bookrebus Chapter 208: New Linjuelu? Ortai; Reform of the Aboriginal People
Chapter 208: New Linjuelu? Ortai; Reform of the Aboriginal People
Ortai, a member of the Xilin Gioro clan, with the courtesy name Yian, was a member of the Manchu Bordered Blue Banner.
A famous official in the middle period of the Qing Dynasty, he was the son of E Bai, the chief academician of the Imperial College. He was a close confidant of Emperor Yongzheng along with Tian Wenjing and Li Wei.
Ortai's ancestors surrendered to the Qing Taizu and served as hereditary assistant commanders.
His grandfather Tu Yantu was a doctor in the Ministry of Revenue. He passed the imperial examination in the 38th year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi and entered the official career.
The following year, he inherited the hereditary post of Zuoling and served as a guard, and was successively promoted to Yuwenlang of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Ortai's career took a turn for the better when Yongzheng ascended the throne.
In the first year of Yongzheng's reign, he was appointed as the deputy examiner of the Yunnan provincial examination, and was soon appointed as the governor of Jiangsu.
In the third year of Yongzheng's reign, he was appointed Governor of Guangxi.
In the fourth year of Yongzheng's reign, he was transferred to be the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, and concurrently in charge of Guangxi. In Yunnan, he implemented the establishment of prefectures and counties, and the system of native officials was changed to Han Chinese, strengthening the central government's rule over the southwest region.
In the 13th year of Yongzheng's reign, Emperor Yongzheng passed away. He and Zhang Tingyu were ordered to assist in the administration of the country, and served as the Minister of Prime Minister's Affairs. He served successively as the Minister of Military Affairs, the Minister of the Imperial Guard, the Minister of State Affairs, the Lecturer of the Imperial Lectures, and the Director of the Hanlin Academy. He was given the title of Prince Taifu, and served as the President of the National History Museum, the Three Rites Museum, and the Jade Book Museum, and was given the title of Earl of Xiangqin.
He died of illness in the tenth year of Qianlong's reign at the age of 65. He was posthumously named Wenduan and was enshrined in the Taimiao and the Xianliang Temple in the capital.
The policy of returning native peoples to Han Chinese implemented by Ortai, especially his careful management of the Miao area, played a great role in the stability and development of China's southwestern ethnic minority areas, promoted ethnic integration, and greatly strengthened the Qing government's rule over the southwestern border.
Emperor Yongzheng commented that his "achievements are truly extraordinary and incomparable" and he was one of the "Five Cabinet Ministers" whom Emperor Qianlong commemorated with poems and remembered throughout his life.
He has written the essay collection "Xilin's Remaining Manuscripts" and the poetry collection "Wenweitang Poetry Collection".
The "Imperial Edicts with Red Marks" compiled by Emperor Yongzheng includes the "Memorials of Ortai", which compiles his memorials during his tenure as Governor-General of Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi.
In the 19th year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi, Ortai was born.
His ancestors surrendered to Nurhaci, the first emperor of the Qing Dynasty, and served as hereditary assistant commanders.
His grandfather Tu Yantu was a Langzhong in the Ministry of Revenue, and his father Ebai was the Jijiu of the Imperial College.
In the 25th year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi, Ortai entered school at the age of six and studied the Four Books and Five Classics. He began to write essays and practice calligraphy at the age of eight. At the age of sixteen, he took the boy's examination and passed the examination the following year. At the age of nineteen, he was admitted as a student on government stipends. At the age of twenty, he passed the imperial examination and entered the official career.
At the age of 21, he inherited the hereditary post of Zuoling and served as a guard. Since then, he has been active in officialdom.
In the 55th year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi, when he was 36 years old, he was appointed as the Deputy Director of the Imperial Household Department.
But he was stuck and could not make any progress. At this time, he was very worried about his unfavorable official career.
On New Year's Day in the sixtieth year of the Kangxi reign, when he was forty-one, he composed a poem lamenting: "Looking in the mirror, I am getting old; the grass has not yet grown when I open the door."
In his poem “Song of Thoughts” he wrote: “It seems that even at forty I am still like this, so I will never know what will happen even at a hundred.”
He was very pessimistic about his future and never imagined that he would become a general or a prime minister later.
In the first month of the first year of Yongzheng's reign, he was appointed as the deputy chief examiner of the Yunnan provincial examination.
In May, he was promoted to the position of Governor of Jiangsu and became a local official.
In the third year of Yongzheng's reign, he was promoted to Governor of Guangxi.
On his way to take up his post, Emperor Yongzheng felt that he could still be of great use, so he appointed him as the Governor of Yunnan, in charge of the three provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi.
At this time, a dispute arose in the court about "changing the native system to Han people".
The nominal Governor-General of Yunnan and Guizhou, Yang Mingshi, only managed the affairs of the Governor of Yunnan.
Therefore, although Ortai initially held the position of governor in the southwest, he actually exercised the powers of a governor-general.
It turns out that Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Hubei and other places are inhabited by ethnic minorities such as Miao, Yi, Zhuang, Bai, and Yao.
These places had poor transportation, rigid customs, backward economy and culture, and the barbaric chieftain system was still in place until the early Qing Dynasty.
The chieftains, big and small, in various places were like tribal leaders, and the vast majority of the indigenous people were their slaves and soldiers. The land, forests, water sources, and even the bodies of the indigenous people were all owned by the chieftains, and the chieftains and the indigenous people formed a master-servant relationship that remained unchanged from generation to generation.
Wherever the chieftain went, the indigenous people would kneel on the ground and worship him.