Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 2.pdf/62

 officials. In 1661 he was appointed one of the four regents to rule during Emperor Shêng-tsu's minority. But being then already advanced in years, Soni probably had little influence in the regency which was effectively controlled by. In 1667, shortly before his death, he was given, in addition to his earldom, the hereditary rank of a duke of the first class. After his death, his eldest son, Gabula 噶布拉 (d. 1681?), was given (1675) a dukedom in memory of his daughter, the Empress Hsiao-ch'êng (see under ). In this way Soni's family came into possession of two dukedoms and one earldom.

Songgotu was Soni's third son and for that reason was called Sosan 索三. He himself held no hereditary rank. He was educated in Chinese and Manchu, and began his career as an Imperial Bodyguard. In 1668 he was appointed junior vice-president of the Board of Civil Appointments. In general, he was opposed to Oboi who, among other things, had tried in vain to frustrate the marriage of Songgotu's niece to the young Emperor. He encouraged and assisted the young Emperor when the latter arrested Oboi in 1669 and took over control of the government. For some reason, he requested at this time to be relieved of his post as vice-president of the Board of Civil Appointments, and in July 1669 the request was granted. Two months later, however, he was made a Grand Secretary to fill the vacancy left by Bamburan (see under ) who had incurred the death penalty for participation in Oboi's faction. He was concurrently made captain of a newly organized company in the third sub-division of the Plain Yellow Banner.

In 1672, when one of the revisions of the shih-lu, or "veritable records", of Emperor Shih-tsu's reign (see under ) was completed, Songgotu, who had served as one of the directors of the project, was rewarded with the title of Grand Tutor of the Heir Apparent. A year later, when the delicate question of the revocation of the powerful South China princedoms of, and  arose, he, and many other courtiers, advised against it. But the young Emperor favored those who wished to force the issue(see under and ), with the result that late in 1673 all three of the above-mentioned chieftains rebelled. When news of the revolt reached Peking, Songgotu asked the Emperor to execute those ministers who had advocated the policy which had brought on the war; but again the Emperor flatly refused. Though, as the war went on, Songgotu rendered many valuable services, his previous advocacy of conciliation was several times held against him.

As uncle to the Empress, and great-uncle to the Heir Apparent (see under ), Songgotu became in due course very influential. He accumulated immense wealth and for a time was the leader of a governmental clique. Yet he had held this supreme position at Court for less than a decade when opposing forces appeared against him. A violent earthquake which took place in Peking on September 2, 1679 induced a censor,, to memorialize the throne that this phenomenon was a heavenly portent, warning of the corruption and misconduct of men in high places. The resulting decree, calling upon officials to reform, was widely interpreted as aimed at Songgotu. The rising power of and his faction was beginning to undermine the Emperor's confidence in his minister. In 1680 Songgotu resigned from his post as Grand Secretary, but his influence at Court was not yet entirely extinguished, owing to his position as great-uncle of the Heir Apparent. After his resignation he was still called upon to serve on the council of princes and high officials, but was several times reprimanded for haughtiness and loss of self-control. In 1683 he was taken to task for his failure to control the conduct of his two brothers, Hsin-yü 心裕 (inheritor of Soni's earldom) and Fa-pao 法保 (inheritor of Soni's dukedom), who were deemed guilty of improprieties and of negligence in carrying out their official duties. All three were punished: the dukedom of Fa-pao was abolished; Hsin-yü lost his offices, but retained his earldom; and Songgotu was deprived of all his offices, except the captaincy.

In 1686 Songgotu was made a chamberlain of the Imperial Bodyguard and two years later was appointed head of a commission to negotiate with the Russians about the border conflicts in Manchuria. The Russians had for decades been encroaching in Manchuria (see under, and ) and hostilities on a considerable scale had taken place at Albazin (1685, 1686, see under ). In the summer of 1686, while Albazin was being besieged by, two Russian emissaries from Moscow arrived in Peking, and their announcement that a Russian Ambassador was on his way east to negotiate a treaty of peace induced Emperor Shêng-tsu to order the siege raised. In 1687 this envoy, Fedor Aleksi︠e︡vīch Golovīn (費要多羅 in Chinese accounts), reached Selenginsk, southeast of Lake Baikal, which 664