Liu sin fu, seeing this, had his children and wife hurled into the water. Then, telling Ti ping that a Sung sovereign should prefer death to captivity, he put the boy Emperor on his shoulders and sprang into the sea with him. Most of the dignitaries followed this example, and drowned themselves.
More than eight hundred ships fell into the power of the Mongols. Later on Chinese corpses in thousands were floating on those waters. Among them was that of Ti ping, and on it was found the seal of the Empire. When Chang shi kie heard that his sovereign was dead he went to the ship of the Empress and tried to induce her to aid him in choosing some relative of the Sung family and making him Emperor. But when she learned of the death of her young son she sprang into the sea without further [[360]]discussion, and was followed by the ladies of her service. Chang shi kie found her body and buried it on the mainland. He then sailed away for Tung king, where he had faithful allies with whom he intended to return and install a new Emperor if possible. But in crossing the Gulf of Tung king, Chang shi kie was met by a terrible tempest, and perished.
Meanwhile Su liu i, his colleague, fell, slain by his own men. When he was dead all people in China submitted, and Kubilai Khan found himself master of an Empire, for which the Mongols had been fighting for more than five decades. Thus the Sung family vanished after ruling three and one-fifth centuries over China. [[361]]
CHAPTER XVIII
KUBILAI’S ACTIVITY IN CHINA AND WAR WITH KAIDU
The struggle of Kubilai Khan against Arik Buga, his brother, has been described in some detail already, as well as the downfall and death of the latter. Next came Kaidu, a more dangerous opponent, who claimed Mongol sovereignty through descent from his grandfather Ogotai. Ogotai had been designated by Jinghis to the khanship of the Mongols, and when this choice was confirmed at the first Kurultai of election the dignity was fixed among Ogotai’s descendants. By the election of Mangu, a son of Tului, this pact was rejected and broken. Long and stubborn struggles and ruin were entailed on the Mongols by that change.
The war with Kaidu lasted from the death of Arik Buga to the end of Kubilai’s life and somewhat beyond it. Before touching on this bloody conflict it will be perhaps better to show what Kubilai Khan did after conquering China (January 31, 1279).
No sooner had the Grand Khan ended the Sung dynasty than he turned to Japan, which had paid tribute formerly to China. In 1270 he had invited the Japanese monarch, through an envoy, to acknowledge as his suzerain the master of the earth, who was also the son of Heaven, but the envoy was given no audience. Other envoys, sent later, were put to death promptly by the Japanese. Kubilai resolved now to conquer those eastern islands, though his best counsellors tried to dissuade him. They saw the perils of the enterprise and did not believe that success would in any case pay for the outlay, but Kubilai was inflexible, and the order was given to send an army one hundred thousand strong to conquer the islands. The troops embarked at Lin ngan and Tsuen chiu fu toward the end of 1280; the fleet bearing them sailed for Corea to be joined by a contingent of that country composed of nine hundred ships, which carried ten thousand warriors. This immense [[362]]fleet with its forces was struck near the Japanese coast by a tempest; the ships went ashore for the greater part, and the men were taken prisoners. Sixty thousand Chinese were seized and of Mongols thirty thousand were slain by the Japanese. In the autumn of 1281 a feeble remnant and wreck of this great army made its way back to China.
When the Sung family had fallen the King of Cochin China rendered homage to Kubilai and sent him tribute. Not content with the tribute thus brought him, Kubilai sent to that country a ruling council composed of his own officers. After two years the heir of Cochin China, indignant at the sight of foreign men ruling his country, moved his father to arrest them. To punish this rebellion, as he called it, Kubilai sent a fleet from South China with an army under General Sutu, who landed in 1281 at the capital, which he captured. The king’s son retired toward the mountains, and occupied Sutu with phrases of submission. Meanwhile he was preparing to defeat him if possible. Sutu learned shortly after that men were advancing from many directions to cut him off from his vessels. He found it well for this reason to return to Canton.