Earlier, I briefed friends on the situation of Ahmed Shah Durrani, the founding monarch of the Kingdom of Afghanistan. During his reign, he established the Durrani dynasty in Afghanistan, defeated the Mughal Empire, and dominated one side. At the same time, the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing Dynasty had also eliminated the Dzungars, and quelled the Rebellion of Dahe and Zhuo, and incorporated the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains into the territory of the Qing Dynasty, so that the two powerful regimes met head-on! So, what kind of spark will be sparked by the two sides?
First, the dispute over etiquette
In September 1762, the twenty-seventh year of Qianlong, the Qianlong Emperor received a report that Aihammer Shah (i.e., Ahmed Sha Durrani) had sent a mission to accompany the envoys of BadakShan to Beijing for a pilgrimage. The Qianlong Emperor attached great importance to this and instructed the officials along the way to properly receive them, "preparing feasts and displaying dramas to show their richness and seriousness." However, after the emissaries arrived in Beijing, the Qianlong Emperor was angry because the Afghan emissaries were willing to kneel and present the chapter, but refused to kowtow.
In ancient Chinese etiquette, meeting the emperor was to perform the ritual of three kneeling and nine kowtows, and refusing to do so was to challenge the emperor's authority. After the Qianlong Emperor ascended the throne, the first to challenge his authority was Ahmed's emissary, and magalni's case was more than twenty years later. After some heated debate, the Afghan emissaries agreed to prostrate themselves, "but reluctantly" in the end. After the visit, the Qianlong Emperor temporarily decided to hold a grand military parade for the Afghan emissaries to observe.
Second, the measures of the Qianlong Emperor
When the Afghan envoys returned to China, the Qianlong Emperor issued a decree to the officials in charge of reception along the way, lowering the standard of reception, "the items that should be supplied should still be compromised and taken care of, and there is no need for feasts." At the same time, the Qianlong Emperor also issued instructions to the officials in Xinjiang, "Judging from the behavior of their envoys and others, it is obvious that AiWuhan is not a reasonable tribe", "Looking at the behavior of the envoys sent by Aiwuhan, we know that Ai Hammet Sha is not a person who keeps to himself in peace", and "waiting for an opportunity to gather and harass me to return to Xinjiang, there is no certainty."
That is to say, through the actions of the Afghan emissaries, the Qianlong Emperor realized that Ahmed was not a "fuel-saving lamp" and might pose a threat to the security of Xinjiang, so he asked "Xinzhu, Emin and Zhuo, Yonggui, Mingrui, etc., to suspend the handling of Kazakh affairs, to deal with the return to Xinjiang with all their strength, and once the troops are used, they will follow the instructions of the successive edicts." That is to say, although Afghanistan was listed as a vassal state by the Qing Dynasty, it was actually very defensive against it.
3. Anti-Qing Alliance
At present, there is still controversy in the academic circles about the "anti-Qing alliance", but one thing should be certain, that is, Ahmed did have a deep hostility to the Qing Dynasty from a religious standpoint. According to Russian literature, after sending emissaries to the Qing Dynasty, Ahmed communicated with the regimes of Kokand, Bukhara, and Kazakhs, which was quite similar to the intention of dealing with the Qing Dynasty.
The Qing Dynasty had no intention of entering Central Asia at all, and the qianlong emperor's principle was that "the so-called return to Si should be accepted, but the subordinates, such as Annam, Ryukyu, and Siam, only through the Heavenly Dynasty." Later, Afghanistan fought with BadakShan, who asked the Qing Dynasty for help, but the Qianlong Emperor did not intervene. However, the Durrani dynasty was only a flash in the pan, and with the death of Ahmed, the entire dynasty fell into dismay, and the Qing Dynasty gradually declined due to the closure of the country.
References: 1. Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, 2. Records of Emperor Gaozong of the Qing Dynasty, 3. Politics of kokand and the Western Regions