Recently, many incidents of Tsarist Russia tearing up treaties have been popularized, and many people are not convinced, thinking that Russians also have reasonable times, for example, from the signing of the Treaty of Nebuchu in 1689 to 1858, in these 170 years, Tsarist Russia has not done much to us! As for after 1858, it was because the great powers were robbing, why could Tsarist Russia not rob?
I am also impressed by this logic, if you don't rob others, it is equivalent to suffering a loss, right? But to get back to the point, why did Tsarist Russia live so peacefully in the East in the past 170 years or so?
I think in addition to the war between them and the Ottoman Turks, there is another important reason, that is, the signing of 3 treaties with the Qing Dynasty.
The Treaty of Blenschi, which agreed on the border between the two sides in the Mongolian section.
In 1689, the Qing Dynasty and Tsarist Russia signed the Treaty of Nebuchu, which agreed to be bounded by the Xing'an Ridge beyond the eastern border between the two countries. In this way, Tsarist Russia has no excuse to invade China's Heilongjiang River basin for the time being.
The situation in the northeast has stabilized temporarily, but there has been a sudden change in Mongolia. From north to south, Tsarist Russia is constantly encroaching on the territory of our Mongolian region.
At this time, the Qing Dynasty did not agree, and various Mongol khans came to complain to the Qing court. The Qing side also urgently contacted the Russian authorities and asked for the demarcation of the boundary between the two countries in the central region.
As a result, Tsarist Russia became obsessed with the quality pastures of the Mongolian steppe and ignored the Qing advice, which was equivalent to saying that they wanted to grab as much as they could before finalizing the border agreement.
It is clear that the Treaty of Nebuchu could no longer limit the expansion of Tsarist Russia.
For this reason, at this time the Qing court simply closed all trade with Tsarist Russia and expelled all Russian merchants in China. This immediately attracted the attention of the Tsar.
Of course, it's not so easy to get them to compromise. The time dragged on until 1725, when the Kangxi Emperor was gone for three years, and Tsarist Russia finally took the initiative to contact the Qing court and asked for the demarcation of the border in the central region.
Why do you have to pick this point in time?
In 1723, the Great Khan of the Dzungar Khanate supported the rebellion of Luobzang Danjin in Qinghai. The newly appointed Yongzheng Emperor sent Nian Xinyao and it took more than 1 year to put this matter down.
But the contradictions between the Qing dynasty and the Dzungar Khanate did not end there. We see that the reason why Nian Xinyao in "Yongzheng Dynasty" is so arrogant is actually relying on this, as long as the Dzungar Khanate is in one day, he thinks that the Yongzheng Emperor must offer him up for one day.
The Tsarist side also saw the threat of the Dzungar Khanate to the Qing Dynasty, so after eating and drinking enough, Tsarist Russia chose such a time point to sign a contract with the Qing Dynasty in order to obtain greater benefits. They believed that in line with the principle of distant diplomatic relations and close attack, the Qing Dynasty also had to befriend Tsarist Russia.
At that time, Tsarist Russia put forward the following requirements:
- First, missionaries of their state religion must obtain residency in the capital.
- Second, China and Russia must trade normally.
- Third, China cannot have any strongholds on the Irtysh River, and Lake Baikal, the lower Selenge River, Nebuchu and other places must belong to Russia.
After the negotiation team of 2,000 people set off, they also played a few tricks.
- First of all, when passing by the Dzungar Khanate, they deliberately instigated the Dzungar Khanate to launch a rebellion during the negotiations. Once the smoke in the northwest rises again, then Tsarist Russia's chips at the negotiating table will increase!
- Second, when it came to the territory of the Qing Dynasty, they accused the Qing Dynasty of taking in a large number of Russian fugitives. In fact, Tsarist Russia took in a large number of Qing dynasty fugitives, and they were the first to sue the wicked.
- Moreover, the Russian emissaries clamored for the capture of the Heilongjiang River basin south of the Outer Xing'an Ridge, which they believed was the territory that Russia had lost in the Treaty of Nebuchu.
- In addition, the Russian envoy also bribed the university scholar Maqi, hoping to get some reserve price for Qing court negotiations through Maqi.
After nearly one year of talks, the two sides finally formally signed the Treaty of Blenski in August 1727. The treaty established the border between Russia and China, with the Erguna River west to Shabinda Baha.
Although we still suffered a loss, at least this treaty ensured China's rule over Mongolia.
The Treaty of Kyakhta reaffirmed the legitimacy of the previous two treaties.
Since the signing of the Treaty of Nebuchu in 1689, Russian merchants have benefited greatly from trade in the Qing Dynasty. As a result, the Tsar turned red in the eye and directly monopolized trade with the Qing Dynasty, replacing the private sector with official offices.
The Treaty of Blenschi, signed in 1727, only said that everyone could trade, but where to trade, it seems that it is not clear enough. And there were also ambiguities in the previous Treaty of Nebuchu. For example, if the Udi River Basin is a pending area, what is the law to be discussed?
Since there are so many unclear places, how about we sign a new treaty to confirm the above?
Thus, in 1728, the two sides signed the Treaty of Kyakhta.
This treaty is mainly to re-clarify things that were not understood before, which is equivalent to an after-class Q&A session.
- First, the Udi River basin in the east remains as it is, there is no room for discussion, and no one should occupy this area, which is a bit of a 38th parallel.
- Second, the central border, with Obo between Kyakhta and Orwaitu Mountains, as the starting point of the border between the two companies, runs east to the Erguna River and west to Shabinda Baha.
- Thirdly, Russian and Chinese merchants traded in Kyakhta . Every three years, Russian merchants could trade in the capital, but the number was limited to 200.
- Fourth, the Qing Dynasty accepted Russian students to study in the capital, and the two sides were no longer allowed to accept each other's fugitives, and if they were caught, they had to be sent to each other.
After the signing of this treaty, it can be regarded as a summary of the previous two treaties. In general, there are no territorial disputes between the two sides on the central and eastern borders, and normal trade has begun. Tsarist Russia can gain a lot of benefits from trade with China, and fools will tear up the treaty for no reason.
The "Kyakhta City Covenant" has kept the northern border tranquil for more than 60 years.
With the Treaty of Kyakhta escort, trade between China and Russia has been going on as agreed for more than 30 years. In fact, the Qing Dynasty was not interested in the trade of Tsarist Russia at all, because the goods of Tsarist Russia were nothing more than some furs, which were all available in the Qing Dynasty and were not rare at all.
On the contrary, tea, silk, porcelain, etc. obtained by Tsarist Russia from the Qing Dynasty were obtained at home and in the West, and could be exchanged for a large number of benefits. Therefore, throughout the trade process, Tsarist Russia was very dependent on the Qing Dynasty.
In 1729, the Qing Dynasty established a trade bazaar in Kyakhta and sent officials to serve as market supervisors. Trade is normalized, but the situation between the two countries is constantly changing.
In 1745, during the Qianlong Emperor's reign, the Great Khan of the Dzungar Khanate, Gardanze, died of zero illness, and the Dzungar Khanate fell into a civil war for the throne.
In 1755, the Qianlong Emperor took advantage of such a good opportunity to decisively attack and flatten the Dzungar Khanate in one fell swoop, once again recovering the rich land of the Western Regions.
At that time, the Qing Dynasty established the Nine Cities of Ili in Ili and set up Ili generals to administer the entire territory of Xinjiang. At that time, the east and south of Lake Balkash were under the jurisdiction of General Ili.
In the same year, the Qing Dynasty no longer allowed Russian merchants to trade in the capital, but transferred all trade to Kyaktu. Therefore, the position of the Kyakhta market can be higher.
Due to the destruction of the Dzungar Khanate, the Turkuts, who had been bullied by the Dzungar Khanate and fled to settle on the banks of the Volga River in Tsarist Russia, began to contact the Qing Dynasty and planned to return to live.
Why? In addition to the vacancy of the original residence, because of the war between Tsarist Russia and Ottoman Turkey, the phenomenon of arresting Zhuangding was too serious, and the young men of the Turkut Department were almost arrested.
This was a two-bird tactic by Tsarist Russia to kill two birds with one stone, both to weaken the Turks and to allow them to help Russia deal with the Ottoman Turks. Therefore, in 1771, the Turks chose to return east to the Qing Dynasty.
Of course, Tsar Catherine II at that time did not agree, and frantically chased and blocked all the way. Of the 170,000 people, there were less than 70,000 left. After arriving in the territory of the Qing Dynasty, Ye Huang threatened to pursue the Turk Special Department even if he fought with the Qing Dynasty.
As a result, the Qianlong Emperor smiled, directly closed the Qiaktu market, and said: In your territory, we absolutely do not care, but when you come to our territory, if you dare to come, I will dare to cut you.
Qianlong was very confident, he did not disdain to earn their few broken rubles at all, and the reason why he opened the trade market was because he did not want to make trouble in the north.
At this time, Ye Huang was dumbfounded, and could only give up pursuing the Turkish Special Department. After all, the foreign trade income of the Kyakhta market is very important for Tsarist Russia.
The Qianlong Emperor hung them out for many years, and it was not until 1792 that the Russians bowed their heads and asked the Qing court to reopen the market. To this end, China and Russia signed the "Kyakhta City Pact" in Kyakhta to consolidate their trade relations.
This treaty lasted until 1858. In the past 60 years, Tsarist Russia's trade with China has been stable and has gained huge gains, which may be an important reason why they did not invade China during this period?
In the face of Tsarist Russia, only when it is strong and strong can the treaty be effective.
It can be seen from this that these treaties signed by Tsarist Russia against China are not completely ineffective. At the beginning, the Qing Dynasty was strong and prosperous, and it was not afraid of the threat of Tsarist Russia at all, so the treaty between the two sides was always valid, and Tsarist Russia did not dare to violate it.
But after 1840, when the Qing Dynasty went into decline, Tsarist Russia thought that the Qing Dynasty was a bully, and would tear up various treaties one after another. It can be seen that the treaties signed with Tsarist Russia and even any great power have to speak according to their own strength.