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Volume 254 Biographies 41: Lai Ta, Mu Zhan, Mang Yi Tu, Fu Ni Lie, Bi Liketu, A Mi Da, La Ha Da, Gen Te, Xi Bochen

Chapter 254 of 清史稿 · Draft History of Qing
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Chapter 254
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1
}}滿
Laita, of the Namuduru clan, belonged to the Plain White Banner and was the fourth son of Kanguli. At fourteen he received appointment as a third-class imperial guard. He was removed from office for misconduct. During the Chongde reign he joined the expedition against Ming, helped besiege Jinzhou, and fought enemy troops at Songshan and Xingshan, winning repeated victories in the field. In assaults on Xincheng, Gaoyang, Bazhou, Shouguang, and Boxing he was always first over the wall and took five wounds in the process. He received rewards and was named a vanguard guard.
2
西
In the first year of Shunzhi he marched against Li Zicheng, routed him at Yipianshi, and pursued him as far as Ansu and Qingdu. He was made a Vanguard company commander. Serving under Prince of Yu Dorgon, he campaigned across Henan and Shaanxi and won distinction again and again. The next year the army turned south: Yangzhou fell, Jiangning was taken, and the Ming Prince of Fu was routed at Wuhu; Laita was granted a hereditary captaincy. In the third year he followed Prince Duanzhong Bolo into Fujian. When the Ming Prince of Tang fled to Tingzhou, Laita led the force that took the city and was promoted to deputy company commander. The Ming Prince of Gui still held Hunan. In the sixth year he marched with Prince of Zheng Jirhalang on Hengzhou and defeated the Ming generals Tao Yangyong and Hu Yiqing; captured Qiyang, then again defeated Zhou Jintang, Wang Jincai, and Hu Yiqing; routed the Ming general Tan Hong and seized Daozhou; and finally defeated Hu Yiqing and the Ming general Jiao Lian and took Quanzhou. He rose in stages to second-class commandant and hereditary assistant commandant of his company. In the eleventh year, when the Ming general Li Dingguo struck Guangdong, he served under Zhumala to lift the siege of Xinhui, was raised to third-class commandant-in-chief, and became Vanguard banner commander. In the sixteenth year Zheng Chenggong menaced Jiangning, and Laita marched with Pacification General of Annan Dasu against him. When they arrived Chenggong had already been beaten and had fled, so the army continued into Fujian. In the seventeenth year the army was defeated at Xiamen; he lost his post and his hereditary rank. In the second year of Kangxi he served as acting vanguard commander. At Maolu Mountain he fought Li Laiheng and his followers and won every battle. In the eighth year he was made Mongol lieutenant-general of the Plain White Banner.
3
退
In the thirteenth year Geng Jingzhong rose in rebellion and sent Ma Jiuyu, Zeng Yangxing, and Bai Xianzhong against Zhejiang in three columns. Laita was named Pacification General of the South and marched to their aid. When the rebels attacked Jinhua he sent Mahada, Yatali, Laha, and others to repulse them and recovered Yiwu and Zhuji. Jingzhong's general Wang Guobin held the Jinhua–Quzhou border to back the other rebel forces. Laita and Governor Li Zhifang were at Quzhou when Jingzhong's general Zhou Lie came down from Changshan with twenty thousand troops. Laita sent Hutu to block them at Jiaoyuan and killed or captured more than half their force. When Jingzhong's general Sang Ming attacked Quzhou with fifty thousand men, Laita met him in battle and took more than ten thousand heads. In the fourteenth year he led the attack on Jiuyu, won five straight engagements, routed his general Li Tingkui, and burned the wooden fort where the rebels had camped. When Prince Kang Jieshu arrived at Quzhou, Laita surrendered the general's seal as regulations required and served as lieutenant-general on the staff. Jiuyu had fallen back to Jiulong Mountain and posted ten thousand men at Daxitan to guard his supply lines. Jieshu ordered Laita to strike; that night troops crossed the river, fell on Jiuyu's camp, and routed it. Jiuyu fled with only thirty horsemen, and Changshan was taken back. He led Mahada and others through Xianxia Pass and captured Pucheng; then with Jiletabu defeated the rebels at Jianyang and took the city. As the army advanced on Jianning and closed on Yanping, Jingzhong at last submitted.
4
滿
Zhangzhou, Quanzhou, and Xinghua were then all held by Zheng Jing, Chenggong's son. Jingzhong guided Prince Fulata's army against Zheng Jing. In the sixteenth year he and Pacification General of Ninghai Lahada retook Xinghua and accepted the surrender of Xianyou. He marched on the rebel Liu Jinzhong at Chaozhou, and Jinzhong submitted as well. Prince Kang Jieshu recommended that Laita again be named Pacification General of the South and left to hold Chaozhou. In the seventeenth year Liu Guoxuan, a general of Zheng Jing, struck Quanzhou; Laita united with Governor Yao Qisheng to relieve the city, retook Changtai, fought at Zhangzhou, and routed the foe. In the eighteenth year Guoxuan invaded again; Laita met him and put him to flight. In the nineteenth year Haicheng fell and Zheng Jing withdrew to Taiwan. Laita was made Manchu lieutenant-general of his banner while remaining in charge of Chaozhou.
5
Though Shang Zhixin had submitted, he still nursed treacherous designs; back in Guangdong he once more defied the throne. Lieutenant-general Wang Guodong was the first to expose him; the court ordered Laita to reassure Zhixin. Zhixin had murdered Guodong and risen in revolt; Laita marched out, defeated him, and took him prisoner.
6
滿西 西 C7 西
Wu Shifan still held Yunnan while Grand General Prince Zhangtai advanced on Guizhou from Hunan. The emperor named Laita Grand Pacification General of the South and gave him command of Manchu and Han troops entering Yunnan from Guangxi. Laita's column moved from Tianzhou and Sicheng toward Xilong, winning every engagement along the way. Shimenkan, thirty li from Anlong, was steep and difficult country; Shifan's generals He Jizu and others barred the pass with a large army. Laita sent Xifu, Lebei, Maqi, and others forward while he and Governor Jinguangzu took a detachment along a back trail to strike from behind. On New Year's Day of the twentieth year, reckoning the rebels off guard, he ordered the vanguard forward; Jizu and his men rushed out to fight; Laita's rear column scaled the heights, and the two wings crushed the rebels, took the pass, and recovered Anlong. Jizu fell back with Zhan Yang, Wang Yougong, and others to hold Huangcaoba with twenty thousand troops. Laita led a furious assault from morning until mid-afternoon, stormed twenty-two stockades, captured Yang and Yougong with more than a thousand of their men, and seized their idols and horses as well. News of the victory brought a warm edict of praise: the emperor noted that Laita had pushed deep from Guangxi, arrived ahead of the other columns, and broken the enemy first.
7
At Qujing he dispatched Xifu, Maqi, Shuota, and others in separate columns to seize Zhanyi, Yunlong, Songming, and other prefectures, along with Yilong post and Yanglin. Zhangtai's army came up from Guizhou and the two hosts joined. Thirty li from the provincial capital, Shifan sent Guo Zhuangtu and others to meet them with war elephants; Zhangtai held the left and Laita the right. From morning until noon the rebels gave ground and surged back five times in a savage fight. At the Jinzhijiang the elephants panicked and trampled their own ranks; the rebel line shattered, the Qing forces pressed home, and the enemy fled in rout. The army then encamped east of the city at Guihua Temple. In the ninth month Zhao Liangdong marched in from Sichuan and the encirclement was closed. Laita seized Yinding Mountain, brought up artillery, and hammered the walls day and night in relays; Shifan's general Yu Conglong came over. Intelligence showed the garrison was starving and men were eating one another; Laita and his generals ringed the city and pressed the assault. Shifan's own men turned on one another, plotting to hand him over; Shifan took his own life. His generals Xia Guoxiang fled toward Guangnan and Hu Guozhu toward Yunlong. He sent Li Guoliang, Xifu, and others in pursuit; Guoxiang was taken alive and Guozhu hanged himself. Yunnan was fully pacified.
8
西
In the twenty-first year he returned in triumph; the emperor led the court in suburban honors west of the Lugou Bridge and received him with the embrace-and-audience ceremony. In the twenty-second year he was accused of concealing palace women seized from Shang Zhixin's household; the matter was referred to the appropriate offices for investigation. The emperor ruled that Laita's great services outweighed petty faults and that he was not to be punished on that account. The Board of Rites recommended dismissal and punishment; the emperor commuted the sentence to demotion and forfeiture of salary. He died in the twenty-third year and was posthumously titled Xiangyi. In the twenty-fifth year he was posthumously raised to first-class commandant-in-chief.
9
使
His son Feiyeleng inherited the rank. In the fifth year of Yongzheng the Yongzheng emperor posthumously enfeoffed him as first-class duke and had his grandson Bo'ertun inherit. The edict read: "In taking Yunnan, Laita rendered outstanding service. At the time his faults offset his merit, so no exceptional reward was given—so that men who had earned glory would learn caution and restraint and not grow arrogant on their achievements. Many years have passed since then, and later generations have taken the lesson to heart. A special posthumous enfeoffment is therefore granted to show remembrance of a faithful servant of old." In the ninth year his ducal designation was fixed as Baoji.
10
滿
Muzhan, of the Nara clan, belonged to the Plain Yellow Banner and was a son of Nanchu. Nanchu's career is recorded in the biography of Yangginu. Muzhan began as an imperial guard and also served as company commander. In the sixteenth year of Shunzhi he served as acting gabushan commander. He garrisoned Yunnan under Lieutenant-general Zhuoluo and distinguished himself in pacifying the Yuanjiang chieftain; he was granted third-class commandant and made vice-commander of his banner.
11
西西 西 西 西 西 西
In the winter of the twelfth year of Kangxi, when Wu Sangui rebelled, Heyeh was named Pacification General of Anxi to advance into Sichuan through Shaanxi, with Muzhan as acting vanguard commander on his staff. In the second month of the thirteenth year the army reached Shaanxi. Sichuan governor Luo Sen and military commissioner Zheng Jiaolin had gone over to the rebels, and Regional Commander Tan Hong held Yangping Pass in revolt. Muzhan and Xi'an general Warka led the vanguard, routed the rebels at Yehuling, and seized Yangping Pass. Regional Commander Wu Zhimao rebelled and held Baoning; Muzhan advanced against him and defeated him again and again. When the rebels cut his supply line he drew back to Hanzhong. Military commissioner Wang Fuchen rose at Ningqiang in concert with Zhimao and Tan Hong. Muzhan withdrew to Xi'an with Grand General Prince Tonge. In the fourteenth year the court pressed Tonge to crush Fuchen and named Muzhan Pacification General of Anxi in Heyeh's place; he led the armies forward in concert. Fuchen's general Gao Ding held the Longzhou riverbank to meet them; Muzhan and Dalishan beat him back. He pressed on to Qinzhou, closed the siege, and Fuchen's general Chen Wance surrendered the city. Muzhan then helped military commissioner Zhang Yong take Gongchang and rejoined the main force for the campaign against Pingliang. In the fifteenth year the emperor replaced Tonge with Tu Hai as grand general, and Fuchen submitted. Muzhan mopped up the remaining rebels and, one after another, restored Xihe, Qingshui, Cheng, Li, and the neighboring counties. Fuchen's commanders Zhou Yangmin and others came over at Qingyang.
12
西 西
In the ninth month he was called to court, raised to lieutenant-general's rank, given the seal of General Who Campaigns South, and ordered to lead the Shaanxi and Henan forces into Huguang against Wu Sangui, with Taledai and Ekexun under his command. In the first month of the sixteenth year he arrived at Jingzhou. Grand General Prince Shuncheng Lekedehun held Jingzhou; Prince Beile Shangshan had Yuezhou under siege; Prince An Yuele was investing Changsha; and Prince Jian Labu guarded Ji'an. The emperor ordered Muzhan to join the assault on Changsha, and when his troops arrived they encamped at Amiling. Wu Sangui had first planned to cross at Songzi and strike Jingzhou, yet years of deadlock had denied him any opening. When word came that fresh troops had reached Changsha, he rushed back from Songzi to relieve the city and made camp on Yuelu Mountain on the far bank. He sent Ma Bao and other commanders to hold positions outside the walls, cut deep trenches, strew iron caltrops, and form elephant lines for the defense. He then marched out from Changde in person, was beaten by Muzhan, and fled to Hengzhou. The emperor ordered Muzhan to move his army and unite with Prince Jian to seize Hengzhou. In the tenth month they took Chaling and restored You, Anren, Ling, Yongning, and the surrounding counties. In the spring of the seventeenth year they seized Chenzhou, and the counties around it fell in turn. Muzhan held Chenzhou and posted Lieutenant-general Yilibu at Yongxing. Seeking a corridor into eastern Guangdong to link with the armies of Shang Zhixin and Sun Yanling, Wu Sangui sent Ma Bao, Hu Guozhu, and other commanders with every crack unit against Yongxing. Muzhan sent Hakasan and Shuodai to the relief. Labu was still at Ji'an, and Muzhan asked the throne to press him into the field. In the sixth month Yilibu and Hakasan were killed in action. Shuodai withdrew into the city to hold it; Labu sent Sakicha to reinforce and wrote Muzhan asking for more men. Muzhan answered that Prince Jian had charge of operations at Yongxing. Labu reported the exchange, and the emperor censured Muzhan for obstinacy. Ma Bao and Hu Guozhu hammered Yongxing for more than twenty days without success; when news came of Wu Sangui's death they pulled back to Hengzhou. Muzhan pursued with Bushuku and others and routed them at Leiyang. In the eighteenth year Wu Sangui's general Wu Guogui was overthrown by a fellow officer and fled to Yongzhou; Muzhan ran him down, captured the city, and brought Daozhou, Changning, Xintian, Yongming, Jianghua, and Dong'an under control. The column crossed into Guangxi and took Quanzhou, Guanyang, Xing'an, and Gongcheng. The court ordered them back to settle Hunan; they pushed on and seized Xinning. Wu Sangui's generals Guo Zhuangtu and others installed Wu Sangui's grandson Wu Shifan in Guizhou.
13
西 祿 西 西
In the eleventh month the emperor named Imperial Prince Zhangtai Grand General for Pacifying Distant Rebels to recover Yunnan and Guizhou, with Muzhan on his staff. In the second month of the nineteenth year Yuanzhou was restored. In the tenth month they took Zhenyuan and brought the Pianqiao and Xinglong garrisons to heel. They pressed forward, seized Pingyue, and entered Guiyang. Wu Shifan fled into Yunnan. In the eleventh month they recovered the prefectures of Zunyi, Anshun, Shiqian, Duyun, and Sinan. In the first month of the twentieth year Wu Shifan's commanders Xia Guoxiang, Gao Qilong, Wang Hui, Yang Yingxuan, and others gathered twenty thousand men to give battle and camped on the mountain southwest of Pingyuan. Muzhan and provincial military commissioner Zhao Lai led a furious attack; Gao Qilong and his fellows broke and scattered, Wang Hui submitted, and Pingyuan was retaken. He sent Mang Yilu and other commanders after the fugitives, restored Dading, and Yang Yingxuan came over as well. They marched into Yunnan, united with the Guangxi force, and made camp at Guihua Temple. Zhuangtu sallied through the heavy pass with war elephants drawn up and struck the Qing line. Laita and his officers closed from both sides while Muzhan fought hardest of all; the elephants panicked, turned on their own ranks, and trampled them down. The Qing forces pressed the rout; Zhuangtu pulled his men in with only twenty-seven left and bolted back into the city. In the ninth month the Sichuan column arrived; Governor-General Cai Yurong forced the heavy pass while Muzhan took Yuhuang Pavilion and hammered the Eastern and Western Temples. Wu Shifan and Zhuangtu both took their own lives. Muzhan entered the city, quieted the people who remained, inventoried rebel holdings, and memorialized the court. On the army's return he was made Mongol lieutenant-general of the Plain Yellow Banner and a grand councilor.
14
In the twenty-second year a posthumous review held that he had filed false battle reports at Baoning, had not led from the front at Pingliang, and had failed to save Yongxing; the penalty was death by strangulation and confiscation of his estate. The emperor said, "Muzhan is guilty, yet his record runs to more than two hundred and sixty engagements—the proposed sentence is too harsh." He ordered the case reopened; the reviewers then asked that he be stripped of office, lose his hereditary post, and have wife and children enrolled in the Imperial Household Department, but the emperor commanded that only his rank be taken and the rest be remitted. Before long he died.
15
滿
Mangyitu, of the Zhaojia clan, belonged to the Bordered White Banner. His father Wudachan had campaigned against Ming in the Chongde era, stormed Renqiu and Jiyang, and been first over the walls at both places; for this he received the title baturu and a hereditary company commandership. Once the army had crossed into China proper, he was made garrison commander of Taiyuan. He died.
16
西
Mangyitu succeeded to the family post and was raised to third-class commandant. In the fifteenth year of Shunzhi he marched under Pacification General of the South Zhuobote into Guizhou, advanced from Duyun to the Pan River, and routed the Ming general Li Dingguo. The army then turned to pacify Yunnan. In the second year of Kangxi, Li Laiheng and other survivors of Li Zicheng held out on Maolu Mountain in Hubei; Mangyitu served under Pacification General of the West Murima and took the position. After the victorious return he was named assistant commander at Jiangning.
17
西 西
In the thirteenth year, when Wu Sangui overran Hunan, Mangyitu again served under Pacification General of the South Nyahha at the siege of Yuezhou, shelled the rebel fleet, and drove them off at Qiliqiao. In the fourteenth year Wu Sangui turned the Guangxi provincial commander Ma Xiong, and four of Guangdong's ten prefectures fell to the rebels. Shang Kexi appealed for reinforcements, and the emperor sent Nyahha south into Guangdong with Mangyitu as acting deputy lieutenant-general at Zhaoqing. They had scarcely arrived when Shang Kexi's son Zhixin had already gone over to Wu Sangui. In the fifteenth year Fan Qihan and other Wu Sangui generals closed on Zhaoqing; Mangyitu cut his way out, fighting a running withdrawal, and regrouped in Jiangxi. When he learned that Huang Shibiao and other Wu Sangui generals were besieging Xinfeng, he rushed to relieve the city, sent a detachment to take the enemy in the rear, and with the garrison crushed them in a pincer; the rebels broke and fled, and he joined Pacification General of the South Shuxu in raising the siege of Nankang.
18
西 西
In the third month of the sixteenth year the emperor left Shuxu to garrison Ganzhou, made Mangyitu acting deputy lieutenant-general at Jiangning, and transferred to him the seal of Pacification General of the South so that he might lead the campaign to recover Guangdong, with Ehene and Muchenge on his staff. From Nankang he pushed on to Nan'an and then Nanxiong; Wu Sangui's garrison commanders surrendered one after another, and Zhixin too submitted with his household and followers. Mangyitu crossed the mountains into Shaozhou, a city on the backbone of the Five Ridges and the hinge between Jiangxi and Guangdong—ground no rebel army could afford to yield. Mangyitu turned the city's northern face to the enemy's line of attack and raised the earthen ramparts higher; by night he lowered men over the walls to dredge the moat and link it to open water, and sent detachments to sever Guangzhou's supply lines. Hu Guozhu and Ma Bao, Wu Sangui's generals, assaulted the city with more than ten thousand men, and Mangyitu beat them back again and again; then they seized the west bank, choked off river supply, and from fortified positions on Lianhua Mountain shelled the walls until the parapets were shattered. Echu, the Jiangning general, came up with reinforcements; Mangyitu sallied forth and caught the enemy between two forces, overran four camps, pursued them to Maofeng Mountain, and after fighting through the night broke them completely. The enemy west of the river pulled back as well, and the supply route was open again. Mangyitu pressed the pursuit, routed the enemy at Fengmen'ao, and took more than two thousand heads. After taking Lechang, Renhua, and the surrounding counties, he returned to hold Shaozhou.
19
西
At that time Fu Honglie, governor of Guangxi, held the seal of General for Pacifying Barbarians and Destroying Bandits and commanded five thousand militia. Fearing Fu Honglie was overmatched, Mangyitu sent Deputy Lieutenant-General Ehene with eight thousand men to Wuzhou to support him; Zhixin, however, would not provide transport, and the troops lingered for weeks without gathering. In the second month of the seventeenth year Mangyitu invested Pingle, but the rebels held him off on land and water and he fell back to Zhongshan Town; he and Fu Honglie then filed rival accusations, and the emperor dismissed the charges against both men. Mangyitu withdrew to Wuzhou, accepted responsibility, and asked to surrender his command; the emperor rebuked him sternly and told him to keep his post and redeem himself with victories. In the spring of the eighteenth year Wu Sangui's grand-nephew Shizong struck at Wuzhou; Mangyitu and Fu Honglie united their forces on land and water, defeated the rebels, and retook Guilin. The fuller account appears in Fu Honglie's biography.
20
鹿使
Wu Sangui's general Ma Chengyin surrendered Nanning; Shizong, retreating from Wuzhou, joined him in a combined assault on the city. Nanning was on the verge of collapse when Mangyitu, sick abed, heard the alarm, roused himself, and marched the army at forced pace to its rescue. The rebels massed their elite along the hills behind abatis; Mangyitu sent Echu and Ehene to smash the front while he and Shuxu led the main body forward, having already slipped troops around the mountain to seal the retreat—every man of the enemy force was killed. Shizong, badly wounded, escaped over the mountains with only a few dozen riders. The siege of Nanning was raised. When orders came to push into Yunnan and Guizhou, Mangyitu—doubting Ma Chengyin despite his surrender—memorialized the throne asking to hold Nanning for the time being. The emperor posted Prince Jian Labu at Guilin while Mangyitu waited for Lieutenant-General Xifu's column to arrive before planning the next advance. In the nineteenth year he was made commander of the Guard. Ma Chengyin duly rose again from Liuzhou, and Fu Honglie lost his life. Mangyitu's army halted at Yibin; Ma Chengyin sent an elephant corps against him, but volleys of heavy crossbow bolts sent the beasts stampeding back through their own lines; armored cavalry charged into the chaos and broke the enemy utterly. Ma Chengyin submitted once more, yielding Liuzhou. Mangyitu's illness deepened, and in the eighth month he died in the field.
21
使
Mangyitu's mother had been a woman of principle who taught him never to slaughter prisoners or prey on civilians; he lived by her words all his days, and his contemporaries named him the Benevolent and Righteous General. After his death the people of Nanning painted his likeness and enshrined him in worship. Once peace was restored, the court reopened the charge that he had violated military discipline by withdrawing from Pingle to Wuzhou and recommended confiscation of his estate. The emperor, weighing Mangyitu's long record in battle and his restraint toward civilians, was merciful: he removed the grace-edict hereditary rank but passed the original deputy company commandership and captaincy to Mangyitu's younger brother Boheli. Boheli said, "My brother earned his honors pacifying Guangdong, and the emperor himself commended him—our line ought not inherit this post again." So he placed his nephew Buzhan'a in succession instead. In the first year of Qianlong he received the posthumous name Xiangzhuang.
22
At the outset of Wu Sangui's rebellion, in the first month of the thirteenth year the emperor named Lieutenant-General Nyahha Pacification General of the South; his forces gathered at Dezhou and advanced through Anqing to Wuchang. Shortly afterward he was ordered to serve on the staff and attack Yuezhou; He was soon ordered to push on and seize Nankang, which he took; He again routed Wu Sangui's generals Huang Naizhong and others at Yuanzhou. In the fifth month of the fifteenth year the emperor ordered Harhaqi to lead Jiangning forces against Ji'an, stripped Nyahha of the Pacification General of the South seal, and gave it to Harhaqi; After the defeat at Luozi Mountain, the seal passed instead to Aisin Gioro Shuxu.
23
滿 調 退 退
Aisin Gioro Shuxu belonged to the Plain White Banner and was the great-grandson of Prince Kewu of Wugong, Lidun. In the eighth year of Kangxi he rose from first-class imperial guard to vice-minister of War for pursuit and apprehension, and was then moved to the Board of Civil Appointments. In the thirteenth year he was named acting vanguard commandant on the staff of Pacification General Who Settles the South Hilgen. When Jingzhong's generals seized Fuzhou, Shuxu marched with Hilgen to retake it. In the fourteenth year, when Jingzhong's army came back, he routed them again and recovered Xincheng, Yihuang, Chongren, and Le'an. The emperor sent Shuxu to reinforce Guangdong and made him Pacification General of the South. When the rebel Ma Xiong and Wu Sangui's general Wang Hongxun struck Gaozhou, Shuxu fought them unsuccessfully and fell back to Zhaoqing. In the fifteenth year, when Zhixin rose in rebellion, Shuxu retreated once more to Ganzhou. In the sixteenth year the emperor transferred the Pacification General of the South seal from Shuxu to Mangyitu and sent Mangyitu into Guangdong; Shuxu was left with troops to help Governor Tong Guozhen hold Ganzhou. He was soon reappointed Pacification General of Annam. With Wu Sangui's troops probing Nanxiong and Shaozhou from Yizhang, the emperor sent Mangyitu to Shaozhou to meet them and left Shuxu at Nanxiong in support.
24
西 滿 西 滿
In the seventeenth year Muzhan reported the recent recovery of Chenzhou and Guiyang and asked that Shuxu be ordered to move up and garrison the region. Shuxu replied that Nanxiong and Shaozhou sat at the junction of Hunan, Jiangxi, and Guangdong and must not be abandoned. He was then ordered forward to Wuzhou. In the eighteenth year he received appointment as Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate while still in the field. He soon joined Mangyitu against Wu Shizong and lifted the siege of Nanning. Shuxu claimed illness and asked to withdraw to Zhaoqing; the court recalled him to Beijing. At audience the emperor found him in full health despite his plea; Shuxu was rebuked by edict, held in custody at the Imperial Clan Court, referred to the princes and ministers for judgment, and dismissed from office. In the thirty-fourth year he was recalled as Manchu deputy lieutenant-general of the Bordered Yellow Banner, then made Ningxia general on the staff of Grand General Who Pacifies the Distant Feiyanggu for the campaign against Galdan. When the emperor marched in person in the thirty-fifth year, Shuxu was named General Who Displays Might and took the western route under Feiyanggu. While the emperor was encamped at Dongnisila he called Feiyanggu to council and left Shuxu as acting grand general. For the army's success he received the hereditary captaincy and was raised to Manchu lieutenant-general of the Plain Blue Banner. He retired on grounds of illness. He died.
25
滿 滿 西 西
Lebei, of the Guoluoguo clan, belonged to the Plain Blue Banner and was the son of Eroluosechen. He began as an imperial guard and concurrently managed his company. He rose through the ranks to Manchu lieutenant-general of the Plain Blue Banner. While Wu Sangui's rebellion still raged, the spring of Kangxi sixteen found Prince Jian Labu stalled in Jiangxi and his deputies wanting; the emperor sent Lebei, Hakesan, and Shuku to take over. Soon he was ordered to defend Shaozhou with Jiangning General Echu; then to push on to Wuzhou and, with Fu Honglie, strike Yulin, Beiliu, Xingye, Luchuan, and Bobai—the army's spirits soared, and riding the momentum he took Nanning and Xiangzhou. In the autumn of the nineteenth year Mangyitu died on campaign. Lebei was ordered to succeed him as Pacification General of the South and join Laita in the conquest of Yunnan. At Xilong scouts reported Wu Sangui's generals He Jizu and others holding Shimengkan in Anlong; Lebei and Maqi stormed the vanguard position, carried three peaks in turn, seized the pass, and retook Anlong. He Jizu held Huangcaoba with elephants deployed in battle order; Lebei and Laita routed him there and marched to the gates of Yunnan. Wu Shifan took his own life, and Yunnan was pacified. He died on the homeward march.
26
滿
Fonilie, of the Keqili clan, belonged to the Bordered Red Banner; his family were longtime residents of Warka. His father Suo'erhenuo lost his parents early and was brought up by his elder brother Hulina, who was later murdered; Suo'erhenuo killed the assailant himself and offered sacrifice at his brother's grave. He submitted in the third year of Chongde. He joined the expedition against Ming, fell attacking Hejian, and was posthumously granted the hereditary company commandership.
27
西 西
Fonilie succeeded to the family post. He became company commander of the Xi'an garrison and was raised to second-class deputy commandant. In the early Kangxi reign he rose to deputy lieutenant-general at Xi'an. In the spring of the thirteenth year he marched under General Warka into Sichuan against Wu Sangui. On the plank roads he heard that Sichuan had gone over to Wu Sangui and that Tan Hong held Yangping Pass. He followed Warka through Yehuling and took more than three thousand heads. At Chaotian Pass he beat back the enemy again and again. When brigade-general Wu Zhimao rebelled at Baoning, Fonilie moved against him, failed to reduce the city, and settled into trench warfare. Zhimao sallied forth to seize grain boats on the Lueyang route and severed the supply line at Huaishu Post. With rations exhausted, the army withdrew to Hanzhong. Zhimao ambushed the column on the march; Fonilie and brigade-general Wang Huaizhong routed him and drove him off.
28
西 西
That winter Wang Fuchen, regional commander of Shaanxi, rebelled and swept Pingliang and Qinzhou. In the fourteenth year he was made Xi'an general with the honorary title General Who Shakes Martial prowess. With Prince Beile Tonge he was sent against Fuchen's general Gao Ding, posted four thousand men on the Guanshan River, and with Muzhan smashed the rebel fort; pursued them north, routed them again at Weihe Bridge, and closed on Qinzhou. While the entrenchments were still incomplete, the rebels caught the army off guard and sallied from the walls. Fonilie led a blocking counterattack and the rebels dared not press home. He soon took the eastern and western passes as well. When several thousand rebels struck Xianyi Pass, Fonilie, fearing for his supply line, sent a detachment to its aid. The rebels fled over the hills; he ran them down and killed nearly every man, then marched on Longzhou. The rebels torched the hills and marshland; Fonilie said, "They mean to burn out our supply route. Unless we bring up more men to cover the convoys, what will feed this army?" He therefore halted temporarily at Longzhou.
29
西 西
The siege of Qinzhou had dragged on when more than ten thousand rebels from Sichuan and Pingliang marched to its relief, joined inside the walls by eight thousand more. Fonilie raced back to join the main force; he and Inner Minister Kun broke the rebel host again and again, captured Li Guodong and other commanders, and killed more than three thousand men. Qinzhou fell, and Li County, Xihe, Qingshui, and Fuqiang followed in turn. With the Hanzhong route cut, the army went hungry. When Xibochen withdrew to Xi'an, the emperor ordered Fonilie to reopen the plank roads toward Hanzhong; rebels along the route broke and scattered at every encounter. In the fifteenth year Wu Zhimao, intending to relieve Fuchen, struck Qinzhou again. Fonilie and Guard Commander Jieyin planned a sweep behind the enemy to cut his supply line and retook Jingning. Grand General Tu Hai reduced Pingliang, and Wu Zhimao fled. With Jieyin he gave night pursuit, ran the enemy down at Mudan Garden, and took Qishan Fort. Wu Zhimao escaped with only a dozen horsemen.
30
退西
In the sixteenth year the court revisited his retreat from Baoning to Hanzhong, lowered his hereditary rank to deputy company commander, removed his General Who Shakes Martial prowess title, and left him acting Xi'an general. In the seventeenth year he and Wu Dan routed the enemy at Niutou Mountain and Xiangquan, garrisoned Baoji, and locked down the plank-road passes. Raiders came again and again, and he turned them back every time. In the eighteenth year he followed Tu Hai against Xing'an, where rebels held Lianghe Pass. Fonilie led the van, crossed the Qianyu River, and stormed the pass. Xing'an was recovered. In the nineteenth year Tongchuan submitted and Yanting, Zhongjiang, and Shehong were retaken as well. He routed the enemy again at Baozishan and captured Luzhou. That winter Wu Shifan's general Hu Guozhu raided Yongning from Xuzhou; Fonilie was named General Who Establishes Might and sent against him. In the twentieth year he captured Mahu. Wu Shifan's generals Song Guofu and others handed over Yongning. Hu Guozhu abandoned Xuzhou and fled; the emperor left Fonilie to hold the city. He was soon ordered back to his post at Hanzhong. He died in the twenty-first year. In the early Qianlong reign he received the posthumous name Gongjing. His son Tuoliu succeeded to the family rank and eventually became Heilongjiang general. E'lente is treated in a separate biography.
31
滿
Kun, of the Namuduru clan, belonged to the Plain Yellow Banner; his family were longtime residents of Suifen in the Warka lands. His father Yin'eke submitted before the other Warka chiefs when the Taizong marched against them. Serving under the Taizong, Kun rose to first-class imperial guard and also managed his company. On the Taizong's expedition against Ming he helped besiege Songshan. Ming brigade-general Cao Bianjiao struck the imperial camp by night and drove to the gates of the Plain Yellow Banner lines. Bodyguards and personal troops lined both sides of the gate; Kun alone held the entrance and fought fiercely until the enemy was driven back. The emperor praised his bravery, gave him the title baturu, awarded four hundred taels of silver, and granted a hereditary first-class company commandership.
32
Under the Shizu Emperor he rose in stages to first-class commandant-in-chief and hereditary captain. Shortly afterward he was found guilty on three counts—declining a mission to sacrifice at the Zhaoling Mausoleum yet never going, escorting the emperor to the Southern Terrace without taking regular duty, and marrying a woman who had already been given as a bride to another. The offense carried the death penalty, but the emperor showed mercy, removed his office, and left him a hereditary guardsman's post. In the eleventh year of Shunzhi he marched into Guangdong under General Who Pacifies the South Zhumala and was appointed acting banner commander. He broke Li Dingguo at Xinhui, chased him to the Hengzhou riverbank, and killed an untold number of his men. He was raised to Inner Minister. In the twelfth year of Kangxi, when veterans of the founding reign were honored, Kun was made Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent.
33
西
When Wu Sangui rose in rebellion, he was named General Who Shakes Martial prowess and encamped at Runing. After Wang Fuchen rebelled he was ordered to march west to Xi'an. In the fourteenth year he was sent with Assistant Commander-in-Chief Weng Ai and others to take Hanzhong. Fuchen destroyed the Pian Bridge at Feng County to cut supply lines and broke the plank roads, isolating Hanzhong from outside support. An edict ordered Kun to relieve Hanzhong. He reached Baoji but could not push forward because the route was blocked. He was removed as general and continued in the field as Inner Minister. After Qinzhou was retaken the court planned to recover Hanzhong and posted Kun at Tongguan.
34
In the eighteenth year, considering Kun's age, the emperor recalled him. A retroactive review of his delay at Hanzhong held that he should lose his rank and forfeit the baturu title. The emperor said, "The baturu title came from the Taizong; leave it! Strip only his office." He kept his hereditary first-class commandant's rank. In the twenty-fourth year he became a minister without portfolio; noting his age and inability to attend court, the emperor allowed him to remain at home. He died in the twenty-sixth year.
35
滿 西 西
Etai of the Guwalgiya clan belonged to the Plain White Banner; his family had been established at Suwan for generations. He submitted when the dynasty was founded and rose through battle honors to second-class commandant. Under Shunzhi he became an administrative officer in the Mukden Board of Rites, was dismissed for misconduct and lost his hereditary rank, but was soon brought back into service. Early in Kangxi he was promoted to Mukden deputy commander-in-chief. When Wang Fuchen rebelled, Grand General Prince Beile Tonge marched west against him, and Etai was told to bring a thousand Mukden troops to the capital for deployment. In the fourteenth year he was made General Who Establishes Might and posted his men at Taiyuan. He was soon sent to Xi'an to assist Tonge and surrendered the General Who Establishes Might seal to Assistant Commander-in-Chief Wu Dan. Etai and Assistant Commander-in-Chief A'erhu held Baoji. When rebels came down the plank road against Jiulong Mountain, Etai led a counterattack and wiped them out. Fuchen's appointee Ren Dewang held Yimen Town with his own troops and some seven thousand Luo auxiliaries. Etai attacked on nine fronts from midmorning until dusk and overran seven camps. Dewang fled with a hundred riders, but Bold Cavalry Captain Han Chuhan shot him in the thigh and brought about his surrender. In the fifteenth year he mopped up remaining rebels at Hongya Fort. He died in the eighteenth year and was posthumously made deputy company commander and hereditary captain.
36
滿 使
Wu Dan of the Nara clan belonged to the Plain Yellow Banner and was a great-grandson of Yehe's Jintaiji. Early in Kangxi he served as first-class bodyguard alongside Academician Guo Tingzuo to inspect the Huai'an flood breach. In the thirteenth year Grand General Prince of Jingcheng Le'erjin marched against Wu Sangui, and Wu Dan was dispatched to the front to announce the emperor's strategy. When Wang Fuchen rebelled he was appointed acting assistant commander-in-chief and served under Etai at Taiyuan. He was soon named acting General Who Establishes Might and moved his forces to Tongguan. In the fifteenth year he joined Grand General Tu Hai against Pingliang, stormed the rebel redoubt at Hushan Dun, and when Fuchen sued for peace entered the city with a handful of riders to pacify the surrendered.
37
In the seventeenth year he became commander of the Guard. Hanzhong and Xing'an were still in rebel hands; as the emperor pressed Tu Hai forward, Wu Dan assisted in the campaign and won repeated victories at Niutou Mountain and Xiangquan. When Tu Hai went to court he was told to keep the General Who Establishes Might seal and hold interim command of the main force. He then followed Tu Hai into Zhen'an, fought alongside General Fonilie at Huoshen Cliff, crossed the Ganyu River, captured Lianghe Pass, and recovered Xing'an. The emperor recalled Tu Hai to Fengxiang, detached a contingent for Wu Dan, and sent him into Sichuan with General Wang Jinbao as the follow-up force. In the nineteenth year he and Jinbao smashed the rebels on Panlong, Jinping, and neighboring heights, retook Baoning, and captured Wu Sangui's commanders Wu Zhimao and others. While General Zhao Liangdong retook Chengdu, Wu Dan and Fonilie split their forces to seize Shunqing and Chongqing and bring Dazhou, Dongxiang, Taiping, and other districts under control. An edict called for taking Luzhou and pressing on toward Yunnan. Wu Dan again fought under Fonilie at Baozi Mountain and routed the Luzhou rebels. When Yongning fell again and Renhuai could not be held, Liangdong accused Wu Dan of failing to hurry to the rescue; he surrendered his general's seal and withdrew to Hanzhong. After the campaign he returned to the capital, where the princes and ministers judged his faults and removed him from office. He was soon made a third-class imperial guard and assistant commandant.
38
In the twenty-ninth year, when the Khalkha taiji Erke Ahai and others rose in revolt and Galdan also raided the border, Wu Dan was ordered to serve under Grand General Prince Yu against them; at Ulan Butong Galdan was routed and fled. Prince Yu sent Wu Dan with company commanders Serji and Borhodei to reconnoiter Galdan's whereabouts; finding that he had been gone for days, they turned back. On the return march they met Khalkha rebels and were killed; Wu Dan was posthumously honored as minister without portfolio and his heirs received a captaincy.
39
西 調
Biliketu, of the Borjigit clan, belonged to the Plain Blue Banner Mongols and his family had long been settled in Khorchin. During the Taizong reign he submitted to the dynasty and was made a guard to Prince of Yu. He served in campaigns against Korea and against Ming at Jinzhou and won merit in both. In early Shunzhi he marched against Li Zicheng, helped secure Xi'an, then turned south to take Yangzhou and Jiangning; distinguished in battle, he was named acting commander of the Guards, granted a hereditary company commandership, and raised to Mongol deputy lieutenant-general of the Plain Blue Banner. In the sixth year he was ordered to garrison Pingyang; when rebels struck Jiangzhou he drove them back. When Li Jiantai rebelled and seized Taiping, Biliketu again joined assistant commandant Gente and others in the assault; after a long stalemate they dug a mine, blasted the walls with gunpowder, captured Jiantai, and put him to death. He rose in stages to first-class commandant. He was made vice minister of Rites and then transferred to the Ministry of Revenue.
40
In the eleventh year he marched with Pacification General of the South Zhumala into Guangdong; when the Ming general Li Dingguo struck Xinhui, the rebels encamped at Zuoshanyu in the county. Biliketu defeated him again, pursued to Xingye and killed more than half his force, then pressed on toward Hengzhou until Dingguo fled across the river. He was promoted to third-class commandant-in-chief. Censured for misconduct, he was removed from office and demoted to second-class commandant.
41
西
In the seventeenth year he was appointed acting commander of the Guards. He served under Pacification General of the West Aisingga on the Yunnan campaign. The Ming Prince of Gui had already entered Burma; Dingguo and Bai Wenxuan held Menggen and Mubang respectively. In the eighteenth year the armies converged at Mubang; Dingguo fled to Jingxian and Wenxuan fled toward the Xibo River, burning the bridge as he withdrew into the Chashan hills. Biliketu arrived, took a spy, rafted across the river, and encamped at Jiuwanpo, sixty li from the Burmese capital. The Burmese meant to surrender the Prince of Gui and asked the main army to hold in place while a hundred men moved up to Lanjiu River as escort; Bai Erhetu took the vanguard forward, and Biliketu followed with two hundred guardsmen. The Burmese chief Mang Meng delivered the Prince of Gui to the Qing forces, and the army marched home. When Wenxuan reached Mengyang, regional commander Ma Ning ran him down and he surrendered with his men. Biliketu settled his troops and resettled them on the frontier. For his service he was promoted to first-class commandant with an additional captaincy.
42
In the eighth year of Kangxi he was made Mongol lieutenant-general of the Plain Blue Banner and given a seat among the grand councilors. In the twelfth year he received the addendum title Junior Preceptor of the Crown Prince. In the fourteenth year, when Wang Fuchen rebelled, Biliketu was named Ping-rebel General and posted with an army at Datong. Soon Yan'an and Suide fell, and he was ordered forward to Yulin. Learning that the rebels held the Yangjiadian ford, he split his force into three columns and pressed forward by night. At daybreak horns sounded and his troops crossed the river. Caught off guard, the rebels broke and ran, and Wubao was retaken. Pushing on to Hu'eryakou he met the rebels again and routed them. He took Suide, followed up to capture Yan'an, and brought the surrounding prefectures and counties back under control. The emperor ordered him to move up and join Awesome Pacification General Amitai's assault on Pingliang. As they approached, Fuchen came out with a large force; Biliketu joined Beile Tonge and the others in the fight and cut down the rebel general Hao Tianxiang on the field. In the fifteenth year Grand Secretary Tu Hai took field command and posted Biliketu at Ningxia. After Fuchen surrendered he withdrew to garrison Pingliang.
43
西
In the seventeenth year he moved his troops to guard Longzhou and Baoji. Tu Hai proposed the recapture of Hanzhong; Biliketu entered by a separate route with Ekjiha and the others, reducing Lingtai, Huating, Chongxin, and the other counties in turn. That winter Chengxian fell. In the nineteenth year he was recalled and resumed his post as lieutenant-general. He died in the twentieth year at seventy-three and was given the posthumous title Keji. His grandson Changyuan succeeded to the hereditary post. In the twenty-fifth year his Shaanxi campaign honors were recorded posthumously and he was raised to second-class commandant-in-chief.
44
滿 滿
Garhan, of the Nara clan, belonged to the Plain Red Banner and was the son of Minister Gadahun. Garhan succeeded to a first-class commandancy and was named secretary of the princely mansion. Early in Kangxi he was made Manchu deputy lieutenant-general of the Plain Red Banner.
45
退 谿 西C7
In the fourteenth year he was named General Who Pacifies An and posted to Henan. Bandit power was then at its height; regional commander Yang Laijia rose in rebellion, and Garhan was ordered to move his forces to Xiangyang. In the fifteenth year he fought at Nanzhang and took Lingji Stockade. Rebel general Tan Hong and others struck at Yunyang, posted men on Steep Ridge east of the city, and severed our supply lines. He joined provincial commander-in-chief Tong Guoyao, and their columns advanced by separate routes until the bandits fell back. In the eighteenth year Xie Si, Liu Kui, and others raided Zhushan, Zhuxi, and neighboring counties, closed on Yuncheng, and acted in concert with the rebels at Xing'an; Garhan marched out against them. It was the height of summer; for hundreds of li west of Yunyang the mountain tracks were narrow and overgrown, torrential rains had swollen every stream, and the army could not get forward. Garhan planned to advance only after the autumn leaf-fall and the drying of the streams; the emperor rebuked him for delay and cancelled his earlier honors. In the twentieth year he closed on Yuncheng; Tan Hong was already dead, and his son Tianmi demolished the defenses and fled, so the city fell. He then took Wan, Kai, Jianshi, Liangshan, and the other counties in turn, along with Zhongzhou. In the twenty-second year he was named Jingzhou general. The ministry held that he deserved dismissal for failing to relieve Fang County when Yang Laijia attacked it, but the emperor demoted him while keeping him in office.
46
退
In the twenty-sixth year Huguang underwent troop reductions, and Xia Fenglong led a revolt. Garhan's army encamped at Anlu and sent assistant commandant Mulima and others against the rebels, who suffered heavy losses. He pushed on to Yingcheng as the bandits fell back toward Wuchang, but supplies gave out and his warships were inadequate; after memorializing the situation he was recalled and made Mongol commander-in-chief of the Plain Red Banner. On reaching the capital he was convicted of retreating and failing to press the rebels and was stripped of office. He later died at home.
47
滿 滿
Amitai, of the Tatara clan, belonged to the Plain White Banner. Under Shunzhi he entered service as a third-class imperial guard and rose in stages to Manchu deputy lieutenant-general of the Plain White Banner. Early in Kangxi he was raised to senior imperial bodyguard and privy councillor.
48
祿 祿 祿 祿 滿
In the thirteenth year Wu Sangui rose in rebellion, and Xiangyang regional commander Yang Laijia mutinied at Gucheng to join him. Hebei regional commander Cai Lu had once served Zheng Chenggong together with Laijia and had surrendered in turn. Laijia urged him to join the rebellion; Lu stockpiled firearms, bought pack mules, and secretly put his command on alert. When the emperor learned what was afoot, he sent Amitai with troops to Huaiqing to investigate; Cai Lu refused to come out and prepared to resist. Amitai rode straight into Cai Lu's headquarters, seized him and his family, and put them all to death. When Geng Jingzhong also rebelled, Amitai was named General Who Displays Might, took a thousand Manchu troops to garrison Jiangning, and was ordered to drill in naval warfare. Soon afterward Prince Jian Labu was made Grand General Who Displays Might; Amitai surrendered the general's seal and served on his staff.
49
退
When Wang Fuchen rebelled, Amitai was again given the seal of General Who Displays Might in the fourteenth year and sent to Lanzhou with deputy lieutenant-generals Ekejeha and the Aisin Gioro Kuodai to assist him. Fuchen then held Pingliang while the routes around Lanzhou had fallen to the rebels; Grand General Beile Tonge ordered Amitai to strike Pingliang head-on. In the fifth month he captured Ningzhou and closed on Pingliang, but after a defeat he fell back to Jing Prefecture. When Tonge's forces arrived, Amitai was placed on the staff and joined regional commander Sun Sike in a combined assault, yet the city held out for a long time. In the fifteenth year Grand Secretary Tu Hai succeeded him as grand general, and Amitai remained on the staff as before. They then took Tiger Mountain Redoubt and pressed the assault from the heights, and Fuchen submitted.
50
滿
In the seventeenth year he was sent to Hunan to serve under Grand General Prince An Yuele against Wu Shifan. In the eighteenth year Wugang fell to his forces. The emperor directed Amitai and Prince An to consult on withdrawing Manchu troops as circumstances allowed and escorting them back to the capital. In the nineteenth year he was made Mongol commander-in-chief of the Plain White Banner. The ministry held that he deserved dismissal for the defeat at Pingliang, but the emperor was lenient and demoted him five ranks while keeping him in office. He was soon restored as senior imperial bodyguard.
51
滿
When Galdan stirred up trouble, he was sent to reconnoiter the enemy's movements. In the twenty-ninth year he joined Grand General Prince Yu Fuquan's staff, marched beyond the frontier against Galdan, and routed the enemy at Ulan Butong. After the army returned, the ministry ruled that they had failed to follow up their victory and destroy the enemy; Fuquan and his subordinates were all found guilty and liable to dismissal. The emperor, holding that the army had nonetheless won distinction, pardoned them. When the emperor marched in person against Galdan in the thirty-fifth year, Amitai asked to accompany the expedition. On the emperor's next crossing of the Kerulen River, Amitai was temporarily made general, took the rear-guard Manchu troops and Green Standard infantry to Keleheshuo, and was given overall command of the troops left in garrison. He was soon recalled to the capital. He died in the forty-eighth year.
52
滿 西 西
Ekejeha, of the Nara clan, belonged to the Plain Yellow Banner. He began as an imperial guard and later served as acting deputy lieutenant-general and company commander. In the thirteenth year of Kangxi, Wu Sangui rebelled and alarm spread through Shaanxi and Huguang. The emperor ordered him and deputy lieutenant-general Sege to garrison Henan prefecture together. When Fuchen rebelled, he marched with Amida to Xi'an to put down the uprising. He was soon sent to Lanzhou on Amida's staff, captured Jingzhou and Ningzhou, and received an edict of commendation. In the eighteenth year he followed Tu Hai against the Yimen pass at Li County and routed the enemy. He retook Tashibao and pressed on to capture Xing'an. Tu Hai judged Hanzhong a key strongpoint and made Ekjiha General Who Shakes Martial prowess, posting Deputy Lieutenant-General Hata and a thousand troops to hold it.
53
使
In the nineteenth year, when Provincial Military Commissioner Zhao Liangdong advanced into Sichuan, Ekjiha served with General Wu Dan on the rear echelon. After Luzhou fell he led troops to retake it, then beat the rebels again at Tuochuan and Ya. Soon the rebels struck Renhuai; Wu Dan kept his force idle and failed to relieve the city, and Yongning fell once more. Wu Dan was recalled to Hanzhong and his army was turned over to Ekjiha. Ekjiha pointed out that Jianchang and Yongning lay more than a thousand li apart and were impossible to hold at once. Fonilie was put in charge of the Yongning line, Ekjiha was named General Who Proclaims Might with headquarters at Chengdu, and each took sole responsibility for one route. In the twentieth year his Jianchang garrison broke and fled the city. He submitted a self-accusation and surrendered the general's seal; Jueluo Jihari replaced him, and he went back to hold Hanzhong. He was soon recalled to court as a second-class imperial guard. In the thirtieth year he became Manchu deputy lieutenant-general of the Plain Yellow Banner. In the thirty-third year he was made commandant of the guards. He marched against Galdan, and after peace was restored he was posted at Ningxia. He died in the thirty-eighth year.
54
滿 滿
Jueluo Jihari, a Plain White Banner Manchu, was a third-generation descendant of Prince of Wugong Lidun. Early in Shunzhi he was appointed company commander and inherited his father's hereditary rank of deputy company commander. An imperial grace edict raised his hereditary rank to second-class commandant. He rose in turn to vanguard commandant and Manchu deputy lieutenant-general of the Bordered Yellow Banner. In the twelfth year of Kangxi, when Wu Sangui rebelled, the Beijing agitator Yang Qilong launched a disturbance; Lieutenant-generals Tu Hai and Zu Chengli, with Jihari, put it down. Company commander Ekexun seized the ringleaders Huang Ji and Chen Yi; Jihari also took Jiao San, Zhu Shangxian, Zhang Da, Li Zhu, Chen Jizhi, Shi Guobin, Wang Zhenbang, and the rest, handed them to the judiciary, and after inquiry confirmed their guilt they were executed at the public market. For the full account see Ekexun's biography. In the sixteenth year he and Deputy Lieutenant-General Xibu were sent into Sichuan to join Pacification General of Zhen'an Galerhan against the rebels, and on the march he was raised to Mongol deputy lieutenant-general of the Bordered Yellow Banner. Wu Sangui's grandson Wu Shifan still held Yunnan and Guizhou, while his generals Hu Guozhu, Xia Guoxiang, Ma Bao, and others struck Luzhou, Xuzhou, and Jianchang on separate axes. When Jianchang fell in the twentieth year, the emperor relieved Ekjiha of the General Who Proclaims Might command and named Jihari in his place to lead the same force with Provincial Military Commissioner Zhao Liangdong in retaking the city. Zhao Liangdong entered from Yazhou with Jihari on the rear echelon; after a hard fight at the Dadu River they seized rebel boats and forced a crossing. By then the columns pressing into Yunnan had closed the ring; Hu Guozhu and his fellows raced back with their armies, and Jihari retook Jianchang. He was starting toward Yunnan when, at Wujia, illness seized him and he died in camp; the court granted the customary posthumous honors.
55
祿滿 滿
Lahada, of the Niohuru clan, was a Bordered Yellow Banner Manchu and the fifth son of Cergen. Under Shunzhi he inherited from his elder brother Faguda, as an imperial guard, a third-class hereditary commandantship, and successive grace edicts raised it to the first class. He was made vice minister of War in charge of apprehending bandits, then minister of Works and councilor of state. In the eighth year of Kangxi he became Manchu deputy lieutenant-general of the Bordered Yellow Banner.
56
In the thirteenth year, when Wu Sangui rebelled, he was named General Who Pacifies the East and posted at Yanzhou. He had hardly arrived when Geng Jingzhong rose as well and struck Zhejiang. The court ordered him to Hangzhou as acting general to map the defenses with Pacification General of the South Laita and Governor Li Zhifang. When the rebels tested Jinhua he sent Deputy Lieutenant-General Woshen, Vice General Chen Shikai, and others to beat them back; Then they struck Taizhou, and Ningbo and Shaoxing were both thrown into alarm. The emperor named Prince Kang Jieshu grand general and Prince Fulata Pacification General of Ninghai to reinforce Zhejiang; Lahada served as a lieutenant-general on the staff. In the fourteenth year he struck the rebels at Chuzhou and took Songyang and Xuanping in succession. In the fifteenth year he followed Prince Kang on the Fujian campaign. Once Jingzhong submitted, he showed the imperial armies the way against Zheng Jing.
57
耀 耀 耀
Zhangzhou, Quanzhou, and Xinghua were then all in Zheng Jing's hands; he dispatched Xu Yao with thirty thousand men against Fuzhou. Lahada met him in the field and smashed fourteen of his camps. When Fulata died in camp that winter, Lahada was named Pacification General of Ninghai. In the sixteenth year he joined Laita in assaulting Xinghua and took the city; Guo Weifan handed over Xianyou in surrender. Xu Yao fled to Quanzhou, seized it again, and dug in for a hard defense. Lahada stormed the city by night with crack troops, escalading before dawn, cut down Xu Yao and the puppet officials, and entered to calm soldiers and civilians alike. By then Zheng Jing, beaten again and again, had withdrawn to Xiamen; Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, and ten counties including Haicheng came back under control, along with more than four hundred defecting commanders and four thousand-odd troops. He turned his army toward Chaozhou; the rebel general Liu Jinzhong capitulated as well, and he then went back to hold Fuzhou.
58
使
In the seventeenth year Liu Guoxuan, a general of Zheng Jing, seized Haicheng and struck Quanzhou again, wrecking the Wan'an and Jiangdong bridges and sealing the passes at Changtai and Tong'an so that north and south could not reinforce each other; Quanzhou came close to falling. Lahada was posted at Zhangzhou; the emperor rebuked him for failing to rescue Haicheng in time and bade him redeem himself by racing to Quanzhou's aid. Lahada intended to advance from Changtai, but the rivers swelled and his army was stopped by the floodwaters. Li Guangdi, a Reader-in-Waiting, was mourning at home in his native district; he sent guides to lead the army by a back trail from Nanjing county through Zhangping toward Anxi, closing on Quanzhou from an unexpected quarter until the siege was raised. Guoxuan threw up fortifications at coastal Dongshi, squatting across the approaches to Kinmen and Xiamen. In the eighteenth year Lahada sent Woshen to storm and take the position. In the nineteenth year he and Governor Wu Xingzuo marched from Tong'an to Xunwei, split their forces for the crossing—Lahada in the center, Xingzuo on the left, Regional Commander Wang Ying on the right—and converged on Xiamen. Laita joined Governor-General Yao Qisheng, Provincial Military Commissioners Wan Zhengse and Yang Jie, and Regional Commander Huang Dalai; a three-pronged assault broke the rebels' resistance and Xiamen fell. Pressing on to Kinmen, they accepted the surrender of Wu Guojun and other commanders while Zheng Jing and Guoxuan fled back to Taiwan. The court recalled Prince Kang to the capital and left Lahada and Deputy Lieutenant-General Masiven to hold Fuzhou.
59
滿
In the twenty-first year the Manchu garrison was recalled to the capital and Lahada was called to account for losing Haicheng; the Board recommended demoting his hereditary rank to third class and removing him from office, but the emperor credited his service under Prince Kang in pacifying Fujian and allowed him to remain lieutenant-general. In the twenty-fourth year he retired. He died of illness in the forty-second year; the court granted the customary posthumous honors.
60
滿 滿
Cihatai, of the Sakda clan, was a Bordered Red Banner Manchu whose family had long been settled at Ningguta. Under Taizong he joined the campaigns against Ming and won distinction again and again. In early Shunzhi he marched against Li Zicheng and helped suppress Jin Shenghuan, fighting in the front ranks throughout; he rose repeatedly at the Court of the Imperial Stud and was granted a third-class hereditary commandantship. He was then made minister of the Court of the Imperial Stud and Manchu deputy lieutenant-general of the Bordered Red Banner. On the Russian campaign he led the river force and brought more than one hundred and twenty Feiyaka households over in submission. When his fleet was beaten and his report proved false, he lost his deputy lieutenant-generalship and hereditary rank and was reduced to managing a company alone.
61
調 調
In the third year of Kangxi he was restored as Mongol deputy lieutenant-general of the Bordered Red Banner. He pleaded age and asked to retire; the emperor reassured him and bade him stay on. He was soon made commander of the Guards and named Junior Mentor of the Heir Apparent. In the thirteenth year he marched out with Lahada to garrison Yanzhou. When Lahada was sent to Hangzhou, the emperor left the commission seal with Cihatai, who took over as General Who Pacifies the East. In the fourteenth year he remained commander of the Guards, led his division to Jingzhou, and served under Prince of Shuncheng Le'erjin. In the fifteenth year, when Wu Sangui's generals Tao Jizhi and others struck Yichang, he posted troops at Jiangling to keep lines open and stand ready to reinforce. He died in camp in the seventh month; the court granted the customary posthumous honors. Cihatai's transfer to Jingzhou brought Buyan the seal of General Who Pacifies the East and command of the Mongol garrison left at Yanzhou. Once order was restored, the garrison was recalled to the capital.
62
滿
Gente, of the Nara clan, belonged to the Plain Yellow Banner. His father Dayali submitted when the dynasty was first established. On the Ming campaigns he assaulted Shenzhou, was first over the wall, and took the city. Battle honors raised him in stages to a first-class hereditary vice generalship.
63
Gente entered service young and piled up honors in the field. On the Ming campaigns he stormed Sishui county and Dingzhou, first over the wall in each, earned the title "Baturu," and received a third-class hereditary company commandership. In the first year of Shunzhi he was made a director of affairs at the Board of Punishments. In the fifth year, when Jin Shenghuan rose at Nanchang, Gente followed Grand General Tan Tai against him; the siege stalled until Gente went up the southern wall and broke the city. Shenghuan took an arrow and died; Wang Deren was taken prisoner. On the army's return he was made banner commandant and raised to first-class commandant.
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In the sixth year Jiang Xiang rebelled at Datong; his followers Yu Yun, Bai Zhang, and Zhang Wanquan overran Pu prefecture and the counties of Linjin, Yishi, and Hejin. He crossed the Yellow River with Governor-General Meng Qiaofang, retook Pucheng, and pushed on toward Pingyang. Bai Zhang brought six thousand foot and horse to meet him at Ronghe; Gente charged hard and broke them. He drove them to the Yellow River before they could ford; many drowned as his troops closed in, Bai Zhang was beheaded, and the survivors who fled to Jizhen were wiped out. Turning toward Yishi, he found Jiang's follower Wei Dengfang entrenched on the hills in concert with Wanquan; he split his force, killed Wanquan, and destroyed that column. Wei Dengfang was soon taken alive; pressing forward, he routed Jiang's partisan Guo Zhongjie at Wenxi.
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西 西
When Wu Sangui rebelled in the thirteenth year of Kangxi, he was posted to garrison Yanzhou. Jiangxi's strategic weight soon brought an order for him and Deputy Lieutenant-General Xibu to relocate and hold Nanchang. After Changsha fell, Yuanzhou and Ji'an prefectures lay on the rebel frontier; Governor Dong Weiguo asked for a garrison, and Gente was ordered to shift from Nanchang and stand ready to fight. Hilgen was soon named Pacification General Who Settles the South, with Gente on his staff. When Shang Kexi pleaded for reinforcements, the emperor told Gente to hold until Hilgen arrived, then march his division into Guangdong. Geng Jingzhong's revolt brought Gente the seal of Pacification General Who Subdues Bandits and orders to turn back to Jiangxi. Vice General Ke Sheng rose at Guangxin for Jingzhong, stormed Duchang, and menaced Nankang; the court ordered Gente to secure Guangxin first while Vanguard Commander Aisin Gioro Shuxu advanced from Yuanzhou toward Changsha. That eighth month he died in the field, and the court granted the customary posthumous honors.
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西 西
Minister of Rites Harhaqi was deputy to Pacification General Who Settles the South Hilgen in Jiangxi; when Gente died, the emperor gave him the Pacification General Who Quells Rebels seal. In the eleventh month he was sent to Jiangning to serve on Grand General Prince Jian Labu's staff and hold Jiangnan. In the fifth month of the fifteenth year the emperor ordered him to lead Jiangning forces into Guangdong and named him Pacification General Who Quells Rebels; marching through Jiangxi he was told to unite his column with others and strike Ji'an. After the rout at Luozi Mountain he lost his commission for the fault and was reduced to common soldier's service.
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西
Huashan belonged to the Plain White Han Army Banner. The third son of Shi Tingzhu, he married Prince of Yu Dodo's daughter and received appointment as prince consort. When Wu Sangui rose in rebellion he was named Pacification General of Annam and posted to guard Zhenjiang. He was soon placed on Grand General Prince Jian Labu's staff and stationed at Jiangning. In the fifteenth year he was given the Pacification General Who Quells Rebels appointment. In the sixteenth year, when Prince Jian Labu marched into Jiangxi, Huashan was told to bring his troops along but leave the Pacification General Who Quells Rebels seal with Jiangning deputy lieutenant-general Ko'erkedai. In the seventeenth year he was made Pacification General Who Settles the South and assigned to hold Chaling. With Wu Sangui's forces hammering Yongxing, the emperor ordered Prince Jian Labu forward to Chaling and told Huashan to save the city. Huashan hung back; the emperor rebuked him sternly, removed his general's seal, and ordered him to serve under Muzhan and win redemption in the field. After peace was restored his case came up for judgment, and the emperor showed mercy. He died in the thirty-fourth year. His son Shi Wenbing succeeded to Shi Tingzhu's third-class earldom. He rose in stages to Fuzhou general. When Huashan grew old he was called back to the capital and made lieutenant-general of the Plain White Han Army Banner. He soon learned of a death in the family and started back for the capital, but died on the way.
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滿 西
Xibochen, of the Guwalgiya clan, belonged to the Bordered White Banner and was a grandson of Langge, younger brother of Fei Yingdong. He entered Hong Taiji's service and followed the throne in the expedition against Korea. He marched with Prince Regent Dorgon against Ming, fought at Tongzhou, and routed the eunuch Gao Qiqian's force; he again joined the siege of Jinzhou and won repeated victories in the field. In early Shunzhi he crossed the pass with the main army against Li Zicheng, fought at Yipianshi, pressed on to Qingdu, and routed the rebels at Taiyuan. In the second year he campaigned through Shaanxi under Prince of Ying Ajige and chased Zicheng to Anlu. In the third year he entered Sichuan with Prince Su Haoge and helped destroy Zhang Xianzhong. In the fifth year he took part in suppressing the rebel general Jiang Xiang. When honors were reviewed he was raised again and again under grace edicts to second-class baturu, and he rose to commandant of the guard. In the twelfth year he marched with Lieutenant-general Zhuoluo and others to garrison Jingzhou and broke Sun Kewang. In the sixteenth year he reinforced Jiangning with Pacification General of Annam Mingandali, routed Zheng Chenggong's generals Yang Wenying and others, and took many heads. In the ninth year of Kangxi he was made Mongol lieutenant-general of the Bordered White Banner. In the twelfth year he received the additional title of Junior Tutor to the Heir Apparent.
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西西 西西 西 退 退
In the thirteenth year, when Wu Sangui rebelled, the emperor named Lieutenant-general Heyeh Pacification General of Anxi and sent him into Sichuan from Hanzhong with Xi'an general Warka and others. In the fourteenth year Xibochen was again made Pacification General of the West and stationed at Xi'an with deputy lieutenant-generals Baka and Deyeli. The emperor soon sent Grand General Prince Beile Tonge west on campaign; Heyeh surrendered the general's seal and served as staff officer. That winter Xibochen united with Heyeh and besieged Baoning. Wu Sangui's general Wang Pingfan held the city while our army encamped on Panlong Mountain. Pingfan gave battle, then secretly sent another officer by a side route to ford the river upstream and harry our lines; our forces abandoned camp and fell back, and Xibochen withdrew to Hanzhong. The emperor ordered an accounting of the generals' faults: Heyeh lost his post, donned armor, and was sent to redeem himself in the ranks. As the army was pulling back, company commander Mushu swore to stand and die, gave his armor insignia to the general, and rallied the men for a desperate fight. On hearing of it the emperor jumped him to Mongol deputy lieutenant-general of the Plain Red Banner in reward for his bravery.
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Xibochen had barely reached Hanzhong when Wang Fuchen rebelled, the plank roads were severed, and supplies ran out; he withdrew to Xi'an. He was soon called back to the capital. After peace returned, a board of princes and grand ministers reopened the Panlong Mountain defeat; he lost his post and his hereditary title. Because Xibochen had earlier services to his credit, the emperor spared his estate from confiscation. He died not long afterward.
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滿 殿 紿 退
Hilgen, of the Jogiorca clan, belonged to the Plain Yellow Banner; his family were longtime residents of Changbai Mountain. While Hong Taiji still held his princely residence, Hilgen served in his guard. During the Tiancong reign he earned a hereditary company commandership for his battlefield service. In the first year of Chongde he joined the expedition against Ming, captured Changping, Baodi, and more than ten other towns in turn, and was promoted to vanguard deputy commandant. He routed the eunuch Gao Qiqian's force, took regional commander Chao Pichang prisoner, and helped Tan Tai lay an ambush that broke the Santunying cavalry. On the march home the enemy pressed the rear; while other officers shepherded the baggage train forward, Hilgen covered the withdrawal and was promoted out of turn to a hereditary first-class deputy commandant. In the second year he joined the reduction of Pi Island. When the court prepared a battue, Yalai, his father, was chosen for the escort retinue. Hilgen pleaded with Prince Regent Dorgon to spare his father; when refused, he falsely promised that Zhu Erkan would take Yalai's place. Exposure brought a charge of deceit; though dismissal and loss of his hereditary rank were prescribed, he was leniently fined instead. He joined the siege of Jinzhou and held a ridge line; Ming reinforcements were beaten off, including the relief column from Songshan. He was again found guilty of quitting his unit without leave and filing false reports, and his service credits were held in abeyance. In the seventh year, when the army invested Jizhou, Ming regional commander Bai Tengjiao rushed to its relief; Hilgen routed him.
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In the second year of Shunzhi he campaigned under Prince of Ying Ajige against Li Zicheng, invested Yan'an, and shattered his army. One of Zicheng's commanders, nicknamed One-Tiger, was famed for fierceness and struck at our columns again and again. Hilgen won three straight fights and pushed through to Xi'an. Zicheng fled into Huguang; Hilgen chased him north to Anlu, where the rebels held the city; with Oboi he took the town and seized eighty war junks. Marching toward Wuchang, he found five hundred rebel vessels preparing to sail downriver; Tan Tai was sent to seize them, Hilgen got there first and captured the fleet, and was raised to third-class banner commandant. In the third year he entered Sichuan with Prince Su Haoge against Zhang Xianzhong and, with Haning'a, Arjin, and Subai, routed him at Xichong. He then swung toward Fu prefecture against the rebel Yuan Tao and killed or captured a great many. He was soon found guilty of leaving Haning'a trapped without relief and of quarreling with Arjin and others over credit; though condemned to execution, an edict commuted the sentence to a fine and demoted him to third-class deputy commandant.
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滿 西
In the sixth year Jiang Xiang seized Datong; Hilgen marched with Prince Xun Mandahai against him, bombarded Taigu into submission, beheaded Jiang's appointees Li Chengpei and Wu Ruqi, and pressed on to take Datong. Changzi county and the prefectures of Hunyuan and Shuo fell to him in turn. Yongning prefecture, Lan county, and Lu'an prefecture all submitted. With Handai he next retook Liaozhou. With Shanxi pacified he was due for promotion, but appealed an earlier wrongful demotion; successive amnesties restored him to first-class commandant. In the ninth year he became vanguard banner commander and took a seat among the inner ministers. In the twelfth year he received the additional rank of Grand Mentor of the Heir Apparent.
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使西 退
In the thirteenth year Geng Jingzhong rebelled and sent Bai Xianzhong against Guangxin, Jianchang, and Fuzhou; Hilgen was named Pacification General Who Settles the South and marched into Jiangxi with Sange on his staff and Wohe and Yibahan in his train, but by the time he reached Nanchang all three cities were lost. Prince An Yuele held the provincial capital and ordered Hilgen to retake Fuzhou first; the rebels sallied and were beaten again and again, and Hilgen sent Shanahai to scatter their relief force; the garrison, seeing no rescue come, abandoned the city and fled. Jingzhong's officer Chen Sheng stirred up local bandits led by Guo Yingding against Ganzhou; Hilgen sent Deputy Lieutenant-general Ganduhai to meet them and won a crushing victory. He pursued the enemy to Longquan, stormed three camps, and went on to seize more than a dozen stockades around Caolin. In the fourteenth year he routed Jingzhong's general Shao Liandeng and retook Jianchang. Moving on Raozhou, he drove rebel bands out of Yugan, Fuliang, Leping, and the neighboring counties. When Yuele's column pushed into Hunan, Prince Jian Labu was sent to Nanchang with Hilgen as his second. Wu Sangui's general Gao Dajie marched from Liling and Pingxiang, seized Ji'an, and aimed to sever Yuele's line of retreat. Our forces held Luozi Mountain; Dajie was a bold fighter and repeatedly harried our camp with small cavalry raids. Labu panicked, abandoned camp, and fled, and Hilgen followed; the rebels overran the entrenchments, feasted, looted at leisure, and withdrew. Dajie soon died, and Hilgen took command of the siege, but the assaults still failed. More than a year later the rebels gave up and withdrew; the court ordered him to stay on at Nanchang. Age soon brought orders to return to the capital. He died in the eighteenth year.
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His son Kashitai held the post of guard company commander. He followed the Sichuan expedition against Baoning and was killed at Panlong Mountain.
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The historian remarks: when the Three Feudatories rose, commanders were sent out on every front, yet only two men of common birth received the grand general's seal—Tu Hai and Laita. Laita from Guangxi and Muzhan from Hunan each fought their way into Yunnan and brought down the chief rebel; their services stood above all others. Muzhan's victories were reckoned to Zhangtai's account, so his rewards never matched his deeds; Laita's and Mangyitu's records rivaled his own, though both died on campaign before the war was won. Fonilie and his fellows were seasoned commanders with long lists of victories. The various ad hoc generalships of that era were filled either by court appointment or by field promotion on the spot. One man might hold two or three seals in succession; one seal might pass among two or three men—each commanded an independent force on his own axis of advance. Viewed as a whole, these cases reveal the essential pattern of how armies of that day marched, fought, and answered the enemy.
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