Western Yun nan was formed of two princedoms, Laï liu and Yung chang, which must be brought to obedience, such was the order of the Emperor. The King of Mien tien, the Burma of our day, to whom, as it seems, the two princedoms paid tribute, set out in 1277 to drive back the Mongols. He advanced with a force sixty thousand in number formed of horsemen and infantry. His first line was of elephants bearing towers which held archers.
At approach of this Burmese army, the Mongols, whose flank was protected by a forest, rode out from behind their intrenchments to charge on the enemy then advancing, but their horses ran in terror from the elephants, and for some minutes no man could check the beast under him. When the panic was over Nassir ud din commanded his men to dismount, put their beasts in the forest, and, advancing on foot, attack the first line of elephants with arrows. The elephants, unprotected by armor of any kind, were covered with wounds very quickly. Maddened by pain, they turned and rushed through the ranks just behind them. Many fled to the forest, where they broke the towers on their backs and hurled down the men who were in them. [[363]]
Free of the elephants, the Mongols remounted, attacked the Burmese with arrows, and next with their swords at close quarters. The unarmored Burmese were put to flight promptly. Two hundred elephants were seized by the Mongols, who pursued the enemy until intense heat drove them back. After this brief and striking campaign Kubilai retained elephants in his army. In 1283 Kubilai sent a large army under command of Sian kur to force the king of Mien tien to submission, that is to become tributary and permit Mongol officials to reside in the country. After a short siege Tai Kung, the capital, was taken and the whole kingdom agreed to pay tribute to Kubilai. The Kin shi, a people of Yun nan, who till that time had been kept by the king from submission to the Mongols, declared obedience.
The great Emperor planned now a second attack on the Japanese islands, to repair the disaster which happened to the first one. Atagai was named chief of the expedition. The Corean king was to give five hundred ships to it. In Kiang nan, Che kiang and Fu kien, ships were built, and new levies made, to the great harm of commerce in those places. Workmen in the docks, and also sailors, forcibly levied, deserted in crowds, and robbed on the highway, or became pirates along the coast regions. The army was dissatisfied and most men in the Emperor’s own council opposed the expedition, but Kubilai’s attention was soon drawn elsewhere. The King of Cochin China after the withdrawal of Sutu in 1281 had sent ambassadors to appease Kubilai, but the Emperor refused them an audience, and commanded Togan, his son, then governing Yun nan of the East, to march through Tung king, and attack Cochin China; Sutu was to aid in planning this action. Tung king had submitted to Kubilai on his advent to power, and Ching koan ping, its ruler, had engaged to pay once in three years a given quantity of gold, silver, precious stones, and drugs useful in medicine, also horns of rhinoceros, and ivory. At the same time an agent from Kubilai came to reside at the capital. Ching koan ping had for successor in 1277 his son, Chin ge suan, who hated the Mongols and was waiting to attack them. When Togan on his way to Cochin China demanded provisions, Chin ge suan raised false objections, and Togan, seeing his active hostility, knew that he must first of all bring Tung king down to obedience. He entered the country [[364]]in 1285 during January and on rafts crossed the Fu liang River. At the other bank stood the enemy in order of battle, but they fled, and their hostile King vanished. Togan thought the war ended, but the enemy rallied and harassed his marches. The great heat of summer and the rains brought disease to his northern warriors. The army was forced to fall back on Yun nan and was harassed continually while retreating. Li heng, who commanded under Togan’s direction, was wounded with an arrow, and died very soon, for the arrow had been poisoned.
Sutu, who was twenty leagues distant from this army and had no account of its trouble, was cut off by Tung king men, and perished in a battle at the Kien moan River. Kubilai grieved much for the loss of so gifted a general. To this loss was added the death of Chingkin, that son whom he had declared his successor, a man of great wisdom, instructed in all Chinese learning, esteemed for his probity and his love of justice. Chingkin was forty-three years of age when he died. He left three sons: Kamala, Dharma Bala, and Timur of whom we shall hear much hereafter.
In 1286 the Japanese expedition was still pending. All forces were ready, however, and the ships were to meet in September at Hupu, the great rendezvous. Meanwhile the president of the tribunal of mandarins dissuaded the Emperor from so hazardous a project. He left Japan in peace, but a new expedition was sent to Cochin China. Alihaiya was to take troops from South China garrisons, and fall on Tung king with the uttermost vigor. Prince Togan, who had command of this army, entered Tung king in 1287 during February; he had under him the generals Ching pong fei and Fan tsie. Meanwhile a fleet from Kuang tung bore a second good army under Situr, a great Kipchak leader who brought with him officers and warriors of his people.
Kubilai’s forces beat the Tung king men in seventeen engagements, ravaged a part of the country, pillaged the capital, seized immense wealth, and retired on Yun nan with rejoicing. The King, Chin ge suan, had sailed away, no one knew whither, but now, when the Mongols had gone, he appeared with large forces a second time.
Togan reëntered the country in 1288, and found the inhabitants armed and ready for action. The campaign was continued till summer, which brought much disease, and forced Togan to fallback [[365]]on Kuang si for a period. Chin ge suan now attacked him and strove to stop his retreat altogether. Togan lost many men in various battles, among others the generals Fan tsie and Apatchi, and was saved only by the valor of Situr, who put himself at the head of the vanguard and opened a way for the army.
Notwithstanding his victory the king thought it wise now to offer submission; he begged Kubilai to forget past events and with his prayers sent a gold statue. Kubilai, in punishment for defeat, took Yun nan rule from Prince Togan, forbade him the palace, and assigned him Yang chiu as a residence.
In 1285 Kubilai had charged Yang ting pie to visit the islands south of China and inform himself secretly of the forces and the wealth on them. The mission was successful, for in October of 1286 the ships of ten kingdoms sailed into Tsuen chiu, a port of the Fu kien province, bearing tribute, as was stated. It is quite likely, however, that these ships brought simply presents.