In the eleventh year of the Mandate of Heaven (1626 AD), when the Qing Emperor Nurhachi led his army to attack Ningyuan (now Xingcheng, Liaoning Province), he was hit by Ming artillery fire, so that he was seriously injured, and then his injuries worsened, coupled with the attack of poisonous sores, and he died of illness in August of that year.
Nurhachi's death was a very fatal event for his favorite concubine Abahai, because according to Nurhachi's "last words", Abahai was to be buried for him.
In the end, under the supervision of Huang Taiji and others holding the "edict", the 37-year-old Abahai had to commit suicide and follow her husband Nurhachi.
So, as the most favored concubine, why did Nurhachi choose Abahai to be martyred? Is there any special reason behind this? In fact, Abahai's death had a great deal to do with Huang Taiji, who was anxious to ascend the throne at that time.
Abahai was Nurhachi's fourth concubine, and she was extremely favored while Nurhachi was alive.
To what extent? Abahai once put a leek-colored hat on Nurhachi, and Nurhachi not only did not get angry, but actually forgave her.
This matter also began when Abahai married Nurhachi.
In 1596, Mantai died unexpectedly, and was succeeded by Mantai's younger brother Buzhantai, who was seven years old at the time, and was adopted by his uncle Buzhantai.
In 1601 AD, seeing that the Jianzhou Jurchens led by Nurhachi were gradually gaining strength, Buzhantai, who was worried about the future of his tribe, took the initiative to show favor to Nurhachi, first marrying his sister Hunai to Nurhachi's younger brother Shulhachi, and soon after, he married his niece Abahaixu to Nurhachi.
At that time, Nurhachi was forty-three years old, while Abahai was only twelve.
In other words, when Abahai married Nurhachi, the age gap between the two was thirty-one years.
However, although the age gap is large, the teenage Abahai was named the Great Blessing by Nurhachi after only two years of marriage.
There is also a reason why Abahai's status has risen so quickly.
According to historical records, Abahai was "rich and beautiful", you know, a woman's beauty has always been a powerful weapon, so it is normal to win Nurhachi's favor by virtue of her beauty.
In addition to her beauty, Abahai also has a characteristic, that is, she is "quite organically changing".
What does that mean? That is to say, she was very scheming and very resourceful, so after winning Nurhachi's favor with her beauty, she used means to firmly grasp Nurhachi's heart, which was the most successful thing that the young Abahai did at that time.
In the process of rising status, Abahai also gave birth to three sons for Nurhachi in ten years, the eldest son is Azig, the second son is Dorgon, and the youngest son is Dord.
During this period, because Abahai's uncle Buzhantai angered Nurhachi, the entire Ula tribe was destroyed, but the destruction of his mother's family did not affect Abahai's position in Nurhachi's heart, and she still sat firmly in the position of Great Fortune, which is enough to show that Abahai when he was young still had very means.
However, there is a way to be a flower without a hundred days of red, and the noble and favored Abahai annoyed Nurhachi because of a mistake.
This mistake is that Abahai is having an affair with others behind Nurhachi's back.
Moreover, the object of the ambiguity is none other than Nurhachi's son Daishan.
Dai Shan was the second son of Nurhachi, and because of the execution of his eldest brother Chu Ying, he was able to become the Great Beyler, and if nothing else, he was likely to succeed Nurhachi to the throne.
However, it was precisely because of the special relationship between him and his stepmother Abahai that he missed out on the position of prince.
At that time, Daishan often secretly had private meetings with Abahai, and he thought that things between him and Abahai were very hidden, but there was no impermeable wall in the world, and he was finally reported to Nurhachi.
The person who reported this incident was Nurhachi's little Fujin, whose name was Tayincha.
After learning about this incident, at least Nurhachi was very angry at that time, so he also punished Abahai, but Nurhachi considered that the ugliness of the family should not be publicized, so he found a crime of "private possession of gold and silver", kicked Abahai out of the palace, and ordered her to live alone in a small cabin.
It stands to reason that after pressing this colored hat on her husband, Abahai's harem career should have ended, but a year later, Nurhachi summoned her back with an order.
Not only that, after Abahai's return, Nurhachi often let Abahai participate in political affairs, such as attending the groundbreaking ceremony of Tokyo City, going to the front line of Quang Ninh to express condolences, etc.
It doesn't matter how Nur supported how he overcame the psychological barrier to accept Abahai once again, but according to his approach at the time, he was clearly taking the initiative to help Abahai establish his political position in the Houjin group.
And Nurhachi's purpose in establishing Abahai's political status was to plan for the future of Houjin.
The reason for this is that Nurhachi was already an old man in his sixties at that time, and he had to start thinking about what was going on after his death, so it was only natural to push Abahai out.
Therefore, if according to Nurhachi's arrangement, the future Abahai must occupy an important position in the Houjin Group, in this case, why was the thirty-six-year-old Abahai required to be martyred after Nurhachi's death?
Burial is not uncommon in ancient history, and as a nomadic Houjin, it is also very normal, but it is a little abnormal to let Abahai, who is the eldest concubine, be martyred.
According to relevant records, the Manchu family at that time did have the custom of one of the wives and concubines being martyred after the death of the husband, and once the person who was martyred chose someone, he could not refuse and replace him.
However, it should be noted that the Manchu selection of martyrs is not arbitrary, and there are certain conditions.
First, the wife or concubine must be in harmony with her husband, and second, she must have no young children.
If there are any of the above conditions, such as not being on good terms with your husband or having young children, you are not eligible for burial.
And what about Abahai? Not to mention whether she was at peace with Nurhachi, her youngest son, Dodor, had just turned twelve years old, which means that he was barely good enough to be a young child.
What's more, there were more than a dozen concubines in Nurhachi's living at that time, and it was not difficult to find a person with a low status and a shallow background.
But in the end, it was Abahai, who was still the eldest concubine, who was martyred.
The reason why it is Abahai is, on the surface, from a so-called "suicide note" left by Nurhachi.
"Hou Rao Fengzi, but jealousy, every time the emperor is displeased, although there are organic changes, it is finally controlled by the emperor's wisdom. After staying for fear of national turmoil, the last words to the kings said: "I will die, I will be martyred." --- "Records of Emperor Taizuwu"
The meaning of this suicide note is that Nurhachi thought that Abahai was too scheming and was worried that she would cause trouble to the court in the future, so he confessed to the "kings" before he died, and after his death, he would let Abahai be martyred.
This "king" specifically refers to Huang Taiji and the four great beylers, that is, the sons of Nurhachi.
Judging from this suicide note alone, Abahai's death is a matter of course, after all, this is Nurhachi's deathbed confession, but in fact, there are many doubts here.
One of the biggest doubts is that Nurhachi spent the last period of his life with Abahai on his deathbed.
According to historical records, Nurhachi attacked Ningyuan in the first month of the 11th year of the Mandate of Heaven (1626 AD), and after being wounded, he returned to Shengjing in May of that year.
In other words, when Nurhachi died of illness on August 11 of that year, Abahai stayed with him for at least a few days, during which time, could it be that Nurhachi's tone was so tight that he did not reveal anything about Abahai's burial?
What's more, if it is really as stated in the "last words", Nurhachi is worried that Abahai will cause trouble to the dynasty in the future, why do you have to summon her alone before her death, and let her accompany her for the last time?
This is completely unreasonable.
Therefore, we can conclude that the burial of Abahai was not due to Nurhachi's original intention, but that someone had killed people with a knife in the name of Nurhachi.
So who is this person? Based on the principle that whoever has the greatest benefit is the most suspicious, we can judge that this person is the Emperor Taiji who inherited the throne of Nurhachi Khan.
The reason why he said that Huang Taiji was because he had a reason why he had to put Abahai to death.
Huang Taiji is the eighth son of Nurhachi, and originally he had no hope of inheriting the throne, after all, there were seven older brothers in front of him.
But the eldest Chu Ying was executed, the second generation of the good lost the inheritance qualification because of the ambiguity with Abahai, the other elder brothers are either dead or incapacitated, plus Huang Taiji has been fighting for many years and is very popular among the young clan, so he has become a popular candidate to inherit the throne.
However, this popularity is only a popularity, and the final decision is still in Nurhachi's hands.
And Nurhachi, until he died, did not express his intention to appoint Huang Taiji as his heir, and the most important thing is that Huang Taiji was not particularly favored in front of Nurhachi.
In contrast to Huang Taiji, the three sons born to Abahai, namely Azig, Dolgon, and Duoduo, were much more favored than Huang Taiji.
Of course, being favored does not necessarily mean becoming an heir, but at least it is much more promising than the emperor Taiji at that time.
In this case, Nurhachi naturally considered the choice of the heir, especially after he was injured, when he saw his condition deteriorate and knew that his limit was approaching, he would definitely have to make a choice about the heir.
But what is puzzling is that from Nurhachi's serious illness to his death, it seems that the important matter of the heir has been forgotten, and there is no relevant record at all.
It's as if he had never mentioned a word about it.
This must be abnormal, and even if Nurhachi is confused, he will not forget it.
According to the Korean historical book "Chunpotang Riyuelu", when Nurhachi was dying, he left a will, let his son Dolgon inherit the throne of Khan, and arranged Daishan to be the regent.
If Nurhachi really had this will, then everything could be explained.
As an emperor Taiji who wanted to inherit the throne of Khan, although he had made countless meritorious contributions before Nurhachi's death, in terms of favor, he was far inferior to the three children born to Abahai, that is, the three Dolgon brothers.
And most importantly, according to the information preserved in North Korea, Nurhachi made Dolgon the heir, which means that Huang Taiji has no chance.
But this result is obviously not what Huang Taiji wants to see, so for the sake of the Khan, he must find a way.
What can be done? That is to eliminate the witnesses who know Nurhachi's last words.
According to Nurhachi's last words, there are two key witnesses, one is Abahai, who is the direct witness, and the other is Daishan.
In other words, as long as Huang Taiji solves these two people, then he can arbitrarily modify the so-called "last life" of Nurhachi.
And among the two, Dai Shan can't be killed, after all, he is Nurhachi's son, but if he is allowed to cooperate, it will take a certain amount of thought.
At this time, Dai Shan's unclear relationship with Abahai came into play, and Huang Taiji took advantage of this to force Dai Shan to comply.
And the reason why Dai Shan will comply, is also the condition that Huang Taiji and him reached, if Dai Shan supports Abahai, then it means that the ambiguity between him and Abahai is confirmed, and once Dolgon ascends to the throne, in order to protect his mother's reputation and avoid scandal leakage, he will inevitably attack Dai Shan.
But if Dai Shan threw himself on Huang Taiji's side, then for Dai Shan himself, there would be no such worries, and Huang Taiji naturally promised Dai Shan a rich reward at that time.
In this way, the lesser of two evils, as a substitute for good, in order to save his life and future status, he will inevitably choose the latter.
After all, people are selfish, and when it comes to their own interests, they will think more about themselves.
Therefore, in this case, Huang Taiji wanted to inherit the throne, and Dai Shan also wanted to keep his future, and the two hit it off and reached an agreement to get rid of Abahai.
The next thing is very simple, concoct a so-called Nurhachi's last words, and force Abahai to commit suicide with a desire to be buried, after all, the Manchus had a tradition of wives martyring their husbands at that time, which was both fair and immaculate to outsiders.
As for whether Abahai himself was willing or not, this was not a problem at all, at that time, Abahai could rely on only her sons in addition to Dai Shan, but Dai Shan had already switched to Huang Taiji, and her son, the eldest Azig was only in his early twenties, whether it was ability or seniority, he was still too far behind Huang Taiji, and he was not his opponent at all.
Moreover, at that time, Huang Taiji was very popular with the young clan, even if Azig and Dolgon had the heart to resist, they were also weak and completely suppressed by Huang Taiji.
And Huang Taiji also saw this, so he dared to have no fear, with the so-called Nurhachi's last words, and went to force Abahai to be martyred.
Therefore, we can conclude that Abahai's martyrdom of Nurhachi, to a large extent, is inseparable from Huang Taiji, and it is precisely because she became an obstacle to Huang Taiji's ascension to the throne, and in order to ascend to the throne for herself, Huang Taiji was ruthless to Abahai.