I 
252 COCHINCHINA. 
sovereign to his throne. With this view he ordered the Vice- 
roy of Canton to march immediately at the^ head of an army 
of 100,000 men. Long-niang^ by means of his spies, was 
fully apprized of all the movements of this immense army. 
Having ascertained their line of march, he sent out detach- 
ments to plunder and destroy the tOwns and villages through 
which it had to pass ; and the country being thus laid waste, 
the Chinese army, long before it had even reached the 
frontier of Tung-quin, was distressed by want of provisions, 
and obliged to fall back. 
The usurper, who was a much better general than our 
friend Foo-chang-tong, (whom we met at the court of Pekin,) 
the commander of this army, continually kept harassing the 
rear of the Chinese troops, as they retreated ; and so much did 
they suffer in this ill-conducted expedition, by fatigue, by fa- 
mine and the sword, that not less than fifty thousand men are 
said to have perished, without a general battle having been 
fought. Driven back Avith the remains of his army within a hun- 
dred miles of Canton, the Viceroy, in order to prevent a further 
loss of men and, what to him was of more importance, loss of 
character and certain disgrace, concluded that the most pru- 
dent step he could now take would be that of opening a 
negociation with the usurper. Long-niang, assuming the tone 
of a. conqueror, boldly declared that, having been called to 
the throne of Tung-quin by the will of heaven and the voice 
oP'ihe people, he was resolved to maintain his right to the 
last extremity ; that he had 200,000 men in Tung-quin, and 
as many in Cochin china, ready to lose the last drop of their 
blood in his support ; and that he was now no longer Long- 
7 ■ 
