As one of the largest countries in the world, China's vast territory was not formed in modern times, but has existed since ancient times. On the contrary, in ancient times, China's land area was actually even larger. Especially when Emperor Taiji led the Iron Horse Tribe to conquer the north and south, he occupied all the areas that could be occupied. At that time, many countries in Central Asia were subject to the rule of our country, and their status was equivalent to that of a province or city today.
When you think of the Qing government, perhaps the first thing that comes to mind is the decline of the late Qing Dynasty and the humiliation it brought to China. But in fact, the rulers of the early Qing Dynasty were still very wise and laid a good foundation for the vast territory of our country. During the Ming Dynasty, China's largest land area only reached more than 9 million square kilometers, but in the Qing Dynasty, it rose sharply to more than 13 million square kilometers.
Looking at the map of China during the Qing Dynasty, it is not difficult to find that many countries in Central Asia at that time were within the scope of China's rule, including the Kazakh Khanate. But in fact, our country does not exercise substantial rule over this region, but allows it to govern itself like an autonomous region.
So why was this 440,000 square kilometers of land not included in the Pocket of the Qing Dynasty, and what was the Qing government's plan at that time?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="5" > the Qing Dynasty expanded for two hundred years and defeated the Dzungars</h1>
From the beginning of Nurhaci, the Qing army has been in a continuous expansion, which lasted for more than two hundred years. Perhaps in the impression of many people, Huang Taiji played a very important role in the expansion of the land, leading the Mongolian iron horse to be invincible. But in fact, Emperor Taiji's exploits only recovered Inner Mongolia and Korea, and his greatest achievement was the establishment of the Qing Empire. The two emperors who really played a key role in territorial expansion were the Kangxi and Qianlong emperors.
In film and television works, everyone often sees Kangxi and Qianlong seem to indulge in pleasures with harem concubines all day long, but in fact, the two are also very attentive to the government affairs of the former dynasty. The Kangxi Emperor, in particular, not only destroyed the feudal feudal states, but also defeated the then very powerful Dzungar Khanate. Under the rule of Kangxi, the Qing Dynasty unified almost the entire chinese land, except for the Western Regions.
Among them, the most difficult to conquer was the Dzungar Khanate. The Dzungar Khanate was part of the division of the Mongol Khanate, and its territory was also very large, including the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the Mongolian Plateau at that time. How powerful was the Dzungar Khanate, which on the one hand wanted to oppress some weaker countries in Central Asia, such as the Kazakh Khanate, and on the other hand, they also fought tenaciously against the Qing government, which lasted for more than seventy years.
Even Kangxi was able to defeat Geldan only because of a coup d'état in the Dzungar Khanate. Gordan was left out by his nephew, did not lead many armies, and was isolated and helpless, before he died under Kangxi. After Gordan's death, although the territory of the Dzungar Khanate retreated to the west, it also continued to develop westward.
After Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong continued the process of conquering the Dzungar Khanate, during which the population of Dzungar, which experienced the smallpox virus, suddenly decreased, and Qianlong led 50,000 troops to eliminate the Dzungars.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="11" > have a common enemy, the Kazakh Khanate as an ally</h1>
As the saying goes, "The enemy of the enemy is the friend," and this phrase is most appropriate to describe the relationship between the Kazakh Khanate and the Qing government. While the Qing government was struggling to conquer the Dzungar Khanate, the Dzungar Khanate on the other side was still oppressing the kazakh khanate, which was significantly weaker. The Kazakh Khanate was also one of the Mongol Khanates, a state formed by the fusion of the people of the Mongol Khanate and the ethnic groups along the Taras River.
The Kazakh Khanate also had a period of great power, but when their formidable rival, the Dzungar Khanate, emerged, everything changed. At that time, the Dzungar Khanate was still under the rule and leadership of Gordan to open up its own territory, and they not only unified the entire western region, but also became stronger and stronger.
The Dzungar Khanate launched an attack on the Kazakh Khanate, and the Kazakh Khanate was naturally powerless, and under the repeated invasions, it split into three parts.
During the years of aggression, the commanders of the Kazakh Khanate also tried to resist the Dzungar Khanate and gain independence and liberation, but because the opponents were too strong, they could not achieve it. Just when they were at a loss, the Qing government suddenly appeared. The Qing government not only successfully defeated the Dzungar Khanate, but also calmed down many wars and succeeded the Dzungar Khanate in ruling the entire western region.
Seeing that the strength of the Qing government was so strong, the Kazakh Khanate naturally wanted to rely on the Qing Dynasty. When the Qing government sent troops to conquer the Dzungar Khanate, the Kazakh Khanate had already begun to communicate with the Qing government and send emissaries to each other to express friendship between the two countries. When the Qing army's troops conquered the Kazakh Khanate, the commander of the Kazakh Khanate directly came forward to meet the Qing government's troops and expressed their willingness to submit.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="17" > accepted but did not interfere, and was annexed by Russia</h1>
At that time, the Kazakh Khanate had been divided into three parts: large, medium and small Yuzi, and the first to submit to the Qing government was Zhongyuzi. After the other two parts learned of Zhongyuzi's submission, they immediately sent emissaries to the Qing Dynasty and established a relationship of affiliation with the Qing Dynasty. Although they accepted the submission of the three parts of the Kazakh Khanate, the Qianlong Emperor was not prepared to interfere in their internal affairs, but only crowned their leaders.
The reason why the Qing government did not have as strong a desire to conquer the Kazakh Khanate as the Dzungar Khanate was first of all because the national strength of the Kazakh Khanate was not so strong, and Qianlong was not worried about the Kazakh Khanate rebelling. Second, the Kazakh Khanate was so far removed from Beijing, the capital of the Qing government, that it was far beyond the qing government's control.
Even so, Qianlong introduced some policies that were very friendly to the Kazakh Khanate. For example, at that time, Qianlong uniformly called the conquered western regions Xinjiang, and he set up many treaty ports in the Xinjiang region, which were specially used for equal trade and trade with the Kazakh Khanate. However, when the Kazakh Khan had internal strife or foreign wars, the Qianlong Emperor chose not to interfere at all.
Qianlong's move was originally only to stabilize the frontier, but unexpectedly caused Russia to invade China's territory. At that time, Russia frequently invaded the Kazakh Khanate, resulting in many nobles being forced to submit, but after Qianlong knew about it, he thought that the people of the Kazakh Khanate had two hearts and also ignored it. In this way, more and more people in the Kazakh Khanate succumbed to Russian rule, and eventually Russia annexed the entire Kazakh Khanate.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="22" > Conclusion:</h1>
If the Qing government showed the courage and strength to conquer the Dzungar Khanate at that time, it was not impossible to retake the Kazakh Khanate again. Unfortunately, the Qing government has been declining in the later period, and its military strength is obviously not as strong as in the early days, so it has lost the 440,000 square kilometers of land of the Kazakh Khanate.
As a vassal state that voluntarily submitted to the Qing government, the Kazakh Khanate also very much hoped to become part of the Qing Dynasty, but unfortunately the Qianlong Emperor was too tolerant and generous, and always had no ambitions for this land, which eventually led to the annexation of this khanate by Russia. I don't know if Qianlong ever regretted this?
Reference: "Making the Plug"