over the neighbouring states.  As we have seen already, he annexed the “Earlier Yen” realm of the proto-Mongols (370), but he also annihilated the Chinese “Earlier Liang” realm (376) and in the same year the small Turkish Toba realm.  This made him supreme over all north China and stronger than any alien ruler before him.  He had in his possession both the ancient capitals, Ch’ang-an and Loyang; the whole of the rich agricultural regions of north China belonged to him; he also controlled the routes to Turkestan.  He himself had a Chinese education, and he attracted Chinese to his court; he protected the Buddhists; and he tried in every way to make the whole country culturally Chinese.  As soon as Fu Chien had all north China in his power, as Liu Yuean and his Huns had done before him, he resolved, like Liu Yuean, to make every effort to gain the mastery over all China, to become emperor of China.  Liu Yuean’s successors had not had the capacity for which such a venture called; Fu Chien was to fail in it for other reasons.  Yet, from a military point of view, his chances were not bad.  He had far more soldiers under his command than the Chinese “Eastern Chin dynasty” which ruled the south, and his troops were undoubtedly better.  In the time of the founder of the Tibetan dynasty the southern empire had been utterly defeated by his troops (354), and the south Chinese were no stronger now.

Against them the north had these assets:  the possession of the best northern tillage, the control of the trade routes, and “Chinese” culture and administration.  At the time, however, these represented only potentialities and not tangible realities.  It would have taken ten to twenty years to restore the capacities of the north after its devastation in many wars, to reorganize commerce, and to set up a really reliable administration, and thus to interlock the various elements and consolidate the various tribes.  But as early as 383 Fu Chien started his great campaign against the south, with an army of something like a million men.  At first the advance went well.  The horsemen from the north, however, were men of the mountain country, and in the soggy plains of the Yangtze region, cut up by hundreds of water-courses and canals, they suffered from climatic and natural conditions to which they were unaccustomed.  Their main strength was still in cavalry; and they came to grief.  The supplies and reinforcements for the vast army failed to arrive in time; units did not reach the appointed places at the appointed dates.  The southern troops under the supreme command of Hsieh Hsuean, far inferior in numbers and militarily of no great efficiency, made surprise attacks on isolated units before these were in regular formation.  Some they defeated, others they bribed; they spread false reports.  Fu Chien’s army was seized with widespread panic, so that he was compelled to retreat in haste.  As he did so it became evident that his empire had no inner stability:  in a very short time it fell into fragments.  The south Chinese had played no direct part in this, for in spite of their victory they were not strong enough to advance far to the north.