eOCHINCHINA. 
273 
" mediately repair to HuCf where my rank and character will 
*' procure me the command of an army, at the head of which 
" I shall hereafter be proud to meet you." The King, 
struck with his bold and open conduct, ordered him to be 
untied, directed a guard of soldiers to escort him to the 
northern frontier ; and the following year this very man was 
the second in command at the siege of Quin-nong, where he 
lost his Hfe. The son of Yin-yac was completely subdued, 
and the whole country, as far as Turon bay, submitted to the 
arms of its lawful sovereign. The other young usurper at 
Hu6 still, however, kept possession of the kingdom of Tung- 
quin^ against which Caung-shung v/as preparing a formidable 
armament in the year 1800. Though no authentic accounts 
since this period have reached England, there are grounds 
for believing that he has reconquered the whole of that 
country. 
From the year 1790, in which Caung-shung returned to 
Cochinchina, to 1800, he was allowed to enjoy only two 
years of peace, 1797 and 1798 : and these two years were, 
in all probability, the most important of his hitherto trouble- 
some reign. Under the auspices of the Bishop Adran, who 
in every important undertaking was his oracle, he turned his 
attention to the improvement of his country. He estabUshed 
a manufactory of saltpetre in Fen-tan (Tsiompa of the charts), 
opened roads of communication between important posts and 
considerable towns, and planted them on each side with trees 
for shade. He encouraged the cultivation of the areca nut 
and the betel pepper, the plantations of which had been de- 
stroyed by the army of the usurper. He held out rewards 
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