From rise to disappearance
Chu Ying was born in 1580. In the years when he grew up, it was the era when Nurhachi raised his troops to fight everywhere. During those iron-blooded years, not only Nurhachi was often in danger, but even his children were also targets of assassins.
When Chu Ying was just three years old, an assassin attacked. Nurhachi hid Chu Ying, Daishan and his daughter Dongguo under the cabinet, and stood up to fight on his own.
It can be said that Chu Ying has lived in an environment of killing and fighting since he was a child, and he is used to seeing the bloody winds of swords, lights, swords, shadows, and blood, which has also created his brave and strong character. In addition, under the guidance of his father, he quickly grew into a brave young man with heroic appearance and strong ambitions.
- In the first month of the twenty-sixth year of Wanli (1598), Chu Ying was eighteen years old. He served as the head coach for the first time to conquer the Jurchen Anchu Lakulu Road in the East China Sea. As a result, he captured more than 20 villages in a row and returned with a great victory. Nurhachi was very happy, so he personally named him Humbatulu and promoted him to Baylor.
- In the first month of the thirty-fifth year of Wanli (1607), Nurhachi sent Chu Ying, Daishan and their uncle Shuerhaqi to receive the surrendered tribesmen and their families.
Halfway through the journey, a strange thing happened. One night, there was lightning and thunder, but the military flag emitted a dazzling white light. Shuerhaqi believed that this was not a good omen and advocated immediate withdrawal of troops.
However, Chu Ying and Daishan firmly opposed it, and at their insistence, Shuerhaqi had no choice but to agree to continue the task. As a result, when they were escorting their tribe back, they were intercepted by Ula soldiers at a place called Wujieyan.
Seeing that the enemy army exceeded 10,000, Shuerhaqi chose to stand still. Chu Ying and Dai Shan chose to respond calmly, especially Chu Ying. He took the lead and rushed into the enemy's formation with a roar that was so loud that no one dared to stop him.
In the battle of Wujieyan, Chu Ying and Daishan not only defeated the greater number with less, but also gained a lot. They killed more than 3,000 Ula soldiers, captured 5,000 horses, and 3,000 pieces of armor. Daishan also captured and killed Ula general Bogduo.
In this battle, Jianzhou Jurchen not only greatly weakened the power of the Ula tribe, but also opened up the channel from Jianzhou to the Ussuri River basin and the middle and lower reaches of Heilongjiang. Nurhachi was extremely happy and gave Chu Ying the title of "Alhatu Tumen".
After that, Chu Ying also performed outstandingly in Nurhachi's great cause of Jurchen unification and repeatedly made military exploits. However, after the forty-one year of Wanli (1613), the "eldest son of the emperor" who had repeatedly made military exploits suddenly disappeared.
After that, there is no record about him in the "Records of Taizu of the Qing Dynasty". There is no explanation whether he died in battle or died of illness.
It was not until thirty-five years later that there was a record about Chu Ying in the "Records of the Ancestors of the Qing Dynasty", which mentioned that "the eldest son of Taizu also once violated the law of the country like this."
Another sixty years later, Kangxi mentioned that Chu Ying died after being accused of rape. In "Biographies of Qing History ", it is also briefly mentioned: "In the leap month of Yimao (1615), Chu Ying was executed for his crime and was dismissed."
Although there is information mentioning Chu Ying's death, the specific cause is not recorded. It was not until 1962 that the original file of " Manchu Old File ", also known as "Uncirculated Old File", was discovered in the "Forbidden City Museum" in Taipei, Taiwan. This file details the causes and consequences of Chu Ying's death.
The Death of Chu Ying
The lifespan of ancient people was not long, and being able to live to more than fifty years was considered a long life. When Nurhaci was fifty-three years old, he had to consider an issue, which was the issue of succession.
Nurhaci didn’t worry too much about who would take over his position, because the ready-made candidate was right in front of him. As the eldest son, Chu Ying was a direct descendant with outstanding military exploits, so he should be appointed as the heir.
In June of the 40th year of Wanli (1612), Chu Ying was officially established as the crown prince and appointed to take charge of state affairs. After that, Nurhachi also took special care of Chu Ying.
For example, when allocating population and property, more will be given to Chu Ying.But the real purpose of Nurhachi's doing this is to hope that Chu Ying can divide the excess property and distribute it to his younger brothers and ministers, which will help him win over people's hearts.
It can be seen that Nurhaci also worked hard for Chu Ying. But Chu Ying didn't understand the reason. Instead, he thought that he should share more than others in order to highlight his status.
was unevenly distributed, which soon caused conflicts. When his younger brothers proposed redistribution, Chu Ying was furious. He called his younger brothers to his house and severely criticized them.
He also secretly forced his brothers to be loyal to him. If they did not obey, he would threaten them. After he came to the throne, he would cut off their support and kill them if they did not obey.
Although Chu Ying became the prince, no matter his qualifications or prestige, he could not be compared with Nurhaci. But Chu Ying also liked to show off his qualifications and ignored the five ministers. He often yelled at them.
In this way, Chu Ying offended both the four Baylors and the five ministers because of his domineering words and deeds. The former was a clan member and the latter was a meritorious minister.
The pillar of a dynasty, he offended them all. The consequences of this were serious, and people who were dissatisfied with him soon united together. They collectively wrote a letter to Nurhachi, accusing Chu Ying of various inappropriate behaviors.
As a father, Nurhachi still felt towards Chu Ying at this time. He showed Chu Ying all the accusations of criticizing Chu Ying and asked him if there was anything untrue.
Nurhachi originally wanted to give his son a step down. As long as he expressed sincere repentance and would not commit the crime in the future, Nurhaci would not embarrass him.
But unfortunately, Chu Ying had a strong character, no ambition, and an arrogant heart. He actually recognized them all and said he had nothing to say.
Chu Ying's attitude completely angered Nurhachi. After that, his ruling power was deprived, and he no longer even had the opportunity to go to war.
However, at this critical moment, Chu Ying not only did not restrain his words and deeds, but instead burned his watch and cursed his father and brothers for their defeat when they were fighting. He also threatened that even if they returned in defeat, he would not let them enter the city.
These words and deeds of Chu Ying naturally soon reached Nurhaci’s ears. If Nurhachi continues to protect him, even he may not be able to convince the public.
As a result, Nurhaci finally had to imprison Chu Ying for two years. In fact, as a father, he still hopes that Chu Ying can change his ways and control his temper.
But Chu Ying's performance disappointed him so much that even when he was imprisoned, Chu Ying kept yelling at his brother ministers. In this case, on August 22nd of the forty-third year of Wanli (1615), Chu Ying was ordered to be executed by Nurhaci in the name of unrepentance. He was only thirty-six years old.
Whose cheese did Chu Ying touch?
As the saying goes, a tiger's poison cannot eat its seeds. Why did Nurhachi have the heart to kill his own son? In fact, it seemed at the time that Nurhaci had something to hide.
Nurhaci established himself as Khan in the forty-fourth year of Wanli. Before that, he was either on the road to war or on the road to war. If the Jianzhou Jurchens want to break out of their own world, they need to have a strong backbone team that works with one heart and one mind and strives towards the set goal.
However, before the great cause was accomplished, there was internal chaos, which Nurhaci could not tolerate. When Chu Ying was pushed to the position of ruler, he failed to handle various relationships well, was at odds with his clan brothers, and was at odds with the hero group, both of which were forces on which the future Jianzhou regime would depend.
If Nurhachi continues to tolerate Chu Ying's misbehavior, he is likely to destroy the foundation he has worked so hard to build. This is Nurhachi's bottom line.
Therefore, after comprehensive consideration, Nurhaci decided that he could only kill Chu Ying, because as soon as Chu Ying died, the internal conflicts disappeared.
Therefore, from the perspective of the overall development of the Jianzhou Jurchen, Nurhaci had no choice but to kill his own son Chu Ying. Rather than saying that his father was ruthless, it would be better to say that he was politically cruel.
However, after Chu Ying's death, a new problem came. He still had to choose, who should he choose?
The Hard-to-Recite Sutra
After Chu Ying's death, Nurhachi focused his attention on Daishan again. But we know that Daishan did not succeed in ascending to the throne, and he was stepped down by 黄太极.
After two candidates were pulled out of the race, there was not much time left for Nurhachi. He simply did not choose a successor, and transitioned from being a human being to building a system. This was the Eight-Kings System.
In the seventh year of Tianming (1622), Nurhachi proposed the idea of co-governance by eight kings. The so-called Eight Kings are the Four Big Belles and the Four Little Belles.
Presumably this was Nurhachi's helpless move. The concept of co-governance by the eight kings focuses on preventing personal monopoly. At the same time, among the eight kings, the four major Baylors are the main ones, which means that the future candidates for the Khan position will be elected. Is this method
good? It is indeed a good idea, but it still cannot eliminate personal power because the nature of the feudal dynasty resulted in the special nature of imperial power.
But the good thing about this approach is that, while ensuring the development of after , Nurhachi also left the issue of candidates to future generations to solve. So are his descendants settled? Solved, the solver is Huang Taiji.
Huang Taiji is undoubtedly a person with superb political skills. After Nurhachi's death, his first consideration was how to eliminate his competitors immediately.
After Daishan was squeezed out of the candidate team by him, Huang Taiji still had three opponents, and these three opponents were still brothers, namely the three brothers Dorgon . The key is that their mother was Nurhaci's favorite concubine. Before his death, only Nurhachi's concubine Abahai was with him.
According to normal thinking, Nurhachi must have explained something to Abahai, but Huang Taiji didn't care what he explained. He only cared about one thing, that is, Abahai could not stay.
Abahai has three sons. Although they are young, they are all banner leaders. Their mother and son pose too great a threat to Huang Taiji. So, a similar scene happened again many years ago.
At that time, the four major Baylors and the five ministers jointly forced Chu Ying to death. Many years later, a group of men forced a woman to be buried. This is the cruelty of politics.
However, after Huang Taiji ascended to the throne as he wished, he was not happy. Because of the existence of eight kings co-governing, it was not easy for him to speak alone. Therefore, six departments were established in the fifth year of Tiancong, which dispersed the deliberation rights of counselors and of Babeile. He also restricted the rights of Babeile by lowering the level of deliberation personnel and expanding the number of people.
In the end, Huang Taiji successfully strengthened the imperial power and realized his dream of one person having the final say. So, in comparison, Chu Ying was arrogant and domineering back then. To put it bluntly, he was also strengthening his personal power, but the timing was wrong.
To sum up, Nurhachi killed his eldest son Chu Ying mainly for the smooth development of Houjin. Many years later, according to the "Records of Emperor Taizu of the Qing Dynasty", he summoned his sons to make an oath to heaven and earth, saying, "Even if there are evildoers among my descendants, heaven will destroy them. Do not punish or injure them to start the killing." This may be his repentance to Chu Ying.
