The establishment, development, and growth of the Later Jin Dynasty not only threatened the security of the Ming Dynasty, but also threatened Mongol rule.
Mongolia moved toward unification during the time of Genghis Khan. After the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty, the emperor of the imperial dynasty was also the Great Khan of the Mongol Empire. After the fall of the Yuan Dynasty, Emperor YuanShun led part of his army to move north and retreat to the Mongolian plateau, a regime known in history as the "Northern Yuan". Due to the decline of the ruling power, the Mongols were divided within themselves, and four major tribes were gradually formed. Among them, the tribe that guarded the army of the Great Khan was called "Chahar", and the Chahar department gradually developed into one of the four major tribes of Mongolia. When Nurhaci established the Later Jin, the Great Khan of Chahar was Lindan Batur, known as Lindan Khan.
Nurhaci attached great importance to relations with the Mongols, and adopted a strategy of attacking and co-opting on the other, with the smaller tribes directly destroyed by force, the powerful ones were intermarried and reconciled, and those who were willing to submit still let them rule their own tribes. By the time Emperor Taiji succeeded to the throne, most of the Mongol tribes had submitted to houjin, and only the Chahar tribe was left with greater power.
Lindan Batur was only 13 years old when he succeeded to the Khan's throne, and he had weak control over politics. However, Lin Dan Batur was a very hard-working, determined person, and worked hard. Ten years after his succession, his prestige was gradually established. The relationship between Chahar Mongols and the Ming Dynasty and the Later Jin Dynasty was mixed and bad. Lin Dan Khan led his troops to plunder the Ming border three times in order to rob the supplies. But he did not dare to completely anger the Ming Dynasty. Nurhaci raised an army to attack the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty asked Lin Dan Khan to attack Houjin, promising them a generous bounty. After consultation, the Ming Dynasty promised to reward Lin Dan Khan with 4,000 taels of silver per year (later increased to 40,000 taels), and Lin Dan Khan assisted the Ming army in defending Quang Ninh City.
Lin Dan Khan's policy of "uniting with the Ming dynasty to resist the Jin" infuriated Nurhaci, and the Chahar ministry had a bad relationship with houjin.
After Emperor Taiji succeeded to the throne, in order to stabilize the rear, he freed his hands to fight a decisive battle with the Ming Dynasty, and decided to completely solve the problem of the Mongolian Chahar Department. As a result, Emperor Taiji used troops against Lin Dan Khan three times.
Below, we will talk in detail about these three uses of soldiers.
The first occurred in February 1628. In order to further weaken the power of the Chahar tribe, Emperor Taiji sent people several times to instigate the Qaraqin tribe to submit to Houjin, but the people he sent out were intercepted and killed by the Doroth tribes belonging to the Chahar tribe. Emperor Taiji used this as an excuse to personally lead a large army to conquer the Chahar Department in February 1628. Emperor Taiji ordered Dorgon and Dordor to be the vanguard and attacked Doroth's troops, taking more than 10,000 prisoners. The Qaraqin Ministry, which was originally close to the Chahar Ministry, sent a mission to ally with Emperor Taiji and expressed its willingness to submit to Emperor Taiji.
The second occurred in September 1628. In order to further attack the Chahar Department, Emperor Taiji also ordered the subordinate departments to send men and horses, agreed on a date, and attacked the Chahar Department together. On the day of the attack, Emperor Taiji commanded a large army gathered and took advantage of the night to attack the Chahar department's Silha Xibotu, Yingtangtu and other places, defeated the Chahar army, and captured a large number of livestock and population.
The third time, took place in April 1632. This use of troops is the largest one. Emperor Taiji was determined to win the Chahar Department, hoping to destroy the Chahar Department in one fell swoop, solve the Mongol problem at one time, and stabilize the rear.
In March 1632, Emperor Taiji agreed on a date and ordered the Mongol tribes that had returned to The Jin dynasty to lead troops to attack the Chahar department. On the first day of April, Emperor Taiji led a large army to leave Shenyang and began a western expedition against Lin Dan Khan. On April 16, Huang Taiji held a general meeting, which was equivalent to a promotion meeting. At the meeting, The Emperor Taiji rewarded Baylor for his enthusiastic obedience, reprimanded him for being sluggish and disobeying orders, and further clarified the offensive route. After the meeting, Emperor Taiji ordered that all the ministries should travel day and night, directly take the residence of Lin Dan Khan, and wipe out Chahar in one fell swoop.
However, this large-scale influx of troops has not done a solid job in secrecy work. Two Mongols who had submitted to the Jin Dynasty sneaked out of the camp and galloped on horseback to inform Lin Dan Khan. When Lin Dan Khan learned of this news, he was shocked. He knew that Huang Taiji was going to completely destroy the Chahar Department this time, so he did not intend to fight hard with Huang Taiji, and in order to preserve his strength, he decided to escape. Lin Dan Khan hurriedly ordered the troops to gather, and sent people to gather the people and livestock of Hohhot, abandon the city and flee.
On April 22, Emperor Taiji's army crossed the Xing'an Mountains and marched more than 1,300 miles (counting from Shenyang). But not even a single Chahar was seen. After learning of Chahar's escape route, Emperor Taiji ordered the army to pursue with all its might, and it was necessary to capture Lin Dan Khan. Hou Jin chased After Lin Dan Khan for 41 days, but still did not catch up. In late May, the Houjin army entered Hohhot. Emperor Taiji learned that Lin Dan Khan had crossed the Yellow River south, and due to Houjin's "horse fatigue", Emperor Taiji ordered a halt to the pursuit. Later, the Jin army plundered livestock and population along the city of Hohhot, "those who were annexed, organized into hukou".
This conquest not only dealt a blow to the Chahar Department, but also made the Ming army lose face once.
It turned out that under the blows of the Later Jin army, some Mongols who could not keep up with the large army fled into the Ming Dynasty's Shahe Fort to take refuge.
Emperor Taiji sent people to Shahe Fort to ask for people. Facing the Ming Dynasty generals, Huang Taiji's tone was very hard, he said: "I marched north to Chahar, and pursued it for forty-one days... I have recently heard of the people and animals left behind by Chahar, and they have been taken in by Er and others, and returned to me one by one. Otherwise, self-inflicted. ”
What was the reaction of the Ming Dynasty? Instead of refuting it, the general gave Huang Taiji all the Mongols who fled to Shahe Fort and all the belongings they carried according to Emperor Taiji's instructions. Not only that, but he also gave the treasures originally planned to be given to Lin Dan Khan to Emperor Taiji.
The Ming Dynasty guards also negotiated peace with Emperor Taiji and agreed that the two sides would trade, and the Ming Dynasty would donate more than a thousand pieces of gold and silver to Emperor Taiji, thousands of pythons and cloths, and thousands of bags of tea.
Through this small matter, it is enough to see that Daming and Houjin have been easy to attack and defend. Hou Jin has gained the upper hand.
On June 24, the Houjin army camped outside Zhangjiakou, "thirty battalions in a column, forty miles in contact", on a grand scale. Huang Taiji held a summary meeting here, and the number of captured people and livestock in the military newspapers totaled "more than 100,000.". Emperor Taiji believed that this goal of the battle had been basically achieved, so he commanded the army to return to the east and returned to Shenyang on July 24.
Through three uses of troops, Emperor Taiji caused the Mongol Chahar department to collapse. Lin Dan Khan fled to Qinghai with the remnants and died of illness in 1634 (the eighth year of Tiancong). In 1635 (the ninth year of Tiancong), The son of Lin Dan Khan, Erzhe, surrendered to Houjin and handed over the jade seal of the Mongol Empire to Emperor Taiji, and the Mongol Empire collapsed. The threat from the north was completely eliminated, and Hou Jin could concentrate on attacking the Ming Dynasty.
Emperor Taiji was very happy after receiving the imperial jade seal of the Mongol Empire. In March of the following year (1636), forty-nine lords of the Sixteen Ministries of Southern Mongolia gathered in Shenyang, recognized Emperor Taiji as Khan, and presented him with the honorific title of "Bogda Chechen Khan". Emperor Taiji was very happy and thought that his work had surpassed that of his father, so he ordered that the name of the country be changed to Qing and the name of Yuan Chongde be changed.