Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/19

Rh in Eastern Turkestan and, who was detailed to suppress it, was beseiged while camping before Yarkand. A-kuei was ordered to join in effecting Chao-hui's release. Early in 1759 the siege was raised and within the year the rebellion was crushed. After the armies withdrew A-kuei supervised the colonization of the Ili valley with Mohammedans from Aksu and other nearby cities, in order to provide the garrison with food. The land was fertile and, under A-kuei's able management, crops in the first year (1760) were abundant. Thus the Ili valley was made self-supporting for the garrison and for the colonists, and it remained peaceful for more than a hundred years. A-kuei returned to Peking in 1763 and began to serve as president of the Board of Works, a post to which he had been promoted two years earlier. He was also appointed to the Grand Council, and his family was enrolled in the higher Plain White Banner.

In 1764 A-kuei served for a time as acting governor-general of Szechwan to investigate disturbances among the aborigines. In the following year he was again dispatched to Turkestan to direct the subjugation of the Mohammedans of Wu-shih (Ush) who had rebelled. After a siege of more than half a year the city was taken and the revolt suppressed. Nevertheless A-kuei was reprimanded for not prosecuting his campaign with more vigor and was ordered to assist the military-governor of Ili,, in systematizing colonial affairs. When Ming-jui was recalled (1766) and sent to Yunnan (1767) in command of an army that was to subjugate Burma, A-kuei succeeded him as military-governor. In 1768 Ming-jui's campaign into Burma met with overwhelming defeat and a new army was assembled in Yunnan with Fu-hêng as commander-in-chief and A-kuei and A-li-kun (see under ) jointly second in command. A-kuei hastened back to Peking in the middle of 1768 and, now president of the Board of War, proceeded to Yunnan where for a time he served as governor-general, a post he relinquished in 1769 to devote himself to military matters. Emperor Kao-tsung was determined, despite the previous disaster, to bring Burma to terms and therefore authorized a new expedition in 1769 under the three commanders. But climate and tropical diseases proved inhospitable to the armies which, while victorious in several engagements, had finally to withdraw. With the death of A-li-kun and the retirement of Fu-hêng on account of illness, A-kuei was left in supreme command. A truce was arranged with the Burmese who promised tribute, and A-kuei returned to Yunnan. But soon (1770) the truce was broken, for the officer sent by A-kuei to demand the tribute was detained. Held responsible for this turn of events, A-kuei was deprived (1771) of his rank and offices, and was ordered to serve in the army under his successor, Wên-fu 温福 who had been detailed to guard the Yunnan border. That border, however, was comparatively quiet, owing to the fact that the Burmese were then concerned with nearer neighbors, the Siamese.

Even before the above-mentioned retreat from Burma, uprisings took place among the aborigines of the wild and almost inaccessible part of western Szechwan, known as Ta Chin-ch'uan and Hsiao Chin-ch'uan. The chieftains of those regions were powerful, and knew how to make the best use of their advantageous locations which they defended with stone forts at strategic passes in the mountains. About the close of the year 1771 Wên-fu was ordered to transfer his forces from Yunnan to Szechwan to subdue these regions. A-kuei accompanied the army and, by dint of vigorous fighting, was made second in command to Wên-fu. While the latter attacked (1772) Hsiao Chin-ch'uan rebels from the east, A-kuei led an army against them from the south. By the close of that year Hsiao Chin-ch'uan was virtually subdued, but the chief rebel of the region took refuge in Ta Chin-ch'uan, and the campaign had to be pushed on into the latter area. In the middle of 1773 a new rebellion broke out among the Hsiao Chin-ch'uan aborigines, and in the engagement Wên-fu's army at Mu-kuo-mu was almost wholly annihilated. Wên-fu himself and many other generals forfeited their lives. A-kuei retreated to safer zones and evacuated most of the conquered area, taking care to leave strong garrisons at strategic points for use as bases in future operations. Soon he was made commander-in-chief with orders to operate from the east, his former army on the southern route being left to the command of Fu-tê and. Within the year (1773) Hsiao Chin-ch'uan was recovered, but Ta Chin-ch'uan, while defended by only a few thousand men, withstood the attack for three years, every mountain and every pass being relinquished only after the most severe fighting. Their stone forts would perhaps have been impregnable had A-kuei not made use of cannon, constructed under the direction of the Portuguese missionary, Felix da Rocha (see under ), who reached A-kuei's headquarters in the autumn of 1774. 7