MILITARY REWARDS. 177 He, however, disclaimed all the honour, saying that this belonged entirely to Yingwei, who had planned every successful move. The emperor therefore advanced Yingwei six grades ; annulled his office of Tsushu of Daifang, to make him a great minister ; built a fine house for him in Changan ; presented his wife and children with numerous and splendid gifts ; wrote an autograph letter, stamped with the principal seal of the empire; and appointed him ruler of Baiji, and commander of alt the forces thereia A eunuch said that Yingwei must have been guilty of some great crime, when he went to the wars in a white (mourning) dress ; but that he deserved all his honours, having proved himself faithful to the last degree. He added that Yinyuen would never have so readily disclaimed all honour for himself, were he not himself a great minister and an able man. The condition of Baiji after the war was deplorable ; all her cities were destroyed and the houses burnt down. Yingwei ordered the innumerable bones and dead bodies to be decently buried ; and then commanded the people to build their houses and till their lands. And in a short time Baiji was as flourishing as ever, and the people rejoiced over the land ; while Yingwei constantly dangled Qaoli before the eyes of his soldiers, who could attack from the east, while the Liaotung Chinese could second them from the Yaloo. The Tang soldiers were successful at the same time in their expeditions against Dashu, where glass was discovered (in Arabia?), and the east of Persia, districts of Ansi, as well as over Solomun, beyond the southern border. These various Tang armies mustered 400,000 men. But the emperor's domestic affidrs were not so prosperous ; for Empress Woo, long plotting in secret for supreme power, had her plans now discovered, and several of her accomplices were brought to justice. The empress was wild with indignation, and was not in the least appeased by the weak avowal that the emperor, her husband, had been urged to extreme measures by his ministers, who were now punished^ while the plotters, her favourites, were set at liberty. In 664, the affidrs of Gaoli became complicated by the death
