Nurhachi Takes Control over the Hada Tribe

Life of Nurhachi - Part 5

In 1598, Japan’s 2nd invasion of Korea was utterly defeated, both on land and at sea. Hideyoshi gave orders to withdraw all his forces from Korea in the late summer of 1598, and then he died a month later. At the battle of the Noryang Straits (December 1598), a very large Japanese fleet, collecting soldiers from their last forts at Busan, was destroyed by the Chinese and Korean fleet, dramatically and conclusively ending the war.

The Ming withdrew their army from Korea in 1599 and the attention of the government shifted to new matters elsewhere. The land of the Jurchins seemed to be trouble-free. True Nuhachi was gaining strength but so far, he had proved to be a cooperative and helpful ally. The Ming guessed that Nurhachi’s rise was, on balance, a good thing. After all, the Ming had done well with Wan Khan in control of the Hulun tribes; Ming officials hoped that Nurhachi would become a similar leader.

Nurhachi’s Wars of Unification

Nurhachi’s first opening against the Hulun tribes came in 1599. That year, Narimbulu Beili of the Yehe, attacked the weak Hada leader Menggebulu. As mentioned earlier, it appears the Hada tribe had pulled out of the war against Nurhachi early, after their defeat at Fulgiyaci. Still angry at his defeat by Nurhachi, Narimbulu decided to eliminate a weak link in the Hulun alliance by taking over all of the Hada lands.