舒爾哈齊 Shū'ěrhāqí

Shu'erhaqi, Prince Zhuang of the First Rank

Shu'erhaqi, Prince Zhuang of the First Rank, was the third son of Xianzu. At first he was a beile. The chief of Feiyou City, Cemutehei, suffering from the cruelty of Wula, wished to come over and submit. Taizu ordered Shu'erhaqi and the beile Chuying and Daishan, the generals Feiyingdong, Yangguli and Changshu, and the guardsmen Hu'erhan and Naqibu to lead three thousand men to receive him. The night was dark and overcast; as the army marched, there was a light on the standards, and Shu'erhaqi said: "I have followed the emperor on campaigns many times and never seen such a strange sign; is it not an ill omen?" He wished to turn the troops back, but Chuying and Daishan would not agree. They reached Feiyou, brought in all five hundred households of the camps and stockades around the city, and returned. Buzhantai, the beile of Wula, sent out ten thousand men to intercept them on the road, and Chuying and Daishan fought hard and broke them. Shu'erhaqi stopped at the foot of a hill with five hundred men, and Changshu and Naqibu separately led a hundred men who followed him. After Chuying and Daishan had broken the enemy, they drove the troops forward, going round the hill, and were unable to kill or capture many. When the army returned, he was granted the title Da'erhan Baturu. Afterwards, Changshu and Naqibu were judged guilty of stopping at the foot of the hill and not fighting hard, and were liable to death. Shu'erhaqi said: "To execute these two ministers is the same as to kill me." So Taizu pardoned them, fining Changshu a hundred taels of gold and taking away Naqibu's subordinates. From then on Taizu did not send Shu'erhaqi to command troops. Shu'erhaqi was constantly gloomy, and said to his first son A'ertong'a and his third son Zhasaketu: "Am I to be held in bondage by another for the sake of clothing and food?" He moved to live at Heichemu. Taizu was angry and had the two sons executed, and only then did Shu'erhaqi return. In the eighth month of the xinhai year, he died. In the tenth year of Shunzhi, he was posthumously enfeoffed and given a posthumous name. He had nine sons, of whom five held titles: A'min, Tulun, Zhaisangwu, Ji'erhalang and Feiyangwu. Edit

Grandson of Shu'erhaqi, of the grade of a Duke Who Assists the State: Zhakana

Zhakana was the son of Zhasaketu. In the eighth month of the third year of Chongde, Duo'ergun, Prince Rui of the First Rank, led troops against the Ming, destroyed the frontier wall, reached Zhuozhou, and divided the army to enter by eight routes. Zhakana made for Linqing Department, crossed the Grand Canal, broke Jinan, and on the return broke Tianjin Garrison, having merit wherever he went. In the fourth year, the army returned, and he was granted a camel and a horse and two thousand taels of silver, and enfeoffed as Duke Who Guards the State. The emperor ordered him to pursue the Mongols and Chinese who had fled; Zhakana, because of the mire, returned without pursuing, and was demoted to Duke Who Assists the State. In the sixth year, he followed the emperor in attacking Jinzhou. The Ming Governor-General Hong Chengchou led troops to attack the camp of the Bordered Red Banner, and he defeated them. After the fighting had stopped, the enemy attacked our rear, coming within a hundred paces; Zhakana turned and fought with all his strength, and the enemy fled in alarm. Together with Feiyangwu, Duke Who Assists the State, he again pursued and struck the Ming generals Wu Sangui, Bai Guang'en, Wang Pu and others at Tashan. In the seventh year, he garrisoned Jinzhou. It was then retroactively charged that, at the time of the funeral of Consort Minhui Gonghe Yuan, Zhakana had taken pleasure in singing and dancing with A'jige, Prince Wuying of the Second Rank, which was great disrespect; he was stripped of his title, struck from the clan register, and confined. Edit

In the early years of Shunzhi, he was released. He followed Duo'ergun in defeating Li Zicheng, his name was restored to the clan register, and he was given the grade of a Duke Who Assists the State. Together with Fulehe, Duke Who Guards the State, he garrisoned Jiangnan, and again followed Lekedehun, Grand General Who Pacifies the South, in the campaign through Huguang. When the army returned, he was granted fifty taels of gold and a thousand taels of silver. In the fifth year, he followed Wakeda, Prince of the Second Rank, to the army of A'jige, Prince Ying of the First Rank, to garrison Datong. In the sixth year, he was promoted to beizi. In the ninth year, he followed Nikan, Grand General Who Settles Distant Lands, on the campaign in Hunan, and was granted a python robe, a saddle and horse, and a bow and arrows. At Hengzhou, Nikan fell in battle, and the emperor ordered Tunqi the beile and Zhakana to command his army jointly. He defeated Ming troops at Zhoujiapo. In the eleventh year, he was retroactively charged with the defeat at Hengzhou and deprived of his title. In the twelfth year, he was again given the grade of a Duke Who Assists the State. In the fifteenth year, he followed Duoni, Grand General Who Settles Distant Lands and Quiets Bandits, in the campaign through Yunnan, and took Yongchang. In the intercalary third month of the sixteenth year, he died with the army. His son Makana inherited. Edit