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 warned, turned and made their way home. Even then the Emperor would not give up, but set in motion new plans for the invasion of Japan. This wish was not to be gratified. A year later it became apparent to him that Koryu had been squeezed to the very limit, and the terrible privations of his own troops led him to change his mind. It must have been a bitter hour for him.

The last century of the Koryu dynasty was one swift fall into worse and worse excesses, until the end. One King was so unspeakably infamous that the Mongol Emperor sent for him; and when he arrived at the Mongol court the Emperor said, " I put you on the throne of Koryu, but you have done nothing but tear the skin off your subjects. Though your blood be fed to all the dogs of the world, justice would hardly be satisfied." The Emperor then placed him on a bier, and in this most disgraceful fashion he was carried away into banishment to western China.

In 1361 occurred another of those periodical invasions from the north. This time it was by the Hong-du, or " Red Heads," a wild robber tribe. They came across the Yalu like locusts, and swarmed over the country. The army could do nothing with them, and soon they surrounded the capital, from which the King had fled. There they turned cannibal and carried on frightful orgies, while in another part of the country the great Yi T'a-jo, who was destined to found a new dynasty, was trying to whip into shape the demoralised army of Koryu. This he did, and before long they had the " Red Heads " on the run. These were also the years when the coast of Korea was continually harried by Japanese corsairs. No one knew at what point they would appear next, and so no preparation could be made to receive them. At first these raids were confined to the eastern coast, but gradually they extended around to the western side, and came north as far as the present Chemulpo. On one occasion they ravaged the island of Kang-wha, and even landed in Whang-ha Province, near the capital. So desperate did the