In the 19th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (A.D. 159 1), Nurhachi unified all the states and ministries. With the progress of the unification war, more and more people surrendered to the army. In the past, the military and production organizations that only depended on blood ties could not meet the needs of the United war. So in this special political and historical environment, the Eight Banners system came into being. "Man Wen Lao Dang" records: "Cong Rui respectfully collected a large number of China people, counted them as much as possible, and arranged them evenly. Compile a cattle record every 300 tons and set a cattle record. There will be two generations, four Zhang Jingren and four villagers. Tatan is divided into four chapters by 300 people. No matter what you do and where you go, people in the four pagodas will take turns to change shifts, and their colleagues, colleagues and peers will go. " (the amount really comes from Mongolian, which means the owner. )

With the continuous expansion of the United War and the increase of Lu Niu's establishment, Nurhachi combined five Lu Niu (in fact, more than five) into one armor in order to meet the needs of unified command and large-scale operations of multiple armies, and now five armor forms a solid mountain, that is, a flag. And with eight different forms of flags as the symbol, March and fight; Productive labor; Administration is a fixed unit. Flag is the highest organizational form and the largest military establishment in the Eight Banners system.

At first, Nurhachi directly commanded all Lu Niu soldiers to fight, and there was no flag-level organization. With the expansion of the army, due to the need of circuitous tactics of war, it is divided into two roads or four roads, each with different flags to guide and gradually settle down. It formed the original four flags. It is recorded in Records of the Emperor Gaozong of Qing Dynasty: "At the beginning, there were four flags, which were distinguished by solid colors. When yellow was said, it was blue and white. Four flags were added and their colors were inlaid, and * * * was the eight flags." The founding time of the Eight Banners recorded in the archives of the Qing Dynasty is not exactly the same, which has left many doubts for future generations. In fact, the emergence and development of the Eight Banners system has gone through more than 50 years, which can be roughly divided into three stages: initial system, organizational system and customization. That is, from Lu Niu to the Four Flags, from the Four Flags to the Eight Flags, and then from the Eight Flags to the Twenty-four Flags. It can be said that in the 11th year of Wanli (about 1583), soon after Nurhachi started to fight, the Manchu army had the Lu Niu organization. In the 29th year of Wanli (A.D. 160 1), Lu Niu was formally reorganized and established four flags. In the 43rd year of Wanli (A.D. 16 15), the Eight Banners were formally reorganized and the Eight Banners system was established. After the Eight Banners of Manchuria were established, the Eight Banners of Mongolia and the Eight Banners of Han Army were established, which improved the Eight Banners system. The Eight Banners system established by Nurhachi organically linked the central organization of the country with the grass-roots Lu Niu organization, and formed a new social structure of militarization and military socialization of Manchu subjects scattered in the mountains. This kind of social structure effectively organized the Manchu people with low productivity and backward culture, and made Jianzhou Nuzhen enter the national society from the primitive tribe. This is a key to the rise of Manchu society.

At the beginning of the establishment of the Eight Banners system, it was essentially a social organization form of military and political integration, with both military affairs and military affairs! The administrative and productive functions, that is, "going out as a soldier and entering for the people", have never been ignored, which has played a positive role in promoting the social and economic development of Manchu and strengthening the rule of people of all ethnic groups. Nurhachi unified the people captured from the war and stipulated that every 300 people should make up a Lu Niu, each of which

Lu Niu Tao Lu (assistant collar); One out of every five cows is real (participating); An isolated mountain (flag) is formed every five years, which is the largest unit of Manchu household registration. Every lonely mountain has a special color as a flag. The household registration of the Eight Banners shall be investigated once every three years, and the personnel outside the Banner shall not impersonate the household registration, and their subordinates shall not live far away from their Lu Niu. With the gradual expansion of annexation and reconciliation, a large number of Han Chinese, Mongols and other ethnic minorities surrendered in succession, except for the unification of various ministries of Jurchen. From 16 15, the Eight Banners system was established in Nuerhachi, Emperor Taizong of the Qing Dynasty, to 1635, the Eight Banners Mongolia was established by Emperor Taiji of the Qing Dynasty, and the Eight Banners Han Army was established in 1642.

The Eight Banners are mainly divided into Manchu Eight Banners, Mongolian Eight Banners and Han Eight Banners. The Eight Banners of Manchu was written by Nurhachi, and it was also the political system, cultural system and social foundation of Manchu before entering the customs. The Eight Banners of Mongolia and the Eight Banners of Han Army were written by Huang Taiji after he acceded to the throne, but the system of the Eight Banners of Mongolia was loose, and because Mongolians in Monan and Mobei contained each other, they did not pay so much attention to Manchuria's entry into the customs.

In the 43rd year of Wanli (16 15), Nurhachi established the Eight Banners (Bagushan) system, with 300 ding as Niulu, five Niulu as Jiala and five Jiala as Gushan, that is, the flag. In fact, the number of the Eight Banners has increased or decreased from time to time. (Manchu, meaning big arrow) was originally named Lumei 10 Ding. The leader called Lu Niu's forehead a real forehead, which is really Manchu, and the Chinese name is Zuo Ling. No matter going out for war or hunting, Lu Niu is the unit, which laid a preliminary foundation for Manchu social and military system. In the 29th year of Wanli (160 1), Nurhachi reorganized the Lu Niu system for the first time in view of the differences in the number and personnel quality of various tribes. He expanded the number of Niulu to 300, so Zuo Ling had two deputies, called Daizi in Manchu. At the same time, each Lu Niu is divided into four big Dan, and each big Dan is managed by a Zhang Jing (Manchu, meaning clerk) and a doctoral library (Manchu, meaning leader). At this time, the establishment of the Manchu army basically took shape. According to their status, Ding Qi can be divided into Aha, Armored Man and Ding Qi. Aha is a slave, mostly Han and Korean; The armored people are descendants, with different nationalities and higher status than Aha. Ding Qi is a jurchen.

There are about 40 Niulu in Nurhachi, that is, an army of 12000 people. At that time, it was a big screen for customs clearance. About 20 Lu Niu are generals of Nurhachi brothers and relatives. Later, after Nurhachi killed his younger brother Shurhachi and his eldest son Chu Ying, the power was more unified. At the same time, Nurhachi also realized that taking Lu Niu as the unit would easily lead to the disadvantages of decentralization. He set out to establish the Eight Banners system. In the 43rd year of Wanli 16 15, Nurhachi established the Bagushan system. I have introduced the staffing of Gushan above. Lu Niu's official establishment will remain unchanged, with one or two Karakorum russians per flag, one Gushan russians per flag and two Mailer russians per flag. There is also a flag owner in the second town of Gushan, also known as Heshuo Baylor and Gushan King. He is the real owner of a flag.

The Eight Banners system can also be said to be founded by Nurhachi for political needs. Later, because of the war, Nurhachi strengthened the imperial system and redistributed the establishment of the Eight Banners for political needs. There is a saying that four baylor, four baylor and four baylor change from time to time because of the constant redistribution of political interests. For example, fate is six years (162 1), and the four little baylers are Degele, Gil Haran, Azig and Yue Tuo. In the eleventh year of the mandate of heaven, there were only three people left in the four small Baylor, namely Azig, Dourgen and Duoduo, while the generals under Huang Taiji were Bai Ding and Huang Ding. At the same time, the flag raising and lowering system was also established at this time, but the status of Baylor, the main flag, was not different because of the flag raising and lowering. The person who guards the royal family is called Lang Wei, and it must be the banner of yellow flag, yellow flag and white flag.