Yile Shen

Overview

Yile Shen was a member of the Manchu Feimo clan, belonging to the Bordered Yellow Banner, and his family had lived in the Saqiku area for generations. Volume 44 of the official Qing dynasty compilation, *the Comprehensive Genealogy of the Manchu Clans of the Eight Banners*, records that at the beginning of the dynasty, he led twenty-five households, along with his brothers Sagu, Saihua, and Yirdang'a, to surrender. He was initially appointed a zuoling (military command) when the system was first established. The original text uses the unit "household," which should be understood as the number of family units, not twenty-five soldiers.

A zuoling was both a basic organizational unit and the official title for managing that unit. After Yile Shen's death, his son Langtu inherited the zuoling position. He died in battle during the campaign in Heilongjiang and was posthumously awarded the title of Qiduwei. Qiduwei was a hereditary title for meritorious officials, different in nature from the zuoling position. The subsequent succession of positions by Alaxi, Tantu, and others mainly revolved around hereditary titles; it is inappropriate to interpret all "inherited titles" as inheriting a zuoling position.

When Mulan inherited the position, after deducting the portion added by imperial decree, he inherited the title of Qiduwei and simultaneously served as a zuoling. Ile Shen's second son, Malaxi, once served as a military commander; his grandson, Bashi, served as a second-class bodyguard; Mani served as a third-class bodyguard; and his great-grandson, Zhangliang, served as a scribe. This section also describes the descendants of various branches of the same group, explaining that the initial group of allies later formed multiple lines of official appointments. The punctuation of the names of the companions, the current location of Sachiku, and the exact year of the initial compilation of the zuoling (military commander) are pending verification; punctuation omissions in the original text must be compared with the photocopy.