Author: Wen Ding
The Jurchens were the predecessors of the Manchus, who had long inhabited the areas of present-day Songhua River and Heilongjiang in present-day northeast China. As early as the 11th century, the Jurchen Clan moved into the Yellow River Valley from the northeast and established the Jin Dynasty, while other tribes remained in the northeast until the Ming Dynasty.
(1) The Jurchen tribe developed in cultural exchanges with the Han nationality
The Jurchens of the Ming Dynasty were divided into three parts: Jianzhou, Haixi, and "Savage" (also known as the East Sea).
Their social and economic development is unbalanced, the "wild man" Jurchen is relatively backward, and in the Ming Dynasty, they were still in the stage of primitive clan society, living a life of shooting and hunting by chasing water and grass; the Jurchens in Jianzhou and Haixi were relatively evolved, and in addition to hunting and nomadism in the early Ming Dynasty, they also engaged in farming, and had transitioned from the end of the clan society to the slave society.
The Jianzhou women are really the orthodox lineage of the Manchus.
At the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, they could not withstand the attack of the "savage" female truth and migrated south. Around the time of Hongwu, they settled in the Fengzhou area of the Suifen River Valley. In the first year of Yongle (1403), the Ming Dynasty established Jianzhou Wei here. In the tenth year of Yongle, the Ming Dynasty also set up a state of left guard, and the seat of government was also in Fengzhou, with the jurchen chieftain Meng Ge Timur as the command envoy.
Timur was the ancestor of the later Qing Dynasty royal family.
In the seventh year of orthodoxy (1442), the Ming Dynasty also set up the Jianzhou Right Guard along the Santu River in present-day Hailong, Jilin Province, and made Fancha, the brother of Timur, a commanding envoy. Since Yongle, the Jurchen tribes of Jianzhou have migrated several times, and during the Orthodox years, settled in the Suzi River and the Po Pig River Basin.
Haixi Jurchen originally lived on both sides of the middle and lower reaches of the Songhua River and the Mudanjiang River basin, and like the Jianzhou Jurchens, they continued to move south due to the attacks of the "savage" Jurchens and Mongol cavalry.
During the Jiajing period, according to the places where they migrated, the four parts of Yehe, Huifa, Hada and Ula were formed, known as the four parts of Haixi or the four parts of Hulun.
Yehebu was named because it lived in the Yehe River northeast of Kaiyuan, and because of its proximity to the Mingshi Beiguan, the Ming people also called it Beiguan. Huifabu is named after the Huifa River (Ash River). Hadabu lives in the Xiaoqing River Basin, which is also known as hada River, because of its name, and because of its proximity to Guangshun Pass, the Ming people also called it Nanguan. The Ula tribe is named after its residence in the Ural River Valley, and its seat of government is in the city of Ula (in the north of present-day Jilin City).
Jianzhou and Haixi settled down during the Zhengtong and Jiajing dynasties. The three guards of Jianzhou were distributed east of Fushun Pass, and the Jurchens of Haixi were scattered north of Kaiyuan. The area where they lived was close to Liaodong, which was convenient for communication with the Ming Dynasty and absorbed higher culture. In order to carry out economic and cultural exchanges with the Jurchens, the Ming government opened a horse market in the northeast.
By the beginning of the Wanli Dynasty, the number of ma cities that had been opened included Guangning (present-day Beizhen, Liaoning), Kaiyuan (northeast of present-day Kaiyuan, Liaoning), Guangshunguan (a Nanguan, in present-day KaiyuanDong), Zhenbeiguan (a Beiguan, northeast of present-day Kaiyuan), Fushun (in present-day fushunbei, Liaoning), Qinghe (southwest of present-day Kaiyuan, Liaoning), Wuyang (northwest of present-day Kuandian, Liaoning), and Kuandian (now part of Liaoning).
Through the opening of the horse market and the development of trade activities, the Jurchens not only exchanged native products for the Ming Dynasty's people's approval of ironware, cattle, agricultural tools, cloth, grain and other production and daily necessities, but also learned the advanced culture and production technology of the Han people, and the industrious Jurchen people who absorbed the Han culture developed rapidly.
Of course, this development is unbalanced, and the East Sea Jurchen is still relatively backward. Jianzhou and Haixi Jurchens have been mainly based on agriculture, and grain has been imported into Liaodong during the Wanli period. Handicrafts also developed, using blast furnaces to smelt iron, agricultural tools and arrows can be made by themselves. On the basis of the development of agriculture and handicrafts, there was also a development of internal and external commodity exchange.
At this time, the Jurchens had entered a slave society, forming three classes: nobles, commoners and slaves. With the development of society, the greed of slave owners became more and more intense. The Jurchens fought among themselves and plundered the Han chinese as slaves. The growing strength of the Jurchens posed a serious threat to ming rule in Liaodong.
(2) Nurhaci: Sinicization and Rise
During the Wanli period, The Left Guard of Jianzhou produced an outstanding figure, Nurhaci.
Nurhaci (1559-1626) was the sixth grandson of Timur, the commander of The Left Guard of Jianzhou, and his surname was Ai xinjue Luoshi. The Aisin Kyora family has been a very powerful family since his brother Timur was made the commander of the Weidu of Jianzhou in the third year of Yongle (1405), and has served as a commander and governor for generations. But when nurhaci's father, Tucker, was born, the family fell.
Nurhaci lost his mother at the age of 10, earned a living alone since he was a child, had extensive contact with Han People, learned about the socio-economic situation of the Han people, and was influenced by Han culture. He knew Chinese, knew Chinese characters, and served as a soldier under Li Chengliang. After leaving Li Chengliang, he still lived a relatively difficult life and traveled from place to place to earn a living, and sometimes he was dispatched by the Ming Dynasty to participate in the war. This life tempered Nurhaci and made him a resourceful and martial artist.
In the eleventh year of the Wanli Dynasty (1583), Li Chengliang, the commander-in-chief of the Liaodong Dynasty, under the guidance of Nikan Wailan, the lord of Tulun City in the Tulun City of Theoksu Hubu of Jianzhou, attacked the grandfather of Nurhaci of Atai, the son of King Gao of Jianzhou, and was burned to death after the attack on Gule Village, and his father Tak Shi (also written as Ta Lost) was killed by mistake.
in Nurhaci
In order to repay his grandfather's unjust death, the Ming court granted Nurhaci the title of commander of the capital, and also gave him the edicts of 30 Dao, Ma 304 and Du Du.
At this time, both Jianzhou and Haixi within the Jurchens were divided into various tribes that did not grow up with each other, and there were many contradictions. This created the conditions for Nurhaci to develop, but it was bound to go through a difficult journey, because the officials of the various tribes appointed by the Ming court were not convinced of him.
Nurhaci blamed the death of his grandfather and father on Nikan Wailan. So he used his grandfather's 13th armor to attack Nikan Wailan and began a war to unify the Jurchen tribes. From the eleventh to the sixteenth year of the Wanli Calendar (1583-1588), the five Jurchen departments of Jianzhou were first unified; From the nineteenth to the twenty-second year of the Wanli Calendar (1591-1594), the three parts of Changbai Mountain were annexed; From the 29th to the 41st year of the Wanli Calendar (1601-1613), the three parts of Haixi were annexed; From the thirty-fifth to the forty-fourth year of the Wanli Calendar (1607-1616), some tribes of the Savage Jurchen were surrendered.
At this point, after more than 30 years of conquest, Nurhaci basically completed the unification of the Jurchens.
During the conquest, Nurhaci created a form of military and political organization that was compatible with the socio-economic development of slavery, the Eight Flags System. In the twenty-ninth year of the Wanli Calendar (1601), Nurhaci first built the four flags of yellow, white, red and blue on the basis of the "cow recording" that already existed in the Jurchen tribe; In the forty-third year of the Wanli Calendar (1615), the four banners of yellow, white, red and blue were added, collectively known as the Eight Banners, with a total strength of 70,000 or 80,000 troops.
In the forty-fourth year of the Wanli Calendar (1616), Nurhaci was proclaimed Khan at Hetuala (present-day Xinbin Old City, Liaoning), with the state name Dajin (historically known as Houjin) and the year name Mandate of Heaven. Since then, the Jurchens in the Ming Empire have become a unified emerging slave state and gradually compete with the Ming Court.
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