Author: World War II Pretty Lady (Without permission, it is forbidden to copy the full text and carry it privately!) ）
Nurhaci started with 13 pairs of armor and conquered the "Goerhun" in the fourteenth year of the Wanli Calendar (1586), and Nikan Wailan fled to the Ming Dynasty, where he was later repatriated and executed. Since then, Nurhaci has officially embarked on the road of unifying the Jurchens: he first started with the unification of the various departments of the state, and grew up little by little.
Nurhaci's first army was not very strong at all, and at that time it was marked by a black flag as an army symbol, so it was called the "Black Flag Army". Later, after Nurhaci's army reached a certain size, he began to establish a famous "eight flags system" that was very in line with the characteristics of the Jurchen army.
However, the original "Eight Flags Army" did not have the so-called Eight Flags, but only the four flags of "Positive Yellow, Positive White, Positive Blue, and Positive Red". The main reason why Nurhaci used various colors as the flags of the various armies at that time was because the soldiers in the tribal army were almost all illiterate.
You must know that in the era of cold weapons, using the color of the military flag to distinguish between various units and the enemy and us is the simplest and most effective way! And this is also conducive to peacetime military training, as well as the rapid dispatch of commanders on the battlefield.
Later, as Nurhaci's army grew larger and larger, he added four flags on the basis of the four flags, "yellow, white, blue, and red". At this point, the "Eight Flags Army" that made the world feel frightened has begun to take shape. Later, with the addition of the Mongols and Han Chinese, Nurhaci successively established the "Mongolian Eight Banners" and "Han Eight Banners" armies.
Perhaps, at that time, compared with the "hundreds of thousands of troops" of the Daming army at every turn, the strength of Nurhaci's Eight Banners Army may only be regarded as "a small dish".
Even if the eight banners were later added, according to the smallest combat unit of the eight banners: one bull recorded as 300 people, Nurhaci's early eight flags army was only 7500 people (300x5x5), 7500 multiplied by 8 is exactly 60,000 people.
At that time, the total population of men, women and children in the Jurchen Sect was about 300,000 people, and one-fifth of the military participation rate was already the limit of the Jurchen Ministry. However, such an army of 60,000 people, Nurhaci is often not able to achieve full strength: when the Qing army entered the customs in 1644, according to historical records, the total strength of the Eight Banner Army at that time was 55,320 people (with war damage and wounds).
However, don't underestimate the 60,000 Jurchen "Eight Flags Army" in this area, they are all good soldiers who are "good at riding and shooting"! The reason why Nurhaci was able to be "invincible" in his early years was actually inseparable from the superb riding and shooting skills of his army.
As a nomadic Jurchen, jurchens had an "innate advantage" in archery, and bows and arrows were a necessity in the hands of the Jurchens in the Ming Dynasty. Just as a wolf can't live without teeth, neither can a Jurchen without a bow and arrow. They usually take bows and arrows to hunt to improve their lives, and bows and arrows are also homemade, and few people will spend money to buy them.
In July 1586, when Nurhaci pursued the "Nikan Wailan", he was too excited and plunged into the enemy's encirclement. At that time, it was only by relying on his rapid firing of 8 arrows to kill 8 people in a row, and finally successfully escaped.
Therefore, when forming the Eight Banner Army, Nurhaci attached great importance to the skill of "archery": many soldiers, although from humble origins, were heavily valued by Nurhaci because of their excellent archery, and some even completed their own "aristocratic counterattack" from then on.
In addition to the strong individual combat quality, Nurhaci is also well-commanded, and the overseer is very strict! After all, the Eight Banner Army has gradually become stronger in the war, plus many "rising stars" who can recruit good warriors: for example, Dolgun, Dodo, Huang Taiji and others are all tough generals.
Therefore, this nomadic army of only 60,000 people, its fierceness, but Daming never dared to underestimate!
After the rise of the Eight Banner Army, it implemented a relatively strict militarized management, and each flag army had its own supreme commander, that is, the flag owner. It should be known that in the early days of the establishment of the Eight Banner Army, the "flag owners" had great rights: they could dominate the "life and death power" of all the personnel in the flag.
In the Nurhaci era, the two banners of the Eight Banners Army, "Positive Yellow and Yellow" were personally commanded by him. The other flags were handed over to his sons. Before the Qing army entered the pass, the Eight Banner Army was divided into "upper three lower five": the positive yellow flag, the yellow flag and the positive blue flag were personally commanded by The Emperor Taiji, which was equivalent to Nurhaci's concubine guards. Officers and soldiers have a noble status and are well treated, and are called "three banners on the top."
The remaining five flags, namely the red flag, the red flag, the white flag, the blue flag, and the white flag, are generally commanded by other princes, called the "lower five flags," and the status and treatment of officers and men are one notch lower than that of the "three banners."
If you look at it purely from the perspective of identity, the status of the upper three flags is definitely higher than that of the lower five flags! For example, ordinary flag bearers who lay down the five flags must perform slave etiquette when they see the flag owner, because they are "master-servant relationships." Flag people from the "Three Banners" do not need to perform the "slave ceremony" when they see the flag owner.
For example, the famous Empress Dowager Cixi at the end of the Qing Dynasty, her original birth was the blue flag in the "Lower Five Banners", and after entering the palace, she was elevated to the status of "Upper Three Banners", and she belonged to the highest status of the Eight Banners.
After the Eight Banners Army entered the customs in 1644, the Shunzhi Emperor of the Great Qing Dynasty (the ninth son of the Emperor Taiji) adjusted the "Shangsan Banner" to the Positive Yellow Banner, the Yellow Banner, and the Zhengbai Banner. Therefore, in fact, the troops to which the "Three Banners" belong will actually change, but the article "under the personal command of the emperor" will not change.
And in this "Eight Banners" army, which banner unit has the strongest combat effectiveness? This is also a topic that the world has been arguing about endlessly.
If according to the level of identity, many people will definitely think that the yellow flag that was established earlier and personally commanded by Nurhaci is definitely the strongest combat effectiveness in the Eight Flags Army, the equipment is the best, and the status is also the highest!
But in fact, this is not the case, the Eight Banners Army has the strongest combat effectiveness and the highest status: it is the yellow flag that was established late! It turned out that all this was due to the consequences of Nurhaci's "struggle for power and profit" in his later years.
In his later years, Nurhaci was very fond of his concubine: Abhay. Abahai and Nurhaci had three sons: Azig, Dorgon, and Dodo. Therefore, Nurhaci took special care of the three sons, and intended to train one of them to inherit his throne, so he handed over the yellow flag symbolizing imperial power to the three brothers.
Speaking of which, it is necessary to mention Nurhaci's eighth son: Aisin Kyora Huang Taiji, who was born to Nurhaci and Yehenara. Although Emperor Taiji was not as favored as Azig, Dorgon, and Dodo, he was older than all three of them and possessed a "great talent"!
In August 1626, Nurhaci died! However, Nurhaci did not designate his own heir during his lifetime, but implemented the "eight kings co-rule system".
That is to say, any powerful prince can inherit the great cause. Therefore, after nurhaci's death, the "Khan's dispute" began to heat up!
In order to suppress the "half-brothers" and at the same time increase their own strength, the clever Emperor Taiji began to try his best to win over the three little brothers. Because he knew that the white flag and the white flag they commanded were powerful! In the Battle of Shanhaiguan, less than 30,000 people of the white flag and white flag troops were slaughtered in the battle like "cutting vegetables".
Especially that Dodo, after Nurhaci's death, he inherited his father's army and became the most powerful white flag lord, but Dodo was only an 11-year-old child at that time.
In fact, when Nurhaci died, the Ministry of State Construction did not have any signs of "unifying the world"! Of course, the nobles of the two yellow flags were not fools, and they also understood that if they chose Dorgon to inherit the great cause, because they were too young, they would definitely cause divisions within the Jurchens, and they were not far from being wiped out by the Ming army.
As a result, the 34-year-old Huang Taiji became the most suitable successor, and was later elected to the stage. After Nurhaci's death, the Zhenghuang Banner returned to the hands of Emperor Taiji. The yellow flag that was once in nurhaci's hands increased in power while accompanying Nurhaci in the southern expedition to the north.
Since then, the strength of the Emperor Taiji, who holds the two flags of positive yellow and yellow in his hands, has been greatly enhanced. However, after succeeding to the throne, the Emperor Taiji certainly did not sleep soundly!
In order to consolidate his position, he then began to divide the white and white flags: first to abolish the status of the elder Azig banner master, and then to use the 15-year-old Dolgun as the white flag master.
After Dorgon and Dordor reached adulthood, Emperor Taiji was worried about his unstable position, so he found a fork to mix the white flag and the white flag, with Dorgon as the white flag master and Dordor as the white flag master. Later, Emperor Taiji also used a plan to kill Amin, the lord of the blue banner, and Mang Gutai, the lord of the blue banner, and at the same time annexed the blue banner.
Subsequently, Huang Taiji mixed the zhenglan flag with his own positive yellow flag, and divided it into new positive yellow and yellow flags, and the two flags continued to be personally commanded by himself. Later, Emperor Taiji divided a part of his troops from his hands to his eldest son Hauge, and the yellow flag commanded by his son was renamed the Zhenglan Banner.
The consequence of a series of changes and operations of Huang Taiji is that his power is getting bigger and bigger, and the strength of the new yellow flag is enough to make him "rest at ease". Since then, the yellow flag has laid a solid position as the "head of the Eight Flags Army" and has not changed.
In addition, the eight flags army is recognized as the weakest: the blue flag. However, the Ming army could not even defeat this blue flag with the weakest combat effectiveness. It is conceivable how strong the Fighting Strength of the Eight Banner Army under Nurhaci and Emperor Taiji was at that time!
After the official establishment of the Qing Dynasty, the peak number of the Eight Banner Army reached 270,000 people. However, the power structure has changed many times, and the Eight Banner Army, as the core military force of the Qing Dynasty, has also changed many times on the issue of ownership!
After the first official emperor of the Qing Dynasty, the Shunzhi Emperor, took over the government, the intention of "elevating" the various flag owners became more obvious. In 1659 (the sixteenth year of Shunzhi), the Shunzhi Emperor ordered the casting of 24 "Eight Banners of The Unified Seal Letter" and handed them over to each capital to be in charge.
Since then, the flag owners of the Eight Banner Army have gradually been "marginalized", and they are only the nominal supreme commanders of the Eight Banner Army! The actual controllers are actually those who are all unified, which can also be said to be the Shunzhi Emperor himself.
By the Kangxi period, the combat effectiveness of the Eight Banner Army had actually "sunset on the Western Mountains". After the San Francisco Rebellion, the Eight Banners Army, which once fought fiercely, has almost "survived in name only"!
The descendants of the Eight Flags Army, also known as the Eight Banners at the end of the Qing Dynasty, most of them still relied on the "great achievements" of their ancestors, and gradually degenerated into idle "idle children".
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