0:00

You're listening to an Airwave Media

0:03

Podcast. When

0:05

it comes to personal style, it's not just

0:07

about having a signature look. There

0:09

are layers to deciding what to wear. It

0:12

could be all about bold patterns that stand

0:14

out in a crowd, accentuating your gains,

0:16

or finding something sleek yet comfortable.

0:19

With Indochino, fall is the perfect time

0:21

to add a few new layers to your wardrobe. They

0:24

offer custom-made-to-measure pieces at an off-the-rack

0:26

price. And this season, Indochino

0:29

has new colors, fabrics, and styles to choose

0:31

from.

0:32

From classic suits for special occasions

0:34

to head-turning outerwear for your sidewalk

0:36

stride.

0:37

Customize your new fall pieces however you want.

0:39

Buttons, vents, pockets, lapels, you

0:41

name it, they'll build it.

0:43

Just submit your measurements online or book a showroom

0:45

appointment to work with an Indochino expert style

0:48

guide in person.

0:49

Add fresh layers to your fall style with

0:51

Indochino. Go to Indochino.com

0:54

and use code PODCAST to get 10% off

0:56

any purchase of $3.99 or more.

0:59

That's 10% off at Indochino.com

1:02

promo code PODCAST.

1:11

Hello, and welcome to the History

1:13

of China. Episode 259,

1:20

Dorgon's Domination, Death, and

1:22

Downfall. Whenever

1:28

our Imperial expeditions took place, it

1:30

was always the Uncle Prince Dorgon who

1:33

led us and devised the winning strategy.

1:36

Whether laying siege to cities or fighting on

1:38

the battlefields, he could not but conquer

1:40

and capture. While the Uncle

1:42

Prince is youthful, he is also conscientious,

1:45

being righteous and forthright. Loyal

1:48

and virtuous, he embodies the state.

1:51

He has helped realize the great enterprise.

1:55

In

1:55

addition, he helped us to ascend

1:57

to the throne and aids us personally.

3:09

that

3:50

for he decided to place the most

3:52

successful the ming disasters in command other

3:54

seen forces in hunan john c

3:57

and guangdong became

4:00

the first Han Chinese general-in-chief.

4:03

He was joined by Shang Ke-si and Gong

4:05

Zhong-ming. These three were the

4:07

only Han Chinese commanders to have been honored as princes

4:10

by Hong Tai Ji, and it was as Qing princes

4:12

that they took command. With

4:14

this move, Dorgon displayed his faith in their

4:16

loyalty and their abilities, but he acknowledged

4:19

that Manchu princes and banner commanders alone were

4:21

no longer sufficient to so great a task

4:23

as conquering the south of China. Another

4:26

area of particular headaches for the Qing conquerors

4:28

was the Peninsular Province of Shandong, jetting

4:31

out into the eastern sea, which had long

4:33

been the seat of rebel and bandit power and resistance

4:36

to centralized control. This

4:38

was exacerbated, not only in Shandong

4:40

but actually across the empire, by the proliferation

4:42

of firearms across East Asia in

4:45

the early decades of the 17th century. In

4:47

China, as the Ming authority had cracks, buckled,

4:50

and finally crumbled, local militias

4:52

and individual citizens alike had rushed to

4:54

equip and arm themselves against the threats that

4:56

constantly loomed in such an era of chaos.

5:00

Foreign bot cannons as well as locally produced guns

5:02

were widely available and used by the regular

5:04

military and rebel forces alike. As

5:07

such, it was an extremely high priority

5:10

for the new Qing authority to control and,

5:12

at least as much as was possible, curb such

5:15

private firearm possession. On

5:17

December 1, 1646 then,

5:20

the central government proclaimed a new edict. Quote,

5:23

In order to shut off the bandits sources of supply,

5:26

it is forbidden for people to trade privately

5:29

in horses, mules, armor, helmets,

5:31

bows, arrows, knives, guns,

5:34

cannons, and muskets. We

5:36

will follow the request of Ingoldi, President

5:39

of the Board of Revenue. End quote. Unsurprisingly,

5:43

many of the locals were rather less

5:45

than willing to turn in their weapons and armor

5:48

and cease the now illicit trade of such.

5:51

It would take many years before the edict was able to

5:53

be truly and fully enforced. Nevertheless,

5:56

the fastidious recordings of every

5:58

weapon thus seized by authorities all across

6:00

the Empire, underlines the seriousness

6:03

with which the Qing officials took their mandate to

6:05

disarm the indigenous Chinese and bring

6:07

them more firmly under their imperial control. At

6:10

first, the government focused its attention mainly

6:13

on controlling firearms and horses by

6:15

policing the communications systems. Transients

6:18

and travelers, for instance, were the major target

6:20

as they seemed to be the most potentially threatening. In

6:24

April 1647, special laws

6:26

were announced for Beijing itself and its surrounding

6:28

districts. 1. All

6:30

arms makers in the city had to register with their local

6:32

taxation offices, and anyone other

6:34

than officials and soldiers who wanted to buy a weapon had

6:36

to register their name and pay a special tax.

6:40

Private arms dealers would be severely punished.

6:44

2. Baojia units, which is to say local law enforcement

6:46

officials, would be instituted on a ward-by-ward

6:49

basis. 3. Strangers

6:51

were to be arrested if they were seen carrying

6:54

weapons. 4. The

6:56

practice of allowing lawless elements either to

6:58

join Manchu households as slaves or the

7:00

rearguards of imperial correction forces as

7:02

camp followers was strictly prohibited, with

7:04

future infractions being severely punished. 5. Special

7:08

Manchu guardians were assigned to checkpoints outside

7:10

the outer gates of the city to examine everyone

7:13

and everything entering the capital. 6. Sheds

7:17

and guardposts were ordered built outside

7:19

the walls to house the bannermen assigned to patrol

7:22

the face of the walls at their base. These were

7:24

to replace the long-disused and unmaintained local

7:26

police Pu Shih stations of the

7:28

Ming period. 7. Provincial

7:31

officials were told that households engaged in

7:33

horse-breathing henceforth would have to have special

7:35

permits and restrict the sale of livestock

7:38

to quote-unquote reliable elements. 8. Innkeepers

7:42

and hostlers were warned that they would have to ask

7:45

any men riding horses to show that they possessed

7:47

permits for the animals. If their

7:49

suspicions were aroused, they would have to report

7:51

the fact immediately to the local defense officials.

7:55

Initially, in 1848, it was

7:58

further stipulated that authorities across Great Chateau should

8:00

take efforts to confiscate all horses

8:02

and weapons from the civilian population, paying

8:05

for the horses, storing the useful weapons that

8:07

they could, and then destroying the rest.

8:10

Yet this quickly proved to be an unfeasible plan.

8:13

If they were completely disarmed, complained the populace,

8:16

then they would have no means of protecting themselves against

8:18

the bandits that yet roamed the countryside at

8:20

large, and who surely would not comply

8:22

with orders to disarm. Forced

8:25

to agree that this was actually a reasonable

8:27

complaint, Prince Dorgon, within

8:29

a year, reversed the policy and instituted

8:32

a set of reforms that amounted to, the answer

8:34

to bad guys with guns is good guys with

8:36

guns. He wrote as much on May 6,

8:38

1649, in an edict that said, Recently,

8:42

we have heard that the people have no weapons and cannot

8:45

repel aggressors. Bandits, on the other

8:47

hand, can profit, and the good people have to endure

8:49

bitter and poisonous misfortunes. Now,

8:52

we think that the weapons and armor which the people originally

8:54

ought not to have had, and which were

8:56

strictly forbidden in the past, such as muskets, fouling

8:59

pieces, bows and arrows, knives, spears,

9:01

and horses, ought now to be retained in

9:04

their possession and not forbidden. Return

9:06

to their original owners, those weapons which were initially

9:09

turned over to the officials. The

9:12

interesting thing about this whole weapons can't

9:15

have them, now you can't have them bit, is just how kind

9:17

of chaotic and not

9:19

really having well thought through things. The Ching's

9:22

policies early on really are. There's

9:24

a lot of throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks

9:26

in terms of policy decisions. Not only in

9:28

terms of weapons and armor and horses,

9:31

but also even things like whether or not the

9:33

indigenous Han population was expected

9:36

to cut their hair in the Ching style, which last

9:38

time we talked about. It was initially no

9:40

only army units had to, but then all of a sudden, oh yes,

9:42

everybody has to. It's this kind of ill-conceived,

9:46

not really thought-out planning that really leads

9:48

to a lot of dissatisfaction, even

9:50

further dissatisfaction, among large elements

9:53

of the populace and leads to further resistance. These

9:55

sort of displays of needless incompetence

9:58

that really if they just stopped, and thought

10:00

about things a little bit longer, maybe they could have avoided. Anyways,

10:05

the military campaign in the Southeast coastal

10:07

region, on the other hand, continued to unfold as

10:09

rapidly as the campaigning of the Nanjing regime had.

10:12

Prince Volo's commanders included Tulei and

10:14

Li Chengdong, the Butcher of Jia Ding.

10:18

Capturing Xiaoxing from Ming forces in the spring of 1646, they

10:21

then moved on through southern Zhejiang and

10:23

Fujian onto Fuzhou, forcing

10:26

the court of the Ming Prince of Tang, aka

10:28

the self-styled Longwu Emperor, to

10:31

flee into the mountains to the west, where he hoped

10:33

to link up with He Tengjiao in Hunan.

10:36

In early October, Tulei captured

10:39

Fuzhou and obtained the surrender of the naval commander,

10:41

Zheng Zilong, who returned with Volo

10:43

to Beijing. Under

10:45

Qing pressure, Zheng continued to plead

10:47

with his son, Zheng Tenggong, to surrender

10:50

until the latter finally denounced his father as a traitor

10:52

in 1653. Of

10:55

no more use to them, the Qing had Zilong

10:57

executed for his failure to convince his son to

10:59

come over to their side. Zheng

11:02

Tenggong, you'll remember, is more famously

11:04

known as Koxinga. While

11:07

Tulei was in Fuzhou, Li Chengdong pursued

11:09

the fleeing Prince to Tengzhou, where he captured

11:11

him, bringing an end to this second southern imperial

11:14

would-be regime. From

11:16

the mountains of Fujian, Li Chengdong pressed

11:18

on into southern Jiangxi and threw

11:20

the pass towards Canton, where the Prince of Tang's

11:22

brother proclaimed himself successor in

11:25

early December. By January 1647,

11:27

Canton was in Qing hands. Jiangxi

11:30

Province was under the military thumb of Jin Shenghuan,

11:33

a Ming general, who had surrendered to Ajigu the

11:35

previous year, and the campaign against

11:37

Changsha by the reinforcements of Kong Yu

11:39

De. Volo left Canton

11:42

in the hands of Lieutenant Commander Tong Yongjia and

11:44

Li Chengdong, and then returned to Beijing.

11:47

The southeast was now pacified, but

11:50

the armies that occupied that region and the overland transportation

11:52

routes were made up of Ming defectors, while

11:55

Zhang Zhelong's navy under his brother and his son

11:57

continued to dominate the islands off the coast. And

12:01

Bolo returned without one of Dorgon's most able commanders,

12:03

Tulai, who had died fighting Ming holdouts

12:06

on the treacherous route home. The

12:08

third, largest, and for

12:11

the Qing, the most strategically important campaign

12:13

of 1646 and 1647, was

12:15

directed against Zhang Xianzong and Sichuan. Dorgon

12:18

appointed Hao Ge, General-in-Chief, in February,

12:21

after the case against Tan Tai was settled. Together

12:24

with him on this campaign would be two other princes

12:27

of the blood, Nerhachi's sons,

12:30

the Beilu, or Prince of the Third Rank,

12:32

Nican, and the Beisue, or Prince

12:34

of the Fourth Rank, Mandehi. Dorgon's

12:37

confidant, Holhui, who had brought on

12:39

Hao Ge's demotion in 1644, and who now replaced

12:42

Tulai as commander-in-chief of the plain yellow

12:44

banner army, was already in the field

12:47

with the Shanxi governor Meng Chiao Fang and

12:50

the banner commanders Li Guohan and Bayan

12:52

under his command. Zhang's forces

12:54

remained in control of most of the province,

12:57

with other rebels that had spun off from Li Zetang's

12:59

forces still plaguing the Qing to the south

13:01

and north, until the Qing armies finally penetrated

13:04

the province in early winter. On

13:07

January 2, 1647, the guard's

13:09

Lieutenant Commander Suiai met Zhang,

13:12

who was pushing northward towards Xian and

13:14

killed him during the attack. According

13:17

to reports, the Qing armies annihilated more than 130

13:19

companies in the attack, sending two

13:22

of Zhang's generals, Sun Guo Wang and Li Dingguo,

13:25

with their troops into Yunnan, where

13:27

some years later they were to seek out the last

13:29

Ming pretender, the so-called Yongli Emperor,

13:32

and mount a new attack on the Qing from the southwest.

13:36

The death of Zhang Xianzong came less than

13:38

a week before the Qing occupation of Canton,

13:41

and less than three months before Changsha fell

13:43

to the forces of Kong Yu De. From

13:45

then until the winter of 1648, it appeared

13:48

as if the Qing had established itself everywhere

13:51

but the extreme southwest. Laoga

13:54

remained in the west as general-in-chief until January,

13:56

presiding over campaigns against the fragmented

13:58

rebel armies. Li Chengdong

14:01

was occupied with a persistent literati

14:03

resistance movement in the hinterlands of Canton

14:05

until November, after which he was free

14:08

to finally assist the Han Chinese princes in

14:10

their faltering efforts to secure Guilin,

14:13

the capital of Guangxi Province, and a key city

14:15

on the route from Hunan to Guangdong. When

14:18

Hao Ge returns to Beijing in February, it

14:21

appeared that it was about time for another strategic reshuffling

14:23

and a final major campaign into the

14:25

southwest. But

14:27

this final southwestern push was not to occur

14:30

for another decade. By the time

14:32

Hao Ge reached Beijing, Jiangxi Province

14:34

was in revolt. By late spring,

14:36

Guangdong had joined. News

14:39

of Jin Shenghong's revolt in Jiangxi reached

14:41

the capital one week after Hao Ge's triumph of return

14:43

from the west. Jin was

14:45

a Liao Dongmen, who had risen to a

14:48

commander's position in the army of the Ming General

14:50

in chief, Zuo Liangyu. When

14:53

Zuo's army surrendered to Ajigu at Zhejiang

14:55

in 1645, Jin remained in Jiangxi and

14:58

succeeded in keeping the province under control

15:01

during the campaigns against his southern Ming in the southeastern

15:03

coastal region and the provincial army

15:05

of He Tongjiao and Hunan. Once

15:08

the south was pacified, however, the Qing

15:11

began to appoint civilian governors. Observing

15:14

the princely rank and power of the Han Chinese

15:16

generals in Hunan, who had not yet succeeded

15:18

in defeating He Tongjiao, Jin

15:20

thought he deserved better than a provincial brigade

15:22

for his accomplishments. In

15:25

February, he killed his civilian superiors

15:27

and switched his allegiance to the southern Ming

15:29

court in Guilin. Li

15:32

Chengdong, the northern turncoat who found

15:34

himself in a similar position in Canton, did

15:36

the same in early May. The

15:39

tide had suddenly shifted against the

15:41

Qing conquest. Meanwhile,

15:45

in Beijing, jubilation over the defeat

15:47

of Jiangxi and Zhang soon turned to suspicion.

15:50

On February 25th, 1648, Hao Gao

15:52

was fated in the palace by the child emperor

15:54

and the princes and grand ministers for his

15:57

merit. On March 29th, he was in

16:00

imprisoned for having challenged Dorgon's authority

16:02

in the field. Specifically,

16:04

Haugah had failed to credit Subai, a Dorgon

16:07

supporter and member of Dorgon's white banner, in

16:09

the crucial battle against Dang. He

16:12

had also tried to appoint his own men as commanders

16:14

of the vanguard and guards brigadier. When

16:17

initiating a military campaign, Dorgon

16:19

granted the general and chief final authority and strategic

16:21

planning, but personnel decisions were to

16:24

be made by the princes and commanders in the field as

16:26

a body. The principle

16:28

of consensus that it helped to balance power

16:30

among the Manchu leaders since Nohachi's time still

16:33

had a role to play in the field. Dorgon

16:36

himself had accepted this principle in the Succession

16:38

dispute of 1643, and again in

16:40

his dispute with Tulai and Soni over

16:42

Tan Tai's behavior in 1646. Haugah's

16:46

crime, it appears at least, was

16:48

his attempt to enhance his authority as

16:50

general and chief by appointing his own

16:52

favorites to key positions against

16:54

the consensus of the commanders.

16:57

Yet Dorgon himself was not a champion of

17:00

collective rule for its own soul.

17:03

And the case against Haugah did not actually begin

17:05

with his behavior in the field. Having

17:07

smelled a conspiracy in Soni and Tulai's

17:09

attack on Tan Tai, Dorgon

17:12

and his supporters now suspected a broader

17:14

scheme, rooted in the Succession dispute five

17:16

years earlier. This time,

17:18

the charge of conspiracy was expanded to include

17:21

Haugah, Jurgalong, and

17:23

all the officers of the two yellow banners who

17:26

had insisted that Succession should pass to the

17:28

son of Hong Taiji. On

17:30

March 27th, Tunzi, who was

17:32

the nephew of Jurgalong, and now commander-in-chief

17:34

of Jurgalong's blue-bordered banner, told

17:37

the deliberative council that his uncle

17:39

had met with Soni and Tulai

17:41

in private in 1643 to discuss

17:44

the possibility of supporting Haugah for the Succession.

17:48

Jurgalong was reported to have agreed with the others that Haugah

17:50

should succeed, but to have warned them that

17:52

he did not yet know what Dorgong thought. No

17:56

harm in that, but Dorgong's supporters

17:58

now argued that the group continued to be to support

18:00

Hauga as a challenger to the Prince Regent.

18:04

As evidence, they pointed to the order of the Manchu

18:06

banners in the procession that had already brought

18:08

the child emperor to Beijing in 1644. With the

18:12

Organs plain white already in Beijing, Zhuge

18:14

Long's bordered blue had been

18:17

followed first by the demoted Hauga's

18:19

plain blue, and only then by the imperial

18:21

Prince Doro's bordered white. This

18:24

meant that Hauga's wife had proceeded the wise of

18:26

Ajiga and Doro to Beijing. The

18:29

privilege thus shown to Hauga's wife

18:31

in the order of procession which was authorized

18:34

by Zhuge Long showed Sony's influence,

18:37

and was certainly understood by Hauga to indicate

18:39

Zhuge Long's support. The

18:41

real conspirators, however, were Sony, Tulai,

18:44

Oboy, and the others who had vowed

18:46

to stand fast against Doron. Tan

18:49

Tai, who had since broken from the group, escaped

18:52

blame altogether. So

18:54

this is as good a moment as any to discuss

18:57

in a little bit more detail the banner system

18:59

of the Manchus and Qing.

19:03

Altogether, there are eight banners

19:05

in four colors which each

19:07

have a banded or bordered

19:10

version and an unbanded or unbordered

19:12

version. So the four banners in order

19:15

of color are yellow, white,

19:18

red, and blue, each

19:20

with a bordered and unbordered version.

19:24

Each of those constitute

19:27

an army which is at least on paper,

19:30

as many as 18,000 men of 60 companies.

19:34

However, as with any such military unit, what

19:36

its size is on paper and what is actually

19:38

able to deploy very

19:40

substantially from time and place. But

19:43

that is at least what it is supposed to be. So

19:47

these banners are divided into left and right,

19:49

but more importantly than that is the division

19:51

between upper and lower banners. There are three

19:54

upper banners. The upper banners are personally

19:56

controlled by the Qing emperor himself,

19:59

the first two of which, not very

20:01

surprisingly, are the plain yellow

20:03

banner army and the bordered yellow

20:06

banner army. Yellow being the classic

20:08

imperial color. Those came

20:10

under imperial domination under the reign of Hong

20:12

Taiji where he could control both of

20:14

them. Later on our current

20:17

Emperor will take over the white

20:19

plain banner after the death of his regent Dorgon.

20:22

I mean a little bit of a spoiler there but it's

20:24

also in the title. Dorgon's going to die this episode

20:26

and so after that the plain

20:28

yellow, the bordered yellow, and the plain white banner will

20:31

all be the upper banner armies whereas

20:33

the other five banners will be controlled

20:35

by the various chain princes but not

20:38

directly by the imperial line itself.

20:40

The other thing of note is that

20:43

the Emperor's personal guards and guards of the

20:45

Forbidden City were only ever selected from

20:47

those upper three banners. So

20:50

back to this banner-based controversy.

20:53

As punishment for his complicity in this plot

20:56

of putting the wrong wife in the wrong order

20:58

of the wrong banner, Zhugeong actually loses

21:00

his position as secondary regent. Sony,

21:04

the Grand Minister of the Imperial Bodyguard, was sent

21:06

to guard the ancestral tombs as punishment.

21:09

Oboy and others either fined

21:11

or lost property or both. In

21:13

their place, Dorgon's brother Dolduo

21:15

became the assistant regent and the plain

21:18

blue banner came under Dorgon's direct control.

21:21

And before this incredibly eventful week was

21:24

over, Dorgon had also shuffled his commanders

21:26

and made new assignments for a new campaign

21:28

against Jin Sheng-Huan down in Jiangxi.

21:32

Ho-Hui was shifted from his command of

21:34

the Manchu plain yellow banner to the bordered

21:37

white banner. Tan-Thai became

21:39

commander-in-chief of the plain yellow banner and

21:42

general-in-chief for the southern campaign with

21:44

Ho-Hui his second in command. By

21:46

the time they set out, however, Hau-ge had died

21:49

in prison. So he got all

21:51

that? Clear as mud, right? Yes.

21:53

It is just a whole lot of internal politicking

21:56

and shifting around of people who've

21:58

gotten into or fallen out of it. favor.

22:01

But reading through it and listening

22:03

to it I'm sure as well it sounds like

22:06

you're listening to a game of Twister. All

22:09

this to say, once the alleged conspiracy

22:11

against Dorgon was silenced, he

22:13

came out of it pretty much as a virtual dictator.

22:17

Over the next two and a half years, Qing dominance was

22:19

seriously challenged, but Dorgon's responses

22:22

reasserted Qing control and repaired

22:24

the political fabric. The

22:26

first sign that Jinshang Huan's revolt

22:28

in Janshi would not be an isolated event came

22:31

about May of 1648 when the Governor-General

22:34

of the Northwest, Meng Xiaofang, reported

22:36

a rebellion of militant Muslims in Lanzhou

22:39

and other frontier cities of the West. Muslim

22:42

communities had suffered along with non-Muslim ones

22:44

during the general breakdown of Ming imperial control

22:46

and Muslims had been among the rebels in the Northwest

22:49

since as early as the 1620s. New

22:52

Qing regulations controlling the tea and horse

22:54

trade on which the Muslims might have depended on

22:56

to improve their economic situation were

22:58

very much not to their benefit and clearly they were

23:00

not happy about that. There's

23:03

also significant circumstantial evidence that

23:05

a militant form of Suthism, which had reached

23:07

Suzhou on the Chinese side of the Jaiyue Pass

23:10

by the 1640s, may have influenced

23:12

the rebels in their efforts to join forces with

23:14

other militant group. Meng

23:17

Xiaofang managed to suppress the Muslims that June,

23:19

but not before they'd attracted attention by setting

23:22

up a Ming prince. Soon,

23:24

they spawned Ming Loyalist Revolt in Tianjin

23:27

and the bandit-prone Huai River Valley. Worse

23:30

yet, the Ming rallying cry echoed a

23:32

conspiracy between Loyalist literati and

23:34

the Provincial Brigade commander in Suzhou that

23:36

had been exposed the previous year. Meanwhile,

23:40

Zhang Chenggong was taking advantage

23:42

of the Canton Revolt to consolidate local defense

23:44

groups along the southeast coast in eastern

23:46

Guangdong. Even

23:49

the remnants of Li Zheqiang's armies in northwestern

23:51

Hu Guang, the very rebels that had toppled

23:53

the Ming in 1644, you'll remember, were

23:56

now professing supposed loyalty to the southern

23:59

Ming Yongleong. Emperor down in

24:01

Guilin. To his

24:03

credit, Dorgon was fairly quick to recognize

24:05

the seriousness of the Northwestern Revolt at

24:07

the outset and mobilized his forces strategically

24:10

to prevent a major Ming coalition from

24:12

coming together. The

24:14

pivotal garrison town of Hanzhong, on

24:16

the upper reaches of the Han River between Shanxi

24:18

and Sichuan, had served as Qing headquarters

24:21

for the recent successful campaign against Danshanzhong.

24:24

Dorgon dispatched additional banner forces

24:27

there to block communications between the Northwestern

24:29

rebels and loyalists in the Huygong region,

24:32

and sent General Wusan Gui and Li

24:34

Guo-Han to secure Sichuan. Ajiga

24:38

led banner forces to Tianjin and the Hui

24:40

River Delta, and Zhirgulong's

24:42

accuser, Tunzeh, was made general-in-chief

24:45

of a new Western campaign to block coalitions

24:47

with Guilin. Dorgon

24:50

sent Zhirgulong himself as general-in-chief

24:52

to another force to help Kongyuda in the

24:54

middle Yangtze. The banner

24:56

forces were suddenly back in action, and at this

24:58

point nearly fully deployed. And

25:02

as luck would have it is at this precise, critical

25:05

juncture in late 1648 that

25:07

a break in discipline among the Khalkhamangals

25:10

would threaten to destabilize the Qing at its very

25:12

core. When it comes

25:14

to personal style, it's not just about

25:16

having a signature look. There are layers

25:19

to deciding what to wear. It could be

25:21

all about bold patterns that stand out

25:23

in a crowd, accentuating your gains,

25:26

or finding something sleek yet comfortable.

25:28

With Indochino, fall is the perfect time

25:31

to add a few new layers to your wardrobe. They

25:33

offer custom made-to-measure pieces at an off-the-rack

25:36

price. And this season, Indochino

25:38

has new colors, fabrics, and styles to choose

25:40

from. From classic suits for special

25:42

occasions to head-turning outerwear for your

25:44

sidewalk stride. Customize your

25:46

new fall pieces however you want. Muttons,

25:49

vents, pockets, lapels, you name

25:51

it, they'll build it. Just submit your measurements

25:53

online or book a showroom appointment to work

25:55

with an Indochino expert style guide in

25:57

person. Add fresh layers to your

25:59

fall style with Indochino. Go

26:02

to Indochino.com and use code

26:04

PODCAST to get 10% off any purchase

26:06

of $3.99 or more. That's 10%

26:09

off at I-N-D-O-C-H-I-N-O.com

26:12

promo code PODCAST. One

26:14

of the Qing's legitimizing claims was its control

26:17

over the Mongol tribes and its ability to prevent

26:19

marauders from encroaching on Chinese settlements.

26:22

Douduo had been sent to curb rebelliousness among

26:24

the Khalkas after his return from

26:26

the south in 1645, and since then

26:29

all had been quiet along the Mongolian frontier.

26:32

Now, however, and without authorization, the

26:35

Khalkas were gathering on the border for a hunt.

26:38

Hearing that they would enter in full force for whatever

26:40

reason it might be, Durgon called a

26:42

council at which it was decided that Adriga,

26:45

who had put down the Huai Revolt and Bo

26:47

Lo should lead a special expeditionary

26:50

force to Daton and prepare a defense. Soon,

26:54

Durgon himself was in the field, fighting

26:56

not the Khalkas, but the Gerasins meant to defend

26:58

against them. Zhang

27:00

Xiang, the Qing brigade commander at Daton,

27:03

apparently felt he had reason to fear the

27:05

advancing Banner troops. Sending

27:07

his subordinates out to greet them, he then barred

27:09

the city's gates and declared himself in

27:12

revolt. The rapid spread

27:14

of the revolt to 11 more cities in northern Shanxi

27:17

suggested a plot and an explanation for the

27:19

Khalka movements, as they had likely caught wind

27:21

of the rebellion and hoped to take advantage of

27:24

it. The addition of Banner forces

27:26

under Nican and Tunze, who had been

27:28

withdrawn from the northwest, held the Khalkas

27:30

at bay as the Qing forces tested the Gerasins

27:32

that had joined in the revolt. It

27:35

was at this inopportune moment then that the assistant

27:37

regent, Dolduo, fell ill with smallpox

27:40

in Beijing. Durgon returned

27:42

to take charge of the capital, where his brother died

27:45

on April 29, 1649. Before taking the field again, Durgon

27:48

recalled his older

27:50

brother, Adriga, to take charge of the capital

27:52

with the title of Supreme Commander of the Left. Nican,

27:56

Bolo, and Mandahai, the grandsons of Narhachi

27:58

serving on the northern front, were were then promoted

28:01

to imperial princes. Later,

28:03

they would serve as a triumvirate for the management

28:05

of routine administrative affairs. News

28:08

that Tan Tai and Hou Hui had finally retaken Nan Chang

28:11

from Jin Sheng Huang and that the Ming provincial

28:13

commander He Tongjiao had been captured and

28:15

executed in Hunan in early March reached

28:18

the capital while Dorgon was there, as

28:20

did the news that Li Chengdong had met his end while

28:22

retreating from southern Jiangxi. In

28:25

early summer, Dorgon ordered his trusted

28:27

Han Chinese generals, Kong Nu De, Gong

28:30

Zhongmin, and Song Kexi, south

28:32

from Hunan and Jiangxi in a two-pronged assault

28:34

against Guangdong. With

28:36

that done, Dorgon was at last ready to rejoin

28:38

the siege at Da Tong. By

28:41

the time Dorgon set out on August 8, 1649, such

28:44

a grandiose gesture of imperial command

28:47

in the field was surely unnecessary.

28:50

Victory in the south had relieved the pressure on Han

28:52

Zhong, the northern garrison rebels were

28:54

being suppressed, and Qing pressure at Da

28:56

Tong was already great. Moreover,

28:59

Dorgon's leave from the capital itself was

29:01

troublesome. He had to convene

29:03

the deliberative council to resist a bid

29:06

by Ajiga to assume Doro's title of assistant

29:08

regent in his absence. The

29:11

council agreed with Dorgon that Ajiga's demand

29:13

so soon after his brother's death was highly improper

29:16

if not suspect and recommended

29:18

that Ajiga be demoted from imperial prince.

29:21

Dorgon then spared Ajiga that humiliation

29:23

in return for his acceptance of the lesser title of

29:25

Supreme Commander of the Left. Dorgon

29:29

was determined to leave the capital. He

29:32

appeared tired of bureaucratic politics and princely

29:34

intrigues. He warned his officials

29:36

that they were not to interfere in the regular processes

29:39

of promotion within the various bureaus of the government.

29:42

No one, including princes, was to recommend

29:44

favorites no matter their merit. He

29:47

established a system of communications so that he could

29:49

make important decisions from the field and

29:51

instructed the heads of the six ministries and

29:53

other offices that they should take responsibility

29:55

upon themselves in his absence. He

29:59

appointed a small committee consisting of the returned

30:01

trusted commanders, Tan Tai and Ho Hoi, the

30:03

Grand Academicians Gang Lin and Fan Won

30:06

Chung, and one Grand Minister of the Imperial

30:08

Guard to manage routine administrative affairs.

30:12

For important state matters, they were to direct Ajiga

30:14

to convene the Deliberative Council of Princes and

30:16

Grand Ministers, which would then decide whether

30:18

or not the issue was indeed sufficiently pressing

30:20

to require an immediate response from Dorgon himself.

30:24

If it was not, they should await his return.

30:27

The wheels of government thus locked into place. Dorgon

30:30

set off to join the fighting at Dathong. October 4,

30:34

1649, Zhang Xian was betrayed by a subordinate

30:37

and the gates of Dathong were subsequently opened. The

30:40

banner troops then entered the city and the revolt was

30:42

put down. Qing

30:44

forces continued to divide and conquer rebel groups

30:46

in the northwest. With the pressure now off

30:48

in Shanxi, banner troops returned to Hanzong

30:51

and Meng Xiaofeng was able to mount a sustained attack

30:53

against the Muslim rebels in Gansu. There,

30:57

rebels under a local leader by the name of Mila

30:59

Yin had reclaimed control of the major

31:01

frontier towns of Ganzhou and Suzhou

31:04

as soon as Qing forces were withdrawn from the region. The

31:07

rebels had gone so far as to offer their throne

31:09

to Turumte ibn Sayyid Baba, the

31:12

Muslim ruler of Hami, a state just beyond

31:14

the Jaiyu Pass. By

31:16

year's end, the revolt that had first signaled

31:18

crisis in the north was finally crushed.

31:22

Sorgand meanwhile, apparently preferring the tastes

31:24

of battle to the taste of Beijing politics, had

31:27

set out for the Mongolian steps in pursuit of

31:29

the rebellious Calcas. Once

31:32

the tide had turned in the south, the Ming

31:34

Yongli emperor was forced to seek protection wherever

31:37

he might be able to find it. As

31:39

Qing forces moved into Guangdong in

31:41

February of 1650, the Ming

31:43

court left Zhao Qing and moved to Wuzhou

31:45

in southwestern Hunan. Within

31:47

the year, it would have to move farther to the southwest to

31:50

Nanning and a year later to Yunnan.

31:53

Kong Yudas Guangdong campaign had been delayed

31:56

by scandal and Gangdong means command, leading

31:58

to Gang's suicide and succession by his son,

32:01

Gong Zimao. Once

32:03

the campaign got rolling in January, it

32:05

succeeded in isolating Canton from the Ming court.

32:08

After a year of fighting in the hinterlands, Shan

32:11

Cuxi finally captured Canton on November

32:14

24, 1650, brutally massacring the city's inhabitants and setting

32:17

up his own princely command post there. Two

32:20

days later, Kong Yudha took Guilin,

32:22

capturing the loyalist minister, Chiu Shishu, chief

32:25

of the dominant literati faction. One

32:28

month earlier, Qing forces had taken control

32:30

of Zhou Shan, the island off the Zhejiang coast

32:32

where the Ming prince of Lu had held out until then,

32:35

forcing the prince to move to Amui to seek the Zheng's

32:37

protection. The Qing force once

32:40

again appeared equal to the challenge of conquest.

32:43

By this point, none were left to stand against Dorgon

32:45

on anything approaching equal terms, except

32:48

of course for the Emperor himself, at

32:50

least on paper. But the

32:52

fact of the matter was, the prince regent was even

32:54

beginning to behave like an Emperor himself.

32:58

In 1650, his wife died, and

33:00

at the age of 38, he took in marriage the widow

33:02

of his nephew Hao Ge, who earlier had

33:04

committed suicide on Dorgon's command.

33:07

At the same time, the prince regent ordered the king

33:10

of Korea to send princesses to be his

33:12

concubines, just as though he were the

33:14

son of heaven in truth. While

33:17

giving Bolo, Nican, and Mandahai more

33:19

control over daily administration, Dorgon

33:21

began to think of devoting more of his own time to

33:23

leisure. On July 31, 1650, he

33:27

informed the court that he was tired of the unbearably

33:30

muggy and humid climate of Beijing during

33:32

the summer months. Now, Beijing

33:35

had been a capital of China for so long that

33:37

it was not deemed to be politically feasible

33:40

or even possible to justify

33:42

moving the center of government elsewhere. But

33:44

upon investigating the histories of the Liao,

33:47

Jin, and even Yuan dynasties, he

33:49

had determined that they also had capital

33:51

cities beyond the wall outside the borders

33:53

of China. Taking them

33:56

as an example, he therefore resolved to

33:58

build a city and palace somewhere

34:00

in Reha, where he could escape

34:03

the heat of summer in the Yan Mountains. This

34:06

summer capital was to be a modestly-sized

34:08

city, because the Prince Regent did not wish

34:10

to impose too heavy a burden upon his

34:12

subjects. Nevertheless, the

34:15

various provinces of China were to be assessed 2.5

34:17

million ounces of silver, where

34:20

about 12% of all the taxes annually collected

34:22

throughout the empire. And

34:24

orders went out to assemble labor crews from

34:27

all over North China to begin the construction work.

34:30

That winter, Dorgon led a hunting

34:32

expedition beyond the Great Wall, and

34:34

on December 5, near Harrahoten,

34:37

the Imperial father, Prince Regent Dorgon,

34:39

fell ill. Although

34:42

he had no way of knowing it at the time, three

34:44

days later, Shang-ke Shi captured the

34:46

city of Canton from the Ming loyalists, achieving

34:48

a major victory in the far southern reaches of the

34:50

empire. Back up north,

34:53

the Prince Regent's health ever worsened. On

34:56

the last day of December 1650, the principal

34:58

architect of the new great Manchu enterprise

35:01

lay dead in Harrahoten. When

35:04

news of his untimely demise reached Beijing,

35:07

it stunned the court of Xinjiang. A

35:09

few days later, on January 8, Dorgon's

35:12

hearse was accorded full imperial honors

35:14

when it neared the capital and was solemnly

35:16

drawn through the Dongzhe Gate, along the Yuha

35:18

Bridge, past the streets lined with officials,

35:21

their wives dressed in white sackcloth standing

35:23

in the gateways behind them. Many

35:26

were in tears, and few could have guessed

35:28

that within weeks the name of the once

35:30

mighty regent would be publicly abused and

35:32

his followers thrown into prison in chains.

35:36

But shortly after Dorgon was ceremonially

35:38

entombed, it was currently announced that

35:40

the construction of the summer capital was to

35:42

cease. The poet Wu

35:44

Weiei wrote, quote, I

35:46

hear that the court stops building the upper capital. The

35:49

hardship of the people, however, is hardly

35:52

removed. End quote. Dorgon's

35:55

death at the age of 38 signaled

35:58

the end of an era. Of

36:00

Narhachi's sixteen sons, only

36:02

Baba Thai, who never figured prominently

36:04

in the conquest, and Ajiga, survived.

36:08

Of the banner princes of Hongtaiji's reign, only

36:10

Sir Hachi's son, Jugolang, survived. Overseeing

36:14

the civil administration in Beijing was the triumvirate

36:16

of Narhachi's grandsons, Nican, now

36:18

aged 46, Bolo, 36, and

36:22

Mandahai, 27, all of whom

36:24

had been appointed by Dorgon. But

36:26

these men did not control banners of their

36:28

own, nor did they have any influence

36:30

over the grand ministers and banner commanders

36:33

who'd survived the factional struggles of Dorgon's regime.

36:36

Thus it fell alone to Ajiga and Jugolang

36:38

to convene the council of princes and grand ministers,

36:41

who would decide how next to proceed. The

36:43

first move came from within the two white

36:45

banners, where Dorgon's men held sway.

36:49

On January 26, 1651, less

36:51

than a month after Dorgon's death, Ajiga

36:54

was imprisoned for plotting a coup. Most

36:57

prominent among his accusers was Sui's

36:59

brother, Ubai, another of Dorgon's

37:01

men, who had emerged from command positions in

37:03

the two white banners to the post of Grand Minister

37:05

of the Imperial Bodyguard. Speaking

37:08

in the deliberative council for the commanders of

37:10

the two white banners, he told of Ajiga's

37:12

attempts to lead them into a coup immediately

37:15

after Dorgon's death. As

37:17

the council met to hear Ajiga's case, Ubai

37:19

and Tantai, who was still commander-in-chief of

37:22

the plain yellow banner, transmitted the results

37:24

of the council's deliberations to the now twelve-year-old

37:26

emperor and returned with his edict.

37:30

In effect, the committee established by Dorgon to

37:32

rule in his absence had now prevented Ajiga

37:35

from taking Dorgon's place, leaving

37:37

Ubai, Tantai, Holhoy, and Ganglin

37:39

to mediate imperial authority. It

37:43

is apparent that after Ajiga's demise

37:46

in 1651, this small clique of Dorgon's

37:48

men was not sufficiently organized to propose

37:50

an alternative to Ajiga. Dorgon's

37:53

own heir, Dorbo, was too young

37:55

to serve as regent, and Doro's other

37:57

son, Doni, did not have the stature

38:00

to command the other princes. On

38:02

the other hand, neither Jergalong nor

38:05

the Triumvirus appeared ready to claim their regency

38:07

either. The politics of the previous

38:09

decade had left the princes without a host

38:11

of loyal followers and set Dorgons click

38:14

against the remnants of Hong Taiji's inner court

38:16

band. The council decided

38:18

to leave well enough alone and allow the child emperor

38:21

to himself exercise authority for

38:23

the first time. The struggle

38:25

for power among the princes and grand ministers

38:27

then continued within the deliberative council, with

38:30

Jergalong as a convener and Tan Tai

38:32

as chief transmitter. A very

38:35

unstable consensus prevailed.

38:38

Before the emperor's 13th birthday in March, however,

38:41

the tide had turned against Ubai and

38:43

the leaders within the two white banners. Among

38:46

the new grand ministers of the council was Suksaha,

38:50

a member of the plain white banner, who

38:52

served as prime witness against Dorgons click.

38:56

Ubai and his brother Subai lost their

38:58

rank in office, and gradually the

39:00

Dorgon regency fell into disrepute. Hou

39:03

Hui, still commander in chief of the bordered

39:05

white banner, was executed for his complicity

39:08

in Dorgons' self aggrandizement during his regency.

39:11

Tan Tai, clinging to his more favored position as

39:13

commander in chief of the plain yellow banner directly

39:16

under the emperor's personal control, supported

39:18

the opposition against Hou Hui and the others. The

39:21

opposition now included Soni, his

39:23

uncle and erstwhile grand academician, Hee-Fuh,

39:26

Oboy, Abilun, and two other

39:28

members of the yellow banners who had been recalled from political

39:31

exile to join the deliberative council in investigating

39:34

Dorgons' high-handed methods. Dorgons'

39:37

favorite grand academician, Gang Lin, was

39:39

dismissed and then put to death. Hee-Fuh

39:42

was reinstated and Soni was put

39:44

in charge of imperial household affairs. With

39:47

the regency abolished, the three inner courts

39:49

and the imperial household administration were

39:52

becoming the agents of imperial authority vis-a-vis

39:54

the six ministries and the banners. The

39:58

old opposition had won the day. and with their

40:00

victory, the institutions that would define

40:02

the next stage of imperial rule emerged.

40:06

Once this realignment of princes and grand ministers

40:08

became clear, the cases against Dorgon

40:10

and Ajiga were extended to implicate others

40:13

who might have set this new balance of power. With

40:16

Jirgolung in charge of the council, the

40:18

Triumvirs were relieved of the responsibilities for

40:20

overseeing the routine administration of the government.

40:23

Bolo and Nican were demoted temporarily

40:25

for trying to excuse Ajiga. Dorbo's

40:28

status as Dorgon's heir was denied. Finally,

40:31

in September 1651, Tan-Thai

40:34

suddenly found himself out of favor with a young emperor

40:36

on whom he depended for his own salvation. Tan-Thai's

40:40

problems with the young emperor presaged the

40:42

changing nature of inner court politics.

40:45

As part of the accession to personal imperial

40:47

rule, the emperor had been advised to proclaim

40:49

a general amnesty, as was the Chinese

40:52

custom. But the emperor was

40:54

now taking a personal interest in the problems

40:56

of corruption within the civil bureaucracy. When

40:59

a Han Chinese sensorial official brought corruption

41:01

charges against Chen Mingxia, a southerner

41:04

and grand academician recently appointed by

41:06

Dorgon, Tan-Thai pointed out to

41:08

the emperor that the censor had been in a position

41:10

to bringing these charges against Chen before

41:13

the amnesty was declared. Why

41:15

had he failed to bring them in a timely fashion,

41:18

and why had he brought them now after the

41:20

emperor had excused those previously

41:22

charged? Tan-Thai explained

41:25

that the deliberative council found the censor's

41:27

conduct questionable and advised the

41:29

emperor to dismiss the charges. The

41:32

emperor followed Tan-Thai's advice, dismissing

41:34

the censor and acquitting Chen Mingxia. But

41:37

the emperor is said to have regretted this decision,

41:39

as he was especially eager to root out corruption

41:41

and political collusion among his officials.

41:45

Perhaps his new tutors encouraged this

41:47

regret. The case raised

41:49

doubts in the emperor's mind about the intentions

41:51

of this battle-hardened official, who'd served

41:53

Dorgon so faithfully from beginning to end.

41:57

Oh boy, the rehabilitated imperial bodyguard.

42:00

that the time was ripe to charge Tantai with arrogant

42:02

abuse of power. Tantai's

42:04

support of Dorgan was now being called part of a conspiracy

42:07

against the throne itself. On

42:09

October 1st, Tantai was executed

42:11

for his part in this alleged conspiracy.

42:15

The transition to imperial rule was thus

42:17

completed. It was

42:19

the apparent end of the conquest generation,

42:21

one that had fought mightily and died young. Adjiga

42:25

was forced to commit suicide in prison before

42:28

the end of 1651. By

42:30

that time, the triumvirate of grandsons had

42:32

also dissolved. All three were

42:34

dead before another year had passed, as

42:36

was the former general-in-chief, Lekada-hun. Oboe

42:39

and Sony joined Suksaha and the Haugah

42:42

supporter, Ebelun, at the core of the

42:44

new regime. They would emerge

42:46

as regions for Fulun's successor in 1661. But

42:50

for the time being, at least, the reigns of government passed

42:52

into the hands of the young emperor himself. A

42:55

few trusted Han Chinese and Manchu officials advised

42:58

him, while the consolidation of the south was

43:00

left to the older generation of Ming turncoats,

43:02

Kongnida, Sang Kexi, Hong Chengqiu,

43:06

and of course, Wu Sangghui. The

43:08

first three years of direct rule by the Xunji emperor

43:11

saw major changes in the political process

43:13

of the early Qing dynasty. The

43:16

changes reflected the new balance of power that had

43:18

emerged after Dorgon's death. Dorgon's

43:21

crimes were described as breaches of the ritual

43:24

order demanded of a legitimate ruling family. He

43:27

had called himself Imperial Father and

43:29

begun to rearrange the tablets in the Imperial ancestral

43:32

shrine, placing his own mother beside

43:34

the mother of Hongtaiji with the title of Empress.

43:38

He further offended the court's sense of propriety

43:40

by taking Haugah's widow to wife after

43:43

his own wife's death in 1649. He

43:46

had authorized alterations in the veritable

43:48

record of Hongtaiji's reign to show that Nuhachi

43:50

favored Dorgon's mother and may well have wanted

43:53

Dorgon to be his successor. The

43:55

principal crime of Gan Lin and the other

43:57

grand academicians was their complicity in

44:00

this changing of the record. Holhoy

44:02

and Tantai were guilty of encouraging Dorgons

44:04

and Proprietes while benefiting themselves.

44:08

The new imperial advisors were quick to oppose

44:10

such capriciousness with strict ritual

44:13

order in accordance with ancient Confucian

44:15

codes. The historical

44:17

record of the entries of 1651 is punctuated

44:21

with detailed regulations concerning the

44:23

proper order of procession, the proper

44:25

manner of mounting and dismounting, the

44:28

correct nature of the privileges and the prescribed

44:30

apparel attached to each rank, and so

44:32

on and so forth. In 1652,

44:35

the Ministry of Rights recommended fixing the number

44:37

of imperial audiences, formal gatherings

44:40

to be distinguished from the deliberative Council of Princes

44:42

and Grand Ministers, at three per

44:44

month. An imperial

44:46

clan court was established to manage the

44:48

ritual affairs and genealogical records

44:51

of the imperial clan. This

44:53

new institution replaced offices originally

44:55

established by the eight banner princes in

44:57

Nohachi's time, further verifying

44:59

the breakup of the banners and consolidation

45:02

of imperial rule. The

45:04

demise of the commanders and grand ministers of

45:06

the plain white, bordered white, and blue banners,

45:08

which Dorgon had controlled, finally

45:11

allowed the emperor and his advisors to centralize

45:13

military power. The Manchu

45:15

banners were reorganized. The

45:18

plain yellow, bordered yellow, and plain white banners

45:20

were now assigned to the imperial household directly.

45:23

Although the imperial household department was not formally

45:25

established until Obo's Regency in 1661, certain

45:28

inner grand ministers

45:30

had served as managers of the imperial household

45:33

affairs since the beginning of the Shun Geron.

45:36

At the same time, the imperial bodyguard, originally

45:39

conceived as an elite force of Nohachi

45:41

and his sons and brothers, but later

45:43

expanded to include members of allied clans, was

45:46

transformed into a special force whose commanders were

45:48

called inner grand ministers, and

45:50

who were members of the three inner or

45:53

upper imperial household banners. After

45:56

Dorgon's death, the three banners were combined

45:58

for administrative purposes.

46:01

Although the precise relationship between the three banners

46:03

and the still shadowy household administration remains

46:06

somewhat unclear, control of the banners

46:08

passed into the hands of the inner Grand Ministers,

46:11

while the Reteed administration fell to appointees who

46:13

were Imperial Bond Servants.

46:16

Direct Imperial rule also brought changes in the relationship

46:19

between the rulers and the civil administration.

46:22

Shortly after Dorgan's death, Imperial edicts

46:24

began to present a new theme. The

46:27

Qing regime could no longer rest on its reputation

46:29

as righteous avenger of the Ming. The

46:32

conquest was over, at least so we

46:34

went to thinking of the new Emperor. But

46:36

the evils of Ming maladministration had not

46:39

yet been corrected. Dorgan

46:41

had it tired of the campaign to prevent corruption

46:43

and factional division within the Chinese bureaucracy.

46:46

During the Daton campaign, he'd ordered his

46:48

officials to avoid making personnel recommendations

46:51

unless a problem of how to control the government to a

46:53

select committee. Now with Dorgan

46:55

in disrepute, the censorate and the Six Ministries

46:58

began to influence personnel and policy decisions

47:00

once again. In his last

47:03

year, Dorgan had also completely reversed

47:05

the image created by his abolition of Ming

47:07

military surtaxes by appropriating two

47:10

and a half million tails in tax revenues from

47:12

the nine provinces in order to construct

47:14

his abortive summer palace for himself

47:16

in Rahel. The effects of his earlier

47:19

attempts to halt the accumulation of land

47:21

and peasants by bannermen in the north also

47:23

appeared undone by his own personal appropriations.

47:27

By allowing his estate to attach retainers

47:29

and their lands on behalf of his adopted heir, he

47:32

had, in effect, doubled the legal

47:34

limit for himself. This

47:36

news accompanied reports from the Ministry of Revenue

47:39

that retainers of banner estates were engrossing

47:41

larger and larger amounts of revenue that

47:44

should have gone to the state. Engrossment

47:47

by banner estates threatened to renew the problems of

47:49

fiscal insolvency and popular discontent

47:51

that had brought disaster to the Ming in recent decades.

47:55

With Dorgan and his party now as scapegoats,

47:57

the Xunja Emperor and his advisors could

47:59

turn the six ministries to counter this tendency

48:02

toward the erosion of centralized fiscal control

48:04

and more completely bind China to

48:07

the will of Imperial Qing rule. And

48:10

that is where we are going to leave off for today. Next

48:13

time we will be getting into the personal

48:16

reign of the Xunzhi Emperor over the course

48:18

of the 1650s.

48:22

Until then, have a great rest of your

48:25

October. And as

48:27

always, thanks for listening. See

48:30

you next time.

48:34

When it comes to personal style, it's not just

48:37

about having a signature look. There

48:39

are layers to deciding what to wear. It

48:41

could be all about bold patterns that stand

48:44

out in a crowd, accentuating your gains,

48:46

or finding something sleek yet comfortable.

48:49

With Indochino, fall is the perfect time

48:51

to add a few new layers to your wardrobe. They

48:54

offer custom-made-to-measure pieces at an off-the-rack

48:56

price. And this season, Indochino

48:58

has new colors, fabrics, and styles to choose

49:01

from. From classic suits for special

49:03

occasions to head-turning outerwear for your

49:05

sidewalk stride. Customize

49:07

your new fall pieces however you want. Buttons,

49:09

vents, pockets, lapels, you name

49:11

it, they'll build it. Just submit your measurements

49:14

online or book a showroom appointment to work

49:16

with an Indochino expert style guide in

49:18

person. Add fresh layers to your

49:20

fall style with Indochino. Go

49:22

to Indochino.com and use code

49:24

PODCAST to get 10% off any purchase

49:27

of 399 or more. That's 10%

49:29

off at Indochino.com,

49:32

promo code PODCAST.