At the end of the 18th century, a brutal tug-of-war broke out between the Qing Dynasty and Burma. This war was recorded by Qianlong as one of the "Ten Complete Martial Arts". However, some people say that the war was lost by the Qing Dynasty, and some people say that it was a crushing victory. So, who won the war between the Qing Dynasty and Burma? What impact has it had on both sides?
First, the reason for the outbreak of the Qing-Burma War: the struggle for toast
Myanmar is a very powerful country in Southeast Asia. In the 13th century, the Yuan Dynasty invaded Burma twice, crushing the unified Bagan Dynasty, and Burma has since fallen into fragmentation. In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the Burmese Donggu Dynasty rose, realized the unification of Burma, and invaded the territory of Yunnan, reducing the area of Yunnan by half. The Toungoo Dynasty also annexed Siam, Laos and other places, almost unifying the Indochina Peninsula.
In 1648, King Talong of Dongwu died, and the Dongwu dynasty began to decline. In 1659, the Yongli Emperor of the Southern Ming Dynasty fled to Burma, and Wu Sangui also led 100,000 troops into Burma, reaching only 60 kilometers away from the Burmese capital of Awa. Dong woo agreed to extradite Yongli to the Qing Dynasty, an event that marked the establishment of political ties between Burma and the Qing Dynasty.
In the early days of the Qing Dynasty, it did not want to have a border dispute with Burma. In 1729, the Burmese Tusi requested a tribute, which was rejected by the Governor of Yungui, Ortai. In 1798, Mu Bang Tusi asked for an annex, and the Qing Dynasty refused to accept it, believing that "it was used as a Burmese genus at the end of the Ming Dynasty for a long time" and refused. Finally, in 1750, Burma became a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty.
After the decline of the Dongwu Dynasty, the Toshi in northern Burma, such as Gengma, Menglian, and Cheli, wanted to break away from Burma's control, and they "took the Qing Dynasty as their father and Myanmar as their mother", repeatedly oscillating between the Qing Dynasty and Burma.
Topography of Myanmar
In 1752, the Gongpung Dynasty was established. It took the Gongpung dynasty several years to reunite Burma again, and then launched an attack on the surrounding countries. In 1767, the Kumpung Dynasty conquered the siamese capital, followed by Shan State and Laos, and waged war against the Indian kingdom of Manipur. Without strong foreign interference, the Gongpung dynasty would most likely unify the Indochina Peninsula.
The Gongpung Dynasty continued to expand, and the Toastmasters of northern Burma asked the Qing Dynasty for support. However, at that time, the Qianlong Emperor was busy with an expedition to Dzungar, so he did not pay attention to this matter. In 1765, after the death of King Mang Jijue of Gongpung, his brother took the throne and he expanded the scale of his external expansion. When the Gongpung Dynasty demanded that the toastmasters pay the "Hua Ma Li", the Tu Si wanted the Qing Dynasty to report that it had been plundered by Burma, and deliberately concealed the "Hua Ma Li" matter, so as to avoid the Qing Dynasty from pursuing the problem of the two genera.
Myanmar rainforest
In 1765, burma invaded Siam, and its route passed through the Cheli area of Yunnan. Burma sent troops and Menggun Tusi to the Cheli area to loot. Liu Decheng, the commander-in-chief of Pu'er Town, learned of this and immediately led 800 men into Simao, and Liu Zao, the governor of Yungui, sent the general He Qiongzhao to lead 800 soldiers to help.
In July, the Burmese army automatically retreated after being plundered, and Liu Zaojing played a tribute with "The Burmese people look forward to the wind and run away, and the Qing army won a great victory". By October, the Burmese army invaded Cheli again and issued a document declaring Cheli as Burmese territory. Liu Zao led 3,000 Green Battalion soldiers in pursuit, but the Burmese army chose to fight on the move, and the Qing army achieved nothing.
Under such circumstances, the Qianlong Emperor decided to launch a war against Burma, "and he must pursue and capture with all his might, smash his nest six, and ensure that the roots are exhausted and the border is cleared." Thus, the Qing-Burma War broke out. On the whole, the Qing-Burma War was a war between Burma and the Qing Dynasty for the "two subordinate toasts" on the border between the two countries.
Second, the Qing Dynasty lost the conquest of Burma, and a generation of famous generals Mingrui committed suicide
Due to Liu Zao's unfavorable handling, Qianlong made Yang Guoju, who was familiar with military affairs, the governor of Yungui, and transferred Liu Zao to the governor of Huguang. After that, Qianlong learned that Liu Zao had lied about military merits and was dismissed by Qianlong. In 1766, the Qing army successively recovered the places such as Menglong, Mengchao, and Mengsha. Subsequently, the Qing army began to launch attacks on MengGen, Zhen Yao, Meng Yong and other places. At that time, the "miasma was a big deal" and the Burmese army was forced to retreat. The Qing army soon occupied Mubang.
However, Yang Yingju is also a person who likes to talk and like to lie about military merits. At that time, the Burmese army counterattacked the Qing army in four ways, and Yang Yingju was exhausted and unable to cope, which eventually led to the Burmese army invading the Border of Yunnan. When the Burmese army retreated in one place, he immediately lied about military merits and said that he had repelled the Burmese army. According to his report, the Qing army won at least four major victories, leaving Qianlong Le without spending.
It was not until February of the following year, based on Fu Ling'an's report, that Qianlong learned that the so-called "Great Victory of Lengmu" and "Great Victory of Husa" were all false news. Qianlong was furious and ordered Yang Yingju and others to be dismissed from their posts and investigated, and eventually Yang Chengju was wiped out, and the rest of the important generals were beheaded.
In 1767, Qianlong appointed Mingrui as the governor of Yungui and decided to go to war against Burma again. After Mingrui arrived, he gathered his army and gathered a total of 22,000 troops, including 3,000 people in the Eight Banners of Manchuria. Subsequently, the Mingrui soldiers marched toward Burma in two ways, one led by Mingrui and Guanyinbao, and the other led by Counselor Erjing'e, and the two armies agreed to meet the division in the Burmese capital Awa.
Mingrui statue
After mingrui led 12,000 troops crossed the tin foil river, they immediately attacked the barbarian knot and went down 4 fences, and the other 12 fences of the Burmese army fled. Subsequently, Mingrui continued to burma, reaching a place only 70 miles in Awa, but encountered supply problems. So Mingrui led the army to attack the cage and obtained a large amount of grain.
Although Mingrui's way was progressing smoothly, Erjing'e'er' Losing contact with Mingrui along the way, Erden erdeng could only lead this 9,000-strong army back to Yunnan.
The following year, Mingrui learned of Erden's retreat, and he himself began to lead the army to retreat. As soon as the Qing army retreated, the Burmese army pursued it and continued to sneak attack. Chasing after the barbarization, the Qing Dynasty counterattacked and annihilated 2,000 Burmese troops. When the Qing army arrived at Bolong Factory, it was encircled by a Burmese army of 50,000 troops. Mingrui asked Daxinga and Ben Jinzhong to break through separately, while he himself led thousands of troops to meet the Burmese army ten times larger than himself. In the end, thousands of Qing troops were completely destroyed, and Mingrui and Guanyin bao committed suicide to apologize.
Mingrui was a Manchurian yellow flag bearer, a famous general of the Qing Dynasty, who once led the Qing army to pursue Dahe Zhuo to the Pamir Plateau, and won the victory against the trend after being surrounded three times, and was promoted to general of Ili. Subsequently, he quelled the Ush rebellion and made great contributions to the great cause of the reunification of the motherland. After Mingrui committed suicide, Qianlong was shaken and personally visited his house to make wine. Cai Dongfan commented: "General Ming Rui, a lone army in Burma, lost his life in vain, and can be too restful. ”
Third, Fu Hengmage shrouded the body, and Burma eventually surrendered
After the failure of Mingrui's conquest of Burma, the Qianlong Emperor conducted serious reflection. He believed that the reason for the failure of the conquest of Burma was still a light enemy. Indeed, Qianlong sent expeditions to Dzungar, Dazhong, and Zhuodu, which only needed tens of thousands of troops, but the southern expedition to Burma only had 20,000 troops. In addition, Myanmar's terrain is complex and densely forested, and how can a mere 20,000 troops win.
Therefore, Qianlong summed up the previous lessons and began to redeploy. He eventually chose Fu Heng as commander,with Argon and Ah Gui as vice generals and Mingde as vice governor of Yungui. Fu Heng was a Manchurian man with a yellow flag, and once volunteered to quell the Rebellion of Jinchuan. When Qianlong decided to send troops to Dzungar, Fu Heng was the only one who supported Qianlong and helped Qianlong formulate a battle plan. It can be seen that Fu Heng is a trustworthy person.
Fu Heng
In terms of troop strength, Qianlong mobilized troops from all over the country into Yunnan, including 9,000 people in the Eight Banner Army, 3,000 solun soldiers, 3,000 Fujian water divisions, 2,000 Wasi tu soldiers, and 1,000 Weilat soldiers, a total of 18,000 people. Together with the 16,000 people of the Dian Army, 7,000 people of the Sichuan Army, and 4,000 people of the Qian Army, the total strength of the army reached 40,000 people. In order to prevent miasma, Qianlong ordered the governor of Liangguang to buy 3,000 kilograms of medicinal herbs. Seeing the large-scale gathering of Qing troops, Burma asked for surrender, but was refused, and Qianlong wanted to completely destroy Burma.
In July 1769, the Qing army divided into three roads and officially set out. Fu Heng led 9,300 people along the way, Arigun and Ah Gui led 7,300 people along the way, and the deputy capital Commander Mingliang and the Admiral Ye Xiangde led the water division to 3,000 people along the way, and the total strength of the expedition was about 20,000 people.
The Qing army went all the way south, 2,000 miles deep into Burma, and occupied many areas without bloodshed. However, the Qing army encountered heavy rain many times on the way, and the operation was difficult. The commander of the partial division, Arigun, fell ill and was acted as commander by Ah Gui. Soon, Ah Gui led the division to defeat the Burmese army at Dajinjiang, and the two armies successfully met the division in the twilight.
At the critical moment, Fu Heng was also sick. Burma seized the opportunity to counterattack, and the two armies fought in New Street, resulting in the victory of the Qing army. Then, the Qing army continued to advance and attacked Laoguantun. However, the defense of the old official Tun'e was very strong, and the Qing army failed to break through it by means of artillery bombardment and fire attack. Seeing that the war was in a stalemate, Fu Heng asked Arigun to lead the marine division to cut off the Burmese army's grain route, and the Burmese army was forced to surrender.
Legacy of Burmese toast
At that time, the Qing army also fell ill and died one after another, and only 13,000 people were left in the 17,000 army. Fu Heng had no choice but to accept the surrender of Burma and report it to the imperial court. Qianlong agreed to the surrender of Burma, and then the Qing army retreated under the leadership of Ah Gui, Fu Heng died of a deteriorating condition on the way back to the Dynasty, and another famous general died in this war.
After the Qing army retreated, the Burmese king immediately sent emissaries to Beijing to request trade. The Qianlong Emperor considered that Burma was not yet a vassal and refused to trade. Finally, in 1788, Burma declared itself a vassal of the Qing Dynasty and declared normalization of Sino-Burmese relations. In this war, the Qing army died about 10,000 people, costing 7 million taels of silver, and the famous generals Mingrui, Fu Heng, Ali Gun, Ye Xiangde, and Wu Shisheng all died in this war, causing great attrition to the Qing Dynasty. So many casualties have not changed the borders since the Ming Dynasty.
The Siamese Dynasty in its heyday
As the war was fought in Burma, the damage to Myanmar was even greater. The death toll in Burma far exceeded that of the Qing Dynasty. During the Qing-Burmese War, Burma had to withdraw its Siamese army, and Siam, under the leadership of the Chinese Zheng Xin, took the opportunity to become independent and established the Thonburi Dynasty, and Burma's desire to dominate the Indochina Peninsula was frustrated. Burma, which had been heavily depleted during the war, eventually declined and soon became a British colony.