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Rh sacceeded in 779 as ninth Emperor of the T^ang dynasty. His accession raised great hopes, as he really showed a desire to role well. But his harshness and self-confidence disappointed all. In 781 T4en Yileh rose in rebellion and joined Li Hsi-lieh and two other provincial Governors. The expenses of the war necessitated new and ever increasing taxes, and trade was stopped. In 783 the mutiny of troops passing through Gh^ang-an forced the Emperor to flee to FSng-t4en in Shensi, a city which by the advice of a soothsayer had been fortified in 780. Here he was hard pressed by Chu Tz^ti, until Hun Chan and others relieved him. Lu Gh'i, whose malign influence had caused the revolt, drove Li Huai-kuang to rebel also, and the Emperor fled to Liang-chou. Order was restored in 786; but the Emperor gave up all idea of crushing the Governors, and' devoted himself to amassing wealth. So open was his avarice that presents, which of course were wrung from the people, were regularly handed in by all officials. Distrustful' of his Ministers, even of Lu Ghih, he confided in his eunuchs, against whom he would hear no complaint. After the dismissal of Lu Ghih in 793 the Emperor made all appointments himself, thus reducing his Ministers to cyphers. He was a poet, and used to send Decrees in verse to his Ministers and provincial Governors. Canonised as ^ ^ M ^•

III Enang ^ ^. Died B.G. 125. A native of Gh'Sng-chi in Kansuh, who distinguished himself as a military commander against the Hsiung-nu. In B.C. 140 he sufifered a disastrous reverse and was condemned to death, but escaped with the loss of his rank. An irruption of the Hsiung-nu into Chihli caused him to be once more placed in command, to the great dismay of the enemy who had bestowed upon him the sobriquet of *^ ^ ^ ^ the Flying General of Han. After a career chequered by success and failure, he was sent in B.C. 119 as second in command upon a great