its courts. Attached to it were magnificent gardens, the whole being
known as the Palace of Delight. Within the city he had another palace,
of grand dimensions, its hall of audience being adorned with twelve
gigantic statues made from the spoils of his many campaigns, each of
them weighing twelve thousand pounds.

The capital was otherwise highly embellished, and an edict required that
all weapons should be sent to the arsenal in that city, there being no
longer danger of civil war, and "peace being universal." This measure
certainly tended to prevent war, and "the skilful disarming of the
provinces added daily to the wealth and prosperity of the capital."

The empire of China thus being, for the first time in its history, made
a centralized one, Hoangti divided it into thirty-six provinces, and set
out on a tour of inspection of the vast dominions which acknowledged him
as sole lord and master. Governors and sub-governors were appointed in
each province, the stability of the organization adopted being evidenced
by the fact that it still exists. The most important result of the
imperial journey was the general improvement of the roads of the empire.
It was the custom, when a great man visited any district, to repair the
roads which he would need to traverse, while outside his line of march
the highways were of a very imperfect character. Hoangti was well aware
of this custom, and very likely he may have convinced himself of the
true condition of the roads by sudden detours from the prescribed route.
At all events, he made the following notable remarks:

"These roads have been made expressly for me, and are very satisfactory.
But it is not just that I alone should enjoy a convenience of which my
subjects have still greater need, and one which I can give them.
Therefore I decree that good roads shall be made in all directions
throughout the empire."

In these few words he set in train a far more useful work than the Great
Wall. High-roads were laid out on a grand scale, traversing the empire
from end to end, and the public spirit of the great emperor is attested
by the noble system of highways which still remain, more than two
thousand years after his death.

[Illustration: A CHINESE IRRIGATION WHEEL.]

Having said so much in favor of Hoangti, we have now to show the reverse
of the shield, in describing that notable act which has won him the
enmity of the literary class, not only in China but in the whole world.
Thi