When Mr. Zhang Taiyan sorted out Mr. Sun's remarks, he once recorded such a point of view: Seek the headquarters and build the capital of Wuchang. If you seek to serve the domain, you will build the capital of Xi'an. If you seek a continent, you will build the capital of Ili.
To put it simply, if you want to have a stable basic market, you should build a capital in Wuchang. If you want to prosper the nation, you should build the capital in Xi'an. If you want to become bigger and stronger in Asia, you should build a capital in Yili.
It seems to make a lot of sense, because Wuchang is in the center of the Han Dynasty, extending in all directions, and is the most important transportation hub in the country. Xi'an is the center of the country and the heart of the country. As for Yili, it is in the center of Asia, which is enough to dominate Asia, overlooking Central Asia and the Middle East.
Relatively speaking, Mr. Sun is more optimistic about Yili. However, Mr. Sun may have overlooked a problem, that is, the Ili at that time was no longer the Ili before 1864.
Before 1864, Ili was surrounded by a large area of territory in the outer northwest and was a veritable center of Xinjiang, but after 1864, the outer northwest was occupied by Tsarist Russia, and this place became a border. Have you ever seen a country that has its capital on its borders?
The Ili River Valley, the most beautiful place in the Western Regions and Central Asia
When Tsarist Russia invaded Central Asia, it was already aware of the beauty of the Ili River Valley. This place is a rare place with abundant water and grass in the Western Regions and Central Asia.
There are not only beautiful mountains and rivers, natural pastures, but also rivers extending in all directions, and abundant rainfall, making it one of the few places in the Western Regions with large areas of arable land.
Therefore, the Ili River valley has left a reputation for the south of the Yangtze River. Not only our Western Regions, but even the whole of Central Asia, the Ili River Valley is the most beautiful and fertile place.
During the Han and Tang dynasties, it has always been the inherent territory of the Central Plains Dynasty. Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty set up the Protectorate of the Western Regions here to govern the countries of the Western Regions. The Tang Dynasty set up the Anxi Protectorate here to rule over large areas of the Western Regions and Central Asia.
However, after the Tang Dynasty, the Ili River Valley was not in the hands of the Central Plains Dynasty for a long time. Here is a piece of fragrant bread, everyone wants to occupy it.
As a result, the Ili River valley was ruled successively by the Tibetan, Western Liao, Chagatai Khanate, and Dzungar Khanate. It was not until 1757 that after the Qing Dynasty destroyed the Dzungar Khanate, it officially recovered Ili. Eight or nine hundred years have passed since the last time the Central Plains Dynasty ruled here.
In order to better rule the Western Regions, Emperor Qianlong named it Xinjiang, and at the same time set up the Ili General and established the Nine Cities of Ili to manage the affairs of Xinjiang. Since then, the Ili River Valley has once again been included in the Chinese territory.
Tsarist Russia turned Ili from the center of Xinjiang into a frontier
The complete Ili River valley was ruled by the Qing Dynasty for more than 100 years, and for the sake of local security, the Qing court even immigrated a large number of Sauron soldiers and Xibe soldiers from the northeast to settle here. The famous actor Tong Liya is a member of the Xibe ethnic group.
During the period of Emperor Qianlong, the Kazakh Khanate was subjugated to the Qing Dynasty, so Emperor Qianlong generously allowed the Kazakhs to go to the outer northwest to graze for the winter.
In 1854, a group of Russian troops illegally entered the Outer Northwest and established Almaty Castle on the edge of the Ili River Valley. What started as a small castle gradually expanded into the largest city in Central Asia.
At that time, the Qing court was busy dealing with the Taiping Army and the Anglo-French coalition army, and it was unable to take care of the affairs of the northwest at all, and finally let Tsarist Russia take advantage of the loophole.
The Sino-Russian Treaty of Beijing signed in 1860 not only allowed Tsarist Russia to acquire more than 1 million square kilometers of the Outer Northeast, but also had to completely listen to Tsarist Russia on how to demarcate the Outer Northwest.
Beginning in 1862, Tsarist Russia sent 30,000 troops to the northwest region of the Qing Dynasty, where the two sides fought for two years. A large area of land in the northwest was occupied, and the Russian army attacked Ili, Kashgar and other places many times, but was blocked by the local defenders of the Qing Dynasty.
Eventually, at the outrageous demands of Tsarist Russia, the northwestern frontier was demarcated along the ceasefire line. In 1864, the two sides signed the "Treaty on the Survey and Demarcation of the Northwest Boundary", and 440,000 square kilometers of land in the northwest were robbed by Tsarist Russia, including part of the Ili River Valley.
The loss of the city and the loss of land is hateful, but the situation of Ili has changed dramatically, and this is the key to the matter. In the past, Yili has always been in the center of Xinjiang, and there is no problem in ruling the whole of Xinjiang.
But after 440,000 square kilometers were occupied by Tsarist Russia, Ili became a border city, is it still suitable for commanding the affairs of the whole of Xinjiang? Naturally, there is a question mark, after all, this place is already very insecure, and Tsarist Russia will eat it at any time if it gives an order.
The construction of the capital of Ili will face the pressure brought by Russia at any time
Things happened very quickly, in 1864, China and Russia had just demarcated the northwest border, and only one year later, the warlord Aguba of the Central Asian Kokand Khanate, entered Xinjiang to start a business. He occupied most of the territory in northern and southern Xinjiang and established the Zhedeshar Khanate.
After this happened, without waiting for the Qing court to react, Tsarist Russia captured the whole of Ili in 1871. That's right, the entire territory of the Ili River Valley, as expected, was eaten by Tsarist Russia.
After that, a dispute broke out between coastal defense and fortress defense in the Qing court. According to Li Hongzhang, it is to abandon Xinjiang and focus on building a navy. However, Zuo Zongtang felt that an inch of Chinese land could not be lost.
In the end, with the efforts of Zuo Zongtang, Liu Jintang and others, tens of thousands of Hunan troops went out of the fortress and took more than one year to recover Xinjiang in 1878.
The problem is that Ili is still in the hands of Tsarist Russia. At the beginning, it was said that as long as the Qing court recovered Xinjiang, Tsarist Russia would return Ili. As a result, Zuo Zongtang did this, but Tsarist Russia wanted to deny it.
After more than three years of difficult negotiations, the two sides signed the "Ili Treaty," and Tsarist Russia once again ceded more than 70,000 square kilometers of land in the northwest.
Among these lands, there is a large area of the Ili River valley west of the Khorgos River, and 64,000 square kilometers of the 120,000 square kilometers of the Ili River valley have been seized by Tsarist Russia.
If Zuo Zongtang hadn't threatened to recover Ili by force, Tsarist Russia would not even let go of the Turks River Valley. If this place is occupied by Tsarist Russia, then Ili will have no danger to defend, and there is a risk of losing the city and land at any time.
Therefore, when Tsarist Russia or later the Soviet Union still controlled a large area of land in the Ili River Valley, wouldn't you send sheep into the tiger's mouth if you built your capital in Ili?
Even if people don't want your territory, if they pile up all the waste from nuclear tests on the Ili border, they will hide far away. Let me ask you, how do you deal with it? Is it better to turn your face against them, or is it better to deceive yourself and say that it has no impact at all? So when Ili became a frontier, Mr. Sun's plan to build the capital of Ili was already unrealistic.
Unless the Outer Northwest is recovered, Ili will lose the possibility of establishing a capital forever
Yili's geographical location is indeed good, and it is located in the center of Central Asia, which can become an important hub for trade exchanges between China and Central Asia and the Middle East.
As long as the developer's brain is big enough, the potential of this place can be unlimited. But the problem is that after this place becomes a border, it is absolutely not suitable for building a capital.
The capital of any country needs a sense of security, and at least a circle of areas that you can control as a buffer zone, so as not to catch your opponent off guard when they come over.
Therefore, unless the Outer Northwest region west and north of Ili is reclaimed, it is an unrealistic idea to establish a capital in Ili. Mr. Sun's hope that China would build its capital in Ili so that it could dominate Asia was naturally a very lofty wish, but with a strong neighbor on its side, this idea could only be shelved.
Mo said that as a national capital, even as the center of Xinjiang, it is no longer suitable. Therefore, after the occupation of the outer northwest, in 1884, the administrative office of Xinjiang was transferred from Ili to Dihua, which is now Urumqi. And Dihua, in addition to the fact that the safety is higher than that of Yili, other conditions are really incomparable with Yili, and choosing Dihua is just a helpless move.