Erbel Amin, Nurhachi's nephew, his life is full of twists and turns and legends. Imagine how a former battlefield hero struggles in the vortex of power and then retires. In 630, he returned from Yongping, but was placed under house arrest by his brother Huang Taiji and deprived of everything. Ten years later, he died of depression.
Amin, the owner of the blue banner of Manchuria, dates back to 1616, when he was named one of the "Four Great Beylers" by his uncle Nurhachi. You may not know that behind this title is the highest military and political power in Manchuria. Amin is not only Nurhachi's nephew, but also the son of his brother Shulhaqi, which can be described as the bloodline inheritance of power.
In 1613, Nurhachi led his army against the Jurchen Ula tribe, and the battle was extremely fierce. At that time, the enemy army was 30,000 men and horses, and the position was so strong that Nurhachi wanted to retreat at one point. Amin stepped forward, and he was adamantly opposed to the retreat, believing that it was tantamount to a declaration of defeat. In the end, Amin personally asked for help, bravely rushed into the enemy formation, and won a complete victory. This battle not only consolidated his heroic position in Manchuria, but also earned him the title of "Four Great Baylors".
The good times did not last long, and after Nurhachi's death, Huang Taiji began to rectify the Eight Banners in order to consolidate his power. The Eight Banners were originally the foundation of Manchurian society, and each flag had its own banner owner who enjoyed a high degree of autonomy. Huang Taiji was extremely dissatisfied with this, and he needed more centralized power to rule the land. Amin, as the owner of the blue flag, naturally became the object of Huang Taiji's rectification.
Huang Taiji's strategy was very clear, he first put Amin under house arrest and handed over all his soldiers and horses to Amin's younger brother Zilharang. This move had effectively stripped Amin of his actual power, leaving him a powerless aristocrat. 10 years of house arrest is undoubtedly a long torture for a general who once broke the enemy on the battlefield. Amin's life faded away in this depression and helplessness, and in 1640, he finally died of depression.
Here we can't help but ask, is Amin's life just like this fixed in the framework of a loser? Was his bravery and decisiveness just a flash in the pan? Perhaps in his life, we should see more of a warrior's insistence on faith and loyalty, even under the suppression of power, he still maintained a sense of responsibility to Manchuria and even the entire ethnic group.
The rectification of the Eight Banners is not only a blow to Amin, but also a far-reaching political reform. Through the centralization of power, Huang Taiji succeeded in integrating the decentralized power of flag owners into the centralized system, which greatly strengthened the country's ability to unify and centralize governance. It can be said that this move of Huang Taiji, although brutal, is also an indispensable part of his ruling strategy.
What happened to Amin and his father, Shulhazi, reflects the brutality of the power struggle. Shulhaqi was originally cultivated by the Ming Dynasty, but during Nurhachi's rise, his position was gradually threatened. Shulhazy's ambition and impatience eventually led to his defeat, which also set the stage for Amin's tragedy. The fate of two generations has risen and fallen in the tide of power, showing the ruthlessness of history and the helplessness of individuals.
Amin's story is a microcosm of the political changes of the Manchurian aristocracy. They may be heroic, cunning, loyal, or usurpative, but in the end, they cannot escape the torrent of history. Every choice and decision can become a key point in changing your fate. Amin's life was full of the smoke of war and dynastic intrigues, and every choice he made reflected the complexity and cruelty of that era.
His death was not just a personal tragedy, it was the end of an era. His death marked the collapse of the old aristocratic power structure and the final establishment of a new power structure for Huang Taiji. This point is of great significance for understanding the history of Manchuria and later the Qing Dynasty. Amin's life and death are not only his personal history, but also a footnote to the transformation of the entire Manchurian social structure.
Amin's life is legendary. He was not only Nurhachi's nephew and hero of Manchuria, but also a pawn in the power struggle. Through his story, we can get a glimpse of the complexity and variability of Manchurian society in that era, and how Huang Taiji consolidated his rule by rectifying the Eight Banners.