Page:The passing of Korea.djvu/143

 It was at this time, 1631, that Korean envoys first fell in with Roman Catholic Christians in China, who were adherents of the celebrated Pere Ricci. These envoys brought back some books on science, a pair of pistols, and a telescope, together * with some other products of the West.

It soon became plain to the Manchus that Korea was proving false. In order to test it they sent and demanded tribute to the extent of ten thousand ounces of gold, a like amount of silver, and ten million pieces of linen. They evidently wanted an excuse to invade Korea again. Korea indignantly repudiated the demand, and in 1636 the two famous, or infamous, Manchu generals, Yonggolda and Mabuda, led their half-savage hordes across the Yalu.

It was on the twelfth day of the twelfth moon of 1636 that the fire mountains flashed the message from the Yalu to Seoul that the Manchu invasion had begun. An army of one hundred and forty thousand had crossed and were pushing by forced marches toward Seoul. Never had an army been known to cover the ground with such devouring speed. The King had already sent his family to Kang-wha, and was ready to go himself, when suddenly it was announced that Manchu videttes had been seen on the bank of the Han below Seoul. The road to Kang-wha was blocked. On a bitterly cold night the King, with a small retinue, fled out the east gate and made his way to the mountain fortress of Namhan, which had but lately been completed. This lies twenty miles to the southeast of the capital. Here his officials and a few thousand troops rallied about him, and it was hoped that the Manchus could be held off until loyal troops could come to the rescue. The Manchus entered Seoul and committed untold atrocities. The tale is a sickening one. They surrounded the wall of Namhan, and tried repeatedly to storm it, but without success. The tale of that siege, in which the small Korean garrison held at bay the enormous Manchu army for week after week, is a most fascinating one, but too long to be told here. When at last the inmates of the