Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/20

Rh The rebel capital was finally surrounded and So-no-mu 索諾木, chief of Ta Chin-ch'uan, surrendered (Mar. 23, 1776). According to a prearranged plan a select group of captives was escorted to Peking where A-kuei arrived two months later at the head of his victorious army. He was personally welcomed by the emperor outside the gates of the capital, and was fêted in the Palace.

The conquest of Chin-ch'uan was completed after five years of fighting and at the expenditure of seventy million taels of silver—more than twice the sum consumed in the conquest of the Ili valley and Turkestan, although the latter comprised an area twenty times that of Chin-ch'uan. Only by patient and laborious fighting with the aid of cannon, and by cutting off the supplies of both food and ammunition could the inhabitants of Chin-ch'uan be subdued. The conquered territory was re-peopled with loyal tribesmen and military colonists, and did not cause trouble again.

For his exploits A-kuei was handsomely rewarded. Early in 1776 he was raised to Duke of the first class with the designation Ch'êng-mou ying-yung 誠謀英勇公. He was also made assistant Grand Secretary, president of the Board of Civil Office, and was concurrently in charge of other offices. In 1776 he was once more dispatched to Yunnan to prepare for another expedition into Burma. While there he was elevated to the rank of Grand Secretary, and in 1777 was recalled to Peking. Burma, having in the meantime been weakened by internal strife and by conflict with Siam, began in 1788 to send tribute to Peking—a relation that existed until 1886 when that country was absorbed by Britain.

A-kuei led troops in two more campaigns against rebellious Mohammedans in Kansu. Both disturbances were caused by a new sect of Mohammedans which rose against the old order recognized by the government. The first rebellion took place in 1781, in the Ho-chou and Lan-chou region, and was suppressed in six months. Remnants of the new sect revolted three years later (1784), but were put down in four months (see under ). For the latter victory, A-kuei was given the additional hereditary rank of Ch'ing-ch'ê tu-yü.

From 1779 to 1789 A-kuei, though a senior member of the Grand Council and the Grand Secretariat, spent most of his time in the provinces, repairing broken dikes along the Yellow River in Honan, inspecting conservancy on the waterways, or investigating cases of official corruption in the provinces. At the same time he directed the above-mentioned Mohammedan campaigns. During these and the ensuing years of active service in Peking (1789–96), he was usually entrusted with affairs in the capital while the emperor was in Jehol or on other tours. This responsibility naturally came to A-kuei in view of his unquestioned integrity. But it is probable also that the powerful fearing, on his own account, to have such a trustworthy official near the emperor, saw to it that he was sent away from the capital as often as possible. Nevertheless, A-kuei continued to hold his posts, and with them the esteem of the emperor, until his eightieth year (1796) when he was relieved on grounds of illness. After his death in the following year, he was posthumously given the title of Grand Guardian, the designation Wên-ch'êng 文成, and the right to have his name celebrated in the Temple of Eminent Statesmen. For his share in the four major military achievements of the Ch'ien-lung period—the conquest of Ili and Turkestan, the pacification of Chin-ch'uan, the stabilization of Taiwan, and the campaign in Nepal—his portrait was hung in the Tzŭ-kuang ko (see under ). The last two campaigns—the ones in Taiwan and Nepal—were conducted in the field by, but A-kuei was given credit for the assistance he lent the emperor in directing the operations from the capital. Following the example set after the conquest of Ili and Turkestan, sixteen scenes depicting memorable events of the Chin-ch'uan war were painted on the walls of the Tzŭ-kuang ko and were later engraved. A complete set of these sixteen engravings, known as 平定兩金川戰圖 P'ing-ting liang Chin-ch'uan chan-t'u, is preserved in the Library of Congress. The engraving was done in China some time between 1776 and 1786.

Of the descendants of A-kuei the most illustrious was who, in the course of his official career, won the rank of viscount.

[, A Wên-ch'êng kung nien-p'u; 1/324/1a; 3/27/23a 補錄; 7/18/7a; 18/16/10a; , Hsiao-t'ing tsa-lu and Hsü-lu, passim ; , Kuo-t'ang chi 6/5a, 8/15a; , Chia-ch'ing ch'ung-hsiu i-t'ung-chih, chüan 423; P'ing-ting Chun-ko-êr fang-lüeh chêng-pien, and hsü-pien (see under ); P'ing-ting liang Chin-ch'uan fang-lüeh (see under ).]

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 AMIN 阿敏(慜), d. 1640, Dec. 28, age 55 (sui), member of the Aisin Gioro Clan, was the second son of. In 1608, and again in 1613, 8