The TV series "Kangxi Dynasty" is widely loved by the audience, and it shows us the legendary life of the Kangxi Emperor, and one of the more impressive plots is the Kangxi Three Expeditions to Kaldan.
From 1690 to 1697, Kangxi led three armies to personally quell the rebellion of the Dzungar chief Kaldan, which maintained the unity of the motherland and smashed the conspiracy of Tsarist Russia to use Dzungar to split China, which was a major achievement of Kangxi's legendary life.
So, what kind of person is Gardan? Where is his superiority? Why did Kangxi personally march three times before he completely defeated Gardan and quelled his rebellion? This begins with the life of Kaldan.
1. At birth, one is enshrined as the reincarnation of a living Buddha
Kaldan was the sixth son of Batur Shaki, and because a local monk, Winsa Rinsa, told his mother a year before his birth that he would be reincarnated as her child after death, he was regarded by everyone as the reincarnation of The Rinsar from birth, and was believed by everyone.
At the age of 13, he obeyed the orders of his parents and went to Tibet, a holy place to which many monks in Mongolia aspired, to study the scriptures and improve his status. After Kaldan went to Lhasa to meet the Dalai Lama, he went to Tashilhunpo Monastery to receive Buddhist education from The Panchen Bokto.
After that, Kaldan studied for a long time, while immersing himself in the study of Buddhism, establishing a sincere belief in Buddhism, and at the same time practicing martial arts assiduously, he achieved a strong physique and skill.
Of course, this is also inseparable from the careful cultivation of the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama, and it is precisely because of the love of all parties and the study in Tibet over the years that Kaldan can become a prodigy of both culture and martial arts.
Kaldan thus studied and lived in Tibet for 10 years before leaving, and in 1666 returned to Dzungar with his sangha lady Tseyu Zarem, who was on pilgrimage to Lhasa. At the right time, during the reign of his brother Sharma, Gardan naturally assisted his brother in governing Dzungar, and because of his high religious status, he was often invited to preside over various religious ceremonies.
It is worth mentioning that in October 1669, the Russian envoy Luztsky sent an envoy to Dzungar, who was supposed to go to the sangha's tooth tent to be received by him, but it happened that the sangha was not in the tooth tent when he was fighting outside, so he had to find Kaldan. Whoever wanted Toldan to put them in an underground cell without food or drink made them hungry and miserable.
It turned out that the sangha had sent an emissary ish to Tumusk, but was imprisoned by the city's chief officer and almost starved to death, Gardan's move was actually a tit-for-tat move, from which it can be seen that Kaldan is a kind of retribution personality, and will not allow anyone to be unfavorable to his relatives and forces.
Second, avenge his brother and turn the tide and unify the Dzungars
In September 1670, Kaldan's brother, the Dzungar chief Sangha, was assassinated in the tooth tent by his half-brothers Chechnya and Zot Babatur, and rebellion broke out and the tribesmen scattered. When Gardan learned of this, he quickly gathered more than a thousand horses of the fleeing tribesmen with his own position, "the crowd examined the surprise, and worshiped the gods in Marro", and then led the crowd to quell the rebellion.
According to records, at that time, Chechnya led ten thousand horses to meet the battle, and the number of people was superior.
In the end, Kaldan won the battle and successfully quelled the rebellion, while Chechnya was killed and Zot Babatur fled to Qinghai.
From the above records, it can be seen that because Kaldan is believed to be the reincarnation of the living Buddha Wensa and entered Tibet, he was regarded as a "god" in the local area, and his religious status was extremely high, so that he could gather the fleeing people in a short period of time.
In battle, Gardan was a pioneer and tactically well commanded, so that he could win more with less, defeat the enemy army, and even deter the enemy army from surrendering. Later, he fought in the four directions, revenge for the murder of his brother before he was willing to give up, and in 1672 he officially succeeded to the throne as the leader of the Dzungar clan, with the title of Huntaiji.
As mentioned earlier, Kaldan had great ambitions, and his ambition was to unify Mongolia as part of the Dalai Lama's religious cause. Therefore, after becoming the supreme ruler of Dzungar, he accepted the Dalai Lama's proposal and gradually expanded outwards, fighting everywhere.
With his great military prowess and brave fighting ability, by 1678 Kaldan had completed the unification of the various departments of Verat, established a unified regime, and was awarded the title of "Tenzin Bosoktu Khan", which scholars now call the "Dzungar Khanate".
Under the administration of Kaldan, the system and national strength of the Dzungars tended to be perfected, and the rule was consolidated.
Third, the ambition eventually led Kangxi to send troops to conquest
With a clear goal, Kaldan continued to expand his territory, to work tirelessly for the political ideal of unifying Mongolia, and to maintain friendly relations with the Qing court in the Central Plains.
However, as the territory of the Dzungars grew larger, Gardan gradually aroused the vigilance of Kangxi. On the one hand, the Qing court cautiously maintained friendly relations with the Dzungars, and on the other hand, it tried to collect intelligence about the Dzungars and Kaldans through various channels in order to deepen understanding and formulate countermeasures.
In 1678, in order to divide the entire northwest and unify Mongolia, Kaldan led an army to attack Khalkha with the instigation and support of Tsarist Russia.
In 1690, under the pretext of pursuing the Khalkha tribesmen, Kaldan led 30,000 troops directly to the Forbidden City, and the contradictions between the two sides were about to erupt. The Qing court ordered his troops to lead an army to resist, but they were defeated at the Urhui River, and the Dzungar army took the opportunity to attack the Uzumuqin area.
In early July, Kangxi led 100,000 Qing soldiers to personally enlist Kaldan and adopted the strategy of attacking separately against the Dzungar army; on the first day of August, the Qing army broke through the "camel city" of the Dzungar army, and Kaldan saw that the situation was not good, and on the one hand, he sent emissaries to seek peace with the strategy of slowing down the army, but on the other hand, he led the army north to escape from the border. When the Qing army found out that it was too late, Kangxi had to return to the capital and make plans again.
The Dzungar army retreated to Kobdo after the defeat, and naturally with the character of Kaldan, he was not willing to give up, and he once again summoned the old ministry and asked for help from Tsarist Russia, intending to recuperate and find an opportunity to fight again. On the other hand, Kangxi also took a large number of measures and issued decrees to prevent the comeback of Kaldan.
The two sides lived peacefully for several years, and in 1693, Kaldan resumed the war.
In this year, the leaders of the various departments of the Qing court came to meet the alliance, and Gardan disobeyed the order, but instead led the army to attack Khalkha again, and Kangxi decided to lure the Dzungar army to the south, annihilate it in one battle, and never have any troubles, and make full preparations for the next annihilation war.
In September 1695, Kaldan led another 30,000 cavalry into the area east of Bayan Ulan.
After six years, Kangxi once again personally enlisted, leading an army of 100,000 and attacking in three ways. The annihilation of the Dzungar army along the Krullen River was expected. Kaldan took the night to retreat west, Kangxi set up an ambush to intercept its rear road, the Dzungar army suffered heavy casualties, Kaldan was still unwilling to retreat, and fought hard with the Qing army, and finally the Qing army cleverly attacked the enemy's rear and caused chaos in the Dzungar army, taking advantage of the situation to defeat the Dzungar army, but still let Kaldan escape with dozens of horse remnants.
After these two defeats, the Gardan clique collapsed, and no longer regained its glory of the day, the Kangxi Emperor wanted Kaldan to surrender, but the proud Gardan still chose to resist.
The following year, when the Kangxi Emperor personally conquered Gardan for the third time, when he wanted to cross the Yellow River to pacify the Gardan clique, he heard the news that Kaldan had committed suicide by poisoning: at that time, Kaldan's base area, Ili, had been occupied by his nephew Cefa Alabutan, and when his cronies heard that the Qing army was coming, they also surrendered one after another, and even said that they would lead the way for the Qing army.
The Gardans rebelled against their relatives and were cornered, and they were not willing to surrender and submit, so they had to commit suicide by poisoning in despair.
Gardan was extremely ambitious, had a high self-esteem, and was always unwilling to submit to the Qing Dynasty, and he was indeed brave and resourceful, and he was worthy of a generation of tyrants. However, when provoking war, the numbers and strategies were still inferior to the Qing army, and its goal was to be instigated by Tsarist Russia to rule the northwest to split China, and it was met with an opponent like Kangxi, and its plot naturally failed.
Text/Wind Feather Cold
Reference: A Study of the Relationship between Dzungar and the Qing Dynasty during the Reign of Gardan, Black Dragon