Page:A Chinese Biographical Dictionary.djvu/968

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A Chinese Biographical Dictionary
949


as ^ Hd , and iuclnded in the Temple of Worthies. See Chao-hui, YoPei -gj^ (T. mJit). A.D. 1103-1141. A native of ^ 2601

Tang-yin in Honan. At his birth a huge bird JUw over the house and screamed; hence his personal name. His father v^ent without food in order to feed the hungry; and if any one encroached upon his land, he would cut off the piece and present it to him. Yo Fei himself was a quiet lad, of few words; he divided the hours of his youth between practising athletic exercises and reading the Tso Chuan and Sun Wu's Art of War. He studied archery under ^ ^ Chou T^ung, and could draw a bow of three hundred catties and a crossbow of eight pi^ls. In the early days of the Tartar troubles, he raised a troop of five hundred horsemen, and defeated a force of more than one hundred thousand under the J[] 7)^ Wu-shu (chieftain), explained by some to be the Heir Apparent of the Tartars. He then served as lieutenant under ^ ^ Chang Chiln, and for his serrices in inducing a formidable leader of brigands to submit to Imperial authority was raised to the rank of general. In the following years he recovered a large extent of territory from the hands of various insurgent leaders, and in 1136 sought permission to make an attempt upon the Chinese provinces then held by the Tartar invaders, but at the advice of Ch4n Euei the Imperial sanction was withheld. Finding Yo Fei's patriotic devotion an insuperable obstacle to the peace negotiations upon which he was bent, Ch'in Euei at length procured his degradation, and shortly afterwards concocted an accusation of treasonable intentions against him and his son Yo ^ Yiin. In spite of the fact that Yo Fei bared his back and showed the characters ^ J^ ^ ^ Loyal to the last imprinted thereon, both were committed to prison. They had not been two months in confinement when Ch4n Kuei resolved to rid himself of his enemy. He wrote out with his own hand an order for the execution of Yo Fei, which was forthwith carried into