Pagina 113 de 266

The natural result was that the fighting spirit of his soldiers

was utterly quenched, and when the loyalists made an attack from

windward with fireships, all striving with the utmost ardor to be

first in the fray, Huan Hsuan's forces were routed, had to burn

all their baggage and fled for two days and nights without

stopping. Chang Yu tells a somewhat similar story of Chao

Ying-ch'i, a general of the Chin State who during a battle with

the army of Ch'u in 597 B.C. had a boat kept in readiness for him

on the river, wishing in case of defeat to be the first to get

across.]

(3) a hasty temper, which can be provoked by insults;