Mantai

Mantai (滿泰, ᠮᠠᠨ᠋ᡨ᠋ᠠᡳ Mantai¹, ?–1596) was a member of the Ulanara clan (烏拉那拉氏) and the third chief of the Ula (Ula, 烏拉) of the Haixi Jurchen (海西女眞). He was the second son of his predecessor Bugan (Bugan, 布干). During his reign, he freed Ula from the control of the Hada (Hada, 哈達), and he expanded its territory by annexing the Suwan (Suwan, 蘇完) and Sibe (Sibe, 錫伯) tribes in succession. He later dispatched troops to join the Nine-Tribe Coalition (九部) led by the Yehe (Yehe, 葉赫), and fought fierce battles against the Jianzhou Jurchen (建州女眞) at Gure i alin (古勒山), but his younger brother Bujantai (Bujantai, 布占泰) was captured. (Battle of Gure Alin) A few years later, he was killed in an ambush while inspecting the border.

Life

After Mantai took power, Wan Han (萬汗) Wang Tai (王台) died, the Hada declined, and his three sons fought over the throne. Taking advantage of this, Mantai broke away from the Hada. Mantai also advanced south, allied with the Yehe, divided the Suwan and Sibe tribes, and recovered the Suihacheng (綏哈城), which had originally belonged to Ula. The Suwan chief Solgor (索爾果) and his son Feiyingdong (費英東) and others went south and surrendered to the Jianzhou Jurchen,² while the Sibe chief surrendered to the Yehe.³ Mantai supported Wang Tai's fifth son Menggebulu (Menggebulu, 孟格布祿), who had fled to Ula, in returning to the Hada and taking the throne there. He also dispatched his younger brother Bujantai to lead efforts to mediate the dispute between the Yehe and the (Hoifa, 輝發). Through this, Mantai greatly enhanced Ula's prestige and, following Wang Tai, newly gained the position of overlord of the . However, the power of the Yehe had grown even stronger at that time, and since they were backed by the (明), Mantai had no choice but to acknowledge the Yehe's leadership. In the autumn of 1593, as unrest grew within his territory, Mantai sent his younger brother Bujantai in his place. Mantai had Bujantai lead 3,000 soldiers to take part in the military campaign of the Nine-Tribe Coalition, which was centered on the Yehe. The Nine-Tribe Coalition fought against the Jianzhou Jurchen of (Nurhaci, 努爾哈赤), but the coalition was utterly defeated, its overlord, the Yehe beile (布寨), was killed, and Bujantai was captured. Because of this, Mantai became fearful and never again took part in military operations the Yehe launched against Jianzhou. Mantai tried to recover Bujantai by offering generous gifts to the Jianzhou Jurchen, but Nurhaci refused. Under these circumstances, Mantai changed his attitude and decided to establish friendly relations with Nurhaci. In 1596, Mantai sent more than 20 members of Bujantai's family to Jianzhou to live with Bujantai.