Page:Leaves from my Chinese Scrapbook - Balfour, 1887.djvu/23

 force, and caused him to place himself unreservedly in the hands of his new Minister.

And now, by a singular freak of fortune, who should come to the court of Ts'in, as ambassador from the King of Wei, but the philosopher's old enemy, Hsü Chia. It must have been a disagreeable surprise to him to meet the rival he fancied he had killed, and still more galling to be compelled in a measure to pay his court to him. Nor did Fan Tsü feel disposed to make things easier for him. He received him with a stern and haughty air, bidding him return to his master and say that it was useless for him to talk of peace until he chose to send the head of Wu Chih, the Premier who had committed so barbarous an outrage upon his person; threatening that, if this were not soon done, he, Fan Tsü, would lead his armies to the very heart of Wei, and lay the capital in ruins. The required head not being forthcoming, two towns of Wei were taken by the troops of Ts'in; but by way of indemnifying himself for his clemency in not razing the capital itself, he set on foot a bloody campaign against the King of Han. The success which attended these cruel measures served only to make the King of Ts'in more anxious for fresh conquests; and irritated by the recent defeat of his soldiers by the forces of Chao, at the attempted capture of Yen-yü, he decided to march straight upon the capital, where his grandson was still living as a hostage.

On receiving a private communication from his grandfather warning him of the impending danger, I-jên escaped from the court of Chao, and soon arrived at his ancestral state. His wife and child he left in the care of Lü Pu-wei; but no sooner was his flight known than Lü himself became the object of suspicion. His connection with the