Nurhaci

A new process of conquest begins when most of what is now northeastern China is consolidated by the Manchus.

Essentially nomadic in origin, the Manchus are descended from the Jurchen, who earlier had established the Jin empire.

Early in the seventeenth century, under their leader Nurhaci, the Manchus begin to press into southern Mongolia.

The westward movement of the Manchu soon involves them in a struggle with the last of the great khans, Ligdan Khan of the Chahar Mongols.

Ligdan has been attempting to reestablish Chahar predominance among the Khalkha, particularly among those tribes inhabiting the region south of the Gobi.

These efforts alarm his neighbors, who call upon Nurhaci for assistance.

For several years, it appears that the Manchu conqueror has met his match because Ligdan possesses some of the military prowess of his ancestors.

Although he cannot prevent the Manchus from gaining control of the territory of the neighboring Ordos Mongols, Ligdan beats back Manchu efforts to move farther west.

After his death in 1634, however, Mongol resistance to the Manchus collapses in southern Mongolia.

This is the period of the Mongolian national hero, Choghtu Khong Tayiji (or Tsogto Taji), who is said to have been the only northern Mongol aristocrat to have led his subjects against the Manchus in defense of the southern Mongols.

Ming China has invested enormous human and material resources in Korea, which have helped to empty the state treasury and weaken its northeastern border against the emerging power of the Manchu.

The Wanli Emperor has begun to neglect court affairs and has granted his court eunuchs unprecedented power by allowing their bureaus the privilege to collect federal taxes from the provinces of China.

The young Nurhaci, born in 1558, had, according to Chinese sources, grown up as a soldier in the household of Ming Dynasty General Li Chengliang in Fushun, where he had learned Chinese.

His father Taksi and grandfather Giocangga were killed in 1582 in an attack on Gure by a rival Jurchen chieftain Nikan Wailan while being led by Li Chengliang.

Nurhaci began the following year to unify the Jurchen bands; when he was twentyifive, he beheaded Nikan Wailan at Tulin to avenge the deaths of his father and grandfather, who are said to have left him nothing but thirteen suits of armor.

The nine allied tribes of Yehe, Hada, Ula, Hoifa, Khorchin, Sibe, Guwalca, Jušeri, and Neyen had attacked Nurhaci in 1593 but all had been completely defeated at the Battle of Gure.

He had had two of his translators, Erdeni Bagshi and Gagai Jarguchi, create the written Manchu language in 1599 by adapting the Mongolian alphabet.

Nurhaci from 1599 has campaigned against the four Hulun tribes, first attacking the Hada and finally conquering them in 1603.

He had been granted the title of Kundulun Khan by the Mongols in 1606.

Nurhaci had then conquered the Hoifa in 1607, followed by the Ula in 1613.

(He will not defeat the Yehe until the Battle of Sarhu in 1619.)

Nurhaci declares himself Khan (King) in 1616, , thus founding the Jin Dynasty (aisin gurun), often called the Later Jin.

He constructs a palace at Mukden (present-day Shenyang) in Liaoning province. (The earlier Jin Dynasty of the twelfth century had also been formed by the Jurchen.)

Jīn will be renamed Qīng by his son Huang Taiji after his death; Nurhaci is usually referred to as the founder of the Qing Dynasty.

...occupying Fushun, ...

...Qinghe and other cities, then withdraws.

The death of Ming Vice-General Zhang Chengyin stuns the Ming court.

The Yehe Nara (or Yehenara), originally a Mongol clan, are a Manchu clan who rule Yehe, one of the Hūlun Four States.

In English translation, Yehe means 'river bank', Nara means 'sun'.

The Yehe had been founded by a Tümed Mongol who had conquered a Nara-ruled tribe and established his realm on the banks of the Yehe river.

Yehe Nara are supporters of the Ming Emperors and resist the unification of the Jurchen by Nurhaci.

Nurhaci in 1619 attacks the Yehe in an attempt to provoke the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming government eventually decide to dispatch massive expeditionary forces, led by Military Commissioner Yang Hao, who plans to besiege Hetu Ala, Nurhaci's home, from four directions.

The Western Route is under the overall command of Du Song, who leads his forces west from Shengyang, and ...

...recaptures the undefended Fushun.

Just beyond Fushun is the Sarhu Mountain Pass and Jilin Cliff, where the Suzi and Hun rivers converge.

The Battle of Sarhu, the Western Route is totally destroyed by Nurhachi’s forces.

Du Song and the other two Generals, Wang Xuan and Zhao Menglin, are also killed in combat.

Upon hearing of Du Song's destruction, Ma Lin, commander of the Norther Route, grows more cautious.

He divides his forces in two and together with Du Song's remnant forces, mainly supply units, forming three fortified camps protected by chariots, artillery and trenches.

Nurhachi concentrates his Eight Banners on each camp consecutively, initially on Ma Lin's own camp.

Ma Lin's artillery opens fire, but due to their slow rate of fire they are cut to pieces by the Jurchen cavalry.

Ma Lin escapes as his camp is annihilated.

The other two camps also fall after Nurhachi's assault.

Nurhachi and Daisan rest and recuperate as reports on Liu Ting and Li Rubai's routes arrives.

Nurhaci decides to attack Liu Ting first, as Li Rubai's forces are mainly traversing mountain routes.

Nurhaci orders some of his troops to disguise themselves as Ming Troops and mix them into Liu Ting's forces.

He also sends a message to Liu Ting with his messengers disguised as Du Song's messengers; they report to Liu Ting that Du Song is already approaching their destination and ask him to speed up.

Liu Ting, taking the bait,increases the pace of his advance, marching into ambush in a valley as his troops stretch themselves in a serpentine form to traverse the valley.

His forces are completely annihilated.

Liu Ting is killed in action.

The Korean commander, Gang Hong-Rip, surrenders with his thirteen thousand Korean troops.

Joseon had helped Ming China with ten thousand soldiers when she attacked the Manchus' Later Jin Dynasty under Nurhaci in 1619, but Korean General Gang Hong-rip had surrendered to Nurhaci, insisting that Korea held nothing against the Manchus and that she had sent reinforcements only to repay an obligation to the Ming Dynasty.

Korea's Westerners’ faction, which espouses explicit pro-Ming, anti-Manchu policies, had in 1623 deposed the realist King Gwanghaegun and installed King Injo.

In addition, the Ming Mobile Corps Commander Mao Wenlong is engaging in guerrilla warfare from his base on an island off the Korean peninsula.

The first Manchu invasion of Korea is triggered by Yi Gwal's rebellion against King Injo in 1624.

The revolt is soon crushed but remnants flee to Manchuria, and urge Nurhaci’s son Hong Taiji to invade Korea.