Meanwhile Ts'u and semi-barbarian Wu were contesting possession of Ch'en, and the King of Ts'u tried to secure by presents the services of Confucius, who had prudently transferred himself to a safe place in the open country lying between Ch'en and Ts'ai The ministers of these two orthodox states, fearing the results to their own people should Confucius (as he seems in fact to have contemplated) decide to accept the Ts'u offer, with a police force surrounded the Confucian party; they were only able to escape from starvation by sending word to the King, who at once sent a detachment to free the sage. He would have conferred a fief upon Confucius, but his ministers advised him of the danger of such a proceeding, seeing that the Chou dynasty conquered the empire after beginning with a petty fief, and that the great kingdom of Ts'u itself had arrived at its present greatness after beginning with a still smaller fief. Accordingly the sage decided to return to Wei (489), where several of his disciples received official posts, and where Confucius himself seems to have acted as unofficial adviser, especially in the matter of a contested succession. All this competition for, or at least jealousy of, Confucius' services proves that his repute as an administrator (not necessarily as a philosopher) was already widely spread. The following year the King of Wu appeared before the Lu capital, and one of Confucius' former disciples holding office there (the one who went in advance in 492) just succeeded in moderating the barbarians' demands, which, however, only took the comparatively harmless "spiritual" form of orthodox sacrificial victims. [Illustration: Map 1. The dotted line shows the present Grand Canal; the part between the Yang-tsz and Hwai Rivers was made by the King of Wu. The part north of the Hwai is chiefly the channel of the River Sz, flowing from the Lu capital into the Hwai. 2. The old Hwai embouchure, running from the Lake Hung-tseh to the sea, no longer exists; it dissipates itself in canals and salt flats. 3. From 1852 the Yellow River has flowed north as depicted in the other maps. For several centuries previous to 1851 it flowed as shown by the long-link-and-dot line, and took possession of the now extinct Hwai embouchure. 4. The crosses mark capitals. Ts'ai (two marked) and Hii (one marked) frequently shifted capitals.]