Page:A Chinese Biographical Dictionary.djvu/671

652

his capital taken, and he himself led into captivity with the title of ^ ^ >0| the Recreant Marqnis. Known in history as {jj ^

or gfBE.

1711 Shih Heng ;5 :^. Died A.D. 1460. A native of >^ ^ Wei- nan in Shensi, who in 1449 by his personal prowess had risen after twelve years' fighting on the north-western frontier to be second only to Yang Hung. He aided in the defence of Peking against j^ ^ Yeh-hsien, thus earning the title of Marqnis. In 1450 his successful defence of Ta-t'ung in Shansi gained him the command of the Peking Gendarmerie, and seven years later he aided in the restoration of the Emperor Ying Tsung. He was ennobled as Duke, and became' the Emperor's first favourite. He used his supreme power to enrich himself and his party, while he set up State prosecutions against his foes, slaying even his former patron, Yd Ch^ien; and he replaced civilian Governors by military men. The Emperor soon tired of his arrogance; and his nephew having been detected in treasonable practices, he was disgraced, together with all his party, in 1459. A year later he was sent to prison for seditious speech, and escaped execution only by deatL

1712 Shih Huang Ti it^M.^ B.C. 259-210. The famous First Emperor. His personal name was j^ Ch^ng, and he is sometimes spoken of as ^ j^. He was a son of Li! Pu-wei by a lady who gave birth to him subsequent to her marriage with I Jen, afterwards ^ ^ Ghuang Hsiang, ruler of the Ch^n State; consequently he is sometimes called 呂政. He was however duly recognised by Chuang Hsiang as his own son; and on the latter's death in B.C. 247, he mounted the throne of Ch4n at the age of 13. His early years were spent in warfare against saoh of the feudal States owning allegiance to the House of Chou as had not yet been swallowed up by his own State. At length, in B.C. 221, he found himself master of the whole of China, from the plains of modern