User:Madalibi/Chronology of Hong Taiji's reign

Some events taking place in Ming territory are included when relevant.

1631

 * February 19: a crew of Chinese artillery experts who had been captured at Yongping and were now under the supervision of Tong Yangxing (佟養性; d. 1647) complete cast 40 pieces "red barbarian" cannons using Portuguese techniques. This artillery would give the Manchus "a new and crucial advantage in the struggle for supremacy in northeast Asia."
 * March 5: Hung Taiji decrees that all of the Han people serving the Manchus would now be under the command of Tong Yangxing, who had married one of Nurhaci's daughters.
 * September 1: armed with the newly acquired cannon, Hong Taiji arrives at the Ming garrison town and trading city of Dalinghe (大凌河). Hearing that the city is defended by Zu Dashou (who had already defeated the Jurchens twice) and that its walls have been recently repaired, the khan decides to prepare for a long siege.
 * October 22: after a difficult battle in which both sides used European-style artillery, Hong Taiji defeats a Ming army of 40,000 soldiers that had come to relieve the siege of Dalinghe. Their leader Zhang Chun (張春) and 33 more Ming officers submit to the Jurchens.
 * November 21: Zu Dashou surrenders to Hong Taiji after a siege that lasted 82 days. Only 11,682 of the original 30,000 people living in the city have survived the siege. Among them are a number of experienced officers (including Zu Dashou's sons and nephews) who would later serve the Manchus well during the conquest of China.
 * November 23: Zu Dashou, who had surrendered on promise his forces would join Hong Taiji's to capture the city of Jinzhou on the other side of the Xiaoling River, departs for Jinzhou with 26 of his men, planning to convince the city to surrender just like he had. He never came back and Jinzhou remained in Ming hands until 1641.

1632

 * February 22: a force led by Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming, two Liaodong freebooters who had served under warlord Mao Wenlong but were now nominatlly serving the Ming Shandong provincial governor Sun Yuanhua, take the city of Dengzhou in Shandong and establish a separatist regime there. The failure of their uprising eventually forces them to flee back to Liaodong, where they submit to Hong Taiji in 1633.

1633

 * May 24: the military adventurers Kong Youde (孔有德; 1602–1652) and Geng Zhongming (耿仲明; 1604–1649) pledge their allegiance to Hong Taiji, who personally welcomes them at Mukden. They keep their roughly 14,000 followers (who include their soldiers' families) under their own command. Both from Shandong, Kong and Geng had served under Mao Wenlong and, after the latter's death at the hands of Yuan Chonghuan in 1629, under Ming commander Sun Yuanhua (孫元化; 1582-1632), who had trained them to use Portuguese artillery.

1635

 * July 4: Hong Taiji orders that special attention be paid to the histories of the Jin, Liao, Song, and Yuan dynasties.
 * November 22: Hong Taiji proclaims that "henceforth, everyone shall call [us] by our people's original name, Manju. Uttering 'Jurchen' will be a crime." Add significance.
 * November 24: The Chahar Mongols officially submit to Hong Taiji; "transfer of the Yuan imperial seal."

1636

 * May 14: Hong Taiji announces that he is changing the name of his dynasty from Jin to Qing ("pure") and his reign period from Tiancong 天驄 (abkai sure) to Chongde 崇德 (wesihun erdemungge), and that he will no longer be khan, but emperor. The Manchu name of the "great Qing"––daicing––might have meant "warrior-like."

1641

 * September 25: early in the morning, a large Qing army led personally by Hong Taiji attacks a Ming force of about 130,000 men commanded by Hong Chengchou that had come to rescue the city of Songshan from a possible Manchu siege; more than 50,000 Ming troops are massacred, while most of the rest flee; Hong Chengchou finds refuge inside Songshan.

1642

 * January: expecting reinforcement and trying to take advantage of heavy snows that had forced the main Qing army to loosen the siege, 6,000 of Hong Chengchou's men try to break the siege. But they run into a Banner force led by Dorgon: the entire Ming corps is lost either in battle or by desertion; after this disaster, Hong Chengchou no longer has enough troops to break the siege. Hong Taiji tries to convince him to surrender, but the Ming commander refuses to.
 * March 18: after reaching a surrender agreement with garrison commander Xia Chengde, the Manchus scale the southern wall of Songshan, which was protected by Xia's forces; positioning themselves on all four sides, Manchu troops suddenly fall on the city, which is taken completely by surprise. Xia Chengde's forces are spared, and so are Hong Chengchou and a few officers related to men who were already serving the Qing, but more than 100 officers and three thousand soldiers are executed by the Qing.
 * May 10: assuming that Hong Chengchou was dead after the fall of Songshan, the Ming court prepares special insignia to honor his death as a martyr loyal to the dynasty.
 * June 1: Hong Taiji receives Hong Chengchou at the Qing court in Shenyang. Hong Chengchou accepts to serve the Qing and is given a lavish banquet. A former governor-general, Hong Chengchou is the highest official ever to surrender to the Qing.