AISIN-NARA Jierhalang (愛新納喇·濟爾哈朗), b. 330 BG, r. 277-265. (as khan of the Nara clan) r. 273-266 (as Khagan of all Yonggan), d. 265 BG (Year 47 of Kyoshi’s Era), was the Twenty-First Imperial Prince of Jin and Khan of the Nara Clan of the Yonggan, and, for a time, Khagan of the Yonggan Peoples.
Jierhalang was the eldest son of the previous Nara khan, Surhaqi (舒爾哈齊), and his paramount wife Gan-Nara Foyori. Foyori was the daughter of a Ganjinese high nobleman and a Yonggan maiden who was sent to Ganjinguo to secure a trading relationship in the previous generation; she was accomplished as a poet and architect and continued these pursuits as dowager khatun after Sugaqi's death.
Jierhalang's succession to the khanate was expected, and he was groomed for power from an early age. Surhaqi hired tutors from the Central Earth Kingdom and Ganjin Country to teach his son. He had a younger full-sister from Foyori, and four half-siblings from his father's secondary wife, KAYA-SHAHIN Umay, a Nogai noblewoman from Chenbao.
In 308, Jierhalang himself was married to his second cousin, the earthbending general Ayin Nara Gulan (332-265). She bore him daughters in 306 and 304, followed by his first son in 302. They named this son Mengtemu (302-264). Finally, Gulan had another son, Barutu (299-266), in 299. Jierhalang took two concubines later in his life, but never married a secondary wife.
In 295 BG, when Jierhalang was 35, Qin's rebellion broke out in the West. Five years later, in 290, emissaries from Qin's rapidly-growing rebellion were received at the court of Surhaqi, and Jierhalang vociferously favored supporting Qin. The veritable records of the khaganate record that Surhaqi delegated the matter to Prince Jierhalang, who extracted various concessions in exchange for Yonggan support of Qin.
In 285, it was revealed that the 17-year-old Prince Mengtemu had fathered a baby boy with Nulu Nara Muke (304-262), a low-ranked 19-year-old lady-in-waiting of his older sister. Muke claimed Prince Mengtemu as the father, and Mengtemu, present at the birth, acknowledged the infant. This initially infuriated Surhaqi, because by Yonggan customary law, this accepted claim made Mengtemu and Muke a married couple. Because no prenuptual agreement to the contrary was in place, the low-ranked Nulu Nara noblewoman was now Mengtemu's paramount wife, making Mengtemu much less attractive for a later political marriage. Surhaqi was even annoyed with Jierhalang, because it was discovered that Jierhalang had known about Mengtemu's affair and had been tardy with arranging a pre-nuptual agreement to make Muke a secondary wife.
However, as time went on, Surhaqi was said to have been completely charmed by his baby great-grandson Prince Taiku, and reconciled with Jierhalang and Mengtemu. He even became friendly to Muke, appreciating her bold gambit; he elevated her father, the marquess of Elhi, to the more appropriate rank (for a princely father-in-law) of Duke Guarding the Sun River, and then later granted him a lucrative sinecure as Master of the Khagan's Aviary when his income was insufficient to support the expected lifestyle of a duke.
In 277 BG, Surhaqi became incapacitated by a stroke, and Jierhalang was acclaimed khan of the Nara. He was not yet able to secure the support of the all-Yonggan council necessary to secure the khaganate, which instead passed to his father's younger brother, AISIN-NARA Garudai, a powerful noble.
In 276, in his first full year as khan, Jierhalang managed to renegotiate the Yonggan state's relationship with Qin as it became clear that Qin's conquests had reached their apex. A monumental statue complex at an important crossroads was built to commemorate a permanent alliance between the Yonggan and Qin. Qin betrothed QIN Fu (288-264), his 12-year-old daughter by the Ganjinese princess regnant Chundu, to Prince Taiku (愛新納喇·太杵, 285-264) the nine-year-old grandson of Jierhalang. Jierhalang had the expectation that if a son were eventually born to Prince Taiku and Princess Fu, that son could be a contender for Qin's succession - but Qin stopped short of agreeing to formally designate such a child as his heir, as his eldest son from his first wife, Lord Qin She, was a powerful general in the West who had long expected to succeed his father. Qin Fu was also formally adopted into the Nara clan by the clan council, as, being of ethnic central (zhongzu) stock, she did not have a clan distinct from her family.
Jierhalang seemed to be a politically adept khan, and became popular with the all-Yonggan council, as he spread Qin's gifts and infrastructure projects around, rather than concentrating them exclusively in Nara territory.
In 274 BG, Surhaqi died, followed shortly thereafter by his younger brother Garudai khagan. Yonggan council elected Jierhalang khagan in 273. His relationship with Qin was alternately seen as an asset or liability; the Yonggan state was undergoing an economic boom as a result of increased trade, but Qin had recently been turned back from the walls of Ba Sing Se with great loss of life (including many of the Yonggan earthbenders whom Jierhalang had promised Qin as part of his support of the Ba Sing Se campaign).
Jierhalang managed to maintain power through the turbulent years following the failure of Qin to take the city, but he sensed the shifting tide of the war and began to fortify Yongganguo and be less generous with the provision of troops for Qin. Nonetheless, his correspondence with the hegemon remained conciliatory in tone. Qin, in any event, became preoccupied with the developing rebellion against his rule in the South.
In 270 BG, while leading his forces in the Southern Earth Kingdom to suppress the Hao Ting Restoration Movement, Qin attacked the Yokoya peninsula, which was under the protection of Avatar Kyoshi. This confrontation went very poorly for Qin, who was killed. His movement swiftly fractured without its unifying figure. Jierhalang had his son Taiku hastily married to his betrothed QIN NARA Fu (who was residing in Gansanjiao, in Gan Jin country) and enthroned Prince Taiku as "Earth Emperor" and purported successor to Qin the Conqueror. This enjoyed the support of the Ganjinese and Yonggan, but farther West, many instead supported the claim of Qin She, now acclaimed as Great Successor Emperor by his troops, and he was not the only other claimant. Large parts of Qin's empire also broke away without claiming wider authority.
Prince Taiku's regime in Gansanjiao lasted for a few years; it was understood that the young emperor was really a puppet of Jierhalang. Even as the resurgent Hao Ting reunified the Central continent under the guidance of Avatar Kyoshi and the Earth Sages, Qin Nara Fu gave birth to Jierhalang's great-grandson, Aisin-Nara Hurhan. This happy event was overshadowed by an attack on Gansanjiao fomented by Hao Ting diplomats; the imperial family escaped to Jierhalang's palace in Gainan with only a few trunks of their most precious treasures.
With the capitulation of Gan Jin country to the Hao Ting shortly thereafter, Jierhalang concentrated on fortifying Yonggan Country, with the aim being to extract favorable peace terms with the Hao Ting. Initially, he was successful in deterring attacks, as the Hao Ting war council chose to focus on easier targets as they reunified the Earth Kingdom. However, the resources of the Hao Ting were vast, and once they were no longer distracted, they committed a huge army to subjugate Yongganguo. After a series of military defeats, Jierhalang lost the confidence of the Yonggan council and was deposed as Khagan, being replaced by the khan of the Jala clan. Some of the Yonggan clans immediately defected and made peace with the Hao Ting. The Nara, Aora, and Ikulu clans decided to fight on.
In 265, Yongganguo was effectively defeated militarily, and the Royal Earth Army was marching on Gainan. Shortly before the Battle of Gainan, Jierhalang killed himself in the Princely Lineage Shrine by falling on his own sword. He died before the spirit altar of his ancestor NARA Nacibulu (納喇·納齊布祿 887-808 BG).
Prince Mengtemu succeeded him, and negotiated the surrender of the Nara clan's remaining mountain redoubts under the mediation of Avatar Kyoshi, accepting exile to Ba Sing Se for the princely family. However, the agreement was not upheld by the Hao Ting (supposedly due to an error) and Mengtemu, Fu, and Taiku were all beheaded shortly after arriving there, for their support of Qin the Conqueror. The small child Aisin-Nara Hurhan was spared, and ultimately exiled to the Hanwang Desert.