the fact that she thus brought
the nation to the brink of war. Four years afterwards Hoeiti, the
emperor, died, leaving vacant the throne which he had so feebly filled.

It is not to be supposed that Liuchi had any hand in this closing of a
brief and uneventful reign. Her son was in no sense in her way, and
served as a useful shield behind which she held the reins of
government. But she was in no haste to fill the vacant throne,
preferring to rule openly as the supreme power in the realm. In order to
consolidate her strength, she placed her brothers and near relations in
the great posts of the empire, and strengthened her position by every
means fair and foul.

It soon became evident, however, that this ambitious scheme could not be
carried through. Throughout the land went up a cry for a successor to
the dead emperor. In this dilemma the daring woman adopted a bold plan,
bringing forward a boy who she declared was the offspring of her dead
son, and placing this child of unknown parents upon the vacant throne.
As a regent was needed during the minority of her counterfeit grandson,
she had herself proclaimed as the holder of this high office.

All this was very little to the taste of the ministers of the late
emperor. Never before had the government of China been in the hands of a
woman. But they dared not make an effort to change it, or even to speak
their sentiments in too loud a tone. Liuchi had ways of suppressing
discontent that forced her enemies to hold their peace. The only one who
ventured to question the arbitrary will of the regent was the mother of
the nominal emperor, and sudden death removed her from the scene.
Liuchi's ready means of vengeance had been brought into play again.

For years now the imperious empress ruled China unquestioned. Others who
ventured on her path may have fallen, but the people remained content,
so that the usurper seems to have avoided any oppression of her
subjects. But these years brought the child she had placed on the throne
well on towards man's estate, and he began to show signs of an intention
to break loose from leading-strings. He was possessed of ability, or at
least of energy, and there were those ready to whisper in his ear the
bitter tale of how his mother had been forced to swallow Liuchi's
draught of death.

Stirred to grief and rage by these whispers of a fell deed, the youthful
ruler vowed revenge upon the murderess. He vowed his own death in doing
so. His has