inst the common enemy. The upshot of this move was that
the Kitans were severely defeated in all directions, and their chief
cities fell into the hands of the Nue-chens, who finally succeeded, in
1122, in taking Peking by assault, the Kitan Emperor having already
sought safety in flight. When, however, the time came for an equitable
settlement of territory between China and the victorious Nue-chens, the
Chinese Emperor discovered that the Nue-chens, inasmuch as they had done
most of the fighting, were determined to have the lion's share of the
reward; in fact, the yoke imposed by the latter proved if anything more
burdensome than that of the dreaded Kitans. More territory was taken by
the Nue-chens, and even larger levies of money were exacted, while the
same old farce of worthless tribute was carried on as before.

In 1123, Akuteng died, and was canonised as the first Emperor of the
Chin, or Golden Dynasty. He was succeeded by a brother; and two years
later, the last Emperor of the Kitans was captured and relegated to
private life, thus bringing the dynasty to an end.

The new Emperor of the Nue-chens spent the rest of his life in one long
struggle with China. In 1126, the Sung capital, the modern K`ai-feng
Fu in Honan, was twice besieged: on the first occasion for thirty-three
days, when a heavy ransom was exacted and some territory was ceded; on
the second occasion for forty days, when it fell, and was given up to
pillage. In 1127, the feeble Chinese Emperor was seized and carried off,
and by 1129 the whole of China north of the Yang-tsze was in the
hands of the Nue-chens. The younger brother of the banished Emperor was
proclaimed by the Chinese at Nanking, and managed to set up what is
known as the southern Sung dynasty; but the Nue-chens gave him no rest,
driving him first out of Nanking, and then out of Hangchow, where he had
once more established a capital. Ultimately, there was peace of a more
or less permanent character, chiefly due to the genius of a notable
Chinese general of the day; and the Nue-chens had to accept the Yang-tsze
as the dividing line between the two powers.

The next seventy years were freely marked by raids, first of one side
and then of the other; but by the close of the twelfth century the
Mongols were pressing the Nue-chens from the north, and the southern
Sungs were seizing the opportunity to attack their old enemies from
the south. Finally, in 1234, the independence of the Golden Dynas