The Mongols, not regarding the death of Jinghis, had continued their warfare in China and pushed on through Shen si to the edge of the Sung Empire. At the end of 1227 they besieged Si ho chin, a city southeast of Kong chang and thirty leagues distant. The commandant defended the place with great valor, but, seeing that the Mongols would conquer at last, and then seize him, he invited Li shi, his wife, to think on her destiny. “We have enjoyed the good will of our sovereign,” said the woman, “we should die for the dynasty;” thereupon she took poison. Two of his sons and their wives followed her example. When he had burned the five bodies the commandant stabbed himself. Twenty-eight of his dependents died with him.
In 1228 the Mongols pushed still farther south and Wanien Khada, the Kin general, sent to oppose them a mounted force under Cheng ho shang, who crushed a detachment eight thousand in number. This was the first triumph won by the Chinese in three decades, and roused the desire of resistance very greatly.
In 1228 the Mongol general Tukulku invested King yang fu, when a second Kin envoy was sent to Mongolia with presents, which were not accepted. Ogotai now gave command over all Chinese troops in his service to three generals of that race, and made two of them governors.
In 1230 the Mongols were beaten a second time by Yra buka, a Kin general, who stopped the siege of King yang by a victory. [[296]]Elated by success, Yra buka freed from confinement an envoy whom during his regency Tului had sent with peace messages. While dismissing him the Kin general boasted unwisely in the following phrases: “We have had time to make ready. If ye wish battle now ye have only to come to us.” This challenge was taken to Ogotai who acted at once and set out with his brother Tului for China. They crossed the Hoang Ho and pushed on toward the southern part of Shen si, where they took sixty forts and laid siege to Fong tsiang, a large city.
The Kin government now saw the error in their treatment of the envoy, and sent new terms of peace to the Mongols. The Grand Khan tried to persuade this envoy to visit Fong tsiang and obtain its surrender, but though threatened with death the man was immovable. Ogotai had the beard of the envoy cut off and then he imprisoned him. The siege of Fong tsiang was continued with vigor.
The Kin emperor, seeing that his generals were slow in sending aid, hurried off Bai kua, his assistant, to urge them. They replied that their troops were too few to challenge the great Mongol army. The Emperor commanded to take men from Tung kwan, the strong fortress, give battle at once to the enemy, and force the relief of Fong tsiang which was sorely beleaguered.
An attack was made soon, but the battle was indecisive. The Kin forces fell back the night following, however, and left the place to its own strength and fortune. Antchar, who commanded the Mongols, blockaded that city, captured places around it, kept out all provisions, and when food and supplies were exhausted Fong tsiang had no choice save surrender.
Master of Shen si, Ogotai was eager now for Honan, the last land of the Kin Emperor, but this region was difficult to capture. On the north it was bounded by the Hoang Ho, on the west it was guarded by high rugged mountains, and the strong Tung kwan fortress. The Mongol officers were seeking for means to overcome or elude these great obstacles when Li chang go, a Kin officer, who had joined Ogotai’s service only after Fong tsiang had surrendered, proposed to enter Honan from the south, and traced out a route for the conquest. Tului saw that the plan was the same as that traced by Jinghis on his death bed, and commended it to Ogotai, his brother, immediately. Ogotai consulted his [[297]]generals, accepted the plan, and commissioned Tului to follow it.
It was agreed that the armies of the north and the south should meet at Nan king in the following February. Ogotai sent Chubugan to the Sung Emperor for permission to pass through a part of his country, but the envoy was killed after crossing the boundary. The deed astounded the Mongols, since the Sung court had requested their alliance somewhat earlier. This killing gave a good pretext later on, however, for attacking the Empire.
Tului marched straightway on Pao ki where he assembled thirty thousand mounted warriors. First he captured the fortress Ta san kuan, destroyed the city Fong chin and opened a way through the Hwa mountains, though with immense labor. This mountain chain divides the Hoai water system from the Han and formed for some distance the boundary between the two Empires in China. Tului crossed this chain and thus entered Kin regions. When he had taken one hundred and forty towns and strong places, slain people in vast numbers, and driven others to barren regions where they perished, he fixed his camp near the Han and there he rested.