gainst fortified
places in the warfare of that age. By the aid of these powerful engines
many of the defences of Sianyang were demolished and the bridge between
the two cities was destroyed.

This done, the siege of Fanching was vigorously pressed, and, after a
severe bombardment, an assault in force was made. Despite the resolute
resistance of the garrison, the walls were forced, and the streets
became the scene of a fierce and deadly fight. From street to street,
from house to house, the struggle continued, and when resistance had
become utterly hopeless the Chinese officers, rather than surrender,
slew themselves, in which they were imitated by many of their men. It
was a city of ruins and slaughtered bodies that the Mongols had won.

The engines were now all directed against the fortifications of
Sianyang, where the garrison had become greatly dispirited by the fall
of Fanching and the failure of the army of relief to appear. Lieouwen
Hoan still held out, though he saw that his powers of defence were
nearly at an end, and feared that at any moment the soldiers might
refuse to continue what seemed to them a useless effort.

Kublai at this juncture sent him the following letter: "The generous
defence you have made during five years covers you with glory. It is the
duty of every faithful subject to serve his prince at the expense of his
life; but in the straits to which you are reduced, your strength
exhausted, deprived of succor, and without hope of receiving any, would
it be reasonable to sacrifice the lives of so many brave men out of
sheer obstinacy? Submit in good faith, and no harm shall come to you. We
promise you still more, and that is to provide all of you with honorable
employment. You shall have no grounds for discontent: for that we pledge
you our imperial word."

This letter ended the struggle. After some hesitation, Lieouwen Hoan,
incensed at the failure of the army to come to his relief and at the
indifference of the emperor to his fate, surrendered, and thenceforth
devoted to the service of Kublai the courage and ability of which he had
shown such striking evidence in the defence of Sianyang.

_THE DEATH-STRUGGLE OF CHINA._

Never in its history has China shown such unyielding courage as it did
in its resistance to the invasion under Kublai Khan. The city of
Sianyang alone held back the tide of Mongol success for full five years.
After its fall there were other strongholds to be taken, ot