nd minute accounts of the
development and exploits of guerilla bands, which, though they did
not obtain any signal victory over the invaders, harassed the latter
perpetually, and compelled them to devote a large part of their force
to guarding the lines of communication.

*Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by Brinkley.

CHINESE INTERFERENCE

Having suffered for their loyalty to China, the Koreans naturally
looked to her for succour. Peking should have understood the
situation thoroughly. Even without any direct communication from
Japan, the Peking Court had cognizance of Hideyoshi's intentions. A
letter addressed by him in the year 1591 to the King of Ryukyu stated
clearly his intention of extending Japanese sovereignty throughout
the whole Orient, and the ruler of Ryukyu had lost no time in making
this fact known to Peking.* Yet it does not appear that the Chinese
had any just appreciation of the situation. Their first response to
Korea's appeal was to mobilize a force of five thousand men in the
Liaotung peninsula, which force crossed the Yalu and moved against
Pyong-yang, where the Japanese van had been lying idle for over two
months. This occurred early in October, 1592. The incident
illustrated China's confidence in her own superiority. "The whole of
the Korean forces had been driven northward throughout the entire
length of the peninsula by Japanese armies, yet Peking considered
that five thousand Chinese braves would suffice to roll back this
tide of invasion."

*There is still extant a letter addressed by Hideypshi in June, 1592,
to Hidetsugu, his nephew, and then nominal successor. In this
document it is distinctly stated that the attention of the Emperor of
Japan should be directed to the Chinese capital, inasmuch as the
Japanese Court would pay a visit to Peking in 1594, on which occasion
the ten provinces surrounding the Chinese capital would be presented
to his Majesty, and out of this territory the Court nobles would
receive estates.

The result was a foregone conclusion. Three thousand of the Chinese
were killed, and the rest fled pele-mele across the Yalu. China now
began to be seriously alarmed. She despatched to Pyong-yang an envoy
named Chen Weiching--known in Japanese history as Chin Ikei--who was
instructed not to conclude peace but only to make such overtures as
might induce the Japanese to agree to an armistice, thus enabling the
Chinese authorities to mobilize a suffi