Gen. Yi T‘ă-jo was having a lively time in the north with the Yŭ-jin people. Their general was Ho-bal-do. His helmet was four pounds in weight. He wore a suit of red armor and he rode a black horse. Riding forth from the ranks he shouted insulting words to Gen. Yi and dared him to single combat. The latter accepted the gage and soon the two were at work striking blows that no ordinary man could withstand. Neither could gain the advantage until by a lucky chance the horse of Gen. Ho stumbled, and before the rider could recover himself Gen. Yi had an arrow in his neck. But the helmet saved him from a serious wound. Then Gen. Yi shot his horse under him. At sight of this Gen. Ho’s soldiers rushed up, as did also those of Gen. Yi, and the fight became general. The result was an overwhelming victory for Koryŭ. These flattering statements about the founder of the present dynasty are probably, in many cases, the result of hero-worship but the reader has the privilege of discounting them at discretion. The Ming court knew all about Koryŭ’s coquetting with the Mongols and sent a severe letter warning her that the consequences of this would be disastrous. The king was frightened and sent an envoy in haste to the Ming court to “make it right,” but the emperor cast him into prison and sent demanding five years’ tribute at once. We may well believe that this demand was not complied with. That there were two opinions in Japan as regards Koryŭ is shown by the fact that immediately after that government sent back 200 Koryŭ citizens, who had been carried away captive, a sanguinary expedition lauded on the coast of Kang-wŭn Province near the town of Kang-neung and ravaged right away north as far as Nang-ch‘ŭn. The king, in partial compliance with the emperor’s demands sent, in the spring of 1385, 2000 horses to China. It was the faithful Chöng Mong-ju who accompanied this peace offering, and when he arrived in Nanking the emperor saw by the date of his commission that he had come in extreme haste. This mollified his resentment to such an extent that he gave the envoy a favorable hearing and that careful and judicious man made such good use of the opportunity that friendly intercourse was again established between China and her wayward vassal. The state of affairs in Koryŭ was now beyond description. The _kwaga_, a literary degree of some importance, was frequently conferred upon infants still in their mothers’ arms. The people, with fine sarcasm, called this the “Pink Baby-powder Degree.” The king was struggling to pay up his arrears of tribute, but he could not secure the requisite number of horses. In lieu of these he sent large quantities of silver and cloth. The pendulum had now swung to the other extreme and a Mongol envoy was denied audience with the king.