in the
imperial administration was brought to an end, the public money was used
for its legitimate purpose, and even some of the costly palaces which
the Mongol emperors had built were destroyed, that the people might
learn that he proposed to devote himself to their good and not to his
own pleasure. Steps were taken for the encouragement of learning, the
literary class was elevated in position, the celebrated Hanlin College
was restored, and the great book of laws was revised. Schools were
opened everywhere, orphanages and hospitals were instituted, and all
that could be was done for the relief of the sick and the poor.

All this was performed in the midst of bitter and unceasing wars, which
for nearly twenty years kept Suta almost constantly in the field. The
Mongols were still strong in the northwest, Chungti continued to claim
imperial power, and the army was kept steadily employed, marching from
victory to victory under the able leadership of Suta, who in his whole
career scarcely learned the meaning of defeat. His very appearance on
the field on more than one occasion changed the situation from doubt to
victory. In time the Mongols were driven beyond the Great Wall, the
ex-emperor died, and the steppes were invaded by a great army, though
not a successful one, Suta meeting here his first and only reverse. The
war ended with giving the Chinese full control of all the cultivated
country, while the Tartars held their own in the desert. This done,
Suta returned to enjoy in peace the honors he had won, and soon after
died, at the age of fifty-four years, thirty of which had been spent in
war.

The death of the great general did not leave China free from warlike
commotion. There were rebellious risings both in the south and in the
north, but they all fell under the power of Hongwou's victorious arms,
the last success being the dispersal of a final Mongol raid. The closing
eight years of the emperor's reign were spent in peace, and in 1397 he
died, after an administration of thirty years, in which he had freed
China from the last dregs of the Mongol power, and spread peace and
prosperity throughout the realm.

_THE RISE OF THE MANCHUS._

Twice had a Tartar empire been established in China, that of the Kin
dynasty in the north, and that of their successors, the Mongols, over
the whole country. A third and more permanent Tartar dynasty, that of
the Manchus, was yet to come. With the striking story of the rise a