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barbarous people. They had appropriated, with a large portion of Chinese territory in Leaoutung, and Pechihli, the civilization and refinement of Chinese life, at the same time that they retained the hardy characteristics of their Tartar ancestors. A war between this warlike and united people, and the enfeebled strength of the Empire could have but one result. Tekwang felt sure of his superior power. It would have been strange if he had refrained from exercising it.

So long as Kaotsou lived, his tact availed to avert an overthrow, and the Khitan king rested content with the profuse profession of goodwill and subservience sent him at frequent intervals by the occupant of the Dragon Throne. Kaotsou had, however, to pay a still heavier price to prevent the invasion of his dominions by this northern people in the surrender of several of his border cities, and the grant of an annual subsidy. He accepted the inevitable with the calmness of a philosopher. His death after a reign of seven years altered the position of affairs, by affording those who had throughout exclaimed against the indignity to the Empire an opportunity of carrying their opinions into acts.

The new ruler was Tsi Wang, Kaotsou's nephew, but during his four years' reign he left no distinct impression on the history of the times. He fell into the hands of ministers who were inclined to dispute the claims of the Khitan king, and their arguments, based on the personal disgrace to the Emperor, proved palatable to the mind of a new ruler. It was certainly not hard to show the shame of a Chinese monarch being the feudatory of a northern king; but they excluded from their calculations stern necessity which is generally clothed in a garb without symmetry to the eye or pleasure to the imagination. Tsi Wang paid his court, with less judgment than his uncle, to Tekwang, who in retaliation resolved to depose the Chinese ruler. His resolve was intensified by a severe defeat inflicted upon his army by one of Tsi Wang's generals, and in order to make the blow the more crushing, he collected all his strength for a supreme effort. Before the rising tempest Tsi Wang would have yielded, but it was too late. He sought an ally in the King of Corea, who had suffered from the aggressiveness of the Khitans; but his envoy returned with

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the depressing judgment that their alliance would be valueless as they possessed no arms, and were destitute of all knowledge of war. Tsi Wang had to rely solely upon his own resources. The two armies came face to face on the banks of the River Touho, and they remained so for some months, neither caring to strike the decisive blow without long deliberation. In the skirmishes which took place, the Tartars were generally the more fortunate, and at length Tekwang by a skilful manœuvre succeeded in shutting the Imperial army up in its camp, when want of provisions compelled its speedy surrender. The surrender of his army involved for Tsi Wang the loss of his crown. Before he could make any fresh preparations for defence, his capital was in the possession of the Khitans, and his abdication and retirement into private life followed an abortive attempt to commit suicide. With this act the dynasty of the Later Tsins reached its consummation. Tekwang held for a short time possession of the capital, and then retired to his own dominions. He wished to place a puppet prince upon the throne as master of the Empire, but his own death arrested the plans which he had formed. Lieouchi Yuen, a trusted companion of the first Emperor of this dynasty, was placed on the throne by the public voice, and took the name of Kaotsou of the later Han dynasty.

This new family only enjoyed the possession of its high titular rank for the short space of four years. Lieouchi Yuen, who gave some proof of the possession of great qualities, died less than two years after he snatched the state out of the grasp of the Khitans, and his son Ynti succeeded him. The Khitans of Leaoutung seized what they thought a favourable opportunity to renew their enterprise; but Kwo Wei, who had been left by Lieouchi Yuen as the chief adviser of his son, baffled their attempt by winning several victories over them. Ynti turned his increasing security to reckless account by indulging his passion for idle pleasures. The season for such conduct was singularly inopportune, as the Empire had barely escaped a great danger, which might at any moment recur. On Kwo Wei's return from his victorious campaign in the north he was received with such acclamations by the

people that he determined to no longer defer the design he had for some time secretly cherished of placing himself upon the throne. Ynti, anticipating the popular verdict, fled from his capital, but was murdered in a neighbouring village by some of Kwo Wei's soldiers, who, it is asserted, did not recognize him. His son occupied the throne for a few days, but was deposed. Within four years of the departure of Tekwang, the Tartar king, another dynasty had run its transient course, and rapidly reached its point of collapse.

Kwo Wei became the founder of the fifth and last of these insignificant dynasties. His career was cut short when he had only governed the country for three years. He had many difficulties to contend against, but he seemed in a fair way to overcoming them when his death removed him from the scene. It is said that it was during his reign that the Mahomedans, who had been both conquering and colonizing most of the countries west of China during the last three centuries, first established themselves in China. There had no doubt been other immigrants of the same creed before this, but their progress first began to attract attention in this reign. Of Chitsong, his adopted son and successor, there is little to be said. He possessed many virtues, and endeavoured to restore the Empire from its fallen state; but his life was too short to admit of much more than the formation of plans which were never destined to be carried out. In the six years of his reign he obtained several successes in the south, and established his power more vigorously on the banks of the Great River. He even drew up a scheme for the expulsion of the Tartars, but at the very point when he formed the most ambitious of all his plans his career terminated with his sudden death. His son Kongti only reigned for a few months after him, and he was then deposed by his minister Chow Kwang Yn, the founder of the great dynasty of the Sungs.

The close of these five dynasties, which occupied the throne for less than sixty years in all, marks the end also of the petty rulers of China. In the future there will, at intervals, be the repetition of the old weakness, and the decline of the Empire will be sometimes marked in face of the greater but

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more transient reputation of a neighbouring and foreign people; but there will at least be in its misfortunes an absence of any pettiness similar to that under these princes. China has often since stood apparently on the verge of ruin, but even when she has done so her triumphant enemies have presented a scarcely less interesting theme for description than the even tenour of her own history. These petty dynasties served no doubt their momentary purposes, but with their disappearance, nearly a thousand years ago,* the starting-point of China's Imperial history on a sound and durable basis may be considered to have been reached in the founding of the dynasty of the Sungs.

* In the nine hundred and forty years that have since elapsed, China has been governed by only four dynasties, the Sung, the Yuen, the Ming, and the Manchu still reigning-a fact unparalleled in the history of any other people or Empire.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE SUNG DYNASTY.

The Reunion of the Empire.

*

CHOW KWANG YN took up the task which the death of Chitsong had left half finished and incomplete; and it was his good fortune to complete it. The country prayed for peace, and was anxious to give all the support it could to a man acting for its interests. Public spirit had become extinct during the years when the Empire had been the lottery of soldiers, and when ruler succeeded ruler with a rapidity which was in itself the strongest inducement to the ambitious to advance their claims. Chow Kwang Yn had therefore in the first place to raise the public spirit, and to show incontestably that he had other ends in view than the mere attainment of power. In short he was a patriot. It was the independence of the Chinese Empire for which he fought, and, although some of the credit is due to Chitsong as having paved the way to success, it was by his own unaided abilities that the Sung ruler attained the great object of his life.

The people hailed his advent to power with acclamations

* Chow Kwang Yn, unlike most of the soldiers who had risen to power during these years, was a Chinese by birth. He had distinguished himself greatly in the wars carried on by Chitsong for the restoration of the Empire. On one occasion it may even be said that his presence of mind saved the day in the battle at Kaoping. He was born in a village near the modern Pekin, of which place, then a small town called Yeoutou, several of his relations had been governors. His father had succeeded to an office which had almost become hereditary in his family. Chow Kwang Yn served his earlier years in the guards, and is represented as having been of majestic appearance.

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