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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
easily captured. The troops wished to cut their way out, but its governor Li-kê said he could not survive the loss of a place committed to his care by the Emperor. He accordingly killed himself. The governors of Fun-chau and Lu-chau also died sword in hand in defence of their towns.20 Douglas, in reporting these events, dates them a year later, and adds the towns of Hin-chau and Ho-chan to the above list of Mongol captures." Gaubil tells us that Mu-khu-li was accompanied in this campaign by his son Polu or Boru.1 The Kin empire had certainly fallen upon hard times, for while the Mongols pressed it hard on the north, it was carrying on a vigorous struggle with the Sung empire in the south, a good proof of its energy and vitality.
In the fifth month of 1218 we read how a Kin general named Miao-tao-yun was assassinated by an official at the court named Kia-yu. A colleague and friend of the former named Chang-yeou, who was a native of Ichau in Pe'chihli, marched with a body of troops to avenge his death; but when he reached Tsiking-kuan, the famous Judastree Pass in Pe'chihli, he was met and defeated by a Mongol army under the general Mingan. His horse having fallen under him he was captured and taken before Mingan and ordered to bend the knee before him. He replied that he was, like Mingan himself, a general officer, and would die rather than disgrace himself in the way proposed. Mingan admired his soldierly courage and ordered him to be unbound. Presently, to save the lives of his father and mother, who had been captured and taken to Yen-king, he gave a feast and consented to enter the service of the Mongols, and eventually became one of their first generals.1
He was speedily put in harness, for we are told that early the next year, i.e., 1219, he was sent at the head of a body of troops against Yong-chau, I-chau, Pao-gan-chau and some other southern towns. He began his campaign by an attack on a small place called Kongshan-tai. It was commanded by his mortal enemy, Kia-yu, already named. Kia-yu resisted so obstinately that Chang-yeou had recourse to
[OCTOBER, 1885.
a little engineering feat, by which he diverted a stream that supplied the place with water, and it was thus compelled to surrender. He then tore out his enemy's heart and offered it to the manes of his dead friend Miao-tao-yun. He next pitched his camp at Muan-ching, a town situated north-west of Pao-ting-fu in Pe'chih-li. 15 Here he was vigorously attacked by the Kin general Wu-sien. Too weak to risk a battle, Chang-yeou compelled every one inside to man the ramparts, even including the weak, the aged, and also women, while at the head of his most valiant soldiers he made a sortie and attacked the enemy in rear, capturing many prisoners. He then unfurled many standards on the neighbouring hills, and spread the report that the Mongols were approaching in strength. Frightened by these rumours and by the drums which were beaten on the hills and inside the town Wu-sien withdrew precipitately, and Chang-yeou put a large number of his men to the sword. He then captured Wanchau. The commanders of Ki-yang and Kiuyang, the modern Hien in Chih-li, submitted. He next attacked the town of Chong-shan-fu, situated in the modern department of Tingchau in Chih-li, to whose relief Ko-tiei-tsiang, a lieutenant of Wu-sien, marched. Changyeou met him at Sin-lo, where there was a sharp conflict, in which he was struck by an arrow in the mouth, losing two of his teeth. This made him furious, and he pressed the enemy and killed a great many of them, and also defeated Lieou-ching, who had marched against him. Then advancing southwards he exacted a submission from Ku-ching, Shin-chê, Ning-tsin, and thirty other towns. The Mongols also captured U-chau west of Shu-chau in the district of Tai-tong, Ho-ho-hien and Tongshing-chau. The Kin emperor, who was being hard pressed both on his northern and southern frontier, wreaked his vengeance on his chief minister, Chuhu-kaoki, whom he put to death.""
Mu-khu-li himself during the latter part of this year captured the towns of Kohan, Ke and Hien, with other places in Shen-si, and killed their inhabitants.17 In the fourth month of 1220, the Mongols attacked Yu-chau
10 id. p. 83.
11 Op. cit. p. 85.
1 Op. cit. p. 43.
De Mailla, Vol. IX. pp. 87 and 88; Gaubil, p. 43. 3 Gaubil calls it a mountain.
15 De Mailla, Vol. IX. pp. 87 and 88; Gaubil, p. 44. 18 De Mailla, Vol. IX. pp. 88-90; Gaubil, pp. 44-45; Douglas, p. 87.
17 Douglas, p. 88.
