of the empire to invade foreign
states. In fact, the chief aggressive movements of the Chinese have been
rather wars of defence than of offence, wars forced upon them by the
incessant sting of invasions from the desert tribes.

For ages the Tartars made China their plunder-ground, crossing the
borders in rapid raids against which the Great Wall and the frontier
forces proved useless for defence, and carrying off vast spoil from the
industrious Chinese. They were driven from the soil scores of times,
only to return as virulently as before. Their warlike energy so far
surpassed that of their victims that one emperor did not hesitate to
admit that three Tartars were the equal of five Chinese. They were
bought off at times with tribute of rich goods and beautiful maidens,
and their chief was even given the sister of an emperor for wife. And
still they came, again and again, swarms of fierce wasps which stung the
country more deeply with each return.

This in time became intolerable, and a new policy was adopted, that of
turning the tables on the Tartars and invading their country in turn. In
the reign of Vouti, an emperor of the Han dynasty (135 B.C.), the Tartar
king sent to demand the hand of a Chinese princess in marriage, offering
to continue the existing truce. Bitter experience had taught the Chinese
how little such an offer was to be trusted. Wang Kue, an able general,
suggested the policy "of destroying them rather than to remain
constantly exposed to their insults," and in the end war was declared.

The hesitation of the emperor had not been without abundant reason. To
carry their arms into the wilds of Central Asia seemed a desperate
enterprise to the peaceful Chinese, and their first effort in this
direction proved a serious failure. Wang Kue, at the head of an army of
three hundred thousand men, marched into the desert, adopting a
stratagem to bring the Tartars within his reach. His plan failed, the
Tartars avoided an attack, and Wang Kue closed the campaign without a
shred of the glory he had promised to gain. The emperor ordered his
arrest, which he escaped in the effective Eastern fashion of himself
putting an end to his life.

But, though the general was dead, his policy survived, his idea of
aggression taking deep root in the Chinese official mind. Many centuries
were to elapse, however, before it bore fruit in the final subjection of
the desert tribes, and China was to become their prey as a whole befor