Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 2.pdf/79

 (謀勇公). Sun's chief general, Hsü Shih-hêng 許世亭 (d. 1789, posthumous name 昭毅), was made a viscount. These rewards were made too hastily, however, for a few days after the edict reached Hanoi, Sun's expeditionary forces were routed by fresh recruits under Juan Wên-hui. The fighting began on January 27, 1789, the day after the Chinese New Year, and as Sun Shih-i was celebrating the holiday he was utterly unprepared. The next day he and a part of the eight thousand men under his command succeeded in fleeing northward, leaving behind more than half of his men (including Hsü Shih-hêng), all of whom lost their lives.

On receiving this report, Emperor Kao-tsung issued a conciliatory edict stating that Annam was a small and distant country afflicted with pestilences and that, moreover, the Li Dynasty was apparently fated by heaven to fall. Hsü Shih-hêng was raised posthumously to a third class earl with the designation Chuang-lieh (壯烈伯). Sun Shih-i, who was responsible for the defeat, was let off lightly, being merely deprived of his dukedom and his post as governor-general of Kwangtung and Kwangsi. He was ordered to assist, the new governor-general, in bringing the war to a close, and then to return to Peking for another appointment. Early in March 1789 Juan Wên-hui, having altered his name to Juan Kuang-p'ing 阮光平, asked for pardon and for recognition of his country as a tributary state. The request was promptly granted and the war came to an end.

Juan Wên-hui was grateful, and in 1790 went to Peking personally to congratulate Emperor Kao-tsung on his eightieth birthday. In 1792 Juan's son, Juan Kuang-tsan 阮光纘 (Nguyên Quang-toản, b. 1783), succeeded to the throne but was captured in 1802 by Juan Fu-ying 阮福映 (or Juan Ying 阮映, Nguyên Phúc-Ánh, d. February 3, 1820). The latter, with the help of Siam, established a new dynasty and the name of his kingdom was changed to Yüeh-nan 越南. His descendants now occupy the throne under the protection of France. Li Wei-ch'i, having lost his kingdom (early in 1789), was content to have conferred on him the rank of an official of the third grade. Late in 1789 he and his relatives, numbering 167 men, came with their families to Peking and were incorporated as a new company in the Chinese Bordered Yellow Banner, with Li as captain. Other refugees from Annam were quartered at Nanking, Kalgan, Ili, and elsewhere. In 1804, eleven years after Li Wei-ch'i died, his body was sent back for interment in his own country. Other Annamese refugees were allowed to return as they pleased.

Soon after Sun Shih-i lost his post as governor-general, he was made president of the Board of War and concurrently a Grand Councilor. Late in 1789 he was appointed acting governor-general of Szechwan. After being raised to full rank in 1790, he was transferred to Nanking as governor-general of Kiangnan and Kiangsi. In 1791 he was made president of the Board of Civil Offices and concurrently an assistant Grand Secretary and then was sent back to Szechwan as governor-general of that province. Later he was given full responsibility for transporting and supplying the expeditionary forces of Fu-k'ang-an in the latter's fight against the Gurkas (see under ). The success of the campaign was due in part to Sun who in 1792 proceeded to Lhasa to hasten the transport of supplies. After the war Sun was made a full Grand Secretary and was ordered to assist Fu-k'ang-an and in settling Tibetan affairs. For the next three years (1792-95) he resided for a time at Lhasa and later at Chengtu, Szechwan, writing up the expense account for the campaign against the Gurkas—a very costly campaign owing to the extravagance of the leader, Fu-k'ang-an. It seems that a complete statement of the account was never submitted.

From 1795 to 1796 Sun served again as governor-general of Szechwan—at a time when Miao tribesmen in Kweichow and Hunan, and religious sects in Szechwan and Hupeh, were in rebellion. Sun was kept busy fighting in southeastern Szechwan on the borders of Hupeh and Kweichow. For his victory over insurgents at Lai-fêng, Hupeh, he was made, in May 1796, a third class baron but two months later he died in Yu-yang, Szechwan. He was posthumously raised to a duke and was canonized as Wên-ching 文靖. His grandson, Sun Chün 孫均, was made an earl of the third class and a member of the Chinese Plain White Banner. Though a member of Ho-shên's clique, Sun Shih-i was not posthumously dishonored when that minister was punished in 1799. But when in 1806 Sun Chün requested, on a plea of lameness, that the family rank should pass to a cousin, Emperor Jên-tsung became very angry. He pointed out that Sun Shih-i had not deserved his reward, and so deprived Sun Chün of his rank and also of his status as bannerman.

Sun Shih-i was an able and diligent official and a good calligrapher. He was frugal, and cer- 681