The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China's feudal dynasty, and in the long years of the Qing Dynasty, the merits of the Kangxi Emperor were highly evaluated by the history books. But Kangxi was not the founding emperor of the Qing Dynasty, so why is Kangxi's status so high in the eyes of people? This actually starts with the Three Signs of Gardan.
Kaldan was the king of the Dzungar Khanate, and as early as the late Ming Dynasty, there were contradictions within the Mongolian Wala, and the invincible Wala was broken down into several small tribes, and the Dzungars were one of several small tribes. Because it caught up with the stage of decline in the last years of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty was really unable to come out, which provided the environmental basis for the expansion and expansion of the Dzungars. Eventually, the territory of Dzungar reached nearly five million square kilometers, becoming a "local hegemon", and even Tsarist Russia at that time could not do anything about it.
Although after the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, the Dzungar State also came to the Qing court to pay tribute and put on a submissive appearance. However, this is only the submission of the Dzungar to the situation, and does not mean that the Dzungars have submitted to the Qing court, and the nominal appearance is greater than the attitude of subservience. In the decades that followed, the Dzungar Khanate did not commit any crimes, honestly acted as its own emperor, and paid tribute to the Qing court on time every year, and it was not bad if it could continue like this, until the Dzungar Khanate ushered in a king with wolf ambitions: Kaldan.
The status and strength of the Dzungar Khanate at that time put some pressure on the Qing Dynasty and threatened the development and rule of the Qing Dynasty. At that time, the Qing court was aware of this problem, but it did not pay much attention to it, because the previous attitude of the Dzungar Khanate to the Qing court was paralyzing the Qing rulers.
As a result, after Gardan came to power, he began to be unscrupulous, in order to expand, in the name of rebuilding the glory of the past, he invaded many tribes one after another, marching all the way, leaving a mess where the army passed. The other tribes also resisted stubbornly at first, but the Gardan was strong and befriended Tsarist Russia, and eventually they could only bow down.
The military advances swelled Kaldan, and even in his letters to Kangxi, he no longer used modesty, with the intention of sitting on an equal footing with Kangxi, and the army often crossed the border to harass the border, and the sent missions even committed murder and robbery in broad daylight. But the sophisticated Kangxi did not turn his face directly, but found an opportunity to verbally knock reminders.
As a result, Gardan not only did not appreciate it, but instead intensified his efforts and directly sent troops to attack the Khalkha Mongols. As a result, the following year, Kangxi sent troops. I have to say that this time point was very cleverly chosen, and the fierce battle between Kaldan and Khalkha Mongols lasted for a long time, which was a relatively weak period. Not only that, But Gardan's command method was also very stupid: he put the camel down as a cover, and let his musket army hide behind the camel to shoot, but the Qing Dynasty's artillery team was not vegetarian, and even the people with camels were destroyed in two or three shots.
The defeated Gardan was still not dead-hearted, and secretly contacted the leader of the Horqin Mongols to make him ally with him to oppose the Qing. But the Horqin Mongols were a tribe from Kangxi's grandmother, so how could they possibly rebel against the Qing dynasty with you? So he directly reported it to the Qing court, and after the Qing court received the news, he asked Horqin to pretend to agree first, and then asked Gardan to report every move.
The last two conquests were basically one-sided. In the end, Kaldan was cornered and died in Acha Amutatai. His wife was killed in battle during the Second Crusade, his son was captured, and the ashes of his daughter and Gardan were sacrificed to Kangxi as spoils of war.
(Wolf Smoke)