The Battle of the Doomsday of Galdan was so inadequate, that he was beaten into a bare bones command

Mondo Education Updated on 2024-02-15

For Galdan, the six years after the Battle of Ulan Butong must have been very painful.

The Battle of Ulan Butong Although the Battle of Ulan Butong was a draw, the battlefield losses of the Qing army were even greater than those of the quasi-army, but Fu Quanquan was only one of the main forces of the Qing army, and he had already defeated almost all of Galdan's belongings in terms of equipment. At this time, Galdan may have realized the huge gap in national strength. The battle of the Wuerhui River was annihilated by Galdan with more than 10,000 weak soldiers, which was not a big deal for the Qing Dynasty at all. And Galdan wanted to hurt the Qing Dynasty to force the Qing Dynasty to hand over the Khalkha people, which was undoubtedly extremely important.

The Mongol warrior Galdan returned from the battle of Ulan Butong in vain, and on the way back suffered heavy losses due to the plague. The base camp of Kobdo was sacked, and the oasis cities in the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains all fell under the control of Alabutan, blocking Galdan's access to iron and firearms. Galdan was undoubtedly powerless to regain lost territory, and could only barely protect himself. And Emperor Kangxi also offered favorable conditions, hoping to recruit the Galdan tribe and settle them in the Inner Mongolia grassland. Galdan and Emperor Kangxi have spent the past few years to recuperate, and they have deceived a lot from the Qing Dynasty and purchased them from Tsarist Russia.

Emperor Kangxi, however, negotiated until the fifth year after the Battle of Ulan Butong, and there was no result, and Kangxi apparently found that he was being tricked by Galdan. Fortunately, in recent years, the Qing Dynasty has also made sufficient preparations for war, and the soldiers are good enough to make an expedition to Mobei. Emperor Kangxi then made a plan and prepared to send troops to meet Galdan's surrender as a banner and ambush him in one fell swoop.

In the second half of 1695, he sent troops to the east again, attacking the Khalkha tribes who remained in Mobei, trying to expand his strength. At the same time, Galdan claimed that he had brought 60,000 Russian shotguns to intimidate the Mongol princes of the southern desert and the northern desert, and at the same time used his religious influence as the fifth Lobsang Gyatso to lure the lamas of the Mongolian steppes to provide him with information. Since most of the Khalkha tribes temporarily moved south to avoid the Kaldan army, the eastward invasion was actually like a grazing procession, and there was no fighting. Galdan did not dare to rush south to the vicinity of the Great Wall.

At the end of 1695, the Qing Dynasty also began military mobilization, mobilizing 100,000 soldiers, divided into three routes, and marched north to Mobei. The Eastern Route Army was formed by 9,000 troops commanded by Heilongjiang General Sabusu, crossed the Xing'an Mountains, exited the Krulun River, and flanked the Junggar army; Commanded by the Fuyuan general Feiyangu 460,000 formed the Western Route Army, which crossed the desert from Guihua (Hohhot) and Ningxia, and went north along the Wengjin River to cut off the Galdan retreat; Emperor Kangxi self-rate 340,000 people formed the Middle Route Army, which went out of Dushikou (now north of Chicheng, Hebei Province), and went north through the upper reaches of the Krulun River, cutting off the Galdan retreat route, and attacking the Galdan Army with the East and West Route Army.

According to the schematic diagram of the Battle of Zhaomodo, the Gardan soldiers were actually less than 20,000.

It is said that during the battle of Ulan Butong, Kangxi also arranged an army from the northeast to prepare to set off from Shengjing to attack Galdan, but when he was halfway through, Galdan had already run back. This time, the commander of the Eastern Route Army, Sabsu, was the general who fought Yaksa that year, and rushed to Mobei, but it didn't come in handy. Fei Yanggu, the commander of the Western Route Army, was a rare veteran who had experienced the rebellion of the three feudatories, and the young man was nearly fifty years old at this time. In the process of assembling and marching, Feiyangu keenly discovered that there were huge loopholes in the supply plan formulated by Kangxi, and decided to change the original 460,000 soldiers reduced to 140,000 elites, all the others were converted to supply work. This became the key for the Qing army to defeat the enemy, rather than running to Mobei to send people to their heads.

The Krulun River is an important river on the Mongolian Plateau, and Kangxi, who did not cut his troops, fell into a dilemma of food shortage after arriving in the Krulun River valley - most of the 80 days of food carried by the soldiers had been eaten, not to mention that it was dangerous to continue to advance, even if it was to retreat. When Emperor Kangxi conquered Galdan in the north, he once ordered Wu Liucun, a deputy commander and a native of Shaoxing, to transfer his salary. When the imperial camp had been out of food for several days, he was overjoyed, and Prince Limi said, "My father and son have help." Although the "Qing History Manuscript" boasted fiercely about Emperor Kangxi, the real situation was that Emperor Kangxi sent an envoy to see Galdan and took the initiative to inform Emperor Kangxi of the news of his personal conquest.

Kangxi's northern expedition shows that the Kangxi Emperor's army is short of food and has no combat effectiveness, so he can only hope for intimidation tactics. If Galdan is decisive enough to storm the Qing army camp at this time, he may be able to make a Qing version of the Tumubao Revolution and capture the Kangxi Emperor alive. But Galdan is not a first-class famous general, and he has been attacked by Arabutan in the past few years, and he has no rational judgment at this time. Seeing that Kangxi had many troops along the way, he did not dare to fight a decisive battle and retreated westward. The western route of Feiyangu and Sun Sike's troops crossed the desert, and Galdan had already sent a small detachment to burn the grasslands south of Kulun and Tula River, the place where the Western Route Army must pass, and the Western Route Army delayed a lot of travel and could not carry out the established plan to join the Kangxi Emperor. The Western Route Army, which had a more difficult supply route in Galdan, should be extremely short of food and lose its combat effectiveness at this moment, and was determined to pick up the soft pinch of persimmons and annihilate the Western Route Army in one fell swoop to play its own prestige, forcing the Qing Dynasty to negotiate peace, hand over the Khalkha people, and regain its strength.

Emperor Kangxi in the TV series "The Emperor Kangxi".

Here you can see that although Galdan has been on the battlefield for a long time, he is not a first-class star after all. Feiyangu and Sun Sike are both veterans who have experienced the rebellion of the three feudatories, and they have long been famous, and they should not be underestimated, how can they be compared to anointed children like Arni and Fuquan? Galdan let the self-righteous Emperor Kangxi who couldn't fight not deal with it, and ran to pinch these people, which was really a mistake. Feiyangu had already received a summons from the light cavalry sent by Emperor Kangxi, and was waiting on the route of Galdan's westward retreat, occupying the commanding heights - Zhaomoduo. Zhao Moduo, on the east bank of the Tula River, also called East Kulun, north of Kent Mountain, south of Tuna Ridge, west of Khan Mountain, forest reckless, the situation is dangerous, known as the ancient battlefield. Interestingly, the old name of this place was Hulan Sudden Hypothermia, and Zhu Di was here to break the danger and defend the Waramaham, which was powerful and northern, and now, here is to witness a historic decisive battle.

As soon as Galdan arrived, Feiyangu sent Shuodai, the vanguard commander of the Manchurian Zhengbai Banner, and Ananda, the commander of the Mongolian Zhenghuang Banner, to lead some light cavalry to lure the enemy. As soon as they made contact, the Qing army pretended to be tired and weak, and lured Galdan to chase westward. Before long, the Galdan army was lured to the front of the mountain, and the Qing army dispersed in a hurry. Seeing that there were not many Qing troops on the mountain, Galdan thought that it was caused by a large number of stragglers, but did not know that Feiyangu deliberately streamlined, and the Qing army had been waiting on the mountain for ten days, and his physical strength had already recovered, and he set up a village to defend himself. In the Battle of Ulan Butong, Fuquan attempted to attack with heavy iron-core bronze cannons, but was defeated by Galdan. This time, the Qing army learned its lesson and used lighter sub-mother cannons, and the number was still sufficient.

The Qing Dynasty sub-artillery Galdan led the cavalry holding spears to charge the Qing army deep in the highlands and dense forests, and Sun Sike led the elite of the green battalion to resist in front, and the shotguns and sub-mother cannons roared, and the battlefield was filled with gunsmoke. Rushing closer, Galdan found that the Qing army's firearms were so well prepared, and a wooden fence and trench had been dug in front of the position, and the preparations were extremely sufficient, and although the enemy had few soldiers, they should not be underestimated. It was only then that Galdan faintly realized that he seemed to have fallen into the Feyangu. But the matter has come to this, and it is necessary to bite the bullet. The attack on the back weakened the impact of the Mongol cavalry, and although the Mongol soldiers under the command of Galdan were brave, because of the economic difficulties in recent years, the armor was poor, and many were hit and fell off their horses. Galdan immediately made a decision, and ordered the soldiers to dismount one after another, and switched to foot combat, after all, the Dzungar tribe was known for its infantry combat ability among the Mongolian tribes. However, during the Kangxi Dynasty, the combat effectiveness of the green battalion had not been completely corrupted, and in terms of foot warfare, there was no better fighting than the Han people. Sun Sike immediately gave the order, opened the antler gate, and the Han army rattan soldiers holding swords and shields rushed out from behind, while the full soldiers provided firepower in the rear, and the two sides fought fiercely, killing from the morning to the afternoon of May 13, which was inseparable. At this time, the soldiers under the command of Galdan were close to 20,000, which was only a slight advantage over the Qing army, and the equipment was not as good, and it was a back-attack, and the fierce battle did not fall behind at all.

The famous general Feiyangu is the younger brother of Shunzhi's favorite concubine Dong Efei, and Feiyangu has already adopted the strategy of Yin Huaxing, another veteran of the Han army who had experienced the rebellion of the three feudatories, and led the elite cavalry to secretly leave the camp and make a detour to the Galdan camp to attack his camp. The wife of Kaldan, Anukedun, who was in charge of guarding the camp, fought fiercely with the Qing army, was defeated, and was driven to the rear of Kaldan's headquarters. However, Anukodun was also very brave, and even stabilized his position before attacking the rear of Galdan, and ordered his soldiers to dismount and fight the Qing army to the death. Yin Huaxing said in his memoirs "The Chronicles of the Western Expedition": Galdan and his sister-in-law Anu Niangzi (that is, the sister-in-law captured by Galdan's murderous brother) and others also braved artillery arrows, sacrificed their horses and fought, and the edge was very sharp and invincible, and the casualties were quite equal, and the victory or defeat was undecided. From this point of view, Galdan's trapped beast fight, even in the situation of comprehensive disadvantage, is still considerable. However, Mrs. Anu, who was "big and daring to fight, wearing bronze armor and wearing a bow and arrow", her armor was not enough to resist the firearms of the Qing army. Finding that this woman was the key to the cohesion of the quasi-army, the Qing army attacked her one after another, and Anukotun was shot and killed. The quasi-army rears screamed incessantly and fell into disarray. Yin Huaxing seized the opportunity to kill the camp from Sun Sike's flank, directly chiseled through the quasi-army formation, and attacked Feiyangu back and forth. The elite infantry of the Han army from the mountainous area galloped down the high slope, and the power was not inferior to that of the iron cavalry. Galdan was attacked from front to back, and the death of his wife in battle shook the morale of the army, and they could no longer support it, so they had to gather soldiers and flee the battlefield. More than 2,000 people were killed in battle, more than 3,000 were captured, Galdan's wife Anukodun and important ministers Daibatur Zaisang, Borot and Eqi were killed in battle, and the Qing army also lost more than 1,000 people in battle. However, due to the Qing army's capture of the camp of the quasi-army, more than 60,000 head of livestock, a large number of weapons, armor, firearms, ammunition, and many children of the family were captured by the Qing army. After this battle, the Galdan tribe dispersed, or defected to the Arabutan, or defected to the Qing Dynasty, and the Galdan only gathered 5,000 warriors, tens of thousands of followers, wandering in the Kobdo steppe. In 1697, Kangxi sent Ma Sika and Yin Huaxing to Kobdo with a small number of elites to continue to hunt and fight Galdan. Galdan was at the end of his rope, and the people surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, and he wanted to defect to ** but was also rejected by the Emperor Kangxi's warning Dibasang Jie Gyatso, and finally fell seriously ill and died of desolation (a persuasion poison suicide), the remnants of Galdan surrendered to the Qing, and his son was also captured by the Hami people and handed over to the Qing Dynasty.

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