You See At The Court Of The Great Kaan There Was A Great Number Of Gleemen
And Jugglers; And He
Said to them one day that he wanted them to go and
conquer the aforesaid province of Mien, and that
He would give them a good
Captain to lead them and other good aid. And they replied that they would
be delighted. So the Emperor caused them to be fitted out with all that an
army requires, and gave them a Captain and a body of men-at-arms to help
them; and so they set out, and marched until they came to the country and
province of Mien. And they did conquer the whole of it! And when they
found in the city the two towers of gold and silver of which I have been
telling you, they were greatly astonished, and sent word thereof to the
Great Kaan, asking what he would have them do with the two towers, seeing
what a great quantity of wealth there was upon them. And the Great Kaan,
being well aware that the King had caused these towers to be made for the
good of his soul, and to preserve his memory after his death, said that he
would not have them injured, but would have them left precisely as they
were. And that was no wonder either, for you must know that no Tartar in
the world will ever, if he can help it, lay hand on anything appertaining
to the dead.[NOTE 2]
They have in this province numbers of elephants and wild oxen;[NOTE 3]
also beautiful stags and deer and roe, and other kinds of large game in
plenty.
Now having told you about the province of Mien, I will tell you about
another province which is called Bangala, as you shall hear presently.
NOTE 1. - The name of the city appears as Amien both in Pauthier's text
here, and in the G. Text in the preceding chapter. In the Bern MS. it is
Aamien. Perhaps some form like Amien was that used by the Mongols and
Persians. I fancy it may be traced in the Arman or Uman of
Rashiduddin, probably corrupt readings (in Elliot I. 72).
NOTE 2. - M. Pauthier's extracts are here again very valuable. We gather
from them that the first Mongol communication with the King of Mien or
Burma took place in 1271, when the Commandant of Tali-fu sent a deputation
to that sovereign to demand an acknowledgment of the supremacy of the
Emperor. This was followed by various negotiations and acts of offence on
both sides, which led to the campaign of 1277, already spoken of. For a
few years no further events appear to be recorded, but in 1282, in
consequence of a report from Nasruddin of the ease with which Mien could
be conquered, an invasion was ordered under a Prince of the Blood called
Siangtaur [called Siam-ghu-talh, by Visdelou. - H.C.]. This was probably
Singtur, great-grandson of one of the brothers of Chinghiz, who a few
years later took part in the insurrection of Nayan. (See D'Ohsson, II.
461.) The army started from Yun-nan fu, then called Chung-khing (and the
Yachi of Polo) in the autumn of 1283. We are told that the army made use
of boats to descend the River Oho to the fortified city of Kiangtheu
(see supra, note 3, ch. lii.), which they took and sacked; and as the
King still refused to submit, they then advanced to the "primitive
capital," Taikung, which they captured. Here Pauthier's details stop.
(Pp. 405, 416; see also D'Ohsson, II. 444 [and Visdelou].)
[Illustration: The Palace of the King of Mien in modern times]
It is curious to compare these narratives with that from the Burmese Royal
Annals given by Colonel Burney, and again by Sir A. Phayre in the
J.A.S.B. (IV. 401, and XXXVII. Pt. I. p. 101.) Those annals afford no
mention of transactions with the Mongols previous to 1281. In that year
they relate that a mission of ten nobles and 1000 horse came from the
Emperor to demand gold and silver vessels as symbols of homage on the
ground of an old precedent. The envoys conducted themselves disrespectfully
(the tradition was that they refused to take off their boots, an old
grievance at the Burmese court), and the King put them all to death. The
Emperor of course was very wroth, and sent an army of 6,000,000 of horse
and 20,000,000 of foot(!) to invade Burma. The Burmese generals had their
point d'appui at the city of Nga tshaung gyan, apparently somewhere
near the mouth of the Bhamo River, and after a protracted resistance on
that river, they were obliged to retire. They took up a new point of
defence on the Hill of Male, which they had fortified. Here a decisive
battle was fought, and the Burmese were entirely routed. The King, on
hearing of their retreat from Bhamo, at first took measures for fortifying
his capital Pagan, and destroyed 6000 temples of various sizes to furnish
material. But after all he lost heart, and embarking with his treasure and
establishments on the Irawadi, fled down that river to Bassein in the
Delta. The Chinese continued the pursuit long past Pagan till they reached
the place now called Tarokmau or "Chinese Point," 30 miles below Prome.
Here they were forced by want of provisions to return. The Burmese Annals
place the abandonment of Pagan by the King in 1284, a most satisfactory
synchronism with the Chinese record. It is a notable point in Burmese
history, for it marked the fall of an ancient Dynasty which was speedily
followed by its extinction, and the abandonment of the capital. The King is
known in the Burmese Annals as Tarok-pye-Meng, "The King who fled from
the Tarok."[1]
In Dr. Mason's abstract of the Pegu Chronicle we find the notable
statement with reference to this period that "the Emperor of China, having
subjugated Pagan, his troops with the Burmese entered Pegu and invested
several cities."
We see that the Chinese Annals, as quoted, mention only the "capitale
primitive" Taikung, which I have little doubt Pauthier is right in
identifying with Tagaung, traditionally the most ancient royal city of
Burma, and the remains of which stand side by side with those of Old
Pagan, a later but still very ancient capital, on the east bank of the
Irawadi, in about lat.
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