But His Followers Were Disheartened By The Delay In Carrying This Place, And They Abandoned Him As Soon As They Found That He Could Not Command Success.

In Shantung another rising occurred; but after two years' disturbance the rebel leader was captured and executed.

These internal disorders, produced by the corruption and inertness of the officials as much as by a prevalent sense of the embarrassment of the Mings, distracted the attention of the central government from Manchuria, and weakened its preparations against Noorhachu.

For a time Noorhachu showed no disposition to cross the River Leaou, and confined his attention to consolidating his position in his new conquest. But it was clear that this lull would not long continue, and the Chinese emperor, Tienki, endeavored to meet the coming storm by once more intrusting the defense of the frontier to Tingbi. That general devised a simple and what might have proved an efficacious line of defense, but his colleague, with more powerful influence at court, would have none of it, and insisted on his own plan being adopted. Noorhachu divined that the councils of the Chinese were divided, and that Tingbi was hampered. He promptly took advantage of the divergence of opinion, and, crossing the frontier, drove the Chinese behind the Great Wall. Even that barrier would not have arrested his progress but for the stubborn resistance offered by the fortress of Ningyuen - a town about seventy miles northeast of Shanhaikwan, once of great importance, but now, for many years past, in ruins.

Enter page number Go  Previous Next
Page 228 of 704
Words from 61366 to 61618 of 191255