The closer you are, the farther you go, and the simplest tones require the most strenuous practice.

– Rabindranath Tagore (Indian poet, philosopher, and Indian nationalist)

In a short period of more than 50 days, the cavalry of the upper three banners, the most elite of the Jianzhou Jurchen Eight Banners, was rapidly expanded from 60,000 at the beginning of its formation to 160,000, and the extra 100,000 cavalry all came from the tribal base camp on the grassland behind the Jianzhou Jurchen.

After the 100,000 cavalry were dispatched again, the huge Jianzhou Jurchen tribe had less than 50,000 men who could turn over their horses and join the battle.

How could Nurhachi, who can be called a generation of heroes, not know that what he was doing was overdrawing the development potential of Jianzhou Jurchen? But the current situation forced him, who knew that his time was short, and he had to make such a choice.

Otherwise, Nurhachi knew in his heart that once he died, the Aixin Jueluo family, whose ruling foundation was not yet solid, would inevitably be attacked by the other Jianzhou Jurchen tribes, and in that case, his Aixin Jueluo family would die out nine times out of ten.

Although Nurhachi's younger brothers Shuerhaqi and Murhaqi are both powerful banner masters within the Jianzhou Jurchens, and they are both core members of the Aixin Jueluo family, is the Aixin Jueluo family under their rule still their own Aixin Jueluo family?

Between the future of the Jianzhou Jurchen and the future of the Aixin Jueluo family, Nurhachi, who puts the interests of the family above the interests of the clan, decisively chose the interests of the family;

100,000 cavalry from various Jurchen tribes in Jianzhou were supplemented with the Shangsan Banner, which was composed entirely of elites, and the total number of Shangsanqi's armies increased to 160,000, of which the Zhenglan Banner of Daishan and the Blue Banner of Huang Taiji were each expanded to 40,000.

Originally, the Zhenghuang Banner, which was led by Nurhachi's relatives, had 20,000 elite cavalry and 60,000 ordinary cavalry after the expansion of the army, becoming the strongest banner among the upper three banners;

After expanding the total number of troops in Shangsanqi from 60,000 to 160,000, the second thing Nurhachi did was to choose a new head of the Aixin Jueluo family after his death, that is, to appoint one of his sons to succeed him as the Khan of Jianzhou Jurchen.

Since Chu Ying's death, Dai Shan, the eldest of his many sons, and the most capable Huang Taiji, have always been the objects of Nurhachi's key training; otherwise, Nurhachi would not have handed over the Blue Banner and the Blue Banner to their commanders.

But the problem is that Dai Shan's biological mother and Huang Taiji's biological mother have been dead for many years, and now Nurhachi's side is Abahai, the biological mother of Azig, Dolgon, and Duoduo, and the woman's pillow wind is often the most influential in the decision-making of the superiors.

With Abahai by his side and blowing the pillow wind, Nurhachi loves his three young sons far more than the other sons, and even Chu Ying, who was the most favored in the past, did not enjoy the treatment of Azig and the other three at the peak of his power.

When he was about to lose control of the spread of the strange poison in his body, Nurhachi, who loved his three young sons very much, suddenly ordered that he would divide his most elite and most descendant Zhenghuang Banner into three and give it to the three brothers Azig, Dolgon, and Duoduo.

Azig and Duoduo, who were each assigned 5,000 elite cavalry and 20,000 ordinary cavalry, and Dolgon, who were assigned 10,000 elite cavalry and 20,000 ordinary cavalry, instantly became the most powerful banner lord of the Jianzhou Jurchens, Baylor, and even Dai Shan and Huang Taiji could not match!

In addition to the 80,000 cavalry of the Zhenghuang Banner divided into three to the three Azig brothers, Nurhachi, who was still clear-headed, also deliberately appointed Dolgon, who was good at civil and military equipment, as the leader of the Zhenghuang Banner Baylor, and Azig and Duoduo were assigned to the Zhenghuang Banner Commander Baylor.

Since the establishment of the Eight Banners, no banner has ever set up two Gushan Ezhen (Dutong), and no banner of Gushan Ezhen can get the title of Baylor; you know, not every son of Nurhachi is eligible to be named Baylor.

Up to now, among Nurhachi's fifteen sons, only the second son Daishan, the fifth son Mang Gurtai, the seventh son Abatai, and the tenth son De Zhige have been named Baylor, and the other sons are Taiji who has no real power, and they just have the special identity of the Aixin Jueluo family.

Even Dai Shan and Huang Taiji, who had the most strength to win the position of Khan's heir before, did not expect that their twelfth brother Azig, fourteenth brother Dorgon, and fifteenth brother Duoduo would be suddenly crowned as the real power Baylor by their father Khan, becoming their strong contenders.

Who among the magnates within the Jianzhou Jurchens does not know that the banner owner of the Zhenghuang Banner is basically equivalent to the heir of the Khan, because the Zhenghuang Banner is not only a banner commanded by Nurhachi himself, but also a banner under which Nurhachi, the Khan, personally serves as the banner owner!

To a certain extent, Zhenghuangqi is Nurhachi's descendant guard, and it is the Praetorian Guard of the Jurchen Khan of Jianzhou;

If Nurhachi's reuse of his three young sons was to support Dolgon to inherit the throne of Khan, then his reuse of several other core members of the Aisin Jueluo family made the already foggy situation even more confusing.

After the death of Nurhachi's eldest son, Chu Ying, his eldest son, Nurhachi's eldest grandson Du Du, has always been excluded from the core of power by the Jianzhou Jurchen magnates;

Du Du, who had no chance of getting ahead, thought that his life had passed in such a mess, but he didn't expect that Nurhachi, who was getting poisoned and dying, would personally canonize him as Baylor and give him the 10,000 cavalry of the Zhenglan Banner!

The core of the Jurchen Eight Banners system in Jianzhou was not the control of the Eight Banners by the Khan in the highest ruling position, but the control of the Eight Banners by their respective banner owners and leaders, in other words, any of the Eight Banners was not the Eight Banners of the banner owner Baylor alone.

For example, the Yellow Banner, which was newly assigned to the three brothers Azig, Dolgon, and Duoduo, was assigned 10,000 elite cavalry and 20,000 ordinary cavalry.

The 25,000 cavalry under Azig and the 25,000 cavalry under Dordor were first directly subordinate to Azig and Dordor and then to the Yellow Banner army, which meant that Dorgon had to have the support of both men in order to mobilize their army.

Du Du, who was promoted to Baylor and obtained the ownership of 10,000 Zhenglan Banner cavalry, became the second most powerful Baylor in the Zhenglan Banner after Daishan, and alongside him, Yue Tuo, who was also appointed Baylor, also received 10,000 Zhenglan Banner cavalry.

Compared with Du Du, who has a very bad relationship with Daishan, Yue Tuo, who is Daishan's eldest son, naturally will not go against his father, so even if Zhenglanqi is no longer Daishan's Yiyantang, he still controls three-quarters of the power of Zhenglanqi.