Niohuru Eidu

Biography

Family Background and Early Life Eidu's family had long lived in the Yengge valley of the Changbai Mountains. He belonged to the Niohuru clan and was attached to the Manchu Bordered Yellow Banner. His father was Duling'a. When Eidu was young, his parents were killed by enemies, while he survived because he had hidden in a neighboring village. In 1574, the second year of the Wanli era, the thirteen-year-old Eidu personally killed his parents' enemy and then went to Giyamuhu fortress in present-day Fushun, Liaoning, to seek shelter with his aunt's husband, Mutong'a. There he became close to his cousin Gahasan Hashu. The “Biography of Eidu” in the Draft History of Qing states that his parents were killed by enemies when he was young, that he escaped by hiding in a neighboring village, and that at thirteen he killed their enemy before seeking refuge with his aunt's family at Giyamuhu. ### Following Nurhaci In 1580, the eighth year of the Wanli era, Aisin Gioro Nurhaci passed through Giyamuhu and stayed at Mutong'a's home. Eidu spoke with Nurhaci through the night and, impressed by him, decided to follow him despite his aunt's objections. He declared that a man should not spend his life in obscurity and that he would establish merit so that his aunt would not have to worry about him. The next day he left with Nurhaci. At the time, Nurhaci was in a precarious position and possessed only thirteen suits of armor. Some members of his clan, including Longdun, feared the Ming and plotted to kill Nurhaci to seek favor with the Ming authorities, even sending men to attack him at night. Eidu remained at Nurhaci's side and helped him escape danger. ### Founding Campaigns In 1583, the eleventh year of the Wanli era, Nurhaci raised troops against Nikan Wailan. Eidu accompanied him in capturing Turun, Sekejicheng, and Shulekebuzhan. Eidu was renowned as a fierce warrior and was said to be able to draw an exceptionally strong bow, often defeating larger forces with smaller ones. In 1587, the fifteenth year of the Wanli era, he led troops against Barda. Floodwaters in the Hun River blocked the march, so he ordered his soldiers to tie ropes around themselves and cross in single file. He then led selected warriors in a night assault. The defenders awoke and loosed volleys of arrows; one arrow pierced Eidu's thigh and pinned him to the wall. He cut the shaft with his sword and continued fighting. Although he suffered more than fifty wounds, he refused to retreat and ultimately took the town. Nurhaci subsequently granted him the title Baturu. In 1593, the twenty-first year of the Wanli era, a nine-tribe coalition including Yehe, Ula, and Hada attacked Jianzhou. Nurhaci ordered Eidu to lead one hundred cavalry in a challenge. Eidu personally killed nine opponents, drove back the enemy, captured the Yehe beile Bujai, and followed the victory by taking Nuosaizhai and Zhaojiacun. Soon afterward, together with Gagai and Anfiyanggû, he captured Foduohe Mountain and killed Souwen Sekeshi. Eidu later accompanied Nurhaci in campaigns that destroyed Hada, Huifa, and Ula; attacked the Eastern Sea Woji groups; and received the submission of the Namdulu, Suifen, Ningguta, and Nimaca routes. His record of military service was extensive. ### One of the Five Principal Ministers In 1615, the forty-third year of the Wanli era, Nurhaci established the Eight Banner system, and Eidu was assigned to the Bordered Yellow Banner. In 1616, the first year of the Tianming era, Nurhaci founded the Later Jin and appointed Eidu, Fiongdon, Hohori, Tonggiya Hūrhan, and Anfiyanggû as the five principal ministers, jointly participating in state affairs. In 1617, the second year of the Tianming era, Eidu and Anfiyanggû attacked Ming territory and captured the forts of Magendan, Huabaochong, Sancha'er, and others. ### The Battle of Sarhu and Later Years In 1619, the fourth year of the Tianming era, the Ming commander Yang Hao led several armies against the Later Jin. The four senior beile, including Daišan, moved to resist them and reached Tailangang. Daišan argued that they should wait because the khan had not yet arrived. The fourth beile, Aisin Gioro Hong Taiji, argued that laborers building the fortifications at Jiefan had to be protected and that halting would only show weakness. Eidu agreed. The Later Jin army therefore continued to Jiefan. The construction laborers joined the fighting, and Nurhaci soon arrived with reinforcements. Attacking from both front and rear, they heavily defeated Du Song's Ming army. Eidu later served in the vanguard and successively defeated the armies of Ma Lin at Shangjianya and Liu Ting at Abudaligang. Eidu accompanied Nurhaci on campaign many times and was said never to have suffered defeat. Whenever he received rewards, he distributed them among officers and soldiers who had distinguished themselves and did not keep them for himself. Nurhaci treated him with exceptional favor and successively gave him a female clanswoman and a daughter in marriage. Eidu was later appointed commander-in-chief of the Left Wing and a first-rank minister. His dependents were divided into three hereditary companies and placed under the Bordered Yellow and Plain White Banners. In 1621, the sixth year of the Tianming era, Eidu died of illness in Shenyang at the age of sixty. Nurhaci came to mourn him three times.

Eidu's parents were killed by enemies when he was a child, and he escaped by hiding in a neighbouring village. In 1574, at thirteen, he killed the enemy with his own hand and went to the Jiamuhu stockade to join his aunt's husband Mutong'a, the chief there, getting on well with his cousin Hasihu, two years his elder. Some years later, when Nurhaci passed through and lodged at Mutong'a's house, Eidu talked with him all night and, feeling that he had met too late, resolved to follow him against his aunt's objections, saying that a great man should not end his days in mediocrity, that wherever this venture might lead, he would never bring his aunt grief; and the next morning he went off with Nurhaci.

Nurhaci was then in hard case, with only thirteen suits of armour to his house, and his kinsmen Longdun and the rest, fearing the Ming, plotted to kill him and curry favour, attacking him again and again and once sending men to waylay him by night, when the guard Pahai was killed. Eidu and An Fiyanggu watched over him closely and brought him through safe. In 1583, when Nurhaci rose against Nikan Wailan, Eidu went with him, was first up the wall at Tulun, took Sekeji by surprise and led a separate force that stormed the stockade of Shulekebuzhan. Brave and skilful in war, he could draw a ten-picul bow and beat many with few, and Nurhaci trusted him more and more.

In the eighth month of 1587 Eidu was ordered to take the city of Barda. Reaching the Hun river, swollen with autumn water and impassable, he lashed the soldiers together with ropes and crossed in single file, then attacked the city by night at the head of picked men. The garrison woke and fought in haste, and a flying arrow pierced his thigh and pinned him to the battlements; he cut the shaft with his sword and fought the harder, and with more than fifty wounds upon him did not give way, and took the city. As the army returned Nurhaci met him outside the walls, feasted him, gave him all the prisoners and cattle taken, and named him Baturu. He afterward took the cities of Nimara and Janggiya and the Solhori stockade from the Sakca, and when Keshi of Jiefan, a thief of noted courage, ran off with nine horses, Eidu rode him down alone and brought all the horses back; and when Behuibayan of Jiamuhu plotted to go over to Hada, Eidu was sent against him and put him and his four sons to death and exposed them.

In the ninth month of 1593, when the nine tribes under Yehe and the rest invaded Jianzhou and attacked the town of Heijige, Nurhaci drew up his army at Gule mountain and sent Eidu with a hundred horsemen to provoke battle. Eidu cut down nine men and drove the enemy back, and the Yehe beile Bushai was taken alive; the nine tribes' armies broke and scattered, and Eidu took the stockade of Nosai and the village of Jaogiya in the flush of victory. When the chief of the Neyin route, Souwen Sekeshi, gathered the men of seven stockades on Mount Fodohe, Eidu with Gagai and An Fiyanggu besieged and stormed it with a thousand men and killed him, and Nurhaci gave him the horse he himself rode.

In 1599 Eidu helped destroy Hada; in 1607 he followed the beile Bayara and others against the Weji tribes of the eastern sea and took the three routes of Hexihei, Emohe Sulu and Fonehe Tuokso, with two thousand captives, and in the ninth month destroyed Hui Fa; in 1610 he was sent to pacify the four routes of Namdulu, Suifen, Ningguta and Nimaca among the Weji, bringing in nineteen men under Kang Guli, and then took the Yalan route as well. He went on to further campaigns and became one of the five great ministers of the founding of the Later Jin, bound to Nurhaci both as servant and as kinsman by marriage. He died in 1621 at sixty, and under Emperor Taizong was given posthumously the title Duke Hongyi and a place in the imperial ancestral temple; his son Ebilun was an assistant regent in the early Kangxi years, and the family held a great place in the politics of the early Qing. Eidu was one of the most important commanders of Nurhaci's first years, known for daring and loyalty: from the rising with thirteen suits of armour to the unification of the Jianzhou tribes he had a part in almost every early campaign, his exploits lying chiefly in storming cities and night attacks, and his career is recorded in the Ming-Qing histories and in the official accounts of the early Qing.

Several of Eidu's sons held office, and his descendants inherited noble ranks through the Qing, the family's standing as old meritorious servants enduring for generations.

Major Activities

Unification of the Jurchen Tribes Eidu participated in nearly all of Nurhaci's major campaigns to unify the Jurchen tribes. Beginning with the campaign against Nikan Wailan in 1583, he took part in the capture of Turun, Sekejicheng, Shulekebuzhan, Barda, Kenimalan, Zhangjiacheng, Suo'erhuzhai, and other places. At the Battle of Gure in 1593 he personally killed nine opponents, captured the Yehe beile Bujai, and helped rout the nine-tribe coalition. He later participated in the destruction of Hada in 1599, campaigns against the Eastern Sea Woji groups in 1607, the destruction of Huifa in the same year, pacification of four Woji routes in 1610, the campaign on the Hūrha route and capture of Jakūta in 1611, and the destruction of Ula in 1613. ### Battle of Sarhu In 1619, the fourth year of the Tianming era, the Ming Liaodong commander Yang Hao launched a four-pronged invasion of the Later Jin. Eidu served in the vanguard. He took part in the defeat of Du Song's army at Jiefan, Ma Lin's force at Shangjianya, and Liu Ting's army at Abudaligang. The Battle of Sarhu was a strategic confrontation between the Later Jin and Ming, and Eidu's bravery and combat ability contributed to the Later Jin's decisive victory. ### Founding Service When the Later Jin was founded in 1616, Eidu was appointed one of the five principal ministers and participated jointly in state affairs. He eventually rose to commander-in-chief of the Left Wing and first-rank minister, received provisions for one hundred dependents for three generations, and had his following divided into three hereditary companies attached to the Bordered Yellow and Plain White Banners. ### Family and Descendants Eidu had five wives or concubines and, according to the source text, seventeen sons and twelve daughters. Among his better-known sons were Daki, his second son, who married Nurhaci's fifth daughter and was later personally killed by Eidu for arrogance; Celge, his third son, who rose to a senior position in the Board of Revenue; Turgei, his eighth son, who became an imperial guard commander and third-rank duke; Ilden, his tenth son, who became a member of the Deliberative Council and a second-rank count; and Ebilun, his sixteenth son, an important official during the Kangxi reign. Eidu's family was closely connected with the Qing imperial house. Empress Xiaozhaoren, Empress Xiaoherui, Empress Xiaomucheng, and Empress Dowager Ci'an were among his descendants.

Personal Relations

• Aunt: married Mutong'a, chieftain of Giyamuhu fortress
• Cousin: Gahasan Hashu
• Wives and concubines: a Gioro woman, daughter of Lidun Baturu and styled a princess; two sisters of the Tonggiya clan; and Mukush, a princess and the fourth daughter of Nurhaci
• Sons: Banxi, Daki, Celge, Handai, Adahai, Dalong'ai, Maohai, Turgei, Tuerxi, Ilden, Aode, Esen, Chahar, Ge'erte, Suohuan, Ebilun, and Fiyanggū
• Daughters: one became a primary consort of Aisin Gioro Hong Taiji; one married the beizi Nikan; one married the first-rank baron and lieutenant-general Wubai; one became the principal wife of Jirgalang ### Ruler and Subject - Aisin Gioro Nurhaci: Eidu began following him at age nineteen and remained close to him for more than forty years. Nurhaci gave him a female clanswoman and later a princess in marriage, granted him the title Baturu, and placed him among the five principal ministers.
• Aisin Gioro Hong Taiji: during the Battle of Sarhu, Eidu supported Hong Taiji's proposal to advance. After succeeding to power, Hong Taiji posthumously made Eidu Duke Hongyi and had him enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple.
• Shunzhi Emperor: in 1654 personally composed an inscription for a commemorative stele honoring Eidu's achievements. ### Colleagues - Fiongdon: one of the five principal ministers; in the first year of Chongde both men were enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple, their tablets placed on either side of that of the Qing founder.
• Hohori and Tonggiya Hūrhan: campaigned with Eidu against the Hūrha route of the Woji groups in 1611.
• Anfiyanggû: attacked the Ming forts of Magendan, Huabaochong, and Sancha'er with Eidu in 1617.
• Gagai: helped Eidu capture Foduohe Mountain in 1593. ### Conflicts - Longdun and other clansmen: fearing the Ming, they repeatedly plotted against Nurhaci; Eidu remained at Nurhaci's side and helped avert danger.
• Daki, his second son: became arrogant because of imperial favor and behaved disrespectfully toward the princes. Fearing that he would one day betray the state and ruin the family, Eidu personally killed him.

Historical Assessment

Qing / Contemporary - Nurhaci increasingly trusted Eidu, gave him a female clanswoman and later a princess in marriage, and granted him the title Baturu. After Eidu died, “the founder came to mourn him three times.”

• Aisin Gioro Hong Taiji posthumously made Eidu Duke Hongyi and enshrined him in the Imperial Ancestral Temple, declaring before the founder's spirit tablet that Eidu had “assisted the imperial father above and displayed outstanding merit.”
• The Shunzhi Emperor personally composed a stele inscription praising Eidu for forgetting himself in loyal bravery, for maintaining that commitment from beginning to end, for expanding the territory, and for long-standing military achievements and exceptional fierceness.
• The “Biography of Eidu” in the Draft History of Qing states that Eidu was bold and skilled in battle, could draw an extraordinarily strong bow, could defeat larger forces with smaller ones, and was repeatedly victorious; it also says that whenever Nurhaci campaigned, Eidu served in the field and never suffered a setback. ### Republican Period - The Draft History of Qing, compiled under Zhao Erxun, placed Eidu prominently among the founding meritorious officials of the Later Jin, describing his campaigns in detail and emphasizing his loyalty and courage. ### Modern Scholarship - The Japanese scholar Uchida Naofumi wrote a study on the Niohuru Eidu family and the palace guard establishment in the early Qing, examining the relationship between Eidu's lineage and the early-Qing imperial guard system.
• Contemporary Qing historians generally regard Eidu as the most militarily accomplished of the five founding ministers of the Later Jin and view his family as politically important in the early Qing.