e
they became the subjects of its throne.

The failure of Wang Kue gave boldness to the Tartars, who carried on in
their old way the war the Chinese had begun, making such bold and
destructive raids that the emperor sent out a general with orders to
fight the enemy wherever he could find them. This warrior, Wei Tsing by
name, succeeded in catching the raiders in a trap. The Tartar chief,
armed with the courage of despair, finally cut his way through the
circle of his foes and brought off the most of his men, but his camp,
baggage, wives, children, and more than fifteen thousand soldiers were
left behind, and the victorious general became the hero of his age, the
emperor travelling a day's journey from the capital to welcome him on
his return.

This, and a later success by the same general, gave the Chinese the
courage they so sadly needed, teaching them that the Tartars were not
quite beyond the power of the sword. A council was called, a proposal to
carry the war into the enemy's country approved, and an army, composed
mostly of cavalry, sent out under an experienced officer named
Hokiuping. The ill fortune of the former invasion was now replaced by
good. The Tartars, completely taken by surprise, were everywhere driven
back, and Hokiuping returned to China rich in booty, among it the golden
images used as religious emblems by one of the Tartar princes. Returning
with a larger force, he swept far through their country, boasting on his
return that he had put thirty thousand Tartars to the sword. As a
result, two of the princes and a large number of their followers
surrendered to Vouti, and were disarmed and dispersed through the
frontier settlements of the realm.

These expeditions were followed by an invasion of the Heung-nou country
by a large army, commanded by the two successful generals Wei Tsing and
Hokiuping. This movement was attended with signal success, and the
Tartars for the time were thoroughly cowed, while the Chinese lost much
of their old dread of their desert foe. Years afterwards (110 B.C.) a
new Tartar war began, Vouti himself taking command of an army of two
hundred thousand men, and sending an envoy to the Tartar king,
commanding him to surrender all prisoners and plunder and to acknowledge
China as sovereign lord of himself and his people. All that the proud
chief surrendered was the head of the ambassador, which he sent back
with a bold defiance.

For some reason, which history does not give,