s these
conditions were fulfilled, after dividing the slaves and the booty
among the officers and soldiers of his army, Genghis Khan raised the
siege and moved off to the northward.

In respect to the captives that his soldiers had taken in the towns
and villages--the women and children spoken of above--the army carried
off with them all that were old enough to be of any value as slaves.
The little children, who would only, they thought, be in the way, they
massacred.

The emperor was by no means easy after the Mongul army had gone. A
marauding enemy like that, bought off by the payment of a ransom, is
exceedingly apt to find some pretext for returning, and the emperor
did not feel that he was safe. Very soon after the Monguls had
withdrawn, he proposed to his council the plan of removing his court
southward to the other side of the Hoang Ho, to a large city in the
province of Henan. Some of his counselors made great objections to
this proposal. They said that if the emperor withdrew in that manner
from the northern provinces that portion of his empire would be
irretrievably lost. Genghis Khan would soon obtain complete and
undisputed possession of the whole of it. The proper course to be
adopted, they said, was to remain and make a firm stand in defense of
the capital and of the country. They must levy new troops, repair the
fortifications, recruit the garrison, and lay in supplies of food and
of other military stores, and thus prepare themselves for a vigorous
and efficient resistance in case the enemy should return.

But the emperor could not be persuaded. He said that the treasury was
exhausted, the troops were discouraged, the cities around the capital
were destroyed, and the whole country was so depopulated by the
devastations of the Monguls that no considerable number of fresh
levies could be obtained; and that, consequently, the only safe course
for the government to pursue was to retire to the southward, beyond
the river. He would, however, he added, leave his son, with a strong
garrison, to defend the capital.

He accordingly took with him a few favorites of his immediate family
and a small body of troops, and commenced his journey--a journey
which was considered by all the people as a base and ignoble flight.
He involved himself in endless troubles by this step. A revolt broke
out on the way among the guards who accompanied him. One of the
generals who headed the revolt sent a messenger to Genghis Khan