Ardas

Overview

Ardas was a bondservant of the Aha Gioro clan in the Bordered Yellow Banner, residing in Saksu and Lo, with the year of his submission unknown. The official Qing dynasty genealogy, *The General Genealogy of the Manchu Clans of the Eight Banners*, Volume 18, clearly records that he served as Vice Minister of War, and his son Angjin as a head of the Imperial Guard, Shihan as an Inner Commander, and his grandson Zhumala as an Assistant Minister, and Yihan as a Deputy Inner Commander. The Ministry of War was a central military administrative body, and the Vice Minister was its deputy head, handling military and political affairs rather than directly commanding lower-ranking soldiers of a particular banner; therefore, it cannot be written as another name for a Zuo Ling (military officer). Bondservants were a specific banner's subordinate status, not mutually exclusive with holding central government positions; this entry is an example where status and actual duties need to be clearly stated. The head of the Imperial Guard was involved in pastoral management, while the Inner Commander and Deputy Inner Commander were involved in the administration of their respective bondservant families and supplies; the original text attributes these to his sons and grandsons respectively, and it cannot be said that Ardas himself held all these positions simultaneously. Yihan's descendants later changed their affiliation to the Bordered Blue Banner, but this only applies to this branch of descendants; Ardas's banner affiliation cannot be changed entirely. The details of Saksu and Rhodes, their years of service, and specific duties within the Ministry of War still require further information to be added to the archives.