The Eight Banners - 1615 to 1650
Part 3 - Heyday of the Manchu Banners, nearly unbeatable in East Asia
(Pictured: armor of the Eight banners: Plain and Bordered - Yellow, Red, Blue, and White)
Part 1 - Nurhachi Creates a New Kingdom (1583-1600)
Part 2 - The Four Banners (1600-1615)
Part 4 - The Final Form of the Banners (1651-1900)
1601 to 1615
As mentioned in Part 2, Nurhaci created the four Banners in 1601 after he defeated the Hada tribe and added them to his new kingdom.
In 1604 he used his new army to attack the hated Yede tribe. This war was going well until the Ming army intervened, and demanded Nurhaci cease his offensive. Nurhaci was unwilling to fight the Ming and so he withdrew from the Yede lands.
In 1606, Nurhaci gained the allegiance of more Mongol tribes from the Harbin region and he was given an important Mongol title: Kundulun Khan (as well as at least one new Mongol wife). The next year, helped by his new Mongol allies, Nurhaci defeated the Hoifa tribe, killed their leader Baindari (and his sons) and added the Hoifa to his kingdom.
The next tribe to fall was the Ula tribe. The leader of the Ula was Bujantai, a schemer who had been a captured by Nurhaci in his decisive victory at Mount Gure in 1593. After three years as a prisoner of Nurhachi, Bujantai returned to his tribe and seems to have arranged for the death of his older brother, Mantai. With Mantai out of the way, Bujantai became the new chief of the Ula tribe. He and Nurhaci traded women as secondary wives while Bujantai plotted - unsuccessfully - to increase the Ula tribe’s strength.
Note: One of the women Burjantai gave to Nurhachi was his brother Mantai’s daughter named Abahai. Over the next decade she gave birth to three extremely capable sons: Dorgon, Dodo, and Ajige. In 1620 she was elevated to the status of prime wife and thus Queen. In a strange and horrible sequence of events, Queen Abahai (at that time called Hsiao-lieh Wu) was forced to kill herself immediately following Nurhaci’s death in 1626.
Despite their previous exchange of wives, Nurhachi declared war on the Ula shortly after defeating the Hoifa tribe. The Sonoma Sage guesses that Bujantai aided the Hoifa in their unsuccessful battles with Nurhachi’s army and that is why Nurhachi didn’t wait before attacking the Ula in late 1607. As usual, Nurhachi’s Banners were unbeatable but the war ended early when Bujantai sued for peace and ceded some land to the more powerful Jianzhou tribe.
In 1608, Nurhachi signed a treaty with the Ming General in command of the Liaodong region - the very old Li Cheng-liang (now 82 years old, the same man whose soldiers had killed Nurhachi’s father back in 1583). This agreement established a border between Nurhachi’s kingdom and Ming China. However, Nurhachi was probably thinking about a future war with China as the tribute mission he sent in January 1609 would be the last tribute mission he would ever send to the Ming. Note that under the Ming code of international conduct, failure of any neighboring state to send a tribute mission at least once every three years was considered an insult to the Ming Huangdi. Insults to the Ming Huangdi might result in a punitive war by the Ming so from 1612 on, the clock was ticking for Nurhachi.
With the Ula apparently pacified, Nurhachi guessed, or was told, that the Ming would not allow him to conquer the Yede tribe, and yet, he was determined to conquer the Yede. The chief of the Yede, Narinbulu died around this time and he was succeeded by his younger brother, Gintaisi, but the bad relations between the Yede tribe and Nurhachi’s kingdom did not improve.
In 1613, Nurhaci grew tired of Bujantai’s scheming, and used as pretext for the war an insult to one of his daughters. Nurhachi personally commanded the attack on the Ula tribe, apparently expecting an easy victory. As usual, Nurhachi was unbeatable in war and his army swiftly conquered the Ula. Bujantai fled to the Yede clan for safety and Nurhaci demanded that Gintaisi of Yede hand over Bujantai. The Yede refused and so Nurhaci ordered his Banners to attack. Again the Ming sent soldiers to protect the Yede and again, Nurhaci pulled back, unwilling to fight a war with the Ming this year.
Doubling the Banners
Having now conquered two new Jurchin tribes in 13 years, Nurhachi decided to double the number of his banners from four to eight. Instead of using new colors such as green, or black, he added a new colored borders around the flags of each of the four banners. In three cases the new outer color was red, but for the Red Banner, the outer color was white.
There was more going on here than just new flags. Nurhaci formally designated leaders for each of the Banners at this time. The new Hosoi Beile in charge of the banners were three of his sons: Daisan (age 32), Manggultai (age 28), Hongtaiji (age 23) - and one of his brother’s sons: Amin (age 30). These four men were called the senior Beile and from this point on they had great power. Ten years later, the White banners were given to his younger sons: Dorgon (born in 1612) and Dodo (born in 1614). For more on Dorgon see the Sonoma Sage’s essay.
Why Double the banners?
One important reason was due to the number of men in the banners. By 1615 it seems Nurhaci’s kingdom had more than 40,000 men under arms and a total population of around 120,000. Nurhaci also had thousands of Mongol warriors who seem to have joined his army on a full-time basis. He had taken control over four of the five Jurchin tribes and he was getting old. Nurhaci was 57 in 1615 and he would be dead in 11 years. Being a farsighted leader, he was making plans for the survival of his new kingdom.
The Eight Banners gave Nurhachi more flexibility on campaign and, as mentioned earlier, the Mongol Tumen were likely around 7,000 men and Roman legions were, on average, about 5,000 men. While each Banner had a theoretical strength of 7,500 - it is reasonable to assume their actual strength was closer to five or six thousand warriors, which seems to be the optimal size for a military unit before the modern era.
For comparison: in World War Two, each US armored division of some 18,000 men typically fought in three Combat Commands of 6,000 men each. History strongly suggests that one military commander does best with no more than 6,000 men.
In addition, the Banners had a total size much larger than the number of adult male warriors, as each of the warrior’s wives and all their children were part of the Banner. By 1615 each of the four banners must have been close to the size of the average Jurchin tribe in 1595.
In 1616 Nuhachi declared that he was a Han, the equal of the Ming Huangdi. He declared his kingdom as the Jin (or Chin or Aisin). Lastly, he announced he had grievances against the Ming and unless the Ming acknowledged his new state, war was certain.
In 1618 Nurhachi attacked and captured several Ming forts on the other side of the border which he had agreed upon just 10 years earlier. This was the start of a 45-year long war between the Jurchins and the Ming.
The Ming responded to the loss of their forts with a massive offensive involving 100,000 Chinese soldiers, accompanied by some 5,000 Yede, and about 15,000 Korean soldiers. Nurhachi’s eight banners defeated the Ming army in a series of battles as the Ming advanced along four different routes. The Eight banners proved to be nimble and extremely effective fighting formations, and each of the Banner leaders performed with courage and skill. Nurhachi had taught his sons well.
Heartened by their victory, Nurhachi’s Banners conquered the entire Liaodong peninsula, capturing at least 50,000 Chinese civilians and some Ming soldiers as well. Nurhachi’s initial plan was to add the Chinese people into his Banners but this proved much more difficult than he imagined, because the Chinese looked down on the Jurchin as barbarians, and the Chinese outnumbered the Jurchins. The result was that some Chinese joined the Banners, but most did not.
The Years 1620 to 1644
The war between the Ming and Nurhachi’s kingdom of the new Jin state continued for the next 40 years. The war finally ended with total defeat of the last Ming army fighting in Burma in the year 1661. Nurhaci did not live to see the triumph of his new kingdom, he died in 1626 at the age of 67.
His kingdom was passed on to his 8th son, Hongtaiji (the Sage prefers the spelling Khungtaiji). As the new ruler, Hongtaiji controlled two of the Eight Banners: Bordered Yellow, and Plain Yellow. Curiously, the Bordered Yellow Banner became the elite banner, and membership in that banner carried the highest status. The Sonoma Sage guesses its because the Bordered Yellow Banner had the best flag design - though maybe the Bordered Yellow was originally Hongtaiji’s personal banner.
(The bordered yellow banner - bottom left. A great flag design)
Five other banners were under the personal control of Dorgon (Plain White), Dodo (Bordered White), Daisan (Plain Red), Manggultai (Plain Blue), and Amin (Bordered Blue). This left the Bordered Red banner without a leader. Nurhachi wanted Dorgon’s older brother, Ajige, to have that banner but when Hongtaiji took the throne, Ajige was demoted and had to make do with control over several Niru (companies) which belonged to the two White Banners of his younger brothers, Dorgon and Dodo.
Soldiers of the Bordered Red Banner were used as by the other banners on an ad hoc basis. The idea of a general reserve pool of replacement soldiers has proved useful to many armies in history, and it was part of the US Army structure during World War II.
Controlling a Banner at this time was like being a king. The Banner leaders had incredible power and wealth. The Banner leader’s word was law to everyone in his Banner: man, woman, or child. In practice the only check on a Banner leader was the King of the Manchus: Hongtaiji, but he had two Banners of his own to manage, in addition to the overall direction of the Qing state (renamed from Jin in 1636).
The Banners were at war constantly from 1627 to 1650. They attacked Korea twice, Ming China at least six times, and different Mongol tribes almost every year. Immediately on becoming king, Hongtaiji sent four banners against Korea in the fall and defeated it in a month.
Banners were sent on raids into China and into Mongolia - capturing loot, money, and people who were forced to work for the banners as slaves.
In 1636 Hongtaiji announced a new name for his state: Da Qing and he told all the neighboring states that he was now the Son of Heaven. When Korea refused to acknowledge Hongtaiji as the Huangdi, he attacked Korea for a second time. Hongtaiji personally led his two Yellow Banners while Dorgon and Dodo led the two White Banners. The Korean army was defeated - again - and the Joseon king retreated to a fort south of Seoul called Namhan (which today is a popular day hike; the Sage visited the old fort in 2012). After a week of furious fighting, the Korean king surrendered to the Manchu - again. From then on, Korea’s official relationship with the Ming was severed and Korea was a client state of the Qing Dynasty.
The Manchu (this was a new name given to his people by Hongtaiji when he declared his new state in 1636) were constantly victorious in their campaigns. The Eight Banners could not be stopped. They blew holes in the so-called Great Wall of China repeatedly and marched into and then out of Ming China carrying riches and newly enslaved Chinese by the tens of thousands. The Ming’s Great Wall was a joke to the Manchu. The Ming Dynasty had spent tens of millions of taels of silver building the wall and it was completely useless agains the Manchu with their cannons. See the Sonoma Sage’s essay on the Ming efforts to defeat the Northern Barbarians.
The eight banners grew and grew as new soldiers who were willing to swear loyalty to Hongtaiji, the Huangdi of Qing, joined by the thousands each year from 1635 to 1650. Soon the Chinese soldiers in the Qing army greatly outnumbered the Manchu warriors.
The Creation of the Chinese Banners
Starting in 1631, Hongtaiji created what are called The Chinese Banners. Instead of creating new flags for the Chinese banners, he created a duplicate command structure under some - and perhaps all - of the existing Banners. In effect there were still only eight banners, but within the Plain White banner (for example), there was a general in command of the Chinese Jalens (regiments) as well as a general in charge of the Manchu Jalens and later, a general in charge of the Mongol Jalens. Each Jalen was apparently composed of men who spoke the same language and came from the same region. However, there was only one Banner leader. The Chinese general in command of the Chinese White Banner reported to Dorgon, the leader of the White Banner.
Consequently, a Banner in 1640 might have as many as 21 Jalans with a theoretical strength of 25,000 warriors with an additional 30,000 women, 30,000 children, and tens of thousands of slaves. This is quite a change from the 7,500 warriors of a full strength Banner in the year 1601.
In the real world, the Manchu Bannermen were taking losses which they could probably not replace. In 1619, Nurhachi fielded an army of ~50,000 Manchu Bannermen. In 1644, Dorgon’s army which crossed into China to conquer the Ming comprised only ~30,000 Manchus, ~15,000 Mongols, and more than 100,000 Chinese artillerymen and foot-solders. It is plausible that Dorgon left ~20,000 Manchu warriors behind to defend the Qing borders but the constant fighting had to have been killing more Manchu men than were being replaced by new generations of young Manchu warriors.
The Eight Banners - Behind the Scenes
We know from the Korean campaigns and the raids on Ming China that the Banners moved with incredible speed, so it is safe to assume that when the Banners attacked, they left nearly all the women, children, and slaves behind. There is no evidence that the individual Banners had a home base, other than the Bordered Yellow Banner whose members always lived around the King, acting as his personal bodyguard. However, there is evidence that Dorgon was planning on settling in the Jehol region with all the warriors and families of the two White Banners that he controlled in 1650. This did not happen because Dorgon was assassinated (almost certaintly) at the end of that year.
Since the Banners did not have a home town or region, the individual banner members were almost certainly geographically scattered and that means that the Manchu had to have extremely good record keeping systems and a large group of officials who could track down the individual Bannermen and make sure they came to fight when summoned. The organizational requirements for keeping the Banner system running during this 30 year period indicates a remarkable level of sophistication and record keeping.
People who think the Manchu were semi-civilized savages are greatly underestimating their organizational ability. However, the Sage believes the Manchu could only have kept their increasingly complex Banner system running thanks to the help of hundreds of highly educated Chinese administrators. It is a fact that many of the Qing Bannermen scholars were Chinese. Examples: Nien Geng-yao of the Bordered Yellow Banner and Li Shuai-tai of the Plain Blue Banner.
In 1643, Hongtaiji died. Ming China was in a state of chaos but it was not yet conquered. The new leader of the Manchu was Dorgon, although officially he was only one of two regents, guiding the Qing on behalf of Hongtaiji’s youngest son, the new Shunzhi Huangdi. For the next six years, Dorgon skillfully commanded the conquest of Ming China, destroying Li Zicheng’s army, taking fortified cities, and smashing Ming loyalist armies whenever they appeared. At his death on the last day of 1650, all of northern and central China had been captured; only two Ming armies were still operating in the far south of the country. But Dorgon’s death - or assassination - marked the end of the heyday of the Eight Banners.
See the Sonoma Sage’s essay on the Chinese Ninjas.
Or go on to Part Four - the Final Phase of the Banners 1651-1900