載銓 Zàiquán

Zaiquan

Zaiquan was first made General Who Assists the State, second class, and after three promotions became Duke Who Assists the State; he was made a Minister of the Imperial Presence, Minister of Works and Commander of the Gendarmerie, and inherited the title. At the end of Daoguang he received the dying emperor's charge. After Wenzong came to the throne he held still more power. In the sixth month of the second year of Xianfeng, the Supervising Censor Yuan Jiasan memorialised to impeach him: "Zaiquan pursues private ends and commits abuses, and calls himself 'the one who holds the power of promoting and dismissing and of employing men'. The Minister of Justice Hengchun and the Vice Minister Shuyuan secretly go to his private residence and take his orders. The office of the Commander of the Gendarmerie may only receive petitions and by the rules does not try cases; yet Zaiquan, without regard for what is proper, turns things upside down at will, and when there is a robbery case to be referred to the Board, he uses arbitrary decisions to help himself evade the rules. He also takes in disciples widely, and outside it is rumoured that there are names such as the Four Correlates, the Ten Savants and the Seventy-two Worthies of the house of Ding [his princely house, as with the disciples of Confucius]." As proof he cited the verses that court officials had inscribed on Zaiquan's painting "Resting the Shoulders", in which they used the forms of address of master and disciple. The emperor's edict said: "Princes may not have dealings with the ministers serving at court; the warnings of the sage emperors before Us have been full and clear. Hengchun and Shuyuan, while trying a case, hurried to his mansion to call on him privately, and Zaiquan did not refuse them. As for acknowledging one another as master and disciple, this is expressly forbidden by the rules, yet in the verses on 'Resting the Shoulders' Zailing and Xu Songheng both style themselves his disciples, not knowing to keep clear of suspicion." He was fined two years of his princely stipend, and the posts he held were all taken from him. In the ninth month he was again made Commander of the Gendarmerie. In the third year he was given the rank of a Prince of the First Rank and put in charge of patrol and defence. In the second month he memorialised asking that the old rules for deliberations be proclaimed anew, and this was approved. In the ninth month of the fourth year he fell ill, and an edict made Puxu, great-grandson of Miande, his heir. In that month he died. He was posthumously made Prince of the First Rank, five thousand taels of silver were granted for his funeral, and he was given the posthumous name Min. Edit

Puxu, Yulang

Puxu inherited as Prince of the Second Rank. In the thirty-third year of Guangxu he died, and was given the posthumous name Shen. His son Yulang inherited as Beile. At the end of Guangxu he was made Vice Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and Commander of the Gendarmerie. In the seventh month of the second year of Xuantong he was made a Grand Councillor. In the fourth month of the third year he was made instead Minister of the Military Consultative Council. Edit