Of the last of the nomadic khanates, the Dzungars were the only ones known as the "Empire". It is not easy to become an "empire", it must rule or dominate a vast territory, and a country that is once strong in the international community or in a certain region can be recognized as an empire. Interestingly, René. In the Empire of the Steppes, Gruse referred to the reigns of Batur Guntaiji and the Sangha as the "Kingdom of Dzungar", and later as the "Dzungar Empire". Those who inherit the sangha's cause are undoubtedly crucial.
When sangha was killed in a palace coup and Dzungar was in chaos, the founders of this imperial era were still studying Buddhism with the Fifth Dalai Lama in distant Lhasa. He was the sixth son of Batur Guntaiji and the fourth living Buddha of the Gelugpa Wensa living Buddha system, at the age of 26. While he was still in his mother's womb, the third Living Buddha of Lhasa, Frobzang Tenzin Namtso, preached in Verat and was respected and revered by all nobles, especially Batur Huntaiji, who treated him as a guest of honor.
This Wensa living Buddha was extremely noble among the Gelug school, originally known as "Wensa Kagyu", and when it was transmitted to the Seventh Lobzang Choekyi Zarsen, he was named "Panchen Erdeni" and became the Panchen reincarnation system. The Wensa system was inherited by Sanjay Isi, the disciple of the Third Panchen Lama and the master of the Fourth Panchen Lama, and then passed on to Lobzang Tenzin Namtso for Winsa III. Winsa III spent many years in Verat, spreading the Dharma, having many followers, and playing an important role in many political events. At the aforementioned Talbahatai Assembly, he was the Chief Grand Lama.
When Winsa III was preparing to leave Verat and return to Lhasa, Yum Hagas, the wife of Batur Huntaiji, grabbed his stirrup and pleaded, "I have only one son now, please ask the living Buddha to give me another son." Winsa III replied, "I am a monk and cannot give to my son." Yum Hagas said, "You did not give me a son as a monk, but you are old enough to be reincarnated as my son?" Seeing her sincerity, Winsa III agreed.
This was not a casual promise, but a promise to reincarnate himself in the batur huntaiji family. Winsa III died shortly after his return to Lhasa, and the following year, Yum Hagas gave birth to a son, who was said to be the reincarnation of the Living Buddha of Winsa. At this time, it was 1635. This child was sangha's half-brother, commonly known as Kaldan. When he was less than ten years old, the Tibetan Holy See sent senior monks to formally identify Kaldan as the fourth Living Buddha of Wensa and welcome him back to Lhasa.
As the son of Batur Huntaiji and the reincarnation of the Living Buddha of Wensa, as soon as the younger Kaldan arrived in Lhasa, he was treated with a high standard and was taught by the two masters, the Fifth Dalai Lama and the Fourth Panchen Lama. It was here that he made friends who would later become Sangye Gyatso of The tyba of the Heshuo Khanate. Gardan, who grew up in a strong religious atmosphere, did not wash away the inherent arrogance of his steppe people, and his interest in learning the scriptures was far less than that of the martial guns, "he did not love Sanskrit books very much, only short guns and molang", but if it were not for the sudden murder of his brother, he would be only a living Buddha who faced the green light and yellow scrolls for life.
Fate always caught people by surprise, and Gardan, who was still unaware of what was happening in his hometown, met his mother, Yum Hagas, one day in Lhasa in 1670. Yum Hagas was truly a remarkable woman who had made her son a living Buddha, and now she was campaigning for her son to become the ruler of the khanate. After sangha's death, she rushed to Lhasa day and night, met with the Fifth Dalai Lama and her son, informed her of the situation of the Dzungars, and hoped that her son would return to his hometown and inherit the throne of Huntaiji.
The Fifth Dalai Lama is known in The history of Tibet as the "Great Five", not only because of his profound study of Buddhism and profound practice, but more importantly, because he had a keen and long-term political vision. At this time, the Heshuot Khanate was already the third Khan, the Dalai Khan, to rule, and after years of efforts, the Fifth Dalai Lama had withdrawn many powers from the Khanate, but without a reliable foreign aid, the full realization of theocratic unity was always far away. Therefore, the Fifth Dalai Lama did not hesitate to agree to Kaldan's return to his hometown, and before leaving, he "said many secret words and worshiped goodbyes."
The support of the Holy See is only spiritual, and Kaldan is still alone. If chechnya and Zot babatur, the initiators of the coup, had one who could stabilize Dzungar, he would have no chance. But when Kaldan fengfeng slept in the open, rushed back to Dzungar as quickly as possible, and set foot on his hometown land, the chaos continued. Loyal to the Sangha were scattered and did not submit to the coup d'état. The other great nobles, on the other hand, watched coldly and did not gather under chechnya.
As both the half-brother of the Sangha and the living Buddha who had returned from the holy city, Gardan soon gathered more than a thousand cavalry. The speed of gathering soldiers and horses is not fast, but it is still too weak compared to Chechnya and Zot Babatur. Everyone believes that the soldiers and horses should be rectified first and wait and see. Gardan defied the crowd and ordered an immediate attack on the two brothers. Chechnya and Zot Babatur gathered more than 10,000 cavalry to meet the battle, ten times the number of Kaldan, but in any war, the number is not the most important, and the high morale often determines the victory or defeat.
As the battle began, in the face of his subordinates, who were still a little wandering, Gardan prancing horse raised his gun and shouted, "Ru wait to see where my gun is!" "Leading the way, he burst into the battle and killed more than a hundred people." Seeing that the Lord will be like this, everyone in his subordinates will be brave. The hastily assembled Chechen and Zot Babatur armies could not resist and collapsed, and had to retreat to the precipitous Jinling Pass.
Kaldan led his army in pursuit, but in the face of the mountains and the defenders' "stones raining down", no one dared to go up. Gardan led twenty cavalry to take the lead in climbing the mountain, and the morale of his men was greatly boosted, and the shouts were overwhelming, and they followed the advance. After defeating the defenders, Gardan personally captured Chechnya, and Zot Babatur lost his fighting spirit and fled with the remnants to Qinghai. After a beautiful opening, Kaldan became the new Huntaiji of the Dzungar Khanate, less than a year from the time the sangha was killed to his return from Tibet to quell the rebellion. Russian historians described it as "unusually rapid, almost lightning-fast." While inheriting the throne of Khotaiji, Kaldan, in accordance with tradition, married Anu, the wife of the Sangha, who was the granddaughter of Özil Tuchechen Khan, "wise and beautiful, deeply in love with Kaldan", and became Kaldan's lifelong companion and right-hand man.
Satisfied with his career and love, Kaldan began his preparations for the imperial era - the integration of the interior. A rising powerhouse wants to hold the highest power in the country, and often first confronts the people closest to him, who may be his father, his brother, or other relatives. The first person Kaldan confronted was his uncle Chuhul Ubash.
Some say that Chuhul Ubash was the mastermind behind the death of the Sangha, while others say that Khababandi, the son of Chuhul Ubash, once had a relationship with the Sangha, so he was attacked by Kaldan. These may all be true, but the most important reason is that after the death of the Sangh, Chuhul Ubash was the most powerful nobleman of the Choros family, an obstacle to the centralization of power by Kaldan. However, Chuhur Ubash's scheming was by no means comparable to that of Chechnya and others, and the hasty attack launched by the fledgling Gardan was defeated. In order to accumulate strength, he abandoned the capital city of Boxeri, which he had built by his father, and moved his tooth tent to Kara-Erchis.
In the past two years of Taoguang and obscurity, Russia has frequently sent autumn waves to this newcomer and sent envoys to communicate many times. Kaldan also showed corresponding friendship to Russia, no longer adhering to the tough attitude of his brother Sangha and avoiding border instability. However, when Russia gained ground and sent people to invade the territory of Dzungar in 1672 for captivity, Kaldan immediately sent Tenzin and Shuoqi and Abbaha to lead 5,000 troops to the banks of the Kemuzik River on the border to exert pressure on Krasnoyarsk, demanding that the Kachin, Ali, Kamasin and other tribes pay tribute to them, forcing Russia to punish the perpetrators.
In 1673, most of the tribes of the Khanate had been annexed, and the time for a counter-offensive had arrived, and Kaldan raised an army to attack Chuur Ubash again, and won a great victory. Chuur Ubash and his son Hababandi fled to take refuge in Özil Tuchechen Khan. Özil Tuchechen Khan was the son of Gushi Khan's eldest brother BaiBagas, who made an expedition to Qinghai-Tibet and asked him to stay in his homeland. After Gushi Khan established the Hoshot Khanate, he and Batur Huntaiji of Dzungar took charge of Weyrat, known as "Heyoltaiji". His people have no ambitions and are not willing to compete for too much power. As the strength of the Dzungars grew, he also voluntarily retreated to the second line, concentrating on creating a comfortable nest in Ili, the center of his rule, and allowing Batur Huntaiji to establish the Dzungar Khanate centered on Boksairi.
During the reign of the Sangha, Özil Tuchechen Khan married his granddaughter to the Sangha and continued to maintain the friendship between the two families. And for Kaldan, the new granddaughter-in-law, Özil Tuchechen Khan originally took great care of him and helped him gather his people. For Dzungar, he had always been a loyal friend and a loyal elder. However, when Kaldan's strength soared and he defeated Chuhur Ubash, the intention to bring all the tribes and nobles under his command was already obvious. It was no longer possible for Özil Tuchechen Khan to continue his de facto independence. The dying old man could not understand Gardandi's ambitions, and he could not tolerate that he would have to obey this junior unconditionally in the future, and in order to protect himself, he gradually abandoned his son-in-law's love and began to suppress.
In 1674, Özil Tuchechen Khan personally led a large army to surrender the Durbert department Aradartaish, the Heshuo tribe Of Tenzin Hongtaiji, and the Turbat department Gunbuteji, who had already been annexed to Gardan, and moved them to Tarbahatai. He also sent emissaries to Qinghai to discuss with the Heshuo Tetaiji there on the plan to attack Kaldan. However, the messenger was intercepted by Kaldan's subordinates on the way, and upon learning of his father-in-law's great move, Kaldan began to prepare for the battle in full force, leading his men and horses from Qara Erchis to Boksari for the winter. Seeing that his granddaughter-in-law retreated without a fight, Özil Tuchechen Khan was paralyzed.
Unexpectedly, in 1675, the Kaldan sent the general Mahan as the vanguard, crossed the camel neck ridge of the Zil Mountains, and advanced towards the Yemili steppe, and the Chechen Khan of Oziltu, who was spending the winter in Karabu and Rick, was caught off guard, and his troops were scattered, and had to cross the Alatau Mountains and retreat to Taraki. Mahan led his army in hot pursuit, and at Tarazy encountered the forces of Özil Tucherchen Khan, the two sides fought, Özil Tuchechen Khan was again defeated and fled to the Yuledus River, and his wife and sons fled in all directions.
In 1676, Kaldan sent emissaries to Özil Tuchechen Khan, hoping that he would surrender and promise not to be harmed, but Özil Tuchechen Khan was cornered and surrendered to Kaldan south of Lake Serimu in October of that year. Kaldan fulfilled his promise to reward him with the Entoks and animals of Guluksin and the Entoks to him in peace in his old age. However, Chuhul Ubash was imprisoned forever and his son Haba bandi was executed. It was also at this time that he moved his tooth tent to Ili, which has since become the center of the Dzungar Khanate's rule for nearly a hundred years. Both the Qing Dynasty and russian history books say that Kaldan defeated and killed his father-in-law and benefactor, which can only be said to be necessary propaganda to vilify the enemy, and Ozil Tuchechen Khan lived in Bortala until his death in 1680.
In 1678, there was no rival within the khanate who could claim supreme power, and Gardan consolidated the inheritance left by his father and brother. In the same year, the Fifth Dalai Lama sent emissaries to confer the title of Kaldan "Tenzin Bosoktu Khan", and he became the first ruler of the Choros family to have the title of Khan after Yashin. The founder of every empire had to carry out drastic reforms of the state's system, and Kaldan was no exception, and after becoming a khan, he established the "Zaisang" system, stipulating that the highest power of the khanate belonged to the khanate, and the khan set up several Zaisang around him to help deal with daily affairs, and all major matters should be enlightened by the Khan. Units such as Ulus-Otok-Aimak-Forty Households and Twenty Households were set up below the Khanate, which were managed by officials of all sizes, such as Noyan, Hongtaiji, Zaisang, The Chief of Aimak, Demuqi, Shulen, and The Supervisor, and the people's lawsuits were handled by Zar guqin, and major cases were decided by the khanate's grand Zar guqin.
In order to recuperate, Kaldan issued a series of edicts ordering the recruitment of the people, rewarding animal husbandry and farming, and ordering the chiefs of Otok to provide relief to the poorest people. At the same time, silver and copper mines were opened, money minting was minted, and handicrafts were developed. In 1679, Kaldan began to expand abroad, and the "imperial era" of Dzungar began.