After the Opium War in 1840, western countries all looked at China and launched aggressive and cannibalistic actions against China. However, the decadent Qing government still refused to reform and learned advanced technologies and systems, resulting in the whole of China still being in an extremely backward and closed environment.
Outer Mongolia became independent
In 1911, the Xinhai Revolution broke out, and the provinces declared independence and got rid of the control of the Qing government. Outer Mongolia, like the other provinces of China, declared its independence under the leadership of princes and nobles. However, the situation in Outer Mongolia and other provinces in China is not the same, Outer Mongolia and Tsarist Russia are adjacent, in the last years of the Qing Dynasty, Tsarist Russia constantly invaded and encroached on the northeast and northwest regions of our country, and also looked at Mongolia with a tiger's eye.
During the Qing Dynasty, the Qing government divided Outer Mongolia into three parts, namely Monan, Mobei, and Moxi Mongolia, of which Mobei Mongolia is now Inner Mongolia, and Mobei and Moxi are now Outer Mongolia. Due to the relatively long distance, the princes and nobles of Outer Mongolia still had certain sovereignty, and in order to prevent the division of Outer Mongolia, the Qing government sent officials to Kulun, which is now Ulaanbaatar, and regularly conducted military exercises in Outer Mongolia to ensure the stability of the border areas.
In the early years of the Qing Dynasty, Tsarist Russia began to harass Outer Mongolia continuously, and by the Kangxi period, the Mongol tribes located in the northern part of the Tianshan Mountains colluded with the Tsarist rebellion, and Kangxi repeatedly marched and quelled the rebellion. In 1727, Tsarist Russia and the Qing government signed the Treaty of Kyakhta, and Tsarist Russia affirmed that Outer Mongolia belonged to China, but the Tsarist power gradually crossed Siberia and extended to Lake Baikal, causing great hidden dangers in the future.
In the last years of the Qing Dynasty, the great powers invaded and encroached on China, of which Tsarist Russia had the greatest appetite, and Tsarist Russia appeared as a form of a country with a history of only 1100 years. Before the 17th century, Tsarist Russia was still far away from China and had no common border with China, but after the 17th century, Tsarist Russia began to expand continuously, encroaching on more than 1.5 million square kilometers of China's land through various unequal treaties.
Before the Xinhai Revolution, 108 of the 240 banners of the entire Mongolian tribe were in Outer Mongolia, and all 108 of these 108 banners were infiltrated by Tsarist Russia. After the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution in 1911, the central government lost its right to manage the localities, the whole country was in chaos, and the provinces became independent. At this time, Tsarist Russia felt that the time was ripe, and issued weapons to pro-Russian forces, preparing to create the independence of Outer Mongolia.
At the end of 1911, under the command of the Russian Consul General, Outer Mongolia began to expel Chinese officials and declare independence, after which Tsarist Russia signed the "Russo-Mongolian Agreement" with the princes and nobles of Outer Mongolia, which determined the independence of Outer Mongolia and the actual rule of Tsarist Russia over Outer Mongolia. For a time, the whole country was in an uproar, from the government to the people to the excitement, the Inner Mongolian government also quickly issued a solemn statement, not recognizing the Kulun puppet regime.
Xu Shuzheng, a famous anhui general
After the independence of Outer Mongolia, public opinion throughout the country was full of insults, accusing the Beiyang government of betraying the country and seeking glory, and the Qing government was the same. Yuan Shikai also began to preside over negotiations with Tsarist Russia and wanted to take Back Outer Mongolia, but the weak countries had no diplomacy, and the anger without strength was meaningless, and the negotiations were not so easy.
At that time, Chinese diplomats made great efforts to force Tsarist Russia to make concessions, and the two sides signed the Sino-Russian Voice Document in 1913, confirming that China was the suzerainty of Outer Mongolia and changing "independence" to "autonomy", but China could not garrison Outer Mongolia or manage all the affairs of Outer Mongolia, while Tsarist Russia could garrison troops in Outer Mongolia. That is to say, Tsarist Russia nominally recognized Outer Mongolia as belonging to China, but in practice, the control of Outer Mongolia remained in the hands of Tsarist Russia.
For the Issue of Outer Mongolia, China is not unnoticed, and the Anhui warlord Duan Qirui has been paying attention to the Issue of Outer Mongolia at that time. Xu Shuzheng was born in Xiao County, Anhui Province in 1880, and on his way to Shandong in 1901 to join Yuan Shikai, he met one of his generals, the later Anhui chieftain Duan Qirui.
Duan Qirui and Xu Shuzheng relied on him at first sight, and in 1905, Duan Qirui sent Xu Shuzheng to study at the Japanese Army Non-Commissioned Officer School and the Japanese Zhenwu School, and returned to China in 1910, and after returning to China, he was still under Duan Qirui's command. Xu Shuzheng is a man of both literature and martial arts, the chief think tank under Duan Qirui, who helps Duan Qirui to give advice, but he can also command wars, and his military talent is very outstanding.
In 1915, after Tsarist Russia forced the Beiyang government to sign the Treaty of Kyakhta, Duan Qirui appointed Xu Shuzheng as the director of the Northwest Frontier Preparatory Office and formed a force to find an opportunity to retake Outer Mongolia. In just one month, Xu Shuzheng pulled up a northwestern border defense army composed of four mixed brigades and a supplementary brigade, and Xu Shuzheng also sent some henchmen to sneak into Cullen and spy on relevant intelligence.
After the outbreak of the October Revolution in Russia in 1917, Xu Shuzheng felt that this was a good opportunity and began to step up preparations. Relevant information also shows that there has been chaos in Outer Mongolia, and the interests of all parties are fighting each other for power, and the Japanese have also taken the opportunity to infiltrate their own forces into Outer Mongolia. At that time, there were only 10,000 Outer Mongolian soldiers, 120 Japanese troops, and more than 1,000 White Russian soldiers stationed in Kulen, but after the October Revolution in Russia, these White Russian soldiers had long been distracted and did not know where their future lay.
Xu Shuzheng sent troops to Outer Mongolia
On October 23, 1919, Xu Shuzheng led the First Division of the Northwest Frontier Guard Army to Kulun (Ulaanbaatar), saying that it was a division, but in fact this division only had an infantry brigade plus a cavalry regiment, and the weapons were also purchased from foreign loans. Before leaving, Xu Shuzheng gave an impassioned speech.
Xu Shuzheng's action was very rapid, quickly occupying many important towns such as Kyakhta, Ulyasutai, Kodo, Tangnu Ulyanhai and other important towns, threatening the Russian siberian communication line. The Russians did not react, Xu Shuzheng had already completed these actions, coupled with the fact that they were full of internal contradictions and frequent civil wars at that time, they could only sit back and watch Xu Shuzheng recover Outer Mongolia.
The combat effectiveness of the Outer Mongolian army and the Beiyang Army are very different, coupled with Xu Shuzheng's outstanding military command ability, so many Outer Mongolian troops do not dare to block the Beiyang Army at all. Every time he went to a place, if anyone dared to make a change, Xu Shuzheng would kill a hundred people to deter the enemy. Xu Shuzheng's tactics were very tough, and in the face of Japanese provocations, he cleanly annihilated two bandit armies supported by the Japanese, and then stationed dozens of miles away from Cullen to deter the Japanese army by force.
Before entering Cullen, Xu Shuzheng called Matsui, the head of the Japanese office in Cullen, and said to him: "Give you three hours, you must hand over your weapons to our office in Cullen and immediately withdraw from Cullen." Otherwise, there will be a clash between the two forces, and you will be responsible for all the consequences. At that time, the Japanese army only had more than 100 people in Cullen, and did not dare to offend Xu Shuzheng, so they could only hand over their weapons and withdraw from Cullen.
After the Japanese army withdrew from Cullen, the more than 1,000 White Russian soldiers in the city were very arrogant, and rushed out of the city with great momentum and drove towards Xu Shuzheng's garrison. Xu Shuzheng set up an ambush on three sides, dealing a heavy blow to the Belarusian army, but the Casualties of the Beiyang Army were not small, hundreds of people were killed, and the remaining White Russian forces were frightened and fled all the way to the Mongolian-Russian border.
Return of Outer Mongolia
After the Japanese army and the White Russian army withdrew, the outer Mongol princes and nobles and all the forces in the city were in a mess, they did not want to surrender, but they all knew that they could not fight, so they had to pretend to surrender first, and then rebel when the time was ripe. At this time, Xu Shuzheng also had difficulties, that is, he did not have many troops in his hands, only a few thousand people.
Xu Shuzheng chose to enter the city at dusk, and he formed a convoy of 80 trucks to drive into Cullen, but each car was covered with a black cloth, and people outside could only see brand new weapons, but no soldiers. After the convoy arrived at the military camp that Yuan Shikai had built in the western suburbs of Kulun, Xu Shuzheng immediately ordered people to guard the area around the military camp and not allow anyone to enter.
After jumping out of the car and swinging around, the soldiers quietly entered the car, and the convoy quietly left the city, arrived at the Beiyang Army's garrison outside the city, and then continued to return with great fanfare, so many times that the people of Cullen thought that tens of thousands of Beiyang Troops had arrived.
After the troops arrived at the barracks, Xu Shuzheng ordered a company to be stationed in a barracks that could garrison a regiment, so that the thousands of Beiyang troops he brought would fill the barracks that could accommodate 100,000 troops. Next, Xu Shuzheng organized more than 1,000 Beiyang troops to practice in the barracks day and night, shouting and killing. Xu Shuzheng also sent more than 100 people, dressed in civilian clothes, to monitor the princes and nobles of Outer Mongolia.
On November 23, 1919, Xu Shuzheng suddenly dispatched troops to surround the Outer Mongolian army garrison in the city, and after reading a telegram from President Xu Shichang, ordered the Outer Mongolian army to surrender all weapons. As a result, these tens of thousands of troops in Outer Mongolia had no time to react, and all of them were disarmed. Later, Xu Shuzheng led his troops to put the princes and nobles of Outer Mongolia and some powerful figures under house arrest, and warned them not to try to split Outer Mongolia again.
On November 27, Outer Mongolia officially wrote a letter to Xu Shichang, President of the Republic of China, petitioning for the abroassion of all treaties between China, Mongolia and Russia, and an agreement to announce the return of all of Outer Mongolia to the motherland. At this point, Outer Mongolia, which had been occupied by Tsarist Russia for seven years, finally returned to the motherland. Unfortunately, due to the internal reasons of China and the intervention of Soviet Russia, Outer Mongolia and the Tangnu Uliang Sea were lost again.