At the end of the Ming and early Qing dynasties, Desert West Mongolian (i.e. Wasai) was divided into four major tribes. Among them, the power of the Junggar tribe, which was active in the Ili River basin, gradually grew stronger, occupied the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, and fought against Qing Dynasty for the Mongolian region and Tibet.
In the 27th year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi (1688), Junggar Khan Galdan took advantage of the internal disputes between the Mongolian tribes and launched a large-scale attack on the eastward direction, and the whole way was unstoppable, pursuing the Mongolian tribes to the grasslands in the south of the desert, forming a direct military conflict with the Qing Dynasty. In the 29th year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi (1690), Emperor Kangxi led the army to fight with Galdan in Ulanbutong (now Keshketeng Banner, Inner Mongolia). Galdan was defeated and fled. In the 34th year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi (1695), Galdan marched into the northern part of the desert again and spyed on the southern part of the desert. In the 35th year of Kangxi (1696), Emperor Kangxi sent 100,000 troops to the Northern Expedition, divided into three routes, and ruled the Central Army. Upon hearing the news, Galdan retreated westward and encountered Yu Zhaomodo (now south of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia) with the Qing Dynasty's Western Route Army, and was defeated again. At that time, the ruling group of Junggar had already split, and Galdan's nephew Cewang Alabutan gathered people to stand on their own. After the Battle of Zhaomodo, Galdan's strength was weak and his relatives were betrayed and his relatives were separated. He died of sudden illness in the 36th year of Kangxi (1697).
Kangxi
After Galdan's death, Cewang Alabtan took over the rule of Junggar and turned his expansion focus to Tibet. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, one of the four Mongolian tribes in the west of the desert, heshuote tribes came from Qinghai to Tibet, established a joint rule with the leaders of the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama, and accepted the enthronement of the Qing Dynasty. At the beginning of the 18th century, the conflict between the chief of the Heshuo Tsang Khan and the local forces in Tibet gradually intensified. Cewang Albutan took the opportunity to send troops to Tibet, and in the 56th year of Kangxi (1717), he captured Lhasa and killed Lazang Khan. Emperor Kangxi decided to "expel the quasi-preservation" and took the emperor's fourteenth son, Yinzhen, as the great general of Fuyuan, and went to Xining to command military operations with full authority. In the 59th year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi (1720), the Qing army took back Lhasa from the Junggar army and held a ceremony to enthrone the Sixth Dalai Lama, controlling the situation in Tibet.
In the early years of Yongzheng, the nobles of Heshuote tribe Luobuzang Danjin launched a rebellion in Qinghai and was suppressed by the Governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi. In the fifth year of Yongzheng (1727), Cewang Alabandan died, and his son Galdan Celin succeeded to the throne. He fought several times with the Qing army, and won and lost each other.
The tenth year of Qianlong (1745), Galdanceling also died, and his sons fought for the throne, Neijiang was endless, and Junggar 's power was greatly weakened. In the 19th year of Qianlong (1754), the Junggar nobles Amursana led their troops to the Qing Dynasty. The Qing army took it as a guide and finally pacified the Junggar and captured the Khan Dawazi, but Amursana immediately raised troops to rebel. In the 22nd year of Qianlong (1757), the Qing army pacified Junggar, and Amursana fled to Russia and died of illness. After long-term management by the emperors of Kang, Yong and Qianlong, the Qing Dynasty finally completely defeated the powerful opponent of the Junggar tribe.
The reason why the Qing army won was that the Qing army was the just war to safeguard the reunification of the motherland and oppose the separatist rebellion of the Junbu nobles, and thus received support from the people of all ethnic groups. Secondly, the strategy of the Qing court to suppress and pacify was relatively successful. Third, the Qing court was stable internally at this time, with strong national strength, strict military discipline, and strong combat effectiveness. Fourth, in terms of war guidance, we can formulate timely combat policies based on objective conditions; in view of the characteristics of geographical conditions in the combat areas, we should make careful preparations for war, pay attention to the ability of cavalry to fight quickly and the role of firearm troops.
Of course, the Qing army's war to quell the rebellion lasted for 70 years, in addition to the reasons such as Tsarist Russian 's strong intervention and support of rebels and ethnic relations, which increased the complexity of the war, some of the Qing army's mistakes in combat guidance were also important reasons. The national separatist war launched by the nobles of the Junbu tribe with the support of Tsarist Russia was an unjust war against the interests of the people of all ethnic groups. It was inevitably strongly opposed by the people of all ethnic groups. Its political unpopularity, its struggle for power and profit within its ruling group and its military fatal weaknesses determine that its failure is inevitable.
