- GIFT OF 
 MICHAEL REESE 
 
r\ 
 
 Ming Archer. 
 

 THE MANCHUS, 
 
 OR 
 
 THE REIGNING DYNASTY OF CHINA 
 
 THEIR RISE AND PROGRESS. 
 
 MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Qf T 
 
 _ UNIVERSITY 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. JOHN ROSS 
 
 Author of " Corea" 
 
 PAISLEY: J. AND R. PARLANE. 
 
 LONDON: HOULSTON AND SONS. 
 1880. 
 

 K 
 
 
 LONDON, HOULSTON & SONS. 
 
 EDINBURGH, J. MENZIES & Co. 
 
 SHANGHAI AND HONGKONG, KELLY & WALSH. 
 
 YOKOHAMA, .. .. '.. KELLY & Co. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THE design of this work is explained in the Preface to my 
 " History of Corea," which is introductory to the present history 
 as well as illustrative of the past and descriptive of the present 
 of the Corean people. Interesting though the story be of the 
 rise and progress of the Manchus, it would never have been 
 written by me were it not the best nail on which to hang as. 
 good a picture of the actual condition of the Chinese people 
 as time, ability, and accessible sources enable me to draw. The 
 history of the past of China is useful, because among so 
 conservative a people, with a civilization so ancient, principles 
 of action have not changed ; and centuries there have introduced 
 fewer innovations than years in Britain. The active motives of 
 three centuries ago are the potent motives of to-day ; and the 
 phases of character appearing in this history are exactly similar 
 t those seen in the existing state of Chinese society. The main 
 \lue of this work is therefore that it represents what does now 
 i "tually exist ; and gives us in the west an opportunity of 
 j Iging contemporaneous Chinese, their actual character, and 
 their possible conduct. To one who knows the past history 
 of China, her present resources, the intelligence of her people 
 and their intense nationalism, the natural bravery of her soldiers, 
 when well led, and the mental ability of her rulers, the future of 
 that country cannot but be matter of deep interest and solicitude. 
 The ignorant may laugh at and treat her with contempt ; but 
 there is a day not very remote when China, if continuing free 
 from serious internal convulsions, will astonish many. We have 
 long inferred that China must, from her nature, assume an 
 attitude of suspicion and defiance towards Russia ; and she has- 
 long smarted under the humiliation of taxes levied on opium at 
 the dictation, and under the compulsion, of the British 
 Government. The Chinese will not always tamely submit to- 
 that degradation. If we persist in our opium policy, we shall 
 have to pay for it. 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 For the ancient history of the Nujun people, i'rum an 
 insignificant section of which sprang the Manchus, we must 
 refer to the chapters Liao and Kin in " Corea," where also is 
 detailed the Manchu conquest of Corea. The size to which the 
 purely historical portion of this work has Town has compelled 
 the exclusion of most of niy i' [ ended /.-.. jp:aphical notices, and 
 the whole of Manchu Customs except very. For the same 
 reason a chapter on " Literature " is repi .nted only by a few 
 sentences at the end "of ' the' r " Preliniinai- dissertation" and of 
 " Officials." The Manchu language -is referred to in " Corea." 
 
 Besides the Chinese sources of information mentioned in 
 " Corea," the author is, in this work, indebted to a late edition 
 of the "Manchu Laws," which are largely embodied in this 
 volume ; and which, like all laws, give the- most authoritative 
 description of the rna ners of the people.. Since his arrival in 
 this country, ttit aut) or has examined the excellent translation 
 of the Manchu laws y Sir George Staunton ; who, however, 
 greatly underrates ti value of "Da Ching Whi Lien" or 
 Manchu Official Dictionary, which details minutely and clearly 
 the various duties of all the public offices and functionaries 
 of the vast empire, and which has been found of great service in 
 compiling the latter portion of this work. 
 
 The author is well aware of the need for a work of this kind. 
 It remains to be seen whether he has been successful in his 
 attempt to supply it. With weekly missionary engagements in 
 various parts of the country, necessitating a good deal of travel 
 and fatigue, it will not surprise anyone if the literary character 
 of the two volumes, mostly written and printed within a year, is 
 not equal to that of writers whose undivided attention, or whose 
 more lengthened leisure, admits of that polished style which 
 their severe taste demands. But whatever the literary character 
 of this work and its predecessor, the author knows that both 
 are of considerable political importance ; and also that they 
 present one of. the strongest arguments to Christian men to 
 exert themselves in quickly extending Christian teaching among 
 the important people of China. 
 
TE 
 
 Page 
 POLITI ^ PRINCIPLES OF CHINA. xi 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 Use of History The Magpie- -Manjoo 
 
 CHAPTER I. THE NUJUN, 
 
 Revenge Battle of Goolo Woola Wise Generosity -E. t of Manchu 
 Preparation for War . . ." '. . { . 
 
 CHAPTER IL-CONQUEST OF L. iOTUNG. 
 
 First Battle with Chinese Great Excitement Battle of Sarhoo Deer Horn 
 Camp Manchu Joy Mental Power Environment of Manchu 
 Emigrating Mongols Chinese Demoralisation Manchu Impressment 
 Petty Troubles Important Deserters 23 
 
 CHAPTER III. -CONQUEST OF LIAOSI. 
 
 Boastful Coward An Able General Noorhachu Dies Condoling Letter 
 Chinese Letter Manchu Letter Two Whangdi A Bold Move Siege 
 of Peking Knighthood Battle of Changshan Reassuring Measures . 49 
 
 CHAPTER IV. -CONQUEST OF MONGOLIA. 
 
 Kortsin Firm Friendship Chinese Subsidy Mongol Revolts Great Raiding 
 Expedition Increasing Weakness Slow Beleaguering Urgency Declared 
 Terrible Collapse Manchu Haughtiness Manchus Ambitious Second 
 Ruler Dies Various Laws Tobacco and Opium Internal Danger . 75 
 
 CHAPTER V.-THE EUNUCHS. 
 
 Chinese Government Minister Expelled Ministerial Action Plot Discovered 
 Silver Mines Imperial Difficulties Corrupt Court Intrigue and Murder 
 Serious Charges Deified Eunuch Righteous Rebellion . . .107 
 
\ 
 
 Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 CHAPTER VI. LI DSUCHUNG. 
 
 Land Boat Geomancy Famine Horrors Fortune's Vicissitudes City 
 Taking Rivals Vae Victis Difficulties Fortune-telling Eye Shot Out 
 The Jesuits Angry Resignation A Rebel Title Rebel Army Regula- 
 tions Rebel Sappers Double Happiness Heavy Rains Change of 
 Conduct A City of Heroes Confession of Sin Eastwards Peking 
 Exposed Voluntary Contributions The Garrison Close Siege One 
 Faithful Eunuch Peking Captured Imperial Suicide Blunder and 
 Crime Palaces Entered Suicides 131 
 
 CHAPTER VII. -INTO PEKING. 
 
 Sangwei's Letter The Manchu Epistle Anxious Commanders Battle of 
 Shanhaigwan A Loving Warrior Pursuit of Rebels End of Dsuchung 
 A Crazed Aspirant Mankia Caves Etiquette Imperial Reasoning 
 Threatening Language Kofa's Reply Imperial Succession Proposed 
 Alliance A Faithful Minister Might against Right .... 195 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. FOO WANG. 
 
 Election of Emperor Military Insubordination Ministerial Dissension 
 Internal Trouble Court Bickerings Unpalatable Advice Court Enter- 
 tainments A Traitor A Drunken Feast A Daring Soldier Chinese 
 Marat Wholesale Desertion A Melting Army The Soldier and the 
 Man Hiama Emperor Nanking Taken Hangchow Entered . . 231 
 
 CHAPTER IX. TANG WANG. 
 
 New Emperor Chihkiang again Lost Order of Precedence Another Emperor 
 A Brave Wife Evil Omens Obstinate Commandant Gallant Garrison 
 Manchus Reconquer Cruelty of Soldiers Szchuen Conquered 
 Dsuchung's Remnant Army Taxes and Contributions Kanchow 
 Endangered Fukien Threatened Tang's Reign Closes Kanchow Falls 
 Cantonese Emperor Opposition Emperor Spoiler Spoiled Chowshan 
 A Precious Litany 267 
 
 CHAPTER X.-GWEI WANG. 
 
 Gallant Commandant Stiff Fight Imperial Fugitive Hookwang Troubles 
 Important Desertion Forced Labour Frightful Famine Universal 
 Excitement Blaze of Insurrection Imperial Apologist Weak General- 
 ship Shansi Recovered Ho Tungjiao Dies Gwei Wang's Court 
 Chungdoong Drowned End of Shushu A Dissolving Kingdom Miracles 
 Imperial Generosity A New Capital Sharp Fighting Internal Discord 
 Kowang an Emperor Suicidal Fighting Manchus Concentrating 
 Crushing Defeat Clever Stratagem Unfortunate Emperor Imperialism 
 under Difficulties Emperor Strangles Himself Last of Yuenyuen A 
 Pleading Epistle Selfishness and Patriotism . . . . . .313 
 
CONTENTS. IX 
 
 Page 
 CHAPTER XI. CONQUEST OF FORMOSA. 
 
 Independent Pirate The Pirate r j3ubmits Formosa Colonised Island Emperor 
 Pirate Desertions Reward of Treachery Defiant Pirates Sheep 
 Mountain Pirates Surprised Wholesale Transportation The Dutch 
 Attacked Curious Death The Pirates Continue Free Pirates again 
 Active Manchus Converge on Pirates Low Birth Naval Battle . . 381 
 
 CHAPTER XII. -REBELLION OFJTHE THREE PRINCES. 
 
 Sangwei's Schemes Disbanding Revolt Progress of Revolt General 
 Marching Plan of Manchus Gigantic Struggle Desultory Fighting 
 Plain Speech Uneasiness in Foochow Washing Cannon Three-cornered 
 Fight One Prince Submits Kwangtung Revolts Second Prince Submits 
 Result of Indecision Kwangsi Recovered Sangwei Dies Rebellion 
 Waning Impeachment Hemmed in Imperial Post . . . .417 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. CHINA'S ABORIGINES. 
 
 Missionaries Brave Volunteers Conspiracy Clouds of Dust Chinese 
 Barbarians Border Troubles Internal Divisions Rebels Defeated 
 Miao Yao Marital Difficulties Stern Measures Incompetency 
 Injustice Impolitic Chinese Success Gold River Subdued Independent 
 Savages Chinese Growth 463 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. MANCHU IMPERIAL FAMILY. 
 
 Sacrificial Canonization Uneasy Ambition Dreams Rudely Broken Treason 
 Imperial Marriages Good Intentions Chinese Hegelianism Omens 
 Credulity Curious Story Words and Deeds Imperial Traveller Filial 
 Emperor Kanghi's Knowledge Family Difficulties The Succession 
 Propriety Troublesome Brothers Fourth Emperor -Imperial Protection r 
 
 Palace Regulations 513 
 
 CHAPTER XV. OFFICIALS. 
 
 Tight Reins Increasing Officials Division into Boards Wise Generosity 
 Censors Cheese-paring Mode of Appointment Official Rotation 
 Retiring from Office Fining Impeachment Curious Charges Bribery 
 Smuggling Degradation Connivance -Influential Robbers Suicide- 
 Extortion Guardians Chinese Canonisation Salaries Government 
 Provincial Offices Competitive Examinations ... . 557 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 CHAPTER XVI. THE AKMY. 
 
 Three Eight Banners Garrison Soldiers Oppression by Army Usurpation 
 of Lands Various Northern Tribes Imperial Guard A Million of 
 Soldiers Soldier's Pay Exhausting Civil List Imperial Horses Military 
 Talent Declaration of War Military Laws Fire-arms Pensions . 609 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. TAXATION. 
 
 Taxation Standard Poll-tax Population Land-tax Transport Penalties- 
 Tax Remission Reserve Funds Measures of Capacity Salt Tea Total 
 Income Native Products Expenditure Currency Paper Money Cash 
 Usury 643 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII.-SLAVERY. 
 
 Origin of Slavery Runaway Laws Results of Slave Laws Relaxation of 
 Severity Laws Present Condition . . . 699 
 
 APPENDICES. 721 
 
PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION 
 
 POLITICAL PRINCIPLES OF CHINA. 
 
 THE method in which a country like China is governed must 
 command the interest and attention of every thinking man ; 
 especially when we consider the extent of its varied territory ; 
 the immense masses of its widespread population ; the peculiar 
 idiosyncrasies of its diverse races ; and the striking differences in 
 outward appearance, and in modes of speech, for the north and 
 south diverge no less in the character of the people than in their 
 climate. Yet with all these external differences, physical 
 dissimilarities, great mountain ranges and enormous rivers 
 such as in Europe cause the existence of various kingdoms, the 
 Chinese are one nation, united under one government, .and 
 possessing manners and customs which, in spite of local 
 colourings, are of a generally homogeneous nature. No one can 
 doubt that the continued existence and the ever-extending 
 influence of the Chinese people imply principles of national 
 conservation such as have characterised no other race ; and that 
 existence presents a problem not only curious, but one the 
 solution and careful study of which would greatly benefit our 
 modern European statesmen, not a few of whom seem to be 
 conducting public affairs on principles which have from remotest 
 ages deluged the world with blood, and have always brought to 
 an untimely end the national existence of the people most 
 devoted to them. Consul Meadows, in his " Chinese," correctly 
 traces the unity of so large an empire as China to mental causes, 
 which have leapt lightly over rivers many times larger than any 
 in Europe, and crossed mountain barriers which would be in the 
 west described as natural boundaries of indepedent kingdoms. It 
 is to the commanding influence of thought that China owes her 
 continuous history. It is because mental power is, and has 
 
Xll POLITICAL PRINCIPLES 
 
 always been, more highly esteemed than physical force ; because 
 the sage has been incomparably more highly honoured than the 
 warrior, and the scholar has had unquestioned precedence of the 
 soldier, that the Chinese people exists at the present day. Not to 
 speak of other European races, Great Britain, which boasts so 
 much of its civilisation, stands sadly in need of learning this 
 lesson which China has for ages practically enforced ; and it is 
 only when we have learned it that we can be assured of perfect 
 safety. For many centuries the Chinese military officer of the same 
 nominal rank as the civil official, has always been, and still is, far 
 below him in social standing ; and the emperor who, two centuries 
 before Christ, endeavoured to establish a military despotism by 
 destroying all the existing literature of China, overturned his own 
 dynasty, and left such an example that no succeeding emperor, 
 however great his power and ambition, whatever his nationality 
 or origin, ever again attempted to upset the supreme rule of 
 mind in China, or tried to place the military even on a level 
 with the civil. 
 
 It is generally believed that the civilisation of China, with its 
 ethical systems, its laws, and its social customs, was somehow 
 produced at a bound long ages ago, and has been preserved intact 
 by the *' stupid conservatism " of the Chinese down through all 
 the generations, none adding to or subtracting from the sum 
 total of the social and political conditions introduced ever so many 
 centuries before Confucius. This, however, is a mistake which 
 no one possessing even a superficial acquaintance with Chinese 
 history could commit. Civilisations much less advanced than 
 the Chinese have had to pass through a protracted course of 
 hewing and carving, moulding and polishing, in their develop- 
 ment from savage riot to legal order ; and those who sneer 
 at that curious people forget what our forefathers were no 
 more than a century ago. The essential elements of the present 
 social life and political organisation of China can be found in the 
 writings of Confucius, if they cannot be traced to the life of his 
 contemporaries ; but there have been considerable political 
 changes and social developments since his time. China was old 
 
OP CHINA. xiii 
 
 six centuries before the Christian era. And the reason why 
 there has been so little change in more modern times, is because 
 the main lessons of an advanced civilisation had been learned so 
 many centuries ago. Even as recently as the introduction of 
 Jesuitism into China, Europe was lagging behind the Chinese in 
 several respects, though rapidly marching ahead of her in others.* 
 Instead of being the stagnant pool which it is often said to be, 
 we find the history of China full of the sound of battle, the shouts 
 of the combatants, the crash of falling thrones, the wails of the 
 vanquished, the paBans of the victors, and the varied and exciting 
 tumult in which consists the " glory " of Europe. The present 
 dynasty has secured the longest period of political tranquility with 
 which China has ever been favoured ; and we do not consider it 
 cause for regret that the Chinese peasant has so long eaten in 
 peace the fruit of his toil. Though therefore we earnestly desire 
 the adoption by the Chinese of every modern western improve- 
 ment, we have no sympathy whatever with those who ever and 
 anon cry out for the unhealthy excitement of war, or with those 
 who long to see in China the hasty, undigested, and frequently 
 rash and unwise legislation of the new Japan. 
 
 Chinese civilisation did not spring up in a moment, like the 
 fully-armed Minerva, but was the same slow, gradual process, from 
 savage barbarism to polite civility, as in the west ; and the last 
 touches have not yet been given. The Chinese speak freely of the 
 time when their forefathers went about dressed in a fig leaf. From 
 fig leaves to rich silk dresses and magnificent fur robes, from 
 ignorance of fire to French cookery, is not a distance to be taken. 
 at one bound. Nor was it one century which, out of rude customs, 
 educed an elaborate though simple system of excellent laws. And 
 it was only the slowly growing wants of a gradually increasing 
 
 *When the able Jesuits were professors of astronomy in Peking, and some of 
 them were even permitted to Kowtow to his gracious majesty, French writers were 
 in the habit of representing the Chinese as the most peaceable of people, and the 
 most law-abiding of subjects. Chinese history was therefore long, and even still is, 
 ignorantly regarded as a monotone of unexciting events, from the Three Emperors 
 downwards. Hence the well-known lines of Tennyson, "Better fifty years of Europe 
 than a cycle of Cathay," though the "cycle of Cathay" is only sixty years! 
 
XIV POLITICAL PRINCIPLES. 
 
 population which evolved, from a few rough signs on slips of 
 "bamboo, their highly ornate and beautiful written language, so 
 philosophical in its character, and in its range abundantly 
 adequate to express the most intricate ideas of a high state of 
 intellectual training ; though it is indeed, in its present condition, 
 very inadequate fully to represent the more correct sciences of 
 the west ; the reason being that though China has had her 
 Socrates and her Platos, her Aristotle is yet unborn, and there 
 never has been a Chinese Euclid. The fact of that progress is 
 historical ; the process, the stages, and ages of it must remain for 
 ever unrevealed. 
 
 Socially, China has been the subject of the same slow gradual 
 changes as the west. A similar course of development from 
 barbarism to refinement, which appears in the historical 
 evolution of western society, took place in China also. The 
 point of departure was the same in each. But while the 
 civilisation founded by the ethical systems elaborated in Greece 
 and Rome has been in all cases largely modified, in some cases 
 forestalled, and in others superseded by Christianity, the 
 general principles out of which Chinese civilisation grew up 
 have continued always the same, and have therefore produced 
 a civilisation very different in form from that existing in the 
 west. But though different from ours, it should not on that 
 account be thoughtlessly set down as barbarism, or ignorantly 
 denounced as necessarily inferior and incapable of heights equal 
 to any attained in the west. The last touches have been by no 
 means given to this development The Chinese have largely 
 adopted western ideas, and have been apt scholars at the feet of 
 western science, especially in astronomy and geography ; and they 
 will readily embrace any western scientific appliances, whose utility 
 commends itself to them as more than counterbalancing any 
 dreaded possible evils. If they do not hastily welcome and 
 gladly amalgamate western civilisation in the wholesale fashion 
 of the less thoughtful and more fickle Japanese, it is not because 
 of their oft-decried "stupid conservatism," but from a wise 
 caution characteristic of the people. The Chinese are much 
 
OF CHINA. XV 
 
 more truly national than any other eastern country ; for whatever 
 note-worthy knowledge the Japanese and other nations possess, 
 they obtained from China, while she has been always self- 
 contained. China will not, therefore, merely append western 
 forms of civilisation, but is sure to gradually assimilate them to 
 her own constitution. Her present suspicions and caution are 
 not of recent growth, nor was it British war which originated 
 them. And though based on error, the error is one which is very 
 natural to the Chinese people, with their peculiar past and their 
 present limited knowledge. The Chinese are slow in adopting 
 some things, and firm in opposing the introduction of certain 
 changes, because sceptical of our good intentions. They 
 oppose the use of railways, because they are not yet able to cope 
 successfully in the field with the western armies, which, by 
 means of those railways, would speedily overrun the country. 
 Missionaries are disliked, because they are believed to be political 
 agents sent out by their respective governments to create a 
 foreign party, to make ready for the great day when western armies 
 are to struggle for possession of the richest country in the world, 
 and for domination over the patient, tax-paying Chinese. China 
 has gladly adopted our military manoeuvres, and is rapidly extend- 
 ing their use. She is purchasing our most approved artillery and 
 our best attainable rifles. She is adding gunboat to gunboat, 
 establishing arsenals and building many powder mills ; and all 
 in order that she may be able to defend her own borders from 
 foreign attacks, which all the lessons of her venerable history 
 teach her to expect, which the never-ending political action 
 and civic titles of many of the Romish clergy have taught her 
 to regard as probable, and in which our own and Russian political 
 action has not induced her to disbelieve. Chinese opposition to 
 the laying of railways, the institution of the telegraph, the 
 employment of our science and people in her mines, on her 
 canals and rivers, is, like that to Christian missions, wholly and 
 only political. Until, therefore, the Chinese army is thoroughly 
 reorganised, equipped, and officered in such a way as shall warrant 
 the authorities to believe it able to meet and fulfil any demands 
 
XVi POLITICAL PRINCIPLES 
 
 upon its services ; or until the Chinese government is convinced 
 that western nations have no serious designs upon their freedom, 
 we do not expect to see railways and other western mechanical 
 and steam-power appliances largely employed. The manner in 
 which some of these improvements have been urged and pressed 
 upon the government, has defeated the benevolent aim of the 
 well-meaning politician. The very earnestness of such recom- 
 mendations, or the warmth of political fault-finding with such 
 acts as the tearing up of the Shanghai railway, serves to give 
 further ground of suspicion ; for within the circle of Chinese 
 political surroundings, disinterested advice is not believed to exist. 
 The Chinese require to be taught, but their feelings should 
 sometimes be consulted ; nor, if we desire to gain their confidence 
 and introduce reforms, should we always ride rough shod over 
 their prejudices, which, though perhaps ridiculous to us, are 
 sufficiently serious to them. We might sometimes also question 
 the infallibility of our own wisdom, and the adequacy of our own 
 knowledge. It were well for politicians especially to make very 
 sure that they rightly understand the Chinese people. We 
 ourselves are subjected by designing or timid men to a 
 periodical Russian scare ; and surely the Chinese have much 
 more reason to believe in the ability and the desire of 
 western powers to injure her. than we in that of Russia to 
 ruin us. 
 
 The intellectual character of the Chinese is of a very high 
 order. In diligence the Chinese peasant probably excels all 
 peasantry; and we question whether the peasantry of any 
 country equals the Chinese in intelligence. Their merchants are 
 quick to see and ready to seize every opening for trade, while 
 they are bold and skilled speculators in the markets of China. 
 Indeed, the Chinese are almost by birth a trading and commercial 
 people; and their bent of mind is keenly and coolly practical. 
 This practical nature is characteristic also of their philosophy, 
 which is absolutely free from the dreamy vagaries of every other 
 non-Christian philosophy. Mere speculative ideas have never 
 commanded the attention of any noteworthy men in China ; for 
 
OF CHINA. XVll 
 
 their intellectual life is as practical in its aims and teachings as 
 is their ordinary every-day life. 
 
 Yet this matter-of-fact disposition does not exclude the warm 
 appreciation of the beautiful in nature, both animate and 
 inanimate. For this practical people is highly cultured. 
 Poetical pieces are the oldest literary fragments which China 
 now possesses as the legacy of the remotest antiquity ; and 
 poetry has commanded a chief place in her literature down to 
 the present day, occupying a prominent part in the public 
 examinations for those literary degrees, which must be attained 
 by any man desiring to occupy the honourable post of magistrate in 
 his native land, and which are sought by all scholars as the easiest 
 way to social distinction. The Chinese were singing some of this 
 poetry when its mixed populations were laying the foundation 
 stones of old Rome. And if love of nature in its various aspects is 
 proof of culture, the Chinese were a cultured people more than 
 twenty centuries before Scott opened our eyes to the grand moods 
 and the gentle soothing voice of nature, and before the lake poets 
 sang its praises to an all but sullen audience. Before the time 
 of Confucius, you find the Chinese observant of and sympathising 
 with the changing moods of the world in which they lived. 
 They chanted the praises of the opening peach, of the pink 
 apricot, and the delicate white blossom of the pear. Chinese poets 
 teem with references to budding trees and bursting blossom ; to 
 the brightness and brilliancy of the Chinese sun ; to the gi ntle 
 light of the clear moonbeams nestling on the bosom of the placid 
 lake ; to the singing of the birds in the trees, and the rustling of 
 the leaves in the summer wind. Reviving spring commands 
 their chief attention, but the full-blown glory of summer, 
 their rich-coloured autumn, and the drinking customs of winter, 
 claim their frequent notice. Ordinary human life is not by 
 any means overlooked, but is fairly delineated in its grave and 
 gay, its loving and ridiculous aspects ; though the metaphysical, 
 introspective poetry of some modern poets can scarcely be said 
 to be well represented. You will also find Chinese monasteries 
 occupying the most picturesque of scenery, and perched among 
 
XV111 POLITICAL PRINCIPLES 
 
 splendid old trees in some quiet nook of the grandest mountains. 
 Call the measure of Chinese poetry stilted if you will, the fact 
 remains that these subjects, the delineation of common life and 
 the description and praise of natural scenery, form, and have 
 always composed, the main body of permanent Chinese poetry ; 
 those pieces written to flatter a patron or to please a friend 
 being of the most short-lived description. 
 
 We believe it is now generally acknowledged that the west 
 is indebted to China for the art of printing. The earlier European 
 travellers into China found the Chinese people printing sheets 
 off blocks of hardwood, cut into immovable words and lines. 
 The Chinese printed these for at least five centuries before 
 Gutenberg was born. The first attempts to print in the west were 
 from similar blocks ; and this system has been again reverted to 
 in the modern stereotype. The same early travellers found gun- 
 powder in use in China, though mainly for fire-works, long 
 before it was discovered in the west. And it is not unnatural to 
 suppose with P. Hue, that the accounts of these travellers, of both 
 the article itself and its manufacture, gave that clue to the English 
 monk which introduced gunpowder into modern warfare, and 
 which has contributed largely to the liberty which is now enjoyed 
 by us. Marco Polo was astonished to see the Chinese making their 
 fires by burning a black stone ; and it is probable he had never 
 seen any other fires in the west than those which the forests 
 supplied. The earliest Romish missionaries were surprised at 
 seeing a little box in the stern of every Chinese vessel, containing 
 a piece of iron of unvarying direction, to which the Chinese gave 
 the name by which the compass is still called : " Needle-fix-the- 
 south." Nor is it at all improbable that we are ourselves 
 indebted to the Chinese for the compass as well as for gun- 
 powder and printing. Playing cards, and spectacles for old and 
 short sight, were in use among the Chinese long before our fore- 
 fathers knew anything of the science of optics, or could play a 
 rubber at whist. We know not for how many centuries the 
 Chinese were clad in silks and satins before their use was 
 introduced into fiurope ; and ages before our forefathers knew 
 
OF CHINA. XIX 
 
 much of the coarsest pottery the Chinese manufactured beautiful 
 porcelain. The Chinese of the present day excel our ladies in 
 embroidery, and at least equal our artistic workmen in ivory. 
 In agriculture and horticulture, the Chinese labourer is second 
 to none, and superior to most of his fellows in Europe The 
 intellectual superiority of the Chinese over our Indian subjects 
 and their Persian neighbours is so marked. in the conduct of 
 their public business, in the character of their legal code, and in 
 the practical nature of their sound philosophy, that such 
 excellent judges as Sir John Davis and Sir George Staunton, do 
 not think it necessary even to discuss the matter. In their 
 codified laws especially, the Chinese can be spoken of by those 
 diplomatists only in contrast to, and not in comparison with, 
 India and Persia. 
 
 The Government of China is the authoritative embodiment of 
 Chinese ethical philosophy. Their moral teaching makes the 
 father absolute master in social life. In politics the emperor is 
 the father of the people. Justice and mercy are the guides of a 
 father's conduct; justice and mercy are to regulate every 
 imperial act. The Chinese government is an absolute one. But 
 its absolutism is like that of no other absolute government ; for 
 it is absolute only for the ivellbeing of the people. 
 
 The government of China, like its customs, is not the sudden 
 growth of a day ; but the gradual and slow evolution of many 
 centuries. When we emerge out of the mythical into the 
 probable in Chinese history, we find the ruler called by the title 
 of wang or king. That the ruler had but a small kingdom two 
 thousand years B.C., we must infer from the fact that Yu WANG 
 is lauded now, as he always has been, because he toiled for years 
 with his own hands to neutralize a great flood and successfully 
 opened up channels which drained the waters to the sea. 
 Between the China whose ruler laboured with his own hands, 
 and the China whose emperor never or rarely leaves the seclusion 
 of his palatial city there is less resemblance than contrast. Yet 
 this present is the gradual evolution out of that past. From the 
 time of Yu Wang, China has been continually growing in 
 
XX POLITICAL PRINCIPLES 
 
 population and always extending her borders. For ten centuries 
 since the twelfth century B.C., the government of China very 
 much resembled the feudal ages of Europe, except that the 
 common people enjoyed more freedom and happiness. There 
 was during that period a central authority, but it was much 
 like the rule of the pope in Europe. If the ruler happened to be a 
 strong one he was able to make his will respected ; but generally 
 speaking, each " duke " was independent, levied armies and made 
 war on other dukes at his pleasure. As there was then no 
 standing armies, war was a pastime to many ; for every soldier 
 owned and cultivated his own property and furnished his own 
 commissariat. He ploughed in spring, weeded in summer, 
 harvested in autumn, and fought in winter. The excitement of 
 war roused and kept in action faculties which produced the 
 ethical philosophers whose teachings have become unquestioningly 
 paramount in China, and have welded its heterogeneous 
 peoples into a homogeneous empire. 
 
 Two centuries B.C., the state of Tsin after centuries of warfare 
 swallowed up all the other states and founded an imperialistic 
 China. The ruler changed his title of wang into that of 
 whangdi, Supreme or Imperial Ruler. He established a standing 
 army ; and finding that the teachings of the revered sages, 
 Confucius and his disciples, were militating against his 
 imperialistic designs, he ordered a general conflagration of all 
 philosophical books. With the sword and the arrow he had 
 fought against and conquered all military opposition. He waged 
 a new war with the torch against ideas ; but though books were 
 consumable, ideas would not burn. The persecution of many 
 literary men who endeavoured to save their treasured volumes, 
 resulted to them irt death, but lost the imperialist his throne. 
 And ever since, Confucius has had his reign in China, not only 
 undisturbed, but growing down to the present in lustre and 
 honour, if not in power. Absolute, irresponsible imperialism 
 perished in China in the fires which consumed those books. 
 
 The government of China, therefore, though nominally an 
 absolute monarchy, is one whose action is subject to many 
 
OF CHINA. XXI 
 
 modifying external influences. This government is like almost 
 everything Chinese, peculiar to that splendid country and 
 characteristic of that curious people. In the west the principle 
 that "the ruler exists for the people, not the people for the 
 ruler/' is but the growth of yesterday ; and the lesson is yet to be 
 learned in most continental nations, nor do the British people 
 seem to have mastered it. But in China that has always been 
 the theory of government from the very dawn of the historical 
 period. And it is because this principle is so unmistakably and 
 forcibly inculcated in the classics that the Tsin emperor was so 
 eager to burn them all out of sight. 
 
 The Chinese believe in the "divine right of kings/' They 
 believe that the ruler is ordained of Heaven, and raised up to do 
 the will of Heaven, hence he is called the " Son of Heaven/' 
 This will of Heaven is the moral and physical well-being of the 
 people, to maintain and extend which is the sole duty of the 
 " Son of Heaven/' If the emperor, by the proper combination of 
 justice and mercy, exercised with prudence and wisdom, secures 
 peace, contentment, and plenty for his people, he fulfils his duties. 
 But if he seeks his own pleasure, and pursues his own private 
 advantage and profit, to the neglect of his regal duties, he ipso 
 facto ceases to be the Son of Heaven ; and the rocking of the 
 land by earthquakes, the rotting of the crops by floods, the 
 barren aridity by droughts, and the destruction of growing grain 
 by locusts, are all so many evidences that Heaven is displeased 
 with the mode of government, and are so many calls to 
 repentance. These calls, if unheeded, give rise to rebellions. 
 And rebellions are not in China the heinous crimes they are 
 considered to be in the west ; but are just and laudable efforts to 
 unseat from the throne the man whom Heaven has already 
 declared to be unfit to rule, because he has neglected to care for 
 the people. The successful rebel proves his right to rule ; and 
 the right acquired by a success, attainable only by Heaven's 
 decree, is more valid than any quantity of royal blood in the 
 veins of the actual ruler. The valid and incontestable title to 
 the throne of China, is not, therefore, derived from hereditary, 
 
XX11 POLITICAL PRINCIPLES 
 
 but is the result of the proper and efficient discharge of imperial 
 duties. Hence, famines or rebellions always cause alarm to, 
 and elict a confession of sin against Heaven from, the reigning 
 monarch ; there are promises of amendment on his own part, 
 and exhortations to faithfulness, official purity and honesty 
 to all his ministers. Chinese history is full of such ; and this 
 volume will furnish examples enough. 
 
 The emperor is bound to preserve and further the well-being 
 of his people, by placing over them ministers and officials of 
 unselfish character, of honourable principles and of good mental 
 capacity. This capacity is ascertained by competitive examin- 
 ations which test the literary talents of Chinese youth ; and 
 administrative capacity is discovered by the manner in which 
 these youths perform the duties of the inferior magistracies to 
 which they may happen to be appointed after attaining their 
 degrees. If the emperor lives a proper life, and appoints 
 officials who lead good lives, the people enjoy the fruits of their 
 own labours in peace and plenty. The manner of the emperor's 
 life is, however, of greater consequence than any forms of law. 
 Force is of little or no use in compelling the obedience of a 
 people to a prince who does not make his own life a good 
 example. A ruler may rule well, happily and prosperously by 
 making mercy or benevolence the guide of his government ; or he 
 may be an equally successful ruler if he is strictly and sternly 
 just ; but he cannot have other than a troublous reign, and an 
 unsettled, unhappy people, if his own conduct is not what it 
 should be. Prohibitive laws, which he does not himself observe, 
 will not bind his people ; if his own life is vicious, mercy constantly 
 extended will not attach them to him. " Example is better than 
 precept/' says the western proverb ; " Example is stronger than 
 armies, and more authoritative than laws/' says the Chinese 
 philosopher. He who would be a strong ruler must regulate his 
 own desires, and watch carefully over his own conduct. When 
 his "heart is straight," and his " conduct correct/' he is powerful 
 without armies, and controls all without police. This ruler will 
 not only be supreme over a gladly willing people, but will be 
 
OF CHINA. XX11I 
 
 sought after by the "far and near." "The sage will explain to 
 me how to increase my treasury and augment my armies/' said 
 a feudal prince, striving for universal empire, to the philosopher 
 Mencius ; " Why must the prince speak of profit ? " replied the 
 sage, who then expounded that a reign guided by benevolence 
 and justice ensured the greatest profits, the most lasting 
 endurance, and the widest extent. Order and peace secured by 
 justice and goodness, cast a halo of glory round a throne ; while 
 the employment of force for its support is its disgrace. 
 
 Having illustrated the theoretical foundation of Chinese 
 government, my statement will now be understood when I say 
 that the Chinese is an absolute government, founded on and 
 guided by democratical principles. For, inconsistent to our 
 ideas though it may appear, the Chinese people is really one 
 of the most democratic in the world, as their government is 
 nominally one of the most absolute. There is no caste in 
 China. The son of the poorest labourer can freely push his 
 way to the highest posts in the government. The late prime 
 minister Wun Siang was the son of extremely poor parents in 
 Mookden, and his master who saw the talents of the youth and 
 sent him to school at his own expense, was living in Mookden 
 when I left it. A tax-collector may occasionally be found bold 
 enough and bad enough to increase the taxation of the people in 
 some district ; but the people can have him degraded and 
 punished. A magistrate may be found more than ordinarily 
 covetous, but he can be removed, punished by degradation, or even 
 by banishment. There are occasional cases of hardship of men 
 who in their litigation are mulcted of their all ; or of men who 
 are imprisoned under false charges by some powerful enemies. 
 But these cases are extremely rare in proportion to the great 
 mass of the population ; and that mass enjoys personal liberty, 
 lightness of taxation, and freedom from offensive police super- 
 vision, such as are enjoyed by no people in Europe. Sir Walter 
 Medhurst, retired from long and good service in China, believes 
 that China is, in the immediate future, to be swallowed up into the 
 Russian power, and that such a fate would be for the good of the 
 
XXIV POLITICAL PRINCIPLES 
 
 Chinese people. We do not believe that Russia will now be ever 
 able to conquer China : and we are certain that the Chinese 
 people would suffer in most things and benefit in nothing, by trans- 
 ference to Russian rule. The Chinese peasant is infinitely more 
 happy and contented than is the Russian, because he is incom- 
 parably less heavily taxed and more free to do his own " sweet 
 will;" and the Russian peasant will not compare with the 
 Chinese in education, in intelligence, and in industry. Sir John 
 Davis, in his excellent work on the Chinese, expresses his surprise 
 at the amount of freedom possessed by the Chinese people in 
 being able to meet together to judge upon, to condemn, and to 
 inform the government of the conduct of magistrates, who have 
 treated them harshly. Sir John Davis would not have been 
 surprised at what occurs almost daily in some part of China, had 
 he fully understood the basis of Chinese government as explained 
 above. 
 
 So thoroughly does the form of government educed from the 
 teachings of the old days suit the Chinese people, and upon the 
 whole so equable, simple and just have been the laws founded 
 upon the same principles, that there has not appeared in the 
 Christian era any political reformer enunciating novel ideas of 
 government ; for it is always acknowledged that the existing 
 form of government, if pure, and the laws actually on the 
 statute book, if honestly applied, provide for all the needs of, and 
 secure the utmost liberty for, the people. In all revolutionary 
 proceedings therefore, there is an appeal, not to some new 
 principle which will benefit the people ;- but to the old principles, 
 departure from which has brought misery to the people. 
 Dynasties invariably become corrupt in China, sometimes from 
 wickedness, oftener from weakness. And when rebels rise 
 against a dynasty, they invariably base the justice of their cause 
 upon the ancient laws and rights of the people, which are 
 trampled upon by the reigning emperor. 
 
 The safety, or at all events the wellbeing of any country, 
 depends mainly on the character of the man placed in a 
 position which enables him to control that country's interests ; 
 
OF CHINA. XXV 
 
 next upon the ministers or officers employed by him to carry out 
 his instructions ; and finally upon the soldiers who are the 
 instruments of his ministers. The ministers may save the 
 country in spite of their chief; but if a country is to be 
 saved when the ministers are corrupt or wicked, it must be 
 effected by a cha,nge of ministry. This change in an absolute 
 monarchy rests with the ruler, if that ruler is strong enough to 
 make his will felt ; but if he is weak, the only means of saving 
 the country is by insurrection and a change of dynasty. 
 In a free country the voice of the people makes itself heard 
 without an appeal to arms and revolution. But better the storm 
 of this revolution, and the loudest crash of arms, than 
 quietude under the blighting cancer festering in the national 
 constitution, and devitalizing the roots of the national life. 
 The worst evil which can befall a nation, is when the ministers 
 are earnest only in picking the national pocket, afraid only of 
 dying without a fortune accumulated or an influence acquired by 
 the most guilty of all guilty means of acquiring wealth, by the 
 abuse of public confidence, and the misapplication of public power. 
 As the trust reposed in public functionaries is of the most 
 important kind involving as it does the most sacred interests 
 of the people so should the abuse of that trust be accompanied 
 by the most severe of human penalties, and branded with the 
 execration of all good. men. 
 
 Since the establishment in England of the numerous and great 
 legal inequalities, instituted by and preserved since the Norman 
 conquest, every man who intelligently desires the well-being of 
 his country has necessarily pursued a destructive policy ; for he 
 demands legal equality and even-handed justice. The same man in 
 China, and with the same desires, is just as necessarily conservative ; 
 for such unjust and compulsory inequalities have not existed. 
 While in England the well-wisher of his countrymen appeals to 
 change in order to remove powerful abuses long established by 
 the sword, in China the same man appeals to the ancient laws 
 and institutions of his country to remove powerful abuses intro- 
 duced against law. It will be seen in the following history that in 
 
XXvi POLITICAL PRINCIPLES 
 
 China the men of the most sterling character, of the most refined 
 and cultured nature, of the greatest learning and wisdom, are all 
 but invariably under the influence of conservative principles ; for 
 Chinese conservatism demands, in certain circumstances, the 
 most unselfish conduct and the most self-sacrificing devotion. 
 Though bribed by the party of power with the offers of honours, 
 place, wealth, and authority, the most earnest efforts failed to 
 detach such men from the course to which duty called them, and 
 in which they all from Kofa to Shushu desired to die. 
 
 This unselfish conservatism is the necessary outgrowth of the 
 political philosophy above described. That philosophy declares, 
 as already stated, that the ruler is for the people, not the people 
 for the ruler ; and proclaims the certainty of the dethronement 
 by Heaven of that ruler who neglects his duty to his people, and 
 his dethronement by insurrection. Yet this same philosophy 
 commands the minister to support his prince, and to die with him. 
 The change of dynasty must not be made, or in any way assisted 
 by the official who has " eaten of the prince's bread/' even though 
 he knows that prince to be unworthy of his post. As official 
 employment is the reward of literary merit, every philosopher is 
 an official. He is free to refuse office ; but after accepting office he 
 is bound to live and die for his prince. Faithfulness to his prince 
 is the absolute guide in life and unto death of the Chinese official. 
 He is bound to point out to the ruler the proper mode of 
 conducting government, so as to secure the greatest well-being 
 of the people ; but he must use all his influence in supporting the 
 reigning monarch, even when that monarch is one of the worst. . 
 Every revolutionist in China, and every rebel, is and must be 
 conservative in the sense of appealing to the ancient institutions, 
 laws, and customs of his country ; innovations upon which form 
 the only apology for his rebellion. Every literary man, not an 
 official, is intensely conservative in the same direction. But every 
 official is conservative in the sense of supporting the existing 
 dynasty, not merely when there is hope of successful resistance 
 against rebellion, but after all hope is gone ; for if he can do no 
 more, he can die, and thus gain for himself the proud posthumous 
 
OF CHINA. XXvii 
 
 title of Faithful Minister. Hence conservatism in China is 
 necessarily unselfish when it is genuine ; though selfish men are 
 always found on the same side, who can, when it is their supposed 
 interest, change to the other party. This Chinese conservatism, 
 this devotion to anciently established principles, demands not only 
 one's energies, but one's property and life; and we shall see below 
 that many are true to their profession. This conservatism is 
 founded upon the well-being of the people. Its guiding 
 principle is therefore unlike that of British conservatism, 
 and more closely resembles the spirit of the Whig principles. 
 Even when the Chinese conservative is called upon to uphold a 
 state of matters which he knows to be wrong, and which 
 he has, by constitutional means, tried to correct, he does it by 
 renouncing his own interests, at the certain risk of his own life, 
 and entirely from a sense of duty arising from his philosophical 
 beliefs. We commonly hear Chinese conservatism abused by 
 men who are ignorant of it, and unacquainted with the good at t the 
 root of it ; and usually by men who are far from ready to sacrifice 
 their own temporal interests to any call of duty. The Chinese 
 honest conservative, the best and noblest type of Chinese official 
 and literary life, is afraid of being stigmatised as unfaithful ; he is 
 not afraid to die. 
 
 The chapter on " Officials" describes the personnel of the 
 Chinese government, the Privy Council, or highest Court of 
 Appeal, and the six Boards or Departments which superintend 
 the multitudinous affairs of the eighteen provinces of China. It 
 shows the inter-relations' of ministers, and explains the machinery 
 of government. It also illustrates the duties of the emperor, 
 which consist in a vetoing rather than in an initiating power. 
 Even when edicts are issued of a positive character, they are 
 invariably the result of one or more memorials from the higher 
 officials. P. Hue relates that when the able and discreet M. 
 Ricci became famous in Peking, and after the emperor had begun 
 to honour him, some of the chief ministers memorialised the 
 emperor, asking him to reward M. Ricci for his beautiful 
 presents, and then dismiss him honourably to Canton, whence he 
 
XXV111 POLITICAL PRINCIPLES 
 
 could return to his native land. To this memorial the emperor 
 made no reply ; and another similar memorial was received by 
 him with the same silence. The emperor informed M. Ricci of 
 this desire to have him removed ; but told him that in order not 
 to infringe upon the laws of China, the emperor could not give 
 him special permission to remain in Peking without a formal 
 request to that effect from one of the ministers. That this is a 
 correct representation of the emperor's legal position can be seen 
 in the chapter on the " Imperial Family/' where is described the 
 action of the emperor Yungching towards his own brothers ; and 
 the chapter on " Officials" gives numerous instances of the same 
 kind. 
 
 To China the greatness of the service done her by her excellent 
 education is unquestionable. Indeed, the advantages resulting 
 from education are now generally acknowledged to be very 
 considerable. There are few, if any, who profess to believe that 
 universal education is calculated to directly produce any evil 
 consequences. Education cannot be too widely scattered, nor too 
 thoroughly instilled into the minds of all classes of the community. 
 But there is a tendency among many talented literary men, 
 whose eloquence transcends their knowledge, to over-estimate 
 the potency of educational influences over the moral life. 
 Overlooking or forgetting the past, they profess to believe that 
 education will destroy most of the vices of social life, and 
 extinguish many of the crimes now prevailing. Men avow 
 the same sentiments with more or less bluntness, in a good deal 
 of the popular preaching, and breathe them still more generally 
 in the popular literature of the day. They praise the beauty of 
 virtue, and proclaim the nobility of practising virtue for virtue's 
 sake ; while they hurl their scornful indignation upon those who 
 combine rewards and punishments with virtue and vice. 
 They wax eloquent over the wondrous faculties of man, and 
 their glowing phrases declare their admiration of the powers of 
 the human understanding. In the boldest language, in the most 
 brilliant sentences, they declare that man can, by cultivation of 
 his nature, reach up to the very throne of God. As a theory of 
 
OF CHINA. xxix 
 
 what education should do, and the man of culture should be, all 
 this teaching is very proper and good ; but as a potential rule 
 applied to the guidance of human life, with its varied passions, 
 all the ages and generations proclaim such teaching, notwith- 
 standing its truth and its beauty, but a spider's web in the way 
 of an angry man. All the main elements of our systematic 
 ethical teaching were as eloquently proclaimed, and as fervently 
 belauded in the Porch and the Academy of Greece, as by the 
 most popular teacher of our day; and the rough tongue of old 
 Rome rang out the same doctrines in the public Forum. To learn 
 the practical outcome of all that eloquent and excellent teaching, 
 examine the history of ancient superstitious, lying, immoral 
 Greece, ransack the records of proud, cruel, unjust, and rapacious 
 Rome. 
 
 Contemporaneous with the noblest teachers of Greece, were 
 the moral philosophers of China, who, centuries before the 
 Christian era, left a noble legacy of positivist teaching, which has 
 trained the minds of every succeeding generation of Chinese 
 youth, down to the present day. Communistic teaching by able 
 theorists, and the duty of universal love, have been taught longer in 
 China than Christianity in the west; and an able philosopher pro- 
 pounded, eight centuries ago, undiluted materialism, which since 
 then has continued to be foisted into, rather than educed from, 
 Confucian positivism. But this positivism, setting forth man's duty 
 to man in all his various relations, has remained unchanged. All 
 the ancient classics of China, some of them older than Socrates, and 
 most of the modern literature of that literary country, are laden 
 with this kind of ethical teaching. In language more pithy and 
 as expressive as that of the best of western philosophers, in 
 phrases shining with the warmth of lively imaginations, in tropes 
 and figures unsurpassed for beauty of expression, for correctness 
 of diction, for appositeness of illustration, for elevation of 
 sentiment, the Chinese philosophers have been for more than 
 two thousand years inculcating the precepts of a pure and 
 noble morality. And all the mental toil displayed in their 
 curt aphoristic sayings is for the purpose of "illustrating 
 
XXX POLITICAL PRINCIPLES 
 
 illustrious virtue " ; and all the intellectual labour of their 
 swelling periods is devoted to enforcing the performance of man's 
 duty to man. 
 
 With what result ? Such teaching and training do certainly 
 impart that literary dilettanteism, they secure that mental 
 culture and give that external polish, which seem to be the aim 
 of modern English popular teaching ; and the excellence and 
 advantages of which we would not, for a moment, be supposed 
 to undervalue. This training may, and does, sharpen the 
 intellect and instruct a man how to express his thoughts 
 eloquently or elegantly, or how to hide them under a cloud of 
 misty verbiage. Yet though the beauty of systematic moral 
 teaching gratifies the intellect, as does a difficult mathematical 
 problem when first discovered, it exercises no control over the 
 passions. The philosophy of ethics satisfies the understanding ; 
 it has never yet changed the heart. Chinese intellectual life is 
 vigorous. Their mental power is of a high order. Their 
 politeness and etiquette in speech and manner, are all that the 
 apostle of mere culture can desire. And their training has 
 produced the ability to exercise a most wonderful external self- 
 control under the most trying circumstances of fear, or anger, or 
 novelty ; so much so that those ignorant of Chinese education 
 proclaim them the most stupid and stolid of peoples. But 
 though they revere their great teachers and honour moral 
 teachings in grandiloquent phrases, they absolutely ignore them 
 in practical life. 
 
 The condition of those individuals, who, by study of the 
 beautiful and the good, hope to attain the perfection of their 
 nature, is well expressed in the words, Knowledge puffeih up. 
 In China as in Britain we find the same result. Those cultured 
 men dilate on the transcendent greatness of righteousness. 
 They use, as their western brethren use, great swelling words of 
 vanity, whereby they impose upon themselves and dazzle or 
 deceive the giddy crowd, who would fain be considered thinkers. 
 A contemptible pride takes possession of them. And intellectual 
 vanity and literary conceit are invariably connected with spiritual 
 
OF CHINA. XXXI 
 
 coldness, and never far removed from moral faults. Admiration 
 for the beautiful sayings of the sages of antiquity may and does 
 often flow from the lips, or fill eloquent pages from the pen of a 
 man whose heart is closed against the appeals of pity but open to 
 foul thoughts, and whose life is distinguished only by selfishness 
 and impurity. 
 
 Even in our own country, hedged about as we are with so 
 many fences in social life, we find that nominal Christianity 
 is insufficient to shield from the allurements of vice. 
 Knowledge of arts and sciences will not make or keep a man 
 honest in Christian Britain. Social refinement is known to be 
 consistent with lamentable practices. And mere culture is 
 inadequate always to retain a respectably moral life. Indeed, 
 modern culture can unreservedly adopt the language of the Latin 
 poet, Video meliora proboque deteriora sequor. If we follow 
 our countrymen to heathen lands, we see that all the culture of 
 modern and sound education, all the polish derived from good 
 society, the possession of natural talents and almost all gentle- 
 manly qualities are sadly, painfully unable to prevent them from 
 falling into the debasing, unmanly vices of heathenism. And if 
 men fall after receiving the advantages of such training, what can 
 we expect but revolting immoralities among heathen peoples 
 which have not the staying powers of Christianity to sustain and 
 enforce the practice of those moral doctrines which are 
 theoretically admired? As to the practical influence of their 
 high theoretical estimate of truth, we may adopt in full that 
 eloquent description of another nation, Tribuo illis literas ; 
 do multarum artium disciplinam; non adimo sermonis 
 leporem, ingeniorum acumen, dicendi copiam; denique 
 etiam si qua sibi alia sumunt non repugno ; testimoniorum 
 religionem et fidem nunquam ista natio coluit; totiusque 
 kvyusce rei quae sit vis, quae auctoritas, quod pondus 
 ignorant With many noble characteristics which are certain 
 to gain them a speedy greatness, with much that we must 
 highly commend and heartily admire, the Chinese are a people 
 whose inborn falsehood can be uprooted only by Christianity ; 
 
XXX11 POLITICAL PRINCIPLES OF CHINA. 
 
 for it alone can enable them to act out their professed belief 
 that truth is most honourable, deceit -ignoble, and meanness in 
 word or deed unworthy of men. 
 
 Whatever may be said by men whose ignorance of humanity 
 is equalled only by their self-assertion, who proclaim their 
 sentiments with an assurance of infallibility as if the whole 
 world of fact were enclosed within the 1 four walls of their study, 
 who itch for the praise of a tinsel liberality, who denounce 
 earnestness as bigotry and decry enthusiasm as fanaticism, 
 whatever may be said by such men in their wilful blindness 
 against the commonly received dogmas of Christian belief, that 
 belief alone is able to subdue the world to righteousness. 
 Explain it as you will, it is a historical fact, and patent to all who 
 really know the world, that truth and purity are general in exact 
 proportion to the intelligent and potential belief in Jesus as the 
 revealer of the Father, and especially as the Saviour from sin. 
 No one can think of questioning the truth of this, who is able to 
 compare, by personal experience, the condition of those peoples 
 raised by Christianity from barbarism with the condition of those 
 nations which have had or do now possess all the moral teaching 
 which human genius can evolve, and which pursue culture with 
 all the eager earnestness and ability of talented natures, but 
 which are destitute of those peculiarly Christian doctrines which 
 the Bible alone proclaims. It was the great Washington who 
 said, that " of all dispositions and habits which lead to prosperity, 
 religion and morality are indispensable supports. Morality 
 cannot be maintained without religion. Both reason and 
 experience forbid us to expect national morality can prevail 
 without it, or a state without morality." We earnestly appeal 
 to our Christian countrymen to awake and bestir themselves to 
 send this Christian religion to China. Send by the hands of 
 your bravest and ablest sons, send in the hearts of the noblest 
 and best of your daughters. Whether we will or not, China is 
 rapidly becoming a great and powerful nation ; but the reception 
 of Christianity alone can make the Chinese a moral people, who 
 will benefit the whole world. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 As soon might we expect the drops of water oozing from a mossy 
 rock to become a mighty river, bearing on its bosom the peaceful 
 fleets of all nations, as the few ignorant descendants of the 
 Tartar Aisin Gioro to become, by their own despicably 
 insignificant resources, the legislators of a fourth of mankind, 
 and the rulers of the most populous empire under the sun. 
 
 If it was necessary that the movements of the Manchus 
 should have been regulated by wise bravery, it was even more 
 essential that reckless folly should misguide their no^less brave 
 opponents, whether Kin, Liao, Mongol, Corean or Chinese. The 
 slim but well-knit Manchu barque was set afloat in shallows, 
 and had to sail along rapids and among narrow gorges where a 
 touch was destruction, down cataracts and through channels 
 crowded with innumerable rocks, many of them just seen under 
 her prow, where the bystander judges escape impossible. Many 
 a time is the reader of the earlier history of the Manchus tempted 
 to exclaim, that there is here another than a visible hand, which, 
 by what seems the slightest accident, now removes the petty 
 tribe out of a snare ; and again averts on their own heads the 
 overwhelming destruction with which her foes were prepared to 
 crush her. Her final triumph is as great and beforehand as 
 improbable; as if a large ship sailed into New York, after running 
 down the rapids and plunging into the cataract of Niagara. 
 
 It is true, the wisdom of Taidsoo, by unity of purpose and 
 action, multiplied a hundredfold the courage of his handful of 
 men. But he would have been only knocking his naked fist 
 against granite walls, had he not been opposed by weak and 
 divided counsels, which distracted and alienated the minds of 
 his wise, and blunted the sword of his brave, opponents. All the 
 
SB INTRODUCTION. 
 
 wisdom of the Manchus would never have guided them into 
 Mookden, if the gates had not been thrown open by the blind 
 folly of its keepers. Nor could Taidsoo have averted annihilation, 
 had the most ordinary prudence dictated the policy and regulated 
 the movement of the then powerful Ming. We must look 
 therefore no less to the folly of Peking, than to the shrewdness 
 of Hingking, to account for the strange phenomenon, that a few 
 rude barbarians, inhabiting a narrow strip of inhospitable 
 mountains, were able to seize and to hold the dragon throne, 
 which had such tremendous forces at its disposal, and the 
 N resources of the richest country under heaven at its command. 
 
 This " Rise and Progress " of the Manchus has been compared 
 by Sir John Davis and others, to the growth of British power in 
 India. The parallel is incomplete and unfair to the Manchus. 
 For they and the Chinese faced each other with the same 
 weapons the bow, the sword, and the spear ; the Chinese having 
 the advantage of education, civilization, prestige, and fire-arms 
 such as they were. 
 
 British troops started in India a highly educated race, 
 conscious of immense mental, moral, and physical superiority, 
 against opponents equally conscious of their own inferiority. 
 The Manchus began their wars with the Chinese, ignorant of 
 letters, without a written language, scarcely reclaimed from the 
 savage barbarism when they ate raw flesh and dug pits for 
 houses, against a people highly civilized, who, for every brave 
 Manchu, could bring a hundred equally brave Chinese into the 
 , /field. Indeed we search in vain for a parallel, whether in the 
 well known west or the older east. Alexander started in his 
 victorious career with a compact, well-regulated kingdom, and 
 with an army accustomed to triumph; and his wide, loosely-jointed 
 empire died with the departure of his breath. Rome took seven 
 centuries of endless warfare, from the time when her three 
 cantons formed a city, till she could call herself mistress of the 
 southern half of Europe. The Goths murdered and pillaged, 
 the Huns sent fire before and left a desert behind them ; but 
 no trace of an empire was laid by those disciplined hordes of 
 
USE OF HISTORY. .'} 
 
 robbers. Noorhachu, with a hundred followers, dared to shake v 
 his sword in the face of the powerful Ming dynasty, when it 
 claimed, by divine right, to rule over the whole earth. His 
 grandson was seated at five years old on the dragon throne in 
 Peking, whilst the officials of Kwangtung and the literates of 
 Yunnan, side by side with the chiefs of Mongolia, bowed before 
 him to the ground, ere his short reign was completed. Some of 
 the sons of Noorhachu, who fought with him in his first battle, 
 lived in regal splendour and stately ease in their Peking palaces, 
 years after the last sword raised in name of the Ming dynasty 
 had been shivered to fragments. 
 
 It was no deficiency in natural bravery, which compelled the 
 Chinaman to undergo the, to him, unspeakable degradation of 
 shaving off his long hair ; for, man to man, the Chinese were, to 
 say the least, the equals of their foes. It was the politic wisdom 
 of the dwarf, and the senseless stupidity of the giant, which 
 brought the latter to grief and the former to greatness. The 
 cunning Jack always kills the giant. Want of head and heart, 
 not feebleness of arm, terminated the Ming dynasty, and 
 converted the " Flowery Land " into a charnel house for the half 
 of its inhabitants. " Righteousness exalteth a nation : but sin 
 is a reproach to any people." The wise ruler is righteous from 
 choice, as the foolish is unrighteous ; the one exalts his people, 
 the other destroys them. 
 
 As the lessons of this great revolution are similar to those of 
 western history, and equally valuable in illustrating the facts, '"^Y 
 that whole nations are improved and benefited under the guid- 
 ance of a patriotic man, with a head to plan and a hand to 
 execute, and that the greatest nation is strangled by red-tape 
 favouritism and nepotism, we think no apology is necessary 
 for presenting a more precise account of the rise of the Manchus 
 than has hitherto been given, as far as we know, in any language. 
 
 In the year 1559, when Europe was universally excited over 
 the new-found Bible, Noorhachu was born in Hotooala, south- 
 east of Hoolarihada, the southern extremity of the Long White 
 Mountains, at the north side of which had appeared his ancestor, 
 
4 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Aisin Gioro Bookooli Yoongshwun, about two hundred years 
 before. 
 
 Noorhachu, like all his successors, gave early indications of 
 his subsequent greatness. He was a thirteen months' child, had 
 the dragon face and the phoenix eye, his chest was enormous, 
 his ears large, and his voice like the tone of the largest bell I 
 He lost his mother when ten years old, and was placed under 
 the second in order of the wives of his- father Huen. When 
 nineteen years of age, his step-mother sent him out with a small 
 pittance to push his way ; but afterwards, recognising his extra- 
 ordinary abilities, she offered an increase to his allowance, which 
 he declined. He was 'known as the Wise Beira.* He was the 
 seventh generation born heir to the kingdom of Hotooala, the 
 town of which name was no more than seven miles distant from 
 the most remote part of the " kingdom." 
 
 On one fine day, two centuries before, when three heaven- 
 descended maidens were bathing in the great lake Boorhooli, at 
 the foot of Bookooli, a peak of the White mountains, a spiritual 
 bird (the magpie) dropped a red fruit on the skirt of the dress 
 of Fo Koolun, the youngest, who, before dressing, picked up and 
 ate the fruit, the result of which was that she bore a son, who 
 was able to speak at his birth, and was otherwise remarkable. 
 When full-grown, his mother told him he was born of Heaven, 
 to set to rights the troubled nations ; and having given him the 
 name Bookooli Yoongshwun, and the surname Aisin Gioro, -f* 
 she ascended into heaven. J 
 
 * Beira, the bird MvngJiwang which flies high ; man of great distinction., 
 f Gold Dynasty. 
 
 J A more prosaic account of his earlier years is given by the Chinese of Manchuria, 
 who report that when Chinese go north to serve the Manchus, they are left in 
 charge of house and everything in it, including the females. They say that Wang 
 Gao was a Shantung man, serving in this capacity. Some go so far as to say he 
 was the father of the child ; others that he was only a most faithful servant who 
 had care of Fo Koolun and her son. One day he went out as usual to forage for 
 the woman he served so well, but never returned. She longed and longed for his 
 return, but in vain. At last when she could restrain herself no longer, a timely 
 chasm opened in the hill, into which she threw herself, and her son became depen~ 
 
THE MAGPIE. 5 
 
 Wherever and whatever his origin, it may be true that Aisin 
 Gioro was elected by the hamlet of Wodoli to be head of the 
 village. This " kingdom " rebelled against him, putting himself 
 -and all his sons to death, except Fancha, the youngest, who 
 escaped. For when pursued by the murderers of his father's 
 house, a magpie alighted on his head, and as he stood stock-still, 
 he was taken for a piece of dried wood, and the pursuit given 
 up. These two stories, whatever their value, will explain why 
 the magpie is the sacred bird of the present dynasty. 
 
 We believe, however, that the Manchus point to Wodoli, or 
 Odoli, as the birth-place of their dynasty, only because that 
 place on the north of the white mountains is in the vicinity of 
 Ninguta, where was the origin of three great and powerful 
 dynasties, Mogo, Bohai, and Kin (see Nujun, "History of 
 Corea.") But the real source of the Manchus was in the small but 
 beautiful valley of Hotooala, where Hingking now stands, and 
 which is east of Mookden. The Manchus became a powerful 
 kingdom before the region of Odoli became theirs. The story of 
 Fancha is given, apparently, to account for the disappearance of 
 the Manchu founder from Odoli. Fancha is said to have fled 
 across the White mountains to Hotooala.* and founded that 
 kingdom, in a part of which Hingking was afterwards built. 
 
 The Emperor Jing-dsoo, grandfather of Noorhachu, was 
 remarkable for the statesmanship he exhibited in ruling the six 
 little hamlets, of probably a dozen or two families each, 
 surrounded by a wall, and called a " city." To the west of him 
 was a man called Shwosaina, who, with his nine powerful lawless 
 sons, was the scourge of the great west between Hotooala and 
 Fooshwun. He was joined by Jiahoo and his seven sons, who, 
 
 dent on the villagers ; but the village which supported him was blessed with 
 ginsheng, which thus originated there. The story is partly corroborated by three 
 proverbs common in Manchuria : Pan ni siang pan Wang Gao, " I long for you, 
 as the longing for Wang Gao ; " Sienji Wang Gao, howji Baishan, " First sacrifice 
 to Wang Gao, then to the White Mountains ;" Sien Wang Gao, how Hwang ling, 
 "First Wang Gao, next the imperial tombs." Others, again, state that the famous 
 Aisin Gioro was a runaway Mongol. 
 
 * See Geographical Notes. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 when clad in mail, " could overthrow nine bulls/' These men 
 plundered the country round about. But the Emperor Jing-dsoo 
 was wise, and his eldest son, Lidun, was brave. Lidun mustered 
 all the forces of the kingdom, marched against and gained a 
 complete victory over the eighteen robbers. This victory secured 
 them five mountain passes, and two hundred li of territory, up 
 to the very gates of the Chinese Fooshwim ; a territory more 
 beautiful than productive, for the close-packed ranges of granite 
 low mountains produce more trees than grain. 
 
 This battle, so gravely related by their historians, who trace 
 the rise of their kingdom to it, is the best evidence as to the 
 original size of the Manchu kingdom, and the resources of their six 
 " cities." Another proof is to be found in the fact, that within 
 one hundred square miles of mountainous country, between 
 Ninguta on the north and Hingking on the south, there were 
 eleven independent countries ; Manchu being divided into five, 
 and each of the others being considerably larger than the five. 
 Ever since the overthrow of the Kin dynasty, the Niijun were 
 broken up into many independent parties,* who delighted as 
 much in fighting as in hunting. To imagine that one of the 
 smallest of these would first swallow up all the rest, and that it 
 should, from an army which could afford to boast of defeating* 
 eighteen robbers, become the ruler of hundreds of millions of men, 
 was not within the bounds of probability, and certainly did not 
 enter into the day dreams of the Manchus themselves. 
 However, so it turned out ; and we shall now relate the cause 
 and trace the prog L ess of the wondrous event. 
 
 The title which Noorhachu assumed for his dynasty has 
 been variously transliterated in the west ; from the long* 
 Mantcheou of the old French writers to the Manchu of the 
 modern English. Yet neither the one nor the other gives to 
 the ordinary English reader the nearest resemblance to the 
 
 * Manchu had five independent clans Soohooho, Hwnnho, Wangjia, Doongngua, 
 and Juachun. Changbaishan had two clans Noyin and Yaloo kiang. Doonghai 
 was a third "kingdom," Holun a fourth, with districts of Woji, Warka, and 
 Koorka. Woola, Hada, Yeho, and Hwifa, each had its own king. 
 
MANJOO. 7 
 
 manner in which the people themselves pronounce and spell 
 their own name. The transliteration of the Chinese name for 
 them is Man-jow; but the proper sound, as written and spoken 
 by the rulers of China, is that of the English words, Man and 
 Jew, which we might write Manjoo, as being that form of 
 writing which most nearly represents the sound to English 
 readers; to prevent confusion we retain the writing Manchit, 
 drawing attention to the fact that it is pronounced Manjoo. 
 Other names are written on this same principle, the b, d, t, y, 
 k, j, ch, of Manjoo, Mongol, and Chinese, being usually repre- 
 sented as not divisible into surd and sonant which representation 
 we have 110 hesitation in questioning. 
 
 The name Manjoo is equivalent to the common Chinese 
 name, Tsing or Ching, the ordinary dynastic title of the Manchus. 
 Both Manjoo and Ching mean the "clear "-ness of water, and the 
 title is doubtless suggested by that of its predecessor, the 
 Ming or "Bright," the "clearness" of the sun. Indeed, the 
 dynastic titles of China seem to have borrowed from each other 
 for several dynasties. The Liao or " Iron," which was " strong," 
 was followed by the Kin or " Gold," which " never tarnished ; " 
 again by the Munggoo or " Silver," which was also called Yuen, 
 or " Original " dynasty. The Ming drove out the Yuen, and 
 the Tsing, Manjoo, or " Clear" dynasty, is its successor. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 THE NUJUN. 
 
 IN the year 1583, soon after the discovery of Siberia by the 
 Russians, when Holland was rejoicing in her dear-bought, newly- 
 acquired liberty, when England was trembling at the preparations 
 made by Philip of Spain and the plots against Elizabeth, and 
 when all Europe was agitated by schemes to recover to Rome by 
 shot what she had lost by the Bible, the Chinese set a stone 
 a-rolling, which ultimately turned back ' upon themselves and 
 crushed them. 
 
 There can be little doubt that the quiet Chinese agriculturist 
 at Kaiyuen, Fooshwun, Chingho, Kwandien, and other border 
 lands, was often harassed by the restless, roving bands of Tartar 
 or Dadsu hunters, who preferred to take the grain sown by their 
 neighbours to reaping their own. When, therefore, the 
 ambitious Nikan Wailan of Toolun city, south of Hingking, 
 prayed the Bai or Count of Ningyuen to help him to a kingdom 
 which he could not take for himself, Li Chung-liang, the able but 
 aged Count, readily acceded to the request, and ordered a Fookiang 
 of Liao-yang to attack the city of Koshaji, which was taken, and 
 its " king " slain. Nikan now united his men to the victorious 
 Chinese, and marched against Goolo, the city and kingdom of 
 Uatai Jangjing, who was married to a daughter of Lidun, the 
 Batooroo, and a cousin of Noorhachu. The old chief, Hiien, 
 hasted to the aid of his grand-daughter, taking- with him his 
 heir, the father of Noorhachu. They entered the city, and 
 implored her husband to let them remove her in the meantime. 
 He refused, and the two waited on. 
 
 When the Fookiang was disappointed in his hope of being able 
 to take the city by storm, at the suggestion of Nikan, he sent a 
 
10 NUJUX. 
 
 herald to the foot of the wall, to state that whoever slew the king 
 would himself be made king. The citizens acted on the suggestion, 
 slew their king, and accepting the invitation of the Fookiang, 
 went out to meet him, when they were all slain. Among them 
 were old Hiien and his son. 
 
 """" The sad news threw Noorhachu, then twenty-four years of 
 age, into the wildest grief for his relations, and anger against 
 their murderers. Next day he demanded the two bodies for 
 burial, grants of thirty " letters patent," thirty horses, the title 
 of loonghoo kianykun, or " general of the order of Dragon and 
 Tiger," and the credentials of a doodoo or " major-general." It 
 appears that the murder of his father and grandfather was 
 unpremeditated, for the Chinese at once gave up the bodies, the 
 title of " doodoo," ten " decress," and thirty horses. Three years 
 after he had the title of " Loonghoo Kiangkun " conferred upon 
 him, with a present of Tls. 800. He asked, besides, for the 
 surrender of Nikan, in order to wreak his vengeance and appease 
 the manes of his ancestors. But instead of handing him over, 
 the Chinese declared that Nikan should be lord of all Manchu, 
 including, of course, Hotooala. This declaration induced most 
 of his men to desert him ; and even his relations, living between 
 Hotooala and Ninguta, sought his death, and ranged themselves 
 under the banner of Nikan ; and every effort was made to induce 
 or compel himself also to acknowledge Nikan, but he would 
 come to no terms with the murderer of his father. Revenge or 
 death was his motto ; and he could say with his grandson, if he 
 had known the ancient classic, " that the same heaven could not 
 continue to cover them both." He sent thirteen mailed * men 
 to kill Nikan by stratagem ; but as cunning failed, he, in June 
 of next year, (1584), set out at the head of a hundred soldiers 
 arid thirty mailed men to attack Toolun. The size of the city 
 may be inferred from the fact, that Nikan did not dare to wait 
 the attack, but left Toolun in the possession of Noorhachu. 
 His thoughts by day and his dreams by night seem to have 
 
 * From what I can learn, this mail consisted of many folds of cotton sewed one 
 above the other, between ten and twenty folds, making the garment arrow-proof. 
 
IlEVENGE. ! 1 
 
 been all on revenge, and to attain it, lie seems to have given his 
 whole attention to training his men for battle ; for we find that 
 his second cousins, fearing his military prowess, combined to take 
 his life. They advanced by night against his city, set a ladder 
 to the wall, scaled it and found him fled ; for he had discovered 
 their design. Two months after we find him attacking the 
 refuge of Nikan, who fled from his tormentor. It was while 
 absent on this expedition, that some of his own relations, 
 joining the king of Hada, took and plundered one of his 
 stockades. As they were dividing the spoil in the middle of 
 the road, two of his officers with twelve men suddenly attacked 
 and defeated the spoilers, retook the prey and slew forty men. 
 
 Then the five independent districts of Manchu were 
 constantly at war with each other. But Noorhachu, who had the 
 small valley to begin with, seems to have been gradually gathering 
 power ; for the Chinese, three years after the murder, handed 
 over Nikan, who was immediately put to death. They also 
 paid him Tls. 800, fifteen many or "dragon-embroidered 
 robes," and made a treaty, by which barter markets were 
 opened at Fooshwun on the west, Chingho on the south-west, 
 Aiyang and Kwandien on the south, where the endless varieties 
 and large quantities of Manchu furs could be exchanged for 
 Chinese cotton, sugar, or grain. 
 
 Next year (1587) Noorhachu built Laochung (8 li south of 
 Hingking), with a so-called palace in the centre, and a triple 
 Avail round about : which done, he paid particular attention to 
 his small state. His few laws were simple, speedy of application 
 and most strictly observed, while no robber dared approach his 
 land. His wise, impartial justice becoming known, people^ n j 
 flocked to his standard, and acknowledged him king. ' His fame 
 as a legislator, combined most probably with a little coercion, 
 soon welded the five districts of Manchus into one complete 
 whole, at the head of which he ventured, in 1591, without any 
 known provocation, to attack Yalookiang province on the east, 
 which he annexed to Manchu. 
 
 His continually-increasing power disquieted the neighbouring 
 
12 
 
 NUJUN. 
 
 kinglets, seven* of whom united their forces with those of two 
 eastern Mongolian chiefs or Beiras, and, in three divisions, 
 marched at the head of thirty thousand men to crush the 
 restless young Beira. Their approach threw the Manchus into a 
 
 Bust of Manchu Official. 
 
 state of the greatest fear and trembling ; but the young chief, 
 stronger in fame than in numbers, drew up his men advan- 
 tageously at the foot of the hill Goolo, his rear protected by the 
 fort of Heijigo. 
 
 * Yeho, Hada, Woola, Hwifa, Jooshuali, and Noyin. 
 
BATTLE OF GOOLO. IS 
 
 Boojai, chief of Yehp, rode furiously ahead, accompanied by 
 Mingan, chief of the Kortsin Mongols. Boojai, galloping in 
 among the Manchus, came against a piece of wood, was thrown 
 off his horse and slain. Mingan plunged his horse into the mud 
 and lost his saddle, but struggling out and riding without saddle 
 or bridle, he galloped away to the north, followed by some of his 
 men in disorder. Taking advantage of the confusion, Noorhachu 
 at once attacked the foe, and the example of the Kortsin chief 
 became general. Noorhachu pursued the flying enemy north- v 
 wards, slaying four thousand men, taking three thousand horses 
 and a thousand plaited suits of armour, with Boojantai, younger 
 brother of the chief of Woola. If he slew four thousand men, 
 his own army must have equalled that number, a rapid 
 improvement on his original army; and this battle which 
 should have broken his power increased it tenfold. 
 
 Wanhan was the seventh generation of the chiefs of HADA, 
 and of the surname Nala. His father was murdered ; he fled, 
 and his uncle seized the government. This uncle was also slain; 
 and his son having avenged his death, recalled Wan to take 
 possession of his father's inheritance. His exile may have 
 embittered his temper, for when he returned he began to war on 
 his neighbours, and with such success that Yeho, Woola, Hwifa 
 and a considerable part of Manchu were added to his patrimony. 
 But he was a brave robber, not a wise ruler. His temper was 
 ungovernable ; and his itchy palm was never satisfied, though he 
 had it always full of bribes and plunder. His men, following 
 his example, waylaid and robbed on every highway. His unwise 
 policy threw away what his bravery had acquired ; for before his 
 death all his conquests had slipped out of his hands. Had he 
 acted more prudently, Manchu might never have been heard of. 
 
 Munggo Boolso was the third son of Wan, who ruled ; all three 
 reigning only a few years. His younger brothers rebelled 
 against him; and Yeho, taking advantage of his weakness, 
 attacked and defeated him. The Chinese refusing his repeated 
 prayers for help, in 1599 he sent his three sons to Noorhachu to 
 plead for urgent aid. Two thousand troops were immediately 
 
14 NUJUN. 
 
 despatched to his assistance ; but on their arrival he seized their 
 leaders, to hold them as hostages for his sons, and attacked the 
 men who had come to his aid. This breach of faith was at the 
 instigation of his former enemy Yeho, who probably feared that 
 the rider after avenging the horse would not get down again ; 
 and he was not desirous to have Noorhachu as his next door 
 neighbour. His treachery turned out badly, for Noorhachu, 
 ostensibly in anger at this bad faith, but really glad to have so 
 good an excuse, marched against Hada, took all the cities and 
 stockades of Munggo, and annexed them to Manchu in spite of 
 the angry remonstrances of the Chinese, who several times 
 attempted in vain again to set up the kingdom of Hada. And 
 by relieving the men of Hada from a famine caused by the 
 frequent inroads of Yeho, Noorhachu secured the affections of 
 \the people. This conquest so elated him, that he believed 
 himself strong enough to assert his independence, and ceased 
 paying tribute to the Chinese ; but continued to trade with 
 them at the border cities. 
 
 On the death of Wangjinoo, chief of HWIFA,* his grandson 
 murdered seven uncles and took possession of the kingdom. 
 He defeated an attack by the Mongols of Chahar, and sent a son 
 to Noorhachu as hostage, arranging a marriage for him. He 
 afterwards recalled the son, threw up the marriage, and cast 
 himself into the arms of Yeho. He built a strong double-walled 
 city, but its increased garrison did not save him ; for in 1G07 the 
 tail of a comet pointed ominously to Hwifa, and Noorhachu 
 added it to his kingdom. 
 
 Boojantai "f who was taken prisoner at the battle of Gooloshan, 
 
 * The first of these chiefs was Ngariggooli Hingjili, from the banks of the Songari, 
 who agreed to combine his surname with that of a Nalasu from Woola. They 
 sacrificed seven oxen to Heaven, and made the new sumame Nala Hingjili. The 
 men of Hwifa came originally from Nimacha on the Wooloo kianf), which I take to 
 be the Usuri. They, therefore, migrated westwards, probably when the Kin 
 dynasty had drained those regions for the purpose of ruling in China. (See 
 " History of Corea/') 
 
 -fBoojantai was the twelfth generation and thirteenth ruler of the clan Nala in 
 Woola, anciently called Hoolun. 
 
WOOL A. 15 
 
 was sent home to succeed his brother as chief of WOOLA. When 
 departing for his kingdom, a relation of Noorhachu's was given 
 him in marriage. But in 1607, a part of Woola revolted to Noor- 
 hachu, who sent four thousand men to welcome the new-comers. 
 Boojantai marched with ten thousand men to prevent the rupture 
 of his kingdom ; but he was defeated, with the loss of three 
 thousand coats of mail. Another force of five thousand men was 
 sent against Boojantai, but he dared not give battle; and thinking 
 it easier to face a daughter of his able enemy than to face his army, 
 he prayed for peace. Noorhachu, giving him his choice, sent 
 his daughter to Boojantai, and withdrew his five thousand men. 
 
 Soon thereafter he was again attacked, for he became suitor 
 for a princess of Yeho, already promised to Noorhachu. In a 
 family quarrel he let fly a whizzing arrow at the head of his 
 young bride, Noorhachu's daughter, thus doubly insulting his 
 father in law. Noorhachu marched against him, took five of his 
 cities, burnt all his stores, and made a new treaty, which did not 
 long remain in force ; for Boojantai took the field again with 
 thirty thousand men. A battle ensued, in which Noorhachu 
 ran coniderable personal risk ; but he finally gained a complete 
 victory. The eyes of the flying Boojantai were greeted by the 
 banners of Manchu waving between him and his own city, for an 
 ambush had been laid there. Boojantai turned his horse's head 
 in the direction of Yeho, and was no more heard of ; and Woola 
 became Manchu territory. 
 
 In 1613, just thirty years after his whole army amounted to a 
 hundred and thirty men, Noorhachu mustered all his forces, and 
 marched at the head of forty thousand men against Yeho,* the 
 last and most powerful of the southern or "civilized" independent 
 Nujun principalities. Now that he was ready, he could find 
 ca-sus belli sufficient, from the battle of Gooloshan down. 
 
 * The founder of the then ruling chiefclom of Yeho vras a Mongol, who had 
 assumed the surname Nala, because living among that elan. He afterwards 
 removed westwards and became chief of Yeho ; the state being named 
 after the river of that name, flowing westward into the Liao, as does the 
 Hada river on the south ; the Hwifa and Woola flow northwards into the 
 Songari. 
 
1C NUJUN. 
 
 As soon as the country people of Yeho heard of this invasion, 
 all hurried into the "cities." Messengers were sent with all 
 speed to Kaiyuen to urge the Chinese to come to the rescue, 
 with the argument that if Yeho fell, as it was now the only 
 independent tribe, the Chinese would feel the weight of 
 Noorhachu's arm. The Chinese sent on a Lieut-Colonel, with a 
 thousand stand of arms, which did not prevent Noorhachu from 
 taking seven cities and nineteen stockades. But his rough 
 wooing lost him his bride, for the princess of Yeho was given to 
 a Mongolian prince. Nor was he able to retain the places taken ; 
 V but had to retire to plan and prepare for new campaigns. 
 
 The name DOONGHAI (East Sea) was given to all the country 
 east of the Hoorha and Hingking, between the Songari, the 
 Amoor, the sea of Japan, and Corea. Several minor expeditions 
 were sent at various times into different portions of this 
 country, then, nominally, divided into three great provinces. 
 The captives brought back in these expeditions were drilled and 
 scattered among the various Banners to test them, but they were 
 found far inferior to the Manchus in fighting capacity. One of 
 those expeditions, in 1598, was under Chooying, the eldest son 
 of Noorhachu, who, with a thousand men, took twenty hamlets 
 and ten thousand captives. In 1608, the chief of Yowfei city of 
 WAKKA, started westwards, at the head of five hundred families, 
 to join the Manchus, but was stopped on the way by the men of 
 Woola, who, however, were defeated by Fei Yingdoong, then on 
 his way with three thousand men to welcome the new arrivals. 
 Warka was the name of that province of Doonghai, lying 
 between the Warka river, which fell into the Yaloo, and the sea 
 skirting the whole north border of Corea. When the various 
 clans of Manchu, Changbaishan, and Hoolun, were welded into a 
 compact kingdom in 1609, a treaty was made with the Chinese, 
 in which they agreed to order Corea to restore the Warkas who 
 had gone thither; and a thousand families were sent back. 
 ^When, again, the Manchus, in 1627, marched into Corea, two 
 I hundred odd families living there revolted to them. In 1635-6, 
 I two small expeditions ferried a number of prisoners across the 
 \ 
 
WISE GENEROSITY. 17 
 
 river, besides innumerable sables, tigers, and shualis (lynx ?). 
 And yet, once again, several years after, the Coreans went, by 
 Manchu orders, against deserter Warkas, who had taken up their 
 abode on " Bear Island," and stamped out the last of Warka 
 independence. The descendants of Warka men abound among V 
 the Manchus of the present day. 
 
 The district of HOORHA is on the Hoorha river, which springs 
 in the borders of Woola of Kirin, passes Ninguta, and enters the 
 Hwuntoong at Banking. The Tang dynasty called this the 
 Hoohan river, and its source is the original seat of the Kin 
 dynasty. (See Niljun, " History of Corea.") The Manchus first 
 marched into Hoorha, two thousand strong, in January, 1612, X>^ 
 when the city of Jakoota fell, after a three days' siege, with three 
 thousand men taken or slain. The conquerors brought back to 
 Laochung five hundred families. Four years after, a petty chief 
 went south to cast in his lot with the Manchus, at the head of his 
 hundred families. A body of two hundred men went out to 
 welcome them with a feast. It would appear that some had 
 come with grumbling, for the Manchu officers proclaimed 
 freedom of choice to go or stay. Those who desired to stay, 
 were asked to go to the left hand, those who sought to return, 
 to the right. To each of the eight of the chief men who went 
 to the left, were granted twenty male and female servants, ten 
 oxen and horses, silks and dragon-embroidered robes, with 
 changes of clothing for the four seasons ; fields, houses, utensils, 
 and ready money, were also given them. This unexpected 
 generosity decided the waverers, all of whom went to the 
 left; and the bounty caused them to break out in 
 exclamations of praise at the "goodness" of him who was 
 warring with them, not to annihilate, but to make them his 
 " feathers and his wings." Another expedition, in the following 
 year, brought back two thousand captives, besides a chief 
 who came of his own accord, and was treated in the same 
 hospitable manner as his predecessors. Yet another ex- 
 pedition, in 1643, just before the Manchus entered Peking', 
 was required to complete the annexation of the whole of 
 
18 NUJUN. 
 
 Hoorha. This expedition penetrated to the Hwuntoong, or 
 Amoor, and returned with twenty-eight hundred men and 
 women, besides great quantities of sable, tigers, and 
 leopards. 
 
 Alei, the ancient Hoorha, is 400 li north-east of Ninguta, and 
 east of it again is WoJi, or "The Forest," a land of forest- 
 covered mountains stretching eastwards to the sea. In 1610, a 
 thousand Manchus made a successful foray, bringing back two 
 thousand captives, and the allegiance of the Hoorha and Hooye 
 districts. This raid would be on the districts north of Warka, 
 for the Hooye river is 910 li south-east of Ninguta, and flows 
 into the Usuri. The districts of Ninguta and Swifun acknow- 
 ledged Manchu rule without pressure, but they were opposed by 
 the clan of the Yalan, which was, therefore, attacked by one 
 thousand men, who had gone to welcome the submitting clans. 
 The Swifun river is 440 li south-east of Ninguta, and runs 
 directly into the sea to the north-east of Toomun. The Yalan 
 rises in the south-east of Changbaishan, 500 li south-east of 
 Ninguta, and falls into the Toomun. The remaining portions of 
 Woji, Woorgoochun, and Moolin, fell next year, and the small 
 seaboard districts gave in their allegiance without compulsion. 
 The Moolin river is north of the above, 400 li east of Ninguta, 
 flowing into the Usuri. Thus all north of Corea from Ninguta 
 to the sea, acknowledged the supremacy of the Manchu 
 arms. 
 
 In 1617, an expedition was sent down the Woolajien river to 
 SAHALIEN, Sahalyan,* " Black," of Doonghai, which took scores of 
 villages. The banks of the Heiloongkiang were reached in 
 September; and though hoar frost had not yet appeared, the 
 Manchus found the river with a frozen bridge 150 feet wide. 
 They crossed, and again the river was open. They came to 
 
 Sahalyan, ABMvvwJ "black"; woo?a,X/rfilk/ ' kiang," great river ; 
 
 Sahalyan woola Black River, in Chinese, Heiloong Kiang; it is the Songari, 
 flowing east. DOONGHAI, or the 4< Eastern Sea" Province, seems to have included 
 in it all between the Hoorha, Changbaishan, and the sea, 
 
EXTENT OF MANCHU. 19 
 
 rvrross, and the ice was again formed. They got to the districts 
 of Nualo and Sila rivers, flowing, the former into the 
 Hwuntoong, the latter direct to the sea; and the dog-employing 
 districts of Yintahwim and Takoola, all on the south of the 
 Hwuntoong. The tribe on the Sila was called Chiyaka. The 
 result scarcely justified such a miracle, for only eleven villages 
 north of the river fell to the invaders. Next year, a body of 
 four hundred men sufficed to scour all the country of the petty 
 clans on the seaside, and in two hundred small boats left not 
 an island un visited. 
 
 In 1626, all the lands east of the Songari, and south of the 
 Hwuntoong to its entrance into the sea, were Manchu soil; 
 including the dog-using* tribes of Hoju or Hojin, now under 
 Russia, and producing, perhaps, the finest sable in the world ; 
 and the deer-using Chilar and Feiyaha, with the island of 
 Kooshan. (Saghalien). East to west, this region was " 4000 li ; 
 north to south, 2000." The island of Kooshan is peopled by 
 men from Chilar, Feiyaha, and Woohmchwun. Those remote 
 districts did not nominate Dsolings, nor rank in the Manchu 
 Eight Banners. They are now all Russian. 
 
 A geographical note in the " Holy Wars," states that the 
 eastern province from Ninguta is composed of, first, Nualei, or 
 ancient Hoorha district, on both banks of the Hoorha, and 400 
 li (north) east of Ninguta ; second, 1000 li east of Ninguta, on 
 both banks of the Usuri, the district of Shoolun, which, with the 
 district of Chiya Kala, at the sources of the Niman, 200 li 
 further east, constituted the ancient Woji. The south province 
 is Bajirhan Kala, 4000 (?) li from the Usuri, and south-east of 
 Ninguta, whence fur tribute used to come every second year by 
 the Niman river. The north province, or circuit, included Hoju 
 Kala, 1500 li north-east of Ninguta, occupying both banks of 
 the Songari and Hwuntoong ; 400 or 500 li still further north- 
 east, where the Usuri falls into the Hwuntoong, and occupying 
 
 * The terms Dog-using and Deer-using tribes, are self-explanatory. The former 
 employs teams of dogs, the latter of deer, to draw their pali or sledges. On 
 Saghalin and the mainland, are " very hairy " men, who are the Oinos of Japan. 
 
20 NUJUN. 
 
 both banks, is the kingdom of the dog-using Hoju ; 700 or 800 
 li further to the north-east, along the Hwuntoong, is Feiyaha, 
 stretching to Chilar, which is 3000 li from Ninguta, and 
 bordering the sea. 
 
 1603, Noorhachu removed his capital from the centre of 
 the plain of Hotooala, to the southernmost spur of the mountains 
 on the north side of the plain, and called the new city Hingking, 
 or the " Capital of Prosperity." Moukden or Mookden, in 
 Manchu, means the same. Before two years had elapsed, events 
 had so crowded the new city, that it was far too small, and he 
 was compelled to build an outer wall, with a wide sweep all 
 round.* In the year 1606, the Mongol Beiras sent him a compli- 
 mentary embassy, to style him the Shun-woo, the " Intelligent 
 and warlike." In 1616, the great ministers called him the 
 "Nourisher of all the kingdoms," and gave him the title of 
 Ying-ming emperor, the "brave and illustrious." From this 
 year dates the first of his reign under the style Tien-ming, 
 " Decree of Heaven," which we shall see was well bestowed. 
 But the "Holy Wars" date it a year before, and the "Ming 
 History " two years after. 
 
 The rapid progress and thoroughness of the conquests of 
 Noorhachu, and the great political power which he had attained, 
 by his rare combination of wisdom in his government, with 
 bravery in the field, alarmed the Chinese officials of Liaotung, 
 who had themselves alone to blame ; for it was their tinkering 
 and botching of the affairs of these petty tribes, which broke the 
 shell whence had sprung this scourging cockatrice. They had 
 doubtless brought many a small tyrant to reason before, and 
 believed themselves able to crash this man whenever they had 
 a mind to do so. They had once and again sent a handful of 
 men to assist those who were defending themselves from his 
 attacks ; which forces however had been inadequate to serve any 
 other purpose than that of rousing in his mind a bitter enmity 
 against their meddlesomeness. They made no serious effort to 
 confine him within proper bounds, till he had become a mighty 
 
 * See Appendix, Geographical Notes. 
 
PREPARATION FOR WAR. 21 
 
 power, which they could no longer restrain by the means at their 
 disposal. They were not fully alive to the dangerous character 
 of that power, and to the necessity of taking prompt and strong 
 precautionary measures ; and they were ready to be satisfied if 
 they could hold their own. Judging properly, they preferred to 
 make the soil of an ally their battle-field, and saw that it was 
 their interest to aid Yeho, which was determined to offer a 
 brave resistance against annexation though all the other 
 independent chieftains had fallen a prey to the revenge or 
 ambition of Noorhachu. To make this resistance effectual, 
 Chinese soldiers and firearms were essential. And a large 
 reinforcement sent to Kaiyuen considerably strengthened their 
 position. It was this move compelled Noorhachu to relinquish 
 the captured cities. 
 
 Wisdom could easily defend the Chinese power in Liaotung, 
 and overthrow Noorhachu, who would have been a madman if 
 he even dared to dream of his becoming ruler of Mookden ; and 
 wisdom and bravery there were, more than sufficient, at the 
 disposal of the Chinese emperor. But alas for the wisdom which 
 has to serve under eunuchs, whether in China or Europe ! 
 Wisdom had to hide its head in the secrecy of private life, 
 whenever it came into collision, as it generally did, with the 
 .schemes and interests of the eunuchs. 
 
 The defeated battalions of Hada, Hwifa and Woola had learned 
 to become conquerors under the banners of Noorhachu, who was 
 determined to gain Yeho. But the freedom of that state could 
 be wrenched from it only by the defeat of its brave army ; 
 which again could be accomplished only by snapping the power 
 of the Chinese in the neighbourhood, or by a decisive and crushing 
 victory over them, which would end at once their arrogance and 
 the obstinacy of Yeho. He therefore spent two years in the pre- 
 paration of engines of war, and in the active drilling of his troops. 
 He selected with critical eye the best men, and formed them 
 into picked companies ; thus to be ready for any emergency, and 
 to seize the first favourable opportunity for hostilities. 
 
 In 1617, when he believed everything complete, he drew up a 
 
22 NUJUN. 
 
 paper of seven " hates " or grievances, addressed to the emperor 
 but burnt it to inform heaven and earth and the ancestral temple^ 
 which was certainly more expeditious, and quite as efficacious as 
 forwarding it to Peking ; for though the Ming emperor " Wan-li " 
 was of mature years, his wisdom had yet to grow. Most likely 
 it would never have reached the dragon throne ; for it would be 
 consigned to oblivion by the faithful eunuch ministers, who 
 loved truth so much that they wished to keep it all to 
 themselves and give none to the emperor. Vengeance for his 
 father and grandfather, murdered thirty-four years before, was of 
 course the principal reason alleged for his declaration of war 
 against the Chinese ! But it is scarcely necessary to say, that, 
 as in almost all Avars of conquests, the true reason did not appear 
 on that paper, but was to be learned from the two years' 
 preparations. In his case as in mo&t others-, revenge was a good 
 cloak to cover ambition, and Noorhach-u knew the state of 
 Liaotung better than the emperor did. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 
 
 CONQUEST OF LIAOTUNG. 
 
 THE Seven Grievances, or "Hates," referred to and on which 
 Noorhachu founded his declaration of war, were as follows : 
 
 "1. Though my ancestors never took a straw from, nor hurt an 
 inch of earth within the Chinese boundary, the Chinese were 
 unceasingly quarrelling, and without just reason, abetting my 
 neighbours to the great injury of my ancestors. 
 
 " 2. Notwithstanding such injuries it was still my desire to be 
 on friendly terms with the Chinese Emperor, and I therefore'set 
 up a stone slab on the border, on which was engraved an oath, 
 that whoever, Manchu or Chinaman, should cross the frontier, 
 must suffer instant death ; and that if any man aided in sending 
 back the trespasser, he would himself suffer death instead. 
 This oath was disregarded by the Chinese, whose soldiers crossed 
 to aid Yeho. 
 
 " 3. At Nankiangan and Beihai on the Ching ho, the Chinese 
 crossed the river every year, plundering all around, regardless of 
 consequences. I carried out my oath to the letter and slew as 
 many as were seen on our side the river. Thereupon the 
 Chinese annulled the treaty between us, reproached me with 
 murdering their people, and at our very border murdered my 
 ambassador to Kwangning, with his nine attendants. 
 
 " 4. The Chinese crossed the frontier to aid Yeho, and thus 
 compelled men and women who were our subjects to return to 
 Mongol allegiance. 
 
 " 5. For many generations we have tilled the lands along the 
 Chai river, along the tripartite roads at Foongan mountain pass. 
 The Chinese soldiers came and drove away the reapers when 
 they went to gather in the harvest. 
 
24 CONQUEST OF LIAOTUNG. 
 
 " 6. Though Yeho sinned against Heaven, you continued to 
 listen to their deceiving speech ; and sent me a messenger with 
 a letter upbraiding me, railing at and abusing me without 
 restraint, causing me unspeakable shame. 
 
 " 7. Hada of old assisted Yeho in battling against me, who had 
 only my own resources on which to rely. Heaven gave me 
 Hada. You of the Ming* supported them, causing them to return 
 to their own homes. But Hada was afterwards frequently 
 attacked and robbed by this same Yeho. If these small 
 kingdoms had obeyed the will of Heaven, they could not but 
 abide and prosper ; disobeying the will of Heaven they must be 
 broken and destroyed. Can you preserve in life those appointed 
 to die ? I took Hada men ; do you still desire to restore them ? 
 You are a prince of Heaven's appointment. You are the sole 
 emperor of all under Heaven, why do you envy me the possession 
 of my small kingdom ? When Hoolun kingdoms gathered 
 against me to destroy me, Heaven abandoned them and aided 
 me, because they fought against me without a cause. At that 
 time you aided Yeho against me, and thus ran counter to the 
 will of Heaven ; you reversed my right and his wrong, and thus 
 divided an unjust judgment. 
 
 " For all these reasons I hate you with an intense hatred and 
 now make war against you." 
 
 This paper he solemnly burnt with sacrificial rites to inform 
 Heaven of the justice of his cause, and immediately set his 
 army in motion. 
 
 With the bow and arrow as his principal offensive arm, 
 Noorhachu marched westwards with twenty thousand cavalry 
 and infantry, two hundred li against Fooshwun, the first 
 Chinese city east of Mookden. Before getting to Fooshwun, 
 the cities of Machow, Gunchow, Daichow, and Taipoo, fell. A 
 lieut.-col. sent against him deserted to him, and the commandant 
 of Fooshwun committed suicide. The city was taken and 
 garrisoned, and the Manchus retraced their steps. They were 
 
 * The Ming or Bright Dynasty, established by a monk (see " History of Corea"), 
 then ruled over China. 
 
FIRST BATTLE WITH CHINESE. 25 
 
 overtaken by a force of ten thousand Chinese from Kwangning, 
 against which they advanced " like the wind," and all but 
 annihilated them. Immense numbers of Chinese, including 
 their general, lieut. -general, and a colonel, were slain. The fact 
 however that half the number of Chinese would undertake to 
 pursue the Manchus, shows that they believed themselves greatly 
 the superior. This will help to explain the battles immediately 
 to be mentioned. 
 
 In the autumn of the same year, 1618, he pounced upon and 
 took the city of Chingho in the south-west, defeating the 
 Chinese army there, and slaying the incredible number of ten 
 thousand men with their commander. He was proceeding 
 southwards with his conquests, got to Jienchang, which he took 
 and levelled to the ground, but his army clamoured to be led 
 against Yeho ; probably fearing that if they went much further 
 south, the men of Yeho would pour in from the north, sack their 
 city, and destroy their families. This shows the relationship 
 subsisting between commander and soldier ; for Noorhachu was 
 compelled to relinquish his pet scheme, and to march northwards 
 against Yeho, to protect his rear. Of all the neighbouring 
 Nujun principalities, Yeho alone offered a brave but now very 
 unequal resistance. Yeho could be successful only by the aid of 
 Chinese assistance, and Chinese officials were now fully alive to 
 the evils brought upon them by their tinkering. They were 
 also well aware that Chinese territory was comparatively safe from 
 molestation while Yeho stood strong and faithful. It was 
 therefore their interest to support Yeho with all their might and 
 do all they could to prevent the Manchus from wrenching victory 
 out of their brave but out-numbered hands. Wisely judging it 
 best to make the soil of an ally rather than their own their battle 
 field, they supported Yeho by throwing a largely increased 
 garrison into Kaiyuen. This did not, however, stop Noorhachu, 
 who marched in, determined to annex Yeho. But he had taken 
 no more than twenty forts and their cattle when he was suddenly 
 summoned to save his capital, around which was converging a 
 force of two hundred thousand Chinese soldiers. 
 
26 CONQUEST OF LIAOTUNG. 
 
 The great preparations of Noorhachu during those two active 
 years, could not be unknown to the Chinese officials. The 
 capture of Fooshwun proved his daring, and the Chinese found 
 it necessary to bestir themselves to preserve their territory in 
 Liaotung. As there were then feAV pressing calls on the 
 resources of the Chinese government, a force of over two 
 hundred thousand was speedily collected around Peking from all 
 quarters. Yang Hao was nominated commander with the title 
 tifjinglo, or "generalissimo" of all Liaotung. 
 
 In February, 1619, he received orders to inarch eastwards 
 immediately and destroy the troublesome little neighbour of 
 Hingking. In vain did he expostulate against sending him at 
 the head of a rabble of old men, and with empty coffers ; the 
 Board of War declared he must march without delay. In low 
 spirits, he consulted with his fellow-commanders, and on the 1st 
 day of the 2nd moon (middle of March), 1619, the large army 
 struck their tents and followed the standard of Yang Hao. The 
 inarch was not stopped though the standard-bearer saw some 
 inauspicious omens. On the 20th day they passed through 
 Shanhaigwan. 
 
 Arrived in Mookden, they divided into four armies of fifty 
 thousand men each; one under Doo Soong marched straight 
 east, following the north bank of the Hwun, and entering 
 Fooshwun, which had been captured and abandoned by 
 Noorhachu. Ma Lin marched north to Kaiyuen, with the object 
 probably of encouraging or compelling Yeho to remain loyal. 
 He marched southwards through Yeho, picking up twenty 
 thousand Yeho men, and passed on to Sanchakow, or the 
 Tripartite gully. Li Zoobai marched along the Ching river from 
 the south-west ; and Liw Ting advanced from Kwandien, after 
 amalgamating a Corean army of twenty thousand men, who had 
 come thither. Each of the four divisions was accompanied by a 
 eunuch, who was a civilian deputed by the emperor to be a spy 
 and a spur to the commander ; just as the French revolutionary 
 republic sent deputies to watch over and report their generals. 
 All this shows that the court at Peking was aware of the danger, 
 
GREAT EXCITEMENT. 27 
 
 and proves the ample provision they made to make sure of 
 success. 
 
 If the Manchu Hannibal had had opposed tc/him a Chinese 
 Fabius, he could have had no resource but to pack up his 
 valuables and dash with his best men into the eastern wilder- 
 nesses of Doonghai ; his city would have been razed to the 
 ground, and the Tsing never heard of; but he was opposed by 
 eunuchs. When the news of this formidable circle of steel was 
 communicated to the soldier citizens of Hingking, the greatest 
 terror seized all hearts ; but Noorhachu did not despair. He 
 beat a hasty retreat from Yeho, emptied every garrison town, 
 drained every stockade, summoned in from every road-side the 
 men able to carry arms, and crowded Hingking with over sixty 
 thousand well-trained soldiers. Here with bated breath but 
 cool head, he waited the approach of what seemed a sure and 
 overwhelming destruction, and was constantly hearing the reports 
 of his numerous scouts, flying in from all directions. 
 
 Being himself a man full of stratagem, when a breathless 
 scout informed him that the enemy was approaching by the 
 southern frontier, he believed it was a trick to entice him after 
 that band, while the main army would rush down like a 
 whirlwind from the west, and sack and obliterate his city, when 
 he was fighting in the south. He determined not to be their 
 dupe. Giving them credit for more wisdom than they possessed, 
 he promptly ordered every man to be ready to follow him 
 against the western division ; for that once broken, the retreat 
 or more easy defeat of the others was secured. He thus decided 
 to carry out the tactics which gained the victories of Napoleon 
 the first two centuries after, viz., massing his own troops, and 
 charging a section of the enemy before the rest could come up 
 to the rescue ; for man to man the Chinese were quite the equals 
 of the Manchus, and the latter had no hope but in generalship. 
 Both sides were determined to conquer or die ; but several of the 
 Chinese superior officers caused the red flag of victory to be 
 daily hoisted, for defeat was thought impossible. 
 
 Doo Soong, commander of the western army, was a brave 
 
28 CONQUEST OF LIAOTUNG. 
 
 soldier who despised the enemy, and was eager to acquire the 
 glory of finishing the war single-handed. He, therefore, led fifty 
 thousand men east from Fooshwun, travelling thirty-three miles 
 that day. Arrived at the foot of the north bank of the Hwun, 
 along which he had skirted, he found the river much swollen 
 and flowing with a strong and rapid current ; for it was the 
 middle of April, and the many mountain affluents of the Hwun 
 were bearing down the thawed ice and snow of the mountains, 
 east of Hingking, half-way to Corea. But so impatient was he 
 to take Hingking, that he would not wait to construct rafts, but 
 flogged his horses into the river, which carried away many of 
 them with their riders. His stores on five hundred carts had to 
 remain on the northern bank. News of this movement reached 
 Noorhachu before a blow could be struck, he being already on 
 the march in that direction. His scouts had given him the most 
 correct information as to the exact position of all the other armies. 
 Their distance, with accurate knowledge of the difficult nature 
 of the mountainous road they had to take, warranted him in 
 drawing off every man from his capital ; and he could face Soong's 
 fifty thousand with sixty thousand men. He was not far from 
 Soong when the latter crossed the Hwun on the first of the 
 third moon. 
 
 Doo Soong detached thirty thousand men to make an 
 entrenched camp on Sarhoo hill, and marched with twenty 
 thousand to invest Jiefan, a hundred and twenty li (40 miles) 
 north-west of Hingking, and on the north side of the Soodsu, 
 which washed its southern foot, as it swept past the northern 
 foot of Sarhoo hill. Jiefan was a city of fifteen thousand inha- 
 bitants, and had then, accidentally, four hundred soldiers, who 
 had been sent to build a palace for the fourth Beira, the favourite 
 son, afterwards the successor, of Noorhachu. The four hundred 
 lay in ambush in the gorge of Sarhoo, through which Doo Soong 
 must pass to Jiefan. They permitted the van of the enemy to 
 pass by, and then suddenly rushed out upon the astonished 
 Chinese, and drove them on to the ford below Jiefan. There 
 the Manchus were speedily surrounded, and would soon have 
 
BATTLE OF SARHOO. 29 
 
 been annihilated, but just at this juncture the fourth Beira 
 dashed on the scene to relieve his four hundred men, at the head 
 of a thousand picked horsemen, two banners (fifteen thousand 
 men) closely following behind. To this move his father gave a 
 reluctant consent, he being desirous to attack Sarhoo camp with 
 his undivided force ; after taking which, the men at Jiefan could 
 not stand out ; but he was thus leaving his four hundred to 
 utter destruction. With the other six banners (forty-five 
 thousand men), Noorhachu came up in the afternoon to the 
 Chinese camp at Sarhoo, where he was received with tremendous 
 volleys of cannon and gingals, which made more noise than 
 damage, for they were of native manufacture. 
 
 The night fell in so dark, that one could not see an arm's 
 length before him. Speedily torches twinkled all over the 
 Chinese camp ; but thick darkness enveloped the Manchus, who 
 from their dark-shielded position let fly their arrows like 
 showers of rain, every one of which told ; for by their own lights 
 were distinctly seen 'the Chinese soldiers, who fired away most 
 vigorously into the dark, bringing down many a willow tree, but 
 leaving the Manchus without a wounded man. The latter drew 
 nearer and nearer in the dark, till at last they arrived at the 
 palisade, which they attacked with a rush, took it, and leapt over in 
 overwhelming numbers, the Chinese flying in the greatest disorder.. 
 
 Without a rest, Noorhachu led on his six banners, intoxicated 
 with success, against the investing body at Jiefan. He sent a 
 detachment over the hill, which galloped down, attacking the 
 Chinese in flank and rear. Doo Soong, fighting against such 
 great odds, was killed by an arrow shot. His men, thereupon, 
 broke up in wild confusion, and fled across the Hwun, which 
 they left completely covered with dead bodies, flags and arms. 
 All the principal Chinese officers were slain, and the survivors 
 pursued for seven miles. 
 
 Ma Lin at Sanchakow, hearing of the disaster, entrenched 
 himself at the foot of the hill Shangjien, surrounding his camp 
 with a triple fosse. His artillery he set in position outside the 
 fosse, with the cavalry drawn up behind. He issued the strictest 
 
30 COXQUEST OF LIAOTUNG. 
 
 orders against any man straggling away from his post, This 
 was in accordance with a plan of Yang Hao, who, besides, 
 ordered two bodies of ten thousand men each, to occupy two 
 hills, one on each side of the main camp, and a short distance 
 ahead of it, to cover the flanks of Ma Lin. One of these was 
 placed under the eunuch, the other under Nienswi. He also 
 ordered all three to range their wagons outside their respective 
 camps, to prevent the inbreak of cavalry; and to make heavy 
 shields to protect their men from the arrows. They were thus 
 posted for defence and ready for battle at a moment's warning, 
 when the fourth Beira, at the head of his thousand picked 
 horsemen, rushed with resistless vehemence against the flank of 
 Nienswi. His foot seconded his attack, and a comer of the 
 camp was soon taken, the wagons cut down, and the shields 
 destroyed. 
 
 The eight Banners were however massed against Ma Lin, two 
 to one. Noorhachu was ordering some of his men to go round 
 the base of the hill, scale it behind, and come down on the rear 
 of Ma Lin, but recalled the orders ; for Ma Lin, probably 
 impatient, was seen to move his men out beyond the fosse, to 
 act on the offensive. The Manchus were ordered to dismount 
 and fight on foot ; but while Noorhachu and his men were in the 
 act of dismounting, the Chinese were upon him at the run. He 
 was thus suddenly in the most imminent danger, when the first 
 Beira, his eldest son, in great fury, galloped headlong into the 
 midst of the advancing Chinese, closely followed by the second 
 brother, the third hastening on with two Banners just at their 
 heels, and the battle became a mel^e. The other six Banners in 
 their excitement broke their ranks, and each for himself galloped 
 in pell-mell amongst the Chinese. If that eunuch with his 10,000 
 in good order were only half a general ! The noise of their shouts 
 shook the earth, and the Chinese were soon like a tile thrown 
 to the ground, broken into a thousand fragments. The river at 
 the foot of Shangjien ran blood ; but the eunuch stirred not. 
 And when he did move, it was to forsake his ten thousand and 
 flee alone. Ma Lin escaped with a handful of men, and made 
 
DEER HORN CAMP. 31 
 
 for Kaiyuen. The Yeho men fled before they got to the battle 
 field ; having heard of the defeat on their way. 
 
 Yang Hao hearing of this second disaster, sent off an express 
 to the south and south-west armies, ordering them to retreat. 
 Li Zoobai of the south-west received the message, and made off ; 
 but Liw Ting in the south pressed further northwards in perfect 
 ignorance of what had taken place, and was then only about 
 50 li (17 miles) south of Hingking. Noorhachu told off four 
 thousand men to protect his capital, to be ready for the possible 
 rally of the northern army, or the march of that of Chingho, 
 and then went south to reconnoitre Liw Ting's position ; who 
 after he had carefully laid out and fortified his camp, had 
 sent out detachments, which took a number of stockades and 
 villages, and five hundred Manchu soldiers. The report of this 
 incensed the Manchus, who began to believe nothing impossible. 
 But the scouts of Noorhachu persisted in proclaiming the 
 impracticability of taking the Chinese camp ; for all was in the 
 most complete order, and every possible path was beset with 
 " deer's horns." * 
 
 Noorhachu sent some deserters to the camp of Liw Ting, 
 who apjproached it from the west, pretending to come from Doo 
 Soong, to say that he (Doo Soong) had already taken the city, 
 and to urge Liw Ting to advance with all possible speed. Liw 
 Ting replied that he had heard no firing. The spies hurried 
 back ; and the Manchu soldiers were ordered to fire off a number 
 of volleys, which was heard by Liw Ting, who had advanced 
 seven miles to reconnoitre. The noise of the cannon decided 
 him. He hastened back to his camp, gave orders to abandon 
 the "deer's horns," and bewailed his fate that he could not 
 march with sufficient speed ; fearing the western army would rob 
 him of all glory. He divided his men into four divisions ; the 
 
 *" Deer's horns" are pieces of wood forming St. Andrew's crosses, running at 
 right angles through a long heavy cross beam, as close as they can lie, their lower 
 ends heavy and longer; their upper tapering to a point, half pointing outwards, 
 half inwards. They are sometimes seen surrounding yamens ; and being ponderous 
 and diffictilt of removal, are formidable obstacles to man as well as to beast. 
 
32 CONQUEST OF LIAOTUNG. 
 
 first two of which contained his choicest troops. The first ten 
 thousand men drew up in battle order at Aboodaligang.* 
 
 The fourth Beira was waiting on a neighbouring eastern 
 eminence, down which he galloped against them at the head of four 
 Banners forming the right wing. Outnumbered though they were 
 by three to one, the Chinese were bent on fighting to the last 
 man. But while the Manchu right wing was hotly engaging the 
 Chinese, the left wing (the other four Banners) wheeled round 
 the base of the hill from the west, flying the banners, and clad 
 in the armour of the defeated Doo Soong. They got inside the 
 Chinese camp before the trick was discovered, when, with a 
 great shout, they struck out right and left. The suddenness 
 with which the revelation came upon them, when they found 
 that the men they had permitted to enter as their much needed 
 succour were their foes, utterly confounded the Chinese ; and it 
 is not surprising that though brave men, they were thrown into 
 the wildest confusion. Liw Ting flew back upon his next 
 division, which was not yet in battle order. Before they were 
 drawn up, the Manchus were upon them. Liw was slain fighting 
 valiantly. 
 
 Liw's infantry, under Kan Yingchien, the Taotai of Haichow 
 (Haichung), with the twenty thousand Coreans, was encamped 
 at Chaju desert to the south. They were now attacked in their 
 turn. A terrific north wind blowing at the time drove small 
 gravel, sand, and the smoke of their own guns into their eyes, 
 and completely blinded them. The Manchus, taking advantage 
 of the situation, pushed against and leaped over the palisade. 
 Yingchien was completely defeated, and fled. The Corean 
 commander with five thousand Coreans and Chinese deserted to 
 the Manchus; and Hingking sky was fairer than ever, the terrific 
 thunder clouds disappeared, after harmlessly bursting. 
 
 The Ming history relates that three hundred superior officers 
 and forty-five thousand men perished in the five days within 
 which these battles were fought around Hingking. The spoils, 
 camels, horses, mail armour, weapons of war, native cannon, 
 
 *See Geographical Notes. 
 
MANCHU JOY. 33 
 
 waggons and army stores of all kinds, were numbered by the 
 million.* 
 
 If the men of Manchu were beside themselves with joy at this 
 extraordinary deliverance ; so utterly unexpected a defeat threw 
 Peking into the greatest consternation. Noorhachu, instead of 
 annihilation, found himself on the pinnacle of glory. But we 
 think it is absurd for Manchu historians to regard this battle 
 finally decisive, as to the ultimate triumph of the Manchus and 
 the complete overthrow of the Ming. It is easy to prophesy 
 after the event; but the thought of being able to upset the 
 Chinese dynasty, never entered into the head of Noorhachu, 
 and he would have been less wise than he has credit for, had he 
 ever imagined himself equal to the task of overturning the Ming 
 family. Had Hiwng Tingbi, to be mentioned immediately, not 
 been recalled, Noorhachu would never have crossed the Liao. And 
 were it not for the accession of Woo Sangwei, the Manchus 
 could not have gained greater power than, if so much as, the 
 Liao or Kin.-f- The Ming dynasty committed suicide ; just as 
 the Da Tsing will, if they permit lawlessness, licentiousness and 
 corruption to rule their rulers. The rock on which this formidable 
 expedition split was similar to that which brought disaster on the 
 French in their last war. From an arrogant contempt of their 
 foes, they neglected to observe the most ordinary precautions. 
 Liw Ting would never have been so hoodwinked, had he been as 
 vigilant as he was brave. A few scouts could inform him of the 
 position of the enemy, and the fact that he was ignorant of the 
 movements of his next neighbour was unpardonable ignorance. 
 The Yeho men dressed and spoke like the Manchus, and a corps 
 of them could have been attached to each army to act as spies. 
 He may be a brave man, but not a wise one, who shoots Niagara, 
 
 * I have carefully compared the long account of these battles engraved on the 
 large slab at Sarhoo, and, though more minute in some unimportant details, the 
 only item of additional interest gleaned thence was that Noorhachu ordered his 
 eldest son to ride swiftly to Hingking to bear the good news to his queen, on the day 
 when Ma Lin fled. He followed himself after he made arrangements for the 
 attack by his sons on Liw Ting. For position of Sarhoo, see Appendix I. 
 
 f See " History of Corea." 
 C 
 
34 CONQUEST OF LIAOTUNG. 
 
 or takes a leap in the dark, or goes with a light heart against an 
 unknown enemy. 
 
 The principal blame is certainly attachable to Yang Hao, 
 who divided his army without taking any measures for inter- 
 
 Old Style Manchu Robe. 
 
 communication, whether for mutual support or information. 
 Hence the brave but blinded Chinese, who, if properly and 
 cautiously led, were four to one, found their enemy in immensely 
 preponderating numbers at every turn. The blame and the 
 
MENTAL POWER. 35 
 
 praise are to be allotted to the respective generals, the men on both 
 .sides differing but little ; indeed we feel inclined to say, that the 
 Chinese were the better soldiers. It is not true that, given good 
 soldiers, any kind of officer is sufficiently good ; the converse is 
 more like the truth. Nor is it true that the " people " are or 
 shall be the guiding force of the future. The people have and 
 shall rightly retain the power to choose that guiding force, but 
 they themselves will be impelled by the men they choose. A 
 people may, as in 1792, seize and imagine it possesses all power, 
 while it has only changed the name of its guide; and with its 
 own hands, it will set up and worship the Napoleon who binds 
 its limbs, and does with it what he will. Mind will guide the 
 future as it has guided the past, and the more universal diffusion 
 of education, ensures the more unquestioning submission to mind. 
 The generalship of Taidsoo * was of the highest order, and can 
 be favourably compared with that of our great western 
 commanders; and Yang Hao was very properly recalled to 
 Peking, and punished for his abuse of the power he had held. 
 Taidsoo gave his men only one month's rest before he led them, 
 while the terror of the last defeat was yet fresh, against Kaiyuen, 
 the most northerly of the Chinese possessions, which was strongly 
 fortified and garrisoned. There he found Ma Lin, who had fled 
 from Sanchakow, pursuing his old tactics ; for his men, probably 
 survivors of the late baf tie, were divided into four companies, 
 one outside each gate. Taidsoo sprang with his whole force 
 upon the division outside the east gate, drove it into the city, 
 and followed it, seizing the gate. The rest of the army, which 
 could not push- in by the gate, set up the "cloudy ladders," 
 and swarmed up the sides like ants. The men on the wall, too 
 few to resist, scrambled down, and the city was taken. The 
 three divisions of Ma Lin outside their respective gates began to 
 think of flight, but it was too late, for the moat was in possession 
 of Taidsoo. Three days' registration left unfinished the tale of 
 
 * Taidsoo, The Great Ancestor, is the honourable title given to Noorhachu when 
 his grandson mounted the Dragon Throne in Peking and by this title we shall 
 henceforth call him. 
 
36 CONQUEST OF LIAOTUNG. 
 
 the captives ; while Ma Lin himself, with a colonel, lieut.-eolonel, 
 and major perished in the fight. 
 
 Because the heat was great, Taidsoo retired only to Jiefan, 
 the scene of their greatest triumph, where a palace, public offices, 
 and barracks had been erected ; and Hingking ceased to be the 
 capital of Manchu. After resting there over a month, Taidsoo 
 marched northwards and took Tieling, the only Chinese city 
 standing north of Mookden, defeating the Mongols of Karka who 
 came to its rescue, and taking their beira captive. From Tieling 
 he marched eastwards on Yeho, which was by this time entirely 
 cowed, and the two separate states into which it was divided 
 fell almost without a blow. Their respective beiras were taken 
 and hung, for men of their rank could not be beheaded. The 
 cities of Yeho opened their gates, and the Chinese soldiers who 
 had been sent thither were all put to the sword. 
 
 Thus the original intention of Taidsoo was accomplished ; for 
 the principal divisions of the Nujun, speaking the same language 
 and following the same customs, were united into one unit, for 
 the first time since the Kin dynasty was overthrown. His 
 kingdom now extended northwards to the Songari, east to the 
 sea, west to the territory of Liaoyang, and south to Corea. 
 
 In July of the same year, Hiwng Tingbi was nominated 
 jinglo * or " generalissimo " of Liaotung instead of Yang Hao. 
 By the beginning of winter, he proceeded to Liaoyang, then 
 and formerly the capital of Liaotung : and in spite of a severe 
 shock of earthquake in Liaoyang and Mookden, he took prompt 
 and energetic measures to prevent the further rise of the 
 Manchu tide. In the teeth of a heavy snow storm, he 
 hastened from city to town, from mountain to river, to discover 
 the weak points which might be attacked, and the strong places 
 which could be easily defended. He disposed a hundred and 
 eighty thousand troops with inter-communication, in six different 
 passes, south, south-west, west and north of Hingking, at little 
 over thirty miles distance from the city, with strict orders, that if 
 the enemy attacked any post, the men on the spot were to drive 
 * An office which was finally abolished. 
 
:HB ^ 
 
 UNIVERSITY )) 
 
 _ 
 ENVIRONMENT OF MANCHU. 
 
 them back ; but if the enemy was in preponderating numbers, 
 messengers were to be sent immediately to demand the aid of 
 the nearest division, and all were to hold themselves in readiness 
 mutually to assist each other in case of need. He set chains of 
 patrols, to be always on the move, and ever challenging each 
 other. The choicest troops were formed into a roving army, to 
 hover, cloud-like, on the edge of Manchu territory, now here, 
 now there, harassing and threatening them on every possible 
 opportunity, permitting them neither to sow nor to reap, and 
 seizing all comers and goers. 
 
 The Hingking country, so mountainous, was unfitted for 
 bolder measures ; especially as the 'morale of the Chinese army 
 had to be restored. City walls which he found in ruins were 
 rebuilt, and forsaken towns again peopled. He found the people 
 dejected, miserable, all panic-stricken. The inhabitants of cities, 
 villages, and country, and even the soldiery, were " hiding away 
 like rats," and none dared travel. For hundreds of li not a 
 traveller was to be seen, and all tremblingly said that the rich 
 and populous Liaotung was lost. But his firmness set them 
 all to work, his energy restored confidence ; and the best proof 
 of his generalship was, that Taidsoo never attempted to break 
 through the living wall on his west, for the two years during 
 which Tingbi was generalissimo. But, unfortunately for his 
 country, this Fabius was not dictator, and the envious eunuchs 
 at court never ceased from accusing him of inaction, till he had 
 at last to resign his command. 
 
 The father of one Dsoong Wun, a minister in Peking, died ; 
 xind, according to custom, the son had to retire from office to 
 mourn his father. He was, however, eager to be restored to his 
 post before the legal period of three years had expired, and 
 solicited the good offices of Tingbi, who refused to interfere. 
 Dsoong Wun became, therefore, the enemy of Tingbi, and 
 having no public duties to occupy his mind, he journeyed east- 
 wards to examine into the state of the army of Tingbi. 
 
 Tingbi had reported at Peking the case of a native of 
 Liaotung, who had lost by desertion half of his division of 
 
.38 CONQUEST OF LIAOTUNG. 
 
 seventeen thousand men. The accused became his enemy, and 
 consorted with Dsoong Wun, plotting to ruin Tingbi. Thus 
 seconded, the ex-minister returned to Peking, became the com- 
 panion of the eunuch clique, and once and again a censor was 
 found to accuse Tingbi of negligence. He had at last to go to- 
 Peking, and was sent to his own private house pending 
 investigation. The emperor Tienchi ordered some of the 
 enemies of Tingbi to go to Liaotung to examine and report. 
 Friends of justice, after a great deal of wordy and paper war, 
 got this order cancelled, and a neutral party was despatched 
 eastwards, who returned after an absence of two months, and 
 reported that he had found everything in the most excellent 
 condition, the ruined walls rebuilt, Liaoyang and Shunyang, 
 (Mookden), which had been bare and empty, now completely 
 fortified, and all the people tranquilised ; agriculture and 
 merchandise, which had been stopped, were flourishing without 
 fear of interruption ; and the officials and soldiers of Liaotung 
 joined the hundreds of thousands of citizens in praying for the 
 restoration of Tingbi, whom they declared to "be the only man 
 for the post. He also reported that when Tingbi was urging 
 on the building of walls and the digging of moats, every man,, 
 without exception, had to labour; no amount of literary 
 knowledge or talent exempted a man. Hence arose a great 
 outcry against him. Every incompetent official, civil or military, 
 had been removed, all of whom were become his enemies ; and 
 he concluded his report by saying that Tingbi was the man to 
 save Liaotung, and should be reappointed without loss of time 
 to the post which he had been compelled so unrighteously to 
 vacate. 
 
 While writing, speaking and faction were active in Peking,/ 
 and hot-tempered parties paralysed the hands of the weakj j 
 emperor, events of great magnitude were transpiring in Liaotung 
 
 The man who had succeeded Tingbi, was Yooen Yingtarpari \ 
 excellent minister of state, and a man of great literary abilities, ; 
 but a poor general. Immediately on his appointment, he had i 
 to decide a knotty question. All eastern Mongolia was } 
 
EMIGRATING MONGOLS. 39 
 
 threatened with famine. Many crossed the frontier to beg 
 Chinese bread. Yingtai was loth to receive them, but 
 determined not to suffer these scores of thousands of hungry 
 able-bodied men to pass into the hands of Taidsoo. He, 
 therefore, divided them between the two cities, Mookden and 
 Liaoyang, regardless of advice to beware of treachery. But 
 instead of showing gratitude, these men were no sooner safe 
 inside the cities, than they began to take possession of the 
 houses, wives and daughters, of the inhabitants. The recital of 
 their barbarity roused the indignation of all Liaotung, not only 
 against themselves, but against Yingtai. The Chinese civilians 
 now opened communications with, Taidsoo, who ustd them as 
 his " eyes and ears." YcjK? UC&V. ^jd^^ \ 
 
 Judging that the time had come when he might safely move, 
 now that Tingbi was a prisoner in his own house and his living 
 wall of a hundred and eighty thousand men withdrawn, and all 
 Liaotung enraged against Yingtai, Taidsoo set his troops in 
 motion in March 1621, and set out for Mookden. He had the 
 previous autumn taken 'the small garrison towns of Yiloo and 
 Pooho, a dozen miles north-east of Mookden, and Fungjipoo 20 
 miles south-east. He had, therefore, no fear of a surprise when 
 he encamped against Mookden seven li to the east of the city. 
 He found the city surrounded by several moats, and outside 
 these a stockade of firmly fixed, sharp pointed stakes. Fire-arms, 
 shields, carts, and seventy thousand troops, with every necessary 
 for a long siege in and outside the city, were in perfect order as 
 left by Tingbi. 
 
 The commandant, Shu Hien, was a brave man, but a 
 drunkard. Seeing a reconnoitering party of a few score men, he 
 foolishly gave chase with a thousand horsemen. The spies fled 
 as if panic-stricken, and drew Shu Hien after them, till he 
 suddenly came up to a considerable ambush laid for him. He 
 retreated in good order, constantly wheeling round upon his 
 pursuers. But when he came to the moat he could not recross 
 it, the bridge having been removed by Chinese deserters, who 
 had been sent into the city by Taidsoo to act as his confederates. 
 
 "" 
 
 vO ) 
 J 
 
40 CONQUEST OF LIAOTUNG. 
 
 A party issuing to his relief was defeated, and its leader slain ; 
 and thus easily did that city without a head fall into the hands 
 of Taidsoo. An army, under a major-general at Hwangshan 
 ford of the Hwun, marching to save the city, was cut up, its 
 chief officers slain, and many men drowned in the river in their 
 flight. Yet another detached army, under three major-generals, 
 fell with three thousand slain. The frequency with which weak 
 separate armies were sent forward looks like madness; 
 combined, they might have been able to do something. 
 
 General Toong Joongkwei advanced from the south to retake 
 Mookden. He set up his camp of ten thousand men at the south 
 end of the bridge across the Hwun ; * and the local magistrate 
 Bang Ping crossed to the north side with three thousand men. 
 But before his earthen rampart was complete, Bang Ping had a 
 whirlwind of Manchus upon him. He was slain fighting. 
 Those of his men who could, recrossed the river and entered the 
 camp of Joongkwei, which was immediately surrounded by 
 many lines deep of Manchus, who had three or four times as 
 many men. Joongkwei's cannon did ^reat execution, but his 
 powder became exhausted, and his men had only side arms to 
 protect themselves. The Manchus who had retreated during the 
 firing, now drew near, and showered their myriad arrows among 
 the defenceless Chinese. Joongkwei and several others dashed 
 outside their camj^aad sword in hand killed each his ten men 
 before they were overpowered and slain. The Chinese fought a 
 bloody battle, but had to retire and were pursued southwards, 
 along the level country towards Liaoyang. The Manchus rested 
 at Hoopiyi, as Shiliho was then called. 
 
 Yingtai made all expedition to call in his troops from every 
 direction, to save Liaoyang at all costs. He opened the sluices 
 on the east of the city to flood the moats, set his fire-arms, and 
 
 * This bridge does not now exist, or only in winter when a temporary one is made 
 of bundles of millet stalk laid across strong wooden beams, which are removed when 
 the ice has all melted away. It is necessary for the large cart traffic when the ice is 
 forming and again when it is breaking up. The bridge of the text may have been 
 of similar construction, for it is never taken away before April. 
 
CHINESE DEMORALISATION. 41 
 
 at the head of a considerable army crossed the Taidsu or Teksa 
 and advanced five li north to oppose the march of the Manchus. 
 He had speedily to retire defeated. Taidsoo crossed the river 
 after him, ordered the sluices to be closed up, the moat dyke to 
 be opened, and the bridges to be seized. He got hurdles and 
 waggons arranged in front of his men as a shield against the 
 fire-arms. He camped south-east of the city, which was 
 immediately north of the present. The fourth beira dashed with 
 his usual impetuosity against, and broke up the army which had 
 come to attack them in the act of camping. His right wing 
 speedily formed a dry path of stones and earth over the moat, 
 across which he marched and attacked the Chinese, who were 
 drawn up under the wall. The slain and drowned were 
 incalculable. 
 
 The left wing had meantime, by night, seized the moat 
 bridge, and under veil of the smoke of the Chinese cannon, they 
 scaled and took a portion of the wall. They occupied the two 
 west corners of the city, and standing in battle order with lit 
 torches, waited the dawn. All was now confusion in the city. 
 Many officials let themselves down by the wall and fled. Though 
 the Chinese soldiers continued to fight all night by torch- 
 light, they were defeated in the early morning. When the right 
 wing entered the city in the morning, Yingtai said to his second 
 in command, " I alone am responsible for the city. You flee to 
 defend the west of the Liao, and leave me here." He then took 
 his official seal, ascended the tower over the city gate, set it on 
 fire, and perished in the flames. His second in command, 
 instead of fleeing westwards, also committed suicide. Tingkwei, 
 after seeing his two wives and two daughters leap into a well, 
 committed suicide. This example was followed by most of the 
 principal officials. But many shaved their heads, adopted the 
 Manchu " tail," and retained the offices they severally possessed 
 before. The superior officials who would not desert were 
 strangled, this being a more honourable death than beheading. 
 
 The Manchus entered the city by the west gate, and were met 
 by many citizens welcoming them with music and holiday attire. 
 
42 CONQUEST OF LIAOTUNG. 
 
 Wives and maidens stood in their doors tricked out in their very 
 best, acting on the suggestion of the deserter confederates of 
 Taidsoo, and probably overjoyed at their deliverance from the 
 savage Mongols. The civilians came to meet the carriage of 
 Taidsoo, burning incense, flying banners, with drums and 
 trumpets, shouting Wan swi, Wan swi, "Long live the emperor." 
 
 The Manchus were, however, apprehensive of designs by the 
 citizens of Liaoyang upon the life of Taidsoo. He, therefore, 
 ordered all the Chinese to live outside the north gate ; he taking 
 up his abode in the palace in the south of the city, surrounded 
 by his princes, ministers, officers, and army. He opened all the 
 prison gates, and reinstated whatever official had been degraded. 
 All the money and valuables taken were distributed among the 
 soldiers according to their rank and valour. He subsequently 
 built an octagonal palace north of Liaoyang, across the Taidsu, 
 where was the seat of government, making Liaoyang the capital. 
 The fall of Liaoyang brought all Liaotung to the feet of Taidsoo, 
 for seventy walled cities, large and small, opened their gates to 
 him, as Haichung, Kaichow, Kinchow, Foochow, Junkiang, 
 Yaochow, &c. Thus easily fell the large and strong cities of 
 Mookden and Liaoyang ; and Tingbi was revenged. 
 
 While his sons were marching at the head of his troops 
 against Doonghai, and establishing his rule in Liaotung, Taidsoo 
 spent his time in his new Liaoyang palace, instructing his 
 daughters in their wifely duties ; for it is likely the daughters of 
 Taidsoo considered themselves so much better than their rough 
 warrior husbands. He taught them not to despise their own 
 husbands ; and threatened that if they persisted in demanding 
 their will to be law, in their offensive pride laying no bounds to 
 their desires, he must visit their disobedience with deserved 
 punishment ! 
 
 Frequent expeditions of a few thousand men had been sent 
 against the several petty chiefs of Doonghai, which is now almost 
 all Eussian territory. Those expeditions were valuable only for 
 the men taken prisoners, for these were drilled and incorporated 
 in the Manchu army. The country was then as now used only as 
 
MANCHU IMPRESSMENT. 43 
 
 hunting grounds, and the Fish-skin Tartars,* whether employers 
 of dog or deer sleighs, were all of a character not much different 
 from the red Indian, though of much superior mental 
 endowments. The same reason is sufficient to account for the 
 Manchu irruptions north and west of Yeho, across the Songari, 
 and up to the'Amoor. Large numbers of the descendants of 
 these Fish-skin Tartars exist in Manchuria to this day. 
 
 It was easy for a handful of Manchus to take Liaotung from 
 the Chinese ; but that wide and thickly peopled country could 
 be retained only by good and politic government. The Chinese 
 then as now despised as savage barbarians all born outside the 
 pale of the Flowery land, and this proud spirit found it hard 
 to endure a barbarian conqueror. Though in the panic on the 
 fall of the capital, Liaoyang, all the cities opened their gates, a 
 few months wrought a change, and the colonel of Junkiang with 
 all his men fled to the afterwards famous Mao Wunloong, and his 
 example was followed by many. Taidsoo did what he could to 
 prevent plots, by changing the abodes of the people, removing 
 the dwellers on the seabord inland, and the inhabitants of one 
 city to another. Thus in their own land they were strangers 
 among strange people, and being uncertain of each other, it is 
 possible that plots were prevented; while we would be apt to 
 question the policy of tearing people about in this way. Good 
 laws and wisely just administration, served the purpose much 
 better; and Taidsoo felt his power consolidated in Liaotung, 
 and for the first time, the country popularly and erroneously 
 called Manchuria was held, but by no means peopled, by 
 Manchus. 
 
 Taidsoo was now sixty -two years of age, and thirty-eight had 
 elapsed since he had fled a fugitive from his own relations 
 because he would not have any terms with the murderer of his 
 father. He was now ruler over a country much more extensive 
 than Great Britain, considerable portions of which too were very 
 thickly populated. 
 
 Liaotung was not wholly at peace however; for Mao 
 *See Customs. 
 
44 CONQUEST OF LIAOTUNG. 
 
 Wunloong, an officer whose name was unknown till Liaoyang 
 fell and all Liaotung became Manchu soil, gave a good deal of 
 trouble. In the general desertion, he, though a subordinate 
 officer, adhered to his native dynasty. The colonel of Junkiang, 
 an officer superior to himself, but who had followed the general 
 example of desertion, recovered himself, and with a number of 
 his men fled to Wunloong, who thus became the acknowledged 
 centre, round which gathered all those fighting men in the south 
 of Liaotung who refused to yield obedience to the Manchus. It 
 was probably by means of that desertion he obtained possession 
 of Junkiang city, which was made the nucleus of an army to 
 strike the Manchus in the rear. This Junkiang city is said by 
 the historian of Liaotung to have been built 100 li south-east 
 of Funghwangchung. In that neighbourhood there are several 
 ruins of ancient cities ; and Junkiang city was near the coast, 
 for its " people were removed from the coast inland." In 
 December 1621, Mao Wunloong's power had gained such 
 proportions that an army had to be sent against him. This 
 army crossed the " Junkiang," and got to the borders of Corea. 
 It is therefore possible that the mouth of the Yaloo is called 
 Junkiang, for a small river is called ho, not kiang. Then 
 Junkiang city, the city protecting the river, would be somewhere 
 between Takushan and the newly established Andoong. In such 
 case Wunloong's headquarters would be the narrow strip of land 
 on the west bank ot the Yaloo ; fenced in by mountains 
 inaccessible to an army, except by the narrow entrances at 
 Andoong and the sea. It is more than likely Wunloong would 
 select that spot, because of its strong position. It has been the 
 haunt of large bands, sometimes of armies, of robbers from the 
 beginning of the present dynasty till within the last few years, 
 when it was cleared ; but not before foreign drilled soldiers were 
 brought thither from Tientsin. 
 
 The Manchu army which got to the Corean border numbered 
 five thousand men ; and before it Wunloong fled. But Junkiang 
 seems not to have been retaken ; for in 1622, Wunloong was 
 created a lieut. -general because he had taken that city. And 
 
PETTY TROUBLES. 45' 
 
 he determined to prove himself worthy of the promotion. He 
 had apparently provided himself with a number of boats ; for 
 in the summer of 1624, he led an army by Changbaishan 
 against the original home of the Manchus. He plundered 
 there till defeated by the officer in charge of the district. 
 He was free to march as he chose in and out of Corea, which 
 was still the faithful ally of the Chinese, though many Mongol 
 tribes had already acknowledged themselves the subjects of their 
 Manchu cousins. He crossed the Yaloo at Yichow, and took 
 possession of the island of Twuntien; possibly the long, beautiful, 
 fertile island in the river opposite Yichow. There he accumu- 
 lated stores, and apparently gave not a little trouble, for another 
 expedition was sent against him under a Meirun Jangjing. In 
 the battle he is said to have lost five hundred men. He was 
 defeated, his stores were burnt, and the Manchus retreated. 
 Next year he sent a band of three hundred men by night to 
 plunder the southern neighbourhood of Yaochow, then a city, 
 now a village, north of Kaichow, whose lieut. -general drove them 
 off. That so small a band could penetrate so far inland, shows 
 that his strength and daring were not small. Just before that 
 raid, an expedition, under beira Manggoortai, went to the 
 extreme south of the Regent's Sword Peninsula to attack the 
 city of Liishwunkow, which had probably been built by Wunloong, 
 whose strength was more and more bending in that direction ; 
 for the city of Liishwunkow was at once near Shantung, and 
 within easy sail of all his chief resorts on the coast and islands. 
 The beira was victorious over the army opposing him, and pulled 
 down the city. But if a force under a beira had to go thither, 
 the power of Wunloong was considerable. . 
 
 In February of 1627, a large army of Manchus was sent 
 eastwards by Funghwangchung against Corea. This army laid 
 siege to and took the beautiful city of ISTgaichow or Yichow ; * 
 then sent a detachment southwards to Tieshan (Iron mountains), 
 110 li south of Yichow. These mountains were on the coast, 
 and the head quarters of Wunloong, whose constant depredations 
 
 *See "History of Corea" Geography. 
 
'46 CONQUEST OF LIAOTUNG. 
 
 were one of the chief reasons for the expedition. On the 
 approach of this overwhelming force, Wunloong fled from the 
 Iron mountain to one of his islands. Henceforth he made 
 Pidao island, south-east of the " Regent's Sword " Promontory, 
 his headquarters. His services seem to have been continuous 
 and effective, for he was made a general. But his end 
 came in an unexpected manner. For in May, 1628, he was 
 secretly put to death by Yuen Choongwhan, who was then 
 gallantly and successfully opposing the Manchus at Ningyuen, 
 and who, as governor of Liaotung, was Wunloong's superior. 
 The Doonghwaloo states that this murder was because 
 Wunloong was believed to be secretly attached to the Manchus. 
 The Ming history gives the more likely reason, that Choongwhan 
 Avas jealous ; and the fact that the emperor was extremely angry 
 would warrant the truth of this supposition. At any rate, 
 Wunloong's forces were disbanded. Up till 1633, various 
 expeditions were sent against the old followers of Wunloong, 
 along the south-eastern coast of Liaotung; but if they could 
 report their small victories and a few hundred men slain there, 
 . and a few islands taken here, they had no influence upon the 
 main root of what was now simply a series of robbers' nests. It 
 was very likely on account of the incessant raids of those island 
 robbers, that the city of Siwyen was built and fortified. Not, 
 however, that now standing, but another whose site is some 
 miles west of the present. Lanpan and Toongyuenpoo, north- 
 west of Funghwang city, were also built at the same time, as 
 well as Jienchang, all of which are now in ruins, and called 
 by the natives " Corean cities." 
 
 Koong Yoodua was one of the lowest of Wunloong's officers, 
 whom the latter used to call by a name of contempt. On the 
 death of Wunloong, however, he and Gung Joongming were 
 invited across the gulf by the governor of Tungchow in' 
 Shantung. He created them both Tsankiangs or colonels. 
 Yoodua was sent at the head of 800 horse to assist the Chinese 
 when the Manchus were pressing the siege of Dalingho against 
 Dashow. But when he got to Woochiaohien he fell in with 
 
IMPORTANT DESERTERS. 47 
 
 colonel Li Jiwchung, and both united in rebelling against their 
 native lord. They were few to begin with, but the example was 
 contagious and the few became thousands, men from all quarters 
 flying to them like birds in those times of anarchy. In a short 
 time they were strong enough to march against and take several 
 district cities, and finally ventured, against Tungchow, inside 
 which was Joongming with fifteen accomplices, who opened 
 the gates, and the governor had to flee. They were soon joined 
 by the commandant of Lushwunkow, who put to death some of 
 the garrison and fled, as did also the colonel on the island of 
 Gwangloo. Yoodua became commander-in-chief, Jiwchung 
 second in command, and Joongming was made a lieut. -general. 
 They made raids upon all the cities and villages around, and 
 Shantung was a scene of universal disorder. The brave but 
 reckless Dsoo Dabi led a considerable army against Tungchow 
 and was slain in battle. But as Yoodua knew that his fate was 
 sealed if he remained there, he made a dash along the sea-side. 
 He was pursued by the commandant of Liishwun, and many of 
 his men fell in the battle. A number of Coreans hasted to 
 assist the Chinese army, but just then when Yoodua was nearly 
 lost, Jirhalang and other Manchu officers appeared on the scene, 
 and the Chinese and Coreans fled, while Yoodua with every 
 soul of his family and all his goods were saved by this fortunate 
 intervention. This battle must therefore have taken place after 
 he had crossed the sea and was now on the peninsula of 
 "Regent's Sword." Yoodua was ordered to go to Doongking or 
 the east capital, as the palace at Liaoyang was called, and had 
 100 horse given him by the Manchu "emperor." Joongming 
 was along with him, and both retained the titles which they had 
 assumed at Pingchow. He was soon after the guide of a 
 -considerable Manchu army against Lushwunkow, where were 
 taken over 5,000 captives, nearly 25,000 oz. of gold, over 21,000 
 oz. of silver, 3,000 odd webs of satin, 24,000 odd webs of cotton, 
 8 chests of ginsheng, many hundreds of oxen and horses, besides 
 other spoil. Shang Kosi had been nominated the commandant 
 of Gwangloo after the above desertion, and he now treated the 
 
48 CONQUEST OF LIAOTUNG. 
 
 Manchus in a very friendly manner. He soon after summoned 
 other two islands, with which and his own he joined the Manchus. 
 Yoodua, Joongming and Kosi became famous commanders, and 
 played a leading part in the subsequent history of the Manchu 
 conquests, in which they are always called the Three Princes, 
 Koong, Gung, and Shang. Kosi was meantime elevated only to 
 lieut. -general, and ordered to Haichung, his native place, where 
 there is at this moment a beautiful temple to his memory. By 
 the way, these temples in China take the place of stone or 
 bronze statues in the west; and the worship made there is 
 merely in honour of the illustrious dead, and has not the 
 remotest connection with prayer. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 CONQUEST OF LIAOSI 
 
 IN consequence of the fall of Liaoyang, and with it of all the 
 rich country east of the Liao, Wang Hwajun was nominated to 
 succeed Yingtai. The accusers of Tingbi were stripped of all 
 authority, and degraded to rank with the common people. Three 
 months after, Tingbi was reappointed generalissimo of Liaotung, 
 with head-quarters at Shanhai gwan. The weak but well- 
 intentioned Tienchi was then reigning in Peking, but the real 
 emperor, the mayor of the palace, was the unscrupulous eunuch 
 Wei Joonghien, who secured the degradation of every minister 
 that did not bow at his feet. The frightful corruption and 
 profligacy of that court could not be surpassed, but it was all 
 unknown to the silly Tienchi. We mention this now, in order 
 to make the following history understood, and to show that 
 whoever was not on good terms with Joonghien or his creatures, 
 could not hold office. 
 
 In December, Tingbi in vain memorialised the Board of War, 
 that he was generalissimo without a soldier, and that if he went 
 beyond Shanhai gwan without an army, it would raise to 
 absolute terror the fears of the people, whom he would be unable 
 to reassure and calm down ; while he would be the laughingstock 
 of the enemy instead of their scourge. He had, however, received 
 his appointment from the emperor, not from the eunuchs, and 
 he had to go, but empty-handed. Before he got to Kwangning, 
 Wang Hwajun had posted all his men in six different camps 
 along the west bank of the Liao, and in four other villages, the 
 protection of which he deemed of first importance. Tingbi 
 urged the recall of these men, and their concentration on 
 
50 CONQUEST OF LIAOSI. 
 
 Kwangning in one powerful army, within a strong camp, 
 protected by deep moats and high palisades, thus to be ready 
 for any emergency, and to march anywhere. He showed that if 
 one of those scattered divisions should be attacked by the 
 Manchus, who always rode, and who could cross over the frozen 
 river, it would be annihilated before any aid could be brought 
 up ; and one destroyed, the other isolated camps would break up 
 in terror. Instead of so many camps, he recommended to have 
 bodies of patrols scouring the neighbourhood of the river, who 
 could see without revealing their own force, while beacons should 
 be at once erected over the three hundred li between the Liao 
 and the concentrated army at Kwangning. He recommended 
 the presence of the marines of Tungchow and Laichow in 
 Shantung, the preparation of war material in great abundance, 
 the purchase of horses, and immediate attention to the 
 innumerable details necessary for defence. But Hwajun, strong 
 in the favour of the eunuchs, though he should have been 
 superseded by Tingbi, laughed at him and his suggestions, 
 bravely exclaiming that with sixty thousand men he would 
 undertake to recover all the lost ground, and drive the Manchus 
 back to their mountain wilds. After useless expostulation, 
 Tingbi therefore departed for his head-quarters without a soldier, 
 and Hwajun was master of the situation. The president of the 
 Board of War did what he could to have the nominal authority 
 vested in Hwajun, who already held the real power. 
 
 Knowing the state of affairs, as they always did, the Manchus 
 crossed the river on the ice west of Liaoyang, and attacked 
 Siping, one of the carefully guarded villages of Hwajun, who 
 sent down two detachments to raise the seige. Duagoong, who led 
 one of these, before engaging with the enemy, shouted, " We 
 are defeated," and deserted. Taidsoo sent him on immediately 
 to Kwangning, where he had been the second self, or " heart and 
 bowels" of Hwajun. He got to the city very early in the 
 morning, and proclaimed that the emperor had ordered all the 
 people and soldiers to take care of themselves, and the treasury 
 to be opened, for the Manchus were upon them ! 
 
BOASTFUL COWARD. 51 
 
 A colonel hastened to Hwajun, who was not yet up, roused 
 him out of sleep and urged him to flee, for he was about to fall 
 into the hands of the Manchus. The boastful Hwajun lost his 
 head and trembled for his life ; and while the van of the enemy 
 was yet more than thirty miles off Kwangning, he followed the 
 traitor-colonel to the gate, where a horse was ready prepared. 
 When he got to the gate, the soldiers, more faithful than their 
 officers, attempted to prevent his passing through, but the 
 colonel cut a way for him. He mounted his horse and galloped 
 away, followed by two servants on foot. 
 
 The greatest confusion and fear prevailed in the city; and 
 when the Manchus did come up, the gate was opened by the 
 traitor Duagoong. The soldiers, deserted by their officers, fought 
 a vain battle, for the city was easily taken. Some few cut their 
 way through the Manchus, and one military officer performed 
 his ablutions, donned his official hat and dress, made obeisance 
 towards the emperor, and committed suicide. His servant refused 
 to survive him. Many civilians fled, and the country people in 
 hundreds of thousands forsook their homes and possessions, and 
 hurried away to pass within Shanhai gwan; but of every 
 thousand who fled from the neighbourhood of Kwangning, only 
 a few passed through the Great Wall. The weak, the old and 
 the young, men and women, were trampled down, and the road 
 was strewn with the dead. 
 
 Hwajun did not stop his flight till he got to Yowtwun, beyond 
 Kingchow, where Tingbi had his camp of five thousand men. 
 When Tingbi saw the tears of Hwajun, he laughed and said, 
 " Had your excellency massed your troops on Kwangning, you 
 would not have been in this plight to-day;" but he was mortified 
 at his own inability to do anything with his five thousand soldiers. 
 He therefore set fire to all the stores which he had collected, 
 and brought up the rear of over a million of fugitives* fleeing 
 beyond the Great Wall. 
 
 * This shows how populous must have been that narrow strip of fertile soil from 
 Kwangning, skirting the sea to Shanhaigwan; for only a minority of the people 
 would have fled. The land is now again much more thickly peopled than then. 
 
52 CONQUEST OF LIAOSI. 
 
 The court recalled both Tingbi and Hwajun, and ordered 
 them to their homes pending enquiry, which, after great 
 discussion and angry disputation among the Boards, resulted at 
 last in finding both guilty, and recommending that both should 
 be executed. Though the emperor agreed to this unrighteous 
 decision, it was not carried out for some months, nor before 
 censor after censor had handed in his memorial, now recom- 
 mending this, now recommending that; plot and counter-plot 
 being the daily rule. At last the eunuchs had it their own way, 
 and Tingbi was beheaded as a common criminal, along with 
 Hwajun, whom they could not save. 
 
 Two days after the undignified flight of Hwajun, forty fortified 
 cities and towns opened their gates to the conqueror, the largest 
 of which was Kingchow, the appearance of a few horsemen 
 being sufficient to terrify any garrison into submission, and the 
 Manchus scoured the country from Kwangning to beyond 
 Kingchow, where they secured many fortified cities, now existing 
 only as villages. Though so many Chinese fled for protection 
 within the Great Wall, the large majority still remained in their 
 houses. These were removed to the east of the Liao, with the 
 design, doubtless, of preventing a rising, the homes of those on 
 the east side having been already changed, those on the seaboard 
 inland, and vice-versa ; and now the east and west of the Liao 
 were made to change sides. 
 
 Wang Dsaijin was made Chinese generalissimo of Liaotun^ff 
 but he was bent on forsaking the tract of country, still under 
 Chinese rule, between Kingchow and Shanhai gwan, and retiring 
 on a strong camp eight li outside that strong border gate; 
 because, probably, of the ease with which that very mountainous 
 country could be defended, and the difficulty an army advancing 
 from the east would have in marching over those loess hills and 
 narrow glens. On this account Swun Chungdsoong petitioned, 
 and was permitted to take the place of Dsaijin, and retain all 
 the outside country up to Ningyuen, which was just as easily 
 defended ; for no army with a great depth of front could march 
 over or along those closely-packed lines of granite mountains 
 
AN ABLE GENERAL. 53 
 
 and innumerable loess hills. He was strongly urged, however, 
 to evacuate all the towns and forts between the gate and Ning- 
 yuen, probably from the fear that the Mongols, who then 
 inhabited all the towns, villages and country between those two 
 cities, might prove treacherous. But he determined to hold 
 firmly all he could, and sent on a trusty officer, the Taotai 
 Choonghwan, who fortified Ningyuen, and thus secured two 
 hundred li (seventy miles) of road outside the Great Wall. 
 Within the four following years Chungdsoong retook all the 
 cities and country west of the Liao. This we learn only from the 
 fact that they had to be taken again by the Manchus, the time 
 or mode in which the Manchus were defeated being unknown ; 
 for unfortunately for the completeness of history, any or all of the 
 books I have examined cast the cloak of silence over whatever 
 might detract from Manchu glory. 
 
 He prepared camps and fortified villages and towns, in 
 addition to the repairing and strengthening of the already-fortified 
 places. He collected an army of a hundred and ten thousand 
 men, besides a select band of seventeen thousand. He got 
 ready an immense number of helmets, arms offensive and 
 defensive, including bows and arrows, ballistse and stones, and 
 hide-covered shields of excellent quality; and his ample 
 protection opened up to cultivation five million mow, or a 
 million acres of land. The best commentary on his military 
 character is, as in the case of Tingbi, that the Manchus occupied 
 themselves during the four years of his rule, in the easy task of 
 removing the capital from Liaoyang to Mookden (Shunyang), 
 and there building those palaces and offices, which remain to 
 this day, with the various additions made in the following reigns. 
 Mookden was the sixth capital of Taidsoo, and occupied by him 
 in 1625, forty-two years after the death of his father and grand- 
 father. 
 
 The eunuchs of Peking never desisted from poisoning the 
 mind of the weak emperor against Chungdsoong, till he was 
 at last recalled, and Gao Di sent in his stead. The new man 
 must needs show that he had a policy different from the man 
 
54 CONQUEST OF LIAOSI. 
 
 superseded. He therefore loudly protested against holding any 
 ground outside Shanhai gwan, and retreated with the army, 
 leaving behind him the enormous stores of all kinds, piled up by 
 his predecessor. He was followed all the way by wailing 
 cries of despair, wrung from the hearts of the many myriad 
 civilians, who had enjoyed such perfect peace and prosperity 
 under his predecessor, and by their curses which were loud as 
 they were deep. He also ordered every officer to retire inside 
 the Great wall ; but Choonghwan swore he would hold out in 
 Ningyuen and neighbourhood to the death. He was then 
 Taotai, and his collegues were lieut. -general Mangwei and the 
 colonel Dsoo Dashow, whose names will appear again. 
 
 Taidsoo received early information of what had occurred, and 
 immediately marched at the head of a hundred and thirty 
 thousand men to seize the prey. He had previously retaken, 
 probably on the departure of Gao Di, the seven cities of Dalingho, 
 Siaolingho, Kingchow, Soongshan, Hingshan, Lienshan, and 
 Tashan, the officer in command of them having burnt his 
 stores and fled. He passed Ningyuen, and formed his camp five 
 li to the south, right across the high road to the sea, so as 
 effectually to cut off all aid from the besieged Choonghwan; 
 who, nothing daunted, with the other principal defenders of 
 Ningyuen, wrote out an oath with their blood to defend the 
 place to the death. They were " immovable as a rock " in their 
 determination, permitted no man to go or come, searched out all 
 the spies in the city, and slew any soldier leaving his post. 
 
 On the next day after their arrival, the Manchus attacked the 
 south side of the city, advancing under cover of their shields 
 to the foot of the wall, boring holes to make a breach, and 
 moved not from their work, though stones and arrows 
 descended upon them like showers. Choonghwan then ordered 
 a Fukien man to fire the "terrific western cannon."* It 
 was fired, and made a track of blood of several li, killing some 
 hundreds of men. The Manchus retired precipitately. Three 
 
 * This is the first time in the history of the wars that the Si yang pao (European 
 cannon) is mentioned. They were cast by the Jesuit missionaries. 
 
NOORHACHU DIES. 55 
 
 days after the attack was renewed, they were again driven back ; 
 and the siege was raised. Taidsoo took the matter so much 
 to heart, that he became unwell. But some days after (in 
 February), he attacked a camp on the ice, beside a small 
 island near the shore south of Ningyuen, where provisions 
 were stored up. The camp was defended by holes perforated 
 in the ice along the north side for several miles. He ordered 
 his men to skirt the holes, make a circuit, and attack the camp 
 where the ice was whole. After a vigorous struggle the camp 
 was taken, with immense quantites of stores. Gao Di and his 
 general Yang Chi were posted with their army at no great 
 distance, but made no attempt to save the camp. They were 
 recalled and replaced. The Taoti Choonghwan was made 
 governor with the title of Ningyuen. Soon after the office 
 of jinglo was abolished, and Choonghwan was gazetted general 
 of the east instead. 
 
 Taidsoo never recovered the shock of his repulse before 
 Ningyuen; and becoming seriously unwell, went to the mineral 
 spring at Chingho. Not recovering, he took boat to return to 
 the capital, but died on the way, at a village forty li from 
 Mookden. This was in September, 1626, in the sixty-eighth 
 year of his age, and the llth of Tienming* but 42nd of his 
 actual rule. His tomb is the Foo ling east of Mookden. 
 
 Revenge made Noorhachu a soldier, and inspired him with 
 persevering courage when prudence and mere bravery would 
 have despaired. It supported him when his affairs were 
 desperate. Forsaken by all his relations, he still breathed only 
 vengeance. When those relations turned upon him, and sought 
 his life with a tenacity more fierce than that of the sluth 
 hound, he relentlessly pursued the man whom he considered 
 the murderer of his father and grandfather. He lived only to 
 see Nikan Wailan slain. But before his vengeance was slaked 
 in the blood of Nikan, the wonderful success of his unwearying 
 
 * There is a discrepancy between my several authorities as to the commencement 
 of Tienming ; but the Doonghwa loo is followed as the most probable, being by 
 imperial authority. 
 
56 CONQUEST OF LIAOSI. 
 
 perseverance gave birth to an ambition more insatiable than 
 even revenge. Tribe after tribe, kingdom after kingdom fell 
 before his well trained archers ; and the powerful wolf can always 
 find reasons sufficiently satisfactory to himself to pounce upon 
 the weak lamb. His success brought upon him the terrific 
 thunder cloud from Peking, which threatened to blast him with 
 an utter destruction, and for escape from which the most 
 sanguine could scarcely entertain a shred of hope. Flushed 
 with the extraordinary success with which he scattered this 
 great force to the winds, he swept Yeho before him like 
 a feather. To both himself and his successor it was reason 
 sufficient for attacking with arrow and sword every indepen- 
 dent clan between Hingking and the Songari, along its whole 
 course, that these clans spoke the same language, and rode 
 and shot the arrow exactly as did the Manchus ; thus satisfying 
 themselves with the same reason of " similar race " as does the 
 unscrupulous ambition of modern Europe when shedding seas 
 of blood ; so completely identical is humanity, and so ready 
 everywhere to blind its own eyes to the truth, and to lull 
 conscience to sleep by some specious pretence, which is as 
 worthless as it is false. For no race in Asia or in Europe will, 
 in modern times, wage a bloody and costly war merely because 
 of similarity of race or resemblance of creed. 
 
 Revenge made him a soldier, abilities a general, the stupidity 
 of his opponents a conqueror, and wisdom a ruler and founder of 
 a dynasty. 
 
 The fourth Beira was born on the 25th day of tenth moon 
 (Nov.-Dec.), 1592, and was, therefore, thirty-four when he was 
 enthroned. The Chinese, as usual a year ahead, call his age 
 thirty-five. He had always been the close companion of 
 Daishan, Amin, and Manggoortai, who, with the other Beiras, 
 agreed to make him emperor. A flattering letter of condolence 
 and congratulation was immediately sent on by the chief of the 
 Kortsin Mongols, and a more cautious one by Choonghwan, the 
 Chinese governor of Ningyuen, which was supposed to be 
 forwarded in order that Li Lama, the messenger, might have an 
 
CONDOLING LETTER. 57 
 
 opportunity of spying out the land. Advantage was taken 
 of this circumstance, in thanking governor Choonghwan to 
 make a second attempt at effecting a solid treaty of peace ; 
 reference being made to the former overture by the late 
 Taidsoo, whose document was now returned to the Manchus, 
 as Choonghwan was unable to decipher the paper, which was 
 half Chinese, half Manchu ! 
 
 The epistle from the Kortsin chief was as follows : " Because 
 you began with strength sufficient to secure prosperity, you 
 have, at the present moment, a Prince given by Heaven. We 
 have heard that the Powerful, the Skilful, the Brave and the 
 Wise Emperor, is now an ascended guest. Yueba, the Taiji, 
 therefore, now presents his humble message, to condole with all 
 the Beiras of all ranks. Of old, Chasirbadunwoo ruled over 
 all the four corners and possessed the seven precious things, 
 yet when his time came he had to die. The white lion of 
 the snow hill, though of enormous strength, must die when 
 his fated time is arrived. In the deep ocean all precious 
 things abound, yet what can save King Loongwang (god 
 of water) from dying? The most precious, firm, and stern 
 body, death will cast aside as a worthless thing. Your 
 Emperor was the ruler of all the great kingdoms. He has 
 now left his beloved wife and dear children. He cannot see 
 them when looking towards him ; when they cry out he cannot 
 hear them. Suddenly has he departed. Consider the princes 
 who have departed from of old, and who. up to the present has 
 been restored by the grief of weeping friends ! Your Emperor 
 has gone; but he has left behind customs, principles of 
 government, and instruction. For the internal administration 
 of your kingdom, it is your duty to hold manfully the 
 possessions left you; for external authority, to marshal well 
 your troops, and to exert all your might in fulfilling the 
 duties of the Solitary One (Emperor), and the utmost care in 
 searching out men of virtue for office. The grief at seeing a 
 young wife made a widow, or the ungratified desire to see 
 able sons grow up, is not to be for a moment compared in 
 
58 CONQUEST OF LIAOSI. 
 
 importance to the giving of one's whole heart to establish 
 and put to rights a great kingdom" i.e., your grief is reasonable, 
 but your duties as rulers demand more attention than your 
 grief. 
 
 What the terms were of the condoling letter of Choonghwan 
 the Doonghwaloo does not state ; but along with Li Lama, on 
 his return journey, Fangjina and Wuntashu were sent with an 
 epistle from Mookden as follows : " The Emperor of the Great 
 Manchu sends greetings to the Governor of the Great Ming. 
 For the present our wars are ceased, you have sent Li Lama 
 to condole with us on our loss, and to congratulate the young 
 emperor on his accession. Nor have we any underhanded 
 purpose to serve. You came in the spirit of propriety, and in 
 the spirit of propriety we return your visit. We send our 
 messengers at once to return you thanks, and to establish 
 amicable relations between our two kingdoms. When our 
 deceased emperor went to Ningyuen he sent you an official 
 epistle, to which there never has been any reply. If your 
 emperor can reply to that letter in the spirit of peace and 
 harmony, we shall reciprocate that spirit. But whatever is 
 written should be the honest expression of your real desires and 
 feelings, and not merely a number of fine set phrases." 
 
 Choonghwan had found it impossible to decipher the letter 
 referred to, as it had been written half in Chinese, half in 
 Manchu ; both intermixed ! He therefore did not forward it to 
 his emperor, but returned it by Fangjina, without, however, a 
 messenger or a letter of his own. When the army was sent 
 against Corea, Taidsoong sent the above Fangjina and his 
 companion with another curt letter to Choonghwan, recapit- 
 ulating the " Seven Hates," desiring friendly relations, demanding 
 that the Ming dynasty make "presents" yearly, according to 
 a treaty to be made, that the letter should be at once 
 forwarded to the Chinese emperor ; and threatening to regard 
 want of attention to this as a declaration of war. 
 
 Doo Mingjoong was sent back with the Manchu messengers, 
 as the bearer of letters from both Choonghwan and Li Lama. 
 
CHINESE LETTER. 5 
 
 The former wrote thus: "The Marshal of the Yamun of 
 Liaotung salutes the Janghia* Again I write a letter to your 
 shame, informing the Khan (of Manchu) that you must reverence 
 with devout attention the heaven-appointed dynasty, and then 
 war will necessarily cease. You should carefully govern and 
 nourish your own districts, and cherish only those thoughts 
 which desire to preserve your own people in life. Heaven will 
 see, and then cause you gradually to become great beyond measure. 
 As to the seven causes of Hate, now old, I must listen in 
 silence if you will persist in repeating them. If these causes 
 are investigated to the root, they are found to be that mean 
 people on our border strove 'mouth and tongue' with ill-tempered 
 men on your border. Hence the origin of those calamaties. 
 The mistake of the Khan is to have forgotten that if the evildoer 
 escapes the punishment of men, he flees not from the wrath of 
 Heaven. I wish to write explicitly, for it is difficult to under- 
 stand in the grave. I do not treacherously desire the emperor 
 alone to lay aside thoughts of war, it is my wish that the Khan 
 would do so likewise. For ten years have we already fought, 
 during which time Yi (eastern barbarians) and Chinese have 
 bowed their heads to the ground in sorrow. The blood of the 
 Three Han (Mongol) ran like oil, smeared all the green grass and 
 stained the desert ground. Heaven grieved, the earth mourned. 
 The recital of those sufferings caused the extremity of pity, the 
 acme* of pain of heart. And all this because of those c Seven.' 
 To be unable to express one's feelings in such case, is it not the 
 greatest eloquence ? Is there now a Nangwan and a Beigwan?^ 
 Have no more than ten men perished east and west of the river 
 (Liao) ? Did no more than one aged man flee from his home ? 
 In your borders of Mookden and Liaoyang, men cannot ingather 
 the produce of the fields, and all because of the hatred of the 
 Khan. Your inclinations have been followed, your desires 
 
 r 
 
 *The Tent-dweller; applicable to the commander of an army, and therefore a 
 term of disrespect in contradistinction to Dienkia the emperor. 
 
 fTwo stations on the west of Hada and Yeho. 
 
60 CONQUEST OF LIAOSI. 
 
 .gratified to the full; but we of the Heaven-ordained dynasty 
 have had a bitter portion and one hard to bear. 
 
 "If now your desire is to act a generous part, what hinders 
 your returning to us our cities and our land, restoring our 
 magistrates and people, our men and our women ? Thus would 
 appear the benevolence of the Khan ; thus would be displayed 
 his compassion, his fear of Heaven, his love to men. The 
 -doctrine of Heaven is free from selfishness, the heart of man full 
 of envy. The right, the wrong, the crooked and the straight will 
 of necessity be made manifest. If in your heart arises the one 
 thought of war, a door is opened for countless deaths under 
 heaven. If in your heart dwells the one thought of life, you 
 .are able to produce innumerable blessings. And having said so 
 much let me add, that you should recall your soldiers sent to 
 Corea, drop the desire for the interchange of presents, make Li 
 Lama your instructor in Buddhism and stop the raids by your 
 soldiers, whereupon we shall be able to establish the most 
 friendly relations." 
 
 Choonghwan had taken two months in considering and 
 framing his fine but irritating composition. But the Manchu 
 court, perhaps as unable as unwilling to produce finished 
 productions, returned the messenger on the next month after 
 his arrival. The tone and the style may be partly accounted for 
 by the fact, that meantime news had come of the conquest of 
 Corea, 'and the treaty of peace there made, so that the Manchu 
 army was again free. 
 
 " The Emperor of the Great Manchu greets Yuen the governor 
 of the Great Ming. Your letter came desiring me to forget my 
 Seven Hates. Our wars arose and have continued because your 
 officials and men have slighted our kingdom, and therefore 
 we desire now to show plainly who of us is right, who wrong. 
 We sent a messenger to conclude a treaty of peace with you. 
 This implied that we desired to forget our Seven Hates. Again, 
 you say that if we desire to be friendly towards you, we must 
 restore your lost cities, lands, magistrates, people, male and 
 female captives. But all we possess has been the gift of heaven, 
 
MANCHU LETTER. 61 
 
 not gotten by stealth from you. Your desire to have these 
 returned proves that you do not truly wish for peace, but desire 
 to provoke us to fight. Again, you say that such conduct would 
 prove our benevolence, compassion, &c. This needs no reply. Is 
 it possible you can be ignorant of the truth ? Again, you say 
 that the articles asked as presents are not in accordance with 
 ancient lists of presents ; the number, more or less, is a matter 
 of indifference to us. Again, you complain that when at present 
 we have a little intercourse, our soldiers march on Corea ; and 
 you hint that our words are false. Could we wage a causeless war 
 against Corea ? When did we ever say that we would not wage 
 war against you or your allies ? What word, then, of ours is it 
 which you call in question ? You can speak fair words ; but 
 you sent some of your men within our borders to snatch away 
 men fleeing from a deserved death, and to rebuild cities and 
 forts which we had levelled with the ground. It is your words 
 which savour of falsehood ; and our men call your words in 
 question very much indeed. Again you say, ' Let the sword 
 and the soldier rest till we deliberate on terms of peace ' ; and 
 you say what is right. Again : ' Let there be no anger-moving 
 words in the epistles which come and go, lest they be unfit to be 
 laid before the emperor ' ; and here you are both right and 
 wrong. Better speak out plainly now, and friendship will then 
 be the more lasting. If one's desires are unuttered for fear of 
 writing wrath-moving words, we fear it will be difficult to come 
 to terms of peace. In what does the language of slight and 
 reproach which you yourself have written differ from the slight 
 and reproach formerly used by Liaotung and Kwangning officials ? 
 Again, you say that you desire only to serve your emperor, 
 and ask us to strenuously aid you in publishing the holy attain- 
 ments of your emperor, by assisting you to form a fixed and 
 proper boundary. As to the attainments of your prince, set 
 them forth yourself; what have we, a foreigner, to do with making 
 ourself acquainted with them ? As to your frontier, arrange it 
 at your pleasure ; what does it concern us what your frontier is ? 
 You do not name any terms tending to peace; why is it that, 
 
62 CONQUEST OF LIAOSI. 
 
 instead, you write so much to show your light esteem of us ? 
 You, governor Yuen, are considered a man of understanding 
 and knowledge ; can you not devise some plan which shall tend 
 towards peace, and shall profit your own kingdom ? You take 
 advantage of proposals for a treaty to bring out a lot of words ; 
 do you think that empty words will gain a victory for you ? 
 
 " This reply is written in this style, simply because of the 
 disrespectful tone of your epistle. But to speak of friendly 
 relations you are suspicious of our intentions ; we harbour no 
 such suspicion. You say that the mutual presents should be 
 distinctly set forth. Well then, in order to show friendship, 
 you should present us with 50,000 Chinese Hang or oz. of gold, 
 500,000 of silver, satin 500,000 pieces, and 5,000,000 webs of 
 cotton. We, on the other hand, shall present you with ten pearls 
 from the eastern ocean, two black fox furs, ten red fox furs, two 
 thousand sables and squirrels, and one thousand catties of 
 ginsheng; and yearly afterwards you pay me a tithe of the 
 amounts mentioned, while we give you half of our first present. 
 On these conditions you can easily establish friendly relations. 
 
 "In the letter which you, governor Yuen, sent me, you 
 honour your emperor as the equal of Heaven : and in Li Lama's 
 letter our princes are placed below your ministers. This 
 classification is simply what appears good to your mind, not one 
 necessarily demanded by propriety. I will, however, place the 
 matter on a proper footing. Your emperor must be written a 
 grade below Heaven, we a grade below your emperor, and your 
 ministers a grade below us ; and according to this style will we 
 write in future. If you write in a similar style we shall reply, 
 but not if otherwise. And as we know your spirit of contempt and 
 falsehood, we shall not send a messenger, nor shall we afterwards 
 pay any attention to any letter in which your ministers write to 
 us as our equals." 
 
 This correspondence is worthy of note, principally because of 
 the exception taken by Taidsoong, the new Manchu ruler, to 
 the subordinate position in which he and his ministers 
 were placed, threatening that, if he were again addressed 
 
TWO WHANGDI. 63 
 
 in a style which implied his Beiras to be inferior to the 
 Chinese chief ministers, he would take no notice of the 
 paper. Perhaps this might be a hint to foreign diplomatists ; 
 for the Manchus were then much inferior in all respects, except 
 generalship, to the Chinese. Though at first Taidsoong was 
 willing to be placed in a position underneath the emperor, he 
 mended his pace, and would ultimately be satisfied with nothing 
 short of equality with the Chinese monarch, an equality which 
 he was not nearly so much warranted in assuming as the 
 sovereigns of our greater western nations. As to the title of 
 Whangdi, emperor, the Manchu sovereign assumed it himself, 
 and granted it to the Ming emperor. From the correspondence 
 can be seen, too, the usual Chinese pride of race and contempt 
 for " outer barbarians," which, in the case of Manchu, was not 
 unwarranted ; for the difference in style between the letters of 
 Yuen and the emperor of Manchu is as great as could be. 
 But through the bluntness of the Manchu style can be seen the 
 self-confident assurance of the successful warrior. As to 
 honesty, both sides were as honest as the general run of political 
 papers. But the Chinaman could give a lesson to Talleyrand. 
 
 Fine writing began and ended the correspondence, the 
 Chinese being as blinded as to how, to what extent, and when 
 they should yield, as they were unfit to rule, or to choose generals. 
 
 As there was no pressing call on the army to the west of 
 Liaotung, it made a rapid march, in 1627, through Corea,* 
 taking Yichow, Tieshan, Dingchow, and Hanshan. It crossed 
 the Gokshan river, and took Anchow, Pingyang, Hwangchow, and 
 the capital. For this there were several casus belli, but the 
 chief was the fact that Corea was a most faithful ally of the 
 Ming dynasty, and a vantage ground for Ming officers and men 
 to harass the east and north-east of Liaotung. A treaty of 
 peace followed, which remained in force a few years, but had to 
 be renewed, at greater expense to Corea ; but a third expedition 
 has been unnecessary. 
 
 An attempt was made by the Chinese to repossess the soil at 
 *See "History of Corea," 
 
64 CONQUEST OF LIAOSI. 
 
 and beyond Kingchow ; but the bands of men who had come to 
 defend the fields fled, and the villages were desolated. Repeated 
 similar attempts compelled the Manchus to erect twenty-one 
 beacons* from Kingchow eastward, as well as to have strong 
 bodies of patrols, who attacked and dispersed every budding 
 colony. Just then several expeditions had to be sent against 
 the men left by Wunloong, from Lushwunkow and the west, to 
 Tieshan of Corea on the east, and one even into the mountains 
 east of Hingking. Island after island was taken, and 
 Wunloong's lingering name died out. 
 
 Choonghwan was anxious to re-establish the old frontiers; 
 and therefore set a great number of men to work on building a 
 fort on the Daliang river beside Kingchow ; but in spite of his 
 haste, rumour carried the story to Mookden. The fort was 
 attacked while yet incomplete, and its builders had to flee. 
 
 In ariger the Manchus again marched on Ningyuen, the root 
 of the evil, determined to take it. They tried and failed, tried 
 again and failed, for "Choonghwan was inside. The Beiras 
 besought Taidsoong to retire, but he replied : " If we attack a 
 city and fail to take it, and again madly attack and fail to take 
 it, where is the terror of our name ? " He therefore prepared 
 to make a desperate effort at close quarters. The army galloped 
 up to the moat, which was defended by Man Gwei, under the 
 eyes of Choonghwan. With a great shout they pushed in 
 regardless of death, and determined to conquer. Most of the 
 Beiras were wounded, but Man Gwei stood at his post, though 
 covered with arrow wounds. The Manchus had to retreat, 
 
 * Some of these beacons still remain ; and over all Liaottmg are beacons, or the 
 ruins of beacons ; the coast line from Kinchow, northwards, to Haichung, being 
 full of them. The natives call them " Corean towers," as they call every ruin a 
 "Corean" city. Even so intelligent an observer as the late consul Meadows, fell 
 into the mistake of using this phrase. The Coreans were driven out of Liiaotung 
 over a thousand years ago ; and those brick ruins, exactly of the size, form, and 
 appearance of the bricks used by the Manchus in the beginning of their reign, 
 were certainly never made by Corean hands. It is more than likely that the 
 honours showered by the Chinese court on Mao Wunloong, were because of his 
 constantly harassing the Manchus in Liaotung, and that these beacons were erected 
 to give notice of his approach, in order to summon the aid of the army in the north. 
 
A BOLD MOVE. 65 
 
 leaving the moat full of dead bodies. They returned to attack 
 Kingchow ; but the moat was deep, and the June weather hot, 
 and they retreated after having destroyed the ramparts on the 
 Daliang and Siaoliang rivers. Choonghwan was the first 
 Chinaman who taught the Manchus that they were not 
 invincible. But such a character could not be employed in a 
 court where eunuchs ruled, who ceased not accusing him to 
 Tienchi, till at length he was recalled to Peking, in spite of his 
 warmest remonstrances. 
 
 His successor had no time to display his powers, for Tienchi 
 lived but for a short time thereafter, the last Ming emperor 
 ascended the throne, beheaded Wei Joonghien, the prince of the 
 eunuchs, and re-established Choonghwan in the east. He was 
 sent, on the understanding that he would " employ Liao men to 
 guard Liao soil, and Liao soil to feed Liao men. He was to 
 employ great cannon in defending his cities ; if he retained 
 them he did well ; if he obtained a victory he would perform a 
 miracle ; and if he made peace, he would be the guardian of the 
 empire." To a missive sent by him, Taidsoong replied that he was 
 ready to make peace, that he was ready to forego the right of 
 coining money, to rank second to the emperor, and to receive 
 from him the title of khan* but that the lands given him by 
 Heaven could not be restored ; and negotiations ceased. 
 
 In 1629, Taidsoong, tine to his youthful character, determined 
 to make a bold move. He had some months before ordered the 
 Mongol soldiers to be at hand. He now summoned his forces 
 together and marched at the head of over a hundred thousand 
 men, with Mongols as guides. He halted at Ching city in 
 Kortsin, and there revealed his determination to march 
 through Mongol territory to Peking. His elder brothers 
 remained with him all night, arguing and remonstrating on the 
 ground that their retreat would be easily cut off, and their 
 supplies intercepted. But all to no purpose ; for he hated 
 Choonghwan, and was determined to be rid of him at all costs. 
 
 * The title of Mongol and other Tartar princes owning allegiance to the Chinese 
 the Ming dynasty ; a title descending from centuries before as kokhan. 
 
66 CONQUEST OF LIAOSL 
 
 One portion of his army was sent on by Chahar to chastise the 
 people on the way, for their desertion to the Chinese. The 
 other marched up Laoho, or old river. Four Banners were sent to 
 burst through the Pass of Dangan great peace ; the other four 
 with the Mongols, through Loongjing gwan.* Taidsoong, with 
 his portion passed through Dangan like a tornado, taking three 
 forts. Loongjing was also seized, Hwiswi gwan entered and the 
 relieving army scattered. The eight Banners reunited under 
 the walls of Hanurjwang city, where they were joined by several 
 bodies of deserters. Hoongshan kow city was taken on the way, 
 and Tsunhwa was invested, after the defeat of a number of 
 separate detachments, which advanced under cover of forests, 
 but which the blind Chinese generals were throwing away. 
 
 The following was the order of investment: the yellow 
 banner took up its post from north to north-west, the red from 
 west to north-west, bordered red from west to south-west, 
 bordered blue from south to south-west, blue from south to 
 south-east, bordered white from east to south-east, white from 
 east to north-east, and bordered yellow from north to north-east, 
 thus each banner occupied that part of the camp opposite half 
 of each wall. The city soon opened its gates and the army got 
 to Kichow. 
 
 Choonghwan was soon aware that he had been outflanked, and 
 taking Dsoo Dashow with him, he hurriedly marched at the 
 head of his available men through Shanhai gwan, and was at the 
 capital before Taidsoong. The latter sent on three thousand men 
 ahead to find some means of crossing the river above Toongchow, 
 departed from Sanhodien, defeated Man Gwei, who had marched 
 from Tatoong at the head of a relieving army for Shwunyu hien, 
 received the adhesion of the garrison of that city, and took up 
 his quarters at Nanhaidsu,^ south of Peking, from which he 
 
 * Gwan and Kow each represents a pass in the north and north-east of Peking. 
 
 f The Doong hwa loo very circumstantially mentions the north-east of the north 
 side of the city as his post ; but it may have been removed from the one to the 
 other, as it was afterwards removed to the north-west ; but the position of Shaho 
 gate should determine the first camp. 
 
SIEGE OF PEKING. 67 
 
 frequently attacked but never conquered Choonghwan, who was 
 posted outside the Shaho gate; for no decisive victory was 
 gained, though now one side, now the other, had the advantage. 
 Man Gwei was posted at the Duashung gate. 
 
 Two of the palace eunuchs had been apprehended, and a watch 
 set over them, in a room where two officers of Taidsoong's were 
 seated holding a long conversation in a whisper, but loud enough 
 for the eunuchs, who feigned sleep, to hear. The subject of their 
 conversation was, that on that same day the soldiers were to be 
 drawn away as if raising the siege, in order that they might return 
 suddenly, and by this stratagem take the guards at unawares and 
 seize the city. The two men then hastily sprang into their carts 
 as if to drive away to carry out the plan of which they had been 
 speaking, when two others suddenly made their appearance, and 
 looking cautiously around, whispered in the same manner to the 
 former two, stating that Choonghwan had made a secret compact, 
 and the city would be taken without any difficulty. The men 
 departed, the eunuchs were by and bye liberated, and made all 
 haste to the emperor, who sent an order for the immediate 
 apprehension of Choonghwan. He was led into the city, 
 and soon torn to pieces. Taidsoong was thus repaid for his long 
 and difficult march to the capital, and his stratagem was 
 completely successful. Dsoo Dashow, the colleague of Choong- 
 hwan, himself a good soldier, hearing what had occurred, started 
 for Kingchow at the head of fifteen thousand men, which city 
 he safely and quickly reached and strengthened. 
 
 Man Gwei and Swim Chungdsoong were promoted, but could 
 not fill the place of the murdered man ; though at the head of 
 forty-thousand men, two li outside the Yoongding gate, and 
 inside a barrier of piles. For the Manchus, clad in Chinese 
 garments and armour, and flying Chinese flags, advanced by 
 night to that barrier, leaped over it, and furiously attacked the 
 Chinese, many of whom were slain; and among them Man Gwei 
 bravely fighting till he felly Many prisoners were taken back by 
 the Manchus. But as Taidsoong was not eager for continued 
 warfare, which probably signifies that he could not take the 
 
68 CONQUEST OF LIAOSI. 
 
 capital, he sent in two messengers with proposals for peace, 
 which was not made ; and the first siege of Peking was raised. 
 
 In February, 1630, the Manchus, in their retreat, took 
 Yoongping, Chienngan, and Lanchow, and tried to take Changli 
 hien, where the magistrate showed a bold front, defeating first the 
 Mongols, who should have taken the city, then a Manchu force 
 sent against it by night, and lastly Taidsoong himself, setting 
 fire to his scaling ladders. Thereupon they retired eastwards, 
 leaving the Beira Amin with five thousand men to garrison 
 Yoongping and the other cities taken. 
 
 As soon as the Manchu army was gone, a host of two hundred 
 thousand Chinese, under Dsoo Dashow, Dsoo Daloo, Ma 
 Shuloong, Dsoo Kuafa, and others advanced against Lanchow, cut 
 down willow trees and filled the moat, set artillery and tore 
 down the walls ; whereupon the garrison thought it best to flee 
 to Yoongping, which Amin believed he could not hold, even if 
 all his men were collected within its walls. He summoned the 
 garrisons of the other few cities into Yoongping, and then 
 deliberately put to death all the men who had deserted from 
 the Chinese. He fled by night and got to Tsunhwa, the garrison 
 of which he took with him. Terror-stricken, he did not protect 
 his rear, and only a remnant of his men saw Mookden again. 
 
 Amin, who was a brother of Taidsoo, was imprisoned, 
 examined by his peers, and found guilty of sixteen great crimes 
 worthy of death. The sentence was commuted to perpetual 
 imprisonment, with the confiscation of his family, slaves, and 
 property of all kinds. The next in command was degraded and 
 his family taken from him. The other commanders were 
 punished in proportion to their responsibilities ; a lesson which 
 some of our western civilised nations might learn with advantage 
 to the public service, as the opposite policy ruined the Chinese. 
 The soldier, Samoohatoo, was the first to scale the wall of 
 Tsunhwa. After the battle, Taidsoong himself poured out a 
 glass of spirits, and handed the golden cup to the soldier to 
 drink, ennobling him and his posterity, and bestowing upon him 
 the honourable title of batooroo, which was given only to the 
 
KNIGHTHOOD. 69 
 
 bravest of the " brave," and seems to have been similar to the 
 old order of knighthood, received not in a drawing-room, but on 
 the battle-field. At the attack on the same place, an officer with 
 twenty-four soldiers rushed through the fire on to the city. 
 Taidsoong said afterwards of them, that they were the first among 
 his brave men. They were allowed to company with the Beiras 
 and great ministers, and their superior officers had strict orders 
 not to permit them to expose themselves a second time in 
 the same manner, because he loved them. There were other 
 similar cases. He ordered the Beiras to remember that they 
 had been successful, because they had received the aid of 
 Heaven ; they should, therefore, always act justly and uprightly, 
 arid never from covetousness, for that thus both Heaven and 
 men were served ; then if their men followed them from love, 
 Heaven would bestow still greater prosperity upon them. 
 After Yoongping was taken, and some deserter officers visited 
 Taidsoong, he said, " I am not like your Ming emperor, who 
 has forgotten to treat his ministers with kindness. All my 
 ministers can sit down by my side, speak out freely what they 
 think, and eat and drink in my company." 
 
 This reveals the true general and conqueror, the leader of 
 men ; and was, doubtless, a considerable factor in the formation of 
 the brave Manchu soldier. 
 
 In February, 1631, the Manchus cast their first great cannon, 
 and called it the Great General, with the title inscribed on it of 
 " The heaven-aiding, awe-inspiring Great General," to which 
 was appointed a superior officer. They had field-pieces before, 
 probably those taken from the Chinese, which they called " red- 
 coated cannon," because painted red; these are now called 
 " horse-cannon." 
 
 While occupied in setting their internal affairs in order, 
 intelligence was brought in August that Dsoo Dashow, after 
 retaking all the cities inside Shanhai gwan, was now employed 
 day and night in building a fort on the banks of the Daliang 
 ho, east of Kingchow, in order to recover the old frontier. 
 As soon as they collected provisions, the Manchus hasted west- 
 
70 CONQUEST OF LIAOSI. 
 
 ward from Mookden, and on the other side of the Liao were 
 joined by the Mongol forces who had been summoned thither. 
 The combined army advanced on Daliang ho, to find one line of 
 wall completed and the whole army of Dsoo half finishing a 
 second. 
 
 Fearing terrible loss of life from an attack by escalade, 
 Taidsoong prepared for a regular siege. The fort was completely 
 surrounded by a line of Manchus, supported by a second line of 
 reserves, the Mongols forming a third line to support the 
 reserves. The "great general" was planted to command the 
 high road from Kingchow, and every soldier had his post, from 
 which he did not dare to move. In order to make ingress 
 and egress all but impossible, a trench ten feet wide and deep 
 was dug inside the besieging line ; outside this ditch a wall ten 
 feet high was built with many towers; and inside the ditch, 
 nearer the city wall, a second ditch was opened, five feet wide 
 and seven feet and a half deep, covered with millet stalks and 
 earth. A few outposts were attacked, taken or surrendered. A 
 body of six thousand Chinese marched eastwards from Soongshan 
 Pine hill and Ajigo was told off to oppose them. A thick 
 mist fell on both armies as they approached, which rose first 
 off the Chinese, revealing their position to Ajigo, who, under 
 cover of the mist, drew up in order of battle to receive them. 
 The Chinese were driven back to Kingchow. 
 
 A relieving army of forty thousand Chinese, under Soong 
 Wei and Woo Hiang, father of the famous Woo Sangwei, 
 who was doubtless an inferior officer in the army, came 
 from the west and pitched camp at Siaoliang ho, west of Kingchow. 
 Against this army Taidsoong, who had driven back a sally by Dsoo 
 Dashow, led half his army; but seeing the formidable front 
 presented, he dared not attack, but retired to his lines. 
 
 Woo and Soong marched that same night, encamped at 
 Changshari kow, within fifteen li of Daliang ho, and beat 
 off Taidsoong, who attacked them with thirty thousand men. 
 As defeat was as likely as victory, able men were sent by 
 the Manchus to ascertain a mode of retreat. Taidsoong then 
 
BATTLE OF CHANGSHAN. 71 
 
 massed his whole army against the camp of Soong Wei, his 
 right wing being in the van. The noise of the Chinese artillery 
 shook the heavens, and the right wing made 110 impression. 
 The left wing next fiercely attacked the same point, but was 
 driven back with great loss ; and Taidsoong had to retire, leaving 
 heaps of slain. The left wing then wheeled round and attacked 
 the east side of Woo's camp with their artillery. A thick cloud 
 arose at the time, and a strong west wind blew the smoke and 
 dust into the faces of the Manchus. Woo, who was on the 
 point of fleeing, took advantage of this weather and vigorously 
 attacked the Manchus. Immediately very heavy rain fell and 
 the wind changed to the east; the Manchus had thus the 
 advantage, and Woo fled, his army following. This cleared 
 the way for the right wing to attack Soong's camp in flank, 
 the palisade of which they broke through; and the Chinese, 
 fleeing in confusion, were utterly broken by an ambush which 
 had been previously laid. Their mules, camels, and military 
 equipments, all fell into the hands of the Manchus. 
 
 Jang Chwun, who was taken with thirty superior officers, 
 would not kneel to Taidsoong; who was about to order his 
 death, but prevented by his eldest brother, who said that Jang 
 desired nothing else. The prisoner refused food for some days, 
 and though at last hunger gained the mastery, he was obstinate 
 in refusing to accept service, and was sentenced to a temple. 
 
 Dsoo Dabi, a younger brother of Dashow, pierced the Manchu 
 camp at Kingchow with five hundred men, missing to cut open 
 the bowels of Taidsoong's horse only by a hair's-breadth. 
 Taidsoong gave the brothers the name of the "two madmen." 
 In the last battle, Dabi, with a hundred and twenty fearless men 
 who could speak Manchu, changed their clothing, plaited a 
 "tail," and by night penetrated to the tent of Taidsoong, to 
 which they were about to set fire with gunpowder, but were 
 prevented by the awakened terror of all the camps. Dabi was 
 fiercely attacked, but retreated only with morning light. 
 
 In that battle Dashow had not dared to move out of his fort 
 to attack the rear of the Manchus ; for just a few days before, the 
 
72 CONQUEST OF LIAOSI. 
 
 Manchus had fired cannons and pretended to be a relieving army; 
 thus enticing him out of his fort, and then attacking him. 
 Fearing that the cannonade of the real battle was also a stratagem, 
 he remained inactive. His provisions were long exhausted. Of 
 the civilians, two-thirds had died of famine ; and the soldiers ate 
 human and horse flesh, and burnt their bones for fuel. He was 
 tempted by a letter to revolt, but resisted. In desperation he 
 made an attempt to cut through the enemy's lines, but had to 
 retreat, as on a former occasion, when hoping to find his way 
 out by stealth. But as there was no possibility of escape, he at 
 last sent his son Kuafa to treat. In reply to the Manchus, 
 Kuafa reported that with the example of the massacred 
 deserters of Yoongping and Kwangning before them, they 
 had preferred to hold out in their empty city to the very last. 
 Dashow at length surrendered, after putting to death an 
 inferior officer, who objected to the proposed revolt, and who died 
 with a smile. He pleaded to be sent to Kingchow, where his 
 wife and family were living; and that there he could act in 
 concert with the Manchus. Leave was granted, when he again 
 turned coat and took service under the Chinese. He had stood a 
 siege for two full months in the small fort which he had so 
 quickly and cleverly thrown up, but the evil genius of China 
 fought against him. 
 
 After the fall of Daliang ho, Taidsoong attempted in vain to 
 take Hingshan and Joongdso cities. He retired to Mookden 
 with his army, where he superintended wrestling-matches, and 
 gave the title of booJcwei, wrestler, with other long names, to 
 each of the three Mongols who were of enormous strength and 
 the best wrestlers in Mookden. 
 
 A great social measure was proposed by the Beira Yoto, 
 President of the Board of War, and agreed to. It was to the 
 effect, that as the double massacre of Chinese deserters at 
 Kwangning and Yoongping had the injurious result of making 
 the Chinese hesitate whether they could come over, it was 
 necessary to do something to reassure them and recover their 
 confidence in Manchu wisdom and goodness. He proposed that 
 
REASSURING MEASURES. 73 
 
 wives, houses, and land be provided for all the officers who had 
 surrendered at Daling ho ; for a mandarin of the first rank a 
 Beira's daughter; of the second, a minister's. The public treasury 
 was to furnish the necessary funds, and the Beiras the needful 
 land. Each retainer of these officers was to have a Chinese 
 or Manchu woman ; and the merchant class would be provided 
 for after, if any widows or unmarried women remained at the 
 Beira's disposal ! 
 
 The prisoners taken at Daliang ho were distributed among the 
 Manchu superior officers, from ten to fifty to each officer accord- 
 ing to rank. To these slaves a thousand Manchu women were 
 given, and the Beiras were ordered each to provide four or five 
 women, so that each prisoner might have one. This slave 
 question cost a great deal of trouble in after years ; the runaway 
 slave having been as great a nuisance to the Manchus as to the 
 Americans in later times, notwithstanding the generosity of 
 finding them wives. (See Slaves.) 
 
 The above will serve to shew the ignominious position which 
 woman held then and holds now in China, and the whole east. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 CONQUEST OF MONGOLIA. 
 
 FROM its geographical position, the extent of its country, and 
 the numbers and character of its various peoples, Mongolia 
 would of* necessity very materially affect the interests of the 
 Manchus, who could not afford to permit the Mongols to remain 
 foes, and must have contemplated with misgiving the task of 
 compelling them to become allies; for the Mongols were 
 immensely more numerous than, and as fond of the saddle and the 
 bow as the Manchus. But though this connection was one of 
 such vital consequence to the Manchus, a detailed account of 
 even the Manchu expeditions into their country falls beyond 
 our present province. 
 
 The name Munggoo, from which we receive the term Mongolia, 
 is a comparatively modern one, the "wandering kingdom" 
 being known by many and changing names in Chinese history. 
 The first name was the uncomplimentary one of " Gweifang," 
 or " Demon-quarter " ; doubtless from the double reason that 
 the land was in the north, whither all demons fled on departure 
 from the body, and because the people were wholly uncivilised. 
 The Mongols were, however, always even nominally free or, 
 as the Chinese historians modestly phrase it, in a state of 
 rebellion till the Tang dynasty conquered the Too-kue, or 
 Turks, situated south and south-west of Gobi. Two cities were 
 then built in this desert of the sandy sea, this Han-hai, which 
 was specially created by Heaven to divide the " Middle Flowery 
 Kingdom" from the rest of the world; these cities being 
 intended to command the conquered district. 
 
 The subject Mongols were not long in asserting their freedom r 
 
76 CONQUEST OF MONGOLIA. 
 
 which they retained till the Niijun predecessors of the Manchus 
 the Liao and Kin dynasties established several earthen walled 
 cities in the south-east of Mongolia, ruling over the peoples then 
 called the Doong Si and the Si Si, but they did not attach the 
 regions north of the Yellow river. In order to have control over 
 the communications between their newly-acquired territory and 
 their original home in northern Manchuria, it was necessary 
 for them to establish and occupy these military posts. The Liao 
 dynasty was overturned by its cousin the Kin, which in its turn 
 fell before the Mongols, at a time when they were the most 
 powerful people in Asia. 
 
 These Mongols, who gave China the Yuen dynasty, came from 
 the northern reaches of Mongolia, between the Great Desert and 
 Russia. They asserted their supremacy, first over their 
 neighbours south of Gobi, then westwards to Tatoong, conquering 
 all south and west Mongolia up to the Mohammedan countries 
 of the Si-yu or Turkestan. The whole of Mongolia was then 
 first united to China, but as her conqueror, not her vassal ; the 
 accumulated Mongol forces driving out the Kin from the north, 
 -and subduing the Soong dynasty in the south of China.- The 
 Yuen dynasty retained the old subdivisions in Mongolia, 
 establishing " wangs " and imperial sons-in-law over the various 
 tribes, the descendants of whom, and of members of the Yuen 
 family, being princes in Mongolia to this day. 
 
 The Ming dynasty, which overturned the Yuen, pursued 
 them northwards beyond the desert to their old homes, and 
 always maintained a nominal sovereignty over the whole of 
 Mongolia, though they found it easier to do so by subsidies 
 than by the sword; nor did yearly "presents" prevent the 
 Mongols from making many and formidable incursions into 
 Chinese territory. 
 
 Mongolia is usually divided into four : the Inner Mongols south 
 of the desert, the Outer north of the desert, Eleuths west of the 
 desert, and the " Chinghai " or Kokonor Mongols west of Kansu 
 and Szchuen. We have, at the present stage of our history, to 
 deal only with the Inner Mongols, divided into forty-eight 
 
KORTSIN. 77 
 
 Banners, twenty-four families, and six tribes,* in addition to 
 other two Banners and one family occupying the cities of 
 Kweiwha and Toomootei, north of Peking. Four of those tribes 
 border the west of the whole of Manchuria,-)- from the province 
 of Hei-loong kiangj on the north to Shanhai gwan on the 
 south, and extend along the north of Chihli; while the 
 remaining two border Shansi, Shensi, and Kansuh. The 
 nearest Mongol neighbours of the Manchus were the Kortsin, 
 which is one of the largest of the families. It, with Gorlos, 
 Doorbets, and the Jalaits, formed the tribe of Jualimoo. 
 But Kortsin gives its name to the tribe more frequently than 
 not. 
 
 From very remote periods, the sword decided the right of 
 the particular family which was to be head of the tribe ; and 
 the head of a family frequently not only made himself chief of 
 his tribe, but extended his sway over neighbouring families and 
 clans. It was by means of this perpetual internal discord, that 
 Mongolia fell piecemeal at the feet of the Manchus, who got the 
 " division " ready made, and had only to " reign." But it was 
 also by means of this same incessant internal struggle, that the 
 Mongols made the conquests which agitated the whole world ; 
 for they themselves had to be conquered before they marched a ' 
 foot beyond Mongolia; and their only cohesive power was a 
 master mind, which if removed, caused the breaking up of the 
 compact mass into its original elements, and such a master mind 
 may again make the name of Mongol as terrible as ever was 
 that of Hun given to their ancestors. 
 
 * Dividing the Mongols into clans and tribes, it is difficult to distinguish the one 
 from the other; and the word "horde" is inappropriate when applied to a well- 
 established order. I have, therefore, preferred to call loo, the smaller, a " family," 
 and mung, a "tribe," which is composed of so many boo, just like the tribes of 
 Israel. 
 
 f Shing-king or Fung-tien, by which names alone it is known to the Chinese ; 
 Manchuria being a name improperly given by foreigners. 
 
 Commonly called Tsitsihar, or Jijihar, which is in reality the name of its 
 capital. 
 
78 CONQUEST OF MONGOLIA. 
 
 Kortsin,* beyond Sifung kow, is from east to west eight 
 hundred and seventy li ; and from north to south, two thousand 
 one hundred li, stretching from Shanhai gwan to Solon, on the 
 Soongwha kiang or Songari, and is still under the rule of the 
 lineal descendant of Hasar, a younger brother of the founder of 
 the Yuen dynasty. In the early days of the Ming dynasty, 
 Wooliangho, chief of Kortsin, was made the principal of the 
 three Mongol chiefs nominated by the Ming to watch the 
 frontier. This supremacy was afterwards destroyed, and the 
 four families of Jualimoo, all called Kortsin, after the principal 
 one, were subjected by force of arms to the head of the Chahar 
 family. 
 
 Chinese territory extended northwards beyond Mookden like 
 a wedge, till it terminated in a point just outside Kaiyuen, on 
 the east of which city was that portion of the Niijun, from whom 
 sprang the Kin dynasty, and on the west the family of Kortsin, 
 whose head was chief of the tribe. From its position, Kortsin 
 was the first Mongol family or tribe to come in contact with the 
 Manchus. 
 
 If the Eastern Mongols and Niijun or Manchus are not 
 physiological or philological brothers, they are very near 
 relations; their polysyllabic Turanian languages containing so 
 many similar words, and the many customs they have in 
 common, seem as distinctly to point to a common origin as to 
 their mutually wide separation from the Chinese. 
 
 As the old Mongol chiefs loved war and plunder, like our own 
 old barons, tribe against tribe and family against family, so did 
 the Eastern Mongols often measure swords with their neighbours 
 the Niijun ; for they were then under the Ming what they are 
 now under the Manchus, in a state of semi-independence, or 
 rather resembling the attitude, till lately, of Afghanistan to 
 India : permitted to settle their own quarrels among themselves, 
 provided they left the Chinese in quiet. The Mongol and 
 Niijun chiefs intermarried, and so probably did the neighbouring 
 
 * The Chinese call them Kursin ; Mongols call their country west of Manchuria, 
 Toornaor, and themselves Harchin. 
 
FIRM FRIENDSHIP. 79 
 
 peoples under them. Thus when the Nujun, south of Kiriii and 
 Ninguta, combined to take and destroy Noorhachu in Laochung, 
 they sent for the aid of the chief of Kortsin, who willingly 
 marched at the head of his troops, was the first in the fray, and 
 the first to flee when the whole allied army was routed below 
 Gooloshan. Afterwards when Woola was attacked, Kortsin 
 marched to the rescue, but was met, and his horse fled back to 
 .their own country. As soon as the chief got home, he sent 
 messengers to the Manchus to make a treaty of peace. 
 
 In the middle of the fifteenth century, Totoboowha, chief of 
 Chahar, was murdered, the murderer assuming the chieftainship. 
 The son of the murdered man was soon after reinstated in his 
 patrimony, taking the title of Siaowangdsu, the little king, a 
 title handed down to his posterity. In the beginning of the 
 sixteenth century, the Siaowangdsu made himself master of the 
 Kokonor Mongols, and marched about at the head of a hundred 
 thousand bowmen. After displaying their prowess all round, 
 these gradually broke up, moving eastwards and settling down, 
 except when making inroads on Chinese territory; for China 
 was the Roman empire of these Goths. 
 
 When the Manchus began to make themselves felt in eastern 
 Manchuria, the Ming empowered Lindan-khan, the then Siao- 
 wangdsu, to raise an army against them. Doubtless Lindan had 
 already proved himself a man of war. His first effort was 
 unsuccessful, for he was driven home. He however raised an 
 army larger than the first, but instead of attacking the Maiichus,^ 
 he devasted his Mongol neighbourhood, spreading the terror of 
 his name in all directions. Many of his neighbours fled towards 
 Kortsin, and, whether from righteous indignation at the atrocities 
 of Lindan, or from the fear of themselves feeling the scourge of 
 his arm, or from both motives, the Kortsin chiejLaad people 
 bound themselves fast friends to the Manchus, in a friendship 
 which has up to the present day not been broken. For it was 
 their chief Sankolinsiii who planned the defences on the Peho 
 and led the army which opposed the march of the allied troops 
 on Peking ; and he did only what his predecessors have always 
 
80 CONQUEST OF MONGOLIA. 
 
 done when any danger threatened the Manchu government. 
 His son, who for the father's sake has high rank though small 
 influence in Peking, is the present chief of the Kortsin, and 
 continues his father's- bitter hostility to westerns, being one of 
 the leaders of the anti-foreign party. These chiefs and the 
 imperial family have therefore again and again intermarried. 
 
 Lindan continued his course of war, though not without 
 opposition; for he was once defeated at the head of forty 
 thousand men by a combination of Mongol Families. The 
 Mongols however found they were unable to defend themselves 
 from him, and therefore implored the protection of the Manchus, 
 who in 1632 marched against him with their newly-acquired 
 Mongol tributaries./<A.s it was summer, the Liao was unfordable; 
 and the Manchus therefore marched northwards by Hingan ling,* 
 a distance of thirteen hundred li. Lindan desired to make a 
 t stand at his capital, but his men broke up, stripped, crossed the 
 I river and fled whither and with as much of their live property as 
 they could, most of them finding their way to Kweiwha city. 
 The forsaken chief had to follow perforce, fleeing alone and never 
 resting till he got to the marches of Kokonor, where he died of 
 fatigue ; his former ruthless power, doubtless, making an asylum 
 f anywhere impossible. The Manchu army then marched on 
 \ Kweiwha, which they captured with many myriad men. Thus 
 fell into their hands the key of Inner Mongolia north of Peking. 
 Soon after the accession of the Ming Tienchi (1621), two 
 Ming princes, looking after Chinese interests in Mongolia, who 
 were very friendly disposed to the Mongols, and what is just as 
 likely, very much afraid of them, agreed to pay a million taels 
 per annum to the Mongol Shwunyi wang, descendent of one 
 Nanda, to whom that title had been first given ; for this Mongol 
 it was who had charge of preventing inroads into Chinese 
 , territory. The " present " was handed over at the yearly horse 
 
 * There is an outer Hingan ling, two hundred and twenty li north-east of Meirgun, 
 in Hei-loong kiang province, and an Inner Hingan ling, west of Tsitsihar city, 
 which supplies a considerable proportion of the waters of the Amoor. The 
 Manchus would therefore march north-west from Kaiyuen. 
 
CHINESE SUBSIDY. 81 
 
 fair, when prince Shwunyi presented his tribute of fifty 
 thousand horses, or three hundred and twenty thousand taels, 
 as his tribute. Chahar defeated Shwunyi wang, took his place 
 as border guardian and recipient of the million taels, which he 
 received, doubtless, in order to retain him in Chinese service. 
 
 When Taidsoong caused Lindan to flee, and occupied the city 
 of Kweiwha, he thought he had as good a right to the subsidy as 
 his predecessor, and sent letters to that effect to the magistrates 
 of all the border cities, Huenfoo, Tatoong, Yangho, &c., stating 
 how much better it would be for the Chinese to pay him this 
 sum than hand it to the weak Chahar, whose power was 
 gone with the flight of its chief; for that thus he and they 
 would become good friends. The governor at Tatoong agreed to 
 make a covenant with the Manchus, on the ratification of which, 
 a white horse and a black ox were sacrificed, and arrangements 
 made for an exchange market at Jangjia kow, or Kalgan. But 
 when news of this covenant, made by his unauthorised official, 
 came to the emperor's ears, he was extremely wroth and had the 
 various parties punished. Thereafter no magistrate dared hold 
 any intercourse with the Manchus. 
 
 As Ningyuen defied the utmost effort of the Manchus, they 
 made use of Mongolia as a highway into China. In 1626, the 
 First Beira at the head of a considerable army made a successful 
 march into Mongolia, taking fourteen Beiras prisoners, with their 
 men and cattle. In July 1634, Taidsoong advanced from 
 Hiienfoo to reconnoitre Swochow district, and next month the 
 army marched in force on Shansi, against Taichow, Swochow, - 
 and other cities ; but apparently only Chowei was taken before 
 the army was recalled. Raids were however made on Hei-loong 
 kiang to the north and Warka to the east, which were more 
 successful ; for these raids on the more thinly populated Niijun 
 districts, seemed to have served their purpose when a number of 
 captives were brought back, many, possibly most, of whom were 
 soon converted into soldiers. 
 
 In 1634 the men of Chahar revolted against Lin Danwoo ' 
 their chief, and deserted in "countless numbers " to the Manchus, 
 
82 CONQUEST OF MONGOLIA. 
 
 after seeing the dead body of their former chief. In March of 
 1635 these men were sent back to their own country along with 
 a picked Manchu army. Three months after, the main army had 
 got to Silajoonga on the way to Chahar, at which place Lin's 
 widow surrendered with one thousand five hundred families. 
 The Yellow river was crossed, and Nguajua, unprepared to 
 fight, surrendered with his mother and over a thousand families. 
 He was created a Chin-wang. The Chahar districts all 
 submitted during this same year, and Inner Mongolia became 
 entirely subjected to the Manchus. 
 
 But this expedition was remarkable for a richer conquest than 
 that of men and women. When the last Yuen emperor fled 
 beyond the Great desert, he took with him the imperial jade 
 seal which had been handed down from dynasty to dynasty 
 in China. Somehow it was lost, and was out of sight for two 
 -centuries ; after which, a certain shepherd was so much discon- 
 certed at seeing his sheep eat no food for three days, that he dug 
 the ground to discover the charm, when he found the long-lost 
 jade seal ! It became the property of his chief Lin Danwoo, 
 whose widow handed it to the Manchus. On it are inscribed 
 in ancient characters (jwandsu), the four words, the " Precious 
 (Agent) of Rule and Command." It was encased in fanyu* 
 with a clasp in the form of a scaly dragon, all of a dazzling 
 brightness ! The possessor of this charmed seal is said to be 
 .sure of sovereignty over China, which is probably true as long 
 us he can keep it, and its locality is known. It was, therefore, 
 fortunate for the Manchus that the lucky shepherd was not 
 ambitious. No sooner did the forty-nine Mongol Beiras hear of 
 the news, than they hastened without one exception to 
 acknowledge the sovereignty of the possessor of the seal. 
 
 Chahar has not always been so faithful an ally as Kortsin ; 
 for when Woo Sangwei revolted in the south-west, Boorni, 
 younger brother and successor of the deceased Nguajua, refused 
 to obey the summons of Kanglii for aid ; whereupon he himself 
 was immediately attacked by a combined Manchu and Mongol 
 * Which Dr Williams transposing supposes to be a " veined agate." 
 
MONGOL REVOLTS. 83 
 
 force, which got to Chirhatai, where all heavy baggage was 
 left behind, so that the men could ride lightly to Daloo, where 
 Boorni was encamped amid hills and gullies. His ambushes 
 were first driven in, and then his army defeated. He had . how- 
 ever another army in readiness, with which he renewed the fight ; 
 but in vain, for he had to flee with three thousand horse. He 
 did not flee far, for a Kortsin arrow brought him to the ground. 
 His land was converted into a common, the survivors of the 
 tribe banished to beyond Huenwha and Tatoong to the south- 
 west of Dooshu kow, where his territory had extended north and 
 north-west of Peking, over a thousand li beyond the outer w. 
 
 We have seen how Kweiwha chung west of the Yellow river 
 was taken. In 1636, a number of Mongols of that district 
 revolted, flying beyond the Great desert. They were pursued 
 Woobahai, who had been made commandant of Kweiwha^ .'"! 
 several scores of days no trace of the rebels was obtainable. On 
 day while some men went to pick up a wild goose which had 
 been shot by them, they suddenly came upon the rebel camp, 
 which broke up immediately, continuing the flight northwards. 
 At Wundo ling pass they were overtaken. Yelei, one of their /) . * 
 leaders, raised his bow to shoot his arrow, when a fox which had ' ( 
 risen in front ran against him, and his bow was knocked out of 
 his hand. He was taken, and on him" was found the seal of (j 
 Shwunyi wang of Kweiwha. Inner Mongolia however seems to 
 have taken kindly to Manchu rule, for there has been no such 
 serious risings as under the Ming and preceding Chinese 
 dynasties. This fidelity is accounted for partly by consanguinity 
 and intermarriage ; but chiefly by the large salaries and presents 
 allowed the Mongol chiefs. 
 
 The year 1636 passed over without any important military 
 operations. A raid was made through Mongol territory into 
 Shansi, in the end of the preceding and beginning of this 
 year, which resulted in a total of six thousand Chinese troops 
 slain and seventy- six thousand two hundred head of human and 
 four-footed animals taken. A second in summer was followed 
 by a more serious raid in autum, when the Manchus, again 
 
84 CONQUEST OF MONGOLIA. 
 
 marching through Mongol ground, entered Changan, passed 
 Paoting and got to Aiichow, reporting successful contests in fifty- 
 six so-called battles, and the plunder of twelve cities with the 
 capture of a hundred and eighty thousand head of men and 
 cattle. But from a military stand-point, all this was mere 
 robbery; for the places taken could not be retained. In the end 
 of the year an expedition against the Coreans ended in subduing 
 that kingdom. 
 
 A dream of Taidsoong's is thought worthy of historical record. 
 He dreamed that he was on his way to Hingking to worship 
 Taidsoo, whom he saw riding swiftly. Daishan, son of Taidsoo, 
 laid hold of the bridle, but could not hold in the horse. Then 
 Taidsoong entered the Ming palace. In the palace was a man 
 who held out and handed to him a string of coral. The man 
 seemed to be the emperor Wanli, long dead. His first thought 
 was to refuse the coral, but on closely looking at it he saw on it 
 the images of the Kin dynasty. He accepted it : Wanli saying, 
 " This is the history of the Kin dynasty." On waking, the 
 dream was laid before the wise men of the privy council by 
 this Nebuchadnezzar; and they explained, that as he had 
 formerly dreamed of going into the Corean palace, and after- 
 wards took Corea, so now this dreamy entrance into the 
 palace of the Ming signified that he was to gain possession 
 of China, and the coral intimated that he was to be entrusted 
 with the sovereign duty of issuing the imperial yearly book, as 
 the almanac is called. 
 
 North of the Great desert, stretching away to Russian Siberia 
 for three thousand li, and bordering Siberia east to west five 
 thousand li, is Outer Mongolia ; at that time under three chiefs, 
 the principal of whom was Karka in the east. When Chahar 
 was annexed, Karka sent messages of concord to the Manchus, 
 who presented the envoys when departing with sable robes, court 
 pearls, bows, swords, gold and silks. The envoys brought as 
 "tribute" in the following year, strange beasts, celebrated horses, 
 armour, sables, the diao or "great vulture" (monachus), 
 matchlocks made by the Russians, bow-bags from Whiboo, and 
 
GREAT RAIDING EXPEDITION. 85 
 
 saddles and hatchets from Urmasu. Black foxes, white squirrels, 
 and robes were given them in return. They afterwards presented 
 every year a white camel and eight white horses, which was 
 called the " tribute of the nine whites." But they were not 
 always such good friends ; for Taidsoong had to march against 
 and defeat them in 1638. 
 
 The possession of Mongolia was useful to the Manchus only as 
 the one road open to them into China; for they would never 
 have been able to pass through the fortified Shanhaigwan, 
 however brave they were, or however foolish their opponents. 
 And they were not slow in making use of the circuitous route, 
 for in September, 1638, Dorgun, the Zooi chin-wang, was 
 nominated chief commander and sent with a body of men, while 
 Yoto was at the head of another, both to act against the Chinese. 
 Yoto marched by the valley of Chiangdsu ling, and taking a 
 city of that name, passed 011 by four different roads. By the 
 way, he came upon a body of six thousand Chinese, under Woo 
 Ahung, governor of Ki and Lkio,* who was a confirmed 
 drunkard ; and as he was, therefore, wholly unprepared, he was 
 easily defeated in a valley, called by the Mongols Dajiboola. 
 Dorgun broke down a ruined portion of the Great wall east of 
 Doongjia kow and west of Chingwan shan, through which he 
 passed. The two brothers united their armies at Tungchow, 
 below Peking. Arrived at Chochow they separated, and 
 marched by eight roads in as many divisions, one by the hills* 
 one by the Ywun-ho, or " Grand canal," or Transport-river, and 
 six between these two. 
 
 The Ming general Loo Siangshung, and the president of the 
 Board of War, were on bad terms ; hence, though Loo had the 
 title of commander-in-chief of all the troops, he had under him 
 scarcely twenty thousand men, the bulk of the men of Kwanning 
 being under Gao Chichien. Of his men, Loo Siangshung placed 
 half under Chun Sinjia, and with the remainder he marched 011 
 Paoting. He fought a most severe battle against Chinese rebels 
 at Chingtu, where many were slain and wounded on both sides ; 
 
 * Ki Liao indicated the north-east of Chihli, and what remained of Liaosi. 
 
86 CONQUEST OF MONGOLIA. 
 
 and then advanced 011 Yinloo-swo, where he found he had lost 
 half of his divided force. Here, with five thousand men, he had 
 to encounter several score thousand of Manchus, who came 
 upon him after he had driven off his former foes, and surrounded 
 him three deep. He kept the Manchus at bay for two days, 
 though Gao Chichien, at the head of the main army about fifty 
 li distant, would not move to his aid. After his last grain of 
 powder was gone, he threw himself, sword in hand, into their 
 midst, and slew over a dozen men before he was cut down. 
 
 Believing that the Chinese would draw men from Ningyuen 
 and Kingchow,* as soon as they knew of the march of the two 
 Manchu armies into the interior of China, Taidsoong resolved to 
 keep those men where they were. He, therefore, sent several 
 detachments of Mongols to occupy the road between Ningyuen 
 arid Kingchow, and some of the Manchu rear-guard with 
 Mongols, to that south of Ningyuen and north of Chientwun. 
 He himself led an army by Yichow. The three recent deserters, 
 who had meantime been created wangs, Gung, Koong, and 
 Shang, were entrusted with our old acquaintance the " Great 
 general," which battered down the walls of two fortified villages. 
 Thus the object of the move was thoroughly realised, for the 
 Chinese dared not draw on those garrisons to the north of 
 Shanhaigwan. At the same time the plundering armies, under 
 Dorgwun, reached Linching chow in Shantung, crossed the Grand 
 canal, took Tsinan foo, and captured Dua wang, a near relation 
 of the Ming emperor. They took in all fifty walled cities, besides 
 eight which opened their gates. They seized above four hundred 
 and sixty thousand captives, and carried away over a million 
 taels of silver. 
 
 Returning next spring by Tientsin, they found the canal 
 much swollen and unfordable. Some Chinese officials proposed 
 to cut off their retreat, but the Chinese generals dared not act ; 
 so that after some days they crossed in safety. Another 
 unsuccessful attempt was then made by Taidsoong to bring 
 
 * Pronounced Jinjow or Jinchow by the Chinese; but as the incorrect name 
 Kingchow is given in all maps to that large city of Liaosi, it is retained here. 
 
INCREASING WEAKNESS. 87 
 
 about a treaty of . peace, but no notice was taken of his 
 proposal. His terms were, doubtless, as unreasonable as ever, 
 and they well might be so now. For the hands of the last Ming 
 emperor had been for years becoming more and more paralysed 
 by the gigantic scale to which robbery and rebellion had 
 attained. So that China was now like a water-logged or 
 stranded vessel, surrounded by wreckers. She could not possibly 
 act on the offensive, could not even successfully repel every 
 attack, while every moment made her weaker. The well- 
 meaning, but weak, emperor found all things against him. The 
 Manchus on his east successfully resisted his attempts to keep 
 them within bounds ; a hungry populace filled the provinces of 
 his empire with fiendish robbers; a greedy, selfish, blinded 
 ministry, occupied his council chambers, disregarding whatever 
 tended not to their own immediate private advantage; and a 
 famine, almost chronic, over all the northern provinces, not only 
 converted poor men into robber-bands and rebel armies, but 
 disheartened his friends by giving proof that Heaven was wroth 
 with and had forsaken him. The Manchus could, therefore, 
 choose their point, mode, and time, of attack or retreat; and -we. 
 need not be surprised if Taidsoong's terms for a treaty were 
 exorbitant, nor yet that being exorbitant, they were met with 
 a silent refusal on the part of the Pekinese authorities, who 
 would find it impossible to implement such terms, if they did 
 agree to them. 
 
 In the spring of 1639, Taidsoong marched against Hingshan, 
 in Liaosi, which he hotly besieged. The three newly created 
 princes, Shaug, Koong, and Gung, with two Manchu officers, had 
 each his special post assigned him, from which he was to pour shot 
 upon the city from his field-pieces " red-coats," at present called 
 "horse-cannon." The city parapets and much of the wall, 
 were battered down, the second in command, Jin Gwofung, 
 remaining inside all day. At sunset the Manchus retired to 
 rest, and to prepare for attack through breach and by escalade 
 in the morning. But when daylight appeared, they found the 
 walls as high as ever, the breaches having been repaired with 
 
88 CONQUEST OF MONGOLIA. 
 
 corded beams protected by earth. The attack of the Manchus 
 was, therefore, easily repulsed, and their "cloudy ladders" 
 helped to raise men to the wall, only to be hurled back to die. 
 Attempts to mine the walls in three different places were 
 discovered and defeated, and the siege had to be raised. 
 Detachments sent against the neighbouring forts of Tashan and 
 Lienshan, were equally unsuccessful. In revenge the country 
 round Kingchow was harried, and the villages utterly destroyed. 
 Several minor expeditions kept Kingchow and Ningyuen 
 occupied all the year. In one of these the brave Jin Gwofung, 
 who had been created lieut.-general of Ningyuen, was slain with 
 two of his sons. When Hoong Chungchow, the governor of Ki 
 and Liao, heard of it, he said : " At first when Jin Gwofung was 
 alone at the head of three thousand men, he successfully defied 
 the Manchu armies. As soon as he was made a great leader 
 with a myriad men, he was defeated; the reason evidently 
 being, that though nominally chief, he was interfered with;" 
 a truth, the many evidences of which had not yet ensured a 
 wiser policy in Peking, for eunuchs ruled in every camp. 
 
 In April, 1640, Jirhalang was ordered to restore the ancient 
 city of Yichow, almost direct west of Liaoyang across the Liao, 
 touching the south-east border of Mongolia : this was to prevent 
 the Chinese to the south of him from cultivating the ground. 
 Cavalry were always on the road ; and if not successful in prevent- 
 ing the Chinese from sowing in the Kingchow districts, did the 
 reaping themselves, in some cases cutting down the half-grown 
 crops. In July, Dorgwun the Zooi chin-wang was sent to watch 
 Kingchow, and to divide his men into two wings, one to be ready 
 to oppose any movement of the enemy's troops, and open the 
 way for deserters ; another to look after all the crops, to have 
 them cut down and carefully stored up, in two strong places, 
 along with the straw and corn already cut. In October, 
 Jirhalang was sent to relieve Dorgwun, who was reproved for his 
 lack of plan. Desultory, frequent, but indecisive engagements 
 had taken place between bodies of his men and the Chinese ; and 
 wishing to strike a blow just before leaving, he sent men to 
 
SLOW BELEAGUERING. 89 
 
 tempt out the garrison of Soongshan, whence a body of cavalry 
 soon issued at great speed only to be driven back. A second and 
 a third time did they charge, when they were pursued up to the 
 very gates, losing many men. The newly-arrived army also laid 
 -ambushes, seized night convoys of grain, and kept the enemy on 
 the qui vive. And in December, Dorgwun was sent back again 
 to relieve Jirhalang. 
 
 Thus were the Chinese forces in Liaosi always kept occupied 
 and harassed, and everything done to shorten the provisions in 
 the Chinese garrisons, when in April, Dorgwun gave home-leave 
 to the mailed soldiers, and moved his camp away from Kingchow 
 thirty li to Gwowang-bei towards the Yichow road. The news 
 of this retrograde move enraged Taidsoong, who had given orders 
 that Kingchow should be gradually approached, for he was 
 determined to take it ; and it had now been besieged a whole 
 year. His troops had devastated Shantung and Shansi, taking 
 many cities and could have taken all, but not a foot could he 
 retain, because of the strong post of Shanhai gwan in his rear ; 
 and Shanhai gwan could be approached only after the fall of the 
 four strong cities north-east of it, the principal and nearest of 
 which was Kingchow. As he had so frequently been baffled in 
 his designs on those cities, he adopted the plan we have been 
 describing, to keep or make them short of provisions, and prepare 
 for an easier conquest when his plans were completed. He was 
 now enraged because the temporary withdrawal and weakening of 
 the troops, and permitted Kingchow to lay in a stock of provisions. 
 The guilty princes were recalled, and Jirhalang was ordered to 
 press the siege against the southern garrisons. The recalled 
 army was ordered to halt at Shulita,* and no man permitted to 
 enter the capital. Ministers were sent out to examine and 
 punish every man guilty of dismissing as many as five men. 
 The Zooi chin-wang and his subordinate brother Soo chin-wang 
 acknowledged their fault, and were both degraded to kun wangs t 
 
 * Now called Tawan, twelve li outside Mookden, on the west road. 
 
 t The term wang originally signified in Chinese what king did in the west, and 
 there was then of course only one wang. But shortly before the Christian era, the 
 
90 CONQUEST OF MONGOLIA. 
 
 besides being heavily fined ; the inferior officials were punished 
 in proportion to their power and guilt, and then all were 
 permitted to enter the city. 
 
 Jirhalang was ordered to surround Kingchow and to keep the 
 road from Soong and Hingshan, to prevent succour thence. In 
 besieging the city, the attacking party set up eight camps, before 
 which a deep trench was dug, and along this ditch side walls 
 were built. Between the camps and nearer the city another 
 trench was dug, beside which watchmen beating gongs kept 
 incessant guard. 
 
 Kingchow was a double city. Inside the outer wall was a 
 colony of Mongols, who railed at the watchmen, saying, " We 
 have provisions inside the city for two or three years ; do you 
 think you can take us by sitting before the walls ? " The watchmen 
 replied, " If you have provisions for four years, what will you 
 eat on the fifth ? " The reply terrified the Mongols, who learned 
 from it the determination to have the city at all costs, and their 
 allegiance wavered. Two Mongol chiefs sent a secret message, 
 saying that they would surrender the city if soldiers were sent 
 on a certain given night. But commander Dsoo Dashow, 
 whom we have seen turn coat twice, and who was now 
 under his first flag, heard of the proposed treachery three days 
 before the given night. He went out of the inner city to seize 
 the Mongol chiefs, who resisted. The Manchus hastened to the 
 foot of the wall, attracted by a great tumult purposely raised by 
 the Mongol soldiers. There they found ropes dangling from 
 Mongol hands by which they scaled the walls and drove the 
 
 successful competitor for the throne of China adopted the term ivhangdi or emperor. 
 Thenceforth wang, though still the title of "king," such as he of Corea, always 
 signified a vassal king. The sons of the emperor and men who made themselves 
 famous warriors, had the title of wang given them. But all could not be equal in 
 rank. Hence Chin and Kun divided them into two great classes, the Chin being 
 Family wang, indicating the rank nearest the emperor; Kun, being Prince 
 wang, denoting an inferior prince. Prince Kung is of course a Chin Wang; so 
 also is Bo wang, Prince of Kortsin, because his father Sankolinsin deserved 
 so well at the hands of the government. But the great majority is 
 kunwang. 
 
URGENCY DECLARED. 91 
 
 Chinese into the inner* city. The outer city was thus taken, and 
 eighty-six Mongol officers and six thousand two hundred men. 
 and women joined the Manchus. The news caused the greatest 
 joy in Mookden ; Taidsoong inviting the populace to a theatrical 
 performance in the palace. 
 
 Intelligence was speedily sent to Peking, and "urgency" 
 declared.^ Preparations were forthwith made on both sides for 
 more serious work. The wangs, Koong and Shang, were sent 
 off in May to increase the ranks of Jirhalang, and small 
 bodies of Chinese from Soongshan and Hingshan were 
 met and driven back ; but a large force was being collected 
 under the governor of Ki and Liao, Hoong Chungchow, and 
 eight lieut.-generals, of whom Woo Sangwei was one. This 
 force, amounting to a hundred and thirty thousand infantry and 
 forty thousand cavalry, got to Ningyuen with a year's provisions. 
 
 Dsoo Dashow sent messengers from Kingchow urging them 
 not to fight blindly, but to rest in fortified camps, and to advance 
 with caution, advice which coincided perfectly with the 
 judgment of Hoong himself; for as the provisions were so bulky, 
 and the carts so numerous, he resolved first to get them on from 
 Tashan to Soongshan, then from Soongshan to Kingchow, setting- 
 up camps at every step to prevent all possibility of surprise. 
 But the president of the Board of War had sent on the vice- 
 president, Jang Yolin, as usual, to spy the commander, who 
 acted like a madman, ceasing neither day nor night from 
 reporting fighting ahead. His conduct at length compelled 
 Hoong to abandon his first resolution, and to march ahead with 
 sixty thousand men, leaving the provender at Ningyuen, 
 Tashan, and Bijiagang, just beyond Tashan. The rest of the 
 army followed him. His cavalry surrounded three sides of 
 
 * The outer cannot have surrounded the inner city, but must have been on one 
 side, as that of Peking-, and similarly situated ; for the only traces of an outer 
 enclosure in the present splendid city are on the south side, beside the shallow 
 "river" Siaoling ho. 
 
 f It is remarkable to find the exact phrase used in the French convention 
 occurring here, and often subsequently. 
 
92 CONQUEST OF MONGOLIA. 
 
 Soongshan, the infantry occupied Zoofung gang north of the 
 city, pitching seven camps between the two hills, Soong and 
 Zoofung, before which they dug a deep ditch. 
 
 Taidsoong heard of the march of this formidable army in 
 September, and issued orders immediately, commanding every 
 man and every horse in all the Manchu districts to gather at 
 the capital. On the fifteenth day of the eighth moon they 
 started from Mookden, leaving Jirhalang the Jun chin-wang to 
 protect the city. He marched day and night, and in six days 
 his forces occupied the high road from Nanshan to the sea, 
 between Soongshan and Hingshan, thus cutting off communi- 
 cation between the enemy's army and his provisions. A 
 detachment was told off forthwith, which defeated the men left 
 in charge of the provisions at Tashan, and took the stores at 
 Bijia gang, where there were thirteen great heaps of grain. 
 This skilful move dealt a terrible blow to the Chinese commander, 
 who had marched against his own better judgment. 
 
 Taidsoong knew that the enemy had small store of provision, 
 -and predicted that within five days they would retire. He 
 therefore planted ambushes at Tashan, Hingshan, Siaoling ho, 
 and by other roads wherever the enemy might possibly march. 
 These divided forces were ordered to fight the advancing enemy 
 if of equal numbers ; but if superior to let them pass, and strike 
 them in the rear. He also set a strong body over the grain at 
 Bijia shan to prevent its being taken by a dash. He had 
 guessed correctly ; for on the second day, soon after nightfall, 
 Woo Sangwei and five other lieut. -generals began their retreat 
 in excellent fighting order. But the men of one of the divisions 
 broke up in disorder and fled. In the darkness it was 
 impossible to re-form, and all made for Tashan. The Manchus 
 pursued, striking down the rear, the ambush doing what they 
 could to put the van into confusion. The Chinese marched 
 slowly, now marching, now fighting; but at last they all broke, 
 and fled into Tashan. Parties of fugitives were met on all the 
 roads ; but so panic-stricken were they that the least show of 
 Manchu opposition scattered them into disorderly flight. 
 
TERRIBLE COLLAPSE. 93 
 
 Lieut. -general Tsao Bienjiao, with, the commander Hoong 
 Chungchow, and about ten thousand men, got into Soongshan. 
 Thence they made five unsuccessful sallies ; Bienjiao pushing 
 his way with some of his men to the very gate of the quarters 
 of Taidsoong. As the principal officers were away elsewhere, 
 the greatest terror prevailed inside, lest Taidsoong should be 
 overpowered. But the gate was defended by Balikwun alone 
 till troops came up, when Bienjiao was wounded, and retired. 
 
 Taidsoong, believing that the hosts of men shut up in the- 
 small fort of Tashan were sure to flee immediately for the large 
 city of Ningyuen, set ambushes at Gaochiao and SanggarjaL 
 They had not long to wait ; for Woo Sangwei and the others- 
 marched out ; and their men, now thoroughly demoralised, ran 
 and most of them perished in the sea. Sangwei and another 
 general escaped alone. Jang Yolin, the principal cause of 
 that terrible disaster, fled in a boat and proved the man he was- 
 hy joining the rebels under Li Dsuchung, then so powerful all 
 over China, and again soon after by deserting to the Manchus. 
 He was, doubtless, afraid of facing the emperor again. 
 
 Of the Chinese, fifty-three thousand seven hundred and 
 eighty-three then perished, and seven thousand four hundred and 
 forty-four horses, sixty-six camels, and nine thousand three 
 hundred and forty-six coats of mail were taken. Most of the 
 lost were drowned as they had been fleeing by the sea-shore. 
 The sea was covered with the floating bodies, as if with in- 
 numerable " wild geese or ducks." The Manchus had ten men 
 wounded that night. 
 
 We have seen above (p. 88, 89) how anxiously the Manchus 
 were preventing the ingress of provisions into the fortified cities 
 of Kingchow and neighbourhood. Soongshan, which was 
 therefore short of provisions before, was soon in great straits by 
 the additional men shut up there, while all hope of relief from 
 without was destroyed ; for a deep ditch was cut round the city, 
 which was closely invested, Hoong Chungchow not daring to 
 sally. Next month a large force was sent against Kingchow. 
 Taidsoong returned to Mookden, and some provisions were 
 
D4 CONQUEST OF MONGOLIA. 
 
 smuggled into Soongshan, which, had come by sea from Tientsin. 
 They were of little service, however ; for the second in command 
 sent his second son secretly into the city, who managed to open 
 the gates. Hoong Chungchow was taken alive. Tsao Bienjiao 
 and other officers were slain fighting. 
 
 Dsoo Dashow had defied the Manchus in Kingchow ever since 
 his retreat from Peking. Orders were now sent to Jirhalang to 
 closely invest Kingchow, to cut down even the grass which grew 
 between the wall and the trench. But as soon as the terrible 
 and crushing defeat at Soongshan and the fall of that city, 
 became known in Kingchow, the hearts of all failed them. 
 Dashow, therefore, whose resources had long been exhausted, 
 and who had done all a brave man could, opened his gates to 
 the Manchus, by whom he was well treated. But every Mongol, 
 and the men outside Dsoo's contingent, were put to death. An 
 army sent on to aid Kingchow dared not pass Ningyuen, where 
 Woo Sangwei was governor. He, though he could not save 
 the country around from plunder, kept his city. 
 
 In consequence of the terror caused by the fall of the cities, 
 and a succession of terrible losses on the field, Chun, the 
 president of the Chinese Board of War, memorialised the 
 emperor on the matter; but apparently presented an entirely 
 wrong version ; for the emperor replying in his own hand, wrote 
 that his memorial stating that " Liaoyang and Mookden were 
 eagerly desirous for peace, had been received;" that the 
 emperor and his family were amenable to reason and were will- 
 ing to carry out the will of Heaven above in saving life alive ; 
 and that peace would be easily granted on the restoration of the 
 lands which " our merciful and righteous forefathers " left ; but 
 with this general direction the emperor handed over the matter 
 to the president. Verily, red-tapeism was strangling China, half 
 of which was then in rebel hands, the other half little better ; 
 and the cost of the war in Liaosi was in itself reason 
 enough for peace. The Manchu emperor objected to the 
 style of this despatch. If the letter was really intended for him, 
 why was the president " ordered " ? and if " ordered," why 
 
MANCHU HAUGHTINESS. 95 
 
 employ the imperial official seal, which however was not the 
 true seal ? The letter besides treated Manchu with supercilious 
 contempt. He therefore replied to the president that it was 
 evident the Chinese were not in reality desirous of friendship. 
 But as to the mind of the Wangs and Beiras of Manchu it was 
 truly reported of them that they sought peace. 
 
 Soongshan and Tashan cities were then levelled with the 
 ground and Hingshan soon followed. Woo Sangwei was the 
 lieut. -general commandant of Ningyuen, and a worthy successor 
 to Choonghwan. Every fortified city to the north of him had 
 fallen, and he was now face to face with the Manchus. Repeated 
 efforts were made by missives from the Manchu " emperor," and 
 by letters from various chief officers lately deserted to the 
 Manchus, all well known to Sangwei. All tempted him to 
 revolt, but though he turned a deaf ear, they familiarised his 
 mind to the idea and bore fruit before long. 
 
 Whether or not the Chinese emperor was aware of the whole 
 truth in regard to Liaosi, he knew sufficient to make the thought 
 of peace desirable. He was himself of a gentle, well-disposed 
 character, but unable to govern unruly men, or control the strong- 
 willed but selfish ministers about him. In June however he sent 
 four officials and a retinue to make serious attempts for peace. 
 The Manchu emperor sent a corresponding embassage 20 li 
 outside the city of Mookden to meet and welcome them with a 
 feast. The Chinese messengers performed, " one kneeling and 
 three kowtows," thus acknowledging the power of the Manchus. 
 The epistle which they bore from the Ming emperor as their 
 credentials, was to the effect that as the former epistle directed 
 to the president of the Board of War, referring to the cessation 
 of hostilities and the dismissal to their homes of the soldiers, was 
 yet without any reply, the officials named above were appointed 
 a special mission to ascertain the true position of affairs and to 
 report. 
 
 Next month the messengers were sent back with a reply as 
 follows : "The DACHING emperor (wkangdi) writes to the Ming 
 emperor (whangdi) to say that all the wars have been the 
 
96 CONQUEST OF MONGOLIA. 
 
 result of causeless injuries inflicted on our ancestors, of despising 1 
 us and of seeking our lands. It was on these accounts our 
 deceased ancestor Taidsoo informed Heaven and Earth and went 
 in person to attack your kingdom. We afterwards made 
 repeated overtures to come to terms with you, but up to the 
 present there has been only war and confusion. 
 
 " By the will of Heaven we succeeded to our father's position. 
 We started from the shores of the north-east sea " (of Japan) 
 "and have now come to those of the north-west sea " (Salt Lakes 
 of western Mongolia) ; " within those limits the dog-and-deer- 
 employing kingdoms, the lands of the black Tiger and the black 
 Sable, the tribes who know neither sowing nor reaping but live 
 by the hunt and the fish-net, up to the western Eleuths, have 
 all acknowledged us as their sovereign. The Mongols and 
 Coreans are down on our map. Because we have proclaimed 
 only truth to Heaven and Earth, we had a name* conferred 
 upon us, and have been made honourable. Our kingdom was 
 styled Da Ching, and the style of our reign changed to 
 Choongdua Eminent Virtue. Whenever our men have 
 entered your borders, they took every city attacked, they won 
 every batttle fought ; yet we have never ceased to seek peace, 
 to preserve in life whom war destroys. If both kingdoms are 
 but sincere in the desire for peace, the old causes of hate will 
 be effaced ; and why strive merely to ascertain who is greatest ? 
 
 " If you are sincere we shall soon come to an understanding ; 
 if double-minded, difficulties will arise. If you send a messenger 
 to us we shall see him in person ; if we send one, you should 
 see him face to face, lest otherwise there should be any 
 misunderstanding. Thus a lasting peace may be secured. On 
 great occasions of joy or sorrow, messengers of congratulation 
 or condolence should be mutually sent. You shall send us 
 yearly ten thousand oz. of yellow gold, and one million of silver ; 
 and we shall send you a thousand catties of ginsheng, and a 
 thousand sable skins. The earth hills between Ningyuen and 
 the village of Shwangshoo shall be the limit of your honourable 
 
 * " The most Compassionate, Virtuous, and Wise Emperor." 
 
MANCHUS AMBITIOUS. 97 
 
 kingdom, Tashan that of ours ; Lienshan and the space between 
 shall be neutral ground for a barter market. If you desire to- 
 conclude peace let a messenger be sent speedily with a letter 
 of peace, and another containing an oath ; then we shall return 
 similar letters to you. If you do not accede to terms, you need 
 send no messenger, despatch no letter." 
 
 These terms of peace show that the Manchu conqueror, 
 triumphing over his gigantic but now enfeebled foe, was not 
 very anxious to conclude a peace, and also that he was at last 
 aiming, not merely to secure a free and independent kingdom 
 of Mongols and Tunguses, but to strike for the Dragon 
 throne. That soaring ambition was now practicable, for he was 
 strong and Peking weak ; and it was manifested in his remarks to 
 his princes, " that Peking was like a large tree, which must be cut 
 all round, when it would fall of itself." This expressed a desire 
 to cut off all external communication from Peking. It was, 
 however, because of the formidable proportions to which Chinese 
 rebellion had attained, that the Manchus were not at all anxious 
 for the peace which they would have welcomed some years 
 before ; and the negotiations fell through. 
 
 The Chinese contingent of the Manchu army became so 
 numerous by desertions, that they had to be divided into eight 
 Banners. Some of them now urged Taidsoong to march direct 
 on Peking, which in the present state of Chinese terror could not 
 but fall. He, however, thought it was the best policy to harass 
 and plunder the country in the neighbourhood of Peking, which 
 would thus by and by fall of itself, like a tree which has been 
 cut all round the outside. There can be little doubt that he 
 might then easily have taken Peking, which was seized next year 
 by the rebels; after which the chance of the Manchus was hanging 
 in the balance. To carry out his policy an army was again pre- 
 pared to raid China, which set out in November. The left wing 
 broke down the Great wall at Jieshan, and passed through; 
 and at Taitow ying fought and slew two thousand five hundred 
 men of Tatoong foo. The right wing found the gullies so narrow 
 and the roads so rough, that they had to ride singly. A Chinese 
 
98 CONQUEST OF MONGOLIA. 
 
 official was seized, who told them that twenty li outside of 
 Whangyen kow was a very narrow road at Yenmun gwan, while 
 the gate was of stone and protected by cannon and powder 
 mines. Men were sent on by night, who seized the cannon, and 
 withdrew the powder charges. The gate, with another further 
 on, was taken. The wing divided into two before Whangyen 
 kow, attacked, took it and passed through chang-chung as the 
 " Great wall " is called. The two wings united at Kichow, the 
 inhabitants of which had all fled to the hills, leaving grain and 
 cattle behind. A Chinese detachment coming up to aid the city 
 was broken. 
 
 Before starting, Taidsoong had exhorted his men to act as 
 good soldiers, and not as ruffian robbers ; telling them that no 
 old man should be killed without grave reasons, no man's wife 
 should be seized, or his property destroyed, and none beaten, as 
 had been done during the last invasion, because they failed to 
 give up their silver. The advice was good, and, apparently, 
 intended to conciliate the conquered people; but we can 
 scarcely hope that any attention was paid it ; for in July of next 
 year (1643), the army returned from Shantung, reporting thirty- 
 nine victories, and three foo, eighteen choiv, and sixty-seven 
 hien cities taken, besides six which opened their gates. They 
 brought back twelve thousand two hundred and fifty taels of 
 gold, two million two hundred and five thousand two hundred and 
 seventy taels of silver, four thousand four hundred and forty 
 taels of pearls, fifty-three thousand two hundred and thirty 
 pieces of satin, furs and coats of mail in abundance, three 
 hundred and sixty-nine thousand human beings, and over three 
 hundred and twenty-one thousand head of cattle. A number of 
 high Chinese officials concerned committed suicide. 
 
 The Yiikun wang Dodo, probably sick and tired of this carnage 
 and cruelty, began the new year of 1643 by advising that the 
 example of the ancients should be followed, who fought only 
 when war was unavoidable ; for that Heaven would certainly 
 punish the people who trusted to their own power and acted 
 unrighteously. He recommended that the soldiers should be 
 
SECOND RULER DIES. 99 
 
 disbanded, and that the officials should well regulate their internal 
 affairs, customs, and agriculture which was of prime importance 
 as the source of food and clothing. His advice was not at all 
 likely to be carried into action ; though Taidsoong recommended 
 his great ministers to be sure to entrust all important business 
 connected with war to men of wisdom, who, if carrying out 
 successfully whatever task was imposed upon them, would be 
 permitted to send their men to dig ginsheng ; while those would 
 be forbidden, whose failure proved them incompetent, and it 
 would be criminal for them to be jealous of their betters. 
 
 Next month, September 1643, this able son of a more able 
 father died at the age of fifty-two. A long title was given him, 
 and his body rests in the Jaoling, north of Mookden, before 
 which is the finest pailow I have seen. But both his tomb and 
 that of his father's are sadly in need of repair. 
 
 At the new-year of 1634, Taidsoong seated himself in the 
 " Reception Hall," and ordered the new Chinese adherents 
 Koong Yoodua and Gung Joongming to present themselves, along 
 with the Beiras and high ministers to pay their new-year's 
 compliments. The high place and rich rewards given these men 
 had doubtless a good deal to do with the desertion from the 
 Ming cause of Shang Kosi the major-general of Gwangloo island 
 off Pidsu wo ; and paved the way for many similar desertions. 
 After the reception there was a grand wrestling match, at which 
 one Ursalan raised all competitors off the ground and received 
 the name of " Marvellous Strength." The Reception Hall is an 
 octagonal building, handsome even in its old age, and must have 
 been very beautiful when built and when its finely carved wood 
 work was covered with its freshest paint. It stands just outside 
 the east wall of the Palaces, in a large enclosure of its own. It 
 is necessarily at the north end of a long brick paved area, so as 
 to face the south. It is flanked by five fine detached houses oil 
 each side of the spacious quadrangle. These houses seem to have 
 been for the use of the princes or guests. The south gate 
 leading into the quadrangle is in a directly east line from the 
 large east gate of the palace wall. 
 
100 CONQUEST OF MONGOLIA. 
 
 It was possibly the accession of those worthy deserters which 
 elevated the mind of Taidsoong to such a pitch that he called 
 Mookden the "Heaven-aiding capital," and Hotoola, the 
 "Heaven-aided prosperous capital (Hingking)." The word 
 Mukden or Mookden is the Manchu for "prosperity." Then, too, 
 the first examination was held for the degree of M.A., in Manchu, 
 Mongol and Chinese literature. Sixteen candidates passed, who 
 were each presented by the monarch with an embroidered suit, 
 and each had exempted from military service four men of his 
 family subjected thereto ; while the Board of Rites feasted the 
 sixteen at a public banquet. 
 
 In 1636, Taidsoong assumed a new style for his own reign, 
 and the name of Gking or Tsing, " clear," for his dynasty. This 
 is the Chinese of Manjoo, and by it the Manchu government has 
 been ever since designated. He also adorned the memory of hi& 
 remotest ancestors, the petty hend-men of Hotoola with grand 
 names, and his deceased father had a long string of magnificent 
 adjectives prefixed to his posthumous title, while his tomb, on 
 the nearest small, beautifully wooded eminence east of Mookden, 
 was called the Foo Ling, or Happy Tomb. The " empress " also- 
 lying there had a nearly equal and equally appropriate number 
 of epitaphs. The Beiras, or sons of Taidsoo, were all created 
 wang, a title which could be given then only on the supposition 
 that Taidsoong was a proclaimed competitor for the Dragon 
 Throne. 
 
 The Secretariat was divided into three grand divisions, the 
 whole called Nei San Yuen, " The Inner Three Halls." There 
 was the Nei Gwoshu Yuen, Inner History Hall ; the Nei Mishoa 
 Yuen, Inner Private Secretariat; and the Nei Hoongivun Yuen, 
 Inner Despatch Office. Boards had been established sometime 
 before, and in 1638, each of the six boards had six members,, 
 each with his particular duties clearly defined. An additional 
 board was found necessary to look after the interests and affairs 
 of the numerous Chinese Bannermen, in 1644. It consisted of 
 two members. Another, a Board of Works, in connection with 
 the Chinese contingent of the army, was also added and composed 
 
VARIOUS LAWS. 101 
 
 of an officer for each banner. Then, too, an additional Da Siao 
 Su or Grand Secretary was added to each of the three 
 secretariats. 
 
 The first president of the Board of Rites seems to have been 
 .a humane man. He presented a memorial praying that wives 
 or maidens, placed by the fortunes of war within the control of 
 the army, should be preserved from ill-treatment. He was 
 examined and rebuked, because " though his body was with the 
 Manchus, his heart was with the Chinese," and he was told that 
 he was no better than a spy and deserved death, which how- 
 ever was not inflicted. 
 
 Taidsoong issued an order through the Board of Rites, some- 
 what more conformable to humanity, to the effect that any person 
 found wearing clothes of the Chinese fashion, retaining their 
 hair, and binding the feet of their children, would be severely 
 punished. This was of course directed against all Chinese 
 within the jurisdiction of the Manchus. Several edicts 
 threatening severe penalties were issued against cramping the 
 feet of children, but all in vain. It is a curious fact that of the 
 three customs forbidden, those two belonging to men, the 
 enormous sleeve whose width nearly touched the ground, and 
 the full crop of hair were easily abolished ; but the one belonging 
 to women, though one would suppose the most serious of all, has 
 been persisted in to this day in spite of the threats and laws of 
 successive Manchu emperors. Is the Chinese woman more 
 obstinate or conservative than her husband ? 
 
 In the beginning of 1633, Taidsoong had to urge the farmers 
 to be diligent in the cultivation of grain, and be careful to plant 
 trees. The soldiers were also ordered to exercise their archery 
 more assiduously, as it was by it they had obtained their kingdom; 
 while the officers were forbidden to harass the common people, 
 or to employ them on unrequited government labour. The first 
 flush of youthful exuberant activity had gone, and the Manchus 
 were inclined to follow the easy life of their sedate neighbours 
 the Chinese, and were, like every people left to itself, content to 
 let the future look after itself. But had they then permitted 
 
102 CONQUEST OF MONGOLIA. 
 
 their military harness to rust, they would have, in all probability, 
 been driven back again into their original wilds. The reigning 
 son was, however, worthy of his father, and gave his men 
 employment. One brother he sent to build Siwyen, half way 
 between Newchwang and Funghwangchung ; another to build 
 Lanpan, 240 li west of Funghwangchung; a third to build 
 Toongyooen poo, 100 li north-west of Funghwang ; and a fourth 
 to restore Jienchang, 120 li south of Hingking. Except the 
 first, since rebuilt, all those " cities " are now in ruins, and called 
 by the natives " Corean " cities. 
 
 Again, in 1641, he expressed disapproval at the report handed 
 in with the census. This census had been sometime established 
 to give the numbers of individuals in every Niroo, whether 
 Manchu or Mongol, with the number of human beings, and of 
 cattle in each family, and a sort of " income " census, by which 
 rich and poor could be distinguished. On the last score, the 
 census gave him dissatisfaction, and he called before him and 
 reprimanded the Niroo chiefs and higher magistrates, whose 
 business it was to look after the poor, charging them with the 
 increased poverty, because of their love of "good food and 
 drink," and consequent neglect of magisterial duties. He 
 blamed the highest of all, the Wangs, Beiras, and chief 
 ministers, because they did not faithfully see for themselves that 
 their men diligently practised archery. He ordered them to set 
 a good example, by teaching their own younger brothers to bend 
 the " ox-horn bow," and fly the winged arrow, and to instruct 
 their boys in the use of the wooden bow and willow arrow ; and 
 again, they were reminded that their position was acquired by 
 the bow, neglecting the constant practice of which was criminal. 
 
 It would appear that tobacco was introduced about this time, 
 and that penal laws had been issued against its use, as vain as 
 those of king James. For the monarch said to his assembled 
 grandees : " Though we strictly forbade the smoking of tobacco, 
 how could the people be restrained when you smoked in 
 private ? " Taidsoong then set the crime of tobacco smoking 
 against that of neglecting archery and husbandry, and declared 
 
TOBACCO AND OPIUM. 103 
 
 that while the former might be condoned, the latter could not be 
 overlooked. Is opium smoking to pass through the same stages 
 as tobacco did, and both under the Manchus, the one at the 
 beginning, the other at the end of their reign ? So far the 
 parallel is complete ; for both were strictly prohibited, and the 
 laws in each case nullified, because the magistrates and 
 dignitaries set the example of slighting them. In the innermost 
 circle of the palace, and on the highest ministerial benches, the 
 opium pipe is daily lit. Full one half of the male adults are 
 said to smoke, and the evil is deepening and becoming more 
 sad when the vice has taken root in the nervous system of large 
 numbers of the women. Women and children of three years 
 old smoke the long ebony-stemmed tobacco pipe. Fortunately 
 opium is too expensive for such universal use. 
 
 In the chapter on the Customs of the Manchus, reference 
 will be made to their religion. When they left the eastern hills, 
 their religion was of the crudest and the coarsest. Buddhism 
 seems to have made rapid strides among them ; for when, in 
 1636, Taidsoong had conferred rank, with golden knobs and 
 pearls, to be fixed on the hats of all who had the blood of 
 Taidsoo in their veins, he made a serious attempt to overturn 
 the influence of Buddhism. He proclaimed in public that the 
 "Lamas',' confined their food to vegetables, pretending to be 
 holier than ordinary mortals, only the better to be able to 
 impose upon and deceive the people ; for that if they regulated 
 their food, they did not restrain their unruly thoughts, but 
 coveted, cheated, and did nothing but deceive. He lamented 
 that the Mongols were such implicit believers in the lama 
 exhortations, and in their doctrine of speedy transmigration, 
 promised to such as perfectly attended to those exhortations. 
 He strictly forbade the use of the "Wheel of Transmigration," 
 and the cloth " Soul-Ladder," used by Lamas and Buddhist 
 priests at funerals. The former is not now in use ; it was 
 possibly extinguished then: the latter is still borne by a son 
 before the coffin of his deceased parent. From all this we may 
 infer that Taidsoong was a man of sound judgment, as he was 
 
104 CONQUEST OF MONGOLIA. 
 
 one of impetuous disposition and dashing bravery. He wisely 
 continued the policy which had retained for his father what the 
 sword had won; and he, therefore, not only extended but 
 consolidated the kingdom of the Manchus, and made their 
 future empire possible. 
 
 The child who was elected to succeed Taidsoong was his ninth 
 son. His mother's temple name may be given as a curiosity, 
 along with the distinguishing marks which pointed him out as 
 future emperor. Jaoshungtsushowgoongjieunganyijangching- 
 dwuniuhiwunjwangkanghua empress, before the birth of her 
 child, used to be surrounded by a red flame, and when the 
 terrified servant maids rushed forward to smother it> lo ! it 
 disappeared. In addition to other wonders, a lock of hair on the 
 crown of his head was, at his birth, longer and different from the 
 rest. During the day of his birth a red flame surrounded his 
 mother's palace, and a delightful fragrance moved slowly about 
 like the soft flowing of water. His mental capacity was above 
 that of ordinary children from his birth, and daily increased. He 
 was extremely fond of learning at six (five according to our 
 calculation), when he was nominated to the throne by Daishan his 
 oldest uncle, all consenting. All the Wangs, Beiras, and great 
 ministers wrote an oath of allegiance, which was burnt, to inform 
 Heaven and Earth. Jirhalang the Jun chin-wang and Dorgun 
 the Zooi chin-wang were nominated guardians; and another 
 written oath was burnt. 
 
 The succession was not established however without some 
 commotion. Adali or Uadali, a kun wang, secretly promised 
 to abet prince Dorgun if he claimed the throne. Shoto, a 
 Oooshan Beidsu, sent Woodan to the same prince to state, that 
 he and a number of ministers were prepared to support him. 
 Adali and Shoto then went with Lolohoong to Li chin-wang 
 Daishan, who was confined with a bad leg, and said that every- 
 body was ready to proclaim Dorgun emperor ; and they blamed 
 him (Daishan) for negligence in not taking active steps to 
 prevent such a thing. Daishan saw Dorgun his brother face to 
 face with his accusers. Adali and Shoto were condemned to 
 
INTERNAL DANGER. 105 
 
 death for the crime of instigating civil war, together with the 
 mother of the former and the wife of the latter. The family 
 register of Adali was given* to Daishan, that of Shoto to 
 Dorgun. Because Woodan and Lolohoong knew not what they 
 did, they were forgiven. The grand secretary Ganglin was 
 imprisoned, but his crime pardoned, as he had informed the 
 privy council that he would not be in the plot. Fan Wunchung, 
 another grand secretary was degraded into the Bordered Yellow 
 banner. All this shows the serious nature of the danger then 
 threatening the internal peace of Manchu. 
 
 This storm, of whose origin Dorgun doubtless knew more 
 than he cared to gay, having blown over, Jirhalang was ordered 
 off to Kingchow and against Ningyuen. Bands of men were 
 sent towards Hei-loong kiang and Koorka to seize men to fill 
 the ranks. And in May, the degraded Fan Wunchung addressed 
 a memorial to the guardian princes, stating that if they wished 
 to establish a reputation and secure an inheritance, the enormous 
 proportions which robbery had assumed all over China made it 
 an easy matter, while delay or inaction now would cause endless 
 regrets hereafter; and recommended that a village be strongly 
 fortified as a halting place for troops passing to and from the 
 Chinese capital. The princes were not more willing than their 
 predecessors to rest satisfied with an empire bounded by Mongolia, 
 therefore Dorgun ordered the march of two thirds of all the 
 Manchu and Mongol soldiers, with the Chinese Han army under 
 the Three Princes to Ningyuen. They got to the Liao river, 
 when they heard that the Ming emperor and empress had hanged 
 themselves, and that Li Dsuchung had proclaimed himself 
 emperor, taking the title of Dashwun and for his style 
 Yoongchang ; and thus Peking was lost to the Manchus and was 
 become the capital of a robber, the founder of a new dynasty. 
 
 * Wives, concubines, children, slaves and cattle, were all included ; the register 
 being the title-deed to such property. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 THE EUNUCHS. 
 
 THE wisdom of the monk who became the founder of the Ming,. 
 who drove the descendants of Genghis Whan far into their own 
 Mongol deserts, and imposed upon them a Chinese yoke,, 
 disappeared from his dynasty soon after himself. The deteriora- 
 tion of imperial families in China is much like the former 
 deterioration of kingdoms further west. For the diligent 
 Chinese being the wealth producers of the east, have been the 
 bone of contention while one dynasty after another rose and 
 fell in China, each on the ruins of its predecessors, each in the 
 same way, and each eager to rule over the tax-paying Chinese. 
 The founder is necessarily and invariably a man of more than 
 ordinary abilities. His son equals if he does not excel him, and 
 both gather about them the ablest men ; or, perhaps, the storms 
 of civil war bring the best men to the surface, and their worth 
 is more readily recognised in revolutionary rebellions than in 
 the conservative established government. While these ablest 
 men rule, or live to guide the state by their wisdom, all goes 
 well. Sons or relatives succeed them because of the father's, not 
 of their own talents. And the weak monarch must have, not 
 the men most capable of conducting state affairs, but those who* 
 are skilful flatterers and fawning favourites. These gradually 
 secure all the best posts in the government for themselves and 
 their friends ; who care not for the duties but for the emoluments 
 of office, and for what they can directly or indirectly squeeze out 
 of it. Rottenness thus begins at the centre, and in a few reigns, 
 sometimes in a few years, it extends to all the provinces. 
 Exorbitant and illegal taxation, unbridled living, and the 
 
108 THE EUNUCHS. 
 
 shameless and open sale of legal sentences gradually alienate the 
 hearts of the people, till at last some able patriot or ambitious 
 upstart, a Cromwell or a Napoleon, appears in an obscure part 
 of some province, and by stubborn resistance against injustice, 
 or by successful robbery and pillage, increases the number of his 
 followers, and widens the field of his operations, till the reigning 
 dynasty is crushed out of existence, and he founds a new one to 
 carry out the same process, and to perish more or less rapidly in its 
 turn. Although terrific slaughter accompanies all such political 
 volcanoes, the bulk of the Chinese people remain, for they are 
 in reality the prize at stake. 
 
 The government of China is a huge machine for grinding out 
 taxes, and the men in charge become fat and flourishing. There 
 has hitherto been in China no revolution for any other object 
 than that of gaining possession of this tax machine. There 
 never has been a change in China for freedom of thought, as in 
 England in 1688 ; nor an unsettling of the old principles of 
 government by a rising of the people, as in France in 1792. In 
 China " the good old rule, the simple plan," is both ancient and 
 modern ; for the only title to the Dragon throne is the ability 
 to keep it. The man who begins his career by robbing his 
 neighbours, and sacking the nearest cities, proves himself the 
 emperor ordained by Heaven if he can unseat the reigning one ; 
 and the defeat of the latter is proof that Heaven has forsaken 
 him. Every revolution in China is based, not on some new 
 liberties which the people crave for, but on the desire or 
 professed desire to return to the ancient principles of govern- 
 ment, which have been neglected by the reigning house. Any 
 change is therefore backwards and not forwards, it is 
 " Conservative " not " Liberal " ; for in China there are no great 
 wrongs imposed on the shoulders of a groaning people by the 
 laws of a military minority. The most ancient principle of 
 government in China is that the ruler is for the people, not the 
 people for the ruler ; and though the ruler is absolute, he is real 
 ruler only while he acts out that principle. As soon as he 
 forsakes it, robberies, insurrections, famines, and droughts 
 
CHINESE GOVEKNMENT. 1(M> 
 
 proclaim Heaven's anger. If he is wise he repents. If he does 
 not repent Heaven abandons him and his house, and raises up a 
 new David to serve Him by dealing justice to the people. 
 Hence rebellion is not only not criminal, but is proper : for the 
 ruler ceases to be ruler when he oppresses the people ; and if the 
 rebel ousts him, it is because Heaven has irremediably condemned 
 him. 
 
 This process of corruption had been going on for long in the 
 empire of the Ming, when a series now of floods, now of droughts, 
 and again of locusts, made starvation and famine a chronic 
 condition of the northern provinces of China. And as a bad 
 harvest is always regarded as the sign of the anger of Heaven 
 against the ruler, and not against the people actually suffering, 
 men's minds were more than ripe for a change of dynasty ; only 
 the proper man, who by success proved himself the chosen of 
 Heaven, did not seem to be forthcoming. The Manchus, under 
 an excellent and fairly just government and good discipline, had 
 grown up on the north-east into a powerful kingdom; which 
 was knocking with hard blows at the gate of China, and more 
 than willing to change the dynasty. But Chinese pride 
 rebelled against the thought of men ruling over them, who, if 
 not still, were recently but rude savages. Perhaps not one 
 Chinaman in official or private life would willingly exchange the 
 weak, worthless, and corrupt native dynasty of the Ming for the 
 young, vigorous Manchu. But the battering blows of the 
 Manchus on the east much accelerated the rate of weakness of 
 the Ming. 
 
 It was in these circumstances that the last Ming emperor 
 ascended the throne, himself an amiable and well meaning 
 young man, reminding one forcibly of Louis XVI. of France, like 
 whom he would have made a good ruler in quiet times. In 
 1628, the year of his accession, arose bands of famishing or lawless 
 men, who were plundering a remote district in Shensi, but who 
 exercised a powerful influence on the life and death of this 
 emperor. But before detailing the career of robbers, it is well 
 to glance at another most important factor in the downfall of 
 
110 THE EUNUCHS. 
 
 the Ming. This was the EUNUCHS, thousands of whom lived in 
 the palace, whilst thousands more swarmed over the provinces, 
 and filled the larger proportion of lucrative offices there. To 
 understand their position, power, and mode of working, we must 
 go back sometime. 
 
 The Ming dynasty had reigned over China for two centuries, 
 when by the death of the emperor Moodsoong (1573), the child, 
 .afterwards called Shundsoong, the period of whose reign was 
 called Wanli, ascended the throne, at the age of nine years. 
 The guardianship of the young emperor and the empire was 
 entrusted by the late emperor to the three ministers of the 
 Privy Council, Jang Jujung, Gaogoong, and Gaoyi, in conjunction 
 with the chiefs of the eunuchs, and the two empresses.* Jang 
 was eager to seize all power ; but this he could not do without 
 first ruining Gaogoong, an honest minister and an able man, 
 with a strong will of his own. Fung Bao, the head of the 
 eunuchs, was just as anxious to hold the reins of power in his 
 own hands. 
 
 Soon after the proclamation of the late emperor's will, and the 
 enthronement of the young emperor, an imperial mandate was 
 sent to the Privy Council from the palace by the eunuchs. 
 Gaogoong angrily objected to this procedure, and declared it would 
 not be tolerated ; for no such mandate should be issued until 
 .all the guardians should have been consulted, as the emperor 
 was too young himself to issue such a paper. He said that this 
 was the work of the eunuchs, whom he would have driven out 
 of the palace. On this speech being reported to Fung Bao, his 
 countenance fell in fear, and he made the determination, if 
 possible, to get rid of Gaogoong. The latter was ostensibly 
 supported by Jang, whose dignity had also been offended, but 
 who was too glad to get Gaogoong out of his way, and therefore 
 
 * The Chinese emperor, besides his numerous wives and concubines, has three 
 empresses. The chief one is in the Central Palace; she who is mother of the 
 emperor is in the Left hand, or East Palace ; and the third in the Eight hand or 
 West Palace. The first is dowager empress, and always in cases of minority is 
 Co-Regent with the emperor's mother. 
 
MINISTER EXPELLED. Ill 
 
 quietly let Bao know he might be relied on, thus playing a 
 double game. Gaogoong was afraid that Bao would gradually 
 assume all power, and consulted with his two colleagues as to 
 the possibility of expelling him. But Bao and Jang began to plot 
 against Gaogoong, who soon lost his title of Grand Secretary. 
 AboTit half a month after, Gaogoong was waiting at the door for 
 audience with the emperor, just before daybreak. Jang ordered 
 all the ministers to proceed to the gate Hwiji, he himself to 
 follow after. This concourse of ministers led Gaogoong to 
 believe that he was again in favour, and that Bao was about to 
 be driven out. But Bao soon made his appearance, with a 
 mandate from the empresses and the emperor, stating : " This is 
 to inform you of the Privy Council, of the five foo and the six 
 Boards, that the day before the late emperor died, he called the 
 three Privy Councillors into his presence along with us three, to 
 receive his Testament ; but now the Grand Secretary, Gaogoong, 
 aspires to all power, assumes an imperial air, and desires to be 
 lord, unwilling that the emperor should rule. Day or night we 
 cannot rest for fear. Let him, therefore, return whence he 
 came, and his office be vacant ; let him not remain here." That 
 same clay Gaogoong left the palace, and departed to his own 
 home in an ox-cart. Gaoyi some days after sickened* and died, 
 and Jang was left sole guardian. But Gaogoong, though 
 banished, still haunted him and his friend Bao, who eagerly 
 sought his death, but could form no reasonable plan for 
 accomplishing their desire. 
 
 The emperor was one day coming out of the Chienching 
 palace, when a beardless man with naked sword "f" was seen 
 hurriedly advancing towards him. Bao knew him, and asked : 
 " Southern soldier, Wang Dachun, whence have you come ? " 
 " From the soldiers of Chi Jigwang," was the reply. Bao sent 
 secret information to Jang, who quickly appeared, and said in 
 
 * Bao could explain that sickness, which often comes opportunely when a 
 political rival stands in the way and is the weaker party. 
 
 t It is criminal to have any arms in palace, from an " inch long- edged weapon ' 
 upwards. 
 
112 THE EUNUCHS. 
 
 Bao's ear : " Duke Chi has lately obtained supreme command of 
 the army ; it is dangerous to meddle with him. Let us make 
 use of this man to accuse Gaogoong." 
 
 Wang had been a soldier under duke Chi, and placed in a 
 small command ; but refusing to serve, he was left behind in 
 the capital. Jang recommended kind treatment, as he seemed a 
 smart man and ready of speech. He instructed him to profess 
 to be a native of Woochin hien, sent by Gaogoong to murder 
 the emperor. To give colour to this story, a chamber-boy was 
 sent by Bao with a dragon-embroidered robe, a spear, a pair of 
 two-edged swords, the handle of each enriched with "cat's eyes" * 
 and other precious stones to Dachun, who, adorned with these, 
 was led as a prisoner into the Chang. ~f* The emperor was then 
 asked to send men to examine him, while Jang wrote a memorial 
 of import similar to that by Bao, but in appearance independently 
 of him. 
 
 Bao was commissioned to examine the criminal. But he first 
 sent the chamber boy to tell Wang, that when examined, he 
 should reply : " Gaogoong is enraged against the emperor, and 
 sent me to kill him," promising Wang that if he thus replied, 
 his real crime would be pardoned, he himself receive office with a 
 thousand taels ; but if otherwise he would be beaten to death. 
 The criminal was also instructed to implicate all the relations of 
 Gao as his accomplices. To all of which instigations Wang 
 agreed, and Bao hurriedly sent off five lictors to apprehend Gao's. 
 servants. 
 
 Formerly Jang made a memorial to the effect, that the speech 
 of the capital was different from that of the provinces, instancing 
 Gao as an example. Fearing that the present plot might be 
 wrecked by that memorial, as the man Wang who was to profess 
 to have come from Gao's place spoke the dialect of the capital, 
 he secretly sounded Yang Bo, president of the Board of Revenue, 
 on the subject. He was answered, " If you persecute this man 
 
 * A precious stone, dark with a streak of light, like cat's eyes. 
 
 t " Storehouse," " mint," but here apparently the headquarters of the eunuchs. 
 
MINISTERIAL ACTION. 113 
 
 you may expect great trouble, for the gods above are wise, holy, 
 and righteous. It is true that Gao is of a terribly hasty temper, 
 but heaven and the sun above are witnesses that he is incapable of 
 such crime." Jang went out displeased. The assistant chief 
 censor, Go Showli, said to Bo, " It is your duty, prince, to accuse 
 publicly whoever is guilty of wrong." Bo replied that he had 
 already spoken. Showli said, " You, prince, (by your office) say 
 you neither slay nor flatter, (yet silently permit Jang to murder 
 Gao). Great trouble is sure to arise, and how can you prove 
 that you have acted up to your public duty ? " 
 
 They then departed both together to call on Jang, to whom 
 they spoke their minds very plainly. Jang boldly replied that 
 Gao had already been accused at the east Chang ; and that on 
 the arrival of his accomplices the emperor would be asked to 
 punish him. Showli said, " Had I a hundred heads in. my family, 
 I would venture them all as security for the integrity of Gao." 
 Jang was silent, and Bo said, " I am anxious, prince, that you 
 examine this matter in a righteous manner ; " at which remark 
 Jang became angry, went into the palace, whence he returned with 
 a paper containing the accusations from the Chang, put it into 
 Bo's hands and said : " Was this written to me without sufficient 
 grounds ? " But he had changed four characters in the paper to, 
 "there is proof for each charge." This change, which he had 
 forgotten, was seen at a glance by Showli, who knew Jang's hand 
 well ; he smiled and put the paper up his sleeve. On seeing this Jang 
 suddenly recollected the change and said, " The paper was drawn 
 up by a man ignorant of law and I changed a few characters." 
 Showli replied, " This private change is of the gravest consequence, 
 and should not by any means come to the ears of the emperor, 
 or of the public office. As for us two, we cannot believe that 
 you desire the death of Gao; and that he live is impossible 
 without you, prince." Jang replied with a bow and thanks, and 
 asked, " How can I save him ? " Bo replied, " by getting to act 
 as judge a man of unquestioned character and unassailable power, 
 either one of hereditary rank or one related to the emperor." 
 
 Jang was probably afraid of that paper, and recommended the 
 
114 THE EUNUCHS. 
 
 emperor to appoint Fung Bao, Showli, and the Doodoo Joo Hihiao, 
 to act together in investigating the matter. From his surname 
 of Joo, the last was of the imperial family. He enquired of Bo 
 how he should act, and was recommended to send privately one 
 of the emperor's messengers, a good detective, to the prison to 
 enquire of the prisoner, " whence those swords, the double edged 
 swords, and his speech ? How came he to be mixed up with the 
 servants of Gao, who were so numerous? Whether he could 
 distinguish them ? Where he had seen Gao, and where was Gao at 
 present ? " A skilful examiner was sent, who soon ascertained 
 that Wang came from Bao, who had dictated all the words he 
 had spoken. The examiner asked, " Were you not aware that the 
 crime of entering the palace to murder the emperor is punished 
 with th extinction of all the relations of the would-be murderer ? " 
 But ad<Jed that he would be pardoned on making a full confession. 
 Wang wept and said : " He who first sent me is guilty of great 
 crime; but how* could I speak the truth, when my head was to 
 be safe and office bestowed on me ? " 
 
 The servants of Gao arrived in great terror, but Joo had them 
 secretly instructed that they were in no danger, and when they 
 had assumed their natural looks they were placed before Wang, 
 among the emperor's messengers ; but the prisoner could not 
 distinguish them. Wang was brought out and beaten before a 
 question was asked. To this he objected, saying bluntly, "you 
 formerly promised me great wealth, why now beat me ? " Bao 
 asked who employed him ; he replied, " you employed me, why 
 do you ask me ? " Bao in great wrath asked, " What was it you 
 formerly said about prince Gao ? " to which he replied that he 
 had spoken only what had been dictated to him ; for how could 
 he be acquainted with prince Gao ? Joo now asked whence 
 those robes and swords ? to which he answered that they were 
 given him by the chamber boy. Bao was terrified, closed the 
 examination, sent Wang back to prison, where he caused to be 
 
 * This difficulty in speaking truth in such circumstances is characteristic not of 
 Chinese only, but of all nations which have not heard Christianity ; and of all who, 
 though they know, do not practise Christianity. 
 
PLOT DISCOVERED. 115 
 
 given him the raw juice of the lacker or varnish tree to drink 
 in spirits, which deprived him of the power of speech, and 
 privately informed the emperor that Gao had sent that man 
 to murder him. 
 
 An old eunuch of about seventy years of age, said to the 
 emperor that Gao had always been a faithful minister, and could 
 not possibly be guilty of the imputed crime ; and turning to Bao 
 said, " Gao the bearded is a most upright man, and Jang is 
 envious of him. Why should we of the eunuch clan aid him ? " 
 At which Bao was much displeased. The emperor ordered the 
 Board of Punishments to enquire ; and Wang was beheaded. 
 
 Five years after, the father of Jang died; but instead of 
 retiring to mourn according to custom, he continued to wear 
 scarlet clothing, and transact business as formerly. Four 
 ministers accused him of lack of filial duty and of covetousness. 
 Others expostulated with him, but he got them off in a comico- 
 tragical way. The four ministers were soon thereafter, contrary 
 to law, severely beaten ; two were dismissed the palace, none 
 daring to say "good-bye," one man alone expressing his 
 sympathy by appropriate presents and addresses. The other 
 two were fettered, manacled, imprisoned, and after three days 
 banished. An official of the Board of Punishment memorialised 
 that it was illegal to beat officials. A few days after he was 
 himself beaten and banished to Kweichow. 
 
 The minister who expressed his sympathy was Hii Wunmoo, 
 who sent the present of a jade cup to one of the dismissed, with 
 a letter as follows: "We weep not for cracked jade. How 
 excellent and noble was the anger of Lin ! This vessel, which 
 has been cut out by my son, I send to you ; a mark of esteem 
 for Woo Joonghing." The first sentence expressed his belief in 
 the integrity of the dismissed magistrate, and refers to the 
 following story : 
 
 Two thousand years ago, when China was divided into a 
 number of really independent kingdoms, Hia Ho, a native of 
 the kingdom of Tsn, came upon a stone enclosing a jade. He 
 knew it enclosed the jade, because he had seen a Funghwang 
 
116 THE EUNUCHS. 
 
 alight on it, and on no other stone will this wonderful bird deign 
 to sit. This stone he presented to Woo Wang of Chao. Woo 
 Wang appointed a jade worker to examine the stone, and the 
 workman pronounced it a common stone. The king believed 
 he was being tricked, and ordered Ho's left foot to be cut off. 
 When Wun Wang ascended the throne, Ho again brought the 
 stone to present it to his majesty, and the subsequent similar 
 examination and decision cost him his right foot. Chung Wang 
 succeeded, and Ho could now only embrace the stone and weep ; 
 but he wept tears of blood. He was asked the reason of his 
 bitter grief, and replied that he wept not because he lost his 
 feet, but because his priceless jade was called a stone, and 
 himself, a scholar of reputation, was branded as a deceiver. 
 The new king heard of this, had the stone broken open by a 
 jade-worker, and sure enough there was a very precious jade 
 inside. It was afterwards called the priceless jade of Ho. 
 
 In the time of Mencius, Chao Wang of Tsin promised to give 
 up fifteen cities to the king of Chao for the above " Ho gem." 
 The king sent it to the court of Tsin by the hands of Lin 
 Hiangyoo. The king of Tsin took the gem into his hand, but 
 Lin at once discovered that there was no real desire to fulfil the 
 contract by giving up the cities. As soon as he made himself 
 sure of this, he said, "Please your majesty, the gem has one flaw; 
 will you permit me to point it out ? " The king handed it him. 
 Lin having seized it in a firm grasp, went and stood beside a 
 pillar, and in a rage which made his hair raise his hat, said, 
 "I perceive you "have no intention of restoring us our cities; 
 this I will therefore take home again. If you attempt to take it 
 forcibly, I shall scatter my brains at the foot of this pillar." He 
 thus got back his gem. The application of both stories is evident 
 enough. 
 
 To the other official he sent another cup made of rhinoceros' 
 horn with a letter, saying, " This is but as the hollow of a 
 sheep's horn and of a dirty black colour. But it is a token that 
 I am ready to pluck out my heart to prove my love for you ; and 
 if it be necessary for your welfare, I shall not refuse to break 
 
SILVER MINES. 117 
 
 my head. I hope you may live a long life to drink out of the 
 cup." 
 
 In 1600, Fungchi, a vice-president of the Board of Rites, 
 complained that none informed the emperor of the troubles all 
 over the empire on account of taxation, which was entirely in 
 the hands of eunuchs. In Yunnan the people rebelled against 
 the taxgatherers, the eunuch receiver-general acting with 
 unbounded avarice and cruelty. The governor-general of the 
 Kwangs disembowelled himself because of risings for the same 
 reason. The people of Lianghwai, between the Yellow and 
 Yangtse rivers in Kiangsu and Nganhui, burnt and plundered 
 the Yamens ; those west of the Liao cut up into pieces the body 
 of an official, and sacked his house. The wind had torn up a 
 large tree in the grounds of a wealthy man of Yingtien, making a 
 deep hole. Fung Bao accused him of opening silver mines, and 
 though the truth was told his majesty, Bao was permitted to 
 plunder the man. 
 
 In 1598, Fung Bao opened silver mines, a proof that the 
 government was short of money, else it would not have permitted 
 the ravaging of the bowels of the earth, which is contrary to 
 Chinese notions of right. In 1604, an order was issued to stop 
 all silver-mining, and liberate all who were in prison for non- 
 payment of taxes for silver-mining. This was the result of 
 another memorial by Fungchi, who declared that the hardships 
 consequent upon the opening of silver mines were greater than 
 those of war ; and that the mode and amount -of taxation were 
 more terrible than silver-mining. This was only one memorial 
 of many ; for year by year the frightful oppression of the people, 
 exercised by the eunuchs in charge of mines which never did 
 anything like pay working expenses, was freely and painfully 
 made known to the emperor, to whom a word from the eunuchs 
 was of more consequence. The mining profits all went into the 
 pockets of the eunuchs. And more mines were opened, resulting 
 in universal restlessness. 
 
 There was an earthquake that year in Liaotung; another 
 which sounded like thunder in Kansu; Kiangsi and Fukien 
 
118 THE EUNUCHS. 
 
 were flooded, and several hundred thousand lives lost ; Shansi 
 was scourged with drought, and Shantung with drought and 
 locusts. For over three hundred miles the earth was perfectly 
 bare of every growing thing about Chunting and Paoting. 
 Taxation riots went on, and famine became more prevalent. 
 In 1617 the capital suffered from drought; Chihkiang, Shan- 
 tung, and Shansi, were afflicted with both drought and locusts. 
 The locusts in Hookwang darkened the sky; in summer 
 there had been drought, and floods in autumn. Kiangsi and 
 Fukien were drowned with floods. Next year two black spots 
 were seen in the sun fighting; "a dark sun soon after 
 obscured the sun, and there was no light." All this proved 
 the anger of Heaven, and greatly increased the prevailing 
 uneasiness. 
 
 In 1615 an unknown man rushed up against the East palace, 
 wielding a huge staff with which he knocked down the door- 
 keeper. He was soon surrounded by other eunuchs of the 
 palace and seized. Memorials daily flooded the emperor from 
 his ministers. Some endeavoured to prove the man mad, others 
 after having made minute enquiries, demanded a public 
 examination of the man who had ventured to take the life of the 
 heir apparent ; and the utmost excitement prevailed. Suspicion 
 at last pointed to a brother of one of the inferior wives of the 
 emperor, who was believed to desire the death of the heir 
 apparent, in order to have one of his sister's sons proclaimed ; 
 but it was early discovered that the eunuchs were the principal 
 agents, and they fell in all the more readily with the scheme of 
 the secret plotter, because the heir apparent was no friend to 
 them. The excitement was doubtless increased by the knowledge 
 that the emperor had starved to death the empress, mother of 
 this heir, whose life was now threatened, because she had an 
 affection of the eye, which caused him to hate her. Her son 
 loved her dearly and saw her ere she died. 
 
 The matter was hushed up in the following remarkable 
 manner. The emperor went to Tsuning Goong (palace), and 
 invited thither all the high officials. They were all thence con- 
 
IMPERIAL DIFFICULTIES. 119 
 
 ducted by the eunuchs to the grave of the emperor's mother, 
 where they performed the " Yi bai san kow" * 
 
 The emperor sat down in a low seat at the left door pillar, the 
 heir apparent stood at his right, his three grandsons in a line at 
 his left. He then spoke out in a loud voice saying : " Within 
 the court there are many groundless rumours afloat because of 
 the madman who attacked the East palace. You are all fathers, 
 you all have sons ; why desire to estrange us and our son ? We 
 have seen the result of the examinations by the Board of Punish- 
 ment, and the men implicated shall be put to death. But no 
 innocent man must suffer, lest the peace of heaven be disturbed, 
 and the ghost of our empress mother tremble with fear." Then 
 taking the hand of the heir apparent, he said ; " This son has 
 been most filial, and we love him dearly." He then, stroking his 
 son's body with the other hand, said, "Since you were an infant 
 I brought you up, till now when you are a full grown man. 
 Had I any desire to injure you, I could have done it long ago ; 
 why harbour any doubts? Moreover the Foo wang")* is now 
 many thousands of li hence ; if I summon him not, can he fly 
 hither?" He then ordered the eunuchs to set his three grand- 
 sons J on the stone steps in front, so that all could see them 
 distinctly, and said : " These my grandsons have grown up ; what 
 need of further talk ? " And turning round to the heir apparent 
 he wished him to speak out without reserve if he had anything 
 to say. He said: "As to this madman, let him be put out of 
 the way ; why hunt up others ? We father and son mutually 
 love each other. You of the outer court have great discussions, 
 but if you desire to act as unfaithful ministers, do not seek to 
 make me an undutiful son." 
 
 Then the emperor led his son to the ministers on the right, 
 and asked if they saw how the matter stood. They thereupon 
 bowed down before the emperor, thanked him and retired. Thu 
 
 * One salutation and three bows to the ground while kneeling. 
 
 f Probably him in favour of whom the attack had been made, then at Lo-yang. 
 
 i Sons of the heir apparent, who would naturally succeed him. 
 
120 THE EUNUCHS. 
 
 would-be murderer was beheaded on the execution ground ; his 
 two uncles, who had urged him on, were banished ; the two 
 inferior eunuchs, who had managed the affair, were put to death 
 in the palace ; and the principal agents escaped. 
 
 In 1619, the large army which fared so disastrously at 
 Hingking was sent eastwards ; and next year the emperor died, 
 apparently heart-broken at the calamities of his people, brought 
 on principally by his own foolish weakness, and the bottomless 
 avarice and unscrupulous ambition of the eunuchs. 
 
 On the very day of his death, the new emperor, whose life 
 had been threatened, issued an order to cease silver-mining, and 
 recalled all the eunuchs employed. He also sent off to the 
 army all the money in the treasury, amounting to a million taels. 
 But after little more than a month, the emperor took seriously 
 unwell. First one physician then another administered pills. 
 He died in his second month's reign. His death was ascribed to 
 poison, which is probably true ; for the eunuchs would not be 
 put down without a blow. This poisoning gave rise to serious 
 strife in the palace, crimination and recrimination being universal. 
 But hotly worded memorials and excited examinations then 
 and after, ended three years later only with banishment of one 
 physician to Nanking, and the other was freed, to the still 
 greater commotion of the patriots. 
 
 The successor was sixteen years of age. Questions of etiquette, 
 precedence, women and eunuchs, filled all minds, while the 
 empire was in danger of crumbling away for want of a head, 
 reminding one forcibly of France before 1788. 
 
 In 1621, Hiwng Tingbi, the cautious general of Liaotung, was 
 several times accused of negligence and deception, and at last 
 recalled. This again revived the disputes between the eunuchs 
 and the patriotic party, the latter at last prevailing so far as to 
 get a commission appointed to go to Liaotung and report. The 
 report, in 1622, was highly nattering to Tingbi, but while it 
 was being read and debated, the Manchus had taken advantage 
 of Tingbi's absence and seized all the cities and country of 
 Liaotung. 
 
CORRUPT COURT. 121 
 
 It is questionable whether much good is derivable from 
 particular reference to the unsavoury details of a court where 
 polygamy reigns ; but we have believed it necessary to present 
 at least as many facts as will explain, if they do not fully 
 picture, the inner life of the imperial palace. 
 
 The history of the eunuch Wei Joonghien will, better than any 
 number of general details, reveal the condition of the Chinese 
 court at Peking, and show its utter effeminacy and corruption. 
 As a youth, Wei was fearless, daring, and strong. He gambled 
 with youngsters, drank deeply, and delighted in riding fleet 
 horses and in archery ; he could hit any desired spot with an 
 arrow. But his native place became too hot for him about 1589, 
 and he fled, became a eunuch, and entered the eunuch service in 
 Peking. He was most attentive and kind to the emperor's 
 grandson, afterwards the emperor Tienchi, taking him wherever 
 he wished to go. The boy was therefore very fond of his 
 company. 
 
 Wei Chao, another eunuch, introduced Wei into the palace to 
 prepare good food for the mother of Tienchi In the same 
 palace lived the empress Ko, milk-mother or wet nurse of 
 Tienchi, with whom both these so-called eunuchs were too 
 intimate. 
 
 On account of the disturbance consequent on the etiquette of 
 enthroning Tienchi, an order was issued to slay all the eunuchs 
 and servants in the principal palace (Chienching). Among 
 these was Wei, who with tears besought Wangan, another 
 eunuch of good character and great influence, to save him. 
 Wangan did so. Soon thereafter Chao and Wei were struggling 
 and making a noise in Ko's room, both the worse for drink. 
 The emperor heard the disturbance, made enquiry, and was told 
 they were there with Ko waiting his majesty's pleasure ; and 
 his majesty was naturally satisfied. But Ko hated Chao and 
 loved the other, and therefore secretly moved the imperial mind, 
 till at last Chao was dismissed, sent to Fungyang and there 
 strangled. There was now no rival to Wei, who ruled Ko, and 
 Ko ruled the emperor, and "misery was at its height." An 
 
122 THE EUNUCHS. 
 
 attempt was made to break the power of these two. A censor 
 reported that it was illegal to have Ko in the principal palace, 
 petitioning to have her removed to another. The emperor 
 agreed, and also sent Wei to Wangan to be examined. Wangan 
 reproved and dismissed him, exhorting him to act more wisely 
 in future. At night Ko returned to the palace again, and never 
 rested till she got the emperor to remove Wangan from being 
 chief of the eunuchs, the post being given to a friend of Wei's. 
 But not satisfied with having Wangan degraded, Wei got him 
 removed to Nan haidsu,* under charge of the Tidoo, or marshal 
 of that place, where Wangan was compelled to commit suicide. 
 It was illegal to carry arms of any kind inside the palace 
 grounds; but Wei instituted a corps of a "myriad" eunuchs, 
 who drilled daily inside the imperial city, all clad in mail, and 
 the noise of their drums and cymbals filled the " forbidden " city. 
 He seriously reprimanded the censor who opposed this infringe- 
 ment of the law. A eunuch practising with a bomb in the 
 emperor's presence, got his hand badly wounded by the bursting 
 of the bomb, which nearly killed the emperor. 
 
 Li Hiien, widow of the late emperor, was not on good terms 
 with Ko and Wei. She was ordered to commit suicide. 
 Arranging in order all the presents by the late emperor, she 
 strangled herself. Jang, an inferior wife of the emperor, 
 conceived, and according to custom the fact was publicly noted. 
 Empress Ko, probably fearing her own term of favour might be 
 shortened, accused her of improper conduct, whereupon she was 
 condemned to be starved to death. She was confined in the 
 " Fasting-room." -f- Some time after it rained. She crawled out, 
 and holding up her hands caught and drank some mouthfuls of 
 water falling from the eaves, and then died. Fung, a concubine, 
 urged the emperor to stop the drilling of the eunuchs. Ko and 
 Wei hated her. The emperor sentenced her to death. Li, another 
 inferior but favourite wife of the emperor, besought him not to 
 
 * A lake immediately south of Peking. 
 
 f Probably locked up in her own quarters, as was the mother of the preceding 
 emperor, after entering which not a particle of food was given her. 
 
INTRIGUE AND MURDER. 
 
 kill Fung. Ko got her also condemned to starvation. But Li, 
 knowing how Jang had died, had prepared for such a fate, by 
 hiding away every day small portions of food in different parts 
 of her rooms, on which she now lived. Her two enemies were 
 enraged at her living so long and had her degraded to be a menial 
 in the palace. When the emperor was on one occasion gone to 
 sacrifice, they drowned a concubine, the lady Hoo, and on his- 
 return reported her to have taken ill and died. One censor, who 
 had dared to remonstrate at an early stage, was reproved, 
 another who spoke warmly of danger to the state was degraded. 
 The senior vice-president to the censorate, Yang Lien, was at 
 last constrained publicly to accuse Wei of twenty-four capital 
 crimes, the murder, degradation, banishment, or dismissal of 
 faithful ministers, and the establishment of his own creatures, 
 his oppression of the people, his assumption of imperial authority 
 and state, his whole conduct opposed to the letter and spirit of 
 all the laws and customs of the Ming, being the principal.* 
 
 * As the twenty-four Counts of that memorial give a fair picture of the state of 
 the Chinese court at that time, they are given below. This paper is given in full, 
 as it will illustrate better than any definition the peculiar functions of the censor ; 
 whose duty it is to memorialise his majesty on any fault observable in or beyond 
 the court, and of course to make his case as strong as he can : 
 
 "1st. Joonghien was, to begin with, a man of no reputation or sense of shame. 
 When about thirty years of age he became a eunuch, and wormed himself into the 
 palace. Because he was at first found by the emperor faithful in unimportant affairs, 
 he was appointed to high office; from which time he became a most daring 
 conspirator. He upset the ancient customs, and so managed that no minister was 
 appointed, no affair transacted, but according to his pleasure ; and all mandates 
 have proceeded from his will, a crime against the customs of two centuries. 
 
 "2nd. He dismissed Liw Yijing and Jow Jiwmo, two aged and able ministers; 
 and, according to law, not even the emperor has the power to dismiss the officials 
 appointed by his predecessor. 
 
 " 3rd. The late emperor was on the throne only one month; and it was well known 
 that when he was taking medicine he hated the administrators. Swun Shun knew 
 how to apply to traitors the doctrines of the ' Spring and Autumn Annals ' ; and 
 the censor, Dsow Yuenbiao, coiild dare to accuse them. Both were by Joonghien 
 dismissed from office. He also protected the man who had beaten the emperor's 
 mother, and presented him with dragon robes and a jade girdle. He has been the 
 friend of robbers and the enemy of honest and faithful ministers. 
 
 " 4th. Wang Ji and Joong Yijung were two able ministers, promoted on account 
 of their excellent characters. He got a servant to revile them, and had them 
 dismissed. 
 
124 THE EUNUCHS. 
 
 Wei was terrified when he heard the memorial read, and went 
 weeping into the presence of the emperor, who, at the instigation 
 
 " 5th. He slighted the casting of lots, than which the Ming consider nothing of 
 greater importance. He made the lots proclaim whatever he desired. 
 
 " 6th. When men were appointed to office whose praises were everywhere sounded, 
 he had assistant officials placed at their sides from among men of the most 
 equivocal characters, so that having such colleagues, the good men were compelled 
 to resign. 
 
 " 7th. When his present majesty ascended the throne, the court was crowded with 
 good men. Immediately after, nine most faithful ministers were dismissed. The 
 emperor, afterwards discovering them to be good men, reappointed them. But 
 Joonghien opposed their entrance on office, and as often as they were nominated, 
 he prevented their entry, so that Changan said : ' The wrath of the emperor is 
 easily averted, but the wrath of Joonghien is unappeasable.' 
 
 ' ' 8th. The emperor had a most faithful wife, of whose honesty Joong was afraid. 
 With his accomplices he, therefore, plotted against her, and spread the report that 
 she was dangerously unwell and could not recover. He then had her drowned. 
 And the emperor could not save his own wife. 
 
 " 9th. One of the emperor's wives was pregnant. This was published, and all 
 rejoiced, each telling the other. Joong could not get on with her, and again plots 
 were laid, and the emperor could not save his own empress. 
 
 " 10th. When the son of the chief empress was weaned, amid great rejoicings, 
 Jooiig consulted with the * Holy Woman,' and the emperor could not save his own 
 son. 
 
 " llth. When the late emperor was forty years of age, but then in Chinggoong 
 palace, he was greatly distressed because of Wangan, striving to save him; but 
 Joong hated him, and had him drowned in Nanhaidsu. 
 
 " 12th. He pulled down men's houses and homes, in order to build a pai to his own 
 glory, building it sky high, with ornamentation of Funghwangs and Dragons. 
 His father's tomb he had enclosed and prepared like that of an emperor. 
 
 " 13th. To-day he appoints Secretaries to the Boards, with hereditary succession; 
 to-morrow he will do the same with the superior officials. He appoints men to 
 -official position who are ignorant of the rudiments of education, such as his own 
 relations, five of whom are Hoio (marquises), and seven, inferior wives of the 
 emperor. 
 
 " 14th. He caused imperial servants to carry the Kang, and threatened to destroy 
 men who were by marriage relations of the emperor. He attempted to overthrow 
 the three empresses, and though they were supported by all the Privy Council, 
 the greatest disturbance was caused. 
 
 " 15th. Jang Shikwei, a literary man of Liang hlang, near Peking, opened a coal 
 mine, which was supposed injuriously to affect the tombs of Joong's family. The 
 literate was put to death on the false charge of having stolen a handful of earth 
 from Changling Imperial Tombs, and of having opened silver mines. And as no 
 one dared contradict Jao Gao, the eunuch of Han, when he said, while out hunting 
 with his emperor, that the deer he saw was a horse, so the coal-pit of the literate 
 is made a silver mine, and none dare open his mouth. 
 
 "16th. Woo Sujing and Hoo Dsundao cultivated a small portion of the waste 
 
SERIOUS CHARGES. 12-> 
 
 of Ko, paid no attention to the memorial, though the accusations 
 were signed by a hundred great officials. Four months after, 
 
 pasture land belonging to Joonghien, and for this trifle were sent to prison and 
 executed, with as little thought as one has in cutting down the heads of grass. 
 Their unburied bodies were covered with blue lights, and all literary men were 
 enraged, for both were graduates. 
 
 " 17th. For fear of him the Board of Appointments dared not enquire into the 
 character of those nominated to office, nor had the censorates courage to accuse the 
 criminal. 
 
 "18th. Liw Chiao was not one to murder another to please any man, but he never 
 spared the guilty. Joong was determined to get him out of office, because he would 
 not torture a man into confessing an unreal guilt. It was permissible to violate the 
 laws of the Great Ming, but it was not permissible to violate the laws of Joonghien. 
 "19th. Wei Dajoong was nominated a superior official (Kochun), and arrived at 
 his post after receiving the emperor's mandate. The Banqueting Office, Hoongloosit, 
 drew up a paper immediately, giving reasons why he should not be permitted to be 
 a minister. The Board examined into the matter, and all the honorary officials 
 agreed to combine together to oppose his majesty's commands. The words of the 
 emperor, which are bright as the light of Heaven, are thus nullified morning and 
 evening ; and what will posterity say of his majesty? 
 
 "20th. The East Chang was, when officially employed at all, anciently used to 
 ferret out treachery and to trace up conspiracy. It was never allowed to trample 
 upon the people. But since Joonghien was appointed to be its chief, even dogs and 
 hens are not secure from molestation! The ignorant savage, Foo Yinghing, is 
 always on the move, and his tongue and lips are never done ejecting accusations 
 against people. He lavishly scatters his praises of Joonghien, and pries into what 
 people say of him. Thus was Wang Wunyen, a secretary of one of the Boards, 
 thrown into prison without a warrant, even without the knowledge of the Privy 
 Council. Just thus were the faithful ministers of the Sung Chetsung cast into the 
 Toongwungwan prison, the doors closed, and they crushed to death ; and in the 
 time of the Sung Hwitsung, one hundred and twenty faithful ministers, among 
 whom were Su Magwang, Lii Goongjoo, and other famous men, were falsely 
 accused, and the emperor incited to have their names engraved as traitors over the 
 door of the Board of Rites. In the same spirit and manner this Yinghing and his 
 fellows rest not day nor night from accusing the innocent. And Joonghien is even 
 more powerful than was even Wang Ju of the former West Chang, who was all and 
 his emperor nothing. 
 
 " 21st. The rebel, Han Dsoonggoong, got secret entrance into Changan to spy out 
 its defences and condition. In his goings and comings he put up at Joonghien's 
 house, and he was ordered to hide away elsewhere only when the fact became public. 
 "22nd. Our ancestors, for excellent reasons, never admitted armed men into the 
 imperial quarters of the capital. Joonghien has been the first to establish an army 
 there and to make the palace a drilling-ground, to be as ' feathers ' to him and his 
 accomplices. Who was aware of what great crimes these could be guilty ? Who 
 could fathom the deep plots that may be laid ? The hearts of all men of under- 
 standing are cold. There were men would dare death for Joong'a friends, and his 
 associates were the intimate fellows of the great ministers. 
 
126 THE EUNUCHS. 
 
 the censor himself and his friends were all dismissed. Wang 
 Wunyen was degraded to the rank of the common people ; for 
 he could not be tortured while an official. He was then 
 imprisoned, and day after day examined under torture, to make 
 him say something by which those officials, and especially 
 Hiwng Tingbi, could be sentenced to death. But "to the death" 
 he remained firm against accusing the innocent. The worthy 
 Wunyen neither saved himself nor his friends, for he and Yang 
 Lien perished in prison. Another censor also perished with 
 several others and Tingbi was beheaded in the place of execution. 
 
 This blow silenced the patriots. The Boards and Yamens 
 were remodelled, Wei filling all the posts, his friends displacing 
 his foes. He had a seal given him with the characters, 
 " Defender of the Imperial Mandates ; " and his paramour had 
 another, with, of all titles, " Holy woman." 
 
 In 1626 the emperor agreed to a proposal made by Wei's 
 flatterers, that a temple be erected on the Siboo lake at 
 
 " 23rd. When Joonghien went to burn incense at Chochow of Peking, he had the 
 roads levelled for him as if for the emperor. Returning in a chariot with four 
 horses, he ordered his driver to go slowly. He had peacock-tail-feather curtains 
 and an imperial azure banner before him. On each side was a body of guards and 
 a wider circle of guards kept off the people. In all of which he acted as the 
 emperor. 
 
 " 24th. The greater the favours shown him the more soaring became his pride ; the 
 more notable the clemency, the more complete his anger. This spring when riding- 
 close to the emperor, his majesty shot his horse dead with an arrow instead of 
 shooting himself. Joonghien was not afraid because of the crime of which he had 
 been guilty, nor did he ask for merited death ; but he had anger stamped on his 
 face. When he entered the imperial presence, and when going out, he ceased not 
 from publishing his wrath ; morning nor night did he forget his rage because of the 
 insult. 
 
 " Of old, when rebellious ministers and sons of robbers manifested themselves, it 
 was by means of some one thing over which they brooded with their unbridled 
 thoughts, till they could no longer contain themselves. Why feed a tiger or a wild 
 bull at your elbow ? He should be sliced down to inches. Joonghien is, and never 
 will be satisfied. All these his crimes are seen evident as foot-prints, but there is 
 no voice from right or left. The Outer Court knows them all, but dares not speak. 
 They are well known to all the Inner Court, but there is the 'Holy Woman,' 
 shielding and abetting him. Both inside and outside the palace it is known there is 
 a Joonghien; that there is an emperor nobody knows. Any business to be laid 
 before his majesty, however great its urgency or importance, must wait the leisure 
 and be settled at the pleasure of Joonghien." 
 
DEIFIED EUNUCH. 127 
 
 Hangchow, in honour of this worthy eunuch, and an official 
 appointed to keep it in good order. From all parts of the 
 empire presents came flooding in to fit up the magnificent 
 temple in a manner worthy of his holiness. The people's lands 
 were taken to endow it, their houses pulled down and their 
 trees destroyed to build it ; and there was no one to " peep or 
 mutter." The image of Wei was of fragrant lign-aloes, the head 
 and all the members being fitted on, so as to move as if living ; 
 the heart and intestines were made of gold, jade, pearls, and 
 gems, the clothing of the finest hair. At the special desire of 
 the emperor, a small hole was left in the top of the head to have 
 four kinds of fragrant flowers inserted. The head happened to 
 be too large for the hat, the artist in terror began to pare off 
 part of the head, but the weeping and horrified priest restrained 
 his hand from the sacrilege. 
 
 Next year the greatest dread fell upon the palace, and Wei was 
 specially terrified, and ceased not to sway his body to and fro, 
 for the emperor took seriously unwell. The emperor called in 
 his younger brother, Sin Wang, who was to be his successor, 
 advised him to be a good ruler like Yao and Shwun, and in 
 order to be so, to pay particular attention to what Wei 
 Joonghien advised. The Wang went out and the emperor died. 
 He died after his weakness of character had dealt a death blow 
 to his dynasty. He desired to do right, he believed he was 
 doing the right ; but he was easily deceived and led by designing- 
 people. 
 
 Wei was the first to seek out Sin Wang, to inform him he 
 was now emperor, but the Wang avoided him, and, unfortunately 
 for China, it was fear and not manly anger which moved the 
 new emperor. He would taste no food in that palace, nor would he 
 have an audience of the ministers, but kept himself entirele 
 alone, for he feared foul play. Soon after the enthronement, 
 Wei, seeing he had nothing to hope for and much to fear in the 
 palace, besought leave to retire from his public duties into private 
 life. His petition was refused; and Ko was dismissed from the' 
 palace. But at the first audience a sad song was heard in thy 
 
128 THE EUNUCHS. 
 
 heavens the swan-song over the last of his race. For some 
 time none breathed freely enough to dare to publicly accuse Wei, 
 because of his influence ; but two months after he was sent to 
 Fungyang and his estates confiscated, one official accused him 
 of ten crimes. Soon thereafter he and his paramour were put 
 to death, when it was discovered that she was pregnant and the 
 eunuch no eunuch. The emperor, enraged at the discovery, 
 had a general investigation, when a great number of false 
 eunuchs, friends of Wei's, were discovered, and every one of them 
 slain. The head was cut off Wei's dead body; and Ko's dead 
 body was cut to pieces, amid a nation's rejoicing. 
 
 The result of another petition was the removal from the Boards 
 of the " five tigers and five leopards," relations of Wei's, who had 
 been rulers of their respective Boards; their property was also 
 confiscated. Gradually did the weeding process go on, some 
 being slain, some dismissed. The heirs of Yang Lien, Tingbi, 
 and the others slain by Wei, were exempted from the payment 
 of the sums demanded of them in name of payment for misappro- 
 priation of imperial monies by their slain fathers The official in 
 charge of the building of Wei's temple was degraded, the temple 
 levelled with the ground, and one built to Wang An instead. 
 
 Thus auspiciously did the last of the Ming emperors begin his 
 reign. It was however an easy matter for this Louis XVI. to 
 dismiss or execute the worthless men whom he found in power, 
 and with whose doings he was intimately familiar before he be- 
 came a public man; but the man who could weep before his 
 ministers when complaining of their disobedience to him, was 
 not the man for the helm of state when the ship was labouring 
 and straining in every seam, as he found her. When he ascended 
 the throne, he found a people ground down to the dust 
 by the avaricious and heartless eunuchs who swarmed over the 
 land, and filled all the paying offices, or those which by cruel 
 exactions could be made to pay. For notwithstanding the 
 frequent droughts which killed the budding spring, the locusts 
 which devoured the full-grown summer, and the floods which 
 year after year blasted the hopes of autumn, the preceding 
 
KIGHTEOUS REBELLION. 121> 
 
 emperor was no less wroth than his eunuch master, when any 
 minister proposed a reduction of taxes. No wonder if discontent 
 became universal, and if the bonds of society became loosened in 
 China, where bad years are regarded as the sign of Heaven's- 
 anger with their emperor, and desertion of him ; and where, if 
 Heaven forsake him, rebellion is no crime. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 LI DSUCHUNG. 
 
 THE enormous influence and preponderating power possessed by 
 the eunuchs in the Ming dynasty has been set forth in the last 
 chapter, where can be seen the selfish and unworthy manner in 
 which that power was exercised. Able ministers fell before the 
 undermining of the eunuchs, who always had the private ear of 
 the emperor. Honest ministers and good men were so harassed 
 that they could not remain in office; or if they would still 
 remain, they were driven out. This alienated the literary classes 
 all over the empire, for office could not be, as it should have 
 been, obtained by literary abilities and moral worth. On the 
 other hand, the compulsory working of silver mines, which killed 
 the people to fatten the eunuchs, together with the extortionate 
 taxation ground out of the people by the eunuchs, roused the 
 bitter anger of the common people, who were oppressed more 
 than they could bear. This state of matters, with eunuchs 
 everywhere at the head of affairs, opened the most inviting field 
 for the ambitious man desirous to found a new dynasty. But 
 that man did not appear. The eunuchs were in Peking, therefore, 
 exactly what Romish ecclesiastics are everywhere; men, in 
 general, with ties to nothing beyond self, unless it be to their 
 own order. There have been among both the eastern and 
 western eunuchs worthy exceptions, who did desire the benefit 
 of their country as apart from their order, but the exceptions 
 were not numerous. And both eunuchs and priests have ruined, 
 and will always ruin, those countries which were wholly or 
 mainly under their guidance. But to return from this digression. 
 An enemy more terrible than even the eunuchs appeared all 
 
132 LI DSUCHUNG. 
 
 over the north of China, where a succession of famines carried off 
 myriads by starvation, and myriads more by a pestilence, the 
 invariable consequent of famine. It was hunger which raised 
 up the Shensi robbers or rebels, who completed the work begun 
 by the eunuchs. But before going into Shensi, we shall notice 
 one insurrection, which however was more the offspring of 
 ambition than of hunger. In the end of 1621, levies were 
 raised throughout the empire to put down the Manchus. 
 Among others forward in collecting troops was Shua 
 Tsoongming, an official of Szchuen, who never failed to 
 perform any duty with which he had been entrusted; but who, 
 though of externally decorous deportment, had the disposition 
 of the bird of prey, seeking solitude and independence. He 
 memorialised the emperor to the effect that his son was busy 
 levying troops for Liaotung. In addition to those raised by 
 father and son, he sent two officers to the governor for more men. 
 The governor probably distrusted him, or could not easily 
 spare his men; for he handed over only his weak and his old 
 soldiers, without provender or money. 
 
 Once collected together, the two officers, who thus had grounds 
 enough to incite the men to rebellion, attacked and murdered 
 the governor, and were speedily joined by Tsoongming and his 
 troops in investing the provincial capital, which was long and 
 bravely defended by a censor. It was reported in the city by 
 men who had been seized by the insurgents and escaped, that 
 the rebels were to attack the city in " dry land boats," as all 
 their previous attacks had been defeated. Next year, in 
 February, Joo Sieyuen routed the rebels with great slaughter 
 outside the city gates. He was created governor. At length 
 the robbers, many thousand strong, rushed out of the forest 
 with a great shout. Among them appeared an immense thing 
 like a boat, several stories high, and five hundred feet long, both 
 sides of which were hidden from view by a covering of matting. 
 On the level top of it stood a man with his long hair untied 
 floating in the wind, a naked double edged sword in his raised 
 hand, and beside him a waving flag made of feathers. It was 
 
LAND BOAT. 133 
 
 drawn by many hundred oxen, and inside were many hundred 
 men, each with a ballista or bow with which burning material 
 could be thrown all over the city ; for the top of this " boat " was 
 higher than the city wall. The appearance of the boat caused 
 great commotion in the city ; and Sieyuen seeing it, said it was a 
 Lugoongchua* and could be successfully resisted only by a 
 Boshu, which is made of an upright beam of strong wood, in the 
 top of which is inserted a wheel, by means of which a stone of a 
 thousand catties can be raised to the top and let fly as easily as 
 if it were a pebble. These stones falling upon the " boat " would 
 break it to pieces. But before the engine of destruction approached 
 near enough to test his gigantic ballista, he sent out a 
 detachment of his most fearless men with ballistas to hurl great 
 stones to terrify or kill the oxen. So well did these behave that 
 the cattle turned back and fled; and amid the consequent 
 confusion of the robbers, they were fiercely attacked and driven 
 back. 
 
 This rebellion extended to Kweichow province, and long con- 
 tinued to tax the energies of the officials of those provinces, now 
 smouldering now blazing; but it never could be said to be 
 extinct, though the principal leaders were slain and the armies 
 scattered in 1629. 
 
 In December 1628, Wang Jiayun, a native of the district of 
 Foogoo hien of Yenan foo of Shensi, began, at the head of a band 
 of men, to rob the neighbourhood rather than perish of a famine, 
 which had become chronic there. He was soon joined by Jang 
 Hienjoong of Yenan; and if starvation did not originate, it 
 speedily flooded the band into an army. Hienjoong was surnamed 
 the Ba da Wang, the Equal of " Eight Great Princes," which 
 shows that he had distinguished himself. He was a Mahommedan, 
 of whom there have always been very large numbers in Shensi, 
 and they have never let slip an opportunity of mingling in the 
 fray when China has been in political disorder. But soon after 
 the head was cut off the eunuch, Wei Joonghien, in the last 
 
 * The " Carriage of Duke Lii," probably being the name of the inventor, whom 
 we have not been successful in tracing out. 
 
134 LI DSUCHUNG. 
 
 month of the first year of the last Ming emperor, our January, 
 1629, appeared one of the greatest, if not the chief robber 
 who ever burned Chinese villages. 
 
 Li DSUCHUNG was the son of poor parents, and was born in 
 the district of Michih of Yenan. He was a capital horseman, a 
 good archer, and was employed as a government post runner. 
 So says history ; but romance has woven numerous incredulous 
 stories about him, one of which may be related, as it will help 
 to explain the powerful hold which Fungshuri, or Geomancy, 
 has over the Chinese mind. 
 
 Young Li, when a child, was one day standing before the 
 house of a wealthy man in the neighbourhood, who had called in 
 a geomantist to discover the best site of a grave by the aid of 
 the Eight Diagrams, the Tiger and the Dragon. The best site 
 was found to lie in a certain room of the rich man's own house ; 
 for, said the geomantist, in the boy's hearing, " the descendants 
 of the man who will be buried in that room are sure to rise to 
 high official rank." Young Li went home and related the story 
 to his father. The boy was ambitious, and the father was willing 
 to sacrifice himself for the future of his son, and to die on the 
 spot ; but he could think of no way, after death, of getting buried 
 in that particular room. The dutiful son proposed that the 
 father should go to the door of that rich man's house, there 
 commit suicide, and leave the rest to him. The affectionate 
 father did what his clever son suggested. Now in China, if a 
 person commits suicide before the house of another, law holds the 
 latter guilty of murder, on the supposition that none could or would 
 commit suicide, unless he had suffered terrible wrongs, which he 
 was unable to avenge or get punished in any other way ; such 
 suicides do therefore occur in China, where the weak or the 
 poor are unable to get justice through the ordinary channel. 
 As soon therefore as old Li committed suicide, the son, who was 
 in readiness, raised a piercing howl of lamentation. The owner 
 of the house was soon on the spot, and seeing the body of the 
 suicide there, was thrown into the greatest terror; for he was well 
 aware of the consequences. Young Li accused him of the murder 
 
GEOMANCV. 
 
 of his father, and when his wild paroxisms of grief permitted 
 him to speak, he uttered forth the wildest execrations and the 
 most terrible threats against the rich man, whom he would at 
 once accuse to the District Judge, a pitiless fate in any age of 
 Chinese history for the man who can be squeezed. The rich 
 man offered a sum of money to the apparently poverty-stricken 
 youth before him ; but every increasing sum was scornfully 
 rejected. When at last the man was thoroughly frightened into 
 a mood in which he would grant anything, Li mentioned that 
 one thing would satisfy him in revenge for his father ; this was to 
 have the dead body buried in a certain spot, inside the house,, 
 which he would point out. This was eagerly accepted ; old Li 
 was buried there, and young Li went home to wait the time 
 when he should rise to greatness. 
 
 Dsuchung became leader of a robber band, but soon after his 
 name became noted, the various robber bands drew together and 
 formed into an army, which was completely defeated by Hoong 
 Chungchow, who was then Tsanjung, or Councillor in the Court 
 of Appeals. Dsuchung was seized in the battle, but escaped the 
 death of a robber in the beginning of his career, by slipping 
 away among the mountain defiles. But the losses by the attack 
 of Chungchow were more than compensated to the robber ranks- 
 by the famine whose dark shadows thickened in 1630, and 
 largely reinforced the robbers. But they had a more important 
 addition to their numbers, and one calculated to do more damage 
 to imperialism, in the mutiny of a body of ten thousand 
 soldiers, at the head of whom Gung Yooji was marching from 
 Shansi to the capital. Yooji was governor of Shansi and, in 
 response to a summons from Peking, which was then quaking 
 at the approach through Mongolia of the Manchus, got as far as 
 Cholo, when his men mutinied, broke up and scattered among 
 the mountains of Shansi and Shensi, where Dsuchung was- 
 then hiding. They were again collected, and nominated Gao 
 Yinghien their commander, under the title of Chwang Wang or 
 " Leaping King," which might imply that his attacks were 
 sudden. Dsuchung was elected second and named Chwang 
 
136 LI DSUCHUNG. 
 
 Kiang or " Leaping Leader." Seven years thereafter Yinghien 
 was defeated and slain and Dsuchung became chief. 
 
 Wang Jiayun was still at the head of his bands, and took 
 several cities in 1630-1, but was then defeated and slain; his 
 army nominated Wang Dsuyang as successor. To cope with 
 these various large and small armies of robbers, Chungchow 
 appears to have been the only able man. His services were so 
 noteworthy, that he was first made governor, and soon after 
 viceroy. But so great was the power of the robbers, and so 
 venal or weak the various judges and magistrates, that these 
 latter gave the chief robbers passports or written engagements, 
 securing them from capital punishment. Robbery had Shansi 
 and Shensi at its feet, and the evil was greatly increased by the 
 rapacity of dishonest magistrates, who demanded taxes equivalent 
 to a third of the remaining wealth of the people, in name of 
 putting down robbery. Thus " for every robber slain, ten honest 
 families were ruined," and the people were driven for sheer 
 protection into the ranks of the robbers. Chungchow was more 
 faithful, however, and checked and defeated the robber armies 
 as much as he could. In the autumn of 1631, he defeated and 
 slew king Can-Fly-to-Heaven, whom king Sweep-the-Earth 
 was unable to save. 
 
 The army of the Mahommedan Hienjoong was mainly com- 
 posed of co-religionists. He several times suffered defeat, and 
 at last thought he would be safer if he surrendered. He there- 
 fore joined the imperial ranks; but in 1634 he again united with 
 Dsuchung. The combination was, however, defeated by Chung- 
 chow, and the two rebels had to betake themselves to the 
 mountains of Hingping. Dsuchung surrendered himself, but 
 the amount of his sincerity was proved by his sacking the city 
 of Tungchung of Singan foo, the very next month after his 
 submission. The authorities were then so paralysed, that they 
 dared not execute him or his kind. His friend Hienjoong had 
 so many Mahommedans flocking to his standard, that he set up 
 an independent army, and that army defied all efforts to break 
 it up for over twenty years. Hienjoong and his army were 
 
FAMINE HORRORS. 137 
 
 defeated in 1636, and found their way into Honan, where they 
 plundered the villages and sacked the cities, and whither we 
 need not follow them at present. Dsuchung also marched into 
 the same province by a different route ; so that Shansi had so 
 many robbers the less in it, but its sufferings were such as 
 scarcely to admit of alleviation. It had not yet gathered a full 
 harvest in any of its districts, and in many not a grain of corn 
 was secured ; so that even in 1634 many kept themselves in life 
 by the bodies of those who had died of hunger. It was probably 
 the want of grain which sent the robber armies into Honan ; 
 and in 1636 cannibalism went further, and Nanyang mothers 
 killed their daughters, while any stranger caught was sure to be 
 led to the shambles. Human flesh was then, and not infre- 
 quently before and since, undisguisedly sold for so much the 
 pound. These horrors are simply beyond the power of pen to 
 describe, or of heart to imagine, and are better left to their own 
 nakedness. They show to what a state human existence had 
 fallen in those famine regions. The love of life apparently 
 increases with the difficulty of living ; and though we imagine 
 that human beings should die rather than live by cannibalism, 
 the history of shipwrecks shows what our fellow-countrymen, 
 when famishing, can do. And those wretches in Shansi and 
 neighbouring regions were like the crews of so many myriad 
 wrecked ships ; for though large numbers could find their way 
 out of the famine regions, not one in ten could do so except by 
 joining the robbers ; but almost no woman was able to move out 
 of the devoted region. The misery was slightly alleviated in 
 the year 1636, by the total overthrow and dispersion of the 
 original robber army, whose leaders, Wang Dsuyang and others, 
 were beheaded, their heads exposed, and their bodies cut to 
 pieces on the execution ground. The fact of the executions 
 shows that the defeat was complete, or the authorities would 
 not have ventured to such extreme measures. 
 
 Dsuchung was besieging Kooshu of Yooning foo in Honan, 
 when an officer of Dso Liangyu's came to the rescue. They 
 faced each other for six days, when they fought, and Dsuchung 
 
138 LI DSUCHUNG. 
 
 had to flee towards Tungfung of Honan foo, and Michien of 
 Kaifung. He continued his retreat into Shensi and turned 
 upon his pursuers at Lojiashan, where he completely defeated 
 them. He then marched on Yenswi and besieged Swita. The 
 lieut. -general in charge of Yenswi fell upon him before he 
 attacked the city, but was drawn into an ambush and himselt 
 taken. The garrison of Swita joined Dsuchung, who then 
 marched up to and took Michih. The garrison of Swita were 
 all Yenan men, and now clad in rich silk garments, visited their 
 relations. Those same relations were all in want of the 
 commonest food, and it required little persuasion to cause them 
 to swarm to the camp of Dsuchung, where food was abundant. 
 
 The south western provinces, though free from famine were 
 overrun with robbers. A few years before Dsuchung got back 
 with such pomp and power to his native place, the five south- 
 western provinces had to unite their armies before they could 
 cope with An Bangyen ; but if he was defeated and slain, his 
 scattered forces retained their hold on the country and we shall 
 meet them again years after. Thus with the Manchus in the 
 north-east, Peking must have been at its wit's end, for that 
 would not take it far. One sage minister proposed that only 
 men of sterling character should be employed at Court, and that 
 all mean men should be dismissed the government offices. Who 
 was to be the judge ! The silver mines of Pingyang and 
 Fungyang were opened to aid the government ; notwithstanding 
 the former experience of their working. 
 
 Dsuchung discovered that the mining of city walls produced 
 immensely more silver than the imperial mines, and he advanced 
 as far as Chingyang to pillage. Sanyuen and Singan were 
 thrown into a state of terror; and to add to the confusion, 
 another robber army took the city of Liwho, and besieged 
 Tienchang. So great had now become the fame of Dsuchung, 
 that the scattered bands of robbers of Shensi were attracted to 
 and joined his army. A Disturb-the-Heavens prince also 
 acknowledged Dsuchung as his superior ; but he was defeated in 
 spite of his defiant name. But if Dsuchung commanded a host 
 
FORTUNES VICISSITUDES. 
 
 of men, he soon discovered that he was not invincible ; for 
 Chungchow attacked him at Chitoong hien of Paoning, and 
 completely broke up his army, with the exception of a few 
 thousand men, with whom he fled to the neigbourhood of Singan. 
 His old friend Hienjoong had again joined the imperial ranks > 
 and Dsuchung was at so low an ebb of fortune that he proposed 
 to surrender himself into his friend's hand ; but he discovered in 
 time that Hienjoong had designs on his life, probably from 
 jealousy of the superior fame of Dsuchung. The latter, therefore, 
 set out for the Mahommedan camp in the district of Chuachuen 
 ofHonan. He travelled 600 li without rest; and his exertions 
 brought on a sickness which prostrated him for six months in 
 the Mahommedan camp. When somewhat recovered he left,, 
 and with a few hundred men, began his career over again for the 
 third time. His great foe Chungchow was called to save Peking 
 from the Manchus. He marched with fifty thousand men 
 through the famous Toongkwan, and his approach raised the 
 siege of the capital ; for the Manchus did not wait to test hi& 
 strength. He was made viceroy of Liaotung, as we have seen 
 above. One instance of devoted bravery may be here noticed. 
 Swun Chungdsoong, president of the Board of War, was in 
 Kaoyang when the Manchus laid siege to it. The city was 
 entered; and Swun, with ten sons and grandsons, fought 
 together defending the city, and fell one by one in the hopeless 
 fight. 
 
 Honan was so much overrun by robbers, that the governor 
 either could not or would not take efficient steps to meet them. 
 He was therefore degraded. The governor of Shantung, because 
 he had not prevented the Manchus from taking so many cities- 
 and so much spoil in Shantung, was summoned to the capital, 
 where he was beheaded. And other such instances proved that 
 the government was severe in certain cases. But all this touched 
 not the root of the evil ; indeed, that root had gone too deep for 
 any ordinarily remedial measures. Chihli and Shantung were 
 the only northern provinces which were undividedly imperial, 
 and they were stripped of almost all their wealth. The south- 
 
140 LI DSUCHUNG. 
 
 eastern provinces were faithful ; they had not suffered as had the 
 northern and south-western provinces, though many small robber 
 bands infested every province in China, and thus cut off 
 communication between many places ; yet they were so far from 
 the capital that they could not, if they would, render efficient 
 aid. The great Chinese empire, though nominally what it 
 always had been, was then in reality confined to the capital and 
 its province, for the other provinces had enough to do to look 
 after themselves ; and more than half the income of the imperial 
 exchequer was employed in checking the Manchus. 
 
 We now turn to Hienjoong whom we have found a second 
 time taking service under the imperial government, and leaving 
 his Mahommedan army to look after itself in Honan. He was 
 stationed in Koochung, and had asked censor Lin Mingchiw to 
 recommend his transference to Hiangyang; and because the 
 request was refused, he murdered the censor and by this act 
 again cut, and forever, his connection with the imperialists. He 
 then killed the District Judge, fired the city, and departed west- 
 wards to join the band of Lo Yootsai. Liangyu, who had gained 
 a decisive victory over the robbers in Honan after the arrival of 
 the new governor, sent a detachment in pursuit of Yootsai. In 
 the eagerness of pursuit this detachment fell into a snare, in 
 Lohowshan of Fanghien ; and though they fought with desperate 
 valour in their attempts to cut through the circle surrounding 
 them, they all perished. Liangyu was degraded in rank, and 
 ordered to recover his honours by renewed and distinguished 
 bravery. It was afterwards found that Liangyu's superior in 
 command was responsible for the disaster. Wunhi, this com- 
 mander, was ordered into Peking and beheaded. Eunuchs were 
 apparently as responsible for that as for so many military 
 disasters in Liaotung, for they were recalled to Peking from the 
 various military stations in the south. Liangyu's conduct 
 procured him rapid promotion ; for with the support of many 
 revolted robbers, he went from victory to victory. 
 
 But Hienjoong had collected a large army among the mountains 
 of Manao of Taiping, a district of Ninggwo. There he was attacked 
 
CITY TAKING. 141 
 
 by Liangyii in February, 1640, completely defeated, ten thousand 
 of his men slain, and he compelled to flee with scarcely one 
 thousand horse. Liangyii occupied the hills in the districts of 
 Hingan and Pingli, his camps stretching over an extent of 100 
 li. He caused diligent search to be made for Hienjoong, but in 
 vain. And not only was Hienjoong in such good hiding, but he 
 speedily had around him a larger army than ever ; so that when 
 he was discovered, the imperialist army sent against him dared 
 not approach. With his large army he marched upon and took 
 the city of Tachang, in Szchuen. He then crossed the river, 
 passed Basi or Paoning, and took Chienchow. He coalesced 
 again with Yootsai at Kaihien, but in February, 1641, general 
 Fierce-as-a-tiger attacked them with fury and broke them up. 
 They fled to Tsorhan and Tachang, but so thorough was their 
 disorder that they had to flee to the hills of Hingfang. Hien- 
 joong continued still to move away and marched towards 
 Yichung, in Hookwang. 
 
 By means of spies Hienjoong was made aware that the 
 prefectural city of Hiangyang was badly garrisoned. He sent off 
 twenty well mounted robbers, who approached the city gate at 
 night, under imperialist colours. The weak guard was only too 
 glad to admit even twenty men: but as soon as they were admitted, 
 they fell with a shout upon the gate-keepers and put them all to 
 the sword. They were speedily joined by a hundred robbers who 
 had previously hidden themselves in the city, and rushed to the 
 centre of the city making the greatest noise, to draw attention 
 from the gate through which the main army now came pouring in. 
 The city was in the utmost confusion, and there was no opposition 
 to the robbers, for there was no head to take charge. The prefect 
 cut his way through the robbers and fled. The prince 
 Hiang Wang was seized in his palace, which was then burnt 
 down. Hienjoong was seated in a private dwelling of the 
 prince's when the latter was a prisoner before him. Hienjoong 
 sat over against the prince as his equal, and taunted him with 
 his past conduct. He said, taking a flagon of spirits in his 
 hand, that he had hoped to have taken the head of Suchang, a 
 
142 LI DSUCHUNG. 
 
 president of one of the Peking Boards, but as he had fled far 
 into Choo (Honan), he would have to borrow the head of the 
 prince instead, but would give him a cup of liquor first. It often 
 happened during those wars, as it often occurs now, that the man 
 to be put to death was first rendered insensible by deep 
 potations. The prince did not refuse to drink himself drunk ; 
 and was then executed. Hienjoong took possession of all the 
 ladies of the palace; and scattered 150,000 taels among the 
 famishing populace. Though Liangyu was making all speed to 
 save this important city whose weakness he well knew, he was 
 not only too late, but had to learn, when he arrived there, that 
 the robbers had crossed the river and taken Funchung on the 
 Hankiang, after which Kwangchow and Sinye had to open their 
 gates; and the fortune of Hienjoong was in flood. He took 
 Swichow in Hookwang soon after. But at this juncture he and 
 Yoostai quarrelled; the latter moved his division northwards 
 to Tungchow of Nanyang, and put himself into communication 
 with and under the orders of Dsuchung, who had been 
 compelled by Liangyu to move northwards from Nanyang, 
 though he had then half a million of men under his command. 
 Liangyu was thus posted between the two great robbers, and 
 the flank movement of Yoostai passing from Hienjoong to 
 Dsuchung, proved that the two could have coalesced if they 
 had been eager to do so. But it is more than likely that the 
 designs of each prevented such a combination as long as it was 
 not necessary for self defence. But Liangyu, after he pushed 
 Dsuchung northwards, wheeled south and dealt such a blow to 
 Hienjoong, weakened by the defection of Yootsai, that he took 
 10,000 of his horse, and scores of thousands of the defeated army 
 deserted to him on the battle-field of Sinyang. Hienjoong had 
 to flee with only a few followers to the hills, among which he 
 found his way to the camp of Dsuchung. But his reception 
 was not of the warmest, as he would be satisfied only 
 with a place of equality with his great rival ; for his reputation 
 was greatly increased since he had taken Hiangyang, and he 
 had, as we have seen, at one time been Dsuchung's superior. 
 
RIVALS. 143 
 
 Dsuchung was angry at the presumption of the man who had 
 come as a fugitive, and determined quietly to get rid of him. 
 Yootsai warned the ambitious fugitive of his danger and gave 
 him 500 horse, with which he escaped eastwards and again 
 joined the old Mahommedan camp. 
 
 In June 1642, Hienjoong was on the south of the Yangtsu. 
 Some of his men went into the prefectural city of Loochow, 
 professing to be candidates for literary degrees. They entered 
 the city with books in their hands, and arms under their 
 clothing ; others got in as merchants, and all went to live in the 
 inns.* After their plans were completed, they rose one night 
 and set fire to some houses in several parts of the city ; and in 
 the consequent confusion, opened the gates to their comrades. 
 Hienjoong cut an arm off every man and woman whom he left 
 alive, and then marched on Liwngan. He defeated Liangyu 
 when marching to the rescue ; and the city fell notwithstanding 
 its very high walls and very deep moat. Liangyu had his 
 revenge in November at Nganching, where he took 5000 horse, 
 and freed over a myriad of Mahommedans compulsorily held by 
 Hienjoong. But the defeat was not crushing, for Hienjoong 
 was soon again at his old trick of surprising cities. He rode 
 vapidly towards Hwangchow in a thick fog, and rushed pell mell 
 into the city as the gates -f- were opened in the uncertain light 
 of the early morning. The assistant censor, Fun Weiching, was 
 seized, and Hienjoong did all in his power to get him to desert. 
 The censor would give no other reply than abusive language ; 
 and the anger, which he purposely kindled, raged so much that 
 they pierced his breast, and he died a patriot's death. The 
 palace of Whangchow was repaired and accepted by Hienjoong, 
 
 * It is possibly from such tricks that every inn is subject to a nightly visitation 
 by the city guard, which looks in at every room ; takes down the name, surname, 
 dwelling-place, and business of every guest; and if there is the least suspicion 
 roused, the guest has to open out and lay before the guard every box and package 
 in his room. 
 
 t All Chinese cities are walled ; and the strong gates are closed every night at 
 sundown in summer, and never later than eight in the winter. They are opened 
 again at dawn or sunrise. 
 
144* LI DSUCHUNG. 
 
 who assumed the title of Si Wang, or " Western Prince." But 
 he had not yet a settled authority over lands sufficient to warrant 
 him to assume such a title, and he took little time in trying to 
 extend his power. 
 
 In May, he marched westwards towards Woochang in 
 Hookwang. Choo Wang was then in that city, and was in debt 
 to the city authorities to the amount of over a million taels. 
 The prefect prayed him to distribute a few hundred thousand 
 taels among the troops to raise their spirits and courage. But 
 he was true to the character of all the other princes of his 
 imperial family; and his selfish blindness would not spare or 
 repay a single tael of silver. Hienjoong found therefore no 
 opposition on his way to Hanyang. This city was south of the 
 Han river, and north of the Yangtsu. As he was nearing that 
 city, the prince and many others clamoured to have the forces 
 which were stationed on the Yangtsu at once removed within 
 the city of Woochang. Colonel Wun Yoong declared that it 
 was of far greater consequence to retain command of the Yangtsu 
 than to enter and protect Woochang ; and that the best policy 
 of all would be to defend the river Han, and prevent the passage 
 to Hanyang of the robbers. His advice was overruled in all 
 points, and Hanyang had to open its gates. Hienjoong there- 
 fore moved down the river towards Woochang. The waters of 
 the river were so shallow that they scarcely reached the horses' 
 belly ; yet the army which should have contested the crossing 
 of the river was ordered into Woochang, to the very gates of 
 which Hienjoong marched unopposed. He attacked the gate 
 Wooshung, where Wun Yoong made a gallant resistance, cutting 
 down the robbers in great numbers. But the army connected 
 with the palace opened another gate, and went out to invite the 
 robbers in ; for the prince was eager only to save his own person 
 and wealth. When Wun Yoong saw this treachery he leaped 
 his horse among the robbers, and killed three of them before he 
 was himself slain. When the grand secretary Fungchung, at 
 his station on the Wooshung gate, found all was lost, he retired 
 to his family, hurried them twelve persons in all on board a 
 
VM VICTIS. 145 
 
 boat, after he had clothed himself in his official robes and court 
 hat, and made two profound obeisances towards the imperial 
 palace. He then pushed the boat out into the lake, scuttled it, 
 and with his family died the death which Chinese patriotism 
 demands of its officials. A note to the history states that his 
 body was found one hundred and seventy days after, and bore 
 no trace of decay. One Hiaoyen had his left arm cut off in the 
 fight ; but he stood in the gate, and cut down twenty robbers 
 before the exhaustion of his strength made him the prey of 
 the robber's sword. The prince of Choo had the proper reward 
 of his treason ; for the robbers seized in his palace the enormous 
 sums of the public money which he had absorbed ; and though 
 they impressed several hundred carts to take.it away, they could 
 not carry it all.* After they had taken away that for which 
 he had sold his country, the robbers tied up the unworthy prince, 
 and flung him into the Sihoo lake. Many myriads of the people 
 were cut down, and permission was given to as many as would, 
 to depart ; but after they had gone, iron-armed horse were sent 
 after to cut them down. What with suicides, and what with 
 those heartless deaths, the river was covered for ever so great a 
 distance with floating dead bodies; and for some time it was 
 impossible to eat the fish of the Yangtsu. Of the people 
 remaining in that enormous city, it is said that there was not 
 one unmanned : one had a foot, another an arm, cut off; some 
 had the nose sliced off, and some an eye gouged out. And after 
 the city was thus made a desert, Hienjoong made it his capital, 
 established in it Six Boards and Five Palaces, cast cash in the 
 name of Si Wang, and made district judges. This proves that 
 he was now hoping to be able to make a bid for empire, for 
 otherwise he would not have instituted Six Boards. 
 
 Whatever opposition, effectual or unavailing, was made to the 
 progress of the rebels, there was not a single instance of a bold 
 resistance by a member of the imperial family, though its 
 wangs or princes were to be found in all the more important 
 
 *A11 money then and now if not of copper cash was of silver ingots; and a 
 million taels meant 100,000 Ibs. weight of bullion. 
 
 K 
 
146 LI DSUCHUNG. 
 
 cities of the empire. The interesting and romantic history of 
 Gwei wang, who had greatness thrust upon him, we shall learn 
 at a later date of our history ; but he makes his debut at this 
 period by fleeing with his relation, prince Whi, from the 
 prefecture of Hungchow, when Hienjoong advanced against it. 
 He fled to Yoongchow in Hookwang, leaving his palace in the 
 hands of Hienjoong, who had all the materials removed to 
 Changsha, to be used in building his own palace there. 
 Hienjoong then moved on Yoongchow. He was encountered by 
 Liw Hi, the admiral of the fleet there, who had hurried away 
 the two princes, together with the prince of Yoong city, under 
 an escort, to Kwangsi; but his determination never to yield 
 availed him not. The city gates were opened by traitors, and 
 the admiral himself seized. The rebels employed every 
 argument to have him join them ; but though they kept him a 
 close prisoner for three days without food, with bandaged eyes, 
 making promises and using threats, he remained unmoved. 
 Three further attempts were made to gain him ; but when they 
 held a naked sword to his throat, he only reviled them the more, 
 and he got the death he sought. All the ancient kingdom of 
 Choo was, therefore, now in rebel hands, and Hienjoong attained 
 to the pinnacle of his greatness. But by the end of 1643, 
 Dsuchung had so enormously outgrown him, that Hienjoong 
 acknowledged himself his vassal ; and he informed the Mahom- 
 medan messengers sent by Dsuchung to Kingchow, that he 
 occupied that city for Dsuchung; he also sent messengers to 
 cultivate the friendship of Dsuchung. This is proof of the 
 greatness to which the latter had grown, and we now retrace our 
 steps to glance at the mode of that progress. 
 
 We left Dsuchung starting with a few hundred men from the 
 Mahommedan camp, after his recovery from a severe half-year's 
 illness. His name was a sufficient roll-call, and he was soon 
 surrounded by a considerable band whom he led to plunder and 
 to wealth. But after those men had ravaged to their heart's 
 content, and had by their atrocities made themselves sufficiently 
 formidable to be worth the buying, they deserted in large numbers 
 
DIFFICULTIES. 147 
 
 to the imperialists, whom they joined in pushing out Dsuchung, 
 who fled to Hanyang, where he was hard pressed by the Shensi 
 army on his north, and found his southern march cut off by 
 Liangyii, who was in Woogwan of Shangchow. He was thus 
 completely shut in, and his provisions began to be scarce. As 
 the easiest way out of his perplexities, he several times 
 attempted to commit suicide, but was always prevented by his 
 adopted son, Li Shwanghi. He therefore gave orders to have 
 every captive put to the sword, and with 50 men made a dash 
 against the southern lines of his besiegers, cut through to 
 Yunyang, among the mountains where he "fed his horses." But 
 this occupation was not for a long term ; for the famine which 
 still wasted the north laid its biting hand on Honan, and soon 
 rallied an army of several scores of thousands of hungry men 
 around him. 
 
 Just when Hienjoong was taking Tachang and Chienchow, 
 Dsuchung took Yoongning of Honan foo by storm, and put every 
 soul to the sword, including a prince then in the city. He set 
 the city on fire, and afterwards broke down forty forts. The 
 robber chief "One-Measure-Grain" and others joined him, and 
 with these as guides he took the city of Yiyang with a spring. 
 Needy men now swarmed to his banner from all corners, and he 
 was speedily master of several hundreds of thousands, whom he 
 quickly converted into soldiers. This increase was however 
 wholly caused by the famine which continued to rage more or 
 less severely over the provinces of Chihli, Shantung, Shansi, 
 Shensi, Honan, Chihkiang and Kiangsu. Next year (1640), 
 many people in all those provinces lived only because they 
 resorted to cannibalism. 
 
 After he got his men converted into an army, Dsuchung 
 marched against the prefecture of Honan in 1641. The siege 
 was desperately pushed, but the defence was for once vigorously 
 sustained, and though after a long siege great cannon were 
 brought against the walls, Dsuchung would have to raise the 
 siege but for the never-failing treachery which everywhere 
 betrayed the Ming cause. Traitors opened the gates, Dsuchung 
 
148 LI DSUCHUNG. 
 
 pushed in, set fire to the palace of Foo Wang and then killed 
 that prince, after upbraiding him with his cruelty and oppression 
 of the people. So bitter was the hatred of the soldiers against 
 him, that they ate his flesh cut into mince. This explains the 
 treachery which opened the gates. A retired president of the 
 Board of War was also slain. ; but the other officials were saved 
 alive. Such was the condition of the country around, that 
 miserable human wretches preyed upon those fallen in battle ; 
 and though the grave-digger had no work, neither the wolf, the 
 dog, nor the raven had any share in the ghastly meals. Dsu- 
 chung distributed great quantities of grain and silver, hoarded in 
 the city, among the famishing. He then assumed the title of 
 Chwang Wang or "Leaping Prince," and his power thence- 
 forward so rapidly grew, that when Hienjoong was stealthily 
 creeping upon Hiangyang, he was bold enough to attack the 
 large city of Kaifung, the capital of the province. He was 
 repulsed however in that attempt. Yet Honan had now come 
 to such a pass that when Li Hienfung opened the imperial 
 document appointing him governor of that province, he 
 committed suicide. Commander Yang Suchang also committed 
 suicide because he had failed to prevent Dsuchung from taking 
 the city of Kweita. Liangyii had just then come from paying 
 a visit to the capital, and fresh from the presence of the emperor 
 drove Dsuchung northwards, from Nanyang to Looshu of 
 Yoongning. It was while here that Yootsai (p. 142) joined him, 
 and another more important acquisition was made in the person of 
 Niw Jinhing, a Juyin graduate of Paofung, who, fleeing from the 
 consequences of some crime, found shelter and honour from 
 Dsuchung, who took one of his daughters to wife. His name 
 became more and more prominent in the future history of the 
 rebellion. Another sharp man, three feet high, and skilled in 
 palmistry, saw and studied Dsuchung. He gave his oracular 
 decision that ''Eighteen sons should become master of the 
 vessels of the gods." * This fortunate utterance so gratified 
 
 *The character Li is made up of three characters, "ten," "eight" and "son"; the 
 vessels of the gods " are the sacrificial utensils which belong only to the emperor. 
 
FORTUNE-TELLING. 149 
 
 the rebel that he made the fortune-teller one of his 
 generals. 
 
 Though Liangyii had broken up the army of Hienjoong, and 
 compelled him to seek safety by solitary flight into Dsuchung's 
 camp, he was unable to face the latter, who had half a million 
 men under his orders. The court at Peking was, therefore, in 
 great straits ; the Manchus in the east setting all north China at 
 defiance, and Dsuchung to the south laughing to scorn all 
 ordinary means of opposition. To deal satisfactorily with either 
 of these scourges, was equal to the full extent of the resources 
 of the Ming dynasty ; and what could they do with both ? It 
 was determined to deal with Dsuchung, as his was the most 
 pressing case ; for he was already in the heart of China, with 
 increasing numbers of Chinese flocking to his standard, while 
 the Manchus were yet beyond Chinese soil; and when they 
 ravaged it, they failed to gain a single adherent even among the 
 famishing. So far they judged wisely ; but their conduct did 
 not savour of equal wisdom. When struggling for life with 
 rebellion, robbery and famine, as they were, they should have 
 made peace with the Manchus at any price, and so tied their 
 hands for a few years. Instead of doing so, they trusted to luck 
 or laziness, and drained the five northern provinces of their 
 armies, over whom they sent Wun Yao, viceroy of Chihli, and 
 Dsoongloong, viceroy of Shensi, to march against and crush 
 Dsuchung. Thus the way was left open for an inroad by the 
 Manchus, if they thought proper. The viceroy of Chihli, in 
 October 1641, crossed the river on a floating bridge and joined 
 the viceroy of Shensi at Hiangchung of Kaifung. Dsuchung 
 also crossed the river higher up, and concealed his men in a pine 
 forest. Past this forest the combined army was loosely marching, 
 entirely ignorant of the whereabouts of Dsuchung ; and, as they 
 had no scouts to scour their route, they seemed to have thought 
 him far away. Without a note of premonitory warning the men 
 in the forest rushed out upon the disorderly army. Yinloong 
 and Gwochi, two Shensi generals, led the van, and they with 
 their men fled northwards in the greatest precipitation. The 
 
150 LI DSUCHUNG. 
 
 Paoting army next broke up and fled, and Yaowuii retired by 
 night into Hiangchung. Dsoongloong alone stood his ground, 
 and hurriedly built ramparts about his immediate followers, 
 where he defended himself though surrounded by several deep 
 of the robbers. He knew it was hopeless to remain there to 
 renew the struggle on the morrow, and therefore in the second 
 watch, or between nine and ten p.m., he led out his men and 
 burst through the lines of the besiegers. But once beyond the 
 rebels, his men broke loose and scattered " like the stars." He 
 marched on foot with as many of the broken infantry as he could 
 rally around him, fighting as he went. Next day he got to Hiang- 
 chung, and so did the robbers, who seized him just outside the 
 gates. They brought him, with his banner flying, to the gate, 
 and cried with great shouting, " I am the viceroy of Shensi, the 
 commander of the army ; please open the gate to receive the 
 viceroy." As soon as his voice could be heard, he also spoke out 
 as loudly as he could, and said, " / am the viceroy of Shensi ; 
 and I command you to keep your gates shut. On all sides of 
 me are robbers, whose voice it was which first addressed you." 
 He then reviled the robbers bitterly in order to anger them 
 into slaying him ; and he had his wish, for he was killed below 
 the city walls. Before the fierce attack of the rebels the 
 city fell almost immediately, and was put to the sword in 
 Dsuchung's usual style. Dsoongloong had the highest honours 
 of Tai Dsu and Tai Bao conferred posthumously upon him by 
 the emperor; but Yinloong was executed by the next viceroy. 
 Yinloong had been brought to notice by slaying many robbers 
 when in a very subordinate position ; and as he was their terror 
 when he served under others, he was greatly feared when he got 
 a command for himself; but surprise cut short his career to the 
 great joy of the rebel army, who drank each other congratula- 
 tions, now that the " son of the wind was gone." 
 
 In the following January, Dsuchung again attacked Kaifung, 
 hoping perhaps that his overwhelming success against the 
 imperialist army would open the gates to him, by terrifying the 
 garrison. But he was mistaken, for lieut. -general Chun Yoong- 
 
EYE SHOT OUT. 151 
 
 foo was both a brave and an energetic opponent. As Dsuchung 
 was pressing the siege, Yoongfoo covered him with his bow, shot 
 an arrow and gouged out his left eye. So great was the pain 
 that the rebel leader ordered his men to draw off from the city ; 
 and he camped at Choohien. Yoongfoo determined to do what 
 he could to harass the rebels ; and opening the treasury exposed 
 stores of silver to the soldiers and citizens and proclaimed, " One 
 hundred taels for a living robber, fifty taels for a dead one, and 
 fifty taels to the family of the man who dies fighting with the 
 robbers." This produced enormous losses to the robbers, who 
 were compelled to move off; but even in defeat they were 
 successful, for they took Neihiang, Pingtang and Sinye cities. 
 And next month, Dsuchung returned to the siege of Kaifung, 
 determined to take it by breach. When the mine exploded and 
 a breach of only a few feet was made, it was called a "Small 
 discharge ; " when of several jang* and with a noise to shake 
 the heavens, it was called a " Large discharge." Dsuchung 
 prepared to make the latter. The pick of his horse covered the 
 workers operating under a large extent of the wall. The powder 
 inserted into the mine amounted to several scores of thousands 
 of catties ;t and removed a short distance from the mine were 
 men in complete armour, who were to rush in as soon as the 
 report of the bursting wall was heard. The miners withdrew, 
 the torch was applied, a tremendous explosion followed, and a 
 large piece of the wall was thrown down. It was thrown down ; 
 but when the smoke cleared away, it revealed great numbers of 
 the attacking party laid low for ever ; for the wall instead of 
 bursting upwards or inwards, fell outwards among the assailants, 
 and left an inner peel as hard as stone, and as unbroken as if 
 there had been no mine and no explosion. The rebels regarded 
 this as a miracle, and raised the siege; but were more successful 
 next month, for they took Chunchow, putting immense numbers 
 as usual to the sword. 
 
 They again invested Kaifung, but because of their former 
 
 * One jang is ten Chinese feet, or about twelve English feet. 
 t A catty, in Chinese kin, is 1 English Ib. avoirdupois. 
 
152 LI DSUCHUNG. 
 
 losses they drew their lines of regular siege at a distance from 
 the city, with the design to starve it into surrender. The city 
 was invested for five months, when a lieut-general, come to 
 raise the siege, camped over against the rebels. But after 
 fighting with them for three days in succession, he was compelled 
 to retire. Yet though in straits for provisions, the city had no 
 thought of opening its gates. But an unfortunate accident did 
 what the rebel army could not do. The governor of the province 
 had, before the last siege, opened a canal from the Yellow River, 
 ten li north of the city, in order to flood the city moat and to 
 inundate the rebels. Just after the lieu t. -general mentioned 
 above had to retire, the Yellow river rose suddenly, a flood of 
 waters rushed down upon the rebel camp, drowning over ten 
 thousand men. The flood then dashed " like a mountain twenty 
 feet high" against the walls of the city, which it flooded. 
 Hundreds of thousands were drowned; and the surviving 
 hundreds of thousands got out of the city in some way. The 
 governor escaped in a small boat, as did many of the chief officers, 
 though some of them too were drowned. The army got to a distance 
 from the city, and camped on high ground. But the rebel army 
 seized all the boats within accessible distance, entered the city 
 and pillaged at their leisure. They then, without obstruction, 
 went to Nanyang, which they retook, and, as in every recapture, 
 they put all to the sword. 
 
 When Liangyii's hands were quite full looking after Hienjoong 
 (p. 142), and the Manchus were pouring through Chiangtsu 
 ling passes down upon Kichow, the viceroy of Chihli, Wun 
 Yao, was occupied with a greater danger, for he was opposing 
 Dsuchung, who was pushing in to take Yooning prefecture. 
 The viceroy was posted with Paoting troops west of the city, and 
 Koong Chunhwi, at the head of Szchuen troops, was stationed 
 on the east. Both were attacked by the rebels, who broke up 
 the Szchuen troops ; and the Paoting men were unable, there- 
 fore, though acting their part bravely, to keep the rebels off 
 the city. They were compelled to enter and join the garrison. 
 The rebels ceased not day nor night from fighting and scaling ; 
 
THE JESUITS. 153 
 
 and though enormous numbers of them fell by the stones and 
 arrows showered from above, they persisted in pushing up, and 
 at a hundred points gained the top of the wall. Wun Yao was 
 seized on the wall ; he imitated the example of the viceroy of 
 Shensi, his former comrade in arms, and like him fell before the 
 swords of the angry rebels. One officer, who was on the wall, 
 got the name of Wang the Iron-eared, because he would not 
 move, whatever the storm from the assailants. The usual 
 slaughter took place of captured soldiery and civilians. 
 
 Just then there arose great disturbances at the centre of 
 government on account of the Jesuits. These had first got 
 into China and had been received with eclat, as long before our 
 story as the Yuen dynasty. There was not a continuous stream 
 however, but some time before this period of our history, they had 
 been received with great honours by the Court in Peking, as 
 men of science and especially as astronomers ; a science of which 
 the love of the Chinese has always been greater than their 
 accuracy. Adam Schaal, whom the Chinese call Tang Yowang, 
 had been some time engaged on astronomical duties; and 
 though in a very subordinate position, he came in contact with 
 the emperor. It was doubtless because of the descriptions 
 of western camion, given by that able Jesuit, that the emperor 
 ordered him to cast some cannon, and to teach their use. We, 
 Avho know the clamouring rage which employed the leisure of 
 the Court of James I. against the Scotch, and the more or less 
 intermittent irritation against the Germans employed in England 
 since 1688, can understand the opposition which would 
 necessarily arise in the Court of the isolated and conservative 
 Peking, when unknown foreign adventurers, as they would 
 appear to be, received so much imperial favour. When therefore 
 Schaal proved by success that he was able to cast such cannon 
 as China had never before seen, the opposition, which would 
 have silently smiled with satisfaction over failure, now spoke 
 out against success. The censorate is necessarily conservative, 
 and is bound to object to anything which it believes or 
 can profess to believe to be contrary to the ancient law and 
 
154 LI DSUCHUNG. 
 
 usage of China. The censorate therefore approached his 
 majesty on this subject. It was the chief censor, Liw Dsoongjow, 
 who, in a memorial, remonstrated with his majesty against the 
 use of fire-arms which were never heard of before the time of 
 the Tang and Sung dynasties.* The emperor calmly replied 
 that the only hope for China was in fire-arms. He then ordered 
 Dsoongjow to go outside, and spoke warmly to the other ministers. 
 Dsoongjow returned while the emperor was speaking in anger, 
 and again remonstrated against the emperor's habit of always 
 listening to the advice of the eunuchs; adding that if he 
 continued to act by the eunuchs' advice he would have reason to 
 regret it. This roused the emperor's wrath; but to hide his 
 passion, he fixed his eyes on the roof when replying that the 
 emperor should be able to judge what was for the commonweal, 
 and to distinguish between that which was for the public 
 interest and for private profit. Dsoongjow was so persistent in 
 his arguments and so warm in his manner, that a fellow censor 
 found it necessary to explain that Dsoongjow had no other 
 object than the public safety, for the action he had taken. This 
 apology increased the displeasure of the emperor, and Dsoongjow 
 then took off-f his hat, made acknowledgment of error and 
 retired. The emperor then sentenced both censors to an 
 inferior post and degraded them several degrees in rank. 
 Against this sentence all the ministers prayed but in vain ; and 
 
 *In " Chambers's Cyclopaedia," under the article "Fire-arms," a British officer, 
 who visited the Great Wall north of Peking, is quoted inferring the existence of fire- 
 arms in China two centuries B.C., because this wall was built then, and because 
 there are loop holes in it. A wall was certainly built then ; but any one, and 
 especially a military officer coming from Britain, where solid walls had been built 
 by the Eomans not so long ago as two centuries B.C., should know that any wall 
 built twenty centuries ago, could not possibly exist at this date, with its loop-holes 
 and embrasures intact. The Great Wall has been, not so long ago, rebuilt, and has 
 been often repaired. If the loop holes are three centuries old, they have certainly 
 done well ; better than any other in China 
 
 fin ordinary circumstances it is disrespectful to take off the hat in company in 
 China ; but inferior officials are said always to stand bareheaded before the emperor. 
 Dsoongjow was therefore acknowledging himself a small official, instead of a great 
 minister. 
 
ANGRY RESIGNATION. 155- 
 
 as no attention was paid to their entreaties, the president of the 
 Board of Punishment resigned his post. Thus we see that if the 
 new emperor had placed new men in office he had his own 
 difficulties with them. He silenced the opposition against the 
 western cannon-founder however. It is possible that the favours 
 conferred upon Schaal caused envy ; but we think the warmth 
 of the discussion between the emperor and the chief censor can 
 be learned from the discussion itself. We know that Schaal then 
 occupied a very subordinate post, and the Jesuit who had the 
 highest post ever attained by that order in Peking occupied but a 
 very secondary official position ; hence the rivalry between the 
 ministers and the eunuchs was the real cause of the animosity 
 against the Jesuits; for we learn from the above that the 
 eunuchs were the chief if not the only support of the Jesuits, 
 and they used them and their learning as good pawns in their 
 playing against the ministers. Schaal we shall meet again, but 
 we must leave the wrangling of courts for the crashing of swords. 
 
 In January 1643, Hiangyang fell to Dsuchung. The 
 governor fled from Kingchow to Hiangtan of Changsha, 
 taking with him prince Funghwi. The inhabitants opened the 
 gates of Kingchow to Dsuchung as soon as he presented himself;, 
 doubtless fearing the massacre always following the capture of a 
 city by storm. The petty robbers, infesting all the districts 
 under Kingchow, rose towards the great rebel like clouds of bees. 
 The governor of Honan was therefore recalled, and censor Wang- 
 Han appointed. But Dsuchung shaped his own course as he 
 choose. He directed his army towards Chungtien, now called 
 Anloo Prefecture of Hookwang. Governor Soong got timely 
 warning, and was urged to make his escape, as resistance was 
 hopeless. But if he could not stem the torrent he could perish 
 in it. He resisted therefore with desperation till all his men were 
 killed, fled, or made prisoners; and he continued to fight, 
 surrounded by the rebels, till he was cut down. The prefect 
 opened the city gates, and Dsuchung marched quietly in. 
 
 One incident connected with this raid is worthy of attention, 
 as it shows that even Dsuchung's character was not, as no man's- 
 
156 LI DSUCHUNG. 
 
 is, utterly bad. Siao Han, the district judge of Choonghien, was 
 seized by Dsuchung's men and brought to the rebel chief. 
 Dsuchung had previously issued a proclamation, that the soldier 
 who would kill that good man would meet an inevitable death, 
 and punishment would follow any insult offered him ; such was 
 Han's reputation for justice and uprightness. The prisoner was 
 sent to a Buddhist monastery, where every argument was 
 employed to get him to acknowledge the rebel as his master ; 
 and the authorities of the monastery were threatened with death 
 if aught ill befell Han while in their hands. This conduct, 
 so different from the ordinary procedure of the " robber," must 
 have touched Siao Han. But his final answer was, " You have 
 your laws and customs, which are different from mine : I must 
 go to the end of my road ; " and he committed suicide, for such, 
 as we have several times had to say, is the consummation of 
 integrity, or the " end of the road " of the official in China who 
 would be faithful to his trust. But such officials were fewer 
 then than even now. The provincial judge, Li Chunshung, 
 welcomed the rebels, and claimed family relationship with the 
 -chief; for they were both of the family " Li." * And his claim 
 was of course gladly reciprocated ; he therefore came and went 
 to the robber camp as 'he chose. The robbers went to the 
 imperial tombs of Hienling to break them open; but so 
 tremendous was the noise, that the hills shook, and the terrified 
 robbers fled and dared not again prosecute the work of 
 desecration. 
 
 But it was apparently supernatural agencies alone which could 
 inspire the rebel with any terror ; for lieut.-general Fang Gwongan 
 was compelled to retire on Hankow, and Liangyii retreated to 
 Woohoo. Nor was there a man in all the provinces who would 
 then dare look Dsuchung in the face on the field ; all retired on 
 the cities. And many of these latter opened their gates in 
 terror; for Dsuchung invariably massacred the inhabitants of 
 
 *If it has not been noted before, it must be understood that the surname comes 
 first in Chinese to honour one's ancestry, the name comes last because it is one's 
 own. 
 
A REBEL TITLE. 157 
 
 the city which dared to close its gates against him. It was 
 estimated that in the cities of Honan alone he had put to death 
 a full million of the inhabitants. It was possibly the fact that 
 he had now no opponent who could meet him on equal terms, 
 but was able to choose his time and route of march, which 
 influenced him to henceforth adopt the role of a conqueror and 
 not that of the robber. He assumed the title of the Heaven- 
 ordained, Upper Great Chief of Civil and Military authorities. 
 Yootsai was entitled, Vicar of Heaven Aiding the People, 
 Virtuous and Terrible Great Commander. Hiangyang was 
 called the capital; and Dsuchung gave new names to all the 
 cities under his jurisdiction, appointing magistrates and judges 
 over them. He rebuilt the palace of the prince of Hiangyang. 
 The three princes Jaoling Wang,* Paoning Wang, and Siaoning 
 Wang who were in the city, acknowledged Dsuchung, and were 
 named his councillors, but their titles were changed to Bai or 
 count. He then marched upon and took Chiswi. 
 
 The enormous army under Dsuchung was not wholly collected 
 by himself; there were other leaders who had brought large 
 bands, over which they still commanded under the chief 
 leader. He now divided the army into four great divisions 
 1st, The Mahommedan army, which he sent to hold Chungtien 
 or Anloo ; 2nd, Yootsai, whom he left in Hiangyang ; 3rd, Go 
 Gwoyen, whom he sent towards Hwangchow, whither his rival 
 Hienjoong was then inarching, unknown to Dsuchung ; and 
 4th, his own tried troops, of which he retained command. With 
 this division he marched against and attacked Chiahien. His 
 appearance before that city was the signal for a desperate fight ; 
 for the district judge led out his men, and a fierce encounter 
 took place, which continued for a whole day and night, the 
 rebels losing enormously. The citizens made common cause 
 with the soldiers ; but the brave magistrate, Li Jun, was seized 
 as he fought in the thickest of the melee. Instead of being put 
 to death he was tied up to a tree by his clothing, with the 
 
 * A wang is always called after a prefectural city, as in England a duke is called 
 after a county. 
 
158 LI DSUCHUNG. 
 
 apparent intention of starving him to death. While hanging 
 there he ceased not to address the rebels in a loud voice in 
 language calculated to irritate them, as " Why put a magistrate 
 to death ? All the people are determined to resist to the last 
 man ; " or he jibed the aspirant for empire " The high emperor 
 truly possesses great powers ; I shall certainly inform Shangti 
 {God)." His tongue was then cut out, and he died as he desired. 
 His mother and wife perished also for his sake. 
 
 Dsuchung had now come to a crisis in his history, and 
 determined upon a thorough change of policy and aim in his 
 warfare. This change it was which Li Jun mockingly referred 
 to; but it was a serious one to Dsuchung and to others, for 
 believing that those who had been his fellow-commanders and 
 almost his equals, might be more troublesome than useful in his 
 future career, he had Yootsai, Gwoyen, and Dso Jinyu, put to 
 death ; he himself taking absolute control of all the divisions. 
 This happened just when Hienjoong leaped to his highest in 
 taking Hanyang and Woochang, and instituting his Six Boards. 
 Dsuchung had himself attacked Hanyang, but in vain; jealousy 
 made him, therefore, extremely angry with his rival, and he 
 publicly offered a thousand taels for Hienjoong's head. The fall 
 of Woochang made him more angry than ever, and he said that 
 the " honourable Mahommedan had once already fled to him for 
 refuge; but he must remind him of the fate of Yootsai." This 
 and similar language showed that he considered Hienjoong now 
 as a serious danger in his way. Hienjoong heard of this 
 threatening language, as it was intended he should, and he was 
 afraid ; for though he was riding on the crest of the wave, he 
 knew not what might be on the morrow. One thing he 
 determined, to keep as well out of the way of Dsuchung as 
 possible. He also sent a number of messengers with large sums 
 of money, as a solatium to Dsuchung's wounded feelings. The 
 latter took the money and also retained the messengers; and 
 this insult made Hienjoong very wroth. Both the rebels had 
 flattering overtures made to them by the Peking court ju&t 
 then, Dsuchung would be created a marquis, and have a salary 
 
KEBEL ARMY REGULATIONS. 159 
 
 of ten thousand taels a year, if he ceased from hacking the 
 empire ; Hienjoong was offered half that salary and a high office, 
 which would be made hereditary. Neither of them had made 
 any overtures to the Peking court, the Manchus had ; and they 
 treated the overtures of the court as it treated those of the 
 Manchus, with silence. And the weak vanity of the struggling 
 court, like an over-weighted swimmer, splashed wearily in the 
 deep waters, with land invisible. 
 
 Dsuchung had large ships of war built at Kingchow and 
 Hiangyang, and sent the Mahommedans against Changta. And 
 here we may give a summary of his laws since he became 
 absolute lord of the army. He had twenty-nine great com- 
 manders, each of whom he posted in a place demanding ability, 
 caution, and faithfulness ; for on these men he could rely. His own 
 immediate army he divided into five camps of two thousand 
 horse, and fourteen sao or companies of foot, each three thousand 
 men; thus each camp had forty-two thousand foot and two 
 thousand horse. Liw Dsoongmin was general of the foot, and 
 Baiwang of the horse, in his own army. In camping, the body 
 of horse connected with one camp kept careful watch, while the 
 other four rested ; each taking watch in turn. The watch beat 
 time both day and night. None could possibly desert ; for if one 
 attempted to flee, it was impossible to escape, so careful was the 
 watch, which pursued and brought back the deserter, who was 
 immediately beheaded. His rules were of the strictest, and his 
 discipline most severe. 
 
 His soldiers were forbidden to possess heavy baggage. Each 
 had a wife or concubine, but if a child was born, it was thrown 
 away, the mother being forbidden to nurture it. Boys above 
 fourteen, or men below forty, were seized and appropriated by 
 the army, each soldier " adopting " one or more as his son. No 
 city fell without the capture of several myriads of such youths, 
 and a soldier could adopt as many as twenty. These did all his 
 menial work for him ; and when suitable, were made to fill in 
 gaps in the ranks. In this way his army often numbered over 
 a million of men. His coats of " mail " consisted of numerous 
 
160 LI DSUCHUNG. 
 
 layers of padded silk wadding in folds numbering from a few 
 dozen to as many as a hundred, which rendered a garment 
 impenetrable to arrow or bullet. 
 
 His horses received, if possible, greater attention than even 
 the men. The stabling of the west is unknown in China. 
 Horses, mules, and donkeys are exposed to the greatest 
 summer's heat and the depth of winter's cold, and have no 
 protection from the rain or the snow, or at the utmost only a 
 roof above. But in winter Dsuchung had the clothing of the 
 people in his neighbourhood collected and thrown down to keep the 
 horses' feet off the cold ground. Bodies of dead men were scooped 
 out to form troughs for the horses to drink out of; and when the 
 horse was thirsty, a captive was brought to this horrible trough, 
 his ear slit and his blood let drop into the water below the 
 horse's eyes. The horses became so accustomed to this that 
 they whinnied on seeing a man ; this practice also inured the 
 horses to blood and wounds, and nothing frightened them. His 
 beasts of burden were mainly camels. 
 
 No one in the camp of Dsuchung knew when or in what 
 direction they were to march. Dsuchung himself gave the 
 order to get ready for the march, and at whatever time, whether 
 at cock-crow or day-break, this order was issued : a very few 
 minutes sufficed to allow each man to swallow a piece of meat and 
 leap into the saddle. The direction of march was known only by 
 seeing Dsiichung's horse ahead. Each man had a bag, which 
 when nearing a river he filled with earth and threw into the 
 river, till, however deep, wide, or rapid, the waters were so 
 dispersed that a bridge was made across. 
 
 In drawing up for battle, horses with iron breast-plates, three 
 deep, formed the first line. The man who turned his back to 
 the foe was put to death on the spot. If this line was not 
 successful in breaking the enemy, it drew off by the flanks, 
 opening up to let the infantry advance ; and as soon as the 
 infantry got to the front, this iron-horse division took up 
 position on each flank of the infantry, and gradually spread out, 
 till by a short circuit they could rush upon the enemy's rear. 
 
REBEL SAPPERS. 161 
 
 These tactics were almost always successful in deciding the 
 battle in the rebel's favour. Though his army, with followers, 
 amounted to a million of men, he would not divide it, but always- 
 kept it one army. He never carried any provisions, but made 
 his followers scatter over the neighbourhood and find their meals 
 where they could, in the kitchens of the rich or cottages of the 
 poor; and as a matter of course they always exacted the best of 
 everything, thus carrying out the system pursued in the 
 dragonades of the holy mother church in France and England. 
 But the system, if convenient, often ensured short commons of both 
 food and salt, especially when in a mountainous country or when 
 closely watched by the imperialists. Every cavalry soldier had 
 two or three horses, which he constantly changed when fighting ; 
 thus, though the fight lasted a whole day the cavalry always 
 rode fresh horses. This practice was easy enough when we 
 remember that each soldier had his own personal attendants or 
 " adopted sons." 
 
 When Dsuchung attacked a city, his own dwelling was always 
 a long crooked tent, which from its shape was called Chiwngloo; 
 he never trusted himself to a house. He divided the day into 
 three portions of eight hours each ; during one portion a certain 
 number of men rested, and a certain number were on the watch. 
 Breast-plaited horse protected the rear and flanks of the men 
 who were employed in mining the city. Of these sappers, the 
 men nearest the wall had iron helmets and iron mail. Each 
 had a hatchet with which he dug into the wall. When a man 
 got out one brick he retired, and another instantly took his 
 place ; the work thus went on in quick relays, so that no man 
 had so much work as to weary him. The same rule was still 
 carried out after a hole was dug large enough to admit a 
 man inside. The mined wall was supported by strong posts at 
 every fourth foot, and to each post a long rope was fastened. 
 When a hundred or more feet were thus cut out, all the men 
 were called off; the ropes were simultaneously pulled at, and 
 down came the wall with a great crash. Dsuchung's law was, 
 that if a city opened its gates at once there was neither burning 
 
162 LI DSUCHUNG. 
 
 nor slaughter; if after one or two days' fighting, thirteen or 
 fourteen were put to death ; but if the siege lasted five or six 
 days, the city was put to the sword. Patrols of men were 
 posted along the outside of the moat all round the city, to cut 
 down all who tried to escape by flight over the wall, so that not a 
 soul could evade his fate. The bodies were fired at night to give 
 light instead of lamps, and this was called " The Great Light." 
 When all the inhabitants were put to the sword, the walls were 
 at the same time levelled to the ground. 
 
 Horses and mules were considered the best booty ; military 
 weapons came next ; silks, satins, and valuable pearls followed ; 
 and gold and silver were either thrown away or converted into 
 balls or bullets. On the fall of a city, the surrounding towns, 
 villages, and hamlets were summoned to acknowledge the 
 conqueror, however remote from the city. Messengers were 
 hurried round with a pai, a board with a proclamation pasted 
 or written thereon. If the village submitted at once, the pat 
 went on to the next village ; but if any time was lost, more or 
 less mutilation of a number of persons followed forthwith, and 
 a certain proportion would lose hands, arms, feet, ears, according 
 to the pleasure of the pai bearers. It was a daily occurrence to 
 scoop out eyes, chop off fingers, cut out the heart, or cut up the 
 body into fragments. 
 
 Niw Jinhing was Strategist. He daily studied one chapter of 
 the Yi King, and some book on the strategy of the ancient 
 warriors of China. When some serious action was to be 
 taken, all the chief officers were summoned to a council. Each 
 had to give his judgment on every important point. But 
 Dsuchung spoke not a word either during deliberation or after, 
 but used the plan which best commended itself to him ; and his 
 highest officers knew what it was only when' he called upon them to 
 execute it. He was called the " Impenetrable." In camp or on 
 the march, his table was of the simplest. He ate the plainest 
 food, and refused all dainties. He had one wife and one 
 concubine, both old. He had no son, nor did he desire any ; 
 nor would he have any servants. He adopted Li Shwanghi 
 
DOUBLE HAPPINESS. 163 
 
 (" Double happiness ") ; and this fierce man gloated over 
 more slaughter, and shed more blood than even the great 
 robber himself. Dsuchimg made several attempts, in his palace 
 in Hiangyang, to coin cash, but failed in all. He, therefore, 
 put to death the artist into whose hands he had entrusted 
 the work. He then ordered several scholars to consult the 
 Eight Diagrams, and to discover by divination the best way to 
 correct the coining defects. Whether or not they feared a 
 similar fate, their findings were always unpropitious. As this 
 seemed to show that the fates declared him one who was not, 
 and never would be emperor, he nominated Shwanghi heir- 
 apparent, with the title of Hoongji, or Flourishing Foundation. 
 But an effort to coin in the new title was as great a failure as 
 the former. 
 
 He had to renounce his abortive efforts at coining ; for just 
 then the Shensi viceroy was moving towards him with a large 
 army; and the available imperial troops all around were 
 summoned to concentrate against the rebel. The army of 
 Toongkwan was set in motion; and the lieut. -generals, Niw 
 Chunghoo and Gwangdsoo, vmited below Loyang with the 
 Honan lieut.-generals, Gwa Dsoongji and Chun Yoongfoo. 
 Liangyii advanced from Kiwkiang via Yooning. Major-general 
 Gao Lin, from Shanglo, commanded the reserves ; Bai Gwangun, 
 lieut.-general of Liaosi, and the lieut-general of Szchuen, were 
 ordered southwards to move inland, as supporting reserves. The 
 commander-in-chief of the moving hosts was Swun Footing, who 
 commanded the main army from Toongkwan. The rebel 
 leaders, Su Tienjoo (Four lords of Heaven) and Li Yangchwun 
 (Nourisher of Purity), surrendered to Footing without a blow ; 
 after which he pushed on to Paoftmg hien, which he pressed 
 closely with his combined army. 
 
 Dsuchung left his family and a strong garrison in Hiangyang, 
 and with his best troops marched to raise the siege. He was 
 encountered, east of the city, by Gwangun, Lin and Gwangdsoo, 
 who drove him back. Next day, with a largely reinforced army, 
 he again moved westwards, but was a second time thrust back 
 
164 LI DSUCHUNG. 
 
 Footing, fearing that the garrison and the rapidly increasing 
 robber army might be too strong for him, determined to force 
 open the city at all costs and at once. He therefore, at the 
 head of his own division, led the assault in person, attacked with 
 fury, took the city, put Dsuchung's magistrate and several 
 thousand robbers to the sword;* and then pushed on to 
 Tanghien of Nanyang, where all the wives of the rebel army 
 were collected. Though the rebels sent off their choice troops 
 without delay, they were too late; for Tanghien had already 
 fallen and all the wives of the rebel army had been put to the 
 sword. When the army which should have saved the city 
 heard of this disaster, one loud, universal wail of grief escaped 
 them; but this was succeeded by as loud cries of vengeance 
 against the army which had murdered their wives. Whatever 
 we may think of the policy of putting so many harmless women 
 to death, we can explain it by the burning desire of the 
 imperialists to wreak their vengeance against those who had 
 slain such large numbers of inoffensive citizens; and though 
 unutterably cruel to our notions, such has been and is the law of 
 war in China, where the terror inspired by it renders the policy 
 a successful one. Dsuchung was again defeated with great 
 slaughter, in an attempt to raise the siege of Chiahien ; and 
 Footing bade fair to checkmate him. At all events, the rebel 
 had to flee back to Hiangyang; with his men somewhat 
 demoralised. 
 
 While on his march southwards, Footing fell in with frightfully 
 bad weather, rain falling heavily and without interruption for six 
 days, after which the cart ruts became so muddy and deep that 
 
 * It is as uncommon in the east as in the west for the commander to push to the 
 front in this way. The present order of Manchu warfare, which is handed down by 
 the ages in conservative China, is that the commander is located at a very safe 
 distance from the place where the actual fighting is going on. He is in the centre 
 of the three most honourable of the eight banners, bordered yellow, yellow, and 
 bordered white. He is never outside of these ; and the post of honour is also the 
 post of safety, explaining a good deal in Chinese modern warfare. The commander 
 is, however, always expected to support his first lines if they are driven in ; and he 
 is highly honoured if he fall sword in hand. His three banners, or life-guards, may 
 therefore be considered a reserve. 
 
HEAVY KAINS. 165 
 
 the provision carts could move only thirty li per day. The 
 arrny*went*therefore far ahead, and men and horses were in 
 want of food. Some general officers advised a march back 
 towards their provisions, but he said, " After advancing so far, . 
 why go back ? Better take a city." It was then they pounced 
 upon Chiahien; but though they took the city, their food supplies 
 were still inadequate, even with the free-will offerings of the 
 people, which were gladly given to the extent of their poor 
 ability. Shansi was ordered to feed the imperialist army, which 
 was promising so well. Dsuchung appeared with ten thousand 
 horse and foot, but had opposed to him not only the original 
 army but many deserters from himself; for the men of Gwoyen 
 and Jinyu, whom he had put to death, had deserted to the van 
 of Footing's army. He ordered his younger brother Number-One 
 Tiger to begin the attack. Thrice did he fly at the army of 
 Footing, and thrice was he driven back with heavy loss. 
 Dsuchung fled to Hiangching of Kaifung, where he was soon 
 besieged, and the aspect of his men told the besiegers of 
 the hunger which prevailed among the rebels. 
 
 Meantime rain continued to fall in torrents, and little comfort 
 had Footing and his men for fully a dozen days. A body of 
 troops which he had left at Yoochow to forward his provisions, 
 deserted to the rebels ; a course which one of his generals was 
 secretly inclined to follow. He consulted with Lin and Gwangun 
 as to what should be done. Lin advised an immediate and warm 
 attack, but Gwangun objected that the infantry was already 
 scattered garrisoning important points, and that thus weakened 
 they were not a match for the robbers. Footing, fearing the 
 rebels would escape him, replied, " What kind of plan is this of 
 the general's ? Better to adopt the advice of general Gao." 
 Gwangun was therefore angry and drew off his eight thousand 
 men. 
 
 The van of the rebels was divided into three divisions, one 
 with a Bed Banner, one with a White, and one with a Black ; 
 each numbered seven thousand two hundred men. As Footing, 
 acting on Lin's advice, was leading the attack against the van, 
 
166 LI DSUCHUNG. 
 
 he fell into an ambush and was thrown into confusion. The 
 rebels pressed upon him, and Gao Lin, instead of supporting him, 
 began to retreat with his men. His example was followed by 
 the various companies, who slowly retreated westwards. They 
 were warmly pursued by the rebels, and the retreat became a rout. 
 On that one day, they fled 400 li and lost forty thousand men in 
 slain and dispersed ; while, in their eager haste, they dropped 
 almost all their fighting gear. They fled toMungjin or the Ford 
 of Munghien of Hwaichung, where Lin collected some thousands 
 of the scattered horse and crossed the river northwards. A division 
 of the rebels took Yoochow. Dsuchung himself made for 
 Toongkwan, but suffered defeat at the hands of Gwangun. Footing 
 was also on the way to Toongkwan, marching his remaining forty 
 thousand men as best he could. Number-One Tiger, whose 
 proper name was Li Gwo, took Funhiang, and pressed hard 
 on the heels of Footing, whom he overtook. He gained possession 
 of the great Imperial standard of Footing, and hoisting it, hasted 
 to Toongkwan, the garrison of which, seeing the imperial standard, 
 opened the gates, and large numbers of the rebels were inside 
 that strong fort before the mistake was discovered. While the 
 garrison was fiercely assailing these, Dsuchung led a body of men 
 by an unused path behind Toongkwan, and furiously attacked the 
 garrison in the rear. This put an end to all resistance, and the 
 important pass and strong fort of Toongkwan was in rebel hands. 
 Number-One Tiger, without resting, marched upon and took 
 Hwayin, compelling Gwangun to retreat on Weinan of Singan. 
 But that city too fell immediately before a force of several hundred 
 thousand of rebels. The gallant Footing fell in the fight, and 
 ended a career which, with greater caution, might have destroyed 
 Dsuchung. Weinan was put to the sword. Dsuchung took 
 Shangchow, and put to death the Taotai, and Lintoong fell after. 
 The commandant of the terrified Singan marched out against the 
 overwhelming forces of Dsuchung, but was defeated, seized, and 
 put to death, because he refused to desert. A considerable 
 proportion of the officials, seeing no hope of successful resistance, 
 jumped into wells or took other modes of suicide. Many more 
 
(MANGE OF CONDUCT. 167 
 
 were put to death by the, rebels, because they would not desert ; 
 but the cruel details had better remain untold. The surrounding 
 cities could offer no resistance, and the judge of Poochung took 
 his official seal and with it jumped into a well. This was to 
 prevent the official seal from falling into the hands of rebels. 
 
 Footing and his generals, with the large army which they had 
 painfully collected, did not terminate the career of the arch- 
 rebel. Their prudent, united auction would have utterly defeated 
 him,but they did not even temporarily check his progress, and their 
 disunion had now raised him to a greatness he had never known 
 before. If he had dreamed of an ambitious destiny before, 
 his wildest desires seemed probabilities now. Jinhing had 
 advised a march on Peking instead of one on Singaii ; but other 
 generals urged, with more wisdom, that before marching on 
 Peking, they should possess a stronghold to which they could 
 retreat in case of defeat. These urged besides that, if Singan 
 fell, Dsuchung should there assume the imperial title and set up 
 his throne, without waiting to take Peking ; for Shansi, added to 
 what he already held in his hands, would make him master of 
 two-thirds of China. He could then march at his leisure against 
 Peking, without any anxiety as to his rear. The rebel leader 
 wisely followed the latter advice ; wisely, for though he might 
 have fared better at Peking than the Manchus in their two 
 attempts, he was uncertain what might happen there ; and with 
 Shansi in adverse hands, a repulse might be destruction. 
 Jinhing was also an unceasingly warm advocate of more 
 gentleness towards the defeated, and especially of non-interference 
 with those whose occupation it was not to fight. Henceforth, 
 and not too soon, the rebel soldiers passed and repassed through 
 towns and villages without their usual wanton slaughter and 
 unnecessary pillaging, and tried to gain the respect and good- 
 will of the people by marching without molesting them. The 
 great success of the modern Taiping rebels must have arisen 
 from the strict discipline kept in their ranks ; for, to begin with, 
 and while the followers went from victory to victory under their 
 chiefs, non-combatants never had any cause for fear, as every- 
 
168 LI DSUCHUNG. 
 
 thing was payed for which was asked from them. So the 
 soldiers of Dsuchung were compelled to act as the followers of 
 him who was to be the " father and mother " of the people. He 
 changed the name of Singan to that of Changan, the name of 
 the capital of the numerous kingdoms which had risen and 
 fallen in those regions (See " History of Corea;" passim). 
 
 When the emperor heard of the fall of Toongkwan, and before 
 any further news had reached him, he ordered Hti Yinggwei, 
 vice-president of Board of War to viceroy the three borders of 
 Shensi, collect all the troops and attack the rebels. Yinggwei 
 wept and prayed to be excused ; but was still commanded, as, no 
 excuses could be received ; and in reply to his question about 
 finances, he had fifty thousand taels handed over to provide for 
 the army. The news awaiting him, on the bank of the Yellow 
 river, and the state of matters around, so terrified him that he 
 dared not cross westwards. 
 
 Dsuchung took Yenan in December. Gao Lin was hiding in 
 this city ; and when he heard that the rebels were approaching, 
 he fled eastwards without a blow, and crossed the Yellow river 
 into Shansi. It will be remembered that Yenan is the prefecture 
 in which was the district of Michih, Dsuchung's birth-place. As 
 soon as the prefectural city was in his hands, he proudly displayed 
 his immense army over the road towards his native place, where 
 he sacrificed to the manes of his ancestors. He then sent five 
 hundred horse to demand the prefecture of Funghwang to open 
 its gates. But the commandant enticed them inside, and slew 
 every man. This enraged Dsuchung, who marched his army to 
 the city, took it and put all its inhabitants to the sword. 
 
 When Yenan was about to be besieged, lieut. -general Wang 
 Ding, then inside, drew off his men to Ylilin, which was then a 
 strong fort among the aborigines of Shensi. After Funghwang 
 fell, Dsuchung besieged Yiilin ; but such was the gallant defence 
 made by the garrison, that over a myriad rebels were slain, and 
 for half a month there was no impression made on the city. 
 Then the rebels collected heavy carts, which they placed all 
 round the walls, and under shelter of those they mined several 
 
A CITY OF HEROES. 169 
 
 hundred feet of the wall. They rushed in at the breach, but 
 not unopposed ; for though the commandant and many of the 
 chief officers committed suicide, many more preferred to die 
 sword in hand, and it cost the rebels thousands of men to get 
 into the city. Not a soul in the city joined them, and they had 
 no slaughtering to do ; for even the women and girls committed 
 suicide rather than fall into the rebel hands : and not a single 
 soldier was made prisoner. The historian notes that the 
 inhabitants of Yiilin are famed as the best soldiers in the 
 Chinese empire. The fall of Yiilin, in spite of its desperate 
 defence, induced the lieut. -general of Ninghia to open the gates 
 of that city to the rebels, and to join them himself. Thus fell 
 the last considerable city of Shensi ; the Ming had not a foothold 
 left there, and Dsuchung had all danger removed from his rear. 
 He, therefore, could afford to march eastwards. He took the 
 city of Tsingyang, and put the garrison to the sword. In the 
 city he seized Hang Wang. Thus was he carrying all before 
 him, while consternation reigned in Peking. The emperor, not 
 knowing well what to do, permitted grand secretary Jow 
 Yowchow to commit suicide. It is possible the crimes laid to 
 his charge were well founded ; but the true cause of so many 
 disasters did not lie entirely on his shoulders. 
 
 This was in January 1644 ; and Dsuchung's name became 
 so great in China, that Hienjoong just then sent messengers 
 acknowledging the one-eyed rebel as his emperor. The latter 
 took Pingyuen ; the prefect of which fled into Taiyuen, but the 
 people and magistrates acknowledged the rebel. Gao Lin 
 retired further east ; and Dsuchung, in the pride of his heart, 
 sent a proclamation through Shansi of the "most outrageous 
 character," which must mean that he was now demanding all the 
 honours due to the emperor. Had he established a dynasty, 
 such proclamations would have been in every way proper and 
 worthy documents, full of heroism and nobility. 
 
 In February began the seventeenth year of the last Ming 
 emperor, and the first of Shwunchih of the Manchus. The year 
 began in Peking with a terrible dust storm ; and a diviner by 
 
170 LI DSUCHUNG. 
 
 the eight diagrams said that the wind was from chien (i.e., N.W.), 
 and indicated the rise of terrible soldiers to break up the city. 
 An earthquake at Fungyang helped to index the political storm, 
 as if further proofs were necessary. A greater sign of that 
 tempest was that Dsuchung called himself a Wang * in Singan, 
 and assumed the imperial style of Joongchang. He ravaged 
 the districts east of the river, the river-fords (Ho-jin), Kishan, 
 Yoongho, and Kiangchow. The emperor was in the greatest 
 grief, went to court, and, with a heavy sigh, asked if nothing 
 could be done. Grand secretary Li Jientai said that seeing the 
 emperor was in such grief, they could not but exert themselves ; 
 he himself was a Shansi man, and had some property, which, 
 with that of his father's family, might support an army for a 
 few months ; and if this would suffice, he and his were at the 
 emperor's disposal. This greatly pleased the emperor, who 
 promised to escort the willing minister on his way. But what 
 could this one man, however willing, do against the omens 
 which divination found crowding on the public notice ? 
 Astrology had a saying, that " when a star enters ( the moon, 
 the middle kingdom is to be broken up, and the prince to perish"; 
 and a star had " entered " the moon. Soon thereafter astrology 
 declared that the Imperial or Polar StarJ was seen to move 
 downwards; and, worst of all, there was a sound of wailing heard 
 proceeding from the tomb Hiaoling, near Nanking, where the 
 founder of the Ming dynasty was buried. All these proclaimed 
 that vain was the help of Jientai. Yet he marched, after the 
 emperor had by sacrifice informed the ancestral temple of the new 
 expedition. After sacrifice, the emperor took a cup of spirits 
 and handed it to Jientai, saying, that according to ancient 
 custom this was as if the emperor went in person. Jientai 
 kowtowed, and started immediately. But a great wind arose, 
 which blew quantities of dust and sand; again the diviner 
 
 * He could not assume the style Whangdi till he had been enthroned, and this 
 would be in Peking. 
 
 t Crosses in transit. 
 
 JThe representative of the emperor, round which all cluster. 
 
CONFESSION OF SIN. 171 
 
 prophesies that the army will effect nothing. The pole of 
 Jientai's chair broke down, and the diviner urged him not to 
 inarch that day. But Jieiitai did march, though slowly. He 
 was no sooner beyond the bounds of the capital than he 
 heard that all Shansi was in a blaze of rebellion ; for it had been 
 impossible to learn anything inside the capital, now that 
 matters had come to a crisis. He learned too that his own 
 family was broken up and his properties dispersed ; hence the 
 source whence he hoped to support his army was gone. He got 
 to Chochow, but, destitute of all resources, he could not hold 
 out. 
 
 On the first day of the second moon, the emperor summoned 
 all the officials to a council. In the midst of their early 
 morning's talk, for deliberation there was not, a messenger 
 appeared from Dsuchung with a proclamation couched in the 
 most outrageous terms, stating that " Dsuchung would in the 
 fifteenth of third moon appear before his majesty." As soon as 
 the ministers ascertained the nature of the document, they became 
 pallid with fear, and not a soul of them was brave enough to 
 respond to the questions of his majesty, who asked for a plan of 
 defence. He therefore dismissed the Court, and did not again 
 summon them to his presence, but let things take their course. 
 Weak monarch; if good man ! How could an empire be retained 
 now by such an emperor and with such ministers ? He soon 
 after issued a manifesto, a " Confession of Sin," which will be 
 understood when the doctrine already explained is remembered, 
 that the good conduct of the emperor is the cause of good 
 fortune to his people, and their sufferings are the result of his 
 criminality in the sight of Heaven ; that the emperor is for the 
 people, not the people for the emperor. The emperor confessed 
 his sins, the source of so much misery to his beloved people. He 
 called to mind the goodness of Skangti (God), for the past 
 seventeen years, and recalled the merit of his ancestors. He saw 
 the great miseries around, and was aware of the wicked 
 endeavours of crafty people to alienate the affection of the people 
 from their prince. He was the father and mother of his people, 
 
172 LI DSUCHUNG. 
 
 yet they were not now under the shadow of his wings. His 
 people were his naked infants, yet he was unable to embrace 
 and to cherish them. This unnatural condition was entirely 
 owing to his sins. People died of famine, of water, of fire, died 
 in ditches and roadsides because of his sin. There was no grain 
 for the people, nor fodder of any kind for animals, on account of 
 his sin. The using of taxes to support the army a year before 
 they were due was his sin. Converting the dwelling houses of 
 the people into barracks, and the wide circle of fire and smoke 
 everywhere ascending was his great sin. The sun and the moon 
 declared his sin, and the drought and the flood published it. The 
 concord between earth and heaven above was broken, and the 
 rampant hate universal among men below was his sin. The great 
 ministers appointed to office heeded not the land; inferior 
 ministers were given over to covetousness ; the censors, who 
 should speak out against every form of evil, withdrew their 
 heads like rats into their holes ; and in deliberative assemblies 
 no man spoke out his mind undisguisedly ; and the men of war 
 were proud, vain, but cowardly and unable to gain a reputation, 
 and all because of his departure from the doctrine.* Hence- 
 forth, therefore, good men only were to be put in office ; for it 
 has been always known from ancient times that only when 
 worthy men held office could the country prosper. Proper men 
 were to be placed over the Boards, whose aim would be to 
 nourish and not to prey upon the people ; ministers known to 
 be guilty of malpractices would be dismissed, and the honourable, 
 faithful, upright, true, and the able would be set over affairs, 
 whether civil or military. Bobbers were to be pursued and 
 destroyed, the repentant would be pardoned, the hardened 
 punished till all returned to their allegiance; if they all 
 repented and returned to their allegiance, all would be pardoned, 
 but they must atone for past misconduct by delivering up the 
 traitors, Dsuchung and Hienjoong ; and the man who should 
 perform that good service would be rewarded by a marquisate. 
 This was to let all the people know the imperial will. 
 * Dao road, path. 
 
EASTWARDS. 173 
 
 Dsuchung was not so purposeless as the emperor ; for when 
 the latter was dismissing his officials in weak and angry vexation 
 at their pusillanimous selfishness, he took Poochow and Funchow, 
 and Foo Wang fled from Whaiching. The governor of Taiyuen, 
 who had but a weak garrison, sent out a band under two officers 
 against the advancing rebel host. One of the two was wounded 
 in the beginning of the action by a cannon ball, the other fell 
 later on in the day. Of the men who went out of the city 
 that morning, not a soul returned ; and the weak garrison was 
 greatly weaker. Dsuchung, taking advantage of a great dust 
 storm, pushed on his men to scale the walls. Foity-six of the 
 higher officials committed suicide, arid the city was in Dsuchung's 
 hands. The cities of Lichung and Linchin were taken at the 
 run ; and when the emperor was publishing his confession, the 
 rebel van was at Tangan ji. It was now become not a question of 
 how much was to be paid for Dsuchung's head, but what 
 possible measures would save the capital. For Dsuchung had 
 almost no serious obstacle opposed to him. He attacked the 
 lieut. -general of Taichow, who had fallen back on the pass of 
 Ningwoogwan. The prefect of Chunting sent his family out of 
 the city for safety, and was therefore imprisoned by viceroy Hii 
 Biao. But a subordinate of the viceroy's murdered him, and 
 liberated the prefect, who opened the city gates to the first small 
 band of rebel horse which appeared at the gates. The rebels 
 were now within 800 li of Peking, where, however, no man knew 
 the position of the rebels or their doings ! This shows what 
 the surrounding people thought of the central government, 
 when not a soul was found willing to post in and give information. 
 Many of the higher officials, among them one president of the 
 Boards, found their way out of the capital to Tsining of Shantung, 
 where they hoped to be able to see what took place without 
 suffering in their own persons. The emperor, at this eleventh 
 hour, issued a proclamation, summoning all the soldiers of the 
 empire to march to the defence of the capital. Some of his 
 ministers showed that his stay there, isolated as he was from the 
 greater part of his empire, was conducive of no good, and urged 
 
174 LI DSUCHUNG. 
 
 him to move to Nanking ; for the south and east were all his, 
 and he could easily make a stand there, and from that southern 
 capital gradually recover the country again. To his weak mind 
 this looked like cowardly flight from his post, and he angrily 
 asked what the worth was of their universal professions of 
 devotion, if no minister was found willing to prove his faith- 
 fulness by dying with his prince for his country. He asked 
 them whether they were not aware that when the Shuaji* were 
 gone, the prince ceased to exist. One plan was advocated by 
 the senior secretary of the Board of Appointments, for which 
 there was not too much time. This was to summon from 
 Shanhaigwan Woo Sangwei, who was then fully twice, nearly 
 three times, as far from the capital as the rebel host. But as 
 the plan involved the throwing up of all the lands of Liaosi, up 
 to the gate of Shanhaigwan, it fell through. A Highland 
 proverb says, with more truth than grace: "By licking the 
 drops on the bottom, the ladleful is lost." 
 
 The plan was not forgotten by the emperor, for he was 
 compelled in desperation to fall back upon it soon after. 
 Dsuchung had besieged Ningwoogwan, and gave notice that if 
 within five days the gates were not opened, every man would be 
 put to the sword. But this threat did not alarm the commandant, 
 Gow Yiiji, who fired his great cannon against the robbers for 
 three days, doing terrible execution. When the powder of the 
 garrison failed them, the commandant, in his council, said that if 
 the havoc they had made in three days was so great, what could 
 they not do if every soul was faithful and upright ? He therefore 
 ordered a general sally, rushed out upon the rebels, and put 
 several thousands to death with the sword. So great a dread 
 had he thrown over the rebels, that /they drew off and were 
 about to raise the siege, when some one said, " Supposing ten of 
 us die for every one of his men, the place must fall within M 
 couple of days." This drove them back to their posts, and whei i 
 
 * Shuaji, gods of land and grain or national lares, secondary to the imperial lare* , 
 or ancestors of the emperor, but the worship of which is performed by the emperor 
 only; hence to " lose the Shuaji," is to lose the empire. 
 
PEKING EXPOSED. 1?5 
 
 they fought again, the rebels pretended to flee, drawing the 
 garrison after them. Dsuchung threw off his felt hat so that he 
 could not be distinguished. When the warmth of pursuit threw 
 the sallying garrison into disorder, the flying rebels turned round 
 upon them ; at the same time an ambush, which they had passed 
 in the race, rose in their rear, and the garrison was completely 
 defeated. The commandant got into the city, and burnt his house 
 over himself and family. Others ran themselves through, and 
 not an officer survived to acknowledge, or be slain by, the rebels ; 
 but the city was put to the sword. Dsuchung lamented the fate 
 of the commandant, saying truly enough that if all officers and 
 officials had been equally faithful, he himself would not be that 
 day where he was. The fall of Ningwoo brought down Tatoong, 
 where large numbers of officials committed suicide. Peking was 
 now exposed, and Li Jientai wrote urging the emperor to go 
 south to Nanking, and if agreeable, to send the heir apparent 
 as regent before him. A censor objected strongly to this plan ; 
 for a son of a Tang emperor, in similar circumstances, proved 
 false to his father and became emperor himself ! All the ministers 
 now agreed with the censor, probably because they had no course 
 to adopt. The emperor then asked them whether or not they 
 could or would do anything ; whether they would fight or not. 
 They all spoke at once, and in a rambling manner, but not 
 one to the purpose in hand. His majesty sighed and said, " The 
 destruction of the empire lies not on the emperor's shoulders ; 
 the ministers are all guilty of their country's ruin." 
 
 He then resolved to summon Sangwei from the east, as his 
 only hope. He conferred upon him the title of Ping si Bai, 
 Count Queller of the west. He created Liangyu, Ningnan Bai, 
 Count Pacifier of the south ; Whang Duagoong, Jingnan Bat, 
 Count Clearer of the south ; and Tang Toong, Dingsi Bai, Count 
 Fixer of the west. He was creating these titles while Dsuchung 
 was moving on Paoting, watched by the new count Toong, who 
 had only eight thousand men under his command. Jientai 
 was in the city with his army, but unwell ; when therefore the 
 robbers came, his men leaped over the wall and joined the rebels ; 
 
176 LI DSUCHUNG. 
 
 Jientai himself was seized. A censor obstinately defended the 
 west gate till he was seized and taken to the Temple of the Three 
 Emperors, where he leaped into a well. His wife followed his 
 example ; and a nephew went on the wall and transfixed a number 
 of robbers with his skilful bow, before he was seized, along with 
 a grandson. The censor's mother and his daughter-in-law of 
 seventeen jumped into a well, as did most of his family. 
 Duschung lost no time in marching on Huenfoo. The 
 commandant of that city had been out on some public business. 
 When he returned the gates were closed, and not a single soldier 
 came forward to acknowledge him. This hurt him exceedingly. 
 Thrice he kowtowed to the ground, asking his people to open the 
 gates, but their only reply was to point a gun at him. He said, 
 " If you use that properly, one fire may kill ever so many rebels, 
 but if you kill me, I do not consider it a matter to call for 
 vengeance." As they would not listen to him, he raised himself 
 over the wall, took a sword from the nearest soldier, cut his own 
 throat and died. The gates, which were closed against him, 
 were opened to the rebels, and the usual suicides followed. 
 
 The capital was now within easy reach of the rebels. The 
 imperial exchequer had been drained empty by the extraordinary 
 claims of war and famine for so many years. Shansi and the 
 west and the south-west of China were entirely cut off from 
 Peking. Chihli and Shantung were still free and loyal; but the 
 famine had been so sore there that both places had received large 
 sums from the exchequer. The taxes were eaten up a year 
 before due, and there was no hope of raising finances in the 
 ordinary way. China has only yesterday learned the western 
 art of borrowing money on national securities, and is not yet a 
 forward pupil in the art. Ordinarily when the resources of the 
 revenue fail to meet current expenses, though even of the most 
 extraordinary kind, the dynasty has been easily iipset. 
 Extraordinary demands are sometimes met by calls for donations, 
 and by the sale of degrees both literary and magisterial, though 
 both are of course only honorary, and are carefully distinguished 
 from the real degrees. This source is soon dried up, and then 
 
VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS. 177 
 
 the dynasty can only expire. To such a pass had the Ming 
 dynasty now come, and the emperor nominated the eunuch Hii 
 Gaoyii and count Jiading, collectors, to go round with subscription 
 lists. Some officials gave money, others, the most numerous, 
 refused, and asked, " What could money do in the state of affairs 
 come upon us ? " This subscription amounted to ten thousand 
 taels, which the emperor thought very small and wished increased. 
 Two eunuchs made it up to fifty thousand taels; and Wang 
 Jusin, a wealthy man, who the emperor believed would give 
 ten thousand taels, gave a hundred and fifty thousand taels. 
 They collected in all five hundred and twenty thousand taels, or 
 150,000, with a few hundred thousands in pearls and silks. 
 
 Having secured this voluntary contribution, the emperor 
 nominated the eunuch Wang Chungun, marshal of the Inner and 
 Outer Capital, and the eunuch Tsao Hwatswun, commander-in- 
 chief of the city. Garrisons and great cannon were planted 
 at each of the nine gates. Each private had a hundred cash, 
 or about fourpence per day. The emperor was again urged to 
 flee to Nanking ; but the advice only made him angry, and he 
 upbraided his ministers with cowardice, for their speech was 
 loud when danger was far, and they were now terrified when it 
 had come near ; he urged them to resolve to perish rather than 
 suffer the city to be taken. To the Board of War he said that 
 there was a large supply of officers, and asked whether it was a 
 matter of such difficulty to collect soldiers sufficient to garrison 
 the city so as to make capture impossible. He threatened strict 
 legal punishment against the man found sending his family out 
 of the city. 
 
 Such was the mismanagement and abject fear on all hands, 
 that it was the messenger of Dsuchung, with an epistle to the 
 emperor, who informed the court that Changping was in the 
 hands of the rebels. The pass of Liwgow was so strong by 
 nature and art, that a hundred good men could stop it against 
 all odds. But there was no Leonidas to take his post there. 
 Tang Toong and his over-seeing eunuch, who were in charge of 
 the pass, deserted; and lieut.-general Mai Dai killed his wife 
 M 
 
178 LI DSUCHUNG. 
 
 and children to keep them out of the robbers' hands, and fled 
 eastwards to Sangwei. After the pass was in possession of the 
 rebels, all heart was taken out of the cities west of Peking, not 
 one of which could muster courage to offer a vigorous resistance; 
 nor was it much wonder, for they had no hope of succour from 
 Peking. Three armies were, however, mustered outside the 
 Chihiva gate ; but of all the armies, officials, and messengers 
 sent out against Dsuchung, not one attempted resistance ; a few 
 officers committed suicide, the great majority deserted to the 
 rebels. And just when Sangwei with his fugitive-encumbered 
 army was entering Shanhaigwan from Ningyuen, Dsuchung was 
 firing the twelve imperial tombs at Changping, and sending a 
 detachment eastwards, which passed Peking and plundered the 
 neighbourhood of Toongchow, which had twice seen Manchu 
 armies. There is a pass about a score of miles west of Peking ; 
 but the eunuch in charge had fled, and left it open ; eunuchs, 
 eunuchs, everywhere ! Dsuchung had been gradually and slowly 
 moving eastwards, and not a soul, either for shelter or patriotism, 
 made for the capital to give information ; and but for the insult- 
 ing message of Dsuchung, neither the emperor nor his ministers 
 would have known anything of the rebel's whereabouts ; and the 
 purport of the last message was inferred by the ministers only 
 from the pallid face of his majesty, who dismissed them without 
 a word. Dsuchung had got to Shaho, whence he set out with his 
 main army after nightfall, and his presence was made known to 
 the Pekinese by the blazing heavens which appeared before dawn 
 over the western suburbs outside Pingdsua Gate; for he had 
 applied the torch freely to give notice of his arrival. (See Map.) 
 The city of Peking has been for six centuries much what it 
 now is. In the " History of Corea," (passim), we said that the 
 city and district of Yowchow have existed for thousands of years. 
 But it was the Kitan, under the name of Liao, who made it first 
 the capital of an extensive empire. Since the time of Liao it 
 has continued, except for a brief period in the beginning of the 
 Ming dynasty, the capital of China ; and if all accounts be true, 
 its period of greatest prosperity, population, and wealth, is not 
 
THE GARRISON. 179 
 
 this nineteenth century. The city is now, however, we believe, 
 virtually the same as when Li Dsuchung set its suburbs 
 a-burning; and the accompanying sketch map will show the 
 position of each of the Nine gates, the number by which the 
 capital is distinguished from all other cities. The suburb which 
 he set on fire was outside the Pingdsua gate, the more southern 
 of the two western gates of the Central or Main city, what is 
 now called the Tartar city, because occupied by the Manchus. 
 It will be observed that the Imperial city, surrounded by high 
 thick walls and gates of its own, is within this Central city ; and 
 that the palaces, enclosed within a third wall, occupy the 
 centre of the Imperial city. As far, therefore, as walls and 
 strong massive gates afford security, Peking should never have 
 been taken, when artillery made more noise than damage. 
 There was an army of one hundred and fifty-four thousand 
 enrolled for the defence of the Nine gates, and the miles upon 
 miles of wall which had to be defended. There was that 
 number of soldiers on paper, and pay was drawn or due for so 
 many able-bodied, well-trained, and reliable men ; but instead of 
 that number, there were actually no more than from fifty to 
 sixty thousand, mostly old men, whose soldierly qualities were 
 confined to drawing one hundred cash, or less than sixpence per 
 day. As we might expect where so much money could be 
 stolen from the state under false pretences, an eunuch was at 
 the head of this army. And the grand formalities of a stately 
 etiquette pronounced it entirely beneath the dignity of imperial 
 majesty to search out truth for itself, or busy itself with the 
 petty details of this mortal life ; and the weak emperor, and his 
 similarly-minded predecessors, preferred to have red-tape bands 
 tied round their hands, and their feet too ; and red-tape had now 
 brought him to this. 
 
 The ministers assembled at dawn as usual, to meet his majesty 
 in council. He told them that information had come of the main 
 body of the rebels having passed Loogwo cldao bridge : that the 
 van had already attacked the suburbs at the gates Pingdsua and 
 Jangyi; and that the three great camps stationed outside to 
 
180 LI DSUCHUNG. 
 
 check the rebels had broken up and deserted, their cannon being 
 now turned against the city which they should have defended. 
 He had scarcely done speaking when they all had proof enough, 
 for, with the rising sun, the activity of the bombardment shook 
 the " whole earth." 
 
 Li Gwojun, count of Hiangchung, rode outside the gate, and 
 at sight of the bold daring bravado on that side, and the cowering, 
 quaking fear paralysing the inside, his heart sunk and he said, 
 " To what a pass have we come ! There is now no more to be 
 done than that prince and ministers keep each other countenance 
 and die united." He informed the privy council that the 
 garrison was composed of men so weak that only when the whip 
 was applied would they rise, and they lay down as soon as the 
 whip was off their back ; and no wonder. For five months the 
 garrison had been on short commons and in arrears of pay; a 
 state of matters which could be explained by the eunuch 
 commander, and his officers who were now slinking away ; most 
 of the officers of even the imperial guard following their example 
 and hiding for safety. The emperor emptied the imperial public 
 and private treasuries and divided two hundred thousand taels 
 among the few thousand troops remaining. As he had no more 
 money to give, he handed away pieces of silk to some of the 
 common people, who were weeping outside his palace gates. 
 Thus, when he should be inspiriting his men by his presence,, 
 stirring up the lazy, shaming into duty the timid, and directing 
 and encouraging the many men around him who were even yet 
 willing to be active, or summoning courage himself to act and 
 move eastwards to the camp of the advancing Sangwei, his 
 womanish fears and gloomy countenance were infectious and com- 
 municated themselves to many who would be men, if he but acted 
 one; and the aimless apathy of his grieving weakness could not but 
 damp the little ardour remaining in the few brave men about him. 
 
 Next day the fire against the thick wall was unintermittent, 
 and the rebel arrows shot over like showers of rain. The rebels 
 spoke fiercely to those on the wall, saying that if they did not 
 open the gates every soul of them would be slain ; and those 
 
CLOSE SIEGE. 181 
 
 guardians, worthy representatives of their master, instead of 
 replying with eager shot which should make the rebels quake, 
 and open lanes in their thick and near ranks, fired blank charges, 
 and even these only after giving the rebels notice ; thus deluding 
 the people inside into the belief that they were being defended ! 
 The wide moat was rapidly filled in by the compulsory labour of 
 the suburban people, and as soon as a dry path was made, the 
 rebels brought forward and fired the captured cannon " equal to 
 oppose ten thousand men," and the first shot killed or wounded 
 several scores of the defenders of the wall. This was apparently 
 one of the cannon cast by the Jesuits ; at all events that shot 
 extinguished the last little bit of self-command which the 
 garrison possessed. They broke away, many of them sliding 
 down the wall and joining the rebels amid the howling lamen- 
 tations of the people. With little fear of opposition, ladders were 
 now placed against the gates, Pingdsua, Siju and Duashung. 
 A newly created Tai chang Shaoching, hasted to the Siju 
 gate, and had it heaped up and filled in with earth on the 
 inside; he then rode to the Sian gate of the imperial city, 
 to report, but he was refused admittance, as the vice-president 
 in charge had orders to " admit no one." He scrambled over the 
 wall, and met one of the chief eunuchs, to whom he said that the 
 defenders on the wall were wholly inadequate and should be 
 increased. He then moved to the Woo gate of the palatial city, 
 when he encountered and was stopped by grand secretary Wei 
 Dsaodua, who, in reply to his anxious words, said pettishly, that 
 the Board of War was looking after its proper work, that money 
 enough had been expended, and what more could be done ? There 
 was no reason for doubting that he knew what to do. He forbade 
 him to go into the emperor's presence. And this man who 
 tried to act his duty instead of talking about it, suffered himself 
 to be led away by the grand secretary, weeping bitter tears as he 
 went ; for he could see nothing else but ruin for the prince who 
 was served by such men. That prince had an inkling of what 
 he should do ; for he, on that same day, created Lin Dsaiching 
 the Doongping count, and sent him to ascertain if a successful 
 
182 LI DSUCHUNG. 
 
 
 stand could be made at Linching, as that city was near and 
 
 Sangwei far. But that move came to nothing. The emperor 
 also appointed a censor to guard the gate Jungyang ; but when 
 he went to take charge, the officials within refused to admit him. 
 Such was the majesty of the ruler of the universe within the 
 precincts of his own capital and even of his own palace ! 
 
 Dsuchung was himself posted outside the gate Jangyi with 
 Tsin Wang and Tai Wang, one prince at each side of him, 
 seated on a mat, and the chief eunuch, Doo Him, at his feet. 
 This eunuch cried out to the garrison, " I am Doo Hun ; dont 
 fire, but send down a man to parley." The garrison offered to 
 send down a hostage if he came upon the wall. The invitation 
 to go up he accepted ; but he would not have a hostage, as the 
 two princes were there already. He was then taken up, went 
 to his majesty, and said that the rebels were in immense 
 numbers, and his majesty should therefore take care of his own 
 safety. The eunuch who had been in charge of the tombs at 
 Changping, and had there deserted to the rebels, had also gone to 
 see the emperor ; and addressed him, saying that the robbers had 
 succeeded because his majesty had forsaken Dao, or The Path ; 
 he should therefore now vacate the throne. The ministers 
 reviled this impertinent eunuch, and urged the emperor to 
 imprison Doo Hun, who quickly replied that the two princes of 
 Shansi and Shensi would suffer if any harm befell him. He was 
 therefore allowed to depart, to prove the utter powerlessness 
 of the " Son of Heaven." 
 
 The president of Board of War reported that affairs had fallen 
 into a desperate condition. He had gone to the city walls to 
 see how matters stood, but the eunuch in charge forbade him 
 to go on the walls. When reporting this, he also mentioned a 
 rumour, that the marshal and commandant of the city had gone 
 down the wall to the rebels along with Doo Hiin, and he naturally 
 inferred treason. The emperor ordered him on the wall to 
 ascertain the truth of the matter. He went, and was again 
 refused admittance by the eunuchs, until he had convinced 
 them that he was there by his majesty's command. In reply 
 
ONE FAITHFUL EUNUCH. 183 
 
 to his query, he was told that Doo Him " had come up the wall 
 yesterday, and gone down early this morning." This answer he 
 reported to the emperor, who said that it was of no consequence 
 what Doo Hun did, or where he went ; what he wished to know 
 was the place where the Shansi and Shensi princes were, and 
 why they were not returning ; and he soon discovered that they 
 too had deserted. Commandant Hwatswun had gone down and 
 returned. He changed his clothing to disguise himself, so that 
 he could hide undiscovered ; whereupon his men on the walls 
 became a mere disorderly rabble, fit for nothing but noise and 
 their hundred cash per day. One officer, Wang Jiayen, reported, 
 with flowing tears, that the camp was breaking up, and the 
 men fast joining the rebels ; he could scarcely command one 
 man for fifty cubits of wall under his command ; and the greater 
 half of Li Hiangchung's men had disappeared. He was 
 apparently reporting to the eunuch Chungun ; and while he was 
 yet speaking, a great shouting was heard beneath the wall. 
 Chungun fired a cannon with his own hand, and killed and 
 wounded several men. This one shot stopped the shouting, and 
 proved what an easy matter it would have been to defend that 
 large city with its enormous walls. Jinyen rode to the gate of 
 the imperial city, wishing to consult with the emperor, but was 
 refused admittance. The emperor ordered his son-in-law 
 (Fooma) to take his household troops, and march southwards to 
 Nanking with the heir apparent, a measure we have seen 
 recommended by a faithful minister while Dsuchung was yet far 
 from Peking: but which was then postponed by the indolent 
 emperor, who began to build a dyke only when the flood- 
 tide was already at his knees. The Fooma replied that 
 his men had disbanded, except some old and weak men utterly 
 unfitted and incompetent for such a service; that had there 
 been men fit for active service, they would have been out to the 
 front before now. Chungun, one faithful eunuch, had been sent 
 by the emperor to prepare the army, for his majesty to lead in 
 person, and lo ! there was 110 army. Thus was discovered that 
 the armies of hundreds of thousands of men for whom the imperial 
 
184 LI DSUCHUNG. 
 
 exchequer was yearly paying large sums of money had melted 
 away; and the collapse of the power of the Ming was 
 unexampled, a soap bubble pricked by a needle. The few 
 incidents quoted serve to show how complete was the collapse. 
 And it is, as it was in Liaotung, eunuchs, selfish, self-seeking 
 eunuchs, who did not know that the best way to save oneself 
 was to sacrifice one's interest to the public well-being ; and that 
 the surest way to lose one's own possession, in a state of affairs 
 such as then existed, was to sacrifice public well-being to private 
 interests. Had those eunuchs behaved like ordinary men, 
 Dsuchung would not be where he was, nor would Mookden then 
 be the capital of the Manchus. The obstacles placed in the way 
 of the few men who tried to right matters were all the work of 
 the eunuchs, who were then already determined on their course ; 
 and if no others, emperor or minister, had a plan, they had, and 
 one which they were to execute immediately, in what they 
 conceived to be their own interests. Selfish officials they were, 
 sucking the life-blood of the nation, as has been and is being 
 done by almost every imperialistic power in Europe. Imperialism 
 has always in the past and will inevitably in the future bring 
 calamity and disgrace to the people, out of which it sponges 
 material means and mental energy. 
 
 Hwatswun, who had such high command given him, out of 
 which he had tried to make what he could for himself, had 
 already turned traitor, and waited till the shun hour, after 
 sunset, when he opened the Jangyi gate to Dsuchung, who 
 entered, plundered, and slew on every hand. But what was 
 that to Hwatswun, as long as he believed his treachery would 
 preserve him his ill-gotten gain ? News of the entrance reached 
 the emperor immediately, and he asked the ministers if they 
 had heard that the southern city had fallen ? They had not. 
 He said : " Now is the crisis come, and what is to be done ? " 
 They all replied: "If his majesty is fortunate, well; if not, we 
 shall all die with our emperor." 
 
 After the ministers had all retired, the emperor was left alone 
 with his anxiety, and was unable to lie down or to rest. Late 
 
GATES OP PEKING 
 
 (pp 178-190) 
 
 MOUTH C ITY 
 
 JX* XA4^*rTt*r*. *J _TT. 
 N M "EH C 
 
 I T Y 
 
 St 
 
 tart 
 
 IAL CIT> 
 
 p. Tic 
 
 OOUTH G 
 
 TY 
 
PEKING CAPTURED. 185 
 
 in the night he heard the noise of the great rushing of men in 
 the Inner or Central city. He went to the door, and asked a 
 man whom he saw there, " Whither Li Gwojun was going with 
 the great camp army ? " The reply was of a piece with all the 
 melancholy tragedy everywhere enacting : " The great camp 
 army has been sometime broken up and scattered." The 
 emperor was about to ask some other questions, but this man, 
 too, hurried away from the doomed presence; nor would any 
 calling bring him back. The emperor then summoned Chungun, 
 with whom he went out of the palatial city north to the 
 pavilion-crowned Wanswi or Meishan hill, from whose beautiful 
 summit he had often, with pardonable pride, looked over all his 
 great city, and whence he now beheld the whole heavens lit up 
 with the wide-spread flames of his blazing capital. This sight 
 completely crushed out what little energy he had; and the 
 sufferings of his people paralysed him so, that any action on his 
 part was now impossible. He had discovered, besides, that the 
 '' great rushing " was the tread of the myriads of Li Dsuchung, 
 who had entered the Central from the Southern city. He 
 returned to Chienching, or the "Heaven-Clear" palace, the 
 chief of all the palaces, where resides the principal of the three 
 empresses. After writing a letter, ordering duke Chunggwo 
 and all the ministers to muster all the men they possibly could, 
 and to defend the East palace, where the heir-apparent and his 
 empress mother lives, he ordered in liquor to drown his profound 
 sorrow in drink. He drank much and long, continuing to sigh 
 and say, " Alas ! for the miseries of my people." The emperor 
 told the empress and the many ladies around, to take care of 
 themselves. They did so by bursting out into a fit of weeping. 
 The empress bowed her head in grief and said very bitterly, 
 that for eighteen years the soldiers had never listened to his 
 commands; and is this speech of hers, uttered in bitterness 
 against the unfaithful soldiers, not sufficient to show how he had 
 now come to possess not a single soldier ? His young daughter, 
 a princess of fourteen years old, was brought to the emperor, 
 who knew too well the fate in store for her within perhaps a 
 
186 LI DSUCHUNG. 
 
 few hours ; he, therefore, burst out weeping, and said : " Alas ! 
 why wast thou born in my house ? " And taking a sword in his 
 right hand, while covering his face with his left, he struck at her 
 with the sword to kill her. It was no wonder that he gave a 
 misdirected blow and cut off her left arm, instead of inflicting a 
 mortal wound, nor could he muster courage to strike again. A 
 favourite wife of the emperor's, the lady Yooen, attempted to 
 strangle herself, but did not succeed. The emperor put an end to 
 her sufferings, as he did to several others of his favourite wives, 
 to prevent them falling into rebel hands. He dismissed 
 all his attendants but Chungun, with whom he again drank 
 deeply. He changed his shoes and every article which might 
 identify him, and went out with Chungun, followed by a few 
 dozen men, each with a hatchet in his hand, and all riding. 
 They went out to the east by the Doonghwa or East Flowery 
 gate of the palatial city, intending apparently to attempt flight 
 in the direction of Sangwei. But the guard, afraid of a rising 
 in the city, shot arrows and stones after them. After passing out 
 of the imperial city, the small company made for the Chihwa 
 gate in the east wall of the central city, but they found the gate 
 carefully watched and there was no egress that way. He directed 
 his steps to Anding gate in the north wall, but it too was as fast 
 as the others. As therefore there was no possibility of passing- 
 through in his disguise, the emperor returned to the palace, 
 where, as it was the usual time for his officials to meet at his 
 gate for their sun-rise audience, he had the bell of audience rung 
 to summon them into his presence. But not a soul of those 
 heard, who a few hours before were all to die with him, or if 
 they heard, not one answered that bell. He then, accompanied 
 still by his faithful Chungun, went forth once more, out by the 
 north gate of the palatial city, to his favourite and beautiful resort 
 Wanswi shan, which he ascended. He was clad in tattered 
 garments, his left foot was bare, and his right covered with a red 
 shoe ; thus, with dishevelled hair, he entered the newly erected 
 pavilion of Showhwang Ting, and ended his earthly sorrows with 
 his life. Chungun would not outlive his master. 
 
IMPERIAL SUICIDE. 187 
 
 The emperor Kanghi, speaking of taxation, in the year 1709, 
 mentioned that when the capital was besieged there were several 
 scores of thousands of eunuchs in the palaces of the Ming 
 emperor ; that the emperor took a few of these with him and 
 fled to the house of count Hiangchung, but as the outer gate 
 was closely barred, the wildest knocking was not heeded, nor the 
 loudest calls answered, and the strong bar still remained unmoved. 
 The emperor then found his way to Wanswi shan, where he 
 proposed and sought plan after plan; but the eunuch Wang 
 Chungun showed him that his only plan of flight was sure to- 
 hand him into the power of the rebels and to end in unbearable 
 shame. Suicide was inevitable. Kanghi added, that the greatest 
 fault of the Ming emperor was an irresolution of character, which 
 would not permit him to act, lest people should speak ill of him. 
 
 When his body was at last discovered, a document was found 
 upon it stating that, " after he had reigned for seventeen years, 
 rebels took his capital ; but though his own worth was small, the 
 fall of the empire was caused, not by him, but by the unwilling- 
 ness of his ministers, to hear his words ; he dies ' without face or 
 eyes,'* so that he cannot look on the face of his departed 
 ancestors, now underneath the ground ; he therefore throws away 
 his crown and covers his face with his dishevelled hair; his 
 body may be torn to pieces by the robbers, but he prays that no 
 harm befall even one of his poor people." Another letter stated 
 that he had written an order to the privy council to guard the 
 East palace, had gone into the council chamber to deliver it, but 
 found no man there, all had fled, even the highest ministers. 
 
 Thus miserably perished this monarch of what was then far 
 the largest, most wealthy and most powerful nation on earth. 
 The account given of his suicide by the emperor Kanghi, differs 
 only in slight details from that given above from the Ming 
 history. His judgment of the character of the unfortunate 
 suicide agrees entirely with what we have said of him, and is 
 proved by the study of his life's reign from the first hour when 
 he began it in terror of Joonghien, to the last, when he was not 
 * " Without face " is Chinese for deepest shame, which makes a man cover his face. 
 
188 LI DSUCHUNG. 
 
 able to summon his own servants to his side, and when suicide, 
 the resort usually of the coward, was his only course out of the 
 difficulties which his weakness had brought upon him. This 
 character was, perhaps unwittingly, explained by the empress in 
 her bitterness when lamenting that his soldiers had never listened 
 to his voice ; it was exhibited in that " confession of sin ; " and 
 the paper found upon his dead body, if it showed his goodness of 
 heart, manifested his weakness of character, and is of a piece with 
 his reign, which was so miserably terminated ; not because he was 
 an evil ruler, but because he was no ruler. If he could not 
 control the ministers always in his presence, much less could he 
 extend his governing arms to the provinces, where every man 
 did that which was right in his own eyes. His ministers who 
 were wont to hasten at the summons of his bell to do him 
 honour and bow their heads to the dust before him, hid away in 
 their holes when that bell was rung for the last time at his 
 command. But they all speedily found their way to the palace 
 when the bell was next sounded by robber Li, welcomed him as 
 their new lord and accepted reinvestment of their former offices 
 at his hands. 
 
 But with all due respect to them, we beg to differ from the 
 opinion of the philosophic writers of China, who declare, as 
 explained in the beginning of the last chapter, that a change of 
 dynasty is always the direct punishment of Heaven against the 
 reigning monarch, for grievous sins of his against the will of 
 Heaven. History nowhere gives ground for such an opinion; 
 for the private, personal character of the man who is thrust off 
 his throne may be, and often is, good enough. History does very 
 largely show that whom deus vult perdere prius demented. 
 How frequently does it happen that the founder of a dynasty 
 is an enormously greater criminal than the loser of it ? It is not 
 the most sinful or criminal man, but the weak one, who loses 
 empire ; though, on the other hand, the weakness of a monarch 
 conjoined with the ability of patriotic ministers never lost a king- 
 dom, certainly not from civil war. It is when an absolute monarch, 
 however amiable and well disposed, is served by self-seeking men 
 
BLUNDER AND CRIME. 
 
 whom he cannot control, that the foundations of his throne are 
 sapped, and he or his successor is thrust off that throne. 
 Turkey has fallen, and the Kussian dynasty without reform will 
 as inevitably fall, from the cause which changes dynasties in 
 China, and did change reigning families in England. The strong 
 monarch, though himself a wicked man, is able to check the evils 
 which self-seeking officials always create; but the weak one, 
 though a good man, is not able so to curb strong-minded men, 
 whose patriotism consists in picking the public treasuries, and 
 making large fortunes out of their offices. The weak monarch, 
 not the criminal one, is hurled off his throne. This is doubtless 
 the meaning of the western political axiom that a " blunder is 
 worse than a crime ; " for a blunder is the act of a man of 
 inferior intellect who has been overreached; a crime may be 
 committed by the able but unprincipled man, who sees through 
 every political move, and checkmates every political adversary. 
 A blunder proceeds from weakness, a crime often from strength. 
 Might then is again right ; and the force of character which, 
 with a wise foresight, ensures success by daring everything for it r 
 proves virtue and goodness ! Let men say what they will, nine 
 tenths of the political life of this nineteenth century is just this 
 heathen doctrine, and savours little more of Christianity than it 
 did two thousand years ago. If such is the state of politics in 
 Europe after so many centuries of Christian teaching, which 
 goes to show that goodness, even when crushed to the ground 
 and broken in the dust, is grander and better, more noble and 
 more desirable, than the most gaudy conquests of mere might, 
 need we be astonished that the Chinese people worship success 
 as the mark of Heaven's favour, and consider temporal misfortune 
 as the sure indicator of Heaven's wrath ? It is certainly not the 
 Chinese alone who worship the successful man as Heaven's 
 special favourite ; nor is the belief that blasting misfortune, and 
 especially deep poverty, warrants us in affecting righteous 
 contempt or indifference, confined to heathen peoples. 
 
 We may, before bidding farewell to the last monarch of the 
 Ming dynasty, give an anecdote of him, again quoting Kanghi, 
 
190 LI DSUCHUNG. 
 
 who, in speaking of the enormous personal expenditure of the 
 Ming emperors, mentioned that there was a laughable story of a 
 large piece of stone which, for a certain purpose, was brought to 
 the Woo gate, in the south wall of the Palace city. The stone 
 was far too large for the entrance, and the eunuch in charge of 
 the work wrote, saying : " This stone is unwilling to go in by 
 the Woo gate ; " and the emperor ordered the stone to be bound, 
 .and to have sixty blows given it. Speak of Caligula and his 
 horse after that ; for the monarch was far too earnest a man to 
 crack such a joke ! He gave another story, saying that this 
 same Ming emperor was learning to ride. Two men held his 
 horse's bridle, two men the stirrups, and two held the saddle. 
 Yet after all, the horse seems to have given some trouble to his 
 imperial nerves ; for after the ride the emperor ordered the horse 
 to have forty blows, and sentenced him to hard post-labour. 
 " Now supposing," concluded Kanghi, " that the horse had some 
 knowledge, what can be thought of acting to a stone as if it too 
 had ' knowledge ; ' was it not conduct such as to make all men 
 break out into uncontrollable roars of laughter ? " 
 
 When the third morning after the rebels had seen Peking 
 dawned, there was some rain, followed suddenly by snow. But 
 this did not stop operations. They had entered the Doongju 
 gate on the east, killing the gate-keepers ; the vice-president, 
 in charge of the gate, finding refuge in a private house. Crowds 
 of rebels rode in, shouting to the people their orders to " bring 
 out all their mules and horses." But when they were passing 
 the elephant-house bridge, the elephants raised a voice of 
 lamentation, and their tears fell like showers of rain ! Another 
 body rode in by Toongjung gate, proclaiming to the people that 
 if they remained in their houses, closed the gates, and wrote the 
 characters, " Obedient People," over their doors, not one would 
 be slain. 
 
 Li Dsuchung entered the Imperial city at mid-day, clad in a 
 robe of light-blue silk, and riding a piebald horse. Niw Jinhing 
 was no less proud that day, for, as prime minister, he rode after his 
 master, followed by four presidents of Boards, and other officials, 
 
PALACES ENTERED. 191 
 
 who were yesterday to die with the emperor. The entrance of 
 a few rebels, walking in with their horse's ruins over their arm, 
 threw all the inmates of the palaces into the wildest confusion ; 
 and the numbers who were out in the courts, wandering about 
 in their restless fear, fled within doors and shut themselves 
 in. The lady Wei, one of the emperor's wives, saw the robbers, 
 and screaming out, " The robbers have penetrated the innermost 
 courts"; adding that she would carry out the plan she had already 
 formed, she jumped into the Imperial river, where she was 
 drowned. Over two hundred ladies followed her example. But 
 as the successful rebel knew that now all the capital was in his 
 power, none of his men just then entered any of the palaces ; 
 for they could do so at their leisure. 
 
 Dsuchung was however unaware of what had been going on 
 
 all morning. The suicide of the emperor he had not discovered, 
 
 nor was he aware that when a servant from the emperor went to 
 
 the empresses to give information of the suicide, he found the 
 
 East and West palace empresses already dead. The chief empress 
 
 called on both, and finding them already gone, she went on foot 
 
 to the palace of Duke Chunggwo, disguised by a black robe 
 
 thrown loosely around her person so as to cover her head and face. 
 
 On arriving, she discovered the maimed princess lying on the floor. 
 
 With the aid of the duke's people she had her killed outright. A 
 
 younger princess said, " My father, the emperor, granted me to 
 
 die, how dare I live ? " But as she was only a child she was led 
 
 away at once to another palace, for the rebels were already within 
 
 the buildings of Chunggwo's palace. 
 
 When Dsuchung, bow in hand, went in by the west Ghangan 
 gate of the palace, he looked up to the heavens with a great 
 laugh of triumphant pride, and put an arrow on his bow-string. 
 Walking south to the Chungtien gate, he saw above it the 
 character joong, or " middle." Drawing back his bow-string he 
 said, " If I hit his joong in the middle, it is a sign I have 
 gained the whole empire, as the empire is joong" the " Middle 
 Kingdom." He let fly, missed the mark, near though it was, and 
 hit below it. He was much surprised, and enquired of Jinhing, 
 
192 LI DSUCHUNG. 
 
 who had just come up, how he could have missed. Jinhing was 
 courtier enough to explain that the incident proved a division 
 of the empire ; part of it to be his. The reply pleased Dsuchung, 
 who threw away his bow with a laugh. 
 
 Eunuch Wang Duahwa, at the head of three hundred officials, 
 great and small, had met Dsuchung at the Duashung gate. He 
 ordered them to retain their former offices ; and to every official 
 who presented himself, Dsuchung made the promise to retain 
 him in his post. He selected a hundred of these officials to 
 accompany him through the palaces, and meantime dismissed 
 the others, who dispersed. When at length he asked for the 
 emperor, whom he believed to be in his power, the strictest search 
 over all the palaces discovered no trace of him. This was very 
 annoying to Dsuchung, who had spent so much time wandering 
 about, doubtless in order mentally to determine how he should 
 act, and what he should say to his illustrious prisoner. One 
 high minister said that the emperor must be hidden away among 
 the common people, and could therefore be found by offers of a 
 handsome reward, and by threats of severest punishment against 
 any one hiding him. A proclamation was at once issued, 
 offering ten thousand taels and a countship to the man who 
 brought forward the emperor; and threatening the utter 
 extermination of the family and relations of the man who would 
 harbour him. But still he came not ; and we can well under- 
 stand the chagrin of Dsuchung, who could not but fear that his 
 majesty had slipped out of his hands, and was hiding safely, or 
 had fled to raise an army and contest the empire elsewhere. 
 The heir apparent was, however, discovered in his hiding-place, 
 and brought to Dsuchung ; who spared his life, and made him 
 Soong Wang, appointing him one of the palaces. This prince 
 had fled before sunrise to the palace of prince Jow Kwei, who 
 was unwell and not astir. To the repeated and loud knockings 
 of the early visitor, the gate continued therefore closed up. He 
 then fled to to the house of one of his own servants, outside the 
 palace walls, where he took refuge, and where he was discovered. 
 
 Greatly annoyed at the escape of the emperor, Dsuchung went 
 
SUICIDES. 193 
 
 into the Whangchi Hall ; and Jinhing issued a proclamation, 
 ordering all the officials to present themselves " at court " on 
 the 21st ; and not one was absent ! Dsuchung, with Jinhing, 
 went into the inner palaces, conducted by Hwatswun and other 
 principal eunuchs. He upbraided them for their desertion, and 
 said they deserved to be beheaded. Hwatswun replied that it 
 was "not they, but Heaven had abandoned him." But 
 Chinaman though he was, Dsuchung sneered at this salve to the 
 uneasy conscience so common in the east and west, and 
 dismissed them with anything but complimentary language. 
 
 The concubines of the emperor were given away to the chiefs 
 of Dsuchung's army, thirty to each chief man. One of them, a 
 lady of great beauty and only fifteen years old, jumped into a 
 well; but it contained only mud, whence she was extracted. 
 She cried out that she was the princess, and if her captors did 
 anything that was wrong, she would inform their chief. She was 
 believed, and brought to Dsuchung, who discovered from the 
 eunuch that she was not what she professed to be. He therefore 
 handed her over to his general Jiao Lo, to whom she persisted in 
 saying that she was of a truth of the heavenly yellow; but 
 promised she would be true to him if he acted honourably 
 towards her and made her his wife. Lo was overjoyed, and in 
 his delight drank himself drunk, when she, with a sharp knife 
 she had previously secreted, first cut his and then her own 
 throat. When Dsuchung heard of the tragedy he was terrified, 
 probably fearing a similar fate, and ordered them both to be 
 buried. Of the immense numbers of suicides, the dramatic 
 manner in which many officials and servants followed their 
 late master by sword, rope, fire and water, with the hundreds or 
 thousands belonging to them who followed their example, it is 
 unnecessary to say more than that they were composed of the 
 most able and most faithful of his majesty's followers, who had 
 strained their energies in fighting against the robbers without, 
 and the more terrible and destructive enemies the eunuchs 
 within. Nearly half a volume is occupied with the names and 
 offices of those who thus committed suicide; but though not of the 
 
 OF THK 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
194 LI DSUCHUNG. 
 
 highest rank, the story of Li Gwojun, count Hiangchung, is the 
 most interesting. He had been taken by the rebels east of the 
 Doonghwa gate, where he was shedding bitter tears, his hat off 
 his head, and his hair covered with mud. He was brought to 
 Dsuchung's presence, where he again wept and lamented, and 
 struck his head against the wall, till the blood began to trickle 
 down his face. He was forcibly held to prevent his injuring 
 himself, and Dsuchung spoke most kindly to gain him over to 
 acknowledge the new ruler. This he at last consented to do on 
 three conditions: 1st, That the imperial tombs at Changpingbe 
 restored ; 2nd, That the emperor should be buried as it became 
 an emperor to be; and 3rd, That the heir-apparent and the 
 prince, his brother, should receive no harm. And so valuable 
 was the acquisition of the count, the friend of the late emperor, 
 that Dsuchung agreed to all the conditions. The count was 
 himself the only mourner at the emperor's funeral. He followed 
 the body to the grave of the honourable queen Tien, wife of the 
 emperor, who had died before him and had received proper 
 burial. At the grave he composed numerous verses to express 
 his grief; and when he had lamented sufficiently, he went back 
 to the empress' palace and there committed suicide. 
 
 The discovery of the dead body of the emperor had pacified 
 the uneasy thoughts of Dsuchung, who was now certain of the 
 throne. He ordered the immediate overthrow of the Tai miao, 
 or Imperial Ancestral Temple, where the emperor worships his 
 ancestors who died in the imperial yellow. But he was again 
 unsuccessful in his attempt to cast "Yoongchang" cash. He 
 was enthroned emperor in Peking on the ninth day from the fall 
 of Peking, and the twelfth from the day on the night of which 
 he arrived before the West wall of Peking. He reigned one day 
 and then fled westwards, losing, before he passed Loogwochiao 
 bridge, half of the enormous amount of plundered treasure, and 
 half the numbers of captive women in his train. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 INTO PEKING. 
 
 Woo SiANG was at one time lieut.-general at Kingchow in Liaosi. 
 He was one of the general officers in charge of the army at 
 Soongshan, which came to such frightful grief. He had altogether 
 acted so badly or unfortunately, that he was degraded and thrown 
 into prison. 
 
 He had a son, Sangwei, said to have been born in Kingchow, 
 who from boyhood was so fond of soldiering that he invariably 
 followed his father into his battles, though he had then no 
 commission. He, however, forced himself into recognition, and 
 won position by his bravery. He had so distinguished himself 
 by the time Choonghwan ceased to be commandant of Ningyuen, 
 that he was soon nominated to that vacant but important post. 
 Kingchow was then in Manchu hands, and Ningyuen was the 
 Ming outpost. He was so successful in checking the Manchus 
 there, though his victories are unrecorded by Manchu historians, 
 that he was considered the only man capable of saving the 
 capital from Li Dsuchung. The emperor had been urged again 
 and again to summon him to the defence of Peking, but always 
 delayed, like all men of his character, till it was too late. 
 When Dorgun was marshalling the Manchu troops in order to 
 scour and secure all the lands east and north of Shanhaigwan, 
 and if possible to push through that narrow and formidable 
 gateway into Chihli, the Ming emperor sent Wang Yoongji with 
 power to treat with the Manchus, as the robbers were now 
 drawing near to the capital. Sangwei was created Pingsi Bai, 
 count " Tranquillising the West"; and ordered at once to 
 abandon all the land beyond Shanhaigwan, and to march to the 
 
196 INTO PEKING. 
 
 help of the terrified capital. He inarched ; but unfortunately for 
 him and his main errand, he marched with a following of over 
 half a million of people who had been protected by him on their 
 estates on the rich loess valleys and hillsides of Ningyuen, and 
 were now clinging to his skirts for shelter. This multitude of 
 fugitives compelled him to move slowly. He took sixteen days 
 to get through the border gate, and it was the twentieth day 
 when he got to Fungyun hien. There he heard that Peking had 
 fallen, the emperor had committed suicide, and Li Dsuchung 
 had been proclaimed emperor. His soldiers were terror stricken, 
 and he stood still to watch events. 
 
 When Sangwei was created count, his father, Woo Siang, had 
 been liberated, and nominated marshal of the barracks of the 
 capital. He was no more slow than the other officials in 
 acknowledging Dsuchung as lord. But when this lord heard of 
 the westward march of Sangwei he was afraid ; and ordered the 
 father to write a letter to Sangwei, commanding him with a 
 father's authority to acknowledge the new emperor, as the 
 condition of saving that father's life. This proves that had the 
 advice of the censor been acted on when he urged the emperor to 
 summon the hero of Ningyuen, Peking never would have fallen. 
 Dsuchung also sent a messenger with forty thousand taels, and 
 a force of twenty thousand choice men to garrison Shanhaigwan. 
 The money was accepted by Sangwei, who was the only man 
 possessing power who had not acknowledged Dsuchung, and the 
 only man needed to firmly establish the new empire. 
 
 Sangwei had scarcely marched out by the South gate of 
 Ningyuen, ere the ever- watchful eyes of the Manchus saw, and 
 their ever-ready arms were stretched out to take for nothing a 
 prize they had so long fought for in vain ; and he was scarcely 
 beyond the Great wall before the Manchus were in possession of 
 the evacuated and hitherto impregnable city, and preparing to 
 push further on. 
 
 Hoong Chungchow had previously reported to his new master 
 that Li Dsuchung had assumed imperial rank; and knowing 
 well, as an educated Chinaman of rank, what the disgust of his 
 
SANGWEl'S LETTER. 197 
 
 fellow-countrymen would be at having not merely a new dynasty 
 for to this they could submit but one founded in the nefarious 
 manner in which Dsuchung had behaved himself throughout his 
 robber-career ; he, therefore, wisely urged the Manchus to 
 appear as the avengers of the murdered emperor, the guardians 
 of law, the protectors of the people, and to issue a proclamation 
 to that effect without delay, inviting the Chinese soldiers to 
 unite with them in rooting out the atrociously wicked robbers. 
 He also mentioned that the number of mules, horses and camels, 
 in Dsuchung's hands, could not be under three million, while the 
 wealth in his possession must be simply incalculable. He 
 advised secrecy and caution in the movement of the troops, 
 so as to keep Dsuchung ignorant of their intentions ; for while 
 he was sure to march against, in hopes of crushing, Sangwei, 
 if he heard of a probable combined attack by Manchus and 
 Chinese, he would decamp from the capital after pilfering, 
 and then burning all the palaces, and would leave an empty city 
 to reward the toils of the army. More advice, which was excellent, 
 he gave in the same epistle, but all was rendered unnecessary by 
 the subsequent conduct of Sangwei. 
 
 Two days' good marching from the Liao river, west of Mookden, 
 brought the Manchu army under the guardian Zooi Chin wang 
 to the village of Wungchow, memorable as the spot where the 
 following letter of Woo Sangwei's gladdened the heart of the 
 prince and all his followers : 
 
 " Sangwei, weak as a mosquito, is holding Shanhaigwan. He 
 had intended to act as a bulwark to the empire in the far east, 
 and thus fortify the capital. He had not conceived the possibility 
 of a robber entering the palace, nor did he imagine it possible 
 that a host of ministers would turn traitors, and open^ the city 
 gates. The preceding nine emperors are now in misery, for the 
 temples to their memory are burnt to the ground. At the 
 present Heaven is wroth and men indignant, while the minds 
 of all are unsettled, not knowing whither to look. They wait 
 for deliverance, for our kingdom has yet stores of brave men 
 and virtuous. Hope is, therefore, not quite extinguished. 
 
198 INTO PEKING. 
 
 Among the governors of provinces there are sure to be men 
 like Jin Wun* and Han Woo,f and some man is certain to 
 appear as deliverer. Sangwei has had exceeding great favours 
 bestowed upon him by his emperor. His mind is bent on 
 revenging his master's death, but his place (means) is narrow 
 and his men few. With tears of blood he, therefore, entreats 
 the prince to aid us, and prays that the upright words of the 
 only remaining faithful servant of the deceased emperor may 
 not be unheeded, when he beseeches the prince to send on his 
 best soldiers. The prince will march with his men, Sangwei 
 with ours. We shall combine, reach the gate of the capital, and 
 exterminate the robbers out of the palace. And if you, the 
 kingdom of the north, aid my kingdom, can we offer you only 
 money and goods ? Yea, the very skin of our foreheads we 
 shall be willing to cut off and throw at your feet. We dare 
 not lie." 
 
 In reply to this delightful epistle the prince immediately sent 
 off the Han; army, with the "Red-Coat" cannon, towards 
 Shanhaigwan, while he next day penned the following from the 
 camp of Silatala : 
 
 " From the beginning, it was my desire to be on good terms 
 with the Ming, and despatches conveying my good intentions 
 were constantly sent to the court at Peking. Had your court 
 addressed us in the friendly terms of your letter just to hand, 
 our soldiers would never have been called out to fight ; and our 
 one aim even at the present moment is to restore tranquillity to 
 the empire, to ensure the prosperity of the people and to put an 
 end to war. Since I heard that the robber took possession of 
 the capital and caused the suicide of the emperor, no hair is left 
 
 * Jin Wun's father sought his death in Lie gwo. He fled. His brothers, &c. , 
 put the father to death. Jin returned and became king. 
 
 f The father of Han Woo was murdered by his father-in-law, Wang Mang. Woo 
 fled, but afterwards returned and was made emperor. 
 
 I That branch of his army, wholly composed of Chinese of Liaotung, who had 
 joined him. Their descendants are distinguished from the ordinary Chinese to this 
 day, and by the same name of Han. 
 
THE MANCHU EPISTLE. 199 
 
 on my head nor nails on my fingers, and the men I am now 
 leading in the same spirit are determined to exterminate the 
 robber, and to rescue the people out of the ' water and the fire.' 
 I rejoice exceedingly that the count has sent me this letter, 
 and in response I am now leading on my men. The count is 
 praised as a most faithful and upright minister, and if you, count, 
 desire to revenge the insult to your master, the count must 
 determine not to live under the same heaven * as the robber. 
 Though the count was formerly mine enemy, there is no reason 
 because of bygones to harbour suspicious thoughts. Gwaijoong 
 of old fighting against him, fixed an arrow in the belt of Hwan, 
 who, when he attained the kingdom, afterwards employed Gwai, 
 treating him as a father. If the count join me with his forces, 
 he shall be made Jinjiao Fan Wang vassal king of his native 
 place. Thus in the first place he can avenge the wrongs of his 
 master, in the second his own, and the rewards of wealth and 
 honour will continue like the mountain and the river." 
 
 The latter portion of both letters of course implied that the 
 Manchus were to aim at the throne, which till lately they could 
 not dream of attaining, and which, with the influence and 
 prowess of Sangwei against them, combined with the hordes of 
 the robber, they would find it difficult to seize and impossible to 
 retain. The hearty co-operation of Sangwei was half the battle 
 gained, for the accession of the one man most trusted in the north 
 of China, would make the adherence of the people a matter of 
 certainty ; and in such haste were the leaders of the Manchus to 
 strike at once, that they reached Shanhaigwan on the eighth day 
 after their rest on the western bank of the Liao, a distance of 
 700 li, which ordinarily would take them from ten to twelve days. 
 Sangwei marched out of the impregnable stronghold of 
 Shanhaigwan to meet and welcome them and to make arrange- 
 ments for action, as not a moment was to be lost ; for the huge 
 army of Li was almost within shot, as eager as the Manchus 
 not to let slip a moment. Li's approach was the greatest boon 
 to the Manchus, for Sangwei was compelled to throw himself into 
 
 * An old classical phrase for the extreme of revenge ; one of the two must die. 
 
200 INTO PEKING. 
 
 their arms unconditionally, and he had no time to reconsider 
 and resile from his position. It was now impracticable for him to 
 do otherwise than act as the betrayer of his country. He therefore 
 had no alternative but to submit to the Manchu barber, who shaved 
 off the hair of the fore-part of his head, plaiting the hair of the top 
 and back of his head into the Manchu and Mongol queue, or "tail" 
 as it is commonly called ; and thus the head of the most important 
 man in the north of China that day received the badge of slavery 
 to a foreign yoke. He was ordered to stitch a piece of white 
 cotton on the shoulder of all his men as a distinctive mark. 
 
 The Manchus pitched their camp 10 li east of Shanhaigwan, 
 probably on the hill where the ruins of an enormous fort, embank- 
 ments, and ditches remain to this day, on the side of the second 
 line of low granite hills, whence they could see, though themselves 
 invisible, from the city. At the very time when the Manchus 
 were pitching their camp, twenty thousand of the choicest cavalry 
 in the van of Dsuchung's army marched past the walls to attack 
 the east gate, and distract the attention of Sangwei, while Li 
 himself drew up a living wall of his two hundred thousand picked 
 troops in a line from the north hill to the sea, passing close by the 
 western gate, and occupying the whole valley betwen the Great 
 wall and the sea. 
 
 Sangwei implored the Manchus to enter the city, but they 
 retained their position. He marched out by the east gate and 
 fell on the twenty thousand men there, speedily drove them 
 back upon their main army, and his rear was clear. 
 
 The eastern and the western robbers are now on the point of 
 meeting face to face, both confident of success and flushed with 
 the moral courage of a course of all but uninterrupted victory. 
 Dsuchung especially had latterly seen all opposition melt away 
 before him like snow in May; but he laboured under the 
 disadvantage of ignorance, for he was aware of the presence of 
 only Sangwei, the Manchus having the advantage of full 
 knowledge. The eastern and western robbers have now to 
 decide in one grapple who is henceforth to be called the robber 
 and who the ruler of the world by Divine right ; for meantime 
 
ANXIOUS COMMANDEKS. 201 
 
 the justice and injustice of the respective armies are trembling 
 in the balance, and victory must decide, as in the case of the 
 chivalrous knights of old in the same circumstances, who is right 
 and who wrong; for the strong must needs be right, and the 
 successful cannot be unjust. 
 
 Zooichin wang Dorgun was aware that his opponents were 
 not to be despised, and therefore decided to act with the utmost 
 caution, paying no heed to the earnest entreaties of Sangwei for 
 a junction, but ordering him to begin the fight with his own 
 men. Was he thinking of the possibility of defeat, and the 
 desirability of being unshackled in case of flight ? At any rate he 
 refused to move into the narrow and long street forming the 
 citadel of four independently defensible cities into which 
 Shanhaigwan is divided. If defeated, he acted wisely ; for the 
 army of Li could easily prevent the exit of the Manchu army 
 from the city, and any number of men might be brought from 
 Peking, who could surround the city several deep and starve the 
 combined garrison. Defeat in the city, or to the west of the city, 
 with a line of flight or retreat through the city, would simply be 
 the annihilation of his brave army and the overthrow of his 
 newly acquired kingdom. 
 
 Dsuchung is also cautious, for he is aware of his bad fame among 
 his fellow countrymen ; and this last remnant of the Ming dynasty 
 standing at bay on the last foot of soil still acknowledging that 
 dynasty, will destroy him if it is not broken. For if detained 
 some time before the gates of this city, there would be opportunity 
 for other cities and armies to rise and obliterate him. He has 
 raised a house of cards, and it only wants the last card to complete 
 it; but a shakiness of the hand in placing this last card will throw 
 it all down. Hence he too is cautious, though unaware of the 
 glaring eyes of the lion ready to spring upon the crouching tiger. 
 He therefore has Sangwei's father beside him on the west hill, to 
 work upon the feelings of the son. He has the heir apparent of 
 the late emperor, in order to weaken the hands of those who 
 appear to be fighting against their lawful sovereign, and above 
 all he has Yuenyuen in his train. By these moral restraints he 
 
202 INTO PEKING. 
 
 makes sure of victory, for his army outnumbers the troops of 
 Sangwei by ten to one. 
 
 The next morning after the retreat of the twenty thousand, 
 Sangwei received orders to march out by the west gate and strike 
 right before him, into the very centre of the enemy. Zooi Wang, 
 with Ying and Yli Wangs sat on horseback on the east hill, to 
 watch the battle, themselves unseen, while Hoong Chungchow, 
 Dsoo Dashow and the princes Koong and Shang deployed their 
 men westwards and southwards between the city and the sea, so 
 that their right could, when brought into action, touch the left 
 of Sangwei; but both armies would scarcely cover half the 
 opposite line. 
 
 Sangwei and his men pushed in with a will, and every man 
 was instantly engaged. A wild Chihli north wind blew dust 
 and small gravel into the faces of all the combatants, while it 
 made a noise like thunder. On till mid-day did Sangwei's band 
 fight fiercely, determined to conquer or die, though surrounded 
 by several lines deep of the foe. They continued to fight and 
 shout so as to shake the earth around, though every man had his 
 wound and showed blood. The unequal contest could end in 
 only one way in spite of valour; for the portion of Dsuchung's men 
 engaged, did not show the least sign of weariness, when at 
 mid-day the Manchus with three great shouts rushed forward by 
 the south of the city, the wind going down at the same time. 
 The two princes Ying and Yii galloped in the van at the head 
 of their twenty thousand iron-breast-plaited horse. The 
 attention of the men of Dsuchung was so rivetted, and their nerves 
 already so tense with excitement by the prolonged fight, that 
 the appearance of an unsuspected foe, the sudden charge, the 
 Manchu breastplates and tails, threw them into complete 
 confusion, and the furious charge broke them to pieces. The 
 fight was now a flight, Dsuchung himself being the first to 
 turn his horse's head. The pursuit was carried on for 40 li not 
 only by the fresh army but by the almost exhausted troops 
 of Sangwei, and the slaughter was awful. The booty in camels, 
 horses and precious articles was immense ; Dsuchung's homeless 
 
BATTLE OF SHANHAIGWAN. 203 
 
 men, as a matter of course, carrying their valuables with them 
 wherever they happened to go. 
 
 As soon as the wearied men returned into Shanhaigwan a 
 proclamation was issued to have every male's head shaved and- 
 queued ; and the thorough nature of the defeat can be imagined 
 from the fact that Zooi wang ordered Sangwei to pursue the 
 fugitives with twenty thousand horse and foot. Thus fell into the 
 hands of the Manchus the strongly fortified city of Shanhaigwan,. 
 Avhich had prevented them retaining a foot of the country 
 trodden or cities taken inside that barrier. 
 
 Dsuchung rested first in Yoongping, where he collected the 
 remnant of his fine army and whence he sent our old acquaintance 
 Jang Yolin, his officer and an old friend of Sangwei's, with 
 overtures of peace to the latter, proposing to elevate the heirs of 
 the late emperor to the throne. Sangwei refused to come to any 
 terms, believing that the offer was insincere, or if sincere scarcely 
 to his own advantage, especially hampered as he was by his 
 unconditional submission to the Manchus. Dsuchung therefore 
 hastened to the capital, put all the spoil of the rifled palaces in 
 great waggons, on camel, horse and mule packs, burnt the palaces 
 to the ground, and fled ; not however before he executed every . 
 person belonging to Sangwei's family, thirty six souls in all, as well 
 as the Ming princes, in the execution grounds. There was one 
 however of Sangwei's connections who escaped the general 
 destruction. This was Chun Yuenyuen, whose romantic history 
 proves that " truth is stranger than fiction." 
 
 The last Ming emperor was a good hearted man, extremely 
 anxious to do the right and deeply depressed by the ruinous 
 anarchy which was spread like an uninterrupted cancer over the 
 people he loved. But not among his provinces alone was 
 discord universal. It found its way into the bosom of his family,, 
 for his " three palaces," i.e. his three empresses, were not free 
 from jealousy. The "Central palace" or principal empress was at 
 a loss how to gain the heart of her lord from the "Western palace," 
 the third in rank of the empresses, with whom he spent a great 
 part of his time. She hit upon the expedient of searching out 
 
204 INTO PEKING. 
 
 the most beautiful girl procurable and getting her into her own 
 palace at any cost. Search was made by count Jiading, a friend 
 of hers, and the lovely Yuenyuen was discovered, brought to her 
 and bought with the certainty that the emperor would now 
 frequent the secondary palace less than before, and womanly 
 jealousy would be exultant. The emperor saw the beautiful 
 girl of seventeen (eighteen in Chinese), asked who she was, 
 praised her exquisite beauty, and passed on, never more referring 
 to her, his mind being too deeply saddened by the state of his 
 empire. The empress was foiled and disgusted, and therefore 
 re-sold her to count Jiading. 
 
 Sangwei had pushed himself on to rank and fortune by sheer 
 bravery, without the aid of all-powerful favouritism, making his 
 way from the lowest offices to that of general; and so 
 conspicuously brave above the brave was he, that the emperor 
 chose him as the only man who could stem the Manchu torrent. 
 He had, in more subordinate positions, kept off or driven back 
 the Manchus before, and he was now elevated general of 
 Shanhaigwan and the east, and was in the front rank of those 
 highly esteemed by the emperor. When he was ordered off to 
 Shanhaigwan, he was of course feted by those who honour 
 prosperity and court the powerful; among others by count 
 Jiading, the friend of the empress, who provided him a splendid 
 feast and an accompaniment of beautiful singing girls. Sangwei 
 carelessly cast his eye over the performers, and his attention 
 suddenly became riveted on one whose beauty was surpassingly 
 enchanting. This was Yuenyuen. He refused to eat any more 
 food and drank no spirits, saying to the count in the most agitated 
 manner, that he must have that girl for his wife; and on 
 learning her situation he prayed the count to give or sell her 
 to him. The count liked beauty himself and refused to part 
 with her ; and Sangwei went away more in grief than anger. 
 
 As soon as he was gone, the friends of the count advised him 
 to send her to him, stating that as Sangwei was all-powerful at 
 court, and could command what he pleased, it was unwise to 
 rouse an enmity in his bosom which was sure to break out when 
 
A LOVING WARRIOR. 205 
 
 he returned from the east. The count therefore sent word to 
 Sangwei that he might have her. Sangwei had a parting 
 audience with the emperor on the following day, when he 
 received a present of three thousand taels. In his gratitude to 
 the count, he sent him a thousand ; but as his business demanded 
 haste, he left Peking before the girl was given him. She was 
 therefore sent to the house of Woo Siang, his father, according 
 to Chinese custom. 
 
 While Sangwei was successfully defending the east, Dsuchung 
 got possession of the capital. Almost all the ministers joined 
 him rather than die at his hands, and among the rest Woo Siang. 
 A rebel officer who was searching Woo Siang's house was struck 
 by the exceedingly great beauty of Yuenyuen, and took 
 forcible possession of her. 
 
 As soon as Dsuchung had time to realise his own greatness, 
 his glory, and his danger, he made Woo Siang write to his son 
 Sangwei, informing him that it was now no use fighting against 
 Dsuchung, especially as the Ming dynasty had proved itself 
 incompetent to keep the power given it by heaven, while the 
 new master of the capital dealt generously by all who 
 acknowledged him, concluding with a prayer that Sangwei should 
 immediately acknowledge the usurper, for otherwise the writer's 
 life was forfeited, as well as the lives of his whole house. 
 
 This letter reached Sangwei's hands when he was at Fungyun, 
 half way to Peking on his way to save the capital from this 
 same Dsuchung. Knowing his own inability to cope with the 
 upstart, and probably hoping the new would be quite as generous 
 as his late master, he agreed to save his father's life on the terms 
 proposed. After this agreement, in conversing with the messen- 
 gers he asked about Yuenyuen; and when he learned that she was 
 in the hands of a robber, whom his father permitted to take her 
 away, his passion knew no bounds. He wrote to his father on 
 the spot, renouncing him for ever. He marched his troops back 
 to Shanhaigwan, and wrote the letter to his old enemies the 
 Manchu princes, which is given above. Love is powerful in 
 China as elsewhere, and this beautiful young Helen was the ruin 
 
206 INTO PEKING. 
 
 of the cause of him who seized her ; for Sangwei could have held 
 the Manchus at bay as he had done before, and his army, with 
 Dsuchung's, would drive them at least across the Liao again. 
 But the seizure of Yuenyueii cost Dsuchung a throne and 
 ultimately his life. When Dsuchung returned from Shanhaigwan, 
 .after his terrible defeat, knowing that Sangwei was the sole 
 cause of his ruin, in his rage he executed the father and family 
 of Sangwei, and would have executed Yuenyuen, who calmly 
 said, " You had better not : if you kill me, he will pursue you 
 with all the greater fury. If you send me to him, he may cease 
 pursuing you." She was preserved alive, but not sent to him ; for 
 the robbers took her with them in their retreat from Peking. 
 
 Sangwei never wearied in pursuing, fighting, and slaying the 
 robbers of his beloved. He pressed them as hard as they could 
 fly into and out of Shansi, knowing nothing of Yuenyuen till 
 at Kiangchow. When he was about to cross the river, he saw 
 her on the opposite bank, recognised, saved, and married her, and 
 in his joy the robbers had a respite of some days. 
 
 Immediately after the decisive battle of Shanhaigwan, which 
 opened the gates and palace doors of Peking with its untenanted 
 throne to the Manchus, Woo Sangwei, the king-maker, was 
 presented with an imperial court-dress, a dragon-embroidered 
 robe, a jade girdle, a sable robe, a magnificent horse with a 
 splendid saddle, a quiver, bow, arrows, and other valuables, with 
 the title of Pingsi Wang, " king pacificator of the west," all of 
 which, however, was but an earnest of good things in store. A 
 proclamation was issued on the spot by the guardian wang for 
 Zooi wang, the younger, ignored the eldest brother ever since 
 they were both made guardians stating that his " army was 
 here to exterminate robbers, to sweep away the terrible and to 
 restore perfect peace ; " while another to the soldiers " forbade 
 the slaying of any person without arms, the seizure of men's 
 property or the destruction of their houses ; any one disobeying 
 these orders would be treated as a wild beast." 
 
 One day's rest after the battle completed the arrangements 
 and plans for pursuing the robbers, and with a stroke of policy 
 
PUESUIT OF REBELS. 207 
 
 worthy of his great father, the guardian placed the Chinaman 
 Sangwei over the attacking army, for no Chinaman would wish 
 other than well to his fellow-countryman thirsting for vengeance 
 on the murderer of his emperor, and his father, though there was 
 a still more powerful motive appealing to himself. No one 
 would therefore oppose his march; and only the cities where the 
 faithful friends of the rebels held guard would close their gates 
 against him ; while the march of an army with a foreign and 
 despised barbarian Manchu at its head might have to work its 
 way through a sulky, disaffected people, and to force open the 
 gates of every city on its march. As the robbers had already 
 fled, and had the advantage of a few days' start, Sangwei did not 
 enter Peking ; but passed on in rapid marches, fast gaining upon 
 them ; for they were heavily laden with the rich booty of the 
 capital, as well as that of several provinces. He therefore had his 
 van soon up with their rear, and cut them down daily as the one 
 fled and the other pursued. The pursued several times turned 
 round and obstinate fights and stubborn battles took place, but 
 the only thing Dsuchung ever gained was a little time for his 
 baggage to go ahead. 
 
 Sangwei and his fellow commanders were in all the greater 
 haste pursuing these five hundred thousand men of Dsuchung's, 
 fearing that he would be able to flee into Toonggwan, and have 
 time sufficient to make that all but impregnable pass altogether 
 impregnable and defy them ; or that he would take the scarcely 
 less objectionable route to the west, and cross Shansi into Kansu, 
 among whose interminable mountains he could always evade 
 them, and secure the countless treasure now in his possession. 
 
 The forces against him had therefore to be divided, Sangwei, 
 with the princes Ajiga and Shang, taking the route westwards to 
 Tatoong, in order there to cross the border, summon all the 
 Mongol troops of that neighbourhood to their standard, prevent 
 Dsuchung's escape into Kansu, and march down through Yiilin, 
 Yenan, the west of Shensi, and press him in Toonggwan from 
 the north ; while the Soo prince Dodo, with prince Koong, 
 advanced into Honan, whence they would attack the Gwan from 
 
208 INTO PEKING. 
 
 the south. The Manchu soldiers had to swear before starting 
 that they would slay no innocent person, burn no man's house, 
 and destroy no man's property. To allay public fear, proclamations 
 were published of a similar import. 
 
 On the twelfth moon, Dodo crossed the river at Munghien at 
 the ford of Mungjin, drove off a rebel army at Loyang, took the 
 forts and barricades on the river banks, entered Shenchow, broke 
 up a rebel army at Lingbao, and took up his position some 
 distance south of Toonggwan ; and as the heavy artillery was not 
 yet arrived, the only movement he was able to make was to force 
 on a body of three thousand men to snatch possession of a village 
 30 li south of the Gwan, and to camp in its streets. Dsuchung had 
 already posted a strong force on the south side of the hill at no 
 great distance hence. The commander of this force immediately 
 surrounded the village, investing it for three days ; but owing to 
 the watchfulness of the men within, he got no opportunity of 
 taking them at unawares, and was not bold enough to attack 
 them openly. 
 
 Next month, the main south army arrived, when Dsuchung 
 issued out of his stronghold with his large army, fought valiantly 
 and obstinatly, but vainly ; for a band of three thousand horse 
 suddenly appeared in his rear, a move which was always the 
 Manchu tactics, and galloping in among his men threw them 
 into the greatest disorder. He had therefore to retire, as again, 
 in a night assault. As soon as the heavy artillery arrived, the 
 Manchus pressed in to the very mouth of the pass, where they 
 were opposed by deep ditches ; but their cannon fired far. The 
 army in the gorge was so large that there was scarcely room 
 enough to move. They sent some hundreds of fleet horsemen 
 as ambush into a side gully, who attacked the Manchu flank, 
 while another picked infantry force fell upon the rear; both 
 however were broken by the Manchu light horse. 
 
 Just at this time Sangwei, who had pursued and had fought 
 conquering battles with the rebels on the way from Peking, 
 came up with his augmented army, having crossed the river oil 
 rafts at Paote chow, taken the cities of Yenan and Linchow, 
 
END OF DSUCHUNG. 209 
 
 passing north of Singan, and was now advancing towards the 
 north of the Pass. Dsuchung, seeing himself about to be 
 invested at both ends of the pass, drew off his men to Singan, 
 leaving a strong garrison in the pass. But its commander with 
 his seven thousand men surrendered. Thus Toonggwan fell; and 
 two days' march, after a rest, brought the combined army to the 
 gates of Singan, which they found deserted by the rebel army 
 after the palaces and public buildings had been burnt to the 
 ground. They heard that the rebels had marched into 
 Hookwang, with the reported intention of falling on and seizing 
 Nanking, where Foo Wang, a representative of the late dynasty, 
 had been proclaimed emperor. 
 
 From February 1645 till August 1646, Dsuchung, with 
 between two and three hundred thousand men, was pursued by 
 the combined army by land and water. He was hunted up 
 at Tungchow, Chungtien, Tuangan, Woochang, Foochukow, 
 Sangjiakow, Kiwkiang, and defeated in eight great battles. He 
 fled with the greatest precipitation to Kiwgoong shan, difficult 
 mountains 90 li south of Toongshan hien of Woochang. The 
 hills were searched for him in all directions but in vain, till at 
 last a deserter reported that Dsuchung and tweny of his foot 
 followers were surrounded by the villagers, and seeing no way of 
 escape, had strangled himself. When the body was discovered, 
 it was beyond recognition. Thus ignobly as he deserved ended 
 the wonderful career of one of the most remarkable robbers 
 for to the end he was a robber which the world has produced. 
 His remaining two hundred thousand men, under Number-One 
 Tiger, crossed the lake and joined Ho Tungjiao, the Ming 
 viceroy. 
 
 When Sangwei drove Dsuchung to the border of Shansi he 
 gave up the pursuit at Tutu, after having frequently beaten him. 
 He then returned with his army into Peking for the first time, 
 and the young, newly installed emperor prepared him a feast and 
 made him a present of ten thousand taels. He again, by imperial 
 orders, marched his army into the capital after Dsuchung was 
 found dead, and was there some months, when another present 
 
210 INTO PEKING. 
 
 of twenty thousand taels was made him. Again in 1651, before 
 starting for Yunnan, he was invited to see the emperor, who 
 gave him a gold coat of mail. 
 
 After the battle of Shanhaigwan, Dorgun the regent entered 
 Peking, on the 1st of the fifth moon (June), and found the object 
 of his highest ambition within his grasp. He at once decided to 
 remove the capital from Mookden to Peking, and sent high officials 
 to escort his nephew, the child of five years old, who had been 
 selected to succeed his father, and who became the first Manchu 
 emperor of China, though the uncle was the real ruler, and an 
 able one. He also sent swift messengers with despatches to the 
 Mongols and Corea, intimating the change that had taken place. 
 The news of the fall of Peking put into his hands the keys of all 
 the cities north of Paoting, which with Taming and Chunting 
 still acknowledged Dsuchung. Shantung and Honan cities 
 rose upon and murdered the grarrisons of Dsuchung, but held the 
 cities for Foo Wang. As soon as Dorgun was in full charge of 
 Peking, he sent out armies in all directions : Princes Ajiga and 
 Sangwei, by the west route; and prince Dodo by the south, 
 marching through Honan, with secret instructions to cross 
 Yangtsu river and sack Nanking. Both these armies were 
 primarily to pursue and destroy Dsuchung. Yechun was sent 
 through Googwan to restore order in Shansi; and Bahana to 
 recover Shantung. 
 
 Because of the universal and destructive anarchy subsequent 
 on the death of the late emperor, Footing, Tatoong, and the 
 west, elected Dsaochiang wang, a relation of the late emperor's, 
 to the vacant throne. He was all the more ready to accept his 
 elevation as he was unaware of what treatment he and the 
 imperial family would receive at the hands of the Manchus. 
 The regent immediately issued two proclamations; a general 
 one to the effect that all who submitted to the newly established 
 regime would retain the rank, influence and emoluments 
 belonging to them under the late dynasty ; and another special, 
 announcing the imperial displeasure at the elevation of this 
 wang to be emperor, stating that the rank which he previously 
 
A CRAZED ASPIRANT. 211 
 
 held would still be his; but that to assume the power of 
 conferring new ranks, or of rearranging public matters, civil or 
 military, was an infringement of the law which could not be 
 tolerated. 
 
 In six months Yechun could report " tranquillity " in Honan 
 and Shansi, he having driven out the isolated bands of robbers, 
 most of whom joined Dsuchung; and he took or received the 
 keys of nine Foo, twenty-seven Chow, and one hundred and 
 forty-two Hien cities. Paoting and the other cities of Chihli 
 fell before the governor of the province, and the governor of 
 Hiienfoo restored order in his district, defeating the robbers and 
 slaying their apprehended chiefs, as a sacrifice to revenge the 
 late emperor. 
 
 The governor-general of Shensi reported to Peking that a 
 crazed or "possessed" man set up a "_/oo," a very long slip of 
 wood with a prayer or incantation written upon it, thrown high 
 in the air to ascertain the will of Heaven. He called himself a 
 duke, assumed the title of emperor, and had many myriad men 
 to follow him. The governor first heard of it as he was seated 
 in his office, and on going outside found crowds in the most 
 excited state, and confusedly shouting that ever so many dragons 
 had been seen to come down from heaven. The headman of the 
 village where this was said to have taken place, sent in by order 
 that which had appeared to be a dragon, and it was found to be 
 a volume of incantations.* The duke was, thereupon, appre- 
 hended and beheaded, and tranquillity was restored ; for the 
 " mesmerised " multitudes quietly dispersed. 
 
 Though the Shantung cities declared against the robbers, they 
 were far from desirous to open their gates to the Manchus ; and 
 had the emperor south of the Yellow river possessed more sense, 
 he could easily have retained a powerful empire in the south, as 
 
 * The most marvellous stories are circulated and universally believed by high and 
 low in China of the power of secret societies, who by their magical incantations 
 can equal the witches' broomstick, and attract at pleasure specie and women from, 
 any distance ! All the world is kin ! They too believe that this sorcery has no 
 power over very good people. 
 
212 INTO PEKING. 
 
 the Sung dynasty did when the Liao and Kin dynasties (see 
 those dynasties in " History of Corea "), also from northern 
 Manchuria, seized the north of the Yellow river. But though 
 the cities asserted their liberty, the country was overrun, and 
 many villages wholly and strongly occupied by the bands of 
 robbers ; for the life-blood had been sucked out of the province, 
 first by the Manchus from Mookden, then by the rebels from the 
 west, whose occupation caused the people to sink into the most 
 abject misery of absolute poverty. So much so, that when, in 
 the end of 1644, a remission of one-third of the taxation was 
 proclaimed for the empire, the acting governor-general prayed 
 that the two-third tax should be collected only for cultivated 
 ground; for if the tax were imposed on the acreage of the 
 province formerly cultivated, it would imply not a decrease, but 
 an enormous increase; inasmuch as scarcely one acre in ten, 
 certainly not one in five, was now under cultivation ; and the 
 families remaining in the country consisted each of only one or 
 two individuals. Though prince Haogo, with Abana, had been 
 there nearly a year, the province was as far from being occupied 
 as when they went. The prince was, therefore, " relieved " by 
 prince Abatai. Hoto, the Meirunjangjing, reported that a band 
 of rebels marched towards Tsingchow, with banners flying and 
 drums beating, to submit to the authorities. The vice-president, 
 Wang Aoyoong, gladly welcomed them; but they were no- 
 sooner inside the city than they took possession, slew Aoyoong, 
 and remained masters. Hoto laid siege immediately, took the 
 city, and slew the leader of the robber band. 
 
 The governor-general and Taotai of the " River " or " Canal," 
 reported, in 1645, that in a large district of Shantung, occupying 
 the whole territory within the jurisdiction of four Hien cities, 
 covering an area of 200 or 300 li in circumference, there were 
 over a thousand caves, the most noted of which were called 
 Yangshan, Kinshan, Taiyiji, Huajiaji, Sangkwoji, Lokiaji. The 
 whole district was known by the name of "Mankia caves." 
 These were occupied by many poor people during the ceaseless, 
 troubles there under the Ming dynasty ; and when the robbers. 
 
MANKIA CAVES. 213 
 
 who were plundering and firing property, were defeated by the 
 governor-general last year, they fled into these caves. On the 
 arrival of Abatai, he directed his whole energies at once, and 
 with success, against those caves, most of which he took and 
 filled up. There were, however, two with several entrances, 
 narrow and protected by many fire-arms. These long defied him, 
 for no man dared approach them. At length he took possession 
 of the path by which the robbers carried their water, cutting 
 o T their supplies. Some time after, the inmates were all found 
 strangled. Thus the last resistance to Manchu rule was crushed 
 in Shantung, the cities, unable to make any resistance in favour 
 of the southern emperor, who neglected them, having all ere 
 now been received under the Manchu banner. 
 
 When the regent, now absolute if not nominal master of 
 the Manchus and their power, arrived in Peking, he received the 
 same submissive and universal homage which had been given by 
 the same officials to Dsuchung. Fungchuen, one of the chief 
 members of the Hanlin College, required an invitation before he 
 appeared. The literary officials immediately occupied themselves 
 for some months in writing infallible prescriptions for the 
 recovery of the ruined empire, all of which were good enough. 
 The first advised attention to seven matters : To make a register 
 of all good men known; to search out those good men now 
 hiding in the provinces; to exterminate the robbers; to issue 
 proclamations to allegiance ; to establish peace among the people 
 and speedily to disband the army; and to punish the many 
 covetous and extortionate officials. Others followed in constant 
 succession, harping very much upon the same points, and 
 apparently as anxious to display their power of wielding the 
 pencil as their desire of reforming the state. One minister 
 urged the necessity of carrying out the ancient law compelling 
 farmers to plant trees; and to recall those families which had 
 fled from their native place. 
 
 Status was another vexed question demanding serious 
 attention ; as well as the publication of certain fixed rules laying 
 down the qualifications for office. The governor of Peking, 
 
214 INTO PEKING. 
 
 while urging, this latter point, declared that the policy which had 
 guided the past, indiscriminately replacing in their former offices 
 all who had been dismissed by the late government, was neither 
 a safe nor a prudent one; for many had been degraded for 
 malpractices, such as co-partnery with robbers ; and because of 
 the action of that policy bad men were fearless. 
 
 To all these the regent replied that he had only begun to 
 govern " all under heaven," but his one aim was to protect and 
 cherish the people ; that as to the magistrates already invested, 
 it would be improper to investigate into their antecedents, but 
 that any future applicant found guilty of crimes would be 
 beheaded, and that examination and punishment would be 
 according to the laws of the late dynasty. It is possibly because 
 of official action contrary to that statute of forgetfulness, that 
 the emperor agreed in the end of the year to the prayer of a 
 memorial, that if after an amnesty any official should re-accuse 
 a man of a crime perpetrated before that amnesty, he should 
 be declared guilty of rebelling against the emperor. 
 
 He thus inaugurated the wise policy which has retained the 
 dynasty so long on the throne of a people a thousand times more 
 numerous than his own. He felt the weakness of his sword if 
 he had to trust to it alone, and therefore went as far as he dared 
 and much further than many of his kinsmen and clansmen 
 desired, in his efforts to reconcile a proud and civilised people to 
 the rule of men just reclaimed by their arms from a semi- 
 savage life; forming in some degree a parallel to the Roman 
 conquest of Greece. The same policy induced him to send 
 Fungchuen to sacrifice at all the tombs of the Ming emperors, 
 ultimately to raise a tomb and make sacrifice to the last of them, 
 and to postpone the shaving of the head and the adoption of the 
 Manchu cap and clothing till a more convenient season. He had 
 to take action of some kind on a memorial sent in by the 
 governor of Shantung, who stated that formerly etiquette and 
 music were cultivated by officials to prove them men of literature ; 
 that official hats and raiment discriminated them from the 
 common people. He complained that neither of these was 
 
ETIQUETTE. 215 
 
 attended to by those officials recently appointed to Shantung, and 
 prayed that they be ordered to appear in the collarless robe and 
 the two-flapped official cap of the Ming dynasty, for that men's 
 minds were ill at ease, fearing they had been sent as military 
 rather than as civil officials. The regent replied that war was 
 only just over, but that proper attention would be at once given 
 to etiquette, music and the other matters mentioned ; and that 
 meantime those officials would be requested to wear Ming 
 costume. 
 
 The question of etiquette caused a great sensation on the 
 reception of the child emperor in October, when he arrived from 
 Mookden. The cause of it is thus given by the censor who drew 
 imperial attention to it : 
 
 " Of old those who had suffered the unspeakable degradation 
 of having to become eunuchs, were employed to sprinkle water 
 on and to sweep the floor, and were incapable of appearing face 
 to face with, as the equal of, an official. Because of the great 
 love of the Ming emperors for them, they had them set over the 
 stores ckangwei. That love was rewarded by three of the chief 
 eunuchs opening the gates of Peking and welcoming all the 
 misery inflicted by the rebels. Because our government was 
 grieved at their conduct, the chief of them were beheaded, 
 and the money and grain changwei handed over to proper 
 custodians, and the far and the near rejoiced. But on the great 
 reception day, when the emperor prepared a feast for all his 
 ministers, men of that sort, eunuchs, rushed forward and were 
 the first to welcome the emperor, thus affronting his majesty and 
 shaming the ministers. I therefore pray the emperor to prevent 
 the entrance of these men in future along with the ministers on 
 reception days." And the emperor granted the prayer of this 
 apparently Manchu minister ; and up to the present time the 
 eunuchs have never regained a shadow of their former power. 
 
 But most important of all was the act of transforming the late 
 brother and father of the regent into gods (shun), and introducing 
 them into the ancestral temple specially devoted to their use and 
 honour. Without this temple, and these ancestral gods, no 
 
216 INTO PEKING. 
 
 emperor can be. Sacrifices were then offered to Heaven and 
 Earth, to each of which there is a magnificent temple and altar 
 without images, enclosed in very extensive grounds to the south of 
 the capital. The former is dedicated to the invisible Heaven, the 
 Supreme Ruler Shangdi, to whom the emperor alone is permitted 
 to sacrifice twice each year in the beginning of spring and 
 autumn. The visible heavens, or rather the great generator, the 
 sun, has got mixed up in the Chinese mind with the invisible, 
 the earth being also regarded as a living being, and the mother 
 of all things living. The Chinese notions on this subject are 
 much more pantheistic than materialistic. Besides these there 
 are other gods, also strictly imperial. They are the Shuaji, or 
 National Lares, representing the gods of Grain and Fruit. 
 Hence losing the Shuaji is synonymous with losing the empire, 
 and acquiring the Shuaji is equivalent to gaining the empire ; 
 while the importance attached to these gods may be estimated 
 from the saying which frequently occurs in the writings of able 
 men, that the interests of the people are of main consideration, 
 those of the Shuaji of secondary, i.e., the people first, next the 
 emperor. 
 
 A successful hunt was made in all the provinces for unearthing 
 every man who had scholastic ability, and lists were presented 
 to the proper authorities, with the caution that there might be 
 some among them with bought titles, who desired to find means 
 to satisfy their covetousness, and some who could use the pen 
 well, but might employ it to extort money by threats of making 
 false accusations. Vice-president Wang Aoyoong had been sent 
 into Shantung to discover the " hiding men of merit." Like all 
 others engaged in this hunt, he was successful ; but though he 
 forwarded a letter from Joo Yooli, a Ming prince, proposing 
 submission, he reported very unpalatable news from the south, 
 that Foo Wang was declared emperor in Nanjoong (Nanking) ; 
 that he had assumed the style of Hoonggwang for his reign, 
 and had made Shu Kofa privy councillor, while the lieut.- 
 generals Liw Dsaiching, Liw Liangdso, Hwang Duagoong, and 
 Gao Jie, had been ordered northwards to protect the northern 
 
IMPEKIAL REASONING. 217 
 
 provinces. He prayed that a high minister should be ordered 
 to examine into and settle this southern difficulty. His 
 memorial was received in Peking in August, 1643; but the 
 regent had already sent the following despatch to Shu Kofa by 
 the hands of a major-general who had joined the Manchus from 
 the south : 
 
 " Your son,* while yet at Shunyang, was well aware of the 
 condition of Yenking.-f- After passing through the Barrier, and 
 breaking the power of the Robber, I became acquainted with the 
 literary men, though some of your younger brothers J I had known 
 in the ranks of the Ching, to whom I committed many important 
 trusts, among them that of sending letters revealing our entire 
 heart desirous of peace, and I was grieved because there appeared 
 no definite time when we could come to know each other. It is 
 now reported that tattling travellers prattle about the elevation 
 of an emperor in Kinling, Golden Tombs or Nanking. But the 
 enemy (who has murdered one's prince or father) cannot live 
 with him under the same heaven. The teaching of the ' Spring 
 and Autumn' Annals is that 'rebels unpursued prevents the 
 obsequies of the lately deceased prince, or the elevation of a 
 successor.' The first duty of all, therefore, is to punish the 
 rebelling minister, and crush every robber's son. The ' Bolting ' 
 robber Dsuchung, bent on overturning the kingdom, destroyed 
 the prince. China's ministers and people have not heard of 
 your sending one arrow against him. But Woo Sangwei, on the 
 eastern frontiers, bitterly lamenting the fate of the throne, deter- 
 mined to display his faithfulness and uprightness as an official ; 
 which spirit we greatly praised, forgetting the little differences 
 we formerly had. We were therefore ready to summon our men 
 at his entreaty, and take upon us the character of the bitter 
 enemy of this ferocious robber. And on entering the capital, our 
 
 * Expression of humility, indicating the writer. 
 
 t Ancient name of Peking ; Shunyang is the Chinese name of Mookden. 
 
 Men of learning inferior to Kofa. 
 
 Classical quotation one of the two must die in demanding vengeance. 
 
218 INTO PEKING. 
 
 first care was to bury the emperor and empress in Shanling 
 (mountain tomb) in accordance with the traditional imperial rites. 
 All officials and ministers under the rank of prince and com- 
 mander were retained in the respective offices and ranks formerly 
 held by them ; while both civil and military officials have been, in 
 many instances, raised in rank. Fear is banished from farmer 
 and merchant ; and there has not been political storm enough to 
 ruffle a harvest feather. Men's minds are now tranquillised to 
 the happy medium of autumn weather. 
 
 " A commander has been ordered to the west to restore order 
 there ; but instead of an army, we send an epistle to the south 
 of the Kiang, to summon you to unite your forces to ours at 
 Hoswo,* and there, with one heart, to become the common 
 avengers of prince and kingdom ; and thus shall be demonstrated 
 the virtue occupying our throne. Who knows how brief a space 
 of security you princes of the south can count on ? Your peace 
 may be destroyed any morning or evening. Do you not perceive 
 that the present is your opportunity? If you consider only 
 those matters important which are at your doors, is not the 
 name of prince an empty title ? This is sleepily to have forgotten 
 real danger. I cannot understand you. 
 
 " We came into Yenking, but took it, not from the Ming 
 dynasty, but from a robber who had overthrown the temples of 
 the Ming emperors and put all your ancestors to shame. Our 
 men fear not battle, whether the easy victory or the terrible 
 combat ; and how should the filial son and the man of integrity 
 repay our generosity ? You remained at your ease in the south, 
 while we were slaying and driving out the rebellious robber ; and 
 when we had driven him out, you set up as heroes in Kiangnan, 
 seeking nothing but your own personal gratification.')* Consider 
 whether this is correct conduct. In my opinion, you are 
 attempting the impossible; for you cannot cross the Road of 
 
 *Name of the regions bordering the Yellow river in Shensi and Shansi, the 
 river sources, or its higher reaches. 
 
 t Literally, "the fisherman's profit," which is small and uncertain. 
 
THREATENING LANGUAGE. 
 
 Heaven (Milky Way), nor can you stop a river by throwing a 
 whip into it. That robber was but the foe of the Ming family ; 
 he had done nothing to cause him to be regarded as the enemy of 
 our people. Your cause of hatred against him is like the Yangtsu : 
 ours is but shallow. We seek only to make our righteousness 
 manifest to all. But if you desire to erect an empire, then 
 1 heaven has two suns,' * and you must be regarded as a hostile 
 nation. Our men may be recalled from the west, and marched 
 towards the east. The robber we may pardon and employ 
 as vanguard and guide against you ; and thus surround you, like 
 a pool of water, with all the power of China. Do you really 
 think you can found a kingdom in a little corner ( on the left 
 of the Kiang ? It requires no calculation to know who shall be 
 victor. 
 
 " We have heard that the superior man loves because of virtue, 
 the mean man because of small favours. Every superior man 
 understands the times, and knows from events the decrees of 
 heaven. You should constantly remember your former lord, and 
 love with a deep affection your virtuous (deceased) ruler ; and 
 you should exhort your new master to lay aside his title, come to 
 us and receive endless prosperity. The throne is ready to 
 receive him as an honoured guest, to make him liberal gifts and 
 confer upon him both mountains and rivers, and to place him in 
 rank above all the princes and nobles. You will also thus enable 
 the throne to carry out its original design, to crush rebellion, 
 to put all the robbers to the sword, and to restore and put in 
 order what they destroyed. Thus too when we get to Nanking 
 we shall be able to gift lands to your dukes, your marquises and 
 all your nobles according to their rank. You have Pingsi wang 
 as an example, following which you will find the only profitable 
 plan. Those literary men and magistrates who come to us late, 
 love to have their names elevated on high trees as upright men, 
 
 *In allusion to the saying of Mencius that "Heaven has not two suns, nor a 
 kingdom two rulers." 
 
 f Nanking lies on the south of the Yangtsu in the "corner," after it winds 
 away to the north. 
 
220 INTO PEKING. 
 
 but their thoughts are not all for the welfare of the people. 
 When there is an important national business, each has his own 
 house to build. 
 
 " The ancient Soong officials wrangled and debated ; but were 
 yet undecided what to do when the enemy * crossed the river. 
 The history of the Yin dynasty, and the part of the various 
 literary actors in it should serve as an example. It is best at an 
 early stage to follow the custom. But whether to sink or swim, 
 to be saved or lost, to obey or oppose, it is well to come to an 
 early and a determinate resolution; for when our soldiers march, 
 it is uncertain whether it shall be for the east or the west. 
 The future peace or danger of the southern kingdom hangs on 
 your present movements. We are anxious that all you princes 
 should march together with us against the robbers ; we entertain 
 better hopes of you than this opposition. 
 
 " We have heard it said that only the man of virtue can bear 
 extreme words. All our very bowels and heart are laid bare 
 before you, in order to make instruction perfectly intelligible. 
 Our hopes of you are however very great.")* We are waiting on 
 the tiptoe of expectation. This epistle falls far short of our 
 intentions to befriend you." 
 
 The regent was perhaps quite correct in his belief that if he 
 gained Shu Kofa, the south of the Kiang would fall to him, at 
 least as easily as the north was being annexed by Sangwei. But 
 Kofa, if not equal to Sangwei as a soldier, was greatly his 
 superior as a man ; and while Sangwei threw himself at the feet 
 of the Manchus to gratify private revenge, no consideration of 
 any kind, private or public, would induce Kofa to retreat from 
 a cause of whose stability he must have had grave suspicions at 
 that very moment. In reply, therefore, to the skilful but 
 .sophistical letter of the regent, he sent the following epistle, at 
 least as skilful, while more artfully artless in parrying that 
 
 * The Yuen or Mongol dynasty, which in Mareo Polo's time took the capital of 
 the Soong dynasty. 
 
 f Literally ; the "Kiang (Yangtsu) and Heaven are in my hopes." 
 
KOFA'S KEPLY. 221 
 
 sophistry, than the regent was carelessly artless in parading his- 
 threats. 
 
 " Of the great Ming empire, the commander-in-chief and 
 president of the Board of War, the grand secretary Shu Kofa, 
 kowtowing replies to the great Ching imperial regent, the dweller 
 under the palace. We of Nanjoong have most respectfully received 
 your excellent letter. According to propriety we should have 
 sent a messenger to enquire into the conduct of the great 
 commander Woo;* but we were not so unceremonious as to 
 rush-)- into your presence, for we could not treat you as we 
 would a country boor. Truly an official is without thought of 
 private gain, according to the teaching of the Annals. We are 
 at present in confusion, and your letter came a glittering 
 precious gem, as if direct from heaven. Several times over 
 have I studied it most carefully, to discover all its meaning. 
 
 "That rebellious robber does certainly deserve the extreme 
 vengence of Heaven; and your honourable kingdom grieves 
 with us. For you I have only gratitude, and for myself shame* 
 I much fear those around me do not investigate the truth of the 
 matter. You state that we princes and people of Nanjoong in 
 desiring to set up an empire on the left of the Kiang forgot our 
 duty to prince and father, and the vengeance demanded at our 
 hands; I will therefore place the matter plainly before your 
 honourable kingdom. 
 
 " Our departed great emperor feared Heaven, and reverenced 
 his ancestors ; he carefully attended to his imperial duties, and 
 loved his people. He was indeed a worthy successor of Yao and 
 Shwun.J But incapable ministers mismanaged the national 
 business, and hence the affair of the 19th of 3rd moon. I was 
 
 * Sangwei, probably intimating that he was still regarded as a Ming commander, 
 f Literally, " Push through the officials on your left and right (hand)." 
 
 J The two emperors of China first in honour as in time ; who were themselves 
 paragons of virtue and loved to see all virtuous. Yao is said to have begun his reign 
 B.C. 2357; and because his own son was other than virtuous, Yao disinherited him 
 and gave his kingdom to Shwun, along with his two lovely daughters. 
 
 The death of the emperor. 
 
222 INTO PEKING. 
 
 then in the south because of my sins, and in my endeavour to 
 save the capital got to the river Hwai with my army, when we 
 heard the fiercely cruel news. It was as if the earth was broken 
 up and the heavens rent asunder ; the mountains were scorched, 
 and the sea wept. Alas, alas! what man is there without a 
 prince ? If it could save the throne I would be cut in pieces on 
 the execution ground ; but would my death in the least serve to 
 .set forth the excellencies of him who is underneath the sod ? 
 
 " At that time the officials and people of Nanjoong mourned 
 and lamented as for a father. And there was not a man who 
 did not gnash his teeth and clench his fist and vow vengeance 
 on the murderer, while all demanded that the armies of the 
 .south-east should at once be set in motion to destroy the robber. 
 But two or three aged ministers said, ' The kingdom is broken 
 up ; the prince is perished ; the ancestral manes are of the first 
 importance. Our chief duty is to consult together to discover a 
 successor. The present emperor is the ' heart ' of China and 
 the world ; and the descendant of no other than the reigning 
 family of China, and was as the elder brother of the departed 
 emperor. His reputation was excellent and his speech correct. 
 Heaven smiled upon him, and men acknowledged him a real 
 ruler. On the 1st of 5th moon his imperial carriage got to 
 Nandoo* The myriad families lined the road, and the shouts 
 of joyful welcome were heard over several li. When all the 
 ministers and officers pressed around urging him to accept the 
 throne, he with an air of sorrow again and again declined, but was 
 at length prevailed upon, and on the 15th day he was enthroned. 
 Just before, a phoenix was seen to alight, and the muddy river 
 became transparently clear. Other auspicious omens occurred 
 very frequently. When he went to the Ancestral Temple a 
 purple cloud hung over his head. When the paper with prayers 
 was burnt it mounted up high into the air, seen by myriad eyes, 
 who rejoiced at the happy omen. The Kiang in a great flood 
 brought down many tens of myriads of pieces of wood to build 
 
 * Nandoo and Nanking mean the same thing, viz. , southern capital ; contradis- 
 tinguished from Peking, the north capital. 
 
IMPEKIAL SUCCESSION. 223 
 
 the palaces and imperial residences. Does not all this clearly 
 display the will of Heaven ? 
 
 " After a few days, I was ordered with the army north of the 
 Kiang to march westwards and give an account of the robbers, 
 when I suddenly heard that our great general Woo Sangwei had 
 asked for the aid of your honourable kingdom, and had broken 
 and was pursuing the rebellious robber ; and that our departed 
 emperor and empress had been buried with the proper ceremonies, 
 the palaces swept out, and the people protected ; while the law 
 compelling them to shave their heads was repealed, with the 
 evident desire of preventing them from forgetting their native 
 dynasty. All this was of such distinguished excellency that 
 among moralists ancient and modern, not one could do other 
 than praise ; and all the Ming ministers kowtowed towards the 
 north. Not only thus, according to the Ming saying, did we 
 * praise your goodness and wish (you) well ; ' but in the eighth 
 moon we had come to the conclusion to forward messengers with 
 presents to your army, to consult with you as to the settlement 
 of the empire, and to unite our men with yours in crushing the 
 western robbers. And on our way we got to the Hwai river, 
 where I received your letter severely disapproving of my 
 conduct and applying the teaching of the Annals to reprove me. 
 And how wonderful is the wisdom of the sentiments of that 
 reproof ! But setting aside the words, we find the facts of the 
 Liegwo * to have been that on the death of any prince, the heir 
 should at once succeed, and his officials would not voluntarily die 
 while there were unpunished rebels in his territory. But if the 
 emperor should die, and if the heir and his brothers because of 
 their deep grief refuse to have the throne occupied, the great 
 doctrine of propriety is rendered unintelligible."!* 
 
 * Liegwo, "separate kingdoms," a term given to the small kingdoms of northern 
 China nominally acknowledging the Chow dynasty, which was too weak to make 
 its authority felt beyond the palace, like the Indian Moguls. It is the history of this 
 period which is known as the "Spring and Autumn" (annals) written by Confucius. 
 
 f For there must always be an emperor, as the westerns say, "the king never 
 dies ; " but there would be no emperor if the throne were vacant during the three 
 years of mourning demanded by Chinese etiquette, when every official mourning his 
 parent is compelled to retire into private life. 
 
224 INTO PEKING. 
 
 * 
 
 "China was like a boiling pot, fire without and turmoil 
 within ; and troops were incessantly on the move. How could 
 men's minds be knit together seeing that of 'faithful and 
 upright/ only one remained ? The teaching of the Annals is 
 that though Mang * took possession of the imperial Han 
 incense-tripod, Gwangwoo afterwards regained possession. The 
 emperor Hwai and Min f lost the empire ; yet emperor Yuen 
 was proclaimed (A.D. 317) long before he put down the rebels 
 infesting the empire; and the Sung emperor Gao J was proclaimed 
 (A.D. 1127) though he never put down the rebels. Though all 
 these took the throne, before they had secured more than a small 
 portion of the empire from the rebels, history does not in the 
 remotest manner hint at any impropriety in their conduct, 
 while it does always maintain that the dynastic line should be 
 preserved unbroken. While the Yuen emperor Juyooen was 
 still on the throne in his capital, the heir of Szchuen ascended 
 the imperial throne at Lingwoo; and though the officials 
 discussing the matter thought it a mistake, none pronounced it 
 an error ; for the light was replaced on the old lamp, founding 
 the Ming dynasty. This our native Ming dynasty had sixteen 
 emperors, each the lineal descendant of his predecessor, or the 
 proper heir of his family. Their benevolence and mercy 
 extended everywhere. Your honourable kingdom in former 
 times was the vassal of our former dynasty and several times 
 received investiture at its hands. Have you not heard of it 
 
 * Wang Mang, an able man and father in law of the emperor Ping of the Han 
 dynasty, who began to reign A.D. 1, and was soon afterwards murdered by his 
 father in law, who was a short time regent for the child-brother emperor Ping, but 
 soon became nominal emperor as well as real ruler. A civil war broke out which 
 dethroned and killed him, and Gwangwoo became emperor in A.D. 25, though the 
 original splendour of the Han was never recovered. The burning of incense, &c., to 
 Heaven, is the peculiar duty of the emperor who is great high priest. 
 
 f Tsin dynasty, A.D. 313. 
 
 J.The Sung dynasty which had ruled over all China was driven out of the north 
 by the Kitan who were known as the Liao dynasty ; and across the Yangtsu by the 
 Kin dynasty, of the same stock as the Manchus, when the southern Sung dynasty 
 was founded in Nanking by Gao, whose example Shu Kofa and his colleagues were 
 trying to imitate. See " History of Corea." 
 
PROPOSED ALLIANCE. 225 
 
 in the Record-house of Treaties and Covenants? At present 
 you lament over the hardships of the native dynasty, and have 
 driven out the traitorous robber. Your conduct may indeed be 
 called great uprightness, and is worthy of a place in the Spring 
 and Autumn annals. 
 
 " Formerly the Kin kingdom was in perfect accord * with the 
 Sung dynasty (A.D. 11201234), but was exempt from paying 
 tribute, both exchanging a certain sum of gold. When Hwi Ho 
 assisted the Tang dynasty it was not with the desire of taking 
 possession of their lands.-f* Your honourable kingdom has 
 certainly been actuated with a sincere desire to do well to the 
 world. Your armies have marched in a just cause, and myriad 
 generations shall look back upon your noble deeds, and criticise 
 the manner in which you will now act. If, taking advantage 
 of our troubles, you, by marching as an enemy against us, throw 
 away the good reputation already secured, you will be judged 
 as having accepted the hem of her garments for the whole of 
 virtue ; you will have begun in seeking justice, you will have 
 ended by pursuing profit ; and you will thus give the lawless 
 robbers reason to laugh in secret. J Is it possible for your 
 honourable country to act so ? 
 
 "The departed emperors sought always the welfare of the 
 country, and could not utterly destroy even offenders, and we 
 axe all spared to the present. Our new emperor, with his 
 heaven-gifted bravery and warlike spirit, is constantly meditating 
 
 * There was a good deal of fighting before the Kin dynasty drove the Sung across 
 the Yangtsu, each afterwards ruling over half China ; but while the Kin gave the 
 Sung a certain amount of gold, far more than the value of that gold was repaid by 
 the Sung in silks ; a sort of black-mail, which Chinese rulers have always known 
 how to pay. The picture is highly coloured by Kofa, but his object is evident, 
 there may be now as then two independent empires. 
 
 f Hwi Ho, after changing from one Kokhan to another, became one of the most 
 powerful of the Mongols, and the principal rival of Sieli the Kokhan of the eastern 
 Tookiie who made the Tang emperors tremble. He was as often the plunderer of 
 Chinese soil as its friend, but saved the dynasty from destruction by opposing and 
 often defeating the Tookiie or Turks. 
 
 J Because the ' ' virtuous " indignation which pursued them, was but the cloak of 
 the same principle of plunder which actuated themselves. 
 
226 INTO PEKING. 
 
 revenge, making the ancestral temple his one thought. Our 
 ministers are of one mind in seeking the welfare of the state, and 
 the mail-coats are standing tear in eye and hand on sword, all, 
 people and soldiers, faithful and true, ready to die for their 
 country. All are of one mind that the Heaven-abandoned, 
 Bolting-robber, should not have lived till the present. There is 
 a saying that, 'To establish a good reputation, you must 
 strive your best to cherish it ; to put away evil, you must exert 
 yourself to end it.' The rebellious thief has not yet received 
 his reward from heaven. We know only that he is escaped to 
 Shensi. But we are eager to be revenged. Not only have we 
 the hate against him, which will not allow us both to live under 
 the same heaven, but we know, and depend upon the knowledge, 
 that your honourable kingdom grieves that the evil is not yet 
 obliterated. We, therefore, bowing to the ground, pray for a 
 strongly cemented union with you, so that together we may 
 complete the work you have so nobly begun, unite our armies, 
 press in, and on Shensi ground judge the guilty of his crime. 
 Let us both unite to cut off the head of the robbers, and appease 
 our common wrath, which has gone up to heaven, thus blazing 
 forth to thousand generations the splendid justice of your 
 honourable kingdom. The native dynasty can no more than put 
 forth its utmost strength to demand vengeance. And ever after, 
 our two kingdoms shall swear eternal friendship. As to the 
 'ox-ear' covenant,* ambassadors have been long since despatched 
 from our court, who should arrive in Peking any day, with whom 
 a treaty of friendship can be made, according to your wishes. 
 
 " I look towards the north, to the tombs and the temples of 
 my departed prince. I have no tears left to shed. I feel a 
 criminal who should die, and whose crimes deserve a myriad 
 deaths. But I am compelled to live to have a care for the 
 living dynasty and the national lares. The Chronicles state 
 
 * In Liegwo, when a solemn covenant was made by two parties, each took hold 
 of an ear of an ox, placed bound between the two. Thus they swore to the 
 covenant, after which the ox was killed, and his blood sprinkled on the covenant, 
 intimating that so would Heaven serve the man who infringed on the covenant. 
 
A FAITHFUL MINISTER 227 
 
 that ' all the vigour of my kingdom is bent in the direction of 
 faithfully performing my duty.' I am ready for my fate, but 
 till that fate is exhausted, I am a minister bound to repay, with 
 grateful service, the kindnesses of my former master. 
 
 " Let the dweller under the palace carefully consider." 
 
 Scarcely less interesting than the original letters is the 
 following addendum, also literally translated. The author of 
 Doonghwaloo writes : 
 
 " According to strict etiquette, duke Shu's letter should not 
 have appeared on these pages. The original was laid away 
 among the Privy council papers, till the reigning emperor 
 (Kienlung) ordered it to be searched out for examination. On 
 reading it, he wrote comments with his own hand in red 
 characters, twenty in a line, and four lines on a page, and 
 stamped at the beginning with an imperial seal. I reverently 
 place below the imperial comments." Then follows this imperial 
 writing : 
 
 " The Ming minister Shu Kofa's reply to Zooichin Wang : 
 ' When I was a boy, I used to delight in hearing read the letter 
 of our Zooichin Wang to the Ming Shu Kofa ; but the letter 
 itself I did not see till yesterday, when I ordered the imperial 
 family to search it out, and then I was able to study it. I 
 discovered that it laid down most righteous judgment ; and I saw 
 it was according to the principles of correct doctrine, using the 
 teaching of the Spring and Autumn Annals to expose the error 
 of the secessionists.* I saw that his general scope was right, 
 his style awe-inspiring, and I was delighted. The reply of Kofa 
 was said to be of so stubborn a character, that it could not be 
 placed upon the Records. But Kofa was a Ming minister. If 
 he did not stoop, he was right. If his words fail to be placed 
 on the Records, is not the mind of a faithful minister lost ? 
 Moreover if not placed on the Records, men will in future 
 wonder why it is not there; and in ignorance of the facts, 
 
 * Power is always right on all continents and kingdoms, whatever the views or 
 desires of those dissenting from the powerful. We find exactly the same sentiments 
 as these in some of our own leading newspapers ; and enunciated by powerful officials. 
 
228 INTO PEKING. 
 
 may hate the writer. This is what cannot possibly be 
 permitted. 
 
 " I, therefore, command the scribes to record the letter, without 
 change, in a book, and to place it in the Library, the original 
 to be restored to the safes of the Privy council. It is now, 
 therefore, for the first time made accessible for study. 
 
 " How sad to think that Kofa was the only faithful minister ; 
 and Foo Wang is an object of compassion, who had such a 
 minister and would not trust him, but permitted a traitor 
 minister to pierce his arm, so that he died. Up to the present 
 his memory has been lost. Had Foo Wang but trusted Kofa he 
 might have retained the Long river (Yangstu) and re-established 
 an empire after the example of the ancient Sung. But it is now 
 difficult to determine. He was, however, but as a swallow in a 
 hall destitute of deep plans and unable to think of the remote, 
 causing his soldiers to run short of provisions and to exhaust 
 their strength. The faithful minister could only weep, let his 
 feet sleep, and sigh, unable to find opportunities of exerting 
 himself. He could but die to show his gratitude to his dynasty. 
 Is his not a most pitiful fate ? " Then follow remarks by the 
 historian : 
 
 "Kofa's letter did not, from the very first, contain any 
 exceptionally disrespectful language. Though in his heart 
 he must have been terrified because of Zooiwang, yet in treating 
 with him he ceases not to show a lofty independence. He was 
 in brief a Ming minister, and as such honourably and faithfully 
 true. I have considered his a paper which not only might be 
 published, but which should not be left unpublished. There is 
 besides the imperial command to have it published. He was 
 indeed another Wun Tiensiang,* and it would be entirely wrong 
 to omit his name out of the history. It is said that his mother 
 dreamed she saw Wun Tiensiang just before Kofa's birth. 
 
 *The only faithful and able minister of the southern Sung, who preserved his 
 dynasty some years from the Mongols, but was at last defeated and died in 
 captivity, because he would not forsake the cause of his former master to serve a 
 new one. 
 
MIGHT AGAINST EIGHT. 229 
 
 Though he was like Baidsu * grown in the desert, if his example 
 were lost, it would be a loss to all." 
 
 If the letter of Kofa seems to us somewhat inflated, we must 
 not forget that in all Chinese historic times it is the duty of a 
 minister in serving his prince to close his eyes to all faults of 
 that prince when speaking of him ; and falsehoods in diplomacy 
 are not considered greater crimes in China than elsewhere. 
 Yet Kofa is not to be severely blamed when trying to shield, not 
 his own character, but the fame of the man who was chosen 
 emperor over him, though against his wish. But skilfully parried 
 as were the charges against Kofa, and thoroughly exposed as 
 were the sophisms of the regent, Kofa must present harder 
 arguments than good logic, and heavier metal than noble 
 sentiments and beautiful morality, to keep back the Manchu 
 hosts, who not only ended but began by seeking profit and 
 nothing else. For the naked and savage Manchus began their 
 career and continued its course in pursuance of their own 
 interests, and sent to their graves or to the wolves millions of 
 their fellowmen, whose interests did not coincide with theirs, or 
 who defended their own property and territory against them. 
 Though the Manchus were not hypocritical enough to cloak 
 their ravages under the plea of extending the benefits of 
 civilisation, a plea reserved for western destroyers. Kofa is 
 facile princeps with the pen ; he knows, however, that the real 
 issue is to be tried by the sword. Just a year after the date of 
 Kofa's reply, in November 1644, prince Dodo was ordered 
 southwards across the great Kiang, with the title of Dinggwo 
 Da Kiangkun, " the great commander-in-chief establishing the 
 kingdom." But we shall now look back to what was meantime 
 doing in the southern capital. 
 
 * Baidsu is a poor variety of small millet, eatable, but chiefly used to feed birds. 
 The meaning here is that Kofa was outside the Manchu cultivated field and of a 
 different kind of grain from the chosen people. 
 
CHAPTER VIIT. 
 FOO WANG* 
 
 THE Manchus found it a comparatively easy matter to crush 
 the robber Li and his predatory bands, as sympathy would 
 accompany them at every step of their way; for once under 
 settled rule, every village would feel secure and every city safe 
 from illegal and cruel exactions. And the way was all the more 
 easily opened up that a Chinaman and not a Manchu was the 
 chief acting commander. 
 
 A much more difficult task remained before them of annexing 
 the south and south-east provinces, a task which could easily 
 have been rendered impossible had a spark of patriotism 
 remained in the breasts of the men then in power in the south. 
 For though the Ming emperor had perished and his capital had 
 become the seat of a barbaric dynasty, his family was still widely 
 spread ; and the tenacious conservatism of the Chinese clung to 
 the name of the native dynasty. Had the Joo family only 
 had one able member to take the helm of state, he could have 
 retained at least a large half of the empire in his hands ; for not 
 a village would welcome, not a town would open its gates to the 
 Manchus, except by compulsion; while all would rally with 
 enthusiasm around the banner of an able dynastic representative. 
 Though famine had long devasted the northern provinces and 
 
 * Many particulars in this and the following two chapters on Tang Wang and 
 Gwei Wang are culled out of the Ming Mo Ji, history of the end of the Ming, 
 discovered like many another book whose author is uncertain of the manner in 
 which the authorities will receive it in Shanghai in 1862, and it is of course of 
 unknown authorship. It has however an air of truthfulness about it which induces 
 me to use it freely in tracing the action, motives, and character of the Wangs and 
 their retainers and supporters which cannot be gleaned from books under imperial 
 authority 
 
232 FOO WANG. 
 
 eaten up all the accumulated treasure of generations, the southern 
 provinces were wealthy, all the more wealthy because of the 
 northern poverty. They could therefore furnish ample means 
 in men and money, and did furnish both in more than sufficient 
 quantity ; but what is an army without a general ? And what is 
 a state without a head ? 
 
 When Peking was taken, some officials fled southwards and 
 halted only at Nanking, where Shu Kofa was minister. Shu 
 Kofa became censor with rank of governor of a province under 
 the last Ming emperor, retired from court for the period of 
 mourning for his parents, strict etiquette demanding a 
 retirement of three years, and from the thoroughly conservative 
 and conscientious character of Kofa he was likely to adhere to 
 the letter of the ancient custom. He returned however, and was 
 made president of one of the Boards in Nanking, where his 
 eminent learning gained him the esteem of all classes, while 
 every one trusted his artless character and his perfectly honest 
 and single desire to serve his prince and his country with all his 
 might. Some from patriotism, some from example, most from 
 self-interest, composed in all a goodly company averse from 
 the change of dynasty which had been made in the north ; 
 and not a voice was anywhere heard advocating Manchu rule 
 till Manchu swords prepared a way for the barber, and the long 
 knotted hair of the Chinaman disappeared, leaving a plaited 
 queue behind. It was difficult however from among many 
 aspirants to chose the right man for emperor, and the eyes of the 
 people were directed towards Shu Kofa, the excellent scholar and 
 upright official of Nanking. 
 
 The Ming emperor, styled Wanli, had five sons, the eldest of 
 whom succeeded him; the second was made Foo Wang, the 
 third Zooi Wang, the fourth Whi Wang, the fifth Gwei Wang. 
 Foo Wang was sent to rule the ancient Loyang at a very young 
 age and remained there for many years. He was in reality kept 
 there by a court cabal which feared his ability (see p. 119). 
 In Tienchi's reign Foo Wang sent more revenue than any 
 other into the imperial coffers. In 1641 Dsuchung took Loyang 
 
ELECTION OF EMPEKOR. 233 
 
 and put this prince to death. His son, however, survived and 
 succeeded him. 
 
 When, three years after, Dsuchung was besieging Peking, Kofa 
 led an army to its rescue. While on the march, news arrived of 
 the fall of the capital and the death of the emperor. His officers 
 resolved to march against the rebels. Foo and Loo Wangs, 
 because at hand, took active measures to press the rebels by 
 water at Hwaian. Loo Wang, though the most distantly related 
 to the deceased emperor, was the favourite of the people and the 
 patriots ; for Foo Wang, though nearest in blood, had alienated 
 all by his vices. 
 
 Ma Shuying had two good friends, Hwang Duagoong and Liw 
 Liangdso. At Kwachow they became acquainted, and soon 
 friendly, with Gao Jie and Liw Dsaiching, who had retired 
 thither from the north; Gao Jie having fled from the rebel 
 army with a beautiful woman, who had been taken by Dsuchung. 
 
 Forming his plans in concert with these men, Ma sent a 
 private messenger to Kofa, requesting that there should be 
 no haste in proclaiming an emperor; for he must be selected 
 because of his virtues ; while the candidates should be confined 
 to the relations of the late emperor. With this suggestion Kofa 
 agreed all the more readily that the first condition excluded 
 Foo Wang, whose character he denounced in his reply. He was 
 soon thereafter officially informed of the arrival of Foo Wang at 
 Loongkiang gwan, and he discovered that he had been " sold " * 
 by Ma. He was compelled however to go out and hail the man 
 whom he had denounced as unworthy, with "wan swi, wan 
 swi ; " " Myriad years, or Long live the emperor." 
 
 When news arrived of the total rout of Dsuchung by the 
 Manchus at Shanhaigwan, Kiangnan declared for Foo Wang, who 
 entered his capital of Nanking on the 1st of 5th moon, convert- 
 ing a foo into a palace ; and it was observed that " two yellow 
 stars fought and disappeared in the heavens." A censor 
 memorialised to the effect that meantime Foo Wang should be 
 made guardian of the kingdom to keep it in name of the son of 
 
 * Literal translation, and strange coinsidence with English slang. 
 
234 FOO WANG. 
 
 the Ming emperor, who might possibly appear ; but if not, that 
 Foo Wang himself should inherit. A counter memorial was 
 presented, praying for the immediate enthronement of Foo 
 Wang; but the voice of the great majority was with the censor. 
 
 The following year was to begin the style Hoong Gwang, and 
 Kofa, with two others, were elected privy councillors. Of the 
 three, Kofa was the only pure minister. Other officials were 
 nominated; some by Kofa, some by Ma, who was soon left 
 with the control of all affairs in his hands by the northward 
 march beyond the Yangtsu of Kofa, at his own request. He 
 filled up all the offices ; and the character of the men gave the 
 people hope. 
 
 Kofa and the other military commanders had already 
 deliberated on the advisability of forming four strong military 
 posts north of the river. Dsaiching was now set over that 
 of Hwaihai, including Hai, Kan, Pei, and other eight chow cities 
 of Kiangsi; besides superintending Shantung, which had 
 declared for Foo Wang as soon as the retreat of Dsuchung 
 westwards incited them to rise upon his garrisons, and put them 
 to death. Gao Jie was set over fourteen chows, Kai, Kwei, 
 &c., in Honan. Liangdso was general over Chun and Chi, south 
 of Kaifung in Honan; Whang Duagoong over Loochow and 
 other ten cities in Hupeh. Each of these four posts, held 
 by friends of Ma, who was formerly commander-in-chief, was to 
 have two hundred thousand dan of rice, four hundred thousand 
 taels per year, and thirty thousand men ; and each was to be 
 independent of the other. Duagoong was also made a marquis, 
 the others counts. 
 
 Gao Jie, who had fled with his beautiful paramour from Li 
 Dsuchung, afterwards gained a good reputation as a soldier by 
 defeating the rebels. The old roving spirit not having quite 
 died, he determined to abandon Toonggwan, where he had been 
 located ; and with twelve lieut.-generals under him, and four 
 hundred thousand men who had crowded round him probably 
 most of them refugees from Li Dsuchung's oft-defeated bands 
 he moved southwards across the river. One officer dared in vain 
 
MILITARY INSUBORDINATION. 235 
 
 to resist his progress ; and Wan Yooenji, a Board secretary, was 
 bold enough to go in about his quarters, and, while professedly 
 bringing some presents, to expostulate with the men because 
 forsaking their post, which was tantamount to insurrection. 
 Gao Jie replied that the north of the river was poverty-stricken, 
 while Yangchow, both the old and new cities, revelled in plenty. 
 
 As soon as the men of Yangchow heard that Gao was making 
 for them, general terror seized them. A graduate went alone 
 to discover the real intentions of Gao ; who was glad to see him, 
 feasted him with meat and drink, and sent him away loaded 
 with presents of gold and silks, with the message to the men of 
 Yang that he had come to protect and not to injure them. 
 When the graduate displayed the presents given him as proofs 
 of the pacific disposition of Gao, the populace roared out that 
 he had "sold" them, and that the city could stand only by 
 the fall of his head ; and he was murdered accordingly. Gao 
 hearing of this occurrence was angry in the extreme, and 
 determined now to march on Yangchow. 
 
 Kofa had already been alienated from the chiefs of the four 
 military posts, the friends of Ma, and had retired to Yangchow. 
 Hearing of Gao's approach, and of the ravages accompanying 
 his march, Kofa went out to meet him at the head of three 
 thousand horse ; and along with the officials of the city, gave 
 Gao the most hearty welcome, as if his southward march had been 
 under orders. Gao demanded that the leader of the men who put 
 the graduate to death should be beheaded, and the city gates 
 thrown open to his troops ; to which, however, Kofa objected, 
 and the discussion became so warm that Kofa was confined in a 
 temple, and his retinue dispersed among Gao's men. Friends of 
 Gao's were constantly beside Kofa drawing swords, and thrusting 
 at, as if to murder him ; but he only smiled, showing not the 
 slightest indication of fear. He wrote out a document, however, 
 stating that Gao might make his headquarters at Kwachow; 
 then changing his clothing, managed to escape. Gao had to be 
 contented with Kwachow, and professed the warmest friendship 
 for his recent prisoner. 
 
236 FOO WANG. 
 
 A lieut. -general of Lanchow and Tungchow in Shantung, 
 desired to visit Yangchow, but fearing to be waylaid by Gao, 
 sent on a message to Duagoong, to send an escort of soldiers to 
 meet him. Duagoong went with three hundred men. Gao, 
 hearing of this, was very angry, believing a plot laid against 
 himself; for he and Duagoong were not on good terms, while 
 their armies were " like water and fire," ready to destroy each 
 other. He, therefore, commanded one thousand men to seize 
 Duagoong, but gave them orders to take him alive. Duagoong 
 happened to be off his horse and away from his men, when the 
 ambush came upon him. He mounted amid a shower of arrows 
 and galloped off. Seventeen of the pursuers overtook him. 
 He had seven arrows, with each of which he killed a man ; and 
 cutting his way through the rest with his sword, he got up to 
 his own three hundred, most of whom must have fallen at 
 Toochiao, where this adventure occurred ; for it is related that 
 afterwards Gao agreed to replace three hundred horses. 
 
 Matters having assumed this aspect, all looked for internal 
 war. Ma Dai drew up his troops, and laid his cannon in order 
 before the city of Yangchow, which when Gao saw he dared not 
 approach. Duagoong was furious on account of this affront at 
 Toochiao, and getting Liangdso to side with .him, he declared 
 that Gao or he must fall. Another officer, to prevent the total 
 ruin of the cause, drew up his men between the two armies, 
 while attempts were made at reconciliation. 
 
 Duagoong's mother died just then. Kofa went to condole 
 with him, and urged him to forbearance and to pardon the insult 
 of Toochiao, and the loss of his three hundred horse. Kofa sent 
 a messenger to Gao saying, " Why should a great cause be lost 
 for three hundred horses ? You send as many to Duagoong." 
 These were sent, but old and sick, most of which died. Kofa 
 winked at the character of the horses and sent a present of 
 three thousand taels to Gao, ordering him to send one thousand 
 to Duagoong for mourning expenses. There was thus a peace 
 patched up between the two; which, however, left them no 
 better friends than they had been before. 
 
MINISTERIAL DISSENSION. 237 
 
 Gao had some faith in priests, if in no other ; for coming in 
 contact with a Buddhist priest, he asked him as to whether misery 
 or prosperity awaited him. He was told that meantime he was 
 in open rebellion, for it seemed insufficient to him to have been 
 from a flying rebel made a Chinese prince; if he would act 
 according to what Kofa called the Holy Doctrine of Confucius 
 or what the priest calls " Poosa " (Buddhism), he would be sure of 
 prosperity; but of misery if otherwise. Hing, his beautiful 
 eloped wife, also urged Gao to pay particular attention to the 
 instructions of Kofa, who when he heard there was a woman in 
 the camp endeavouring to influence Gao, was glad and had 
 hopes of a safe settlement. He now proposed to Gao to make 
 some changes in his staff and that then he might remain on the 
 south of the river. Gao determined to have a footing in the city, 
 said all he wanted was to have a home for his wife. The citizens 
 were however still afraid that if he once got any place inside, his 
 men would find their way in ; and they therefore persistently 
 objected to give a house. The local magistrates sent Gao word 
 that no palace was yet finished, and it was impossible to find a 
 suitable house inside. Kofa, however, said there was a foo 
 outside the city on the east which might be had. Hing ordered 
 her soldier attendants to go thither. 
 
 If the bellicose commanders were so much inclined to cut each 
 others' throats, and were with difficulty prevented from scuttling 
 a cause which required union alone to easily ensure complete 
 success, it is not to be wondered at that a less bloody but more 
 disastrous strife threatened to extinguish the cabinet. The 
 elements of strife were latent from the very first; for there was a 
 patriotic and a selfish party, and the selfish party ruled in 
 cabinet and court. 
 
 Shunyen, president of Board of Appointments, nominated 
 three men to office, whom the hereditary Bai or count Liw 
 Koongjao declared to be unworthy of any situation ; and he at 
 the same time called in question the integrity of Shunyen to 
 his very face. A censor warmly replied. Gao Hoongtoo vainly 
 endeavoured to cast oil on these troubled waters; and next 
 
238 FOO WANG. 
 
 day Koongjao sent in a memorial, the kernel of which was that 
 Shunyen must be dismissed or he relieved of office. He was 
 supported by other ministers, who urged that Koongjao was 
 indispensable. The mutual charges and recriminations became 
 so general and bitter that Hoongtoo, who advocated attention to 
 his own business by each minister, gave notice that as it was 
 impossible to carry on government under such conditions, he 
 begged leave to retire from office. From that day forward no 
 effort was made by the ministers to seek out and punish the 
 rebels ; for their own dissention paralysed them, dispelled the 
 energy which union would have concentrated and invigorated, 
 and compelled a negative and a halting policy, instead of a 
 positive and aggressive one. 
 
 After a gold seal had been made for the new government, both 
 Ma and Kofa recommended that Woo Sangwei should be created 
 Jigwo Goong,* and that the title be hereditary because of his 
 exploits against the rebels, whom he was mercilessly pursuing. 
 There were forwarded to him one hundred thousand dan of rice, 
 and five hundred thousand taels for the use of his army, as they 
 were avenging the death of the Ming emperor. A vice- 
 president of Board of War was at the same time sent to Peking 
 with very friendly letters from the government of Foo Wang. 
 
 About the same time an effort was made by the guardian 
 prince in Peking to detach Kofa from Foo Wang's side ; for all 
 reposed the utmost confidence in that upright man and splendid 
 scholar. The two letters are given above in their entirety at 
 the end of the preceding chapter. The letter of Kofa, besides 
 being beautifully simple in style, was modest in a remarkable 
 degree ; but declared with such firmness as to need no repetition 
 that his choice was made ; that he will live with the prince of 
 his native dynasty, or die for him. 
 
 It was then also that Shantung and many other northern 
 places rose against the magistrates appointed by the now 
 defeated rebels, putting them all to death ; but these places all 
 declared for the representative of their native dynasty, and not 
 
 * Duke of the kingdom of Ji or Ki north-east of Chihli, where he gained his first 
 victory over the robber chief. 
 
INTERNAL TROUBLE. 239 
 
 for the party by which they were freed from the robbers. 
 Though Kofa had more of the patriot and of the scholar than 
 Woo Sangwei, he had not the force of character which made the 
 latter the conquering soldier, else he could have made it 
 impossible for the Manchus to march southwards, the people of 
 all the provinces being eager to establish their own native 
 dynasty. But Kofa laboured under the disadvantage of serving 
 a prince who did not value or understand him, who perhaps feared 
 his honesty and hated his good character, and had to work with 
 ministers who envied his reputation and thwarted his plans; 
 while Woo Sangwei had the full confidence of a court ready to 
 strain all its energies to support him, and which incited his 
 valour by showering rewards and heaping honours upon him. 
 The circumstances of the two men were so essentially different, 
 that it is difficult to make any fair comparison between them. 
 
 The southern people, seeing such dissensions among generals 
 and ministers, and a policy of inactivity reigning in the court 
 instead of one of energy, feared the total and speedy ruin of all, 
 and therefore rose to arms themselves and equipped an army of 
 one or two hundred thousand men of undoubted courage, who 
 could be relied on, and whose fame soon spread everywhere. 
 
 It is believed that Ma Shuying aimed at acting the faithful 
 minister, but the manner in which he had deceived Kofa in the 
 matter of proclaiming an emperor caused him to be regarded 
 with universal suspicion. As soon therefore as Kofa went north 
 at the head of his troops, both people and ministers began openly 
 to abuse and oppose Ma. As his bad luck would have it, Ma 
 just at this time nominated a Yooen Dachung to Foo Wang as 
 an excellent soldier. Yooen was known to the other ministers, 
 who declared him a thoroughly incapable man. Notwithstanding 
 their opposition, Foo Wang conferred a " hat and a girdle " upon 
 the nominee of his favourite. Hereupon arose the greatest 
 confusion, begun by the apparently honest Hoongtoo, who had 
 not been permitted to retire. He complained in a reasonable 
 manner that the name of Yooen was not first sent to the nine 
 "ching," the various boards of government, according to 
 
240 FOO WANG. 
 
 accustomed form. When Ma could not see the necessity for 
 such formality, Hoongtoo urged that he objected, not from any 
 desire on his part to exclude Yooen from office, but to comply 
 with invariable custom; for that if worthy of his post, his 
 character would be all the more illustrious by receiving the 
 general consensus of all the Boards. Ma could see no reason to 
 question the illustrious character of his nominee ; and as 
 Hoongtoo saw no way of properly performing his duties as 
 a minister under so high-handed a chief, he formally prayed for 
 liberty to retire. Memorial now began to crowd on the heels of 
 memorial, till almost all the principal ministers delivered their 
 minds as against the admission of Yooen, and by implication 
 against the absolute conduct of Ma. It was all waste paper, 
 however, for though supported only by Ma, Yooen was made 
 vice-president of Board of War. But the strife did not end ; for 
 Yooen complained that though he desired to act as a faithful 
 minister, his fellow ministers would not give him the oppor- 
 tunity, and Jang Shunyen followed Hoongtoo into private life. 
 Dsoongjow, a nominee of Kofa, declined the office of censor, 
 naming himself the orphan or solitary minister. He presented 
 a memorial strongly worded to the effect that the weal or woe 
 of the state depended on the dismissal or retention of Yooen. 
 He advised that Foo Wang should himself take the head of the 
 armies. He saw no way at present for preventing Dsuchung from 
 over-running the southern capital and its neighbourhood, and 
 was preparing for flight, by sending his family away further 
 south. He soon again presented an energetic memorial stating 
 that the rebels were being pursued from the north into Shansi 
 and the north of Honan, and were certain to march on the 
 south-east, and complained that he had not heard of preparations 
 to send a single man or horse against them ; the ministers were 
 careless and should be put to death ; the army was motionless ; 
 the border-officers supine, and should be slain. He mentioned 
 in all four-fold causes of death in the ministers, advising that 
 Chun Juloong be ordered north from the eastern sea ; for he 
 was then and long after at or about Formosa or Fukien. It 
 
COURT BICKERINGS. 241 
 
 appears from this memorial also that there had been no mourning- 
 for the late emperor. Such plain speech could not be tolerated 
 by the guilty or negligent parties concerned, and the four 
 military outposts combined against it ; while a memorial by 
 Duagoong for concord was retained by Ma on its way to the prince. 
 
 Though almost solitary, and all but powerless, Kofa's voice 
 was raised in behalf of his friend by praying Foo Wang to 
 employ all the ministers only to discuss the "outs and ins' r 
 of questions, and to order the border officers to prove their 
 merit or faults by their deeds. And thus quiet of a kind was again 
 brought about by the efforts of this noble man. But rottenness 
 was in the camp, and the council chamber was crumbling to pieces ; 
 at a time too when unity was indispensable for the continued 
 existence of both. Some urged, but in vain, that action should be 
 taken from the south against the rebels, while Sangwei was 
 crushing them in the north. All were not equally dead to 
 approaching danger ; for some wealthy men bared themselves of 
 everything to help to save their country. And their uneasiness was 
 not causeless, for Dsuchung had at one time come to the resolution 
 to escape from Sangwei by crossing the Kiang and taking Nanking. 
 
 In the general uneasiness, Ma continued an object of hate, 
 and two officials from Hookwang presented memorials purposely 
 to be able to have an opportunity of declaring their mind about 
 him. So bitter were they that he dared not show himself, but 
 pretended to be unwell. They declared so vehemently that the 
 safety of the state depended on Ma's dismissal, that in fear he 
 brought a eunuch to go and praise him to Foo Wang, who 
 ended by saying, " Who is able to take Ma's place ? " And the 
 prince agreed with him. One of these two memorialised the 
 prince on ten subjects, amongst which was an earnest advice to- 
 strictly search out and discover those who were guilty of crime 
 deserving death ; for that if they were punished, it would be an 
 easy matter to put or keep down the rebels ; but that meantime 
 the people suffered so much from the soldiery, that they would 
 continue to swell the ranks of the rebels as soon as these 
 appeared. He was quietly ordered back to Hookwang. 
 Q 
 
242 FOO WANG. 
 
 In July the Manchu government forwarded despatches to all 
 the principal officials in Shantung, ordering them to open their 
 gates, when Woo Sangwei would be sent to establish order; and 
 threatening that if they refused, the great army which was being 
 prepared to march against the south, would go through Shantung. 
 A month after, replies were forwarded intimating acquiescence in 
 the government demands. But the intimation was worth no more 
 than idle breath to gain time ; for the commander-in-chief sent 
 from Nanking was gladly received, and had those in office in 
 Nanking been worthy the name of ministers, the inevitable 
 conflict with the Manchus could have been fought in Shantung. 
 
 The soldiers of Chihkiang rose upon and slew their officers, 
 believing they had as good a right as the armies of the four 
 outposts to plunder the people. Kofa was sent to restore order. 
 Just then Gao reported that the river should be crossed and the 
 north of the Kiang defended ; but he was addressing madmen, 
 who paid more heed to their own petty squabbles than to the 
 fact that the Manchus were moving down on the Yangtsu with a 
 large force carefully selected, well equipped, and prepared for the 
 conquest of the southern provinces. Liangyii in his district had 
 a brush with, and defeated, a band of rebels driven south by 
 Sangwei; while a Board secretary collected men in Szchuen 
 and scattered another rebel band there, taking and slaying a 
 leader. As Yunnan was also threatened, a censor was sent 
 thither with an army and fire-arms. 
 
 The rebels in their retreat had got to Szchuen and Kweichow, 
 and had taken Peichow, Loochow, Choongching, and the capital 
 of the province. They cut off the nose and ears of the strongest 
 men taken, setting them free afterwards and proclaiming that 
 every official who did not open his gates would be similarly 
 served. They made rapid progress. Many of the principal 
 officials and two princes were slain by them. One general 
 saved himself by joining the rebels, notwithstanding which Ma 
 continued to praise him as a most worthy man. 
 
 A secretary of Appointments complained that he saw many 
 men receiving honours, though the deeds warranting such 
 
UNPALATABLE ADVICE. 243 
 
 honour were invisible; that he heard of general officers 
 fighting for private ends, but of none who fought a battle for his 
 country ; that there were many refusing their official appoint- 
 ments to the field, while none was found volunteering. To 
 remedy the existing chaos and prevent utter ruin, he advised the 
 emperor to go to the front himself and take charge of his armies; 
 a step which implied no personal risk, for he need not be in the 
 fight ; yet a step which would restore discipline and increase a 
 hundred-fold the courage of the men. No advice could be more 
 imsavoury to the sottish Foo Wang, who much preferred to 
 receive, whether he read or not, a ceaseless shower of memorials 
 on all subjects. The purists were meantime becoming weaker 
 and weaker, though many of the new nominees were as unwilling 
 as the men dismissed to carry out all the pleasure of Ma. 
 Jiao Yuegwang was accused and dismissed, because Ma was 
 his enemy. When taking his leave of his sovereign, he urged 
 public business as demanding the first and best thoughts of the 
 emperor; to which sentiment the latter agreed, but which 
 irritated Ma, who asked whether he was acting the rebel ? The 
 response was not flattering; and when Jiao left the imperial 
 presence, he was followed by Ma into the court, where the 
 succeeding brawl disturbed the whole palace. 
 
 Gao Jie reported the approach of the rebels on their southern 
 march ; but the court was too much occupied in memorial 
 writing, reading and deliberating, to pay any attention. The 
 rebels came upon and defeated Jang Jinyen, viceroy of Honan, 
 who attempted to commit suicide. He was unsuccessful however 
 and therefore fled. But when the rebels heard of his flight, he 
 was pursued and overtaken. There were two faithful attendants 
 who would not part from him. He was imprisoned in Sinhiang. 
 Taking advantage of the absence of the commandant out of 
 town, and fearing foul play, he gave orders to Yifang, one of his 
 attendants, who slew a robber and took his horse. He was 
 immediately joined by others: and his following increased so 
 rapidly that all the leaders of the rebels in the town fell into 
 his hands. 
 
244 FOO WANG 
 
 General Liangyli was not on good terms with Ma, but found 
 it now expedient to come to terms; for Ma was all-powerful. 
 His lieutenant, Dachung, had been busily employed abusing all 
 ministers not well disposed towards Ma; and the faithful 
 Biaojia, bitterly hated by Ma, was accused of treachery and had 
 to resign. Liangyii presented Ma with three thousand taels 
 (ounces) of gold and twelve singing girls, on receipt of which Ma 
 smiled, saying, Liang might now be made " Si Bai." * But Ma 
 was not the only man who needed gold. The army expenditure 
 in the south-east amounted to five hundred thousand taels ; and 
 for the camps north of the river, it was three million six hundred 
 thousand taels, or one and a half million sterling. Partly to meet 
 this great drain, but chiefly to meet more personal wants, Ma 
 provided that the preliminary examination for degrees in the 
 chow and hien cities might be dispensed with, on payment of 
 from three to six taels ; while any scholastic appointment, and 
 any degree the possession of which ensured a yearly grant, could 
 be had for sums of from three hundred taels for the lowest, up 
 to ten thousand for the highest. A corollary was practically 
 attached, by which any honour could be had for money, so that 
 rhymes and puns on the subject became universal, such as that 
 doodoos filled the streets, Jienjis were numerous as sheep, 
 Jufang common as dogs, &c. ; and all the silver of the kingdom 
 went into the horse's + mouth. Another vigorous rhyme 
 terminated with the information that the emperor could do 
 nothing but drink wine. A private person more seriously 
 disposed prayed for the beheading of Ma and Koongjoo on the 
 public execution grounds. 
 
 Meantime portents sufficient occurred to rouse the sleepers, if 
 anything could. A great "western" cannon burst without 
 apparent cause ; stars with four horns, five horns, like knives and 
 swords, appeared in the east; an astrologer predicted to his 
 private friends that from the position which the constellation, 
 
 * Chow Wang imprisoned Wun Wang. The ministers of Wun forwarded 
 presents of beautiful women and horses to Chow, who liberated "Si Bai." 
 t Ma means "horse." 
 
COURT ENTERTAINMENTS. 245 
 
 Taiyi, would occupy next year in relation to Jiaokwng in the 
 east, great calamities, which he dared not fully reveal, were sure 
 to happen; and to sum up, while brass was being melted to 
 make "Hoogwang" cash, a temple gate caught fire and was 
 burnt down. Fungyang, the tomb of Hoongwoo, one of the first 
 Ming emperors, was thrice shaken by an earthquake in one 
 day, the sun was like fire and the earth all blood-red. 
 
 Foo Wang's thoughts were on other matters, for he spent his 
 whole time with women and wine; sometimes dining his 
 ministers, and entertaining them with low street ballad singers. 
 He was one evening very sad. A eunuch endeavoured to 
 comfort him ; and, after doing so in vain, thinking the mournful 
 state of affairs was beginning to tell upon him, he asked the 
 cause of grief, when Foo wang sadly replied that there was now 
 no good theatrical performer ! All his ministers gave him the 
 title of the " reverend spiritual genius ! " Such things, however, 
 are not confined to China, nor need England and perhaps other 
 countries go far back in history to find parallels. But this 
 " father and mother " of his people gave no heed to the loud and 
 constant complaints he was daily hearing of the increasing 
 oppression by Gao Jie and his brother generals, and of the 
 consequent general dissatisfaction; and he was unmoved 
 even by the wholesale resignation of his most worthy 
 ministers. 
 
 Foo Wang was married in early life, to a wife who died. He 
 married a second time, the second also died. He was sometime 
 living with another man's wife, who bore him a son, now six 
 years old. She sought out the father of this child, who refused 
 to see or acknowledge her ; and she was imprisoned. She drew 
 up a paper, giving the most circumstantial history of their 
 connection, he threw it from him without looking at it. Many 
 of the officials were delighted at the discovery of this son ; and 
 all the people began to have hopes of him. Therefore memorials, 
 begun by his favourite, the all-powerful Ma, began to pour upon 
 him, to none of which he paid the least attention. And the 
 lady sickened and died in prison. 
 
246 FOO WANG. 
 
 The fate of a man like this, with an irresponsible minister like 
 Ma, could lead only to one result ; when unity and energy were 
 combined against him. For the Manchu troops were now at last 
 approaching, and all eyes were directed to Kofa as the only man 
 on whom any reliance could be placed, whether for war or for 
 treaty. This man, who had to depend on his own resources, 
 advanced to Baiyangho as soon as he heard of the approach of 
 the Manchus, who were marching on Hiichien; but his move 
 caused them to retreat. 
 
 This happened on the twelfth day of eleventh moon ; and two 
 days after Gao Jie, now roused to action, marched across the 
 river north to Hiichow, against which city a division of the Manchu 
 army was on the march. Gao found the Manchus, nominally 
 two hundred thousand, really seven or eight thousand men. 
 But few or many, he was determined to show he was not an 
 ungrateful recipient of imperial favours. The Manchus crossed 
 the Yellow river in January 1645, and were received with open 
 arms by all the villages. Major-general Hii Dinggwo, wishing to 
 be sure of a safe retreat, sent messengers to secretly inform the 
 Manchus of his good will. He was then holding Chiichow in 
 Honan south of the Yellow river. He and another Shantung 
 worthy had been stimulated into levying bands and opposing 
 the rebels by the successful example of Jinyen (p. 243). They 
 had at first refused the honours offered from Nanking; but 
 Dinggwo seems to have become less enthusiastic after his 
 promotion. Ma laughed when he heard the Manchus were to 
 cross the river, saying that if they did they would be looked after. 
 Gao forwarded a letter to the Manchu Soo Wang praising 
 their bravery against the rebels, stating that his one aim was to 
 fight by their side till every rebel was destroyed, when he would 
 be willing to shave his head and retire as a monk to the 
 hills. Soo Wang declined him as an ally, but would be glad 
 to present the brave Gao to his emperor in Peking. Gao 
 however had no inclination to desert. He had indeed already 
 declined to be tempted by an officer, who had himself deserted, 
 aud urged Gao to forsake a course which all were leaving to its fate. 
 
A TKAITOK. 247 
 
 Chung Siaoyii had been a man of great ability, and much 
 feared about Hiichow. He was accused as a robber to the army 
 officials by whom he had been seized and was to have been 
 " sacrificed " by Ma, who was the commander, when news came 
 of the fall of Peking. Siaoyii escaped, and in self protection 
 took to the hills of Wootoongshan, where he collected a band of 
 men about him ; but though compelled to be a robber, he would 
 not join the rebels. Gao Jie was now ordered to Hiichow, where 
 Siaoyii surrendered to him and was put to death ; his men being 
 incorporated with Gao's. The Manchus had by this time got to 
 Hiachun, marched south by Chining, and passing by Loyang 
 attacked Haichow and surrounded Peichow. A few days after, 
 the messengers who had been sent to Peking from the Nanking 
 court returned, but to their urgent prayer that men should be 
 sent north of the river to meet the approaching Manchus, 
 the brave Ma angrily replied that there were four outposts ; and 
 when the commandants of those outposts prayed for reinforce- 
 ments they were not listened to. The spring of 1645 found no 
 improvement in Nanking affairs, though the rapid progress and 
 increasing power of the new Manchu government should have 
 roused the most inert, especially as the Manchus did not in the 
 least degree attempt to conceal their design of annexing province 
 after province till all the south should be reduced to them, as 
 formerly to the Yuen dynasty. 
 
 The Manchus without were even yet further away than the 
 rebels within, and Gao went with twenty thousand against some 
 of his old comrades ; while Dinggwo was raising himself to fame 
 by his slaughter of robbers in his native place. He had formerly 
 been imprisoned for some reason after he had been made lieut.- 
 general. He was liberated, gathered an army about him, and 
 was sent to hold Swichow.* His ambition to receive an honorary 
 
 *The annals state that Dinggwo sent his son from Yiichow (south of Yellow 
 river) to Haogo, urging the Manchus to aid him as the robber G-ao Jie was 
 advancing against him with five thousand men. But Haogo refused as his 
 commission did not extend so far. Dinggwo was therefore quite ripe for treason by 
 that time, while the former message sent by him proved that his present conduct 
 was not from the impulse of the moment. 
 
248 FOO WANG. 
 
 degree like the other great commanders was not gratified, and to 
 relieve his spleen, he accused by memorial Gao Jie, who was 
 Hingping Bai or count, of being a rebel and a robber. Gao 
 therefore became his sworn foe and declared he would have 
 Ding's life ; yet he had sometime before sent Dinggwo a thousand 
 taels and a hundred pieces of satin because he was so good a 
 soldier. 
 
 After this incident, Kofa ordered Gao, who had already 
 prayed for the main army, to Kweite, under whose prefectural 
 jurisdiction was Swichow. Gao was to look after the border, and 
 prepare for the Manchus. Gao's approach terrified Dinggwo, 
 who wrote to Kofa remonstrating. His messenger brought back 
 the reply that it was the necessities of the government, not love 
 to Gao, which led to this movement ; and that Dinggwo should 
 save himself by flight. 
 
 The troops of Gao soon made their appearance, and instead of 
 fleeing, Dinggwo went 10 li outside the city to meet his foe, and 
 welcomed him kneeling. This humility quite won Gao's heart, 
 and he expostulated with him, a lieut. -general, for kneeling. 
 Seeing Dingwo's men, Gao expressed his ironical surprise that 
 Dinggwo was not made a wang. Next day he met Dinggwo 
 again and asked how it was he didn't flee, for he must know his 
 life was not safe there. Bowing low, he said he knew of Gao's 
 wrath, but was ignorant of a fault to incur such displeasure. 
 Gao asked whether calling him a robber was not fault sufficient ? 
 Dinggwo replied that he could not write a character, that he had 
 employed a man to write, but was ignorant of all the man had 
 written ; that the writer had fled when he heard of Gao's anger 
 and that he should scarcely be made responsible for that writer's 
 fault. The explanation was apparently satisfactory. Gao 
 expressed his pleasure, and his desire was to treat Dinggwo as a 
 brother, for he is said to have been a " guileless man," and if so, 
 there are few Gao Jies in China. Some one told Gao to beware 
 of Ding ; but Gao was indignant, ordered the man to have sixty 
 blows before the army, and to be sent to Ding to be put to death. 
 A beautiful woman sent him by Ding was however sent back, 
 
A DRUNKEN FEAST. 249 
 
 with the message that times of war were not times for pleasure, 
 with the hope that Ding would take good care of her till his 
 return as a conqueror. 
 
 Gao's army was posted 20 li east of Tsuchow ; but wherever 
 he went he had three hundred men at his heels. These accom- 
 panied him to a feast which Dinggwo had provided in his 
 honour. Ding was himself in another room entertaining a 
 number of guests with wine and women, while his younger 
 brother acted host to Gao. One of the guests whispered in 
 Gao's ear, that he feared, from the excited manner of this brother, 
 that all was not right. With a motion for silence, Gao replied, 
 " he dare not," and all, including the three hundred men, drank 
 themselves drunk. 
 
 Gao was aroused from his subsequent slumber by a noise as if 
 on the roof. He got up, opened his door, and found some scores 
 of men under arms. Guessing their object, he went to where he 
 had left his iron staff, but it was not there ; he felt for his sword, 
 but it was gone ; and he was forthwith surrounded and seized. 
 His three hundred men had been murdered in their drunken 
 sleep, with the exception of one who had been sleeping under a 
 bed. Ding soon made his appearance, his shoes clotted with 
 blood. He sat looking south,* and said, " for three days I have 
 had to submit to your insults, which are now at an end. What 
 would you?" Gao laughed and said, "Have you got any liquor ? " 
 He drank himself drunk, and was murdered, t 
 
 Next day the city gates were not open at mid-day. Li Bun- 
 shun and other of Gao's generals broke open the east gate, and 
 discovered the murder ; but could not find Dinggwo, who had 
 early fled across the river, and had joined the Manchus on the 
 north side. As many of Swichow people as found it possible, 
 also fled ; but the rest, as well as all within a large radius, were 
 
 * The position of the emperor. 
 
 f When killing enemies who were prisoners of war, it was quite a common custom 
 to give them spirits with which to drink themselves drunk. This is very frequently 
 done now to criminals of all kinds who are to be beheaded, all receive more or less 
 spirits by imperial orders. 
 
250 TOO WANG. 
 
 all ruthlessly murdered by the maddened soldiery of Gao. 
 Dinggwo meantime boasted of his deed, and urged the Manchus 
 to send their army across at once. 
 
 Kpfa, the best, most able, and least influential of all the 
 principal men of the southern court, had long and bitterly 
 mourned over the petty personal feuds of the army leaders, and 
 their cruel treatment of the people ; yet long and painfully saw 
 that the hope of his sovereign's establishment rested on that 
 same passionate, reckless, but brave Gao, perhaps the most 
 unprincipled of the lot. For he was a brave officer, and had the 
 largest army, which was deeply attached to him ; all the more 
 perhaps, because he took good care that they should have every 
 necessity, though the country protected by them should be made 
 a desert. Kofa therefore, with great lamentation, cried out, 
 that now Gao was gone, there was no hope of re-establishing the 
 throne. But the people of Yangchow, who could not forget 
 their former great danger, out of which Kofa alone could have 
 saved them, were overjoyed, and drank to each other in mutual 
 congratulations. 
 
 Hing, the able and beautiful dame whom Gao had made his 
 wife, was nominated by Foo Wang to take charge of Gao's army. 
 Kofa petitioned that Bunshun, who had burst open the gate of 
 Swichow, should be appointed commander, but Foo Wang 
 objected, stating that Gao had a son who would succeed him. 
 To this son the Wang presented a satin dress and other things. 
 But Kofa did not need this new proof to shew him that his 
 influence had vanished. 
 
 Whang Duagoong, with a whip in his hand, went at one time 
 to Shantung as a merchant. He came across a band of robbers 
 there ; and also a pair of donkey's legs with the hoofs on. Seizing 
 one of these in each hand, somewhat unlike Samson, he stood 
 alone, opposed the band, and defeated them. His fame was at 
 once made and his name given him by the people.* He was 
 afterwards made Jingnan Bai (count Pacifying-the-south), and 
 one of the four chief commanders of the forces north of the river. 
 
 * Duagoong, " achieved merit." 
 
A DAEING SOLDIER. 251 
 
 At Fangling of Chienshan he encountered and defeated Jang 
 Hienjoong, taking him prisoner, and slaying over ten thousand 
 of his troops. He was of a simple and upright character, and 
 had about thirty thousand troops under him. He was always 
 first in every fight, pressing with all his might into the thickest 
 of the foe. 
 
 He had one young officer of his own spirit whom he greatly 
 loved. That officer, Lin Baogwo, was beset when passing by 
 an ambush of robbers, who, after a struggle, slew him and 
 sent his head to Duagoong, who was deeply grieved. In his 
 rage he mounted his horse, galloped to the very centre of the 
 rebel camp, slaying on both hands as he went. He then struck 
 down and slew the " tiger " commander of the rebels to avenge 
 his friend. But as his blows fell thick and heavy the enemy 
 began to move uneasily ; many flying just as the Russians did 
 under the charge of the "six hundred." The confusion was 
 becoming general before the irresistible blows of this unassailable 
 single foe, when a brave young leader cried out, " Stop your 
 flight, and look on while I fight." He advanced to meet 
 Duagoong, who rushed upon and seized him with one hand, 
 dragged him upon his horse, held him on by one hand, while 
 guiding his horse with the other. 
 
 When he and Gao were on inimical terms, and when the 
 latter sought to enter Yangchow, he happened one day to be 
 drinking with his officers. It was common then, as at the same 
 time in Christian England, to test a man's ability by his capacity 
 for holding liquor. But Duagoong and his officers ate as well 
 as drank ; for quantities of raw pork were eaten along with their 
 potations, which would cook the meat in the internal kitchen. At 
 length a young officer declared his inability to quaff another cup. 
 Such weakness enraged his chief, who ordered him out to be 
 beaten. An older officer burst out a-laughing; and replied as to its 
 cause : " Dont you see the youth's legs are less substantial than 
 a walking-stick, and you would beat him because he can drink 
 no more ! " Duagoong also laughed ; and the youth escaped his 
 bambooing. The cup went round merrily, and mirth was 
 
252 FOO WANG. 
 
 uproarious, when a scout reported Gao's army 10 li off. 
 Duagoong said, " What about that ? " and the drinking went on. 
 A similar reply was given when the army was 5 li, and again 
 when 3 li ; though Duagoong knew well Gao's intention to 
 storm the city. But when he was told that the enemy was 
 under the walls, he left his cups and got on his horse. A soldier 
 handed him a bow, which he held in one hand ; another, a lance, 
 which he fixed to his arm ; a third, an iron bludgeon, which he 
 bound under his left foot ; and a fourth, a triangular truncheon, 
 which he tied under his right foot ; while behind him came five 
 horses, each with a quiver, and in each quiver a hundred arrows. 
 Thus prepared he departed, let fly his arrows like a shower of 
 rain till they were exhausted, when he threw away his bow, and 
 attacked with his lance, overthrowing four horsemen before the 
 lance broke. Seizing his iron bludgeon and his truncheon 
 probably one in each hand, like his donkey legs he belaboured 
 all around him, till their flesh was sodden and he was triumphant. 
 He then returned into the city, and sat down to his cups as if 
 nothing had happened. 
 
 Now that his rival, Gao Jie, was gone, he demanded to be 
 made first commander; moved his troops away from the 
 "begging" country, where he was quartered, to the richer 
 pasturage occupied by Gao's army ; saying that he saw no reason 
 why Gao should have been so honoured. Kofa, as usual, 
 interfered in the interests of his country ; and said that Gao had 
 been mildly treated from necessity, for otherwise he would have 
 rebelled and ruined the country; besides, his army was the 
 largest, and therefore demanded some consideration. The Wang 
 this time interfered in support of Kofa's advice ; saying that if 
 Duagoong did advance against and drive Gao's army across the 
 river, he would be fighting for the enemies of his country ; that 
 he should consider first the public welfare, and afterwards his 
 private quarrels. He therefore retreated to his former quarters. 
 A crazy priest, Dabei, knocked at one of the palace-doors one 
 night, in a loud voice demanding admittance, for that he was 
 the emperor. He was seized, and found crazed. But Yooen 
 
CHINESE MARAT. 253 
 
 Dachung, who had been made President of War, thought this a 
 good opportunity for beheading the few remaining patriots, and 
 accused them of endeavouring to raise an insurrection by the 
 aid of this priest. But Ma, the Kobespierre of this Marat, 
 though not squeamish in taking life, objected to wholesale 
 murder ; even when, at a solemn sacrifice to the late emperor, 
 Dachung again furiously demanded their death as the only 
 gratifying sacrifice to the emperor. Already so many officials 
 had been put to death, that the people said there were eighteen 
 Lohans, fifty-three Tsan,* and seventy- two Poosas. Dabei, 
 however, was put to death. 
 
 The Manchu regent had long been aware of the state of 
 matters south of the Yellow river. He had early laid his 
 schemes for taking advantage of that anarchy, and making a 
 great effort to combine all China under the Manchu sway. 
 When therefore he ordered Sangwei against the robbers of the 
 west and south-west, he sent a large and well-furnished army 
 under Ylichin wang to Honan, nominally to co-operate with 
 Sangwei and Ying chin wang, but really with secret instructions 
 to make all possible speed to Nanking. We find him severely 
 censuring this commander for whiling away his time in Honan, 
 and openly ordered his march on the southern capital. His 
 orders were the more imperative that Ying chin wang was now 
 perfectly capable of looking after the safety of the rear of the 
 Nanking army, as Shensi was all but completely conquered. 
 This was in March 1645, after Sangwei had entered Singan, and 
 Manchu officials could move freely throughout Shensi. 
 
 During the second month after, Ying chin wang could report 
 the march southwards through Honan of his army in three great 
 divisions, one under his own eyes, through the Pass of 
 Hoolaogwan; another under the Banner Chief (Goosa ujun), 
 Baiyintoo, through Loongmungwan Pass ; and the third under 
 president Handai, via Nanyang, all to reunite at Kweite foo 
 on the south bank of the Yellow river. The unprincipled 
 
 * No significant translation in Williams of tsav, for that it must be a kind of 
 divinity is evident from its connection ; the other two being titles of divinities. 
 
254 FOO WANG. 
 
 selfishness of Ma and his dishonest or blind colleagues made it 
 the easiest conceivable matter for these divisions to cross the 
 Yellow river. 
 
 But by the time the Manchus got to the Yellow river, over a 
 hundred inter-communicating stockades were thrown up by the 
 people between Kaifung and Yooning, of which Liw Hoongchi 
 was commander. Siao Yinghun was over some scores of similar 
 forts around Nanyang, and Li Jiyii over as many more at 
 Loyang. Each of these commanders had from forty to fifty 
 thousand men under arms. Hoongchi was the bravest and most 
 faithful of the three, and had repeatedly done good service in 
 cutting down robber bands. Chun Chinfoo, the governor of 
 Honan province, warmly commended Hoongchi to Foo wang; 
 and recommended to bestow on him the title and authority of 
 Kiangkun (commander), and to assign to him the north of 
 Honan as his station. Foo Wang was, however, bent on refusing 
 to accept the hand of those who could save him, and he declined. 
 "We thus infer that those were volunteer armies raised for self- 
 protection; but such proof was scarcely requisite to show the deep 
 dislike of the people to rank themselves under the Manchus. 
 
 Liw Joong, a junior secretary of Board of War, raised a 
 volunteer force of his own, with which he retook Lintsing and 
 Tsining in Shantung, and then united with the various bands 
 collected by literary men around Techow. He also formed a 
 naval force at Miaowan of Chiaochow, and petitioned to be 
 officially permitted to retain that country for the Ming. Thus 
 actively was effective volunteering going on, but without the 
 recognition of a smile or a kind word from the court, in whose 
 interest they acted. The four great camps so frequently referred 
 to, of Whingan, Kwachow, Yichung, and Showchwun, had 
 sometime formed the resolution, that by retaining what they 
 held, they would have well performed their duty ; and they were 
 down protecting the Yangtsu, nor did they consider it proper to 
 move further north. 
 
 A former president of Board of War in Peking, who had 
 fled south to Nanking, was made viceroy of Shantung; and 
 
WHOLESALE DESERTION. 255 
 
 Chun was replaced by a relative of the new viceroy, as governor 
 of Honan. This one act disorganised the volunteers who 
 were ready to lay down their lives to keep the Manchus on the 
 north side of the Yellow river. Just then the main army of 
 the Manchus got to the neighbourhood of Swichow, Dinggwo 
 murdered Gao Jie, fled across the river, and joined the Manchus, 
 from whom he had a big title, and by whom he was employed 
 as guide to the army. Li Jiyii deserted at the same time, and 
 the example was widely followed. The murder of Gao Jie 
 hopelessly paralysed the body politic, which was gone out of joint 
 far enough before that event. Every city, therefore, large and 
 small, by which the Manchus marched in Honan, opened its 
 gates, for the incurable anarchy within, manifested at last in so 
 many desertions of men who should have been a bulwark against 
 the foe, made any attempt at resistance appear as hopeless as it 
 seemed useless. Hoongchi alone remained faithful ; and though 
 alone, he defied the foe up till August, when he was defeated and 
 slain at Yooning. It is hard to say what would have been the 
 fate of that campaign, had this solitary faithful volunteer been 
 properly supported. 
 
 There was now no obstacle worthy of the name between the 
 southern capital and the Manchu army, save the four great camps. 
 Of these Duagoong was far the ablest general, the bravest 
 soldier, and the most loyal citizen; but his army was much 
 inferior to that of either Gao Jie or Liangyii. But each of the 
 four was independent, and jealous of the other; and no 
 commander-in-chief, with proper authority, controlled them; 
 for Kofa's authority was wholly a moral one, as he had no support 
 from court. On account of the gradual weeding out by resignation, 
 dismissal, or execution of the ministers who sought the safety 
 of their country; and by the usurpation of all power by Ma, 
 through means of his lieutenant, the four camps became worse 
 than ever. There was not only no unity of purpose, but the 
 men of Liangyii and Duagoong had come to hard blows in the 
 west, and the armies of Gao Jie and Dinggwo were at bitter 
 feud in the north. 
 
256 FOO WANG. 
 
 .*, 
 
 The Manchu army therefore went forward as if parading on 
 their own grounds, one great division marching on the south side 
 of the Hwai, another on the north. The latter had marched 
 through Shantung and was under general Jwunta. In June they 
 got to the advanced post of Gao Jie's army, under the afterwards 
 famous Li Chungdoong at Hiichow. Instead of opposing, he 
 deserted to them. They defeated and pushed in a portion of Liw 
 Dsaiching's men at Hiichien, and then marched on Tsing ho, at the 
 junction of which with the rivers Whai and Whang, Dsaiching had 
 his headquarters with over a thousand vessels and forty thousand 
 men. The most of his vessels were sunk by a heavy cannonade, 
 and a body of Manchus crossed the river higher up, attacking his 
 cavalry and infantry in the rear, and he had to retreat. The 
 Manchus again united and pursued him to Hwaingan. He 
 collected as many of his men as he could and sailed to the open 
 sea, whereupon Toongchow and Taichow fell. Yu "Wang led in 
 person the division on the north of the Whai river, marching 
 from Kweite to Suchow. On his arrival at the river bridge, the 
 Ming officer in charge set it on fire and fled. The Manchus 
 crossed that night. 
 
 Kofa had thirty thousand men under his command at Yangchow, 
 the gate to Nanking. He had sent out detachments to points which 
 he deemed of importance ; and when the Manchus approached, 
 he marched out with the main portion of his army against them. 
 But just at that juncture Gao Jie was murdered \ and the news 
 compelled Kofa to retire, receiving a hundred thousand of Gao's 
 men into his army. He heard immediately of the siege of 
 Suchow and was at Chunghu on the way to raise the siege when 
 he heard of its fall. Whaiyang now prayed for help, which he 
 was willing to give; but when preparing to send relief, there came 
 the orders of Foo Wang to make all speed to the capital to save 
 it from Liangyii, who had marched upon it ; for what reason will 
 be explained below. Obedient to orders which should never 
 have been given, he had got to Pookow when the order was 
 countermanded, and he sent back to Yangchow. His plans were 
 thus all broken through, and he saw himself in the coils of the 
 
A MELTING ARMY. 257 
 
 Manchu boa. He issued instant orders to recall and concentrate 
 the various detachments, for the limbs were of little account 
 when the heart was threatened. Only a small proportion joined 
 him, as the summons came too late. Kofa had complete control 
 over the minds of the army of Gao, but Ma, fearing the influence 
 of the commander if such a number of men were directly under 
 his orders, induced Foo Wang to reject the brave Bunshun as 
 commander of the remaining hundred thousand men, for he was 
 the nominee of Kofa. The infant son of Gao was nominated 
 commander instead, the real command being meantime 
 entrusted to the brave widow of Gao. But this army heard a 
 baseless rumour that Dinggwo, who had murdered their chief, 
 was bent on further vengeance and was leading the unbroken 
 force of the Manchus against them. A panic was the conse- 
 quence. Some fled north, some south; but the army melted 
 away, for it hated Ma. Its flight was accelerated by the attack of 
 Hoongkwei, and most of the fragments found their way to the 
 Manchu ranks. 
 
 When Kofa found that his march to relieve Suchow was 
 ineffectual, he hastily retreated on Yangchow, leaving great 
 quantities of mail, armour, powder, and immense stores of grain 
 under a guard. He now sent on twenty thousand men under 
 Liw Jowyi, to protect those stores. He thus considerably 
 weakened himself at the moment when Yii Wang was concen- 
 trating all his forces around Yangchow, marching by land and 
 water from Tienchang, and pitching his camp 20 li from the 
 city; for his heavy artillery had not yet arrived. Kofa was 
 advised to open a canal from the river, which would swamp the 
 Manchu camp. He refused, on the ground that more civilians 
 would perish than Manchus, and "first the people, next the 
 dynasty." * He held his post during a fight of seven days and 
 nights, cutting short the career of many hundred Manchus with 
 his heavy artillery. Yli Wang was enraged both at the obstinacy 
 
 * The sentiment that the ruler is for the people, not the people for the ruler, was 
 in Kofa's time scarcely breathed in Europe, but was two thousand years old in 
 China. 
 
258 FOO WANG. 
 
 of the defence, and the great mortality of the attack. He 
 ordered off, therefore, the picked cannoneers of the camp to 
 break down the north-west corner of the city, which they brought 
 down with a crash which sounded like thunder. But the 
 detachment in charge of that portion stood like a living wall 
 within, and no efforts of the frantic besiegers could move them. 
 The mortality of the Manchus can be estimated from the fact 
 that the survivors piled up the bodies of their dead comrades 
 against the wall ; and by this ghastly ladder, scaled the wall and 
 entered the city. The resistance was desperate; but though 
 every inch of street had to be fought for, the defence was 
 inadequate in numbers, and Yangchow fell. For ten days the 
 infuriated Manchus wreaked their vengeance on the innocent 
 civilians, who a short month before drank to the death of Gao 
 Jie ; and after the city was swept clear, the Manchus marched 
 southwards, reaching the banks of the Yangtsu kiang on the 
 fifth day of the fifth moon (June), exactly one month after their 
 start from Kweite, on the Yellow river. 
 
 The greatest loss suffered by the capture of Yangchow, was 
 that Kofa perished in the unequal fight. From the beginning 
 he had no chance, for his opinions were always thrust aside when 
 not in unison with those of Ma, whom the brainless Foo Wang 
 retained as his master, to do his thinking and ruling for him. 
 Kofa was a man as superior to Sangwei in moral character as he 
 was in literary attainments ; but it is questionable whether he 
 was a match in the field for the most prominent Chinese subject 
 and the ablest general of the northern court. The two fought 
 under exactly opposite circumstances. The northern Chinaman 
 was loaded with favours, and honours came crowding upon him 
 from his grateful sovereign. The southern Chinaman was 
 stinted in his very necessaries, and thwarted in almost all his 
 plans by the hating fear and trembling jealousy of his principal 
 colleague, who detested the greatest reputation for talent and 
 integrity existing in the southern court ; and he was betrayed 
 and sacrificed by an ignoble master, whose beastly nature was 
 incapable of appreciating the faithfulness and utter self-forgetting 
 
THE SOLDIER AND THE MAN. 259 
 
 devotion of his best minister. Hence the ranks of Kofa were 
 allowed to thin away without an effort to stop their gaps ; and his 
 provisions were allowed to run short, though he was standing as 
 the bulwark of the capital. No wonder that Li Chungdoong . 
 moved away southwards to save himself, and listened not to the 
 entreaties of Kofa when Suchow fell, and Yangchow must stand 
 the brunt of war. He was greatly undermanned when the 
 Manchus drew up before Yangchow; but his frequent and 
 earnest prayers for adequate support might as well have been 
 addressed to the street swine as to his prince. Even had he 
 attempted to cross the river and successfully thrown himself within 
 the walls of Nanking, he could not have saved the capital ; and 
 Ma would much rather sink throne and nation, than retire from 
 the post which he filled so badly. Kofa was an infinitely better 
 man than Sangwei. He was possessed of a much more elevated 
 mind. He was as brave a soldier. But he never had the 
 opportunity of testing whether he was as good a general. Our 
 impression is that he was not possessed of that quickness of 
 perception and promptitude to order others to carry out his 
 rapidly formed military judgment, which would make him, 
 ceteris paribus, the equal of Sangwei in the field. His intense 
 conservatism, which made him the noble character he was, was 
 a dead weight in the way of his instantaneously forming new plans 
 in unheard of circumstances, which ability always distinguishes the 
 military genius from the military doctrinaire. He would fight 
 as obstinately as Sangwei at Shanhaigwan, but his character 
 would scarcely lead us to infer that he could move as skilfully. 
 It is one thing to be a good soldier and die at one's post ; it is a 
 very different thing to be a good leader and a skilful general, 
 But of all the men who perished in a deservedly unlucky cause, 
 his fate is most to be pitied, as his character stands forth the 
 brightest. 
 
 The heartless rapacity, the unblushing corruption, the 
 undiluted selfishness, the fierce and bloody cruelty exercised 
 against the patriot ministers by Ma and his willing subordinates, 
 excited the fears of all the people, and roused the wrath of the 
 
260 FOO WANG. 
 
 Girondist old leaders of the armies, which were once willing to 
 do anything for him. And as matters became daily worse, Dso 
 Liangyii could no longer restrain himself, but declared he must 
 march into the capital to purge the ministry. Ma was terrified, 
 declared Liangyii a rebel, and endeavoured, though unsuccess- 
 fully, to rouse the wrath of Foo Wang against him ; for in the 
 paper setting forth Liangyu's grievances and intentions, Foo 
 Wang saw nothing so very terrible. But Ma had already ordered 
 southwards the northern army under Kofa ; using the name of 
 Foo Wang therefor. Foo Wang was opposed to that movement, 
 as the State had much less to fear from Liangyii than from the 
 Manchus. He therefore opposed the withdrawal of the northern 
 army, and Kofa had written to the same effect ; for all in and 
 outside the capital knew that only Ma and his corrupt clique 
 were aimed at. But after his sovereign had expressed his will, 
 Ma, whose head was in danger, cried out angrily, that "Whoever 
 is heard again to object to, the southward march of the army 
 shall be instantly put to death." His sovereign ceased to object, 
 and betook himself to his favourite occupation, that of hunting 
 out fair women. 
 
 Liangyii had meantime marched to below Anching, and Kofa 
 was sent back notwithstanding the wrath of Ma. Liangyii went 
 on ahead of his troops, and found the city with its gates closed, 
 its guns pointed, and its troops all under arms. He enquired 
 against what enemy these preparations had been made ; and 
 his mortification was so great when he heard it was against 
 himself as a rebel, that he burst a blood vessel, and died vomiting 
 Blood. His army marched up to the capital, and took it with 
 little trouble ; and the measure of their wrath can be guaged by 
 the fact, that they put to death only the family of the wicked and 
 cruel Dachung, who wished he could have acted as guide to the 
 Manchus to introduce them into the capital, and murder the 
 family of Liangyii. The army then retreated to their post ; and 
 hearing that Yangchow had fallen, became an easy conquest 
 to the army of Duagoong, who had wisely joined the Manchus ; 
 for there was now not a single man in the southern court capable 
 
HIAMA EMPEROR. 261 
 
 of supporting the throne. Duagoong was created duke Jinggwo, 
 which proved the gratitude of the Manchus for that he did not 
 compel them to conquer him. 
 
 Ma, now freed from fear of his own dastard life, urged his 
 sovereign to flee to Kweichow ; but that sovereign knew neither 
 how to fight nor flee. He sent men out everywhere to search 
 for hiama, a kind of small frog, an infallible remedy for 
 women's illness; and he- was henceforth called the Hiama 
 emperor. His antecedents prevent us from the charitable 
 inference that he was acting a part to blind Ma and the other 
 ministers. 
 
 When the Manchus touched the northern bank of perhaps the 
 richest river in the world, they found the southern bank occupied 
 by Jung Hoongkwei, cousin of the famous Jung Juloong, father 
 of " Coxinga." He was a lieut.-general, and had a fleet under 
 him; but of what utility may be judged from the fact that 
 parties of Manchus crossed where, when, and how they pleased. 
 Kinshan or Gold island was recently fortified and mounted with 
 heavy guns ; a vice-president being commandant. It was just 
 then Gao's army broke loose from its brave female leader ; and 
 in its southward movement was, perhaps properly, driven back 
 by Hoongkwei, who slew ten thousand of them, and drove most 
 of the rest to take service in the Manchu ranks. 
 
 For three days these armies confronted each other, one on 
 each side of the river, at the very gates of Nanking. Both were 
 watchful, knowing the importance of the stake to be ventured 
 for by the one and defended by the other. On the fourth night 
 the Manchus prepared a number of rafts and floats, letting them 
 drift in the centre of the river, each with a few lamps lit on it. 
 Believing this an attempt to cross en masse, the soldiers of 
 Hoongkwei opened a furious cannonade about midnight, which 
 they continued till the morning sun revealed that a hoax had 
 been played upon them. That day and the following night they 
 had no other disturbance than the sound of their own dancing 
 and merry making. But in the darkness of a thick mist two 
 hundred Manchus landed on the shores of Kinshan, without 
 
262 TOO WANG. 
 
 lanterns, and suddenly appeared in the temple. The main army 
 crossed further up; the boats being under command of the 
 Meirunujun Li Shwaitai. Day had not dawned before the left 
 wing drew up 15 li from Kwachow, the headquarters of 
 Hoongkwei. The headless soldiers opposed to them fled at sight 
 of the Manchu banner displayed at their side by the rising sun, and 
 Chinkiang gates tremblingly opened to the sound of the Manchu 
 horn. Hoongkwei drew off eastwards without striking a blow ; 
 and the Manchus marched from Tanyang and Gowyoong, and 
 set up their camp on the north side of the Temple of Heaven. 
 
 This was on the 10th of the 5th moon, and they heard that 
 Foo Wang had fled with some eunuchs and women, departing 
 three days before by the Toongchi gate for Woohoo. In the 
 history of the Three Ming Wangs we find it stated that early on 
 the 10th * the city gates were ordered to be kept closed. There 
 was then a great wind and frightful rain. Foo Wang had 
 theatricals in the palace in the afternoon, with which and 
 drinking he occupied the time till 9.30 p.m., when, with two 
 eunuchs and no attendants, he slipped out into the camp of 
 Whang Duagoong set up to defend the city, and moved off 
 immediately for Woohoo. Ma was unaware of this until he 
 presented himself to make his obeysance to his protege' at 
 sunrise next morning, when lo ! there was no emperor to be 
 found. The truth was at once known. The emperor had fled. 
 Ma was not to remain to be taken a prisoner by the Manchus 
 or to be murdered by infuriated citizens ; but made his escape at 
 once to a general Fang Gwongun, who, with twenty thousand 
 men, fled into Chihkiang. Those ministers who did not wish to 
 submit to the Manchus fled their several ways, and Hoongkwei 
 found his way by sea to Tang Wang in Fukien. 
 
 Jao Juloong put to death all those who had been the 
 instruments and subordinates of Ma ; but the two chief male- 
 factors, Ma and Dachung had escaped. Jao then opened the gates 
 and went out to welcome the Manchus when they came up to 
 
 * There is a discrepancy in the dates, and the 10th should be the 8th ; for we 
 imagine that in the matter of dates the annals should rule. 
 
NANKING TAKEN. 263 
 
 the city two days after (10th). He was created a duke and 
 received valuable presents. Gao Yooenjao, son of Gao Jie, 
 surrendered with over a hundred and twenty thousand men, 
 showing that the enormous army of Gao Jie was not yet all 
 melted away. Liangdso and his army of over a hundred thousand 
 men also laid their arms at the feet of Yii Wang; the two 
 forming a body of two hundred and thirty-eight thousand three 
 hundred cavalry and infantry, which, in the hands of Kofa, or 
 any other worthy the name of general, would have kept the 
 Manchu banners north of the Yellow river, or on its southern 
 side, would have crushed to atoms the army of Yii Wang. 
 
 Yii Wang kept his army outside the city for ten days. And 
 of some soldiers who began to pillage, he put ten men to death 
 to ensure the good will of the people. It was with the same 
 design he at once ordered the erection of a temple in honour of 
 Shu Kofa. This indeed has been Manchu policy from the dawn 
 of its history in China ; hence it has continued so long to act a 
 historic part. When the army did move in, it occupied the east 
 and north cities as quarters, the central, west and south cities 
 not having been vacated by the people. Hence Nanking was 
 then divided into five independent cities. 
 
 Foo Wang made for the city of Taiping foo to make a stand 
 there; but the inhabitants wisely shut their gates on the 
 unworthy fugitive. He made for Woohoo, pursued by Nikan 
 the Dodo Beira, while Toolai was hurried off to the river mouth, 
 lest an attempt should be made to escape to sea. Foo Wang 
 had not sufficient energy for such a step, and his own lieut.- 
 generals deserted to the pursuers at Woohoo, handing over the 
 dregs of an emperor; but Whang Duagoong was shot in the 
 throat with an arrow and committed suicide. Yii Wang insulted 
 Foo Wang, upbraiding him for his coarse drunkenness and bestial 
 sensuality ; but he answered not a word. He was sent a prisoner 
 to Kiangning hien. Officials not a few committed suicide rather 
 than acknowledge the Manchus, and great numbers of the people 
 drowned themselves in the river ; but most of the officials, great 
 and small, marched out in full court dress to meet Yii Wang, 
 
264 FOO WANG. 
 
 who received them facing south. Some however refused to 
 adopt the Manchu queue and were put to death. 
 
 While the superlative fatuity of Foo Wang made the fighting 
 of Yli Wang a triumphal march, Ying Wang was equally 
 successful in the west, though with much harder fighting. For, 
 if the robber Dsuchung was an infinitely abler ruler than Foo 
 Wang, he was opposed by Sangwei. When Yii Wang was 
 receiving the keys of Nanking, Ying Wang was at the district 
 city of Tungliw of Kiwkiang (the " Nine Rivers "). There he 
 received the submission of Munggung, son of Dso Liangyu, with 
 a hundred thousand men. But the commandant of Kiwkiang 
 was put to death as he would not consent to wear a "tail." 
 Ying Wang sent Jang Tienyu with the deserted general Jiw 
 Shunghung to annex Kiangsi, detachments to hold Kingchow 
 and Woochang, and after annexing the whole of Hoope, he 
 marched his main army back to Peking. 
 
 The cities all around him were meantime sending their keys 
 to Yii Wang, who, not perfectly sure of the commandants, sent 
 garrisons into them all. He sent Wang Yang, formerly a censor 
 in the court of Foo Wang, with several other officials, each with 
 three thousand men, to take a correct census of the cities 
 submitting, Anching, Ningkwo, Chang, Soo, Soong kiang, all 
 foo cities. When Jiating got to Soochow, he was slain by 
 Wundsoong, the vice-president commandant of Gold island, who 
 then moved into Chihkiang. 
 
 Chang Fang, the Loo Wang whom Kofa had desired to see 
 emperor, was in Hangchow ; and on the fall of Foo Wang } 
 agreed to accept the responsibilities of empire. But on the 
 third day of his majestyship, the Manchus, after a rest at 
 Nanking, knocked at his doors. The various cities which had 
 been passed on the route needed no siege to open their gates ; 
 and a division sent in the direction of Soongkiang and Taichang, 
 came up with the infamous Ma, who was as dastardly on the 
 field as he had been vicious in the cabinet. He fled across the 
 Chientang kiang. The Manchus camped on the river bank, and, 
 to the great jubilation of the Hangchow folks, below high water 
 
HANGCHOW ENTERED. 265 
 
 mark. But when flood came, instead of drowning them, to the 
 utter bewilderment of the good people, the water refused to rise 
 so high as the Manchu camp ; and when this happened for three 
 days running, the people said that it was the evident design of 
 Heaven that the Manchus should rule. Loo Wang, doubtless 
 nothing loath, permitted the gates to be opened, and the 
 Manchus were masters of the city, by the special interposition 
 of the gods ! This incident is from the " Holy Wars." Chang 
 Ching, the Hwai Wang, submitted at the same time, and the 
 family of Jow Wang was taken with Hoochow; throwing all 
 western Chihkiang into Manchu hands. Maodi, one of Foo 
 Wang's ministers, was taken in Hangchow, and had his head off 
 because he would keep on his hair. His was not a solitary case. 
 And very many committed suicide, rather than submit to the 
 degradation of head shaving. So much for the power of custom, 
 and the supposed callous indifference to all things of the Chinese 
 race; indeed, only ignorance of the people can charge them 
 with want of feeling. 
 
 Yii Wang changed the name of Nanking to Kiangnan 
 Province, its ancient title. He retained in their respective 
 posts all the officials of the cities which had opened their gates, 
 including all under governor in Kiangning (Nanking) and 
 Anching. These were in all three hundred and seventy-three 
 officials. He was then relieved of his task, recalled to the 
 capital, and the Beira Luakudukwun, as Great commander 
 Leveller-of-the-South, with general Yechun, was ordered to 
 replace him, while Grand secretary Hoong Chungchow was sent 
 as viceroy over all the south to pacify men's minds ; and more 
 important still, a garrison of men from one or other of the Eight 
 Manchu Banners, was sent to garrison Shwunte, Tsinan, Techow, 
 Lintsing, Hiichow, Loongan, Pingyang, and Poochow, forming a 
 continuous line of communication with the north. 
 
 Aspirants to the vacant Ming throne were not wanting ; but 
 never again was there such an opportunity as that which Foo 
 Wang, more sottishly than madly, threw away. For his native 
 land it has been perhaps as well that he was unfit to make a 
 
266 FOO WANG. 
 
 profitable stand ; for China's history, written with gore on every 
 page at its best, is many times more bloody when there is more 
 than one ruler among the black-haired race; and upon the 
 whole, from first to last, the Manchus will bear favourable 
 comparison with any former Chinese dynasty of whatever 
 nationality or origin. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 TANG WANG. 
 
 THOUGH the residue of the Ming imperial family turned out but 
 miserable shadows of rulers, the Manchus could gain or retain 
 possession of only as much land as was under the tread of their 
 horses' hoofs, and in which was heard the defiant tones of their 
 military horns. Though Foo Wang was a prisoner, and Nanking 
 a Manchu city, the Chinese, beyond the immediate sweep of 
 their arm, were as averse as ever from acknowledging the 
 Manchus their superiors ; and they clung with the tenacity of the 
 proverbial drowning man to the feeble straw, which now one 
 and now another of the Ming family held out to their eager 
 grasp. A large proportion, perhaps the majority, of the widely 
 extended descendants of the imperial Ming was already in 
 Manchu hands, but the south of China contained many still ; and 
 if the greater portion of Chihkiang had opened its doors to the 
 Manchu barber and taxgatherer, Fukien was yet virgin soil ; the 
 Kwangs had not seen the Manchu tail, and Yunnan rested 
 securely in its distance. Those provinces were swarming with 
 men, and well stocked with money and grain ; and both the one 
 and the other were thrown at the feet of some man with Ming 
 blood flowing in his veins, with the hope that imperial blood was 
 too precious to be overcome ultimately by the plebeian, or rather 
 the savage, blood of the Manchus. But the Chinese made the 
 same mistake which England made a thousand times, is making 
 now, and will make again: they forgot that it is brain and 
 not blood which counts when great issues are at stake. Though 
 hands were numbered by the million, money by the trillion, and 
 exhaustless stores of grain could be counted on, the Ming was 
 vanishing, spectre like, for want of a head. 
 
270 TANG WANG. 
 
 Tang Wang therefore began with a good heart, and all that is 
 necessary for the establishment of his empire is a strong will to 
 carry out, in spite of selfish ministerial opposition, the dictates of 
 his nature. But two rivals made empire a difficult acquisition 
 for him ; the chief of these, GWEI WANG, in the west, we shall 
 meantime leave out of count. But of great influence over the 
 destinies of Tang Wang was his rival in Chihkiang. 
 
 When Hangchow fell and Loo Wang surrendered, Jang 
 Gwowei, formerly president of Board of War, with Joo Dadien, 
 raised an army in Kinhwa ; secretary Hiwng Yoolin and Swun 
 Jiaoji collected a band at Shaohing, and Chien Sialo, an inferior 
 member of Board of Appointments with the adventurer Jang 
 Whangyen and a Siwtsai Wang Yu, occupied the neighbourhood 
 of Ningpo. The naval forces under lieut. -general Wang Juyin 
 and the captain of Shupoo Jang Mingchun, united with the 
 former bands. They put to death every Manchu official sent to 
 those districts, proclaimed another Loo Wang Regent of the 
 empire, and moved off all the ships and boats from the west to 
 the east bank of the Tsientang (Chientang) river, along which 
 they distributed their armies. They strongly fortified Fooyang, 
 where they massed large numbers of men to watch the 
 Manchus, and they set a strict guard on the road from Taihoo 
 lake to the sea. They thus possessed themselves, in the name of 
 Loo Wang, of all eastern Chihkiang. Yarious Ming officials, 
 great and small, raised larger or smaller bands on the Soongkiang, 
 at Wookiang, Yihing, Taihoo, Chungming, Kwunshan, Kiating, 
 Kiahing, Kiangyin, Hwichow, and Ningko, mostly in name of 
 Tang Wang, from whom those who had elected him emperor 
 received commissions. The fact seems to have been, however, 
 that those nearest Loo Wang applied to him for the authority 
 which was necessary legally to plunder the country; for the utter 
 want of unity and of purpose would favour the hypothesis that 
 these men levied armies for themselves and their own purposes, and 
 convenience decided the master under whom they chose nomin- 
 ally to serve ; though, at the same time, they were all united in 
 detestation of the northern intruder. They could muster a 
 
CHIHKIANG AGAIN LOST. 271 
 
 hundred thousand men along the Soongkiang. They might be 
 termed volunteers, for they were not included in the regular 
 army of Tang Wang. But we can readily understand the moral 
 effect upon the people, whose energies should have been united, 
 when Loo Wang in Chihkiang and Tang Wang in Fukien, 
 regarded each the other as a usurper. It was that division 
 made it possible for the governor of Soochow, the marshal of 
 Soongkiang and the lieut. -general of Woosoong, each to set up 
 for himself, with the army under his control. And besides 
 other difficulties, there was a formidable power to be crushed in 
 the bands of robbers who delighted in, and considerably increased, 
 the troubles of the peace-loving citizens. The city of Wooping 
 fell before an army of robbers from Kwangtung, and immense 
 numbers were put to the sword. 
 
 These then were the circumstances under which Tang Wang 
 had to build up his throne; difficult, perhaps, but not by 
 any means insuperable ; for the Manchus were compelled to act 
 on the defensive now. All that is wanted is the clear head and 
 the determined will; exactly the qualities in which the excellent 
 Tang Wang was lacking. Perhaps from this same reason has 
 arisen that maxim of statesmen in the west, which is extremely 
 questionable to the moralist, that " a blunder is worse than a 
 crime ; " for a blunder is the result of want of head, which want, 
 in perilous times like those which originated the maxim, leads 
 to national ruin, whereas a crime arises from want of heart, 
 and is in statesmen most generally associated with a head 
 which can plan, and a hand which can execute. 
 
 If Tang Wang nobly waived his right to a grand palace, and 
 preferred to want gold and silver plate and jade vessels, rather 
 than impose those taxes upon the people, all his subordinates 
 were not actuated by the same delicacy ; and though they all 
 could desire heartily that the Manchu kingdom would be 
 overturned, and the Ming restored to original splendour, their 
 mental condition much resembled that of him whose goodness 
 the Bible displays as consisting in warm wishes that the hungry 
 should be fed, and the shivering clothed, but not at his expense. 
 
270 TANG WANG. 
 
 Tang Wang therefore began with a good heart, and all that is 
 necessary for the establishment of his empire is a strong will to 
 carry out, in spite of selfish ministerial opposition, the dictates of 
 his nature. But two rivals made empire a difficult acquisition 
 for him ; the chief of these, GWEI WANG, in the west, we shall 
 meantime leave out of count. But of great influence over the 
 destinies of Tang Wang was his rival in Chihkiang. 
 
 When Hangchow fell and Loo Wang surrendered, Jang 
 Gwowei, formerly president of Board of War, with Joo Dadien, 
 raised an army in Kinhwa ; secretary Hiwng Yoolin and Swun 
 Jiaoji collected a band at Shaohing, and Chien Sialo, an inferior 
 member of Board of Appointments with the adventurer Jang 
 Whangyen and a Siwtsai Wang Yu, occupied the neighbourhood 
 of Ningpo. The naval forces under lieut. -general Wang Juyin 
 and the captain of Shupoo Jang Mingchun, united with the 
 former bands. They put to death every Manchu official sent to 
 those districts, proclaimed another Loo Wang Regent of the 
 empire, and moved off all the ships and boats from the west to 
 the east bank of the Tsientang (Chientang) river, along which 
 they distributed their armies. They strongly fortified Fooyang, 
 where they massed large numbers of men to watch the 
 Manchus, and they set a strict guard on the road from Taihoo 
 lake to the sea. They thus possessed themselves, in the name of 
 Loo Wang, of all eastern Chihkiang. Various Ming officials, 
 great and small, raised larger or smaller bands on the Soongkiang, 
 at Wookiang, Yihing, Taihoo, Chungming, Kwunshan, Kiating, 
 Kiahing, Kiangyin, Hwichow, and Ningko, mostly in name of 
 Tang Wang, from whom those who had elected him emperor 
 received commissions. The fact seems to have been, however, 
 that those nearest Loo Wang applied to him for the authority 
 which was necessary legally to plunder the country; for the utter 
 want of unity and of purpose would favour the hypothesis that 
 these men levied armies for themselves and their own purposes, and 
 convenience decided the master under whom they chose nomin- 
 ally to serve ; though, at the same time, they were all united in 
 detestation of the northern intruder. They could muster a 
 
CHIHKIANG AGAIN LOST. 271 
 
 hundred thousand men along the Soongkiang. They might be 
 termed volunteers, for they were not included in the regular 
 army of Tang Wang. But we can readily understand the moral 
 effect upon the people, whose energies should have been united, 
 when Loo Wang in Chihkiang and Tang Wang in Fukien, 
 regarded each the other as a usurper. It was that division 
 made it possible for the governor of Soochow, the marshal of 
 Soongkiang and the lieut.-general of Woosoong, each to set up 
 for himself, with the army under his control. And besides 
 other difficulties, there was a formidable power to be crushed in 
 the bands of robbers who delighted in, and considerably increased, 
 the troubles of the peace-loving citizens. The city of Wooping 
 fell before an army of robbers from Kwangtung, and immense 
 numbers were put to the sword. 
 
 These then were the circumstances under which Tang Wang 
 had to build up his throne; difficult, perhaps, but not by 
 any means insuperable ; for the Manchus were compelled to act 
 on the defensive now. All that is wanted is the clear head and 
 the determined will; exactly the qualities in which the excellent 
 Tang Wang was lacking. Perhaps from this same reason has 
 arisen that maxim of statesmen in the west, which is extremely 
 questionable to the moralist, that " a blunder is worse than a 
 crime ; " for a blunder is the result of want of head, which want, 
 in perilous times like those which originated the maxim, leads 
 to national ruin, whereas a crime arises from want of heart, 
 and is in statesmen most generally associated with a head 
 which can plan, and a hand which can execute. 
 
 If Tang Wang nobly waived his right to a grand palace, and 
 preferred to want gold and silver plate and jade vessels, rather 
 than impose those taxes upon the people, all his subordinates 
 were not actuated by the same delicacy ; and though they all 
 could desire heartily that the Manchu kingdom would be 
 overturned, and the Ming restored to original splendour, their 
 mental condition much resembled that of him whose goodness 
 the Bible displays as consisting in warm wishes that the hungry 
 should be fed, and the shivering clothed, but not at his expense. 
 
272 TANG WANG. 
 
 He showed his good feeling at a later stage, by refusing to adopt 
 the suggestion of his officials that ten cleanly maidens should be 
 brought for hire, not by force, into his kitchen. He refused on 
 the ground that the joy and the grief of his people were his. 
 
 He had a hundred thousand men in garrison, and as 
 many in the field, to meet the daily necessities of which hosts, 
 the ordinary taxation of Fukien and the two Kwangs was 
 inadequate. To meet the deficiency, Jung Juloong* recommended 
 an appeal for voluntary subscriptions, the Chinese for which is 
 yi, also meaning "Faithful, upright." He recommended that 
 an official be appointed to look after those subscriptions, and that 
 over the door of every man who failed to contribute, should be 
 written the two characters, Boo yi, " not contributing." But 
 when the " not " stands before yi, it means " unfaithful," and is 
 one of the ten unpardonable crimes of which a citizen of China 
 can be guilty. Legally it means mutiny and the murder of his 
 officer by a soldier; or sedition, combined with the murder of his 
 magistrate by a civilian. The object of Juloong was, of course, 
 to terrify every man into giving something by hanging the 
 menace of this disgraceful Boo yi over his head. But instead of 
 causing terror, it roused a storm of indignation over all the 
 south-east of China, and alienated at a blow the hearts of the 
 people. Nor can we be surprised. Another proposal of his, 
 that every criminal should be allowed to redeem his crime with 
 silver, was rejected by Tang Wang; but the man who made it, 
 was supreme chief of the new court, and the people knew and 
 felt it. So great was the power of Juloong, and so well was he 
 aware of his importance, that he would not rise to receive the 
 body of ministers who went to consult him, nor see them to the 
 door when they went away. His conduct so affected the people 
 that they who but a brief month before regarded the Manchus 
 with the greatest detestation, ceased to fear them as enemies, 
 and began to wish for their appearance as deliverers. 
 
 Tang Wang, with righteous abhorrence, had refused even to see 
 the man who brought disgrace on the reign of Foo Wang ; but 
 *For whose antecedents see "Formosa." 
 
ORDER OF PRECEDENCE. 
 
 9' 
 
 he welcomed another Ma, under another surname, to his own 
 court, and made him Mayor of the Palace. Probably, inasmuch 
 as he did not possess the mental power necessary, he could not 
 help himself; nor perhaps could he at first detect the true 
 nature of the man ; but he should have thrust him out, if he 
 could, when he did discover him. He prepared a feast for his 
 ministers; and Juloong, as a marquis, demanded precedence of the 
 grand secretary and prime minister, Daojow. This was strenuously 
 opposed by the other ministers, for it was never heard of in China 
 that the minister of War, or any other official directly connected 
 with the military affairs of the empire, should have precedence of 
 the civil minister. Juloong was very wroth ; and some friends of 
 the powerful man formally accused Daojow of incapacity, and 
 therefore unworthy of the precedence demanded for him. Tang 
 Wang, doubtless afraid of offending his powerful minister, referred 
 the matter for discussion to the proper Boards; which could, 
 however, decide only against Juloong. Had he the requisite 
 learning, as he had not, he would doubtless throw up his office, 
 and compel Tang Wang to give him the portfolio of the prime 
 minister, for he already wielded the power. His brother 
 Hoongkwei was one day fluttering his fan in the palace before the 
 emperor's face. He was reprimanded for 1 this breach of etiquette 
 by Ho Jie ; and both he and Juloong were extremely angry at 
 the interference. So much so that Ho found they could not all 
 remain in the same court, and felt compelled to tender his 
 resignation. A vain attempt was made to reconcile the parties ; 
 but the " emperor " had to accept the resignation, saying to Ho 
 that as soon as the regions south of the Yangtsu were recovered 
 he would be again summoned to court. He was scarcely a dozen 
 miles beyond the city, on his way home, when men of Juloong's 
 fell upon him, and cut off one of his ears ! 
 
 Losing all hope of energetic efforts on their behalf by their 
 native prince, the cities of the west were one after another 
 opening their gates to the Manchus, who were enabled to act on 
 the offensive because of the weakness of Tang Wang. Kanchow 
 alone stood out; its commandant, Wan Yuenji, having had 
 
274 TANG WANG. 
 
 orders to hold out at all costs. Gwanshung therefore urged 
 Tang Wang to move to the border, and to take command in 
 person of the army to defend Kanchow, whose position made it 
 a point of the last consequence, as the key into various provinces ; 
 for its west was towards the two Hoo provinces, its east opened 
 into Fukien and Chihkiang, while south of it stood the Kwang 
 province. An energetic defence of Kanchow would also serve to 
 show the people that Tang Wang had a plan of operations, which 
 he was to try to carry out, and would inspirit all with the hope that 
 they would be sustained in their resistance, and would warrant 
 them to energetically rally round and support him. He 
 acknowledged the force of this reasoning, and was all eagerness 
 to at once carry it out, but he was not his own master, and had 
 to consult his court. Juloong however emphatically objected on 
 the ostensible ground that there was not sufficient provision 
 for the army. The true reason, doubtless, was his fear that Tang 
 Wang once gone, his own power would crumble to dust ; whereas 
 in Tang Wang's palace he was all powerful. Tang Wang was 
 therefore compelled to decline taking that action which on his 
 accession to the throne he believed essential, and which he was 
 now again earnestly told was essential to the salvation of the 
 country. Gwanshung therefore retired discomfited, and doubt- 
 less disheartened, and Tang Wang saw him to the door. About 
 the same time the commmandant of Nanchang had to flee from 
 the city alone, after ordering the literates and people to make 
 peace with the Manchu army which appeared before the city; for 
 spite of his prayers he was left wholly without adequate measures 
 of defence. Thus Juloong bade fair to tread in the footsteps of 
 the infamous wretch Ma. 
 
 As Tang Wang could not himself move to the front, he 
 ordered Daojow to go with the army. Daojow expressed his 
 readiness to go where and do what he was ordered even single 
 handed ; but warmly urged the emperor to lead a second army 
 by another route towards Kanchow; for while it stood the 
 Manchus would not dare move south of it. Juloong however 
 objected to Daojow as commander, and refused to provide any 
 
ANOTHER EMPEROR. 275 
 
 funds. Daojow supplied a month's rations and pay out of his 
 own property ; but Juloong continued to keep closed the public 
 purse strings. One minister, who was an astrologist, endeavoured 
 to rouse Tang Wang to make the resolution to go to the front, 
 arguing sagely whether sincerely is questionable, that the 
 various positions and relations of certain stars and constellations 
 augured most favourably for the presence of the sovereign at the 
 head of the army. But the voice of Juloong was more potent than 
 that of the stars. 
 
 The son of Juloong by his Japanese wife was called Chunggoong, 
 " Acquired Merit," by Tang Wang, who had made him comman- 
 dant of the city troops and commander of the guard. Chunggoong, 
 the Coxinga of the Dutch, therefore knew, and informed his 
 father of everything done or to be done by the "emperor." And 
 no minister could raise his voice, for Daojow was another Kofa 
 in the field ; and the difference between Juloong and Ma, was that 
 the former did not put any of the ministers to death. He was 
 too powerful to require it. Whang Fei, count Jing, was more 
 worthy of his title, for he repeatedly defeated the enemy in 
 Chihkiang, and received a silver seal as reward. 
 
 In the period Tienchi of the Ming, one Hung Lai assumed the 
 title of Wang or prince of Kwangsi. Several men went to Peking 
 to accuse him. But as he was early informed of the opposition, 
 he had powerful friends made in Peking by a free distribution 
 of silver ; and when after a length of time the case came off, it 
 was to find him a true Wang, and the title of Jingjiang was 
 given him, while his accusers were thrown into prison for their 
 pains. The three cJiow cities of Chlien, Yung and Lien, were then 
 in the hands of the robbers, but neither governor nor prince 
 dared to inform the emperor. On the fall of Nanking, prince 
 Jingjiang took steps to ascend the throne, making lieut.- 
 general Yang Gwowei commander of his forces. Tang Wang 
 lost no time, however, in summoning him to support the throne 
 at Foochow ; but as he was bent on raising one at Kweilin, he 
 paid of course no attention. 
 
 Chu Shushu was then governor in Woochow, whither Jingjiang 
 
276 TANG WANG. 
 
 found it necessary to direct the movements of his army. But 
 Shushu was long aware of the prince's intention, and early sent 
 trusty friends to Kweilin to do all in their power to dissuade 
 him from taking the irrevocable step. He had been opposed to 
 the elevation of Tang Wang, as Kofa formerly to that of Foo 
 Wang ; but the deed being done, he urged the most energetic 
 support of the Fukien prince ; for that with all their united and 
 earnest efforts they would have quite enough to do to hold 
 their own, while division was the inevitable wrecking of all. 
 When therefore the wang with his army got to Woochow, 
 Shushu still deprecated division, and urged him to abstain from 
 the step he meditated, as it would simply ruin the common 
 cause. The wang in reply ordered Shushu to Kweilin, but he 
 refused to move. To the order to meet the wang in court dress, 
 he replied that it was unnecessary to appear in court dress in 
 the presence of a wang ; and do what the wang could, Shushu 
 would never acknowledge him as any other than Jingjiang 
 Wang. He refused to hand over the governor's seal ; and when 
 a sword was thrust to his throat he smiled and said, " Think you 
 that with a naked sword you can force from me what the 
 emperor gave." In this position a man threw his arm around 
 Shushu's neck to protect him, and a squabble ensued, some 
 desiring to slay, some to save him. But he was impassive, and 
 conquered ; for they dared not kill him, as he was a universal 
 favourite. The prince then sent for the seal to Shushu's house,* 
 the messenger informing the wife of the latter that he had been 
 sent by her husband. The messenger doubtless wore the 
 official Yamun clothing; the seal was handed over, and it 
 and Shushu were brought to Kweilin, the latter a prisoner. 
 
 * A remarkable circumstance is that the seal of the magistrate is always in the 
 hands of his chief wife, who hands it over to the messenger from her husband when 
 he wants it to seal any official document. We know that it is so in Mookden from 
 the governor down to the district magistrate, and an important document could not 
 be got stamped on one occasion, because the chief wife was confined, and the seal 
 was under her mattress. Probably this is for greater safety, as the women's quarters 
 are sacred from visitors ; and the magistrate's family usually lives on the official 
 premises. 
 
A BKAVE WIFE. 277 
 
 He was confined in the palace, but refused to eat or speak with 
 the people. 
 
 His wife was weeping day and night, probably sorrowing most 
 for her mistake ; but she was not content with mere grief. She 
 sent messengers both to the viceroy at Kwangtung and to Tang 
 Wang, both of whom had been already apprised by Shushu of 
 Jingjiang's intentions. She explained that matters were in an 
 extremely critical condition; the city of Choohiwng was in a 
 state of complete lawlessness ; and she knew that if Shushu were 
 put to death, Kwangsi would be hurled upon Kwangtung. 
 The viceroy Ding Kweishoo was therefore in readiness when 
 Jingjiang marched eastwards to the frontier, and drove him back 
 with an impetus which compelled him to flee to Kweilin. The 
 supporters of the prince were now afraid that Kwangtung would 
 march west against them while they were yet unprepared. They 
 at one time coaxed, at another threatened Shushu, to have him 
 order out the " Wolf" troops, whom he had already forbidden to 
 support the wang. His sole reply to all their importunity was that 
 he could easily starve himself to death. But this was a consum- 
 mation which terrified them still more. They therefore 
 changed his quarters to the outside of the city walls, and 
 returned to him his official seal. They also prayed him to go 
 back to his capital and office ; but he asked how one guilty of 
 crime as he was, could return ? When he was left at perfect 
 liberty he fled to another city, where he staid some time, and 
 whence he was again prayed to go to his own city. This was 
 doubtless because of disorder arising on his account in 
 Woochow; for that the city was in a great ferment is known from 
 the fact, that after he entered it by night tranquillity was at 
 once restored. He was joined immediately by Jia Lien, one 
 of Gwowei's officers, who began to see that he was in an evil, 
 i.e., a losing cause. This man was made commander of an army 
 with which to march against Jingjiang. He got to the walls of 
 Kweilin, managed to get ropes thrown down the wall, his men 
 up, and Gwowei apprehended that night. With dawn he 
 marched on the palace, giving out everywhere that in order to 
 
278 TANG WANG. 
 
 restore peace no more was wanted than the possession of the 
 person of the prince. He thus easily secured the wang and his 
 chief instigators, some of whom were put to death. This prepared 
 the way for the proclamation of Tang Wang as emperor, which 
 ceremony took place in the end of the year. 
 
 Thus the Kwangs were secured ; but a more difficult task was 
 to bring the insane or the selfish of Chihkiang to task. Loo 
 Wang had his headquarters at Taichow, with an independent 
 sovereignty. Against him an army was despatched under 
 Whang Binching, via Fooning, Ningshao, and Kinchli. He was 
 a Footien man, who had made his fame as a naval officer; 
 probably as a pirate. Jia Yii was the name of a youth who had 
 raised a band to oppose the robbers when Peking was sacked. 
 He was defeated and captured; but, contrary to their wont, 
 saved alive by the robbers. He managed to escape ; and was 
 presented to Tang Wang by Hoongkwei, who was a friend of 
 his. He, however, took an independent position at court ; and 
 endeavoured to move Tang Wang to go at the head of an army 
 to prepare the way for viceroy Ho Tungjiao, who, from his Hoo 
 provinces, was moving down at the head of an army said to 
 number three hundred thousand men, but who was meantime 
 intercepted by the Manchus. 
 
 The main army had been ordered to advance by Sangwaii 
 to save Ying and Chien cities, and to support Binching. This 
 movement necessitated a sacrifice to heaven and earth and the 
 imperial ancestors. To do proper honour to the ceremony, the 
 Board of Works was ordered to get made four silver hatchets, 
 each like a dragon ; the head to represent the dragon's head, 
 and the handle its body and tail ; and on the handle was carved 
 another small dragon in gold. In the open mouth of each 
 dragon was a pearl. This dragon was five feet long. Along 
 with them were tablets proper to the occasion presented and 
 exhibited on the platform of the altar. Hoongkwei was 
 comander-in-chief, and Jung Tsai his second; the emperor 
 himself marching at the head of the army clothed in mail. 
 When they passed over Hoongshan chiao bridge the emperor 
 
EVIL OMENS. 279 
 
 returned ; and he had not finished doffing his coat of mail before 
 a tremendous storm of wind and rain beat down the tablets and 
 the dragon hatchets, breaking the latter in two. The fall of the 
 tablets representing the two founders of the Ming dynasty 
 caused the greatest consternation, which was still further 
 increased by the fall of a horse in the first ranks. For omens 
 were and are of great account in the east as they have been in 
 the west. 
 
 Tang Wang was not idle, for he sent censor Lin Lanyow into 
 Kiangsi to secure the people there, and Hii Jow, a Szchuen 
 man, was to summon Szchuen to his standard. In the despatch 
 sent by the latter, Shan Jiechwun was nominated governor of 
 Szchuen, on account of his bravery in taking the capital from 
 the rebels. When this messenger arrived at his destination, the 
 people, guessing that the despatches would contain an order for 
 the arrest of their governor, whom they greatly loved, refused 
 to permit the opening of the despatches. But the governor, a 
 faithful and law-abiding subject, informed the messengers that 
 he was ready to go with them. They set off at night; and 
 when outside the city opened their commission to arrest him, 
 and bring him to Foochow ; whither he was brought a prisoner, 
 and there put to death. Of this measure Tang Wang afterwards 
 expressed his disapproval, saying to the Board of Appointments 
 that ex-governor Show should not have been put to death. He 
 presented the son with three thousand taels to perform the 
 necessary funeral honours to his father, and appointed him to a 
 magistracy to atone for the governor's death. 
 
 Finding that military affairs were not prosperous, notwith- 
 standing the popular feeling everywhere in favour of his reign, 
 Tang Wang at last resolved to go in person to the army which 
 he had sent away. His brothers he nominated guardians of the 
 empire, and left Juloong to look after and provide supplies. 
 And here we leave him to ascertain what the Manchus were 
 doing in the face of this Ming revival. But we may first glance 
 at the condition of Yunnan in the far west. 
 
 We saw Kwangsi taken from the prince who desired there to 
 
280 TANG WANG. 
 
 set up a throne, and handed over to the Tang Wang. Szchuen 
 was saved from the rebels, and acknowledged the same master. 
 Yunnan was still in the background ; for it had been really, if 
 not nominally, under the control of rebels for several years. 
 Sha Dingjow was then the rebel chief in Yunnan. He was at 
 one time a district magistrate at Linngan, and rose as follows to 
 his high pre-eminence. He had been employed formerly under 
 Soo Shungming and Woo Pikwei to subdue the robbers of 
 Kiangsi. Shungming was so successful that his ambition became 
 too great for his office, and he was utterly dissatisfied with his 
 minor post; nor was he willing again to return to routine 
 magisterial duties. When, in 1632, the sub-governor, Jao 
 Hoongfan, arrived at his destination, Shungming received and 
 welcomed him in such a haughty manner that he made 
 Hoongfan his enemy. He had orders sent him, but regarded 
 them with contempt. Imperial authority was at last under 
 the necessity to order troops of three provinces against him. 
 He was defeated, and pretended repentance and submission. He 
 petitioned for the post of governor of Kwangsi; which post was, 
 however, given to Jang Jimung, whom from that day Shungming 
 sought to destroy. The new governor was aware of the designs 
 on his life; and when Shungming appeared with a few men, 
 apparently to establish a nominal friendship, Jimung was over- 
 joyed, and prepared tea to welcome his guest. But the guest very 
 politely, and according to strict etiquette in China, where the 
 superior drinks first, refused to taste till the host had first tasted. 
 The host tasted, and while moving the cup from his lips let drop 
 into it some poison out of his hand, unnoticed by Shungming, who 
 drank and died. His beautiful widow had no son, and took 
 command of the army herself. She was a Shayuen lady, and was 
 very intimate with several of her officers, Shayuen men. Dingjow 
 was one of the youngest of these ; and the others were one by 
 one got rid of, and he reigned supreme. This " army " was then 
 in Kweichow. 
 
 In December 1645, Dingjow moved into Yunnan; the capital 
 of which fell into his hands by means of confederates within. 
 
OBSTINATE COMMANDANT. 281 
 
 Tienbo, the duke of Yunnan, whom he wished to displace, fled ; 
 but his mother, with others of his family, burnt themselves to 
 death, and two of his brothers were slain. Tienbo fled to 
 Choohiwng, whither Dingjow pursued him. He thence fled 
 further west to Yoongchang ; his friends urging him to go rather 
 than make a stand which would unite all the robbers against 
 .and overwhelm him. But Choohiwng would not open its gates 
 to Dingjow. This civil war was that referred to above by 
 Shushu's wife, as the state of matters to be dreaded in Kwangsi. 
 
 In the beginning of 1646, Dingjow again marched against 
 Woochiwng ; whose commandant, Yang Weiju, sat on the tower 
 over the gate, a good mark for Dingjow's muskets. But when 
 the smoke of their shots cleared away, there the rebels saw 
 Weij u sitting exactly as before ; and suddenly, believing him a 
 god, they moved away in fear, when he descended, ordered out 
 the garrison, and did great execution on their rear. Dingjow 
 next attacked Sniping ; also in vain. He then marched against 
 Ningchow, which fell ; and his success inspired him again to try 
 Woochiwng. Meantime Loong Dsaitien fled with his detachment 
 from Shiping to Talifoo. But though Dingjow divided his men 
 into seventy-two camps around the devoted city, dug a trench, 
 and built a strong rampart, determined to take it by a regular 
 siege, Weiju was too obstinate, and he had to raise the siege to 
 encounter the four lieut. -generals, Swun Kowang, Li Dinggwo, 
 and two others, who completely defeated him. Tang Wang was 
 utterly unacquainted with the state of Yunnan ; and those four 
 men had acted on their own responsibility, marching from 
 Kweichow determined to end the career of the robber. Dingjow 
 was so closely pressed that he fled by night after putting to death 
 a grand secretary. Thus Yunnan and Kweichow were mean- 
 time paralysed, and counted nothing in the game of war which 
 Tang Wang had, nolens volens, to play. 
 
 When the main armies of the Manchus returned to Peking (p. 
 264) all Kiangsi had not fallen into their hands. The Ming Yi 
 Wang occupied Chienchang, the Yoongming Wang (of whom 
 more anon) held Foochow, and Kanchow was under Yang 
 
282 TANG WANG. 
 
 Yenlin,* formerly a vice-president of Board of War. Each of these 
 summoned to his standard several myriad Man savages from the 
 Wooling (five passes) caves; and Kiangsi was commanded by 
 them. Jin Shunghwan, who lately deserted from the Ming, 
 was ordered by the Manchus against Kiangsi, to restore it to 
 order ; and he did so by scattering destruction on all hands of 
 him and leaving a desert behind his track. 
 
 The forces at the disposal of the Manchus were a few myriad 
 men in Nanking, and a few myriad more in Hwaingan, with 
 over one hundred thousand men, retained by them of the 
 deserters from the armies of Foo Wang. These too had their 
 heads shaved in conformity with the recent proclamation; 
 which proclamation, we have said elsewhere, had a very great 
 deal to do with the rising in favour of Tang Wang, when Juloong 
 had driven the people into disaffection. This rising was entirely 
 a popular movement, led by the conservative literates, at the 
 head of untrained volunteers, who rose up in all quarters, cut off 
 Manchu communications every where and isolated every post. 
 But for the possession of the left bank of the Ching Kiang river, 
 not a step could have been taken southwards by a Manchu 
 soldier into Chihkiang or Fukien. But those multitudes were 
 collected without discipline or rules, without mailed armour, 
 weapons, provisions or money. And we have already seen what 
 Tang Wang's court and cabinet could do. Half of the Manchu 
 army was in Nanking under the Jinglo, generallissimo or 
 dictator, Hoong Chungchow; vice-president Bashan being 
 commandant. The other half was under the orders of the Beira 
 in Hangchow ; Li Yenling was sent to garrison Soochow ; Woo 
 Jaoshung and deserter Li Chungdoong to look after the coast. 
 
 In July, Woo Jukwei sailed with his naval force, from 
 Yanghoo against Soochow, seconded by Hwang Fei from Taihoo. 
 Soochow garrison consisted then of one thousand cavalry soldiers 
 of desperate valour. Yenling and Gwobao had their head 
 quarters in Foohiao palace. As soon as they heard of the 
 
 * There is no discrepancy between this and the above account from the " Ming 
 Mo Ji "; for, as will appear below, Wun Yuenji was also a commander here. 
 
GALLANT GARRISON. 283 
 
 arrival of the armies against them, they ascended a gate tower 
 to reconnoiter, ordering out a hundred good horsemen, each with 
 a flag, to march at a little distance from each other on the road 
 from Nanking, to pretend to be a Manchu army coming thence. 
 A few hundred of Jukwei's van pushed in by the Sii gate, 
 penetrated from four to five li into the city without meeting a 
 single soldier, when they were suddenly surrounded and attacked 
 from all sides, not a man escaping. The besiegers, though 
 ignorant of that disaster, retreated to a distance, the city gates 
 were closed, and a proclamation was immediately posted in all 
 quarters of the city, intimating that the man who refused to 
 have his head shaved would have it cut off. In a few days there 
 was not a living unshaved male head in the enormous city of 
 Soochow, and the executioner seems to have been as busy as the 
 barber ; for it is related that all the accomplices of the enemy 
 were beheaded. This put an end to the siege of Soochow, for 
 the enemy withdrew before the terrible thousand. 
 
 In August the Beira marched south from Nanking, detaching 
 Ma Lasi and TJngutoo with their divisions against Hwang Fei, 
 whom they defeated at Changchow, and then broke up the army 
 of Dsotsai at Kwunshan ; Yihing and Changshoo cities fell as 
 the result. Liw Liangdso was sent against Kiangyin, and 
 Chungdoong burst into Tsoongming, put to the sword every soul 
 in Kiating, and then united with Yaoshung to attack the army 
 of Fei and Jukwei on the Woosoong river. They attacked on 
 one side, while the Soochow contingent seconded from the other. 
 Fei's fleet was then at Chunshun poo ; and as the tide was low 
 and the vessels large, and fast in the mud, they were burnt down. 
 Both Fei and Jukwei were seized, and the victorious army at 
 once rushed to the siege of Soongkiang. Chungdoong hoisted 
 the Banners of Fei, at sight of which the gates were opened, 
 Chungdoong entered, and the city was his. 
 
 In the same month a counter move was made by Sianggwan, 
 who, with twenty thousand Yihing and Liyang men, penetrated 
 to the neighbourhood of Nanking. Chungchow at once seized 
 all suspected persons, and put to death those known to be 
 
284 TANG WANG. 
 
 dangerous. He discovered that these had agreed on a signal, at 
 sight of which the enemy was to enter by a gate to be opened 
 for them. This was a fire by night over the Shunchu gate. 
 The signal blazed forth as was agreed "upon ; but large bodies of 
 Manchus had been sent out by Taiping and Chaoyang gates to 
 march towards the blaze, while a third body was lying in wait 
 inside the Shunchu gate. The sudden and unexpected attack of 
 these three divisions staggered, bewildered, and routed the 
 besiegers, and the prince of Yooichang was seized at Maoshan. 
 Sianggwan withdrew with the few who held together, and entered 
 Taihoo, where he joined with Golin and Chishung, camping on 
 Sishan hills. Here Chishung's men behaved so cruelly to the 
 people around, that they acted as guides to the Manchu admiral 
 Jaoshung, who came suddenly upon him and burnt his vessels. 
 Chishung fled to Fukien, where he was welcomed by Tang Wang; 
 but was degraded as soon as the truth was known. A fleet 
 appeared to assist the remaining portion of Sishan camp, but the 
 vessels of Sianggwan and Golin shared the fate of those of 
 Chishung. 
 
 Wooyi commanded on Taihoo with a disciplined body of men, 
 and Yingyuen held Kiangyin with another. After the fall of 
 Sishan, Wooyi defeated the Manchu lieut. -general of Kiating, 
 who had fifty-four ships at Pingwang. He defeated Jaoshung, 
 taking twenty of his ships at Loongan, and thus effected a junction 
 with the troops of East Chihkiang. Yingyuen defied Chung- 
 doong's impetuosity for two months. 
 
 Just then the Beira Boto, leaving Luakuduahwun to look after 
 the border of Chihkiang and Fukien, and viceroy Jang Dsunyin 
 to hold Hangchow, marched northwards, taking Kiahing foo. 
 Dividing his army, he retook Kiashan and Pinghoo, marched on 
 to Wookiang, united with Jaoshung, and occupied all the routes 
 to the ports. Then taking advantage of a heavy rain, the combined 
 army annihilated Wooyi, and immediately pressed the siege of 
 Kiangyin, keeping up a heavy cannonade unremittingly by day 
 and night. Another heavy rain brought down the riddled walls, 
 and the city was all put to the sword. .... 
 
UNIVERSITY 
 
 MANCHUS RECONQUER. 285 
 
 Chungchow sent Yechun, and lieut. -general Jang Tienloo, to 
 attack Hwichow and Ningko, defended by Jin Shung, who had 
 so planted thirteen camps under thirteen major-generals along 
 the sloping sides of the difficult mountains surrounding the 
 cities on all sides, that attack there was hopeless. There was 
 one side less difficult of access, that of Chisi, whence it was 
 possible to attack, and there Jin himself defended with the main 
 portion of his army. His men were all volunteers, drawn by 
 himself to the hills of Anhwi. He was posted at the pass of 
 Tsoongshan gwan, and for two months received the attacks of the 
 Manchu arms without the least impression, while he was deaf to 
 the many efforts made to induce him to desert. But in all parts of 
 China there are always men enough ready to do anything for a 
 consideration ; and bribery induced some natives to show the 
 Manchu troops a way, by unfrequented and unsuspected paths 
 on Jingduasinling Pass. This gave them easy access to some of 
 Jin's thirteen forts, ten of which fell before they got to Chisi, 
 where Jin himself defended, and which they could not take ; for 
 though he had to fight night and day, he was obstinate as the 
 hills around. But in October, one Whang Shoo, who had 
 deserted to the Manchus, but had not yet shaved his head, put 
 on his former old-fashioned Chinese clothing, and at the head of 
 a body of troops went to the gates, pretending to have come to 
 aid in the defence. He was welcomed by the gallant Jin, who 
 found he had received a Greek horse. The gates were instantly 
 opened, and the Manchus poured in and seized the gallant Jin. 
 
 Because Jin refused to shave his head, Chungchow ordered 
 his execution; and thus he died. Ten persons of his family 
 committed suicide. When Chungchow went into his Yamun, 
 there was Jin before him, sitting and staring him in the face. 
 And he rushed terrified into his house, and dared not go outside 
 for days after.* 
 
 * "Well done, old Mr Jin," cried an enthusiastic and fine old Chinese Jiiyin, 
 who read this passage with me; and added, " He was a first-class scholar, and we 
 read his Treatises to this day." This is the mind of all literary China, which is 
 intensely conservative, forgets all the evils belonging to native dynasties, and sees only 
 degradation in the compulsory presence of foreigners, whether Manchus or British. 
 
286 TANG WANG. 
 
 The progress of the Manchu army was rapid ; and it was of 
 such a nature that the "Holy Wars" refuses to record it 
 further than to make the remark that the armies, whithersoever 
 they went, " left not a hair " remaining, the country in their 
 track being as if "washed out"; and the sufferings of the people 
 consequently beyond description. Jang Tienloo, a former officer 
 of Kofa's, but now in Manchu service, was the only general officer 
 who manifested any concern for the people. He camped on the 
 hills around Hwichow, and issued the most peremptory orders, 
 forbidding any of his men to enter the city. Even though it 
 rained in spring for scores of days together, and the older men 
 of the city entreated him to enter the gates, he would neither 
 go himself nor permit his men to move. The citizens shed tears 
 of joy in gratitude for his care; and a grateful government, 
 hearing of his humanity, made him a commander. 
 
 Chinese military officers are as often as not illiterate, coarse 
 men ; and the sight of blood does not tend to refine them. The 
 sentiments expressed by the civil magistrate are such as imply 
 the utmost humanity. Sometimes also military officers are men 
 of thorough education and of refined sentiment ; and sometimes 
 men of warm, soft hearts, who have risen from the ranks though 
 without education, would be an ornament to the official military 
 of any country, as far as their conduct to the people is concerned. 
 But as a rule military officers act towards the civilian population 
 among whom they happen to be quartered, or through whom 
 they have to march, as if they were conquerors passing through 
 a people overcome with arms in their hands ; and the cruelty of 
 these officers to vanquished foes can be compared to nothing but 
 the ferocious delight of a tiger over its bleeding victim. And 
 the worst relic of savagery in China is the almost constant 
 massacre of all the inhabitants of a city which has defended 
 itself from the Chinese army. And if any Chinaman reads this 
 book, we earnestly beseech him to do all in his power to remove 
 this foul blot on his country's fame ; and to endeavour to bring 
 about a public feeling which shall never rest till those soldiers, 
 guilty of these fiendish deeds, be cashiered from the army, and 
 
CRUELTY OF SOLDIERS. 287 
 
 their names branded with infamy. China is perhaps the only great 
 nation under the sun which practices thu Roman Catholic dogma, 
 that faith need not to be kept with enemies. But the company 
 in which she finds herself does not make her conduct in this 
 respect the less infamous; and she should by this time have 
 learned what she must learn before she can be really great, that 
 honesty is the best policy. Colonel Gordon, to whom China 
 owes so much, could tell a tale the reverse of honourable, of one 
 who now stands out as one of the most prominent men in China. 
 This should not be. And men guilty of bad faith and of 
 unnecessary cruelty should be dealt with according to Chinese 
 law and not according to Chinese custom. With the education 
 and philosophy so common in China, such a thing as a razed 
 city, or the slaughter of any person without arms in his hands, 
 should not have been heard of; and such wicked cruelties are 
 the more inexcusable, that they are at utter variance with such 
 education and with the sentiments of the philosophy most 
 highly honoured in China. The story of Robespierre has been 
 age after age repeated in China ; but the squeamishness which 
 led to his retirement from the bar was not a healthy, manly 
 principle, which would dare danger and death in enforcing it, 
 but a sentimental egoism which gave way at the first approach 
 of personal danger. And it is for want of this deep principle 
 that China is what she is, that her history is stained with great 
 blots of unnecessary bloodshed; and not till she has learned 
 what one of her own philosophers has beautifully taught her- 
 to fear to do wrong rather than fear to die can China be what 
 she should be among the nations. But she will not in the 
 future more than in the past be able to practice this principle, by 
 leaning on her own systems of philosophy ; nor can she acquire 
 it from the sentimental, unpractical humanitarianism of Rousseau 
 and his followers, nor from the shallow humanity of the loud- 
 tongued and empty-handed modern Secularism. She can learn 
 it only where the few truly noble statesmen among British and 
 other nations of the west learned it, at the feet of the Man 
 who laid down His life for the well-being of others. 
 
288 TANG WANG. 
 
 Chungchow ordered Ma Jingoong against Chang Tsai the 
 Fanshan prince, whom he seized at Chienshan, and Chang Chi 
 made prisoner Gaorgan prince at Wooyuen. Shunghwun sent 
 Wang Tijoong, who took Tsienchang; and Wang Duayin retook 
 Foochow, the Yi Wang being so completely defeated that he 
 fled to hide himself. The other cities did not stand a siege and 
 the whole course of the Yangtsu was again entirely under 
 Manchu rule. But so bitter was the hostility of the con- 
 servative peasantry to the change in their head and neck dress, 
 and so dangerous the hatred roused by cruelties and exactions of 
 the soldiery, that the viceroy of Chihkiang found it necessary to 
 petition for a reduction of taxation to restore the goodwill of the 
 people lost by the proclamation of the edict about hair-shaving. 
 He also condemned in strong language the cruelties of Chung- 
 doong and Jaoshung, who should be brought to examination for 
 the riotously wicked character of their armies. But what could 
 be expected of men fighting only for the money it brought ? 
 They differed from the professional robber in that the latter 
 robbed in defiance to the law, and they in support of the law, 
 but each with equally contemptuous indifference to all personal, 
 family or social rights. 
 
 Immediately after the Chinese new-year of 1646, Haogo the 
 Manchu Soo Chin Wang was ordered to snatch Szchuen out of 
 the hands of Jang Hienjoong, who had risen^to greatness on the 
 ruins of Dsuchung, at first his friend afterwards his rival and 
 superior. Boto was sent back to take East Chihkiang; along with 
 general Toolai and the Beidsu Tunchi. 
 
 Soo Wang arrived before Singan in April and found that 
 fighting had been going on before. Former lieut. -generals of the 
 Ming, had raised forces at Hingan and Hanchung, with which 
 they frequently defeated the robbers. They took Fungyang and 
 beseiged Singan, receiving honorary titles from Tang Wang, in 
 whose name they fought, and in whose cause they had the 
 universal sympathy of the people. But though many of these 
 joined, it did not avail them, for the Manchu viceroy several times 
 defeated them and retook from them the cities Weinan, Poochung, 
 
SZCHUEN CONQUERED. 289 
 
 Woogoong, Toongchow, which they had just taken from the 
 robbers. Thus the Manchus fought a double fight, one against 
 the robbers in possession, another against the Ming striving for 
 possession; but as the same was true of both the robbers and the 
 Ming, the double contest was after all but a single one, for each 
 of the three had two foes. When Soo Wang arrived at the scene 
 of action, he pressed in with even greater vigour, pushing before 
 him, slaying or scattering all the robber armies of Funchow, 
 Chingyang, Yenan. In June he broke up Ho Jun's army at 
 Kitow gwan on the way to Hanchung, and raised the seige of 
 Hanchung and Hingan. He then marched the greater portion 
 of his army into Szchuen, leaving the Beidsu Manda to protect 
 Hanchung against the Ming. Hienjoong was completely 
 defeated in winter at Singan. And this great robber, second 
 only to Dsuchung, was taken and beheaded. Over one hundred 
 and thirty robber forts and camps were taken; and Szchuen 
 was included in the Manchu provinces. But in this recital, 
 Sangwei the real conqueror is not even once mentioned, and 
 we are left to discover elsewhere that it was he who subdued 
 Hienjoong and annexed Szchuen, as it was he who had hunted 
 down Dsuchung and covered Shensi with the Manchu tail. 
 
 We now return to tjie court of Tang Wang, who was emperor 
 of so wide a region, which he managed so inefficiently to rule. 
 We find that meantime his best minister, Daojow, had been 
 entirely neglected and no money or provisions sent to his army. 
 He was under the necessity, which he lamented, of giving 
 notes of hand to the people instead of money for the where- 
 withal to feed his army ; and it is said of him that the people 
 gave more readily than they would have given to Tang Wang. 
 He was then at Hwi and Chii chows, " pressing for soldiers who 
 were not sent, praying for provisions which were never given." 
 In his weakness the Manchus had pounced upon him at Woo- 
 yuen, seized him and sent him to Nanking, " rejoicing over the 
 capture of this one upright man more than at the fall of ten 
 Prefectures." He and Chungchow were natives of the same 
 village, and the Dictator was afraid to go into his prisoner's 
 
290 TANG WANG. 
 
 presence lest the latter should upbraid him as a traitor to his 
 native people. He therefore sent a subordinate, but Daojow 
 refused to speak. Thus the western Foochow army was gone, 
 and the army which went north, after their terror at the fall of the 
 horse, marched 400 li, and returned ; the commanders giving as 
 their reason the want of provisions. Tang Wang was therefore 
 in despair. He saw no hope from his own men and his own 
 armies. He sent messengers south to Annam to bring 
 soldiers thence. It is stated that when the men of Annam 
 brought tribute to Peking during the Ming period, they dressed 
 exactly like the Chinese; a statement most likely to be true; for 
 Annam and all the nations surrounding China had borrowed 
 civilisation from her. 
 
 At the new-year 1646, Tang Wang accused himself of Three 
 Crimes against Heaven, ate coarse food and clothed in cotton 
 (sack-cloth), ordering his ministers to do the same. A more 
 statesmanlike act was sentencing Hia Shangjin, a commissariat 
 commissioner, to pay a fine of ten thousand taels ; which could 
 be only for malversation. For fortunes have always been made 
 in all countries by starving the soldiers and stuffing the pockets 
 of the commissariat officials. 
 
 Ma Shuying was at last successful in getting an asylum. He 
 had again and again knocked at the doors of Tang Wang's 
 palace, and had made overtures of friendship and support to Loo 
 Wang, but neither the one nor the other would have anything 
 to do with him; even though Juloong and general Fang 
 Gwongan, whom he claimed as former dependants, were willing 
 to be bail for his good conduct. Perhaps Tang Wang felt that 
 it would be satisfactory if their own conduct was such as it 
 should be. Gwongan gave him an asylum in his army, however, 
 and he remained there, Tang Wang replying to his too-powerful 
 officials, that Ma would have office when Hangchow was taken. 
 Tungjiao was also promised great things. He would become a 
 count when he took Kiang, a marquis when Nanking fell, and 
 created a wang when Peking was occupied. So that hope was 
 not yet extinct. He was also urged to refrain from countenancing 
 
DSUCHUNG'S REMNANT ARMY. 291 
 
 any other claimant to the throne, for the cause was that of all 
 the wangs or princes of the Ming family, who were all one flesh 
 and bone. Tungjiao soon after received an enormous increase 
 to his army. Li Dsuchung had met the fate he deserved ; and 
 his nephew, Li Jin, was commander of the nominal three 
 hundred thousand men remaining. He too was harassed by 
 styled Sangwei, and moved southwards as best he could. He was 
 " Number One Tiger." He found himself so straitened between 
 Sangwei on the north, and Tungjiao on the south, that he 
 considered it best to chose to serve Tungjiao. He crossed the 
 Tungting Lake, and united his troops to those of Tungjiao. 
 He was created a marquis and a Dragon-tiger commander. 
 Tungjiao also received the degree of marquis, though Nanking 
 had not fallen. 
 
 Tang Wang was then crowded with memorials ; one censor 
 so warmly and pathetically arguing the expediency of the 
 " emperor's " presence at the head of his army immediately, that 
 the wang was quite melted by the good-will displayed to his family. 
 But while agreeing that the course recommended was the best, 
 he continued stationary. Memorial followed memorial, which 
 we will not quote, all harping on the same string ; and at last 
 Tang Wang decided to go, and the Kiangsi officials at once and 
 in joy got ready to welcome him. But trifling had not yet 
 ended. Still memorials poured in, some upbraiding and accusing 
 certain ministers who were obstacles, others calling upon the 
 wang to go as the last hope. But if he did not yet bestir himself, 
 he sent fifty thousand taels to Tungjiao, to help him to retake 
 Kiang and Peking. The "rebel" wang of Yunnan was with 
 Gwowei brought a prisoner to him at Kienning, whither he had at 
 last moved. Jingjiang Wang was sentenced to be a common 
 subject, and to be severely punished by the district magistrate 
 if he became troublesome. But a few days after he " sickened 
 and died." Gwowei was executed ; Kweichoo was made count 
 Pingyooe ; and Shushu vice-president of the Board of War, in 
 spite of his refusal. 
 
 Tang Wang got to Yenping, whither Kwangtung sent one 
 
292 TANG WANG. 
 
 hundred thousand taels for his army. Loo Wang, now seeing 
 the political sky brewing dark thunder, made overtures of peace 
 to Tang Wang ; and just then a priest, pretending to be Foo 
 Wang, was put to death after trial. Ma also made another 
 unsuccessful attempt to be received by Tang Wang, whose 
 power was by no means a shadow ; for the king of the Loochoos 
 sent messengers with tribute to beg a treaty, which he would 
 scarcely think of doing if Tang Wang were weak enough to be 
 contemptible. 
 
 Boto reached Hangchow in April, and found that Fang 
 Gwongan had fled in the most disorderly manner across the 
 river. Ma with his shadow, the vicious Dachun, had crept into 
 the camp of Gwongan, his former dependant ; and was smarting 
 under the repeated and recent insult offered him by Tang Wang 
 in refusing to see him, and in giving the border sentries orders 
 to forbid his entry. He therefore instigated Gwongan to put to 
 death a messenger from Tang Wang. Besides the regular 
 armies, the enthusiasm of the Fukien men found expression in 
 large bodies of volunteers and voluntary subscriptions to support 
 them ; so earnest was their objection to shaving their head. All 
 the legal taxation of the three eastern Fukien prefectures went 
 direct and without abatement to the support of the two armies 
 of Gwongan and Juyin. Under Ma's advice, not only was all 
 this money expended on these armies, but Gwongan took charge 
 of all the voluntary contributions raised in those districts for the 
 volunteers, and used it up for his own purposes. Thus Ma 
 caused the volunteers to regard the regulars with detestation ; 
 and Boto found the work of destruction going on in Fukien by 
 internal combustion. The volunteers had been started by two 
 graduates, ignorant of the art of war ; who had, when they had 
 raised scarcely one thousand agriculturists and beggars, placed 
 themselves under the orders of Gwongan and Juyin ; and they 
 continued subject to them after their numbers had greatly 
 increased. Neither the regulars nor volunteers were located 
 with a view to efficient drill, nor in strategical points ; but were 
 centred in cities where provisions were easily obtained. The 
 
TAXES AND CONTRIBUTIONS. 293 
 
 two commanders discussed the question of provisions ; but could 
 agree only in deciding that the volunteers should be dependent 
 on voluntary contributions. These, however, were found by a 
 junior secretary of Board of War to be very uncertain and 
 wholly inadequate, because there was no proper mode of 
 collecting them. His proposal that voluntary contributions 
 should, with the regular taxes, go into the Board of Revenue to 
 support both regulars and volunteers, was objected to by the 
 two commanders. And all the arrangements of every department 
 of Government were entirely at the mercy of Juloong; into 
 whose hands the taxes of the Kwangs passed, as well as those of 
 Fukien. The same mistake was again made here which Kofa 
 had lived to regret, each army was permitted to command and 
 to utilise the taxes of the lands placed under its protection. 
 
 Boto sent his army by the Tsientang river, but Jang Gwowei 
 and Wang Juyin took advantage of a south-east wind, bore down 
 upon and defeated them, sinking many of the Manchu vessels. 
 Following up his victory, Gwowei pressed in to the gates of 
 Hangchow, but retreated after an unsuccessful attack. The 
 Manchus however retrieved their name by land ; for next month 
 they battered down the camp of Gwongan with heavy cannon, 
 and compelled him to flee with a few myrid men. Loo Wang 
 had therefore to retire from Shaohing to Taichow. The Manchu 
 army was at the river bank, and distressed because they could 
 not cross, for the river was over 10 li wide. But as the summer 
 had been a dry one, the water was shallow and many sand banks 
 appeared. The stream was also sluggish, and as there was no 
 tide, trial was made, and the water found to reach only to the 
 horses' belly. In the beginning of the hot July weather, the 
 soldiers on the south bank were bathing in the shallow water, 
 and wandering hither and thither in aimless disorder, which was 
 seen by the ever- watchful Manchus. Some scores of thousands 
 both of infantry and cavalry marched up the river some distance 
 and crossed, wading with their clothes on. The rambling army fled 
 as soon as ever the Manchu banners appeared on the south side, 
 without even an attempt at rallying or fighting ; and Ma, the 
 
294 TANG WANG. 
 
 Ming evil genius, with his sub Yuen, argued Gwongan into 
 agreeing to hand over Loo Wang to the Manchus as a propitiatory 
 offering. But Loo Wang was wiser than Foo Wang, and 
 escaped in time to sea. Juyin was drowned, and his family 
 perished after they got to Nanking. The result of this blow 
 was the fall of Shaohing, Ningpo, Wunchow and Taichow. 
 
 Joo Dadien still held out in Kinhwa ; and Gwowei in Yiwoo, 
 which was immediately attacked, taken, and Gwowei slain. 
 Kinhwa was not so easily captured, but the scoundrelly traitor 
 Yuen Dachun, who knew that the south-east corner of the 
 ramparts were but recently thrown up and not very strong, 
 hoping to receive a proper acknowledgment, offered to be guide 
 to the Manchus. The city fell, was razed to the ground and 
 every soul slain. The perfect of Kuchow had refused to 
 acknowledge Loo Wang ; but the higher degree of merit from 
 Tang Wang was no defence against the Manchus, who took his 
 city, and in it both Soo Wang and Longan Wang. With it 
 the whole of Chihkiang was under Manchu colours. And the 
 army was free to march into Fukien. 
 
 In the west affairs were of a mottled character. Tang Wang's 
 plans were by his officials prevented from attaining any good 
 result. Daojow was lost and fell for want of support. And as is 
 usual elsewhere, Juloong now petitioned to have posthumous 
 honours paid him. A temple was erected to his name in his 
 native village, and another in Foochow with the title of Minjoong, 
 "Merciful and Faithful." And the power of Tang Wang in 
 Kiangsi, was acknowledged only inside the walls of Kanchow, 
 where Wun Yuenji was determined to stand. 
 
 Between Tingchow and Shaochow are the mountains of 
 Damaoshan, in the caves of which live many of the Man tribes. 
 The Ming troops had often attacked them but in vain, till 
 prince Yoongning induced them to submit. He summoned them 
 to his standard after the Manchus took Foochow, and with their 
 aid he recovered the city. The Manchus besieged it in the 
 spring, but were compelled to raise the siege by three divisions 
 from the camp of Jung Tsai at Kwangsin. When these withdrew, 
 
KANCHOW ENDANGEKED. 295 
 
 the Manchus again formed siege, and as Jung Tsai remained still, 
 the city fell, Yoongning Wang was slain and his Man soldiers 
 scattered. Tsai was degraded and sentenced to do penance. 
 In May the Manchus took Chang. Just when the Manchus were 
 got to Dsaokow in the vicinity of Sinchung, Juloong gave out that 
 the three provinces could not possibly raise the million and half of 
 taels necessary to support the army; and pronounced affairs to be 
 desperate. The movement of the Manchus compelled Yuenji to 
 enter the walls of Kanchow, whose inhabitants in their terror 
 sought safety in sudden flight; a week after Knachow was 
 invested. Yunnan sent a body of troops to aid Kanchow, but 
 after reaching Nankang they came to a halt and staid there. 
 Yang Yenlin marched from Yiitoo with forty thousand men who 
 got to Kanchow, but only to increase the bulk of the garrison ; 
 for he did not dare to face the Manchus. Kanchow was therefore 
 isolated, and in it were twenty thousand volunteers from the 
 neighbourhood, forty thousand of the Cave Man, and several 
 thousands from Kwangtung. And though the Yunnan army 
 did not press in, they to the number of five thousand men 
 frequently defeated the Manchus of Nanchang, took and 
 occupied Kingan, where they greatly increased in numbers. 
 The two Jung commanders, Tsai and Hoongkwei, withdrew to 
 the mountains when Yenlin and Yuenji fell back on Kanchow. 
 Yuenji at that time received the title of Shoohien, "The 
 superior man," from Tang Wang, who degraded Liw Gwangyin, 
 governor of Kiang, for retreating. Kwangsin was uncovered 
 by the hasty flight of Jung Tsai without a battle, and was 
 immediately invested by the Manchus. An army sent to raise 
 the siege kept at a safe distance, and the city fell. 
 
 Changsha was then occupied by Tungjiao with thirty 
 thousand men, and communicated with the former quarters of 
 Liangyii. Yochow was defended by Ma Jinjoong and Wang 
 Jiaochung with several myriads of men. Li Jin and other 
 officers formerly under Dsuchung had one hundred thousand 
 men of Dsuchung's in Changte. Others of Dsuchung's officers 
 joined Tungjiao, raising his forces to one hundred thousand men. 
 
296 TANG WANG. 
 
 It was immediately after this that the fate of Dsuchung was known 
 over the south. Tang Wang in his joy over the death of the 
 rebel who overturned the Ming dynasty, offered sacrifices to 
 make known to his deceased ancestors the glad news. Tungjiao 
 was crowned with the honours of a count and soon after of a 
 marquis. Li Jin was named Chusin or the "single-minded," 
 and Gao Yidoong was named Bijung, " certain-to-be upright." 
 They with others not necessary to be named were made lieut.- 
 generals, each with a station, forming in all thirteen jun or 
 military outposts in Hoonan and Hoope, over against the central 
 armies of the Manchus stationed in Woochang and Kingchow. 
 But here again there was the same difficulty which made East 
 Chihkiang so easy a prey, jealousies and strugglings over the 
 commissariat; for the elements of these thirteen armies were 
 even more heterogeneous than those of Chihkiang had been. 
 
 Thus notwithstanding the extent of country calling Tang 
 Wang emperor, he was compelled to rely on Fukien resources to 
 meet the crowding and increasing united Manchu troops. He 
 had been pressed by Tungjiao to go to Hoonan, and there 
 establish his capital ; and the commandant of Kanchow invited 
 him to Kiangsi, while central Chihkiang prayed him to make 
 Kiichow his headquarters. He had long discovered that Juloong 
 was not capable of supporting the weight of empire, and was 
 desirous to get to Tungjiao by way of Kanchow. But Juloong 
 feared the " emperor's " removal, and got a lot of soldiers and 
 civilians to surround Tang Wang, and cry out that he must not 
 leave them. But if Juloong was eager that Tang Wang should 
 remain in Foochow for his sake, he was by no means ready to 
 lay down his life for Tang Wang; and with the fall of East 
 Chihkiang and the flight of Loo Wang, the Manchu chiefs 
 received the secret adhesion of Juloong in answer to their 
 flattering overtures. On pretence of putting down piracy, he 
 removed all the troops stationed in the land and river posts 
 commanding the entrance into Fukien at the Hienhialing Pass, 
 leaving the pass without a single defender. News had mean- 
 time arrived of the recovery in Szchuen of the two prefectures 
 
FUKIEN THKEATENED 297 
 
 of Choongching and Kweichow, with three sub-prefectures and 
 twenty-three district cities, and of the utter rout of several 
 myriads of Manchus in Hoonan and Hoope by the Taotai 
 Jang Kwang, after a terribly bloody fight ; though Li Chusin 
 had not dared to face them. 
 
 The brothers Jung were made dukes, though for what reason 
 it is difficult to say, unless with the hope that it might stimulate 
 them to patriotism and bravery. But the hope was not well 
 grounded, for Hoongkwei soon after, in tones of terror, reported 
 the approach of the Manchus to the frontier, which he was 
 defending, after they had taken the Chihkiang cities bordering 
 Fukien. There was a useless diversion made in Leichow, where 
 the Manchu prefect was murdered, and in Kaochow, where the 
 soldiers put their officers to the sword, and declared for Tang 
 Wang. The commandant of Kuchow, Mingjun, flew through 
 Hienhiagwan Pass. The prince was very angry, ordered the 
 imprisonment of his son, a government official, and the appre- 
 hension of Mingjun in Kienning foo. This terrified the coward, 
 and he kept his promise to return to his post. Juloong was now 
 eager to have Tang Wang back again in Foochow, promising a 
 sum of four million taels for the army, if Tang Wang desisted 
 from his project of going into the Kwangs. The " emperor," 
 once rid of Juloong, was unmovable however, and would not 
 turn back, though the Manchus were threatening Kwanmun of 
 Fukien, and though Juloong sent his mother to Tang Wang's 
 queen to prevail with her to turn her husband back. 
 
 The Manchus had meantime started in two divisions from 
 Kwangsin and Kuchow, and got easily and without resistance 
 over the undefended mountain passes, avoiding Hienhialing, 
 where an army had been again posted to receive them. Jung 
 Weihoong, a doctor graduate, or Jinsu of Yangchow, commanded 
 in Poochung hien, and though the people prayed to have the 
 gates opened to the Manchus, he refused their repeated 
 entreaties and held out, but in vain, for the city soon fell. He 
 was taken, brought before the Beira, who, recognising more than 
 ordinary ability in the man, was anxious to gain him over to the 
 
298 TANG WANG. 
 
 Manchu side ; but emphatically, though quietly, he objected to 
 
 have his hair off. A sum of money was demanded of him as 
 
 ransom. He had none. The people to whose prayers he had 
 
 not listened, honoured him so greatly that they offered to 
 
 ransom him. He refused to accept the money from the poor ; 
 
 and to put an end to the play, he reviled the Beira to his face 
 
 to such a degree, that the proud Manchu could endure it no 
 
 longer, and ordered his execution. Mingjun also met a similar 
 
 fate in this city, whither he had fled from his post. When 
 
 Poochung fell, Yenping was attacked, standing but a brief siege. 
 
 Tang Wang fled with a few followers, several of whom, however, 
 
 found it convenient to fly each his own way; and thus his 
 
 ministers became scattered. An army was raised by some 
 
 graduates, but the raw volunteers were soon cut to pieces. A 
 
 band, under a Yoongfoo deserter, cut their way through the 
 
 mountains, and laid themselves at the feet of the Beira. And 
 
 the march of the Manchus caused two parties to form ; the one 
 
 for, the other against them. It was then the saying originated 
 
 in Fukien, that the man who saved his hair lost his head ; and 
 
 a coffin retained in the house, ensured its downfall. This latter 
 
 is worthy of note, to show the state of society then on the matter 
 
 of burial, for every house had its one or more coffins, which the 
 
 relations affectionately retained in the house, but which the 
 
 Manchus ordered out to burial, as inducing bad health. The 
 
 coffins were, of course, as now over all China, air-tight ; yet, 
 
 doubtless, they were in many instances only nominally so. It is 
 
 recorded that " all the cities of the province removed their coffins 
 
 outside the city gates," according to order ; but the inhabitants 
 
 followed them, and the "cities were as if they had been washed!" 
 
 On the twenty-eighth of eighth moon (September, October), 
 
 Tang Wang, under the escort of five thousand men from 
 
 Tungjiao, got into Tingchow, the Manchus in pursuit being 
 
 at Kienning, whose prefect, with the Taotai of Yenping, 
 
 submitted. Wang Gwohan, the commandant of Tingchow, was 
 
 terrified, and his lord had him beaten ; with the result however 
 
 that the "emperor" was left without an attendant ! He refused 
 
TANG'S KEIGN CLOSES. 
 
 to rest at Shaochow when passing, and he was hard pressed by the 
 Manchu pursuers who hoisted Ming banners. They pursued 
 seven days and nights, overtaking and defeating his lieut-general, 
 who had twenty thousand men. A dozen men knocked at the 
 gate of Tingchow, demanding admittance as the body guard of 
 Tang Wang. And so they were to be; for on entering they 
 made prisoner Tang Wang, who, a month before, commanded 
 over half a million of soldiers. The fact shows how completely 
 cowed were the Chinese supporters of Tang Wang, when a 
 miserable handful of men could seize and carry him off out of a 
 large city. They brought him prisoner to Nanking, and gave 
 out that he refused to eat and thus died. It was afterwards 
 found to be a false report, at least when first proclaimed ; but it 
 had the desired effect, for all the defenders of his throne were 
 paralyzed and their arms fell out of their hands. The body of 
 his adherents fell to pieces, and some literary men formed the 
 usual posthumous title for him. 
 
 Chiienchow was taken immediately after Tingchow, and 
 Foochow was entered by the north gate a fortnight after. It 
 was found to contain scarcely a tithe of its inhabitants, so 
 thoroughly adverse to the Manchu rule were they. All the 
 chief literary men and officials who could, fled to the hills. One 
 solitary president, whose name was not worth recording, remained 
 behind, and presented himself to the Beira on his knees, in 
 which posture he was allowed to remain most of the day and 
 then dismissed with contempt. A proclamation was immediately 
 posted ordering all to shave. Jao Mao, a man of thirty-six, and 
 who had three sons, provided fish and liquor to feast his old 
 father and mother, when he reverenced them in the usual 
 manner. After they slept, he ordered his sons to be diligent 
 with their studies. He then got a pen with which he wrote 
 that he was unwilling to cut off his hair, but was willing to die ; 
 and having written it, he strangled himself in his own hall. 
 Tsao Siaochuen was a Juyin at the early age of seventeen, and 
 a Jinsu at twenty. He shaved off all his hair and retired as a 
 monk to a mountain monastery. An aged official of seventy- 
 
300 TANG WANG. 
 
 three strangled himself in his hall ; and the example thus set 
 was followed by crowds upon crowds ; for nowhere was the 
 proclamation commanding the wearing of the Manchu queue 
 received with such determination of hatred as in Fukien ; and 
 the last to receive the Manchu cut were Fukien men. 
 Changchow opened its gates, and its officials were therefore 
 allowed to retain their posts. As soon as the Manchu army 
 had gone, the civilians rose upon and murdered the " traitor " 
 officials. And though the Manchus entered Chiienchow, they 
 found it empty of valuable plunder ; for it had been harried by 
 Jung Jubao, who took possession of all the silver and hired five 
 hundred men to burn down the palace. He retired only when 
 the Manchus appeared at the gate, retreating to Anping, where 
 his brother Juloong had a large army and five hundred to six 
 hundred large ships, and which was almost impregnably fortified 
 with large cannon whose never ceasing echoes shook the "heaven 
 and the earth." Thither the Manchus did not think it 
 convenient meantime to go. 
 
 We left Yuenji besieged in Kanchow by Shunghwan, ever 
 since he took Kingan in May. A body of five thousand men 
 marched from Kwangtung, which compelled the Manchus to 
 raise the siege to give them battle. They were, however, 
 defeated at Lijia shan, and the siege again pressed. Yuenji 
 depended mainly on the Man soldiers, who however latterly 
 behaved in a brutal manner in their murder and extortion of the 
 people; and as he treated the levies from Yunnan and the 
 Kwangs with sterness, they became demoralised. In August a 
 force of forty thousand men from the Kwangs marched to the 
 relief of Kanchow, and demanded to be led against the Manchus. 
 There were some seamen available, but Yuenji declared he 
 could not attack without the four thousand seamen left in 
 Nangan. But as the river was shallow the Manchus burnt the 
 vessels and those seamen never appeared. After news of the 
 loss of the Ming fleet, the Manchus forced the camp of the 
 Kwang men, and next day took the Yunnan camp; and 
 Kanchow was left naked, besieged by a large army and defended 
 
KANCHOW FALLS. 301 
 
 by a few thousands. When the over worked garrison heard that 
 Tang Wang was captured they lost the only inducement they 
 had to fight, and their arms fell listless to their sides. But so 
 strong were the natural defences of the place, that it was all but 
 impossible to take it, till, in November, a man let himself down 
 by a rope from the wall to escape, was apprehended by the 
 Manchus, compelled to act as guide, and led them in by the 
 small east gate, and the city was theirs. To save his own life 
 he guided the Manchus, who left not a soul alive in the city. 
 Yuenji drowned himself, and many officials committed suicide 
 rather than fall into Manchu hands. 
 
 In June 1647, Li Dinggwo marched on Linngan of Yunnan 
 and took it, calling it Amichow, after a deceased robber. He 
 was declared a robber and a traitor by the good governor Weiju, 
 who shortly afterwards defeated the four generals, taking 
 Dinggwo. His three brother generals interceded for him, 
 praying for his release on the ground that they were all working 
 in the same cause, that of extirpating robbery under Dingjow. 
 Weiju agreed to their proposal to become his allies, on these 
 conditions : First, That no false (private) colours be displayed ; 
 second, That none of the civilian people should be slain ; and 
 third, That women should be sacred. In October the four 
 generals marched to Haoching and Likiang, whose prefect did 
 not wish to resist them ; but Tienbo, who was there, though 
 possessing the letter of Weiju ensuring his safety, could not 
 trust himself to them. He therefore sent his son to their camp 
 to ascertain their object, and to say that he desired only to be 
 left unmolested in Yoongchang. General Liw Wunsiw said : 
 " This is the duke's heir, and his coming serves the same purpose 
 as if it had been his father." He was therefore well treated, 
 and sent back with an escort of twenty men, and taking 
 with him all the family valuables which had been plundered by 
 the army under Dingjow. The duke was delighted at this 
 unlooked-for good luck, and immediately set out with the 
 generals to the capital of Yunnan. Wunsiw marched against 
 the remains of Dingjow's old army, in which was the notable 
 
302 TANG WANG. 
 
 Black Tiger, who fought with a double-edged sword in his 
 mouth, and an enormous one in his hand. He was of the Man 
 tribe, as were his followers. Wunsiw failed to defeat him ; and 
 only on arrival of Dinggwo was Black Tiger conquered and slain. 
 Dingjow's men had betaken themselves to the caves and 
 mountains of the Man after their great defeat. Linngan had 
 fallen to Dinggwo with great difficulty, and only after serious 
 trouble. Even after the guns had shattered the walls to pieces, 
 Dingjow made a desperate resistance within. Dinggwo was so 
 roused to fury, that he put to death every soul he met in the 
 city; and seventy thousand fell before him, besides those 
 who committed suicide. The cities of Kwunyang, Kinning, 
 Chunkung, Kweihwa, suffered in the same terrible manner, and 
 hundreds of thousands were put to the sword, though all fled 
 who could. Only those cities under the care of Weiju escaped 
 the general ruin, as Talifoo, &c. ; and the gratitude of those 
 regions was so great, that the people worshipped him, and have 
 continued to the present day to worship him as a god. So 
 fierce was the attack of Dinggwo and his colleagues, that all in 
 the caves and mountain defiles at last surrendered, and among 
 them were Dingjow and the lovely widow of Shungming, who 
 was the inciting cause of all this bloodshed ; as Dingjow, but for 
 her,, would have yielded long before. Great therefore was the 
 curiosity to see the beautiful cause of all this desperate fighting 
 and slaying ; and when a black, ugly hag appeared, those who 
 saw and heard roared with laughter ! 
 
 Yu Ngao was the fourth younger brother of Tang Wang, 
 whom the latter created Tang Wang, when he himself was 
 elected Emperor. When Tang Wang was captured the men of 
 Yii Ngao fled ; and he and Whi Wang made their way by sea 
 to Kwangchow or Canton, accompanied by the grand secretary 
 Soo Gwanshung. Bangyen and Gwanshung had consulted 
 together as to the course proper to be pursued. Bangyen had 
 been at Chaoching and seen Gwei Wang, and to Gwanshung he 
 said that as all the people were in favour of making a stand 
 and of electing Gwei Wang to be emperor, the sooner the Wang 
 
CANTONESE EMPEROR. 303 
 
 was enthroned the better; and Gwanshung agreed with him. 
 Bangyen went to Gwei Wang, who was enthroned in Chaoching 
 a fortnight after. He was then sent as a senior secretary to 
 Canton to proclaim the enthronement of the new emperor, but 
 when he approached Canton he found that Yu Ngao had already 
 been proclaimed emperor. He dared not go within the city, but 
 sent a message to Gwanshung, urging him to unite with viceroy 
 Kweichoo, and not ruin the weak cause by civil war. But 
 the double election was in reality the result of the unfriendly 
 terms existing between Kweichoo and Gwanshung, and he would 
 not now resile from his new emperor. Yii Ngao had been 
 enthroned in December 1646, in his capital of Canton, assuming 
 the style of Shaowoo for his reign. Gwanshung was nominated 
 commander-in-chief, besides being, with the other principals 
 concerned in the election, made grand secretary. After the 
 return of Bangyen, Gwanshung received a letter from Shushu, 
 demanding his aid in establishing the new kingdom, as it would 
 be a ruinous policy to divide into two parties at the moment 
 when Fukien was lost on the east, and the Manchus were 
 pouring in on the west. He concluded by asking if the cause 
 were shipwrecked what would posterity say of Gwanshung? 
 Gwanshung was so angry on receipt of this letter that he put 
 the messenger to death and prepared to march against 
 Chaoching; thus warranting the question of Shushu. Gwai 
 Wang to prevent surprise, ordered viceroy Lin Jiading to 
 Sanshwi, and Chun Jitai marched from Canton against him, 
 but soon marched back again completely defeated. Lin 
 pursued Chun's men who were crossing in boats at Haikow. 
 Chun fell in with a band of pirates which he engaged to fight 
 for him. They got to windward of Lin's fleet, he sailing on 
 ignorant of the change in the character of the vessels, till a 
 number of fire ships was sent off among his vessels by the 
 pirates, which caused the greatest consternation on board his 
 fleet. Men and horses jumped out of the vessels into the river 
 and became fast in three feet of mud. They were attacked in 
 this defenceless condition and all but annihilated. 
 
304 TANG WANG. 
 
 Li Chungdoong was then on his way from Fukien. He 
 reported the victory at Canton and gave in his submission to 
 the new emperor, and Gwaishung was overjoyed at both events. 
 Canton and its neighbourhood were then overrun with bands or 
 armies of robbers by land and fleets of pirates by sea. Wha 
 Shenyen was the chief robber ; and the principal pirates were 
 the heads of the houses, Hii, Shu, Ma and Jung, all of whom gave 
 in their allegiance to the new emperor ; for of course they could 
 still carry on their former trade. One Jie Ngao refused to 
 submit, and murdered citizens at mid-day in the streets, the 
 authorities not daring to interfere ! It was in these circumstances 
 that Li Chungdoong made his submission to the emperor, who 
 cordially welcomed him in court dress. While the imposing 
 ceremony was being enacted, a breathless messenger informed 
 Gwanshung that the Manchus were come. " It's a lie," shouted 
 the grand secretary, ordering the messenger's head off. This 
 was no sooner done, than a sound as of rushing waters was 
 heard, and the word went abroad that Hwashan robbers had 
 come. Still the red flags continued to pour into the city ; for 
 not a soldier was armed. The emperor laid aside his imperial 
 robes, and the audience was over. But Chungdoong still 
 remained with the emperor, who sent out a messenger to learn 
 the true cause of the street noises. The messenger returned. 
 Chungdoong smilingly offered his majesty, now his prisoner, 
 some food, which however his majesty refused to accept, saying 
 that if he lived, he could not face his ancestors when he " went 
 below." He strangled himself. The conceited Gwanshung was 
 at last aware of the truth of the information given by the 
 breathless messenger. He wrote nine characters, to say that 
 the " Great Ming faithful ministers and upright soldiers, must 
 all die;" and then strangled himself. His body was cut to 
 pieces, and sixteen of Yu Ngao's men put to death. Most of 
 the chief officials acknowledged the Manchus. Jao Wang, 
 in Hoochow, preferred to shave off all his hair to wearing 
 a queue, and retired to a monastery. The prefect 
 submitted to the Manchus. And thus ended Gwanshung's 
 
OPPOSITION EMPEROR. 305 
 
 attempt at making an empire, leaving the Manchus masters of 
 Canton. 
 
 We have more frequently than once come across Loo Wang, 
 who had most unwisely set up an opposition " empire " in East 
 Chihkiang, instead of supporting Tang Wang. He was the 
 tenth generation from the first Ming emperor. His father had 
 committed suicide in Yenchow of Shantung, where he was prince, 
 when the Manchus poured in their plundering hosts from 
 Mookden and took Yenchow and many another Shantung city. 
 The son succeeded to the wangship, but fled south when Peking 
 fell. He was ordered by Foo Wang from Kiang and Kwang to 
 take up his official abode in Taichow. When Nanking fell, Ma 
 fled with the mother of Foo Wang to Hangchow, where the first 
 Loo Wang soon surrendered to the Manchus. Chi Biaojia 
 drowned himself; and a censor, who had petitioned meantime to 
 pass the crimes of Ma in silence, starved himself rather than 
 obey the "shaving" proclamation. Foo Wang's mother ordered 
 Ma into Shaochow, where the fate of Foo Wang was unknown. 
 
 As soon as Loo Wang was proclaimed regent of the empire in 
 East Chihkiang, he proclaimed ten crimes of Ma's, who therefore 
 dared not present himself. But Gwongan was made a marquis, 
 as well as Juyin. Others received high sounding titles, and 
 were posted for defence along the river and elsewhere, and East 
 Chihkiang contributed six hundred thousand taels for the 
 commissariat. But the army of Sinngan Wang disbanded itself, 
 and the viceroy's camp contained only a few hundred men. So 
 that Loo Wang was thrown on the support of volunteers and 
 voluntary subscriptions to garrison the cities. Gwongan defended 
 Yenchow with spirit from the Manchu attack, till Gwowei came 
 up, defeated the Manchus, and compelled them to withdraw. 
 In November a terrific storm of wind and rain stopped pursuit 
 and flight, and the Manchus entered a wooden city on the river 
 bank. It was then Ma and Yuen (p. 292) stole into Gwongan's 
 camp. Internal division arose on account of an attack by Wang 
 Jungjoong on lieut. -general Chun Woo, who, when defeated by 
 the Manchus, crossed the sea and plundered his own people. 
 
306 TANG WANG. 
 
 Chun was slain, and two hot parties arose, the one accusing, 
 the other defending Wang's attack. 
 
 Juyin was eager to assume the offensive, saying he was willing 
 to die fighting, while soon he would have to die unable to fight. 
 Immediately after, he defeated the Manchus on the Tsientang. 
 It was then that Ma urged Gwongan to murder the messenger 
 of Tang Wang. The Manchus then crossed sea, took Hanpoo, 
 and attacked Hangchow, but were repulsed. But Gwongan, 
 after an attack on their camp, declared it was vain to attempt 
 to fight against them, and advised flight into Kweichow. 
 They therefore moved southwards and the Manchus entered 
 Hangchow on a bright moonlight night. Juyin took to sea; 
 Gwowei alone wishing to stay and fight it out. Juyin 
 however told him, weeping, that he had no ships; that had 
 Gwongan remained they could keep the Manchus at bay, but 
 that his departure had wrecked the " Empire." Gwowei 
 therefore retreated after Loo Wang. We have already (p. 293) 
 described the dispersal of this army on the river bank. 
 
 Gwongan and Ma united their remaining men and fled to 
 Tientai. They were ahead of their men among the mountains 
 at Whangshuyen, and finding their way by enquiries directed to 
 the villagers. They came to a stone bridge, where they halted 
 for the arrival of their men ; but fearing the Manchus might come 
 upon them, they broke down the bridge, underneath one of the 
 slabs of which they saw written " When the armies of Fang and 
 Ma reach this spot, all is over." They were terrified at the fate 
 thus written of them ! And while pondering over it, Gwowei 
 overtook them. But those two were not inclined further to fight 
 against fate, and therefore stayed where they were and sent their 
 faithful Yuen Dachun to the Manchus, to make terms. The 
 Beira received him gladly, sent a kind message which delighted 
 the two worthies, who, not to go empty handed, sent on an 
 express to the commander of Loo Wang's body guard, desiring 
 him to prevent the escape of the prince. Fortunately for the 
 prince he was acting commander himself, for his officer was unwell. 
 He therefore escaped by boat to sea, entrusting to Gwowei the 
 
SPOILER SPOILED. 307 
 
 defence of the four cities still his. But Gwowei could only die, 
 which he did at Chilishu after the fall of Yiwoo, and after he 
 urged his second in command to flee, as he had parents depending 
 upon him. 
 
 Ma, foiled by Loo Wang's escape, did not think it wise just then 
 to surrender to the Manchus. And as Tang Wang would have 
 nothing to do with him, he cropped his hair and entered a 
 monastery in the neighbourhood of Taichow ! He was, however, 
 afterwards captured and brought to Hangchow along with 
 Gwowei, and treated liberally by the Manchus; and they deserved 
 well at the Manchu hands, having been better to them than a 
 couple of hundred thousand men. We have seen Yuen acting 
 as guide to Kinhwa. He was afterwards sent to attack Fukien, 
 and when passing Hienhialing, his horse stumbled and the wretch 
 got his neck broken, only a great deal too late. 
 
 A vice-president of one of the Boards was a relative of Ma's. 
 He got 200,000 . -els out of the treasury at Soochow, with which 
 he hoped to spend an agreeable life with the Manchus. One 
 Tien Yang also made for the Manchus, sending privately several 
 carts' load of satin as presents for the Beira. Those two went 
 together with four hundred men each in their train. When they 
 got to the camp, the Beira ordered the two several parties to be 
 separated, after commanding them to disarm. On the morrow 
 Yang and every one of his men were put to death. 
 
 Jang Mingjun fled to join Loo Wang at sea and made for 
 Chowshan, the head quarters of Whang Binching. This island 
 was anciently called Yoonggowdoong, and the Manchus changed 
 its name later on to Tinghai. Binching was created a count and 
 commandant of Chowshan by Tang Wang, who sent Jow 
 Chiaoju to support him. Jow was at one time a pirate, had 
 visited all the " thirty-six " Japanese islands and was acquainted 
 with almost all their princes. He was nominated general by 
 Tang Wang, and went to Japan to the commander-in-chief, with 
 whom he was acquainted, to ask for the loan of an army. He 
 was promised thirty thousand men and went back delighted. 
 Not so Binching, who believed Jow was acting the part of 
 
308 TANG WANG. 
 
 Sangwei, in inviting the Japanese, who would come, but would 
 not go away again. Jow, in his anger, went away to Juloong, 
 and discovered him making overtures to the Manchus. Jow was 
 very indignant, saying that a small officer like himself might 
 possibly be pardoned for submitting, but a great official like 
 Juloong ! It was the extreme of disgrace ; and even he could 
 not bring himself to imitate the baseness. He therefore cut 
 his throat in the presence of Juloong, who moved away. The 
 cut-throat got better again and made for Chowshan. One 
 officer was defeated by the Manchus and took to plundering the 
 people as his easiest work ; but he was defeated by Binching who 
 was the people's friend. The Manchus sent a fleet against 
 Chowshan with five hundred capital archers on board. For 
 three days the fight went on without advantage gained by 
 either side, till Mingjun, who was acquainted with the pirate 
 Yuen Jin, got four large vessels from the pirate, pierced through 
 the Manchu fleet and broke down a number of their vessels with 
 the pirate's heavy guns. 
 
 Loo Wang fell in with Jung Tsai on the high seas, and was by 
 him brought, first to Chowshan, then to the mainland of Fukien, 
 just when Juloong was joining the Manchus. Juloong sent a 
 message, sincere or otherwise, to press his brother and relations 
 to join the Manchus ; but not one would do so. His son Chung- 
 goong took charge of fleet and army, and a formidable war was 
 waged, all the east of Fukien falling into the hands of the Jung 
 family, in name of the Ming dynasty. Jung Tsai was urged to 
 offer Loo Wang to the Manchus, but instead of doing so he got 
 a south barbarian (Annamite ? ), resembling Loo Wang in 
 feature and person, to clothe in the prince's garments, to represent, 
 and if need be to die for him. Loo Wang was hidden away for 
 fear of danger. But the Manchus marched north with their 
 prize Juloong, believing him more valuable than Loo Wang, and 
 the " barbarian " was not called upon to die. 
 
 Among the numerous minor events of cities taken and re-taken, 
 of jealousies and strifes and meannesses, it may be mentioned 
 that Binching, now under Loo Wang, for Tang Wang was gone, 
 
CHOWSHAN. 309 
 
 commanded every youth above fourteen to enroll into the army ; 
 
 every widow was compelled to marry again, and her former 
 
 husband's property was seized in behalf of the army ; and every 
 
 man above sixty had to give up his property to the "state," which 
 
 fed him in return. Thus two-thirds of the property under his 
 
 protection belonged to the army and one third to the civilians. 
 
 By April 1648, Loo Wang was master of all Fukien except 
 
 Ninghai and Foongan, and the Manchus were compelled to mass 
 
 their troops from Kiang, Kwang and Chihkiang to save the 
 
 province. They were at first defeated, and it took a full year 
 
 for all the forces they could muster to drive the pirates out of 
 
 the Fukien cities into their stronghold of Jientiaoswo, where they 
 
 were so hard and long pressed by the Manchus that the garrison 
 
 was famishing. Yuenjin, who was commander, sent to Binching 
 
 a pressing message for immediate help; but he would not move a 
 
 man, and Yuenjin had himself to compel the Manchus to raise the 
 
 siege. Loo "Wang therefore ordered an attack on Binching, because 
 
 he was nothing but a pirate. He was defeated by Yuenjin, 
 
 acknowledged his crime and prayed forgiveness, which was 
 
 granted only to be again attacked, defeated and drowned. His two 
 
 wives drowned themselves to follow him. After this Loo Wang 
 
 made Chowshan his headquarters. Here he was attacked in 
 
 1650 by the Manchus, but drove them off. A more powerful 
 
 enemy was Mingjun, who at length saw the folly of dividing the 
 
 energies of those who were fighting against the Manchus, and 
 
 recommended Jung Tsai to join him in overtures of friendship 
 
 to Chunggoong (Coxinga), who held office under Gwei Wang. 
 
 Tsai refused, and his reserves were scattered by the combined 
 
 forces of Chunggoong and Mingjun. Chowshan commandant 
 
 would not join Mingjun, who therefore attacked and slew him 
 
 when unprepared to defend himself. In October 1651, the 
 
 Manchus at last gained possession of the island, when the slain 
 
 and suicides were numerous as usual. It was snatched from 
 
 them in 1654, and a year after they took it again, converting it 
 
 into a desert, when enormous numbers were drowned. It was 
 
 thus they were gaining their naval experience. After this 
 
310 TANG WANG. 
 
 capture in 1651, Loo Wang fled to Kinnrnn Gold Gate or 
 Amoy, where in 1653 he renounced the title of guardian of the 
 empire. He then summoned Chunggoong to Kinmun; but 
 Chunggoong hated him too intensely, and instead of welcoming, 
 sent a band of men who seized and drowned him. 
 
 There is one remarkable link between this Fukien war and 
 the western world. We mentioned above the attempt of Jow to 
 get allies from Japan. In 1648, another attempt was made to 
 borrow Japanese troops, when the messengers were informed by 
 the weeping Japanese ministers, that they were then unable to 
 send a single man. In November they heard that the Roman 
 Catholics, for political reasons, were massacred in enormous 
 numbers in Japan. Their ships were burnt at Junjiaho. 
 Their " brass-plate engravings of the Lord of Heaven " were all 
 trampled under foot ; and every Japanese possessing any foreign 
 article was put to death. Foreign vessels of war (Dutch ?) then 
 opened their terrible guns, and the Japanese were compelled to 
 make a treaty ; since which the Japanese were in constant terror 
 lest the westerns should come in greater force. They were, 
 therefore, unable to send a single soldier. Japan had then no 
 mint of its own, but used the cash of the Ming first emperor, 
 which accounted for the enormous proportion of the cash of that 
 reign in Chowshan. 
 
 A priest, Jun Wei, came at that time from Japan; and in 
 reply to the anxious queries of Yuenji regarding the long-hoped- 
 for troops, said that neither silver nor silk would move the 
 Japanese to send aid ; but if the Japanese king would but 
 receive the Tibetan Chants and Litanies given to Pootoshan 
 monastery by the merciful empress (of the Ming), an army 
 would be gladly sent. Having secured the litanic treasure, the 
 priest and Yuenji's officer sailed ten days to Woodaoshan island, 
 where they saw two miraculous red fishes ; and other twelve days 
 brought them to Shanto on the Corean border, whence they 
 turned south and soon touched the Japanese island of Yesso. 
 They were boarded by the customs officers, who sent information 
 to the king that here were ships asking for an army. The king 
 
A PRECIOUS LITANY. 311 
 
 was glad of the approach, of the ships, but could not understand 
 how Jun Wei was on board. 
 
 Jun Wei was a Chinaman and a man of some culture, because 
 of which the king was very fond of him. He was one of the 
 three principal priests in Japan, and his was the " North " Temple. 
 Just because of his learning, and because of the favour shown 
 him by their king, the people feared him ; feared lest he should 
 become like the Roman Catholics, and grasp at civil power. 
 They therefore sought his death. To gain the good will of the 
 people, he went in search of the famous Litany. But the king 
 of Japan informed the commander of the expedition that he had 
 not authorised the priest to go in search of the Litany, which 
 was handed back to the Chinese commander, who had to return 
 crest-fallen, feeling he had been "sold" by the priest; for 
 he returned with the litany instead of an army. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 GWEI WANG. 
 
 YOWLANG, the Yoongming Wang, was the fourth son of a 
 grandson of Wanli, and therefore not very distantly related to 
 the last Ming emperor. He was stationed in Chuchow when it 
 fell in 1643 into the hands of robbers, who were then far more 
 powerful than the regular armies and constituted authorities. 
 He, with Choo (Tsu) Wang, fled thence into Kwangsi, where he 
 took or received the title of Gwei Wang in Kweilin in September 
 1646, two months after Tang Wang was proclaimed emperor in 
 Fukien. When it was known that Foochow could not stand, 
 Ding Kweichoo, viceroy of the Kwangs, sent secret messages to 
 Ho Tungjiao, the viceroy of Hookwang, Shushu governor of 
 Kwangtung, and others, to meet together to nominate Gwei 
 Wang as Regent of the empire. He was proclaimed in 
 Chaoching, in December 1646 ; and in spite of the remonstrances 
 of those who raised him, now a strong party, Gwanshung had 
 Yii Ngao nominated in Canton a few days after. We have already 
 seen with what result his efforts were attended. Kweichoo was 
 made president of the Board of War, and Shushu of that of 
 Appointments. And the almost immediate disaster which 
 befell their army at the hands of the pirates threw all the Court 
 into a state of terror. 
 
 The clever capture of Canton by Chungdoong frightened 
 Chaoching still more, and in spite of the remonstrances of 
 Shushu, who urged the protection of the difficult mountain passes 
 from Kwangtung, Gwei Wang fled westwards to Woochow, leaving 
 Joo Jutien to hold Chaoching. Chungdoong was knocking at 
 the gate of Chaoching as soon as he settled Canton, and took 
 
314 GWEI WANG. 
 
 and plundered Kaoleilien. Gwei Wang hastened away from 
 Toongchow to Pinglo ; Jutien retired and Chaoching was in 
 Chungdoong's hands. He did not rest there, but pressed on to 
 Woochow, Gwei Wang retiring on Kweilin notwithstanding the 
 warmly worded warnings of Shushu, who condemned this flying 
 from place to place, when there was little room to fly in. But 
 Gwei Wang was under the influence of a eunuch who guided 
 his steps and now recommended him to go to Hookwang to 
 Tungjiao. This step was strenuously opposed by Shushu, who 
 showed that Yunnan and those western regions were already 
 depopulated and waste, by the fearful carnage which had been 
 going on for years, while Kwangsi was still powerful. But if 
 Gwei Wang would go, Shushu prayed to be permitted to remain 
 in Kweilin and keep the city or die. This latter prayer was 
 granted ! 
 
 This was in the spring of 1647, and Kweichoo had by that 
 time forsaken Gwei Wang. With forty vessels heavily laden 
 with his immense treasure * he submitted to Chungdoong, who, 
 however, loving plunder wherever or however obtained, saw no 
 reason why he should save this one life, when by taking it he 
 could secure so much booty, and Kweichoo breathed his last. 
 The commandant of Woochow, whence Kweichoo escaped, 
 submitted to Chungdoong. Indeed it was no common bravery 
 which could withstand the contemptible example set by each 
 pretender to the Ming throne. The bluest blood is apt to be 
 coldest. Yet Gwei Wang was extremely wroth when Chun 
 Bangchwen forsook Pinglo, leaving it to the Manchus. Surely 
 the man on account of whom others are called upon to spend 
 money and lay down their lives, should be at least above the 
 charge of cowardice, for shame if for no other reason. He retired 
 to Wookang however ; but Shushu was left in Kweilin, before 
 whose gates appeared the impetuous Chungdoong in April. A 
 few score Manchus rushed in by the open Wungchang gate, and 
 
 *This amounted to 200,000 Chinese ounces (liang) of gold and two and a half 
 million of silver. Twelve of these ounces are eq\ial to one Ib. avoirdupois ; and the 
 value of the whole would be about two millions sterling. 
 
GALLANT COMMANDANT. 315 
 
 climbed on to the tower over the gate. Shushu happened to be 
 below, and shouted for lieut. -general Jiao Lien who was comman- 
 dant. Hastily replying to the summons, with some men who were 
 rapidly increasing in numbers, he went to meet the Manchus run- 
 ning in by the gate. He stopped the tide, shut the gate and then 
 turned on those who had already got into the tower ; they leaped 
 down and fell back on the main body. Jiao then with three 
 hundred men, all who had as yet collected, opened the gate, and 
 with a shout galloped towards the Manchu camp. His men quickly 
 increased to tenfold, and so fierce was their charge that several 
 thousand Manchus were slain. They had by that time formed in 
 battle order, but with a shout he pushed into their very centre. 
 Shushu was not idle, for he collected and led out to second the 
 gallant commandant every soldier and civilian capable of carrying 
 arms, and the Manchus were driven away in the greatest confusion 
 for several li, and great numbers of them slain. This disperate 
 sally was sufficient; and the Manchus retreated on the cities 
 already in their hands. But a larger army now appeared before 
 Kweilin from Honan; and under the famous three princes Koong, 
 Gung and Shang. But Jiao prepared western* muskets, 
 opened his gates and sallid out boldly against the formidable 
 Wangs. The fight raged from early dawn till mid-day, the 
 Manchu troops not being able to understand that they should 
 now retreat, after an uninterrupted course of victories ; while the 
 zeal of Shushu and the fire of Jiao made their soldiers 
 enthusiastic in their determined attack. When the wearied 
 soldiers at last retired within the city, they found hot steamed 
 rice ready for them by the forethought of Shushu, who himself 
 distributed it. No wonder if the troops began to feel like soldiers. 
 Next day another sally was made with equal spirit, Shushu 
 having previously prepared an ambush, and the Manchu army, 
 attacked in front and flank, their own old tactics, gave way 
 
 * There were Roman Catholic priests then on both sides, forging cannon and 
 muskets ; some in Peking for the Manchus, some in Kwangsi for Gwei Wang, whom 
 they represented as actually, or about to i,be, the founder of a "Christian" 
 kingdom. 
 
316 GWEI WANG. 
 
 in disorder and was pursued and cut down for 20 li. The result 
 of this victory was that Pinglo fell, and Shushu stimulated the 
 soldiers by sharing all their hardships. 
 
 Just then censor Loo Kojia took west Foochow, and commu- 
 nicated with Jiao, which compelled the Manchus to fall back on 
 Canton, when with the fall of Woochow all Kwangsi was again 
 waving the banners of Gwei Wang. Shushu was created 
 Taidsu tai shwai, and Jiao nominated a count. But Kwangsi 
 was so easily and speedily recovered, not merely because Shushu 
 converted the army into real soldiers, but because of events which 
 had transpired at Canton. Jin Loong, formerly a pirate, had gone 
 with over a myriad men to aid Kanchow. When it fell, his 
 occupation was gone and his men scattered. When Chungdoong 
 marched westwards against Shushu, graduates of Kwangtung 
 raised parties of men, and Jin Loong followed their example. 
 These, though not strong to begin with, were so vexatious, that 
 Kweilin was left in peace. In August, a former grand 
 secretary, Chun Dsujwang, raised an army at Kiwkiangtwun of 
 Twanchow ; Chun Bangyen, formerly senior secretary, collected 
 another at Kaochow; Jang Jiayii, formerly vice-president of 
 War, a third at Tungwan. These plotted to take Canton. 
 They secured some officials of the city as accomplices ; they got 
 three thousand of Whashan robbers to go into Canton, feigning 
 submission to the Manchus; and with these holding the East 
 gate, the combined armies were to march in at the third watch 
 of the seventh of seventh moon (August). But Toong Yangjia, 
 the Manchu commandant and recently created viceroy, dis- 
 covered the plot, executed the official accomplices, put the three 
 thousand to the sword, and then, as the garrison was anything 
 but strong, mounted the gate tower to see such hosts of foes 
 assembled as made him cry out, " Our last day has come ! " But 
 his men around said, "Better die fighting than sitting." 
 Thereupon he led out his garrison, battered the vessels of 
 Dsujwang, whose early arrival on the fifth led to the discovery 
 of the plot, and compelled him to retreat. With a north wind 
 he pressed after the retreating foe, completely defeating him at 
 
STIFF FIGHT. 317 
 
 Bainguatan. Chungdoong, who had driven Jang Jiayii from 
 Sinngan on Bolo, now came tip at the summons of Yangjia, and 
 Bangyen had to retreat. Chungdoong soon after employed the 
 pirates, Jung, &c., as guides, and took Kaoming, and in it the 
 unfortunate Dsujwang, who was sent to Canton and executed, 
 calling upon the two first emperors of the Ming. He then 
 attacked Bolo, which had been taken by Jiayii, when he ceased 
 to fly. He excavated earth, raised mounds, set his cannon, and 
 Bolo was again under Chungdoong. Jiayii was from boyhood 
 an excellent swordsman, and now cut his way out to the hills, 
 where his scattered men soon gathered around him. He attacked 
 and took Tsungchung, but was dogged by Chungdoong, who told 
 off two officers against the three detached camps of Jiayii outside 
 the city, where he was well protected, as the mountains were 
 steep and the waters deep. But his ten thousand men were 
 attacked by a force several times as numerous, and his men were 
 surrounded by several lines deep. Jiayii pushed through the 
 line of siege, and a fierce and bloody contest took place, neither 
 being inclined to yield. Thousands fell on both sides, till Jiayii 
 saw his men become quite feeble, and crying out " lost," dropped 
 into a well, on the tenth day of the fight. Chungdoong, then 
 at the head of twenty thousand seamen, took Tsingyuen city, 
 put Bangyen to death; and all Kwangtung was again quiet 
 under his sharp piercing sword and swift footstep. 
 
 We left Lokuduakwun at Nanking, whence in January of this 
 same year he proceeded by ship into Hookwang. In February 
 he got to Woochang, whence he had to send a division against 
 lieut. -generals Ma and Wang, who were proceeding from 
 Yaochow to assist Tungjiao. He defeated them ; but heard 
 that Kingchow was besieged by the army of Li Jin from across 
 the river. He attacked the besiegers by night, defeated, and 
 divided into several divisions to pursue them. Li Dsu, a 
 younger brother of Dsuchung, submitted with five thousand 
 cavalry and infantry. But though successful, he was not perfect; 
 and was recalled to Peking, probably to answer for dilatoriness, 
 and the pursuit of the fugitives was entrusted to the Three 
 
318 GWEI WANG. 
 
 Princes. They got to Yaochow in April, defeated Jin Tsai at 
 Changsha, and Whang Chihuen at Hiangtan. Tungjiao had to 
 retreat to cover Hungchow. Prince Koong took and beheaded 
 Chihuen, and sent Joongming back to Changsha by water. He 
 defeated the enemy outside the city and drove Jang Gwangli 
 into Paoching. With another division he compelled Doo 
 Yinsi to flee into Yoongting Wei, while Li Jin was broken up 
 and fled to Kweiwoo ; Jinjoong and Yootsai retreating into 
 Woosi. Thus the thirteen outposts were driven in. The Three 
 Princes united again in September, besieged and took Paoching, 
 where Joo Ding, another Loo Wang, was taken and slain. They 
 pressed in upon Wookang, whence their approach drove the 
 hunted Gwei Wang. They took the city ; and Lin Chungyin, 
 after his defeat, submitted with seventeen lieut.-generals and 
 twenty-eight thousand men. Joongming took Chiyang, putting 
 to the sword a lieut. -general and seven thousand men. 
 
 From Wookang, Ma Jisiang followed Gwei Wang, who fled 
 with his three " empresses." They put to the sword the men 
 who kept the custom's barrier (gwan), and hurried through. 
 Two of Gwei Wang's sons were thrown from their horses, and 
 such was the haste, that their followers did not know of it. 
 Jisiang followed on foot for three days without a morsel of food, 
 till they came to the house of a literary man, who was then 
 employed in worshipping the image of an ancestor, whose features 
 exactly resembled those of Gwei Wang. The literate had a 
 dream the night before that a "god" and two grand secretaries 
 came from heaven to visit him. He welcomed Gwei Wang, fed 
 the party, and the village provided carts, provisions, and a convoy 
 of armed men, money and arms, all in consequence of the 
 scholar's dream, for Gwei Wang took the utmost care not to 
 reveal himself! 
 
 Chungyin, who had surrendered to the Manchus, was 
 meantime sent to pursue the fugitive in hot haste, and when he 
 was only 3 li distant, or one English mile, his attendants urged 
 Gwei Wang to flee alone. They stood still for the pursuers, and 
 fought till the last man fell dead. Even thus he could not feel 
 
IMPERIAL FUGITIVE. 319 
 
 safe, and he fled on foot for 30 li, not daring to wait so long as 
 to take some food. He was all but dead with fatigue when 
 How Hing came up to meet him with a few men. Day nor 
 night would the fugitive eat, but pressed on till at Lokiadien, 
 when danger was over, he made How a How (marquis). He 
 entered Kwangsi on horseback, and was apparently so overcome 
 with terror, that he would flee beyond Kwangsi ! For Shushu 
 is again found earnestly reasoning against going into the ravaged 
 provinces of Yunnan or Kweichow. 
 
 Chungyin who was pursuing repented of his apostacy, and next 
 year again attempted to reach Gwei Wang to support him, but 
 the Manchus overtook and beheaded him. If Chungyin had 
 pursued Gwei Wang rapidly, prince Shang marched on more 
 leisurely with his army. He took Kweiyang, went by Taochow 
 defeating Gwangbi, took Chingyuen, then Liping foo, where Min 
 Wang, Jwan Wang and others to the number of over twenty of the 
 imperial Ming family fell into his hands. They got to Kweilin 
 again, after Shushu and Jiao with the other principal men made 
 an oath before the gods to fight to the death. They found that 
 the army which had driven them off before was gone, but 
 Shushu was left behind and Tungjiao had replaced the army 
 with men of his. The princes therefore made certain of seizing 
 Kweilin. After the oath of Jiao and Shushu they marched out 
 against the advancing Manchus, came up with them at Ch lien- 
 chow and completely routed them, slaying large numbers, 
 taking celebrated horses, with camels, mules and other booty in 
 great quantity; then returned to Kweilin, whence they were 
 moved away in February 1648, three months after they drove 
 the Manchus back into Hoonan. As soon as the Manchus heard 
 of the departure of the Kweilin troops they advanced against 
 the city, against three gates of which they posted strong 
 detachments. Jiao, on seeing the enemy outside, gathered his few 
 men, passed out by the Wunchang gate, and with a shout set upon 
 the besiegers, who however speedily surrounded him, several 
 deep. Tungjiao was at the head of his men who had replaced the 
 former army. He had taken a different route from Jiao, but 
 
320 GWEI WANG. 
 
 seeing his danger, sped to the rescue. The sally became a 
 general battle, and was most stubbornly contested on both sides, 
 till the Manchus again gave way and were pursued northwards 
 for 20 li. Shushu was again highly complimented; for it was by 
 his stubborn will alone that Kweilin had been left properly 
 garrisoned. Gwei Wang was not there, apparently terrified at 
 the distant echo of a battle-field. He was in Nanning. Shushu, 
 Tingjiao and Jiao, with Jao Yinhuen and Hoo Yiching, spread 
 their men in thirteen main divisions, over a continuous inter- 
 communicating line of 200 or 300 li. They took the offensive, 
 and as Shushu paid particular attention to have always on 
 hand an adequate supply of provisions, the Manchus were 
 driven far back, and Gwei Wang could again breathe freely in 
 Kweilin, whither Shushu introduced him in the following 
 January. 
 
 Before describing an entirely new phase of the war south of 
 the Yangtsu, arising from a thorough shuffling of the military 
 cards, we may glance at the north of the main battlefields. 
 
 In December 1646, an army had to be despatched into 
 Mongolia, which was threatening to take advantage of the 
 manifold troubles of the Manchus. In Shensi, Haogo's army 
 was so active during that year in taking cities, defeating, 
 pursuing, slaying and capturing the robbers, that the regent 
 ordered them to be handsomely rewarded. Hanchung had been 
 besieged by the " rebel " Hwojun, who had already taken the 
 suburb of Kitoogwan when Nikan hurriedly marched upon him 
 from Singan, defeated and pursued him so as to change the flight 
 to a disorganised rout. Number-two Tiger, Swun Showfa, had 
 attacked Hingan, but moved off when the army approached. 
 
 In January of 1647, Joo Changhiao, the Gweisi Wang, headed 
 a formidable rising in Hoonan, which compelled the Three 
 Princes to exert themselves. It was summer before they could 
 report satisfactory progress and cities taken. We have seen 
 above that they were latterly completely successful in subjugating 
 the whole of the province, though they took a year to finish their 
 work. 
 
HOOKWANG TROUBLES. 321 
 
 In February the viceroy of Hookwang reported that there was 
 anciently a man, Chun Yowliang, with a set of sons who 
 turned out badly. Their descendants were divided into the two 
 family surnames or clans of Ko and Chun. They lived in Kiangsi 
 chiefly in the neighbourhood of Wooning, in Hookwang in the 
 neighbourhood of Hingkwo, giving great trouble in both places. 
 Elsewhere they were early got rid of; but in Hoogwang their 
 dominancy of three centuries was still an active scourge. One of 
 these styled himself a Wang. He made Chun Whangyii his 
 commander in chief and attacked Hingkwo, and put the district 
 magistrate of Woochang to death. The viceroy was now however 
 able to declare his power at an end, the army broken and the two 
 men slain. But in summer Gwangdai Wang of Hookwang 
 assumed imperial style, though the army sent to Yunyang, his 
 head quarters, could find no trace of him. They came upon him 
 in November however, drove him out of Yunyang, pursued him 
 to Fanghien, slaying over ten thousand of his men in the pursuit. 
 He fled into Szchuen, when the army returned and rooted out 
 his accomplices in Yunyang. Just before the flight of this 
 " emperor," a bandit chief acted as guide to Hie Yii, who took 
 Tsuchuen of Shantung, and in it Jusie, president of the Board of 
 War, whom they cut in pieces. Indeed there was no province 
 without its troubles, for Kansu governor was murdered by rebels, 
 who, however, were soon scattered ; and the marshal of Szchuen 
 fell in battle with his foes at Yunyang, and his death implies 
 the victory of the " robbers." 
 
 Though the emperor offered sacrifice at the tombs Fooling and 
 Jaoling at Mookden, to inform his ancestors of the annexation 
 of Fukien and Gwangtung, a few months later saw most of Fukien 
 again in the hands of Loo Wang. Some Manchu officers fled 
 panic-stricken out of the cities held by them, and they were 
 degraded and sent to Peking for "examination." There was also a 
 clever trick attempted to bring Chungchow's aged head to the 
 grave. A spy was sent from an old Ming marquis, offering to make 
 terms with Loo Wang, and on the person of the spy, who was 
 intended to be seized, was a paper stating that Chungchow was 
 
322 GWEI WANG. 
 
 about to join the Ming cause. But he was above suspicion in 
 the Manchu court ; and the trick failed. 
 
 While the few able men about Gwei Wang were beating back 
 the Manchu floods from east and north, with headquarters at 
 Chiienchow, an officer rebelled in Kweilin, and began robbing the 
 citizens, compelling Tungjiao to retreat from Chiienchow to 
 save the capital. The three princes, formerly held in check by 
 Chiienchow, now prepared to take advantage of the Ming 
 internal discord to crush the cause at one blow ; but were 
 interrupted by the first serious revolt of their own men which 
 had yet taken place, and which restored both Kwangtung and 
 Kiangsi to the rule of Gwei Wang. 
 
 Jin Shunghwan, like so many of the principal actors in the 
 bloody drama now performing in every portion of China, was a 
 Liaotung man. He was originally under Liangyii, and deserted 
 to the Manchus at Kiwkiang. He rapidly rose to fame in 
 Fukien in 1646 and subsequently, till he was made a marshal. 
 Another officer, Wang Duayin, who had been under Dsuchung, 
 never lost a battle, and was eager to obtain the rank of lieut.- 
 general, which Jin refused to give; and the two were on bad terms. 
 But towards the end of 1647 Duayin was progressing towards 
 Kienchang, when Jin gave him the coveted rank. Whang 
 Yinloo was commander under Jin of the division composed of 
 Honan, Szchuen, Shensi and Shantung soldiers. Jin was himself 
 at the head of the Kiangsi army, and the whole province was under 
 his control. We have already seen Jin and Chungdoong constantly 
 mentioned together. They were repeatedly accused at Peking of 
 fierce cruelty towards the people ; and at last the old Liaotung 
 officers, Jang Tienyii and Toong Yangjia, were sent to supersede 
 them in rank, while they were still left general officers. Tienyii 
 was made governor of Kiangsi, and Yangjia viceroy of the 
 Kwangs. Jin and Chungdoong were naturally disappointed, for 
 they had taken those provinces. They were placed under these 
 two men, and left with their old rank; the one a marshal, the other 
 a lieut-general. The two, who were as excellent as soldiers as 
 they were merciless as robbers, were extremely disgusted ; and 
 
IMPORTANT DESERTION. 323 
 
 the indignation of Jin reached its height when the worthless 
 deputy-governor was nominated superintendent of military 
 affairs. This was more than he could bear ; and he therefore 
 murdered the superintendent in spring, seized the new governor, 
 and, with his second in command, Wang Duayin, declared for 
 the Ming, taking all Kiangsi with him. Kanchow however, 
 under Gao Jinkoo, nephew of Gao Jie, held out for the Manchus, 
 as it had formerly done for the Ming. It was immediately 
 attacked by Jin. Three of its sides are inaccessible, the south 
 being of a great perpendicular height ; but it had provisions for 
 only ten days. The commandant sent to Chungdoong for 
 urgent aid, and especially for provisions ; urging that if Kanchow 
 stood Canton was safe, while Canton could not stand after the 
 fall of Kanchow. And how was the message answered by the 
 hot-tempered Chungdoong, the Taker of Cities ? 
 
 He was, as we have said, discontented at the elevation over 
 his head, and over the country he himself conquered, of Yangjia, 
 who was no equal for dash or force of will of the brilliant but 
 heartless lieut. -general. Yangjia was therefore doubtless jealous 
 of his subordinate, as he would naturally feel a little in awe of 
 him. It was probably on account of this jealousy that he almost 
 invariably changed the officials left by Chungdoong in the cities 
 taken by the latter. This was another sore added to the 
 previous, one, and Chungdoong was in a dangerous mood when 
 he heard of Jin's desertion. He said to the viceroy that they 
 too should save themselves in time by pretending to join the 
 Ming, for they could not oppose the large army of Jin. But the 
 viceroy did not relish the suggestion. Soon thereafter there was 
 a theatrical performance, at which both the military officer and 
 the viceroy were present. Chungdoong praised the Ming 
 fashions as presented on the stage, and saying he would follow 
 those fashions, he cut off his Manchu queue with his sword, 
 and invited the viceroy to do the same. The great official 
 refused meantime, but in his fear at the manner of his subor- 
 dinate, he said he would "think about it." But the hour of 
 sweet revenge had struck for Chungdoong, who would have no 
 
324 GWEI WANG. 
 
 thinking, and the viceroy had to follow the example. The "tail" 
 of the soldiers and their clothing followed. They too were dressed 
 according to the Ming fashion ; and Chungdoong laid Kwangtung 
 at the feet of Gwei Wang, soon after Kiangsi had joined him. 
 He had taken many an official seal in the numerous cities he 
 had captured, and among them one of a viceroy, which he 
 adhibited to a proclamation tending to pacify the excited and 
 fearing minds of the people. The grateful Gwei Wang made 
 him a marquis and the viceroy a count. Each of the revolted 
 generals had fully a hundred thousand men under his command. 
 They prepared to battle down the Manchu power with the 
 same energy which they had displayed in propping it up. And 
 Nanking was, as well it might be, in the greatest dread. 
 
 Meantime Tantai, a Goosa, was marching to relieve Kanchow. 
 But instead of going direct to that city, he turned aside and 
 besieged Nanchang, which was poorly defended, as Jin had all the 
 best men with him. Jin had not pressed the siege, hoping that 
 Gao, whose abilities he admired, would yield to his representations 
 and join him. Though therefore he kept the closest watch to pre- 
 vent any ingress or egress, he did not take active measures to pull 
 down the city. But his hopes of capitulation were vain ; and when 
 he heard of the attack on Nanchang, he at once raised the siege as 
 the Goosa had calculated. He defeated the latter, compelling 
 him to withdraw ; but the Kanchow garrison attacked his rear, 
 slaying several thousands of his men. His younger brother had 
 entered Kanchow a few days before, pretending to desert, but 
 was put to death by Gao's orders. Jin turned again, defeated 
 the Manchus at Pesha, taking three " western " cannon ; but he 
 had to enter the city as his opponents became too numerous. The 
 Goosa had his camp formerly in that neighbourhood. He had 
 a ditch dug, and an earthen wall built round about. He sent 
 the natives to the mountains to cut down the old trees there 
 and pulled down many houses in order to form a bridge across 
 the Changkiang river and the bad ground. The holes and mud 
 in the road had to be rilled in with stones, over which the piles 
 of the bridge were laid. Many myriads of the country people 
 
FORCED LABOUR. 325 
 
 died of fatigue under the great heat, myriads more perished by 
 the hands of the soldiers, and were swept away by the rapid 
 current ; and over a myriad soldiers died in camp of their 
 insatiable libertinism, the fuel for which had to be supplied by 
 the wretched families of the neighbourhood : and this is stated 
 by the history of Gwei Wang to have been the cause of the 
 revolt of Jin. 
 
 Wang Duayin was also a Liaotung man, and formerly one of 
 Liangyu's army along with Jin and Gao Jinkoo. His hair was 
 of " five colours," or variegated, and all at his birth foretold that 
 he would yet become a wang. When Jin determined to march to 
 the aid of Nanchang, Kanchow was at its last gasp, as it had 
 been surrounded for one hundred days. Duayin strenuously 
 advocated the stay of the army before Kanchow, which must fall 
 within three days ; and that thus the Manchus would be com- 
 pelled to raise the siege of Nanchang, and come to the aid of 
 Kanchow. But Jin's wife was in Nanchang and he would listen 
 to no argument, but at once left Kanchow. He cut through 
 the besieging army and got inside the city. Duayin with Jin 
 had just before taken Kiwkiang, and their siege of Kanchow 
 was preparatory to their proposed march on Nanking ; but their 
 plan was frustrated by the obstinate defence of Kanchow, and 
 the march of the Nanking army on Nanchang, which in spite of 
 Duayin's counsel had the effect the Manchus desired. Duayin 
 broke off his division from Jin, and persisted in carrying out his 
 own plan of cutting the Manchu communications by occupying 
 Kiwkiang, the " throat," as he called it, of the " Long river " ; 
 his design being to compel the retreat of the Manchu army of 
 two thundred thousand men. He was on the way, when he 
 came across the Manchus at Chilikiai, where he defeated them 
 with great slaughter. He was always feared by them, even when 
 he was defeated. Though he was summoned back to the aid of 
 Nanchang by Jiang Yuegwang, he persisted in his own plan, 
 saying that his was but a small army (twenty thousand) and 
 would count nothing against the huge Manchu host, while 
 Kiwkiang was not only of immense strategical importance, 
 
326 GWEI WANG. 
 
 commanding the provision route of those hosts, but was a small 
 city, and just the place for a small army like his which was quite 
 sufficient to protect it against any attack. But spite of his 
 reasonings and his opposition, no less than fifteen messengers 
 reached him in twenty-four hours, and he at last yielded, saying, 
 " It is only to die with them." He had to fight every yard of 
 his way to Nanchang, and just before he got to the city he came 
 across the main army, which he attacked with fury, and being 
 seconded by the garrison, he easily cut his way into the city. 
 A few days after, Kiwkiang was laid waste by the Manchus, 
 Nankang and Yochow, attacked by land and water, fell, and the 
 garrison of Kanchow in their jubilant liberty sallied out, attacked 
 and took Kingan ; Yuegwang's vessels were at the same time 
 destroyed by Lohwi, who looked after the river ports. And 
 Nanchang stood alone, all the deserted armies being within, and 
 hedged around by enormously disproportionate odds. 
 
 The city had six gates, three towards the hills and three on the 
 river bank. The Manchus built a long wall along the hills, and 
 crowded their ships along the river bank, leaving no loophole of 
 exit or entrance, and rice sold by and by in the city for tls. 80 or 
 over 20 per peck. The plan of the Manchus was therefore 
 completely successful, and the love of Jin made all the armies of 
 Kiangsi prisoners where they were unable to fight. Duayin, who 
 was there so much against his will, behaved most riotously and set 
 an example only too universally followed by the garrison. He 
 would not sally out, but day and night feasted, danced and made 
 merry, marrying a daughter of one of the people. Jin was in 
 deep grief, for no one listened to him, every one following the 
 example of Duayin. He wrote a formal letter to Yuegwang, 
 upbraiding him, a president, with following the evil example 
 instead of setting a good one, so that now the people prayed for 
 the speedy destruction of the garrison, instead of supporting 
 them with their good wishes. Rice then sold at six shillings per 
 peck. One subordinate officer, whether truly or with design, 
 reported that he had dreamed in the temple of the god of war, 
 that a horse had been given him on which he rode out and 
 
FRIGHTFUL FAMINE. 327 
 
 defeated the enemy ; but whatever his object, the leaders said it 
 was impossible to do anything without the support of an army from 
 without. Rice rose rapidly, and many starved who had money 
 enough, but could buy nothing eatable. All the rats in the city . 
 were eaten, and the roots of grass and trees. The soldiers began to 
 kill the citizens for food, and the citizens acted similarly towards 
 the soldiers and to each other ; parents killing their sons, sons 
 their parents, husbands their wives and wives their husbands, in 
 the agony of their hunger. And no great wonder if the citizens 
 became disaffected and wished for the entry of the Manchus, to 
 whom they at last became as " eyes and ears." The Manchus 
 knew of the extremity of the distress and sent 20 pecks of rice 
 beneath the wall, probably in mockery, but Jin exchanged one 
 hundred catties of silver for it, hoping possibly that the 
 enormous sum would tempt further exchanges; but the Manchus 
 were pretty sure of the silver without the bargaining, for there 
 was not a hand in all Kiangsi raised to relieve the city in which 
 grim famine ruled so terribly. 
 
 We may now again glance at the situation from the Manchu 
 side. Soo Chin Wang returned to Peking in 1648, after he had 
 overrun the west and then the north of Szchuen, and taken the 
 south and east by a subordinate officer and a detachment of his 
 army. Lieut. -general Li Gwoying he left to act as governor, 
 and as Chungtu was in a frightfully damaged condition, and 
 incapable of defence, the seat of government was moved to 
 Paoning. Sangwei and general Li Gwohan were stationed in 
 Hanchung, communicating with northern Szchuen ; but they had 
 soon to move into Shensi, where one Jiang Hiang was fighting 
 among the mountains so furiously arid successfully, that a 
 number of old Ming officers raised troops, in the east and 
 south of Szchuen, and declared for the Ming dynasty. Gwei 
 Wang commissioned Chien Bangchi as governor, and Lli Dachi 
 as commander-in-chief, of Szchuen. And he whom we found 
 lately fleeing in such haste as to have failed to miss his own two 
 sons, was now lord of seven provinces, Yunnan, the two Kwang, 
 Kiangsi, Hoonan, Hwichow, Szchuen, to which Fukien might be 
 
328 GWEI WANG. 
 
 added. But if his empire was an extensive one, it was not like 
 that under the Manchus, welded into one ; but was composed of 
 heterogeneous elements ; nor was his the mind and the will to 
 fuse into a compact whole the many hot-headed patriots and 
 zealous self-seekers who led the movement. He was no more 
 than the sign on their banners. But having such a territory, 
 Gwei Wang drew his snail head out of his Yunnan shell and 
 crept to Chaoching, where he began his reign, though against 
 the advice of Shushu to make Kweilin his permanent capital. 
 
 Shensi was kept alive by the fierce fighting of Hiang among 
 the mountains. Shantung was not wholly free from excitement, 
 for bands of robbers combined to be powerful enough to take 
 Tungping chow, putting its prefect to the sword. Tsingyun was 
 taken by local bandits, and the magistrate murdered ; and 
 Pachow was so harassed by robbers, that an army had to be sent 
 under a Meirunjanyin. The governor of Fungyang seized a 
 "rebel" viceroy, Whang Yiichi, on whose person he found an 
 official seal and a volume of "seditious" odes. The prisoner 
 confessed he was on his way to join the " rebels " north of the 
 Yangtsu under Hue Jijow, to second those on the south of the 
 Yangtsu ; and he disclosed the names of a number of officers then 
 in Manchu service, who were pledged to rise at a given date. 
 These were all apprehended before they knew of the revelation 
 of the plot. The governor was ordered from Peking to put to 
 death all those named and to thoroughly investigate the 
 ramifications of the plot and to punish the guilty. 
 
 Fukien, long under the control of Chunggoong, was beginning 
 to waver towards the Manchus, and the career of the pirate 
 chiefs had passed its meridian before the siege of Kanchow 
 was raised or that of Nanchang began. Nor were the chiefs of 
 the movement in favour of Gwei Wang disposed anywhere to 
 march beyond their own province, Shushu and Tungjiao being 
 the only really patriotic men of note under Gwei Wang's 
 banner. 
 
 The Manchus had however to strain every nerve ; and but for 
 the manner in which Chinese armies generally live, it would have 
 
UNIVERSAL EXCITEMENT. 329 
 
 been difficult to feed the large bodies of men they had to move in 
 all directions. Tan Tai was commissioned to march with general 
 Ho Lohwi from Nanking on Kiwkiang to unite with the princes 
 Gung and Shang against Kiangsi and Kwangtung. Prince 
 Jirhalang, with Lokuduahwun, was commanded to join prince 
 Koong against Hoonan and Kwangsi. Bolo and Nikan, two 
 princes, were sent against Hiang to Tatung of Shansi, Sangwei 
 and Gwohan into Shensi ; and Chungchow was ordered to remain 
 still in Nanking to look after the sea coast provinces. 
 
 Just then the' affairs of the Manchus looked desperate enough. 
 Excitement reigned everywhere, and no province was free from 
 commotion. The governor of Chihli reported that the bandits 
 of Tungming numbered hundreds of thousands under a man who 
 assumed the imperial style of Tienjung ; but the multitude was 
 dispersed by the provincial military. In Tientsin a "crazed" 
 woman gave herself out to be the widow of the second last Ming 
 emperor, and with a male accomplice got a jade imperial 
 seal cut, made an imperial " Flag of Fate," the possessor of which 
 has power of life and death. She was seized and put to death ; 
 but Ying Wang had to go into Tientsin in autumn to smother 
 the local rising and fermentation there. Another large force 
 had to be sent to Hokien to put down a rising there, and a 
 vice-president of Revenue was degraded, because, pretending 
 to be a herald, he went to the rebel camp and drank with them. 
 
 Besides the officers mentioned above as stimulated by the 
 revolt of Hiang, the Mahommedans rose in Shan si and Kansu 
 and took several cities. Mung Chiaofang the viceroy defeated 
 them however at Koongchang, and retook several of their cities 
 Lintao, Lanchow, &c. They then placed themselves under the 
 leadership of prince Yenchang of the Ming family ; but in July 
 1649, he was defeated, taken and beheaded, like so many of his 
 doomed family. In this month a great pitched battle was fought 
 .at Lanchow, which broke their power ; but they kept the viceroy 
 employed till the end of 1650. Kansu Mahommedans gave up 
 the struggle in March 1650. 
 
 As early as the summer of 1645, one Liw Baisu, while digging 
 
330 GWEI WANG. 
 
 came across a stone box * containing a volume of odes, which 
 none could read, which enabled the possessor to become a god or 
 shun ; and a jar containing the seal of a Commander-in-chief. 
 The emperor is considered the pole star and the ministers some 
 greater or lesser star surrounding him. The finder of this 
 treasure assumed the modest title of Ursa Major, but was seized 
 by the governor of Hlienfoo and put to death, ere he was able to 
 make good his right to the title. 
 
 In December 1649, the Ying Chin Wang was sent with a 
 large army to the neighbourhood of Tatung, in the north of 
 Shansi ; for Kochoohoor of Karka was reported to have come to 
 that neighbourhood to hunt, and in the disturbed state of the 
 Manchu empire, he was believed to have other game in view 
 than the deer, wolves, and foxes of the Mongol plains. Jiang 
 Hiang, the lieut. -general of Tatung referred to above, closed his 
 gates, and the prince hearing of it besieged him two days after. 
 At his request Bayen was marched westwards with the " red- 
 coat cannon." Hiang gave out that he believed the prince had 
 come to seize the city, and put himself to death ; and the regent 
 believing the statement to be a sincere one, wrote him an 
 autograph letter to allay his fears. The letter stated that 
 " because the emperor had business with the northern Mongol 
 was the army sent, having no concern whatever with the affairs 
 of the lieut. -general. If the emperor did seek the life of his 
 officers, as ' all under heaven ' belonged to the emperor, no one 
 could ever credit him with attempting to gain an object by 
 trickery, even if he really did practice deceit ; and the statement 
 of Hiang must surely have been caused by the words of some 
 lying traitor. If however he repented the insult offered to his 
 majesty's representative he would be forgiven as if it had not 
 happened." But the "emperor" had to forward other pro- 
 clamations in February, both to Tatung and to the people and 
 officials of Shansi generally, to contradict the reports set afloat 
 
 * The trick of the founder of the Mormons is a very ancient one in China, and 
 practised to this day; one of our authorities in this work, "The history of the End 
 of the Ming," being thus found. 
 
BLAZE OF INSURRECTION. 331 
 
 by Hiang that the emperor was to put all the officials to death, 
 declaring that such language was but a fabrication of Hiang's to 
 induce a general rebellion. 
 
 Hiang's plans must have been previously well laid ; and the 
 appearance of Ying Wang was doubtless only provocative of an 
 earlier rising to prevent a collapse by discovery, if the Manchus 
 entered the city. While he was besieged in January by the 
 " Red-coat " cannon and the men of Ying Wang, he despatched 
 detachments of his men, who took Tsinchow and Sochow. 
 Wan Lien, a Ming old officer, collected an army on the borders, 
 took Ningwoo, Chilan, and Paote, uniting with Hiang. Liw 
 Chien raised a force with which he marched through Yenmun- 
 gwan, took Taichow, and camped at Wootai shan to support 
 Hiang. Taiyuen in terror cried out for help. Yoongchiang, a 
 Ming officer, seized Yenan; Liw Dunglow deserted from the 
 Manchus and occupied Yiilin ; Ding Gwodoong, the leader of the 
 Mahommedan rebels in Kansu, with the cities of Hosi, Chao Min, 
 &c., sub-prefectures and districts, declared for Hiang. The 
 Mahommedans threw Singan into hysterical cries for aid. Other 
 old officers seized Pingyang, cutting off Manchu communications 
 with Toonggwan, and a recent deserter occupied Taiping. Thus 
 there was a chain of rebellion from Tatung to Tsailoo ; and the 
 whole north was in a blaze of insurrection. 
 
 This serious rising, as we have seen, compelled Nikan to move 
 into Taiyuen ; and affairs looked altogether so ominously black, as 
 if the whole land were rising to vomit forth the northern barbarians, 
 that the regent made a long statement to the Board of War, after 
 his return from a hunt at Chadao, whither he had doubtless gone 
 to ascertain the truth about the Mongols, and whence he had 
 sent detachments from each of the Eight Banners to the aid of 
 Ying Wang. " My one desire," he says in name of the emperor, 
 "is to see perfect peace established within the bounds of the 
 empire. This is my day's thought and my evening prayer ; and to 
 attain this object my labours are endless. Robbers have all these 
 years created much disturbance. Murder and oppression carried 
 away the magistrate and weighed down the people. When we 
 
332 GWEI WANG. 
 
 came within Chinese borders, it was to extirpate robbers, and to 
 save the people out of ' fire and flood.' Who could have thought 
 that for these years so many of this people would refuse to 
 adhere to us ? And not only so, but that some could be found 
 preaching groundless charges against us, causing doubt and 
 perplexity to fill the minds of the people, so that they know not 
 whither to look nor whom to trust ! This perplexing doubt can 
 exist only because the people are even yet ignorant of the truth; 
 their ignorance making them the dupes of the malicious, who 
 urge them into rebellion. And no sooner is one such set put 
 down than another springs up. If the ignorant people are always 
 to harbour this doubting spirit, when can peace be secured ? 
 
 "We have heard it said that, 'Not the man delighting in 
 bloodshed can rule all under heaven.' The ' Historical Classic ' 
 says that, ' If men have no ruler, how can they exist ? If the 
 minds of the people are not with the ruler, how can he reign ? ' 
 The ruler is the father, the people his children. That father 
 does not exist who has pleasure in oppressing his children. 
 If men now suffer death, it is only because they are criminals. 
 How can it be conceived that we desire to slay the guiltless ? 
 From the first day of our reign to this moment, the line of 
 malicious slanderers has continued, yet during all those six 
 years, where is the blameless man who has been injured ? If 
 the people are but willing to consider this one fact, their minds 
 will become clear as ice and their doubts disappear. 
 
 " We have long believed that though the speech of Han and 
 Man (Chinese and Manchus) is unlike, their hearts do not differ. 
 And in this world there is no man peaceably disposed in his 
 own house, and loving his own occupation who can ever 
 become a robber, or delight in oppressing the people to the 
 death. Underneath all this restlessness, therefore, there must 
 be some unlawful desires. To my mind the thought sometimes 
 presents itself, that the various viceroys, governors, treasurers, 
 deputy-governors, may not have been the proper men, and 
 that the subordinate officials may be such as prefer 'fish and flesh' 
 to the proper performance of their duties, thus causing discontent 
 
IMPEKIAL APOLOGIST. 333 
 
 among the people, difficult to be restrained from breaking out into 
 breaches of the peace. Or is this fermentation occasioned by 
 the tax-gatherers cruelly exacting the old amount of taxation in 
 spite of our proclamations of abatement ? These possible 
 reasons we hint at ; but we believe the causes of trouble are not 
 thus exhausted. The officials and magistrates of the capital are 
 bound to deliberate together, to carefully investigate whether 
 there are malpractices among them, and to discover the surest 
 modes of ensuring prosperity to the people, and an increase to 
 their comforts. When this advice is thoroughly carried out, 
 we shall know how to address the people." 
 
 It is not at all impossible that the Manchu regent, like the 
 International, and every other society which aims at power, was 
 blinded to the fact, that on the principles so truthfully and 
 naively set forth, he should be hunting the deer and the wild 
 boar on the mountains of Hingking, instead of commanding- 
 hundreds of thousands of Chinese soldiers, with millions of 
 Chinese money. Every man thinks it wrong for any other than 
 himself to possess or strive for what he has himself acquired by 
 striving and force; and every man striving for it, thinks it 
 wrong in that man to possess it ! The Manchus cut their way 
 into Peking, over millions of dead men, but Gwei Wang was a 
 robber for aspiring to the same distinction ! And is not might 
 the only rule of right in England now as in Peking then ? 
 
 Again in June the regent had to make a somewhat similar 
 address to the Board of War, saying that Man and Han are 
 equally his people ; nor did he make any difference in his treat- 
 ment of them from the beginning : they had always been equal 
 in law. Nor was the present war of his seeking, for he desired 
 nothing less than to harass the blameless people. He ordered 
 the Board to determine how much and what kind of grain and 
 provisions each marching army was to have ; and to see that the 
 pots, pans, straw-knives,* and horse-troughs, used by the army 
 
 * There is no hay in China ; the succulent straw of the Yellow Millet being used 
 instead. But this straw is stout, as that of wheat, and tough. It has, therefore, to 
 be cut into very small pieces, in a machine composed of a heavy piece of hard wood, 
 
334 GWEI WANG. 
 
 on their march, be restored to their proper owners, whenever the 
 feeding was over ; and the Goosa and Jangjings were commanded 
 strictly to look after this matter. It was also ordered that if a 
 soldier took away forcibly any one article he should be executed 
 and the head of his family and his next superior officer punished, 
 as they should have prevented him. Beheading was to be the 
 fate of the soldier who went in his armour beyond his ranks 
 to plunder, making no distinction between friend and foe. The 
 Board was ordered to publish this abroad. It was inevitable 
 that marching armies, so large and so frequent, should cause 
 grievous suffering to the people ; and the only safe policy for the 
 Manchus was that proclaimed by the regent, which, however, if 
 fully carried out, would have considerably diminished the number 
 of the living heads in the armies. 
 
 It was then he agreed to the suggestion of the Board of 
 Revenue, which had its hands full in trying to make ends meet. 
 This was to sell several literary and magisterial titles, as also 
 the titles of Abbot in Buddhist and Taoist monasteries or 
 temples, both in the capital and the provinces; to convert 
 sentence of banishment into a fine; to abolish the office 
 of governor of Tientsin, of Fungyang, of Nganhwi, and the 
 <jensorate of Hunkiang, with the military cashier Taotai of 
 Tientsin, the surplus from which increased revenue and 
 decreased expenditure might suffice to meet the additional drain 
 caused by the immense armies. But the selling of " abbot " or 
 any title to a priest or monk was, on the death of the regent, 
 decreed to be disgraceful. So simony finds no countenance in 
 China ! 
 
 After the speeches of the regent he went westwards in person 
 and occupied Yoong gwan, entered Yuenchow, thence threaten- 
 ing Tatung, but offering pardon on its submission. Nikan was 
 
 in the end of which is fixed the point of a long, heavy steel blade, moved up and 
 down by hand. The tough straw is placed by an attendant on the hard wood, and 
 the sharp edge of the knife cuts right through ; for there is a narrow groove running 
 the whole length of the wood, into which the knife is imbedded, without bringing 
 the edge into contact with the wood. 
 
WEAK GENERALSHIP. 335 
 
 more active from the south ; for he marched from Taiyuen and 
 took Chinchow. Bolo also defeated an army of six thousand 
 men, one thousand of whom were the men of Hiang and all 
 under his orders. This took place immediately north of Tatung. 
 But though thus threatened on all sides, though his formidable 
 friends the Mahommedans of Kansu were broken up and their 
 leaders slain and those of Shansi rendered harmless, the leader 
 of that revolt was as proudly defiant as ever, and again the 
 regent marched westwards to crush him. But when he got to 
 Goorban Kow,* he was compelled to march north by Jangjiakow 
 (Kalgan), and summon all the " inner Mongols " to his standard, 
 as Showlei, the Khan of Karka, was reported only ten days' 
 march from Peking, at the head of a large army of infantry and 
 cavalry. When he got to Chasirtoo on Chahan naor, both men 
 and horses were worn out with fatigue, and weak from loss of 
 flesh; so he turned again towards Tatung, in April took 
 Yuenchow, whence he again sent messengers to Hiang offering 
 him pardon on condition of submission. This was certainly not 
 a very dignified course of action, when Hiang knew as well as 
 the regent that it proceeded from weakness ; and it deserved the 
 reply it got in the form of a letter stating that both soldiers and 
 people under Hiang were in a desperate fury against the 
 Manchus and their minds as fixed, straight and inflexible as an 
 arrow, determined to die rather than yield ; and concluding with 
 a prayer that the regent might cease any further allusion to 
 submission and might kindly point out some other modus rivendi, 
 else Hiang had no alternative but to meet him outside the city 
 walls at the head of his army. This insulting reply naturally 
 irritated the proud regent into a state of fury ; but he was unable 
 to reply, for already his army had wheeled round towards Peking, 
 where the regent's full brother, Yii Wang, was suffering from 
 small-pox. This prince, whose name was Dodo, was the fifteenth 
 
 * Goorban is three, so that it is the " Third Pass." Jangjiakow or Kalgan Pass, 
 200 li north of Peking, may be the first, south of it is Sifungkow, 100 li or more ; 
 and south of that Heifungkow, which may be the same as Goorban. These gates 
 are all in the Great wall Chahan, white, naor, lake, probably because it produces 
 salt. 
 
336 GWEI WANG. 
 
 son of Noorhachu, and was but lately nominated Assistant 
 Guardian Uncle. He was 35 years of age when he took ill, and 
 before the regent got into the city he died. The regent heard 
 of the death while at Kiiyoong, and hurried into the capital to 
 mourn. In May, Ying Wang reported the capture of Tsowei, 
 but he too had to make all speed to the capital, leaving his 
 troops in the hands of Woobahai, Tunchiha and Babootai. 
 Bolo was nominated commander-in-chief, and Nikan his second. 
 The regent then again wrote to Hiang, saying that he did not 
 reply to the letter received, because its language was so 
 rebellious, but that Ying Wang on his return reported repen- 
 tance ; and as the regent was anxious to save the lives of the 
 people, Hiang would still be pardoned if he submitted ; but it 
 would be wise in him to repent from afar (and not wait the 
 despatch of an army to the neighbourhood). 
 
 In June and July, Bolo reported the capture of Tsingyuen, 
 Kiaochung, Wunshwi, Hiikow, Chihien, Pingyang, Funchow, 
 and Siaoyi of Shansi. But Tatung continued deaf to the dove 
 voice of the regent, who therefore again donned his mail and 
 marched westwards in August, sending Mandahai and Wakda, 
 two princes, against Sochow and Ningwoo. He reached 
 Uloosibartai, and again changed his mind, ordered his men 
 back to the capital, which he re-entered in September. As will 
 appear elsewhere (see Imperial Family), his mind was busy 
 with higher objects than Hiang; but he set his generals a bad 
 example by this dilly-dallying. He again marched against 
 Karka, and got to Chooshoo. Mandahai was more attentive to 
 business, taking Sochow, Mayi, and other cities. He was soon 
 rejoined by Ying Wang, and Tatung was again pressed. In 
 August the besieged city suffered from famine, and was in great 
 straits. As there was only one possible termination to the siege, 
 lieut.-general Yang Junwei plotted with other twenty-two 
 officers, and put Hiang and two of his brothers to death, going 
 with the three heads into the Manchu camp. The Manchus 
 moved into the city without opposition. The regent, on hearing 
 the news, sent orders to preserve alive all those concerned in 
 
SHANSI RECOVERED. 337 
 
 the death of Hiang, with their families ; but every other officer, 
 soldier and civilian, was ordered to the sword, and he commanded 
 Ying Wang to break down the city wall by five feet all round. 
 
 This virtually terminated the Shansi revolt, for Mandahai soon 
 took Funchow, putting to death the governor appointed by Hiang. 
 Pingyao, Taiku and Miliaochow, fell in rapid succession; and 
 Tunliw, Hiangyuen, Yiilin, and Woohiang opened their gates. 
 His success was so complete, that he was ordered into Peking ; 
 Wakda being left to smother the embers of the Shansi rebellion. 
 
 It was just before the fall of Tatung that the regent informed 
 the Board of War of the rumours that robbery was so rampant 
 and still growing, because the civilians were forbidden to carry 
 arms. They were now permitted to use the three-barrelled gun, 
 which was of iron, scarcely a foot long, and useful only to make 
 noise, fowling-pieces, bow and arrow, spear and sword, with the 
 use of a horse ; but they were still forbidden to possess or use 
 cannon. The arms which had been already confiscated on entering 
 Peking, were therefore now all handed back to their original 
 owners. 
 
 In March 1649, Sangwei saved alive some prisoners taken in. 
 battle, and the fact was reported to Peking. The emperor said 
 that " where peace was secured every man giving in his allegiance 
 must be preserved alive to show the imperial clemency ; but the 
 obstinate must be put to death to show our justice, causing all 
 men who fear death to yield. But those preserved by Pingsi 
 Wang were taken in battle, and while the war is still raging, 
 leading the enemy to infer that even the obstinate rebel may be 
 saved after he is taken. This will tend to prolong the war ; for 
 no one will feel any necessity to lay down his arms. This 
 clemency is ill-timed, and is inconsistent with correct principles 
 of government. The Board of Punishment is ordered to transmit 
 to our Pingsi Wang and to Morgunhia the imperial sentiments." 
 Alas therefore for prisoners of war ! In that same month Sangwei 
 defeated and slew the prince Joo Sunfoo. But Yoongchiang had 
 successfully attacked and taken nineteen cities, Tingan, Yulin, 
 &c. He attacked Toonggwan and Tingpien; the army at 
 w 
 
338 GWEI WANG. 
 
 Hvramashu joining him, and his ranks being swollen by numbers 
 of the people goaded into fury by the conduct of the imperial 
 soldiers. In reference to this oppression, Nikan reported that 
 the soldiers of Kolami stole boys, girls, and cattle from the people. 
 Orders were sent down to have the matter thoroughly inves- 
 tigated, the guilty punished, and the property restored. Nikan 
 also seized and put to death the governor Jiahwi sent by Gwei 
 Wang ; while Yoongchiang put to death Li Jungju the Manchu 
 governor with the intendant. The magistrate of Kikun hien 
 locked his doors and hanged himself. 
 
 But in the end of April, Sangwei reported the capture of 
 Yikun and Toongkwan hien cities ; and more important still, 
 the complete defeat of Yoongchiang, who lost fully seven thousand 
 men. In June he took Yenngan foo, Yenswi and Chunchung 
 in August ; and Yulin and surrounding cities fell after severe 
 fighting. Mandahai and Wakda cleared the regions of Loongan 
 and Tsaichow, beheading Li Jientai at Taiping, completing the 
 conquest of both Shansi and Shensi ; and the north of the river 
 left the Manchus again free to march southwards. Bolo and 
 Nikan were created Chin or Family Wang. Sangwei was 
 ordered back to Hanchung, whence to operate against Szchuen. 
 Princes Shang and Gung were sent from Kiangsi against 
 Kwangtung. Some Chin and Kun Wangs of the old Ming, 
 apprehended, were sent into Peking, where they were supported 
 by the government. Officials under commander were made 
 superintendents of customs, while the openly and persistently 
 rebellious were ordered to be mercilessly executed. Fear was 
 now giving way to the anger of thwarted power and returning 
 authority. 
 
 Whether Jiang Hiang hoped to become an emperor himself, 
 or whether he intended to support Gwei Wang, his revolt had 
 removed the terrible pressure on the Kwangsi forces, and 
 Tungjiao had not been slow to take advantage of the change and 
 to press into Hoonan. Li Jin had so powerful an army, that he 
 believed he had as good a title to the imperial title as any man. He 
 proclaimed his deceased uncle Dsuchung an emperor, and himself 
 
HO TUNGJIAO DIES. 339 
 
 the successor. He nominated the proper officials and created ten 
 counts ; after which he advanced on and took Kiangtan, putting 
 the city to the sword. Changsha was terrified, but successfully 
 resisted his immediate attack. Hii Nan had three thousand 
 men in Changsha. He cut a road under ground, came upon the 
 enemy, and slew over a thousand men. He built high towers 
 whence " flying " arrows and stones flew incessantly. He sent a 
 large number of his men, each to raise a flag on a small vessel ; 
 and when Jin's men saw the enormou ' fleet coming to raise the 
 siege, they fled in terror. 
 
 Tungjiao attacked Yoongchow, which was under command of 
 a Jinsu Shaodsoo, who defied Tungjiao. But a son of his fell 
 into Tungjiao's hands, was spared, and the grateful father opened 
 his gates. He was upbraided by Shushu, who attained his Jinsu 
 degree in the same year as Shaodsoo, with having forsaken his 
 native dynasty; and his reply was that when all were submitting, 
 what could he a solitary man do ? Tungjiao then marched against 
 Changsha, which he was besieging, when the pacification of the 
 two northern provinces set free the Three Princes to march south 
 again. Jirhalang and Koong entered Hoonan in March 1649. 
 They attacked Jinjoong in Changte. He set fire to the city and 
 fled to Wookang. Li Jin had to follow on his rear going west- 
 wards. Doo Yinsi and all the other commanders and officers in 
 charge of the district and other cities followed Jinjoong' s example; 
 burning, flying, plundering and laying waste as they retreated, 
 leaving a desert in their track and making for Kweilin. Tungjiao 
 marched in to hold the empty city of Hiangtan. A division of 
 the Manchu army marched from Nganloo, and crossed the 
 Changsha Kiang by night under Hii Yoong. When Tungjiao 
 awoke in the morning he found his camp empty : his generals, 
 Ma Jinjoong, &c., had marched all their men out by night 
 and joined the Manchus. Tungjiao was completely stunned 
 at this reward of his faithful services, and it was an easy 
 matter to seize him. The Manchu commanders did all in 
 their power to detach him from the Ming cause. But 
 he terminated the trial by refusing to eat any food, and 
 
340 GWEI WANG. 
 
 died on the seventh day. His wife and children were 
 slain. 
 
 We must now return to Chungdoong and his besieged friends 
 of Nanchang. In August 1648, Shushu memorialised his 
 emperor to move into Kweilin, but met with no response. A 
 few days after Gwei Wang was on the way from Nanning to 
 Chaoching, where he was welcomed by Chungdoong, who pre- 
 sented his lord with ten thousand taels, and was in return made 
 viceroy of seven provinces ! Chungdoong was alarmed at the fate 
 impending over Nanchang, and advanced to attack Kanchow, 
 whose brave commandant Gao was an old comrade. He hoped, 
 but in vain, that Gao would submit to him ; but his hope, like 
 the similar one of Jin, induced him to besiege without assaulting. 
 While lying before the city, his men apprehended a spy who was 
 sent from his former chief Yangjia, and on whom was found a 
 letter to Gao urging him to hold out. Chungdoong was not 
 slow in returning with the letter, and he secretly accused the 
 writer of treason to Gwei Wang. Yangjia was examined, found 
 guilty and beheaded. His submission, as we have seen, was not 
 a voluntary one. Suspecting him from the very first of no very 
 friendly intentions, his three thousand men were sent to 
 Woochow on pretence of garrisoning the place. Their food was 
 daily distributed to them in front of a large temple, and within 
 its compound. They went in singly by one door, and out singly 
 by another in the opposite wall. One day, when going out 
 as usual, they were one by one seized and put to death, 
 reminding one of the similar " freedom " given to prisoners by 
 the French Revolutionists. It was in revenge he sent the letter 
 to Gao ; which resulted in his own death at Woochow. 
 
 Chungdoong was not successful against Kanchow, and his 
 various attempts on Kienyang were equally fruitless. His 
 victorious career ended with his revolt. His opponents, when 
 he was under the Manchu banner, were smitten with the Ming 
 paralysis ; but when he became a Ming officer, he was opposed 
 by the stubbornness of the Manchu, or of the Manchu- 
 inspired Chinaman. He crossed the Annam frontier in 
 
GWEI WANG'S COURT. 341 
 
 January 1649, saying he would look after the regions beyond 
 the border. 
 
 The seat of government in Chaoching was then in the hands 
 of cabals. There was a Kwangtung clique, and a Kwangsi 
 clique, and others formed a third clique. Li Yuenhow was an 
 adopted son of Chungdoong's. He was commmandant of 
 Chaoching; and he soon usurped all governmental authority, 
 while Chungdoong was master of all outside of the court. 
 Yuen Pungnien was called by the people the tiger's head; 
 Hiangko, tiger's skin ; Shukwei, tiger's tail ; Jinpoo, tiger's 
 claws; and Mung Jung, tiger's feet: and combined they made 
 the "five-tiger." Chungdoong was sailing with his vessel on 
 the river when he fell in with the count Wang Chungun 
 in February. He invited the count on board. They feasted 
 and drank; and when the count was drunk, Chungdoong 
 had his throat cut and murdered him. Gwei Wang nominated 
 a Fukien man to be a cabinet minister. Chungdoong had not 
 approved of him, seized and put him to death. Bangchuen was 
 made a marquis for distinguished services and Chungdoong a 
 duke. A commandant had been set over Hiinchow by Gwei 
 Wang on his eastern journey, against whom the tiger raised 
 vehement objections. Bangchuen supported his sovereign, and 
 the sixteen officials thereupon made the greatest uproar, 
 threatening to resign in a body. Gwei Wang spilt his tea in his 
 terror, and the result of it all was that the commandant retired 
 from his post. From these incidents we can easily read the 
 capacity of Gwei Wang, and perceive the rottenness of the 
 southern court ; while at Peking everything was done with the 
 regularity of clock-work, because there was a man at the head of 
 affairs. 
 
 Chungdoong was however not unmindful of Nanchang, and 
 passed over Yii ling pass to strike a blow at Kanchow. Gao, to 
 gain time, sent messengers with overtures to surrender; and 
 this caused Chungdoong to retire his men on to the pass again. 
 
 The dreadful famine in Nanchang had meantime carried off 
 almost the whole of the civil population, and had decimated the 
 
342 GWEI WANG. 
 
 military, while, worst of all, it had gnawed away all the courage 
 which they had possessed. A great cannon, made by the " red 
 barbarians " (Dutch), was brought to bear upon the walls, and 
 its echoes filled the surrounding valleys for 100 li. The officer 
 holding the west gate offered to turn traitor and open his gate. 
 To veil the move, a furious cannonade was opened on the east 
 side, while a body of men darted in by the west gate ; and as all 
 spirit had died out of the garrison, the city fell at once. Jin, 
 well aware that his men could not stand an assault, put on his 
 silver mail and leaped into a well. His family was all burned to 
 death. Duayin, even yet true to his nature, dashed with his 
 men into the Manchu ranks. Thrice he cut his way to the spot 
 where the Goosa rode, but he was not recognised. He was at 
 last slain. Yuegwang, who was to a great extent responsible for 
 the useless suffering, drowned himself in his official robes. Many 
 of even the officers and civil officials had been eaten ! About 
 the time when Nanchang was falling, vice-president Choongsi 
 was starting from Chaoching with an army to raise the siege. 
 He found he was too late, and was defeated at Chunhiang. 
 
 The Manchu army now marched to the roll of the drum no 
 man raising a finger in opposition to raise the siege of Kanchow. 
 Had Jin taken Duayin's advice, waited a few days longer, and 
 taken Kanchow, as the Manchus had stuck to Nanchang, there 
 might be still a Ming dynasty reigning in Nanking. But people 
 who were eager to spend money and life, found] all was^thrown 
 away because of incapacity or selfishness ; and no wonder if they 
 did gradually cool down and become indifferent to a dynasty 
 represented by the weakness of Gwei Wang and the cruel 
 covetousness of his officers. Gwei Wang had long ago ordered Li 
 Jin from Kingan, against Kanchow, and commanded Chungdoong 
 to march down from Yuling and press the siege. But Li had 
 his own purposes to serve ; and Chungdoong was engaged for 
 months parleying with Gao, who angled him most skilfully, 
 keeping him on the Pass, on the heights of expectation, till his 
 provisions ran done; and his men became at last so weak that when 
 he did march, many fell on the road and were too feeble even to 
 
cilllNGDOONG DROWN I'll). 
 
 crawl out of UK; way to die. He moved down only in 
 November, wlirii Nanchang made another piteous cry for help. 
 Ho got down to the vicinity of the.; city, and Gao, knowing the 
 condition of his army, issued out with his whole force, before the 
 weary men had time to rest or taste a morsel of food. Their defeat 
 and flight fallowed as a matter of course. They drew away in 
 (nn fusion, and he move. I them into Sinfung. The Manchus were 
 now drawing near this city from Nanchang, and he determined to 
 make a, stand hero; but as soon as his men heard of the arrival 
 of the Ma.nc.hus, they began to glide away, and do what he would 
 he could not persuade them lo remain. They knew somewhat 
 
 of want; they had I ieard of Nanchang, and they doubtless feared 
 
 a. repetition of I lie dismal .scenes which had occurred in that woeful 
 city. Me, however, took their departure so ill thai he drank 
 himself drunk before setting out. He started; and that evening 
 an iron man and horse were, observed to enter the river, and 
 
 Chungdoong was never seen again. Thus was terminated tin- 
 revolt which had given Gwei Wang so much territory, which 
 had shaken with a moral earthquake the Manchu power, and 
 had threatened io topple it over. 
 
 In the west, Yinsi and Yiching wen; driven off by the Manchus 
 at Hungchow, and .linjoong stood alone in Wookang. Tsao 
 .lujien was in Yungehow, and Jintsai held Tsingchow. Jnjicn, 
 then in Ta.ochow, was the first attacked by prince Koong. 
 At iirst he was defeated; but showing his men two hundred 
 thousand tael; -,, he ; ;aid th.-i.t each man who slew a, Ibe would 
 have a. "button" (from one to four taeJs). The Manehu:; ha,d 
 to retire. Prince Koong, whose men, as well a:; those of his 
 two fellow princes, wen; allowed to have their families with 
 them, got to II uiiij'chow, sent a, division against and defea.l.ed 
 the enemy a.t }'t"ii<f,Kii 'ivo, while lie defeate(J a.n a.rmy of several 
 myriads at Yungchow. He despatched a division to attack the 
 rear Of Jljien, While he attacked in front. lle^-amed a complete 
 victory a,t Loonghoogwaii ; fifty thousand of Jijien's men 
 
 submitting. 
 
 After the fall of 1 1 iangtaii, the Manchus marched for Yunghing. 
 
344 GWEI WANG. 
 
 A body dashed in by an open gate, and the city was taken by 
 surprise with its lieut. -general. Li Jin, hearing of the approach 
 of the Manchus, forsook Chunchow, not acting in conformity 
 with his formidable name of "Number-One-Tiger." Jinjoong, 
 with the cognomen of " Breaker-up-of Ten Myriads," and his 
 colleague, Jintsai, were attacked and defeated by Nikan, and 
 Paoching fell in consequence. Number-Two-Tiger, and his 
 colleague, were also defeated, and their ten camps along the 
 Hoongkiang broken up. Defeat followed defeat in all directions, 
 till Jinjoong had to abandon Wookang, and Chingchow fell, 
 opening up the road to Kweilin. Completely breaking up an 
 army sent by Shushu to Chuenchow, Koong marched for Kweilin. 
 When Koong's army got up to Kweilin, it found the garrison 
 utterly demoralised. The soldiers broke up in the greatest 
 confusion, flying in all directions. The former " rebel " Jingjiang 
 Wang fled, his two eldest sons strangling themselves in the 
 palace. General Hoo Yichung, one of the officers sent by 
 Shushu to stop or impede the Manchu march, rushed into 
 Shushu's presence, nervously shouting, " They've come ! they've 
 come ! " and called for horses. " Whither ? " asked Shushu, and 
 said, "better drink and die." The coward fled; Shushu 
 remained and called for drink. He was soon joined by a similar- 
 minded official, and both drank and sat still, clad in their official 
 robes and facing south, representing the ghost of a majesty 
 which was vanishing. In this position they remained when the 
 Manchus burst in upon them, but they sat like two statues,* not 
 moving a muscle or bending an eye; and the Manchus were 
 terrified, thinking them "gods"; and it was only after some 
 thousands had gathered round, that they dared approach, lay 
 hands on and seize the two. Prince Koong was eager to save 
 the life of a man whose ability was unquestioned, and whose 
 fame was spread abroad. He first of all reasoned with him, in 
 
 * This same characteristic has been ridiculed as indicating great stupidity, or 
 ineffable conceit. But wheth'er in circumstances of danger or novelty, it is to the 
 Chinese gentleman the perfection of bravery and the essence of politeness, to appear 
 as if wholly indifferent; and the self-control we admire in the ancient Spartans, 
 we need not despise in the modern Chinaman. 
 
END OF SHUSHU. 345 
 
 order to get him to desert ; using as his strongest argument, 
 that it was now clear as day that Heaven's will had given China 
 to the Manchus. Failing in that line, he urged him to become 
 a monk ; but also in vain. For forty- two days did this struggle 
 go on, the one seeking to save the life of the other, who sought 
 to die the death of a faithful minister. Shushu complained 
 bitterly that he was left so long in this condition, and at last 
 " reviled " the prince into an irritation so great, that he said, 
 " To-morrow you shall die ;" nor did either of the two officials 
 change colour, when the soldier executioners cut their throats 
 next day. But far and near was mourning made for the people's 
 favourite. This was in December ; and the end of this man and 
 the fall of Kweilin, warranted the recall of Jirhalang and his 
 army to Peking ; an attempt by Jiao Lien in the beginning of 
 1651 to recover lost ground being abortive. 
 
 Ever since the siege of Kanchow had been raised, the men of 
 Jin, and of the camps of Jang, Hoong, Tsao, and Li Jin, had 
 dispersed among the mountains of Fukien and Kwangtung. 
 Choongsi and Foo Tingchuen collected them again, and the for- 
 midable Yiiling Pass was occupied with the greatest watchfulness 
 by Kwangtung men. But all this praiseworthy care was of no 
 avail; for Shangjoong, an officer of the Ming, offered himself as 
 guide, and led princes Shang and Gung from Kiangsi over 
 unoccupied mountain paths beyond Yiilinggwan. The Manchus 
 took Narihiwng, driving out the commandant, who fled into 
 Kweilin, where Kwei Wang ordered his execution. Shaochow 
 fell into Manchu hands in February 1650, its lieu t. -general 
 submitting. Next month Canton was surrounded, the viceroy 
 Doo Yoongho being inside. Fan Chungun was commandant. 
 Gwei Wang therefore, seeing the Manchus crowding his east, 
 and prince Koong pushing rapidly south from Hoonan, once 
 more pitched his moving tent, left Chaoching under Li Yuenyin, 
 and flitted into Woochow. 
 
 Canton was well prepared for defence. On its west the 
 threatened side a masked battery had been erected and a wooden 
 wall. Three ditches dug deep admitted the ebb and flow of 
 
346 GWEI WANG. 
 
 the tide; the silt caused by which made so deep and soft a mud, 
 that the Manchus found it impossible to cross it. They therefore 
 drew a wide line round the city, to starve it into surrendering. 
 The weather too fought for the city, for the summer was an 
 exceedingly rainy one. The bow-strings of the Manchus lost 
 their elasticity, and an epidemic broke out among the soldiers 
 of so severe a character, that the commanders were about to 
 order the raising of the siege, when another of those endless 
 " accidents " happened, which were determined to ruin the Ming 
 cause, and establish Manchu rule. 
 
 Canton had some time before sent a demand for aid, which 
 Gwei Wang at once prepared to send. An army was collected,, 
 which however first marched on Woochow, demanding the heads 
 of the " Five Tigers," some of whom were slain and the others 
 punished. After this purgation, the army marched ; but two of 
 its generals quarrelled by the way, and sought to exter- 
 minate each other. It was, therefore, an easy matter for the 
 large Manchu army to scatter the ten thousand who appeared, 
 though Ma Bao was among them. That victory sealed the fate 
 of Canton, for it raised the spirits of the besiegers. The viceroy 
 about that time escaped from the city by sea; but on being 
 reprimanded by Gwei Wang, he returned, and was created a 
 marquis ! 
 
 Liwchi was ordered off to summon the surrender of the cities 
 Chao and Hwi, and Chaoching commander dared not move to 
 the rescue of the threatened posts. Just then a large reinforce- 
 ment of fresh troops from Kiangsi joined the plague-stricken 
 Manchus. Prince Shang ordered them, while still fresh, to dis- 
 mount, and wade on foot through the mud. They advanced amid 
 showers of arrows and stones, and cut down the wooden walls. 
 Artillery was then brought to bear upon the north-west corner 
 of the city, and under cover of their cannonade the Manchus 
 scaled the walls and took the city. The viceroy commandant 
 and many other officers submitted ; but a scene of cruelty 
 unsurpassed was enacted by the maddened Manchu- Chinese 
 soldiery (see Army). Canton fell November-December, 1650, 
 
A DISSOLVING KINGDOM. 347 
 
 having stood a siege of nearly a year. Thus the capitals of 
 Kwangtung and Kwangsi fell about the same time, and Kwei 
 Wang had his locks sadly shorn. 
 
 The actors in the first and second phases of Gwei Wang's rule 
 have now all disappeared. The best of them are in their graves, 
 the less worthy have joined the Manchus, or fled to the 
 mountains to live by plunder. Whether he thought it or not, 
 Gwei Wang had at least as good reason as the lovely but 
 unlovable Mary, to say that all who loved him must die. Had 
 Shushu been Gwei Wang, the war would have had a very 
 different issue, or had Gwei Wang been a man of some mental 
 calibre he would have found it to be to his and his people's benefit 
 to listen to the advice of Shushu. But every George III. will 
 have his Aberdeen. 
 
 It was against the advice of Shushu that Gwei Wang fled 
 from Chaoching to Woochow. But now that Kweilin is fallen, 
 probably from lack of that hearty support which Gwei Wang 
 was doing all he could to throw away, he found Woochow too 
 near the Manchus ; and under cover of a heavy rain he got into a 
 boat and made for Hunchow, then for Nanning, but destitute of 
 money. Bangchuen had deprecated flight from Woochow, and, 
 unlike Shushu, when he found Gwei Wang gone beyond his 
 influence, he put to the sword as many ministers as he could lay 
 hands on. The new year of 1651 Gwei Wang passed in Nanning, 
 whence he sent grand secretary Wunngan, as commander-in- 
 chief, into the Hoo provinces, to endeavour to recover them. 
 The Manchu government had certainly committed one mistake 
 in recalling their army while the Ming cause was only "scotched 
 not killed." But they were doubtless compelled for the want of 
 funds to decrease the enormous forces which they had been 
 compelled to send into the field ; and they believed that the 
 armies left were sufficient to terminate the dying struggles of 
 the fallen tiger. And we come now to the third scene in this 
 drama. 
 
 We have had already to notice the state of Yunnan, and we 
 have seen why it was compelled to take no part in the great 
 
348 GWEI WANG. 
 
 struggle going on outside, as it had a life-and-death struggle on 
 its own account; and Kweichow shared the fate of its big 
 neighbour. The four generals had meantime all their own way, 
 after the extermination of Dingjow and his remarkable love. 
 They feared no man and acknowledged no prince. But in 1649, 
 Swun Kowang believed it might serve his purpose better if he 
 had a title from Gwei wang ; and on his application, a title was 
 given him, rather than permit him to become an enemy. In 
 September next year, he sent three hundred men with a tribute 
 to Gwei Wang of ten thousand taels and a hundred excellent 
 horses. Soon after, he sent forty thousand ounces (Hang) of 
 gold. Pi Hiwng of Kweichow was suspicious of Kowang's 
 designs. The latter sent him a letter to reassure him ; but the 
 letter had the contrary effect. Wang Hiang therefore marched 
 against Kowang with between sixty and seventy thousand men, 
 in thirty-six divisions. He was completely defeated, and his men 
 joined Kowang. In disgust, he took up his official belongings 
 and made off; but was pursued by a hundred men, and, when 
 about to be overtaken, cut his own throat and died. Thus did 
 these worthies uphold their dynasty ! But when Gwei Wang got 
 to Nanning, Kowang, doubtless hoping thus to acquire supreme 
 power, as so many worthless men had done under that prince 
 before, sent some lieut.-generals, with their men, to guard 
 Nanning. 
 
 Gwei Wang was apparently too nervous to sit still ; so April 
 saw his three empresses in Tienchow, where one of them 
 immediately sickened and died. Kowang was meantime forcing 
 himself higher and higher up the political horizon, when he 
 discovered that the title of wang, which he had received and 
 been sporting some time, was after all a false one, the official 
 stamp having been given by an underling, and not by Gwei Wang, 
 who was opposed to granting him the title. He was angry at 
 the discovery, but said it mattered little, for he was wang all the 
 same. He, however, sent Jia Jiwyi privately to discover who 
 among the ministers had opposed him. It was found that Yang 
 Tingho was the chief opponent; and Yang was secretly 
 
MIRACLES. 349 
 
 assassinated. Yen Chihung was also implicated, and he was 
 drowned. Some days after, a fisherman reported that a tiger 
 had come from the hills, dragged the body of Chihung out of the 
 water, scratched out a hole with its claws, where it placed the 
 body. Jiwyi sent men to prove the accuracy of the story, and 
 there, sure enough, was the tiger beside the body ! And Jiwyi 
 was startled and terrified. Yang Weiju, a native of Shensi, was 
 the first Juyin of his year, and held in high honour by Kowang. 
 He was nominated Grand Secretary by Gwei Wang, to whom he 
 had been recommended by Kowang. He refused the honour, 
 but it was thrust upon him; and he tried to act up to its 
 responsibilities. When Jiwyi returned to Kowang, he reported 
 that Weiju was not to be depended on, and thus led Kowang to 
 suspect him. 
 
 At length the gold seal of a prince was sent to Kowang, who 
 was extremely glad, went far to meet it, and wrote a letter full 
 of gratitude, but written in such a style that the ministers said, 
 "If he does not rebel, it shall be well." He then invited or 
 commanded Weiju into Yunnan, and angrily rebuked him for 
 accepting office on the terms to which he had agreed. No 
 excuses or explanations were satisfactory, and Kowang ordered 
 him away, for that " he must be slain." He was led out, when 
 some of the officials reasoned with Kowang that Weiju should be 
 kept alive ; for the business in which they were engaged was one 
 of the greatest gravity, and Weiju was indispensably necessary. 
 He saw they were right, sent out a messenger to release him, 
 but the messenger found him already dead. Kowang was 
 deeply repentant and said it was now impossible to effect their 
 great purpose : of raising Gwei Wang to the throne of all China. 
 Seeing all power slipping into Kowang's hands, Bangchuen 
 joined the Manchus in October, and his desertion threw Gwei 
 Wang into a state of the most confusing terror ; ignorant what 
 to do, not knowing where to look or to"go. The unsettled minds 
 of the people were reflected in the Cabinet, and ministers 
 advised, some this course some that. He had already been 
 invited into Yunnan, but he seemed still to be unwilling to be 
 
350 GWEI WANG. 
 
 the tool of Kowang, and refused. Some urged flight into 
 Kweichow, others would go into Yunnan notwithstanding the 
 dark and overshadowing figure of Kowang. In November 
 Jiwyi came with an army from Yunnan to escort Gwei Wang, 
 who however still hesitated and doubted. Jiwyi angrily ordered 
 an immediate start, or he would go alone. And he left, taking 
 his men with him. This terrified Gwei Wang, who sent a 
 messenger after him desiring him to stay for a time, when the 
 emperor would go with him. But there was no response. His 
 ministers were equally irresolute and nothing could be decided ; 
 but the advance of the Manchus compelled some decision, and 
 Gwei Wang departed for Laitwan. 
 
 When Canton was besieged, Gwei Wang moved out of 
 Chaoching, leaving the army under Yinhuen and Yiching, 
 making the former a duke and the latter a marquis, to help 
 them to the better protect his rear and fend off the Manchus, 
 who could not but soon march against him. He knew well 
 enough the fate awaiting him at their hands ; for hitherto every 
 member of his unfortunate family taken was put to death. In 
 reference to this subject, we may quote the emperor, who, in 
 addressing the Board of War in April 1651, said, that "the son 
 of Yutien Wang of the Old Ming, had recently collected an army 
 and sacrificed* to his Flag at Chingchow. The rebellious 
 commanders, Wang Yuen and Ma Dua, murdered the governor 
 of Shensi and meditated a junction with Ching Wang's grandson. 
 Because of this, many of the Ming family lost their lives. We 
 have much pitied them. At the present we are rulers over all 
 places and persons, with the firm resolve to preserve all the 
 people in their homes in peace. Are the sons and families of the 
 Ming alone beyond the reach of our care ? Henceforth wherever 
 in any province or city a Ming Chin Wang or Kun Wang is 
 taken or found wandering homeless, let the viceroy or governor 
 see that he is with his family immediately escorted to Peking, 
 where adequate provision shall be made for them according to 
 
 * It is by a sacrifice of sheep, &c., to the god of war that a collection of men is 
 constituted into a fighting army. 
 
IMPERIAL GENEROSITY. 351 
 
 their rank. All are our people. There shall be no distinction 
 in taxation or office between the peoples ; and you of the Ming 
 family are bound to cast aside suspicion, and look to the throne 
 which desires only to save men alive." From this we learn what 
 the fate was of the numerous members of the Ming family who 
 had previously fallen into Manchu hands; into the hands of 
 those who pretended even yet to have entered into China to 
 revenge the death of the last Ming emperor ! Hence too arose 
 the numerous "rebellions" of the doomed family all over the 
 empire ; for events proved that there was not a single warrior or 
 statesman among the widely extended family ; and had the lives 
 of the first members taken been spared, little resistance would have 
 been offered by the mentally weak but numerically large family. 
 
 Prince Gung Jingjoong, for some unknown reason, committed 
 suicide at Kingan on the march from Kiangsi into Kwangtung. 
 His son Jimao succeeded to the title and command of his father. 
 He and prince Shang were ordered to occupy Kwangtung, and 
 prince Koong to hold Kwangsi. Before prince Shang, the 
 prefectures of Kao, Lei, and Lien soon fell, and Yuenyin was 
 taken prisoner at Chinchow. Prince Koong was not inactive, 
 for Woochow and Liwchow were soon occupied by a lieutenant 
 of his; and the gates of Showchow were opened by Chun 
 Bangchuen, who first murdered Jiao Lien and then deserted. 
 He sent by three routes into Kwangsi, three divisions under the 
 marshal Sien Gwongan, lieut. -generals Ma Siwng and Chuen Ji. 
 Yinhuen and Yiching were defeated and fled notwithstanding 
 their titles ; and Sungun, Nanning and Chingyuen, prefectures, 
 fell. Sangwei had marched into Szchuen, and happened 
 to go in at a time when the Ming generals were as usual 
 quarrelling over their oyster, and tearing each other's throats. 
 Hence Sangwei found no great difficulty in pushing forward, 
 many of the enemy joining him ; and with the easy fall of 
 Changtu, Choongching, and Siichow, Szchuen was at his feet. 
 Five of the seven provinces were now again flowing the Manchu 
 tail, and Gwei Wang was once more driven into a hole. 
 
 We have already seen Gwei Wang started from Nanning in 
 
352 GWEI WANG. 
 
 the south of Kwangsi, and safe in Laitwan, pursuing his flight 
 against the stream of the river. Nanning fell soon after he left 
 it, and many officials were slain in it. Sien Gwongan was on 
 the track of Gwei Wang with a choice body of troops. Gwei 
 Wang, up the river, heard that the Manchus had already passed 
 Sinning chow, distant only 100 li. The boats were therefore 
 driven ashore, burnt, and abandoned. The greatest terror seized 
 the fugitives, ministers flying hither and thither; and one of 
 Gwei Wang's wives was left behind in the confusion ! Gwei 
 Wang left the main road and fled by bye-roads for Yunnan. 
 Gwongan never lost the scent however, and was at one time so 
 close that the dust raised by his horse's hoofs was swept by the 
 wind past Gwei Wang's carriage. Just then the pursuer came 
 across an old grey-headed man and asked whether Gwei Wang 
 had passed that way. "Oh, yes," replied the grey-head, "he 
 passed this spot some time ago, and is now 30 li ahead on his 
 way to the Toosu * beyond the border." Believing the old man, 
 and fearing he might not be welcomed by the Toosu, he called a 
 halt to bivouac. An officer expostulated that if the fugitive 
 were only 30 li ahead he might yet be overtaken. Gwongan 
 replied that his orders were to take Gwei Wang in Nanning ; and 
 it was too serious a risk for him to go beyond his orders, lest his 
 men came to grief; for he had no orders to fight a Toosu. 
 
 At the border of Yunnan, Kowang had a guard ready to escort 
 Gwei Wang, who since his narrow escape had lived in the wilds. 
 In February 1652, he journeyed via Foochuen, Shatow, and 
 Siyangkiang, reaching Kwangan on 16th of Chinese 1st moon. 
 Thither Kowang sent messengers to welcome him, and recommend 
 his journey to Anloongswo in that corner of Yunnan touching 
 Kwangsi and Kweichow. After a rest of nine days, the fugitive 
 emperor therefore went as he was bidden, passing Toongboo, 
 Tsaili, Nanien, resting some days at Chutang, then through 
 Hooma, Bienshan, Banchiao, and Toongsha to Anloong, which 
 
 *See Aborigines. It will be observed that all this is taking place just on the 
 border of China, close to those aboriginal tribes, nominally dependent on China, 
 which skirt the north of Burmah. 
 
A NEW CAPITAL. 353 
 
 was converted into a prefecture, and garrisoned by Jangshung, a 
 general of Kowang's, who was there however rather to overawe 
 and command Gwei Wang than to defend the place. Kowang 
 expressed a desire to visit the emperor, but an officer of his 
 dissuaded him, saying that " the Master of the Empire had better 
 not go ; it was not well that two Dragons * should look each 
 other in the face." At the desire of Kowang, Yingko was made 
 Marshal of Anloong ; and he presented a memorial stating that 
 the " emperor would have two hundred taels and six hundred dan 
 of rice per annum ! " The prefect of the city who had to endorse 
 the memorial added that "the emperor is an official of Kowang's!" 
 The latter took no notice of the sarcasm. As the emperor had 
 now nothing for himself or his ministers to do, he occupied his 
 time in gardening. Pity he had not always employed his talents 
 in the same peaceable and gentle employment. 
 
 But just when this emperor could call not an inch of Chinese 
 soil his own, when all hope was extinguished, a powerful party 
 sprang up again out of the ground, to measure strength with 
 the Manchus, and hurl themselves boldly and bravely on the 
 well tempered swords, and in the face of the arrows of the long- 
 tailed barbarians; and the Manchus seemed to be under the 
 doom of having dragon's teeth to the end of time. 
 
 Of the four commanders, Kowang was only one. The others 
 seem, for a time at least, to have been eclipsed by him. But 
 some of them again asserted their individuality. Li Dinggwo 
 was he who persistently dogged Dingjow to the death; Liw 
 Wunsiw and Nai Nungchi, were the other two. Bai Wunhiien 
 and Fung Shwangli were generals, but under the four. Each 
 now appears on the scene. Kowang's design was manifestly to 
 use Gwei Wang as a stepping-stone to imperial rank. He had 
 early sent Bai Wunhiien into Szchuen ; but he fled back into 
 Yunnan before Sangwei. Kweichow was thus threatened on 
 the north; and prince Koong, with a picked body of seven 
 hundred horse, went to Hochi, near the southern border of 
 Kweichow, his main army being still in Liwchow. 
 
 * The Dragon is the Imperial Coat of Anns in China. 
 X 
 
354 GWEI WANG. 
 
 Kowang had gone with Nungchi's army into Kweichow, 
 sending Dinggwo and Wunsiw against the Toosu Shadinggwo at 
 Tidoong, who had revolted from the Ming. He took Tsunyi, 
 where he planted a garrison to stand instead of Choongching. 
 After Dinggwo's successful mission, he was again, along with 
 Shwangli, sent with eighty thousand men by Wookang against 
 Chuenchow and Kweilin ; Wunsiw and Wunhiien being ordered 
 .with sixty thousand men by Hiichow and Choongching, against 
 Chungtu. Both Dinggwo and Wunsiw had been by this time 
 made princes, and Dinggwo was smarting under the superiority 
 'over him of Kowang. He was joined on his march from Liping 
 by Ma Jinjoong. He therefore put Shadinggwo to death, 
 saying that there was now an emperor ; he also became the 
 friend of duke Tienbo. 
 
 In 1652 Wunsiw defeated Sangwei at Hiichow, and imme- 
 diately surrounded him several deep. After desperate fighting 
 Sangwei cut his way out, and retired on Sienchow. Two 
 generals Bai were defeated and captured by Wunsiw at Choong- 
 ching; the victor marching from Kiating took Chungtu, the 
 capital of Szchuen, and besieged Sangwei in Paoning. His 
 camp was 15 li in length; Jang Gwangli, a recent recruit, 
 commanding the west, and Wang Foochun the south. Both 
 camps were elated beyond measure, and well they might be, at 
 the success which had attended them. But they should not have 
 forgotten who commandecf in the city. Sangwei had a constant 
 watch set ; and seeing one day the men of Gwangli straggling, 
 he instantly put himself at the head of a picked body of horse, 
 made a sudden charge, and broke the men of Gwangli, who 
 began to retreat, then to flee into Foochun's camp. Sangwei 
 immediately galloped among the fugitives into Foochun's camp, 
 whose men were thrown into disorder by the sudden rush of the 
 fugitives; and though they made a gallant defence, the siege 
 had to be raised. Foochun's was the most terrible arm in that 
 fight ; and when all was giving way, he stood stock still, slew 
 several pursuers, and seeing he was about to be surrounded, he 
 cried out with a loud voice, " A prince of reputation cannot be 
 
SHARP FIGHTING. 355 
 
 taken alive," then, to the terror of the Manchus, cut his own 
 throat. Such was the effect produced by the prowess of 
 Foochun, that Sangwei did not think it advisable to pursue the 
 retreating army. Wunsiw did not retreat far. And Sangwei, 
 leaving a garrison in Paoning, fell back on Hanchung, leaving 
 the west, south, and east of Szchuen, in the hands of Wunsiw ; 
 who, on his part, did not think it wise to hurry the retreat of 
 Sangwei. But Kowang was much displeased that Wunsiw had 
 not displayed the bravery of Foochun. 
 
 In May 1652, Prince Koong could proudly report that all the 
 important cities of Kwangsi were "down in his map," his 
 greatness culminating with the death of Jiao Lien, the faithful 
 and brave second of Shushu. But three months after, he hanged 
 himself in the bitterness of his spirit at seeing his work undone 
 far more rapidly than he had built it up. Gwongan, Ma Siwng, 
 and Chuen Ji, had been sent by him to occupy Nanning, 
 Chingyuen and Woochow. They had not completed their 
 arrangements ere Dinggwo came upon them like a whirlwind, 
 took Yuenching and Wookang at a rush ; and Yoongjoong, 
 who had been sent to Yuenchow, now cried out for help in 
 Paoching. Responding to the call, prince Koong sent off a large 
 proportion of his men from Kweilin; but before their arrival 
 Yoongjoong was compelled to retreat to cover Hiangtan. 
 Dinggwo, wiser than to follow the retreating main army, leaped 
 aside, and laid siege to Kweilin, whose garrison had been weakened 
 to aid Yoongjoong. Couriers flew in all directions from the capital 
 of the province to demand Manchu aid, which came, but after 
 Kweilin was again flying the Ming flag ; and then Koong, in 
 his vexation, hanged himself. He had an only son whom 
 Dinggwo seized and put to death in Yunnan. Bangchuen was 
 also taken, sent to Kweichow, where he was beheaded and Jiao 
 Lien avenged. Koong had an only daughter, a mere child, who 
 was brought into Peking, brought up in the palace with the 
 empresses, and called a goongjoo or princess. We shall meet 
 her again in the still more desperate struggle of the Manchus in 
 the great rebellion of those same provinces. 
 
356 GWEI WANG. 
 
 At the sight of Dinggwo, Liwchow willingly opened its gates. 
 Ji and Siwng combined their forces at Woochow, but they were 
 no match for Dinggwo, who broke up their army. When 
 Dinggwo marched to the neighbourhood of Hungchow, Hoo 
 Yiching, Ma Bao, and other officers, who had fled to the 
 mountains on the fall of Nanning, gladly swelled his ranks. 
 Kowang at the same time with fifty thousand of the Lo and Gwo 
 savages, placing a line of elephants in the front line of battle, 
 attacked Hii Yoong, who perished ; his men fled, and Kowang 
 entered Chunchow. 
 
 Nikan, the Jingjin prince, with Twunchi were ordered into 
 Hoonan and Kwangsi; and Chungchow, who had been so 
 successful in the east, was made dictator of Hookwang, Yunnan, 
 Kweichow and the two Kwang, with head quarters in Changsha. 
 Nanking was left in charge of general Jobootai ; Chuntai, great 
 commander, was ordered to Kingchow ; and Li Shwaitai made 
 viceroy of the two Kwang. 
 
 Nikan defeated Jinjoong at Hiangtan, the vanquished retiring 
 into Paoching. He and Dinggwo then confronted each other for 
 nearly a month, each watching the other in the neighbourhood 
 of Hungchow. Dinggwo placed an ambush on a bye road, then 
 attacked and, after some fighting, withdrew as if defeated, drawing 
 the Manchus after him in eager haste. Then after he knew of 
 the appearance of the ambush in the rear, he faced round 
 and attacked the Manchu pursuers, defeating them with great 
 slaughter. Nikan was slain in the melde, had posthumous 
 honours awarded him in Peking, and the Beira Twunchi was 
 nominated his successor. Dinggwo retired on Wookang, and 
 latterly on Kweilin. The Manchus attacked Chingyuen and 
 Wookang; which defied them. They were on their way 
 back when they came across the army of Kowang, his left 
 under Shwangli, his right under Wunhiien, he himself occupying 
 the centre with the dragon standard, and with sounding 
 drums and blowing horns. The Manchus attacked him at the 
 run. and the result did not justify his condemnation of Wunsiw ; 
 for only Shwangli held his ground, which he did so obstinately 
 
INTERNAL DISCORD. 357 
 
 that the Manchus retired. Commander Arjin defeated Wunhiien 
 again at Chunchow. 
 
 After Dinggwo's success in Kwangsi he threw off the 
 sovereignty of Kowang, saying there was now an Emperor. 
 Kowang was therefore eager to seize the " rebel " and to have 
 him out of the way. A friend of Dinggwo's apprised him that 
 Shwangli was on the way to Liwchow to seize him unawares. 
 He therefore sent a body of men who fell upon Shwangli on the 
 way and defeated him; his ambush before Liwchow being mostly 
 put to death. Dinggwo then marched against the Manchus at 
 Hwiloo and defeated them. He had now conquered a province 
 for Gwei Wang, and Ma Jisiang and other friends whom Kowang 
 sent to Liwchow united with him in upholding the old dynasty. 
 In his anger Kowang sent men who brought Jisiang into 
 Kweichow. As he had not managed to get rid of Dinggwo 
 privately, Kowang attempted to ruin him publicly, and got 
 officials to memorialise against him as a traitor. This memorial 
 was sent by a messenger from Liwchow. Gwei Wang 
 said he could not act, as there were so many false accusations 
 floating about. The messenger, worthy of his employer, angrily 
 asked how he could know that this one was false; and the 
 reply was that he had private information. Kowang ascertained 
 that this information had been given by Jisiang. Kowang had 
 spies everywhere. As he had no other means of injuring 
 Dinggwo he got an underling to go to Dinggwo's house in 
 Yunnan and to seize his wife and daughters to prostitute them 
 in the army ! He returned at that time from Kweichow into 
 Yunnan. His mind was now bent on having higher honours, 
 or as the history says, his " wang's cap was too small " for him 
 and he wanted an emperor's. 
 
 When Dinggwo was occupied with the Hoonan army, prince 
 Shang had sent his fleet to support Gwongan and Ma Siwng, 
 who soon retook Pinglo and Kweilin, defeating Yiching and 
 Wang Yingloong several times at Hiangchow, and Pinchow, 
 recalling to Manchu allegiance the Yao and Doong savages of 
 Yuichuen, and thus recovering all Kwangsi. But with the retreat 
 
358 GWEI WANG. 
 
 of the northern army, Dinggwo with forty thousand horse and 
 foot pierced into Kwangtung, took Kaochow, ravaged the 
 prefectures of Lei, Hung and Lien, harassed Chaoching and 
 besieged Sinhwi. Shang and Jimao reported urgency and 
 prayed for Manchu troops, probably fearing that Chinese troops 
 might not be reliable. General Joomala with the Manchu troops 
 of Nanking were ordered to the rescue. But though combined 
 with the troops of both the princes, Dinggwo remained before 
 Sinhwi over the spring, even after he is said to have been several 
 times defeated. The Manchus camped on the hills but had an 
 ambush on the Kiang. Dinggwo was at last driven to take 
 shelter in the mountain gullies where he ranged his artillery and 
 drew up his elephants. A band of Solon horse pierced his lines 
 throwing his men into disorder. To counteract that move he sent 
 down four thousand horse from the hill top to attack the Manchu 
 flank ; who however faced round and fought both his front and 
 flank and took his hill. Dinggwo had therefore to retreat, fighting 
 as he went; and daily suffering defeat. This we must understand 
 to mean that he always retreated. He was badly defeated at 
 Hingpoo, and again at Hungchow, and Kwangtung was restored 
 to peace. The viceroy of the Kwangs was therefore moved to 
 Woochow. 
 
 Wunsiw just then issued out of the Szchuen gorges with sixty 
 thousand men, and one thousand vessels. He sent Shwangli 
 with a division against Yochow and Woochang; but he was 
 driven off by Chuntai and the Kingchow army. Thence he 
 sailed on Changte. Kinchow and Changsha armies combined to 
 the rescue. They placed a large ambush outside the city, 
 permitted a large proportion of the enemy to pass, then cut them 
 in two, utterly routing them. They fought six battles, in which 
 Wunsiw lost in slain and captives enormous numbers. Most of 
 his war ships were burnt, and he retreated with Shwangli to 
 Kweiyang. Kowang sent him into Yunnan to look after the 
 province. But his army was now weak, as was also that of 
 his colleague Dinggwo. 
 
 Kowang had now his desire ; for of all the commanders he 
 
KOWANG AN EMPEROR. 359 
 
 alone was powerful. Gwei Wang had for some time had his 
 capital in Anloong city, which he called Hingloong foo, the City 
 of the Prospering Dragon. Kowang was in Kweiyang ; and to 
 " shame his lord" put to death a number of the imperial family 
 there, and then assumed imperial rank, erected an Ancestral 
 Temple, established a Court Etiquette, nominated officials, &c. 
 Gwei Wang heard of it, and, as we might expect from his 
 antecedents, he was thrown into a state of extreme terror. He 
 nominated Dinggwo Tsin wang, and Wunsiw Annan wang; 
 commanding Dinggwo to advance to his rescue. 
 
 Kowang was terrified at the report that Dinggwo was marching 
 on Anloong. He therefore sent a large army under Yootsai, an 
 able officer, to prevent Dinggwo at Nanning ; and Wunhuen was 
 ordered to have Gwei Wang escorted into Kweichow. Dinggwo, 
 flying the Manchu banners, defeated Yootsai at Tienchow, and 
 made towards Anloong, praying Gwei Wang to go to Wunsiw in 
 Yunnan. The family and ministers of Gwei Wang wept at the 
 message of Wunhuen, but were comforted with the assurance 
 that, with the coming of Dinggwo, all would be well. Nor had 
 they to go to Kweichow ; for Dinggwo sent an officer to Anloong 
 to pacify the minds of the people, at whose approach Wunhiien 
 fled. The ministers and people were overjoyed at Dinggwo's 
 approach. He sent messengers after Wunhuen, who came 
 back with them, joining him to support Gwei Wang. 
 
 Dinggwo sent troops to the Pan Kiang to oppose Kowang, 
 while Gwei Wang moved from Anloong to Poongan. He 
 followed a month after with three thousand horse in the van, as 
 many in the rear, he with Wunhuen in the centre. They 
 marched by Sinchung, Poongan, to Chuking. Kowang set out 
 to attack, ordering Wunsiw to defend Yunnan ; but Wunsiw 
 sent a few horsemen to Dinggwo privately, to say that they 
 followed Kowang only because they were afraid Dinggwo would 
 not treat them well. Dinggwo, on swearing by Heaven, had the 
 satisfaction of seeing Wunsiw join him at Chukiang. Wunsiw 
 was then left to protect the emperor, and Dinggwo entered 
 Yunnan. Thence he sent messengers to Kowang, saying that 
 
360 GWEI WANG. 
 
 no harm was designed him, if he agreed to support the empire. 
 Kowang, desiring to murder Dinggwo, replied that if peace were 
 really sought, Dinggwo might go to him to come to terms. 
 Kowang's wife was then a prisoner with Dinggwo. The two did 
 come to terms, and Kowang's wife was sent him. Kowang's 
 palace in Yunnan city was occupied by Gwei Wang; but he 
 got crafty command of some of Dinggwo's troops. 
 
 Kowang was all the while irritated in the extreme that 
 Dinggwo had baffled his plans; and in 1657, still harbouring 
 revenge, he petitioned to be permitted to go into Kweichow with 
 his army. Leave was granted, and Gwei Wang's son-in-law 
 convoyed him to a distance. His one burning desire was to crush 
 Dinggwo, but he feared his men were yet too few. However, on 
 hearing that Dinggwo was become weak, he determined to act 
 at once. He moved forward with one hundred thousand men, 
 leaving Shwangli to hold Kweichow for him, and taking with 
 him over three hundred fetters to bind the ministers of Gwei 
 Wang. Kowang was not aware of the defection of Wunhiien, 
 who as a Kweichow officer was again under his orders. 
 He did suspect that he was too friendly with Dinggwo, and 
 had a long conversation to sound him before mentioning his 
 purpose ; but as the deserter took good care to hide his real 
 sentiments, he was appointed to command the van. He 
 and Jinjoong, also commanding in the army, sent secret 
 information to Dinggwo that they would certainly desert. 
 When Shwangli got his orders he left Kowang weeping. 
 Yunnan city was held by Tienbo and Wang Shangbi. It was 
 discovered that Shangbi was a partizan of Kowang's. Tieribo 
 therefore seized the army stores and set a watch on Shangbi. 
 
 It was the first of the ninth moon (October) when Dinggwo 
 got to Chuking and camped at Sancha. On the fourteenth, 
 Wunhiien camped 20 li from Sancha, and with his best horse 
 fled to Dinggwo, informing him that one battle would scatter 
 Kowang's army, which was composed of very discordant elements. 
 Kowang camped on the left bank of the river, Dinggwo on the 
 right. The former did not wish to fight just immediately, as all 
 
SUICIDAL FIGHTING. 361 
 
 his men were not up. But those already forward were much more 
 numerous than the men of Dinggwo ; and Ma Bao was ordered 
 with his division to march upon Yunnan and seize Gwei Wang. 
 Jinjoong and Yuenji commanded the division under Kowang. 
 
 Dinggwo ordered breakfast (!) at third watch or midnight, and 
 the attack at fifth watch (2 a.m.). He himself led a choice body 
 of horse right into the centre of Kowang's lines, which were 
 broken by the dashing charge. The other divisions, with a great 
 shout, revolted to "Tsiii Wang." Kowang fled with his one 
 division, which speedily dwindled down to three hundred men. 
 He made for Kweiyang, but found the city occupied in the 
 name of Gwei Wang, his own family prisoners, and his property 
 confiscated. He fled for the Manchu lines, was opposed by 
 Bungao, who got shot by an arrow ; and Kowang got safely to 
 Chungchow in Hoonan. He was ordered into Peking, where he 
 received the title of Yi Wang, the upright prince. This was in 
 November 1657. Fearing trouble in the provincial capital, 
 Dinggwo marched his army thither after the victory. He was 
 opposed by Jangshung, who had attempted a diversion in the 
 capital. Jangshung was defeated, fled to the mountains, was 
 apprehended when begging bread, and executed. Shangbi, on 
 receipt of the news of Kowang's defeat, fled in deep grief; but 
 knowing not whither to flee, he cut his own throat. Both Gwei 
 Wang and his ministers went out by the east gate, and joyfully 
 welcomed Dinggwo; and the Yunnan men, now the sole kingdom 
 of Gwei Wang, composed a song to celebrate their joy at the defeat 
 of Kowang. 
 
 Shortly before that victory, Loo Wang, then in Chowshan, 
 sent messengers inviting Gwei Wang to combine his forces with 
 those of the east, and attack the Hoo provinces. But while 
 unity guided the counsels and union animated the officials of 
 the Manchus, the petty quarrels of selfish generals reigned 
 supreme in Gwei Wang's court. Obedience is the salvation of 
 armies and states, as it is of individual men ; and selfish interests 
 and self-willedness bring only calamity and ruin. 
 
 In the summer of 1658, Dinggwo was left the sole representative 
 
362 GWEI WANG. 
 
 of the Yunnan four generals, for Wunsiw was murdered by a 
 Shensi man, who gained admission into his room as an astrologer, 
 when the general was lying sick. The court of Gwei Wang had 
 deliberated seriously on the advisability of making Burma a 
 Chinese province. Had that step been taken, as it could easily 
 have been, the history of China for the past two centuries might 
 have to be told differently. The viceroy of Szchuen was mean- 
 time in Paoning; Chungchow in Changsha; Arjin succeeded 
 the deceased Chuntai in Kingchow, where Jolo was general; 
 Joomala was ordered with his men from Changsha to Peking. 
 Shang held Chaoching and Canton, whence he had to fight over 
 a hundred battles with the rebels, gallantly driving them beyond 
 his borders. Now that Kowang was with the Manchus, they 
 were made minutely acquainted with the hollowness of the 
 southern power ; and Sangwei joined Chungchow in praying for 
 the immediate advance of the main armies into Yunnan to 
 crush the rotten cause. To a prayer like this the Manchus were 
 never deaf since the first day of their career. Hence Loto the 
 Beidsu was ordered at once to join Chungchow, and advance 
 from Hoonan. Sangwei, as great commander of the west, was 
 ordered with general Morgun and Li Gwohan, to advance from 
 Hanchung and Szchuen; and Jobootai, as great commander, 
 with general Sien Gwongan, to advance from Kwangsi. These 
 three main armies were ordered to unite in Kweichow. 
 
 Chungchow and Loto combined at Changte in March 1658 ; 
 and in May they started from Chingyuen and Chunyuen r 
 making for Kweiyang ; Jinjoong and his fellow-officers retreating 
 as they advanced. Sangwei started about the same time from 
 Hanchung, ravaged Choongching, took Tsunyi, defeated Liw 
 Jungwo, took thirty thousand dan of rice, and received five 
 thousand deserters. He broke up Yang Woo at Kaichow, and 
 summoned to his standard all the Toosu of Linchow and Shwisi. 
 Wunngan was still command er-in-chief of the thirteen camps in 
 the east of Szchuen, which had continued strong, under Tan 
 Hoong, Tan Ju, Tan Wun, &c., ever since Li Jin their com- 
 mander was killed at Woochow eight years before. These Tan 
 
MANCHUS CONCENTRATING. 363 
 
 officers led a large army against Choongching, and Sangwei was 
 compelled to retreat to save the city. The other Tans, however, 
 murdered Tan Wun, and submitted to Sangwei ; those who 
 would not submit scattering in the greatest disorder. Sangwei 
 was at Tsunyi in August, by which time all Szchuen was 
 annexed, and Kweichow overrun by the Manchu arms. 
 
 Doni, the Sinkun wang and son of Yu chin wang, was 
 nominated commander-in-chief, and set out with a body of 
 Manchus for Kingchow. He got to Pingyue of Kweichow in 
 October, when he collected the three armies into one. Chung- 
 chow and Loto were ordered to remain in Kweiyang to look 
 after the commissariat; and Doni was ordered against Junchung, 
 as Yunnan city was called. Each of the three divisions 
 numbered fifty thousand men, and had a fortnight's provisions. 
 Kweiyang had been occupied by Wunsiw, who, with deserters 
 from Kowang, made up a total of thirty thousand men. The 
 roads were of the most wretched kind possible, and irregular 
 beyond description. Hence it was with great toil the Manchus 
 marched far into the interior of those unproductive regions. 
 
 The report was spread in Yunnan that these formidable 
 preparations were made by the Manchus to give Kowang the 
 means of avenging himself; and the report threw all the 
 province into a state of terror ! Dinggwo early summoned all 
 available troops for the border. But generals appeared at the 
 rendezvous without soldiers, and soldiers without officers. He 
 had besides to subdue two generals who had rebelled; and 
 though he did advance some generals to the more exposed 
 frontiers of Kweichow, they retreated on Yunnan before 
 striking a blow ; and the Manchus entered Kweiyang without 
 fighting. Dinggwo set his main army in motion in September ; 
 but at its start rain poured down like a river, and the men 
 scattered everywhere for shelter ; and when they did start they 
 could march no more than 20 or 30 li per day. 
 
 Arrived at Gwanling Pass, Dinggwo sacrificed an animal 
 before the army ; pouring out a libation to the spirits, and 
 making an oath to defend the national lares, and to fight with 
 
364 GWEI WANG. 
 
 no other aim. He urged all the general officers to make public 
 acknowledgment before the gods of the favour of the emperor, 
 and their gratitude to him. Whereupon all knelt down, and 
 promised the gods to exert themselves with their whole heart 
 and strength to recompense the favours of the prince their 
 father. Then they all pledged to each other, and Dinggwo was 
 full of joy. 
 
 Fung Shwangli prayed for help from Kweichow, in November, 
 on the arrival of the Manchus ; and Dinggwo was only too 
 willing to give it. He was hurrying on when he seized a 
 messenger of Chungchow's to Sangwei with a letter, stating that 
 for several reasons it was impossible for him to march till 
 Sangwei's arrival. Dinggwo was caught in the trap, and 
 believing the letter to be sincere, he moved slowly ahead ; while 
 the Manchus, in three divisions by the west side of the river, 
 by Suchung and by Chuenchung were hurrying forward. He 
 soon discovered the truth, and hasted on. He camped on the 
 North Pankiang.* Wunhiien was already stationed on the 
 West Water (Sishwi), and Shwangli was sent to occupy the 
 further side of the Kikung -f- river to bar the central route ; 
 while Gwangbi was ordered to hold the east route at Whangtsao 
 Ba or dyke on the South Pankiang, he himself being at 
 Tieswochiao bridge on the North Pankiang, to be ready for any 
 emergency. 
 
 Because ChihingJ gwan is an extremely difficult one, Sangwei 
 made a detour through the Miao lands, crossing the river above 
 Tienshungchiao. Wunhiien, who had already crossed arms with 
 Sangwei, fled with the utmost precipitation to Woocha. Ma 
 Bao, who was on the higher reaches of the North Pankiang, 
 called Kadoo ho, also fled, and the Szchuen army got to Chanyi. 
 
 The Kwangsi army secured the Toosu of Suchung as guide, 
 
 * The boundary between Yunnan and Kweichow, also called the Tsanggo Kiang ; 
 the South Pankiang divides Yunnan from Kwangsi. 
 
 t Or Jigoong ; rising in Kwangshwunchow, and falling into the Wookiang, a score 
 or so of li from Kweiyang. 
 
 Chihing is the river Lookwang between Pichi and Tatung. 
 
CRUSHING DEFEAT. 365 
 
 and passed by unoccupied roads into Anloong, and were about to 
 cross the river in boats, which they seized on the river bank, 
 when Dinggwo, hearing of it, hastily marched up with thirty 
 thousand men to Yenja ho ; and when the Manchus marched up 
 he beat them back. They, however, returned to the charge 
 with fury ; their guns rending the heavens ! Dinggwo was 
 driven out of his camp, and retired to secure the Pankiang. It 
 is also stated that during the battle the report went abroad that 
 the Manchus had come to avenge Kowang; and Dinggwo, who 
 had a number of Kowang's old officers, fearing they would desert 
 to save themselves, fought despairingly. But without such 
 despair it was no disgrace for him that thirty thousand men had 
 to fall back before fifty thousand. The way of the Manchus 
 was now open by Poonganchow. When Doni came up to 
 Shwangli, on the central route, the latter had heard of Dinggwo's 
 defeat, and his disheartened army was easily broken up. They 
 were pursued to the North Pankiang, which they crossed, and then 
 burnt the bridge. But the burning does not seem to have been 
 very complete, as the Manchus restored it in a single night ; 
 and Doni pushed on to Chuking. 
 
 When Dinggwo saw that all was lost he hurried into the 
 capital and urged Gwei Wang to flee at once into Burma. 
 Wunsiw had left a will advising flight into Szchuen. But the 
 prince agreed with the councillors who advised a westward 
 flight ; if it was driving him into a corner there was no 
 immediate risk ! One minister was bold enough to say that 
 they should all remain, if not to fight, then to die for the 
 national lares, the ministers for their prince. But the love of 
 life at any price was strong in Gwei Wang's court. The city 
 was thrown into the utmost confusion and terror was supreme. 
 By Gwei Wang's advice, Dinggwo ordered the soldiers to leave 
 all the stores intact ; for if destroyed, the Manchu armies would 
 oppress the people; and this is the most unselfish thing Gwei 
 Wang ever did, proving a good heart if a poor head. 
 
 By the way, an attempt was made on Gwei Wang's life, but 
 Dinggwo's foresight prevented its success. Gwei Wang was so 
 
GWEI WANG. 
 
 affected by the deep grief of the people manifested all along his 
 route, that he had decided to remain and die with them ; but 
 Tienbo was soon seconded by Dinggwo, who galloped up and urged 
 him onwards till they got to Tali. On Chinese new-year's day 
 the combined Manchu armies entered Yunnan city, every city in 
 the east opening its gates without a drop of blood shed. On the 
 same day the fugitive emperor was confessing his sins to Heaven, 
 on account of which so great calamities had fallen on his people ; 
 and Dinggwo prayed the emperor to allow him to disuse his 
 title of Wang, as he had been unsuccessful in saving the empire ; 
 but the emperor would not. 
 
 Pursuit was ordered in March, after the armies had sufficiently 
 rested in Yunnan foo. Wunhiien was defeated at Yuloonggwan, 
 in the neighbourhood of Tali. Dinggwo therefore sent a force 
 of four thousand men, under a lieut. -general, to escort Gwei Wang 
 to Tungyue. When Gwei Wang crossed the Loo Kiang, Dinggwo 
 followed to make a stand at Mopanshan, a mountain range 20 li 
 south of the river. The entrance into this range is a narrow 
 gully, 5 li in length, each side being like a wall of high rock, and 
 so narrow that the men would have to march in singly, while 
 there was no other road. In this range he laid three ambushes, 
 the first in Dowming gwan, the second at Wungwei, and the 
 third at Gwosi, composed in all of six thousand troops. His 
 plans were based on the supposition that the Manchus having 
 been so easily victorious when opposed, and having had little of 
 that opposition, would march forward with the recklessness of 
 confident superiority. He therefore planted these ambushes of 
 two thousand men each, with artillery. The first and second 
 were ordered to let the Manchus pass till the cannon of the third 
 ambush roused them to action, when they should all appear, and 
 permit not a single Manchu horseman to escape. 
 
 The Manchus were meantime crossing the Lantsang Kiang, 
 then the Loo Kiang, and marched several hundred li without 
 meeting a single foe. They believed that Dinggwo had fled to 
 hide himself among the hills; and his strategy was so far 
 successful, that when the Manchus began to enter the very gully 
 
CLEVER STRATAGEM. 367 
 
 in which his men were waiting for them, they marched in the 
 greatest disorder, believing him far thence. Twelve thousand of 
 their men had already penetrated into the valleys, and were 
 scattered hither and thither, when luckily for them and unfor- 
 tunately for him, the evil genius of the Ming cause again 
 appeared on the scene in the person of an inferior official of 
 Tali, who secretly joined the Manchus and informed them of 
 Dinggwo's plans. The twelve thousand had already entered the 
 second ambush before the plan was revealed to them, and they 
 began instantly to retreat in the greatest haste, abandoning 
 their horses, in order the better to form to defend themselves. 
 They had their artillery with them, and with it they began to 
 pound away at the ambush, in its lurking place among the trees 
 on the precipitous hill-sides. Their position, when known to 
 the foe, was so exposed to shot that a third of them perished 
 before they recovered sufficient self-possession to attack the 
 Manchus. They attacked however with desperation, another 
 third of them falling in the fight. Dinggwo, who was seated on 
 a hill to watch the progress of his plan, was in terror when he 
 heard the firing where no firing should be ; he smeared his face 
 with earth and fled. The officers set over the first and second 
 ambush died a soldier's death with many of their men. The 
 Manchus also fell in great numbers, but they could afford to lose 
 more ; and with their organised survivors they pursued the flying 
 for 120 li westwards, to the very gates of Tungyue. Thus all 
 China was for the first time under the Manchu flag. Most of 
 the officers and men of Gwei Wang joined the Manchus, taking 
 with them their horses, elephants, and mules.* 
 
 * The History of Gwei Wang gives a slightly different version. It states that 
 Gooshan, who had marched at the van of the Manchu army, was put to death with 
 every soul who accompanied him. A small official of Dinggwo's was seized, and to 
 save his own life, promised to point out where the ambush was situated. Ming 
 Wang, one of the officers commanding in the ambush, fearing such treachery, 
 appeared too soon to fight. The sound of his cannon brought Gwosi out of his 
 ambush ; but though bravely fighting he was slain. Ming Wang, smarting from an 
 arrow wound in his eye, cut his own throat. The third ambushes then displayed 
 itself, and its fire caused Dinggwo to believe that the ambushes had been driven in 
 one by one, and he fled from the hill whereon he sat rather than wait a useless death. 
 
GWEI WANG. 
 
 Most of the troops were ordered back into Peking, while 
 Yunnan was placed under Sangwei, who had a number of " great 
 western cannon" situated in the most important posts. Dinggwo 
 and Wunhuen were hiding among the savages of Munglang and 
 neighbourhood, on the borders of Burma, into which Gwei Wang 
 had fled. They were unable to re-enter Yunnan, though Yuen- 
 kiang Toosu joined them. But Sangwei, eager to have the 
 control of a large army, and believing it would be a work of the 
 greatest merit to lay hold of Gwei Wang, petitioned for per- 
 mission to enrol an army sufficient to seize the fugitive even in 
 the capital of Burma. 
 
 As soon as Gwei Wang heard of the disastrous defeat of 
 Mopanshan, his ministers fled their several ways and hid among 
 the mountain gullies. His guard went over to the Manchus, and 
 Tienbo with about a hundred men remained with him. He too 
 fled, and in two days got to Nangbun Ho ; and two days more 
 to Burman territory at Tiebi gwan. Here the Burmese 
 authorities professed to be afraid to permit armed men within 
 their borders. Gwei Wang was unwilling to disarm, but by the 
 advice of Ma Jising all the men threw away their arms. 
 
 When they arrived at Manmoo, a Burman high official 
 presented himself, apologising for not having gone to the border 
 to welcome the great emperor ; but theirs was a small kingdom, 
 and with large armies pursuing behind, they dared not outwardly 
 display the hospitality they desired to give. Tienbo saw their 
 disinclination to receive the fugitives, and proposed that the 
 emperor should go alone, while he would remain to watch the 
 border at Chashan. He also begged to have the son and heir of 
 Gwei Wang nominated guardian of the empire and left behind, 
 but the son was too filial, and the plan was declined by Gwei 
 Wang; whereupon prince and ministers mingled their tears. 
 And on the first of second moon (March), four boats came by 
 the Great Gold Sand river (Kinshakiang), to welcome them. 
 The retinue of Gwei Wang was then six hundred, and 
 forty-six men and nine hundred and forty horses. On the 
 eighteenth of second moon they arrived at King-Kun 
 
UNFORTUNATE EMPEROR. 36f> 
 
 (Jing-Gun), where the Burmese in vain endeavoured to stop 
 them. 
 
 When Gwei Wang had got to Chashan, on his way to Burma, 
 Dinggwo moved to Mungliang. He now sent in Wunhuen with 
 an army to look after the prince. This army got to within 60 li 
 of the capital Yinwa, (Ava), where they were ordered by the 
 Burmese to halt. But they pressed on to within 5 li of the 
 city, where the Burmese rushed on and defeated them, slaying 
 many, the survivors scattering in their flight. To prevent 
 further inroads of troops from the frontier, the Burmese 
 authorities sent orders to the border garrisons to say that the 
 emperor had already started for Fukien by sea. Tienbo and 
 others wished to move away from the capital but were forbidden. 
 The Burmese king then sent his " dragon boat " and messengers 
 to welcome the emperor, who went in this boat to Ava. Here 
 they heard of the expedition of Wunhuen, of the capture of 
 many of his defeated army, of their reduction to slavery by the 
 Burmese, and of the consequent suicide of many of them. 
 
 A straw palace was built for Gwei Wang at Juakung, whither 
 many men and women went to sell articles. There the harvest 
 moon found them, and as it is a great day in Burma, the 
 Burmese have the custom of that day saluting their king. 
 Tienbo was the first presented to the king. Jisiang and others 
 were invited to drink. He apparently drank freely, for he called 
 upon a young lady, belonging to Gwei Wang's relations, to sing 
 and dance. She refused, asking whether that was a time to be 
 merry and dance ; whereupon he struck her. Gwei Wang was 
 sick inside, heard what passed and sighed. 
 
 Dinggwo was meantime doing all he could to cluster round 
 him a force sufficient to support Gwei Wang. He was eager to 
 have him back on Chinese soil, doubtless thinking this the best 
 means of rallying the scattered well-wishers of the cause. He 
 marched therefore with an army to the borders of Burma, but 
 the Burmese saw, in the complications, a mode of extending their 
 own frontier, and would permit neither Dinggwo to get to Gwei 
 Wang, nor the latter to go to Dinggwo. In the beginning of 
 
370 GWEI WANG. 
 
 1660 Dinggwo had sent over thirty letters, but never received a 
 reply ; for not one of the Chinese at Ava would the king allow to 
 go away. He however made use of the Wang's imperial seal to 
 attach to himself the Toosu or petty chief of Yuenkiang. He 
 whose name was Na Hao proclaimed for them, with the officers 
 Gaoying and Fungchang, for they doubtless represented them- 
 selves as ready to reinstate the emperor, their real desire being, 
 if possible, to gain possession of Yunnan for Burma. Dinggwo, 
 meeting with no success, not even as much as a reply to his 
 letters, returned from the Burman frontier; while Sangwei, 
 hearing of the defection of the chief Na Hao, marched against 
 him from Shiping, besieged his city, opening a trench all round 
 to hem him in. During the continuance of this siege he 
 attacked, defeated and slew the chief Ying Fung. Na Hao, 
 finding resistance impossible, burnt himself to death; and 
 Sangwei changed his lands into TuenJdang foo. 
 
 Sangwei prayed for permission to use a seal, authorising him 
 to summon to his aid against Burma, the Toosu chiefs of Loong- 
 chiien, Chienya, Janda, and Chuali ; stating at the same time 
 that the Burmese were willing to hand over Gwei Wang, provided 
 Dinggwo, who was then their thorn, were defeated. This prayer 
 was favourably received, the necessary authority granted, and 
 Aihinga of the Privy Council sent to second him. Sangwei had 
 his own purposes to serve, for he could not but know that 
 Dinggwo was able now to do no harm. Wunhlien employed a 
 Burmese secretly to give a letter to Gwei Wang, informing him 
 that there was still an army eager to serve him, but unable then 
 to move for fear of the Burmese. If however his prince desired 
 him he would march in. He did go 60 li to Kiafoo kiao, but 
 dared go no further. 
 
 Meantime Gwei Wang was having a sorry time of it at the 
 capital of Burma. Most of his retainers had gradually 
 disappeared ; and he was compelled, for want of better material, 
 to nominate Jisiang grand secretary. The new grand secretary 
 desired to write a memorial worthy of the occasion ; and his first 
 was to the effect, that for three days he had not been able to get 
 
IMPERIALISM UNDER DIFFICULTIES. 371 
 
 a fire lit ! Gwei Wang was angry at this use of the exalted 
 post, and told them they might have his jade seal, which they 
 broke up to purchase necessaries. 
 
 One of the retainers desired to kill Jisiang and Gwotai ; but 
 they discovered his object, and slew him in April. Two months 
 after, these two worthies went into his "majesty's" presence to 
 explain the books. Yin Gwosi was angry at this mockery of state, 
 and said that they should have devised some plan of escape long 
 ago ; that last year they were asked to " explain the books," and 
 would not; their time would be now better employed in planning 
 an escape ; for if the emperor could enter Burma, he could also 
 leave it. One of these officials on another day went in to 
 expound, and seated himself. Another went in, but stood ; and 
 in reply to Gwei Wang's invitation to sit down, replied, "Though 
 we are in confusion, I dare not act with such great impropriety;" 
 a thorough Chinaman he. 
 
 In the end of June, the younger brother of the Burmese king 
 slew him, and took his throne. He went to Gwei Wang to 
 make terms ; and Gwei Wang had nothing which .he could 
 present to the new king. In August, the Burmese prayed to be 
 allowed to " curse by the water " ; i.e., to make oath, apparently 
 to their new king. The followers of Gwei Wang were asked to 
 take part in the ceremony on Wanghai low, " Tower overlooking 
 the sea." While the Chinese were on the way, an ambush fell 
 upon and slew forty-two men of them, Jisiang and Gwotai 
 being of the number. Tienbo had guessed their plot ; but seeing 
 no way of escape, prepared a weapon, and slew a dozen men 
 before he was seized, tied to a tree, and shot dead by an arrow. 
 Almost all the women belonging to the fugitive band had 
 committed suicide long ago, and there was now left only a 
 fragment of the thousand or more individuals who had 
 accompanied Gwei Wang to Ava. There were at least a hundred 
 of the immediate relations, empresses, &c., of Gwei Wang who 
 had ended the discomforts of their exile by suicide. Gwei 
 Wang attempted to strangle himself when he heard of the 
 murder of his followers, but he was saved. Not so the empress 
 
372 GWEI WANG. 
 
 Wang, who perished. Just then a large number of Burmese sur- 
 rounded Gwei Wang, apparently with the design of ending his life, 
 but a rider came up, ordering them not to touch Gwei Wang; for 
 the Manchus, who had already moved, would come to demand him. 
 That attack had indeed been instigated by Sangwei, who feared 
 that the exiled followers might murder Gwei Wang, and 
 Sangwei would lose the glory of his move. He therefore sent 
 men who incited the Burmese to fall upon Jisiang and the 
 others. 
 
 A few days after the attack a new straw palace was erected 
 for Gwei Wang ; and to reassure him, he was told that it was 
 not royal troops who had set upon his men, but a band of 
 robbers. It was of course useless to argue the matter, however 
 absurd the statement. Twenty-five men, followers of Gwei 
 Wang, were now placed in the house lately occupied by duke 
 Tienbo, and food and liquor provided them. 
 
 Dinggwo had again and again attempted to get to, and to free 
 his lord, but always failed, though seconded by Wunhlien. His 
 last attempt was in September 1661, when he sailed down with 
 sixteen ships, and had to pull back with eleven. In the following 
 January, the Burmese prayed Gwei Wang, with his surviving 
 retinue, to return to China, which he was overjoyed to do. They 
 started about midnight, crossed the river, and found themselves 
 in the midst of Sangwei's army. 
 
 We have already seen that Sangwei was eager to gain 
 possession of the last pretender to the Ming throne. He had 
 prayed for powers which he had received, and for men who were 
 sent. In September 1661, an army of Manchus, Chinese, and 
 border savages, numbering little short of one hundred thousand 
 men, started from Tali and Tungyue. Fifty thousand under 
 Sangwei and Ahinga went beyond the frontier by Loongchuen 
 and Mungmao',* over twenty thousand ma Yaogwan. They 
 reunited in December at Moobang. He had formerly sent a 
 band under Ho Jinjoong from Tungyue via Loongchuen and 
 Yifoo Su to Mungyin, to demand the Burmese to advance and 
 
 * Another authority says Mungyin. 
 
EMPEROR STRANGLES HIMSELF. 373 
 
 welcome his host. This was in February 1661, and it was long 
 on the way; for Dinggwo was then fighting against the Burmese, 
 and stopped their way. The Burmese therefore responded to 
 Sangwei to welcome him as their deliverer from Dinggwo. The 
 two Toosu of Loomanmo and Mungmi (or Looman and 
 Momungmi) threatened Sangwei's rear in the interest of 
 Dinggwo; and Gwojoo with three thousand men had to be left 
 at Nandien (south of Yunnan) to check them. 
 
 When the army was nearing Moobang, Wunhiien was posted 
 there. He fled on their approach to Chashan, destroying the 
 Sibokiang bridge. Fearing that Wunhiien might retreat 
 towards China, and cut off his communications, Sangwei 
 appointed Ma Ning to watch him ; while he, with Ahinga and 
 the main army, marched for 300 li along the river bank into 
 Burma, natives acting as guides. Dinggwo had meantime 
 retired to Tsingchuen. 
 
 Sangwei's army got to Lankiwkiang, opposite the Burmese 
 capital, in the beginning of January, as we have seen, and 
 to them the Burmese delivered over Gwei Wang, his mother, his 
 empress and children, together with his surviving retinue. 
 There are various modes of accounting for the surrender. One 
 says that the Burmese invited a hundred men over the river, 
 and handed them the prisoners ; another that the Burmese in 
 terror brought the prisoners to the camp; and a third, that 
 mentioned above, a remark following that Sangwei gave " large 
 sums" of money. The two former accounts are official and 
 should have agreed ; the last is unofficial, and upon the whole 
 is the most likely. The army returned with its prey to Yunnan, 
 in the capital of which Gwei Wang strangled himself in May, 
 with a red silk cord. And thus was extinguished with a bit of 
 string the last of the great Ming family, founded by the monk ; 
 for great it had been. 
 
 Dinggwo and Wunhiien, having lost their chief, felt they were 
 no longer bound together. Wunhiien started northwards ; and 
 Dinggwo, fearing his designs, sent his son after him to ascertain 
 whither. Wunhiien, on seeing the band, was angry ; and was 
 
374 GWEI WANG. 
 
 about to order an attack, when Dinggwo rushed up and forbade 
 his son to fight, saying that he had been sent to look and not to 
 fight. He added, " We have still a few score men left, let him 
 go his way." And the readiness to fight showed whither 
 Wunhiien was bound ; for he remained with the old dynasty long 
 after hope was gone, and he now joined the new. Dinggwo 
 moved on to Kinloong kiang, then to Mungla, where many of 
 his men and horses died, and where he prayed that, if it were 
 Heaven's will to destroy him, his men might not suffer, but that 
 he alone should die. He died two months after his former 
 master. Ignorant of what was happening to Dinggwo, Sangwei 
 sent commander Jang Yoong with over ten thousand men to 
 Poor, to watch lest Dinggwo crossed from Tsingchuen by Chuali 
 to plunder. But Jang Yoong arrived to find Dinggwo dead, and 
 his son with over a thousand men ready to serve the Manchus. 
 The army sent to Poor showed the estimation of Dinggwo's 
 character held by Sangwei, a capable judge. This son, with 
 Hiien's son, were sent to the capital, where they were warmly 
 received, and declared heirs to their father's rank and properties. 
 Kowang, the Mooyi duke, died with the other worthies, his 
 former colleagues, and his son succeeded to his title. 
 
 Sangwei soon after sent armies, which slew the Toosu of 
 Dafang, which he converted into Tating ; him of Bila making 
 this Pingyuen ; him of Shwisi creating it Chiensi ; and him of 
 Woocha, which he changed to Weining. He afterwards estab- 
 lished Kaihwa foo and Yoongting chow, destroying the Toosu ; 
 and found that he could dispense with five thousand of his men, 
 whom he disbanded. He had now attained the climax of his 
 splendour, and was triumphant over all enemies, and elevated 
 beyond the reach of envy. He had the title of Tsin Chin 
 Wang conferred upon him, as if he were of the emperor's flesh 
 and blood. He had more substantial rewards conferred ; for 
 Kweichow, from its governor downwards, was placed at his 
 disposal ; and the viceroy and governor of Yunnan were ordered 
 to look to him for orders. Appointments, civil or military, were 
 in his hands ; and the revenues of those provinces were to be 
 
LAST OF YUEN YUEN. 
 
 answerable only to him. He added enormously to these, as we 
 shall see in his later career. 
 
 In the height of his dignity, he desired his old love Yuenyuen 
 to be his chief wife, or queen we might call her. She however 
 firmly refused, saying that he had purchased her ; and therefore 
 though he had dealt mercifully with her, she could not consent, 
 for she was unworthy to be the chief wife of a prince. He 
 therefore married another, who proved to be a " braver " woman, 
 and one able to lord it over this warrior husband. Every pretty 
 lady likely to draw her husband's attention, she had murdered ; 
 and she graciously permitted Yuenyuen to live, only because the 
 latter, faithful to what she believed her duty, refused even to see 
 the great prince who had bought and loved her. Yuenyuen had 
 no child of her own, but she had adopted and brought up a girl, 
 whom Sangwei desired to adopt as his daughter. But the girl- 
 refused to be anything else than a Taoist nun. A peculiar 
 family relationship, which might give scope sufficient to the 
 imagination of the romancist. This girl had, and continued to 
 exert, great influence over Sangwei ; and her prayer saved any 
 one whatever who came under his displeasure, however great 
 that displeasure might happen to be. 
 
 While Sangwei was yet on his way towards Burma, after he 
 had dispersed all the forces nominally attached to Gwei Wang, 
 the latter sent him an epistle from the capital of Burma thus : 
 
 " Commander, you are the most renowned of all the ministers 
 of the new dynasty ; you are the most powerful repressor of the 
 old. In both dynasties you have held high office. Both. 
 emperors agreed in highly honouring you. Who is able to set 
 forth the trouble which befell our dynasty by the unbridled 
 wickedness of the ' Bolting Robber/ when he suddenly appeared 
 before the capital and destroyed the Shuaji national lares 
 causing the death of our ruler and the destruction of our men ? 
 Your inclinations, commander, and desires were to re-establish 
 the empire, like Woo Dsuhu of Tsin Kingdom, who went to 
 implore aid from the court of Tsin, with tears in his eyes. You 
 too prayed for men, and swore to search out the crime and to 
 
376 GWEI WANG. 
 
 punish the criminal. Your mind was then untainted. Why 
 are you now, under the shadow of a great kingdom, acting the 
 fox, borrowing the tiger's terror; outwardly pretending to be 
 avenging the act of the enemy (Dsuchung), but inwardly 
 supporting the new dynasty? 
 
 " When the notable Robber lost his head, the lands of the 
 south had not to be recovered to the Ming.* We, officials of the 
 south, found it hard to have to acknowledge the utter loss of the 
 national lares and the Ancestral Temple. We therefore 
 established the new emperor at Nanyaiig. To what purpose ? 
 Before we could lay head to pillow, or stretch us on our mat, 
 war was upon us. Hoonggwang was not long sacrificed to 
 (i.e., dead), till Loongwoo was slain. At that time, how often did 
 I decide for death ? And how could I bring myself to offer 
 sacrifice to my imperial ancestors and the national lares ? The 
 ministers again and again urged me to become emperor, and 
 again and again I refused. But at last I consented, because I 
 could not withstand their earnest wishes. On the first battle 
 thereafter, I lost Choo (Hunan and a portion of Honan) ; in the 
 second, I lost Kwangtung. The places to which I have fled, a 
 trembling fugitive, are without number. Li Dinggwo fortunately 
 welcomed us in Kweichow, and again in Nanngan. But as for 
 me, I desire to trouble no man to fight for me with the world. 
 
 " But you, commander, have forgotten the great virtue of the 
 prince-father. You seek the reputation of setting up a new 
 dynasty. For this purpose you have led troops to Dien (Lake 
 south of Yunnan foo), to rob me of my rest ; and I was compelled 
 to cross Shamo } to borrow the use of a stable for a home. The 
 mountains are far and the waters are distant. Who will rejoice with 
 me if I speak or laugh ? If I sing, it is only to increase sorrow. 
 The defenders of the rivers and the hills of my father are gone. 
 If I can only exist among these poor barbarians I am content. 
 But you, commander, avoid neither difficulty nor danger, but 
 petition to march to great distances, at the head of several scores 
 
 * I.e., they were already under Ming authority, 
 f A desert land. 
 
A PLEADING EPISTLE. 377 
 
 of myriads of men, to pursue a forlorn wanderer. How is it you 
 esteem the empire so small ? How is it that, of all between the 
 blue concave above and the surface of earth, you persist in 
 pursuing to the death a solitary man ? Is it because, after you 
 have been created a wang, you desire by my death to acquire 
 greater reputation ? I have been wondering whether there is 
 not a single corner where wind blew and rain fell, within all the 
 lands balonging to the High Emperor, where the commander 
 could not establish a reputation. 
 
 "Commander, you have already destroyed my family: you 
 now desire to take my life. Would you but read the ode 
 Chuhiao* and could you but have sorrow of heart ! Do you not 
 remember, general, that you are the descendant of many who 
 received the salary of the late dynasty ? And are you able so far 
 to forget the late emperor, that you can show no pity for me ? If 
 you cannot remember him, might you not recall the many boun- 
 ties of his predecessors ? If you cannot think of the late emperor 
 and his predecessors, is it not right to bear in mind your own father 
 and ancestors ? I do not know what the favours bestowed upon 
 you, and the merit won towards you, by the great Ching 
 (Manchu dynasty) ; nor can I comprehend why, general, you 
 should be mine enemy. You, general, regard your policy as of 
 great wisdom ; it will yet be seen to be a foolish one : you 
 consider it is deep; but it will hereafter appear shallow. 
 Succeeding ages will record your act ; you will be handed down 
 by history. As what kind of man should you be pictured ? 
 
 " At present my armies are defeated, my strength weakness. 
 I am poor, a solitary man, with only a weak life, which is in your 
 hands. If you desire to take my head, to break up my bones 
 into fragments, and to dye the grass with my blood, I am not 
 able to oppose you. If you can change my misery to happiness, 
 and leave me a square inch of ground, I am still respectfully at 
 
 * This is a fabulous owl, reared by its mother, whose eyes it picks out as soon 
 as it is grown strong enough to be independent, when it flies away, leaving its 
 mother to die. The parallel is a very apparent one, and Sangwei is pleaded only to 
 leave the " blind mother " to die in peace. 
 
378 GWEI WANG. 
 
 your mercy. But this I dare not hope for. But perhaps I too r 
 with the grass and the trees, can share the rain and the dew, by 
 the permission of the Holy Dynasty. Had I ten myriads of men 
 at my disposal, they would gladly be all yours, general, to do 
 your bidding. You, general, are the minister of the great Ching; 
 but you should not forget the flesh and blood of the ancient 
 rulers, nor render ingratitude for the great merits of the former 
 emperors. (This I lay before you to) think and decide." 
 
 The above letter shows the writer a most unfortunate choice 
 for a leader of turbulent men in troublous times. The Ming 
 family had lost its vigour. It is difficult for a mere western to 
 judge of the above composition, the force of whose beauty is lost 
 in a translation. But unless it, with its accompanying 
 circumstances, tend to excite the tear of compassion from the 
 heart, which sheds no tears for its own griefs, it will rouse the 
 scorn of him who despises the lack of manliness in a misfortune 
 brought upon one's self. 
 
 Shwunchih lived to have the satisfaction of seeing the whole of 
 China and the most of Mongolia, with Corea and all Manchuria 
 to the Yaloo and the Songari, under the flag which his grand- 
 father raised seventy-eight years before in the obscure glen of 
 Hotoola. He then passed away, leaving his large territory in 
 unchallenged possession to the young boy reputed his son, who 
 is known in history by his style of Kanghi. 
 
 In concluding this portion of his history, Wei Yooenhiien of 
 Shaoyang says: that in acquiring empire, it is absolutely 
 necessary to have brave and constant soldiers, and single-minded 
 ministers. And the reader of the preceding history cannot help 
 perceiving that his remark is more than a mere truism ; for the 
 soldiers of the Ming differed nothing from the Manchus, and 
 from first to last were a match for them; but the Ming ministers 
 in every instance selfishly betrayed their trust, and ruined the 
 cause which they pretended to support and for which their soldiers 
 would fight to the death. We would so far modify the statement 
 of the Chinese author as to say, that the making of the soldier, if 
 necessary to the founding of empire, is dependent entirely on 
 
SELFISHNESS AND PATRIOTISM. 37> 
 
 the character of the minister. The utterly selfish Ma Shuying, 
 who had a good cause and milling hands able enough to support 
 it, by his self-seeking lost control of the armies. This produced 
 civil war, and he gained command of the various Boards by 
 putting to death or throwing into exile every true patriot. His 
 enormous means of defence crumbled therefore at the first touch. 
 Chu Shushu, a subordinate civilian, with scarcely a tithe of the 
 resources of Shuying and with the 'morale of the Ming cause 
 hopelessly low, brought to a stand, and drove back the hitherto 
 invincible Chungdoong. But examples crowd on the reader to- 
 show that from the first brush with the Manchus, or with internal 
 robbers, the ministers in authority failed their country, and the 
 soldiers, losing confidence in the integrity of their chiefs, 
 necessarily fought with a half-hearted bravery, or under the fear 
 of betrayal. The example of the Ming on the other hand shows 
 the supreme importance of having a good head at the helm of 
 affairs. The Manchus were not superior in courage to the 
 Chinese. They began with only one hundred and thirty men 
 under arms. As they increased, their ministers showed precisely 
 the same selfishness, the same haste to be dishonestly rich as 
 their Chinese neighbours. But they had a man at their head 
 who, if he could not and did not make them absolutely honest, 
 restrained their avarice within bounds, and made such examples 
 of the dishonest, that " honesty " was found to be as a rule " the 
 best policy." 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 CONQUEST OF FORMOSA. 
 
 LYING quite close to her shores, Formosa has yet been a terra 
 incognita to China up till a very recent period of her long 
 history. For though possessed of so extensive a sea-board the 
 Chinese have never been a navigating people. Their sailing 
 ambition was satisfied with coasting trade, their men-of-war 
 being an invention but of yesterday. In past Chinese history 
 the Japanese were the rovers of the sea, and Japan was better 
 known to China as a pirate-producing land, than as a well 
 established country, as highly advanced in civilisation as herself. 
 It was the visits of the Japanese to her shores, not hers to theirs, 
 the blazing of her villages, the sacking of her sea-board cities 
 from Kwangtung to Shantung by Japanese hands, which made 
 Japan's existence so patent and real a fact. But as Formosa 
 was thinly inhabited by a number of scattered tribes, deserving 
 the name of savage so freely bestowed by Chinese authors on all 
 nations outside the Flowery land, its natives never sought 
 Chinese shores, and the Chinese had no desire to discover, save 
 by land journeys, "green fields and pastures new." It was 
 impossible for the Formosans to be pirates, else they would have 
 ceased to be savages. For though piracy is almost always 
 carried on in a savage manner, it cannot be carried on by savages, 
 as it requires a large capital, not possessed by savages, to build 
 the ships fitted for piratical purposes ; and piratical expeditions 
 demand an amount of discipline, which if submitted to by 
 savages, would prove them no longer savage. The width of sea 
 therefore, between Fukien and Formosa, which seems a mere 
 ferry to a foreigner, was sufficient to keep the Chinese . and 
 Formosans mutually ignorant of each other's existence. Yet in 
 
382 CONQUEST OF FOKMOSA. 
 
 the records of the Sung dynasty (A.D. 960 1278) it is related 
 that to the east of Punghoo or the Pescadores, is the kingdom of 
 Kwunshuna,, which the Chinese now know to be Formosa. 
 
 Taiwan, the " sinuous tower," as the Chinese call Formosa, 
 possibly because of the sinuosities of its coast line, is by Chinese 
 measurement 2800 li in length, and 500 li in breadth, lying 
 opposite to the Fukien prefectures of Hing, Chiien, and Chang, 
 distant from Amoy 500 li and from Punghoo 200 li. Its 
 mountains rising in Kelung* and running south to Shamachi, 
 stretch over more than 1000 li. From their east and west base 
 to the sea, along their length, was a waste plain of rich soil fully 
 100 li wide, forming the land on which the Chinese began to 
 squat more than two centuries ago. But as both the original 
 occupation and the subsequent conquest of Formosa are inextri- 
 cably blended with the personal and family history of Jung 
 Juloong, the remarkable pirate, and founder of a remarkable 
 family of pirates, it is necessary to throw together as many hints 
 of this man as we can hunt out of various Chinese sources. 
 
 Jung Juloong was a native of Nanngan, a district of Chuen 
 prefecture in Fukien. In Nganping district there lived a Ji Si 
 who had massed a considerable fortune by constant merchandise 
 with Japan. His daughter became Juloong's wife, with a dowry 
 of ten thousand taels. When he died, Juloong connected himself 
 with a lot of Japanese pirates, who then made Taiwan their 
 headquarters ; and when Yen Junchiien, the chief, died, Juloong 
 took command. He sometimes resided in Japan, and there 
 married another wife, in spite of the law that none marrying a 
 Japanese woman could afterwards leave the country ; for Chinese 
 customs then, as now, permitted a man to have a wife in every 
 port he visited, and as many as he chose. Juloong, the free- 
 booter, was not to be bound by any law affecting ordinary 
 mortals, and therefore he stole away with his wife and returned 
 to his native place. His power gradually increased under the 
 weak rule of the Ming Tienchi, when Chinese administration 
 
 * According to English measurement the length of Formosa is only 237 miles and 
 average breadth 70, distance from Fukien 90. 
 
INDEPENDENT PIRATE. 383 
 
 was daily becoming more rotten, and insubordination, robbery, 
 and rebellion, more rampant throughout the empire. So great 
 was that power, that no merchant vessel dared sail the seas 
 without Juloong's flag flying at her stern ; and for that flag each 
 large vessel had to pay an annual black-mail of three thousand 
 taels. No wonder his treasury received a yearly revenue of 
 ten million taels, or three million pounds sterling ; a sum which 
 will appear all the greater when we remember that seventy 
 years after, at the Union of England and Scotland, the income 
 of Great Britain was only five and a half million pounds, though 
 it is true the value of money has not during that period depre- 
 ciated so much in China as in England. 
 
 Juloong distinguished himself in 1627, by not only possessing 
 the sovereignty of the Chinese seas, but by taking the coast 
 cities of Fukien, and ravaging the country. In order, if possible, 
 to prevent a recurrence of such land spoliation, when the hands 
 of the government were more than sufficiently occupied else- 
 where, the Board of War in the summer of 1628 the first year 
 of the reign of the last Ming emperor came to the resolution of 
 inviting Juloong to acknowledge the sovereignty of his imperial 
 majesty. Juloong agreed ; for his submission was asked on the 
 understanding that at sea no one would have the right to 
 interfere with him. He was forthwith acknowledged as an 
 inferior official of the Chinese government ; which, however, was 
 rather a nominal connection, than a criterion of his power and 
 influence even on shore. In this capacity he seems to have 
 done some service; for in 1632 we find him attacking and 
 defeating the pirate Liw Hianglao, who was ravaging Fukien. 
 He never did build himself a city of the ordinary sort, for he 
 believed truly that the waves were the best moat, and flying sails 
 the surest walls. But he built a palace at Nganping of several 
 li in length, into a gate of which his vessels could enter. And 
 the army, with which he occasionally served the Chinese 
 government, he supported entirely himself. His most effective 
 services, however, were those rendered at sea ; for the governor 
 had only to inform Juloong of the escape to sea of any number 
 
384 CONQUEST OF FORMOSA. 
 
 of robbers or rebels hard pressed by land, and they would soon 
 thereafter be handed over to the governor for punishment. He 
 therefore got himself the honourable name of the " Chang-chung 
 of the south." * On these expeditions he was very careful of his 
 person ; for he was not of that almost reckless kind of disposition 
 which we usually associate with animal courage and fighting 
 bravery. He therefore had a hundred of his retainers fitted out in 
 every particular like himself, so that no one could recognise him. 
 Juloong had three brothers, all of them warriors under their 
 big brother's flag Hoongkwei, Juhoo and Jubao; the latter two 
 younger than himself. When Juloong submitted and became a 
 Chinese magistrate he had the right to regard all rivals as 
 outlaws; and Gow Hwi, a notable pirate of Nanngan, but 
 independent of Juloong, fell before his rival. At Hwingan 
 the powerful Liw Hianglao, had his head-quarters. He was 
 extremely wealthy, and was asked by the governor to follow 
 the example of Juloong. On his scornful refusal, the 
 governor appealed to Juloong for the execution of justice, and 
 Juloong, nothing loth, sailed all his fleet against Liw. A 
 severe battle at Dinghaiswo and Woohoomun was a drawn 
 one, till the young and brave Juhoo directed his ship towards 
 that of Liw, threw himself into a small boat, boarded him, and 
 dashed through his men to the great chief. They were both 
 men of more than ordinary power and skill in stroke and fence. 
 So sudden and unlooked-for was the onset, so fierce the attack, 
 and so loud the clash of their weapons, that the astonished 
 beholders could only look on at this fight of the two powerful men 
 in admiration and in fear. The two antagonists, finding each other 
 perfectly matched in their weapons, threw them aside, and in 
 wild rage closed with each other with naked fists. They seized 
 each other, they wrestled, they struggled, they fell. Still 
 apparently a perfect match, they rolled over and over each other, 
 till they rolled over into the sea, when both sank in that fright- 
 ful embrace and neither ever rose again. Juloong lost his brave 
 brother, but he gained the fleet of Liw, which joined him on the 
 
 * Chang, or the " Long," being the common name of the Great wall. 
 
THE PIRATE SUBMITS. 385 
 
 spot, while his government acknowledged his services by 
 making him colonel ! 
 
 When the robber Li, the one-eyed, put an end to the 
 struggling existence of the Ming dynasty, Juloong remained 
 nominally faithful to the dethroned house. He did nothing 
 directly to support the first pretender to the throne established 
 in Nanking, but his brother Hoong-kwei held Kwachow for 
 Foo Wang. Tang Wang the next pretender, after Nanking was 
 taken by the Manchus, was set up in Fukien, and Juloong 
 became, as we have seen, " Mayor of the Palace." 
 
 In 1646, when the Manchus seized and put Tang Wang to 
 death, their commander, the Beira Foolo, like the former 
 governor of Fukien, invited Juloong to acknowledge the 
 Manchu emperor. He was wise enough, now that all the north 
 and north-west were in Manchu possession, to know that 
 resistance in the field was vain; and as he had immense 
 possessions in both the Kwangs in over five hundred different 
 places, he was only too glad to accept Foolo's invitation. He 
 was not now so young as he was, nor was there any reason why 
 he should risk what he had ; for the idea of employing any of 
 his enormous wealth for purely patriotic purposes must have 
 seemed rather ludicrous to the successful pirate, the weakness 
 of whose country had made his accumulations possible. It was, 
 however, probably with secret satisfaction that he found so 
 strong, lengthy, and bitter an opposition from his afterwards 
 more famous son, Chunggoong, and his own brothers : for his 
 son left him in bitter tears, renouncing a father who renounced 
 his country; and all the army, which he professed to hope would 
 submit with him, left the alien shore, and took to their 
 ships again after Chunggoong or Coxinga. Only five hundred 
 men followed him into the Manchu army; and his Japanese 
 wife, the mother of Chunggoong, strangled herself. 
 
 The letter in which Juloong was invited to submit, praised 
 his power and ability in being able to set up a wang, and the 
 skilful energy with which he had supported a cause, the down- 
 fall of which did not so much prove his crime as Heaven's will. 
 
386 CONQUEST OF FORMOSA. 
 
 It concluded by saying that the two Kwangs were still in a 
 most unsettled state, and that his counsel was greatly needed as 
 to the measures to be taken and the men to be employed. This 
 flattering letter Juloong displayed in Chiienchow as he passed 
 through, to prove that his influence was unabated, triumphantly 
 declaring that he could secure a place for any man, and he haggled 
 over terms with many place-hunters. Most sailors are credulous. 
 He got to Foochow in December, and was met and welcomed by 
 the Beira, who feasted and drank with him for three days. 
 After the third day the camp broke up suddenly at midnight, 
 marching northwards, Juloong's men having been separated 
 from him, and he was allowed only a personal friend as attendant. 
 He was also forbidden to hold any communication with his 
 home ; but he ceased not writing letters, urging his people to 
 remember the goodness of the Manchus. The historian supposes 
 these may have been so written to be seen by the Manchus. It 
 would certainly not be at all surprising if the Manchus regarded 
 the almost solitary arrival of so powerful a chief with suspicion, 
 for they cannot be expected to have been able to credit that his 
 influence, formerly and for long so great, could be at once 
 annihilated. But in reply to his anxious queries as to how his 
 rebellious brothers and son could be dealt with, he was told to 
 make himself easy on that score, for that having him with them 
 they had little anxiety about the rest; which was a reply more 
 pleasing to his vanity than satisfactory to his judgment. He 
 was brought to Peking, and presented to the emperor. Some 
 of his family followed soon after; and there we leave him for the 
 present. 
 
 Soon after his submission to the Ming dynasty, Juloong had 
 been consulted by governor Hiwng Wunchan as to what 
 measures could be taken to alleviate the ravages of famine in 
 Fukien. And Juloong, who knew Formosa well, its rich but 
 waste plains waiting only the hand of the diligent husbandman 
 to abound in the richest harvests, recommended a donation of 
 three taels in silver and an ox to every householder, and to have 
 as many as possible sent across to Formosa. The suggestion 
 
FORMOSA COLONISED. 387 
 
 was adopted, and many tens of thousands were sent across, 
 forming the first Chinese colony to Formosa. One city was 
 erected and named Jienchung or Tsienchung. The soil was of 
 the most superior character, yielding three crops a year, and 
 abundantly. Once the way was opened up, the men of Chang 
 and Chiien flocked over like "people going to a market." 
 These rapidly increasing colonists considered Juloong as their 
 chief and landlord, and to him they handed over a certain 
 portion of their yearly crops. Gratitude to him who launched 
 them across from starvation to plenty was bond sufficient between 
 them ; and the people afterwards always regarded themselves as 
 the dependants of the Jung family rather than as the subjects of 
 any of the Chinese emperors, Ming or Manchu; and in all 
 circumstances, as far as they dared, proved themselves so. 
 
 As a youth, Chunggoong was always with his father; and 
 apparently became a favourite with the second Ming pretender, 
 Tang Wang, who gave him his own surname of Joo, and the 
 name Chunggoong, " Completed Merit." He also created 
 him Bai, or "Count Faithful and Dutiful." When, in 1646, 
 Tang Wang was seized by the Beira Foolo, and put to death, 
 Juloong, who of course owned all the shore possessions of the 
 family, acknowledged the Manchu emperor; but his fidelity 
 being of a questionable character, he was escorted to Peking, 
 retained as a prisoner, though treated like a prince. 
 
 Chunggoong, then twenty-two * years of age, was full of the 
 romance of youth, and of dauntless courage. When his father 
 joined the Manchus he put to sea, swearing that he would slay 
 his father to avenge his country. With his uncle Hoongkwei 
 in Baisha, and his near relations, cousins of his father's, Jung 
 Tsai in Amoy and Jung Lien in Woochow, he made a solemn 
 oath to uphold the Ming dynasty; and these various stations 
 mutually strengthened each other, and commanded all the 
 
 * Twenty- three according to Chinese computation, which is always one, some- 
 times two, years more than ours ; for the Chinese child is one year in the year of 
 its birth, and on next new-year's day, even if it be on the morrow after birth, he is 
 two years old. 
 
388 CONQUEST OF FORMOSA. 
 
 coast cities. How far these men were actuated by motives of 
 patriotism, and how far by a desire for lawless liberty, it is 
 difficult to determine. That there was patriotism of a kind 
 influencing their conduct there can be no doubt ; for both then, 
 and for many years after, the Manchus would gladly have 
 purchased the adhesion of the Jung family on the terms granted 
 by the Ming, that the sea should still be regarded their 
 property. But their patriotism must have been of an entirely 
 personal character ; for their lack of wisdom was manifested in 
 their want of union. The Ming cause was represented by three 
 various aspirants to the throne, Loo Wang, driven to be 
 emperor of a small island on the coast of Fukien ; another for a 
 brief period in Canton ; and Yoongming or Gwei Wang, weak 
 himself, but surrounded by strong men, and supported by the 
 powerful south-west provinces. Jung Tsai declared for Loo 
 Wang and Chunggoong for Gwei Wang. If true patriotism had 
 existed in the southern provinces at that time a patriotism 
 which placed country first, and self next all would have rallied 
 round one centre, and could with the greatest ease have 
 prevented the Manchus from crossing the Yangtsu; and 
 thus compell them to rest content with the empire of the Kin 
 dynasty (see "Corea"), which also rose in the north of Manchuria, 
 and was of the same race as the Manchus. But a patriotism 
 centred in self made unity impossible, and divided counsels 
 weakened numbers. The patriotism of the Chinese was based 
 upon their pride in their own customs, and in the shame of being 
 plundered by the officials of a barbarian instead of by those of a 
 native. But that patriotism went no further than "each for 
 himself," and therefore had to collapse. It is possible that 
 Chunggoong was in earnest ; for he certainly decided, as a wise 
 man should, in acknowledging the remote but powerful Gwei 
 Wang instead of the powerless Loo Wang, who was at his door. 
 And the enormous expense of keeping a huge army in the field 
 to seize and protect the cities of Fukien, which he could not get 
 refunded, and the energy with which he carried on a war wholly 
 unnecessary for his own immediate purposes, seems to prove 
 
ISLAND EMPEROR. 389 
 
 him desirous to act as a worthy subject of the emperor Gwei 
 Wang. 
 
 Of his five brothers, only one, Shujoong, followed him to sea. 
 To collect their men and form their plans, they stood out to sea 
 over against the south and south-east of Kwangtung. Loo 
 Wang had gone to find an asylum in Chowshan island, also called 
 Wungchow, about 100 li by sea from Ningpo. But his own 
 officer, Whang Binching, commandant of the pirate fort, refused 
 him entrance. Tsai and Lien fell in with Loo Wang, and 
 escorted him to their place, Joong-dso-swo, the then name of the 
 Amoy district. But Chunggoong was supreme here now ; his 
 men were far more numerous and brave than those escorting 
 Loo Wang ; and as Loo and Gwei Wangs had a quarrel of long 
 standing, Chunggoong refused him a landing place, and the 
 wandering emperor had to go to Changun of Chihkiang. 
 
 Before Foolo returned to Peking, he placed garrisons in all 
 the cities, and took precautions to protect all the important 
 posts. On these Chunggoong now began a regular and vigorous 
 attack. He first attempted Kinchow, from which he was driven 
 back. He was elsewhere more successful ; for in 1647 he took 
 Kienning, Shaowoo, Hinghwa, Fooning, with twenty-seven 
 hiens Haichung, Lienkiang, Changpu, &c. The garrison of 
 Hinghwa went out one day on some expedition, and on their 
 return found the Manchu flag gone, and the Ming flag 
 flying in its stead. This was a trick played by an old Ming 
 officer in the city. But the Manchus, believing the city fallen 
 before an army, precipitately retired, and the keys were handed 
 over to Chunggoong. Some men inside Kienning raised a fire, 
 and in the consequent tumult opened the gates to Chunggong's 
 men. This extraordinary success proves that the Chinese there 
 believed Chunggoong faithful to the Ming dynasty; for his 
 father could never, as pirate, have secured any such favour in 
 the eyes of the people. The news startled Peking also; and 
 the viceroy of Fukien and Chihkiang, appointed by Foolo, was 
 ordered to make sure of Chiichow in the south-west; and 
 Chuntai and Li Shwaitai were ordered to march in upon Fukien 
 
390 CONQUEST OF FOEMOSA. 
 
 from Chihkiang and Kwangtung. The viceroy having proved 
 so, incapable, or so unfortunate, Chun Jin was appointed in his 
 stead, and showed his activity by seizing this opportunity of 
 disorder and insubordination among Tsai's men to entirely break 
 his power. He also, in 1648, retook all the cities lately fallen ; 
 and drove Chunggoong away from Chuenchow, which he was 
 besieging after he took Toongan. But he had the advantage 
 over his predecessor, that he had assistance from Kang-chin- 
 Wang; for when twenty thousand pirates were sent by Jin 
 against Foochow, camping along the Woo-long-kiang, Kangchiii 
 Wang sent Rahada across the river, who, after long fighting, 
 drove the pirates out of their camps, and chased them 40 li. 
 Eahada afterwards took the districts of Hing, Chuan, Kiang, and 
 Chang. Foochow was visited by a severe famine this season, 
 and the besieged were compelled, as so often in Chinese history, 
 to live by cannibalism. A band of robbers, under Jin Shunghung 
 of Kangsi, a man of great talent, advanced along the river bank, 
 pretending to be gone to cut down rice and wheat, thus enticing 
 the country people out of their hiding places, when they were 
 seized and eaten. Li Shwaitai at Kienning, hearing of this 
 enormity, marched against the cannibals. But the rebels by 
 night burnt down the bridge of Hoongshan, took and ate a 
 thousand men, and then fled. 
 
 The marshal of Sungkiang rebelled and invited inland the 
 pirates then infesting the east of Fukien. They came, but when 
 their fleet got off Yenping, a typhoon blew upon and sank the 
 most of them. The remnant of this fleet was reinforced, and 
 took Kien-tiao swo, and again escorted Loo wang into Chihkiang, 
 Tsai having already thrown him off as a burden. A force was sent 
 under Wang Chaosien who slew Binching in Chowshan island, 
 whither Loo Wang retired ; one camp was pitched at Doongchiao, 
 and Chaosien set up another at Nantien to be "horns" or mutual 
 protection. Mingchun was the acknowledged chief of all the 
 Chihkiang pirates, and Chunggoong of those of Fukien, including 
 Kin-mun, " Gold gate," and Amoy. The main Manchu army of 
 Chihkiang was then under the viceroy in Fukien, and an attempt 
 
PIRATE DESERTIONS. 391 
 
 was made by the people of the prefectures of Wun, Tai, Ning and 
 Shao, to throw off the Manchu yoke. But the return of the 
 army from Fukien in 1649', made a successful rising impossible. 
 Next year Mingchun, in a fit of jealousy, slew the Chowshan 
 commandant. In their anger the men of the latter left the island, 
 crossed the sea and deserted to Chun Jin, who then, for the first 
 time, ascertained the real condition of affairs among the pirates. 
 He was probably right in proclaiming their support of the late 
 dynasty a mere pretence to cover deeds which deserved another 
 name than that of rebellion. He found also that there was a league 
 between the land robbers and the pirates. When the former 
 were attacked, the latter ravaged the shore to draw off some of 
 the troops, or welcomed the robbers to their ships and their 
 islands ; the robbers joining with the pirates when the latter 
 went ashore to plunder. And he ascribed the main-spring of 
 the pirates' power to the connection between the pirates of 
 Fukien and those of Kwangtung. He requested permission to 
 attack Chowshan ; saying that with a fair wind, a half day's sail 
 would carry him across from Ting-gwan, and he could then take 
 them when unprepared. He received a commission in 1651 to 
 unite his forces with those of the marshal, but was ordered to 
 commence operations against the mountain robbers, employing 
 the hill people as guides. The troops marched in upon the 
 Suming and other mountains, harrying all the robber nests, and 
 then crossed the sea by Loto-mun. The pirates sent off fire-ships 
 to burn down the imperialist fleet and came out to fight at 
 Hungshwi-yang. But the wind turned round, drove the fire-ships 
 back among the pirate vessels, many of which, with numbers of 
 sailors, were burnt. The confusion caused by this unlooked-for 
 event made him an easy conquest ; a few thousand men were 
 sent ashore, who marched behind the fort and attacked it most 
 energetically. In October they dug down the wall by mining, 
 took the city, putting all the garrison to the sword, and left three 
 thousand men to hold it. Mingchun, who was then at Woosung 
 with his main body to take that city and break up the Manchu 
 army, had never thought of the appearance of a large army at 
 
392 CONQUEST OF FORMOSA. 
 
 Chowshan, for he did not conceive it possible for the Manchu 
 officers to get it across the sea. He therefore left a force of only 
 six thousand on the island, and was now hurrying back to its aid 
 when he heard of its peril ; but he was too late. 
 
 In addition to the accumulations by Juloong from the shipping, 
 when he became prime minister of Tang Wang, the million taels 
 raised in Fukien and Kwangtung in name of army supplies 
 passed through his hands, a fair proportion remaining there. 
 All this treasure was stored up in Nganping. Chunggoong went 
 south in 1650, ravaged the country about Shaochow, and besieged 
 the city, though unsuccessfully, for the eye of Chun Jin was 
 upon him. In the north, Jang Hiaoshung, the governor of 
 Fukien, determined to make a raid upon the nest at Nganping. 
 He took Amoy and plundered the home of Chunggoong, who 
 returned immediately thereafter, after being defeated at Chaochow 
 by general Wang Bang, who was himself slain. At his approach 
 the Manchu army retired. But in revenge for the insult done 
 him, he took the cities of Toongan, Changpu, Nanngan, Pingho, 
 Haichung and Changtai, and laid siege to Changchow. In 
 August, Hiaoshung and the chief actor in that raid were 
 summoned to Peking and punished according to their crime ! * 
 What a state of utter lawlessness and lack of principle does 
 this one sentence display ! 
 
 In April 1652 Chun Jin marched to the relief of Changchow, 
 but was defeated at Kiangdoong-chiao, and fell back towards 
 Toongan, where one of his slaves entered his tent at night, cut 
 off his head, going with it as a handsome present to Chunggoong. 
 Chunggoong was very grateful, rewarded the man handsomely, 
 and then cut off his head, in order that he might follow his 
 
 * Doong-hwaloo gives another version by the new viceroy: "Your minister has 
 'received the emperor's secret orders to examine the cave at Amoy, commonly 
 ' reported to be the old haunt of the rebel Jung. Hiaoshung, &c., marched to the 
 ' cave, breathed into it, and retiring, cried out that they had conquered. They 
 ' marched elsewhere, destroyed Jung's house, and took his family property. 
 ' Whereupon Jung demanded the restoration of his goods, and all the neighbouring 
 ' cities suffered severely from the consequence of his anger." Hiaoshung, &c., were 
 therefore degraded of all rank. 
 
REWARD OF TREACHERY. 393 
 
 master and attend upon him in the spirit world ! * But in 
 November, Jin Hwang arrived with an additional army, defeated 
 Chunggoong, who retired on Haichung to defend it. He was 
 immediately, closely and vigorously besieged. Over a hundred 
 feet of the city wall were knocked down, but Chunggoong 
 obstinately held out, himself constantly surrounded by showers of 
 shot, stones and arrows. One day, hearing a blank cannon shot 
 fired, Chunggoong said, " That is a signal cannon. They are 
 about to storm the walls." He therefore ordered every man to 
 provide himself with a hatchet, and, on the wall and in the 
 breaches, await the attack. In a little time, Hwang's men were 
 swarming up all sides of the wall like ants ; but when they got to 
 the top, one blow of the hatchet sufficed to send them rolling 
 into the moat, which became filled with the dead bodies. The 
 siege was immediately raised, and Chunggoong then withdrew 
 from the ruined city. 
 
 Chunggoong's rival, Mingchun, with a colleague, Whangyen, 
 was still sufficiently powerful to sail up the Changkiang, " Long 
 River " or Yangtsu, to Yendsuji of Kinshan. At the mouth of 
 Woosung they took three hundred ships, but were unable to do 
 more than pillage. Mingchun died, and his men fell into the 
 ranks of Whangyen, who rejected many offers from the Manchu 
 government, whose main energies at the time were bent on the 
 south-west provinces. Chunggoong was not inactive, for he 
 continued to ravage the country and to take cities, which he lost 
 again. Among others he took Chowshan and garrisoned it. 
 When, two years after, commander Yirda was ordered to retake 
 it, he replied that it was easy to take, but difficult to keep, and 
 not worth the trouble ; but if it was to be taken, he prayed to 
 have a garrison of pure Manchu troops to hold it. In 1654, 
 
 * Anciently such a practice is said to have been as common in China as among the 
 Africans now ; several scores or hundreds having been put to death according to the 
 Tank of the dead man. Hence probably the modern practice of burning paper men 
 and horses to accompany the spirit, and the curious practice of sometimes purchasing 
 a man and a horse, at a goodly cost, throwing them both into a fire, but allowing 
 them to escape with life, the horse belonging to the first who catches him after his 
 fiery ordeal. 
 
394 CONQUEST OF FORMOSA. 
 
 Chunggoong took Toongan and Nanngan ; and when besieging 
 Chang, had the gates opened to him by a petty officer. Nine 
 neighbouring cities opened their gates, Loongyen alone remaining 
 to the Manchus. The imperial court therefore made one other 
 effort to crush him, sending Jidoo, cousin of the emperor, as a 
 " great commander " to Fukien. But Jidoo was unfortunate in 
 his right arm, the fleet, which was lost under its admiral. And 
 Chunggoong was only the stronger. He secured next year, with 
 more or less severe fighting, six out of the seven cities under 
 Chuenchow. His troops were defeated on their way to 
 Kwangtung, when going to help Gwei Wang's generals there. 
 But after sacrificing to the sea, he took Kieyang, Chunghai, and 
 Pooshing. 
 
 Chunggoong, because of his useful services, had bestowed 
 upon him by Gwei Wang the title first of duke, then of prince 
 of Yenping ; and if he had not official rank from the Manchu 
 government, with full liberty to do as he wished by sea, it was 
 from no fault of his. In 1652, Juloong, who had his wives, concu- 
 bines, and children already brought to the capital, was requested 
 by the emperor to write to his son Chunggoong and his brother 
 Hoongkwei, advising them to submit, when their past offences 
 would be condoned, they would receive official rank, be permitted 
 to remain in their own homes on their own properties, and be 
 employed in hunting down the pirates and looking after foreign 
 ships. As there was no other response to this friendly commu- 
 nication than more cities taken and country pillaged, in the following 
 year actual rank was offered. For Juloong was created Count of 
 Toongan; Chunggoong, Count Haichung ; Hoongkwei, Count 
 Funghwa ; and Jubao, senior major-general. As soon as the 
 messenger with the investitures reached Fukien, Jubao received 
 him and his own rank, returning with him to Peking ; but the 
 chief object of all this weak diplomacy, Chunggoong, would have 
 no Manchu rank, but instead dared the Manchu troops to do 
 their worst, insulting them by ravaging the country all around. 
 As neither by arms nor honours could Chunggoong be brought 
 to submit, the unsteady government tried the plan of appealing 
 
DEFIANT PIRATES. 395 
 
 to his affections by threatening his father's life, who was, in 
 February 1655, thrown into prison on the charge of being a 
 partisan of his son's rebellious conduct, and his recently bestowed 
 dignity was taken from him. After eleven months' imprisonment, 
 which did not in the least alter the policy of his son, he was 
 released, and again ordered to send a letter to his son calling 
 upon him to submit. But it had the same effect as the former 
 communications. The next move was to summon all the islands 
 to manifest their loyalty by shaving their heads ; but the islands 
 were deaf. Strict orders were then sent down to the sea-bordering 
 people, forbidding them, under heavy penalties, to hold any 
 intercourse with the wicked pirates. The orders remained a 
 dead letter. 
 
 Chung-goong, as if to mark his contempt of the honours 
 proffered and for the force displayed, marched beyond Fukien 
 into the south-east of Chihkiang, and plundered the prefectures 
 of Wun and Tai. This journey was of consequence in a way not 
 so pleasing to him. On a former occasion he sent his general, Ji 
 Mao, to take the city of Kieyang to the south. Mao returned 
 defeated ; and so severe was the discipline of Chunggoong, that 
 he beheaded him. When he went northwards, he left Whang* 
 Woo commandant of Haichung ; but with the example of Mao 
 before him, Woo, in fear, opened the gates to the Manchus : for 
 if he should be defeated and lose the city, he looked forward to 
 death by the Manchus in attack, or death at Chunggoong's 
 hands if he escaped. His treachery was well rewarded ; for he 
 was made duke of Haichung, and commissioned to hold command 
 in Changchow. He memorialised the government on the subject 
 of rooting out the pirates, recommending five measures as 
 necessary to the successful prosecution of the war. Military 
 camps should be established along the coast to prevent them 
 coming ashore ; small vessels should be constructed with which 
 Joongdso-swo, afterward called Suming-chow, could be taken ; 
 submission should be made easy and of course profitable; 
 merchandise and intercourse along the shore should be forbidden 
 with them; and their graves should be demolished, that 
 
396 CONQUEST OF FORMOSA. 
 
 thus all might see the heinousness of their fault. Probably as 
 the easiest of all those measures, duke Woo was ordered to attack 
 the graves of the Jung family. This commission he faithfully 
 carried out, destroying the tombs, overturning the graves, and 
 slaying the five officials who had charge of them. This wanton 
 barbarity, and the frequent attempts, on any terms, to have 
 Chunggoong shave his head and plait a " tail," prove the power 
 of the great pirate, which was practically displayed in April 1657, 
 when Jidoo found his easiest and most honourable march was 
 one to Peking; for then Chunggoong penetrated into the 
 province, retook Minan, which was taken by Li Shwaitai some 
 months before, then devastated the neighbourhood of Foochow, 
 and wheeling round ravaged the prefectures of Wun and Tai, 
 both of which cities he took ; the officials of Taichow all joined 
 him. His prince title was thereupon enhanced by the prefix 
 Kun-wa,ng and the gold seal of a " great comander " was sent 
 him by Gwei Wang from Yunnan. 
 
 Though it was not so with his chief, Chunggoong was now at 
 the zenith of his greatness. He had seventy-two camps, under 
 the care of six superintendents, probably in imitation of the six 
 Boards, and now put forth all his energies, either to make a 
 considerable diversion in favour of his prince, Gwei Wang, whose 
 star was waning before the perseverance of Woo Sangwei, or to 
 make sure of a firm foothold for himself. Connected with his 
 army and navy he had one hundred and seventy thousand men ; 
 fifty thousand of whom were trained to fight by sea; fifty 
 thousand cavalry and archers, and fifty thousand infantry. Ten 
 thousand were always on the move, possibly a reserve of choice 
 troops to be ready to strike where most needed ; and there were 
 ten thousand clad in mail impenetrable to arrows or shot. To 
 this force was added whatever remained together of Whangyen's 
 army, which was to act as guide. They swooped down with 
 their fleet upon Wunchow and Taichow prefectures, carrying all 
 before them till they got north to Yangshan, " Sheep mountain," 
 so called because it was the custom to worship there by giving a 
 living sheep ; and as it was sacrilege to take any away, the sheep 
 
OF TH E 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 SHEEP MOUNTAIN. 
 
 became very numerous. Chunggoong believed he might venture 
 with impunity to taste the mutton of Yangshan, and many of 
 those sheep disappeared among his ships ; for as they were never 
 molested, they were extremly tame. The pirates, however, 
 no sooner set sail than they encountered a tremendous storm, 
 thunder, lightning, a fearful wind, and a heavy sea ; and as every 
 vessel carried a heavy cannon, as many as crashed in collision 
 went to the bottom, and many thousands of men were lost. He 
 should have let the sheep browse their sacred hill in peace ! So 
 serious were his losses that he had to return ; but hearing that 
 the Manchus were fully occupied in Yunnan, Kweichow, and 
 other places far inland, he made formidable preparations to 
 penetrate the interior of Kiangnan. In 1558, he sailed up the 
 Yangtsu by Choongming. The Manchu marshal of Kisoong was 
 then on the Soongkiang, and Kiangning marshal on Fooshan, 
 holding the most important passes. On Jwanshan and at 
 Tankiachow large cannon had been planted, and a strong iron 
 chain fixed across the river at Kinshan, and Chiaoshan was hoped 
 to be barrier sufficient against all ships. The prows of Whangyen's 
 vessels went several times butting against those chains ; but it 
 was not the chains which were damaged. He therefore ordered 
 many swimmers into the water to file the chains, which they did 
 so well that, with a favourable wind and tide, seventeen of his 
 vessels passed up the river. The wooden- walled city on the bank 
 was immediately deserted, Kwachow fell, and Chunkiang was 
 besieged. The mounted rebels dismounted, and fought 
 desperately on foot at Beigooshan, compelling the Manchus to 
 retreat within the walls, rushing in after them pell-mell, before 
 the gates could be closed ; and Chunkiang was in Chunggoong's 
 hands, with the good-will of the people, who had gone out 50 li 
 to meet him, before the battle was fought. 
 
 Gan Hwi advised the immediate advance of the whole army 
 on Yangchow to cut off Shantung, and prevent the two Kiangs 
 from marching in by occupying Kingkow. At the same time a 
 deputation came from Woohoo, praying Chunggoong to advance 
 thither to free the people from their hated long-tailed conquerors. 
 
398 CONQUEST OF FORMOSA. 
 
 Chunggoong probably believed this policy too rash, at all events 
 he would not run the risk ; and Whangyen, with Jin Ling and 
 Hiao Ling, withdrew their detachments in anger, marching 
 themselves towards Woohoo, and occupied the districts of Hwining 
 and neighbourhood. The Manchu armies were then far in the 
 interior of Yunnan, and their necessities there had drained all 
 the northern cities of their garrisons, so that the region now 
 pounced upon by the pirates was undermanned Ma Jinbao, the 
 Soongkiang marshal, was besides secretly well disposed to the 
 rebel cause, and took no measures to relieve cities at a distance 
 from him. Hence Chunggoong was free to march where, when, 
 and how he pleased ; and in a short time 4 foo, 3 chow, and 24 
 hien cities fell before him. 
 
 So rapid and extensive were his conquests, that the great 
 alarm in Peking determined the emperor to march in person 
 to drive the pirates into the sea. The people also were 
 rejoicing in the certainty of freedom from the Manchu " tail." 
 A Manchu general travelling into the affected country was 
 dining at a village inn. After sitting down to his dinner he 
 asked the news. The innkeeper, an old man ignorant of the 
 character of his guest, clasped his hands together, and raised 
 them towards heaven, gave thanks and said, " The northern 
 people are all put to death." The general left his untouched 
 dinner, flying back as fast as he could. But Chunggoong's 
 success defeated him. So general were the desertions to him, 
 and so easy were the conquests he made, that when Lang Ting- 
 dso the viceroy sent messengers to him agreeing to join the 
 Ming cause and act in concert with him, he readily believed 
 him, and led a large body of troops to welcome his new 
 ally, drawing up in a line of several li against a hill outside 
 Yifung gate of Kiangning. Governor Jiang Gwojoo, and the 
 general of Choong-ning, Liang Whafung, marched to the aid of 
 the city ; the latter occupying high ground to overlook the enemy. 
 These however did not seem to notice the presence of the 
 imperialists, and were apparently entirely off their guard. In 
 the evening therefore a picked body of five hundred horse made 
 
PIRATES SURPEISED. 399 
 
 a dash through one of the gates and seized and occupied the 
 
 foremost village of the pirate camp at Baitoo-shan. Next 
 
 morning by daybreak, before the pirates had breakfasted and 
 
 while entirely unprepared for fighting, the main army, joined by 
 
 all the garrison, marched in three bodies against the rebel van, 
 
 while a body of horse was sent round the hill to fall upon the 
 
 rear. Chung-goong himself was then at the head of his fleet, 
 
 which had got up to Gwanyin-mun of Kweichow, and Gan Hwi 
 
 was in charge of the Kiangning siege army. Whether Hwi was 
 
 yet asleep, or for whatever other reason, the signal flag on the 
 
 top of the hill gave no sign, and nobody in the camp dared move, 
 
 though they saw their enemy pushing upon them. Thus the 
 
 various bodies, which were not attacked, and which would if 
 
 ordered march on to assist the threatened points, were compelled 
 
 to remain inactive. They were therefore broken up at the first 
 
 charge ; the wildest confusion ensued ; Hwi was taken and put 
 
 to death. Many more of the chief officers were seized and 
 
 multitudes were slain. Hwa Fung sent on a body of men 
 
 flushed with victory, which burnt five hundred ships. On the 
 
 news of this utter rout Chunggoong sailed his vessels down the 
 
 stream, pursued by land and water forces. Chunkiang and 
 
 Kwachow were retaken. Hwangyen had his army completely 
 
 shattered ; he himself escaping to the sea under an assumed 
 
 name. Hwa Fung, to whose prompt energy this great victory 
 
 was mainly due, was made marshal of Kiangnan. But the 
 
 success was partly due to the fact that the Kweichow troops 
 
 were free, Gwei Wang having been driven thence ; and a 
 
 considerable force, coming down the river to drive back the 
 
 pirates, united with the forces already gathered in and around 
 
 the besieged city. 
 
 Chunggoong had still a considerable army about him, with 
 which in his retreat he attacked Choongming; but after ravaging 
 the district, he was driven off by the colonel. His successes 
 occupied three months (June August, 1659), and his disaster 
 fell upon him in the following month. He must have recovered 
 himself with wonderful rapidity, for in November he was ready 
 
400 CONQUEST OF FORMOSA. 
 
 to receive the attacks of two armies. These marched in upon 
 Amoy, under Li Shwaitai, one via Changchow, the other via 
 Toongan, the deserters from Kwangtung acting as guides. In 
 the battle Chunggoong held the standard in his own hand, and 
 pressed forward into the midst of the foe, of whom thousands 
 perished in the mud. Shwaitai had therefore to retreat as well 
 as he could. 
 
 In 1660, however, Chunggoong began to fear that his greatness 
 was about to end, for Sangwei had driven Gwei Wang into- 
 Burma, and made his chief generals fugitives. Hence the 
 strain was removed from off the other provinces bordering those 
 under the control of Sangwei's armies ; and Gung Jimao, then 
 one of the southern Manchu feudal princes, was ordered from 
 Kwangtung into Fukien, aided by Loto, a member of the imperial 
 house, to exterminate the pirates. Then too (in October) was 
 carried out the extreme measure of driving inland every soul in 
 Fukien within 30 li of the sea, belonging to the districts of 
 Haichung and Toongan. Eighty-eight large villages were 
 at once emptied, and all the agriculturists, and men of any and 
 every description living outside the walls of those two cities, were 
 compelled to remove, to the number of several hundred thousand. 
 This measure caused incalculable suffering; but Shwaitai felt 
 himself justified in recommending such a course, as the only 
 mode of cutting off the pirates from the shore ; for no matter 
 how severely worded were the prohibitions sent from Peking* 
 against intercourse with the pirates, such intercourse went on 
 undiminished. Nor was this matter of surprise, as the pirates 
 were largely composed of the natives of those districts ; and the 
 traffic of robbery, which brought poverty to wealthy families and 
 misery and death to untold myriads, threw great wealth into the 
 pirate head-quarters. Hence it was difficult for the people 
 there, who were Chinese like their descendants, to renounce a 
 connection of the profits of which they were assured, though 
 before now ignorant of its penalties. Hence too we can under- 
 stand, and in a great measure sympathise with, the government 
 in taking this apparently cruel step. The Doonghwaloo says, as 
 
WHOLESALE TRANSPORTATION. 401 
 
 if with a grin, that the government was pleased to inform those 
 houseless and homeless people that their taxes would be remitted 
 for that year. All ships large and small were also prohibited 
 from going to sea on any pretence, whether of merchandise or 
 fishing. This measure caused greater misery than the other. 
 Its effects were perhaps more felt in the large city of Foochow, 
 where so many depended on fish and salt, than elsewhere. So great 
 and universal was the opposition on the part of the people to be 
 transported, that Wangyen strongly urged Chunggoong to make 
 capital out of it, by removing all the people to the islands ; he 
 believing that if the measure was carried out by the govern- 
 ment, Amoy and Kinmun (Gold Gate) must fall. The people 
 were however driven inland, and the coast for four years was 
 made a desert, and they called it peace. 
 
 Now that Chunggoong was no longer feared, nor his peaceful 
 submission hoped or much cared for, Juloong, with two sons who 
 had never joined the pirates, was publicly executed, and all his 
 family put to death in Peking. There was an attempt three 
 years before by some officials to- have him executed. The 
 emperor was willing to banish him to Ninguta, but the govern- 
 ment dared not then put him to death. Whangyen was taken 
 prisoner at Hiienngao of Nantien, and the Kwangtung pirates 
 were put down by prince Shang Kosi, who also removed the coast 
 people inland. 
 
 A less able man than Chunggoong could understand that the 
 Manchu government, which had trampled under foot every com- 
 petitor, and executed every robber chief from Kansu to Yunnan, 
 from Kwangtung to Shantung, and was that moment more 
 powerful than the late Ming dynasty, even in its early palmy 
 days, would not permit him to molest it with the feeble impunity 
 of the latter days of the Ming. As therefore he already saw 
 clouds of armies converging from south, west, and north of him, 
 and as Amoy was wholly inadequate as a last refuge, he anxiously 
 looked about him for some retreat. One day coming across a 
 ship belonging to the "red-haired western barbarians," his 
 Annamese interpreter, or business-man, said, "Why not take 
 
 A 1 
 
402 CONQUEST OF FORMOSA. 
 
 Taiwan Formosa which has always been the head-quarters 
 of the sea-rover, and the ancient property of his family ? " And 
 Chunggoong appropriated the brilliant idea, and prepared to 
 drive the Dutch out of his paternal estate. 
 
 The Yuen dynasty was the first to establish an officer on 
 Punghoo the Pescadores off the mainland. This official was 
 removed by the Ming. In Chiaching's reign (1522-67) a 
 Chinaman, the pirate Lin Daochien, made Formosa his head- 
 quarters, till he was driven out by the Loochooans. The latter 
 were in their turn dispossed by the Japanese, who, during a 
 great part of the Ming dynasty, constantly ravaged the coast of 
 China. It was with them Jung Juloong passed his piratical 
 apprenticeship, and it was while with them he saw the uncommon 
 fertility of the land then unavailed of, but which was so bene- 
 ficially utilised by him afterwards. 
 
 The " Red-haired Western Barbarians " the Dutch were at 
 that time in the zenith of their trading prosperity in the east. 
 They petitioned the Chinese emperor, first for possession of Hiang- 
 shan, "mountain of incense"; failing which they sought Punghoo : 
 but in vain. They therefore made large presents to the Japanese 
 and got Formosa. They opened a barter market ; and to beguile 
 the people into submission, they employed the Roman Catholic 
 religion.* They then drove out the Japanese, and took 
 possession. When Jung Juloong left the island after establishing 
 the colony and building a city, two thousand Dutch occupied 
 the city ; all the Chinese living in the surrounding districts in 
 
 * Lit. translation. It is the universal belief of Chinese that propagandism has 
 been initiated by the westerns, in order to gain a footing among the natives, by 
 means of which they can ultimately seize the empire. This belief is founded on the 
 magisterial status assumed by Roman Catholic missionaries; most of whom so 
 style themselves that the Chinese take them to be official magistrates of France. In 
 another portion of his book my author says that but for the Roman Catholic 
 religion the Dutch would never have entered Formosa. Yet the name given to the 
 propagandists is certainly incorrect; for it is not at all likely that the Dutch would 
 permit Jesuits there at a time when Jesuits were using every means, foul and fair 
 chiefly the former to keep the Dutch out of China. The Dutch were Protestant ; 
 and the preachers were certainly Protestant. The only objection made by the 
 Chinese to mission work is, that it is a political agency to found a foreign party in 
 China ; but they detest the humiliating presence of all westerns without distinction. 
 
THE DUTCH ATTACKED. 403 
 
 hamlets and farm houses. The Dutch did not seek possession 
 of the land ; they desired only to make the city their trading 
 headquarters. They lived on the very best terms (lit., " were 
 coupled together with ") the agriculturists, and without the least 
 distrust. When therefore Chunggoong discovered that the days 
 of his greatness on the mainland were numbered, and set sail for 
 Formosa, he found two forts in the hands of the Dutch. These 
 were under the command of Kweiyi Wang. They had a barter 
 trade with Liisoong, or Borneo, and Janchung in the South 
 seas. 
 
 Shu-chijoo the Doohwi of the city Jienchung, the minister 
 of the company, was deficient to the amount of two hundred 
 thousand pieces of silk. Fearing the discovery of a deficiency 
 which he could not make good, he fled to Chunggoong, and 
 offered to act as guide. When Chunggoong examined the map 
 which he carried with him, he exclaimed with a sigh : " This is 
 surely but the surplus of the Outer Seas." 
 
 In 1661, therefore, Chunggoong sailed to Punghoo with one 
 hundred ships, and then got to Loor mun. But as the shore for 
 several score of li is nearly level and the water very shallow, he 
 could not push in with his deep sea ships. The Dutch had, 
 besides, sunk large vessels in the channel. But an unusually 
 high tide raised the depth to over ten feet, and several hundred 
 vessels got to the shore. The Dutch soldiers did not stand fire ; 
 therefore Chukan chung fort was at once taken and Wang chung 
 attacked. The walls of this city were made of pieces of stone 
 piled up in layers and cemented with stone-burnt lime.* 
 
 *The text would be better translated, by stating that the "piled up stones were 
 converted by fire into lime ! " Another authority says : The Dutch built cities 
 Taiwan, Keloong, Tamsui, besides " earthen forts some score. Taiwan was the 
 best ; a stone wall several tens of feet high and ten feet thick. They used fire to 
 convert the stone into lime for cement. " This is of course Wang chung or " capital. " 
 Davis in his "Chinese" shows there was a good deal more fighting than is here 
 represented. The Dutch body faced the four thousand Chinese who landed ; but 
 instead of driving away these as they had expected, they had to flee themselves, 
 leaving their captain and half their men in the hands of the Chinese. These latter 
 soon landed to the number of twelve thousand, divided into three bodies, the first 
 with bows and arrows, the second with swords and shields, the third with back 
 
404 CONQUEST OF FORMOSA. 
 
 It was therefore a " stone " city, and cannon balls fired 
 at it for a whole half year made no impression. The 
 natives then informed Chunggoong that the water supply 
 of the fort came from a high mountain outside, by a 
 stream which ran round and into it. Were this supply stopped 
 short, the besieged must come to terms in three days, for there 
 was no well inside. Chunggoong at once acted on this knowledge, 
 and the garrison was compelled to surrender, on terms which, 
 after a half year's siege, were certainly not ungenerous; for the 
 Dutch were permitted to take with them all their property and 
 valuables of every description.* He wanted only the land 
 which by right belonged to him. After the treaty was signed, 
 Chunggoong went away three days' journey, and the Dutch 
 departed in their large vessels. 
 
 Chunggoong took immediate possession of his "kingdom," 
 which was the best guard of Amoy and Gold Gate. He 
 nominated a Master of Plans, made villages and stations, 
 prepared weapons of war, established laws, appointed magistrates, 
 provided for universal education, all according to the Ming 
 custom; for he still adhered to Gwei Wang, who was then a 
 wretched prisoner in Burma. He erected Chukan into Chung- 
 tienfoo, created two Men, Tienhing and Wannien, and gave a 
 cordial invitation to the people of the opposite coast of Fukien 
 to settle under his rule. 
 
 The fighting of the Manchus was now all but at an end, and 
 with it passed away the youth who was the nominal head of the 
 empire: for the first Manchu emperor died in February 1661, 
 and was succeeded by the emperor known as Kanghi, whose 
 reign is one of the longest and best in the annals of China. 
 
 swords and three-feet-long pikes with broad pointed iron heads. The "chief 
 commanders in long robes without arms had a most awful countenance. " A deserter 
 from the Dutch showed the weakest points ; and at last, after losing sixteen 
 hundred men, the Dutch had to leave Eormosa. 
 
 * Ogilby gives a different version : "Very cruelly were several of the Netherlander 
 dealt withal, especially the ministers, A. Hantbroel, A. Vincenius, L. Campen, P. 
 Muts and others, and at last put to death.". . . . The name Coxinga or Koxinga 
 is given by Ogilby to Chtmggoong, to his father and to his son. 
 
CURIOUS DEATH. 405 
 
 When Chunggoong entered Formosa, he made his eldest son, 
 Gin or Gold, also known as Ching, his representative or regent 
 in Amoy. Soon after, a son was born to Gin by a slave of the 
 family, the wet nurse, who had nursed himself. So enraged was 
 his father at this disgrace to the family, that he sent his minister 
 of Punishment and his minister of Rites to put Gin and his 
 mother to death.* A general was also to accompany them, to 
 arrest and execute all the chief officers of Amoy ; for the shame 
 reflected on them as in some measure responsible for the deeds 
 of such a youth as Gin then was. The order was too general, 
 however, and affected too many influential men, who were not to 
 die like sheep. Their errand was known long before those 
 messengers arrived. The Amoy officers compelled Gin to assume 
 the independent rank of Pinggwo Duke, and on the approach of 
 the ministers of justice, there was a brief struggle and the 
 executioners were slain, the general being seized and bound as a 
 prisoner. On hearing of this unexpected issue, Chunggoong 
 was so wild in his rage that he became mad ; he gnashed his 
 teeth, bit his own finger, and, as his powerful constitution was 
 probably ruined by his indulgences with wine and women, he 
 died, aged thirty-eight. 
 
 On the death of their chief, the Formosan officers elected his 
 brother Shusi his successor, but Gin proved his right to reign by 
 attacking and defeating his uncle, who fled to Chiienchow, 
 submitted to the Manchus, and was made a major-general. 
 Gung Gimao, with commander Shwaitai, urged Gin to submit, 
 now that his father's death made submission so easy. Gin 
 consented to acknowledge the emperor as his superior and pay 
 tribute, if he were permitted to do so on the same terms as Corea 
 and Loochoo, viz.: to retain the old fashion in doing the hair 
 and in dress ; he on his part promising never to molest the 
 Chinese shore. To this reply there was no response. 
 
 In July 1633, Dutch ships (no barbarians this time!) were 
 
 * Wet nurse is also called mother in China ; but I infer this must have been his 
 proper mother, as she is called Mrs. Doong; and a slave-servant would scarcely 
 have that title given her. 
 
406 CONQUEST OF FORMOSA. 
 
 ordered (sic) to second the Chinese armies against the pirates. 
 Gimao, Shwaitai, Shu Liang and duke Whang Woo marched 
 out by Toongan and Changchow, the Dutch ships sailing from 
 Chiienchow. Amoy fell before the allies in November. The 
 pirates fled, pursued by the Dutch ships under Liang, who had a 
 native fleet besides. In the pursuit, Gold Gate fell to the 
 Manchus, with eighteen thousand of Gin's men. Chunggoong's 
 former colleague, Whangyen, was surprised and taken prisoner 
 at Hiienshan of Nantien. A pirate major surrendered in the 
 south of Kwangtung, and was made a major-general; and a 
 general who had retreated with Gin, forsook the sinking ship, 
 deserted, and was created a count. Ogilby, to all appearance, 
 correctly states that the Dutch alone defeated the pirates, the 
 local Chinese mandarins acknowledging as much to them, while 
 doubtless claiming all the glory for themselves in their despatches 
 to Peking. Gin fell back on Toongshan with Hwang Ting, the 
 marquis of Yoongan. But in the April following, Gimao, 
 Shwaitai, and others, with a huge host, attacked Toongshan; 
 and the worthy marquis, with commander Giang Seek-much, 
 an appropriate name for a pirate or conqueror, surrendered with 
 thirty thousand men. Toongshan was therefore taken without a 
 blow, and was burnt down. Numerous ships and enormous 
 stores fell to the conquerors. Gin, accompanied by his wife, 
 crossed the sea to Formosa; having lost the great game of 
 independent monarchy for which he was virtually struggling, 
 while nominally adhering to Gwei Wang, and still using his 
 name, though the pretender was now sometime dead. All the 
 coast islands were thus completely cleared of pirates. 
 
 In August of this year (1664) Shu Liang received an imperial 
 commission to sail against Formosa, with the title of Commander 
 ' Clearer-of-the-sea." And again the efficiency of the Dutch 
 ships was proved by their engagement to aid in the attack. A 
 contrary wind prevented their crossing, and Liang had to return. 
 As the easiest plan, an attempt was made next year to induce 
 Gin to throw himself into Manchu arms, this time the proposal 
 coming directly from the court. Gin again declared his extreme 
 
THE PIRATES CONTINUE FREE. 407 
 
 willingness to be considered the minister of his majesty, if he 
 could do so on the same terms as Corea. But the court could 
 not listen to such conditions. And as Gin believed the Manchus 
 incapable of ever attacking him in Formosa, he was in no great 
 haste to submit. He, however, determined to use his position 
 and scourge the Chinese coast indirectly if not directly. He 
 therefore levied black-mail on all trade carried on by the sea- 
 bordering people. Liang, who soon discovered but was unable 
 to check the evil, privately memorialised the throne, stating 
 that if Gin were thus permitted to prepare for the future, it was 
 only to make great trouble. It was necessary to take strong 
 measures to root him out. But though he (Liang) was 
 summoned to Peking two years after, to consult with the Boards 
 as to a practicable mode of seizing Formosa, their plans ended 
 on paper, for it was finally decided by the court that on account 
 of the difficulties raised by the wind, an attack on Formosa 
 would be a task, the accomplishment of which would not be 
 worth the trouble. And as long as no cities were sacked nor 
 villages burnt, imperial dignity could wink at burdens on coast 
 trade and ships fired far off at sea. For ten years Gin remained 
 contented with his ocean dominion, and the government was 
 well satisfied he should continue to amuse himself by imitating 
 the old Ming ways, as long as he confined himself to the sea 
 and did not ask them to recognise such fashions. 
 
 But in 1674 broke out the greatest storm which ever tested 
 the strength of the Manchu government, and blew down in a 
 few days the house of cards which occupied so many years in 
 building. For Sangwei, the author of the Manchu rule in 
 China, and who had for years virtually independent authority 
 over three provinces, now made a bold push for the founding of 
 a southern empire. And in a few months the Manchus may be 
 said to have lost all the country south of the Yangtsu. Gung 
 Jingjoong, the son of Gimao, recently deceased, rebelled with 
 Fukien; and to strengthen his position he proposed an alliance 
 with Gin, paying him as the price of his assistance the two 
 prefectures of Chang and Chiien. The Formosans were almost 
 
408 CONQUEST OF FORMOSA. 
 
 beside themselves with joy at this unlocked for restoration to 
 their old homes, and especially with the manner of it. They 
 therefore lost no time in crossing to Fukien. Yet they were no 
 sooner at his side than Jingjoong repented of the price he had 
 to pay. He refused to impliment his engagement, and bad 
 blood sprung up between the two. But he had the worst of it 
 in the long run ; for former adherents of the Jung family were 
 scattered over east Fukien in places of trust; and as all 
 anticipated the complete downfall of Manchu rule in the south, 
 now that the greatest of the generals of China was at the head 
 of the rebellion, those adherents had no great difficulty in giving 
 secret or avowed assistance to their old companion in arms, the 
 son of their former chief. Among these was the major then 
 holding Haichung, and the major in Chaochow in the north-east 
 of Kwangtung, who, though revolting with Jingjoong, declared 
 for Gin. Jingjoong and Shang Jusin, who had revolted in 
 Kwangtung, after first of all marching against Jingjoong, 
 regarded Sangwei as the leader of the southern movement, and 
 highly respected his word. Sangwei was extremely anxious to 
 secure the fidelity of Gin to the cause, and therefore urged 
 Jusin to offer the district with the city of Hwichow to Gin to 
 guarantee his adherence. But the breach of faith on one side, and 
 the forcible possession on the other, caused a complete rupture 
 of the friendly relations of Jingjoong and Gin. While therefore 
 the former was occupied with the Manchu troops in the west 
 and north-west of Fukien, the latter, instead of fighting the 
 Manchus, occupied his time in attacking Jingjoong's rear, and in 
 reality was fighting the battles of his chief enemies, in his 
 foolish, short-sighted policy ; though several cities, among them 
 Tingchowfoo in the south-west of Fukien, fell into his hands. 
 Had Jingjoong been a man of more solid character, and worthy 
 of the position he aspired to attain, circumstances might have 
 turned out otherwise. Apparently as weak as he was wicked, 
 Jingjoong acted the horse who asked the man to ride him to be 
 avenged on his enemy ! for, unable to meet the attacks of the 
 Manchus before and of Gin behind, he threw himself at the feet 
 
PIRATES AGAIN ACTIVE. 409 
 
 of the Manchus, by whom he was gladly received and re-instated 
 in his old title and power. He was all the more readily 
 welcomed that Sangwei was then in the zenith of his power, 
 and causing Peking to tremble. 
 
 Gin was now overpowered, and lost in 1677 the cities of 
 Chang, Chiien, Shaowoo, and Hinghwa. The commandant 
 in Chaochow, seeing his second commander faring so badly, 
 and his first chief still living after rejoining the Manchus, 
 believed it better to open the gates of Chao city and retain 
 his head, than have the walls battered down and lose it. 
 He submitted while the Manchus were yet at a distance, and 
 Hwi city followed his example. Gin finding his foothold on the 
 mainland trembling, retired to Formosa. The excitement of 
 war and the pleasure of plunder gathered a host again around 
 him as of old, with which he sailed back the next year, ravaging 
 the whole coast, taking over a dozen cities and fortified towns. 
 And again, as the pirates gained so much strength from the coast 
 people, was the old order re-issued to have all the people within 
 30 li of the sea removed inland. For, four years after they had 
 been driven in, they were permitted to re-occupy their houses 
 and lands, at the time when Chunggoong took his final 
 departure for Formosa. The success of the plan on the former 
 occasion counterbalanced the thought of the misery sure to 
 ensue from this wholesale transportation. 
 
 In 1679 Gin's general, Liw Gwohan, who remained true, with 
 other generals, penetrated inland by various routes. The viceroy 
 divided the imperial army into four companies to oppose them. 
 A terrible battle was fought, in which the duke of Hiangchung 
 the general and the marshal were all defeated and besieged in 
 Haichung by Gwohan. When the Manchu army arrived to 
 raise the siege, Gwohan drew off his men from one side of the 
 city lest he should have to fight one army from the city and 
 another in his rear, and permitted the new arrivals to enter. 
 He then reclosed his lines. The armies which entered Haichung 
 served only to accelerate the disappearance of all victuals, and 
 the city was compelled by the famine to open its gates. With 
 
410 CONQUEST OF FORMOSA. 
 
 the city thirty thousand men and ten thousand horses fell into 
 Gwohan's hands. He put to death all under the rank of 
 marshal and major-general. At least so it is written, though it 
 looks extremely improbable. On account of this tremble 
 disaster, whether it was his fault or only his misfortune, the 
 viceroy was recalled and Yao Chishung appointed in his stead. 
 
 Following up his victory at Haichung, Gwohan attacked and 
 took Changping, Changtai, Joongan. He besieged Changchow 
 in person and detached a portion of his army against Chiienchow. 
 To prepare for the possible arrival of the imperialists he cut off 
 Kiangdoongchiao bridge from Chang, and Wanngan bridge from 
 Chiien. But Kangchin wang dared not move out of Foochow. 
 Yang Jie the new marshal took Hwingan, and Laita with the 
 new governor retook Changping. The new viceroy marched 
 from Ngansi by Toongan, the governor by Yoongchwun, the 
 marshal by Hwingan from Hinghwa, Lin Hien and another 
 body under a lieut. -general from Tinghai, all to converge on 
 Gwohan. Jie sent a body of troops which broke up Chunshanba 
 in order to march behind Wanngan chiao and attack in the rear 
 while the main army marched against the front. The bridge 
 was taken and the rebel vessels sunk by shot. Chuenchow siege 
 was immediately raised. 
 
 Gwohan led fifty thousand of his troops by various routes to 
 re-unite between the hills Woogoong and Loonghoo. Chang- 
 chow, whose garrison was not strong, was filled with terror, and 
 Halada and Jingjoong eagerly advocated the evacuation of the 
 city. The viceroy, however, closed the gates, permitting neither 
 ingress nor egress. In a great mist he sallied out against the 
 rebels with five thousand men, and in quick succession broke up 
 sixteen detached camps, slaying four thousand men. The 
 Kiangdoongchiao army was more obstinate and retreated only 
 when Jie was approaching on the other side. In a short time 
 all important posts in the Chang and Chiien districts were 
 recovered. Gwohan retreated upon Haichung; three sides 
 of which is defended by the sea, and on the remaining side he 
 dug an additional moat. He was soon out again, ravaging the 
 
MANCHUS CONVERGE ON PIRATES. 411 
 
 country on the way to Changchow and plundering the various 
 camps established at Kiangdoongchiao. 
 
 Great efforts were now made to collect a large fleet, and once 
 for all crush this pirate pest. Sangwei had already died in 
 Honan, and with his death the rebellion lost all its terror to the 
 Manchus. Yochow was taken soon after, and the land and lake 
 armies, so long engaged in attacking it, were freed. Wang 
 Jungsai, admiral of the fleet there, was ordered to sail with 
 a hundred ships for Amoy. The Dutch ships were again 
 engaged. The viceroy and governor had provided three hundred 
 sail to transport thirty thousand men. The viceroy also regarded 
 that money as well spent which bought off the men of Gin; and 
 he got over four hundred officers and fourteen thousand men 
 from Gwohan's army, whom he placed on his own vessels. He 
 promised Gwohan to be made a duke if he submitted. Without 
 waiting for the Dutch ships, Chishung and Jie retook Haichung, 
 while Chundsai, in February 1680, retook Haitan, some of whose 
 men had already received the viceroy's money. Sixteen large 
 pirate ships were sunk, over three thousand men killed and 
 drowned. The survivors fled to Namo, Yi ao, Mei ao, Chow ao, 
 and were pursued to Pinghai. Thence they sailed to Choongwoo, 
 whither Chungdsai bore down upon them with a favourable 
 wind, completely defeating them, and clearing the islands of 
 Meichow, Nanyi, Pinghai, Choongwoo. Joo Tiengwei, a com- 
 mander, deserted a second time to the imperialists, with all his 
 portion of the fleet. The rebels were again defeated at Tating 
 and Siaoting. The army crossed by sea to Yuchow, and Gwohan 
 retired on Amoy, whither the greater portion of Gin's army 
 had already withdrawn. .But they were being so closely and 
 hotly pressed, that they abandoned Amoy and Gold Gate, again 
 making for Formosa. Laita and the other commanders occupied 
 Amoy, left garrisons there and in Gold Gate ; and Kang Chin 
 wang, with his army, was ordered to Peking in September. 
 
 So difficult was the capture of Formosa regarded that Laita 
 memorialised the throne, urging peace on the conditions asked 
 by Gin, viz. : no change in fashions of dress ; the laws on hair- 
 
412 CONQUEST OF FORMOSA. 
 
 cutting to remain in abeyance ; and Formosa to be in all respects 
 like Corea or Japan. If Gin brought in tribute, well : if not, it 
 was a matter of no consequence ; but he would style himself the 
 minister of his Majesty, and cease hostile raids upon the 
 mainland. The interminable strife would be then ended, Gin 
 only adding another proviso, which was reasonable enough: 
 that Haichung be a place where the Formosans and the Chinese 
 could exchange their products. This plan would doubtless have 
 been adopted; but it fell through by the stern opposition of 
 Chishun, who said it was not to be considered for a moment. 
 
 Next year, when the coast was at peace for some time, 
 Chishung and the governor petitioned to have the coast people 
 return to their homes, and it was granted. But Fukien was still 
 in a state of the greatest anarchy. Many of the officials were 
 secretly in the pay of the Jung family ; and when war broke out 
 between Gung and Gin, they had assumed the character of Gung's 
 men when it suited, and of Gin's when they could plunder Gung's 
 lands ; but they robbed impartially from any side when they had 
 the opportunity. It was therefore impossible to classify them as 
 belonging to any man or any side. To disband them was an 
 easy matter on paper, but it would be only to convert robbers in 
 fact into robbers in name. They were therefore retained 
 in the service of the government. But stern orders were issued, 
 that every officer under the rank of commander and major- 
 general should have barracks for his men, who were forbidden to 
 wander from place to place, to dwell in the houses of the people, 
 to eat the people's food, or forcibly take possession of their wives 
 and daughters ; they were forbidden also to compel the people 
 to work for the army. To keep order, one wang, one beidsu, one 
 goong, and one bai was left in Fukien. And for some unexplained 
 reason, the coast people were again removed inland. It is no 
 wonder that they took a new direction for themselves, marching 
 northwards, plundering as they went. Chishung prayed Kang- 
 chin Wang to sternly forbid their departure out of the province, 
 and collected twenty thousand taels to pay their way back. 
 Indeed Chishung was so liberal in his expenditure that the 
 
LOW BIRTH. 413 
 
 province was unable to supply the necessary funds. He had 
 spies in all the islands, his "eyes and ears." Like his 
 contemporary ministers in Europe, he was not very particular as 
 to the means taken to carry out his ends. When Gin was in 
 Amoy, a spy was sent to inveigle him into walking to the coast. 
 By the way there was an ambush already set, which rushed out 
 upon and seized Gin. They were hastening off with their prisoner, 
 but were overtaken by some of his men who had been made 
 aware of the plot, were defeated, and Gin was recovered out of 
 their hands. 
 
 Kotsang was the eldest son of Gin, the son of Gin's foster- 
 mother. He was a young man of remarkable ability, but 
 none the less hated by the other members of the family, who 
 regarded him as a disgrace, not from his character, but because 
 of his origin. When Gin went out to fight he left Kotsang, 
 by the advice of a minister, to act in his stead as regent. 
 When his father Gin returned to Formosa after his defeat, 
 Kotsang still held the post which he had very successfully filled. 
 But Gin, probably disgusted with the position of affairs, occupied 
 himself exclusively with wine and women for two years, which 
 sufficed to put an end to his life. His younger brothers were all 
 opposed to the accession of their bastard nephew Kotsang ; and 
 to carry out their plans they first got the minister Yoonghwa 
 removed from his high office. Knowing their plans, he died 
 immediately after of extreme grief, whether by suicide or not is 
 left to conjecture. Kotsang in him lost his chief and ablest 
 support; and the remainder of the plot was easily executed. 
 Mrs Choong, widow of Chunggoong, laid charges against Kotsang; 
 but his great crime, if not that he was a man of greater talent 
 than the others, lay in his being the son of the slave-woman. 
 He was therefore put to death, and Gin's next son, his first 
 legitimate child, Koshwai, was elected. But he was young and 
 feeble, and had no business talent. All business, and therefore all 
 power, fell into the hands of Fung Sifan, at whose instigation the 
 minister had been removed. He began to lay a plot to take the 
 life of a duke, and gain possession of his property; and 
 
414 CONQUEST OF FORMOSA. 
 
 government and unity were at an end. Gwohan, though then 
 in Formosa, did not help matters. 
 
 Chishung was therefore in ecstasies of delight, and sent a 
 despatch to Peking, informing the emperor of the complete 
 anarchy into which Formosa had fallen, an anarchy which he 
 had paid much to increase. He urged an immediate attack. 
 The grand secretary supported the proposal, and both urged that 
 admiral Shu Liang should at once set his fleet in motion. The 
 commission was given in the joint names of Liang and Chishung. 
 As in many another colleagueship, they disagreed on a point of 
 vital consequence, just as they were ready to start : Chishung 
 advising to wait for a north wind and start from Weitow ; Liang 
 to take advantage of the south wind, and go from Toongshan to 
 Punghoo. As neither would yield, there was no expedition that 
 season. Liang memorialised the throne, that if Punghoo stood, 
 Formosa's fall was of little consequence; but Punghoo fallen, 
 Formosa would yield without fighting. He also prayed to be 
 permitted to start alone with twenty thousand men and three 
 hundred vessels; while a competent officer should be left in Amoy 
 to look after provisions. His request was granted. 
 
 In the spring of 1683 Gwohan sent messengers to Chishung, 
 asking if he would be permitted to bring tribute to Peking as 
 ambassador from Loochoo. The emperor was consulted, and 
 refused his permission. Gwohan had then twenty thousand men 
 in Punghoo, where he guarded well each port, no ingress being 
 allowed. In June the imperial fleet, with Liang at its head, left 
 Toongshan, entered Badan, and with the south flood sailed in on 
 Punghoo, slaying a commander and seventy men. They then 
 got into Chitan Bay with the tide. 
 
 Gwohan had built an embankment 20 li in length along the 
 bay, with cannon at regular intervals. A great wind arose at 
 night, and scattered the van of the fleet. Gwohan immediately 
 took advantage of the confusion, pushed out on all sides, and 
 surrounded the fleet. Liang was wounded in the eye by an 
 arrow, but continued to lead the fight with vigour, his object 
 being to break tfee circle of his foes; and he was successful. 
 
NAVAL BATTLE. 415 
 
 Owohan himself, at the head of a large army, went across to 
 Niwsin or Ox-heart bay, leaving another at Kilungsu or Hen- 
 dragon island. He then attacked Liang with fifty vessels from 
 each of these places, bearing down upon him in front and rear. 
 But Liang attacked the centre of Gwohan's fleet with fifty ships, 
 ordering eighty more to second him, arid drew up his vessels so 
 that five of them got opposite to and grappled with one of 
 Gwohan's. The battle raged furiously during the whole day, 
 the noise of the shouting combatants being heard several 
 hundred li off ! The day was one of wind and thunder. When, 
 in the thick of the fight, a great black cloud arose, the pirates 
 congratulated each other. But suddenly there was a tremendous 
 crashing noise, and the shock completely unnerved the pirates, 
 who were at once broken up. One hundred of their vessels were 
 sunk or taken ; three hundred officers and twelve hundred of 
 their men lost their lives. 
 
 Gwohan burst through the imperial fleet in a small vessel, and 
 by Koongmun made for Formosa. All his surviving men laid down 
 their arms. He was followed by the imperial fleet immediately, 
 which got to Loormun, but could not enter on account of the 
 shallows. They had to anchor outside for twelve days, when 
 suddenly there came a great fog. The tide rose over ten feet, and 
 the fleet was floated in to the shore. Possibly enough, the For- 
 mosans were already decided on surrender; but they said that "the 
 first wang (Chunggoong) got possession of Taiwan by a high tide. 
 The fleet now comes in the same manner. It is the will of 
 Heaven." And they proposed to submit. 
 
 In August, Koshwai sent messengers offering to submit ; and, 
 with his document, Liang wrote to Peking urging the acceptance 
 of this submission and the pardon of the past. The emperor 
 wrote a long reply, employing strong language as to the past 
 -conduct of Koshwai's ancestors and his own, but concluded by 
 saying that, as the emperor desired to imitate Heaven and 
 exercise mercy, he would not order Liang to take Formosa, as he 
 now so easily could do, but would receive and forgive them all. 
 
 The Formosans now, last of all the Chinese, had their heads 
 
416 CONQUEST OF FORMOSA. 
 
 shaved and their queues plaited. And in September, Liang 
 received the formal submission of Koshwai at the head of all his 
 people. Koshwai handed over the gold seal of his wang-ship, 
 the gold seal of his commander-ship, and five silver seals of 
 various high offices, all given his grandfather by Gwei Wang. 
 He also gave in a list of the treasure and army of Formosa, and 
 statistics of the land and families. The land was then divided 
 into one foo (Taiwan) and three hien cities (Taiwan, Fungshan, 
 and Joolo). Formosa was thus subdued twenty- three years 
 after the Jung family had first asserted their independence 
 there, and thirty-eight since Chunggoong first assumed command. 
 
 The messenger sent by Liang by sea got to Peking with the 
 welcome news in seven days, the message of Chishung by land 
 arriving two days later. Koshwai went to Peking, where he was 
 made a duke for life. Liang was created marquis Clearer-of-the- 
 Sea. Gwohan and Sifan, the one the upholder, the other the 
 destroyer, of Formosan independence, were both made counts. 
 
 In the end of the reign of Kanghi there was another serious 
 rebellion in Formosa,* which occupied much time and treasure 
 and many men, to put it down. And a third in the end of 
 Kienloong; since which the affair with Japan has been the 
 most serious disturbance of that island. To describe these and 
 some other interesting insurrections in the island is, however, 
 beyond our present scope. 
 
 * Ogilby states that Taiwan, the name given by the Chinese to the main island^ 
 " lieth south from Formosa, the uttermost north point being distant almost a league, 
 but the southernmost point within a bow-shot of the land, over which at low water 
 they wade to and again ; but between the north and Formosa, it is at least thirteen 
 feet deep at low water. ... It hath two leagues and a half in length, and a 
 quarter of a league in breadth, being naturally a spot of barren sand. . . . Yet 
 here resided above ten thousand Chinese." On the north of this islet was the fort 
 and city of Taiwan, built by and taken from the Dutch, and now from the pirates. 
 A history of Formosa, from a native source, in " Notes and Queries on China and 
 Japan," is most romantic, ascribing the final annexation to China, as arising from 
 the great mercy of Kanghi, who permitted the Formosans to shave their heads ! 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 REBELLION OF THE THREE PRINCES. 
 
 AFTER the many years of toilsome marchings, first to Peking, 
 then through Shensi, Szchuen, and Yunnan, into Burma, where 
 the last sparks of the fire kindled by the Ming pretenders were 
 crushed, it was natural that Woo Sangwei would crave and 
 enjoy his kingly leisure. For the generosity of the emperor to 
 the man who had made him emperor was unbounded, making 
 Sangwei all but absolute lord of the three south-western provinces. 
 But to the man who, from his boyhood, breathed and delighted 
 in the exciting atmosphere of war, and to whom the clash of 
 arms and shouts of armed foes made the finest music, several years 
 of easy dignity and quiet stately grandeur, brought with them a 
 feeling of insipidity ; and it was with a sense of relief, if with 
 a measure of apprehension, that he rushed from the sweet 
 atmosphere of otto of roses, to the keen, clear, exhilarating air 
 of the battle, taking advantage of a measure of Kanghi, wise 
 in its design, scarcely so in its execution, to unfurl his own 
 banner against that of the emperor he had made. 
 
 We have already seen how Sangwei, while yet a boy without 
 title or rank, followed his father in the battles, in which his rank 
 of lieut. -general of Kingchow involved that father with the 
 Manchus ; how the bravery of the youth raised him to rank ; 
 and how the skilful manner in which he defeated the plans 
 of the Manchus, while he was holding Ningyuen, made him a 
 noted man; so that when Dsuchung was threatening the 
 capital, he was summoned westwards as the only man capable of 
 meeting the more imminent danger. The seizure by a follower 
 of Dsuchung of the singing girl, whom he had purchased for 
 
 Bl 
 
418 REBELLION OF THE THREE PRINCES. 
 
 three hundred pounds, when drinking and making merry with 
 his friend count Jiading, threw him into the hands of the 
 Manchus, by whose aid he overthrew the overwhelming numbers 
 of Dsuchung, pursued him into and out of the capital, and 
 desisted not till the once triumphant robber, chief of over a 
 million of men, committed suicide, rather than be murdered 
 in his retreat by a few country clowns. 
 
 As soon as all the rich country north of the Yellow river, 
 which had been the empire of the two former Tartar dynasties, 
 the Liao and the Kin,* had become the peaceful possession of 
 the Manchus, Sangwei was one of those sent across the river to 
 complete the conquest of the whole of China. He continued to 
 play the chief actor till the third aspirant for the throne of his 
 Ming fathers was, after various fortunes, hunted a fugitive into 
 Burma ; and though both incapable of raising, and unwilling to 
 lead any troops against his native land, Gwei Wang had to be 
 handed over to prince Sangwei at the gates of the Burmese 
 capital, which would have been otherwise razed to the ground. 
 Except on the high seas and along -the south-eastern coast, there 
 was then none who dared to raise a finger against the new dynasty. 
 
 When Sangwei got to Yunnan and Kweichow, he received a 
 letter from his majesty, stating that the Boards of Appointment 
 and War could not meddle with his selection of men ; nor the 
 Board of Revenue interfere with his management of the taxes. 
 He was thus really the absolute lord of those two provinces. 
 
 In 1660 a memorial was presented to Shwunchih, stating that 
 Yunnan provided nine million rations yearly ; and that as all the 
 Manchu soldiers had been recalled, it was desirable that two 
 fifths of the fifty thousand Chinese troops should be disbanded, 
 and that the general reyenue be supplemented by that of Yunnan. 
 Being submitted to Sangwei, he replied this memorial, that 
 because of the unsettled condition of the frontier, it would be 
 dangerous to disband any soldiers just then. He strengthened 
 the border army, and increased the yearly expenditure ; and as 
 this amounted to more than his own provinces could always 
 
 *See "History of Corea." 
 
419 
 
 provide, and more than the neighbouring provinces would 
 provide, he petitioned the emperor when there was a deficit, 
 but permitted no one to examine the accounts when there was a 
 surplus. 
 
 Two censors and the prefect of Chingyang accused him of 
 treason, but lost their pains, the court, whether from gratitude 
 or fear, or as we believe from a compound feeling of both, refusing 
 to listen to his detractors, and continuing to bestow upon him 
 proofs of the highest esteem and the greatest friendship and confi- 
 dence, creating him a " prince of the blood," and making his son, 
 who was already an imperial son-in-law, a duke. And in 1667, 
 having a bad eye, he petitioned to be relieved from the duties 
 of making appointments and paying the army, hoping according 
 to the historian thus to increase his reputation. The emperor 
 Kanghi was then a mere youth, and surrounded by the ministers 
 of his predecessors, who refused to decrease Sangwei's influence 
 or to abate his power. 
 
 He now rebuilt, at an enormous outlay of money, the old 
 palace of Woohwashan, calling it a foo, or prince's palace. Seven 
 hundred ching * of land belonging to a Mrs Ma he took from 
 her, calling it the foo property. With Dalai Lama he established 
 a market at Beishungchow, whither millions of horses were 
 yearly brought from western Mongolia and Tibet. On pretence of 
 building new cities he pleaded for grants of money; set up 
 custom houses, exchange markets, and salt-tolls everywhere 
 By these means he acquired enormous revenues. He opened 
 mines of ore and smelted forbidden metals, secretly stored 
 sulphur and laid up smuggled material of all kinds, collected 
 great quantities of local gold and silk, and prepared engines and 
 weapons of war. 
 
 To gain the good will of the literati, he distributed money and 
 favours freely among them, and whoever resisted " felt his power 
 of life and death." His secret supporters were to be found every- 
 where by land and water, and his spies swarmed in all the 
 provinces. His son was son-in-law of the late emperor, and 
 
 * Each about 17 English acres. 
 
420 REBELLION OF THE THREE PRINCES. 
 
 living in Peking. Early and late were flying couriers arriving 
 or starting, reporting that the Mongols were plundering Burma 
 and threatening the western frontier of China, but that they 
 always fled before the men he sent against them ; thus by false 
 despatches he made himself important as the protector of the 
 border. This state of matters continued for ten years, during 
 which he was all but absolute lord of the south-western 
 provinces. 
 
 The south and south-eastern provinces were lorded over in a 
 similar manner by Liaotung men. Shang Kosi was one of those 
 three Liaotung men, who with a small body of men had fled 
 from Tungchow of Shantung across the sea * to join the Manchus. 
 They speedily rose to high rank and each was made a prince- 
 ruler, like Sangwei. Koong Yoodua died without heir ; Gung 
 Joongming was succeeded by his son Jimao, who soon died, 
 succeeded, in July 1671, by his son Gung Jingjoong, son-in-law 
 of the late emperor. Fookien was also misgoverned and groaned 
 under the brutal cruelties of Jingjoong. Kosi still lived, but 
 was old and frail. He therefore handed over the control of the 
 army in Kwangtung to the hands of the drunken, fierce, 
 implacable Jusin, his son, and all the south was outrageously 
 taxed and in misery. 
 
 In 1673, the twelfth year of his reign, the emperor had already 
 taken the reins of government into his own hands ; becoming, 
 like Louis XIV., master of his former masters. He had, by 
 constant study, made himself intimately acquainted with the 
 history of the empire, the encampments, victories, and defeats 
 of former dynasties, the lines of policy which benefited and 
 those which endangered the empire. 
 
 Kosi was bent on returning to his old Liaotung home; 
 petitioning the emperor, as he was unable to see him face to 
 face, to give the succession to his son Jusin. On receipt of this 
 petition, in the end of April 1673, the Boards were commanded 
 to examine the whole question of the standing armies of the 
 three princes. They at length came to the conclusion that the 
 
 *" History of Corea" p. 280. 
 
DISBANDING. 421 
 
 old army* of Kosi should be permitted to return to their homes ; 
 i.e., should be disbanded. The decision, which of course followed 
 the wishes of the emperor, caused great uneasiness to Sangwei 
 and Jingjoong ; who, in order to confirm their suspicions or allay 
 their fears, sent up petitions in August to have their troops also 
 disbanded. By command of the emperor, all the ministers 
 discussed the propriety of this step. With but three exceptions 
 the ministers were unanimously of opinion that Sangwei's troops 
 should not be disbanded ; for the state of the aboriginal Miaodsu 
 in Yunnan and Kweichow was so unsatisfactory, that the with- 
 drawal of Sangwei's army would necessitate the movement 
 thither shortly of Manchu troops. From this decision three 
 presidents strongly dissented, and earnestly advised the breaking 
 up of the three armies. The emperor had already given proof 
 that he was now breaking off from the condition of war against 
 the people, by which the Manchus had been enthroned. In 
 October 1672, the question came up in the form of a memorial 
 by a censor petitioning, that as Swun Kowang, who had fled to 
 the Manchus, by whom he was created Yi Wang, had been famous 
 only as a robber, and had done nothing since he joined the 
 Manchus to merit so high a rank, his Wang should be made a 
 Goong (duke). The emperor decreed that, as a title by one 
 character ( Yi) was not according to custom, it should be changed 
 to Mooyi, lowering the rank to Mooyi Goong. The emperor had 
 also agreed, at the suggestion of the president of the Board of 
 Appointments, that the service of any official sent by the 
 emperor on any public business would cease when five full 
 years had passed. 
 
 Just then came the petition of Kosi to be permitted to return 
 to Liaotung, followed by the above detailed result. The emperor 
 was secretly bent on the disbanding of these forces, as a measure 
 necessary to the welfare of the country. He ordered the princes 
 and Beiras to deliberate the matter ; but as they were divided, 
 he sent a commission of enquiry to each of the three princes. 
 
 * Fan king, " tributary troops," so named because the three princes were really 
 kings in vassalage. 
 
422 REBELLION OF THE THREE PRINCES. 
 
 In spite of his hopes that he would be left with all his troops 
 in Yunnan, as was Moo Yingshu of the preceding dynasty 
 before him, Sangwei was apprehensive of failure, and forbade all 
 exit of horse or man from his jurisdiction, while entrance was 
 free to all; and the imperial commissioners found him ready 
 to pay them outwardly all manner of respect, while he was 
 secretly maturing his plans, defying all the generals of the 
 empire to stop him. But as it was difficult to find a decent 
 pretext for war, he had thoughts of starting an heir of the Ming 
 dynasty, and making proclamations accordingly. He also 
 commanded the troops on the borders of Burma not to disband. 
 Desiring to strike his first blow at the heart of the empire, 
 and fearing his design might become known, he raised his 
 standard on the twenty-first of the eleventh moon (about new- 
 year 1674), killed the governor of Yunnan, and sent proclamations 
 through all his wide territories. 
 
 He grew his hair, changed the form of his cap and garments 
 for the old Chinese style, and erected a white standard and flags 
 of the same colour. He was speedily joined by the governor of 
 Kweichow and its marshal, with Yunnan marshal. The second 
 governor-general of Yunnan and Kweichow under Sangwei, who 
 had always been disliked by him because he would not obey his 
 orders, resided in Kweiyang, and now reported the revolt to 
 Peking ; and with over a dozen men, the rest having probably 
 all deserted to Sangwei, hastened to Chunyooen to prepare it 
 against the rebels. But he found it already revolted, and he was 
 there slain. The governor-general of Szchuen reported this death, 
 stating also that Sangwei had assumed the title of "the sole great 
 commander of the horse and foot under heaven," had first fixed 
 the title ofJoiu ivang for next year (1674), changing it afterwards 
 to "Jao woo'" and had cast cash with the characters "li yoong" 
 
 The renown of Sangwei had early attracted to his side, from 
 all directions, the choicest and most fearless soldiers. As the 
 recruiting field of his army, he had many hundreds of thousands 
 of families,* every five of which was to provide one soldier.*)* 
 
 * Ding Kou\ f Gia. 
 
REVOLT. 428 
 
 Two hundred soldiers had one dsoling; fifty of whom were 
 under a senior and junior general. His whole army was 
 divided into ten camps of twelve hundred men each. There 
 were four generals, Woo Yingchi, Woo Gwogwei, Hia Gwo- 
 hiang, and Hoo Gwojoo, and nine lieut. -generals, the most 
 famous of whom was Ma Bao. All these were of pure Chinese 
 blood, and were all overjoyed at the change from the obnoxious 
 Manchu tail to their own long hair. 
 
 The emperor, possessed of the earliest possible intelligence, 
 took prompt measures to avert the tempest he had brought about 
 his ears. He rejected the advice to slay those ministers who had 
 advised the disbanding of the troops, but sent an order to Fukien 
 and the Kwangs to prevent that disbanding ; and had previously 
 sent Barboo with three thousand picked Manchu troops from 
 Kingchow to Changte. Jooman was ordered to push forward 
 with other three thousand from Woochang to Yaochow. With 
 all possible speed, princes and ministers were hastened with long 
 titles and as many men as they could collect, in all directions 
 along the threatened provinces ; but in spite of a few insignificant 
 victories, they were forced back, or dared not advance. 
 
 Wang Pingfan, one of Sangwei's generals, ravaged Szchuen. 
 Ma Bao marched through Kweichow into Hoonan, taking 
 Yooenchow by night. The governor of Hoonan had soon to flee ; 
 and in April, Changte, Changsha, Yaochow, Lichow, Hungchow, 
 were all captured by the rebels. The lieut.-general in 
 command of Hiangyang, handed over the city to the rebels. 
 Commander Swun Yenling revolted with Kweilin, the capital of 
 Kwangsi. The governor and generals of Szchuen, with their 
 province, took the same side, and were forthwith joined by 
 Fukien under Jingjoong. Thus the six south-western and south 
 provinces were lost to the Manchus in a few months, Kwangtung 
 alone remaining in a sort of neutral condition under Kosi. 
 
 This terrible moral earthquake shook the whole of China, and 
 Peking was sadly rocked. We find the emperor severely 
 censuring the people, through the Board of War, for fleeing for 
 shelter to the western hills. He also said that Yang Chiloong 
 
424 REBELLION OF THE THREE PRINCES. 
 
 must still be in the city, lurking in some hiding place, and that 
 he must be apprehended : then men's minds would compose 
 themselves. Chiloong had, just before, displayed a white 
 standard bordered with red in the name of the third son of the 
 last Ming emperor, whose style he gave out to be " Extended 
 Virtue." He collected a large following immediately. But as 
 he was at once attacked, he was defeated, most of his officers 
 taken, and his army broken up, but he escaped. 
 
 Powerful though Sangwei was in the country, the idol of his 
 large armies, and the ideal general of all who desired to be 
 soldiers, he would scarcely have ventured a tussle with the 
 strong Manchu government if he were certain of having to rely 
 only on his own resources. The stake for which he ventured 
 was independent empire; for he could never be other than 
 highly honoured by the government he had made, even if the 
 emperor, for the benefit of the country, found it necessary to 
 reduce his enormous power. If he consulted beforehand with 
 the other princes, he might find it difficult to impose his will 
 upon them, and create a splendid independent empire of the 
 provinces south of the Yangtsu. While having that object in 
 view, though unacknowledged, his revolt for the retention of his 
 existing position, without any apparent ulterior projects, could 
 not but be felt and sympathised with by the other two princes 
 who were in precisely the same circumstances. It is probable, 
 therefore, that he hoped to incite them to rebellion by his 
 example more than by direct public overtures. But if he had 
 not his acknowledged agents in the palaces and camps of the 
 other two princes, a general of his abilities would not be without 
 his trustworthy spies there. Through those spies he would be 
 constantly and fully informed of all that took place in the 
 palaces of the princes; and his expectation of aid from them 
 soon realised itself, for scarcely was his white flag waving in the 
 breezes of Yunnan, before six of the provinces south of the 
 Yangtsu ranged themselves either under him or at his side. 
 Shang Jusin in Kwangtung did not yet dare venture into the 
 fray ; but Sangwei would not look for strenuous opposition from 
 
PROGRESS OF REVOLT. 425 
 
 a man who was himself in such a position as compelled him to 
 wish well to the revolt. 
 
 The revolted provinces under Sangwei were bordered on the 
 north-east by the Yangtsu, and the province of Hoopei on its 
 northern bank, and on the north by Shensi. Manchu armies were 
 at once sent on with the greatest expedition to the neighbourhood 
 of the rebels. Lurjin arrived at Woochang, on the north bank 
 of the Yangtsu, to prevent an immediate raid on Hoopei ; but 
 with Hoonan as his destined field of action, Warka was ordered 
 with his horse and foot to march through Hoopei. Shensi was 
 placed under the martial orders of grand secretary Molo, who 
 was elevated from being president of Board of Punishment ; and 
 his principal aim was to prevent any possible union of the 
 western Mahommedans with Sangwei ; for the former were in a 
 state of chronic revolt. 
 
 They were, however, able to do no more than observe what was 
 passing on the other side of the river. In February 1674, the 
 viceroy of Hookwang had to report the fall of Yunchow before 
 the rebels. A prince was told off to retake it ; and Niyahan was 
 marched off with the Manchu troops of Techow, to keep Yooen- 
 chow (Kiangsi), then threatened by the rebels. A month before, 
 the governor of Hoonan was ordered to Yaochow; and Mahada 
 was sent to attack Kiangning. Szchuen had thrown itself into 
 the arms of Sangwei, its governor, marshal, and lieut.-generals, 
 all revolting. Yiling was therefore strengthened, and Singan 
 army largely increased to secure it against any possible attack, 
 and to second the army of Szchuen; while Kwangerkwun 
 marched to Hanchoong. The commandant of Changte, in the 
 north of Hoonan, opened the gates for his son, who was 
 commander of the rebel army which marched from the west 
 against the city, and the prefect revolted to the rebels. Lichow 
 fell next. Its garrison was put to the sword ; but the marshal 
 retreated with what men he could save on Kingchow. Changsha, 
 the capital of Hoonan, being without a chief, its commandant 
 opened the gates to the rebels, and Jooman was ordered to cross 
 the river and fortify Yochow, where the governor of the province 
 
426 REBELLION OF THE THREE PRINCES. 
 
 was holding state. Notwithstanding the critical position of 
 their empire, the Manchu army had to be severely reprimanded 
 for plundering the people. Commander Swuii Yenling, with 
 the marshal of Kweiling, capital of Kwangsi, declared for 
 Sangwei, killing several officers who would not accompany them. 
 An officer of Sangwei's crossed the river and took Tiling (or 
 Yichang). But a body of the rebels marching further, was 
 defeated and driven back on Yidoo. Another serious blow to the 
 imperialists was the revolt of Hiangyang in Shantung, in the 
 rear of their main armies. 
 
 Sangwei himself was not inactive, for one body of men he 
 pushed into Shensi, under general Yemoo, which was defeated 
 by Warka, commander of Singan, who retook Yangpinggwan ; 
 with another he was threatening Woochang, which compelled 
 a large concentration of imperial troops there. Yichang had 
 been retaken, and was now again in the hands of Sangwei's 
 men, who soon lost it. Another main division of his army was 
 marched eastwards by Changsha, took Yooenchow, Kiangsi, and 
 other cities, on the way. They joined Gung's army in the east, 
 and the combined army sacked over thirty cities. 
 
 Laita was ordered to Hangchow. He was just in time ; for 
 a petition from the viceroy of the Kiangs soon reached Peking, 
 saying that not only was Fukien gone, but the Kiangs likely to 
 follow, for the few men in Hangchow were utterly unable to 
 cope with Gung's strong armies. Shang Kosi was formally 
 informed, probably as an argument to keep him from following 
 the example of Sangwei, that a large army was to march from 
 Changli for Yunnan and Kweichow; and Niyahan, with another 
 army, to march through Yaochow and Changsha into Kwangsi. 
 Yiliboo held Yiling; Fandali was in Hunyang. Yehua was sent 
 from Hanchoong to Szchuen; Kwangerkwun to Hanchoong; 
 Siboochun to Singan; and president Molo with a large army 
 in centre of the three Chin. Rahada was told off to watch over 
 Shantung and Honan; Kwashun was stationed at Kingkow, 
 to look after both land and river routes; Amida to Anching 
 and Kiangning, to command the river; Toora to Hangchow 
 
GENERAL MAKCHING. 427 
 
 to watch the pirates ; Laita from Chihkiang to Fukien ; Boorgun 
 from Kiangsi to Fukien; and Shooshoo was sent to Kwangtung to 
 be ready for emergencies, for Jusin was not without reason 
 suspected. So much so, that his father reported to the emperor, 
 that of all his sons, Juhiao was the only dutiful and faithful 
 one who had approved himself a worthy minister, and both 
 father and filial son got rewards. 
 
 The Manchu troops were crowding each other out of King, 
 Hiang, Woochang, and Yichang districts ; yet they dared not move 
 across the river. But the Chahar and Kortsin Mongols prayed 
 for permission to march against the rebels. Woo Yingchi, a 
 general of Sangwei's, surrounded Yochow with three deep 
 ditches, fortifying his position against horse or foot by " Deers' 
 horns." But whether, in spite of his present strong position, 
 Sangwei was beginning to see his aims impossible of attainment 
 or not, it is difficult to say. But it is probable that, though he 
 had hitherto met with no serious reverse, or even check, his 
 hopes of immediate conquest, by speedy and decisive action 
 before the imperial court could have time to move, were now 
 fast disappearing ; for the clouds of war- thunder were growing 
 thicker and thicker, and must sometime break. At any rate, the 
 Dalai Lama of Tibet made overtures to the emperor, asking 
 if Sangwei humbly implored for pardon, whether he might not 
 be received ; and if he continued acting like a murderous wild 
 beast, was it not better to cut up the country (between Sangwei 
 and the emperor) and recall the troops? The emperor 
 vehemently opposed this suggestion of a divided empire, arid 
 replied by putting Sangwei's son and grandsons to death, whom 
 he had imprisoned on receipt of tidings of the revolt. Loojun 
 was executed at the same time for losing Hoonan. Efforts were 
 redoubled at the capital to reinforce the troops, to keep them in 
 provisions ; and the Jesuit missionaries were ordered to cast a 
 number of light cannon, easily transported over hills or across 
 rivers. 
 
 Meantime general Liw Jinjoong, with the city of Chaochow, 
 and the general of Pingyang revolted to Jingjoong, and Sangwei 
 
428 KEBELLION OF THE THREE PRINCES. 
 
 sent on ten thousand men to occupy Whangsha ho. Kosi was 
 ordered to carefully look after the south of the difficult pass 
 between the Kwangs. Wunchow, with its commandant, followed 
 Pingyang. Liwchow also revolted, and its capture was laid upon 
 Kosi. Lo-ching, Hwangshu, and Taiping in Chihkiang, followed 
 the example of Wunchow. Rahada was sent on to Taining. 
 But attempts by Gung on Kienchang were defeated. His men 
 attacked Kinhwa nine times in August, but were always beaten 
 back by Rahada. And several cities were taken and retaken on 
 both sides. The duke of Haichung died, and his son Fangdsoo 
 went over to the rebels, pretending to become one of them. He 
 thus got an opportunity, and slew their commander and two 
 officers. After which he posted himself very strongly in 
 Changchung, whence he sent an appeal for aid. A proclamation 
 was issued by the emperor highly praising his conduct, giving him 
 his late father's title, making him a lieut. -general, and ordering 
 himself and his brothers into Fukien to act in concert with Kosi. 
 The Manchu troops were now beginning to make progress ; for 
 they got to Foochow, where a body of Gung's troops was 
 defeated. Woochow was retaken, and notwithstanding the 
 numbers and activity of the rebels, the wooden wall which 
 they had made round their camp at Kinhwa was burnt down. 
 Chwunan was retaken and five rebel camps destroyed. The 
 rebels on the other hand rose " like bees " and vigorously attacked 
 Whangyan, Ninghai, Hiangshan, Sinchang and Yuyao. Laita 
 and Rahada were ordered to consult together on the growing 
 difficulties and to devise plans for relieving the threatened cities. 
 If Mongol followers were found plundering the people, they 
 were to be put to death ; a wise precaution to prevent all the 
 people from rising. Yochow was defended on three sides by the 
 lake. The fourth side was attacked by the rebels in a strong 
 entrenched camp, with moats and walls. The emperor ordered a 
 combined attack to be made upon them from the city, and by an 
 army under Niyahan from Kiangsi. Neither side dared to fight a 
 decisive battle, but occupied the time in besieging, taking and 
 retaking cities. Perhaps both found this at once the more 
 
PLAN OF MANCHUS. 429 
 
 pleasant and profitable employment ; for each city as it was 
 taken was pillaged, and the spoils again seized when retaken by 
 the other side. Wars in the west are waged on the principle 
 that the cities fall to the army able to drive its opponent off the 
 field : this war in practice if not in theory, was just the reverse ; 
 the desire of the rebels being to take as many cities as possible, 
 that of the imperialists to retain what they held and as far as 
 possible to retake the cities lost, but both avoided risking anything 
 like a pitched battle. The patience characteristic of the Chinese, 
 together with the wide extent of the country involved, may 
 account for that sort of warfare ; while the absence of any noble 
 principle in the war would tend to render it of a mere guerilla 
 character. The brunt of the war naturally fell on the districts 
 separating Sangwei from Jingjoong, who for mutual protection 
 gravitated towards each other. In October Yaochow rebels 
 marched on Wooyooen and neighbourhood, and were so threat- 
 ening that orders were issued to hold Yenchow at all cost, while 
 Manchu and Mongol cavalry was sent to guard Kiangning. 
 Changsha fell and Yuenchow was attacked. The Manchus took 
 some cities, and gained a few victories. 
 
 But the rebels had successes greater on their side to show ; for 
 Hwichow, Hihien, Chihien and Whangyen were all taken by 
 them and they were recruited by the revolt of Artai, whose name 
 is Manchu ; and he must have had other reasons than love of 
 country for his action. Indeed it would appear as if he were 
 wise in abandoning an apparently sinking vessel. Sangwei sent 
 an army against Yuenchow, which was met by Manchus sent from 
 Nanchang to hold the place at any cost ; while the Manchu 
 Boorgun was ordered to die in Kanchow rather than yield. 
 
 The Manchus were continually pushing reinforcements both 
 by western and central routes. Their plan of campaign was to 
 march from Yuenchow on Changsha, which once taken, the 
 rebel communications would be broken up and their detached 
 armies thereafter easily destroyed. 
 
 When Warka, commanding in Singan, retook Hanchoong in 
 the south of Shensi, he retreated on Paoning. In the same 
 
430 REBELLION OF THE THREE PRINCES. 
 
 autumn (1674) the rebel general Wang Pingfan cut off the com- 
 munications of the army, stopping the boats which came from 
 Liaoyang with provisions. The Paoning army had therefore 
 to retreat on Kwangyooen, where they were on short rations for 
 two months. It was therefore impossible to keep the army 
 together; and four thousand men scattered, while Wang 
 Foochun the marshal deserted with two thousand men to 
 Sangwei. He had no sooner got to Pingliang than Hanchoong 
 again fell into the hands of the rebels. Whereupon Sangwei sent 
 two hundred thousand taels to Foochun for his army ; and sent 
 Wang Pingfan and Woo Jumao from Hanchoong by the west of 
 (Shensi) to welcome him. All the local banditti, and the 
 Tibetans on the way flocked like bees to his standard. 
 
 By this time the troops raised from the aborigines of Kingchow, 
 with the remaining portion of the army returned from Paoning, 
 were concentrated in Singan. One thousand of these men were 
 ordered to hurry off to strengthen Lanchow, and another 
 thousand to Yenan. But the order was disobeyed, and the men 
 remained in Singan, where it was probably thought they had few 
 enough. Whereupon Chinchow, Lanchow, Goongchang, Ting- 
 bien, Chingbien, Lintao, Chingyang, Swite, Yenan, Whamachu, 
 fell to the rebels in rapid succession. Foochun himself made his 
 headquarters at Pingliang. His army he scattered over the various 
 districts taken. Thus all on the south of the Yellow river fell off 
 to the rebels, nor was the north of it secure ; and it would seem 
 an easy matter, if there was only one head to guide the rebels, 
 and that a wise as well as an intelligent one, to drive back the 
 Manchus to their cold mountain home in the far north-east. 
 
 Jang Yoong, marshal of Kansu, and its lieut. -generals, had 
 however remained steadfast. The marshal retook Lan, Yen and 
 Koong cities. Doonga recovered Chinchow, and attacked Ping- 
 liang. The marshal took up his headquarters at Koongchang and 
 Chinchow, to cut the communication between the rebels of 
 Shensi and Szchuen. The emperor sent a son of Foochun's 
 to invite him to return to his allegiance; but though he 
 professed to acknowledge his " crime," he opposed Doonga for a 
 
GIGANTIC STRUGGLE. 431 
 
 year. Foochun incited the soldiers of Ninghia to slay their 
 commander. Jao Liangdoong, lieut. -general of Tientsin, was 
 sent in great haste to retake Ninghia. The army in Hingan 
 followed Ninghia's example, and united with the Hanchoong 
 rebels. The danger was therefore so great and so near at hand 
 that the court was necessarily alarmed ; and great commander 
 Toohai was hurried off to take command of all the troops. And 
 not too soon ; for Sangwei had pushed forwards Pingfan, Tan 
 Hoong, and Jumao by three routes to overwhelm Shensi, and 
 unite with the Pingliang rebels. He also ordered a local lieut.- 
 general of Yunnan to march with one thousand of his Miaos to 
 strengthen Pingliang garrison. 
 
 Toohai commenced operations by an immediate attack on the 
 rebels at Pingliang, and defeated them at the north of the city ; 
 seizing Hoo or Tiger hill, and cutting off their communications. 
 He also fired his cannon into the residence in the midst of the 
 city ; and Foochun, in terror, sent some of his principal men to 
 surrender. Pingfan and Jumao had been unsuccessful in their 
 object ; for they were several times defeated, and had to retreat 
 on Hanchoong. Kuyuen and Chingyang therefore fell to the 
 imperialists. 
 
 Sangwei had, not without reason, regarded the defection 
 to him of Foochun as opening the door to the capital. He 
 therefore prepared at once to take advantage of his good fortune, 
 by pushing his men on from both Shensi and Szchuen, and 
 desired to go himself to strike a decisive blow at the " throat " 
 of the imperial armies of King and Yochow. He got ready a 
 flotilla of boats at Hoodookow, the port where the Lishwi river 
 joins the Yangtsu ; and was at the same time anxious to open 
 communications with the rebels of Hingan and Hanchoong. 
 But his plans were so far disarranged by Foochun, who, after a 
 series of victories and defeats, craved permission to surrender to 
 the Manchu government, and was received in the month of 
 July. Whether or not because he was coldly received or was 
 in danger of being ill-used, he again revolted : and was defended 
 in a battle by Jinbao, who retook Chungning. Toohai was 
 
432 EEBELLION OF THE THREE PRINCES. 
 
 instructed to invite Foochun to return, and was successful ; for 
 he surrendered with all his men. The emperor formally 
 pardoned his past misconduct, made him Chingkow commander, 
 ordering him to redeem the past by good service against the 
 rebels. Toohai and Jang Yoong occupied all the important 
 posts in their province; and prince Yolo retook the cities of 
 Kienchang, Kwangsin, Yaochow, and was ordered against 
 Changsha, while Raboo moved his army into Kiangsi. Sangwei 
 had then seventy thousand men occupying the ports of Yochow 
 and Lichow, over against the armies of Kingchow and the north 
 of the river; and other seventy thousand at Changsha, Ping- 
 hiang and Liling, to meet the armies of Kiangsi. Yolo, seizing 
 the opportunity of Sangwei's absence in the west, marched by 
 Yuenchow, defeated the first army, taking their fort ; he then 
 marched by Liling against Pinghiang, defeated the rebels there, 
 slaying over a myriad. Hia Gwohiang, in terror, fled the city ; 
 and Yolo marched on against Changsha. This rapid success threw 
 the rebel Hoonan into terror. Sangwei scarcely knew what to do ; 
 but hearing of the peril in which Changsha stood, he drew his 
 army thitherwards, forsaking Soongdsu. He took up his position 
 at Yolooshan near the river, while he sent Hoo Gwojoo into the 
 city, and Ma Bao to camp outside the city, surrounded by a wide 
 and deep ditch, round which was placed iron caltrops, with a 
 line of elephants in front. He then summoned out all the 
 rebels of Yiling and Nanchang to help in the defence. 
 
 As the defence of Changsha was made so complete, the 
 emperor, inferring that their camps in the various ports on the 
 lake must be ill attended to, sent Luarjin, with the men of 
 King and Yo, across the river, to advance with forced 
 marches. Luarjin in obeying defeated the rebels at Hoodookow. 
 Chani took Taipingjiai, defeating an army there ; and the fleet 
 sent to Tungting took Kiinshan, and with it fifty of the rebel 
 vessels. Just then the rebels sent down bands of spies ; and 
 as the imperialists there were few, they dispersed and fled. If 
 the imperialists had then acted with promptitude, they could 
 have connected Lichow and Changte, broken up the rebel line 
 
DESULTORY FIGHTING. 433 
 
 between the cities, and marched against Changsha in front and 
 flank. But they trifled, and did not press in ; nor did they look 
 with proper care after Hoodookow, so that when rebel vessels 
 from Soongdsu returned, prince Lurjin retreated before them, 
 abandoning all he had occupied, and fleeing back to Kingchow. 
 As the various attempts to cut through the rebels' communi- 
 cations had failed, they were as powerful as ever in the Kiang 
 and Hoo provinces. 
 
 Sangwei, more prompt than his adversary, ordered Gao Daji 
 from Liling and Pinghiang, to take Kingan and cut off the 
 retreat of that division of the Manchu army, which had passed 
 south ; another Manchu main division having remained all this 
 time inactive in Nanchang. Daji was a capital soldier. His 
 vanguard was of four thousand picked men. With a small band 
 he vehemently pressed against the imperialists, who were broken 
 in the most shameful manner. One hundred of his men rushed 
 upon the army at Dihiao temple, and with a rush slew their men 
 and seized the standard. He again sent a few men suddenly among 
 the imperialists at Lodsu shan mountain. A panic seized the 
 army, and general Hirgun, with all his men, fled the camp. The 
 rebels entered, ate, drank, and did what they desired, and then 
 retreated at their leisure. On their return they were met by a 
 rebel leader, Han Dayin, who inveigled them into joining Hoo 
 Gwojoo. Daji died of vexation at this bad treatment, and Dayin 
 dared not go beyond the city walls to fight. Hence Kingan was 
 surrounded by the imperialists, and in the spring of 1677 was in 
 extremity for want of food. Sangwei sent Ma Bao with nine 
 thousand men to the relief of the city. Dayin was suspicious of a 
 trick and would not move out to meet him. Ma Bao got to 
 Dsooshwi river, and found not a single cannon opening in the 
 city to respond to him. He too began to be suspicious and 
 returned to Hoonan. Raboo sent twenty thousand men in 
 pursuit ; but they were many times beaten by the retreating 
 rebels. 
 
 In May, Dayin quietly led away his men, forsaking the 
 city from want of food. All went on foot, and got across the 
 c i 
 
434 REBELLION OF THE THREE PRINCES. 
 
 river unmolested. When the imperialists heard the beat of 
 drums and firing of cannon, they believed it was an attack on 
 their camp. They were terrified, and Dayin was able easily 
 to rejoin the rebels between Ningdoo and Longan. So 
 sadly had the Manchu valour degenerated before Sangwei. The 
 Peking court severely censured the superior officers, and replaced 
 some of them. 
 
 Prince Gung Jingjoong was the grandson of Gung Joongming, 
 who fled with a few more men from Tungchow, across the gulf 
 of Liao, to join the Manchus. Joongming died shortly after he 
 was made prince, and his son did not long survive him. 
 Jingjoong succeeded to the kingly palace of Foochow ; and was 
 married to an imperial princess, daughter of prince Haogo ; and 
 he was called the emperor's son-in-law. 
 
 Duke Fan Wunsoo was then governor of Chihkiang, with 
 headquarters at Hangchow. For three generations the Fans 
 and Gungs had been intermarrying, and the closest friendship 
 existed between Jingjoong and Wunsoo, their respective 
 jurisdictions being side by side. As Wunsoo was the elder he 
 styled himself the Jwenshung or equal of Jingjoong, who called 
 himself the Wanshung, the inferior of Wunsoo. Wunsoo after 
 a time persisted in taking a more lowly title, which was accept- 
 able to both. This continued for some time, till one day 
 Jingjoong abruptly assumed the old formal style, which implied 
 that governors-general and governors of provinces addressed and 
 were addressed by the three southern princes on equal terms. 
 First was written the title, then the surname of the recipient, 
 with four characters intimating the public character of the 
 document. A letter so addressed was sent with beating of 
 drums by Jingjoong to Wunsoo, who was startled at the 
 innovation, but agreed to change his style of address for the first 
 form in accordance with the wishes of the prince. This was 
 the first indication of a changed disposition which the Fukien 
 historian could discover, and he was an eye-witness. 
 
 Wunsoo, who was a Mookden man, gave himself up entirely to 
 the good of the people under him, scarcely resting day or night 
 
PLAIN SPEECH. 435 
 
 in his measures to further the interests of or avert calamity from 
 the people. During his four years rule, he had all covetous 
 officials accused, and all injustice put down, The pirate Jung 
 was a great grief to him ; and he projected a plan to have all the 
 various forces of Fukien, the two Kwangs, Kiang and Chihkiang, 
 combined to destroy the piratical forces. 
 
 Not satisfied with the memorial drawn up by his secretary, he 
 shut himself up a day and night in his room. He drew it up in 
 two thousand choice characters under five heads, first, public 
 matters belonging to his district; second, taxes and rations; 
 third, the army ; fourth, on spies and reports ; fifth, on foreign 
 nations. This he had copied out and sent to his brothers in 
 Peking, the elder of whom was a Goosha, the younger a small 
 official in the Board of Punishment. They were terrified at the 
 boldness of this exposure of the military affairs, and suppressed 
 the paper ; but the emperor heard of it, though he did not see 
 it, and saying that this was a faithful minister, nominated him 
 viceroy of Fukien soon after. 
 
 Like prince Shang Jusin, Jingjoong was a drunkard, and his 
 men daily grew bolder in their oppression of the people ; while 
 the viceroy and governor, living in the same city, dared not 
 interfere. When Wunsoo's appointment of viceroy of Fukien 
 was made public, the people rejoiced, though Jingjoong did not. 
 He politely sent messengers however, who informed Wunsoo 
 that his expenditure as viceroy, what with soldiers, and 
 what with carriages, would amount to a good many score 
 thousand taels a year ; but that Jingjoong would see that the 
 money was ready. Wunsoo declined the princely help, and 
 the prince was chagrined. 
 
 When he got to his new post, Wunsoo found that the rations 
 of the soldiers had been permitted to run done three months 
 before in Foochow, and for six months at the other stations. 
 He was beset with demands for arrears, but he refused to 
 take upon himself any responsibility for the past, promising 
 to provide in full for the future. Yet he sent up an urgent 
 memorial stating that there were arrears of six hundred 
 
436 REBELLION OF THE THREE PRINCES. 
 
 thousand taels, and expressing his fears for the future of the- 
 province. He actively inspected all the province, lodging 
 in a tent, accompanied by a thousand good horsemen. After 
 seven and a half hours sleep, the cymbals and drums of the 
 watchmen roused the camp, and they travelled several miles 
 before daybreak. His ambition being to put down piracy, 
 he set up five stations, with a thousand men in each. 
 Between these he established roving companies of seven 
 hundred men each. He learned and practised the tactics of 
 the western nations, making false attacks on one station with 
 the men of some of the other stations and the "rovers;" or 
 he suddenly fell upon some place under the care of one of the 
 robber bands. Thus the men were practised in both offensive 
 and defensive movements. With his vessels similarly active on 
 the coast, he protected his seaboard from the pirates. 
 
 Before Duke Wunsoo went to Foochow the desperate measure 
 was resorted to of compelling all the people on the sea coasts to 
 remove inland ; Taijai being made the border beyond which any 
 civilian seen was to be put to death without mercy. Five 
 thousand boats made six trips in five months to Poochung and 
 other northern cities, removing over a hundred thousand families, 
 or more than a million of souls.* Some few remained, and of those 
 who had gone inland, not included in the above, many returned 
 again in spite of the threatened penalty. Wunsoo opposed this 
 desperate policy as a cowardly one, and recommended rather to 
 strengthen the coast defences. 
 
 Another order from Peking prevented the sea-faring 
 population to fish or prepare salt, the two products on which 
 Fukien people principally depended. Want of food gave rise to 
 trouble, and was likely to cause more, when Wunsoo virtually 
 removed the prohibition by declaring, in spite of official opposition, 
 that the people were forbidden only to go on the high seas, two 
 or three hundred li out, but that inside that distance they were 
 at liberty to fish ; and immediately the streets of Foochow were 
 
 * In the conquest of Liaotung and Liaosi we saw several instances of wholesale 
 removal, though not perhaps on so extensive a scale. 
 
UNEASINESS IN FOOCHOW. 437 
 
 Again filled with the produce of the sea. He thus prevented riots 
 by a wise evasion of a law which might indeed have starved out 
 the pirates, but which would be the cause of calamities more than 
 enough to counterbalance any good. 
 
 As soon as Wunsoo was established as viceroy he published 
 every matter of importance to all the neighbouring provinces. 
 Chai the governor-general of Szchuen and Hookwang was the 
 first to respond, and his first very message proclaimed the 
 news of Sangwei's restlessness and the universal terror which 
 prevailed in the west. 
 
 Jingjoong had ordered the dismissal of his seven hundred 
 soldiers, and their surrender to the viceroy, who was willing 
 to enroll them with his own three thousand men in the 
 little army of his five stations, to act against the pirates. They 
 were scarcely under his command before an order came from the 
 capital, forbidding Jingjoong to remove, or to dismiss his troops. 
 It was then (February 1674) he first heard of Sangwei's revolt, 
 against whose possible march eastwards he was put on his 
 guard. The viceroy had secret instructions to the same purport, 
 ordering him to restore the troops to Jingjoong. It was the 
 reluctance, real or assumed, of the latter to receive those troops 
 which made him aware of the private communication to the 
 viceroy, who had to reveal it. 
 
 The prince was now all soldier and himself again, his palace 
 resounded day and night with warlike preparations. But a 
 second message of similar import made him uneasy, as he doubt- 
 less believed himself regarded with suspicion, and he was not 
 unnaturally under the impression that the viceroy had secret 
 instructions not calculated to make the position of the 
 prince a safe one. A third embassy from his younger brother 
 in the capital, enumerating the gracious bounty of the emperor 
 to the house of Gung, had, as was natural, the opposite of a re- 
 assuring effect. On that evening the viceroy had a drinking 
 party, as he often had, which was suddenly and abruptly broken 
 up about midnight by the report that Jingjoong was in the 
 streets in complete armour, and that two civilians had been 
 
438 REBELLION OF THE THREE PRINCES. 
 
 murdered. The viceroy therefore became as suspicious of the 
 prince as the prince of him. As neither hate nor love, politics 
 nor war, affect any privacy in China, the mutual hate springing 
 from mutual distrust spread like wildfire over the large city, 
 dividing it into two parties, threatening to be satisfied only with 
 much blood. To prevent uproar, and to tranquillise the citizens, 
 the viceroy issued a proclamation, stating that the imperial 
 court being vexed at the formidable proportions assumed by 
 piracy, had permitted the prince to recall his orders disbanding 
 his men ; and he called upon all the people to be of one mind in 
 serving the common weal. A similar proclamation was posted 
 on his palace walls by the prince. This served to allay popular 
 tumults, but did not remove the prince's suspicions as to the 
 ulterior aims of the viceroy ; and the numerous favours conferred 
 on himself by the court only confirmed those suspicions of some 
 inscrutable designs upon his liberty or life. But some days* 
 peace moderated his fears. 
 
 The commissioners had already arrived in Yunnan with the 
 imperial mandate for disbanding the army; and a nephew of 
 Wunsoo's was sent on the same errand to Fukien. Before his 
 arrival, a man had got to Foochow, who orally reported the 
 insurrection of Sangwei, and the murder by him of the two 
 commissioners. As soon as the Fukien commissioner heard 
 thereof he became restless, and on the twenty-first day he 
 returned to court. The prince and the viceroy had not seen 
 each other for six days, but had to join in escorting the 
 commissioner beyond the city. The duke was certain that 
 insurrection was in progress at the palace. 
 
 Mrs Jow, a wife of the prince, who was a relation of the 
 viceroy's, was dangerously ill, and the latter felt compelled to 
 visit her. This he did, and to show his own peaceful intentions 
 he took with him only two attendants ; one before bearing his 
 card, and another following. He was surrounded by crowds of 
 the prince's men as soon as he had accepted his invitation to go 
 inside. After they had mutually saluted each other the prince said : 
 " You are a long-expected guest ; " but changed his welcome and 
 
WASHING CANNON. 439 
 
 his colour in his next sentence, " Whatever your plots against 
 me, I fear you not!" The viceroy smiled, and said there was 
 nothing of the kind. The reply calmed the prince, who became 
 smilingly hospitable ; and the reconciled friends spent five hours 
 over their wine, from which the viceroy rode home quite drunk. 
 Next day they escorted the commissioner beyond the city. 
 
 The viceroy was one day thereafter greatly alarmed, and the 
 city thrown into terror, by a sudden sound of camion-firing, which 
 continued throughout the whole day. To prevent any alarm, it 
 had previously been the invariable custom in the city to give 
 notice five days previously to the " washing of the cannon " ; 
 but on this occasion no information reached the viceroy till a 
 messenger sent by him returned saying that the prince was 
 " washing " his cannon. The drilling of the men was also 
 carried on in the same irregular manner; beginning one 
 morning at fifth watch, when the whole city was roused by the 
 blast of horns, and the viceroy's messenger informed him that 
 the prince was already, at 2 a.m., in the parade ground. This state 
 of matters continued daily at the most unlocked for times first 
 watch, midnight, early or late and the wearied viceroy was 
 oppressed to sickness. And not without reason ; for though the 
 capital of Fukien is 40 li in circumference, the palace of the 
 viceroy in the west corner was only 5 li from that of the prince, 
 and was thus entirely in his power. The prince had fully ten 
 thousand men under arms, with numerous animals ready for 
 the battle-field ; his very boys of fourteen in the palace 
 constantly practised the bow and riding; and their military 
 cries were unceasing. The viceroy had nominally no more than 
 three thousand men ; in reality they were but two thousand. 
 Most of these were secretly leagued with the prince's men, and 
 were certainly not to be trusted to fight against them. 
 
 In the circumstances, the viceroy was certainly justified in 
 thinking it advisable to make a circuit to visit his province- 
 Northwards 400 li was Yenping ; through which and passing by 
 Poochung, to the confines of Chihkiang, the distance was 
 in all about 1000 li. But the sea was covered with pirates, 
 
440 REBELLION OF THE THREE PRINCES. 
 
 and the land route was so difficult on account of the many hills 
 and difficult passes, that his few men would be valueless. To 
 the south there was only the sea ; but by Hingfoo, Chiienfoo, 
 and Chungfoo he could get to Haichung to the duke and 
 marshal there, where there was an army. He could thus escape 
 out off the tiger's den. 
 
 The viceroy had agreed to start for Hinghwa on the fifteenth 
 of second moon (March). In the beginning of that moon the 
 author from whom we quote went away before ; but never again 
 did he see the viceroy, who was made a prisoner ere he could 
 determine to abandon his post. For on the fifteenth of third 
 moon, Jingjoong had openly revolted ; giving out that his father 
 had agreed at Shanhaigwan always to follow Sangwei. All the 
 superior officers of Fukien gave in their adhesion, and the 
 province was under his power. He employed the officers who 
 joined him to march on the neighbouring provinces ; one by the 
 east route, to attack the large cities of Tai, Wun, and Choo ; 
 another by the west, against Kwangsin, Kienchang, and Yaochow ; 
 and a third by the central route over Hienloling pass, against 
 Kinhwa and Kiichow in Chihkiang. Just then large bands of 
 robbers rose in great strength around Yenchow and Hwichow ; 
 and the whole seaboard was in consternation. 
 
 Li Jufang, viceroy of Chihkiang, took prompt measures to 
 avert the calamities threatening. He rode off himself in extreme 
 haste to occupy and defend Kiichow ; sending strong detachments 
 to hold the most important points about Shangshan. Laita was 
 ordered into Chihkiang to support him, and Boorgun was sent 
 into Kiangsi. Other movements of imperial troops took place 
 where thought needful. Efforts were made to recover Jingjoong 
 to his allegiance ; his own brother, on one occasion, being sent 
 with generous overtures, to which he would not listen; nor 
 would he even permit this brother to enter any of the lands 
 acknowledging his sway. He was just then attacking Kiichow, 
 and ravaging its neighbourhood with a considerable army; 
 against which, as he would not listen to terms, a Manchu army 
 was forwarded under prince Shooshoo. Jufang rode up to the 
 
THREE-CORNERED FIGHT. 441 
 
 very entrenchments of the rebels, and sword in hand led on his 
 men amid a shower of arrows and stones from the ballistae. He 
 passed the fosse, and the rebels had to retreat. Following up 
 his victory he took the cities of Yiwoo, Yangsi, and Showchang ; 
 and a detachment of his men defeated the rebels at Kinhwa and 
 Shaohing. When the rebels returned in force to attack Kuchow, 
 he stole upon them by night, slew over ten thousand men, and 
 raised the siege. 
 
 The rebel army which had gone towards "Wunchow had been 
 for a time successful ; but a division of Shooshoo's army under 
 Folata stopped its victories, drove it back, took Hwangyen, 
 and compelled the rebel commander Yanghing, a native of 
 Liaotung, to retire on Wunchow, coming up with him just 
 outside the city. There a battle was fought in which Yanghing 
 lost twenty thousand men ; and had to swim across the river into 
 the city. He deepened the fosse and strengthened the parapets, 
 determined to make a firm stand there. That he found 
 comparatively easy ; for it was well protected by water, and a 
 land attack was ineffective. While the Manchu army was 
 idly investing this city, one of the Gung family was closely 
 pressing the siege of Kienchang, and Jufang was watched by a 
 large rebel army, divided into many small inter-communicating 
 camps. But the investing army around Kienchang was quietly 
 and stealthily withdrawn, and for no apparent reason. The 
 emperor, however, correctly inferred that it was withdrawn 
 because of active hostility on the part of the pirates along the 
 coast. He therefore ordered the army around Wunchow to raise 
 the siege of that city, and attack the rebels in the rear while 
 the pirates were attacking them from the coast. 
 
 When he rebelled, Jingjoong had inveigled Liw Jinjoong* 
 commanding in the city of Chaochow to open the gates for him' 
 to make that city a buffer against any attacks from Kwangtung' 
 The pirates (see Formosa) were then ravaging the coast of 
 Fukien, which was under Manchu rule. Jingjoong had made 
 .an agreement with the pirates to permit them to hold 
 certain cities and territories in Fukien on condition of giving 
 
442 REBELLION OF THE THREE PRINCES. 
 
 him their support. But when he believed himself grown 
 great by the success at first attending the various armies 
 sent by him into Chihkiang, he failed to implement his 
 agreement; and took possession of the prefectural cities of 
 Chang, Chiien, Ta, and Shaowoo. This occasioned a quarrel 
 between the pirates and the rebels. The latter had to withdraw 
 from Kienchang, and the Manchus prepared to pursue them. 
 
 But when the augmented army began to move from Kiichow 
 it found its path barred by a rebel army of several myriads, who 
 held the difficult passes of Kiwloongshan by the Kiiho river. 
 A myriad more at Tasinan protected the rebels' stores and kept 
 open communications. It was resolved that the best plan was to 
 attack this post, and take the city of Kiangshan. In mid-autumn 
 some Manchu soldiers were ordered to wade across the river one 
 evening, and attack the camp ; while the cannon were so planted 
 as completely to command the line of retreat. These men 
 crossed the river and were rapidly massing on the rebel side of 
 the river. The rebels were encamped on the heights, hidden 
 away in thick forests of old trees. The gully was so narrow 
 that the men could march only in single file. But if it was 
 difficult to go in it was as difficult to come out ; and the rebels 
 were cut down by cannon shot as soon as they came to the open, 
 and before they could touch the imperialists forming against 
 them. This artillery fire therefore entirely disconcerted them. 
 The imperialists took advantage of the effect produced and 
 set many rebel posts on fire. The commander of the rebels 
 fled with thirty horse, Changshan fell, and the pass of Hienhia 
 ling was open to the Manchus. 
 
 Hienjoong was commanding the rebel army in Kiangsi. He 
 was defeated in a battle ; but was still very powerful though he 
 lost two cities. He heard that the main imperialist army had 
 gone into Fukien, and he threatened to cut off their communi- 
 cations. Jufang, however, sent spies to him, to falsely report 
 that his two subordinate commanders had surrendered; and 
 Hienjoong, fearing absolute isolation, himself surrendered. 
 
 Thus fell off two of Jingjoong's main armies ; and the loss 
 
ONE PRINCE SUBMITS. 443 
 
 being known to the Formosan pirates, they boldly pushed far 
 inland, took a large number of cities, and pressed on to Yenping 
 to meet and give battle to himself. Hearing of their approach, 
 his army fell to pieces like a " broken tile ; " and he was left 
 helpless and without resource. He therefore sent his son to 
 the imperial army, to hand over the seal of supreme command 
 which he had assumed. He murdered the viceroy Wunsoo, to 
 prevent unpleasant disclosures regarding the past, and then 
 presented himself a prisoner to the imperial army. He asked 
 forgiveness, and the opportunity of proving his repentance, by 
 employment in active service against the rebels ; promising to 
 drive the pirates into the sea. Then last of all, the com- 
 mandant of Wunchow, hearing of his chiefs submission, opened 
 the gates to the Manchus. Jufang continued his victorious 
 career; pressed upon the rebels of Kiangsi, and slew, seized, 
 or received the submission of fully a hundred thousand men. 
 
 The pirates were, in 1677, driven back upon Amoy, and 
 afterwards to Formosa. Jingjoong ordered Chaochow to be 
 opened to the Manchus. He was pardoned, and re-employed. 
 He was afterwards accused of being a far worse man than Jusin ; 
 for while the latter spoke madly and acted cruelly when drunk, 
 the former did so even while sober. He was therefore, with 
 many of his comrades, put to death with torture in Peking. 
 Fukien was restored to Manchu rule ; and the armies were recalled. 
 
 Shang Kosi was become old and frail by the year 1671 ; and 
 to relieve himself of some of his toil, he nominated his eldest son 
 Jusin second in command. This son was a confirmed drunkard, 
 of a coarse, brutal nature, and of a savage disposition which 
 delighted in bloodshed ; a craving he was able to satiate when 
 he thus gained command. Two years after, Kosi prayed the 
 emperor to relieve him of all office, permit him to retire to 
 Liaotung, his native home, and give supreme command to his 
 eldest son. The Boards had warmly recommended the disband- 
 ing of the fifteen Dsolings under Kosi and their six thousand 
 soldiers, with the twenty thousand able-bodied men connected 
 with them; and it was out of the measures taken to secure this, 
 
444 REBELLION OF THE THREE PRINCES. 
 
 that, as we have seen, these rebellions broke out. Kosi did not, 
 therefore, receive permission to retire. He was apparently 
 faithful to the dynasty, however ; for he seized the messenger of 
 Sangwei, sent to the emperor the message inciting him to revolt, 
 and next year he sent his son Juhiao against Liw Jinjoong at 
 Chaochow. At the same time he petitioned the emperor in 
 favour of this son, as the only one of his sons who was faithful 
 and trustworthy, and who therefore should be made his own 
 successor. The son was nominated a great commander, while 
 the father was still ordered to retain and use the supreme 
 command. 
 
 Jusin when a boy accompanied his father into the wars ; and 
 at the age of nineteen went to court, where, because of his 
 father's warrior reputation, he was made a duke. He had a 
 separate camp of his own, in which he was really independent, 
 when he was made second in command by his father. During 
 his father's illness he was acting commander. His brother Juhiao 
 was defeated by a force of ten thousand pirates, and driven back 
 on Hwichow. He was tempted by Sangwei, and cast in his lot 
 with the rebels. Men flocked to his standard in " clouds," just 
 when the pirates were ravaging Chaohing, when Sangwei had sent 
 a force to take Chaoching, west of Canton, and when half of 
 Kwangtung was in rebel hands. Kosi was then in the south-east 
 of the province, and was unable to rise off his bed ; the troubles 
 around him, and the division in his own family, may have been too 
 much for the old man. He appealed for help from Kiangsi ; and 
 Shooshoo, the great commander, was ordered into Kwangtung. 
 But though the imperial government openly declared that Jusin 
 could not possibly succeed his father, secret overtures were made 
 to him, which, while upbraiding him for his forgetfulness of the 
 imperial favours bestowed upon his house, offered him full 
 pardon if he repented of his criminal revolt. But the rebel had 
 meantime accepted the title of Great Commander from Sangwei. 
 He had, like the other rebels adopted a new standard and 
 flags, and assumed the old Chinese style of hair and dress. He 
 put some officials to death, and made his father a virtual prisoner. 
 
KWANGTUNG REVOLTS. 445 
 
 His brother Juhiao occupied Hwichow, and the viceroy Jin 
 Gwangdsoo held Kaochow, while a Manchu force from Shooshoo 
 garrisoned Chaoching. There were in all twenty thousand or 
 thirty thousand choice disposable troops ; a number amply 
 sufficient to restrain Jusin had the viceroy not already given 
 in his secret adhesion to Sangwei, and soon openly withdrew 
 his five thousand men, with whom he assumed the offensive 
 against Shooshoo, preventing the Manchus from penetrating to 
 Jusin, and cutting off their retreat. So numerous were the 
 defections, that Shooshoo was compelled to move into Canton, 
 soon followed by Juhiao, whose men had broken up entirely 
 after a defeat at the hands of ten thousand pirates. Jusin 
 pushed on towards Canton, guilty in his progress of the most 
 barbarous conduct; and he so effectively cannonaded Canton 
 that Shooshoo had to evacuate the city and retire on KiangsL 
 Chaoching was also forsaken, and the governor joined Sangwei. 
 
 In the spring of 1676 Kosi died ; the troubles arising from 
 the divided state of his family probably dealing his death blow 
 to one who was already feeble. His illness is even said to have 
 been caused by the excitement of debating with his son against 
 rebellion. Jusin was nominated a prince by Sangwei, who sent 
 him provisions for his army. Sangwei did not act so wisely in 
 sending two of his own men to occupy the posts of viceroy and 
 governor in the place of those who had given him their adhesion, 
 and who would doubtless consider themselves ill-treated. The 
 impolitic act bore immediate fruit; for both Gwangdsoo and 
 Jusin soon thereafter expressed their repentance for their revolt, 
 and were gladly welcomed back to the Manchu ranks. Jusin 
 was created a Family prince with the title of " Pacify- the-south"; 
 and several other high officers and officials were restored to their 
 original stations. Jusin was ordered to send some aid to 
 Changsha ; for Sangwei was still very dangerous, and apparently 
 too powerful for the forces opposed to him. But in response to 
 that order he sent some " tribute," and the apology that he could 
 part with no men on account of the threatening power of the 
 pirates; and when some of these surrendered, and the rest 
 
446 REBELLION OF THE THREE PRINCES. 
 
 were driven to the sea, he found an excuse in the numbers of 
 local robbers. He thus proved that his restored faithfulness 
 was somewhat problematical. It is evident that he was yet 
 unprepared to decide who should be the victor, Peking or 
 Yunnan. He was several times blamed from Peking, and 
 severely censured on one occasion, when Gwangdsoo, on his way 
 to Woochow, was defeated from want of boats to carry his heavy 
 artillery and baggage, which boats Jusin had been ordered to 
 supply. This rebuke frightened him, and compelled him to 
 move ; but just then pirates did infest Chingyuen and Kaochow, 
 so that he was necessitated to return and defend those places. 
 In 1677, Sangwei's viceroy was seized in Chaoching ; the hair 
 and dress of soldiers and civilians were again changed to Manchu 
 fashion ; and an army from Sangwei, sent to relieve Chaoching, 
 was unfortunate in reaching after the city had fallen, and when 
 Chingan and Nanan were captured by the Kiangsi army, Yiilin 
 occupied by Mangyitoo, who took Shaochow and seized Wooling 
 pass, the "throat" of the border of Kiangsi and Kwangtung- 
 The rebel army made sure of retaking Shaochow ; but Mangyitoo 
 raised a great earthern rampart to the north of the city, which 
 he valiantly and stubbornly defended against them. Up till 
 October the siege was pressed vigorously ; but no impression was 
 made, till they, by a second camp, cut off communications by the 
 river on the west of the city, and erected a third camp on the 
 heights of Lienwha fung, whence they cannonaded the city. 
 Then all the parapets were cleared, and the imperialists were 
 driven in behind their earthen walls, which they defended with 
 desperation. Meantime preparations were going on to raise the 
 siege, and a large force from Kiangning, or Nanking, marched 
 down upon the rebel rear, while another force pushed them in 
 ilank. These, seconded by the garrison, attacked them on three 
 sides, and the rebels were compelled to give way. They broke 
 up and fled, were pursued far into the night, and left large 
 numbers of slain. Those occupying the camp west of the river 
 had also to retreat. They were again attacked next month on 
 three sides near Lochang and defeated, when the Yao savages 
 
SECOND PRINCE SUBMITS. 447 
 
 pursued them, slaying over two thousand men. Kiwngchow 
 opened its gates; and the cities of Kao, Lei, and Lien 
 followed the example. Several rebel officers were taken in their 
 vessels on the river ; and this pacified Kwangtung. 
 
 Jusin had meantime formed one excuse after another for 
 remaining inactive in all that severe fighting. He stationed 
 himself in Canton, and made himself the scourge of the city and 
 neighbourhood by his drunkenness and fierce brutality. Even his 
 friends latterly turned against him ; and the emperor was at last 
 informed that his brutality was the real cause of the frequent 
 prayers of Kosi to be permitted to return to Liaotung ; for he 
 was afraid that Jusin might murder the rest of the family. At 
 the same time, many incidents were mentioned of men whom he 
 had put to death in a fit of anger or drunkenness ; and the case 
 was cited of one officer, pardoned by the emperor, whom he had 
 executed. His past connection with Sangwei was detailed, 
 and the fact mentioned that he had accepted from him one 
 hundred thousand taels. Among other evil deeds of his, it was 
 stated that his father Kosi lay still unburied in Canton, and 
 had no reverence paid to his memory. He was an unfaithful 
 minister and an undutiful son, and all men cursed him. These 
 -and other charges, urged in a long memorial by a civil official, 
 were supplemented by another memorial from a military official, 
 who exposed the bad military conduct of Jusin, and showed why 
 he should be seriously judged and severely condemned. He was 
 apprehended as the result of this writing. And an attempted 
 rescue by his brothers led only to the death of a few men, and 
 an aggravation of the original offence. He was escorted to 
 Peking ; and after a trial in the usual way, he was permitted to 
 commit suicide. His family was ordered into Peking. The 
 markets which he had monopolised in the south were opened 
 freely to the people ; and the officers who had served under him 
 were cashiered. 
 
 In June 1681, the emperor publicly informed his ministers 
 that the body of Kosi, who had always been a faithful minister, 
 was then at Tingchifoo in charge of Juhiao, who had gone south 
 
448 KEBELLION OF THE THREE PRINCES. 
 
 to transport the coffin to Haichung in Liaotung, according to a 
 promise made by Taidsoong to Kosi. A secretary and a privy 
 councillor were sent south, to meet the coffin, and eight thousand 
 taels were gifted to bury the body in Haichung in Manchuria, and 
 to cover the cost of a tablet to his memory. His seventh son 
 was declared heir of the ancestral patrimony in Haichung, and 
 nominated a privy councillor. Two dsoling were created to 
 keep the tomb in perpetuity, and lands were attached to pay the 
 necessary expenses connected with the tomb and its various 
 services. There is now (1880) a beautiful temple over that 
 grave in the city of Haichung. A large stone tablet declares 
 the faithfulness and worth of the prince. Two hereditary 
 dsoling look after the tomb, the temple, and the connected 
 estates ; and on certain stated days, the descendants of Kosi, in 
 and in the neighbourhood of Haichung, a large number of 
 people, meet together to make their devotions, and pay the 
 usual reverence at the tomb of their great ancestor. 
 
 Sangwei, now isolated, was to feel the force of the imperial 
 power as he had not yet experienced it ; for an order from the 
 emperor to the troops, Chinese and Manchu, in Kiangsi, to place 
 themselves under the orders of the viceroy, reached them just 
 as they received tidings of the submission of Gung Jingjoong 
 and Shang Jusin, who had played their game with much less 
 skill than Sangwei, and whose submission, with restoration to 
 former dignities, was made easy on account of the danger to the 
 state from Sangwei. Dayin also made his submission, going to 
 Fukien for the purpose, and Kiangsi was without war. 
 
 Swun Yenling was a Liaotung man, son of Loongswi, who had 
 accompanied Koong Yoodua to the Manchus, had followed him 
 throughout his course to Kwangsi, where prince Koong promised 
 his daughter to his old friend and follower for his son. Both 
 the fathers died in harness. The young daughter of prince 
 Koong was taken to the palace in Peking, where she was 
 educated as, and with the title of, imperial princess, and had a 
 dowry of ten thousand taels given her by the emperor, who gave 
 her away in marriage to Yenling. He had meantime been 
 
KESULT OF INDECISION. 
 
 nominated commander, and had charge of all the troops of 
 prince Koong, with his headquarters in Kweilin. 
 
 When Sangwei revolted, Ma Hiwng, governor in Kweilin, was 
 ordered against him, but revolted to him. Yenling was then 
 commanded to be extremely watchful. But Sangwei was near 
 and Peking far; and the epistle of the former urging him to 
 rebel proved too powerful, and he set up for himself in Kweilin. 
 He put a number of officers to death who would not follow him. 
 Kwangsi was soon wholly lost to the Manchus, and Yenling 
 established five principal posts in the province with two thousand 
 men in each to keep internal order. Sangwei was probably, to 
 begin with, quite satisfied with the position of affairs, for he feared 
 no molestation at the hands of Yenling; and could therefore 
 give his undivided attention to the Manchus on his north. 
 
 Hoonglie was prefect of Chingyang, and promised Sangwei, 
 before the rebellion of the latter, that he would not take service 
 under the Manchu government. He was named a commander 
 by Sangwei, and raised a corps of five thousand men from the 
 Aborigines. But once master of these, he, being " a brave and 
 a just man," turned his arms against the rebels. Sangwei was 
 jealous of this man's reputation, and had over a hundred 
 members of his family put to death ; but the man himself was 
 beyond the reach of his arm. As soon as he had made himself 
 strong, and especially after the murder of his family by Sangwei, 
 he brought every influence in his power to bear on Yenling, 
 urging him to return to give allegiance. The wife of Yenling 
 joined the argument, and he was at last gained over, and 
 promised that as soon as the main army of the Manchus came 
 near enough he would join it. Hoonglie sent his adhesion to 
 that army at Shaochow in 1677, when Sangwei was weakened 
 by defections from his side on the east coast; and he was 
 immediately nominated by the grateful emperor, governor of 
 Kwangsi. Mangyitoo was ordered with eight thousand men 
 from Shaochow to welcome and support the new adherent ; and 
 Jusin was commanded to send a detachment of three thousand 
 men for the same purpose. He not only failed to do so, but 
 
 Dl 
 
450 EEBELLION OF THE THREE PRINCES. 
 
 neglected to provide boats to ferry the army of Mangyitoo across 
 the river. Hoonglie was compelled therefore to act alone ; and 
 though he was able to do good service he was very much 
 crippled from want of horses and heavy artillery, to his many 
 prayers for which Jusin would not listen. It was only in the 
 following year that Mangyitoo was able to arrive at Pinglo, 100 
 li from Kweilin ; and he arrived much too late, for he found that 
 Ma Bao and others of Sangwei's generals had marched upon and 
 taken Kweilin, had put Yenling to death, and were now advancing 
 rapidly both by land and water against Pinglo. They attacked 
 the Chinese division of the imperial army ; and as the Manchus 
 were wholly unable to support the attacked portion, it was 
 utterly defeated. Mangyitoo had to retire on Woochow; and all 
 the cities taken fell again into the hands of the rebels. In the 
 siege of Kweilin the princess, wife of Yenling, was braver than 
 her husband. She stood on the wall, and with her bow and 
 arrows killed many a rebel. She escaped and found her way to 
 Peking. 
 
 Thus through the negligence of Jusin, who was possibly 
 enough wishing to know who should be victor, Kwangsi was 
 added to the rebel dominions, and Kwangtung fell into a state 
 of Chaotic confusion. Detachments were ordered from Chaochow, 
 from Kanchow, and from Chaoching, to support Hoonglie ; but 
 he had to hold his ground alone in Woochow. Jusin did at 
 length send a detachment, but only after Sangwei's death, and 
 after Mangyitoo had united with Hoonglie. The rebels had 
 several times given him battle, but had gained no decided 
 advantage. When they advanced to the siege after Mangyitoo's 
 arrival, the two commanders, dividing all their forces into three, 
 attacked with vigour in front and on the flanks. The rebels 
 were unprepared to find so many men opposed to them ; and the 
 sudden and simultaneous onset threw them into disorder and 
 compelled them to flee. The imperialists could therefore march 
 on Kweilin. They marched towards Nanning, where the garrison 
 had been vigorously besieged by the rebels for some months. 
 The choicest rebel troops were drawn up in battle array 
 
KWANGSI RECOVERED. 451 
 
 within their "deer-horn" palisades, while their rear was 
 protected by a steep hill. The imperial van was hurled against 
 their flank, Mangyitoo and Shooshoo with the main army attacked 
 in front, and an ambush was placed behind the hill to cut off 
 their retreat. The onset was fierce, the defence was furious, and 
 the slaughter was enormous. The rebel commander fled with a 
 few score horse. Nanning was freed, and Kwangsi was again at 
 peace. Hoonglie, to whose decision, bravery, and firmness the 
 Manchus were indebted for this victory, had performed the 
 utmost limit of his duty when Kwangsi was freed from rebels ; 
 but he now prayed the emperor for permission to go into 
 Yunnan. His desire was granted, while his diligent faithfulness 
 was warmly commended. And we leave him to go back to 
 Sangwei. 
 
 As soon as Jusin gave in his adhesion to the Manchus, 
 Sangwei ordered two of his generals against him at Shaochow 
 foo, and sent another general to bring to his authority Yenling 
 in Kweilin. He desired to annex the two Kwangs, for 
 their lands bound Honan, and were as the " lips to the teeth ; " 
 and it was of the utmost consequence, now that Kwangtung had 
 become imperial, to make sure of it in time. As long as Jusin 
 had kept a large army of Manchus employed, Sangwei had 
 wisely refrained from any expression of desire on his part for the 
 annexation of Kwangtung. But if he was aggressive, so were 
 the imperialists ; for one army, in carrying out the orders to 
 press on Hoonan, began by taking Liwyang, and received the 
 submission of a rebel chief and his fleet at Hiangtan. 
 Moojan was even more successful with Shensi and Kingchow 
 .soldiers, who began at last to move; for he took Yoonghing, 
 Chaling, Siwhien, Linghien, Anzun, Hingning, Chunchow, 
 Yichang, Lin woo, Lanshan, Chiahwo, Kweiyang, and Kweitung. 
 Jienchin Wang was ordered to make his headquarters at Chaling. 
 Sangwei was sixty-seven years of age when he lost Shensi, 
 Fukien, Kwangtung, and Kiangsi. His resources were at their 
 last gasp. As the revenues of Szchuen and Hoonan were 
 insufficient to support their own armies, he feared he might be 
 
452 KEBELLION OF THE THREE PRINCES. 
 
 despised, and therefore assumed an imperial style, made 
 Hungchow his capital, as far as centralising his army there, and 
 from Changsha went thither to live. He ascended the throne, 
 assumed the style of Jaowoo, appointed officials, sent out 
 imperial mandates, established a formal court etiquette, with all 
 the other paraphernalia essential to the dignity of royalty. 
 
 Kanghi had at the beginning of the war decided to go in 
 person to the seat of war, and make Kingchow his headquarters. 
 Wang Dachun it was who prevented him leaving his capital, as 
 it was dangerous to remove so far, for none knew what rumours 
 might not at such a critical juncture be raised in the capital. 
 The style assumed by Sangwei apparently roused his wrath to- 
 boiling point, for nothing less would suffice than that he should 
 fight out the war in person. An unlocked for event rendered 
 this unnecessary. 
 
 Ma Bao and the rebels ravaged the country round Shaochow, 
 
 but were defeated in October by Mangyitoo, who attacked 
 
 them on both flanks, drove them back to Lochang, and 
 
 retook Yinhwa hien. In January 1678, Ma Bao and all the 
 
 army were recalled to Hungchow for the purpose above stated. 
 
 In February several officers of Sangwei's were taken in Kwang- 
 
 tung,and pardoned by order of the emperor. Sangwei had enrolled 
 
 the soldiers of Yenling among his own men. He now, in March, 
 
 sent a body of cavalry to ravage Kwangsi, and Hoonglie was 
 
 most urgent in his prayers for help. Mangyitoo was ordered 
 
 from Shaochow to combine with Hoonglie ; but was encountered 
 
 by Sangwei and defeated at Pinglo, whence he had to retreat 
 
 to the outer passes of Paochoong. The aid of Jusin was now 
 
 called in along with Mangyitoo to crush Sangwei, who seemed as 
 
 if a sight of him paralysed his enemy's army. One of his 
 
 generals, however, deserted from him, and to encourage imitators 
 
 was made a marquis, and an important command was given him. 
 
 The rebels, however, took Pinglo, and threatened Chaochow, 
 
 which was well defended by Yadali. But Sangwei's fleet 
 
 suffered a defeat. In July Sangwei's men ravaged Yoonghing, 
 
 defeating the imperialist army and slaying its general. They 
 
SANGWEI DIES. 453 
 
 then crossed the river and camped there. They furiously 
 attacked Pinchow, driving the vanguard on Yoonghing. Yadali 
 had to evacuate Toongan, and the rebels besieged Chiienchow, 
 Jir taboo retreating to cover Hinghwan. Marshal Hoo Sijiao 
 was ordered off to protect Chaochow ; so that Sangwei left the 
 imperialists little leisure. Yoonghing was again ravaged by the 
 orders of Sangwei, whose army however met a severe check at 
 Yaoyang lake, and again at Liwlindsooi. 
 
 Yoonghing was only 100 li distant from Hungchow, was thus 
 at its very door, and to the rebels was a point of firstrate 
 importance, which could not be left without great exertions to take 
 it. Hence the recall of Ma Bao, who was sent to invest the city. 
 Besides the garrison, there was a Manchu army outside the walls 
 to defend this city. Right over against the earthworks of this 
 camp across the river, did the rebels set up their camp. They 
 surrounded the city on three sides, and ceased not from their 
 building labours night nor day. The garrison and army, there- 
 fore, prayed for instant and effectual help. In response, none 
 dared move out of Chaling ; but Moojan sent men from Chun- 
 chow, who marched till, when near their destination, they refused 
 in terror to advance ; for Sangwei's spirit, if not his person, was 
 near. The city wall received a thousand serious wounds, which 
 were however immediately repaired with earth by the garrison, 
 who both built and fought at the same time, and incessantly. 
 Twenty days of this constant and harassing work brought the 
 garrison to the very verge of despair ; but next day great was 
 their astonishment to see the vigorous besiegers leaving their 
 trenches and quickly departing. For Sangwei had died. 
 
 It is reported with all the gravity of imperial history, that 
 Sangwei's last illness assumed the form of madness ; that a dog 
 sat on his table ; that he could not open his mouth ; and that a 
 severe dysentery carried him off. At any rate his departure 
 gave all the necessary weight to the prayer of all the princes of 
 Peking, that their imperial master should not leave his capital ; 
 and the immediate decision not to move south, was the greatest 
 compliment Kanghi could have paid to the ability of Sangwei, 
 
454 REBELLION OF THE THEEE PRINCES. 
 
 who left not a few able generals behind him. But his spirit was 
 now gone, and the incubus of its terrible presence was raised off 
 the Manchu troops. The rebels were frequently defeated, and 
 had to raise the siege of Yoonghing, while Hungchow itself was- 
 now in turn threatened by the Manchus. The rebels acknow- 
 ledged the grandson of Sangwei, Woo Shufan, as his successor 
 in the empire. Shufan came from Yunnan to Hungchow ; and 
 as soon as made emperor, with the title of Hoongwoo, he returned 
 into Yunnan again, whither some of the rebel chiefs had urged a 
 retreat of the whole force. 
 
 In September the Manchu commander died, and was 
 succeeded in command by the Beira Chani, and Nguating was 
 over the fleet. This fleet was of the greatest importance, now 
 that the provisions of Yochow were brought by rebel ships from 
 Changte. But the imperial fleet was stationed at Chunshan, and 
 the rebels came and went at their pleasure ; for as in winter the 
 waters of the lake dried up considerably, the large imperial vessels 
 were useless, while the smaller ships of the rebels sailed whither 
 they would. The imperialists therefore, towards the end of 1678, 
 built a hundred " crow " ships and four hundred and thirty-eight 
 " sand " ships ; all of which must have been of small draught, 
 and were capable, in all, of transporting thirty thousand men. 
 Half this number of men was transported across the river from 
 Chunshan, to occupy the Changte road, and to cut off com- 
 munication thence with the invested rebel city of Yochow ; the 
 other half across from Pienshan, Hiangloo, Shanboo, and 
 Daikow, to cut off the Changsha and Hungchow roads. The 
 numerous sails covered a 100 li of water in the winter, and the 
 rebel fleet dared not show face. When two hundred rebel vessels 
 started afterwards with a favourable wind against the imperial 1 
 fleet, half of them were sunk by the cannon of a section of the light 
 imperial fleet, which sailed much better than the rebels. 
 Yingchi, the rebel commander, suspected some of his men of 
 treachery, and had them put to death, with the result of 
 causing three lieut. -generals, with their vessels, to desert to the 
 imperialists. The garrison of Yochow, in February 1679, finding 
 
REBELLION WANING. 455 
 
 themselves isolated from all aid, forsook the city, broke through 
 the besiegers, and forced their way to Changte. 
 
 The fall of Yochow caused great consternation among all the_ 
 rebels, for they believed that now Lurjin also would cross from 
 Kingchow. The rebels of Tiling and Lichow, therefore, sub- 
 mitted, with all their vessels and men ; and those of Changte 
 and Changsha fled, burning and sacking as they went. Anchin 
 Wang followed into Hungchow close at their heels. 
 
 There was therefore between the imperialists in Honan and 
 Szchuen, no other obstacle than the very difficult passes of Chun- 
 loonggwan of Chunchow, and Fungmooling of Wookang. The 
 latter place was held by Gwogwei, the former by Hoo Gwojoo. 
 Wookang was attacked by Anchin wang in person, at Fungmooling. 
 Hoonglie, now governor of Kwangsi, attacked in the rear, and the 
 main army for long attacked its front. Gwogwei was at last killed 
 by a cannon shot, and his men fled. They were pursued again and 
 defeated, and Wookang fell. At Chunloonggwan the rebels had 
 five camps planted to oppose the imperialists, who pressed long 
 against them, neither side gaining any great advantage, till 
 the imperialists discovered, and marched in by, an unoccupied 
 path. They broke up the rebels and took Chunchow and 
 Yuenchow. Gwojoo retreated to Kweiyang; and the road from 
 Hoonan to Kweichow and Yunnan was opened up. The rebels 
 lost a battle in Sishan of Nanning, in Kwangsi; and this 
 province, with Hoonan, became wholly subject to the Manchus. 
 
 Beidsu Laita was ordered into Yunnan by Nanning. He 
 several times defeated the rebels, twenty thousand strong, at 
 Anloongswo, where there was the terrific pass of Shumunkan, 
 whither the rebels retreated. One night a great noise was heard 
 in their camp, and next morning it was discovered that they had 
 been killing each other, believing that the imperialists had 
 penetrated among them. The result was that they broke up. 
 The imperialists followed and seized great numbers, pursuing 
 the flying rebels into Yunnan. 
 
 In November, 1679, the troops of marshal Shao Liangdoong 
 and Wang Jinbao, marched forward by two separate roads to 
 
456 KEBELLION OF THE THREE PEINCES. 
 
 fight the rebels of Szchuen. Formerly the troops of Hanchoong 
 took charge of all the army dues for Szchuen. As since the 
 death of Sangwei the rebels were in disorder, Jinbao found it 
 comparatively easy to take Funghien and Woogwan; and in 
 spite of his exertions, Pingfan was compelled to abandon 
 Hanchoong and fall back on Paoning, pursued by three armies 
 by as many different routes. In February 1680, beside the hills 
 outside the city, the rebel army of twenty thousand was defeated, 
 the bridge seized, and the soldiers went pouring into the city. 
 Pingfan cut his throat and died. Jumao and others were appre- 
 hended ; and Shwunching, in the surprise of defeat, opened its 
 gates. Liangdoong, passing Liaoyang took Yangpinggwan, 
 crossed the Baishwi kiang river, taking Loongan ; then crossed 
 the Mingyooe kiang river and took Chungtu, whose commandant, 
 with over a hundred officials, submitted. Hoo Gwojoo was 
 defeated at Kienchang and Hingan taken by Toohai, while 
 Yoongning and Mahoo fell to another division. The marshal of 
 Hookwang defeated Yang Laijia at Dsoshan, took Kweichow 
 foo on the north of the Yangtsu and Chungching, completing 
 the conquest of all Szchuen. Just then the pirate Jung 
 submitted in the east; but Jan. Hoong and others, who had 
 submitted, were again rebelling. 
 
 Jin Bao was ordered to remain in Szchuen ; Liangdoong to 
 march into Yunnan ; and Anchin wang Yolo, with half his main 
 army, Mongols, Ninguta, and Woola men, to return to the 
 capital. The emperor met and feted Yolo at Loogowchiao bridge. 
 A fresh army under the Beidsu Jangtai, the great commander 
 Fixing-the-far, was sent into Yunnan and Kweichow ; and as 
 these provinces were very hilly, the Chinese infantry went in 
 the van, the Manchu cavalry in the rear. 
 
 Lurjin was then recalled to the capital, his incompetency 
 proclaimed, and the various evils recounted which had been 
 inflicted on his country by that incompetency, as a city lost 
 here, a province there, for lack of proper precautions against a 
 vigilant and active foe. His fellow-commanders had been left 
 by him to their fate while he was ingloriously idling all his time 
 
IMPEACHMENT. 457 
 
 in Kingchow, and his most guilty inactivity had permitted the 
 junction of Jingjoong, Yenling, and Laijia, who were then able to 
 bid defiance to the main army, which was kept in constant occu- 
 pation, while the rebels harassed the country for years. As for 
 merit, not a "foot nor an inch" had he. He and those principally 
 guilty with him, were punished by degradation or otherwise, in 
 proportion to their responsibility. Numbers of other officers who 
 had lost cities by cowardice, or forsaken them in unnecessary haste, 
 were summoned to the capital, and punishment meted out in pro- 
 portion to their guilt. The emperor, at the same time, expressed 
 his great sympathy with the army which had been so long in 
 the field, and with the people for the unavoidable pressure of 
 heavy war expenses upon them ; and he promised both that the 
 former would be suitably rewarded, and the latter relieved of 
 their garrison taxes at the earliest possible moment. 
 
 In November the main army of Hoonan marched from 
 Pingyooe on Kweiyang, Woo Shufan fled back on Yunnan 
 with Yingchi and over two hundred of his officials. While the 
 prefectures of Tsunyi, Anshwun, Shugan, Sun an, c., were taken 
 by the imperialists in December, their few reverses were 
 inconsiderable. But though their glory had departed and their 
 Napoleon had no successor, the rebels were still far from being 
 despicable or heartless. The imperial army had to be very 
 watchful. Marshal Sanga was ordered to the dangerous passes 
 on the Langkiang river in February 1681, and was opposed by 
 a rebel army of ten thousand men, under the combined orders 
 of Gwohiang, Chiloong, and Wang Whi, who had another 
 .army of twenty thousand, with their headquarters on the 
 mountains south-west of Pingyooen. The passes were of extreme 
 difficulty ; and on pushing as far as they could, the imperialists, 
 after a most arduous progress, came suddenly against a line of 
 elephants which the rebels had planted in front. They were so 
 terrified at sight of the elephants, that they at once broke and 
 fled, in spite of the bravery of Cha Liwyoong, who seized a ted 
 flag and advanced alone against the enemy. Though he was 
 supported, he had to retire, but the number of slain was 
 
458 REBELLION OF THE THREE PRINCES. 
 
 enormous. Two days afterwards, Liwyoong marched in again, 
 and compelled the rebels to forsake the heights, and to retire 
 westwards to Kweichow. 
 
 Laita marched into Yunnan from Kwangsi, and united with the 
 Hookwang army at Chuching, after he had several times defeated 
 the rebels. In March he got to Yunnan. Ko Jwangtoo was sent 
 on by Shufan at the head of several myriad of men, infantry 
 and cavalry, with elephants in the van, to a place 30 li from the city, 
 where a desperate resistance must be made to save the rebel capital. 
 
 Jangtai was commander of the Manchu left wing, Laita of the 
 right. From early morning till noon was the battle waged. The 
 rebels made five furious charges, and five times were they driven 
 back; the number of slain on both sides was frightful. The 
 imperialists hurled showers of stones from their ballistas upon 
 the front line of elephants, to the sight of which they had got 
 accustomed. The elephants became restive under this attack,, 
 suddenly broke loose, turned round and charged their own 
 people, and trampled them down. The imperialists rushed 
 forward at the heels of the elephants with a body of iron- 
 breast-plated horse, and defeated the rebels, taking Gweihwa 
 temple east of the city. They immediately drew their investing 
 lines around the city, scores of li in circumference. In a few 
 months Linngan, Yoongshwun, Taongan, Tali, and other cities, 
 opened their gates. Gwojoo, Gwohiang, Ma Bao, had already 
 been despatched at the head of a large army into Szchuen, had 
 retaken several prefectures on Kienchang, Yoongning, and 
 Mahoo. Ma Chungyin had also again revolted at Liwchow,, 
 Tan Hoong and others in the east of Szchuen, and the attention 
 of the imperial army was again divided. On this close 
 investment of the rebel capital, those generals were all summoned 
 back to relieve it. But Liangdoong promptly took them in hand. 
 He divided his forces, and attacking them from several directions 
 so belaboured them, that from death, flight or submission, not a 
 soul of them got to Kweichow. Even the letter which Shufan 
 forwarded at this time to Dalai Lama of Tibet, also fell into 
 imperialists hands. 
 
HEMMED IN. 
 
 Liangdoong, being free in Szchuen, now pressed forward to 
 the rebel capital, and on his arrival, he drew the lines of 
 circumvallation quite close to the city walls, for the wide circuit 
 of the former siege had not had the least effect upon the city, 
 though the army had surrounded it for months. Liangdoong 
 dug three trenches and made three bridges, cutting off all access 
 from outside. As therefore their provisions ran done in 
 November, the rebels holding the south gate opened it and 
 betrayed the city. Shufan and Jwangtoo committed suicide. 
 The grand secretary was apprehended with Gwohiang and Ma 
 Bao. There was just at this time a general pardon proclaimed 
 to all rebels who would submit, except to Gwohiang, Gwojoo, 
 Yoongching and Gwodso. All the chiefs of the rebellion then 
 taken were beheaded ; the bodies of some were cut in pieces, 
 and the heads of others publicly exposed. Many of the 
 secondary officers and officials were pardoned. Gung Jingjoong 
 and Liw Jinjoong of Fukien had been already put to death, and 
 their bodies were now quartered. Sangwei's men were declared 
 incapable henceforth of bearing arms, and were condemned to 
 be agriculturists. Shufan's head was exposed underneath the 
 gate of Peking ; and the old bones of Sangwei, who had at first 
 travelled so far and so successfully in the cause of the Manchus, 
 but whose every movement for years past had caused them fear,, 
 were, as a warning, cut up and scattered to all the provinces. 
 
 The spoils were enormous. The armies were recalled to 
 Peking, and five million six hundred thousand taels paid them ; 
 while all the prisoners, save those guilty of capital crimes, had 
 their prison doors thrown open ; and the emperor congratulated 
 himself that now he saw accomplished what he had from a 
 child believed necessary to the prosperity of the country, the 
 disarming of the three great vassal princes. His ministers 
 were justified in urging him to accept a high sounding title, in 
 reference to and in remembrance of his great victory ; but, as 
 always before, he refused. Yet just as Sangwei, with his Chinese 
 army, placed the Manchu imperial family on the throne by 
 Chinese soldiers, so was he himself now defeated, his corpse 
 
460 REBELLION OF THE THREE PRINCES. 
 
 desecrated, his family killed or at the mercy of the emperor, 
 only by means of the skill of loyal Chinese officers and by the 
 bravery of Chinese soldiers. The Manchu generals, officers and 
 men, in that sudden patriotic burst of southern China, recall the 
 British bands of soldiers in the Indian mutiny only by contrast. 
 They seem to have exhausted the fierceness of their bravery, and 
 the fearlessness of their heroism inhaled in the air of their 
 eastern mountain homes, when they attained to the possession 
 of powerful empire and the command of immense wealth. The 
 luxurious air of rich Peking seems to have greatly and rapidly 
 unnerved the hardy mountaineers and their sons. And the 
 arms which have best maintained the power and "glory" of 
 the Manchu government in more modern times are also Chinese. 
 Did the Chinese combine against the Manchus, or did those who 
 were not actively hostile refrain from supporting them, the 
 Manchus could not retain their power for a single month. But 
 in the general character of their administration, in their attempts 
 to further the interests of the people, and in their efforts to 
 curb or modify the rapacity of all classes of officials, the Manchus 
 will compare most favourably with any former dynasty of China; 
 and the admirably wise manner in which, from their earliest 
 history, they have shared office, with its power, its influence, its 
 authority, and its emoluments, with the best educated Chinese, has 
 retained them in the Dragon throne for two and a half centuries. 
 This should serve as an unmistakable hint to India, which must 
 ultimately come to be governed by us as China is by the little 
 Manchu tribe. 
 
 During this war against the three rebels, which threatened 
 for long to hurl the Manchus off the throne, the Board of Wai- 
 arranged an excellent system of postal communication throughout 
 the whole empire. A clerk with a corporal and ten men, all 
 Manchus, was located at every few miles, and a main postal 
 station established every 400 li : so that, from the extreme west 
 of Kansu, a distance of over 1600 miles or 5000 li, a despatch 
 could be handed to the emperor in nine days, from Kingchow 
 on the Yangtsu in five days, and from Chihkiang in four. 
 
IMPEKIAL POST. 461 
 
 f 
 
 These were so well utilised, that during the war from three to 
 four hundred despatches were delivered daily at the palace from 
 the various armies actively engaged. So efficient indeed is this 
 mounted post even now, that news of the disaster to the 
 British fleet at the Taku forts was spread among the Chinese in 
 Canton before the arrival there of the fastest despatch steamer 
 in the fleet. 
 
 To prevent the possibility of such an outbreak again, the 
 emperor abolished the title of prince or wang for the south 
 of China ; and since that time the title has not been given to 
 any Chinaman, nor is it hereditary even among members of the 
 imperial family. It was also then made compulsory for every 
 official to statedly appear at court ; and Manchu garrisons were 
 placed in Foochow, Canton, and Kingchow. 
 
- ' 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 CHINA'S ABORIGINES. 
 
 THOUGH there has been more than one serious rebellion in 
 China since Sangwei's bones were scattered over the Eighteen 
 Provinces, detailed accounts of them would be beyond our 
 present purpose. For there is no information worth the having 
 from the recital of mere fighting and slaughtering, unless the 
 geography opened up, or the talent displayed, makes it 
 interesting. We therefore give only the barest notice of the 
 formidable insurrections, styled the " Religious Rebellions," so 
 called because their root was in the dissemination of some pseudo 
 religious sect. The Bailien Idao, or the " sect " of the " white 
 water-lily," was composed originally of studious people who 
 pretended to heal diseases and abstained from meats, for purposes 
 of their own. They composed litanies of their own, and magical 
 incantations, deceiving the multitude and making rich. Their 
 chief was Liw Soong of Anhui. Having by 1775 fully 
 indoctrinated Honan, this chief went to Kansu to propagate his 
 "magical" religion, sending a disciple into Szchuen, Hoonan, 
 and Shensi. 
 
 A man, surnamed "Wang in Looyi of Honan, gave himself out 
 to be a descendant of the Ming emperors, and thus set the 
 conspiracy in motion. Immediately before this the sect had a 
 proverbial saying always on their lips, that the " edge of the 
 sword was about to be bared." An attempt to seize one preacher 
 was unsuccessful, but the man Wang was apprehended. As 
 he was only a youth he was not put to death, but banished to 
 Sinkiang or Hi. There was an immediatejrising ; and the 
 district magistrate of Woochang reported, that already the 
 
464 CHINA'S ABOKIGINES. 
 
 numbers of slain in the districts of Tsingchow and Yichang 
 were very large. 
 
 Just at that time the Chinese armies were fully engaged 
 against the Miao (see below). The rebels therefore increased 
 daily, till they threw all Shensi into a state of great confusion. 
 The emperor ordered armies to march ; and the viceroy of 
 Hookwang sent one of three thousand men to Tsingchow, but 
 all was utterly inadequate to meet the magnitude to which the 
 evil had spread. In the beginning of the reign Kiaking (179(>), 
 we find slight successes of the imperialists largely rewarded, but 
 blame distributed still more lavishly among the unsuccessful. 
 At the beginning of the rebellion, Szchuen had no " religious " 
 rebels. But there were, scattered among the mountains of the 
 north-east of that province, many bands of soldiers, deserters 
 from the Kinchuen armies, who lived by robbery. Wheii r 
 however, the White-lily sect found its way, sword in hand, into 
 Szchuen, all these soldier-robbers joined it. 
 
 This rebellion spread over an immense surface Honan, 
 Szchuen, and Shensi simply because the local authorities had 
 not the sagacity to understand or the ability to cope with and 
 crush the first risings. A whole volume concludes without an 
 instance of a walled city falling before the rebel hordes, or even 
 seriously attacked. This shows the Bailien Kiao to have been 
 only a rabble. But the imperial armies opposed to them were 
 under equally incapable men. For years battles were fought, 
 decisive only in slaughter; and thousands of miles were traversed 
 and retraversed in flight or pursuit ; but as if without plan or 
 purpose. Reading the history of this extensive and vexatious 
 revolt, one feels the difference between the mid-age of the 
 Manchu dynasty and the young vigour of its rise, when it could 
 furnish a hundred leaders, any one of whom would have rooted 
 out the headless revolt in a brief space of time. This month we 
 find the rebels overrunn'ng Shensi ; but they are driven, or at all 
 events retire, from valley to w valley, leaving every village a 
 smoking mass of ruins, passing by every walled city unvisited, and 
 again they take their stand in Szchuen. Here they are pressed 
 
MISSIONARIES. 465 
 
 by the imperialists, and begin their rounds till we find them next 
 month in the north of Shensi again. Repeatedly is this game 
 at hide-and-seek played by the rebels and their pursuers, with 
 slight variations, till one at last appeared who had some brains, 
 and earned himself a name and a degree. But how many 
 leaders had been nominated and degraded ! In the year 1800, 
 an imperial army of over one hundred thousand men was in 
 action against those rebels, and over one hundred million taels 
 spent in vain efforts to subdue them. 
 
 This rebellion of the Bailien Kiao is to this day popularly 
 ascribed to the Roman Catholics ; and all missionaries are 
 believed to belong to the magic-working sect, and to be in China 
 only for revolutionary or political purposes. It was so believed 
 at the time when the rebellion was at its greatest ; so that the 
 emperor had to give public denial to the general statements, 
 and to say that the rebellion was not the work of foreigners, 
 but had attained its then proportions (in 1800) only because of 
 the incapacity of the local authorities. 
 
 As the rebels never ventured to attack brick walls, the 
 villagers, always threatened, combined to protect themselves. 
 The inhabitants of a certain number of villages collected at one 
 village, which they protected with earth-works, and into which 
 the combined villages retired on the approach of the "white 
 lily " hordes. The valour of these hordes can be inferred from 
 the fact that even these rudely constructed and hastily thrown 
 up defences they were unable to force, in the face of such 
 opposition as untrained villagers could show. But the 
 emperor severely blamed the indifference of the dwellers 
 in the walled cities, who had only to lock their gates and 
 look from their walls at the rebels filing past beyond the 
 range of missiles ; for they should have gone out and defended 
 the thousands of smoking villages in their neighbourhood. 
 But a volume could not more truthfully delineate the Chinese 
 character, than this one fact; for the very essence of the 
 Chinaman's nature is utter indifference as to the well or 
 ill-being of his neighbour. We do not question the existence 
 
466 CHINA'S ABORIGINES. 
 
 of exceptions, which however are very difficult to find in 
 history or in actual life. The Chinaman faces danger with 
 ease, and death with stolidity ; but chivalry as understood and 
 exercised where Christianity finds living examples of its 
 power and nature, has yet to be in the history of China. There 
 is certainly no people who have more thoroughly learned to 
 " mind their own business." 
 
 The emperor also said that the war had proved the newly 
 levied soldiers inferior in courage to those of the provincial 
 militia; and that the viceroy's militia was surpassed by the 
 volunteers who dug their own fosse and built their own mud- 
 wall around their native village. He therefore issued orders to 
 have the troops of every district, and of every group of villages, 
 drilled in their native place, and not at the common provincial 
 camp. It is needless to say, that however excellent that plan, 
 when hearth and home were in danger, it has long ceased to be 
 the rule. Those brave villagers were rewarded equally with the 
 brave of the regular troops. Lo Suju, one of these volunteers, 
 was the bravest and most successful of all the opponents of the 
 Bailien kiao. So much so, that at length his name alone was 
 sufficient to gain the victory. Alone he went on two several 
 occasions into the heart of the rebel camp, when it greatly out- 
 numbered the loyalists, fired off quantities of gunpowder to right 
 and left of him, and then retired, leaving the suddenly awakened 
 rebels to fire into each other with vigour till sunrise, when their 
 greatly reduced numbers and complete confusion, compelled 
 them to retreat. The regulars followed where his arm cleft the 
 way for them, and called him Lo Sure-to-Conquer ; for he was 
 never defeated, and every stratagem of his was successful. He 
 was there what Hue Yingwei was in the Tang army, but his 
 reward came much more slowly. Certain of the regulars reaped 
 the rewards of the victories planned by the fertile brain and 
 worked out by the heavy hand of this countryman. 
 
 When the backbone of the rebellion was broken, the emperor 
 expressed his great pity for those who had been made houseless 
 and homeless, and gave them liberty to cut out farms for them- 
 
BRAVE VOLUNTEERS. 467 
 
 .selves in the ancient forests of the mountain gullies. He also 
 proclaimed, on the occasion of his ordering the head of a captured 
 chief to be shown round the provinces, that he was not waging 
 war against a religion or a sect, but against men in open 
 rebellion. And let me say here what I have stated more 
 emphatically elsewhere,* that there never has been a purely 
 religious persecution in China. 
 
 In 1802, after six years of arduous marchings to and fro, and 
 of much fighting if no decisive battles, the emperor was 
 delighted to be able to grant to Lobao, the Manchu general who 
 had most distinguished himself, the title of the " Terrible Brave 
 Marquis," of the first grade, and to other officers, grades 
 according to their merits, with other more substantial rewards, 
 for having at length brought peace to Szchuen, Hoonan, and 
 Shensi. He had sent a hundred thousand taels, by high officials, 
 as a present to the soldiers, on the previous year, in consideration 
 of their long continued services. And he honoured the bravery 
 of the volunteers by asking them to incorporate themselves with 
 the regulars. But Lobao said that the bravest of them were 
 countrymen who had their own small properties, and would not 
 join; but there was another excellent army of ten thousand 
 men, composed of vagrants from all quarters, who were glad to 
 take permanent service. The emperor also sent an official to 
 make sacrifice to the gods of the mountains and rivers of those 
 three provinces, and to inform them of the blessed peace. He 
 also sacrificed to inform his ancestors. The four provinces, which 
 had been so devastated, he exempted from the taxation of the 
 .seven years during which the war had lasted. The best men of 
 the rebels had, however, fled into the mountains, whence they 
 -again issued after they had put to death many bands of soldiers 
 which had endeavoured to root them out. The emperor 
 believed that as they were where Li Dsuchung met his end, 
 they might all similarly perish. But though they did not so 
 perish, this revival was soon extinguished; for the rebels, or 
 rather robbers, met everywhere those earthen ramparts all over 
 
 * "Chinese Foreign Policy." 
 
468 CHINA'S ABORIGINES. 
 
 that country through which they had formerly marched without 
 opposition. For the people had throughout all those regions 
 forsaken their small detached hamlets and congregated in largo 
 villages, which they surrounded with mud walls. 
 
 The author of the " Holy Wars " concludes his long story by 
 saying that Yunchow of Shansi, Yichow of Szchuen, with 
 Hanchung, Hingan, Hwayang, Heishwi, and Liangchow, were 
 anciently thrown into one " Circuit " and placed under a 
 commander, because of the immense strategical importance of 
 that region. Indeed there was an end of the Bailien Kiao 
 rebellion only when after innumerable marchings backwards and 
 forwards over the same ground, garrisons of strong detachments 
 were told off from the army for some of those cities, by which the 
 rebels had always found a loophole. Nanshan and Bashan 
 mountains also continually crop up as "gates" through which the 
 rebels found their way. 
 
 Six years after the suppression of the Bailien Kiao revolt, the 
 Fukien and Kwangtung pirates had to be chased off the seas. 
 In 1811, the emperor visited Wootaishan, and the astronomer 
 said that the star which then appeared moving in a direction 
 contrary to the other stars indicated rebellion. And sure 
 enough two years thereafter appeared the rising of the Tienll 
 Kiao, the religion or Sect of the "Li" or "Reason" of "Heaven." 
 It was also known as the Bagwa Xiao, or "Eight-Diagram Sect." 
 This sect, like its predecessors, obtained much money by 
 deceiving the multitude. Li Wunchung of Honan Kuhien, 
 and Lin Ching of Chihli Tailing, were the leaders. 
 
 Wunchung used astrology to deceive his followers, and promised 
 that the " great event " would take place on the fifteenth day 
 (full moon) of ninth moon (October), of Kiaking eighteenth 
 (1713). His followers and believers were counted by myriads. 
 Ching was to act secretly in the capital and to lean on the 
 external aid of Wunchung. They were to strike their first blow 
 when the emperor was on his way back from Moolankiwr, where 
 an ambush would set upon him. The plan was so well laid and the 
 secret so well kept that not a soul beyond the conspirators knew 
 
CONSPIRACY. 469 
 
 of it. But the district magistrate of Kuhien, probably seeing 
 something suspicious in the movements of the conspirators of 
 that region who would naturally be less on their guard than 
 those near the scene of action, instituted a searching 
 investigation which divulged the plot. He sent secret informa- 
 tion to Gao Ki and to his prefect of Weikunfoo, and asked for 
 soldiers to be ready for any emergency. But both his superiors 
 regarded the matter as a jest. The magistrate however threw 
 Wunchung into prison, and broke his shank. As the 
 conspirators now saw their plan was discovered, and could not be 
 carried out as originally intended, they rose on the seventh 
 instead of the thirteenth, and three thousand of them broke into 
 Kuhien, opened the prison doors, freed Wunchung, and put 
 to death the magistrate who had exposed them. As soon as 
 news of the premature rising spread, Doongming the Chihli 
 leader, and Kin Hiang the Shantung leader, rose and murdered 
 the magistrates of their respective cities, and seized their 
 cities. When the emperor heard thereof, he gave immediate 
 orders to the various governors to bs prompt in their movements 
 to suppress those risings ere they grew as did the last. But he 
 was wholly unprepared for what was taking place at his own door. 
 Though the plot was prematurely discovered, Lin Ching 
 endeavoured to do the best in his power to play his part. With 
 over two hundred accomplices he entered the inner city of the 
 capital through the Hueiiwoo gate, all hiding arms on their 
 persons. In the city they drank and rioted, and then set out, a 
 certain number towards the east flowery gate, and a certain 
 number to the west, to push simultaneously into the palaces 
 when no such apparition was anticipated ; though, with the 
 emperor in Mongolia, it is difficult to conceive what the hopes of 
 the insurgents could be. They had previously secured the services 
 of some eunuchs of the palace; and for mutual recognition were to 
 cover their heads with a white napkin. One eunuch was outside 
 the west gate, another at the east, to act as their guides. The party 
 which entered the east gate was scattered by the guard. But the 
 eighty odd who went in by the west gate, their eunuch guide 
 
470 CHINA'S ABORIGINES. 
 
 pretending to have come from the Wunying gwan, of the- 
 Shangyi kien, "high literary inn of the eunuch-chief of the 
 clothing," suddenly attacked and put to death the gate-keepers ;. 
 but the guard of the Loongdsoong gate ahead of them closed it 
 instantly, and through it the band could not pass. Two had 
 found their way through the east gate during the short struggle, 
 but they were seized and bound by a chief eunuch. 
 
 During the squabble the emperor's sons were in the Upper 
 School House, and hearing the noise, the second son instantly 
 ordered a fowling-piece, with which he shot an approaching 
 "rebel" dead, the second shot killed the next. Another 
 fowling-piece, in the hands of a Beira, did similar execution ; 
 and this company, advancing by the Yangsin gate, fell back. 
 
 Those outside the Loongdsoong gate were not to be thwarted 
 by a closed gate, and therefore began, as soon as they could, to- 
 set the gate on fire. But they were too late, for every moment 
 now told seriously against them. As they were in the act of 
 firing, the princes and great ministers in charge of the capital 
 collected a band of soldiers, and attacking them from the Shumvoo 
 gate, easily scattered them. It is indeed astounding that they 
 should have persisted in their attempt to take the palace, when 
 they had not taken it by surprise. It was all over when the 
 fowling-piece was fired. The various conspirators hiding in the 
 imperial river at Wooying, and around some of the palaces, were 
 apprehended, and so were the eunuchs discovered to be in league 
 with them. It would seem that the conspirators had planned 
 the capture of the palace and the seizing of the capital as the 
 alternative, when the plan for assassinating the emperor had 
 been rendered impossible by discovery. The day was the same 
 (15th). "We imagine there must have been powerful wire-pullers 
 behind the scene, and the active assistance of a number of 
 eunuchs would seem to infer as much; and if not, one cannot but 
 feel an admiring astonishment at this mad escapade of two 
 hundred men attempting to seize palaces guarded by thousands 
 of soldiers, and to take a capital garrisoned by myriads. 
 
 On the next day the emperor's sons, the princes and great 
 
CLOUDS OF DUST. 471 
 
 ministers, sent off a "flying" express to his majesty, to inform 
 him of what had occurred. When he was approaching the capital, 
 a thick cloud was seen to rest over the city; and the august 
 company, being at a great distance from though overlooking the 
 city, uneasy rumour concluded that the rebels had collected from 
 all quarters, and were besieging the capital. They dared not 
 therefore advance. But they ascertained next day that the cloud 
 was one of dust and sand raised by a great wind. On learning 
 that all was quiet, the emperor issued a severe reprimand to the 
 officials with whom he had entrusted the safety of the capital, 
 saying that so dire and strange a misfortune as this had not 
 occurred since or in the Han dynasty ; which was true, as such 
 an event is unparalleled in China. He invested his second son 
 with the title of "Knowledge-Family-Wang," and the Beira 
 with that of " Inner-Prince-Wang ; " and at once appointed high 
 officials to take command of armies and hunt down the rebels. 
 Two days after he entered the capital, and the people were only 
 then re-assured. The traitor-eunuchs were broken to death. 
 
 Though the viceroy and governors had received early orders, 
 they did not move ; and only the continued quarrelling of the 
 salt superintendent of Shantung drove the governor to action 
 after ten days' fight. All those dilatory officials were superseded. 
 
 Chihli was soon cleared, and the Manchu troops hasted to 
 Kuhien, where the rebels were numerous, strongly fortified, 
 supplied with a year's provisions, and under strictest discipline. 
 They were besieged for some time on three sides of the city, 
 when the leader of a band of roving robbers went in by the open 
 north side and persuaded Wunchung to move off. As his leg was 
 broken, he could not ride, but was compelled to go in a carriage. 
 The retreat was discovered and chase given. Many rebels were 
 slain or taken. Wunchung was hard pressed, and fearing to fall 
 into the hands of his pursuers he burnt himself to death. His 
 body however was recovered. A mine was successfully sprung 
 at the south-west angle of the wall, and over two hundred feet of 
 wall thrown down; the stones and bricks filled the air, and 
 hundreds of the rebels were killed by the terrific shock. The 
 
472 CHINA'S ABORIGINES. 
 
 
 
 Manchu army, which was a mile clear off the wall, retained for 
 the assault, galloped up as soon as they heard the report, and 
 rushed in at the wide gap " like ants." The mine was sprung in 
 the early morning, and a hot fight was kept up till thick darkness 
 fell. At night, three thousand rebels cut through the investing 
 lines and escaped, but no fewer than twenty thousand perished. 
 As many more of the aged, children, and women, were kept alive. 
 With the fall of the city the rebellion was ended, and commander 
 Na Yen had the honour of receiving the titles of Grand Baron 
 and Grand Guardian. The fugitives who had fled were gradually 
 recalled, and five months after its origin there was no living trace 
 -of that rebellion. 
 
 The history of the Taiping rebellion, the most serious after 
 Sangwei's with which the Manchus have had to contend, has 
 been so often written, that even were there greater novelties con- 
 nected with it than there are, we must have passed it over. It 
 is, perhaps, even more unnecessary to recite the wars of England 
 and France against China, the former directly or indirectly 
 springing out of the opium question, the latter out of the religious 
 one. It is sufficient to say that the Taiping, the British and the 
 French wars, have given to China the first great push, and jerked 
 her out of her conservative groove of ages. Dearly though she 
 has had to pay for, and whatever may be thought of the 
 causes of those wars, they have done her far more good than if 
 she had been victorious. The west is however still a mystery to 
 the east, and the east is yet far from being properly known in 
 the west. 
 
 As this work treats of " China," we feel it would be incomplete 
 without a notice of the political relationships existing between 
 China and the remnants of those aborigines who at one time 
 occupied every inch of what is now Chinese soil. Equally 
 interesting are China's relations with the Asiatic states bordering 
 her north, her south, south-west and west up to the confines of 
 Russia, but these we must omit. We confine ourselves now to 
 the historical connection of the Manchu government with the 
 Man, Miao, &c., who still inhabit certain portions of Chinese 
 
CHINESE BARBAKIANS. 473 
 
 provinces. We are entirely indebted to the " Holy Wars " for 
 the particulars given below. 
 
 The south-western "barbarians" are called Miao and Man. 
 They have no " prince," yet there are well defined distinctions 
 between them; the Miao having clans with chiefs, and are 
 living in fixed localities. The Man are all independent or 
 " unripe savages," whether the Jwang * or Li of the Kwangs, 
 the Yao of Kweichow and the two Hoo provinces, or the Po of 
 Szchuen. The Gwo of Yunnan are savages. Not one of these 
 has a chief; and they are all mutually independent.-)- 
 
 During the Han period, the southern barbarian had chiefs a 
 dozen, of whom Yelang was the greatest ; the western barbarians 
 had also a dozen chiefs, of whom Mimo was the principal in 
 Yunnan ; and the north of Yunnan was under other twelve, of 
 whom the foremost was Chiwngdoo. J They were first brought 
 into subjection to the Chinese under the Chow and Han 
 dynasties (twelfth century B.C. to third century A.D.). Since the 
 Tang dynasty (seventh century A.D.), magistrates of their own 
 people have been nominated by China, both prefect, sub-prefect, 
 and district magistrates. During all that time the Man tribes 
 held the Miaos in subjection. The Yuen dynasty appointed the 
 ranks of Huemvei, Huenfoo, Jaotao, and Anfoo chiefs, and 
 called those magistrates, nominated from among the people 
 themselves, Toosu, or " local official." 
 
 The Ming dynasty had to camp several hundred thousand men 
 to preserve order in the neighbourhood of Fanchow, Lanchow, 
 Shwisi, and Lichiien; and the aborigines were defeated after 
 much fighting. Then were appointed Toosu or local magistrates 
 of the barbarians themselves, to be accountable to the Chinese 
 
 * According to Dr. Williams, the Jwang live in huts and clothe in feathers and 
 leaves. The same authority locates some of the Yao in the north-west of Kwangtung, 
 and some Po in the south-west of Kweichow. 
 
 f The Chinese state, not without reason, that the Burmese and Annamese are of 
 the same race as the Man and Miao. 
 
 The Han dynasty, after years of warfare, drove the aborigines out of the mid- 
 land plains of China, and compelled them to go to the mountains, as the Anglo- 
 -Saxons drove before them the ancient British. 
 
474 CHINA'S ABORIGINES. 
 
 government for the preservation of order. Woo Sangwei and 
 Gung Jimao were ordered to continue the system established by 
 the Ming dynasty. 
 
 In 1664 the resources of Yunnan and Kweichow were directed 
 against Ankwun, the leader of a serious revolt in the jurisdiction 
 of Shwisi. He was defeated, and his lands converted into the- 
 four prefectures of Kiensi, Pingyuen, Tating, and Weining. In 
 this attack, Sangwei himself marched by Chihinggwan, and sent 
 his marshal from Kweichow by Liwkueiho of Tafang, leaving his. 
 stores at Sanchaho, thus attacking in front and rear. When the 
 Ming princes were fighting for the preservation of their imperial 
 family, they counted a good deal on the aid of Toosu ; but after 
 these attempts were finally smothered, all the Toosu remained, 
 quiet. 
 
 There was an attempt made by the Ming dynasty to remove- 
 the aborigines to some other locality where they could be more 
 accessible and therefore less troublesome, but so serious a revolt - 
 ensued under one Loong, that the attempt was laid aside though 
 the aborigines were defeated. The Ming army did not march 
 directly into Yunnan, but first made sure of the aborigines under 
 Szchuen. The dynasty then changed Woomung, Woosa, Doong- 
 chuen, and Mangboo tribes, from the jurisdiction of Yunnan to- 
 that of Szchuen. Woomung and Doongchiien were in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Yunnan ; Woosa, Junhiwng (or Mangboo), and 
 Fanchow, in that of Kweichow. The Toosu were therefore opposed 
 to the change of jurisdiction, as Szchuen was so far away. Mangboo' 
 was converted into the prefecture of Chinhiwng or Junhiwng. 
 Wanli of the Ming changed Fanchow into the prefectures of 
 Tsunyi and Pingyue, one under Kweichow, the other under 
 Szchuen. The other Toosu were over 2000 li from the capital 
 of Szchuen, and only a few hundred from Yunnan or Kweichow. 
 The nominal jurisdiction was again changed to these two provinces,, 
 but the real power was still in Szchuen, to which the Toosu had 
 formerly been compelled to subject themselves. The native Man 
 do not cultivate the ground, but steal and kill animals for food. 
 The border Chinese agriculturists are plundered generation after 
 
BORDER TROUBLES. 475 
 
 generation, and the cabinet ministers have been unable to resolve 
 on any action in reply to the never-ending prayers for help. One 
 can readily picture the situation ; for just at the time when the 
 wild Man tribes issued on predatory excursions from their wild 
 mountains, the central portions of Scotland were subjected to the 
 similar raids of the equally wild Highlanders. 
 
 At length in 1724, in answer to the repeated prayers of the 
 people, the emperor Yungching sent Artai as governor to 
 Yunnan, with the powers of viceroy, to thoroughly investigate 
 the circumstances. He reported that the Miao and Man were the 
 cause of most serious troubles in Yunnan and Kweichow, to deal 
 effectually with which it was necessary to move the aborigines 
 elsewhere, because their frontiers were far too extensive, so that 
 it was impossible to keep proper watch over them ; and their 
 disposition was comparable only to dogs* eating up their 
 neighbours. He confessed that the effort to remedy the evils 
 would be a formidable one ; but without it no lasting peace 
 could possibly be secured. He described Doongchuen as 400 li 
 from Yunnan, and separated therefrom by a formidable mountain 
 pass ; but distant 1800 li from Chungtu. It was attacked and 
 plundered by Woomung during the previous winter; and the 
 Yunnan army had beaten off Woomung before the Szchuen 
 army appeared on the field. Yet Doongchuen, Woomung, and 
 Chinhiwng, were under the jurisdiction of Szchuen, and not of 
 Yunnan ; Woomung was only 200 li further from Yunnan than 
 Doongchiien. He also stated that, from 1714, the Toosu of 
 Woomung oppressed his people; for while the legal tax demanded 
 from his tribe was only three hundred taels, he compelled them 
 to pay a hundred times that sum. Four times each year his 
 people had to pay a small instalment, and every third year a 
 large tax. The small instalments were in cash, the large tax 
 in silver. If one of his sons got married, he permitted none of 
 his people to marry for three years after. If any of his people 
 committed a crime for which death was the penalty, the knife 
 
 * This comparison arises probably from the fact, that almost all the aborigines 
 have the character " dog " attached to their name, implying their savage condition. 
 
476 CHINA'S ABORIGINES. 
 
 was sheathed on payment by his friends of a sum of silver, a 
 few score taels, but the criminal was thrown into a dark 
 <lungeon. The Doongchiien barbarians, though for thirty years 
 under close Chinese supervision, had not in the least changed 
 their wild habits. On their borders were four hundred li of 
 excellent soil, which the Chinese dared not cultivate. He 
 promised that if those two Toosu were subjected to Yunnan, he 
 would find means of establishing peace in those regions. He 
 stated that the establishment of three prefectures and one lieut- 
 general's station would suffice ; and these, with the magistrates 
 already under Szchuen and Kwangsi, would make about fifty 
 prefectures, sub-prefectures, and hiens, under Toosu, appointed 
 from Peking. The four prefectures he proposed to call Nanning, 
 Taiping, Sungun, and Tsingyuen. He said that this was the plan 
 adopted by the Sung dynasty when they twice defeated the 
 Man tribes. He added that the border troubles all sprang out of 
 quarrels between the Toosu and the Toomoo.* He proposed that 
 Kweichow and Kwangsi should have their boundary up to the 
 river Chiangko kiang; the region south of the river should be 
 placed under Siloongchow of Kwangsi ; and the north of the 
 river under Poongan chow of Kweichow ; while Yunnan should 
 make the Lantsangkiang her south-east border ; and even then 
 the Miao country would be very extensive. The regions beyond 
 the Lantsang would then be under the Toosu of Chuali, Burma, 
 and Laojwa; the districts on the Chinese side of the river 
 should be handed over to Dienyueii, Weiyuen, Yuenkiang, 
 Sinping, Poor, and Chashan barbarians. When those people 
 had their hands free from internal warfare, they sallied out into 
 the midst of the Chinese lands, creating great disorder ; and if 
 pursued they fled to the regions beyond. They never ceased 
 to be a border scourge since the time of the Yuen, down the 
 Ming dynasty, and to that time. 
 
 As the emperor had the greatest confidence in the abilities of 
 Artai, he permitted him to carry out the programme which he 
 
 * Apparently "elders" chosen by the people themselves ; while the Toosu were 
 hereditary magistrates nominated by Chinese government. 
 
INTERNAL DIVISIONS. 477 
 
 thus proposed; and with the title of viceroy over the three 
 provinces concerned, gave him full liberty to solve the difficult 
 problem in his own way. To begin with, the emperor at once 
 placed the three Man regions, Doongchuen, Woomung, and 
 Chinhiwng, under the control of Yunnan. 
 
 The viceroy began without delay to carry out his plans. 
 Woomung and Chinhiwng were deadly enemies, and this gave 
 him a good opportunity. He degraded the Toomoo of Doong- 
 chuen, and sent an army to look after Woomung. The native 
 prefect (Toosu) of each of these tribes happened then to be of 
 tender years, and the command of the army in each case devolved 
 on an uncle, the one Dingkwun, the other Loong Lienhing. 
 A lieut. -general was sent to Doongchuen. Dingkwun was called 
 upon to acknowledge himself a subject of China and obeyed. 
 The young prefect stated that Chinhiwng was then, three 
 thousand strong, attacking his people at Loodien. Lieut. -colonel 
 Ha Yuenshung was ordered against that band, and defeated it 
 several times, driving it back into Chinhiwng. Loong Lienhingwas 
 then summoned to submit ; and Dingkwun, with three thousand 
 men, was sent to compel his submission. Loong was defeated 
 and fled into Szchuen. A prefecture was then established in 
 Doongchuen, and a sub-prefecture in Chinhiwng, with a lieut- 
 general stationed in the former place. This was in January 1727. 
 And in this way was China still extending her borders. 
 
 Soon after this apparent subjugation, the Toomoo of Faga 
 of Doongchuen, and the Toomoo of Mijan of Woomung, harried 
 the border ; and it took more than a year to seize the former. 
 About the same time the Toomoo of Mijan fled before three 
 hundred men across the Siao Kinsha Kiang (Small Gold-sand 
 river). There, however, he was joined by the " Gwo " Man of 
 Shamasu and Liangshan of Kienchang in Szchuen. Former 
 enemies became common friends when the independence of all was 
 at stake ; and the pursuers were annihilated by some thousands of 
 the combined tribes. The lieut. -general and Yuenshung, now a 
 colonel, were sent by three various routes against this formidable 
 gathering. The troops of Kienchang and Yungning were placed 
 
478 CHINA'S ABORIGINES. 
 
 at the disposal of Artai; and he required all, for the various Toosu 
 with whom he had to deal at one and the same time, from the Small 
 Gold river to Kienchang, Shama, Leibo,Twundoo,and Whanglang, 
 spread over a line of 1000 li. The Toosu of Leibo was seized, 
 and all the Toosu gradually came to terms, and the army under 
 Yuenshung returned. The Toosu of Aloo was defeated with 
 several thousands of his men; and Doongchiien was wholly 
 occupied by the imperial army, and its taxation fixed at twenty 
 thousand dan of grain, and ten thousand taels worth of sulphur 
 yearly. 
 
 Dingkwun had by his bravery acquired for himself a great name, 
 and he was nominated colonel of south of the river. He had 
 sent his wife and children into the capital of the province ; 
 partly doubtless as proof of his fidelity, and partly, we may 
 imagine, for their safety in those troublous times. He himself 
 was sent to Peking, and had an audience of the emperor. His 
 son, Wunfoo, afterwards went back to Loodien to look after his 
 property. When he arrived he found the imperial soldiers 
 acting so riotously there, that he began to plot a rebellion. He 
 soon collected a number of men armed with spears and bows, but 
 no guns. As the imperial officer was anxious only for peace, the 
 rebels were able to take the city of Chinchung. They butchered 
 every soul therein, soldier and civilian. This was the signal for a 
 general revolt, and Doongchiien, Chinhiwng and Liangshan rose 
 to the number of several myriads. 
 
 Artai, as in duty boun&, sent off a specially swift despatch to 
 the emperor, petitioning to be executed as a false and unworthy 
 official, to have another sent to administer the three provinces, and 
 an army at once ordered against the rebels. The emperor however 
 " pitied " and left him at his post. He lost no time, after gaining 
 this reply, in sending an army of ten thousand men of his 
 own, reinforced by half as many Man soldiers, by three various 
 routes against the rebels. 
 
 A band of four hundred of these broke up four thousand rebels 
 and destroyed four forts or stockades; and three days after, 
 fifteen hundred defeated eight thousand, slaying two thousand 
 
REBELS DEFEATED. 479 
 
 .and burning their camp. Yuenshung with a thousand men came 
 up with a camp of rebels under Dangbin, containing half of an 
 army of twenty thousand. With a spear in one hand and his 
 bow in the other, the Manchu colonel rushed for the commander 
 who was advancing against him, and transfixed him with the 
 spear, killing another officer with an arrow. The rebels began 
 to move slowly backwards, fighting as they retired to Chinagang 
 where several myriads of their friends were spread over a line of 
 10 li in various camps. Yuenshung waited for the rest of his 
 army, which in all counted three thousand besides one thousand 
 Man troops. With his whole force he pierced the enemy's 
 quarters at night, slaying right and left ; but he did not shake 
 them, and both waited the morning light. Various routes 
 poured out long lines of rebels with the dawn, who attacked with 
 fury, but were met with determination. The lazy great guns at 
 length burst their silence and belched out consternation upon 
 the enemy, and a simultaneous rush against their front and an 
 attack upon their rear, threw the rebels into disorder and soon 
 <lrove them into flight. Eighty rebel camps were destroyed and 
 immense spoil taken. On the same day Yuenshung pushed on 
 to Woohiwng. Henceforth so great was the terror inspired by 
 Yuenshung that the appearance of his banner drove the rebels 
 into retreat. His army was then under six thousand men, yet 
 he divided it in two; one division to go by Loodien into 
 Doongchiien, the other from Loongdoongshan into Chinhiwng. 
 The marshal and lieut. -general with twelve thousand men were 
 ordered against Doongchiien, but they dared not move in among 
 the wild mountains. The rebels occupying Loodien were 
 strongly entrenched in Sangwan, the " three gullies," the only 
 routes into their lands. These are called, Shadowgwan, 
 Daiwoogwan, and Dagwan. 
 
 Artai, fearing that Yuenshung in case of any untoward accident 
 was too far from his base of communications, and much too far 
 away among the mountains, ordered off four thousand of Doochuen 
 men across the river to force their way through those three 
 gullies, while Chinhiwng men were set in motion to swell his 
 
480 CHINA'S ABORIGINES. 
 
 army, for the three gullies were dangerous to meddle with, 
 Szchuen men were at the same time sent against Liangshan. 
 Just then Dingkwun came south from Honan, and was beheaded - T 
 an act which we cannot but regard as unwise and unworthy, 
 though the rebellion had been kindled by his sons. And 
 even they had the justification of wicked conduct by the 
 Chinese soldiers ; just as inferior races have elsewhere had the 
 same provocation from British and other European soldiers. 
 
 During the spring and summer ensuing (1732), numbers of 
 the Chinese soldiers were struck down by the heat. The 
 malaria which broke out among them and carried off two 
 hundred men, invited an attack from the Gwo tribe of 
 Weiyuen and Sinping; but the slaughter of over a thousand 
 drove them back again. The army pursued the flying 
 Gwo to the Lantsang Kiang, and in among the mountains of 
 Mungyangcha shan. This terrified the rebels, who said that 
 the ancient Han armies never penetrated so far. When the 
 army advanced, the rebels fled into Burmah; when the army 
 retired, the rebels returned and harried the land. The soldiers 
 had to cut open a road to that mountain range, each man carrying 
 a hatchet for the purpose. By this plan the rebel communications 
 were cut in two, over forty stockades were rendered useless, and 
 Liwcha shan was rendered innocuous. Deserters were employed 
 as guides, and the rebels were employed against each other.* 
 This decided the war. It took little time to clear all on the 
 Chinese side of the river ; and accounts were quickly settled with 
 all except Chuali Toosu beyond the river. Poor was made a 
 prefecture, and Tangchow established ; each city was ordered to 
 pay two or three thousand dan of grain per annum. The Toosu 
 of Mungyun beyond Yungchang presented silver mines. The 
 wild savages of the Nooldang brought presents of skin quivers 
 from their country beyond Weisi. Laogwo and Kingmai 
 kingdoms offered tribute, and Burmah was in terror. Yenjang, 
 another territory subject to China, whither ciminals are banished, 
 
 *The "Holy Wars" again and again recommend, as the best policy of China, 
 this setting " western barbarians " by the ears ! 
 
MIAO. 481 
 
 and south of Yunnan, had, before Artai conquered the Miao, 
 thirteen hundred stockades over an extent of country 3000 li 
 in circumference. By the Tsingldang they could sail up north 
 into the Hoo provinces and by the Tukiang south into Kwangsi. 
 
 Troops were employed for five or six years on the borders of 
 Kweichow, centered at Kuchung or Kwangshwun chow, under 
 the former viceroy, to put down the MlAO. Several times were 
 the latter defeated and their forts destroyed, but their leaders 
 always escaped. The governor expressed his opinion that the 
 same leader should not be a third time pursued, but Artai resolved 
 that thrice he should be pursued. He therefore sent a general 
 against him, who took and slew him with many of his followers. 
 He seized at the same time four thousand three hundred bows 
 and catapults, with thirty thousand poisoned arrows. The 
 vanquished were ordered to change their dress, " tail " their hair, 
 to live in houses and to cultivate the ground. Hence can be 
 learned their former savage condition. Under the glow of 
 victory, the west, south, and east of the province were attacked, 
 where the independent barbarians of Kwangshwun, Tingfan, and 
 Chunning had over six hundred and eighty stockades. Besides 
 which, there were the independent Miao of Chunning, Yungning, 
 Yungping, and Anshwun with 1398 stockades, covering a line 
 of over a thousand li, up to the Tsingshwi Kiang, and the 
 borders of Chunyuen of Kwangsi. They touched Hookwang 
 below the "lake," and above they penetrated Kweichow and 
 Kwangsi. The Miao had also their dens for hundreds of li along 
 the Kiwgu ho, and the great and small Tanldang up to Kuchow; 
 thus, in the heart of those three provinces, there were several 
 myriads of fighting men enemies to the Chinese government. 
 
 There were two Kuchow, an " Inner " and an " Outer." The 
 " Inner " looked towards Liping foo and is thence 180 li. There 
 lives the chief, elected by the Chinese of that place. Its lands 
 are about 80 li in circumference, with four or five thousand 
 families, and over twenty thousand people ; the Tukiang and 
 Yungkiang flow on the right and left of this district. Circling 
 round Inner Kuchow, and stretching north to south from 200 to 
 PI 
 
482 CHINA'S ABORIGINES. 
 
 300 li, and the same distance from east to west, is " Outer " 
 Kuchow, about 1200 li in circumference, with, thousands of 
 families and over a hundred thousand people, a region which 
 might have been divided into two or three sub-prefectures and 
 districts. In 1728, eight stockades were taken on the Tukiang 
 to open up communication with that region. Ambushes were 
 laid along the great and small Tankiang, and the camp of the 
 enemy was burnt. The defeated fled to the mountains, where 
 they hoped to take the Chinese army by surprise by means of 
 ambushes. But their communications were cut ; and want of 
 provisions compelled them to surrender, after they had sometime 
 lived drinking blood instead of water. They made a covenant 
 on engraved wood, and cut a stone as an oath. The army was 
 then free to march on Tsingshwi Kiang. The men of Kiwguho 
 were defeated, and presented their commander at the Chinese 
 camp. The army then seized a hundred boats of the Miao, 
 in which they crossed the lake ; and a market was opened in 
 which the Chinese sold salt and cottons to the natives. 
 
 When, after. the death of Sangwei, his general, Ma Bao, fled 
 towards the Hoo provinces, the Miao of Kuchow set upon him, 
 took his cannon, shot and powder, and since that time they were 
 reckoned the most formidable of their fellows. They had two 
 chief stations, one at Lainiwtingtan above the river, and 
 Yoongtoong below the river. Those places were hitherto 
 inaccessible to the army. But when, in 1730, the way was 
 cleared, a number of Miao boats were seized, and a sudden rush 
 made when the enemy least expected it. In this first capture 
 of an outpost, spears, swords, and twelve thousand bows were 
 taken. The army then started for Lainiwtingtan fort, and the 
 first notice the Miao had of the attack was the noise of men and 
 the trampling of horses in their camp at the fifth watch, -just 
 before daybreak. The cannon were taken and four hundred 
 prisoners. But the road to Yoongtoong was long, difficult, and 
 dangerous. In that region the Tankiang flows crosswise at a 
 distance of about 50 li from the Tukiang, and as many from the 
 Tsingshwi Kiang. A canal cut between these three would make 
 
MIAO. 483 
 
 them one river, and communication would be opened by which 
 the large vessels of Kwangsi could sail up to the Hoo provinces. 
 Suling Choiu had been long but bootlessly attacked by a- 
 lieut.-colonel from Kwangsi with three thousand men; it 
 now fell by surprise in one night. The same occurred at the 
 Toosu prefecture of Swm/ing, before which a Kwangsi lieut.- 
 general had wasted a year. This series of surprises broke down 
 all opposition, and the border of the three provinces was restored 
 to order. Yiwyang was eighteen stages (from 30 to 60 li each) 
 from Chungching of Szchuen, under whose jurisdiction it was 
 placed; but scarcely 300 li from Tungyin of Kweichow, from 
 which its nearest Toomoo was only 100 li distant. The hill- 
 sides were now all burnt down and sown ; the good soil, fallow 
 for countless ages, produced rice which grew eight feet high, 
 with five or six heads, several times more numerous than the 
 produce of the long cultivated lands ; while beans grew as large 
 as chestnuts. 
 
 Artai was rewarded for his work with the titles of Count and 
 Grand Secretary, and next year (1731) sent to the far west to 
 secure the regions of Altai and Balilnvun, which had burst into 
 a wide-spread and dangerous rebellion. 
 
 In 1732-3, there were no field operations against the abori- 
 gines; but the garrisons on the Kweichow border, which the 
 Miao covered for between two and three thousand li, had constant 
 skirmishes. In 1735 the grain crops of the Miao failed, and 
 there was again a general insurrection. The neighbouring 
 rebels took Wangkia ling of Kuchow, and collected between 
 Taihoong and Tsingshwi Kiang. To increase the difficulty, the 
 governor and Yuenshung, now made marshal, did not agree. 
 The rebels soon discovered the condition of affairs; and knew that 
 while the cities were much undermanned, no more than half the 
 available camp soldiers would be ordered against them. They 
 therefore boldly sallied out against the cities; and a military 
 station, with four cities, rapidly fell into their hands. They 
 burnt the sub-prefectures of Liangchow, Chunyuen, and Suchow, 
 with the prefecture of Chunyuen ; and the wide country which. 
 
484 CHINA'S ABORIGINES. 
 
 had no defending city walls, was thrown into the greatest terror. 
 The garrisons of Taihoong and Tsing Kiang were again and 
 again snared in ambuscades, and all but annihilated. Yuenshung 
 could march only three hundred men to Yanglao military station; 
 but the rebels, hearing of the arrival of the marshal, and believing 
 he could approach only with a large army, dared not march against 
 Pingyue and Tuyun. 
 
 So serious had matters become, that in July the emperor 
 ordered the available troops of the six nearest provinces to 
 concentrate on the disturbed locality, Yuenshung being made 
 commander, and the marshal of Hookwang second in command. 
 The concentrating armies were seen by the Miao scouts, and the 
 rebels began to retreat among their mountain fastnesses. 
 Yuenshung was not long in retaking all the captured cities, and 
 then attacked the Chungan Kiang rebels to clear the way for 
 Yunnan troops to join him. The wild Miao retired to occupy the 
 communications of Taihoong, Tsingkiang, and Tankiang. The 
 eight stockades of Chinese there demanded speedy reinforcements 
 to save them from this increasing peril. There were by this time 
 eight thousand Kwangsi men in Kuchow, and Kwangtung was 
 pouring in provisions day and night. The Hookwang men 
 rendezvoused at Chunyuen. 
 
 Yuenshung divided his army into three divisions, one to 
 march to Taihoong; one from Pakung to protect Liwlo, and to push 
 on to Tsingkiang ; and the third by Tukiang to save the eight 
 stockades, the lieut. -general of which had been meantime enticed 
 out by the rebels and slain. But the aspect of affairs had 
 become so serious, that only a terrible blow could calm down the 
 ardour of the rebels; and that blow could not be struck. A 
 picked division of four thousand men was sent against Upper 
 Kiwgu, as many more against Lower Kiwgu, and over five 
 thousand against Tsingkiang, stretching from Tankiang on the 
 north to Kuchow on the south, west to the eight stockades of 
 Tuyun and east to Tsingkiang and Taihoong, occupying several 
 hundred li. Heavy rains fell and roads were turned to mud. 
 Liwlo fell to the rebels, and Chingfu city soon after. Tankiang 
 
MIAO. 485 
 
 was besieged half a year, and was saved from destruction only when 
 it was on the eve of being starved into opening its gates. The 
 rebels were unopposed, for the various armies continued on the~ 
 watch in their camps, instead of pushing on and in. The rebels 
 became bolder, and again marched out and burnt Liang, 
 Chingping, and Hwangping. This adverse turn of affairs, in 
 spite of the resources at his disposal, compelled the viceroy to 
 memorialise from Hookwang, taking the blame entirely upon 
 himself, and asking for merited punishment. Artai also 
 petitioned that his countship should be annulled, for this 
 outbreak told against him too, as if he had left his work 
 unfinished. Both petitions were carried out. 
 
 The emperor died in 1735. Several of the chief officers on 
 the scene of action were recalled, and Jang Gwangsu was made 
 Jinglo or dictator of the seven provinces. Yuenshung and the 
 other chief officers were to be examined and punished. The new 
 commander at once gave as the reason for the collapse of the 
 imperial attack, that though it was not too strong to begin with, 
 the army had been split up into several fighting divisions and 
 garrisoning parties; while the Miao, civilized and savage, had 
 combined in the common cause. The Chinese losses were 
 enormous. A note states that ten thousand Chinese fell in 
 battle and four hundred thousand died of starvation. Before the 
 aborigines were finally conquered, one thousand two hundred and 
 twenty-four stockades were destroyed, while three hundred and 
 eighty-eight were left standing, seventeen thousand six hundred 
 rebels were slain, and twenty five thousand taken prisoners ; fire 
 arms of various sizes to the number of forty six thousand five 
 hundred were taken, with a hundred and forty eight thousand 
 arrows, spears, and other missiles We can learn the cause of 
 this long, bitter, and determined stand of the Miao, from the 
 urgent advice of Artai recommending that they should not be 
 compelled to shave their heads; they thus fought for independence. 
 He died in 1745. 
 
 Since this conquest, there were instituted over the Miao in 
 Szchuen four Huemvei, or arranging and comforting officials; five 
 
486 CHINA'S ABOKIGINES. 
 
 Huenfoo, or arranging and nourishing officials; three Sub-kuen; 
 with twenty-three Anfoo,or tranquillising and Nourishing officials, 
 or local prefects ; thirty-two Janggwansu or magistrates ; three 
 sub-chiefs; thirty-nine Thousand-family officials; and one hundred 
 and sixty- three Hundred-family officials; all Man officials. To 
 Yunnan was assigned one Huenwei, that of Chuali; four 
 Huenfoo, those of Kiwma, Loongchuen, Kanwa, and Nantien ; 
 two sub-Huenfoo ; three Anfoosu; three sub- Janggwansu ; 
 four prefects, and four sub-prefects. Under Kweiehow were 
 sixty-five Janggiuansu, with twenty-one sub-ditto. Kwangsi 
 had under its care twenty-six sub-prefects; four district 
 magistrates and three Janggwansu. There are several scores 
 more of Toosu between Szchuen and Kokonor ; besides others 
 under the supervision of Dalai Lama. In Kansu there are eight 
 Juhwa, a rank corresponding to major, with seven assistant and 
 eight acting Juhwa ; besides ten Thousand-family and twenty- 
 three Hundred-family officials. 
 
 The Janggwansu and higher chiefs are nominated by the Board 
 of War ; and the prefects, sub-prefects, and district magistrates, 
 all aborigines, by the Board of Appointments. Hence we can infer 
 that the former are more closely identified with the aborigines 
 themselves as their chiefs for warlike purposes, and that the 
 latter, being wholly civil, are representatives of law and of the 
 Chinese authority. Each officer collects the revenue and pays it 
 yearly, or every third year. This consists of a fixed quantity of 
 whatever the locality produces, millet, rice, oxen, horses, skins, 
 clothing, all of which go to the Board of Revenue. These 
 aboriginal offices are hereditary. The eldest son is always heir. 
 He is nominated at Peking at an early age, and gets thence his 
 seal of office. If the heir dies before succeeding, his son and 
 not his brother takes his place ; but a brother succeeds if there 
 is no son. Failing a brother, the widow of the deceased chief 
 or heir, and after her, the next of kin by marriage succeeds. 
 But if there is no near relation by blood or marriage, the chief 
 is elected by the people. A seal of guardianship or regency is 
 given from Peking to a near relation if the heir succeeds while 
 
MIA( >. 487 
 
 a minor. But at fourteen he may assume rule himself by 
 petition to Peking. An aged or frail official will have his desire 
 granted when he prays for retirement. An inferior official, 
 deserving well of the empire, is elevated in rank and raised in 
 pay up to the rank of Huenwei ; and he is punished by a fine, 
 or by degradation in rank, when he receives no salary. 
 
 The Miao of Wanshan in the south of the Hoo provinces and 
 stretching into Kweichow, had long regarded the local 
 magistrate as a high official, and the high official they considered 
 as a god, which was to the well-being of all parties. To assure 
 complete security, the garrisons of Funghwang and Yungswi, 
 Soongtao, Paoching, and Chienchow, among the Miao people, 
 were within easy access of each other. 
 
 In 1791, some of the Miao in the neighbourhood of Yungswi, 
 stole some of the magistrate's cattle. Measures were taken to 
 punish the thieves, which however only stirred up a serious 
 revolt. The Chinese colonists had but recently settled there, and 
 the Miao occupied most of the country round about the city. 
 About the same time " Stone- Willow," a Miao of Tungyin foo 
 in Kweichow, was apprehended for agitating the people's 
 minds by magic. His fellows immediately rose and burnt Liang, 
 with the great camp of Soongtao. They were joined by the 
 discontented of Yungswi. The maj or-general of Yungswi went to 
 reconnoiter with six hundred men, and was joined by the lieut.- 
 general of Chunkiang, both camping at Yayiw. They were 
 scarcely settled for the night when several thousand Miao burst 
 into the camp and set it on fire ; and 100 li were covered by their 
 beacon fires summoning a general rising. The Miao of the 
 regions between Chunkiang and Chienchow hastily responded to 
 the summons, and the Chinese, who had no great guns, were 
 compelled to retreat towards Yungswi. The lieut. -general was 
 slain in his attempts to check the impetuous charge, and 
 Yungswi was instantly besieged. The aborigines around 
 Chunkiang and Chienchow followed the example and surrounded 
 those cities. The people eagerly joined the garrison of two 
 hundred men in Yungswi to defend the wooden-walled city. 
 
488 CHINA'S ABORIGINES. 
 
 The lieut-colonel fled with his men, the civil sub-magistrate 
 was murdered, but the citizens obstinately defended their hearths. 
 Joo Loonga, the lieut. -general of Kweichow, was besieged in the 
 Chungta camp of Soongtao, and all the Miao borders were 
 profoundly agitated. The viceroys of Yunnan and Szchuen, 
 with their subordinate provinces Kweichow and Hookwang, were 
 ordered at once to combine their armies and inarch into the 
 disturbed localities. Chungta was speedily relieved and the 
 Kweichow Miao pacified within the month (April). The siege 
 of Yungswi was also raised after a desperate fight against the 
 three thousand picked men sent on that duty. The marshal ot 
 Hookwang, with two thousand men, marched from Paoching to 
 the north-west of Yungswi and seized the floating bridge. 
 Several hundred rebels fell, and Whayuen was taken. He 
 became the terror of the Miao who called him " Black Tiger " 
 and " Spotted Tiger." 
 
 The main army started from Yungswi for Whangkwa in May. 
 But they had the misfortune to lose a convoy of provisions from 
 Kweichow, the rebels having put to death the escort. Chienchow 
 was retaken by six thousand men, who defeated the Miao with 
 such slaughter that they dared not again cross that way. 
 Chienchow was in the east of the disturbed districts, Paoching 
 in the north, Chunchang on the south, and Soongtao in the west. 
 The Kweichow contingent had marched to Chienchow. 
 
 The Miao turned again their force against Yungswi, which 
 they attacked with desperation day and night for two months, 
 but men from Chungtu cut through the besiegers and the siege 
 was again raised. The Miao was then alone ; for the Man, of 
 whom they were much afraid, had not then joined them. The 
 main army had taken the stockade of Whangkwa in May; but the 
 Great Wootsaoho, in flood, stopped them for two months, and it 
 was August before they were able to cross and march to 
 Kuchangying. They there took a number of stockades, and 
 among the prisoners were three surnamed Woo, who said they 
 were descendants of Woo Sangwei. The others of that surname 
 summoned the " far and the near " to their standard, and the 
 
MIAO. 489 
 
 summons was replied to by flocks of recruits. They had little 
 influence over the main current, for the Chinese army surely if 
 slowly pressed on, taking one stockade per month, till they, in 
 May 1796, took Changkishan, only 30 li from Pingloong. 
 
 The Chinese had not, as under Yuenshung, divided their army; 
 but while it was able enough thus to press on slowly after a 
 year's fighting, it had at length to confess itself unable to look 
 after all the troubled districts ; nor did it feel itself free to detach 
 so many men to its rear as would make the line of communication 
 absolutely safe. Hence the Miao often pounced upon the 
 convoys, and at length took Chienchow again. And by their 
 harassing attacks on the Chinese rear, the army was brought to 
 a stand still, as it had to send off a large force to bring up the 
 provisions. Indeed at length so badly had their situation 
 turned out, that several hundreds deserted to the Miao. The 
 climate too was most trying, and the heat poisoned many, while 
 the heavy rains brought additional trouble. Large reinforcements 
 therefore had to be sent. Chienchow was a second time retaken 
 and Pingloong was besieged in the heat of July. But this 
 favourable turn of matters was shortlived. Those officials 
 at the head of affairs issued a proclamation to the effect that the 
 lands of the Chinese people would be restored to them, the Miao 
 would have all their own lands, the old garrisons would be 
 removed, and the only condition of peace imposed upon the Miao 
 was to give up their arms. Though the proclamation was strongly 
 disapproved of at Peking, it could not be improved ; and after 
 another year vainly spent, the army was recalled, twenty 
 thousand of them divided among the various garrisons, with thirty- 
 seven thousand Miao soldiers, their pay to continue as before. 
 The principal officers were upbraided, because, with the resources 
 of seven provinces at their disposal, they had failed to carry out 
 their commission ; they were then degraded. The Miao army 
 was afterwards scattered. 
 
 Three years after, the boldest of all the marauders, the Black 
 Miao under Woo Jun, made a plundering raid into the country. 
 Ting Yisiang was at the head of the army which went against 
 
490 CHINA'S ABORIGINES. 
 
 them from the east. He built as he marched and fought ; 
 set up forts or stockades of stone wherever he could find it ; and 
 congregated the people in large villages, the houses of which 
 he built of stone, so that they could not be burnt down by the 
 Miao. His plan was successful, and quiet again reigned on the 
 Miao border, which fringed over 700 li of the north, south and 
 east of Hookwang, and 200 on the south-west touching 
 Kweichow. 
 
 There was another revolt of Kweichow Miao in 1801 ; when 
 Ting Yisiang, seconded by the new viceroy of Yunnan, drove 
 them in upon Wanshan, and pushed in after them to if possible 
 finally put an end to those troubles. There, in their own fast- 
 nesses, the Miao fought with desperation, and he made no 
 progress. Leaving his main army to attack in front, he made a 
 detour by night with a picked band round and on to the top of 
 the hill under which the Miao were so stubbornly holding on. 
 With dawn he poured cannon shot upon them from the height, 
 while his army pushed with energy down below ; and, notwith- 
 standing their desperate valour, the Miao at length gave way, 
 ending the struggle by flight, but only after their camp was set 
 on fire. Another Miao camp stationed below those, hearing of 
 the flight did not stay to fight. Of the Miao two thousand 
 were left in the valley. Ting was on one occasion exploring 
 with a small band, when he was suddenly surrounded by swarms 
 of Miao several deep, who let fly shot like hail ; but as he would 
 not move they became weary of the fight, and went away. In 
 one month he took sixteen forts, with three thousand muskets, 
 spears, &c., and restored Yungswi district to order. This was in 
 1806. 
 
 In all those engagements every advantage was on the side of 
 the Miao. They were hidden among the mountains ; their foes 
 were in the open country. They had no fixed abodes, and could 
 move about whither they would, avoiding the Chinese when too 
 numerous to hope for victory ; attacking them when a weak side 
 was exposed ; while they had every facility for laying ambushes, 
 of which they always took skilful advantage. They ate little,. 
 
YAO. 491 
 
 and could fast long ; they dressed lightly, and could endure any 
 fatigue, in all of which they had great advantages over the 
 Chinese troops. Hence Yisiang urged the employment of 
 trained Miao to hunt down the rebels. 
 
 In the jurisdiction of Funghwang Ting there are over eight 
 hundred villages built of stone; the Chinese residents in which are 
 mostly trained soldiers, who till their lands, and are ready to defend 
 them. Chienchow neighbourhood has ninety stone-built 
 villages, containing eight hundred fighting soldiers. There are 
 fully forty such villages in the neighbourhood of Paoching ; and 
 ten stone villages under Kuchangping Ting, round which the 
 Miao are very numerous. Yungswi has over one hundred such 
 villages. Up to the year 1808 was this process of building stone 
 villages carried out, till there were established over one thousand 
 villages with one hundred and twenty thousand mow of land 
 under cultivation by those military villagers and their families. 
 The eight thousand soldiers were joined by over a hundred 
 thousand "wandering" Chinese families. But the soldiers- 
 with their families own most of the land. There were six free 
 libraries and one hundred free schools established. The Miao 
 of Hookwang also entered these schools, and petitioned to be 
 permitted to compete for literary degrees. In 1811, the same 
 process was going on ; nor has there been any subsequent attempt 
 at final conquest. Yisiang was made governor of the Ting and 
 surrounding regions, and had suitable rewards granted him 
 because of his valorous defence and successful administration. 
 
 Among the mountains forming the boundary line where 
 Hoonan, Kwangtung and Kwangsi meet, on the confines of the 
 four sub-prefectures of the first-named province, called Hung, 
 Yoong, Chun and Kwei, of Lienchow of Kwangtung and Chuen- 
 chow of Kwangsi, on the north of Wooling or the "Five 
 Ranges " dwell the wild people called YAO, of savage habits,, 
 and destitute of any form of government. They live in the 
 narrow glens and among the precipitous mountain gorges of that 
 wide region ; and are in disposition of a savage, fierce and 
 lawless nature, refusing to have any intercourse with the Chinese. 
 
492 CHINA'S ABORIGINES. 
 
 They seize by force, and the Chinese take from them by deceit. 
 They despise the Chinese magistrate, and often act with rough 
 rudeness towards him; and their Chinese neighbours, always 
 encroaching, have long sowed the deeds of past hatred and 
 future troubles, by their openly avowed desire for and attempts 
 to secure the extermination of the savages. 
 
 Taking advantage of the grand meetings of those Yao in their 
 gatherings to celebrate the worship of " heaven and earth," their 
 Chinese neighbours of Hoonan and Kwangtung several times 
 went in among the mountain hamlets, destroyed their grain, and 
 took away their cattle. The spoilers privately gained over the 
 magistrate and Yamun underlings, so that the wronged Yao had 
 no redress. This hardship at length, in January 1832, roused 
 them to fury, and Jao Jinloong stirred them up to rebellion. 
 He sent Jao Footsai, a man of considerable abilities, highly 
 esteemed by the Yao of Yoongchow, with three hundred 
 Kwangtung Yao to join their fellow-clansmen of Tsiwchoong of 
 Hoonan ; and a band of between six and seven hundred marched 
 against and burnt Lianghokow "Two Ports," and killed fully 
 twenty of the men who had plundered them. The district 
 magistrate of Kianghwa, with a lieut.-colonel from Yoongchow, 
 marched against them with seven hundred men. But the Yao 
 had become more numerous, and one thousand of them were 
 posted between Changtang and Kiachoong. To counterbalance 
 this increase, a lieut. -general and a sub-prefect advanced with 
 several hundred men ; and the lieut-colonel was therefore able 
 to defeat the Kiachoong rebels, taking many of their " dens," 
 and slaying three hundred of their army. He advanced and 
 destroyed many hamlets; the Yao falling back on the hills 
 Wooshwiyao shan of Lanshan range, having increased to treble 
 their first numbers. The army at length feared a surprise in 
 their post of observation, and retired; giving the rebels the 
 opportunity to issue out of their mountain fastnesses, and ravage 
 Ningyuen neighbourhood. 
 
 The movement had now assumed such proportions that 
 Peking heard of it, and orders were issued to the viceroy of the 
 
YAO. 493 
 
 two Kwang to exert himself to crush it. At the same time the 
 army posted in Lanshan prayed for reinforcements, and the 
 marshal himself marched with over five hundred men for 
 Lanshan. To escape the bad roads caused by the heavy rains, 
 and to outwit the rebels, he avoided the main and commonly 
 used road, taking a byeroad into the mountains. His design to 
 take the rebels by surprise failed ; for when he was entangled 
 in a narrow, bad road at Changtang, he was in a moment 
 surrounded by the waiting and watchful Yao, and not a single 
 man of that force escaped to tell the tale. 
 
 Jinloong was at the head of the scattered Yao of Bapai, 
 combined with those of Kianghwa and Kintien; Footsai 
 commanded those of Changning and Kweiyang, occupying 
 another line of road; and Jao Wunfung was commander of those 
 of Sintien, Ningyuen and Lanshan on a different route, each 
 with between two and three thousand men, and supporting each 
 other. 
 
 The Kweichow marshal was ordered into Hoonan to occupy 
 the place of the slain. Hoope troops were put in motion south- 
 wards, and the Yao borders were surrounded by a force of fully 
 ten thousand troops. The Chinese armies had been hurriedly 
 collected, and were not drilled nor drilling, nor had granaries 
 been provided for them. Though numerous, they were therefore 
 useless, and soon replaced by the men guarding the Miao and 
 Man, who were summoned from the military settlements and stone 
 villages mentioned above. The neighbouring cities were also 
 ordered to drill their proper contingents. The sub-prefect of Kwei- 
 yang fought the army of Footsai, defeated, seized and beheaded 
 him, slaying three hundred of his men. In a second battle he 
 slew six hundred more. The men under Wunfung therefore 
 melted away to less than half their first strength. But as the 
 Sintien army had not come up, these marched out upon, attacked 
 and took that city; slaying the district magistrate. The 
 neighbouring officers who could have prevented that catastrophe 
 did not move, and were therefore punished. The officers in 
 command of the campaign were ordered to entice the Yao out 
 
494 
 
 into the plains, for that there they could be easily defeated, as 
 they were hill people. 
 
 In April, Lo Suju, the marshal of Hoope, arrived at 
 Yoongchow. As the Yao mountains had many routes south- 
 wards into Kwangtung, he set the main army to watch those 
 from Sintien, to prevent the rebels escaping southwards. The 
 .attack was then made by the only route into their mountains on 
 the north or Kweiyang side; the west being watched at the 
 same time. The rebels, who numbered about five thousand 
 men with half as many women, were thus forced eastwards on 
 Yangchuen of Changning, whence they had an exit by the river 
 route, or by the land road. There they determined to make a 
 stand in a fort of theirs, sending the non-combatants away. Lo 
 got information of their position, and secretly sent messengers to 
 the north army to push on and join him. Then, though the 
 heavy guns had not arrived, he immediately besieged them, 
 resting neither day nor night. When one of the Yao appeared 
 outside or above the fort, he was shot with arrow or ball ; and 
 some scores of Chunchang men scaled a hill commanding the 
 fort, and killed first to last about a thousand of them. The 
 siege had not lasted a month, before the Yao " pretended " to 
 sue for surrender, though they only desired to gain time to be 
 .able to flee. But Lo would give no terms, only pressing the 
 siege the more closely. One of the gates was at last seized ; and 
 .after a desperate encounter there, the Yao cried for quarter, 
 which however was not granted, and fighting went on till six 
 thousand of them were slain. There survived only about 
 nine hundred men, who took up their quarters in a large house 
 in the street, against which, however, Lo would not direct his 
 guns, hoping to take alive Jinloong, whom he believed to be inside. 
 But a fortnight after the fight it was ascertained that Jinloong, 
 at the head of one thousand men, had made a desperate effort to 
 cut through the besiegers, and in the conflict had been shot dead. 
 When this was ascertained, the whole of the survivors were 
 made prisoners, and among them Jinloong's sons, wife and 
 daughter,with several scores of the men who had first risen in arms. 
 
YAO. 495 
 
 Lo had a two-eyed peacock feather granted him, and he with 
 other officers had appropriate titles bestowed ; Hoope was 
 praised for its energy, and Kwangtung was blamed for its negli- 
 gence. Though Jinloong had fallen, another Jinloong had two 
 thousand men in Lanshan; who, however, soon disappeared 
 before Lo. Another body of two thousand Yao penetrated into 
 Kwangsi to plunder, but were repulsed. 
 
 The viceroy and marshal divided an army of six thousand 
 men to march by three converging roads into the Bapai region. 
 The Yao, terrified, sent messengers to offer submission, who 
 approached the viceroy on their knees. He, however, ordered 
 the chief to be beheaded, and most of the others were also put 
 to death. This gave the courage of despair to those in the 
 mountains, who determined to sell their lives dearly. The Yao 
 mountains were there 400 li in circumference, and all the roads 
 uneven, among narrow gullies with precipitous mountain sides 
 and thickly covered with slim bamboo trees. The viceroy and 
 his six thousand pushed forward among those difficult paths, 
 desirous apparently of imitating marshal Lo in his exploits. 
 But he was suddenly beset from all sides ; many scores of officers 
 and over one thousand soldiers were killed, while the rest found 
 safety in flight. The Chinese lay around the mountains watching 
 the roads, but dared not penetrate, fearing the fate of the 
 viceroy's army ; while the Yao, also wise and wary by experience, 
 would not go beyond the shelter of their narrow ravines. For a 
 score of days not a Yao was to be seen. A proclamation of 
 pardon failed to make them appear, and only foreign silver coins 
 and cotton clothes tempted a few to present themselves. They 
 would not trust themselves in numbers, however ; only three or 
 four came out at one time, and no more than a few hundreds 
 in a dozen days. War was thus impossible, no side daring to 
 act on the offensive ; and with the exception of three thousand 
 men left to receive the submission of the Yao, the rest of the 
 armies was sent away, and the Yao were left to themselves. 
 
 For his faithfulness in contradicting false memorials sent by 
 officials desiring to hide the extent of the danger and their own 
 
496 CHINA'S ABORIGINES. 
 
 inefficiency, in bringing injustice and truth to light, and for his 
 diligence in bringing the Yao to submit, Jiangun had a three- 
 eyed peacock feather granted him, with the title of Goong 
 (duke) ; while viceroy Li and his marshal were banished to 
 Sinkiang, or Hi, or Kuldja. 
 
 The most remote source of the noble Yangtsu Kiang river 
 rises almost right west of its mouth at Shanghai, but at a 
 distance of twenty-four degrees of latitude. It, the Whang Ho, 
 and the Bramapootra rise in the same vicinity. That remote 
 stream flows from Soongpan, through " Outer " Tibet, under the 
 name of Tsoojin sivi, passing by Dangpa, and entering the 
 Yunnan border through the lands of a Toosu. This deep and 
 rapid river is called the Da Kinchuen, the Great Gold Stream. 
 Another stream rises in the neighbourhood of the waters of 
 Dsanna, and is called the Siao Kinchuen, the Small Gold 
 Stream. After their junction they were known of old as the 
 Yoshwi of Ningyuen. foo; and at Whilichow as the Kinsha 
 Kiang, the Gold-Sand River, which is the name now given to 
 the united streams in the south-west of Szchuen. Another name 
 given to the united river at Whilichow, and often met with in 
 Chinese history, is the Loo Kiang. 
 
 The Da Kinchuen is deep, extremely rapid, and in the centre 
 a continuation of whirling eddies, across which passage is secured 
 only by means of hide-covered boats, drawn by hawsers. The 
 hills along both streams produce gold, hence the name of the 
 river, Kin or Jin being gold. The Wanshan mountains are 
 covered with luxuriant vegetation, and the grounds cultivated 
 by the aborigines produce oats and buck-wheat alone. The 
 people live in rude, stone-built houses, and the nine Toosu or 
 local officials appointed by Peking, are mutually hostile. 
 
 In the end of Kanghi's reign, the Toosu Jialubaneifoo at the head 
 of his men followed general Yao Joongchi against the Yangdoong 
 tribe of Tibet, and by his bravery acquired great renown. His 
 grandson Solobun was created Anfoo su, a grade higher than 
 Toosu. He assumed the title of Da Kinchuen, making the old 
 Toosu Juwang, Siao Kinchuen, to whom he wished to give his 
 
MARTIAL DIFFICULTIES. 497 
 
 daughter Agoo in marriage ; but Juwang displayed no eagerness 
 in his suit. It was probably on account of Juwang's refusal to 
 consummate this marriage that Solobun drove him out of his 
 district and took possession of his seal of office. The viceroy of 
 Szchuen interfered, probably at the prayer of Juwang, mustered 
 forces, and Juwang was restored to his native place. In the 
 following year, the viceroy sent a major-general to make a treaty; 
 but instead of giving a treaty, Solobun attacked and drove him off. 
 The viceroy therefore prayed for permission to attack Solobun. 
 
 Jang Gwangsu, who was now viceroy of Yunnan and Kweichow, 
 and who had won his fame in successfully solving the Miao 
 difficulty, was ordered to attack the haughty Solobun. He was to 
 march through Szchuen, to go beyond Meiyoogwan border, and 
 absorb the army of Juwang who was camped there. His brother 
 Liang was nominated second in command. He divided his thirty 
 thousand men into two armies. One had to march westwards 
 through Szchuen to attack the stations on the west of the Great 
 Gold Stream, among the Gungtanga mountains, towards which 
 there were three various routes. The other had to march through 
 the south of Szchuen, to attack the forts of Luivoo wei, where 
 Solobun stationed, andHaryai, where his nephew commanded ; to 
 each of which stations there were two routes, and a detachment was 
 to march forwards along each of the four. The rebels occupied 
 several hundred li on the west of the river. As the roads were 
 dangerous that year, on account both of the nature of the ground 
 and the numbers and vigilance of the foe, he did not order a march 
 forward, but prayed for an additional ten thousand men. 
 
 Next year, when they did advance, they were repulsed along 
 all the roads. One major-general and a lieut. -colonel were 
 murdered by their own soldiers who deserted to the enemy ; and 
 we have seen that many deserters also then fell into the ranks of 
 the " White Lily " rebellion. Only one officer, a lieut. -general, 
 gained any credit in that campaign, for he took Siling. Because of 
 this failure, the grand secretary, Goong Nachin, together with the 
 veteran commander Yao Joongchi, was ordered from the capital to 
 the Szchuen army. The latter marched from Dangba against 
 G i 
 
498 CHINA'S ABORIGINES. 
 
 Luwoo wei, and Jang from Siling for Haryai, against whose walls 
 the lieut.-general who took Siling and a colonel fell when fighting 
 on the third day after arrival there, and Jang dared not thenceforth 
 press the siege, but instead treated with the rebels ; and it will be 
 remembered that it was his treating and not his fighting which 
 pacified the Miao. Both he and Nachin were ignorant of the art 
 of war, and a bitter quarrel between the two commanders did not 
 improve matters. This indeed relaxed the bonds of discipline, 
 and the soldiers became a rabble. 
 
 The young lady Akow was formerly intimate with Liang, 
 whose scheme it was to have her married to Juwang ; and we 
 can hence infer the reluctance of Juwang to the marriage. 
 Liang was as ignorant of the soldier art as his brother, but his 
 close intimacy with Akow had the greatest influence on the 
 campaign ; for he naturally learned every plan from his brother 
 the commander, and he as naturally informed his true love Akow 
 of every move and proposed move of the troops, his brother all the 
 while being entirely ignorant of this state of matters. Hence the 
 rebels were never taken by surprise and never beaten ; hence also 
 three summer months passed and autumn came on, but not an inch 
 of progress had been made. So disorganised had the Chinese 
 become, that when they were attacking Ladishan, three 
 thousand of them retreated before a dozen rebels who came 
 rushing down the hill slope against them. So utterly barren was 
 this second campaign, even after the accession of the grand 
 secretary and the formerly victorious commander, that despatches 
 arrived from Peking upbraiding Joongchi for having so sadly 
 deteriorated. He exonerated himself by reporting that Jang 
 still retained the command, and had advanced by the two routes of 
 Siling and Kiasu,though Haryai lay between them,while if Dangba 
 were attacked and taken, Luwoo wei, only about 50 li distant, could 
 not hold out ; that Jang had reported the men told off against 
 Dangba at ten thousand, but when escorts and store garrisons 
 were deducted, there was an effective army of no more than seven 
 thousand men, while Jang refused to listen to the officers who 
 prayed for an addition of three thousand men ; and lastly, that 
 
STERN MEASURES. 499 
 
 Jang was under the influence of a traitor. As soon, as this 
 memorial reached Peking, Jang was summoned to the capital, 
 where, as his statments and replies were very unsatisfactory, the 
 emperor angrily ordered him to be executed. Nachin was also 
 recalled, and the first act of his successor Foohung was to behead 
 both Liang and Akow, thus cutting off the possibility of 
 communications with the rebels. 
 
 In February 1749, Foohung reported to the throne, that only 
 on arrival at the camp did he ascertain the true state of affairs ; 
 that by listening to the advices of a traitor, camp had been 
 harassing camp, and post annoying post ; and that not a single 
 division of the army on any one of the ten routes on which they 
 were scattered, could move a step ahead. The army had lost all 
 energy, and was incapable of fighting ; and over a thousand men 
 had fallen without the shadow of an object. Such indeed had the 
 morale of the army become, that the first thing to be done was to 
 dig a ditch and build a fortification round the camp, to assure 
 the men of a rallying point. On the mountains around were 
 over three thousand stone forts, taking which by siege would 
 occupy more than three years. The local troops were so 
 useless, that the only service for which they were capable, was 
 that of acting as guides, while all the fighting would devolve 
 upon the Manchu troops. Advance by the river was impossible, 
 for both banks were most skilfully fortified. Jang and Nachin 
 had each taken a fort, and then further divided their forces. 
 He concluded by stating that on the arrival of the new 
 commander, the rebels had put forth their utmost strength to 
 build ever so many new forts, ignorant of the plan which he was 
 now proposing to carry out, that of massing the troops. 
 
 The disgust of the emperor on receipt of this memorial 
 was so great that he ordered Foohung to lead the troops 
 at once back to the capital. Foohung however did not 
 act on this order, expostulating that the rebels if left in 
 their then prosperous condition and untamed arrogance, would 
 certainly fall upon Chinese soil and do infinite damage ; better 
 far, he argued, crush them first and then retire. And without 
 
500 CHINA'S ABOKIGINES. 
 
 waiting for further instructions, he and Yoongchi combined their 
 forces, though the order to retire was not countermanded. They 
 marched immediately, and the great shout of the whole army 
 outside his camp was the first intimation which Solobun had of 
 the fate of his daughter and spy, and the approach of the Chinese 
 army. He hurriedly sent messengers to Yoongchi, praying him to 
 accept of his submission; but he was afraid to venture himself into 
 the Chinese camp. To remove suspicion, Yoongchi rode into the 
 midst of the rebel camp attended by a few followers ; and the rebels 
 on seeing him, shouted for j oy and made an oath of fealty. Solobun 
 and his son went out next day in a skin boat, and kowtowing 
 before an altar, swore henceforth to be faithful subjects. 
 Thereupon an unconditional and universal pardon was published, 
 and the rebels on hearing thereof rejoiced greatly, and offered 
 incense in gratitude to their gods, Fo, of gold. The two com- 
 manders were ennobled, and the emperor caused a stone fort 
 similar to the "terrible Kinchuen forts," to be built on Hiangshan, 
 in the capital. 
 
 But though peace was by this sudden and unexpected inroad 
 thus happily obtained without blood-shed, there were so many 
 petty insurrections by Solobun's nephews, and such constant 
 irritation on the border, that Kienlung, in 1771, was roused 
 to an angry determination, that Small Gold Stream must be 
 punished at last. He therefore sent an army, whose general 
 wasted a half year on the border of the lands in question, not 
 daring to advance a step beyond. He was recalled to the capital, 
 degraded, and " permitted " to commit suicide. 
 
 The grand secretary, Wunfoo, was ordered from Yunnan to 
 Szchuen, and president Gweilin was sent to replace Artai, whc* 
 had been located there for years. Wunfoo marched westwards 
 by Wunchiien ; Gweilin northwards from Tatsien loo. They 
 were both ordered in the first instance to avoid any sign of 
 hostility against Great Gold Stream, whose " faults " were mean- 
 time to be overlooked. Their first duty was thoroughly to 
 chastise Small Gold Stream. In June, Gweilin sent forward 
 three thousand men by Moloonggow gully, giving them five 
 
- 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 INCOMPETENCY. 501 
 
 days' provisions. They had well advanced when the rebels slipped 
 behind them and shut them in. It was impossible for them to 
 retreat, and they were attacked in front. Caged in as they were - 
 they could only die, and Gweilin left them to their fate. Though 
 well aware they were thus cut off, he lay still when he 
 could easily cut his way through and bring them off. The result 
 was that only three hundred of that detachment escaped, they 
 finding an exit by the river. Gweilin was at once superseded, 
 Agwei taking his place. The rebels were then pushed with such 
 vigour that they were compelled to send the non-combatants to 
 Great Gold Stream, they themselves making for Dimooda, the 
 stronghold of Juwang; who however closed his gates against them, 
 and they had to steal into Great Gold Stream by the gully of 
 Meiwogow. The commanders then ordered the army, for some 
 unknown reason, against Dimooda, and took Juwang. 
 
 They had still their main work before them, but had mean- 
 time given proofs of capacity sufficient to warrant the hope of a 
 complete conquest. They had to decide their plan of operations, 
 and fix upon their marching routes. Foohung had marched from 
 Meiyo of Small Gold Stream, and in five days reached Haryai. 
 Another route, starting from the bridge of Weichow Kiao, 
 making a circuit of the enemy's territory, took twenty days to 
 Luwoowei. In the centre, between these, was the frightful route 
 taken by Joongchi. There were still three more possible 
 routes besides that by Abo. They decided to take these latter 
 routes. Wunfoo marched in by Goongha ; but after advancing 
 some distance, found the route protected by invulnerable 
 defences, and he was compelled to stand still. Agwei took the 
 route by Dangha, and Fung Shuna that by Chosujia. They 
 started in the spring of 1773, leaving a strong garrison in 
 Dimooda to look after Small Gold Stream. The commanders 
 again imitated the policy of Jang, for a large proportion of 
 their twenty thousand men were occupied in holding scattered 
 forts ; and though secret memorials to that effect were sent to 
 Peking, exposing the dangers thereby incurred, the emperor 
 gave them no credence, trusting in the ability of his generals. 
 
502 CHINA'S ABORIGINES. 
 
 The rebels sent a few men to spy out the condition of the 
 main army, by surrendering themselves as deserters. As 
 soon as they discovered the compelled inaction of that army, they 
 sent a large force by a circuitous route against Dimooda, 
 surprised, and stormed the place, annihilating the garrison. 
 They also discovered that Wunfoo had neglected to secure his 
 rear ; he doubtless believing attack thence impossible. He had 
 ten thousand in camp, besides several thousands who were 
 standing guard over the stores. These latter were suddenly and 
 without note of warning attacked from all sides ; and when in 
 their terror they fled to the camp, Wunfoo would not open the 
 gates for them. This sign of indecision or of fear caused a 
 general terror to seize the whole camp, and the sight of the 
 gathering hosts around entirely unnerved them. So sudden 
 was this attack that the army was wholly unprepared to resist, 
 and Wunfoo was shot dead. The army was reduced to three 
 thousand men. Small Gold Stream fell again into rebel hands. 
 The scattered garrisons, hearing of the fate of the main army, 
 abandoned their posts in terror, fleeing where and as they could. 
 When Agwei heard of the disaster, he ascribed it to treachery 
 similar to that of Liang and Akow, and had the natives in the 
 vicinity of his camp all slain, or driven away. He also took 
 possession of all the hide-boats on the river. 
 
 The emperor heard of the tragedy while at Zehol. He sent 
 for the grand secretary Liw Toonghuen, whom he had left in 
 charge at Peking to consult with him as to what should be done. 
 His frank opinion was that the army should never have been 
 sent to Gold River ; but having been sent, it must be made to 
 succeed at all costs. The late commander had joined Agwei in 
 stating that one Manchu soldier cost there as much as three 
 local men ; but when matters had gone so badly, the emperor 
 ordered south two thousand of the best Manchu fire-arm troops, 
 and two thousand Kirin and Solon men. 
 
 In November, Agwei held the west route, Mingliang the 
 south, and Shuna that by which he had marched against Yijia. 
 Agwei now sought to join the others; and pushing in by Ak&u, 
 
INJUSTICE IMPOLITIC. 503 
 
 he marched on, fighting day and night for five days, when he 
 got to Meiyo, which he retook. Mingliang seconded him by 
 way of Marli, and all Small Gold Stream was recovered. 
 
 It is easy, in the light of subsequent events, to question the 
 propriety of seizing Juwang and taking Dimooda in the beginning 
 of the campaign; for that proved the design of a thorough 
 conquest of all the region, as Juwang had been in the former 
 war so friendly with the Chinese. It is still less difficult to 
 condemn the public execution of Juwang, which at this stage 
 took place in the public execution grounds of the capital, on the 
 ground that "those barbarians, ignorant of mercy, and of an 
 untameable disposition, must be hunted down like wild beasts." 
 We hear the same argument in support of similar conduct by 
 people calling themselves Christians ; but though it is more 
 disgraceful to these, we must blame the Chinese for conduct 
 utterly immoral; and immoral conduct in politics will always 
 turn out to be impolitic, whether the transgressor be a Manchu 
 or a British official. 
 
 The army was therefore now again massed together, and was 
 to march against Great Gold Stream. On their way to Luwoowei, 
 the mountains of Loboivashan formed the key. Against them, 
 therefore, Agwei threw his strength, sending three detachments to- 
 converge upon the rear of the mountains by three various routes, 
 while three others attacked in front. The mountain on which the 
 main body of the rebels was firmly camped, is called Namooshct/m 
 But it was difficult to attack them there. Fung was ordered to 
 attack Yisi; while in July, a bye-path was discovered which led 
 to Saipungpooling Pass, commanding the rear of Namooahwn: 
 While the rebel army was wholly engrossed by a general attack 
 on their front, Hailancha was detached by the bye-path, and 
 was successful in occupying Saipungpooling, whereupon the 
 rebels were compelled to abandon Namooshan; but made for 
 the much more formidable Sasujialing Pass, where they 
 determined to make a stand, as it was very steep, the west 
 side being particularly precipitous. Two stone strongly-built 
 forts made advance by the Chinese army impossible. 
 
504 CHINA'S ABORIGINES. 
 
 After the most careful preparations, the army was divided 
 into ten detachments, to march by as many routes, and make a 
 simultaneous attack on all the forts ; while Hailancha, with six 
 hundred " dare-death " soldiers, was told off to scale that terrible 
 west side, and take the enemy in the rear. So unexpected was 
 any attack from that quarter, that they easily entered the fort, 
 and exterminated the small garrison. The fate of this supposed 
 impregnable fort threw consternation into the garrisons of all 
 the forts in the neighbourhood ; or, as the Chinese author says, 
 the news "stopped their breath." With the flood of victory 
 swelling the hearts of his soldiers, and fear possessing the 
 enemy's lines, Agwei pressed on Stvunkadsoonglei, the chief 
 outpost of Luwoowei. The men there were so terrified, that 
 they cut off the head of their chief, of his wives and concubines ; 
 sending them to Agwei with a prayer for pardon. He however 
 referred them to Peking ; and this refusal to grant them peace 
 again roused them to the bravery of despair. A hundred plans 
 he tried, but failed in them all. 
 
 Below the strongly fortified Yirbashan, and above the 
 equally impracticable hill of Yoongkabo, there was another hill, 
 Mogashan, which though strongly defended was scaleable. 
 The whole army was therefore massed against this central post, 
 and the hill was taken by storm ; the Chinese camping on it, 
 distant only about 20 li from Luwoowei. The men on the inacces- 
 sible hills above and below, when thus isolated and their commu- 
 nications cut, abandoned their posts. Detachments of Chinese 
 took possession ; the enemy retiring to another hill. But as it 
 was cold December, the Chinese quartered in their conquest. A 
 vigorous attack in spring drove the rebels back still further, they 
 taking up a new position on Langkasai; and the two main divisions 
 of the Chinese army found themselves separated only by the river. 
 
 For Mingliang had been as successful on the south route 
 as Agwei on the north, having taken seven forts at Yisi ; 
 marching from CJiangliang, and forcing the Langgoo valley 
 up to the west bank of the river. He proposed to cross 
 and join Agwei, to march the combined army at once on the 
 
CHINESE SUCCESS. 505 
 
 stronghold of the enemy before new forts could be built. But 
 before he could move, heavy rains began to fall; which continued, 
 as is common there, falling for scores of days at a time. The 
 river was converted into a roaring, impassable torrent, and the 
 ground into a morass; for rain, snow, and deep mud are the 
 rule there, and fair weather the exception. It was not before 
 the middle of May that the first clear weather permitted the 
 crossing of the river. Then Agwei sent detachments to 
 Mingliang, under Fookangan and Hailancha, with orders to 
 march at once on Jiasivojin, where only old men were ascertained 
 to form the garrison. The troops on that side were immediately 
 sent forward, divided into six detachments, each clearing the 
 way before it, till in a short time all the natives within 20 li of 
 the river were exterminated or fled, and all the forts were taken. 
 Agwei was not idle, for he moved forward in June and took 
 Langkasai on the east of the river, drawing up within a few li 
 of Luwoowei, and there he seized the temples Kivunsailama and 
 Lagoolama. He rested there till August ; and well he might, 
 for then, when he moved to Luwoowei, he found it built of thick 
 walls, surrounded by very strong forts, on a small scale, like 
 the forts M. Thiers had raised around Paris. Its west touched 
 the bank of the river, and its east rested on the base of a hill of 
 eight gradients, on each of which was a strong stone fort. The 
 south was protected by wooden barricades, with stone forts at 
 short intervals, for the space of a li, leading up to the main out-fort 
 of Jivanchingloiv tower. Towards this south the main attack 
 was directed. The barricades were taken, and the stone forts 
 fell. Next the bridge was seized to prevent escape, while 
 Mingliang occupied the west side of the river to prevent any 
 succour thence. Then at midnight of full moon of September, 
 several out-stations were fiercely attacked and taken, after a 
 fight which lasted till morning. The main out-fort Jwanchinglow 
 on the south was then forced, and the flying rebels were all 
 drowned in the river. This chief obstacle, preventing access to 
 the main stronghold, was now entered by the Chinese, and 
 Luwoowei was in their hands. 
 
506 CHINA'S ABORIGINES. 
 
 Next month the wooden city and stone forts of Sili were 
 attacked, to force the way to Haryai, where Solobun's younger 
 brother commanded. Cannon balls were showered into Sili like 
 hail, the army drawing nearer and nearer raising wooden 
 barricades for shelter at every step. When quite near the city, 
 they took advantage of a wind blowing into the city, to hurl 
 into it quantities of burning material, attached to arrows from 
 their cross-bows, and in a short time Sili wooden houses were 
 level with the ground. Following up this success, a fortified 
 hill was taken in December, whereupon there was only between 
 the army and Haryai, the strong hill of Margooslian, which 
 commanded Haryai. Many of the chiefs and women, therefore, 
 came out to submit ; but Solobun and the principal men were 
 still at large. 
 
 Mingliang had meantime been busy on the west of the river. 
 He had taken Yoosai, and drew up before Urtishan hill. 
 Finding an opportunity when the garrison was unprepared, 
 he stormed and took the fort. He took up a new post against 
 Yuyawoogooshan, but finding his own resources inadequate, he 
 prayed Agwei to send him reinforcements, which the latter could 
 not spare, as his hands were more than full before Haryai. But 
 when the rebels west of the river heard that Haryai was invested, 
 they retreated, after they had begun to attack Mingliang in 
 front and rear, and were hotly pursued by him and another 
 on different routes, till, when he got to Marbang, the 
 two divisions united, and all opposition gave way before 
 them. These divisions were therefore free to join Agwei, with 
 whom they united in January ; the whole army now pressing on 
 Haryai. They invested it all round, cutting off communication 
 with the river, and firing their great cannon day and night. 
 The commander at last sent out his elder brother to offer 
 his submission ; his mother and sisters had already surrendered. 
 He feigned sickness as the reason why he did not go himself; 
 but Agwei would not receive the brother. The siege was close, 
 flight was impossible, and only one termination of the siege 
 could be expected; therefore, rather than wait the inevitable 
 
GOLD RIVER SUBDUED. 507 
 
 storm, the commandant and Solobun came out with all their men, 
 numbering only two thousand, and peace was restored in Gold 
 River. 
 
 In the remarkably short space of eight days, the 
 " Dew-cloth " reached Peking to the infinite joy of the emperor, 
 who, in gratitude, offered sacrifice to the national lares and 
 imperial ancestors, giving a new title to the empress, 
 beginning Lu, in memory of Luwoowei. Agwei was created 
 "the Upright, the Strategist, the Warlike and Brave 
 Goong ; " and all the ministers had a merry meeting over 
 it, at which more spirits were drunk than was good for 
 them. 
 
 This was in February 1776 ; the conquest of that gold district, 
 of about 1000 li in extent, having occupied five years, at a cost 
 of seventy million taels ; while twenty years before, the armies 
 of the same emperor traversed and conquered twenty thousand 
 li of Djungaria, and the Mahommedan tribes of Central Asia, at 
 a cost of thirty million taels. Kuldja, which Russia is retaining 
 from the Chinese in contravention of her own distinct promises, 
 is part of this Djungaria. 
 
 We gain some interesting particulars regarding these brave 
 tribes, from a treatise 011 " War " in the " Holy Wars," which we 
 give in the order of that treatise. 
 
 The armies of Szchuen regarded the natives of Gold River as 
 the best soldiers ever seen. Their land is poor and cold, and 
 they fight always among the mountains. They eat Baogoo* 
 Buck-wheat, bitter herbs, beef and mutton. They are of an 
 ardent temperament, fierce and fond of gain. There were two 
 training camps established after the above conquest, one at 
 Great, the other at Small Gold Stream, each of five hundred 
 men, and each man receiving about ten taels per annum. 
 These are never at rest. They drill in spring and summer, and 
 in autumn and winter they chase the game on the mountains. 
 They heed not the frost and the snow, but they fear the heat of 
 
 * "Parcel-grain," which must be maize, so called from its cobs; but the usual 
 name is Baomi. 
 
508 CHINA'S ABORIGINES. 
 
 the " Inner Land." * In the summer they therefore withdraw 
 among the shadows of the mountain forests. When those men 
 .are required for military service, a notice of two months must 
 be sent in advance of the time when they are needed. 
 
 They have all tiger-skin caps, ox-hide shoes, and on their 
 bosom they wear a small Tibetan image, as a charm. They sling 
 their musket on their back, and bestow round their loins their 
 sword, roasted rice, dried food, and twenty or thirty catties of 
 gunpowder. They climb hills of any kind with the greatest ease, 
 and mountain passes are to them as level ground. In marching 
 they must hold the van, as they are ashamed to be in the rear ; 
 they go to the rear only when it is necessary to cover a retreat. 
 With their heavy and strong musket they hit the bull's eye from 
 .a great distance, and rarely do they miss it. They begin their 
 musket practice as soon as ever the camp is pitched. By day they 
 use a small pebble as target, by night a lighted stick of incense. 
 
 When they hear of an enemy, they march in the van, ten men 
 doing the duty of a thousand. When nearing the enemy, they 
 start ahead of the main camp at a distance of from 30 to 60 li, 
 and in bands of thirty or forty men. A hundred of them hurry 
 ..on by night to the enemy's camp, each with his musket ; and 
 with the first streaks of dawn, they begin the slaughter of the 
 enemy, killing each his dozen of men, seizing grain, oxen, sheep, 
 horses, or whatever property they can lay hands on, and fleeing 
 with this when the enemy has prepared to fight. When fighting 
 in rocky hills they go by threes, and when the enemy hurls large 
 pieces of wood or rolls masses of stone against them, they 
 dexterously hide behind a rock till the missile passes, and then 
 rush on again. The rebels are so much afraid of this band, that 
 they always retire when they hear of the approach of the Gold 
 River contingent. The bravest are rewarded, like the Chinese 
 .army, with " buttons," peacock feathers, and the title of Batooroo, 
 or " the brave." 
 
 * This proves those regions to be of considerable elevation, as the summer there 
 is cool though in a latitude which in China rarely if ever sees frost or snow, 
 while the summer heat is very great. 
 
INDEPENDENT SAVAGES. 
 
 In 1837, a thousand of these men were attached to the main 
 army, their rations costing only half of those of their Chinese 
 comrades. Their chiefs petitioned to be allowed to raise a 
 thousand men annually ; and the " Holy Wars " would have at 
 least three thousand of them enrolled in the main army of 
 China. The Chinese author adds that if they were well trained 
 in great numbers, while costing less than half the ordinary troops, 
 they would render the army invincible ; two of them eat the 
 food of one Chinaman, and one of them is in battle equal to ten 
 Chinese. He therefore strongly urges the Manchu government 
 to employ them as regular troops. 
 
 In addition to the aborigines known as Great and Small Gold 
 Stream there is another wild tribe on the north and north-west 
 of Yunnan. It stretches from the military station of Yuekun, 
 by Abien, Mdbien, and Leibo to Kienchang, where its southern 
 limit ends. It occupies north to south 1300 li, and east to west 
 from 100 to 400 li of country, among the mountains of Wanshan. 
 On all sides of it are precipitous mountains and primeval forests, 
 and the mountains shutting it out from China are extremely 
 difficult to cross. 
 
 This tribe grows Baogoo or maize, oats, Koochiao* turnip, 
 and red rice; but their chief products are oxen, sheep, and 
 horses. They are themselves bad tillers of the ground, and get 
 Chinese to do it for them. There is much waste land there, 
 which, with the extreme cheapness of food and firing, tempts 
 many Chinese thither. Those natives who live among the 
 valleys with these Chinese are called ripe or civilized barbarians; 
 the others living among the uncultivated mountains are the 
 unripe or savage barbarians. Their speech, clothing, and head 
 gear are entirely different from the Chinese, while their food 
 they eat mostly uncooked. A hundred roads lead out of their 
 lands and these have numberless branches among the glens, 
 opening up everywhere among the mountains. 
 
 In winter they dwell in caves, natural or artificial, in summer 
 among the forests. Their rooms they always make of planks of 
 
 * Said to be a spiny kind of sun-flower producing edible but bitter seeds. 
 
J510 CHINA'S ABORIGINES. 
 
 wood. They are a black * people, and make plundering forays 
 into Chinese soil in bands of from a hundred to a thousand. 
 They seize Chinese and make them prisoners, but these can be 
 redeemed by a payment of salt or cotton cloth. But there are 
 great numbers of Chinese among them, enslaved to till their 
 grounds. The blacks are least numerous in the valleys, but they 
 are lords, their white Chinese slaves being far more numerous. 
 A short residence among them changes the Chinaman into 
 one like themselves; hence those Chinese are called, as 
 distinguished from their owners or landlords, white barbarians. 
 
 This tribe numbers, all told, several hundreds of thousands. 
 An expedition to tame them would be of great expense because 
 of the difficulty of the roads and the fierce bravery of the tribe. 
 They however have no firearms, only using wooden bows, small 
 .arrows, and a short, sharp sword. Their women join in the fight 
 with great shouts. It would require, the "Holy Wars " estimates, 
 ten thousand men to conquer them, the Gold Stream contingent 
 being of the number. This army could advance by five different 
 routes, and it believes that the opening of the gold, silver, and 
 copper mines, common among their mountains, would cover the 
 expenses of such an expedition. But on account of the great cold, 
 it would be impossible to move men that way in winter. 
 
 This chapter on the Aborigines of China will present us with a 
 fair picture of the manner in which the Chinese have spread and 
 occupied the extensive country now known as China. The Chinese 
 began long ages ago, a small people, delighting in agricultural 
 pursuits, but surrounded by tribes of nomads stretching far away 
 from their side. They necessarily came in contact with those 
 tribes immediately surrounding them. They had grain and 
 diligence, which soon necessitated literature and civilisation, and 
 which produced wealth in clothing, in money, and in material 
 comforts such as nomads could never secure for themselves. 
 That contact in such conditions led to inevitable collisions. The 
 Chinese were often defeated and doubtless more often and justly 
 
 * Malays and Indians are called black by the Chinese, and we imagine these 
 mountain tribes cannot be nearer black than the Indian is. 
 
CHINESE GROWTH. 511 
 
 opposed in their aggressive movements; though these have all been 
 by the plough, and never by the sword except under compulsion. 
 But their increasing civilisation created a sense of superiority ; 
 their habits of diligence led to a persistent perseverance which the 
 uncertainties of a nomadic life made impossible; and their labour 
 in the soil and their house dwellings attached them to localities, 
 which their interests and their feelings made dear to them, while 
 nomads found no clinging attachments to any place in particular. 
 Hence in the long run the Chinese were always victorious ; and 
 from the desire to be freed from annoyance, as much as from the 
 compulsion of defeat, the nomads would abandon plain after plain, 
 and forsake mountain after mountain, before the ever encroaching 
 plough of the Chinaman. The Chinese began this kind of career 
 long before the Anglo-Saxon : and we cannot but be particularly 
 struck by the wonderful similarity of the emigrating growth of 
 these two peoples, which have so much in common, and which 
 with China won to Christianity, will be more similar still in the 
 future. Much injustice we know was suffered by the nomads 
 at the hands of the pushing Chinese colonist; just as much 
 injustice is often inflicted by our western colonists upon the 
 aborigines whether in New Zealand, in Kaffir land, or in the 
 American States. Every new dynasty has extended the Chinese 
 frontier, by adding new districts, shires, or counties, to its pre- 
 decessor. We found Sangwei creating new prefectures and districts 
 in the regions west and south of Yunnan, and we find here an 
 extension resulting out of the hard fought Gold River wars. The 
 Chinese empire was never more consolidated than under the 
 present Manchu government. Nor do we see how the Chinese 
 are to be confined within their present limits, or why they should 
 not continue to spread till they come into contact with people 
 who cultivate the soil as diligently and fruitfully as themselves, 
 and whose intelligent industry is not much inferior to their own. 
 The Manchu armies have marched westwards through central 
 Asia, penetrating the lands of the Kirghiz oftener than once. 
 Northwards they have several times crossed the wild arid wastes 
 of Shamo to the borders of and into Siberia. Across the frightful 
 
512 CHINA'S ABORIGINES. 
 
 passes guarding Tibet, with their everlasting snows and terrible 
 precipices, they have gone and twice crushed the armies of Nepaul. 
 Twice they penetrated Burma, and traversed Annam. From the 
 recital of the story of these campaigns, though minutely detailed 
 in histories, we refrain ; for our purpose is served when we have 
 described the Rise and Progress of the petty Manchu tribe of 
 Hotooala and the extent of its empire, and explained the various 
 causes at work among the Chinese which made that extraordin- 
 ary career of unheard of conquest a possible one. The historical 
 facts related imply and unfold the principles of action potential 
 among the Chinese better than any general statements ; and as 
 the Chinese are now, the good and the bad, the patriotic and the 
 selfish, exactly what they were then, the reader can himself 
 understand the mode in which the Chinese will probably act and 
 how they should be treated. If Russia had ever any serious 
 designs upon the liberties of China, she is five years too late. 
 China was deeply humiliated in 1860 ; she bitterly resents the 
 humiliation and has ever since been taking steps to occupy her 
 proper place among the nations. This she will assuredly do if 
 no internal convulsion bar her present path. Then Russian 
 conquests in a Chinese direction shall have ceased ; and if we 
 persist in our opium policy, a policy which attracts the scorn of 
 all nations and the indignant resentment of national humiliation 
 for the Chinese, we shall have to fight for it. Terminated that 
 policy must be ; much better were it destroyed by our own sense 
 of justice, by our own feelings of morality. The influential future 
 of China as a heathen nation will be a curse to the world ; only 
 Christianity can make it a blessing. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 MANCHU IMPERIAL FAMILY. 
 
 NOORHACHU had two full brothers, Shoorhachi and Yarhachi, 
 a step-brother by the number-two wife of his father, named 
 Bayala ; and one Moorhachi by a third wife. Noorhachu had 
 five wives, apparently all at the same time ; for the mother of 
 Daishan, always called the first Beira, was sent for to live in 
 Liaoyang, when the new palace was built there. He had besides 
 a number of concubines. As a piece of curiosity we give the 
 names of his wives and sons. His first wife's maiden name was 
 Hahanajaching of the family of Toongjia. She bore two sons, 
 Chooying the elder and Daishan afterwards Jangjing Batooroo. 
 His second wife was Gwundai Chafoo, who bore two sons, 
 Manggoortai and Duagoolei. His third was Munggoojiejie 
 Nala, daughter of Yangjinoo king of Yeho, who bore one son, 
 afterwards the "emperor" Taidsoong. His fourth was 
 Abahai Nala of Woola, who bore three sons, Ajiga, Dorgun, 
 Dodo. His fifth, Yirgunjolosu, had one son, Abatai. The 
 concubines had six sons, Adai, Yanggoo, Daita, Baibaboo, 
 Taibaboo, and Hailaimooboo. 
 
 The eldest seems to have died young, for we find him march 
 against Doonghai in the end of the sixteenth century, after which 
 his name drops out of the history. His younger brother is 
 always called first Beira, Amin is always second Beira, 
 Manggoortai third and Taidsoong the fifth in order is always the 
 " fourth Beira." The word Beira is the name of a bird which 
 soars higher than ordinary birds, like our lark ; and was given 
 metaphorically to the sons of Taidsoo, but apparently not before 
 the death of his eldest son. Taidsoong is called the eighth son 
 H i 
 
514 MANCHU IMPERIAL FAMILY. 
 
 in the Doonghtualoo ; so that there may have been other sons 
 born who died in infancy, but the probable meaning is, that of 
 all those sons mentioned above, he was born the eighth. It was 
 beneath the dignity of Manchu history to state how many 
 daughters were born among these wives and concubines, and we 
 know there were daughters only because sons-in-law are 
 mentioned. 
 
 Of the sons, Amin was the first to get into disgrace. It was 
 when Taidsoong marched through Mongolia, down through the 
 passes north of Peking, and against that city. Though he failed 
 to take Peking, he seized a number of cities east of it, and 
 among them Yoongping, where on his retreat he left Amin to 
 garrison it and command the garrisons of all the other captured 
 cities. But the sight of a Chinese army of two hundred thousand 
 men threw him into a state of terror, in which he put to death 
 all the Chinese who had deserted to the Manchus, took the 
 valuables away out of the city, recalled all the garrisons of the 
 other cities, and via Tsunhwa fled in fear for Mookden. In his 
 eager haste he left his rear unprotected, and only a small portion 
 of his men got into Mookden. He was examined, judged by his 
 peers the Beiras and great ministers, and found guilty of 
 sixteen great crimes, for which they demanded against him 
 sentence of execution. The sentence was however commuted to 
 perpetual solitary confinement. His family was taken from him, 
 and his slaves, cattle, and property confiscated. Shwoto, second 
 in command and an " imperial " son-in-law, was degraded, and 
 his family taken from him. All the chief officers were found 
 guilty and punished, each in proportion to the responsibility of 
 his office, a sentence the spirit of which is worthy the imitation 
 of all civilized nations. 
 
 After mature deliberation, it was agreed that the sons of 
 Taidsoo's concubines, his nephews and his younger brother, his 
 sister and his queen's sister, and some other relatives, should 
 be freed from the obligations of vassalage, i.e. they were placed 
 on a footing of equality with the imperial family proper as far 
 as compulsory state service was concerned. It was on Chinese 
 
SACRIFICIAL CANONIZATION. 515 
 
 new year's day, 1636, that the sons of Taidsoo's step-mothers 
 were called Aga ; * and the descendants of the six ancestors, or 
 all the descendants of Hingdsoo, the great grandfather of 
 Noorhachu, were enrolled Gioro and ordered to wear a red 
 sash. This is called the imperial Clan as contradistinguished 
 from the imperial Family, which wears a yellow sash. They might 
 abuse each other, but it was made a criminal offence if they 
 abused their ancestors. This shows that the Manchus, and even 
 the imperial family thereof, had already learned the Chinese 
 form of direst abuse, that of vilifying each other's ancestors ! 
 
 It was in this year that Noorhachu received the posthumous 
 title of Taidsoo or the great ancestor, and his tomb east of 
 Mookden the name of Fooling or the "happy tomb." The 
 mother of the " emperor," who had died, was also granted her 
 posthumous honours. At the same time all the Beiras were 
 nominated "Family Wang," Chin Wang, or "Prince Wang" 
 Kiln Wang after the example of Ming dynasty. Then, too, was 
 the style "Daching" "The Great Clear" dynasty chosen for 
 the Manchu rule, as the Chinese reigning family had chosen the 
 style " Darning " " The Great Bright," which probably suggested 
 the other, as Liao, iron, suggested Kin, gold. 
 
 It was in December 1648, at the solstitial sacrifice, that the 
 canonization of the ancestors of the young emperor took place. 
 The emperor then worshipped Taidsoo with the same homage as 
 that given to Heaven; and his four ancestors were also then 
 "invited" to the post prepared for them in the imperial 
 ancestral temple. But important though this event was, the 
 emperor did not go in this instance in person, but sent a great 
 minister instead, to worship heaven and earth, the ancestral 
 temple and the national lares. At the solstitial worship to 
 heaven, a paper is burnt, on which are written, among other 
 things, the names of all those executed during the year ; thus 
 informing Shangdi, the lord of the emperor, that justice has not 
 been neglected throughout the year. 
 
 On the paper burnt at this particular sacrifice, the following 
 
 * Agoo is the "son of the emperor" or " brother." 
 
516 MANCHU IMPERIAL FAMILY. 
 
 was written: "The heir and son of heaven, and the 
 minister * of heaven, presumes to distinctly and fully report to 
 Hwang Tien Shangdi, that as long as the sun continues to rise it 
 is of the utmost consequence that the rites proper to this day be 
 carefully observed ; and to report the same to our ancestors of 
 everlasting virtue, rivalling that of heaven, and which will 
 increase in splendour as the years roll on. On this eighth day 
 of the eleventh [ moon of the fifth year ofShunchih 1648 we 
 sacrifice to heaven towards the south { unpeopled land. 
 
 "We pay equal honours to our ancestors Taidsoo, and his 
 four ancestors who founded the dynasty, who are now hereby 
 canonized: The first, prince Gaodsoo Dsai, to be emperor 
 Jaodsoo Yuen, his queen to be empress Yuen ; the second, prince 
 Dsungdsoo Ching, to be emperor Hingdsoo Ju, his queen to be 
 empress Ju; the third, prince Dsoo Chang, to be emperor 
 Jingdsoo Yi, his queen to be empress Yi; the fourth, prince 
 Kao Foo, to be emperor Hiendsoo Hiien, his queen to be empress 
 Huen. And we declare it to be of the greatest importance that 
 sacrifice be offered to all these; and we do hereby solemnly 
 enact the duty of such worship, in order that others may follow 
 our example and worship their own ancestors with due reverence, 
 that we may be thus complete and display a perfect heart." 
 
 A paper of the same tenor was burnt at the ancestral temple 
 and at that of the national lares ; and in the plenitude of his 
 mercy there was proclaimed a universal amnesty to all criminals, 
 and a reduction of taxes to all the people. The young emperor 
 gave his empress-mother one grand title after another ; and with 
 the proclamation of the honour there was always a more or less 
 
 * All these terms are applicable only to the emperor, as the vicegerent of heaven t 
 ruling over all the earth by the authority and in the name of heaven. 
 
 f Chinese month is lunar, the first day being new moon, and the fifteenth full. 
 The new moon of our February begins the Chinese new year ; and the new moon of 
 December begins their eleventh or solstitial moon. 
 
 JThe temple of heaven is a magnificent building in an immense enclosed space of 
 ground, on the south side of the capital. The most potent, spiritual, or etherial 
 influence, the Yang or positive principle, resides in the bright, life-giving south ; 
 hence the temple is south of the city, and the emperor worships facing the south. 
 
UNEASY AMBITION. 517 
 
 general amnesty. But we shall now examine as we can into the 
 domestic relations of this grandly imperial family. 
 
 Human nature is precisely the same in China as it is in places 
 further west. We find everywhere men grumbling and growling 
 over the division of a spoil, in the eager acquisition of which 
 they were most harmoniously united. And the family of 
 Noorhachu were no exception. When Taidsoong died, his 
 brothers nominated two of themselves guardians or regents for 
 his child-son, the emperor. These were Jirhalang, one of the 
 oldest, and Dorgun, one of the youngest of them. Dorgun seems 
 to have been far the abler, the more strong-willed and ambitious, 
 of the two; indeed he would we believe have assumed empire had 
 he secured a sufficiently powerful support from some of his 
 brothers. But as each of them had as much right as he to the 
 crown, jealousy, if no other motive, would suffice to prevent his 
 nomination. The child-nephew was created emperor, with two 
 uncle-regents. Jirhalang seems never to have been permitted 
 by his younger brother to assume any of the duties of the 
 regency ; and ever after the entry into Peking, Dorgun was the 
 only acting regent. 
 
 This ambitious conduct could not but cause ill feeling on the 
 part of his brothers. The first indication of division in the family 
 was the refusal by Dodo, uncle of the emperor, to act as assistant 
 regent; he was nominated to the post after his successful 
 campaign against the Mongols in autumn of 1647. After this 
 refusal, the prince Jun Chin Wang, a younger full brother of the 
 regent's was appointed to the post. In the beginning of the 
 following year, several high officials, apparently creatures of the 
 regent, combined to accuse prince Jirhalang of various crimes, 
 which on examination were found proven and deserving of 
 death. A sentence was passed against him of degradation from 
 Chin Wang to Kiin Wang, with a fine of five thousand taels. 
 He was soon removed from the possibility of doing harm, by 
 his appointment to the supreme command of the army operating 
 against Hookwang, in the remote south. Prince Soo Chin Wang 
 was also found guilty of crimes deserving death ; but his sentence 
 
518 MANCHU IMPERIAL FAMILY. 
 
 was mitigated to perpetual imprisonment, and to the confiscation 
 of his wives, family, and all his possessions. One reason for his 
 crime may be found in the fact that, nearly two years after, the 
 regent took to wife one of prince Soo's concubines. But his 
 fancy roamed more widely still, for a few months later he married 
 the princess daughter of the king of Corea. 
 
 The regent's power would be all the more firmly established 
 after his two older brothers were thus shown to be so completely 
 under his control. He was emboldened therefore, at the period 
 of canonization mentioned above, to assume a more potential 
 title. Instead of "emperor-uncle-father-guardian wang," he 
 conferred upon himself the title of " emperor-father-guardian 
 wang," and it was made a stringent law that every memorial 
 transmitted to the emperor should be thus addressed. Without 
 actually vaulting into the throne, he could not be nearer it. 
 When he had thus isolated himself still further in his imperial 
 greatness, he went, soon after the news of the fall of Canton 
 before Kosi, beyond the border to hunt in the Mongolian wilds. 
 He was there a month when he took ill and died at Kulachung, 
 at the age of thirty-eight. His body was brought back to the 
 capital. On the ninth day after his death, the young emperor 
 met the coffin 5 li outside the Doongju gate, and knelt before it, 
 presenting three cups of spirits, and weeping bitterly. 
 
 Next day, all the great ministers formally reported the sad 
 event, and two days thereafter the emperor said : " When the 
 late emperor departed hence, all the princes and great ministers 
 agreed to elect the late regent as emperor. He resolutely 
 refused the honour, and nominated us to the throne. As regent 
 he made peace in the far and and the near, and he has united 
 all the land again into one empire. His virtue is unsurpassed ; 
 his merit is full and complete : a thousand years will not produce 
 his second. On the miserable ninth day of twelfth moon of 7 of 
 Shwunchih at eight p.m., he ascended to be a guest above. Our 
 heart is full of sorrow. The imperial rites of China and of the 
 world shall be paid to his honour. Woohoo ! alas ! his kindness 
 and justice to and for us were so great, we can never repay him. 
 
DREAMS RUDELY BROKEN. 519 
 
 His was like the kindness and glory of Heaven. No sorrow can 
 be greater than ours, for we are as one fallen into and forsaken 
 in the sea." 
 
 The emperor was then twelve years old ; but with the new 
 year he assumed the reins of government into his own hands, at 
 an earlier age than that of the Grand Monarque. Six days after 
 the above lamentation he styled the late regent : " The perfect 
 in virtue, the restorer of government, the increaser of patrimony, 
 of unmixed merit, the pacificator of the people, the framer of 
 good laws, the perfectly honest-hearted, the upright emperor.'' 
 He also placed a tablet in the ancestral temple in honour of the 
 empress-mother: "The filial, correct, upright, reverential, 
 virtuous, good, single-minded, meek, assistant of heaven, 
 companion of the emperor." The tablets to the memory of the 
 regent and his chief wife were placed in the ancestral temple at 
 the same time. Honours were to be paid to these equal to 
 what were given to the emperors ; and a universal amnesty was 
 proclaimed. In the proclamation then issued, reference was 
 again made to the unselfish declinature of imperial power by the 
 regent, and to his able and disinterested administration of public 
 affairs for seven years. 
 
 But from these pleasant dreams of sorrow the boy-emperor 
 was roused by a bomb-shell thrown into the midst of the court. 
 Sooksaha and others joined in penning and handing to the 
 emperor a formal accusation against the late regent of treason 
 of the darkest kind. It appeared that he had got made an 
 eight-pieced* imperial yellow robe, had prepared a chain of 
 eastern pearls, and a rug of a black tiger f skin. He had sent 
 two Goosa, or chiefs of Banners, to camp at Yoongping, 
 preparatory to seizing the throne ; and when he went to hunt, 
 
 * The emperor's court robe has eight circular embroidered pieces, on each of which 
 are two golden dragons. 
 
 f In eastern Mongolia there is an animal of a very dark grey colour, called the 
 black tiger. Its body is three feet long and one foot high, of a uniform colour, lives 
 among the remoter mountains, is difficult to approach, and its fur is said to be of 
 little value commercially. The tiger of the text seems to be strictly reserved for 
 imperial use. 
 
520 MANCHU IMPERIAL FAMILY. 
 
 he pressed the emperor to go with him, to have him in his 
 power. The emperor declined to go and the regent died. 
 
 These serious charges were ordered to be investigated and 
 were found proven. The emperor commanded the register of 
 the late regent to be handed over to prince Sin. The register 
 contains a list of all the family, slaves, and properties of 
 the possessor of the register; and the register was the only 
 title to all those subjects. A few days thereafter there was an 
 imperial proclamation, stating that all the princes and great 
 ministers had formally denied any effort on their part to 
 nominate the deceased regent to the throne ; his own full brother, 
 whom he afterwards nominated assistant regent, being the only 
 great official who desired the regent to succeed to Taidsoong. 
 They also accused the regent of ignoring the co-regent, his older 
 brother, of habitually taking the seat of Taidsoong in the private 
 apartments of the emperor, so that he might be the more 
 respected and feared, of murdering prince Soo and taking his 
 concubine, of ordering all documents to be addressed to the 
 "Father-guardian-regent," instead of the emperor, and of 
 violating all the principles of propriety in introducing his 
 mother's name into the imperial ancestral temple. Professing 
 that even the mention of such treachery deserved the death of 
 the speaker, the princes and ministers bowed to the ground in 
 asking that just judgment should be rendered. A servant of 
 the late regent's gave corroborating testimony to all the main 
 charges, and the emperor at last clearly perceived that the 
 regent had indeed been intriguing for the throne. He therefore 
 declared to Heaven and earth, the ancestral temple and national 
 lares, that both his mother and the regent would be driven 
 forth from the ancestral temple, their titles abrogated, the 
 sacrificial honours abolished, and the proclaimed amnesty 
 withdrawn. Justice was rendered prince Soo, inasmuch as his 
 heir was reinstated into his father's rank and .possessions, and 
 other similar changes were made. 
 
 Five years after, a friend of the regent's dared to send the 
 emperor a memorial calling in question the justice of the 
 
TREASON. 521 
 
 sentence then passed. He declared that though all the princes 
 had established for themselves an excellent reputation, that of 
 the regent surpassed them all. The regent had continued faithful 
 to the oath made to Taidsoong,and had emphatically opposed those 
 who had desired to make him emperor. When he was in Peking, 
 and the young emperor in Mookden, who could have prevented 
 him had he desired to attain to supreme power ? He was the 
 first to meet and reverently to escort the emperor's carriage. His 
 meritorious conduct should not have been forgotten, for there 
 was no one to find him blameable up till the moment of his 
 death. Then they condemned his actions, abolished his 
 dignities, and in a pitiless manner broke up his family. No one 
 could excuse his conduct in taking the concubine of prince Soo. 
 But the merit of his general conduct was infinitely greater than the 
 heinousness of this particular crime ; and when he was judged, 
 it should have been as a near relation. After showing that the 
 design of the regent in possessing the various illicit articles in 
 his house, was to present them at some time to the emperor, he 
 concluded by saying, that " at the present moment, if the lands 
 -are not drowned by floods, they languish with drought; and 
 what is that but the hurricane and lightning call to repentance, 
 for is it not the doing of the unavenged spirit ? " But the result 
 of this minister's interference, seconded though he was by a 
 powerful man, ended only in disgrace to both. For after two 
 months' serious deliberation, the princes and great ministers 
 decided that both were guilty of crimes deserving death, which 
 sentence the emperor commuted to banishment to Mookden. 
 The emperor had previously, however, intimated his grief at 
 observing the tomb of the regent falling to ruins and the 
 walls crumbling down for want of attention. In spite of the 
 great crimes, he ordered the tomb and its enclosing walls, 
 together with the regent's dwelling house, its rooms, doors, and 
 walls, to be thoroughly repaired, and the posts painted black. 
 This occurred after the younger full brother of the regent was 
 degraded several degrees, and from Chin to Kun Wang. And 
 then the able if ambitious regent was permitted to rest. 
 
522 MANCHU IMPERIAL FAMILY. 
 
 In the beginning of 1651, prince Ying was found guilty of 
 several crimes, and condemned to perpetual imprisonment. 
 Two months after, he was found to possess four swords. The 
 fact was evidence of improper designs, and the princes decided 
 that as prince Ying had forfeited his life long ago and been spared 
 only by the clemency of the emperor, who had provided three 
 hundred women to wait upon him, and prepared everything he 
 could desire, he was proved unworthy of such mercy by the 
 possession of those four swords, and must in future be restricted 
 to four women and his needful clothing, his food being provided 
 by the proper Board ; while all his other people, cattle, gold and 
 silver should be confiscated. The restraint of his confinement 
 seems to have irritated to a great degree the spirit of this 
 Manchu prince, and he threatened to set fire to the gate and 
 prison, making use of other threats and similarly wild language. 
 The princes again deliberated in winter, and declared that he 
 should be no longer permitted to live. The emperor therefore 
 issued the necessary orders, and the prince committed suicide. 
 
 We may here notice a curious circumstance connected with 
 the marriage of this boy-emperor. The Chinese emperor has 
 always three empresses. There is a chief empress who occupies 
 the principal palace, and she is called the Central Palace. TJie 
 second empress occupies the palace to the east of the central one ; 
 she is usually the mother of heir-apparent, or has charge of him, 
 and is called the East Palace. The third occupies the palace 
 west of the central one and is called the West Palace, each 
 being named from the palace in which she lives. The chief 
 empress is the first, who is chosen and married while the 
 emperor is still a boy, and is usually several years older than he. 
 After he is of full age he can choose for himself any and as many 
 additional wives or concubines as he thinks fit. Besides the 
 three palaces, there are six enclosures (Yuen), in which there are 
 nine Bin or wives, and eight Fei or secondary wives, to whom 
 are usually added hundreds of concubines. We are informed 
 that the GoongJcwun or chief lady of the harem has the 
 oversight of all these imperial concubines. When the emperor 
 
IMPERIAL MARRIAGES. 52$ 
 
 desires a new wife or concubine, all the great officials are ordered 
 to write down the ages of their unmarried daughters ; and they 
 are usually delighted to have a daughter within the harem. 
 From this list a large selection of young ladies is made, who 
 are brought into the capital. Arrived there, they are carefully 
 scrutinised, beauty being an essential, but not the only essential 
 requisite; and the principal duty of the Goongkwun is to 
 ascertain that the young beauty possesses all the qualifications. 
 This explanation is needful in order to understand the following. 
 
 In September of 1653, the emperor consulted with the Board 
 of Rites regarding marriage. In ancient times, he said, the 
 marriage of the emperor was considered a matter of gravest 
 importance. The emperor should therefore choose his empress 
 from a great distance, so that there would be no danger of 
 troubles arising from her partiality for any particular persons at 
 court. But his own empress had been chosen by the late 
 regent, and chosen just because she was a near relative. The 
 emperor had not chosen for himself, nor had the Goongkiuun 
 examined. Yet he could not say that the excellencies of his 
 empress thus chosen, were of such a character as would entitle 
 her to a place in the ancestral temple. He had therefore 
 reverently informed the empress, his mother, that this empress 
 was dethroned by him from being empress to be a Fei, and that 
 she was removed from the palace to a side dwelling in a Yuen. 
 
 In February 1661, the emperor nominated the great ministers,. 
 Bai Soni, Sooksaha, Wobiloong, and Aobai, as guardians to the 
 heir-apparent, to be at his "left hand," and to guide him in 
 public affairs. A few days thereafter he died in Yangsin Dien 
 palace. 
 
 We have but few facts from which to infer the character of 
 him who was the first emperor of the Manchu dynasty. He was 
 elected to the throne when yet a child, and the real ruler of 
 China was his uncle, the regent Dorgun, who retained the 
 sceptre with a firm hand up to his death. The emperor was, 
 from the earliest dawn of intelligence, placed under the best 
 instruction, and while yet a little child was drinking in 
 
524 MANCHU IMPERIAL FAMILY. 
 
 Confucianism. One or two instances will show that he had 
 learned the theory, if he he did not carry out the practice, of 
 Chinese ethics. A censor, on one occasion, drew his majesty's 
 attention to the great importance of wearing the imperial robes 
 and head-dress when giving audience or sacrificing. He replied 
 that every dynasty had its own particular practices ; but that the 
 first duty of the emperor was to reverence Heaven, his next to 
 love his people; for these duties were of infinitely greater 
 importance than the style of his robe or the nature of his crown. 
 Soon after the death of the regent, when the young emperor 
 assumed control of affairs, he said one day that all high officials 
 drew imperial attention to grave matters throughout the 
 'empire, which matters did certainly demand the minutest 
 consideration; but that not one had touched upon imperial 
 faults, though it was impossible that the myriad daily acts of 
 imperial government could be perfectly free from clashing with 
 men's minds, or trespassing against Heaven's laws. This silence 
 -could not arise from his own faultlessness, but from the 
 backwardness of his ministers. Yet though he could not 
 compare himself with the great emperors and kings of the past, 
 who were surrounded by men who spoke out imperial faults with 
 perfect freedom, he was anxious to follow in their footsteps. He 
 therefore declared his ministers bound to speak out when they 
 saw anything remiss in his conduct, and to suffer no fault of his 
 to escape uncensured. Even if, when the advice was given or 
 the censure made, the emperor appeared to oppose the prayer of 
 the memorial, the matter should be again and again referred to, 
 till it received the consideration it deserved. "Thus," he 
 concluded, " I may be able to examine myself, repent, and, with 
 new strength, walk the straight path, that all the empire may 
 find peace. If the minister speak out with propriety in his 
 faithfulness, he shall be exalted, and not blamed even if he speak 
 in bitterness. Let all the ministers know my mind." Wonderful 
 speech, entirely Confucian, from a young absolute emperor of 
 about fifteen years of age. We shall see presently how it was 
 carried into effect. 
 
GOOD INTENTIONS. 525- 
 
 As if to take immediate advantage of this proffered immunity, 
 a Manchu supervising censor of the Board of Works drew his 
 majesty's attention to the case of a great minister of the Board 
 of War, now some time in prison, waiting for examination, 
 because he had offended his majesty. The prisoner was in 
 danger of serious illness from the severely cold weather ; and the 
 greatness of the honour which he had formerly won for himself 
 made the present shame of wearing a lock on his neck beside 
 the public thoroughfare all the greater. He declared that the 
 case was not one tending to the glory of the empire, nor in 
 accordance with the known clemency of the emperor. The 
 emperor replied that when any minister, Manchu or Chinese, 
 was afterwards accused of covetousness or other wickedness, his. 
 case would be handed over to the Board of Punishment to be 
 examined and sentenced upon on the spot, and thus make 
 imprisonment previous to examination unnecessary. 
 
 The year 1653 began with a long continued drought, which 
 threatened further famines ; and the emperor proved his entire 
 subjugation to Chinese teaching by again calling upon the 
 ministers to declare his faults, on account of which such 
 sufferings were coining upon his people ; he also proclaimed a 
 mitigation in the punishment of all prisoners. This drought of 
 early summer was succeeded by floods in July. The emperor 
 stating to the Privy Council that rain had fallen uninterruptedly 
 for months, till the whole country was one great ditch, "fuel 
 dear and rice like pearls," and many of the people perishing 
 under their own falling houses grieved all the more for the 
 sufferings of the people that the blame was entirely his ; and 
 said that to understand his faults, he must examine his own 
 mind and fear the commands of Heaven. The Boards were 
 ordered to carefully investigate into all cases of distress, and all 
 officials were commanded to be faithful and just in their public 
 duties. 
 
 A supervising censor drew his majesty's attention to the fact 
 that the Chienching " Heaven Clear " palace was being built 
 anew by the emperor, and the work had been going on for 
 
-526 MANCHU IMPERIAL FAMILY. 
 
 months. Lightning had destroyed the gate of the temple of the 
 god of Agriculture, and the deluge of rain had ruined the crops 
 and undermined houses and tenements. The censor had 
 carefully investigated the Five Elements, and found that Earth 
 cannot rule Water, hence Water riots unrestrained, Earth is 
 endangered, and Wood floats. The emperor's building is a 
 business of Earth and Wood, and the mind of Heaven is 
 manifestly expressed against it. And in reply to the prayer of 
 the minister that the works should therefore be discontinued, the 
 emperor said that the reasoning was correct. But there was no 
 .stoppage, as another Manchu censor prayed a month after that 
 the palace works might be stopped ; and wished the emperor to 
 desist from establishing a Yamun for the eunuchs. The emperor 
 said that the memorial was in order, but in reply he would say 
 that though he was establishing a Yamun for the eunuchs, he 
 would be master, not they ; and as the materials for the palace 
 were already all collected, it was necessary the works should be 
 carried out according to original intentions. But so serious were 
 the calls for money that the former regent-uncle, with all the 
 Beiras and princes, agreed in supporting the prayer of the 
 censors ; and at last the emperor agreed to stop the works and 
 to distribute the money among the poor. 
 
 It is perhaps proper to explain that the Five Elements are, 
 in Chinese teleology, regarded as the root of all things. They 
 are Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth, whose ceaseless action 
 and re-action, by affinity and repulsion, by combination and 
 separation in proper and improper proportions, produce the end- 
 less variety of life and death, health and disease, in the animate 
 and inanimate world. In any given human disease, the native 
 doctor learnedly descants on the inadequacy or superabundance 
 of some element which disturbs the natural equilibrium of the 
 normal condition of the body, thus producing disease ; and all 
 medicine is administered to supplement or reduce the offending 
 elements. But, however ludicrous the theory may appear, practice 
 does not produce a large proportion of mistakes. This is not 
 however the place to enter on this curious subject, which we 
 
CHINESE HEGELIANISM. 527 
 
 commend to the new lights now investigating the origin of life. 
 In connection with this subject it may be said that Hegelianism 
 is much older than Confucius in China. The notion that the 
 existence of all being and visible things are produced, educed or 
 evolved out of the unknown and invisible is the most 
 interesting statement in one of the oldest of Chinese classics. 
 " The limitless produced the great beginning, the great beginning 
 produced the positive and negative principles, which produce all 
 things." " There is nothing new ! " 
 
 We may also state in reference to the eunuchs, that though 
 the young emperor was beginning to give them an independent 
 position again, and might, had he lived long enough, have 
 re-established them in somewhat of their old power, the 
 opposition of all the ministers, and especially of the Manchu 
 members, was so thorough and watchful, that every attempt at 
 the resuscitation of the power which had been so ruinous to 
 the late dynasty was emphatically put down as soon as made, and 
 the eunuchs ceased to struggle for the power dear to their kind. 
 But the labour and expenditure connected with the palace, if 
 stopped for a brief interval, went on as before. Kaishung, a 
 censor, reported, on the authority of a servant up from Tungchow, 
 that boats were being employed by his majesty to sail to 
 Yangchow, there to purchase girls for the imperial harem. But 
 his Board found him guilty of listening to slanderous stories and 
 disreputable charges against his majesty ; while he was ignorant 
 of the amount of furniture required for the Chienching palace. 
 He was transported to Shangijang poo, to ruminate over 
 his mistake. Even in 1657, the chief censor had again to pray 
 that the labour going 011 at the palace might be at least delayed, 
 as it was not of pressing importance. Thus did his majesty carry 
 out his good intentions. 
 
 But worse than this neglect of the advice of his best servants, 
 was his actual breach of faith : for we find, amid the warm 
 discussions on the palace buildings, one censor pleading for the 
 recall from banishment of some high officials, whose only crime 
 was that of giving unpalatable advice, who were left in exile 
 
528 MANCHU IMPERIAL FAMILY. 
 
 when other ministers guilty of other crimes were recalled ; but 
 the emperor would only remit the matter to the princes and 
 great ministers, who must necessarily, in such cases, do what 
 would please him. In 1657, the chief censor prayed that the 
 cases of those ministers should be considered, who had been 
 banished, degraded, or reprimanded, because they had spoken of 
 floods, droughts, or tumults ; which prayer was again sent to the 
 Boards. And in 1658, when a proclamation of an amnesty 
 recalled many ministers sentenced because of public crimes, a 
 censor petitioned that the same pardon might be extended to 
 those officials whose fault was but one of speech. But the 
 emperor angrily declared that this censor was only ambitious to 
 secure himself credit by means of the amnesty ; so that he ought 
 to be himself punished. The case was handed to the Board, which 
 obsequiously decided that the censor should be banished ; which 
 sentence the emperor remitted. This put a stop to prayers for 
 those who had been guilty of finding fault with or deprecating 
 the imperial conduct. So that, making all allowance for too* 
 great liberty of speech on the part of the censors, we cannot 
 fail to see that the emperor was more wilful than dignified in 
 his conduct, and that his manner of fulfilling a promise is 
 another "trust not in princes." One lesson, however, he 
 learned ; for when, thereafter, drought, flood, or earthquake was 
 threatening the anger of heaven, he always ordered the 
 ministers to be truthful and the officials to be faithful, instead 
 of generously undertaking the responsibility of all the guilt. 
 The summons to repentance was invariably issued on the 
 occasion of every extraordinary phenomenon of nature; not 
 only when those dreadful famines occurred from drought, flood, 
 or locusts, but even in cases where the strange or disastrous 
 phenomenon was very narrow in its field of action, or very 
 remote in its place of manifestation. In 1663, soon after the 
 accession of young Kanghi, a "black wind" broke suddenly 
 upon a village in Liaotung, blowing down over a couple of 
 hundred houses, and killing more than five hundred people. In 
 January of next year, a censor drew official attention to a comet 
 
OMENS. 529* 
 
 which had appeared two months before, pointing north-west. 
 For more than fifty nights had this comet been seen, during 
 which period it had crossed twelve of the twenty-eight 
 constellations, ceasing not to give out its feeble light ; but 
 virtuous conduct and truthful words would convert the 
 threatened calamities into blessings. In recommending the 
 spirit of the censor, the emperor ordered a reformation in all 
 services, to be in accord with the will of heaven. But still the 
 comet did not withdraw its baneful presence, or shorten its 
 withering tail; for, in April, there it still was in the constellation 
 Gwei or Pisces the fifteenth constellation whither it had 
 moved its way from Yi or the Crater, where it was in November. 
 Its tail was, in March, " five feet long." In April, a universal 
 amnesty was proclaimed, which seems to have been .more 
 successful than the call to reformation ; for the comet ceased to 
 appear on the records thereafter. In January, Venus had 
 produced a white vapour " thirty feet " long ; and in April, she 
 appeared by day. In May, a great darkness suddenly fell upon 
 the village of Taipingt^uun while it was yet mid-day. A 
 tremendous noise like thunder was made by a stone which 
 descended out of the sky, breaking in two as it fell on the 
 ground; when it was found to weigh several hundred weight. 
 In June, hoarfrost destroyed every green thing in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Shansi capital, covering all with its deadly white 
 for three days continuously. Just before the amnesty was 
 proclaimed an earthquake, causing a rumbling noise, shook the 
 capital ; another, with loud noises, terrified the city of Yangkiang 
 in Kwangtung ; and Changte foo, in Hookwang, was similarly 
 visited two months after. These were all so many calls to 
 repentance, addressed by heaven to official China; and each 
 was louder than its predecessor in demanding honesty in all 
 offices, civil and military. 
 
 In 1652, we find his majesty seriously relating a dream to get 
 
 its interpretation from the grand secretary Fan. He had 
 
 dreamed that the bearers of flying banners, and the blowers of 
 
 horn, bowed down to heaven, and immediately came against 
 
 1 1 
 
530 MANCHU IMPERIAL FAMILY. 
 
 them several arrows of the enemy, which the emperor caught in 
 his hand. Then five men appeared, acting as familiar 
 acquaintances, and saying that they were giving the emperor 
 secret aid. The courtier interpreted the seizing of the arrows to 
 indicate the apprehension of the rebels ; and the bowing to 
 heaven and the secret aid were said to be good omens. So 
 dreams dont go by contraries there ! 
 
 The third son of Shunchih had been willed his successor. 
 This son is known in history as the " Emperor Holy- Ancestor, 
 As-Heaven-Great-Fortune, Brave, Wise, Reverential, Careful, 
 Forgiving, Filial, Respectful, Steadfast, Truthful, Correct, 
 Peaceable, Meritorious, Virtuous, the Great Perfectly Benevolent." 
 His mother was a daughter of a duke of the first rank, and was 
 fourteen years old when she became his mother in April 1654. 
 Her temple posthumous title is the " Empress Filial, Peaceful, 
 Merciful, Gentle, Honourable, Beautiful, Respectful, Loving, 
 Meek-so-as-to-reach-Heaven, Nourishing-the-Sacred." And the 
 deceased emperor was nominated the "Emperor Equal-of-Heaven, 
 Distinguished Fortune, Brave, Intelligent, of Supreme Literary 
 Powers, of Great Virtue, Peacemaker, Celebrated, Most Bene- 
 volent, of Unblemished Filial Reverence." These titles are 
 given as specimens of posthumous titles, and to show the 
 qualities to which the Chinese and their eastern imitators attach 
 most value. Many of the epithets in the longer titles are 
 reduplicative ; but the length of the title shows the degree of 
 esteem in which the deceased emperor was held by his court ; 
 for the title is invariably posthumous. 
 
 The emperor had felt seriously unwell only five days before 
 his death, when he called in two grand secretaries and the heir- 
 imperial to " Nourishing-the-Heart " Palace, where he was dying. 
 He nominated the four guardians, who, on the death of the 
 emperor, made an oath to heaven. A similar oath was made by 
 all the princes and great officials, on the fifth day after the 
 enthronement of the young prince, whose reign is styled Kanghi, 
 and a universal amnesty was proclaimed. The enthronement took 
 place in the beginning of the year after the late emperor's death. 
 
CREDULITY. 531 
 
 As a matter of course there are in any imperial house in 
 China many events which are never made known, and there are 
 some things recorded as historical which never did take place. 
 This gives occasion to a good deal of curious speculation, and to 
 endless stories among the people, much of which may be true, 
 much false. For the Chinese are not the apathetic people they 
 are generally represented ; but are full of curiosity, and too full 
 of credulity, a credulity, however, which is very considerably 
 modified in the large body of literary men whose studies teach 
 them critical scepticism. Among other subjects spoken of by 
 the literates of China with bated breath, but intense interest, is 
 the succession of Kanghi to the Manchu throne. It is a subject 
 which may well prompt questions, and rouse curiosity. But as 
 an illustration of Chinese credulity, we shall relate the story of 
 the death of Shunchih and the accession of Kanghi, as related 
 by some Chinese literates. 
 
 A Mahommedan, who was at one time marshal of Goobeikow, 
 was an intimate friend of the emperor Shunchih. He renounced 
 the world and devoted himself to religion, in order to become 
 transformed into a Shaihai, the Mahommedan equivalent to 
 the Chinese shun or god. The emperor asked him whether, if 
 thus transformed, he could be seen. He replied, "If your 
 majesty see a flower of gold, you see me." He then retired to a 
 monastery, where he died. In the guise of a beggar he returned 
 to the capital, carrying a parcel under his arm. He encountered 
 a censor, to whom he said he had come to pay tribute to his 
 majesty. " Whence ?" asked the censor. "From Wootaishan" 
 was the reply. Next day the censor presented the tribute ; and 
 the emperor, on opening the parcel, found only a flower of gold. 
 He considered it neither valuable nor beautiful, and regarded it 
 carelessly, till he suddenly recollected his lost friend. " Whence 
 cam 3 the tribute-bearer ? " he asked. " From Wootaishan" 
 " Of what country was he ? " "I did not enquire," replied the 
 censor. The emperor determined to go to Wootaishan, and 
 went, taking his ministers with him. When they were ascending 
 the second of the five tai or steep mountain sides, rising one 
 
532 * MANCHU IMPEKIAL FAMILY. 
 
 above the other, the path became impracticable for horses. 
 The emperor, therefore, then got into a sedan chair, called 
 Pa-shan-hoo, " Scale-the-Mountain-Tiger," borne by two men. 
 When they reached the top, they found the chair empty, and 
 Shunchih was never more seen on earth ! 
 
 In the north-west corner of the present city of Liaoyang, is- 
 the finest pagoda in Manchuria. It is in memory of the Hwai 
 Wang, Koong Yoodua, who was so serviceable in laying the 
 foundations of the present dynasty. When Taidsoong died in 
 Mookden, Hwai Wang was commander in Liaoyang. Taidsoong 
 had loved him as a brother, Chinaman though he was. When 
 the regent, at the request of Sangwei, was about to attack the 
 robber Dsuchung, he consulted with Hwai Wang as to who of 
 them should command the army ; and their consultation resulted 
 in his saying, "Whoever was commander, the other must be 
 regarded as an equal, and not as a mere minister." When 
 Shunchih was seated on the throne in Peking, Hwai Wang was 
 ordered into Peking; and the style of the epistle led him to 
 exclaim, " Is then the compact ended ? " He went to the 
 capital, but refused to make obeisance, demanding instead that 
 the former agreement be carried out. For his contumacy he 
 was beheaded, and all his relations slain. But his quick-witted 
 young wife said, " It is an old law that one stroke must not kill 
 two persons ; " she was saved alive, and in a short time 
 thereafter gave birth to a son. She was herself introduced 
 afterwards into the emperor's harem ; but her son, because not 
 the emperor's, was sent to a man of the surname of Wang, and 
 had that surname given him. 
 
 When the emperor Shunchih disappeared, he left no son. 
 The princes and ministers were in the greatest perplexity ; for 
 they feared they could not avert civil war, whomsoever of the 
 imperial Manchu house they might choose to succeed. They 
 therefore decided to elect the boy Wang, and did so under the 
 style of Kanghi. Shortly after his enthronement, Kanghi 
 dreamed that he saw before him a man all bloody. On the 
 morrow he told his mother, describing to her the man's 
 
CURIOUS STORY. 533 
 
 appearance. She uttered not a word, but wept bitterly. He 
 pressed her for a reason for her conduct, and she at last replied, 
 "you are not a son of the Cking;" and then related the 
 preceding story. Kanghi became extremely angry at the recital, 
 and would have issued orders immediately for the extermination of 
 the Manchus, but that his mother forbade him even to seem to 
 know the story of his origin. But when Kanghi was to be 
 married, he would have none of the many ladies brought as 
 applicants for the honour. He was then asked the kind of lady 
 who would be acceptable, and he said, " one exactly like my 
 sister," who was the daughter of Shunchih. At length Soni 
 replied, " let her be sent to my house, called my daughter and 
 then given him." And thus he revenged his father, by marrying 
 the daughter of Shunchih, who believed she was married to her 
 own brother. A Maiichu, himself a magistrate and a literary 
 man, informed the writer that it was the universal belief that 
 Kanghi married the daughter of Shunchih, his own sister, and 
 also corroborated the currency of the story that Kanghi was a 
 Chinaman and not a Manchu ; but no Manchu will of course 
 grant the truth of the curious tale. 
 
 According to the Annals, prince Koong fought long and well 
 for the Manchus in the south, and committed suicide because he 
 was unsuccessful in holding Kweilin against Li Dinggwo. His 
 only daughter was educated in the palace in Peking, called an 
 imperial princess, and given in marriage to Swun, who afterwards 
 became a noted rebel, and was slain by Sangwei. But the story 
 given above is as gratifying to Chinese pride, as it is illustrative 
 of Chinese credulity, for they always wind up the story by 
 saying that the present dynasty is Manchu only in name, but 
 Chinese in reality. The following facts will, however, explain 
 the existence of so curious a tale. 
 
 Shunchih was the ninth son of his father, and born in 
 February-March 1639. He became emperor in 1643, his style 
 beginning next year, when he was five years old. Kanghi was 
 his third son, and was born when his father was fifteen years 
 old. But just half a year before this birth, the boy-emperor 
 
534 MANCHU IMPERIAL FAMILY. 
 
 had, for some reason, degraded his empress to be concubine. 
 She could not, therefore, have been the mother of Kanghi. He 
 declared that " he had not himself chosen, nor had the keeper of 
 the harem examined," & statement which seems to imply that 
 this degraded empress was his only wife. Yet within seven 
 months from that degradation, he was the happy father of his 
 third son. Out of these facts, it was easy to weave a curious 
 story. But to us it is of any value only as illustrative of Chinese 
 character. 
 
 According to the Annals, there were the usual wonderful 
 appearances at the birth of Kanghi, to manifest his coming 
 greatness. When somewhat grown, the favoured child had an 
 air of majesty ; his thoughts were lofty, his words correct, and 
 all his acts according to the rules of propriety and reason. 
 From the age of four he was fond of study, and had only to scan 
 the line with his eye in order accurately to remember it. His 
 father asked him at five years of age, on what his mind was 
 bent ; and he replied, that when old he would follow his father's 
 example. At seven he ascended the throne ; and when his 
 mother enquired what his wishes were, he replied that he desired 
 only to see contentment rule all under heaven ; that the people 
 might live, be merry, and enjoy their possessions in the happiness 
 of peace. Whether or not the, child-emperor was so early 
 imbued with these fundamental principles of Confucianism, his 
 life was certainly spent in well-meaning endeavours to secure 
 the peace and comfort of his people; and Chinese history, or 
 any other history, does not present many rulers surpassing this 
 one in his efforts to rule for the benefit of his people. He was 
 a worthy successor to the abler founders of the Manchu dynasty. 
 He proved himself capable of ruling through his ministers, 
 instead of permitting them to rule through him. When Sangwei 
 roused that terrible storm against the Manchus, he was the first 
 in the capital to know of it, and informed his ministers, 
 showing that he was eagerly active himself, instead of ordering 
 his proper work to be done entirely by deputy, as emperors 
 usually do in China. He showed that he possessed military 
 
WORDS AND DEEDS. 535 
 
 capacity, by the strategical importance of the various points for 
 the occupying and strengthening of which he gave instant orders. 
 He crushed an insurrection which sprang up violently and 
 suddenly in the capital ; and when, in the ninth year of the war, 
 the Manchu armies were flagging, he urged them to a difficult 
 task by reasoning from military science. His mind, however, 
 though fitted for the rdle of the conqueror, delighted more in 
 conferring the pleasures of peace upon his people. And it was 
 from his earnest desire to relieve his people from some of their 
 heaviest burdens, that he originated those measures which 
 resulted in the war of the three rebels. He was also an ardent 
 student ; but his delight in pursuing literary studies was not of 
 the mere pedant or literate, nor of the dreamy philosopher ; for 
 on one occasion he said, in a conversation with his great 
 ministers, " He is the man of true knowledge who lives a good 
 life, though his acquirements are so limited that he cannot 
 explain even the rudiments of mental philosophy ; " and at the 
 same time he taunted his officials with their readiness to write 
 or speak in praise of the virtues, while they were so slow in 
 practising them. He also warmly censured and punished the 
 highest officials, when he discovered them guilty of oppressing 
 the people, or of* permitting their followers to oppress them. 
 
 He was often grieved over the serious ravages of the Yellow 
 River. He made many attempts to discover the real nature and 
 cause of those ravages, and the possible means of averting them. 
 But after years of painful but ineffectual efforts to discover those 
 from his ministers, by means of special commissions and otherwise. 
 he at last resolved to go in person to, if possible, see the evil for 
 himself. His first journey southwards appears to have been in 
 1684. When passing through the classic ground of west 
 Shantung, he loitered several days about Tsinan. He went to 
 the top of the famous Taishan mountain, writing, in a book kept 
 in the temple at the top, the two characters " Cloud-Peak," as 
 his idea of the nature of that steep and high hill. He scaled 
 several other hills in the neighbourhood ; and at the tomb of 
 Confucius the "First Preacher," he performed the "Three 
 
536 MANCHU IMPERIAL FAMILY. 
 
 Kneelings and the Nine Prostrations" in honour of the sage. 
 This is the Chinese highest conceivable form of reverence, the sign 
 of the deepest veneration and adoration ; and coming from the 
 Manchu emperor, it must have been peculiarly gratifying to the 
 literary Chinese. Again in 1689, did he find it necessary to visit 
 the scenes of the destructive overflowing of the river. He passed 
 through Tsinan, having left Peking in February, and got into 
 Soochow and Hangchow three full weeks after. He crossed the 
 Tsientang Kiang, went to the tomb of the famous king Yii, at 
 which he sacrified in person, performing the " Three Kneelings 
 and the Nine Prostrations," and writing his name in the temple 
 book. At Nanking, as he was returning, a native of the district 
 presented him with a book, containing the secret of long life, 
 called "Tried-Gold-Nourishing-The-Body." He returned the 
 book to the author, saying that he did not believe in such things. 
 He went thence to Tientsin by boat ; so that the canal was in 
 good working order. He got south to Hangchow again in 1698, 
 on the same errand. For the same purpose he started in the 
 winter of 1702, and was gone several days, when news of a serious 
 illness of the heir-apparent brought him back. He said that 
 next year he would visit the work on the banks of the river, and 
 he fulfilled his promise by a careful inspection of both banks in 
 spring. He spent a night at Yangchow, and climbed Kinshan, 
 when crossing the Yangtsu. When returning from Hangchow, 
 he sent a grand secretary to sacrifice at the tomb of the founder 
 of the late dynasty, outside Nanking. In the winter of the same 
 year, he went round by Taiyuen, returning by Honan foo. In 
 early spring of 1705, he got as far south as Hangchow, and 
 examined all the Juyin and Siiutsai to ascertain their poetical 
 power ; he found two worthy of mention. In Soochow a similar 
 examination discovered fifty three respectable poets, and five in 
 Nanking. When here he visited the tomb of the founder of the 
 Ming dynasty in person, to show his respect. During his next 
 visit, in 1707, he acceded to the prayer of the " army and people " 
 of Hangchow, who besought him to remain with them a few days. 
 He had expressed his conviction, from what he had seen, that 
 
IMPERIAL TRAVELLER. 537 
 
 the Yellow River, on whose account these frequent journies were 
 made, would not much improve till a canal united the lakes and 
 the Hivai river. During the preceding dynasty the Hwai ran 
 with great force, and the River with a slow current ; while they 
 were now exactly reversed. He had also on the way, and not 
 for the first time, seriously to condemn the manner in which the 
 superintendent of the river works performed his duty; and 
 Ashan, who was still viceroy, had his share of the blame. 
 
 AH his journies were not so placid as these made southwards. 
 The early Manchu emperors spent much time in hunting. But 
 in 1689 the emperor had to march an army in person, and 
 perform the very difficult task of crossing the great desert of 
 Gobi. Just as the Taiping rebellion enabled Central Asia 
 temporarily to throw off the Manchu yoke in recent years, the 
 greater rebellion of Sangwei, which strained all the resources of 
 Peking, and long threatened to overmatch them, permitted 
 Hardan of Hi,* or Kuldja or east Turkestan, to begin an 
 independent career, which his bravery and ability soon made a 
 famous one. He had gone from victory to victory, engulfing one 
 portion after another of the Eleuths and more remote Mongols, 
 so that Kanghi was compelled to go against him in person. 
 The nature of the danger which he threatened to China, may be 
 inferred from the fact that when Kanghi heard of his defeat, he 
 was so greatly rejoiced that he gave special and grateful thanks 
 to heaven. He was on his way against Hardan again in 1697, 
 when he heard of the rebel's death, and ascribed it to the 
 interposition of heaven on his behalf. He ordered a history of 
 that northern rebellion to be written out ; though he would not 
 accept the special title of honour, which the prince and ministers 
 offered him, and which had been frequently proffered and 
 rejected before. 
 
 One incident showing the emperor's desire for popularity, or 
 to please the people, occurred in 1694, when the temple of Heaven 
 
 * This is the bone of contention between Russia and China now. As might be 
 expected, Russia is the guilty cause of the contention. China cannot but persist in 
 demanding the Russian Court to fulfil its engagement to withdraw. 
 
538 MANCHU IMPERIAL FAMILY. 
 
 was built. An officer of the body-guard recommended the 
 fonnation of two side paths on which the sentries could always 
 walk, and by which alone the populace should be permitted to go ; 
 thus leaving the central avenue always free. The emperor said 
 that the temple was for the benefit of the people; and of what 
 use was it, if they were forbidden to walk within its grounds ? 
 If the soldiers had the power to keep the central avenue clear of 
 people, they would soon drive them off the side paths. 
 
 A eunuch killed one of the people, and the Board of Punishment 
 was at a loss how to act in the matter. The emperor said that 
 no leniency should be shown to a eunuch guilty of crime. The 
 eunuchs of the ancient Han and Tang dynasties were of a mild 
 and gentle disposition, not mild and intractable as those of 
 modern times. Eunuchs were of a disposition different from 
 ordinary men; they resembled women, &c., &c. There was, 
 therefore, no shelter in this emperor for that imperial vermin. 
 
 If the emperor thus proved himself so much interested in the 
 welfare of his people, as to be ready to undergo much fatigue 
 and trouble for their benefit, he was not careless regarding the 
 comfort of the ministers who waited upon him and did his 
 bidding. He said on one occasion that the Ming dynasty, for 
 whose founder he always professed the highest esteem, kept the 
 officials and ministers waiting a long time outside the gate 
 before admitting them to audience ; but that he had always 
 considered it of great importance to attend punctually at the 
 very minute appointed. He saw, however, among the officials 
 several who had attained the ripe age of sixty, and some who 
 were considerably older. These he would exempt from necessary 
 attendance at so early an hour ; and promised to give them free 
 access at a time to them more convenient for presenting their 
 memorials, or for stating their case. Thus they could take care 
 of their aged persons, yet not be negligent in their proper 
 business. This solicitude will be best understood, when we 
 mention that the emperor always gives audience at daybreak. 
 
 Kanghi is praised as a most filial son, because, great emperor 
 though he was, when the aged empress-mother died after a few 
 
FILIAL EMPEROR. 530 
 
 days' illness, in 1717, he conformed to the most formal etiquette 
 of deep mourning, by wearing common cotton clothing or 
 sackcloth. Twenty-seven years before, when she attained her 
 sixtieth birth-day, he had made her a number of presents,, 
 worthy of mention because of their significance, if not on account 
 of their value. First in importance was Weiping of carved 
 stone, or wood-work, with designs in relief, and fixed in a stand ;, 
 it represented "Long-life-without-limit-Heaven-granted." A 
 flower was given representing " Long-life-as-you-wish-with- 
 Peace;" a pair of flowers, meaning, " Tortoise-crane-extended 
 years," the equivalent of " Long-life." He also presented 
 of red coral fourteen hundred and forty fun, or twelve Ibs. 
 weight ; one foreign clock ; * one picture, representing the 
 palace of the immortals of Long-life mountain ; one thousand- 
 years foreign mirror; one hundred-flower foreign mirror; 
 eastern ( pearls ; nine strings each of coral beads : golden 
 amber and " Resi'sting-the-wind-precious-stone ; " nine fur robes ; 
 nine pieces of heavy satin, and nine of light ; nine pieces of 
 flannel; nine parcels of each of four varieties of fragrant incense; 
 nine times nine of several kinds of precious stones ; the same 
 number of pictures of the Sung, Yuen, and Ming dynasties, of 
 bundles of incense, of large handkerchiefs and of small ones, of 
 (ounces of) gold and of silver, and of pieces of satin ; six horses 
 ready saddled ; a myriad grains of rice out of the imperial store, 
 to prepare the " Myriad-kingdom-rich-grain-repast " ; and fruits 
 and various other things followed. It will be observed that 
 these presents are all metaphorical as well as substantial. The 
 number nine is translated by Dr. Williams in his excellent 
 dictionary as the " highest," " perfect." The Chinese do regard 
 the odd numbers as superior or yang, and the even as inferior 
 or yin; yet ten is their ordinary expression to denote perfection;, 
 for as the Chinese have always used the decimal system, 
 their "ten parts" make a "complete" whole. We therefore 
 
 " These foreign things were all got from the Jesuits. 
 
 fThe pearls, anciently of Corea, and now of the Amoor and Songari, are 
 considered the largest and finest in the world. 
 
540 MANCHU IMPERIAL FAMILY. 
 
 prefer to regard the number nine here as expressive of 
 imperfection or incompletion, as representing the wish that the 
 term of years would be ever incomplete, and extended without 
 limit. We have elsewhere noted that the emperor never 
 bestows the highest possible honours upon any of his ablest and 
 best servants till after death ; for, it is said, if any servant gets 
 the highest possible reward at any one period of his career, how 
 can he be rewarded for excellent service subsequent to such 
 honours ? The number nine here may have the same significance. 
 The occasion demands very handsome gifts ; but the emperor 
 wishes to convey the impression that his filial affection has not 
 yet exhausted itself, or reached its utmost limit. 
 
 On New-year's day, a few years thereafter, his ministers 
 presented Kanghi himself with saddled horses, satin, and a large 
 variety of other things. But he refused to accept any of them ; 
 because if he did receive these, every official of the empire, from 
 the highest to the lowest, would consider it his bounden duty to 
 follow the example. But at their earnest request, he did retain 
 the long-life Weiping, which was beautifully written. 
 
 The emperor knew something of proportion, and measures 
 both of length and capacity. Once when discussing with his 
 ministers a new work on arithmetic, where it was affirmed that 
 the diameter of a circle was to its circumference as one to three, 
 he affirmed that proportion to be incorrect ; for that with a 
 diameter of one, the circumference would measure 3.141 ; and 
 that this fraction made a great difference when the numbers 
 were large. This remark gave rise to a learned discussion on 
 proportion among the exalted company. 
 
 When his majesty was at Yehol in 1711, he said to his 
 ministers that the degree in the heavens corresponded to that 
 on the earth ; and that, therefore, the earth could be measured 
 by observation of the heavens. He also then stated that a 
 degree, in the Chow period, measured 250 li; but from the 
 lengthened foot-measure of modern times, it measured only 200 
 li. He did not, on another occasion, contradict an assertion by 
 one of his ministers, that the Ti King was the basis of all 
 
KANGHI'S KNOWLEDGE. 541 
 
 measurement, and that western nations had a good method of 
 calculation called Arjoobar (Algebra?), which was, however,, 
 originally borrowed from the east. Yet again, a certain 
 president said that he could not understand how it was that in 
 May, at Heiloongkiang the Amoor the day was so long and 
 the night so short. The emperor was at no loss to explain it, 
 by the fact that the sun was then north of the equator. He 
 also seems to have established observatories over the country ; 
 for we find him comparing meteorological reports from the 
 various provinces. He found that on the first day of that 
 report, the wind was from north-west in Peking, and from south- 
 east in Shantung ; and he praised the accuracy of the ancients 
 who said that, " if you pass the corner of a li, you find a change 
 of wind." The ancient books were also proved correct, which 
 stated that thunder was not heard at 30 li distant; while 
 modern cannon could be heard 200 or 300 li ; for cannon fired 
 at Loogoivchiao were heard at Tientsin. He had also found 
 those statements correct made by the ancients, who affirmed 
 the existence in the extreme north of ice scores of feet thick ; 
 and that even summer could not thaw it. Another ancient 
 statement was found accurate which mentioned a Sishoo West 
 Rat of a myriad pounds weight ; for a body was then discovered 
 as large as an elephant, and with tusks, which however were 
 yellowish. The Russians spoke of an elephant which burrowed 
 underground, and died when exposed to wind ; and the emperor 
 declared that this was the Sishoo. The ancients again declared 
 that all the "mountain- veins" of China originated at Kwunlun, 
 which name, scholars agreed, used to be anciently written 
 Kooloong, or the Dry Water Shed ; which is certainly a good 
 name for the Pamir Steppe. The emperor also stated that he 
 had been studying geography for more than thirty years, and 
 was now for the first time acquainted* with the 'mountain- 
 veins " and the river-courses. 
 
 In the year 1707, Kanghi had already been emperor for forty- 
 five years. His son, who had been nominated heir-apparent, 
 
 * For this knowledge see Appendix " Yellow River." 
 
542 MANCHU IMPERIAL FAMILY. 
 
 and on account of whom he returned back when on a southward 
 journey, was discovered applying himself to the use of magical 
 means to ascertain how soon he would become emperor. 
 Whether because of the frequency, or the notoriety of such 
 -conduct, it was made known to his father ; and as the emperor 
 believed it so serious as to demand publicity, the whole court 
 was thrown into a state of consternation and confusion in the 
 nd of that year. The emperor entered a tower within the 
 palace grounds, called to his presence all the princes, ministers, 
 and civil and military officials, and then summoned the heir- 
 apparent. When he came, his father commanded him to kneel 
 -down, and then, with flowing tears, declared him unfilial, one 
 who had forgotten the merit of his ancestors, and was now 
 driven into utter wickedness by a heart full of iniquity and 
 lawlessness. He then ceased speaking, but wept and sobbed 
 most bitterly, forbidding the unfilial son to come near his 
 person. By sacrifice he made known this unfiliality to heaven, 
 earth, the ancestral temple, and the national lares ; after which 
 he sent the undutiful son from the palace of the heir-apparent 
 to an inferior one. 
 
 Two months after, in December, this son was proclaimed no 
 longer heir-apparent. For resorting to magical rites and his 
 lawless conduct, he was degraded from being a wang ; he was 
 to be confined to the palace whither he had been sent ; and the 
 dsolings or divisions of the three Banners, formerly called his, 
 were withdrawn from under his orders. The emperor also 
 nominated some princes and high ministers to investigate and 
 deliberate upon the matter. They did meet; but the only 
 resolution to which they could come, was that the matter was 
 one altogether too high for them. This message they sent to 
 the emperor by the hands of his eighth son. He would not 
 accept it ; but declared that as the crime was so great, and as 
 the heir's mother was not to begin with of the most exalted 
 rank, the wickedness must be clearly revealed. 
 
 There was, apparently, an attempt on the part of some of the 
 chief ministers to recall the sentence against Yun Yi, the 
 
FAMILY DIFFICULTIES. 543 
 
 degraded heir-apparent; for in February 1709, the emperor 
 
 summoned together the imperial sons-in-law, the privy 
 
 councillors, the Manchu and Chinese great ministers, and the 
 
 presidents of all the boards, in order to discover who had 
 
 originated the movement which had resulted in a general 
 
 petition handed him by his eighth son to respite Yun Yi. 
 
 Chinese-like they declared that no one in particular originated 
 
 that matter, but that they all took spontaneous and simultaneous 
 
 action in it. But if they were cautious, so had the emperor 
 
 been ; for he had previously discovered in secret the object of his 
 
 quest. He now declared that he thought it passing strange 
 
 that they should have all pursued one path, and independently 
 
 of each other ; but he was sure there must have been a privy 
 
 councillor at the bottom of this matter ; and he suggested that 
 
 Ma Chi was probably the originator of the movement. Ma 
 
 Chi, however, made a solemn statement, that he was wholly 
 
 unaware of the matter before the ministers had taken their 
 
 simultaneous action. The emperor then called upon privy 
 
 councillor Jang Yiishoo, who mentioned that Ma Chi had said 
 
 to him that all the ministers had agreed to pray for the 
 
 restoration of Yun Yi. The privy councillor was probably 
 
 saying now in public only what he had more minutely declared 
 
 in private. The emperor said that the conduct of Ma Chi in 
 
 thus privately influencing ministers, proved a nature ready to 
 
 develop into treason, and it was proof of his eagerness to 
 
 secure the good-will of Yun Yi ; so that if Yun Yi became 
 
 emperor, he would have full power to carry out his own 
 
 will as supreme minister. Several of the princes who thus 
 
 discovered his majesty's desire, decided that Ma Chi deserved to 
 
 be beheaded. The emperor would not be so severe, but 
 
 sentenced him to a less disgraceful death. For several days 
 
 in succession, the emperor had the ministers before him, bitterly 
 
 upbraiding and severely reprimanding them for their hypocrisy. 
 
 He declared that he had now discovered their real desire to be 
 
 very different from their expressed wishes; for while wishing 
 
 him " myriad-years " of life, a period longer than had elapsed 
 
544 MANCHU IMPERIAL FAMILY. 
 
 since the five emperors, their words were false as were their 
 hearts, which really desired his death, and for their falsehood 
 they all deserved to die. Two continuous months of such 
 imperial scolding, imply that his own mind was not quite 
 decided as to what should be done to his unfilial son, and show 
 that he was hurt by the petition in favour of his son, as 
 indicating a want on the part of the ministers of a sympathy 
 which he was eager to obtain to support him in dealing severely 
 with the.son, who had been discovered wishing for his father's 
 death. 
 
 To prevent all such plotting for the future, and to close the 
 question of the succession, he nominated Yun Yung heir- 
 apparent, and performed the usual sacrifices. The choice was 
 an unfortunate one ; for in October 1712, he summoned all his 
 sons together, and said that Yun Yung had been insane ever 
 since his elevation, requiring men to watch him, and that all 
 had now ceased to hope for his recovery. Next month the 
 vermilion pencil wrote that Yun Yung's condition was such that 
 no hope could be entertained of a change for the better, and 
 that it was therefore necessary that he be confined in Hienan 
 palace. An official was sent to make sacrifices, and to publish 
 this sentence. Months passed without further action, and a 
 censor at last petitioned the emperor to nominate his heir ; but 
 received the reply, that it was too serious a matter for him alone 
 to decide; and the ministers were called upon to consider it. 
 This resulted in nothing; and in 1718, Tienbao, the Kientao 
 member of the Hanlin Academy formally prayed that the 
 degraded heir be re-nominated heir-apparent, for that this 
 prince was of a superior character and an excellent disposition, 
 delighting in the society of good men ; and no man could for a 
 moment compare him with a madman. He was supported in 
 his prayer by his father. But the prayer greatly irritated the 
 emperor. In deference to the imperial anger, Tienbao acknow- 
 ledged himself guilty of crime and craved the death which he 
 deserved. The emperor ordered the Boards to examine the 
 criminal, and to judge the crime with severity. The Boards were 
 
THE SUCCESSION. 545 
 
 apparently slow to act, and, a month after, the emperor, in reply 
 to an appeal from a president, sentenced Tienbao to death, and 
 his father to the loss of his wife and family, who were confiscated 
 to the emperor's use. The sentence was thus severe because 
 Tienbao was guilty of conduct which had reached the climax of 
 unfaithfulness and unfiliality. The lack of faithfulness in a 
 minister and the want of filial conduct in a son, are in Chinese 
 law the most heinous of all crimes. Some time after this event, 
 the emperor took credit to himself, before all the ministers, in 
 that he did not put his son to death, as did the emperor Woo of 
 Han, in similar circumstances. The latter did afterwards 
 bitterly repent that deed ; but as for himself, he had never done 
 anything which had ever caused him regret. 
 
 His large family of -sons by many mothers, could not however 
 continue a very affectionate one, especially while the succession 
 was an open question ; for each would have his own clique of 
 followers or flatterers who would do the idle young princes no 
 good. The fourteenth son was made, doubtless from such reason, 
 commander Help-the-far, and was sent to command the army 
 against the Eleuths in the remote west. 
 
 In the midst of these family troubles Kanghi's long reign was 
 drawing to a close. In the middle of the eleventh moon of 
 the sixty-first year of his nominal, or the sixty second of his 
 actual reign, he took suddenly and seriously unwell. He felt 
 that his end was near ; and therefore at midday he ordered the 
 presence of his fourth son, his third, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, 
 twelfth and thirteenth sons, with the president of the Foreign 
 Office. To these he said that his fourth son had always displayed 
 a character so honourable and conduct so good that he was the 
 best fitted to succeed to the throne. The fourth son was 
 therefore declared heir ; and seven hours thereafter this emperor, 
 the most remarkable of all the Manchus actually ruling in 
 Peking, breathed his last. 
 
 Except the facts given above and the long speeches found in 
 the Manchu annals, we have no accessible sources of information 
 whereby to judge of Kanghi's character. That he was a capable 
 
 K 1 
 
546 MANCHU IMPERIAL FAMILY. 
 
 general is proved in the prompt and accurate steps he took, first 
 to stem and then to drive back the formidable insurrection of 
 Sangwei ; and his bravery was manifest in his long and weary 
 expeditions against the Eleuths under Hardan. His care for 
 the wellbeing of his people was evinced in his determination to 
 disband the feudal armies of the south under Sangwei and his 
 princes, in the frequent and considerable reduction or remission of 
 taxes where the harvests were bad, and in the frequent and 
 large grants of grain scattered over all the north of China, 
 Liaotung, and Corea, when these places were in actual want of 
 food. It was proved by the earnestness of his determination 
 to grapple with the Yellow river difficulty, in which, however, 
 he was thwarted now by a " covetous " anon by an inefficient 
 administrator; and as inefficiency was not rare while malversation 
 was much more common, each year's deliberations and efforts left 
 the Yellow river where they found it. He was earnest in his 
 desire to further real learning, and to preserve the purity of the 
 literary graduation examinations; and the number of beheadings 
 of high official examiners, the degradation and various punishments 
 of others, proved at once the great corruption of the court, and the 
 serious endeavours of the emperor to alleviate if he could not 
 abolish the evil. His love of literature is also shown in the 
 large number of separate works undertaken at his request ; as 
 well as in his own diligence in study from his boyhood to his old 
 age. He was not averse from the idea of publishing his own 
 learning, for the volume or two of the annals filled with his 
 speeches, serve rather to indicate his speech-making propensities, 
 than give the actual number spoken or their length; the 
 geographical portion of the Appendix on the Yellow river, is 
 from one of his speeches on the subject. We believe he was a 
 much better and more able ruler than James I., but in many 
 respects, and especially in his tendency to speechifying he was a 
 complete parallel. 
 
 After the southern half of China was restored to Manchu rule, 
 the emperor had time to discuss other matters, and we find him, 
 in 1683, dilating like another Solomon James, as was his delight 
 
PROPRIETY. 547 
 
 -and his wont to do, on "Propriety" or "Reason,"* Li, as it is 
 in Chinese, "What is according to Reason." He asked the 
 grand tutor whether the name Li was given to this branch of 
 philosophy in the Sung dynasty, and the grand tutor replied, 
 that Propriety or Reason was in the heart of every man ; that 
 the celebrity of the literary schools of the Sung consisted chiefly 
 in explaining and illustrating what had always been in every 
 man's bosom. The emperor said that what was in daily need, 
 -and what should regulate all action, was just this Li ; but that 
 though ministers always spoke of and appealed to Li in their 
 speech, their actions were not always in consonance therewith. 
 All day long they could discuss the philosophy of Li, but their 
 conduct reversed their words. " What, indeed, is the philosophy 
 of Li ? " continued the imperial censor, " It is even this, that 
 though his lips are perhaps unable to explain, the man whose 
 conduct is correct, has the true knowledge of Li" " Example 
 is better than precept," says his Chinese majesty of two centuries 
 ago, to large numbers of our reasoners and writers of the present 
 day, " who say but do not." 
 
 He was not ostentatiously fond of flattery, for up to the last 
 he invariably rejected the frequent offers of honorary titles. His 
 logical powers were not very great. Indeed though they have 
 had their Socrates and Plato, the Chinese Aristotle and Bacon 
 have yet to be born; and as a people, they have largely 
 developed that insight which westerns often declare serves 
 women instead of logic. An incident will prove Kanghi's lack of 
 logical accuracy. Chihli was at a particularly critical part of 
 the season suffering from a drought, which, if continuous, would 
 produce a famine. The emperor was then at Yehol, where he 
 spent most of his summers, and here there was also a drought. 
 The emperor prayed for rain, and rain came upon Yehol. He 
 ordered the officials in Peking to pray for rain, but though they 
 obeyed, no rain came. They reported their failure, and in order 
 
 *The common phrase now, after stilted M. Arnold, is to say "Right Reason"; 
 we were not aware there was a "Wrong Reason." The Chinese "Propriety," 
 is equivalent to the " Reason " of the Stoics. 
 
548 MANCHU IMPERIAL FAMILY. 
 
 doubtless to flatter him they contrasted the effects of his and 
 their own prayers. He wrote back a long message severely 
 censuring them ; for their want of success in reality proved that 
 their care was for the emoluments and honours of their own 
 office and not for the people, as was proved in their neglect to 
 go in person to the temples to pray. He was anxiously solicitous 
 for the welfare of his people, and therefore went in person to 
 pray for rain and heaven had heard him : had they been anxious 
 and proved their anxiety by praying personally, heaven would 
 have heard them also. Now according to Chinese moral and 
 political philosophy mere officials count for nothing in the moral 
 government of China, for heaven smiles and frowns according 
 to the merits and deeds of the emperor alone. All the people 
 are his " naked " children, and by his merits they prosper, and 
 by his evil they suffer ; and if the people of his capital lacked 
 rain it was, according to Chinese teaching, the fault not of the 
 officials there, but of the ruler wherever he might be. But we 
 are not eager to quarrel with one of whom we can say, would 
 that all Chinese rulers resembled him. For whatever his failings 
 or self-conceit, it is through his wise rule that the Manchu reign 
 has been transmitted down to our own time, and that it has, 
 compared with other dynasties, so well guided this gigantic empire. 
 His successor was his fourth son, whose reign is styled 
 Yoongjung, or as some write it Yungcheng, and who was born 
 when his father was over twenty-four years of age. We need 
 not describe the supernatural appearances which declared him at 
 his birth the heaven-appointed ruler, in spite of which, as we 
 have seen, all were to the last moment ignorant of his probable 
 succession. This new emperor was the unfortunate possessor of 
 twenty-two brothers, all of whom might be supposed to consider 
 him as doing them an unjustice, by ruling in their stead. But 
 as China is not Turkey, and as fratricide is one of the foulest 
 of crimes, the emperor had to find or make a modus Vivendi. 
 Two of his younger brothers he created Wang, but another, 
 already a Wang, whom he found very intractable, he found 
 necessary to degrade from his wang-ship. 
 
TROUBLESOME BROTHERS. 549 
 
 The emperor sacrificed at the ancestral tombs when the 
 Kokonor districts were again restored to peace ; and about that 
 time the Board of War reported that the emperor's brother, 
 Yun Wo, was beyond the northern border, refused to appear 
 at court and was desirous to be commanded to remain at 
 Kalgan. The emperor ordered prince Yun Ji to consider 
 the matter, and his consideration resulted in the finding 
 that Yun Wo should be ordered to appear at court, and 
 then be sent on a distant embassy. He was asked to 
 reconsider, and his second finding was that the offending 
 brother should be deprived of his wang-ship, be condemned 
 for ever to private life, and be placed under the supervision 
 of the chief of the imperial clan. The emperor then declared 
 that Yun Wo had always displayed a perverse disposition, 
 was violent in his conduct, and sought to compel all others to 
 his will. Yun Ji had been formally asked to judge the case 
 because his influence was very great over the offending brother, 
 whose conduct had been already condemned by all the great 
 ministers as deserving degradation. The emperor exhorted 
 Yun Ji therefore himself to reform and to cause the two brothers 
 to reform also. One of these was Yun Tang, who permitted his 
 attendants the wildest license in Hochow. Another was Yun Ti, 
 the fourteenth son, already mentioned as a commander, and 
 against him various crimes were alledged. Wo went into the 
 capital and pretended sickness to avoid seeing his brother the 
 emperor, and proofs were multiplying in number and importance 
 showing a desire on the part of these four brothers and a growing 
 clique, with which the powerful and influential Jesuits * were 
 deeply implicated to dethrone the emperor and set up another 
 brother in his stead. Without reciting the long story, suffice it to 
 say that when their complicity in such a plot was fully discovered, 
 the four brothers were, one after the other, degraded from their 
 rank of prince, then had their family names changed to ordinary 
 Manchu names ; and lastly, after a long interval they were 
 banished to various places. Messages came gradually to say 
 
 *See "Hue's Christianity." 
 
550 MANCHU IMPERIAL FAMILY. 
 
 that two of the four had sickened and died. The superior of the 
 Jesuits, we learn from M. Hue, suffered exactly the same fate. 
 Several years had however elapsed between the first steps caused 
 by the disloyal conduct of the brothers, and the last necessitated 
 by their discovered and increasing guilt. For the first few years 
 of this period the emperor brought all possible means, privately 
 and publicly, to bear upon the young princes to cause them to 
 offer an easy allegiance ; but each step widened the breach 
 between them and made estrangement all the more thorough. 
 The grudge of disappointed ambition may have originated a 
 feeling which gradually grew to plans of open rebellion. Yet 
 though this emperor is believed by Chinese literates to have had 
 more than sufficient grounds whereby to condemn his brothers 
 of rebellion, he has and will continue to have affixed to him the 
 name and the stigma of fratricide. If his father found it 
 difficult to decide the fate of the son who had been nominated 
 his heir, and had to make speeches many and long to convince 
 his officials and especially himself as to the justice of his conduct, 
 this successor had a still greater difficulty as to the fate of his 
 brothers, and extremely long and very numerous were the 
 speeches to the assembled princes and officials, in which he 
 proved a hundred times over the base ingratitude to their 
 father of the erring brothers, and the heinousness of their crimes 
 against their ancestors. These speeches, their character, their 
 frequency and their length, prove the sacredness of family life in 
 China, and the horror with which even an emperor was compelled 
 to regard an act of fratricide, which in the circumstances would in 
 many western lands have been regarded as thoroughly justifiable. 
 After the "sickness" which carried off the two brothers, a 
 thick veil is cast over the palace, the only signs of life being the 
 nomination of the fourth and fifth sons of Yungcheng as Chin 
 Wang. On the thirteenth of his reign, in September, he took 
 seriously unwell, sent for two of his imperial brothers, the two 
 grand secretaries Wortai and Jang Pingyli; and to them he 
 handed his testament in his own hand, making the fourth son 
 heir-imperial and appointing him his successor, to begin his 
 
FOURTH EMPEROR. 551 
 
 reign under the title of Kienlung. He nominated the two 
 wang, with the two grand secretaries, guardians. He died 
 immediately, and was buried two and a half years after. He 
 did not see the reconquest of the central Asian provinces, which 
 a flood of insurrection had swept into an independent condition. 
 These were recovered under his son, who reigned as long as 
 Kanghi, and conducted imperial affairs with discretion, wisdom, 
 and success. 
 
 His successor was another strong ruler; but as the annals 
 close at the grave of Yungcheng, we do not feel at liberty to pry 
 particularly into the imperial chambers. Suffice it to say that 
 since Kienlung's departure, the throne has been always in 
 possession of a minor mentally, and for a large proportion of the 
 time, of a minor physically. It is unnecessary to say, that under 
 an absolute government, that land has woe sufficient whose prince 
 is a child. With a strong man at the head of affairs, aided by 
 able ministers whom he could control, and active judges well 
 paid, but dismissed as soon as fraud was discovered, China 
 would be one of the most powerful, as she is even now one of 
 the most wealthy, perhaps upon the whole the most wealthy, 
 of all the nations of the earth. The recent successful termination 
 of the campaign in central Asia, has compelled westerns to 
 believe China living still. That life can and will become more 
 active and potent than some people would desire ; and it were 
 well if westerns prepared against the day of a strong China, by 
 hastening her conversion, by all means in their power, to 
 Christianity, which alone makes for righteousness and peace. 
 
 A step further removed from Carlyle's clotheless king, is one 
 with a palace. Imposing buildings are essentially necessary to 
 that artificial greatness which society in all ages and countries 
 demands for the head of the state; and the "gullibility" of 
 mankind has both necessitated and awed itself by the external 
 trappings which imply a grandeur, which often does not exist in 
 the draped regal figure. Noble buildings, gorgeous surroundings, 
 and interminable etiquette intended for stateliness, are all the 
 more needful to a royalty to which often, if stripped of them, little 
 
552 MANCHU IMPERIAL FAMILY. 
 
 dignity or greatness would remain ; and society deceives itself by 
 the customs and regulations imposed by itself, and especially by 
 the stately brick and mortar cemented by itself, into worshipping 
 solemnly and reverently before a temple, in the innermost shrine 
 of which a " monkey is enthroned as god." Certainly no monkey 
 would ever be mistaken for a god, were it not for the extrinsic 
 magnificence which shuts it away from the " gullible." What is 
 true of all nations of men, is found in China developed beyond 
 other nations; for Chinese etiquette is more thorough and 
 complete than theirs. It does not fall within our province at 
 present to describe this imperiality, this state and belongings of 
 regality in China, beyond what crops up in the histories which 
 we are fully illustrating. 
 
 In the Palatial city, besides many minor ones, there are three 
 chief palaces, of which the greatest of all is the central one. At 
 each side of the main entrance into this palace, the Ming dynasty 
 had built a porch or hall, where the various officials and ministers 
 waited his imperial majesty's summons to the early twilight 
 audience, each having his own position in one of the halls 
 according to his rank. These halls were burnt down by the 
 " robber " when he was compelled to vacate the palaces which he 
 had hoped to make his home. A censor complained of the lack 
 of dignity caused by the absence of such halls, where the 
 ministers could be separated according to their several grades ; 
 and prayed the emperor, in the beginning of 1645, to be pleased 
 to order the Board of Works to rebuild handsome halls, on the 
 former foundations, which would inspire reverence by their 
 imposing dignity. The emperor was graciously pleased to hand 
 over the matter to the proper authorities. But so slow were the 
 operations of the Board of Works, that the first emperor passed 
 away without them ; and the new " emperor " child complained, 
 in June 1661, that the Reception Halls Chaofang were not 
 yet built, and said that this was neither respectable nor respectful. 
 They, and many another palace, were afterwards built in the 
 M forbidden city " of Peking by this same emperor ; but of them 
 we shall not speak. 
 
IMPERIAL PROTECTION. 553 
 
 If it is true that in the west, " uneasy lies the head that wears 
 a crown," it is not less so in China, when the monarch is one 
 who would rather not think of death. This is so, notwithstanding 
 the rare immunity from murder or violent death, which the 
 history of China gives to her long lines of rulers. It is only 
 that care for the life of the monarch which could have evolved 
 the particular laws about the palaces and the imperial city 
 formed by those palaces, called in poetic language, " The Purple 
 Forbidden City." 
 
 As in duty bound, and according to the moral code so 
 characteristic of China, those laws begin with the ancestral 
 temple of the reigning family, and the tombs of the deceased 
 emperors. This first law we give in full, and it shall serve as 
 an example of the other laws, the titles of which only shall be 
 given to show what precautions are taken. 
 
 Any man who, without sufficient reason, enters the gate of 
 the ancestral temple, or of the mountain tombs, shall be beaten 
 one hundred blows ; if one such man is within the gate of the 
 national lares, ninety blows ; if he stand in the gate, but has not 
 passed through, his punishment is, in each case, a degree less 
 severe. The guilt and punishment of the gate-keepers are equal 
 if they were aware of the person's design ; but if unaware, and 
 taken by surprise, their punishment is three degrees less. 
 
 The idler who passed through the Mid-day or South gate, the 
 West Flowery or East Flowery, or the Terrible War gate into 
 the Purple Forbidden city, was subjected to one hundred blows ; 
 and one year's banishment in addition, if he passed through the 
 gate leading to any palace ; while strangulation was his sentence 
 if he entered the enclosure of the emperor, empress, empress- 
 mother, or empress-dowager's palace. This law applied to him 
 who pretended to be one of those whose names were registered 
 as belonging to the gate through which he had passed. The man 
 who belonged to the gate, entering without his certificate of 
 identity was punished with forty blows. 
 
 Any man except the night watchman was strangled who was 
 found inside those imperial gates carrying any edged weapon of 
 
554 MANCHU IMPERIAL FAMILY. 
 
 or above one inch in length ; and the gate-keepers knowing of 
 his intention were equally punished, but less severely if they 
 were surprised. 
 
 The watchman of the palaces, or imperial city gates, who was 
 not at his post when he should be, he who sent a substitute in 
 his stead, and the man pretending to be a substitute, were all 
 beaten in various degrees. And so was the watchman or gate- 
 keeper who appeared to report himself and then retired. A 
 similar crime at the city gates was one degree less heinous. The 
 officer who knew of the offence was equally guilty ; but less so if 
 he was unaware. The driver of a cart or carriage failing to 
 present himself on the day ordered, was punished in proportion 
 *to the delay caused by him ; and the sentence was more severe 
 in the case of an officer so offending ; strangulation being the 
 fate of the latter if he fled with the carriage. The Manchu so 
 absconding was sentenced to banishment to Heiloongkiang. 
 
 The officers of the imperial guard and the army guides, 
 could advance or retire in their carriage by the side doors* 
 on each side of the main south gate, and the roads there- 
 from to the imperial bridge. But heavy beating was the 
 penalty of any other official, officer, or private person found 
 obstructing the roads or blocking the bridge; but it was. 
 permissible to cross those roads. The guards allowing such 
 obstruction were equally or less guilty according to their 
 knowledge or ignorance of the intention of the actually guilty. 
 Beating was the penalty of the rider who did not dismount at 
 the stone slab ordering him to dismount, and of the guard who- 
 permitted him. If a labourer engaged to do any work within 
 the palace grounds sent a substitute to do his work, they were 
 both punished and the pay confiscated. 
 
 The gate-keeper had a list of the names and a written 
 description of the persons of all workmen employed on the 
 palace grounds ; and a daily inspection took place between three 
 and five o'clock in the afternoon, to see if all and the proper 
 men were there ; and the man refusing to answer to the calling 
 of his name was to be strangled. The man who should go 
 
PALACE REGULATIONS. 555 
 
 outside and went not, the man already under accusation of crime 
 who went in, and the officer who neglected to remove the 
 weapons of the guardsman accused of crime, were all variously 
 beaten. The man on the list of gate-men who entered, or went 
 out by night when he should not, was punished heavily ; and 
 the man not on the list, entering by night, was beaten two 
 degrees more severely, and strangled if he carried any kind of 
 dangerous weapon. The gate-keeper had to enquire and note 
 the name, designation, title, destination, and business of any 
 official or servant passing through the gate. 
 
 The person found firing arrows, balls, or stones in the direction 
 of the ancestral temple, or the palaces of the national lares, was 
 variously punished from one hundred blows to beheading. 
 
 The guardsman found without his weapons, or at a post not 
 his own appointed one, was beaten ; and a degree more severely 
 if he was an officer ; the immediate superior of the offender was 
 also involved in the punishment. That man enrolled a member 
 of the guard, whose relative had for any reason been put to 
 death by law, was to be beheaded, as well as the officer 
 appointing him, if aware of the circumstances. The law applied 
 to the gates of the capital as well as to those of the imperial 
 city, and was evidently intended to prevent any scheme of 
 revenge. But his majesty might appoint such a man, or he 
 might be enrolled, if the officer before appointing him informed 
 his majesty. 
 
 Whoever, in carriage, on horseback, or on foot, pierced through 
 the line of guards was strangled ; if the same took place in the 
 remote wilds,* the punishment was a hundred blows for the 
 private or official so breaking through, and of the guard if 
 aware, but the latter were three degrees less severely punished if 
 taken by surprise. Strangulation was the fate of him who 
 pretended to have a statement to make as his excuse for pushing 
 through ; but if he had an important statement to make he was 
 blameless. The keeper of cattle pushing through the guard 
 
 * Apparently any place outside the capital where the emperor might happen to- 
 be. 
 
556 MANCHU IMPERIAL FAMILY. 
 
 line or entering the imperial city, was beaten eighty or a 
 hundred blows. 
 
 The idler entering the guards' camp was equally guilty with 
 him who entered the forbidden city; and the gate of the 
 commander of the guards was fenced by the law applying to the 
 palace gates. Beating of greater or lesser severity was the 
 punishment of climbing on or over the walls of the imperial 
 city, the capital, the prefectural or other city ; or the walls of 
 a duke's palace, or a magistrate's residence. The gate-keeper 
 who, though closing, failed to lock the city gate, was subjected 
 to a graduated punishment, as he happened to be keeper of the 
 imperial city gates, gates of the capital, or those of a provincial 
 city; and also if he opened or closed the gate at any other 
 than the appointed times. 
 
 Any person moving about in the capital after the three strokes 
 of the first watch (eight p.m.), and before the three strokes of 
 the fifth watch (two or three a.m.), except on account of sickness, 
 birth, death, or mourning, was beaten a number of blows, 
 increasing with every watch ; much aggravated by opposing the 
 watchman attempting to seize him, and amounting to 
 strangulation in case of wounding the watchman, and to 
 beheading if the watchman died of his wounds. The bannerman 
 was also beaten if causelessly outside the city walls by night. 
 And this is the divinity that hedges the king of China. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 OFFICIALS. 
 
 THE Manchus began their career a contemptibly small clan, 
 under the control of a young chief, who had so little to do in 
 transacting the legal business of his " state," that it would have 
 been absurd to think of delegating any authority to inferior 
 officials ; for the smallest departmental magistrate in Liaotung 
 had a population under his care many times larger than that 
 under the Manchu chief. But his rapid conquests quickly 
 increased his magisterial business with the extending country 
 acknowledging his sway. He had therefore to nominate his 
 sons, then other magistrates, to take charge of the more petty 
 magisterial work. This delegated authority was abused from 
 the very first, and bribery began its course even then. That 
 course is not yet run out, nor has it lessened in bulk, but has 
 rather like a stream springing in the mountain tarn, ran on 
 widening and deepening, till further deepening was impossible ; 
 for such grievous oppression as Turkey has had to endure, or as 
 exists in Russia, cannot be enforced in China without revolution. 
 With the extension of territory it became still more difficult to 
 restrain the various officials from preying upon the people. It 
 is no wonder then that the young dynasty found it a task utterly 
 beyond its powers to do any more than reduce the amount of 
 that official corruption and magisterial oppression, which 
 luxuriated under the tropical atmosphere of the Ming dynasty, 
 and brought it ignominiously to a suicide's grave. Indeed, as will 
 appear further down when treating of the salaries of officials, it 
 is impossible or extremely difficult for an honest man to hold 
 office in China, unless, like the members of the British 
 Parliament, he has independent private means of his own. 
 
558 OFFICIALS. 
 
 As the Manchu power originated in a small mountain hamlet 
 and by the abilities of a petty chief of a hundred soldiers, the 
 first few officials were necessarily military. Each soldier as he 
 marched to the fight or the hunt was called " one arrow." Each 
 ten such had an officer called Niroo* from the name of a 
 peculiar arrow for hunting, and the ten collectively received the 
 same name. As the succession and rapid conquests of the infant 
 power added lands and multiplied subjects, the Niroo became a 
 body of three hundred men, at which nominal number it remains 
 at this day, the officer being called Dsoling in Chinese, taking 
 the fourth rank. This officer however had no civil jurisdiction, 
 the chief himself being lawgiver, lawyer and judge. But his 
 rapidly extending jurisdiction made it impossible for him to 
 overtake all civil business. He therefore instituted in 1615 a 
 series of courts. Five great ministers were nominated as judges 
 to oversee and apply the laws. Under them were ten Jargoochi^ 
 who composed the outer or lower court. A case was always 
 brought first to the Jargoochi. If they could finally decide the 
 case, well ; if not, they had to lay it before the Five. If these 
 could not decide, they reported in turn to the Beiras,J the sons 
 of Noorhachu, who, in cases of difficulty, appealed to him. On 
 every fifth day the fifteen had to present themselves before 
 Noorhachu and report. 
 
 Next year all the ministers, civil and military, agreed to call 
 Noorhachu the "Nourisher of the Kingdoms," and presented 
 him with the title of the Brave and Wise emperor. But 
 adulation was not the only desire of the Manchu chief. He 
 probably found a good deal of underhand dealings among the 
 newly appointed judges, for he commanded the five judges, when 
 
 * ^TVl^^ Niroo, an arrow. 
 
 \-Jalgun, "decree," is the nearest word in the Manchu Dictionary. 
 
 Bcira, the Chinese " Minghwang" a "bird which flies very high,"- 
 hence applied to the chiefs of clans or the sons of kings. 
 
TIGHT REINS. 559 
 
 about a year in office, henceforth to decide every case in their 
 public judgment hall. He forbade any judge singly to try or 
 decide any case, and thus prevent any trouble by a dissenting 
 people. He ordered all petitioners to make their petition before 
 the judges in the public hall, ordaining that if any suitor laid 
 his case privately before any judge, the suitor should be flogged. 
 At the same time he enacted that if a Beira or great minister 
 were guilty, or accused of any crime, he must bind himself a 
 prisoner, for no inferior could bind a superior, and must hear 
 with reverence the sentence of the court, which must always 
 decide according to justice. If any refused to obey the court, 
 his disobedience increased the heinousness of his offence. But 
 in a serious case a delay of five days for thorough investigation 
 was necessary before decision. 
 
 When we remember that the community was composed of 
 proud warriors who had learned to know how to subdue all 
 enemies and to crush down all opposition, we need not be 
 surprised either that a wise ruler like Noorhachu should strive 
 earnestly to secure even-handed justice by which alone he could 
 cohere into a compact kingdom so many discordant elements 
 composed of numbers of formerly independent clans for ever at 
 war with each other, or that he found it difficult to apply his 
 laws. The few original Manchus might feel aggrieved at being 
 placed on a level with the men whom they had defeated, and 
 with those whom they had carried captive from remote parts. 
 Hence arose the necessity for decided steps to prevent oppression 
 and extortion by the original officers, who naturally regarded 
 their conquests as so much spoil ; and hence too we can learn 
 how difficult it must have been for Noorhachu to enforce his own 
 laws. The difficulty arising from official venality which he 
 attempted to overcome within the first year of their institutioi i 
 of civil judges has followed like a shadow the Manchu power up 
 to the present day; and seems inseparable from Chinese rule. 
 
 After the grand victories over the Chinese forces at and 
 around Sarhoo, with the subsequent large additions of territorial 
 aggrandisements, there seem to have arisen many sad, loud 
 
560 OFFICIALS. 
 
 causes of complaint by the people ; for in 1620, the extraordinary 
 device was resorted to, of ordering all who had a case specially 
 for the eye of his " majesty," to write it out and paste it up on 
 either of the two large trees flanking the road, just outside the 
 city gates, through which Noorhachu daily passed. These he 
 carefully read, and into them he strictly examined, giving his 
 decision according to the evidence ; and henceforth there were no 
 complaints heard from the people of the want of access to their 
 lord. This very much resembled a common habit now existing 
 of attaching to a stone and throwing into a Yamun, papers 
 containing accusations against the powerful, who could not be 
 openly attacked with safety. Though these are anonymous, the 
 magistrate is bound to act on them and investigate. A late 
 governor of Mookden prohibited the custom ; we know not with 
 what amount of success. Popular magistrates also take a 
 monthly, or bi-monthly parade, when any man with a grievance 
 may present himself, and, without fee, have his case examined. 
 Immediately on the death of Noorhachu, in 1626, when 
 Mookden became the capital of a large kingdom, whose affairs 
 grew to great magnitude and importance, additional officials 
 were created. Eight chief bannermen, who could deliberate civil 
 or military affairs along with the Beiras, were nominated. 
 Namoochin was nominated Goosa Ujun,* or chief of the yellow 
 banner ; a son-in-law of the " emperor," of the bordered yellow. 
 Another imperial son-in-law, of the red ; these have always been 
 the three chief banners. The bordered red, the blue, the 
 bordered blue, the white, and the bordered white, had each 
 one Ujun. When these, with the Beiras, agreed upon any 
 measure, they memorialised the " emperor " upon it. They 
 could transact business at any time, nor were they restricted to 
 any place. In war, each was to have command of his own 
 banner. To these there were sixteen assistants nominated 
 two from each banner. These were not to carry arms, f but to 
 
 * Goosa, a banner, and Ujun, lord or master. 
 
 f This must mean to "command army," for they all fought, and one of them was 
 soon after sent with Daishan against Mongolia. 
 
INCREASING OFFICIALS. 561 
 
 assist the higher officials in their deliberations, to look after the 
 laws, decide civil cases, have charge of the prisons and of 
 petitions or complaints in law. They were therefore properly 
 the legal assistants of the Eight. There were sixteen others 
 nominated as military assistants to the Eight : who were to lead 
 out the armies and command garrisons, whenever there was 
 occasion. When these returned from their military labour they 
 could assist in transacting public business. Each therefore of 
 the Eight Goosa had four subordinates; two whose business 
 was civil, but who could be called upon to take charge of a body 
 of men in war, and whom we find employed in garrisoning 
 Lanchow and other of the cities taken in Chihli in 1630 ; and 
 two who were specially military, but could when necessary take 
 part in public business. 
 
 The four Beiras were ordered in 1622, alternately to take 
 the charge of presiding over public affairs for a month at 
 a time. The office was apparently one not much sought after ; 
 for, seven years after, the inferior Beiras were ordered to take a 
 month in rotation. It is conceivable, however, that the real 
 reason why these were introduced, was because they were 
 becoming restive under the exclusion; and one of them, Dorgun, 
 was certainly actuated by ambition. There were, however, no 
 regular reports made of the work done, till Noorhachu, in 1631, 
 issued three circular letters to the two chief beiras, the ten beira 
 councillors, and the eight great ministers, ordering them to 
 transact public business with uprightness. Thereafter all the 
 beiras and ministers began to give regular reports of work done. 
 This jealousy and suspicion on the part of the "emperor" was 
 doubtless well grounded ; for the imperial family have not been 
 noted for clean hands even up to the present day. 
 
 Hats with a special knob, commonly by foreigners called 
 "buttons," were distributed to the ministers and officials in 
 1636, in order to be able at a glance to distinguish the rank of 
 the wearer. The emperor's officials had a plain gold knob. A 
 brilliant pearl was given to each of the monarch's sons-in-law, 
 to the members of the imperial family not beiras ; and a 
 L i 
 
562 
 
 OFFICIALS. 
 
 variety of precious stone was added to the gold knob of Goosa 
 Ujun and the commanders of the Mongol and Chinese 
 contingents. Thus began the custom of the Manchus of 
 denoting rank by a knob of precious stone or gold, which is 
 now as often flint-glass of various colours, and brass. This knob 
 on the top of the circular hat is as good as possible a means of 
 showing one's rank at a glance, however curious it may appear 
 to a foreigner ; and is much more conspicuous than the stripes 
 of our own officers. In 1668, the Dootoong or Goosa Ujun was 
 
 Knob or Button, actual size. 
 
 Knob on Official Hat. 
 
 ordered to be preceded by an umbrella and staves when he went 
 out in his chair ; the Toongling of the guards and he of the van 
 of the guards were ordered to be preceded by the emblems of 
 their post ; and the Foodootoongs and vice-presidents had 
 emblems to precede them. But it is said that only in 
 Yungching's reign were the knobs employed to differentiate all 
 the nine grades, both civil and military. 
 
 The secretariate was, also in 1636, called the Neisanyuc-n, 
 " Inner Three Courts ; " one called Neigwoshuyuen, " Inner 
 
DIVISION INTO BOARDS. 563 
 
 History Hall ; " one the Neimishooyuen, " Private Secretariate ; " 
 and one the Neihoongwunyuen, " Inner Despatch Office." 
 
 When Mookden became the capital of the Manchu kingdom, 
 and when the term Manchuria might be applied to almost all the 
 lands at present included under that name, public business had 
 increased so much that the former courts were wholly inadequate 
 to overtake the multifarious work now thrown upon them, 
 especially as they do not seem to have had any special depart- 
 ments beyond the division into civil and military. The monarch 
 therefore, in the summer of 1631, borrowed from the Chinese 
 their departments, and instituted the Six Boards of Appoint- 
 ments, Revenue, War, Rites, Works, and Punishment. With the 
 exception of the first, they are still in full operation in Mookden, 
 the Peidoo, or second capital of the Chinese empire. The six 
 presidents were Beiras, each with two councillors called 
 Chungjung and Tsanjung. Thus each board consisted of three 
 chief members, but had necessarily a staff of clerks and attendants. 
 The duties devolving on each department is sufficiently indicated 
 by its title. Every official and magistrate had his special duties 
 clearly defined at the same time ; for the haphazard manner in 
 which all kinds of business were transacted by one or two bodies 
 of men was not calculated to expedite matters. Yet the division 
 of labour does not seem to have been perfect, for in 1638 there 
 was another definition of its precise business given to each of 
 the Boards, to the Censorate, and to the court of Judicature. 
 The number of the members was also assimilated to that of the 
 Peking boards. Besides the Beira president, there was one 
 Chungjung or vice-president ; a " Left " and " Right " Tsanjung 
 lishu or councillor; a Foolishu or assistant-councillor; and a 
 Jooshu or secretary ; six members of five grades. The names 
 have been partially changed, but the number of grades is now 
 what it was then. The Beiras went all into Peking, and the 
 Boards of Mookden have remained what they then were ; for 
 ever since they have had only a vice-president as chief official. 
 
 The three royal private secretariates were instituted just 
 before the six Boards; but the latter had precedence, as we 
 
564 OFFICIALS. 
 
 learn from a memorial of a grand secretary, who, in the end 
 of the year 1644, complained that the Boards which had 
 precedence of the secretariates in Mookden. were made second in 
 rank, and had only silver seals of office ; the Toongjungsu was 
 then third, the Janshufoo fourth, and the Hanlin Academy 
 stood fifth. The emperor granted the prayer of this petitioner, 
 and re-established the order which had existed in Mookden. 
 
 In August 1648, there was instituted a Chinese president for 
 each of the six boards, and a chief censor for the censorate ; and 
 in the following summer, a Chinese Jooshu or secretary was 
 nominated to each of the fourteen offices of the board of Kevenue, 
 But though nominated to office, the Chinese occupied a very 
 secondary position; and even as late as February 1653, we find 
 the emperor complaining to the privy council, that ever since he 
 had taken personal charge of imperial business, there was not a 
 single memorial handed in by a Chinese official, but all by the 
 Manchu officials ; and he ordered that, as all officials without 
 exception were his "heart and bowels, his hands and feet," 
 whenever henceforth any petition or memorial was to be handed 
 in by any one of the Six Boards, the Censorate, the office of 
 Transmission, or the grand court of Eevision, all the vice- 
 presidents Chinese as well as Manchu should present and 
 discuss it ; the privy council was ordered to command all the 
 great ministers to respect the emperor's feelings, to faithfully 
 perform each his own work, to permit no excuse and seek for no 
 apology to neglect any duty. 
 
 This commingling of Chinese and Manchu officials of equal 
 rank and powers, was necessarily one of great difficulty. There 
 was no considerable lapse of time since the conquest, and no 
 oneness of habits and customs to make the one forget he was a 
 conqueror, and the other that he was a vanquished slave. The 
 Normans were compelled gradually to admit the conquered 
 Saxons to some share of power, and have continued to exist only 
 by yielding; and England has never, since that day to the 
 present, introduced a measure to remove any vestige of the 
 slavery introduced by the Normans, except under compulsion. 
 
WISE GENEROSITY. 565 
 
 But the Manchu conqueror from the very beginning admitted 
 the Chinese into office, into military first, and gradually into 
 civil, from the highest to the lowest posts. There were 
 Chinese princes created, grand secretary, presidents; and 
 wherever there was a high Manchu official, a Chinese was 
 placed at his side. Not only so, but the emperor dismissed 
 one of the two Manchu presidents of each Board. Quite 
 possibly the efforts of the emperor to amalgamate the two 
 nationalities, led the Chinese officials to believe that he was 
 more favourably disposed to them than to the Manchus. It is 
 certain that the Chinese were incomparably better scholars than 
 their conquerors; and as, according to Chinese usage, literary 
 ability is the main avenue to civil office of all kinds, the 
 consideration shown them by the emperor gave them grounds to 
 believe that they could have a great deal more power if they 
 only demanded that to' which their literary talents entitled them. 
 Hence one of the diviners drew up an elaborate paper, 
 in which he argued that Chinese officials should supersede the 
 Manchus in all the boards and yamuns. This paper was laid out 
 in the privy council offices, and thither the emperor went to read 
 it. After perusing it, he said to the grand secretary, Hoong 
 Chungshow. that this paper was anything but what it should 
 have been ; that he himself manifested no partiality, but loved 
 all his people without distinction, and he was therefore astonished 
 that the Chinese party should have given expression to such a 
 sentiment. Besides, if any could demand priority, the Manchus 
 had certainly the first claim. Just after this he completed the 
 complement of Chinese officials, by nominating one to each of 
 the three departments of the privy council. We are certainly 
 astonished at the impertinence of the diviner, who was banished 
 shortly after ; and we cannot too highly commend the wisdom 
 which planted the small Manchu stock in Chinese soil, and has 
 made it grow to so great a tree ; for it is impossible to believe 
 that the reigning family could now be Manchu, but for the wise 
 policy of giving a fair share of all offices, high and low, to the 
 Chinese. This example we highly commend to our Indian 
 
566 OFFICIALS. 
 
 authorities; though we believe that for the stability of the throne, 
 the Chinese now hold far too large a proportion of both civil and 
 military chief offices. In 1878 there was not a single Manchu 
 viceroy or governor in the eighteen provinces of China. 
 
 In addition to the Six Boards, which may be called the executive 
 of the Chinese empire, there are several other offices, the most 
 remarkable and important of which is the Censorate, whose 
 members get the name, in Peking, of " mad dogs," because they 
 are always snarling or biting. Their grand business is to censure, 
 to find fault where fault is to be found, all over the empire. 
 Their office and duty bind them to blame the follies of the 
 emperor, to proclaim the faults of the executive, to check the 
 desire for unnecessary change ; and their eye should roam over 
 every province and glance into every Yamun in the eighteen 
 provinces. Theoretically there never was a better addition to 
 the executive of any government anywhere ; but though it very 
 often performs its duty well and nobly, it is sometimes silent 
 where it should speak out, and acts when inaction were more 
 beneficial; and most of them, like other high officials, are 
 incorruptible as long as small temptations are offered. Yet 
 though their duty is thus to publish all abuses by memorial to 
 the throne, the censors are not exempted from penalties justly or 
 
 arbitrarily inflicted upon them. 
 
 The chapter on the " Eunuchs " 
 
 gives evidence sufficient of the difficulty with which the censors 
 
 have to face their duties ; and th 
 from offended majesty. Thus 
 public press in the west, they are 
 
 y often suffer severe sentences 
 f they serve the part of the 
 nder even a worse " libel " law 
 
 or custom ; and the early history of the Manchus gives numerous 
 examples of censors sentenced to banishment or exile because of 
 freedom of speech in executing their duty, when criticising 
 imperial action. And in 1677, Kanghi ordered a censor to be 
 whipped a hundred lashes, a still greater degradation than 
 exile. 
 
 Besides the Doocha Yuen, or what we might call the General 
 Censorate, there are other special censors; some called supervising 
 censors, as those attached to each Board, important public office, 
 
CENSORS. 567 
 
 and to each province ; and some roving censors, who are 
 commissioned to go from place to place with a special business 
 to discover whether public affairs are satisfactorily attended to. 
 It is their duty to see that no judge lazily permits an accumula- 
 tion of cases, to prevent extortion of the people by the tax 
 gatherer, or oppression by the soldier, and, in short, to see that no 
 wrong is done the people in name of law or by its administrators. 
 Several times do we find censors remonstrating with the first 
 Manchu emperor for building his palace at immense cost, when 
 the people were suffering from the claims of war and the 
 devastations of famine. 
 
 The censors were naturally Manchus to begin with, though a 
 few Chinese were nominated immediately on the settlement in 
 Peking. The general censorate was first filled up with Chinese 
 officials, then the boards, and gradually all the provinces ; and 
 the chief offices in the capital, with the capital itself, had their 
 Chinese censors side by side with the Manchu. So numerous 
 were the nominations, that in the drought of 1653 twenty 
 supervising censors were retained and a larger number dismissed. 
 But in 1666, when a new emperor arose, an additional Manchu 
 and Chinese supervising censor was nominated to each Board. 
 
 When the Manchus entered Peking, they found that a large 
 proportion of the necessary ministers and officials of all kinds had 
 disappeared, most by flight, some by suicide and others hiding 
 their shame in seclusion. But as many officials as accepted 
 Manchu rule, were retained in their respective offices held by 
 them formerly. Other fast friends, or useful men, were put by 
 the regent into some of the vacant posts ; but many offices went a 
 begging for some time. To begin with, all the appointments 
 were made by the direct nomination of the regent, who was 
 either guided by his own personal knowledge or listened to the 
 recommendations of friends. But this manner of nomination 
 could not always continue. 
 
 The chief anxiety of the regent was however, not how to get 
 filled up the long list of officials necessary to a settled govern- 
 ment, like that of the late dynasty in its glory; but how to 
 
568 OFFICIALS. 
 
 meet the demands of those on his hands, and to supply with 
 necessaries the large armies he was pushing in all directions. 
 For we saw that at the fall of Peking the Ming emperor had 
 emptied both the private imperial treasury and the public one ; 
 and what could be carried away was gone with Dsuchung. We 
 can hence understand that it was very difficult for the regent to 
 find the immense sums required by him. 
 
 In December 1664, we find that, whether from imperial 
 instigation, from conscientious convictions, or from some other 
 reasons, the Jang Yuen or president of the Hanlin, who was 
 also chief diviner, joined the other diviner, the head of the 
 Givodsujien or national library and of the sacrificial wine, in 
 praying to have the office of diviner abolished ; and their 
 resignation was accepted. It was possibly a knowledge of a desire 
 on the part of the regent to cut down expenditure, which caused 
 a great deal of excitement in court, and these resignations seem 
 to have stimulated the uneasiness. At all events, within two 
 months of the resignations, an official gave expression to the 
 general excitement of the official mind, in a vigorous memorial 
 to the throne; in which he stated that during the preceding 
 summer, the unsettled state of public affairs emptied the Yamuns, 
 but that the flight of the robbers gave a favourable opportunity 
 for filling up all official posts to the ends of the earth. But how 
 could these appointments be made, when, for the sake of a 
 present economy which would be future loss, the number of 
 office-holders] in the capital was at that moment only half of 
 what it had been. Your stupid minister * says that all those 
 ministers already dismissed should be at once restored, to 
 prevent the hands of the government from being afterwards 
 hampered from want of men. Every new comer should be 
 nominated to that post for which he is best adapted. To discover 
 the best man for each office, every able man known to the 
 government should be put into some office, every facility afforded, 
 and every obstacle removed out of his path, in order that he 
 might prove the man he was ; thus could good men be always at 
 
 * " My humble opinion " of the west. 
 
CHEESE-PARING. 569 
 
 hand for every emergency. The saving of a little money by 
 reducing the amount or number of salaries was scarcely befitting 
 the dignity of him who received all the tribute of the "four seas;" 
 for why should he grieve over the expenditure of a pint of rice 
 or a peck of grain ? . . . Better complain of too many officials, 
 then afterwards lament the lack of talent. With divided counsels 
 the smallest affairs become difficult; unity of purpose makes 
 the most difficult task easy. The Ming dynasty had two 
 presidents for all the boards and yamuns; not because they could 
 muster courage to say " no," but because the one official was a 
 check upon the other, and malpractices were impossible. It was 
 easy, when prince and people were of undivided mind, to establish 
 a precedent for the future; and the interests of myriad 
 generations, and not alone of those now living, should be the 
 guide to their choice. This eloquent appeal concludes by stating 
 that to lay down a foundation for future well-being, but especially 
 to avert future danger, the memorialist had so minutely entered 
 into the "outs and ins" of the question and went "round about it." 
 We heartly commend the warmth and arguments of this Chinese 
 statesman to those politicians of England, who sneer at the 
 parsimony of the statesmen who desire to save millions a year 
 to the heaviest taxed people on earth. 
 
 The " emperor " felt the sneering if he was not convinced by 
 the arguments of that paper, and said that the officials dismissed 
 were sent away, not because of love for money, but because they 
 had not been properly appointed. And he decided that the 
 principle enunciated might be carried out, while he ordered 
 the heads of the various boards and yamuns to be able 
 to give satisfactory reasons for every case of dismissal in the 
 future. The office of diviner, of Taipoo and SJiangbao, were 
 already abolished, but whether finally or not, depended on the 
 deliberations of the Board of Appointments together with all 
 the other boards and yamuns. Thus the officials gained the 
 day ; for, as in all countries, there are more who are eager to eat 
 up and increase the national revenue, than there are who desire 
 to decrease taxation and husband the resources of a nation : and 
 
570 OFFICIALS. 
 
 they will always, as in this case, raise the sneer of niggardliness, 
 meanness or " cheese-paring," against those who strive after a 
 wise economy. Often has the same sneer or the fear of the same 
 sarcasm driven private people into poverty, bankruptcy, or 
 dishonesty; for it is a disastrously potent item in social life. 
 Are nations anything else than combinations and aggregations 
 of individuals ; and may not the false shame which tends to ruin 
 private persons help in crippling nations ? The tax-consumer 
 was earnest, the tax-payer indifferent in 1874, and we see the 
 result in the British expenditure of 1879. At all events, the 
 official sneer changed the saving policy of the Manchu regent 
 into one of office-filling which now hangs a heavy load upon the 
 skirts of the dynasty, as the same weight dragged down the Ming' 
 dynasty. Did ever any nation perish, before the needless 
 accumulation of selfish official leeches had sucked out her life 
 blood? 
 
 Soon after, the saving propensities of the regent were sneered 
 out of existence. Grand Secretary Fan Wunchung urged that 
 (1) it was proper that expectant officials of the Hanlin should be 
 appointed to posts as they fell vacant, and (2) that there should 
 be a set form of memorialising the throne for the whole empire. 
 As to appointments, the three first in literary rank in the Hanlin, 
 the Siwjwan, Biensiw, and Jientao, should have priority over 
 all others. The memorial also prayed that any official sent away 
 on government business, or retired home to nourish his parents 
 in age or sickness, or to mourn their decease, should be employed, 
 if he returned within the period of leave allotted to him, in the 
 rank with which he retired, but put last on the list for vacancies 
 if he exceeded his leave. Leave of absence, on account of 
 sickness, should be classed with "leave exceeded," to prevent 
 applications for leave on false grounds. An official beginning 
 public life again, after the termination of a sentence of degradation, 
 should commence from the rank to which he had been degraded. 
 The provincial judge could report the termination of leave of 
 absence for whatever cause, if the official desiring to be reinstated 
 in office was of the third grade or above; but if under that 
 
MODE OF APPOINTMENT. 571 
 
 grade, the official should present himself in person at the Hanlin 
 to give notice of the termination of his leave. This memorial is 
 interesting chiefly because it reveals the then existing state of 
 matters by its prayers for a change ; a change however which is 
 as much cried for to-day as then. Notwithstanding the theory 
 of Chinese political life explained in the introduction, nepotism 
 and purchase had a good deal to do with the appointment to 
 offices then, and have much more now. For though the Hanlin 
 members are the cream of Chinese literary men, their wealth is 
 greater in titles than in office ; as they are now the exceptions 
 who have office conferred upon them because of mere literary 
 talent if unaccompanied by wealth. But it shows that the 
 Hanlin had a good deal to do with receiving the names of 
 applicants for office. This inference is justified by the 
 change of the authority to nominate officials from the Hanlin to 
 the Board of Appointments, which was made after the famous 
 case of Minghia was terminated in 1654 ; the change 
 was prayed for by this same grand secretary. But the nomin- 
 ations continued to be imperfect ; for we find the senior chief 
 censor praying, in 1660, that, as the capital was of the utmost 
 consequence to the emperor, the officials nominated to office in 
 it, should be selected with the greatest care and should be men 
 whose character as men of honour, above all meanness, should be 
 unquestionable. A further change was made in 1661, when the 
 old rule was abolished which had called in all the Jinsu or 
 doctors of the Hanlin to deliberate with the officials and 
 ministers on whatever affected the common weal. The "doctors" 
 have never regained the place which the first Manchu emperor 
 gave them, and can sit in judgment on national affairs only when 
 they have painfully attained to the post of minister of one kind 
 or other. Up till 1664, even the officers of the army below 
 the ranks of commander were nominated by Board of Appoint- 
 ments, but henceforth the nomination fell to the Board of War. 
 The manner of nomination, whether through the Hanlin 
 Academy or the Board of Appointments, continued to give 
 dissatisfaction; chiefly because new men were nominated to 
 
572 OFFICIALS. 
 
 higher posts over the heads of men already in office. This has 
 always and in all powerful nations been productive of bad feeling. 
 The man of ability is often compelled to remain in obscurity, 
 though the government is aware of his talent, because some medi- 
 ocrity happens to have entered the service a few years before him. 
 The able man will smart under the degradation of serving under 
 the orders of one unqualified to teach him, and the senior will 
 growl if the j unior is placed over him. But the public interest 
 is greater than the feelings or the rights of either or both ; and 
 public interests alone should decide this question. The feeling 
 was such, however, in official Peking, that the emperor had to 
 ask the Board of Appointments to draw up a graduated scale of 
 what should be the order of promotion ; but the Board had the 
 difficult task assigned it of making a selection of a few names 
 from among which the emperor would be free to choose. And, 
 indeed, upon the whole, the Chinese government has, up to its 
 ability, employed the best men for the most important posts ; 
 though these best men must usually open their way with silver 
 keys. 
 
 The Board decided that if a grand secretaryship were vacant, 
 a president of one of the Boards should be nominated, or a vice- 
 president, or an assistant grand secretary, giving certainly a 
 wide choice. All the various officers were thus classified, and to 
 this classification the emperor agreed, as well he might; for though 
 there was a narrow field from which to choose, it was amply 
 sufficient to pick out the best man; and the list shows that 
 seniority might go for very little, unless the senior were the 
 abler official. If the junior is undoubtedly superior in talent, he 
 is made to rise quickly from step to step, till he mounts far 
 above his seniors, even if that junior began life as a humble 
 table-boy or body servant to a private gentleman, as did the 
 late prime minister and grand secretary Wun Siang. This rule 
 holds more decidedly in the army; though in both civil and 
 military employment few offices are obtained by any ordinary 
 mortal, or usually by an extraordinary one, unless he is well 
 weighted with silver shoes. 
 
OFFICIAL ROTATION. 573 
 
 Chinese law forbids the native of a district from holding the \ 
 
 judgeship of that district; when therefore the literate is appointed 1 
 
 to a magistracy, he is sent elsewhere, and usually to some J 
 
 district at a distance ; nor can the native of a province become 
 
 governor of that province. The object of this rule is to sever 
 
 the judge in his judicial relationship from his family ties, which 
 
 ties might be supposed to bias his judgment. If he is 
 
 promoted, he goes with his new rank to some other region, 
 
 perhaps from Mookden to Taiyuen, or from Peking to Canton. 
 
 It was not however till 1653, that the emperor intimated to the 
 
 Board of Appointments that henceforth there would be a regular 
 
 rotation of office over all the empire, including the capital ; so 
 
 that by frequent mutual exchange of similar posts, the most 
 
 capable men could be sifted out. This system of rotation has 
 
 been so universally carried out, that three years is the longest 
 
 term during which any official, except the highest to whom the 
 
 rule does not apply, can hold office in one post. Changes are 
 
 arbitrarily made by the governors of provinces, whenever they 
 
 choose: for example, the district magistrate of the city of 
 
 Mookden is almost never longer than a year in that city. The 
 
 chief reason for the numerous changes of the present day, is in 
 
 the desire to get friends into those districts out of which most 
 
 can be made. Changes often occur on the petition of the office 
 
 holder, if he has serious misunderstandings with his superiors or 
 
 the people. Sometimes, when the magistrate himself is the cause 
 
 of great bitterness on the part of the people, he is not only sent 
 
 away from his post, but degraded from all office. We have ' 
 
 known such cases, but it always required men of considerable 
 
 influence, though in private life, to bring the guilty magistrate 
 
 to justice. The people can do it, however, and the possibility 
 
 prevents the impecunious or grasping magistrate from acting as 
 
 he would sometimes like to do. 
 
 An affectation of humility is demanded by Chinese etiquette, 
 even more than among ourselves. Hence, in social life, the 
 difficulty in getting one of two equals to take precedence ; and 
 the universal custom of offering what the offerer would fain 
 
574 OFFICIALS. 
 
 keep, and of declining to receive when the person declining 
 would be delighted to accept. The same rule is carried into 
 official life ; and when the man who has striven by all means, 
 literary and monetary, to gain a post, has it offered him, he has 
 to decline it, as one unworthy of occupying it. This notion 
 of the demands of politeness seems to have been carried to even 
 greater extent under the Ming dynasty. The regent was much 
 annoyed by this dissimulation, and demanded more straight- 
 forwardness ; but no one dared to set an example : so much is 
 the fashion of etiquette lord of men. 
 
 But in July 1647, Yoongji, president of the Court of Revision, 
 was nominated to be vice-president of the Board of Works. As 
 usual, he at once declined, as being unfit for the post. This gave 
 an opportunity for the imperial rebuke aimed at all officials : " If 
 you really do desire to accept an offered post, yet once and again 
 declare that you do not wish it, you are guilty of lying- 
 affectation. Henceforth, such declinature will be acted upon, 
 and the man shall never be promoted. As to Yoongji, we have 
 long known him as one whose mind was not devoted to his 
 proper work ; he is, therefore, now for ever dismissed from all 
 office, and degraded from all rank." We can understand that this 
 was a serious blow to affectation, which when carried to excess is 
 disgusting in the east or the west. That affectation of declining 
 office arose at court from the example of the illustrious men of 
 old who had to be dragged forcibly from the loved privacy of 
 their quiet learning, to the trying duties of public life ; and 
 from the honour awarded to such, and to others in more 
 modern times, who would prefer a lower post with its comparative 
 ease, to a more public and higher one, with its immensely 
 greater difficulties and anxieties. 
 
 We have already noticed the efforts of the regent to reduce 
 the number of officials on the civil list. In January 1652, a 
 censor drew his majesty's attention to the fact that great 
 ministers were unable to judge of the time when they should 
 properly retire from office ; and thus the way of promotion was 
 blocked against able men who were holding inferior offices. He 
 
RETIRING FROM OFFICE. 575 
 
 prayed the emperor to tell the high officials that they should not 
 be covetous of office, of eating the emperor's bread, and of sitting 
 in his seat ; the aged and infirm should retire ; those who had 
 frail parents should not neglect to establish a reputation for 
 filiality; but should go home to attend upon them. He also 
 petitioned the emperor to issue a decree, forbidding the higher 
 provincial authorities from filling up all vacancies with their own 
 or their secretaries' friends. The emperor soon after intimated 
 to the Board of Appointments that all aged or infirm officials 
 seeking relief, should be permitted to retire ; which was a gentle 
 way of telling them what they should do. A curious case was 
 got rid of in this way in the end of 1656, when a supervising 
 censor accused the newly-appointed governor of Hookwang of 
 having, when governor of Peking, given the diploma of Tsankiany 
 to a robber. The case was one which may have been difficult to 
 substantiate, and the censor prayed that he might be relieved of 
 the office because he was old, infirm, and of no marked abilities. 
 The matter was sent to the Board of Appointments, which had 
 made the nomination, and they decided that as he was now 
 anything but robust, the nomination should be recalled; and 
 recalled it was. 
 
 China is not the only place where compulsory resignation is 
 resorted to ; and when the proper test, that of the public welfare, 
 is applied, there can be no question as to its propriety. But, on 
 the other hand, many officials have desired to retire from public 
 business in Peking, who have been compelled to stay. In the 
 summer of 1715, Liw Gwangdi, a grand secretary, pleaded hard, 
 long, and eloquently, for leave to retire to put his affairs in order, 
 and be at peace to prepare to meet death. His memorial was a 
 very long and touching one. He had been in Peking for ten 
 years without a day's absence ; and for that period had not seen 
 his family or home. During that time his eldest son and his 
 wife, with Gwangdi's own wife, had died, leaving a boy-grandson, 
 who was incapable of transacting business. He was now 
 seventy-four years of age, and according to the saying of the 
 ancients, he could expect only decrepitude and weakness till 
 
576 . OFFICIALS. 
 
 death came. His memorial secured him, not retirement, but an 
 absence of two years, after which he must return to the capital. 
 Just before that, the emperor, himself an old man, feasted at the 
 palace all the old men of Chihli, between sixty and ninety years 
 of age. 
 
 Degradation from office to a lower, or to private life, is 
 common enough, and for a great variety of reasons. One 
 curious case was that of Toohai, a Manchu president of Board of 
 Punishment, who, because "he despised his own office" and 
 showed contempt of the emperor's goodness, was declared 
 deserving of death, but sentenced to degradation from all office, 
 and had his name struck off the Banner list. Another was the 
 case of an official of Board of Appointments, who had been 
 nominated to go as scrutinising official to Honan, where he slept 
 in brothels and took bribes. Because he thus disgraced his 
 office he was degraded from all rank. Another case was that of 
 Chun Julin, who was found guilty, by Board of Appointments, of 
 crimes laid to his charge. The emperor, in passing sentence 
 upon this Manchu official, decreed that he had been on a 
 previous occasion found guilty of crimes for which he had been 
 banished to Mookden, whence he was afterwards recalled with 
 undiminished rank ; his present crimes, of supporting cabals and 
 taking bribes, were therefore more heniously aggravated because 
 they manifested so much ingratitude for the former mercy 
 shown him. He escaped death, but his property was all 
 confiscated, and he, his family and parents, were banished for 
 ever to Mookden. Other cases will be given below when 
 [bribery is treated of. But if many officials were justly degraded 
 land fined or banished, many suffered, not because they were 
 i guilty of the crimes alleged, but because they had made 
 themselves obnoxious to higher officials. The case of Jang Yi, 
 who suffered death in this way, will appear further down. 
 Many who were sent to banishment or exile were recalled, 
 when the truth of their innocence of the crimes laid to their 
 charge became known. This shows, what is well known to those 
 acquainted with China, how miserably imperfect is the law on 
 
FINING. 577 
 
 the matter of evidence ; yet as we were writing this, came the 
 confession of the man Peace, in England, to the murder of a 
 person, for which another was undergoing punishment. 
 
 If it was difficult for the emperor to discover the truth of 
 what was passing in his own palace, it was much more difficult 
 to determine the truth or falsehood of what was said to occur in 
 the provinces. Ashan the viceroy of the two Kiang in 1704, 
 accused the governor of Kiangsi, with a few prefects and a 
 number of district magistrates, with acting not according to 
 justice, and his representations resulted in the summary 
 dismissal of all the officials named by him. He was soon after 
 accused of acting on the instigation of a man who bore a grudge 
 against the governor and whose false statements Ashan had 
 believed. He was therefore declared to be unworthy of his post, 
 for he had deceived his majesty into doing an injustice. The 
 boards found all this correct, and decided that while he should be 
 degraded, all those wrongously dismissed should be restored to 
 their former posts ; and that the official who had imposed upon 
 him should be degraded. The emperor agreed that, with the 
 exception that Ashan shall be left in his office, the memorial of 
 the boards should be strictly carried out. 
 
 Fine is the lightest and most common mode of punishing 
 offending officials. There seems to have been great irregularities <J 
 in this punishment during the period of the first Manchu 
 emperor, who, just before his death, drew the attention of the 
 boards to the injustice of applying the punishment of shu hei lo 
 weilo, regardless of the antecedents or rank of the party fined ; 
 for when a light fine was imposed on a great official, or a heavy 
 one on a small official, there must be injustice. The boards 
 were called upon to deliberate on the subject, and they found 
 immediately after the emperor's death, that the presidents of 
 boards were of both first and second grades, vice-presidents of 
 second or third, senior secretary of third, fourth or fifth grade, 
 junior secretary of fourth or fifth, and councillor of fourth, fifth, 
 or sixth grade. So that the ranks differed of men occupying 
 the same office and drawing the same salary; for rank was given 
 M i 
 
578 OFFICIALS. 
 
 by the emperor as reward, or withdrawn by him as punishment, 
 while the duties of the office continued exactly the same, 
 independently of the increased or degraded rank; and the 
 emoluments did not change, for they were paid out by the boards 
 and yamuns. They therefore decided that the penalty of 
 shuheiloweilo should be in relation to office and not to rank, 
 and that it should consist of a deduction of ten per cent, from 
 official salary ; and recommended that this rule for the boards 
 should be made applicable to all great officials. To this the 
 " emperor " agreed. 
 
 The miserable salaries of Chinese officials, inadequate to meet 
 a tithe of the expenses which all officials from the smallest to 
 the greatest are compelled to incur, necessitates impecunious 
 magistrates to eke out their incomes by extortion in one form or 
 another. There are certain perquisites attached to offices, and 
 there are legal charges which can be made against litigants, 
 but these are too small to meet the demands of any but the 
 purest minded magistrate, one of whom may be found among 
 fifty. Direct extortion is however as difficult, if not impossible, 
 in China as in England ; for though the needful incomes of the 
 official world, from the lowest to the highest, are augmented by 
 bribery, it is almost always bribery by litigants or applicants for 
 office. It was to meet the growing abuses arising out of this second 
 source of bribery that the emperor agreed, in 1660, to the 
 memorial of a supervising censor, which prayed to have intimacy 
 between the greater and smaller officials forbidden, and to 
 prevent the giving or receiving of congratulatory or other 
 presents. It is needless to say, that the censor's memorial and 
 the emperor's order were so much effort thrown away ; as, but 
 for these " presents," the incomes of the higher officials would 
 leave them to starve for eleven months in the year. 
 
 In June 1651, began the remarkable case of Chun Minghia, 
 president of the Board of Appointments. This year was the 
 third after the institution of Chinese presidents to the board, 
 and he was one of them. He was accused along with his board, 
 by the outer roving censor, Jang Yi, of seeking their own private 
 
IMPEACHMENT. 579 
 
 ends in their appointment to offices, instead of striving after the 
 public good by inducting the best men. All the boards were 
 ordered to investigate the case, which, from the rank and power 
 of the parties impeached, they were compelled to do from policy 
 rather than by law. They therefore decided that the dates of 
 the faults complained of were prior to the proclamation of 
 universal oblivion; while besides there were no proofs forthcoming. 
 They declared, too, that Jang Yi must have been actuated, not 
 by a desire to exalt righteousness, but to damage the characters 
 of high ministers, of whom he was envious ; for he had refrained 
 from mentioning this case when he was "Inner" censor, and 
 broached it only now when made Outer roving censor. They 
 therefore decided that he was deserving of death. And die he 
 did; for no censor, outer or inner, could so easily put down 
 bribery. 
 
 In April of next year, the emperor showed that he had 
 repented of his sanction to the sentence against Jang Yi, for he 
 ordered the proper interment of the body, and sacrifices to his 
 memory. He had doubtless received private information 
 sufficient to warrant him in believing that Jang Yi's conduct 
 was not groundless. A private secretary of the Inner Hanlin 
 memorialised against the conduct of the emperor, on the grounds 
 that the dead man had been already publicly executed. This 
 secretary did all he could to gain the all-powerful Hoong 
 Chungshow to his side. He was therefore degraded on the spot. 
 
 As far as public action was concerned, that quashed the case ; 
 till, in the early summer of 1654, grand secretary Mng Wan woo, 
 whose name proves him a Manchu, accused Minghia, who had 
 meantime become a grand secretary, of forming cabals, plotting 
 rebellion, and harbouring designs difficult to fathom. Minghia 
 was charged with hating the Manchu custom of head- 
 shaving, and the Manchu fashion of hat and clothing. He had 
 said to the other high officials, that if peace were to be retained 
 in the empire, the hair must not be shaved, and the style of 
 garment must not be changed. But the memorialist had no 
 difficulty in believing that the empire could be retained, and 
 
580 OFFICIALS. 
 
 affirmed that the close fit of the robe and the narrow Manchu 
 sleeve,* were convenient for the soldier or the huntsman. 
 Minghia desired the soldier's sleeve widened, and the sash made 
 more capacious, only to weaken the arm and hamper the 
 movements of the Manchu soldier. He went on to accuse 
 Minghia and his son of conduct so outrageous, when living at 
 their home, that the respectable literates and people hated and 
 avoided them. They took possession of the gardens of duke 
 Gwo in Kiangning or Nanking, which were valued at a hundred 
 thousand taels, and were redeemed out of their hands at a cost 
 of three thousand taels, subscribed by the local officials. His 
 son Yechun took forcible possession of the wife of one who had 
 been a member of Board of Appointments during the Ming 
 dynasty ; he outraged all propriety and decency by going out in 
 a large sedan chair, preceded by an official umbrella, as if he 
 were an official ; he interfered before the tribunals in behalf of 
 criminals, from whom he had taken bribes. Jao Yensien, 
 though incapable for any post, was made a high minister. The 
 emperor assigned their different ranks, and the order of attaining 
 office, to the members of the Hanlin ; but Minghia retained or 
 dismissed at his pleasure, arrogating all power to himself. A 
 relation of Minghia by marriage, when Taotai of Chihkiang, made 
 a false charge against a Siwtsai, of being an adherent of the late 
 dynasty ; he confiscated the properties, and put to death many 
 of the friends of the accused man ; he reported the governor of 
 Chihkiang guilty of taking bribes, and with Minghia's power had 
 the governor degraded. Minghia confiscated and received 
 possession of the degraded governor's properties, but informed 
 the governor that for a certain sum of money he would have him 
 reinstated; and though that happened "eight years ago, it is 
 still unfinished." The Tarihwa, or third in rank of doctors in 
 the Hanlin, went south on leave of absence, borrowing one 
 hundred taels from Minghia, which he repaid with other five 
 hundred taels to the wife of Minghia, when he got to her 
 
 * See p. 34. But the Manchus have, within the last few years, adopted the 
 enormously wide Chinese sleeve and the loose robe. 
 
CURIOUS CHARGES. 581 
 
 southern home. Minghia was not sure of the repayment, and 
 
 therefore believing that the Hanlin member was cheating him, 
 
 he appointed him to a provincial post ; but on receiving a letter 
 
 from his wife, he wrote saying that he would be reinstalled in 
 
 the Hanlin. Another official, a relation by marriage, falsely 
 
 accused a high minister of appointing officials on his own 
 
 authority. The board pronounced the charge groundless, 
 
 without even going into examination, and degraded the false 
 
 accuser by a grade ; but Minghia changed the sentence to a fine 
 
 of six months' salary instead. The memorialist and his fellow 
 
 grand secretaries had drawn up a book, in which was to be 
 
 written down the name in full of every actor of an important 
 
 work done, the actor to write the statement of the work himself; 
 
 but Minghia obliterated one hundred and fourteen characters, 
 
 the names of members on those public records; and it was 
 
 difficult to discover any reason for such conduct. The emperor 
 
 had ordered the privy councillors to inform the memorialist that 
 
 he must look after the boards and higher offices, to ascertain 
 
 whether or not there were any cabals, and to take notes of 
 
 whatever he saw or knew. He had written that "Minghia 
 
 would persist in wearing a singular dress, and in saying that the 
 
 new must be changed to the Ming style," that " it was dangerous 
 
 to have him lurking among the ministers," that " it was my duty 
 
 to carefully scrutinise whatever took place," and " how could his 
 
 treachery be permitted to be consummated," these four 
 
 sentiments Minghia had blotted out. He declared that Minghia 
 
 was plotting ; that his disposition had been carefully noted ; 
 
 and lest the memorialist should be afterwards blamed for 
 
 negligence, " your minister now raises his hand to heaven and 
 
 earth." 
 
 This accusation has been taken down pretty fully, because of 
 its interesting picture of the times, and of the manner in which 
 bribery is carried on in high places. We shall see other modes 
 of bribery in the few cases to be noted below. Meantime we 
 shall take leave of Minghia, when we say that all the Boards and 
 " Ching " had to examine the case ; and as the accuser was not a 
 
582 OFFICIALS. 
 
 weak censor, their examination found every charge proved, and 
 Minghia was strangled. 
 
 His son Yechun was examined some time after, on the alleged 
 faults committed by him during his father's lifetime. He was 
 found guilty and deserving of death ; but the emperor saved his 
 life, commuting the sentence to a severe beating and banishment 
 to Mookden ; whither he was followed, soon after, by the 
 governor of Szchuen, accused by Sangwei of evil practices, 
 extenuated to some extent by previous good conduct. 
 
 In 1689, another case cropped up which is illustrative of the 
 customs of the times, and worthy of recital. The assistant chief 
 censor accused Chienhiao, late president of Board of Punishment, 
 of malpractices. There was a counter charge made against the 
 censor, of making false accusations. Discussion followed which 
 produced a memorial from the censor giving details. In the end 
 of this memorial, among other charges, he stated that Chienhiao 
 had lent out a hundred thousand taels at three per cent, per 
 month interest,* and that capital and interest were repaid lately, 
 amounting to a hundred and sixty thousand taels. He then, 
 with the original capital, opened a pawnshop -f in Da Kiangkia 
 street. He had sent ten thousand taels to his house by an 
 official going in that direction. A magnificent house, with 
 splendid and extensive gardens attached, was being built by a 
 friend of his, but with his money. Precious gems from all 
 quarters, gold and pearls J from the eastern seas, poured in upon 
 him. He had sent a younger brother to various provinces on 
 some pretext; but in Honan especially the people were 
 
 * To know this charge properly, let it be understood that there was a late enact- 
 ment against magistrates engaging in trade, or lending money to those engaged in 
 trade; while they were also forbidden to lend to or borrow from any of the people 
 under their jurisdiction. 
 
 t Pawnshops in China are like banks in England. They demand more capital 
 than any other shop. They lend money, from a sixpence to a thousand pounds, on 
 the security of articles given in pledge, and at the rate, in some places of two, in 
 some of three per cent, per month. They never lose, for they rarely lend more than 
 half the actual value of the pledge, which lapses to the shop, or becomes " dead," as 
 the Chinese call it, at the end of two full years of interest unpaid. 
 
 Eastern pearls are most highly valued as at once the largest and purest. 
 
BRIBERY. 583 
 
 grievously oppressed by his extortions. He bought one house 
 in the capital for over six thousand taels, another for five 
 thousand five hundred; he bought ten thousand Ching (each 
 sixteen English acres) of land ; and the number of newly built 
 houses purchased by him, in Rope-man Lane, Half-cut Lane, and 
 Cross Street, were beyond number ; besides houses and lands, 
 difficult to estimate, in Soochow, Taitsang, Hwunshan, Woohien, 
 Changchow, Changshoo, Wookiang, &c. The censor was 
 upbraided because he did not draw attention to this matter 
 earlier ; but the president was degraded. From this case we can 
 learn that a presidency was a good milch cow. 
 
 Ho Li, viceroy of the two Kiang, escaped for many years, by his 
 great abilities, the fate which his rapacious extortions should have 
 early brought upon him. But a " hawl " of half a million taels, 
 accepted by him at literary examinations, was too heavy and 
 brought him down. In May 1714, his mother went to the capital 
 to complain of him, of his younger brother, of his son, and of a youth 
 adopted as a son by his wife. Since Li's degradation, they had all 
 left their mother's house, crossed the Yellow River, west of which 
 they now lived, oppressing the people most cruelly ; and as no 
 one dared raise their voice in accusation, his mother felt 
 compelled to act in the name of justice against her own son. 
 Board of Punishment found Ho Li guilty of unfaithfulness and 
 unfiliality to an extreme degree ; that he should be cut in pieces, 
 his wife strangled, his son and brother beheaded, his adopted son 
 transported to Heiloongkiang, and their property confiscated. 
 The emperor decreed that Ho Li commit suicide, that his wife 
 follow his example, and that the other findings of the Board be 
 carried out. It may be added that the emperor had found it 
 extremely difficult to believe the accusers of Ho Li up to the 
 very moment when sentence of degradation had to be passed ; 
 and the lenient sentence of suicide may have been dictated by a 
 lingering affection for an old favourite and able minister. 
 
 As fertile a source of official incomes, and sometimes a more 
 cruel one than bribery, is the malappropriation of public 
 moneys, grain, and fodder, as will appear in the chapter on 
 
584 OFFICIALS. 
 
 "Taxation." This form of filling empty official purses is as 
 common in the west as in the east, and we shall notice only 
 two notable cases. The year 1703 was the second very hard 
 season for Shantung. The emperor was deeply grieved 
 at the great distress and the famishing condition of that 
 province, and forwarded large sums of money to purchase food 
 for the very poor. The governor, notwithstanding this 
 assistance, had to report bands of famishing men traversing the 
 country, and already had several hundred men been slain by 
 them. But immediately came accusations against the governor 
 himself; for it was said that the money sent by his majesty to 
 feed the poor had all but melted down on its way, and that 
 only a small fraction of it had reached its destination. Inves- 
 tigation made the case no better than it was reported ; and the 
 governor was degraded, because he had not taken a strict 
 account of the moneys from all the prefectures and districts. 
 In all cases of famine, the same story has to be told in China. 
 Even in the frightful famines which devastated north China a 
 few years ago, the large sums of money put into the official 
 hands to feed the famishing had a large proportion clipped off 
 on the way ; for it passes through at least half-a-dozen grades of 
 officials ere it reaches its destination ; and there is a deal of glue 
 attached to money passing into Yamuns, even when it is to save 
 lives from famine, and when twice as much would scarcely 
 suffice to keep them in life. 
 
 For many years towards the end of Kanghi's and the beginning 
 of Yungching's reign, the internal strife of the imperial family 
 overshadowed every other matter ; and the evident struggle in 
 the family of Kanghi over the succession, caused ministers to 
 overlook as unworthy of notice the quarrels and accusations 
 usually so common. But in 1722, began the famous case of 
 Nien Gungyao, who. had been nominated viceroy of Szchuen and 
 Shensi as the reward of his bravery in quelling the insurrection 
 of the Lama monasteries west of Kansu. But with his vice- 
 royalty came an accusation against him, afterwards proven, of 
 having falsely charged a man with crime when he was governor, 
 
SMUGGLING. 585 
 
 and of other evil practices. His viceroyalty was abolished, his 
 Great commandership of Singan recalled, and he was sent as 
 commander to Hangchow, there to give proofs of repentance. 
 The governor of Shensi declared it altogether unreasonable to 
 permit him to act as viceroy ; for he had, during his short term 
 of office, given out over a hundred thousand passports to 
 merchants, thus defrauding the revenue by smuggling on a 
 great scale. He had besides sent a district magistrate to buy 
 all the teas which had not paid duty, by which he pocketed over 
 fifty thousand taels ; and from smugglers he had received twice 
 as much. While these statements were being investigated, the 
 emperor charged Nien with causing the viceroy of Chihli then 
 newly instituted the Mongol princes, the emperor's son-in-law, 
 and other officials, to dismount and kneel before him. For all 
 this he was put on a trial which occupied much time, and the 
 account of which we have condensed from a volume. 
 
 Li Weikun, who was the first viceroy of Chihli, and President 
 of Board of War, with a suspicious haste reported that he had in 
 former times very few dealings with Nien, and that lately even 
 those rare transactions were broken off. The emperor, however, 
 said that this statement was contrary to facts, for that the 
 governor of Singan was never five days without seeing a 
 messenger from the viceroy of Chihli ; and so ostentatious were 
 those visits that every eye had seen them ; and added that this 
 was a fault which demanded attention. Another count added 
 to the charge against Nien, was that he had employed as body 
 servants the men who had been penally sentenced to the ranks.* 
 The Dootoong of the Han Kun army advanced another heavy 
 
 *The "ranks of the army beyond the border " are the Chinese equivalent of the 
 Siberia of the Russian dabbler in politics ; and the commander, partly perhaps from 
 a commendable pity, and partly to attach to himself men who had been sentenced 
 to servility from high office, took them under his protection as servants. The charge 
 would never have been noticed had he not been down on his knees by the blows 
 already given him ; and as there was, or was believed to be, a plot in the imperial 
 family to dethrone the new emperor and set a brother on the throne, in which the 
 Jesuits too were implicated, and whence began persecution against them, that 
 charge of undoing the sentence against political prisoners would be all the more 
 serious. 
 
586 OFFICIALS. 
 
 charge against Nien, declaring his avarice an unbounded one, 
 which led him to appropriate three hundred thousand taels 
 from the allowance for provender for beasts of burden, and four 
 hundred thousand taels from the rations of the army, with lesser 
 ones of a similar character. And Nien was ordered to answer 
 these charges. 
 
 Board of Appointments, which had been made judge, decided 
 that his viceroyalty should be taken from Nien, but his dukeship 
 left him because of his services to the state. This finding 
 displeased the emperor, who said that the board must reconsider 
 this decision, for the crimes of Nien were too serious to be thus 
 lightly punished. He added that Nien and Loong Kodo had 
 been implicitly trusted by the late emperor ; high and low had 
 regarded them as men of unquestioned integrity ; while all the 
 ministers honoured them by consulting them on every important 
 question. Yet both had been guilty of great and numerous 
 crimes. Mercy was good, but must not be universally and 
 invariably shown. Justice must sometimes be manifested ; and 
 from the manner in which leniency had acted in the past, the 
 wise should learn that severity was necessary in the future. 
 " The road on which carts are always capsizing, must either be 
 abandoned or mended," alluding to the increase of corruption 
 during the mildness of the two first years of his reign. 
 
 The Board was a whole year before they could decide, for all 
 that time Nien was nominally in office. But the emperor then 
 degraded both Nien and Loong from their high office, and the 
 Board immediately found that the crimes of Nien were high as 
 the heavens, so that heaven and earth must conspire to take his 
 life. They advise, therefore, that he be instantly called into the 
 capital to answer for his crimes. The case had been before the 
 Board for two years ; and had Nien been able to kick against 
 Yungching, and raise the standard of rebellion in favour of 
 another son of Kanghi, the Board would have been longer before 
 they could see his crimes. For it was uncertain how such an 
 attempt would have ended. But as soon as Nien was gently 
 degraded, and removed from his viceroyalty so softly, without 
 
DEGRADATION. 587 
 
 any effort on his part to retain it, while all his offices were 
 declared suspended, the Board suddenly opened its eyes to the 
 crimes of which he had been guilty. 
 
 The emperor, without waiting for the replies of Nien, recalled 
 the gifts of the Dragon throne, the yellow girdle, the two-eyed 
 peacock feather and all other honorary gifts. The documents 
 transmitted by the emperor, marked by himself as to how Nien 
 should act, were also recalled. His commandership was taken 
 away, and he was degraded to the rank of Jangjing, fifth grade, 
 but bereft of all actual command, and ordered to do penance in 
 Hangchow. After this sentence all the Boards yelled and howled 
 at him, as Chinese curs rush from all directions against a 
 screaming dog rolling in the dust. They recommended that his 
 fifth grade be taken away, and himself executed as he deserved. 
 The viceroy of Chihli again foolishly raised his voice to increase 
 the din against the man to whom he had cringingly knelt at the 
 very time the crimes were being perpetrated. He declared Nien 
 neither a faithful minister nor a loyal subject &c. The emperor 
 was greatly offended at this epistle, and" replied to it by ordering 
 the viceroy, whom he degraded, to build the storehouses at 
 Tientsin out of his own private resources, and added that when 
 that work was finished the Board of Punishment would inquire 
 into his conduct. The emperor was aware that immense 
 quantities of the malappropriations of Nien were hidden away 
 in Paoting, the city where lives the viceroy, who therefore knew 
 intimately of the conduct of Nien. 
 
 Nien was seized in winter, and brought to the capital ; 
 probably meantime new charges of even a graver nature had 
 oozed out. All the princes and Boards found Nien guilty of 
 five great crimes : 1st, He employed the Taoist priest Jow Loo 
 and others, to plot an insurrection, and he was plotting in the 
 dark ; 2nd, he changed the imperial mandate with his own pen ; 
 3rd, he left unmolested a man of Chihkiang, who had gone west 
 and acted most outrageously against the people ; 4th, there 
 were found in his house twenty-eight gold coats of mail, four 
 thousand quivers, cannon and other balls, and other illicit 
 
588 OFFICIALS. 
 
 articles ; and 5th, he had murdered over eight hundred principal 
 merchants.* In summing up his ninety-two sins, the sum total 
 of his malversations was found to mount to three millions five 
 hundred thousand taels; over a million sterling. The court 
 composed of the greatest men, the highest rank, and the most 
 brilliant talents to be secured in all China, found him guilty 
 .according to law of crimes for which he should be beheaded. 
 His father, brothers, sons, grandsons, cousins and nephews of 
 and above sixteen years of age should be put to death. All 
 under fifteen, with his mother, his wife, concubines, his sons' 
 wives and concubines, should be given to the public ministers 
 .as slaves. The emperor, remembering his excellent services at 
 Kokonor, ordered him to look after himself i.e., commit 
 suicide ; but his son should be beheaded, as well as the priest 
 Jow Loo. His other- male relations of the age of sixteen were 
 declared free from the penalty of death, but transported to 
 Heiloongkiang. The emperor then made a long speech, 
 addressed to Nien, recalling the goodness to him of the late 
 emperor ; saying that he had read of many unfaithful ministers 
 in ancient times, but of none to be compared to him; and 
 accusing him of regarding his own relations as of no more value 
 than so much straw, as he could risk their life so lightly. Half a 
 million taels were found in his house, which was searched during 
 the examination. Three years after, the son of Nien was 
 pardoned and recalled from banishment. We may therefore 
 infer that his other male relations, if ever actually sent, were 
 also recalled. After this, history relates degradation of officers 
 for want of success, and of ministers for venal courses ; but there 
 is nothing new to throw additional light on the relations 
 between prince and minister, or the inter-relations of officials. 
 
 Besides ordinary bribery and malappropriation, the direct or 
 indirect sale of office is often resorted to for money. No 
 magistrate of any grade can enter upon his office without 
 spending more or less money ; but this is not so much a buying 
 
 *This last was apparently when abetting smuggling; these merchants being 
 unable to afford to smuggle, as they had too great a stake. 
 
CONNIVANCE. 589' 
 
 and selling as a necessary " present "; for the man must be fitted 
 for his post, or no amount of money could purchase it. But a 
 censor had to memorialise the first Manchu emperor on the sale 
 of office. He even declared that sub-prefectures and district 
 magistracies were sold ; that is, given to men unfitted for the 
 post for certain sums of money. He said that those who had 
 been the "greedy caterpillars and wild roughs" were now 
 assistants to the district judges ; and though the rank was but 
 low, it entitled its possessor to be called the "father and 
 mother " of the people, and by it he could issue orders, arrest 
 and imprison men. He asked how men destitute of literary 
 degrees could be nominated to office, if the intendant or prefect 
 had not received their money ? He then gave instances where 
 such " ravenous caterpillars " apprehended men only to frighten 
 them into giving money ; and the emperor agreed to his prayer, 
 and ordered governors and viceroys to examine into that state of 
 matters. 
 
 Officials too weak to face danger, or too avaricious to be 
 particular as to the source of gain, have, in all ages of Chinese 
 history, found connivance at robbery by private bravadoes a 
 lucrative fund of easily acquired wealth. The following 
 extraordinary story has often been, and is now, imitated, but 
 perhaps rarely paralleled; and will serve to explain how far 
 connivance at robbery can go by men whose office demands of 
 them to protect the public. Board of Punishment was informed, 
 in 1653, that the great robbers Li Yingshu and Pan Hiowun 
 were living not far from the capital, where they had been causing 
 disturbances for many years, being so powerful and wily that the 
 soldiers dared not face them. Yingshu was apprehended on 
 other minor charges ; but when under examination it appeared 
 that he was the famous Hivangbiao Li Sanyuen, under which 
 name he had been guilty of most serious crimes during the Ming 
 dynasty. " The fish had then escaped out of the net, the wild 
 beast had burst his cage ; " for, at the very moment when he was 
 known to be always aiding in their schemes, and shielding in his 
 house hosts of robbers and thieves, he was the intimate friend of 
 
590 OFFICIALS. 
 
 high officials. As many of his men as he desired were enrolled 
 as yayi or detectives; and the power thus in his hands was 
 rewarded by costly presents by robbers from all directions and 
 distances ; for there was none of them he could not injure, and 
 none of them he could not save. To the merchants from the 
 southern provinces he declared publicly that he could be of 
 service to them, and gave them privately to understand that 
 their lives were in hands, which was probably true. Hence 
 they all had to pay him large sums in black mail. The taxes 
 on all imports by the Tsoongwun gate were under his control, 
 and only a small proportion ever found its way to the public 
 treasury. The amount of taxation he increased at will ; the man 
 who refused to pay was killed, and no one dared mutter 
 vengeance on the murderer. Large numbers of lives were thus 
 sacrificed. 
 
 Hiowun gave himself out to be a horse-dealer and informer 
 
 against robbers. The informer business he could easily carry out 
 
 by giving such notice as would lead to the seizure of whatever 
 
 robber did not acknowledge his chieftainship, and by informing 
 
 where a band of robbers were at work, at the same time giving 
 
 the robbers timely warning to get out of the way if serious 
 
 measures were taken for their apprehension ; for if friendly 
 
 robbers had no hiding-place of their own, his house was open to 
 
 them till they could go forth in safety again. He picked out 
 
 the best mules and the fastest horses, his drove consisting 
 
 of from forty to two hundred superior animals. These were 
 
 always sold to robbers, who would naturally give the highest 
 
 price for what was more to them than any other implement of 
 
 their trade. The robber mounted on one of these was therefore 
 
 " like a tiger which had grown wings." Hiowun was in intimate 
 
 relations with the district judges. The accused made " presents " 
 
 to him to act as their advocate. According to the amount of 
 
 the present did he represent the case to the judge, who had to 
 
 listen to his voice, and men were liberated or destroyed by his 
 
 word, whether the decision was or was not a righteous one. 
 
 Many officials, civil and military, were on drinking terms with 
 
INFLUENTIAL ROBBERS. 591 
 
 the two great robbers ; but onlookers dared not even observe the 
 relationship. He was in short a Chinese Fisk. 
 
 The Board decided that " the crimes of those two men are 
 innumerable, their wickedness such that imagination could not 
 conceive a greater; all men within the bounds of the empire 
 proclaimed them worthy of a myriad deaths. Therefore Li 
 Yingshu and Pan Hiowun, with their sons and nephews are 
 herewith ordered to be beheaded." 
 
 Li Yunchang, the senior secretary of Board of War, was also 
 accused, because that he, whose office entitled him to directly 
 address the emperor, recognised Li Tienfung, nephew of Yingshu, 
 as his own brother, and the son of Tienfung as his own son, 
 whom he employed as an official ; and had thus shielded both 
 from the above sentence when it was passed. Though declared 
 guilty, they were permitted to escape the penalty; but an 
 imperial threat was published, warning all officials to avoid 
 such friendly relationships with robbers for the future, on pain 
 of suffering death along with the robber. 
 
 But that proclamation did not much mend matters, for next 
 month a supervising censor had to memorialise that the robbers 
 must have a refuge somewhere into which they hide as " birds 
 to a nest." The owner of " this den is either a man who has 
 lost all sense of fear and is utterly wicked, or a chief among the 
 detectives, entrusted with the charge of arresting robbers. 
 These had power enough to make the evil seem good, and 
 influence strong enough to shield the robbers." He therefore 
 recommended that all robbers afterwards seized, should be 
 examined as to this protector; and if he were a chief of the 
 detective force, he should be at once apprehended and handed 
 over to the Board to deal with him. 
 
 When the emperor went into the secretariate, he asked of the 
 grand secretaries how it was that Li San the Hwangbiao, who 
 was one of the common people, had so many houses and rooms 
 outside and attached to his dwelling-house, all in such perfectly 
 beautiful order. Chungshow replied that those rooms were 
 divided into offices for six Boards; and any business to be 
 
592 OFFICIALS. 
 
 transacted, or any man going on business, went direct to the 
 proper Board. Regulations were most carefully laid down, and 
 most strictly enforced. The emperor said, that if a common 
 man could so act, outraging all propriety, it was heaven itself 
 defeated him ; and asked, since Li San was so great a scourge to 
 the people, how was it that not one of the ministers had dared 
 sooner speak out ? The censors, Ning Wanwo and Chun Julin, 
 were both silent when the question was put; and when the latter 
 was directly questioned, he said, " Li San was a man of tremendous 
 wickedness. He is executed : let the matter rest. Had he not 
 suffered, Julin's days were numbered ; and who is regardless of 
 his life and family?" Minghia, whose story is given above, 
 said, throwing responsibility off himself, " Li San was a man of 
 extreme wickedness, but one censor had sufficed to bring him to 
 just punishment. Your minister is an unworthy great minister ; 
 but to discover rebellion, and nip secret treachery in the bud, is 
 not the province of your minister. Li San, besides, had private 
 communications and secret spies everywhere, and swift vengeance 
 overtook the first breath of accusation. All men love and 
 cherish their own life and family." From this story we can 
 infer the state of Peking in the early years of Manchu rule, 
 when their armies were taking cities and winning battles in the 
 south. The tiger might run down his game, but his own body 
 was covered with blood-sucking vermin. It is not so?very many 
 years ago since the chief of an army of robbers was making the 
 house of the brigadier-general of Mookden his headquarters 
 year after year, till the fact became too notorious to be any longer 
 connived at by the highest authorities of the province. 
 
 One other incident of official corruption, explaining the mode 
 of extortion in common use will suffice to complete the heartless 
 list. In the preceding history, it was seen that Swun Kowang 
 was defeated in 1657 by his former colleague, Li Dinggwo. The 
 vanquished man fled to the Manchus by whom he was created 
 Yi Wang, "upright prince ! " He was invited to the capital and 
 as he was passing through Chihli, Jang Huensi, viceroy of Chihli, 
 Honan and Shantung, went to Shwunte foo to welcome the 
 
SUICIDE. 593 
 
 newly made prince. He returned to his palace and cut his throat. 
 The wound was not immediately fatal, for he was able to pen a 
 memorial to the emperor, in which he said that " ever since your 
 criminal minister, Jang Hiiensi, took office, his mind was 
 straight as an arrow to rightly perform his duty. Whether 
 himself pleased or offended he never thwarted the will and 
 desires of the people. The distinction between the right and 
 the wrong belonged to heaven ; his desire was to see universal 
 peace and harmony. But who knows how difficult it is to walk 
 the straight road ? At present all men envy him, and all the 
 people are like madmen ; and he has sought, in this eccentric 
 manner, an honourable death, only because of oppressive grief. 
 This body must die, and better now than afterwards when falsely 
 accused of crime. Your minister is guilty of ingratitude 
 for the heaven-high, earth- wide favours of your majesty. 
 Henceforth he is like a vanishing cloud, or spilt water. If the 
 emperor ever remembers his minister and his toil for him, let 
 him think of him kindly. He prays the emperor not to punish 
 his family, and in the grave he shall ever give thanks for the 
 imperial mercy. Woohoo alas ! alas ! your minister has to leave 
 the present life, but he may become your majesty's horse or dog. * 
 Your minister's family is not wealthy. They have no good lands 
 and fine houses ; for, ever since your minister's nomination to 
 office, he has not dared to accept of a cash from an inferior 
 official; because he would then offend against your majesty's 
 clemency. He is come to this pass because men have brought 
 it upon him ; but it is the will of heaven." 
 
 The emperor ordered the assistant chief censor to hasten to 
 make all necessary enquiry into this peculiar case and to report. 
 The report was handed in next month and was to the effect that 
 when the viceroy visited Yi Wang, he was guilty of overlooking 
 the proper etiquette, for which he was taken to task by a Hanlin 
 secretary. His consequent shame had been for a time so 
 overwhelming that he had lost self control, took a small knife 
 and cut his throat. The emperor decreed that as the viceroy 
 
 * In transmigration. 
 N 1 
 
594 OFFICIALS. 
 
 had been appointed to his post by the emperor, any business 
 turning up should have been stated to the emperor; but to 
 commit suicide, was to forget the spirit which should actuate a 
 great minister: as however, the past of the viceroy's life was 
 remarkable for purity and painstaking carefulness, he would be 
 punished now only by the reduction of two degrees of his 
 " honourable-mention " rank. 
 
 The viceroy was deeply wounded at finding censure where he 
 had hoped to receive sympathy, and in the following month he 
 so far " recovered the serenity of his mind " that he could detail 
 the real facts to which the censure had probably driven him. 
 He stated in this memorial that he had been guilty of breach of 
 etiquette, but it had been under compulsion. When he first 
 called to pay his respects, the officials around Yi Wang refused 
 to see him ; and after seeing, they treated him with contempt, 
 acting in a manner wholly unbearable. Thrice did he call, and 
 thrice asked how he should act. Then secretary Ma Loji 
 blamed him for his pertinacity, after he had formerly blamed 
 him for breach of etiquette. But it gradually oozed out that all 
 the blaming was in order to extort a "present." He was 
 informed that generallissimo Hoong Chungshow had met the 
 train in the far south with handsome presents. Chi Chuabai 
 reproved the viceroy for coming empty handed, and urged him 
 to make presents of camels and mules. But he was determined 
 to die rather than be guilty of bribery and thus violate the 
 instructions of his majesty. They therefore threatened that 
 when they arrived in Peking, they would report him to the 
 emperor as guilty of rudeness ; and said that the emperor would 
 not forget it. He therefore believed that death was his fate at 
 any rate, and he preferred to die before the charges were actually 
 made against him. Such extremity was the cause of his hasty 
 action. 
 
 The emperor was greatly incensed by this story, and said that 
 Ma Loji had reproved in order to extort money, and had dared 
 to reproach a great minister; he was guilty of most hateful 
 conduct, and the Board must immediately deal with the case 
 
EXTORTION. 
 
 and judge it severely. The viceroy was still living under his 
 shame ; but it became so unbearable that he hung himself in a 
 temple three months after his first attempt at suicide. The 
 minister whose hands were clean would however have little 
 sympathy at court, and, except the young emperor, not one 
 could say a good word for him. But the emperor stripped 
 Chuabai of his censorate, and of all the honorary degrees already 
 conferred upon him, and Loji was similarly served, because they 
 had received bribes on the way from the various officials, 
 prefects and others, passed en route, and for endeavouring to 
 extort money from the viceroy. Jaoloong, president and secretary, 
 lost his presidency and all his grades of honour, for his connection 
 with the case. They were however permitted to retain their 
 actual office ; they were degraded in rank, but not in pay or 
 work. Yi Wang was far too useful to have the breath of 
 suspicion whisper his name ; and the others were dealt with so 
 leniently because of their connection with him. 
 
 An incident, which began to excite public commotion in court 
 in the end of 1666, will illustrate the manner in which the wires 
 are pulled around the dragon throne. When the first emperor 
 was on his death-bed, he nominated four imperial guardians or 
 regents to young Kanghi. Two of these, Aobai and Sooksaha, 
 the latter being of the bordered yellow or imperial banner, 
 quarrelled and became bitter enemies. When Dorgun, the 
 regent, was degraded, his properties, which should naturally 
 have gone, when confiscated, to the bordered yellow banner to 
 which he had belonged, were given to the white banner ; and 
 other lands were given to the bordered yellow at the extremity 
 of the possessions of the right wing; for the lands were distributed 
 in the same order as that occupied by the various banners in 
 battle. This arrangement had gone on satisfactorily for twenty 
 years, till the rupture broke out between the guardians, when 
 Aobai, who was of the white banner, determined to upset it. 
 He ordered, or desired, grand secretary Soonahai, vice-president 
 Lei Hoo, governor Wang Dunglien, and viceroy Joo Changdso, 
 to meet together and consult upon the matter. Their con- 
 
596 OFFICIALS. 
 
 sultations resulted in a memorial to the throne by Changdso and 
 Dunglien, who prayed in December 1666 to annul the law 
 compelling the properties of the bannermen to lie together in 
 military order, because the arrangement was inconvenient and 
 greatly hampered liberty of action. 
 
 In the following month the Board of Punishment found 
 Soonahai guilty, in spite of mature consideration, of committing 
 a grave blunder on the land question; found the two memorialists 
 guilty of endeavouring to mislead his majesty; and decided 
 that each of the guilty should be whipped a hundred lashes, 
 and their properties be confiscated. The Board had neither 
 the power nor the will to hint at the mainspring of the whole. 
 But the emperor ordered the body of guardians to examine into 
 the cause of quarrel between the two guardians. The two 
 guardians, not implicated, reported that the matter was serious, 
 and should be severely punished. The emperor passed over 
 Aobai, but confirmed the sentence of the Board confiscating the 
 properties of the three ministers. 
 
 In August of the next year, the emperor assumed control of 
 
 affairs himself, and proclaimed an amnesty for seventeen kinds 
 
 of crime. Just then the grand baron, grand guardian, and privy 
 
 councillor Sooksaha, prayed for the post of Keeper of the Tombs. 
 
 The other guardians demanded to know what offence had been 
 
 committed against him that he should so slight his own office. 
 
 The princes and high officials accused him of twenty-four crimes 
 
 for which he deserved to be cut in pieces ; and, at the same time, 
 
 declared that though the emperor had graciously permitted 
 
 Aobai to retain office, he continued to act in such a lawless 
 
 manner that he and his sons should be cut to death, and his 
 
 uncles, brothers and nephews beheaded. They also pronounced 
 
 other officials, great and small, deserving degradation of a more or 
 
 less severe degree. The emperor agreed to this memorial ; but 
 
 the end was not yet. The subject was doubtless again and 
 
 again discussed ; till, in June 1669, formal accusations were again 
 
 made by the princes and great ministers. The emperor, in a long 
 
 paper, gave as his reason for having delayed sentence, the hope 
 
GUARDIANS. 597 
 
 that so aged a minister as Aobai would repent of his tyranny 
 over the people, and his other evil conduct ; and he upbraided 
 the other guardians and high officials for having permitted him 
 to go on his wicked way without publishing his wickedness. 
 Kang Chin Wang, with the other princes, had at last proved 
 thirty crimes against Aobai; twelve against Habiloong, who should 
 have prevented him ; twenty-one against Ananda and Banboorsi 
 of the imperial family, who had shared his guilt ; twelve against 
 his son Namofo, and six against his nephew Saibunda. To even 
 a superficial glance, the number appears to set forth the gradations 
 of guilt rather than the nature of the crimes charged against the 
 criminal ; the truth being that all the individual instances 
 adduced are arbitrary ; some being generalised classifications of 
 crimes, others particular acts of crime, and the total number of 
 the crimes serves, even without examining into the merits of 
 each count, to give the opinion of the judges with regard to the 
 proportionate guiltiness of the various offending parties ; though, 
 it need scarcely be added, each count is carefully set forth. 
 
 The emperor could not bring himself to pronounce sentence of 
 death on Aobai, who had long been a minister under, and had 
 been nominated a guardian by, the late emperor; but he 
 dismissed him from all office and seized his slaves. Some of the 
 accused were saved from the extreme penalty because they had 
 been ministers of reputation under the late emperor. Banboorsi 
 was strangled. Namofo escaped death, but was degraded. 
 Saibunda was sentenced to beheading as well as four others, all 
 of whom had formed a dangerous and criminal clique. Many 
 others were punished more or less severely according to their 
 degrees of criminality; but Sooksaha was reinstalled in his 
 former posts. Thus Chinese regents proved to be not much 
 unlike English ones. 
 
 But if there has been, in all ages of Chinese history, a good 
 deal of bribery and corruption among officials, it differs in degree 
 according to the character of the reigning monarch. Extensive 
 though the gangrene of official corruption is at the present day, 
 with the example set in the highest places, it is not equal to 
 
598 OFFICIALS. 
 
 half of what it was for the last century of the Ming rule, when 
 the eunuchs lorded it over the land. This corruption is not 
 peculiar to any one class of officials either high or low, nor yet 
 is it universal in any class high or low. The family of the late 
 prime minister, Wun Siang, is very poor, but might be 
 exceedingly rich did he receive the "presents" which would 
 come pouring upon him, had he opened his hands to them. 
 Officials are found among all grades of magistrates who are of 
 unsuspected honour in this matter, and these are known to and 
 highly esteemed by the people at large. To incite to faithfulness 
 to duty, and to honesty in it, there is a certain number of faithful 
 and honest officials of former dynasties, honoured by the reigning 
 dynasty with honorary sacrifices. In the beginning of 1652, the 
 Board of Rites and all the chief offices were ordered to make 
 enquiries whether there were any, and how many, of the officials 
 of the last Ming emperor who were faithful to the death, and 
 did die rather than acknowledge the robber when Peking fell and 
 their prince had died ; for it was most improper that the memory 
 of such should perish. After careful investigation, it was found 
 that sixteen great ministers, grand secretary, presidents, &c., 
 had committed suicide when the capital fell. The emperor made 
 grants of lands, the revenues of which would be sufficient to 
 make sacrifices in perpetuity for these faithful men. Any man 
 is at liberty to decline office if he so chooses ; but after having 
 accepted office, the official is bound to serve his prince with the 
 utmost fidelity. If the prince is such a man as deserves to be 
 dethroned, that is the concern of heaven, who will raise up the 
 instruments ; but those who have once " eaten the bread " of the 
 prince are bound, not only not to raise their hand against him, but 
 to die for or with him, if they would be considered faithful to 
 their name of minister. It is unnecessary to say that the easiest 
 mode of gaining the epithet of " Faithful " is by successful war. 
 Hence warriors, as a rule, occupy the prominent seats of honour 
 in the pantheon of faithful ministers. It appears that sometimes 
 a mistake is made ; for in 1660 we find a censor saying that the 
 emperor " has always worshipped, or honoured by sacrifice, the 
 
CHINESE CANONISATION. 599 
 
 ancient ministers of good reputation. But one of those so 
 honoured, Pan Yinmei of the Sung dynasty, though he was 
 deservedly esteemed for quelling the troubles of the south, failed, 
 when at Hiaku, to prevent Wang Sien from abandoning the 
 pass of Chunkiaku, and because Sien had withdrawn, Yang Jiye 
 and his eight sons all fell in one day, in a vain attempt to stop 
 the Kitan, who after that became the terror of the Sung men. 
 Jang Dsun, another Sung minister, was thrice made commander 
 by his emperor. He was first defeated at Fooping Pass, which 
 caused the fall of Shensi ; a second time at Whaisi, giving the 
 magistrates in charge no alternative but revolt; and a third 
 defeat at Fooli made it impossible for the Sung ever afterwards 
 to reconstruct their empire. He also refused to be on good 
 terms with Yao Fei, the only man feared by the Kitan, but 
 petitioned, notwithstanding his proved incapacity, for the post 
 of commander-in-chief. Sacrifices to these two should therefore 
 cease; and the emperor agreed. This will illustrate what we 
 have elsewhere stated, that the innumerable temples of China 
 are raised chiefly for the reason for which we in the west build 
 monuments ; merely to keep in remembrance the memories of 
 men who have been useful to their sovereigns, or beneficial to 
 their country ; and there is little more intended by the sacrifices 
 made there, than there is when we bind chaplets of flowers on 
 the head of a statue or throw bouquets at its feet. The number 
 of gods in China to which prayer is offered and petitions 
 presented, which is our idea of worship, can be counted on 
 one's fingers. To the great bulk of their gods the Chinese no 
 more bow down in worship, than Protestants do to Paul or 
 Augustine. The canonisation of the Chinese emperor is there- 
 fore totally different from that of the Romish " emperor," as the 
 pope is called in China ; for the former canonises in order that 
 able and faithful ministers may be honoured, the latter that 
 pious, or so-called pious, men and women may be prayed to. 
 And whoever heard of the pope who would dethrone from 
 canonisation one who, though long worshipped, was proved to be 
 unworthy, or even never to have existed ? 
 
600 OFFICIALS. 
 
 Another mode of honouring able and useful ministers is to 
 heap upon them a string of posthumous honorary titles. Hence 
 no man while living ever can exhaust the totality of honorary 
 titles at command of the court, for some are always retained to 
 consummate the faithful man's character as he is borne to his 
 funeral. This has been a practice carried out of old in China ; 
 and several instances of it occurred in the " History of Corea." 
 But it would appear that the generality of officials ceased to be 
 designated by their titles after death ; for a supervising censor of 
 the Board of War memorialised, in 1655, that it was desirable 
 that all officials, civil or military, great or small, should be 
 considered after death of the same rank as that possessed by 
 them when they died. The subject was first subjected to the 
 criticisms of the Board of War ; after which it was agreed to 
 and recorded in the " red book." 
 
 When we give the following memorial of a censor relating to 
 official salaries, it will be at once apparent how official corruption 
 was a matter of necessity to the great majority. But let it be 
 premised that besides the money salary there is an allowance of 
 rice supposed to be enough for the consumption of the family of 
 the official, the quantity being proportionate to the rank of that 
 official. There are also small fees to which judges are entitled 
 from litigants, but they are such as would scarcely pay for an 
 English lawyer's clerk. The memorial referred to was presented 
 to the emperor in 1669, when the high taxation demanded 
 pressed so hard upon the provinces then suffering from a 
 succession of short harvests, that many memorials were presented 
 to the emperor pleading for a reduction of taxation. The censor 
 said that reduction of taxation was just then impossible, for though 
 official salaries had been somewhat increased since the death of 
 the first Manchu emperor, they were still wholly inadequate. 
 The viceroy had a yearly salary of a hundred and fifty-five taels; 
 the governor of a hundred and thirty taels ; the sub-prefect of 
 eighty taels ; the district judge of forty-five taels. This last was 
 somewhat more than three taels per month ; and the support of 
 his family and his horse, in the quietest possible manner, would 
 
SALARIES. 601 
 
 cost at least half a tael per day ; so that his month's pay was 
 sufficient for only a few days of the most common fare. 
 Depending wholly on his salary, he had over twenty days in the 
 month when he would have nothing to eat ; was he to die of 
 starvation ? Thus the superior officials were compelled to act 
 covetously in order to live, and to receive or force from the 
 inferior officials sums of money which they in their turn 
 demand from the judges, and these must live, even if the people 
 cry out against their extortion. The censor therefore, instead of 
 agreeing to a reduction, prayed for an increase of salary sufficient 
 to meet the moderate wants of government employe's. The 
 emperor remitted this memorial to the Board of Revenue; 
 ordering the Board at the same time to refrain from taking the 
 lands of the people and their houses to give to the soldiers. 
 This Board soon decided that to decrease official salaries was 
 simply to drive the officials into taking more from the people ; 
 therefore reduction was impossible. 
 
 Up till 1652, every official drawing up a memorial for the 
 government, did so in any manner which he thought proper. 
 Where so many memorials from high ministers were daily 
 received, this chaotic state of official writing caused a good deal 
 of confusion, which grand secretary Fan Wunchung endeavoured 
 to reduce to order by praying the emperor to issue orders to 
 have a uniform system adopted over all the empire. His desire 
 seems to have been granted ; for in the autumn, the emperor 
 complained to the secretariat that though a model had been 
 given to the Board of Rites, memorials continued to come in on 
 papers long and short, wide and narrow, and differing in many 
 particulars from the model ; and ordered the secretariat to 
 inform the Board of Rites to issue strictest orders for uniformity. 
 This uniformity was explained more fully next year, when, 
 besides the size of paper, it was ordered to begin all memorials 
 with the official title of the writer, then mention his name, then 
 give an index of the subject or subjects of the memorial, and 
 lastly, illustrate these subjects in detail. Those who read the 
 few of those memorials which are published in the Peking 
 
602 OFFICIALS. 
 
 gazette will know that this rule is observed up to the 
 present. 
 
 A volume of the Kienlung laws sets forth the duties of officials 
 and their conduct to their superiors ; warns against neglecting, 
 without sufficient cause, to attend his majesty's levee, and 
 teaches the manner in which they are to receive his majesty's 
 exhortations. They are commanded under penalties to study the 
 laws with diligence. If the officer in charge fail to transmit his 
 majesty's letter, one hundred blows is his punishment ; and it is 
 equal for similarly neglecting the letter of the heir apparent. 
 He who destroys an imperial rescript, or any officially stamped 
 Yamun letter is beheaded ; and various punishments, from one 
 hundred blows to strangling, belong to him who destroys any 
 memorial from an official. He is beaten ninety blows and 
 banished for two years, who loses an imperial warrant, decree or 
 stamped letter ; for losing an official's memorial the penalty is 
 seventy blows. But if the loss is by fire, flood, or robbery, and 
 through no fault of the officer in charge, he is blameless. 
 
 A memorialist to the throne, writing so as to mislead, whether 
 intentionally, from ignorance, or carelessness, as in using one 
 character in appearance much like the proper one but with a 
 very different signification, is subject to a graduated punishment 
 according to the error. Care must be taken also as to whether 
 or not the subject is one which should be transmitted to the 
 emperor. 
 
 Every ambassador or messenger or envoy sent on any public 
 business is bound to report himself and wait his majesty's 
 pleasure, within three days of his return, on pain of punishment 
 more or less severe. 
 
 It may be interesting to note the grades and numbers of the 
 official staff over this large empire of China. The emperor is 
 the fountain of all authority and the centre of every office. 
 Around him clusters the NEIGO or Privy Council, through which 
 all imperial business reaches the emperor, and through which he 
 transmits his decrees and sentences upon the memorials presented 
 him. Beyond the N eigo is the concentric wider circle of the 
 
GOVERNMENT. 603 
 
 six Boards. Memorials are sent from the provinces to one of the 
 Boards ; the Board sends to the Privy Council ; a grand 
 secretary presents it to the emperor ; and it is returned in the 
 same way and lodged with the proper Board when the emperor 
 decides upon it. The emperor never or very rarely initiates ; he 
 takes action only upon a memorial from one of the Boards, or 
 of the three Law Courts. 
 
 The Neigo is composed of four grand secretaries two Manchus 
 and two Chinese who alone rank first class of first grade ; one 
 president from each of the Boards ; vice-presidents and secretaries 
 from Board of Kites, in all six Manchus and two Chinese; 
 four Manchu, two Mongol and two Chinese assistant secretaries; 
 ten Manchu, two Mongol and two Chinese readers ; with many 
 inferior officials, as those for registration and stamping, for binding 
 and stitching, and large numbers of scribes. In the Privy Council 
 there are twenty five imperial seals, each for its own distinctive 
 purpose. They are of various sizes, shapes and colours of jade, 
 except one of gold and one of fragrant wood. The twenty third 
 is used for stamping all documents relating to foreign affairs. 
 There are ten seals in Mookden the second capital, six of 
 various colours and sizes of jade, three of gold and one of fragrant 
 wood. 
 
 The rank of each Board is in the order in which it stands, that 
 of Appointments being the most important. It however does 
 not appoint any of the primary or secondary officials in the 
 imperial family or imperial clan offices. In the offices of this 
 Board there are one Manchu and one Chinese president ; one 
 Manchu and one Chinese senior and the same of junior vice- 
 president; three Manchu one Mongol and one Chinese senior 
 secretaries, two Manchu and two Chinese junior secretaries ; 
 with one Manchu and two Chinese councillors. Each of the 
 six Boards has two presidents, a Manchu and a Chinese ; and 
 four vice-presidents, two Manchu and two Chinese. Each 
 Board has more than one office. The following tabular form gives 
 all the superior officials connected with each Board, except those 
 belonging to the Board of Revenue over the treasuries and stores. 
 
604 
 
 OFFICIALS. 
 
 The majority of the secondary offices are held by Manchus, 
 the presidents and vice-presidents alone being equally divided 
 with the Chinese. Mongols are represented on all the Boards, 
 and if their number is small it is as large as their importance 
 to the state can warrant. 
 
 Board of 
 
 Senior 
 Secretaries 
 
 Junior 
 Secretaries 
 
 Council- 
 lors 
 
 Junior 
 Councillor 
 
 Custodier 
 
 Writer 
 
 Appointments 
 
 13 
 
 14 
 
 11 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 73 
 
 Revenue - - 
 
 33 
 
 53 
 
 29 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 119 
 
 Rites - - - 
 
 12 
 
 14 
 
 9 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 38 
 
 War - - - 
 
 18 
 
 16 
 
 10 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 78 
 
 Punishment 
 
 38 
 
 44 
 
 36 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 124 
 
 Works - - 
 
 22 
 
 25 
 
 21 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 86 
 
 The Censorate is composed of one Manchu and one Chinese 
 senior grand censor or chief censor, of the same rank as the 
 president of a Board, the second class of the first grade ; two 
 Manchu and two Chinese junior grand censors, and fifteen 
 supervising censors over the various Boards and public offices 
 in Peking; with twenty-eight Manchu and twenty-eight Chinese 
 censors to look after provincial affairs. 
 
 There is the court of Judicature and the office of Transmission, 
 which, with the Censorate and the Six Boards, constitute the 
 grand court called the Nine Ching. All these officials, 
 however, we shall not enumerate ; and we shall also omit those 
 connected with the inferior departments of Religious Ceremonies, 
 Banqueting, Kitchen, Grand Equerry, the Imperial Family and 
 Clan Offices, the Hanlin, the National College, the Board of 
 Astronomy, the Temples to Heaven, Earth, Ancestors, National 
 Lares, and the Various Tombs. 
 
 The affairs of each of the eighteen provinces of China are 
 conducted as if it were a separate kingdom. The province is 
 supplied with a staff of officials of all needful kinds, who 
 administer justice, collect taxes, pay public accounts in perfect 
 independence of all the other provinces. Sometimes two, and 
 in one case three, provinces are grouped together, though the 
 
PKOVINCIAL OFFICES. 605 
 
 connection is often more nominal than real. These groups are 
 each under the care of a Dsoongdoo, governor-general, or viceroy. 
 He has supreme control over the civil and military officials of 
 his viceroyalty. His rank is the first class of the second grade ; 
 but if he is a president of one of the six Boards, he possesses the 
 rank of that office, the second of first grade. There are eight 
 viceroys proper, Chihli, Kiangnan and Kiangsi, Fukien and 
 Chihkiang, Hoope and Hoonan, Shensi and Kansu, the Kwang, 
 Szchuen, Yunnan and Kweichow. There is an official of 
 viceroy rank over the grain tribute ; and over the canal there 
 is one in Shantung and Honan, and another in Kiangnan ; 
 making in all eleven officials of Dsoongdoo rank. Besides 
 these, there are Governors of provinces subordinate to the 
 viceroy in Shantung, Shansi, Honan, Kiangsoo, Anhwi, Kiangsi, 
 Fukien, Chihkiang, Hoope, Hoonan, Shensi, Kansu, Kwangtung, 
 Kwangsi, Yunnan, and Kweichow ; making sixteen in all of the 
 second class of second grade. Besides these, there is a provincial 
 judge and a provincial treasurer in each province. Another 
 official of the first class of fourth grade is called Taotai or 
 intendant ; of whom there are fifty-three over all the provinces, 
 some of them with one duty, some with another. 
 
 All the above officials have superior spheres of action, and 
 are located in the provincial capitals. But besides its capital, the 
 province has a large number of walled cities, to each of which is 
 attached a large country population. This walled city resembles 
 an English county town, and is the seat of the judge or 
 magistrate for the district attached to it. The magistrate is 
 called a Chihhien or Juhien; the district over which he is 
 magistrate, including the city where his headquarters are 
 situated, being called a Hien. His duties comprise those of the 
 English county judge, or the Scotch sheriff, together with the 
 authority of chief of police ; for though there are no perambulating 
 police, there is a considerable number of detectives connected 
 with the Hien Yamun, or court houses. The magistrate's 
 dwelling-house is invariably within the large enclosure 
 surrounding the Yamun. This Yamun includes the lock-up 
 
606 
 
 OFFICIALS. 
 
 and prison, as well as the judgment hall. This Hien magistrate 
 is the lowest of all the officals nominated by the Board of 
 Appointments; his being the first class of the seventh grade. 
 Above him in rank, though not always superior in authority, is 
 the Chihchow or Juchow ; the magistrate of the secondary or 
 chow city, which sometimes rules over two or three hien. This 
 magistrate rarely differs in anything from the hien, but that his 
 rank is the second of the fifth grade. Besides these, there is the 
 primary rank of cities called foo, the magistrate of which is of 
 the second class of the fourth grade. Every foo city has a hien 
 magistrate to transact the ordinary hien duties ; for the 
 Chihfoo or Jufoo occupies the post of superintendent over 
 several hien cities. He can pass more serious sentences than 
 can the hien, and there is an appeal open from the Juhien 
 to him. Sentence of death can, however, be passed only by the 
 governor, who is again over the various Jufoo of his province as 
 the Jufoo over the Juhien. The present government has added 
 considerably to Chinese territory, especially in the south-west. 
 It has increased the number of the three grades of magistracies. 
 The Chihlichow or Julichow are all recent creations of cities of the 
 chow rank. To ascertain the total number of walled cities, or what 
 might be called counties, the number of foo is excluded ; for every 
 foo includes a hien. 
 
 CHINESE WALLED CITIES. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 tn 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 to 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 I 
 
 to 
 
 o 
 
 < 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 d 
 p 
 
 * 
 
 1 
 
 | 
 
 "o 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 
 1 
 
 M 
 
 02 
 
 i 
 
 H 
 
 s 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 fi 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 w 
 
 
 
 & 
 
 M 
 
 M 
 
 i 
 
 H 
 
 
 
 
 
 Foo - - - 
 
 9 
 
 10 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 13 
 
 10 
 
 11 
 
 10 
 
 9 
 
 6 
 
 8 
 
 10 
 
 11 
 
 11 
 
 21 
 
 13 
 
 186 
 
 Chow - - 
 
 10 
 
 11 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 _ 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 8 
 
 7 
 
 15 
 
 11 
 
 31 
 
 14 
 
 150 
 
 Chihlichow 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 19 
 
 
 
 
 
 67 
 
 Hien - - 
 
 118 
 
 96 
 
 89 
 
 99 
 
 61 
 
 51 
 
 76 
 
 62 
 
 76 
 
 60 
 
 64 
 
 73 
 
 44 
 
 80 
 
 47 
 
 112 
 
 33 
 
 34 
 
 1275 
 
 Totals - - 
 
 140 
 
 107 
 
 105 
 
 109 
 
 67 
 
 60 
 
 78 
 
 64 
 
 77 
 
 68 
 
 71 
 
 84 
 
 55 
 
 90 
 
 63 
 
 142 
 
 64 
 
 48 
 
 1492 
 
 Excluding therefore the rich, extensive, and rapidly growing 
 regions of Manchuria, China can boast of about fifteen hundred 
 walled cities. 
 
COMPETITIVE EXAMINATIONS. 607 
 
 The judge of the hien is chosen from among those literary 
 men who have successfully passed the ordeal of at least two 
 great graduation examinations. We shall not here attempt to 
 describe all the process of examination, but content ourselves by 
 giving its most salient features. The Chinese youth may pick 
 up his education in any way accessible to him. He may strain 
 his eyes over those curious characters, in the dim light of the 
 small oil lamp, after his day's toiling labour is over; he may 
 learn at the poor little school of his native hamlet ; he may be 
 taught in the more expensive or secondary school of the talented 
 graduate teacher who is famous for the number of his pupils who 
 have taken degrees ; or he may get all his instruction from a 
 tutor under his father's roof. The examiner has no more to do 
 than to test by a series of similar examination papers the amount 
 of knowledge possessed by the large number of youths before 
 him, whether they are the sons of the highest dignitaries or of 
 the poorest peasant. The where and the how such knowledge 
 was obtained have nothing whatever to do with the results of 
 the competitive examination. 
 
 An easy preliminary examination by the district judge or Hien 
 weeds out some of the intending competitors by eliminating 
 those whose literary attainments are shown to be of so poor a 
 nature that they could not possibly have the least chance of 
 passing. These youths with the meagre learning are sent back 
 to study before venturing again to apply. Those who pass this 
 preliminary examination present themselves before the examiner 
 appointed by government to be examined in writing on the 
 various classics Moral and Political Philosophy, Poetry, History, 
 Cosmogony, all of which date considerably further back than 
 the Christian era. 
 
 This examination is competitive; for however large the 
 number of candidates and however excellent their talents, only 
 a definite fixed number from each hien can obtain the degree of 
 Siwtsai, a degree somewhat like our master of arts. A further 
 term of three years is then passed in study before the graduate 
 can become a candidate for the second degree of Juyin or M.A. 
 
608 OFFICIALS. 
 
 with honours. This second is necessarily a more severe 
 examination than the first, though the subjects are still the same 
 classics. The number who can in a province obtain this second 
 degree is also a fixed number, and the degree is gained by 
 competition among the Siwtsai, as the Siwtsai obtained his 
 degree by the competitions among untitled scholars. 
 
 Only after a Chinaman attains this second degree is he 
 capable of receiving the lowest magisterial office that of 
 Chihhien or district judge. It is in choosing from among these 
 potential judges those who are to become actual judges that the 
 influences of favouritism and bribery enter ; for it is no injustice 
 to the graduates left in private life that their fellow-graduates 
 have become officials. The right of choice by the government is 
 absolute ; and the reasons why one is chosen from among his 
 equals need be known only to the chosen and the immediate 
 nominating officials. Yet a considerable proportion of the 
 official class in China are men whose parents are among the 
 very poor; and if a labourer's son distinguishes himself he is 
 sure of office. 
 
 Seeing it is impossible for any man, whatever his rank, social 
 position or influence, to gain one of the magistracies of those 
 fifteen hundred cities, unless he has previously taken the second 
 degree, and seeing also that this post is open to the son of the 
 poorest labourer who possesses the natural talents, and has 
 managed to secure, in any way he could, the knowledge requisite 
 to obtain this degree, we can understand how it is that learning 
 occupies so high a place in Chinese estimation. We can also 
 perceive why learning has been and is so assiduously pursued by 
 all classes, and understand how it is that the Chinese stand out 
 so prominently as the most intelligent and talented people of 
 Asia ; for office conferred for at least twelve hundred years only 
 by competitive examinations could not have failed to greatly 
 influence the mental capacity of China. All the higher grades 
 are supplied from the ranks of Chihhien. Learning gains the 
 post of Chihhien; administrative capacity opens up the way 
 step by step from Chihhien to prime minister of China. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 THE ARMY. 
 
 THAT state of Chinese political existence corresponding to the 
 middle ages of Europe, terminated for ever with the establishment 
 of the first imperialistic dynasty, that of Tsin, which subdued 
 all China in the third century B.C. For the eight or nine 
 centuries preceding that time, known as the period of the Chow 
 dynasty, the armies of the feudal states, into which China was 
 in reality broken up, never moved during the time of spring 
 operations, nor in autumn till their grain was safely housed in 
 the garners. It was only at fixed periods of the year, when the 
 men were at leisure, that they collected together as an army ; 
 and drill had its certain terms. There was therefore no public 
 expenditure for an army; each man having to assist in protecting 
 the state which permitted him to cultivate a portion of its land. 
 The armies were therefore in reality self-supporting militia. 
 Their commander was then known as Kiangshwai, "soldier- 
 leader." But Tsin emperor established first a few garrisons and 
 army stores. Standing armies were set afoot afterwards, when 
 oiie permanent camp was made on the north of the capital, 
 another on the south, to be ready for emergencies. 
 
 We have in the beginning of our history seen the origin of 
 the Manchu soldiers, their slender resources, the paucity of their 
 number, and the undaunted bravery which dared any danger 
 while following their persevering and valiant young leader. We 
 saw also the remarkable ease with which they swelled up their 
 ranks, and the extraordinary rapidity of their wild-fire progress. 
 The Manchus were then divided into tens. They hunted with 
 the bow and arrow, each in his own " clan." Each man had 
 one " arrow," and ten bow-men were under a leader ; both the 
 o i 
 
610 THE ARMY. 
 
 ten and the leader were known as a Niroo, the name of the kind 
 of arrow with which they hunted. But as they became quickly 
 so numerous, the Niroo, in 1601, was made to number three 
 hundred men ; the leader of whom was called Niroo Ujun, Ujun 
 meaning lord. He is sometimes known as Niroo Janggin, the 
 latter being an old Chinese term for an officer of the fourth 
 grade. He is now more frequently called a Dsoling, also a 
 Chinese name. Over every five Niroo was appointed, in 
 1613, the Giala Ujun; and a Goosa Ujiin was over five 
 Giold Ujun. Each Goosa Ujun had a left and a right, or senior 
 and junior Meirun* Ujun. In 1660, the Goosa was named 
 Dootoong, and the Meirun, Foodootoong ; names which continue 
 to this day. The number forming a niroo is now but half of 
 three hundred ; nor has it been more since Peking was entered, 
 though it has varied somewhat. 
 
 Up till 1613 the Manchus were divided into four banners 
 yellow, rod, blue and white; but they had become so large an 
 army, that for efficiency in manoeuvering they were sub-divided 
 into as many more bordered yellow, bordered red, bordered 
 blue, and bordered white, a division which has remained in 
 force till the present day. The bordered yellow is the first in 
 rank, for it is imperial; the yellow is next, and the bordered 
 white third. In marching, when the country was wide, the 
 banners marched apart in parallel columns ; when narrow, they 
 marched as one army. The front ranks fought with long spears 
 and large swords. Good archers were behind the first lines; 
 and the best archers never dismounted, but always galloped to 
 the spot of greatest danger. Every man, officer and private, 
 according to his rank and merit, was rewarded immediately after 
 the battle if he acted well his part. Up to the time of their 
 entry into Peking, the Manchus never received any pay, but 
 cultivated their own grounds, carried their own provisions, and 
 supported their own families. They thus lived and fought as 
 
 AV^VV 
 
 Muirun, the shoulder, an assistant. 
 
JTHRgE. MQHV-BANNERS. 611 
 
 did the ancient Chinese, and as every dynasty has done which, 
 from without, has conquered the wealthy China. This will 
 account for the love of a comfortable private life, out of which 
 the Manchus had to be driven by the force of will of their 
 powerful rulers in Mookden, before they became standing armies 
 and garrisons in China proper. 
 
 The Chinese terms, afterwards synonymous with the above 
 named officers, were Showbei, or captain, or Dsoling over three 
 hundred men ; Yowji, Tsanling, or colonel, the Giala Ujun over 
 five Dsoling ; and the Dsoongbing, Dootoong, or Goosa Ujun, or 
 lieutenant-general over five Tsanling, and head of one of the 
 eight banners. The men under a Goosa Ujun, therefore, 
 numbered, in 1613, seven thousand five hundred men ; and the 
 total Manchu army was then sixty thousand men. 
 
 Of these there were many Mongols, and Chinese not a few ; 
 but there was no distinction between them. Very soon after 
 the great battles around Hingking, there were three hundred and 
 eight Manchu Dsoling, seventy-six Mongol, and sixteen Chinese, 
 in all four hundred, the number of men allotted to each being 
 a hundred and fifty, or half the former number. 
 
 The ranks, however, were so rapidly filled up and extended by 
 means of voluntary accessions and conquest, that, in 1635, the 
 Mongols were separated from the Manchu banners, under eight 
 banners of their own. They had then sixteen thousand eight 
 hundred and forty men thus separated. In 1637 the Chinese 
 contingent was divided into two wings, and in 1642 they were 
 detached into a separate army of their own, then numbering 
 twenty-four thousand five hundred men, also divided into eight 
 banners. This was a full year before the entry into Peking. 
 These three were henceforth called Man^ Hung, and Han, the 
 first being the Manchu, the second the Munggoo or Mongols, and 
 the third the Chinese. That division continues to exist to the 
 present day. The Han Kun or Han army being distinct 
 from the Chinese proper consists solely of those Chinese who 
 joined the Manchus on the east of Shanhaigwan previous to 
 the great battle in which the power of the robber Li was 
 
612 THE ARMY. 
 
 broken, and before their entry into Peking. They are called 
 bannermen, and their women do not bind the feet. All high 
 officials, though really Chinese, are also enrolled under one or 
 other of the eight banners of the Han Kun. But the 
 ordinary Chinese troops, or the Loo army, though far more 
 numerous, are not called Han Klin, nor regarded as so closely 
 allied to the Manchus. The Han Kun have certain privileges, 
 more than the Loo, but less than the Manchus ; but they are 
 not what they once were. These three armies Man, Mung, 
 and Han could always be relied on as belonging to the one 
 " family " ; and each banner of each army could be handled as if 
 it were an independent army ; thus being so many army corps. 
 
 The discipline and efficiency of these troops, as well as their 
 bravery, were, to begin with, of an order much higher than 
 those of the Chinese soldiers. For reasons which we cannot 
 possibly understand, the Manchu rulers of China have permitted 
 or ordered Chinese military officers to drill, or have drilled, their 
 men in western tactics, and arm them with the best attainable 
 western weapons. Hence all the best drilled and armed troops 
 in China are Chinese under the command of Chinamen. What 
 the result is to be of this unwise policy of the Manchu rulers it 
 is difficult to say. 
 
 The Manchu troops were, from an early period, divided into 
 active or marching troops and garrison troops. Of the former, 
 there were sixty thousand always prepared for service ; which, 
 with forty thousand Mongols, were an ever-ready compact army 
 of one hundred thousand men. The Manchus were almost all 
 drawn from the lands between Hingking and the Japan sea ; 
 lands now to a large extent in Russian hands. Not one of 
 them belonged to the regions beyond the Songari, or those 
 north of a line drawn from Ninguta east to the sea. When 
 the Tatars north of the Songari were conquered, the bands of 
 men afterwards attached to the Manchu armies were kept 
 distinct, as they are to this day, as the Solon detachment, the 
 Sibo detachment, &c., and have never been amalgamated in 
 the banners, though they are of the same race as the Manchus. 
 
GARRISON SOLDIERS. 613 
 
 The garrison army of Manchus was located chiefly in the 
 cities of Liaotung and Liaosi, under their Dsolings. When there 
 was no pressing military duty, they tilled the ground, lived in 
 villages, practiced the bow and arrow, and hunted at the proper 
 season. If their services were suddenly called for, each man 
 instantly mounted his 4iorse, and they formed in line as their 
 swelling numbers were on the way to the rendezvous ; they 
 were therefore in fact a well trained and efficient reserve. The 
 Chinese, who tilled the fields by their sides, were forbidden to 
 carry arms of any kind. 
 
 The army which attacked Ningyuen so unsuccessfully was one 
 hundred and thirty thousand strong, and an army of fully a 
 hundred thousand was almost always moving in some -direction 
 from Mookden to Ningyuen, Kingchow, Corea, some portion of 
 Mongolia, or into the northern provinces of China. 
 
 In every army, or every division in active service, the Eight 
 Banners were equally represented. On level ground the 
 banners marched abreast, on dangerous, narrow, or hilly roads 
 they marched banner after banner and in as many lines as the 
 necessities of the case demanded. They kept their shields and 
 muskets interlocked like a wall in front of them. Light horse 
 of the fleetest rode at each flank. The van, armed with fire- 
 arms, were the first to move outside the " Deers' horns," * and 
 formed in line to march before the men next to follow moved 
 out of their place in the camp. In returning, half of the van, in 
 battle order, brought up the rear. 
 
 When a dash was necessary or sufficient for piercing the 
 enemy's lines, Solon men were unequalled; they also made 
 excellent garrison soldiers. "But for steady endurance no 
 soldier was approachable to the old Manchu, whose mind was 
 always fixed, and whose courage was of the highest order." 
 This we can imagine as the result of a long course of victory, 
 
 * These were formed of pointed poles, heavy below, light above, thrust through a 
 strong beam, at right angles to each other, forming so many St. Andrew's crosses, 
 five feet high ; the openings between them being only wide enough to admit of the 
 passage by squeezing through of one man. This was rampart sufficient for a camp. 
 
614 THE ARMY. 
 
 secured by unquestioning and complete obedience to leaders 
 whom they fully trusted. 
 
 From an incident in the reign of Kanghi as related in the 
 Annals, we learn a remarkable custom established by Noorhachu. 
 If any man supplied with a horse an officer of or above the rank 
 of a Foodootoong, who lost his horse in fight, he was after the 
 battle presented with a horse and a suit of clothing ; if the officer 
 so presented was a Tsanling or Dsoling, the lender received a 
 horse; and for a similar service to a common soldier a cow was 
 gifted. This we learn because the law on the subject was 
 changed in 1664, as the president of the Board of War said that 
 such reward was insufficient in th6 time of Kanghi, when horses 
 and cattle were so much cheaper than thirty years before. It 
 was then decreed that the man who supplied a horse to an officer 
 between the rank of duke and Foodootoong, who lost his horse 
 in battle, would receive the reward of one hundred taels ; if the 
 officer so supplied was of any rank between a Tsanling and a 
 common soldier, the reward was sixty taels and twenty taels for 
 so supplying a common soldier. The only interpretation of this is 
 that some one, not a soldier, lending a horse during the con- 
 tinuance of the battle to one whose horse was killed under him, 
 was thus rewarded. For if the horse were gifted to the man who 
 gave his own away, the reward of a horse or a cow would be no 
 reward at all. 
 
 In the same indirect manner we ascertain that the Manchu 
 troops at first had their wives with them when on garrison duty, 
 or located in a camp; for in 1655 they were forbidden to take 
 their wives with them to camp at Woochang. During the 
 marching and fighting of the enormous armies which the Manchus, 
 with slender monetary resources, sent abroad over China, it was 
 impossible that there should not be more or less cruel oppression 
 of and exactions from the people, at which we need be the less 
 astonished when we remember that far greater enormities were 
 just then committing in France and Scotland in the name 
 of religion. The cries of distress found their way to Peking, and 
 the emperor, unlike his western brethren, was eager to prevent 
 
OPPRESSION BY ARMY. 615 
 
 all such oppression. Many of those who directed attention to 
 
 the abuses, were punished because they were in their turn 
 
 accused of making false charges; and to discover the truth 
 
 among this crimination and recrimination, the emperor appointed 
 
 a special supervising censor to investigate the condition of 
 
 Kwangtung. He reported a wretched state of matters arising 
 
 from the improper selection of officials ; the reiterated claims for 
 
 unnecessary taxes ; non-payment for labour on public works ; the 
 
 indefinite number of men so employed ; the seizure of ports by 
 
 individuals who made them a private monopoly ; taxes imposed 
 
 by private people; and the destruction of the large trees. 
 
 The censor concluded that as Kweichow and Szchuen were 
 
 then tranquil, a prince should be sent to the Kwang provinces 
 
 to "protect and cherish" the people, and give them rest. 
 
 This was in February 1659 ; and in April, Sangwei prince 
 
 Tranquillizing-the-West was ordered to govern Yunnan, prince 
 
 Levelling-the-south Shang Kosi to Kwangtung, and prince 
 
 Pacifying-the-south Koong Yoodua to Szchuen. But if it was 
 
 believed that this move would improve matters, the rebellion of 
 
 the three rebels proves how sadly misplaced was the hope. In 
 
 1663, the marshal of Honan advised the erection of a public hall 
 
 in every city, where the civil and military authorities should 
 
 meet every fifth month to consult over the differences which 
 
 might arise between the soldiers and people. The Board of War 
 
 endorsed the advice and the emperor agreed to it. Hence it 
 
 would appear that the ordinary tribunals were powerless. Again, 
 
 in 1683, when the retired viceroy of Kiangsi, who had been 
 
 acting during part of the war, returned to Peking, the emperor 
 
 strongly reprimanded him, because he had not prevented his 
 
 soldiers from plundering the people, "especially after the 
 
 conclusion of the war," and took away, or " took him down " as 
 
 the phrase is, five degrees of merit. Other officials were 
 
 blamed for the same indifference to the welfare of the people. 
 
 In 1660 a Manchu minister prayed the emperor to issue strict 
 
 orders forbidding the Manchus to destroy the markets, and from 
 
 taking forcible possession of articles. This is still a common 
 
616 THE ARMY. 
 
 grievance. The nature of it is that the man who has the 
 power, soldier or robber, takes an article for which he gives 
 only his own price, and not that of the owner. 
 
 In 1653, Hoo Jang was sent to Canton as chief commissioner 
 of the revenue (Hoppo). After his arrival there, he despatched 
 a memorial to Peking, stating that he heard of riotous conduct 
 on the part of the two armies of the princes Gung Jimao and 
 Shang Kosi,* that they took forcible possession of the wives 
 and daughters of men of distinction ; and that they had taken 
 possession of the Fantai's offices &c. The princes were put on 
 their defence. Jimao reported that when the army began the 
 siege of Canton, it was with the determination to take it or die ; 
 that they were nine months in the trenches, during which they 
 ate in the mud and slept in the rain ; they were cut up by 
 cannon, and attacked with edged weapons with such frequency 
 that it was difficult to calculate the immense numbers lost ; so 
 that when at last the city fell, the soldiers were so furious that 
 the eating of the flesh and the stripping off the skin of the 
 citizens would be insufficient to appease their anger; and if 
 among the immense numbers seized there were some honourable 
 women, how were they to be distinguished, for the city contained 
 only people in league with rebels ? To the other charges, of 
 taking forcible possession of revenue offices &c., a distinct denial 
 was made, though it was acknowledged that for a brief space after 
 they entered the city, the public offices were used as barracks, 
 till provision was made for the soldiers. Hoo Jang was degraded, 
 but the reply of the commander shows clearly enough what was 
 implied to the conquered. Indeed the mode of conducting the 
 Taiping war, and the manner in which the two recent Mahom- 
 medan rebellions on the west of China were drowned in the 
 blood of whole cities, need only be known to understand what 
 defeat means, when Chinese troops are victors ; it is, as of old, 
 vae victis. 
 
 * Meadows, in his Chinese and their rebellions, sees a reason for the wholesale 
 massacre of Manchu families by the Taipings, in that sack by the Manchus of 
 Canton ; but there was not a single Manchu in the army which took Canton, either 
 the first or second time. 
 
USUKPATION OF LANDS. 617 
 
 One other feature connected with the army, was brought 
 under imperial notice by chief Censor Toolai in 1655, when 
 praying to show true love to the people by saving them from 
 oppression and danger ; one form of which was that bannermen 
 very frequently took possession of lands not belonging to them, 
 declaring lands belonging to their neighbours to have been made 
 over to them. That was sometimes done with the concurrence 
 of the land owner, that he and the soldier might share the taxes 
 due to the imperial treasury ; and not one of the people dared 
 raise his voice ; thus his majesty was " deceived above and the 
 people plundered below." He also prayed that the Board of 
 Kevenue should ascertain accurately the exact number of 
 individuals in every bannerman's family and grant lands 
 accordingly, the usurped lands to return to the real owners. 
 " Thus " he concluded, " the people, who are as dead men, will 
 become alive, and the reduced taxation will be restored." 
 
 Hence we see that grants were proportionate to the size of a 
 Manchu's family ; for every male enrolled as a Manchu was then 
 and is now entitled to an annual income in money and grain, 
 whatever his profession or mode of life, the only condition being 
 that he must be able to use the bow and arrow, and practice it a 
 certain number of days annually. He becomes a "man" at 
 thirteen years of age. 
 
 The number of the men under the Manchu flag was 
 greatly augmented, immediately on their passage through 
 Shanhaigwan and their victory over the robber. Sangwei's army 
 was incorporated intact, and many others joined at Peking. 
 One army marched into Shansi, another into Shantung and a 
 third south to the Yangtsu, each of no less than fifty or sixty 
 thousand men. There could then be no fewer than two 
 hundred thousand men in the field ; while garrisons used up 
 as many more. In 1645, no less than two hundred thousand 
 cavalry submitted ; but half of them were dismissed to till their 
 lands again. In the reign Kienlung, there were six hundred 
 and eighty one Manchu Dsolings, two hundred and four Mongol, 
 and two hundred and sixty six Han Kun in Peking alone ; 
 
618 THE ARMY. 
 
 there were eight hundred and four Dsolings in various outside 
 garrisons, making in all a total of about two thousand Dsolings, 
 each of whom had however no more than eighty or ninety men. 
 Each Dsoling had twenty horse ; but the Han Dsoling had forty- 
 two ; the total horse in the Man and Mung armies was seventeen 
 thousand seven hundred ; under Han Dsolings eleven thousand 
 seven hundred and twenty. 
 
 The Manchu conquests to the north of them kept within the 
 right hand side of the Songari during the life of Noorhachu. 
 It was his son and successor who first led an army into the country 
 of Solon, north of the Nonni. Some Solon people paid " tribute " 
 in 1635 in the ninth year of the young monarch's reign. It was 
 probably the fact that these proved themselves admirable 
 horsemen and capital archers, which led to an expedition being 
 immediately sent northwards to summon to allegiance the 
 various clans which had not put in an appearance. This 
 expedition brought back over seven thousand men. But next 
 year Kortsin Mongols overran Solon; and the chief, who had 
 joined the Manchus, was sent back to protect his lands. An 
 army was sent north in 1640, which returned with over three 
 thousand captives. Possibly Solon men, though " their speech, 
 riding, and manners, were like the Manchu," much preferred 
 their own liberty in their own wilds, to Manchu refinements and 
 slavery in Mookden, hence orders were sent to the Kortsin 
 chief, also a vassal of the Manchus, to suppress a rising- 
 disaffection in Solon. The Mongols put down the disaffection, 
 taking nine hundred prisoners. 
 
 The chief of the family of Meirjula, gave in his allegiance to 
 Kanghi in 1671, and the name of the district was at that time 
 changed to Meirgun, called " New Manchu," and placed under 
 forty Dsolings. Eighteen years after, another expedition took 
 Locha, formerly occupied by Kussia, with all the country up to 
 the river Kerulun and Hinganling mountain range. The Kortsin 
 Mongols also revealed themselves again, and the Sibo and 
 Gworcha peoples on both banks of the Nunkiang, with the 
 Dahoor people, over fourteen thousand men, gave in their 
 
VARIOUS NORTHERN TRIBES. 61 9 
 
 adhesion. Dahoor is another name for Solon, both of which 
 names are applied to the people living between the Argun and 
 the Chingchilikiang, both rising in Hinganling, the latter 
 flowing 90 li north of Heiloongkiang city into the Amoor, the 
 former 1770 li north-west of the same city. Solon is five or six 
 days' journey, or about 200 miles north of the city of Heiloong- 
 kiang, the same east of Saksa city, taken from the Russians, and 
 1400 odd li from Chichihar city. 
 
 Beidoona or Petuna, and Chichihar, were then erected into 
 fortified cities, with a Foo Dootoong at Hoolunbeir, and Dsolings 
 in each, under the orders of the Tatar general of Heiloongkiang. 
 The "Holy Wars" state that the Liao dynasty sprang in 
 Hoolunbeir, and that their Shangking was there. But this 
 statement we cannot think correct, for their Shangking, by the 
 cotemporary measurements from Yoongping, must have been on 
 the Siramuren or Liao, just before entering Liaotung territory 
 (See History of Corea). Yet it is not impossible that the 
 Solon people are descendants of the Liao dynasty, which was 
 broken up by the Kin, and fled in various directions (See Corea). 
 
 Outside the eight Manchu, Mongol, and Han (Chinese) 
 banners, there are the regiments of Solon, Sibo, Dahoor, 
 Woolunchwun, Gworcha, ninety-seven Dsolings, each with three 
 hundred men. Their customs differ from the Mongols, for they, 
 as well as Yili men, have a fixed abode ; yet they were not enrolled 
 under the banners of Noorhachu and his successor. But none 
 of the clans east of Ninguta and Sanhing have Dsolings. 
 
 It was discovered early in Manchu history that ten Corean 
 soldiers were not equal to one Mongol, nor yet ten Mongols to 
 one Manchu ; inasmuch as the Manchus were perfectly united by 
 the similarity of their speech, clothing, dwellings, lands, and 
 products ; in their fortifications, archery, hunting, and manners. 
 In order to sustain and perpetuate this esprit de corps it was 
 that Noorhachu ordered the creation of a national Manchu 
 literature, distinct from that of China and Mongolia ; and the 
 Mongols and Chinese who early attached themselves to his 
 fortunes, were each divided into their own eight banners. 
 
20 THE ARMY. 
 
 Hence also when Sibo, with Gworcha north of Beidoona, and 
 Koorka east of Hwimchwun, entered the service, their own 
 names were retained to distinguish them from the Manchus. 
 
 On the entry into Peking of the Manchus, the privy councillor 
 Hogo was left with the two wings of the Manchu army to occupy 
 Liaotung, probably because the rulers were not quite sure as 
 to how the war would terminate ; and it was well to be sure of 
 Liaotung. It was in 1662 a Tatar general was nominated to 
 Mookden, and another to Ninguta, who was changed to Kirin 
 ten years after to prepare against the Russians. In 1683, when 
 Ninguta men defeated Locha or Russia, a Tatar general was 
 appointed to Heiloongkiang, and then for the first time were the 
 "East Three Provinces," Shungking or Liaotung, Kirin and 
 Heiloongkiang, heard of. The Manchus drove the Russians 
 across the Amoor, as they are apparently preparing to attempt to 
 do again. According to the statistics of 1758, the number of 
 " soldiers " were : In Mookden, nineteen thousand two hundred 
 and seventy-six, with three Foo Dootoongs or brigadier-generals, 
 four Chungshow Wei and two Fangshow Wei ; in Ninguta or 
 Kirin province, fourteen thousand three hundred and ninety- 
 two men, under five brigadier-generals, one Hieling, two 
 Dsolings; in Heiloongkiang or Tsitsihar, eight thousand five 
 hundred and fifty-seven under three brigadier-generals, one 
 Dsoongwan, and one Chungshow Wei; in all, including 
 Manchu, Mongol, Han, Solon, Sibo, Gworcha, Barhoo, Dahoor, 
 and Woolunchwun men, forty-two thousand two hundred to 
 defend the Manchurian provinces. The number was reduced to 
 thirty-five thousand four hundred odd, under Taokwang. 
 
 The Lingtsooi were picked horse in the capital, each Dsoling 
 having five each ; in all, five thousand five hundred and fifty- 
 five picked cavalry. There were one thousand three hundred 
 and ninety tradesmen, as bow-makers, saddlers, &c. Each 
 dsoling had two men, forming the Chienfung or vanguard ; in 
 all, one thousand three hundred and sixty-two Manchus, four 
 hundred and eight Mongols. Kienlung established a corps 
 called the Jienzooi, or ladder-men, of whom there were two 
 
IMPERIAL GUARD. 621 
 
 thousand also belonging to the vanguard. Another corps of 
 equal numbers was that of the Chinkun, or body-guard, or 
 " watchmen." Larger than these was the Hookun, or imperial 
 guard, or " rear guard " ; each dsolirig having seventeen men of 
 this corps. There were eleven thousand five hundred and 
 seventy-seven Manchus, and three thousand four hundred and 
 sixty-eight Mongols in the Hookun. Out of it was taken the 
 guard of the Yuen ming yuen palaces built by Yungching. 
 
 The H^vochi or "fire-arms" numbered six to one dsoling; 
 and all the gunners of the outer and inner cities of the capital 
 numbered one thousand nine hundred and thirty-six. Of these, 
 the Chin kun were not under the control of the banners, but of 
 the privy council. Among all these varieties of imperial guards, 
 there was not a man of the Han kun ; they were all Manchus 
 and Mongols ; the Han kun had different duties and camps. 
 The capital was then garrisoned by a force of Man, Mung, and 
 Han troops, numbering over one hundred thousand, with over 
 twenty-seven thousand four hundred men of a reserve. 
 
 There were twenty-five camps outside the capital, with a 
 total of eight thousand seven hundred and fifty-eight. The 
 Sinkiang, or Mahommedan western boundaries (conquered by 
 Kienlung over a period of five years, and at an expense of one 
 million taels per annum ; the Kulja part of it is now in dispute 
 between Russia and China) had eight garrisons with fifteen 
 thousand one hundred and forty men. The Chinese provinces 
 had twenty garrisons occupied by forty-five thousand five 
 hundred and forty men; one thousand four hundred and nineteen 
 men guarded the imperial tombs at Peking ; there were eight 
 hundred and fifty foresters and seven hundred men to look after 
 the Kirin border. In all, outside the capital, there were 
 garrisons of the three kinds of banner men of one hundred and 
 seven thousand seven hundred and sixty; and including the 
 capital, there was a total of over two hundred thousand bannermen. 
 
 Besides the three bannered armies, there was, as there is, the 
 Solon division, the Dahoor company, with that of Barhoo r 
 Chahar, the Eleuths, and Sibo. They are not included in the 
 
622 THE ARMY. 
 
 eight banners, and were all nomads before they were subjected 
 by the Manchus. There were ninety-seven nomad dsolings in 
 Heiloongkiang province, Chahar had one hundred and twenty, 
 and besides these there were other fifty dsolings, all of nomadic 
 peoples. Kirin people enlisted at pleasure, as there were no 
 dsolings. It was reported to the emperor in 1691, that the 
 Ding of Chahar numbered two hundred and twenty-six thousand 
 two hundred and seventy, of whom one-seventh belonged to 
 clans related by marriage to the imperial family. Every third 
 man of these Ding was bound to appear in arms at the summons 
 of the Peking court. This term Ding, applied to a nomadic 
 people, includes every man able to carry arms. 
 
 The Chinese troops proper were, from the beginning of the 
 Manchu dynastic rule, entirely distinct from the three bannered 
 armies ; as much apart from Han Kun as from the Man and 
 Mung banners. They were and are known as the Loo-Ying. 
 They were divided into cavalry, garrison troops, and fighting 
 troops ; the latter two divisions being infantry. 
 
 There is one small officer called Waiwei, much like a sergeant, 
 attached to each Chihhien or district magistrate over the 
 empire. His duties are, with his twenty men, to be always on 
 the move among the villages forming the district to which he 
 is attached, to see that there is no disturbance. If there should 
 be legal difficulties or serious brawls he can judge and settle 
 minor cases ; but as he is usually illiterate, he has to employ a 
 scholar of sharp wits, who goes with him, and whom he consults; 
 but he alone is responsible. He is thus a sort of inferior police 
 magistrate. These Waiwei are all mounted. 
 
 The Chinese troops or Looying of the various provinces were, 
 in Chihli, forty-two thousand five hundred and thirty-two men ; 
 Shantung, twenty thousand one hundred and seventy-four; 
 Shansi, twenty-five thousand five hundred and thirty-four; 
 Honan, thirteen thousand eight hundred and thirty-four; 
 Kiangsoo, fifty thousand one hundred and thirty-four ; Anhwi, 
 eight thousand seven hundred and twenty-four; Kiangsi, thirteen 
 thousand eight hundred and thirty-two; Fukien, sixty-three 
 
A MILLION OF SOLDIERS. 623 
 
 thousand three hundred and forty; Chihkiang, thirty-nine 
 thousand and nine ; Hoope, twenty-two thousand seven hundred 
 and forty; Hoonan, thirty-five thousand five hundred and ninety; 
 Shensi, forty -two thousand nine hundred and sixty ; Kansu 
 including Hi, Balikun, Urumchi, &c., fifty-five thousand six 
 hundred and nineteen; Szchuen, thirty-four thousand one 
 hundred and eighty-eight ; Kwangtung, sixty-nine thousand and 
 fifty-two; Kwangsi, twenty-three thousand and forty-eight; 
 Yunnan, forty-two thousand five hundred and forty-nine ; and 
 Kweichow, forty-eight thousand four hundred and ninety: in 
 all, six hundred and sixty-one thousand six hundred and fifty-six. 
 That there was under Kienlung, in camp and garrison, a grand 
 total of nearly a million soldiers is very probable ; but not one- 
 third of that number was ever collected together under Manchu 
 rule. The border provinces have necessarily large numbers of 
 men more or less thoroughly trained to arms, because border 
 troubles are incessant ; and from the north of Kansu, along the 
 western and southern frontiers of China, there are many semi- 
 independent tribes which would certainly make an effort to take 
 the wealth of the Chinese cities of the province next to them 
 were they not always kept in check; and though frontier 
 difficulties are not blazoned abroad to the world, in one place or 
 another there is always more or less serious fighting. Yet those 
 men, numbering nearly seven hundred thousand, were not 
 regarded as an army fit to meet regular armies. They rather 
 resembled so many armed police, or provincial militia; and 
 their duties consisted, as now, in keeping the peace of their own 
 province, or section of a province ; for in Chihli there were four 
 distinct headquarters, three in Shantung, six in Kiangsoo, &c. 
 Those were therefore local troops. The imperial troops have 
 always been distinct from the provincial. Their field of action 
 may be the neighbouring city or the remotest boundary. They 
 may be said to represent a grand reserve, always ready to march 
 where the emperor finds the local forces unable to cope with the 
 troubles of their province. These imperial troops are the 
 regular army, supposed to be thoroughly drilled, and are better 
 
 OF TH 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
624 THE ARMY. 
 
 found than the local forces. This army is therefore the sheet 
 anchor of the dynasty. The troops are inspected every spring 
 and autumn ; and a grand general review is made every fifth 
 year, when those found worthy are advanced ; the unfit, the 
 covetous, and the feeble cashiered ; but if those become feeble 
 had formerly won a creditable name, they were still kept on. 
 
 Colonel Gordon may be said to be the founder of the existing 
 imperial army; for it was he especially who proved the 
 superiority of native troops drilled as westerns drill, over the 
 native troops educated under the old tactics. The present 
 imperial army is mainly that of Li Hungchang, lying at Tientsin, 
 and drilled at first chiefly by English-speaking officers. This 
 drill, with foreign arms, is spreading extensively ; but what is very 
 remarkable, is that this new drill, with these new fire-arms of 
 precision, with ever so many Krupp guns, are by the Manchu 
 government placed almost exclusively in the hands of native 
 Chinese, under Chinese officers ; while nine-tenths of the Manchu 
 troops are mere pensioners of state, exercised with the bow and the 
 arrow, but unacquainted with the use of fire-arms. How this 
 curious state of matters will end, or why it exists, it is difficult 
 to say ; but it certainly looks to a foreigner pregnant with future 
 trouble. The army, at the present moment masters of Kashgar 
 and threatening to attack the advanced Russian posts, is another 
 drilled and equipped like that of Tientsin, but having no 
 immediate connection therewith. As its commander, Tso 
 Tsungtang, is a viceroy, as well as Li Hungchang ; and as his 
 successes in the far west have, for the time, at the least raised 
 him to a level in popularity with Li, the Manchus may not 
 unreasonably believe themselves perfectly safe between the two ; 
 for these two successful commanders will hold each other in 
 equipoise. Meantime Manchu and Chinese are united by a 
 common hatred of the western. 
 
 The pay of the Chinese army has always been partly in grain, 
 partly in money. We learn from the " Holy Wars " that the pay, 
 in the period Yungching, was four taels per month for the 
 Chienfung, Chinkun, Hookun, Lingtsooi and the best artizans ; 
 
SOLDIER'S PAY. 625 
 
 and three for the secondary artizans who were cavalry ; two taels 
 for the Lingtsooi of the infantry. A man had, besides twenty- 
 four Hoo or bushels, each five Dow of grain per annum. The 
 cavalry of the three camps of the capital received two taels per 
 month, and the infantry one and a half; garrison troops had one 
 tael per month ; each of those men had, besides, five Dow of rice 
 per month. This is the pay of the common Manchu soldier at 
 the present day, but twenty per cent, sticks to the fingers of the 
 various paymasters, and the Manchu soldier receives only eighty 
 cents per month instead of a hundred. The garrisons and camps 
 of the provinces were paid the same sums of money as are paid 
 to the capital camps and garrisons, but received only three Dow 
 of rice per month. 
 
 The pay in silver of a Tidoo or general, was equal to eighty 
 of the Chinkun, or three hundred and twenty taels; of a 
 Dsoongbing or lieut. -general, was equivalent to sixty of the 
 Chinkun, or two hundred and forty taels; of a Fookiany or 
 major-general, to thirty ; of a Tsanling or colonel, to twenty ; of 
 a Yowji or major, to fifteen ; of a Doosu or captain, to ten ; of a 
 Showbei or lieutenant, to eight ; of a Ghiendsoong or ensign, to 
 five ; and of a Badsoong or sergeant, to four. The Badsoong 
 commands fifty men, and the lowest officer has ten under him. 
 
 When the three rebels were finally overthrown, Kanghi 
 distributed a donation of six and a half millions of taels among 
 the Manchu soldiers, each family receiving several hundred taels. 
 Not very long after, as much more was divided among them. 
 The emperor Yungching made frequent presents to the Manchu 
 soldiery, usually consisting of an extra month's pay. They 
 would be glad now, did they receive their regular pay, or three 
 hundred thousand taels per month without any extras. 
 
 There are five degrees of merit, accompanied by as many 
 grades of rank and pay, open to the Manchu soldier in actual 
 fighting, in the capture of prisoners, in scaling or taking forts, 
 cities, camps, or ships. The money grant ranges from a hundred 
 taels to thirty taels. The size of the captured city or ship 
 decides the prize given, and each of the five men first in tho 
 p i 
 
626 THE ARMY. 
 
 capture have their graduated reward, according to the post each 
 occupied as first, second, &c. The Chinese soldier in the same 
 circumstances is also similarly rewarded ; the first of the five is 
 made a Yowji, whatever his previous rank ; the others become 
 Showbei, Chiendsoong, &c. The various rewards in grants of 
 money, or in rank and pay, are carefully noted in the govern- 
 mental dictionary of the Manchu dynasty ; and all conceivable 
 positions and cases are provided for. 
 
 Under Shunchih, the first Manchu emperor, there were eighty 
 thousand Manchus under arms, each of whom is said to have cost 
 an average of a thousand taels and a thousand dan of rice per 
 annum. Each soldier Kid represented several tens or even 
 hundreds of able-bodied men Ding. In the time of Kienlung, 
 there were several hundred thousands of Ding, and under Taok- 
 wang there were several millions. The greater proportion of the 
 lands belonging to these, within 500 li of the capital, was in the 
 hands of Chinese cultivators, the Manchus themselves not caring 
 to work their own lands. Within that area no Chinese were 
 allowed to settle up to the period Kienlung. Those "several 
 millions " were stowed away somewhere in or around the capital, 
 no one knew why or where ; but constituting a burden which the 
 land was unable to bear ; for they were neither scholars, agri- 
 culturists, labourers, merchants, soldiers, nor citizens. The army 
 expenditure of Han and Tang dynasties was well known ; but 
 never before was it heard that a huge multitude of men existed 
 only to be fed by the public. Immense tracts of land were lying 
 waste in Liaotung, Ninguta, Heiloongkiang and other places, 
 but it required memorial after memorial to get some of the idle 
 Manchus sent to cultivate those lands. There were several 
 myriads again sent to Hoongchungdsu, 70 li beyond Dooshukow, 
 and on 100 li further to Kaiping, the Shangtu of Yuen dynasty. 
 Some more myriads were sent to cultivate the lands beyond 
 Kalgan, 70 li to Hinghochung, and 100 li further west to 
 Sinpingchung. There were, in the beginning of this century, 
 over ten thousand Manchu soldiers between Zehol, the ancient 
 Daning Wei, and Kweihwa and Swiyuen on the west, the 
 
EXHAUSTING CIVIL LIST. 627 
 
 ancient Li Wei and Chow Wei, while Chahar was occupied as 
 pasture. 
 
 An earnest and eloquent appeal was made to scatter the 
 Manchu families hanging on in the capital, many of whom wished 
 to be tillers of the ground. It was recommended to purchase a 
 hundred mow of land for each family, and let them settle down to 
 work in Liaotung and the other places above mentioned, where 
 Mongol families might join them. They could from all those 
 places rapidly converge on the capital if occasion demanded their 
 presence, while their continued inaction enervated, enfeebled, 
 and discouraged them. The Han Kun was also recommended 
 to be disbanded among the Chinese people out of which they 
 came, and thus the enormous drain on the resources of the 
 country, which was being uselessly thrown away, would be stopped. 
 
 At that time the various princes, Beiras, and other Manchu 
 nobles had three thousand three hundred and thirty-eight ching 
 of public lands in their possession; and all the Manchus had 
 one hundred and forty thousand one hundred and twenty-eight 
 ching, or a hundred times as many mow in their unalienated 
 possession; for these lands are really entailed. The Sibo 
 garrison of a thousand men in Hi had twenty four thousand 
 mow of arable land granted them in perpetuity. That land ran 
 on both sides of the river for 200 li ; and they had new lands 
 thereafter granted them. 
 
 Whether or not it has resulted from the arguments of the 
 " Holy Wars," the modern condition of the Manchus is different 
 from that of a generation ago, for in Manchuria there are myriads 
 upon myriads of Manchus working their own farms. But still 
 every adult man receives his yearly government allowance ; and 
 notwithstanding the numbers comfortably working their own 
 farms there are scores of thousands in Mookden in exactly the 
 same condition as that deprecated by the Holy Wars; "existing" 
 on the yearly pittance of the government, every one hoping for 
 something to turn up ; but the many are too idle and the few 
 too ambitious, to till their own lands, which have, by mortgage, 
 mostly fallen into Chinese hands. 
 
628 THE AKMY. 
 
 The standing and active armies of the Manchus have been less 
 in number, but of greater expense, than the armies of former 
 dynasties. The Ming army which marched into Annam is said 
 to have been several hundred thousands strong ; the Manchus 
 overcame all Annamite opposition with eighteen thousand men. 
 The Ming armies against Pochow and Loochuen, were over two 
 hundred thousand ; the forces sent by the Manchus to subdue 
 the Miao and the Man of Yunnan and Kweichow, were between 
 twenty and thirty thousand men. The Manchus have never 
 sent as many as a hundred thousand against the western lands 
 of Central Asia, and seven thousand men took Kokonor 
 (Chinghai). Hwojijan was taken by thirty thousand; and 
 twenty thousand penetrated Burma. But Kanghi had four 
 hundred thousand troops actively engaged against Woo Sangwei. 
 
 But the large figures of former dynasties are explained in 
 another portion of the " Holy Wars." It has been said that 
 about twenty thousand men sufficed, in Kienlung, to conquer 
 Annam ; but they were called three hundred thousand. When 
 Jihar threatened to bid for Chinese empire, he had thirty 
 thousand followers, but these were reported as a hundred 
 thousand; Jung Chunggoong had a hundred and seventy 
 thousand, but they were called a million. Thus Yunglo of the 
 Ming sent an army against Annam, given out to be eight 
 hundred thousand, whereas it was in reality little over fifty 
 thousand ; and when another Ming emperor is said to have sent 
 half a million men .across Shamo, it must be remembered that 
 the Wpo emperor of Han dynasty sent no more than a hundred 
 thousand, divided into two armies. So that the nominal armies 
 set in motion in China, have differed considerably from the 
 actual ones. We might add that the experience of Li Dsuchung 
 would seem to imply that camp followers and servants were also 
 included in the sum total of the army. 
 
 Besides the cost of supporting the men, there was a large 
 expenditure for cattle, Kanghi had a hundred and sixteen 
 thousand eight hundred and thirteen horses in three camps, to 
 guard the capital, and eighty-six thousand and^twenty-one in 
 
IMPERIAL HORSES. 629 
 
 outer garrison barracks. Each horse was allowed nine Doiu of 
 liao, which is a mixture of pulse and millet, for a winter month, 
 and six for a summer one, with thirty bundles of straw ; repre- 
 senting an expense of two and a half taels. Besides these, 
 there were feeding on pastures beyond Kalgan or Jangjiakow, 
 Dooshukow, and at Dalingho, a hundred thousand horses, sixty 
 thousand oxen, and two hundred thousand sheep, their excellent 
 pasture costing nothing ; if fed on Chinese soil, ten thousand 
 taels per day would not suffice to keep them. The Liao, Kin, 
 and Yuen dynasties, had also their pastures beyond the border, 
 but the Ming were too much afraid of the northerners to trust 
 any cattle so far north. 
 
 Though the horses belonging to his majesty were extremely 
 numerous and very hardy, they were unfit to carry anything 
 beyond the great sandy, gravelly desert of Gobi, where the camel 
 alone could be employed as beast of burden. This bactrian 
 should have his two humps covered with padding to keep his 
 burden off his skin, and with the same object his back should be 
 protected by a saddle ; on hilly and gravelly ground his hoofs 
 should be shod with leather shoes, and to save his nose* he 
 should be gently led. He carries fifteen Dow of rice. 
 
 When Yungching sent an army against the western barbarians, 
 he had a cart made five feet long and two feet wide, with one 
 driver and two men on each side to help. Five carts were called 
 a Woo, twenty a Chung, one hundred a Dooi, and a thousand a 
 Ying or camp. In attack two Dooi led the van, three brought 
 up the rear, and the other five surrounded the commander. By 
 day the carts were laden with and carried the grain, by night 
 they were arranged in a circle round the camp, forming a wall. 
 But one commander, advancing in that order, suffered a fearful 
 defeat. Such carts, says the " Holy Wars," should be in such 
 order that they could serve as a rallying centre for the infantry, 
 and admit of the passing and repassing of cavalry ; and always 
 on level ground. Woolanbootoong of Jwunhar, advanced against 
 
 * The Mongols thrust a small piece of wood through the gristle of the nose, to 
 which the string leading the animal is attached. 
 
630 THE ARMY. 
 
 the Chinese with bows and arrows, employing camels as a 
 covering wall; for that battle order was believed invincible. 
 But the Manchus crossed the river, attacked and soon broke up 
 the camel-line in front with their cannon, while the cavalry and 
 a portion of the infantry wheeled round the hill, attacked the 
 rear, and utterly defeated them. 
 
 The army sent by Kienlung against Sinkiang was out five 
 years, costing annually three million taels, of which Kansu 
 supplied the large half. The men were also those of Kansu and 
 Shensi, besides Manchus and Mongols. The western and north- 
 western foes were the easiest vanquished of all the enemies of 
 the Manchus. The Manchu troops sent down from the north 
 against Woo Sangwei, cost thrice the amount spent on the same 
 number of Chinese local troops; and it was said that each 
 Heiloongkiang Manchu cost as much as ten Chinese. The 
 aborigines of Kinchuen mountains, on the other hand, cost only 
 half as much as an ordinary Chinese soldier ; and in battle he is 
 equal to ten Chinese, from his ardent, fierce, and fearless nature. 
 They were the most difficult to overcome of all the foes encoun- 
 tered by the Chinese. As soldiers in the Chinese army, they 
 stand at the head of the best soldiers, and are rewarded by 
 buttons, peacock's feathers, titles of batooroo, &c. Rebels never 
 wait an attack by them. (See Kinchuen in " Aborigines.") 
 
 But the " Holy Wars " complains of the silence of the Manchu 
 state papers on the defeats sustained by their generals, while so 
 eloquent on their victories. When marching against the three 
 Ming princes, the Manchu commanding princes dared not move 
 beyond Hoonan. The Beira Doonga was defeated in and driven 
 out of Shensi, losing the whole province. Viceroy Jin Gwangdsoo 
 and general Shooshoo, dared only look at the frontier of the two 
 Kwangs and retired. Jwunhar was long unopposed, and often 
 victorious. The frightful catastrophe at Foordan was unmen- 
 tioned, whence only a couple of thousands returned of an army 
 of nearly ten times that number. The almost equally crushing 
 defeats of Hotoongbai, Eleuths, and Kalawoosoo, were also 
 unnoted. The Tsandsan commander was able to do nothing in 
 
MILITARY TALENT. 631 
 
 Burma, nor Wunfoo in Kinchuen ; while the generals patched a 
 peace with Burma by making money payments ; and Zooi Hung 
 was helpless in Taiwan ; yet all these failures were passed over 
 in silence. 
 
 The " Holy Wars " devotes a chapter to the composition of an 
 army, from which we extract the following : A man of first class 
 literary ability is not necessarily a good general. The grand 
 secretary Jang Tingy ii should have kept his lines at Foordan ; 
 but advanced to battle, and was therefore utterly defeated. Liw 
 Toonghiin retreated on Balikwun from Hami, when he should 
 be making forced marches against the rebels of Kansu and 
 Shensi. We pass over many other instances to notice the 
 exception of Li Jufang, governor of Fukien, who hurried to 
 prevent the rebel Gung, and fought to the death. When 
 marching against Chahar, Kanghi urged on the army, with 
 promises of large rewards if they were successful. A very 
 brief space brought the war to a successful termination, for 
 "each man fought as if he were a hundred men." When 
 Jwunhar was on his triumphant progress towards China, Kanghi 
 ordered the grand secretary, Li Gwangdi. to head the army 
 against him. The grand secretary turned pale, and the emperor 
 laughed, saying he would soon stop their march; he went in 
 person and did stop them. The Manchu generals were 
 uneducated, very few could write Chinese ; yet they conquered 
 China. The strategy of one successful Liaotung officer in the 
 period Kiaching who conquered in every battle he fought, 
 whether in Nepaul or Taiwan, against the southern Miao or the 
 northern Liaotung robbers was to attack a short line with a 
 long ; to march by a road which the enemy would not suspect, 
 and to attack when the enemy was unprepared. When nearing 
 the enemy he camped about 20 or 30 li distance ; and marched 
 at midnight, to take the enemy by surprise with the first streaks 
 of day. If he ascertained that the enemy was aware of his plan 
 of attack, he sent bodies of men by round-about ways to attack 
 unexpectedly. He always marched in battle order, and was 
 never taken by surprise ; and if unexpectedly he came up 
 
632 THE ARMY. 
 
 with a foe, he ordered an attack on the instant, while the 
 enemy was still unprepared. Jushow, a lieut. -colonel of Kanghi, 
 defeated several thousand Eleuths at Hami with two hundred 
 men. A major-general of Yungching's defeated several thousand 
 Miao with four hundred men in Yunnan ; and with two thousand 
 overcame several myriads of Miao at Woonung. Another major- 
 general, with two thousand men, successfully resisted twenty 
 thousand Eleuths at Balikwun. One officer, with one thousand 
 six hundred men, drove the enemy from Hi to Balikwun. 
 Jushow repeated his exploits again and again at Kokonor. 
 
 In regard to an army, therefore, the choice of general is of 
 first importance; drill and discipline are the second grand 
 requisite. As to men, the southern Chinese are said not to 
 equal the northern ; nor can the northern Chinese approach the 
 men beyond the north border. The "Red-haired"* sailed 
 their ships without let or hindrance in the outer seas till Jung 
 Chunggoong fought and took Taiwan. Jwunhar trampled down 
 all Chahar, till Yoong Chin Wang in a fierce battle defeated 
 them with terrible slaughter. Hence can be seen, that the 
 strength or weakness of an army is in the general rather than in 
 the army. There never has been an army always victorious ; 
 but there have been generals who never lost a battle. 
 
 The Ming largely employed the aborigines of the south in 
 their armies, the Lang troops of Kwangsi and the Miao of 
 Hookwang, Yoongshwun and Paoning, who were successful in 
 nine out of ten battles. 
 
 A mode of discipline, said by the "Holy Wars" to be an 
 ancient one, is recommended for modern armies. Of local 
 troops, every ten had a Head, every hundred a Chief, every five 
 hundred a Badsoong, and three thousand under a Tsankiang 
 formed a Ting. If a Ting fled the Tsankiang was beheaded ; 
 the Badsoong, Chief and Head suffering the same fate if their 
 respective bodies fled. But if a Ying fled and the Tsankiang 
 died fighting, five Badsoongs were beheaded ; if the Badsoong's 
 company fled but he died fighting, ten Chiefs were beheaded ; 
 
 * Dutch ; but often applied to all Europeans. 
 
DECLARATION OF WAR. 633 
 
 and ten Heads were executed if the Chief whose men fled died 
 fighting ; and the Head dying in battle was avenged by nine of 
 his flying men losing their heads. Thus the "Holy Wars" 
 concludes : " Flight would be more terrible than the fight." 
 
 On declaring war, the Manchus have always worshipped and 
 sacrificed in the Tangdsu or Ancestral Temple, and the Temple 
 of Heaven, which is considered of more importance still. The 
 emperor himself prays in the Ancestral Temple and at the 
 Temple of Heaven, beseeching heaven to aid his arms. On 
 the eighth day of the fourth moon (May) the emperor worships 
 .and sacrifices to all the gods at the Ancestral Temple. The 
 special god of Whandien of the Ancestral Temple is called 
 Niwwhan Taiji Woodoobun Beidsu, which is apparently one 
 Mongol and one Manchu name. The " abode " of this special 
 god of the Ancestral Temple is in the south-east corner thereof. 
 Thither, on the first of every moon, goes the Neigwan Ling 
 alone; and doffing his hat, throwing off his jacket, untying 
 his girdle, he enters and kowtows to this god. There is a Ma 
 Shun or " Horse-god," also located in the Ancestral Temple ; 
 and he is sacrificed to when the horses require especial care. 
 When Noorhachu began his wars, he made his oaths to heaven 
 in this temple (Tangdsu) ; and when his relations sought his 
 death, it was in Tangdsu they made their oath. The Tangdsu 
 is therefore the oldest and most revered place of worship of the 
 Manchus ; but we cannot trace the origin of the god Whandien 
 Beidsu. 
 
 The laws of Kienlung are particular enough on the subject of 
 the army. The Chinese armies are composed of volunteering 
 recruits; but the three bannered armies are bound to serve 
 generation after generation. Hence there is a most careful 
 census taken of the Man, Mung, and Han families every fifth 
 year, when every son above four * years old had to be registered. 
 Failure to return a complete list of the family involved the head 
 
 *In Chinese, always at least one year younger than by western calculations; 
 for the child's birth year is its first year, and the child is two years old with the 
 first new-year's day after its birth. 
 
634 THE ARMY. 
 
 of the family in a punishment of a hundred blows. Every 
 family with lands is compelled to give at least one member to 
 the public service. The head of a family, not himself subject 
 to this conscription, reporting as a member of his own family 
 a man belonging to another family subject to the conscription, 
 or if having such a man in his family, he did not report him, 
 he was equally guilty with the man who had given an imperfect 
 return. The only exception was the case of an uncle, brother, 
 or nephew hiding the conscript in his house ; but the exception 
 was valid only on condition that both families lived in the same 
 compound. This was to give a certain latitude of excuse to 
 natural affection. The penalty was not decreased even though 
 the man in question was in actual public service ; so that the 
 utmost importance was attached to a correct census. The 
 unregistered man, subject to service, who arrived at manhood 
 or sixteen years of age, and reported himself as a child or as an 
 old man, or pretended sickness or infirmity to evade service, 
 was beaten by a punishment graduated according to the age 
 and number of the members of his family. 
 
 The Li Headman,* neglecting to report any individuals or 
 families, without his li, subject to service, was beaten more or 
 less severely in proportion to the numbers unregistered, rising 
 from thirty to a hundred blows. The district magistrate, in the 
 same circumstances, was only two degrees less guilty than the 
 Li Headman ; and if he had taken bribes to retain silence, his 
 punishment was trebled. In every instance the man or men 
 unregistered, were at once to be notified as liable to serve. 
 
 The laws relating to the actual army begin by ordering the 
 officer in charge of an army, division or patrol, to give immediate 
 information to his superior if any rising took place in his 
 neighbourhood. Such superior had also to at once forward the 
 information to his majesty, if the occasion demanded a greater 
 force than was in the vicinity. But though information to the 
 chief local commander was essential in any case, there was no 
 
 * See Taxation. A child is any one under sixteen, an old man over sixty, both 
 in Chinese style. 
 
MILITARY LAWS. 635 
 
 necessity for him to send on express to his majesty, if the local 
 troops were sufficient. If the superior failed to act as the 
 occasion demanded he was subject to degradation and to be 
 sentenced to the private ranks of a border army. 
 
 That officer was to be severely punished, even if he lost nothing, 
 who neglected to send for urgent aid from his commander, when 
 he found himself opposed by a body of the enemy too powerful 
 for himself alone. The express " flying " courier was to be sent 
 from the commander to the governor or viceroy, and thence to 
 the Board of War. Degradation was the penalty of the officer 
 failing to carry out this order ; and if, for want of such informa- 
 tion, the army, or portion thereof threatened, was defeated, the 
 officer or official responsible for the omission was to be beheaded. 
 
 Among the regulations is one providing for foes surrendering. 
 Such should be sent on at once to the capital ; and if any man 
 from love of plunder, killed the surrendering, or oppressed and 
 harassed him, he was to be beheaded. News of a captured city 
 should be sent to the commanding general by a "flying" courier. 
 
 Beheading was the penalty of revealing the imperial policy 
 to the rebels; and a punishment, severe in proportion to the 
 nature of the document, was his who opened any cover to or 
 from the army, if he were not the person to whom the cover was 
 addressed. Punishment varying from blows to beheading 
 followed the revelation by an inferior officer of what he had 
 learned from his superior; while the lightest punishment was 
 coupled with cashiering, and the offender could never again be 
 employed. 
 
 Whoever, in the capital or elsewhere, belonging to the army 
 or the people, was secretly in league and friendly with any 
 foreigner, and revealed any important matter to him, was 
 banished to the border army; and an officer so guilty was 
 cashiered. 
 
 The commissariat has always been carefully attended to in 
 China. If the officials in charge of commissariat failed to 
 distribute such at the proper time, they were sentenced to a 
 hundred blows; and were beheaded if, on account of their 
 
636 THE ARMY. 
 
 neglect, the army suffered disaster. The commanding officer, 
 failing to march on the day ordered, was to be punished with 
 seventy blows for the first day's delay, the punishment increasing 
 with every three days' delay. The punishment was a degree 
 more severe if the officer maimed or seriously wounded himself 
 or^falsely reported sickness. But the penalty was more serious 
 if the enemy was at hand, being a hundred blows for one day's 
 delay and beheading for three days'. Sentence however could 
 be avoided if, before passing it, the officer acquired great merit, 
 and thus atoned for his crime. The penalty of advancing 
 before the date appointed was almost equally severe. This was 
 needful to secure simultaneous action by different armies, or 
 different sections of an army which had to march by various 
 routes. The skill, the regularity, the punctuality with which the 
 various widely separated detachments, which a few years ago 
 recovered Kashgar,were concentrated after months of independent 
 marching, elicited the admiration of European military critics. 
 
 The private who got another man, by hiring or otherwise, to 
 occupy his place, he himself retiring, was severely beaten as well 
 as^his substitute ; a garrison soldier suffering two degrees less. 
 But the case might be overlooked if the substitute were the son, 
 grandson, younger brother, or nephew of the soldier. The old, 
 the infirm, or the sick soldier, was freed from camp life, by 
 application to his superior officer. A doctor appointed to the 
 army, hiring another to supply his place, was punished with a 
 hundred blows, his substitute suffering the same ; and the hiring 
 wages were confiscated. The man employing his slave as a 
 substitute was, with his slave, beaten a hundred blows, and the 
 slave was confiscated. 
 
 If the commandant of a fort or city failed to hold out stoutly, 
 and suffered the city to fall into the enemy's hands, he was 
 beheaded ; so was the watchman on an elevated post, who could 
 see, but failed to give notice by " flying " courier to the threa- 
 tened city or fort, of the approach of the enemy. Those taken 
 by and guiding the enemy in their predatory incursions into the 
 country, were beaten a hundred blows, and sent to serve in the 
 
MILITARY LAWS. 637 
 
 furthest army. The first to flee from an engagement, or retire 
 
 from a siege, were beheaded. The commanding officer was 
 
 punished in proportion to the damage done, if the enemy rushed 
 
 into camp and plundered cattle, clothing, or grain, or wounded 
 
 or killed men, if such attack was due to the want of proper 
 
 sentries. The officer who misled the government by a false 
 
 report ; who from secret envy or private vengeance wrote falsely 
 
 in a way damaging to his commander ; or wrongously blamed 
 
 another for his want of success against the enemy, was beheaded. 
 
 To preserve the peace with the bordering tribes, it was enacted 
 
 that the officer in command of a post to protect the frontier, who 
 
 sent a band of men across the frontier to steal men, or pillage 
 
 goods, was beaten a hundred blows and cashiered, and sent as a 
 
 private to the nearest army. The officers of the marauding 
 
 company were beaten one degree less than the commanding 
 
 officer, but the privates escaped punishment. But if a company 
 
 went privately, unknown to their commander, the leader was 
 
 beaten a hundred blows, and his followers ninety ; the leader 
 
 was beheaded, if they happened to wound a man ; and in each 
 
 case all the men concerned were sentenced to the ranks of the 
 
 furthest army. If their commanding officer did not take 
 
 measures to prevent such marauding parties, he was beaten, but 
 
 not otherwise punished. The capture of a city, after the defeat 
 
 of its rebel holders, was beyond the action of this law. The 
 
 soldiers who plundered any portion of the country under their 
 
 charge were beheaded, and the commanding officer beaten 
 
 eighty blows, because he did not prevent such plundering. It 
 
 is needless to say how ineffectual was this law in practice, 
 
 depending for its fulfilment on the character of the officer in 
 
 command of every separate detachment. If the commander, 
 
 Wang, Beira, or of other rank, burned, destroyed, injured, or 
 
 plundered the property or person of good citizens, on pretence 
 
 of their being connected with rebels, he was judged by court 
 
 martial; even if of the Imperial Clan, he was to be severely 
 
 punished. If the guilty officer was under the rank of 
 
 Tsandsan, "great minister," he was punished a hundred 
 
THE ARMY. 
 
 blows without such court martial. This was the lowest 
 sentence. 
 
 The commanding officer of a camp was to be beaten for 
 neglecting regular practice ; and the commandant of a fort for 
 failing to have in readiness garments, mail, arms, and staves. 
 And he was to be beheaded who lost a city because he had by 
 his oppression alienated the citizens, thus rendering it impossible 
 to hold out in the city. A long law against such conduct in 
 Shansi and Shensi, would seem to imply that such oppression 
 had been common there. Fukien is then singled out for its 
 mobbing propensities, mobs stopping markets, closing the 
 literary examination halls, beating magistrates ; and the magis- 
 trate who neglected to strictly examine into such mob-acts was 
 sentenced to severe punishment. 
 
 Then follow minute laws as to seizure of the horse of an enemy 
 and its disposal, it being forbidden the captor to sell such horse 
 beyond the army ranks. There are severe laws against selling, 
 giving away, damaging, or losing any army material. The punish- 
 ment in case of damaging was more severe than that of losing or 
 abandoning ; but when arms were lost on the battle field, there 
 was no punishment. The civilian who had mail of man or horse, 
 musket, cannon, flag, banner, title, girdle, or any other article 
 strictly belonging to the army, or any weapons such as are used 
 in the army, together with the private maker of such article, was 
 punished, by degrees varying with the number and importance 
 of such military articles in his possession ; but a maker was not 
 punished for possessing an unfinished weapon, because this was 
 proof that there was no design of using it. But bow and 
 arrow, musket for an official, besides fish-spears and harvest- 
 hooks were beyond the limits of the laws. The law against 
 forging of cannon is worth quoting, as it shows the importance 
 attached thereto. Whoever, officer or private, magistrate or 
 people, forged a "horse "-cannon, or other large or small cannon, 
 was to be beheaded, with the smith engaged in it ; his wife and 
 children, with his property, were to be confiscated; and the 
 master of the nearest house on each side of the place where such 
 
FIRE-ARMS. 639 
 
 forging took place were strangled, together with the Li Headman. 
 The civil magistrate and military officer over that district were 
 cashiered, and their immediate superiors were to be strictly 
 examined. It is difficult to ascertain whether this law had ever 
 occasion to be enforced ; we imagine not, for where cannon have 
 been forged to war against the government, good care has been 
 taken to chose a " smithy " where there was no risk of being seen 
 by government officials. 
 
 The natives of places infested with robbers or wild beasts 
 were allowed to possess such fowling-pieces as were in use in the 
 army; but the name of the owner had to be engraved on the piece 
 and the possession registered in the district magistrate's office. 
 The posession of an unregistered piece brought heavy punish- 
 ment, which was also decreed against the soldier who oppressed 
 the people on the ground of possessing contraband arms, or in 
 pretending to search for such. These strict laws to keep the 
 Chinese population unarmed are in full operation still, and they 
 show the fear of the rulers of the possibility of rebellion ; but 
 the laws are not peculiar to the Manchu dynasty in China. 
 
 The person firing his fowling piece in a quarrel and wounding 
 another man was sentenced to banishment, the Manchu to 
 Ninguta, the Chinaman to cultivate light sandy soil in Yunnan, 
 Kweichow, Szchuen, or the Kwang. This law was made 
 specially applicable to Formosa. Severe punishment was 
 inflicted on the person possessing gunpowder, saltpetre, or 
 sulphur in any quantity ; and his next door neighbours, knowing 
 .of the existence of this contraband article, were also heavily 
 punished; but the informer, though originally implicated, 
 was pardoned. The owner of a boat carrying it, was equally 
 guilty with the principal, if he knew what he carried ; less so 
 if he was unaware. Even the labourer producing saltpetre was 
 sentenced to punishment if he had in his possession at one time 
 more than ten catties. The aboriginal Gwo, Miao, and Man of 
 the south were also prohibited from carrying weapons, under the 
 same laws as the Chinese. 
 
 A petty officer giving leave to one or more of his men to go 
 
640 THE ARMY. 
 
 beyond 100 li from hi,; post to buy, or sell, or till the fields, was 
 punished in proportion to the number of men gone ; and more 
 heavily if he received a bribe. The man who gave shelter to 
 the soldier in his flight was also punished. If as many as three 
 men who went beyond the border on leave were taken or killed 
 by the enemy, the officer who gave them leave was to be 
 strangled. 
 
 No duke, marquis, or other nobleman could immediately give 
 orders for any army to move. If such order happened to be 
 given, the first offence might be overlooked, and even the second 
 forgiven; but in the event of a third, the commander who 
 obeyed the order, and the chief official of the palace of the 
 nobleman who issued the order, would be beaten one hundred 
 blows, degraded, and sent to the ranks of the furthest army. 
 
 Desertion from the army was punished with beating for the 
 first offence, and strangling for the second. His comrades who 
 knew of the desertion and gave no information, the man who 
 hid him and the Li Headman of his hiding-place, were all 
 variously punished. A garrison deserter was one degree less 
 sevevely punished if the garrison were in Peking; two 
 degrees if in any other place. The headman and all concerned 
 were punished, as in the case of the army deserter. But a 
 deserter was pardoned if he returned within one hundred days. 
 Punishments were more recently modified to sentence of 
 transportation to Heiloongkiang, or other remote place, instead 
 of strangulation. But the crime of desertion was aggravated 
 by taking away a horse or other article belonging to the army. 
 Special laws were passed for Kwangtung, where many robbers 
 enlisted in order to desert ; or probably to escape close pursuit, 
 and wait better days. The officer in charge had to publish an 
 accurate and full account of the deserter's appearance and age. 
 
 If any soldier perished in the army, the magistrate of each 
 district through which his family had to pass to their home had 
 to give them travelling expenses, under severe penalties. If 
 the widow of a soldier, private or officer, had no son able to 
 support her, half her late husband's pay and half the grain 
 
PENSIONS. 641 
 
 allotted to a soldier would be paid her. If the dead man left 
 no widow, but had an old father or mother or grand-parent 
 dependent on him, the same allowance was made for them. 
 
 If a Manchu is compelled by age to retire from the ranks, 
 and has no friend to support him, he is allowed a tael per 
 month, and a hoo of grain is added if he displayed bravery in 
 action. The family of a man killed in battle is allowed annually 
 half the pay he had when living. An officer retires on full pay 
 if disabled in action, or has made a reputation for bravery ; but 
 the officer is paid only half pay who retires for light reasons. 
 
CHAPTER XVH. 
 TAXATION. 
 
 THE nominal taxation of China, or that which goes to the 
 government direct, to be employed by the emperor on public 
 expenditure of all kinds, is derived mainly from three great 
 sources. These are Poll Tax, Land Tax, and Gabelle or Salt 
 Tax. The remaining two taxes, those on tea and those derived 
 from customs, mainly inland, are of comparatively small 
 importance. There is no excise tax ; and there is here ready to 
 his hand a source of enormous income when the Chinese 
 Napoleon appears, if indeed he will find it necessary. The 
 sums now annually contributed to the imperial exchequer by the 
 European and American employe's of the Chinese government, 
 consisting of customs dues derived from foreign goods of all 
 kinds, or goods brought into any open port by foreign vessels, 
 do not come under our present notice, for they are of very recent 
 origin. 
 
 Indeed the Gabelle is, in Chinese history, but of yesterday, 
 and if we go much further back, we find no poll tax, the land 
 tax serving all purposes. Before money began to circulate in 
 China, and when nothing was bought, but everything bartered, 
 officials of all kinds had lands given them in proportion to their 
 rank to support their dignity, and their salary consisted of so 
 many bushels of rice a year, varying in number according to the 
 office and state of the official. The soil on which any Chinaman 
 lived belonged absolutely to his imperial majesty. But as his 
 majesty could not himself cultivate the soil and feed the people 
 who were his " infant children," the lands were divided from the 
 earliest times into square li. Each of these squares was 
 subdivided into nine squares. Each of the eight surrounding 
 
644 TAXATION. 
 
 / 
 
 squares was given to a nominal family or Hoo, without counting 
 the number of heads or " mouths " which might chose to live on 
 it. Those eight cultivated the central square in common, and 
 the produce of this square was the portion of his majesty, and 
 represented the taxation of the population. This ninth for 
 imperial use formed the only title by which the eight cultivators 
 held their lands; but it has ceased to be the title to lands 
 for very many centuries, and Sir John Davis is wrong in his 
 inference that the landlord is not absolute owner of his land. 
 Thus the yield of a ninth portion of the arable soil of China 
 then little more in size than a couple of its present provinces 
 was nominally reserved for taxation. And this was certainly 
 ample, for it was not till about a couple of centuries before the 
 Christian era that China established its first standing army, and 
 the Chinese soldier sowed his grain before he was called upon to 
 encounter a foe in summer, and had his grain safely housed for 
 a year's supply, ere he began his conquests in winter. He 
 therefore was self-supporting, like the feudal barons, who held 
 their lands on much the same terms as the ancient Chinese. 
 The ninth went therefore to support the civil officials, and to 
 purchase military and other necessary public stores ; and possibly 
 to supplement the income of military superior officers. 
 
 The Chinese li, in round numbers equal to one-third of an 
 English mile, was early made the standard of taxation and 
 military service, and it has continued to be the standard to the 
 present day. We have seen that anciently the li was divided 
 into nine portions. It was afterwards divided into the even 
 decimal number, so dear to Chinese, into ten hoo or families. 
 The increase might be made ; for the li itself was elongated. 
 As we have seen this difference between the ancient and modern 
 li questioned, we may give the authority of the learned 
 emperor, styled Kanghi, who spent much of his life on 
 geographical studies. He shows that the measure of a degree was 
 250 li in the Chow period twelfth to fourth centuries B.C. and 
 in his own, 200 li; thus making the li of the Chow period twenty- 
 five per cent, less than that of his own in the seventeenth century. 
 
TAXATION STANDARD. 645 
 
 The li was the standard of taxation for the land-tax; and 
 when after money began to circulate and the poll-tax was estab- 
 lished, it was on the same old basis of ten families to the li. And 
 as the poll-tax stands at the head of Chinese statistics now, we 
 mention it first in order. In passing, it is well to note that this 
 poll-tax was instituted in lieu of scutage. Every Chinaman 
 was anciently bound to spend so many days' labour for the 
 public service, whether in raising public buildings, or making or 
 repairing roads, &c. But when China became larger, it was 
 found to be generally better to have hired labour. Hence the 
 poll-tax, which was paid by those freed from scutage, to be 
 used in paying the hired labour. 
 
 By the laws of Kienlung, every li was divided into a hundred 
 and ten families or Hoo ; but only ten of these were called 
 Ding, who were the subjects of the poll-tax. These ten repre- 
 sented the whole li, paying for the whole, and afterwards getting 
 each family's particular share. The remaining hundred families 
 were divided into ten kia or " mailed men," for they were bound 
 to provide, or provide for, ten soldiers. Over the li was a Li 
 Headman, and a Jooshow, who was head of the nominal ten 
 "mailed" men; there was also, and is still, an assistant Li 
 Headman. The Li Headman was alone directly responsible to 
 the official tax-collector for the poll-taxes of the whole li, as in 
 the "village" system .of India. He transacted for his li all 
 ordinary public business ; and practice makes him much like 
 what a Justice of Peace is in Britain, an inferior judge who 
 may settle ordinary disputes; but though his opinions and 
 decisions are generally respected, he has no legal authority to 
 pass any sentence of " pains and penalties." The Li Headman 
 is also chief of, and responsible for, the ten Jcia. He has a 
 register for his whole li, in which he keeps a list of the Ding, 
 and which is renewed every tenth year. Besides such register 
 for every li, there is a chief registrar, who makes a " map " of so 
 many li registers. The widower, the widow, the orphan, and the 
 "lonely," who pay no taxes, are outside the hundred and ten 
 families. They are inscribed on a list by themselves, and called 
 
646 TAXATION. 
 
 " Odds." Each district has a general register for all the li under 
 its control ; the prefecture for all its districts ; and the provincial 
 capital for all the prefectures. When the provincial register 
 books are filled up, they are sent to Peking, to the Central Board 
 of Revenue, which literally means the Board of Households, the 
 prefecture and district cities retaining a copy. 
 
 The man personating a Li Headman, an assistant Headman, 
 or a Jooshow, and on such pretence oppressing the people of any 
 place, was sentenced to be beaten a hundred blows and to 
 banishment. 
 
 Though the Ding is head of a family, we have seen that every 
 family has not a Ding. The Ding retains the register, on which 
 is inscribed the name of every person belonging to his tithe of 
 the li, which register' is legally an absolute necessity. Every 
 Chinese subject should be named in the register of his native 
 tithing ; and in certain circumstances slavery is the result of the 
 inability of a man to show this proof of freedom. The Ding has 
 no proper corresponding term in the west ; conscript being the 
 nearest in meaning. Ignorance of the meaning of this term has 
 been the cause of ridiculous mistakes and difficulties in 
 estimating the population of China. The Ding is the arbitrary 
 poll-tax unit, ten to a square li, or ninety to a square mile of 
 cultivated soil. The magistrate demands ten poll-taxes for the 
 li from the headman ; the headman arbitrarily chooses any ten 
 men to be the Dings of his li, each of whom is responsible to 
 him for a tithe of the tax ; and the Ding again shares the one 
 poll-tax with all the families connected with him and on his 
 register, whether these be one or twenty. If the nominated 
 Ding disappears, the headman nominates another from the 
 same tithe of the li. The Ding represents a varying number of 
 persons; and herein consists the difficulty of determining the 
 actual population of China. He may represent five married 
 men with families of their own ; he may represent as many as 
 ten, twenty, or thirty such independent families; but if one 
 large family of twenty or thirty adult males lives in the same 
 compound, a patriarchal state, which is the normal condition 
 
POLL-TAX. 647 
 
 of China, and if this family has a fair proportion of wealth, the 
 tax-collector or headman demands taxes for two or more Ding. 
 
 The unit poll-tax is about one tael. Hence it is seen what a 
 small amount each family has to pay. The family of any official 
 is exempted for three generations from poll-tax; and the family of 
 a graduate is free also. But Sir John Davis is incorrect in 
 asserting positively in his " Chinese," that the poll-tax was for 
 ever abolished by the present Manchu dynasty during and since 
 the time of Kienloong ; nor can we understand the origin of the 
 mistake, unless it be that then it was ordained that land-owners 
 alone should pay the poll-tax, all landless ones being free. 
 
 The land-tax is entirely distinct from and independent of the 
 poll-tax; the latter depending on the number of Ding, the 
 former on the lands under cultivation. This land-tax is always 
 calculated, and generally paid in kind. The amount is about 
 a shilling per English acre. Thus it will be seen that the Chinese 
 are perhaps the lightest taxed people on earth. But all who know 
 China are aware that the legal tax is not all that China has to 
 pay for the support of her armies and the dispensation of justice. 
 Were a thoroughly strong government at the head of honest 
 officials, the former giving largely increased salaries, the latter 
 rendering a faithful account of all their receipts, the present light 
 amount of taxation would meet all demands upon it. But the 
 miserably small allowances made to officials of all grades compel 
 them to dishonesty even to live; and there is thus a great 
 waste of national resources, besides much hardship to individual 
 private civilians, though China is, upon the whole, not subject 
 to such hardship. It is when men, generally in an angry 
 passion and thirst for vengeance, throw themselves into a Chinese 
 Court, that they begin to get " fleeced ; " there is no case, or if 
 any extremely few cases, of official oppression of people who do 
 not enter the yamun. An occasional tax collector may attempt 
 to extract more than the legal dues, but he is easily resisted if 
 the people quietly combine to do so. He is generally satisfied 
 with the share of the legal taxation which he fails to account for, 
 but which is well known ; and a district is a " good " one or the 
 
648 TAXATION. 
 
 reverse in proportion to the excess of the legal sums collected 
 from the Li Headman, over the sum total demanded by the 
 emperor from that district. We know of one such district in 
 which the magistrate has a yearly excess of between 6,000 and 
 8,000 sterling; and yet he collects only the legal sum from 
 each individual landlord. The official salary of that magistrate 
 is little over 20 per annum, with grain allowances of perhaps 
 double or treble that amount, the whole of which however 
 is insufficient to meet one month's expenditure. Yet the 
 highest authorities in the empire are aware of the excess, and 
 therefore appoint, to this and similar posts, only magistrates who 
 are specially favoured. 
 
 Before passing on to the historically descriptive portion of this 
 article, we may quote a law of Kienlung's which makes the 
 register of the Ding the ultimate appeal in a case of alleged 
 simulation ; for it gives the decisive proof of one's proper calling. 
 If any person, whether belonging to the army or the people, 
 practised posting, gymnastics, medicine, divination by the eight 
 diagrams, theatrical plays, and as such, or as a " labouring " or 
 handicraftsman, entered any house, the family register was 
 appealed to as proof of his professed calling. If he was acting 
 a part, he was degraded to the common ranks of the people if 
 he belonged to the army, and if a civilian, he was degraded to 
 be an artizan. But if extenuating circumstances could be 
 proved, the punishment might be commuted to eighty blows. 
 The official who connived at his escape from this penalty was 
 equally guilty with the offender. This law was passed to 
 prevent social disturbance and evil conduct. If such an offender 
 falsely pretended to belong to the army, he was beaten a hundred 
 blows and sentenced to serve in the ranks of the army of the 
 utmost frontier. 
 
 All who have travelled in China must have wondered how its 
 loess soil, rich though it be, could support the population which 
 swarms on its surface. Especially is this true of the south, 
 where population is so crowded that human labour is cheaper 
 than that of four-footed beasts of burden, and is universally 
 
POPULATION. 649 
 
 employed instead. Manchuria is as yet not quite so over-stocked 
 with humanity, for men are not employed there to drag the 
 plough, nor women to draw the circling millstone. But even in 
 Manchuria, one scarcely passes through the end of one village 
 ere he begins to enter the next; not by the main roadside 
 only but in all directions ; and the small clumps of trees which 
 surround almost every house, seem, when clad in their summer 
 fulness, and seen from a somewhat distant eminence, to be an 
 unbroken forest. Any estimate of China's population which 
 would give an equal, or a smaller proportion to every square 
 mile of arable land in China than to England, must be laid 
 aside, spite of the two facts that England does not wholly 
 supply her own bread and that China does: for if England 
 were cultivated as China is, she would support her present 
 population ; but any English soil cannot support the same num- 
 ber of people as the same quantity of Chinese soil can and does. 
 
 Yet, though we reject unhesitatingly, as unworthy even of 
 consideration, the smaller estimates of China's population, we 
 are not so bold as to be logical and arithmetically strict in 
 calculating that population by the figures which her laws give 
 when coupled with her available statistics. We have already 
 seen that each li legally supports a hundred and ten families 
 who pay poll-tax, these being represented by ten Ding. We 
 have also stated that experience sometimes shows one patriarchal 
 family consisting perhaps of a hundred or more individuals 
 rated at two Ding, and a Ding sometimes representing as many 
 as twenty or more distinct families ; while there are many 
 individuals and many poor families exempted from the poll-tax, 
 and therefore excluded from these poll-tax Ding. 
 
 During the Manchu or Ta Tsing period, recorded in their 
 annals there are general statistics given for several years. 
 In these the first item is always the number of families, under 
 the title of Hoo Kow Yin Ding. The laws interpret Hoo by 
 Kia or family, and Kow (mouth) by Yin ding, " man-Ding ; " 
 and the sum of the poll-tax in each case proves that the legal 
 Ding is signified by the four words of the title. 
 
650 TAXATION. 
 
 In 1653, when all the eighteen provinces were not completely 
 opened to the Manchu tax-collector, there were fourteen million 
 four hundred and eighty-three thousand eight hundred and 
 fifty-eight Ding or poll-tax families. These cultivated four 
 million thirty-three thousand nine hundred and twenty-five 
 Ching of land, each equalling in round numbers sixteen English 
 acres ; thus giving an average of a fraction less than four and a 
 half English acres to each Ding. In Liaotung where only a 
 single main crop of millet can be gathered in one year, though 
 an inferior pulse crop is always reaped after wheat and barley 
 two-thirds of an English acre of average soil will comfortably 
 support an ordinary poor peasant family of five individuals. It 
 would therefore be abundantly sufficient in the Chinese provinces, 
 where two good rice crops and a third of pulse or vegetables may 
 be gathered every year. Supposing every family of five individuals, 
 or of two, or of three, had half an acre each, that would give just 
 about the legal proportion of families to the Ding, and the 
 fourteen million would be multiplied by nine, if not by ten ; 
 thus yielding over one hundred and forty million families, as such 
 are estimated in the west. This, however, is a calculation 
 without allowing on the one hand for many families who hold 
 large landed properties, and on the other, for the families under 
 the Ding who have no land whatever, nor for the numbers 
 employed in merchandise; for the law gives the Ding ten 
 nominal householders, not ten real land-owners. Yet even a 
 hundred million families would give a population greater than 
 the commonly received estimate. 
 
 Again in 1682, after the nine years of internecine strife 
 which had divided almost every province in China into two 
 hostile and mutually destructive parties, when almost every 
 city-moat was a grave-yard for countless numbers of the 
 contending hosts, the statistics declared the restored empire to 
 contain nineteen million four hundred and thirty-one thousand 
 seven hundred and fifty-three Yin Ding, and five million five 
 hundred and twenty-three thousand five hundred and sixty-eight 
 Ching of land; showing one-fourth more of arable land and 
 fully one-third more of families than the preceding. 
 
POPULATION. 651 
 
 In 1691, the numbers were twenty million three hundred and 
 sixty-three thousand five hundred and sixty-eight Tin Ding, and 
 five million nine hundred and thirty-two thousand six hundred 
 and eighty-four Ching ; again producing the same result. In 
 1703, they were twenty million four hundred and sixteen 
 thousand three hundred and eighty Tin Ding, and five 
 million nine hundred and eighty-six thousand nine hundred and 
 ninety-three Ching. And again in 1714, we find twenty-four 
 million six hundred and twenty-two thousand five hundred and 
 twenty-four Yin Ding, and six million nine hundred and fifty 
 thousand seven hundred and sixty-four Ching of land. There 
 is a curious item added to the statistics for this year, that of 
 one hundred and nineteen thousand and twenty-two "Living 
 Ding," which we take to mean poverty-stricken families 
 exempted from poll-tax living but not paying. 
 
 But there are two facts which throw us back again into chaos, 
 spite of the apparent light of those figures; and before mentioning 
 them, it must be noted that the family and the ding are never 
 asserted or inferred to be of any statistical but of financial 
 value. The governor of Shantung prayed for a large reduction 
 of taxation, soon after the Manchus entered Peking, on the 
 ground that in Shantung not one-third of the former arable 
 land was cultivated ; and if taxes were collected at the normal 
 rate, the very small proportion of families then actually in 
 Shantung, compared with the number set down in the tax- 
 collectors' books, would find it absolutely impossible to meet the 
 demands made upon them. But if taxes had been always levied 
 according to the number of acres of land actually producing 
 grain, or according to the actual number of families, this prayer 
 would have been unnecessary. The emperor Kanghi gives 
 conclusive evidence on this point, where, in 1682, he meets the 
 complaint of the governor of Honan against heavy taxation, by 
 stating that taxes were then, as they had always been, levied "by 
 the li ; counting one hundred Ching to the li, and ten kia, 
 " mailed men," or Ding. Here we have it stated that the family 
 is a nominal " quantity," and that taxation takes no note of how 
 
652 
 
 TAXATION. 
 
 many families are on a li of land. The li and not the actual 
 number of families is the basis of the poll-tax as well as of the 
 land-tax. According to this statement each Ding has ten Ching 
 or one hundred and sixty acres, and therefore each family one 
 Ching or one hundred mow, or sixteen acres of land ; which 
 again, we know from observation, is at least ten times what an 
 ordinary peasant proprietor, in comfortable circumstances, 
 possesses : so that five million Ching of cultivated land is sure, 
 on the lowest possible calculation, to represent fifty million 
 families, which of itself would give nearly three hundred million 
 of a population to China; without taking into account the 
 swarming populations of her many cities, nor the artizans and 
 hired labourers of the country, which would very largely augment 
 that number. But even the Ching is an unsteady factor ; for 
 both the Shantung governor implies and the emperor states 
 that it is the arable li and not the actually cultivated li by 
 which the taxgather estimates : though, on the other hand, it 
 is true that the severest legal penalties are attachable to the 
 owner of land once cultivated if he neglects its cultivation ; and 
 that in practice such neglect is as rare as it is undesirable. 
 
 The history of Liaotung may throw a little light on this 
 vexatious question. The demands of China drained all Liaotung 
 and Liaosi of their available able-bodied men at and subsequent 
 to 1644. The fine, rich loess lands of both the Liaos were a 
 desert for many years after ; and the following figures, the first 
 and last of a series, bear distinctly on our subject : - 
 
 In (1) 1661 
 
 (2) 
 (1) 1734 
 (2) 
 
 Ding. 
 
 Direct Tax. 
 
 Land. 
 
 Direct Tax. 
 
 3,952 
 1,605 
 23,444 
 23,680 
 
 Tls. 592*0 
 321.0 
 3,516.? 
 4,730/0 
 
 48,165-mow 
 5,600 
 1,278,960 
 1,410,870 
 
 Tls. 1,444.*^ 
 168 
 13,135 
 14,916 
 
 (1) is Liaotung, in which Liaoyang was the first prefecture, 
 and Mookden the second ; (2) is Liaosi, under the prefecture of 
 Kingchow. The " direct tax " after " Ding " is unquestionably 
 poll-tax ; that after " land " is as clearly a money tax, directly 
 
POPULATION. 
 
 653 
 
 charged per moiu of land ; for besides this tax there is another, 
 in kind paying of dan fully double the number of taels. 
 
 Here we have actual Ding and actual land ; but the proportion 
 of tax was probably less than that over the rest of China, in 
 order to encourage immigration. Each Ding in Liaotung appears 
 to have cultivated a fraction over twelve mow, or about two 
 English acres, in 1661 ; and fifty-five mow, or about nine English 
 acres, in 1734. Each ding of Liaosi cultivated about three and 
 a half mow in 1661, and slightly more than his neighbour of 
 Liaotung in 1734. Now, the number of mow allotted to the 
 Liaosi man in 1661 is just the quantity of land about two- 
 thirds of an English acre which one head of a family is now 
 said to be able to cultivate, without other help than his family 
 can give, and with which he is said to be able to support his 
 family. That Ding is therefore not a representative one; but the 
 Ding of the year 1734 is unquestionably so, for he has of actually 
 cultivated land more than ten times that quantity set down to him; 
 an amount of land which he himself could not possibly cultivate. 
 The ding of 1734, therefore, represents the legal ten families. 
 
 It is important in considering this question of statistics, to note 
 the double "Direct Tax" of Liaotung; for in the general 
 statistical accounts there is no such division, and therefore the 
 sum yielded by " Direct " money taxation is no criterion of the 
 number of Ding. We shall, however, now give the full statistics 
 of China for the years already referred to above, in order to 
 have all the data, ascertainable from history, under our eye. 
 
 Tear 
 
 1653 
 1682 
 1691 
 1703 
 1714 
 1753 
 
 Hoo 
 or Ding. 
 
 Land 
 Ching. 
 
 Direct Taxes. 
 
 Grain- 
 Dan. 
 
 Straw- 
 Bundles. 
 
 Te_ 
 Bihang or 
 
 Ymhang. 
 
 Salt- 
 Yin. 
 
 Customs. 
 
 14,483,858 
 19,431,753 
 20,363,568 
 20,411,380 
 24,622,524 
 38,786,228 
 
 4,033,925 
 5,523,568 
 5,932,684 
 5,986,993 
 6,950,764 
 7,055,962 
 
 Tls.21,261,383 
 26,331,658 
 27,375,164 
 27,390,669 
 29,893,262 
 29,573,154 
 
 5,638,711 
 6,341,394 
 6,950,281 
 6,968,673 
 6,831,666 
 8,340,216 
 
 5,216,840 
 2,298,163 
 2,083,465 
 2,081,688 
 4,046,274 
 5,145,578 
 
 37,178 
 159,215 
 157,453 
 157,476 
 341,424 
 378,597 
 
 3,740,623 
 4,356,150 
 4,335,860 
 4,319,475 
 5,099,805 
 6,384,231 
 
 Tls.2,122,012 
 2,761,258 
 2,697,751 
 2,690,718 
 3,741,124 
 4,324,005 
 
 The following table, giving the census of all the provinces for 
 the year 1753, will be interesting to the reader ; and is inserted 
 here also for the other reason that its figures will be frequently 
 referred to. 
 
Ci5 
 
 i 
 
 eo^co^ ^^ ^ ' 
 
 1C OS b* l> OS I 
 
 "*o* : ;osco t>- : 
 e*'** cob- T-I 
 
 of 
 
 :ose*icooci 
 
 COt-r-ICOCO' 
 
 OO -*< OS CO <N OS CO 
 
 t>- fc> OO b- CO CO O 
 
 : oo* : cfto't&o ' co* ci" 
 
 CO Wt^Ot>. OO r-\ 
 
 r-T 
 
 ^ 
 
 OO i I rH O O CO CO t- O OO CO O O b- CO "* 
 :iOK5rHCO^3"*iH IO M t^ ^ 
 
 i I Oi CO t^ b^ O O C<J O <M O O O (N b- Wi 
 
 O O5 O Oi O CO -^ * i I iH CO O CO t^ <3S i I 
 
 . O O5 W O OO -^t CO b- *! O ^ C^ rH <M Ci Ci . 
 
 : O^Crb-rr-TrH'to''^^ Cf oTt>T 
 
 eC 
 
 I (M CO r- 1 "* iH CO CO OS K5 O OO O 
 i CO 1C OO C -^i 1C t>. C<I O5 b- -* OS 
 ICO-*-* 1C CO -* "* CO O CO OO 1C 
 
 
 
 > rH OS "* 1C CO t^ C<> b- OO OS 1C 1 
 
 IS fe 
 
 I -* CO O "* r-l tH iH OO CO 00 iH r-l b- CO rH < 
 . 1C 00 <M 00 <N b- b- OO r-f OOb-CO^COO< 
 I O 1C CO 00 r-l <N <M b- OS C<l CO OO iH OO ^ i 
 
 I OS OO OS CO i 
 I OO CO b-(N i 
 .CO CO <*< T I 
 
 C<l OO CO CO OS CO <M ( 
 
 CO C 1 ^ CO OO CO GO OO 
 "^f C^l 05 Tfl CO >O "^t< 
 
 ^o c^i -^ <N co o oo 
 
 
POPULATION. 655 
 
 Besides the items mentioned in the provincial table, there 
 were derived from other sources, four million three hundred and 
 twenty-four thousand and five taels from Inland customs ; five 
 million seven hundred and four thousand catties of copper; three 
 million eight hundred and forty-one thousand nine hundred and 
 fourteen catties of "white" or inferior, and seven hundred 
 thousand five hundred and seventy-one catties of "black" or 
 superior lead, both from Hoonan and Kweichow; while 
 41 barbarian " and other vessels brought two hundred and eleven 
 thousand seven hundred and twelve catties of lead to Canton. 
 Reed taxes produced ninety-eight thousand two hundred and fifty 
 taels ; and tea, in addition to bulk in kind, produced sixty-five 
 thousand three hundred and thirty-six taels in money. The 
 total imperial income for 1753 would therefore be about eighty 
 millions of taels, or twenty-three millions sterling. But besides 
 these direct taxes, there are many charges connected with the 
 provincial and central governments ; just as in Britain, we have 
 enormous expenditure connected with our courts of law and 
 lawyers' fees, which are much heavier in proportion to population 
 than the similar payments necessary in China. 
 
 Though there is a most tempting approximation between the 
 families or Ding, and the " direct taxes," giving slightly over a 
 tael to each family, we must at once dismiss it, for it does not in 
 any way help to bring us to what we ask. The " direct tax " is 
 unquestionably the sum of the two taxes, " poll " and " land," 
 already referred to above, and which are kept apart in the 
 history of Liaotung. Of one thing only can we be certain 
 regarding those figures, that the number of hoo corresponds 
 neither with what the legal Ding should be, nor yet with the 
 actual family ; the number is much too large to admit of its 
 being multiplied by ten for the householders of China, while it 
 is much too small to be for a moment regarded as the number 
 of actual Chinese families. 
 
 The great imperial dictionary states that the census should be 
 taken of the Chinese people every fifth year, and that every 
 hundred individuals should be counted as ten Hoo. The Row 
 
656 TAXATION. 
 
 or "mouth" is there stated to be every Chinese male over sixteen, 
 and under sixty years of age, thus corresponding to our term 
 able-bodied man. This Kow is made the basis on which the 
 poll-tax rests. It was ordained in the fifty-second of Kanghi 
 (1713), that the imperial mercy forbade any addition to the 
 number of Kow as returned two years before. It was again 
 decreed, in 1724, that those adults only should be called upon 
 to pay poll-taxes, who were owners of land ; and that landless 
 adults should be exempt. It was also reordained that though 
 the census must be taken every fifth year, the number of poll- 
 taxes on lands already occupied should not be increased, but 
 that any new lands opened up should be subject to a poll-tax, 
 in the same ratio as the old lands. 
 
 The total number of Families given by the great imperial 
 dictionary is fully one million more than the summation of the 
 above table yields. It is difficult to say whether this discrepancy 
 arises from an error in addition, or from a misstatement of the 
 number of families in Fukien, where the proportion of adults to 
 families is fully four to one, while in the majority of the 
 provinces it is only two to one, three to one being the largest. 
 This mistake is perhaps the more natural of the two, inasmuch 
 as the numbers 1, 2, and 3 are merely horizontal lines, placed 
 one above the other, while 7 and 8 are totally different figures 
 incapable of confusion ; and the accuracy of the sum total must 
 have been carefully tested. However, it matters little for our 
 purpose whether we take the total of the dictionary, which is 
 nearly thirty-nine millions, or that of the summation of the 
 individual provinces, which is nearly thirty-eight millions of 
 families. The summation of the "adult" column agrees with 
 the sum total of the dictionary. It may be stated that the 
 numbers given for the province of Chungking or Liaotung, 
 which were then scarcely equal to the present number of 
 inhabitants in the one city of Mookden, are not included in the 
 above table. 
 
 It will be observed that, by the proportion of "a hundred 
 individuals " to ten families, the number of families would make 
 
POPULATION. 657 
 
 the population of China in 1753 about three hundred and eighty 
 millions ; while, according to the rule of 1734, and the laws of 
 the present dynasty published in the reign Kienlung, only 
 land owners are included in that number. Again, though the 
 number of male adults between sixteen and sixty should be 
 perhaps scarcely regarded as equivalent to the term "able-bodied" 
 in the west, which term is said to include a fifth of western 
 populations, yet four individuals may be considered as not too 
 great an average to each of such adults. This would give much 
 the same result as the families, making the population slightly 
 more than four hundred millions. There were then fully one 
 hundred and twelve million English acres under actual cultivation 
 in China ; and to sow, weed, and keep these in Chinese style a 
 number of men is required, as we have seen, in round numbers 
 equal to a hundred million families. Thus whether we look at 
 this matter from the point of view of the households, the able- 
 bodied men, or the cultivated acreage of China, the result is 
 much the same. Though these figures from the statistics of 
 Kienlung are more satisfactory than those of Kanghi, we are 
 still unable to do any more than give a very rough approximation 
 of the population of China; and as the result of our unsatisfactory 
 search we can only decide that the ignorance of those who give 
 to China a population only half that of India, or even no greater 
 than India, deserves no other answer than ridicule ; and that the 
 men who have believed the population of China to be little if 
 any less than four hundred millions are near the truth. In 
 conclusion, we may state our belief that the population of China 
 proper is, at the present day, little if any greater than it was in 
 1753. For the Taiping and other rebellions, together with 
 recent famines, devastated large tracts of country which were 
 fully tenanted in the reign Kienlung; and the agricultural 
 resources of the country were as fully taxed to feed the 
 population under Kienlung, as they can have been since, while 
 there has been no new industry created to support additional 
 populations anywhere. Yet for centuries there has been an 
 increasing number of Chinese moving quietly across the northern, 
 R i 
 
658 TAXATION. 
 
 western, and southern frontiers, and by their intelligent industry 
 producing food for scores where their lazy nomadic predecessors 
 found it difficult to feed units; thus enlarging the territories and 
 increasing surely, if slowly, the numbers of the Chinese. 
 
 Besides the poll-tax, every land-owner has to pay a land-tax. 
 This land-tax is levied on all grain-producing lands ; the 
 acreage of which in 1753 was over one hundred and twelve 
 million. But there are certain lands which were wholly exempt 
 from taxation. These were chiefly the lands orginally gifted by 
 the Manchu conqueror to the leaders and soldiers of his armies. 
 In possession of the Manchu magnates Wang, Beira, Beidsu, 
 Goong, and commander were 13,336 Ching, or about 210,000 
 acres; and the smaller officers and soldiers owned 140,1 28. 71 
 Ching, or about 2,250,000 acres of such gifted lands, all in China 
 proper. These lands were held by what we might call feudal 
 tenure, as they were, and still are, inalienable ; for though lands 
 purchased by Manchus can be resold, like the lands of any 
 Chinaman, the lands granted by the emperor belong absolutely 
 to the grantee and to his succeeding family, and must on no 
 condition be sold out of the family. Yet the law is evaded to 
 the detriment of the owner, by a mortgage often less than half 
 the market value of the land, but one which is virtually a sale ; 
 for in general the owner is rarely able to redeem the land. 
 Within a radius of a large number of miles from Peking, all 
 the arable land was at first divided for political reasons among 
 the Manchus, when they entered the Chinese capital ; while the 
 sandy and lighter soils were formed into commonfe for pasturage. 
 Though the law against the sale of imperially gifted lands is as 
 binding as ever, equally so with the English similar law of 
 entail, it will be found that perhaps the largest proportion of 
 these lands near Peking are now again in Chinese hands, by 
 means of mortgage and lapsed titles. These lands were 
 appropriated from the Chinese precisely as the Normans took 
 Saxon lands, and for the same reasons. Every Manchu who 
 was owner of such gifted land was bound to military service ; and 
 he is nominally bound thereto to this day. But this law of 
 
LAND-TAX. 659 
 
 entail applies only to the minute proportion of soil in Manchu 
 hands, and has no bearing whatever on the millions of Ching 
 belonging to the Chinese, or bought by the Manchus from the 
 Chinese. We are not aware whether this exemption from taxation 
 is universally abolished; but much of the entailed lands of 
 Manchuria pay taxes only slightly less than the lands held by 
 the Chinese. This change was possibly introduced when the 
 Manchus became so numerous that only a small proportion of 
 them could be employed as soldiers; just as feudal landowners in 
 England had to pay taxes when standing armies were introduced. 
 
 Besides the Manchu entailed estates, the Kienlung laws 
 declared exempt from taxation the lands attached to the 
 temples, to the tombs of literary men, and to the direct 
 descendants representing the four learned sages, Confucius, 
 Dsungdsu, Yenyuen, and Mencius ; besides certain lands in the 
 provinces in all, embracing many scores of thousands of acres 
 set apart for the support of literary poor men. This land is 
 either given to these literary men to cultivate, or rented out for 
 their benefit ; and its design is much like that of our University 
 fellowships. This is another instance, if any more were 
 requisite, to prove the high esteem in which literature is and 
 has been regarded by the Chinese, and especially by the present 
 Manchu dynasty. 
 
 The grain-tax is estimated by dan, each of ten Chinese pecks, 
 considerably larger than ours, rice, wheat, and pulse are 
 included. Nearly half the grain-tax is sent into Peking, the 
 larger half being retained for provincial use. Fully two-thirds 
 of what goes into Peking is stored in thirteen grain stores for 
 the soldiers, who receive only about a tithe of their pay in 
 money; that is the Direct Tax. A certain proportion, called 
 the Necessary Tax, goes to the princes and officials, and is laid 
 up in two grain stores. A fixed quantity, called " white grain," 
 is set apart, in one store, directly under the Board of Revenue, 
 for the use of princes and ambassadors from foreign states ; all 
 of whom are, of course, tributary to China. The straw is for 
 the horses, and is issued as hay. 
 
660 TAXATION. 
 
 This grain suffers from shrinking, leakage, damp, and other 
 causes. To ascertain the exact quantity on hand, the grain 
 in these stores is measured every fourth year. Besides the 
 stores in the capital of both money and grain, every province is 
 bound by law to have a certain sum of ready money always on 
 hand, and a certain quantity of grain. This legal quantity in 
 the eighteen provinces amounts in the aggregate to thirty-four 
 million dan. But if the surplus grain does not exceed the 
 amount of surplus money, the stores are very empty. The 
 situation and aspect of these stores are of great importance, as 
 provision has to be made against summer heat and winter cold 
 and rain. Each province has, therefore, its own special mode 
 of storing according to its climate and products. Honan and 
 the various provinces north of its latitude produce dry land rice ; 
 but the greatest portion of the products of those northern 
 provinces are the various millets, with wheat, barley, and pulse 
 of many kinds. To the south of Honan, the land produces only 
 rice of one kind or another. 
 
 The grain of these stores is always good ; because the newly 
 thrashed grain is stored, and the grain previously stored is given 
 out to the soldiers and officials. It is thus mostly renewed every 
 year. If the grain has become heated, seven-tenths are given out, 
 and three-tenths spread out to dry ; but only half is given away 
 if the grain is perfectly sound. This " cooling " or exposure to 
 the fresh air is an annual operation ; and in connection with the 
 process, there is a great deal of dishonesty and peculation. The 
 superior officials sell large quantities of good grain to the smaller 
 officials at a large reduction in prices, report that damaged 
 which they have thus sold, and make rich by dishonesty. But 
 in China, where official salaries for the year are insufficient to 
 meet the expenses of a month, is it wonderful that such and 
 similar conduct is general, when we know what takes place in 
 Russia, and in some other places where Christianity has been 
 long established, and where officials receive respectable incomes ? 
 A good deal of the grain tribute is used up in paying expenses, 
 and allowing for waste by the way. There are allowances for 
 
OF THB 
 
 TEANSPOKT. 661 
 
 carriage, for stone and lime buildings under Board of Works, 
 which are payable out of the taxes of the province. Then for 
 shrinking on board the transport boats, for straw mats and 
 wooden boards to protect the grain, and for the soldiers and 
 officers of the army guarding it en route. The allowance to a 
 boat for each hundred dan, one of which weighs one hundred 
 and sixty catties, from Shantung or Honan to Peking, is five taels 
 and five dan of rice; the other provinces have more or less 
 allowance, in proportion to their distance from the capital. 
 There were, in 1754, seven thousand transport vessels for the 
 Grand Canal ; of which three thousand and eighty-four belonged 
 to Kiang and Aiiwhi. These vessels are ninety Chinese feet 
 long, and carry four hundred dan ; but those south of Hoonan 
 are ten feet longer. These are imperial vessels, requiring to be 
 repaired annually, and replaced every tenth year. When the 
 water in the canal was too shallow to admit of their passage, 
 light boats had to be hired from the country people. They 
 started with their cargoes in the tenth moon (November) ; 
 and in the end of the eleventh moon (December) the grain had 
 to be stored in the capital. Those vessels were bound to sail 
 40 li per day when going with the stream, and 20 when against 
 the stream. An officer had always to go on before to give 
 information of the approach of the grain fleet to the magistrate 
 of the district, so that the canal should be always clear. The 
 government has for several years back largely utilised foreign 
 steamers to carry its tribute rice; and now the Chinese have 
 themselves a considerable fleet of steamers, which have a 
 monopoly of that lucrative traffic, from the southern provinces 
 to Tientsin. 
 
 The land-tax was originally all in kind as we have seen, and 
 it will ultimately no doubt be all in silver. The tax in Manchuria 
 is about sevenpence per English acre for Manchu land, and 
 about one shilling per English acre for Chinese owned land. 
 This tax amounts to about one-hundredth part of the rent in 
 the north of China ; and the rent is from five per cent, upwards 
 of the purchase money, though ten per cent, is the most general 
 
662: TAXATION. 
 
 
 
 proportion. It will thus be seen how extremely light the land- 
 tax is in China as compared with any of our European countries. 
 But so far has sub-division of land been carried where there are 
 no entail nor any primogeniture laws, that even this fraction 
 is a consideration to the majority of the peasant proprietors. 
 Hence there were laws framed from of old to guard against false 
 returns, and the following are the main features of the land- 
 laws of Kienlung, which are still binding. 
 
 The man who gave a false return of his grain-producing lands 
 was beaten for any number under five mow not reported ; the 
 punishment increasing by every five mow up to a hundred blows ; 
 the lands in question were also forfeited * to the crown, till all 
 the deficient taxes were refunded. The same punishment was 
 his who falsified the condition of his land, describing high 
 lands as low, for high produces more than low or marshy 
 grounds, and also his who conspired with a government agent 
 in giving fraudulent returns. The Li Headman was similarly 
 punished if he knew of the fraud. To prevent fraud on the one 
 hand and injustice on the other, lands subject to damage by 
 water were surveyed every fifth year, dry lands every tenth. 
 When the agent who worked lands purchased by a member of 
 the Imperial Clan, failed to pay up the taxes which those lands 
 had paid in the hands of its former owner, the proper authority 
 had to examine that agent. If he was supported by his master, 
 the proper yamun had to deal with the case ; and if the agent 
 refused to listen to the local magistrate, there was appeal to the 
 viceroy or governor, who would see that the agent was severely 
 punished. 
 
 If a member of any garrison or camping army, or a member 
 of the Dsaohoo,-^ purchased lands belonging to any of the people, 
 
 * Sir George Staunton, in translating the Manchu laws, erroneously represents 
 this forfeiture as absolute, instead of conditional and temporary as it really is. 
 
 fSee Slaves. The lands granted by the emperor, and originally belonging to the 
 imperial clan and the Manchu troops, were exempted from taxation. A petty 
 officer often conspires with the landlord to defraud the government ; the plunder 
 being equally divided between the two. In 1655, the chief censor complained of a 
 falling off of income from taxes, because so many bannermen professed to own 
 land which did not belon to them. 
 
PENALTIES. 663 
 
 and neglected to pay the taxes formerly paid by that land, the 
 Headman was responsible for the tax, and the lands were 
 forfeited to the government. If the returns for a li were falsified 
 to more than two hundred dan, the offender was sent to the 
 ranks of the arrny furthest beyond the frontier. 
 
 When the growing crops were, or were said to be, destroyed 
 or damaged by flood, drought, hoar-frost, hail, or locusts, the 
 district collector had to give a true and faithful account thereof. 
 The chief collector had to visit the reported district in person, 
 and carefully examine. If after he had failed to personally 
 examine, error was discovered, both chief and local collectors 
 were to be beaten eighty blows. If the chief collector, from 
 careless observation, reported the blasted as ripe or the ripe as 
 blasted, he was, with the other implicated party, to be beaten 
 a hundred blows and degraded, for in the one case he. oppressed 
 the people, in the other he deceived the government. The Li 
 Headman and the head of the "Mailed-men," were equally 
 punished ; while the punishment was heavier still if bribery had 
 been exercised. The man who falsely reported his growing 
 crops as blighted, was punished like the man giving a false 
 return of his lands ; while his property was made guarantee for 
 the payment of the proper tax in full. 
 
 When pleading for a remission of the land-tax, the amount of 
 grain in the public granaries should be taken into account, and 
 the prayer to the emperor be founded on this knowledge. Such 
 prayer was to be presented in the sixth moon (July) if it referred 
 to the summer harvest ; in the ninth if it was for the autumn 
 harvest, for thus the proper Board would have time to consider. 
 
 Various punishments are then mentioned as due to an official, 
 whose original property is exempted from taxation, if he 
 neglected to pay taxes for lands purchased by him after he 
 became an official ; and to the headman and tax collector if they 
 knew and failed to report, or did not properly examine into the 
 case. Then provision is made against selling, or taking forcible 
 possession of, lands or house belonging to another; against 
 taking forcible possession of hill common, of lake or pool, 
 
664 TAXATION. 
 
 of a tea-garden, a reed-plot, or of gold, silver, copper, lead, iron, 
 or other mines ; an official guilty of any such crimes was to be 
 reported to the emperor, who himself would pass sentence. The 
 man was punished who failed to cultivate with grain, mulberry, 
 hemp, or other useful produce, but left waste any portion of land 
 belonging to him which was formerly reported by the headman 
 as under cultivation. He who by stealth sowed and reaped on 
 any portion of the lands of another was beaten from 30 to 80 
 blows, and the punishment increased by two degrees if he had 
 the property in trust. This law applied to encroachments on 
 public or imperial commons,* or lands around camps, barracks, 
 forts, or walls, and to stealthy occupation of lands beyond the 
 border. 
 
 We have many particular laws on the same or similar subjects, 
 and on the sale of houses or lands, all of which should be 
 registered in the office of the district magistrate, and a tax paid 
 by the purchaser, at the time of registration, of three per cent, on 
 the purchase-price. Because of this tax, transfers of both houses 
 and land are common without such registration. These private 
 deeds are called "white papers," because they want the red 
 stamp of the magistrate. "White paper" is not only not 
 recognised by the yamun, but the property so purchased is 
 legally liable to confiscation, and the seller to severe punishment. 
 The most common evasion of the law is by a falsification of the 
 price, the real price being sometimes fully ten times that named 
 in the document sent to the yamun. There are laws against the 
 
 * Yet we are informed that in Manchuria thousands of acres of what were formerly 
 imperial pasture grounds have now been gradually occupied by the people; but because 
 they were some years in possession before it was officially known, and because the 
 occupants would suffer loss and make disturbance if dispossessed, the high officials 
 have left them undisturbed; and such occupancy has been made valid by taxation. 
 On the other hand, we know of one wealthy man, and owner of large landed 
 properties, who was on speaking terms with prince Kung, who is now shut up in 
 confinement on the charge of having appropriated a portion of the imperial 
 pasturage adjoining his property. The charge is one trumped up by two high 
 officials formerly his friends, latterly his foes, and though the highest court in 
 Peking has proved the charge incorrect, so great is the power of his foes that he 
 cannot get free. 
 
TAX REMISSION. 665 
 
 falsification of the price, but it is easily understood how difficult 
 it must be to apply them. 
 
 We now pass from the laws to the Manchu historical notices 
 of the taxes of China. 
 
 In June 1653, the Boards of Works, Revenue, and War 
 reported that taxation, whether in money or grain, was now 
 reduced to, and collected on, a uniform plan throughout the 
 empire at one and the same time, and that it was spent out 
 gradually as necessity demanded. The emperor agreed to their 
 prayer that this plan should continue to be always carried out. 
 In 1669, the emperor agreed that, as soon as the public service 
 would admit of it, the prayer of a censor would be put into 
 effect, which desired that taxes on the summer crops should be 
 collected in July, and for the autumn crops in October or 
 November. This seems to imply that taxes were then called 
 for in advance,; nor is it unlikely, when the straining circumstances 
 of the times are taken into account. 
 
 The doctrine set forth in Milton's apologetical paper on the 
 execution of Charles First, that a tyrant has ceased to be a 
 king, and that the execution of a tyrant is not the putting of a 
 king to death, is one which has existed and more or less 
 influenced all political action in China from the dawn of its 
 history to the present. The emperor is absolute, because he is 
 emperor; but the emperor is appointed by Heaven, and appointed 
 for the good of his people ; he therefore ceases to be emperor in 
 the sight of Heaven as soon as he ceases to govern for the welfare 
 of his people. The will and pleasure of Heaven is manifested 
 in raising the rebel to the throne already vacated by tyrannical 
 deeds ; and the tyrant, though the descendant of an illustrious 
 line of rulers, is a usurper of the throne he holds. This political 
 creed of China is, without a doubt, well calculated to check such 
 excesses as would rouse the people to a state of mind which 
 might declare rebellion not only justifiable but dutiful. Perhaps 
 from policy, possibly from subjection to the universal creed, the 
 rulers of China have almost always remitted, wholly or partially, 
 the taxes of those districts of the empire which suffered from a 
 
666 TAXATION. 
 
 failure of grain crops, and have, in the more serious cases, sent 
 large sums and much grain to the afflicted districts. This has 
 been especially true of the Manchu government, which, in point 
 of numbers, is so weak compared to the people over whom it 
 rules. From the first year of Manchu rule down to the terrible, 
 but not rare, famine which ravaged north China during the past 
 few years, there has been scarcely a year in which a larger or 
 smaller share of the taxes due to government has not been 
 remitted in some or other district of China. 
 
 During the years of serious warfare which succeeded the 
 Manchu entry into Peking, the resources of the treasury must 
 have been often strained, yet remissions occur again and again. 
 In 1688, a marquis proposed an increased taxation, and the 
 emperor expressed his serious displeasure at a proposal which 
 would injure the people. But the prayer of a censor, in the 
 following year, for a reduction of taxation, because of the deep 
 poverty of the people, could not then be granted, as was shown 
 by other memorialists, who mentioned the miserably small 
 allowances made to the various officials (see Officials). 
 
 It was reported to the emperor Kanghi, in 1705, that he had 
 remitted taxes to the amount of sixteen million taels during the 
 past two years ; and he replied that it was his delight to relieve 
 the poor, ever since the crushing of the rebellion of Woo Sangwei 
 gave him opportunity. He ordered an account of all the taxes 
 remitted since his accession to the throne (1662), and the amount 
 summed up to ninety million taels. He remitted arrears of two 
 and a quarter million taels, that same year, in the southern and 
 south-western provinces. But the provinces which suffer most 
 from flood or drought, and therefore have always had most 
 taxation remitted, are Shensi, Shansi, Shantung and Honan. 
 
 In 1648 the emperor mentioned to the secretariate that the 
 Board of Revenue had formerly reported an excess of expenditure 
 beyond the legal limits, by all the Yamuns great and small, civil 
 and military of the provinces, thus needlessly oppressing the 
 people ; that though orders had been issued to stop that excess 
 of expenditure, the same complaints continued to be made; 
 
RESERVE FUNDS. 667 
 
 and he ordered the secretariate to thoroughly and at once 
 investigate the circumstances and report to him without delay. 
 
 The Board of Revenue proposed in 1669 that the various 
 provinces should have always on hand a net sum of about eleven 
 million taels ; four and a quarter for posting and Yellow River 
 embankments; three and a quarter for the army and its materiel; 
 and three and one third million always in reserve. Indeed every 
 province, and every official and magistrate in every province, is 
 supposed to have a reserve in the treasury of the capital, 
 prefectural, sub-prefectural and district cities; but these were 
 long ago emptied by the English wars. 
 
 Even in 1709 there was complaint made to the emperor that the 
 reserve treasures which should have stocked every governmental 
 treasury in the empire, were exhausted. The emperor Kanghi, 
 in one of those long speeches in which he delighted to indulge, 
 accounted for the deficiency by the dishonesty and prodigality of 
 the officials in charge. He also stated that at that moment he 
 had a reserve in the treasury of fifty million taels ; that there 
 was no army drain nor public works going on, while the working 
 expenses of the palace and public offices were carefully looked 
 after to prevent an increase ; when therefore with a remission of 
 taxes last year of eight million taels, there was so good a surplus 
 on hand in the capital against emergencies, much more easily 
 could the provincial authorities make and retain the surplus 
 demanded by law. 
 
 At the same time he mentioned one or two interesting items 
 of expenditure. He stated that the expenditure in the Ming 
 imperial palaces was enormous, amounting to several million 
 taels per annum. Of Makow charcoal there were several scores 
 of millions of catties burnt every day. It was called horse-mouth 
 because at each end of the three or four feet long pieces of 
 charcoal a " mouth " was cut. It was pure white, without a stain 
 of any other colour, and Kanghi himself used it on that account 
 in burning the yearly winter solstitial sacrifice to Heaven ; but 
 nowhere else and at no other time. 
 
 He stated also that in the time of his predecessor, there were 
 
668 TAXATION. 
 
 nine thousand ladies in the harem, and over one hundred thousand 
 eunuchs ; but that the ladies in his palaces were not more than 
 four or five hundred ! The expenditure in his own palaces was, at 
 first, over seven hundred thousand taels per annum for kitchen 
 expenses ; this he had reduced by a tithe. The expenditure in 
 the Foreign Office Lifan Yuen, for entertaining ambassadors 
 and tribute bearers was over eight hundred thousand taels per 
 annum, which also he had reduced by a tithe. He had kept a 
 sharp watch on the expenses of the Board of Revenue, which 
 used to spend prodigally ; but since the Board had to give him a 
 strict account of all monies every tenth day, there was a great 
 saving to the treasury. 
 
 The difficulty of transporting taxes in kind was several times 
 memorialised to the throne, and sometimes the memorialist was 
 successful in converting it to a money tax. But a peculiar 
 petition was forwarded in 1703 by the viceroy of Szchuen and 
 Shensi. He explained that he had personally inspected the 
 Yellow River, the route by which grain taxes had to go. 
 There was one place with "three gates," apparently rapids, 
 caused by a compressed channel among the rocks. The central 
 one was called " Gods' Gate," where the river flows with great 
 force; to the south of it was "Devils' Gate," through which 
 the waters rushed with great fury; and to the north was 
 " Men's Gate," through which there is a strong current, but not 
 comparable to the other two. A couple of hundred paces 
 below these is " Reach-the-Pillar," and 2 li further down, 
 " Tiger-difficulty." The viceroy had himself gone in a boat with 
 thirty dan of grain through " Tiger-difficulty," and it was night 
 before he got to " Men's Gate." His prayer therefore was, that 
 the people might be permitted to forward their grain overland, 
 past those mentioned places, and reship below or above. The 
 matter was " considered " ! 
 
 Another matter which may be interesting enough to mention, 
 is the Standard Measures of Capacity. In 1703, the emperor 
 Kanghi discussed those measures with the Board of Revenue. 
 He said that the standard Shung or "Pint" was thirty-one 
 
MEASURES OF CAPACITY. 669 
 
 thousand three hundred and eighty two cubic " fractions " ; * 
 the standard Dow or "Peck" (ten shung) was three hundred 
 and sixteen thousand seven hundred and sixty-four fractions; 
 and the Hoo (five dow) was one million and six hundred 
 thousand fractions. There was thus a discrepancy between the 
 cubic contents of all three ; while practice diverged still more, 
 for the hoo in use was twenty thousand fractions more than the 
 standard one; though the standard should, he said, not be changed 
 without grave reasons. He ordered a new dow, made of eight 
 inches (Chinese) square and five deep, which would give a 
 capacity of three hundred and twenty thousand cubic fractions ; 
 and a new shung and hoo in exact proportion with the dow. 
 The standards were ordered to be made of brass. The standards 
 may be at the present time what his majesty ordered them to 
 be ; but in practice these measures differ in every city, often by 
 a tithe or even a fifth. The Board of Works provides standard 
 measures of cast-iron for the various provincial capitals ; and 
 from these the provincial collector of taxes gets wooden 
 specimens made wherewith the various collectors measure the 
 tribute grain. 
 
 Exact measures of capacity were in use in China from very 
 ancient times ; and their capacity was, as it now is, gauged by 
 the cubic measurement of the vessel. The inch and its fractions 
 were therefore the standard by which to test the contents of the 
 measuring vessels of the agricultural Chinese. The inch was 
 anciently shorter than the inch of modern times. Kanghi 
 found that a degree of latitude which measured 250 li in the 
 period of Chow before our Lord measured 200 li in his own 
 time, two centuries ago. Both the ancient and the modern 
 inch was the length of ten average grains of the glutinous small 
 millet placed side by side ; but the ten were laid cross-wise, or 
 by their narrower diameter in the period of Chow ; and length- 
 wise, or by their longer diameter, in the modern inch. And 
 thus arose the difference in the length of the inch ; for though 
 this grain seems round, it will on examination be found very' 
 
 * Fraction, tenth of a Chinese inch; ten of which make a Chinese foot. 
 
670 TAXATION. 
 
 slightly elongated along the line of the embryo or germ, though 
 not nearly so elongated as in the greatly larger wheat grain. 
 Each grain was therefore the tenth of an inch, and this tenth 
 was called a fun or fraction. The relative lengths of the ancient 
 and modern foot are expressed by 1 ancient to O. 81 modern ; ten 
 inches made a foot, ten feet a Jang, and ten jang a goong. 
 Thus the decimal system, which still prevails in China, was its 
 most ancient known form of measurement. 
 
 The accompanying woodcut shows the measures of length 
 and capacity. The short line with the ten black dots is the 
 exact length of the modern inch ; the black dots representing 
 the grains, which do not touch in the cut because they are less 
 in size than the actual grains. The longer lines at the side of 
 the cut represent the proportion between the ancient and the 
 modern foot ; the shorter being the ancient. Both are reduced 
 from the actual lengths, but the proportion is preserved. The 
 dots represent the grains, and the transverse lines show the 
 fractions on the Chinese foot-measure. In theoretical or 
 mathematical measurement, the inch is divided to seven decimal 
 places ; and with the names, beginning from our left, of fun, 
 li, hao, su, Iwo, wei, and ju. 
 
 The inch is also applied to weight. The square inch of gold 
 weighs 16.8 Hang or Chinese ounces; of silver, 9 Hang; of 
 "red" copper, 7.5 Hang; of yellow copper, 6.8 Hang; of 
 "black" or best lead, 9.93 Hang; of inferior lead, 6 Hang. 
 The Chinese cash or copper currency is made of the " yellow " 
 or inferior copper. 
 
 The Shung or Pint (figure 2 of the woodcut) is of 31.600 
 cubic inches capacity ; it is 4 inches square at bottom, and 1.975 
 inches deep. The Jiao or Horn (figure 1) is one-tenth of the 
 Shung. The Dow or Peck (figure 3) is of 316 cubic inches 
 capacity; is 8 inches square and 4.9375 inches deep, and 
 contains 10 shung. The hoo or bushel (figure 6) is of 1580 
 cubic inches capacity ; contains 5 dow ; is at mouth 6.6 inches 
 square; at bottom, 16 inches square; and 11.7 inches deep. 
 Two hoo make one dan. 
 
672 TAXATION. 
 
 The Hoo of the East Han (third century) was round, and had 
 two handles (figure v\ It was of 860 cubic inches, 934 cubic 
 fun, 420 cubic li. It contained 10 dow, and was of 7.29 inches 
 deep, and 12.262 inches diameter. The dow was 0.729 inches 
 deep, and 12.262 inches diameter; containing 10 of the shung, 
 which was 1.8225 inches deep, and 2.452 inches diameter. The ho 
 was a tithe of the shung, and was 1.096 inches deep, and 1 inch 
 diameter ; it contained 2 lun, a measure half the depth of the ho. 
 
 Under the second of the Tang emperors (seventh century), 
 Jang Wun made a square hoo (figure 5) of the same capacity as 
 the Han one above described ; but while the depth was 7.29 
 inches as in the preceding, the hoo was of a square form, and 
 was 10.867 inches square. One of the handles or " ears " was 
 a shung measure, the other a ho. This is one way of " squaring 
 the circle." The other measures were also made in squares, and 
 on the decimal system ; so that this simple and satisfactory mode 
 of division has always prevailed in China. 
 
 SALT. 
 
 When it is remembered that a yin of salt is about four cwt., a 
 glance at the table given above, showing the millions of yin 
 belonging yearly to the imperial government, will give reason 
 sufficient for the existence of many laws centering round this 
 article. The enormous quantities of salt used over the eighteen 
 provinces of China, are produced on the sea-side, for the small 
 quantities brought from the Inland Lake on the far west of 
 China into Kansu, make but a small fraction of what is used. 
 In Manchuria, on the shore of the gulf of Liaotung, between 
 Newchwang and Kaichow, the salt water is led into a square pit 
 by a small drain cut in the muddy shore of the shallow sea. 
 This drain is closed up outside the pit as soon as enough of water 
 has flowed in, and the action of a warm sun in a dry atmosphere, 
 soon gives the proprietor of the pit a quantity of salt, which he 
 throws into a great heap and covers with straw matting, to wait 
 for the daily carts which take it away up country. The tax- 
 gatherer is always on the spot. 
 
SALT. 673 
 
 We again glance over the laws of Kienlung for our information 
 as to Chinese society of that time. The man who smuggled salt 
 was beaten a hundred blows and banished three years. If he 
 had arms in his possession, he was sentenced to one degree 
 heavier punishment ; and if he accused an innocent man of being 
 an accomplice, his punishment was three degrees more severe. 
 He was beheaded if he resisted the officers who went to appre- 
 hend him. The salt, arms, cart or boat, were all confiscated ; 
 while the man who guided the smuggler, the man who weighed 
 for him, or the man who hid the salt on his premises, was 
 punished only one degree less severely than the smuggler. The 
 man who carried the salt on his back, or who provided beasts of 
 burden to carry it, was punished one degree less severely still. 
 Any party concerned in such smuggling, was not only pardoned 
 but well rewarded if he turned informer; and the smuggler 
 himself was pardoned if he repented and gave information. 
 The magistrate was severely judged who dealt not according to 
 law when smuggling was discovered, or who pretended that an 
 innocent man was the smuggler. The same law applied to any 
 salt taken beyond the bounds of the salt-pan by any master or 
 employer, if such salt had not paid the proper duty. His fellows 
 of the salt-pan who knew of the fraud and failed to inform, were 
 found equally guilty. He who knowingly bought and used 
 smuggled salt was beaten a hundred blows; the seller was 
 equally guilty with the smuggler. 
 
 A woman found smuggling salt was not implicated if she had a 
 husband or grown-up son cognisant of the crime, the man being 
 responsible ; but if her husband was at a distance and ignorant, 
 and if her son was a child, the crime devolved on the woman ; she 
 being, however, subject only to the beating, but exempted from 
 the banishment. This tells its own tale as far as the position of 
 woman is concerned. 
 
 The magistrate who should examine the accused smuggler or 
 
 any party involved, and failed to do so, or released all or any of 
 
 them after they were imprisoned, but before they suffered their 
 
 legal sentence, was guilty of the same crime as the party in 
 
 s i 
 
674 TAXATION. 
 
 Yvhose case there was a failure of justice ; and if bribery was 
 proved he fared worse. 
 
 If the officer who had charge of Customs Frontier, Barrier or 
 River Ford, reported less salt than actually passed, he was beaten 
 forty blows for the first offence, fifty for the second, and sixty for 
 the third. His civil or military colleague, aware of the fact and 
 neglecting to inform, was equally guilty. Any official retaining 
 for his own private use salt confiscated from the smuggler, was 
 equally guilty with the smuggler; his punishment was three 
 degrees heavier if he sought to involve an innocent man. 
 
 The carrier, or the merchant with more salt in his possession 
 than the duty paid yin, or the private vessel transporting public 
 salt and carrying arms, were all judged by the law against the 
 smuggler. The merchant who sold duty paid salt after mixing 
 it with earth or sand was beaten eighty blows. His was a heavier 
 punishment who took salt beyond the district in and for which 
 duty had been paid ; and the salt was confiscated. 
 
 The man who in an official customs pass forged the name of a 
 well-known merchant, and took away and sold the salt, was 
 beheaded ; the weigh-man, the innkeeper giving shelter by the 
 way, and the pass-giving official, were transported. 
 
 Whoever extorted money on the pretence that he was the 
 Headman of a Salt-pan district or a boat-searcher, or on any 
 other pretence, was banished, and his followers sent to the ranks 
 of the furthest army. 
 
 A boat company numbering ten or more, flying a flag and 
 using arms, who opposed the regular coast-guard service, and 
 killed one man or wounded three or more, were all beheaded and 
 the leader's head was exposed ; if two only were wounded, the 
 chief was beheaded, his accomplices strangled ; and if one only 
 was wounded, the leader was beheaded, and the accomplices sent 
 to the ranks of the furthest army ; but if no man was wounded 
 by their opposition, the leader was strangled, the accomplices, 
 with their wives, banished 3000 li. A band of ten or more by 
 land opposing the coast-guard was punished one degree less 
 severely. But if the very poor smuggled salt in quantities only 
 
TEA. 675 
 
 sufficient to purchase their daily bread, they were free. This law 
 is further enlarged by explaining the very poor to consist of old 
 men over sixty (English fifty-nine), or youths under fifteen (English 
 fourteen) suffering from any disease, an old woman, a widow, or 
 an orphan, who reported themselves without friends to support 
 them. Any of these was permitted to go to the salt pan and 
 carry away forty catties of salt once, but only once, a day ; they 
 had to go by road and were not allowed to go by boat, nor to go 
 beyond the district in which they received the salt. If they 
 neglected these limitations they were subjected to punishment. 
 
 If the official set to watch over the salt himself smuggled, his 
 offence was one degree heavier than that of the ordinary 
 smuggler. The salt merchant with arms found in his possession 
 was subject to the law against the carrying of arms secretly. 
 The salt official who himself acted as salt merchant, exchanging 
 salt for money or grain, was sentenced to the fate of the 
 smuggler, because he was covetous of the profit belonging to 
 the people. The merchant who bought with a large measure, 
 and sold with a smaller, forfeited his salt and was, with the 
 weigh-man, beaten eighty blows, and the purchaser lost the price 
 paid ; for this was deceiving the government by using other than 
 the standard measure. 
 
 The history of the Manchus informs us that a dismissed tax 
 collector general for Yunnan was accused of having amassed one 
 million six hundred thousand taels by selling smuggled salt ; and 
 when the charge was found proven, the emperor ordered him to 
 be beheaded and his property confiscated. 
 
 The revenue from salt over all China in the time of the first 
 Manchu emperor was slightly above two million taels per annum ; 
 in Kienlung's reign it was nearly six millions annually. 
 
 TEA. 
 
 The salt laws were applied substantially to tea-smuggling, the 
 only difference of importance was the special law against 
 smuggling to sell to foreigners, whether within the bounds or on 
 the frontiers of China. 
 
676 TAXATION. 
 
 All ships from sea were required to give a correct and full 
 Manifest to the magistrate of the port entered, and one hundred 
 blows was the penalty of fraudulent Manifests; while the 
 unspecified goods were forfeited; and an informer received a 
 reward of twenty taels. 
 
 The tea taxes of the eighteenth of Kienlung produced, in 
 eleven provinces, three hundred and sixty-four thousand nine 
 hundred and forty-nine yin, which weight varies in various 
 provinces ; Shensi and Kansu produced one hundred and thirty- 
 six thousand four hundred and eighty bi of ten catties each, 
 besides six thousand two hundred and sixty-six taels in money ; 
 and Szchuen, five hundred and ninety thousand and seventy taels. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 The Chow dynasty raised taxes from gold, jade, pewter, and 
 stone, besides various kinds of cloth. In Kienlung's time the 
 provinces of Kwangsi, Yunnan, and Kweichow produced gold, 
 silver, copper, pewter, lead, iron, and mercury. Szchuen 
 produced most of those and sulphur. 
 
 On the shores of the sea, of lakes, rivers, marshes, and pools, 
 a very tall and strong kind of reed grows, useful for mat-making, 
 for supporting roofs of houses, and for fuel. Large numbers of 
 poor people make a livelihood by cutting down and selling those 
 reeds, or by raising water-grown rice on those ownerless lands. 
 This product is also taxed, and the tax is known as the Loo or 
 Reed-tax. In 1752 the extent of such lands, some of them 
 always under several feet of water, was seventy-nine millions nine 
 hundred and forty-six thousand and forty-six ching, or over a 
 million of acres, in the provinces of Kiangsoo, Anhwi, Kiangsi, 
 Hoope, and Hoonan ; and the revenue therefrom was ninety- 
 eight millions two hundred and fifty thousand and thirty taels. 
 
 In southern China former dynasties had a considerable number 
 of artificial fish ponds, protected by special legislation. The 
 present dynasty removed the prohibitions against utilising the 
 bottom of those ponds, with the exception of two ponds in 
 Kiangsi and two in Kwangtung. From the reeds grown in the 
 
TOTAL INCOME. 677 
 
 others in the provinces of Kiangnan, Kiangsi, Fookien, 
 Chihkiang, Hookwang, and Kwangtung, a revenue was raised of 
 twenty-four thousand four hundred and twelve taels. 
 
 These various odds and ends, with the taxes payable on the 
 sale of lands and houses, produced, in 1753, a total of one 
 million fifty-two thousand seven hundred and six taels. 
 
 In 1651, we rely again on the " Holy Wars," the revenue 
 yielded fourteen and a half million taels in silver, of which the 
 army ate up over thirteen million ; and though expenditure 
 increased within three years so as to exceed income by four 
 million, the emperor refused to increase taxation. When 
 Sangwei revolted, Kanghi was in desperation to make ends 
 meet. He called for voluntary contributions and sold literary 
 degrees, but got only two million taels. The magistrates, 
 however, had abundance of money raised for public purposes, 
 which they retained in their own hands. But in 1722 Kanghi 
 had a reserve surplus of eight millions, increased by his successor 
 to sixty millions, more than half of which Kienlung drained off 
 in his remote north-western expeditions against the Mahom- 
 medans; and he spent the remainder and more in his wars 
 against the Tienshan regions. But at the same time the Board 
 of Kevenue had a surplus over Chinese working expenses of fully 
 seventy millions. Kienlung spent over seventy millions in his 
 wars against Kinchuen in 1776, but there still remained a 
 surplus of fully sixty millions. Five years after he twice reduced 
 taxes because he had a surplus of seventy-eight millions ; and 
 his surplus in 1795 was over seventy millions. But forty years 
 thereafter, this surplus unaccountably disappeared; and over 
 seventy millions called in by requests for volunteer subscriptions 
 disappeared with it, no one being able to tell how or why. Our 
 author, however, we think, knew where a great deal of it went, 
 for he was writing of his own time when an English or foreign 
 indemnity, arising out of the opium war, introduced into China 
 its modern impecunious governments. 
 
 The revenue, which up to Kienlung was thirty million taels 
 per annum, was raised by him in 1782 to seventy-eight millions, 
 
678 TAXATION. 
 
 and was found scarcely adequate to the strain upon his 
 treasury. This we can account for by the fact that the great 
 and small Kinchuen wars cost him over seventy millions, while 
 a simultaneous drain of a hundred millions was compressed into 
 the short space of time in which he had to put down the 
 Bailien kiao rebellion in the central provinces. The resources 
 at his command show what can be got by the usual taxation out 
 of China when tax-collectors are less than ordinarily rapacious. 
 Yet, as has been said above, the cure of this national gangrene 
 must be the same which uprooted the similar corruption in 
 England, a largely increased salary to officials, and strict 
 accounts with them. 
 
 The loss to the country by taxes in kind may be estimated 
 from the cost of transport in the year 1809, when a censor and 
 a grand secretary calculated that each dan of rice transported 
 by imperial convoy from the south, cost eighteen taels for 
 carriage alone ; thus the four million dan coming thence cost 
 seventy- two million taels ; while by vessels carrying six hundred 
 dan from Kiangsoo the cost was only a thousand dollars, or 
 about one tael and a half per dan. The cost of taxes in grain 
 delivered in Peking should never exceed the calculated four taels 
 per dan. Rice cost in the place of production two taels in ordinary 
 years, three in bad years, and four in famine. This was corro- 
 borated next year by the governors of Kiangsoo, who reported 
 that rice in the hands of the magistrates stood for three taels 
 per dan, while the public price was under one. He recommended 
 the transport of taxes in kind by the public, instead of by 
 imperial vessels; for this would be a gain to the government 
 and a boon to the people, as official covetousness was alone 
 responsible for the exorbitant charges. 
 
 Another curious piece of information is given by the " Holy 
 Wars." It appears that the Chinese government had purchased 
 foreign vessels at a price of a hundred thousand taels each. 
 But as the " Holy Wars " was being printed, a schooner ship 
 belonging to the " Barbarian " English had been burnt in Canton, 
 and for it they demanded only twenty thousand dollars ; and it 
 
NATIVE PRODUCTS. 
 
 679 
 
 was reasoned that a full rigged ship could cost no more than 
 double. The author, therefore, deeply regrets that the Chinese 
 government threw away to barbarians over two millions of taels 
 above the proper cost of the vessels they purchased. We fear 
 the author of the " Holy Wars " had forgotten the middle-men 
 in those transactions, to whom the lion's share of those over- 
 charges would fall. 
 
 The following TARIFF of purely native goods may be interesting 
 to compare with that of other nations. The articles mentioned, 
 though thus taxed within the country producing them, are only 
 taxed when passing into another province than that in which 
 they are produced ; and this is much like a passage from one 
 country to another in Europe. 
 
 Best Satin, per piece, Tls. 0.13800 
 
 2nd class Satin, 0.11400 
 
 Flowered Silk, 0.03420 
 
 Coloured 0.02506 
 
 Finest Gauze, 0.01708 
 
 Best " Grass" Cloth, 0.06800 
 
 Cotton 0.05500 
 
 Fine (Satin) Boots, one pair 0.01200 
 
 Cotton Shoes, 0.00400 
 Birds' (Swallow) Nest, per 
 
 catty, - - 0.01360 
 
 Incense, per catty, - 0.00200 
 
 Ivory Ware, - - 0.02000 
 
 Combs, per hundred Tls. 0.01200 
 Mica, sheets, 0.12000 
 
 Keal Gold Fans, per ten, 0.00800 
 Black 0.00400 
 
 Common Fans, 0.00080 
 
 Preserved Fruits, per cwt. 0.02680 
 Tea, per catty, - - 0.00200 
 Ginsheng, - - 0.10400 
 Whanglien Medicine, per cwt. 2.04000 
 Tortoise Glue (Medicine?), 
 
 per cwt., - - - 0.40000 
 Ajiao, Ass Skin Glue Medi- 
 cine, per cwt., - - 0.40000 
 
 Keeping in mind that the tael is valued at about six shillings 
 sterling, the customs duties will appear ridiculously small e.g., 
 tea sells in Mookden at from one to two taels per catty ; but 
 supposing it to average no more than half a tael in value over 
 China, the duty is under OJ per cent. The same is true of 
 Ginsheng. Silks appear to be rated at about one per cent. 
 The customs at the open ports, whose rates were fixed by the 
 English, charge five per cent, as the minimum rate. 
 
 Besides the ordinary revenue, there are special items provided 
 by particular people for the emperor's private use. Many 
 
 * About fourteen yards. The decimal places are named ckien, fun, li, hao, and su. 
 
680 TAXATION. 
 
 Manchus of Manchuria have to pay a greatly reduced or no tax 
 on their lands. But there is a tax in kind of all the various 
 products, other than grain, of all kinds of fish and game. The 
 Manchus hereditarily occupied in pearl gathering, in fishing or 
 hunting, have to provide a certain number of their specialty 
 per head or Ding. Thus the pearl fisher families (Hoo) of 
 Woola are bound to supply his majesty with sixteen eastern 
 pearls per Ding per annum ; the honey families with seventy 
 catties of honey ; the Ginsheng families with seven and a half 
 Hang or ounces per Ding per annum. In Liaotung, the net 
 families of Newchwang, of whom there is a large number, have 
 to provide yearly five hundred catties fish per Ding ; the falcon 
 families, one hundred falcons ; the fox families, four fox skins ; 
 the honey families, fifty catties of honey ; the game families, two 
 wild boar and ninety head of smaller game, or bundles of dried 
 venison, each bundle containing ten pieces ; the otter families, 
 four otter skins ; the heron families, fifteen pairs of herons ; the 
 fish families, fifty small-scaled or fresh-water fishes per Ding 
 per annum. We find the same law, with differing quantities, 
 applied along the north border of Chihli, touching Mongolia. 
 
 There are special looms in Nanking, Hangchow, and Soochow, 
 under high official superintendents, employed solely in weaving 
 dragon and mang silks for the emperor. There are three chief 
 treasuries in Peking under the Board of Revenue. One is used 
 solely to store up silk goods ; satins, silks or gauze, made for the 
 emperor, to be used in the imperial family, or gifted by him to 
 any individual. A second is for storing silver, and a third 
 contains all the copper, pewter, lead, and iron, as well as various 
 kinds of incense. Every third year there is a most careful 
 examination made of these three treasuries, to ascertain whether 
 the stock in hand agrees with the inventory. 
 
 EXPENDITURE. 
 
 Next in point of interest to the manner in which the taxes 
 are ingathered, is the mode in which they are expended. The 
 emperor is nominally absolute master of all China; but the 
 
EXPENDITUKE. 681 
 
 Board of Revenue has the keys of the treasury. The emperor's 
 personal annual expenditure is "constant," which must mean 
 that it is fixed. The imperial agent sends an order to the 
 Board for whatever is wanted. The Board sends the order to 
 that particular one of the three treasuries, where the ordered 
 article is stored. The senior secretary in charge of that treasury 
 sends an order to the manager in charge of that treasury ; and 
 he implements the order, preserving the document. But if the 
 expenditure of the imperial household is fixed, the full amount 
 is not given us ; though we are persuaded it greatly exceeds the 
 expenditure of any European court (see pp. 667-8). 
 
 But if we are in ignorance as to the imperial household, we 
 are informed fully of the rate of expenditure on what we might 
 call the civil list. A Chin wang or prince receives annually a 
 sum of ten thousand taels, and his heir six thousand. A Kun 
 wang has an allowance of five thousand taels, his eldest son 
 three thousand. A Beira gets two thousand five hundred 
 taels; Beidsu, thirteen hundred; Jungiuo Goong, seven hundred; 
 Foogwo Goong, five hundred; and from second class Jungwo 
 commander, who has four hundred and ten taels, allowances 
 drop by twenty-five taels at a step for thirteen grades to 
 Commander by Favour. Every man of the imperial clan, 
 consisting chiefly of all the descendants of Noorhachu, the 
 founder of the dynasty, but also including the descendants of 
 his brothers and sisters, has an annual allowance. This allowance 
 is graduated in proportion to the nearness or remoteness of 
 relationship to the ruling emperor. Each recipient of this 
 imperial bounty has a title, and the lowest title confers the 
 right to eighty taels a year; so that titles are not merely 
 honorary. The members of the imperial family have necessarily 
 a larger income than the more remote connections. We have 
 just mentioned what the allowance is to the sons of majesty, 
 Chin and Kun wang, &c. The princesses have also a yearly 
 allowance. The chief, called the Goolun princess, receives four 
 hundred taels; when married, her husband gets besides two 
 hundred and eighty taels per annum. The Hoshao princess 
 
682 
 
 TAXATION. 
 
 has three hundred taels, and her husband two hundred and 
 fifty-five. The Kunjoo princess is allowed two hundred and 
 fifty taels, and her husband two hundred and thirty. The other 
 four grades down to and ending with HiangJcun princess 
 decrease by thirty taels each; the same rule applies to the 
 husbands, the lowest allowance being one hundred and five taels. 
 Each of these various grades include a larger or smaller number 
 of princesses, and embrace many ladies from collateral branches, 
 created princesses to honour their fathers for any important 
 services rendered to the state. 
 
 The Manchu government has from its earliest dawn sedulously 
 cultivated the good-will of the restless nomadic Mongols, who 
 used to be the bitter scourge of every preceding dynasty. Very 
 few attempts have been made by the Mongols within the last 
 three centuries to assert supremacy, or even to demand 
 independence. This is the result of a cautious policy of 
 conferring handsome yearly allowances upon the Mongol chiefs, 
 who are graded as princes of such and such a rank by and 
 under the Manchu government. Intermarriage is also largely 
 resorted to, and is very influential in cementing the Mongol 
 chiefs to the Manchu throne. The emperor sometimes marries 
 a Mongol princess; and there are curious stories afloat among the 
 Chinese on this subject. But the Mongol princes are very 
 frequently married to Manchu princesses. These are not 
 necessarily indeed they are only rarely the daughters of the 
 emperor; but are nieces, cousins, or other relations, created 
 princess of a certain grade just for the marriage. And not only 
 is the usual allowance connected with that grade given to this 
 princess, but an addition is made thereto. In the case of a 
 Goolun princess thus married, the allowance amounts to one 
 thousand taels a year, and thirty webs of satin ; her husband 
 receiving three hundred taels in addition to the sum connected 
 with his title. The chief of Karka, of Toorbet, of Korsin, is 
 always a Chin wang ; and receives with his title a sum of two 
 thousand taels and forty webs of satin per annum. The Chin 
 wang of any other Mongolic tribe receives two thousand taels 
 
EXPENDITURE. 683 
 
 and twenty-five webs of satin. And the heir of any Chin wang 
 has a yearly allowance of fifteen hundred taels and twenty 
 pieces of satin. The Kun wang of Korsin and Jassaktoo 
 receive each twelve hundred taels and fifteen pieces of satin; 
 their heir having besides a sum of eight hundred taels and 
 thirteen pieces, what the Mongol Beira receives. The Taiji is 
 the lowest chieftain rank, and his allowance is one hundred taels 
 and four webs of satin per year. 
 
 Far the greatest drain on the imperial exchequer is the 
 utterly useless, but in the aggregate enormous, payment made 
 to the Manchu " soldiers " in the capital and throughout the 
 empire. Their claim to be military men is based rather on 
 their descent than on their skill in arms ; and their pay is given 
 them because of their fathers' prowess, and not at all from any 
 hopes of their efficiency as soldiers. Their soldierly qualities 
 are included in the accomplishments of idleness, riding, and the 
 use of the bow and arrow, at which they practice on a few rare 
 occasions each year. Each of the nine grades of officer is 
 divided into senior and junior ; but the difference is in grade, 
 not in pay. The grain given is in proportion to the pay, one 
 hoo or bushel being given for every tael. 
 
 The pay of the privates in the body-guard is larger than the 
 ordinary pay. The privates whose duty it is to be immediately 
 around the emperor, are paid at the rate of four taels per month ; 
 a rate which foremen bow-makers also receive. The cavalry, 
 bow-maker, and brazier receives each three taels per month; each 
 man having an allowance besides of forty-eight hoo of grain per 
 annum. The infantry of the main body of the guards have one 
 and a half tael and two hoo of grain per month, which is the 
 pay of troops in active service ; garrison troops in garrison or in 
 peace receiving monthly one tael and one hoo. Cannoneers in 
 the capital receive two taels and three hoo each month. The 
 three camps in the capital of Chinese troops or Loo ying are 
 paid at the rate of two taels for cavalry and one for infantry ; 
 and each horse is allowed two and a half taels per month. 
 These items are fully sufficient to give an idea of the cost of 
 feeding men in China. 
 
684 TAXATION. 
 
 CURRENCY. 
 
 We learn from the " Holy Wars " that before the Sung period 
 or the tenth century, there was no silver produced or used in 
 China, gold and copper being the precious metals in use ; and 
 that whatever silver was used in China before that time, was 
 brought in from abroad, but not used as currency. In the Han 
 period, nineteen centuries ago, there were foreign coins brought 
 into China of both gold and silver, having on the obverse a 
 face, on the reverse a rider ; or on the obverse the king's " face," 
 on the reverse his queen's. The Kigweihuen, Dookialo, and 
 Chiewhashu, kingdoms of Siyu* used gold and silver money, 
 with small copper cash ; and India used gold, silver, and pearls. 
 It was men from Siyii who first brought silver into China. The 
 Sung emperors had to forbid the selling of copper cash to 
 foreigners who brought silver in ships with which they bought 
 the copper. But as "foreigners were covetous," the practice 
 was "continued by smuggling; just as now there are laws 
 issued in vain against the exportation of silver." The various 
 kingdoms of America, says our authority, produce gold and 
 silver in abundance. In 807 the Tang emperor said that where 
 there was silver to be found, there was also copper ; that copper 
 was useful for drums and cymbals and other necessary articles, 
 but silver could not in any way be regarded a necessary ; hence 
 he forbade all within the Wooling, the " Five mountain ranges," 
 to mine for silver, but permitted the mining of copper. The 
 Sung dynasty also forbade silver mining. And the two first Ming 
 emperors forbade the exchanging of gold or silver for goods. 
 
 Only the two Kwang paid silver tribute to Tang dynasty, 
 each sub-prefecture paying from twenty to thirty taels. The 
 Yuen dynasty received no more than fifty thousand or sixty 
 thousand taels a year in silver. The first Ming emperor refused 
 to accept more than twenty-four thousand taels. So that before 
 the Ming period silver was despised and copper esteemed. But 
 we saw in the historical portion of our work how Wanli of the 
 Ming prayed, and yearned and worked for silver. It is not 
 
 * Neighbourhood of Tienshan. 
 
CURRENCY. 685 
 
 improbable that contact with western nations made China 
 gradually accept of silver instead of a gold currency. 
 
 Of the silver in China, the "Holy Wars" continues, that 
 brought in foreign ships is, in proportion to that produced in 
 China, as seventeen to fourteen ; and like a Tang-yin fatalist 
 or Hegelian, the author of the "Holy Wars" sees only the 
 natural " morning and evening/' ebb and flow, in the fact that 
 foreign ships were in his own times again fast draining China 
 of silver in exchange for opium. 
 
 Silver was in Taokwang period produced in Yunnan and 
 Kweichow, Yunnan producing yearly sixty-seven thousand and 
 three hundred Hang * of silver, and sixty Hang of gold. It also 
 produced ten thousand and eight hundred worth of silver Hang 
 in copper. The yield of Yungchang foo, of Szchuen, and the 
 two Kwaiig, was unknown ; as also the yield of pewter in those 
 provinces and in Shensi and Hookwang, Yunnan producing the 
 worth of three thousand Hang. Yunnan does not sell any of 
 those metals to the barbarian, nor Kweichow to the Miao; 
 but every other province sells to the barbarian. 
 
 The gold mines of Kanchow and Sining in Kansu, with those 
 of Chunchow and Tayooshan, in Hoonan, are under charge of a 
 marshal with a band of soldiers, and are worked by night. The 
 Darbahatai gold mine in Hi or Kulja, was worked by the men 
 and under the authority of the Tatar general. In Wunchoo 
 and other places of Chihkiang, the people were permitted to 
 mine, on payment of a royalty of from ten to twenty per cent. 
 There was a silver mine beyond Tungyue worked by the 
 Burmese, and another beyond Yungchang belonging to the Gwo 
 barbarians. The Yuen history states that the masters were 
 many and the workers few in those mines, so that the labourers 
 were both poor and ill treated. These labourers were wholly 
 Miao. There were three magistrates to look after the food of 
 the labourers and to settle disputes, and four to look after the 
 refining of the silver. 
 
 * I prefer to use this Chinese term, for it is twenty -five per cent, heavier than 
 the English ounce, as the catty is than the English pound avoird. 
 
686 TAXATION. 
 
 In the Ming dynasty Fukien had forty-two silver mines 
 opened, and Chihkiang had a large number ; but because of the 
 numerous murders committed, the Ming closed the mines. 
 Kanghi and Kienlung, the two most prosperous emperors of the 
 Manchu line, forbade the working of silver mines. The Kin 
 dynasty, contemporary with the Sung, which forbade silver 
 mining, permitted the people to mine, charging a royalty of 
 five per cent. A recent note to the " Holy Wars " states that 
 the silver mines of China are exhausted ; that there is the mine 
 of Dashan, west of Kwangsi, worked by Chinese; that of 
 Soonghing, in the north of Annam, worked mostly by Cantonese ; 
 and there is a million Hang brought annually into China. 
 Chinese and Annamese constantly murder each other ; but the 
 Annamese king takes his per centage on the silver produced, 
 never troubling himself about the murders or the state of the 
 miners. 
 
 Anciently gold was plentiful in China and silver unknown. 
 Hiao Wang of the Liang had at his death four hundred thousand 
 catties * of gold ! A Han Wang had forty thousand catties. 
 In the Wei period, when Buddhism made its thorough conquest 
 of China, one emperor used up twenty-five thousand catties of 
 gold in making images, and at another time one hundred 
 thousand catties. It was then weight for weight cheaper than 
 jade. 
 
 There was no silver in the beginning of the Tang dynasty 
 (seventh century). There was a very small quantity used in 
 the beginning of the Sung dynasty to pay taxes ; and it gradually 
 increased, till in Yuenfung reign gold decreased to ten thousand 
 Hang, and silver increased to two hundred thousand. In the 
 reign Tiensi there was an income of eight hundred and eighty- 
 three thousand Hang. But most of this came in foreign ships. 
 
 In the Tang dynasty there was a " Flying money " currency, 
 which means paper notes. That was eleven centuries before 
 Law turned the heads of most Frenchmen. The Sung dynasty 
 minted three hundred and sixty thousand strings of cash, and 
 
 * At present value this gives thirty million pounds stg. 
 
PAPER MONEY. 687 
 
 ordered solid cash alone to be used in paying for anything, 
 recalling the " Flying money " of Tang. But when the Sung 
 in its turn became poor, it too issued paper money, which it 
 called Jiaohwi. This paper represented, or nominally 
 represented, tea, salt, and goods. Thus, said our author, the 
 " light stood for the heavy," and ten real cash could be made to 
 represent a million. If, he adds, that paper did not represent 
 real property, the profit was with the governors; but the 
 oppression, the loss, and the suffering with the governed. At 
 the time he was writing, on account of the disappearance of 
 silver and the claims of the first English war, the proposal was 
 seriously considered in Peking of again issuing a paper currency, 
 which the " Holy Wars " profoundly deprecated. The provinces 
 of Kiangnan (now Kiangsoo and Anhwi), of Chihkiang, 
 Hookwang and Fukien, refused to have anything to do with the 
 paper currency of any of the dynasties which used it. And the 
 " Holy Wars " states that they never adopted even the mercantile 
 notes so common over all north China. 
 
 In 1375, one Hang of gold stood for ten dan of rice, and one 
 of silver for two dan ; hence gold was weight for weight only 
 five times dearer than silver. Thirty-eight years after, one 
 Hang of gold stood for twenty dan of rice, and was 7.5 times 
 dearer than silver. A short time after, gold was ten times 
 dearer than silver ; standing for twenty goong salt, or thirty dan 
 rice. Since one Hang of silver would then buy three dan of 
 rice, we see that grain has not always grown in price with the 
 march of time in China. 
 
 In the Han period so scarce and valuable was silver that for 
 eight Hang one thousand strings of cash were paid ; within a 
 dozen centuries after, in the Kin dynasty, one hundred strings 
 bought fifty Hang ; and in the end of the fourteenth century, 
 one string of a thousand cash was exchanged for one Hang ; 
 and four strings bought a Hang of gold, this being one-fourth of 
 its modern price. The first Ming emperor bought the Hang of 
 silver for six hundred cash ; and the last paid sixteen hundred 
 to two thousand cash for the same. In the beginning of the 
 
688 TAXATION. 
 
 Manchu reign, silver again fell to one thousand cash per Hang. 
 When the " Holy Wars " was being written, the Hang or tael 
 of silver rose again to sixteen hundred cash ; and it was this 
 sudden rise in price which opened the eyes of the Chinese to 
 x the drain made by the opium traffic ; the Mexican dollar at the 
 same time sold for so much as thirteen hundred cash. And this 
 has been one very considerable element in the war against 
 opium, perhaps indeed the chief one ; but Chinese could not 
 publicly mention this, when they had such a capital argument 
 against it in the curses innumerable it has introduced into 
 China. But from either motive no one would have ever found 
 fault with China for resisting the introduction of opium if she 
 had warred successfully; for she believes, as other nations 
 believe, that she has a right to say what shall be allowed and 
 what forbidden to enter her borders from foreign countries. 
 And this right she is certain to demand ere long. What would 
 be thought of Britain, if she compelled by costly war the State 
 of Maine to take British whisky at five or ten per cent, duty on 
 its cost price ? Yet this is what we did and do in China. 
 
 The copper or brass currency of China is used westwards to 
 Hami ; but to the west of that place the Mahommedans use a 
 cash which they call poor, one of which equals in value five 
 Chinese cash; it is therefore apparently pure copper. Fifty 
 poor they call one tung. To the south-west the Burmese silver 
 currency comes in contact with the Chinese cash. It is O. 15 of 
 a Hang in weight, and six go to a tael. A smaller coin of 0.1, 
 nine of which to the tael; and a smaller still, O. 05 , eighteen of 
 which are sold for the tael. Thus the Burmese charge ten per 
 cent, in the exchange. 
 
 After Kienlung conquered Tibet he ordered exchange marts 
 at both Nan and Bei Loo of Tienshan, where poor cash could 
 be exchanged for Chinese. The Resident in Tibet was ordered 
 to mint large and small silver coins, with the characters 
 " Kienlung " in Chinese on the face, and Tanggootua or Tibetan 
 letters on the reverse. These were after the model of the coins 
 of Gworka or Nepaul. . 
 
CASH. 689 
 
 In 1653, there were minted 2,097,633,850 cash, in strings 
 called Juchien of 2000 each; besides 20,001,210 "copper" 
 cash, which probably means the much larger cash used in the 
 capital ; and 128,172.47 tiaos of paper money, each representing 
 1000 cash, were circulated. In 1682, the cash minted was 
 294,851,480; in 1691, it was 289,921,050; in 1703, it was 
 238,065,900. Large numbers of all those mintings, together 
 with a few of much older cash, form the smaller proportion of 
 the cash now in circulation ; but the great bulk of those older 
 cash has been melted down, as later mintings, nominally of the 
 same value, have been much lighter in weight. 
 
 In July 1653, the Board of Works decided that cash should 
 be minted all of one pattern ; each weighing O. 125 of a Hang, 
 and be finished artistically with the character li on the 
 reverse. Every thousand cash should represent one Hang of 
 silver; and any deviation from this price should be declared 
 criminal. The emperor agreed to this desire to have the 
 relative values of copper and silver fixed. But there is nothing 
 more fluctuating in China than the price of silver; two successive 
 days rarely finding it the same, except during the few days at 
 Chinese new year when no business is done. We learn also 
 from this decision that copper or brass was, value for value, one 
 hundred and twenty-five times heavier than silver. 
 
 Though copper cash is the currency and the standard metal, 
 everything else gold, silver, grain, &c. changing in value 
 according to supply and demand, silver is the measure and the 
 currency of money land-taxes. As there is no silver coinage, 
 the infinitesimal sums have always to be paid in small nuggets 
 called " Loose silver " by foreigners ; by the Chinese, more 
 appropriately, "Broken silver." The receiver of taxes had to 
 melt these down into the Chinese ingot, called " one silver " 
 and by foreigners, " a shoe of silver," from its supposed resem- 
 blance to a shoe. The weight of this is over fifty-three taels 
 or Hang, and the value is about 15 stg. Alleging a loss by 
 " Fire-waste " in the process of this conversion, the tax-gatherer 
 demanded three per cent, more than the legal tax weight to 
 T i 
 
690 TAXATION. 
 
 make good his loss. This charge for "Fire-waste" Kanghi 
 declared an illegal impost on the people, and he issued orders to 
 cease its collection. But it was doubtless too profitable an 
 illegality to admit of its cessation, and the excuse for it was very 
 plausible ; even though the emperor, by his orders, implied that 
 if there were in reality such a loss, the government and not the 
 people should bear it. The emperor succeeding him twice 
 within the first five years of his reign seriously denounced the 
 same charge as an illegality. But orders were issued in vain. 
 
 That charge against the tax-payer of three per cent, was 
 either found by the Manchu tax-gatherers in operation, which 
 is very likely, or introduced by them from the beginning of their 
 reign ; for before the young child-emperor had gone from 
 Mookden to Peking, the viceroy in Tientsin prayed that those 
 taxes imposed additional to the taxation of the Ming should be 
 abolished, and that the " Fire-waste " should be stopped. The 
 regent replied in name of the child-emperor, that proclamation 
 had been already made forbidding any official to trespass the 
 laws under pain of death, that the three per cent. " Fire- 
 waste " was an illegal charge, arising from " covetousness," an 
 oppressing of the people, and a defrauding of the government ; 
 and that so far was the emperor from desiring to increase the 
 Ming taxation, that he was eager to reduce even the legal tax. 
 
 When it is stated that a pound of copper in lump is three 
 times more valuable in the markets than a pound of copper 
 minted, it will not seem surprising that stringent and severe 
 laws have been found necessary, from 1698 downwards, to 
 preserve the only minted coin in China. So particular are the 
 laws on this point, that it is illegal to carry quantities of cash 
 from one city to another on any pretence. The most severe 
 punishment is inflicted upon him who melts down cash; the 
 next .in heinousness is the crime of him who mints privately, or 
 " sweats " or clips the edges. The third in guilt is he who melts 
 ancient cash, or withdraws it from circulation ; and the lightest 
 offence is that of casting small cash of light weight, probably 
 because it is easy of detection. This last is, however, largely 
 
CASH. 691 
 
 practised ; for a dozen light cash can be made out of the copper 
 of one real cash. 
 
 Were a pound weight of minted copper cash equally valuable 
 with a pound weight of similar metal unworked, there would be 
 no temptation to " melt ; " but so extreme is the conservatism of 
 the Chinese people in regard to currency, that they have over 
 and over again successfully resisted the imposition by the 
 government of a currency of lighter weight. The Coreans, in 
 returning from Peking, used to purchase great quantities of 
 copper cash, take it to their own country, convert it into basons, 
 bring it back and sell it to the Chinese, making rich on the 
 profits. The copper money of Manchuria ran the risk of utterly 
 disappearing, when the Chinese emperor intervened and 
 prevented further depletion, by ordering his vassal, the Corean 
 king, to declare the melting of Chinese cash a capital crime. 
 
 The standard of English currency is gold ; that of Chinese is 
 copper. The accompanying woodcut gives a fac-simile in size, 
 obverse and reverse, of such copper cash or coin minted under 
 various dynasties. Through the square hole in the centre a 
 string is passed, by which the coins are easily carried about. A 
 tiao is a string of a certain number of cash ; the number being 
 fixed in any one city and neighbourhood, but differing in many 
 cities. The string is always nominally 1000, though it rarely 
 counts the full number; it is as often really 500, 164, 162, or 
 160. This copper cash is the only imperial sanctioned currency. 
 
 When large accounts are settled, silver ingots or shoes of about 
 four and a half pounds weight are used instead of the very 
 cumbrous copper cash. At Chinese new-year every man must 
 square his accounts, and settle in hard cash. At this period of 
 universal reckoning, silver mounts up in price from ten to 
 twenty per cent. ; and after all accounts are settled, it goes 
 gradually down again. This is, of course, so much pure gain to 
 the banks and money lender ; and a man with a good deal of 
 ready money and business capacity, could then make handsome 
 sums of money. In travelling, it is also necessary to carry about 
 silver when a draft is not attainable; but as a rule it is not 
 
1 are obverse and reverse of an original Manchu cash ; 2 are two various forms of 
 reverse in Manchu words of cash of present dynasty; 3 are obverse of the 
 same ; 4 are deteriorated cash of the emperors during and since the opium 
 wars; and 5 is a false coin. All are actual size; one of each emperor, of 
 present dynasty. 
 
PAPER MONEY. 693 
 
 difficult to get a draft on any city, however remote. On these 
 drafts there is usually a small charge of about a half per cent. 
 
 Over the provinces in the northern half of China, the people 
 avoid the inconvenience attending the bulk and weight of their 
 copper cash, by using notes similar to our western bank notes, 
 which are usually payable in full at sight. We have seen that 
 notes were issued by the Chinese government twelve centuries 
 ago ; and that these notes purported to represent a certain value 
 in salt, tea, or grain, the taxes of the country. The notes now 
 in use took their rise in the same manner. Their issue is not 
 confined to banks, though banks are as numerous in northern 
 China as in Britain ; but all large warehouses, pawnshops, and 
 storehouses, issue notes of value from twopence to ten pounds. 
 The only apparent check on this issue, is the annual balancing 
 of accounts, which must be in solid silver ; though the extent of 
 the capital of the house is pretty well known to the other 
 members of the merchant guild, without whose permission no 
 mercantile house can issue notes in Mookden. But any house 
 may issue notes in the country, if the people will take them. 
 Some of the more wealthy houses in Mookden will issue no 
 notes ; other houses issue more than their due share. When 
 the new-year comes round, these to pay their accounts borrow 
 silver for a few days at excessive interest ; and when the new- 
 year fortnight is over, re-issue their notes and repay the 
 silver. Houses become " shut " or fail, when they are unable to 
 secure the necessary silver to tide over that fortnight. These 
 notes are so much working capital, but they are often thrice or 
 four times the real capital. These notes, therefore, represent 
 pretty closely the notes of hand, or promissory notes of our 
 western merchants. One peculiarity of this system is that this 
 paper money is of value only in the city and the country under 
 the jurisdiction of the city in which it is issued ; though it may 
 be taken beyond that range if the person tendering it is known. 
 
 The accompanying woodcut is an exact imitation of the notes 
 in use in Mookden. The printed characters are usually blue. 
 Those large ones on the top are the name of the city and the 
 
USURY. 695 
 
 street in which the issuing house is located. Underneath is the 
 name of the house or shop. The blanks are written in with the 
 date of issue, the number and the value of the note ; the mode 
 of payment, whether at sight, or three or six months after issue, 
 is also written. In the left hand corner is the stamp of the 
 house, always in red. Though this is in wood, most of the notes 
 are thrown off plates of copper or of horn, both of which produce 
 work like steel plates ; and very beautifully is this work often 
 done. On my first entry into Mookden, silver had to be changed 
 for paper notes ; but so very numerous and so cleverly executed 
 were forged notes at that time, that no tradesman or shopman 
 would take a note unless guaranteed by a well-known house- 
 holder. My first landlord was a Manchu, who had pretty good 
 estates in the country. He had a large family connection, all 
 fairly wealthy. They all owned slaves (see Slavery] , as he did 
 himself. One day a slave of one of his friends came into town 
 on business, and called on my landlord. This slave gave the 
 city man all the news from his country house, detailed the most 
 minute and accurate information, not only concerning the 
 persons of his relations, but about the properties of the family. 
 After a considerable stay, the slave said that his master had 
 sent him on business into town, giving him a large note to pay 
 for his purchases ; but as he was a stranger in town, he asked 
 my landlord whether he would not guarantee the note. The 
 landlord unhesitatingly did so for his friend's sake. The slave 
 was to call before leaving in the evening, to receive any messages 
 for his master. But his business so engaged his attention, that 
 he did not return. The " slave " did not return, but the note 
 did within a day or two, for it was found to be a forged one ; 
 and my landlord was the victim of a clever trick. 
 
 USURY AND DEBT. 
 
 British legislators in India have met with one of their greatest 
 difficulties in attempting to solve the problem of " debtor and 
 creditor ; " and so perilously near is the charybdis of ruin to the 
 debtor to the Scylla of injustice to the creditor, that legislators 
 
696 TAXATION. 
 
 have not yet found the mode of reconciling British notions of 
 the sacredness of written engagements and contracts with the 
 general wellbeing of the community and the consequent stability 
 of British rule. There are many large capitalists whose loyalty 
 is for the country which gives them the largest interest on their 
 lended capital ; and it is not at all to be expected that Indian 
 capitalists are deeply interested in the unbroken and untroubled 
 rule of British influence in India, always excepting the cases 
 in which such influence is necessary to wrest his last anna from 
 the debtor, who owes such capitalist twenty times more than the 
 original sum borrowed. We warmly recommend to the careful 
 attention, if not to the imitation of Indian law-givers, the 
 principles seen in the following laws of " debtor and creditor " 
 taken from the volumes of Kienlung's laws. The circumstances 
 in both these huge overgrown eastern empires are to all intents 
 and purposes similar. 
 
 In China as in India there are two occasions in the lives of the 
 great bulk of the population, in which a man will rather die 
 than spend only the small sum of money he can command 
 without running into debt. These are marriages and funerals, 
 especially the latter. The man in need of money will therefore 
 have it on any terms whatever, which the money-lender thinks 
 fit to demand. He knows he must have money to spend now; and 
 he does not realise, or he is comparatively heedless of the risks 
 he has to run. And if the two are left to settle their bargain by 
 themselves, none can for a moment be at a loss to know how the 
 bargaining will terminate between the man who must have 
 money on any terms and the man who is not necessitated to lend 
 on any terms. The Chinese government, as well as all others, 
 knew how the fight would and must end ; and, doubtless after 
 experiences such as India has given for years if not for centuries, 
 legislated with the express design of curbing the avarice of the 
 capitalist. The laws are therefore described as "laws against 
 Exorbitant Usury." Chinese laws, as a whole, have, as their 
 foundation, always embodied the maxim of the "greatest 
 happiness of the greatest number " ; and it is only in perfect 
 
USURY. 697 
 
 consistency with the spirit of her laws in all times, that the 
 many weak poor are protected from the few powerful wealthy. 
 The wealthy, in this case of lending, do not require the protection 
 of laws to prevent their ruin, the poor do. It is unnecessary to 
 say that the wealthy, as will be seen, are protected in what the 
 law regards as their just demands, but in demands which appear 
 proper for them to make, the laws say, " hitherto but no further;" 
 and this we think is what should be done in India. We now 
 give the Chinese laws. 
 
 Whoever gives out money, or any other article, privately, at 
 interest, must not demand or receive more than three per cent, per 
 month ; * and however many years or months pass ere the whole 
 is paid, when it is paid, the sum total paid by the debtor must 
 not exceed the capital, and a sum for interest equal to the 
 capital ; i.e., the interest, however long unpaid, must on no 
 account exceed the amount of the original capital. If a larger 
 sum (than the original capital) be demanded as interest, the 
 money-lender shall be beaten forty blows, the punishment to 
 increase with the amount of the excess "f demanded up to a 
 hundred blows. If a magistrate lend money, or other valuable 
 at interest to any person within the bounds of his jurisdiction, 
 and take interest within the legal maximum, he shall be beaten 
 eighty blows, with an increased punishment if he take more 
 than that maximum. J 
 
 * Practice makes this thirty per cent, per annum. 
 
 f The principle of forbidding accumulated unpaid interest to exceed the original 
 capital is explained by the statute book, as being that no article should more than 
 double its price. But we have the real signification in the title of the law, "against 
 extortion," or "against unbounded usury." We are informed by business men 
 that the law has been since changed to a maximum of two per cent, per month, the 
 other clause standing ; and that any interest above that is not recoverable by law. 
 Large pawn shops, which in China much resemble money-lending jewellers in 
 the west, charge this two per cent.; but small disreputable pawn shops, corre- 
 sponding to our British pawn shops, charge three per cent. , though at their own 
 risk. We know however that when the interest is regularly, whether monthly or 
 yearly, paid, the law against more than doubling the original capital does not apply. 
 
 This punishment is independent of the question whether he has distorted the 
 law in compelling such payments. In any case of interest beyond the legal limit, 
 the excess is handed back to the debtor. The magistrate or official is thus 
 absolutely forbidden to lend. 
 
 (-c 
 
 VZPFC 
 
698 TAXATION. 
 
 The debtor who fails to implement his part of the (legal) 
 agreement, in non-payment at the appointed date, shall be 
 beaten ten blows for the first three months elapsing after the 
 date when payment was due, if the sum of his debt is above five 
 taels ; the punishment increases by each lapsed month and by 
 the amount of the sum borrowed. And the capital and interest 
 must be forthwith paid to the creditor. 
 
 If a creditor seize by force a man's clothing, cattle, produce or 
 possession, as payment of debt, he shall be beaten eighty blows. 
 A more recent Act, however, ordains that if the debtor is willing,, 
 and if the article taken does not exceed in value the sum of the 
 debt, there is no blame attachable, even if in the first instance 
 the article should have been taken by force. 
 
 If a creditor take away the wife, concubine, son or daughter 
 of a debtor as payment of debt, he shall be beaten one hundred 
 blows ; if he commit adultery besides, his crime shall be increased 
 one degree, and two degrees if he be guilty of rape. If he take 
 away such person or persons by force, his punishment shall be 
 two degrees more severe, and he shall be beaten seventy blows 
 and banished one and a half years; if in addition to such 
 forcible seizure he be guilty of rape, he shall be strangled ; and in 
 either case, whether the debtor consented (because he could not 
 help himself) or refused, the creditor must restore the abducted 
 person or persons to their family, and the debt is cancelled. 
 
 Whoever borrows any article or animal, and the loan, while in 
 his possession, is worn out, lost, stolen, destroyed, killed, or dies, 
 he must make it good ; and if while he himself wore it out or 
 killed it, he falsely asserts that it was stolen or died, he shall be 
 besides beaten ninety blows, and transported two and a half 
 years. Lost articles found were to be handed to the nearest 
 magistrate on pain of punishment. Laws follow to prevent any 
 private person, or any person except the state, from taking 
 possession of and levying duties at a port ; against interference 
 with the markets or fairs, which form so peculiar and universal 
 a feature of Chinese country life ; and against light weights 
 and short measures. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 SLAVERY. 
 
 THE fact that slavery in some form existed in China from a very 
 remote period, is attested by the presence in the written 
 language of the word for "slave." This word, noo, is a composite 
 of woman beside, but after, hand. From this we might be 
 inclined to infer that the first slaves were women. But the 
 " Imperial Dictionary of Kanghi " informs us that the ancient 
 mode of writing noo, a " slave," was by placing the character 
 meaning man, beside, but after, that meaning woman, and it 
 may not therefore be a far fetched idea to take this " slave " to 
 signify a man placed under the orders of a woman, that is, a 
 man set apart for domestic service. The slave would therefore 
 be called upon to do the household drudgery, which was then 
 thought to be the peculiar sphere of woman, and to be degrading 
 for a man with strength to furrow the ground and to draw the 
 bow. It is extremely likely that this was the condition of the 
 slave in the earlier history of China; but it is perhaps more 
 difficult to determine in what manner slavery was constituted. 
 The veteran sinologist, Dr. Williams, in his latest dictionary, 
 under the word noo, states that it was " Formerly a person 
 bought with money, chiefly now those sentenced to slavery." It 
 is not easy to discover on what historical facts this definition is 
 based. It is an interpretation at variance with the great 
 Standard Dictionary of Kanghi, which states that the noo was 
 " anciently a person sentenced to slavery," quoting the Chow Li, 
 as its authority. There is this further difficulty against that 
 interpretation, that anciently there was no " money " in China 
 with which to buy the slaves. We are inclined therefore to 
 
700 SLAVERY. 
 
 accept the definition of Kanghi, in preference to that of Dr. 
 Williams, and to believe that those in ancient times subject to 
 women in household drudgery were men sentenced to slavery by 
 imperial or ducal order. There were doubtless many prisoners 
 of war thus sentenced ; but from a very early period of Chinese 
 history we find prisoners of war often permitted to return to 
 their native homes. 
 
 As the Chinese became more numerous money began to 
 circulate, and buying and selling took the place of bartering. 
 As wealth with its oft useful companion, vain ostentation, 
 began to multiply and to concentrate, the wealthy partly from 
 the fondness of display, partly from the desire for personal 
 comfort would begin the practice of purchasing men and 
 women for slaves. This practice, which began probably not less 
 than twenty centuries ago, has continued in uninterrupted 
 operation to the present day, and is likely to continue long. The 
 purchase money is in reality a sum of money paid in advance 
 for the labour of an individual during his life, and for that of 
 his descendants after him ; just as ordinary wages are a sum of 
 money paid for the labour of a man during a given limited 
 period of his life. And from all we can learn from the unfrequent 
 jottings of stately history, too dignified to explain such ignoble 
 subjects, it appears that servitude during a limited period and 
 for stated wages, began to be general in the west, only after 
 Christianity had taught the common brotherhood of man, 
 knocked the fetters off the slave, making him his own master, 
 permitting him to sell his labour to a man of his own choice, 
 and on certain terms which could be reconsidered by either party 
 at a given point of time. Slavery was simply servitude for life, 
 and was in many instances not worse than most servitude. But 
 it contained in it the degrading idea of the impossibility of the 
 slave's own social improvement ; and if of a manly disposition, the 
 perhaps even more acutely painful feeling, that his children were 
 sentenced to the same level of an instrument in their owner's 
 hand. Most men are satisfied with sufficient food and abundant 
 clothing, and probably slaves have rarely fared worse than if 
 
ORIGIN OF SLAVERY. 701 
 
 their own masters Yet the few among them whose disposition, 
 talents or ambition made them groan in their captivity even 
 when their chains were golden, lamented mainly, as we have 
 heard them in Manchuria, over the fact that they could not 
 regard themselves as men. These find their greatest delight in 
 seeing their sons, under the borrowed surname and auspices of a 
 friendly free family, enter the literary arena where no slave or 
 descendent of a slave should legally appear. The proud slave 
 father feels his own fetters broken to shreds when he hears of 
 his son's appearance in the graduate's toga; and though that son 
 dare appear thenceforth only as an acquaintance, the father 
 regards himself emancipated in having cheated the law to free 
 his son, and to place him on the first rung of the ladder whose 
 top supports the dragon throne. 
 
 If it is difficult to write the history of slavery in China, it is 
 easy to trace it to its source in the history of the Manchus, who 
 were themselves, three short centuries ago, mere savages, 
 subsisting in their forest-covered mountain ranges chiefly on the 
 uncooked flesh of the game, which could not escape from the 
 agile step and the sure footed bound of the Manchu, but fell an 
 easy prey to the unerring arrow from his long bow. Slavery was 
 an impossibility among those free if wild sons of the mountain. 
 
 It was only after Noorhachu built his "city" of Laochung near 
 the present Hingking that slavery became a possibility ; and it 
 became a fact only after his several astounding victories threw 
 many .Chinese cities and much excellent arable soil, with its 
 agricultural hamlets, into his hands. The slaves of the Manchus 
 were therefore prisoners of war, and even of these, as many as 
 would were allowed to join the regular army, and many who 
 would as well be excused were led into the ranks as the slaves of 
 their Manchu masters, and helped to gain many a hard won victory 
 from the hands of their free fellow countrymen. Those prisoners 
 of war,men and women, became so numerous, that every officer had 
 them in numbers, and even every private soldier of Manchu blood 
 had his slaves to do his work and wait his pleasure. Multitudes 
 of the descendants of those slaves are slaves at this day, owned 
 
702 SLAVERY. 
 
 by the descendant of those long-bowed warriors. Multitudes 
 more have been freed, many by manumission, more by purchase, 
 most by flight or lapse of title. 
 
 As slavery was too ignoble a subject to be treated of by the 
 dignified pen of the Chinese historian, we can learn the condition 
 of slaves under the Manchus only from those laws passed on the 
 subject ; and of these only a small portion has been made public. 
 What we find in the Manchu annals and the Manchu Law Code 
 we give below. 
 
 The Chinese prisoners of war, divided as slaves among the 
 officers and men of the Manchu army, in numbers proportionate 
 to the rank of the soldier, could be sold by their master, but he 
 usually retained them as his own slaves. That the Chinese, who 
 boast of a civilization of forty centuries, would regard it the 
 depth of degradation to be in bondage to men who but yesterday 
 were savages, was natural enough ; and it is certain that many 
 would prefer the risk of starvation incurred by an endeavour to 
 regain their liberty. Indeed to so great an extent did this 
 " running away " grow, that law after law was passed to check it ; 
 .and the legislation on the runaway has not, perhaps, been more 
 remarkable for humanity in China than in Christian lands. 
 
 The first Pekinese emperor of the Manchus, or his regent in 
 his name, complained, in 1649, to the Board of War, that the 
 existing law anent the harbouring of runaways was too harsh. 
 That law condemned to death the harbourer, his next door 
 neighbours on each side of him, the head of the Ten * Families 
 and of the Hundred Families, of which the harbourer was one, 
 if these several parties failed to inform the district magistrate 
 of the hiding place of the runaway. A new and less severe law 
 was therefore promulgated, ordaining that the harbourer should 
 henceforth be banished and not beheaded: that both his next 
 door neighbours should be beaten thirty bamboo blows, and the 
 head of the Ten Families beaten twenty. But if the runaway 
 returned of his own accord, or was handed up by his harbourer, 
 they would both be blameless. It was also enacted that if his 
 
 * See Taxation. 
 
RUNAWAY LAWS. 703 
 
 relations became surety for his good behaviour, their prayer 
 should be attended to if they desired him to visit them. 
 
 This slackening of their chain did not, however, settle the 
 slavery question. At least one other law of increased severity 
 was passed very soon thereafter, for in 1655 chief censor Toolai 
 complained of it as an " unequal " law. He stated the law to 
 have been enacted because runaways had been very numerous 
 of late years, and severe repressive measures had become 
 indispensable. The last law on the subject he described as 
 sentencing to strangulation the slave who had thrice run away ; 
 his harbourer to decapitation ; and the next door neighbours of 
 the harbourer to transportation. Toolai proposed that if a 
 runaway were discovered in the house of a friend of his, he 
 should be dragged out and put to death ; the property and 
 family of the harbourer should be confiscated to the use of the 
 owner of the runaway, and the next door neighbours and head 
 of the village should be beaten ; but the discovered runaway, 
 who had no harbourer, should be severely beaten and handed 
 back to his owner. Even did the name Toolai not indicate the 
 nationality of the chief censor, the measure he proposed in order 
 to remove the "unequal" character of the existing law, shows that 
 he was himself a slave-owner and speaking in the interests of 
 the slave-owning Manchus; for it is only the interests of the 
 slave-owner which he pleaded. The law, as it stood, sentenced 
 the runaway, in certain circumstances, to death. Toolai saw in 
 this only a dead loss to the owner, and therefore would have a 
 law passed which would abundantly indemnify the owner for the 
 loss of the slave by execution. He added a sentence to say that 
 the harbourers were probably few, and men guiltlessly involved 
 fewer still. This one sentence, which is wholly apologetic, opens 
 up to our view the then condition of China in regard to this 
 question ; for it shows that the laws were employed by unscru- 
 pulous cut-throats, of whom China has always a good store, to 
 falsely accuse monied men of the crime of harbouring, thus to 
 extort money. This bountiful well of infamy will be exposed 
 more clearly below in the laws of Kienlung. 
 
704 SLAVERY. 
 
 The memorial of Toolai was sent to the Boards to consider 
 and report upon it. It would open more widely than before the 
 flood-gates of heartless extortion, and neither it nor even the 
 existing law could be regarded with other than indignant but 
 shame-faced anger by the high Chinese officials, whose country- 
 men, friends and relations, were the slaves and the victims of 
 extortion. Li Yin, a supervising censor, handed in a memorial 
 immediately after, and apparently as a reply to that of Toolai. 
 He stated that the laws against runaways were far too harsh, 
 and the people involved in the clauses affecting the harbourer 
 and his neighbours far too many. He declared that there was 
 not a single man " within the Four Seas " (China), neither poor 
 nor rich, neither honourable nor despicable, neither magistrate 
 nor people, who was certain of one hour's peace, for he might be 
 implicated at any moment ; nor could he be certain of even the 
 life of himself or family. This, in the style of Chinese 
 memorials, Li Yin called the " First cause of grief." The law, 
 as it stood, making the runaway appear an article of such value, 
 occasioned false accusations of harbouring in order to extort 
 money ; thus breaking up the families of the wealthy, causing 
 wide-spread misery, and destroying the reputation of their women, 
 which was another cause of grief. The action of the law was 
 described as most unreasonable and reckless in the extreme, for 
 there was no examination as to the cause of flight and no enquiry 
 as to how the fugitive got into and hid in the premises of the 
 reputed harbourer. He then showed the impolicy of this legal 
 action, for the imperial revenues were decreased by every family 
 broken up; former proclamations of clemency were rendered 
 nugatory by the cruel loss of life on account of runaways ; while 
 the laws reversed the ancient customs which ordained that man 
 should receive civilising instruction during his whole life; for many 
 were made savages by those laws. This was his third cause of 
 grief. He explained the " savage " state by saying that men left 
 to their natural dispositions chose to remain peaceably in one 
 place; why then at that moment were there over thirty thousand 
 men roaming homelessly over the country ? He gave as reason 
 
RESULTS OF SLAVE LAWS. 705 
 
 that there was no mercy for them to look to, and, no goodness to 
 stay their minds, there was only a law depriving them of a 
 place ; which was a fourth cause of grief. When, besides, the 
 military apprehended a lurking runaway, and were leading him 
 to the place of execution, they trampled upon and crushed the 
 people by the way in a manner which was heartrending to hear ; 
 and this was another cause 'of grief. Famine was just then com- 
 pelling many poor people to wander about in search of food ; but 
 the diligence of the magistrates ever on the watch for. runaways, 
 made it an impossibility to relieve those famishing ones. " Alas 
 these poor." The emperor was mercifully giving out food and 
 clothing daily to the poor (of the capital), why then employ cruel 
 laws and institute minutest regulations under severe orders to 
 persecute and to kill the poor ? This was another cause of grief. 
 Women and girls were crawling away into the wildest deserts ; 
 old men and children were falling into the ditches and perishing, 
 and those of robust health were madly bent on joining the 
 robber ranks ; and as those who were robbers from choice were 
 far from being exterminated, why should their ranks be swollen 
 by driving innocent and helpless people into them; the 
 seventh cause of grief. 
 
 This memorial, for various reasons, is given as it stands in the 
 history, and we are grateful to the writer for daring to give us a 
 picture of his times. It was the warm outflow of a patriotic 
 soul, justly angry. The emperor sent it to be considered by the 
 high officials, and the result was that Li Yin was transported to 
 Shangyangpoo. But he would have fared no better in the 
 slave-holding Christian states of two centuries later, than he 
 did under the absolutist rule of China. The absolutionist school 
 was more safe in Ninguta or Shangyangpoo than in Peking, 
 where justice and right, if advocated long and persistently, will 
 ultimately have their own way, and the banished will be recalled. 
 
 Next month after the banishment of censor Li, the vice- 
 president Jao Kaisin prayed for a relaxation of the " Runaway " 
 laws, because of the deplorable state of the immense number of 
 famishing people wandering about. The emperor replied, that 
 u i 
 
706 SLAVERY. 
 
 the memorialist desired to buy himself a name by selling 
 imperial mercy ; and Kaisin's "honourable" name was degraded 
 five degrees. The slave question was a hard wall to knock 
 one's head against. This punishment seems to have silenced 
 the men who sought reformation; for the subject turns 
 up again only three years after the above events, and in a speech 
 by the emperor himself, who though still very young was master. 
 He mentioned the rumours current about the many ways of 
 deceiving and imposing upon the people, some falsely pre- 
 tending to be soldiers in search of runaways ; some causelessly 
 accusing men of property of harbouring runaways ; some who 
 never were slaves assuming the name of runaway ; others pre- 
 tending to be the owners of these pretended runaways ; while 
 some men borrowed money to carry on mercantile business, and 
 fail to repay, declaring that their assistants had robbed them. 
 The emperor, saying that this was enough to make the good man 
 angry, ordered the Board of War to declare his will, that hence- 
 forth if an owner missed a slave he must publicly declare the 
 fact, give his own name and that of his runaway slave to the 
 proper magistrate ; and if the owner failed to do so within a 
 short period of the flight of the slave, he should not have the 
 slave if he demand him only after a considerable lapse of time, 
 ven if the slave appear again in his neighbourhood : also, that 
 if soldiers went among the people annoying them, or if people 
 did so who pretended to be soldiers, the viceroy or governor 
 should seize and punish them sternly wherever they were found ; 
 the relations of such extortioners would also be subject to 
 punishment, because they did not exercise their family authority 
 to prevent the evils complained of. 
 
 Thus even the emperor bears testimony to the truth of the 
 injustice and universal oppression caused by the working of the 
 slave laws, though he had sentenced to various kinds of punish- 
 ment the censors and high officials who had freely remonstrated, 
 as the letter and spirit of their office required them to do. The 
 runaway laws gave scope to extortion on a vast scale, as they 
 would do at this moment if in operation. Men pretended to be 
 
RELAXATION OF SEVERITY. 707 
 
 runaways, and hid away on the extensive premises of the 
 wealthy; who, in order to avoid the very severe laws against 
 the harbourer, willingly gave the pretended runaway a round 
 sum of money to get him away. It is not necessary to know 
 much of the arbitrary method of dealing out law in China to 
 understand what an inviting field it opened up for the genius of 
 those villains, more common perhaps in China than in the 
 stock-jobbing west, who heartlessly heed not the bitter misery 
 entailed by their falsehoods on the helpless widow and the weak 
 orphan. 
 
 The measure now ordained by the emperor was well 
 calculated to check the mass of corruption caused by the laws 
 made by the slave owners, thinking only of their own interests 
 and regardless of the thousand-fold greater evils brought by 
 their selfish carelessness on the whole of China. It is not at all 
 unlikely that had the injustice of those slave acts not been thus 
 early greatly modified, the Chinese would have hurled back the 
 Manchus at an early period of their rule, as they had the 
 Mongols because of their lawless conduct. The same measure 
 was a new starting point for future legislation. Once again 
 does the question crop up later on, when a censor was whipped 
 a hundred lashes, beaten forty blows, and transported 3000 li, 
 because he persisted in saying in private and public, that 
 "the Toonghai of the south was a dangerous book, and the 
 robbers of the north run-aways." 
 
 Though, however, the " Annals " thus give us a picture of the 
 convulsion of all society by the laws on run-away slaves, we can 
 gather no particulars as to the actual state of the slave nor the 
 legal conditions under which he lived. This gap is however 
 fully filled up by the laws on this social question issued in 1739. 
 These we shall now quote one by one, for thus we shall not only 
 ascertain the legal conditions of slavery, but see how minutely 
 the Manchu laws meet every question on the subject ; for my 
 chief purpose in this work is to show the mind of the Chinese 
 in practical life. The sections are numbered for easy reference. 
 
 1st. Anterior to the thirteenth Yungching (1735), no person 
 
708 SLAVERY. 
 
 sold to any Bannerman,* by written deed, whether officially 
 stamped or not, could free himself. But in the first of Kienlung 
 (1736), it was ordained that any person purchased by private f 
 written agreement, could redeem himself, his wife and children ; 
 but he could not redeem himself if his owner provided him with 
 a wife. If a man had been betrothed, but not married, before 
 he became a slave, he could still marry if the betrothed girl's 
 family were agreeable, but if they objected, he could not compel 
 the marriage. J 
 
 2nd. If the slave of a bannnerman borrowed the good offices 
 of another bannerman to act for him as redeemer, or if he 
 redeemed himself immediately, he would be sent back again to 
 his former banner if it was discovered that his surname did not 
 appear on the register of either a banner or the people (Chinese). 
 The slave who secretly amassed wealth and gained power by 
 following his master to a provincial post, and trusting to his 
 acquired power and influence threw over his master, was sent 
 back to be the slave of his owner, even though his name might 
 appear on the register of the people. This was in accordance 
 with a law of fifty-two Kanghi (1713). 
 
 If an owner was well pleased with the conduct of a slave, who 
 was the descendant of several generations of slaves, he could 
 manumit him, and enrol him as a free civilian in the office of 
 nearest magistrate ; nor could the sons or descendants of the 
 liberating owner ever claim the liberated slave or any of his 
 descendants. If any man falsely declared him to be a free 
 descendant of his own ancestor who was discovered to be a 
 fugitive styling himself a free man ; or if the owner of the 
 fugitive, finding such declaring relative to be a man of small 
 property, accused, instead, the man who had employed the 
 
 *Not only Manchus but Mongols were Bannermen, as also the Chinese called 
 Han Kun, who joined the Manchus before their entry into Peking. 
 
 f Every official document is stamped with a large official stamp in red ink, hence 
 every private document is called a "white" one, the name given here. 
 
 JThis is almost the only case in which one party can resile from a betrothal 
 engagement in China, where engagement is virtual marriage. 
 
LAWS. 709 
 
 fugitive ; he who made the false declaration or the false accusation 
 was severely punished. 
 
 3rd. In the first Kienlung it was enacted that any soldier there- 
 after found to have before that date fled from camp, and had 
 prayed to be enrolled on the civil register, must be reported by 
 the proper family to the Board of Punishment; which would 
 judge the case according to law, and restore the man to his 
 owner. The Dsoling* who neglected to examine, and the 
 magistrate who carelessly enrolled the name on the register, 
 were also found guilty of crime. 
 
 4th. The descendants of slaves formerly owned in Liaotung, 
 where the register was left; or the man who had connected himself 
 and his lands to any of the banners, even though it should be 
 afterwards difficult to trace the written proof of their dependence 
 on the banner, should yet be considered under that banner, 
 and have their names enrolled on the banner Dang^ or register; 
 and no such person could be permitted to enrol themselves as 
 civilians. This law seems to be mainly intended to retain a 
 -sufficient number of men for the army. 
 
 5th. Any person purchased by bannermen by private written 
 agreement since first Kienlung, who had not been enrolled in the 
 able-bodied-men's list, could redeem himself and become a free 
 civilian. But private written agreements before that period, as 
 much incapacitated the slave from purchasing his freedom as 
 officially stamped agreements. These slaves had all their life to 
 serve their owner as farmer, soldier, or body-servant. But for 
 faithful service, an owner might manumit the third generation of 
 such slaves, whether an individual or all the descendants of one 
 grandfather bearing his surname. Such manumission had to be 
 reported to the Board of Revenue (or of Families, as it is really 
 
 * Dsoling is a Manchu and military officer, chief of a small clan (see History and 
 Army) ; the magistrate is a civilian and the judge of the district. 
 
 fThe Dang here and throughout translated "register" was orginally a tablet of 
 iron, on which, at the time of acquisition, the surname and name of the slave were 
 enrolled, with the terms of acquisition and the name of the security. The tablets 
 were afterwards made of wood, hence the name Dang. There was and continues to 
 be one in the house of each Ding or head of a family. 
 
710 SLAVERY. 
 
 named) ; those liberated also required to have their names 
 enrolled on the civilian list of the district magistrate. They 
 could thereafter till the ground, become soldiers or engage in 
 trade, but they could not enter the examination halls for literary 
 degrees. 
 
 6th. Any person connected with the stage, playing or strolling 
 companies of any province, or any of the people following such 
 persons, might, if they desired, and after examination as to their 
 nativity, return to a better mode of life. But if such applicant 
 was of a vicious character, he should not be permitted to change, 
 but be put to shame by the magistrate; and if the district 
 magistrate was unable to enforce the law against him, the viceroy 
 or governor should be appealed to, and judge him according to 
 law. This law is retained in its original position and form, to 
 show Chinese opinion of the stage, of which they are so fond. 
 It is forbidden players or their children, and the children of 
 harlots, to compete in the literary examinations. 
 
 7th. The descendants of a man, who, when purchased as a 
 slave, was in reality a free man,* could be treated by the law of 
 the " Three Generations " (5) ; the grandsons could be set free, 
 on information being given to the Board of Revenue. 
 
 8th. If a garrison bannerman found the native of the place 
 purchased by him as a slave, really unsuitable for his purpose, 
 he might grant the slave permission to redeem himself. 
 
 9th. Every banner slave liberated, who did not enroll his name 
 on the civilian register, or who enrolled it only since the first 
 Kienlung, had to be enrolled as a retainer -f- of his original 
 master, under the master's banner ; and all who found means to 
 redeem themselves were still the retainers of their former owner. 
 
 If a man dropped a legal suit which he instituted against 
 another charging him with being his runaway slave, the case 
 could never be revived ; and if during the progress of the case, 
 the accused or his friends found means to redeem him, he still 
 
 *This could take place by the seller falsely calling him his own slave, and the 
 purchaser taking forcible possession of him. 
 t This, it is evident, is for statistical, not for social purposes. 
 
LAWS. 711 
 
 continued enrolled a retainer of the Dsoling of his original 
 owner. The man who was redeemed by a bannerman was 
 enrolled a retainer of the Dsoling of this redeemer. If this 
 redeemer was a man who was not the head of a family, and had 
 not a register of his own, the redeemed continued enrolled a 
 nominal retainer of the Dsoling of his former owner. 
 
 10th. If a bannerman's family was broken up (became extinct), 
 and his slaves had no clan relations to whom to go, they continued 
 to be the retainers of the Dsoling of their master, whether they 
 had been long in the family or a recent purchase. The able- 
 bodied young men among the families who kept the tombs of 
 the bannermen, could become public servants, but whether as 
 infantry, body-servants or messengers, they always remained 
 under their proper Dsoling. But if among those slaves were any 
 purchased by private written agreement since first Kienlung, 
 they might redeem themselves, the redemption money, with the 
 wealth and property of the extinct family, entering the public 
 treasury. 
 
 llth. No slave granted by the emperor to any official or soldier, 
 in any province, could redeem himself; nor was his new owner 
 permitted to sell him to any bannerman beyond the limits of his 
 own district. If he had to sell this slave, he had to consult the 
 district magistrate, and sell him to a bannerman in that district. 
 If any one so sold escaped and became a robber or other vicious 
 character, the man who bought him was responsible and taken to 
 account ; the man who sold him was blameless. If such slave 
 was sold to a civilian, or to a bannerman beyond that district,* 
 the seller was beaten one hundred blows, and the price confiscated. 
 
 12th. If the widow of a slave was given in marriage to 
 another family, or to the slave of another family, her children 
 by her former husband accompanied her to her new home, and 
 remained with her till manhood, when the sons were bound to 
 return to their father's owner. But if mother and sons objected 
 
 * This is doubtless the case of men sentenced to slavery ; and the law is intended 
 as a check against any transfer of the "slave," and as a means of ensuring his 
 " imprisonment with hard labour." 
 
712 SLAVERY. 
 
 to the parting, they could remain together, if both families 
 were agreeable, but the- sons would still be regarded the property 
 of their father's owner. 
 
 If the children or younger brothers of the widow of a 
 Chinaman followed her to the home of the bannerman, who 
 was her second husband, the names of these sons or brothers 
 could not be enrolled on the bannerman's family register, but 
 had to be enrolled on a separate register kept for themselves. 
 They had also, as well as the children of a slave widow 
 marrying into another family, to be publicly acknowledged as of 
 this second family. If either of those widows married a third 
 time in a third family, the Dsoling had to report the case to the 
 Foodootoong; and in the year of Bienshun, or census (every 
 fifth year), the case had to be properly reported to the Board of 
 Revenue. If one who was, when a child, thus given to another 
 family, whether bannerman or Chinese, having a family register, 
 desired to return to his original home, he might do so provided 
 both families consented, and became security for him to the 
 Dsoling. 
 
 13th. Whatever Chinese boy was given in the above manner 
 to a banner family, was as much a retainer or slave of the 
 latter, as if originally of the family. 
 
 14th. If any follower of a bannerman, already freed and duly 
 reported free, found it impossible to ascertain whether he should 
 be enrolled on a banner register or on that of a civilian, a 
 separate register had to be used for himself. He might, if he 
 so chose, enroll himself as a civilian, provided he was guilty of 
 no crime. The man who redeemed himself with money (1, 5, 
 9, and 10), and privately had himself enrolled on the civilian 
 register, or the son or younger brother (12) brought up in a 
 bannerman's family, who pretended to be a free man, and got 
 himself enrolled on the register of his civilian clan, was 
 punished according to the law against those who failed to give 
 an official report of themselves (see Taxation), and then enrolled 
 on the people's register. The man who under a false name 
 became security to the purchaser of one who had secretly fled from 
 
LAWS. 713 
 
 his banner owner ; and the man who had enrolled himself, with 
 his lands, under a banner for protection, but afterwards changed 
 the surname of his sons or grandsons, and enrolled them on the 
 civilian register, were punished according to law, and the 
 individuals in each case restored to their original owners. The 
 slave who, by his ability, gained influence and power in the 
 army, and who therefore treated with insolence and contempt 
 the widow and orphan, his weak but legal owners, and declared 
 himself to be of the (Chinese) "people," was sentenced to 
 refund the original sum paid for him to his owner, and to become 
 the slave of a Tatar general or other high official in an outer 
 region. This last clause was, doubtless, because he would 
 continue to treat with contempt his weak owners if sent to them. 
 
 15th. If a bannerman purchased, by private deed, a slave 
 whom he was unable to support ; or if the slave had performed 
 good sendee, the slave in either case might free himself. But if 
 the owner did not wish the slave to redeem himself, whether 
 because the slave was a fighter, a drunkard, or guilty of some 
 crime, or had attempted to escape, the slave was, at law, in all 
 respects similar to the slave sold under an officially stamped 
 deed. The slave who attained to power in the army, and 
 sought to compel his owner to free him, was dealt with according 
 to law (see 14). 
 
 16th. If any who had fled (for protection) to enroll themselves 
 under one of the banners, or if any who had been purchased by 
 deed before first Kienlung, proved to belong to a "Kitchen- 
 Family," Dsaohoo* he was freed and sent to his Dsao, as 
 soon as the magistrate had sufficiently clear evidence of his 
 
 * Dsaohoo or " Kitchen- Family " Dr. Williams translates house or "householder"; 
 and the name might be supposed to suggest such an interpretation. But this leaves 
 our law unintelligible. Dsaohoo is the name given to a definite number of families, 
 whose duty it is to supply the imperial "Kitchen" with salt, &c., whence they are 
 sometimes called Yen Dsaohoo. They are Chinese ; but a clan carefully kept apart 
 from the general population. They are subject to no other tax than the imperial 
 ' ' Kitchen " salt, and cannot be sold as slaves. They are most common about 
 Fungzunhien in Chihli, and are forbidden to go beyond the limits of Chihli. It is 
 said that all imperial wants are thus supplied by special districts over the empire. 
 
714 SLAVERY. 
 
 identity. He who sold such a Dsaohoo man was subject to 
 three months' cangue, the security at the sale to two months', 
 and each beaten forty blows. But if any man, sold as a slave, 
 pretended falsely to belong to a Dsaohoo, he was beaten a 
 hundred blows, and sent back to his owner. 
 
 17th. Whoever picked up on the road or village or in a house, 
 the child of a free man, and did not report the child to the 
 nearest magistrate, but sold the child to be a slave, was beaten a 
 hundred blows and banished three years ; if he sold it to become 
 a wife, concubine, or to be adopted by the purchaser, he was 
 beaten ninety blows and banished two and a half years. The 
 penalty was similar, though the child should turn out to be that 
 of a slave. The child in either case was not involved, but 
 restored to its natural guardians. 
 
 Whoever harboured and sold as a slave a runaway boy or 
 girl, was beaten ninety blows and banished two and a half years; 
 if he sold the child to become a wife, concubine, or to be adopted, 
 he was beaten eighty blows and banished two years. The crime 
 and penalty were similar though the child was that of a slave. 
 
 If the puchaser and security could be proved to have known that 
 the child was stolen or a runaway, they were subject to the same 
 penalties as the seller, and the purchase money was confiscated. 
 But if they were not proved to have known the truth, they were 
 guiltless and the purchaser had his purchase money restored him. 
 
 18th. If a man falsely pretended to be the owner of a free 
 person and sold him or her as a slave, he was beaten a hundred 
 blows and transported three years ; if sold to be a wife, concubine, 
 or for adoption, he was sentenced to ninety blows and two and a 
 half years banishment. The man who sold as his son the slave 
 of another, was beaten a hundred blows. 
 
 19th. If a student was found with one or several aliases at the 
 literary examinations, or if he borrowed the name of another 
 man and under such feigned name entered as a competitor for a 
 literary degree, he was judged by the law against personation, 
 and beaten eighty blows ; and the graduate who was his security, 
 if he knew the truth, suffered the same penalty. 
 
LAWS. 715- 
 
 20th. Any student found assuming a false name at the 
 Peking literary examinations, was sentenced with his graduate 
 security to eighty blows, while the graduate lost his degree, 
 his graduate's robe and button. If the district magistrate 
 and the teacher of the student failed to honestly investigate 
 the case, or placed impediments in the way of discovery, they 
 were punished : and if they had been proved to have received 
 bribes, their punishment was all the more severe. 
 
 In connection with this careful exclusion of slaves or their 
 descendants from the literary gate which leads to the pleasure- 
 grounds of Chinese officialdom, we may relate the following 
 incident which occurred in the reign of Kanghi (in 1713 A.D.). 
 
 A slave surnamed Jow, by his talent, pushed himself up from 
 an infantry private to be an infantry officer. He had a son 
 more talented than himself and so excellent a scholar that his 
 father adopted a plan of passing him off under the surname of 
 Ho, with a family of which surname he was on friendly 
 terms. Under this surname the youth successfully grappled 
 away his degree. The Board of Punishment discovered and 
 reported the case to the emperor, who expressed his indignation 
 that the literary examination hall should have been polluted by 
 the presence of a slave, and ordered both father and son to instant 
 execution. But in spite of the risks incurred, the plan has been 
 and is frequently and successfully carried out. It may be here 
 stated that the son of the veriest beggar, of the poorest of the 
 poor, is permitted to become a literary graduate and magistrate. 
 Not a small proportion of the famous officials of China have 
 been and are the sons of men who had to work hard for a living, 
 and were unable to support their promising sons as pupils. The 
 late talented and universally respected Wun Siang was one of 
 these. But the son of a slave, a detective, a jailor, a harlot, a 
 player, a butcher, however wealthy, is inexorably shut out from 
 the hall, and cannot become a graduate except by personation. 
 
 We have given the laws of the beginning of Kienlung entire, 
 which are still binding, so that a complete picture may appear of 
 the legal conditions under which the numerousslaves lived and live. 
 
716 SLAVERY. 
 
 And in reading them over, we see a considerable relaxation of the 
 iron chains, and find a political atmosphere less clouded with official 
 bitterness than in the earlier period of Manchu occupation of 
 China. From a perusal of those laws, we find that there were 
 many kinds of slaves whom the law compelled their owners to 
 retain as slaves ; for only to the third generation of well-doing 
 slaves (2, 4 and 5), or to the faithful slave bought by private 
 deed (1, 5) since the first of Kienlung (1736), could the owner 
 give permission to purchase his freedom. But we learn that he 
 could sell to any other master, though he could not manumit. 
 
 The only important addition which personal observation and 
 investigation have enabled me to make to the above is, that in 
 Manchuria, where slaves are most common, it has never been 
 permitted an owner to sell single individuals of a family. He 
 must sell the whole family, or none at all. It sometimes happens 
 (see 5) that several families, all descended from one ancestor, 
 are sold together. Practice and custom enforce this custom 
 rather than the sale of an individual family even though 
 entire. Never has it been known that a family was broken up 
 by the slave owner and sold individually (see 12). And 
 however severe the laws against runaways, their application is 
 not to be compared in severity to that of Christian peoples. 
 
 There are myriads of families in the vicinity of Mookden, the 
 descendants of slaves of two centuries ago, who are known by 
 themselves and their neighbours to be the legal slaves of men 
 living; but are in reality free. Lapse of time, and the 
 absence for generations of their owners in Peking or other parts 
 of China, have made it impossible for their masters to prove any 
 claim against them. A large proportion of the soldiers and 
 runners of the city of Mookden is composed of these men ; and 
 even a larger mumber are the wealthy owners of the lands left in 
 charge of their slave-ancestor. It is unnecessary to say 
 that these can compete in the literary examinations, and 
 become an official, civil or military. All the descendants of 
 the slaves of the first Manchu princes though known to be 
 such, and though still nominally the slaves of the lineal 
 
PRESENT CONDITION. 717 
 
 descendants of those princes, who are always resident in 
 Peking are to all purposes free men, for they are entitled to 
 compete in the literary examinations. 
 
 As a rule, slaves in Manchuria have been long separated from 
 their owners, who have been for generations court attaches of 
 some kind. While many of the owners have gradually been 
 reduced to poverty, many of their slaves have risen to wealth on 
 and by the property of their owners; often selling the whole 
 or a part of the lands entrusted to their slave forefathers by the 
 men who entered Peking with or after the first emperor. The 
 owners have, however, been so long away, that generally they 
 cannot prove their claim to either the lands, houses, or slaves ; 
 for their claim is invalid without documentary evidence, which 
 evidence has been lost. There are instances of slaves becoming 
 wealthy in the absence of their owners, and carefully concealing 
 the amount or possession of wealth ; then when their owners, 
 ignorant of the truth, appear, and are glad to realise even a small 
 portion of the money made out of their own property, the slave 
 is able to pay a good round sum for his freedom to him who 
 claims his services. The slave generally, as a matter of course, 
 remits a certain sum, but nothing like what he should ; for if, 
 like the vine-dressers, he remitted nothing, he knows well 
 enough he would be brought to task. The property of a slave 
 legally belongs to the owner of the slave ; but the spirit of the 
 above laws of Kienlung, which in certain instances permitted a 
 slave to redeem himself, can only mean that the slave is 
 permitted to enjoy at least a considerable portion of what he 
 can acquire by his abilties; and in practice this is all but 
 universal, indeed we have never heard of any exception. But 
 though he may become wealthy he is a slave still, and subject 
 to the whims or avarice of his owner ; nor can he free himself 
 except with the full consent and on the terms of his owner, 
 which terms vary with the known position and wealth of the 
 slave, and with the character of the owner. A wealthy owner, 
 as a rule, never grants freedom to his slaves. 
 
 Even the wealthy slave living in splendid style, and com- 
 
718 SLAVERY. 
 
 manding whatever money can purchase is despised, and held at 
 arm's length by his poorest free neighbours, who willingly enough 
 labour for him at the ordinary wage, but will not accept his 
 friendship on any terms; for the slave is considered, and has 
 doubtless given reason sufficient for the belief that he is, a 
 degraded member of humanity. 
 
 Large numbers of the slaves now in Manchuria are in reality 
 cottars, who cultivate the grounds of their absent lords each 
 family on its own croft or small farm. They remit to the landlord 
 & certain portion of the produce of the harvest ; less, however, 
 than the rental paid by any British farmer to his landlord. 
 This kind of slavery can be understood. There are large 
 numbers more actually slaves, but doing nothing for and giving 
 nothing to their owners ; for they are soldiers or Yamun runners. 
 They are bound to serve, but their service is scarcely sufficient to 
 support themselves and their families. If they gain higher and 
 more lucrative office, they may become a source of gain to their 
 owner. Others may be attached as body servants to their 
 owners ; but these are comparatively few. Though therefore the 
 owner is absolute lord of his slave, the actual condition of the 
 latter differs from that of ordinary men of the same occupation 
 and rank only in that the slave and his posterity are debarred 
 the way to civil office ; for military office is, as we have seen in 
 the laws, open to him. Cruelties such as have occurred in 
 Christian countries are unknown ; for the slave, though he may 
 be bought and sold, is still regarded as a man, and not as a thing 
 or a mere animal. 
 
 We have seen many men still in bonds the descendants of 
 two centuries of slavery, but there was nothing to distinguish 
 them from other people. From one slave-holding family we 
 know, a score of slaves have fled to freedom for every one still 
 remaining, and the remainder would have no very great obstacles 
 placed in the way of their flight. These were of course 
 domestic retainers ; for slaves on farms find it both inconvenient 
 and undesirable to flee. 
 
 Both men and women are bought as slaves now, to whom the 
 
PRESENT CONDITION. 719 
 
 above laws apply. But when ordinary families purchase slaves 
 it is generally in order to keep the family tombs, and to live on 
 the grounds connected with the tombs ; and these grounds are 
 the price paid. The man sells himself a slave for ever to live 
 on the grounds, and to keep the tombs in repair ; the family 
 gives him the full and free use of the grounds connected with 
 the tombs for the same period. His rental consists in the work of 
 looking after the tombs, which, in China at the present time, is 
 all but a sinecure. 
 
 But magistrates and officials of all ranks buy young men and 
 women, about fourteen or fifteen, to act as their body servants. 
 They pay various prices ; the ordinary sum for a young adult 
 being between 20 and 30 stg. These slaves they inter- 
 marry, and the children of such marriages belong to the owner 
 of the parents. Roman Catholics also frequently purchase 
 children for a small sum, by which purchase the children 
 become absolutely theirs ; and from this purchase has arisen a 
 very large proportion of the bitter enmity against them among 
 the Chinese. While, therefore, the Romanists in desiring to 
 secure converts are to be commended in their efforts to save the 
 life of children, who might otherwise be possibly permitted to 
 die, it were well that they should desist from this purchase, 
 which was and is the ground of the belief very general amongst 
 the Chinese, that the Romish missionaries have evil designs 
 upon the children. 
 
APPENDICES 
 
 V 1 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 i. 
 SARHOO (p. 27-29) 
 
 SARHOO is the name of the hill and village which was the scene 
 of the most important battle fought by the present dynasty for 
 its liberty, ere it began to fight for the Dragon throne, and is 
 the place whence the defensive warfare of the Manchus turned 
 into the offensive against the Ming' dynasty, and for a richer 
 empire than could be founded among the glens and on the 
 mountain sides of Manchuria. Though therefore the locality is 
 fairly denoted on maps, a detailed description of its position, 
 both as regards Hingking and Mookden, may be of some interest. 
 Starting westwards from Hingking, leaving behind the barrack- 
 crowded Yoongling, the tombs of four ancestors of Noorhachu, 
 and passing on the south side of Hinggoong palace, we cross the 
 small pass which shuts in the west end of the valley of Hotooala. 
 The mountains here and all the way westwards to Sarhoo are 
 beautifully wooded, for the glens are narrow and the villages few. 
 We there pass one enormous elm, which cannot be less than 
 twenty feet in circumference, whose branches would form good 
 sized trees. The Soodsu river, which we have to crdss very 
 frequently on our north-western route, has become as large a 
 river as either the Jiaho or Jienchang branch of the Taidsu. We 
 cross it beyond Homoo village, and on its western bank ascend 
 Homoo pass three hundred feet high, on a well cut road and 
 among well wooded mountains. At the foot of this ling we 
 cross it again to go through an avenue of splendid old elms to 
 Moochi, a large village 45 li from the old capital with at least 
 one good inn. 
 
724 APPENDIX. 
 
 Leaving this village, we have again to cross the Soodsu, 
 passing by the hamlet of Shwishow poodsu, nestling under the 
 shade of a steep hill, covered with great trees, and facing the 
 river looking east upon it. It is one of those peace-inspiring 
 spots on which memory delights to linger. 
 
 Our northern road leads through a narrow and difficult gorge, 
 at the foot of which is the hamlet of Sandaogwan, the third 
 customs barrier, the other two being on the lings between us and 
 Yoongling. We soon get to the top of another pretty pass three 
 hundred feet high. On the top of this ling is a splendid black 
 marble slab, on which is beautifully engraved in large Manchu 
 letters the name of the ling, Mardwun Foordan. Foordan is a 
 " gwan " or " customs barrier," but the first word is not in the 
 Manchu dictionary, the nearest approach to it meaning to 
 " oppose," " reject." Possibly an unnoted battle was fought here 
 in the days of Manchu infancy, when the "five passes" were 
 conquered from the chief, who is a robber because he was 
 defeated. Just before arriving at the top we pass on our right a 
 remarkably perpendicular hill called Hada or " the stone." It 
 rises so perfectly straight up, with unbroken face free from 
 crevices, that not a particle of green appears on any of its sides, 
 but its top is crowned with a cluster of trees. Its singularity is all 
 the more striking from the rich green foliage covering all around. 
 These hills have received the name of Chingloongshan, " the 
 pure Dragon mountains," because their shadow was cast on 
 the birth-place of the occupant of the Dragon throne. This 
 neighbourhood is delightfully wooded. Many wild fruit trees in 
 blossom* were shedding their flowers and scattering their 
 fragrance all around. But the place is a commentary on the 
 Chinese proverb, " Trees many, men few." Descending west- 
 wards to the inn near the foot of ling, we spend the night, and 
 next morning pass through the narrowest gully yet seen on the 
 road, which goes north, north-west, west, south, and west, 
 when it widens somewhat into a glen. This gully of Wooloong 
 is not only so narrow that it would be difficult for two men to 
 walk abreast, but its sides are like walls of solid rock. Here a 
 
,SARHOO. 725 
 
 hundred men could stop an army. The small stream from this 
 gully flows westwards for nine miles before we come upon the 
 Soodsu, now grown a considerable river, having been largely 
 reinforced since we parted among the valleys on its course. 
 
 Two miles further on we ascend Gooloiv ling two hundred 
 feet high and sixteen hundred feet above the sea, the exact 
 level of Mardwun inn. Another small ling and two narrow glens 
 intervene before we come upon the eastern and most precipitous 
 side of the hill of SARHOO. This hill is here fully two hundred 
 and fifty feet high. On its southern exposure is a small yellow 
 tiled house, enclosing a handsome slab of bluish-black marble, 
 eight feet square and fully one foot thick. One side is 
 covered with beautifully cut Manchu letters containing a long 
 and detailed account of the battle fought on the hill, a part of 
 the Chinese army being posted without doubt on the spot where 
 this monument stands. The other side is covered with 
 a translation in Chinese equally well cut. It was engraved in 
 the forty-first year of Kienlung and is as fresh as when first cut. 
 This is because of the enclosure, to look after which a man of the 
 village 2 li to the west is paid about thirty shillings a year ; and 
 the manner in which the monument is kept, is in exact 
 accordance with the amount of the salary. 
 
 The dry bed of a stream winds close in by the base of the 
 hill all along its southern side beyond the village, and turns 
 north at the west end of the hill falling into the Soodsu. The 
 fairly wide valley to the south of the hill is very gravelly and 
 destitute of soil. On the evening when the Manchus came in 
 hot haste along our route and took up their position at sundown 
 in this valley beyond the stream and opposite to the Chinese 
 army which was posted on the south and south-west slopes of 
 this hill, they found a forest of willow trees to cover them, and 
 the stream ran bubbling by in its purity and innocence on its 
 sandy bed ; but ere midnight had come, Chinese blood made it 
 a stream of gore. The Chinese soldiers were well posted, and 
 fought as brave soldiers alone can fight; but never was the 
 superiority of generalship over mere bravery made more apparent 
 
726 APPENDIX. 
 
 than in the battle which saved Hingking from annihilation and 
 made a future march on Peking possible. Had Noorhachu been 
 merely a brave fighter, that Chinese army could have eaten up 
 himself and his men, and his name would have been known in 
 Chinese history only as a mountain robber who had dared to 
 raise his hand against the heaven-ordained emperor of the world. 
 
 Through the village of two thousand people we go eastwards 
 between two pawn shops and turn north by a high road rising 
 so gradually over the loess ground that the hundred feet elevation 
 gained in the mile walk is attained imperceptibly. Any number 
 of men and horse could march up and down there as on level 
 ground. The ground reached is a wide and level plateau of rich 
 loess, stretching southwards to that hill of Sarhoo which we 
 passed and the top of which is higher than our gradually rising 
 plateau. Ascending a grass-covered bank, which looks like a 
 natural elevation to another plateau, we find it to be the remains 
 of an old wall. And here was the fourth Manchu capital, the 
 large city of Sarhoo ; a fact of which the natives, Manchu and 
 Chinese, on the spot and all the way to Hingking, were ignorant. 
 And such is glory ! The descendants of the men who fought on 
 both sides with the most desperate fury, living peaceably on the 
 very battle field, entirely ignorant and as careless as ignorant of 
 the fact ! 
 
 Like the wall of Hingking, this much larger wall follows the 
 outer edge of the plateau, enclosing sufficient to make a very 
 large city. The west side of the plateau is the only one which 
 is of any height, the others sloping gently down to the level 
 valley. The plateau itself is however higher than Hingking by 
 twenty feet. The east wall is only about 2 li north to south. 
 It then winds to the north-west corner for about 7 li. It 
 disappears below the western ridge for a li, then reappears 
 going south, east, south, and again east to join the east wall. In 
 the wall are numerous gates. 
 
 The north-west corner of the plateau, like its south-east corner, 
 was higher than the east wall. In that north-west corner had 
 been the palace, and having seen the entirely ruinous condition 
 
SARHOO. 727 
 
 of this newer city, we at once, without hesitation, concluded that 
 the palace west of Hingking, in fairly good condition, could 
 never have seen Taidsoo's (Noorhachu) day, but that, as the 
 name Travelling Palace imports, it had been built after the 
 Manchus had gained Peking, and was intended to "rest" 
 the emperor when going to sacrifice to his ancestors at 
 Yoongling. 
 
 The soil at the east and west sides inside these old walls gradually 
 slopes down to the centre of this old city, in the hollow of which are 
 the beds of two streams flowing, one north and one north-west, into 
 the Soodsu, which is seen six or seven miles east of the city 
 making its way northwards, then westwards, sweeping by the 
 southern base of the grandly rugged, precipitous, serrate, and bare 
 Tiebaoshan, double the height of Sarhoo shan and north-east of 
 it. On Tiebaoshan was the city of Jiefan, being built before the 
 battle of Sarhoo ; and the headstrong, impetuous Fourth Beira, 
 must have galloped northwards to the aid of his city and his 
 four hundred men, round by the east of Sarhoo, thus completely 
 avoiding the Sarhoo Chinese army, and he either kept the 
 Jiefan army in check and prevented them crossing the ford, 
 or he himself crossed northwards and acted offensively. But as 
 he had only a thousand men, he must have been compelled in 
 spite of his daring to remain on the defensive till his father had 
 carried Sarhoo hill, drove the Chinese into the river, and in the 
 flush of victory swept the Jiefan army clean before him. 
 
 The Soodsu disappears to the west and falls into the larger 
 branch of the Hwun, seen flowing from beyond the Jiefan hills. 
 The Hwun proper rises in Funshiviling, 80 li east of Hingking, 
 making a wide detour northwards to receive numerous streams 
 from the glens which it passes ; one very large stream, rising to 
 the north of Yoongling mountain, falls into it at Bajiadsu. 
 Thence it winds its south-west course to the point of junction 
 with the Soodsu, then south, south-west past Mookden, south- 
 west receiving the Taidsu and joining the Outer Liao to form 
 the Liao river. The Hwun, west of Sarhoo, washes the eastern 
 base of a line of mountains, and it is almost certain that Doosoong 
 
728 APPENDIX. 
 
 crossed the river by the ford now in use, south-west of Sarhoo, 
 which an ordinary fall of rain makes impassable. 
 
 Doosoong's plan was a good and a bold one, had he possessed 
 the prudence, which was as requisite in marching against an 
 unknown enemy, as the bravery which he undoubtedly displayed. 
 He set twenty thousand men to invest and take Jiefan city, which, 
 though on a difficult mountain, should be carried by assault, as 
 it had only four hundred men, and was an unfinished fortification. 
 He would thus have none to pester his rear as he marched in 
 through the narrow glens upon Hingking, for he had no 
 conception of the possibility of the mountain robber daring to 
 forestall and attack him. His post on the side of Sarhoo hill, 
 where he camped his thirty thousand to await the fall of Jiefan, 
 was also well chosen ; but he was apparently unprovided with 
 scouts ; and his army would not have been broken up so easily, 
 had he good discipline and order inside his strong camp. 
 
 Not a house exists on the plateau, all the land being cultivated 
 by men living in the village of Sarhoo, or others in the village 
 of Chungjuhoiv, " Behind-the-city." These prosaic sons of the 
 soil have often come across iron and brass arrow-heads, swords 
 of various descriptions and sizes, old guns, spears, &c., all of 
 which they sold to the smith, as old iron, for a penny per Ib ! 
 Though we offered good prices, not an article was forthcoming. 
 
 The road by which Doosoong marched eastwards was probably 
 that by which we go through the wide, fertile loess valley, 
 between Sarhoo and the Hwun, past several villages and through 
 an avenue of very ancient willows, which might have seen the 
 march past of Doosoong's army. The trunks of the trees are 
 broken off about ten feet above the ground, whence jut out 
 young branches. In one of them a pair of black-throated crows, 
 with white neck and breast, of the size, flight, and walk of the 
 jackdaw, had their nest, entering by a hole in the side of the 
 old trunk, once the socket of a branch. 
 
 On the north side of the river, which after a long, dry spring, 
 was easily forded in its half-mile wide bed, we pass some villages 
 and see a fine stream coming from the south-west valley, leading 
 
SARHOO. 729 
 
 up to a narrow opening in low, precipitous mountains, on the 
 south south-west. The valleys become wider, the mountains 
 lower and less frequent the further we advance to the west. 
 "We got to one hamlet, Duagoo, and rested in an inn, in which 
 a patriarchal great-grandfather was hopping about as actively as 
 if his great-grandson had been his youngest son. The hamlet is 
 composed of his family, some of whom have opened the inn, 
 while others till the neighbouring grounds. We were astonished 
 to hear the twitter and love-song of several swallows; and 
 looking up saw many swallows flying into, out of and around, 
 their nests among the naked rafters, coming in and going out 
 by the open window or door at pleasure. 
 
 Further west is the pretty village of Hiajangla, after crossing 
 a fine stream from the north-east, flowing through a wide 
 surface of fine dry, unproductive sand, from which the strong 
 south wind drove into the cart light dust and gravel, into 
 mouth, eyes, and nostrils. We leave the north-west road, 
 apparently leading to Tieling, and turn westwards along the 
 north of the river, past Hiajangla, and round a large pool at the 
 base of a small but precipitous hill, where the Hwun tries for a 
 passage which does not exist, and has to flow backwards again. 
 
 We pass one ling, through widening valleys, by several 
 villages, to the city of Fooshwun, whence Doosoong issued with 
 such haste to meet his fate at Sarhoo. East of the city is a 
 bank, which is apparently the remains of the old barrier between 
 Chinese and Manchu land. The fine valleys to the east of it 
 are at this day occupied by Manchus. There is a small isolated 
 hill north of the city, facing the mountains which trend west- 
 wards, on which is a tower or " Ta," said to have been built by 
 the Tang dyasty ; for recent dynasties do not build such towers. 
 It would require very strong evidence indeed to believe that 
 this or any other Ta is over twelve hundred years old. A 
 temple to Poosa reposes on the south side of Gaorshan. 
 
 The modern city, which has certainly been rebuilt by the 
 present dynasty, is one li square, beautifully situated, but of a 
 deserted appearance; the villages outside being much more 
 
730 APPENDIX. 
 
 populous. To the west, the valley becomes from three to four 
 miles wide ; the road being a mile from the northern mountains 
 and another from the Hwun, which flows westwards at an equal 
 distance from the low southern hills. The hills on both sides 
 are low and narrow ; not so the Hwun, which not only occupies 
 a very wide bed, but ruins thousands of acres by the fine sand, 
 blown off its bed all around. We pass a large pool stocked 
 with small tortoises, over which a diverging branch of the Hwun 
 flows after heavy rains. 
 
 After passing through a half mile of willows, elms, thorns, 
 and many a tangled bush and flowering shrub, we come suddenly 
 upon a branch of the Hwun, which has struck out from the main 
 current in a north-west direction, and rushes with rapid flow 
 against the southern side of the hill on which is FOOLING, " The 
 Happy Tomb," in which lies buried Noorhachu, the founder of 
 the reigning dynasty. The river then strikes off the brick wall 
 erected to save the hill from its destructive attack, and flows 
 south-west to rejoin the main river. This branch is unfordable 
 after a heavy rain, and carts have to make a long detour round 
 the north side of Fooling. After crossing this river, we are 
 inside the forest of many miles circumference which surrounds 
 the Fooling; and it is most delightfully soothing, after that 
 eastern choking and blinding dust, to walk under the mottled 
 and changing shade of these old trees. A slab of stone fifteen 
 feet high and three feet wide attracts the eye at a distance, 
 seen through the spaces between the trunks of the trees. 
 It is engraved on its north and south faces in five languages 
 Manchu, Mongol, Tibetan, Jamooji, and Chinese. The 
 inscription orders "All below the rank of wang or 'king/ 
 official or other man to dismount here." This is a much more 
 important and imposing tomb than Yoongling. But the two 
 thousand men paid to look after it, do little more than 
 go by fifties to the gate; for the only work we saw being 
 done, was the clearance of withered branches for firewood. 
 Dilapidated walls, ruined walks, and rank weeds were allowed 
 to look after themselves ; and the " deers' horn " fence, twelve 
 
SARHOO. 731 
 
 miles round, is disappearing gradually under the influence of 
 the seasons. The south gate, with its imperial yellow tiled roof, 
 presents a very imposing appearance from a great distance, as it 
 is seen cropping up above the old cedar trees. The wall on 
 each side is emblazoned with an enormous dragon, done in green 
 glazed brick- work. There are cross paths inside laid with stone 
 flags ; but the real tomb is a very modest building, as well as 
 the small houses to the south, where the great officials go when 
 sacrificing. But the rest of the enclosed space of ground is as 
 disorderly as the outside, though crowded with magnificent 
 cedars. 
 
 From Fooling village, in a cloud of dust, sand, and small 
 gravel, enabling one to realise the importance of such a cloud 
 on the day of battle, seven miles west-south-west bring us to 
 the east gate of Mookden ; in all, 270 li from Hingking and 158 
 li from Sarhoo. Mookden is fully eight miles further north than 
 Hingking, and is west-south-west of Sarhoo. The country west 
 of Sarhoo is much more open than that between Sarhoo and 
 Hingking. 
 
732 APPENDIX. 
 
 II. 
 
 HINGKING. 
 
 TRAVELLING eastwards for two hundred and seventy li, or 
 ninety miles, by a zigzag road* from Mookden, brings the 
 traveller to the valley of Hotooala, though this name is now 
 unknown to its own inhabitants. The valley runs east and 
 south-east, and is widest at its east end. From east to west it 
 is over seven miles long, and about two wide at its east end. 
 It is far the largest valley among these mountains ; those east, 
 south, and north of it, being extremely narrow, mostly forming 
 little more than a bed for a stream of water between two lines 
 of hills. We can, therefore, at once understand the importance 
 of the valley for strategical purposes. Enclosing it on the west 
 -are mountains running south-west and west. In this west end 
 there is an entrance to the valley by a narrow but low ling or 
 pass, which is called the "First Customs' Pass." About two 
 miles east of this is the Hinggoong Palace, believed by the 
 natives to have been built by the first emperor or founder of the 
 Manchu dynasty. This belief, however, is one which is wholly 
 unfounded. The palace consists of nine small detached yellow- 
 tiled houses, facing all directions, and containing eighty-one 
 jien or rooms. The whole is enclosed by a wall two or three 
 hundred feet square, and looks much in need of repair. 
 
 Two miles further east is the large village of Yoongling, 
 crowded with soldiery to the number of two thousand. North 
 of the village is a wide extent of a thick tangled wilderness of 
 green branches, delightfully grateful to the eye, coming from 
 the southern hills bared of wood by the prodigal cottars. These 
 
 * See Appendix I. The distance in a direct east and west line is 210 li ; but 
 Mookden is 24 li or 8 miles further north than Hingking is. The distances were 
 carefully noted in going over the ground, and the directions marked at every turn, 
 by a capital compound instrument, aneroid and pocket compasses, by " Mathieson, 
 Edinburgh." 
 
HINGKING. 733 
 
 trees, principally ancient elms, crowd each other all the way up 
 to and on the summit of a hill which forms the Tombs of the 
 Four Ascending Ancestors of Noorhachu. Round the foot of 
 the hill, traversing a circumference of fully twelve miles, is that 
 fence of wood in the form of a St. Andrew's Cross, piercing a 
 strong central beam, and called the " Deers'-horn fence." But 
 this has rotted away under the influences of a hundred summers 
 and winters. It is in many places broken down, and in more, 
 ready to crumble at a touch. There are sacrifices paid to these 
 four ancestors at new and full moon, as at the Mookden tombs. 
 To the south of Yoongling is the mountain of Yentoong, 
 so-called certainly not from any resemblance to a chimney, unless 
 the resemblance be found in the fact that it crops out above the 
 neighbouring and surrounding hills. It is remarkable only for 
 the magnificent green of its crowded forest, access to which is 
 forbidden to any but men of Manchu blood. It is said to 
 contain gold. 
 
 Along the north side of the widening valley we go for three 
 miles eastwards, and cross the Jiaho, coming from the north- 
 east. Another half mile brings us to the ancient southern 
 gate leading into Hingking, the first important capital of the 
 young Manchu power. This very old gateway, as well as the 
 east and north gates, are built of stone and lime, and are, 
 apparently, the same gates built nearly three centuries ago by 
 Noorhachu. The original city is 1 li square, and its wall follows 
 the irregular edge of the top of the low detached hill on which 
 it is built. This small hill is eighty feet above the plain at the 
 south gate, and rises inside to a hundred feet ; and fully fourteen 
 hundred feet above the sea. It is detached by a short space 
 from the much higher range of hills from the north-east, of 
 which it forms the southern extremity. The hill inside the city 
 divides into two unequal hollows, formed by three ridges. A 
 wall runs along each outer ledge, and the central ridge is in the 
 centre of the city. Towards the north of the city the ridges 
 re-unite and the hollows disappear. 
 
 Of what the irregular wall was originally built it is difficult 
 
734 APPENDIX. 
 
 to say ; for we have seen the ruins of many cities built about the 
 same time, whose walls can be known to have been built of 
 brick, only from the quantity of fallen brick lying around. A 
 wooden fence thickly set, and about six feet high, is the only 
 wall on the face of the steeper sides of the hill. The earthen 
 ramparts forming the remainder are supported by bricks and 
 stone, which are probably a portion of the original wall. For, 
 surrounded as he was by swarming and watchful foes, it is not 
 likely that Noorhachu would have trusted himself to mere 
 earthworks. He had, besides, moved his "capital" from 
 Laochung, 5 li south in the open plain, to the hill, it being more 
 than likely that Laochung was walled with mud walls. Greater 
 power and increasing fame created a wider circle of more 
 powerful enemies, against whom it was necessary to build a 
 stronger citadel ; hence the origin of Hingking. Hence, too, we 
 infer that the walls first built were in keeping with the stone- 
 built gateways, but of brick, or layers of stone on layers of 
 brick. The present gates are of a similarly feeble character with 
 the walls, being composed of thin pine-boards nailed on stronger 
 beams, but such as a smith could knock in with a blow of his 
 big hammer. The whole wall is in a state of disrepair and 
 decrepitude, exactly in keeping with all the other ancient 
 vestiges of the rise of the Manchu dynasty. 
 
 At the foot of the hill is a sunk cart-track, with a pretty high 
 earthen bank on its outer side. This appears to have been a 
 moat, the earth dug out of which would have formed a low wall 
 on its outside. One foot high of an earthern wall on the inner 
 side of the track, would seem to lend colouring to the inference. 
 But the rains of two centuries have washed back into the moat 
 most of the earth, and it is now a good cart road, except when 
 it is flooded by heavy rains, when it becomes a rapid torrent. 
 The city is surrounded by fine old elms ; and the May air was 
 laden with the fragrance of the snow-white blossom of the 
 "" sugar " or " sweet " pear, a wild variety, growing on the walls. 
 
 Fully 2 li or nearly 1 mile beyond the existing wall, is the 
 three feet high remaining portion of a long wall, drawn at a 
 
HINGKING. * 735 
 
 similar distance all round the city. It runs in a circle of a mile 
 diameter all round over the mountain on the north-east, and on 
 the plain below. The late Consul Meadows, of Newchwang, a 
 man of undoubted talents, seems to have mixed up his notes on 
 this outer wall with those on the wall of the city proper, 
 predicating of the latter what is true only of the former ; and 
 Dr. Williamson * makes the mistake still greater by inserting 
 the word "northern," stating that the city is built on the 
 " northern," whereas it is built on the southern extremity of the 
 range. This outer wall was built in 1603, five years after the 
 city proper was erected. And it was inside its shelter that sixty 
 thousand Manchus waited with terror the approach of a quarter 
 of million of Chinese soldiers. 
 
 Hills with no visible opening, range upon range, throw their 
 protecting arms towards " Hingking," the " Capital of Prosperity." 
 On the east, north, north-east, and north-west, the Hotooala 
 valley lies nearly two miles wide, from the gate to the hills on 
 the south, and several miles east and west ; and the only visible 
 proof that there is an outlet among the mountains to the south 
 and west, is the beautiful river Soodsu, flowing westwards south 
 of the city. Hence the Doonghwaloo states that Noorhachu 
 " built a capital in the valley of Hotooala, in the land between 
 Jiaho and Sookooho rivers." The present city is a contrast to 
 the crowded streets of ancient times; for there are, according to Mr 
 Meadows' estimate, only two thousand inhabitants. The people 
 there reckon their number at four thousand, but this includes a 
 few neighbouring hamlets. The valley is very fertile, the most 
 of the soil being rich loess, supporting many villages, and 
 certainly a dozen of thousands of inhabitants. There are two 
 magistrates in the city : a district magistrate who is a Chinaman, 
 to whom cases are appealed by a Chinaman, whether the 
 defendant be Chinese or Manchu, and a superior military 
 Manchu official, who has charge of the city, and who is the judge 
 of all cases in which a Manchu is pursuer. As the Manchus, 
 though barely if at all a majority, are principally soldiers, and 
 
 * Journeys in North China, II. 88. 
 
736 * APPENDIX. 
 
 all hangers on of the government, the Chinese are here, more 
 than elsewhere, conspicuously and ignominiously the subject race. 
 Fourteen years before we passed through in 1875, a band of 
 five hundred well trained robbers, under a Shantung Mahom- 
 medan, burst upon Hingking from the north, seized the city, 
 killed the magistrate Liw in his Yamun, pillaged all they 
 thought of value, and deserted the city again before the 
 commandant at Yoongling had courage and men ready to attack 
 them. But at that time robbers were in reality masters of 
 Liaotung. The general of Manchuria hearing of the capture of 
 the cradle of the dynasty, which was under his care, tore the 
 knob of office out of his hat, threw it on the ground, refused to 
 act as governor; but remained in his palace in Mookden till 
 word should come from Peking. That word confirmed the act of 
 degradation inflicted by himself; and only in 1876 was he again 
 placed in a much more subordinate position as a military officer 
 to atone for his offence. A temple was being built in Hingking 
 in 1875 to the memory and honour of the murdered magistrate, 
 who is still held in great esteem as a most upright judge. His 
 son was appointed magistrate in his father's stead, and removed 
 from Sinmintwun, west of Mookden, where he had been grossly 
 insulted as a magistrate by an arrogant Romish priest. Indeed, 
 these priests are sowing a wind over China, which, by their high- 
 handed deeds, unheard of in the west in any age, will, if continued, 
 some day breed a whirlwind of " persecution " in the future as it 
 has done in the past ; and they are responsible by this defiance of 
 Chinese law and by their support of natives in trampling on 
 Chinese law for nine-tenths of Chinese hatred and exclusiveness 
 against the foreigner. Believing that we were of the same 
 character, the authorities there regarded our visit with the 
 greatest suspicion ; and a private secretary, a smart and scholarly 
 youth, was sent to our inn to discover our object. But when it 
 was discovered that we had no connection with the hated and 
 feared priests, we had an invitation to visit both the superior 
 magistrates ; which invitation was declined for want of time. 
 Both the Chinese and Manchu magistrates were very highly 
 
HINGKING. 737 
 
 spoken of by the people as upright judges; a character as 
 highly prized as it is rare in China, where the nominal 
 emoluments of the magistrate compel him to put his hand 
 deeply into the pockets of the litigious people. For in China 
 the Chinese proverb is most applicable : the " Big fish eat the 
 little fish, and the little fish eat mud." This Chinese magistrate, 
 Liw, has revived in Hingking a practice once much more 
 common than now. He goes to the temple on stated days ; 
 where, or by the way, a poor man, unable to go to court, may 
 kneel and have his case heard. 
 
 If we desire to travel north from Hingking, we can turn 
 northwards by the Jiabo, and go up the glen or gow of Jiaho 
 right northwards over a mountainous road, with numerous and 
 difficult mountain passes ; or making a slight detour to the west, 
 we may take the longer but easier north-west route, which falls 
 in again with the northern at the " Three Families," and on to 
 Kaiyuen. We can also get to Tieling by this road striking off 
 westwards at Diaopitivun, or " Sable-fur village." But direct 
 north-east and north-west there are only pathless mountains. 
 A narrow opening to the east leads towards northern Corea. 
 
 Starting southwards from Hingking, across the valley at its 
 greatest breadth, two miles bring the traveller to the remains of 
 the walls of Laochung, the first Manchu city. These remains 
 consist of a bank two feet high all along the site of the ancient 
 wall ; the inside of the wall being a houseless field, supporting 
 some poor Manchu cottar, whose house is in the nearest village. 
 One mile further south opens up the narrower but still 
 fertile and lovely valley, which extends away west and south- 
 west. Along this valley flows the Soodsu, a beautiful mountain 
 river, clear as crystal ; showing that it flows over another bed 
 than loess, which soil we soon leave behind. Our new glen 
 widens somewhat as we go west-south-west, past two villages, to 
 that of " Under-the Elm " ; so called probably from the splendid 
 elm tree growing there, the largest we had seen in Manchuria. 
 Under its shade was a small wooden temple, erected over a 
 coarse stone and brick scaffolding. The tree must have seen 
 w i 
 
738 APPENDIX. 
 
 the march southwards along our route of the army which made 
 the Manchu empire possible. Five miles still further west we 
 come upon the hamlet of Tohoolo, or the " Glen of To" where 
 the valley is at its widest, being little less than a mile in 
 breadth. But it suddenly narrows ; for a new line of mountains 
 from the west fills in the valley and leaves only a narrow gully, 
 along which is the main road. It is possible for men to go 
 on at the right of this new line of hills, and be for miles shut 
 out from the view of those taking our left or main road. It 
 is well to notice this feature in the ground ; for it will help to 
 explain an essential move of the Manchu army against the 
 Kwandien army in the third and decisive battle fought to save 
 Hingking from strangulation. 
 
 Westwards still we go in the narrow gully, hemmed in by 
 mountains ; the northern or right hand line being so unbrokenly 
 precipitous as to be all but impassable up to Chang choongliny 
 or " Serpent Pass," 55 li from Hingking. At the north side of this 
 pass springs the Soodsu, receiving many tributaries on its course ; 
 and at its south side rises the Taidsu, flowing south then west past 
 Liaoyang into the Liao, again mingling its waters with those of 
 the Soodsu. This pass is two hundred feet above its base, 
 and two thousand three hundred above the sea ; this being the 
 highest point touched by my excellent aneroid along the route. 
 But before reaching the pass we rest at the inn of Koochanggo^v ) 
 the glen of everlasting weeping, as that glen is called through which 
 we have just been passing. The natives, Manchu and Chinese, 
 were utterly at a loss to account for the name ; and were not in 
 the least excited when I recited to them the dreadful slaughter 
 of the day which cowed the Chinese soldiers before the Manchus. 
 Before getting to Koochang inn, a small opening in the north 
 range of hills exposed the possible spot where that deception 
 (p. 31, 32) was played upon the Chinese troops which was the 
 cause of their destruction. There is another opening still 
 further east, not far from Tohoolo, which might serve the 
 purpose, but not so well. It was without doubt under the hills 
 on the northern slope of Changchoongling that the Chinese 
 
HINGKING. 739 
 
 commander drew up his eighty thousand men with such skill, 
 and placed his " deers' horns " to such advantage, that it was 
 impossible to force him or to fight till he was drawn out beyond 
 Koochang inn by one of the cle,ver stratagems in which the 
 founder of the Manchu dynasty excelled. Had the Chinese 
 general been as cautious as he was brave, ten times the Manchu 
 force would not have moved him ; for all along, from the pass 
 to Tohoolo, the valley is not only narrow, but both lines of 
 mountains are such as to render impossible any attack down 
 their sides. 
 
740 APPENDIX. 
 
 III. 
 
 YELLOW RIVER 
 
 THE emperor Kanghi was from his childhood an eager student. 
 He read the classic sages with satisfaction and profit ; but he 
 took especial delight in geographical and astronomical knowledge. 
 In the Annals, he himself informs us that geography was his 
 special delight as a child. To ascertain more accurately than 
 any books or literati, native or European, could inform him, he 
 sent a selected body of literary men to explore the sources of the 
 Yellow river, the Yangtsu, the Heishwi, the Kinsha and the 
 Lantsang rivers, all of which rise from either of the two sides of 
 the great western range of Nomoohwunwooba in the south-east 
 of Kunlun. The rivers were to be traced accurately on a map. 
 They started from Peking on the fourth day of the fourth 
 moon May and returned on the ninth moon Oct. Nov. 
 Thirty-nine days out brought them to Chinghai or Kokonor, 
 the next day to Hoohooboolah They found the atmosphere of 
 Central Asia very rare. It " seemed to descend and the earth to 
 ascend," and during the whole route between Soongshan west 
 of Ninghia to Hinghii hai, respiration was difficult. Had they 
 aneroids they would have known that the earth "ascended" 
 considerably. On the sixty-second day they arrived at the 
 marsh of Woling, of over 200 li in extent, and considerably to 
 the east of Hinghu hai, or the Starry Sea. The marsh Jaling 
 is over 300 li in circumference, 30 li west of Woling ; and in 
 two days from Woling they got to Hinghu hai. This watery 
 region is over 7600 li from Peking. Viewed from the east when the 
 sun was setting, the innumerable streams flowing eastwards from 
 the eastern side of the great Korkwun mountains, appeared so 
 brilliant, shimmering like numberless stars in the face of the 
 western sun, that the Chinese gave that region the name of the 
 Starry Sea Hinghu hai. The Mongols called it Naodundali, 
 
YELLOW EIVEE. 741 
 
 and the natives Solomoo. They scaled a high hill in order to 
 see the size of the sea, but they found it to be of immense * 
 extent. To the south of this starry sea is the great mountain 
 range of Goorbantoorha ; to the south-west Boohoojoorhei ; to 
 the west Barbooha ; to the north that of Aktayinchichi ; and 
 Woolandoosh to the north-east. The streams flowing from, and 
 springs rising along, the foot of Goorbantoorha, unite, and 
 are called Harmatang \ those from Barbooha, Harmachun 
 moolang,^ and the united streams from Aktayinchichi, are 
 called Harmachinni. These three rivers flow eastwards into 
 the Jaling marsh, whence, still apart, they flow eastwards, one 
 through the Woling marsh, which then gets the name of Hiuang 
 ho or Yellow river. East of Woling the other two rivers, greatly 
 swollen, together with smaller streams innumerable, join the 
 Yellow river. 
 
 The travellers began their return journey on the eleventh of 
 sixth moon July and after going two days in a south-easterly 
 direction, they ascended the mountains of Harji, whence they 
 saw the Yellow river flowing eastwards by the south of the 
 mountains of Hoohootolohai. Another day brought them to the 
 west of Shivi slian J or water mountain, extremely high and ever 
 hid in cloud and mist. This range is said by the Mongols to be 
 over 300 li in length, to have nine high peaks, which were never 
 known to be free from clouds, and so moist is the region, that 
 scarce three days in a month were clear from heavy falls of rain 
 or snow. After passing Hoohootolohai the river flows south, 
 winding past the south side of ChuchooJca shan, and north again 
 to the south of Bartolohai shan. They arrived at the land of 
 
 * Lit. "Myriads and ten myriads would not contain it." Another authority 
 the Great Geography gives its Mongol name as Woduntala; and the mountains in 
 one place called Korkwun are in another called Koorgun, while their Chinese name 
 is given as Koohm. This illustrates the difficulty of transliterating other languages 
 into Chinese. 
 
 t Moolang is doubtless the Mongol mooren-w&ter. 
 
 JText is Shwi, but we believe it is a missprint for Bing, "Ice," the name "ice 
 mountain" being appropriate, while the other is not; and the two Chinese 
 characters differ only by a dot. 
 
742 APPENDIX. 
 
 Hilakootar when sixteen days from Shwi shan, southwards from 
 which, passing Sungkooli with its high passes for more than a 
 100 li, they came again upon the bank of the river, and inferred 
 that it flowed north-east from Bartolohai, on the north of 
 Kweite poo and south of Daka shan, between the two mountain 
 ranges, into Lanchow. 
 
 Ancient geographers always mentioned that the Yangtsu and 
 the Yellow river rose in the mountains, and the geography of 
 Yii states that the Yangtsu rose in Mangshan. This mountain 
 was proved however to be a mountain in Szchuen by which the 
 Yangtsu flowed, and was not by any means its source. It was 
 discovered by the geographers of Kanghi that the Yangtsu, or 
 as it is called at its source, the Mangldang, rose at the mountain 
 Chichilahana of the range Bayenhala ling, this source by 
 the natives being called Mangnayakja. It flows through 
 Whangshung giuan in the mountains of Naichoo of Szchuen, 
 by Kwan hi en, where it divides into several dozens of branches, 
 which reunite at Sintsin Men, and the united river receives the 
 Kinsha at Huchow foo. 
 
 The Kinsha rises in the north of Dalai Lama's territory, in 
 the range called Wooniyinwoosoo * fung, and by the Chinese 
 Niwnai (cow's milk) mountains. The name of the river there 
 is Mooloosu Woosoo, and when it enters Yunnan at Tachung 
 gwan after flowing south-east into Komoo land and passing 
 central Burma Lien it is called the Kinsha kiang, or Gold 
 river. It has the name of Loo Kiang at Lookiang foo. At 
 Yoongpe foo it receives the Tachoong river, and passing Wooting 
 foo, it enters Szchuen, flows to Hiichow, and falls into the 
 Yangtsu, into which at Woochang falls the Hankiang, rising 
 in Shensi. The Lantsang kiang has two main sources. 
 One is called the Dsachooho, rises in the mountains of 
 Gorjidsahar of Komoo, which is south-east of Lali and subject 
 to Banshan, the priestly ruler of Dsang or west Tibet. The 
 other called the Naomoojo ho rises in Jilakuntala. To the 
 
 * Woosoo is water, and fung is a high mountain. From the Chinese name AVC 
 might infer the existence of many cataracts. 
 
HINGKING. 743 
 
 south of Moochamoodo temple they unite and form the river 
 Lakockoo. Thence entering Yunnan it is called the Lantsang, 
 and flows southwards through Ckucdi into Burma as the 
 Kiwloong Kiang. 
 
 The Kolawoosoo, or the Black water of Yii's geography, the 
 Lookiang of Yunnan, rises in Halalier, in the north-east of 
 Dalai Lama's land, and flows through the south-east thereof, 
 through Komoo but west of the Lantsang, and south-east into 
 the land of Nooyi, where it is called the Nookiang. It enters 
 Yunnan by Da tanged, and under the name of Lookiang flows 
 past Yoongchaiigfoo, through Lookiang Miao lands, into Burma. 
 
 The Loongchuen Kiang, west of the latter river, springs from 
 Ghwundoling mountains of Komoo ; flows southwards by 
 Datangai into Yunnan, and westwards, as the Loongchuen, 
 through Hanloonggivan, into Burma. 
 
 The Birilany Kiang springs east of Gangdis of All in 
 Tibet. Its origin is in the mountain of Damoojoo Kobooboo, 
 or the " Horse's mouth." It is there called the Yaloodsangboo 
 kiang ; flows south, then east, passing by Dsangwei lands, 
 beside the city of Yiharha-r, where it joins the Harjaowoolun 
 kiang, then south by the lake of Goongbooboolo ; enters 
 Yunnan by Gooyoong, and flows out by Tiepoogwan into 
 Burma. South of Gangdis is the mountain Langyukobooboo, 
 or " Elephant's mouth " ; out of which flows a stream which 
 ultimately flows westwards into the lands of Sangnan. North 
 of Gangdis is the mountain Dsunggokobooboo, or " Lion's mouth," 
 which produces another river, flowing westwards to Sangnan, 
 where it joins the preceding. From Maboojiakobooboo, or 
 " Peacock's mouth," west of Gangdis, flows another river south- 
 wards to the lands of Nakolasooiuoodo, where it joins the 
 preceding river which has flowed south from Sangnan, then 
 east. The united river then flows south-east to the kingdom 
 of Anatokoko, where it is called the Ganghoivoolun Kiang. 
 This is, says the imperial geographer, apparently the Weifa 
 hien slnvun hung ho of the Annals of the Buddhist kingdoms ; 
 or it may read, the Hienshwunhung river of the " Sublime 
 
744 APPENDIX. 
 
 Method of the Annals." We think these various "mouths" 
 look very like a description of the Tibetan sources of the Ganges. 
 We now return to the Yellow river, a river which demands 
 more engineering attention than any other river, lake or sea, on 
 our globe. Anciently the Chinese people were a small, diligent 
 agricultural community surrounded by savage nomads. Twenty 
 centuries before the Christian era their country apparently 
 extended southwards as far as the Yellow river, and was 
 doubtless bordered by that river both at the west and the south. 
 As much of the magnificent loess soil through which the river 
 flows is often below the level of the bottom of the river, central 
 China was originally, without doubt, a succession of shallow 
 lakes and marshy swamps, and the wide-spread waters of the 
 river would form many islands of extreme fertility. The 
 emperor or king Yii acquired his pre-eminent celebrity by his 
 eight years of engineering effort to drain that extensive region ; 
 and his successful operations opened up to the plough rich 
 plains which in extent would embrace several Hollands. But 
 so great is the quantity of silted earth contained in the waters 
 of this river, that it raises its bed above the surrounding 
 country, or forms great banks at its widely extended mouth, so 
 that the country once won from its inundations, is ever threatened 
 by re-annexation to the rule of its yellow waters. Hence the 
 engineering labour and expense begun by emperor Yii has 
 been in yearly requisition from his time to the present; so 
 that the money expended in attempting to retain its waters 
 within banks would purchase many times over all the debts of 
 all the governments in the world. Yet notwithstanding that 
 incessant outlay and that annual labour, the erratic river does 
 ever and anon assume the mastery ; now inundating hundreds 
 or thousands of acres, now flooding ever so many villages, and 
 anon knocking down the walls of a fortified city; and the 
 human lives drowned by that wilful river must aggregate an 
 enormous number. Hence it is that the emperor Kealdng, of the 
 present dynasty in his last will, calls the river " China's sorrow," * 
 
 * Davis' "Chinese." 
 
YELLOW RIVER. 745 
 
 complains of its bursting its banks, overflowing the country, 
 and always draining the treasury. The following incidents 
 connected with the river will serve to illustrate the nature of the 
 sorrow. 
 
 When the sudden clash of arms and the crash of falling cities 
 threw consternation into the councils and strained the resources 
 of his southern neighbours, the governor of Honan found as 
 formidable a difficulty to cope with in his own province. The 
 people were in the greatest distress from the unceasing calls and 
 the ever increasing amounts of taxation demanded of them to 
 keep the river within bounds. From March to December of 
 every year the people were subjected to intermittent visits from 
 the tax-collector, till the taxes became at last so burdensome 
 that all who had any government employment by which they 
 could eke out a living preferred to leave their lands fallow rather 
 than have to meet the common and oppressive taxation. Some 
 of the bolder people, who had no resource apart from their land, 
 opened deep ditches around their houses, fortified themselves 
 there and defied the tax collector. The burdens of the people 
 who were loyal and obedient became therefore all the more 
 overwhelmingly crushing. The governors prayed the emperor to 
 interfere in the interests of justice, to fix the .price of labour at 
 two taels, or twelve shillings sterling, per man per month as in 
 the period of his predecessor, instead of the three or four taels, 
 which were being paid ; and to reduce the period of labour to 
 nine instead of ten months. Those measures would diminish 
 expenditure to one hundred and eighty thousand taels, or half 
 of what was then paid out. It was decreed that the rate of 
 taxation was anciently laid down at so much per li, each square 
 li containing a hundred ching, or about sixteen hundred acres, 
 and supporting ten soldiers. This rule was re-enforced, and 
 every means were ordered to be employed to compel all to pay 
 equally ; for those who opened ditches must not be allowed to 
 evade, nor the more honest be compelled to exceed the proper 
 amount. In 1668, it had been ordained that Kiangnan must 
 prepare, as its contingent against the river ravages, two 
 
746 APPENDIX. 
 
 million seven hundred thousand bundles of willow stumps, 
 of which one million had to be yearly laid down in the 
 banks. Four years after, the required stock of bundles was not 
 ready ; the river threatened to burst upon and overwhelm the 
 city of Yangwoo near Kaifung; and the people had to cut down 
 all their peach, pear, apricot and plum trees to stop the breach. 
 Every boat trading on the river was now ordered to provide from 
 two to three hundred bundles, and the people were rquired to 
 carry the requisite number where no boat traffic existed ; and if 
 the supply by the people proved inadequate, the magistrates were 
 commanded to find the needful bundles by purchase, giving for 
 every bundle of wild or garden-grown willoAV branches one 
 sixtieth of a tael. But the emperor again urged the necessity of 
 always having a store of bundles on hand. 
 
 In 1682, when the great rebellion was being extinguished, a 
 censor who had been sent to examine into the condition of the 
 Yellow river, reported that in the neighbourhood of the city 
 of Yifung it was needful to at once raise the banks of the river 
 for seven thousand nine hundred and eighty-nine jang, each of 
 about twelve English feet; at Fungkiw, three hundred and 
 thirty Jang; and at Yoongtsai, two hundred and ten Jang. 
 In the following winter the Boards and Yamuns decided 
 that to protect the seven chow and hien cities of Kao, Pao, &c., 
 a sum of two millions seven hundred and eighty thousand taels, 
 or nearly a million sterling, was indispensable ; and the half of 
 that sum should be forwarded at once to pay for work to be 
 immediately done. Half a million taels were needed for the 
 banking of small rivers higher up which flowed into the Yellow ; 
 and less than a million and a half of taels was considered 
 insufficient to bank the river above those affluents. The 
 emperor knew from personal observation the frightful ravages 
 of the river near its mouth, and declared that works must be 
 started there immediately ; but before deciding on the general 
 work to be done, he ordered Chungloong, then overseer of 
 the river, to hasten to the capital and consult with the Boards. 
 On the arrival of this functionary, he found a grand secretary 
 
YELLOW RIVER. 747 
 
 advocating the building of both banks of the river from its 
 mouth to a height of sixteen feet ; a height which he declared 
 necessary to protect the country from the floodings caused by 
 the tide. This measure was opposed by Chungloong, who, 
 instead, recommended the deepening of the channel of the 
 river as it flowed into the sea. The officials ranged themselves 
 into two parties on the subject; the one recommending building, 
 the other digging. Warm debates went on for days, but they 
 educed nothing but heat. The emperor therefore ordered the 
 magistrates of the seven cities of Kao, Pao, Hing, Lan, Shang r 
 Kiang, and Tai, to give their opinion as between the two plans. 
 They were living in the region affected ; and as their interests 
 were much concerned, and their families all dwelling in the 
 neighbourhood, their advice was regarded as safe. They agreed 
 unanimously that the plan of Chungloong was easy of accomplish- 
 ment, and would greatly benefit the people ; while the building 
 of banks of sixteen feet high, raising the water eleven feet above 
 the existing level, would seriously endanger the country, for the 
 tops of the houses would be below that water level; and a 
 breach in the bank, which was very possible, would cause 
 incalculable damage to the people. The emperor agreed that 
 the plan of Chungloong, which both secured the lives of the 
 people and was much less expensive, would be adopted. 
 
 Operations to deepen the river channel were at once begun - 
 but ere long serious opposition was made against the digging- 
 by high officials, who had gone thither and reported the works 
 as useless. Many of the inhabitants of the affected region 
 joined in the petition of those officials ; and the emperor after 
 a long consultation with Chungloong, ordered a cessation of the 
 works, and threw the responsibility of stemming the floods on 
 the inhabitants of those extensive and very fertile plains. The 
 grand secretary saw in that course an opening by which to push 
 on his own plan, proposed miles of high banking at a cost of 
 millions sterling, and promised to reclaim over six hundred 
 thousand English acres ; but his proposals were remitted to the- 
 Boards. 
 
748 APPENDIX. 
 
 A commission, consisting of a president, vice-president, and 
 other officials, was sent from Peking to inspect the banks 
 and to ascertain the views of the people. Bin, one of the 
 subordinates who returned last of all, reported that there was 
 much conflict of opinion among the crowded populations over 
 that wide region. Very many believed that the deepening of 
 the channel over the bar would be of great utility; but on 
 account of scarcity of grain and the high price of labour, the 
 available money would not pay for half the necessary work. On 
 the other hand the people in and under Kaochow and Hinghwa 
 strenuously opposed any deepening, because the high tides 
 would destroy their graves and flood their houses. He explained 
 that all the officials who had been on the commission of enquiry 
 had seen the tide rush up like a racehorse ; but had observed 
 that the retreating waters had no way to flow swiftly. The 
 superior officials, knowing that his majesty had himself seen the 
 many houses submerged, and fearing similar if not greater 
 dangers to the country and even the cities from a deepened 
 channel, whereby the sea waters could rush up all the more 
 swiftly, did not venture to memorialise the throne on their 
 return. He was himself much perplexed what advice to offer ; 
 for he could not promise that any deepening would drain the 
 whole country. But he would say that deepening would be a 
 benefit to the country, and great in proportion to the depth of 
 the channel cut to admit the flow of the river. He recommended 
 that all the revenue derived from the seven cities should be 
 retained on the spot, and applied to the work of deepening the 
 river; thus the formidable undertaking could be paid by the 
 revenue of the region, and carried out by the men of the place. 
 
 The two superior officials of the commission were summoned ; 
 and in giving their apology for not presenting a report 011 their 
 return to Peking, flatly contradicted the statement of Bin that 
 they had agreed with his views, for there had been no con- 
 sultation. They emphasised the difficulty of the deepening and 
 the hostility of the people. The emperor was therefore as much 
 -at a loss as ever what to do ; and ordered all the great officials 
 
YELLOW RIVER. 749 
 
 to deliberate, and. to call in as witnesses every official high or 
 low then in Peking from the neighbourhood of the seven cities. 
 These witnesses were unanimous in supporting the scheme of 
 Bin ; which, though expensive, they declared far the most 
 valuable ; even though it could not drain all the low lands. The 
 great ministers therefore supported Bin, because he had long 
 been governor in that neighbourhood ; while the president and 
 vice-president were terrified at seeing the great rushing inlands 
 of the tide. The emperor censured these two officials ; and the 
 ministers recommended the dismissal from his office of the 
 superintendent of Yellow river works, and of Lo Foo the grand 
 secretary, who had recommended the " building " or dyking as 
 against the deepening plan. 
 
 Bin again memorialised the throne to say that he had discovered 
 that formerly there were four shallow lakes made by the river at 
 and around Hiichow ; but that now there were thirty such lakes, 
 making probable a large increase in the future of the conversion 
 of rich fields into lakes. The president of Works stated that the 
 ancients adopted the plan of deepening the bar to drain away 
 water which embankments had collected ; and declared that it 
 was by his embankments that Foo was now flooding so many 
 houses and good lands. The only result of the two years of 
 debate, thus briefly outlined, was that the president and vice- 
 president were degraded, but Foo was retained in office, as the 
 ministers who recommended his dismissal could not give the 
 emperor a plan whose superiority they would venture to guarantee. 
 
 The question was again discussed on a long memorial of another 
 official who gave many reasons in support of the dyking plan. 
 These were considered so important that the emperor nominated 
 him a commissioner to assist Foo. But it soon leaked out 
 that he had been instigated by Foo, who was therefore 
 brought to Peking; but his subsequent examination left the 
 emperor in the same uncertainty. Another commissioner was 
 therefore sent to enquire; but it served only to cause the 
 emperor to consult Chungloong, who could do no more than 
 reiterate his first plan, and declare his conviction that the plan 
 
750 APPENDIX. 
 
 of Foo would ultimately inundate all that neighbourhood ; for 
 the level of the river always rising would soon cause the Whai 
 river to pour into it ; and if the numbers of men drowned and 
 houses ruined were large already, there would then be far more 
 terrible havoc. 
 
 Four years after the first named commission, a censor accused 
 Foo of having failed to secure " merit," a mild way of declaring 
 him unworthy of his post. Another, in a memorial of extra- 
 ordinary length and with, even for a Chinese official, a 
 superabundance of circumlocution, charged Foo for remaining so 
 long in that post only because he was appropriating half the 
 monies paid out in name of the river expenditure; and he 
 fjjCQjised by name other officials of sharing the plunder with him. 
 The long accusation was laid before the ministers, whose 
 "consideration" of the matter and examination of Foo again 
 resulted in nothing. The emperor, under whose inspection 
 proceedings were carried on, declared in a long speech that he 
 had long been aware of the principles of action not of Foo alone, 
 but of every official high and low connected with all the 
 departments; but as they could come to no decision, he had 
 nothing to say. In private, however, he informed the grand 
 secretaries that the ministers were afraid of the power of Foo. 
 The advice and testimony of Chungloong were again asked for, 
 .and were exactly the reverse of Foo's. The latter was accused 
 of oppressing the people ; but the emperor said that the 
 question was how to allay the evil done by the river. Foo 
 was at length dismissed from the superintendency, and many 
 other officials who had supported him were degraded or 
 dismissed according to the nature of their crimes; just when 
 the last great revolution was taking place in England. But in 
 1689, when his majesty was on his tour of investigation to 
 .ascertain for himself the state of the river, he was so well 
 _satisfied with the firm character and the extent of the dyking 
 by Foo, that he reinstated him in his original rank ; and with 
 .all the greater readiness, because his successor was not doing 
 well ; and in 1691 Foo was again nominated superintendent of 
 
YELLOW RIVER. 751 
 
 the Yellow river. Thus went on the Yellow river, swamping 
 good lands and able ministers, vomiting bad marshes and raising 
 interested cabals and cliques, sapping down city walls and 
 swallowing yearly as much money as might support a samll 
 kingdom. 
 
 This incident will illustrate the difficulty of the problem of 
 dealing with the Yellow River in China, where there are no 
 skilful engineers and no mathematical knowledge. It also shows 
 how difficult it is for an absolute monarch, willing and eager to 
 do good, to ascertain the real facts, even in a matter of such 
 magnitude and gravity as the Yellow River and its evils. 
 And the story, together with all that goes before, is interesting 
 to us westerns, because, though it is but the history of the^risfe 
 and progress of the present reigning dynasty from its infancy to 
 its full manhood, we learn therefrom the actual condition of 
 Chinese law and practice at the present day. Ministers had and 
 have their own private interests to consult, their private friends 
 to conciliate, their private faction to support ; and these weighed 
 with them more than the well or ill-being, the life or death, of 
 myriads of their fellow countrymen, who were far removed out 
 of sight, and whom their able master was anxious to save and 
 benefit. We are, however, the less surprised at this in China, 
 when very recent events prove that in what are called highly 
 civilised and Christian nations human life and common justice 
 are light as a feather in the scales of personal interests and 
 official influence. 
 
v 
 
14 DAY USE 
 
 RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED 
 
 LOAN DEPT. 
 
 RENEWALS ONLYTEL. NO. 642-3405 
 
 This book is due on the last date stamped below, or 
 
 on the date to which renewed. 
 
 I immediate recall. 
 
f\J