ABSTRACT
In the year A. D. 503 the kingdom of Wei was terribly afflicted with a severe famine in Shen-si. The soil of that province consists mainly of loess which, under favourable circumstances, produces fairly good crops. In the year A. D. 508 the king of Wei, ambitious of extending his territories, secretly equipped a large army and sent it under the command of two of his best generals to invest the important town of Tsung-li, in Kiangnan. In the year A. D. 513 Fu, the son of Suan Wu Ti, the king of Wei, was publicly acknowledged as the heir to the throne. Wu Ti, who was always ambitious of extending his empire at the expense of Wei, as the latter was of doing the same at his, made a determined effort to gain possession, if possible, of the important town of Shenyang, situated on the river Hwai.
