#历史开讲 #
I believe that many people know that the reason why the Manchus were able to enter the Central Plains was because of the favorable time and place, and the so-called "people" refers to the invincible and invincible Eight Banners Army.
In the early decades of the founding of the Great Qing Dynasty, the combat effectiveness of the Eight Flags Army was terrifying.
People who have watched more Qing palace dramas should have an impression of the distribution of the eight flags, but there is rarely mentioned in the TV series that there is also a status difference between the eight flags, which can be divided into "upper three flags" and "lower five flags". The "upper three flags" refer to: the yellow flag, the yellow flag and the white flag.
The high status of the two yellow flags can be understood by many people, after all, it was controlled by the rulers from the beginning, and it is unreasonable not to be in the "upper three flags". Why can the seemingly ordinary white flag have the same status as the two yellow flags?
The establishment of the Eight Flags system
The first thing to remind everyone is that the Eight Flags system did not exist at the beginning, it was gradually formed in the process of Jurchen development according to the specific situation at that time.
And the founder of the Eight Flags system is the founder of Houjin - Nur Hachi.
The rulers of the ancient Central Plains Dynasty believed that foreign regimes were mainly divided into two types, one was nomadic and fishing and hunting peoples who did not establish a strict system, and they swirled and disappeared, and did not need to pay attention at all.
The other is the tribe that has established a strict system and political system, and once this regime develops, it may form a thunderous force and pose a great threat to the Central Plains dynasty.
The Jurchens and Mongolia of the Two Song Dynasties are both typical of this and are excellent references for later generations. Nurhachi mixed institutional models from these two powerful regimes when he developed the statehood Jurchens.
For example, at the beginning, he imitated the Jurchens to establish a cow recording degree.
The so-called Niu Lu is to organize every 300 men Zhuangding into a production and combat unit of the Yimin and Army, and set up one Er Zhen and four Zhang Jing to manage it.
In normal times, these cows are engaged in production activities in a fixed place; When the battle took place, they quickly assembled and became a complete combat unit.
However, as Nurhachi conquered one Jurchen tribe after another, his troops also increased, and the number of Niu Lu increased rapidly.
Soon, Nurhachi realized that he had to add an administrative unit to the Niu Lu to facilitate management.
In 1601, Nurhachi reorganized his troops, borrowed and imitated the Meng'an Muke system of the Jin Kingdom, and eventually divided all Niulu evenly into four Gushan.
And this so-called "Gushan" is the prototype of the eight flags, each of which uses different colors of military flags, which are yellow, white, blue, and red.
In 1615, the Jurchens had basically unified the Jurchen tribes, leaving only the recalcitrant Yehe tribe. At this time, the number of troops under Nur Hachi almost doubled compared to before, and the four Gushan mountains appeared significantly bloated.
Therefore, he proposed the concept of the main flag and the banner on the basis of the original four flags, and the eight-banner soldiers, who once made countless people tremble, were born.
The birth of the Eight Flags system marked the peak of the post-Jin regime's control over the military and laid a solid foundation for its unification of the Central Plains.
In the subsequent development, the eight-flag system has undergone new changes. Emperor Taiji completely unified the Mongol tribes in 1635 AD, and then set up the Mongolian Eight Banners modeled on the Qing army.
After that, he absorbed a large number of Ming Dynasty troops, and officially set up the Han Eight Banners in 1642. At this point, the complete eight-flag system was officially established.
Emperor Taiji ascended the throne, and the blue flag prevailed
In fact, after Nurhachi set up the eight-flag system, there was a faint difference in status between the flags.
Because the yellow flag, yellow flag and white flag are directly under the orders of Nur Hachi, the status of these three flags invisibly overwhelms the other flags, and they are the earliest "upper three flags".
Among the remaining five flags, Huang Taiji mastered the Zhengbai Banner, Mang Gultai controlled the Zhenglan Flag, Nur Hachi's nephew Amin controlled the Blue Flag, and Da Belle Daisan controlled the Zhenghong Banner and the Red Flag, and his strength was the most prominent among many juniors.
However, these people seem to be beautiful, but they are almost all isolated from the inheritance, because Nurhachi did not hand over the "Three Flags" to them.
According to historical records, the most favored at this time was Princess Abahai, and her son was the most likely to inherit the throne.
In fact, after Houjin stabilized, Nurhachi quickly handed over the two yellow flags to Abahai's two sons, Dodor and Azig.
As for the famous Dolgon, although his status was not as good as his two brothers at this time, Nurhachi also said that he would give the white flag to Dolgon.
Unfortunately, Nur Hachi, the founder of Houjin, suddenly died violently, making all his calculations empty.
Among Nurhach's sons, Huang Taiji's strength is very prominent, and he has always had ambitions to ascend the throne.
After Nurhach's death, Emperor Taiji immediately united with other Baylors and proposed to get rid of the eldest concubine Abahai and exclude her three sons.
Several Baylors were very much in favor of Huang Taiji's proposal, and they felt that if Abahai lived, then no one else would be able to ascend the throne.
Therefore, these Baylors, under the influence of Emperor Taiji, gathered together to force the palace and forced Abahai to be buried for Nurhach.
After sweeping away this biggest competitor, the remaining people were not Huang Taiji's opponents at all, and they were easily divided and disintegrated by him several times. In 1626, Emperor Taiji was elected khan by everyone, and he began to adjust the eight banners.
Emperor Taiji first let his son Hauge inherit the white flag, and then he changed the white flag and the white flag to two yellow flags to show his position of power, while the former two yellow flags were lowered to two white flags, which were controlled by Dordor and Dorgon respectively.
Subsequently, he spent several more years completing the annexation of Amin and Manggultai, officially taking all the forces of the Eight Flags into his own hands.
Not only that, Huang Taiji also mixed troops other than the two yellow flags and the two white flags, and established new two red flags and two blue flags.
Finally, in order to further attack the status of the Dolgon brothers, Huang Taiji kicked the white flag out of the ranks of the "upper three flags" and replaced it with the zhenglan flag. It didn't take long for the Zhenglanqi to be handed over by Huang Taiji to his eldest son Haoge.
Dolgon is in power, and the white flag is counterattacking
It stands to reason that as long as the throne of the Great Qing Dynasty is successfully inherited, the "upper three banners" system set by Emperor Taiji should not be changed.
But history plays a joke here, the lover emperor was depressed because of the death of Hailanzhu, and finally died suddenly like his father Nur Hachi, and failed to appoint an heir in time.
This situation gives real power like Dorgon a chance, and after he and his brother Dordor join forces, they are far better than Haug, who only has the blue flag.
Moreover, the Qin kings of the other banners at that time were also dissatisfied with Haoge, and they secretly communicated with Dolgon to support his competition for the throne.
At this critical moment, the two yellow banners stood up, and their generals made it clear that the successor must be the son of Huang Taiji and would not consider other candidates.
In desperation, Dolgon could only retreat to the second place, choosing to join forces with the Zhuang Concubine Borzigit clan to support her six-year-old son Fulin to ascend the throne and change Yuan Shunzhi. Dolgon, on the other hand, was given auxiliary power along with Prince Zheng Zilharang.
But this dynasty did not last long, and Zilharan was no match for Dolgon at all. Within two years, Dolgon successfully took control of the imperial government and was promoted to regent of his uncle.
Of course, the ambitious Dolgon was naturally unwilling to be subservient, and he also fantasized that he could replace Shunzhi in the future.
To this end, the regent made many efforts, one of the key measures was the mixing and adaptation of the eight flags.
For feudal rulers, only by holding the army firmly in their hands could they ensure that power would not fall. Dolgon's reorganization of the Eight Flags was aimed at this purpose, and he wanted to plant his henchmen in the flags by this means.
After the reorganization, Dolgon immediately kicked out the blue flag and replaced it with the white flag under his command.
Through this means, he tried to tell everyone that the white flag was detached, and as its leader, Dolgon was naturally destined to be.
However, Dolgon apparently ignored the resistance of his courtiers and the ability of his ally Empress Dowager Xiaozhuangwen, and for several years he did not find a suitable time to usurp the throne.
Just when the conflict between him and Shunzhi became increasingly fierce, the regent suddenly died like his father and brother, and Shunzhi won without a fight.
After the pro-government, Shunzhi quickly collected the two yellow flags, and then eliminated Dolgon's henchmen and included the zhengbai banner under his command. In fact, Shunzhi originally wanted to fight against Zhengbai, but at this time, Zhengbaiqi was already full of wings and was extremely influential in the DPRK.
In order to avoid the turmoil of the dynasty, Shunzhi finally chose to let go of the Zhengbai Banner and continue to maintain his detached status.
In this way, the Zhengbai Banner was smoothly listed among the "Three Banners of Shang", and its status was not shaken until the fall of the Qing court.
epilogue
From this point of view, the delineation of the "upper three flags" in the eight-flag system was always between the rulers' wishes. In addition to the status of the two yellow flags, the third member has undergone several changes, from a white flag to a blue flag and then to a white flag.
The reason why the Zhengbai Banner can be stabilized and no longer changes is mainly because the Qing court has completed the unification of the world at this time and established a stable inheritance system.
In addition, at this time, most of the Central Plains had been calmed down, and the war situation was greatly reduced, and the balance of strength between the various departments of the Eight Banners was stabilized and no longer changed.