What is history: it is the echo of the past to the future, the reflection of the future on the past. - Hugo
The Battle of Salhu was the largest battle since the middle of the Ming Dynasty, with a total of nearly 200,000 combat troops used by both sides, so this battle can be called a large-scale battle. In the Battle of Wanli Korea, the Ming Dynasty used hundreds of thousands of troops before and after, and the scale of each campaign was also very large, but in terms of a single campaign, none of them exceeded the Battle of Salhu. After this battle, Jin won a complete victory, and the Ming army was defeated. Although this battle did not declare the decline and fall of the Ming Dynasty, a series of military defeats at the end of the Ming Dynasty began here, and at the same time, this battle laid the status of the Later Jin military power in one fell swoop, and its historical importance is beyond doubt.
But if there is one person who does not die, I am afraid that the Ming Dynasty will not lose so badly.
Pre-war relations between the central government and the Later Jin: The Jurchens were divided for a long time, and the core of the Ming government's policy towards the Jurchens was to divide and rule, prevent one side from gaining power, and maintain a situation that was scattered and easy to control, but later the Ming Dynasty became more and more difficult to control the development of the situation, Nurhaci began to unify the Jurchens in 1583, and the Ming Dynasty and Japan began a 7-year war in Korea. During this period, Nurhaci quickly unified the Jurchens and began to openly fight the Ming Dynasty, which eventually led to the outbreak of the Salhu War.
In the history of the relationship between the central government of the Ming Dynasty and the Jurchens, it is necessary to mention Li Chengliang, the general soldier, who was born in the sixth year of Ming Jiajing (1526) and died in the forty-third year of the Wanli Calendar (1615). He served as the commander-in-chief of Liaodong for the second time, and was responsible for guarding Liaodong. The first was from the fourth year of Ming Longqing (1570) to the nineteenth year of the Wanli calendar (1591), counting 22 years, and the second from the twenty-ninth year of the Wanli calendar (1601) to the thirty-sixth year of the Wanli calendar (1608), a total of 8 years. There were 30 years in total. Therefore, Li Chengliang's period in zhenshou Liaodong coincided with the period of Nurhaci's unification of the Jurchens.
Li Chengliang's duty was to prevent the Mongol tribes from entering the border and plundering and to ensure the effective jurisdiction of the imperial court over the Jurchen tribes, and during the 30 years of defending the Liao, he performed his duties brilliantly, and countless battles not only gave the Mongol cavalry a powerful blow to the offending Border, successfully blocked the Mongol cavalry firmly outside the border wall, but also very effectively controlled the Jurchen nation that was seeking internal unity and prosperity, and ensured the stability of the Liaodong region for a period of time.
At that time, the Jurchens were divided into three departments: Jianzhou, Haixi, and Savage Jurchen, and the minister of Jianzhou, Wang Gao, after increasing his strength, opposed the Ming Dynasty, so in the second year of the Wanli Calendar, that is, in 1574, Li Chengliang sent troops to suppress them, and in the following year, he executed Wang Gao. After Wang Gao's death, Wang Wutang's forces rose in the Jianzhou Department, constantly committing border raids, and was also destroyed by Li Chengliang's army in the eighth year of the Wanli Calendar (1580).
Among the four jurchens in Haixi, the hada tribe was the strongest at first, and the minister Wang Tai was loyal to the imperial court, and was named the Right Pillar State and the Dragon and Tiger General by the imperial court, but after his death in the tenth year of the Wanli Dynasty (1582), several sons fell apart due to the dispute over the family property, while the power of the Yehe tribe became strong, and the ministers Qingganu and Yang Jinnu brothers wanted to annex the Hada department, did not listen to the court's precepts, and coerced the imperial court to meet their demands by force. In December of the eleventh year of the Wanli Calendar (1583), Li Chengliang planned to kill QingGanu and Yang Jinu and wipe out Ye Hebu in one fell swoop. Later, in the sixteenth year of the Wanli Calendar (1588), he attacked the remnants of Yehebu and succeeded in one fell swoop.
In this series of blows, Li Chengliang fulfilled his duty well, attacking the powerful tribes of the Jurchen tribe so that they could not be unified, but when he attacked the powerful rising forces, he failed to notice that Nurhaci's tribe was slowly rising. Therefore, his blow objectively created the conditions for nurhaci's rise.
During the period of fighting against the rebel forces, Nurhaci's father Takshi had served as a guide for Li Chengliang, and successively led the official army to attack Wang Gao and his son Atai, apparently closely related, at this time, Nurhaci experienced the tragedy of the total destruction of the village in the home of his great-grandfather Wang Gao when he was 16 years old, fortunately, because his grandfather and father served as guides for Li Chengliang, he himself cleverly "hugged Liang Chengliang and asked for death", Li Chengliang therefore "pitied him, did not kill, and left his eggs and wings like an adopted son", and later, Nurhaci lived under Li Chengliang's account for several years. The two are close. It can be said that without Li Chengliang's cultivation, there would be no Nurhaci, but if Li Chengliang did not die, Nurhaci would not rise up in fear.