The Red Chamber begins with a bastard

Chapter 632 Peace Negotiation
Shenyang seemed to be colder than Jinzhou. Although there were three giant stoves burning in the palace and the throne was covered with thick tiger skins, Nurhaci still felt very cold, the kind of cold that penetrated into his heart and lungs. So he curled up in his fur coat, looking listless, like an old lion king who no longer had his former majesty.

The eight beiles headed by Daishan... no, it would be more accurate to say the seven beiles, because the third beile Manggurtai was captured in the battle of Ningyuan and is now Jia Huan's prisoner, so he is not present at the moment.

The seven beiles headed by Daishan were all looking at the listless Nurhaci on the throne with worry. They all knew that although their father Khan was nearly seventy years old, he had always been in very strong health and was not afraid of the severe cold at all. It was obvious that he was like this because of internal injuries. It was still unknown whether he could survive this winter!

The hall was very quiet, except for the sound of the wind outside and the slight crackling of the burning charcoal in the stove. After an unknown amount of time, Nurhaci, sitting on the Khan's throne, opened his eyes as if awakened from a dream and asked, "Are all here?"

Daishan, the Great Beile, replied: "My father, the Beiles are all here. What do you want me to do?"

Nurhaci looked around with his cloudy eyes and asked with some displeasure: "Why can't I see Manggurtai?"

Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. It seemed that their father Khan was really sick and confused. The fourth prince Huang Taiji carefully reminded him, "Did your father Khan forget? The fifth prince was captured by the Jin army in the battle of Ningyuan."

Nurhaci was stunned for a moment, then he remembered what happened before, a feeling of grief and indignation suddenly surged in his heart, he thought that he had been on the battlefield for decades, invincible, but he did not expect that he had suffered such a great defeat at the hands of a ten-year-old boy, lost his troops and territory, and even his son was captured by the enemy!

After a moment of silence, Nurhaci calmed down and asked, "What is the current movement of the Jin army?"

Dorgon replied: "My Lord, the Jin army is stepping up the construction of cities and fortresses in recent days, and has stationed heavy troops along the Liao River. They may cross the river and attack at any time."

Nurhaci seemed to be sober at this moment, and shook his head firmly and said: "Jia Huan has just captured the cities in western Liaoning and has not yet gained a firm foothold. In addition, winter is approaching, so the possibility of attacking is not high."

Amin hurriedly said, "In that case, why didn't the Khan send troops to counterattack immediately while Jia Huan is still unstable? If the Khan had listened to me last time, he would have taken Ningyuan City early on, and Jia Huan would not have been able to become so powerful!"

Huang Taiji shook his head and smiled bitterly, "This is a different time. In the Ningyuan Campaign, we lost five or six out of ten of our elite troops. What can we use to counterattack? Don't forget that this time the Jin army defeated us in a field battle, which is different from the past. Even with the power of my father Khan, he personally led an elite army and was defeated. Now the Jin army is in high spirits. If our army crosses the river to counterattack now, it will undoubtedly be like hitting a rock with an egg."

Amin snorted coldly and said unconvincedly: "It's not the first or second time that Jin Gou has been defeated by our army. Recently, they just won a round by luck. You want to boost others' morale and destroy your own prestige. You are too cowardly!"

Huang Taiji said calmly: "I am not trying to boost the morale of the Jin army or destroy my own prestige. I am just being realistic. This is the current situation. If the Jin army crosses the river to attack us, we still have a 70% to 80% chance of winning. If we cross the river to counterattack, the Jin army will be well rested and fight with their backs to the city. In the end, our army will definitely be defeated."

Amin fell silent after hearing this. In the battle of Ningyuan that day, the Ming army fought with its back to the city and relied on the power of artillery to gain the upper hand.

At this time, Huang Taiji continued: "In addition, I received some bad news not long ago. Korea, Khalkha, and Khorchin have betrayed our Great Jin and sent envoys to Jinzhou."

Amin was furious and said, "These two-faced despicable villains should have been wiped out directly. Khan, I will lead the troops to attack the Khalkha tribe now!"

Nurhaci was calm at this moment. In fact, he had anticipated such consequences as early as after the defeat in Ningyuan. However, these fence-sitters were not a concern. Even if they sided with the Jin Dynasty, they would not dare to become enemies of the Jin Dynasty. In the future, as long as the wind changed, these guys would still crawl at his feet and beg for mercy.

However, Nurhaci was not sure whether he could survive the winter due to his injuries, so the most urgent thing was to arrange his affairs after his death, otherwise if something unexpected happened to him, it would be a big mess. Therefore, Nurhaci raised his hand to stop the furious Amin and said, "They are just a few dogs with broken spines. Let them live a little longer. This Khan summoned you brothers this time because I have something more important to announce!"

As soon as these words were spoken, all the princes present could not help but feel a little excited. It was obvious that they had guessed something - appointing a crown prince!
That’s right, it’s about establishing a crown prince!
It is said that the nomadic tribe of the Jurchens did not have the rule of primogeniture to inherit the throne, but Nurhaci was deeply influenced by Han culture, so he naturally followed the example of the Han regime in the Central Plains and made his eldest son Chu Ying the crown prince from the very beginning.

However, Chu Ying was a domineering person and often bullied his younger brothers. He was then jointly reported by Huang Taiji and others, and eventually fell out of favor and was deposed. Later, he was sentenced to death by Nurhaci because he cursed Nurhaci to be defeated and die in battle.

After Chu Ying died, his second son Daishan succeeded him as crown prince. However, he was reported by Nurhaci's concubine (Fujin) for committing adultery with his first wife (Fujin). In the end, he was deposed, but he saved his life and remained as a great beile, in charge of a banner of troops.

As a result, Nurhaci failed to appoint two crown princes, and he never appointed another one after that.

Now that Nurhaci was seriously injured, he called all the beiles here, and it seemed that he intended to appoint a crown prince again to stabilize the country, so all the beiles present began to get excited.

Of course, the eldest prince Daishan had no hope as he had been deposed. The second prince Amin was Nurhaci's nephew and also had no hope. The third prince Manggurtai was captured and was not present at all. Therefore, the one with the greatest hope of succeeding the crown prince was naturally the fourth prince Huang Taiji.

Huang Taiji was a calm and calculating person, so although he was excited and happy at the moment, he did not show it at all. Ajige and Dorgon were relatively young, and although they knew that it was unlikely for them to get the chance, they still could not help but have some daydreams.

At this time, Nurhaci looked around at the seven beiles present. These seven were the most outstanding among his sons and nephews, including his eldest son Chu Ying who had been sentenced to death. They were all brave and skilled generals. Daishan, Huang Taiji and Dorgon were the ones he favored the most because they were brave and resourceful.

However, due to the two previous failures in appointing a successor, Nurhaci had to re-examine his plan of appointing a successor. After years of careful consideration, he decided not to appoint a successor, but to adopt the system of "Eight Heshuo Beile co-governing the country."

What does it mean that the eight Heshuo Beile jointly govern the country?
In simple terms, the eight beiles jointly governed the country, and the Khan no longer had the final say. State affairs were handled by these eight people. After Nurhaci's death, the new Khan would be elected by the eight beiles. After the new Khan was elected, he would "sit side by side" with the eight beiles and accept the worship of the people together. If the new Khan was immoral, the eight beiles could unite to depose the new Khan and then elect a new one.

Therefore, when Nurhaci announced in public that "the eight great beiles will jointly govern the country", Huang Taiji was greatly disappointed. However, he was very shrewd and did not show his dissatisfaction. Instead, he was the first to agree: "Father Khan is wise, and I agree with you!"

Daishan, Amin and others also expressed their support, and thus the policy of "Eight great Heshuo Beile jointly governing the country" was decided.

Nurhaci arranged the most important thing behind him, and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. He said, "I plan to negotiate peace with the Jin Dynasty for the time being and exchange Prince Qing for Manggurtai. What do you think?"

Dai Shan frowned and said, "If we can negotiate peace temporarily and exchange our fifth brother back, that would be good, but Jia Huan is very aggressive and I'm afraid he may not be willing to negotiate peace."

Nurhaci was also a man who could bend and stretch. When he was just starting out, he even went to Beijing in person to kowtow to the retired emperor Kangping. So he didn't feel ashamed to negotiate peace at this time. He waved his hand and said, "Jia Huan can't make the decision on this matter. Let's send an envoy. I don't believe that the emperor of Jin will not care about his son's life or death. Besides, most of the pedantic civil servants in Jin are people who cherish their reputation and seek fame. No one will dare to oppose the peace talks regardless of the life and death of Prince Qing."

(End of this chapter)