"It is as wise, O youth, to make a virtue of necessity, as it is childish to resist the decrees of fate," said the general; and then a pang of disappointment shot through the youth's heart; his illusion vanished; moreover, he would have given his life to have avoided the scene before him. They had entered the great hall of audience; there, upon the golden dragon throne, surrounded by the warrior princes and chiefs of Mantchouria, sat the Emperor. The Emperor, indeed! not Yong-Li, but a Tartar child of six years of age. Heartsick, enraged, he would have spoken. The general perceiving his misery, clutched his arm. Nicholas checked his impatience, but nevertheless muttered, "Surely the heavens will fall, for the great Woo-san-Kwei has proved a traitor."
CHAPTER XL.
THE GREAT BOY EMPEROR.—NICHOLAS MEETS WITH A FEARFUL SURPRISE.
Once having entered the rich empire of China, the Tartar king determined to remain, and thus artfully sent Woo-san-Kwei, the only man he feared, to chastise the rebels in Chen-si, so that he could the better introduce more and more of the warrior tribes beneath his rule: moreover, he was so cruel to those who resisted his army, and so generous and kind to those who submitted freely, that the people, glad to get a sovereign who had power enough to crush the rapacious nobles, unanimously hailed him Emperor; before, however, he could be formally installed, he became seized with a mortal illness, so, calling his brother Amavan, he created him regent during the minority of his son Chun-ti, a child six years of age.
Fortunately for the young Emperor, Amavan, unlike most Asiatic uncles, proved faithful to his nephew, and, more fortunately still, Amavan happened to be a great as well as a brave man, who conquered his enemies as much by his intellect as his sword. Taking care, therefore, to have an overwhelming number of troops in Pekin, he first sought to establish the government by distributing the great offices of the empire equally among his Tartars and the Chinese mandarins. Then to Woo-san-Kwei he had represented by his ambassadors the folly of endeavoring to oppose the great power of the new Emperor, and, moreover, the cruelty of bringing upon the people the horrors of a civil war; while, if he would aid in the firm settlement of the new dynasty, he should not only be created King of Chen-si, but that, as the laws of the Chinese were the best in the world, the Tartars should conform to them in every respect. To all of which Woo-san-Kwei, being so entirely checkmated, could but submit, retaining a hope that the time and opportunity might come when he should be powerful enough to drive these Tartars from the land—a task which, when too late, he found to be rather more difficult than bringing them in.
Having thus, as he thought, gained over the Ming general to his cause, and wishing to give the Chinese a proof that the young Emperor wished to conciliate them, Amavan resolved that the greatest of their countrymen should be received on his entry into Pekin with royal honors; and more, that the same day should be the one chosen for his imperial nephew's first grand levee.
I will now return to Nicholas, who, with hardly suppressed indignation, was compelled to witness the following scene.
Having commanded the great lords, who were prostrate at the foot of his throne, to rise, the child Emperor Chun-ti addressed them in a speech that not only astonished the whole court, but remains to the present day one of the marvels in the history of China.
"It is your strength and power more than my felicity, my dear and generous uncle, and you, the rest of my noble commanders, which supports my weakness, and makes me so undauntedly ascend this imperial throne. My present assurance, and this chair's stability, is, I hope, as happy a sign of my future prosperity as its tottering proved unfortunate to the thief Li-Kong. You see my first step to the empire, but I know your valor to be such that I look not only upon the kingdom of China as my own, but conceive the empire of the world not only by me possessed, but also established. The rewards due to such incomparable virtues shall be no other than the riches of the empire and royal dignities."