The Protectors, when the Emperors degenerated,
made a great show always of chastising or threatening the other
vassals on account of their neglect to honour the Emperor.
Thus in 656 the First Protector (Ts'i) made war upon Ts'u for not
sending the usual tribute of sedge to the Emperor, for use in
clarifying the sacrificial wine. Previously, in 663, after assisting the
state of Yen against the Tartars, Ts'i had requested Yen "to go
on paying tribute, as was done during the reigns of the two first
Chou Emperors, and to continue the wise government of the
Duke of Shao." In 581, when Wu's pretensions were rising in a
menacing degree, the King of Wu said: "The Emperor complains to me
that not a single _Ki_ (_i.e._ not a single closely-related
state) will come to his assistance or send him tribute, and thus
his Majesty has nothing to offer to the Emperor Above, or to the
Ghosts and Spirits."
Land thus received in vassalage from the Emperor could not, or
ought not to, be alienated without imperial sanction.
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