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Turgi: Early Qing Commander and Senior Minister

English editorial translation of the Chinese source entry

Turgi was the eighth son of Eidu and a commander associated with the Bordered White Manchu Banner. He married a hošo princess, giving him a marriage relationship with the ruling house, while also holding military offices and inherited distinctions. These were three different form…

Written by MING YEPeople & BiographiesManchuCulture Wiki
Source-based English editorial manuscript · Historical details subject to final source verification.

Family and military status

Turgi was the eighth son of Eidu and a commander associated with the Bordered White Manchu Banner. He married a hošo princess, giving him a marriage relationship with the ruling house, while also holding military offices and inherited distinctions. These were three different forms of status. After Hong Taiji's accession, Turgi took responsibility for banner military affairs and held the position of gūsa ejen, a senior banner commander.

Defeat and return to service

In 1630 he failed to hold Luanzhou; after the withdrawal and abandonment of the city, he lost hereditary honors and his banner command. In the following year he returned to office as a chengzheng of the Board of Personnel and participated in the siege of Dalinghe. He subsequently commanded troops in the Liao River and Zhanggutai areas, helped receive Ejei and followers of the deceased Chakhar ruler Ligdan Khan, and took part in operations near the Ming northern frontier. The early Qing chengzheng designated a senior board official; modern descriptions should not automatically assign to it the full legal powers of the later standardized board presidency.

Later family honors

The achievements of Turgi's father Eidu, his own distinctions, and the honors subsequently earned by descendants belong to separate biographical histories. Later descendants including Aligun and Fengšengge received additional military honors reflected in compound ducal names. Those retrospective names should not be projected onto Turgi's earliest service as though they already existed at the time.

Sources and Bibliography

  1. Historical source 1 — zh.wikisource.org
  2. Historical source 2 — zh.wikisource.org
  3. Historical source 3 — zh.wikisource.org
  4. Historical source 4 — zh.wikisource.org

Links reproduce references supplied with the Chinese editorial manuscript; they do not establish that every individual statement has undergone independent archival verification.