Soulhern colleague; but the (dnsive Tartar soon tried to escape, and was therefore decapitated, A Tlioimind Yearn nf ih/- TarlKva. 101 In A D. 93 anoHior cousin snccopdoJ as Southern Zon;;-])!, and ho was not very popuhir, tlio Cliiiiese Resident c]iarp;ed witli his surveillance joined tlie cliiet' (_'lunese general in an intrigue to supplant him. They intercepted his corresjiondence with the Emperor and charged him with conspiring to murder the popuhir and warlike prince, who was their own candi- date //( jiello for the Tartar throne. Tlie intrigue succeeded, and in the civil war wdnch followed the Zeno;hi was killed after a reirrn of on(^ A'ear. He was succeeded by a nephew, grandson of Klniganja the Second. It may lie mentioned that most of this line of Zengln's have the Hiung-nu word scdjiiiitntc attaclied to their titles ; some of them the word vnite. In cither case, like ihe word yohte, some com[ilimentarv epithet is doulitless intended. The tribesmen were not yet satisfied : in fact the addition of so much new blood made it vei-y difHcult for Northern and Southern factions to agree. A large bodv refn^ed to recognize the new Zenghi, elected a cousin, and endeavoured to reach tlie north of the desert. Meanwhile the Emperor discovered the intrigue which had led to all this confusion, and the authors of it perished miserably in gaol. In A.D. D.S tlie Southern Zenghi was .succeeded by a cousin, whilst tho revolters under Iho seceding Zenghi struggled hopelessly with famine and Tun- o-ii.sic enemies in the north. China turned .1 deaf 102 .1 Thousand Vmrf nf /In- Taiiava. ear to all their advances and attempts to ohtain recognition, and in A.D. 117 the seceder sni-rcndered unconditionally. The Sonthern Zcnghi enjoyed a long reign of 27 years, diversified by war with his Northern rival, an attempt of liis own (wliicli was crushed and pardoned) upon China, and war with the Tunguses. He was succeeded by two brothers, one of whom reigned four, and the other thirteen years. The second one and still another brotlier committed suicide together on account of the dissatisfaction witli their conduct expressed by China. From this date the genealogies and even the names of the Southern Zenghis become confused and unintelli'Tiblo. It is difficult to follow and wearisome to recount the tangled web of frontier intrigue. In A.D. 177 the Southern Zcnghi (whose personal name is stated to be unknown) assisted the Chinese in a campaign against the great Tungusic con([uerer Dardjegwe, (of whom more anon), but was defeated and died: his son and successor was executed by a Chinese general, who set up in his place one Kiangii ; he, Wu-fu-lo. again, in A.D. If^S was succeeded by his son Uvura. China was then in as anarchical a condition as her j)rotccted Zenghi, who was shortly dethroned by a rival, liaving been really only a ruler in name and a helpless exile. His brother Khudjuzen was detained at the Chinese court liy the famous general Ts'ao Ts'uo, whose son founded the dynasty of Wei upon f'li'iang-ch'ii. Hn-rlrii L'll iiuM. ^l lliousand Ycais of ihc 'l\uiays. Ido tlie ruins of tlie After llun bou^e. Tlio Hiiiug-nu power now broke up i'or ever. CIIAPTEU VII. HiuKG-Nu Advexturkrs become Ejiriinoiis of North China. ' I 'HOUGH, as we liavo said, tlie genealogies of -*- tbo last few Zengbis are not recorded, yet it Avill be observed tliat from iirst to last tliey were all, so long as tlie Cbinese annals keep tbe run of tliein, direct descendants of tbe great conqueror Megbdor. Amid all tbe revolutions and civil wars, tliere is not tbe sliglitest bint of tbe succession baving ever gone out of tbe royal clan. Tbus, from Megbder to Okyenbiite all were sons, brotbcrs, or nepbews of tbeir predecessors. Kbuganja tbe first was Hiilii- gwengii's son ; and Kbuganja's sis sons succeeded iu strict seniority of years. Kbuganja tbe Second was undoubtedly tbe most legitimate beir, and bis successors were, firstly, two brotbers, and, secondly, six sons of bimself and tbose brotbers. Tben come five grandsons, bringing us up to A.D. 141, or just 200 years for tbe tlirce generations of men. It does not aiipear wbo Kiangti was, but Ilvura and Kbud- juzcn were bis sons, and tliere is no reason to suppose Uiat between III and 17'J tbe regular order of tbings lOJ: A Tlwusaiul rears of the Tartars. was broken. Of the Nortlicrn Z(;iiirliis \vc liavo no record whatever. China was now s[)Iit up into three empires, tlio Dortlieni one of which, tluit of AVci (not to be confused witli the Tartar d)'nasty of AVoi 150 years laterj alone liad deulin;;s with the Hinng-nn. Their ancient dominions were now in tiie hands of the Tnngiiscs, as will shortly be related in detail. Mean- while genei'al Ts'ao Tc'ao divided the remnants of the f^outhcrn Zcnghi's horde into five ti-ibes, and made Uvura's son chieftain of the Left Tribe. It ajjpears that the descendants of Mcglider, (who, it will be remend)ered had a lady of the Chinese blood royal given to Iiim in marriage,) considered themsehes entitled to bear the clan name Liu, which was that of both divisions of the Uan dynasty. It is not stated when his descendants actually began to u.se it, but nio>t probably it was when Kliuganja the Second became an unmistakable Chinese ^assal ; for he and liis descendants all bore Cliine.sc personal names of one syllable, such as would be quite inappropriate unless coupled with a monosyllabic Chinese clan name. However tliat may be, Uvura's son the Left Dugi was known by the purely (Jliinese name of Liu Pao, not liaving, like the Zenghis, necasion to use a sesquipedalian Tartar title meaning d/'ciis, pins, and so on. Tiic connnand of each of the other four tribes was al-o gi\'cn to members of the Liu clan, and they ^l Thousand Years of the Tartars. 105 all liad tlieir family residences in the land of tlieir fathers (to which attention was called in Chapter VI) Letweon the valleys of the Fen and Yellow Eivers in Lin Chou. Shan Si. Liu Pao had born to him by a lady of the noblest elan (that of the sisters Chwangii of old) a Hu-yen. remarkable son named Liu Yiian, usually known to liistory as Liu YiJan-liai, because his real name touched the taboo of the founder of the Han dynasty. This son was as well-read in history as he was well- oxercised in the arts of war, and, having spent some years at the last Wei Emperor's court as a page, ho had extended the horizon of his knowledge in various ways. On his father's death he inherited the post of chief; and, when the Tsin dj'nasty had welded the three Chinese empires into one, his honesty and disinterestedness of character soon secured him general confidence : he was created a Chinese Field- Blarshal and Captain-General of the Five Hiung-nu tribes. The second Emperor of the Tsin dynasty was a poor creature, and by his misgovernment soon brought about a civil war. Under these circum- stances the leading chiefs of the Hiung-nu did not see why they should not strike out a line for themselves instead of being passed on like so many cattle from one Chinese dynasty to the other. Liu Yiian was accordinn-ly in A.D. 304 hailed by the ancient title of Great Zenghi, and in twenty days his host had It 10(j A Thovsani] Vcnrx of llie Tarlarf. already amonnted to tlie respcctuble mimlior of 50,000 men. Ho fixed liis capital at first at Liu Chou, the old seat of Kliuf:;anja tlie Second, and styled liimself Prince of Han, setting np to be worshipped the ancestral tablets of the Han Eniperors. He assumed the dignity of Emperor A.D. oOS, and repeatedly moved his capital us he advar.eed south, Lo-ynnfe'. until he at last attacked the Cliinese metropolis — then at modern Ho-nan Fii. He died in the year olO, but his son Liu Ts'mig took botli the modern C'li'ang-an. and the ancient metropolis, murdered the third and fourth Tsin Empei'ors, and, having reigned niiK^ years, -was, after certain butcheries, finally' succeeded by his kinsman and cliief genei'al Liu Yao, wlio was taken prisoner and killed by a Sliih 1,1". competing Hiung-nu ad\enturer in tlie j'oar oli). Liu Ts'ung had cliauged the dynastic title from tliat of Han to Chao, Chao being the ancient name of the feudal kingdom which had 700 years before offered so vigorous a resistance to tlie Hiung-nu, but whose Wu-ling, king at tlie same time adopted the Tartar mode of life. ^)r[e of the most distinguished generals of tlie throe Liu monarchs was a Hiung-nu named Lei, or, in (Hiinese, Siiih IjoIi, also descended from tlio Zennhi Kiaugii. L'pou the ruins of his jiatrons' dynast \- he founded the poweiful empire called Later Chao, which endured in North China for thirty years. Thus the Hiung-nu -were in all honu j'nlc Empei'ors of ^■i Y/ioiisdiid Years of (fw tartars. 107 North China i'or nearly sixty years, wliich, wlicii we consider the dnration of many Enropean dynasties, — that of the ]3onapartcs for instance, — is no incon- siderahle period. In this way the Chinese were hoist with their own petard, and the marriages by whicli they liad hoped to l)rin;j; the Tartars under their tluunb in the end ])hiced Tartar Emperors upon tlic tlirone of China. It must be borne in mind, liow- ever, that the newl_y cohmised countries south of tlie Yangtsze Uivor were never even remotely ruled by any Tartar house (with one sliort exception, during the Toba dynasty, far away to the west) until the time of Kublai Khan, eight hundred years later. Chinese dynasties always continued to rule at modern Nanking, Hangchow, or other places : yet the centre of Chinese political and literary gravity crossed the Great Kiver at about this time; the true Chine-e idioms likewise migrated to the south, and a corrupted form of speccli popularly known to Europeans as the "mandarin language" began to grow up over the whole of the vast area north of the Yangtsze. It is clear- from the language of novels written three hundred years ago that the language of Peking is almost precisely what it was then, even to the smallest m'nvi'ia , and that, just as French was formed out of Latin under the influence of the Normans and Franks, so was the modern mandarin formed out of Chinese under the influence 108 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. of tlie Tiirtars; with this difference, however, tliat in the case of Chinese the clianire of broone has never been allowed to affect the purity of the ori(,rinal written language which, always conforming itself to ancient canons of style, remains everywhere the same. Like Liu Yiian, our hero succeeded his father as chief of one of the Hiung-nu tribes, quartered in this Chill c'lidii case farther soutli, in the modern Ts'in Chou of >Shan b). During tlie civil war and anarcliy ot oOz-oOi he was taken captive and sold as a slave ; but his Chinese master found he had literally "caught a Tartar," and before long the slave became a leader of bandits. After various vicissitudes he became one of Liu Yiian's generals, foup;lit some irreat battles with the Chinese, and also with certain Tangusic pre- tenders ; assisted Liu Ts'ung to sack the capital ; and ended by putting Liu Yao to death, and assuming first the title of Prince of Chao, and then that of Emperor. He died in •'>?)',>, after a reign of fifteen years. His son and heir was murdered by a younger brother Shih Hu, more commonly know as tShih Ki-lung, wdio aLo reigned fifteen }ears. Then there were quarrels about the succession, and finally Jan Jlin. the whole family were butchered by an adoptive heir. Shih L('h was no contemptible man : he was a kind of eastern Alaric, and the Chinese historians speak of him with great rc.-pcct. Ho codified the laws, and shewed great favour to Buddhism. A Hindoo quack A Thousand Years of the Tarlavs. 100 named iBuddhndiiiiga, concerning whom a legion of anecdotes lire told, had immense int^uence at his court, and also at that of Sliih Ivi-lung. Shih Leh's domi- nion at quite an early stage embraced 24: prefectural divisions and 300,000 households, which, considering the devastating wars which had almost depopulated many parts of China, and the probability that onh- tax- able heads of houses were then counted in the census, ]irobably means a population of at least o,000,000. After he had obtained the submission of the Tangut or Tibetan adventurers of Slien Si, his empire reached far away into the north-west ; and even Chinese kinirdoms, as for instance that of Liannr, — 5Iarco Polos Erguiul, the modern Liang-chou Fu in Kan 8uh, — accepted his suzerainty. At this period, known as the Sixteen State Period, there was a general tussle for preeminence in the north between Tunguses, liiung-nu, Tibetans, and Chinese. It resembled nothing so much as the period when Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Vandals, etc. precipitated themselves upon the Roman Empire, sacked her capital, and founded barbarian dynasties in Spain, Africa, and Gaul. The lioman centre of gravity oscillated between Constan- tinople in the east and Rome in the west, ]n>i as did the (Chinese between Shen Si or PIo Xan in the north and Nanking or liangchow in the south. The same causes, intrigues, and mistakes produced the same efl'ects in each case, and the 110 ^1 Thousand Years nj' the Tartars. similarity in tlio main outlines of eacli Listory is roiilly startling. Amongst the competitors fur power at this time Chu-ulrii M-as ouG Tsiijrn ilnigsun, whoso ancestors had held '^"^'^^ ' the ])ost of Left Tsngu amongst the Hiung-nu of the I'ei Liiui^'. modern Kan-chou Fu region. Ho adopted the word Tsurru as a chin name, and succeeded in establisliing himself as duke or ruler of tlio ancient Yiieh-chi country, or, roughly speaking, the modern province of Kan Suh. Here ho had to defend himself again-l the onslaughts of various Tungusic tribes, and finally succumbed to the Toba dynasty of AVei in A.D. doo, after a duoal reign of oo years. It is unnecessary to follow the thread of his comparativuly obscure career here, but it is important to mention him and to keep him in mind, because ho seems to be the only link that can be discovered in v^liinesc history to positively connect the ancient Hiung-nu with the later Turks by specific ex'idence. Besides the three Hiung-nu dynasties above de- Hi'-liuu l"o- scribed, there was the Hia dynasty of Ghoren Borbor in the Ordous country. When Ts'ao Ts'ao put an end to the old Zenghiship, U\'nra's son Liu Pao was Left Dugi. But there was also a Right Dugi, Cli'ii-pei. named Kiipi, at the ( 'liine-e court when Khndjuzen was detained there. Kiipi was allowed to go back to his people, and during Liu Ts'ung's time an aucestur of our hero, as ouc of the royal blood, was A Tlmimnd Ykd's of tlw Tartara. Ill made superinteiuleiit of tlio various Sion-pi armies. But tlie Toba Sien-pi were servinj^ tlie royal ( 'liinese liouso of Tsin against botli tlio Hiung-nu and the so-called " "White Tribe " of Sien-pi, and their Pai-pu. victories over the latter caused the same or another ancestor of our hero to go bpyond the AVall, where he collected the various tribes and developed con- siderable power. Shih Ki-lung created him Zenghi of the Kankalis, and when his father returned within Thig-ling. the "Wall the Tanguts of Ts'in conferred upon him the title of Western Zenghi. These Tanguts were Fu Cliien. broken np by the ('liinese house of Tsin. The Tobas defeated and killed the father after this, but the son took refuge with the second Tangut dynasty of After Ts'in, and obtained high position as one of Y;io Hsing. the councillors of the kingdom, llevoltin"; airaiiist ^ or? his benefactoi-s, he now set himself up as monarch of Hia, with the titles of " Heavenly King and Great Zenghi." The name Hia seems to derive its origin from Hia-hou, the founder of the Chinese Hia Hsia-hnu dynasty in B.C. 2205. It will be remembered that a royal pei'sonage fled to the Tartars about the year Clmn-wei. ]).('. 1200, and in one way or another this person as founder of the Hiung-ini was held to be a link between the mythical Chinese Hia d3-nasty and Liu P'oh-p'oh, who now abandoned the Chinese clan name of Liu and took that of Gheren or Gliorcn, whieli hist appears to be a Tartar \YQrd of 112 .1 Tliotiaand Y/cir.i nf the Tartars. liij^li-soimding meaning. It is out of all this that we derive the sii]iposed Tartar name Ghereii Borhor. T'u-fa. Having defeated the Tufa state (an oft- shoot of T'un^'-wan. the Toba), Borbor founded a capital cit}' at or near the modern jSTing-hia, — Marco Polo's Egrigaia — the solid ruins of whicdi were considered very remarkable several centuries later. After the des- Yao Hung. truction of the Latter Tnngut dynasty by the Chinese Liu Yii. Sung, Borbor resolved to compete with the latter for empire, and took the ancient capital of Ch'ang- an (Si -an Fu). He assumed the dignity of Emperor, and reigned for thirteen j-ears. He died in the year 42i'), and his successors were soon over- come by the Toba house of A\'ei. This somewhat involved story, which it is diflficult to make at all intelligible without using manv uncouth and strange names, is necessary to the completion of our work, the object of which is to shew the progress of the struggle between Tartars and Chinese, and to trace the processes by which the barljarians of tlie north at last succeeded in setting them-~elves upon the throne of Clilna. l)urlng the (Jth century, when the Sien-pi Tartar dynasties were ruling in North China, there was a race of rhi Hn or semi-civilised Tartars living in the old Liu Yiian donuiin between tlic Fen and the Yellow Kivers. It was doubtful if they were his descendants or were connected with the Kankulis. Anyhow, they hail A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 113 become settled, grew the silk mulberry, and could read Chinese, tliough tliey spoke their own language. Evidently tliey were undergoing the process of assimilation to which allusion has already been made. Here we must close the first book, which runs rapidly through the wliole history of the Hiung-nu so long as the name exists. Tiie next Empire to be considered will be that of the Tunguses, known to the Chinese as the Wu-hwan or Sien-pi. END OF BOOK I. 15 BOOK II. THE EMPIRE OF THE SIBN-PI. BOOK II. The Empiee of the Sien-pi. CHAPTER I. The Wu-hwan and Sien-pi Tunguses. "rp AST of the Hiung-nu were what the Chinese in J-—^ ancient times called the Tung-hu, or Eastern Hu, the word hu in its broadest sense including every species of what we call Tartars, besides Coreans, Kash- garians, Turkomans, Affghans, and to a certain extent Syrians, Hindoos, and Persians. It is never applied to the Japanese, Tibetans, Indo-Chinese, or any of the European races. In a narrower sense it frequently means those nations using Sanskrit or Syriac as distinct from the yellow-skinned races, or those using Chinese writing. The term " Eastern Hu " seems to be confined to the Coreans and progenitors of the Manchu races ; in fact, to what we call the Tungusic races, and all tribes speaking cognate languages with them. It hardly seems likely that the European word Tungusic can have immediate etymological connection with the Chinese words Tung-hu, but at any rate the signification of the two terms is conveniently coincident. The Turkish word Tun^us, meaning "a pig," may 118 A Tliousand Years of the Tartars, possibly owe its origin, as applied by them to the Chinese, to an attempt on their ancestors' part to accommodate the Chinese syllables Tung-hu with a Hiung-nu word of similar sound but offensive meaning. If there is one thing remarkable about the ancient Tungusic races, it is the fact that they all reared and all ate swine, which the Hiung-nu apparently did not. Hence, just as the Chinese turned the Hiung-nu national designation into Chinese syllables meaning " fierce slaves, " so would the Hiung-nu style their eastern neighbours (described to them as Tung-hu by the Chinese) "pig people" ; and, as North China has been, off and On, for many centuries, and now is under the rule of Eastern Hu, the term " pig people " would be extended to the Chinese, who certainly are as a nation the most universal pig-eaters the world has ever seen. In Genghis Khan's time the Mongol-Turkish states of Persia used to style the Emperor of China the " pig emperor." Genghis and his successors did in fact replace the " pig-tailed " emperors of the Niich^n or Kin Tartar dynasty, admitted by the pig- tailed Manchus to have been their kinsmen. The Chinese never wore the "pig-tail" or queue until forced thereto by the Manchus over two centuries ago. Even the abandoned land : there were still 100,000 tents left behind, and these in order to secure }ieace styled themselves Sien-i)i. This shews how easily the nomad races coalesced. In very remote A Thousdiid Vfam of (lie Tartars. 1^9 tiiiu's, ir we are to judge by the coustructioa of their lunguages, tlie liiung-nu aud Tmiguses must l;ave shot off from one main stock, and at the time of which we are treating there seems to have been much less difiFereuce bc'tween the habits and customs of the two than between the Sien-pi and the ancestors of the Niichea-Manchus, the identity of whose hmguage iu Wu-chi. its main features with that of the Sien-pi's descendants even the reigning Manchn dj-nasty has been able to perceive. It may assist us to picture to ourselves less incorrectly the effect of a battle in these times when we reflect what was the condition of England and France, both as to ruling caste, basis of population, and language durin"; the time of our Plantagenets, when provinces and even coimtries were bandied about indiscriminately from day to day, and where it was often difficult to say where an individual Englishman ended and a Frenchman began, though as a whole the two s(^ts of people were always clearly distinct. As the Southern Z^'ughis grew weaker and the Northern Zenghis disappeared, their place on the Chinese frontier as formidable enemies was gradually taken by the iSien-pi. Isotwithstanding this general result, there was continually a triangular duel going on, instigated hj the Chinese, between the two rival nomad powers, between one sub-division and the other of tlie same power, or between this sub-division of one power and that of the other. It would be unpro- 17 130 A Thousand Tears of the Tartars. Stable to attempt to follow out the clue to these intrigues throughout a whole centurj'. Each reader cau picture the same general group of details for himself. Quarrels of rival chiefs, raiJings of the frontier, murders, slavery, waste, destruction, bribes, titles, and patched-up peace. Such was the wearisome T-an-a'jih- reiteration until the appearance of the great Dard- hwai. . . iegwo. Durinsc the absence for three years of a certain Slen-pi chieftain amongst the Hiung-im, his wife gave birth to a son. The chief naturally had (to use the language of Falstaff) his own opinion as well as the mother's word as to who the father was, and wished to kill the brat at once. But the mother managed to prevail upon her husband, by concocting a miraculous story in explanation of her conception, to allow a servant to rear the child, who as he grew up displayed in an extraordinary degree alike braver^-, strength, and intellectual capacity. At the age of 15 he distinguished himself by his courage and energy in recovering single-handed some cattle and sheep belonging to his maternal relatives which the chief of another tribe had lifted and driven to a distance. After this he drew up a system of prohibitory laws, and no one ventured to question the wisdom of his judicial decisions. The consequence was he was soon elected chief. He established his ciiUih-cliou capital or head-quarters in the extreme north of modern iShan Si, probably at or not far from the A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 131 capital of the Southern Zenghis, who disappear from history at this time. Cliief's from all sides flocked to his banner, and his armies soon became very numer- ous. He drove back the Kankalis in the nortli, the northernmost Coreans in the east, attacked the Fu-yii. nomads of Kuldja in the west, and soon possessed himself of the ancient Hiung-nu dominions in their entirety. His empire extended over 4,000 English miles from east to west, and rather more than half that from nortli to south. Gibbon, in his 2Gth chapter, says that after their defeat by the Sien-pi the first of the Hun [by which he means Hiung-nu] colonies settled in Sogdiania, bearing the epithet of Neph- thalites, and called the White Huns from the change in their complexion produced by intermarriages : Gorge or C.irizme was their capital. All this (which Gibbon himself must have copied from the French Jesuits) has been of late years repeated by various writers not acquainted with their subject at first hand. We have already shewn that the Nephthalites, largely through the instrumentalit}- of whose king Kanishka Chi-ui-k-a. and his successors Buddhism was introduced into Cliina, were the ancient Yiieh-chi, whom the Hiung-nu drove west three centuries before Dardjegwe came into existence. The Huns are according to Gibbon first mentioned in Europe by Dion^sius of Charax in the year 330 ; and as the Sien-pi empire endured until the year 200, and the Hiung-nu name practically dis- 132 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. appeared after that date as a nomad power, it is reasonal)le to suppose tliat tbe Hiung-uu wlio dis- appeared from China in the year 200 might have been the Huns who appeared in Europe in the year 300, and who, after a career of little over a century in Europe, made the l)est of their way hack to Asia, where we may afterwards be able to identify them with various sub-tribes of the Western Turks. Dardjegwe now became an object of serious un- easiness to China, as he went on annexing mountains, valleys, marshes, and salt-flats with insatiable appetite. The Chinese Emperor who reigned from A.D. 147 to Chang Hwan. 1G8 sent a resident or general for the Hiung-nu with a considerable force to march against him. (This is not the same event as that already mentioned under the heading of the Hiung-nu, in which the Zenghi perished). Seeing that force did not a^ail, the (!hinese had recourse to other devices, and an envoy was sent to confer a seal and ribbon upon Dardjegwe together with the rank of prince. But he was totally indiiferent to Chinese titles of honour, and, preferring to relv upon his own strong right arm, set to work raiding more vigorously than ever. Following the old Hiung-nu precedent, he portioned out his empire into three divisions, but very unequal ones. The eastern- most part embraced the greater pai't of Manchuria up to the sea ; but the Coreans, who held a great part of Liao Tung, seem to have alwavs maintained tlieir iq- .1 Thousand Years of the Tartars. 133 dependence of bis rale, though perhaps driven out of their old home on the Upper Lino. The central division seems to have been the ancient Tungusic land between the Liao, the Sira Muren, and the Great Wall. The western division extended to Kuldja. There were in all fifty settlements or tribal encampments in these three divisions, of wliich the central contained ten and the other two each twenty. One of the chiefs of the central division bore the name of Mujung, which, as will be explained in due course, was sub;e:|uently the clan name of a powerful semi-Chinese dynasty, though its simple origin as a chief's name was forgotten in favour of other fanciful and far-fetched derivations, such as the name of the peculiar hat worn by the clan ; the reverence of the chief for Heaven, etc. etc. In the game way one of the western division chiefs whose son's name was Shamo Khan, seems not only to have Sha-mo Han. been the ancestor of the famous Toba dynasty which T'o-pa. afterwards ruled North China for several centuries, but to have first used the title " Khan," which, though later much used by the Turks in its form of "Khakhan," K-o-han. at any rate originated with the Tunguses in its earlier form, though perhaps not positively with Shamo Khan, the whole three syllables of which name may be a personal appellation. Dardjegwe went on consolidating his rule, and the dozen or so of generalissimos who acted as his governors or viceroys were kept well under his thumb, 134 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. He continued to raid China without mercy, not a j'ear passing but what there was an attack of some sort. At last in A.D. 177 the Chinese and the Southern Hiung- nu organized a grand expedition and marched out COO miles to fight with Dardjegwo ; but, as has already been stated, with disastrous results, ninety per cent, both of men and liorses, losing their lives, or at an}' rate never returning home. The Sien-pi population went on increasing at such a rapid rate that DarJjegwe began to find the proceeds of hunting, the increment of his flocks and herds, and his scant harvests in- Wu or Wo. sufficient wherewith to feed them. The Japanese had already obtained a high reputation in Cihina for their espertness in fishing and diving. He therefore im- ported over a thousand families of Japanese, and set them to work as fishermen in one of the lakes of Wu-hou-ch'in Eastern Mongolia, which was 100 miles in circuit and which was known to be full of fish, though the indigenous population were unable to take them. At this time the purely Chinese name " Japan " was totally unknown, and the people who four centuries later appropriated that name (meaning " Eise of the Sun '") were then called Wo, which seems to mean "crooked men"' or "dwarfs": one authorit\- uses a character meaning " tlirty " or " mudd}'. " It is said that Dardjegwe attacked the country in order to obtain these people. The story seems a very strange one, but it i-i related very positively, and it is also added that A Thousand Tears of the Tartars. loO the families in question remained with their descendants round the lake, if not in perpetuity, then at least for several centuries, that is up to the 5th century when the After Han History was written. One remarkable feature in connection with the Sien-pi is alluded to by the Chinese statesmen of the time, and that is that, besides being able and vigorous, they were intelligent and possessed of " growing ideas." This feature seems to have characterised the Tungusic nations, in contrast with the Turks, from the beginning of history until now, and no more illustrious examples could be adduced that tlie first four Emperors of the reigning Manchu dynasty. Even in warfare, in the efficacy of their weapons, and in the speed of their horses, it was conceded that the Sien-pi were ahead of the Hiung-nu. Dardjegvve's successors were by no means up to his mark. He died at the early age of forty-five, somewhere about the j'ear A.D. 190, and was succeeded by his son Ghoren, who, besides being a man of Huolien. mediocre capacity, was avaricious, lewd, and unjust in his judicial decisions, in consequence of which the half of his people were soon in revolt against him. He was assassinated by some obscure enemy. Then followed family disputes ; another son named Buduken Pu-tu-ken. succeeded to the diminished horde, wliilst a third named Vuloghan separated from the main body and marched Fu-lo-han. off with his own party to seek new pastures. A sub- chief of one of the tribal divisions now began to assert 13lJ A Thousand Years nf I he Tartars. himself, and before ver}' many j'ears bad pas.sod this K'o-pi-neng. man, whose name was Kopineng, had f!,ol: rid of both brothers, and by his activity, bravery disinterestedness, and just decisions had secured his own election. From first to last this elective feature, in contradistinction to the hereditary claims of the Iliung-nu and Turks, has alwaj's been a characteristic of the Sien-pi and of the (Jathayans their successors. KopincnE; amonnst other attainments had ac(|uired a fair knowled^re of the Chinese written character, and thus he was able to conduct his administration mucli after tiie Chinese fashion. At this time the Second Han d3'nasty was tottering to its fall, and large numbers of Chinese, in order to escape the anarchy prevailing in the empire and the tyranny and conscription of rival aspirants, deserted to Kopineng ; the}- taught his people how to manufacture a new ^tylc of weapon^;, coats of mail, shields and otiier useful things. Kopineng erected his standard wlierever he happened to go on his hunt- ing expeditions, and manoeuvred his men in the field by the sound of the drum. The formality of election under the standard and the drum is frefpiently mentioned in later times in connection with both Turks and Catbayans. Still, Kopineng was nothing like the e(^ual of Dardje- gwe. after who>e death the >Sien-pi Emjiire mav be said to have fallen to pieces. Kopineng got to figlitini. Ghei, united with the (Jathayans to form a great empire, it was found that, though much the same as the Cathayans, their language was different. How- ever that may be, when they were still a mere tribe it was clearly stated of them that their language differed considerably from that of the other Sien-pi, ^1 Thousand Yvavs of the Tartars. 141 and ibey were remai'kal)le for cutting' off all their hair except a small tuft in the crown. [This, it may be remarked, is not unlike the modern Corean prac- tice.] The women, too, wore a long gown reaching to the feet, but no other nether garments. The second chief became so powerful that he dreamt of contesting power with the great Mujung family, but he and his successors were defeated in battle after battle, and, after flj'ing to the north of the desert, at last took refuge in Corea. The horde, numbering 50,000 tents, was settled by the victorious Mujungs near the modern Jehol ; but they soon scattered and disappeared from Ch'ang-li. history, except, as mentioned, in the shape of one or two able individuals who, as generals, carved out a high position for themselves. One of them conducted an army of 300,000 men to Corea, and his son murdered the foolish Sui Emperor who made the vain attempt to conquer that country at the beginning of the 7th century. Another Sien-pi family which came into notice was that of Twan. The first of the line was slave to a Wu-hwan chief. At an assembly of leading men when each official — as is still the custom in Corea — carried his spittoon with him, the master of our hero, who seems to have forgotten his utensil, used his slave's month for that purpose. This indignity (or this honour, for it is uncertain in which sense it was taken) seems to have inspired the slave with ambition 142 A Tliousa.nl Years of the Tartars. to outshine his master. During a famine he was sent on a mission in search for food, and toolv the oppor- tunity to swell liis troop of men with all the discon- tented vagabonds he could lay hold of. In time his neiihew and successor had 50,000 horse-archers under him, and the Chinese house of Tsin, on the look-out everj'where for allies, gave him a seal as Great Zenghi and Dnke of Liao Si. One of the family named Tuan P'i-ti. Twan Pirte had a struggle with the Hiung-nu adventurer Shih Lch, and for some time hold posses- sion of modern Peking. In the long run this family, known as the Tvvans of the River T'u (in modern Kin-chou Fu), was broken up by the rival Sien-pi house of Mujung, and a large number of their adher- ents were butchered in a body. It is to be noted that during this troublous period a Tibetan named Li) Kwang, who finally set up a dynasty in Liang [Marco Polo's Eriguiul] for a short time, brought Kwei-tzu. with him a large amount of property from Kuche, upon which state he had first had designs. Kuche was a settled and civilised semi-Indian kingdom, and a great Buddhist centre. Ivumaradjiva and other notable bonzes came to China thence. One of the most illustrious of the Sien-pi houses was that of Mujung, which settled in Liao Si about the year 220. There are all sorts of fanciful deriva- Mu-jung. tions for this word ; but, as wo have seen, Mujung was during Dardjegwe's time the name of a chief ; o A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 143 and, as the Chinese historians state, the only clan names used by this people were those derived from the personal names of valorous chiefs, so that we may reject fanciful traditions. The first of the family served the Ts'ao Ts'ao Wei d3'nasty with credit, and was made a prince. He fixed his head-quarters in the modern Tumet countrj'. His grandson was created Chi Ch'eng. Zenghi of the Sien-pi, and, removing to Liao Tung, gradually took to and became imbued with Chinese ideas. Owing to a quarrel about pasture, the elder son of this grandson migrated westwards to the Ko- ko-nor region, where he founded a powerful state. The younger, who was a man of great talent, re- mained in charge of the ancestral horde, and in the year 289 moved to the neighbourhood of the River T'u. But he soon began to yearn after the old home in the Tumet country, to which accordingly he returned in 294. Hero he instructed his people in the arts of agriculture and silk raising, encouraged Chinese to migrate to his dominions, and by the excellence of his administrative system soon attracted vast numbers of persons who had become disgusted with the misrule of the Chinese house of Tsin. He assumed the Hiuug-nu title of Great Zenghi ; for, as has been related, the Sien-pi in ancient times never had any supreme ruler, and never seem to have independently conceived the idea of one, or to have had a word of their own to express it. At the same Hi A Thousand Tears of the Tartars. time the Mujnng fixitlifally paid tribute to the Loase of Tsiu, whose learned meu he used to invite to his court. His son Mujuug Hwang was also a very able ruler ami intrepid captain. In the j'car 317 the Second or Eastern Tsin dynasty, unable to make headway against the Tartars, removed its capital Chien-k'ang. across the Yangtsze to the modern Nanking. Mujung Hwang now styled himself Prince of Yen ( the country round Peking), and in the yeav 345 aban- doned the Tsiu calendar, — which means that he used independent reign-dates of his own. Accordingly he is considered the founder of the Yen dynasty, which lasted till the year 407, and for some time Cliung-shan. had its new capital at the Ting Chou of to-day in the province of Chih Li. It will be rGmembered that the reigning Hiung-nu family of Shih were all Jaa Min. butchered liy an adoptive heir, — this adoptive heir changed his dynastic style from Chao to Wei, but was defeated and put to death by the Mujungs, who now declared themselves Emperors. There were at this time three empires, the Chinese Tsin in the south, the Tangut Ts'in in the west, and the Sien-pi Yen in the north. In 367 the latter occupied the second of the ancient Chinese capitals now known as Lo-yaug. Ho-nan Fu. After various vicissitudes, shiftinn-s, sub-divisions, and defeats, the la^t branch of the near modern family called Southern Yen came to an end : its Oh'ing-chou -i i • i m rn Fu. capital m modern bhan lung province was taken by A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 145 the founder of the new Chinese Sung dynasty, and the defeated monarch Mujung Ch'ao was executed at Nanking. There is one fact worthy of notice in connection witli this Miijung dynasty : they are said to have coinpelloJ tluiir liinsmen the Cathayans and Cli'i-tan; Hei. the Ghei to take refuge between the Sungari Eivcr Simg-mo- and the Desert, whence they emerged a few centuries later to form a dynasty of tlieir own. The most successful Sien-pi house was that of Toba, which in historical times found itself west of the Jumen tribe between Peking and Ta-t'ung Fu, and westwards of that again. In A.D. olo Ilu, chief of that one of the three Toba tribes which was farthest west, was created by the Tsin homi; of China Prince of Tai (/.e. the country near Ta-t'iing Fu) for his services against the Hiung-nu and the White Tribe of Sien-pi : at the same time he was supplied with a proper staff of officials. His grandnephew Zibigen Hhih-yi-chien. was the first to introduce a reign-period of his own : this prince had as many as 50U,000 Tartars under his command. His grandson Shifkwi was the first actual She-Uuei. Emperor of the distinguished dynasty of Northern Wei, which existed, contemporaneously with the mushroom Chinese Em[iir6S of tlie south in an unbroken line of fifteen Emperors, mostly very capable men, from 38G to 535. The capital was at first at Ta-t'ung Fu and afterwards at Loh-yang (Ho-nan Fu). The first two Emperors had to share 19 146 A Thousand Years of the Tirlars. the north of China with the Mujun"; line of Sien-pi Emperors of Yen to the east, the Tangnt lines of Ts'in and After Ts'in to the west, and tlie Hiung-nu or Ghoren line of Ordous, which last was extinguished T'u-ku-hun. in 428 by the Tukuhun Sien-pi of Koko-nor. A singular custom is mentioned as beins an invariable rule with the Tobas, that of murdering the Empress so soon as ever her son was officially declared heir- apparent. Doubtless this was part and parcel of the old Sien-pi custom of counting genealogies solely by the mother's venter. It was also the custom to cast a molten image of a proposed Empress or heir- apparent in order to see if, by a successful cast, the augury was good. The second Toba Emperor is described as having been yellow -bearded, which suggests an admixture of Corean blood, and militates against the supposition that the smooth-faced modern Mongols have Sien-pi blood in them. In the year 42o the Tobas built another length of Great Wall, about 700 miles in extent, not marked upon the maps, but ajiparently running north and south almost along the line of the Kan Suli and Shen Si frontiers : their object was to i)rotect themselves Jou-jan. against a powerJ'ul tribe called the Jeujen, then struggling for supremacy with the Kankalis. The third Toba Emperor absorbed the T.-ugu ruler's dominion of the Liang principality, and also the Mujung empire in the east : he was besides frequently A Thousand Years of the T'artars. 147 at war with the Chinese Sung Empire in the south. It is to be noted that the principality of Liang had become about this time a highly civilised centre, having extensive relations with Turkestan. The Tobas themselves sent envoys to Tashkend. The same Shih Kwo, or Emperor encouraged the study of the Confucian doctrine and persecuted the Buddhists, whose temples were becoming, under the cloak of religion, dens of lewd vagabonds. The Toba armies swept like a devastating avalanche over the modern province of An Hwei durino; this reign, and even reached the River Yangtsze. About 460 a new calendar was Kua Chou. introduced with the assistance of learned men from the old principality of Liang. Li 483 the Tobas, DOW rapidly becoming Chinese in sentiment, followed the Chinese practice and publicly interdicted mar- riages between people possessing the same clan name. In 495 the Tartar costume was prohibited : also the use of the Tartar language, weights, standards, and measures. The old dynastic name of Toba was replaced by the Chinese word Yuan, — the same as that adopted by Kublai Khan 780 years later. The Emperor was able to draft his own decrees in Chinese, and ordered a rigorous search for books of antiquity. The question of clan names for his own people received attention, and every Toba seems to have had now what we call in English a surname. Six surnames or cltin names were set apart as being 148 A Thousand Years nf the Tartars. particularly aristocratic, probably in imitation of the four old Zenj^dii and Hiung-nu aristocracy clans. Some Toba Emperors patronised one form of rtdigion and some another, but in 518 an envoy was sent to K-an-t'o-lo. Gandhara or Candahar to obtain Buddhist books. The custom of murdering Emi)resses on the recog- nition of one of their sons as heir was now relaxed or Ho-lo-hun. abandoned, and a Sien-pi Tartar named Gholiighun began to intrigue for the succession against the Tobas. This was the fiimous Shen-wu Ti who was practically the founder of the Northern Ts'i dynasty in 550. It was apparently from him that the imitative Japanese took the name Zimmu afterwards given to one of their mythical emperors : they would of course hear of Zimmu's or Shtn-wu's fame through their countrymen engaged in fishing in Eastern Monsolia. In 543 the Eastern Tobas found them- selves obliged to cou'-truct a second Great AVall in Shan Si, considei-ably farther south than the old Wall, to keep out the nomad-:, and in 545 they sent an T'u-cbiieh. embassy to the Turks, now first coming into notice as a powerful tribe, but still seated in the old Tsugu territory between Kan-chou and Lan Ghou in Kan Suh province. The Wei dj-nasty had just split up into the Western dynasty in the hands of one of the Juwens at Yung-p'ing Fu in modern Chih Li, and the Eastern dynasty in the hands of Gholughun at Yeh, Loh-yang and Lin-chang Fu in Ho Nan, A few A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 149 years later the sons of these two adventurers set themselves up as Emperors respectively of the Northern Chou and Northern Ts'i dyna.sti<'s, the latter at Si -an Fu. Doth -were replaced by tlie brilliant but short-lived Cliinese dj-nasty of Sui, which lasted from 581 to GLS. Thus the Sien-j)i ]>ossess(!d the northern half of China as lei:itlmate Emperors for 200 years, and previously to that had been already in practical possession, conjointly with the Hiung-nu and Tant susceptible to the better influence. All the ministers and commanders-in-chief were also ineu of reading. The sixth king annexed a very laro'e extent of Tibetan territory, and took n^reat ]]ains to ascertain that one of the rivers in his do- Tieii ciiiang. nilnions after passing Pao-ning Fu and Chungking entered the Yangtsze at the latter place, and then flowed through South China into the sea: accordingly he sent envoys to open a friendly correspondence with the Sung dynasty at Nanking. The seventh king attacked the Ghoren horde after the Tobas had driven them from the old Chinese metropolis, broke it up, and handed over the last of the dynasty to his victorious kinsman. The eighth king, however, was defeated by the third Toba Emperor, and, flving west, broke up the Khoten group of states, the tribes Pai-lan. of Dabsun Kor. and others : for a time he even got as far as the Pamir, having the state of Cophene or ciii-l-iin. ( 'abul to his south. This is a remarkable journey; but, as we shall se(\ the Karakitai or Black Cathavans, rh'i-erh-inau, also of the Sicn-[)i race, migrated as far as Kermane near Bokhara during the 12th century. The Tu- kuhun did not lemain long as wanderers in the west ; after a few years they returned to their old settlements in the Koko-nor region. It would seem extremely A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 153 probable that it was during this migration to Ca- bulistaii that the Persian mares were obtained. The customs of the Tukuhun are interesting : — "The ruler " did up his hair in a knot, and wore a cap of black " set off with pearls. His wife wore a woven petti- " coat, over which an embroidered robe. On her head " she wore golden flowers with a chignon behind. " The men's dress was not unlike that of the Chinese, " but most of them had a cap like a net : some had "caps of silk. The women all bound the hair with " strings of pearls, the number used being a mark " of distinction. The weapons included bows, arrows, "swords, spears, and bucklers. There were no re- " gular taxes in the country, but when money was "required tlie rich and the traders were called upon ■'to furnish supplies. When fathers or elder brothers " died, the sons or younger brothers married their "stepmothers and sisters-in-law after the northern "nomad fashion. The dead were buried with a " funeral procession, but mourning clothes were re- " moved when the ceremony was over. The national " character was greedy and bloodthirsty." About A.D. .500 the Tukuhun chief Kwaru as- K'ua-Iii. sumed the title of Khakhan, whicli, as has been Ko-han. stated, was first used in the third century by the Kivugli family of Sien-pi. Kwaru reigncil nearly a hundred years, and in his old age received severe defeats at the hands of the Jumens of After Chou 20 154 A Thoiisaml I'cafs of the Tartars. and tliG rising Chinese dynasty of Sui. His suc- cessors abandoned the name of Tukuhun and resumed the ancestral one of Mujung, which had become extinct a century ago so far as political power went. T'ieh-le. The Sui Emperor induced the Kankali Turks to sur- prise the Mujung hordes who had to take refuge somewhere in the south. For a short period the whole Tukuhun realm (measuring it is said 1,300 miles east and west and half that mucli north and south, embracing the old Yiieh-chi country, Lob-nor, and Koko-nor) was in the hands of the Sui house, who divided it up into administrative districts, es- tablished posts, populated it with the criminal classes, and endeavoured to assimilate it to regulation China. But, after the fall of tlic short-lived Sui liou^e, the Tang-hsiang. Mujung ruler, who had taken refuge with the Tibeto- Tartar tribes west of Ordous, recovered his old dominions. "When the great Chinese T'ang dynasty was es- tablishing itself upon the ruins of Sui, the king of Ta-ning, as the Mujung or Tukuhun ruler now styled himself, alternately assisted and attacked the new empire ; but in the year G35 the Chinese generals inflicted a crusliing defeat upon these nomads, whose power now licgan to fall off in favour of the Tibetans. In ()70 till' Chinese, who were growing alarmed at the rapid progress of the Tibetans, (already a civilized power versed in Sanskrit literature), made an uu- A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 155 successful attempt to re-establish the Tukuhun power, but the Tibetans conquered the whole Tukuhun do- minion and part of China's outlying territory as well. The question was where to quarter the broken up Tukuhun tribes, so as to keep them away from the Turks on the one hand and not to let them get involved with China's horse-breeding population in Kan Suh on the other. It ended in their being Ch'in Chou ; quartered where they then were, in Kan-chou, Suh- chou, and Sha-chou, — the old Yiieh-chi territory. But the Tibetans gave them no peace, and the wretched remnants of them had to fight their way across the Yellow River to Shan Si, whence their ancestors had original!}' come on their way from Liao Tung. Here the corrupted term T'ui-hun was applied to them, and, indeeil they are often spoken of also as simply Hwuu or Hun. This syllable is the last one of Tukuhun's personal name, and has nothing whatever to do with the old word Hiung-nu ; still less with the European word Hun. In the year 798 one Mujung Fuh, a high mihtary satrap in Chinese employ, was appointed Prince of Koko-nor with the old title of Khakhan, and on his death the hereditary succession of the family rulers ceased. From the commencement of their kingdom at the close of the Western Tsin dynasty in A.D. 310 to their dis- possession by the Tibetans in 663 the Tukuhun house of princes had endured for 350 years, and the tribe 156 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. was not entirely broken up for another 150 years. From this time they disappear from history ; but a Hwun or Hun tribe is mentioned amongst the vassals of the Ouigours, so that we may well believe that this branch of the Sien-pi, having maintained its inde- pendence throughout the Turkish supremacy, at last TIng-Ung, became absorbed in the Kankali or Ouigour branch T'ieh-le, Kao- ° ch'e, Wei-he. 01 the ancient Hiung-nu stock, and migrated to the north of the Desert. END OF BOOK II. BOOK III. THE EMPIRE OP THE JWEN-JWEN OR JEU-JEN. BOOK III. The Empire of the Jwen-jwkn or Jeu-jen. CHAPTER I. Their Obscure Rise and their Precipitate Fall. ' I ^HE Jwen-jwen are described as having possessed -L the clan name of Ukuru Toba. When first Tu-cUiu-lii, heard of they were known as the Jeu-jen, whicli Gibbon, following the French writers upon China, writes Geoiigen : he identifies them with the Avars of Europe, which must be a complete mistake, for which, however, Gibbon himself is not responsible. They were a petty tribe vaguely described as being " of the northern wilderness," and there is nothing to shew that they had any ethnological connection with the Tunguses except that, according to their semi-mythical traditions, they borrowed a Tungu^ic clan name : that was scarcely to be wondered at, seeing that the Hiung-nu power had long since given way to that of the Tunguses. The only positive statements about tliem are that they were a kind of Hiung-nu, and that their " astrological position " — that is, the latitude and longitude of their habitat — was coupled with that of 160 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. the High Carts, Kanknlis, or Ouigours, all of whom appear but very faintly in history, if they appear at all, previous to the establishment of Toba power, and all of whom certainly lived in the Baikal region north of the Desert. Tradition siu's that a young slave was captured during one of the Jeu-jen raids ; as he had forgotten his own name he was civen that Mu-ku-iii. of Mukkuru (Gibbon's Moko), whicli signifies " bald." This was on account of the peculiar way in which his hair grew, and mukkuru must have been a Jeu-jen word. During the reign of the already mentioned Toba Prince Uu of Ta-t'ung Fu, Mukkuru, who had on account of his valour been made a free trooper, had rendered himself liable to decapitation for not presenting himself in due time for military service. He therefore fled with a number of others to the Desert, where ho managed to collect together a i'cw hundred Ch'e-lu. vagabonds like himself. His son Uheruk, being a warlike individual, was the first to have under him anything deserving the name of a horde, and this horde was styled Jeu-jen. It is onl}^ in the 3'ear 394 of our era that we get any distinct information about this people ; at least four generations having then elapsed since the word Jeu-jen was first u-^ed, we mav there- fore safely assume that the Mukkuru incident, lilce the Kivugh foundling incident, took place (so far as it took place at all) about the year 300, during tliat anarchical period when the Hiung-nu had scattered. A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 161 the Dardjegwe empire had fallen to pieces, and Tauguts, Tuuguses, and Hinng-nu were all alike disintegrated and endeavouring each to form a nucleus for a new growth. In 394 the " sixth grandson," by which is probably meant the seventh or eighth in descent from Mnkkuru or Cheruk, crossed to the north of the Desert, and conquered many of the Kankuli tribes : hence, from the fact of his ancestors Kao-ch'e. having served Prince Ilu, who came forward pro- minently in the year 315, we must suppose that the semi-mythical tribe which picked up Mukkuru, and the Jeu-jeii tribe, to which ]\Iukkuru's son first gave its name, were both settled in the mountain hunting- ground which separates Shan Si from the Desert, and that the "astrological position" was onl}' fixed after the migration north. This grandson Slieluia or Zarun, Shu-luij. whom Gibbon, misled by the French translators, calls Toulun, soon organized a formidable military system ; adopting the title of Khakhan, he put together an empire which extended east and west from Corea to Yen-ch'i. Harashar, and south as far as the country of the Tnkuhun and the modern Kan Suh province. His courts were held at places north of Kan-chou (probably near Marco Polo's Etzinai) and Tun-hwang (Polo's Sachiu); so that wc may be sure all the roads but the main one to the west were in his hands. The Chinese say that this was the first occasion on which the title Khakhan was used, but it has been already shewn 21 162 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. that the Kivugh foundling had been so styled at least, even if he did not use the title, over a century earlier. Ch'iu-tou-fa. Zarun's full title was " Kudovar Khakhan, " meaning "the governing and spreading Emperor." We are told that the word Mukkuru was changed to the very similar word ITkuru "later on," because Ukuru was the clan name of a Toba Empress who lived in the year 452. We are also told that the Toba Emperor who died in 451 changed their national appellation Jwan-jwati. from Jeu-jen to Jwen-jwen, a Chinese word meaning " squirm," because they wriggled and squirmed about like so many vermin. Now, as Mukkuru was a fugitive from the Tobas in 315, and Zarun had carved out his own empire a century later, we may be sure that the clan name Ukuru Toba was given about the same time that Jeu-jen was changed to Jwen-jwen ; that is, when the Tobas had made their power felt. Those writers who make the tribe one of the same family of the Sien-pi have evidently been misled by the name Toba, which no )nore makes a Hiuug-nu tribe Tungusic than the clan name of Liu makes it Chinese. North-west of Zarun's empire were the remains of the Hiung-nu, and they were all gradually annexed by him. This modest statement, which precedes the distinct limitation of his dominions in a westerly direction to the north of Harashar, — at the utmost Tarbagatai or Kuldja, — is evidentlj^ the ground for Gibbon's mistaken statement that he " vanquished A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 163 the Huus to the north of the Caspian." We are also told that the Jwen-jwen custom was " for princes "and ministers to take titles or names corresponding " to their actions or abilities, like such as are civen " posthumous]}' in China, except that in the Jwen-jwen " case the names were used during life, and that no " other names were given after death." This state- ment again tends to connect the Jwen-jwen with the Turks and Hiung-nu ; for, in addition to what has already been said about Hiung-nu names, we shall find that the Turks were all called after personal idiosyncra--ies : thus the Western Turk called by the Chinese Ta-lo-pien or " (he fat " is according to Schuyler the Dalobian Khan or Dizalml to whom Justin the Second sent the envoy Zimarchus. Zarun, having thus consolidated a sort of empire in the north, began to harry the frontiers of the Toba dynasty, now securely seated on the throne of North China. He was succeeded by his uncle or cousin Dadar, against whom in the summer of 429 the third Ta-t'an. Toba Emperor, whose Tartar name was Vuri, led an Fu-li. army of over 100,000 men. Dadar was taken com- pletely by surprise, and after setting fire to his own encampment or ordo took to the Desert, leaving no trace behind : the various settlements of his people scattered in every direction, and vast flocks and herds were left to wander about uncared for all over the countrj\ Dadar must have had his capital somewhere 164 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. near Caracorum, for we are told that the Toba Emperor found himself 1,200 En<:;lish miles from where the first Han Emperor was surrounded Ijy Meghder, and that he Tou Hien. passed the old ciimp of the Em])ress" nephew v.-ho nearlj^ three centuries later defeated tlie Northern Zenghi : th(^ Toha monarch then scoui'ed the whole country for a distance of 1,500 miles east and west and 1,000 miles north and south, embracing all Mongolia between the Onon in the north-east and the Etzina in the south- west. The Kankalis took the opportunity to pay off old scores, and killed the fujjitive Dadar. The total results of the campaign to the Tobas were a million killed or captured in horses and men and 300,000 voluntary surrenderors. The same Toba Emperor undertook a second campaign against Dadar's grand- T'u-ho-chen. son Tuffhochir and, in the usual yao;ue language of the Chinese, captured the whole of his tents and flocks to the number of over a u)illion. Tughochir's son continued to trespass in IGT-ITO, and it was then that the construction of a fresh Great Wall over a distance of 300 miles in length was proposed, the soldiers to be utilised, when they were not fighting, as builders of it. The then Emperor conducted a third expedi- tion, cutting off 50,000 head-;, taking 10,000 prisoners, besides innumerable horses and weapo)is, and pursuing the enemy for nineteen days. It is not to be won- dered at that, after a series of such crushing defeats, the unfortunate Jwen-jwon should try and effect an A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 165 alliance with the southern Chinese Empire with a view to crushing the all-powerful Tobas : advances wore niailc in ^uccession to the ephemeral dj'nasties of Sung, Ts'i and Liang, but, it seems, without any result. The Jwen-jwen v>'ere, however, not by any means destroyed. In tlio year 516 Tnohochir's graiuKon (_'!ieunu punished the rebellious Kankalis to Cli'ou-nu. the west, and again i-aised his country to a consider- able degree of power. Cheunu's younger brother Anakwe was unable to obtain the succession without A-na-kwei. opposition, and had to seek refuge at the Toba coui-t, where he was well received. A cousin bearing the Hindoo name of Brahman then took charge of the P'o-lo-men. horde, and punished Anakwe's enemies ; but Brah- man too had to surrender to the Toba Chinese governor at Liang Chou, as he was hard pressed by the Kankalis. The question was what to do with them, and it is significant, as further evidence that they were of Hiung-nu and not Sien-pi race, to find that the Emperor's advisers warn him " not to have a repeti- " tion of the Liu Yiian and Shih Leh events, which "led to those hospitably entertained settlers becoming "nders on their own account." The thinly populated lands around Tun-hwang, Suh Chou and Kan-chou (Marco Polo's iSachiu, Hukchur, and Campichu) would be suitable (they said) only that the Kankalis are too near. We must treat the rival nations as two dangerous beasts, encouraging them to damage each 166 A 'Thousand Years of the Tartars. other as much as possible, and only stepping in when one or the other becomes iminedinlely danoerons to oursehes. It was finally decided to (quarter Brahman An-hsi. Jq the far wc^t, at a spot which appears to be at or near the modern Hami, and to supply him with a Chinese resident, nominally to assist in his government, but in reality to protect him and watch the Kankalis, I-ni-po. (whose capital in the Altai Mountains was 300 miles distant), afterwards moving him to the north of the Desert when strong enough to protect himself. This was done ; but before long Brahman conspired to rebel, and was taken to China, where he subsequently died : he seems to have at first taken refuge with the Ye-t'a. Nephthalites or with a nation emanating therefrom. Yiieh-p'an. This is not unlikely, for the king of Hi had sent envoys to Dadar, and we have seen that even Hiung- nu princes took refuge in Samarcand. Anakwe was settled somewhere "in the east" where he could not cooperate with Brahman. He assumed the title of Khakhan, and was made Duke of Shoh- fang (Polo's Tangut) and king of the Jwen-jwen by the Tobas, from which we may conclude that he was somewdiere in or near the Ordous country. Here his family contracted marriage alliances with the Tobas Kao-yang. and the Tartar dj'nasty of Ts'i. During the anarchy which accompanied the collapse of the Toba AVei dynasty, Anakwe was able to consolidate his power, and he discontinued the practice of calling himself A TJiousand Years of the Tartars. 167 vassal. He had Cliinese literates in liis emploj', and a number of eunuch clerks : he established an official body, and presumed to claim an equality with the expiring Toba dynasty. In the year 546 his former vassals the Turks applied to Anakwe for a wife : his answer was to make war upon them : he was utterly defeated, and committed suicide : his heir Amrodjin An-Io-ch'en. fled to the new Ts'i empire founded by Ghologhun'.s Ho-lo-hun. son, and was quartered in North 8han Si, but, revolting soon afterwards, his horde was broken up. A cousin of Anakwe was now elected ruler, but after repeated defeats at the hands of the Turks he had to take refuge with the Juwen adventurer who was Yu-wne. " running" the Emperor of AVestern Wei. The Turks had sufficient power and influence to insist upon the butchery of the J vven-jwen who had with their king thus sought asylum, and this was done either by or in the presence of the Turkish ambassador outside the gates of Si-an Fu, only the younger males being spared, to be passed into the princely and ducal families as slaves. From this moment the Jwen-jwen are never so much as mentioned, even as a tribe under the Turks and Ouigours, and as we have seen their destruction was nearly complete l)efore the remnants of them were massacred in the dastardly way recounted above. Hence it is impossible on this ground alone that they can be identical with the Avars who took the place in Hungary of the Huns. Gibbon's statement that Attila 168 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. vanquished the khan of the formidahle Geougen and sent ambassador.^ to negotiate an equal alliance with the Emperor of China, is totally devoid of foundation. Zarua or Toulun certainly never got as far west as the (.'aspian, or even as far as Issekul, and his cousin Dadar had been routed by the Tobas four years before Attila and his brother Bleda succeeded to the Hun tln'one in Europe. There is not the faintest trace of any Jwen-jwen intercourse with any western people except the Nephthalites and people of Hi, and even the king of Hi, or Yiieh-p'an as it was called by the Chinese at that time, turned back when he saw what a filthy and barbarous people he was visiting, and never reached Dadar'< court. Gibbon says that " Attila, the son of Mundznk. deduced his descent from " the ancient Huns who had formerly conteiuled with "tli(! monarchs of China." Tliis specific piece of evidence, if warranted, would clinch all the ai'gumcnts that we have advanced. Every thing conspires to shew that the ruling cartes of the Hiung-nu who suddenly disappeared from China were the Huns who suddenly appeared in Europe, and there is nothing to shew against that view ; but still that docs not improve the quality of specific statements of fact, v/hich do no good to a >ound case and no harm to a weak one unless ba^ed upon positive evidence. The Southern Chinese as distinct from the Tartar- Chinese dynastic records call the people we have just A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 169 described by the name of Jwe-jwe, and, as we have Jui-jui. shewn, such evidence as there is, scant though it be, tends to shew that they were a Hiung-nu race, and not a Sien-pi race as supposed by Remusat, whose further suggestion that they may be the progenitors of the modern Mongols is worthy of being borne in mind, and is possible ; but it is not supported by any direct evidence. Moreover they were exterminated. CHAPTER II. Their Struggle with the Kankalis. Wherever we have hitherto used the word Kankalis we have meant that race of people known to the Chinese in Hiung-nu times as Ting-ling or Tik-lik, in Ting-ling, Ti. Toba times as High Carts, in Turkish times as Kao-ch'g Ouigours, and in Mongol times as Kanklij, — a Turkish ^''J"^?' °' word meaning " cart " : but the term Ting-ling seems Kang-li. to have referred to two nations, one near Baikal, the other not far from Balkash, being near or included in the dominions of the Kirghiz, much farther west than the iirst. Nothing is known of the Ting-ling except that sometimes they formed part of the Hiung-nu Empire, and sometimes fought for or against this or that side during the period of struggle between the various Tartar-Chinese dynasties. The traditions of 22 170 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. the High Carts, however vague, connect their origin with the Hiung-nu, and they are first known under that name (High Carts) in the 5th century. There is some reason to suppose that the Chinese form Kao-ch'e is really the origin of our European words Kutsche, cache, and "coach." Their history may be related in a line. They were constantly at war with the Jwen- jwen, and when the first Toba Emperor set out on his great expedition against the latter he took the opportunity of breaking up the High Carts too. He returned with 50,000 captives of both sexes, 200,000 of their very high-wheeled carts, and over a million horses, cattle, and sheep. The third Toba Emperor also obtained the submission of several hundred thousand High Carts whilst he was engaged in punish- ing the Jwen-jwen : he quartered them south of the Desert, but they soon revolted and went back north. It will be noticed that the Toba dynasty was much more successful than any Chinese dynasty had ever been in crushing the nomads of the north ; but that, so soon as they adopted Chinese manners and customs, they fell into decrepitude. It appears to have been the policy of the Tobas to prevent the Jwen-jwen and theNepthalites from communicating with the Tukuhun, and from the way in which this is related it would seem that the Nepthalites (at this period called Yetta Ye-t'a. or Ept'a in Chinese) were not those of the Pamir, but the smaller body, at first called by the Chinese " Lesser A Thousand Years oft/ie Tartars. 171 Yueh-chi," who remained in the Koko-nor region at Hsiao YUeh. an. the time of the exodus, and seem to have gradually Nan 8hi worked their way west towards Kuldja. On this assumption we need not suppose that the Jwen-jwen who took refuge with the Nephthalites ever crossed the mountains east of Issekul. During the times of the Sien-pi dynasties in North China, the High Carts usually got the worst of it in their struggles with the Jwen-jwen : at any rate they never seem to have founded an empire of their own of any description, and would appear to have finally settled somewhere near Urumtsi as petty kings enjoying Chinese Pei-t'ing. recognition. The character and manners of the High Carts are thus described. Every race or clan had its own tribal chief, and they never had any supreme ruler over all. Their disposition was rough and impetuous, but in times of general danger they could take harmonious action together. In battle they had no military array, but each individual rushed on and oiF the attack as he chose, and they were incapable of sustained fighting. It was their practice to squat and sprawl about in the most unreserved way without any respect of persons. In marriages cattle and horses were the usual betrothal gifts ; the more, the finer the display. They had no grain, and made no spirituous liquors. On the day when the bride was fetched, men and women went together carrying with them kumiss and cooked meat, 172 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. and the host made no distinctions of degree in his treatment of the guests. They all sat down promis- cuously in front of the tent and feasted the whole day, remaining for the night too. The next day the girl was carried off, after which the husband's party was conducted back to the family corral of horses to select the handsomest animals. Their habits were decidedly dirty. They were fond of attracting thunder-claps, and whenever a clap came they shouted aloud, shot arrows up into the sky, abandoned the place, and migrated, coming back to the same spot the next year when the horses were fat. There they buried a ram, lit a fire, and drew their swords, whilst witches uttered exorcising incantations. Then the whole body galloped their horses round it a hundred times, when some one taking a bundle of willow branches, bent them, and stuck them in the ground, anointing them with kumiss. The women wear as part of their head- gear the shin-bone of a sheep wrapped up in the skin, twisting their hair round it so as to form a sort of head-piece, which they bedizen something like a crown. When deaths take place, a funeral procession is formed, a grave dug, and the bodj' set in it in a sitting posture. A drawn bow is placed in the hands of the deceased, upon whom a sword is girt and to whom a spear is attached, just as with a living person : but the hole is left unfilled, and they ride round it several hundred times : every one goes to this function, young A Tliousand Years of the Tartars. 173 or old, of either sex. They keep migrating to wherever there is pasturage. They wear skins, eat flesh, and rear flocks and herds exactly as do the Jwen-jwen, except that the wheels of their carts are very large, with an enormous number of spokes. Thus the Chinese historians. The rest of their history is merged in that of the Turks and Ouigours, of whom we shall now proceed to treat. END OF BOOK III. BOOK IV. THE EMPIRE OF THE TURKS. BOOK IV. The Eiipire of the Turks. CHAPTER I. Eauliest Notices of the Turks : Period of Peace with China. ' I 'HE ancestors of the Turks were a group of -*- Hiung-iiu families bearino- the clan name of Assena. It has been recorded how the third Toba A-shih-na. Emperor absorbed the Tsugu dominions is the year 433, and we are told that, wlien that event took place, .500 families of the Assena clan fled to the dominions of the Jwen-jwen, and for several genera- tions occupied the southern slopes of the Golden Mountains not far from the city of Shan-tan in modern Cliin Sliau. Kan Suh. In the Tsugu times this city was itself called Kin-shan (meaning "Golden Mountain"), and we know that Zarun and Dadar held one of their courts near this place. What really happened there- fore was this. Tsugu, a Hiung-nu Prince of the Liang principality reigning at Kan-chou Fu, had to succumb to the Sien-pi Empire of Wei, and some of his people, to wit the Assena group, preferring the 23 178 A Thousand Tears of the Tartars. rule of Hiung-nu to that of Sien-pi, moved away a short distance to that part of the Tsugn dominion ue.'irest to the Jwen-jwcu, or that part of the Jwen- jweu empire nearest to Liang. Here, on account of the hehnet-hke shape of a certain hill, they took T'u-chueh. from it the national designation oi DurkO or "Turks," a word still meaning " helmet " iu at least some of the Turkish dialects. This similarity in name between an insignificant range of hills in the Etzinai region and the Kin Shan or Altai Mountains of Western Mongolia has caused the French writers, (and perhaps to a certain extent even the Chinese), to place the original Turks north of the Desert, and to give undue weight to certain fabulous incidents handed down by tradition. We may allude to one, — their supposed descent from a she-wolf, — because that myth is repeated in con- nection with other Turkish tribes, and has something to do with the symbolic use liv them of a wolf's head at particular functions. But, in this as all other cases connected with our subject, we brush away the cobwebs of myth and fable, and confine ourselves to such plain matters of fact as can be adduced from the Chinese records. The Turks served the Jwen-jwen as workers in iron, an art in which they ari> as likely us not to have improved themselves at the highly civilised centre of Liang. Towards the end of the 5th century the A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 179 tribe became strong, and for the first time appeared on the Chinese frontiers in order to trade and pur- chase silli and floss for wadding. Here, again, it is plain the Turks must have been near the frontier : it is absurd^ to suppose that their masters the Jwen- jwen would have allowed them to come a thousand miles from the Altai Mountains in order to make friends with China. Here also we have once more the ancient Hiung-nu barter of horses for silk. The demand of the Turkish chief Tumen for a Jvven-jwen T'u-men. princess ended, as we have seen, in the defeat of Anakwe by what he called his " blacksmith slaves." Tumen thereupon appropriated the khanish title and styled himself Hi Khakhan. He only reigned one year. We do not know what ill means in Turkish, but here it certainly has nothing to do with the well- known town of Hi near Kuldja, though both words have not improbably the same origin and meaning. He styled his wife Khatun or Khaghatun, a word K'o-ho-tun. which we are told is equivalent to the ancient Inchi of the Hiung-nu. All this is very reasonable. When the Hiung-nu fell, the Sien-pi borrowed their title of Zenghi until they themselves invented the new one of khan or khakhan. On the Hiung-nu, that is the Jwen-jwen and Turks, once more obtaining supremacy, they naturally appropriated the title then in fashion. The description given of the Turks is pretty full. Princes of the blood were called deleh, which is pro- t'e-l§. 180 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. bably the Mongol word dere suggested by Palladius, she. and eacb separate tribal command was called a sheh. Ch'ii-Iu- Their highest official rank was that ot lilli'icliile ; chiieli, apo, , 7 /• . 7 1 j • • • v hsieli-li-fa, then came apo. giiei-e/a, tniiiin, an 1 rc named Dano, and one Ho-sa-iia. Hassan Khakhan. Daao did splendid service for the Sui dynasty in Corea, and subsequently con- tributed largely to raise the T'auij; dynasty to the throne. He died full of honours in the year 638. Hassan was detained by the madman Yang Ti, and thereupon the Western Turks elevated his uncle Shifkwi to the khakhanship. This was the first of the Western Turks to create a really great empire. His east frontier was the Altan Tagh or Altai Range, and Hsi-hai. his west the Caspian Sea. From the celebrated pass Yii-men. at the west end of the Great Wall, westwards, all the nations submitted to his supremacy. He disputed power with the Eastern Turks, (or " Northern " as the Chinese generally call them), and fixed his ordo San-mi Hills, "north of Kuche" (which probably means at Kuldja). But he did not reign long, and he was succeeded by his brother known as the Zieghu-Superior or Chief Zieghu, whose duties had hitherto been, as above stated, to reside north of Tashkend and keep the various Turkomans in order. The new khakhan was known by his old name as the "Zieghu-Superior Khakhan," and must not be confused with the Zieghu Chulagu of whom we have just spoken. He was a A Tliousand Years of the Tartars. 235 great military captain, and besides being remarkably brave was very long-headed. He annexed the Kankali to the north, drove back the Persians to the west, Po-ssii. and conquered ;ill the old Nephthalite dominions up to the frontiei's of Oopliene or Cabnl, which also during Chi-iiin. the third century of our era had belonged to the Yiieh-chi". We know from European sources that Chosroes the Second of Persia, aided by the Khan of the Avars, was now making a gallant stand to save the tottering empire of the Sassanidae, and that the Graeco-Roman Emperor Heraclius was intriguing with the powerful Khan of the Khazars, (which pro- bably means either the Great Zieghu or one of his subordinate khakhans), to do as much injury as possible to Persia. The Turks had taken Balkh and Herat as early as the year 589, and in 599 " were " assisting their vassals the Koushans and Ephthalites " against the Armenians and Persians." The last of the Sassanides took refuge in China, and his son Firuz was sent back with the title of king in the year Pi-Iu-ssil. G84. The khakhan, we are distinctly told in Chinese history, dominated the West from his seat in the territory of the ancient ^Vu-sun (which we have always translated "nomads of Kuldja"): but he moved his ordo to a spot 300 miles north of Tashkend, which Shih Kwo. probably means some place on the River Taras. All the kings of Turkestjin were made his gherefa or hsieh-U-fa. 236 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. tudun, and cliarged with the collection of his tribute : the Western Tartars had never before seen so flourish- ing a ]iower. On the accession of the house of T'ang the khakhan sent tribute of ostrich-eggs from TMao-chih. Mesopotamia [as Ihe Parthian nomads had done 800 yeai's jircviously wlicn in possession of the same tei-ritory]. The Emiieror engaged liis services against Gheri, and Zieghu promised that an army would be ready to leave in the winter of 622 : this so alarmed Gheri that ho hastened to assure Zieghu of his peaceful intentions and secure his neutrality. Zieghu then applied for a wife, and it was decided that the best policy would be to promise him a wife in order to frigliten Gheri, keeping the promise or not as sub- Prince of sequent events should dictate. A personage of exalted Kao-p'ing. j. i i \,- ■ ] rank was meanwhile sent to keep nnn m good humour ; but the marriage never came off, as the war with Glieri foi- some time completely severed the communications between Zieghu and China. How- ever, on the accession of T'ai Tsung the envoy was escorted back by an officer holding the Djigin- Superior, who brought 5,000 horses and a girdle fashioned out of 10,000 gold nails as presents for the Emperor : yet Gheri would not hear of a marriage witli liis rival, and tlircatened to cut off any embassies ])assing witli any such bu>ine'(l, without much explanation, to facilitate tl](' obtaining of a general bird's-eye view of the whole subject. But the reader has now become familiarised with certain ideas and expressions, and the matter may be gone into deeper without causing weariness and disgust. A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 267 It may be shortly said therefore that the Ouigour tribes were those of the ancient Hiung-nu left behind, after the ruling castes migrated westward, which were not under the Assena Turks, and which were not Kirghiz : they were strong, daring nomads ; great horse-archers, and fond of raiding ; as soon as the name Turk became magical under the Assena family they formed part of the Turkish dominion. It was under Chula Khakhan, who forcibly annexed the Tereks and exacted heavy contributions from them, that the first bad blood was made ; dreading their resentment, he assembled and treacherously massacred a number of their chiefs. The Ouigours, Bukku, Tulas, and Baikals then revolted, and set up a Djigin T'ung-Io. of their own, with the national name Ouigour. The Ouigour clan proper was called Yokraka, and they Yo-lo-ko. dwelt north of the Seyenda, on the River Seiinga. So-lingShui. Their horde numbered 100,000, of which total half were able soldiers : their land was mostly nitrous, barren desert ; and their flocks consisted chiefly of large-footed sheep. The first Djigin s name was Shih-chien, Ziken, but in Sibir's time his son Busat, (the usual P'u-sa. Chinese way of saying Bodhisattva), who had been well-trained by a careful mother, made himself a great name. He joined the Seyenda in utterly defeating a force of 100,000 men under Gheri's lieutenant Dull, and obtained the sobriquet of " Living Gherefa. " He established his ordo on hwo hsieh-U- fa. 268 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. the Iliver Tula. He first sent tribute to China in 029 when the fir.-t Turkish power had already collapsed and the Seyenda tribal chief alone was powerful besides himself. On Busat's death one T'u-mi-tu. of his chiefs named Turned broke up and annexed the Seyenda, who appear, however, to have soon recovered themselves for a few years. Meanwhile the other Tereks, inelnding the Ouigoiirs, Tarankals, Hsi-chioh. Baikals, Bukku, Tulas, Ghusor, Adir, Kibir, Ghei-Kir, Hsieh-chieh. White Sib, Sekir, Hun, and Kirghiz (the last now first grouped with the Tereks) submitted to China through their chiefs, who were entertuinetl by the Emperor, and became mediatised ofiicials of the Em[)ire. At th(^ir request good roads, provided with relay stations, were laid out from China to the Ouigour and Turkish political centres. Turned, as has been explained, whilst outwardly conforming to the Chinese arrange- ments, was really a new khaklian, and in his own dominions was in fact so staled : he had twelve ministers, sis for the interior with six for his outer dominions, and his ordo was organized in Turkish fashion. For some unexplained I'eason his people murdered him, and the succession passed througli Pi-li. Borun his son to Birut his grandson and Dukhetoh his great-grandson. Mercho's second Turkish Empire v.-as now becom- ing formidable, and he seized upon the old Terek laud : in consequence of this the Ouigours, Kibir, Sekir, and Tu-hsieh chih. A Thousand Tears of the Tartars. 269 Hnn tribes moA^ed south (it will be remembered) to the old cradle of the Turkish race near Kan-chou Fu, where they did occasional service for China against the Tibetans. In the year 717 Dukhetch's son Vughteber assisted in the fighting which ultimately re- Fu-ti-fii. suited in Mercho's death. His son, again, being falsely accused of some offence by the Chinese proconsul, was banisliod to Soiith China, where he died : the consequence of this was that the proconsul was murdered by an agnate of the clan, and the high road to Barkul was obstructed. This agnatic relative fled to the land of the Turks, where he died. But the Turks themselves were now once more in the state of political confusion already described as having followed the death of Mercrin. The son of the agnatic relative who had murdered the proconsul, by name Kurlik Bira, entered with vigour into tlie Kn-li P'ei-lo. general tussle, in which the Basimirs and Karluks also took a part. It ended in the Basimir pretender losing his head ; and Bira, who sent envoys to China to explain events, thereupon took the title of Kutluk Biga Khakhan. The Emperor created him a Chinese prince, and removed him farther south to what had Wu-tfi-chien been the Turkish capital on the Orkhon : this must K'unHo. have been near Caracorum, for we are told it was over 500 miles north of the westernmost of the three (Surrender Cities. The territory of the Nine Clans, with which Mercho shortly before his dei^tb had 270 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. fought snch a bloody battle, was annexed by him. [It is unnecessary to give the uncouth names of all Ko-sa. these clans ; but wo m;iy mention one, the Kazar or Khazar, who are also mentioned two centuries later as having joined in the invitation to Li Kwoh-ch'ang and his son, — the two famous Shado generals. They would seem to have mostly migrated west, for the history of the T'ang dynasty gives a Khazar race north-west of the Arabs, i.e. the Khalifs, and we K-o-sa. know that the Khan of the Khazars was long before this assisting Rome ajiainst Persia and the Avars. 1 The Karluks and Basimirs were also annexed, at least in part, and were always made to fight in the van. Bira was now formally appointed Khakhan through his envoy at the Chinese court : he achieved several other victories over those Turks who were fighting in the interests of Kutluk's descendants (the Kutluk of Wercrin's time), received further imperial commendation, and gradually extended his empire from the Fish-skin Tartars in the east to the Altai in the west, having the Great Desert on the south ; in fact he once more conquered the old Hiung-nu domain. Bira died in the year 756 and was succeeded ti-chin Ko-le, by the tec/hia Kale. [Kale was the name of one of the Shado chiefs too, and teffhin was a Turkish title, as for instance Alpteghin of the Ghiznee dynasty.] Mo-yen- His personal name was Mayencho and he did good An-lo-'ehftn, service against the famous fat Turkish rebel Am- A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 271 roshar, who, after conductiug the war against the Cathayans as China's representative, in the end rebelled against his imperial master. [It is Am roshar who has left on record the remark that the Turks consider the mother before the father.] Mayenchij also assisted as a lientenant the celebrated general Kwoh Tsz-i, who is believed to have been a Nestorian Christian. The Tibetans were now in possession of the ancient Yiieh-chi territory, and both Chinese capitals were in the hands of rebels. Both were soon retaken with the assistance of the Ouigours, who were at first allowed to loot the eastern capital, modern Ho-nan Fu, but were subsequently induced Lo-yang by a present of 10,000 pieces of silk locally raised to go away. For these services Mayencho was most handsomely treated by the Emperor, and received an annual present of 20,000 pieces of silk. It is curious to read in the year 758 of the Abbaside Caliph's envoy and the Ouigour envoy struggling for precedence at the Chinese court. As in the case of the analogous diplomatic contest between Eastern and Western Turks, a compromise was arranged, and the rival envoys entered the pre- sence room at the same time, but by different doors. Mayencho received an imperial princess in marriage ; but he was inclined to be haughty when she arrived, and it was only after pressure that the envoy induced him to prostrate himself out of respect for the Emperor. 272 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. Kale did not live long. He was succeeded about I-ti-chien. the year 760 by his second son Idiken, who, finding that China was in a disorganized condition, allied himself with an adventurer then setting himself up as a rival emperor, and advan<;ed far into Shan Si with a view of plunder. I')- somewhat abject and humi- liating diplomacy the Chinese managed to arrest their progress, but not until the haughty Ouigour and his khalun had caused one or two of the mission to be flogged to death for not " going through their postures "as demanded by Ouigour etiquette. This khatun was not the imperial princess, but only the P'u-kuHwai- daughter of General Bukku, a Turk in higli Chinc-o emplo)-, whose familj^ had intermarried witli both the Sui and the T'ang dynasties. The critiL-al state of China precluded any idea of avenging the insult for the moment, and accordingly the imperial troops assisted by the Ouigours dispersed the rebels in a battle fought near the extreme south-west corner of Shan Si, and once more advanced upon t!ie eastern capital. After tliat they disposed of another rebel to Sbih Ch'ao-i. the cast, near Peking, "marching through a sea of blood for 600 miles," insulting the officials, plun- dering the people, kidnapping girls, and making themselves generally a curse. Yet they had to be rewanled a^ usual with titles and estates. In the year 765 General Bukku rebelled on account of some fancied grievance and arranged with A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 273 the Tibetans and Ouigours to make a raid. But he (lied before any thing serious was done, and Idiken arranged mailers with Kwoh Tsz-i, laying all the hlaino on Bukku, and offerinnr to attack the Tibetans if Bnkku's son, the kliatuiCs brother were pardoned. This khatun died in 7G8, and her younger sister was sent to replace her. China was now so exhausted that the half-starved animals of the highest dig- nitarics of the state had to be impressed in order to convey her and the 20,000 pieces of silk sent as presents to the Ouigour khakhan. The Ouigours, growing more insolent as they grew more indis- pensable, exacted forty pieces of silk for each horse brought to China, and they had brought 20,000 or 30,000 already : their envoi's succeeded each other with wearisome rapidity, each expecting handsome entertainment ; and now, as a culmination of misery, China was asked to take 10,000 more horses : the unfortunate Emperor, unwilling to oppress his people further, had to effect a compromise. In other ways the Tartars shewed a domineering spirit which the Chinese durst not repress. One Ouigour murderer was pardoned without trial, and another was forcibly rescued from prison by his comrades. In 778 they made a raid, defeated the Chinese army sent to check tiiem, and butchered ten thousand people. A second Chinese army was more successful. 35 274 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. The Emperor died the next year and a eunuch was sent to announce the demise of the crown to tlio Ouigours. The envoy met the khakhan with his whole army making; for the AVall, but the haughty monarch neglected even to salute the envoy. One of Tun 5[o-ho. his ministers, named Durmogho, remonstrated with him toucliing the unwisdom of this hostile policy : as the khakhan rejected his advice, Durmogho butchered him, his relatives, and two thousand other persons, setting himself up in his place as the " United Kutluk Biga Khakhan." In 780 an envoy was despatched from China to confirm the new ruler in his dignities. The Ouigours proper seem to have considered themselves superior to the Nine Clans, who were the real guilty parties in the last raid, and of whom 2,000 had been massacred by Durmogho for giving Idikeu evil council. Shortly after this a number of Ouigour and Nine Clan chiefs, who had been accumulating riches in the Chinese capital and were returning north, were discovered to have a cargo of girls cunningly concealed in their camel train ; the fraud was detected by one of the frontier officials poking each load with a long awl to see what the contents were. The guilty smugglers of the Nine Clan faction were afraid to go back when they heard of Durmogho's accession and Chanp ^ massacres, and so they submitted to the Chinese at Tai^Chou. frontier governor a plan for massacring all the Ouigour A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 275 chiefs, who would not allow them to make their escape as they wished. The frontier officer approved this idea, and as a preliminary reported to the Emperor that the Ouigour power was really nothing if once separated from that of their vassals the Nine Clans. Meanwhile he sent a junior officer with instructions to behave rudely to the leading Ouigour chief, — one of the khakhan's uncles, — who of course lost his temper and raised his whip. The Chinese commander then marched up the troops he had lying by in readiness, massacred both the Ouigours and the other Tartars, and recovered 100,000 pieces of silk, with several thousand camels and horses. He then reported to the Emperor that the Ouigours had flogged one of the Chinese superior officers, and had attempted to take the town, — the land of the modern Ulan-chap Mongols, — and that he had thought it his duty to anticipate their treacherous movement by killing them all, and now had the honour to return a bevy of maidens discovered, etc. etc. The Emperor at once recalled and replaced the over- zealous frontier officer and sent a eunuch to explain what had occurred to the Ouigour minister-resident. At the same time orders were sent to the special envoy who was on his way to confirm the khakhan in YuanHsiu. his titles to await further commands : he did not proceed onwards until the next year, when he took with him the coffins of the khakhan's murdered uncle T'u-tung. 276 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. and three other Ouigours of rank. The khakhan ordered his ministers to proceed with their carts and horses to meet the Cliinese envoy, who was at once cliargcd with complicit}' with the murder of the khakhan's nnclo. He explained that the uncle had lost his life through getting involved in a quarrel with the frontier commandant, and that the Emperor had not ordered the massacre. For fifty days the envoy and his suite were kept in confinement without an opportunity of seeing the khakhan, and they had a very narrow escape from death whilst heated dehates were going on in Ouigour circles. At last the khakhan sent the following message : — " My people all demand "your execution. I am the only exception. But, as " my uncle and his colleagues are now dead, to kill you "would simply be washing out blood with blood, and " making a dirtier mess than over. 1 think it better " to wash out blood with water. AV'liat I say is " this. The horses lost by my officers are worth " nearly two millions, and you had better pay up this " compensation sharp ! " He sent back the envoys with a mission of his own, and the Emperor, swallow- ing the leek, paid the money. Three years later the Ouigours applied for a marriage alliance. The Emperor, still smarting under recent humiliations, said to his ])rime minister: — " Our descendants must fight out this marriage question. 1 can't stomach it. " The premier ^sked ; — " Surely A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 277 your Majesty is not still thinking of the flogging of our envoys in the presence of Biikku's daughter ? " The Emperor said : — " Yes, I am : and it was only the " condition China was in at the time that prevented " her taking instant revenge." The premier argued : — " But that was Idiken, who, knowing your Majesty " would avenge the wrong, was about to anticipate "your action and make war upon you when he was "killed by the present khakhan ; whilst the latter, "notwithstanding the murder of his uncle, has made "friendly advances. I think the marriage should be " conceded, and there can be no harm done if we "apply the rule, laid down for the Turkish khakhans " Mercrin and Sulu fifty j'ears ago, limiting the suite "to two hundred and the number of horses to be " brought for sale to a thousand." The Emperor gave way, and the khakhan in his effusive gratitude for the princess (who lived to serve four other khakhans in succession) offered to lend his services, when required, against the Western Turks, (some of which nation, it will be remembered, joined the Ouigours at this time when the Karluks became predominant at Suzie). It was the khakhan Durmogho who applied to China just now for permission to change the national designation in a more warlike sense ; that is, the Chinese way of writing it, which now became in Chinese signification Houic/hour or " swooping hawks." Hui-lm. 278 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. It is much as though the Germans, who call them- selves Deutscher, had applied to the Roman Emperor to have their name changed from German! to Germanes on account of their " cousinly " behaviour. [This leads to the consideration of another point. The Mahomcdans of Tartary began to be called Ouigours some centuries alter these events, and in Genghis Khan's time we find the term almost exclusively applied to Mussulman Tartars, whilst the new term Ouiwhour (tlie difference in both syllables being merely a question of afflatus in the Chinese characters used,) was applied to the then still existing Ouigliour states about Urumtsi and Pidjan, and also to the historical ancient race that emanated from the Caracorum region. This confusion in terms is apparently owing to tlie fact that, as we shall see, the Ouighours disappear from the Chinese ken for a century or two. There is no Chinese record as yet available shewing when and how the Saracen influence grafted the Mussulman religion upon the Ouigours, but naturally the Arabs and Persians would call all nomad Tartars b}' the old name of the only known dominant power lying between them and China ; that is Turks ; whilst the hordes of Genghis, not finding them called Ouigours in the west until he carried that name west himself, would invent a new name to distinguish historically one particular race of Mussulman Tartars not Bhamanists fronj the other. Thus the old word A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 279 Ouighour would come to mean Mussulman Turks, and the new word Ouiwliour would mean the ancient race which eamo from Caracorum, and the old families of which, though perhaps Mussulmans, were still found at Karahodjo. It is much liiie the word Frank, which, first meaning a petty tribe of Germans, is next applied to the Celtic inhabitants of the country' ruled by that tribe : then by the Turks to the whole family of Christian states headed by France ; then by all easterns to Europeans, and finally by the Chinese to the first European comers, the Portuguese and Spaniards. Its last degradation is in the Tibetan and Nepaulese form F'i-ling, meaning " English."] In 789 the khakhan died, and was succeeded by his brother Taras. Urumtsi and Barkul had fallen To-lo-ssii. into Tibetan hands with the rest of Kan Suh between 751 and 766, and communications with those parts were only possible through Oiiigour territory: of course the Ouigours charged exorbitant prices for their safe-conducts. The Shado were consequently obliged, as already related, to join the Tibetans, as there was no adequate Chinese protection to be got at Urumtsi, which place the Ouigours unsuccessfully endeavoured to rescue from Tibetan hands. The Karluks were now becoming so powerful, too, that the Ouigours liad to fall back farther south. Taras was succeeded by his nephew Acho, who did good service against the Tibet- A-ohiieh. ans and Karluks. He died in 795, and, as he had left 280 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. no issue, the Ouigours raised one of the ministers named Kutlnk to the khakhanship. It is interesting to learn that t!iis khakhan succeodeil in obtaining a favouriible l!o-ni seng. reception in Cihina for some JliiniLdiean mi-;sionarios, subjects of his : [two hundred years later Manicliean temples served by Persian priests are mentioned in the Chinese annuls as existing in the then Ouigour Kao-cli'ung. metropolis of Karahodjo]. In 80S another khakhan came to the throne and applied for a new wife, — the old one's long services having been put an end to by death : notwithstanding the representations of his ministers that it would be a politic thing to make friends with the Ouigours, so as to keep them hostile to the Tibetans and enable China the better to crush her rebellions, the Emperor would not give his consent. The request was renewed very pressingly in 821, and this time a new Emperor granted it ; but, the khakhan djdng almost immediatel}^ the envoy who had been sent to formall}' invest him did that duty for his successor instead. A splendid Ouigour mission, on an unheard of scale of magnificence, was sent to fetch the girl, who this time was a genuine Emperor's daughter. There were 2,000 tribal chiefs, and as ])resents to China 20,000 burses and 1,000 camels; but only 500 men were allowed to come into the cai)ital ; the remainder had to stay behind at T'ai-yiian Eu in Shan Si. This khakhan rejoiced in the title of " Tenra-uromomish Guchluk-biga," to which the A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 281 Emperor added Chinese words meaning " of exalted virtue." About this time the Catha3'ans were waver- ing; in their allegiance, and seem to have perforce accepted the suzerainty of both the Ouigours and the Chinese : at that moment there were troubles on the Cathayan frontier, but on the whole it was thought more prudent not to employ the Ouigours again iu China. The Emperor and the khakhan botli died in the year 824 : the successor and j'ounger brother of the latter was murdered iu 832 and succeeded by his nephew. There seems to have been treason during this reign, for one of the Ouigour chiefs joined the Shado under Chuzia the Just in an attack upon his own sovereio-n, who committed suicide. Another outsider was raised to the throne, but the Ouigour power was now rapidly breaking up, added to which dearth, pestilence, and heavy snow-falls carried off the greater part of their live stock. One of the chiefs joined the Kirghiz, and the two, forming a united body of 100,000 men, marched upon the Ouigour ordo, killed the khakhan, and broke up the entire nation: one of the dere with fifteen tribes took refuge with the Kar- O-yu. luks, and the rust with the Tibetans or round about Barkul. The thirteen tribes which occupied the parts near the ordo moved south to the neighbourhood of Shan Si and elected the dere Oke to the khakhanship. Wu-chich. 36 282 A 'Thousand Years of the Tartars. CHAPTER II. The Period of Wanderii^ig. WE have already narrated how the Kirghiz, during their attack upon the Ouigoiir ordo, obtained possession of the Cliinese princess' person. Like the Hiung-nu who claimed relationship with the Han dynasty because a Chinese princess had once i been given to one of their ancestors, so the Kirghiz now claimed to be of the same blood as' the T'anff dynasty, because a Chinese general named Li had gone over to the Hiunfj-nu a thousand years ajro, had married a Tartar wife, and had become the progenitor of the Kirghiz! Bat Oke was too quick for them: he recaptured the princess, and advanced ui)on Kuku- T'ien-t6, or khoto, or Tenduc as it had now begun to be called. Kwei-hwa i-i Ch'eng. His attack was repulsed, but the Emperor, taking the advice of his ablest minister, resolved not to encourage the Kirghiz at the cost of his old allies the Ouigours, and sent envoys to the frontier with a mis.-ion to conduct a general enquiry. The princess also, who, like all her predcr-es'^ors, seems to have had a healthy ajipreciation of at least one Tartar custom, sent a message to the Em[)eror suggesting that, as Oke was now khakhan she might as well transfer her affections to him. Possibly the custom of squeezing the feet, which began during this dynasty, had its origin in a A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 283 desire to keep Chinese women from " running off to the Turks," at any rate no other more plausible explanation has ever been suggested. Relief to the extent of a thousand tons of grain was sent to the impoverished Ouigours, but their application for the loan of the modern Tai Chou (bewteen Tenduc and Peking) as a temporary residence was not conceded. Besides those under Oke, there were other parties of Ouigours under various chiefs who endeavoured to make terms with China on their own account. The negotiations were varied by occasional raiding, and several parties took refuge east amongst the Shirvvi, Black Carts, [possibly Black Khirgiz] and other Hei-cli'e-tzu. obscure tribes affiliated to the Catha3'ans. Oke es- tablished his ordo in the mountains north of Ta-t'ung Fu, where he still had a considerable force under him, — not far from a hundred thousand. Several Ouigour chiefs gave in their submission, received military titles, and undertook to guard the fi-ontier. Oke now applied for the loan of Tenduc city, and, when this also was refused, vented his spleen by raiding the whole country round about. One of the Ouigour chiefs named Umuz was granted the imperial Wu-moh-ssj. surname, and co-operated with the Chinese with a view of crushing Oke. An attack was made upon his ordo during the night, and the person of the Chinese princess was secured together with 20,000 or 30,000 prisoners. Oke succeeded in effecting his 284 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. escape, and took refuge with the Black Carts, who were subsequently briheJ to kill him. The miserable remnants of his force, under a new khakhan called O-nien. Okner, now reduced to 5,000, obtained food from the chieftain of the Ghei ; but the Ghei themselves, who had lately been giving trouble, were broken up by the Chinese in the year 847, and shortly after that found themselves obliged to throw in their lot with their powerful kinsmen the Cathayans, who were now carving out an empire of their own. The Ouigours in this part became gradually extinct, only about .300 of the noble class remaining : these took refuge with the Shirwi. As the Chinese demanded the surrender of the khakhan from the Shirwi, Okner left his people in the lurch, and fled with his wife and son and nine other cavaliers to the Karluks. The Shirwi now made slaves of the re- maining Ouigours, but the Kirghiz seem to have thought that they had a prior claim, and marched an army of 70,000 men against the Shirwi, from whom they recovered all the Ouigours. They were taken back to the north of the Desert, whence, after skulking about for a time and picking up a [)recarious livelihood by preying upon other tribes, they at la^t found their way in small parties to the other branch of their tribe, which had taken refuge in the old Turkish birthplace arovmd Kau-chou Fu, A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 285 CHAPTER III. The Later Ouigours of the West. WHEN the power of tlie Western Turks was broken up, it will be borne in inind that some of Bucbiii's horde joined the Ouigours ; and when the Ouigours were dispersed by the Kirgliiz, these particular people took refuge around Barkul. They seem to have occupied Harashar for a time, and at last to have worked their way down under the dere who acted as chief to the region of Kan-cliou. P'nng t'e-16. The Emperor Siian Tsung was kindly disposed to- wards these refugees, and sent envoys to arrange matters with them and to confer a khanish title upon their chief. In the year 860 a General Bukku, with P'u-ku Chiin. a force of Ouiffours and others actinrr on behalf of China, drove the Tibetans out of Kan Suh and the Kuche group of cities, and sent the head of the Tibetan hlon or general as a trophy to the Emperor. But not very long after this the great Chinese dynasty of T'ang itself begun to fall to pieces, and the visits of the Ouigours became so iri'egular that history records very little of their doings. Towards the end of the 9th century they proffered military assistance, which it was thought more prudent to decline ; but they occasionally came with a stock of horses and precioi(sstoqes to exchange for tea, silks, etc. 286 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. During the Five Dynasty period of the tenth century, which may be roughly described as that (luring which the Shado Turks ruled the northern part of Cliina as Emperors, the Ouigours occasionally came to pay their respects to China, of which they always spoke as "uncle," on account of the T'ang dynasty having often given them girls in marriage. There appear to have l)een two distinct Ouigour centres at this time : one at Kan-chou, and the other in the Fidjan region ; and the Ouigours of the former, nahii'ally, as being the nearer, were the most frequent vi>itors. The short-lived dynasty of Liang received a visit in the year 911; but although titles were conferred upon tlie envoys, no record was kept of the names and titles of their masters. During the reign of the fonniler of the Chuzia dynasty of After T'ang, Wang Jen- an individual bearing a dliineso name, who styled himself "acting khakhau," sent an envoy with tribute of jewels and horses : a return ambassador was despatched to invest him with the title of khakhan ; but the latter died the same year, and was succeeded l>y a younger brother, whose somewhat curious name AVang Ti-yin. appears really to represent the Turkish word te(jhin : A-tu-yii. he again was succeeded b}' one Aturyuk in 92G. The , following year another "acting regent" with a WangJOn-yii. Chinese name sent an envoy, and was invested by Maokire, the second Shado Emperor Ming Tsnng, with a khanish title, which title wi^s q,dded to by the A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 287 founder of the second Shade dynasty of After Tsin : but it is distinctly stated that no one ever knew if Aturyuk was a relative of Teghin ; and if so in what degree ; nor did it ever appear how and why he succeeded, and how he ceased to reign : but the actinjr regent, although nothing further is known of him, certainly went on reigning until about 9G0, and frequently sent tribute. In 961 his son and successor sent an envoy to the Sung court. It is evidently during this dark age of China that the Ouigour name by imperceptible degrees became transformed in its sicrnification. It is int(u-estin!i to know what th(^ Chinese could glean concerning these later Ouigour kingdoms, which may be said to bear the same relation to the old nomad empire that the Christian Ostrogoth and Visigoth kingdoms did to the wandering Gothic powers previous to the 4th centurJ^ The territory of the last-named Ouigour ruler is described as producing yaks, precious stones, wild horses, single-humped camels, antelope horns, sal ammoniac, castoreum, diamonds, red salt, hair- rugs, cotton, and horse-skin<. [The single-humped camels must have been brought by Arab merchants, as only the Bactrian camel is found in Tartary.] The country is suited to the growth of various wheats and barlej'S, yellow hemp (abutilon), onions, scallions, carraways. The land is sown with seed after being ploughed by camels. The khakhau usually lived in 288 A Thousand Years of tlie Tartars. a storeyed edifice, and his wife was styled the "celestial princess." Their ministers of state were inrilu. qualified by the word meiliik, and when they ha I audience of the khakhan etiquette require I them to remove the hat ansary to punish the (lathaj'ans, in consequence of which they separated from the Ghei for twenty years and went back north of the Sira Muren. The Ts'i Kao Yang. dynasty of Tobas built a new stretch of Great \Vall 300 miles in length from the Nank'ou Pass near Peking westwards to Ta-t'ung Fu in order to keep them off. Thus we see that China proper had as yet no knowledge whatever of these people except through their congener* the Toba and Jumen dynasties of North China, who were simply the more civilised tribes of on(> and the s:inie race. -Just in tlie s;\me way with the more eastern Tunguses, whose hunting habits were totally different from those of their kinsmen the Ghei and Cathayans, we first find the A lliousand Years of the Tartars. 299 more or earlier civilised founding the kingdom of Botskai (as narrated) ; then the less or later civilised P'o-hai. founding the Empire of the Niiclicns ; and finally the most obscure and filthiest tribe of all rearing its head over both its predecessors and developing into the great Manchu Empire of to-day. The Manchus when they conquered China and Mongolia considered the Solons of the Amur to be the descendants of the So-lun, ancient Clathayans. It is important to keep this feature of Tartar vicissitudes well in mind. As with the Mongols, Turks, and Hiung-nu, so with the Manchus, Cathayans, and Sien-pi, in each case it is always a petty tribe which, under some impulsive hero or some great provocation, takes the lead and gives a new name to a kingdom or an empire : otherwise things always remain much the same ; until at last Buddhism and the use of writing gradually leaven and civilise the whole mass. Chinese statesmen have asked themselves whether it would not be possible to turn Christianity to similar uses, and emasculate the fierce nations of Europe in the same way that Buddhism has emasculated the degenerate Tibetans and Mongols. The Turks were now beginning to press upon the Ghoi and Cathayans, 10,000 families of the latter emigrating to Corea rather than become Turkish vassals, and 4,000 offering to submit to China with the same object. All the Ghei submitted to China, 300 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. This was rather awkward for the founder of the Sui dynasty, who was most anxious to keep on good terms witli bis neighbours the Turks : he tried to induce the C'atbayans to go back, and ordered the Turks to be kind to them. However those near the Chinese frontier positively refused to go back, and banded together in company with the Ghei for mutual protection. They killed the Turkish tudun who had been despatched by the khakhan Shaporo to govern them, and sent tribute to the mad Emperor Yang Ti. Several of their chiefs came to court during the reifjn of Li Yiiaii the founder of the T'ang dynasty ; but they used notwithstanding to make raids occasionall}-. It will Ije recollected that Gheri oft'ered to surrender LiaiiKShih-tu. a danfrerous rebel to T'ai Tsung if the latter would abandon the C'atbayans to him ; but the Emperor was generous enough to refuse to do this. In CI8 he made K'u-ko. a new proconsular pro'since of Cathay, appointing the chief, who was given the imperial clan name of Li, as proconsul, having ten divisional governors under him : practically speaking this was the vast country now known as the Jchol Superintendencj'. At the same time a Chinese High Connnissioner for the Eastern Barbarians generally was established at modern Yung-p'ing Fu. This went on all well until 61)C when Li Cliin- the great-grantlson of the first aj)pointee raised the chun^. standard of revolt, murdered the High (Connnissioner, and styled himself Khakhan, Army after army sent A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 301 to quell the rebellion met with utter defeat, until at last the services of the Turkish Khakhan Mercho were called for a;;ainst the rebels, and he annexed tlieni to his dominions. As Merchci's power began to fall off, the Ghei and Cathaj-an chieftains once more came to Clhina and received more or less royal ladies in marriage. Then the Cathayans went over to the Turkish interests and tried to force the Ghei to do likewise. For some j'ears after this tliere is a succes- sion of revolts, raids, pardons, marriages, tribute missions, etc., of too obscure and uninteresting a nature to be followed out in detail with any satisfaction. The Ghei began to intrigue with the Shirwi and Ouigours with a view to raiding, and finally both they and the Cathayans found it convenient to keep in with the Ouigours. In 842 the Ouigours chastised the Cathayans, apparentlj' for coquetting with the Chinese, who now once more granted them an imperial seal and took them imder protection. Tlie Chinese dynasty of T'ang was by this time falling into decrepitude, and the Catliayans, who liad all this time been gaining in strength, took the opportunity to annex the Ghei, Sib, Shirwi, and all the other smaller tribes in their localitj'. The Ghei, who were west of the Cathayans, must have been rather more Turkish in manners than the Cathayans : they are mentioned in a way which does not separate them either politically^ or etbnologically 302 A Tliousand Years of the Tartars. from the Turks so distinctly as it does the Gathiiyans. The pasture-seeking habits of the Ghei are said to have been those of the Turks without mueli difference. At the same time the ways of the Ghei were very foul, wliieh is never said of any Hiung-nu race except the Jwen-jwen ; and they kept pigs, and placed corpses on trees, which were both Tungusic characteristics. They possessed great numbers of black sheep (or goats), and their horses were a very hardy and active breed. One branch of them, disgusted with C'athayan tyranny, moved westwards to the region of modern Kalgan, where they lived liy shooting, and by collecting ginseng and musk for sale to the Ohincis*^ : these latter oave them a eertain amount of countenance, and allowed them to develop their aptitude for tillage by cultivating the spare land along the frontier. The Shado Turkish dynasty of After T'ang found them useful soldiers, but the Shado Turkish dynasty of After Tsin ceded parts of Shan Si and Chih Li within the Wall to the Cathayans, and with them these western Ghei : of the other Ghei the ( 'hinese had lost sijrht altogether, so far at least as being in an}- way distinct from the (Jathayans was coneenied. The Ghei and some at lea-^-t of the (_'a(hayans cannot well be anj'thing but the ancestors of the various Mongol tribes that now occupy their old quarters ; and it is also difficult to imagine what the A Thousand Years oftlie Tartars. 303 western Mongols can be other than the fragments of the old Humg-nn and Tnrkish Empires dished up, so to speak, in a new shape, after having been reduced or raised by Genghis Khan and his snc- cessors to one monotonous level bearing a Mongol tinge, and after having their originally fierce cha- racter softened by tiie influence of Buddhism. There was, it is true, a Shirwi tribe called Mungwa MCng-wa. and there was the petty tribe, more akin to the Tunguses than the Turks, called Tatur, from eitlier Ta-tun. of which the Mongols proper may possibly have sprung. But extensive nationalities must either immigrate or breed : they cannot suddenl}' spring into existence. We know that the tribe of Genghis Khan did not come in large bodies from the nortli, south, east, or west ; but, beginning in the humblest way, grew as it rolled over the plains like a huge snow-ball, absorbing almost everything in its way. Any one who has lived amongst the modern Mongols must see that they correspond exactly in appearance and very mncli in manners to the descriptions given of the ancient Hiung-nn and Huns. In other words, things remain largely as they always were. But where is the line to be drawn between the liinnn-nu and Sien-pi element? How is it the eastern and western ]\Iongols are ahnost exactly the same in in language and habit, whilst the Manchus, who are closely connected so far as language goes with the 304 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. (;!athayans and Ghei, are and were totally different in manners from the Mongols ? The answer probably is some of the Hiung-nu have gone off west, mixed with Sarts, Persians, and Circassians, and totally lost their old individualitj'. The easternmost of the Tunguses in the same w:iy have been absorbed or coloured by the Chinese. The Himig-uu, Sien-pi, Jwen-jwen, Ouigonr, and Turkish tribes that re- mained in their old country have mixed with the Keraits, Mongols proper, etc., and become the modern Mongol Leagues. After the Cathaj-ans had unified themselves into an independent state as above described, the}' called it lisiiio-lo-Uo hiaolka muri, referring to its position on both sides of the mitri or "river" (Sira Muren). There were eight tribes, each with a chief ; but a head chief was elected at intervals and invested with a drum and standard as a symbol of his authoritj', just as in old 8ieu-pi times ; but he was deposed if a dearth or pestilence afllietcd the country, or if the flocks and herds fell off seriously. Horse-breeding seems to have been one of the chief resources of the Cathayans, as it is now of the Eastern Mongols, and the ('hinosc, when at war witli them, used to set fire to the prairie grass in order to starve or destroy the horses. At the beginning of the 10th century, when the T'ang dynasty had given way to the Shado A-pao-chi. Turks, a man of obscure origin named Apaoki was A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 305 elected President of the Eight Tribes, and a great many Chinese sought safety from anarchy with him. He received them hospitably and built towns for them, and for his prisoners too, one at or near the modern Dolonor. Apaoki now learnt for the first Han-ch'Cng. time that the elective sj'stein was considered an anomaly by the Chinese ; he had now been President of the Cathayan Republic for nine years, and there were murmurs on account of his alleged Cajsarism making themselves heard. He proceeded cautiousl}^, first obtaining the sanction of the Eight Tribes to his forming a tribe of his own out of the numerous Chinese his policy had induced to immigrate. Then he took the advice of a shrewd Cliinaman in his HanYen-hui. employ and instructed his people in jiolite manners. He made what was called " Chinese Town " as much like a real one as possible, with shops, houses, and markets, all on the plan of the provincial metropolis occupying the site of modern Peking, — as it then was. The position of Chinese Town was selected on account of the plentiful arable land, iron, and salt in the neighbourhood ; and Chinese merchants and cultivators were made so comfortable that they had, under Apaoki at least, no idea of going back to their own country. His wife next persuaded him to claim compensation from the other chiefs for the salt which they used to obtain from the pools in his territory. This claim was thought reasonable, and all the other 39 306 A Thousand, Years of the Tartars, chiefs, bringing oxen with them for a feast, assembled at the pools. After having made them all drunk with liquor, Apaoki summoned the soldiers he had ready lying in ambush, and massacred the whole of his visitors. He then proceeded to resume power as permanent supreme chief without being further troubled with the prospect of re-elections or the claims of vice-presidents. Apaoki was now so powerful that the Shade Turks representing the T'ang dynasty were only too glad to make an alliance with him with a view to getting rid of the After Liang dynasty. But for some nnexpkuDed reason he changed his mind, and, declaring himself a vassal to Liang, proceeded to raid the country between Kalgan, Jehol and Peking, then forming part of the territory in the nominal possession of the Sliado Turk'<. He was unsuccessful, and suffered several crushing defeats: at the same time he had advanced so far into the great Peking plain, and had seen so much of the rich prospect of plunder in the numerous Chinese cities, that it was from this moment that he and his people began to harbour serious designs upon the Chinese Empire. But even at this date tlie Manehu state of Botskai, which lay between them and Corea, and tlie as yet unorganized Manehu communities known as Kiiehens, which lay to their rear, were sufficiently formidable to make the (Jathaj'ans pause before venturing too A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 307 far into China. It was therefore resolved to secure iinfett/M'ed action by first conquering Botsliai, and, lest tlio Shado Turks, then reigning at modern OhOng-ting Fu in Chih-li, should seize the oppor- ChSn Chou. tunity to invade Cathay, Apaoki exchanged several friendly missions with the Shado ruler. Meanwhile the latter had transferred his capital to Ho-nan Fu, had been killed tliere in a popular tumult, and had been succeeded by his excellent sou Maokire, better Mao-ohi-Iieh. known as already stated as the Emperor Ming Tsung. Maolcire sent an envoy to formally notify the Cathay- ans of his accession. Apaoki, turning his eyes to Heaven wept aloud, saying : — " Alas ! your emperor's " grandfather and I had agreed to be brethren : " it therefore follows that the father of the present " Ho-nan Emperor was my son. ^Mien I heard of " the tumult, I was ou the point of marching with '■ 50,000 men to my son's assistance, had it not been " that Botskai was not yet extinguished and that I was " unable to fulfil my heart's desire. But, my son " being dead, how can a new Emperor set himself up " without asking my advice ? " Maokire's envoy replied : — " The new Emperor has held for some time " the military dignity of Field-Marshal, having led "armies in person during the past twenty years : he "has 300,000 seasoned troops under his command, " so that Heaven and Man alike have conspired to "place him where he is, Who then is going to 308 A Tlionsand Years of the Tartars. T'u-yii. " oppose him ? " Apaoki's son Tuiyiik, who was standing near, said : — "Envoy ! do not talk so much ! " You know the saying in the parable, (and a reason- " able one too it seems to me), that a cow is liable to "seizure for licr trespass!" The envoy rejoined : — " How can an old parable about an obscure peasant " apply to God's Anointed and Man's Choice ? For " instance, when your august father appropriated the " Cathay throne and abolished election, who would " charge him with trespass ? " As usual Chinese diplomacy (for the Turkish envoy was a Chinese) won the day. Apaoki modified his tone a little. He went on : — " I understand my son had 2,000 women "with 1,000 musicians and munmiers in his [lalaee ; "Ihat he spent his time in hawking and coursing, "and indulged freely in the ])lcasures of wine and " women, employing worthless persons, and showing " consideration for no man, all which brought on his " fall. Since the news of his collapse I and my " family have given up dram-drinking, set our hawks " and hounds at liberty, and dismissed all our musicians " except thosi^ few required for public banquets : " otherwise I might share my sou's fate." Later on he said : — "I can speak Chinese, but I never utter a " word of it before ni)- own people, lest they should " inn'tute the Chinese and liecoino timid and feeble. " You had better go back and tell the Emperor I will " meet him with 20,000 dragoons somewhere between A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 309 " Pekino; and Cheng-ting Fu, and will make a treaty "with liiin there. If he will cede me the Peking " phiin I will not make any further attacks." Apaoki after this marched on the Botskai, took their capital, (the modern K'ui-yiian), and clumged Fu-yuriiV'ng the name of the country to " Eastern Tan."' [This seems to shew that the second syllahle in the word Kitan must have had a meaning distinct from the first.] He placed his son Turyuk in (diarge as king, and from that time the state was extinguished, except in so far as occasionally the Chine-e Sung dj'nasty intrigued to secure its assistance with a view to making a demonstration against the Cathayans. Apaoki died ver}' shortly after theses ovonts in the year i)iCy. Tlio After T'ang Em[)eror Muokire seems to have inspired the Chinese in Cathay witii more con- fidence than the snccessor of Apaoki, who was besides not the rightful heir : at any rate 100,000 of them found their way back to China. During Apaoki's reign the old Sien-pi s^'stem of conveying orders by wooden tallies had been abandoned in favour of writing, and certain Chinese had invented for him a ver}' simple and at the same time ingenious form of written character consisting of Chinese hierogly])hs and ideographs mutilated or re-jiieced : no one has yet made a successful attempt to decipher the few inscriptions which are known still to exist in this artificial language. Colonel Yule gives a specimen 310 A Thousand Years of tlie Tartars. in his Marco Polo. Apaoki also assumed the imperial stylo as " Celestial Imperial King," which he evi- dently intended to he as liigh if not liigher than that ot the Eui|)or()r of China. His first reign-period l)egan in the year 91G, hut it was from i)il2 that his celestial pretensions dated. His ordo or chief encampment, Ilsi-loii. called also " western shooting hox," (a place on the Iliver Taling, just within Mongolia, and north-west of Kwang-ning in Manchuria), was made his Upper ( 'ajjital : this, which seems to have heen also the old Cli'ang-li, Mujang seat of government, Leeame the Central Capital of the fifth Cathayan Emperor. His "eastern box" was 300 miles further east, w'hich would be somewhere near either Moukden or Hing-king. The " northern box" was a hundred miles north of the western, and the "southern box," where the fii>t tombs were, was some distance to the south of the western. Ihe gates and doors of all four hunting-boxes faced eastwards, and at all great functions to face eastwards was con- sidered the most dignified and solemn proceeding. On the 1st day of c^very moon they turned east to worship the sun, and they wei'e great believers in the unseen powers. The notes of a Chinese who spent several years with the (Jathayans have been preserved ; but, though he gives a pretty vivid description of the country^ through which he passed, and the names of many places, it is quite impossible, owing to the total absence of proper compass directions with the dis- A Thousand Years of tlie Tartars. 311 tancos, and of precise information of any sort, to Jo more than guess where any particular place was and how the country was organized for administration. The Upper Capital was a regular town with houses and market-place. No coins were used ; only cloth. There were silk factories, priests and nuns (Buddhist and Taoist), brothels and houses of pleasure, artisans, wrestlers, students, doctors of learning, and various officials. All the above were Chinese, chiefly from the four prefectures of Shan Si and Chih Li just within the Great Wall. It was thirteen miles from this Upper Capital eastwards to the Palisade, and here the Chinese traveller for the first time found some vegetables. The land grew more elevated as he advanced eastwards: looking back westwards ho thought the country seemed like a dense fir forest. In a shoi't time they reached a level well-wooded meadow country and found water-melons there, the seeds for which the Cathayaus had obtained from the west when they defeated the Ouigours: they were crown in beds of cows'-dung covered over with mats, and were large and very sweet. Continuing east- wards through a lovely meadow country, they saw their first willow trees and a peculiar kind of fine rich bulky grass, ten blades of which would make a good feed for a horse. After this the traveller gives no direction of any kind for his journeys, but it seems he travelled at the rate of 20 miles a day, probably 312 A Tliousand Years of the Tartars. in the direction of Monkden, and got to a place where there was no grass at all, only spiky tares like the feathers of an arrow. Wherever this locality was, the C'athayan monnrchs occasionally " pitched their cart-tents" here. [It is then explained that the Cathaj'ans learnt tlu^ use of those tents fron^ the Black Cart tribe, at the time they conquered the Ouigours, so that we may conclude that in this particular at least the Northern Hiung-nu or Kankali tribes differed from the Sien-pi.j Thence they Mu-yeh Shan, travelled seven days south-west to the Imperial Tombs enclosure, which scorns to have been approached by a narrow pass : it contained houses, and there was a stone slab inscribed [it is presumed in Chinese] with the word " Tombs." No Chinese wore allowed to enter, and no Cathayan chiefs either, unless the}' carried sacrificial objects with them ; nor would they tell the Chinese anything about wjiat went on inside. A walled town 700 miles north-east of Peking is also mentioned, where there were 3,000 Chinese captives : tiie town had been built for their benefit. East of this, towards the sea, the country was inhabited by hunting tribes living in skin tents. It is ea^y to i-ocognizc from the (loscri[)tion given the various Niichon and then still barbarous Manchu tribes. It is also evident that the traveller worked his way YU Kwan. down to the modern Shan-hai Kwau, where the T'ang dynasty had once had flourishing military A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 313 colonies. Then he came to the Southern Ghei, ah-eaJy describoJ, who were " rather Hke the Ca- thayans, but more murderously disposed." Then the traveller speaks from hearsay of the Turks, T'ieh-lS. Ouigours, Kirghiz, and Kaukalis all lying to the west. This particular Chinaman was a secretary in the employ of a Cathayan general of rank, apparently viceroy of the extreme east, and that is how he came to see and hear so much of the country. When he got back to China he wrote a book called " Among the Caterans." The above is as much as can bo ascertained at present touching the Cathayan do- minions of Apaoki's time and that of his immediate successor. CHAPTER II. Conquest of the Tueko-Chinese Empire BY Cathay. ON the death of Apaoki his eldest son Turyuk, King of Eastern Tan, ought to have succeeded ; but the queen-mother's favourite son was the second one, who possessed an unpronounceable native name, but is usually known by his adopted Chinese name of Teh-kwang. Apaoki seems to have died directly after installing Turyuk in the Botskai capitaL At any rate his wife managed to keep tiie death secret until she could get her second son back safely to the western shooting-box, where she at once had him 10 314 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. Yao K'un. proclaimed successor: the Tnrko - Chinese envoy above mentioned was with her all the time. Of course this proceeding wiis very dista'^teful to Turyuk; but, as his brother was a brave man of remarkable abilit}', and as all the great men had supported the mother's choice, he was unable during several years to assert his rights, consequently he took a junk aud sought refuge in the year 930 with China, i.e. with Maokire. That Emperor presented him with the imperial T'ang clan name of Li, (which Maokire's own ancestors had long ago adopted), and also gave him a military command. China's prestige was now almost entirely re-established under the Shado Turks, who not only beat the Catliayans in the field, but felt strong enough to utterly ignore their envoys. One ambassador who came to demand the surrender of certain Cathayan prisoners was simply decapitated for his pains. Since the garrisons which used to keep out the YiiKwaii.or Tartars from the Shan-hai Kvvan passage had been allowed to fall into desuetude, the Cathayans had begun to choose that waj' as the most convenient one for raiding, and the Peking ])lains lay entirely at their mercy. All (Jhinese connnunications in those parts had to be protected by strong convoys. But the Shado Turkish dynasty had now remedied this in a great measure, and the people were able to resume their cultivation. Teh-kwang therefore moved east A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 315 to a place which sounds like Bola Nor, evidently Po-la Po north of Shan Si, and made that the centre of his '■""■'■ raiding operations. Maokire was so troubled about this that he sent his son-in-law — afterwards the founder of the Later Tsin dynasty — to protect East of Shib Ching- the River (as Shan Si was then called), and to take supreme command of the four frontier armies : the whole neighbouring country was denuded in order to keep him supplied with the necessary stores. But the son-in-law rebelled against Maokire's worthless successors, sent envoys to the Cathayans, declared himself their vassal, and promised to cede to them in return for their recognition all those parts of Shan Si and Chih Li which lie north of the 39th parallel of north latitude. The Cathayans emerged from the celebrated Goose Gate Pass, (the scene of so many Yen MGn. events in old Hiung-nu history), their carts and cavalry extending over a distance of seven miles ; the armies of T'ang wore defeated, and Shih King- t'ang, son-in-law of Maokire, was created Emperor by the Cathayans under the most humiliating con- ditions as to status, subsidies, cession of territory, and general dependence. Maokire seems to have been Li Ssu-yiian. one of the purest characters in Chinese history : he was quite an old man when he died, and one of his last prayers was: — "1 am a poor simple Tartar, " elevated to the throne by the acclamations of a " fickle multitude : my only prayer is that so long as 316 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. " Heaven is pleased to preserve me I may be guided "to do the best for my people." Peking was now Yen-ching. made a district metropolitan eity of the Catha3-!m Empire, which from this time was called Liao, a word said to mean "Iron." [In connection with this sabject it maj' be mentioned that the successors of the Cathayans, the Niichcns, called their empire Kin or " Golden." It is by no means unlikely that the word Mongol or munku, which is said to mean " Silver," was adopted by Genghis Khan in imitation of his predecessors, and that the people or tribe then first called iminhi can not be shewn to have had any other ethnic origin. This, however, is conjecture.] The Cathayan Empire, which was never very extensive so far as Ciiina proper was included in its limits, now embraced sixteen Chinese departments south of ihe Great Wall, Manchuria, and North Tartary • from first to last the Cathayans appear to have adhered to one fixed principle, — never to abandon their ancient wandering habits of life. At the same time Teh-kwang now organized his empire on the Chinese system, for that was ap[iarently the only way to keep t'liinamen in it. The Shade Emperor had to send 300,000 pieces of silk a 3-ear, liesides jew(!ls, curiosities, dainties, and liquor. It was agreed, however, tliat the relation of " father and son " should be officially substituted for that of "suzerain and vassal," Shih King-t'ang, whose A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 317 Tartar name, if he had one, does not appear, kept his bargain faithfully throughout his reign ; but on his death in 943 Teh-kwaug professed great indignation because the event was not annoTuicod before the successor — a nephew — presumed to write a letter as " grandson," taking it for granted that he also was no " vassal." In the year 94:4 the irate suzerain marched in throe columns to invade China. The column which advanced through Goose Gate was repulsed by the Shade Turkish general Liu Lin Cliih- Chi'-yiian, who afterwards founded the dynasty of After Han : [it is probable, to judge by iiis name, that he professed to be connected in some way with the ancient Zenghis and with the Han dynasty, or at least with the Liu Yiian dynasty of the fourth century : but that also is mere conjecture.] The eastern column advanced as far as the Yellow River in Shan Tung, whilst Teh-kwang himself, at the head of the central column marched upon Ta-ming Fu and the northern- most point of Ho Nan province. Here a great but indecisive battle was fought, both sides losing half their men. The C'athayans withdrew after dark in two bodies, one going by way of the Grand Canal towards the Tientsin of to-day. The next spring Teh-kwang invaJel China with the whole available forces of his dominions, taking city after city in (yhih Li, and advancing right up to the old Toba capital of Ghang-t^b Fu in Ho Nan, as Au-yang. 318 A ThoiiKand Years of the Tartars. it is now called, destroying and looting everything in his way, setting fire to houses and mulberry trees, and massacring peo[)le right and left. On the approach of the ( 'liincse army the Cathayans retreated, but the Chinese generals were too cowardly to pursue. The Tsin Emperor now took command in person, and the Cathayans, who had already got pretty far on the way home, at once turned back to give him battle. Teh- kwang is represented as travelling in a Ghei wagon from which he exhorted his men to do their very best, as there was now a chance of engulphing the whole Tsin army and putting an end to their Empire. The Tsin men, amongst whom we may fairly assume there wci(! some Shade Turks, fought with desperate resolu- tion ; the (.'athayans were totally defeated, and Teh- kwang, abandoning his cart, fled on a white camel to Peking, where he had all his generals flogged, with Chao Yen- tho single exception of a certain Chinese commander whom he had forced to join him in Maokire's time. As that part of the Chinese Empire under the Shado Turk rule was suffering from a plague of locusts and from drought, the war with Cathay pressed very hard upon the people, and it was accordingly decided to m;ike peace propu-als to the (Jathayan-^, submit the re-iiectfal addre-s demanded, and declare ( 'liina a vassal state. Teh-kwang's behaviour to tho envoy was very rude, but the Cathayans themselves were getting tired of war. His mother took up the reply A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 319 as follows : — " Does our Chinese son of the southern " djmasty think he can wrest from us a corner to " repose in ? Well, from ancient times it has always " been China tliut made proposals to the foreigner ; " wo never hear of foreigners going to make peace '• with China. Your C!hiue^o son has really come to " think better of it, we have no objection." However the Tsin people did not send any further mission, but contented themselves with trying to induce the above- mentioned able Chinese general — who was aimino; at empire on his own account — to desert back to the Shado side. This general pretended to fall in with the proposals, but, seeing that his true interests now lay on the Cathayan side, he betrayed the secret, and laid a trap to catch the Chinese armies who were to come and co-operate with him. The plan succeeded, and Teh-kwang, in order to gain further confidence, sent back all his former })risoners to China with the following words tattooed on their faces : — " Life spared by imperial command. " The armies which had now surrendered were conciliated by being placed under their own commanders, and a march was made on the capital, — the modern K'ai-feng Fu. The Tsin Emperor pien. and Empress-Dowager lost no time in submitting a humble address of apology, to which the following- autograph reply was received : — " Don't feel too sad, grandson ; just find me a place to dine in. " As Teh-kwang was a})proachiug the capital, the authorities TTwaiig-lunj2 Fu. 320 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. sent out an offer to place the imperial state carriages at his disposal, but he replied : — " I have put on my armour to conquer China, and have no time for ritualistic gew-gaws." The Emperor and Empress- Dowager came outside the walls to receive him, but he declined, saying : — " How can two Emperors meet on the high road ? " Early the next morning Teh-kwang made his official entry into the Tsin cai)ital • all the official body, civil and military, after bowing northwards and taking leave of their own Emperor, prostrated themselves before the conqueror, who took up his position on horseback upon an elevation outside the city, clad in his armour and wearing a sable cap. He then entered the gates, mounted the watch-tower, and ordered an interpreter to proclaim as follows : — " I am but human. You need not fear. It was not I that wished to come : the Clhinese troops brought me." Then he entered the palace. The women of the seraglio were all there to receive him, but he took no notice of them whatever. In the evening he came out and passed the night upon a hillock. The Emperor was created " Marquis of Ingratitude," and sent to one of the Cathayan capitals near modern Jehol. On the 7th day after his arrival, Teh-kwang took up his residence in the palace, placing all the gates in charge of Cathayans : at the main gate and in all the court-yards in order to discourage independent feeling he had caused to be hung up the A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 321 skins of dogs that had been hacked to pieces. The nest day he held a court, he himself wearing Tartar fittire. The following day he held another dressed in Chinese clothes, except that he had on a felt cape buttoning, in Tartar fashion, on the left side. All the Tsin officials were present in full dress, and in front of the pavilion Ghei wagons and Tartar horsemeu were drawn up in line. Three weeks after that Teh-kwang held another grand court on the first of the second moon (somewhere in March). The sis regiments of metropolitan guards, the lictors and attendants of the palace, the imperial musicians, mummers, etc. were all drawn up in the court-yard. Teh-kwang wore a high imperial dragon crown with a brown crape robe, and held a sceptre in his hand. There was a general pardon, the " Tsin Empire " was changed to that of " Great Liao, " and the year 947 was declared to be the 10th of Teh-kwang's second period, or the 22nd of his reign. Now, the Chinese renegade who decoyed the Tsin armies into a Cathayan trap had been promised the southern empire, in consequence of which he led the van in the march upon the capital, and moreover brought into hotch-pot all the booty he had taken ; but now Teh-kwang decided to leave him as he had recently been created, that is. Prince of Yen (around modern Peking) and viceroy of the central capital, now Cheng-ting Fu. On the 1st of the next moon Teh- 11 322 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. kwaug held another grand court, and, looking proudly round, said : — " Surely I am the true Emperor, seeing that I have the power to seat myself in this magniHccnt hall, and command all these Chinese ceremonies ? " Cathayau governors with interpreters were sent to take up posts in all the cities and provinces, and these men simply raked in all the wealth of the Empire in order satisfy the demands of their men. The Cathayan armies being short of food and forage, Teh-kwang sent outflying columns in all directions and looted the country over an area east and west of nearly a thousand miles, to the great misery of the people. Whilst all this was going on in the south the Shade general Liu Chi-yiian was striking out a line for himself in Shan Si, where nearly all the Cathayan military governors were soon killed. This news greatly alarmed Teh-kwang, besides which the weather was already growing uncomfortably hot in Cihina ; so Hsiao Hau. he left his brother-in-law in charge of the Tsin capital and himself hastened north, taking with him tlie whole of the Tsin bureaucracy, skilled artisans, palace women, and army officers, several thousand persons in all. Crossing the Yellow River, he approached Chang-teh Fu : as he was surveying tlie country from an eminence he observed to one of his Chinese officers: — "At home I took pleasure in surrounding big game "and eating the meat thereof, but since 1 entered " China my spirits have been depressed. If I can A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 323 " but see the home of my ancestors once more 1 shall " die content." The officer remarked to his friends : — " The cateran is dying. " The Cathayans in charge had already been killed, and the city had to be taken by storm, every living soul in it, except a number of women who were carried off, being ruthlessly butchered, so that a few years later, when a viceroy of the Shado Han dynasty took over charge, he counted over 100,000 human skulls, which he buried in one huge barrow. As Teh-kwang was approaching the modern Kwang-p'ing Fu and saw the utter ruin Ming, prevailing, ho said jokingly to the captives : — " Your renegade general the Prince of Peking has done most of this. " Turning to another Chinese general he added : — " You have not done badly either. " When he reached Lwan-ch'eng, a few days' journey farther north, (a city still bearing that name), he fell sick and died. The Cathayans disembowelled him, filled his carcase with salt, and carried it with them up north : the Chinese of the party used to derisively call the load " corned emperor." His nephew Uryuk son of Turyuk succeeded, and Wu-yii. conferred posthumous titles as d/'vi in the Chinese st}'Ie upon his uncle and grandfather. Uryuk had not accompanied his father to China. He was of cruel but convivial temperament, fond of liquor, a good artist, and fairly well-read. When the Cathavans assisted Maokire's son-in-law to the throne, Maokire'g 324 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. successor (an adopted son and a Cliinese) had Turyuk put to death. Uryuk had accompanied his uncle to China, and was with him at the time of his death. The renegade Chinese general of whom wo have spoken attempted to establish himself as Protector, but he was too undecided to make use at once of the 10,000 Chinese troops at hand. Meanwhile Uryuk sent for him to drink wine, got him into a quiet corner, locked him up, and placed all his belongings under arrest or embargo. He then proclaimed Teh-kwang's testament, which was to the following laconic effect: — " You may mount the imperial throne at the central c:ipital." Messengers were sent in all directions to notify the sad news. When the Cathayan viceroy of the Tsin cajiital heard of the event he at once abandoned his charge and went north, and it was this man who took with him the secretary to ^-s-hom we are beholden for the scant description of Cathay given above. When Ur3'uk had mounted the throne he sent the Shu-lii. grst news of it to his grandmother, who said ano-rilv : — " Why should the son of Turyuk who went over to " China succeed ? My boy who is dead liad the glory " of conquering (Jhina, and it is his son who should " succeed." She thereupon marched out an army to dethrone Uryuk. It is not clear where the battle was fought, but most of her troops went over to Ui-yuk, who interned her in the northern part of his A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 325 dominions, at a place where Apaoki's remains were interred and his relics kept. This place can be almost Tau Chou. exactly identified. It was in the Barin Mongol land of to-da}'', on the upper course of the Sira Sluren. The old woman had always disapproved of Tcli-kwang's conquests, although she was none the less proud of him. She once said to him : — " Do you think our " country would put up with a Chinaman ? " " No." "Then, even if you take China yourself, you will " never have a successor, and disaster is certain to over- " take you when it is too late to repent." She did not shed a tear when his corpse was brought for her to see, but patted it affectionately saying : — " You shall " be buried, my lad, so soon as our people and our "herds have recovered their former condition." She died in confinement. The Cathayan general Matar, his cousin, whom Ma-ta. Uryuk had left in charge of the central capital, was a monster of the most ferocious type. In addition to plundering the people, he used to move about with an assortment of tweezers, chisels, and other implements of torture, and took a pleasure in flaying Chinamen's faces, goufrin"' out their eves, iiluckinfj out their hair, and chopping off their members. He had his slee[iing apartment hung with men's livers, shins, hands, and feet, whilst at the same time he talked and laughed to those about him as though quite indifferent to the ghastly spectacle. It is not to be wondered at there- Xei-clriu. 32f> A Thousand Years of the Tartars. fore that the Chinese generals rose against him and drove the Cathayans out, or that the Tsin officials went back to join the new Han dynasty. In the year WS Uryuk at the liead of 10,000 hor-cnicii made a raid upon and took tlie city (still hearing that name) of Nei-k'iu in Shun-teh Fn, but he lost half his men in the operation. On this occasion the Cathayans were discouraged because their horses did not neigh as they approached, and Ihey were in the habit of attaching a superstitious importance to such omens, lloreover there was an eclipse of the moon, and their spears glistened to an unusual degree, — Ijoth inauspicious signs. After ITryuk had reigned five years, he assembled all the tril)al chiefs to deliberate concerning another raid : they were all unwilling, and as Uryuk pushed the matfan- he was murdered : further murders took place to avenge Shu-lii. his. In the end Djurrut, son of Tuh-kwang, was elected. As this prince bore the same name as his grandmother, perhaps the old lad}' gave it him out of particular affection : at any rate it is curious to find men and women Iwaring the same names. In his case it was a jieculiarly apt coincidence for, thqugh he was able to hunt, and was a great drinker, he posse-scd some congenital dcfecl- wliich made it impossible for him to appi'oaeh women as a sire. He paid no atten- tion to public affairs. For this reason, and from liis hcibit of boozing through the night and sleeping during A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 327 tlie day, he received the nickname of the " Sleeping King. " Uiyuk had sent envoys to the Han court, but on arrival there they found a Chinese general and ex-minister of that short-lived house just on the point of entering the capital to found a dynasty of his own. The founder of this Chou dynasty accepted the Kuo Wui. mission as addressed to him, and sent one back as a return compliment ; but his envoi's in turn only arrived in Catliay in time to find that Uryuk had been succeeded by Djurrut. In the summer of 959 the second Emperor of the Chou dynasty (the adopted sou of the first), travelling CU'u,i Jung, by boat, himself conducted an expedition to the Cathayan frontiers ; it is not clear ^vhy, for there had been no raiding in Djurrut's time. Several Kitan officers at once surrendered their charges. The object seems to have been to assert the Chinese right to Hiung Chou and Pa Chou, as both cities are still Hsiung Chou, called. The Chiuese operations appear to have been impeded by want of water in the river or canal. Orders had been given for an attack on what is now called Peking, but the Emperor, falling sick, thought better of it and went buck to his own capital. Djurrut does not seem to have been much disturbed at this Chinese demonstration : in fact we may assume from a remark of his that the Cathayans who thus surrendered had themselves been encroaching, for he said : — " This used to be Chinese territory, what 328 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. matter therefore if tlioy recover it ? " In the your 9 GO the Sung dynasty was estabhshed, and it was the early policy of tlie founder to do justice to the Tartars. Ho ordered the return of all stolen horses, and forbade the frontier peo[)lo from making raids : it had been the custom for many 3'ears to kidnap frontier Cathaj-ans and draft them into Chinese cavalry regiments. The Cathayans do not seem to have properly a[ipreeiated the Emperor's sentiments, for they lost no time in making raids in the good old style. This went on for several j-ears, and the Emperor himself led one of the expeditions sent to punish them. In the year 1(69 Djurrut was mnr- Ming-clii. dered, and succeeded by Uryuk's son Ming-ki. From this time the Cutliayau Emperors arc known by Chinese names only. Jling-ki called his empire " Great Kitan " instead of '' Great Liao." CHAPTER III. Period of Cojiparative Peace, I N the autumn of 970, 60,000 (Jathayans made a raid upon the country around the present pro- Pau cinm. viucial capital of Chili Li, (Pao-ting Fu), but 3,n()0 Cihinesc, under a competent general specially instruct- ed by the Emperor, managed so to manoeuvre that the Cathayans got distinctly the worst of it, thouo'h numbering twenty to one. The Emperor now found A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 329 it expedient to change bis earlier policy, and offered 24 pieces of silk for every Catliayan head, calculating that with some two million pieces he could purchase the whole of tlieir effective force. This estimate is not unreasonable, for the total effective force of the Mancbus, who over-ran (^'liina witli ea^e in the 17th century, was never much over 200,000 men ; and indeed 100,000 men of any civilised country, if given a free hand and properly supplied, could lia\e con- quered and held China at any moment up to the year 18G0. From 975 and onwards l)egan a series of friendly missions, and resident envoys with regular inter- national relations date from this period. Cathay was now sufficiently advanced in the arts to be able to send imperial robes as presents to China. Her envo}'s used to attend the Emperor's hunting parties, and on bis death in i)7G she sent a sjiecial mission to condole and sacrifice in good Confucian form. And here may be mentioned an amusing incident in reference to the Cathayan ideas of Confucius (which took place, however, sixty years later). The des- cendant of Confucius in the 45th generation hapjiened to be the Chinese Resident Minister at the Cathayan court, and the rough Tartars, by way of entertaining him, gave a theatrical performance in which Con- fucius the Great was introduced in a comic capacity. Confucius the 4Gth very properly left the theatre at 42 330 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. ouce, and obtained an official apology. In the yv.n- 971.) war broke out, and the new Emperor temporarily occupied PeldnjT; in person, l)esides several towns near it : the Cathayans lost 10,000 heads in this campaj;;u. The following year 100,000 of them miide raids between the line of the JShan Si and (_'liih Li Great Walls, and the Emperor aoain marched north as far as Ta-ming (still so called). He was for taking and oecup3'iug Peking jier- manently, but he found the surrounding country so ravaged and exhausted by generations of war that the question of supplies forced him to abandon the notion. Raiding, always repulsed, went on until Ming-ki's death in 1_IS3. He was succeeded by his Liuig-lisii. son Lung-sli, then liarely twelve years of age. His Hsiao Hliili, inother acted as retient. Raidino; and war went on : nothing is said of the causes, but, as strict orders were circulated not to rob the Calhayans and to return all objects stolen from them, it may be assumed that the t'hinese were often thcmsehes the , first offenders. In the year 981 it was discovei'cd that the L'athayan regent had, much to the disgust of her jieople, formed a liaison with (amongst othei- pai-a- Ilan Tr-jang. mours) onc of lier Chinese marslials, who did what he liked with her. It was suniiested tluit advantao-o should be taken of Cathayan disunion to recover the Peking country east of the well-known river Hun A Thousand Years of tlie Tartars. 331 Ho as far as Yiing-p'ing Fu. The Emperor ap- proved the suggestion, and in 986 a large Chinese army marched through the Great Wall (the southern line of it of course) between Goose Gate and Peking. Bounties were offered to " privateers," and so much a head was promised for each (Jathaj'ah officer. The Emperor's strategical plan was that one column should march on Ta-t'ung whilst the other with 100,000 men should make a leisurely feint on Peking, Yu Chou. so as to attract all the Cathayan forces in that quarter, and then outflank them and co6[)erate with the first column in their rear. The territory forming a loop between the two Great Walls was duly taken by the first column, whilst the second took several large towns south of Peking in very brilliant style, resting at the well-known Ohoh Chou. The Emperor was very nervous lest this column should advance too quickly and have its supplies cut off ; and indeed, after spending a fortnight at Choh Chou, the general had to come back some distance in order to convey his own supplies. His soldiers, hearing of the other column's success, murmured at this retrograde move- ment, and so to appease them he took only five days' provision with him and once more marched on Choh Chou ; but they had to fight every inch of their way, and it took them twenty days to get there. The season was now getting very hot, and the men, in- sixfficiently fed, were utterly exhausted, so there was 332 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. no alternative but to fall back once more upon Yili Chou, at which place tlie half-starved and defeated Cliii-ma remnants of the force at la-;t arrived after cro<^inrj the river at night. The officers were all dei^radcMl. Arran|i;einents wore made to remove the population of the conquered tract within the two Great AValls into China. There were r)0,000 households, besides three tribes of Tukulmn and Turks with a few otlier odd clans. Jlaidinij; still went on, and the commanding officers of the column whose blundering had spoiled th(! Empei-or's last combination were given another chance to distinguish themselves. The year 987 \vas a Ijad one fur ('hina: the fighting was around thi; Pao-ting Fu iieighljourhood a- bd'ore, hut all tho. Chinese geiiei'als wei'c badly dcl'eated : Yih Clion was stormed by the Cathaj'ans and taken with great slaughter and plunder, so that in iKS'.l the Enipeior had bj is-;ue a sorrowful manil'e-ito calling for moi'e troops. Moanwhilo the \V:i\\ Loup region was re- taken, and tlie Cliincse set themselves to worlv to prevent any farther ad\'anep liy erecting block-houses and planting willow ti-ees in such a way as to prevent ]:irge liodies of ('athaynn liorsomon from moving fr(^ely aliout ila^ country. Hitherto tlu^ (Jhinese ]\:n\ lia.d much beUei- sueeess in tlie ( )rib)us i-egion, where a nundier of frontier' trihes had deserted (he CaXhayans ; but now tlie latter induced a sort of Tang-hBiang. Tibetan tribe to join them. The result was un- A Thousand Years of tlie Tartars. 333 successful for tlie Catliayans ; the Tibetans, seeing them fly, turned upon them with great slaughter, and the total result was that innumerable tents came over to the C'hinese side of the Yellow River, and tlie Sung dynasty secured at least ton thousand hea\y cavalry by way of allies. This was in the year tU)5. In the year tCJi) the third Emperor Chen Tsung took the field in person, and from this time onwards for five or six years the C'athayans received pretty rough handling. In the year lOOo a Chinese official who had boon (Mnploycd b}' the Cathayans deserted to the Cbineso side, anil gave the Emperor some account of what was going on in Cathay. It appears that th(^ Catliayans had as many as LS.O'KI Chinese cavalry at I'eking. The aruiies of their own Eight Tribes and of the four chief garrisons north of tiic Wall num- bered al)Out 180,000 cavaliers, 5, GOO of which were always employed as the monarch's ]iersonal guard, whilst 9-1,000 wer<' raiding troops. It was (here of course we uows." ( 'un-ying planlcs on their hacks and torches in tlieir hands, they drove tjie Ghei men up the cit}' walls, from wlnt^h the defenders rained down huge stones and blocks of wood. Over 30,000 of the assailants wo.vo slain in the attempt to carry the town hv storm. Another party was equally unsuece->fal at Ki < Ihou (still >o called) farther soutli. There were still :i( 10,000 of the enemy to deal with, and desperate efforts wore made to raise army after army, sur- rouno to manoeuvre as to nearly surround thi^ Slian f'lioii. main CHiinese foi-ce ju-t north of modiuai K'ai Chou in Ta-ming Fu ; and it miglit have gone ill with the latfcr had not a lucky shot (fired from a coyer commanding the narrow road \vhere a number of cr()s>bow-men lay in ambush) struck tlic Catliavan T-:i.-l;in. connnander-in-ehief Taran in the head. He was cariied into camp and died that night. This event seems to have discouraged the Tartars, who shortly Clii Chon. A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 335 withdrew. They now made peaceful overtures through a Ghuiese general whom they had taken Waiif: Clii- 1 1 Ti (. 1 ■ chung. pn-oner, and who, like most oi his eountiynien, was as ready to serve one master as the other. He made the unpleasant condition that the first envoy should come from China, a poiut which the Emperor at first declined to concede, but which he nltimately did concede under pressure. The chief point discussed at the negotiations was ^^■hether the territory south of parallel 39 ceded by the Shado dynasty of Tsin, and as the Chinese claimed subsequently recovered by the second Emperor of Chou, should remain with Cathay or with China. The result was that the Chinese kept the territory they had and received the barren honour of being called " elder brother," whilst the Cathayans were to receive an annual subsidy of 200,000 pieces of silk and 100,000 ounces of silver. Besides this the queen-dowager sent her own s[)ecial envoys, who explained that this was because she was the practical ruler, so that extra annual presents of silk and silver had to be sent to her in consideration of her reverent care for the Emperor's health. In the spring of 1005 Hiung Chou, Pa Chou, and Pao-ting Fu, or rather three suitable points in the frontier passes of each of them, were thrown open to trade by imperial decree, and custom-houses were established there. It was also ordered that all Cathayau deserters subsequent iu date to the first 336 A Thousand Yea7's of the Tartars. overtures for peace should l)e sent back. A friendly nii->iou was >ent to Cathay to coui^-ratulato the ijuccn-niotlici- on Ii'T Lii'thda^- : she was in siimnier residence at the time, but she sent her son to receive the amlias-adors at modern Pekinir, Avhere they were n]o>t handsomely feted. Tliey ]-eceived valuable })i-e-ents, and Avere accompanied out-ide the spates by the monarch himself, who drank a stirrup-cup with them. Envoys representing^ mother and son came during the winter, and this amicable exchange wi^nt on for several years. One Chinese envoy on his return said : — '" The eateran ruler when he receives " Ihe ('liinese envoys makes a shift to figure in hat "and robes, but as soon as ever tlic function is over " 1k^ gets into ea^y costume and, mixing promiscuously "with hj> ca\aliei-s, goes out hunting followed by his "ministers ; but there is no purveyance; he provides "his own arm<, cooking utensil-;, and provisions." " Tlie laws he di'^eribed as being barbarously sevcri': — "Those condemned to death are always hacked to " death in a fearful manner. The eateran ruler once "said to me that his people wei'c like wild animal-^, " and not to be ruled by civil laws in (Jhinese fa^liion." In the year 1008 another onvov (who had been re- cei\'eil at a specially pi-epared hotel just north of the Chii-iiiEi River, river which was the scene of the di-^astrous night re- treat to Yili Chou in llSt!^ came back and reported that the Cathayan central capital was now removed to a A Thousand Tears of the TaHars. 337 place north-east, of Peking. [It may liero be explained that a place in Aokhau or Kartsiu Mongol land, possibly Jeliol, Gh'ili-feng, or some locality between them, is certainly meant ; — in flxct the old Upper Capital. Owing to the word Ch'ang-li having been used both for the ancient 8ien-pi capital here and for the later Sien-pi cai)ital at Yung-p'ing Fu, the Chinei^e historians themselves have got hopelessly muddled on the subject of Cathayan capitals, and are frequently wrong.] Tlie walls and ramparts wci'e very mean, and the inhabitants were very few. As a rule bare walls lined each side of the streets. There were two large edifices occupied by the monarch and his mother respectively, but there was great b ;orishness and looseness of etitpiette when bancpiots were given. At the beginning of the year 1010 the queen- mother died, and shortly afterwards her paramour the Chinese premier died also. His rule had been nearly absolute ; he was remarkably shrewd, and t!io Cathayans had learned to esteem him very highly. From this time the Cathaj'an ruler, deprived of his best counsellors, became incompetent and unpopular. The Nlichens at this time formed part of the Cathayan dominions : twenty years previously they had offered China military assistance, which was declined ; in consequence of this they ceased to send tribute, and for a time had to throw in their interests with those of Cathay. The Cathayans now sent word to China 43 338 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. that they were about to attack Corea, which, formerly a triple dominion like England, Scotland and Ireland, Kao-li. liad since 930 become a united kingdom, quite in- dependent, but tributary to China. In 98G Corea had attacked Cathay at China's request on account of Cathayans having passed through part of Corea in order to raid the Nuchens, who had complained of Corea to China, thinking that Corea was an accomplice. The Coreans also complained to China in the year 1000 that ever since the Shado Tsin had given the Peking plain to Cathay, Corea had been exposed to Cathayan exactions. Corea, finding nothing but fine words could be got from China, now built six frontier citadels for her own defence, and it was to take these that Cathay now declared war. The Cathayans called upon the Ghei, the Shirwi and the Niichens to furnish men and carts for the campaign. But the Nijchens, having discovered the evil ways of Cathay, joined Corea, and the Cathayaus led by their own king received a thorough thrashing, losing nearly the whole of their army and half their nobles. They were now obliged to recruit soldiers from the Pekin corresponds exactly to the appearance of those we see to-day between Jehol and Ch'ih-fcng. Some of the in- habitants lived in carts. The " liills to the east where hunting in a circle goes on " is evidently the AVei- ch'ang or imperial hunting ground of our days, whence it was a good day's journey to the " Central Capital of Ta-ting Fu '' [in modern Kartsin Mongol land]. The city walls of Ta-ting were low and mean, forming an oblong of about a mile and a quarter round : the gates were surmounted merely by an extra storey, there were no elcvateil watch-towers or citadels. The houses or hotels seem to have been of the caravanserai description, but there was a bazaar with storeyed houses near the south gate. Northwards from this the habits of the people began to change. The people lived in thatched huts with plank walls and engaged in agriculture. The oak-mulberry was ])lanted in rows along tho ridges as a protection from sand-. Iritis. The forests were full of tall firs, antl in the mountain valleys wi r." people engaged in burning charcoal. The most usually met with were herds of dark sheep (or goats) and yellow pigs, but occasionally A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 34:1 also oxen, horses, and camels. From the central capital it was 170 miles to the crossing of the Sira Hmis Ho, m Muren and the capital of the native proconsulate "''"° °' established by ihe T'ani;- dynasty [in modern Ongniod Mongol land], occupied at the time of which we write by Botskai men. Then G3 miles to Aj)aoki's temple and the dynastic shrine-; his boots are preserved as a relic : they wore four or five feet in length. Thence 13 miles to the Upper Capital [in Ara Korchin Mongol land]. The old Cathayan land laj' north of a line 103 miles south of the Sira Muren. South of that were the Gliei. The nortiiern capital had east and west gates, and the palaces inside faced east. The felt tent haSitations also i'aced east. About 6.5 miles north-west of this capital were tlie " Cool Meadows," with ])lenty of rich grass, where the ruling family used to go to avoid the heats of summer. The Ghei did not speak the same lan- guage, nor had they the same customs as the Cathayans : they are good agriculturalists and foot archers, and magnificent horsemen, being as it were glued to their beasts. It appears that Apaoki's remains were first placed in the hill cemetery lying to the east, a trifle north of the centriil ciipital, (Ta-ting Fu), the ])lace where Mu-ye Shan. Heaven and Earth are worshipped. "There is a " felt house facing east here with a suitable inscrip- " tion. Tiero are no steps leading up to the shrine. 342 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. " but the ground is spread with felts, and there are " two large felt tents behind. There are several "tame leopards here used in hunting. They also "have a way of fishing, by putting a felt tent on "the ice, boring a hole, and keeping up a briglit "light inside: the fish collect at the hole and are "speared in great numbers." According to their laws the queen-dowager and native officials all wore Tartar costume : the ruler and t!ie Chinese officials all ( Ihincse costume. Lung- sii's nephew was viceroy of the central cajiital. The native officials wore felt hats, the top of which was ornamented with a golden flower ; or sometimes they had a pearl jewel or kingfisher's feather ; this hat being the lineal representative of the hat adopted by the Mujung Sien-pi [and which furnished one of Pu-yao. the fanciful derivations for that word] : the hair was gathered inside it, and a sort of woven band with ornaments iianging behind enclosed the head. A purple robe with a kind of petticoat and saddle- l)(4t made of leather embroidered with red or yellow braid was worn. They also wore civilian official cups with flaps as in China. [The rest of the description is vague and of no particular interest.] Such are the scant features of Cathayan life which attracted the attention of the Chinese envoys : doubtless numerous Chinese residents in Cathay could bi^ve furnished much more exact and in- A Thousand Tears of the Tartars. 343 teresting acjounts of the northern reahn, but there is reason to helieve there was great mntual jealousy, and that tins frontiers wore very closely watched for spies. Besides, the classes which sought a living or were compelled to gain one in Cathay were certainly of the most illiterate, and, even if it had been possible to smuggle information out of the country, the persons most competent to give it were probably incapable of recording it. CHAPTER IV. General Desckiption of Cathay in the Eleventh Centuey. THE Chinese Emperor Chen Tsung died in 1022 and Lung-sii expressed his sympathy in the most effusive way. He himself died in 1031 and received his full equivalent in the shape of wails, mourning, sacrifices, and so on. It is difficult to see why the Chinese should first describe him as " incapable " after his mother's death, and yet add that he kejit his engagements with China faithfully and never once gave trouble. He was succeeded by his eighth son Tsung-ehen, whose Tartar name in his own family circle was Mukpuku : in his case also the Mu-pu-ku. mother, a concubine in rank, managed things for him. China was having considerable trouble with the Ordous state of Tangut or Hia, the ruler of 344 A Tliousand Years of the Tartars. whicli had in 1028 captured the Oiiio;our city of Kan Clion. Tsunij;-chL'n thought this was his oppnr- tnnitv, so 111' ma subscquenilv come south and formed one of the party who placed the uncle on the throne. Ambassadors were sent to China, but the Emperor declined to receive them, on the ground that the legitimate monarch was yet alive. Now that the Cathayan power was thoroughly broken, the Chinese thought it would be a good time to step in and give the dying lion a parting kick. Accordingly they eagerly availed themselves of the Tung ts'ai, proffered services of an adventurer who had been alias Chao „,., . , . , , .. , ■ i ■ Hsii. nliljustermg on his own account to cooperate with the Niichens and march on Peking from the soutli. TIk.^ attack faile(l through tlic c(jwar(lici^ of tlie Chinese. The (Jhine^i^ governor who had been instrumental Li Ch'u-w6n. in placing the uncle on the throne commenced to intrigue with both China and the Niichens, being quite 2")repared to sell his new master to whichever side would give him the l)cst terms. The Niichens on their part knew that th(^ C!hinese would wriggle out of their subsidy if they were suffered to get into Peking. Indeed the Chinese were alreadj^ beginning to increase their demands ; at first it had A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 365 been the territory given by the ShaJo Tsin as a reward for Cathayan assistance, but now they also demanded the Ynng-p'ing Fu plain whicli had for some reason been given to Apaoki in A.D. 900 by a Chinese military satrap then in possession of the Peking plain. Liu JSn-kung. The Niichcn general informed the Cliinese that if they did not discontinue increasing their demands they shoidd not have even reking. and tbat iu any ease the rents of that de[)artment mast be jiaid to the Niichcn dynasty. Meanwhile Yung-p'ing Fu was made the Southern Capital of Kin. The result of the negotiations was that in addition to the 400.000 strings of money wdiicli used to be paid to the C!athayans, the Chinese had to pay to the Niichens annually 1,000,000 strings for " rent,'' besides an immediate present of 2,000,000 peculs of grain, in exchange for which they received the Peking plain up to the Great Wall and the three well-known passes of Nan K'ou, Ku-pch K'ou and Tuh-shih K'ou. It is presumed that the Peh-t'ang River to the east of Tientsin must have been the boundarj' between the Yung-p'ing and Peking plains. The Cathayan Emperor-uncle, who considered the Chinese had broken old treaties, beheaded the mcs- senoers sent l)y the eunuch demanding his submission to ('liina. He also sent Yeliili Tashih to occupy Choh Chou and to call upon the Chinese forces either to retire or fight : Tashih ultimately drove i6 * 366 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. Hsiao Sliih. Haiao Kan. T'ien-tfi. Hsiao Kan. Ching Chou, Chi Chou, etc. hu sSng. them as far as Hiimg Chou. Dying shortly after that, the uncle was succeeded nominally by his widow acting as regent, the real power being in the hands of one of her generals. But when the Niichen.s had secured the Nan-k'ou Pass it was evident that Peking was no longer tenable. The Empress-regent and her chief generals took to flight, and the only question was now what direction to take. It ended in one of the generals, who was a Ghei man and wished to return to his native land, taking all the Ghei troops with him in one direction, whil>t the Empress and Yeliih Tashih, taking with them the Cathayan troops, rejoined the fugitive Emperor Yen-hi at Tenduc. The Emperor, who could not forgive her for being instrumental in raising his uncle to the throne, had her put to death at once, but Tasliih for some reason got off with a re[)rimand. Meanwhile the other Ghei general captured several cities in the Ho-kien Fu plain and styled himself " Emperor of the Great Ghei Empire," but he was soon defeated l)y the Chinese and killed. The Chinese Emperor, hearing that Yen-hi was gaining a little strength at Tenduc, seems to have behaved rather well — supposing that he was acting in good faith. He sent a Tartar bonze to him assuring him of a welcome at tlie Chinese capital and honourable treatment as " brother," besides placing palaces at the disposal of other Ca- thayan princes. It is not stated, but it may easily be A Thousand Years of the Tartars. 367 imagined, wlij' the Cathayan monarch did not tlirow himself into his Chinese brother's arms. Meanwhile Tashih, who had justified his conduct at Peking on the ground that the Cathayan Emperor's own precipitate flight had loft no other dignified course open, thought it would be more prudent to place the Desert between himself and his pusil- lanimous sovereign. Akuta was now dead, and had been succeeded by his brother Gukimai. This caused Wu-cli'i-mni. the Niichens to withdraw from Shan !Si for a time. Yen-hi had, with Tashili's reinforcements, 30,000 cavalry at his disposal, and thought ho might with these regain his ancient patrimony, but Tashih con- sidered that a monarch who could not win a single battle when Cathay was yet intact was hardly likely to win one now that she was falling to pieces, and declined to joiu in the enterprise, lie decamped with his own men at night, declared himself a sovereign, received considerable assistance from the White Tartars in the neighbourhood (a tribe men- pai Ta-ta. tioned from the most ancient times always as living in that neighbourhood), and made the best of his way to Uramt>i. There his eloquent harangues seem to have attached the fragmentary tribes of Ouigours, Merkits, Djadjcrats, Tanguts, etc., (who had alnsady Mi-erh-clii, for many generations formed part of the Cathayan empire, or at least been on visiting terms with it), to his interests and person. With the assistance of 368 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. Pi-Ie-Uo. Birga Khan of the Ouigours, (wliose eajiital seems to have been at Karaliedjo or Piiljaii, and \vlio liad never been aetually a vassal of Cathay), lie equipped his forces and fought his way ste[i by step to Samarcand, and theneo to Kermane, between 8amar- cand and Bokhara, ■svhere he assumed the western titli' of Gurkhan, at the same time kce[)iiig up his (Jhiiicse reign style and dignities cuncui-renlly. 'Whilst Yelith Tasliih \vas adventuring in tlie West, Yeltih Yen-hi, the fugitive Emperor of Cathay, taking with him his queens and two sons, marched sontli from Tenduc and reduced one of the Shan Si Chcn-wii. cities. The Kueheit general in those parts soon out- manoeuvred him, and at la^t succc^eded in capturing the whole of his family. Yen-hi now sought asylum in the Ordous kingdmn of Hia or Tangut, but the Tanguts were afraid tu gi\e him asylum, and he took U,-,iao Hu-lu. refuge with an obscure Tiljotan tribe. Early in the year 1125, when he still jiad a thousand cavaliers fienerni with him, he was surjirised bv the Niicheu geni'ral ehai-ged v^•ith tliat duty and taken. He had with him an im;ige of Buddha in gold sixteen feet long and many olher valualjle lliings to match it: as he re- ti'caled these were aliandoned oin' a.fti'r the other in order to facililate liis flii;ht. The Niiclien general very gallantly got dowa from his horse, knelt before his captive, and [iresenled him a cup of wine, after which he was taken to Manchuria and interned by A Thotisand Years of the Tartars. 369 Gukimai in tho neighbourhood of Vkdivostoek with East of the the title of " Coast Prince." Thus ended Cathay. Mmmfains. Shortly after that the Niichens, disgusted with the paltry treachciy of tho Cliinese, who had as a last act connived at the betrayal of Yung-p'ing, took that city by storm and demanded tlie cession of all China north of the Yellow River. Tangiit meanwhile has- tened to declare herself a vassal of the Niichens. In 1126 the Niichens under General Warib crossed Wo-li-pu. the Yellow lliver in small boats without opposition and invested the Chinese capital at modern K'ai-feng Fii. The confusion and misery of the times is well Pien. described in the Chinese novel to which allusion has already been twice made. Their " indemnity " de- mands were now 5,000,000 ounces of gold, 10,000,000 of silver, 1,000,000 pieces of silk, and 10,000 head of cattle ; the recognition of tlu^ Niichcn Emperor as Uncle, the restoration of all northern CJhines(! in the Sung Empire, and the cession of certain territor}'. The Emperor hastily got together 200,000 ounces of gold and 4,000,000 of silver as an immediate instal- ment, and promised all the rest : his brother and one of the ministers were given as hostages. The Cliinese had no sooner got rid of immediate danger than they began to wriggle out of their bargain. The Niichens thereupon determined to read them a lesson they would not soon forget. After defeating them in several pitched battles — in which, by the way, mi- 370 A Thousand Years of the Tartars. litary engines wore nsed — they took the capital by storm, and the Emperor placed himself in the hands Clian-mii-ho. of General Jemugor. Their demands now were 10,000,0(10 ounces of gold, 20,000,000 " slioes " of silver (say 100,000.000 onnce<), and 10,000,000 [)ieecs of silk. The Em[)eror, tlie Emperor-Abdicate, together with a vast number of Empre>