Nurhaci
Nurhaci, also known by his temple name Emperor Taizu of Qing, was the founding khan of the Jurchen-led Later Jin dynasty.
As leader of the Aisin-Gioro clan, Nurhaci reorganized and united various Jurchen tribes, consolidated the Eight Banners military system, and eventually launched attacks on both the Ming and Joseon dynasties. His conquest of the Ming dynasty's northeastern Liaodong region laid the groundwork for the Qing conquest of the Ming by his descendants, who proclaimed the Qing dynasty in 1636. He is also generally credited with ordering the creation of a new written script for the Manchu language based on the Mongolian vertical script.
Name and titles
Nurhaci is written as in the Manchu language. Some suggest that the meaning of the name in the Manchu language is "the skin of a wild boar". Another explanation is "brave person like a wild boar". Regarded as the founding father of the Qing dynasty, he is given the customary temple name of Taizu, which is traditionally assigned to founders of dynasties. His name is also alternatively spelled Nurgaci, Nurhachi, or Nu-er-ha-chi.Nurhaci was the last chieftain of the Jianzhou Jurchens and first khan of the Later Jin dynasty. His title in Manchu as khan was Geren gurun-be ujire genggiyen han. His era name was Tianming, in Mongolian Тэнгэрийн сүлдэт Tengri-yin süldetü. It means "Heaven's Mandate." He was given a posthumous name in 1736, the shortened form of which was "Emperor Gao".
Early life
Nurhaci was born in 1559. Being a member of the Gioro clan of the Suksuhu River tribe, Nurhaci also claimed descent from Mentemu, a Jurchen headman who lived some two centuries earlier. The young man grew up as a soldier in the household of the Ming dynasty general Li Chengliang in Fushun, where he learned Mandarin Chinese, the official language of the courts. Nurhaci read the Chinese novels Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Water Margin, learning all he knew about Chinese military and political strategies from them. He named his clan Aisin Gioro around 1612, when he formally ascended the throne as the Khan of the Later Jin dynasty.Nurhaci's grandfather Giocangga was a chieftain of the Jurchens in Hetu Ala who enjoyed the patronage of Li. He frequented the Fushun market as official delegation leader, and accompanied Li to Beijing at least once. In 1582, Nikan Wailan, a rival Jurchen chief, led Ming forces to attack the Fort Gure. Giocangga feared for his granddaughter who was married to Atai, the town's chief. He rushed into the city, taking Nurhaci's father Taksi with him. During the ensuing battle, both Giocangga and Taksi were killed.
Nurhaci sought revenge against Nikan Wailan for the deaths of his father and grandfather. The Ming returned his father's remains, grant him trade patents, and recognized him as the successor of Giocangga. However, Nurhaci's demand that they hand over Nikan Wailan was refused. Nurhaci therefore started to expand his own power, starting only from thirteen sets of armor inherited from his father. In 1584, he attacked Nikan Wailan at Turun. Nikan Wailan fled away to Erhun, which Nurhaci attacked again in 1587. Nikan Wailan this time fled to Li Chengliang's territory. Li relented and gave Nikan Wailan over to Nurhaci, who beheaded Nikan Wailan immediately.
Nurhaci gradually grew his strength in the following years and subdued the core Jianzhou Jurchen tribes and towns from 1583 to 1588. At the same time, Nurhaci still considered himself a guardian of the Ming border and a local representative of imperial Ming power. He received the title of assistant commissioner-in chief in 1589 and the honor of "dragon-tiger general" in 1595. He consolidated his relationship with the Ming by personally leading multiple tributary missions to Beijing from 1590 onward, and was seen in by the Ming a loyal subject. His aggressive tactics against other Jurchen tribes were fueled by the high status that the Ming had given him.
Unifying the Jurchen tribes
In 1593, the Yehe called upon a coalition of nine tribes: the Hada, Ula, Hoifa, Khorchin Mongols, Sibe, Guwalca, Jušeri, Neyen, and the Yehe themselves to attack the Jianzhou Jurchens. The coalition was defeated at the Battle of Gure and Nurhaci emerged victorious.From 1599 to 1618, Nurhaci set out on a campaign against the four Hulun tribes. He began by attacking the Hada in 1599 and conquering them in 1603. Then in 1607, Hoifa was also conquered with the death of its beile Baindari, followed by an expedition against Ula and its beile Bujantai in 1613, and finally the Yehe and its beile Gintaisi at the Battle of Sarhu in 1619. As Nurhaci's power expanded, the relationship with the Ming also became increasingly strained. In 1608, Ming subjects were prohibited from cultivating the land or gathering ginseng, one of the main Jurchen export products, within Nurhaci's boundary.
In 1599, Nurhaci gave two of his translators, Erdeni Baksi and Dahai Jargūci, the task of creating a Manchu alphabet by adapting the Mongolian script. Dahai was described with his origin from the Liao valley and his ethnicity as Han Chinese in the Korean book "Nanjung chamnok; Sok chamnok" by Cho Kyŏng-nam a Korean official and scholar, contradicting Qing texts which says his clan is Giolca. The Qing texts said Dahau's family lived near Fushun in the Giolca region.
In 1606, he was granted the title of Kundulun Khan by the Mongols.
In 1616, Nurhaci declared himself Khan and founded the Jin dynasty, often called the Later Jin in reference to the legacy of the earlier Jurchen Jin dynasty of the 12th century. The "Later Jin" was renamed to "Qing" by his son Hong Taiji after his death in 1626, however Nurhaci is usually referred to as the founder of the Qing dynasty.
In order to help with the newly organized administration, five of his trusted companions were appointed as his chief councilors, Anfiyanggū, Eidu, Hūrhan, Fiongdon, and Hohori.
Only after he became Khan did he finally unify the Ula and the Yehe, the clan of his consort Monggo Jerjer.
Nurhaci chose to variously emphasize either differences or similarities in lifestyles with other peoples like the Mongols for political reasons. Nurhaci said to the Mongols that "The languages of the Chinese and Koreans are different, but their clothing and way of life is the same. It is the same with us Manchus and Mongols. Our languages are different, but our clothing and way of life is the same." Later Nurhaci indicated that the bond with the Mongols was not based in any real shared culture, rather it was for pragmatic reasons of "mutual opportunism", when he said to the Mongols: "You Mongols raise livestock, eat meat and wear pelts. My people till the fields and live on grain. We two are not one country and we have different languages."
When the Jurchens were reorganized by Nurhaci into the Eight Banners, many Manchu clans were artificially created as a group of unrelated people founded a new Manchu clan using a geographic origin name such as a toponym for their hala. The irregularities over Jurchen and Manchu clan origin led to the Qing trying to document and systematize the creation of histories for Manchu clans, including manufacturing an entire legend around the origin of the Aisin Gioro clan by taking mythology from the northeast.
Invasion of Ming dynasty
In 1618, Nurhaci commissioned a document titled the Seven Grievances in which he enumerated seven problems with Ming rule and began to rebel against the domination of the Ming dynasty. A majority of the grievances dealt with conflicts against Yehe, and Ming favouritism of Yehe.Nurhaci battled against the Ming dynasty. During the battle of Fushun, the army of Nurhaci assailed the city walls with siege ladders and the unprepared garrison gave their lives in a hasty defense. Li Yongfang and his lieutenant, Zhao Yipeng, decided to surrender on the condition that no one was to be harmed. Nurhaci agreed to the terms and entered the city. Li was made a commander in the Nurhaci's army and granted a granddaughter of Nurhaci as his concubine for his role in minimizing losses for Nurhaci. Nurhaci left 4,000 men to hold Fushun while he took the remaining army to capture two nearby fortresses, which fell in quick succession. Meanwhile, news of the loss of Fushun had reached Ming on the 12th and a relief contingent of 10,000 under Zhang Chengyin was dispatched to retake the city. The Ming army arrived on the 15th and immediately set up three camps, dug trenches, and began bombarding the city with cannon fire. However Nurhaci's sons Hong Taiji and Daišan sallied forth and routed the Ming forces, dealing heavy casualties. Defectors from the Ming side played a massive role in the Qing conquest of the Ming. Ming generals who defected to the Manchus were often married to women from the Aisin Gioro clan while lower-ranked defectors were given non-imperial Manchu women as wives. Nurhaci arranged for a marriage between one of his granddaughters and the Ming general Li Yongfang after Li surrendered Fushun in Liaoning to the Manchus in 1618 as the result of the Battle of Fushun. His son Abatai's daughter was married to Li Yongfang. The offspring of Li received the "Third Class Viscount" title. Li Yongfang was the great-great-great-grandfather of Li Shiyao.
In the battle of Qinghe, Three army of Nurhaci completely annihilates the 6,400 Ming army.
During the battle of Sarhū, Nurhaci had 50–60,000 soldiers at his disposal, but unlike the Chinese, he did not divide them. Instead, he used his knowledge of the terrain, weather, and mobility to his advantage and crushed the individual Ming corps one by one. First, he defeated Du Song's corps on 14 April, followed by Ma Lin's the next day. Yang Hao, in response, ordered a retreat, and while Li Rubai attempted to retreat as well, the order did not reach Liu Ting and his corps, resulting in their defeat on 20 April. Du and Liu both fell in battle. After defeating the Ming, Nurhaci joined forces with the remaining Jurchens and occupied Kaiyuan, where he killed Ma Lin, and Tieling in northern Liaodong. As a result of the defeat, Li Rubai was accused of cowardice and committed suicide under the weight of criticism, while Yang Hao was imprisoned and executed in 1629.
At the battle of Kaiyuan, Nurhaci breached the wall of the city and fought the Ming defenders for three days. Meanwhile, another relief contingent had been dispatched from Tieling, but was also intercepted by a detachment of Nurhaci's army and repulsed. Nurhaci continues his campaign subduing Tieling in the summer of 1619. In the fall season, Nurhaci invaded Xicheng, the home of the Yehe Jurchens who allied with Ming. Nurhaci personally led the vanguard and took the east wall. After capturing the city the Yehe inhabitants were spared, but their Ming allies who had fought beside them were executed.
After taking the city of Xicheng from his last Jurchen rivals, the Yihe clan, Nurhaci and his advisers started planning the conquest of Shenyang to make it the new capital of |Later Jin]. In early 1621 the Jin attacked the Liaodong region and took the fortress of Fengjibao near Shenyang. Nurhaci attacked with all Eight Banners. For the first two days, The battle ended in complete defeat for Li and the Jin took Fengjibao. Meanwhile, a Ming army of 50,000 had been dispatched and was on its way to besiege Shenyang. News of this reached Nurhaci, who rushed his banners out to confront the Ming before they could entrench themselves around the city. The Jin cavalry caught them in a pincer attack. Next Nurhaci intercepted another army from Liaoyang and defeated it in quick succession. Seeing that Ming defenses had disintegrated, Nurhaci proceeded to invade Liaoyang, where Yuan Yingtai was headquartered. The Ming army was able to repulse Jin advances until they ran out of ammunition, after which they were routed. The victorious Nurhaci's army were reportedly entered the city greeted with joy.
In the fall of 1621 Ming general Mao Wenlong manage to capture Fort Zhenjiang on the border of the Jin-Joseon border and held it against multiple Jin assaults before retreating. Nurhaci burnt down the fort afterwards rather than risk having it captured again.
Later, he also led many successful engagements against the Northern Yuan dynasty, the Joseon dynasty, and other Jurchen clans, greatly enlarging the territory under his control.
The first capitals of the Later Jin dynasty established by Nurhaci were Fe Ala and Hetu Ala. Many ethnic Han participated in the construction of Hetu Ala.
The Han prisoner of war Gong Zhenglu was appointed to instruct Nurhaci's sons and received gifts of slaves, wives, and a domicile from Nurhaci after Nurhaci rejected offers of payment to release him back to his relatives.
Nurhaci had treated Han in Liaodong differently according to how much grain they had, those with less than 5 to 7 jin were treated poorly while those with more than that amount were rewarded with property. Due to a revolt by Han in Liaodong in 1623, Nurhachi, who previously gave concessions to conquered Han subjects in Liaodong, turned against them and ordered that they no longer be trusted and enacted discriminatory policies and killings against them, while ordering that Han who assimilated to the Jurchen before 1619 be treated equally as Jurchens were and not like the conquered Han in Liaodong.
By May 1621, Nurhaci had conquered the cities of Liaoyang and Shenyang. In April 1625, he designated Shenyang the new capital city, which would hold that status until the Qing conquest of the Ming in 1644.
In 1622, Nurhaci managed to defeat the Ming forces and killed 16,000 of their soldiers at the battle of Guangning.