After Nurhachi's death, Yuan Chonghuan sent a governor and a lama named Li to Shengjing (Shenyang), named to express condolences, but actually to explore the reality of the Jin Kingdom. Huang Taiji was furious and wanted to kill the envoy, but his ministers said: "Why don't we take this opportunity and send two representatives to negotiate peace, and we need to attach a letter to show our sincerity." Huang Taiji accepted the opinion.
In the second year, from the first month to April of the first year of Tiancong (the seventh year of tomorrow's Qi Dynasty), Huang Taiji and Yuan Chonghuan had two trials and competitions to negotiate peace. What Huang Taiji wants here is that the Ming government should officially rank the Jin Khan (himself) above any ministers of the Ming Dynasty, recognize that the land in Liaodong belongs to the Jin, destroy the defensive castles in western Liaoning, and pay annual tribute The Jin Kingdom has a huge amount of annual coins (this article is very similar to the agreements of the Shaoxing Collegial Conference, Longxing Peace Conference and Jiading Peace Conference in the Southern Song Dynasty).
The counter-conditions given by Yuan Chonghuan are: The Jin State will consider returning the land in Liaodong it occupied and the captive population in Liaodong, withdrawing its troops from North Korea, and guaranteeing that it will not invade North Korea again.
Huang Taiji really couldn't accept Yuan Ji's conditions. He did have the will for peace, but it was a pity that Yuan Ji's conditions were too harsh. On Yuan Chonghuan's side, although he was already the governor of Liaodong, and despite his high position, he did not have the power to negotiate peace with Huang Taiji. The purpose of his roundabout communication with Huang Taiji was to buy time and quickly build the fortresses and cities needed for the upcoming battle.
The two sides fought once in the first year of Tiancong, but Huang Taiji was never able to capture Jinzhou. The Jin army attacked for seven consecutive days, with extremely heavy casualties. For the sake of face, they had to use the excuse that the weather was too hot and ordered the troops to retreat.
As for the Ming court, after hearing the news of the victory, the whole of Beijing almost burst into excitement, calling the victory "Ningjin's Victory". Yuan's men were rewarded with rewards and promoted to officials, but Yuan himself was accused by Wei Zhongxian in the court of being "too angry!" Yuan, a military general who was already angry, resigned angrily. Wei Zhongxian asked Xizong to agree to his request to resign. In response to the sentence "There are treacherous ministers in the court, and generals cannot make meritorious deeds".
Fortunately, Wei Zhongxian, who had so much power over the government and the public, was even a eunuch who had a shrine built for him while he was still alive. Xizong, who supported him, died soon after. The person who ascended the throne was Emperor Zhuang Lie (Emperor Chongzhen), the younger brother of Xizong. Soon after he came to the throne, Wei Zhongxian was demoted, and he also died on the road. Yuan Chonghuan was appointed as the "Right Minister of the Ministry of War". Soon after, he was promoted to "Shang Shu of the Ministry of War, concurrently the right deputy censor of the capital, commander of the capital Ji Liao, and also in charge of military affairs in Denglai, Tianjin".
After Huang Taiji returned, in order to deal with the Ming Dynasty, he conquered Chahar in the west. Then he sent commanders to enter the Great Wall twice. The purpose was not to attack the Ming Dynasty and change dynasties, but to gain recognition from the Ming Dynasty. After the purpose failed, he proclaimed himself emperor in April of the tenth year of Tiancong (the ninth year of Chongzhen) and changed the name of the country to Da. In the Qing Dynasty, the reign name was changed to Chongde.
The act of proclaiming himself emperor was more of an expression that he no longer wanted to be a khan of the Jin Dynasty, nor was he willing to be a vassal of the Ming Dynasty. As for changing the name of the country to the Qing Dynasty, it also clearly showed his intention to replace it with the Ming Dynasty. If there was ever a time when Huang Taiji's ambitions expanded to this, it was this time. It is written in the Book of Songs that "Wei Qing Ji Xi", and the meaning of "Xi" here is "Ming". The most wonderful thing is the era name, the word "Chongde", you "advocate Zhen" and I "advocate De", you advocate Zhenxiang and I advocate morality, it can be seen that I am higher than you, using the era name to occupy the high place, here Very well done.
From then on, Huang Taiji changed his identity, and his previous name must also be changed: from then on, he would not speak of Jurchens, and changed his clan name to Manchu; there were only Manchu, Manchu and Manchu characters. What's even more ridiculous is that he also changed the name of his ancestor. I don't know if it was out of inferiority or something else, for fear that others would find out the origin and foundation of the Qing Dynasty royal family.
After Huang Taiji proclaimed himself emperor, he went on to launch two large-scale expeditions against the Ming Dynasty. However, at this time, he no longer led the expedition in person, but sent generals such as Azig, Dorgon, and Abatai. He successively occupied Jinzhou and Songshan, and also captured Zu Dashou and Hong Chengchou.
Huang Taiji's process of obtaining his ancestor's longevity is indeed admirable. He can be called the "English Master" in terms of measurement, knowledge, and strategy. When Nurhaci attacked Ningyuan, Zu Dashou was beaten away with cannons. When Huang Taiji attacked Ningyuan, he was asked to lead four thousand elite soldiers to attack behind, so Huang Taiji had no choice but to retreat. Zu Dashou was forced to build the river city. Just halfway through, Huang Taiji sent people to attack and surrounded him. The people who came to rescue the Ming army were beaten away by Huang Taiji in waves. In the fifth year of Tiancong (the fourth year of Chongzhen) In October of the year), Huang Taiji sent people to the city to surrender. Zu Dashou saw that he had no choice but to ask Huang Taiji to swear that he would not massacre soldiers and soldiers. Huang Taiji immediately agreed. Zu Dashou went out of the city and surrendered to Huang Taiji for the first time.
The next day Huang Taiji prepared to capture Jinzhou, but unfortunately, heavy fog broke out that day and the Jin army was unable to advance. Zu Dashou applied to Huang Taiji to lead more than twenty retinues and entered Jinzhou as an internal response. Huang Taiji was very happy and readily agreed.
As soon as Zu Dashou arrived in Jinzhou, he immediately closed the city gate and defended Jinzhou. Huang Taiji had no choice but to lose face with the Jin army ministers. The ministers laughed at him for being too naive. Huang Taiji wrote several more letters and sent them to Zu Dashou, but Zu Dashou never replied.
On Chongzhen's side, when he saw that Zu Dashou was guarding Jinzhou again, he ordered him to go back to Beijing to talk. He shouted three times, but Zu Dashou couldn't shirk him because he was frightened by the arrest of Yuan Chonghuan back then, and now Yuan Chonghuan Already being Ling Chi, he was watching Yuan's arrest at his side. He was deeply impressed and fearful of Chongzhen. He was afraid, but he was still loyal to Chongzhen.
In the next three or four years, Huang Taiji ordered people to attack Jinzhou many times, but nothing could be done. Seeing that hard work could not work, he changed to another method. In the first year of Chongde, the six ministries and the Metropolitan Procuratorate, which had been imitated in the Ming Dynasty, were all replaced by Zu Dashou's old ministries as Han ministers. But Zu Dashou didn't seem to understand Huang Taiji's good intentions and had no reaction.
Huang Taiji's trustee told Zu Dashou: "Since we last met, you and I have not seen each other for six or seven years. I don't mind if you are loyal to the Ming Dynasty, because you are a general of the Ming Dynasty. This is understandable, but on my side All the ministers said that I am ignorant of human wisdom. I hope you can meet me and let me have an explanation for them. If you are afraid that the Ming Dynasty, especially Chongzhen, will be suspicious of you, you might as well ask a few people to accompany you." Zu Dashou still said Ignore it.
In March of the sixth year of Chongde, Huang Taiji ordered Jierhalang to besiege Jinzhou. There were Mongolians in the besieged defenders, and there were also Mongols in the attacking army. The Mongols defending the city said to the Mongols attacking the city: "We have three years of food now, and we are not afraid of your siege." The attackers said, "We can besiege you for four or five years without any problem. What will you eat by then?" The defenders panicked and accepted the persuasion to surrender, and agreed with the besieging Mongols on a date to cooperate inside and outside.
But on that day, Zu Dashou retreated to the "Zicheng" of Jinzhou City and stayed in the "Zicheng" for a long time. The Qing army continued to besiege, but the turning point was reached. In March of the seventh year of Chongde (the fifteenth year of Chongzhen), Hong Chengchou was arrested. Also arrested were Zu Dashou's younger brothers Zu Dale, Zu Daming, and Zu Dacheng. Huang Taiji sent back Zu Daming and Zu Dacheng, and sent people to persuade them to surrender. Zu Dashou said: "I have to know that Zu Dashou is still alive before I can descend." Huang Taiji then released Zu Dale. On the tenth day of March in the seventh year of Chongde, Zu Dashou went out of the city and surrendered to Huang Taiji for the second time. When he arrived in Shengjing, he saw Huang Taiji. Huang Taiji said: "I told people that I will never kill you. What happened in the past It’s over, just do your best to serve me from now on.”
