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He was an eagle from the steppe, the last hero in the hearts of the Mongols, and even more so a god in the hearts of the Mongols, who forced Kangxi to drive his own army at an old age.
He was a more troublesome existence than Ao Bai, who fought four times in his life, three times for him and once for Tsarist Russia.
Just as the so-called enemy of the enemy is a friend, but what is more interesting is that this person is even more unable to fight Tsarist Russia.
He established himself as king in the north, defeated Kangxi, who was second only to the prestige of the Heavenly Khan at that time, and also won against Tsarist Russia, which had a vast territory in history.
Why is this man so bullish? Just look at the territory he laid down!
Noble birth, with his own metaphysics
Kaltan was born differently, he was the son of the Dzungar chief of Northwestern Mongolia, and from birth he was mythical, and everyone said that he was the reincarnation of a living Buddha.
It is said that it was the living Buddha at the time of his mother's courting of the child, saying that I can no longer give you the right to have children, it is better to wait until I die, be your child, but the living Buddha died less than a year, and Kaltan's mother is really pregnant.
As a teenager, he practiced under the Fifth Dalai Lama of Tibet, and with the mythical legends of the past, the Dalai Lama even identified him as the reincarnation of a living Buddha.
His life became clearer and clearer, from the first living Buddha reincarnation to later becoming a living Buddha and coming to the world, cultivating into a god in the world, and then becoming the only true god who would lead the Mongolian people out of their predicament.
After his father's death, his elder brother Sanga succeeded as chief, and soon after, a conflict arose between them, and he was assassinated by his half-brothers Chechen Taiji and Zot Babatur, and Kaldan's mother, Yumu Agaga, ran to Lhasa to find him.
In this way, the 24-year-old Gardan became the leader, and thus began his legendary life full of myths, and after his succession, because of his mythical origin, it was easier than his brother's original origin.
But compared to his origins full of Buddhism and mythology, Gardan himself is not as kind as Buddhism, he has ability, talent, birth, power, and he is ruthless enough!
This kind of character is now a standard villain, probably followed by a bunch of followers, but unfortunately, the only difference between him and the standard villain is that this person looks average.
Gardan first showed his military talents, and then his eyes were full of lust for power, he did not understand why he had such a powerful army, but he could only occupy this land, so he began to expand his territory.
But before his initial rise, he still had his own calculations.
He did not really have a positive area at first, and the Qing Dynasty had a conflict, after all, we know that the reign of the Kangxi Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty was a rare prosperous era, and the Kaltan at that time was just beginning, and if it clashed with the Qing Dynasty at that time, it would be tantamount to hitting a stone with a pebble.
Therefore, in the early period of Gardan, he still maintained good relations with the Qing Dynasty, and even went to Beijing to make offerings in person, and finally even became Kangxi's son-in-law.
After a long period of stability, he also made Kangxi make a wrong judgment, so that Kangxi did not put all his energy on Gardan, but put all his energy into Wu Sangui at that time.
With Wu Sangui "covering", Gardan had enough time for self-development, and before he knew it, Gardan rose rapidly!
So what did Kaltan do during this time?
He quickly seized the opportunity to expand his territory, first unifying the western Mongols, and then shifting his attention to parts of the Manchu Qing Dynasty.
He knew that he did not have enough strength to support all this now, so he first shifted his target to the two strategic material areas of southern Xinjiang and Kazakhstan, and with enough materials, then he could worry about the future.
The Kaldan under the leadership of Dzungar occupied most of the territory from the Irtysh River to Yumen Pass, and even became the largest territory of Mongolia after the Yuan Dynasty.
Moreover, he was particularly good at using his status as a living Buddha, because the unique existence of the identity of the Living Buddha of Kaltan led to the unique belief in him among the Mongolian and Tibetan peoples in the territory he subdued, and those people were willing to recruit troops and fight with him in the later period, but also for what they thought was to support God to the throne.
At the same time, Kaltan had his own strategy, occupying parts of the Silk Road, ensuring a steady flow of goods for North-South trade, and promoting a relatively prosperous life for his herders, thereby satisfying his expanding ambitions.
With the strength to match his ambitions, it was his destiny that Gardan came to this point, but his continuous rise naturally attracted the attention of northern Tsarist Russia and southern Manchus.
Bar Tsarist Russia, Anti-Manchu Qing, Genghis Khan 2.0
Gardan did not have a good relationship with Tsarist Russia at the beginning, and his father was closer to the Qing Dynasty when he was in power, and he attacked Tsarist Russia to the United Qing Dynasty, so Tsarist Russia was also very dissatisfied with the Dzungar department, and even after Gardan took the throne, it still quietly encroached on Gardan's territory.
Unlike his father, Gardan was better at treating others with his human ways, and gradually encroached on the territory that Tsarist Russia had encroached!
Later, Tsarist Russia did realize that Gardan was a force to be reckoned with, but compared to the Manchus, Gardan was a group of people who were easier to work with.
So even if it was lifted, even if it was encroached, Tsarist Russia still chose to cooperate with Dzungar, and the leader of Tsarist Russia at that time, Tsar Alexei, not only offered to cooperate, but even provided him with weapons.
Of course, Gardan was also very willing, he had always wanted to forcibly unify the Mongol ministries, and it was a bit unlikely that he would fight the Manchu court on his own.
At this time, with the support of Tsarist Russia, everything will be turned into a possibility, and the long-term occupation of part of the wealth accumulated on the Silk Road has also given him confidence.
In 1673, Kaltan targeted parts of Mongolia under the Manchus, and in 1677, he annexed Heshuobu and directly killed Ozirtu Khan, the commander of Heshuo, in order to demonstrate.
In 1678, Gardan forcibly annexed the Durbert and Huite tribes by force, and the three large tribes fell one after another, so that the other remaining Mongol tribes voluntarily surrendered, and finally, unified the Mongol tribes.
After unifying Mongolia, Kaltan sent a letter to Kangxi in a defiant manner, asking Kangxi to recognize his status as a great khan.
At that time, the Dalai Lama of Tibet really thought that this was a heavenly lord because of the identity of the reincarnation of the Living Buddha of Kaltan and immediately named Gardan as the Danjin Boshoktu Khan in the name of the Living Buddha.
Kangxi, who learned of these two things, couldn't sit still at all, and this successive provocations made Kangxi really not want to put up with him.
At first, Kangxi didn't care about him, but he didn't expect that Gardan expanded rapidly, and finally with the support of Tsarist Russia, Gardan was even more fearless, and even felt that Kangxi could not help him, and the territory of nearly 7 million square kilometers made him feel that he was the hero of heaven.
Of course, he is indeed qualified to be narcissistic, just looking at the size of this territory, it is not an exaggeration to say that he is Genghis Khan 2.0.
Kangxi personally marched and annihilated in one fell swoop
This unfamiliar wolf cub has still been raised, Kangxi decided to teach him a lesson himself, the first expedition, Kangxi led an army of 100,000 people, surrounded in three ways, he originally planned to annihilate in one fell swoop, and even used the plan of internal division.
At that time, Gardan had not trusted his two nephews very much, and even wanted to suppress their rights, and Kangxi saw this and first rebelled against his two nephews.
Unfortunately, Kangxi finally underestimated Gardan, who did not trust him at first, and later even if he was opposed, he caused a certain blow, but did not hurt his roots.
Kangxi led his troops on his first personal expedition, and although he defeated Gardan, this was more like a scheme of Gardan, he surrendered, ran to northern Mongolia, continued to accumulate his strength, and planned the next crusade.
In 1695, after recuperating his strength, Gardan again led 6,000 elite to join forces with Tsarist Russia to invade again. Kangxi had no way to drive the family campaign again, and compared to the last time, Kangxi also suffered a loss, so he fought more ruthlessly than before.
This time, he completely injured Dzungar's vitality, and more than 6,000 people were finally left, and only he himself and the surrounding guards were less than 20 people.
At this time, the thunder planted by Gardan began to explode one by one, and his previously distrustful nephew and the returning Turkish Ministry formed an alliance to eliminate Dzungar in one fell swoop, and Kangxi, in order to prevent him from continuing to develop again as before, blocked all the forces he could turn to, leaving him with only one way, that is, Tsarist Russia.
At this time, Tsarist Russia was already upset because of the loss of the Turkish Special Department, and now Gardan, who came to join him, was the commander of the light pole who had nothing, and Gardan, who had no support, was now a situation of rebellion and displacement, and the only thing he could do was to hold on to the only territory.
In 1697, Kangxi planned to kill Gardan in order to prevent the rise of Dzungar again, and when Kangxi's army attacked again, Gardan knew that this time he would lose.
Kangxi's third personal expedition successfully subdued Dzungar, and Gardan eventually died under the manipulation of his own ambitions.
After the death of Gardan, although the next leader of Dzungar had antipathy, he did not have the ability of Kaltan at all, and Kangxi did not even personally conquest, but only let his son lead an expedition, and Dzungar was at a loss.
Later, because of their internal reaction, the Dzungars went to complete their perishing step by step!
Throughout his life, Kaltan is also a legendary figure, born with a mythical color, and his mythical color has given an excuse to the Tibetan Dalai Lama, who has always been antipathetic, and has made the people of all ethnic groups below have rare faith in him.
He is definitely a rare excellent Mongolian leader, although others always jokingly call him Genghis Khan 2.0, but that is Genghis Khan, a generation of Tianjiao, such a figure who is called by others second only to a generation of Tianjiao, of course, is the hero of the world!