The History of China - #254 - Qing 1: Build Me An Army Worthy of Manchu

Episode Date: May 21, 2023

As the newly enthroned Khan of the Manchus, Hong Taiji has a lot of plates to keep spinning. Conquest of Joseon Korea to the east, conquest of the Chahar Mongols to the west, and continuing to pound against the ever-weakening Ming Dynasty to the south. But he still has time for aesthetic considerations, such as the fact that names like "Jurchen" and "Jin" are so passé, while names like "Manchu" and "Qing" are the new hotness. Time Period Covered: 1626-1643 CE Major Historical Figures: Qing: Hong Taiji (Emperor Taizong of Qing) [r. 1626-1643] Prince Amin [1585-1640] Prince Haoge [1609-1648] Prince Dorgon [1612-1650] Prince Fulin (The Shunzi Emperor) [r. 1643-1661] Ming: Gen. Mao Wenlong [1576-1629] Gen. Yuan Chonghuan [1584-1630] Gen. Zu Dashou [d. 1656] Gen. Hong Chenchou [1593-1665] Gen. Wu Sangui [1612-1678] Joseon: King Injo [r. 1623-1649] Northern Yuan: Ligdan Khan [r. 1603-1634] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to an the Ancient World Podcast. Available on all podcasting platforms or go to ancientworldpodcast.com. That's the Ancient World Podcast. Hello and welcome to the History of China. Episode 254. Build Me an Army Worthy of Manchu. Neither is your Ming ruler a descendant of the Song, nor are we heir to the Jin. That was another time. Our country used to consist of Manchu, Hada, Ula, Yehe, and Huifa. Those who did not know better called us Jurchen.

Hong Taiji, Emperor Taizong of Qing, 1635 Chapters are funny things. In many senses, they're necessary, useful writing contrivances that help to break a story into useful and more easily digestible parts. Overall, I would say, I think my own breakdown of China's history into these episodic chapters, as well as into the larger dynastic volumes that they make up, has and continues to work rather well for the most part. But, like all human artifice, chapters are imperfect. And especially when writing or talking about people, places, and events who did what they did at their own pace, and care not a whit how narratively easy it is to parse, things can sometimes get a little tricky.

This has proven to be especially the case for this show during the periods of Chinese history, such as right about now in our ongoing tale, the mid-17th century, when a bunch of stuff is going on all at once, often at completely cross-purposes. Though I see it, there are a few possible ways to solve this conundrum. We could just try to drive all the way through to the end of the current dynasty, that of course being the Ming, before circling back and starting from the beginning of the overlapping history of the next dynasty, the Qing. Sometimes that works, but more often than not, it kind of doesn't. It leaves the story thinner and less impactful, because so many of the relevant details are spaced out from each other in the telling. And in the case of narrative audio, that literally means you have to listen to those parts

significantly later on. That said, as confusing as it has been for some, though thankfully not too terribly many of you, I've found that I like the solution of interweaving the chapters as necessary. So going forward for the next little bit, and longer than you might think actually, there will be both Ming and Qing episodes interspersed amongst each other, much like the Song slash Yuan or the Yuan-Ming periods. In fact, as luck would have it, today will be the day when we finally, officially say farewell and bye-artai to the last vestiges of the Yuan dynasty, as created by the lineages of Genghis Khan. So we could, in some respects at least,

think of this almost as a Yuan finale, if we wanted to. Today, then, and as you likely have already seen from the title of this episode, we're going to shift our focus temporarily, at least, away from the perspective of the Ming and its mumbling, bumbling, stumbling imperial court. Because, to be frank, as of the late 1630s, there's a whole lot of not-much-new going on in Beijing. The court ministers are constantly at each other's throats, getting hired, fired, promoted, exiles for reasons that, while life and death for them, are rather boring to read and listen to to the point of going cross-eyed a lot of the time. Instead, we're going to head up north, yet again, to the land of ice and snow,

upon the death of the first great leader of the Manchus, of course, I mean Nurhaci. On the morning after Nurhaci's death,, of course, I mean Nurhaci. On the morning after Nurhaci's death, the senior Bela princes informed Nurhaci's principal wife that her late husband had left instructions that she commit suicide to accompany him in death. Love you, honey. Please join me in the grave. She initially demurred, and I can totally understand why, but eventually did comply with the instruction.

The assembled Belas then offered the the kan ship to Hong Taiji, who, in standard fashion, formally declined several times before oh-so-relectantly at long last accepting his father's title, which of course he didn't want. Yet though he had become kan of the Manchus, for a time he still ruled according to the law of his father, in that he was just one of three senior princes who took turns as overall administrator. This setup would remain the case from 1626 until 1631. In the meantime, Hong Taiji would earn and consolidate his leadership role by displaying his military and political talents during extensive military campaigns, by curtailing the power of ambitious family members, and by expanding the government structure. By 1627, the Manchu economy was in

crisis, the society unstable after several years of ethnic conflict, and borders in the east, south, and west open to attack. Hong Taiji's strategy for the conquest of Great Ming included temporary peace negotiations with the Chinese so that he could first focus on subduing and stabilizing Manchu control over both Korea and the various Mongol tribes still outside of his confederation. To explain his strategy, Hong Taiji is said to have stated, quote, Taking Beijing is like felling a big tree. One first needs to start from both sides, and then the big tree will fall, end quote. Now, from the Ming's perspective, as we've already talked about extensively, even a temporary truce with the northern raiders was a welcome reprieve for the reeling Beijing court, as it allowed them to concentrate their military forces on a growing peasant uprising in the west and south, as well as gaining them time to fortify their remaining strongholds in the northeast. Manchu-Ming

negotiations began after Yan Chonghuan, the general stationed at Ningyuan, sent a condolence mission upon the death of Nurhaci. And yes, if that sounds familiar, that would be the same General Yan who we talked about last episode getting arrested by the emperor on suspicion of treachery and then subjected to the squeakiest of executions, slow slicing, aka death by a thousand cuts. During the negotiations, Hong Taiji reiterated the seven grievances, blamed the Ming court for their hostile relationship, demanded that he be treated as a political equal, and that in return for peace, the Ming should send him specified amounts of silver and gifts. Yuan Chonghuan pointedly ignored all these demands,

however, insisting instead on the return of occupied Liaodong to Ming's deserity. As a result, no formal agreement was reached, though negotiations brought a short truce. Tellingly, and somewhat ironically, these negotiations did serve to inflame Chinese feelings about any further diplomatic settlement with the Manchus. By drawing parallels to the disastrous outcome of Song negotiations with the Jurchens prior to their founding of the Jin Dynasty in the 12th century, which, again, were the direct ancestors of the contemporary Manchu threat, opponents to peace negotiations with the Manchus were able to turn public opinion against the idea of making the same quote-unquote mistake again and hardened their hearts against the idea of anything except a total military solution. That idea served Manchu interests just fine, because they were, at least

for now, far more interested in just kind of letting the Chinese stew in their own problem sauce while they focused on issues a bit closer to home. Under the pretext of reproaching the Korean king, Injo of Joseon, for not having sent condolences upon the death of Nihachi, Hong Taiji launched an invasion of Korea with the actual goal of seeking out and plundering its grain stores. Korea, as it turned out, was exceedingly vulnerable at this time, a fact that the Manchukon was doubtless well-informed of. The abortive Japanese invasion of 1592 had caused both widespread material devastation across the peninsular kingdom, as well as long-term economic and political instability. And then in 1624, a military uprising had weakened the country further and made it relatively easy

prey for the conquering Manchu Khan. Threatening the capital Han Song, which is modern Seoul, the Manchus forced King Injo to agree to send annual tribute and recognize the Manchu ruler as an elder brother, a designation that, as we discussed way back in the Songjin Wars, was one of the Jurchen-slash-Manchu's favorite euphemisms for suzerain-slash-vassal status. Hong Taiji's immediate purpose in controlling Korea was to utilize it, in effect, as a larder and grain silo to feed his wider war efforts. Throughout most of Hong Taiji's reign, the economy was in a state of crisis. The reorganization of the Chinese population after 1625, the large number of Mongol submissions, and the widespread food shortages from bad weather that extended from northwestern China to Manchuria and on into Japan contributed to the Manchus' economic difficulties. Famine, as it so often does, drove people to

banditry and, in some cases, even cannibalism. Hong Taiji wrote to the Korean king in 1627, If we alone had to live on the grain produced in our country, there would be enough. But you must have heard that the Mongol Khan, Ligdan, is bad and that the Mongols have been coming over to us Conditions had scarcely improved by 1632, when a memorialist noted, If it is a poor year, the people do not even have enough to live on. Yet Hong Taiji also had a secondary objective in his conquest of Joseon, Korea. He sought to terminate Korea's support for the Ming general, Mao Wanlong, who had been long utilizing Joseon as his staging point to conduct repeated naval operations against Manchu interests across the Yellow Sea and its Liaodong harbors. By forcing Korea's submission, Hong Taiji would deprive General Mao of his Joseon base of operations and force him to either personally surrender or at least retreat back south toward

Ming proper. After the treaty signing in 1627, Hong Taiji sent several envoys to Mao Wanlong in an attempt to woo him over to the Manchu cause, or, failing that, to at least reach terms of truce. Mao Wanlong's career as anti-Manchu privateer, however, had gained him widespread fame and popularity within the Ming court. Even though it was well known that he did not cooperate well with other Ming generals across Liaodong, the court appreciated Mao's help towards harassing and confounding the Manchus across the eastern seaboard, and rewarded him accordingly. As such, Hong Taiji's overtures fell upon deaf ears,

as the Chinese admiral was only too happy to continue his swashbuckling capers against the northern barbarians. Fortunately for the Manchus, Mao Wenlong's own reputation, specifically that of his infamy among his fellow Ming military officers, brought about his downfall in relatively swift fashion. In spite of the imperial court's favor, Mao was apprehended by none other than General Yuan Chonghuan, and in yet another instance of the Ming being so terminally dysfunctional by the mid-17th century that it seems to have been fundamentally unable to not constantly shoot itself in its own foot, was put to death on charges of smuggling then and there. Soon after returning from Korea, Hong Taiji launched what would prove to be a failed effort to take the three fortified cities of Ningyuan, Jinzhou, and Dalinghe north of Shanghai

Pass. This costly misfire did at least serve to confirm the humiliating lesson Nurhaci had learned the year prior, that the Manchu's favorite war tactic of cavalry formations in open field battles was woefully ineffective against the Ming's favorite defensive strategy, namely sitting behind their fortifications and blasting the hell out of cavalry with long-range cannons. Realizing at last that the old ways weren't going to work, and not wishing to bash his head against this particular rock any further, Hong Taiji wisely modified his strategy accordingly. Thus began the era of the Manchu's besieging Chinese strongholds rather than attempting to storm them outright. This would be supplemented by Hong Taiji ordering his forces to

begin seeking out alternate entry points into the soft underbelly of Great Ming, seeking to circumvent the nigh-impenetrable defenses at and around Shanghai Pass by looping through Inner Mongolia instead. Of course, going through Mongolia meant, you guessed it, dealing with the Mongolians. To clear the path for their first invasion into China proper via Mongolia, the Manchus would first have to sweep away the last vestiges of the, quote, free and independent Mongols that still clung to the vestments of the ancient Yuan and the direct heritage of Genghis Khan himself, the Chahars of the upper Liao River. The Chahar Mongols were at this point led by Ligdan Khan.

It would be Ligdan who would now mount his people's last stand against this rising Manchu threat, though they wouldn't stand for long. With what seems to have been almost trivial ease, Hong Taiji's Manchu forces, which, it should be remembered, itself included a large contingent of confederated Mongol tribes, forced the Chahar Mongols off of their own lands and westward. The Manchu troops then used this route to enter China through the Xifeng Pass, thereby reaching the outskirts of Beijing in 1629. Charged by the imperial court with defending Beijing against any Manchu aggression, General Yuan Chonghuan rushed back from Liaodong to the now suddenly threatened capital. Unfortunately for General Yuan, though Hong Taiji ultimately

withdrew without attacking the capital directly, the very appearance of the Manchus before Beijing was what ultimately cost Yuan Chonghuan his life. Blamed for his inability to ward off the Manchu invasion, he was imprisoned. Then, accusing him for having murdered Mao Wanlong, and earlier having been involved in peace negotiations with the Manchus, even though they were held with the support of the court at the time, his enemies within the court now insinuated that he might be a traitor. So it was that he would be oh-so-grossomely put to death later that same year. They hadn't so much as even tried to

take Beijing, but that didn't mean that the Manchus were planning to walk away from North China in late 1629 with nothing at all. To the contrary, in the course of their pullback from the Ming capital, they occupied four major cities within the borders of the Great Wall, Yongping, Luanzhou, Qian'an, and Chunhua. With those secure, Huang Taiji made his way back to the main Manchu capital at Shenyang, taking along with him in tow a contingent of Chinese captives who were experts in the casting of Portuguese or Red Barbarian cannons. The Manchu Khan left his trusted lieutenant, Amin, in charge of guarding the four captured cities. But with the main Manchu force gone, the new commander of the Ming northeastern border garrison, who had replaced the currently imprisoned and soon-to-be-executed General Yuan, named Zhu Daxiu, soon recaptured all four cities. Amin avoided battle and withdrew, but not without first plundering Yongping and massacring its inhabitants.

This wound up being a fatal mistake for Amin, as he had been issued explicit instructions by Hong Taiji to treat the cities and their populations generously, so as to demonstrate that Manchu overlordship was a good and even preferable state of affairs to the Chinese populace. Instead, Amin had shown the Manchus to be brutal murderers, which is, you know, kind of a whoopsie-daisy. In spite of their yielding of the four cities, the Manchus enjoyed several beneficial results from this first major foray into China south of the Wall. The Ming Empire was very much set on its heels and without the initiative. Another able military commander had been eliminated, and a new route into China had proved feasible. The Manchus soon benefited as well from their captured Chinese artillery experts,

who within two years developed the Manchus' own first sets of cannons. The new weapons were tried out in 1631 during a Manchu attack on Dalinghe, an important town on the Ming defensive line which linked the northeast to China proper. Any long-range occupation of Chinese territory within the Great Wall required that the Manchus be in control of this linkage, because without it, their troops could be cut off from their home base. Precisely because of the strategic value of the area, the Ming court had ordered Zhu Daxiu and his officers, several of whom were his sons and nephews, to fortify Da Linghe. About 30,000 people were in the town when Hong Taiji's forces surrounded it and set it to siege, deploying nearly the totality of his 100,000 men to do so. The Manchu's newly organized Chinese

artillery corps took position outside the city and set up their new cannons to prevent Ming relief forces from coming to the aid of Da Linghe. In all, the siege lasted for more than two months, and it was by every indication an exceedingly brutal affair. Something on the order of two-thirds of Da Linghe's 30,000 inhabitants had been killed by the time General Zhu Daxiu finally surrendered to the victorious Manchus. However, on the promise that he would use his family connections to win the surrender of nearby Jinzhou, Hong Taiji then released Zhu, upon which he almost immediately went, just kidding, and betrayed his promise to rejoin the defenders of Jinzhou. Several of the

other Zhu generals, however, stayed with the Manchus and served them loyally, so it wasn't a total loss on that account either. The siege of Dalinghe was, by every metric, a stunning and decisive Manchu victory. In addition to the stronghold itself, Hong Taiji's armies were able to avail themselves of the city's sizable arsenal of weaponry. With such a bolstering of their armaments, Hong Taiji's Chinese advisors urged him to immediately follow up this victory and pursue the total conquest of China at once. Leman Chu Khan, however, was cautious by nature, and probably wisely judged his strength to still be insufficient to guarantee conquest over the vast southern empire, weakened

and distracted though it was. Instead, Hong Taiji opted to first secure his western and eastern flanks, starting with Inner Mongolia. Here his main target were, once again, those pesky Chahar Mongols under Ligdan Khan. The Chahar had agreed to help the Ming contain the Manchus in return for large payments of gold and silver from Beijing. Ligdan Khan's move backfired, though, when his alliance with the hated Chinese managed to alienate several of his own followers and drove other Mongol tribes, consisting of the five Khalkhas, Ordos, Karachins, and others, to abandon him in favor of currying favor with the Manchus.

Following this second great defeat at combined Manchu-Mongol hands in 1632, Ligdon and the remnants of his Chahars fled west once again, this time all the way to distant southwestern Qinghai. This left the main strategic stronghold of Inner Mongolia, Guihua City, which isji used the opportunity to gain access to Ming markets, and so discord among the Ming regional commands, by pursuing peace negotiations with Chinese border officials at both the Xuanfu and Datong garrison frontier cities. Hoping to buy peace for the territories under their jurisdictions, these local officials often cooperated by paying gold, silver, silk, and cotton to the Manchu emissaries. They also swore the customary oath demanded by the Manchus. Though done in the name of the two countries, these negotiations were not

authorized by the Ming court, and the commanders were imprisoned when their actions became known. Because it turns out that, yeah, high command doesn't really like it when you, a lowly regional commander, conclude a separate peace with the enemy and also swear allegiance to them. Who would have thunk? After Hong Taiji got word that Ligdan had died in Qinghai in 1634, he sent an expedition in 1635 to search for Ligdan's son and wife. Both were found, along with the Mongol state treasure and Ligdan's seal, the symbol of Mongolian con ship. Ligdan's son's surrender to the Manchus marked the formal end of Chahar independence and of the Mongol Khanate that

began with Genghis Khan. The submission of the Chahar Mongols left the Kalkas of northern Mongolia as the only major independent Mongol group. Which is pretty incredible when you think about it, because what had taken the Ming almost 300 years of trying to accomplish and never succeeding took the Manchus a couple of years at most, finally sounding the death knell of the Yuan dynasty and the Khanate of Temujin overall. 400 years ago, a trio of tiny kingdoms were perched on some damp islands off the coast of Europe. Within three short centuries, these islands would become the center of an empire which ruled a quarter of the globe and on which the sun never set. I'm Samuel Hume, a historian of the British Empire, and my podcast Pax Britannica follows the people and events that

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everywhere you find your podcasts, or go to pod.link slash pax. For the Manchus, the defeat of the Chahars was of great significance, of course. Militarily, possession of Inner Mongolia gave them control over entry into China from a multitude of northerly directions. They also gained Mongol military manpower and eliminated the Ming option of playing one barbarian off against the other, which we all know had been for millennia one of the Chinese's favorite strategies. Politically, the capture of Ligdan's seal allowed the Manchus to style themselves successors to the Mongol Khans, and economically, they obtained excellent grazing lands and access to the Chinese trading post at Khalagan, or Jiangjiakou.

With his western flank secured, Hong Taiji now turned to Korea. In spite of the brotherly relationship imposed on Korea in 1627, the Korean king did not fully cooperate in trade activities or diplomatic exchanges. As it was, less than a decade later, in 1636, Hong Taiji personally led a campaign against Korea and forced the Korean king to renounce his allegiance to the Ming court. Under the new agreement, Korea was obligated to send dignitaries on all important occasions, pay tribute with specified amounts of gold, silver, paper, and other goods, and provide support for Manchu campaigns against the Ming. With both Mongolia and Korea now firmly under its control, Hong Taiji's Chinese advisors, eager little memorialists one and all, who assisted in

the organizational process and policy formulation, repeatedly urged the Khan to take advantage of the deteriorating conditions in Great Ming. Quote, This is the opportunity to enter. If the Khan does not take the opportunity at once, there is no telling whether such a large country will continue to be weak. End quote. Hong Taiji did not follow the urging of his Chinese officials to conquer the Ming Empire.

Though he did not rush, he needed little prodding to prepare for an empire on the ideological level. By the mid-1630s, Hong Taiji had secured his place by eliminating his rivals and achieving military successes on the Korean and Mongol fronts. At this point, he was ready to break the Manchu's ties to the former Jin Dynasty. He told his Chinese officials that, quote, neither is your Ming ruler a descendant of the Song, nor are we heir to the Jin. That was another time, end quote. The Jin dynasty had lost its mandate to the Mongols, and the name had unpleasant connotations for Chinese. In 1635, as the veritable records for Nurhaci's reign were being produced, itself an act reflecting Manchu dynastic ambitions, Hong Taiji formally changed the name of his people. The label, Jiuquan or Jiuquan, was to be replaced by Manchu, because, quote,

"...our country used to consist of Manchu, Hada, Ula, Yehe, and Huifa. Those who did not know us better called us Jiuquan." End quote. From this, it appears that Manchu was an old term for the Jianzhou Zhurchens. Whatever the origin or meaning of the word, it appears that Hong Taiji discarded a term that referred back to the Jianzhou Zhurchens in favor of one that referred more narrowly to the Jianzhou Zhurchens, in spite of the fact that his Manchus by the 1630s included many non-Jin Zhou Jurchens. In the following year, 1636, Hong Taiji further distanced his state from the Jin precedent by adopting a new name for his polity. Instead of Jin or Da Jin, it was to be called Qing or Da Qing. Along with a new dynastic name came a new reign title. In Manchurian,

Weishun Ardamonga, or in Chinese, Chongda. An honorary title for himself, in Manchu, Gosen Onko Huwaliyasun Ardungahan, or in Chinese, Ren Kuang Wenshen Huangdi, and equally illustrious posthumous names for his dynastic predecessors. While honoring the ancestral line, Hong Taiji found it expedient to elevate his closest relatives, in particular those descended from his grandfather, Takxi. Allowed to wear yellow sashes, which was the royal color, Takxi's descendants were called the Yellow Belts. The other descendants of the Beiluz, of the Sixes, could wear a red sash and therefore became called the Red Belts. The other descendants of the Beiluz, of the Sixes, could wear a red sash and

therefore became called the Red Belts. This division had multiple significance. The division elevated the royal house and limited the size of this select group. It also reflected the separation of the Aizen Gyoro from the Gyoro clan. It involved a new use of strict genealogical descent, more Chinese than Jurchen in its conception, as a criterion for clan membership. Concern with military conquest, interest in Ming government structure, and recognition of some basic Chinese values did not exclude or diminish Manchu attention to non-Chinese people and cultures. Control over Inner Mongolia, for instance, gave the Manchus the opportunity to style themselves as protectors of Tibetan Buddhism, which helped consolidate their rule over the Mongols and foreshadowed their claim to Tibet. After converting to Buddhism during the late 16th century, some chiefs of the eastern Mongol tribes had turned their residences into centers of religious

and literary activities with ties to the religious authorities in Tibet. The Manchu leaders showed little interest in becoming Buddhists themselves. Hong Taiji himself did not shy away from condemning Buddhist lamas as liars, incorrigibles, and people who squander goods. But he also took advantage of the Mongols' adherence to Buddhism. He invited the fifth Dalai Lama to Shenyang in 1637, and a year later he completed the construction of a yellow temple to house a Buddhist statue which originated from the Yuan period and had belonged to Ligdang Khan. In 1640, he received a letter from the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama, in which the two religious leaders

recognized him as a bodhisattva and called him Manjusri, Great Emperor. However, perhaps aware that reincarnations appealed to Mongols and Tibetans, who were used to the combination of secular rule with religious authority, but did not appeal to Chinese Buddhists, Hong Taiji was careful about exploiting this honor. With Korea and Inner Mongolia under Manchu control, Hong Taiji in 1636 returned his attention at long last towards the Ming. In addition to countless smaller raids, the Manchus undertook three large-scale invasions into China between 1636 and 1643. These invasions were designed to reconnoiter, intimidate, and acquire booty.

They were not intended to make permanent conquest, and none of them were led by Hong Taiji personally. The first of the three incursions, in 1636, took only a month but damaged Ming imperial tombs near Beijing and attacked many cities, though not the capital itself. The Qing forces won all the battles and returned with a large number of captives and treasure. The second incursion, which lasted for nearly six months in 1638-9, destroyed places to the south of Beijing and then turned into Shandong before returning with over 400,000 captives, huge amounts of gold, silver, and other loot. The third and last large Qing incursion in 1642 brought back nearly as much. I mean, this is enormous. While the Qing army was pillaging towns and provinces across northern China during the second incursion, Hong Taiji attacked Jinzhou and Ningyuan, in part to keep Ming forces occupied

in the northeast and prevent them from confronting the Qing forces within China. He failed to take the towns, though. Another attempt in 1640 was also unsuccessful. Then, using all his forces in a technique similar to that used at Dalinghe, he besieged Jinzhou in 1641. Anxious to keep their northeastern defensive line intact, the Ming ordered Hong Chengchou, who had been fighting the peasant armies on the western front, to rescue Jinzhou. But Hong's force of nearly 200,000 men was defeated by the Qing. Some of his generals fled, and nearly 50,000 soldiers were killed.

Hong Chengchou, with a remaining force of just 20,000, retreated into nearby Songshan. After a siege that lasted several months, a Ming general from within the town betrayed the force. This allowed the Qing to capture Hong Chengchou, the highest-ranking military official to fall into their hands thus far, and thus carry off over 2,000 large and small cannons. With no relief in sight after the fall of Songshan, Zhu Daxiu himself surrendered Jinzhou. Hong Taiji willingly accepted this second surrender of Zhu Daxiu himself surrendered Jinzhou. Hong Taiji willingly accepted this second surrender of Zhu Daxiu, partly because Zhu's nephew, Brigade General Wu Sangui, commanded the Ningyuan Garrison, the only remaining Ming defense outside the Great Wall and the only significant military force between the Qing armies and Beijing.

Hong Taiji celebrated his successes, but he did not live long enough to exploit them. He died in 1643 at the age of 52. In the aftermath of the Qing victory at Songshan in 1641 and their successful invasions of China, Hong Taiji's death in September 1643 was most untimely. With succession crises common in Jurchen history, it's remarkable that Hong Taiji's death did not divert the Qing conquest of China altogether. The organizational and conceptual foundations laid during Nurhaci and Hong Taiji's reigns allowed the Manchus to make the successful transition and take advantage of events in North China.

Because Hong Taiji's death was unexpected, he had made no arrangements for a successor. A struggle would ensue between two powerful contenders, Dorgon, who was Nurhaci's son and Hong Taiji's younger brother, and Hao Ge, Hong Taiji's eldest son. Hao Ge stood out within his generation. He'd been made Bela at the age of 17, and was later promoted to Enfiefed Bela and Imperial Prince. Moreover, Manchu opinion favored selecting one of Hong Taiji's sons. With Dorgon and his supporters opposing a strong leader like Haoka, it was necessary for a compromise to be brokered. Following Dorgon's proposal, the Bela princes

selected Hong Taiji's ninth son, the six-year-old Fulin, to succeed as ruler, with Dorgon and Jirga Lang, son of Serhachi, serving as regents. Since Jirga Lang had no ambition to be ruler, Dorgon in effect had secured the basis for several years as dominant power himself. And so, that brings us up to speed on the life, times, conquests, and death of the great proclaimer of the Qing dynasty, Hong Taiji, a.k.a. Emperor Taizong. The once mighty Mongols have abjectly surrendered their claim to leadership over the steppelands, Korea is overrun and capitulated, and Ming China itself has had its northern defenses badly shaken,

if not quite yet shattered outright. And so next time, we'll be getting to the death blow that will leave the Chongzhen Emperor at the end of his rope and really twisting in the wind. But strangely enough, that coup de grace will not come directly from the seemingly unstoppable Qing armies, but instead from that other great threat to the stability of the realm across time, hangry peasants. Thanks for listening. The French Revolution set Europe ablaze. It was an age of enlightenment and progress,

but also of tyranny and oppression. It was an age of glory and an age of tragedy. One man stood above it all. This was the age of Napoleon. I'm Everett Rummage, host of the Age of Napoleon podcast. Join me as I examine the life and times of one of the most fascinating and enigmatic characters in modern history. Look for the Age of Napoleon wherever you find your podcasts.