NOORHACHU.

499 and his son and heir, the father of Noorhachu, at once set off with such force as they could assemble to succour their kinsman the chief of Goolo. At first they showed a wish to merely convey their relative to a place of safety until the cloud on the affairs of Goolo had blown over; but the chief would not allow the removal of his wife, probably for fear that he would then lose the support of Huen and his companions. They all, therefore, remained together to defend the place against Nikan and the Chinese.

The latter did not dare attack the town when they found it prepared for a resolute and protracted defence, but they had recourse to an act of treachery to gain their end. Simulating a desire for a pacific arrangement, they enticed a large number of the garrison outside the walls, when they fell upon and massacred them all. Among the slain were Huen and his son. Nikan had thus far accomplished much towards the attainment of his object, and he flattered himself that he held ultimate success within his grasp. The brutal and cowardly murder of both his grandfather and father roused the indignation of Noorhachu to the highest point, and he swore to exact a bitter revenge for it from Nikan and also from the Chinese. Vengeance became the principal object of his life, and to the murder of his kinsmen must be attributed the origin of that danger which eventually cost Wanleh's successors their throne.

Nikan remained in possession of his first conquest, but Noorhachu was known to be making strenuous preparations to march against him in order to dispute the prize he had acquired by the aid of the Chinese. Noorhachu had already assumed the rights of the chiefship in his valley, and at his request the Chinese had restored the bodies of his father and grandfather for burial. Some compensation had also been allowed him by the Leaoutung officials, who disclaimed the main responsibility for the slaughter of his parents; but Nikan still flourished on his crime, and the prominence of his position kept him in view as the mark of his rival's vengeance. Noorhachu's principal object now became to get Nikan into his power, either by force or by negotiation with the Chinese. He signally failed in his latter plan, and the Chinese

authorities, who pinned their faith to the designing Nikan, not only ignored his requests, but created Nikan chief of all the Niuche districts. By this step Noorhachu was virtually stripped of his authority, and became one of the vassals of his hated rival. The measure of the Chinese was extreme, but its very boldness might have ensured success, had they provided the necessary force to secure its execution. Li Chingliang, the Governor of Leaoutung, who made this creation of a new potentate, could at first congratulate himself on the success of his experiment, for on the Imperial proclamation becoming known among the Niuche many of Noorhachu's own people left him and attached themselves to the side of Nikan. Noorhachu himself still stood haughtily aloof, and fixed in his resolve to slay his father's murderer.

The Chinese did not support their nominee with any degree of vigour, and Noorhachu continued to carry on his plans for securing the person of Nikan. So persistently did Noorhachu pursue him that Nikan did not feel safe from his attack even in the interior of his stockaded camp at Toolun. Several times he made his escape only by a precipitate retreat into Leaoutung, and the Chinese at last grew tired of supporting a man who was apparently unable to defend himself. In 1586, therefore, they handed him over to Noorhachu, who at once killed him. The success which thus marked his plans, and which attended his performance of a sacred duty, raised Noorhachu's reputation to a high point among his countrymen; while, on the other hand, the fluctuating policy of the Chinese tended to diminish theirs and to weaken their authority. Noorhachu was still a young man when he thus accomplished the first object of his life. There yet remained for him to attain the purpose for which Nikan had striven-the supremacy over a Niuche confederacy.

His first care was to establish his place of residence at a spot well situated in the plain where water was abundant, and, having selected the site of his capital, he surrounded it with a triple wall. He also drew up a code of regulations adapted by their simplicity to the requirements and intelligence of his subjects; and he devoted all his leisure to the disciplining of

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his small army. With the Chinese he renewed the amicable arrangements that had long been in force, and accepted at their hands the titles and money gifts which the Leaoutung officials were willing, and indeed eager, to bestow upon him. While he thus secured the neutrality of the Imperial governors, he resolutely pursued his schemes for uniting the clans of the southern Niuche under his sway. In this he encountered less difficulty than might have been thought possible, but his triumph over Nikan had produced a far greater effect than the real extent of that victory justified. In 1591 he began the second portion of his career by the annexation of the Yalookiang district, which, suddenly attacked, offered little or no resistance to his arms.

The success which attended this act of spoliation roused the apprehension of all Noorhachu's neighbours. Up to this they had passed their time in rivalries which led to petty wars, barren of result; but Noorhachu's well-prepared and vigorous measures were evidently directed towards the attainment of some higher object than the gratification of a feud. These measures constituted, therefore, a common danger to all the other chiefs. When there went forth a voice among the common folk of Manchuria that Noorhachu was a wise and valiant ruler who gave his followers a share in the benefits of his own elevation, there also passed through the courts or camps of the other chiefs of the Niuche the fear that this energetic chief, with his new-fangled ideas, aimed at their annihilation. What had been a vague apprehension or a mere suspicion before the seizure of Yalookiang became a settled fear and a complete conviction after that event.

Seven of the neighbouring princes combined and declared war upon Noorhachu. Thirty thousand Niuche and Mongols invaded his territory, and threatened to upset all the young chief's plans and calculations by his conclusive overthrow. Noorhachu was not himself appalled at the greatness of the approaching storm, but his followers and people had less faith in their leader's capability to repel the invaders. In this crisis of his fortunes, the care which he had bestowed on his fighting force stood him in good stead, for in each man who followed his banner he possessed a faithful and well-trained

soldier. The odds against him were apparently irresistible, for when he drew up his forces at the foot of Goolo hill he had but four thousand men with which to oppose the onset of thirty. Their superior discipline and the resolution of their commander supplied to some degree this deficiency of numbers; but the confederated princes had every reason to feel elate. The battle began with a furious charge against the front of Noorhachu's line. Although Yeho and the principal of the Mongol captains headed it, the charge miscarried. Yeho fell from his horse and was slain, while the Mongol captain, having experienced a similar mishap, remounted his horse and galloped away. Noorhachu's opportunity had come, and he delivered home his attack. The large force of the confederates broke into disorder, and in the pursuit 4000 of them were slain. Several chiefs were taken prisoners, and among the spoil several thousand horses and plaited suits of armour were counted, which came as an opportune help to Noorhachu in his schemes of army organization.

The victory of Goolo consolidated the position which Noorhachu had gained in the valley of Hootooala, and in 1599 he followed it up by the conquest and annexation of Hada, an extensive and fertile district on the northern border. These signal successes excited the alarm of the Chinese who were beginning to protest against the rapid progress of Noorhachu's power. Noorhachu took this grumbling in ill part, and discontinued paying a tribute which he had engaged a few years before to send to the Leaoutung governor. The adjoining state of Hwifa shared the fate of Hada in 1607, and the following years were employed in deciding the destinies of the Woola district which skirted the banks of the Songari. The chief of this territory, Boojantai, made a resolute defence, but his forces were no match for the cotton-mailed warriors of Noorhachu. Several minor engagements were fought before the decisive action came off, and then Boojantai, who had incurred the extreme displeasure of Noorhachu for an insult offered to his daughter, fled away and disappeared, never more to be heard of, in the mists of the northern region. These campaigns were but preliminary to the main attack on

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Yeho, the most powerful of the late confederates; and in 1613 Noorhachu began his operations against this territory, whose ruler had foolishly remained inactive while he was collecting in his hands the power to crush him.

His success on this, the first, occasion did not reach his expectations, for the people of Yeho retired into their towns, and, assisted by the Chinese with money and arms, they were able to hold out until Noorhachu's followers, disappointed at the slow progress made against their foe, were withdrawn. In two other districts, those of Hoorha and Doonghai, he fared better, for both either submitted to or recognized his authority. These successes resulted in the firm establishment of Noorhachu's power along the whole of the northern frontier of Leaoutung. The Chinese thus saw that central authority set up among the Niuche which they had always affected to desire, but it had been no part of their plan that the man to wield it should be one who owed nothing to their support, and who it was shrewdly suspected nursed a latent hostility towards themselves. The dispensation of authority, which seemed natural enough to the Chinese when vested in the person of a puppet ruler like Nikan, assumed quite a different aspect when exercised by the vigorous chief Noorhachu.

After the repulse of his first attack on Yeho, Noorhachu devoted more attention even than before to the improvement of his army. Not content with dividing his forces into companies, several of which were composed of picked men, he also collected engines of war, which showed that he meditated some more extensive and difficult enterprise than any he had yet undertaken. And such indeed was the case. For reasons which the geographical position of the states will not sufficiently explain, he came to the decision that he could not conquer Yeho until he had first overthrown the Chinese authority in Leaoutung. It was in 1617 that he came to this important resolution, and when his military arrangements had been completed he drew up a formal indictment against the Chinese Government. His army, which had originally consisted of no more than one hundred men, now mustered over forty thousand strong, and these troops had been drilled under his own eye, and were individually known to him. The