China | Page 9

Singanfoo. He embellished his new
capital with many fine buildings, among which was a large palace, the
grandeur of which was intended to correspond with the extent of his
power.
The reign of Kaotsou was, however, far from being one of uncheckered
prosperity. Among his own subjects his popularity was great because
he promoted commerce and improved the administration of justice. He
also encouraged literature, and was the first ruler to recognize the
claims of Confucius, at whose tomb he performed an elaborate
ceremony. He thus acquired a reputation which induced the King of
Nanhai--a state composed of the southern provinces of China, with its
capital at or near the modern Canton--to tender his allegiance. But he
was destined to receive many slights and injuries at the hands of a
foreign enemy, who at this time began a course of active aggression
that entailed serious consequences for both China and Europe.
Reference has been made to the Hiongnou or Hun tribes, against whom
Tsin Hwangti built the Great Wall. In the interval between the death of
that ruler and the consolidation of the power of Kaotsou, a remarkable
chief named Meha, or Meta, had established his supremacy among the
disunited clans of the Mongolian Desert, and had succeeded in
combining for purposes of war the whole fighting force of what had
been a disjointed and barbarous confederacy. The Chinese rulers had
succeeded in keeping back this threatening torrent from overflowing
the fertile plains of their country, as much by sowing dissension among
these clans and by bribing one chief to fight another, as by superior
arms. But Meha's success rendered this system of defense no longer
possible, and the desert chieftain, realizing the opportunity of spoil and
conquest, determined to make his position secure by invading China. If
the enterprise had failed, there would have been an end to the
paramounce of Meha, but his rapid success convinced the Huns that
their proper and most profitable policy was to carry on implacable war

with their weak and wealthy neighbors. Meha's success was so great
that in a single campaign he recovered all the districts taken from the
Tartars by the general Moungtien. He turned the western angle of the
Great Wall, and brought down his frontier to the river Hoangho. His
light cavalry raided past the Chinese capital into the province of
Szchuen, and returned laden with the spoil of countless cities. These
successes were crowned by a signal victory over the emperor in person.
Kaotsou was drawn into an ambuscade in which his troops had no
chance with their more active adversaries, and, to save himself from
capture, Kaotsou had no alternative but to take refuge in the town of
Pingching, where he was closely beleaguered. It was impossible to
defend the town for any length of time, and the capture of Kaotsou
seemed inevitable, when recourse was had to a stratagem. The most
beautiful Chinese maiden was sent as a present to propitiate the
conqueror, and Meha, either mollified by the compliment, or deeming
that nothing was to be gained by driving the Chinese to desperation,
acquiesced in a convention which, while it sealed the ignominious
defeat of the Chinese, rescued their sovereign from his predicament.
This disaster, and his narrow personal escape, seem to have unnerved
Kaotsou, for when the Huns resumed their incursions in the very year
following the Pingching convention, he took no steps to oppose them,
and contented himself with denouncing in his palace Meha as "a
wicked and faithless man, who had risen to power by the murder of his
father, and one with whom oaths and treaties carried no weight."
Notwithstanding this opinion, Kaotsou proceeded to negotiate with
Meha as an equal, and gave this barbarian prince his own daughter in
marriage as the price of his abstaining from further attacks on the
empire. Never, wrote a historian, "was so great a shame inflicted on the
Middle Kingdom, which then lost its dignity and honor." Meha
observed this peace during the life of Kaotsou, who found that his
reputation was much diminished by his coming to terms with his
uncivilized opponent, but although several of his generals rebelled,
until it was said that "the very name of revolt inspired Kaotsou with
apprehension," he succeeded in overcoming them all without serious
difficulty. His troubles probably shortened his life, for he died when he
was only fifty-three, leaving the crown to his son, Hoeiti, and

injunctions to his widow, Liuchi, as to the conduct of the
administration.
The brief reign of Hoeiti is only remarkable for the rigor and terrible
acts of his mother, the Empress Liuchi, who is the first woman
mentioned in Chinese history as taking a supreme part in public affairs.
Another of Kaotsou's widows aspired to the throne for her son, and