Nurhaci was a great leader of the Jurchens, and without him, there would be no future Qing Dynasty. In previous articles, I talked about why Nurhaci was able to grow from a small leader with only thirteen pairs of old armor to an emperor who unified the Jurchen departments and established the Houjin. Today, I would like to talk about Nurhaci's family history.
Although the weather in the northeast is cold, the black soil and snow are white, but it has not been quiet. In 1115, the Jurchens established the Jin Dynasty in the northeast region, and later the rule of the region continued to expand, ruling for more than 100 years. After the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty, the Jurchens and Han chinese in the northeast region mixed together, and gradually formed the Jurchens who later established the Qing Dynasty. After the fall of the Yuan Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty established the system of guardhouses in the Liaodong region and strengthened its rule.
The Jurchens of this period formed one tribe after another, some of which were larger and some of which were smaller. According to the area where they lived, it can be roughly divided into three parts, the Jurchen people living in Jianzhouwei were called Jianzhou Jurchen by the Ming Dynasty; the Jurchens in the Area of Hulan River and Tangwang River were called Haixi Jurchens; and the Jurchen tribes in the lower reaches of the Heilongjiang River were called "Savage Jurchens".
The Ming Dynasty's rule over the Jurchens was based on the policy of "destroying by destroying" and "dividing and ruling", and they appointed among the Jurchen tribes the posts of governor of the guardhouse, command envoy, thousand households, hundred households, and town governors, and those who held these positions were mainly the leaders of the Jurchen tribes and the chiefs of the clans. The Ming dynasty government issued them edicts and seals, recognizing their status as chiefs and allowing them to rule "legitimately" over the inhabitants of their tribe.
The Jurchen tribes have been in a state of war for a long time, conquering each other and annexing each other, and strife has been continuous for many years.
Nurhaci's tribe belongs to the Jurchens of Jianzhou. Nurhaci's ancestor, who can be traced back to his sixth ancestor, was called Timur, also known as Aisin Kyora Montemu, who was the leader of the Jurchen Dori tribe of Jianzhou.
The Ming Dynasty expelled the Yuan Dynasty forces, and the northeast was gradually controlled by the Ming Dynasty. Compared with the Jurchen tribes, the Ming Dynasty had a vast territory, advanced productive forces, a rich country and a strong people, and its military strength also crushed the Jurchen tribes, and the Ming Dynasty was like a god-like existence. As rulers, the Ming Dynasty's generals were all on high. In this case, the Jurchen tribes had to submit to the Ming Dynasty - taking the Line of the Ming Dynasty was equivalent to holding their thighs, and they could use the power of the Ming Dynasty to suppress other tribes and strengthen their own power. The Ming Dynasty, on the other hand, also knew this, so they have been engaged in "divide and rule", supporting weaker tribes, attacking those tribes that have grown stronger, or taking advantage of the contradictions in the tribes to divide and disintegrate them. The Ming Dynasty people used this method to play in the Liaodong region for hundreds of years.
During the Hongwu years, the country gradually stabilized, there were fewer wars, peasants had the opportunity to resume production, and the national strength of the Ming Dynasty gradually became stronger. The Jurchen tribes of Jianzhou saw that the Ming Dynasty was becoming stronger, and they hugged the Ming Dynasty's thighs one after another. In the first year of Yongle (1403), the Ming Dynasty set up Jianzhou Wei and appointed the leader of the Huli reform department, Aha Chu (given the name Li Chengshan), as the commanding envoy. In the third year of Yongle, the fierce brother Timur led the Chu Duoli tribe to submit to the Ming Dynasty and was incorporated into the Beijing Dynasty. On the Side of the Ming Dynasty, the Jianzhou Left Guard was added, and timur was appointed as the commander.
In the eighth year of Xuande (1433), a tribe of savage women sneaked into the walled city of Timur, and Timur and his eldest son Agu and others were killed. Nurhaci's sixth ancestor was thus sacrificed in the bloody battle of the tribe.
After the death of his brother Timur, his half-brother Fancha was in charge of the affairs of the Left Guard of Jianzhou, and was recognized by the Ming Dynasty. A few years later, Dong Shan, the second son of Timur, gradually established his prestige in the tribe. At this time, the Ming Dynasty again played a policy of division and disintegration, and appointed Dong Shan as the commander of the Left Guard of Jianzhou. This is obviously intensifying the contradiction between Van Cha and Dong Shan. Indeed, this trick worked very well, and Van Cha and Dong Shan's uncle and nephew openly fought for power and power, and fought each other openly and secretly. This history of struggle is called the "Weiyin Controversy." In this case, if one side kills the other, the prestige and power of the victorious party will soar, and there may be a situation in which one family is dominant. The Ming Dynasty did not want a dominant situation among the Jurchens of Jianzhou. Therefore, in order to weaken the strength of the Left Guard of Jianzhou, the Ming Dynasty established the Right Guard of Jianzhou in the seventh year of orthodoxy (1442) and appointed Van Cha to administer it.
The three institutions of Jianzhou Wei, Jianzhou Left Guard and Jianzhou Right Guard have been called "Jianzhou Three Guards" in history.
Dong Shan, also known as Ai Xin Jue Luo Dong Shan, his attitude towards the Ming Dynasty was very different from that of his fathers. He often brought the Jurchens to plunder the inhabitants of the border, snatched the population as slaves (the Jurchens called Aha), and plundered property and livestock. The Ming government tried its best to win dong shan over, but Dong shan never changed his nature. And he also accepted a reward from North Korea. This made it difficult for the Ming Dynasty to tolerate. In the third year of Chenghua, the Ming Dynasty sent a large army to conquer the Jurchens in Jianzhou, killing more than 1,700 Jurchens, and Dong Shan was also captured by the Ming army and killed on the spot.
Nurhaci's fifth ancestor fell under the butcher's knife of the Ming dynasty army.
Nurhaci's fourth ancestor was named Aisin Kyora Xibao Qipugu, who was the third son of Dong Shan, and his historical deeds are unknown, and he probably did not do anything major, so there are few records. Nurhaci's third zufuman was the son of Xibao Qipangu.
Fu Man's fourth son was Kyaw Chang An, who was Nurhaci's grandfather. Kyaw Chang An is a resourceful man who handles things resolutely and resolutely. In his early years, he ran the horse market mainly in Fushun. After gradually growing larger, in the early years of the Wanli Calendar, like his ancestors, he was appointed by the Ming Dynasty as the commander of the Jianzhou Left Guard. Due to the lack of tribal strength, Jue Chang'an had to rely on the Ming Dynasty's border generals for survival and development out of interest considerations. In the second year of the Wanli Dynasty (1574), Li Chengliang, the commander-in-chief of the Ming Dynasty, led tens of thousands of troops to conquer the powerful Wang Gao tribe, which had betrayed the Ming Dynasty. Wang Gao was originally a relative of Jue Chang'an, but in order to gain the support of the Ming Dynasty, Jue Chang'an took his fourth son, Tak Shi, that is, Nurhaci's father, to betray Wang Gao and was willing to serve as a guide for the Ming army. Wang Gao's army was then eradicated by the Ming army.
In the eleventh year of the Wanli Calendar, Wang Gao's son Ah Tai, in order to avenge himself, gathered the Jurchen army to attack the Ming border. Li Chengliang again led the army to conquest. This time, Kyaw Chang An and Tak Shi still acted as guides for the Ming army. During the battle, the Ming army slaughtered the rebellious Atai, and the camp was burned down. However, in this battle, both Kyaw Chang An and Tak Shi were killed by the Ming army. By this time, Nurhaci was 25 years old.
His grandfather and father were killed on the same day, leaving the young Nurhaci with hatred for the Ming dynasty generals. Once the seeds of hatred are planted, they are difficult to eradicate. Nurhaci has always been angry about this. Thirty years later, Nurhaci established Houjin and proclaimed himself The Wise Khan. When he raised an army to conquer the Ming Dynasty, he summed up the seven great hatreds between Jurchen and Ming Dynasty, the first of which was that the Ming army had killed his grandfather Jue Chang'an and his father Tak Shi.
The above is the history of the love-hate entanglement between the Nurhaci family and the Ming Dynasty, to sum up, nurhaci's sixth ancestor died in tribal strife, and the fifth ancestor, grandfather, and father all died at the hands of the Ming army. The experience of the Nurhaci family is the epitome of the development and growth of the entire Jurchens. It took them hundreds of years to move from division to unification, from weak to strong, and finally overthrew and replaced the god-like Ming Dynasty. Such a result was something that Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Di and others never expected!