The results of contemporary anthropological research prove that: the gift of nature often makes human beings have some kind of dependence, thus affecting the development of their economy and culture. Northeast China may be the place with the most abundant natural resources in my country.Here, the latitude is high, the climate is very cold, and the frost-free period is short, so the large tracts of black soil rich in humus and oily in a handful failed to develop an agricultural economy in ancient times.However, in other respects, the Creator's favor to this place can be said to be unique——

It is bordered by the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea in the south, the Sea of ​​Japan in the east, and the Sea of ​​Okhotsk in the north; the Heilongjiang River, the Nen River, the Songhua River, the Mudan River, the Ussuri River, the Tumen River, the Yalu River, the Liao River, the Hun River, the Daling River, the Xiao There are more than 2,000 rivers such as Linghe and Nuerhe; there are lakes such as Hulunbuir Lake, Jingbo Lake, Xingkai Lake, Chagan Lake, Wudalianchi, Moon Pao, etc., resulting in the seawater and freshwater fishery resources here. The products are also famous all over the world.It is said that even today after the "cutting off children and grandchildren" fishing, people on the local seaside still disdain to taste some low-level fish that are regarded as delicious by southerners.

Mineral and forest resources here are undoubtedly the highest in the country.According to historical records, during the Ming and Qing dynasties, in the vast area here, "the sky was blocked by trees, and the day was like darkness", and "the sun was not visible all day long".Even after the Japanese's predatory exploitation in the first half of the 20th century and later extinct development, the primeval forest area here still ranks first in the country.The Greater and Lesser Khingan Mountains and the Changbai Mountains still retain 6 orders, 18 families, and 97 species of mammals, 18 orders, 55 families, and 374 species of birds. .There are still 1,500 species of wild plants in the Greater and Lesser Khingan Mountains today, and more than 1,000 species of edible ones; back then, the Changbai Mountains where the Nurhachis lived had more than 2,000 species of wild plants. Thousand-year-old wild ginseng is even more miraculous in the eyes of Chinese people, and it is said that it has the effect of bringing the dead back to life.

"New Book of Tang·Heishui Mohe Biography" describes the ancestors of the Jurchens in this way: They "lived without a house, with mountains and rivers on their backs, on top of beams and trees, covered with soil, like hills and mounds, with water and grass in summer, and water plants in winter. Entry."It shows that in the Tang Dynasty, an important branch of the Jurchen ancestors still lived by water and grass, and lived in the earth nests that looked like bumpkins.In the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, many Jurchen tribes living between the white mountains and the black waters still lived a happy life of "no city blocks, living by water and grass, and shooting and hunting as a profession". ("Yuan Shi" Volume 59, Geography) After entering the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there were still many Jurchens who did not engage in agricultural production. They fished, herded, and gathered in spring and autumn, and hunted in winter. ("Korean Records" Jiayin in September of the fifth year of Taizong, Jiyou in August of the 28th year of Sejong)

The Tieling Museum has a statistical table that records the trading situation of the Jurchens in the Kaiyuan area of ​​eastern Liaodong in the eleventh year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (AD 1583), revealing some information about their production and life.For example, the statistically significant items they sell are the following 8 categories: animal skins, ginseng, fungus, mushrooms, honey, pine hazel, pearls, and horses.On the statistical table, the number of these things is not small, all of which come from nomadism, fishing, hunting and gathering. This kind of survival mode must be physically strong, skilled in bow and horse, alert and brave, persevering and tenacious to cope with Yuru.

When some Americans come of age, they often give them pistols as a coming-of-age gift, indicating that they can already assume the responsibility of owning and using this murderous weapon.Something similar to this custom is: when a Jurchen child is born, if it is a boy, the family will hang a bow and arrow in front of the door, indicating that the family has added a brave hunter; Like growing on horseback, it is their lofty honor and dream to show off their proficiency in bow and horse, and to become Batulu, a warrior who can kill bears and tigers with strength.Only such a hero will be favored by the most beautiful girls.They are bold and unrestrained, fierce and fierce, with a firm will, and their goals consistently point to their hunting targets.At the same time, only the most resourceful, brave, and powerful fighters can get the most generous rewards-hunts and trophies, including the hearts of those beautiful girls.

No one in any age could remain indifferent to such a reward. Many years later, when they have settled down in the Central Plains and become the masters of the thousands of miles of beautiful mountains and rivers, we can learn how this kind of life, production, training, and fighting are for them in the large-scale hunting they often conduct. Inseparable and integrated.However, the title of "Batulu" has long been their lofty honor and is envied by people. In the peoples who live by farming, another collective character is formed.Their production and life are highly simple and repetitive. They face the loess and their backs to the sky. "It's noon on the day of hoeing, and the sweat drips down the soil."If the weather is not good, their sweat may be in vain.

Therefore, they are full of reverence for the mysterious and unpredictable heaven, they arrange their lives strictly according to solar terms and calendars, and they cherish the land under their feet very much, it is their life, their hope, and it brings them joy, anger, sorrow and joy. everything.They will express instinctive doubts and fears about any migration and change.Thus, the Mandate of Heaven was transformed into the authority of the Son of Heaven; the experience of survival and the fear of aging became the authority of ancestors, fathers, and property; the existence of women and children was only to continue the incense.Peace, conservatism, selfishness, ignorance, perseverance, and numbness have become synonymous with their hearts, just like the ground under their feet.

They instinctively dislike those knights on horseback.These people come and go like the wind, are fierce and bloodthirsty, have not accepted the teachings of Confucius at all, they are some uncivilized and uncontrollable barbarians.It is better for them to stay in their mountains and grasslands and not to disturb our peaceful pastoral life. For people on horseback, it is not enough to have ginseng, mink fur, pearls, beeswax, horses, cattle and sheep. They need copper and iron utensils, grain, cloth, tea, pottery, salt and medicine.Without these things, their life would be very miserable.No matter how good the mink fur is, it cannot be wrapped around the body all year round; no matter how good the ginseng is, it cannot cure all diseases; without salt, the large pieces of meat and fish will have no taste; Dairy food is not easy to digest, and you will get sick, and you need medicine for treatment.As a result, groups of people in two different living conditions formed an interdependent partnership in trade and exchange.

The balance of this fragile partnership is easily disturbed by two forces: one from the hand of man, the other from the hand of nature. The power from the human hand is often manifested in the following two situations: First, the imperial court, that is, the central government will tighten or even cut off trade policies to restrain the development of these horseback peoples, or punish them for some disrespectful or improper actions. Second, officials who manage trade often show excessive greed and improper abuse of power, such as extortion without explanation, corruption and breaking the law.

In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, these two situations occurred quite frequently.Its logical result is the frequent resistance of many Jurchen and Mongolian tribes. For example, during the Chenghua period in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the Haixi Jurchen teamed up with the Jianzhou Jurchen to attack the defense area of ​​the Ming army.The reason, in today's view, is too simple to say: "I was treated favorably by the imperial court in the past, and now I have an official to accompany me to see me off for no reason. The food is like a dog (zhi), and it is forbidden to buy it in the city, so that men have no shovels and women Needle-free scissors, because they are invaders." ("Ming Shilu" Chenghua Thirteenth October, Ji Chou) means that in the past, the imperial court treated everyone very well and everyone lived a good life, but now an official is sent here for no reason , Treat us like pigs and dogs, and we are not allowed to buy or sell, so that our men have no picks and shovels, and our women have no sewing and scissors, so we can only hit the door to grab it. In fact, in the historical records of the middle and late Ming Dynasty, it is hard to say that similar records appeared by chance or were unique.The force from the hand of nature is manifested very strongly, and its consequences are even more catastrophic. From the perspective of meteorological science, the land under our feet is far from unique.Historical meteorological research shows that since ancient times, my country may be one of the countries with the highest frequency of natural disasters in the world.When unusual storms, frosts, colds, droughts, floods, earthquakes, etc. occur, plundering the rich and often stocked agricultural areas is the cheapest and most profitable means of survival for peoples on horseback, Be the natural choice in their fight to survive. When the bravery originally trained for nature is applied to human beings, the people in agricultural areas who are optimistic about their fate become the fat prey and spoils of wolves, tigers and leopards.So that later, plundering wealth, women, slaves, cattle and sheep through war has become their lifelong occupation. Behavioral science and modern psychological research tell us that both lofty beliefs and less lofty greed can make people forget their lives.Faith or greed can lose their exciting power if hope is completely lost to man.When the Jurchen warriors picked up their hard bows, equipped them with swords, and stepped on their steeds, the towns and villages with the smoke from their kitchens might be their hope.There, the arms of a lover or wife will be extra warm and affectionate only when they come back with heroic deeds and wealth.Thus, nobility and greed came together from two directions, melted into their blood, and stirred their strong hearts. This situation is not just a special case that appeared in the ancient Huns, Turks, Xianbei, Khitans, Mongols, and Jurchens. It may be the case for nomadic fishing and hunting tribes around the world. So far, the Jurchens in the late Ming Dynasty have almost all the conditions to become a fierce and invincible army.What seems to be lacking for the hundreds of thousands of Jurchen fighters is a strong military organization.Someone who can complete this task appears.Historical data show that a twenty-five-year-old Jurchen young man had received this kind of training right next to Li Chengliang, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong in the Ming Dynasty.As a result, he has a vast world to display his talents. This young Jurchen is named Nurhachi. After more than 30 years of fratricide between brothers of the same clan, the knights under Nurhachi's command have become well-tempered war machines.When this machine made of iron and blood starts and operates with extremely high efficiency, it often means that there are piles of corpses and rivers of blood. Nurhachi truly understands the principle of sweating more in peacetime and bleeding less in wartime.Therefore, when training Jurchen warriors, the degree of strictness and even harshness made it impossible for the Spartans thousands of years ago to excel. For example, it is recorded in the history books: "When slave chieftains train soldiers, they first try people to jump into the ravine, which is called water training, and then they learn to jump over pits, which is called fire training. Those who are able will be rewarded, and those who don't want to be killed. The old man dare not back down." ("Ming Shilu" Tianqi first year first month Renyin) In the era of cold weapons, fighters trained through such dire straits must be very fearsome in terms of physical fitness, skills, psychology, will and many other aspects. They train horses like men.It is said that when training and selecting war horses, they will conduct multiple trainings on the strength and ability of the horses.During the long-distance gallop, you can climb mountains and ridges, and jump into ravines.All horses that did not meet the standards were either killed or traded as commodities to the officials of the Ming Empire who came to buy military horses.There is evidence that the Mongol tribes also practiced the same trade principles with the Ming Empire at that time.It can be seen from this that the imperial army, in many cases, can only use the poor horses eliminated by others, and the number of them may not be small. In military operations, the above-mentioned spirit runs through the entire process of the war. Cowards on the battlefield usually need to bear a risk: their heads preserved by cowardice may be lost in the hands of the chiefs who enforce the discipline on the battlefield, and their families will suffer shame for this.Everything they've got may be taken away.An informal sanction is also being considered: parading the wrongdoer in women's clothes.For this fierce nation, this kind of humiliation is probably more terrible than death, so it may turn some cowards into brave warriors. The tactical principles of the Jurchens were significantly different from those of the Mongol tribes. The Mongolian cavalry lined up the elite troops at the forefront, attacked the enemy's line with a fierce shock wave, destroyed the enemy's defense line in one fell swoop, and then killed in depth.The old and weak soldiers followed the elite to expand the results of the battle, rescue the wounded, and prevent the elite troops rushing forward from being attacked from behind. Nurhachi inherited the military thinking of his ancestor Wanyan Aguda and Wushu five hundred years ago. This kind of campaign and tactical thinking once guided the army of the Jin Dynasty to sweep the Daliao and Northern Song Dynasties.Its tactics are quite similar to the style of warfare after the appearance of tanks and armored vehicles in the 20th century, and it may be a very advanced military idea. The specific tactics are: Arrange the heavily equipped dead soldiers (death squads) at the forefront of the entire attack wave. The weapons are spears and broadswords. Its function is to launch the first wave of attacks. The arrows and artillery fire shake the enemy's will.Then attack the enemy's line and slash and kill. This kind of dead soldier is very similar to the golden soldier Tiefutu who fought against Yue Fei back then.They wore thick armor made of fine iron, covering their faces for protection, only their eyes were exposed, and the horses under their crotches were also covered with iron armor.Each dead soldier is equipped with two horses, and they and the horses may wear more than one layer of armor.They are similar to the hordes of tanks and armored vehicles that opened the way in World War II.Under the protection of multiple layers of heavy armor, these dead soldiers advance but never retreat.After the person rushing to the front dies in battle, the one behind must fill the front position. If there is any retreat, the sharp soldiers behind will kill him immediately, which is very similar to the spiritual warfare during World War I.There is an unverified theory that soldiers of the Ming Empire who surrendered or were captured in the early days were often used as dead soldiers. At that time, a North Korean official who had observed the equipment of the Houjin and Ming armies compared the armors of Houjin, North Korea, and Ming with great emotion: Among them, the best was Nurhachi’s troops, whose armor was all made of fine iron; It is the Ming army, and it is lucky to get soldiers with vicious and rusted iron armor.The armor of many of them is basically made of straw paper dyed iron-colored and then pasted.A government that treats the lives of its own soldiers in this way is not only disgusting, but it is close to nonsense if it wants to win the war. Nurhachi's sharp soldiers are the most elite light cavalry units.They wear light armor, are well-equipped, and are proficient in bows and horses. Some of them follow behind the dead soldiers, and some respond with cameras. Perhaps because of his personal experience in fishing and hunting, Nurhachi has implemented the principle of fighting tigers as brothers and serving as soldiers of father and son in his Eight Banners military organization.The "Niulu" (shooting team with more than ten people in one unit) in its grassroots organization developed from blood relatives as a bond when hunting in circles. In this kind of grassroots tactical unit, it is their strong and strong children who rush to the battlefield, and it is the elders of the family who implement logistical support.They support each other, live and die together.If you win, you win and you win; if you lose, you lose and you lose, thus forming an unbreakable fighting group that is particularly capable of fighting. Under the command of Nurhachi, the Iron Cavalry of the Eight Banners has the power to overwhelm mountains and seas, and wherever it goes, it is often bloody. At that time, many eyewitnesses confirmed that: Whenever Hou Jin won a war, the piles of booty, large herds of livestock, beautiful women and captives would be evenly divided into eight piles, which would be taken away by the Eight Banners respectively. Distributed to those brave fighters according to their military exploits.Once you win, this situation will happen again. Therefore, for the Eight Banners warriors, war is undoubtedly their grand festival.