ABSTRACT
MOVING the capital to Kanghwa in the early summer of 1232 must have required the shuttling to and fro of a great many ships, large and small, but it was completed with remarkable speed and efficiency, each of the city's five districts being allotted certain days within which its households were to be shifted. Inevitably, it involved the assassination of the Mongol envoys to prevent them from sending a warning, and as soon as this became known a punitive expedition was organized, again led by Sartai. He soon reached Kaes ng where, apart from a small military unit left to keep order, little remained, and the dispatches he sent to Kanghwa demanding the King's return drew no response. With no equipment for an amphibious assault, he embarked instead on a skilful campaign of psychological warfare.
