Page:Frank Owen - The Scarlett Hill, 1941.djvu/351

RV 346 (VICTORY) loot, they could hardly stagger along under its weight. Others drove before them the dancing rhinoceros and the elephants. For them it was a moment of extreme merriment.

In the Palace at Changan, the sound of rustling silk was stilled.

When news of the rebellion reached Li Po, he wrote, "Alas, O traveler, why did you come to so fearful a place?"

Tu Fu had been captured by one of the armies of the rebels.

"For an eternity," he wrote, "my entire household stumbled forward on foot In mud, in mire we dragged, clung to one another. Old men who had seen years pace one hundred cycles, in secret wept with silent tears."

Tu Fu was taken to the East Capital, in a captivity that held little of discomfort. Because of his high position as a poet, he was treated well. His family were permitted to return to their home unharmed.

Meanwhile, Li Ting, the Heir Apparent, through the encouragement of the generals who were in charge of the steadily massing loyal troops, and with the backing of the eunuch Li Fu-kuo, took a northwestern route from Ma Wei and made his way to the city of Ling Wu RV 346 (346)