User:Madalibi/Oboi regency

See also: User:Madalibi/Timeline of the Oboi regency, Four Regents of the Kangxi Emperor, Oboi, Ebilun, Suksaha, and Hešeri Sonin

The Oboi regency refers to the period from 1661 to 1669, when the Qing dynasty was led by four Manchu regents, the most powerful of which was Oboi (ca. 1610–1679). The other three regents were Soni (1601–1667), Suksaha (d. 1667), and Ebilun (d. 1674). They had been selected to rule during the minority of the Kangxi Emperor.

As members of the Yellow Banners Soni, Oboi, and Ebilun all supported Hong Taiji's son Hooge during the 1643 succession crisis. Their support for the losing candidate made their life difficult during the Dorgon regency, and all three of them were eventually dismissed from government in 1648 during factional struggles that brought to the surface strains in the Manchu conquest elite.

Lynn Struve, a specialist of the Ming–Qing transition, has called the political history of the regency years "the most difficult to penetrate of any period in the Qing era".

Since Robert Oxnam's 1975 book Ruling from Horseback—an allusion to the Chinese saying that "you can conquer the empire from horseback but you can't rule it from horseback"—the Oboi regency has been portrayed as a period of Manchu revivalism and harsh policies toward Han Chinese, and historians have centered their analysis on the actions of the regents themselves, especially Oboi. More recently historians have been broadening this vision to focus on the Chinese gentry, the role of Han Chinese officials in the policies of the regency.

The regents before 1661

Main articles: Hešeri Sonin, Oboi, Suksaha, and Ebilun

To 1650

The elder of the three regents, Soni (1601–1667) of the Hešeri clan, was a member of the Plain Yellow Banner. His father Šose and his uncle Hife had both served Qing founder Nurhaci (1559–1626). Like his uncle Hife (who was proficient in Chinese and Mongolian in addition to Manchu), Soni was also valued for his linguistic abilities. In 1628, under Nurhaci's successor Hong Taiji (1592–1643), Soni led a successful diplomatic mission to convince the recently surrendered Khorchin Mongols to honor their pledge to help the Manchus militarily. In 1629 he was named to the newly created "Literary Office" (Chinese: wenguan 文館), an institution that kept a detailed record of Manchu history and translated Chinese books about statecraft and Chinese and Korean state documents into Manchu. In 1630 Soni was ordered to remain in recently conquered Chinese cities to supervise surrendered Chinese leaders and commanders. By 1643, he had become "grand minister of the imperial bodyguard," and when Hong Taiji died in September of that year, Soni used his allies in the guards unit and the yellow banners to ensure that only a son of Hong Taiji would succeed to the Qing throne. Soon after Dorgon was chosen as Prince Regent for Hong Taiji's son Fulin, the Manchu victory at the Battle of Shanhai Pass in late May 1644 allowed the Qing to take control of north China and to move their capital from Mukden to Beijing. Despite repeated military successes in the south, in 1645 factional struggles started around Dorgon. Deeply involved in many of the factional struggles of the second half of the 1640s, Soni was in turn favored, sentenced to death, pardoned, dismissed from office, reinstated, and dismissed again in 1648, the last time for good.

Oboi's Guwalgiya clan had been distinguishing itself militarily since Oboi's grand-father Solgo submitted to Nurhaci in 1588. Oboi's uncle Fiongdon was one of Nurhaci's most trusted generals, whereas his father Uici was a reliable commander under Hong Taiji (r. 1626–1643). Oboi himself served under Hong Taiji as part of the Bordered Yellow Banner. His exploits on the battlefield made him the most prominent military commander among the future four regents. In 1633 and 1634 he took part in campaigns against the Chahar Mongols, whose leader Ligdan Khan submitted to the Manchus in 1635. In 1637 his bravery allowed Hong Taiji to capture a key island near the mouth of the Yalu River, from which the Ming army led operations against Liaodong peninsula, the main focus of armed conflict between the Manchus and the Ming. For his exploits Oboi received the title of baron and the honorific title of baturu ("military hero"). In 1641, Oboi also played important roles in the consecutive sieges of Jinzhou and Songshan, two of the last Ming strongholds in Liaodong. Despite supporting Hooge over Dorgon during the 1643 succession crisis, Oboi kept participating in military campaigns after the Qing entered China in 1644. From that year to 1648 he was part of armies that fought former-bandit-turned-emperor Li Zicheng (nemesis of the last Ming emperor), bandit king Zhang Xianzhong, and the remnants of Zhang's armies after Zhang was killed in 1647. In 1648, when Hooge was convicted and imprisoned by Dorgon, Oboi was sentenced to death, but his sentence was commuted to loss of rank. Despite his demotion, in 1648 and 1649 he took part in a campaign to extirpate Ming turncoat Jiang Xiang 姜瓖 (d. 1649)––who had now turned against the Qing––from his base in Datong (Shaanxi, north China).

Like Oboi, Ebilun belonged to the Bordered Yellow Banner. He was from the Niohuru clan, which lived north of the Korean border. He was the sixteenth and last son of Eidu (1562–1621), who had been a close associate of Nurhaci. In 1634, the second Qing emperor Hong Taiji gave Eidu a posthumous rank of viscount, which Ebilun immediately inherited but lost in 1637 after he tried to interfere in a trial involving his niece. In 1643 he followed Abatai in forays inside North China and was credited with the capture of several towns. In 1645 and 1646, Ebilun served under Lekedehun in campaigns to dislodge Ming loyalist He Tengjiao 何騰蛟 (1592–1649) from Hubei and was rewarded with a minor hereditary rank. Yet his position was not solid because, as a member of the Yellow Banners, he was treated with suspicion by Prince Regent Dorgon, whose power base was in the White Banners. In 1648 during the persecution of Hooge, Ebilun's nephew accused Ebilun of having opposed Dorgon during the 1643 succession. Ebilun was sentenced to death, but like Oboi his penalty was commuted. Nonetheless, half of Ebilun's property was confiscated and his minor title was revoked.

Suksaha, son of Suna (d. 1648) of the Nara clan, was the youngest of the four regents. As a member of the Plain Yellow Banner, he distinguished himself in military campaigns against Joseon Korea and the Ming China in the 1630s and 1640s. Notably, he fought at Songshan and Jinzhou in 1641, a series of battles that led to the eventual surrender of Ming commander Hong Chengchou to the Qing cause in 1642. Because his Banner belonged to Prince Regent Dorgon, Suksaha was the only one of the future four regents who went through the 1640s unscathed.

1651-1661

In 1648 Oboi, Soni, and Ebilun had all been disgraced for their alleged support for Hooge, whereas Suksaha was simply serving in Dorgon's Plain Yellow Banner. Dorgon's sudden death on 31 December 1650 would dramatically change their political careers.

Becoming regents

The Shunzhi Emperor's last will, which was made public on the evening of 5 February 1661, appointed four regents for his young son: Oboi, Soni, Suksaha, and Ebilun, who had all helped Jirgalang to purge the court of Dorgon's supporters after Dorgon's death on the last day of 1650. It is difficult to determine whether the Shunzhi Emperor had really named them as regents, because they and Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang clearly tampered with the emperor's testament before promulgating it. The emperor's will expressed his regret about his Chinese-style ruling (his reliance on eunuchs and his favoritism toward Chinese officials), his neglect of Manchu nobles and traditions, and his headstrong devotion to his consort rather than to his mother. Though the emperor had often issued self-deprecating edicts during his reign, the policies his will rejected had been central to his government since he had assumed personal rule in the early 1650s. The will as it was formulated gave "the mantle of imperial authority" to the four regents, and served to support their pro-Manchu policies during the period known as the Oboi regency, which lasted from 1661 to 1669.

Internal conflicts

Originally a trusted deputy of Dorgon, Suksaha had been politically astute enough to switch sides immediately after the former regent's death when the court was still dominated by Dorgon's associates. Three of the four ministers, Sonin, Ebilun and Oboi were members of the "Two Yellow Banners" (i.e. Yellow Banner and Bordered Yellow Banner) previously under the command of the Shunzhi Emperor's elder brother Hooge. Because of the personal and political rivalries between Hooge and Dorgon, all three men were persecuted at one time or another during Dorgon's regency for their Banner affiliation. However their loyalty thus proven was also key to their rapid advancement after Dorgon's death. It was a major factor in Shunzhi's choice of personnel to oversee his son's regency. However Shunzhi's arrangement heightened the already sensitive relationship between the three members of the Yellow Banners and Suksaha who belonged to the White Banner. Suksaha was a much despised figure at this point not only because he was a member of the White Banner in an imperial court dominated by the two Yellow Banners, but also because he gained the Shunzhi Emperor's trust by denouncing his former master Dorgon, an action seen by his colleagues including members of the White Banner as disloyal.

In the first years of the regency, the tension between the Yellow Banners faction and Suksaha was kept in check by the even handed Sonin and thus the four ministers maintained a relatively peaceful and efficient working relationship. But the dynamics of the regency began to change as Sonin's health deteriorated due to old age. As Sonin gradually took more time off, Oboi monopolized decision making by dominating the indecisive Ebilun and worked to sideline Suksaha during policy discussions especially on issues concerning welfare of the Manchu Eight Banners. By 1667 when Sonin realized he did not have long to live, he tried a last-ditch effort to restore balance to the regency and neutralize Oboi's rapidly expanding power clique by petitioning the then 14-year-old Kangxi Emperor to assume personal rule ahead of schedule. Thus Kangxi formerly took over the reins of power in an ascension ceremony on August 25, 1667, a month after Sonin's death. This was followed by an official decree technically downgrading the three remaining ministers to the status of "advisers" (佐政大臣) while still remaining at their posts. However even with the formal authority of office, the young Kangxi Emperor found it difficult to curb the growing power of Oboi.

Policies

The fake will in which the Shunzhi Emperor had supposedly expressed regret for abandoning Manchu traditions gave authority to the nativist policies of the Kangxi Emperor's four regents. Citing the testament, Oboi and the other regents quickly abolished the Thirteen Eunuch Bureaus. Over the next few years, they enhanced the power of the Imperial Household Department, which was run by Manchus and their bondservants, eliminated the Hanlin Academy, and limited membership in the Deliberative Council of Princes and Ministers to Manchus and Mongols. The regents also adopted aggressive policies toward the Qing's Chinese subjects: they executed dozens of people and punished thousands of others in the wealthy Jiangnan region for literary dissent and tax arrears, and forced the coastal population of southeast China to move inland in order to starve the Taiwan-based Kingdom of Tungning run by descendants of Koxinga.

The clearing of the coast

See also: Hai Jin and Great Clearance

Bibliography

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