J. !yi^e©ow|ii>!i PRINCETON, N. J. u v'> Purchased by the Hammill Missionary Fund. Division Section D5735 .M 14 Number Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 https://archive.org/details/historyofchinafrOOmacg A HISTORY OF CHINA, FROM THE EARLIEST DAYS DOWN TO THE PRESENT. REV. J. MACGOWAN, London Missionary Society. Author of “PICTURES OF SOUTHERN CHINA,” A “DICTIONARY OF THE AMOY DIALECT,” A “MANUAL OF THE AMOY COLLOQUIAL,” &c. ——5 — — ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. » K i— — Conaon : KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER AND CO., LTD. PATERNOSTER HOUSE, CHARING CROSS ROAD. 1897. PREFACE. /m^HE present volume professes to give the history of China in a form that is 4 , new to the English reader. It is not a Compilation gathered from all kinds of sources, but a reproduction, from the original, of the Standard History of China. That work and the writings of Confucius and Mencius are the only authentic sources from whence the story of the Empire can possibly be obtained. Many writers during the long ages of the past have written the History of their times, but they are unreliable and valuable only in so far as they agree with the accounts contained in the above standard work. The author who has lived for more than thirty years in China has not at- tempted to give a literal translation of the Chinese history, his aim being rather to reproduce as faithfull}' as possible the very thoughts and images of the Chinese historians — Those portions in it that would have no intere.st for the English reader have been omitted. That the native histor}- is on the whole a veracious one we have no reason to doubt, especially when we consider the system that was adopted to protect the writers of it, so that they might tell the most unpleasant truths without any fear of risk to themselves. Ever since the Han dynasty (B. C. 206, — A. D. 25) historians have been appointed to write the history of their times, and no one but themselves has been allowed to look upon what has been recorded. There have been times when a ruler has attempted to coerce them to reveal what they have written about himself, but they have been willing to suffer death rather than betray the trust committed to them. The consecpience has been that the writers have been able to write impartialh- when they were compelled to narrate some story to the dis- credit of an Emperor, or of some powerful statesman or that reflected dishonour upon the nation. As each document was written it was deposited in an iron bound chest, which remain locked till the d3'iiasty had ceased to rule. It was then opened by command of some sovereign of the next, when all the documents it contained were handed over to the royal historians, who proceeded from them to write the history of the dynastj' that had passed away. A sense of honour has seemed to rest upon this long line of writers, and a solemn sense of responsibility to posterity has made them feel bound to transmit the truth to it. That we have the actual story of China in their writings we are convinced. We must remember, more- over, that however sceptical we may be about them we have no means of proving their falsehood, for there are large portions of Chinese history that we cannot know anything about, excepting from this Standard History. Any history of China that has ever been written outside of that countrv- and that pretends to be of any value, must have been based upon it, and have obtained its facts from it. The stor)- of the present Manchu dynastv’, being still concealed within the recesses of the historical chest, has not been available in the preparation of this histor}'. The “Holy War” as well as other reliable sources of information have had to be used in the writing of it. In the production of this book the following are the principal works that have been referred to. The Shoo King, or Book of Historical Documents, by Dr. Legge ; the Chinese Repository ; Williams’ Middle Kingdom and Dictionary ; Mayers’ Chinese Readers’ Manual ; China Review; The Holy War; Dr. Ross’ The Mauchus, and the History of Corea; Marco Polo’s writings; Boulger’s History of China, &c., &c. London, Axigust, wth, 1S97. TABLE OF CONTENTS. The Mythical Period. Chapter I. Pages 1-3. Origin of Chinese. P‘an Ku. The Three Rulers. Sui Jin. Yung Ch‘eng. The Legendary Period. Clhapter II. Pages 4-10. The Five Rulers. Fuh Hi. Shen Nung. Hwang Ti. Overtlirow of Clt'ih Yeh. Mea- sures of Hwang Ti. Introduction of the sexagenary cycle. Shau Hau. Cliwau Hu. Ti Kuh and his famous sons. The Legendary Period. (Continued). Chapter III. Pages 11-17. Yau, suceessful ruler, compiled a calendar, appoints Shun as colleague. Division of country into twelve provinces. vShun’s early history. Sole ruler. Appointment of Yu. The five great punishments. Extent of empire. Shun’s death. The Legendary Period. (Continued). The Hia Dynast}'. Chapter IV. Pages 18-27. The Great Yu. The flood. Diatillatioji of spirits. K‘i. T‘ai K‘ang. Siang. Inter- regnum. Shau K‘ang. Ch‘u. Hwai. Mang, Sieh. Pu Kiang. Kiung. Kin. K‘uug Kia. Kau. Fa. Kieh. Overthrow of dynasty. The Legendary Period. (Continued). The Shang Dynasty. Chapter V. Pages 28-41. T‘ang. Great drought . T‘ai Kia. Wuh Ting. T‘ai Kung. Siau Kia. Yung Ki. T‘ai Mow. Chung Ting. Wai Jin. Ho Tan-kia. Tsu Yih. Tsu Sin. Wu Kia. Nan Kung. Yang Kia. P‘an Kung. Siau Sin. Siau Yih. Wu Ting. Tsu Kung. Tsu Kia. Lin Sin. Kung Ting. Wu Yih. T‘ai Ting. Ti Yih. Chow Sin. T‘a Ki- Battle of Muh. Overthrow of dynasty. The Chow Dynasty. Cliapter VI. Pages 42-56. Wu Wang. Five orders of nobility. Eight diagrams. Allotment system. Chung. Duke of Chow regent Rebellion suppresserL Building of Lo. Coinage of cash. K‘ang. Chau. Muh. Redemption of punishments. Kung. I. Hiau. I. Li. Rebellion against Li. Suau. Y’iu. Eclipse of sun. The Chow Dynasty. (Continued). Chapter VII. Pages 57-76. P‘ing. Barbarians defeated. Removal of capital to Loh-yang. Ambition of Ts‘in. Hwan. Chwang. Hwan, duke of Ts‘i. Hwui. Siang. K‘ing. K‘wang. Ting. Kien. Ling. Confucius born. King. King. Confucius made magistrate, etc. Yuan. Ching Ting. K‘au. Wei Lieh. Ngan. Lieh. Hien. The reforms of Wei Y"ang. Shin Tsing. Nan, The Ts'in Dynasty. Chapter VIII. Pages 77-89. Chau Siang. Hiau Wen. Chwan Siang. Prince Chung or Shih. Hwang Ti. Feudal states conquered. Great wall built. Palace of A-fang. Destruction of classics. Urh Shih Hwang Ti, Murder of Li Sze. Tze Ying. Capture of capital by Liu Pang. VI THE HISTOKY OF CHINA. Tlie Han Dynasty. Chapter IX. Pages 90-113. Kau Ti. HweiTi. Wun Ti. Abolishment of four great punishments. Irruption of Hiung-nu on two occasions. Wu Ti. His belief in magic. Property tax. Wars with tlie Tartars. Execution of Lady Ciiau. Wu Ti’s death. Chau Ti. Suan Ti. Yuan Ti. Ch‘eng Ti. Ngai Ti. P‘ing Ti." Ju Tz-ying. The usurper Wang Mang. The “ Eyebrows.” Rebellion of Liu Hoan and Liu Sui. Wang Mang’s death. Hway Yang-wang. His death. The Later Han Dynasty. Chapter X. Pages 114-133. Kwang Wu Ti. Ming Ti. Introduction of Buddhism. Chang Ti. Ho Ti. Murder ofTauIIien. Eunuchs made officials. ShangTi. Ngan Ti. Shun Ti. Ch‘ang Ti. Chill Ti. Hwan Ti. Ling Ti. Competitive examinations established. “ Yellow Turbans.” Murder of the eunuchs. Hien Ti. Murder of Tung Cho. Elevation of Ts‘au Ts‘au. Sun K'wan. Battle of Ch'ang.pan bridge. Battle of Red ridge. Death of Ts‘au-Ts‘au. Usurpation of Ts‘au P‘ei and murder of Hien Ti. Tlie Three Kingdoms. Chapter XL Pages 134-150. Chu Ko-liang. Liu Pei assembles an army to avenge Kwan Yu. How Chu. Treaty of peace between How Chu and Sun K‘wan. War with Burmah. Advance of Chu Ko Liang against Wei. Ko Liang’s stratagem. Inventions of Ko Liang. His death. Death of Ts‘au Jui. Rising of Sze Mad. Ts‘au Fang and death of Sze Mad. Capture of Ch‘uiig-tu. Treason of Tin Gai. Resignation of Yuan Ti. The Western Tsin Dynasty. Chapter XII. Pages 151-163. Wu Ti and his reforms. Plan to restore the unity of the empire. Failure to cross the Yang-tze. Policy of Yang Hu. Capture of Nanking. Hwei Ti. Plot of queen to destroy the house of YTang. Her overthrow. Cabals, in the palace. Hwai Ti. Capture of Loh Yang by Hiung Nu. Min Ti. Murder of Hwai Ti and invasion of Chihli by Hiung-nu. T‘au K‘an. Capture of Ch'ang Ngan and of Min Ti. End of dynasty. The Eastern Tsin Dynasty. Chapter XIII. Pages 164-182. Yuan Ti. Pretensions of a prince of the family of Sze Ma-i. Ill-treatment of Min Ti. Liu Yau. Wang Tun and his rebellion. Ming Ti. Death of Wang Tun. Ch'ungTi. Uprising of Su Tsun. K'ang Ti. Muh Ti. Hwan Wan. Ngai Ti. Fukien’s invasion of Yen. The Eastern Tsin Dynasty. (Continued). Chapter XIV. Pages 183-201. Kien Wen Ti. Hiau Wu Ti- Death of Wang Mung. The Tsdns invade Tsin. Battle of Fei-shui. Treachery of Muh Yang-shui. Murder of Fu Kien, Topa. Six great powers in China. Bad conduct of Wu Ti and death. Ngan Ti, Topa’s library. San Wen. Liu Yu. Rebellion and death of Hwan Wan. Rebellion of Ho Lien. Suppression of later Yen. Hia dynasty. Murder of Ngan Ti. Kung Ti. His resignation. Epoch of Division between North and Sonth. The Snug Dynasty. Chapter XV. Pages 202-219. Murder of Kung Ti. Death of Wu Ti. Invasion of Jujan. Shau Ti. Wen Ti. Oc- cupation of Honan. Murder of Tan Ts‘i. Invasion of Cochin China. Ts‘ui Ho, Victories of Wei and sufferings of their army. Murder of Wen Ti. Hiau Wu Ti. Fei-Ti. Ming Ti. Siau Tau. Chu Li, Shun Ti. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Vll The Ts‘i Dynasty. Chapter XVI. Pages 220-227. Kau Ti. Wu Ti. Hung and his good rule. Removal of capital to Loh-yang. Ming Ti. Hung’s new law of inheritance of honours. Wang King. His treason. Tung Hweu-hau. Rebellion of Siau Yen. Ho Ti. Murder of Tung Hwun. The Liang Dynasty. Chapter XVII. Pages 228-250. Wu Ti. Murder of Ho Ti. Famine in Wei. Confucian schools. Siege of Tsung-li. Wu Ti’s conversion to Buddhism. Hu Shih. Wu Ti becomes a bonze. Ur Chu-ying. Division of Wei into east and west. Capture of Nanking and death of Wu Ti. Kien Wen. Heu King. Yu Chang. Yuan Ti. King Ti. Yu Wen. End of dynasty. The Ch‘en Dynasty. Chapter XVIII. Pages 251-260. Wu Ti. Destruction of West Wei. Yu Wen-hau. Suan Ti. Pate of North Ts‘i. Yang Kien. Tsung Ti. Su Wei. How Chu. Capture of Nanking by Yang Kien. The Sui Dynasty. Chapter XIX. Pages 261-285. Yang Kien. How Chu captured. SinKung. Education encouraged. Famine in Shensi- Intrigues and deposition of heir apparent. Murder of Yang Kien. Yang Ti. His magnificence. Making of canals. Invasion of Corea. Disaster to Chinese array. A second expedition to Corea. Li Yuan. A third expedition to Corea and submis- sion of latter. Rising of Turcomans. Murder of Yang Ti. Kung Ti-yew. Kung Ti-t‘ung. The T‘ang Dynasty. Chapter XX. Pages 286-305. Kau Tsu. Sill Min. Latter in danger of life through plots of his brothers. Invasion of Turcomans. T‘ai Tsung. His statesmanship and scholarship. Division of empire into ten circuits. Invasion of Corea. Kau Tsung, Intrigues in the palace. Invasion of China by barbarians. Chung Tsung. The T‘ang Dynasty. (Continned). Chapter XXL Pages 306-323. Wu How. Her despotic and immoral conduct. Chung Tsung. Jui Tsung. Huan Tsung and benevolent conduct. Country divided into fifteen circuits. Chang Kiu-ling. Rebellion of Ngan Luh shan. Li Lin-fu. Han-lin College. Su Tsung. Turfans come to aid of China in her civil war. Tai Tsung. Honan conquered by aid of Ouigors. Kwo Tze-i. The T‘ang Dynasty. (Continned). Chapter XXII, Pages 324-341. Teh Tsung. Change in mode of collection of taxes. Rebellion in Chihli. Nestorian tablet. Hien Tsung. Rebellion of Liu Pi. Rebellion of Wu Yuan in Honan. Craze for elixir of life. Mu Tsung. King Tsung. Murder of eunuchs. Wen Tsung. Power of eunuchs. Wu Tsung. Suan Tsung. I Tsung. Rebellion of Ch‘ui Hu. Hi Tsung. Army sent to Tonquin and mutiny of troops. Li K‘eh- yung. Rebellions through the empire. Ambition of eunuchs. Chau Tsung. Conflicts between ministers and eunuchs. Chu Wen. Chau Suan-ti. His resigna- tion and usurpation of Chu Wen. The Era of the Five Dynasties. Chapter XXIII. Pages 342-360. Tht After Liang — Chu Wen. Li Ts‘un-hu. Liu Shen-kwang, prince of Yuen. Murder of T‘ai Tsu. Mo Ti. Victories of Ts'un Hu. Inroads of Kliitans. The After T‘ang — Chwang Tsung. Li Sz.yuan. Expedition into Sz-chwan. Ming Tsung. Printing invented. Min Ti. Fei Ti. Shih K'ing. T'ang’s rebellion with aid of Khitans. The After Ttin — Kau Tsu. Ch‘uh Ti. The After Han Dynasty — Kau Tsu. Yin TL Kwo Wei. The After Chow — T‘ai Tsu. Shih Tsung. A survey of empire. Kung Ti. Chau Kwang-yin. End of dynasty. Vlll THE HISTORY OF CHINA. The Snug Dynasty. Chapter XXIV. Pages 361-376. T'ai Tsu. Plans for unification of empire. Reforms. Kwo Tsin conquers Sz-ch\van. Contest with tlie princes of Han and Thing, Capture of Nanking. T'ai Tsung. Capture of T'ai Yuan. Invasion of Liau-tung. Defeat of Khitaus. Collection of an imperial library. Battle of Cho-chow. K'ow Tsun. Rebellion in Sz-chwan. Chen Tsung. Disgrace of K'ow Tsun. Empress Liu. Tlie Sung Dynasty. Chapter XXV. Pages 377-396. Jin Han. Han K'i. Treaty with the Khitans. Opening of colleges. Rebellion in Cochin China. Ving Tsnng. Shen Tsung. Wang Ngan and his reforms. Khitan demand for Chinese territory. Fortress of Yung-loh. Cheh Tsung. Regent Kau. Death of Sze Ma-kwang. Re-establishment of some of Wang Ngan's reforms. Hwei Tsung. Treaty with Kins, Destruction of Liau dynasty. Western Liau. Boldness of Kins. Chang Kwoh. Invasion of China by Kins. K'in Tsung. Victories of the Kins. Capture of capital by Kins. The Southern Sung. Chapter XXVI. Pages 397-414. Kau Tsung. Removal of capital to Nanking. " Red Turbans.” Tsung Tseh, successes and death. Flight of Kau Tsung before Kins. Battle of the Yang tze. Campaign of Wu Shu and VVu Kiai. Defeat of former. Appearance of Mongols. Yoh Fei. Kins defeated by Mongols. War with Kins. Defeat of latter and murder of Wan. Abdication of Kau Tsung. Hiau Tsung. Treaty of peace with the Kins. Kwang Tsung. Ming Tsung. Mongol war with Kins. Genghis. Invasion of Kin territory by Mongols. Capture of Yen King. Genghis’ invasion of China. Meng Tung-ehin. The Southern Sung. (Continued). Chapter XXVII. Pages 415-436. Li Tsung. Death of Genghis. Alliance of Sungs and Mongols. Capture of K'ai-fung- fu by the latter. Fall of the Kins. Conflict of Chinese with the Mongols. Death of Genghis. Ok Ko-dai. KuYuk. Mangu. Kublai. Li Sz-'tau and his secret treaty with Kublai. Tu Tsung. Siege of Siang Yang. Kung Ti. Bayan and his suc- cesses. Capture of Wuchang. Naval battle and defeat of Chinese. Second capture of Ch'angchow. Seizure of Y’’angchow aud Hangchow. Capture of Emperor. Twaii Tsung. Losses of tlie Sungs. Death of Twan Tsnng. Ti Ping. Battle of Yai-shan. Suicide of Queen-Dowager and death of Ti Ping. End of dynasty. The Yuan Dynasty. Chapter XXVIII. Pages 437-449. Kublai. Embassy and naval expedition to Japan. Execution of Wen Tien-siang. Construction of Grand Canal. Attack of Burmese on Chinese. Death of Kublai. Ch'eng Tsung. Papesifu. Wu Tsung. Jen Tsung. Ying Tsung. Temudar. Tai Ti. Ming Tsung. The Yuan Dynastjb (Continued). Chapter XXIX. 450-465. Shun Ti. Bayan. His treason and banishment. Fang Kwoh-chin. Flood of Yellow River. Ku Lu appointed commissioner to investigate cause. Advises change of course of river. Agreed to, though opposed by people and Ch'eng Tsun. Secret Societies. “White Lily.” Rebellions in many places. Succe.sses of Chu. Prince Alikwun. Battle on Poyang Lake. Defeat of Ch'en. Folly of crown prince. Polo Timour. Flood of Yellow River. Advance of Suta on the capital. Chu proclaims himself Emperor. Capture of Peking and overthrow of dynasty. The Ming Dynasty. Chapter XXX. Pages 466-490. Hung Wu. His reforms. Suta and his campaigns. Death of Shun Ti. Campaign in Sz-chwan. Burmese invasion of China. Lan Yu. Hwei Ti. Rebellion of Prince Yen. Capture of Nanking and flight of Hwei Ti. Ch'eng Tsu. Expedition to TABLE OF CONTENTS. IX Tonquin. Rising of Mongols. Rebellions in various regions- Removal of eapilal to Peking. len Tsung. Snan Tsung. Rebellion of Kan Hu. Education of eunuchs. Yiiig Tsung. Wang Chin. Invasion of Mongols and capture of Emperor. King Ti. Ying Tsung again ascends tlie throne. Hien Tsung. The Mini; Dj’nasty. (Coiitinnetl) Chapter XXXI. Paties 491-517. Hiau Tsung. Wu Tsung. Liu Kin. Rebellion of Prince Ning. Sliih Tsung. Embassy from Cochin Cdiina. Forays of the Japanc.se. Midi Tsung. Anta. 8hen 'I'sung. Prosperity of empire and remission of taxes. Noorliachu. War with .Japan. Confedei ation of the Niuclien. Victories of Noorliachu. Defeat of three Chinese armies. Kwang T.sung. Great successes of Nooihachu. T‘ai Tsung. Manchiis conquer Corea. Chwaiig Lich-ti. Thii Tsiing’s invasion of China. Great re- bellion of Li. Capture of Peking by rebels and suicide of Empci'or. Wn San- kwei. Battle of Slian hai-kwan. Defeat of Li and end of Ming dynasty. The T.shng Dynasty. Cha])tor XXXII. Ptiges 518-5I0. Shun Cliih. K'ofa. Defeat and death. Fighting in Kwang-si. Death of the Regent. Figliting in the west. K‘ang Hi. The three princes and the collapse of tlicir rebellion. Defeat of the jiirates in Formosa. Treaty with Russia. Galdan. Hi.s conflict with K'ang Hi. Tseh Wang and his ambitious schemes. Rebellion in Formosa. Tlie Ts‘ing Dynasty. (Continned). Cliapter XXXIIl. Pages 5 l I— 571 Yung Ching. Victories in Central Asia. Tseh Ning- K'ieii Lung. Troubles amongst aborigines and in Central Asia. Return of Tourgot tribe. Burmese war. Rebel- lion of aborigines in Great and Little Golden River districts. Insurrection of Lin in Formosa. Glioorka campaign. Lord Macartney'.s mission. Kia K ing. Ri belli' n of secret societies. Lord Amherst's eiidiassy. Tali Kwang. Troubles in Turkestan. Rising of the Miaiitze. Events that led to, and the war of 1842. Treaty of Nanking. The Ts'iiig Dynasty, (('ontimied). (diapter XXXIV. Pages 572-()U4. Hien Fung. Tdipiii;/ rehillion. Its suppression. The .4 1'roic affair. Capture of Canton. Tivat\- of Tientsin. Refusal of Chinese to r-atity the treaty. Recomnienccmcnt of hostilities and repulse of English at Taku. War. Fall of Peking. Thing Chill. Bnrliiigliame’s mis.sion. Tientsin massacre. .Suppression of Mohammedan revolt. Margary mission. Kwang Sii War with France. English treaty of coinmerce with Thibet. War between China and Japan. Treaty and cession of Foimosa. Final possession of the whole island by the submission of the Black Flags. Appeiiilix A. — A Ch:i[iter lui the Pojtnlntion of riiiiia. Ptigos ()0.5-('07. Appendix B. — Geiintilogical Tahlis of Cdiiiiese and Tarlar Dynasties. Pago fi()8. Appendix P. — The Eighteen Provinces of Cliiiia and its Colonies. Page fi 17. Al))hah('tical Index. Page 018. THE HISTORY OF CHINA. THE MYTHICAL PERIOD. Chapter I. SHE beginning of Chinese history is buried in the profonndest mystery and obscnrity. Where the forefathers of the present race originally came from, and how they reached China, are matters sim[)ly of sjieculation. It is believed by many scholars that they first started from the neighbourhood of the Caspian Sea, and travelling eastwards they in due time reached the waters of the Y'ellow Iliver. It has been asserted by later writers that the original home of the Chinese was on the great Euphrates plain, and that commencing their emigration they travelled in a north-east direction till they struck the waters of the Yellow River. They then travelled along its northern banks, and following its course, till they reached the present Shansi, they determined to make a permanent settlement upon its fruitful plains. As the people grew in numbers and in strenoth they diverged in all directions, east, west, north and south, extending their rule and consolidating their power. In doing this they were sometimes engaged in fierce conflicts with the earlier emigrants of other races that had. preceded them, and at others they found themselves fighting side by side with them, when as allies they helped them in some crisis of their history. From the very beginning, as far as we can gather from the few and imperfect glimpses that we have of them in the early periods of their history, they were a sturdy race, and destined to become a con- quering people. They were not simply a nomadic horde of shepherds that depended upon their flocks and herds for subsistence. It is true that as late as Shim his governors of districts are called “Pastors,’' and still further on, Mencius when speaking of them, terms them “ Pastors of Men.” In the later histories of China, however, there are comparatively few allusions to their ancestors having been a pastoral people. As soon as they settled down they began to cultivate the soil. They not only planted the various kinds of grain for the sustenance 2 THE HISTORT OF CHINA. of their families, bnt flax also, which was to be woven into garments for their use. They had some knowledge of the silkworm, and planted mulberry trees, on the leaves of which they might feed the worms. With the commercial instinct that is strong in the Chinaman of to-day they began a system of barter, and established fairs, where the farmers might gather from their farms and hamlets for the exchange of their commodities. The first figure that appears on the horizon of Chinese history is P‘an-ku. There is absolutely nothing known as to how this mythical personage originated, and yet he lives to-day in the popular mind as the man that first gave the heavens and the earth the shape they have ever since retained. In the pictures we have of him he is represented as a huge figure, with axe in one hand and a chisel in the other, striking at the dome above, which is made of stone, to fashion it in the form that the firmament has to-day.* Next after him came the three great rulers, impersonations of a trinity of powers, viz., the celestial, terrestrial and human sovereigns, who are said to have each reigned for eighteen thousand years, or even longer according to the particular author who is writing on the subject. These long lived potentates simply embody an idea so commonly expressed by the Chinese that Heaven, earth and man are the three great forces of nature, aud in this crystalizing of them in the persons of these three great rulers that governed the world for so many ages, they merely mean that during that time the great forces that contain within them the essence of all things had ample time for their development. After the long reign of these three celebrated monarchs Yu-chau (Nest having) appears. In this fabulous personage we have another idea embodied, aud he represents the advance that men were making in civilization. In his reign men began to build houses, for up to his time they had lived in forests, under the branches of the spreading trees, but those had been an imf)erfect jirotection against the incle- mency of the weather, and consequently sickness had prevailed and men had gone mad through the sufferings they had been compelled to endure. Others who had taken refuge in caves aud holes in the hill sides had suffered from cramps and rheumatism aud various kinds of fevers. From the appearance of Yu-chau men began to fashion in a primitive way the houses that have since grown into the mansions and palaces that abound throughout the land. Sui-jiu (Producer of fire and wood) next appears upon the scene, another mythical personage, that still further embodies the idea of j)rogress that the world was gradually making. Hitherto men had not learned the use of fire in the cooking of their food. They had simply * Tlie compilers of legendary histor}' liave made P‘an-ku to be the first developed figure tliat appeared out of chaos. Tiie great historian .Sze Ma-ts‘ien makes no mention of him, aud it is not till we come to the writers of the Sung dynasty that we find him seriously discussed or made the hero of the Chinese cosmogony. THE MTTHICAI. PERIOD. 3 devoured it raw, and had taken the flesh of the animals they had killed in the chase, and satisfied their hunger with it, as it was cut from the bleeding bodies of the beasts or birds they had slaughtered. The same had been the case with the productions of nature. These had been plucked as they grew spontaneously, and had been eaten without any preparations to make them more wholesome or palatable. It was not simply in the matter of the use of fire, however, that Sui-jin proved a benefactor to his fellowmen. Before his time the people had not learned the art of writing. There was no method therefore by which a record of events _could be kept, and so the greatest confusion arose in public life. In order tolmeet this difficulty Sui-jin invented a plan, which has travelled down many centuries, and into lands where the highest civilization obtains, of tying knots, not on their handkerchiefs, for they had none, but on strings. A large knot called to mind an important matter, and a small one a more trivial affair. We assume incidentally from this that the people had learned the manufacture of twine at least, if not of the larger ..kinds of rope. During his time fairs and markets were established, and men were formally appointed as preachers of religion amongstithe people. With the passing away of Sui-jin, and the reign of Yung-ch‘eng (Service accomplished), of whom we have no record more than his name, the purely mythological character of the early history may be said to have disappeared, and from this time what may be termed the legendary period begins. 4 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. THE LEGENDARY PERIOD. B. C. 2852— B. C. 2355. Chapter II. SHE next person that appears on the scene is tee celebrated Fnh-hi, the first of the five great Rnlers that occupy so prominent a position in the early history of China. He is an exceedingly shadowy and misty personage, and the pictnres we have of him have been limned mainly by the imagination and the romance of succeeding ages. With regard to the date at which he commenced his reign varions opinions have been given. One author puts it down at B. C. 3322, another at B. C. 2953, bnt the year B. C. 2852 is the one that is most generally received as being more approximately correct than any other. Nothing is known of his father or mother. In order to increase his reputation it is stated that he was an incarnation of some powerful spirit, and therefore supernatnrally conceived. The historian tells us that he was born at Ch‘eng-ki, near the modern Si-ngan, but that he subsequently established his rule in Ch‘en near the present K‘ai-fung-fu in Hunan. The great object of his life seemed to have been the carrying out of plans for the benefit of those over whom he was called to rule. He instituted the laws of marriage, for before his time the greatest laxity existed in regard to the relationship of the two sexes, such as one would expect to find in a very primitive and uncivilized state of society. He tauglit men how to fish with nets and to rear domestic animals. He also invented the lute and the lyre, that the people might be charmed with music, and thus be enabled to bear more cheerfully the burdens of life. Having found it difficult to distinguish his people one from another he invented the system of family names and divided the people into clans, and gave them surnames, which they were to retain, and by which they might be registered for purposes of taxation. His original genius was shown in his devising a method of writing, which was to supersede the more clumsy plan of knotted cords hitherto used for the record of events. He invented the six classes of written characters. These were first, characters resembling objects ; second, characters having borrowed meanings, such as ling, which means an ensign of authority, but is used in the sense of to rule ; third, characters pointing out objects ; fourth, characters formed by combining ideas, such as the word for sincerity, which is made by THE LEGENDARY PERIOD. 5 nniting together the two words for man and to speak ; fifth, characters that inverted the significations, and sixth ; characters that united sound to the object. From these primitive beginnings have grown the six classes of written characters that have developed into the finished forms that they have at the present time. It is declared that he was assisted in his great efforts for the development of his people by the sudden appearance of a dragon-horse from the Yellow River as he was one day standing by its brink. On its back was a scroll inscribed with mystic diagrams, which were ultimately developed by him into the eight diagrams, which have played so momentous a part in the early systems of divination and in those of philosophy in almost every century since then. In commemoration of the appearance of the monster he gave the title of “dragon” to his officials. Fuh-hi is revered to-day as one of the great benefactors of the Chinese race and as the real founder of it too, for it is his capital that is looked upon as the cradle of this j)eople, from whence have sprung the multitudes of the black-haired race that to-day hold rule over this vast Empire of China. After a reign of one hundred and fifteen years he bequeathed his power to Shen-nung.* When Shen-nung grew up to manhood he determined to make farming a science. He examined the various kinds of soils and gave directions to the fiirmers what should be cultivated in each. He taught them how to make ploughs, so that they could turn up the soil, and instructed them in the best methods of husbandry. Immediate results began to be seen in the improved condition of the people, and succeeding generations have been so grateful to him for his methods, which have been handed down through successive ages, that his image is now worshipped by every heathen farmer under the title of “The Prince of Cereals.” Shen-nung also went very deeply into the study of herbs, in order to find remedies for the diseases of his people. He is said to have been very successful in his investigations. As an example of this it is declared that in one day he discovered seventy poisonous plants and as many that were antidotes to them. He is looked up to as the father of medicine, for he was able by practical experiments to demonstrate the value of an immense number of herbs. Tradition tells ns that he had a glass covering to his stomach, in consequence of which he could watch the process of digestion of each herb and mark its influence on the system. A pharmacopeia which is * Shen-nung. (B. C. 2737-2697). This man was the son of Nang-teng, the daughter of the ehief of a district called Yu-kiau, and wife to the ruler of Sian-tien. The Chinese not satisfied with his being born in the way that ordinary mortals are, have invented the fable that he was of supernatural origin. It is told how that before his mother was married she was walking along the road one day, when having placed her foot upon a step she felt strange sensation all over her. After a time a son was born, but she determined to reject him, so she had him placed in a lonely spot on a mountain, where she expected he would die. The wild beasts, however, gathered round him, and he was nurtured and protected by them. When his mother saw this she had him brought home and cared for him herself. 6 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. in use at the present time is said to have been written by him, and it describes the properties of a large number of herbs, their uses, etc. In every druggist's shop there is an image of him, and he is looked upon as the presiding deity of a business that he loved so much and that he had the honour of starting. Sheu-nung was succeeded by eight men of no fame or note whatever, and history has determined that they shall not be allowed to break the sequence between him and his famous successor Hwang-ti. There is consequently a difficulty here in settling the dates satis- factorily. These eight are spoken of as rulers, and yet no years are reckoned to them, though the last of them — Yu-wang — must have been a real character, for it was the rebellion against him that led to a change of dynasty and to the placing of Hwang-ti on the throne. Yu-wang had become utterly corrupt and worthless, and his life was such a vicious one that he lost the respect not only of his own people, but also of the feudal chiefs that paid him fealty. One of these, Ch‘ih- yew, a man of power and very ambitious, raised the standard of rebellion against him, and tried to dethrone him. In this he was successful, when Hien-yuan raised an army and marched against him. The two armies met in Cho-luh in the modern province of Chih-li, and Ch‘ih-yew would have been overcome, but by his enchantments he hid his men in a mist and escaped. Hien-yuan was, however, a match for him, for he constructed a wooden figure, which he fixed on his own chariot, whose hand invariably pointed to the south, no matter in what direction he drove. Guided by this he followed Chhh-yew into the very midst of the fog in which he had enveloped himself and captured and slew him.* With the overthrow of Ch‘ih-yew the feudal chiefs elected Hien- yuan to the supreme power (B. C. 2697-2597), which he consented to assume, and he took the title of Hwang-ti, the Yellow Emperor, from the colour of the earth, by virtue of which he believed he had come to his present eminence. In order to account for his great deeds he is said to have wrought, history gravely tells ns that he was the offspring of a miraculous conception. His mother’s name was Fu-pau, and he was born near the river Ki, which became the surname of his family. In addition to his title of Hien-yuan, given to him because he was the inventor of wheeled vehicles, he was also called Yew-hiung, from a territory that he inherited.! • Another account represents Ch‘ih-yew as having been one of Hwang-ti’s ministers, against whom he rose in rebellion. On the day of the battle at Cho-luh he invoked the spirits of the wind and of the rain to come to his assistance, and a mighty tempest arose, but Hwang-ti sent the daughter of Heaven to quell it, and Ch‘ih-yew was caught and slain. Ch'ih-yew is looked upon with horror by the earliest writers on historical sub- jects as the man that broke in upon the peace and innocence that for a certain period prevailed in primitive society and became the first great rebel. In the Historical Clas- sic it says of him : “ According to the teachings of ancient times Ch'ih-yew was the first to produce disorder, which spread amongst the common people, till all became murderers and robbers, owl-like in their conduct, traitors and villains, snatching and filching, dissemblers and oppressors. See Shu-king, Vol. Ill, page 590 ; also Mayers, Chinese Reader’s Manual, page 36. t Yew-hiung is supposed to be the'present Hsin-ch‘ing in Honan. THE LEGENDAET PERIOD. 7 Hwang-ti Lad the good fortnne not only of being a man of great power and intelligence, bnt also of Laving ministers of considerable genius to aid biin in tbe reforms tluit he wished to introduce into bis administration. Under bis direction Yuug-cb‘eng composed a calendar and made astronomical instruments that greatly assisted men in the study of the heavens. Musical instruments made of bamboo, called Ta-bia, were made for him by Ling-lun, and Yung-yuan by his command made twelve bells to denote the different seasons of the year. New methods of reckoning were devised, and weights and measures regulated, so that the people should have some standard to go by in their commercial transactions. Ex[)eriments were also made in dyeing, efforts being made to imitate the various colours of nature, and bows and arrows to be used in warfare were first constructed during this reign. One of the most important and permanent of all the inventions of this celebrated Emperor was that of the Sexagenary Cycle which has been used ever since his day in the reckoning of time. His system was perfected in the sixty-first year of his reign, B. C. 2037, and consists of sixty combinations of two words each. The whole will therefore cover a period of sixty years. After the entire series has been used the reckoning is resumed from the first in it till the whole is again exhausted.* Hwang-ti was fortunate in having a queen that forwarded as far as was in her power the plans of her husband for the prosperity of his j)eople. Her name was Lui-tsu, and she was the daughter of the feudal chief of Si-ling. Having watched the operations of the silk- worms she determined to utilize their labours for the good of mankind, and she accordingly had the silk unwound from the cocoons and woven into cloth. Succeeding ages have been grateful to her wher- ever the silk-worms are reared for purposes of trade ; there they have an image of Lui-tsu, and her protecting influence is implored for an industry that was first instituted by her. Hwang-ti was no dreamer, hut exceedingly practical in all his thoughts for the welfare of his people. He taught them for example how to make utensils of wood, pottery and metal, and he commanded Kuug-ku to build boats and make carts. Iii order to jirevent the disputes and serious quarrels that would necessarily arise, where the boundaries of the land were not well defined, he appointed officers, • From the year B. C. 2637, A. D. 1863, there have been exactly seventy-five cycles. This method is followed by the Japanese, Coreans and the people of Lew chew. It may be remarked here in regard to the cycle that writers are by no means of one mind that Hwang-ti was the originator of it. Dr. Legge indeed does not believe that there ever was such a man as he, and that if he ever did exist he lived somewhere else than in China. The fact that Ta-nan the man who is said to have compiled the cycle under the direction of Hwang-ti, is not heard of for more than two thousand years after the time in which he is said to have lived is a very suspicious circumstance. Tliere is another fact worthy of observation, viz., that up to the era of the Former Han Dj’nasty the cycle simply chronicled days, and not years. It is used in this way by fortune- tellers at the present time. See Dr. Legge's Shoo-king, Vol. Ill, Part I, page 82. 8 THE HISTORY OP CHINA. whose business it was to arrange with the owners of property throughout the country the exact limits of their lands, thus placing on a secure basis the property which each claimed as his own, and ])reventiug the encroachment of the more powerful on the lands of the ])oor. Besides being practical he was highly religious, and re-JOgnizing the fact that no jieople can be virtuous or prosperous without some settled faith and worship) he appointed public jdaces where the worship of Grod and the myriad spirits in nature might be reverenced, and where the peoj)le might be instructed in religion.* After a reign of one hundred years he died, and was buried in Shensi, when he was succeeded by his sou Kin-t‘ieu, whose dynastic title was Shau-hau (B.O. 2597). With regard to this ruler history has almost absolutely nothing to say. It is recorded that when he ascended the throne phoenixes appeared in large numbers f As these birds are believed to be particularly auspicious we may gather that this reign was a prosperous one, though the only thing that history has to tell us of what happened during it was that the various orders of both civil and military mandarins were distinguished from each other by distinctive dresses that he devised, and that the colours of them were taken from the plumage of birds that had attracted his attention. After a reign of eighty-four years he died in Ch‘u-feu in the present province of Shantung, whither he had remov'ed his capital from Ch‘ih-chow in Kiang-nan. Shau-hau was succeeded by Chwan-hu (B.C. 2513-2435), whose dynastic title was Kau-yaug. Why none of the four sons of his jtredecessor were selected to succeed his father history does not tell. It was the theory in those early days that the throne was not necessarily hereditary, but was given to the man who had shown by a virtuous life and by special ability that he was the one that Heaven had raised up to govern the people. Neither do the ancient records tell in all cases who it was, Em()eror, or chiefs, or people that decided the question as to who was the fittest person to succeed to the imperial ]>ower. Although he became Emperor \s4ien he was only twenty years old he was not ignorant of the art of governing, for he had assisted Shau-hau from the age of ten, so that his mind must have been an exceptionally clever one, and he himself more precocious than the most of the young men of his time. He had another recommeuda- * Legends and fables innumerable abound regarding this famous sovereign. One of these is that a certain kind of grass grew in his palace yard that immediately became agitated when any glib-tongued person entered, and that they pointed their leaves at him. Another is that Ts‘ang-hieh by a careful study of the foot-marks of birds elaborated the art of forming written characters. There is a good deal of uncertainty about this man. One legend makes him to have been, not a minister of Hwang-ti, but an Emperor that succeeded Fuh-hi, aud that he got his idea of devising a system of written records from the tracings on the back of a supernatural tortoise that appeared to him from the River Loli. This oue thing is certain, the Chinese scholars of to-day believe in him, for when they meet in their literary halls to worship Confucius the statue of Ts'ang-hieh is also reverenced. + The four supernatural creatures which the Chinese look upon as omens of good are the K‘i lin, the fung or pheeuix, the tortoise aud the dragon. THE LEGENDARY PERIOD. 9 tion in his favour, viz., that he was the grandson of Hwang-ti, and therefore he liad royal blood in his veins. He fixed his capital in Pnh, in Shantung, where he lived and died. AVe know exceedingl}' little of his life. He made corrections in the calendar, in order if possible to obviate the errors in regard to times and seasons which were constantly occurring in consequence of the defective astronomical knowledge of those times. He also had bells cast, and he ap{)ointed officers, whose special duties were to examine into the mineral resources of the country, and report to him upon them. He was very musical, and he composed a piece entitled “ The Response to the Clouds,” and he took measures to see that the harmonies of the music that was used in the solemn service of God by himself and chief officers should be as perfect as possible. He appointed the four sons of Shau-hau as well as the son of Shen-nung and his own grandson to preside over the five elements or primordial essences, viz., water, fire, wood, metal and earth, and to-day the spirits of these men are worshipped as the presiding deities of these elements. After a reign of seventy-eight years he died, and was succeeded by Hau-sin (B. C. 2435-2365), whose dynastic title was Ti-knh. This Emperor was the grandson of Yuau-hiau, a son of Hwang-ti. According to the annals of the Bamboo Books he was distinguished at his birth by being born with double rows of teeth. He ascended the throne when he was thirty years old, and established his capital in Honan-fu. As a ruler he was noted for his justice and for the profound interest he took in the concerns of his people. He knew what was going on in the furthest extremity of his dominions, and he sympathized with the sorrows and sufferings of those on whom misfortune had fallen. There was such a mingling of love and majesty in him that men were drawn to him, and yet they had the most profound reverence for him. Ti-knh had attained the unenviable reputation in history of being the first ruler of whom it is recorded that he had more than one wife.* Besides his queen he had three concubines, and it is stated that on the occasion of his espousing each of them a religious service to God was performed, in which His blessing was implored. It must be acknowledged that Ti-kuh was exceedingly fortunate in at least three of his marriages. His queen bore him a son of the name of K‘i, who was distinguished for his virtue and ability. He became minister of agriculture under Shun, and his descendants founded the great dynasty of Chow. One of his concubines was the mother of Sieh, who was minister of instruction under the same famous Emperor as his brother, and one of whose duties as defined in the Historical Classic was to see * There is a legend, indeed, that Hwang-ti had at least four, and that one of these was Mu-mu, who was noted for her ugliness and for the wisdom with which she ruled the imperial household. History says nothing about her, and if Hwang-ti was really a fabulous personage the story falls to the ground. 10 THE HISTORY OP CHINA. to the carrying ont of the five orders of relationship, viz., parent and child, sovereign and subject, husband and wife, brother and brother, and friend with friend. His descendants were the founders of the Shang dynasty. Another bore the famous Emperor and sage Yau, whilst the last had the misfortune to bear the ill-fated Chi, who was named snccessor to his father, but having fallen into habits of intemperance and dissipation was set aside, and Yau was made the heir apparent instead. History gives no reason why the latter was selected in preference to either K‘i or Sieh. He may have shown pre-eminent abilities that led his father to believe he was the most suitable one to follow him on the throne. After nine years’ trial of Chi he was compelled to depose him and substitute his younger brother in his place. THE LEQEhDAEY PERIOD (CONTINUED.) 11 THE LEGENDARY PERIOD (continued). Chapter HI. YaK—B. C. 2356-2255. Skm—B. C. 2255—2205. fHESE two names are the most conspicnoiis in Chinese history. They are the ideal Emperors, by whom every sovereign has been measured since they lived. The Chinese have endowed them with almost every conceivable virtue and given them credit for such high administrative abilities that they stand worthy of being the first prominent figures in such a grand and stirring history as this Chinese Empire has had. That they were chiefs of the Chinese people in very early times seems on the whole probable, though we are surrounded by so ranch that is misty and nebulous in regard to these two worthies, that the statements we have in regard to them have necessarily to be received with the greatest possible caution. The fame they have got and the halo that surrounds them are entirely due to Confucius and his distinguished disciple Mencius, who adopted them as the great heroes of China, and who in the true spirit of hero worship endowed them with every perfection and made them to be fit models for every ruler that should succeed them.* Yau was the son of Ti-huli by one of his concubines. Historians prefer to believe that he was miraculously conceived by a red dragon as being more consistent with the heroic character he afterwards became. Whilst his brother Chi was on the throne he was ruler of the principality of T‘au, whence he removed his residence to Thing, in consequence of which he was known by the title of Prince T‘ang of T‘au-t When, however, “both men and Heaven determined to dis- card” the unworthy Chi, and he was driven from his throne, Yau at age of sixteen became the ruler of the Chinese people. The latter proved to be a man of sagely virtues, as was seen by the remarkable results of his government. “ He was able to make the clever and virtuous distinguished, and thence proceeded to the love of the nine classes of liis kindred (viz., four on the father’s side, * Thiit this is so can be poved by the very few references that are made to them in the very earliest books. lu the Historical Classic, in the books of Hia, Yau is mentioned only once, ami Sdiun not at all. In the books of Shang they are named but once, whilst in the books of Chow we have simply but two references to them. Again the Book of Odes and the Yili-king are absolutely silent with regard to them. This^'state of things could hardly have been possible had these men been as distinguished during their life-time as tradition has made them to be. t T‘au is the present Ta-yuen in the prefecture of Ping-yang in Shan-si, 12 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. three on the mother’s and two on the wife’s), who all became har- monious. He regulated and refined his people, who all became bright and intelligent. He united in perfect harmony the myriad states {i.e., the feudal tribes beyond the royal domain,) and the black-haired people (the Chinese pieople) were transformed, and the result was concord.”* His fame spread in every direction, and when he made his visita- tions round liis kingdom young and old flocked about him to see the wonderful man that ruled over them, and to invoke blessings on his head for the happiness he had been the means of bringing down u|)on them. On one of these occasions, when he came to the district of Hoa- yin, the people crowded around him and prayed that Heaven might give him the three great blessings of wealth, sous and long life. He declared that he did not desire any of these. “ Wealth,” he said, “ brought many troubles, children many anxieties, and old age much sorrow and contempt.” “ Not so,” they replied, “sons are the gift of Heaven, and it finds a place for each on earth, where he can fulfil his duties, therefore you need not have any anxiety about them. Old age never brings insult on anyone, excepting where virtue has been lost. At the close of life the aged man ascends on a cloud to the place where God lives. How then can it be said that mature age brings contempt? With regard to wealth it is true it briug.s many respon- sibilities, but yon can divide it with others, who will share with you the burdens that it has brought you and help you in the management of the country.” t The most abundant prosperity was the result of Yau’s wise and benevolent government. Even nature seemed to be touched by his virtuous rule, for the rain fell once in every twelve days, and the wind blew in such gentle breezes that men’s bodies were refreshed and the crops were encouraged in their growth, so that they came forth in such abundance that want was a thing unknown. Men, too, dwelt in per- fect safety, for every one was honest. No door was shut at night for fear of thieves, for none existed, and if a man passed some article of value that some cue had accidentally dropped, he would find it still there on his return, for no one coveted it. The next important thing that is mentioned in the Historical Classic is the measures that he took to secure a correct calendar for the guidance of the farmers in their cultivation of the land. “ There- upon Yau commanded Hi and Ho, the astronomers royal, in reverent accordance with their observation of the heavens, to calculate and make a map of the sun, moon and stars and zodiacal spaces,” and so deliver respectfully the seasons to the people.| * See Legge’s Shoo-king, vol. 1, page 17. + The three blessings invoked by the men of Hoa-yin are still coveted by the peo- ple of to-day, and amongst the scrolls pasted over the doors at the new year’s time one often sees these, on which is inscribed the prayer that the threo.fold happiness may descend upon the family within, J See Canon of Yau, Legge’s translation, p. 19. 13 THE LEGENDARY PERIOD (CONTINUED). After he bad reigned sixty-oue years a mighty iiimidatiou of tlie Yellow lliver took place, so vast that the waters were said to have enveloped the montitains and covered the tops of the hills, and seemed as though their object was to rise to the very heavens.* One of Yau’s ministers, by tlie name of Kwnn f was, after some hesitation, appointed to the task of devising measures for the relief of the flooded country, but after nine years of unsuccessful efforts he was degraded as incompetent, and after a time imprisoned, either for this or other offences. + After Yau had reigned seventy years, feeling the cares of govern- ment too much for him, he addressed the president of the nobles of the empire and the one whose duty it was to stand between him and his feudal chiefs, and told him that he desired to resign his throne to him. The man meekly replied that he had not the virtue for so high and responsible a position, and that he “should only disgrace the imperial seat.” Yau then asked him to “ point out some one among the illus- trious, or set forth one from among the poor and mean,” that could worthily succeed him. The officers of the court upon this nnauimonsly recommended to him a man of the name of Shun, whose reputation for filial piety had spread far and wide and had reached even the ears of the Emperor himself. In order to test him he gave him his two daugh- ters— Ngo-hwaug and Nu-ying — in marriage, § believing that if he could stand such a severe strain as this he would demonstrate his ability for becoming the ruler of his people. After three years of trial, during which Shun gave the utmost satisfaction to Yau and showed his knowledge of men by introducing the famous Yu to the notice of the Emperor as a competent man to control the ravages of the Yellow River, he was formally installed as colleague with him in the govern- ment of the country. The ceremonies connected with this important act were of the most solemn character possible. Standing out in the open air Yau told the story of his choice to Heaven and appealed to it to ratify what he had done. They next repaired to the ancestral temple of the Emperor, and there in the presence of the spirits of the dead he narrated all that he had done to secure a suitable man to succeed him on the throne, and thus preserve the heritage that once was theirs, and which they had entrusted to him.H • See Canon of Yau. t This man was; the father of the famous Yu and Baron’ of^Ts'ung, a district that now corresponds witli Hu, in the department of Si-ngan in Slian-si, and that lies south of the river King. J What finally became of him is uncertain. Some say that he was imprisoned for life, others again affirm that he was put to death. § This story seems to us somewhat apocryphal, and ought to be relegated to the region of legend. One thing seems certain that polygamy must have been practised at this very early age of Chinese history. H From this ceremony we see at what a very early age ancestral worship was practised by the (fiiinese, and thus we can undeistand how it is that it is more deeply rooted in the minds and faith of this people than any other religious system that has a purely human origin. 14 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. That he was perfectly sincere in his action is manifest from the fact that he had passed by his own son Chu, who was lacking in moral character, and had selected a stranger to succeed him as the rnler of the Chinese. The only important event that took place during the remainder of Yau’s life was the division of the country into twelve grand divisions and the ap{)ointiug the spirit of the highest mountain in each to be the tutelary god of all the region within its boundaries. The country had prospered under his rule, and under ^the wise administration of K‘i, who had been made minister of agriculture, the farmers enjoyed the highest pros{)erity. Yau died in the year B.C. 2258 in Yang, in the present province of Honan, and was in due time succeeded by his virtuous colleague Shun. Shun (B.C. 2255-2205. The accounts that we have of this distinguished man’s early days are very conflicting and not altogether satisfactory. Some hold that his ancestors had been lords of Yu, but they had lost their inherit- ance, and the family had been reduced to the condition of common peo- ple. Mencius says, he was born in Chu-fung; the Historical Records in K‘i-chow, the Shansi of to-day, and the writers of the Sung dynasty make his birth place to have been T‘si-nau in Shantung. According to Sz-raa-ts‘ieu he was of royal origin, for he was a descendant of the Emperor Chwan-hu. His father was named Ku-seu, and was blind. After the death of Slum’s mother he married another wife, who had a son of the name of Siang. This step-mother hated Shun, and so managed to infuse her own wicked feeling into the hearts both of her husband and son, that they made several attempts to deprive him of his life. On one occasion they sent him into a loft of a granary, am) taking away the ladder by which he had ascended they set the building on fire. Shun narrowly escaped with his life. On another his father ordered him to open a well. Shun, who was suspicious, of some deep laid scheme to injure him, opened a side way by which he could escape. It was well he did so, for after he had got down a considerable depth the hole was sud- denly filled up, and he would inevitably have perished had he not been able to ascend to the u[)per world by the road he had previously dug. Some of the more veritable historians prefer to believe that he was saved by a dragon that had especially taken him under its protection. In spite of all the hatred of his family to him Shun acted with the most profound filial reverence to his father and his nnniitural step- mother, so that he became the model for filial piety to the whole region in which he lived. His influence over his fellow-men seemed to have been remarkable. If he went to fish in the Lui lake the fishermen abandoned their boat for him to nse as he liked. When he went for a time to the banks of the Yellow River to make pottery the workmen THE LEGENDARY PERIOD (CONTINUED.) 35 employed there were so iuflneuced by his upright condnct that they would pass nothing from their hands but what was of the best material and the most perfect workmanship. He could not, indeed, reside any- where without attracting people by tlie magic of his person, who were content to abandon their homes to settle down beside him, in order to be benefitted by his example. Wis fame spread everywhere, and at last reached the ears of Yan, and when he was thirty years of arophetic words, and destined to be fulfilled by the last ruler of the dynasty he was now founding. He then expelled I-ti from the country as a man dangerous to the state. In the second year of his reign his chief minister Hau-yan died, and Y'^ih was appointed in his place with the idea of succeeding him on the throne when he died. Two years after he caused to be made nine golden tripods on which he had engraven the maps of his nine provinces, one on each, which he solemnly placed in the royal ancestral temple, as a permauent record of the great work he had achieved in delivering China from the great flood. In his fifth year in oue of his tours, he passed a criminal in chains. He immediately descended from his chariot, aud weeping asked him how it was that he was in this comlitiou. The by-standers said, “■ Great Yu, don’t pity this fellow, or weep for him, for he is a bad man aud deserves no sympathy.” “ I weep,” replied Yu, “because of the state of things in my kingdom. When Yau and Shun were rulers, their people were of one mind with them, and so were good. Now because of my deficiency iu virtue, every man follows the bent of his own will, aud so evil prevails.” Up to Yu's time trade had been carried ou by barter, but now gold and silver were minted and used as a currency. He showed his be- nevolence by issuing an order that if any family through poverty had been compelled to sella sou, if they applied to him he would supply them with money sufficient to redeem him. In his eighth year he made * The rattle is still ia existence, but is now only used by peddlers. The drum, however, is still used, though in a modified way, much in the same way as it was in the days of Yu. In front of every Mandarin’s Yainen tliere is one hung and any oue who fails to get justice by the ordinary cliannels, can strike this, when he is at once ad- mitted into tlie presence of the official, to whom he can personally appeal for redress. This method, however, is not always efficacious in securing justice, for the magistrates of to-day have fallen far below the ideal ones of those early days. 21 THE LEGENDARY PERIOD (CONTINUED.) a tonr of visitation and reached Hwny-k‘i in Cheh-kianf^, where he met his nobles. One of these, Fang-fnug, he pnt to death, because he had shown disrespect to him in not arriving at the meeting in proper time. Before the assembly had finished its discussions the aged ruler fell ill and died at the advanced age of one hundred, and was succeeded by his son. 0.2191-2188). According to the intentions of Yu, Yih should have been the man that should have succeeded him on the throne. He was no doubt influenced to this decision by the belief that he had in his ability. He had helped him in devising measures for controlling the great inundation of the Yellow liiver, and had been appointed by Shun to superintend the works for cutting down the trees and grass that had run wild during the flood, and for destroying the birds and beasts that had become so numerous during that time that they had become a danger to man. He had a most kindly feeling towards him, and infinite faith in the probity of his character. There was a ])rofounder reason, however, than all this for his action. The throne hitherto had not been hereditary, but had been given to the most suitable man without any family partiality. Tu knew that ])osterity would stigmatize his conduct, as being wautino in that unselfish concern for the state that had marked both Yau and Shun, and he would suffer in the estimation of it. The nation, however, resented this plan, and though it is probable that they allowed Yih to govern during the three years of mourning for Yu, the Princes of the feudal states, and the people at large, decided^ that K‘i was the proper man to succeed his father.* He fi.Ked his capital in the present prefectnral city of Honan. The only event of any importance that is recorded of him is his battle with Hu at a place named Kan, in Shensi. This man was a powerful and ambitious noble, and no doubt he thought that he had as good a right to reign as K‘i. Hitherto the succession had been to the fittest, and Yu’s son, therefore, had the right to become Emperor, only as he excelled other men in his virtues. He did not believe that he was a better man than himself, and consequently he was determined to try issues with him, and see who it was that Heaven intended should reign, he or K‘i. Just before the engagement K‘i called together the officers of the six divisions of which his army was ccrnqiosed and addressed them. He tells them in language, which it is difficult now fully to understand, that Hu was a rebel that Heaven had determined to destroy, and that * It raay be stated here that a ruler’s reign counted to the end of the year in which he died. For example, if he died in January his successor’s years did not begin to count till the beginning of the following year. There is at least one notable exce'ption to this, which will be noted at the place where it occurs in this history. K'i’s reign therefore is reckoned from the next year to that in which his father died. 22 THE HISTOEY OF CHINA. they were the instruments it had selected to carry out its purpose. He then exhorts the men on the right, as well as those on the left, to show themselves courageous in the conflict that was imminent, and he urged upon those that fought in chariots to listen well to the orders of their officers, so that there might be no confusion in the coming battle.* Re- wards were promised to those that distinguished themselves, whilst the death of themselves as well as of their families would be the portion of those who showed themselves cowardly before the enemy. f What was the issue of this battle is left in doubt. Sz Ma-ts‘ieu, the historian, declares that K4 obtained a decisive victory, and that Hu was slain, but as he lived fully two thousand years after the event his evidence must not be considered decisive. K‘i died after a brief reign, and was succeeded by his son. Tai K^ang—(B. C. 2188-2159). This ruler was the eldest son of K‘i, but he was in no sense fitted to be a successor to his father. He was indolent and vicious, and therefore unwilling to govern the country with the same regard to justice as had distinguished his predecessors. The consequence was that the hearts of his people became alienated from him. This, however, did not seem to give him any concern, for he continued his dissipations and spent his time in the most frivolous amusements, whilst the 'affairs of the kingdom were allowed to take care of themselves. In the nineteenth year of his reign he went on a hunting expedition across the river Loh,J and for a hundred days no news came to his people of his whereabouts. I, the Prince of Kdung, taking advantage of the discontent of the people, and looking upon this as a good [Opportunity for seizing the crown for himself, raised an army and prevented his return to his capital. For ten long years he was thus compelled to live in exile, and finally died in it. During this time I usurped the power, though T‘ai K‘ang still nominally remained Emperor. After a troubled reign of twenty-nine years, the latter died, and was followed by his brother. * From this it would appear that in those very early days, just as amongst the ancient Gauls and Britons chariots were used in war. The war chariot was armed with three men. Tlie left one was a bowman, the right was armed with a javelin or spear, whilst the third drove the horses. t It seems from the Historical Classic that it was the custom when going into battle for the Emperors to carry with them the tablets which they believed enshrined the spirits of their ancestors, as well as others that contained the spirits of the land. They supposed that by so doing they were carrying with them all the unseen influences that gathered round these beings, which would be put forth for their benefit in tlie coining struggle. It is noticeable in these threats of extending punishment to the families of the delinciuents, K'i was departing from the practice of tlie amiable Shun, of whom it was declared, “ That his punishments did not reach to meirs heirs, whilst his rewards extended to future ages.” The history of China shows that its people have preferred to follow the example of the former, rather than that of their great sage and ruler. J This river is a tributary of the Yellow River, rising in the S. E. of Honan and flowing into it to the west of K‘ai-fung-fu. THE LEGENDARY PERIOD (CONTINUED.) 23 Chung Kang.—(B. C. 2159-2146.) This Emperor was appointed to his position by I, who seems to have had power enouiih to control the succession. His object appears to have been to retain for himself the real authority in the state, whilst allowing Chung K'ang to have the semblance of rule in the Empire. He found however, tliat he was not going to be such a puppet in his hands as he had planned him to be, for shortly after his elevation he proceeded to appoint the Marquis Yin to be the chief amongst all the feudal nobles and at the same time his Prime Minister. The position of the latter was thus a very exalted one. He was not only always near the Emperor, and gave him advice in all political matters, but he had also the power, for example, if any of the feudal princes rebelled of leading the royal troops to punish them. I was completely outmanceuvred by this action of Chung K'ang, for in any attempt to claim the sovereignty he would have to contend not only with the royalists but also with the Marquis, as well as the other feudal princes, who were not yet ready to upset the dynasty in favour of himself. In the beginning of this reign the Marquis Yin was sent on a punitive expedition against Hi and Ho, Ministers of the Board of Astronomy. In the time of Yau these officials had each an indepen- dent feudal state of his own, but in this dynasty the two were merged into one. They had miserably neglected their duties, and had given themselves to pleasure and dissipation. The consequences were that the calendar got out of order, and the business of the country became deranged. They had been so absorbed in their drunken excesses that the observation of the heavens had been omitted, and so when in the antnmu an eclipse of the sun took place all the great officers of state were taken by surprise.* It was the duty of the Astronomical Board some days before an eclipse to formally notify the Emperor, so that preparations might be made and orders given to the Board of Music to be ready to beat their drums and shoot arrows against the moon, so as to deliver the sun from the impending danger. The sin of Hi and Ho was considered so serious that it could only be met by an army being led against them and their territory being devastated. The laws up to this time had been very explicit with regard to the punishment that was due for such * The mention of this eclipse brings up a very important question, and could its date be satisfactorily settled it would help the student of Chinese history very materially in his researches in this remote and ancient period of the world’s history. Dr. Legge in his valuable notes concerning it says; “The astronomers of the T‘ang dynasty determined that the eclipse took place in the fifth year of Chung K‘ang Father Gaubil brought out the result, in harmony with the conclusions of the T'ang scholars, that it occurred on 11th Oct. (old style) of the year B. C. 2155, and that it was visible at Gan-yih at 6h. 49m. in the morning .... Rev. Mr. Chalmers confirmed Gaubil’s conclusion so far as regarded the year, month and day, but considers that it must have occurred during the night and before the rising of the sun.” The Bamboo Annals declare that the eclipse took place in the 5th year of the Emperor. 24 THE HISTORY OP CHINA. a crime. “ When the astronomers give notice of the eclipse too soon let them he pat to death without any forgiveness, and when after the time let the same happen to them.” * According to Sz Ma-ts‘ien, the expedition was successful, and the dominion of Hi and Ho was added to the royal domain, though the Historical Classic is silent on the subject. Chung K'ang died after a reign of thirteen years, and was succeeded by his son. Siang—(B. C. 2146-2118). With the accession of this ruler to the throne calamities of severer character than had ever yet fallen upon the dynasty now came upon it. Yin, the faithful vassal and wise minister, was dead, and I seeing that there was no one that could successfully resist him seized upon the supreme power, and Siaug was compelled to flee to Chin-kwan, where the members of his own clan resided in the greatest numbers. I ruled for eight years, but as he was a famous archer, and delighted in the exhibition of his skill with the bow, he neglected the interests of his people and spent the most of his time in hunting. All his able and loyal ministers he dismissed, and employed only worthless and scheming men to carry on the business of the State. One of these was Tsnh, of the principality of Han, who pretended great friendship for I, but who all the time was secretly undermining his influence amongst the people. On one occasion I had gone hunting, when an uprising was organized by Tsuh. The palace was filled with his soldiers, and an ambush laid near the road by which the usurper was to return. Unsuspicious of evil he was seized and hacked to pieces, whilst Tsuh ordered that his body should be boiled in a cauldron. The latter seized upon his throne and married his widow, by whom he had two sons — Kiau and Hi — though it is supposed by some that they were really the sous of I. When the former reached the age of twenty he was ordered to go and murder Siang, which he did in the city of Shang- k‘in, which was the chief town in the State of Shang.f The Interregnum — (B. C. 2118-2079). After the murder of Siang, his queen, Min, fled to Jing in Shan- tung, where her father was chief, and not long after her arrival gave birth to a son, whom she named Shan K‘ang. The usurpation of Tsuh was a long one. He was a worthless dissipated man, and in the end the nation became weary of his rule. The people rose in rebellion, and having put Tsuh to death set Shan K'ang on the throne of his fathers, an action which was ratified by the approval of all the feudal nobles. • “ See Punitive Expedition of Yin.” t This was an ancient State, now in Kwei-teh to the E. of Honan. 25 THE LEGENDARY PERIOD (CONTINUED). Siam K‘ang—(B. C. 2079-2057). The story of tlie early days of tliis rnler is quite a romantic one. Boru at tlie home of his grandfather in Jing, vvlien he became old enough he was put iii charge of Ins flocks and herds. Compelled to flee from this place in consequence of the hostility of Tsuh, who sought his life, he fled to the Chief of Yu, who appointed him his chief cook. Here he so won the good will of his master that he gave him his two daughters in marriage and the city of Lun to rule over. This was the commencement of the good fortune that finally led to his be- coming Emperor.* ^Vhen he became firmly seated on the throne the good effect of his wise reign was seen in the gradual disappearance of disorder through- out the Empire. Even the wild tribes on the borders felt its civilizing influence, and some of them submitted to him. In the 11th year of his reign an overflow of the Yellow Kiver took place, and the Prince of Shang was ordered to take measures to control it. We see from this that the State of Shang was beginning to take a prominent place in relation to the other principalities, and that from this time it comes more and more conspicuously into view, until at length it is strong enough to overthrow the Hia dynasty and become the ruling power in the Empire. Two years after, Wu Yu, one of Shan K‘ang’s sons, established himself in Yueh, in the north-east of the present Cheh-kiang pro- vince, and there founded a feudal State of his own. Shan K‘ang died after a reign of twenty-two years, and was succeeded by his sou. CkUi—fB. C. 2057-2040). History has scarcely anything to relate of this man. The Bam- boo Annals state that he made Yuen, in Honan, his capital, that he went on a punitive expedition to Shan-show, where he caught a fox with nine tails, and that he died after a reign of seventeen years, and the throne was occupied by his son, llwai (B. C. 2040-2014,) who reigned twenty-six years, and then was succeeded by bis son Mmg (B. C. 2014-1906), who ruled eighteen years, and then left the throne to his son, Sieh (B. C. 1996-1980.) Of this man’s reign of sixteen years, except what little we get from the Bamboo Annals, we know nothing. It is stated in them that the Prince of Yin was murdered by that of Yu-yih who, however, was put to death by the combined forces of Yin and Ho. Pu Kiang (B. C. 1980-1921). After a lengthy reign of fifty-nine years he was followed by his younger brother, to whom he resigned his throne. Kiung (B. C. 1921-1900). After twenty-one years he left the throne to his son. See Bamboo Aunals In loc. 26 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. Kin (B. C. 1900-1879). According to the Bamboo Annals this man removed his capital from Honan to Sheu-si, and adapted the national music to the requirements of the people of the West. He died after an uneventful reign of twenty-one years. Kung Kia (B. C. 1879-1848). This man was a son of the former Emperor Pn Kiaug. He was dissolute and i)rofligate, and gradually lost the sympathies of his people. In the 27th year of his reign the Prince of Shang had a sou born to him of the name of Li, who subsequently became the founder of the Shang dynasty. Kau (B. C. 1848-1837). After eleven years’ reign he was followed by his son. Fa (B. C. 1837-1818). The nineteen years of this ruler’s reign were uneventful, excepting for two events mentioned in the Bamboo Annals, viz., that various tribes of aborigines came and made submission to him, and that when he died the great mountain T‘ai, in Shantung, shook to its very base, an omen that predicted that unusual calamities were about to come upon the dynasty. His sou, who succeeded him, was the notorious Kwei or Kieh as he is more popularly known. Kwei or Kieh—{B. C. 1818-1766). This sovereign is one of the most infamous in Chinese history. He is said to have been a man of immense physical strength, and could manipulate bars of iron and twist them into any shape it pleased him. Unfortunately his main aim in life seemed to be to use this for selfish purposes rather than for the benefit of his people. In the year B. C. 1785 he proceeded to attack the Chief of Shih, who averted the threatened danger by the present of his daughter Mei-hi to Kieh. She was remarkable for her beauty, and so gained the heart of the emperor that he became an absolute slave to her. She was a woman, however, without a redeeming virtue ; her whole purpose in life seeming to be the desire to do evil. Kieh, in order to gratify her, built her a palace of the most costly materials and laid out gardens that contained everything that would please the eye. A passionate love for the beautiful, however, was not the distinguishing feature of her mind, and she was not satisfied unless grosser pleasures were mingled in the fairy scenes that the emperor had created for her. In these gardens a vast host of at least three thousand dissolute people were assembled to participate in the orgies that she had instituted. The trees were hung with all kinds of dried meats, and a pond in the midst of the gardens was filled with spirits, on which boats were rowed. At the sound of drums every one jump- ed into this and drank and sported, whilst Kieh and his concubine looked on, watching with glee how many got drunk and how others were drowned in the fiery waters. This state of things went on for four years, when T‘ang, the Prince of Shang, who was distressed at the immorality of the imperial court, introduced to the Emperor I-yiu, a man of distinguished ability, who THE LEGENDARY PERIOD (CONTINUED). 27 proceeded to expound to him the principles on wliich Yau and Shun founded their government, and urged upon him to follow their brilliant example, Kieh refused to be guided by his advice, and dismissed him. from his court. Five times in all did he approach the monarch in the hopes of saving him, and as many times was he driven from the capital. Years again went by, and matters instead of improving grew worse. In the 51st year of his reign Kieh built an underground palace, and for thirty days he and his dissolute companions disappeared from sight to carry on their scenes of wickedness unobserved by the world. The high officials now began to desert to T‘ang. The astronomer royal, Chung-ku, finding all his remonstrances in vain, transferred his allegiance to him and implored him to intervene and save the country from a monster that was unfit to govern. Nature, too, at this time seems to have joined in the universal condemnation of Kieh by acting in a very extraordinary and unusual manner. Two suns were seen in the sky struggling with each other ; the planets by night wandered about out of their courses ; a portion of the great T‘ai mountain fell down with a tremendous crash, and the rivers I and Lo became dry. At this crisis of the Empire’s history T‘ang felt himself called upon by Heaven to be the minister of its vengeance. He accordingly summoned his men to take the field and march with him to overthrow Kieh. When his army had assembled he addressed them in a speech that is still extant. It is brief and to the point, and is the utterance of a man that knows his own mind. It seems that there were many amongst his own subjects that doubted the propriety of their Chief engaging in such a hazardous enterprise as a conflict with the forces of the Empire. He, therefore, explains to them the reason why he is not afraid to undertake it. “ It is not I,” he said, “ who am but a little child, who dare take in hand what may be termed to be a rebellious undertaking. The crimes of Hia are many, and Heaven has ordered his destruction. Some of you say,” he continued, “ Our Prince does not pity us, but takes us away from our farms, simply to punish the ruler of Hia. [ indeed have heard such words from many of you. But the King of Hia has sinned, and I dare not refrain from punishing him.” To clinch his argument he closes with the significant words, “Those of you who do not obey these orders of mine shall be put to death with your children, and no forgiveness shall be extended to you, whilst those that help me shall be rewarded.” The battle was fought at Ming-t'iau, and resulted in the overthrow and flight of Kieh, who halted not till he reached Nan-ch‘au, in Ngan- hwui, where he was imprisoned till his death three years afterwards. This defeat put the crown upon T‘ang’s head, and though his conscience afterwards pricked him for his conduct in this matter suc- ceeding ages have justified him, and his name is recorded amongst those that are considered to have been the benefactors of China. 28 THE HISTOEY OP CHINA. THE LEGENDARY PERIOD (continued). The Shang Bgnastg. B. C. 1766-1122. Also called the Yin Bgnastg. Tang—(B. C. 1766—1753). Chapter Y. T-an". the fomuler of the new dynasty, was of distingnished ances- try, being descended from the famous Hwaiig Ti through 8ieh, the son of the Emperor Ti Kuh, who was i\Iiuister of Instruction to Yau, and who for his services had the principality of Shang bestowed upon him. In giv- ing a name to the dynasty he was now founding lie took that of his ances- tral fief as the most fitting one with which to transmit it to posterity. On his ascending the throne at Po,* T'ang issued an address to his people, which has fortunately been preserved in the Historical Classic. It is brief but pithy, and shows him to have been a very thoughtful man. and one with a lofty ideal of what a king ought to be. He shows that all men, even those of the lowest orders, have been endowed by God with a sense of what is right, and that it is the business of the sovereign to direct this into the path in which, if obeyed, it would continually lead them. He next proves that the calamities that had come upon the exiled king were sent directly by Heaven for his crimes, and he expresses his own fears, lest he should offend the powers of Heaven and Earth and thus excite their auger against himself, and he winds up by an earnest exhortation to his nobles and people to continue in the path of right. “With regard to all the States that now come under my control,” he says, “do not walk in unrighteous ways, and let there be no high-handed viciousuess. Let every one observe the laws, and so he shall have the blessing of Heaven. If there is any good in any of you I shall not dare not to acknowledge it, and any evil in myself I shall not presume to forgive myself. When any of you do wrong the guilt shall be on me, and when I transgress the sin shall be my own.” These are noble words, and well worthy the founder of a dynasty. T‘ang was fortunate, like his predecessors, in having a prime minister of rare ability and excellence named I-yin,t to assist him in the government of the nation. * Po was in the modern Sh:ing-k‘iu in the East of Honan. Shang was in the present Kwei-teh Fn, also in the E. of the same province. t Mencius says of him that he was a farmer in Shan, who had gained a reputation for wisdom and virtue. T‘aug sent him presents of silk and invited him to enter his service, but he refused. Three times he sent messengers to him, and the last time he relented, because finally he had the ambition of making T‘ang like Yau and .Shun. Confucius speaks in the highest terms of him, and says in his Analects that T‘ang, having become Emperor, chose him from all the men in his kingdom, and the result was “ that those that had failed to fulfill their social duties disappeared from the State.” THE LEGENDARY PERIOD (CONTINUED). 29 Having ascended the throne T‘aug in order to show that tlie former dynasty had finally passed away changed the royal colours from blade to white, made the twelfth month of the Hia the first of his reign, and ordered that all sacrificial animals should be white. He then made a visitation round the eastern part of his dominions, rewarding the nobles that had done anytliing meritorious and punishing those that had misbehaved themselves. He also made provision for the royal descendants of the last dynasty by assigning them lauds, where they could live in comfort. In the second year of his reign a drought began to be experienced, which lasted for seven years, and resulted in a terrible famine that caused much sufiering amongst his people. During this time the rain almost entirely ceased to fall, and sorrow and distress prevailed throughout the country. Many of the poorest were reduced to such straits that they were compelled to sell their children in order to keep starvation from the home. Money was coined and freely distributed amongst such, but where grain was so scarce even this availed not to relieve the distress. The suffering at length became so extreme that it became the universal conviction that some human victim would have to be sacrificed before Heaven would be appeased. T‘ang with a noble generosity expressed himself willing to surrender his life in order that the nation might be saved, and after having fasted he cut off his hair, and then seated in a simple carriage drawn by white horses and clad in white rushes, as though he were the sacrifice all ready to be offered up, he proceeded to a mulberry grove. There he confessed his sins and offered himself a victim to God. The response to this was a copious rain that fell for hundreds of miles over the parched country, and that brought joy and hope to the people. Deeply impressed by the delivery that God had wrought for his kingdom T‘ang composed an ode of thanksgiving, which he called “ The Great Salvation.” Shortly after this joyous event the Emperor decided that the spirit of Chu, the grandson of Shen Hung, that had acted as tutelary god of the land during the Hia dynasty, should be degraded from its office and be replaced by that of K‘i, the sou of Ti Kuh, as a more competent one to occupy such a responsible position. The former had shown its want of power by allowing the severe drought to desolate the land for so long a period. In this jiroceeding we see that T‘ang, in sjiite of his belief in God as the Supreme Ruler, was still a believer in the inferior spirits that popular superstition had made the protectors of the land and the mountains and the products of the earth. The records of this reign are exceedingly meagre and disappoint- ing. From the few fragments that we have respecting T‘ang we feel ourselves instinctively drawn towards him. There is something so manly and robust about him, and moreover he is so unselfish that when we contrast him with the rulers of the later ages of China we 30 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. are struck with the fact that the government was carried on by him on entirely different principles from those that actuated them. He seems to have subordinated every passion and feeling, and even his own life, to the good of his people. His overthrow of the Hia dynasty was in no sense a usurpation. The feudal chiefs recognized him as the one man that could save the empire, and the consent of the people after Kieh was defeated ratified their action. He undertook the conflict with the emperor with great reluctance, and only at last because he was convinced that it was the will of Heaven that he should do so. The question did indeed come up in after days, whether T‘ang acted rightly in taking up arms against his sovereign. The common sentiment of the Chinese, who do not believe in the divine right of kings to rule as they like, has upheld his action, and he is to-day looked up to as a model ruler, whose example every occupant of the dragon throne may imitate with advantage. He died at the good old age of one hundred, and was succeeded by his grandson. Tai Kia*—(B. C. 1753-1720). This sovereign was of a weak and vacillating nature and wanting in that strong character that distinguished his famous grandfather. The consequence was that the stronger-minded companions at the court with whom he associated began to lead him astray. Fortunately for him and the Empire 1-yin was by his side, who was too patriotic to allow the young man to endanger his own crown and the public peace. He remonstrated with him in writing, and reminded him how the chief concern of T'ang had been to obey the laws of Heaven, and how it had blessed and honoured him in return. He warns him to take heed to the terrible disasters that had fallen on the Hia dynasty, and urges him to play the part of king well, so that he may not bring disgrace upon the name of his great ancestor. T‘ai Kia refused to listen to the words of his faithful minister, who, however, once more personally remonstrated with him and implored him to begin a life of greater self-restraint and to strive after virtue, so that he might have the satisfaction of feeling that the serious trust that had been committed to him by T'ang had been faithfully and loyally carried out. Still no impression was made upon him, and he continued in his old courses. I-yin, however, was just as strong as T‘ai Kia was weak, and evidently being backed up by the powerful nobles at court he determined to take strong measures with him and save him and his dynasty in spite of himself. He accordingly had • According to Mencius and the Bamboo Annals there were two kings that came between T'ang and T'ai Kia, viz., Wei Bing and Chung Jin, sons of the former. All attempts to explain the discrepancy are unsatisfactory, and it is better therefore to follow the standard history of China, which makes T'ai Kia to be the immediate successor of T'ang. 31 THE' LEGENDARY PERIOD (CONTINUED). rooms fitted np for bim in a palace that had been bnilt for him in T'ung, in Sban-si, where T‘aug bad been buried, and thither he forcibly removed bim and kept bim in very easy confinement during the whole period of nionruing. In this place be was dissociated from the pleasures of the capital and the dissipated companions that were leading bim astray. In the comparative solitude of this place be had leisure to think over his evil courses and to reflect upon the advice which I-yin had given him. The better nature of the young Emperor prevailed, and by the end of three years he was a thoroughly repentant man.* Dressed in imperial cap and robes he was escorted hack to his capital by I-yin with great pomp and ceremony, where he resumed the position that he had been deprived of for a time. That his repentance was sincere is evident. His confession, as recorded in the Historical Classic, is a very touching one. He says to 1-yin, “I, a little child, did not comprehend the full force of virtue, and thus 1 made myself unworthy. My passions caused me to subvert all good rules and my over-indulgence to transgress the laws of courtesy. The end would have been s]>eedy ruin to myself. Sorrows sent by Heaven may be avoided, but those that one brings upon oneself can never be escaped.” He then goes on to beg I-yiu still to counsel him and be a mentor and a guardian to him, so that he may not transgress again as he had done before. His altered life bore out his profession of repentance. He began to cultivate virtue, and paid special attention to the good government of his people. He was kind to the widow and the fatherless. His nobles gave him their loving homage and allegiance, and after a reign of thirty-three years he died in his capital, Po, and was succeeded by his son Wuh Ting-t With the death of T‘ai Kia we come to an almost absolute blank in the history of the nation for fully three hundred years. What is left of the documents^ of the Historical Classic says nothing of the events that took place during the reigns of fourteen Emperors that followed T‘ai Kia. From the standard histories we get the names of these men and a few of the more remarkable of the events that happened in the lives of the more conspicuous of them. But after all, to an English reader, even those that have been chronicled, will frequently appear very trivial and hardly worth the serious study of the student of history. Wuh Ting—(B. C. 1720-1691). The great event of this reign, and one that overshadows every other, was the death of I-yin, who acted as prime minister to the time of his death. His decease was followed, it is said, by a great mist * The Bamboo Annals differ entirely from the Historical Classic in regard to T‘ai Kia’s repentance. Tliey say that he escaped from T'ung and put I-yin to death, but for this statement we have no evidence. t He was really only a little over two years away. In counting time the Chinese reckon a part of a year as a whole year. A child, for example, is born in the last month of the year and on the last day of it, and still he is considered to be a year old. 32 THE HISTORY OP CHIXA. that enveloped the kiug'dom for three da5’S. The Emperor decided that he should have a roi’al funeral. He visited the body whilst it lay iu state, and wept as though he had lost his father, and he ordered that a bullock should be sacrificed at his tomb.* The whole nation mourned for him, for they felt they had lost the one man that could keep the nation together and make it to be respected by all classes. The great commentator Chn Hi says of him, “ T‘ang proclaimed I-yin to be a sage. Now as far as I have examined his life I have found him a man of virtue and of marvellous ability, and when on several occasions he used his power, neither the people nor the nobles thought of opposing him. Although he approached Kieh five times with his. remonstrances, that king, though so vicious, dare not lay hands on him, and though he returned four times to T‘ang with his mission unfulfilled he never doubted his ability. He only became more firmly convinced than ever that Kieh could not be cured of his vices. He was a man of such great ability that he helped T‘ang, the successful, to the Empire. The whole nation was at rest when this was accomplished. When T‘ai Kia would not repent he drove him to T‘nng, and the whole of the officers of state never for a moment doubted Lis loyalty. The whole nation too had implicit faith in him. The consequence was that T‘ai Kia became reformed, and was one of the good kings of the Shang dynasty. There was none in the whole nation that could have used the power that he had, and yet not have usurped the regal authority for himself. I-yin was a man the most famous of all men in history that have known howto use power rightly.” W uh Ting died, after a reign of twenty-nine years, and was suc- ceeded by his brother T'ai Kung. T’ai Kung — (B. C. 1691-1666). After a reign of twenty-five years this ruler was followed by his son, Siaic Kia, (B. C. 1666-1649), who was in turn succeeded by Vimg Ki (B. C. 1649-1637). During this ruler’s reign government became so weak that the nobles refused to appear once in every five years at court, as was the custom, to pay their acknowledgments to the Emperor as over-lord. The consequence was that the royal authority extended very little beyond his own domains. After a rule of seventeen years he was succeeded by his brother T‘ai Mow. T-ai Mow—(B. a 1637-1562). Not long after this Emperor came to the throne there was an exceedingly bad omen that boded ill to the nation. A mulberry sapling and a stalk of grain appeared in the palace yard, growing ♦ According to Chinese law a bullock is offered only to the following, viz., the Emperor, the spirits of the mountains, streams and laud, to the spirits of the dead in the royal ancestral temples, and to Confucius. 33 THE LEGENDARY PERIOD (CONTINUED). from the same stem, which ia the course of a few hours became so large that a mau could not clasp them with both his arms. This phenomenon could only mean that some great calamity was about to come on the Empire. The king was exceedingly afraid, and consulted his Prime Minister I-chih, the sou of I-yin, as to what ought to be done under the circumstances. He replied, “ Calamities cannot prevail against virtue. There must be some defect in your govern- ment. I pray you, from this time, be earnest in the cultivation of righteousness.” T‘ai Mow listened respectfully to this advice and began to follow the noble example of former kings. So great was the influence of this in the sight of Heaven that in three days the abnormal growth withered away and disappeared. From this time he paid great attention to his morals and made special efforts to impress on his people the duty and privilege of caring for the old. He made enquiries as to who were sick or in trouble, and he helped them and comforted those that were mourning for the dead. His fame spread so widely in the course of three years that no fewer than seventy-six countries sent ambassadors to congratulate him upon the greatness of his kingdom and the wisdom of his rule. During his reign carriages were made that afterwards became famous. Confucius more than a thousand years later refers to them as the style that the nation ought to adopt. The country revived under him, and the power of the state became recognized by all the feudal chiefs. After a prosperous reign of seventy-five years he left the throne to his son Chung Ting. Cimng Ting.—(B. C. 1562-1549). This ruler removed the capital from Po, in consequence of an inundation of the Yellow River, to Gan. His reign was disturbed by internal disorders and incursions of the barbarians of the south. Having no heir to succeed him there were troubles in the capital after his death, but finally his brother Wai Jin was made Emperor. Wai Jin.—(B. C. 1549-1534). Great confusion existed in the country during the reign of this man, and many of the nobles refused to acknowledge him. His brother Ho Tan-kia succeeded! him. Ho Tan-kia. — (B. C. 1534-1525). This Emperor’s reign was a feeble one, and the Shang dynasty showed signs of decay. He moved the capital from Gan to Siang in the present prefecture of Chang-teh in Honan. His son Tsn Tib got the throne after him. 34 THE HISTORY OP CHINA. Tsu Yih.—(B. C. 1525-1506). The overflow of the Yellow Iliver necessitated the removal of the capital from Sian" to Knng in Shansi, but after nine years he had again to move to Hing-t‘ai in Chihli. He had a vigorous Prime Minister of the name of Wu Hien, who caused the authority of the Emperor to be respected by the nobles and by the people. His son Tsu Sin took his place. Tsu Sin—(B. C. 1506-1490). This man was followed by his brother Wu Kia (B. C. 1490-1465), and he, after a reign of great confusion, by his son Tsu Ting (B. C. 1465-1433) who, after a long but unhappy reign of thirty-two years, died and left the throne to Nan Rung (B. C. 1433-1408), a son of Wn Kia. He again was succeeded by Yang Kia (B. C. 1408-1401), under whose rule the fortunes of Shang grew more and more desperate, and undoubtedly, had there been any strong ambitious man amongst the nobles, he could easily have wrested the sceptre from the hands of this weak monarch. Yang Kia was followed by his brother P‘an Knng. P^an Kung.—(B. C. 1401-1373). The most remarkable event of this reign was the removal of the capital from Kiug-t‘ai in Chihli to Yin, a town N. of the Yellow River in Honan. His reason for this was because his kingdom was not prospering, and righteousness was declining throughout the nation. He therefore wished to return to the region where the "reat kings of former days had had their seat of government, in the hope that their spirits, lingering about the place, might influence his people, and so bring back the prosperity of other days. Honan, moreover, was more central than their present situation, and all parts of the country could be more easily reached from it. The people of the capital were at first unwilling to consent to this removal. They did not like to endure the sacrifices demanded by it. Their lands and property would have to be abandoned, and for this they were not prepared. The Emperor, knowing this, wrote out his reasons for the step he was advocating, and they have been handed down to us in the Historical Classic. Finally, after much grumbling, the people consented to his wish, and the capital was moved to Yin, or the Western Po, as it was also called, and henceforth the name of the dynasty was changed from Shang to Yin. From this time P‘au Knng followed the methods of T‘ang in bis government of the people, and in consequence there was a marked improvement in every department of life. After a successful reign of twenty-eight years he was succeeded by his brother Siau Sin (B. C. 1373-1352), and after twenty-one years he again was followed by his brother Siau Yih (B. C. 1352-1324), who occupied the throne for twenty-eight years. It is recorded that in the 26th year of this sovereign’s reign Tan Fn, a descendant of K'i, the son of the Emperor THE LEGENDARY PERIOD (CONTINUED). 35 Ti Kuh, the chief of Pin, removed his people from that place to K‘i aad took the title of Chow.* His desceodant was the founder of the famous Chow d3masty that ruled so long over China. Siau Yih, after an uneventful reign, was succeeded by his famous sou Wu Ting. Wu Ting.—(B. C. 1324-1265). If any mau could have restored the declining fortunes of the Shang dynasty it would certainly have been this ruler, but even he, with all his virtues, found the task too great for him. All that he could do was for a time to arrest its downfall. It is recorded that during the three years of mourning for his father he never spoke. Whether he kept absolute silence all that time, or whether he simply abstained from interference in the government of the country, is matter of conjecture. “ He never left his palace or uttered a sound,” one historian says, but handed over the management of public affairs to his Prime Minister. Even after the full time of mourning was over the silence continued to be unbroken, to the great distress of his officials, who represented to him that the government of the country was impossible, so loug as he abstained from taking a share in it. Still unwilling to speak he explained in writing the reasons for his conduct. He said that he was conscious that his virtues were so far inferior to those of the great models of former days that he had deemed it the highest wisdom to keep sileuce. He showed, however, that his three years of total inaction had not been without its benefits. AVhilst he was pondering over the state of his kingdom, and thinking liow he should live a noble life, he said he dreamt that God had presented to him a man that should assist him in the government of his Empire. This person seems to have appeared in a most vivid form to him in his dream, for he could distinctly recollect his appearance when he awoke. He not only minutely described it to his ministers, but he also drew a picture of him, and ordered that search should be made for him throughout his kingdom. This resulted in the discovery of a man of the name of Hu-yueh, who corresponded in the minutest detail to the picture drawn by the royal hand. He turned out to be a man who lived in Fu-ven in Kiai-chow, in Shansi. He was exceedingly poor, and when discovered was engaged in repairing the public roads that had been injured by the overflow of a mountain stream, f He was at once taken to court, and the Emperor recognized him as the man of his dream. Uiwn conversing with him he found him to be a person of profound ability, and as the conversation went on he was delighted * Pin was a small principality in the south of Shensi, whilst K‘i was in the S. W. of the same province, near the river Wei. t Mencius says that he came from amidst the building frames to the high office he subsequently held. Many houses in China, especially those of the poorer classes, are built of earth and lime pounded hard within a wooden frame of about a foot in width and four feet in length. When plastered outside with good mortar these walls are quite as lasting as those built of bricks. 36 THE BISTORT OP CHINA. to find that he had the most exalted ideas of goodness and morality. Never had he met a man that was so worthy the appellation of sage, and impressed, not only with his character, but also with the fact that he was given him by a direct revelation from God to be his assistant, he at once appointed him to be his Prime Minis er. The Emperor became so anxious to be instructed by Yueh that he gave him orders never to be far away from him. “ Morning and evening,” he said, “ bring your instructions that my virtue may be helped by them. Let me be a weapon, and you shall be the grindstone on which I may be sharpened. Imagine me crossing a river ; you shall be the boat in which I shall pass over. Fancy me as a year when no rain has fallen ; you shall be the abundant showers that shall come down upon me. Imagine yourself medicine, which will only cure in propor- tion as it distresses the patient. Think of me barefoot and unless I look down to the ground my feet will be wounded.” Yueh was only too delighted to obey the royal commands. He found in him a pupil after his own heart, and it was a pure labour of love to instruct a man so eager for knowledge as Wu-Ting was. The affairs of state now fell entirely into his hands, and he managed matters so well that its decline was arrested. The fame of Wu-Ting’s virtues spread beyond the confines of his kingdom, and six nations sent ambassadors with their interpreters to visit his court and pay their respects to him. In the 6th year of his reign, whilst he was offering a sacrifice in the royal ancestral temple to the spirit of his ancestor T‘ang, a pheasant flew in, and alighting upon the ear of one of the golden tripods of Yu, began to crow. This was considered a very bad omen, and one of his ministers advised the Emperor that if he would avoid sorrow he must make haste to correct something in his conduct that was deficient in some respect. He then proceeded to show him that his offerings to the spirit of his father had been excessive, whilst he had comparatively neglected those of his ancestors. He at once felt the force of this advice, and in order that he should not easily forget the warning that Heaven had sent him he had pheasant’s feathers stuck in several parts of his dress, to be a constant reminder of the errors into which he had fallen. During the year B. C. 1292 Wu-Ting was engaged in a fierce conflict with the people that inhabited the demon land, which lasted for three years. These are supposed to be the wild tribes that then dwelt in the countries beyond the northern boundaries of the Empire, and which were destined to play so important a part in the coming history of China, and which eventually, about twenty-five centuries after they were conquered by Wu-Ting, were to become the masters of this country and give rulers to sit on the dragon throne that should govern the black-haired race. After a reign of fifty-nine years this famous Emperor died, and the title given him in the ancestral temple was Kau-tsung, or “The High and Venerable.” 37 THE LEGENDARY PERIOD (cONTINDEd). We get the impression that Wn-ting was a man of minsnal ability and with an exceedingly sensitive conscience. He had a high concep- tion of his dnty as a sovereign, and was prepared to put himself in the back ground and be taught by others so long as the interests of the nation were conserved. He was a strong king too, for peace was maintained not only within the Empire, but also without, and a new lease of life would have been given to the dynasty if there had been men of the same calibre to succeed him. Tsu Kimg (B. C. 1265-1258). This was a sou of the above, and after an uneventful reign of seven years he died, and was succeeded by his brother Tsu Kia (B. C. 1258-1225) who, it is stated, was a wicked licentious man, whose reckless conduct tended further to the weakening of the hold of this dynasty upon the affections of the people. The statement contained in the Bamboo Annals differs entirely from this. It says that when he was a young man he lived away from court and amongst the common people. The result was that when he became Emperor he knew how to sympathize with his subjects. Towards the end of his reign, however, his punishments became so excessive that their hearts were alienated from him. He was followed by his son Lin Sm (B. 0. 1225-1219), who governed six years, when his brother Kang Ting (B. C. 1219-1198) became Emperor, who was again succeeded by his sou Wu Yih. Wu Yih.—{B.C. 1198-1194). In the same year that he ascended the throne he moved the capital from Western Po to the north of the river Lo. This man has the reputation of having made the first idols in China. He did this to show his utter disbelief in any religion. Heaven and the spirits of the mountains and streams that were reverenced by the people were looked upon as mythical by him. To show his contempt for them he had figures made in wood and clay, which he said represented them. He then made some of his people fight with them, who of course came off victorious, and they were then assured by Wu-Yih that they were stronger than the gods they worshipped, and therefore that it would be folly for them any more to trust in them. In his 4th year, whilst out hunting between the rivers Lo and Wei he was struck with lightning and was killed immediately. This has been considered by historians a just punishment by Heaven for his attempt to hold it up to contempt in the eyes of his people. His son T'ai Ting (B.C. 1194-1191), whose reign of three years was unmarked by any event worthy of record, was succeeded by his son Ti Yih. Ti Yih.—(B. C. 1191-1154). This ruler had a son by one of his concubines named K‘i, a man of great ability, and who subsequently became the founder of a dynasty in Corea. His mother was afterwards raised to the position of Empress 38 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. and had another son, Chow Sin, who, because lie was born whilst his mother was queen, became the legal heir to the throne, to the sorrow of China and the downfall of his house. In the meanwhile the chiefs of Chow had been growing in power and influence.* Ch'ang, the present chief, was a man of great benevolence, and won the hearts of the people by his sympathy and consideration for them. He is now known in history by the title “ Chief of the West,” an honour conferred upon him by Ti Yih. In the year B.C. 1167 he was ordered to punish a fierce tribe of barbarians that were ravaging the northern boundaries of his Empire. Although he gained no great victory he was able to prevent them from crossing the borders into China and to force back the stream of invasion that threatened the nation with calamity. Ti Yih died after a reign of thirty-seven years. Before his death he wished to appoint his eldest sou K‘i, the Viscount of Wei, his successor, but his ministers opposed this on the ground that he had no legal claims to the throne. Chow Sin accordingly became the next Emperor after his lather’s decease. Chow Sin.—(B. C. 1154-1122). This man is one of the most infamous in all Chinese history. He was extravagant, a drunkard and a most abandoned character, and yet he was a man of great ability. Physically he was so powerful that he was not afraid to meet the fiercest of wild animals. History informs ns that he was the first to use ivory chop-sticks. This was considered such an extravagance that his uncle remonstrated with him, and predicted that his over-indulgence would cost him his Empire. In the year B. C. 1146 the royal forces made an expedition against the small state of Su, and the only significant thing recorded in connection with this cani];)aign was the obtaining of T‘a-ki, a most beautiful woman, as a prize of war. She was presented to the Emperor, who at once became infatuated with her. T‘a-ki was a most infamous character, and in the story of the events in which she took a leading part there is not a single redeeming act, nor a single feature about her that showed that the womanly instinct existed in her at all. She was not only very licentious, but she was also excessively cruel. The king ordered his Minister of Music to have the most licentious songs composed and the most indecent dances arranged for her. He also built her the famous “ Stag Tower,” which it took seven years to erect, and was more than a mile square, and was surrounded by a splendid park, which was stocked with the rarest animals. Another palace was built at Sha-k‘iu, also on a most magnificent scale, where the most abominable orgies were carried on night and day. In imitation of the last king of the Hia dynasty a pond was made and * In the time of T‘ai Ting, Ki, the son of Tan Fu, the Duke of Chow, had distin- guished himself in a campaign against the barbarian tribes on the north. In B, C. 1184 Ki died, and was succeeded by his son Ch'ang. 39 THE LEGENDARY PERIOD (CONTINUED). filled with spirits. The trees aronud were Imn^ with all kinds of viands, and drinking and debauchery were carried on without any regard to public opinion. The people by and by became dissatisfied with the heavy taxes levied to meet all these expenses. When T‘a-ki heard this she urged tl>e Emperor to make the penalties more severe than they were, and rule his subjects with greater rigour. She herself devised two new modes of punishment that have helped to make her name execrated. One of these was called the “ Heater.” This was a piece of metal, which was made almost red hot, and which the poor unfortunates were com[)elled to take up in their hands. The other, which was called tlie “Roaster,” consisted of a copper pillar well greased, which was laid over a pit full of burning charcoal. The condemned had to walk over this, and when his feet sli[)ped he fell into the fire and was roasted alive. T‘a-ki, who watched the carrying out of these terrible punishments, was delighted with the agonies of the sufferers. Another instance of her cruelty is recorded. Walking in the garden every morning and evening she noticed that when the men were wading across a stream near by the young men seemed to feel the cold more than the old ; a discussion arose between her and Chow Sin as to the cause of this. T‘a-ki said it was because the young men had more marrow in their legs than the old. The king denied this, and in order to settle the matter he had a number of both old and young seized and their legs broken, in order that they might see which of them was right. Ch‘ang, for expressing his distress at these cruelties, was denounced by Hu, the Earl of Ts'ung, and cast into prison at Yew-li. It is said that he occupied himself whilst there in studying the famous diagrams of Fuh-hi and in composing a large part of the classic called the Book of Changes.* After about two years’ imprisonment his son, by the payment of a very large sum of money, got his release, and it is said that Ch'ang, who was now once more in favour, by a present of part of his territories, got the punishment of roasting abolished. He died in the year B.C. 1134, and was succeeded by his son Fa.f * Ch'ang, or as he is better knoM'n by his posthumous title of Wen Wang, is said to have invented a system of divination. He used a hollow turtle, into which a certain number of cash were placed. These were shaken and allowed to fall on to the eight diagrams which were arranged in a circle. Each of these had significations of their own, and it was observed where the cash fell, and which of these they touched. The answer was considered favourable or otherwise from the position of the cash on the drawing. t One of the most fragrant names in the long history of the past is that of Ch'ang. He was a statesman and a patriot. His system of government was the admiration of all the surrounding states. It is said that two princes had a dispute about the bound- aries of their territories, and they determined to let Ch‘ang arbitrate in the matter. They proceeded to his capital to beg his interference, but they were astonished after they had entered his state to find how the farmers yielded to each other. Travellers on the road did the same. Tliey also observed that it was the law tliat no old man should carry a burden. When they reached the palace they noticed how the officials were full of courtesy to eacli other, and gave precedence to each other. Tliey were so impressed by this that they at once returned home without having seen Cli'ang, and settled their dispute amicably by themselves. 40 THE HISTORY OP CHINA. The Emperor and his wicked consort still went on in their evil ways. 'Whatever minister dared to remonstrate with either of them had either to be prepared for death or to fly to escape their vengeance. His nude Pi-kan ventured to counsel Chow-Sin, but he soon showed him that his near relationship to him was no protection whatever. Indig- nant at his reproofs he said to him, “ I have heard that the heart of a sage lias seven apertures ; let us see if it be so.” With this he made Pi-kan to be put to death, had his heart cut out, and glutted his eyes with the sight of it.* In tlie thirty-first year of Chow-Sin’s reign, his enormities having excited tlie indignation of his whole Empire, Fa thought the time had arrived for him to take action. He accordingly raised an army with the professed object of insisting upon a reform in the life and conduct of the Emperor and liis consort. No sooner had he led his forces across the Yellow River than, without any previous agreement, eight hundred princes and petty chiefs flocked to his camp, who all urged an immediate advance on the capital. This, however. Fa refused to do, “ Heaven has not yet cast him off, and therefore we may not yet punish him. When we know that it has done so then let ns work its will and destroy him. As long as Heaven stands by him we are still his officers, but when he has been abandoned by it we are then free to act as we please, for he will then be but an ordinary mortal without any divine authority.” Instead, therefore, of advancing against Show-Sin they marched against the chief of Li,f who had distinguished himself by bis bad government, and whose punishment, therefore, would be a warning to the Emperor of what would be attempted against him if he did not reform. The expedition against Li was successful, and Fa+ led back bis troops to his own state and waited to see if there would be any reformation in Chow-Sin’s conduct. As might have been expected there was none ; rather, indeed, did it become more arbitrary and oppressive. Not only had Pi-kan been barbarously murdered, but the Viscount of Wei was imprisoned, and escaped death only by feigning madness. Fa felt convinced that Heaven bad now deserted Chow-Sin, and that the time had arrived for him to execute its decrees. Once more his army was collected and led to Muh,§ where the royal forces advanced to meet him. The disparity between the two armies seems to have been very considerable, but it is impossible with the imperfect data at our command to say either what this was or how large either of them was. II Fa, on the morning of the battle,1[ with an axe in his * See Dr. Legge’s Shoo King, page 279. t Li was a district in the S. E. of Shansi, on the upper waters of the river Chang. + The more popular and best known name of this man is his posthumous one of ■Wu Wang. § This celebrated battle field was in the north of Honan in the present country of K‘i. II The historian Sz Ma-ts‘ien puts down the royal army at 700,000 men, but Dr. Legge thinks that number a great exaggeration. See his Shoo-king, p. 315. IT It took place on the 3rd day of the Chinese 2nd moon, B.C. 1122. 41 THE LEGENDARY PERIOD (CONTINUED). left hand and a white flag in his right, addressed the assembled hosts, and after detailing the crimes of Chow Sin urged them to quit themselves like men and to imitate the courage and ferocity of panthers and tigers. In such a battle as was fought that day there could be no doubt about the issues. Fa and his men were fighting for their lives, for they knew that but scant mercy would be extended them were they defeated. At the first shock of the two armies it was seen to which side victory would be given. The royalist troops not only gave way, but the front ranks actually turned their spears against those behind and drove them into them as though they had been their enemies. The slaughter that ensued was terrible, and blood flowed so freely that the wooden pestles of the mortars which the soldiers carried with them in which to prepare their rice actually were floated by it.* Chow Sin, seeing that all was lost, fled with all speed to the “Stag Tower,” and arraying himself in his most gorgeous apparel set fire to the building and was burned to death. His body was discovered amongst the ruins, and the general of the troops that captured the place cut off the head with his own hand, and had it elevated on a long pole. Next day the victorious army entered the capital, where it was received with shouts of delight by the populace. T‘a-ki shared in the downfall of the unhappy Chow Sin. After the victory of Muh she was seized and executed, to the delight of nearly every one that knew her.f The conduct of Fa after his victory was quite in keeping with his general character. He proceeded to free the unhappy men that were languishing in prison, and he raised a splendid monument over the spot where Pi-kau had been buried. In order to relieve the necessities of the people he ordered that all the treasures that had been accumu- lated in the Stag Tower, and all the immense stores of grain that had been laid up in the public granary in Chihli, should be distributed amongst the necessitous. He also showed his magnanimity by appointing territories where the descendants of the former great Emperors might reside, and where they might have the means of offering the proper sacrifices to the spirits of their ancestors. He also proceeded to pass such laws as would tend to the peace and prosperity of a people that for many years had groaned under the burdens imposed by the two tyrants that were happily no more. * There are two points in this story that need elucidation. First, how is it that with the universal discontent against Chow-sin he was able to muster an army so much larger than Fa’s, which was in arms to rescue the people from their oppressor : and second, how was there so much bloodshed, when there was so little real opposition to Fa’s men that at the very first assault the royalists fled without serious fighting. History does not help us in our difficulty. t There is a legend to the effect that her beauty was so great that no one had th® courage to execute her. At length an aged councillor of Fa covered his face, so that h® could not look upon her, and dealt the fatal blow that deprived her of life. The popular belief throughout China to-day is that she was a human incarnation of ajwolf demon. ^ 42 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. THE SEMI-HISTORICAL AND HISTORICAL PERIOD. The Chow Dijnastij.—(B. C. 1122-255). Wu Wang.—(B. C. 1122-1115). Chapter VI. U WANG, the founder of this dynasty, was descended from K‘i, the Minister of Instruction under Slum and the son of the Emperor Ti Kuh. The family home had been in Pin in the present i>rovince of Shensi; but, harassed and annoyed by the continual incursions of the barbarians, in B.C. 132d, Tan-fu, the chief at that time, migrated to K‘i and changed the name of his principality to Chow. The first act of the new sovereign, after he ascended the throne, was to order that the 12th month of Shang should become the 1st ot his reign. He also changed the royal colour from white to brown and disbanded his soldiers and sent his cavalry horses to Mount Hoa, in Shensi, and dispersed the oxen that bail been used in the campaign amongst the farmers to help them in the cultivation of the soil. He also rewarded those that had distinguished themselves in his service by grants of territory and titles of honour,* and he founded the five orders of nobility, viz., Duke, Manpiis, Earl, Viscount and Baron, and ordained that each should have a certain amount of territory connected with it to enable it to maintain its dignity. t Wdiilst he lavished honours on the living he did not forget the dead. His grandfather and great grandfather had high sounding titles given them, whilst his father Ch'aug was called Prince Wen, a title by which he is universally known throughout China to-day. Being of a highly religious nature Wu Wang offered a solemn sacrifice to his great ances- tors in the ancestral temple of Chow, and a burnt offering to Heaven, and worshipped the spirits of the mountains and rivers and informed them all that he had brought his campaign to a successful issue. As he was very anxious to govern his people well and wisely he enquired of his ministers what should be the principles on which his government should be founded. His Prime Minister Lu-shang informed him that if he would only read a treatise entitled Tan Shu he would get the precise information that he needed in it. In that the rule was laid down that righteousness should be superior to passion, that there should be untiring perseverance in any plan that was undertaken, and * Wu, like William the Conqueror, established a feudal system in China by the erection of eighteen large states and seventy-two smaller ones, whicli he bestowed upon the statesmen and warriors tliat had helped him to the throne. Ihis was a generous act, but oue fatal to the interests of his kingdom. t To each of the first two were assigned a hundred square (a U equals a third of a mile), to the third seventy, and to each of the last two fifty li. THE SEMI-HISTORICAL AND HISTORICAL PERIOD. 43 that ia order to have rectitude of conduct there must be a reverent spirit. Wu Wauo" was so impressed with the value of these sentiments that he had them inscribed on his walking stick, shoes, girdle, wash bason, tables, windows, doors, etc., so that he might have them constantly before him, and thus never be tempted to forget them. Wu Wau‘>- also consulted the Viscount of Wei as to the best methods of governing his people.* His reply was the “ Great Plan ” that is recorded in the Historical Classic, which is a mixture of common sense, abstruse doctrines and supeistition, for one of the essential ideas contained in it is that divination by the eight diagrams and the turtle should be a prominent feature in any plan that might be devised for the government of a nation. f For the advice thus * The Historical Classic says that this was clone in the 13th year of his reign, whilst really it was in his 1st. The solution of this difficulty is easy. Wu Wang counted his thirteen years of rule over Chow as forming part of his reign over China. t Fuh-hi is said to have been the one that had first to do with the diagrams. A dragon horse one day appeared to him from the Yellow River with a scroll upon its back on which were inscnbed mysterious symbols. From these were developed the system that is believed in by the scholars and the thinkers of China to-day. Briefly stated it is a combination of triple lines, viz. : l2 3 4 56 78 The 1st uumixed male principle = Heaven ; 2ud = vapour, lakes, etc. ; 3rd = fire and liremacy. He died, and was followed by his sou Hwni. C. 676-651). The accession of this prince was attended with some disorder, because some of the influential Chinese wished his brother to be Emperor. The plan, however, did not succeed, and the brother was compelled to flee, and three years after he was slain by the chief of Ting. Things went on pretty smoothly till B. C. (508, when troubles arose in the state of Lu in consequence of a disputed succession. In reading the history of these times one is deeply impressed with the vast mischief that arose from the system of polygamy. An Emperor or a feudal prince would have a favourite concubine, and under the pressure of her influence he would be induced to a})point her son to succeed him, though he knew that this was illegal and utterly opposed to the instincts of the Chinese. Then would arise murder and sedition and disorder, and after all the real heir would obtain his rights, who would cruelly avenge himself upon those who had endeavoured to deprive him of them. In the year B. C. 660 the Western barbarians invaded and took possession of Hing that lay in the S. W. of Chihli, near Shansi, and would have remained permanently there had they not been defeated and driven across the borders by Hwau, the Duke of Ts‘i. Meanwhile the state of Tsiu had been rapidly increasing in power and importance till its standing army consisted of fifty thousand men. It now began to look around for op{)ortunities of conquest. It had not long to do so, for the three prmci[)alities of Hing, Kang and Wei, being small and powerless, lay before it a ready prey. They were accordingly attacked and conquered, and their territories were an- nexed to those of Tsin. Two years after it cast longing eyes on Kwo and Yn, but as these had combined for purposes of protection their conquest was not so easy. The prime minister of Tsiu, who was 60 THE HISTORY 0? CHINA. a craftj^ and astnte politician, hit upon a plan that resulted in snccess. The chief of Yn, being very fond of jewelry and fine horses, he f>romised him magnificent presents of both if he would detach himself from Kwo. In spite of the warning of his officials he agreed to this. The troops of Tsiu were then allowed a passage through his territory to attack Kwo, which, being left alone in the struggle, easily succumbed. A nemesis, however, w'as soon to fall on the faithless Yu. On their return the soldiers of Tsiu occupied the country, killed its chief and recovered all the presents that had been made, and then absorbed both it and Kwo. In the year B. C. 655 eight large states combined to attack a small state that was a dependency of Ch‘u.* The Duke of this latter sent an ambassador to the Duke of Ts‘i, the head of the confederacy, to complain of this, and to ask how it was that he allowed armed men to forcibly enter territories that were under his control. Duke Hwan, advised by Hwan-chuug, re[)lied by asking him how it was that he had hitherto failed in paying his annual tribute of grass to the Emperor.f The Duke acknowledged that he had failed in his duty in this res[)ect, but promised to be more faithful in the future. U[)on this the confederate army withdrew from the attack, and peace was restored. In the year B. C. 654 the state of Tsiu was greatly disturbed by the plots of one of the “ fatal beauties ” of Chinese history, named Li-ki. She was one of the concubines of Duke Ilien, who had been captured by him in an ex[)edition that he had made against the Jung barbarians, and she was determined that her son should be the successor to the dukedom, to the exclusion of the rightful heir. To secure this she entered into a most infamous plot against him and his brothers. One day, whilst the Duke was out hunting, she told the eldest sou that in her dreams the previous evening the spirit of his mother had appeared to her. This of course necessitated a sacrifice to it. The sou at once prepared the customary articles of food, and when the service was over brought them to Li-ki to be kept to allow of his father {)artaking of them. Li-ki put some deadly poison in the food, which so discoloured it that when the Duke saw it he became suspicious. Throwing some to a dog, that shortly after died in great agonies, he came to the conclusion that his son wished to destroy his life. The latter, feeling that circumstances were too strong for him, committed suicide, whilst bis two younger brothers, whom Li-ki got the Duke to believe were accomplices in the plot, fled for their lives. kSoou after the Duke died, * The powerful state of Ch‘u existed from B. C. 740-330. It occupied parts of Hu-kwang, Honan and part of Kiang-su. Its capital was K‘ing-chow. t Every district of the Empire from the time of great Yu had been required to send to the Emperor a tribute of some of the articles specially produced in it. The grass here spoken of is a particular kind that is used in ancestral worship. When the wine W'as poured out to the spirits of the dead this grass received it in pots that were placed before the ancestral tablets, and through it, it was said to be conveyed to the w'aiting spirits. In Foh-kien leeks are used instead of grass. THE CHOW DYNASTY (cONTINDED). 61 and Hi-ts‘i, the son of Li-ki, succeeded to the dukedom, hnt he was murdered almost immediately by the miuister Li-k‘eh. Two other brothers followed, aud finally, after niueteen years of waudering aud adventure, Weu, the son that had been compelled to escape from his father’s home, obtained his rights (B. (). 635), aud was the means of raising the state of Tsiu to the highest pre-eminence amongst the others. The Emperor died after a reign of twenty-five years, and was sncceeded by his son Siaug. Siang.-(B. C. 651-618). In the fourth year of this Emperor his younger i)rother endeavoured to dethrone him by calling in the aid of the Western barbarians, Siaug called upon the Duke of Ts‘i to come to his assistance, who sent an army under Kwan-chuug, who defeated the enemy. Very grateful for this deliverance he wdshed to treat him as one of the nobles of the Empire, but Kwan-chuug, wdth the wisdom aud modesty that dis- tinguished him through life, refused to have this honour thrust nj)on him, and wished to be looked upon simply as an official of his powerful master. Three years after, when he lay dying, Duke Hwaa suggested, one after the other, three persons as proper ones to succeed him as prime minister. Against each of them he warned the Duke, wdio, however, disregarded his advice, and made all three his cabinet ministers, wdnch was the cause, in time, of serious loss to the country. In two years more the Duke died, and at once there was a fierce contest between his five sons for the dukedom. His body was left uncoffined, whilst the savage contest w'ent on even in the very courtyard of the palace, aud sixty-seven days wmre allowed to pass before the hideous, putrifying corpse was consigned to the grave. In the year B. C. 638 the Duke of Snug* invited six of the chiefs of powerful principalities to a meeting, when he jjroposed that he should be made the president of the confederacy. The Duke of Ch‘u resented this, and publicly insulted him before the rest. Smarting under this, in the following year he raised a large army aud advanced to the attack of Ting, a small state under the protection of Ch'ii The Duke of Ch‘u, who was a w'arlike and ambitious prince, needed no stronger challenge than this to bring him into the field. The two armies approached each other and were posted on the opposite banks of the river Fung. As the troops of (’h‘u were in the act of crossing, the general of the Sungs advised that they should be attacked whilst they were in the water, but his advice was disregarded. He again strongly urged that the Sung soldiers should rush upon them whilst they were forming in battle array after they had come out of the * Sung was an important state that lasted B. C. 1113-285, and occupied the lower part of the valley of the Hwai. 62 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. stream, but once more his voice was nuheedecl, and the resnlt was that the troops of Siiuy; suffered a most serious defeat. Ill the year B. C. 63o Wen, the long lost heir to the dukedom of Tsin, ap[)eared u[)on the scene, and with the help of some soldiers tliat he had raised in Kin got possession of his rights. In his long wanderinsrs he had been reduced to the greatest straits, and so had five of his most devoted followers that clang to him through all his misfortunes. It is said that on one occasion, when crossing a desert country, they were reduced almost to starvation, and one of his friends saved his life by cutting off the flesh of the calf of his leg and cooking it for him. With his restoration to power he liberally rewarded his faithful followers, but strange to relate he entirely forgot the one that had rendered him such a signal service. This man, however, seemed to have been made of the sterling marerial out of which heroes are formed and made no complaint. His mother, however, bitterly complained of the neglect, and so they both agreed to retire to a range of mountains, where the world could be entirely forgotten. After his disa[)pearance the Duke’s memory was one day suddenly refreshed by a parable in verse that was written over the entrance to bis palace. Displeased with himself for the wrong he had done his friend he caused a search to be made for him throughout the hills, but all in vain. At length he ordered the forests to be set on fire, in the hope that his friend might be driven out by the heat, but unfortunately he and his mother were burnt to death. When the news was brought to Wen he cried with sorrow. He built a splendid temple, where his spirit could be sacrificed to, and he gave all the land in the neighbourhood of where he died to provide the funds for the offerings. The [leople far and near sympathized with the Duke in the loss he had suffered, and refrained from food for one entire day. This story is handed down to the present time, and the day before that on which the feast of tombs commences ought by rights to be observed as a day of fasting in memory of this ancient hero, whose name was Chau-ts‘ui. After Siang had governed for sixteen years, through the treachery of his brother he was compelled to meet an invasion of the barbarians. Kot feeling strong enough to do this alone he invoked the aid of Wen, who at once responded to the call, and the foe was ignominiously defeated, and the Em|)eror, who had taken refuge in the state of Tsin, was again restored to his capital. As a reward for this Wen prayed Siang to allow him a royal funeral wdien he died.* This he refused to grant, as it was not fit that a subject should have such an imperial • In those early days when a king died a vast excavation was made in the ground, and rooms were built and furnished as though fi'i' a royal residence. Then a certain number of men and women, to the number sometimes of sixteen, were enclosed with the corpse, and with food to sustain life for a certain time. The wliole was tlieu built in, and by and by these wretcheil people died. It was believed that their spirits would be ready to act as attendants to tliat of the deceased sovereign, so that he could be served in the same manner as when he was alive, ^ 63 THE CHOW DYNASTY (cONTINDEd). privilege, but instead lie bestowed upon him four districts with their cities. Cue of these towus refused to be trausferred to the jurisdictiou of Wen, so he raised an array aud proceeded against it. When he reached it he found the walls strongly fortified, whilst at tlie same time he discovered that by some gross blunder his own array was provisioned for only four days. When the place was summoned the people inside indignantly refused to surrender. Upon this Wen promised that if he did not capture it in four days he would retire from it. Four days passed by, but still the city was untaken. News then came from spies that the [)rovisious of the city were nearly exhausted, and Wen was urged by his officers to hold on for a day or two more. Wen replied that he had made the promise, aud he must carry it out. His army was commencing its march home, when the people touched by his sense of honour voluntarily opened their gates and admitted his soldiers. In the year B. C. 632 five states united to attack Sung, the Duke of which applied to Tsiu for aid. This was granted, and the confederate army was compelled to retire without having accomplished its purpose. Wen was now appointed president of the nobles, for he had shown by his recent action that he was qualified to occupy a position that was only granted to the most powerful of the states. Five years after, this famous man died, aud was succeeded by his sou. Shortly after, the Duke of d’s‘iu, who had always aimed at being the chief amongst the vassal states, attacked Tsiu, but he was defeated. Three years afterwards, however, he again crossed the Yellow River, aud burning his boats that had carried his soldiers across he determined to conquer or perish. A great battle was fought, aud the Tsiu soldiers, lacking the genius aud generalship of Wen, were defeated, and the conqueror assumed the honourable position that he had so long coveted. In the thirty-thh'd year of his reign Siaug died, aud was succeeded by his son K‘ing. He was so poor that an application was made to the Duke of Lu for the expenses of his burial. These were granted, and officials were sent from that state to see that the funeral ceremonies were performed with the dignity becoming an Emperor. K'ing.—(B. C. 618-612). In the fifth year of this ruler’s reign the chief of Tsu* was minded to move his capital to another city within his dominions. Before doing so he determined to ascertain by divination whether it was proper for him to do so or not. The reply was that it would be profitable for his people, but disastrous for himself. “Well then,” he refilled, “I shall move, for whatever is for the benefit of my people is for mine too. The ruler has been appointed for the good of his people, and it must be his object to consider their welfare.” “ But,” said one * Tsu was iu the south of the present province of Shantung, and existed B. C. 700-469. 64 THE HISrOEY OP CHINA. of his ministers, “ if yon allow yonr capital to remain where it is your life will he prolonged.” “My life,” he replied, “is in the hands of Heaven, and it can dispose of me as it likes. I am satisfied so long as my subjects are prosperous.” He then made the transfer, and in the course of a few mouths he was dead. After reigning six years K‘iug died, and was succeeded by his son K'waug. K‘'wang — (B. C. 612-606). This ruler had hardly ascended the throne when the Duke ot Ts‘i attacked Ts‘au, a dependency of Lu in the S. W. of Shantung. Three years after the Duke of Lu died, but his sou was murdered by a relative, who usurped the dukedom.* In the year B. C. 6U5 the Duke of Tsin, who was a most arbitrary and lavish ruler, began to make his people disgusted with him, because of the extravagant and cruel manner in which he ruled them. He increased the taxes to build himself magnificent palaces. Because on one occasion his cook did not prepare the royal dish of bear’s paws properly he had him slain, and in order to conceal the murder he had the body carried out by the female slaves and hastily buried in a hole dug by them. A virtuous minister of the name of Chan-tun ventured to remonstrate with him for his cruelty, but the Duke was so angry that he emplo} ed a man of the name of Tsu-ni to assassinate him. About two o’clock in the morning f this man stealthily approached that part of the palace where the Duke met his ministers for the transaction of public business, and there sat Chan-tun in his official robes waiting for the rest. He was so moved by this display of virtue on the part of this venerable statesman that, conscience stricken, he dashed his head against a tree and killed himself. The Duke next arranged that a company of soldiers should lie in wait and murder Chan-tun as he returned from a banquet to which he proposed to invite him, but again his life was saved by a friend, who warned him of his danger. He now fled the country, but before long he was recalled by his brother, who had killed the cruel tyrant in his own peach garden. After a reign of six years K'wang died, and was succeeded by his brother Ting. Ting.—{B. C. 606-585). In the first year of this Emperor’s rule the Duke of Ch‘n who, however, had taken the higher title of Prince, led an army against the aborigines that lived in the West of Honan, In order to impress Ting * It may be noted here that many of these chiefs assumed the title of Duke without having any light to it. Lu for example was only a marquisate. With the weakness of the monarchy every state was aiming at a power that it did not rightfully possess. t This is the time at which tlie Emperor meets his ministers to discuss the affairs of the nation at the present day. The custom is certainly a most ancient one. 65 THE CHOW DYNASTY (CONTINUED). with his power he marched it close by the capital where he could see it. The Duke ostentatiously asked one of the Emperor’s officers if the nine tri[)ods of Yii were heavy. This individual, who saw that he had the idea of grasping the supreme power for liirnself, replied that their weight depended upon the virtue of the man who would endeavour to lift them. “ If it was slight,” he said, “ they were heavy and immovable, but if it was great then they were as light as a feather.” “These tripods,” he continued, “ were given by the direct interference of Heaven to the Ilia, Shang and Chow dynasties, and none could possess them except by its will.” In the year B. C. 596 the Duke of Ch‘u marched an army against Chang* and defeated the forces of Tsin that had come to its rescue. Three years after the Duke of Lu raised the taxes from one to two- tenths, much to the sorrow and discontent of his people. Again, in B. C. 588, Wei fought with Ts‘i, but was defeated, upon which Lii, Tsin and Ts'an came to its aid, and Ts‘i was compelled to sue for {)eace. T'ing died after a reign of twenty-one years, and was followed by his sou Kieu. Kien. — (B. C. 585-571). — Nothing of importance occurred in this reign, excepting quarrels between Tsin and Ch‘u, in which the latter suffered a severe defeat, which so increased the pride of the ruler of the former that he became arrogant and dissolute, and was finally killed by one of his officials. His sou Ling succeeded him. Ling.— (B. C. 571-5U). In the first year of this reign the states of Tsin, Tsfi, Sung, Lu, AVei, Ts'au and Tsn combined to build a wall along the border of the state of Chang, so as to prevent the encroachments of the latter. Formerly it had been in alliance with Tsin, but thinking that Ch‘u w^as more powerful, and could aid it in its attempts to enlarge its territories, it suddenly deserted Tsin and paid homage to Ch‘n, In the year B. C. 568 a barbarian tribe of Jungs sent a present of tiger and leo{)ard skins to the Duke of Tsin, who was at first doubtful whether he ought to receive them, or lead an army into their territory and annex it to his own. His prime minister dissuaded him from the latter, and showed him what advantages would accrue to his state from being on friendly terms with the Jungs. “These,” he said, “do not cultivate the soil, but they have many things that our people can buy from them, and thus our commerce might be improved. Our farmers, too, could go into their territory and till their lands, which they do not care to cultivate for themselves ; again, too, when other states see that we have such powerful allies they will all fear us.” The Duke, impressed by these arguments, concluded a treaty of peace with the barbarians. * Chang, an important feudal state in Honan, B. C. 774-500. 66 THR HISTORY OP CHINA. In the year B. C. 563 twelve states combined to pnnish Chang, and so thoroughly was it subdued that it broke otF its connection with Ch‘u and returned to its alliance with Tsin. The Duke of this latter state now thought it time to give his peof>le a rest and to pay special attention to their welfare. Instead of hoarding np the public money he lent it ont to the needy and the struggling. A strict economy, too, was observed in the palace in regard to dress and the general expenses of the court, so that in the course of a year there was a remarkable improvement in the condition of the state. The effect of this was seen in the strong attitude it took in reference to the other powerful principalities. Three times did Chhi attack it, but every time it was repulsed. In the year B. C. 551, in the tenth month and the twenty-first day of it, was born in the state of Lu, in the present department of Yeuchow in Shantung, the famous sage and philosopher Confucius, a man who was destined to exercise a mighty influence over the Chinese during the succeeding ages of their history.* In the twenty-seventh year of his reign Ling died, and his brother King succeeded him. King. — (B. C. 544-519). After an uneventful reign of twenty-five years this Emperor died, and the throne was occupied by his sou King, the “Reverential.” King.—(B. C. 519-475). In the year B. C. 605 the chief of the small state of Ts‘ai went to pay court to the Duke of Ch‘u.t One of the leading ministers in the palace refused to let him see him unless he gave him a liandsome bribe. This he refused to do, upon which he treated him with the greatest rudeness. Indignant at this he at once left the state, and repairing to the Duke of Wu he implored him to avenge his wrongs. * Many fabulous stories are told about the birth of this great man. We know very little about him till he was nineteen, when he married, and next year a son of the name of Li was born to him. He was a profound student at this time, and attracted a number of young men around him, who listened to his teachings. His power la}' not in any original doctrines of his own, but rather in the able manner in which he drew pictures of the famous men that had figured in Chinese history and who had helped by their virtuous lives and wise enactments to build up the Chinese Empire. He lived for a time in Loh-yang, where he studied the records of antiquity, but he afterwards returned to his own state, where he was made a magistrate in the town of Chung tu. Here the most marvellous results followed, for by the application of his own maxims the people became virtuous and orderly in their lives. Duke Ting, hearing the reports about him, made him Minister of Works and afterwards Minister of Justice, and his fame spread because of the able manner in which he fulfilled the duties of each. In the year Br C. 481 he commenced his original work, the “Spring and Autumn,” which is one of the standard works studied by every scholar to-day in China. He died B. C. 478, mourned and lamented by his followers and all w'ho had at heart the w elfare of China. His merits were not fully recognized, however, till fully three centuries after his death, but succeeding ages have made up for the neglect that was shown him by his contem- poraries. Kau-tsu, of the Han dynasty, gave the first impetus to the recognition of the great sage. t Ts'ai was situated on the river Hwai. This river drains the provinces of Honan and Ngan-hwui and flows into the Huug-tsih lake. 67 THE CHOW DYNASTY (CONTINHED). This prayer was granted, and the men of Ch‘n sntfered a most severe defeat, and its Duke was compelled to fly, and his capital was held for a whole year by the troops of Wn. It was only by the devotion of one of his ministers that he finally got possession of his dominions once more. This man repaired to the Duke of Ts‘in and implored him to come to the help of his master. At first he utterly refused to have anything to do with the matter, but Pau-sz was not to be denied, and it is said that for seven days and nights he refused all food and spent the time in weeping and lamentation. At length, the Duke moved by his extreme devotion, marched to Ch‘u, and having driven out the invaders, restored the fugitive Duke to his home. In the following year was born in the state of Lu, Ts‘ang-ts‘an, a distinguished disciple of Confucius, and one that continued his teaching after his death. In the year B. C. 500 Confucius was made a magistrate in his own state, and the most remarkable results soon followed from his new methods of government. He made laws in reference to both the living and the dead. He arranged that the aged should be cared for, and that they should be supplied with good food, so as to make them strong and robust. He decreed that employment should be found suitable for the capacities and strength of all, so that those who were weak should not be burdened with tasks that they could not perform well. He also passed a law that men and women in walking on the public roads should take different sides of it, so that there should be no promiscuous mingling of the sexes, to the detriment of public morals, and he gave orders that valuables that might have been dropped by the way should not be picked up by the passers by, but be left to be found by the owner, who would come in search of them. He was very severe against bad work, and he would not allow it to be exposed in the market for sale, and in order to restrain the lavish expenditure incurred at funerals he decreed that the wood of the inner shell of the coffin should be only four inches in thickness, and that of the outer one, five. After one year’s experience of these measures there was such a marked improvement in his district that all the surrounding counties began to imitate the example of Confucius and to adopt his laws. In the following year he was made Minister of Justice. About this time Ln and Ts‘i were going to enter into a treaty of friendship, and Confucius was asked by the Duke to accompany him to meet the Duke of Ts‘i and help him in drawing up the treaty. Confucius consented, but warmly recommended that a strong force of soldiers should accompany them to the place of meeting. This was agreed to, and when the other parties arrived they were found to have come with a very considerable body of troops. A collision would inevitably have taken place had not the Duke of Ts‘i been much influenced by the language and bearing of Confucius, for he not only signed the treaty, but also agreed to restore all the territory he had taken from Lu. 68 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. In the year B. C. 497 Coufacins having received reliable informa- tion that three men, high in office, were going to rebel, issued an order that no mandarin shonld he allowed to have coats of mail in his house, and also that the walls of the cities where these men had a following shonld be reduced in height. It is needless to say that these measures were so effectnal that the threatened rebellion never broke ont. In the next year Confucius was made Prime Minister, and at once a wonderful reformation of manners took place thronghont the state. The men became honest and the women virtuous, and all classes of tradesmen refrained from the special tricks that belonged to their trades. The consequence of this was that Ln became highly prosperous and powerful, so that its old rival Ts‘i became alarmed, lest this should endanger its existence. Its Duke therefore conceived a plan by which he would stop this happy state of things. He carefully selected eighty of the most beautiful women that could be found, and together with one hundred and twenty of the finest horses in his stud he sent them a present to the Duke of Ln. This rnler unwisely accepted this dangerons gift, and of course Coufucins retired from court. He waited in his home for three days to see whether the Duke would send for him and intimate his willingness to be guided by his teachings, but no message came, so he made preparations for leaving Ln. He was now in his fifty-seventh year, and travelled about from state to state, attended by some of his most faithful disciples, who were willing to resign all the ties of life to listen to his teachings. After wandering about for twelve years, being received with great honour in some places and with scant courtesy in others, he returned to Lu. During the remaining five years of his life he accomplished a large amount of literary work. He wrote a preface to the Historical Classic and selected from the ancient poems, of which there were upwards of three thousand, the three hundred and eleven that now constitute the Book of Odes. He- also devoted much time to the study of the Yih Classic, commonly known as the Book of Changes. He had a great admiration for this -book, and he has declared in his Analects that if his life were to be prolonged to any extent he would willingly spend fifty years of it in the study of it, in order that he might attain to the one desire of his life, viz., to be able to live without serious error. It is said that he had as many as three thousand disciples, of whom seventy-two were distinguished for their abilities. In the early part of the year B. C. 480 he was informed that a strange monster called the Ki-lin, or Chinese unicorn, had been caught, during a hunting expedition of the Duke. This he looked upon as an evil omen and as presaging his own death, and was accordingly much depressed. Two years after he died, aud was buried in a cemetery that remains to the THE CHOW DTNASTY (CONTINUED). 69 present clay, being perhaps the most unique and remarkable one in the whole world.* The Emperor King died after a long reign of forty-four years, and was succeeded by his sou. Ymn.—(B. a 475-468). This short reign was distinguished, as many of the former ones were, simply by the contests that went on between the more powerful of the vassal states. In the year B. C. 472 the state of Yueh conquered Wu and incorporated it with itself. Twenty-three years ago the troops of Wu had invaded Yueh and carried off its Duke, who had been kept a ])risoner for three years. The memory of his sufferings so rankled in his heart that he vowed a most terrible revenge. In order to carry this out he knew it was essential that the material resources of his dominions should be improved, and also that he must so win the hearts of his people that they would be prepared to make any sacrifice for him when the hour for the supreme struggle should arise. To gain these objects both he and his wife entered upon a course of the most rigid self-denial. Kau-tsien endured all kinds of hardness and discarded every luxury, and himself cultivated his laud like any common farmer, whilst his wife wove cloth for the use of her household. Scholars and eminent men were treated with the greatest honour, and strangers received the politest attentions from both. They gave alms to the poor and attended the funerals of the people and wept with sorrow over the dead. For twenty long years this went on, and still the passion for revenge never slumbered. By this time the feeling of devotion to their prince was so great that Kau-tsien knew they were ready for the greatest sacrifices for him. He accordingly assembled his forces and attacked Wu and gained a most decisive victory. Its Duke was obliged to flee and leave his dominions in the hands of his conquerors. He sent ambassadors to Kau-tsien, praying for mercy, and reminding him how he had released him when he formerly had him in his power and restored him to his state. Do the same to me now, he pled. The Duke might have listened to his appeal, but his Prime Minister Fan-li, who had aided him in all his plans, and who had been the means of his success, strongly advised him not to do so. “ When Heaven,” he said, “ gave the Duke of Wu the grand opjiortunity of gaining power he did not take advantage of it, and so he is a fugitive to-day. Should you fail to accept the fortune it has now given you, you too may be driven from your state, and then all the twenty years of hardships that you and your wife have borne will have been endured in vain.” This cold-blooded sophistry made a deep impression on Kau-tsien, and the Duke of Wu, finding his entreaty for * Williamson’s Journies in North China. Vol. 1, p. 224. I have slightly swerved from the strictly chronological order of events in order to give the story of Confucius in a more connected form. 70 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. mercy nnheedecl, committed suicide.* Kan-tsieu, as a matter of policy, now paid his annual tribute to Yuan, who at once sanctioned the seizure of Wu and appointed him the president of the nobles of the Empire. After a brief reign the Emperor died, and was succeeded by his son. Ching Ting.—(B. C. 468-440). This reign was marked by great disorders amongst the states, the rulers of which acted without any regard to the royal authority and carried on war with each other as though the Empire consisted of so many distinct kingdoms and had no connection with the dynasty that claimed their allegiance. He had hardly ascended the throne before the three powerful families that had been on the point of rebellion in Lu during the time of Confucius, began to gather together their adherents to contest for supremacy in the state. The Duke of Lu, in his extremity applied to the now powerful state of Yueh, but before relief could come to him he w'as driven from his capital, and his sou was put in his place, though without any real power, for the most influential of the rebel chiefs held that within his grasf). Eleven years after, Tsiu was rent by internal dissensions. Six high officials refused to acknowledge their Duke, and held their districts in their own right. Shortly after four of them combined and seized the districts of the other two. The Duke of Ts‘i was appealed to for help, but before it could arrive the unhappy Duke was obliged to take refuge at the court of Ts‘i. The result was that the state of Tsin was now divided into five, viz., Tsin, Wei, Chan, Han and Chih. In the year B. C. 443 the Jung barbarians were signally defeated by the Duke of Ts‘in, and from this time they disappear from sight and are no more mentioned by this name in Chinese history. The Emperor died, and was succeeded by his son K^'au (B. C. 440-425), who was again followed by his son. Wei Lieh,— (B. C. 425-401). The strife between the states became more severe, and the authority of the supreme government proportionately diminished during the reign of this monarch. In his twenty-third year the nine tripods of the great Yu began to utter sounds, which men looked upon as exceedingly ominous and portending coming disasters to the king- dom. In the principality of Tsin the four chiefs that had rebelled and now ruled independently were recognized by Wei Lieh and titles of nobility given them, an act that was exceedingly unjust and impolitic. Before long three of these joined their forces, and conquering the * His family are said to have fled to Japan, whither one of their ancestors, Tai-pi, had gone iu the twelfth century B. C. and became the founder of the present Japanese dynasty. THE CHOW DYNASTT (CONTINUED), 71 other, divided his territories amongst themselves. Wei Lieh was succeeded by his sun. Xgan.—(B. C. 401-375). The only things tliat are mentioneil during this sovereign’s reign are the overflow of the Yellow River and the murder of the Duke of Ts‘i by one his ministers. The murderer at once took possession of the Dnkedora, and instead of being punished was confirmed in his nsnrpation by the Emperor, who gave him a patent of nobility. After a weak and inglorions reign Ngan was succeeded by his sou. Lieh.— fB. C. 375-368). In the first year of this Emperor the three great Houses that had divided part of the state of Tsin between them now absorbed the remainder of the country into their ditfereut governments, so that from this date the old state of Tsin disap[)ears. Lieh seems to have been a man of uncommon firmness and decision of character, and had he lived in the earlier years of the dynasty he might have been celebrated as one of the famous kings of history. It is said that on one occasion he called one of his great officers, who had been accused of malversation, to his presence, “ 1 have been greatly troubled,” he said, “ by complaints that have been made to me of you. No one in the palace has a good word for you, and I am assured that you are an exceedingly incompe- tent man. I have, however, thoroughly examined your case, and I find that these evil reports arise entirely from the integrity of your character, and because you would not condescend to pro[)itiate your enemies by bribes. 1 am glad to have such an honest man in my service, and 1 shall now advance you in rank as a reward for your fidelity.” To another he said, “I hear nothing but good about you. Every one is loud in your praises, which ring in my ears the livelong day. 1 have examined your history, and I find that you have been a most dishonest public servant, and that all these enlogiums are the result of the large sums you have given dishonest men to proclaim your so called virtues. I mean, therefore, to punish you so severely that no one will ever dare to imitate your example so long as I am Emperor.” He then ordered that he should be boiled in a huge cauldron that he had specially prepared for the occasion. About the year B. C. 371 was born Mencius, the famous moralist and philoso{)her, who stands second only to Confucius in the estimation of the Chinese, and who became the distinguished expounder of the great sage’s teachings. He was born either in Lu or Tsen, for the precise place of his birth is not posicively known.* Lieh, after a brief reign, was succeeded by his son. See Dr. Legge’s Chiaese Classics. Vol. II. prolegomena. THE HISTORT OF CHINA. IIien.—(B. G. 368-320). In the year B. C. 362 the Duke of Ts‘in gained a great victory over the combined forces of the three chiefs that )uid absorbed Tsin, U|)on which Hien sent him a present of some royal apparel which he authorized him to wear. This was an exceedingly unwise thing to do, es{)ecially when it is considered that the power of Ts'in had been gradually overshadowing that of the other great states, and that its Duke was making no effort to conceal the ambitions views that he had of overthrowing the old dynasty and of establishing his own in its place. Two years after this man died, and was succeeded by his son Han. At this time six great states and ten or twelve smaller ones combined to resist his encroachments, and they agreed to treat him as a barbarian ruler and to bold no correspondence with him whatever. Han saw that bis only chance of maintaining bis power was by obtaining the assistance of gifted men, who would by the display of extraordinary talents raise his state to such pre-eminence that all others would tremble before him. He accordingly sent abroad notices that he was prepared to employ men f>f ability, no matter to what state they belonged, and that he would cctnfer honours upon them and lands to enable them to sustain their position. This invitation reached the ears of a young man, who was then in the employ of one of the high officials of the state of Wei, who at once hastened to Tsdn and presented himself before the Duke. This was the famous Wei-yang, who from this time became the most important factor in this important state. In his youth he had given himself to the study of law, and more especially to the criminal department of it. He proposed to the Duke to make a complete change in many of the most important laws of the country. This, of course, was vigorously opjiosed by Han’s council, on the ground that it would be highly dangerous to abandon what had come down to them from their ancestors. Wei-yang laughed at this and declared that it was only the ignorant and stupid that were held in bondage by anything that had come down from the past, and that the truly wise man was one who was prepared to accept of any thought or suggestion that would be serviceable to his fellow-men. “The sage could change,” he said, “ but the fool never.” The Duke was so im- pressed with his arguments that he gave him permission to carry out bis reforms. The chief of these were : (1) the ten house system ; * (2) in every family where there were two grown up sons one of these should go out and form a new household, or else double taxes should be levied ; (3) the rich should not be required to do personal service * This was a small division of a ward in a city, and consisted of ten dwelling houses. Each of these was responsible to the government for the conduct of the rest. This system holds good to-day, except in the villages, which often consist of one clan ; there every family in it has to answer for the misdeeds of any of their number, should he escape, and be beyond the reach of the law. 73 THE CHOW DYNASTY (cONTINDED). on the public works, but be permitted to compound by a money payment to the state. The poor, however, and especially the indolent, were required to attend with their wives. They would be thus cured of their laziness, and at the same time earn money that would go to the siTpport of their families ; (4) every man that travelled through the state must have a passport, and any inn-keeper that lodged strangers without such would be liable to a severe penalty. The people at first were very unwilling to obey these laws, and even tlie son of the Duke showed his disapproval by breaking them whenever he had an opportunity. Wei-yang did not dare to punish him, so he seized his two tutors and branded them on the face with Chinese words that held them up to public contempt for not having properly taught their young pupil. The people were so struck with this severity that they everywhere submitted to the new laws. After they had been in force ten years the whole character of the state was changed, for thieves disappeared from it, the indolent became industrious and a spirit of widespread loyalty was engendered. Twelve years after (B. C. 349) the institution of these reforms "Wei-yang made still further important changes. Instead of the old territorial divisions he divided the country into thirty districts or counties. He also abolished the law relating to the apportioning of land to be cultivated by ten families, instituted by Wu, and he allowed each farmer to till whatever lands were must suitable, whilst those on the outskirts of the state could reclaim the waste country, the only condition being that they should j>ay taxes for lauds actually under cultivation. In the year B. C. 34() Wei-yang advised that war should be w'aged against the state of Wei. An army was accordingly marched against it, and the trooi>s of Wei, headed by the son of its Duke, advanced to meet it. Wei-yang, who used to be intimate with him when he lived in his father’s court, invited him to a conference to see whether they could not settle their differences without fighting. The invitation was accepted, but no sooner had he arrived in the Ts‘in camp than he was arrested, and at the same time an immediate attack was ordered by Wei-yang on the army of Wei. Unprepared for treachery it was signally defeated and pursued to the very capital of the state, which was occupied by the victorious troops. The result was that a very considerable slice of the Wei territory was added to that of Ts‘in. Three years after the Duke of Ts‘in died, and was succeeded by his sou. The two tutors who had been branded on the face, and who all these years had never forgiven the author of their disgrace, now meditated a most terrible revenge. They persuaded the Prince that Wei-yang was meditating rebellion, and that he was preparing silently but surely to seize the power of Ts‘in for himself. Prejudiced as he was against him he listened only too readily to the charges that were 74 THE HtSTORY OF CHINA. brought against him, and he issued orders for his arrest. Wei-yang, who had received secret information of the designs of his enemies, fled during the night, but when he reached tlie frontiers he could not ]ias8 the guards tliere, because he had no passport. Next day the soldiers of the Duke arrived in pursuit and arrested him and carried him back to the capital. Not all the years of service to the state could save him, and he was put to a most horrible death. His head and arms and legs were each tied to chariots in which were spirited horses. At a given signal the drivers started their animals in different directions, and Wei-yang, the builder up of the fortunes of Ts‘in, was torn to pieces, whilst every member of his fiimily was put to death. Five years after this tragedy six states combined and entered into a solemn treaty to defend each other against the growing power of Ts‘in. This confederacy, however, was broken up by the skill and diplomacy of the Duke’s statesmen. In the year B. C. 340 the Duke of Ts‘in took the higher name of king, and Hien was unable to take any action to prevent him assuming a title that threatened his dynasty. Four years after the latter died, and was followed by his sou. Shin Tsing.—(B. C. 320-314). The only facts recorded during this brief reign were the combina- tion of the states of Ch‘u, Chau, AVei, Han and Yen against Ts‘in and their ignominious defeat ; and a great victory gained by the latter power over the barbarians that lived near the river Min in the present province of Sz-chwan and the appropriation of their territory. The next ruler was the unfortunate Nan. I4an.—{B. C. 314-255). The first year of this Emperor was marked by the invasion of Yen* by the Duke of Ts‘i. The reason for this was because the ruler of the former state had been persuaded by a clever minister of his that he would gain imperishable fame if he were to imitate Yau and Shun, by resigning his power to him. This he did, and he actually allowed him to be Duke whilst he acted as his prime minister. This was considered to be a very disgraceful thing, which ought to be severely punished. The Duke of Tsfl consequently led an army against the usurper, and being successful in his cam[)aign chopped both the Duke and his cunning minister into a thousand pieces. Ts'in looked on this success with no friendly eye, and military operations were commenced. In order to secure the neutrality of the Duke of ClTu he was promised that he should be given territory to the extent of two hundred miles if he stood aside whilst the contest was * This state was founded in B. C. 1122 and lasted till B. C. 265. It extended N. and E. to the desert and the Songari river. Its capital. Yen-king, was not far from Peking. THE CHOW DYNASTY (CONTINUED). 75 going on. Contrary to the argent advice of his ministers he agreed to this proposition, and Ts‘i was conquered. When the promised reward was claimed, Chan-gi, the minister who had conducted the negotiations, declared that he had only agreed to give him two miles. Enraged at this breach of faith the Duke of Ch‘u determined to attack Ts'in. His ministers endeavoured to dissuade him from this by showing him the great risk he ran, but he was impervious to all their arguments, and led an army against that powerful state. In the first battle that was fought he was defeated, and in a second he suffered still more severely, because Han and Wei joined their forces against him. He could finally secure peace only by the sacrifice of a considerable portion of his territory, which was annexed to Ts'in. From this time there were interminable wars between the states. Sometimes one would be victorious, and then again it would be crushed and absorbed by a more powerful adversary. It is remarkable what a large number of able men appeared during these later years of the Chow dynasty, whose names are as household words to the scholars of to-day. Their history is generally a sad one. By their abilities they would retrieve the fortunes of the state they served, and victory would crown their plans, and the state once more hold its head proudly amongst the rest. Some evil-minded person, jealous of their success, would then whisper some envenomed words into the ear of the Duke, and at once the distinguished statesman would be consigned to the most miserable death. It seemed as though all generosity and all public faith had disappeared from the country in these interminable strifes for pre-eminence. Amidst all the fluctuations of war Tsfin was gradually gaining the first place amongst the other states. In the year B. C. 280 the Duke of Ch‘n threatened to invade the royal domain and seize it for himself. The Emperor, however, sent an ambassador to him and begged him to refrain from his purpose. “ Supposing you were to gain possession of my small territory,” he said, “ what advantage would it be to you, who have so much larger a one of your own ? You would only have the evil reputation of having been a rebel and of having murdered your sovereign.” The Duko influenced by these representations now aban- doned his ambitious purpose and rema/ined loyal to Nan. During the next few years the history mainly centres in Ts‘in, which, victorious in its contests with the other states, was growing larger and larger at the expense of the conquered. Things at last came to such a serious pass that the Emperor organized a league of the nobles against it, a proceeding that so enraged its Duke that he at once led his armies into Chow, and, defeating the royal troops, he captured Nan. The Emperor was compelled to submit to the greatest indignities. He had to surrender all his lauds and his soldiers to the conqueror, and himself to kneel in his presence, and knocking his head upon the ground confess his wrong and entreat forgiveness. He was 76 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. then set at liberty, but be soon after died of grief and mortification. The only part of the royal domain that was not seized was the small feudal territory of Knng, which the Emperor had bestowed upon a branch of the imperial family, and vvdiich the usurper thought it prudent, for the present at least, to refrain from a])propriatiug. From this time the Chow dynasty may be said to have ceased to exist, though historians have been accustomed to consider its actual extinction to have taken place six years later when the Duke of Kuug was dispossessed of his small domain and the Chow family disappeared from the scene. This mode of reckoning is not a correct one, for the Enke was never invested with the supreme power, nor did he ever exercise imperial functions. The Chow dynasty is in some respects the most remarkable one among the many that have ruled over China, and it has exercised a more powerful influence over the thought and manners of succeeding ages than any other. It has had the honour of producing the three great thinkers that have moulded the opinions and determined the philosophy of the scholars of the land, viz., Lau-tze, Confucius and Mencius. The first of these, born about B. C. 604, became the founder of the Tauist philosophy, and through that, though in a most perverted form, of the Tauism of to-day. The second is the author of a system of morals that is taught and studied throughout the eighteen provinces of China. He is looked upon as a god, and no human being has ever received such profound and enduring homage from such a vast number of jieople as he. The writings of the last are placed nearly on a level with those of the great sage, and studied with almost the same veneration as his. Besides these great names a large number of statesmen and generals wbo distinguished themselves by their ability, and who played a conspicuous part in the history of the times, were produced in this dynasty. Their names and their deeds are known to learned and unlearned, for in the plays that are acted upon the streets these men figure upon the stage, and the virtues of the good are applauded, and the traitorous schemes of the men that thought only of their own aggrandisement are greeted with scorn and contempt. The extra- ordinary length of this dynasty is remarkable, when it is considered that with the exception of a few of its rulers they were all men of very moderate abilities. The fact is, its existence was prolonged, simply because there were so many powerful states within the Empire, all jealous of each other and ready to combine against any one that presumed to aim at a power that was beyond their own reach. THE TS‘IN DYNASTY. 77 THE TSTN DYNASTY (B. C. 255-206). Chav, Siang. — (B. C. 255-250). Chapter VIII. 'T^^T'ITH tlie death of the Emperor Nan begins the Ts‘in dynasty, though thirty years have to elapse before it is recognized by the whole of the nation. The only reason wliy the king of Ts‘in did not assume the imperial title was because he did not feel himself strong enough to do so yet. Though his power was greater than that of any other ruler of the most powerful of the feudal states he did not dare to face the combination of them, which he was sure would be made were he to proclaim himself Emperor. Before Chan Siang could do this he must subdue his rivals, and if needs be absorb their territories within his own, and then he could step into the place that had been for so long occu[)ied by the rulers of Chow. Chau Siang had already ruled for fiftj’--two years over the state of Ts‘in, so that he was an old man when he defeated Nan. The chief states tliat now existed as obstacles in his way to supreme power were Ch‘u, Yen, Wei, Chau, Han, Ts‘i and Kuug, the last of which was ruled over by the last representative of the Chow family. In his second year the state of Han submitted to Ts‘iu and agreed to pay tribute and acknowledge its superiority. Chau Siang began to assume the duties of the Imperial office by offering a solemn sacrifice to God. As only the Emperor is entitled to do this it soon became manifest to the rulers of the other states what his ambition was. Three years after this he died, when he was succeeded by his sou Hiau Wun, who, however, died after a reign of only' three days. He in turn was followed by his sou. Chwan Siang. — (B. C. 249-246). This prince occupies a very important position in the history of his time. Whilst he was living as a hostage in Chau he became acquainted with a travelling merchant of remarkable ability, who was drawn towards the prince as a man through whom his own fortunes might be made. This was the famous Lu Pu-wei, who played so important a part in the history of this dynasty. By a liberal use of the fortune he possessed he managed to get the young prince free, and finding that his own wife, who was an exceedingly beautiful woman, was pregnant, he managed to inspire him with such a love for her that he requested her from him as his wife. 78 THE HISTOEY OF CHINA. With apparent great reluctance he granted this reqnest, and so in course of time he had the pleasure of fiudiug his own otFspriug the acknowledged heir to the throne. When he became king of Ts‘iu he made Lu Pu-wei his prime miuister, and for the next ten years he was the ruling force in the state, and so consolidated its power that he gradually prepared it for the ruling position it was ere long to take. In the second year of Chwan Siang the Duke of Kang endeavoured to get the great states to combine to resist the growing power of Ts‘in, when an army was sent by Chwan Siang, and the last remnant of the Chow family disappeared from histor}% and his principality was attached to that of Ts‘in. In the following year his soldiers were led against Wei, when they captured two of its cities, but fearing utter destruction it leagued with four other states, whose soldiers combined overcame those of Ts‘in, who were cotufielled to retreat. A few mouths after Chwan Siang died, and was succeeded by the famous Chung, who subsequently took the exalted title of Shih Hwang-ti,* by which he is best known in history. Chvcng, or Shih Ilwang-ti. — (B. C. 246-221). This man came into power when he was thirteen years old, and he may be considered really to be the founder of the Ts‘in dynasty. He is one of the most remarkable men that has ever figured in Chinese history. Fortunately for him, in the second year of his reign the two powerful states of Chau and Wei, that had often been rivals of Ts‘in, instead of uniting their forces against the growing power quarrelled and fought with each other. In his fourth j’ear there was a great plague of locusts that devastated the state of Ts‘in. Everything green was eaten up by them, and famine stalked throughout the land. In this emergency Chung sent notices far and wide that every one that brought any kind of cereals to a certain amount for the use of the state wmuld be given official employment. Historians remark that this is the first ins.tance in history where government honours were obtained by purchase. Four years after there was a combination of five states to overthrow Ts‘in, but it failed. The confederacy was broken up, and the power of Chung was consequently only the more firmly established. In the year B. C. 2:J7 severe domestic troubles marred the happiness of the youthful ruler. He discovered that his mother had been guilty of the gravest immoralities, that Lu Pu-wei was giving out that he was his father, a'nd that the latter had actually been guilty of facilitating the excesses of the Queen Dowager. His mother he banished to a strong fortress in Shensi, whilst Lu Pu-wei was dismissed from his office of prime miuister and sent home to his * Hwang means sovereign, and Ti divine ruler. The three great rulers Fuh-hi, Shen-nung and Hwang-ti used this title of Hwang. Chung would therefore combine in iiimself the highest numes that had ever been used before him. THE TS'lN DYNASTY, 79 estate, with a warning that he was on his good behaviour, and that any indiscretion would be visited wdth the severest punishment. Thougli so [H’ndeut in ordinary life Ln Pu-wei had not the wisdom to follow out this advice, aud before long Chung found that he was actually going to become the prime minister of the Duke ol Ch‘u, the most dangerous rival that he now had in the Empire. To accept that office was a public manifesto that he was going to throw all the talent and ability he had shown in the government of his own state for the last ten years into the hands of a prince whose sole aim and ambition was the overthrow of Ts‘in. Chung was not a man to stand by and see this done with impunity. He accordingly sent messengers to him, ufibi’aiding him for his wickedness and requiring him, m order to avoid extreme measures that he was prepared to adopt regarding him, to put an end to his life. Knowing that he could not get beyond the reach of the king’s vengeance he poisoned himself, aud thus passed from this stage of history, a man whose force aud vigour of mind had impressed themselves upon the government and given it the stability it then possessed. Influenced no doubt by these home troubles Chung passed an edict ordering that all foreigners should leave his state. This would have been undoubtedly carried into effect, but for the representa- tions of his prime minister the famous Li-sze.* fie showed what a loss it would be to the state to deprive it of the valuable services of men of ability who, attracted by his renown, were flocking to it in order to be employed by him. He also pointed out that it had ever been the object of the great men of other days to secure men of advanced thought and largeness of mind, and that their renown had been enhanced by the employment of such, though many of them had not been natives of the kingdoms in which they had been so honoured. “ You get your precious things from abroad,” he said, “ aud your country is beuefitted, and trade is increased, aud the prosperity of the state is advanced. Why should you not exclude them too, if you have made up yon mind that everything foreign should be expelled from your state?” Chung saw the force of his reasoning and repealed the law which would have deprived him of the services of Li-sze, and might thus have prevented him from carrying out those great plans of reform with which his name is indelibly associated. The next great event during this reign was the destruction of the state of Yen and its absorption into that of Tsfln. The circumstances that led to this are very romantic. Tan, the heir of the dukedom, for some cause or other had been living in Tsfln as a hostage. There he * Li-sze, who is so intimately associated with Chung in some of the most momentous acts of his reign, was a native of the state of Ch‘u, the greatest rival of Ts‘in. In early life he entered the service of the conquering chiefs of Ts‘in, and for upwards of twenty years he was the counsellor, and finally the prime minister of Chung. He was a scholar, and is said to be the inventor of a special kind of writing called by the Chinese the seal character. His name is hateful to every Chinese scholar, and has been ever since he lived, because it was by his advice that the king issued a decree for the destruction of all the classical books that had been handed down from antiquity. 80 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. had been treated most cruelly by Cluing', so that when be returned to Ills borne bis heart was burning with a desire to revenge bis wrongs. He was determined that ^diuug sliould die, for nothing short of his death would satisfy him. In order to accomplish bis purpose be consulted with a man named King-k‘o as to the means by which it could be carried out. The latter vobmteered to do the bloody deed, but the question was, bow was be to penetrate through the guards that surrounded the king, so that be could get near his person. At that time there was living in Yen a fugitive from Ts‘in, for whose head Chung bad offered a thousand pieces of gold and high official employment. King-k‘o proposed that this man should be executed, and that be should take liis head to Chung and seize the opportunity of murdering him. The prince, who by this time bad become Duke, revolted from this proposal, not only because he was under his protection, but also because he had been kind to him when be was living in Ts'in. King-k‘o said, “If you have any scruples about the matter I shall settle it with Fau-yu himself.” He accordingly visited him and told him that a plan was being matured to kill Chung, and that he was the man that bad been ap[)ointed to assassinate him. He soon found that he had a willing listener, for he bad suffered terribly, and he was prepared to assist in any scheme that would bring sorrow upon his enemy. Kiug-k‘o then showed him that bis great difficulty was in devising some way by which he could approach tdie tyrant. “There is only one way,” he continued, “that I can see out of the difficulty.” “And what is that,” eagerly asked Fan-yu ? “ By taking your head,” he replied, “ for you know that he has offered a large reward to the man that brings it to him.” “ Most willingly will I give my life,” he said, “ to rid the world of a man who has not only sought my destruction, but has also murdered my wife and family and driven me a hopeless fugitive from my heme.” He accordingly committed suicide, and King-k‘o, with his head and a map of Yen, showing its boundaries and productions, proceeded to the court of Chung, under the pretence of bringing Fan-yu’s head, and also of pointing out to him how easily he could conquer Y^en and add it to his dominions. He was received with the greatest honour by the king, but whilst Kiug-k‘o was showing him the map, and waiting for a propitious moment in which to stab him, Chung saw the gleam of his knife, and starting up in the greatest alarm began to struggle with the would-be assassin, who was soon overcome and slain. He was so enraged at this attempt on his life that he determined to avenge himself by invading Yen. This he did, and soon this state was added to his own. In the year B. C. 232 the Duke of Han, in terror of Chung, who gave signs that he was going to invade his dominions, very wisely surrendered them to him, and as a reward was made a high official under him. Four years after preparations were made for an assault THE TS^IN DYNASTY. 81 OH Chan. This was a most serious niKlertakiiig, for many attempts had been made to conquer it, but they had all been foiled by the consummate generalship of a famous commander named Li-muh, who had led the armies of Chau. For a considerable time he had bsld the post of warden of the northern frontier, and in many a successful engagement he had routed the wild forces of the Hiung-uu and prevented them from entering the state. He once more proved his ability as a general by several times repulsing the armies of Ts‘in. Chung now saw that as long as he had to face Li-muh he could not hope for success. He accordingly bribed one of the officials at the court of Chau, who insidiously represented to the Duke that his successes had turned his head, and that he was actually making preparations to rebel. Orders were at once sent for his recall, and another commander appeared in his camp to take command, but the sturdy general refused to accept his dismissal, upon which he was put to deatL With this tragedy the history of Chau as an independent state ceased, for its soldiers seemed to be deprived of all their courage with the loss of their leader, and were so thoroughly defeated by those of Ts‘in that they dared no longer meet them in the field, and so Chau passed under the control of the conqueror. In the twenty-first year of his reign Chung determined upon one of the most serious enterprises that he had yet undertaken, and that was the conquest of Ch‘u. Applying to his general, Li-siu, he asked him how many men he would require for the purpose. Two hundred thousand, he replied. He then asked the famous veteran Waug-tsien how many troops he would need were he to entrust the campaign to him. He promptly replied, six hundred thousand. “Oh I” answered Chung, “ yon are getting old, and with age your courage is vanishing. Why should you demand so many men when Li-siu is ready to march with a third of the number that you deem requisite.” “Yes,” replied the wary old man, “it is true I am getting old, and I feel myself incapable of enduring the hardships of a severe campaign, such as must be borne in the invasion of so powerful a state as Ch‘u. Your majesty has shown extreme wisdom in appointing a younger and more able man to the command of your forces, and of course with his conspicuous ability he will bring more honour to you than I could.” The exquisite sarcasm of these words, and yet the profound submission that they showed to the will of the strong-minded king, can only be appreciated by those who have lived long amongst the Chinese and observed the ability with which a man can conceal his thoughts under the most ceremonious and refined language. If Chung had been a profound student of human nature he ought to have taken alarm at the polite and self-depreciatory language of the old captain, but he had been too long accustomed to success, and so he took his words in their literal sense. 82 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. Li-siti’s army met with a terrible defeat. It was cliased by the men of Ch‘a for three days aud nights, nntil it was utterly demoralized aixl dispersed. Chnug in his great anxiety aud distress came personally aud prayed Wang-tsieu to take command of his troops, “lam too old,” he said, with that child-like smile with which a Chinaman can wreathe his face when he wants to affect profound humility, “ aud besides I have lost my courage, and dare not face such an enemy as Ch‘u.” “ Oli ! yes, you can,” replied the king, “ and you are not a bit too old. Come,” he said, “grant my request, for my kingdom is in disorder, and this great defeat of my men must be avenged by a crowning victory over Chhi.” At last Wang-tsien consented, “ but I must have six hundred thousand men he said. 1 would not march with a man less.” The king assured him that he should have all the soldiers he required. The magic of Wang-tsieu’s name soon brought back the soldiers to their colours, aud men flocked into his camp, so that in a short time he had the number he had demanded. When the army mai’ched Chung was so anxious about the results that he attended it in person for a considerable distance. On the march, whenever they passed by a fruitful district where the lands were in high state of cultivation, he would ask these as ])resents from the king. He, laughing, would instantly grant his request. When they came in sight of some magnificent building again he would ask the king to give it to him. Chung said to him, “ You need not fear about your reward. Only defeat the enemy, and you will never have need to reproach me for my want of generosity.” “But I would rather, if it pleases your majesty, have the gifts now than wait for them by aud by. Your manner of bestow- ing rewards is different from that of the dynasties that have preceded yours. You reward men with high oEBce which ceases with their death. They bestowed titles and tiefs that they transmitted to their children. My office dies with me, and so I ask you for these lands aud houses that I may bestow them on my children in case I am killed in the war on which I am entering.” The king smiled when he heard this statement, aud promised to give him whatever he asked. Even after Chung had left him to return to the capital he was constantly sending messengers after him to request this laud aud that house, and praying for letters royal from himself securing the gift beyond any doubt. When some of his officers remonstrated with him and told him that this continual begging from the king would incense him and turn his heart away from him the crafty old general said, “ My action will have the very reverse effect of what you dread. This continual demand of gifts from Chung is a premeditated scheme of mine in order to save my reputation aud perhaps even my life. You observe,” he continued, “ that I am put in command of a very large army with vast aud unlimited powers. This is sure to raise up enemies, who would like to ruin me. If 1 succeed, these men will THE TS'lN DYNASTY. 83 wliisper doubts into the ear of my sovereign and insinuate that I am plotting treason and meditating rebellion. When the king, however, sees tlie estates that he has given me in various parts of his dominions he will feel that in them he has a guarantee of my loyalty. By rebellion I should risk them all, and by ti'eason I could not gain more.” When AVbuig-tsien entered the territories of Chbi the whole conntry was moved by one common desire to save it from this vast army that had come to conquer it. The fame of Waug-tsien was known, and mighty exertions were made to bring sufficient forces into the field to meet him. Volunteers from every part of the conntry flocked to swell the army in this great crisis of the state’s history. Waug-tsien was determined, however, not to risk his reputation by a rash engagement with the enemy. He knew the valour of the men of Ch‘n and how desperately they would fight now, when it was not simply that their honour was at stake, but their very existence as a separate power. He accordingly entrenched his army in a strongly fortified camp, and there he acted as though his soldiers had not come for the serious purpose of war, but for a huge and prolonged picnic. In the rivers and lakes near by he practised his soldiers in the art of swimming. Dinner parties, and singing songs, and mirth and jollity were the order of the day amongst his troops. The enemy by and by began to look with contempt upon this immense force of Waug-tsien, and thought that he had lost his senses. They became careless in their own military discipline and less watchful for any movement that might be made by the invading force. At last the fatal opportunity for whicdi Wang-tsieu had been looking with eager eyes, during all the mouths of his apparent indifference, came. Silently, but with deadly purpose, his army was jmt in motion, and an attack made on the ill- prepared soldiers of Oh‘n, who suffered a tremendous defeat. Their prince was taken prisoner, their general slain and the whole army scattered, never to be assembled again in defence of home and hearth. The state itself was at once attached to Ts'in, and thus became part of the already extensive dominions of Chung. Whilst Waug-tsien had been engaged in the conquest of Ch‘n the state of Wei had been attacked and overcome, and its independent rule put an end to, and four years later Ts‘i was also treated in the same manner, so that Chung remained supreme throughout China with none to dispute his assumption of imperial power. He now thought fit (B. C. 221) to assume titles that no previous sovereign had ever ventured to take. Instead of the modest appellation which the kings before him had been accustomed to use when they were speaking of themselves he took the high sounding ones of “ We,” “ Us.” The term Wang, signifying king, was now given up, and Hwang-ti was used instead. He vindicated his action by declaring that his virtues were equal to the three great Hwang, or sovereigns of ancient 84 THE HISTORY OP CHINA. history, and his achievements not a whit behind those of the five Ti, or rulers, that figured in remote times, and that therefore he had a right to the combined honourable titles of those distinguished potentates. In accordance with the custom of all founders of dynasties he ordered that the tenth month should be the first in the new regime and that it should be the commencement of the new dynasty, and that black should be the imperial colour. He also divided the whole country into thirty-six governments or provinces, and set over each three great officers, that corresponded very much with those that are in existence to-day.* One of his ministers now suggested to him that he should appoint his sons and members of the royal family to the command of some of these provinces with the title of Prince. He peremptorily rejected this advice as most injurious to the country and even to the continuance of his own dynasty, and declared that the feudal system that had been so disastrous to the Chow dynasty should never, with his consent, be again established in China. Although Shih Hwang-ti was a man of great intellect and force of character he was exceedingly superstitious and in constant dread of death. In consequence of this he became the tool of any charlatan that pretended to have a knowledge of the future, or that professed that he could find for him the elixir of life. On one occasion he applied to a magician to know how long he had yet to live. Imitating the method of the Delphic oracle he gave him an answer that could be read in two ways. He said that his kingdom would be endangered by some one of the name of Hu. Now Hu was one of the characters that applied to the Hinng-nu, and it was also one in the name of his second sou, who afterwards succeeded him, and really wrecked the dynasty. The Emperor, however, took it to apply to the former, and at once raised an immense army, invaded the territory of those powerful barbarians and conquered them. Immediately after this he began the great work that has immortalized his name, viz., the building of the Great Wall, in order to act as a barrier against them should they or any other tribes think of invading his kingdom. In the year B. C. 212 a great council was held in Hien-yang to discuss the affairs of the kingdom. It was advocated by some that the old methods of government under the previous dynasty should be adopted and the same division into states. This idea was strenuously opposed by Li-sze, who showed how the nobles, under that system, had fought with each other to the detriment of the common weal, and how the scholars had been a source of mischief to the nation, because they had been accustomed to offer their services to the highest bidder without any reference either to their own particular states or to the * The three great officials of each province to-day are the Governor-General, or Viceroy, the General and the Froviucial Treasurer. THE TS'lN DYNASTY. 85 Empire at large. To stop this latter evil he advised that all the classical literature should be burned, and that only those on medicine, divination, agriculture, etc., should he preserved, and that all students should give their minds to the study of law, which they were to learn from the recognized officials of the Empire. The Emperor was highly pleased with this idea, and at once promulgated an edict to this effect, which was carried out with the utmost stringency. It was enacted that all classical hooks should he handed over to the nearest ma- gistrate to be burned ; that if two scholars were found talking together about the classics they were to be put to death ; and that if they were heard expressing their belief that the ancient books and customs were superior to those of to-day they and their families were all to be executed. In the following year, finding that the scholars had ziot obeyed his order, Shih Hwaug-ti ordered that four hundred and sixty of the most conspicuous of them should be decapitated as a warning to the rest. In the same year in which the Council was held, the Emperor having consulted a ma«ician to find some medicine that would prevent him from dying, was told that he was pursued by malignant spirits that wished to kill him, and that he must arrange to spend his nights in different rooms, and that no one but himself should know what particular one he was going to occupy. His wives even must not be informed, as otherwise the spirits might get information and so kill him during the darkness of the night. Terrified beyond measure at this news he built the splendid palace of A-fang Kung, a building of such enormous extent that every one of his numerous wives could have an establishment of her own. Seven hundred thousand criminals and prisoners were employed in the erection of it. The great central hall could seat ten thousand persons, and the money lavished upon it was enormous. After it was completed the Emperor thought he could evade the spirits by selecting a room every evening that none but he himself knew he was going to pass the night in. His eldest son Fu-su gently remonstrated with his father for spending so much money on this palace, who, to punish him for his audacity, sent him to join Mung-t‘ieu, the General who was then superintending the building of the Great Wall. After a reign of thirty-seven years this great sovereign died whilst on a tour through his kingdom at Sha-k‘iu in modern Chihli. As death was a terror to him none dare speak of it to him, and of course he would never refer to the subject. He left no message and gave no commands about the succession. He died in the company of a few of his high officials. Two of these were now to play an important part in the present crisis, viz., Li-sze and the eunuch Chau-kau, the tutor of the second son of the deceased Emperor. Both of these men dreaded the accession of Fu-su, for it meant the disgrace of them both. They accordingly concealed the death of Shih 86 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. Hwang-ti and sent an order signed with his name tliat he and Maug-t‘ien should commit suicide. The latter suspected a plot, and told the prince that he had three hundred thousand men under his command building the wall that would follow him to the death, and he advised him, before he put himself to death, to appeal to his father for an investigation into his conduct. Fu-su did not dare to take this step, as his father was so cruel and relentless that he dreaded lest some horrible punishment might be inflicted upon him for his disobedience, so he quietly put an end to his life. This left the throne open for Hu-hai, who had thus infamously plotted for the destruction of his brother, but who was not destined to enjoy his usur|)atiou for any considerable time. With the death of Shih Hwang-ti the power of the Ts‘iu dynasty may be said to have vanished. It had been upheld simply by his statesmanship and ability, and when his strong hand was removed disaffection was sure to break out into rebellion that would soon sweep away the structure that had been upreared by his genius. His destruction of the classical books, and his severe treatment of the scholars of his time, have given him an evil reputation that no lapse of time has been able to remove, and to-day there is no sovereign in the history of the past whose name is so execrated and abhorred as his. Ui'Ji Shih IIwang~ti. — (B. C. 209-206). This man, who ascended the throne through the murder of his brother, was weak and cruel, and about the worst one to hold the reins of power at this particular time that could have been possibly selected. Fu-su, on the other hand, was a man of power and greatly beloved by the people, and his rule would have been accepted by the great majority of the nation. By the advice of Chau-kau, who had a complete ascendency over the young Emperor, twenty-four members ,of the royal family, and Muug-tflen, the one general that could have saved the dynasty, were ordered to commit suicide, which they did by drinking poison. Urh Shih Hwaug-ti was so wrapped up in his own folly that he was not aware of the actual condition of his kingdom and that men everywhere were ripe for rebellion. The very honours that he determined to pay his father were the means of hastening the sorrows which it was fated should fall upon his House. A huge palace was built underground, where the body of the late Emperor was laid. This was adorned with every luxury that art could suggest and enriched with immense treasures of gold, and silver, and jewels. When all was completed several hundreds of the most beantiful of the concubines of the late sovereign, with their attendants, were entombed in it with the royal corpse. Lest thieves should be tempted by the treasures it contained to break open this huge tomb, cunningly devised machines were placed THE TS'^IN DYNASTY. 87 all roimd, iraraecliately inside it, that would shoot the most deadly arrows upon any that would dare to desecrate it. The building of this mausoleum was a great tax upon the people, and led finally to the rebellion that overthrew the throne. The men employed on it, as in the case of the magnificent palace that his father had built, were criminals of every degree that the Emperor ordered should be sent from every part of the kingdom to work on it. On one occasion a petty officer of the name of Ch‘en-sing was conducting a jiarty of prisoners to the work, wlien some of them managed to escape. The punishment for this, under the stern criminal laws of Ts‘in, was death. He thought that as he must die anyway he might as well perish in a nobler cause than this, so he released the remainder of the j)risoners, who gladly joined in the project of rebellion, and in a very short time several thousand men had joined his standard, and cities were captured, and his power grew to so formidable an extent that a large army had to march against him. Though he was defeated, the royal cause was not much benefitted, for the standard of rebellion had been raised by other men, the most prominent amongst whom were Liu-pang, Hiang-liang and Hiaug-yn. In the meantime affairs were going on badly at the palace. The ambitious eunuch Chan-kau, who had the absolute confidence of the Emperor, persuaded him that Li-sze was plotting against him and was aiming at founding a new dynasty. He was at once seized, and without any trial ordered to suffer the most cruel death. He was cut in two from the waist, and died in the most terrible agonies. Not content with this the Emperor commanded that all the relations connected with his father, mother and wife should be exterminated, thus at once blotting out three families. Chan-kau, under mortal terror, lest his own misdeeds should be found out and be as ruthlessly punished by the Emperor, conceived that his only mode of safety consisted in destroying this cruel monster, and so he had him assassinated by men whom he had hired for the purpose. His sou Tze-ying immediately was proclaimed Emperor. He was of of an amiable and loving disposition and very different from the sanguinary rulers that had preceded him, but he came too late to avert the doom that was coming with sure and certain footstej)S upon his family and that in less than two months after the assassination of his father was to destroy the dynasty and put the capital into the hands of a new power. His first act was to cause Cfiiau-kau, as well as all his relatives, to be put to death. This was an act of stern justice, for never had a more wicked or cruel man incited his sovereign to more diabolical acts than he had done. Whilst this tragedy was being enacted the two lieutenants of Hiang-yu, who had proclaimed himself ruler of Ch‘u, and I, a member of the ducal family that ruled in that state before it was conquered by Shill Hwang-ti to be Emperor, were marching on the capital, and Hiaug-yu had promised that the title ol prince should be bestowed 88 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. upon the first that captured it. Lin-paug had the good fortune to he the mau, and Tze-ying surrendered to him the imperial seal of state, when he was dismissed to his home without any injury. Liu-paug’s position was a very critical one. He had only ten thousand men, wliilst Hiang-yn was coming on as fast as he could travel with six hundred thousand. He doubtless would be jealous of his success, and, being a bloodthirsty man, would be inclined to get rid of so troublesome a rival. Lin-paug was fortunate at this time in having a most wise and faithful adherent of the name of Siau-ho to counsel him. He warned him that the greatest care was needed, lest he should excite the hatred of Hiang-yu. “ You have to act, moreover, so as to gain a reputation with the people that shall secure you the throne in the future. You must not plunder them and you must leave untouched the magnificent palace of A-fang Kung. By doing this you will gain a name for moderation that will exalt you greatly in the estimation of the people.” Lin-paug acted on this advice, and before Hiaug-yu arrived he retired to the west, and there ruled over a territory in the present province of iSz-chwau. Hiaug-yu no sooner reached the capital than he showed his savage character by murdering the unfortunate Tze-ying, whom Liu- pang had spared. He also broke open the grave of Shih Hwang-ti and plundered it, and rifled the palace of A-faug Kung, and burnt it. After three months had been spent in thus enriching himself and his soldiers he retired to Shantung, where he ruled as king. To become Emperor, however, was the main ambition of his life, and so after two years he murdered I, and would have assumed the imperial title, but Liu-pang entered into the lists against him, and after two years’ conflict, during which fortune inclined sometimes to one and then again to the other, Hiang-yu was so thoroughly defeated that he committed suicide, and Liu-pang, who was now known as the Prince of Han, became the founder of the famous Han dynasty. In this premature fall of the Ts'ius we have an illustration of the instability of anything that has been founded on injustice or wrong. The reign of the Ts‘ins was distinguished by its cruelty. Its criminal code is amongst the most severe of all those that have ev'er been put into practice in the long history of China. Shih Hwang-ti was a man of marvellous power and energy of character. He was a true states- man, and with the instincts of a man of genius he was quick to appreciate the enlightened views of the able minister that assisted him in the government of the kingdom. He was the real founder of the Chinese Empire, for he found it a disjointed mass of warring states, and he left it one and undivided as it is to-day. He was, however, fnll of superstition, and towards the close of his life terribly under the influence of charlatans, who pretended that they could secure to him immortality. He was, moreover, savage and fierce in his resentments, and thought but little of the human life in others THE TS'lN DYNASTY. 89 that he was so ranch afraid to part with in his own. He was wanting, too, iu manliness, and would scheme to blacken the name or destroy the life of the statesmen of other states that stood iu the way of his ambition. Unlike T'aug, the founder of the Shang dynasty, whose jhcture we ponder over with pleasure, he was stern and inhuman, and though he stands out pre-eminently above the many sovereigns that ])receded him, we part with him gladly, and feel that the fall of the Ts‘ius w'as a righteous judgment from Heaven. 90 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. THE HAN DYNASTY B. C. 206— A. D. 25. Kau Ti or Kau Tsu (B. C. 206-194), Chapter IX. lU-PANG, whose cl^’nastic title was Kan Ti, claimed the throne from B. C. 206, though he did not ascend it till the year in which his fierce competitor Hiang-yu disappeared from the scene in B. C. 202. He would never have attained to the dignity of being the founder of a dynasty had he not been assisted by men of extraordinary abilities, both as statesmen and generals. His famous prime minister Siau-ho was a man of remarkable talents, and besides him he had the services of three men who in Chinese history are known by the name of the Three Heroes, viz., Han-siu, Chang-liang and Ch‘en-j)‘ing, to whose energy and self-sacrifice it was mainly due that he finally acquired the kingdom.* He gave his dynasty the title of Han, from the important river of that name that fiows into the Yang-tze, and near which he was born, and by the advice of Chang-liang he removed his capital which he had first established in Loh-yang to Ch‘ang-ngan in Shensi. He took brown as the Imperial colour, and he ordered that the first month of the first year of his reign should date from the third month of the late dynasty. Kau Ti was a broad-minded, generous man, and though his temper was quick and furious be had the generosity, when it subsided, to confess his wrong to the persons to whom he had been unjust. De- termined that his dynasty should be a permanent one, and that he would avoid the severities and cruelties that had turned all hearts from the Ts‘ins, he remodelled the laws of etiquette for his officials, so as to mahe them less oppressive and exacting. He also ordered Siau-ho to draw upa new code ofdaws for the better government of the country, and * Siau-ho is renowned for the care he took, when the capital of the Tsins was captured, in rescuing from destruction the official archives, wliicli were of incalculable value in after times. It is said that he gained nothing pecuniarily bj’ the capture of the city and of the famous palace of A-faug Kung. Han-sin was of noble family, the grandson of the last Duke of Han, whose territory was conquered by Shih Hwang-ti, and in consequence of which he was left penniless and starving. He joined himself to Liu-pang, and liis splendid generalship soon swept away every enemy that dared to face him. In the last great defeat of Hiang-yu, whom he had completely surrounded, his victory over him was achieved by a stratagem. This latter was noted for his strength and courage. Though placed in such a critical position he was not in the least terrified, for confident in his strength he had no fear of any number that might be brought against him. Han-sin caused his soldiers during the evening to play the music of Ch‘u, the state from which Hiang-yu came. The latter listened with alarm, for he thought that the men of Ch‘u had rebelled against him, and were now in the camp of the enemy. He became so depressed at this thought that he committed suicide. Han-sin was made Prince of Ch‘u, but having subsequently been found harbouring treasonable designs he was executed by the Empress Lu. <5^ THE HAN DYNASTY. 91 he caused Hau-sin to write a treatise on military tactics, whicli should be the text-book in the education of meu who were beiug trained for the array. In the year B. C. 199 the Hiung-nu, finding that feebler hands held the reins of government than those of the great man that had subdued them, determined to win back the lands that had been wrested from them. An immense army of between three and four hundred thousand meu, under the command of Mau-tun, marched against the Chinese, and they soon not only recovered what they had lost, but also gained a considerable area of new territoi’y. They had penetrated as far as Shensi before Kau Ti could advance to meet them. As Han-sin was mistrusted, the Emperor commanded in person. Mau-tun on this occasion proved himself to be the better general of the two, as he skilfully managed to lead Kau Ti into a trap, where he was surrounded by overwhelmingly large forces, that to save himself from destruction compelled him to take refuge in the city of P'iug. There he was surrounded for seven days with a three- fold cordon of his savage foes. No provisions could reach him, and no succours could penetrate the three rings of these sturdy and courageous barbarians. It was under these distressing circumstances, when there was nothing left but surrender, that Ch‘en-p‘ing delivered the king from his danger by a stratagem. He had the picture of an exceedingly beautiful woman drawn and sent by a sure hand to the wife of Mau- tun, with the message that Kau Ti w'as going to win the favour of her husband by sending him a present of one of the famous beauties of China. Mad with jealousy, and fearful that her arrival would alienate her husband’s heart from her, she persuaded him to break up the siege and return to his home. Delighted with the success of the trick that had relieved him from his danger Kau Ti returned to his capital, when to his astonishment he found that Siau-bo had built him a magnificent palace. Kau Ti was exceedingly indignant with him, and asked him if this was a time to be lavish in expenditure when the enemy was at the gates and when the revenue was utterly exhausted. The great minister, who had wished to bind him to the capital in Shensi, where he could defend the Empire better from the inroads of the Hiung-nu, and who had taken this plan to keep him from removing from it to Loh-yang, said, “ The Emperor is the greatest man in the kingdom, and unless he has a palace to live in suitable to his dignity he will not get the respect and reverence of his people.” This reply satisfied the Emperor, and from this time he abandoned the idea of removing his capital to Honan. In the year B. C. 197 the Hiung-nu again made an irruption into the kingdom, and Kau Ti was preparing an army to go and meet them, when one of his ministers dissuaded him from doing so and advised him to send an embassy to Mau-tun, proposing that their differences should be healed by a royal marriage. The savage chief was delighted w'ith 92 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. the idea, and as the Emperor had no daughter of his own he palmed off upon him one of the beauties of his harem as his own child. The marriage took place, and Mau-luu returned to his own home with his bride and with splendid pi’esents that had been given him by Kan Ti. Next year he was compelled to lead a force against one of his officers that had rebelled. Whilst he was away subduine; him Han- sin was denounced for being in correspondence with the rebel. The Empress Lu, who had been left in charge with Siau-ho, at once seized him and had him executed and all his relatives utterly exterminated. After Kau Ti’s return from his successful campaign the Lady 'l’s‘i made a desperate effort to have her sou appointed successor to the throne. Both from love of her and because of the ability of her son he was willing to consent to this, but the whole of his ministers were opposed to it as being illegal, and therefore injurious to the interests of the state. He was compelled to submit, but knowing what terrible vengeance would be exacted from the Lady Ts i and her sou after he was gone, he requested one of his faithful ministers to promise that he would shield them to the utmost of his power after they had lost his protection. Two years after, he had again to march against another rebel, and though he was victor in the battle that was fought he came away with a wound that was destined to be fatal to him. On his way home he called at his native ])lace, P‘ei, and summoning his old friends to a banquet he seems to have laid aside for the time the cares of royalty and to have become once more one of the people. Taking a lute he improvised a song, in which he declared that he would never forget his birth-place, and that even after his death his spirit would hold it in remembrance. He decreed on the spot that it should be for ever exempt from taxation. When he reached his palace he was very ill, but he refused all medicine. “ Heaven,” he said, “ has made me Emperor, and my life is in its hands, and I will trqst in none else.” He died a comparatively young man, being only fifty-two years old, and was succeeded by his son. Ihvei G. 194-187). This prince was only fourteen years old when he came to the throne. He was a gentle kind-hearted youth-, and abhorred anything like cruelty. He was fortunate in having the famous statesman Tshiu- ts’an as his prime minister. The ruling force in the state, however, was his mother Lu, who no sooner saw that her husband was dead than she seized the Lady Ts‘i and had her chopped into a thousand pieces, and in spite of the entreaties of Hwei Ti despatched her son with poison. The youthful sovereign was so terrified by the sight of the lady's remains that had been cast on a dung hill that he became THE HAN DYNASTY. 93 impaired in mind, so that from this time the government remained in the hands of his cruel mother. In the year B. C. 191 Man-tnn was again restive, and sent to the Chinese court a demand for another royal princess. The Queen Dowager was highly incensed at his presumption, and would have treated him in her own forcible manner, but by the advice of her council she sent him a courteous reply refusing his request, but soothing him by a maguificeut present of horses and chariots. Hwei Ti’s reign was not distinguished by anything remarkable, and after ruling nominally for seven years he was succeeded by his ambitious mother. Lu Shih.-(B. C. 187-179). As Hwei Ti had no son of his own his mother previous to his death surreptitiously brought in a child, whom she got her daughter- in-law to acknowledge as her own, whilst in order to prevent disclosure she had the real mother put to death. On the decease of Hwei Ti she forcibly occupied the position of regent, and as she was a strong and masterful woman, and held the threads of power in her own hands, the great officers of state were compelled to yield to her. From the moment that her authority was acknowledged she began to take measures for the elevation of her own relatives and for the founding of a new dynasty to supplant the present one. For this purpose she made some of her nearest of kin princes, in utter violation of the law that exists to the present day, that none can be elevated to this rank, e.xceptiug those of the same clan as the Emperor. The prime minister opposed her action as illegal, and she then appealed to Ch‘en-p‘ing, who replied that she had the right to do so if she liked. This astute statesman, who had helped the dynasty on six critical occasions, determined to prevaricate, in order to save the Hans when the time for action should arrive. He saw that if he were to oppose the Empress now he should be dismissed from office, whilst if he temporized he would be promoted to still further honours. Events turned out precisely as he had forecast, for the prime minister was dismissed, whilst he was ap[)ointed to his vacant office. In her second year of power, finding that the youth whom she had given out to be her grandson was not so pliable as she wished, she had him murdered and another puppet put in his place. During this same year the copper cash, which during the times of the Ts'ius had been half an ounce in weight, were reduced to only a tenth of an ounce, and a little later on to only a twentieth, to the great convenience of the peo{)le, who had found the heavy coins a serious hindrance in their commercial transactions. The queen’s reign was a peaceable and a prosperous one, for though cruel she was a woman of great ability. In her eighth year, according to custom, she went to bathe in the river, when she was 94 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. attacked by a huge monster, which, though it struck its teeth into lier side left no mark, thus showing, according to the popular belief, that it was a superuatural animal that had sought her life. She returued to the palace in great distress of mind and seriously ill. She at once summoned her diviners, who jironounced the monster that had bitten her to he the spirit of the Lady Ts‘i, whom she had so barbarously murdereeror that he knew the secret of the trausinutatiou of metals into gold and silver, which he had learned from the chief of his sect, who, he said, had lived a thousand years. Wu Ti implicitly believed every word that he said, and sent him on a mission to obtain the elixir, but he died on the journey. The credulity of this sovereign’s mind may be learned from the fact that he believed that his favourite had been called away to become a god, and therefore could not procure for him the precious liquid that was to secure him immortality. The Hiuug-uu had been a source of trouble to the Empire ever since Wu Ti had come to the throne. A great Council was therefore called to devise some plan for averting this incessant danger to the country. It was proposed that the Chinese, instead of waiting for their incursions, should become the aggressors, and marching into their territories crush their power once and for all. It was also decided that a stratagem should be employed to circumvent their savage enemies. They were to be invited into a certain territory where gold was said to abound, and they were to be informed that the whole was to be theirs, so that they would be so enriched that they need never dream of making any more forays into China. Should they accept this invitation immense forces were to lie in wait for them and destroy them as they marched to the golden land. The Hiung-uu only too readily listened to the words of the Em- peror’s envoys, and between three and four hundred thousand of them started for their new homes. On the way, however, they found out that an ambuscade was prepared for them, upon which they instantly returned to their own country. From this time no more royal marriages bound the Empire to the barbarians, but the conquest of each was the aim of both. Fortunately for China she possessed at this time generals of great ability, who were able to stem the torrent of barbarian invasion and to teach their men and the settlers on the northern frontiers such lessons in the art of war that they never shrunk from facing their fierce antagonists. The chief amongst these were Li-kwang, Wei-ts‘ing and Ho K‘n-ping.* On many occasions they met the assembled forces of the barbarians, and inflicted severe losses upon them. In B. C. 121 Wei-ts‘iug and Ho Khi-ping invaded their territories, and advancing far into them slaughtered immense numbers of them. It was on this occasion that they penetrated into Turkestan * Li-kwang was victorious in more than seventy battles. In a great battle in B. C 119 ill which he was second in command, a great disaster happened to the di^'^sion under bis orders, and when called upon to give account of his conduct he committed suicide rather than submit to the indignity of a trial. Wei-ts‘ing gained distinction by constant success in battle. In B. C. 121 he led an army into Turkestan, and when he returned from the conquest of the Hiung-nu he brought with him a golden image used in worship by them. Historians are inclined to believe that this was an image of Buddha, and that Buddhism may have been introduced thus early into China, and that the “golden man” of this age may have inspired the dream of Ming Ti that caused him to send messengers to the west that led to the formal introduction of Bud* dhism into China during hia reign. THE HAN DYNASTY. 99 and bronght away the golden image that was worshipped by one of their chiefs named Hin-chn. As a reward for this successful expedition the Emperor rewarded the latter with a district containing five thousand families. So discouraged were the Hiung-nu with their losses, and so discontented were they with the conduct of some of their chiefs that their Khan summoned the latter to his presence to give an account of themselves, when two of the most influential fled to the camp of their enemy and gave in their submission to Wu Ti. In the twenty-first year of his reign there was great difficulty in raising enough revenue to meet the expenses of the state. The wars with the Hiung-nu had been so frequent and so expensive that the country was drained of its resources. The Emperor had a considerable supply of raw silver and tin in his own private treasury. He had also a very large number of white deer in the royal park. It was decided to utilize these for the benefit of the country. They were killed, and their skins, cut into pieces of a foot square, were beautifully embroidered. Every official that came to pay his respects to the Emperor was required to purchase one of these at a fancy price. By this means considerable sums were procured for the public service. An amalgam was made of the silver and tin, and three different kinds of coin were made from them. The largest was round, with the figure of a dragon on it, and was worth about ten shillings. The next in size was square, with a horse stamped on it, and was valued at about eighteen pence, and the third was oblong, with the figure of a turtle on it, and was worth about a shilling.* During this same year Wu Ti determined to make an expedition against the barbarians, and to carry it out on such a scale that success would be absolutely certain. Two armies, each of fifty thousand foot, and the same number of cavalry, were despatched against them. The campaign on the whole was most successful, and proved to the Hiung-nu that their deserts were no barriers to the soldiers of the Empire, but that they could be reached in any part of their country whenever the Chinese armies wished. Over seventy thousand of them were slain, but the losses of the Chinese were serious, because the division of Li-kwang and that of another were almost annihilated in a sand storm. All this time Wu Ti was under the absolute dominion of the Taoist magicians. By the advice of one he built a high tower, in order that he might have freer intercourse with the heavenly spirits who desired to bestow upon him immortality. After waiting and worship- ping for more than a year he became suspicious. To quiet his doubts he was told that if he killed a certain cow he would find a revelation from the gods to him. When it was opened Chinese writing was discovered, which the impostor had previously caused her to swallow, * These values are altogether approximate. It is impossible, with the changes in currency, and with our imperfect knowledge of the piecise value of the coins of those early days, to say absolutely what they are equivalent to in English money now. 100 TKK HISTORY OF CHINA. bat the Emperor recognizing the magician’s hand cansed him to be instantly put to death. This discovery made not the slightest difference in his belief in magic. In his twenty-third year the Emperor, driven to desperation for money, imposed a property tax on his subjects, being the first the Chinese had ever been asked to pay. Everyone was required, by royal edict, to send in an estimate of all the goods of any kind that he possessed, and he was compelled to pay five per cent, of their value to the crown. The wealthy man, with liis large substance, and the fisherman, with his small boat with which he supplied the wants of his family^ and the carter, who looked to his cart for the means of subsistence, all were taxed alike to the same amount. It was also enacted that those that refused to send in an account of their property, or who gave a false one, should have the whole confiscated to the state, and that informers should have the half for themselves. This law was exceedingly unpopular, and was largely disregarded. It was soon seen, however, that Wu Ti was not a man to be trifled with. Most stringent orders were given to carry it into effect, and the result was that vast numbers were reduced to absolute poverty. Informers and officials, whose consciences were dead to truth, availed themselves of the provisions of the new law to enrich themselves. The result was that many of the wealthy were stripped of all they had through false accusation made against them, and of the middle and lower classes vast numbers were reduced to poverty. Widespread discontent was the consequence. The poorer classes refused to work, for they declared that all their earnings were seized by the mandarins. When this was reported to the Emperor he issued an edict commanding that all that were found unwilling to follow their several occupations should be compelled to work for the state, in whatever way the officials of a district should decide. With a less vigorous ruler than Wu Ti there would have been rebellion throughout the country. Through all the political concerns of his life his mad passion for immortality led Wu Ti to be the dupe of the vilest men in the kingdom. One man deceived him to such an extent that he made him a high official and gave him his own daughter in marriage. This raised up an army of charlatans throughout the country, everyone of whom declared that he had discovered the infallible remedy. The capital was filled with Taoist temples that resounded day and night with the incantations of men that represented themselves as being in a perpetual conflict with the powers of darkness on behalf of his majesty.* * The Chinese term for “Your Majesty,” which means “a thousand years,” came into use at this time. Walking amongst hills one day, with his heart full of the one thought that continually oppressed him, one of his attendants told Wu Ti that he heard mysterious sounds echoing and i-e-echoing amongst the mountains, and that he could distinctly make out them to be “a thousand years,” ‘‘a thousand years.” This was an intimation from the gods, he said, that his life was to be prolonged for that length of time. The Emperor was delighted, and from tliis time this phrase became a part of the court language. THE HAN DYNASTY. 101 During all this time the war with the Hinng-uu was carried on with varying success, though on the whole it was decidedly in favour of the Chiuese. In his 36th year Li Kwang-li was despatched with a large army, who penetrated as far as the confines of Persia and took the city of Ur-shih. On his return he was ennobled with the title of Viscount of Ur-shih, and his sister was taken into the royal seraglio. Fivej'ears later (B. C. 99) Li-ling, a grandson of the famous Li-kwang, led immense forces against the fliung-nu, but advancing with a force of five thousand men ahead of the main body he was surrounded by them, and he escaped with otdy four hundred men. Knowing that death awaited him, if he returned to China, he took service with barbarians. The Emperor was so enraged at this that he doomed to destruction his entire family, and because Sz-ma-ts‘ien, the great historian of China, attempted to defend him he was most barbarously mutilated and cast into prison.* In the 46th year of his reign Fnh-ling, who succeeded him on the throne, was born. He was the son of the Lady Chau, one of his concubines. Li, the rightful heir, had completely vanished from sight in consequence of a court intrigue against him. One of the ministers having a feud with him represented to his father that he was using magical arts for the destruction of his life, and that evidences of this could be found in the young man’s own room.f When officers were sent to search it a great many wooden figures of Wu Ti, which had been placed there by the accuser, were found in it. The superstitious mind of the Emperor was terribly affected by this discovery, and he ordered the immediate arrest of his son, though he was fondly attached to him, but he and his partisans resisted, and for five days the capital was filled with the clamour of the two hostile sides. Finally the prince escaped, and was never heard of again. All the soldiers that had aided him were put to death, and even the queen, who had sided with her son, was ordered to commit suicide. He discovered before his death the foul wrong that had been done his sou and a fearful revenge he had upon the man who had deceived him. He and all his relatives were exterminated. He built a temple to the memory of the lost heir, over the front of which were inscribed the words, “ I am thinking of my son.” He also erected a high tower, on the top of which was engraved the sentence, “ I am looking for his return.” Towards the close of his life he confessed his folly in listen- ing to the Taoists, and he ordered the destruction of their temples and the cessation of all their religions services throughout the empire. * Sz-ma-ts‘ien wrote the “ Historical Records,” which give a comprehensive view of Chinese history from the time of the mythical Emperor Hwang-ti down to B. C. 104. t The magical arts referred to are practised even to the present day in China. When a person wishes to destroy another one’s life he has a wooden figure resembling him made. It is then pierced with sharp instruments, and all kinds of imprecations having been uttered against it, it is buried in the ground. It is believed that certain death will be the result of this. 102 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. His cruel disposition was seen in his order for the execution of Lady Chau a short time before he died. When asked by his ministers what wrouuj she had done he replied, “She has done no wrong, but her son is only seven years old, and when I die she would become regent. I fear the intrigues of a woman in the palace during the minority and the dangers she might bring to my dynasty, so 1 have had her execut- ed.” Just before his death he left the regency in the hands of Ho- kwang, the king maker of the Han dynasty. Kin Jiu-ti and two others, and after a short interval this very able, superstitious and sanguinary monarch passed away. His sou succeeded him, whose dynastic title was Chau Ti, — (B C. 86-73). This ruler was a very wise and intelligent person and singularly humane in his treatment of his people. An elder sou by one of Wu Ti’s concubines, and who had been made Prince of Yen, thought that by the law of succession he should have succeeded his father, and began to make preparations to assert his rights. Ho-kvvang was, however, on the alert, and the incipient rebellion was nipped in the bud and his followers severely punished, though the prince, through the forbear- ance of Chau Ti, was forgiven and allowed to hold his estates in Yen as before. In the second year of his reign he made a tour round his domin- ions, and perceiving the poverty of the people, and that many of them were without money, and could not till their lands, he remitted the land tax in the places where the distress was extreme. Three years after a pretender to the throne, in the person of a Shensi man, who said that he was Li, the lost son of Wu Ti, appeared one day at the [>alace gates and declared that he was the rightful Emperor. He was appre- hended and cut in two through the waist, and those that had had the temerity to accompany him vanished. The year B. C. 8U was a disastrous one for the farmers and for the country generally. Tlie crops through a large area of the empire failed, and Chan Ti, anxious to know how to remedy this state of things, appealed to his ministers for advice, who recommended that more attention should be paid to the good government of the people. The Emperor thought that this was very good, but he decided to ask his subjects what opinions they had in a matter that so nearly affected them. When they were consulted they said they wished the taxes on salt, iron, s|)irits and property to be abolished. Chau Ti was in- clined to grant their request, but his ministers, having declared that they could not carry on the government without them, a compromise was made, and the last two only were remitted. During this year the famous Subu returned from a nineteen years’ captivity amongst the Hiung-nu. Having been sent on a mission to their Khan he and his followers were detained as prisoners, and his life was offered to him on the condition that he should renounce his allegiance to the house of THE HAN DYNASTY. 103 Han. This he refused to do, when he was immured for many days in an underground dungeon and left to perish. He sustained life, how- ever, by imbibing the moisture that was in his clothes at the time of his arrest, and the Tartars finding after some time that he was not dead sent him to tend the flocks of their chief. After long years of servitude he was restored to freedom and allowed to return to his home. History praises his loyalty to his country, and his name to-day is held in high honour by all classes of the Chiuese. The Prince of Yen having ouce more raised the standard of rebel- lion he was seized and executed. Chau Ti died after a reign of thirteen years, greatly regretted by his people, who had a sincere affec- tion for him. As he died without issue Ho-kwang had to settle who should succeed him. After considerable thought an uncle of the late Emperor was placed upon the throne, but he showed such incapacity that after three months he was set aside as iucompetent. During this brief reign of power he spent his time iu hunting and in the pursuit of such pleasures as proved that his mind was essentially low and debased. With the consent of the Queen Dowager a grandson of the missing Li was proclaimed Emperor in the place of the one that had been so summarily dismissed. Suan G. 73-48). The story of the early days of this Emperor is a most romantic one. After his grandfather Li had fled from the vengeance of Wu Ti not only were the adherents of the former condemned to death, but also his wife and infant son. Being thrown into prison {>revious to execution the governor of the jail, being moved to pity for the child, gave it to one of the jailers, who adopted it as his own. He was then reared in his own family, and when he grew up he gave him his daughter iu marriage. When Ho-kwang was iu search of an Emperor the history of the young man was related to him, and having found that the story was a genuine one he raised him to the throne with the unanimous consent of all the members of the Privy Council. His life having been spent amongst the peo[)le he knew them better than any ordinary ruler that had ever sat upon the dragon throne. His sympathy was manifested for them by his appointing a special minis- ter, whose business it should be to keep the government informed of their wants and sorrows. In the third year of Suan Ti’s reign a terrible tragedy happened in his family. With a noble fidelity to his plebeian wife he had in- sisted, when he was raised to the throne, that she should be recognized as his queen. Ho kwaug’s wife was exceedingly disap{)ointed at this, for she had planned that her own daughter should occupy that dis- tinguished position. Matters came to a crisis when the queen came to be confined, for the doctor who was attending her was bribed to poison both mother and child, which she did. J3eing apprehended she was 104 THE HISTORY OP CHINA. about to be put to the torture, when Ho-kwaug, to save the reputation of his famil\', ordered her release, aud reported to the Emperor that the death of his wife and child could be accounted for on natural grounds. In the following year Ho-kwang’s daughter was made queen, whilst he himself died, aud was buried with royal honours. In the year B. 0. 06 the Emperor’s eldest sou, who was born when he was oue of the people, was formally appointed successor to the throne, to the uubounded auger of Ho-hieu, his mother-iu-law, who wished the succession to ruu iii the line of her own family. She planned the murder of the heir, but his father, who was suspicious, guarded him so carefully that all her designs were frustrated. The Emperor from this time, with the help of his adopted father, gradually dismissed the relatives of the queen, who filled all the important posts in the palace and rejilaced them by others not under her influence. Taking alarm at this Ho-liieu plotted to murder Suau Ti, when she and her son were arrested, and not only were they both executed, but the queen also was divorced, as being unworthy of the lofty position she and her mother had plotted to obtain. In the following year a great famine extended over the region of Hai-po in the north-east of China, aud as a consequence brigandge existed on a very large scale. The famous Kuug-sui was appointed to the command of this district, with orders to put down tlie disorders. Be- fore starting to assume the duties of his office he was asked by the Em- peror how he intended to deal witli the brigands. He replied that his intention was to turn them into peaceable citizens, “ for you know,” he said, “ the people are poor aud the mandarins are bad, and therefore they are to be pitied.” When he arrived in his district he gave out that every man that w^as found with a hoe ou his shoulder would be treated as an honest man, whilst everyone with a gun would be proceeded against as an enemy. “ Every man that is poor let him come to me, and I will examine his case,” he said, “ and wherever a farmer has no seed I will assist him.” Ere long his people became the most peaceable aud happy in the Empire. Chau Ti, seduced by the promises of some Taoists that they would find the elixir of life for him, was nearly becoming their dupe as Wu Ti had been, but being warned by his ministers he refused to have anything more to do with them. In the 18th year of his reign a Tartar chief of considerable importance, named Hau-han, made his sub- mission to the Emperor aud became tributary. Chau Ti was so over- joyed at this that he built a tower to commemorate this event, which he called “The Unicorn Tower.” Eleven statues of the great men that had been prominent in raising the fortunes of the house of Han were placed in it, amongst which were those of Subu, Piug-kieh and Ho- kwang, though the name of the last was not inscribed on his, because of the treason in his family. After a reign of twenty-five years Chau Ti died, and was succeeded by his son. THE HAN DYNASTY. 105 Yaan Ti. — (B. C. 48-32). This prince was twenty-seven years old when he came to the tliroue, and with his appearance in history come the first shadows of the coming disasters that were finally to destroy the dynasty. Yuan Ti married a lady, who is best known as the aunt of Wang Maug, a man that played a prominent part in the history of the next three reigns. On his first becoming Emperor he gave every promise of being a wise and statesmanlike ruler. He asked his Prime Minister Knng how he should best rule his people. His reply was, that “Economy, light taxes, and above all profound love for his people, were essential elements in the good government of a nation.” The Emperor was so impressed with the truth of this statement that he at once issued an edict to cut down all unnecessary expenses in the royal household, particularly specifying that the number of horses in the stables should be reduced, and that the funds thus saved should be expended in assisting the poor. Unfortunately these bright promises were soon overclouded, as Yuan Ti, instead of being guided in his counsels by the wisest of his ministers, put himself almost absolutely under the control of a eunuch of the palace, who by his ability and shrewdness managed to gain complete mastery over the royal mind. Instead of leading him into good he seduced him into the most immoral habits, that soon made him entirely oblivions of the people’s welfare. In the year B. C. 41 there was a rising of the barbarians that were settled in Shensi, and an army of sixty thousand men was sent against them. The insurrection was put down with terrible severity. Thousands of heads were decapitated and forwarded to the capital for the inspection of the Emperor, and those who survived were so terrified that they fled the kingdom in terror, and the vacated district was ere long occupied by Chinese settlers. The year B. C. 35 was distinguished by a great victory over Chih-chih, a noted chief of the Hiungnu, who had refused to submit when Hau-han gave in his adhesion to China. The commander of the forces that were guarding the frontiers conceived the idea, whilst there was no suspicion of war, of marching suddenly upon him and surprising him. His second in command refused to consent to this, until they got the per- mission of the Emperor. Chiu-taug was opposed to delay, as he knew the plan would be frustrated by the eunuch Shih-hien, through jealousy of the renown he would obtain if he were successful. He accordingly made several forced marches and managed to surround the capital of Chih-chih with forty thousand men, which he captured and burnt, and sent the head of the chief to Yuan Ti. The latter was prepared to lavish signal honours upon the general for his distinguished services, but the eunuch opposed this. “ He deserved punishment,” he said, “because he had dared to undertake so perilous an expedition without the permission of the Emperor.” Completely under the control of 100 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. this miserable man Yuan Ti’s mind was uncertain how he should act. The whole of liis ministers now interposed to save Chin-tang. “ He had no doubt been wrono',” they said, “ in thus acting upon his own responsibility, but his merits far transcended his guilt, and therefore he ought to be rewarded.” The result was that he was created a Viscount. Hau-hau was now summoned to court, and formally re- cognized as ruler, both of the territory that used to be his own and also of that over which Chih-chih lately ruled, with tlie title of hing. In order to bind him to the Chinese the famous beauty Chau-kun was given him in marriage, who was elevated to the position of queen when she reached her new home.* After a reign of sixteen years Yuan Ti died, and was succeeded by his son. Ch^eng Ti—(B. C. 32-6). The first important act of this monarch was to banish the eunuch who had exerted such a baleful influence over his father to a distant part of the empire. He never reached his destination, however, for through the severity of the journey he died on the way. His next was to ennoble seven of his uncle’s with the rank of princes and to bestow upon them sufficient territory to enable them to maintain their new rank. He soon began to show the essentially low and dissipated turn of mind with which he was uaturally endowed. He was very food of going out at uights in disguise and in engaging in the lowest amuse- ments and in associating with men of the vilest character. On one of these midnight adventures he fell in with Chau Fei-yen, with whom he was so bewitched that he took her into his seraglio, and in time, after divorcing his queen, made her his consort. f In the 18th of this reign Wang Maug comes prominently on to the stage of histor}'. He is represented as a man whose whole aim in life was the gaining of power. His ambition was unbounded, and in obedience to that he made everything he did subservient to this one great purpose. He strove, however, to make men believe that he was animated by the noblest aims. He was diligent in his pursuit of know- ledge, he was careful in his expenditure and he was most subservient * This lady is the heroine of a romance that has been translated into English under the title of “ The Sorrows of Han.” The story of her life in that differs materially from that given in history. In it, it is told how tire Khan of the Hiungnu, hearing of her peerless beauty, invaded China with overwhelming forces and consented to retire only on the condition that Chau-kun should bo giv^en him. As she was a member of the Emperor’s harem this the latter agreed to, and w'eeping and sorrowful she was handed over to the savage chief, who carried her away with him. When they reached the banks of the Amoor, however, she managed to escape the vigilance of her guards, and plunging into its waters she was drowned. The historical account is of course the genuine one. See Mayers’ Chinese Reader’s Manual, page 14. t Chau Fei-yen was a famous heauty and the daughter of a man of low position in society. She, as well as her sister Ho-tuh, had been trained as dancers, and she was so lithe and graceful that she got the appellation of Fei-yen, or the flying swallow. In time they found their way to the capital, where they became courtesans till their fortuijoe were changed by meeting with Ch‘eng Ti. THK HAN DYNASTT. 107 to his uncle, who was prime minister. Fortunatel}^ for him the sons of the latter were all wild and dissipated, and when their father lay dying it was Wang Mang who waited on him and soothed him in his last hours. This so touched his heart that he strongly recommended him to the Emperor, who at once gave him a high official position. Being a man of great ability his promotion was ra|)id. All this time he was diligently making friends amongst the great, and with a lavish hand he was giving away his money to those that wished to borrow from him, until he became the most popular man in the palace. In the year B. C. 7 one of Ch‘eng Ti’s ministers made an attempt to get the divorced queen into the harem as a concubine. Wang Mang informed the Emperor of what was going on, and he was so pleased with his fidelity that he made him comniauder-in-chief of all the royal forces and imprisoned the minister. He had now risen to great honour, but still his ambition was unsatisfied. He consequently carried on his dissimulation in order to win golden o[)inions from those in power. He associated with scholars and put them in important government positions. He divided his salary amongst them, whilst he himself lived in the most modest style, and always wore dresses made of cotton cloth. The one thing real about him was his devotion to his mother, and this, together with his modesty and simplicity, gained him the praises of all classes of people. Ch‘eug Ti died after a reign of twenty-six years. His death was mysterious. The evening previous to it he was in robust health, and had been superintending the making of new seals for some [>ateuts of nobility that he was going to issue. Next morning when his atten- dants entered his room he was found speechless, and shortly after he died. Suspicions were aroused in regard to Ho-tuh, the queen’s sister, who had been appointed lady in waiting, but though she was examined there was no proof that she was imj)licated in his death ; still she committed suicide immediately after her examination. As Ch‘eng Ti had no son he was succeeded by his uiephew. Kgai Ti — (B. C. 6~A. D. 1). This prince had hardly come to the throne, when Wang Mang resigned all his appointments and retired into private life, though his ambitious designs were never for a moment laid aside. His successor as commander-in-ehief was Tung-hien, whose name is associated with the introduction of laws that were intended to effect a radical change in regard to the tenure of land. Observing that the rich and the noble were gradually absorbing the lands of the country, and that vast numbers of people were in great poverty, and could never ho|)e to possess farms of their own, he got the Emperor to pass a law that no one in the empire should possess more than thirty elding of land.* The only classes exempt from the operation of this law were the * A ch'ing was equal to about 15.13 square acres, 108 THE HISTORY OF CHIXA. princes of the blood, dukes and viscounts, to whom the Emperor had made special grants of territories for distinguished services. It was also enacted that no man should possess more than thirty male or female slaves. These laws were not to come into force for three years. After that time any one that possessed more laud or slaves than the enactments allowed was to be punished by having the excess con- fiscated to the state. Great was the consteruation amongst the high officials about the court, and especially amongst the royal princes, who possessed large tracts of lauds in ditferent parts of the country. Thei’^ managed to have the promulgation of the edict stopped for several years, so that the nation at large should know nothing of this special legislation. After a brief reign of six years, during which nothing special happened, Ngai Ti died at the early age of twenty-five, and as he had no son to succeed him Hu-how, the Empress-Dowager, who was an ambitious woman, and wished to reign herself, selected a youth of only nine years of age, a great grandson of Yuan Ti, whom she made Emperor. P^ing Ti. — (A. D. 1-6) . Hu-how immediately installed herself as regent and invited Wang Maug to act with her in the government of the country. This position exactly suited the ambitious views of this able and unscru- pulous Chinaman. From this time he began gradually to drop the mask he had been wearing so long, and to take measures for the accomplishment of a pur{)Ose that had never slumbered, and that was destined to carry him through bloodshed and murder to the highest power in the state. His first prominent act was to destroy Tung-hien, the able minister who had proposed the new laud law, and to seize upon all his money, which history says amounted to an enormous sum. Gradually the whole administration of the government fell into his hands, as the ministers, who were all his own creatures, petitioned the regent not to ap[)ear at the council, as Wang Mang was fully competent to relieve her of the burden of governing. After this farce was enacted Wang ]\Iang dismissed or killed all the men of character and integrity in the palace, till he was surrounded only by a set of sycophants, who were ready to carry out every measure that he proposed. In order to deceive the people and make them believe that his government was the admiration of far distant nations he^ bribed men to come with the present of a rare animal, who pretended that they had travelled thousands of miles, when in reality they were from a tribe that bor- dered on China. In the year A. D. 3 Wang Maug married his daughter to P‘ing Ti, and fearful of the influence of his relatives upon him he banished his mother and uncles from the palace. Men now began to talk openly of his intended usurpation of the throne and to condemn him for THE HAN DYNASTY. 109 the crime he meditated. His own son was indignant with him for preventing the young Emperor from seeing his mother, and began to take steps to have this wrong righted, when the father hearing of his intentions cast him into prison, where in anger he poisoned himself. Wang Maug, who had tasted blood, now pnt the uncles to death, and spared the mother only, because he deemed her too insig- nificant to be a danger in his path. When P‘ing Ti reached the age of fourteen he began to show signs of resentment against Wang Maug for his treatment of his mother that alarmed him, and he accordingly determined to get rid of him. On New Year’s day, when in keeping with the usual custom, the high officials appeared before the Emperor with pepper wine to wish him a happy New Year and long life, he also came with his cup and presented it to P‘iug Ti. Being afraid of treason he would not drink it, but Wang Maug forced the liquid down his throat. He was at once seized with sickness, and the news s[>read throughout the palace that the Emperor was dangerously ill. His murderer pretended to be extremely affected about this, and filled the palace with his cries. Imitating the Duke of Chow he appeared in the chief temple in the city, and there before the five great gods he read a paper, in which he entreated them to spare the life of P‘ing Ti, and if they demanded a sacrifice let them Lake his. The document was then dro[>ped into a casket, which was kept in the building for the reception of such, in order that posterity might be deceived in regard to the murder of the king. He forgot that the national historian was, as if with the hand of fate, recording his misdeeds, which should be read by the peoples of China for countless generations.* As P‘ing Ti had none to succeed him, a descendant of Suan Ti, a child of two years’ old, was selected by the Queen Dowager, and Wang Mang was named regent. The baby Emperor is known in history by the title of Ju Tz Ying. — (A. D. 6-9). The usurpation of Wang Mang was now apparent to every one, and the princes belonging to the house of Han began to organize measures to resist this. They were, however, entirely unsuccessful, because the whole power of the army was at the usurper’s command, and because he could say to the nation that he was simply regent, and that in opposing the princes he was fighting against men that * The historians that record the story of the nation’s life belong to the academy, and are solemnly entrusted with a duty that in all the ages of the past they have executed with the utmost fidelity. No one is allowed to see what they write, and so they feel free to record events as they actually occur, without fear of those whose crimes they may describe. There have been times in the past when Emperors or usurpers have demanded to see what they have written about them, but they have refused to comply with such requests, and have even been content to suffer death rather than betray the trust the nation has reposed in them. The records of each dynasty are put away in archives, to which none has access, excepting these historians. When the dynasty passes away it is the business of the next to collect these and make a history of the period during which it exercised power over China. no THE HISTOliY OF CHINA. were in rebellion against their sovereign. At last, after three years of this farce, he deposed the Emperor and gave him the title of duke, but he put the poor little hoy into such strict confinement that he grew u[) without being taught even how to speak. He now styled himself the “New Era[)eror,” thus intimating that the old dynasty had passed away and a new one had been inaugurated. Historians, however, have refused to acknowledge that there was any change of dynasty at this time, and Wang Mang has been known as Wang Mang, the Usurper. — (A. D. 9-23J. In order to support his usurpation Wang Mang pretended that he had received a revelation from Kau Ti, the founder of the Han dynasty, giving his sanction to it. He declared that he had found two caskets in his ancestral temple that had come there mysteriously one night, and which he desired to he opened in the presence of his ministers. One of them contained a document which declared that Kau Ti specially wished Wang Mang to occupy the throne at this crisis. The other also had a writing, hut it purported to come from the God of heaven and earth, and commanded that all men should accept him as a legitimate monarch and the founder of a new dynastv. The high officials, with true Chinese complaisance, now formally acknowledged him as Emperor, though they were astute enough to know that the whole thing was a fraud. Wang Mang, apparently overcome by the force of the revelation that he had concocted, gracefully yielded to the wishes of the nobles, and according to royal precedent ordered that the twelfth mouth of the Hans should be the first in his new dynasty. Shortly after this event he issued an edict ordering that the laws that had been enacted in a previous reign with regard to the tenure of land and the possession of slaves should now come into operation. Much of his time, however, was taken up in endeavouring to put down the rebellious that, headed by some of the Han princes, sprung up throughout the country, in order to aim a blow at these leaders of revolt he passed a law that no person of the name of Liu (the royal surname) could hold any official position in the country, and that everyone with that name, from the moment of the passing of the act, should be stripped of every title that he then possessed. This of course robbed every royal prince or noble in the country of the power of using the forces of the state in raising an insurrection. Matters, however, had gone too far for peace to be restored by the passing of an act. Wang Mang had no hold on the affection of the country. He had used his power in a harsh and ungenerous manner, and he had excited the hostility of large classes of people by the unscrupulous way in which he had gradually usurped the functions of the state. In order to guard against any possible incursion of the Hiungnu be sent twelve armies under separate generals to different quarters of THE HAN DYNASTY. Ill the frontiers with orders to remain tliere and be ready for emergencies. These measnres had the very opposite effect from what was intended. “ We owe submission to the Hans,” the barbarians said, “ bnt we now feel free from the obligations under which we were bound, for we utterly refuse to acknowledge any allegiance to Wang Mang, and we shall march on China whenever it is convenient to do so.” The history of the subsequent years of his usurpation is that of numerous rebellions that broke out in various parts of the country. The suppression of one had no moral effect in discouraging others. The country had no king, and ambitious spirits everywhere felt that the time had come when they could have a chance for the throne just as much as Wang Mang had had. The most serious of all the risings took place in Shantung, headed by a man named Fanchung, and lasted for several years, to the great detriment of the country and the grief and sorrow of the people. They pretended to be in rebellion against Wang Mang, bnt plunder and an easy life were the chief motives that led them to become insurgents. They grew in time to such vast propor- tions that they could number their men by hundreds of thousands and could defy with impunity the royal forces that were sent against them. In order to show their determination and ferocity their leader ordered their eyebrows to be dyed red. This distinguished them from their foes, and was an omen of the kind of warfare they intended to wage. They declared by this sign that they would not only slay their enemies without mercy, but they would also be ready to shed the last drop of their own blood in defence of the cause for which they had risen in arms. Army after army was sent against them, but they were defeated with great slaughter, and the cause of Wang Mang began gradually to decline. It was not simply with the “ Eyebrows,” however, that he had to contend. Rebellion was in the air. His own treason had caused demons of ambition and war to start up in the hearts of men as ambitious as himself, who were determined to fight to the bitter end for the power he now possessed. In the fourteenth year of his usurpation two men, named Liu-huan and Liu-siu, appeared at the head of a formidable gathering, and as they were both of the royal house of Han they soon had an army of a hundred thousand foot and the same number of cavalry at their command. At a council that was held it was decided that one of the two cousins should be elected to be their chief, and finally, should they be successful, Emperor. Liu-siu was a man of the highest reputation with the army. He was of noble physique, and straightforward in character, so that he had a reputation for honesty and manliness with every one. Liu-huan, on the other hand, was indolent and easy going, and was in his present position simply because he was of the royal blood and had a right to the throne that Wang Mang had not. The leaders unanimously chose Liu-huan, because they dreaded to put a man of such force of character and popularity 112 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. as Lin-sin over them, and because some of them hoped that his very weakness would present them an op[)ortuuity of carryine out their owu ambitious plans. The new Emperor is known in history by the name of Htoai Yang Wang. — (A. D. 23-25). Wang Mang, terrified at the progress of events, sent an army of over four hundred thousand men against tlie new Emperor, but after some slight successes it was defeated, and the enemy marched upou the ca[)ital. Everywhere the people submitted to them, and there was no 0{)positiou to their entry into it. No sooner had they gained })Ossessiou of the city than the citizens and soldiers fraternized with them, and rejoicings everywhere showed how detestable the rule of the usurper had been. Wang Mang, with the cowardice that had always characterized him, fled for refuge to a tower in the city, where he concealed himself. His palace had been set on fire, and he had seen his own daughter throw herself into the flames rather than be captured by the soldiers. Whilst the city was in confusion this wretched man was hidden in the tower, under the firm conviction tliat his virtues would after all enable him to triumph. He was under the delusion that his miserable life was under the special protection of heaven. In proof of this historians preserve one sentence that he uttered in this crisis of his life, “Heaven produced the virtue that is in me,” he said; “the house of Han, what can it do to me ?” * Wang Mang soon found to his sorrow that heaveu would not interfere on his behalf, for ere long the tower was filled with soldiers and citizens, who seized him, and, after beheading him, cut him into a thousand pieces. His head was hung in the market place, and soon in contempt it was tossed about in the streets by the people over whom he had tyrannized. Hwai Yang Wang proved himself incompetent for the position to which he had been elected. Whilst his cousin was away battling with armies and winning victories he gave himself up to all kinds of dissipation and amusement. The affairs of state were left entirely to the mercy of the mercenary officials that surrounded him. These quar- relled amongst themselves as to who should hold the highest offices. Justice and right were obtained by bribery, and the people were taxed and crushed by their rulers in the mad race for wealth. In the meanwhile those about the Emperor whispered in his ears that Liu-siu was becoming famous, and that he would before long overshadow him, ■* This was a quotation with a slight change from Confucius, who said, Heaven produced the virtue that is in me. Hwan-t‘ui, what can he do to me ? This expression was used by the great sage when he was on his way from the principality of Sung to that of Ts‘in. Whilst performing some ceremonies under a tree he was attacked by Hwan-t'ui, who wished to kill him. His disciples were terrified, but Confucius was calm, under the conviction that he was sent of heaven, and that therefore no mortal hand could injure him. THE HAN DYNASTY. 113 and they connselled him to order his return to the capital, where he would be under his own immediate supervision. When the command reached him in Honan his generals dissuaded him from obeying it, on the ground that he would certainly be murdered at the instigation of men that wished to get rid of him. They declared that neither they nor the army would ever consent to acknowledge Hwai Yang, who was utterly useless as a ruler at this crisis when the kingdom was rent with rebellion and when the “ Eyebrows ” required a general that could crush them. Yielding to their entreaties, because he knew that his own life was in danger, he at last consented to be made Emperor, and he is known in history under the title of Kwang Wu Ti, or the Glorious Martial Emperor. 114 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. THE LATER HAN DYNASTY. Also styled Eastern Han, from its Capital being at Loliyang, A. D. 25-221. Kwang Wu Ti. — (A. D. 25-58). Chapter X. SHE difficulty as to what Kwang Wu Ti should do in regard to his cousin, who now divided the empire with him, was settled by the “Red Eyebrows.” They marched all their forces from the east and besieged Hwai Yang Wang in his capital at Ch‘ang-ngan, and after a very feeble resistance captured it. With the ruthless ferocity of robbers they not only murdered a great many of its citizens, but Kwai Yang Wang himself, who had surrendered to the rebel chief. Kwang Wu, who was of a noble, generous disposition, hearing of the advance of the rebels on the old capital, had sent an army of twenty thousand men under the famous general Teng-yu* to the succour of the city, and had given express orders that none should injure his cousin unless he wished to excite his displeasure and punishment. When Teng-yu arrived the city had been already captured, and as the forces of the rebels were far in excess of his own all that he could do was to entrench his army and wait for a favourable moment to strike. That he was not wanting in bravery is evidenced by the fact that shortly after, when he did engage the enemy, his men fought so bravely and stubbornly that out of all his host only twenty-four ever reached their homes. In the 2nd year of Hwang Wu Ti the capital of the re-established dynasty was set up in Lohyang. The “Red Eyebrows ” were still in possession of Ch‘ang-ngan, as well as the region which they had desolated with their plundering and marauding. The Emperor thought it was now high time to measure his forces with an enemy that was a national danger. In order to give them the semblance of right in their rebellion they had raised a young man to the throne by the name of Liu, the family name of the royal family, and they asserted that they were acting under his authority. But this was a farce that deceived no one.f Kwang Wu sent another of * This man was one 'of the twenty-eight commanders who assisted in establishing the dynasty, and whose portraits had the honour of being placed in the Cloud Tower ” which was built by Ming-ti in A. D. 60 in his southern palace. t The young man who was suddenly elevated by the rebels to this high position was only fifteen years old, and was taken from the very lowest ranks of life. He was a cowherd of the name of Liu-pun. His clothes were in rags, his hair dishevelled, and he was bare-footed when he was first elected. When the chiefs came round him and paid him obeisance as their sovereign he was so startled that he burst into tears. THE LATER HAH DYXASTY. 115 his great generals, P‘ing-i, who managed to completely crush ont the rebellion by his military tactics. Before his great engagement which he had determined to have with them he dressed several thousands of his soldiers in the same kind of clothing as the rebels and painted their eyebrows red. He then placed them in ambush, whilst he sent a strong division a long way round to the rear of the enemy. The battle began in the morning and lasted the whole of the day, with varying success, until the ambushed contingent appeared upon the field. The “ Eyebrows ” thought it was a party of their own men that had come up to their rescue, and were welcoming them with raptures of joy, when all at once they were fiercely assaulted by them. The insurgents were at once routed, and fled in the greatest consternation, but before long they were met by the force that had been sent to intercept them, and being thus placed between two fires they threw down their arms and submitted. The only conditions they could secure were that their lives should be spared. The rebel Emperor and his chiefs were made petty mandarins, whilst the great force that had so recently threatened the very safety of the state gradually dissolved and melted into society. For the next few years the Emperor’s forces were engaged throughout the country in attacking the leaders of insurrection that had risen in arms against Wang Mang, and who still competed with Kwang Wu for the possession of the throne. They were one after the other defeated, until at last Kwang Wu found the house of Han once more firmly established in the kingdom. Although so successful as a warrior Kwang Wu was a man of so kindly a nature and of such large sympathies that the arts of peace had a greater attraction for him than those of war. He spent the most of his time in study and in converse with literary men. He refused to talk even about war. On one occasion when his son asked him to tell him how armies were marshalled in the field and how they were marched he replied to him: “When the Duke Ling, of Wei, asked C’onfucius very much the same questions that you have enquired of me he answered, ‘ I have heard about the vessels that are used in sacrifices, but I have not studied military questions so I say to you, my son, don’t desire to know about armies and warfare, but rather spend your strength in mastering the principles of good government, so that in time you may be able to rule your people well.” His kindly disposition was also shown in the manner in which he treated a number of his followers who had distinguished themselves by their valour when they were fighting in his cause. A considerable number of these were at his court. Calling them together he spoke to them of his gratitude to them for the illustrious services they had rendered him, and begged them to allow him to give them a little advice. “You will be expecting, of course,” he said, “ that I should reward your services by giving yon official posts under the government. This I could 116 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. easily do, but there is danger ia this to yourselves. Many men who have been distinguished in the field have lost their good name when they became mandarins, through the temptations connected with their office, and have died dishonoured. Now what I advise is that you should all retire to your homes. I will give you presents of money and lands that will enrich you, and there amongst your relatives and the people in the midst of whom you were reared you may enjoy your- selves.” It is needless to say that they accej)ted his offer with the greatest avidity, and thus he not only rewarded these distinguished soldiers in a way that would bring honour to them amongst their friends, but he also removed them from the temptations of the capital and from the seductions of evil men to use their military knowledge against the state. Amongst the most notable of his wars was the one which he was compelled to wage against the modern Tonquin, in order to prevent it from casting off its allegiance to China. A female chieftain, of the name of Ching-tseh, had headed a rising of her countrymen, in order to shake off the Chinese supremacy. Kwang Wu, kind and generous though he was, could not afford to lose prestige by allowing so im- portant a tributary as this to defy its suzerain. He accordingly sent one of the most famous generals of the age, Ma-yuan, to suppress the rebellion. This intrepid commander embarked jiart of his army in junks on the Canton river and sent it by sea, whilst he led the remainder overland. He was completely successful in all his operations. The heroic Ching-tseh, together with her sister Ching-urh, were seized and beheaded, for there was not enough chivalry in those days to make men look with admiration upon the noble efforts of these two women to free their country, or to cause them to spare lives. To com- memorate his successful campaign Ma-yuan erected a pillar of bronze on the boundary of the country that future generations might not forget the victory he had won.* In the year A.D. 48 Ma-yuan again at his own request was sent in conjunction with another commander with forty thousand men to sup- press a rising of some native tribes in Willing, in the present pro- vince of Hunan. Disagreeing with his second in command in regard to the route they should take after they entered the hostile territory Ma- yuan led his army into a district where it suffered terribly from disease, and more than half his men died. He had his wish in not dying at * Four years after (A.D. 45) this veteran general, finding that the Hiung-nu were again invading the northern frontiers, asked permission to lead the armies of the Emperor against them. Out of pity for his old age the latter gently expressed his doubts about his being able to do so at his time of life. The old hero declared that ho could wear his armour and mount his horse with the youngest. Upon Kwang Wu’s expressing a wish to see him do so he had his orderly bring his weapons, and mounting his horse rode in front of him. He was so delighted with this exhibition of his strength that he cried out, “ How strong and stalwart is this old man !” When he was leaving the palace to join the army the great officers came to the gate of the city to see him off, when, just as he was departing, he said, “ A man ought to die in the field fighting with his enemies, and be brought home wrapped in a horse skin, rather than die in his bed surrounded by his weeping wife and children.” THE LATER HAN DYNASTY. 117 home, for he too snccnmbed to the prevailing epidemic, and his body was carried home in the way he had desired. Immediately upon his death being made known, his enemies at conrt brought the most serious charges against him, viz., that in his Tonqnin campaign he had secretly brought back immense quantities of pearl and ivory, which really be- longed to the state, but which he had appropriated to his own use. His widow, indignant at the charges which she knew were unfounded, has- tily buried the corpse of her husband in a private way and demanded an investigation of these and the restoration of her husband’s good name, after which, she said, a proper funeral should be given him. A commission was appointed for this purpose, when it turned oat that all the precious things he had brought with him was a chariot load of the seeds of the water lily, which were considered a specific against in- fectious diseases. The old general, whilst so lavish of his life in the presence of the enemy, had j^et with a natural instinct been desirous of preserving it against disease, and so he had taken the trouble of bring- ing across the empire these seeds that gave an occasion for the calum- nies of his enemies. The charges made were proved to be false, and so his reputation stood still higher than it did before. Kwang Wu died in the thirty-third year of his reign and in the sixty-third of his life, and was succeeded by his son. Mhxg TL {A.D. 58-76). This prince was thirty years of age when he ascended the throne. He found the empire at peace, in consequence of his father’s vigor and the ability of the great captains that with true military instincts he had gathered around him. In this third year he married Ma-how, the daughter of Ma-yuan, who is celebrated in history for her intelligence and virtue and for the simple way in which she dressed and conducted herself generally.* In his 3rd year he built the famous “ Cloud Tower,” in which were placed the portraits of the twenty-eight great generals that had been the means of re-establishing the Han dynasty. Ma-yuan had not the honour of a place in it from a false feeling of etiquette. The Emperor was afraid that the people would say that he had such an honour done to his memory, simply because his daughter was queen, and so the great commander was e.xcluded from the company of those amongst whom by right he would have taken the first place. This Emperor has the unenviable reputation of having introduced Buddhism and consequently idolatry into China. Hearing that there was a very powerful and influential spirit in the west maned Eo (Buddha) he sent ambassadors, to make investigations into its nature and powers, with orders to learn what its teachings were and to bring back all books * She was childless, but the Emperor was so fond of her that he did not find fault with her for this, and he got her to adopt her cousin’s son, who was a member of the Seraglio, named Kia. She bestowed extreme love upon tliis child, and so treated him as her own that he did not know till he had become Emperor, and she was dead, that she was not his own mother. 118 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. that taught the doctrines that were inculcated amongst its disciples. He did this in the eighth year of his reign (A.D. 65). In due time his messengers reached India, where they came in contact with Buddhism. They collected a number of its books, and, what was still more important, they persuaded some of its priests to return with them to China, in order to instruct the Emperor and his court in the mysteries of the new faith. History records that Bud- dhism was received by the learned with a great deal of scepticism, as the priests brought forward the most unreliable statements as evidence of its truth. There were five main doctrines that it inculcated : — first, the forbidding of the destruction of animal life ; second, metemp- sychosis ; third, rewards and punishments for good and evil conduct ; fourth, meditation and absorption in thought ; and fifth, abstinence and self-denial through which men might become gods. The Emperor at once accepted the new faith as part of his own religion, and temples were built in the capital, and the people imitating the court, others were ere long erected in other parts of the country. During this year the criminal law was revised, and it was decided that capital crimes might be commuted by a money payment, or by the criminals being sent to the frontiers to be enrolled in the army that was stationed there to repel the Hiunguu. Less serious offences were remitted by a money fine at a fixed rate for certain breaches of law. This showed that the government was distressed for want of funds to carry on the business of the country, as this remission of crime by a pecuniary payment was a favorite resource with the rulers of ancient times when the finances were low. The remainder of this reign was spent in comparative peace. There were indeed one or two risings against the throne, but they were soon put down. One was headed by the Emperor’s younger brother, whom he had treated with the greatest kindness. The court officials were urgent in their de- mands that he should be put to death, but Ming Ti was unwilling to do this, so he was banished, but on his way to the place appointed he committed suicide. After a reign of eighteen years he died, aud was succeeded by his son. Chang Ti. — (A. D. 76-89). This prince ascended the throne under the most favourable circumstances. The country was at peace, and the Hiungnu were quiet within their own territories. He had besides the advantage of the wisdom and virtue of his mother Ma-chi to help him in his plans for the good government of his people. As he was only eighteen years of age it may well be imagined what valuable service she could render him at this time. Unfortunately, his barbarian foes, despising the young Emperor, and thinking that the time was opportune for another invasion of China, gathered their hordes, and once more marched on the northern frontiers. Fortuuately, at this time the THE LATER HAN DYNASTY. 119 Chinese were snpplied with generals of the highest order, who were quite competent to meet the invading forces. Tau-hien and Pan-ch‘aa in A. D. 8U, and again in A. D. 88, defeated them with great slaughter. In the first engagement the latter had the command of the troops, but in the second they had joint control.* After a quiet and uneventful reign of thirteen years Chang Ti died at the age of thirty- one, and was succeeded by Ho TL—(A. D. 89-106). As the young Emperor was only ten years of age, his mother, the Empress-Dowager Tau, was appointed regent.f During the first year of his reign an incident occurred that led to great wars and important successes that raised the fame of China as a military power higher than ever it had been before. On the accession of Ho Ti the princes and viceroys, as in duty bound, came to pay their respects and renew their oaths of allegiance to the new sovereign. His cousin Tau-hien, who had once acted as chamberlain in the palace, but had subsequently been raised to the position of commauder-iu-chief, also attended. Being jealous of one of the nobles that jn’eseuted himself he caused him to be murdered. According to law he ought to have paid the penalty of his crime with his life, but he begged so hard for merc}% and that he should be allowed to redeem his wrong by fighting with the Hiungnu, the hereditary enemies of China, that his aunt, the regent, granted his petition and set him free. The high officials were exceedingly opposed to any warlike measure being adopted against the barbarians, but the Queen-Dowager refused to listen to their arguments, and Tau-hien Avas appointed to take command of a large army, with Pau-ch‘au as his lieutenant, to proceed at once against the Hiungnu. He led his forces into Central Asia, and there achieved a splendid victory over the enemy near Yen-jan, in memory of which he ordered an account of the battle to be engraven on the rocks near by. On his return to China he was loaded with honours, but hia haughty demeanour excited the suspicion of his cousin, whom he was too much inclined to treat as an equal. Not long after he joined in a conspiracy with the Tau princes to dethrone Ho Ti, but their plans becoming known, the latter consulted with the chief of his eunuchs, and on a certain day the gates of the city were suddenly closed, and a body of troops having been led to the palace, Tau-hien and all the members of the Tau clan were massacred. For this service the eunuch was made a high mandarin, and was called to the councils of the ♦ Pan-ch'au had previously distiuguished liimself in Turkestan, in the state of Shen-slien and in Khoten, in his wars with the Hiungnu. Some time after the victory in A. D. 88 he led his men as far as the region of the Caspian. He died in the year A. D. 102. t There are four persons mentioned with this name of Tau in history. (1) The Queen of Wun Ti, B. C. 179; (2) The Queeu of Chang Ti, A.D. 79; (3) The Queen of Hwan Ti, A. D. 165; (4) The Queen of Kau Tsu, A. D. 618. 120 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. Emperor in the government of the empire. This was a most danger- ous innovation on previous custom. No ennnch np to this time had ever had such an honour conferred npon liim, hut well would it have been for posterity had the eunnchs been sternly relegated to their own special duties within the palace. It would have saved the empire from many a sorrow and have prevented the pages of history from being blotted with the accounts of their intrigues and seditious, which led to the murder of kings and the overthrow of dynasties. In the year A. D. 96 a great drought was experienced in the northern part of the empire, and the people were reduced to such extremities that vast numbers of them perished of starvation. The Emperor did everything in his power to relieve them, and he remitted all taxes due to the government for this year. Six years after he divorced his queen and married a grand daughter of the famous general Teug-yu, mentioned in the previous pages. About this same time Pan-ch‘au, feeling himself worn out with old age and the toils of many a severe campaign, asked permission to be allowed to retire from active service. Unwilling to lose the advice and influence of such a distinguished man Ho Ti at first refused to do so, but finally, through the intercession of Pan-chau, the desired leave was granted.* The Emperor Ho Ti had been very unfortunate in his sons, for they were all weakly, and several of them had died. Two remained, but they were so frail and delicate that in order to give them a chance for life they were put out to nurse, in order to preserve them, if possible, from the fate of their brothers. When the Emperor died, which he did after a reign of seventeen years, the elder of the two was rejected, because of his state of health, and the younger, who was only a little over three months old, was proclaimed successor to the throne. He is known in history by the title of Shang Ti (A. D. 106-107). He died in eight months, and was succeeded by Ngan Ti.—(A. D. 107-126). This ruler was a nephew of Ho Ti, and was twelve years old when lie came to the throne. The widow of Ho Ti, who was appointed regent on his death, was again asked to fulfil the same duty for the present Emperor. She was a woman well qualified for this resiionsible position. In her second year of qiower the country was afflicted with * Pan-chau is a famous literary character, whose name is well known among the scholars of every age. Her brother Pau-hu was historiographer under Ming Ti, who appointed him to tliis office for the purpose of pompiliug the history of the Western Han Dynasty from the documents that had beeu accumulating during its existence in the historical archives. He was engaged in the composition of a work on history and philosophy, but before he could complete it he was involved in the conspiracy of Tan- liien, and being cast into prison he died there. The Emperor Ho Ti subsequently commissioned his gifted sister with the duty of finishing it. She also wrote a work entitled “ Lessons for Women,” which had a great reputation amongst scholars. When her husband died she was admitted into the palace in the capacity of Lady-in-waitiug to the Empress. See Mayer’s Chinese Reader’s Manual, page 166. THE LATER HAN DYNASTY. 121 a great drought. She was greatly distressed at this, aud supposed it must liave been caused by some misgoverumeut of hers, by which there had beeu a I'ailure of justice. She accordiugly e.xamiued into all the cases where men had beeu condemned to death, but who had not yet been executed. The result was tliat she found a considerable number that had been adjudged to die unjustly. These she caused to be set at liberty', aud it is said that copious rains at once fell throughout the country, and the drought was at an end. It is pleasant to think that amidst the general corruption of those in high places there were men of honour in the service of the state who felt the responsibility of their exalted position and were determined to act so as to gain the approval of the best of mankind. One of these was Yang-chun, who, though he became a great man- darin, still continued to be poor, to the great discontent of his own family. When tliey urged him to consider them and to plan more for the enriching of them he said he liad done so ; for the greatest wealth he could give them he believed to be the inheritance of a s})0tless character. One niglit a man for whom he had done some favour came secretly to him and urged upon his acceptance a considerable sum of money, saying that no one need know anything about the transaction. He utterly refused to receive it, aud said, “ You are quite mistaken when you say that no one would ever know tluit you gave it me. Heaven would know, the eartli would know, aud you aud I would know. I beg you, therefore, to take back your gift, for I dare not receive it.” In the year A. D. 110 a formidable outbreak of brigandage occurred in Honan, caused almost entirely through the poverty of the people, bad harvests, aud the misride of the local authorities. Yu-hu, an official of great merit aud distinction, was a])poiuted with full powers to put it down, which he did within a year. It was by an ingenious device that he succeeded in his object so soon. When he arrived in the district over which he had authority he issued a notice that he was going to organize a military force that should consist of three classes of men, to whom immunity for all past offences was promised. The first was to consist of those who had committed robbery aud murder, and to these a considerable monthly salary was to be paid; the second, of those that had beeu merely robbers, and they were to be paid less ; and the third, of men that had joined the brigands because they were lazy and liked an easy life. These were to receive a still smaller salary. Before long between two aud three hundred men were enrolled in this new kind of regiment. Yu-hu had them paraded before him, when he addressed them aud told them that their j)ast was now al! forgiven, but he expected them to atone for the wrongs they had done society by discovering to him their old comrades who had not answered to his call. This they did, aud the result was the utter extinction of the robber fraternity. 122 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. In his seventh year Ngan Ti issued an edict ordering all the officials in the empire to report to him the names and histories of men in common life who had distinguished themselves for virtue and filial piety, so that he might reward them by making them government officials. Next year his son Po was appointed successor to the throne, and about the same time he made one of the eunuchs member of the Privy Council. He also elevated his foster mother, who had nursed him as a baby, and of whom he was inordinately fond, together with her daughter Peh-ying, to be officials; the first instance in history of such an anomaly. The result was most disastrous. From this time corruption prevailed thronghont the court, and justice was perverted and honest men driven from it by the shameless system of bribery that these two women openly carried on under the protection of the Emperor. Ngan Ti died after a reign of nineteen years, whilst making a visitation through a portion of his kingdom. His queen, who was afraid that Po would avenge his mother, whom she had caused to be murdered,* immediately appointed one of the descendants of Chang Ti to be Emperor. As he was but a child she established herself as regent, and she made her brother Yeu-hien commander-in-chief. This man at once ordered the execution of the eunuch who had been so power- ful during Ngan Ti’s reign, and banished Waug-sheng and her daughter Peh-ying to a distant part of the empire. The infant that had been made Emperor, but whom history declines to recognize, died after six months, when the great officials insisted upon the rightful heir to the crown being acknowledged. The Queen-Dowager, finding her power gone, wisely yielded to the force of circumstances, and giving her con- sent, Po succeeded to the throne of his father. His historical name is Shim Ti.—(A. D. 126-145). The first official act of this young sovereign, who was only thirteen, was to order the execution of Yeu-hien and the imprisonment of the Queen-Dowager, who from this time drops out of history. In his seventh year a very important law was passed that no persons henceforward could hold any government employment unless they had been brought forward by the magistrates of their districts as men noted for their filial piety and for their purity of character. They must also he at least forty years old. Nine years went by without anything of importance happening in the state, when (A. D. 141) a serious outbreak of brigandage took place in the region in which the capital was situated. Alarmed by this the Emperor appointed Li-ku, an able and upright mandarin, to endeavour to suppress it and to enquire into the causes that produced it. An investigation brought to light that the officials, by their injustice and rapacity, were entirely * The queen had no children of her own ; so she adopted Po, the son of one of the ladies of the harem, whom, to avoid friction, she caused to be put to death. THE LATER HAN DYNASTY. 123 responsible for the disturbances. He degraded fort}’’ of these, and ■would have punished more, but he was stopped in his good work by some of the accused bribing Liaug-ki, who influenced Shun Ti to remove Li-ku to anotlier district.* The young Emperor had tlie determination to rule his country witli justice, but the influence of his queen Liang, and her corrupt and ambitious brother, frustrated every etfort that he made to do so. In the year A. D. 142 eight great mandarins were ordered to proceed tliroughout the country and examine into the conduct of the rulers. The bad were to be reported that they might be punished, and the good that they might be rewarded. One of these was observed to be in the capital after his colleagues had started on their journey. The Emperor summoned him to his presence and asked him the reason of this. His reply was siguiflcant, “ Why should I go through the country looking for foxes when the big tiger is in the palace?” He then proceeded to an indictment of Liang-ki and brought forward fifteen serious charges, for any one of which he was worthy of condign punishment. The Emperor had not the courage to stand by this faithful officer against a man of such power, and so nothing was done to curb the wrong doing of Liang-ki, who soon found an opportunity of revenging himself on his accuser by having him transferred to a distant part of the eiu[)ire, from which he was never allowed to return. Shun Ti died, and was succeeded by his son. Chhing Ti. — (A. I). 145-146). This child, who was only two years old when he came to the throne, died in a year, and was followed by Chik Ti.—(A. D. 146-147). This ruler was a descendant of Chang Ti in the sixth generation, and was only eight years old when the perilous honour w\as thrust upon him. The Queen- Dowager Liang, who had acted as regent since her husband’s death, was still continued in office, who, with her brother, now absorbed in themselves all the power of the state. The reg-ent had the merit of appointing one loyal man, Li-ku, to assist her in the government. One important measure proposed by him that became law was that all students, after they had mastered the Confucian classics, should repair to the capital to spend three years in the study of law and of the methods of governing a state. After that time they were to pass an examination, and the fittest were to be selected and made magistrates. In one year thirty thousand assembled in Lohyang in obedience to this decree. The young prince, though of so tender years, was a keen discerner of character, and instinctively could mark out the good and bad • Liang-ki was a brother of the queen, ami a famous actor in the tragedies that were soon to be enacted in the House of Han. 124 THE HISTOEY OF CHINA. officials that thronged his court. Liang-ki was his special aversion, and he could not bear the sight of him. One day when the latter was entering the palace he said to one near him, “ 'J'here goes a man of pierverse temper.” This fatal speech cost him his life. It was repeat- ed to Liang-ki, who sent him some poisoned cakes, of which he ate and died. Another descendant of Chang Ti, a youth of fifteen years, was now approved of by the murderer, and he became Emperor. He is known by the name of Ilwan Ti.—(A. D. 147-168). Although the regency was continued in the hands of the Queen- Dowager the real power was exercised by her brother. He was invested with a grant of territory that contained thirty thousand families, together with all the revenues that came from it. About the same time his younger sister was married to the Emperor, so that the family of the Liang seemed firmly established in the highest honours. Hwau Ti took the government into his own hands when he was nineteen, and he made Liang-ki his prime minister. The arrogance of the latter was only the more increased by these facilities for power that seemed naturally to come to him, and the consequence was he became more insolent in his conduct and did things that no other iu his position would have ventured to have done. On one occasion he had the audacit.y to appear at an audience with his sword on. This was a capital offence, and some of the mandarins cried out that punishment sliould be meted out to him, but the Emperor, in consi- deration of his having placed him on the throne, and because of his relationsliip to him, spared bis life, aud only punished him by fining him a year’s salary. In the year A. D. 158 one of the censors petitioned the throne, stating that the miseries of the em[>ire were extending in consequence of the misrule of Liaog-ki aud his excessive exactions. Next day, when he should liave appeared before ihe privy council to explain his charges, it was found that he was dead, having been murdered by the premier’s authority. In the following year the Queen-Dowager died. Together with Liang-ki she had exercised rule for twenty years, during which time the latter had used it so arbitrarily that he had excited universal hatred. His last act of cruelty was the cause of his overthrow and death. For some reason or other he had determined on the death of the father of one of Hwau Ti’s most beloved concubines. The men tliat were coming to murder him had reached the door of his house, when he managed to escape to the palace and appeal to the Emperor for protection. This he at once granted him, aud ordered a thousand of the household troops to march to Liang-ki’s aud put him to death. Before the latter was aware of it his house was surrounded, aud knowing full well that tlie hour of reckoning had come, aud that no mercy would be shown him, he and his Avife put an end to their THE LATER HAN DYNASTY. 125 lives by drinking a deadly poison. All the members of both sides of his house were ruthlessly slain, and all his treasures of money, for which he had bartered his honour and his reputation, were seized and confiscated to the state. It is said that these amounted to three hundred millions of taels.* In consequence of this vast amount being added to the treasury the whole of the taxes throughout the country were remitted for one year. In the 19th year of his reign Hwan Ti commissioned a eunuch to build a temple in Lung Hu Shan, in the present province of Kiangsi, in honour of Lau-tze, the founder of Tauism. He also appointed a man of the clan of Chang to be the high priest of the sect, with the title of “ Heaven’s Teacher.” This office is still in existence, and the reputed successors of this man exercise his functions with the same title and in the same manner as he did seventeen centuries ago.f This same year the Emperor put away his queen and married the daughter of Tau-bu, who became prime minister, being at the same time ennobled with the title of viscount. After a reign of twentj’-one years he died, and having no children of his own a descendant of Chang Ti was selected to succeed him. Ling Ti.—(A. D. 168-190). As this prince was only twelve years old the Queen- Dowager was appointed regent, whilst her father still continued in his office of prime minister. The latter was loyal and sound-hearted, and wished to govern the kingdom with justice, but he was thwarted in all his efforts by the eunuchs, who through the folly of preceding mouarchs had attained to the highest power and offices in the state. Not only had they been given titles that carried with them control over considerable districts of country, but they had also been permitted to adopt children who could succeed to their honours and estates. Tau-bu, in conjunction with another, schemed their destruction. A letter was sent by him to the regent detailing a ])lan by which they might all be murdered. Unfortunately this fell into the hands of the chief eunuch, who, seeing the j>eril that hung over him and all his fraternity in the palace, determined to save himself by the destruction of Tau-bu. He instantly sought Ling Ti and persuaded him that the latter was ])lotting his dethronement and murder. Terrified by the fearful picture that this wretched man drew of the horrors that were in store for him he signed a decree ordering the instant execution of Tau-bu and his colleague, and more than a thousand of their friends and adherents were slain, whilst the regent was banished to a distant part of the * “The standard tael weighs 579.84 grs. or about 1^ oz. It is worth from $1.38 to S1.47, according to its purity, and is usually reckoned at six shillings and eight pence.” With the reduction in the price of silver the present value of the tael has considerably diminished. See Williams’ Dictionary, page 526. t This patriarch of the Tauist body was named Chang Tau-ling, and his residence was called “The Palace ‘of the Supreme Azure.” The idol vihich was placed in the new temple was styled Li peh-yuug, a name by which Lau-tze was known. 126 THE HISTORY OP CHINA. empire. Iq the seventh year of Ling Ti’s reign a serious rebellion broke out in the present province of Chehkiang, but it was suppressed by an army under Geueral Sun-kien. Next year the famous scholar 'J’s‘ai-yuug was engaged in superintending the cutting on stone tablets of the authorized text of the Five Classics.* The characters were written so beautifully that thousands of scholars came from far and near to take impressions of them, aud crowds of wealthy people came in their chariots to witness this exhibition of this distinguished scholar’s learning. In the year A.D. 177 a formidable tribe called the Sienpi made an irruption into China, but they were defeated by the skill aud bravery of Chau-pau. It is said that on their march they seized his mother, and wheu the two armies came in front of each other they dragged the old lady aud placed her where her son could see her, and threatened that unless he submitted to them they would murder her before his very eyes. A terrible conflict ensued in Chau-pau’s breast as to whether he should betray his country or abandon his mother to a terrible death. Loyalty to his Emperor prevailed, and the bar- bariaus carried out their fierce purpose in the sight of the horrified Chinese soldiers ; but a fearful retribution fell upon them. Infuriat- ed by the spectacle the soldiers spruug upon the enemy, wheu a terrible slaughter ensued. Thousands were slain upon the field, and those that could escape fled terror-strickeu across the borders into their own territories. Not long after Chau-pau died of grief. “If I had betrayed my country,” he said, “ I should have been disloyal. I have been the cause, however, of my mother’s death, and so I have been unfilial.” This thought made his life so wretched that he pined away, and ere long joined his mother in the spirit land. The following year is a famous one in the annals of China, for in it the system of examinatiou for degrees, similar to that which exists at the present day, was first put into practice. Hitherto the recognized plan had been to promote to the magistracy aud other government offices those that were distinguished for their filial piety, or their purity of character. From this time it was no longer a question of morals but of education. The candidates were to be examined in the Confucian classics, in the writing of poetry, in letter writing and in penmanship. In the 11th year of his reign Ling Ti raised his concubine, the Lady Ho, to the rank of queen, and she aud another member of the harem had each a son, of whom we shall hear more by and by. Through her influence her brother Ho Tsin was made prime minister, a very exalted position for him, for he came from a very low rank in society, and before long he was made commauder-in-chief of all the royal forces. The year A. D. 181 may be said to have ushered in the * The.se were the Book of Changes, the Historical Classic, the Book of Poetry, the Record of Rites and the Spriug and Autumn. THE LATER HAN DYNASTY. 127 series of calamities that bronglit about the downfall of the Han dynasty, (diaug-kioh, a native of North-eastern China, wlio pretended to have a knowledge of the occult arts, raised a rebellion, and in a very short time gained possession of all the northern provinces. His followers were known as the “ Yellow Turbans.” An army was sent against them under Ho-tsin, and his two famous lieutenants — Tung-cho and Ts‘an-ts‘au.* The rebels, after several months’ most sanguinary war- fare, were subdued, and peace was once more restored to the country, but it was only the lull that preceded the hurricane. Ling Ti died after a reign of twenty-two years, and his son succeeded him; his widow being appointed regent. One of the ministers now advised Ho-tsin to put an end to the tyranny of the eunuchs by the massacre of the entire body of them. He gladly listened to this advice, but his sister refused to give her consent, because of the cruelty of the plan. Upon this a scheme was devised for bringing the army under Tung-cho to the ca})ital and of using it to destroy these wretched men. Ts‘au-ts‘au opposed this, on the ground of the great danger of doing so in the present weak condition of the executive ; but his counsels were unheeded, and Tung-cho was ordered to march with all his forces to Lohyang. This ct)mmand was obeyed with the greatest pleasure, for this commander was ambitious, and he saw in the present disturbed condition of things an op[)ortunity for advancing his own interests, and perhaps finally for becoming Emperor. The arrival of this army at the capital now drove the eunuchs to extreme measures, for they had found out by this time that their destruction was determined upon. They were decided that they would not tamely submit to this, and as they believed the death of Ho-tsin would mean their deliverance from their peril they devised a plan by which he was to be got out of the way. Issuing an order as if from the regent to present himself at the palace, Ho-tsin, too confident of success and unsuspecting treachery, obeyed the order, but he had no sooner got witliin its walls tlian he fell beneatli the knives of the infuriated eunuchs. Their triumpli, however, was but short-lived. One of his generals, suspecting foul play, set fire to the palace, when the eunuchs, to the number of two tliousand, streamed out witli the young Emperor and his brother, and fled towards one of the gates of the city. The troops led by Yuan-shan set upon them with the greatest fury, and with the exception of a few, who managed to escape, they were all slain. t The young princes escaped to the hills, but tliey wmre brought back to tlie {)alace next day, where the regent was discovered hidden away in an inner room. At this crisis Tung-cho stepped out from the comparative obscurity in which he had hitherto lived and took the * The three famous traitors of the Han dynasty were — Wang-mang, Tung-cho and Ts‘au-ts‘au. t Yuan-shan was a commander under Tung-cho, but he deserted his standard when he found him harbouri.ig traitorous designs. He joined Ts‘au-ts‘au and became the leader of the party that opposed Tung-cho’s pretensions. 123 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. direction of tlie state into his own hands. Observing that the yonug Emperor was the stronger- minded of the two brothers he deposed him and proclaimed the other as sovereign of China. He then put the regent to death and assumed that office himself. The boy prince that was now made ruler is known by the title of Hien Ti.—{A. D. 190-221) The throne to which this youth now succeeded was one fnll of peril to one much stronger in intellect than he. A man of indomitable will and stern in purpose mi^bt have weathered the storms that were gathering thick and dark around the house of Han, but for Hien Ti there was no hope. His mind was weak and imbecile, and utterly incapable of coping with the daring spirits that were already stretch- ing forth their hands to grasp the sceptre that was falling from his feeble hands. Tnng-cho soon showed what kind of a man he was by murdering the de{)Osed Emperor, and by acts of cruelty such as aroused a bitter hatred asainst him in the breasts of all classes of people. Ynan-shan became the leader of a powerful party that were determined to resist the usurpation of this upstart, bnt Tnng-cho unfortunately had the advantage of legality on his side, for he could declare that all he did was sanctioned by the young Em[)eror, for whom he was acting. The confederates finding it dangerous to remain in the capital tied with their followers to ditferent parts of the country, and there unfurled the flag of rebellion. Lin-piau, a scion of the house of Han, subdued a considerable territory to the south of the Yang-tze and ruled there till his death. Ts‘au-ts‘au fled to Shantung and gathered large bodies of men around him, with which ere long he raised himself to almost regal power. Snn-kieu, who ruled in Wn, the modern Kiangsn and Chehkiang, also opposed Tnng-cho, bnt he was killed in battle, leav- ing four sons, two of whom became distinguished in the coming strug- gles. Liu-chiong became supreme in Sz-chwan, till finally he was dispossessed by Liu-pei, whose romantic story, and those of the heroes that fought with him, have supplied the writers of romance with mar- vellous tales and hair breadth escapes such as have thrilled the hearts of countless readers ever since. Tnng-cho, alarmed by the near proximity of some of the able men that were in arms against him, determined to remove his capital from Loh-yaug to the old one in Shen-si. The former at this time was said to contain several millions of peo[)le, and the vast palaces that had been built and gradually added to in the course of time, to occupy an area of nearly forty miles in circumference. The most loyal and patriotic of the high officials opposed this, but an unanswerable reply to their protests was an order for their execution. Having made up his mind to the removal Tnng-cho had it carried out in the savage barbaric manner that suited the cruel character of THE LATER HAN DYNASTY. 129 his raiiul. First of all, the great palaces that contained the records of the doings and tragedies of the past centuries were set on fire and burnt to the ground. The houses of the people were then entered and plundered of their most valuable property by bauds of robbers that collected amidst all this disorder and misrule. Even the very tombs of the mighty dead were opened and stri[iped of the treasures they contained. After the struggling, sorrowful crowds had quitted their homes for their long and dreary journey, the city was fired and destroyed. It appeared as though a mighty inroad of barbarians had been made upon the capital, and after plundering it the destroyers were hurrying off with their spoil to their native deserts. It seemed altogether inconceivable that such terrible miseries and disasters could have been brought upon the country by any of its own people. To the sorrows of the crowds that struggled along the weary roads they were attacked by the forces of Ts‘au-ts‘au, which, however, were signally defeated by the commander of Tung-cho’s army that accom- panied them on the journey to defend them from such assaults. The deserted capital was taken possession of by Yuan-shan, who endeavoured to restore some order to the wilderness of desolation that now covered the scene, where only a short time before busy crowds and happy homes had existed. He endeavoured to repair the palace, but this he found an impossible task ; yet he did manage to restore somewhat the graves of the Emperors that had been rifled and left open to the winds and storms of heaven. He was fortunate in one tiling, viz., the discovery of the great seal that had been lost at the time of the massacre of the eunuchs. It was discovered down a well on the person of one of the royal ladies who in her flight had cast herself into it. An endeavour was now made by Yuan-shan to give a semblance of legality to his rebellion by appointing one of the princes of the Han family to the throne, but as he wisely declined the dangerous honour all pretence of fighting for the dynasty was given up, and he and the other competitors in the field boldly proclaimed that their aim was the advancement of their own interests. In the year A. D. 192 the career of Tung-cho came to a sudden end. His cruelty had uot only alienated every heart from him, but had also filled all that had anything to do with him with terror for their own lives. A savage and morbid desire to shed blood had seized upon him, and no one knew the moment when an altered look or some negligence in etiquette would not consign him to the ex- ecutioner’s axe. He even designed to murder his trusty and faithful lieutenant, Lupu, through whose devotion his elevation to his present position had been alone possible. Wang-yun, a loyal officer in the court, having discovered this, so worked upon his feelings by showiug him the extreme danger in which he stood, that finally he consented to murder the usurper. To help him to this decision heiuformed him 130 THK HISTORY OF CHINA. that the Emperor had already issued an edict commanding his death, and that therefore he would be acting strictly within tlie law were he to carry out the intentions of his sovereign. A day was at once arranged when the deetl should be done. On the moniing appointed, whilst Tnng-cho was getting into his carriage within the jialace gates, a number of soldiers, who lay in ambush, rushed upon him and attacked him. As he was a large, powerful man, he managed to defend himself for a time. Whilst struggling for his life he kept calling for Lupu to come to his rescue. This officer, who was not far off, seeing the doubtful issue of the conflict, rushed out, and with sword in hand stabbed him to the heart, saying, “ By command of the Emperor I slay a robber.” His head was next cut off and his body thrown outside of one of the gates of the city, where it lay for days, the derision and scorn of every passer-by. Everv member of his father's, mother’s and wife’s families that could be got hold of were ruthlessly slain, in accordance with the savage customs of the times. His death, instead of bringing peace to the empire, caused only more dire confusion. Four generals, having heard of Tuug-cho’s death, returned home without leave, with the forces that were under their command. They appealed to Waug-yun for forgiveness for this breach of military discipline, the punishment for which they knew was death. Being rndely repulsed, they determined to rebel, and having induced the commander of the troops in the city to open the gates for them, they marched in with their soldiers and surrounded the palace. This, of course, soon capitulated, when Wang-ynn, now terrified beyond measure, not only promised them forgiveness, but also high official employment, an offer that was sternly rejected, and he was seized and slain. At this crisis, when the capital was in the utmost disorder, Ts‘au-ts‘au appeared on the scene. It was time he did, for the four generals were quarrelling amongst themselves as to which should be the greatest. One held possession of the palace, and another the person of the Emperor, who managed, however, to escape from his guards, and returned to Lohyang in Honan. When he arrived there it was with the greatest difficulty that he could find a jilace for himself and retinue to live in. It is said that even his great ministers had to take shovel in hand and help to clear away the rubbish and rnins that had once been magnificent palaces, the wonder and admiration of the empire. Ts‘au-ts‘au at the head of three hundred thousand men appeared before Hien Ti and offered him protection against his enemies. The feeble monarch could not do otherwise than accept the aid that this man with such a force behind him rudely thrust upon him. He was immediately invested with such large powers that in a short time he became the real ruler of China, and Hien Ti but a simple puppet THE LATER HAN DYNASTY. 131 iu ]\h hands, whose only function was to legalize his acts by special edicts iu Ids favftnr. From this time Lin-pei begins to take a prominent position in the struggle wh'ch ended in China being rent into three kingdoms.* At first he fought under the banner of Yuan-shan, when the latter served under Tung-cho. Finding that treason was in the camp he and his leader deserted to Ts‘au-ts‘au, but being equally disappointed in him he withdrew his men and became an independent leader, with the professed intention of seizing the crown if he could. In the 11th year of Hien Ti’s reign the oppression of Ts‘au-ts‘au became so intolerable that an effort was made by one of the ladies of the harem, with the assistance of friends outside the palace, to obtain deliverance from a burden that was crushing them all. The unhappy monarch had so little character of his own that he had to rely on the superior energies of the ladies of his household. Unfortunately Ts“'au- ts‘au got information of the correspondence that was being carried on, and he inflicted a terrible vengeance upon the poor woman who had so heroically determined to free her lord. She was seized by this cruel usurper, and though the Emperor went down on liis knees to him, and prayed him to spare her life, she was murdered in the most ruthless and savage manner, and all her kindred, both on her father and mother’s side, were butchered. There is hardly anything that strikes the student of Chinese history so vividly as the barbarous way in which human life was dealt with by those iu authority in early days. Not only were men hurled from power and they and their relatives sacrificed without mercy, but this was done with a refinement of cruelty that shocks one. It would be horrible to describe these mur- ders here, so revolting are they. As one reads them in the Chinese records one gets an insight into the possibilities of cruelty that lie hidden behind the placid eyes and easy going exterior of this people, which to one who does not know them would seem to indicate a child- like nature and gentleness of character that would make them abhor inhumanity of any kind whatsoever. Two other figures now appear to take their share in the tragic events that were hastening the fall of the house of Han. These were Sun-k‘wan and Sze-ma-i. The latter of these was invited by T&'au- ts‘au to take office under him, but fearful of his imperious tem- per he declined to do so. He was not to be put off, however, for he knew that he was a man of great ability, and would be serviceable to him at this time in consolidating his power ; so he threatened him with * Liu-pei was a distant relative of the imperial family. Fortune had not been kind to him, for we find that in his early life he gained his living by making straw sandals. These are worn chiefly by sedan chair bearers and by the poorest class of travellers, who cannot afford shoes, but who need some protection for the feet when travelling along the bad roads of China. They cost only a fraction over a half-penny a pair. He got some notoriety by commanding a body of volunteers tiiat marched to fight the “Yellow Turbans” in A. D. 1S5. In consequence of his association with his two sworn brothers — Chang-fei and Kwan-yu— he became a man of note, and finally a competitor for the throne. 132 THE HISTORY OP CHINA. death if he continned to refuse. To save his life, therefore, he was compelled to accede to his demand, and he graduAlly rose to the highest offices in the government of Wei. The 3’ear A.D. 208 was a meraorahle one for Ts‘au-ts‘an in more ways than one. One of his great competitors, Lin-pian, who had established himself in Kiugehow, the modern Hunan, died, and his son, having tendered his submission, Ts‘au-ts’au led his army to take pos- session of it. Liu-pei, who was living in this territory, knew nothing of this surrender till the enemy’s troops were upon him. He was so taken by surprise that he had to abandon his wives and his only sou Atau, who, however, was rescued by the bravery of Chau-yun, who burst through the enemy’s lines and carried off the infant in his besom. Liu-pei fled from this disastrous battle of Ch‘ang-pan Bridge into Chehkiang, where he was beyond the power of his conqueror. Ts‘au-ts‘au, flushed with victory, and believing that the time was favorable to crush Sun-k‘wan, who had established himself along the southern bank of the Yang-tze, led his army of eighty-three thousand men to the edge of the river, where he had ordered a flotilla of boats to await his coming to carryhim and his men over. Whilst these events were transpiring, Liu-pei joined his forces with those of Sun-k‘wan, whilst his famous general and strategist, Chu Ko-liang, accompanied him. This man was a host in himself, and, together with Chow-pu, also a distinguished leader, he inflicted a crushing defeat on Ts‘an-ts‘au at the great battle of Red Ridge. The fleet of boats was burnt and his soldiers slaughtered in vast numbers, and it was with great difficulty that he escaped being annihilated. After this defeat Sun-k‘wan took possession of Kingchow, which, how- ever, he bestowed upon Liu-pei, and shortly after he gave him his sister in marriage. The latter, after ruling in this district for three years, was invited by Liu-tsaug, the chief of Sz-chwan, to join his forces with his and resist Ts‘au-ts‘au, who was threatening to take his terri- tory from him. Delighted with the larger prospect that was thus suddenly opened up before him he at once set out for the west, leaving Chu Ko-liang and Kwang-yu in charge during his absence. He was met on the frontiers of Sz-chwan by a large detachment of troops sent bv Liu-tsang to escort him to the capital, where he was received with the greatest demonstrations of joy. Ts‘au-ts‘au, having learnt of his departure, thought it was a good op[>ortuuity to attack Sun-k‘wan, but the Latter, by the advice of his general, Lu-mung, threw up a line of embankment at the month of the river Ju-su, near Lnchow, so that -when T‘sau-ts‘an arrived with seventy thousand men to attack him he found the place too strong to capture, and he had to return without accomplishing anything. In the year A.D. 214 Liu-pei, by the urgent advice of his generals, determined to seize Sz-chwan for himself. He accordingly besieged Liu-tsang in his capital, and having carried it by assault his benefac- THE LATER. HAN DYNASTY. 133 tor was banished to a remote district, where he woald have time to ponder over his past, and Lin-pei was installed in his place. From this point the history of the Three Iving'doras may be said to date. It was in this same year that Ts‘an-ts‘an showed the ambitions designs that he cherished in reference to the throne. The Empress Fnh, liaviugmore spirit than her imbecile hnsband, entered into correspond- ence with her father, entreating him to find means to free her hnsband from the tyranny of this mayor of the j)alace. This having come to the knowledge of the latter he sent a company of soldiers into the palace to arrest her. The nufortnnate lady hid herself in a closet, bnt she was discovered and dragged ont in the very presence of Hieu Ti. The mi happy woman, knowing that a terrible doom awaited her, ap- jiealed to her hnsband to save her. Instead of being moved by the cries and tears of his devoted consort he burst ont weeping, and declared that he conld scarcely save himself, much less her. She was then led away to be put to death by the most refined tortures that human ingeunity conld devise. At the same time her two sons were compelled to drink poison, so that they should not be in the way of the ambitions schemes of this cold-blooded monster. Nothing will show better the craven spirit of Hien Ti than the fact that two years after this triple murder he consented to take the daughter of Ts‘an-ts‘an to be his queen in the place of the one that had perished so miserably at the hands of her father. In the year A. U. 217 Ts‘an-ts‘au again led an expedition against Kingchow. He was defeated by Kwaugyn, bnt on the latter’s retwrn he met the forces of Snn-kw‘an, who was determined to retake this territory for himself. This hero, and victor in many battles, nothing loath, advanced to meet the new foe, bnt he was overthrown and slain, and so the long disputed territory came under the control of Snn-kw‘an once more.* In the 3 1st year of his reign Hien Ti resigned his throne, and was made Duke of Shan-ynng. About the same time Ts‘au-ts‘au died, and was succeeded in all his offices by his son Ts‘an-p‘ei, who, after pretend- ing for ten months that he was administering the government in the name of Hien Ti, forcibly seized the crown, when the latter, handing him over the great seal, retired into private life, where in the same year he was ]>nt to death by the orders of the usurper ; and so, amidst weakness and sorrow and murder, ended the career of the house of Liu, that in this famous Han dynasty played so important a part in Chinese history. *Kwan-yu is a famous hero with the Chinese. He was a mighty warrior, but his chief merit lies in the fidelity with which he clung to Liu-pei, whilst he could have bettered his position liad he but listened to the overtures of Ts‘au-ts‘au, who was pre- pared to bestow honours upon Iiim if he would but come over to his side. He is styled “ the loyal and true,” and his image is worshipped as the god of war in countless temples throughout the empire to-day. He was deified in A.D. 1594 by the Ming Emperor, Shen Tsuug, and the present dynasty has adopted him as their patron god. 134 THE HISTORY OP CHINA. THE EPOCH OF THE THREE KINGDOMS. (A. D. 221-265). The Sz-chwan llan Dynasty. Chau Lieh Ti — (A. D. 221-223). Chapter XL have now arrived at one of the most exciting periods of the whole of Chinese history, namely that of the Three Kingdoms. It is full of romance and heroism and hard fighting and great generalship such as have never been exhibited since then. It is to the Chinese what King Arthur and his knights of the round table are to the English, or as the most prosperous days of chivalry when gallant heroes met to decide by some feat of arras some great question, or in some fierce and deadly conflict to fight in defence of right and honour. To the public story-tellers and to the play-actors this period is a perfect mine of incident and adventure that never fails to arrest the attention, and to keep an audience spell-bound as the thrilling stories of this eventful period are described. Who has not read “The Three Kingdoms ?” a book infinitely more marvellous and entertaining than those contained in the most exciting romances in the English language. Every scholar has studied it, and even the unlettered who have been denied by fortune the privilege of dipping into its pleasures can yet relate the marvellous adventures and hairbreadth escapes and the unlooked for stratagems by which their favourite heroes on some occasion escaped destruction from the foe.* In writing the history of this period we have in reality to do with the story of Three Kingdoms. The first and largest, named the Wei, embraced the central and northern provinces with its capital at Loh- yang. The second, named the Wu, controlled the provinces south of the Yang-tze, with its chief city at Nanking ; and the third, called the Sz-chwan Han, ruled over the large province of Sz-chwan, having its seat of government at Chfimgtu. * The Three Kingdoms, which gives a most vivid description of the struggles of this time was written by Ch‘un-shau. The main facts of his story agrees with the standard history of the time, but he has gone into descriptions of men and things that do not appear in it. As he was alive at the time when the great events which he describes took place we may suppose that many of them that he records must be true, whilst the fabulous and the incredible must be put down to the effects of a vivid imagination. As Ch'un-shau has endeavoured to prove that Ts‘au-ts‘au was no usurper but had a right to the succession, he is not considered by the scholars of China to have done his duty as an historian. THE EPOCH OP THE THREE KINGDOMS. 135 As the ruler of this last was a distant relative of the imperial house of Hau historians have always treated him as the legitimate heir to the throne left vacant by the resignation of Hien Ti, and they have refused to recognize the others, whom they look upon as mere soldiers of fortune, who were usur])ers and not worthy to be reckoned amongst the sovereigns of China.* When the news reached Liu-pei that Hien Ti had handed over the great seal to Ts‘au-p‘ei, and that he was shortly after murdered by him, his court and the people of his capital went into mourning for him. He then assumed the functions of royalty and declared himself to be the rightful heir to the throne of China. Clri Ko-liang, or, as he is more (>opularly known, K‘ung-meng, was made prime minister ; his wife, Sun-k‘uan’s sister, was publicly installed as queen, and his son Atau, whose mother, surrounded by Ts‘au-ts‘au’s troops, threw herself into a well, was made heir to the throne. f It was at this time that Liu-pei remembered his friend Kwan-yu, who had been slain by Sun-k‘uan’s general, Lu-meng. In the sworn friendship that he had made with him and Chaug-fei it had been agreed between them that they should live and die together. As he had not been able to die fighting by his side he determined to take a terrible revenge upon the author of his death, and he accordingly gathered an immense army of over seven hundred thousand men and prepared to invade the dominions of Sun-k‘uan and inflict a signal vengeance upon him for his friend’s death. Chu Ko-liang in vain remonstrated with him upon his folly. He showed him that his affairs were not in such a settled condition as to permit him to engage in war with a distant enemy, and besides it was his duty as a sovereign to consider his empire first and his private friendship second. Liu-pei was, however, in such a condition of mind as to be impervious to all arguments, and Chang-fei being of the same opinion, the preparations were hurried on for the campaign. So impetuous was the latter, who had the superintendence of these, and so overbearing in his treatment of his men, that they rose against him and murdered him. Liu-pei, nothing discouraged by this, still determined on carrying out his pur- * In the present history we have decided to follow the example of these great authorities and to make the minor Han the legitimate successor to the previous dynasty. It is not an altogether satisfactory plan, because it ruled over such a very small portion of the empire, and was inferior in many ways to the Wei kingdom, that ultimately emerged the superior power in the contest of the three for universal dominion. t Chu Ko-liang is one of the greatest heroes in the whole range of Chinese history, and there is hardly a man in the empire at the present day who does not know his name and get excited at the mention of his wonderful genius as a general. He was certainly the founder of Liu -pel’s fortunes, for without him he would have been a wandering soldier of fortune without any of the success that ultimately attended him. When he first met with him he was leading the life of a recluse, and for some time resisted all the entreaties of Liu-pei to abandon the reed hut in which he lived and enter upon the world of action in which he was to gain such fame. He not only served Liu-pei with the greatest fidelity, but he also led the armies of his son, and died in one of his cam- paigns against the house of Wei. It is a singular fact that he had two other brothers, each of which served one of the usurping dynasties. In this way the three sons of one family were the important actors in each of the Three Kingdoms into which the empire was now divided. 136 THE HISTOR'y OF CHINA. yiose. Snn-k‘nan, having lieard of his deterniiuation to attack him, sent arabassadui’s to hun and urged that instead of quarrelling witli each other they should unite iu a treaty of frieudship, in order the better to withstand the power of the house of Wei, which was no iusiguilicaiit opponent in the present position of affairs. Finding that he could make no impression upon him he began to arm, whilst at the same time he sent an ambassador to Ts'au-p'ei and tendered his submission to him and offered to hold his territory as his vassal. The latter accepted his offer with joy, although his ministers endeavoured to dissuade him from doing so, on the ground that Sun-k‘uau was not in earnest, but was simply moved by fear of Liu-pei. Ts‘au-p‘ei refused to listen to their advice, and created Sun-k‘uau Duke of Wei, with the command of the large district he already occupied. lu the second year of Liu-pei, his vast preparations having been all completed, he set his army iu motion for the great enterprise on which he had set his heart. Chu Ko-liaug, knowing that the Emperor had not military skill enough to lead such an immense host, was confident that disaster only would attend it, and so made his prejiaratious to minimize it as much as posible. He accordingly built his fiimous “ eight line of battle plan ” and awaited the result with intense anxiety.* Liu-pei led his immense army to the frontiers of Snn-k‘uan’s territory, where he was met by Luh-suu, the general of the latter, with a greatly inferior army. What was lacking iu numbers, however, was made up iu strategic ability. After some mouths fencing with each other a grand battle took place at Hian-ting, when Liu-pei was defeated with great slaughter and compelled to fly for his life, and he never stopped till he had gained the city of Yiug-ugan. Luh-sun, not content with the numbers he had slain and captured on the field of battle, followed hard iu pursuit of the beaten foe, until he came up with the famous structure that Chu Ko-liaug had erected right across what he knew would be the line of pursuit. Arriving in front of this strange looking city he halted his army, and advancing to one of the gates he saw the inscription over it, “ This is the eight line of battle plan. Let any one who thinks himself clever enter in and see what it is like.” Luh-suu, who no doubt thought this a direct challenge to him, and * This eight line of battle plan was modelled on the eight diagrams invented by the famous Fuh-hi. Historians are exceedingly divided in their opinions as to what was the exact description of this celebrated structure that ultimately foiled Sun-k‘uan’s general after he had defeated Liu-pei. The general idea is that in outward appearance it resembled a huge stone city with eight gates. Inside strange sounds were revelling amongst the solitary deserted streets, and the rumbling of thunder and the rushing of mountain streams could be distinguished among them. Whoever trusted himself within its mazes wandered about in a hopeless way, and happy was the man who ultimately succeeded in getting out from what seemed to be enchanted ground. The principle of this wonderful city was adopted in the formation of the army when it was going to battle, and. granted that the commander had sufBcient ability and the troops courage enough to carry it out steadily, any army that attacked it in this condi- tion must infallibly be defeated. This famous military disposition of an army is well known in the present day, and is said to be sometimes employed by Chinese commanders. THE EPOCH OP THE THREE KINGDOMS. 137 who modestly believed that his abilities were great enongh to permit liim to euter a bnildiag of this kind, boldly advanced through the gate, but in a few moments he found himself so bewildered in the mazes of this marvellous city that the more he attempted to disentangle himself from them the more involved he became. When he found it hopeless to win his way out he began to mourn and lament his unhappy fate, but just then his father-in-law, who had been captured by Chu Ko-liaiig, and who had given him the clue to the city, appeared and led him sefely to the outside.* He was so terrified witli his late experience, and so fearful of being led into some other well-planned contrivance for his destruction by Chu Ko-liaug, that he stayed his pursuit of Liu-pei at this spot and returned to his own territory. In the meanwhile Ts‘au-p‘ei, having heard of this great victory, and fearing the effect on Suu-k‘uau’s mind, sent to him and demanded that his son should be given him as a hostage, as a proof of his good faith in the submission he had made to him. 8un-k‘uan refused to do this, when Ts‘au-p‘ei sent an army against him, but it had to return without having accomplished anything. Liu-pei, who had never recovered from the effect of the great defeat that he had suffered at the hands of Lull-sun, and who never again returned to the capital, but remained in the city of Yung-ugau, became seriously ill the following year. He then sent for Chu Ko-liaug and his son Atau to come to him. When they arrived he summoned them both to his bedside and said to his prime minister, “ Your abilities are far superior to those of Ts‘au-p‘ei, and in the coming conflict you need not fear defeat at his hands. I entrust ray sou to you. He is still young. If you find him to be a good man and worthy of your support, then I pray you to defend him with every power you {)ossess and help him to be a good king. If he is not, then take the reins of power into your own hands and reign in your own right.” Touched to the heart by these pathetic words Chu Ko-liaug knelt by his bedside, and with tears declared that as long as life remained to him he should be loyal to his son, and no traitorous thought should ever euter his heart. Liu-pei, turning to his sou, who was deeply affected by this scene, said to him, “ Be a good man and you will be a good ruler. Never for a moment dream that to do evil is a matter of no consequence, and do not give way to small wrongs. A small wrong is still an evil, and can be called by no other name. Do good, even in slight matters, for even though insignificant they still belong to the class of right. I have unfortunately no good qualities that I can ask you to imitate. Chu Ko-liang has both ability and character. Imitate him and be a loyal, affectionate son t(» him, and your reign will be long and my house will be established on the throne of China.” * This story of the eight line of battle plan is not found in the legular history of China. It appears in The “ Three Kingdoms.” 138 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. He was sixty-two years old when be died, and he reigned only three years, which had been troublous ones for him and full of sorrow. His son’s dynastic title was Flow Chu. How Chu. — (A. D. 223-265). This prince, who was only seventeen when he succeeded his father, implicitly followed his dying commands, for he at once handed over the whole management of the State to Chu Ko-liaug, who loyally repaid his confidence in him by the most unswerving devotion. His first advice to him was to make peace at once with his uncle Snn- h‘nan, especially because of the common danger to which they were both exposed from the formidable foe they had in the house cf Wei. This be hastened to do, when Ts‘au-p‘ei, hearing of this treaty of amity between his two enemies, immediately marched a large army to the banks of the Yang-tze with the intention of crossing over and making his vengeance felt on Suu-k‘uau. There seemed a fatality, however, in this great river to the house of Ts‘au. Armies had been repeatedly brought up to its edge, bnt they had never yet been able to get across, and so it happened once more. Lnh-suu had made such efficient preparations to meet the coming danger that Ts‘aa-p‘ei’s soldiers found themselves baffled iu every attem()t to get into Sun-k‘uan’s territory. Jnst then it fortunately happened for the latter that a terrible storm of wind arose that distressed the soldiers very much. Coming from an interior pro- vince and unaccustomed to big waves, they were not only terrified at the sight of them, but, becoming seasick, they were jjerfectly helpless in the management of their boats. They consequently had to return to Loh-yang without accomplishing anything. Chu Ko-liang, having made peace with Sun-k‘nan, now felt prepared to march his armies against the house of 'l’s‘au, the destroyer of the Hans and the usurper of the domains that should by right belong to How Chu. There was only one thing that prevented his immediately carrying out his purpose, and that was his fear lest the Burmese in his rear should take advantage of his absence in the east to march their forces into Sz-chwan and ravage and destroy the country. He deter- mined, therefore, to invaile Burmah, and, having conquered it, to carry out his great project of destroying- the dynasty of W ei. The news of the preparations for the invasion of Burmah having reached the king of that country, he determined to anticipate the enemy by invading his territories. He accordingly led an inainense army into Sz-chwan, which Chu Ko-liaug had no hesitation in meeting. At first his men found great difficulty iu contending with the Burmese, for they were clad iu coverings made of rattan. The swords of the soldiers could not pierce this armour, and the Burmese fought so courageously that the Chinese general was compelled to call forth all the resources of his inventive mind to prevent his being beaten by THE EPOCH OP THE THREE KINGDOMS. 139 them. At last he devised a plan by which he succeeded in defeating them. He ordered his soldiers to bring with them lighted torches, which they applied to tlie bodies of tlie enemies, and at once the irresistible armour gave way. Seven distinct engagements were fought, in each of which the Burmese were defeated, and each time their king was captured. 01m Ko-liang, who wished to touch his heart by his generosity, set him free after each battle, bojiiug in this way to convert him from a foe into a friend, so that he could carry on his great enterprise against the house of Wei without any fear of molestation from an enemy in his rear. Ohu Ko-liang had during these successive engagements penetrated far into Burmah, and the king seeing the hopelessness of continuing the contest with such a general, and moved too by the magnanimity with which he had been treated, sent and signified his willingness to confess that he was conquered and to make a treaty with the house of Han. As the acquisition of territory was not the object of Chu Ko- liang, an arrangement was easily come to, and in a short time he was leading back his victorious army to Ch‘ung-tu. In the following year Ts‘an-p*ei died, and was succeeded by his son Ts‘au-jui, who took the imperial title of Ming Ti (A. D. 227-240). For more than a year Chu Ko-liang was busily engaged in per- fecting his arrangements for the great conflict which he was now determined to wage with the usurping house of Wei. As he would h ive CO advance far from his base, from whence all his supplies would have to be drawn, and as the roads were of the worst possible descrip- tion, he had to think and plan, not merely that his army should be in a fit state to meet the enemy, but also to provide against the thou- sand and one accidents that might happen, and which might wreck his enterprise more thoroughly than the swords of his foe. At length, every preparation having been made, he advanced into Shensi, which for some time was to be the battle ground between the rival forces. H aving sent one of his generals, Ma-su, ahead with a large detach- ment, he himself brought up the rear with the main body of his army. Sze-ma-i, the enemy’s commander-in-chief, had also sent on one of his generals with fifty thousand men, who, encountering Ma-su, so thoroughly defeated him, that his whole force was almost entirely annihilated.* The panic reached even Chu Ko-liang’s army, which soon became a disorganized mass, heedless of the orders of their general, who was compelled to fly to the strong city of Hanchung, which he entered with only three followers. * Sze-ma-i is one of the most famous men, next to Chu Ko-liang, that appears in the conflicts during the time of the ‘‘ Three Kingdoms.” He was no unworthy rival of his great adversary. He had not his brilliant genius, but that he was a commander of no mean ability is shown by the fact that the author of the “ Three Kingdoms ” declared that he managed his armies not like a mere man, but as though he had been inspired by the gods. His policy was a Fabian one, and it was by persisting in it, in spite of all the discontent that frequently arose in his camp, that he was able to prevent Chu Ko-liang from accomplishing the great purpose that seemed to dominate liis life. 140 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. And now we have one of the most famons incidents that has been recorded in the whole of the conflict during these stirring times, and one that has taken such hold upon the popular imagination that to-day it is known amongst every class of society, from the highest to the lowest. The great general was in the most imminent peril, fur he had not long entered the city before the force of Sze-ma-i afipeared before it, and escape from it was now rendered impossible It was then that he had recourse to a stratagem that has made his name famons. He ordered the four gates of the city to be thrown open, whilst he him- self took his position on a tower over one of them and began to play upon his guitar. As the enemy drew near they caught the strains of music, but not a soldier appeared upon the walls, neither could an opposing force be seen within the gates, which were ostentatiously thrown wide open. The commander-iu-chief was seen approaching to examine this strange sight, but still Chu Ko-liang, with his face wreathed in smiles, sang his jo3'OUS songs to the accompaniment of his instrument. “ He seems too happy, does that man,” saiil Sze-ma-i, “ for our comfort, and he evidently has some deep-laid scheme in his brain by which he means to bring disaster upon us all.” As they stood spell-bound, still the notes of the guitar sounded in the air, and its strains fell upon the ears of the thunderstruck soldiers that gazed in wonder upon the lately vanquished general. Chu Ko-liang had long had the reputation of being more danger- ous after he had been beaten than even when he was in the field at the head of his army, and so Sze-raa-i, fearful of some terrible disaster coming upon him, ordered the instant retreat of his army. As the serried ranks of his enemy were seen marching with quick step away from the city the joyous strains of music fell upon their ears and made them hurry away all the faster, for it seemed to them as though they contained a scornful challenge to them to come back and fight it out with their unseen foe. As soon as the last lines of the retreating enemy were seen vanishing in the distance, Chu Ko-liang, who was transported with joy at his marvellous escape, fled with his three friends in the opposite direction to that which the terrified Sze-ma-i had taken. Having ordered that his unfortunate general Ma-su should be 2iut to death for the disgrace he had brought on the country he sent a report to How Chu of his defeat, and requested that he himself should be punished by being degraded three steps for his folly in entrusting so important a command to so incompetent a general. His request was granted, and instead of being prime minister he was made general of the left, though he was still kept in command of the army. During this same year Ts‘au-jui had sent an army against Sun- k'uan, and Chu Ko-liang, hearing of this, detached a part of his force, to the number of thirty or forty thousand men, and went to the assist- ance of the latter ; but he could not do anything effective, as he had to retreat through failure of provisions. The general of Wei, thinking THE EPOCH OP THE THREE KINGDOMS. U1 lu; Imcl an easy prey in an enemy that was retreating, followed witli all his I'orees, but Chu Ko-liang placed an ambuscade so skilfully that his army wa.s defeated and he himself killed. The next year Clin Ko-liang was restored to his honours in consequence of victories he had gained in Shensi and for the capture of two important cities that had belonged to Ts'aujui. In this same year Suu-k‘uau took to himself the title of Emperor, with the royal appellation of Ta Ti (A.n. 222-229). The following year Sze-raa-i endeavoured to capture Han-chung, but failed before the forces of Chu Ko-liang. This city was strategic- ally a most important one, as the man that held it controlled in a great measure the whole of Sz-chwau. Vigorous efforts were therefore made at various times by Sze-ma-i to capture it, but hitherto all his generalship had only ended in defeat. In the yrht that was made upon it by Chu Ko-liang’s men. Two years after this, this great general, who had spent his time in incessant preparations for another campaign, was again in the field in Shensi, and once more the army of Sze-ma-i was in front of him, and, as usual, behind their entrenchments. For the last three years the mind of Cliu Ko-liang had been greatly exercised as to the best means by which to get his sup- plies carried from his base along the bad and dangerous roads of Sz-chwan into Shensi, bevoud which he had never been able to penetrate. His genius had always been foiled and the fruits of vic- tory snatched from him by his inability to command abundance of provisions for his soldiers. It must be remembered that he was not simply a great general ; he was also a man of a mechanical turn of mind. It is said that he invented a kind of an alarm clock that he used to put under his pillow that would wake him at any particular hour of the morning that he wished to rise. He set his mind to think, and the result was he designed a number of self-acting machines that when wound up would proceed along the roads by themselves, subject only to the guidance and control of those that had the charge of them. The name given to them lu the history of the Three Kingdoms is “ the fleet of wooden oxen and horses.” What these were no one at the present day knows, though Chinese writers have discussed them, and men have taken the measurements that have been given in the history and striven to construct similar machines. It would seem that the spring was wound up by the tongue, for as the name iiu[)Iies they were made in the form of oxen aud horses.* Once more Chu Ko-liang was anxious for the fight, whilst Sze-ma-i was just as concerned to defeat his great enemy by the slow process of delay. The former’s men came out every day aud taunted the foe with the most insulting epithets, and sneered at them in language in which the Chinese are perfect masters, but nothing could induce the latter to accept the challenges that were daily hurled at him. At last this astute general sent him a covering for the head, such as widows wear when they attend the funeral of their late husbands, aud which they also keep on their heads in the home as a sign of sorrow and bereave- ment. Sze-ma-i was exceedingly enraged when the messenger brought this, but he restrained himself in the presence of his suite, aud merely sent back a sarcastic message to Chu Ko-liang, praying him not to wear himself out by such hard work, for he had reliable information that he was shortening his life by want of rest and food. The receipt of this female article of attire roused the wrath of the more fiery spirits in the army to perfect fury, and they insisted that the foul insult upon their general and themselves should be washed over by a battle, in * Some have imagined that we have in them the first wheel-barrows that were ever used iu China. See Three Kingdoms in loc. THE EPOCH OF THE THREE KINGDOMS. 143 which they would soou show Chu Ko-liang what kind of material tliey were made of. The commauder-iu-chief, fiuding that he would soon lose all coutrol over his men, agreed to write to Ts‘au-jui and ask him what should be done under the circumstances. This pacitied his officers, and they promised to abide by his decision. Sze-ma-i took care to write a private letter, urging upon him the policy of his forbid- ding him to fight, as he would soou have a bloodless victory through the death of Chu Ko-liang, who he had heard was at that time dan- gerously il). This was only too true. Not long after, this great com- mander breathed his last, to tlie sorrow and consternation of his wliole array. Before his death he gathered his captains about him aud told them not to be afraid of Sze-ma-i. He instructed them to make a figure re{)resentiug himself, and ordered them to place it in such a manner amongst the soldiers that it would be seen by the enemy, aud thus make them believe that he was really alive, and still in command of his men. After Chu Ko-liang was dead, and the rumour had gone abroad, Sze-ma-i was still afraid to take decided action. He did not know whether this report was not got up by him in order to draw him out of his strongly entrenched camp. Even when the enemy began to retreat towards Sz-chwan he followed him with the greatest circumspection, afraid lest some ingenious stratagem should involve his army in disaster. At length, catching a sight of his great enemy, as he thought, he was so terrified that he hastily I’etreated with all his forces in the directiou of Honan. For several years after this the contest was given up by both sides, and each of the Three Kingdoms busied itself more especially about the concerns of its own government. About this time T‘au-jui, having no sou of his own, appointed one that had been adopted to succeed him on the throne. He also became more extravagant, aud built four or five palaces, aud also laid out an immense garden called “The Garden of the Fragrant Forest,” in which were trees and plants and flowers of the rarest description and all kinds of wild animals that had been brought from distant parts of the country to make the collection as complete as possible. In the 16th year of Kow Chu, Ts‘au-jui, otherwise Meng Ti, became very ill, aud fearing that his end was near, he called his great general Sze- ma-i to his bedside, and taking him by his hand, he said, “ 1 have been in great trouble and distress of mind, as I was afraid 1 should die before you could arrive. Now that I have seen your face and can speak to you my last commands I shall die in peace.” He then solemnly delivered over to his care his son Fang and prayed him to be loyal to him and to see that no intrigues of the great mandarins should threaten either his life or his peaceable succession to the throne. Sze-ma-i and a relative of the sick man named Ts‘au-suug, who held high office in the palace, and who was present at this interview, both promised that they would loyally stand by his sou, and that they would defend his rights with their lives. Soou after, Ts'au- 144 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. jtii died, and Fang, under the name of Fei Ti (A.D. 240-254), became his successor in the government of tlie kingdom of Wei, under the guardianship of Sze-ma-i and 'rs‘an-snng. Eight years passed away after this closing scene in the life of Ts‘an-jui, and during them great changes had taken place in the condition of affairs in at least two of tlie three kingdoms. Kow Ohu, after the death of his great mentor CIm Ko-liang, began to degenerate and to show that his character was an essentially feeble one and inclined to that course of dissipation that had marked the end of every previous dynasty. Learning nothing by the sad experience of the past in his own house of Han he made a worthless eunuch of the palace his prime minister and ])laced the whole government in his hands, whilst he gave himself up to the wildest indulgence. Sze- ma-i and 'I'shau-sung had by this time forgotten the solemn promises they had made to Ts'au-jui, and both entertained the most ambitious views for themselves and their families. Ts‘an-snug, being of the royal blood, had more facilities for carrying out his designs, and at last he became so overbearing that Sze-ma-i retired from court, and for two years waited with his friends for the favourable moment ■when he could crush his enemies and seize the supreme power for himself. At last the opportunity for which he had waited so patiently came. At the feast of tombs Ts‘au-fang, Ts‘au-sung and his four brothers set out to visit the ancestral graves of the family and to perform the annual ceremonies before them. Hwau-hwan, the political adviser of Ts‘an-sung, endeavoured to dissuade him from accompanying the royal party by showing the extreme danger to which he was subjecting the dynasty of Wei by leaving no one in the palace to guard against the intrigues of Sze-ma-i and his three sous. He refused to listen to this politic advice, and the party pro- ceeded on their way to the tombs. They had not gone long before Sze-ma-i with his party took possession of the palace, and wishing to secure Hwan-hwau, who was a man of exceptional ability, and murder him, he sent him a message as if from the Queen-Dowager, saying that bis presence was requested by her. Hwan-hwau was too wise a man to fall into this transparent suai’e, and instead of obeying he fled with all baste to Ts‘an-snug and the royal party and informed them that the capital was in the bands of Sze-ma-i and his friends. Sze-ma-i was greatly concernetl about the escape of Hwau-hwan, as he was a man of great ability and quite competent to advise Ts‘au- snug in such a manner as to give him a vast amount of trouble in the dangerous step he bad taken. One of his sous comforted him with the thought that he need not distress himself about the matter, as Ts'au-suug had not the mind to grasp a great idea, and that therefore Hwan-hw'an would find himself utterly disregarded in any measures that he proposed to him in the present emergency. This prophecy turned out to be exactly true. Hwau-hwau’s advice was that the whole of THE EPOCH OP THE THREE KINGDOMS. 145 the royal family should stay where they were, and summoning the troops of Wei from all parts of the state, they would soon find them- selves at tlie head of a force that would more tlian match that which the nsnrper could assemble. Because his family and his property were in the capital Ts'an-siuig refused to listen to this advice, and preferred to run any risk rather than endanger them. Hwan-hwan spent a whole night with him discussing the matter with him, and showed him not only the risk he ran in returning to the place that was held by a man that was now fighting for his life, but also the certainty of success if he followed his counsels. When Hwan-hwan found that his advice was rejected he burst into tears, because he saw the sad fate that was in store for himself and the members of his family in con- sequence of the obstinacy of a man who had not the brain to perceive the danger he was incurring by his folly. Next morning the whole party returned to Lohyang, and Sze-ma-i could hardly believe his eyes when he saw how the very men that he was anxious to destroy were calmly walking into the very jaws of destruction. Ts‘au-sung and his four brothers were at once seized and executed, and so was Hwan- hwan and every member of his fa-mily on whom they could lay their hands. Ts‘an-fawg alone was spared, because the time had not yet arrived for his destruction, and Sze-ma-i was made his prime minister with unlimited powers in the government of the country. In the 26th year of How Cku an attempt was made to overthrow Sze-ma-i by two high officials, who were indignant at the oppressive way in which he ruled, and because they" saw that Ts‘au-fang was too weak to be able to resist his tyranny. They resolved to elevate another member of the Tshiu family to the throne, of greater age and experience, who would draw around him a large number of the influential men who were dis.satisfied with Sze-ma-i and his doings. Before the plans were fully matured they were divulged to Sze-ma-i, who came upon the conspirators with an army, and, seizing those most deeply" implicat- ed in insurrection, caused more than a thousand of them to be executed. In the same year Sze-ma-i died, and was succeeded in all his offices by his son Sze-ma-sze ; only in addition to all he was given the post of commauder-in-chief of the army. In the 2yth year of How Chu, Sun-kfiian, of the kingdom of Wu, died, and was succeeded by his sou Liang, and as there appeared signs that the troo{)S of W ei would again invade the kingdom, the embankment that had been built by Lu-meug at the mouth of the river Ju-su was repaired, and the army put into a state of readiness for an attack. The consequence was that when they did appear they were easily repulsed by Chuko, Liang’s general. The result, however, was fatal to himself, for he became so overbear- ing and haughty because of his success that he incurred the hatred of his own men and also of some of the high officials, who whispered into the ear of Liang that he meditated rebellion. This was enough to seal his doom. He was invited to a feast given in his honour by 146 THE HrsrORY OF CHINA. Liang, where he was mnnlered, and, as was customary in those barbar- ous days, his father’s, mother’s and wife’s families were exterminated. Ts‘au-fang, of Wei, had fallen into evil hands when he came under the control of Sze-ma-sze. The latter was a most cruel and relent- less tyrant. He first put to death a high official with whom the king was seen to talk too often, because he felt convinced they were plotting his destruction. Then he had the queen and her father executed for the same reason, and finally in the same year he deposed the young king (A.D. 254) and put a nephew of Ts‘au-jui, a lad fifteen years’ old, named Ts‘au-mau, in his place, whose dynastic title was Shan Ti. This same year How Chu’s general, Ch‘iang-i, met the forces of Ts‘au- mau in Shensi, but the commander of these, adopting the tactics of Sze-ma-i with Chu Ko-liang, kept behind his entrenchments till Ch‘iang-i’s provisions were all exhausted, and he had to retreat with- out accomplishing his purpose. ’J'he oppression of Sze-ma-sze, became so unbearable to Ts‘au-mau that he entered into a plot with three of his ministers to murder him. The difficulty was in carrying it out, for all the officials in the palace were friends of the usurper. At last it was determined that on a certain day they should gather their adherents before notice could be given to any one of their intentions, and that they should at once proceed to the house of Sze-ma-sze and capture and put him to death. This plan would have succeeded, but two out of the three conspirators went and divulged it to the usurper. When the party arrived they found his general with his soldiers ready to receive them, and in the mel6e Ts‘an-mau was killed by his order. Sze-ma-sze soon after arrived at the palace, and having ordered the execution of the mandarin that was faithful to Ts‘au-mau he found his power more firmly fixed than ever. As he was not yet prepared to seize the imperial power, he put Ts‘au-hwan, a descendant of Ts'au Ts‘au, in the place of the murdered prince, who took the title of Yuan Ti (A.D. 260). In the thirty-eighth year of his reign How Chu gave still further evidence of the weakness of his character morally by the abandoned life that he openly led. Instead of being guided in the government of the country by wise and faithful counsellors, he put himself entirely into the hands of a eunuch and a Tanist priest, who pretended to be able to control the supernatural and to have a know- ledge of coming events. The only general of any note that he had was Ch‘iang-i, but he was so disgusted with the way things were managed in the capital that he withdrew with his soldiers to guard the frontiers against the irruption of the barbarians. The time, however, had now arrived when all the abilities of Oh‘iang-i would be required to protect the last scion of the house of Han in his limited sovereignty. Sze-ma- chau,* being exceedingly annoyed at the persistency with which How Chu continued to send armies into Shensi to endeavour to overthrow his * Sze-ina-sze after four years’ exercise of power died, and was succeeded by bis brother, Sze-ma-chau. THE EPOCH OP THE THREE KINGDOMS. 147 dynasty, determined to put forth all his energies, and not only for ever stu}) this perpetual annoyance and expense, bnt also crush out the last remains of the Han dynasty and add its territories to his own. There was a division amongst his advisers on this point, and the majority were against such a hazardous undertaking ; but one of them, more courageous than the rest, raised his voice loudly for the expedition, which he declared was sure to succeed. He felt certain of this for two reasons : because the great Chu Ko-liang was dead, and How Clin had no general of his ability to meet their troops in the field ; more important still, however, was the fact that How Chu was leading a dissolute life, and therefore heaven would withdraw its support from such a man, who would in consequence inevitably fall. This advice so harmonized with the wishes of Sze-ma-chan that the campaign was there and then decided upon. An immense force was collected, and before Ch‘iang-i could organize his troops more than three hun- dred thousand men were marching on Sz-chwan. Ch‘iang-i hastened with what men he could hastily collect towards the enemy, and at the same time he sent messengers as fast as fleet horses could carry them to the capital, and urged upon How Chu if he would save his kingdom to send on soldiers as fast as he could, to enable him to meet the large army that had already nearly reached the borders of Sz-chwan. How Chn, terribly alarmed, consulted the eunuch and the Tanist priest, who were the real governors of the state, as to what should be done in this important crisis. The latter, after consulting the spirits, declared that there was no danger from the enemy, as they would soon retire broken and defeated to their own territory, and that he need not therefore have any concern about the future. How Chu, who was completely under the control of this man, was so satisfied with his reply that nothing whatever was done to relieve Ch‘iang-i, neither did he think it necessary to inform any of his ministers of the danger that was hanging over the state. Ch‘iaug-i boldly advanced into Shensi to meet the enemy, but he was soon defeated by the over- powering numbers he had to contend with, and he retreated across the border into Sz-chwan and occupied the strong town of Chieu-ko. Here Chung-hwei, the commander of Sze-ma-chau’s army, followed and in- vested the place. He could, however, make no impression upon it, and as the time went by and provisions became scarce he began to think of retreating. His second in command, Ting-ai, strongly dissuaded him from this, as he showed him that certain and complete success was almost within their grasp. Having obtained a large flying column from him he set out on the hazardous but brilliant idea of surprising the capital, which he had learnt was entirely undefended. Diving off into the mountains and avoiding the main I’oads by which intelligence of his movements could be carried to How Chu, he gradu- ally worked his way towards Chflmg-tu. This road was of the most perilous and romantic character. Tiug-ai and his men had to travel 148 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. over most rlangpi’ons paths, from which men of ordinary nerve would have shrunk. They had to ascend high mountains and crawl along the edges of precipices, and cross great gullies, and climh down tlie face of the rocks by the aid of the creepers that covered them. But nothing could shake their coui’age. for tliey knew that the enterprise would be crowned with a success that would bring them honours and rewards. For more thau two hundred miles this heroic band ])ursued its way, till like a thunderbolt it burst upon the devoted capital and demanded its instant surrender. As no preparation had been made for such a calamity the greatest consternation prevailed amongst all classes of the people. The eunuch Wang-ho, who had beeu the cause of this terrible disaster, advised How Chu to submit, and get the best terras he could from the enemy. The crown prince opposed this cowardly way of settling things, and urged that the city should be defended and messengers sent post-haste to summon soldiers from all parts of the state to meet the foe that had dared to appear before their gates. How Chu, of a naturally feeble character, and weakened in mind by his excesses, was not prepared for the bold advice' of his son, and declared his intention of doing as Wang-ho advised. Finding that remonstrances were of no avail, the sou went away to the ancestral temple of Liu-pei, and there wept out the story of the disasters that had come upon his children in the hearing, as he believed, of his spirit. After this he went home, and having slain his wife and children he committed suicide, determined that none of them should be subjected to the indignities and sufferings that he knew awaited them at the hands of the victorious enemy. When this tragedy was over, How Chu, with his chief officials, proceeded to where Ting-:ii was encamped, outside the city, with their hands tied behind their backs and with their coffins accompanying them, where they made an unconditional surrender of themselves and the capital. How Ohu’s life and those of his ministers were spared, but after his entry into the city Ting-ai ordered the execution of the eunuch Wang-ho. This wretched man, through whose ambition and folly the Emperor had lost his throne and his kingdom, escaped the due punishment of his offences by brib- ing heavily the officials who had influence with Ting-ai. As he was immensely rich he could do this to some purjxise, and he was allowed to escape the death he so well merited. Ting-ai, dazzletl with the ease with which he had overthrown a dvnasty that the most skilful commanders had so reiieatedly failed to do, began from this time to entertain the iilea that this was a grand opportunity for his founding a dynasty of his own, and for his taking possession of a throne that lay temptingly before him. He accordingly memorialized Sze-ina-chau to be allowed to remain in Sz-chwan two or three years, in order not only to rest his soldiers after their exhaust- ing campaign, but also to thoroughly conquer the country, so that all disaft’ection might be crashed out of it. THE EPOCH OF THE THREE KINGDOMS. 149 Sze-ma-clian, catching at once the intention of his successful general, immediately sent orders for his being superseded in his com- mand and fur his instant return to the capital, which order he refused to obey. In the meantime treason was spreading further than in the camp of Ting-ai. 'fhe commander-iu-chief who had been detained before the entry of Ohien-ko, but which had been handed over to him in consequence of a command of How Chu after he had surrendered, began to believe that he was the rittest nnin to grasp the sceptre that had just fallen from the feeble hands of the late king. To carry out his purposes with more certainty' of success he felt he must have Cli‘iaug-i to co-operate with him. He accordingly entered into a secret correspondence with him, promising him a high position in the govern- ment if he would throw in his fortunes with him and help him to be- come Emperor. Ch‘iaug-i, who was thoroughly loyal to his king, saw iu this proposition a plan by which he might still save the dynasty. He therefore pretended to go heart and soul into the conspiracy, and that it might not fail, he said it was essential that Ting-ai should be removed from the country, as he was too able a man and too well beloved by his soldiers to have him to contend witli iu the carrying out of their dangerous projects. Chung-hwei readily agreed to this, and as the most successful way of getting rid of a formidable rival he memorialized Sze-ma-chau and declared that Ting-ai was meditating rebellion, aud the sooner, therefore, that he was recalled the better it would be for the state of Wei. Upon the recei[)t of this at Lohyaug orders were sent to Wei'hwau, who had superseded Ting-ai, to have him sent home under arrest, and if he resisted to have him at once slain. This order was immediately carried out, and Ting-ai was sent home under arrest, whilst far greater traitors than he were left behind to carry out their treasonable schemes. Oh‘iaug-i now proposed to Chung-hwei, in furtherance of his own secret design to get rid of the most promi- nent of his enemies, that all the chief officers in his army should be slain, as they were not likely to be all willing to go in for the treason they were plotting. This scheme, unfortunately for him, came to the ears of these men, when they rose iu insurrection and murdered both the commauders, and the camp for several days was in the greatest possible disorder. Wei-hwan, who was also iu the plot, hearing of the tragedy that had taken place in the camp, and fearful that Ting-ai, when he got to the capital, would make disclosures that might implicate him, at once sent express messengers that overtook him on the road and murdered him. With the death of these meu the cons[)iracy ended, aud Sz-chwan was added to the already large dominions of Wei. How Chu was carried to Lohyaug aud kindly treated by Sze-ma chau, who saw in him a dissolute, weak-minded rival, who cared much more for the enjoyments of life than for the power of a throne, and iu contempt for him he made him “ Duke of Pleasure.” 150 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. With the fall of How Clm the Haa dynasty disappears from history, excepting in so far as the influence of the laws that were pass- ed and the men that lived in tliose stirring times have affected tlie national life ever since. After tliese successes Sze-ma-chau thought it was time to take more decided steps to show what was the purpose and aim of his life. He assumed the title of king and made his wife queen, and his son was recognized as the heir apparent. He only refrained from actually becoming Emperor, because the risings in Sz-chwan were not entirely suppressed, and he felt, before he did this, he mast leave no trouble abroad that might endanger the position he had taken. There was one year therefore in which Yuan Ti was still allowed to have the nominal sway over the country. During this tbe king of Wu, Kiug-ti, died, and was succeeded by his cousin, whose title is Mo-ti (A.D. 265). Next year Sze-ma-chau died, and was succeeded by his son Sze-ma-yeu. Yuan Ti, knowing that the farce of his ruling was now at an end, resioned his perilous position and retired into private life, thus giving way for the founder of the new dynasty. THE WESTERN T8TN DYNASTY. 151 THE WESTERN TSIN DYNASTY (A, D. 265-317). Wtc Ti.—(A. D. 265-290 J. Chapter XII. 'rf^T'HEN Wn Ti seized the imperial power he was thirty years of age, and he gave the name of Tsiu, the ducal title that had been bestowed upon his father by Mo Ti, to his new dynasty. He seems to have been an easy-tem{)ered man, and not of that ferocious description that would have caused him to initiate his rule by the wholesale slaughter of all the members of the late dynasty. His first acts indeed showed that he had a sincere desire to rule his people well and to consider what was for the welfare of the state. He introduced a system of economy into the palace and amongst the mandarins, which he hoped would influence the people generally. The rulers of Wei had been noted for their lavish expenditure, and the example thus set had been imitated by the wealthy classes, and they again by those below them, so that the people were in danger of being impoverished by the extravagance that characterized every grade of society. He set an example of moderation in his own person. When he went to the ancestral temple of his fathers to offer the usual bullock to their spirits he ordered that it should not be led by a silken rope as usual, bat by a hempen one. This was but one of the many reforms which he introduced for the good of the people. His sou Chung was appointed heir to the throne, much to the disgust of the great mandarins, for he was half an idiot, and altogether incapable of ruling at a time when mind and energy were required to guide and strengthen the new dynasty. In his fifth year Wu Ti made plans for the overthrow of the Wn dynasty, so that China should no longer be a country divided into several kingdoms, but should be one, as it was before the troubles and rebellious that resulted in the division of the empire into three king- doms. To assist him in this enterprise he employed the famous states- man and commander Yanghii. This man was of noble ancestry, of great military skill, and noted for his virtues, both in public and private life. Wn Ti made him governor of that part of Kiugchow that was under the rule of the Emperor. This was to be the base from which the movements were to be made that would finally end in the extermina- tion of the house of Wu. No better man in the whole empire could have been found for this purpose than he. Without meeting of hostile armies, or the clash and sound of battle, the victory was gained by the 152 THK HISTORY OP CHINA. "entle life aiul by the conspicnons virtues tluat made him loved both by friend and foe. AVhen lie reached his government his first care was for the welfare of his soldiers. He found that only ten day.s’ provi- sions remained in the commissariat, and that he was expectedi, like other great commanders, to make the land of the enemy support his men. This he utterly refused to do, not only because it was contrary to his own instincts of justice, but also because it would defeat the very end he had in view, and that was to subdue the people of Wu, not with the sword, but with his righteous way of administering his government. He wanted to let them see that in submitting to the Emperor they were exchanging an oppressive rule under which they now groaned for a just one under the Tsins. He therefore turned the great majority of his men into farmers. A ]dot of land was given to each, and with the natural instinct that a Chinaman has for cultivating the soil not many mouths had passed by before the camp was filled with abund- ance of food that made them quite independent of friend or foe. In the eighth year of Wu Ti’s reign an event took place that was destined to work evil consequences to the new dynasty. The heir Chung married a wife from the family of Ku. She was a clever woman and greatly beloved by her half-witted husband, but she was cruel and wicked, and just the kind of person that would wreck the fortunes of any person or thing over which she had any control. We shall meet with her by and by, when she begins to take a prominent place in the counsels of the state. This same year was marked by an irruption of the “White-horsed Barbarians” into Sz-chwaii. The com- mander-in-chief sent his second in command with an army against them, but for some reason, which history fails to give, he killed his chief, and then with those of his soldiers that would follow him, joined tb.e barbarians. As this was an act that could not be overlook- ed, another army larger than the first was sent the long dreary journey into Sz-chwan, and after vast toil and hardships, it met the daring intruders and sent them swiftly back across the river of the golden sands into their own country. During this same year Wu Ti made serious prei>aratious for an invasion of the Wu territory. The soldiers of Yanghu were called away from their fields and their agriculture to the banks of the Yang-tze to prepare boats in which they might cross, the river, which during so many campaigns had always proved a most successful barrier to the hosts that had endeavoured to invade the land beyond. The versatility of the Chinese is shown in this remarkable undertaking. The great majority of these men had never seen a boat in their life, and yet when the order came to them to leave their fields and march to the great river’s brink they complied, with the conviction that they could accomplish anything that men of their own rank had done before them. When the ruler of Wu saw the vast pre])aratious that were being made for an invasion of his dominions he began to take such THE WESTERN TSIN DYNASTY. 153 measnres as would thwart the designs of his enemies. He had iron stakes driven into the river at regular intervals along the shore for a great distance along it, and he had also chains fastened from point to point in the islands which studded the river, so that no boats might pass. The river was thus so strongly fortified that the attempt to cross it was given up for the present as impracticable. Meanwhile Yaughu, with his noble policy of doing right, and his generous treatment of his people, was doing more for the subjugation of the kingdom of Wu thau all the armies of Tsin and all the ships that were being built to carry the armed hosts across the unwilling river could accomplish. He made it a principle that everything his soldiers got from the people should be paid for. If a wild animal, wounded in the territory of Wu, was pursued and hunted down by himself or his retinue in the chase, it was sent back again across the boundary. The result of all this ended in extreme friendliness between Yanghu and Luh-k‘ang, the commander of the Wu forces- Coinpliments were continually being exchanged between them. The latter made a present of wine to Y^anghu, and when his officers warned him against drinking it, as it might be poisoned, with the generous and unsuspicious feelings of a large-hearted man, he at once tasted it to show that he believed in the honesty of the man that sent it. When, too, Luh-k‘ang was ill, Yanghu sent him some medicine which he believed was good for the complaint from which he was suffering. This generous rivalry as to who should outdo the other in kindness is an exceedingly beautiful sight, especially iu an age when men were wont in war and rival politics to consider the lives of their oppouents as of no value whatsoever. In the lUth year of Wu Ti, Luh-k‘ang died, and left his five sons in command of the army that was opposed to that of the Tsius. This year another famous captain in Chinese history, C'how-ch‘u, was appointed to the commaud of the army iu Sz-chwau, whose duty it was to guard that beautiful region from the incursions ol the Burmese and other barbarians, and also to overcome any of the adherents of the late dynasty who might be inclined to rise in rebellion against the present one.* * Chow-ch‘u in early life was a man of very indifferent morals. He was of very powerful physique and a rough, fierce fellow that caused alarm and terror to the neighbourhood in which he lived. One day he was walking along the road, when he came upon an old man sitting by the side of it with sad and mournful countenarice. Standing before him, in a rough and boisterous voice he said to him, “Why are you so miserable looking? The times are good, and no disaster is happening to the people; why should you be so full of sorrow as you aj)pear to be ? ” The old man said, “ I have three causes for sorrow which are quite enough to make me as wretched as I seem to be.” " What are these,” he asked; “perhaps I may be able to remove them.” “The first is the tiger with the white forehead on the hills over yonder that descends into our plain and devours people,” he replied. “ The second is the dragon by the ' Long Bridge ’ that devours people that cross over, and the third is yourself.” “Oh!” replied Chow- ch‘u. struck to the quick that he should be considered one of the public enemies of society. “I’ll undertake to remove them all, so that you need not sorrow over them any more.” Shortly after he slew both the tiger and the dragon, and then, associating only with good men, he became so reformed that every one instinctively turned to his great strength as a protection against violence and injustice. 154 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. This year, too, the queen died, and in the following one the Emperor married her younger sister. Her father agreed to this, but her uncle was violently opposed to the marriage, and in a memorial to the Emperor he showed him the danger of patting such honour upon any one farail3% as it might prove perilous to the state from the great influence it would give it. He also showed him what calamities it might bring upon the members of it at his death, when the enemies that his favour towards it had created would revenge their grievances by the murder of every member of it, as was the common custom of the day. The Emperor, who was deeply in love with the lady, would not listen to any of these remonstrances, but consented to give him a document that would secure him from violence in the future by de- claring that he had nsed all his influence in endeavouring to prevent the marriage. Future events will show that this did not save him from the fate that he knew would be likely to fall upon him. In the thirteenth year of his reign Wu Ti made Yanghu a viscount and appointed him commander-in-chief of the armies that were being gathered for the overthrow of the kingdom of Wn ; but the next year be returned to his home and died, to the great regret of the people of Wn. When the news reached them every one was oppressed with sorrow, as though some dear friend had died. All business was stayed for a time, and the people were affected even to tears. They erected a stone tablet on a hill that he was fond of walking on, and it was called the “Tablet of the Falling Tears,” for as the crowds came to look at it out of respect to his memory the tears fell fast from every eye for the loss of a man who was a public benefactor to the whole region. In the meantime things were going on badly in the state of Wn, in consequence of the licentious and wicked conduct of its ruler, Snn- hau, who neglected his duties and gave himself up to the most dis- sipated and abandoned of pleasures. His cruel disposition was shown in the reckless way in which be murdered tbe officials about his palace. He would invite a certain number at a time to a banquet which he had prepared for them. He would there insist upon their drinking freely of the liquors which were purposely placed in profusion on the tables. None might refuse to drink without incurring the anger of Suu-hau, though they were aware of the terrible consequences to themselves should they drink. After the liquor began to take effect, the actions and words, and even the very looks, were carefully taken down and recorded by eunuchs in an ante-room, who were stationed there by the ruler’s orders, and next day a fearful reckoning was made with those who, when under tbe influence of the strong drink, had been guilty of any indiscretion or any breach of court etiquette. The man that had become drowsy and had dared to sleep in the royal presence had his eyes torn out. The one whose face was flushed and red had the skiu THE WESTERN TSIN DYNASTY. 155 flayed from off his cheeks, and those who had spoken disrespectfully had tlieir teeth broken to pieces. Such terrible cruelties alienated the hearts of all men from him, and they were only too ready for the change of masters and submis- sion to the Tsin Emperor. The general of the Tsin army in Kingchow, Towyin, memorialized Wu Ti to come and take possession of the country, for he would not find au}^ to oppose his march into it. The latter willingly complied with this request, and immediately sent a force of over two hundred thousand men with which to occupy the country. The five sons of Lnh-k‘ang, who had command of the troops, at once submitted, and thus at one stroke this important district was added to the possessions of Tsin. The imperial army was then march- ed to the bank of the Yang-tze, when Towyin floated down immense rafts of wood, which were covered with combustibles which, being set on fire, were allowed to drift on to the iron chain barriers, which melted under the great heat. The army then crossed the river, for this time the foe made no attempt to thwart the enterprise, and march- ing to Nanking they invested the city. Suu-hau, seeing no hope of delivery, acted the part of How Cha when his capital was besieged, and with his hands tied behind his back, and with his coffin accompanying him, he marched out of the gates and delivered himself up to the enemy. Express messengers were at once despatched to inform Wu Ti of the success, who is said to have wept when he heard the joyfol tidings, and to have exclaimed, “Ahl this victory belongs not to my soldiers, but to Yanghu, and now he is gone and cannot share in the success that his goodness and justice have obtained for me.” The life of Sun-hau was spared, and Wu Ti, in gratitude to Heaven for what he believed was its decision that he should rule over this whole empire, made him the “Duke Resignation to the Will of Heaven.” He also took the five thousand women that composed Sun-hau’s harem into his own, which now consisted of the modest number of ten thousand. Wu Ti, now finding himself the recognized sovereign of the whole empire, and {>eace prevailing throughout its borders, gave himself up to luxurious indulgence, to the neglect of the best interests of the state. The court soon became too hot for the old and loyal ministers, who were gradually replaced by the relatives of the queen, of whom the Emperor was greatly enamoured. One day Wu Ti asked one of the Imperial censors, with which one of the Emperors of the Han dynasty he would compare him. He promptly replied that the only ones that he could think of were Hwan Ti and Ling Ti. “ But why should you couple my name with theirs,” he asked in astonishment, “ since they caused the overthrow of that dynasty.” The censor replied, “You are worse than either of those two. When Hwan Ti, for example, sold the 156 THE HISTORY OF CHINA, government offices the money obtained was put into the public treasury, but now it goes to your own private account.” “There is one thing,” said the easy-going, good-tempered mo- narch, in which 1 am superior to him, “I have a faithful and loyal minister to tell me of my faults, which he did not have, and for this I am thankful.” Two years after his defeat and submission Suu-hau died, and with him disappears the kingdom that had played such a stirring part in the great contests of the Three Kingdoms. For four years the empire was engaged in a deadly struggle with the Sienpi, who came in great force into Shensi, aud wished to take possession of that part of the country. It was cnly after severe fighting and a large number of lives had been lost that they were finally subdued and the barbarians were driven back. The next year after the victory had been gained over them, and in the twenty-fifth year of his reign, W u Ti died, when his idiotic son Chung succeeded him on the throne. His dynastic title is Hwei Ti.—(A. D. 290-307). No sooner did this prince ascend the throne then his vigorous and wicked queen at once took the reins of power into her own hands. It is true that for a time she dissembled and allowed the wife of the late Emperor to remain in the palace with the honour and a certain amount of power that a queen-dowager always has in China, and that her father held the great aud important position of genera- lissimo of the forces. Siie was, however, only biding her time when she would in a most tragic way remove every one of the house of Yang out of the way, so that she could reign with undisputed sway. Her husband, imbecile as he was, was in mortal dread of his spouse, and consequently carried out her orders most implicitly. In this way he gave a legal sanction and authority to all her acts, the most of which he would have shrunk from acknowledging had he been sane enough to have known the meaning of them. His son Luh, by a concubine, a clever, intelligent lad, and one deeply beloved by his late grand- father, was appointed heir to the crown, as he had no children by his own queen. Not many mouths had passed by before the queen had put her terrible purpose of murder into such a* shape that she could carry it out. She plotted with some of the court officials, aud they agreed to make the accusation to the Emperor that Yaugtsun was conspiring to rebel and seize the throne, and that his daughter, the queen-dowager, was concerned in the plot. At the same time she brought soldiers into the capital, and quietly, before he was aware of it, had surround- ed the house of the commander-iu-chief with four hundred troops. She also got her poor weak husband to sign a decree that he should be put to death for treason. The queen-dowager realized the extreme danger to which she and every one of her name were exposed, and yet THE WESTERN TSIN DYNASTY. 1!)7 she was so surrounded b}' the friends of the queen tliat she could take no active measures to save her father. Driven to despair, she wrote a short note, and t3'iug it to the end of an arrow shot it at random from her •window. In this she promised great rewards and high honours to any one that would rescue him from his peril. The queen, who soon got to know of what had been done, at once circulated the report that the family of the queen-dowager was meditating rebellion, and declared that any one that moved in her behalf would be implicated in her wrong. In consequence of this no one durst lift a finger in aid of the doomed family, for not only were people afraid of her vengeance, but they also shrunk from complicity with a crime which the Chinese have always looked upon with the utmost abhorrence, namely treason to the state. Yangtsuu’s house was set on fire by the soldiery, and when he attempted to escape and fled into the stables he was cut in pieces by the soldiers. Three of his brothers were killed at the same time, one of them being the uncle who protested against his niece marrying Wu Ti, and who had been given a document insuring his safety shoidd any danger come to him through the alliance in the future. When the officers came to seize him he produced the safeguard that Wu Ti had given him; but the queen was not a person to mind the existence of any number of such documents, and he was murdered whilst protesting against the injustice that was being done him. The queen-dowager was sent to the city of Kinyang, where she was left without any food or attendants, and in eight days she died of starvation. In the fourth year of the Emperor the Sienpi again made an irrup- tion into China and penetrated as far as Honan, hut after capturing some important places they were defeated and had to retire. Tw'o years after, the country was once more distressed by a tribe of nomad shejtherds that lived to the west of Sz-chwan and Kausuh, called the Chfiaug barbarians. The Emperor sent Hia-heu, his commander-iu- chief, against them, with Chow-ch‘u as his second, to meet them in the field. When the chief heard that the latter was to be opposed to them he is said to have remarked to his officers, “ We shall never be able to contend with a man of such abilities and sterling character as he ; our only chance of success is by meeting the enemy when another commands.” As the Ch‘iaug had not penetrated further than Shensi it took the imperial troops some time to march from the capital to where they were. The commauder-in-chief, who was jealous of the fiime of Chow-ch‘u, determined during the present campaign that it should suffer an eclipse. He accordingly sent him forward with five thousand men to attack the barbarians, who, with their chief, were stationed near Singan fu with seventy thousand. Chow-ch‘u was too brave a soldier to refuse the perilous honour that was assigned to him. He only requested the commander to hasten to his aid as speedily as possible, as otherwise he and his men must inevitably perish. 158 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. They fought the liveloug day, till their arrows were all spent and their bow-strings broken. Many an agonizing glauce did they cast back in the direction of their comrades, but not a single soldier came to their relief. After performing prodigies of valour and killing large numbers of the foe, Chow-ch‘u and nearly all his men were slaiu. Next day the main body came up and engaged the Sienpi, but it was defeated with great slaughter and utterly demoralized and dis- persed. The barbarians were now free to work their will on the lauds and people of Shensi, and most terrible were the sorrows that these ruthless invaders brought upon the inhabitants. For a whole year they were left in undisturbed possession of the region, and it was not till a new army under Mungkwan reached the scene that retribution came upon them, and they were driven ignominiously across the borders into their own territories. The queen, who more and more absorbed the power of the state, and of whom the weak Emperor had a growing apprehension, showed the utter wickedness of her heart by the immoralities of which she was guilty. Her expenditure, too, was on a most lavish scale, and to meet it she had recourse to the most shameless and open sale of government offices. She seemed to have no regard for public opinion, either as to her own private life or to her methods in the government of the country. She removed every one from her path that seemed in any way likely to be a hindrance to her, and even Luh, the sharp, intelligent son of her imbecile husband, was poisoned by her orders, lest when he came of age he might revenge upon her the injuries that he and his mother had received from her. At length, in the year A.D. 300, Sze-ma-lun, seeing that she was determined upon the destruction of all the family of Sze-ma-i and of placing her own in possession of the royal power, took measures to forestall her, and hastily gathering a body of men devoted to him he entered the capital unexpectedly, and seizing the person of Hwei Ti he placed him in a secure part of the palace. He then ordered his men to convey the queen to the same place where the queen-dowager had been starved to death. She was left there without any attendants and without any food, and by a just Nemesis she suffered the same fate as her unhappy victim. He next proceeded to exterminate as many of the queen’s family as he could lay his hands upon, and thus in this tragic way the house of Ku disappears from the prominent place it had just occupied in history. After this Sze-ma-lun made himself prime minister of Hwei Ti and assumed the direction of affairs with Sun-siu as his political adviser. By the advice of the latter he put to death the great mandarins who had made any opposition to his late action, and he took a terrible revenge upon all his enemies. The millionaire of his time, too, suffered THE WESTERN TSIN DYNASTY. 159 death, simply because Sun-sin had been denied a beautiful concubine of his, which he had refused to give up to him.* Sze-ma-lun, from the time he stepped into power, formed the design of making himself Emperor, but nature had not given him the mental capacities for such a distinguished position. He was a coarse and illiterate man, and his only excuse for being in the exalted rank he now occupied was entirely owing to his being a relative of the reigning Emperor. He showed his incapacity for comprehending the respon- sibility of governing a great empire like China by elevating all his friends, no matter how unsuited, to offices under government. The lowest menials about the palace who had accompanied him in his raid on the capital were elevated to be high officers, and even his cook was enabled to bid adieu to his kitchen forever and become a magistrate and exercise judicial functions over the people. Several of the brothers of Hwei Ti, seeing the treasonable designs that Sze-ma-lun entertained, and judging that any one of them had a better right to the throne than he, combined their forces, and meeting him in battle they overthrew and slew him. One of them was made commander-in-chief, and the rest were all elevated to responsible positions, where their powers were very large, and poor Hwei Ti, who was unconscious of all the plots and counter- plots by which his power had been threatened, again went through the farce of being recognized as the supreme authority in the state. The real ruler was not he, but one of his brothers. Prince Ts‘i. This man was prodigal and dissipated, and em[)loyed men to be the rulers of the people who were bad and wicked like himself. People became discontented with his rule, for Hwei Ti, as usual, was a mere puppet in the hands of the intriguers that thronged his palace. Before the year was out prince Ts‘i was murdered by another brother, who at once stepped into the offices he had held and pretended to administer the government in the name of the Emperor. Two other brothers — Yung and Ying — being dissatisfied at this state of things, and deeming that they were the proper persons to have the guardianship of the Emperor, rose in rebellion. The new minister. Prince Ngai, accom- panied by Hwei Ti, led an army against Ying, but whilst they were fighting, Yung advanced upon the capital with his forces and took pos- session of it. He showed the kind of spirit by which he was animated by murdering ten thousand of the citizens. The Emperor now return- ed to face the danger that was threatening his existence, but his army * Shih-ch‘ung, the wealthiest subject that we meet with in history, and who had the reputation of being the Croesus of China, was a man of unbounded hospitality, but was also, in accordance with the habits of the wealthy men of this land, dissipated and immoral in his habits. No doubt Sun-siu had his eye more on his wealth than upon the concubine, and therefore he determined to take this opportunity of acquiring it for himself. When he was about to be executed, Shih-ch‘ung cried out, “ Alas ! my wealth on which 1 prided myself has been the cause of my ruin.” “ Why then ” said a by-stander, “ did you not scatter it abroad sooner ? ” A question underlying which there is a profound philosophy, but which wealthy men are never able to understand or appreciate. 160 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. was defeated, and he had to retreat. Finally Yinij joined his brother in the capital, and having killed Prince Ngai, Hwei Ti was fiennitred to return to his palace and take nndistnrbed possession of it, whilst the two brothers divided between them the power of the state. This state of things was soon interrupted by a rebellion in the south, which was destined to have a serious effect on the fortunes of the Tsin dynasty. Linyen, who ruled a large district to the south of the Yang-tze, declared that he was the rightful successor to the throne of the Hans, and that therefore he was going to lay claim to it and oust Hwei Ti, who, after all, was but a mere usurper. The person who now professed to have a legitimate claim upon the throne was a Hiungnu, and a hostage that had come to the court of Wu Ti in the course of that Emperor’s reign. His family name was the same as that of the house of Han. This is not astonbhing, for in former days marriages had been contracted between the families of the sovereigns of China and those of the Hiungnu. Besides, in addition to this, the name of the reigning house had sometimes been given as a matter of compli- ment or honour to members of the great families of the barbarians, whom it was advisable at the time to [ilease with such a distinguished favour. Liu-yeu had been put in authority over the five clans of the Hiungnu that had submitted to the Chinese government, and who had been distributed throughout various parts of the empire. Considering the present moment favorable for carrying out his own ambitious designs, he proclaimed himself a descendant of the Han dynasty, and therefore entitled to the throne. In the year A. D. 307 another formidable insurrection broke out in Shantung, which was headed by Yueh, the Prince of the Eastern Sea. This man appeared at the head of over two hundred thousand men, and overcoming all opposition he killed all the mandarins that opposed him, and taking possession of the Emperor again removed the capital to Lohyaug. He appointed himself prime minister and ruled the country in his name. Next year the unfor- tunate Hwei Ti died suddenly after eating some cakes which were supposed to have been poisoned by Yueh, and thus, after a troubled reign of seventeen years, during which many a tragedy had been enacted in his name, he passed away, leaving his country in a state of disorder and unrest. He was succeeded by his brother Sze-ma-chi, who is known by his dynastic title of Hwai Ti {A. n. 307-313). This prince was of the mature age of forty-two when he ascended the throne. He was a man of great intelligence and profoundly versed in the arts of government, and he began his reign with the sincere desire of ruling his people well. The Prince of the Eastern Sea was obliged to retire from court for a time, but it was only to more fully mature his schemes for overthrowing the Tsius. THE WESTERN TSIN DYNASTY. 161 Id tlie meantime troubles were gathering tliick and fast in other parts of the empire. In the 2nd year of Hwai Ti, Linyeu proclaimed himself King of Han, and shortly after, tlie Prince of the Eastern Sea again entered the capital and murdered nearly a score of high officials in the palace, on the ground that they were traitors to the country, but really, because they were loyal men and true, who would have opposed his usurpation. Hwai Ti was perfectly helpless to prevent this, and he had to submit to the greatest indignities from the man that wished to oust him from the throne. In the 4th year of his reign Linyeu died, and was succeeded by his brother Liuch‘aug. Next year the Prince of the Eastern Sea was made comiuander-iu-chief of all the troops, the highest post he could hold under the Emperor, and which he looked upon as the final one he had to take before he stepped on to the throne. Fortunately Hwai Ti was relieved from any anxiety with regard to him by his death, which happened shortly after, as he was on his way to oppose the troops of Liuch‘ang, who had begun the conquest of Kiugchow. The command of the troops now fell to Wangyen, who, however, was defeated by the Hiungnu and pursued and captured by his savage enemies. He was immediately slain, and the coffin that contained the remains of the Prince of the Eastern Sea was opened and the body burnt. The imperial troops were so utterly routed that they were of no use to stem the tide of the victorious Hiungnu, who speedily marched on to Lohyang. Here three of their armies converged, and no fewer than twelve engageineuts were fought between them with the soldiers of Tsin that had been hastily sum- moned to the aid of the Emperor, but who were invariably defeated. Things were now reduced to such a desperate pass that Hwai Ti, who saw that his life was in danger, fled with bis suite to Ch'angngan in Shensi, but he was captured on the road and sent to Liuch‘ang, who had fixed his capital in Peking. Here he was deposed from his kingly office and made Duke of P‘ing-yang, whilst Liu-yau, the general who had seized him, was put in charge of Lohyang. After two years had passed by, the Tsin general, who had made Chfiingugau his head- quarters, seeing that the Emperor was not likely to be restored to his throne, and feeling the need of some responsible head at the present critical state of affairs, placed Yeh, a brother of Hwai Ti, on the throne and sent orders throughout the length and breadth of the empire for all the loyal soldiers to come to the aid of the country and drive out its savage oppressors. The new Emperor is known by the name of Min Ti.—{A. n. 313-317). After Hwai Ti had been held a prisoner by Liuch‘ang for two years the latter began to tire of his presence and to wish that by some decent pretence he could get rid of him. He accordingly began to treat him with the greatest indignity. He made him dress as a 162 THB HISTOEY OP CHiNA. slave and attend at the dinners that he gave his great officers and pour liquors that they drank into their glasses, fle was so ill-used that he and the officials that had followed him into captivity often wept over the hard lot that had befallen them. This only roused the anger of Liuch'aug, who treated them with still further uukiudness. At length one of his officers, through malice, informed him that his prisoners were meditating flight, when, glad of an excuse, he ordered the execution of them all. When the news of Hwai Ti’s death reached Wangtsun, who was Governor of Chihli, he thought that this was a fitting time for him to come forward and amidst the present disorder seize upon the supreme power. Whilst he was meditating upon this and matur- ing his plans, Liu-yan, who saw through his design and perceived the danger that would arise to Linch'ang were another army in the field to oppose him, sent messengers to him and assured him that he was ready to submit to him and raise him to the throne, and that if he consented he would march his soldiers to his aid and fight for him. Wangtsun only too readily fell into the snare of his wily opponent and granted permission for the troops to march into his camp, although he was opposed by his generals, who assured him that the only purpose of Liu-yau was to murder him. He very soon found out that he had been deceived, for no sooner had Liu-yan’s army reached his than it made a sudden onslaught on it, when it was routed and he was killed. The whole of Chihli was thus added to the dominions of Liuch‘ang. In the 3rd year of Min Ti, Wangchi, the Governor of Kwang- chow, raised a rebellion and determined to found a dynasty of his own in the south of China. The famous statesman and General T‘an- k‘an was sent against him, and crushed the insurrection, and was himself appoiuted governor of the district.* In the 4th, that is, the last year of Min Ti’s reign, Ch'angngan was captured by Liu-yau, as well as all the cities that lay on the way • T‘au-k‘an was specially noted for the talents he displayed in governing. When a young man he was extremely poor, but his luotlier was one of those clever women that seem to have the power of extracting good fortune out of the most desperate circumstances. Her great ambition in life was to forward the interests of her beloved son, and everything was made to bend to this one idea, and suffering and misery were endured by her willingly, in order that she might bring happiness and renown to him. She also put herself out to entertain scholars and distinguished men, for she wished her son to keep company with such, as she believed they would be the people amongst whom his coming years would be spent. T‘au-k‘an was a man that never lost a moment. He was most indefatigable in everything that he undertook, and he dreaded lest through indolence he should degenerate in his character to that of the rest of the mandarins who entered office simply as a matter of livelihood. After he became Governor of Kwangchow he made it a practice of carrying from his study door every morning, when he went out to engage in his public duties, a hundred bricks, and when he returned in the evening to take them back within the house. When some of his officers, who were surprised at this, asked him why he, the governor of a province, should engage in such menial employment, T‘au-k‘an instantly replied that he wished to inure himself to hardness, so that he should never grow effeminate, and thus be inclined to neglect his public duties. He was severe in his discipline. Those of the officers of higher rank who gambled or got drunk he punished by having their cards or their drinking cups tlirown into the river. The common soldiers who indulged in these vices were beaten. THE WESTEliN TSIN DYNASTY. 1«3 to it. He also made prisoners of two generals whom he had defeated, named Ln and Liang. He was so much struck with their bravery that he offered to spare the lives of both if they would but take service with him. They resolutely refused the tempting offer and said that their lives and services had been devoted to the house of Tsin, aud as the fortune of war prevented them from serving it the only wish they had now was to die. Struck with admiration at their loyalty he ordered a sword to be handed to them, when they instantly put an end to their lives. The wife of the former was an exceedingly beautiful woman. Liu-yau offered to make her his wife if she would consent, but she declined, and said that a true woman could be the wife of only one man. She was allowed to follow her husband’s example. After the capture of Ch‘augngan Min Ti was sent to Liuch‘ang in Peking, where he was made in derision the Viscount of “ The Peace- ful Heart.” Thus the fortunes of war had delivered the two last kings of the Western Tsin into the power of a man who was a barbarian. It was a strange turn in the wheel of fortune that made a member of the despised race of the Hinngnu the arbiter of the fate of the sovereigns of so great a country as China. 164 THE HISTORY OF CHINA THE EASTERN TSIN DYNASTY. (A. D. 317-420). Yuan Ti.—(A. D. 317-323). Chapter Xlll. FTER the capital had been entered and Min Ti carried away to the court of Liuch'ang the empire was again practically left without a rnler, for no one expected that the captive would ever be restored to his home again ; indeed it was almost certain that he would be got rid of in the same distressing manner as Hwai Ti had been. One of the descendants of Sze-ma-i, by the female line, was at this time a prince, in the territory of which Nanking was the chief city. Reading in his own favour a prophecy that the “ House of Horse,” which was the family name of Sze-ma-i, would be over- thrown by a man of the name of Ox, which was his own, he determined, as far as he was able, to accomplish the prediction by seizing the throne now made vacant by the disappearance of Min Ti. It seems that whilst Sze-ma-i was alive a stone was brought to him one day that had been dug up out of the ground. On it were cut the figures of seven horses and one ox. This was interpreted to mean that seven members of his family would hold power in the state and then it would be overturned by some one of the name of 0.x. So thoroughly did Sze-ma-i believe in the silent prophecy of this stone that he would never endure any one of this name to hold office under the government, and because one of his captains had it he caused him to be put to death. The time and the circumstances certainly favoured the ambition of the prince, and he was urged by his oflScers and friends to take advantage of them and proclaim himself Emperor of China. He refused at first, as he said that Min Ti, the real rnler, was still alive, and might any day return to dispute with him the possession of the throne. He still, how’ever, so far followed their advice that he built an ancestral temple after the manner of the founders of dynasties, and he had an altar built to Heaven and Earth, such as only the ruler of a state was allowed to offer sacrifice upon. The prince had not long to wait for the throne to become vacant. Liuch‘aug made Min Ti’s life as miserable as he had done that of his predecessor. When he went out hunting he forced him to assist in dragging his chariot. He caused him to wear the dress of the barbarians, and he gave him the servile office of cup bearer to himself and his captains at their feasts. THE EASTERN TSIN DYNASTY. 165 Having incurred tlie anger of Linch‘ang by their sorrowful counten- ances he and all his faithful followers were cruelly murdered. When the news reached Nanking there was great outward mourning and lamentation, but none the less the prince announced himself the legitimate successor of the house of Tsin and proclaimed himself Emperor of China. His son Shan was made the heir to the throne, and was immediately put under the charge of a famous teacher, Yuliang, to be trained for the important position that he was destined to occupy by and by. This man seemed well qualified for his high office, for when his father expressed a wish that his son should be trained in a knowledge of the laws and customs of his country Yuliang dissented, on the ground that such a study would teach him to become cruel to the people, as the example of many of the Emperors before his time would only tend to make him haughty and overbearing, and would cause him to fancy that the duty of a king was not to rule well and wisely the people of his empire, but to gratify his own ambition. He further advised that he should be allowed to read with him books that were intended to develop the moral character and give him a high sense of the duties of life. Yuen Ti admired the goodness and wisdom of Yuliang and gave him permission to train the young prince in his own way. A few months after the murder of Min Ti a terrible disaster happened to Liuch‘ang. His palace caught fire, and twenty-one of his sous, with other members of his family, perished in the flames, and only one son was left. He was so overwhelmed with this awful calamity that he died of grief, and his surviving son Ts‘an succeeded him. Within a very short time, however, he was murdered by the commauder-in-chief, who had fallen in love with a beautiful concu- bine of his, and who not only aspired to have her, but also to seize upon the power that Liuch'ang had so lately held. When Liu-yau, the relative of Liuch'ang, got intelligence of this he at once hastened by forced marches from Ch‘angngan with all his troops to meet the usurper and murderer. At the same time Shihleh, one of the generals in Lohyang, was hastening with fifty thousand men with the same object, and arriving first he killed the recreant general, and thus put a sudden stop to his ambitious projects. After his arrival on the scene Liu-yau proclaimed himself Emperor and ap- pointed Shihleh his commander-in-chief. Liu-yau removed his capital from Peking to Ch'angngan and called his dynasty by the name of Chau. Not long after some of his officers, who hated Shihleh, insinuated to him that he was going to rebel. Angry at this he put to death some messengers that the latter had sent him, upon which the accused, indignant at the unjust suspicions that had been entertained about him, and finding his life in danger, broke out into rebellion and declared that he was going to found a new dynasty, to which he gave the name of the Later Chau. 166 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. In the 4tli year of his reign the Emperor was seriously troubled by the signs of coming disorder that promised to interfere with the stability of his government. There were two brothers — Wangtim and Wangtau. The latter of these was a loyal, trnstwortliy officer, and had charge over the palace and many of the atfairs connected with it. The former was prond and inclined to rebellion, and held the inflnential post of Governor of Kingchow. Yuan Ti not only hated but also feared him, because he was greatly beloved by his soldiers, who were prepared, without loohiug too closely into the reason or rights of things, to follow him wherever he might wish to lead them. The loyal officials in the palace were exceedingly anxious that some plan should be adopted by which his power might be restrained, and suggested that an officer with full powers should be sent to Kingchow to watch his proceedings and report them to the Emperor. Waugtnn agreed to this plan, and the uncle of Yuan Ti was sent on this special mission. When he arrived, AV'angtun, wishing to know the kind of metal of which he was made, invited him to dinner, and whilst they were sitting chatting, and he supposed he was off his guard, he asked him how it was that he, who was such a celebrated scholar, dared to undertake the command of an army, about which he was in perfect ignorance. “ It is quite true,” he rejdied, “ that my experience is small, and I may be like a leaden knife that cannot make very severe cuts, but even that can make one at least.” When the meal was over Wangtuu told his officers that the man that had come to watch them was of no ability whatsoever, and that they need not concern themselves any further about him. Next year Wangtun gathered his chief men about him and told them he was going to rebel, for it was evident that Yuan Ti meant his destruction, and that he might as well die with arms in his hands as by the axe of the common executioner. They endeavoured to dissuade him from this, but he would not listen to them, as his mind was fully made up. His first step in the programme was to memorialize the Emperor and demand that two of his officials, named Liu and Tiau, should be degraded and punished, as he declared that he knew for certain they were both engaged in a treasonable conspiracy against the throne. Yuan Ti was exceedingly enraged at this boldness of Wangtuu, and immediately issued an imperial edict declaring that any one that killed him would be ennobled and made a viscount, and at the same time he proceeded to raise an army to fight against him. Wangtun took the initiative by attacking the city in which his uncle, the imperial commissioner, was living, and after capturing it he put him to death. Lin and Tiau now advised the Emperor as a matter of safety, and in accordance with the usage on such occasions, to put to death all the relatives of Wangtun that were about the palace. This he declined to do, as he was unwilling that his brother Wangtau, who had been most loyal, should be sacrificed for a crime with which he had had nothing to THE EASTERN TSIN DYNASTY. 167 do. The latter, however, was prepared for such a measure, and iu order to show his acquiescence in it, should the Emperor determine upon it, and to prove that he had no complicity with the treason of his brother, he collected all the members of the Wang family and stood within the palace gates waiting for the command of Yuan Ti that should consign them to the executioner’s hands. As they waited mournfully and in silence the prime minister, Chow-i, passed iu to wait on the Emperor. Waugtau and he had been bosom friends, and he now besought him to intercede with Yuan Ti and save their wives and little ones from a fate that was coming upon them for crimes that they all abhorred. This Chow-i was a man rusTired and stern iu his demeanour, but one of those noble characters that we hud even iu the most depraved periods of Chinese history. Pie was loyal to his country and true to his friends, but he unfortunately was wanting in those external graces that would have helped meu to understand and appreciate him better, and so he was apt to be thought hard and severe when iu reality his heart was full of sympathy and kindness. On this occasion, at least, he was terribly misunderstood. Instead of replying to Wangtau’s entreaties he passed by him as though he had never seen him. The reason of this was that there were spies about who would have ret>nrted to Yuan Ti any expression of kindness to Waugtau at that time, as a sign that he was iu league with him for treasonable purposes, and instead of serving his friend he would only have hastened his ruin as well as his own. Waugtau was greatly dis- tressed at the apparent desertion of his friend in this his time of extreme peril, and his heart was filled with anger against him. No sooner had he entered the palace, however, than he at once drew up a memorial to the Emperor, in which he pled for his friends’s life, and showed that he was a loyal officer and one that could be ill-spared in this crisis when rebellion was abroad. Yuan Ti at once granted his request, not only because it harmonized with his own feelings, but also because he recognized iu Waugtau a man of rare ability and nobility of character. Next day the Emperor restored him to his official position, but he did not know till too late that Chow-i had nobly done his part to bring this about. Unfortunately for himself Chow-i did not think it necessary to explain to his friend his ap[>arent coldness. He had done his duty and he had saved his life, and he thought there was no need for any further reference to the matter. When Waugtau entered the presence of Yuan Ti he knelt before him, and with sighs and tears complained of his unhappy lot in being connected with such a brother as Wangtun. The Emperor made him get up and assured him that he had the utmost confidence iu him, and that he was going to show that he had by appointing him to the command of a large army that he was going to despatch against Wang- tun. The latter iu the meantime had been advancing with his forces towards the capital and had carried everything before him. He had 168 THE HtSTORY OP CHINA. given onL a proclamation that he had sent broadcast throughont the country ithat he was not in arms against his sovereign, but against the disloyal officials — Lin and Tian — who had got the ear of Yuan 'I’i, and who were determined on his destruction. Wangtun had entrenched himself in the strong city of Wuchang, and on live different occasions he had had engagements with the royal troops, and each time had been victorious. After these Wangtun slowly advanced upon Nanking, when the Emperor gave Liu and Tiau some troops, and advised them to fly, as he could no longer protect them. Chow-i, together with Wangtan and the eldest brother Wangpiu, went to the camp of their brother to try and make the best terms they could with him. When Chow-i came into his presence he demanded in stern tones what right he had to come with an armed force against his sovereign, and what were the demands that he had to make, in order to restore peace to the empire. His manner was that of a man who was conscious of integrity and indignant with wrong, but it would have been better for him had he worded his protest in more gentle language, for a conqueror with the sword of victory iu his hand is not apt to brook reproof even from the most virtuous with complacency. Wangtun was highly offended with the manner in which he was addressed, and his auger was not abated by the suggestion of some of his officers, who whispered to him, “This man will one day not spare you, should you be unwise enough to let him go whilst you have him in your power.” Disliking, however, to adopt severe measures with a man that he recognized to be of ster- ling honesty he turned to his brother and asked him what he thought should be done in this case. Wangtan, smarting under the sense of ill-treatment that he thought he had received from Chow-i, told his brother how he had deserted him in the hour of extreme danger. Wangtun no sooner heard this story than he ordered him out for instant execution, which was accordingly carried out in the barbarous manner of those ancient times. When the Emperor heard of the death of his loyal and devoted minister he sent Wangpiu to the rebel camp to see if he could make terms with his brother. The first business of the latter, when he arrived there, was to weep and wail for Chow-i, and the next was to upbraid his brother for his murder. This so enraged him that he was about to issue orders for his execution, when Wangtau intervened and pleaded on his behalf. Drawing Wangpiu aside he advised him to kneel to his brother and ask his forgiveness. “I have a pain in my leg,” he replied, “ and I cannot kneel, and besides it would be un- becoming for me to bend the knee to my younger brother.”* Wang- tau reminded him that it was a much less serious thing to have a pain in the leg than one in the neck, which he was in great * In China the elder brother takes precedence of the younger, and it is not consi- dered proper that he should pay any such token of respect to him. The younger may kneel to the elder, as he is his superior. THE EASTERN T8IN DYNASTY. 169 danger of liaving if lie did not humble himself. History does not record whether he went through the humiliation of bowing to his brother. We do know that he escaped with his life, and was after- wards employed in the service of the state. The interference of the brothers seemed to have been successful in preventing Wangtun from going to the extreme to which his ambition urged him, for after having received a present from Yuan Ti of cattle and spirits for his army he retired from the neighbour- hood of the capital to Kiugchow. Wangtau, both because he was a loyal minister, and also as a reward for the meritorious services he had rendered, was appointed prime minister in the place of the murdered Chow-i. He had scarcely entered upon the duties of his office when he discovered from the documents he found in the archives the noble service that his dead friend had rendered for him when his life was in danger. When he thought of his ingratitude he wept bitter tears of sorrow, but they could not bring back the man whose death had been really caused by himself. A few months after the withdrawal of Wangtun, Yuan Ti died. He had been so annoyed and distressed by the rebellion and the indignities he had suffered in connection with it that his health was seriously affected, and he passed away after a brief reign of only six years. He was succeeded by his sou Siau, who is known in history by the name of Minff Ti.—(A. D. 323-326). After the death of Yuan Ti, Wangtun again determined that he would carry out the ambitious schemes that had been thwarted before by the influence of his brothers. He accordingly sent a memorial to Ming Ti praying that an appointment might be given him nearer the capital. The Emperor was afraid to grant this request, and yet he dared not refuse it, lest he should expedite the rebellion on which he knew he was intent. He therefore temporized, but this had only the effect of quickening Waiigtun’s purpose. In spite of the entreaties of his two brothers that he should remain loyal he began his prepara- tions for his march on the capital. To show what he really meant he appointed his son commander-in- chief, an act which usurped the royal function. Just as the expedition was on the point of starting Wangtun became seriously ill, and it seemed as though it must be given up, for there was no one that could take his place as a leader of the army. His officers, however, entreated him, in spite of his sickness, to begin the campaign. “Every- thing is ready,” they said, “ and the men aro filled with enthusiasm. The armaments and the provisions are all provided, and we shall never be again in such a good condition as we are now, and therefore, we strongly advise you to order us to march.” Wangtun, ill as he was, agreed to this, more especially as he wished to surprise Ming Ti, who, 170 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. he supposed, was in entire ignorance of his plans. He was mistaken in this, however, for there were loyal men in the camp, who constantly sent information to him of the plan of campaign, so that he had time to collect his forces, and even take the field before Wangtun. Four different armies were despatched against the latter, and a royal edict was published, showing the reasons why such a formidable force was in arms against the rebel, and declaring that ail that sub- mitted at once to the royal clemency would be pardoned, but that if they delayed till hostilities commenced they would be treated with the gi’eatest severity. "Wangtim now saw that the die was cast, and that any hesitation would be fatal to his cause. He, therefore, got his army in readiness to march out and meet the imperial troops. Before taking the final step he called a diviner named Chia to tell him what the future had in store for him. The latter was a man devoted to the Tsin dynasty, and so in order to dissuade him from his treason he declared that his expedition would turn out fatally both to him and his family. Wangtun, who was somewhat suspicious of the man, then asked him, how long he had to live. “ Your life will be long spared if yon do not rebel, but it will be a short one if you do,” he promptly replied. Wangtun, now convinced that the man was not true, grimly asked him, “ And how long do you think you have to live?” Chia immediately replied, “ I die to-day.” “ You are right for once,” said Wangtun sternly, “and FI 1 make it certain that your prediction comes out right.” He then summoned an officer and ordered the execution of the unhappy man. Unable to lead his army himself he sent it under the command of Chau, but in the battle that ensued the latter was defeated. This so annoyed Wangtun that he expired shortly after the news was brought him. His son Ying, knowing that the troops would disband the moment they knew he was dead, concealed the fact, and wrapping the body in mats buried it under the floor of one of the rooms of the house. The secret was kept most faithfully for some time, for even the general in command was kept in ignorance of it, so that when Ming Ti after his victory invited him to surrender, with the promise that he would be rewarded with high official honours, he refused to do so. A second engagement took place, when the rebels were once more defeated and the army broke up in confusion and fled in every direction. Ying made all haste to reach Kingchow, but he was drowned by the boatman that was carrying him across the Yang-tze. Wangtuu’s body was dug up and decapitated, and his head was hung up in a conspicuous place, a warning and a lesson to all such as were meditating treason against their country. The famous T‘au-k‘an was now made Governor of Kingchow, and soon by the wisdom of his government he restored it to peace and prosperity. Ming Ti died after a brief reign of three years. On his death bed he handed over the care of his son, who was only five years old, to the care of Yu-liang, THE EASTERN TSIN DYNASTY. 171 his brother-in-law, Wano'tan and Pien-k‘un, three men in whom he had implicit faith, and who, he trnsted, would see that in due time he should come into the inheritance of his father. The child’s mother. Queen Yu, was appointed regent at the same time. Chhing Ti.—(A. D. 326-343). With the death of Ming Ti, Wangtau determined to withdraw from all political life. The rebellion of his brother had imperilled his very existence. Indeed, if he had not had such an indulgent sovereign to deal with he and his whole clan would inevitably have perished. When, therefore, he was summoned to court as one of the guardians of the young prince he declined, on the ground of illness. Being seen shortly after escorting a friend, who was starting to take up his government in a distant part of the empire, Pien-khui memorialized the regent that he should be stripped of all his offices for disrespect to the throne. Nothing, however, was done to him, for the regent knew his fidelity and how loyally he had stood by her husband when his crown was in danger. Gradually all power became vested in the hands of Yuliang, who was a thoroughly incompetent man, and, as is usually the case with such, exceedingly obstinate. The way in which he ruled the people gave great offence, and a rebellion in the palace seemed to be iinmiueut. He behaved also with the greatest cruelty to any one that his small mind had reason to suspect. One of the princes of the blood was supposed by him to be meditating treason, when without any investigation he ordered him to be beheaded. A few days after the young Emperor, who had been greatly attached to him, asked Yuliang where the old gentlemau with the white hair was. “ Some one said he was going to rebel,” he said, “ and so I had him executed.” The boy began to weep and to express his great sorrow, and then turning suddenly to him he asked him, “ If some one said that you were going to do the same thing would your head be cut off?” Yuliang turned pale with fear, for he did not know but that in the turn of the wheel of fortune the words that had been so innocently uttered might not be those that would seal his doom, when the power of life and death had passed to other hands. In the 2nd year of Ch‘ung Ti’s reign Yuliang became suspicions of a commander in the imperial service, and he determined to crush him. He, therefore, recalled him to the capital. Both Wangtau and Pien-k‘nu tried to dissuade him from doing so. They showed him that Sutsun knew of his dislike of him and that a return to the ca})ital would mea.n his destruction, and that therefore he would also, in self-defence, excite his men to rebellion as the only method of saving his life. Yuliang refused to listen to their advice, and the result was precisely what they had predicted. When the order came to Sutsun to give up his command he appealed to his troops, by whom he was 172 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. greatly beloved. He told them that his life was aimed at, because he had been only too faithful to his sovereign and successful in the field. His men declared that they were all prepared to stand by him and to risk their lives in his defence, and that tlie only course in the present disordered state of the country was to set up his own standard and found a dynasty of his own. Sutsuu taking advantage of the enthusiasm of his men, and hoping to surprise the capital before adequate preparations had been made to meet him, crossed the river some distance above Nanking and marched for it. During the night his men unfortunately got entangled amongst marshes they had to pass, and losing tlieir way and becoming disordered, they could not accomplish the smqirise they had planned, but instead they had to face an army tliat was com- manded by Pieu-k‘uu, and tliat lay across tlieir path to the city. They were not deterred, however, by this, and advancing boldly against the royal troops ; a battle ensued, in which the latter were defeated and the commander and his two sons slain. Sutsun entered Nanking with his victorious soldiers and made himself master of the place. In the meanwhile AVangtau, hearing of this disaster, led the young prince, dressed in his royal robes, and with the crown upon his head, and seated him on his throne. Ere long some of Sutsun’s soldiers, flushed with success, came rushing into the palace, when AVangtau called out in stern tones that they must stand back, as the Emperor’s person was sacred, and the common peo[)le must not dare to look upon him. AVith the dread instinct of loyalty that is deep in the heart of every Chinaman they instantly withdrew, and waited the coming of their general to see what orders he had to give them, and whether he would not seize the throne that their valour had ])ut within his grasp. After a time Sutsun arrived, and being hardly yet prepared for the great act of making himself Emperor, declared that he appointed himself prime minister. This he did, he said, in the interests of Ch‘ung Ti, who was too young to govern himself, and who unfortunately was surrounded by evil advisers, who did not know how to appreciate those of his servants who were loyal and devoted to him. Yuliang in the meanwhile was collecting all the forces he could summon from every possible direction to deliver the Emperor from Sutsuu. He sent a pressing message to T‘au-k‘an, the Governor of King- chow, to come to him with all the men at his command and help him to overthrow the rebel. T‘au-k‘au, who felt slighted, because he had not been appointed one of the guardians of the young prince, replied that the duties of his province preventetl him from com{)lyiug with his request, and that he could only send him a captain with a few hundred men to help him in his emergency. One of the high officials upon this wrote him and showed him the folly he was committing in not obeying the order of Yuliang, who was really his superior officer, and who held THE EASTERN TSIN DYNASTY. 173 bis position by virtue of the commands of tbe dying Ming Ti. “You must remember,” be said, “ that in refusing to come with every man you can collect in your district yon are doing an act that will be the cause of your own destrnctiou. Sntsnn is a bad man, and as soon as he gets possession of tlie throne he will have no regard for all your siuvices to the state, but will give your government of Kingchow to some one of his followers as a reward for helping him in his rebellion. Your wisest policy, therefore, is to lay aside your jealousies and come with every soldier you have got and help to overthrow the enemy of your country.” T‘au-k‘an saw the force of this appeal, and without any further delay he donned his armour and quickly gathering his array together he led it with all speed towards Nanking. As this was not a strongly- fortified city Sntsnn was afraid he could not hold out against so distinguished a commander, so he withdrew to Wuchang, taking with him the young Emperor. In the meanwhile the forces of the empire were gradually as- sembling to the aid of Ynliang, and soon two large bodies of men joined him to assist him in the destruction of Sntsnn. One of these was commanded by a man named Yn, who, if he were at all like his mother, must have been a man of most heroic stamp. When he was starting from his home she said to him, “ Be loyal, and if your country demands yonr life then willingly render it np for her sake, for from this time yon belong to the Emperor to serve the state at his bidding.” She had already sold all her property to procure funds for enlisting men to accompany him, and every available man set forth with him to join the army. As the forces gathered round Wuchang Sutsun began to dread lest the issue should be fatal to himself, but trusting to the strong defences of the city he determined to hold out to the very last and die fighting rather than surrender. For many mouths the imperialists could make no impression on the town, so strongly fortified was it and so bravely did the rebels repel every attack. At last the provisions of the army under Yuliang began to fail and the prospect of a retreat became imminent. He appealed to T‘au-k‘au, whose camp was abun- dantly provided, for assistance, but he refused, under the plea that he had only sufficient for his own men. He was still sore under a sense of his wrongs, and even at this time meditated withdrawing to King- chow and leaving Yuliang to deal alone with Sutsun. One of the officers seeing what was in his mind said to him, “ Be careful what you do at this crisis of your country. We are like men that are riding tigers. It is dangerous to be where we are, but it is still more perilous to get down, as we might be eaten up by the animals we bestride. If you leave us now then many others will follow your example, and should disaster come upon the royal arms the sin will lie with you.” T‘au-k‘an was so much impressed with these words that he determined to consult his captains as to the best mode of procedure 1T4 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. undei” the present circnmstances. They were nnanimons iu their opinion that there should be no desertion of the royal cause, and that a snpfily of their provisions should be atau, anxious to see for himself what the exact state of the case was, entered a monastery one day unexpectedly. He found, the priests all drinking whiskey, and EPOCH 07 DIVISION BETWEEN NORTH AND SOUTH. 211 looking around he saw swords hanging about in all directions. He was e.x;ceedingl3' enraged at these two things, and at once commanded the magistrate ol the district to execute all the priests of this establishment for being guilty of offences that they were bound by tlieir vows to avoid. He also ordered that an e.xamination should be made into all such buildings throughout his kingdom. The results were not at all satisiactory. Many of them contained stills, where the whiskey was distilled on the premises, and in some of the larger ones secret cellars were found below, where jiersons of immoral character were lodged and maintained. Topatau determined to sweep out these abominations from his country, so he issued an edict, which rau somewhat as follows: “The unprincipled and ignorant minded Emperor to the Later Hans, Ming Ti, had a firm faith in what was corrupt and false. In consequence of his action neither the principles of tleaven could be carried out, nor the government of the country, nor the teaching of the peo[)le. All rules of ceremony and propriety were overturned. Now 1 have been a[>pointed by Heaven to establish the ri.”ht and to sweep away what is false. I am determined to destroy every trace of Buddhism from my kingdom. I therefore order every prefect and county magistrate in my dominions to destroy every idol and temple within his jurisdiction and to put to death all the Buddhist priests they can find.” This edict was kept back for a few days through the influence of the heir apparent Hwang, who was a believer in Buddhism, and information was secretly conveyed to the priests, a large number of whom escaped before the royal proclamation was issued. Many, however, did not get the news in time, and a considerable number were seized and executed. All the idols were burnt, as well as the Buddhist classics that the mandarins could lay their hands on, and every temple, small and great, was soon a mass of ruins. In the year A. D. 451 two enemies of Ts‘ui-ho, the royal historian and the prime instigator of the destruction of Buddhism, wishing to ruin him, advised him in order to show to the world his fidelity as an historian that he should have the record of what he had written so far cut in tablets of stone, which might be set up in some prominent place, where the people could see them. Ts‘ni-ho did not show his usual acuteness or sharpness of intellect on this occasion, for he fell into the snare. Either he was becoming two confident of his own power or he had become vain, because he conceived himself to be possessed of an integrity that eared neither for the praise nor censure of kings, and so he consented to do an entirely unprecedented and illegal act. The rule had hitherto been that no eye but that of the historian should look upon the story of the dynasty, but that it should be hidden away in the royal archives, where not even the Emperor him- self could reach them, and that when a new dynasty sat upon the throne then and only then the secrets of the past should be revealed 212 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. to tlie world. As soon as the tablets were put up where everyone could read them the iudiguatiou of the country was aroused against Ts‘ui-ho. The misdeeds of the meu who had founded their dynasty were cut in letters of stone. The meanness, the treachery, the cruel murders and the intrigues of the palace were all put down as if with au iron finger alongside with what had been glorious aud exalted in the history of their past. Ts‘ui-ho had indeed been a faithful historian, but peoples and potentates do not like to have their vices paraded before the world, aud so a terrible punishment fell upon the uufor- tunate man and his family. Not only was he put to a miserable death, but every member of his father’s, mother’s and wife’s family was exter- minated with relentless barbarity. This same year Wen Ti determined again to take the field against Topatau and endeavour to recover the long-coveted province of Honan. The most of his ministers were op- posed to the idea, but others were favourable to it, so au army was sent under command of Wang-yuau, which marched into Honan. Topatau, who was a warlike priuce, immediately took up the challenge and himself led in person an immense force, which rumour magnified into more than a hundred thousand men. In the battle that took place Waug-yuan was defeated and lost forty thousand men in killed aud wounded. After this success Topatau’s army marched into Shantung. On their way they passed by the tomb of the great Confucius, when the king ofiered a sacrifice of au ox before it. From this place the course of the army was to the south, and its track was marked by atrocities of the most savage kind. These wild soldiers of the north spared neither man, woman nor child. They seemed to take a delight in spearing the little ones and holding them high in the air aud gloating over their agonies aud contortions. These monsters, however, soon began to find that a nemesis was pursuing them. The people fled in terror before them, carrying or destroying what provisions they had, so that none should fall into their hands. Soon famine came into their camp. They then turned their steps, after they had been repulsed from the city of Hu-i, in the north-eastern part of Nganhwni, in the direction of Nanking, subsisting only on what provisions had been left by the people when they fled from their homes. As soon as they arrived on the banks of the Yang-tsze they began to build boats to cross over it. The greatest fear and consternation filled the hearts of the people of the capital. Wen Ti was greatly distressed that his own wilfulness had been the means of bringing such misery upon his people. As he stood on the walls of the city of Shih- t‘eu and looked across the Yang-tsze aud saw the tents of the savage troops on the other side he confessed aloud that he was wrong in not listening to the advice of those that warned him not to attempt to re- cover Honan, and then with his spirit full of sadness he exclaimed, “If Tau-ts‘i were only here the enemy would never have dared to have invad- ed my country!” In the foUow'iug year, A. D. 462, the army of Wei, that 2P0CH OF DIVISION BETWEEN NORTH AND SOUTH. 213 was uow utterly destitute of provisions, was compelled to retreat to its owu couutry. They had devastated six proviuces aud had left them a wilderness. So extreme was the desolation that it is said that wheu the swallows came to them in the spriiilained tliat the spirit of his late concubine was in tlie garden close to the place where slie was killed by him, but that he undertook by his magic and his control over the supernatural powers to drive it away, when he would be saved from the fate she had threatened him with, and peace and happiness would return to his mind.* In order to this the Emperor had to attend with a special number of his harem, all supplied with bows and arrows. They were then directed to shoot over the spot where the unhappy woman had fallen, for, he said, some of their arrows would certainly hit the unappeased sfiirit and slay it, and Fei Ti would then be delivered from its vengeance. Whilst they engaged in this childish occupation serious events were taking place in the palace. Hvvo with his confederates deemed the time had now arrived when the rising they pro[)Osed should take [dace. The Emperor was unguarded and the night was dark, so that the a[)proach of the conspirators could not be perceived. They accordingly assembled, and creeping along unobserved they came into the garden before Fei Ti knew of their approach. He was at once despatched, not very far from the place where his victim had fallen, and thus her prophecy was fulfilled, and no doubt, as the Chinese believed, by her special agency. An edict was issued next day, saying that the death of the Em- peror had been ordered by the queen-dowager, because of the reckless murders he had committed. Hwo was the eleventh son of Wen Ti, and was twenty-seven years old when he seized the throne. He is known by the title of Ming Ti, the “ Intelligent.” Ming Ti.—(A. D. 465-473). This year Chu, the brother of the late Fei Ti, who had risen in rebellion in Kiangsi, also took the title of Emperor, and large num- bers flocked to him. Ming Ti consulted with his ministers as to what should be done to meet this danger. One of these, Ts‘ai-hing, coun- selled the Emperor to issue an edict declaring that the relatives of those who were in rebellion should not suffer the usual penalties, but he held guiltless of the treason of their friends. As there were large numbers with Chu whose wives and families were resident in the capital, this had an excellent effect upon them, for finding, contrary to expectation, that their families were in no danger, many of them deserted and secretly returned to their homes, fearful lest Ming Ti might change his mind by their continuance in rebellion and order their destruction. A few mouths after an engagement took place * The Chinese believed, and do so at the present day, that Tvhen a man loses his life in any way, whether by murder or by accident, the spirit of the person wanders about till it gets relief in some way or other. When a person, for example, is drowned, the spirit dwells in the water till some unwary bather comes to the same place to swim, when the spirit endeavours to paralyze the new comer. If it can succeed in this and cause his deatli, the lately unhappy spirit is at once released from the fate that bound it to the vicinity of its accident, and it is then free to wander wide afield in the spirit laud. EPOCH OP DIVISION BETWEEN NORTH AND SOUTH. 217 between Chn and the royal army, when the former was defeated and slain. If Ming Ti at this point had only shown the wisdom that his name implies that he was possessed of, the rebellion would have been completely crushed, and the empire would have been at peace. Two of the governors of provinces that had been connected with Chu sent a memorial to him, confessing their fault and saying that they wished to surrender and become his faithful subjects. Their names were Sieh-ngau and Siaug-tiu. Ming Ti, instead of pleasantly accepting their submis- sion, determined to show them that whilst he forgave them it was not because he had not the power to bring them to their knees. He accord- ingly ordered an army of fifty thousand men to march into their districts and take them over from them. Ts'ai-hing endeavoured to dissuade the Emperor from this unwise course. “ These men,” he said, “ are quite sincere in the submission they are tendering you. If you send such an army as that they will fancy that you mean their destruction, and fear will drive them into desperate courses. One man is enough, and fifty thousand far too many.” The Emperor was obstinate, and insisted upon having his own way. The army accordingly marched, and the results were exactly what his prescient minister had predicted. Sieh-ngan got all the men together he could collect, and making his submission to the king of Wei, claimed his help in this emergency. The latter was only too glad for an excuse to march into the Sung territory, and in the battle that followed Ming Ti’s army was overthrown with the loss of over ten thousand men. What was worse than even the defeat was the fact that four departments to the north of the river Hwai and the country to the west of it from this time came under flie dominion of the kingdom of Wei. When the news of the defeat reached Ming Ti he called Ts‘ai-hing to his side, and showing him the despatch, deplored that he ha'll not taken his advice, and thus have saved himself from a great disaster. In the year A. D. 408 a prominent character came to the front. His name was Siau-tau, a descendant of Siau-ho, who played such a prominent part at the close of the Ts‘in and the beginning of the Han dynasties. Physically he was a remarkable man, and everyone predicted that he would one day become Emperor. He was an ex- ceedingly handsome and well made man. flis body was covered with scales like those on a dragon, and he had a mark on each shoulder that represented the sun and the moon. Everyone read in these two the destiny that was to cause him to fill a throne. Two years after, Ming Ti, who had made him a military commander, heard of the way in which he was being talked of as a man whom Heaven seemed to have destined for a throne. He determined that he would do his best to defeat its purpose, so he sent orders to him to return to the capital, where he would soon have put it out of his power to do anything more in this world. Siau-tau, who saw through his design, decided to refuse to obey this order. To do so, how- 218 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. ever, meant rebelliou ; but that he was far from iuteudiug to engage in. By the advice of one of his captains he adopted a stratagem, by which he was delivered from his dilemma. He and a considerable number of his friends gathered on the frontiers of Wei as if for the purpose of creating trouble there. The commander of the troops guarding those districts, seeing a number of the Sung soldiers, and not understand- ing why they should be there if not with a hostile intention, became alarmed. A treaty of peace had been made between the two powers some two years ago, and this collecting of soldiers on the borders must mean that the Sung Emperor was intending to make an invasion of their dominions. He accordingly sent a corresponding number of Wei troops to watch their movements. This was all that Siau-tau wanted. He immediatety memorialized the Emperor to be allowed to remain at his post, as he had seen large numbers of Wei soldiers on the frontiers of the Sung territory, looking as though they were meditating an incursion into his dominions. The necessary permission was given, and the imminent peril to which he had been exposed for the time being was avoided. Next year Ming Ti killed four of his brothers, lest they should interfere with the prospects of his adopted son, whom he wished to succeed him. Again Siau-tau was summoned to the capital, and upon his friends warning him of the danger he ran in obeying the com- mand, he replied, “ This time I am safe. Ming Ti has murdered his brothers, and he wishes me to help him in keeping the throne for his son.” “ Troubles,” he continued, “ are coming upon the empire, and the time for me to act has arrived.” The king of Wei, Topa Fung, was a great believer in both the Buddhist and Taoist religious, and as he wished to give all his time to the practice of these two faiths he resigned his throne in favour of his sou, who was only five years old. His ministers protested against this, but all that they could gain from him was the promise that in all important matters of state he would give his advice, but that in the ordinary routine of business he would leave everything to be decided by his son and his ministers. Hiug Ti was a profound believer in Buddhism, and showed his devotion by building a magnificent temple to Buddha, upon which he lavished so much money that his subjects were distressed by the heavy taxes he levied to carry on the work. When it was finished, IMiug Ti one day in the presence of his ministers said, “ Now my merit and ni}' virtues are exceeding great, and the only reward that would be commensurate to them would be that I should in the future become a god myself.” One of them replied, “ If Your Majesty considers the amount of suffering that this building has caused to your people you will see that instead of merit and virtue your sin is higher tlian that pagoda that you have erected bv the side of it. If those wooden, foolish idols were indeed endowed EPOCH OF DIVISION BETWEEN NORTH AND SOUTH. 219 with life they wonhl weep their eyes ont with tears, for in order to provide the money to build the temple in which they are enshrined, men have even had to sell their wives and their children and to endure all the horrors of extreme poverty.” Ming Ti died in the 8th year of his reign, and was succeeded by his son Tze, who took the title of Ts‘ang '^\'’u-waug, and also Chu Li. He reigned four years, but nothing of importance happened during the time, that historians deemed worthy of note. He was killed by Sian- tau, and the prince of Ngan-ch‘ung, the third son of the late Ming Ti, was raised to the throne. His dynastic title was Shun Ti. Shun Ti.—(A. D. 477-479). No sooner did this prince ascend the throne than an insurrection took place in Kingchow. The governor of it declared that he was going to demand the life of Siau-tau for the murder of the late Emperor. Two of the high officials in the palace, who sympathized with the movement, were in readiness to act when the time came, but their design becoming known to Siau-tau, they were ruthlessly put to death, and he, marching an army into Kingchow, defeated the governor, who fled, but died in his flight. The victor now took upon himself the airs of a sovereign and acted as though he were already in possession of the throne. When he appeared before Shun Ti he wore his sword and dispensed with some articles of court dress that only one with the views he entertained would dare to have done. In the autumn of A. D. 479 Shun Ti was made to resign, though he utterly refused to carry the imperial seal to Siau-tau, and, bowing before him, pay him obeisance as his successor. An official was tlierefore sent to demand it from him. When he unceremoniously appeared in his presence. Shun Ti asked him, whilst he wept, “ if he was come to take away his life.” “ No,” he replied, “ 1 have no order to kill you,” and then trying to soothe him he said, “Why should you weep ? Your ancestors got the throne in the same way that yon are being deprived of it now. Your family has had a turn in governing an empire, and now be content to let another have a share in the good fortune that you have had.” “ Better then,” replied the unhappy monarch, “ that a man should not be the descendant of an Emperor, but that he should be the son of a common man.” The messenger left with the Great Seal, and Siau-tau became Emperor, whilst Shun Ti was made prince of Juyin, in Kiang- nan, to which place he was sent under a strong escort of soldiers. 220 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. THE EPOCH OF DIVISION BETWEEN NORTH AND SOUTH. THE TST DYNASTY (A. D. 479-502). Kau 1). 479-483). Chapter XVI. lT^ AU TI was fifty years old when he dispossessed Shna Ti of the throue, and he reigued but four years. He is represented as being very clever and an accomplished scholar, and one that studied the interests of the people by a strict economy in his own life and in his court. He was a large-hearted man, and in the fulness of his desire to see the nation prosper he promised that if he lived but ten years he would make gold and silver as common as earth, so that the poorest should never be in want. Unfortunately, he did not live long enough to carry out this prophecy, for he died after only too brief a reign, to the great regret of his subjects. The royal historian of the time had absolutely nothing of importance to record regarding the founder of this dynasty, who seemed deficient in some of the more heroic qualities.* He was succeeded by his son, who was forty-three years of age, and who reigued eleven years. Wa Ti.—(A. D. 483-494). In the first year of this Emperor’s reign, the king of Wei, To- i’a Hung, who had succeeded to the throue when his father Fung was murdered by his wife, passed a law in imitation of his Chinese neighbours, that no person should be allowed to marry another of the same family-name. This law had already been in existence amongst the Chinese from the time of the Duke of Chow, at the commencement of the Chow dynasty, and is in operation to-day throughout the empire. Great progress was made during this reign by the Buddhist church. Tze-liang, the eldest son of Wu Ti, was a devoted adherent of it, and was in the habit of collecting the most famous bonzes he could hear of in the empire and getting them to expound their doctrines in * In the unauthorized history of the time, “ The Former Five Dynasties,” many details are given of his life and doings, but they are entirely unreliable. The author of that work has undoubtedly played with his imagination, but the precise place where romance comes in, and where facts are stated, it is impossible to tell. It has been thought better to adhere to the standard history, for here we are on firmer ground. The same may be said about some of the Emperors of the preceding dynasties : volumes have been written which contain marvellous stories about their lives, which make very ple.osant reading, and decidedly enliven a page, but the historian looks askance at all such, for they belong more to the region of romance than to the sober domain of history. EPOCH OF DIVISION BETWEEN NORTH AND SOUTH, 221 the hearing of himself and a large company of the elite who were attracted by his example. One of the subjects that was specially dwelt upon was that of Itewards and Punishments. As Confucianism is profoundly atheistic in its tendencies, giving no thought to anything beyond the present life, and not even discussing the question of the future, men in all ages have been glad of a system that professed to deal with it, even in the imperfect way that Buddhism has done, and therefore it can be easily understood how rapidly it took hold of the popular imagination, and even claimed the attention of many scholars, both among the Sieupi of the Wei dynasty and the more civilized peoples of Chinese origin.* This year, A. D. 485, a law was passed by Wu Ti that no prince of the blood should have more than forty attendants. He had seen the evil effects of men with large numbers of retainers, and how easily a man might be led into rebellion when he had so many willing followers all ready to help him in his treason. His relatives were highly displeased with this, but they had to submit, and it was no doubt for the welfare of the empire, as well as the security of the newly-founded dynasty that they should. Three years after this Topa Hung, the ruler of Wei, whose dynastic title is Hiau Wen Ti, and who was a remarkably intelligent and enlightened man, became greatly concerned because there were so many robbers throughout his kingdom. The wars in which the Wei and the Sung had been engaged had left disastrous consequences, in rendering many of the common people homeless. Having no means of livelihood, many of * That Buddhism had its opponents, notwithstanding the favour shown it by the lieir apparent, is manifest from the discussion that took place between him and one of his intimate friends, who was a scholar. Tze-liang, in his enthusiasm for Buddhism, began to descant upon its merits, *and showed how true it was, especially in its doctrine of the transmigration of souls. “You see many confirmatory proofs of the truth of this tenet,” he said to his friend Hwan-sin. “ Men who in a previous life were good and virtuous and filial, in this are rewarded by being placed in positions of honour and ease in society, whilst those who were immoral and profligate are now reaping the reward of their evil deeds in being made beggars and outcasts and the very scum of human life to-day.” Hwan-sin, however, was not going to be convinced so easily as the prince imagined, so he replied, “ I have no faith whatsoever in your idols or in Buddhism, and I entirely demur to the idea that men’s relative positions in society have anything to do with the absurd fiction that they are the result of deeds done in a previous state of existence. Men are like the flowers of a tree, which grow naturally. A great wind comes, and they fall — some here, some there, some on the stony rock and some in the pleasant garden. So it is with man. Some are kings, some are beggars, some in poverty, some in silks, but all the result of mere natural law. As fo the soul, it never existed before. It is a growth of the body. You see,” he continued, “ the sharpness of a knife blade. That is one of the accidents of the blade. If there were no knife there would be no sharpness, and if there were no body there would be no soul.” Tze-liang, whose mental powers do not seem to have been of the highest quality, was completely flabergasted at such profound logic, for history significantly remarks that he was silent. He does not seem to have wished to meet such a sledge hammer reasoner again, so he sent a messenger to Hwan-sin to tell him that if he were not such an odd character he would have made him a mandarin, as he plainly showed that he had ability enough to occupy such a position. This was a delicate hint to his opponent that he should swallow his principles and come over to his side, for he was convinced that a man with such transcendant powers of reasoning would have been a powerful advocate for Buddhism. Hwan-sin, however, was made of sterner stufl’ than he imagined, for he returned answer that he did not want to be a mandarin, and that he still held on to his belief that there was nothing in idolatry that a sensible man could accept. 222 THE HISTORY OP CHINA. them had been compelled to take to the roads, and so they became unsafe for honest travellers. Hung consulted with one of his most intelligent officers as to how the difficulty should be met. The latter replied that the one panacea for extirpating robbers out of his country was good and righteous government. He then referred to the example of Sung-kun, who, through his wise and liberal rule, caused even the wild beasts to desert the country over which they had wildly roamed.* Hung, feeling the force of this statement, began at once to examine his life and to see where corrections could be made. He also opened schools throughout the country and encouraged education. In the year A. D. 494, having become dissatisfied with his present capital, P‘ing, in Shansi, he determined to move it further south to Lohyang, in Honan. He was of a more refined nature than his countrymen, and he could not stand the severe winters and cold weather of the north. He knew that he should experience a violent opposition from the more conservative of his ministers, so he deter- mined to effect by a ruse what he felt convinced he could never accomplish by argument. All at once he gave out in an audience that he had with his nobles that he was going to make war on the Ts‘i dynasty. The astonishment of most of them was unbounded, for there was no ostensible reason for such an unwise proceeding. One of them, and he the most i)owerful, was very violent in his opposition, and in order to be able to carry out his scheme Hung had to take him into his confidence and let him kuow that it was not war he meant, but the removal of the capital. The king then ordered that an immense army should be raised, and that the various chiefs should bring their contingents into the field. The Ts‘i Emperor, hearing of this vast preparation that was being made to invade his territories, began to arm too, and soldiers from all parts of his dominions began their march towards the capital to defend it when the Wei army should have arrived to attack it. Now it happened fortunately for Himg that when his army got near Lohyang it began to rain in torrents. The soldiers were wet through, the roads were bad and the difficulty of locomotion depressed everyone. The officers who had originally been opposed to the invasion, repre- sented to the king the folly of continuing to carry out a purpose that nearly everyone in the army ojiposed. “ Better that we should return home,” they said, “ than persevere in an enterprise that must turn out disastrously with the present temper of the men.” Hung, who was secretly delighted with the turn that things had taken, tried to show the scorn that would be showered upon them, * Sung-kun was an officer who lived in the first century of our era, and held at first a position under the famous commander Ma-yuan. He was subsequently made governor of Kiukiang, in the province of Nganhwui. When he took up his government he found the people terribly oppressed by the officials who had been sent to destroy the tigers that infested the country. He at once put a stop to their exactions, and his rule was so beneficent that the animals of their own accord deserted the country and left the peoifie in peace. EPOCH OF DIVISION BETV7EEN NORTH AND SOUTH. 223 should they give u]» their phuis without striking a blow. “ The kingdom,” he said, ‘“has been put to great expense, and vast trouble has been taken in getting together and providing for such a large body of men. I see yonr difficulties,” he continued, “and 1 sympathize with you all. What I propose, then, is that we shall take possession of Lohyang, that is close by, and make it our capital ; we shall then be nearer the enemy should we desire by and by to couq^uer him, and we shall be in a more central position from which we can govern and care for the lands under our rule.” This proposition was carried by acclamation. Anything, they said, rather than persevere with this disastrous expedition. Hung at once sent several of his ministers back again to P‘ing to rule in it until he could arrange for the removal of the government offices and the public archives to his new capital. In this same year tragic events were taking place in the Ts‘i capital. Wu Ti had died, and Siau-lun, a nephew of Siau-tan, had determined that the succession should now run through his family. The late Emperor had only two grandsons that could succeed him, namely Ch‘iau-yeh and Liang. The first of these was made Emperor, with the historical name of Yn-Hu Wang, but the Siau family were soon in rebellion, and this unfortunate prince was murdered by Siau-lun, who at once took the title of Prince. A few months after he also killed the other brother, who had been allowed to succeed to the throne with the title of Hai-ling Wang. Siau-lun is known in history by the title of Ming Ti.—{A. D. 494-499). This murderer of his relatives was thirty-five years of age when he became Emperor, and he reigned five years. At the same time, the king of Wei, whose proclivities were altogether Chinese, issued an edict commanding his people to adopt the dress of their neighbours and abandon their own. He also raised an army and marched into the Ts‘i dominions. In order to justify this conduct he issued proc- lamations throughout the country, saying that he was moved to this action because of the abominable conduct of Ming Ti, who had violated the first principles of Heaven by murdering the two last Emperors. Although he led his army himself he was defeated by tlie Ts‘i troops, and had to return to Lohyang without having accomplished anything. Soon after his arrival, he commanded that the native language of his people should be given np and the Chinese used instead. He also ordered that it should be taught in all the schools, and that the classical books of China should be collected and formed into a great library, so that scholars could read the history of the empire and be indoctrinated into the teachings of its sages and great men, and thus have their minds enlightened by them. Lohyang was now formally re- cognized as the capital of their kingdom, as the king and all the mem- bers of the royal family removed to the palace that had been built to receive them (A. D. 496). In the next year Topa Hung took another 224 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. step that greatly displeased the able meu of his kiiigdotn. Discoveriag, as he thought, that his family was descended from the great Hwaug Ti of Chinese history, he changed the name of his dynasty from Wei to Yuan. He also sought out all the best families in his kingdom and made them mandarins, with the power of transmitting their office to their sons, makiug, in fact, official position hereditary instead of the re- sult of competitive e.Naminations, or a reward for merit or ability. When remonstrated with he promised that he would alter this system in the future, but that it must remain as it was now, as he had made his appointments. In the year A. D. 488 Hing Ti began to have suspi- cions about the fidelity of his commander-in-chief, Waug-king. This man had formerly been governor of Hwai-chi, Chehkiang, but had been raised to his present important post by the Emperor after he had seized the throne. Although he had sworn allegiance to the present dynasty his heart went out towards the Sung, and he longed to have it restored. Miug Ti, though suspicious, still kept him in office, for he had a great affection for him, and besides he thought that as he was so dear to him, and he had frequently to be in the palace, be would not dare to carry out his treasonable thoughts into action. One day Ming Ti made a present of a harpsichord to a son of Wang-king, who was a great musician, and asked him to play upon it. As he listened to the air that he played and the words that he sang he was alarmed to find that they both belonged to the music of the Sung, and that he found sarcastic references in both to himself and his dynasty. Soon after this the young man returned to his home in Hwai-chi, but Ming Ti, who was greatly distressed at his disloyalty, sent a high official after him to keep his eye upon him and report his conduct to the throne. His father was no sooner informed of this than he sent a letter to his son-in-law Sieh, saying that the hour was come for him to rebel, and calling upon him and all his family that could take up arms to hasten to his side. Sieh, who had no thought of rebellion, at once had the messenger seized and carried before Ming Ti, to whom he revealed the plans of Wang-king. In the meanwhile, the latter was marching as fast as he could with ten thousand men towards the capital. On liis way he passed by the great city of Hangchow, whose governor resisted his entrance, but wdio was defeated and compelled to fly. Marching on after his victory he came up with the royal army commanded by Siau-i, who defeated and slew him, and thus the incipient rebellion that might have ended disastrously for the Tshs was crushed. The Emperor wished to reward Sieh with high honours in the State, but he resolutely refused to accept them. He evidently felt that private life was the safest position for a man who in these troublous times had any regard for his life. This same year IMing Ti became very ill. He wished to hide this from the world, but the disease became rapidly more serious, and EPOCH or DIVISION BETWEEN NORTH AND SOUTH. 225 in a short, time he was compelled to drop the sceptre which he had grasped through bloodshed and murder. He was succeeded by liis sou Pau-kwaii, who is known in history by the title of Tung Hwun Han, which, being literally interpreted, means “The Addle-pated Eastern Viscount.” Tung Hwun Hau. — (A.D. 499-501). This man was of a light and frivolous disposition, and did not seem to have the mental capacity to understand the dignity and res()ou- sibility of the high position to which he had been elevated. It is said that when his father was being buried, and the high mandarins and nobles were engaged in weeping and mourning for the dead, Tung Hwun was so tickled at the sight of a bald-iieaded official that was engaged in noisy lamentations for his late father that he startled the crowd of mourners by loud and boisterous laughter, whilst he kept calling out, “ See ! the bald-headed is crying I ” Almost immediately after his accession an army was led against the forces of Wei. but they were defeated and compelled to retreat in disgrace to their own territories. During the campaign the king of Wei died, and was succeeded by his son Suan Wu Ti (A. D. 50U). During the second year of Tung Hwun’s reign the palace at Nan- king was burnt, when the Emperor built another and much more magnificent one. No expense was spared in producing a building, or rather a series of buildings, that should rival in splendour anything that had (wer preceded them. The walls were rendered perpetually fragrant by being plastered with a substanee that was impregnated with musk that had been extracted from the musk bags taken from the deer that were found in Sz-chwau and other Western provinces. The floors were covered with the most beautiful designs taken from nature by the most celebrated artists of the day. One room the Emperor ordered to be paved witli golden lilies that had been made with the utmost care by the best goldsmiths of the capital. This was a favourite resort of his, and here he used to sit with his beautiful concubine Pan-fei.* To carry out these expensive designs of his Tung Hwun had to resort to the most extreme measures for raising funds from the people. The exactions were so severe, and the distress caused by them so unbearable, that it is said the people could be seen weeping as they walked along the roads, so dire was the * Pan-fei is celebrated for her gracefulness and beauty. It has been asserted, though without sufficient proof, that the artificial cramping of the feet of the women of China commenced with her. This idea has no doubt arisen from the tradition that one day, when she was walking before him in this golden lily chamber, Tung Hwun was so charmed with her exquisite grace that, enraptured, he cried out, “ See ! every step she takes makes a lily to grow ! ” and as the polite term for the cramped foot is “ Golden Lily,” it has therefore been supposed that this unsightly custom originated with Pan-fei. It is more likely that it commenced with Yau-niang, another famous beauty, and a concubine who lived about the year A. D. 970, and who, according to a tradition, was said to have arched her feet to the semblance of the new moon. 226 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. misery that was brought upon them by the cruelty of this unreason- able tyrant. At last, driven to despair, application was made to Siau-i, one of the great mandarins, to undertake to rid the empire of such a profli- gate monster. This high-minded noble refused to sully his name with the crime of treason, but one of the creatures of Tung Hwiin, who had heard of the affair, represented to him that Siau-i had actually consented to put him out of the way. Enraged at this, he immediately sent an officer with an urgent command that he should at once drink of a poisoned cup that he had forwarded to him. Before the messenger could reach his house a friend of his rushed headlong into his presence and urged him to fly at once to Yangcbow, where his brother Siau-yeu was governor, and thus escape the death that was now imminent. Siau-i refused to do this. “I am not afraid of death,” he replied. "From ancient times men have had to die, and no man may escape death ; I shall die sooner than I expected, but what matters that, for, after all, it is a mere question of time.” When the officer arrived with the fatal draught Siau-i received him smilingly, and drinking it down he said, “ I am afraid that when my brother hears of this there will be such trouble iu the palace that the Emperor will find his throne in danger.” This prophecy was literally fulfilled. When the news of this tragedy readied Siau-yen he instantly sum- moned his captains and leading men, and boldly proposed that they should march ujion the capital and rid the empire of a monster that was a terror and a sorrow to the whole nation. Not a dissentient voice was raised against this, and pre[>arations were at once made. Troops were gathered from every direction throughout his large province, and ])roclaniations were issued and posted up iu all the prominent cities of it, declaring the reasons why this armed insurrec- tion was being made, and showing that the time had come when the empire should be delivered from a burden under which all classes of the people were groaning. In the meantime, Tung Hwun, who had got information of this movement, sent orders to his brother Pau-fung, who was governor of Kiugchow, to advance at once with all the troops he could collect and destroy Siau-yeu. The latter managed to intercept this man, and putting him to death, sent a message to Pau-fung, telling him that Tung Hwun was meditating his death, and strongly urged upon him to join his forces to his own and seize the imperial power for himself. This he consented to do, and in A. D. 501 he assumed the title of Ho Ti, and issuing a decree, he declared that Tung Hwun, because of his vices, was no longer Emperor of China. Ho Ti, who was only sixteen years of age, continued to reside in Kiugchow, whilst Siau-yen, by his orders, marched on Nanking with full powers to act precisely as he considered best. He reached this city in November, and after a siege of two mouths he entered it with his victorious troops, when he found IPOCH OP DIVISION BETWEEN NORTH AND SOUTH. 227 that the miserable Tiiug Hwim had been murdered by the populace, who had been driven to desperation by their sufferings, and who, conscious that they uever would be called to account by the enemy outside the gates, had avenged themselves for the sufferings they had been called upon to endure. When Pau-fei was brought before Siau- yen he was so much struck with her beauty that he was inclined to take her into his harem, but one of his officers protested against this, as she was just the person, he said, to be the destroyer of a dynasty. So she was at once led out to execution. With the coming of Siau-yen to Nanking the extinction of the Ts‘i dynasty may be said to have been consummated, for although Ho Ti was still alive, and had the nominal rule, the sceptre he wielded was but a shadowy one, for the real one was now in the grasp of one who, though he still pretended to rule in the name of another, was determined never to abandon it as long as he lived. 228 THE HlSTOKY OF CHINA. EPOCH OF DIVISION BETWEEN THE NORTH AND SOUTH. THE LIANG DYNASTY (A. D. 502-557). Wu Ti.—(A. D. 502-550). Chapter XVII. vj|s^T0 sooner had Sian-yen gained possession of the capital than he determined to seize upon the imperial power and found a dynasty of his own. At first he dissembled, in order that he might feel the pulse of the people, and especially learn whether the nobles were prepared to stand by him in case the adherents of the Ts‘i disputed his attempt to usurp the throue. His captains and leading men strongly urged him to become Emperor, but he at first refused and took simply the title of prime minister to Ho Ti. His next step was to proclaim himself Duke of Liang, and finding that this produced no commotion amongst the high mandarins and nobility he took the higher title of the Prince of Liang. Ho Ti, who had been ad- vancing towards Nanking, arrived at the town of Ku-shu, when he heard of the ambitions schemes of Sian-yen aud the high titles he had assumed, which he had no right to take without the special permission of the Emperor. He very wisely, however, avoided a collision with him aud the horrors of civil war by resigning his throne and ap- pointing Siau-yen in his place. No sooner had the latter received the important document that made him Emperor than the question had to be decided where Ho Ti should be allowed to reside and what title should be given him now that he had resigned his throne. It was nnanimonsly agreed that he should be called prince of Pa-ling, bnt there was extreme difficulty in settling where it would be for the safety of the new dynasty that he should be allowed to live. Wu Ti was for having him transported to Canton, as being the most remote from the scene of his former greatness, and where it was less likely that he could conspire by and by to regain his lost power. Wiser heads than his, however, showed the folly of allowing a man who had been Emperor to be so far removed from the control of the central authority and the danger of insurrection being planned and suddenly bursting upon the empire without any preparations being made to meet it. It was finally agreed that he should be made to reside at Ku-shu, and there await the final decision of the high authorities, in whose hands his fortunes now lay. It was soon discovered that there was no longer EPOCH OF DIVISION BETWEEN THE NORTH AND SOUTH. 229 any place in the empire, large as it was, where he could be allowed to remain, so Wu Ti sent him some gold to swallow, and thus put au end to his life. When the messenger arrived with the order Ho Ti said, “ Far rather give me some strong spirits to drink instead of this gold.” His request was complied with by the officials who had to see that his death was compassed. A quantity of the spirits he liked best was given him, and when he had drunk himself into a stupor he was strangled. Wu Ti called his dynasty the Liang, from the territory over which he ruled as Duke. He began his reign with the best intentions of governing his people well and wisely. He had come to the throne with comparative ease. There had been little bloodshed and less of the clearing off by murder of the adherents of the former dynasty than usual, and therefore there were no powerful clans who owed the new ruler a grudge for the destruction of their leaders, and who consequently would be ever on the watch to find a fitting occasion on which to wreak their revenge. He caused two large wooden boxes to be made and fixed in a public place near the palace into which men who were suffering from a fiiilure of justice, or from powerful enemies, or from causes that were oppressing them, could place their complaints with the certainty that they would be brought before the notice of the Emperor and be dealt with in the most impartial and summary manner. In the year A. D. .503 the kingdom of Wei was terribly afflicted with a severe famine in Shen-si. The soil of that province consists mainly of loess which, under favourable circumstances, produces fairly good crops. There is always a certain peril about it, however, that must make the farmers in it feel uncertain whether the seed they sow will ever gladden them by producing an abundance when the harvest time comes round. When the rains are plentiful and regular every- thing goes on smoothly, but should these fail, then sorrow is imminent, for the ground is of such a nature that it cannot long retain the moisture that the clouds have sent down, but it allows it to drain below the point to which the labours of the agriculturist have reached. The Emperor sent special officers from Lohyang to the districts affected, with full powers to help the needy and to redress any wrongs from the magistrates that might be the means of aggravating the sufferings of the people. One of these Imperial deputies, though a man in high position under the government, distinguished himself by the unswerving loyalty and fidelity with which he carried out the difficult task that had been assigned him. It is pleasant to think that in those far off times, when corruption abounded in high places, there were still here and there men who were influenced by higher motives than the mere desire to enrich themselves at the public expense, and whose hearts were set upon the noble task of succouring their fellow-men. 230 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. In two districts that he visited his integrity was severely tested. The chief mandarins in these were men that it was difhcnlt to deal with, one of them being an ancle of the Queen, and the other a relative of his own. They had both been nufaithfnl in the discharge of their public duties. When the royal dnpnty arrived, they each in turn invited him to a great dinner, hoping to propitiate him and make him lenient in judging them. During the feast each began to beg him to be kind in his treatment of him, but they were immediately silenced by being reminded that this was a time for enjoyment and not for the discussion of public matters. Next day each one was dismissed from his office, and his name reported to the king for him to deal with each as he might think best. About this same time an incident occurred in the kingdom of Liang that not only illustrates one of the peculiar customs of those early days, but which shows that the doctrine of filial piety, which is so much revered and honoured by the Chinese of to-day, was one that was practised by many an heroic sacrifice by the men and women of those times. A mandarin holding a position equivalent to that of the district magistrate of to-day, who is really the chief executive officer in a whole county, was falsely accused by his superior officers of misdeeds, for which he was thrown into prison and condemned to death. His sou, a lad of fifteen years of age, determined to save him by the sacrifice of his own life. He accordingly proceeded to the capital, and striking the great drum, which was suspended at one of the city gates, he was led at once into the presence of Wn Ti, who asked him what urgent matter had made him take the liberty of beating the drum instead of going through the formal process of law, which was the common way, and which was open to every citizen who had any complaint to make or grievance to be redressed.* The lad replied that his case was one that would brook no delay. His father, he said, had been condemned to death, and would soon be executed. He had come here to offer himself as a substitute for him, and he wished the Emperor to accept him and order the stay of proceedings against his father. Wn Ti was much struck with this heroic resolve of the young fellow, but he was somewhat suspicions that this was simply an ingenious plan to touch his heart, so that, moved by the devotion of the sou, he might be induced to pardon the father. He accordingly ordered one of his nobles to take the boy aside and question him as to his motives in making the appeal he had made * The (Irutn at the gate of the capital seems to have been analogous to that which is found at the entrance of every prominent mandarin’s court throughout the eighteen provinces of China at the present day. In ca.ses of great urgency, where immediate aid is required from the magistrate, and where delay would cause great loss or sufifering, men are allowed to strike this, when their cases are at once attended to. If it is found, on investigation, that this drum has been struck without any adequate justification severe punishment is at once the consequence. Men have the ordinary forms of law through which they may appeal for protection, and, except in special cases, these must be gone through. It is only in extreme circumstances that any one may summon the mandarin to his court at irregular hours by the use of this drum. EPOCH OP DIVISION BETWEEN THE NORTH AND SOUTH. 231 to-day. When they had reached another room he was asked who had suggested to him the idea of offering himself for his father, and was it really true that he was prepared to die. “What I have done to-day is entirely the result of my own thoughts,” he replied. “ No one put it into my head to offer my life for my father’s. Death is too serious a matter to be trifled witli. There is none in all the world that is not afraid to die, and iff did not wish to give my life away there is none that could persuade me to do so. It is for my hither only that I would make such a tremendous sacrifice.” When Wu Ti heard these words he was deeply moved, and at once ordered the father to be released, whilst he dismissed the son with many commendations for his filial piety. During the next two or three years both the rulers of Wei and Liang were absorbed in fostering and caring for the religion of Confucius. Schools of learning were opened, wherein the sacred writings of the great sage were studied, and Wu Ti spent large sums of money in building temples to his honour. The result was that large numbers of highly cultivated men were to be found scattered through- out the two kingdoms, who were prepared to render service to the state whenever it should be required. In the year A. D. oU8 the king of Wei, ambitions of extending his territories, secretly equip|)ed a large army and sent it under the command of two of his best generals to invest the important town of Tsung-li, in Kiangnan. In order to reach the city, which was protected by a river that flowed not far from it, a suspension bridge was hastily thrown across, and the place was surrounded by the soldiers of Wei. Wu Ti, at the first news of the hostile movement, sent orders to the commanders of his troops in different parts of the eiu[)ire to hurry forward with all speed and relieve the town. Considerable time was lost in carrying these out, during which the Wei troops were making serious advances towards the conquest of the city. When Wu Ti’s troops arrived the first thing they did was to destroy the bridge, which the Liang general Wei-jui did by filling boats with combustibles and sending them down the Hwai and burning it, which was accomplished, in spite of all the efforts of the enemy to })reveut it. The retreat of the investing army being thus cut off, and a rapid stream rolling between the soldiers and their homes, they became demoralized, and in consequence suffered a terrible defeat, in which a large number of men were killed, and the remainder were glad to escape simply with their lives. AVei-jui jiursued the beaten enemy up to the borders of Wei, and would have followed them further, but Wu ’Ti, with a great want of confidence in his own soldiers, forbade this, and consequently the full benefit of the great disaster at Tsuug-li was, in a great measure, lost. Wei, who, according to the author of the “Former Five Dy- nasties,” had fifty thousand men captured and over four hundred thousand slain, was at this time completely prostrated, and would have 232 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. become an easy conquest bad more courage and statesmanship been shown. 3’hese unauthorized histories, however, are given to exag- geration, and no doubt their statements have to be vastly discounted.* In the year A. D. 510 Wu Ti endeavoured to make a treaty of peace with the great northern power, but his advances were repulsed, as the king of Wei never abandoned the dreams that had been entertained by its successive rulers, that they would in time become the masters of the whole of China. It is noticeable that from about this time Wu Ti seems to have abandoned his faith in the Confuciau doctrines and to have become a profound believer in Buddhism. He not only built a famous monastery in the capital, but actually himself became a preacher of the religion he had adopted. He sent messengers to the West for teachers to instruct his people in Buddhism, and the result was that in the coarse of time over three thousand bonzes arrived and took up their abode in the capital. Before many years had elapsed more than thirteen thousand Buddhist temples had been built in different parts of the empire. In the year A. D. 513 Fu, the son of Suan Wu Ti, the king of Wei, was publicly acknowledged as the heir to the throne. According to the custom of the country his mother should now have been put to death, but for some reason, not stated, her life was spared, which in after years was the cause of most serious evils, not only to the kingdom, but also to her sou, Three years after, the king died, when Fu, under the title of Hiau Ming Ti, succeeded him. His first act was to put to death his father’s widow and appoint his own mocher to be Queen- dowager and to make her regent during his minority. This was a very high and illegal position for one who had simply been a concubine. Wu Ti, who was always ambitious of extending his empire at the expense of Wei, as the latter was of doing the same at his, made a determined effort to gain possession, if possible, of the important town of Shenyang, situated on the river Hwai. It had been represented to him by his ablest generals that the city could be gained without any fighting whatever. He had simply to dam up the waters of the river, and the place would become so inundated that the troops in possession would have to surrender at discretion, or they and the inhabitants would be drowned like rats. An immense force was sent to carry out this plan, evidently too large for the soldiers of Wei to attack, and for over two years they were engaged in building an immense embank- ment, which it was believed would stem the fiercest current that the Hwai in its most flooded time could show. It was certainly a most gigantic affair. It was three miles long, fourteen hundred and forty feet at the base, which gradually narrowed up to four hundred and fifty at its summit, and it was raised considerably higher than the city walls it was intended to flood. In spite of all the care that had been taken to ensure success the whole ended in the most miserable failure. * See “ Former Five I>ynastiei ” in loc. BPOCn OP DIVISION BETWEEN TAB NORTH AND SOUTH. 233 After the last gaps had beeu closed, and the river was fairly im- prisoned, it seemed determined to show the haughty invader that it was stronger than any power that he and his hundreds of thousands o£ armed men could bring to oppose it. As the waters rose higher and higher and began to climb up the city walls, where the terrified inhabi- tants were gathered, and fear began to paralyze the more timid, a sound like thunder was heard, and instantly the solemn march of the waters was stayed. The people were delivered. The friendly river that had rolled by them so many years, had shattered the embankment, and it had disappeared witli fifteen thousand of the enemy, who would never again take up arms against the city. Both Wu Ti and Iln-shih, tlie queen regent of Wei, became more and more absorbed in their devotion to Buddhism. The latter built a magnificent temple close by the palace, where she could worship at all hours of the day, and as a work of merit she erected a pagoda ninety feet in height, which could be seen for a long distance in every direction, and which reminded the people of the hold that Buddhism was taking upon those in high position in the land. Wu Ti, in order to carry out to its extreme limits one of the essential doctrines of the new fiith that he had adopted, viz., that men should under no circum- stances deprive anything of life, issued an edict throughout his empire that no figures of animals should in future be embroidered on any silk or satin, because the tailors, in cntting up such for dresses, were com- pelled to cut through them, and in so doing they were in danger of becoming accustomed to the idea that animal life, after all, was not so precious as it was, and they would thus be made more cruel iu their treatment of it. He also ordered that in the Confucian sacrifices only vegetables should be used, and that figures of the animals that were usually oftered in them should be made of flour and presented to the spirits of the dead. This latter order caused an immense commotion tliroughout every grade of society. Whatever faith they might have had in any other form of religion, the one cherished belief that swayed and dominated the heart of every grown np person in the land, just as it does to-day, was the conviction that the spirits of their ancestors iu some way or other controlled the fortunes of eacli one, and that no sacrifice would be acceptable to them that did not contain tiie flesh of animals. Men began to fear that sorrow would come upon their homes, and misery and ruin and disaster upon all they engaged iu. This decree was looked upon as one of the signs of the speedy decay and extinction of the dynasty. The Emperor heard of the dissatisfaction of his people, but he was too true a Buddhist to give way, and the obnoxious law remained iu force. For nearly ten years the condition of the kingdom of Wei was any- thing but satisfactory. Ever since Hu-shih had been ai)poiuted regent the discontent of the nobles and the people had been steadily growing. Not only was she a very ambitious woman, who was determined to make 234 tHE HISTORY OF CHINA. her will felt iu the kingdom in every department of its politics, but she was also most immoral and profligate, so that the great mandarins rebelled against the thought of being under the control of such an unprincipled ruler. There were popular risings and intrigues in the palace, one of which was headed by a brother-in-law of the queen regent, who was so shocked at her open wickedness that he managed to deprive her of power and have her conflned to her own apartments for more than three years, whilst he himself became the leading spirit in the kingdom during that time. Whilst she was under restraint there appeared on the frontiers of Shansi the first signs of the storm that was soon to come upon the kingdom and cause it to be broken up amidst war and bloodshed. In the year A. D. 525 Ur-chn-ying was the general in command of the forces that were stationed on the borders to keep back the irruption of the northern barbarians. This position of his was a hereditary one, and up to this time the responsible duties belonging to it had been loyally and faithfully carried out. Influenced, no donbt, by the prevailing discontent, and the disorders that were everywhere prevalent, Ur-chu-ying deemed that the time had come when he, too, had as good a chance as many of the competi- tors that were iu the field for advancing his family to supreme power in the state. He accordingly began to make preparations for holding the country he now governed, in his own right and not iu the name of another. Next year, by an intrigue, Hn-shih got free from her confine- ment, and once more seized the reins of power. She had learned no lesson during her forced retirement, but acted iu the same shameless manner that she had previously done. The consequence was that incipient rebellious began to spring up throughout the country, and one specially serious one burst out iu Chihli. It was found exceed- ingly difficult to raise the requisite forces to suppress these. The finances were at the very lowest ebb, and in the present condition of the country it was difficult to find any new source from whence they i:ould be recruited. In this extremity an edict was issued that there should be an immediate collection of the land tax for the next six years. Even after these were collected there remained a most serious deficiency. The allowance of spirits and flesh that were granted to the officers in the army was then reduced, and an ordinance was passed tliat every person who went to market to purchase anything should pay a cash every time he went, no matter how often during the day. The year A. D. 528 witnessed the remarkable spectacle of the voluntary withdrawal of Wu Ti from his palace and from the direction of public affairs to spend his days as a common bonze iu the monastery of “ Harmonious Peace ” that he had built at a great expense iu the ' capital. Whilst he was chanting the Buddhist prayers, and some- times occupying the post of preacher for the day, the state of things in Wei was becoming more and more serious. Ur-chu-ying had been maturing his plans, and he now awaited but the arrival of some man EPOCH OF DIVISION BETWEEN THE NORTH AND SOUTH. 235 of superior genius at his camp to assist liim to carry them out. He had not long to wait, for the famous Kau-hwan, who was to play so prominent a part in the stirring events of the next few years, was introduced to him as the very man he was in need of. On his first appearance Ur-chu-ying was greatly disappointed in him. He was very lean and sallow, and looked altogetlier a very common- place looking individual, so that he had no faith in him whatever. He was told, however, that he was a very uncommon character, with a mind that had the peculiar art of governing others. In order to test this strong will of his he sent him into his stables to see what he could do with one of his horses that was exceedingly vicious and that no one had been able to control. Kau-hwan, without any hesitation, obeyed the request of Ur-chu-ying, when, to the astonishment of everyone, the animal seemed at once to recognize its master, and submitted like a lamb to be handled and moved about, completely conquered by this quiet, self-contained man. When this trial of his skill was over, Ur- chu-ying asked him what he should have done if the horse had not obeyed him. He replied, with a wintry smile on his firm self- restrained features, “ There was no possibility of anything of the kind happening, for 1 have tried the same system on bad men, and 1 have never known it to fail, even with them.” Ur-chu-ying’s mind was greatly influenced by this incident, so sending every one out of tlie room, except themselves, he asked his advice as to what action he should take in the present circumstances. Kau*hwan said, “ I hear that you have thousands of horses that you are rearing upon twelve mountain districts within your jurisdiction : what is your object in having so many ? ” Ur-chu-ying replied, “ 1 don’t want you to ask me any questions : what I require is your definite opinion as to what 1 should do now in the present state of the Wei kingdom ?” Kau-hwan then said, “The king of Wei is young ; ho is surrounded by faithless and corrupt ministers, and besides, his mother, who is the real ruler, is a profligate woman, whom neither the people nor the nobles respect. You have soldiers in abundance, and you have horses in any number at your command ; why not rise now and march on the capital ? Ur- chu-ying gladly accepted this advice that was so in harmony with his own wishes, and the details of the campaign were at once planned and agreed upon. In order to conceal the true motives for this act of rebellion, and to enlist the sympathies of the nation on his behalf, Ur-chu-ying sent a memorial to Hiau Ming Ti, telling him that he was greatly distressed at the unhappy condition in which he was in. He was surrounded by traitors, whose only object was their own ambitious schemes. His mo- ther had usurped all the power of the state, and her character was so infamous that she would certainly wreck the dynasty, and, moreover, the country was distracted by so many popular risings that the lives of honest people were in constant danger. He had raised an army, he 230 TIIE niSTOIiY OF CFUNA. said, and was now on liis mai'ch to Lohyaug to deliver the king from his bondage and to save the kingdom from destruction. By the time the memorial reached the capital Ur-chu-ying, with his army, was half way on their road to it. The king was exceedingly glad when he heard of the force that was on its way to rescue him. He had been exceedingly grieved at the immoral conduct of his mother and at the miseries she was bringing on the country, but he was completely helpless to do anything to remedy this unhappy state of matters, as she had not only grasped all power in her own hands, but she had also filled the palace with men who were creatures of her own, and who would obey none but her. He at once replied to the intimation of Ur- chu-ying and ordered him to come on with his army and deliver him from the bad men that were plotting against his life and against the welfare of his kingdom. Hardly had his command gone forth than he began to be apprehensive lest the vengeance of his mother would be wreaked upon him for this act; so he issued another order that Ur-chu-ying should retire with his army to his own jurisdiction on the borders of Shansi. This miserable vacillation did not save him, however. His mother got to hear of what iie had done, and feeling that her life was in danger she sent her son a poisoned cup, which he was compelled to drink. She then issued an edict informing the country that her son had died, and that another had been appointed in his ])lace. As this one was only three years of age she said she would still hold the office of queen regent, and she called u])on the subjects of "Wei to loyally submit to her authority. Ur-chu-ying was terribly incensed when he heard of the murder of Hiau Ming Ti, and hurried on the march of the soldiers to the capital to avenge his death. Hu-shih, who did not lack in energy, sent an army under two generals of distinction to meet him, but no sooner had they come near the approaching force than they went over to Ur- chu-ying, and their own troops marched side by side with his towards Lohyaug. When this news reached the palace the traitors immediately fled, and Hu-shih, seeing herself entirely deserted by the bad men in whom she had trusted, had her head shaved, and entered herself as a nun in one of the large nunneries in the city. She hoped thus to get the shield of the Buddhist church to save her from the vengeance of Ur-chu-ying. In this she was mistaken, however. This general had no faith in the Buddhist religion, and moreover, he was come to execute justice on a woman who for years had outraged and defied it. No sooner had he taken jFOSsession of the city than Hu-shih and the infant king were seized and brought before him, when they were both tied and thrown into the Yellow River. He then caused the nobles and mandarins, to the number of over two thousand men, to be arrested and brought into the capital. These he had surrounded by his troops, when he reproached them for the disorders of the kingdom and for their waut of loyalty iu tamely standing by and allowing a vicious El-OCII OF DIVISION DETWFEN THE NoldTI AND ROnTH. 237 svomau to rule the couutry for so loug a time. He tiieu gave a sigual to his soldiers, who fell upou them aud massaered every oue of them. As the time was uot yet ripe for him to seize the throne for him- self, Ur-chu-yiug made the Prince of Chu-yen king, under the title of Hiau Chwaug Ti, in the place of the child that had been drowned, aud who was known as Prince Lin-tau. Xot long after the new king had been settled on the tliroue, aud Ur-chu-yiug had retired with his army to the frontiers, a sudden danger threatened to overthrow the new regime that had been so hap{)ily inaugurated. A prince of Wei, thinking himself wronged, fled to the court of Wu Ti aud begged assistance from him to re-establish the former house upou the throne. The Emperor, glad of any op- portunity of attacking his hereditary enemy, at once granted his recpiest aud sent an army with him under his general, Ch‘en King-chi. Great success attended him at first, aud several cities were captured, and he reached the ueighbourliood of Lohyang without any oue being- able to 'resist him. Hiau Cliwang Ti fled incontinently aud left his capital to be occupied by the successful Liang commander. The jn-iuce that had claimed the aid of Wu Ti, was set uiiou the throne, whilst Ch‘en was made prime minister. Hardly a mouth, however, Inid passed before Ur-chu-yiug had arrived with his powerful legions. In an engagement with Ch‘en he completely routed his forces. The upstart king was slain, and Hiau (fiiwang Ti was again restored to ]iower. Ur-chu-yiug was made com- mauder-in-chief of the armies of Wei, whilst Kau-hwan was employed by him in the capacity of political adviser. Whilst these things were going on in Wei, Wu Ti had again entered the monastery of ‘•Harmonious Peace” as a common bonze, aud resigned the luxury aud power of political life. He put off his royal apparel aud donned that of an ordinary monk. He slept on a poor bed, aud had an earthen pillow on which to rest his head when he slept, aud he rigidly obeyed the laws by which the rest of the bonzes were regulated. He seemed to find more ha]i{)iness in the seclusion of the monastery aud in the obedience of its rules than he did in his magnificent palace. After a short time his ministers, who found it difficult to carry on the business of the empire without him, came and begged him to resume his duties as Emperor. This, however, the heads of the establishment refused to consent to until a considerable sum had been paid out of the national treasury for his ransom. When this had been given the royal devotee was absolved from his vows and allowed once more to become a citizen of the world. Scarcely more than a year had elapsed before Hiau Ohwaug Ti, forgetful of the great benefits he had received from Ur-chu-yiug, began to plot against his life. It is true that the leader had become more aud more ambitious as he felt that the stability of the govern- ment depended upon himself, and that the craven spirits in the palace 238 THE HISTORY OF CHIXA. begau to fear lest iu a revolution their lives might be eudaugered. The secret plots of the conspirators became known to a cousin of his, who informed him of them. Ur-chu-yiug was foolhardy, and instead ol taking advantage of the vrarning he went about as usual, fancying liimself too strong for even the king to dare to attack. In this thought he was grievously mistaken. Being summoned to the palace, he went, attended only by one of his generals, when they were set upon and murdered as soon as they had entered the hall of audience by the hand, it is said, of the very man whom he had placed upon the throne. The political sagacity of the king was not great enough to allow him to perceive that with the death of the man he had slain was sounded the knell of his own tenure of power as a sovereign. No sooner was the murder of this great man accomplished than the palace resounded with rejoicings as though some great event that ought to be celebrated with songs and mirth had happened, and Hiau Chwaug, in order to commemorate it, ordered a general amnesty to be proclaimed through- out the kingdom. In the meanwhile Ur-chu-shih-liang, the cousin who had warned the murdered general, fled with his forces to Ho-yin, and raising the standard of rebellion, proclaimed Prince Tung Hai to be the ruler of "Wei. He soon found himself at the head ol such an army that he was able to march on Ijohyang, which he entered victoriously and put to deatli the slayer of his cousin. These successes had been gained mainly through the ability of Kau-hwau, who determined not only to avenge the death of his patron, but also at the same time to secure for himself a position that might in the end lead to a throne, either for himself or his family. For his services he was rewarded by being given the command of a large district, with all the emoluments connected with it. Prince Tung Hai was soon superseded by Tsieh Ming Ti, who, in his turn, was dis2flaced by Kau-hwan, who had rebelled against the new regime, and having gained so many successes with his troops that the fate of each successive ruler was jiractically in his hands, jmt jirince Ngan Ting on the throne. Finding this man not according to his anticijiations he deposed him after a few months and elevated Hiau Wu Ti in his place, whilst he himself jiossessed the real power, and iu order to secure it more permanently for his family, compelled liim to marry one of his daughters. The year A. D. 534 was an eventful one in the history of the great northern power, for in it, it was rent in twain, and from the division tliere were constituted the Eastern and Western Wei. This diastrous state of things arose mainly from the ambition of two men, — Kau-hwan and Yu-wen-t‘ai. The latter, who is now destined to play a consincuons })art in the stirring events of the next few years, was the general of the troops under Ho-pa, who was governor iu Shensi. Both of these men were distinguished for their ability, and the latter, who was of the royal lineage of Topa, was terribly annoyed at the conspicuous part EPOCH OF DIVISION BETWEEN THE NORTH AND SOUTH. 239 that Kau-hwaa had taken in setting np his own nominee as king, and he pnblicly annonnced to Hiau Wn Ti that he intended to kill him. The latter, who was feeling the galling restraint under which he was kept by Kan-hwan, secretly rejoiced at this and gave him the com- mand of twenty districts. Whilst Hn-pa was collecting his forces for the campaign he was killed by his officers, when all his power fell into the hands of his ambitions general, Yn Wen-t‘ai. A few months after this Kan-hwan openly rebelled. Hian Wn Ti fled to Shensi, when Kan-hwan put Hian Tsing Ti on the throne and constituted himself prime minister. As the young king was only eleven years of age it can easily be understood that all the power of what was now called the Eastern AVei, fell into his hands. Hiau Wn Ti soon discovered that in being freed from the control of his former minister he had bnt increased his misery and danger by placing himself in the hands of Yn Wen-t‘ai. By the close of the year he had been poisoned by him, and another ruler, under the name of Wen Ti, governed in Shensi, the first of the new dynasty of the AVesteru AVei. During these momentous changes in the north AVn Ti was still absorbed in his purpose of advancing the interests of the Buddhist religion. In the year A. D. 538 he was made happy by the receipt of some of the nails and hair and bones of Buddha. For the reception of these he built a magnificent temple and proclaimed an amnesty throughout his empire. The two rival dynasties of AA^ei were now bent on the destruction of each other, and the two men who were the real, though not nominal rulers of them, were ever on the watch how they could injure each other. Yn AVen-t’ai seems to have been the better statesman of the two, for he appears to have had the good of the country at heart, in spite of all his ambitious schemes for the elevation of his own family. On one occasion he had an edict published thronghont the country, calling upon the mandarins of all degrees to seriously consider the following subjects : That the magistrates in their administration should not accept bribes ; that the education of the people should be attended to as well as their morals ; that every effort should be made by those in anthority to ascertain what were the natural resources of the conntry and to develop them to the utmost ; that only able men should be employed under government ; the enactment of milder penal laws ; and that there should be one method in the collection of the land tax, and that no one should be charged more than what was due. As the years went by the condition of things in the empire became more and more serious in consequence of AVu Ti’s devotion to Buddhism. In the earlier years of his reign he had been distinguished for many noble qualities, which the historian delights to recount. He was benevolent, and filial, and noted for his modesty. He was also learned, and a statesman of no mean ability. He had a keen 24U THE HISTORY OF CHINA. perception of men’s characters, and knew how to select the best men to help him in his government. The consequence was that for many years his rule was a most wise and beneficent one, and shed a glory upon his country that gave it a reputation far and wide. In later years his judgment was warped by his faith to such an extent that the administration of law was seriously interfered with. For example, his observance of the Buddhistic doctrine that a true believer must refrain from causing the death of anything living, very often saved the lives of criminals who had been rightfully adjudged to die. Indeed, it was only in cases of high treason that Wn Ti would consent to a person’s death, and then he did so amidst weeping and lamentation. The consequence of this was that crime rapidly increased throughout his dominions. Men felt sure of their lives, no matter what wrongs they committed outside of rebellion ; and the law had no other terrors to restrain the violence of such great transgressors. The year A. D. 548 saw the death of the famous Kan-hwau. At the close of the preceding year he had raised an army and proceeded to besiege the city of Yupi, belonging to the Western Wei. All his efforts to capture it had proved unavailing, and he was compelled to retreat with disgrace from before its walls. Whether it was chagrin, caused by his failure, or the fatigues of the campaign that affected his health, we do not certainly know, but soon after he was seized by a mortal sickness, of which he soon died. On his death-bed he called his sou to his side to give him some counsel as to how he should act after he was gone. After naming certain persons, whom he believed would prove faithful to him, and whose counsel would be an advantage to him, he solemnly warned him against one of his commanders by the name of Hen-king. “This man,” he said, “ is most ambitious and unscrupulous. He is also exceedingly clever, and a true soldier. The only man he dreads is myself, and I fear that when he hears 1 am dead he will despise your authority and begin to plan for his own elevation. He told me some time ago that if 1 would give him but only thirty thousand soldiers he would pledge himself to capture Nanking and carry off Wu Ti to Lohyang, where he would make him a bonze in one of the Buddhist temples there. You must conceal my death until you get the reins of power into your own hands and can dispose of him, so that he wilt not be able to do yon any harm.” Somehow or other the news of the death of Kan-hwau got abroad, when Hen-king passed over with all his men into the service of the ruler of the Western AVei. Not satisfied with the position that was given him, only one month after he sent a memorial to AVu Ti, offering to surrender to him, and stated that he would not only bring an army with him that would loyally fight his battles, but he would also hand over to him thirteen large districts in Honan, which should be annexed to the kingdom of Liang. AVheu this tempting offer reached the Emperor it filled him with tlie greatest delight. The EPOCH OF DIVISION BETWEEN THE NORTH AND SOUTH. 241 ambition of his life had been to reconquer Honan and to add it to the empire. Every attempt that he had hitherto made to carry out this design had failed, and now when it had seemed impossible of ever being accomplished Hen-king comes and makes this splendid offer. His mind was all the more influenced to accept it, because he had lately had a dream in which he saw a person standing before him and offering him the whole of the long-coveted province. When the proposition was laid before his ministers, they were nearly nnanimons in advising him to reject it. They said, “ We are now at peace with the people of Wei, and we have no just cause for taking their territory, and besides, Heu-kiug is a traitor, and it is a dangerous thing to have anything to do with a man that changes sides so readily as he has done.” One of the nobles present, wishing to flatter Wu Ti and to gain his favour, advised that Hen-king’s offer should be accepted. “ It is evidently the will of Heaven,” he said, “ that Honan should come to us, and why should we endeavour to resist that ? Besides, we must consider that if we reject this offer now, who in the future will ever dare to think of surrendering to the Emperor and of acknow- ledging his sway ? ” This argument pleased Wu Ti so much that he not only decided to accept Heu-king’s submission, but he also made Chu-i, the noble that had just spoken. Prince of Honan, as a reward for his loyalty in agreeing with him when all the rest dissented. Thirty thousand soldiers were at once despatched to take over the new territory and to assist Heu-king in his rebellion. This same year, A. D. 548, Wu Ti again entered the monastery of “ Harmonious Peace,” and for the third time declared that he was determined to spend the rest of his days in the service of Buddha. The ruler of the Eastern Wei was in the meanwhile suffering severely from the tyrant Kau-ting, who was determined, not merely to hold all the power of the state in his own hands, but also show the nominal king that he was merely a puppet in his hands to do simply as he was bidden. One day at a feast at which the two were present with other guests Kau-ting filled a large goblet to the brim with spirits and requested Hiau Ching to drink it. The latter protested that it was beyond his ability to consume so much at one time. Kau-ting at once rose, and by the aid of his attendants, forced it down his throat. Hiau Ching was exceedingly indignant at this shameful treatment, and declared that he would resign the kingdom, as he would rather live as a private person than have constantly to suffer such indignities. Two of the chief mandarins of his court, aroused to anger by what they had seen, plotted with the king how they might murder the imperious minister. Unfortunately this came to his ears, when he determined to execute a terrible vengeance upon them. Hian Ching was imprisoned, and the two conspirators were boiled to death in a cauldron of oil. [t was at this juncture that he heard of the march of the imperial soldiers into his territories to aid Heu-king in his rebellion. Following 242 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. the advice of his father as to the particular meu he should employ in times of great emergency, he ap{)oiuted Niu-yaug to the command of tbe army that was to meet the allied force. No sooner did Heu-kiiig bear that he was the general in command than he was filled with the greatest alarm, for be knew that he was a commander of consummate ability, before whom he would never be able to stand. The result proved that his fears were not groundless. Niu-yang advanced with a hundred thousand men against the combined forces of Heu-king and tbe generals whom Wu Ti bad sent to his assistance, and in a terrible battle that ensued he was everywhere victorious. Tbe allied array was entirely dis[)ersed, and Heu-king fled for his life with only about one hundred men that escaped with him out of tbe bloody field. Niu- yang, who was determined to capture tbe traitor, immediately followed with five thousand of tbe bravest of his cavalry, who were called “The Iron Soldiers,” and pressed him so hardly that he was almost in his grasp. U[)on this, Heu-king sent him a letter in which he said, “ Why is it that you are so determined to seize me? What will my death profit you ? Don’t you see that your value to Kau-ting depends upon my living, not upon ray death? As soon as I am dead 3mu will be of no further use, and your power and your office will be gone. Take a hint, even from an enemy.” Niu-yang did so, and having learnt a lesson in statesmanship he quietly ordered his soldiers to cease from pursuit and return to the capital. Heu-king now continued his retreat to the city of Sheu-yang, from which place he sent a memorial to Wu Ti, telling him of his disasters and requesting, as a punishment, that he be degraded from his present rank. In spite of the urgent entreaties of his ministers, who now advised his downfall, Wu Ti not only did not comply with his request, but made him governor of a district in Kiangnan. Kau-ting, who was indignant both with Heu-king and Wu Ti, determined to have his revenge upon them both. He accordingly professed himself very anxious to be at peace with the latter, and wrote to him declaring that there was no reason why the tvvo king- doms should be at war with each other, and proposed certain very favourable conditions which, if agreed to, would bind them together in friendship. He also communicated with one of his generals who had been taken prisoner in the recent battle and proposed that be should be exchanged for Heu-king. Desirous of regaining his liberty and returning to his home, tbe former wrote urgently to WuTi, praying him to consent to Kao-ting’s proposals and make a treaty with him. When the proposition of Kau-ting was laid before the great council the majority were strongly of the opinion that it should be peremptori- ly rejected. “ There is no genuine desire for peace,” they said. “There is a plot to embroil the empire in trouble. Kau-ting knows that Hen-king will never consent to be given up to his enemy, and will again rebel as soon as peace is declared.” Wu Ti, who was tired of EPOCH OF DIVISION BETWEEN THE NORTH AND SOUTH. 243 fighting, aud who was supported by the more able of his ministers, agreed to the jjroposal of Kau-ting and consented to the conditions he had drawn np. No sooner did Hen-king hear of what had been done than assembling Ids men he consulted with them as to what ought to be done in this crisis of their lives. “ It is now a matter of life and death with ns all,” he said. “ We can no longer rely u[)ou Wn Ti for protection, for he is bound by his treaty with Kau-ting to hand ns over to him. That would mean death to us all ; so I propose that we again set up our standard of rebellion and see what luck it may bring us.” These words were listened to with pleasure by his followers and instantly agreed to. What else indeed could they do ? They were in a most desperate condition, aud the only means of escaping the axe that was held over their necks, ready to destroy them, was the method that their leader had suggested. In this emergency Heu-king looked around to see what ally he could secure to help him in carrying on the war with Wu Ti. Fortunately, there was then one most powerful aud important one just ready to second him with all his resources, aud that was Chiug-tuh, the Duke of Liu-ho, in the present province of Kwaugsi.* Heu-king, knowing the character of this man and his inveterate hatred of Wu Ti, wrote him a letter, reminding him of his grievances and of the honours of which he had been unjustly deprived. He then offered him his own sword aud those of his followers to put him on the throne. “ Wu Ti,” he said, “is old, and he is surrounded by traitors that warp his mind, so that he cannot act justly according to the dictates of his heart. You are the rightful heir, aud ought to be Emperor after his decease. Say but that you agree, and I will march my men to your support, and you shall soon be recognized as the ruler of China.” Chiug-tuh, who was delighted with the receipt of this communication, at once agreed to everything that Heu-king had pro- posed, and in his reply to him, concluded by saying, “You shall work from the outside whilst I plan from the inside, and between us both we must succeed.” Heu-king was too good a general not to know that delay in carrying out any of the measures that he had planned would have been fatal to him and his nudertakiug. He gathered his men together and marched rapidly towards the capital. His secret ally, Ching-tuh, hail prejiared a number of boats, so that when he reached the Yang-tze there was no delay in crossing it. Wu Ti had no sooner received intelligence of his movements than he summoned his Ching-tuh was an adopted son of Wu Ti, who was made heir to the throne when he had no hope of having a son of his own to succeed him. After a time, when one was born to him, Ching-tuh had to resign his position to the real heir. He did this only under pressure, and never forgave Wu Ti for the supposed wrong he had done him. On one occasion (A. D. 523) he meditated rebellion and dfd to the King of Wei for aid. He was, however, so badly treated by the people of Wei that he was glad to return home without having accomplished his traitorous purpose. He appeared before Wu Ti, and wept before him, and confessed his wrong. With his usual large-hearted generosity, he not only forgave him, but he also put him in a very high position, making him governor of an important district. How he repaid the kindness and forbearance of his adopted father, may be seen by the story that is now' being told. 244 THE HISTOEY OF CHINA. forces from different parts of the country to come to the relief of the capital. These, however, were defeated by Heu-kiiig, and Nanking was speedily invested. Ching-tuh was proclaimed Emperor, who appointed Hen-king to be his prime minister, and gave him his daughter to be his wife. As no preparation had been made for a siege, Nanking was soon reduced to the greatest extremity. Provisions became so scarce that the people endured the severest sufferings. Many of the soldiers boiled the leather of their armour and ate it. Rats and mice were eagerly sought for and devoured by the starving populace. Even Wu Ti had to suffer with the rest, and he was so driven by hunger that he was compelled to eat some eggs that one of his nobles presented to him, though in doing so he was violating the vows that he had made when he became a Bnddhist. Whilst the people of the city were endur- ing the horrors of starvation the condition of things in the camp of Heu-king was exceedingly distressing. All the country round about was held by the generals of Wu Ti, who, whilst they dare not come to close quarters with the rebels, were yet able to prevent any provisions reaching them. The prospect before them was not cheerful. If they did not soon capture the city they would die of starvation, for they could not retreat in the face of the enemy that occupied the country through which they would have to pass. In this difficulty Heu-king resorted to a ruse to save himself and his army. He sent in a messenger to WuTi, proposing terms of peace, one of which was that he should order the withdrawal of the forces outside that were waiting an op- portunity to relieve the city. The Emperor, with his usual good nature and implicit trust in his fellow-men, agreed to them, and soon the country was available for Heu-king’s foragers to supply them- selves with {)rovisions. Having obtained these he disregarded the agreement he had made with AVu Ti aud pressed the siege more vigorously than ever, knowing that it was now merely a matter of time when the capital should be in his possession. The sufferings of the people and the army from this time became almost unbearable, and besides, they had now lost all heart, as they saw no means of deliverance. In a short time the city was taken by storm (A. D. 550), and Heu-king marched in with his victorious troops. When Wu Ti heard the uews he exclaimed, “ I obtained the kingdom through my own efforts, and through me it has been lost, so I need not complain.” Heu-king at once proceeded to the palace with five hundred of his bravest men, dressed in armour. When he entered into the presence of AVu Ti he was so overcome with the calm, majestic appearance of the aged monarch that a fear came over him, and kneeling down he did obeisance to him. The only remark that the Emperor made to him was, “ I am afraid you must be very weary with your long stay in the camp aud the great labour it has cost you to destroy my kingdom.” Heu-king felt the reproach contained in these words, aud with his eyes upon the ground he retreated from the preseace EPOCH OP DIVISION BETWEEN THE NORTH AND SOUTH. 245 of Wii Ti. When he "ot ontside he remarked to one of his officers, “I have led thousands of men into battle, and I have charged the enein}'^ at the head of my cavalry, and I never felt the least fear. To-day I was in terror when 1 got into the presence of the old man, and could not restrain the feelings of fear that came over me. Truly he is awe inspiring, and I’ll never venture into his presence again.” He immediately ordered a universal amnesty in the name of Wu Ti, in commemoration of the great victory that he had gained over the illustrious man by whom it was said to he issued. Not long after Heu-king had left the presence of the Emperor the miserable Ching-tuh came in, and falling down before him began to weep and sob. The old man, who had been his benefactor, and had generously spared his life when he had been guilty of treason before, looking down upon him with pity simply said, “ Your tears come too late,” and dismissed him without taking any further notice of him. And now Heu-king determined to show everyone that the real power was in his hands. The aged ruler was treated with the greatest indignity and kept a close prisoner in his own palace. This worked upon his spirits to such an extent that he fell ill of a fever, and his mouth and throat became parched, so that he could not swallow anything. When Heu-king, who superintended the diet of the house- hold, and who had studiously not allowed a sufficiency to satisfy the hunger of Wu Ti, was appealed to for a little honey to mix with the water he drank he rudely refused the request. This so irritated him that he almost immediately after died, in his eighty-sixth year, only just two mouths after the cafdure of his capital. One month after this Ching-tuh was put to death by Heu-king, because he had been found in corresjKjudeuce with the enemy outside, with whom he was planning the deliverance of himself and Nanking from the tyranny of the cruel conqueror. The time was now come when the field, having being cleared of all the more important competitors, it would have seemed that this crafty adventurer would have seized the throne for himself. He was too wise, however, to take such an unwise step yet. He had possession of the capital only, and even there he was hated for his oppression by everyone in it except his own army. The empire was in arms against him, and only a few miles from the city, the country was occupied by imperial troojis. He deemed it wiser to rule through another, whose right it was to reign, until such time as he had firmly secured the power for his own family. He accordingly made the third son of Wu Ti Emperor, whose dynastic title is Kien Wen Ti. — (A. D, 550-551). Whilst these important events were going on iu Naukiug an- other tragedy was being enacted in Lohyang. Kau-ting, iu a campaign in Hwan, had managed to capture two governors of districts in that 21-6 THK HISTORY OF CHINA. province. In order to show his contempt for them he treated them in the most insulting manner and made them cooks in his house- hold. Determined to be avenged for this they plotted the tyrant’s death, and one day one of tlieni, when carrying in some dishes which they had cooked, hid a knife under one of tlieni, and whilst Kau- ting was not observing him he stabbed him to the heart and killed him on the spot. He was instantly killed by his brother Kauyang, who ordered the body to be cut into mince-meat. By the advice of his officers he set aside Hiau Clung and assumed the title of Wen Suan Ti, giving the new dynasty that he had founded the name of the Northern Ts‘i. Heu-king meanwhile found that his act of usurpation had not brought him the peace or satisfaction that he had expected, but that it had rather called into existence powerful enemies, with whom he would soon have to battle for his very existence. One of these was the commander of the imfierial troops in Kwang-si and Canton, of whom we shall hear more by and by. Another was Ch‘a, the grand- son of Wu Ti, who claimed the throne by right of descent. As he was unable to enforce his claim by an adequate show of strength he ap- pealed to Yu Wen-t‘ai, the all-powerful prime minister of the king of the Western Wei, to help him. This ambitious noble was only too glad of the opportunity given him of interfering in a cause which he hoped would give him an excuse for annexing the empire to his own territories and of thus becoming Emperor of China. Heu-king, who seemed determined to defy not only the opinion of the world, but also the very first principles of justice, made no efforts to use the great power that he had obtained, either to satisfy the people or to atone in some measure for the great evils of which he had been guilty. Before long he deposed and murdered Kien Wen and his son and put Prince Yu Chang on the throne. Yu Chang. — (A. D. 551-552). Another competitor for the crown appeared in the field, viz., Yih, the seventh son of Wu Ti, who was supported by the forces of the famous commander Ch‘en Pa-sien, above referred to, who had a large body of soldiers under his control. His troops, who were anxious to meet those of Heu-king, marched with the greatest enthusiasm against the murderer of kings, and in the engagement that took place the latter was signally defeated and fled to Soochow, where he was captured. The intense hatred that was shown to this violent usurper was manifested in the indignities that were heaped upon his dead body. His head was cut off and placed over the gates of the city of Wuhing, in Kingchow. His hands were taken to Lohyang to be nailed up in a conspicuous place there, and his body was salted and carried to Nanking. There it was placed in one of the most crowded of the thoroughfares, and slices were cut off it and eaten by the enraged EPOCH OP DIVISION BETWEEN THE NOKTH AND SOUTH. 247 people. It is said that even his wife, the daughter of Ching-tiih whom he had murdered, full of bitteruess for the treatment that her fiimily had suffered at his bauds, joined iu the terrible orgy of the Naukiuese and swallowed mouthfuls of his body, to show the utter detestation iu which she held his memory. With the disa[)[)earauce of Heu-kiug, Yih quietly ascended the throne. His dynastic title is Yuan Ti.—(A. B. 552-555). This ruler established his capital at Kiaugliug, iu Kingchow, but very little is known of him beyond the closing scenes of his life, whiidi have become flimous. He resembled his father iu being a very religious man, but instead of ado[)tiiig Buddhism as his faith he found the greatest comfort iu Taoism. His belief took a very practical form ; for he very frequently abandoned his palace and took up his residence in one of his favourite tern {)les devoted to Taoism. There he studied the books of that system, and he himself became a preacher of it. He was a great scholar, and had accumulated an immense library, and it was his delight, in the quiet and retirement of the temple, to dream away his days in musing over the mysteries of the faith he so much loved. TV^hilst he was lost in study the affairs of the empire were going on badly. Siau-ch‘a, who had applied to Yu Wen-t‘ai, the prime minister of the Western Wei, had at length moved that ambi- tious man to collect an army and join with him iu marching on Kiaugliug, where Yuan Ti resided. So little did the latter know of what was going on in the world that the hostile forces had actually come into the neighbourhood of the city and crossed the Han before he came out to meet them. He was defeated and driven back into the town, which was soon captured. When the news was brought to Yuan Ti that the Wei troops were almost on the point of taking his capital he seems to have lost all hope and all heart, for he ordered that his library of one hundred and forty thousand books should be burnt, and breaking his sword in two he sent his submission to the conqueror. After his capture he was confined in one of the tents of Yu-wen. Here one of the officers on guard asked him why he had destroyed his library. “ What use have my books been to me ? ” he replied. “ All my reading and study have availed me nothing. They have not been able to help me in the hour of my extremity, and so 1 committed them to the flames, because I felt that all was over, and my life would soon terminate.” His forebodings were only too soon verified. In less than a month he had been executed by the order of Yu-wen, and Siau-ch‘a was appointed in his place, with the title of Suau Ti, and his dynasty was called the Later Liang. Ch‘en Pa-sien refused, however, to accept this disposition of the imperial succession, and so he placed the ninth son of Yuan Ti on the throne, who is known in history under the title of King Ti. 248 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. King Ti. — (A. D. 555-557). The rnler of the Nortliera Ts‘i, however, did not acquiesce in this arrangement, for he thought he had as good a right as any one else to determine who should be the sovereign of the country. He accord- ingly marched with a large force to Nanking and set Cheng Yang Hau on the throne (A. D. 555). King Ti, who was the ne[)hew of the new ruler, was compelled to give up his royal assumptions, and was made heir to the throne. As he was a lad of only fourteen years of age he had to quietly submit to these arraugeineuts. Oh‘en Pa-sien, however, was a very important factor now in the nation’s history, and he refused to acquiesce in the high-handed proceedings of the uncle. He accordingly hastily marched with Ids army and reached Nanking before anyone there knew that he had started. Cheng Yang was compelled to retire into private life, and King Ti was restored to power, whilst his deliverer was made generalissimo of all the troops of the empire. Whilst these revolutions were going on in Naukiu" important events were transpiring in the neighbouring kingdoms. Wen Suan Ti, fearful of the growing influence of his powerful neighbour, the ruler of the Northern Chow, built a wall more than three hundred miles in length, extending from Chihli to Shansi, to protect himself and his people from any possible inroad that any ambitious man might make upon them. It is said that nearly two millions of people were engaged on this stupendous work, and that the resources of his kingdom were severely taxed to carry it out. The great undertaking, however, was accomplished, but it could not stay the misfortunes that were impend- ing over the dynasty. Whilst his subjects were toiling in building this great rampart the question as to the relative importance of Taoism or Buddhism was being discussed in the ca[)ital. The Emperor did not think there was any need of both of these systems, for it was impossible for both of them to be right. He therefore called the chiefs of each side and allowed them to bring forth all the arguments they could on behalf of their own faith. The best of these having been found on the side of Buddhism he ordered the Taoist priests, on pain of death, to shave their heads and become bonzes. They do not seem to have had any very pimfound convictions of the eternal truth of their own system, for we are told that only four of them became martyrs for their faith, who preferred to lose their heads rather than their hair. With the capture of Kiaugling by Yu-wen, and the establishment of Siau-ch‘a on the throne, the troo[is of the Western Wei were relieved from their arduous duties, and preparations were made for their return home. Yu-wen determined that he would now inflict a serious punishment upon the enemy, and at the same time reward his soldiers for the severe toils through which they had gone. He accord- ingly distributed more than thirty thousand men and women amongst EPOCH OP DIVISION BETWEEN THE NORTH AND SOUTH. 249 them, who were to be their slaves, ami whom they could sell or dispose of as they liked. These luifortnuate people consisted of the soldiers and officers, toj^ether with tlieir wives and families, who were fontid in the city when it was taken by storm. When Ch^ang-tif^an was reached the great majority of these wretched captives were sold as slaves throngliont the country and treated in the most crnel way imaginable. One of the officers having fallen into the hands of Yu- wen, he was so much struck with his intelligence and his knowledge of astronomy that he gave him a position under government. This man, whose name was Yn-kwei, was so distressed at the sorrows and suffer- ings of his comrades that out of his own private means he redeemed a considerable number of them and sent them back to their homes. Yu- wen having heard of this ordered him into his presence and asked him what he meant by his conduct. Yu-kwei replied, “From time imme- morial it has been the custom with nations that when a kingdom has been defeated the conqueror should respect the officers of the state who have been loyal to their country. Now this has been violated in your cas(‘, but being a stranger in your dominions I have not dared to make any complaint. You have crushed Yuan Ti, but what wrong have these that have been sold into slavery done, and why should they suffer such great injustice ? My heart has been broken with sorrow when 1 have seen their sufferings, and I have tried to alleviate the miseries of some by redeeming them and sending them to their native land.” Yu-wen was deeply moved by the eloquent words and noble conduct of Yu-kwei. “1 have done wrong,” he said, “and I thank you for speaking so plainly to me. Had yon not done so I should never have known the extent of my misdeeds, and the great empire of China that may be even now looking to me as its saviour from the misrule of kings, would have lost faith in me and hope for themselves.” Before long he gave orders that all the captives, with only a few exceptions, should be released and allowed to return to their several homes. The year A. D. 5.57 saw two very important events take place. The first of these was the death of Yu-wen. Before he died he com- mitted his sou to the care of Yu Wen-hau, his nephew, with strict injunctions that he should defend and protect him and see also that he succeeded to the power that he himself had possessed as mayor of the palace. Having received his promise that he would faithfully carry ont his injunctions, and also that he would be a father to the lad, who was then only fifteen years old, Yu-wen quietly breathed his last. The second was the usurpation of Ch‘en Pa-sien. Seeing that the dynasty was near its end the nobles of the palace urged him to take the supreme power into his own hands and found a stronger one of his own. King Ti, who saw how events were turning, anticipated the action of his prime minister and resigned the throne to him, and was rewarded by being made the Duke of Kiangyin. Thus, with- THE HISTORY OF CHINA. out a blow, and with scarcely a ripple upon the surface of the life of the capital, the Liang dynasty passed away, only seven years after its illustrious founder had died broken-hearted in his palace iu Nanking. EPOCH OP DIVISION BETWEEN THE NORTH AND SOOTH- 251 EPOCH OF DIVISION BETWEEN THE NORTH AND SOUTH. THE CH‘EN DYNASTY (A. D. 557-589). Wu Ti.—{A.l). 557-560). Chapter XVIII. H'EN Pa-sien reigned on))' three short years, when he passed away without having accomplished anything that the royal historian deemed worthy of record. There is one act, indeed, with which his memory is stained, and that is the murder of tlie poor young man King 'I'i, who had resigned his crown to him. History leaves no stigma on his name for this cruel deed, because it was then considered politic- ally necessary that any one who might possibly be a danger to the new regime should be got rid of. The same year that witnessed the extinction of the Liang dynasty, saw also the extermination of the Western Wei. Yu-wen’s son, Chian, deposed Kuug Ti, and founding a new dynasty of his own, which he called the Northern Chow, he reioned under the name of Hiau Min Ti. With this act finally disappeared as a ruling j)Ower the great house of Topa, that had reigned for over a hundred and seventy years over the northern division of China, and which had exercised a commanding influence, not only within its own jurisdiction, but also over the short lived dynasties that had ruled in Nanking. Before Hian Min Ti had been long on the throne Yu Wen-hau killed, not only him, but also the late King Kung Ti, and appointed a brother of Hiau Wen to succeed him, who reigned under the appellation of Ming Ti (A. D. 557). In A. D. 560 Wen Suan Ti, the ruler of the Northern Ts‘i, determined that he would cut off every member of the reigning house that he had usurped, so that his sou should not be disturbed by rebellions after his strong arm had ceased to defend him. He accordingly seized seven hundred and twenty-one of the descendants of Topa and had them all executed. There was one more, but he escaped by abandoning his own surname and taking that of the clan to which the murderer of his kinsmen belonged. This wholesale butchery was soon avenged. A few mouths after he fell ill, pursued, as be supposed, by the infuriated spirits whom he had so ruthlesssly hurried out of life. Shortly before his death he said to his wife, “ I am not afraid of death. What troubles me now is the thought of my son. He is still young, and 1 greatly fear THE HISTORY OF CHINA. that after I am gone men will endeavour to seize the kingdom, and of course if they succeed they will murder him.” He then summoned his younger brother Yen to his bedside and said to him, “Now that I am about to die I want to ask you whether you would not like to succeed me iu my kingdom. If you really are anxious to be king I shall now consent, and I’ll call the nobles to acknowledge you as such. One thing only I request from you is that you will not murder my son.” The brother, who was of an ambitious disposition, and who had made up his mind to obtain the kingdom at any cost, was afraid to accept of this offer, lest when Kau-yaug saw what was in his mind he might order him out for execution, so that he might not interfere with the prospects of his sou after he was dead. He was therefore silent, and stood with humble, downcast eyes before liis dying brother, apparently not caring for the proffered honour, whilst his heart was tilled with the most daring schemes for his own advancement. Kau-yaug now called one of his most trusted ministers, aud tell- ing him to save his son, aud be a defender to him, passed away with the group standing around him. The anticipations of danger that filled the miud of the late king were speedily realized. In a few mouths the sou, whose royal name was Fei Ti, was deposed by his uncle, who ascended the throne under the title of Hiau Chau Ti (A.D. 560), and shortly after was murdered by liim. A speedy retribution followed this most unnatural crime. One day, when he was out hunting, he was thrown from his horse, and suffered such severe injuries that he died from the effects of them. Before his death a scene similar to the one in which he had acted a conspicuous part, took place by his bedside. The actors were changed, but the play was the same. He summoned his brother aud asked him whether he would like the kingdom for himself or not. “ You shall have it,” he said, “ on the one condition, that you promise not to muriler my sou, whom I love so dearly, and who has no one to protect him unless you consent to do so.” The brother was silent, just as he himself was a year ago, and the sorrowful, suffering man died without a reply. No sooner was he gone than his brother ascended the throne, under the title of Wu Ch‘eng Ti, whilst the sou was made tiie Prince of Lok-ling, to be murdered three years hence, because there were unlucky omens in the sky that it was believed portended disturbance to the kingdom, which might possibly endanger the dynasty. This same year (A. D. 561) saw the death of Oh‘eu Pa-sien. This man was an able general, aud one who would be sorely missed at this crisis of the new dynasty’s history. He possessed many of the virtues that stand high in the estimation of the Chinese. He was a man of great ability, a daring soldiei’, and yet full of concern and sympathy for his subjects. His rule was an exceedingly mild one, and he h
    rayed them to prosper and preserve him. In the beginning of the year A. U. 582 he assumed the manners ot a king. 'Tsiug Ti was seat to a distant part of the country with the title of the Duke of Ohieh. His own father was honoured by posthumous honours, whilst his wife was styled queen and his eldest sou proclaimed heir to the 258 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. throne. By the advice of one of his generals he put to death every member of the family of Ch‘eu Pa-sien, excepting Tsing Ti, so that he or his descendants might have no rival in the possession of the throne. About this time a famous scholar of the name of Su-wei appears upon the scene, who is destined to have a great influence over Yang- kieu and his plans for the government of the country. He originally came from a highly cultivated family. His father had been a man- darin, and evidently a man of thought and gifted with the power of wisely ruling the people under him, for his sou remembered some of his maxims, which were now valuable to him in guiding the opinions of Yang-kien. He advised that the laud tax should be more equally adjusted, and that the penalties for all kinds of ofieuces against the laws should be made lighter. “ They are excessive now,” he said, “ and instead of restraining the people from evil they had the opposite effect of making them desperate.” He recommended that Yang-kien should study the work of Confucius styled the “ Filial Classic,” for it contained, he declared, the whole method of government, not simply of a family, but of an empire as well.* This year, A. D. 5 ''2, Yang-kien conceived the design of conquer- ing Nanking, and by the advice of Kau-king, another famous scholar at his court, an army under Hau-ch‘in was sent to occupy Kwangling and Luchow, whilst another, under Ho Joh-pi, marched into Yangchow and encamped there, ready for the coming campaign against the Ch‘en dynasty. His young grandson, who was only seven years old, was now put to death by his order, and the colour of yellow, which has been the royal colour ever since, became the distinguishing mark of the new dynasty. After serious consultation with regard to the mitigation of the penal laws it was decided that the five great punishments for heinous of- fences, which had been, cutting off the nose, branding on the face, break- ing the legs, castration and death, should be replaced by strangling, banishment to long distances — say of six hundred to a thousand miles, banishment to short distances and for terms varying from one year to three, beating before the magistrate — from ten to ninety blows, and a milder flagellation, in which the extreme number of strokes that could be given was fifty. In the year A. D. 583 the Emperor Suan Ti died, and after a struggle with his younger brother, who made an effort to gain posses- sion of the throne, the eldest son, Shuh-pau, succeeded him, under the title that history has given him of * Filial piety, which is discussed in his famous book, is held to be at the root of all that is excellent, both in private and public life. A young man, for example, who is filial, will abstain from every kind of evil, because it is opposed to the wishes of his parents, whom he desires to honour. He will be a loyal citizen, a faithful minister and a king that desires only to rule his people wisely and lovingly. There is hardly any duty in social life, indeed, which this virtue, so highly honoured by the Chinese, does not touch. EPOCH OF DIVISION BETWEEN THE NORTH AND SOUTH. 259 How Chu. — fA. D. 583-589). This last ruler of the house of Ch'eu was a fit one with which to entl a dynasty. He began his reigu by a system of extravagauce and debauchery that would have imperilled tlie strongest goverument in the world. He built three immense buildiugs for his favourite con- cubines, the chief of whom was Chang Li-liwa, who exercised a fatal influence over this dissipated monarch.* Although there were abun- dant signs that the empire was in a most critical condition immense sums were lavished u[>ou these. The rooms in which they lived were made of lign aloes and sandal wood and inlaid with gold, jade and pearls. A miniature hill was constructed in the garden that sur- rounded them, and the waters of a distant stream were made to flow into it, where au artificial lake was formed. All kinds of rare and expensive trees were sought out and brought to be planted in this wonderful garden, where the infatuated How Chu was spending the most of his precious time, whilst Yaug-kien was marshalling his forces for the overthrow of his house. This astute ruler and general, by the advice of Kau-yang, adopted a system of warfare with the Ch'en people that in the end secured him the victory over them. Sudden raids were made into their territory by small bodies, who burnt their wooden houses and laid waste their fields, and then as suddenly re- treated to their own country. These were repeated so often that the impression got abroad that there would be no serious effort on a large scale to conquer their country, so that no adequate preparation was made to repel the large armies of the invader when they finally marched upon the capital. At length, everything being ready for the great enterprise, and boats having been built to cross his immense army over the Yang-tze, Yang-kieu, in the year A. D. 589, gave orders for the march upon Nanking, His entire force, which consisted of five hundred and eighteen thousand men, was under his oldest son. Rung, who was appointed commander-in-chief. The news of the move- ment of this immense body of soldiers was concealed from How Chu by the unfaithful ministers, who preferred to enjoy themselves with him than to ]>repare to save the country in its imminent peril, and it was not till it was about to cross the great river that he was informed of the peril that now menaced his kingdom. The only reply that How Chu gave to the alarming commu- nication that was made to him was, “ Never mind, don’t let us be alarmed at the attempt that Yang-kien is going to make to destroy our dynasty. Many have tried to do so before, but they failed. * Chang Li-hwa was renowned for her surpassing beauty. Her hair was long and glossy, and was said to be more than seven feet in length. Shuh-pau was so enthralled with her charms that he gave up all care for the government of his people and entrust- ed the administration of tlie empire to eunuchs and men of unworthy characters. His whole time was spent with her and two others, of the name of K‘ung Kwei-fei and Rung Kwei-fei, and every remonstrance that was made to him by the ministers that remained faithful to their responsibilities was unheeded by this dissipated ruler. 2(50 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. The Nortliern Ts‘i tried three times to adv'ance upon Nanking, and ttie Northern Chow twice, hut each time their plans were frustrated, and they liad to retire unsuccessful. Tlie same will be the case again ; so let us enjoy ourselves and be merry.” No preparation, accordingly, of any kind was made to strengthen the capital, or to collect the forces of the em[)ire for the coming struggle, and Nanking stood like a doomed city, whilst those who should have protected it were plunged in dissipation and revelry. Although How Chu is still the acknowledged ruler of the empire, the Chinese historians place the close of the Clren dynasty at this particular point, and date the commencement of the Sui dynasty from this period. To prevent confusion of dates we follow their example and pass on to the story of the new house that is now to rule over a united China. THE SUI DYNASTY. 20 1 THE SUI DYNASTY (A. D. 589-618). Kmi J'sii or Wun I'i. — (A. D. 589-605). CuAPTKH XIX. fAXG-KIEN was forty-ei;j;ht years old when he became Emperor over a territory that until but recently had been divided between three rulers. He ^ave his dynasty the name of Sui, from the dukedom of that name, which had been bestowed upon his father for services rendered to the dynasty of the Northern Chow. The feeble and dissipated How Chu was doing literally nothing to contest the claim that Yang-kien was now making for the kingdom, and whose armies were advancing rapidly u[*ou Nanking, simpl}" to take possession of a throne that was sli[)ping away from the grasp of a man that had no moral or physical qualities to retain it. How Chu had indeed been roused somewhat when he heard that Yang-kieu’s soldiers had crossed the Yhiug-tze, and he had sent three of his generals with what men they could collect to oiipose them ; but these had been quickly defeated, and no further efforts had been made to stay the progress of the advancing foe. Han-ch‘in marched from the south, and having captured some of How Chu’s officers, he pushed forward with five hundred men, and under their guidance he entered the capital. Search was everywhere made for the Emperor, but he could at first be no- where found, till at last it was discovered that he and his three favourite concubines had been lowered into a well, where they hoped to escape being captured by the enemy. They were speedily drawn up, amidst the derision and scorn of both the people of Nanking and the soldiers of Han-ch‘in, and committed to safe custody. A few hours after Ho Joh-i)i arrived with his army from the north, and found, to his chagrin, that the honours of the capture of the city and of How Chu belonged to Haii-ch‘in, whose soldiers opened the gates of the town to admit him. Two days after Kau-king came u]) with his force and encamped without the city. The commander-in- chief, who was advancing with his army, sent special orders that Chang Li-hwa should not be killed, but be reserved for liinaself. Kau-king, who feared for the effect tliat this celebrated beauty would have upon the mind of Yung, and that the new dynasty might run the risk of being wrecked at its very commencement, determined to disobey his commands, and gave orders that she should be immediately executed, which were at once carried out. His superior was exceedingly irate when he found out what Kau-king had done, and from that moment a deadly hatred sprung up in his mind towards him, and he mentally 202 THR HISTORY OP CHINA. vowed that he would pay him out at the very first opportunity he could get for the slight that he had put upon his autliority. How Chu was carried prisoner to the capital in Shensi, and after a month’s journeying arrived there in safety. His reception was any- thing but flattering to a man that had been brought up amidst the greatest luxuries, and who had been accustomed to be bowed down to and honored as the head of the empire. Yang-kien instituted a solemn service in the hall of his ancestors as a thank offering for the signal service they had rendered him in enabling him to so gloriously overcome his enemies. How Chu was cora])elled to be present and to stand by reverently and respectfully whilst the spirits of the dead were addressed. Yang-kien told them how his troops had marched on Hanking, and how they had overcome every one that had opposed them, and how they had seized the Emperor and brought him a captive for them to feast their eyes upon and to rejoice in the prowess and prosperity of their children. The great question that Yang-kien had now to decide was the distribution of honours amongst his successful generals. This was no easy matter, because there was a division of opinion between Ho Joh-pi and Han-ch‘in as to who was entitled to the greater honour for the services they had rendered in the brilliant campaign so lately concluded. Ho Joh-pi claimed the highest for himself. “ I met the armies that opposed me on the way,” he said, “and I not only defeated them, but I also took prisoner one of the most distinguished and valiant of How Chu’s generals. It was really through me that the victory over Nanking was gained, for through the bravery of ray men the enemy was so terror struck that resistance was abandoned, and now to-day Your Majesty,” he said, addressing Yang-kien, “ is Emperor of China.” Han-ch‘in on the other hand, contended that he was the one that struck the decided blow that ended the cain[)aign so quickly. “ With a handful of men,” he said, “ I advanced rapidly upon Nanking. I took possession of the city and 1 seized the Emperor, and was ready, when Ho Joh-pi arrived in the afternoon of the same day, to open the gates and let him in.” Yang-kien, with ready tact, settled the matter in a way that was satisfactory to both. “ I am exceedingly gratified with you both,” he graciously interposed, “ and I know not how to reward you sufficientlv for the exalted services you have rendered me and the state. Your merit and 3'our deeds are both extraordinary, and therefore are entitled to the highest honours.” He then gave Han-ch‘in the title of “ the Supreme Pillar of the Kingdom,” with emoluments suflBcient to enable him to maintain with dignity such a distinguished title, and he created Ho Joh-pi Duke of Sung. Turning now to Kau-kiug, Yangkien said to him, “ and now what do you consider to be the quality of your merit as contrasted with those of Ho Joh-pi ? Do you think yourself entitled to as great a reward as he, or what ? ” Kau-king, who was really superior to the THE SUI DYNASTY. 263 ambitions general, and who by his statesmanship had contributed largely to the successes that had been obtained, modestly replied, “ I do not for a moment compare myself with him. I am not a soldier. I am a scholar, and therefore I am content that he should receive higher houonrs than I can aspire to. Besides, he exposed his life in common with liis soldiers and showed the highest generalship by the way in which he led them to victory.” Yang-kien, who knew his great ability and his devotion to himself, was exceedingly pleased with his reply, and at once created him Duke of Ts‘i, whilst Yang-sn, who belonged to the same clan as himself, and had distinguished himself in the late war, was made Duke of Yneh. This year, A.D. 590, ambassadors came to congratulate Yang-kien from the Turcoman tribes that inhabited the country to the north and north-west of the empire. During the times of the Wei and Ch'en dynasties these people had been a source of terror to the Chinese living on the frontiers. On one occasion they had actually invaded and kept possession of territory belonging to the Wei, and it was only by the diplomacy and tact of Yu Wen-t‘ai, who concluded a treaty of peace with them, that they were prevented from over-running and ravaging the whole of the kingdom. After an audience with them Yang-kien, who wished to impress them with a sense of his power, so that they should carry back a report to their people that would restrain any warlike impulses in the future, caused them to be led to the place where How Chu was confined. They were told that this was the late Emperor of China, a name which had always been to them associated with ideas of magnificence and military power, and that he had been overcome by Yang-kien and his dominions absorbed in his own. After the sight of the captive monarch had been allowed to make its due impression on their minds they were next brought into the ])resence of Han-ch'iu, who had been duly notified of their intended visit. They found him sitting in state, surrounded by his chief officers, and with the air and look of a conqueror about him. They were politely told that this was the man that had penetrated into the capital of the Ch‘en and had seized the Emperor right in the midst of his people and had brought him away captive to grace the triumph of the redoubtable Yang-kien. ^ The effect of these two realistic scenes ui)on their minds was to fill them with terror, and the report that they took back to their own people of the power and invincibility of Y’ang-kien was such as to prevent any hostile demon- strations by them for a considerable time. Now that peace was proclaimed throughout the empire, Yang- kien, who was even more of a statesman than a general, set himself seriously to legislate for the happiness of his people, and in order to make this more practicable he ordered that every hundred families should have a head man appointed over them who should be responsible for their conduct, aud also that over every five hundred a superior 2G4 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. officer slionld be set to wliom the beads of each might report in any difficulties that might arise. With great generosity he determined that the conquered territory of Clreu, and especially Nanking, should he treated with special leniency. Considering that the latter, together with the large district around it, had suffered exceptionally from the large number of troops that had been congregated in it, he gave orders that the laud tax should not be collected in it for ten years, and that the rest of the country should be exempted for the period of one year. It is pleasing to note that Yang-kieu was seconded in his benevolent efforts, in many places, by mandarins of a superior type, whose hearts were moved by love to the people under their charge rather than by the meaner motives of selfishness and avarice. One of these is worthy of being mentioned. His name was Siu-kung. and he was governor of Min-chowq in Shensi. It happened during his term of office that a terrible plague broke out in his district. It was so infectious and so fatal that men fled in terror, even from their nearest relatives who were attacked with it. When one member of a family was seized every other rushed incontinently away and abandoned him to his own fate. Sin-kung was distressed not only at the misery of the unfor- tunates who were left to jierish, but also at the utter want of humanity shown by the people at large, and he determined to give them an object lesson in heroic kindness that he hoped would touch their hearts and make them ashamed of their conduct. He ordered that all the sick who had been deserted by their friends should be carried to his official residence. He had beds prepared for them, and he procured food and medicines for them out of his own salary, whilst he ministered with his own hands to their wants. The great majority, in consequence of this careful attention, recovered. Siu-kung then sent for their relatives and handed them over to them and said, “ Life and death are in the hands of Heaven. Why are you afraid of infection ? There is no such thing ; for if there were how is it that I have escaped, although I have had so many in my own house with the disease. You must be kind to those who are bound to you by the ties of nature, and not be so selfishly bent in caring for your own lives.” The peoples’ hearts were greatly moved by this noble conduct. They no longer abandoned the sick, but remained by them in generous emulation of the example set them. Siu-kung had an exalted idea of the responsibility of his office. When he reached the capital of his district he found the great jail filled with prisoners, many of whom had languished there for years, and who had lost all hopes of ever being free again. Unfortunately this was not a'n exceptional occurrence. Justice in China walks with slow and leaden steps that can never be hastened, except under the powerful impulse of a bribe. Sin-kung needed no such incentive to make him examine into the stories of the men that were immured within the filthy cells of the prison. He boldly took up his abode THE SUI DYNASTY. 265 within the precincts of the dismal abode of misery and injustice, de- termined that he would see for himself the rights and wrongs of every one imprisoned within it. Every case was examined with the most patient care and settled at once. Those who were wrongfully detained were released ; others who were breakers of the law, were punished in the summary method that Chinese rulers well know how to use with the most satisfactory results. At the end of a fortnight there was not a single person confined within the prison, and the jailers were left with the most delightful freedom to enjoy themselves. The only drop of gall that was left in their cup of bliss was the deprivation of their perquisites which they had been accustomed to wring out of the unhappy prisoners. The speed with which justice was administered astonished and delighted the people. Never in the history of the oldest inhabitant had such scenes been witnessed. The moral effect upon the whole of his district was most beneficial. Men saw how much Sin-kung had at heart the good of those he came to rule and how he was spending his strength in their service. The result was there was a general effort to bring as few cases as |)0ssible before him, in order to save his strength. Slight quarrels were made up, old grievances were adjusted by each side making concessions, and it was only in grave matters, where the decision of a judge was required, that litigants appeared in court. Unfortunately for himself and for those immediately connected with him Tang-kien was of an exceedingly passionate temper, which was rendered all the more irritable by his temleucy to suspect every one with whom he had any dealing. He was especially severe on the mandarins, and if they were anything like those of to-day there is no doubt but that he had good reasons to be so. He used to send out messengers to investigate and report to him with regard to their official conduct. In order to see whether a certain judge was taking bribes or not he would send him a present of money when a lawsuit was going on, as if from the defendant. If he declined it he rose ia his estimation, and after a short time would find himself promoted to a higher post. If, however, he fell into the trap, he was at once summoned to the palace, deprived of his office and executed on the spot. Such scenes as these were very frequently witnessed by the astonished nobles, who had not been accustomed to such summary and excessive punishment as this. As the result of his efforts to improve the morals of Nanking, and the lately conquered country generally, an insurrection broke out against his authority, which had to be put down with a strong hand. Under How Chu the peo[)le had become demoralized. The profligacy of the court, and the venality of all in power, had told with fatal effect upon the whole nation. Yang-kien, to bring the people to a better state of mind, gave orders that the mandarins should see to the education of the masses in the doctrines of Confucius, This was something that the 26G THE HISTORY OP CHINA. public did not relish, and they showed their distaste by refusing- to have anything to do with the new regulations. Discontent quickly spread throughout every class, and as the leaders of the opposition did not dare to give out that to be taught the doctrines of their sacred books was a sufficient reason for rebellion, they spread abroad the report that Yang-kien was going to forcibly compel the removal of the people of Nanking to Shen-si. The news spread with great rapidity, and formidable risings took place in Chehkiang and Soochow. Yang- su, the Duke of Yueh, was sent with a sufficient force to put these down, which he did promptly and thoroughly. The leaders were seized and executed, and large numbers of the rank and file were put to death by the victorious army. This year, A. D. 593, the famous Han-ch‘in died, when Kan-kiug and Yang-su were made prime ministers. Ho Joh-pi was exceedingly annoyed that the Emperor had not selected him for one of these im- portant posts. The estimate that he had of his own ability was so overweening that he deemed himself competent to fulfil the highest offices of the state. He vented his auger in reproaches against Yang- kien, who, having been informed of them, dej)rived him of all his honours. This enraged him still further, and instead of having learnt wisdom by his downfall he became more severe in his criticisms of him. He was now seized and committed to prison. A cabinet council discussed his offence, and he was unanimously condemned to die. He was brought before the Emperor to be told his sentence. As he kneeled in his presence Yang-kien thought of the distinguished services he had rendered him and how he had performed his part in putting him on the throne of the empire. Instead of hurrying him off to the executioner he said to him, “ You have been guilty of high treason in slandering me. Have you any reason to give why your life should be spared ? Speak now and I will listen to what you have to say.” Ho Joh-pi replied humbly, ‘‘My life is in your hands, and I pray you to spare it. I have nothing to plead but my poor services, which I had the honour of performing for you and your family. In remembrance of these let me live.” “ But I gave you exceptional honours for all that you did and suffered for me,” replied Yangkieu, “ so that I feel you have no further claim upon me in regard to them.” “ Then let your majesty to-day grant me exceptional mercy, and you will add to the lustre of your name.” This plea succeeded with the Emperor. His life was spared, and at the end of the year all his titles and honours were restored to him, and he was again placed in a high position under the government. In the year A. D. 595 Shensi was afflicted with a most grievous famine. The common peo[)le were reduced to the verge of starvation, and even the highest classes had to undergo considerable privations. Yang-kien heard of the sufferings his subjects had to endure, aud it is said that on one occasion, when an officer of the palace, who was sent THE SOI DYNASTY. 267 oat for a sample of the food that the poorer classes of the capital were usiug, brought in for his inspectioa a bowl of the wretched stuff they were compelled to eat, he wept for grief at the terrible conditiou to which they were reduced. The state of things became so serious at last, that to escape destructiou Yaug-kieu aud nearly all his army, with a very considerable part of the population, were compelled to emigrate to the present province of Houau, where there was au abuudauce of provisions. In this long aud painful journey the Emperor showed the greatest humanity to his suffering people. The soldiers helped the very old and young along the road and over the difficult passes amongst the mountains they had to cross. As Yaug-kien felt that this terrible visitation upon his kingdom was a manifestation of Heaven’s auger for the sins he had committed, he determined to make a pilgrimage to the great T‘ai-shan mountain, in Shantung, and there, on the top of it, worship God and confess his wrongs to the great Being whom he had offended.* This he did at the beginning of A. D. 596, and in the third month of the same year he and those of his people who desired it returned to their homes in Shensi. The harvest of the past autumn had been abundant, aud food had again become plentiful. On his return he found that the magnificent palace of “ Long- lived Benevolence,” so celebrated in history, and which had been com- menced two years before, was just completed. To accomplish this, whilst the famine was in existence, entailed great sufferings on the people. Yang-su, who had the superintendence of the work, must have been a hard aud unpitying master, for the historian tells how when he came to inspect it, before the Emperor came to live in it, the roads for miles around were strewed with the dead bodies of the workmen, who had died from exhaustion in consequence of the severe toil that had been exacted from them. Anxious to hide this terrible sight from Yaug-kieu he ordered the bodies to be burnt. When the Emperor appeared upon the scene, aud saw the enormous pile of buildings that he had erected for him, he was filled with the greatest auger. Pointing his finger to him he said, “In this extravagance you have committed you have given reason to the people of my empire to hate me with the bitterest hatred,” and as his passion rose he launched against him the most terrible invectives, till Yang-su trembled with fear, not knowing but that this fierce auger of the passionate monarch might mean destructiou to himself. One of his officers, who was standing by, com- forted him after the Emperor had withdrawn, by saying to him with a very significant look, “Don’t be afraid, for to-morrow something very * There are five great mountains in China which are celebrated from the fact that the ancient kings of China were accustomed to ascend them when they wished to pay special homage to God and make confession of their sins to Him. The eastern, called the T‘ai, is in Shantung ; the southern, Heng, lies to the west of the river Siaug, in Hunan; the western, Hoa, rises to the west of Singan Fu, in Shensi; the northern. Hang, is in Tat'ung Fu, in Shansi, and the central, Sung, lies on the watershed between the Yellow and Han Rivers in Honan. THE HisTunr or china. 2i^S pleasant will bapp/en that will be a source of great pleasure to yon, and that will make yon forget your fears of to-day.” Yang-su was so ab- sorbed with his apprehensions that he took no notice of these words, but on the next day true enough a ha[ipy surprise that he had never thought of occurred to him. When tlie queen joined her husband she was in raptures with the palace, and immediately calling for Yang- su, she, in the presence of her husband, said to him, “You deserve the greatest credit for the thoughtfulness with which you have provided so fine a place for us old people to live in. It shows how loyal you are, and how worthy you are of the highest honours your sovereign has to bestow.” Instead of having his head taken off Yang-su found him- self literally burdened with the presents that the grateful queen showered upon him. Yang-kien became more lenient in his disposition as he grew in years, and he passed a law that no one should be put to death before the case had been reported to him three times. He also commanded that no artisans or merchants should be made mandarins, and that the honour should be reserved for scholars or men engaged in agriculture. The consequences that resulted from the leniency with which criminals in capital cases were treated led to the greatest confusion in society. The inferior mandarins defied their superiors and committed the gravest offences in their official capacity, as they knew that before they could be convicted for any capital offence their case would have to be stated three times to the Emperor. The difficulties connected with this were almost insuperable, and consequently society was demoralized, as well as the official class, and the administration of the law for the graver offences was rendered impossible. When this state of things was represented to Yang-kien, with his usual impetuosity, he passed from undue leniency to excessive severity. Mandarins were given the most absolute powers to deal with those below them in rank. For the offence of stealing a single cash the person was to be put to death. If three men combined to steal a fowl the whole party were to have their heads cut off. This new law was a terror to honest men, whilst rogues and thieves enjoyed it immensely. All business at early hours, or late in the evening, was completely stopped. No man durst go out in the early morning hours, lest he should be accused of being abroad for some unlaw- ful purpose. Much less could he venture out after dark, for his danger would be intensified should some rogue accuse him of some evil design against the property of honest men. At last this miserable state of things was put an end to by a secret committee of the citizens of the capital. These assembled in force, disguised as thieves. They then managed to seize a prominent member of the Board of Punishment, and they threatened that if he did not memorialize the Emperor and have the late obnoxious law repealed they would put him to death. This high official, afraid for his life, did as was demanded of him, and the foolish law was allowed to drop out of public notice. THE SUI DYNASTY. 269 The year A. D. 601 was an unhappy one for the prosperity of the house of Sni. Unfortunately for the heir to the tlirone, his mother to(jk a dislike to him. This was caused by the death of his wife, of whom she was very fond, and the immediate elevation of one of his concubines to her position. The queen held that she had been mur- dered by her sou, because he wished to get rid of her as his affections were centred on her more beautiful rival. The second son, who was amibitions, and a master in dece[)tion, saw that there was a way now through the disgrace of his brother to the elevation of himself to the throne. He affected to live a most simple and virtuous life, and to be a pattern of filial piety. On one occasion, when his father came to his house to visit him, he had all his concubines hidden away in remote parts of the house, and only his wife was present to receive the Emperor. The servants, too, about the house, were old and ugly looking, and everything was severely simple, both in his wife’s dress and in the furnishing of their home. Yang-kien was delighted with this, and mentally contrasted all this with the mode of life of bis eldest son, who was straightforward and open in his conduct, and lived in a manner becoming the heir to a great empire. The young man was cunning enough, moreover, to gain the powerful advocacy of Yang- su by lavish presents to him and by paying court to him and treating him as though he were his patron. Through these means, and by the powerful influence of his mother, who ke[)t the Emperor con- stantly irritated by reports of the misbehaviour of Ynug, Yang-kien at length determined to appoint the second son his successor instead of him. This determination was publicly carried out, and Yung was stripped of every title that he had and made a commoner. On the day on which this notable act was performed Yang-kien appeared in the hall of audience, dressed in complete armour, as though he were going to meet an armed foe. Yung, who had prepared no plan of defence against the charges that had been so skilfully made to assume so serious an aspect, was completely paralyzed, and seemed all the more guilty to his father, because he had nothing to say for himself. Yang-kien upbraided him with his unfilial conduct, his lavish expenditure and the evils of his life. He then declared him unfit for the high position he had intended for him, and strip})ing him of all his honours and dignities which, as heir to the throne, he had possessed, he reduced him to the rank of the common people. He then summoned the ofticers of Yung’s household and condemned them, because they bad not warned their master to desist from the evil life he had been leading, and to live one more befitting the sou of a king. Last of all he called the teacher of his son and publicly rebuked him, because be had not used his ]x>sition to lead him into virtuous habits. This gentleman had more courage than all the rest, and was not going to be silenced, even by so great a man as the Emperor, in a loud voice he indignantly repelled the accusations 270 THE HISTORY OK CHINA. that had been made against Y nug. “ Every one here,” he said, “ knows that you have done a great wrong in disinheriting your sou, but there is no one that has the courage to tell you so. I have, however, for I am not afraid of death, or of anything you may do to me. Your son is not by any means so bad as you have represented. He is a straight- forward mail, neither very good nor very bad. Yon are surrounded by traitors, who have inflamed you against him, and to-day 3'ou have done a grievous wrong to him. If you had only a better knowledge of men, and had taught \mur son more wisely, things would not have come to the pass they have done to-day. I pray yon to reconsider your determination and give back to Yung the honour of which you have dejirived him, for remember that the history of China, from the remotest times till the present, bears witness to the fact that wherever there has been a setting aside of the true heir to the throne the dynasty has ere long perished and a new one taken its place.” This bold speech of the scholar had a marked effect upon Yaug-kien, and made him thoughtful. There was a ring of truth about it that im- pressed him deeply, and had he not been surrounded by traitors that were determined upon the destruction of Yung he might have restored his unfortunate son to the position of which he had first deprived him. Unfortunately for himself he was. Under the influence of his wife, and that of Yang-su, who was working vigorously against Yung, only a month after the famous scene described above the second son was appointed successor to Yang-kien. Immediately after this fatal act was committed the historian records that earthquakes took place throughout the empire, as if to show that the very earth reeled at the iniquity that had been done, and that the dynasty of Sui was doomed to destruction. Yaug-kien, however, did not seem greatly moved by these signs that struck terror into men’s hearts, and that to nearly every one but himself foreboded sorrow and calamity to the empire. He had done the deed, and he was not going to reverse it. This year the Turcomans, forgetting the treaty of peace they had made not many years ago, began to ravage the frontiers of the country They had latterly grown greatly in ])ower, and had begun to have ambitious views about the conquest of China. Other barbarian tribes had been able to stand face to face with the rulers of that country and had held sway in it, and why should not they, they thought. They were mistaken, however, in the times. The empire was too strong for them yet. Shih-man, a general of distinction, was sent against them, who signally defeated them and returned to Ch‘ang-ngau with great honour to himself and the army he com- manded. Yang-su, who was jealous of the distinction he had won, as though it reflected upon himself, so represented the matter to Yang- kien that Shih-man was deprived of the rewards that were due to him. This so enraged him that he apiiealed to the Emperor, who, however, still influenced by the evil report given him by Yang-su, THE SOI DYNASTY. 271 refused to do him justice. Angry expostulations were uttered by the disappointed general, when Yang-kien ordered his officers to seize him and have him executed at once. In the year A. D. 602 Yang-kien issued a command that all the schools in the district, prefectural and departmental cities should be given np, and the only one left should be the Imperial College at the ca|)ital. This order was given, no doubt, for two reasons. First, because Taug-kien, being an uneducated person, did not value instruc- tion as a man in his position ought to have done. He had a perfect contempt for the high classical education which constituted the curriculum which every scholar had to pass. The elegant phrases and the refined sentences of the literary class were an abomination to him. “ If a man wants to write anything,” he saiil, “let him do it in the most direct and forcible language he can find, and don’t let him waste his time in searching the classics, or in wandering up and down amongst the books of the learned for some phrase that may ex[)ress his meaning, perhaps with more elegance, but with a great deal less force than the common words of his own mother tongue can do.” A second and more powerful reason was no doubt his desire to save expense. He was of a naturally saving, thrifty disposition, and he conld not endure the thought that his people should be taxed for what, after all, he considered to be needless and superfluous. Next year the third son of Yang-kien, who was a prince in Sz- chwan, was recalled to the capital by his father to answer a charge of high treason, and for plotting to seize the throne for himself. He was condemned, and deprived of all the privileges of souship, and reduced to the rank of the common people. A short time after, the queen, who had such a pernicious influence on her husband, and who had been the means of destroying the harmony and peace of the family, died. Yang-kien did not elevate any of his numerous concubines to take her place. The favourite that now usurped his affections was a lady of the name of Suan-hoa. This woman had a great influence over him for she was both young and beautiful. In the sixteenth and last year of his reign he became very ill, and was confined to his room, where he was attended by Suan-hoa and her attendants. Three nobles, of whom Yang-su was one, remained in an apartment close by where the Emperor lay sick, in order to be ready for any commands he might have to give and to watch over the interests of the State. Kwaug, the second son, anxious lest any change might take place that would interfere with his succession to the throne, hovered about the palace and kept up a correspondence with Yang-su and urged him to be faithful to his promise to see that he should become Emperor after the death of his father. One of these fell into the hands of one of the ladies of the palace, who took and showed it to Yang-kien. The sick monarch was exceedingly indignant when he heard it read, “ What ! ” he ex- 272 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. claimed, “ is he pIottin2: for mj- death, this son of mine ? I am laid aside with a slio'lit illness, and he begins to talk of becoming Em- peror. He had better mind what he is about, or he may never have the opportunity of succeeding me.” A short time after this matters were brought to a crisis. Suan-hoa had occasion to leave the room, when she was met by Kwang, who was rude to her. To escape him she rushed back into the Emperor’s room. Yang-kieii, seeing her flushed and excited, asked her what was the matter with her. She replied by telling him how improperly she had been treated by the prince. Excited beyond measure at his conduct he exclaimed passion- ately, “ Beast that he is. he is utterly uuwcwthy of the honour that I have given him,” and then it flashed upon him that he had been systematically deceived with regard to the character of this man. As the truth dawned upon him he cursed his dead wife for the part she had taken in alienating his heart from his eldest son and in causing him to make Kwang his heir. When his passion had somewhat cooled down he summoned two of his nobles and gave orders that they should immediately send for Yung. The edict was drawn up and signed with the royal seal, and messengers were about to be sent to the residence of the prince to bring him to the bedside of his father. Before they could leave the palace Yang-su came in, and seeing at a glance that unless prompt and decided action was taken Kwang’s chances of becoming Emperor would be lost, stopped the issue of the edict, and calling a high man- darin of the [lalace, named Ohang-heng, to his counsels, consulted with him as to what ought to be done in this emergency. Ohang-heng was a confederate of Kwang and a man who was not troubled by qualms of conscience to be prevented from the [lerpetratiou of the most desperate deeds. By his advice an order was issued in the name of Yang-kieu that Yung should be seized and imprisoned. Meanwhile Kwang had joined the conspirators, and everything that was done from this time may be said to have been carried out under his immediate supervision. Ohang-heng now collected twenty or thirty desperate fellows, who were prepared for murder, and by the prince’s command they proceeded to the apartment of the Em[ieror with the intention, they said, of caring for the sick man. Orders were at the same time given that the ladies who were in attefidance upon him should all retire. Not many minutes after this band of ruffians had entered the Emperor’s bedroom they came out, declaring that his disease had terminated suddenly and that Yang-kien was no more. Immediately the news spread through- out the palace and the capital, and every one, without a moment’s hesitation, ascribed his death to the wicked act of his own son, the future Emperor of China. A few hours after this terrible deed had been committed a messenger was announced from Kwang to Suan-hoa with a casket, which was to be given her. She was full of fright when she received it, for she was couviucod that it contained an order for her THE 8UI DYNASTY. 273 to pat her.self to death. She was terribly agitated, aud for some raiuutes had not the strength to open it. Wlieu she did at length, do so she found, to her amazement and that of her attendants, that it contained what niisjht be termed a true lover’s knot, which at a glance she saw was an invitation of Kwang that she should consent to become a member of liis seraglio, and thus one of the royal concubines.* Her first impulse was to reject with scorn the present of the murderer of her husband and of his father, and she threw it down con- teinptnously from lier on the table. She would not even give any answer to the messenger that brought it, but ordered that he should be dismissed without any reply. Her maids gathered round her aud be- sought her to reconsider her decision, aud showed her the peril she was putting her life in by thus treating a man who was now lord of the whole empire. After long delay and driven to desperation by the unhappy circumstances in which she was jilaced she at length was prevailed ujion to send a favourable answer by the messenger, and from this point she disappears from history, where for a short time she had played so prominent a part. Next day Kwang was proclaimed Emperor, and by his order his brother Yung was murdered in his prison. The charac- ter of the murdered Yang-kieu was one full of contrasts. It had its virtues and its failings, which existed side by side. He was a most diligent ruler of his people, aud was continually planning for their iu- tere.sts. He promoted the study of the methods by which agriculture might be advanced, aud he encouraged the manufacture of silk. He was economical not only in the management of his own household, but also in the government of the state, with the result that during his reign the taxes were exceptionally liglit. The effect uj)on the people was good, and the extravagance that had prevailed amongst the people from the bad example of their rulers was greatly modified amongst every class of society. On the other hand, he was stern and passionate, and too ready to listen to any story that a person had to tell him about another. He treated his own sons as though they w'ere his enemies, with the result that they had no affection for him, and one of them murdered him when there seemed a danger of his losing the throne. He was exacting to a degree from those with whom he constantly associated ; and the men who had distinguished themselves in his services, and had been loyally rewarded by him, rarely kept his favour for very long. On the other hand, he was magnanimous to his enemies, as was seen in his treatment of How (dm, who instead of being put to death after the capture of Nanking was loyally entertained in his own capital aud died just about the time that Yang-kieu was murdered. It was a true Nemesis that caused him to lose his life in very much the same manner as that in which he had cut short the days of Suan Ti. * The present that Kwang sent Suan-hoa, and which has, in a rough way, been translated by “ true lover’s knot,” was made of silk or satin, and represented two pieces of fruit with only one stone common to them both. It is an emblem amongst the Chjneeo of devoted affection. 274 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. "When the conspirators rnslied in to liis sick room to carry ont their murderons intention there must liave flashed across his mind the memory of that day when he })aid his solitary visit to that monarch, and the tragedy that followed, and he must have felt that Heavorts as he knew would be acceptable to him. He had a work in three volumes compiled that described the manners and customs of the Turcomans, and presented it to His Majesty. He re[)resented that the various tribes outside the frontiers of China were anxious to make their submission to him, and were waiting with the greatest impatience for some intimation from him that they would be permitted to do so. This was an entire fabrication of his, as well as the statement that their territories abounded in gold and silver and precious stoues, which they were not civilized enough to know how to use. Yang Ti, whose self-importance was vastly increased by the idea that so many barbarian rulers were willing to throw themselves at his feet, gave instructions to the superintendent of trade to have the ambassadors forwarded to the capital, and also that due honour aud respect should be paid them by the officials aud [)eople along their journey. The story of the desire of the barbarians to become vassals of China existed only in the imagination of this wily official, aud there- fore he was greatly perplexed to know how to obey the orders he had received. The Chinese mind is, ho sever, a highly inventive one in emergencies like the present, and shines in overcoming difficulties that would paralize a Westerner. He easily arranged with a number of these chieftains to send their representatives to the court. This they were assured would commit them in reality to nothing, and besides, they would have their expenses all paid and a considerable sum over, which he promised them as a bribe for complying with his wishes. They were only too glad to perform the pleasant services that they were asked to do, and before long their ambassadors were on their way 27S THE HISTORY OF CHINA. to carry out the farce they had been taught. After entering China their journey was one long pleasure excursion. They were loyally lodged and entertained, of course at the expense of the people, and every attention was shown them, for they were the guests of their sovereign, who would resent any incivility shown them. This year the famous commander aud statesman who had been one of the most trusted aud loved of Aauo-kien’s ministers was put to death by the order of Yang Ti. This loyal servant of the state had expressed his concern at the lavish expenditure of the Emperor, and he had also bemoaned the extreme friendship that existed between the chieftain of the Turcomans aud his own infatuated sovereign. “He is teaching him the way to China,” he said, “aud he is allowing him to see the weak points of the country, aud in some time of national difficulty he will come with his hordes of horsemen and sweep away the dynasty before him.” These words were reported to Y^aiig Ti, aud to show that he would allow no man to criticize him he cut off bis Innid. Future events proved that the fears of the old statesman were well founded, and in the wreck of the house of Yang his words turned out to have been a prophecy of the coming destruction of it. Whilst Yang Ti was on his visit to Ch‘i-ming he observed amongst the attendants that thronged round the tents of this chieftain, a number of men in a strange garb, and with features unlike the rest of the Turcomans. Upon enquiry he found that they were Corean ambassadors that had come to pay tribute to Ch‘i-ming. Yang Ti thought it a thing not to be endured that Corea, that had acknow- ledged the Emperor of China as lord paramount in the times of the Ts‘iu and Han dynasties, should now be recognizing the supremacy of the barbarian Turcomans, vvhilst the great empire of China should be considered unworthy of the fealty of the descendants of the men who in the early days had gone forth from that very land to form their kingdom in the east. In due time ambassadors were despatched to the court of the Corean king with a peremptory order that he should send his tribute bearers to Loh-yaug, and from this time forward consider himself a vassal of the dragon throne. The king refused to do anything of the kind, and an angry feeling was engendered at the court of Yang Ti, whilst one of defiance was the prevailing one at the other. Four years went by without any action being taken to force the claim, but in the }’ear A. D. 612 a very large army was led by Yu- wen, the Chinese general, to invade Corea. Immense preparations had been made to make the campaign successful. Three hundred ships had been built in Shantung, and fifty thousand carts had been made in Kiangnan for the transport of provisions, which were stored in the great granary at Loh, above described. Men, too, had been pressed as soldiers for a war that was not popular with the nation at large, and consequently the empire was filled with discontent. Not only were the THE SUI HTNASTY. 279 people impoverished by the repeated calls upon them to meet the lavish expenditure of their maguificeut Emperor, but their sons were pressed to do work for the state for which tliey were badly remunerated, and through which thousands of them died in consequence of the hardships they had to endure, and now their children were called upon to fight far from their homes with all the chances against them of their ever seeing them again. This Coreau war seemed to have been the last straw that broke down the faith and loyalty of the nation to Yang Ti. Insurrections broke out simultaneously in different parts of the eiufiire. The leader of one of these was named Tow-kien, who had a following of over ten thousand men in Chihli. Songs were made that becatue ))opular amongst the lower classes, and were sung everywhere by them. The chorus in many of these was that it was better to become a rebel than be impressed as a soldier and die by the swords of the men of Liau-tung.* The great army of the Chinese consisted of three hundred and five thousand men, accompanied by Yang Ti, who was always of a roving disposition, and who was determined to be ])resent at the great victory which he had no doubt his troops would obtain over the Coreans. It crossed the river Liau in the middle of July, A. D. 613, and proceeded to invest the capital of Liau-tung, but it had been so strongly fortified that the Chinese could make no impression upon it. Next month a great battle was fought near the river Yalu, in which the Coreans gained a most decisive victory. Of the immense force that marched confidently to battle only two thousand seven bundl ed men managed to escape. The Emperor had to fly for his life, and all the baggage and war material of this great host fell into the hands of the con- querors, together with a very large number of prisoners. When Yang Ti returned to Loh-yang he ordered the great mandarin who had the chief management in the equipping of the late army to be put to death, and all the officers that had escajied to be reduced to the ranks. Immediately after this he commanded Cbaug- heng, the man whom he had employed to murder his father, to be executed. He had long been susjiicious that he was meditating rebellion and had employed spies to watch his proceedings and report any treasonable words that he might utter against him. Hitherto he had not been able to gain the evidence he wished, when very unex- pectedly a person appeared who gave him exactly the very kind of testimony that he had desired to convict him. This one of the concubines of Chang-heng, who having been ill-treated by him, was determined to have her revenge by informing against him to the Emperor. She declared that he had been accustomed to vilify and speak evil of him and to express his hatred and detestation of him. The process of law was short in this case. The accused was seized * Liau-tung was that part of Manchuria lying to the east of the river Liau, and now known by the name of Shing-king. In the times of the Sui dynasty it was subject to Corea, but it now forms part^of the Chinese empire. THK HltiTUKY OK CHINA. 2XU aud by the imperial commands led to instant execution. When he saw that death was inevitable he cried out that Heaven was just in bringing about the punishment that he was now going to undergo, for his crime in the murder of Yang-kien was such as could be satisfied only by his death. The officers standing by, in order not to listen to a confession that might compromise them, and {)erhaps lead to their murder, covered their ears with their hands and cried out to the executioner to take off his head quickly. This was done, and thus another of the great actors in the tragedy that had put Yang I'i on the throne disappeared from the scene, no more to trouble his conscience l>y their presence, or to remind him of the terrible crime he had committed. In the beginning of A. D. 614 Yang Ti appointed his grandson Yew, the Prince of Tai, to the command of Shensi, whilst another of the name of Thing, the Prince of Yueh, was put in charge of Loh-yang In the month of April he led a new expedition against Corea. His most faithful ministers tried to dissuade him from this enterprise by representing that the conquest of Corea was a matter utterly unworthy of a great ruler like himself, aud that he ought not to spend his strength on such a miserable object. “ You would never dream,” said one of them, “of using a ballista of a thousand pounds weight to shoot a rat, and why should you undergo the fatigue and expense of this long journey to subdue a country that is beneath your notice”? Yaug Ti refused to listen to his advice, aud the great armament proceeded on its way, but he was destined to return sooner than he had imagined. One of the officers employed in connection with the expedition was Huan-kau, one of the sous of Yang-su. He was a scholar and {)roficient in all manly exercises, and by bis amiability and fine social qualides had gathered round him a large number of friends. Smarting under the injuries that his father had received from Yang Ti he had determined at the first favourable opportunity to rise in rebellion against him. None seemed to him more suitable than the present when the empire was honey-combed with rebellion, and Yaug Ti was away with nearly all the forces of the state on a most, unpopular campaign. He had charge of the commis- sariat, and had under his command five thousand men, who were engaged in the transport of provisions for the royal army. These he could depend upon to follow him wherever he should lead them. Sending for a scholar of the name of Li-mi, who was famous as a strategist, and who from this time took a most prominent part in the troubles that distinguished the last days of the Sui dynasty, he unfolded to him his scheme for overthrowing the government, aud asked him to act now in the place of a military adviser and tell him what course he should take so as to ensure success. “ I have three plans to suggest to you,” Li-mi replied, “two of which will certainly lead to success, aud possibly the third also. These are : First, let ns boldly march aud attack the Emperor with the force that you have, aud those ■niE SCI DYNASTY. 281 that will gather rouud you when it has become known that you have raised the standard of rebellion ; second, march on Chang-ngan, which would be easily ca{)tured and held, and from there operate on the rest of the country ; and thirdly, advance on Loh-yang and seize it if possible.” The last was looked upon by Li-mi as the most unsatis- factory of the three, for he did not know the strength of the defences of the capital. If they were great and could resist long enough, there was danger that Yang Ti might be able to send such a force to its relief as would cause destruction to Huan-kan and his adherents. Contrary to his advice Huan-kan determined to adopt this last plan. He accordingly made forced marches into Honan and besieged the city. Tidings of this outbreak were rapidly carried to Yang Ti, who at once marched a large force to succour it. He arrived in time to save it from falling into the hands of Huan-kan, who was destroyed with all his followers, except such as were fortunate enough to escape. A terrible and bloody revenge was taken upon the people of the district who had shown sympathy to the rebels. Over thirty thonsand of them were murdered in cold blood, and, in addition to these, every person who had partaken of the food which Huan-kan had distributed from the imperial granary at Loh was seized and summarily executed. Another prominent figure now comes upon the stage of history in the person of Li-yuan, whose family were destined to be the chief actors in the mighty changes that were soon to take place in the empire. He had been appointed to the governorship of a district in the present province of Shensi. He is represented as being a very generous-hearted man, and one who had gained the respect and homage of a large circle of persons. He was, moreover, of noble appearance and a physicpie that attracted attention wherever he went. Yang Ti seems to have had his misgivings about him, and these were increased by his being told that there was a prophecy that a man of the name of Li would one day become Emperor. Determined that Li-yuan should not be the man, if he could help it, he sent orders for him to appear at court, as he had important business to transact with him. Li-yuan hastened to obey the summons, but fortunately for himself he fell ill on the way, and consequently was delayed in reaching the capital. Yang Ti could not conceal his satisfaction that the man he feared was ill. A nephew of Li-yuan, who was at court, observing this, and fearing that his uncle’s death was intended, hurried off to him and warned him of his danger. Having bribed t he chief nobles that had the ear of the Emperor they represented to him that Li-yuan was a loyal servant of the state, and that he need have no suspicious about his integrity. Yang Ti was pleased to listen to these representations, and sent him orders to return to his duties in Shensi. The year A. D. 615 was an eventful one for Yang Ti. Another expedition was led against Corea, but when the army reached Shing- 282 THK HISTORY OF CHINA. king, ambassaclers came from the king of that conntr}' with his submission to the Chinese and his declaration that he was willing to become the vassal of the Emperor. The terms having speedily been agreed to, and Corea having been added to the conquests of the empire, Yang Ti returned to his own dominions, but instead of coming to his capital he made one of his luxurious tours through Shensi. Some of his ministers having remonstrated with him, and shown him that the country was in rebellion, and could not stand the heavy drain that was being made upon it by these journeys, he had them put to death, but he soon after returned to Loh-yang. Three mouths after, he started with his immense train for Shansi. He was in extraordinary good spirits just now, for the omens all pointed to the prolonging of his reign and the prosperity of his dynasty. One day two peacocks had flown into the palace. These are most unlucky birds, and presage war and destruction and disaster in the state. One of the courtiers declared that they were phoenixes, which are tlie harbingers of peace and prosperity, and reported this to Yang Ti. He was extremely delighted, and rewarded with splendid presents and high honours the man that told him. On his arrival in Shansi, Li-yuan was made governor of a district in that province, and seemed to be in as great favour now as he had once been in disgrace. For several months Yang Ti enjoyed life in a way that a man, whose whole time was occupied in devising new pleasures to make time pass agreeably, knew how to plan. His dreams of happiness were, however, soon rudely broken into, and he had to fly for his life. The Turcomans hearing that the Emperor was so near them conceived the design of seizing him. Accordingly their king. Si-pi, the son of Ch‘i-ming who had died, suddenly appeared at the head of a hundred thousand men, and swooping down on Shansi hoped to get possession of Yang Ti before he knew he was in the field. He had, however, got timely warning, and managed to escape to Yen-mun, in the prefecture of T‘ai-yuau. Here he was besieged for nearly a month, but these barbarian hosts, being unskilled in such slow and tedious warfare as the taking of fortified towns, had at length to retreat, as troops poured in from every part of the empire to the relief of their sovereign. They accomplished but little, it is true, but it was a bad sign that these savage hordes had dared to invade Chinese territory and to presume to think of laying sacrilegious hands upon its Emperor. In the autumn Yang Ti returned to Loh-yang, when he gave orders for the equipment of his dragon boats, as he intended shortly to make a tour to Nanking. This plan was carried out, not- withstanding the entreaties of the most loyal and faithful of his ministers, who represented to him the dangerous condition in which his empire was, and how he was needed at the capital to preserve it from being rent in pieces. His only reply to this was to order one of THE SUI DYNASTY. 283 them to be beaten to death and another to have his head cut off after he had suffered the cruel torture of having his cheeks excised. In the month of August of the year A. D. 617 this self-willed monarch started on his pleasure trip, and in doing so threw from him the crown that was already slijtping from his grasp. We must now turn to the northern part of the empire where stirring events were taking place. Si-pi, the king of the Turcomans, determined to have a say in the distribution of the empire which so many rebel leaders were parcelling out for themselves, made Liu*wu to be the khan or chief of that part of Shansi that lay nearest his own territories, and promised him the support of his hardy and numerous horsemen. Li-yuan had been persuaded by his bold and ambitious son Shih-min to rebel. When this idea was first presented to him he utterly refused to listen to it, but he was finally convinced that it was his only course of safety when the matter was discussed with him by his son. “ If you wish to be loyal,” he said, “you have an unprincipled ruler to serve, who will reward you perhaps by putting you to death as he has done to others. If you oppose the rebels you will certainly be murdered by them, for you have not force enough to contend with them. Take either course you like you must die ; why not then set up your own standard of rebellion and claim the throne for yourself? It is the desire of the people that you should do so, and it is the will of Heaven that you should succeed.” Li-yuan, after a sleepless night spent in thought, said to Shih-min next morning, “ I have spent the whole night in considering what you have said to me. I am convinced that the course you advise is the wisest and safest for us to pursue. I therefore agree to it. If we fail and our family is ruined and destroyed you will be responsible, and if we succeed and the empire becomes ours then the merit will belong to you.” By the advice of one of his friends, Liu-wuu, application was made to Si-pi for assistance. The Turcomans were only too glad to have an excuse for interfering in the affairs of China, and at once acceded to the proposal, the only stipulation being that Li-yuan should become Emperor. All his own officers were unanimous in persuading him to take the advice of Si-pi, hut Li-yuan was too wise a statesman to consent to take such a dangerous step before the enter{)rise on which he had just embarked was sure of success. He accordingly adopted the more politic course of declaring to the nation that he had risen to avenge its wrongs and to defend it from a sovereign that was oppressing them, and through whose extravagance they and their children were starving. He at the same time gave out that from this time the true ruler of the country was no longer Yang Ti, but his. grandson Yew, the Prince of Tai, vvho was now in charge of Shensi. It is a singular fiict that the Chinese historians have acknowledged this act of the rebel Li-yuan and count the reign of Yew from this uace, though his grandfather was still alive in Nanking. 284 THE HISTORY OP CHINA. Kang Ti Yeiv. — (A. 1). 617-GlS). Although Li-yuan took the virtuous roll of the redresser of wrongs, a shrewd observer would not have failed to notice that his action was very far from being disinterested, and that there was an air of treason about his whole movement that showed that ambition was at the root of all his plans. He refused indeed to become Emperor, but he discarded the imperial flag and adopted a white one in its ])lace, which so satisfled Si-pi that he was quite ready to join his forces to his as a rebel against his sovereign. Yew, who saw through his artiflce, refused to have anything to do with him, and loyally held Shensi for his grandfather and garrisoned the towns of Hwo and Ho-tung. Success, however, everywhere attended Li-yuan and his barbarian allies, and city after city fell into their hands, and Anally at the close of the year A. D. 617 Ch‘ang-ngan was taken by storm and Yew made prisoner. To the honour of Li-yuan it may be said that he behaved with the greatest clemency and generosity to the captured town. Y’^ew was formally installed as Emperor of China, and no one suffered death except a number of prominent men who had destroyed the ancestral hall of his clan and dug up the graves of his buried kindred when they heard that he had rebelled. A few months before the seizure of Ch‘ang-ngan, Li-yuan had written to Li- mi, who was at Loh-yang with a large rebel force under his command, to make his submission to him, and Li-yuan afraid lest he should take it into his head to march his men and attack him, wrote back and told him that as he refused to serve under him he was quite prepared to give way to him and act as his lieutenant. “ If we succeed you shall be Emperor,” he said, “and ITl be your minister.” Li-mi was so overjoyed at this proposal that he never dreamt of looking closely at it, or of considering whether it was likely that Li-yuan, who had formerly been his patron and far above him in rank, would be content to give up all his plans of ambition and quietly submit to have the empire snatched from his grasp. It was only the man’s conceit and an inordinate belief in his own really great ability that made him fall into the snare laid for him by Li-yuan and his advisers. In the meanwhile Yang Ti was filled with gloomy forebodings in Nanking, and to drown his sorrows took to the wine cup. He would, when he was sober, wander about in a perplexed and dazed manner examining the heavens to see if he could get any omens there that would comfort him. One day he came in and said to his queen, “ There is some one outside that is looking for an opjiortuuity to kill me,” and then taking a looking glass he would gaze in it, and striking his neck exclaim, “ I wonder who will be the man that will cut this off.” His queen was terrified, and besought him not to say such unlucky things, but his only re[)ly was, “ Joy and sorrow both come to every man. Let us then bear each as it comes and make the best of life we can.” THE SUl DYNASTY. 28.5 Yang Ti was not wrong in believing tliat there were men conspir- ing against his life. When rebellion was in the air, :uid ever}' ambitions man who had any following believed tliat a crown was within his reach, it was no wonder that the men that surrounded him should dream of nsnrf)ing his power. He had slain tlie honest men tliat would have guarded his throne, and only their sjiectres hovered round him and tormented him with the thought that he had ruthlessly m ordered the only men that could have saved him in this hour of his extreme peril. One of his officers, Yu Wen-hwa, the son of the general who suffered such a crushing defeat in the first campaign against the Coreaus, led a [larty into the palace and dragged Yang Ti forth to slay him. When a sword was lifted up to cut off his head the unfortunate man said to the one that held it, “ What sin have I committed that you should wish to take away my life?” “Sin,” he replied, “ why, what sin is there that you have not been guilty of? Y’ou have persistently abandoned the ancestral hall where the sfiirits of your fathers reside ; you have roamed endlessly round your kingdom for your own pleasure ; you went needlessly to war with Corea ; you have lived a licentious profligate life ; you have despoiled the people of their property to waste it upon yourself, so that now thieves and robbers are as thick as bees about the country, and you have never been willing to listen to the advice of your loyal ministers, but have surrounded yourself with men that have pandered to your vices. How can you say that you have no sin?” “What you say may be true, and that I have injured my people,” replied Yang Ti, “ but you cannot say that I have ever wronged you. I have treated you well. Y’’ou have no reason to give why you personally should carry out this cruel act.” The men, however, would not listen to him. They had not come to reason, but to murder, and once more they were seizing hold upon him to kill him, when, wishing to save his body from mutilation, a thing that is abhorrent to every Chinaman, he cried out, let me die not by the sword but by poison. The conspirators were in no mood to wait for the slow process of poison, and yet they sympathized with his desire not to have his head severed from his body, so they compromised matters by strang- ling him with a piece of cloth that they found convenient for the purpose. When his grandson Thing, who was in Loh-yaug, which Li-mi had been unable to take, heard of this tragedy he was greatly distressed, and being urged by his officers to become Emperor he at last consented to do so, feeling that the title was his hy right, and that if he did not claim the succession now he might never have the chance to do so again. He is known in history as Kung Ti T‘ung. His reign was a brief and troubled one, for he was murdered the same year as that in which he assumed the royal state. About the same time that Thing was ascending the throne in Loh-yang his younger brother Y^ew was laying aside the royal dignity in Ch‘ang-ngan, and voluntarily resigning it to Li-yuau, who now became the founder of the new dynasty of T‘ang. THE HISTORY OF CHINA. 2 86 THE TANG DYNASTY (A. D. 618-907). Kail Tsu.—(A. D. 618-627). Chapter XX. [-YUAN, who is known to posterity as Kan Tsn, signalized the commenceraeut of his reign by the attention he paid to learn- ing. The edict which had been passed by Y’ang-kien abolishing all the principal scliools throiighont the empire, and retaining only the Imperial college at the capital, was rescinded, and once more pupils were gathered in the old buildings and teachers were instructing them in the books of their sages and great men. At the same time he established the degree of Sew-tsai, a title somewhat equivalent to our B. A., and he auuouuced that scholars could obtain this by competing at the public examinations, to be held once in three years in the pre- fectural cities throughout the country. He also built four ancestral temples, in which were placed the tablets in which the spirits of his father, grandfather and great grandfather, and those of his wife’s rela- tives were sup{)0sed to reside. His wife. Tow, was proclaimed queen, and Kiea-ch‘eug, his eldest sou, heir to the throne.* Kau Tsu seems to have been of a far less blood-thirsty turn of mind than the founders of the dynasties that preceded him. Instead of murdering every member of the late royal house that he could lay his hands upon, he not only spared their lives, but gave them titles and honours, and made them officials in the service of his government. Whilst these events were going on in Ch‘ang-ngan, others of mighty import were being transacted by men who aimed at governing China just as much as Kau Tsu did. Yn Wen-hwa, who had murdered Yang Ti, felt that he could not remain idle whilst so many strong competitors were in the field. He saw that to remain quietly in Nan- king whilst Shensi was held by Li-yuan and Honan by Li-mi and Thing, would be to risk his chance for power, and might result in bis * Kau Tsu’s queen was a woman of remarkable force of character, and was possess- ed of an intellect iar alx)ve the ordinary. She seems to have inherited these qualities from her father, Tow-i, who was a man of considerable importance during the closing years of the last dynasty ; this man had determined that his daughter should marry only a man who was of a highly martial character, and to secure his object he had two peacocks painted on a screen. He then gave out that any man that conid pierce the eye of one of these with an arrow at the first shot should obtain his daughter’s hand. Com- petitors appeared from far and near, but each one in succession went away without his daughter. At last Li-yuan claimed the right of having a shot for the maiden, when he not only hit one of the eyes, but transfixed! the other without a moment’s hesitation, and thus by a double right obtained the gifted and intellectual woman for his wife. She had four sons— Kien-ch‘eng, Shih-min, Huan-pa and Yuan-kieh — as well as one daughter, who was married to a man of the name of Ch'ai-shau. The real hero of the family was Shih-min, without whose push and ability the house of Li would never have come to the throne. (5=r-. THE T‘ANG dynasty. 2S7 overthrow and destruction if he did not at once try and prove the vic- tor in this struggle for the crowu of Ohina. He accord! only led his forces against Li-tni, whose army was stationed near the great imperial granary of Loh. In the engagement that followed Li-mi was de- feated, and in order to save himself from destruction he made his submission to Thing, and was admitted within the city. He had not been long there before he discovered that treason was at work in the palace, and that Thing’s days were numbered, for one of liis promi- nent ministers was already plotting his death. Withdrawing from the city he made his way with as many followers as he could collect to Ch‘aug-ngau, where he surrendered himself to Kan Tsu and asked to be taken into his service, promising him that the fidelity of a life- time should witness to the sincerity of his purpose. Kail Tsu was exceedingly delighted to see him, not only because one formidable rival was thus removed from the field, but also because he knew him to be a man most fertile in resources, a profound strate- gist and one who would help him to win the rest of the empire. In order to bind him closely to him he loaded him with honours and created him a duke. Li-mi, to show that he was in earnest, sent one of his officers to Shantung to the district where his power was most recognized, and gave orders tliat from henceforward the authority of Kau Tsu should be supreme in it. He had at the same time a rejiort drawn up, showing the taxes that this province produced, the number of towus and villages it contained and an approximate estimate of its population. This was delivered over to the Emperor, in order that he might be able to see the exact size and condition of the territory that had submitted to him. A short time only, however, had elapsed before Li-mi began to repent that he had given in his adhesion to Kau Tsu. He had tasted the sweets of power when he was in command of a large army, and he ill-brooked it to have to submit to the will of another. He determined to make another attempt for the throne, and accordingly he asked leave of Kau Tsu to return to Sliantung, under the plea that his presence was needed there to see that the people loyally carried out the promises of submission they had made to him. The great mandarins and nobles were violently opposed to his being allowed to leave the capital. “ He is naturally changeable,” they said, “ and he will rebel as soon as he gets to Shantung. To allow him to go is just like letting loose a tiger on the hills. You will not easily catch him again.” Shih- min, who was a large-hearted generous man, refused to listen to them, and granted his request not, however, before he had appealed to him to be loyal and had supplied him with a large sum of money to defray his expenses by the way. No sooner had he reached his home than he raised the standard of rebellion, but the royal army was upon him before he could concentrate his forces, and his adherents were scattered and he himself slain. 288 THK HISTORY OF CHINA. Kan Tsnfelt that it was now time for him to emleavonr to conquer Honan, for it was too important a province to he left in the hands of the men tliat now ruled it. The unfortunate T-ung had been set aside by his ambitious minister Wang-shih, who now, under the name of Em- peror, presumed to found a new dynasty of his own. As Li-mi had seen, T'ung was but a puppet in this man’s hands, and one day messengers came abruptly into his presence with the poison tliat Wang-shih had ordered him to drink. T'ung knew there was no appeal from this command, but he prayed that before he drank it he might be allowed to see his mother and say farewell to her. The wretches peremptorily refused this touching request. Tdmg was deeply moved by the thought that he should never see her again, and kneeling down on a mat before the idol which was in the room he cried in a voice of agimy to it, “ When I come again into the world never let me be born the des- cendant of an Emperor,” and then rising he drank down the poison.* As it worked too slowly for the ruffians that stood by they strangled him, and soon the empty palace was occupii-d by Wang-shih, who, however, was shortly to pay the penalty of his misdeeds. In the year A. I). 662 Shih-min was sent into Shansi to subdue it for his father. After a number of battles, in which he was victorious, the whole of that region submitted to him. He then advanced on Honan, and after a desperate battle at Ku-shuy, in which Wang-shih was defeated, he stormed Loh-yaug, where he captured the rebel king and Tow-kieu as well, who had come to his assistance. They were both sent to Olraug- ngau, where they were put to death. In this campaign around Loh-yaug, Shih-min was greatly helped by a hero of these times, named Yu Chiu- kung, who has become a prominent figure in the life of the Chinese eve* since. On one occasion, when Shih-min was out with five hundred horses on a reconnaisance, he was surrounded suddenly by Wang-shih with a force of ten thousand men. Yu Chih-kung hearing of this broke singly through the enemies’ lines and brought him out safely, just as the imperial troops advanced to his rescue.! Kau Tsu ordered that every man who was of age should pay to the government as a tax every year twenty catties of grain, two pieces of thin silk stuff and four ounces of raw cotton.! * He here referred to metempsychosis, a prominent doctrine of Buddhism. + Yu Chih-kung was a man of immense strength, and possessed great skill in the management of his lance, so that he became the undoubted hero of many a well-fought battle. He became very devoted to .Shih-min, to whom he h.ad surrendered in the Shansi campaign. It is told that when the latter became Kmperor, and the royal apart- ments were said to be haunted by malignant spii its that sought his destruction, he and his comrade Ts‘in-k‘iung kept watch over them, so that none could appro ich him. In commemoration of this service the Emperor ordered the portraits of these two men to be painted on his palace doors, a custom which has been continued to the present day, and they are now worshipped under the titles of the “ Guardians of tlie Door.” Not only have they been honoured by a place at the entrance of the palace, but their figures are also seen on the doors of all public ofiices in China, where they appear as keeping watch over the affairs of state and guarding the interests of the nation. i A catty is equal to Ipb. In the present day a piece of silk contains about eighteen jards. A man is of age when ho is sixteen years old. THE t'aNQ dynasty. 289 He also issneJ an edict commanding that the currency should henceforward consist of copper coins, each of which should weigh the tenth of an ounce. This was a very important enactment, for during the last years of the Sui dynasty the greatest irregularities had arisen in the circulating medium. The extravagance of Yang Ti had caused money to be so scarce that the precious metals had almost disappeared, and pieces of leather and even of paper with their fictitious values stamped upon them were used in buying and selling. Meanwhile the work of pacifying the empire went on. Shih-miu was successful wher- ever he went. Soon Nanking and the region round, as well as the whole of Kweichow, gave in their allegiance to the new dynasty, and if there were any malcontents left they were of too insignificant a character to need any but the local authorities to deal with them. Shih-miu there- fore returned to the capital and began to give his mind to what was really the most enjoyable thing to him, viz., the study of literature. He had a building of his own, which was specially devoted to this one object. Here were gathered eighteen famous scholars, whose names have been recorded in history, because of their erudition, and scholarly men besides were invited to attend to assist in the discussions that were held between this famous man and his learned friends in their search for truth. At the time that these studies were going on there was a determined effort made by his eldest brother Kien-ch‘eng and his youngest, Yuan-chich, to undermine his influence with his father. They were jealous because Kau Tsu loved him better than any in the family, and also because of his wonderful ability and the success that had attended everything he had undertaken. To carry ont their wicked plot they began to insinuate doubts in the ear of their fixther about his loyalty to him. The royal concubines who had been gained over, to their side also took every opportunity of whispering their fears to Kau Tsu about the integrity of tlie sou in whom he so implicitly trusted. His very virtues were distorted, and made the ground of a serious accusation against him. One day he came into the presence of his father weeping. Uuforgetful of etiquette, or of the presence of royalty, he allowed his tears to fall as lie thought of the death of his mother, whom he had loved passionately. The concubines re[)reseuted this filial act as an insult to the Emperor and a menace to themselves, because the prince insinuated that they had taken his mother’s place in his heart, and for this he would be avenged. The father, who was a weak- minded man, was easily influenced by the gossip of these women, and so his heart became estranged from his son. In the year A. U. 62o the Turcomans under the leadership of their chief Chieh-li invaded Shensi. Some of the ministers represented to Kau Tsu the advisability of removing the ca()ital to Loh-yang. “The reason why these barbarians make so many incursions into our territory is because Oh‘ang-ugan is so near them, and they are coutinuallv beino- tempted by its wealth to come and plunder it. Let us burn it to the 290 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. ground,” they said, “ and emigrate to Honan, and tlien the temptation being I’emoved tliese raids of the Turcomans will cease.” The Emperor was about to consent to this pusillanimous proposal, when Shih-min interposed with his advice. “ Let us do nothing so disgraceful,” he said to his father. “ These inroads of the savages are no uew things. From the earliest times they have been accustomed to make them. The whole empire would scorn us should we fly before their presence now, and our newly-established dynasty would be endangered.” “ We are strong,” he continued, “ and we need not fear them. Give me the soldiers I require, and I guarantee that in a few years I will bring you the head of Chieh-li and lay it at your feet.” These heroic words turned the scale, and Shih-rain’s request was granted. When his brothers heard of what Imd been done they went in haste to their flxther and made him believe that the only object of Shih-min iu requesting au army to subdue Chieh-li was that he might have the means of rebelling and getting the throne for himself. The weak-miuded sovereign accepted their statements as true, and calling him into his presence he scolded him for the treasonable thoughts which it had never occurred to him to have. He also conclud- ed a treaty with the Turcomans, and though the historian does not say so, it is manifest from the rapidity with which they retired beyond the frontiers that they were induced to do so by substantial presents from the royal treasury. Kau Tsu issued an edict allowing his people to worship Heaven and Earth, and to erect altars to them when they did so. This was a great privilege which had hitherto been the prerogative of the ruler of the nation. He also issued orders to all the magistrates in the country that they should examine into the condition and character of all the Buddhist temples and uuuneries throughout the empire, and that wherever they found persons pure iu character aud earnest in their faith they were to remove such to some of the more prominent temples, and cause that all the rest should be sent back into the world to do their own proper share of work in it. This action was taken luaiuly because of the irregular lives and bad morals of the o-reat mass of those who had given their lives to the service of the idols. Fully a huudred thousand bonzes and nuns were scattered throughout the country in the various Buddhist establishments, and their bad fame had caused oue of the ministers of the Emperor named Fu-yih to petition that they might be dealt with and no longer be permitted to demoralize the people by their bad example. In the document that he presented to Kau Tsu he said, “ The idols come from the regions of the West. Their books, when translated into our language, are full of falsehoods and deceive the people. The bonzes give up their parents, and they eat, but they will not work. They are no help to the state, for they claim to be exempt from taxation. We say that life, and death, and riches, and poverty are at the THE t'ANQ dynasty. 291 disposal of Heaven. They say that it is the idol that has the control of these things, and so they would snatch all power from it. They are a danger to the state. Before the idols came the Emperors were intel- ligent and his ministers loyal, but after their arrival the former became stupid and the latter treacherous. We have evidence of this in the history of the five dynasties. Let the bonzes and nuns be sent back to their homes, and let them marry and be given in marriage.” All the nobles with one exception applauded these words. Siau-ho said, “ Fu-yih has not spoken the truth, and he ought to be punished. The idols are holy men that have been canonized, and are worthy of the highest honour.” Fu-yih replied, “ The relationships between the ruler and his subjects and between parents and their children are the greatest we have in human life. The idols do not recognize these, and therefore they should be discarded.” The only reply that the angry Siau-ho deigned to give was, “ The Buddhist religion has told us of a hell, which has been undoubtedly created for the receptiou of such men as you.” The jealousy of the two brothers against Shih-min became more and more bitter as time went on, and they laid their heads together to destroy him. On one occasion they invited him to drink wine with them. He had not drunk much before he was attacked with pains and violent vomiting. He knew at once that an attempt had been made to poison him, and as soon as he recovered he went to Kau Tsii to complain of his brothers. ITis father was greatly distressed, and said to him, “ You know that the whole merit of placing our family in its present position of power and glory belongs to you. I wished to make you the heir, but you refused. 1 see with sorrow that your brothers cannot live in harmony with you. t therefore propose that you separate. I’ll give you Loh-yang and all the country east of it, and you shall rule over it as though you were a king.” Shih-min readily agreed to this proposal, but it was thwarted by his brothers, who again got the ear of their father and represented that to allow such power to be given into the hands of a man who was ready to rebel would be to throw away the empire. But the crisis was at hand. The eldest sou had been appointed to the command of an army that he was going to lead against the Turcomans, who had again invaded Shensi. A feast was to be given before he started, and Shih-min was bound to be there. It was arranged by the conspirators that he was to be murdered at the banquet. Timely information of this reached him, and a council of his oflScers was called to decide what should be done in this crisis. They were nnanimous that Shih-min should take the initiative and save himself by slaying his brothers. At first he would not listen to the proposal, but by and by as it became plain that he could only escape death by doing so his mind gradually inclined to the advice of his captains. At last he said, “ Let us divine in order to see 202 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. ■whether it is the will of Heaven that I should do this crime.” One of his officers cried out, “ Men divine about that which is uucertaiu. There Is no uncertainty here. It is either your life or theirs.” Immediately a petition was sent by Shih-mln to the Emperor, telling him that his life was in danger, and asking his protection. He sent back word that he would summon tlie brothers Ixjfore him at the audience he would hold to-morrow morning.* This fell in exactly with the plans of Sbih-min and his captains. About midnight they had all the avenues to the palace held by soldiers, who lay in ambush. When Kien-ch‘eng and Yuan-chieh appeared they were set upon by these, and as they turned and fled the eldest was pierced by an arrow. That was shot by Shih- min, whilst Vnan-chieh fell transfixed by one from the bow of Yu Chieh-kung. There was great consternation in the palace when the news of this tragedy spread throughout it, as no one knew what further horrors there might still possibly be in store for those that had been the adherents of the murdered princes. Kan Tsu instantly summoned his ministers and asked them what should be done in this terrible crisis. They were unanimous in advising him to accept the situation. “Your son Shih-min,” they said, “has gained the empire for your family, and he deserves to succeed to it. Ap|X)int him your successor and the nation will instantly be at peace.” The Emperor agreed to this, and Shih-min was not only formerly appointed by royal edict the heir to the throne, but he was also given all the power and authority of the Em[)eror himself, and in a few months after his father formally ceded the throne to him, when he became the sover- eign of China, under the name in which he is known in history, viz.: — • T^ai Tsung.—(A. D. 627-6r50J. One of the first acts that Shih-min performed after the death of his brothers was to put to death their sons also. This of course was in these days considered an absolute necessity not only to preserve himself from their vengeance when they grew up, but also to save the empire from civil war. If it had been left to the dictates of his own heart he would certainly have spared the lads, that is, if we are to judge by the merciful disposition he showed during the rest of his life. T‘ai Tsung began his reign by an act that showed well the character of the man. He dismissed three thousand of the ladies of the palace to their homes. He considered that the expense of keeping them was a burden that the state ought not to be called upon to bear, and moreover that they ought to be sent back to society, where they could become useful members of it instead of wasting their lives in indolence and intrigue within the palace walls. In this wise reform he was ably seconded by his queen, Ch‘ang-sun, who was ■* The Emperor in ancient times and also at the present day meets his ministers for the transaction of public business at about two or three o’clock in the morning. THE T’ANG DYNASTY. 203 a lady of a very superior character. She was not only exceedingly talented, bnt she was also modest and refined. She had great power over her hnshand, who loved her dearly, and though she steadily refused to meddle in state affairs there is no doubt but that by her silent influence and by lofty views of things in general she greatly contributed to the glory of her husband’s reign. He had not come to the throne many months before he had to pre- pare for an invasion of the Turcomans. At the invitation of Liang- sze, one of the rebels of the late dynasty, two great tribes, to the number of one hundred and forty thousand men, under the leadership of their chiefs — Cbieh-li and Tu-li — invaded the Chinese territory and encam|)ed by the river Wei.* From this place they sent an ambassador to T‘ai Tsung to demand certain conditions from him, but if they thought that they were going to frighten him they were greatly mistaken. He shut up their envoy in prison, and with six of his great officers and a handful of troops he marched to where the barbarians were awaiting his answer, whilst his main force travelled rapidly behind him. When he came in sight of Chieh-li he upbraided him with his want of faith in coming with such an armed force into his kingdom after a treaty had been only recently made witli him and his people. By this time the first lines of TVi Tsung’s army appeared in view, and soon regiment after regiment had taken its position, ready to fight. Ohieh-li was perplexed. His ambassador had not returned to give him his report, and T‘ai Tsung took such a high hand with him that he could not but believe that he had a larger force than he had believed it possible for him to raise. He accordingly deemed it prudent to come to terras with him, and confessing his fault and promising to be more faithful in his keeping of treaties for the future, peace was concluded and the terms agreed to at a meeting that was held on the bridge Fieri. In a few days the vast hosts that had come to conquer China had melted away and disap- peared in their own country beyond the frontiers. One of T‘ai Tsnng’s nobles being surprised at the ease with which this great invasion was prevented said to him, “ How is it that you refrain from fighting whilst others delight to meet the enemy in battle, and yet you cause your foe to retreat before you.” “ The enemy that I have foiled this time,” Tai Tsung replied, “ though so numerous is not well disciplined, and consequently they were afraid to meet my men. Besides, 1 don’t want to fight yet. My dynasty is just in the process of being established, and I fear to risk its stability by entering on a cam- paign in which I might be worsted. Chieh-li will become all the more arrogant and proud because he has been let off so easily, and will imagine himself stronger than he really is. This will lead him to a self-confidence that will cause him to despise us. We on the other *This river is a tributary of the Yellow River, which it joins in Shensi. It is famous for its muddy waters. 294 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. hand shall be getting stronger every day, and when the fitting moment has come I shall fall upon Iiira and destroy him.” From this time T'ai Tsiuig began to bend all his energies to the strengthening of his array and to the perfecting of its discipline, so that no other force would be able to meet it in the field. He felt that the very permanence of his reign depended upon its efficiency, and that in the mortal cjnflicts that he saw would soon have to be fought with the gathering hosts of barbarians he would have to rely upou it to save the empire from being parcelled out amongst them. In pursu- ance of this purpose he selected several hundred of the best men from the various regiments and caused them to meet iu the palace yard to be exercised in the use of the bow and arrow. When they were assem- bled he made a speech to them and said, “ I have called you together to practise the use of the bow. I don’t ask you to build palaces, or lay out gardens. I want }'Ou to learn to know how to use your weapons so that no foe will dare to stand before you. I myself will be your teacher, aud when we have to go out to battle I will lead you against the enemy.” His ministers were opposed to this radical conce[)tion of their Emperor aud represented to him the danger he ran. “ How easy it would be,” they said, “ for a traitor to get amongst the men you are training, and with the single flight of an arrow you would be slain before anyone could come to your rescue.” “ I am not afraid,” said the heroic monarch. “I look upon the people of my empire as one family. What motive can anyone have to kill me ?” “ I’ll take the risk,” he continued, “ and go on with my scheme.” This fearless trust in his soldiers created the utmost enthusiasm amongst them, aud when his speech was reported through the country every heart was turned in loving affection to him. T‘ai Tsuug, who was not a warrior, except by necessity now that the empire was at peace, gave what time he could spare from his strictly official duties to the study of literature aud to the discussion of questions that had reference to the right government of a nation, (dose by his palace he built an immense library, in which he stored over two hundred thousand volumes. Special rooms were provided in this for the reception of the Emperor and the scholars who met him for the discussion of literary questions. Six eminent men were appointed professors in the establishment, aud all the mandarins in the capital, from the first to the third grade, were required to come here and study under them. Thii Tsung spent the most of his time in it. It was his custom after his early morning audience to pass into it, aud sometimes the evening shades would have fallen before he left it. He was a most enthusiastic disciple of Confucius, aud had studied his works and those of the same school, until he had become thoroughly indoctrinated with his svstem. That this was so is manifest from the remark he made one day when he aud the assembled literati were discussing the doctrines of the great sage. “I have observed,” he said, “that, those THE T'ANG DYNASTY. 295 rulers who liave been remarkable for their attachment to either Taoism or Bmhlhism have been the cause of the destruction of their dynasties. As for me 1 believe in Confucianism. Just as wings are necessary for the birds and water for the fishes, and without which they would die, so I in like manner put my trust in the teachings of the sages of our country.” It is interesting to know what kind of subjects engaged the attention of this really great and enlightened ruler. Fortunately the historian has not left us iu the dark in regard to them, and a few specimens will be now given. T’ai Tsung pro- pounded the cpiestiou, “ How is it that Yang Ti, who was one of the profoundest scholars in his em[)ire, turned out to be such an immoral man and finally died a miserable death ? ” Wei-cheng replied, “ It is not enough for a king to be clever. He must be of so modest and humble a spirit that men will dare to reprove him when he is wrong.” YangTi was intolerably proud, and though he studied the words of Yau and Shun his acts were those of Chieh and Chow-sin.* On another occasion he asked the company what is meant when it says in the Analects, “ Gifted with ability, and yet enquiring of those who are not ; having much, and yet asking of those who are poor ; possessing, and yet acting as though he had nothing; being full, and yet seeming empty.” One of those present explained that these apparent contradictious were exemplified in the conduct of every really modest man. It was only in the character of the haughty man that there were no lights and shadows. In the conversation that eusued it was the enifihatic opinion that every one present, including the Emperor, should try and cultivate the virtue of modesty. T'ai Tsung heartily agreed with the speakers and said that this was the aim of his life. “ I think over my words,” he said, “ and do uot dare to utter them nutil I have measured them.” “ This is right,” said the imperial censor, “ for you must remember that they are being recorded, and will be read by future ages.” Another time he asked, “ What was the best method of ridding the empire of thieves and disaffected persons.” Some of those present had a sovereign remedy iu the greater severity of the laws and a more rigorous dealing with such characters. After a number had given their ideas in the same direction the Emperor said very calmly, “ I don’t agree with your opinion that men are to be reformed by harsh laws. I believe that if the ruler refrains from extravagance, makes the taxes light, and sees that his people have more than is enough lor their daily needs, and appoints high-minded magistrates to rule over them, the country will be at peace, and theft * The name of Wei-cheng frequently appears in the following history: Ho was the trusted counsellor of T‘ai Tsung, and fearless in reproving him whenever he thought he had done wrong. His wise counsel and his unswerving honesty have made him respected by every succeeding age, and Chinese scholars hold him up as a model of loyalty and fidelity. Chieh was the last of the sovereigns of the Hia, as Chow-sin was of the Shang dynasty. Their memory is infamous, because of the wickedness of their lives. 296 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. aud robbery will disappear from society. I meau to try this plan aud see how it works.” Ite did so, and the result was that people felt themselves so safe that they did not trouble to shut their doors at night, aud traders who were travelling with large sums about them would rest for the night at any out-of-the-way place without any fear of being robbed. On another occasion one of his ministers pro|iosed a method by which he could discover those who were loyal to him aud those that were not. “ If you suspect a man,” he said, “ pretend to be very angry with him aud use strong language to him. If he is an honest man he will dare to confront you aud will not fear your auger. If, on the contrary, he is at heart disloyal, he will cringe to you and show signs of fear.” T'ai Tsung at once replied and said, “ I don’t at all agree with your method. It is too treacherous. I am like a fountain, aud my ministers the waters that flow from it. If the fountain is muddy you cannot expect the water to be clear. I prefer to use truth in my dealing with men. I dare not for my own comfort aud safety use the plan you propose.” This year, A.D. 629, the whole empire was divided into ten circuits or provinces, viz., Kwau-nei, Ho-taug, Ho-uau, llo-peh, Shau-nan, Luug-yu, Hwai-nan, Kiang-uau, Chien-uan aud Liug-uau. About this time a great disaster fell upon the fifteen hordes or great clans into which the Turcomans were divided. The winter had been inclement beyond anything that had been experienced for many years, aud the fall of snow had been so severe that the cattle on which they depended for food had been buried beneath it, aud vast numbers of sheep and horses had perished of cold and hunger. T‘ai Tsuug’s envoy to this people returned to the capital and told him how they were starving and were in insurrection against his old foe Chieh-li, aud urged upon him to take advantage of the distress into which they were plunged aud lead an army against him. He assured him that the conquest of these hereditary enemies of China would be very easy now, as they were in no condition to resist a hostile mission. T'ai Tsung was, however, of too noble a character to listen to the advice of this wily diplomatist. “I have a treaty with Chieh-li,” he said, “ aud 1 dare not violate it ; were I to attack his people now when they are broken down by calamity I should be inhuman in my conduct. Even though they were in a far worse condition than they are now I should never dream of reaping a benefit from their miseries. When they have done anything wrong then it will be time for me to think of conquering them.” This same year that brought sorrow to the Turcomans was laden with suffering that was to fall upon the people of the region in which the capital was situated. First of all came drought, then famine, and lastly the locusts to eat up all that were edible in nature. In the sad and solemn THK t'aNQ dynasty. 297 discnssioas that were held between T‘ai Tsnng and his ministers as to the causes of these terrible evils it was finally agreed that they were sent by Heaven in reply to the tears and complaints of the large number of ladies that were still confined in the seraglio, and who, separated from their friends and destined never to have homes of their own like their countrywomen outside the palace walls, bewailed their sad lot in the solitude of their own apartments. The Emperor was too honest a man to disregard what he believed to be the teach- ings of Heaven, and he accordingly dismissed three thousand of these unhappy women to their homes. The year A.D 630 was a glorious one in the reign of T‘ai Tsung. Embassies from a large number of kingdoms, both small and great, appeared at the capital to make their submission and to bring tribute to this Emperor, whose renown had travelled far beyond his western frontiers. Languages that had never been spoken at a royal audience before were now heard for the first time at Ch‘aug-ugau. Men remarked upon the large variety of costumes that were seen in the great open space in front of the palace, and how picturesque they looked as the ambassadors moved about with their attendants waiting to be received by the Emperor. One of his ministers was so struck with this spectacle that he suggested that artists should be employed to paint from life the different groups as they brought their offerings to the court, so that future ages might have some idea of the glory and magnificence of T‘ai Tsuug’s reign. This was agreed to, and by the special command of the Emperor carried out. Another source of rejoicing about this time was the great victory that the armies of China had obtained over the Turcomans. Dissatisfied with the rule of Chieh-li some of the fifteen great hordes came and made their submission to T'ai Tsung. This of course was resented by their king and war commenced. Three armies, numbering together about oue hundred and forty thousand men, invaded the Turcoman territory in different direetious. The one commanded by Li Tsing routed Chieh-li, who was compelled to flee, but he was afterwards captured and brought a prisoner to ClTang-ngau, to the great delight of Kau Tsu, who publicly proclaimed his satisfaction in having appoint- ed his son to be Emperor in his place. The serious question now arose as to what should be done with the conquered barbarians. Some advocated that they should be allowed to remain in their own country, which was adopted with a large modification for the king, and all the chief men with their families were transferred to the capital, whilst large numbers of the fighting men were planted in colonies in different parts of Shensi. The whole of their territories was divided into ten departments with Chinese rulers over each. Chieh-li was made a high mandarin, and lived iu the capital. Tu-li was appointed to be a governor in Kwang-si, whilst those of the officers who had held high rank iu their own country wei-e given titles and emoluments 298 THE HISTORY OF CHINA, under the Chinese government. Never was a conquered people who liad been a thorn in the side of the nation more liberally and hu- manely treated than these were by the magnanimous and large-hearted T'ai Tsimg, The beginning of A, D, 632 found the nation rejoicing, A splen- did victory liad been given to the Chinese arms, and the hereditary enemies of the em[)ire had been crushed, A harvest, too, such as had not been reaped for many years had filled the country with abundance, and hunger and want had been driven from the homes of the poorest. It was suggested by the ministers of state that the Emperor should repair to one of the five sacred mountains of China and there on its summit thank Heaven for the mercies that had been showered ou the nation, T‘ai Tsuug refused to do this. He had larger conceptions than any man of his day of the wide scope of Heaven’s power, and he felt that the journey to any mountain top was a su|)erfluous undertaking for a man that really wished to worship it. “Shih Wang, ot the Ts‘iu dynasty, acted as you wish me to do,” he said, “ and before long his dynasty passed away. Wen Ti, of the Han dynasty, never did, and he transmitted his throne to his descendants. Which of these two has })osterity decided to be the superior ot the other? You need uot ascend a hill to worship Heaven. Sweep not the ground near you, and Heaven will accept the offering you bring to it. ” T‘ai Tsuug sustained an irreparable loss in the death of his queen in the year A. D. 637. This lady was one of the finest characters we meet with in Chinese history. She was benevolent, modest and a great student. Slie was intensely practical, moreover, and it was undoubtedly owing to her common sense that her husband, who constantly took her opinion, so often passed laws that gained for him the admiration and affection of his people. The heir apparent was greatly distressed at his mother’s illness, and requested his father to publish a general amnesty through- out his empire in the hopes that Heaven might be moved to pity by this act and prolong her life. He also made special offerings to the idols in order to gain their favour. When his mother heard of what he had done she called him to her bedside and said, “ Our life is in the hands of Heaven, and when it decides that we shall die there is no mortal power that can prolong it. There is therefore no need to pro- claim a general amnesty, as that will not avert the sorrow that you fear, besides a royal proclamation of this kind is one of the imposing acts of a state, and must not l>e too often or too recklessly done. As for the Taoist and Buddhist faiths they are heresies, and have been the cause of injury both to the people and the state. Your father has a great aversion to them, and therefore you must uot displease him by appealing to them on my behalf.” To her husband she said, “ I have not been of much use whilst I lived, and therefore I don’t want anyone to be made to suffer by my THE T^ANQ DYNASTY. 299 death. Don’t make a magnificent grave for me, and then the people will not hate me, because they have not been called to make any sacri- fices in building such a one. I don’t wish you to put jewels aud precious stones in my coffin. All that I want is a tile to be put under my head for a pillow, and my hair fastened up with some wooden pins. Associate with the good and shun the company of the evil. Don’t listen to unworthy men, aud neither hunt not build magnificent palaces. If you promise me, these things then shall I die happy.” Her husband was inconsolable for her loss, aud he built a tower near the palace from which he could look at her grave, which was made on the side of a hill, that could be seen in the distance. Tlie Emperor's university at the capital had become famous uot only in China, but also in countries beyond its pale. Kings and nobles from Corea aud Siu-lo and from T‘u-fau bad sent their sons to be educated in it, and T‘ai Tsnug, mindful of his dying queen’s last request, had kept up bis practice of associat- ing with the best men that used to meet there for the discussion of great moral questions which were to help him in the government of his peo[)le. His efforts to lead a noble life and benefit the nation could not, however, avert unhappiness from his own family. His eldest son was a thoroughly bad man, and spent his time in amusement aud dis- sipations. Fearing that bis conduct might be the means of alienating his father’s heart from him, instead of correcting his conduct he was led by his evil companions to conspire against his life. He feigned sickness, aud had men lying in wait to murder him when he should come to see him. T‘ai Tsuug got timely word of the conspirators’ plans, and he had them all apprehended. His son was deprived of all his titles and banished to a distant part of the kingdom, whilst those that had aided him in bis treason were put to death. The year A. D. 64.b was a notable one in the history of T‘ai Tsung, for in it he led an army to invade Corea. Four years before he bad sent an ambassador to that couutry, who had discovered that a considerable number of Chinese who had been captured during the campaigns of Yang Ti were still living there, and were prevented from returning to China. These made their complaints to the royal envoy, who repeated them to the Emperor when he returned. His heart was moved at the idea of the suffering his countrymen were enduring, aud he determined within himself that he would as soon as a fittinress, as well as all the loyal and faithfnl ministers of the palace, pnt to death. For the next few years nothing of any importance took place in the history of the country. Wu-how with her powerful mind and her determined will was getting more and more the mastery over her husband, and gradually assuming the control of the executive. In A. 1). (362 this peaceful monotony was disturbed by the inva- sion of a powerful tribe of T'ieh-leh barbarians that lived beyond the western frontiers of Shansi. Over a hundred thousand of them sudden- ly appeared in that region and spread death and desolation wherever they came. An army was sent against them under the command of Hueh-jin, who defeated them with great slaughter. His success was largely due to his having been able with three successive shots from his bow to kill three of the leading men of the savage invaders. Three years after this an incident took place which was the means of confirming Wu-how in her power and of })reventing anyone from daring to attempt to deprive her of it. Kau Tsung, who began to writhe under her despotic rule, was one day expressing bis anger and indignation against her, when he was quietly remiuvled that his majesty had it in his power to relieve himself from her control. “ How?” he instantly asked; “ by abolishing her,” was the quiet reply. “Then let the edict be at once made out,” the Emperor cried out, “■ by which she shall be declared to be no longer queen.” The writing of this important document was at once begun, when information was hurriedly carried to Wu-how of what was going on. She was a woman of prompt action, so she hastened into the presence of Kau Tsung and asked him for what reason he was going to depose her. The Emperor, who stood greatly in awe of her, seemed to lose his courage and his manliness with her appearance. “ I did not want to depose you,” he said, “ it was this man, pointing to the one that had suggested the idea, who proposed that I should do so.” It need hardly be said that the important edict never was finished; but Wu-how realized the extreme peril in which she stood, and she determined never to be caught again in like manner. From this time she made an arrangement that when- ever the Emperor held an audience with his ministers she was to be present at it and partake in the consultations and deliberations of that august body. The title that the two now took in this concerted action was “ The Two Holy Ones.” In the year A. D. 666 Kau Tsung visited the great T‘ai-shan mountain in Shantung, where he worshipped God on the top of it. He then proceeded to the grave of Confucius, and there made offerings to the spirit of the great sage, and afterwards he proceeded to visit a 304 THE HISTORY OP CHINA. certain great clan that had become famous throughout the empire, because of the harmony that existed between its members. The Emperors of the five dynasties had each in turn come to verily for themselves the remarkable story that had reached the capital, and each one had testified to his belief in it by erecting tablets recording his admiration and respect for such a harmonious community. At the time that Kau Tsung reached the place there were the descendants of nine generations of the clan, consisting of several thousands of people, associated together under the rule of their chief, and no jar or difference was ever heard amongst any of them. Kau Tsung was struck with wonder at what he saw, and enquired from the latter the secret by which this unpre- cedented harmony had been attained. Taking up his pen he wrote down a hnudred characters on a sheet of paper, and handing it to the Emperor he said, “Your majesty, here in these words lies the secret you wish to know.” The Emperor found that the hundred words were all a repetition of the one character which meant forbearance. Kan Tsung nodded his head and agreed that forbearance in all the acts of daily life would indeed result in the marvellous unanimity that had rendered them so famous. At the close of the year A. D. 667 an expedition started to invade Corea under the command of Li-tsi and Sieh Jin-kwei. A great battle was fought at Kiu-shan, in which the Coreans suffered a great defeat, and this was followed by the storming of Liau-tuug. After considerable delay the army crossed the river Ya-lu and proceeded to invest the capital. Ping-yang, which was at length compelled to open its gates to the Chinese army. The king surrendered himself, and the country submitting to the inevitable accepted the rule of the T'angs. The whole country was divided into five great colonies, and Li Tsi, with twenty thousand men, held Piug-yaug and appointed both Chinese and native officials to govern the people. When this territorial division was made there were one hundred and seventy-six towns, large and small, and six hundred and ninety thousand distinct families under the control of the Chinese. In the meanwhile Wu-how had been gradually absorbing all the power of the state in herself till Kau Tsung, feeling that he was but a nonentity, proposed that he should resign the throne and let her be the nominal as well as the real ruler of the countiw. This his ministers vigorously resisted, and the idea was given up. They both seemed, however, to wish to be exalted in the eyes of the country by the use of the highest titles they could select, and as earth could not supply them with these they usurped the functions of Heaven by styling themselves the Heavenly Emperor and the Heavenly Empress. There is no question but that the vigorous reign of the latter would have been acquiesced in more heartily both by nobles and subjects if she had not been so immoral in her conduct. She caused her sou Fung to be poisoned, because he had remonstrated with her, THE t'ANQ dynasty. 305 because of her irregularities, and she deposed and banished his brother Hien for the same reason, though each in succession had been solemnly and legally appointed heir to tlie throne. In the latter end of the year A. D. 679 one hundred and eighty thousand Turfans were in arms, led by their king K‘un-ling ; as such an immense force was a menace to China, an army under the command of Li King-huan marched to try conclusions with it, and a great battle was fought near Ts‘iug-hai, the “Azure Sea,” or, Kokonor, as it is commonly written. The Chinese general was defeated, but a treaty of peace seems to have been made by which hostilities ceased for the present. The last two or three years of Kau Tsung’s reign were disturbed by inroads of both the Turfans and the Turcomans. Eight great battles were fought between the former and the Chinese, in which the imperial general Lu Sze-teh gained the mastery over his op- ponents, and he was finally able to expel them from Chinese territory. Kau Tsung died in the year A. D. 684, and was succeeded by his fourth son, Cho, whose dynastic title is Chung Tsung. His rule was destined, however, to be suspended for fully twenty years through an indiscreet speech he made to one of the cabinet ministers, and which was wrongly reported to his mother. On his elevation to the throne be very imprudently announced his determination to make his father-in-law a great noble. This was opposed by the minister above mentioned, on the ground that he had not rendered to the state any service that deserved such an honour. The young Emperor said, “ If I like to give him the empire I can do so if I choose, and why not the lesser honour ? ” Word was at once carried to the Empress that her son was going to hand over the country to his father-in-law. Wu-how, whatever her other faults might be, was not one that would permit the power she possessed to slip easily through her fingers She accordingly called a great council of her ministers, at which it was decided that Chung Tsung should be degraded to the position of Prince Lu-ling, and his younger brother Li-tan made Emperor in his place. This decision was at once carried out, and the new ruler is known by the name of Jui Tsung. As the real sovereign of China, however, was the Empress Wu-how, we shall now consider the events that transpired for the next twenty years as having taken place during her reign. 306 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. THE T‘ANG DYNASTY (continued). The Empress Wii-how. — (^.4. L). 684-705). Chapter XXI. Wn-lrow plainly showed that thonuli the legal farce had heeu played and a state pageantiw had been gone through hy which her own son had been made sovereign of China, she was the one that held the reins of government, and that hers was the mind that was henceforward to be supreme in the state. Every day in the small hours of the morn- ing, when the rest of the capital were fast asleep, she would appear in the audience chamber, and with her cabinet devise measures for the government of the country. She also dressed hei-self iu the robes which only the sovereign was permitted to put on, and she ordered that the official dresses of the various grades of mandarins should be changed, as though she were the founder of a new dynasty. Indeed it soon became apparent that she was planning for the disappearance of the Things and the substitution of her own house in their place. One most significant act that no one could mistake was her abolish- ing the ancestral temples of the reigning dynasty and the erection of seven magnificent ones to the spirits of her own family for seven generations past. There were symptoms amongst the official class that this daring assumption of power and this manifest purpose of supplanting the great house of Thing was bitterly resented and one nprising took place, but every manifestation of displeasure was soon crushed in the death of those who dared to show it. W u-how was a woman of prompt measures, and as her spies abounded everywhere and were liberally rewarded, she always got timely notice of any danger that was likely to threaten her. She also had shown her wisdom in placing around her men of undoubted abilit}% whose coun- sels she took and who preserved her from doing anything that might have seriously endangered her rule. Even in the matter of her amour with Hwai-yi, the Buddhist bonze, who now publicly appeared in the palace and who attempted to take a leading position there, she never interfered on his behalf against her prime minister, who one day pu- blicly slapped his face for not paying him the respect that was due to bis office. In the year A. D. 689 two of the princes of T‘aug rose in rebellion against her, but they were speedily subdued. It, however, gave her the opportunity she had wished for of crashing the powerful families of the house of T‘ang. Under the plea that they were all guilty, though they had not actually joined the rebels, she had between six and seven 307 THE t'aNG dynasty (CONTINDEd). hniulred families, together witli their adherents, seized. These num- bered in all over five thousand persons, great and small. By the advice of her able statesman, Ti Jin-kieh, only four of the chief men were executed, but all the remainder were banished from their homes to different parts of the empire. Brora this time she gradually began, on various pretexts, to get rid of those of the princes tliat remained, and against whom she had at first no sufficient proof to justify her in apprehending and dealing with them. Large numbers of them perished till it seemed as though the members of the T‘ang family would be exterminated. Wu-how in the year A. D. 694 gave the most profound evidence of her attachment to the reprobate bonze Hwai- yi, who seemed to exercise a special fascination over her. She caused a most magnificent temple to be built for him, of which he was to become the abbot. Ten thousand workmen were employed daily on the works, and an immense amount of money was exjjended in making it the most famous in the empire. When it was finished Hwai-yi collected ten thousand bonzes, who were to be connected with it, and it was remarked by the high mandarins that these were all stalwart and lusty fellows, who in some crisis at the capital would have been a positive peril to the state. The Empress’ attention was drawn to the case, and with her clear and ready mind at once ap{)rehending the gravity of the case she ordered these young men to be banished to different parts of China. Hwai-yi, irritated at this, set fire to the temple, but no reproof did he get from Wu-how, who simply ordered tliat it should be rebuilt. Presuming upon his intimacy with her and jealous of a new power that had risen in the palace that was likely to supplant him in her favour, he dared on several occasions to address her in anything but respectful terms. This of course was not to be tolerated, so she gave secret orders that he should be assassinated, which was accordingly done to the great joy of those who had been scandalized by his presence and conduct in the palace. Two years later, a new enemy that was destined to appear often in the future annals of China made an irruption into Chih-li. These were the famous Ki-tans, who, after ravaging and plundering wherever they went, disappeared beyond the frontiers with their booty. Three years had scarcely gone by before the same region was again visited by the Turcomans, who reduced the people to such a state of distress that many of them submitted to their rule, whilst others more in- dependent took to robbery in order to be able to sustain life. Ti Jin-kieh, who was sent to report upon the condition of things, advised the Em- press to deal leniently with the people. “ The Ki-tans and the Tur- comans are the least evils we have to contend with,” he said in his offi- cial despatch. “ What we have most to dread is lest the people should rise in rebellion against the government, as there are signs they are intending to do. Their state is indeed desperate. All their i^roperty has been forcibly carried off, and some have acknowledged the rule of 308 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. the robbers in order to save themselves from destruction, whilst others from the same cause have taken to the road. As the)'^ know they are liable to severe penalties for both crimes they have become reckless, and are prepared even to try and overthrow the dynasty ; what 1 advise is that a general amnesty should be issued and that they be com- manded to return to their homes and become loyal citizens again, with the assurance that they will never be punished for the past.” This wise advice was followed by Wu-how, and the threatened rebellion was crushed in the bud. The Empress, who had been failing in health for some time, was at last compelled by serious illness in the year A. D. 7U5 to keep to her room for several months. The strong hand that had kept in control those who had been dissatisfied with her usurpation was no sooner rendered powerless to act than a conspiracy was formed against her. The leading men in it having killed two of her fiivorites rushed tumul- tuously into her bedroom and demanded that she should resign and that her son, who had been deposed by her, but who after all was the real Emperor, should be allowed to reign. Seeing that her day of power was over, that she would only endanger her life by resistance, she conceded the demands of the cons[)irators and handed over to them the great seal of the empire. It shows the remarkable hold that this woman had gained over the nobles that at this crisis when it would seem that nothing could save her from destruction, she was not only spared, but special honour was paid to her. A palatial residence was prepared for her, and the high sounding title of “The Great and Sacred Empress, the equal of Heaven,” was given to her. The common title by which she is known in history is “ Wu, the equal of Heaven,” which was assigned to her when the sceptre had slipped from her grasp, and not when she was in the zenith of her power. She died in the following year at the great age of eighty-one, one of the most remarkable women that has ever appeared in the annals of China. Chung Tsnng, who now resumed the reign that had been interrupt- ed for twenty-one years, was a comparatively feeble-minded pleasure- loving man, and had the misfortume of having a wife who was both clever and ambitious. They had loved each other with the most devoted affection during their retirement from power, and he had been so much struck with the fidelity with which she had clung to him when his fortunes were at the lowest ebb that he promised her that if ever he should become Emperor again she should have whatever she liked to demand of him. As her aim was to be a second Wu-how she request- ed that she should be permitted to sit in the audience chamber and decide with him the great national questions that were there discussed by the privy council. “ His mother had done so,” she said, “ and there- fore it could not be wrong for her son’s wife to do the same.” This request was at once granted, though the most strenuous opposition was given to it by the more faithful of the ministers. One of them was 309 THE T‘aNG dynasty (CONTINHED). especially stroD" iu urging the Emperor to withdraw his permission. “ From ancient times till the present dynasty ” he said, “ it has been the custom for the sovereign to manage imperial questions, and his queen has had no ruling voice iu regard to them.” “When the hen begins to crow,” he continued, “it is a certain sign that the family is coming to destruction.” Chung Tsung would not listen to this wise counsel, and ere long the wdiole power fell into the hands of his queen Wei. It soon became manifest, however, that she had not the ability of Wu-how, for she fell under the influence of San-su, the governor of the palace, who was a bad designing man, and who was accused of being unduly intimate with her, though he had married her daughter. Sau-su in fact became the supreme power in the palace. He got rid of five of the most loyal of the ministers by first of all making them princes and giving them governments in different parts of the empire, and then accusing them of treason, for which they were all executed. At length when every one of consequence had been swept out of her path and the throne lay ready before her the queen forgot her old affection for her husband and the many ties that had bound her to him for so many years and all his generous treatment of her, and she sent him some poisoned cakes, of which he ate and died. She kept this tragic deed a secret until she had got the privy council to appoint her regent and her own sou, a lad of sixteen, as successor to the throne. Unfortunately for thetnselves they were not satisfied with what they had done, but planned for the murder of Prince Li-tan, the fourth son of Wu-how. It was evident from this that tliey meant the establishing of a new dynasty and the destruction of the T‘angs. No sooner had Liu-ki, tlie son of Li-tan, heard of this design than without waiting even to inform his father, he gathered round him a body of men that were readv to hazard their lives in his behalf, and, forciu«- his way into the palace, Wei and all her accomplices were ruthlessly murdered. Jui Tsung once more ascended the throne (A. D. 710-713). His first important act that he had to perform was the settlement of the question of the succession. As a matter of justice his eldest son Ch‘eng-ki was entitled to the right of being acknowledged the heir, but it was felt that Liu-ki had saved the family from destruction, and there- fore had a claim that could not altogether be set aside. Besides, he was a general of ability, and showed he had a mind that could act prompt- ly in a time of danger, and that he was on a whole more suited for the throne in this time of emergency than his brother. The ministers voted in his favour, and one of them said, “ The man that has delivered the empire from bad men ought to have the honours that the empire has to give.” Fortunately Jui Tsung was rescued from his dilemma by the generosity of Oh'eng-ki, who said, “ When the empire is at peace then the eldest should have the preference, but when it is in 310 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. danger the man of merit shoald be selected. If at this time the most suitable man is uot appointed heir tlie country will lose hope.” These wise and unselfish words solved the diliiculty of the succession, and Liu-ki, to the joy of almost everybody, was formally proclaimed the successor to the throne. In the month of August in the year A. D. 713 a comet appeared, which portended great sorrow to the reigning Emperor, for its path was right across the royal stars.* The ministers were in great consterna- tion, and they advised Jui Tsung if he would avoid the calamities that Heaven thus plainly intimated were coming upon him to resign his throne and hand it over to his son. This he did after a decent show of opposition on the part of Liu-ki, who at the age of thirty-five ascended the dragon throne, and is known by the name of Huan Tsung. Euan Tsung. ~(A. D. 713-756). The reign of this Emperor is one of the most celebrated in Chinese history, both because of the splendor with which it began and also because of the disasters that marked its close. No sooner had he ascended the throne than his sister, who was jealous of the honour that had been put upon him, and who wished to play the part of a second Wn-how, plotted against his life and tried her utmost to poison him. There was a moment indeed in which she almost succeeded, for she had managed to gather a powerful party around her that were obedient to her commands, and who were prepared to go any lengths in order to place her in the post of supreme power. Huan Tsung was uot the man, however, to submit tamely to the designs of his sister. Besides he had able men around him who were loyal to the throne and who dreaded another palace revolution that would make a woman the Empress of China. By a sudden movement the leading nobles in her interest were seized and executed. A command from .Jui Tsung was then sent to his daughter that she should put an end to her life, which she dared not disobey, and the rest of her faction were then apprehended and mercilessly put to death. Huan Tsung was of an amiable disposition, as was manifested by the tender affection that he manifested for his four brothers. When the imperial duties of the day were over and he was in their company he was no longer the sovereign of China, but their brother and their equal, and all distinctions of rank vanished whilst he was enjoying their society.f He was also easy temjiered and inclined to enjoy the pleasures of life. Music seemed to have a special attraction for him, and as he was dissatisfied with the stiff and solemn kind that had been in vogue up * These are all in the Dipper, as well as other circumpolar stars. t It is said that on one occasion when his eldest brother Ch'eug-ki was sick Huan Tsung himself made the decoction that his brother was to drink, and that whilst bend- ing over the furnace his beard caught fire. Some of the attendants expressed their concern about this, but the Emperor said, “ Never mind about my beani. It does not matter how that burns, so long as my bro-tlier gets well. ” THE T'ANG dynasty (CONTINUED). 311 to the present he ordered that a new and more joyous kind should he composed that would express more fully his own happy emotions and he the medium to his people by which they could give full play to the feelings of joy aud gladness that they might wish to give utterance to on festive occasions. It was at this time that the famous music called the “Pear Garden” was composed, so called because of the place in which the Emperor taught several hundi-eds of the ladies of his house- hold to play it. It soon gained a wide popularity throughour, the country, the best evidence of which is that it is used to-day by the people, of the eighteen provinces on all occasions of merriment aud festivity. In addition to the above Huan Tsung was very simple in his tastes, aud opposed especially to extravagance in dress. He passed sunnptuary laws advising his people to be more moderate in their expenditure, aud in order to enforce these he set the example in his own household of rigid economy and simplicity. Only his queen was allowed to dress in silk or satin, and that the other ladies might not be tempted by the profusion of magnificent dresses that abounded in the palace, he had them all collected in a heap in front of it, together with a large amount of precious stones, and the whole set fire to, to the great distress of the ladies but to the joy of those who had the welfare of the kingdom at heart, for they thought they saw in this act an omen of future good to their country. In the early years of his reign the Emperor made the government of the people his chief concern. He instituted regular examinations for the office of district magistrate, the subjects being chosen not as they are in the present day, from the Confucian classics, but from the statute books. A knowledge of the laws aud the best methods of government was essential for any man that hoped to obtain the position of a magistrate. He also ordered that the chief mandarins throughout the country should at times invite the elders of the villages, who were over sixty years of age and wdio were men of good report, to their yaraens and entertain them. At these gatherings they were to instruct them in the principles of loyalty and filial piety, so that they again might teach the young men under their control these important virtues. The nation being thus trained in the very fountain of all that is good and excellent it was hoped that it would grow^ up in goodness and morality. In the year A. D. 733 the Emperor ordered that Chiaug Tai-kung should be the tutelary god of the dynasty, and commanded that temples should be built to him in all the principal cities of the empire, and that regular worship should be paid him on certain specified occasions by all government officials. Next year he divided the country into fifteen circuits or provinces, viz., The Western Capital, the Eastern Capital, Koan-nei, Honan, Ho-tung, Ho-peh, Lung-yew, East Shau-nan, West Shan-nan, Chien-nan, HAvai- nan. East Kiang-nan, West Kiang-nan, Ch'ien-tsung and Ling-nan. About this same time the Turfans sent an embassy to the court at Ch‘ang-ugaD, begging for a complete set of the Confucian classics. 312 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. Tliis was such aii ininsual request that some of the more narrow-mind- ed of the council advised that it should be refused. Oue of them said, “ Tliese Turfaus are our most deadly euemies, and are continually harassing our borders. If we give them our books they will become as wise as ourselves, and then we shall not merely have to contend with brute force, but also with generals and officers whose minds have been enlightened by the divine teachings of our sages.” To this another replied, “ It is quite true that our classics will civilize and increase the intelligence of our savage foes, but it is also true that they will elevate their characters and teach them lessons of justice and morality. We should hope that instead of training them to know how to fight us they would give them such exalted ideas of their relation to their fellow-racn that they would confine themselves within their own boundaries and cease to be a terror to everyone outside of themselves.” This statesmanlike view of the matter carried the day, and a set of the sacred books was given to the ambas- sador. The year, A. D. 735, is a memorable one, because of the public appearance in the councils of the state of Li Lin-fu. Up to this time Huan Tsung’s reign had been a happy and a prosperous one, but with the appearance of this man may be said to have commenced that course of action that led to the disasters that befell China during the remaining years that he ruled the country.* This same year a great battle was fought with the Ki-tans, when their king and the general of his army were killed by the Chinese troops under Chang Show-kwei. A large force had suddenly appeared under the walls of Kwachow, of which he was governor. The garrison was terrified when they saw themselves beleaguered by such large numbers of their formidable euemies, but Chang showed himself a second Cliu Ko-liang on this occasion. He made a great feast to his officers, and he managed it so that the sounds of music and revelry reached the Ki-taus outside the walls. The impression they got from these was that Chang had a larger force inside than they were aware of, and that he felt himself competent to meet them in battle. So terrified were they at the unknown possibilities of this festive camraander that they incontinently commenced their retreat. Chang pursued after them and gained a complete victory over them. The Emperor was so delighted with his success that he proposed to make him one of his prime ministers. Chang Kiu-liug opposed this. “ The office of prime minister,” he said, “ is one of vast importance to the empire, is not a position to be given * Li Lin-fu is one of the most infamous characters in Chinese history and execrated by every reader of it. In the historical plays that are performed throughout the empire he is made to play so despicable a part that his name has become a by-word in the homes of the people for all that is base and dishonourable. He managed to ingratiate himself into the good graces of Huan Tsung by pandering to his evil passions and by suggestions of wrong that finally led him into the most disgraceful courses. Such an influence did he acquire, indeed, over him that he managed to obtain the dismissal of Chang Kiu-ling, the prime minister, who was a loyal noble-minded man and the appointment of himself in his place. The phra.se, “His mouth is honey, but his heart is a sword,” applied to him by the Chinese, accurately describes the man. 813 THE t'anG dynasty (CONTINUED). away to a successful general ; and, besides, if you give him the very highest reward in your power, what will you bestow upon bim suppos- ing he should beat both the Ki-tans and the Turcomans?”* Next year an army was sent against the Ki-tans under the command of Ngan Luh-slian who, however, suffered such a terrible defeat that his whole force was absolutely annihilated and he himself barely escaped with his life. (Hiang-show, according to the Chinese usage, was going to put the defeated commander to death, but he ])leaded so earnestly for his life that he determined to send him to the capital and let the Emperor decide what punishment should be meted out to him. When he was brought into this presence he made such an impression on Huaii Tsnug that he not only forgave him, but gave bim a position in Shan- tung. Chang Kin-ling protested agaius this leniency. “ He deserves death,” he said, “ because of his defeat, but much more because be is a danger to the empire. His face is that of a traitor, and he ought to be executed.” Uidiapfiily for himself the Emperor disregarded the warn- ings of his loyal minister, and thus became the }>atron of a man that ultimately rose in rebellion against him. The day of Chang Kin’s influence, however, was destined shortly to cease. In the following year, A. D. 734, Huau Tsung determined to depose the heir apparent and ])ut in his place Prince Show, his eighteenth son. This was strenuously opposed by Chang Kin, who reminded him of the sorrows that had come upon former Em[)erors who had made such a change. The Emperor gave ii[) his purpose on his representations, but the faithful noble incurred the enmity of the prince’s mother and Li Lin-fu, who had espoused her cause. The royal ear was .so tilled with complaints by these two against Chang Kin that he at last dismissed him from court and sent him to take charge of a district in Chihli. With his departure from the palace the reins of power fell into the hands of Li Lin-fu, who was appointed to be prime minister in his stead. From this time forth no one dared to give expression to his honest opinions, for all stood in awe of the man who swayed the thoughts and actions of the Emperor. Four years after the fall of Chang Kiu the imjierial favorite in the harem, Hwei Hwuy, died. It was on this occasion that the Emperor for the first time saw one of the concubines of his sou. Prince Show, named Yang Kwei-fei, of whom he became enamoured at first sight. So much was he smitten with her beauty that he forgot the relation- ship in which she stood to him as a daughter-in-law, and actually claimed her from the prince, to whom he gave another lady in exchange for her. Yang Kwei-fei at once became the most powerful, * Chang Kiu-ling is to the mind of a Chinaman the beau ideal minister of state. He was at fir.st greatly esteemed by Huan Tsung, who gladly listened to his counsels. He was a bold out.spoken man, and dared to speak his mind in the presence of the Emperor, when all the other high functionaries were silent. By and by as Li Lin-fu gained influence over Huan Tsung the latter became weary of the warnings and reproofs of the man he once looked up to as his political mentor, and he was dismissed the court. The Emperor found when it was too late that he had rejected the one man that could have saved him from the sorrows that embittered his last years. It is said that Chang Kiu-ling used to amuse himself by corresponding with his friends by means of carrier pigeons, which he used to call his “ flying slaves.” 314 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. as she was the most beloved of all the ladies of the seraglio. The year A. D. 740 is distinguished by the elevation of Coufacius to the rank of a Prince. Hitherto in the Oonfnciau temples the fauions Duke of Chow had held the first rank and Confnoins the second. From this time the duke disappears and the great sage, dressed in the robes of a prince, takes the seat of honour with his face to the south. His cliief disciple Yeu-hwny sits on his left hand, and the rest of his sevent}'-two disciples according to the place that they were supposed to hold in the estimation of Confucius.* They were all endowed with the titles of dukes, marquises and earls according to their various ranks. In the meantime Ngan Lnh-shan, who was a man of profound dissimulatio’u, and who managed to hide beneath an apparently simple exterior an unbounded ambition, managed to gain the favour of the Eiufieror to sucli an extent that he was never content unless he had him in the palace. He made him a major-general in the army and gave him command of the troops iu Chih-li. He was an especial fiivorite of Yang Kwei-fei, who in the year A. D. 745 had been raised to the position of Kwei Fei, which thus placed her second in rank to the Empress. This was fortunate for him, for the royal favorite was now the greatest ])ower next to the Emperor in the whole country. Huan Tsung seemed completely dom- inated by his passion for her. He ennobled her father and her three sisters, who were ultimately admitted into the seraglio. The only man that now stood in the way of Ngan Lnh-shan’s advancement to the highest posts in the gift of Hnau Tsung was Li Lin-fu. This man seemed to sacrifice everything to his one desire of possessing power. There was consequently no man so thoroughly hated in the capital as he. He had offended so many and had made so many enemies that he had to take the most extraordinary precautions to save himself from assassination. He had double doors and windows throughout his house, and not even his own servants knew in what room he would sleep on any night. So certain was he of the speedy downfall of his house, were he removed from his position of prime minister, that he adopted the most injurious methods to his country in order to be able to retain it. One of these was specially infamous. Fearful lest some of the imperial generals might win such fame in their wars with the Turcomans and be promoted to high honour in the royal favour as to eclipse his own, he persuaded the Emperor that there was no need of such large Chinese armies on the frontiers as were there now for their protection. He advised that their defence should be handed over to those of the barbarians that had submitted themselves to China, and the im- perial troops withdrawn. Huan Tsung, who was utterly absorbed in the revelries and gaieties of the capital, seemed to have lost all the sense with which he began his reign, and issued an edict ordering the carry- • The position of Confucius in his temple corresponds to that of the Emperor when he is giving audience to his ministers. He invariably sits with his face towards the aouth. The civil mandarins are ranged on his left, and the military ones on his right. 315 THE T'ANG dynasty (CONTINUED). ing out of this traitorous piau, to the dismay of the loyal captains and soldiers of tlie army. Agaiust this destructive order, however, there was no appeal, as the Emperor could only be approached through his powerful minister. Five years more passed by when Li Lin-fu died. He had been prime minister for the uiiprecedeutly long period of nineteen years. Yang Kwoh, a cousin of Yang Kwei-fei, was installed in his place, and he now determined to have his revenge on the man who had thwarted him when he was in power. He got Ngan Luh-shan to memorialize the Emperor stating that Li Lin-fu just before his death was planning an uprising agaiust the government. Such faith had Huan Tsuug in this individual, and so easily influenced was he by any plausible story that a clever man might tell him, that he actually believed, without any investigation, this monstrous libel upon a man in whom he had had the most implicit confidence for more than twenty years. He was so transported with rage that he ordered that the coffin of the dead man should be opened, the splendid robes in which he had been dressed torn from his body, the pearls that are usually placed in the mouths of the rich after death taken from within his lips, and the corpse consigned to the grave with every mark of indignity and contumely. He then commanded that every member of his family should be seized and transported to distant parts of the empire, and thus the drama of a great and powerful life ended in tragedy and disgrace. Ngan Luh-shan, now freed from the one man whose power he dreaded, began to take a more independent position and to show the kind of person he was. He utterly despised the new prime minister and refused to obey his commands. Upon this a feud arose between him and Yang Kwoh, which ended in the most deadly enmity. The latter accused him to the Emperor of treasonable purposes, and when by his order he was brought to the capital to see whether the charges were true or not, he managed not only to clear himself, but also to obtain a firmer hold upon the affections of his sovereign. The first mention of the famous Hanlin or imperial academy is made in the year A. D 755, although it is more than probable that it existed earlier in the reign of the present Emperor.* It is specially mentioned at this time, because to the members if it was entrusted the writing of the first drafts of the imperial edicts that were to be sent throughout the empire. The design of the Emperor in establish- ing such an institution was his desire to get the best and most reliable information upon any subject that he desired information upon. The first members of it were scholars ; Taoist priests, bonzes, artists, * The examinations by which men are admitted into this famous academy are held once in three years, and only six out of all the number that appears in the eapital from all the provinces can hope to attain to the high honour of being admitted a mem- ber. The first on the list gets the title of “ Coryphoeus,” the second “The Eye of the List,” the third “He who has picked the (apricot) Flower, and the fourth, “The one who makes known the Series,” because he calls off the names of the graduates. See Williams’ Dictionary, page 166. 316 THE HISTORY OF CHINA, musicians, pla}^ers of chess, etc., but each of them the most renowned in his profession. When Huau Tsimg wanted any particular informa- tion he bad but to step into the building, and he could at once be supplied with it from the very highest living authority. It was one of the rules of the academy that any business transacted in it that concerned the interests of the state was to be kept a profound secret. Next year the formidable insurrection under Ngan Luh-shan broke out. He had intended to wait until the death of the Emperor, but he began to fear that the incessant machinations of the prime minister, Yang Kwob, would lead to his destruction, so in the last month of the year A. D. 756 he raised the standard of rebellion, and soon found himself at the head of one hundred and fifty thousand men. The greatest consternation and fear were felt wherever he marched. The empire had been at peace for so many years that there were no adequate forces ready to march at once against him. Fuug-clTaug, indeed, led an array of sixty thousand men, and a great battle was fought near K •ai-fuug-fu in Honan, in which the imperialists were overthrown with great slaughter. The result of this was that Ngan Luh-shan obtained possession of Lohyang together with the prestige that the command of such a place gave him. The Emperor now wished to go in person against the ungrateful rebel, but this idea was overruled, and two of the bravest generals of the day, Kwo Tze-i and Li Kwang- pi, were despatched into Honan to meet him. Several battles were fought, in which the insurgents suffered defeats, when Ngan Luh-shan, by the advice of his ablest officers, who saw that they could not hope for victory so long as Kwo Tze-i was opposed to them, determined to make a sudden march into Shensi and try and possess himself of the capital. The only enemy that he had to fear on his march to it was Ko Shu-han, who was in command of a large army and who petitioned the Emperor to be allowed to take possession of the defiles that guarded the approaches to Oh‘aug-ngau instead of meeting the rebels in the level country. This was most certainly the wisest course to take, but the prime minister thought differently, so a peremptory order came that the royal troops should advance and meet the in- surgents. This was done, and the two bodies met at a place called Ling-pau, where Ko Shu-han was defeated and he himself captured. When he was brought into the presence of Ngan Luh-shan he was sternly asked how he had dared to oppose him. He meekly replied, “ My eyes are coarse, and they don’t know when they are looking upon an Emperor.” This politic speech saved his life, and being willing to change sides he was put in command of a part of the rebel force. The greatest dismay followed this defeat ; fugitive soldiers who had escaped from the battle kept continually arriving at the capital, who filled the minds of everyone with fear when they told the story of the terrible combat and the treason of Ko Shu-han. The prime minister, who was concerned for his own life and that of his house, now advised the Emperor to abandon the capital and 317 THE T'aNG dynasty (CONTINUED). reHre into Sze-chwan, where his soldiers and adherents were nnnierous. Th is advice was followed with such haste that no preparations of any kind had been made for the provisioniti'j^ either of distinguished fugitives, or of the soldiers that aecoin[)anied them in their fliglit. By midday they had reached Hian-yang, where some coarse rice was cook- ed for the children, and wliere it was with the greatest difficulty a very homely meal could be obtained for the royal party. On the morrow they rested at a [)lace named Ma-wei, and here the soldiers hungry, discontented and mutinous, broke out into open rebellion. They called for the death of the prime minister, who they said had been the cause of their present disasters. The Emperor, who was now completely at the mercy of his subjects, could not protect him, when a jiarty set upon him and murdered him within sound of where the Emperor was staying. The noise in the camp instead of being allayed by this murder seemed but to intensify, and when Iluan Tsung asked of the eunuch Li-tze what was the meaning of it he was told that the soldiers would not be satisfied until the beautiful Yang Kwei-fei also was put to death. The Eiu])eror at first refused to con- sent to this. He was as deeply enamoured of her as ever he had been in his life. He was told, however, that it was either her life or his that must be sacrificed, and the sooner he dtmided this question the better for all concerned. After a most painful and agonizing struggle he at last gave the order, and she was taken into a Buddhist temple near by and strangled. Her body was then brought out and exhibited to the soldiers, who seemed perfectly satisfied, and at once returned to their duty and allegiance. Huan Tsung was evidently so overcome by the scenes that he had recently passed through that he no longer desired to be Emperor. He accordingly insisted u[)on resigning his throne to his son who, however, declined to acce[)t the honour that belonged to his father. He agreed at the urgent request of the people, several thousands of whom had rapidly enrolled themselves as soldiers for the defence of the em[)ire, to remain with them whilst his father continued his journey into Sze-chwau. A month aftenvards at Ling-wu, where he had taken up his abode, he became emperor under the title of Su Tsung. Whilst these tragic events were taking place at Ma-wei, Ngan Luh-shan delighted with the news that the Emperor had so quickly abandoned his capital, hurried forward witli a large force and occupied the city. His first a.ct wars to put to death the ladies who liad been left behind in the palace as well as the families of those that had followed the fortunes of Huan Tsung. The town was then de- livered over to the will of his soldiers, who gave themselves up to riot and debauch of every kind. Su Tsimg.—(A. D. 756-763). Su Tsung began his reign with every prospect that he would scarcely be able to hold his own against the overwhelming forces that were everywhere iu the field against him. There were not more than 318 THR HISTORY OP CHINA. tweut}' or thirty great officials at his court who were prepared to aid him iu the arduous rospousibilities that he had uadertakeu. The eastern and western capitals were in the hands of the rebels, and tlieir generals were every day adding to their conquests. One of these, Shili-miug, was specially distinguished, and seemed to be able to claim victory to his standards wherever he marched. The towns of P‘ing- yuan, Ch‘ing-ho, P‘o-pnng, Sin-ta and Jiau-yang successively fell before him, after the most heroic defence had been made by those who were in charge of them The story of Sui-yang in the north-east of Honan is a inost thrilling and exciting one. Tze-chi, another of the rebel generals, had surrounded it with one hundred and thirteen thou- sand men, whilst the garrison consisted of only six thousand eight hundred. Its commandant, Chang-sun, was a man worthy of being classed amongst the great heroes of antiquit)% and his men seemed to wish to rival him in his bravery and enthusiasm. Every attempt that Tze-chi put forth to capture the city was defeated. Sudden sallies were made and ingenious devices adopted by which large numbers of the rebels were slain. On one occasion (Jhang-sun made the night echo with the sound of gongs that were beaten without cessation. The rebels thought that reinforcements had arrived, and so stood to their arms. When the morning light came they saw, to their disgust, that it had been simply a ruse to annoy them. They retired to rest, and soon the whole cam}) was asleep, when Chang-sun, who had his men all ready, rushed out, and before the enemy could be put in array they were slaughtered iu large numbers. The forces arrayed against him, however, were too numerous for him to successfully contend against for ever. No reinforcements came to hel}) these heroic defend- ers of the city. In time provisions began to fail, and everything eatable within the town was used up. So great was the extremity that (ffiang-suu actually killed some of his concubines to give to his hungry soldiers. At length only four hundred unconquered men re- mained iu the city, and as they were not enough to man the walls the rebels swarmed over them and took possession of it. When Chang- sun was lu-ought before Tze-chi he was offered pardon for the resist- ance he had made if be would join the rebels. He haughtily disdained to have his life spared on such conditions, stating that an officer of the T‘an«-s could never descend so low as to desert his sovereign at a time when his services were most essential for him. He was then imme- diately put to death by being quartered. Whilst these exciting events were going on, Ngan Luh-shan, the cause of all this misery to China, had disappeared from the scene. He was assassinated by his eldest son Ngan Kdng-su, because he had determined that his second son, the offspring of a favoured concubine, should succeed him iu the new dynasty of Yen which he had founded, to the exclusion of the one who was his rightful heir. It was now determined, A. D. 758, that an attempt should be made to recapture the capital. Kwo Tze-i had 319 THE T'ANG dynasty (CONTINUED). arrived with his forces at Ling-wii. The Tnrfans had, moreover, olfered to come to the help of Su Tsimg, and fonr thousand Onigors, led by the son of their king, had arrived to give active assistance in this honr of his extremity. Su Tsimg was so grateful for tliis aid that he promised to give them the si)oils of the city. “The land and the people shall be mine, but all the rest shall be yours,” be said. The heir a^jpareut fell so much in love with this savage chieftaiu that they became sworn brothers and vowed to vie with each other as to who should show the bravest front iu the attack ou Ch‘ang-ugau. It was in the mouth of September that the troops iu three grand divisions moved on towards the city. The front division was led by Shu, the heir ap[)arent, and consisted of one hundred and fifteen thousand men ; the second by Kwo Tze-i, and the third by Wang Sze-li. The rebel forces in the town were commanded by Li Kwei-jiu, and consisted roughly of about a hundred thousand men. The royal troops advanced with the greatest steadiness and bravery. They were determined either to conquer or to die. There was no faltering in any one in that great host that moved forward that day for the deliverance of their country from revolution and bloodshed. Rank after rank marched on as though it had been a living wall, before which every- thing must give way. The battle commenced about twelve o’clock in the day and lasted till six. No thoughts of mercy entered into the hearts of either side, and so the conflict was stern and serious. The rebels suffered a great defeat, and sixty thousand of them lay dead after the fighting was over. Yeh-hu with his four thousand Onigors had specially distinguished themselves during the fight, and it was mainly owing to them that the victory had been obtained. The royal army marched with flying colours into the capital, and Su Tsnug took possession of the palace that his father had left iu such sorrow and haste. The next day Yeh-hu reminded Shu of the promise that had been made by Su Tsung that the riches of the city should be his if they were successful in driving out the rebels. “ That is quite true,” replied Shu, “and the engagement shall be kept. I beg, however, of you to consent to a delay in the fulfillment of the promise. If we were now to hand over the city for you to plunder, however should we expect to gain possession of Lohvang, which is still in the hands of the rebels ? They would hear of the way in which the city had been treated after its capture, and they would fight on the side of the insurgents rather than give aid against them if they believed they were to be handed over to the tender mercies of its conquerors.” Yeh-hu acknow- ledged the justice of these remarks and consented to wait for his reward till after the fall of Lohyang. “ But let ns away,” he said. “ My men shall help you to take the place, and we shall have the honour of driving the rebels out of it as we have done from this.” In three days the troops were on their march for the eastern capital. The army advanced against it in three divisions. One of 320 THE HISTORY OF CHINA. those was commanded by Kwo Tze-i, another hy Li Kwang-pi and the third by Yeh-hn, who was to lead liis .sava'i'e followers by a round about way and take the rebels in the rear. Nyau Kung'-sn, who heard of the intended attack, got all the men to