Agui (; ; September 7, 1717 – October 10, 1797) was a

Manchu The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) and ...

noble general for the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

. As the only son of

Akdun Akdun (; Manchu: ''Akdun''; Styled: Lixuan, 立軒) (May 4, 1685- February 22, 1756) was an official of the Qing dynasty. He was a member of the Janggiya (章佳) clan and of the Manchu Plain Blue Banner. He was the father of the Qing dynasty o ...

, he was a

scion Scion may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities *Scion, a playable class in the game ''Path of Exile'' (2013) *Atlantean Scion, a device in the ''Tomb Raider'' video game series *Scions, an alien race in the video game ''Ba ...

of a noble family who led a number of important Manchu military operations, including several of the "

Ten Great Campaigns The Ten Great Campaigns () were a series of military campaigns launched by the Qing dynasty of China in the mid–late 18th century during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (r. 1735–1796). They included three to enlarge the area of Qing contro ...

Sino-Burmese War

On April14, 1768,

Fuheng Fuheng (; ; my, ဖူဟင်း; 1720 – July 1770), courtesy name Chunhe (春和), was a Qing Dynasty official from the Manchu Fuca clan and the Bordered Yellow Banner of the Eight Banners, and was a younger brother of the Empress Xiaoxian ...

was appointed military commissioner (Jinglue) and Agui and Aligun, both

s, were appointed deputies. This occurred due to the death of the previous commander

Ming Rui Mingrui (, Manchu: , ''mingšui'', my, မင်းယွီ, ; (?March 1768) was the first General of Ili from October 1762 to March 1767 and then Governor-general of Yunnan and Guizhou from April 1767 to March 1768. A son-in-law of the Qian ...

. Agui had already proven himself in Chinese Turkestan, as a competent commander. He served under

in the 1769 failed campaign of the

Sino-Burmese War (1765–1769) The Sino-Burmese War (; my, တရုတ်-မြန်မာ စစ် (၁၇၆၅–၆၉)), also known as the Qing invasions of Burma or the Myanmar campaign of the Qing dynasty, was a war fought between the Qing dynasty of China and ...

. Agui soon found himself out of favor as he was not fully supportive of Fuheng's plans and the Chinese

Qianlong Emperor The Qianlong Emperor (25 September 17117 February 1799), also known by his temple name Emperor Gaozong of Qing, born Hongli, was the fifth Emperor of the Qing dynasty and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1735 t ...

was vocal of his dislike for this behavior. The main push occurs in December at the height of the disease period and the Chinese suffer great losses to disease. Confusion surrounds the following events. Some sources say that the

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

nation initiated peace talks and others say the Chinese did; however it happened, by December 1769 peace negotiations had started, and on December22 the treaty was signed. However, both Agui and Fuheng were absent. The chief negotiator for the Chinese was Ha Guoxing. Documents from this era seem to support the fact that the only reason the Chinese agreed to a treaty was through the leadership of Agui and other generals, as Fuheng was vehemently opposed to a peace treaty. When the treaty was brought from the Myanmar king to Fuheng to be signed, he refused. Agui, after allying other powerful generals on his side, confronted Fuheng again. Fuheng demanded that all those allied against him and for peace, sign a statement (ganjie) to that effect. When they all did, he grew furious and threatened impeachment. This did not occur as he was getting sicker each day. At this time a decree was received from Qianlong, demanding a complete withdrawal regardless of the circumstances. This withdrawal, may also have been attributed to Agui, as he was the one responsible for letting the emperor know of the illness affecting Fuheng. Agui took charge of the troops during the withdrawal as Fuheng was worsening. When all was said and done, Agui took the majority of the emperor's wrath as Fuheng was on his deathbed. The emperor in acknowledging the retreat and defeat at the hands of the Myanmar, stated that it

made the Myanmar look down upon our celestial dynasty.

He also blamed Agui and others for not stopping Fuheng from the foolhardy decision to invade Myanmar if they knew that it would fail. The Jinchuan uprising could not come at a better time for Agui, who would alter drastically, the emperor's opinion of him after his coming victories. Agui thought so negatively of his time in Myanmar that he had all correspondence and writings concerning this time destroyed upon his death.

Ten Great Campaigns

He put down an uprising of the Jinchuan people west of

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

, called the second Battle of the Jinchuan. This battle took place from 1771 until 1776. During this battle, Agui expressed the importance in ''shangyun'' which was the policy of utilizing merchants in keeping the military stocked. In 1781, Agui went to

Lanzhou Lanzhou (, ; ) is the capital and largest city of Gansu Province in Northwest China. Located on the banks of the Yellow River, it is a key regional transportation hub, connecting areas further west by rail to the eastern half of the country. H ...

, in the northwestern

Gansu Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibet ...

province, to lead the suppression of the

Jahriyya revolt In the Jahriyya revolt () of 1781 sectarian violence between two suborders of the Naqshbandi Sufis, the Jahriyya Sufi Muslims and their rivals, the Khafiyya Sufi Muslims, led to Qing intervention to stop the fighting between the two, which in ...

by the Salar adherents of the

Jahriyya Jahriyya (also spelled Jahrīya or Jahriyah) is a ''menhuan'' (Sufi order) in China, commonly called the New Teaching (''Xinjiao''). Founded in the 1760s by Ma Mingxin, it was active in the late 18th and 19th centuries in what was then Gansu Prov ...

Sufi order A tariqa (or ''tariqah''; ar, طريقة ') is a school or order of Sufism, or specifically a concept for the mystical teaching and spiritual practices of such an order with the aim of seeking ''haqiqa'', which translates as "ultimate truth". ...

. along with

Heshen Heshen (; ; 1 July 1750 – 22 February 1799) of the Manchu Niohuru clan, was an official of the Qing dynasty favored by the Qianlong Emperor and called the most corrupt official in Chinese history. After the death of Qianlong, the Jiaqing Empe ...

Li Shiyao Li, li, or LI may refer to: Businesses and organizations * Landscape Institute, a British professional body for landscape architects * Leadership Institute, a non-profit organization located in Arlington, Virginia, US, that teaches "political tec ...

and

Fuk'anggan Fuk'anggan ( Manchu:, Möllendorff: fuk'anggan; ; 1748–1796), courtesy name Yaolin (), was a Manchu noble and general of the Qing Dynasty. He was from the Fuca clan () and the Bordered Yellow Banner of the Eight Banners. Fuk'anggan's father ...

. Agui also led campaigns to unify the Yili area and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

island (1786-1787) within the Chinese state. He served as a minister to the

emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

and a member of the Grand Council and

Grand Secretariat The Grand Secretariat (; Manchu: ''dorgi yamun'') was nominally a coordinating agency but ''de facto'' the highest institution in the imperial government of the Chinese Ming dynasty. It first took shape after the Hongwu Emperor abolished the off ...

(both administrative cabinets of the

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

government) until his death. Agui's grandson was Na-yen-ch'êng who served as an official in

Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...

after the

Afaqi Khoja revolts In 1759, the Qing dynasty of China defeated the Dzungar Khanate and completed the conquest of Dzungaria. Concurrent with this conquest, the Qing occupied the Altishahr region of Eastern Turkestan which had been settled by Muslims who followed the ...

Footnotes

References

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Agui 1717 births 1797 deaths Qing dynasty generals Manchu politicians Qing dynasty politicians from Beijing Generals from Beijing Grand Councillors of the Qing dynasty Grand Secretaries of the Qing dynasty Assistant Grand Secretaries Viceroys of Sichuan Viceroys of Yun-Gui Manchu Plain Blue Bannermen Manchu Plain White Bannermen