Background and Banner Affiliation
Yekeshu was an early Qing Guwalgiya member of the Plain Blue Banner whose family came from Ula. Volume 3 of the Comprehensive Genealogy of the Manchu Clans of the Eight Banners reports that he submitted early and served as a garrison officer. He fought at Shanhai Pass during the Qing entry into China proper and later participated in operations around Huai'an and Rugao. Military merit earned him the hereditary rank yunqiwei, increased through subsequent imperial favor to third-class qingche duwei.
Career, Campaigns, and Offices
A garrison officer had active banner military responsibilities, whereas yunqiwei and the graded qingche duwei were hereditary military distinctions. Third-class qingche duwei was not a third-rank civil-service office, and increases resulting from imperial proclamations did not necessarily represent victories in new battles.
Hereditary Honors and Source Limits
Yekeshu's grandson Tuhete inherited the distinction but was killed in the fighting at Shuangjingpu in Huguang and posthumously received second-class qingche duwei. Tuhete's son Tongde succeeded subject to the deduction of distinctions added by imperial favor. The title then passed through collateral relations including the great-uncle Da'erji, who served separately as a guard commander and general before a disciplinary reduction. Yitu later inherited, and subsequent deductions returned the inheritable distinction to yunqiwei. These later offices and penalties belong to the descendants, not to Yekeshu himself. Source: Eight Banners Manchu Clan Genealogy, vol. 3.
Sources and Bibliography
- Source reference 1 — zh.wikisource.org
- Source reference 2 — zh.wikisource.org
- Source reference 3 — zh.wikisource.org
References reproduce links supplied with the Chinese research manuscript. Individual historical claims have not all been independently verified against the primary sources.
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