Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/232

Rh the regency. Ebilun was restored to his former rank and office in 1651. His nephew, Kobso, the accuser, was punished and deprived of the dukedom which he had inherited from his father, Turgei. Early in 1652 the dukedom was awarded to Ebilun, who was also made a member of the council of princes and high officials. Late in 1652 he was made a chamberlain of the Imperial Bodyguard.

Early in 1661, when Emperor Shih-tsu was dying, he appointed four men to form a regency during the minority of his son, Emperor Shêng-tsu. Ebilun was one of the men chosen. In 1667, when Emperor Shêng-tsu took over the government, Oboi, one of the four regents, was almost in complete control. One of the other regents, Soni, was dying of old age. A third, Suksaha (see under ), was sentenced to death for opposing Oboi. Ebilun, however, took Oboi's side and so for a time remained in office. For their services during the regency he and Oboi were each given an additional dukedom. Ebilun held the dukedom left by Turgei, while his eldest son, Faka 法喀, inherited the additional rank. In 1669, when Oboi was punished for usurping power, Ebilun was also punished for failure to restrain or oppose the former. The additional dukedom which Ebilun had received was now abolished, and his own dukedom was taken from him and given to Faka. All his relatives who filled high positions were discharged. However, in 1670 Emperor Shêngtsu gave Ebilun the title of duke and ordered him again to serve at Court. Early in 1674 Ebilun became very ill and was paid a visit by the Emperor. He died soon after and was given the posthumous name, K'o-hsi 恪僖. A tablet to his memory was erected at his tomb in 1675. One of his daughters, who at first was a concubine of Emperor Shêng-tsu, was elevated to Empress in 1677. She died in 1678 and was canonized as Hsiao-chao 孝昭 (known after 1723 as Hsiao-chao Jên Huang-hou 仁皇后). In deference to her a temple was erected in memory of her father. It was completed early in 1679.

Ebilun had five sons. The eldest, Faka, who inherited the dukedom in 1667 was deprived of it in 1670, but was given the dukedom originally left by Turgei. In 1686 the dukedom was taken from Faka and given to Ebilun's fifth son, Alingga 阿靈阿 (d. 1716). The latter was prominent in the Court of Emperor Shêng-tsu and served as president of the Court of Colonial Affairs (January 1706–16). In 1708 he and and  were reprimanded for conspiring to name  heir-apparent. After Alingga's death his son, Arsungga 阿爾松阿 (d. 1726), became the sixth duke and for a time served as president of the Board of Punishments (1724). But because Arsungga and his father had been supporters of Yin-ssŭ and opponents of Emperor Shih-tsung in the controversy over the latter's succession (see under ) Arsungga was deprived of his position (1724) and exiled to Mukden; and Alingga was posthumously dishonored by a tablet describing him as "incompetent as an official, unbrotherly, violent and corrupt" (不臣, 不弟, 暴悍, 貪庸). Arsungga and his associate, Olondai (see under ), were decapitated in 1726 for "not repenting" (i.e., for showing disapproval of the way Emperor Shih-tsung obtained the throne).

The fourth son of Ebilun, Yende 音[尹]德 (d. 1727, posthumous name 愨敬), was more fortunate than his brothers. When the rank of viscount (lost by Eidu in 1637) was restored to the family in 1713 Yende was made the recipient. He was obedient to Emperor Shih-tsung and served him unquestioningly. In 1724 he was appointed to Arsungga's rank and became the seventh duke. Among Yende's sons the second, No-ch'in (see under ), inherited the dukedom to which was added in 1731 the designation, Kuo-i (果毅公). No-ch'in was a powerful minister in the early Ch'ien-lung period, serving as a Grand Secretary (1745–48) and as Grand Councilor (1733–48). In May 1748 he was sent to Szechwan to take the place of as commander of the armies fighting the Chin-ch'uan tribes, but was soon deprived of his post because of his failure to advance—he and Chang having mutually blamed each other. Chang was executed in Peking in 1749 and No-ch'in was beheaded, at the front, with a sword which had originally belonged to his grandfather, Ebilun, and which was sent from Peking for that purpose by order of Emperor Kao-tsung.

Late in 1748 No-ch'in's dukedom was given to Yende's eldest son, Tsereng (see under ), who served as governor-general of Kwangtung and Kwangsi (1745–48), and of Szechwan (1748–53). Tsereng took part in the first Chin-ch'uan war (see under ), in suppressing the rebellion of 1750 in Tibet (see under ), and in the conquest of the Eleuths during the years 1754–56. In 1756, for failure to capture, Tsereng was placed under arrest for escort to Peking but he was murdered on the way (1757) by the belligerent Eleuths. 220