The Qing-Burmese War began with the Burmese invasion of the Pu'er region of Yunnan, China in the winter of 1762, and the Qing army counterattacked in self-defense, ending with the signing of an armistice on November 16, 1769. It lasted 7 years and four battles, and both sides of the Qing Dynasty and Burma suffered heavy losses.
Combining Qing and Burmese records:
I. The four commanders-in-chief of the Qing Dynasty' campaigns, Liu Zao, the first two governors of Yungui, and Yang Yingju, a university scholar, lied about their military exploits, and were executed by Qianlong after the defeat of the battle; the third military aircraft general Mingrui was defeated and hanged himself; the fourth Qing first minister, Fu Heng, ceased to make peace talks and died of illness after returning to Beijing. The number of troops involved in the battle was 63,000, with more than 19,000 casualties and more than 14,000 deaths. It cost 9 million taels of silver and more than 200,000 horses for livestock.
Second, the Burmese Gongpung Dynasty, the hegemon of Southeast Asia at that time. Although Siam (present-day Thailand) has been conquered, it is still too different from the comprehensive national strength of the Chinese giant, and the economy and agriculture in northern Myanmar have been destroyed in this war, and the population has been lost in large quantities, resulting in a decline in national strength, and it has been unable to subdue other Southeast Asian countries. The number of troops involved in the battle was 52,000, with more than 13,000 casualties and more than 4,000 deaths. Siamese Cheng Shin was restored.
The official text of the Qing-Burma Armistice Peace Treaty has not been preserved, and the content of the two sides' reports to their respective monarchs has been discrepancies, and the post-war negotiations between the two sides have been delayed for nearly two decades.
Chinese accounts:
1. Burma paid tribute and nominally became a Vassal of China;
2. Myanmar will never invade China's borders;
Burma will release all Qing captives.
Myanmar records:
1. The Qing Dynasty shall return all Burmese toasts that have fled to Yunnan and recognize Burmese sovereignty over their toasts;
(b) The release of all Burmese prisoners of war;
(c) the reopening of trade routes and the granting of free trade by merchants of the two countries;
Every ten years, the two monarchs exchange envoys, exchange friendships, and send gifts.
In the end, however, both monarchs were not satisfied with the peace treaty.
King Meng Barge of Burma tore up the text of the peace treaty sent back from the front, and punished the burmese commander Meng Barge and the families of other generals for kneeling outside the palace for three days and three nights with gifts from the Qing soldiers.
China did not return to Burma because Burma did not send a tribute table (for the Qing Dynasty, this face thing is the most important thing), and Burma did not return to Burma because the Qing Dynasty only released the Meng Gong Toast, mu bang and barbarian toast placed inland, and continued to prohibit bilateral trade, not to mention the tribute table, even the envoys of the Qing Dynasty were detained, and also issued a document that was not inferior, and the two sides fought a long diplomatic war.
Although the Qing Dynasty achieved nominal submission to Burma, (Burma recognized the situation after the war, did not dare to send troops to harass the Chinese border, and in the tenth year took the initiative to seek tribute, and was reintegrated into the East Asian tributary system. But it did not achieve a real victory in the war, and the territory that had been lost was not really recovered. In the Qianlong Emperor's "Ten Complete Martial Arts", the war against Burma was also the only one that was more controversial. In his later years, the Qianlong Emperor once said, "Eight wars in more than fifty years is not a success in conquering Burma." ”
The largest casualties of the Qing army caused by this war were nothing more than two factors:
First, climate, miasma and other reasons, resulting in water and soil inconsistency, sick and dead officers and soldiers are greater than the number of combat casualties. For example, the deputy minister of military aircraft, Erjing'e, the chief soldier Wu Shisheng, the deputy general Arigun, and the admiral Ye Xiangde successively fell ill and died, and Fu Heng himself was also sick and bedridden, and died of illness after returning to Beijing.
Second, the Burmese weapons are mainly firearms and darts, (hundreds of French soldiers captured in the Burmese war with France also served in the Burmese soldiers) The Qing generals died of no less than ten muskets on the other side, such as: the leader minister Zara Feng'a, the chief soldier Hu Dayu, Hu Bangyou, the general li quan, Ma Chenglong, etc., and the soldiers died in battle and suffered 89 out of 10 deaths from muskets.
Some generals who participated in the Qing-Burma War witnessed the great power of the firearms held by some Burmese soldiers, and felt that the firearms technology of the Qing Dynasty was completely behind the other side. After returning to Beijing, he wrote to the Qianlong Emperor proposing to purchase advanced guns from the West, hire Western military technicians, train new armies, and enhance their national strength.
However, the Qianlong Emperor was influenced by the ancestral admonition that "riding and shooting is the foundation of the establishment of a state", and the Burmese also said during the war that when fighting, the most feared were the Qing army's colored armor cavalry (that is, the Eight Banners of Manchuria). It is believed that the development of firearms will lead to the reliance on firearms and the further relaxation of riding and shooting skills due to corruption after entering the customs, so it is not taken seriously. Missing the opportunity to get closer to the Western powers, China lagged behind Western science and technology for a hundred years, and eventually led to the end of the late Qing Dynasty being bullied and humiliated by the great powers, losing power and humiliating the country, and dividing up interests.
The war caused major political changes in the Indochina Peninsula. At the outbreak of the Qing-Burma War, Burma was fighting with its sworn enemy Siam (present-day Thailand), and had just captured the siamese capital when it was attacked by Qing dynasty troops. The domestically empty Burmese was forced to leave only 9,000 troops stationed in Siam, and the entire army returned to resist the retaliation of the Qing army.
Siam's Cheng Shin was thus able to defeat other separatist forces in the country, repel the Burmese soldiers, and rebuild Siam. The Qing-Burmese War caused a major change in the Indochina Peninsula, Burma was weakened by the war, and Siam was restored.