Page:History of Corea, ancient and modern; with description of manners and customs, language and geography (1879).djvu/276

 252 NUJ0N. desire and fihearing Prusedan locks in Berlin ; and what was that Prussia which entered Paris, as compared to France in men or money ? And who could have believed that it was Spain, the most powerful, wealthy, and extensive empire of her time, which would perish by the Armada expedition 7 The bravado of ev^i a Napoleon Bonaparte is foolish. What Aoll be said of the bravado of lesser men ? The Kin took Kuchow, and marched on the capital* They would not at first attack the city, saying that ail they desired was a treaty. In this treaty they wanted, however, the bulky items of, first, five million Chinese ounces (liang) of gold, ten times as many ounces of silver, with the cities and territories of Taiyuen, Hokien, and Joongshan (Tingchow), with an imperial prince as hostage. A few days after, they made an attack on two gates. The commander, Li Gang, himself led the defence against them, at the head of picked men, who cut down ten of the Kin chiefs and some thousands of their men. Some advised the emperor to make a covenant at once, but Li Grang said, truly enough, that all the gold and silver in the country would not suffice to meet the Kin demands ; and the emperor could scrape together only 200,000 ounces of gold, and four million ounces of silver; and said that if those three Chows were handed over to the Elin, could it be possible afterwards to regard China as an empire? The general also made a most successful sally through Swuntien west gate, on seeing the Kin men plundering the neighbourhood. Li Gang determined to give them no rest, but to make a daily sally with 1000 good firesh men. He was eager to have an army formed in the north, to attack them in the rear, while he would march out of the city. Wonderful to relate, Li Gang was removed from office to please the Kin ! But one of the ablest of the ministers gave the emperor no rest till he was again reinstated ; saying, that otherwise the empire was lost At last a provisional agreement was made to cut off the three Chow cities and give them to Kin, who, doubtless, were not loth to raise the siege, as their rear was wholly exposed.
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