The outer northeast, that is, north of the Heilongjiang River, east of the Ussuri River, and south of the Outer Khing'an Mountains, is a vast land with an area of more than one million square kilometers. There is no doubt about the fact that this area was once the inherent territory of our country. For the Qing Dynasty, the status of the Northeast is very obvious, this is the birthplace of the Qing Dynasty rulers, is their homeland, and is regarded as the fundamental place, so it is natural to safeguard the interests of this region.
However, between 1858 and 1860, ** obtained more than 1 million square kilometers of land in the northeast region through the Treaty of Aihui and the Treaty of Peking, which made the Qing ** seem a little helpless. Why didn't the Qing ** go all out to defend the Outer Northeast?There are two reasons for this:
First of all, the Qing ** garrison in the Northeast, especially in the Outer Northeast, is relatively small, and in the face of foreign guns and artillery, the old soldiers of the Eight Banners have long been afraid. What's more, there are few Chinese people in the Outer Northeast region, which is the result of the customs closure policy. Even if they are inhabited, they are mostly concentrated in areas close to Kannai or along river basins, while remote frontiers are almost uninhabited.
Secondly, Qing ** is bound by other affairs. The threat of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom at home and the Second Opium War brought tremendous pressure to the Qing Dynasty. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom intended to overthrow the Qing Dynasty, while the Western powers were aggressive and intended to invade Beijing, both of which were threats that could not be ignored for the Qing Dynasty.
At this moment, Tsarist Russia, acting as a mediator, forced the Qing ** to sign the Beijing Treaty. In the face of multiple pressures at home and abroad, the Qing Dynasty was weak and could not defend this vast land, so it had no choice but to give up more than one million square kilometers of territory.
Some people compare Zuo Zongtang's recovery of Xinjiang with the lost territory of the Outer Northeast, and think that the Outer Northeast is not important. Although the two face similar internal and external troubles, they are not comparable. Not only are they geographically far apart, but they also face different adversaries. The enemies faced by the Qing ** were not only the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, but also the Twist Army in the north. And although the Western powers were not at ease, they did not want to overthrow the imperial court, but only pursued their own interests. Zuo Zongtang's personal role cannot be ignored.
To sum up, the reason why the Qing Dynasty lost the Outer Northeast was not that they did not pay attention to it, but that they were weak in strength and could not withstand the pressure of multi-front operations.