Speaking of Aobai, we all know that he was one of the four major assistant ministers in the Kangxi period, and was captured by the young Kangxi because of his greed for power and power in his later years. It is precisely because of this that later generations of literature and film and television works have vigorously exaggerated the Kangxi capture of Ao's worship, and basically hold a negative attitude towards Ao's worship. As everyone knows, Ao bai was also a model of loyal subjects, and he followed the two emperors taizong and Shizu with a dead heart.
Ao Bai was born to Shomen, his grandfather Solgo commanded the Yellow Banner during the Nurhaci period, his father Wei Qi served as the Viceroy of Shengjing during the Emperor Taiji period, and his uncle was more prominent, Fei Yingdong, one of the five ministers of the Founding of the Qing Dynasty. In addition, Ao Bai's elder brother ZhuoButai was appointed general of the South during the Shunzhi Dynasty, and his younger brother Baha was also the Minister of internal affairs of the Shunzhi Dynasty.
Since childhood, like other Manchurian nobles, Ao Bai was good at riding and shooting with bows and horses, and when he became an adult, he was skilled in suppressing the crowd. At first, he was just a small bodyguard by the side of Emperor Taiji, and his promotion was completely spelled out with real swords and real guns.
In the second year of Chongde (1637), Emperor Taiji sent troops to attack Phi Dao, which Wasu defended by Mao Wenlong, don't look at Phi Dao, which is not a big place, but the geographical location is very important, directly threatening the hinterland of Shengjing, and the Qing court has been unable to conquer Phi Dao after several attacks. At that time, after Azig formulated a plan for dividing the army into two roads, Ao Bai took the initiative to ask for help, led his troops to attack Phi Dao, and issued a military order, treating death as a homecoming.
Under the fierce artillery fire of the Ming army, Aobai charged into the battle, and for a time the morale was greatly increased, and the Qing army fought bravely to be the first, and finally conquered Phi Dao. Aobai became famous in the First World War, and Emperor Taiji ordered him to be a third-class baron and given the title of "Baturu".
In the sixth year of Chongde (1641), the Battle of Songjin, Jinzhou was the military town of the Ming Dynasty, and the Qing army must conquer Jinzhou when it entered the Central Plains. In this year, Aobai followed the Zheng prince Zilharang to besiege Jinzhou. At this time, Hong Chengyu, the governor of Ming Jiliao, led a large army into Songshan and attacked the Qing army.
Ao Bai led the yellow flag escort to encounter the Ming army on the way to the march, and gave a severe blow to the head. Then, without waiting for the military order to come down, he took advantage of the victory to pursue, until he fought until the Ming army camp. Ao bai won all five battles, and was promoted to the first class Ofe Zhangjing for his merits. In August of the same year, Emperor Taiji personally led a large army to support Jinzhou, and Aobai led his troops to pursue and kill the retreating Ming army along the way. This time, the Battle of Songjin directly crushed the main force of the Ming army and laid the foundation for the Qing army to enter the Central Plains. Ao bai was also promoted to the commander of the escort army because of his outstanding military achievements.
After entering the pass, Aobai followed Azig in the first year of Shunzhi (1644) to attack Li Zicheng's peasant army guarding Xi'an, capturing four cities along the way, descending thirty-eight cities, and together with Duoduo, he disintegrated the Dashun army and conquered sixty-three cities. In the first month of the third year of Shunzhi (1646), Aobai attacked Zhang Xianzhong's department with Hauge the Prince of Su, and basically eliminated the peasant army in Sichuan except for the remnants of Yungui's Great Western Army, Sun Kewang and Li Dingwai. After entering the customs, Aobai participated in dozens of battles, large and small, and made outstanding military achievements, and made great contributions to the establishment of the Qing Dynasty.
Of course, during the founding of the Qing Dynasty, not only were Aobai's military achievements outstanding, but almost everyone had military merits among the descendants of Ai Xinjue Luoshi and the Manchurian nobles. If we talk about military merit, Ao bai is not a leader. But there is one thing that Ao Bai cannot compare with others, that is, his loyalty to Emperor Taiji and the Shunzhi Emperor.
After emperor Taiji's death in the eighth year of Chongde (1643), Hauge the Prince of Su and Dorgon began a struggle for the throne. As the commander of the Yellow Banner Protectorate, Ao Bai and the two Yellow Banner Ministers, Sonny and Tan Tai, swore allegiance to the former emperor to the death, and vigorously supported Prince Su, the son of the former emperor, as emperor, rebelling against Dorgon, and even preparing to fight by force. Later, the two sides gave in and supported the young son Fu Lin to take the throne.
Aobai's opposition to Dorgon laid great hidden dangers for him in the future. After Dorgon became regent, he persecuted three times and vowed not to submit to his worship. The first time was in the first year of Shunzhi, after Ao Bai consulted the Da Shun army for meritorious service, because Azig did not follow the orders of the class to return to the dynasty, and lied about the punishment of battle merits, the result was that Ao Bai's battle merits were not discussed, and he was also fined hundreds of taels of silver, and even almost dismissed from his post because he sheltered Tan Tai and others.
The second time was in the fifth year of Shunzhi (1648), when Ao Bai was dismissed from his post and fined silver for his subordinates' false military merits. Later, he was accused of "sending troops to guard the gate without authorization" when Emperor Taiji died, and Ao Bai was accused of capital offenses. The third time was in the seventh year of Shunzhi (1650), Dorgon fell ill and wanted the Shunzhi Emperor to visit him, so he asked Beizi Xihan to convey it, but he turned his face and rebuked Xihan, and also punished Ao bai for the crime of concealment, and once again discussed death.
Aobai suffered a lot during Dorgon's reign, and it was not until Dorgon's death that he was bitter. After the Shunzhi Emperor took power, he deeply appreciated Aobai for never yielding to Dolgun, and reused it, and after the death of the Shunzhi Emperor, he was ranked as the fourth assistant minister with Soni, Shubilong, and Suksaha.
Ao Bai fought in the north and south of his life, took the lead in the soldiers, and went through three generations of emperors, with outstanding merits. Although the Kangxi Emperor later imposed 30 felonies on him, which should have been executed, the Kangxi Emperor still could not bear to kill him and imprison him. Soon after, Ao Bai died in prison, and Kangxi remembered his merits and posthumously awarded him the title of "Chao Wu" (Chao Wu) of the First Rank during the Yongzheng Period.