Page:History of Corea, ancient and modern; with description of manners and customs, language and geography (1879).djvu/28

6 INTRODUCTION. Eagt LiaOy and Central Liao provinces; and the neighbouring amall kingdoms bad to acknowledge his sway. When the Han state ship burst up^ numberless living planks struggled for the uppermost place. Among them the Wei became dominant in north-east China^ marched against, over- threw the grandson of Ooong, and annexed Liaotung to the northern dynasty. With the waning of the Wei dynasty Gaogowli, which had been steadily growing among the south- western slopes of Changbaishan, gradually spread over all Liaotung, while Baiji, which was east of ancient Chaosien, and south-east of Qaogowli, seized LiaosL Both powevs were, however, driven off by the Tsin dynasty (3rd century A.D.), which established the feudal kingdom of Liaotung. The power of Tsin vanished very speedily, and Moyoong Kwei took possession of Pingchow and the west of the Liao river. And in the Swi dynasty (6th century A.D.), Qaogowli again overran all Liaotung, and held it in spite of the overwhelming forces of the Swi Emperor sent against it Taidsoong of Tang drove the Oaoli across the Yaloo. But Qaodsoong Emperor afterwards annihilated Gaoli, as the Han had efiSskced Chaosien, and divided all its lands into 9 Doodoo foo, 42 chow, and 100 hien cities. The Tang reached its zenith in crushing Corea, and was soon unable to hold its own. The Emperor Eaifung was compelled to recognise the kingdom of BoJud, which sprung into being on the ruins and at the north of GaogowlL It extended southwards to the Gulf of Liaotung, and westwards to, or beyond, Shanhaigwan. Bohai filled the land with walled cities, agricultural villages, and literary institutions ; but though it swept the Chinese beyond the bounds of the modem Kingchow, it did not, like its succeeding Sooshun kingdoms, penetrate into China proper. It was in its turn swallowed up by the Elitan, who spread southwards and south-westwards, and, under the name of Liao or "Iron,'" drove the Sung dynasty south of the old Yellow River, and threatened to extinguish it altogether. The power of Bohai was no sooner faded away than the