Chapter 11 2. Convincing people with virtue, kindness and power go hand in hand

Nurhachi attacked Tulun City, and Nikan Wailan took advantage of the loophole to escape. Nurhachi won the victory and captured more than a hundred people.Afterwards, he led his troops to chase to Jiaban City and Fushun Station.When Nikan Wailan saw the enemy soldiers chasing him, he went to Elhun City again.Elehun is located in the northwest of Tuomohe City and just north of Deck City. These tribes blocked Elehun City on both sides.If he wanted to continue chasing Nikanwailan and avenge his grandfather and father, Nurhaci had to unite these small tribes in the middle around him.But if you blindly attack with force, you are worried that you will make too many enemies.

After a period of careful consideration, Nurhaci decided to implement two strategies to deal with these scattered small tribes.Those who can form an alliance should strive to form an alliance, let them surround themselves, and act first and then fight.If you can't win it, you can conquer it by force.By doing so, he can not only avenge his ancestors, but also complete the unification of the Jurchen tribes and end the chaos and disputes among the Jurchen tribes. In the twelfth year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1584), Nurhachi led an army to the area of ​​Weng'eluo City in the Dong'e tribe.Nurhachi sat upright in the tent, and on the left and right sat the most prestigious members of the tribe, who were discussing how to form an alliance with Weng'eluo City.

Nurhachi said: "I began to think that the previous combat method was inappropriate. In fact, sometimes war may not convince the opponent. So later I thought that if we form alliances with various ministries, we can not only reduce wars and casualties, but also increase the strength of our tribe. Strength. Although Weng'eluo City is not very strong in terms of strength, we can also take alliance measures." One of the clansmen said: "The leader is right. How we can win without fighting is also a good thing for us. Nowadays, there is almost no alliance between the clans. We can just use This opportunity is an alliance with various ethnic groups. But I don’t think they will accept the alliance. For the Jurchen clan, accepting the alliance is actually admitting that they are not strong enough, and they have the meaning of submitting to others. Hasn’t the leader considered this? "

"This is exactly what I worry about, but having said that, it is best not to fight, and fighting is also a forced strategy. I didn't block the way for them, they can choose. If they insist on fighting against me, then I have no choice but to fight." The use of force, the so-called courtesy first, we are kind enough to the enemy." Nurhachi said in a deep voice. The tribe said: "Yes, if they don't accept the alliance, we can't give up the revenge plan because of this. I think it's hard to say this kind of thing in advance. The leader should send someone to negotiate with their city lord. If they don't Accept it, and we can only use force to solve the problem."

Nurhachi nodded and said, "That's a good idea. I'll send someone to Weng'eluo City right away." At this moment, he had a strange feeling in his heart. I'm afraid this battle will still be fought, and the seeds of the battle may have been unintentionally planted. Germinated in the state.However, he did not feel that the path he was taking was wrong.If you want to fight, you will fight with all your strength, but your current strength is relatively weak, your troops are weak, and there are almost no good generals. If you can convince the enemy generals to yourself, then this battle is worth fighting.

When the envoy saw the lord of Weng'eluo City, he told Nurhachi what he had explained.The city lord immediately said angrily: "What alliance are you talking about? Don't you just want us to rely on him and obey his orders? Also as the leader of the tribe, I live well and don't need to rely on anyone. If you want me to rely on him, it is simply It's an idiot's dream. Since you have the guts to come, I'll let you stay!" After speaking, he hacked Lai Shi to death. After Nurhachi heard the news that the envoy had been killed, although he had been prepared in his heart, he was still enraged. He said angrily: "If you don't accept the favor, don't blame me for being rude." He ordered his men to gather the team , ready to attack Weng'eluo City.

The two armies confronted each other, and they were extremely jealous. The lord of Weng'eluo City stood at the top of the city and shouted: "You and I don't violate the water of the river. Now you send an envoy to challenge me and want me to take refuge in your subordinates. I think it's ridiculous when I think about it. I killed the envoy you sent. You can think that I did it on purpose, and you will come here anyway. I am the lord of the city, I am not afraid of you, I advise you to weigh your own weight , Bow your head and be my subordinate!" Nurhachi said angrily: "It's really shameless! The two countries are at war, and you don't kill them. It's clear that you deliberately picked things up first, but you put all the problems on my head. I'm here today. I don't ask for anything else. I will take your item. The head is enough. If you know something, give me an explanation, and I will never kill a soldier in vain."

If the words are not speculative, the two sides will not give in.The lord of Weng'eluo City ordered the soldiers on the city to shoot arrows.Nurhachi hurriedly withdrew his troops to the middle of a row of houses, using the houses as cover, and also used bows and arrows to fight back at the enemy. In an instant, arrows all over the sky flew towards the opponent like raindrops.Because of the distance between them, the casualties on both sides were not too serious. Nurhachi was worried, so he climbed to the roof, stood in a place that was good for archery, and shot six arrows at the enemy troops in the city, and five enemy soldiers were shot dead on the spot.There was a sudden commotion on the city wall, and the enemy soldiers looked at each other with extremely frightened expressions.

"Be smart, don't shoot indiscriminately, aim at the man on the roof, kill the thief and capture the king first!" The city lord hid in a safe place and shouted at the soldiers. There is a general in the city named Erguo, whose archery attainments are the best in the city.He pointed the bow and arrow at Nurhachi, pulled the bow suddenly, and with a "swish", the bow and arrow went straight to Nurhachi and shot him in the head. Nurhachi staggered and regained his footing.The arrow pierced the helmet with a finger in the flesh.Nurhachi pulled out the arrow vigorously, and continued to draw the bow to shoot at the enemy.

Seeing that Nurhachi was only slightly injured, the enemy city lord scolded Erguo and said, "You shoot so accurately with your bow and arrow, but you don't have any strength. How can you be the number one shooter in my city!" Erguo was angry in his heart, but he didn't dare to contradict him. He drew his bow and aimed at Nurhachi again, but he couldn't shoot again. While shooting arrows, Nurhachi shouted to the soldiers around him: "Let's go all out and wipe out all the bandits in the city." At this time, a lieutenant named Loko shot another arrow at Nurhachi.Nurhachi only felt a sudden piercing pain. The arrow hit Nurhachi's neck, and when he pulled out the arrow, two pieces of flesh came out, and blood flowed all over his neck immediately.

At this time, the battle was fierce, and the enemy resisted tenaciously.The subordinates should help Nurhachi get out of the room.Nurhachi said: "The enemy is in front of me, and I, the commander, must not retreat first. Leave me alone and kill the enemy quickly!" But these two arrows really hurt Nurhachi, and he fainted before he finished speaking. past.The generals on the left and right helped Nurhachi off the roof, and called a military doctor to bandage the wound. Originally, the war between the two sides had entered a stalemate at this time. One side was inside the city and the other was outside the city.But Nurhachi's injury changed the situation on the battlefield virtually.The generals and soldiers around him were deeply moved when they saw that their commander was seriously injured and still wanted to fight the enemy hard.The coach is not afraid of death, let alone a small soldier!At this point in the war, morale is what is fighting. The soldiers under Nurhachi were encouraged and their morale was greatly boosted. The guards in the city soon fell to the wind.Soon Weng'eluo City was breached, and the city owner was hunted down by Nurhachi's generals. After the city was broken, among the captured enemy soldiers, some soldiers found Ergo and Luoke, the two men who shot Nurhachi, and took them to Nurhachi's tent. "These two villains! They almost killed our leader, dragged them out and cut them down!" Before Nurhachi could speak, the general standing aside couldn't help it. Nurhachi waved his hand and stopped the soldiers who wanted to take them out.He walked up to the two of them for a look, untied the ropes on them himself, and said: "When fighting on the battlefield, they are also loyal to their masters. Being able to shoot the enemy is a skill, and it also proves that I am careless in combat. People like them are It’s a pity to die on the battlefield, why kill?” Then, he turned to Orgo and Loko and said, “You shot me, I won’t blame you, let alone kill you. I know that you are all loyal and brave men to the Lord. Make a decision. Now that your city lord has died in battle, if you want to follow me, I will not treat you badly; if you decide to leave, I will never stop you .” Erguo knelt on the ground and said: "As a general of the defeated army, even if I was killed, I would not blame the leader. When I was captured, I already had the determination to die. Now I don't think so, since the leader is willing to take me in , I will follow you, and I will spare no effort!" Nurhachi nodded and turned to look at Loko. Loko said: "I am also willing to follow the leader and work for the leader." Nurhachi was very happy, and asked his servants to bring a jug of wine, poured a glass for everyone and said, "After drinking this glass of wine, don't mention the past again, start again." After drinking, Nurhachi rewarded them with the title of Niulu, commanding three hundred people. Nurhachi's method of convincing people with virtue has achieved very good results in conquering people's hearts.In the ensuing war, Nurhachi has always adhered to this strategy, first courtesy and then soldiers, and to convince people with virtue.In this way, battle after battle was fought, not only killing his enemy Nikan Wailan, but also unifying the various ministries of Jurchen, establishing the "government of the state", and later establishing Houjin. Force is an indispensable means of promoting unity.But those who blindly engage in militarism will inevitably end up ruined in the end.Those who are truly broad-minded and able to make immortal achievements are those who are proficient in using soldiers but cautious in using them.In their view, war is just a means, and if the problem can be solved by other methods, killing should be minimized.Before the battle, do the courtesy first and then the soldiers, and try to avoid war; once you have to go to war, you can take the lead and don't avoid life and death.Treat captured people with courtesy, so that those who know how to convince others with virtue will get more and more people's support, and it is reasonable to achieve some achievements.