excesses, aggravated by the increasing anxiety and danger of his position, soon put an end to his existence, and the crown of the Sungs was placed, by Kiassetao's direction, on the head of his second son, a child named Chaohien (A.D. 1274).

The capture of Sianyang was the greatest encouragement to the Mongols, and the strongest possible inducement to Kublai to devote all his energy to the conclusion of a war towards which his father had, forty years before, contributed so much in its earliest stages. Toutsong's death and the accession of a child prince, who could be nothing more than a tool in the hands of the incapable Kiassetao, were additional reasons in favour of the prompt and vigorous action upon which Kublai had at last decided. If there was wanted another inducement it was furnished by the fact that in Bayan of the Hundred Eyes, the greatest general of the age was available for the conduct of the war. Toutsong's death, far, therefore, from arresting Kublai's military preparations, had the effect of hurrying them on. The hour had come to strike home, and nothing of advantage could be obtained by delay.

Bayan's apprenticeship in the service of arms had been passed in the campaigns in Persia, where Khulagu had won great fame and founded a dynasty of kings. The opportunity now offered itself on another field of turning to account the military knowledge he had acquired in Western warfare. The army with which Kublai entrusted him was the larger of the two placed in the field. While one force marched into Kiangnan, the other under Bayan, assisted by three trusty and experienced lieutenants, advanced against Houkwang. In the path of each lay the same obstacle, the broad waters of the river Yangtse-kiang, but even north of that stream the Mongol advance was not unresisted.

A numerous gathering held the fortified town of Ganlo, situated south of Sianyang, but on the banks of the same river, and as all preparations had been made by its commandant, Litingchi, for a protracted defence, Bayan prudently refused to halt before it. Leaving a small corps to observe the Chinese force stationed there, the Mongols passed on to assail the main positions of the Sungs, defending the passages

of the Great River. Chang Chikia, the commander at this point, sent a portion of his troops to harass the Mongols in their operations against the neighbouring cities; but his lieutenant was drawn into a general engagement, in which he lost his life and the greater number of his troops. This preliminary success was followed by the capture of Chayang, and its sister town Sinhing, where the garrisons were either put to the sword or committed self-destruction in imitation of the conduct of their leaders. In the siege of the latter place, Lieouwen Hoan, who had become a marked man among the faithful adherents of the cause he had abandoned, nearly met his death. Riding near the walls to receive what he supposed would be a proposal to surrender, he was greeted with a flight of arrows, which killed his horse and inflicted several severe wounds upon himself. Enraged at this treacherous conduct, as he considered it, Lieouwen Hoan vowed that he would not spare a man of the garrison, and pressed the siege operations with all the energy springing from a personal grievance. The commandant cheated him of the revenge on which he was confidently counting by throwing himself into the flames of his burning residence when further resistance appeared useless. Bayan, more magnanimous than the Chinese renegade, ordered that the bodies of the slain should be accorded honourable burial in token of his admiration of their bravery.

Bayan then continued his movement on the Kiang river, taking as his central object the three cities, Hankow, Wuchang, and Hanyang, situated at the junction of the Han river with the main stream. At this point the Chinese had concentrated their strength. The garrisons had been largely increased, and a numerous fleet defended the passage of the river. Had the general Hiakoue been equal to the occasion, the Mongols would never have succeeded in forcing a passage in face of the strong positions he held; but unfortunately he permitted himself to be outmanœuvred by his more skilful and enterprising opponent. By a series of feints which completely deceived Hiakoue, Bayan seized several important posts on the northern side of the Kiang, thus intercepting supplies and nullifying the superiority in which the Sungs could still boast on the water. That that superiority

was not to remain undisputed or to long endure after their reverses on land was shown by the increasing activity of the Mongol fleet, which at the very commencement of the struggle obtained some advantage over the more numerous and confident Chinese squadron.

Meanwhile Bayan had thrown his main body against Hanyang, and, while his war-ships, under the command of Artchu, were driving the Chinese to take refuge in Wuchang, he was subjecting that place to a heavy bombardment from catapults and engines that hurled combustibles with a precision remarkable in those days. When sufficient damage had been inflicted on the fortifications, he ordered several assaults to be delivered against the cowed garrison, who, although enfeebled in courage and numbers, fought with some valour. Disheartened by defeats elsewhere, and by the overthrow of the fleet, which afforded them an avenue of escape, the garrison accepted the terms offered by Bayan, and Hanyang surrendered to the Mongols. Hankow had been captured shortly before this, and the only place that still held out was Wuchang, the most southern of these three cities. Against this the Mongols now directed all their efforts, but it offered no protracted resistance. Bayan, leaving behind a force of forty thousand men under his lieutenant Alihaya, continued his march upon the Sung capital, Lingan or Hangchow, the celebrated Kincsay of Marco Polo.

After the naval successes of the Mongols, the remainder of the Sung fleet, with a considerable portion of the army under the command of Hiakoue, had retired down the Kiang river towards the capital, whither they carried the panic prevailing in those districts which had beheld the triumph. of Mongol arms. In this moment of trepidation the public voice denounced in no measured terms the incapacity and indifference of Kiassetao, who, to avoid a worse fate, felt compelled to place himself at the head of the national forces. Large levies of men were ordered, the reserve in the treasury was drawn out for the equipment of an army, and individuals were called upon to contribute with their money and their arms to the scheme of national defence too late devised.

Meanwhile Bayan's army was on the march. Hoanchow,

a town on the northern bank of the Kiang, and eastward of the scene of his late triumphs, was surrendered by its governor, on the promise of a reward, without detaining him for a day; and Kichow, south of this city, followed the same example. In this portion of the war the services of Lieouwen Hoan proved invaluable, for many of the most important of the governors in the province of Kiangnan were gained over by his representations to the side of the Mongols. Without halting, Bayan crossed the Kiang and entered Kiangsi, establishing his head-quarters at the important town of Kiukiang. From this position he directly menaced the Sung capital, as well as the cities on the lower course of the river. The advantage thus obtained with such little difficulty was rendered the greater by the voluntary surrender of several towns in the valley of the Kankiang river and on the banks of Lake Poyang. The generosity which Bayan had shown towards his adversaries afforded a powerful inducement to the officials of a decrepit and expiring family, represented moreover by a child, to abandon a lost cause and to attach their fortunes to the rising power. What the humanity and generous instincts of Bayan began, the tact of Lieouwen Hoan and the arrogance of Kiassetao completed. Before the fighting was resumed, the cause of the Sungs had been reduced to the lowest ebb by numerous desertions and by the half-heartedness of many who still remained faithful in

name.

The Mongols had, therefore, obtained a good foothold in the southern provinces, and might with some confidence anticipate the final result before Kiassetao had so much as arrayed the army equipped out of the last resources of the Sungs. That army consisted of not more than one hundred and thirty thousand men in addition to a fresh fleet; but the major portion were untrained levies, largely composed of the effete aristocracy of Hangchow. What it lacked in strength and efficiency for war its general sought to replace by an unusual parade. His own equipage was magnificent, and his principal officers lounged on silken couches, and ate off plates of gold. Before taking the field, this commander sent, by a Mongol officer who had been made prisoner, a haughty

message to Bayan, asking him whether he would conclude a treaty of peace on the old footing of the Kiang river being the boundary between the two countries. Bayan's reply was that the proposal had come too late. Nothing short of an unconditional and complete surrender on the part of the Sungs would satisfy the demands of the people who had beaten them in several successive campaigns, and who now virtually held them powerless in their grasp.

The fortified town of Chichow, on the Kiang, had been abandoned by the military commandant, but the civil governor, named Chao Maofa, resolved to hold it to the last, and made preparations for undergoing a siege. His efforts were neutralized by another traitor within the town, who concluded an agreement with the Mongol generals for its surrender as soon as they appeared before the walls. Unfortunately the views of the garrison were more in accord with the officer who desired to surrender than with him who wished to resist the Mongols to the last. When Bayan's army arrived, Chao Maofa found that none would follow him. He therefore put an end to his existence, as became a notable of the Empire; and his wife, Yongchi,* framed in a not less heroic mould, refused to leave him, and they died together. Bayan, always sympathetic towards acts of devotion and bravery, ordered that these two, the only worthy citizens of Chichow, should be accorded honourable burial.

The capture of this town was the prelude to the contest about to begin at the mouth of the great river, which now

*This is one of the noble episodes in Chinese history. When Chao Maofa saw clearly how matters stood, "he summoned his household and relatives to a great repast, and when it had nearly concluded he turned to his wife Yongchi, and said that in a very short time the town would be in the possession of the enemy, and that, having the honour to be one of the magnates of the Empire, he could not flee without covering himself with infamy. But as for his wife, he counselled her to retire to a place of safety while yet there was time. Yongchi replied that she felt strong enough to show herself worthy of him; but her husband answered, smiling, that women and children were incapable of so much fortitude. Yongchi would then have killed herself, but that he arrested her hand. On the morrow, when the Mongols had completed their task, the two retired to a room in the interior of the palace, and gave themselves their death-wounds."-Mailla, vol. ix. p. 348.