In 1583, Nurhaci, who was revered by his descendants as the Ancestor of the Qing Dynasty, formally raised an army under the pretext of avenging his father and ancestors, and gradually unified the Jurchen departments with thirteen pairs of remains. However, in this process, because the strength was far from the level of confrontation with the Ming court, Nurhaci very wisely adopted various acts of showing weakness in order to win the trust of the imperial court and leave time and space for himself to develop.
Strictly restrain subordinates
Once, a Jurchen named Ke Wushi invaded Mingchaihe Fort and "shot and killed Liu Axe, the commander of the pursuit horse.". The imperial court ordered Jianzhou Wei to arrest Ke Fifty. Nurhaci seized the opportunity and immediately "beheaded fifty and plundered people to sacrifice", thus leaving an excellent impression on the Ming dynasty generals. At the same time, Nurhaci sent envoys to take the opportunity to reaffirm the merits of the ancestors and ask for a promotion for himself, and finally "promoted to the governor of the capital and boasted of Dongyi".
Fight against the Heissie Jurchens
In 1593, the Yehe tribe of the Haixi Jurchens united with nine allied forces to attack Jianzhou, but they were defeated. The Liaodong border officials had always adopted a strategy of dividing and ruling the Jurchen tribes, and this time Nurhaci defeated the Jurchen tribes in Haixi, and also defeated the Mongol tribes such as Horqin, so the Ming court considered it to have "Bao Sai Gong" and promoted Nurhaci to "Dragon and Tiger General" in the twentieth year of the Wanli Calendar.
Accept the mediation of Ming
In 1595, Korea, a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, killed the Jurchens who invaded the Weiyuan region, and the so-called "Weiyuan Incident" occurred. Nurhaci intended to send troops to retaliate, but Yu Xiyuan, a ming military guerrilla general stationed in Korea, mediated from the situation and persuaded the two sides to deal with the matter in a peaceful manner. Although Nurhaci had the advantage in military power at that time, in order to paralyze the court, he made a deferential appearance and agreed to reconcile, for which he was also rewarded generously.
Many times into the capital tribute
In order to show "obedience", Nurhaci personally paid tribute to Beijing in 1590, 1592, 1593, 1597, 1598, 1601, 1608, and 1609. In addition, his younger brother Shulhazi also paid tribute to Beijing four times in 1595, 1597, 1606 and 1608. At the same time, he ordered the original governors of the jianzhou ministry that had been unified to continue to represent the jianzhou into the capital to pay tribute, and at the same time "show weakness" also received rich economic rewards and rewards.
Because of Nurhaci's performance, the official positions granted to him by the Ming court were also promoted all the way. In 1589, Nurhaci was promoted to the post of Governor of Jianzhou Weidu (建州衛都督佥事) and Zuo Du (左都督). In 1595, he was promoted to the rank of Military Attaché of Zhengerpin and General of dragon and tiger because of his meritorious service against the Wu Baobian, and among the Jurchens, only his maternal grandfather Wang Gao had received similar highest praise.