Nurhaci began with thirteen suits of armour and laid the groundwork for the Qing
After Ming-backed forces killed his father and grandfather in 1582, a young Jurchen chief set out for revenge with little more than thirteen sets of armour. Nurhaci ended up uniting the Jurchen tribes, founding the Later Jin dynasty and laying the ground for the Qing, who would rule China.
Born in 1559 into the Gioro clan, Nurhaci claimed descent from a Jurchen headman of two centuries earlier. He grew up as a soldier in the Fushun household of the Ming general Li Chengliang, learning Mandarin and absorbing military and political strategy from the novels Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Water Margin. His name may mean the skin of a wild boar, or a man brave as one.
His grandfather Giocangga, a chieftain favoured by Li, died along with Nurhaci's father Taksi when a rival chief, Nikan Wailan, guided Ming troops against Fort Gure; Giocangga had rushed in to protect a granddaughter married to the town's chief. The Ming returned Taksi's remains, gave Nurhaci trading rights and recognised him as heir, but refused to surrender Nikan Wailan. So Nurhaci built his own power. He attacked his enemy in 1584 and again in 1587, until Li finally handed the fugitive over and Nurhaci beheaded him on the spot.
As head of the clan he renamed Aisin Gioro around 1612, he reorganised and united the Jurchen tribes, the people later called Manchu, and consolidated the Eight Banners military system. He proclaimed himself khan of the Later Jin, with the era name Tianming, meaning Heaven's Mandate, and attacked both Ming China and the Joseon dynasty. He is also credited with ordering a new script for the Manchu language, adapted from the vertical Mongolian writing.
His seizure of the Ming's northeastern region of Liaodong prepared the way for his descendants, who declared the Qing dynasty in 1636 and went on to conquer the Ming. He died in 1626 and, as founder, received the temple name Taizu.
Source: Nurhaci
