The troops accordingly, when they arrived at the gates of the town, seized and disarmed the guards, and then marched in, brandishing their weapons, and uttering loud shouts and outcries, which excited first a feeling of astonishment and then of terror among the inhabitants. The alarm soon spread to the palace. Indeed, the troops themselves soon reached and surrounded the palace, and began thundering at the gates to gain admission. They soon forced their way in. Hujaku, in the mean time, terrified and panic-stricken, had fled from the palace into the gardens, in hopes to make his escape by the garden walls. The soldiers pursued him. In his excitement and agitation he leaped down from a wall too high for such a descent, and, in his fall, broke his leg. He lay writhing helplessly on the ground when the soldiers came up. They were wild and furious with the excitement of pursuit, and they killed him with their spears where he lay. Kan-ki took the head of his old enemy and carried it to the capital, with the intention of offering it to the emperor, and also of surrendering himself to the officers of justice, in order, as he said, that he might be put to death for the crime of which he had been guilty in heading a military revolt and killing his superior officer. By all the laws of war this was a most heinous and a wholly unpardonable offense. But the emperor was heartily glad that the turbulent and unmanageable old general was put out of the way, for a man so unprincipled, so ambitious, and so reckless as Hujaku was is always an object of aversion and terror to all who have any thing to do with him. The emperor accordingly issued a proclamation, in which he declared that Hujaku had been justly put to death in punishment for many crimes which he had committed, and soon afterward he appointed Kan-ki commander-in-chief of the forces in his stead. CHAPTER XVI. CONQUESTS IN CHINA. 1211-1216 War continued.--Rich and fertile country.--Grand invasion.--Simultaneous attack by four armies.--Enthusiasm of the troops.--Captives.--Immense plunder.--Dreadful ravages.--Base use made of the captives.--Extent of Mongul conquests.--The siege of Yen-king.--Proposed terms of arrangement.--Difference of opinion.--Consultation on the subject.--The conditions accepted.--Terms of peace agreed upon.--Consultations.--The emperor's uneasiness.--Abandonment of the capital.--Revolt of the guards.--The siege of the capital renewed.--Wan-yen and Mon-yen.--Their perplexity.--Suicide proposed.--Wan-yen in despair.--His suicide.--Mon-yen's plan.--Petition of the wives.--Sacking of the city by Mingan.--Massacres.--Fate of Mon-yen.--Treasures.--Conquests extended.--Governors appointed.