Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 2.pdf/58

 the hereditary rank of Yün ch'i yü 雲騎尉. But his services in Kashgar did not cease with military conquest. Stationed at Aksu as imperial agent for two years (1759–60), he memorialized about the economic and political reorganization of the Moslem cities of the region. In 1761 he was assistant military governor at Kashgar.

A few years later, having been recalled to Peking and appointed president of the Board of Punishments (1761–68), Shu-ho-tê went to Amoy (1764) with to investigate a charge that the governor-general, Yang T'ing-chang 楊廷璋, had received bribes from the officials who supervised foreign trade. Again in 1767 he traveled to Hunan and Hupeh in the interests of justice. After a short term in 1766 as acting governorgeneral of Shensi and Kansu, he was recalled in 1768 to military service on the border. Emperor Kao-tsung, anxious to wipe out the disgrace of the recent overwhelming defeat of the Chinese army under in Burma, sent Fu-hêng to take charge of a new expedition into that country, with Shu-ho-tê as counselor (see under ). The latter, however, immediately became involved in difficulties for counseling restraint in dealing with the Burmese. Charged by the Emperor with mismanagement, extravagance, and foolish blunders, he was cashiered for the third time, divested of the Yün ch'i yü and other ranks, and sent as assistant military governor to far-off Ushi (1768–70) in Turkestan.

Again Shu-ho-tê had an opportunity to redeem himself. In 1770–71 the Torguts, who had migrated to the lower Volga Valley about the year 1616 (see under ), planned to settle in Ili under the leadership of their Khan, Ubasi 渥巴錫 (d. 1774), a great-grandson of Ayuki (see under ). In December 1770 some 169,000 of them, comprising more than 33,000 families, set out with all their belongings on the long trek eastward. Pursued by Russian troops, attacked by the Kazaks, and waylaid by the Buruts, they lost more than half of their number and about two thirds of their cattle and other property before they reached the borders of Ili in July 1771. So destitute were they that they threw themselves on the mercy of the local authorities. Shu-ho-tê was one of the officials ordered by Emperor Kao-tsung to receive them and to distribute to them clothing, cattle, grain, and other necessities. Their chiefs were summoned to Jehol where Ubasi was created Jarktu Khan 卓理克圖汗, and some of his assistants were made princes. They were allotted pasture land at Urumtsi and Tarbagatai where their descendants live to this day. Concerning this migration and surrender, Emperor Kao-tsung wrote several accounts in prose and verse. There is a contemporary account in French (see bibliography) written by Father Jean-Joseph-Marie Amiot 錢德明 (1718–1793). The classic account in English is De Quincey's impassioned narrative, Revolt of the Tartars (1837).

For his part in the resettlement of the Torguts, Shu-ho-tê received the praise of the Emperor, and late in 1771 was made military governor of Ili. He served there for the next two years and was concurrently appointed president of the Board of Revenue. In August 1773 he was recalled to Peking, promoted to a Grand Secretary, and given several other concurrent posts. In October 1774 he was made Imperial Commissioner to direct the suppression of the rebellion of Wang Lun 王倫 at Lin-ch'ing, Shantung. Under Wang's leadership the adherents of a secret religious society took the city of Shou-chang, Shantung, on October 3, 1774. After further successes, they attacked the larger of two walled enclosures at Lin-ch'ing but, being repulsed, occupied the smaller and less defensible one. Government troops from Peking, Tientsin, and elsewhere concentrated at Lin-ch'ing and, under Shu-ho-tê's command, the stronghold fell on November 2nd. Wang Lun and his family perished in the flames of their dwelling, and most of the inhabitants were massacred. For more than a month Shu-ho-tê remained at Lin-ch'ing to apprehend other followers of Wang Lun and execute them. The documents relating to this episode were published in 1781, under the title 剿捕臨清逆匪紀略 Chiao-pu Lin-ch'ing ni-fei chi-lüeh, 16 chüan. Shu-ho-tê was rewarded with a minor hereditary rank and with the double-eyed peacock feather. In 1776 his portrait was placed in the Tzŭ-kuang ko (see under ).

Shu-ho-tê served on the Grand Council from 1748 to 1754, and from 1773 to 1777. In the absence of the Emperor from the capital he was entrusted with the management of state affairs, and so came into contact with the Jesuit missionaries who sometimes referred to him in their correspondence as "Chou [Shu] Ta-jin." He was accorded various posthumous honors, including the name, Wên-hsiang 文襄, and was celebrated in the Temple of Eminent Statesmen.

In his last years he was harassed by the lawless 660