Page:History of Corea, ancient and modern; with description of manners and customs, language and geography (1879).djvu/49

BRUNKENKSSa 25 it should reign ; but the imperial title it demanded as its own heaven-given right, it denied to its rivals, which it called rebels, as it was called by them. Thus, like the rival popes, the sole heads in the west, as the Chinese Emperor is in the east» each anathematized his rivals, and did all he could — fulfilling, of course, the wiU of Heaven, to bring his rivals down. The Hsoi dynasty has now, however, to drop out of our sight, as it has nothing further to do with Corea or Liaotung. Not so the Founder of the Woo dynasty, south of the Yangtsu ; for, in 231, he sent General Gow Ho, by sea, to Liaotung, to purchase horses from Swunyuen, who had succeeded his brother Swunkang as Taishow of Liaotung ; but Swun was now without a master. The "Emperor^* of Woo had an official. Fan, who was often drunk, as was common enough among the Chinese then, and who believed in no spirits save those of the stilL When drunk, he was of a violently irritable temper, and his speech was of the most bitterly sarcastic kind, and interlaced with much irreverent swearing ; yet he was an able minister. His master was, on the other hand, a firm believer in gods and genii, of which he delighted to talk. On such occasions. Fan would turn to. some other minister, and make a scoffing allusion to, or irreverently question the existence of, the gods, intentionally loud enough for his majesty to hear. This conduct frequently roused the ire of the Emperor, who at last became so unbearably offended, that he banished Fan to Kiaochow. When, in his exile. Fan heard that Ho was to be sent to Liaotung, he complained bitterly, that, at a time when the kingdom was in need of all the talent it could command, a man of first-class ability, like Ho, should be sent so far as Liaotung, on such an errand as the purchase of horses. He wrote out a memorial to that effect ; but fearing the Emperor would not look at^ it, he asked a friend to be sure to report his sentiments to the Emperor. This was faithfully done, with the result of sending Fan further away to Munglin hien (Woochow). It was known at the court of Wei that Swunyuen was not to