Page:History of Corea, ancient and modern; with description of manners and customs, language and geography (1879).djvu/37

KING TOW. 13 acknowledging the Han. But as Tow refused to be convinoedy Ho letomed, and his unaocomplished object put him in no good humoor. A Chaosien chief, with an escort, was sent ^ to accompany him, to prove their respect for the Chinese emperor. When, however, they got well west of the Bei, instead of expressing his gratitude to his escort, Ho had the chief put to death, and hastened to the Chinese court to announce the victory in which he had cut off the head of a Chaosien general ! His bravery was rewarded by the glad emperor, who appointed him governor of eastern Liaotung. This incident pictures the political moralily which rules the Chinese court ever since that murder of 2000 years ago. Chaosien, however, did not regard the matter in the same light, but considered the appointment of Ho as much a threat as it was an insult JUxe men were therefore mustered; crossed the Bei; marched westwards; attacked, defeated, and beheaded Ho ; and then returned to their own capital But to avenge this insult to its offended dignity, the Han court got ready without delay an expedition in Bohai, as the north-west of Shantung was then called. The naval force set sail for the Chaosien shore, where it landed in the b^inmng of B.C. 107 ; while a land army passed through the modem Shanhaigwan, Liaotung, by Funghwangshan, across the present Taloo, marching eastwards to act in concert with the naval force. As soon as the ships got to shore, an army of 7000 men was pushed on in advance. It was encountered by Tow, who broke it up completely ; the survivors fled to the mountains, where they had to remain for ten days. The van of the land army suffered the same fate on the west bank of the BeL This had not been anticipated by men who had so lately overcome large kingdoms, and taken great citiea An imperial messenger was ushered in before Tow, who deeply bowed in the presence of the representative of Chinese majesty ; and stated that he had been always anxious to acknowledge the lordship of his Chinese majesty, but he oould not trust himself to the two generals whose armies had just been defeated. In proof of his readiness