Page:History of Corea, ancient and modern; with description of manners and customs, language and geography (1879).djvu/212

 188 siNLO« armed, but poor man, performs many other exploits in his private joumies, and at one time takes the life of an immense tiger which is pursuing a nobleman on the way to Loongmun, where Tang is gathering his forces for his Liaotung expedition. This incident introduces him to the army ; he becomes a soldier, but is again and again driven from the camp, for some curious and fanciful reason. But he does at last get permission to go in the van. He has some wonderful adventures before crossing the sea from Tungchow of Shantung, whence 1,500 vessels sail for the promontory of Liaotung. He is in the van with his eight Huuoshow, "Fire-head'' comradea When they come to "Tienshan," he, with three of his arrows, shot dead three of the best men in the Corean garrison, with such effect that the Pass was his, and the army had only to- follow after him. For some imknown reason he clothed in mourning — a. robe of white ; — a statement which, we have seen, is historical. From that day at Tienshan, the Ooreans are in terror, when they see the man in white. His officer now pushed on to Funghwangchung where Hwan Oaiaienmo, the most powerful soldier in the Gaoli army, was commandant He had heard of the fall of Tienshan and ordered his men to be on strict guard. The officer receiving his orders had just left the ya/ntun, when he heard the " noise of the cannon rending the heavens " — (it is unnecessary to say there were no cannons then, nor long after). Yingwei, with his horsemen, was already at the foot of the walL The commandant, astonished at the speed with which they had marched, goes on the wall and has speech with YingweL At last the bargain is struck that, if Yingwei hits with an arrow the tip of the lash of the whip the commandant holds in his hand,^ the city would be given up ; but if he did not hit, Yingwei and his men would return to the shores of China. He holds out the whip ; but as the small end waved in the wind, Yingwei objects that it is impossible to hit it when it so waved. The Corean, novel-like, agrees to turn his back and hold the whip behind him. Just as he turns with the whip over his shoulder, which steadies it, Yingwei lets fly and strikes the tip of the whip-cord. The