Battle of Sarhu (1619): Nurhaci Crushes the Ming Army

The Battle of Sarhu was a series of engagements fought over about five days in April 1619 in Liaodong, north-east China, in which the Jurchen leader Nurhaci destroyed a large Ming expedition sent to crush his new state, the Later Jin. By striking the separated Ming columns one after another, Nurhaci’s forces killed tens of thousands of Ming soldiers. The battle marked a turning point in the rise of the people later known as the Manchus, who would found the Qing dynasty and conquer all of China.

Background: Nurhaci and the Later Jin

The Jurchens were a people of the forests and river valleys north-east of the Ming frontier. Under the Ming they were divided into many tribes, and their chiefs received titles and trading rights from the Chinese court. Nurhaci (1559–1626), a chief of the Jianzhou Jurchens, spent three decades uniting the tribes by war, marriage and diplomacy.

Nurhaci organised his followers into the Eight Banners, military and social units that combined soldiers and their households. In 1616 he declared himself khan of a new state he called the Later Jin, recalling the Jin dynasty that Jurchens had ruled in northern China in the twelfth century. His capital was at Hetu Ala, in the hills east of the Ming frontier.

In 1618 Nurhaci openly broke with the Ming. He issued a declaration listing the Seven Grievances against the dynasty, including the killing of his father and grandfather by Ming forces in 1583 and Ming support for his Jurchen rivals. He then captured the frontier town of Fushun, whose commander Li Yongfang surrendered, and later took Qinghe.

The Ming expedition

The loss of Fushun alarmed the Ming court in Beijing, under the Wanli Emperor. The court appointed Yang Hao, a veteran of the Imjin War in Korea, as supreme commander in Liaodong. To pay for the campaign it imposed a special surtax, the Liaodong levy, on much of the empire.

Yang Hao planned to attack Hetu Ala from four directions at once:

• Du Song would advance from Shenyang through Fushun in the west.
• Ma Lin would march from Kaiyuan in the north, joined by allies from the Yehe, a Jurchen confederation hostile to Nurhaci.
• Li Rubai would advance from Qinghe in the south-west.
• Liu Ting, another Imjin War veteran, would come from the south-east with a contingent of about 13,000 Korean troops sent by the Joseon kingdom under Gang Hong-rip.

The Ming forces probably numbered about 90,000 to 100,000, though the court announced the figure of 470,000 to intimidate the enemy. Nurhaci’s army is usually estimated at around 50,000 to 60,000. The plan depended on the columns arriving together, but they were separated by mountains and forests and could barely communicate, and late-winter snow slowed their march.

The battle

Du Song, eager for glory, moved ahead of the other columns. He crossed the Hun River and divided his force, leaving a large camp at Sarhu while he attacked the Jurchen position at Jiefan. On about 14 April 1619 Nurhaci concentrated most of his banners against Du Song’s divided army. The camp at Sarhu was overrun, and Du Song’s main force was destroyed. Du Song himself was killed.

The next day, around 15 April, Nurhaci turned north against Ma Lin’s column at Shangyan Hada and destroyed it, together with a supporting camp at Feifen Hill. Ma Lin escaped with a few men, and the Yehe allies, learning of the defeat, turned back.

Liu Ting’s column in the south-east had not heard of these defeats. Around 17 April Jurchen troops, some reportedly disguised as Ming soldiers, lured it into an ambush near Abdari. Liu Ting was killed and his column broken. On about 18 April the Korean commander Gang Hong-rip surrendered with the remains of his troops. Yang Hao then ordered Li Rubai, whose column had advanced slowly, to retreat, and it withdrew with relatively light losses.

Nurhaci’s sons and nephews, including Daisan and the future Hong Taiji, commanded banner forces in the fighting. The Jurchens’ success rested on rapid movement, concentration of force and the discipline of the banners, while the Ming suffered from divided command, poor coordination and the rashness of some commanders.

Why the Ming lost

Historians point to several causes. The first was the plan itself. Splitting the army into four columns across difficult, unfamiliar country meant that each column was weaker than Nurhaci’s concentrated force. Once the columns lost contact, the Jurchens could choose where to fight.

The second was the condition of the Ming army in Liaodong. Many units were under strength, poorly paid and badly supplied, and some soldiers had been hurriedly recruited from other provinces. The Ming had firearms and artillery, but these were of uneven quality and were often lost when camps were overrun before they could be used effectively.

The third was leadership. Yang Hao directed the campaign from Shenyang, far from the fighting, and rivalry between generals encouraged men such as Du Song to act alone. By contrast, Nurhaci commanded in the field, knew the terrain well and had trained his banners for exactly this kind of rapid, mobile warfare.

Consequences

Ming losses were heavy: contemporary Ming accounts reported about 45,000 soldiers and more than 300 officers killed, along with large quantities of weapons and horses. In the months that followed Nurhaci took Kaiyuan and Tieling, and in late 1619 he conquered the Yehe, completing the unification of the Jurchens.

Yang Hao was arrested and eventually executed in 1629. The capable official Xiong Tingbi was sent to stabilise the frontier, but factional quarrels at court undermined him. In 1621 the Later Jin captured Shenyang and Liaoyang, the main cities of Liaodong, and Nurhaci later moved his capital to Shenyang.

In Korea, King Gwanghaegun had tried to stay neutral between the Ming and the Jurchens, and many historians believe Gang Hong-rip’s quick surrender reflected the king’s wish to avoid provoking Nurhaci. Korea’s relations with the Jurchens became a major issue in the following decades.

Legacy

Sarhu is often seen as the battle that decided the long struggle between the Ming and the Manchus. It showed that the Later Jin could defeat a full Ming field army, and it forced the Ming onto the defensive behind fortified lines. The cost of defending the north-east, together with the extra taxes it required, strained the dynasty’s finances and fuelled the unrest that led to its collapse.

Nurhaci’s son Hong Taiji renamed the state Qing in 1636, and in 1644, after rebels took Beijing, Qing armies entered China proper. The Qianlong Emperor, Nurhaci’s descendant, later wrote a commemorative account of the battle as a founding victory of the dynasty.

Timeline

• 1616: Nurhaci proclaims the Later Jin state.
• 1618, May: Nurhaci issues the Seven Grievances and captures Fushun.
• 1619, March: The Ming columns begin their advance from Liaodong.
• 1619, 14 April (approx.): Du Song’s column is destroyed at Sarhu and Jiefan.
• 1619, 15 April (approx.): Ma Lin’s column is defeated at Shangyan Hada.
• 1619, 17 April (approx.): Liu Ting’s column is ambushed and destroyed.
• 1619, 18 April (approx.): The Korean contingent surrenders; Li Rubai retreats.
• 1621: The Later Jin captures Shenyang and Liaoyang.

Why it matters

The Battle of Sarhu transformed the balance of power in north-east Asia. A frontier chief’s new state proved it could defeat the armies of the Ming empire, beginning the chain of events that led to the Qing conquest of China and nearly three centuries of Manchu rule.