Since the 17th century, Tsarist Russia has continuously invaded Chinese territory, and in order to counter the invasion, the Qing government has launched two major battles in succession against the Russian troops stationed in Yaksa.
In the Battle of Yaksa, the Qing army was not as bad as it was two hundred years later, but achieved a great victory, forcing Russia to negotiate with the Qing government.
In this war, what level of Tsarist russian troops did the Qing army face? What's behind this big victory? After this war, why did China and Russia not expand the war, but instead put an armistice and strike? Next, let's find out.
The collision of one or two vast empires
The Battle of Yaksa, which took place during the Kangxi Dynasty, was a major campaign waged by the Manchu Qing government in response to the Russian invasion of the Heilongjiang River Valley.
The timing of this battle was very sensitive, it was a critical period when the Manchu Qing government had just gained a foothold in Guannei, China, and if this battle was lost, the situation that the Manchu Qing government had struggled to maintain was likely to face collapse. For the sake of the consolidation of power and the unification of the whole country, the Manchu Qing government must win this battle.
Heilongjiang has been An inland river in China since ancient times, and in the mouths of ancient ancestors, it was called "bath water". As far back as the pre-Qin period, various ethnic groups in ancient China flourished in the Heilongjiang River Basin, and the central government during the Tang Dynasty set up the Heishui Governor's Office here, achieving direct and effective jurisdiction.
In the Qing Dynasty, the northeast region was the birthplace of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and during the Imperial Taiji period, it was announced that the unification of the entire northeast region, including the Heilongjiang River Basin, had been realized.
In the first year of Shunzhi, the Qing army seized the right to rule all of China, the Qing regime moved the capital to Beijing, a million eight banner disciples entered the customs, and only about a thousand eight banner soldiers remained in the northeast region. When the northeast region fell into emptiness, Tsarist Russia took the opportunity to invade the Heilongjiang River Valley.
Since 1547, when Russia established the tsarist dictatorship, in order to plunder the land, it constantly launched wars of aggression against the surrounding areas, and in more than a century, it developed from a European country with a border west of the Urals into a behemoth that spanned Eurasia, that is, during this period, Russia's expansion reached the Heilongjiang River Valley of China.
In the mid-17th century, Russia established the city of Yakutsk in the Lena River Valley and used it as a base to invade the Heilongjiang River Basin.
In 1643, the Yakutsk Overseer heard that the Heilongjiang River Basin was rich in land and mineral deposits, so he sent an expedition of more than 100 people to invade the Heilongjiang River Basin.
In the winter of that year, the expedition crossed the Waixing'an Mountains, entered Chinese territory, and came into conflict with the Daur people who lived there.
Like bandits, this expedition entered the village of the Daur people, plundered it, and was bravely counterattacked by the Daur people, and was driven out of the village.
In the spring of 1651, the Russians invaded the castle of Albasi, the daur chief, the city of Yaksa, and demanded that the Daurs submit to the Tsar and pay taxes to the Tsar in an attempt to invade Chinese territory. This unreasonable demand was resolutely rejected by the Daurs, and the Russians angrily raised their butcher knives and carried out a brutal massacre of the villages inhabited by the Daurs.
After the massacre, the Russian army became more and more unscrupulous, constantly invading the lower reaches of the Heilongjiang River. The Hezhe people, who lived in the lower reaches of the Heilongjiang River, finally called the Qing army stationed at Ningguta for help.
The defenders of Ninguta immediately rushed to encircle the Russians and engage in fierce fighting with them. It was the first collision between the two largest empires on Eurasia at the time. With heavy losses on both sides, the Russians were forced back into the upper reaches of the Heilongjiang River, and soon after, the Battle of Yaksa broke out between China and Russia.
Two or two battles of Yaksa
After being counterattacked by the Qing army, the Russian army did not stop there, but continued to increase its troops to the Heilongjiang River Valley, and built forts and fortifications in Nebuchu and Yaksa, and used them as a base area to continuously invade Chinese territory.
After the constant warnings of the Qing government, the Russian army intensified its efforts, seriously threatening the security of the northeast frontier. Against this background, the Kangxi Emperor decided to expel the Russian invaders by force.
In 1682, the Kangxi Emperor made a tour of the east and specially went to the Songhua River for a "military parade". Inspired by this, the Qing government decided to "Yongshu Heilongjiang" and set up a Heilongjiang general to be responsible for border defense around Heilongjiang.
By 1685, the Qing government had built 25 post stations on the line from Morgan to Yaksa, with a total length of 1300 miles, responsible for the transmission of military intelligence. At the same time, taking into account the dense rivers in the Heilongjiang River Basin, the Qing government also established the Heilongjiang Water Division, built more than 500 warships and transport ships, and stockpiled enough grain for three thousand soldiers to eat for three years.
In the First Battle of Yaksa, the Qing government even drew elite troops from all over the country, including more than 1,000 Eight Banner Soldiers originally stationed in Ningguta, more than 200 Beijing battalion soldiers stationed in the Beijing Division, more than 500 Han troops in Shandong and other places, more than 500 "New Manchurian Soldiers" composed of ethnic minorities in the northeast, and 500 rattan soldiers specially drawn from Fujian, totaling more than 3,000 people.
On the other hand, in the first Battle of Yaksa, even if all the Russian peasants, merchants, and hunters in the city of Yaksa and the surrounding countryside were counted, only less than 450 people could directly fight against the Qing army.
That is to say, in this battle, the Qing army at least had an absolute advantage in numbers, and it was still not counting the local ethnic minorities.
The disparity in strength between China and Russia allowed the Qing army to win without any pressure.
When the Russians in Nebuchu learned of the Qing attack on the Battle of Yaksa, they wanted to go to support. But at the time, there were only 331 soldiers in Nebuchadnezzar. Due to Nebuchu's own defensive problems, only 100 soldiers were eventually drawn from it to Yaksa for support.
However, before this undoubtedly "water-saving" force reached Yaksa, the Qing army had already conquered Yaksa. Also arriving at the end of the war was a force of more than 600 men formed by the Russian government.
Unfortunately, after the Qing army won a great victory and recaptured Yaksa, it did not leave anyone stationed, but instead withdrew everyone to repair. At this time, the Russian reinforcements, who had just arrived at this time, took the opportunity to capture Yaksa again.
When the Kangxi Emperor learned of this, he attached great importance to it and immediately dispatched troops and ordered the general of Heilongjiang to lead more than 2,000 people to attack Yaksa again.
At this time, there were 826 Russian troops and 12 cannons in the city of Yaksa. After the Qing army reached the city of Yaksa, the two sides engaged in an artillery battle, the battle was very fierce, and the Qing army failed to break the city in one fell swoop.
After the attack was frustrated, the Qing army began to dig long trenches and implement a policy of long siege.
During this period, the Heilongjiang Marine Division blocked Russian reinforcements in the upper reaches of the Heilongjiang River, making it impossible for the defenders in Yaksa to receive support.
The Qing army near Yaksa repeatedly knocked the Russian troops who wanted to break out back into the city, forming a tight siege net, making it difficult for the Russian army to fly.
After gaining the initiative in the war, the Qing government took the initiative to urge the Tsarist government to withdraw its army from Yaksa and demanded that the border be redrawn. At first, the Russian government refused to compromise, and over time, the city ran out of food and ammunition, and the Russian army was either killed or starved to death, leaving only more than 150 people.
Seeing that Yaksa was about to be recaptured, the Russian government feared that after this, the Qing army would pull out its hands to attack Nebuchu directly, so it had to accept the Qing government's proposal and decided to negotiate with the Qing government.
After the Tsarist government made its statement, Kangxi ordered the Qing army to withdraw, lifted the siege of Yaksa, and finally signed the Treaty of Nebuchu, achieving border peace.
Third, a vast empire with its own difficulties
In both battles of Yaksa, the Qing army achieved major victories. But behind these two great victories was the fact that the Qing government had begun to decline.
First of all, in the two Battles of Yaksa, the Qing army was several times larger than the Russian army, and victory should have been taken for granted. However, in the Second Battle of Yaksa, the Qing army was quite laborious, and the capture time and strength did not match.
Secondly, in the two battles of Yaksa, although the number of Russian troops was smaller than that of the Qing army, it had an absolute advantage in light weapons, and each Russian army was equipped with arquebusiers or flintlock guns on average, while the Qing army of several thousand troops only had more than 100 muskets.
This gap was particularly prominent at the Second Battle of Yaksa, where the Qing army lacked firearms but only bows and arrows, swords and spears, and had poor offensive capabilities to forcibly capture the city of Yaksa. We can only retreat to the second place and implement a siege strategy.
Most importantly, the two great victories of the Qing Dynasty were not exchanged for territorial integrity. In order to get the Tsarist government to agree to withdraw from the army, the Qing government ceded to Russia the territory west of Nebuchu to Lake Baikal, which originally belonged to China, with a total area of 431,500 square kilometers. Although the two battles were won on the battlefield, they lost at the negotiating table, which is really sad.
Moreover, in fact, neither China nor Russia is satisfied with this result, so why do China and Russia call a truce?
First of all, at the time of the Battle of Yaksa, the Qing Dynasty had just quelled the Eight-Year San Fan Rebellion, and the country's political situation had been difficult to stabilize.
It can be seen from the areas affected by the San Francisco Rebellion that the economic and military strength of the Qing Dynasty has been greatly impacted, and the country has been unable to support a large-scale foreign war.
At this time, the Dzungar tribes in the northwest of the Qing Dynasty rebelled again, and compared with the Tsarist Russia, which was far away, the Dzungars were more harmful. Therefore, in order to quell the Dzungar Rebellion as soon as possible, the Qing government had to make concessions in the north, take the initiative to withdraw its troops, and solve the Battle of Yaksa as soon as possible.
This is the reason why the Chinese side wants to call off the truce, so what is the situation on the Czarist Russia side?
In the 17th century, Tsarist Russia's main forces were concentrated in Europe, and east of the Ural Mountains, Russia had only four or five thousand troops, and these troops controlled up to ten million square kilometers of land.
Yaksa is a full 5,000 kilometers away from Moscow, the long distance and the cold weather, even if the Russian government wants to reinforce Yaksa, it is powerless and unreachable.
At the Battle of Yaksa, Russia also planned a war with Sweden.
It is well known that although Russia has far more Asian territories than European territories, it has always considered itself a European country. Therefore, the energy of the Tsarist government was mainly focused on Europe.
In order to seize the sea, Russia set its sights on Finland under Swedish rule.
In order to seize this region, Russia made long preparations and focused on it.
Against this particular background, both sides were forced to call a truce due to their own domestic circumstances. But the result of this war for Russia, there is no loss, for the Qing Dynasty, although it maintained a hundred years of peace on the frontier, it lost a large amount of territory, until today has not been recovered, it is sad.
Text/Leyu
Reference: The Beginning and End of the Battle of Yaksa in the Early Qing Dynasty, Zhang Danhui