Chapter 2 Chapter 1 Nurhaci Lays the Foundation of the Qing Dynasty

A Western scholar said: "The outstanding figures in ancient China that the West pays the most attention to are Genghis Khan and Nurhachi." Among China's brilliant historical figures, there are many outstanding emperors like Qin Shihuang, Han Wudi, and Tang Taizong. Why do Westerners prefer Genghis Khan and Nurhachi?The main reason is probably that Genghis Khan and Nurhachi are ethnic minorities.It cannot but be said that it is a miracle for a minority to rule the Central Plains and rule a nation-state dominated by Han people with a large population.Compared with Genghis Khan, Nurhachi seems to be more legendary.

In China's 2,000-year history of dynasties from the Qin Dynasty onwards, only the Han, Tang, Ming, and Qing dynasties have established great unity for more than 200 years.The Qing Empire occupied the stage of Chinese history for 296 years, accounting for one-eighth of the entire history of Chinese dynasties since the Qin Dynasty.Liu Bang, the emperor of the Han Dynasty, Li Yuan, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, and Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, were all Han nationality, and only Nurhachi, the emperor of the Qing Dynasty, was a minority.Nurhaci created an era in the history of Chinese civilization. The Qing Empire, which he founded, became the most prosperous empire in the world at the time of the Kangxi and Qianlong heydays.As the founder of the Qing Empire, Nurhachi not only sowed the seeds of "the prosperity of Kangxi and Qianlong" in the history of the Qing Dynasty, but also inherited the gene of "glory and mourning".

This is the key to Nurhachi's research that people are paying attention to today. Nurhachi was born in the aristocratic family of Jurchen in Jianzhou, Ming Dynasty, and was born in the 38th year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty (1559).Grandfather Jue Chang'an and father Ta Keshi were both Jianzhou Jurchen nobles, and were named Jianzhou Zuowei officials by the Ming Dynasty.Nurhachi has practiced archery since he was a child and has a good martial arts.When he was ten years old, his mother died, and his stepmother, Lashi, was mean and ungrateful, and treated him very badly.Instigated by his stepmother, his father, Tu Keshi, gave Nurhachi very little and could not make ends meet.Nurhachi had to leave his family and go hunting, digging ginseng, picking mushrooms, picking hazelnuts, fungus, and pine nuts in the vast forests, and then transporting these things to the Fushun Horse Market to sell them in order to make ends meet.When he was twenty-five years old, even greater misfortune came. Nurhachi's grandfather and father died at the same time in the artillery fire of the Ming army's siege. This incident had a decisive impact on Nurhachi's future life.

Regarding the cause of this incident, we need to start with Wang Gao's death.Among the Jianzhou Jurchen at that time, Wang Gao was the most powerful.Wang Gao once led troops to invade Liaoyang and killed the commander Wang Guodong. Later Wang Gao was captured and sent to Beijing for execution. After Wang Gao's death, his son Atai attacked and killed the Ming army to avenge his father.In February of the 11th year of Wanli (1583), Ming general Li Chengliang raised his troops to attack Atai's residence, Gulezhai.The grandfather of Atai's wife was Jue Chang'an, Nurhachi's grandfather.

In order to save his granddaughter from the war and reduce the casualties of the residents in the city, Jue Chang'an went to the city with Nurhachi's father, Ta Keshi, intending to persuade Atai to surrender.Nikan Wailan, the city lord of Jurchen Tulun City in Jianzhou, who was familiar with the Ming Dynasty, led the siege, and shouted to the defenders on the city: "Li Taishi has an order. Whoever kills Atai will be the city lord of Gule City." As a result, traitors appeared in the city, and the city was breached. Nurhachi's grandfather Jue Chang'an and father Tu Keshi also died in the war.Nurhachi was distraught when he received the news of the death of his grandfather and father.He approached the officials of the Ming Dynasty and asked, "Why was my grandfather killed? You and I have a sworn hatred!"

The officials of the Ming Dynasty thanked him and said: "This was not intentional, it was just manslaughter!" The Ming army returned the remains of Jue Chang'an and Ta Keshi, and the Ming court rewarded Nurhachi with 30 horses and appointed Nurhachi as a commander.But Nurhachi was still angry and did not dare to directly confront the Ming Dynasty, so he vented his anger on Nikanwailan.In May of the eleventh year of Wanli (1583), Nurhaci led a team of more than a hundred people to attack Tulun City, the residence of Nikanwailan, in the name of avenging his grandfather and father, and opened the historical curtain of the Jurchen unification war. .

There is a joint biography book of successive US presidents, which records the historical achievements of the US presidents worthy of historians' recognition. Some have one or two, as many as three or four, and some have none. Nurhachi lived to be sixty-eight years old. From the time he started the army at the age of twenty-five to the end of his life, he had a political and military career of forty-four years.Some historians have counted its historical contributions, and there are ten pieces. 1. Unify the ministries of Jurchen After the Kingdom of Jin was destroyed by the Yuan Dynasty, the various tribes of the Jurchen tribe were in constant disputes. The strong bullied the weak and the many bullied the few. Yuan and Ming failed to achieve unity for three hundred years.The rise of Nurhaci adopted the strategy of "subdue those who obey with virtue, and those who oppose with soldiers". After more than 30 years of conquest, they realized the great unification of Jurchen's various ministries.One of the reasons why many ethnic groups are fighting and fighting in the world today is that there is no outstanding ethnic leader who can coordinate and unify the various interest groups of the nation.Therefore, it should be a great event that Nurhaci contributed to the great unification of Jurchen's ministries.

2. Unify Northeast China After the mid-Ming Dynasty, the power declined, and it was no longer possible to exercise effective jurisdiction over the vast area of ​​​​the Northeast. Nurhachi and his son Huang Taiji unified the Northeast through hard work.From the Sea of ​​Okhotsk in the east, to Lake Baikal in the northwest, to Qinghai in the west, to the Sea of ​​Japan in the south, and across the Xing'an Mountains in the north, the vast area covers an area of ​​about 5 million square kilometers, which is roughly equal to the actual control area of ​​the Ming Dynasty.The reunification of the Northeast region not only ended the tragic situation of mutual killings and disastrous people, but also laid the foundation for the signing of the "Sino-Russian Treaty of Nerchinsk" in the 28th year of Kangxi (1689).Without Nurhachi's unification of the Northeast, it is really hard to know who would occupy the Northeast territory later, when Tsarist Russia invaded the east, Japan advanced south, and the great powers competed for each other.

3. Formulate the Manchu script After the fall of the Jin Dynasty, fewer and fewer people knew the Jurchen script, and it was gradually lost in the middle of the Ming Dynasty.After the rise of Nurhaci, the official documents between Jianzhou and North Korea and the Ming Dynasty were written in Chinese by a Han named Gong Zhenglu. When issuing military orders and government orders to the Jurchens, they used Mongolian. Can't understand.In the twenty-seventh year of Ming Wanli (1599), Nurhachi ordered Keshi Erdeni and Zarguqi Gagai to spell Manchu with Mongolian letters and create Manchu. This is Manchu without circles (old Manchu). Tai Chi was improved to become Manchu with dots (New Manchu).Manchu is a phonetic script, which belongs to the Man-Tungus language family of the Altaic language family. At that time, all the ethnic groups of the Man-Tungus language family in Northeast Asia, except Manchuria, had no written language.Manchu records the precious materials of cultural anthropology in Northeast Asia, and has become an important bridge for Manchu-Han, Chinese and Western cultural exchanges.Later, Jesus missionaries translated to the West through the Manchu "Four Books" and "Five Classics".Therefore, Nurhachi presided over the creation of Manchu, which is a milestone in the history of Manchu cultural development and a major event in the history of Chinese culture and the history of Northeast Asian civilization.

4. Create the Eight Banners System Nurhaci used Jurchen's original form of hunting organization to create the Eight Banners system.When the Jurchens hunted, a hunting team was formed, and there was a leader for every ten people. The leader was called Niulu Ezhen (Niulu, meaning big arrow; Ezhen, meaning leader). Lu Erzhen became a first-level official, and Niu Lu became the most grassroots organization.Niulu was used as the unit of calculation for reclaiming land, enlisting men to wear armor, and accepting taxes for service. On this basis, Nurhachi reorganized, expanded and finalized, and established the Eight Banners system.Regulations: Every 300 people set up one Niulu forehead, five Niulu set up a Jiala forehead, and five Jiala foreheads set up a Gushan forehead.Gushan is the largest unit of Manchurian household registration and military establishment. Each Gushan has a flag of a specific color, so the Chinese translation of Gushan is "flag".The original four flags were yellow, white, red and blue, and four more flags were added later, with borders around the original flags.In this way, there are eight different flags in total, called "Eight Banners", that is, the Eight Banners of Manchuria.Later, the Mongolian Eight Banners and the Han Army Eight Banners were gradually added, collectively referred to as the Eight Banners, which are actually twenty-four banners.The Eight Banners system "unifies the army with the banners and the people with the banners". It plows and hunts in peacetime, and wears armor in battle in wartime. It uses the "Eight Banners" as a link to connect the politics, military, economy and family of the whole society into a well-organized and vigorous organization. A thriving social organism.It became a key for the Qing Dynasty to establish Yanjing, occupy the Central Plains, unify China, and stabilize the regime, and became a core social system of the Qing Dynasty.

5. Promote the formation of Manchu The unification of Jianzhou Jurchen, the unification of Jurchen ministries, the unification of Northeast China, the fusion of Manchus, the marriage of various ministries, the establishment of the Eight Banners, and the creation of Manchu script made the new Manchu community appear in the big family of the Chinese nation.With Jianzhou Jurchen as the core and Haixi Jurchen as the main body, the Manchus absorbed some Han people, Mongolians, Daur people, Xibe people, Koreans, etc. to form a new national community.In order to reflect the fact that this Manchu community was formed, Huang Taiji issued an imperial edict on October 13, the ninth year of Tiancong (1635), saying: "Our country is named Manchuria, and its lineage continues far away. It is passed down from generation to generation. From now on, all people Wait, stop calling the original name of Manchuria in our country, and don't call it falsely." From then on, the name of the Manchurian nationality officially appeared.The Manzhurenzhou ethnic group was originally a small tribe in the northeast corner, and then formed a national community, and today it has developed into a large ethnic group with tens of millions of people.The leader of Zhaoxing was Qing Taizu Nurhachi. 6. Establishment of the Houjin regime Those who create a great business must establish a foundation.If a leader of a frontier minority cannot create a regime, he cannot hope to establish a dynasty in China.In the forty-fourth year of Wanli (1616), Nurhachi took Hetuala as the center, referred to the Mongolian regime, especially the paradigm of the Han regime in the Central Plains, ascended the throne of Khan, and established Houjin. The foundation was laid for further development.His son Huang Taiji, in April of the tenth year of Tiancong (1636), changed his name to Yuan Chongde, and his country name was Daqing.From the first year of Tianming (1616) to the third year of Xuantong (1911), a total of 296 years have passed.Nurhachi "started the great cause and created the emperor's foundation", he was the founder and founder of the Qing Empire. 7. Rich military experience Nurha Chijunma career for 44 years, is an excellent military commander.The Eight Banners Army created and commanded by him was not only the most effective army in China in the first half of the 17th century, but also the most powerful cavalry in the world.Nurhachi led this army and successively won the Battle of Gule Mountain, the Battle of Wujieyan, the Battle of Hada, the Battle of Huifa, the Battle of Ula, the Battle of Fuqing, the Battle of Sarhu, the Battle of Yehe, Twelve victories in the Battle of Kaitie, the Battle of Shenliao, the Battle of Guangning and the Battle of Juehua Island. The battle of the island can be called a wonderful pen in the history of war.His achievements in army organization, army training, military command, and military art are all remarkable, especially for many military principles, such as concentrating forces, breaking down individually, besieging cities, coordinating inside and outside, cavalry galloping, and making quick decisions. , pay attention to reconnaissance, make timely decisions, lure the enemy deep into the enemy, set up an ambush according to danger, skillfully use suspicious soldiers, use tactics, etc., can be skillfully applied and brought into play. History said that he "used soldiers like a god", which enriched ancient Chinese military thought treasure house. 8. Formulate a petting policy Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, the nomads in the north have always been the northern border troubles of the Central Dynasty.For this reason, Qin Shihuang connected the Great Wall of the Six Kingdoms to form the Great Wall. Xu Da and Qi Jiguang of the Ming Dynasty also overhauled the Great Wall to consolidate the border defense, but neither of them could completely solve the border troubles.The capital of the Ming Dynasty was troubled by the Northern Cavalry twice, and Ming Yingzong even became a prisoner of the Oirat soldiers.After the rise of Nurhaci, he adopted a different approach to Mongolia than the Han emperors of the Central Plains and the Jurchen emperors of the Jin Dynasty.He used policies such as flag weaving, marriage, alliance, feudal rewards, hunting, relief, court encirclement, and emphasis on education to strengthen the connection and governance of the upper-class figures and tribesmen of Mongolia.In particular, their marriage is different from the marriage of princesses in the Han and Tang Dynasties, but they marry each other, and they truly become relatives of their children.This is a major innovation of the central regimes of all dynasties (except the Yuan Dynasty) in the governance of Mongolia.The problem of northern nomads in the social history of ancient China was not solved until the Qing Dynasty.Later, Kangxi said: "In the past, the Qin Dynasty used earth and stone construction to build the Great Wall. I favored Khalkha to make it guard against Shuofang, and the Great Wall was stronger." The Qing Dynasty's policy of easing the people and strengthening the borders of Mongolia started from the beginning. The winner is Nurhachi. 9. Promote social reform During his forty-four years of political career, Nurhaci continued to promote social reforms.In terms of regime mechanism, he gradually established a leadership group headed by Khan, with the five ministers and the eight major Baylors as the core, and controlled the military and civilians in the Houjin society through the three-level organization of Gushan, Jiala, and Niulu.Afterwards, he established the Eighth and Shubeiles to jointly discuss the state affairs system. The eight Beiles sat side by side to discuss the major affairs, adjudicate the case, and abolish the Khan, that is, implement the aristocratic republic.However, this system was not implemented after Nurhachi's death.In terms of economic mechanism, he successively ordered the implementation of the system of Niulu Tuntian, Jiding Granting Land and Shrinking Ding Zhuangzhuang to transform Niulu Tuntian into Eight Banners and slavery farms to feudal farmlands.As the soldiers and civilians of the Eight Banners moved to the Liaohe River Basin, Jurchen transformed from a herding and hunting economy to an farming economy.In terms of social culture, the transition from animal husbandry and hunting culture to farming culture has been preliminarily realized. 10. Decision to move the capital to Shenyang In 1625, Nurhachi decided to move the capital to Shenyang.But it was opposed by Baylor's ministers.The reason is: Recently, Liaoyang, Tokyo is being built, the palace has been built, and the residences of the common people have not yet been completed.In this regard, Nurhaci said: "Shenyang is a place of great shape. When conquering the Ming Dynasty in the west, cross the Liaohe River from Duerbi, the road is straight and close; if you conquer Mongolia in the north, you can reach it in two or three days; if you conquer Korea in the south, you can enter by Qinghe Road; The upper streams of the Hun River and the Suke Suhu River are cut down downstream, and they are not suitable for building palaces and burning firewood. Sometimes when they go out to hunt, there are many animals on the mountains, and the aquatic animals in the river can also be caught. I plan to The matter is ripe for you to stop thinking about it." It can be seen that Nurhachi made the major decision to move the capital to Shenyang by comprehensively considering factors such as history and geography, society and nature, politics and military, ethnicity and products, shape and transportation.Since then, Shenyang has become the capital for the first time.Nurhachi moved the capital to Shenyang, which promoted the economic development of the Liaohe region, and led to the economic and cultural development of the entire Northeast region, making the "Manchuria rich". After twelve major battles, Nurhaci first unified the Jurchen ministries, and then the entire Northeast, and became the Later Jin Great Khan. What is the secret of his success? A coach believes that about 156 factors are needed for an athlete to win the gold medal in the World Series. Of course, these factors have their own advantages and disadvantages.Then, the success of a great statesman and military strategist requires the harmony and unity of various factors.One of the prerequisites for Nurhachi's success is undoubtedly the tempering of his miserable life. The lack of kindness of his stepmother made him develop a self-reliant character; the trading in the horse market opened his eyes and made him many friends; He resolutely got rid of the mediocre life of ordinary people and embarked on the road of conquering the king.But the more critical factor is that he has realized the "Four Harmony" of the day, the right place, the harmony of people and himself. The first is the time.Sima Qian said: "Study the relationship between heaven and man, and understand the changes of the past and the present." Heaven can be understood as "God", "Heaven's Mandate", "Heaven's Way", "God's Will", "Heaven's Time" and so on. time".There are big days and small days.Wei Yuan said: "When the small sky is sharp and blunt, when the big sky is decisive." Mencius said: "There must be a king in five hundred years." Five hundred years is an approximate number, and there will be a king in three hundred years.At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the "time" of Chinese history entered a period of great turbulence and great change.In the world at that time, Russia had not yet crossed the Ural Mountains to the east; Portugal had not yet posed a threat to the Ming Dynasty when it arrived in Macau; Japan’s Toyotomi Hideyoshi failed to invade Korea; Khan is isolated; Hu Lun in the north is fighting with each other, and Baylor is sacked;In short, Nurhachi is in the great sky that happens once in three hundred years. At the same time, Nurhachi was also good at using the weather in the war.One of the reasons for the victory in the Saarhu War was due to the timing.At that time, the mountains in the Hetuala area were covered by heavy snow, and the rivers were frozen.Failed to encircle Hetuala as scheduled, Houjin was familiar with the terrain, so it was easy to set up an ambush and attack in separate directions.Nurhachi cleverly used the weather to concentrate his forces before the Ming army formed an encirclement, broke through one by one, and won the victory. Let's talk about the location.Geographical advantage mainly refers to topography, topography, and region.Hetuala is a treasure land surrounded by mountains and rivers, with a warm and humid climate and fertile land. It is two hundred miles away from Fushun to the west.Nurhachi has a deep strategic vision in establishing and expanding bases here.This base later developed into a vast territory stretching from the Sea of ​​Japan in the east, to Sakhalin Island in the northeast, across the Xing'an Mountains in the north, to Qinghai in the west, to Lake Baikal in the northwest, and to the Great Wall in the south.There are food, fur, ginseng, forests, and mineral deposits here, which can form an independent self-sufficient economic system, which is a great geographical advantage. Nurhachi is not only good at making use of such a large geographical advantage strategically, but also good at using a small geographical advantage tactically.Taking the battle of Shenyang and Liaoyang as an example, the Ming army originally relied on the two cities of Shenyang and Liaoyang, which occupied a favorable area. Nurhachi attacked the city on the plain, which did not occupy an advantageous area. , turned disadvantageous into favorable, and won. It is Renhe again.Human harmony mainly refers to the harmony of interpersonal relationships, uniting all forces that can be united, and turning negative factors into positive factors.On the political stage at that time, Jin Nurhachi was on one side, and Wanli, Taichang, and Emperor Tianqi of the Ming Dynasty were on the other side.The basic point of the Ming Dynasty emperor's policy towards the northern minorities was the word "divide": divide and make weak, and rule from space.Divide to be weak, unite to be strong.Nurhachi confronted each other and adopted the word "he".His policy of easing the people and securing the borders of Mongolia is a typical policy with the word "he".Here are two more examples: One is about Yehe's old daughter.Yehe's old daughter is the younger sister of Yehebel Buyangu, who may be more beautiful. In order to contact Jianzhou, she was promised to Nurhachi at the age of 13.But after the promise, she was not married, but later promised to Baylor of Hada, Baylor of Huifa, and Buzhantai of Ula. As a result, these three tribes were wiped out by Nurhachi.Buyangu betrothed his younger sister to Mangurdai, the son of Kalkadar Hanbeile in Mongolia. After Jianzhou got the news, the Baylors were very angry, thinking that this woman had been betrothed to Nurhachi for twenty years. It was a great shame to promise her to Mang Gurdai again, and he wanted to send troops to take her back.Nurhachi said, "It's okay to beat him for our common interests, but it's not good to beat him because of a woman. I'm not that angry when this woman is betrothed to me. Why are you so angry?" As a result, the thirty-three-year-old woman Yehe married Manguldai of Mongolia.This incident reflects Nurhachi's art of taking the overall situation as the most important thing, putting peace as the most important thing, and properly handling various interpersonal relationships. There is another thing, Nurhachi led the army to attack Onkeluo City, and was shot by the opponent's Ergoni with an arrow, and the blood flowed to the feet.Nurhachi continued to fight, when another man named Loko shot an arrow into Nurhachi's neck.The arrow had a reverse hook, and Nurhachi pulled the arrow down, bleeding profusely immediately.He went into shock after falling off his horse while pulling the reins.Later, the city of Onkolo was captured, and Ergoni and Loko were both captured.The subordinates wanted to punish them with random arrows piercing their chests, which was the cruelest punishment at that time.But Nurhachi said: "The two armies are facing each other. They shot me for their masters. Such a warrior is too rare." Everyone can be forgiven, and everyone can be awarded an official. Then his own people, as long as they make achievements, they can be even more officials, and they can even be promoted!Nurhachi is so good at mediating interpersonal relationships, making everyone work together to bravely kill the enemy on the battlefield. The last is Jihe.Although there is favorable timing, favorable location, and harmonious people, if there is no harmony, the business will not be successful.Jihe is mainly open-minded, open-minded, and able to control oneself.This is the basic quality that a person must possess in order to achieve success in his career. In the 21st year of Wanli (1593), Yehe gathered 30,000 allied forces from nine divisions including Hada, Wula, and Huifa, and came to Gule Mountain in Jianzhou in three routes.After crossing the Hun River, the army set up a stove to cook at night. The stove fire spread all over the fields like stars in the sky, and when the explorers returned, their faces changed.At that time, Nurhachi had less than 10,000 soldiers, and the officers and soldiers of Jianzhou were panic-stricken. It was already night when Nurhachi received the report, but he fell asleep snoring as if nothing had happened. You are under pressure, why are you still sleeping? Are you confused, or are you afraid?" Nurhachi said: "If I am confused and scared, can I sleep? At first I didn't know when the nine coalition forces would come, and I kept thinking about it. Now that I know they have come, I feel at ease. " After finishing speaking, Nurhachi fell asleep again.In the morning of the next day, he led all Baylor and others to sacrifice to the hall first, and then led the army to set off, winning the victory in the battle of Gule Mountain in one fell swoop. Nurhachi is so good at grasping the right time, the right place, the harmony of people, and the harmony of himself, so as to realize the greatest value of life.However, just when he was at the peak of his career, fate made him accidentally meet Yuan Chonghuan, a scholar of the Ming Dynasty, so that his comedy life had to end in a tragic atmosphere. Nurhachi has experienced many major battles in his life, and he has always been invincible and invincible.In the second year of Mingqi, which is the seventh year of destiny (1622), Nurhachi defeated Xiong Tingbi, the governor of Liaodong in the Ming Dynasty, and Wang Huazhen, the governor of Liaodong, and captured Guangning (now Beining, Liaoning), an important town in western Liaoning in the Ming Dynasty.Xiong Tingbi was beheaded because of the defeat and lost ground, and Wang Huazhen was also lost because of the defeat and abandonment of the city.Later, the Ming court sent Sun Chengzong, a teacher of Emperor Tianqi and a scholar, as the Liaodong economic strategist. Sun Chengzong went out to take office, inspected the border, reorganized the troops, stockpiled grain and grass, and actively defended.He appointed Yuan Chonghuan to build Ningyuan City and strengthened his combat readiness for four full years without major wars.However, since Sun Chengzong was the leader of the Donglin Party, he was at odds with the Eunuch Party headed by the eunuch Wei Zhongxian. Although he was an emperor teacher and a scholar, he was also excluded in the party struggle. The omission is Gao Di, a member of the eunuch party. After Gaodi took office, he adopted a passive defense strategy and ordered all troops outside Shanhaiguan to withdraw to the pass.But Yuan Chonghuan, who was Ning Yuandao, refused to obey.Ningyuan (now Xingcheng, Liaoning) was the most important military fortress of the Ming army after the fall of Guangning in western Liaoning. It was Ningyuan City that the Jin army would bear the brunt of attacking the Ming Dynasty.Yuan Chonghuan led more than ten thousand soldiers and civilians to guard the lonely city of Ningyuan alone.He placed the Western cannons newly introduced from overseas on the city; moved the merchants, food and grass outside the city into the city, burned the houses outside the city, fortified the walls and cleared the fields; The officers and soldiers bowed down, pricked their blood and swore an oath to inspire loyalty. The officers and soldiers were determined to live and die with Yuan Chonghuan and share adversity.Yuan Chonghuan arranged everything properly and waited for the enemy to attack. In the first month of the 11th year of Mandate of Heaven (1626) in the sixth year of Tomorrow, the 68-year-old Nurhachi personally led a 60,000-eight banner army, claiming to be a 200,000-strong army, crossed the Liao River, and rushed towards the isolated city of Ningyuan as if entering a land without people. come.At this time, Yuan Chonghuan, the defender of the city, was forty-two years old and was born as a Jinshi. He had never commanded or fought a war. On the 23rd, Nurhachi ordered to set up camp five miles away from Ningyuan City, across the road between the mountains and the sea.Nurhachi first saluted and then returned to the army, and sent back the captured Han people with a letter of persuasion to Yuan Chonghuan, saying: "If you offer the city to surrender, high-ranking officials will reward you generously. If you refuse to surrender, the city will be destroyed and you will die." Yuan Chonghuan replied: "Justice should be defended to the death, and there is no reason!" On the 24th, Nurhachi sent troops to attack the city vigorously. On the battlements, arrows shot like torrential rain; on the hanging cards, arrowheads were as dense as hedgehog skin.After the Jin soldiers could not attack the city, Nurhachi ordered the soldiers to risk their lives to dig holes in the city.Yuan Chonghuan quickly ordered the use of the cannons that had been prepared long ago, and fired violently at the Houjin army. At the sound of the cannons, groups of flames soared into the sky, and the Houjin soldiers were blown to pieces. fell, and those left behind were also forced to retreat. Nurhachi knew nothing about this newly introduced western red cannon, nor did he know its origin, characteristics, performance and power.The next day, he personally supervised the battle and concentrated a large force to continue to attack the city.Yuan Chonghuan boarded the watchtower high on the city wall, and calmly monitored and observed the actions of the Hou Jin army.It was not until the Houjin Army rushed to the place approaching the city wall that he ordered the gunners to aim at the places where the enemy was densely populated. These shellings caused heavy casualties to the Houjin Army soldiers. When Yuan Chonghuan heard the news of the enemy's retreat, he led his troops to chase after the victory. They chased for thirty miles and killed many Houjin troops before returning to the city victorious. Nurhachi galloped for 44 years in his life, and almost never lost a battle. He can be described as a victorious commander in history.However, after he occupied Guangning, he was old and physically weak, lived in seclusion and neglected to govern.He did not carefully study Yuan Chonghuan, the guard of Ningyuan, and did not find out the truth about the artillery of Ningyuan's garrison. He only saw factors such as the Ming Dynasty's economic strategy and change of people, and did not fully analyze himself, so he rashly attacked.As a result, he used spears to make cannons, short to attack long, labor to attack leisure, and static to move, and swallowed the bitter fruit that the arrogant teacher must be defeated.The defeat of Ningyuan was the most significant setback that Nurhachi had encountered since he raised his army.Since then, he was depressed and fell into depression.On August 11, died of grief and indignation in Kuijibao, East Sishili, Shenyang. "Zuo Zhuan" said: "You begin with this, and you must end with this." Nurhachi started his career as a soldier, and then died after defeating Ningyuan. Is this an accident in history, or is it an inevitability in history? The flaws do not conceal the virtues.Although Qing Taizu Nurhachi made a mistake and made some mistakes in his later years, he is still an outstanding historical figure.He specified the needs of ministries and social reforms caused by the development of Jurchen social productive forces, concentrated the Jurchens' dissatisfaction with the oppression of the Ming Dynasty's autocratic rulers, and assumed the responsibility of satisfying the initiators of these social needs.In the process of transforming the various social needs and desires mentioned above into reality, he was able to form a strong and stable leadership group with fortitude and composure, open-mindedness and wit, knowing people well and assigning rewards and punishments clearly.During the campaign, they did not make enemies from all sides, let alone attack from all sides, but feigned obedience to the Ming Dynasty, made a good relationship with North Korea, won over Mongolia, and used troops in Haixi.For the Jurchen ministries in Haixi, they also adopted the strategy of making long-distance and short-term attacks, uniting the big to destroy the small, weak first and then strong, and each annexation strategy.Through the establishment of the Eight Banners and the creation of the Manchu language, he organized, coordinated, gathered, and stimulated the social vitality of the Jurchen with the two ties of material and spiritual ties, realized the tasks of unification and social reform entrusted to the Jurchen ministries by history, and laid the foundation for the establishment of the Qing Empire. cornerstone.