This Took Place In The Year Of The Hegira 264, Or
Of Christ 877.
He also cut down the mulberry trees, which are carefully
cultivated by the Chinese for their leaves, on which
The silk worms are
fed; and owing to this, the trade of silk has tailed, and that manufacture,
which used to be much prosecuted in all the countries under the Arabian
government, is quite at a stand.
Having sacked and destroyed Canfu, he possessed himself of many other
cities, which he demolished, having first slain most of the inhabitants, in
the hope that he might involve all the members of the royal family in this
general massacre, that no one might remain to dispute with him for the
empire. He then advanced to Cumdan[1], the capital city, whence the emperor
was obliged to make a precipitate retreat to the city of Hamdu, on the
frontiers towards Thibet. Puffed up with these great successes, Baichu made
himself master of almost the whole country, there being no one able to
dispute his authority. At length the emperor wrote to the king of the
Tagazgaz in Turkestan, with whom he was in some degree allied by marriage,
imploring his assistance to subdue the rebellion. The king of the Tagazgaz
dispatched his son, at the head of a very numerous army, into China, and
after a long and arduous contest, and many battles, Baichu was utterly
defeated, and it was never known afterwards what became of him; some
believing that he fell in the last battle, while others supposed that he
ended his days in a different manner. The emperor of China now returned to
his capital, much weakened and dispirited in consequence of the
embezzlement of his treasures, and the loss of the best of his officers and
troops, and the horrible devastations, calamities, and losses which his
empire had sustained; yet he made himself master of all the provinces which
had revolted from his authority. He would not, however, lay his hands upon
the goods of his subjects, notwithstanding the exhausted state of his
finances, but satisfied himself with what was still left in his coffers,
and the small remains of the public money that was to be found, requiring
nothing from his subjects, but what they were willing to give, and only
demanding obedience to the laws and to his authority, considering that they
had been already severely oppressed in consequence of the rebellion. Thus,
China became like the empire of Alexander, after the defeat and death of
Darius, when he divided the provinces among his chiefs, who became so many
kings. For now, each of the Chinese princes, or viceroys, joined
themselves into petty alliances, making wars among themselves without the
authority of the emperor; and when the stronger had subdued the weaker, and
acquired possession of his province, the subjects of the vanquished prince
were unmercifully wasted and plundered, and even barbarously devoured: a
cruel practice allowed by the laws of their religion, which even permit
human flesh to be exposed to public sale in the markets.
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