Author: Jin Manlou
In the history of the Kangxi Dynasty, Gardan, the leader of the Dzungar clan of Western Mongolia, was a heavy figure, and both the historical records and related film and television dramas had a strong depiction of him.
Kaldan is a transliteration of the Tibetan word "Gandan", meaning Tushitian (the world taught by the future Buddha Maitreya), whose full name is Galdan (1644-1697), a descendant of Varazya.
Kaldan was born in 1644, the first year of the Shunzhi dynasty of the Qing Dynasty, and was the sixth son of the dzungar chief Batur Huntaiji. Later, when the Tibetan Yellow Sect sent people to Dzungar to search for the reincarnated spiritual child, they identified Kaldan as the incarnation of yin we hutuktu iii.
To this end, Kaldan entered Tibet at the age of 12 and studied the scriptures in Tibet and studied under the Panchen Lama Bokto of Tashilhunpo Monastery. Six years later, when the Panchen Lama died, Kaldan went to Lhasa to study the scriptures under the Dalai Lama and was highly appreciated.
During this period, Kaldan's brother Sangha succeeded him as head of the Dzungar clan. In 1666 (the fifth year of the Kangxi Dynasty), Gardan returned to Dzungar with her Singh lady Tseyu Zarem, who was on pilgrimage to Lhasa.
In September 1670 (the ninth year of the Kangxi Dynasty), infighting broke out in the upper echelons of the Dzungars, and the Sangha was killed by Taiji in Chechnya. After receiving this news, Kaldan, who was worshipping Bushi in Tibet, rushed back to the tribe to recruit more than a thousand horses from the old sangha to fight back against Theachen Taiji, and finally lost and won.
After that, Kaldan was also commonly known as the head of the tribe, and rectified the interior, recruited and subordinated, and it was advisable to teach farming and pasture, and the Dzungar department began to gradually become stronger.
In the eleventh year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1672), in the first month of the first month, Kaldan appealed to the Qing government, demanding recognition of the legitimacy of his succession to the sangha, and the Qing court allowed him to send envoys to pay tribute as usual, effectively acquiescing to Kaldan's status in Dzungar.
With the continuous growth of the Dzungars, other tribes in Western Mongolia such as the Durbert, Heshuo, and Some tribes of the Turks also defected, which also led to conflicts with the Weyrat alliance lords and the Shuots.
Gardan
In the sixteenth year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1677), Gardan killed the nomadic Qinghai Heshuo tribe of Oziltu Chechen Khan (also Kaldan's father-in-law) and called himself "Bosoktu Khan", thus seizing the position of lord of the Weyrat alliance.
After this battle, Kaldan sent people to the Qing court to offer the bows and arrows and other items he had received, but Kangxi only accepted the annual tribute as usual, and refused the things obtained by the Heshuo Special Department, with the intention of refusing to recognize his position as the ally of the Western Mongols.
In the sixteenth year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1677), Kaldan took advantage of the internal strife in southern Xinjiang to send troops to capture the cities of Yeerqiang and other cities on the south road of the Tianshan Mountains, and at the same time entered Kazakhstan and other places in the west, and its control was significantly increased.
In the eighteenth year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1679), Gardan led 30,000 troops eastward to Turfan and Hami and forced them to submit, and his forwards had extended to the area of Ganzhou (present-day Zhangye, Gansu), and the entire Hexi Corridor was under his intimidation.
After that, the Gardan army pointed to Qinghai again, and the Heshuo Special Department was greatly frightened, and the Qing army waited in a strict position after hearing the news, and Gardan did not dare to rush to attack when he saw the situation, so he stayed for a few days and withdrew.
In the twentieth year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1681), Kaldan began to attack the Kazakh Toukhan to the west again, and although the initial battle was lost, Kaldan still arrogantly attacked:
"If Ru does not come and descend, he will use soldiers every year from now on, and he will cultivate ru in summer and burn ru crops in autumn." Now I am not forty years old, and my white teeth have fallen and stopped. ”
The following year, Kaldan sent troops again and briefly captured the cities of Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, and Urgenzy, forcing the Kazakhs to submit.
In the years that followed, Kaldan also fought wars with the Bruts and Uzbeks of Fergana. At this time, the Dzungars' jurisdiction not only included the entire north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, but also extended to central Asia.
At this time, Kaldan became the hegemon of the Western Regions and may relive the old glory of his old Mongol ancestors. At this time, the Dzungars had already shown initial signs of the steppe empire.
However, when Kaldan was reaching the peak of his life, the Kangxi Emperor of the Eastern Qing Empire was also young and powerful, and began to take on the appearance of a generation of male lords. The so-called one mountain does not allow two tigers, and there will be a war between the two, and the result of the war is bound to change the pattern of the whole of East Asia.
Finally, in the twenty-seventh year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1688), Kaldan, who was trying to unify the entire Mongol tribe, launched an attack on the Tushetu Khanate of Northern Mongolia (Khalkha Mongols), with troops less than a thousand miles away from the city of Beijing.
Under these circumstances, Kangxi no longer had any possibility of backing down. Beginning in the 29th year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1690), Kangxi marched three times in a row and defeated Gardan in two battles, Ulanbutong and Zhaomoduo.
In the thirty-sixth year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1697), during the third imperial conquest of kangxi, Gardan Yangyao martyred himself in Kobudo (or killed by his generals is not known). The dream of the Steppe Empire vanished.
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