Since nurhaci's maternal grandfather Wang Gao was killed, Li Chengliang, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, had not slept well.
Wang Gao's son Ah Tai (also known as Ah Tai), after his father was killed, soon returned to Wang Gao's base of GuleZhai (present-day Gulou Village, Shangjiahe Town, Xinbin County, Fushun City, Liaoning Province) to preside over the overall situation. Therefore, Li Chengliang said, "Ah Tai is not captured, and it will eventually be a disaster." He set out to dismantle this hostile force of Daming from Ah Tai's side.
In Li Chengliang's plan, Nurhaci's family and Ah Tai's good friend Nikan Wailan were an important weight on whether he could successfully disintegrate the Gulezhai forces from within.
Not long ago, The lord of Gule Village, Ah Tai, married Nurhaci's sister. In this way, Ah Tai was both Nurhaci's uncle and his brother-in-law.
However, no one expected that when the Nurhaci family rushed to Gulezhai to persuade Ah Tai to surrender, Ah Tai's good friend Nikan Wailan also saw the rich conditions offered by Li Chengliang and was willing to guide the Ming army to attack Gule Zhai. As a result, the unsuspecting Nurhaci grandfather Kyaw Chang An and his father Tucker Shitong were mistakenly killed in the war.
In order to never have any trouble, Li Chengliang ordered the burning of the city and the destruction of the corpses in Gulezhai.
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When the bad news came, Nurhaci was indignant. He lost his mother at an early age and lived with his younger brother Shulhazi. Now that his father and grandfather, two close relatives, have died together, his extremely sad and complicated feelings can be imagined.
Nurhaci was born in the Ming Dynasty's Jianzhou Zuowei and was composed of the former Jianzhou Wei Jurchen (later Manchu) chieftain Meng Ge Timur, who was the sixth ancestor of Nurhaci. Since the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, in order to better manage the ethnic minorities in the border areas, the Ming government often set up a system of health centers in the local area, appointing tribal leaders as the chief of the health centers.
▲ Portrait of Qing Taizu Nurhaci. Source: The Palace Museum
In addition to facilitating the administration of the northeast region, an important factor in the original intention of the Ming Dynasty to establish JianzhouWei was to curb the development of the power of its vassal state of Korea to the northwest and avoid its invasion of china's northeast region. Therefore, the Jurchen people who have lived in the northeast region for generations have suddenly become "sandwich biscuits" between the two forces.
At that time, the Jurchen clan was mainly divided into three major departments: the Savage Jurchen, the Haixi Jurchen, and the Jianzhou Jurchen.
Among them, the Savage Women are really uncivilized Jurchens. If the record of the Ming Dynasty's "Huanyu Tongzhi" is true, the life civilization of the Savage Jurchen at that time still stayed in the stage of "living in a grass hut, fishing for food, not mu mu, wearing straight clothes, using fish skin in summer, dog skin in cold, and not eating five grains", a primitive state.
Due to the intrusion of the Savage Jurchen "counting and copycat vendetta, one hundred and ten battles", the days of Jianzhou and Haixi Jurchen were even worse. To this end, Nurhaci's fifth ancestor Dong shan made an effort to take a desperate risk and rob and kill the Ming army in an attempt to attract the attention of the Ming government in order to change the survival dilemma of the Jurchen tribes at that time. As a result, it backfired, and the ruling Ming Xianzong engaged in a "Chenghua Ploughing Court", not only did Dong Shan himself end up being killed, but also his own people were also sent to charge the army and leave the world to live in the mainland.
Since then, Nurhaci's grandfather Jue Chang'an, his father Tak Shi and other hereditary Jurchen leaders of the Jianzhou Left Guard have all become loyal courtiers who bowed to the Ming Dynasty.
Although after the Battle of Gulezhai, Li Chengliang admitted in his military report to the Ming Emperor that the deaths of Jue Chang'an and Tak Shi were "manslaughter" and did his best to find the body of Tak Shi (it is said that Kyaw Chang An's bones did not exist) and return it to Nurhaci, Nurhaci could not accept such a result in any way.
After all, his father and grandfather were both "persuaders" developed by Li Chengliang, no different from Nikan Wailan, who led the Ming army into the city and set fire to death. However, Li Chengliang was also too understated in his treatment of this matter, so the indignant Nurhaci once again wrote to the Ming Dynasty and questioned the imperial court, saying that "my father and ancestor are innocent, why were they killed"?
The Ming government also felt that Nurhaci should be compensated in general, so the imperial court allowed Nurhaci to inherit the title of commander of the Jianzhou Zuowei Capital left by his family, and gave him thirty edicts and thirty good horses to comfort Nurhaci's heart.
But Nurhaci really only needs to get the real reason why his loved ones were killed by mistake.
Forced to do so, he could only investigate this matter himself. When he learned that the truth of his father's and grandfather's death was li chengliang's treachery and that he still ordered the slaughter of the city after the city was destroyed, he continued to maintain his original indignation and raised the same questions to the Ming Border Town officials who were in contact with him, hoping that the other party could go to the Ming court and retry the case.
However, in this matter, the previous compensation has long represented the attitude of the Ming Dynasty and the so-called determination to deal with it. As a result, Nurhaci's request was ignored.
Nurhaci took a step back: Since it is known that the Jurchen nikan wailan was also involved in this matter, it seems reasonable to hand over nikan wailan and quell the grievances and indignation of the father and ancestor who were killed.
However, Ming Ting did not want to dwell on it any longer, and gave Nurhaci only one attitude: categorical refusal.
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Not only that, nikan Wailan, who was rewarded for meritorious deeds, also became a candidate for the so-called "Lord of Manchuria" as the spokesman of the Ming Dynasty in the Jurchen tribe of Jianzhou with the strong support of the Ming Dynasty.
The Ming Dynasty's attitude toward Nurhaci actually reflected the Ming Dynasty's policy tendency toward the northeast region.
It is well known that before the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, the Yuan Dynasty, ruled by the Mongols, briefly ruled the Central Plains. The Ming Dynasty, which overthrew the rule of the Yuan Dynasty, from the day the dynasty was established, the control of ethnic minorities was focused on preventing and disintegrating and inhibiting. Geographically, the Jurchen tribes have lived in areas where the Mongols have been grazing for generations. Therefore, the Ming court always feared that the Jurchen alliance with the Mongols would threaten Ming rule after the Jurchens became powerful.
Nikan Wailan, who was "endorsed" by the Ming Dynasty, and Nurhaci, who was the hereditary commander of the Left Guard of Jianzhou, actually formed two hostile forces within the tribe. This is a manifestation of the Ming Dynasty's policy.
If Nurhaci bows to his "father-killer enemy", it is difficult to obey his fate. However, Nikan Wailan, who had the Ming Dynasty as a patron, was not afraid of Nurhaci's rebellion.
After all, he is the "true lord" of the Jianzhou Jurchens, and the people of the Jianzhou Jurchens are attached to him, and it is rightful. Therefore, even the relatives of Nurhaci, who have a blood feud with Nikan Wailan, for their own interests, do not hesitate to oppose Nurhaci and turn to Nikan Wailan to help the "enemies" of their own family and deal with their relatives.
Faced with a life-or-death threat, Nurhaci had no choice.
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In May of the eleventh year of the Wanli Calendar (1583), the 25-year-old Nurhaci decided to start an army with thirteen pairs of armor left by his father and grandfather to openly oppose Nikan Wailan.
I don't know whether he wanted to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight, using Nurhaci's power to weaken the threat brought about by the expansion of Nikan Wailan, or out of sympathy, he felt that with only thirteen pairs of armor, Nurhaci could not turn over any big waves, and Li Chengliang, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, had actually watched the two forces launch a round of deadly fighting.
In order to increase the stakes in the battle against Nikan Wailan, Nurhaci not only mobilized all his troops to support him, but also contacted Nomina, the lord of Salhu City in the Sukhsuhu River, and agreed to join forces with him to fight against Nikan Wailan.
Nomina worried that with nurhaci's dozens of people, they would have to fight a lot of people for this battle. And everyone knows that behind Nikan Wailan is the Ming Dynasty, even if you want to help Nurhaci, you can't offend the whole world. Therefore, Nomina, who had explicitly promised Nurhaci, did not send troops to assist Nurhaci as agreed, but instead leaked the information of Nurhaci's uprising to Nikan Wailan in advance.
Although Nikan Wailan was very good at managing relations with the Ming Dynasty, he still had some encouragement in the end to face Nurhaci,a group who were not afraid of death. As soon as he received the news, he immediately smeared oil on the soles of his feet and fled to the city of Orehun.
Under Nurhaci's attack, the city of Orehun was immediately taken into his pocket. Nikan Wailan, who originally had a good hand of cards, finally fought badly because of his repeated retreats.
Forced to be helpless, Nikan Wailan, who had been chased and beaten by Nurhaci and others for several years, finally fled to Fushun City, which was under the control of the Ming Army, hoping to apply for political asylum from the Ming Dynasty.
However, whether in the eyes of Li Chengliang, the general of Liaodong, or other civilian officials in charge of the Ming Dynasty, Nikan Wailan's role at this time was not large. After all, when he first supported Nikan Wailan to manage the Jurchens of Jianzhou, he saw that there were some people under him who could play a role in deterring the Jurchen tribes and stabilizing the ming government's rule in the northeast region. As a result, Nikan Wailan "mud can't support the wall", leaving behind a large army, and being chased through the streets by the small man Nurhaci is really humiliating.
Faced with Nikan Wailan's plea for help, Ming officials, just like Nurhaci, who rejected the weak in the first place, threw Nikan Wailan out and left it at Nurhaci's disposal.
In the fourteenth year of the Wanli Calendar (1586), after thirteen pairs of armor, Nurhaci won the first major victory of his life.
▲ Fierce Jurchen cavalry. Source: Film and television stills
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After Nikan Wailan was eliminated, Nurhaci actually replaced him and really began to rule the Jurchens of Jianzhou. Nurhaci, who was proud of his life, returned to Jianzhou Zuowei with glory.
The death of Nikan Wailan also brought the Ming Dynasty into a more embarrassing situation.
Although Nikan Wailan was a "tool man" of the Ming Dynasty, "throwing it away when it is used up" made other female true forces groups that intended to defect to Daming dare not act rashly. The lesser of two evils, the group of people who chose to watch Nurhaci "grasshoppers shake the tree" in the first place, eventually attached themselves to Nurhaci's command.
In this way, Nurhaci, with the support of his people, decided on the "state administration" and called himself Shuqin Belle (at this time, Bayle was different from the later Qing Dynasty clan title, Bayle is a Manchu transliteration, roughly meaning tribal chief).
After a series of battles, Nurhaci is no longer the "stunned youth" of the year. In particular, when he saw that the use value of Nikan Wailan had dropped to zero, the Ming Dynasty's resolute abandonment of him, and the indifference shown by the Ming Dynasty when he sought the truth from the imperial court in the early years. Nurhaci understood that he wanted to become stronger and prevent the Ming ruling clique from giving himself another "donkey removal" one day.
A unified plan to face the all-Jurchen clan sprang up in Nurhaci's heart.
Beginning in the first month of the nineteenth year of the Wanli Calendar (1591), Nurhaci marched eastward and captured the Yalu River Road in the name of "Baosai". Subsequently, under the banner of "guarding the door" for the Ming Dynasty, he successively conquered the Savage Jurchen and the Haixi Jurchen (except for yehenarabu).
However, if Nurhaci unifies the All-Daughter Truth, it is bound to completely break the situation in which the Ming Dynasty maintained stability in the northeast through supporting forces at this stage.
▲Distribution map of Jurchen tribes in the Ming Dynasty. Source: Atlas of Chinese History
In the process, Nurhaci adopted a shrewd strategy. He knew that in order to unify the Jurchen clan, he would resolutely not infringe on the interests of the Ming Dynasty, the "suzerainty of the world." Not only can't you, but you must always have a good relationship with people, so that at some stage in the future, you can become a boost to the successful unification of the whole family. In the more than 20 years from Nurhaci's unification of the Jurchens to the unification of the Jurchens, paying tribute to Daming has always been his constant "important national policy".
Coincidentally, at the same time that Nurhaci implemented the plan to unify the All-Daughter Truth, the Ming Wanli Emperor also began a career of "slacking off" for more than 20 years.
Although during the period of Wanli's "slack government", Daming also shocked the countries through three major wars and continued to maintain the prestige of the Heavenly Dynasty, but the influence of Wanli's "slack government" was far-reaching. Not to mention whether he was hidden in the deep palace to manage the government in a timely manner, he "dismantled each other" around the imperial power and the civilian official clique, thus triggering a series of party disputes and "disputes over the foundation of the country", which was enough for the Ming Dynasty to drink a pot.
What's more, in addition to the party struggle, in order to assert his absolute power, the Wanli Emperor chose to use the means of laying off officials to force all ministers to obey. And one of the direct results of this is the paralysis of the administrative system of the Ming Dynasty.
Emperor Myeongshinjong Wanli (1563-1620)
For Nurhaci, who is bent on unifying the entire Jurchen clan and breaking out of the sky for himself, this is undoubtedly the most favorable "heavenly time".
In the Records of the Ming Dynasty, we can see the growth route of Nurhaci, the "great loyal minister" of the Ming Dynasty. From the eighteenth year of the Wanli Calendar (1590) after the unification of the Jurchens, to the forty-third year of the Wanli Calendar (1615), which basically unified the entire Jurchen clan, Nurhaci and his people entered Beijing from Guanwai eight times to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty. Even if these tribute work, more or less have the component of Nurhaci's full-time acting, but the tribute has always been regarded as a manifestation of the submission of ethnic minorities to the Heavenly Dynasty, so every time Nurhaci actively pays tribute, he can always get the approval of the Daming government.
In order to make the ruling class of the Ming Dynasty fully convinced of his emperor-like efforts, he not only ordered his subordinates to return to the Ming Dynasty all the Han population that the Jurchens usually "beat the grass valley", but also obeyed the instructions of the Ming Dynasty, actively participated in the work of "Baosai", and eradicated one Jurchen chieftain after another for the Ming court who was harming the peace of the border. Even when Japan invaded Korea and the Wanli Emperor was preparing for the Eastern Crusade, he specially proposed to send troops to support.
Although Nurhaci's positive performance aroused the vigilance of some discerning Ming officials, it was still of considerable benefit to the Overall Strategy of the Ming Dynasty to alleviate border contradictions. At least the Ming government could calm the internal and external contradictions of the ethnic minorities in the northeast without spending a single soldier.
In the twenty-third year of the Wanli Calendar (1595), Nurhaci was promoted to the rank of Dragon and Tiger General for his meritorious service of "loyal and good learning, watching the side and serving". Although this title is in name only, somewhat similar to the title of honorary president of a certain business association today, it belongs to the highest rank title in the Ming Dynasty's Wushanguan series, which is enough to add points to his good image.
With this disguise of loyalty to Daming, Nurhaci could safely carry out his rise plan.
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Nurhaci found that although the Jurchens made a living hunting in their daily lives and fought bravely, the overall combat level was still in a state of scattered sand.
With the development of the magnates of the Jurchen tribes, "slave owners" have actually appeared within the ethnic group. With the exception of the ancestral Baoyi Aha (family slaves) of each family, the border people who were brought back from the Ming Dynasty or the Korean "Grass Valley" did not belong to their traditional slave owner-slave relationship. Although these border people had special divisions such as "Ilgen" and "Zhushen" in those years, the entire social structure was still in a state of extreme chaos.
In order to facilitate management, Nurhaci created the eight-flag system, and all the "Ilgen", "Zhushen", and "Baoyi Aha" were all incorporated into the flag register, serving as soldiers in wartime and cultivating and hunting in leisure time, which not only ensured the stability within the Jurchen tribe, but also provided a strong military guarantee for themselves in expanding their strength.
But the Jurchens have not had a record of language and writing for a long time, which is a hard wound.
In order to promote the development of Jurchen society, Nurhaci invited Erdene and Kagai, the most learned of the entire Jurchen tribe at that time, and invented a non-circled and grass-made Jurchen script, which was later the old Manchu script.
With an advanced social system and a clear social script, the Jurchens finally evolved into a "thoughtful group" of people.
▲ The old Manchu on the plaque of the Long'en Hall of nurhaci fuling. Image source: Figureworm creative
With years of strategizing, Nurhaci finally dared to tear off all the disguises and reveal his true face.
In the forty-fourth year of the Wanli Calendar (1616), Nurhaci proclaimed himself "the Wise Khan of the Overthrowing Nations", established the Jin Dynasty, and changed the Mandate of Heaven. History is called the post-Golden Age.
Immediately after that, Nurhaci raised the banner of "Seven Great Hates" and led his army to capture Fushun, Dongzhou, Magendan and other Daming cities, and took advantage of the victory to completely annihilate the Daming army that came to support the border war.
Nurhaci, who was once incomparably loyal, formally rebelled, which stunned the Ming officials.
The first reaction of the Wanli Emperor, who received the information of the fall of Fushun, was to order the military department to formulate the matter of "ploughing the court and sweeping the cave" as soon as possible. But the power between the officials of the Ming Dynasty and the emperor had reached its peak. After Receiving the order, Xue Sancai did not immediately carry it out according to the emperor's words. Nurhaci and others took advantage of this gap to grow rapidly, to the point of being out of control.
It was not until the forty-seventh year of the Wanli Calendar (1619) that the imperial court finally formulated Yang Hao, who was a civilian official, to be the Liaodong Jingluo, gathering 100,000 elite soldiers and horses in Daming territory and the Jurchen Yehenara troops of Korea and Haixi, claiming that 470,000 troops, divided into four roads, rushed to Liaodong.
However, Yang Ho was therefore criticized by the Ming dynasty generals for his victory and then defeat on the Korean battlefield during his conquest of Japan. Therefore, the commanders of the four-way army under him were somewhat disobedient. Even before setting out, the Wanli Emperor had given Yang Hao the "Shangfang Sword" and allowed him to slash first and play later, but the discord between the generals of the Eastern Crusade Army was a foregone conclusion.
In order to be able to grab the first victory as soon as possible, the Western Route Army, led by Du Song, the general of Shanhaiguan, actually ignored Yang Ho's order to "advance at the second pass at the same time", and when the other three major armies did not arrive, they preemptively attacked, and finally the whole army was destroyed, and he also sent a head.
On the other hand, Nurhaci knew that he had limited troops in his hands, so the strategy he formulated was a combined assault tactic of "Gong'er came a few ways, I only went all the way", calmly coped, and attacked the main force of the Ming army.
Yang Ho's large army had disrupted the original strategic deployment due to The early attack of Du Song, coupled with the distrust between the generals, the three major armies did not eventually reach the meeting point at the same time. This also means that the original four-way encirclement and annihilation policy formulated by the Ming Dynasty has completely failed, and the various large armies have their own affairs, which is equivalent to lining up to send heads and battle achievements to Nurhaci and the elite of the Eight Banners under his hands. In the end, this encirclement and suppression of Jurchens, which lasted more than a month, ended in the fiasco of the Ming army, known in history as the "Battle of Salhu".
After the war, the strategic situation of Daming and Houjin was reversed. Since then, the Ming Dynasty has completely lost its deterrence and control over the Jurchen forces in the northeast region.
What is even more fatal is that as Nurhaci continues to grow, Kaiyuan, Tieling, and even the military towns of Liaoyang and Shenyang have fallen one after another, and Nurhaci is not far from marching into the Central Plains and unifying the world.
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In the forty-eighth year of the Wanli Calendar (1620), the Wanli Emperor, who had not been in the dynasty for nearly 30 years, died. However, the party fighting activities that ran through his administration were still undercurrents. Nurhaci, who rose through the chaotic administrative ecology of the Wanli Dynasty, has become the victor of the times after successfully repaying the revenge of his father and ancestors.
In the tenth year of Nurhaci's "Seven Great Hates", in the fifth year of the Ming Dynasty (1625), the Later Jin regime once again moved the capital to Shenyang, which was more strategically important. At the same time, according to the regulations of the Forbidden City of Ming, a palace was built as the living quarters of the later Jin Khan.
▲ The Grand Hall of the Imperial Palace in Shenyang, the meeting place of the Later Jin Khan and Zhu Belle. Image source: Figureworm creative
This year, Nurhaci was 67 years old.
But he himself said, "If you recruit daming, you will not allow it to be suspended." This sentence shows his determination to fight Daming to the death, but it also clarifies the helplessness of the Jurchens - once the war machine is activated, it is not said that it can be stopped.
In addition to daily battles with the Ming army, he contacted the surrounding Mongol tribes, married and made covenants with relatives, and formed a new community of interests, which became the most important "lesson" of Nurhaci in his later years.
But no matter how hard Nurhaci tried, perhaps heaven never intended for him to cross the mountains and customs and achieve the glory of Genghis Khan in Mongolia.
In the sixth year of the Ming Dynasty (1626), Nurhaci once again raised troops to attack the Daming military town of Ningyuan. At this time, another civilian official, Yuan Chonghuan, had just taken office. Unlike Yang Hao before him, this forty-seven-year-old soldier of the Wanli Calendar had a little more decisiveness on the battlefield. In the face of the Eight Banners troops, which were well-ridden and shooting, Yuan Chonghuan adopted the method of "defending the city with the city and protecting the people with the city", relying on 12 red-clad cannons purchased from the Portuguese in Macau, which made Nurhaci and other battlefield generals suffer greatly.
Although the offensive of the Eight Flags Army has not weakened, this downward compatible long-distance large-caliber heavy firepower is not comparable to the bow and arrow in the hands of the Eight Banners. Seeing that the eight flags under his command were "between the lightning stones and fires, people turning over on their horses, mars reaching, all erosion", it is estimated that Nurhaci's heart will be broken.
In the end, after suffering multiple blows such as psychology and energy, nurhaci, who had been in the battlefield for a long time, could not resist the fate of the arrangement: in August of this year, the 68-year-old Nurhaci died in Shenyang. Although he could not see the end of the Ming Dynasty, his children and grandchildren soon saw it.
Less than 20 years after Nurhaci's death, his fourteenth son, Dolgun, led the Eight Banners into Beijing, fulfilling his father's long-cherished wish for many years. Chinese history has entered a new dynasty.
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