Introduction: Let's first say that the territory of the Qing Dynasty has never reached 14.53 million square kilometers, I don't know where the number of the subject comes from? The heyday of the Qing Empire was 13.16 million square kilometers after the suppression of the Northwest Rebellion in the late Qianlong period. As for why the Qing Empire expanded: In fact, this needs to be divided into several stages, Nurhaci was satisfied with the establishment of the Guanwai State, and it was not until the Emperor Taiji period that he made a living the idea of entering the Central Plains; from Shunzhi to the early Kangxi Period, he had already satisfied the territory of his hometown in the northeast plus the Ming Dynasty in the two capitals and thirteen provinces, but the Dzungar Khanate's vain attempt to re-expand the territory of the Great Yuan Threatened the security of the Qing Dynasty. Therefore, the Qing Dynasty had to fight back because it involved life and death, so from Qinghai-Tibet, the Western Regions, and even the Mongolian ministries (Mobei Moxi) were the result of this seventy-year-long flat-bottom rebellion. From this point of view, the Qing Dynasty is a bit passive. From the beginning of Qianlong to unify the territory of the Qing Dynasty, it really had the confidence of the Heavenly Dynasty and the Kingdom of Heaven, and it was no longer like before that it was always worried about being driven back to its hometown in the northeast. Therefore, the territory of the Qing Dynasty changed from a small country of less than one million square kilometers in the northeast to a huge empire of 13.16 million square kilometers. To put it bluntly, the driving force for the expansion of the Qing Dynasty came from its own sense of crisis, and it used a huge and vast strategic depth to ensure its own security.
Nurhaci did not have the ambitions of the Later Jin Dynasty, as long as the Ming Dynasty could recognize itself. Of course, the Ming Dynasty could not recognize each other because of the ancestral precept of not cutting land and the shelf of the Yang Dynasty, so the emperor Taiji who succeeded him in the process of repeated tug-of-war found that the original Ming Dynasty was not very terrible. This gave birth to the idea of whether it was possible to enter the Central Plains, and this idea became a reality with chongzhen's suicide and Wu Sangui's surrender to the Qing Dynasty and the liberalization of Shanhaiguan. The Qing Dynasty entered the customs and ran all the way on the road of territorial expansion: from the move of the capital to Beijing in 1644 to the complete pacification of the northwest by Qianlong in 1760, the Qing Dynasty continued to expand its territory for 116 years. Finally, in the Qianlong period, the peak territory of 13.16 million square kilometers was determined, and we will elaborate on it in stages.
During the reign of Nurhaci and Emperor Taiji, they only wanted to divide and establish a country and had no intention of entering the Central Plains
From Nurhaci onwards, the jurchen tribes began to unify in order to divide Liaodong and live their own small lives. Plundering Daming and allying with the Mongol Horqin was to strengthen itself. One wanted to divide the territory; Daming wanted to quell the rebellion, which led to the repeated tug-of-war between Hou Jin and Daming's Liaodong. In Nurhaci's view, although Daming has weakened, it is still a behemoth. Therefore, the most ideal is that Hou Jin can divide guanwai and establish a clan system with Daming to call the vassals of each other.
Emperor Taiji invaded Korea twice after succeeding to the throne to avoid being attacked by the enemy (and of course necessary plunder) during the confrontation with the Ming Dynasty, and the conquest of the Southern Mongols increased the strategic depth while increasing the power of the Later Jin. Emperor Taiji plundered from Xuanda into guanguan many times, reaching as far as Henan and Shandong. While obtaining abundant supplies, he also discovered the weak nature of the Ming Dynasty. For the next step, Dorgon took the opportunity of Chongzhen's suicide to enter the customs and pacify the Central Plains.
Dorgon, Shunzhi, and Kangxi entered the Central Plains in the early period, and gradually digested and absorbed the former Ming Dynasty and the ming dynasty and the thirteen provinces
In 1643, Emperor Taiji died of illness, and Daishan, Dorgon, Hauge and others fought for the throne, and at this time, no one knew that Daming Guozuo still had a year. In the first month of the year of Jiashen, Shunzhi succeeded to the throne in Shenyang under the compromise of various forces, and in March Li Zicheng attacked Beijing, and Chongzhen hanged himself and died. The regent Dolgun led an army into the Central Plains, and then moved the capital to Beijing, which opened the prelude to the Qing Dynasty's entry into the Central Plains.
From 1664 to 1661, the Southern Ming Dynasty Emperor Zhu Youluo was forced to hide in Burma, and the anti-Qing forces that formed a structure in the Central Plains were basically pacified. Since then, the Qing government has begun to recuperate and digest and absorb the two capitals and thirteen provinces. This situation continued until the powerful Dzungar Khanate, under the leadership of Geldan, tried in vain to destroy the Qing Dynasty and restore the Mongolian yuan territory. During this historical period, the territory of the Qing Dynasty included about 6-7 million square kilometers of the ancient land of the Northeast and the liangjiang and thirteen provinces of the late Ming dynasty. Although nominally the influence of the Qing Dynasty could radiate to the princes of Mongolia, it did not have the actual ability to directly administer.
During the Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong periods, they had to fight with Dzungar for the sake of survival, and finally reached the peak of their territory
From Kangxi to Qianlong, three generations of emperors created the last prosperous era of the feudal dynasty in China's history - the prosperous era of Kangqian. Since it is a prosperous world, natural civil rule and martial arts must be excellent. The Qing Dynasty's expansion of 13.16 million square kilometers of territory to its peak was achieved during this period of more than 70 years of pacifying the northwest. Therefore, during this period, the Qing Dynasty was facing a passive struggle with the Dzungars in the northwest.
The Dzungars of the northwest were already established, not as a tribal system but as a state with clear goals. In particular, the Great Khan of the Dzungar Khanate, Geldan, took advantage of the qing's painstaking efforts to pacify the Three Domains, and gradually encroached on the Mongol tribes. Adopt the strategy of long-distance and close-range attack, and include all the departments of Mobei, Monan, and Moxi into the territory (as shown in the figure above). Geldan's troops were directed at the capital, so Kangxi had to march in person at the Battle of UlanButong. Since then, the Dzungar and Qing dynasties have been divided for 70 years, spanning the three dynasties of Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong.
In these seventy years of conquest, even the strong national strength of the Qing Dynasty was forced to almost make ends meet. Yongzheng had to withstand great pressure to implement the new policy and accumulate wealth to pacify the northwest. In the most critical moment of the TV series "Yongzheng Dynasty", Yongzheng even raided the homes of corrupt officials to supplement the salaries of the northwest counterinsurgency army. It can be seen that the pacification was difficult, and by the Qianlong period, the northwest pacification was finally completed. The territory of the Qing Dynasty also reached its peak at this time, covering an area of more than 13 million square kilometers.
brief summary:
The Qing Dynasty began to reach the peak of its territory from the later Jin Dynasty, and experienced several key historical stages. From the intention of dividing Guanwai to entering the Central Plains; from the expansion of the two capitals and thirteen provinces to the peak of the territory, there is a historical mission entrusted by the Qing Dynasty itself and objective historical events. Therefore, the Qing Dynasty was able to expand from the white mountains and black water in the northeast to dominate East Asia, becoming the top three unified dynasties in China's history.
I am the emperor of history, welcome your attention; if there is a flaw, the axe is right.