Recently, the TV series "Deer DingJi" starring Zhang Yishan and Tang Yixin has made everyone have a strong interest in the historical figures of the Qing Dynasty. In the third episode of the play, the Kangxi Emperor joined forces with Wei Xiaobao and others to take down the powerful minister Aobai, and the young Tianzi first appeared sharp. So is the historical Ao Bai also like in the TV series, a big traitor and a big bad guy?
Aobai, Guarjia clan (full name: Guarjia Aobai), Manchurian Yellow Banner people. Ao Bai was born as a shogun, and his uncle was Fei Yingdong, one of the five ministers of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. Like most Manchu children at that time, Ao Bai joined the army in his teens. He followed Emperor Taiji of the Qing Dynasty on expeditions to Chahar and Korea, and made many meritorious contributions.
Aobai really came to prominence in the "Battle of Phi Dao" in the second year of Chongde (1637). Located at the crossroads of the Liaodong Peninsula and the Korean Peninsula, Phi Phi Island is extremely important. At that time, Phi Dao was occupied by the Ming army, because the island was isolated overseas, and the Qing army was not good at water warfare. Therefore, the Ming army repeatedly used Phi Dao as a springboard to launch surprise attacks on the rear of the Qing Dynasty.
In the second year of Chongde (1637), Emperor Taiji decided that he must remove the nail of Phi Dao, so he sent prince Azig to lead an army. The Qing army attacked Phi Dao many times, but all of them ended in failure. This time, the Qing army made full preparations, but when the two armies clashed, the Qing army, which was not good at water warfare, still suffered a big loss. Seeing that this conquest was about to repeat the same mistakes, at the critical moment, Aobai led a small group of men and horses to risk death to launch a charge, and quickly entered the Ming army's beachhead position. Under the leadership of Ao bai, the follow-up Qing army quickly followed and finally conquered Phi Island in one fell swoop. After the war, Aobai was promoted to the third class Melle Zhangjing (third class baron) with his first merit, and was given the title of "Baturu" (warrior).
In the following years, Ao Bai made many military achievements and his position was constantly improved, and by the end of the reign of Emperor Taiji, Ao Bai was already one of the core figures of the Yellow Banner.
In August of the eighth year of Chongde (1643), Emperor Taiji died. Emperor Taiji's eldest son, Prince Hauge of Su, and Emperor Taiji's brother, Prince Dorgon the Prince of Rui, fought fiercely for the succession to the throne, and Aobai, who was a confidant of Emperor Taiji, firmly sided with Hauge. Due to the stalemate between the two sides, the situation was once very tense. At the last moment, Prince Zheng Ofezilharan intervened and proposed to succeed emperor Taiji's ninth son, the 6-year-old Aisin Kyora Fulin (Shunzhi Emperor). Dorgon accepted the proposal and took control of the government as an auxiliary prince, while Hauge and his supporters lost power.
During the few years that Dorgon controlled the government, Aobai was persecuted many times and almost lost his life. However, he did not succumb to Dorgon, but firmly sided with the little emperor Shunzhi. It was not until Dorgon's death that the Shunzhi Emperor began to take power and pro-government, and Aobai was also rewarded with loyalty to the emperor, and he was awarded the post of minister of the parliament, progressively promoted to the second rank of duke, hereditary resignation, and promoted to the position of minister of the interior, young fu and crown prince.
The Shunzhi Emperor died young at the age of 24, and the 8-year-old emperor's third son, Ai Xinjueluo Xuanye, succeeded to the throne and was known as the Kangxi Emperor. Together with Sonny, Suksaha, and Shubilon, Aobai was appointed as an auxiliary minister, and the major affairs of the military state were decided by the four of them. At this time, Ao Bai had truly achieved an extremely popular subject, but he was fierce in temperament, and he only knew how to advance and retreat, which laid the groundwork for his later tragic end.
At that time, the four auxiliary ministers were headed by Sony, but the scheming Sony knew that the master of the gonggao would bring danger to himself and his family, so he often could not get sick. However, Ao Bai thought that this was the perfect opportunity for him to expand his power, so he continued to co-opt his henchmen and steal authority.
Ao Bai thought that everything he did was for the sake of the imperial court, so he had no idea of convergence, and even killed Suksaha, who was also an auxiliary minister with him, in order to further seize power. But he didn't realize that the scourge of killing was imminent.
In the eighth year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1669), the Kangxi Emperor arrested Aobai and imprisoned him, and listed 30 major crimes. People who have seen "Deer Ding" think that Ao Bai should be the most evil. But in fact, although these crimes of Aobai are all felonies of killing heads, they are also light and heavy in terms of punishment scale, the two most important of which are forming parties and killing Suksaha without permission, and the others are basically disrespectful in front of the king. Therefore, the Kangxi Emperor's punishment of Aobai was only to imprison him.
Some people may wonder whether it is possible for Ao Bai to rebel, and reading history books at night believes that this possibility is basically zero. Because the Ming and Qing dynasties had achieved extreme maturity in terms of balance of power, Aobai felt as if power was in the world, but in fact, it was still 18,000 miles away from those powerful ministers in history, so even if it was loyal and adulterous, Aobai did not have the conditions for rebellion. Therefore, the main reason why Kangxi killed Aobai was that he was a courtier, and Aobai did not have the political wisdom of Sonny, and he did not know how to restrain his power, so he could only let the Kangxi Emperor personally attack him.
References: Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, Record of the Qing Dynasty