Yinggene

Overview

Yinggene was a member of the Manchu Zheerqi clan, belonging to the Bordered Blue Banner. His family had lived in Nimacha for generations and submitted to the Qing dynasty at its beginning. Volume 45 of the official Qing dynasty genealogy, *the Comprehensive Genealogy of the Manchu Clans of the Eight Banners*, records that he was initially granted the title of Qiduwei, but was later dismissed due to some incident. He participated in the Heilongjiang campaign and was reinstated as Qiduwei, then given the additional title of Yunqiwei. Subsequently, he was promoted to First-Class Qingche duwei by three imperial edicts. This simultaneous process of dismissal, reinstatement, military merit, and imperial edicts cannot be summarized as a single, direct promotion.

After Yinggene's death, his son Yelengge inherited the title, which was then inherited by Yelengge's son, Guanbaozhu. Guanbaozhu's younger brother, Bailu, deducted the imperial edict's bonus and instead inherited the title of Qiduwei and concurrently Yunqiwei, which was later passed to Toktohe. Qiduwei, Yunqiwei, and Qingche duwei were hereditary titles of merit; the records of their succession and the actual official positions held must be described separately.

His sons, Fudachan, served as Langzhong (a high-ranking official), Daiyinbu as Zhushi (another high-ranking official), Saibitu as Chengshouwei (a city garrison commander), and Erdehe as Zuoling (a military officer). Langzhong and Zhushi were civil service positions, Chengshouwei were responsible for military administration of their garrisons, and Zuoling managed the bannermen and soldiers under their command, indicating that family members did not hold positions solely based on hereditary titles. The reasons for Yinggen's initial dismissal, the dates of the war, and the location of the former Nimacha site still need to be verified.