Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 305: The Great Jin National Foundation

Huang Taiji disbanded the four flags of the left wing on the way, and only took the captains of each flag and a small number of followers to respond to the call and rush to the side of Tianming Khan Nurhaci.

When they arrived at Nurhaci's temporary residence, Tianming Khan had already walked down the platform built by the Ming army. Nurhaci had a warm smile on his face, a completely different look from the solemnity and even indifference he had just shown when he was suppressing Daishan.

"Why are there only three of you?" Seeing Jibu Keda's absence, Nurhaci's eyes flickered with a barely perceptible hint of murderous intent. "Where's Jibu Keda? Is he so afraid of seeing me? Or has he already begun to disregard me?" Ever since those disastrous events in August and September of last year, Nurhaci had become suspicious of everyone he met. Not to mention that Jibu Keda, the old servant, was a close confidant of the rebellious son.

"Report to the Khan." Huang Taiji wanted to try to call Nurhaci "Khan Ama" in front of everyone, but now was obviously not the right time. "Jibukeda didn't come back."

"He didn't make it back." Nurhaci's eyes rolled in their sockets. When they returned to their original position, the hint of murderous intent had completely disappeared, replaced by a sudden surge of sadness. "Jibukeda died?"

As a brilliant politician who rose through the ranks from the grassroots, Nurhaci knew exactly when to strike the right expression. When he traveled to the capital to negotiate for the imperial tribute, he wore a servile, servile demeanor. But how could a so-called Dragon and Tiger General of the Jianzhou Guards ever earn the respect of the snobby officials of the Ministry of War and the Governor's Office? As for the emperor, Nurhaci still had no idea what he looked like, and therefore had no way of expressing respect or flattery.

"It should be." Huang Taiji seemed like a natural politician. Seeing his father Khan's expression change, he also added some compassion and sadness to his eyes.

"How did Jibukeda die?" Nurhaci asked.

Huang Taiji raised his eyebrows and said, "Buha told me this on the way here, but my retelling may have omitted many things. Since Buha himself is here, please allow him to speak."

"Buha, you speak." Nurhaci nodded.

"This is what happened," Shumulu Buha thought hard, trying to recall as many details as possible. "My left wing was originally facing the Ming army at the Liuli enemy fort. When the Ming army saw my change of formation and feared the Great Khan's troops approaching, they split up and retreated." Buha spoke as if he knew what Li Bingcheng was thinking.

"Later, the Fourth Prince ordered Jibu Keda and I to lead a cavalry force each to pursue and drive out the Ming army, in order to dampen their morale. Jibu Keda and I pursued the Ming army all the way to the city walls. The Ming soldiers inside dared not fight, only firing cannons to rescue them. The Fourth Prince had previously instructed us not to pursue them too deeply, so we immediately retreated. However, Li Bingcheng was incredibly cunning. He took advantage of Jibu Keda's elite vanguard's retreat and turned back to attack them." Buha's mind raced, trying to disclaim responsibility while avoiding the appearance of shirking it. It was a skill.

Even though Jibu Keda was Huang Taiji's choice as the Eastern Route Commander, Buha was not entirely without responsibility. After all, most of the casualties suffered by Li Bingcheng were among the light cavalry under his command. His failure to anticipate and prepare for the situation was in itself a responsibility.

"I wanted to lead the troops back to relieve the siege, but Jibu Keda, as the commander-in-chief, insisted on going his own way and ordered me to continue to retreat according to the Fourth Prince's orders. So I withdrew. Later, Li Bingcheng retreated into the city, and the siege was lifted. Only then did I hear from Bayala, who went with us to the rescue, that Jibu Keda had been hit by a cannon and fallen off his horse." After saying this, Buha breathed a sigh of relief quietly and glanced back at the eyewitness who had come to report.

"How many casualties were there this time?" Nurhaci noticed Buha's eyes shifting. But Nurhaci did not intend to ask about the circumstances of Jibukeda's death; as long as he was dead, that was all that mattered.

"After counting the number of people, seventy-six people are missing." Huang Taiji stopped at that point and did not mention any details to poke Buha in the back.

"Seventy-six, huh!" Nurhaci sneered in anger. "In just a day and a half, I've lost over two hundred elite soldiers from the Eight Banners." Counting those who were unable to return to the battlefield due to minor or serious injuries, the cost of Nurhaci's "arrow reconnaissance" was truly high, so high that it made him feel like his heart was bleeding.

Huang Taiji knew his arrangements were sound, so he took the blame. "It's all my fault. If I had warned Jibu Keda properly, telling him to be more vigilant, he might not have fallen for the treacherous Li Bingcheng's schemes. Please punish me, Khan!"

"Let's talk about it after this battle is over." Nurhaci was quite satisfied with Huang Taiji's attitude, but his face was still filled with deep sorrow. "Where is Jibu Keda's body? Has it been sent back to the Bordered White Banner?"

If Jibu Keda had returned alive, Nurhaci would have convened a political council to bring him to justice. Repeatedly underestimating the enemy and advancing rashly was enough to put him to death. However, since Jibu Keda had been slain, it was more cost-effective to promote him as a hero.

"There is no body. The soldiers who came to support rescued the friendly forces and then turned back. They did not steal the body." Huang Taiji followed Nurhaci's words.

"Then send some slaves with shield carts to pick up the bodies immediately, and don't give the Ming army a chance to behead them!" Nurhaci knew the Ming army's merit system too well. If he could effectively prevent the Ming army from beheading them, it would greatly undermine the morale of the Ming army.

"Yes." Huang Taiji accepted the order solemnly.

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Just as Huang Taiji was mobilizing troops to snatch the corpses from Fengji City, Huang Taiji's tenth brother, Aisin Gioro Dergelei, was leading his two nephews and thousands of elite Jin cavalry, galloping to block the Ming army coming from the direction of Hupiyi.

Born in the winter of the 24th year of the Wanli reign, Dergelei was two and three years older, respectively, than his second brother Daishan's two sons, Yuetuo and Shuotuo. They were essentially the same age. Their ability to fight together stemmed not only from their similar age, frequent interactions, and Nurhaci's favor, but also from a more significant reason: all three had a feud with the great prince Daishan.

Last year, in March of the fifth year of the Tianming era, Nurhaci, in anticipation of a major campaign against the Ming and the conquest of Liaoning and Shenyang, decided to move forward and relocate from Jiefan City to Sarhu. However, at the time of this decision, Sarhu contained only the remains of the former Suhe tribe stronghold and the Ming army's former camp. To accommodate a large army and settle families, extensive construction was necessary. At the time, Daishan, the Grand Prince and commander of two red banners, was Nurhaci's most valued son. Since Nurhaci also had to lead the Eight Banners troops south on a raiding expedition to prepare for the winter, he tasked Daishan with overseeing the city's construction.

During this period, three major events or cases occurred. These three major cases almost happened to offend the three young people one by one. The first major event was the "adultery case," in which the younger wife Dai Yincha accused the older wife Fucha Gundai of having an affair with the great prince Daishan.

In March of the fifth year of the Tianming reign, the younger concubine reported that the elder concubine had separately sent food to the Great Beile Daishan and the Fourth Beile Huang Taiji, with the former accepting but the latter not. Furthermore, the elder concubine sent messengers to Daishan's home two or three times a day to contact him, suggesting a conspiracy. Furthermore, the elder concubine would leave the palace late at night to meet with Daishan. Whenever the beile ministers gathered at the Khan's house for banquets and meetings, the elder concubine would adorn herself with gold and pearls to curry favor with the elder beile.

Upon hearing the accusation, Nurhaci immediately ordered an investigation. The investigation ultimately confirmed the allegation, confirming frequent and intimate illicit relations between the Grand Concubine and the Grand Prince. However, Nurhaci ultimately dismissed the Grand Concubine, Fucha Gundai, on the charge of stealing silk, gold, and silver, without implicating Grand Prince Daishan.

Tianming Khan's decision stemmed from the common tradition of levirate marriage in tribal societies. Levirate marriages allowed sons to legally adopt their stepmothers as their spouses after their father's death. Furthermore, Nurhaci had personally stated that Daishan would take good care of his younger sons and his first wife after his death. Therefore, it wasn't surprising that the first wife, who was deeply attached to the Grand Beile, had some preliminary communication with him.

The second reason is that Daishan was still Tianming Khan's most trusted son at that time, and he did not intend to punish Daishan for such a harmless matter.

This made Degelei extremely unhappy. His mother and his brother had already started an adoption relationship before their father passed away. Why did his father only punish his mother and not his brother? Daishan must have been behind this. Under the influence of rumors, Degelei gradually believed that Daishan had not only seduced his mother, but also deceived his father. So Degelei held a grudge against Daishan.

The matter should have been left as it was. After all, the Great Jin was not bound by the strict rules and regulations of the Ming Dynasty. Since Tianming Khan did not pursue the matter, then it was fine. The Derge Lei were unhappy, so what? It was not a big deal anyway.

However, Degelei's half-brother, the third prince Manggurtai, suddenly became crazy and killed his own mother. This made Degelei break up with Manggurtai and even more resentful of the instigator of all this, the first prince Daishan.

The "adultery case" occurred when the project of Sarhu City was established, and the second major event, the "house building dispute", occurred during the construction of Sarhu City.

Shortly after his first wife, Fucha, was divorced, Nurhaci went to the city to inspect and designate locations for each of the beile ministers to build their own residences. Nurhaci also allowed the beile ministers to build their own residences at the designated locations according to their own preferences.

After their respective sites were renovated, Daishan saw that his eldest son Yuetuo's residence was better than his own, so he advised his father, the Khan, "The site he has renovated is wider and better than the one I have renovated. Please live there." Nurhaci went to see it and found it was indeed better than his own, so he replied, "You can let the great prince live in the site I have renovated, and I will live in the site he has renovated."

In other words, Nurhaci wanted to exchange places with Daishan instead of living in Yuetuo's house.

But Daishan's brain seemed to have gone haywire. He felt that his father's residence was too cramped to build a house or decorate, so he wanted to find a wider area to build a house. And this so-called wider area was the place where Yuetuo was renovating. If this plan went according to plan, Daishan would live in Yuetuo's area, Nurhaci would live in Daishan's area, and Yuetuo would take care of it later.

Daishan again asked his father to live there, as the land was excellent. Nurhaci then ordered that the land he had originally cultivated be given to Daishan. Nurhaci also wanted to live in Daishan's land for the second time, as he wanted to build a government office for grand banquets there. He would live in Yuetuo's land.

If this plan was carried out, the government office would be built on Daishan's land, Daishan would live in Nurhaci's land, Nurhaci would live in Yuetuo's land, and Yuetuo would decide later. The beiles received the order and allocated a thousand laborers to renovate the office.

After the three houses were built, Daishan felt that the house given to him by his father Khan was too small and he did not want it anymore, so he wanted to live somewhere else.

Nurhaci was amused by Daishan and responded, "If you think that place is too small, I will still live in the place I renovated. Since you think the place you renovated is better, you can bring your young children to live in the better place." So Nurhaci still lived in the narrow house he had renovated, and gave the spacious house he had renovated three times to Daishan.

Nurhaci was deeply displeased. He didn't see this as a simple housing issue. He felt it was a challenge to his authority. Yet, Nurhaci remained silent. He didn't punish Daishan, but he did clearly express his displeasure. If Daishan had come to his senses in time, he would have acknowledged his mistakes, repented, and properly addressed the two issues with his father, the Khan.

But Daishan didn't, and directly accepted the allocation plan, as if he had to live in this big house. This made the conflict between father and son even more intensified.

Until September of the fifth year of Tianming, the contradictions were irreconcilable.

Last month, in late August, Nurhaci led his troops south to plunder Liao territory, but due to the well-organized "bear bandits", the Jin army gained little, which made Nurhaci very unhappy.

On the third day of September, someone reported that the fifth brother of the Second Beile Amin, Zhaisanggu, the second son of the Great Beile Daishan, Shuotuo, and the Second Beile's son-in-law Molohun and his wife wanted to rebel against the Great Jin and flee to the Ming Dynasty.

On the 13th, Nurhaci sent for Zhaisanggu, but the messenger quickly returned, saying that Zhaisanggu and Molohun had gone with the herd, meaning they had not been found. Nurhaci then summoned Shuotuo, but he was also not at home. Nurhaci suspected that the three men, having refused summons and heading in the same direction, might be plotting a defection. He summoned all the beile ministers and agreed to "immediately dispatch troops to block the road to the Ming Empire" and capture the rebels alive.

That evening, however, Zaisanggu, Shuotuo, and Molohun returned to their respective homes. Nurhaci immediately sent for questioning regarding their conspiracy to escape, but they all denied it. Nurhaci then ordered Zaisanggu, Shuotuo, and the Molohun couple imprisoned. Under torture, they discovered only that Shuotuo had committed adultery with Molohun's sister, and Zaisanggu with Molohun's younger sister, but not that the three had conspired to escape. To put it bluntly, this was another ethical case.

　Scholars have two different theories about the Grand Concubine mentioned in the archives: one is Ulanara Abahai, the mother of Ajige, Dorgon, and Dodo. The other is Fucha Gundai, the mother of Manggurtai, Dergelei, and Mangguzigege. The former is considered a stepmother, the latter a dam. The latter is more likely. There are many reasons for this, but I won't elaborate on them all. I'll just mention one small point. At the 48th year of the Wanli reign, Fucha Gundai and Ulanara Abahai existed simultaneously. Fucha Gundai was the senior, so it was impossible for a younger generation to become the Grand Concubine.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)