延信 Yánxìn

Third son of Mengguan: Yanxin

Yanxin was the third son of Mengguan. He was first made General Who Supports the State. He rose through a series of offices to Lieutenant-General. In the fifty-seventh year he served under the Beizi Yunti, Grand General Who Soothes Distant Lands, leading an army against Cewang Alabutan, and was stationed at Xining. In the fifty-ninth year he was made General Who Pacifies Rebels and led an army to take Tibet. Going by way of Qinghai, he defeated Cewang Alabutan's commander Celing Dunduobu and so entered Tibet. Tibet was pacified. An edict said, "Yanxin, General Who Pacifies Rebels, led the Manchu, Mongol and Green Standard armies by roads never opened since ancient times, through miasmas and evil streams where few men had ever set foot. He went in person to the remotest lands and wiped out the vile foe; his courage and strategy deserve praise! Let him be made Duke Who Assists the State." Soon after, he acted as Grand General Who Soothes Distant Lands. When Kuihui had been stripped of his rank, it was decided that Yanxin should inherit. He was raised to Beizi, and then to Beile. He was made General of Xi'an. In the fifth year of Yongzheng, the emperor, holding that Yanxin had formed a faction with Aqina and others, had also secretly allied himself with Yunti, had covered for Nian Gengyao, and on entering Tibet had embezzled a hundred thousand taels of public funds, stripped him of his rank and had him arrested and handed to the princes and great ministers for trial. They reported that Yanxin was guilty of twenty crimes in all, including forming a faction, deceiving the throne, betraying imperial favour, courting popularity, greed that disordered the government, and mismanaging military affairs, and that he should be beheaded. The emperor ordered him kept in confinement, and his sons and grandsons were reduced to the red sash. Edit