Chapter 3 Chapter Two: Huang Taiji, the Completer of the Foundation Laying Project of the Qing Dynasty

Huang Taiji, the eighth son of Nurhachi, ascended to the Khan throne after Nurhachi's death. He was another outstanding politician and military strategist after Nurhachi in the Qing Dynasty. Huang Taiji lived in such an era, when there were four dazzling stars on the land of China: one was Emperor Taizong of the Qing Dynasty Huang Taiji, one was Emperor Chongzhen of Ming Dynasty Zhu Youjian, one was Li Zicheng, leader of the peasant uprising, and the other was Lindan Khan of the Chahar tribe of Mongolia.These four people, each representing the interests of their own ethnic groups or social groups, participated in that unprecedentedly tragic and epic political contest.The final outcome is: Lin Dan Khan was defeated and died in Dacaotan, Qinghai, at the age of forty-three; Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself on Meishan, at the age of thirty-four; Forty years old.The foundations of Lin Danhan, Emperor Chongzhen, and Li Zicheng finally belonged to Huang Taiji and his descendants.

It is no accident that Huang Taiji became the biggest winner in this unprecedented political competition. Whether it is martial arts or martial arts, he is obviously superior to his opponent. When Huang Taiji was born, his father, Nurhaci, was thirty-four years old, and his biological mother, Nalashi, was eighteen.His biological mother was the beloved daughter of Yehebu Belyanjanu, whose name was Menggu, called Menggu Gege.Menggu Gege married Nurhachi at the age of fourteen, died at the age of twenty-nine, and Huang Taiji lost his mother's love at the age of twelve. Huang Taiji's mother died of depression to a large extent.From her marriage to her illness and death, Jianzhou and Ye Hebu have been hostile.In the Battle of Gule Mountain, Meng Gu's cousin, Buzaibeile, died unexpectedly because his horse tripped over a wooden pier during the fight.Nurhaci ordered Buzhai's body to be split into two pieces and half of it returned.From then on, Jianzhou and Ye He forged a sworn feud.When Meng Gu was critically ill, he asked to see his biological mother. Nurhachi sent someone to Yehe to meet him, but Yehebeile refused, and Meng Gu regretted Jiuquan.

Huang Taiji lost his mother when he was young, and he has no brothers and sisters of the same mother. It can be said that he is lonely.But his family is a big family.He has fifteen half-brothers, as many as one hundred forty-five brothers and nephews, and his seven half-brothers were born to five Fujins, all of whom were from Jianzhou. Only his biological mother was from the Ye He family, and Ye He had a deep blood feud with Jianzhou. This kind of family environment had a great impact on Huang Taiji's growth in his youth. First of all, Huang Taiji's grandfather is a famous leader of the Jurchen tribe, and his biological mother, Menggu Gege, is a smart and smart girl. Influenced by heredity, Huang Taiji is extremely smart.The grandfathers of the other brothers, except for Dorgon's grandfather, were all unknown. This background gave Huang Taiji a boost in political confidence.

Secondly, the loss of his mother when he was young made him encounter many hardships and hardships in his life, which tempered his independent character and tenacious will. Again, without the love of his mother, no brothers and sisters from the same mother, and being extremely lonely, he developed a character of being cautious and reticent, and exercised his ability to communicate and coordinate. In the end, because of his uncle's feud with Jianzhou, Huang Taiji had a long-term revenge for his grievances, which put him at a disadvantage in the family and prompted him to be scheming. All of these laid a deep foundation for Huang Taiji's later grand plans and great careers.

Like many other nomadic peoples, the ancestors of the Manchu Jurchen did not implement the system of succession to the Khan throne.There was no system at that time as to who would inherit the throne after Nurhachi.In order to consolidate his position during his lifetime, Nurhachi first killed his younger brother Shuerhaqi, and then killed his eldest son Chu Ying.In his later years, Nurhaci did not designate a successor, but announced the "Khan's Edict": the implementation of the system of eight and Shuobeile jointly electing a new Khan and deposing the Great Khan. As a result, after Nurhachi's death, his bones were not cold, and the battle for the position of Khan was already very fierce.The situation at that time was: Among the Baylors, the four major Baylors had the greatest power and the highest status.The four major belors are: the big belor Daishan, the second beile Amin, the third beile Mangurtai, and the fourth beile Huang Taiji.Among the four great Baylors, Huang Taiji ranks fourth in terms of seat and age. In addition, Dorgon and Duoduo are also very powerful.However, Erbeile Amin was Huang Taiji's cousin, and his father Shuerhaqi was convicted and imprisoned to death.Amin himself committed a big mistake, so naturally he has no qualifications or conditions to fight for the right to inherit the Khan throne. Sanbeile Mang Gurtai is the fifth brother of Huang Taiji, brave but reckless, and weak in power.At the same time, his biological mother, the Fucha family, was convicted of negligence, and Mang Gurtai killed her mother by herself, which gave him a bad reputation.Among the four, only Dabeile Daishan is qualified, conditional and likely to inherit the Khan throne.Daishan has a gentle personality, won the hearts of the people, and has many military achievements and great power.Nurhaci also predicted that he would inherit the Khan throne in the future, saying: "After a hundred years, my youngest son and Da Fujin will be adopted by the elder brother." The elder brother is Daishan.

Therefore, although Huang Taiji had great ambitions, hidden secrets, and the talent of an emperor, he was in a disadvantageous position in all aspects when he competed with his brother Shan Shan for the succession of the Khan throne, so he had to set up secret agencies. According to legend, Nurhachi's little Fujin Deyinze once reported to Nurhachi that Dorgon and Duoduo's biological mother, Dafujin Ulanara Abahai, gave delicacies to Dabeile twice, and Dabeile accepted and ate them, and gave them to Dabeile again. Four Baylor, but Si Baylor accepted it and didn't eat it. Da Fujin often sent people to Da Baylor's house and went out of the palace late at night.After hearing this, Nurhachi sent someone to investigate the truth.He didn't want to expose his family ugliness, so he punished Da Fujin with an excuse.Da Fujin was "injured" a little in this incident, but did not "die", and soon he was favored by Nurhachi again.But after this incident was exposed among the Manchu nobles, Dabeile Daishan's prestige plummeted, and he was no longer able to compete for the Khan position.

Some people say that Little Fujin De Yinze's denunciation was instigated by Huang Taiji. Huang Taiji took advantage of Daoming's "privacy" between Dafujin and Dabeile to kill two birds with one stone. The position of Khan also weakened the power of Dafujin's son Dorgon and the Duoduo brothers to compete for the position of Khan.This is not enough. In order to completely eliminate the power of the Dorgon brothers to compete for the Khan throne, after Nurhaci died, Huang Taiji told several Baylors: The first Khan had a last word, let Da Fujin be buried.Under the intimidation of Huang Taiji and the other four Baylors, Da Fujin hanged himself to death.After the death of Dafujin Abahai, Dorgon and Duoduo lost their support when they were young, and they no longer had the strength to compete with Huang Taiji for the throne.

Daishan lost power, Dorgon lost his mother, and Huang Taiji was in a favorable position in the battle for power.The election of the new Khan was discussed outside the temple.Dabeile Daishan's son, Beile Yuetuo Sahalin, went to the residence of his father Daishan and said: "Sibeile (Huang Taiji) is the world's most talented person, and he deeply agrees with the sacred heart of the first emperor. Everyone is convinced, and he should immediately succeed to the throne." Dai Shan said: "This is also my long-cherished wish. Whoever disagrees with what you say is the agreement between heaven and man."

In this way, the father and son agreed.The next day, the kings, Baylor, and Beizi gathered in the court hall.Daishan told Erbeile Amin, Sanbeile Manggurtai and Zhubeile of their opinions, and a consensus was reached without disputes.After a long period of careful planning, Huang Taiji finally ascended to the throne at the age of thirty-five. When Huang Taiji first ascended the Khan throne, the four major Baylors sat side by side to deal with major military and political affairs, and the four took turns.Later, Huang Taiji got rid of Erbeile Amin, Sanbeile Manggurtai, and Dabeile Daishan, and sat alone in the south, stabilizing his power.

In the era of Huang Taiji, someone summed up his Wenzhiwugong, which mainly includes eight items. 1. Abolish the bad government and adjust the Manchu and Han Nurhaci implemented some wrong policies in his later years, especially after entering the Liaohe Plain.For example, a large number of immigrants were relocated, villages were organized according to Ding, grain was checked, fields were forcibly occupied, Manchu and Han lived together, and all living beings were killed. They were resisted by the Han people in Liaodong, and ethnic conflicts were very sharp.Some Han Chinese poisoned drinking water and salt, some poisoned pigs for sale, and some blocked roads and killed Manchurians traveling alone. Organized armed riots followed one after another.

After Huang Taiji succeeded to the throne, he made timely adjustments to Nurhachi's mistakes. For the Han people, he put forward the policy of "the key to governing the country is not to put the people at ease first", emphasizing that the relationship between Manchu, Mongolian and Han people is like the five flavors, "the adjustment is the most expensive."The new policy for the Han people he formulated is: the strong Han people, separate the villages and live separately, the Han people descend to the people, and organize them into private households, treat the fugitives kindly, and relax the punishment.So all the Han people were happy, and there were no more escapees. Regarding Han officials, Nurhachi's original policy was that Han officials were subordinate to the ministers of Manchuria. They could not ride their own horses, use their own livestock, or plow their own fields.Huang Taiji abolished these policies and gave preferential treatment to Han officials as an important policy to win over the upper class of the Han nationality.He gave the surrendered Han officials fields, distributed horses, rewarded them, and appointed officials. Huang Taiji reused Han officials, and Fan Wencheng is a famous example.Whenever Huang Taiji discusses matters, he always asks: "Does Fan Zhangjing know?" When encountering inappropriate things, he always says: "Why don't you discuss with Fan Zhangjing?" Approved. Once, Fan Wencheng was eating in the palace, looking at the table full of delicacies, he thought of his old father and stopped eating with his chopsticks.Huang Taiji understood what he was thinking, and immediately sent someone to deliver the banquet to Fan Wencheng's home. Later, Fan Wencheng became a bachelor of the Academy of Internal Secretaries, which was the beginning of the appointment of a Han Chinese in the Qing Dynasty. Regarding the intellectuals of the Han nationality, Huang Taiji believed: "Scholars are the best for the people, and the knowledge of the scholars is the understanding of the people." At that time, the Ming Dynasty had talents but could not use them, so it went into decline.Huang Taiji felt that whoever possesses more outstanding talents and exerts their ingenuity will be able to defeat the opponent. Nurhachi massacred too many intellectuals of the Ming Dynasty, and "executed all the so-called enlightened people". Among them, about 300 people survived, and they all became slaves under the Eight Banners coat.Huang Taiji ordered the examination of these intellectuals who were enslaved, and the masters of each family must not obstruct it.This was the beginning of the Houjin Imperial Examination, and there were more than 200 successful candidates.They were all released from slavery, freed, and rewarded.Later, Huang Taiji held another exam and selected 228 people, from which Juren was selected for reuse.This measure had a great response, and made Huang Taiji "benevolent voice spread far and wide". 2. The family name is Manchuria, and the building name is Qing Dynasty Huang Taiji did two things that will affect the ages and last forever in the annals of history.One is to change the ethnic name Jurchen to Manchuria.On October 13th, the ninth year of Tiancong (1635), Huang Taiji issued an order to change the name of the tribe to Manchuria. Since then, the name Manchuria ("Manchu" for short) has officially appeared in the history books of China and the world. The second is to change the name of the country from Dajin to Daqing.On April 11th, the tenth year of Tiancong (1636), Huang Taiji held a ceremony for the throne of the emperor in the Dazheng Hall of the Shenyang Imperial Palace. He changed the country name "Dajin" to "Daqing" and the year name "Tiancong" to "Chong Germany".In this way, Huang Taiji has two reign titles, one is Tiancong and the other is Chongde, so the phenomenon of twelve emperors and thirteen dynasties appeared in the Qing Dynasty. Why did Huang Taiji change the name of the country to "Great Qing"?There is a legend: When Nurhachi fled in his early years, he rode a big green horse, hurried on the road, and the horse was exhausted to death.Nurhachi said sadly: "Daqing, Daqing, in the future I will conquer the world, and the name of my country will be Daqing." Of course, this is just a legend, so there is no need to delve into it.Huang Taiji changed the title of the country to the emperor, intending to show that he was not only the Great Khan of Manchuria, but also the Great Khan of the Mongols, Han people, and everyone else, showing his ambition to unify the world. 3. Improve the autocratic monarchy system With the development of post-Jin society, Huang Taiji reformed and perfected the regime mechanism.One is to get rid of Erbeile Amin and Sanbeile Mangguertai, and coerce Dabeile Daishan, abolish the system of Great Khan sitting side by side with the three beiles, and change it to Huang Taiji "sit alone in the south", strengthening the monarchy; It consolidated and improved the Eight Banners system, and gradually established the Eight Banners Han Army to manage the military, political, and civilian affairs of the Han Army and their families, and expanded the Eight Banners Mongolia to strengthen the control over Mongolia; , and later changed to Lifanyuan, which specialized in dealing with ethnic affairs; fourth, imitating the system of the Ming Dynasty, the three inner courts, six ministries, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate were established, forming the so-called "three courts, six ministries and two yamen" government structure, which was basically perfected. The organizational system of the monarchy. 4. Build red cannons and create artillery After three major defeats in the Battle of Ningyuan, the Battle of Ningjin and the Battle of Beijing, Huang Taiji finally realized that the important reason for his failure was that he did not have the latest weapon, the red cannon.In the first month of the fifth year of Tiancong (1631), the first batch of red-clothed cannons imitated by Hou Jin was produced in Shenyang, named "Tian Bless Cheering General". From then on, Manchuria finally had its own red-clothed cannon, which was an epoch-making event in the history of Eight Banners weapons and a milestone in the history of Eight Banners military.Therefore, Huang Taiji set up a new battalion "Heavy Army" in the Eight Banners Army, which is a new type of heavy artillery equipped with artillery and other firearms.In this way, the Qing army also possessed the red cannons of the Ming army, but the Ming army did not have the powerful cavalry of the Qing army. Huang Taiji was even more powerful in the martial arts of opening up the territory. 5. Send troops to the east and conquer North Korea twice In the first month of the sixth year of Tiancong (1632), Huang Taiji ordered Erbeile Amin and others to lead the army to conquer North Korea.Amin led the army to occupy Pyongyang, and then the two sides killed white horses and black cattle on Ganghwa Island, burned incense, and established a "brotherly alliance". In the first year of Chongde (1636), when Huang Taiji proclaimed himself emperor, the Korean envoys refused to bow down, and the two sides tore up, but still did not yield.So Huang Taiji used this as an excuse to use troops against North Korea for the second time in December. He personally led the Qing army and pointed directly at Seoul, the capital of North Korea.King Li Bao (zong) of North Korea fled to Nanhan Mountain City, and Huang Taiji also led his army to camp in Nanhan Mountain City.In the first month of the second year, Li Bao asked to surrender, and Huang Taiji held a surrender ceremony at Sandiandu on the east bank of the Han River, establishing the "Alliance of Monarchs and Ministers" between the Qing Dynasty and North Korea. Huang Taiji sent troops to North Korea twice, achieving the goal of killing three birds with one stone: one was to change North Korea’s position of being attached to the Ming Dynasty and not the Qing Dynasty; the other was to obtain supplies from North Korea; worries. 6. Use troops to the north to appease Sauron Huang Taiji used troops to the north, and the front of the soldiers pointed directly at the upper, middle and lower reaches of Heilongjiang.His strategy is: "Deter them with soldiers, and embrace them with virtue." Baldaqi, the head of Daur, lived in Duoketun, Jingqili River (now Jieya River).Huang Taiji married his clan daughter to Baldazi, so he became Huang Taiji's Efu (nephew and son-in-law).Soon, many leaders of Sauron's tribe came to Shenyang to pay tribute one after another, expressing their submission. During the reign of Chongde, Huang Taiji sent troops to Sauron twice to attack Bomubogor.The two sides encountered each other in Yaksa (now Albazin, Russia) and Humar (now Huma) in the upper reaches of Heilongjiang. After a fierce battle, the Qing army won, but suffered heavy losses.Bomu Bogor led the rest of his troops to flee north, and Huang Taiji adopted the strategy of "strike the north with a voice" to ambush the Mongolian cavalry in advance on his escape route, and finally captured Bomu Bogor. Huang Taiji conquered and used both conquests and conquests, with Fu as the main one, and finally made the vast area east of Lake Baikal, south of the Outer Xing'an Mountains, and from the Ussuri River to the Sea of ​​Okhotsk belong to the Qing Dynasty. 7. Use troops to the west and conquer Mongolia three times During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, my country’s Mongolia was divided into three parts: Monan Mongolia is Inner Mongolia, Mobei Mongolia is Outer Mongolia, and Moxi Mongolia is Erut Mongolia. Monan Mongolia is located between the Ming Dynasty and the Later Jin Dynasty, and has an alliance with the Ming Dynasty to jointly resist the Later Jin Dynasty.Lindan Khan of the Chahar tribe of Monan Mongolia is a descendant of Genghis Khan, the ancestor of the Yuan Dynasty.He is powerful and claims to be the Great Khan of all Mongolia.The Ming court gave Lin Dan Khan a lot of "year-old rewards" every year to make him fight against Houjin.At the time of Nurhachi, most of the tribes in the east of Monan Mongolia returned to Houjin, but the Chahar tribe became a strong fortress for the tribes of Monan Mongolia against Nurhachi and his son. After Huang Taiji ascended the throne, he sent troops to the west three times, and the main target was Lin Danhan of the Chahar tribe.In the second year of Tiancong (1628), Huang Taiji took advantage of the contradictions among the tribes in Monan Mongolia and formed an alliance with Karaqin and other tribes who opposed Lindan Khan. There were more than a thousand people, and they took advantage of the victory to pursue and retreat to Xing'an Mountains.Four years later, Huang Taiji once again led an army to expedition to Lin Danhan, and made a long-distance raid to Guihua City (now Hohhot). Lin Danhan heard the news and fled starry night.Huang Taiji then returned to the army. On the way, he obtained tens of thousands of people outside the Ming Dynasty and tens of thousands of livestock. Later, Chahar partly collapsed, and Lin Danhan fled to Dacaotan in Qinghai, where he died of pox. In the ninth year of Tiancong (1635), Huang Taiji ordered Dorgon and other troops to conquer the Chahar tribe for the third time. Lin Danhan's successor and his son Ezhe led thousands of households to surrender and presented the jade seal of Shangguo.It is said that this jade seal was passed down from the Han Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty. Emperor Yuan Shun carried it with him when he fled north. After his death, the jade seal was lost. Keep digging.The shepherd was curious and dug the ground to get the seal.Later, the seal came into the hands of Lin Danhan, and Huang Taiji was overjoyed when he got the jade seal that "ruled the auspiciousness for thousands of years", feeling that his rule had finally been recognized by heaven. In this way, Chahar, who had been an enemy for more than 20 years, surrendered, and the vast Monan Mongolia belonged to the Qing Dynasty. 8. Use troops to the south and enter the Central Plains five times Huang Taiji used troops to the Ming Dynasty, entered the fortress five times on a large scale, attacked Beijing, plundered Zhongzhou, and fell to Jinan, which reflects his courage, courage, and strategy.Among them, Yuan Chonghuan's use of countermeasures is the most praised by later generations. In the first month of the eleventh year of Mandate of Heaven (1626), Nurhachi suffered a disastrous defeat in the Battle of Ningyuan, and soon died of depression.Huang Taiji came to the battlefield in person, witnessed the most tragic defeat in the history of the Eight Banners War, and vowed to avenge his father Khan, so he launched the Battle of Ningjin.In May of the first year of Tiancong (1627), Huang Taiji was defeated again in Ningyuan and Jinzhou.This made him realize that Yuan Chonghuan was the "stumbling block" for him to enter the Central Plains via Shanhaiguan.Soon, Huang Taiji thought of a plan: detour through Shanhaiguan, attack Beijing, mobilize Yuan Chonghuan's "King of Qin", implement "counter-indirect strategy", and get rid of Yuan Chonghuan. In October of the third year of Tiancong (1629), Huang Taiji personally led an army to avoid Shanhaiguan and attack Beijing by detouring through Inner Mongolia.At this time, Yuan Chonghuan was reappointed by Emperor Chongzhen as Minister of the Ministry of War and Supervisor of Jiliao.When Yuan Chonghuan was inspecting Shanhaiguan, he received the military report of Huang Taiji's attack on the capital, and hurriedly mobilized 9,000 cavalry to rescue and defend Beijing day and night. Yuan Chonghuan garrisoned troops outside Guangqumen in Beijing. He had no food for his soldiers and no grass for his horses. He fought during the day and slept in the open at night.Yuan Chonghuan took the lead and won two consecutive victories in Guangqumen and Zuoanmen, and Beijing turned the corner.At this time, Huang Taiji used Zhongzhou Yu's method of using Jiang Gan's robber Cao Cao's countermeasures to design and frame Yuan Chonghuan. The next day, Huang Taiji warned the troops not to attack, and summoned Bao Chengxian and his deputy Gao Hongzhong to give them a secret plan.In the Ming Dynasty, there was a eunuch Yang, who was captured by the Hou Jin army and was locked in the Jin camp. So the eunuch Yang heard two Jin soldiers guarding him talking in a low voice outside.A Jin soldier said: "It is entirely the emperor's idea to withdraw troops today." Another asked: "How do you know that?" The former one went on to say: "Just now I saw the emperor riding a horse and rushing towards the Ming camp. There were also two people walking towards the emperor in the Ming camp. When they saw the emperor, they talked to the emperor for a long time before leaving. Yuan Jinglue and the emperor had a secret agreement. , seeing that the big event is about to succeed..." The eunuch Yang pretended to be sleeping next to him and eavesdropped.The next day, Hou Jinbing accidentally let Yang escape again. Yang returned to Emperor Chongzhen and told Chongzhen about it. Chongzhen was very suspicious. After hearing the eunuch Yang's report, Believed to be true, he was very furious, and immediately ordered Yuan Chonghuan to enter the palace.When Yuan Chonghuan arrived in the palace, Emperor Chongzhen immediately ordered Jin Yiwei to tie up Yuan Chonghuan and put him on death row. On August 16 of the following year, Yuan Chonghuan, a famous general of his generation, was executed by Ling Chi in Xishi, Beijing.According to the "Ming Ji Beilue" records: When Yuan Chonghuan was tortured, people gritted their teeth, bought the meat cut from Yuan Chonghuan's body, drank it, took a sip, and cursed.This record may not be reliable, but it shows that the whole city of Beijing at that time fell into Huang Taiji's "counter-indirect strategy" and mistakenly believed that Yuan Chonghuan was "collaborating with the enemy".The matter did not come to light until the Qing Dynasty compiled the "History of the Ming Dynasty", and saw the records at that time in the Manchu archives.More than a hundred years later, Yuan Chonghuan's unjust case was vindicated by Emperor Qianlong. Huang Taiji used countermeasures to make Emperor Chongzhen "self-destruct the Great Wall". "History of the Ming Dynasty Yuan Chonghuan Biography" said: "Since Chonghuan died, there will be no one around, and the death of the Ming Dynasty will be decided." From here, it is not difficult for us to see Huang Taiji's deep scheming, high strategy, and hot methods, which are really amazing! Such a generation of heroes should have been able to create greater achievements, but Huang Taiji passed away suddenly at the age of fifty-two (1643). On the day of his death, he was still holding government affairs activities.Maybe it was not a holiday, so that he missed the chance to sit on the throne of the Forbidden City and realize his dream of Dingding Yanjing, which he had fought for all his life. Aixinjueluo Huang Taiji lost his mother at the age of twelve, led troops to fight at the age of twenty, ascended the throne at the age of thirty-five, reigned for seventeen years, and died at the age of fifty-two. He was another outstanding politician in the Qing Dynasty after Nurhachi and military strategists.The death of Huang Taiji marked the end of a dynasty of the Qing Dynasty, and also marked the end of the foundation-laying project of the Qing Dynasty.The 60-year struggle between Nurhachi and Huang Taiji laid the foundation for the entry of the Qing army and the unification of the Central Plains.