Since Nurhaci founded the Eight Flags system, this military system, which was born out of the Jurchen fishing and hunting method, has left a very strong remnant of the tribal system that will exist. In the eight flags system created by Nurhaci, in addition to Nurhaci, the unquestionable leader, the eight flags under his command often do their own thing, the flag owner has great power within the flag, and the flag owner is dependent on the flag owner in personal relations.
Eight flags
Each of the eight flags is equivalent to the independent kingdom of the flag owner. The relationship between Nurhaci and the flag bearers is very similar to the relationship between the leaders of the big warlords and the leaders of the small warlords during the Republic of China. Therefore, starting from Nurhaci, the strength of the Eight Banner Kings was directly related to the combat effectiveness of the Eight Banners Army under their command, and at the same time, as the power of the Flag Lords expanded, the Flag Lords repeatedly threatened the imperial power.
For example, after the death of Emperor Taiji, Dolgun, who held two white flags, even almost sat directly on the throne. Even though the six-year-old Fu Linyu Wong was profitable even because of political compromises, Dorgon still became the de facto ruler of the Qing Dynasty with his strong strength. After Dorgon's death, Aobai, who had been appointed by the Shunzhi Emperor as a minister of honor, once again became a powerful vassal who threatened the imperial power.
It should be known that Ao Bai was loyal to Emperor Taiji in those years, and even spared his life to oppose Dolgun and support the Emperor Taiji lineage, however, when Ao Bai came to power, he began to take advantage of Kangxi's young age to bully the young lord and monopolize power.
The Kangxi Emperor
From Dorgon to Aobai, these moves, which threatened the imperial power with the strong strength of the Eight Banners under his command, left a great impression on Kangxi. Therefore, the extremely discerning Kangxi decided to fundamentally dismember the old forces of the Eight Banners and completely eradicate the threat of the Eight Banners owners to the imperial power.
The first thing Kangxi did was to dismember the Council of Ministers. The Council of Ministers, a military council established by Emperor Taiji and composed of Manchurian nobles, was also intended to weaken and suppress the overly powerful major Baylors. According to Emperor Taiji's vision, the members who could participate in the council of the king included the princes, belles, beizi, guogong, and the eight banner nobles such as the eight banners gushan erzhen.
Emperor Taiji also gave these members a lot of power, and at key moments, they were even able to sway the court and face the resolutions of the Council of Ministers, and even the emperor was difficult to change easily, which naturally caused great dissatisfaction from the Kangxi Emperor. In fact, for the Council of Ministers, the Emperor Taiji, who had been working to strengthen the imperial power long before entering the customs, began to weaken the power of the council.
Nurhaci
However, due to the premature death of Emperor Taiji and the excessive strength of the old forces of the Eight Banners, the Council of The Council of Kings still had great power and influence until the Kangxi period. At the same time, with the entry of the Qing army, the princes and nobles who once commanded the Eight Banners died one after another, and the successors of these nobles were far from their fathers and ancestors.
For example, when Kangxi quelled the Rebellion of San Francisco, the performance of the ministers of the Parliament was very disappointing. Kangxi had sent eight princes and ministers of the Zong clan to serve as leading generals according to the requirements of the ancestral system when Wu Sangui and others rebelled, but except for Yue Le, the Prince of An, who had repeatedly made military achievements, the others were lackluster and even defeated.
With this reason, and in addition to Kangxi's early plans, Kangxi began to weaken the power and status of the Council of Ministers in a planned and step-by-step manner. Kangxi first put his brother Fuquan and younger brother Chang Ning into the council of ministers. According to the Eight Banners Ancestral System, the status of the emperor's brother and brother alone was not enough to enter the ranks of the Council of Ministers, they must have enough military achievements, but it was obvious that Fuquan and Changning did not.
Emperor Tai Chi
Second, as the princes among the princes of the council were deposed, stripped of their titles, and died, Kangxi did not replace any of the princes and county kings. In the second half of Kangxi's reign, that is, from the 36th year of Kangxi until Kangxi's death, the highest title of zong clan among the ministers of the parliament was only duke. By the end of the Kangxi Dynasty, even low-ranking titles such as General Fengguo began to enter the parliamentary office. The ministers of the Council of Ministers, who were once able to influence the strategic direction of the Eight Banners and even the Jurchen Military Group and determine the future and destiny of the Eight Banners Group, have been reduced to an honorary meeting that does not even have the right to be a staff officer.
The second step made by Kangxi was also a step that pointed directly to the point, that is, to begin to change the unification of the various banners. As we have already said, Nurhaci has given the eight flag owners a lot of power since the establishment of the eight flags system, and within this banner, the flag owners not only have military command, but also have administrative power and adjudication power. In addition to obeying the command of the flag owner in wartime, in non-wartime, the personal relationship also belongs to the flag owner, and the relationship between the flag owner and the flag owner is actually the master-servant relationship, and the flag owner can even kill and seize the flag in the flag.
Such a huge power is the greatest confidence of the Eight Banners kings who dare to compete with the Khan King and even the later emperor. With the gradual consolidation of Kangxi's power and the maturity of his means, Kangxi was naturally very dissatisfied with these banner lords who were no different from the independent kingdoms.
Therefore, in response to this situation, Kangxi directly drew salaries from the bottom of the cauldron, and in July 36, Kangxi issued an edict: "In the future, the number of commanders in the capital and deputy capitals should be in the left and right wings, regardless of the flag." What does that mean? The Kangxi Emperor directly broke the original rule that after the eight banner masters were vacant, there were major members of the flag to be replaced, and began to transfer the big members of other banners to serve as the flag masters.
For example, when the Manchurian capital of the Zhenglan Banner was vacant, the capital of the banner was also the flag owner, and it was not held by a person from the Zhenglan Banner, but was replaced by Kangxi who was transferred to a Manchurian officer who belonged to the Zhengbai Banner. Subsequently, after the blue flag of Manchuria was vacant, Kangxi once again transferred a Manchurian senior officer who was originally subordinate to the red flag to replace him. It was also from this time that the Kangxi Emperor successfully deprived the flag owners of their flag and military powers.
Eight flags
With the Kangxi Emperor's mutual adjustment of the flag owners, although the newly appointed flag owner still has a very high political status, he has no understanding of the flag being transferred, and there is no crony to rely on, and his rights guarantee can only come from the emperor, so the new flag owner can only be grateful to the emperor on the one hand, and obey the emperor's command on the other hand.
It was precisely by relying on this superb means that the Kangxi Emperor completely grasped the Eight Banners in his hands, and from then on, whether the Eight Banners originally belonged to the Emperor or the Lower Five Banners, became the emperor's direct control of the force, and the Eight Banner Lords no longer had the possibility of competing with the imperial family. Later, the flags of the Eight Banners were even turned into honorary positions, and although the political status was still very high, they did not have much actual power.
The last step in depriving the Eight Banner Lords and kings of their powers and strengthening their imperial power was the kangxi move of reusing the crown prince. After the death of the heroic Emperor Taiji, his eldest son Hauge failed to succeed to the throne logically, and the power base laid by Emperor Taiji was almost stripped away by Dorgon, such a painful lesson, Kangxi believes that this is exactly what Huang Taiji did not support the power of the prince.
Eight Flags Soldier Ding
Therefore, from the adulthood of the emperor's eldest son, the Kangxi Emperor paid great attention to reusing the crown prince and giving the prince sufficient rights. From his meritless and mediocre older brother and younger brother as the Prince of Heshuo, to the appointment of the eldest son of the 18-year-old and newly adult emperor as the deputy of the fuyuan general, to every important political activity of Kangxi, the crown prince participated as an important member, and the power that Kangxi gave to his sons became more and more powerful, and the power of the princes in the Qing court was also expanding.
In the later years of Kangxi's life, with Kangxi's step-by-step support and deliberate tilt, his princes had great power in both military and political terms. Even in the center of the imperial court, the power of the six cabinet ministers and the kings and nobles was far inferior to that of the princes. It can be said that by the end of Kangxi's life, few of the emperor's sons of any dynasty could have such a wide range of power.
More importantly, Kangxi's sons grew up in peacetime, and they grew up completely different from Nurhaci's brothers and nephews in the midst of bloody rain and wind. This is probably also the reason why the kings seized power in the late Kangxi Dynasty and the court was in chaos.
Nine sons and wives
Kangxi used the sufficient power given to his sons to deprive the princes and the eight banner nobles of the rights originally owned, but at the same time, due to the excessive power given to the princes, it also caused the various princes to monopolize power at the same time, but also made the imperial court miasma, and the famous nine sons seized the concubine, which was the direct result of the excessive power that Kangxi gave to the princes.
However, it has to be said that the Qing Dynasty and even Yu Kangxi were too lucky, although the Ninth Son's conquest of the concubine was very cruel, and the court was also a mess, but the victorious Yongzheng Emperor was very good, and Yongzheng not only completely reversed the chaotic situation of the court in the late Kangxi Dynasty, but also fundamentally stabilized and consolidated the Qing Dynasty's rule over the whole country.
Of course, it was also up to the Kangxi Emperor to completely deprive the eight banners of the old forces of their power, and since Kangxi, the emperors of the Qing Dynasty have never suffered from the monopoly of power of the eight banners. The Kangxi Emperor did fundamentally and completely dismember the power of the old forces of the Eight Banners and disintegrated the possibility of the monopoly of the Eight Banners.