Chapter 2 Chapter 1 Nurhachi: The Faithful Gravedigger of the Ming Empire

If Zhang Juzheng could live to be 80 years old like his teacher Xu Jie, if Li Chengliang, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong in the Ming Dynasty, could be 20 years younger, if Emperor Wanli hadn't been in the business of drinking, sex and wealth, he would have been 30 years old, if the imperial officialdom had not been caught in a struggle for power I can't extricate myself from the quagmire of party unity and dissent, if... As we can often see in the long history-at the critical moment of the turning point of the great era, those key figures often use their actions to lead the situation in a certain direction.

These seemingly accidental factors inevitably play a decisive role under the political and cultural tradition. The reason why human beings carry out system construction and changes in politics, economy, military, etc. is for human beings, in order to bring human actions and their influence into a fair and reasonable track as much as possible.Other grandiose rhetoric can generally be regarded as nonsense. Therefore, even if one of the "ifs" mentioned above becomes a fact, the history of the late Ming and early Qing may have to be rewritten.It is said that Nurhaci, the emperor of the Qing Dynasty, who is said to be a great talent, would hardly have the opportunity to display his outstanding military talents. Maybe he could only be like his contemporary Jurchen brothers, in the intoxication and embrace of a wine woman, In the galloping fishing and hunting between the white mountains and the black waters, a tribal chief spent a happy and long time.

However, "what if" and "if" have no meaning for history, so we also have the opportunity to see the legend about this person. In the thirty-eighth year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty (AD 1559), Nurhachi was born in Hetuala, Zuowei Sukesuhu River Department, Jianzhou, the Ming Dynasty, near Yongling Township, Xinbin County, Liaoning Province today. This year, the Ming Dynasty changed three governors of Liaodong in a row, which seemed a bit strange.The southern Japanese were defeated, but the northern captives tossed fiercely. The capital was shaken, and Governor Ji Liao was imprisoned.

Besides, nothing of particular importance happened.If there is a reason to remember this year, it is probably because Nurhachi was born in the home of a Jurchen chief at the foot of Changbai Mountain.If people know that this Jurchen boy is destined to change China in the years to come, it will probably not be easy to forget this year. The golden family of Genghis Khan is the royal family of the Mongols, while Aixinjueluo is the royal family and golden caste of the Jurchens.It is said that the three fairies, sisters in the sky, went down to the Tianchi on Changbai Mountain to take a bath. After the younger sister ate a red fruit picked up by a crow, she gave birth to a boy who could talk on the ground and grow when he saw the wind. Curry Yongshun.

This boy is the ancestor of Aixinjueluo Nurhachi.The legend is almost exactly the same as the origin legend of Qin Shihuang's ancestors. In the origin legends of all ancient nations in the world, there is almost a similar lineage of royal family myths, which is one of the methods commonly used by human beings to establish ideology in the early days.Its purpose is to deify the status of the royal family, to ensure that its power is inviolable, and to form political cohesion and centripetal force. Nurhachi is not as magical and special as his ancestor Bucuri Yongshun. His first voice after birth was crying like other boys, instead of reciting a beautiful poem.The myth about him needs to be completed by his ideological workers after he becomes a great khan.

By the generation of Nurhaci's grandfather and father, the family had declined into a small tribe, and its sphere of influence might not be larger than today's northern towns. It is said that the name Nurhachi means "wild boar skin" in the Jurchen language, his brother Shuerhaqi means "little wild boar skin", and another brother Yalhaqi means "leopard skin". The name of the famous Dorgon means "badger", the eldest grandson Du Du means "spotfinch", and the name of his nephew Kul Chan means "gray crane".Contemporary cultural anthropology research tells us that such love and love for animals must be closely related to their dependence on fishing and hunting for survival.

Historical data from the same period show that when Nurhaci was growing up, some Jurchens were already engaged in farming. However, more Jurchens may prefer the unrestrained and heroic fishing and hunting career. When he was ten years old, Nurhachi's biological mother passed away. For this boy and his younger brothers Shuerhaqi and Yarhaqi, this blow should be the most painful.They were then retraumatized by their stepmother's less than virtuous behavior.For this reason, they may have suffered so much that Nurhachi refused to forgive his stepmother many years later. Therefore, in the brief record of only a few lines about this lady, the "Drafts of Qing History" did not forget to point out that she was not good to Nurhachi.Nurhachi recalled that when he was young, he had to go up the mountain to pick mushrooms, dig ginseng, go down the river to catch fish, and hunt desperately.He may have to learn to endure humiliation and learn to act on the face of others.This may have played a huge role in his early relationship with the Ming Dynasty.

The property inheritance system of the Jurchens is very different from that of the Han people. What they practice is the system of "young sons keep the property".After the older brother gets married, he has to live alone.Therefore, when Nurhachi was nineteen years old, he separated his family and set up his own family.From today's point of view, this age is not very old, but at that time, at the age of fourteen or fifteen, one was considered an adult and could marry a wife and have children. The author of "Drafts of Qing History" continued to complain that when the family was divided, only the founder of the Qing Dynasty received the least amount of family property.

This more-than-average toddler experience should help us understand his desperate and often unscrupulous struggles, including his extreme and multifaceted personality. Among the life mottos circulated in China, there is a saying that "youth achieves great misfortune", which means: a superior youth life cannot cultivate a promising man.Only those who have experienced the tempering of life in their youth can be determined and become talents. Modern psychological research shows that those who have lost their mother's love since childhood and feel that life is unfair, their emotional tendencies tend to become strong and extreme as adults, and they have a stronger psychological tolerance for cruel and cruel things in life.In the years to come, observing the Nurhachi brothers from such a perspective will make people feel involuntarily sympathetic.Nurhachi's stepmother would never have imagined that the short-sightedness of a vulgar woman would make a big man who changed China.

From the age of nineteen to twenty-five, Nurhachi wandered in the rivers and lakes, and probably endured many trials in life.In fact, we have reason to believe that it was during this period that Nurhachi defected to a figure who had a great influence on his life-Li Chengliang, the commander-in-chief of the Liaodong Army of the Ming Empire.He may have been cultivated and nurtured by Li Chengliang's military talents by Li Chengliang's side. In the eleventh year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1583 A.D.), Nurhachi's father and grandfather were killed by mistake, which became a landmark event in the history of Ming-Qing relations.In any era, there seems to be no reason to prevent Nurhachi from seeking justice.Since then, Nurhachi has held high the banner of the commander of the left guard of Jianzhou in Ming Dynasty and the sharp sword of revenge for his grandfather and father, and he has run across the white mountains and black waters.In the end, the Jurchens were unified under his family and surname.For thirty-six years, his blade never left this target, until he thought he had the ability to hit a bigger target - the Ming Empire.

Such facts show that the accidental killing of his grandfather and father was not a bad thing for Nurhachi's career. This incident brought back enough and extremely valuable political resources for him, including the imperial government's apology and Compensation, including the reasons for him to gain political status and develop military power, including the long-term support of Li Chengliang, the highest military officer in Liaodong of the Ming Empire, and even the reasons for him to turn against the empire after he became powerful enough. Thirty-six years later, Nurhachi did just that. In all fairness, the price paid by the empire for Nurhachi's grief over the loss of a loved one was high.If coupled with his own talents and abilities, it provides almost all the conditions Nurhachi needs to realize his ambitions.In the end there was only one thing left, and that was the luck necessary for a great career. What happened later proved that Nurhachi's luck was too good. In particular, the political corruption in the late Ming Empire allowed Nurhachi to do everything he wanted to do without being disturbed at all, enabling him to start his own life smoothly with only thirteen sets of armor and ten or twenty people. career, and lasted for more than thirty years. It is said that Nurhachi especially likes peace and happiness, which may be true.He especially likes to use tactics such as sneak attacks, long-distance raids, suspicious soldiers and ambushes, and internal and external cooperation.This kind of military training has benefited him a lot during the long years of unifying the Jurchen.There is even a saying that: Nurhachi has experienced hundreds of battles, except for losing to Yuan Chonghuan in the last battle, he has never lost a battle in his life.Whether this is the case is doubtful. Evidence shows that, like those men who are physically and psychologically normal and feel good about themselves, Nurhachi shows no special restraint towards beautiful opposite sexes.He may have been the husband of a dozen wives—no one has yet been able to say exactly how many concubines he had—and the father of sixteen sons and eight daughters. He may be a man of passionate and unrestrained emotions, which can sometimes be extreme and violent.An observer of his time pointed out: "The chief Nurhaci is suspicious, fierce, dignified, and violent. Those who have always been close and loved, such as wives, concubines, and children, will be killed if they disobey a little. Don't be afraid of him." (Li Minkuan's "Jianzhou Wenjianlu") Observing from this perspective, he is obviously a highly self-centered person, even reaching a particularly paranoid level. As the years go by, we will have the opportunity to see: among his many wives, sons, and younger brothers, some of them died at his hands.This proves again and again that it is not fun to be a relative of such a person. He has typical multiple personalities, which are very prominent in different directions: when he gets into emotional entanglements, he is violent and terrifying; once his emotions collide with his work, he will immediately act calm and calm Reason, too, is scary. For this hero, the fraternal relationship between father and son, brothers, the friendship between friends, colleagues, and comrades-in-arms, the love between husband and wife, man and woman, lovers, etc., are all secondary, and he must obey what he wants to do. things.At this time, in him, there is no perceptual and idealized color at all, and he becomes a chilling extreme realist. At this moment, what he shows is closely connected with the political and cultural traditions that seldom consider human factors, forming a multiple personality that is mainly cruel and tyrannical.He killed his own son, his brother, and two nephews, carried out genocidal massacres against the Han people in Liaodong, encouraged his own son to kill his mother, and left his last words to kill his favorite woman. Cruelty and tyranny provide hard-to-refute examples that disenchant us with the brutal nature of our political and cultural traditions. From the eleventh year of Wanli in Ming Dynasty to the sixth year of Qi in Ming Dynasty (1583-1626 AD), Nurhaci's efforts to unify the Jurchen tribe and fight against the Ming Empire lasted for forty-four years. From the perspective of time parameters, people have reason to doubt Nurhachi's political and military talents in the comparison - it seems that the time he has been tossing things is too long. This view tells part of the truth, but it seems unfair to Nurhachi.The reason is that the situation facing Nurhachi is too complicated.At this time, the Great Ming Empire was not yet in chaos. Although it was only living by inertia, it was not dead after all, and its majestic appearance of the kingdom was scary enough.This situation made Nurhachi surrounded by enemies who were staring at him like a tiger. At first glance, none of them is weaker than Nurhachi, such as North Korea, the tribes of Mongolia, and other Jurchen brothers of the same race as Nurhachi.Any one of them is likely to get the support of the Ming Dynasty, which puts Nurhachi in a dangerous situation. For this reason, Nurhachi dealt with it very hard. On the one hand, he made frequent attacks, using violence to destroy, force coercion, and profit temptation to forcefully integrate those Jurchen brothers into his command; Be kind, not threatening. Therefore, he needs to form an alliance with them, swear to God, and marry—marry his own women or promise to marry each other, marry the other's women or promise to marry them, and so on. The alliance established in this way is very fragile. It is often just today that the newlyweds have sworn oaths to the heavenly alliance, or just toasted the newlyweds for a hundred years of marriage, and turned their faces to find that the other party or themselves need to break the contract. There are various reasons for this situation.Nurhaci believes that the Ming Empire played a particularly bad role overtly and secretly.This can be seen at a glance by reading his many talks and proclamations. So, for a long time, in frequent wars, alliances, betrayals, and wars, alliances, and betrayals again, Nurhachi carefully cared for the sensitive and fragile nerves of the Ming Empire's monarchs and ministers, and made things perfect— —After his grandfather and father were mistakenly killed and took over as the commander of Jianzhou Zuowei, General Li Chengliang helped Nurhaci obtain the post of Jianzhou Zuowei Commander-in-Chief conferred by the imperial government before he left the Liaodong General Army for the first time.A few years later, Nurhachi was named the "General Dragon and Tiger" of the Ming Empire for his "merit for defending the frontiers of the empire".This is a lofty title of the second rank. It is said that only a few of the Jurchen people in history have received such an honor.Nurhachi's Taoism can be said to be deep. There is another thing that can allow us to establish a deeper understanding of Nurhachi's Taoism.This is the story about Dong Ge. Among the Jurchen tribes in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, Dong Ge enjoyed a high reputation.She had a great impact on the changes among the Jurchen tribes at that time, and she was a legendary woman. Brother Dong's experience is easily reminiscent of the story of the ancient Greek beauty Helen.Dong Ge is the daughter of the Jurchen Chief Yehe. It is said that she is a magnificent woman. According to the favorite saying of ancient Chinese literati, she has the appearance of shameful flowers closing the moon, and the appearance of sinking fish and wild goose. She is known as Yehe No. 1 Beauty or Jurchen first beauty. Compared with that western beauty, Dong Ge's fate is much more tragic. The reason is that although Helen led to the bloody Trojan War, she enjoyed the sincere and deep love after all.Dongge, on the other hand, became a political chip in the hands of her father and elder brother's two generations of Chief Yehe. In the constant provocation of the Jurchen tribe's attack and vendetta, he wasted his beautiful and emotional youth. It is said that when Dong Ge was only about ten years old, her father, who was the chief of the Yehe tribe, betrothed her to Nurhachi, and Nurhachi also gave her a large amount of dowry for this.When he grew up, Dong Ge was so glamorous that he became a well-known beauty.During this period, the Yehe Tribe, one of the Haixi Jurchen, became rivals with Nurhachi's Jianzhou Jurchen; to make matters worse, Dong Ge's father died in the hands of Nurhachi's subordinates during the war. Therefore, although they are not yet married, Dong Ge and Nurhachi, who could have become a couple, have now become out-and-out grievances.The emotional Dong Ge even uttered cruel words: She is willing to marry a hero, as long as the hero can kill Nurhachi. Since then, with the support of the Ming Empire, the Yehe tribe and the Jianzhou tribe have been in a long-term confrontation. At this time, Buyangu, the chief of the Yehe tribe, was Dongge’s elder brother. It was probably due to the following two considerations, one was the needs of real politics, and the other was to humiliate and stimulate Nurhachi. Buyangu kept marrying his beautiful sister For those powerful tribal leaders, Nurhachi has repeatedly made Nurhachi feel deeply humiliated and resentful.And the leaders of those big tribes also admire Dong Ge's peerless elegance, and regard being able to marry this beautiful woman as their highest pursuit in life. In this way, the leader of the Yehe tribe maximized the value of his beautiful sister.The leaders of those big tribes would rather have beauties than Jiangshan, or at least they don't care about facing wars for beauties, which caused many disputes.Among the four Jurchen Haixi tribes, the powerful Hada tribe, Huifa tribe, and Wula tribe fought against each other, and their strength was greatly weakened, which may be related to this Dong Ge.In the end, these tribes were successively wiped out by Nurhachi. Obviously, Dong Ge is very important in Nurhachi's mind, otherwise, he would not go to war over it again and again.Because the tribes he faced, at least on the surface, were not weaker than him.The Jurchen hero might really care about this beautiful woman.Or, it is also possible that he cares more about this excellent excuse for using force. Shaohua is fleeting, and in a blink of an eye, it is the 43rd year of Wanli in Ming Dynasty (1615 A.D.).This year, Nurhachi officially completed the Eight Banners system.At this time, Dong Ge was already thirty-three years old, and became the "Ye He old woman" in the mouth of the people at that time.With her own destiny, she made a precise annotation for the ancient Chinese idiom "a beauty with a poor life".But it's not over yet.This time, she was involuntarily married to a Mongolian prince by his brother. Facing this real humiliation, Nurhachi's performance is very intriguing. In the past, whenever Dong Ge was betrothed again, Nurhachi would usually sternly and emotionally warn those who tried to make Dong Ge's idea, reminding them to pay attention to the identity of Dong Ge's fiancé.When this reminder is seriously ignored, he will choose war without hesitation.In fact, it is indeed an excellent reason for war for the well-meaning mind. However, this time, not only did he not seek the bad luck of the Mongolian prince, he also restrained his brothers' impulse to use force with eloquent words. At this time, the Mongolian tribe split into many independent branches. Although they have long lost the glory of Genghis Khan, they are still a force not to be underestimated. Some of them sided with the Ming Empire against Nurhachi; others helped Nurhachi against the Ming Empire.Therefore, striving to establish the widest possible ally relationship with them has become a major event that neither the Ming Empire nor Nurhachi dare to take lightly.This should be Nurhachi's real motive for letting go of the Mongolian prince. For the Yehe tribe, the situation is much more complicated. Back then, when Dongge's father, the old chief of the Yehe tribe, was killed by Nurhachi's subordinates, it is said that in order to express his apology, Nurhachi had vowed not to use force against the Yehe tribe for several years.Therefore, when Dongge was betrothed to other tribal leaders in the past, Nurhachi only dealt with those tribal leaders and never troubled the Yehe tribe.This kind of rhetoric is very touching and sensational, and it makes Nurhachi appear as a hero who promises a lot.However, this statement may not be true. Because, one factor is obviously ignored here: for quite a long time, the power of the Yehe tribe was much greater than that of Nurhachi, and when Nurhachi grew strong enough, the Yehe tribe received the explicit support of the Ming Empire.Therefore, before Nurhachi made up his mind to openly be an enemy of the Ming Empire, he would inevitably have a deep sense of being wary of the Yehe tribe. In fact, he had tried many times to start a war against the Yehe tribe. In the end, what made him restrain himself was obviously not a promise, but a comprehensive consideration of the comparison of strength. In many cases, the reason for looking at politicians is the same as when looking at businessmen. As long as you put the calculation of gains and losses and the consideration of timing first, you will probably not go too far from the topic. This may be the main reason why Nurhachi forbears for a long time. Faced with the fact that Dong Ge was remarried to a Mongolian prince, the people around Nurhachi were furious, and they strongly hoped to send troops to conquer Yehe, and make them pay for their recklessness.Nurhachi was extremely calm and rational.For this reason, he used to persuade those angry comrades at length, advising them not to fight for a woman, especially when the Yehe tribe and the Ming Empire stood behind this woman.He particularly soberly reminded his comrades: Our food reserves are not enough, and now is definitely not a good time to start a war against Ye He and Daming. He laughed at those who were full of anger and said: It stands to reason that I am the person involved. If I want to fight because of anger, you should dissuade me. How come I stay out of the matter now, but you are stubborn?Nurhachi also said something to Dongge, to the effect that: Because this woman, the Hada tribe, the Huifa tribe, and the Ula tribe all perished, she made the tribes unable to live in harmony. Women don't live long.As a result, Nurhachi's words became a prophecy.After Dong Ge married into the Mongolian tribe, he really fell ill and died within a year. In fact, Nurhachi should be grateful to Brother Dong deep in his heart, because this woman provided him with too many reasons to launch wars and destroy other Jurchen tribes. Three years later, when Nurhachi thought he was ready and decided to declare war on the Ming Empire, in his proclamation against the Ming Dynasty—"The Seven Great Hatreds to the Heaven", there were four major hatreds aimed at the Ming Empire's support of the Yehe tribe .Among them, Dong Ge's incident was listed as a big hatred by him alone, and he appealed to God as a reason for him to declare war on the Ming Empire. Nurhachi did a really good job. In the forty-fourth year of Wanli in Ming Dynasty (AD 1616), Nurhachi officially established the Houjin Kingdom, designated Hetuala as the capital, and named it the first year of Tianming.Since then, he has never changed the title of King Khan. At this time, he was no longer the Nurhachi he was thirty-three years ago. At that time, his sphere of influence might not exceed a town in the north today. Now, except for the Yehe tribe, which is firmly supported by the Ming Empire, he has almost unified the entire Jurchen nation.His horsewhip is waving, and it can already point to the northeast of today's China-the vast area between the Outer Xing'an Mountains in the north, Lake Baikal in the west, the Sea of ​​Okhotsk in the east, and the Sea of ​​Japan in the south. It was not completed until the era of his son Huang Taiji. At this point, he indeed has the reason and the right to despise the behemoth around him. In the forty-sixth year of Wanli in Ming Dynasty (AD 1618), Nurhachi, who was already 60 years old, finally no longer concealed his true feelings—— On April 13th, Nurhachi issued the famous "Seven Great Hate to Heaven" proclamation, announcing: The Ming Empire is the source of all Jurchen's suffering.At this time, if someone asks Nurhachi what he hates the most in his life, he will definitely tell you directly without hesitation: the Ming Empire and those Han people. Nurhachi's feelings are not entirely unreasonable.The reason is: all the tricks, intrigues and insidiousness in imperial politics are not only aimed at the Han people. When dealing with foreigners, these tricks may be used more thoroughly and without scruple.In the revised history of those grand officials, when it comes to dealing with frontier tribes, words such as "pounding nests", "destroying them", "beheading", and "sweeping holes" are almost everywhere.From this, the hatred should not be difficult to accumulate. It is easy to imagine how much humiliation the "slaves" - Nurhachi, have experienced.In the Chinese materials at that time, even Nurhachi's name had to be written - Nuerhachi.This kind of boring mentality was indeed a common situation among the subjects of the empire at that time. From historical data, we can know that Nurhachi's hatred is not just talk.His core philosophy of governing the country is, "kill the Han people and raise the Manchuria". (Volume 64 of "Records of Emperor Taizong of the Qing Dynasty") The implementation rules for implementing this basic national policy can be summarized in two general terms: The first is mainly genocidal massacres, supplemented by violent coercion of them as slaves; or the other way around is the second, mainly violent coercion of them as slaves, supplemented by genocidal massacres.These two methods have been used alternately in different historical periods and in different situations.There is evidence that this concept of governance and policy has indeed been firmly implemented and lasted for a long time.It may not be changed until after Nurhachi's death in his successor. There is no love without reason in the world, and there is no hate without reason. Newton's laws of mechanics are also applicable in social life: when there is an action force, there is a reaction force, which is equal in magnitude and opposite in direction.What makes people sigh is: at that time, Nurhachi's overreaction probably can disprove the severity of the pain and humiliation they have suffered. However, the complexity of the matter lies in: the population distribution of the Liaodong area at that time, the Han population accounted for about 90%, and the Jurchen, Mongolian and other tribes accounted for about 10%.In order to support 10% of the population of the same race, slaughter 90% of the alien race, even if he harbors deep hatred, as a politician, such a situation can hardly be regarded as a manifestation of being rich in mind and wisdom.If a person is to be praised as "great" or "talented" just because he has the ability to kill people, or has military talent, this kind of praise and even these words themselves are enough to make people sick. Applying the above historical facts, we can roughly understand why Nurhachi was unable to completely unify the Jurchen ministries after such a long period of time—36 years, and why he was still unable to cross the Ningjin line of defense and enter Shanhaiguan after 44 years.Such a unification war, if it is not difficult to fight and does not take a long time, it should be called unreasonable. Knowing the above situation, it is naturally not difficult to understand the secret of Nurhachi's establishment of the Eight Banners system. In the Nurhachi era, the Jurchens mainly lived on fishing and hunting, and lived in villages with blood relatives in lands with fertile mountains, forests, water and grass.Both Jurchens, men and women, must participate in shooting and hunting, and only women who raise babies stay in the garrison.Their livelihood skills are consistent with their military skills, their lifestyles are consistent with their warfare, and their production conditions are consistent with their combat conditions, thus forming a society where all the people are soldiers.They live on their own side among different tribes, and they regard each other as the norm, and there are no special taboos or special psychological barriers when different ethnic groups can kill each other. When the Jurchens hunted, they hunted in groups, often with more than ten people as a hunting unit. Each of them shoots an arrow and explains their hunting plan. The one who is approved by everyone is elected to be responsible for the distribution and use of all arrows and become the commander of the group.The rest must obey the dispatch, and are not allowed to leave the team and act without authorization, otherwise the commander has the power to execute them.In Jurchen language, this group is called "Niulu", which is said to mean "arrow"; the commander elected by the crowd is called "Ezhen", which means "boss" and "master".After the hunting is over, the prey is distributed collectively according to everyone's performance.Niulu then became the basic hunting unit of the blood-kin party tribe, which was suitable for both wars against nature and wars against humans. Every autumn, when the beasts are about to pass the winter and become the most plump, people will conduct a large-scale hunting, and all cattle in the tribe must participate.At that time, each Niulu will shoot an arrow, and a big "Niulu Ezhen" will be selected as the commander-in-chief of the big hunting.In the Jurchen language, this daniuluerzhen is called "Jialaerzhen".After the hunt is over, all the prey will be distributed equally according to the number of cattle participating in the hunt. Nurhachi's Eight Banners system, its principles of organization, coordination, command, management, logistics support, training, distribution of spoils, etc., are almost all born out of this. In the twenty-ninth year of Wanli in Ming Dynasty (AD 1601), with the war and the expansion of the army, Nurhachi formalized the "Niulu" and "Jiala" into a military system, stipulating that three hundred people are one Niulu, five Niulu means 1,500 people for one Jiala, and five Jiala means 7,500 people for a Gushan. Each Gushan is marked with a flag of one color.At this time, Nurhachi compiled a total of four Gushan Mountains, using red, yellow, blue and white flags respectively, so Gushan was translated into Qi in Chinese.At this time, Nurhachi had about 30,000 soldiers and horses. Fourteen years later, that is, the 43rd year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, Nurhachi expanded the four banners into eight banners in response to the needs of military development, adding four banners with red, yellow, blue and white banners, and the eight banners became customized.Based on this calculation, at that time, the establishment of the Eight Banners troops was about 60,000 horses.The above-mentioned Eight Banners are all held by Nurhachi's sons, nephews and grandsons and hereditary. The heroes who followed Nurhachi in the army and played a major role in the early days either died one after another or were marginalized. The Eight Banners organization is not only a military organization, but also a political organization, an economic organization, a judicial organization, a civil affairs organization, etc. All wealth distribution, judicial trials and rulings, social life and its organizational mobilization are all completed in the Eight Banners system.Therefore, some researchers believe that the Eight Banners system is basically a kind of "national system" determined by Nurhachi. Under the leadership of Nurhachi, the political, economic, and social life of the Jurchens are all maintained by the military. The most important activities of the entire society are war and plunder. The growth of the economy and wealth depends to a large extent on the harvest on the battlefield. . Nurhaci's cleverness lies in that he transformed the cattle recording system of encirclement, fishing and hunting into the Eight Banners system integrating military and government; and then used the Eight Banners system to organize the Jurchen society of encirclement, fishing and hunting into a large military group.As a result, the Jurchens were transformed and organized into a completely militarized social group, or a fully socialized military group. In this regard, the Niuli system developed into the Eight Banners system, and the grassroots organizations of the fishing and hunting tribes changed and grew into the state system of the Later Jin Dynasty. From this, the Jurchens were called Bannermen.All of them were included in the Eight Banners and were owned or administered by their respective banner owners.Between the bannerman and the banner owner, there is the righteousness of a monarch and a minister, and the difference between a master and a servant.This is why the voices of "master" and "slave" have been heard endlessly for more than 270 years after they entered the customs.Although Han ministers and scholar-bureaucrats do not need to call themselves "slaves" in front of the emperor, this concept seems to have been deeply rooted in their blood and bone marrow, so that until today, in literature and film and television works, they still have to keep calling themselves slaves. I am a slave. From the perspective of modern cultural anthropology and political science, this kind of system is crude and simple, and it looks like a mixture of primitive military communism and clan aristocratic republic. Many nations in the world have experienced such a stage in their early development. Needless to say the Western world, only the nomadic fishing and hunting peoples in my country since the Qin and Han Dynasties, such as the Huns, Xianbei, Turks, Khitans, Wuhuan, Xixia, Jurchens in the Northern Song Dynasty and Mongols under the leadership of Genghis Khan, until Nurhachi, Generally, there have been organizations that were not only similar in spirit, but also in shape.Even in the treatment of their hair, they are all roughly the same or similar: most of the front is shaved, leaving only the surrounding or back hair, or covering it with a hat, or braiding it, hanging behind the face and behind the head.Most of them, under the leadership of an outstanding leader, often rise at an extremely fast speed, sweep the land trampled by horseshoes overwhelmingly, and then disappear without a trace on the stage of history at an extremely miraculous speed. Some scholars pointed out that the Japanese before modern times also had similar organizational forms, even including the treatment of hair. Like those ancient heroes, in Nurhachi and his Eight Banners system, there are too many primitive clan colors that are common or shared by nomadic fishing and hunting tribes.If starting from a certain concept, it must be recognized as a unique creativity, outstanding contribution and great historical achievement, of course it is all right. In fact, the Eight Banners system is a freak born from the hybridization of primitive fishing and hunting tribes and wars. The brilliance of the aristocratic republic in it is simply unable to match the brutal genes deeply rooted in its nature.After the victory of the war, when the warriors of the Eight Banners happily divided the plundered wealth, slaves, and livestock into eight piles, and then divided them up, it was doomed to the bloodthirsty nature of this system. This nature is passionate and mysterious, with exciting effects, and its transition from excitement to terror is often only a moment or a thought. Shuerhaqi is Nurhachi's younger brother.For nearly 30 years, the two brothers fought side by side and supported each other. Nurhachi's foundation has a lot of hard work from his younger brother. It is said that someone once saw a broken couplet written in Chinese characters on the door of Shuerhaqi's house.上联曰“迹处青山”，下联曰“身居绿林”云云，表明此人颇有汉家文化之风致。这位身居绿林的好汉大约十分勇敢善战，因此，曾经是著名的巴图鲁，并始终被看作是仅次于努尔哈赤的第二号人物，多次代表建州部落前往北京朝贡，与帝国朝野上下有着广泛交游并颇受礼遇。有人认为，这可能是导致他之后悲惨命运的重要原因。 舒尔哈齐从失去地位到死亡的过程高度诡秘，大约是大清帝国最不愿为人所知的最高机密之一。是故，在翻检有关史料时，阅读者可能会一头雾水，完全无法明白：这样一个声威显赫、地位仅次于最高统帅的人，怎么会时不时就要为一些莫名其妙的事情受到侮辱，并被夺去兵权，如此彻底地被边缘化。 这种情形不太可能令人满意。据说，舒尔哈齐感到生不如死，于是打算移居到另外一个地方去。努尔哈赤立即杀死舒尔哈齐的两个儿子，将舒尔哈齐的家产全部没收，把一个忠实于舒尔哈齐并可能很勇敢的军官，吊在树上活活烧死。 目前，没有人知道舒尔哈齐究竟是怎么死的。有研究者根据努尔哈赤的一生行事风格，断言是他杀死了自己的弟弟。 如果说舒尔哈齐死得足够蹊跷诡秘的话，还有一个人的死就称得上是彻底地蹊跷诡秘了。这个人就是努尔哈赤的第一位妻子、他的元妃佟佳氏。这位女士为努尔哈赤养育过两个孩子——嫡长子褚英、次子即后来的大贝勒代善。 仅仅从这一点出发，就可以断言：佟佳氏必定对努尔哈赤的早期生活产生过重大影响。 奇怪的是，这位努尔哈赤的原配夫人、两个具有崇高地位和影响的儿子的母亲，竟然在历史上消失得几乎无影无踪。舒尔哈齐在《清史稿》上好歹还有大半页纸的传记，而这位佟佳氏则只有一行字的记载，曰：“元妃，佟佳氏。归太祖最早。子二：褚英、代善。女一，下嫁何和礼。”她的身世如何？她的一生怎样？她的性情与为人有什么特点？她到底出了什么事？甚至她死后埋在哪儿？等等等等，全部消失得无影无踪，整个就像在人间蒸发了一样。这种历史也算得上是混账透顶了。同样可以断言的是：其中一定隐藏着与努尔哈赤有关的不可告人的重大机密。 佟佳氏的命运，可能极大地影响了她的两个儿子。褚英的乖戾和不可理喻，代善的庸懦和凡事忍让，应该与他们的母亲有着绝大关系。 褚英是努尔哈赤与佟佳氏的嫡长子，幼时曾经被送到李成梁处充当人质，长大后号称能征善战，多次立下显赫的功勋。因此，努尔哈赤曾经让他代理国政，看上去很像是要培养他做接班人。结果这位褚英很快以自己的作为，让他周围几乎所有人感到恐惧和愤怒。 当褚英的母亲可能失去了影响力时，这些手中掌握了不小权力的亲贵，便觉得无法继续忍受下去了。于是，他们联合起来，向努尔哈赤控告他的儿子。 据他们说，褚英至少有三点令人厌恶的罪行： 其一，他企图使这些控告他的人——除了他的弟弟们之外，全部都是努尔哈赤最信任的人——彼此之间失去信任与和睦。 其二，褚英对于通过战争获得财富已经不能满足，他还要不停地勒索弟弟们的马匹和财物。 其三，当周围的人使他感到不愉快时，他曾经不止一次放出狠话，说是等自己继位之后，就要干掉那些让他厌恶的弟弟和大臣。 努尔哈赤十分烦恼，采取了让他闭门思过的措施。据说，在此期间，褚英做的事情是——祷告上天，诅咒父亲和他不喜欢的人快点儿死。于是，努尔哈赤下令将他圈禁在四堵高墙之内。不久，将他处死。 佟佳氏之后，努尔哈赤的第二位大妃是富察氏，有人称呼她为衮代皇后。她为努尔哈赤生育了两个儿子、一个女儿。四大贝勒之一、著名的三贝勒莽古尔泰就是这位衮代的亲生儿子。 努尔哈赤起兵不久，衮代便成为他的妻子之一，与他患难与共，度过了最为艰难的岁月。《清史稿》中记载：当九部联军前来攻伐努尔哈赤时，这位衮代夫人担心努尔哈赤胆怯，焦虑得寝食不安。 从中可以看出，在努尔哈赤创业之初，这位女士曾竭尽全力支持过丈夫的事业。因此，至今在东北满族地区流传着不少关于她的传说。可见，这不是一个平庸的女人。 努尔哈赤成为天命汗之后第五年，年近五十、已经色衰的衮代突然获罪，被努尔哈赤下令离弃。不久，她的亲生儿子莽古尔泰竟然亲手杀死了自己的妈妈。而且，不久这个恶子便被努尔哈赤封为四大贝勒之一，成为后金主持国政的最高决策层成员。这使人有理由怀疑，努尔哈赤与这桩恶行有关。 努尔哈赤死后，他的几个儿子以他的遗命为由，杀死了努尔哈赤生前最宠爱的大妃阿巴亥，为他殉葬。从努尔哈赤的品性与为人上考察，他十分可能留下这样的遗命。这样做，和女真人的生死观念、丧葬习俗也颇为吻合。与中国历史上那些类似或坏得多的宫廷烂账比较起来，这应该算不上是特别恶劣。 在大清朝历史上，出身叶赫部落并值得特别关注的人不少。除了那位东哥之外，叶赫部酋长的另一位格格孟古，也颇为不凡。这位人称孟古姐姐的格格，十四岁嫁给努尔哈赤，并且可能曾经深受努尔哈赤的喜爱。她是皇太极的母亲。皇太极继承努尔哈赤的汗位之后，将大金国的汉语国号改为大清国，并正式称帝，成为大清朝理论上的第一位皇帝。他的母亲孟古格格被追认为努尔哈赤唯一的皇后——孝慈高皇后。由此，这位出身叶赫那拉氏的孟古也可以被看成是大清朝的第一位皇太后。 孟古格格生活得很不幸：努尔哈赤是她的丈夫，叶赫部落是她的亲人和家乡。前一位叶赫部落酋长是她的堂哥，死在努尔哈赤的部下手里。这还不算，努尔哈赤下令将她堂哥的遗体劈成两半，只将一半还给其亲人。在笃信人死之后有灵魂可以转生的古代，这种做法的意思就是让你永远不能超生，在当时算是狠毒残忍到家了。 叶赫部落酋长金台吉，对抗努尔哈赤，兵败后纵火自焚未死，被努尔哈赤下令用弓弦绞死。两家结下的应是血海深仇。但是，叶赫部落的人仍然有不少赫赫有名的人物：除孟古可以被看成第一位皇后——皇太后之外，清朝的最后一位孝定皇后——隆裕皇太后也出身于叶赫那拉氏。康熙朝重臣明珠是叶赫部落酋长金台吉的嫡系孙子，明珠的儿子纳兰性德则是整个大清朝享有盛名的满族第一才子；鼎鼎大名的叶赫那拉氏慈禧，在世界范围内可能是大清朝知名度最高的人物了，虽然不见得是好的知名度。 这种情形似乎蕴含了某种特殊的政治遗传基因密码，表明女真人并不以种族仇恨为政治分野的依据。 据说，金台吉自焚时曾发出毒誓：哪怕我叶赫部只剩下一个女人，也要灭你爱新觉罗。这句话似乎成了魔鬼的诅咒。二百多年以后，当大清朝葬送在慈禧老太太手中时，曾经有人油然想起这句不祥的咒语。 在血腥和杀戮中发育出来的制度，势必需要血腥和杀戮方能维护。 平心而论，和那些古代游牧民族的英雄如成吉思汗等人比较起来，如果一定要找出努尔哈赤究竟有什么长处的话，大约只能说，他很幸运，因为他有两个不错、或者说是优秀的儿子——皇太极和多尔衮。 除此之外，真的看不出他还有什么特别出色的地方。假如不是因为这两个儿子，他和他的什么八旗制度可能像“四长制”、“大人会议”之类一样，早就烟消云散在历史的尘埃里面了。 大明天启五年、后金天命十年（公元1625年）努尔哈赤下令迁都，将首都由辽阳迁到了当时还不到辽阳一半大小的沈阳。 努尔哈赤迁都的理由特别有意思。他说：“沈阳四通八达，如果想向西讨伐大明，渡辽河，路直而且近；要想向北征伐蒙古，两三天路程就够了；若是南向进攻朝鲜，走清河一路即可。沈阳的浑河与苏子河相通，在咱们老家苏子河源头伐木顺流而下，木材都用不完；想出游打猎，这儿山近野兽多，而且河里的鱼虾之利也可以兼收并蓄矣。” 就这样，前一半，表现了一位游牧渔猎部落酋长成为后金汗国汗王的雄心勃勃；后一半，则从后金汗国汗王退回到了一个游牧渔猎部落酋长。 事实上，这就是努尔哈赤。他到死也没有完成从一个部落酋长到一位政治家的转变，更遑论伟大的政治家了。 其实，与其花时间讨论努尔哈赤及其八旗制度究竟为历史贡献了什么，实在不如深入考究一下：为什么大明帝国——一个发育得如此成熟、如此富庶、如此幅员辽阔、人口众多、资源丰饶、自我感觉又如此之好的国家，怎么就会被一个人口还不到自己的百分之一、文化发展刚刚离开渔猎时代、起家于穷乡僻壤的半原始部落，搞得如此之狼狈，最后竟至万劫不复？