whereupon deposing the person of a Thief he became a General and with a bold attempt presumed to set upon the Tartars and having waged many Warrs against them obtained many singular Victories so as in the year 1368. he finally drove them out of the Kingdom of China receiving for so memorable an action the whole Empire of China as a worthy reward of his Heroical Actions It was he first erected the Imperial Family of the Taiminges and being he was the first Emperour of that Race stiled himself by the name of Hunguus which signifies as much as The famous Warriour After such an illustrious Action it was no wonder if all the Provinces submitted to him both as to one that was a Native of their Country and also because they looked on him as a man who had redeemed them from Thraldome for it is the Nature of the people of China to love and esteem their own as much as they hate and vilify Strangers Wherefore he first placed his Court at Nanking neer to the bank of that great River of Kiang which the Chineses in respect of the huge Mountains of water which it discharges into the Ocean call the Son of the Sea And having speedily ordered and established that Empire fearing no Insurrections from these new redeemed Creatures he was not contented to have chased the Tartars out of China but he made an irruption into Tartary it self and so followed the point of his Victory as that he routed them several times wasted all their Territories and finally brought the Oriental Tartars to such streights as he forced them to lay down their Arms to pay Tribute and even begge an Ignominious Peace This Storm of War fell chiefly on the Tartars of the Province of Niuche whither the Tartars of China being expelled were retired And those Tartars every year either as Subjects or Friends came into China by the Province of Leaotung to traffick with the Inhabitants For being brought to poverty and misery they thought no more of making war against China The Merchandise they brought were several as the root cal'd Ginsem so much esteemed amongst the Chineses and all sorts of pretious skins as those of Castor Martais Zibellens and also Horse-hair of which the Chineses make their Nets and the men though madly use it in tying up their hair as the handsomest dress they can appear in But those Tartars multiplyed so fast as they grew quickly into seven Governments which they called Hordes as much as to say into seven Lordships and these fighting one against another at length about the year of Christ MDL came to erect a Kingdom which they called the Kingdome of Niuche Thus stood China in relation to the Eastern Tartars but to the Western Tartars they payed Tribute masked under the Title of Presents that they might desist from War For the Chineses esteem it very unhansom to make war against any if by any other means their Country can be conserved in Peace and quietness being taught this by their Philosophers But in the mean time being over jealous of the Enemies to their antient riches A great Garrison upon the Wall against the Tartars they never left that great Wall which extends from East to West without a Million of Sorelgers to guard it Therefore this Kingdom of China being thus established in the Taimingian Family A long Peace in China enjoyed a constant Peace and quietness for CCL years and whilst the seven Lords or Governors made Civil wars that renowned Emperour of China known by the name of Vanley being the thirteenth Emperour of Taiminges Family governed happily the Kingdom of China from the year 1573. to the year 1620. with as much Prudence as Justice and Equity But in this time the Tartars of Niuche had so multiplied and spred themselves The Tartars think of invading China as that being incorporated into a Kingdome they became daily more formidable to China And therefore the Governors of the bordering Countries consulted privatly amongst themselves how they might curb and restrain these people within their limits For their Governors have so much Power and Authority that although they live as Slaves to their Prince yet when there is question of a Common and publick good they govern absolutely and uncontroulably unless by some higher Powers their Orders be restrained First therefore the Prefects or Governors The first cause of the Tartarian war did abuse the Merchant's Tartars of Niuche when they came into Leaotung which is a Province confines next to them The second cause Then again when the King of Niuche would have married his Daughter to another King of the Tartars they hindred this marriage by representing some pretended reasons of State The third cause And finally when the King of Niuche suspected nothing from them he conceived his friends they took him by deceit and killed him perfidiously Wherefore to revenge these injuries The first irruption of the Tartars into China the Kings Son gathered a strong Army taking his time found means to get over the great Wall I mentioned and the great River being frozen he presently set upon the great City Kaiyven or as others call it Taxun which lies upon the Confines of Tartary which he took in the year MDCXVI From this City he writ a Letter in Tartarian Characters to the Emperour of China which though writ in Barbarian Characters The Tartars Protestation against China yet contained nothing barbarous By this Letter which he sent by one of their Indian Priests whom they call Lama in a very humble and submissive manner he declared to him that he had invaded his Country to revenge the injuries he had received from the Governors of the neighbouring Provinces But yet that he was ready to restore the City he had taken and depose his Arms if his Complaints might be heard and satisfaction given him The Emperour of China called Vanley having received this Letter though otherwaies of an eminent wisdom and of as great experience yet being now broken with Age in this business seems to have proceeded with less Prudence than that which accompanied the former Actions of his life For thinking it not to be a business of that moment as it deserved to be treated before him in his own Court he remitted the business to the chief Governors and Commanders And these men puffed up with their usual pride thought it not sit so much as to give an answer to the Barbarian King but resented it very highly that any durst be so bold as to complain to the Emperor of any injury receiv'd The Tartarian King seeing they vouchsafed no answer to his just Demands The barbarous and superstitious Vow of the Tartarian King turning his anger into rage vowed to celebrate his Fathers Funerals with the lives of two hundred Thousand of the Inhabitants of China For it is the custom of the Tartars when any man of quality dyeth to cast into that fire which consumes the dead
low Cap which is alwaies garnished round with some pretious skin three fingers broad of Castor or Zibellin and serveth to defend their Temples Ears and Foreheads from colds and other Tempests That which appears above the skin being covered over either with curious red silke or else with black and purple horse-hair which they die and dress most curiously so as their appurtenances being handsomely joyned together makes the capp both commodious and handsom Their Garments are long Robes falling down to the very foot but their sleeves are not so wide and large as the Chineses use but rather such as are used in Polony Hungary only with this difference that they fashion the extremity of the Sleeve ever like a Horse his Hoof. At their Girdle there hangs on either side two Handkerchiefes to wipe their face and hands besides there hangs a Knife for all necessary uses with two Purses in which they carry Tobacco or such like Commodities On their Left side they hang their Scymiters but so as the point goes before and the handle behind and therefore when they fight they draw it out with the right hand behind them without holding the Scabbard with the other They seldome were Shoes and use no Spurrs to their Boots which they make either of Silk or of Horse-skin very neatly drest but they often use fair Pattins which they make three Fingers high In riding they use Stirrups but their Saddles are both lower and broader than ours Their faces are comely and commonly broad as those of China also have their colour is white but their Nose is not so flat nor their eyes so little as the Chineses are They speak little and ride pensively In the rest of their manners they resemble our Tartars of Europe though they be nothing so barbarous They rejoice to see Strangers They no way like the grimness and soureness of the Chines gravity and therefore in their first aboads they appear more human Having thus briefly described their Manners we resume our former discourse and return to the victorious Tartars in the City they had takens In which finding many rich and wealthy Merchants of other Provinces they published a Licence that they might depart with their Goods and withall commanded them speedily to voyd the City Who presently obeying the Order carried away all their Goods and Riches The Tartars perfidiousnes little suspecting the perfideous treachery of the Tartars For they had not gone three miles from the Town but being set upon by the Tartars they were plundred of their Goods and lost all their lives which being done they returned into the fearfull City laden with Riches the Citizens trembling lest they might happily experience the like perfidiousnes But the Tartar considering at how dear a rate he had bought the mastering of that City and fearing also to find the like provision and preparation in other Cities they durst not make any further attempt for they knew well that the Emperour had not only fortified all the antient places but erected also new munititions in the straights of many hard and rude passages And amongst all other strong holds that of Xanghai situated in the Island of Cu was most eminent containing a vast number of men in the Garrison to resist the further progresse of the Tartarian Forces But that which most of all repressed the Tartars was the great valour of the incomparable Commander Maovenlungus who having with his great Fleet taken an Island neer Corea in the mouth of the River Yalo The valiantest Commander of China vexed much their Army in the Rear and was victorious in several Skirmishes against them so that the Tartars bent all their care and thoughts against this their Enemy This renowned person was born in the Province of Evangtung where being near the Portugese of Macao he had much perfected himself in the art of war and he brought with him many great peices of Artillerie which he had recovered from the Shipwrack of a Holland Ship upon the Coasts of that Territorie And because the Emperour of China had declared the City of Ninguyven to be the chief in place of Leaoyang where also he had placed a new Vice-Roy and his Royal Visitor therefore Maovenlungus placed the best part of his Artillarie upon the Walls of this City The Tartars therefore acted nothing till the year 16â—5 and because they resolved to besiege the new Metropolitan City of Ninguyven they first resolved to trie Maovenlungus his fidelitie The faithfulnes of the Commanders in China offering him half of the Empire of China if he would help them to gain it But that noble Soul of his proved as faithfull as valiant by rejecting those Demands with indignation and came presently with his Forces to succour the City Ninguyven which they besieged by which means The overthrow of the Tartars the Tartars having lost ten thousand men were put to the flight and among the rest the King of Tartary's own Sonn was killed Wherefore being furious with anger they passed the frozen Sea and invaded the Island Thaoyven where they killed ten thousand that kept Garrisons there together with all the Inhabitants and by this one Act Their Cruelty having revenged their former discomfiture they returned into Tartary not with a resolution to sit still but with an intention to return with greater Forces By which restraint all things remained quiet till the year 1627. in which the Emperour Thienkius dyed in the flow'r of his age and with him the whole Empire of China seemed to fall to ruin and destruction The Kings of China and Tartary both died and in the same year the King of the Tartars who had cruelly murdered many men himself augmented the number of the dead After Thinkius in the Empire of China succeeded that unhappy Emperour Zungchinius Zungchininius chosen Emperour of China brother to the former of whom more hereafter And after Thienmingus King of Tartary succeeded Thienzungus his Son Thienzungus more milde than his Predecessors who changed the manner of his Fathers Government and by good Counsel began to govern the Chineses in a curteous and sweet manner but though he lived not long yet he served for a good example for his Sonn to Conquer China more by Civilitie and Humanitie than by force of Arms. In this year great Maovenlungus Soldiers being insolent by want of action The Soldiers Insolencies exasperat the Country of Corea grew very troublesom and offensive by their Rapines and Disorders to the Coreans who were friends Allies and particularly they much exasperated the Province of Hienkin insomuch that some of the Inhabitants of that place moved with indignation of several passages secretly treated with the Tartarian King to invade the Chineses Army in the habit and attire of the Inhabitants of Corea from whom they could expect no Treason being leaguerd with them in friendship and amitie promising moreover their best assistance to effect this mischief to him that was a Traitour
lest he should bring his Armie into the City with him Yvenus therfore knowing he had many chief men about the Emperours person who were both his favourites and friends and that none of them gave him the least sign of any distast the Emperor might conceive against him he boldly and securely presented himself at Court and as soon as he appeared he was presently arrested and after some few questions the Emperour commanded him to be kil'd The perfidious General killed The Tartars hearing of his death before the China Armie had a new General assigned ransack all the Country round about and after they had made excursions to the next bordering Province of Xantung The Tartars forrage all the Country of Peking and depart richly laden with all manner of Spoiles they returned to their first residence in Leaotung And from these times till the year 1636. the event of their Warrs was very various but in general we observe that the Tartars could never fix a foot in China The King of Tartary dies another succeeds but they were presently beaten out again In this same year Thienzungus King of the Tartars died after whom succeeded his Son Zungteus father to him that now governs China of whom we now must begin to Treat This Prince before his Reign expressed much judgement in severall Occurrences Zungteus the new King of Tartary prudent milde surpassing all the Kings of Tartary in Humanity and obliging curtesie For when he was young he was sent by his Father into China where he lived secretly and learned the China's Manners Doctrine and Language and when he came to be Emperour of China he changed and far surpassed all the Examples of his Predecessors For having observed that their too hard and cruel usage of the Chineses had been the principal obstacle of their advancement to the end he might conquer that Empire he so much thirsted after as well by love as by Arms he curteously entertained and cherished all those of China which came unto him Mildeness and Gentleness to be used in Conquering Nations using all Prisoners with great sweetnes and invited them either to submit freely to his Government or take their course with full freedom The fame of his humanity was spred far and neer which induced many Commanders and chief Officers to fly unto him by whose means and help he became Emperour of that spacious and florishing Country For experience shews us that Love and Humanity doe work more upon mens hearts in conquering and conserving Kingdomes than Arms and cruelty of the Conquerors hath lost that which strength of Arms had happily subdued Wherefore when the Chineses came to understand that the King of Tartary did not only afford them a Sanctuary but a favourable Haven many great persons flying the Indignation of the King of China sheltered themselves under the Tartars protection For in respect of the China's Avarice and perfidiousness it 's a necessary but a most inhumane Maxim A barbarous Principle of the Chineses that those Officers perish who have managed the Kingdomes Affairs with less success For they easily are brought to believe that such unhappy events do not proceed so much from the frown of a scornfull Goddess called Fortune as it doth from the perfidy and negligence of the Commanders So as if any fought unhappily or if he lost the Country committed to his charge if any Sedition or Rebellion happened the Governors hardly ever escaped alive Seeing therefore they found so much Humanity in the Tartar and so much Inhumanity in the Emperor they rather chose to fly to the former By this occasion give me leave to relate what happened to that incomparable Commander renouned both for Fidelity and Fortitude called Ignatius Ignatius the chief Commander of the Christians unjustly killed This Heroick mind preferd his fidelitie to his Prince before his life before the Tartarian's protection yea even before the strength of his formidable Army and chose rather with his unparallel'd Fidelity to submit his head to a Block by an unjust sentence than to abandon his Country or once accuse the least default in his Sovereign's judgment Ignatius his fidelity though prevented by very unjust impressions He might perchance have swayed the Sovereign Scepter of China if he would have hearkened to his Souldiers but he rather chose to die gloriously than to be branded with the name of a Traitor in posterity This man therefore after he had gained several Victories against the Tartars and recovered many Cities from their possession so as he hoped shortly wholy to extirpate them out of China His Souldiers being long without pay seditiously plundred and pillaged a Town which had ever been faithfull to the K. Ignatius by several petitions and Remonstrances to the Emperour had declared his wants of mony and their want of Pay but because he fed not those venal souls that managed the business with mony and presents they alwaies suppressed his humble addresses for relief Besides this man being a very pious Christian he did nothing in his government Ignatius his Piety but what was conform to Reason and Justice which was the cause he incurred the hatred of all the antient Prefects who usually receiving Bribes from the contesting parties demanded favour of Ignatius for their Clients But it was in vain to intercede for any unless the justness of the cause did also ballance their Petitions And these men attributing this proceeding not to vertue but to his Pride thinking themselves undervalued by him dealt under-hand with the Prefects in the Court to stop the Armies pay that so they might destroy this innocent man Moreover he was envied the Commāders in the very Court because he came to this eminent dignitie by his own valour and industrie which they imagined was only to be given to Doctors and Ignatius was but a Batchelor as if the most learned must needs be also the most valorous In this conjuncture of affairs the Souldiers not contented with the seditious pillage seeing the most imminent danger hanging over their most esteemed and beloved Governour by reason of their folly they go about to perswade him to make himself King of that Country nay more to take the whole Empire to himself as a thing due to his Prowess and Merits promising their whole strength to effect the business and also to extirpate those men about the Emperour that aimed more to compass their malicious ends than to promote the general affairs of the Empire But Ignatius by pious admonitions staved them off from further violence made them obedient and quiet commanded all to stand faithfull to the Emperour of China and punished the chief of that fedition This Supreme act of fidelity deserved a better esteem and acceptance than that which was framed by the Emperour and his Court who slighting this his allegeance sent another Vice-Roy in his place and commanded him to appear in Court He then perceived they aimed at his life and the
and the dispute was so high that it gave occasion to the Tartars to take to the Province and City of Nankuing some of the Prefects winking at it if not enticing them underhand to this exploit The Tartars vigilant to lay hold of all advantages hearing of these emulations and divisions presently march out into the Territory of the City of Hoaigan and comming to the East side of the River Croceus they pass over speedily by the help of their Boats on the other side of this River stood the Army of China which was so numerous as if they had but cast off their very shoos they had erected such a Rampart against the Tartars as all the Horse would hardly have surmounted it But it is the resolution and valour in War carries the Trophies not the number of men for hardly had the Tartars set foot in their Boats but the Chineses ran all away as Sheep use to do when they see the Wolf The flight of the Cheneses leaving the whole shore unfenced to their landing The Tartars having passed the River finding no enemy to resist enter the most noble City of Nankuing and in a trice make themselves Master of all the North part of the Country which lyes upon the great River of Kiang which is so vast as it is worthily called the Son of the Sea where it deserves particularly to be noted as a rare thing in the Warfare of the Tartars that before they enter into any Country they chuse and name both the Governours and Companies with all the Officers necessary for all the Cities and places which they aym to take so as in a moment they run like a lightning and no sooner they possess it but it is fortified armed and defended There was one City in these Quarters which made a generous resistance to all their re-iterated assaults called Yangcheu The City Yangcheu resisting the Tartar is taken and burnt where the Tartars lost the Son of a little Royalet This City was defended by that faithful Imperial Champion called Zuuis Colaus but though he had a mighty Garrison yet he was at length forced to yield and the whole City was sacked and both Citizen and Souldier put to the Sword and least the multitude of the dead Carcases should corrupt the Air and ingender the Plague they laid them all upon the tops of the Horses and setting fire both to the City and Suburbs brought all to ashes and to a total desolation By this progress the Forces of the Tartars much entreased The Tartars take several places for the Governours of many places and several Regiments came to submit to his Dominion To all which he commonly continued the same Commands and Offices they were established in before and advanced many of them to higher dignity and so by this humanity with which he treated all that came flying to him and by the cruelty he used to those that resolved to make resistance to the Force of his Arms he gained this that most men resolved to partake of his sweet treaty rather than of his cruelty so he easily conquered all that which lyes on the North side of that River which I named before the Son of the Sea This River being a German Leage in breadth and rising from the West of China holds its course to the East and divides the Kingdom into Northern and Southern Quarters it also divides the Country of Nankuing in the very middle though Nankuing the Metropolitan and Royal City be placed in the Southern part To Master this great City they were to pass this River They gathered therefore together many Ships to Conquer this new Emperial seat and also the new setled Emperour The Fleet of China commanded by the most generous and faithful Admiral called Hoangchoangus lay towards the other side of this River Here the Admiral fought so gallantly and resolutely that he skowred all China and made it appear to the world that the Tartars were not invincible Till at length one of his own Commanders called Thienus born in the City of Leaotung being corrupted by the Tartars shot him with an Arrow to death which Arrow fixed the unconstant wheel of Chinas fortune and lost the whole Empire But the Traytor not contented with this perfidious Act began himself to run away and by his example draw all the rest to imitate this Ignominious Action His impudence passed yet to a higher strain for comming to the Imperial City and finding the Emperour preparing to retire he joyned himself with him as a faithful friend participating of his adversity till he heard the Tartars who passing the River followed the Kings flight with all imaginable diligence were come near him The Emperour Hunquangus is taken and killed and then he took the Emperour Prisoner and delivered him to the Tartarian army in the year MDCXLIV This unfortunate Prince being thus betrayed before he had reigned full one year was sent to Peuking and there upon the Town Walls was hanged publickly in a Bow string which kind of death the Tartars esteem most noble The pretended Son to the Emperour Zunchinius whether he were true or false run the same course of fortune when they had discovered him still alive Prison for they did not onely put to death all those which belonged to the Imperial Family of the Taiminges by Consanguinity but after a diligent search extirpated all they could find which belonged to them even by Affinity for it is a custom in Asia if any one Conquer a Kingdom to root out all belong to the Royal Family After this they divided their Army into two parts the one they sent to Conquer the Mediterranean Provinces of Kiansi Huquang and Quangtung which are all of a marvellous extent the other like a swift Torrent over-run all The Tartars run to the City Hangcheu till they came to the very VVals of the renowned and vast City of Hangcheu which is the head City of the Province of Chekiang Into this City the principal fugitives of the Army of China were retired and those not only of the common Souldier but many great Commanders and Prefects where they resolved to choose a new Emperour called Lovangus of the antient Family of Taimingus But this Prince would never assume the Title of Emperour but contented himself with the Title of King thinking his fall would be less and his death not so bitter as if he fell from the Throne of an Emperour but yet to the end to animate them to fight with more vigour than they had done heretofore he promised them to take that title when they had regained one Emperial City He had not reigned three days a shorter space than their personated Kings use many times to reign in their Tragedies but the Tartars arrive Which the fugitive Souldiers seeing and thinking by this pinch of necessity to force their pay from the King and City refused to fight before they had received their salary It was on this occasion that
shew he feared nothing But for all this the Commander Hous besieges this City a far off which was three Leagues compass and out of the reach of their Artillery and to the end he might make a shew of greater forces than indeed he had he joyned to his Army a Company of dull headed Clowns by which means he made up a Body of thirty thousand men The Governour of the City seeing such an Army as appeared believed them all to be Souldiers and lest his Citizens should joyn with them he thought again of cutting all their throats but his friends ever diverted him from this outragious cruelty and therefore to divert himself from such horrid projects he used to walk upon the Walls and recreate himself in seeing the Chineses under his colours fight so valiantly against Hous for when he saw this he used to cry out in their Language Hoo Manzu as much as to say O good Barbarians for so the Tartars call the Chinaes as conquering Nations use to expose the conquered to scorn and derision and he crowned this scoff with these words Mauzuxa Manzu as much as to say let the barbarous kill the barbarous yet notwithstanding when they returned victorious he did not onely praise them but gave them Mony and other pretious rewards which were exposed to publick view upon the Walls to animate them to high and generous exploits so as Hous finding no Body stir in the City as he expected could do nothing besides their came new succours to the Tartarian Army which when Hous understood by his spys he presently retired But yet this flight did not serve his turn nor could he wholy escape the Tartars hands for the Horsemen pursuing them fell upon the rear and killed many carrying away great store of Riches which the Commander distributed in such proportion as he gave most to such as were wounded what became of Hous after this action is unknown and therefore I conclude that these Northern revolts produced no other effect but the spoyl Rapin and Plunder of all those Quarters as it had produced the like in the Southern parts The Tartars having happily overcome all difficulties hitherto The Tartars insolencies produced great dangers fell into another by their own insolency from the yeare MDCXLIX the Emperour of the Tartars being now grown up to mans Estate desired to Marry the Daughter of the King of Tayngu who is Prince of the Western Tartars hoping by this match to conserve the friendship of him whose Forces he feared for this end he sent his Uncle to him who was King of Pauang This Prince passed by the impregnable City of Taitung which as it is the last City towards the North so also it is the Key and Bulwork of the Province of Xansi against the irruption of the Western Tartars for it commands all the Souldiers which keep the many Fortifications of those Quarters where a fair Level down extending it self beyond that famous Wall I mentioned heretofore gives a fit occasion for the incursion of the Tartars The Women of this City are held the most beautiful of all China and therefore it happened that some of the Embassadours followers did ravish some of them and also carried away by a Rape a Person of quality as she was carried home to her Spouse which was a thing never heard of heretofore amongst the Chinese The people had recourse for these injuries to Kiangus who governed those Quarters for the Tartars who hearing of this gross abuse sent to that petty Prince Pauang to demand the new Married Lady to be restored and to desire him to prevent future disorders in that nature but he gave a very slight Ear to such complants and therefore Kiangus himself went unto him who was not only slighted but even cast out of the Palace His anger was quickly turned into rage Kiangus riseth against the Tartars which made him resolve to revenge that injury by the Tartars bloud he therefore Musters his Souldiers and presently falls on the Tartars kils all he could encounter the Embassadour himself being let down by the Walls of the Town hardly escaped by swift Horses Then Kiangus displayed a Banner wherein he declared himself a Subject to the Empire of China but named no Emperour in particular because perchance he had heard nothing of the Emperour Jungley by reason of so vast a distance Kiangus gathers great Forces But however he invited all the Chineses to the defence of their Country and to expell the Tartars and many Captains as well as Souldiers came in to him yea even the very Western Tartars against whom he had ever Born Arms being promised great rewards sent him the Forces which he demanded This accident extremely troubled the Court for they knew well that the Western Tartars did both aspire to the Empire of China and also were envious at their prosperous course of fortune they also knew that they were more abundant Men and Horses than they were for from hence it is they bought all their best Horses and they feared that now they should have no more and therefore they resolved to send presently a good strong Army against him before he should gather a greater strength But Kiangus who was as valiant as crafty and one who by long experience knew how to deal with the Tartars first feigned to fly with his Army But in the rear he placed very many Carts and Wagons which were all covered very carefully as if they had carried the richest Treasures they possessed but in real truth they carried nothing but many great and lesser pieces of Artillery with their mouths turned upon the Enemy all which the Tartars perceiving presently pursue they fight without any order and fall upon the prey with great Avidity but those that accompanied the Wagons Kiangus overthrows the Tartars by a stratagem firing the Artillery took off the greatest part of the Army and withall Kiangus wheeling about came up upon them and made a strange carnage amongst them and after this he shewed himself no less admirable in Stratagems than in fortitude and courage He beats the Tartars again when he fought a set pitched field with a new recruited Army of the Tartars in which he obtained so noble and renowned a victory that he filled all the Court at Peking with fear and trembling for by this means victorious Kiangus had gathered so vast an Army as he counted no less then a hundred and forty thousand Horse and four hundred thousand foot all men having recourse to him to defend their Country against the Tartarian Army And therefore Amavangus Tutor to the Emperour thinking it not fit to commit this business to any but to himself resolved himself to go against Kiangus and try the last turn of fortune for the Tartars Amavangus himself goes against Kiangus he therefore drew out all the eight Colours that is the whole Forces that were then in Peking for under these eight colours are comprehended all the Forces
one time sent as a present from the Occidental Tartars to the King of China Which boundless power of the Tartars The Tartars subdue the rest of China as it cannot be contained within any limits so also it broke out into the Province of Quamtung which they wholy subdued and out of that like an impetuous Torrent they ran into the Province of Quangsi which they likewise conquered to their Empire So as the King of China called Jungley with his chief favourit the Eunuch called Pang Achileus who professeth Christianity were feign to fly to the confines of Tunking being in a manner excluded the whole Empire In so much as a friend of mine writes out of the Province of Fokien that the King Jungley fearing to fall into the Tartars hands was feign to leave the Land and fly to Sea But upon what Coast that unmerciful Element may have cast him we know not for we hear no news of our Father Andrew Xauerius Koffler who ever followed the Court of King Jungley having had the happiness to have Baptized his Queen his Son and his Mother with many others of that distracted Court. In the mean time whilst one Cang a Royolet amongst the Tartars subdued the Province of Quangsi the Governour of the Country whom they call Colaus fell into the Enemies hands and the Tartars hoping by rewards and promises of dignities to soften the mind of this so gallant a Man The great fidelity of the Governour to his King and so eminent a Philsopher abstained three days from any cruelty or ill usage But he scorned to prefer his life before his alleageance and fidelity to his King and therefore lost his head But yet this generous Action was admired and honoured by those brutish Souls who presently erected a magnificent Tomb in memory of so honourable an Act for although the Tartars sollicit the Chineses to revolt from their Prince yet they honour and praise such as shew themselves constant to him And this memorial I owe unto his memory well for his singular friendship he was pleased to contract with me as also to his eminent vertues of which I my self and the whole Church of Christians in China were both Spectators and Admirers for the space of twenty years And that his name may not perish nor his Country he was Born in the Province of Nanquin in the City Changcho being called Kiu Thomas a name worthy of eternal memory in the Temple of vertue During the saccage of these Provinces news arrives from the Country of Suchuen that the notorious Brigand called Changhienchungus famous for his infamous cruelty and abhominable villanies See fol. 197. was broke out again and wasted all that Province with severall tempests of War for though he seemed to be quite vanquished in the last Battails yet he appeared again to trouble and vex the Empire with new Garboyls and further Designs of War The Province of Fokien also began to grone under the same miserable condition of VVar for the Reverend Father Peter Canevari Native of Genua writes out of the City Changcheu which was besieged the 30. of March 1652. that Quesingus having made a descent from his Ships into that Province had overrun the whole Country taken some Cities and Towns and carried on the War with great terrour to the Inhabitants Insomuch as the Tartarian Commanders kept themselves and their Army in their Forts and other places of strength not daring to appear in the field to oppose them but yet he sayd they expected new Forces and Succours from Peking by which they doubt not but quickly to subdue him This Quesingus who now vexeth this Province of Fokien Quesingus the Pyrat is Son to the famous Pyrate Iquon or Chinchilungo whom the Tartars imprisoned by a slight as I recounted to you in my former History And to let you know what I heard from some passengers of China who in the month of January 1653. were cast in a Ship of China upon the Coasts of an Island called new Holland whither I had been brought before by their Barks and Souldiers as their Prisoner These Men related that a great Army of Tartars was arrived to subdue Quesingus whose Commander thought it fit to joyn art to his great Force and therefore he commanded a handfull of Men to charge the Tartarian Army and presently by feigning flights to retire to more advantagious and surer places But in the mean time he had placed a number of Horse in a deep valley behind a Mountain towards which Quarters the fugitive Troops retired This flight gave courage to the Tartars and the desire of victory made them venture so far from the River Chang where their Ships lay at Anchor as they found themselves environed by the Tartars Army This desperate condition which excluded the Chineses from returning to their Ships caused a very sad and bloody Battail in which there perished above 8000 of the Chineses Army Quesingus defeated whilst Quesingus a spectator of this sad accident from the Mast of his Ships and as they relate was heard to say that he would once more try his fortune against the Tartars but if she proved again adverse unto him he then would submit and shave his Hair like a Tartar Having briefly related the State of the Temporality in this Kingdom it remains I should touch a little of the State of Christianity since these great revolutions In which subject I can onely say that being at Brusels this last June in the year 1654. I received Letters from China in which they gave me notice that the Father Jesuits were very favourably treated by the Tartars yea better than before for they permitted free exercise of the Christian Catholick Religion through an their Kingdoms granting them leave not onely to enjoy their antient Churches but did also liberally contribute to build new ones So by the goodness of God that which endamaged others proved gain to them But I reserve all particulars to a larger relation in a greater volumn which shall continue Trigautius his History of the missions dispatched into China and considering he concludes that History in the year 1610. it shall be my endeavour to produce the rest of those memorable Actions to these our present times FINIS