Luoyang

“ Cao received the decree, and set a date to amass his troops.
7 卻說帝在洛陽,百事未備,城郭崩倒,欲修未能。人報李傕、郭汜領兵將至。帝大驚,問楊奉曰:「山東之使未回,李、郭之兵又至,為之奈何?」楊奉、韓暹曰:「臣願與賊決死戰,以保陛下。」董承曰:「城郭不堅,兵甲不多,戰如不勝,當復如何?不若且奉駕往山東避之。」帝從其言,即日起駕望山東進發。百官無馬,皆隨駕步行。 Let us now turn to the emperor, who was in Luoyang. There were a million things that had not yet been done. The city's walls had collapsed. Even if they had wanted to fix them, they did not have the means. ”

“ Soon after the "Crimson Eyebrows" were in the field again, not as supporters of an imperial refugee, but as open enemies of the public peace, each man fighting for his own hand. While the new ruler was making himself strong at Loyang, the new capital, Fanchong and his brigands seized Changnan, Wang Mang's old capital, and pillaged it mercilessly. Making it their head-quarters, they lived on the inhabitants of the city and the surrounding district, holding on until the rapid approach of the army of the emperor admonished them that it was time to seek a safer place of retreat. ”

“ An Lu-shan smiled grimly. Loyang, the Eastern Capital, was an open city, ripe for any conqueror who cared to pluck it. From headquarters at Loyang the conquest of all China might be accomplished, with little opposition, by a well-trained army whose soldiers were ambitious.
6.
An Lu-shan showered Yang Kuei-fei with gifts, for two reasons, that he might not slip from her thoughts, and to impress upon her that his wealth was without limit. He did not acquaint her with the fact that he had a son as tall as himself and equally ambitious. His name was An Ch'ing-hsü. ”

“ Meanwhile Ming Huang turned to the affairs of State as though by so doing he could turn the thoughts of his people from the glamorous Lady T'ai Chên. He decided that he would visit various sections of his Empire.
Accompanied by a large retinue he journeyed first to Loyang, the Eastern Capital. As he arrived at the Palace, the weather was very hot and dry. The farmers were distressed. If the young sprouts were scorched, the whole crop might be destroyed. They appealed to their Emperor, thankful that in this hour of trial, he had not forsaken them but had come to Loyang. ”

“ The militia was worthless. This had necessitated the enrollment of regular troops by various Governors. In this manner, certain provincial leaders had become very powerful. But it remained for An Lu-shan to abuse his exalted power. Other Governors might follow his example. In every province there were wavering multitudes unable to think for themselves who put personal gain above loyalty. If the revolt was general, China would be lost.
The Emperor was somewhat cheered when, a few weeks later, he discovered that Loyang had not fallen without resistance. ”

“ At the death of T’say-too the emperor sent his son to preside over the realm. Loo-Choo then became prosperous, trade sprang up; and during the reign of Chang-pat-shi, the great grandson of T’say-too, the three kingdoms of the islands were re-united, and the royal family assumed the title of Chang.
Revolutions and civil wars raged from time to time, and a feudal system was established. Commerce with China increased, and the Chinese complained of the scarcity of silver and copper coin in the provinces Tshe-kiang and Fokien, on account of the exportation of it to Loo-Choo. ”

“ The administrative staff was so great that the transport system was no longer able to bring in sufficient food. For the present capital did not lie on a navigable river, and all the grain had to be carted, an expensive and unsafe mode of transport. Ultimately, in 493-4, the Chinese gentry officials secured the transfer of the capital to Loyang. In the years 490 to 499 the Toba emperor Wen Ti (471-499) took further decisive steps required by the stage reached in internal development. All aliens were prohibited from using their own language in public life. Chinese became the official language. ”

“ At the new year audience Ts‘ao Ts‘ao was odiously arrogant and overweening and the chief conspirator’s disgust was so intense that he fell ill. Hearing of his indisposition the Emperor sent the Court physician to see his “State Uncle.”
The Court physician at this time was a native of Loyang, named Chi T‘ai, more commonly known as Chi P‘ing. He was very famous. He devoted himself wholly to the treatment of his Court patient. Living in his Palace and seeing him at all times he soon found that some secret grief was sorely troubling Tung Ch‘êng. ”

“ It was accordingly arranged that Lo-yung should take the place of Chung's son, and preparations were at once made for his journey to the capital. As he was saying good-bye to his benefactor, the latter whispered in his ear: "If you succeed in your enterprise and the Emperor makes you one of his royal officers, do not let ingratitude ever enter your heart, so that you may be tempted to forget us here, who will be thinking about you all the time you are away."
"Nothing of the kind can ever happen," exclaimed Lo-yung impetuously. ”

“ Yang Kuei-fei turned away to hide a smile. In the distance the music of a reed instrument broke out joyously. All had forgotten that the feast, seemingly endless, was still in progress, a feast that bade fair to turn into an orgy now that the Emperor had departed.
An Lu-shan was overcome with surprise.
"I am grateful," he said, and there was no doubting his sincerity.
"An Empire," declared Ming Huang, "lives in the hearts of its people. China is great because its people have great hearts. It is built on the rocks of culture and tolerance. ”

“ Kuang Wu Ti made Loyang his capital shortly before the Christian era, when rebels drove him out of its predecessor, Changan, in what is to-day Shansi. It is a neglected part of China that has not been the capital at one time or another. This one was still the real seat of power not only of Honan Province but of a large portion of the putative republic. Inconsistently it was more miserably unkempt, more overrun with visible human misery, than any Chinese city I had yet come across, possibly because it was thus far the most southerly. ”

“ Lo-yang, the Eastern city, owing to its milder climate and more accessible position, became, like Seville in Spain, a kind of social capital.
Soon afterwards he met Yüan Chēn, then aged twenty-two, who was destined to play so important a part in his life. Five years later, during a temporary absence from the city, he addressed to Yüan the following poem:
Since I left my home to seek official state
Seven years I have lived in Ch’ang-an.
What have I gained? Only you, Yüan;
So hard it is to bind friendships fast. ”

“ In this poem he returns to look at the ruins of Lo-yang, where he used to live. It had been sacked by Tung Cho.
I climb to the ridge of Pei Mang Mountain
And look down on the city of Lo-yang.
In Lo-yang how still it is!
Palaces and houses all burnt to ashes.
Walls and fences all broken and gaping,
Thorns and brambles shooting up to the sky.
I do not see the old old-men:
I only see the new young men.
I turn aside, for the straight road is lost:
The fields are overgrown and will never be ploughed again. ”

“ Do not say such a thing,” said Wang, putting his hand over the other’s mouth. “You will bring trouble on poor me.”
“When a man is born great he cannot be patient for long under another man’s domination,” said Lü Pu.
“It needs some one greater than the Minister to limit the scope of such talents as yours.”
Lü Pu said, “I would not mind killing the old wretch were it not for the relation in which we stand. I fear to provoke the hostile criticism of posterity.”
His host smiled. “Your name is Lü; his is Tung. Where was the paternal feeling when he threw the halberd at you?” ”

“ After my return to Nankin from the Chung-wang's army, I spent some very pleasant months in that city. The warm summer weather of central China produced a sort of lassitude both of mind and body, and for a time, while leading a happy and listless life, mixing with the kind and enthusiastic Ti-pings, or wandering through the beautiful gardens of the Chung-wang's palace with Marie, the outer world became forgotten. Aroused each day with the rising sun, my friend, Philip, and I would meet the Chung-wang's household at the morning prayers in the "Heavenly Hall." ”

“ The little that is known of this interesting race has been learned from the so-called tame Lolos who have accepted Chinese rule, and are found scattered in small villages in the western part of Szechuan and Yunnan, being perhaps most numerous in the neighbourhood of the Anning and Yalung rivers, where an appreciable proportion of the population is of aboriginal or mixed aboriginal and Chinese stock. Accepting Chinese rule does not generally mean accepting Chinese customs. They hold to their own language and religion, one a dialect akin to Tibetan, and the other a form of animism. ”

“ He therefore retired to Lo-yang, crossing the swollen waters of the Yangtsze on a reed, a feat which has ever since had a great fascination for Chinese painters and poets. There he spent the rest of his life, teaching that religion was not to be learnt from books, but that man should seek and find the Buddha in his own heart. ”

“ He said, “In Puyang there is a rich family, Tʻien by name, who number thousands, enough to populate a whole district in themselves. Make one of these people go to Tsʻao Ts‘ao’s camp with a pretended secret letter about Lü Pu’s ferocity, and the hatred of the people, and their desire to be rid of him. End by saying that only Kao Shun is left to guard the city and they would help any one who would come to save them. Thus our enemy will be inveigled into the city and we will destroy him either by fire or ambush. His skill may be equal to encompassing the universe but he will not escape.” ”

“ Our Lolo hunters were tall, handsome fellows led by a slender young chief with patrician features who ruled his village like an autocrat with absolute power of life and death. The Lolos are a strange people who at one time probably occupied much of the region south - 137 - of the Yangtze River but were pushed south and west by the Chinese and, except in one instance, now exist only in scattered units in the provinces of Kwei-chau and Yün-nan. ”

“ The Ta Liang Shan, or "Great Cold Mountains," the country of the independent Lolos, is a mountainous region extending north and south some three hundred miles, which constitutes to this day an almost impenetrable barrier between east and west, crossed voluntarily by no Chinese, unless in force, and from which but one European party has returned to tell the tale. On the outskirts of this territory a little mission work has been undertaken with some success, but as yet no real impression has been made upon the people. ”

“ In the Yunnanese Shan and so-called Lolo states, which were reduced to obedience by the Mongol prince Kúblái (afterwards emperor of China, and known to history as Kúblái Khan) , the native tribes were too powerful and numerous to be exterminated. Great numbers, disdaining the Chinese yoke, migrated southward to Siam; some of those who remained behind were allowed to retain their tribal organisations under Chinese suzerainty, and to a limited extent they have retained it ever since. ”

“ The Emperor Li is marching a great army to beseige Lao-yang, where the great Woo-san-Kwei is encamped; but far worse, the sea wasps have landed within a day's journey, and are scouring the country, joined by the rogues and thieves of the province, and the people are flying with what goods they can collect to the places of refuge ”

“ Morning sat in the yielding leather of the Boabdil library, quite as if he had passed his youth in the midst of people who talk of doing things. Liaoyang had been written, even the abandoned impediments of retreat covered. It had all come to pass quite according to the early ideas of Noyes and Field. John Morning was Liaoyang in America. His book Liaoyang, magazine and newspaper articles gathered together, was established as important authority in encyclopædic and other reference books. The most captious must grant that living man can do no more than this. ”

“ Nevertheless, if An Lu-shan threatened the Empire, if An Lu-shan were a traitor, son or no son, he must be destroyed.
"Where are the troops?" Ming Huang cried firmly, though it was an effort for him to regain his composure. "Where are the forces of Li Mi? Why do they not head off the attack? If they swarmed along the walls of Loyang, and protected the gates not a man of the enemy could break through."
"Li Mi," quavered Kuo-chung, "is dead. Foolishly, without thought, his army attempted to subdue the barbarous State of Nan Chao. Two hundred thousand men were destroyed." ”

“ Though reared in luxury and dominated by the eunuch Li Fu-kuo, when the need arose, he was ready. His action gave his father new courage.
Before long An Lu-shan was on the march again. Scoundrels in key positions must always plan new battles to keep their hold on their troops. When there is an emergency, troops usually hang together. That was the way An Lu-shan reasoned. His own troops must be worn out with war in order that they might lose their thirst for conquest. Therefore he marched on the strong fortress of Tung Kuan, guarding the historic pass between Loyang and Changan. ”

“ He could neither strike his enemies nor escape them; his men had no rest.
In the midst of these distracting manœuvres a messenger rode up in hot haste to say that the capital was in imminent danger from a double attack. He at once ordered a march to save the capital, which became a rout when both his opponents came in pursuit. His loss was heavy.
He soon reached Ch‘angan and found the rebels there in enormous numbers and the city quite surrounded. Lü Pu’s attack had but little effect and as his temper became more savage under defeat many of his men went over to the rebels. ”