Heretofore we have seen people brought under tribute and some faint efforts made to hold them. Now we have reached the imperial period of Assyrian development when the government, established at home, sought to increase its actual possessions abroad, and to bind them to the original kingdom with strong ties. An alliance had been made among the sea-coast states, with Judah at the head. This had been formed, of course, to stay the western tide of Assyrian power. Notwithstanding, the king of Samaria yielded the moment the Assyrian army drew near, paying the tribute with no display of force. Judah alone seems to have remained unyielding and undisturbed. Thirty thousand captives were brought into these districts to find new homes, while many of the natives were deported to make room for them. Several methods were employed by Assyria to make conquests lasting. If a tribe or city acknowledged the Assyrian king as conqueror, no recourse was made to arms; an annual tribute was usually imposed and an Assyrian governor placed in the territory to hold revolts in check and to generally represent the empire, of which the province was now a part. The native king was frequently allowed to rule over the people, even though his main duty in some instances seems to have been to raise the required tribute. If, on the other hand, a tribe or city resisted, a war or siege followed. One battle might reduce a tribe to submission; in the case of a city, all supplies were shut off, and eventually the inhabitants would be starved into surrender, whereupon, the city was often made "land for the plough" by the exasperated king, and the people subjected to all sorts of cruel punishments. When a kingdom was conquered, it was thought desirable to destroy its old patriotism by removing all chances for its development. With that end in view, some of its citizens would be sent out of the country to seek homes in other lands, while those from distant regions would be brought in to take their places. Naturally the newcomers knew nothing of the traditions of their newly found country and cared not at all to fight for them. In this way, nations ceased to retain their venerated customs, but as the kings often record: "I made them all to speak one language"--and that Assyrian. One far-reaching effect of this policy was that when a revolt did break out in some district, it no longer spread like wildfire in all directions, but the governor of the province was himself able to put down any uprising, and the colonists recently imported, caring nothing for the older inhabitants, could be depended upon to help him. Tiglath-Pileser III. turned now to Gaza, whose king fled to Egypt there to get aid in behalf of his state. Deserted, the city soon surrendered and the Assyrian king, having sent the old gods home to Assyria, installed Assyrian gods in the temples. Thence he marched to Palestine.