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540 and for the cringing servility which distinguished his manner, whilst for repulsiveness of form and feature he was absolutely a byword at Court. His skill of address recommended him, nevertheless, to the Emperor; and in a few months he managed to procure the downfall of his* colleague Yang Yen, in whose place he got the Emperor to appoint a nonentity, named ^ ^ Koan Po, so that practically the whole power fell into his hands. Then began i career of oppression and cruelty, forced loans and heavy taxation, which culminated in the mutiny of the army, and finally led to the revolt of Li Huai-kuang and to his own degradation. The besotted Emperor still clung to his favourite, and in 785 made him Governor of Jao-chou; but yielding at length to the public outcry, he sent him to a minor post in Sh^nsi where he shortly afterwards died. It was said of him by Liu An-shih that he was unworthy to feioe not only his own father and grandfather but even his own son, an upright, honourable man and a worthy representative of hb ancestral line.

Lu Chia ^ ^. 2Dd and 3rd cent. B.C, A native of the ChHi State, whose ready wit and subtlety of argument gained him some distinction as one of the itinerant politicians of the day. Soon after the establishment of the Han dynasty, he was sent by the Emperor to convey a seal of office to Chao T^o who had proclaimed himself Prince of Ytieh (Euangtung and Kuangsi), and to receive the declaration of his allegiance. He succeeded so well in this mission that the Emperor appointed him a Minister of State. He retired from office under the Empress Lfl Hou, of whose schemes for family aggrandisement he disapproved. Re-instated under the Emperor Hsiao W§u Ti, B.C. 179, he was again sent to Ytleh and proceeded thither in great state, once more to perform his task to the complete satisfaction of his master. He died at an advanced age, leaving behind him an account of his travels. His memory is still