Fascicle One
Records in the Pointed Script
Taizu 1
(Wanli 35, 1607)
(1) ¡ In order to destroy our forces, he [Bujantai, khan of Ula] sent out a large army to ambush us. After encountering the [enemy] force that had been lying in wait, Hūrhan Hiya took the five hundred households he was leading and, after erecting a palisade on top of the mountain, deployed one hundred soldiers and had them stand guard over the households. To the three beile who had decamped along with their soldiers, he sent someone with the message that “the army of Ula has ambushed us.” That night, the multitudes of Ula . . . [text missing in original]. “. . . spared him. After all, he is the one whom we made ruler, having thus spared his life and dispatched him to the Ula gurun. This Bujantai is someone who has sprung from our own bosom. He has not been in place for long, and he has not changed. Do not think that this army [of his] is so great. We have the great majesty that heaven has bestowed on us, and we have the fearsome reputation of the Father-Khan. How can we not defeat this army?!”
After this speech, all the soldiers rejoiced and responded by saying, “Let’s attack and slaughter them!” and they crossed the river. After they crossed, the two sons of Sure Kundulen Khan each took five hundred troops and, attacking in two columns, up the mountain (2) they advanced. The Younger Brother beile [Šurgaci] took five hundred troops and remained standing guard at the foot of the mountain. Like puppies that have not yet opened their eyes, those two young sons thus each took five hundred troops and attacked up the mountain. After they had defeated the enemy, while they were administering the executions, the Younger Brotherbeile, who had placed a large mountain between himself and the battle, approached closer but was unable to kill a great number of the enemy.
[Though Bujantai had previously been] captured in battle, his life had been spared [by Nurhaci], who dispatched him to the country of Ula and made him ruler there. On top of being pardoned, he was given two wives, [sisters] who were born to the same father. After Bujantai rebelled, his army lay in wait and prepared an ambush in order to kill his wife’s father and his two brothers-in-law, who had gathered their households. Heaven rebuked the ten-thousand-strong army of Bujantai. Heaven and Earth praised the rectitude of Sure Kundulen Khan’s heart, in addition to his mercy and his generosity.
When Sure Kundulen Khan was forty-nine sui, on the twentieth day of the third month of the year of the Sheep, the two sons, leading one thousand soldiers, defeated the forces of Bujantai that had ambushed them. They killed the father and son of the army’s leader, Bokdo beile, and they captured alive Cangju beile and his son, along with his younger brother Hūribu beile. They killed three thousand men, obtained five thousand horses, and captured three thousand sets of armour. On the day that army triumphed, (3) the weather was bright and clear. That night after it suddenly snowed and the air became cold, while the men wounded in that battle were fleeing, many of those who, because they were sweating, had removed their armor, froze to death. This is what is known as “Heavenly Assistance.” The bright rays of Heaven having struck the great banner of our army, the advantage was with us. Intent on killing Bujantai of Ula, [we] crushed the ten thousand troops which had lain in ambush.
After returning from victory over the enemy, Sure Kundulen Khan gave his younger brother the title Darhan Baturu. To his eldest son, who led the great battle and advanced in the front ranks, he gave the title Argatu Tumen. To his second son he gave the title Guyeng Baturu, saying that “while on his horse he struck the leader of the army and killed him. When he entered the battle, even if his friends tried to follow him they could not overtake him; he stood firm and advanced like his elder brothers.”
As Sure Kundulen Khan was sending his troops into battle, he placed firm trust in the amban Cangšu and the guard Nacibu: “Watch over my sons and go with them when they attack on horseback. If they dismount to attack, hold their horses [for them].” But Cangšu and Nacibu did not obey the prince who had thus charged them; (4) [instead,] they took one hundred troops and stood together with Uncle beile. When the time came to attack the enemy’s position on top of the mountain, they did not join the assault, and they were unable to kill many of the defeated enemy. Because of this, the execution of these two amban had been ordered. However, Darhan Baturu pleaded that, “If these two officials are killed, it would be the same as if I had been killed, too!” and stopped the execution. He fined the amban Cangšu one hundred ounces of silver and took away all the serfs who had been entrusted to the amban Nacibu.
After they defeated the army of Ula, the people of the Hesihe and Fenehe territories in Warka continued to follow Bujantai of Ula. Sure Kundulen Khan said to them, “We belong to the same gurun. In the far regions where you live, you have been hemmed in by Ula, which is no doubt why you have been living obeying Ula. But the khan of our onegurun has come out and defeated the army of Ula. Now obey the khan of our one gurun!” But as they did not submit, in the fifth month of the same year, he gave one thousand troops to his youngest son, Joriktu Beile, [together with] Eidu Baturu, Fiongdon Jargūci, and Hūrhan Hiya and sent them off. They attacked, completely subduing Hesihe, Omoho Suru, and Fenehe (5) village, and took two thousand prisoners.
¡ In the autumn, on the sixth day of the ninth month, a comet appeared. It was seen in the east, in the direction of the Hoifa villages, for seven or eight nights and then disappeared. After that, another comet appeared in the West, and stayed for over a month. After joining up with Bujai and Narimbulu of the Yehe, Baindari, the leader (beile) of the Hoifa, had [already] led soldiers [against us] two times. Then Baindari killed his own seven uncles himself. After the killing, his brethren revolted and went over to Narimbulu of the Yehe. Then, when word spread that the people of his villages were also about to revolt, Baindari sent the sons of seven headmen as hostages, asking [Sure Kundulen Khan] for soldiers. Sure Kundulen Khan sent one thousand soldiers to help; crushed by these reinforcements, the villagers in revolt in Hoifa were brought under control and did not escape to Yehe, too.
After this, Narimbulu of the Yehe provoked more trouble with Baindari, saying, “Take back [from Nurhaci] the boys you sent as hostages, and I will return all your brethren who came to me in revolt against you.” (6)Upon hearing these words, Baindari said [to Nurhaci], “I shall occupy a [neutral] place in between your two gurun,” and took back all the children who had been sent as hostages. [However], having taken them back, Baindari, the man who had said “I shall remain netural,” revolted and sent his son as hostage to Narimbulu of the Yehe. Narimbulu had said that he would return the rebels who had come from Baindari of the Hoifa, but when he did not return them, Baindari said, “I have fallen for the deceptive words of Narimbulu of the Yehe. Sure Kundulen Khan! I have always trusted in you, and want to live in dependence upon you. Take away the daughter whom you had given to Cangsu and bring her to me!” Afterward, Sure Kundulen Khan, thinking to give his betrothed daughter to Baindari of the Hoifa, took her away from her would-be in-laws.
[However,] Baindari changed his mind again and did not marry the girl he had said he would. After that, Sure Kundulen Khan said, “Baindari! When Yehe was powerful, you attacked [me] twice after you had joined with Narimbulu. After you had said that you would receive my daughter, why did you change your mind again in this way?” Baindari answered, “After I have got back my son who is [now still] in Yehe, (7) I will take your daughter, and after that join with you.” Having said this, he built a “thrice-girdled” city wall. Once his [Baindari’s] son had come [home] from Yehe, Sure Kundulen Khan said, “Now that you have your son who was in Yehe, what will you do?” The beile Baindari, having had the time to finish the thrice-girdled wall, changed [his mind] to not marrying the girl he had said he would take. After he had thus changed [back and forth], Sure Kundulen Khan grew angry. When campaigning at a place called Seheri Hada, the weather cleared up after having rained one day and one night. Thereupon, on the fourteenth day of the ninth month of the year of the Sheep, he surrounded the city of the Hoifa and captured it. Having seized the master of the city, the beile Baindari, father and son, he killed them. He destroyed that gurun at Hurki Hada, where many generations of the Hoifa people had lived, and took them away.
¡ In the year of the Yellow Monkey, when Sure Kundulen Khan was fifty sui, in the third month, he assigned five thousand troops to Argatu Tumen and Amin taiji and dispatched them. They surrounded the walled town of Ihan Alin in Ula, attacked it, and captured it. One thousand people were killed, and three hundred sets of armor were obtained. Supporting the Ula [chief] Bujantai was the Khorchin (8) Mongol beile, Unggadai. Bujantai’s army came out from the village and finally stopped at a distance of twenty li. Bujantai said, “This is not an army we should attack,” and returned. Argatu Tumen spent two nights in the walled town, then came back.
Sure Kundulen Khan did not dwell on the Chinese Wanli Khan’s former villainy; rather, he desired good relations. Suddenly, one day, when he thought of that villainy, he thought, “For many generations, when I have sought the good way, it was not obtained.” Thinking over this fact, he said: “Both the Chinese and the Jurchen illicitly cross the khan’s border. When this happens, let the people who find those who have crossed the border kill them. If they find them and do not kill them, may they meet with misfortune. If the Chinese renege on this agreement, let evil fortune befall the officials of these six great offices: the Chinese Khan’s executive censor and regional commander at Guangning, the Liaodong circuit intendant and regional commander, and the Kaiyuan circuit intendant and assistant regional commander.” Then, having erected stelae to mark the border in various places, in the year of the monkey, on the twentieth day of the sixth month, they killed a white horse, placing blood in one bowl, flesh in another bowl, earth in another bowl, and liquor in another bowl. Once they had scraped the bones clean, they set everything out. Wu, the Liaodong regional commander and (9) Wang, the Fuxi beiguwan, came and swore that, “No one shall cross the khan’s border.”
Thus after the town of Ihan Alin was captured, the Ula beile, Bujantai, was afraid, so he dispatched emissaries [to hold talks]. In the ninth month of that same year, he seized fifty men from Narimbulu of the Yehe and turned them over to Sure Kundulen Khan’s emissaries, whom he was meeting in order to submit himself. In the meeting, Bujantai said: “Four or five times have I broken oaths I have sworn to the Father-khan. Because of my offenses, I have completely lost face! If one of the Father-khan’s own children were given [to me in marriage], I would remain forever your dependent. What say you?” After this speech, Bujantai was given the Lady Muksi, a daughter born to Sure Kundulen Khan himself. [This was] in addition [to those wives already given him].
¡ [Some of] the Warka gurun, who were scattered in the time of the ancient Jin [金] khans, had entered into Korea, and Sure Kundulen Khan investigated those Warka who were living along the borders of Korea. In order that they should all be brought [into Jurchen territory] he submitted a written grievance reporting the situation to the Wanli Khan of the great Chinese gurun. The Wanli Khan instructed the khan of Korea to investigate. The matter of the Warka gurun who had been scattered in ancient times and wandering for many generations was then (10) investigated by the Korean khan; and when Sure Kundulen Khan was fifty-one sui, in the second month of the Yellow Chicken year, he drove out the thousand households of the Warka gurun, and sent them on their way.
As for Sure Kundulen Khan’s younger brother Šurgaci beile, as he was the only younger brother born of the same father and the same mother [as Nurhaci], they inherited all things in equal measure, be they households of people [gurun], good companions, imperial decrees [i.e., from the Ming emperor], or slaves. When he was living like this, with households, companions, and all things having been given to him equally, the Younger Brother beile went to war, and was not even once able to do anything that would distinguish himself or win him fame. In affairs of state he was not even once able to offer good advice to help resolve problems. He was totally lacking in any kind of virtue. Even though he lacked virtue, yet because he was the one and only younger brother, he was raised with everything being given equally to him. But this generous treatment was not enough for the Younger Brother beile, and after causing his elder brother trouble for months and years on end, his elder brother Sure Kundulen Khan spoke, saying: “Younger brother, your way of life, your households [gurun] and companions are not the households and companions given by our father. They are the households and companions given by me, your elder brother.” After he spoke, recriminating him for his errors and mistakes, the Younger Brother beile flippantly replied, “Truly, is this life (11)so dear? Perhaps I should just die!” After he said he would abandon his brother who had inherited households and companions in equal measure as he, and take his households, settle in another town, and go to another territory, Sure Kundulen Khan grew angry.
In that same Chicken year, when Sure Kundulen Khan was fifty-one sui, and the Younger Brother beile was forty-six sui, on the thirteenth day of the third month, having taken away the households, companions and all kinds of other things that had been given to the Younger Brother beile, [Sure Kundulen Khan] left him on his own. Saying to Asibu, a boy of the ruling clan, “Why did you not counsel the Younger Brotherbeile? Why did you goad him on instead?” he killed him. Also, he bound the amban Ulkun Monggo and hung him from a tree, and having piled grass up underneath him, burned him to death. After thus shaming the Younger Brother beile and leaving him on his own, the Younger Brother beileblamed himself, and suddenly returned, saying, “When I said I wanted to go live separately, I showed ingratitude for the generous upbringing of my older brother the khan. I was truly wrong.” Sure Kundulen Khan that same year gave back all the households and companions that he had taken from the younger brother beile. [However,] not valuing living at ease by the mercy of Heaven, and being dissatisfied with his elder brother Sure Kundulen Khan’s nurturing, (12) when he was forty-eight sui, on the nineteenth day of the eighth month of the White Pig year [1611], the Younger Brother beile passed away.
¡ Previously, in the ninth month of the Yellow Chicken year [1609], it was learned that one thousand troops from the territory of the Hūrha came to the city of Ningguta, which belonged to Sure Kundulen Khan. So one hundred of Sure Kundulen Khan’s troops stationed at Sacikū went and defeated the one thousand troops of Hūrha, captured twelve leaders alive, killed one hundred men, seized hundred horses, and took one hundred sets of armor as spoils. After that, when the people of Huye territory harbored refugees from a gurun that had surrendered to Sure Kundulen Khan, Sure Kundulen Khan said, “You people of Huye territory, if you are not going to surrender, so be it. But why did you take in fugitives from a gurun that has surrendered to me?” On the twelfth month of the same year of the Chicken, he sent Hūrhan Hiya, a leading officer [amban], with one thousand troops to attack Huye territory. He captured all of that territory, and took two thousand prisoners. He celebrated the New Year there and returned in the second month. Because he had conquered that territory, Sure Kundulen Khan (13) rewarded Hūrhan Hiya with armor and a horse, and gave him the name Darhan Hiya.
After this, the people of Yaran territory abducted Tulen, a leader of Suifun territory who had surrendered to Sure Kundulen Khan. [Hence], in the White Dog year, when Sure Kundulen Khan was fifty-two sui, in the eleventh month, he sent one thousand troops under the command of Eidu Baturu. He [Nurhaci] then re-organized the people from those four territories – Namdulu, Suifun, Ningguta, and Nimaca – into households [boigon] in order to bring them along, and sent them on ahead. Soldiers then having doubled back, they attacked Yaran territory in the twelfth month and captured it all. They took ten thousand prisoners.
END OF FASCICLE 1