Chapter 25 Chapter 25 Grassland Hero Galdan

Speaking of the several major wars during the reign of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, apart from the eight-year pacification of the San Francisco, the longest and most repeated war was the famous "Three Conquests of Galdan" in history.As an outstanding leader of Junggar and Mongolia, Galdan dominates the northwest and fights against the Qing Dynasty. The war between him and his tribe and the Qing Dynasty almost runs through the entire "Kang-Qian Heyday", making the Eight Banners Army of the Qing Dynasty "unable to fight" Repeatedly failed miserably.It is not too much to say that he is the "rival for most of his life" of Emperor Kangxi who has been in power for 60 years.

Except for several battles with Emperor Kangxi, there are very few records of this prairie hero in the inland historical materials.In fact, he is not only a figure who has influenced Chinese history, but also a worldwide figure who has influenced the territory of Central Asia today.In our neighboring countries Russia and Kazakhstan, the research on Galdan and Junggar Mongolia has never stopped for more than a hundred years.In the concept of the emperor and ministers of the Qing Dynasty, he was a rebel, a rebellious minister and a traitor, but looking at his achievements throughout his life, it was not so simple.

To talk about Galdan, we need to start with his tribe—Zungar Mongolia.In many film and television dramas and even history books, Geldan is said to be the founder of the Mongolian Junggar tribe, but in fact, he is an heir, a person who inherited the Junggar Mongolia and once made the Junggar Mongolia strong. Junggar Mongolia is a branch of the Mongolian Oala tribe.In the late Ming Dynasty, the Mongolian tribes were gradually divided into three major forces: Monan Mongolia, Mobei Mongolia, and Moxi Mongolia.Among them, Moxi Mongolia was formerly known as Oala.After the rise of Nurhaci, while fighting the Ming Dynasty, he also began to annex the Mongolian tribes in the grassland.The two generations of Nurhachi and Huang Taiji, father and son, after many battles, hunted down from Eastern Mongolia to Qinghai, and finally wiped out Lin Danhan, the last generation of Mongolian "golden family" Khan.At the same time, the three major khans of Kalkha Mongolia in Mobei, Tuxietu Khan, Zasaktu Khan, and Chechen Khan, also surrendered to Houjin one after another.The reason for this is thanks to Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty. Mobei Mongolia was once the "hardcore" of the Ming Dynasty in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.After Chongzhen ascended the throne, due to the emptiness of the national treasury, he simply stopped all rewards to the Mongolian tribes. In this way, Houjin was given a chance.This is also the reason why Huang Taiji was able to easily bypass Mongolia several times before the fall of the Ming Dynasty.Before the fall of the Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty had completely controlled Moxi Mongolia and Mobei Mongolia by various methods such as intermarriage and canonization.In particular, the "Alliance Flag" system, through the award of titles and the division of nomadic areas, divided the Mongolian tribes into hundreds of small areas with scattered forces, and was unable to integrate them into a force against the state power.The only exception is Moxi Mongolia.

The predecessor of Moxi Mongolia was the famous Wala tribe in the Ming Dynasty.After the change of Tumubao, the power of Oala gradually declined, and some Oirat tribes moved westward to Central Asia, and some moved to Qinghai.By the end of the Ming Dynasty, Oala split into four tribes: Duerbert, Junggar, Turhut, and Heshuote, among which Junggar was the strongest.In 1640 AD, in Tarbaha, Xinjiang, Batur, the leader of the Junggar tribe, convened the tribes of Moxi Mongolia and promulgated the "Oirat Code", which divided the nomadic scope and various laws of the tribes of Moxi Mongolia.Since then, the Junggar Khanate has grown stronger as the leader of Moxi Mongolia, the Heshuote tribe was pushed out to the Qinghai area, Turhut moved westward to Central Asia, and Durbert surrendered to Junggar.Junggar’s sphere of influence during Batur’s rule included today’s eastern section of Lake Barrakesh and the Turpan region, and its capital was today’s Bosailie region in northern Xinjiang.Different from other nomadic regimes, Junggar not only developed nomadic industry, but also agriculture and cities appeared in the south.At this time, the power of the Russian Empire also penetrated into Northwest China. In October 1640, Batur had dealt with Russia.At that time, the Russian expedition entered the Junggar area and massacred the residents of the Junggar tribe. Batur resolutely counterattacked, not only repelling the Russian expedition, but also sent envoys to warn Russia.From 1640 to 1647 AD, there were 13 frictions between the Junggar tribe and Russia on the border. Its tough attitude made the Russian envoy say with emotion, "This will be the biggest stone for the empire to move eastward."Without the existence of Junggar, it would have been much easier for Tsarist Russia to invade Xinjiang, China.

After the death of Batur in 1653, his son Seng Ge came to the throne.In 1670 AD, Sengge was assassinated by his half-brother, and the Junggar tribe fell into civil strife.A son of Batur, who became a monk in Tibet, returned to Junggar and seized power. He is the famous Galdan. Galdan was born in 1644 AD. When he was born, colorful auspicious clouds appeared over the Altai Mountains, which greatly delighted Batur. Afterwards, Galdan was sent to Lhasa to become a monk and became a good friend with the fifth Dalai Lama. Tibetan King Diba Sangye Gyacuo is a classmate.After the coup, Galdan had no intention of competing for the position of Khan, but only wanted to study Buddhism in Tibet. His mother went to Tibet to persuade Galdan to fall in love with him.Before Galdan left Tibet, the Fifth Dalai Lama bestowed on Galdan the title of "Bo Shuo Ketu", which later became a signboard for Galdan to win over Mongolian tribes.In 1671 AD, Galdan defeated the opposition and successfully ascended the throne of Junggar Khan.After that, there was a history of conquest by the Junggar Khanate: he first used his relationship with the Dalai Lama to persuade other Oirat tribes to submit to him.At the same time, they went on expeditions everywhere, and the target of the strike was first aimed at the Heshuo Special Department who moved east to Qinghai.In 1677 AD, Galdan launched an offensive and defeated the Heshuote tribe. After winning the victory, he adopted a soft policy and recruited the Chechen Khan of the Heshuote tribe.Seizing the Heshuo tribe is an important step for the Junggar Khanate: the Heshuo tribe has always been the "leader" of the four Oala tribes. At this time, except for the westward migration of Torghut, the other three tribes have been annexed by Junggar.In 1680 AD, Galdan promulgated a decree to cancel the originally loose Oirat alliance, lifted all the titles that the Ming and Qing dynasties had conferred on the tribes, and established his own independent kingdom - the Junggar Khanate.In 1680 AD, Galdan launched a western expedition and destroyed the Yarkand Khanate on the South Road of Tianshan Mountain.So far, Galdan has fully established his dominant position in the Northwest.

When it comes to Galdan's fortune, we have to mention Tsarist Russia.When Batur Khan was in power, he had always taken boycott measures against Tsarist Russia, and the conflicts between the two sides continued.After Ge Erdan ascended the throne, he adopted a strategy of both hard and soft tactics against Russia. On the one hand, he allowed Russia to trade with Junggar and vigorously introduced Russian firearms and equipment troops. At the same time, he actively learned advanced agricultural technology and handicraft technology from Russia. develop agriculture.In particular, it introduced Russian wool-making technology and smelting technology, built smelting blast furnaces along the Yili River, and developed the handicraft industry. It can be called a "foreignization movement pioneer".At this time, the Qing Empire was busy quelling the chaos of the San Francisco, and had no time to look around.To the Qing Empire, Ge Erdan also adopted a submissive attitude at the beginning, paying tribute to court regularly.The Qing Dynasty was also happy that nothing happened in the northwest, and acquiesced in its semi-independent state in the northwest, but such peace was destined to be temporary.After the founding of the Qing Dynasty, the alliance flag system was implemented, and the strength of the Mongolian tribes became increasingly dispersed and declined, and only the Junggar tribe became stronger and stronger.Under such circumstances, the Mongolian tribes adjacent to Junggar naturally became fat in his eyes.In 1688 AD, Galdan began to test the bottom line of the Qing government.He first crossed Yanran Mountain, attacked Tuxietu Khan, and forced the Tuxietu tribe to move south.The Qing government only sent envoys to mediate and did not interfere.In June 1690, Galdan sent troops to attack the Khalkha tribe again and won again.It is worth mentioning that the important reason for the rapid victory of these two wars is that Galdan used a large number of firearms technology in the wars, and the Mongolian tribes, which originally mainly used cold weapons, could hardly resist.If the Qing government continues to sit back and watch, Galdan, who has unified the Mongolian tribes, is bound to become a huge threat to the Qing Dynasty.

Galdan has repeatedly expanded after taking charge of Junggar. In addition to Russia's support, another person is also extremely important: the Tibetan king Diba Sangye Gyalcuo.As early as when Galdan was living in Tibet, Diba Sangjiejiacuo made friends with him.When Sengge was assassinated, it was Diba Sangjiejiacuo's persuasion that strengthened Galdan's determination to seize the throne.At that time, the nomadic people in Qinghai were the Heshuote tribe of Oara Mongolia, who had been in constant conflict with the Tibetan tribes. Therefore, supporting the Junggar tribe to expel the Heshuote tribe became the choice of Diba Sangjie Jiacuo.The support of Diba Sangjie Jiacuo also helped Galdan use the power of the Yellow Sect to issue orders to various ministries, and the two used each other.When Ge Erdan attacked He Shuo Te's troops, Diba Sangjiejia realized by mistake that if Ge Erdan insisted on advancing troops, it would definitely arouse the anger of the Qing government, so he tried his best to dissuade him. The Pegatron Special Department changed the policy of recruiting.Even so, when the war broke out, Kangxi strictly ordered Zhang Yong, the commander-in-chief of Gansu, to closely monitor Galdan's movements.At this time, Galdan, on the one hand, had a close relationship with Tsarist Russia, and on the other hand echoed with Tibet. Once the annexation of Mobei and Monan Mongolia succeeds, these will inevitably become a siege for the Qing Dynasty.

The Soviet historian Panov once described Galdan as "a ferocious mouse". According to relevant Russian historical records, Galdan was best at the game of "cat and mouse".When he was weak, he often pretended to be low-key, but whenever he had the opportunity, he would strike swiftly at his opponent.When Ge Erdan seized the throne in the early years, he first claimed that the trip was to "sacrifice", and then launched a surprise attack after paralyzing his opponents, and successfully seized the throne in one fell swoop.Before the attack on the Heshuo Special Department, the Chechen Khan of the Heshuo Special Department had been a friend of Galdan's father Batur in his early years. Galdan was also extremely friendly to this "Secretary" in the early days of his ascension to the throne.Later, rumors that Galdan wanted to attack Heshuote continued to fly. After hearing the news, the Chechen Khan acted preemptively and marched into Junggar first, subduing the Duerbert tribe who had surrendered to Galdan.At that time, Galdan did not respond, and his tolerant attitude made the Chechen Khan careless.But just a year later, Gerdan "settled accounts after autumn", concentrated heavy troops to attack Heshuote, recovered the losses with profits, and completed his annexation of the four major tribes of Wala.After defeating many opponents one after another, Gerdan set his eyes on the "big cat" of the Qing Dynasty.

The Qing government actually attached great importance to Galdan.It’s just that after Kangxi ascended the throne, he has always focused his strategy on pacifying San Francisco and recovering Taiwan, but he never let down his vigilance. Emperor Kangxi sent people to inspect Mongolia many times, draw maps, and study the main routes of Galdan’s invasion.University scholar Li Guangdi once used the Ming Dynasty Wala as an example and asked Kangxi to face up to Galdan's threat.Tsarist Russia, which suffered defeat at the Battle of Yaksa, was not idle either.In 1687 AD, Golovin, the special envoy of Tsarist Russia who participated in the negotiation of the Treaty of Nerchinsk, had a secret contact with Galdan and promised that Tsarist Russia would provide all assistance to help Galdan unify Mongolia.In June of 1690 AD, after making full preparations, the Qing army was led by Emperor Kangxi to "conquer personally" and lead a large army northward to Mongolia to meet Galdan.The invincible Junggar cavalry who swept across Mongolia and the famous Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty ushered in the first collision.

In June 1690 AD, Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty divided his army into two groups, attacking from Xifengkou and Gubeikou, and the imperial driver personally conquered Galdan.Before this personal conquest began, people in the capital were already in panic. Most of the shops in Beijing were closed, and the price of rice rose to 3 taels of silver a stone. There were rumors everywhere that Galdan was about to capture Beijing.In order to eliminate Galdan's foreign aid, Emperor Kangxi first sent envoys to Russia to issue a stern warning to Russia. After weighing the pros and cons, Russia chose a wait-and-see attitude towards this war and withheld the 3,000 muskets that Galdan had previously purchased. .At the same time, Russia also assembled troops in northern Mongolia to observe the trend of the war, and tried to fish in troubled waters if the Qing army was unfavorable in combat.For this expedition, the Qing Dynasty mobilized all its elite soldiers and horses in Shengjing, Jilin, and Beijing, and it can be said that it was determined to win.On the march, Ge Erdan and Kangxi were both paralyzing each other. Ge Erdan sent an envoy to Kangxi, claiming that the war was not against the Qing court, but only to avenge Khalkha Mongols.Kangxi also pushed the boat along the way, sending a hundred cattle and sheep, and a thousand pieces of silk and satin to Gerdan, claiming that the trip was not for crusade, but for signing a contract.During the "mutual flickering" between the two sides, the Changning Division of the Qing Army's Right Route Army arrived in Xilingrad and was defeated by the striker of the Geerdan Division.After the victory, Gerdan's self-confidence soared, and he ordered his entire army to march south.On August 30th, Galdan arrived in Ulan Butong, where the Qing Army's left and right armies joined forces.

On September 4, the Battle of Ulan Butong officially started.Ge Erdan set up an array on the mountain and set up a "Camel City", using tens of thousands of camels tied up and arranged for fortifications. Ge Erdan's army used this as a cover to release firearms to prevent the Qing army from charging.The Qing army bombarded with heavy artillery first, but Geerdan's army resisted tenaciously. The two sides engaged in a large-scale artillery battle, and they remained at a stalemate.General Fuquan attacked from both wings with cavalry, and was repelled by Galdan. Tong Guogang, the first-rank bodyguard of the Qing Dynasty, was also shot to death.When the war was unfavorable, many officers of the Eight Banners of the Qing army were "counseled", and Se Geyin, the deputy commander of the Zhengbai Banner, fled the battle, falsely claiming that he had "sunstroke".But Tong Guogang's sacrifice was a turning point in the entire battle.During this charge, the Qing army figured out the main structure of Galdan's "Camel City", and then concentrated their firepower to bomb the weak points of the Camel City, finally opening the gap in the strong Camel City.At the same time, Tong Guowei, Tong Guogang's younger brother, detoured behind Camel City and took Galdan's back route.Under the front and back attacks, Gerdan was out of support. At dusk, Gerdan was forced to abandon Camel City, and led the remnants to retreat into the mountains behind.So far, Galdan, who swept across the grassland, has been surrounded by the Qing army on all fronts. At this time, more than half of Galdan's troops had been killed or injured. Once the Qing army continued to attack, it was very likely that the entire army would be wiped out.Under the crisis, Galdan cheated again. That night, he took the initiative to send envoys to Fuquan, General Fuyuan of the Qing Army (former commander in chief of the enemy), and asked for a peace negotiation, and his words were extremely respectful.Fuquan pushed the boat along the way, agreed to Galdan's request, and ordered the troops to stop the pursuit.Taking advantage of this opportunity, Galdan launched a breakthrough, broke through the encirclement of the Qing army in the middle of the night, fled to the northwest, and burned the grassland along the way to prevent the Qing army from pursuing.Ge Erdan, who was once facing a catastrophe, managed to escape and ascend to heaven.Later generations said that Fuquan was fooled, but the fact is that the Qing army suffered heavy casualties at this time, and Horqin's reinforcements were rushing in. Fuquan's original intention was to wait for Horqin's reinforcements to arrive and concentrate on encircling Gerdan, but he was smart. Instead of being misunderstood by cleverness.After the war, Fuquan was fined and punished by Kangxi, and Ge Erdan's misfortunes never come singly. On the way to escape, plagues broke out in the army, and most of the troops were lost.After being defeated and returned to Junggar, there were only a thousand people left in the department. After the Battle of Ulan Butong, Galdan was very honest for a while. On the one hand, he used Komodo as a base to develop production and restore strength, and on the other hand, he sent an envoy to apologize to Kangxi.At this time, there were also voices from all over the Qing Dynasty to pursue the victory and completely wipe out Galdan. Because the Qing Dynasty was short of money at this time, Kangxi did not adopt it, but ordered the Mongolian ministries to strictly monitor Galdan.At the same time, the Qing Dynasty repaired post roads and set up troops in Mongolia to prevent Galdan from invading. After recuperating for several years, Galdan regained his arrogance and began to plunder the surrounding Mongolian tribes.In 1695 A.D., Galdan raised another 30,000 troops and marched eastward from Komodo. Kangxi decided to go on a personal expedition again.In February of the following year, the 90,000 troops of the Qing Dynasty were divided into three groups, including the East Route Army of Heilongjiang General Sabsu, the West Route Army of Fuyuan General Fei Yanggu, and the Middle Route Army led by Kangxi himself. The intention is to completely encircle and annihilate Galdan.The key to this battle is that the Feiyangu tribe on the west road made rapid progress, crossed the Tula River at high speed, intercepted and killed Ge Erdan from behind, the rear road was cut off, and Ge Erdan retreated in a hurry.The three-way Qing army "hide and seek" with Ge Erdan on the prairie. After some pursuit and interception, they finally besieged Ge Erdan in Zhaomodo.On May 13th, Fei Yanggu of the Qingxi Route Army fought a decisive battle with Galdan in Zhaomodo. Facing Galdan's intensive firearm defense, the Qing army did not fight hard like the battle of Ulan Butong. On the contrary, they only sent a small group of cavalry to lure the enemy. Galdan, who was eager to break through the siege, was really fooled, and immediately led his elite troops to charge. The two sides fought fiercely for a day. All the family members of Galdan's army were captured.Galdan's army was in chaos immediately, and the Qing army rushed to kill. Galdan's wife Anu was also killed in this battle. In the end, Galdan led only dozens of people to flee north in embarrassment. When Galdan was fighting fiercely with the Qing army, the backyard of the Junggar tribe caught fire. Galdan's nephew Tsengarabutan staged a coup, occupied Galdan's hometown of Ili, and established himself as the Junggar Khan.Galdan, who was betrayed by all relatives, had nowhere to go, and led more than a thousand remnants to live in Hetao Grassland in Ningxia.In April of the following year, under the attack of the Qing army, Galdan committed suicide by taking poison, ending his life of fighting.After hearing the news of Ge Erdan's death, Emperor Kangxi, who had gone through several tests in his life, was so ecstatic that he knelt down on the bank of the Yellow River (Kangxi was inspecting the embankment of the Yellow River at that time), and thanked the heaven. Galdan died, but the confrontation between Junggar and the Qing Dynasty did not end. At first, Cewang Arabutan adopted a policy of submission to the Qing Dynasty, and made every effort to expand in Central Asia, and even defeated the Russian Eastern Expeditionary Army twice.As his strength grew, he finally launched a rebellion in the last period of Emperor Kangxi's reign.Since then, during the 13 years of Emperor Yongzheng's reign and the first half of Emperor Qianlong's reign, there were constant wars between Junggar and the Qing Dynasty.It was not until the Qianlong period that General Zhaohui marched west to Junggar that the last Mongolian regime in ancient history was completely wiped out.