Western RegionsvsNortheast China: Why did the ancient Northeast pass less?
After the unification of the Qin Dynasty, China's territory began to expand. Since the Han Dynasty, the great unified dynasties of the Central Plains have paid a huge price for the operation of the Western Regions, and even did not hesitate to start wars.
Among them, during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Zhang Qian sent an envoy to the Western Regions; During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Ban Chao shook the Western Regions; During the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Cao conquered Ma Chao in Liangzhou; During the period of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, Tuyuhun was pacified; During the period of Tang Gaozong, Su Dingfang destroyed the Western Turks; It took decades for the three generations of Kang Yongqian of the Qing Dynasty to finally conquer Jungar and establish his rule over the Western Regions.
In the process, the Western Han Dynasty established the Western Regions Protectorate, the Eastern Han Dynasty established the Western Regions Changshi Mansion, the Tang Dynasty established the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate and the Beiting Metropolitan Protectorate, and the Qing Dynasty established Xinjiang Province.
Even the Northern Song Dynasty, which had always been weak, vigorously managed the Western Regions and established the Longyou Protectorate. All this is aimed at preserving and consolidating our borders.
Why are there so few dynasties in the Northeast compared to the Western Regions? Is it because the Northeast is not as important as the Western Regions? Or is it because the power of the Northeast is too strong? In fact, the Northeast is indeed not as important as the Western Regions.
First of all, there is the Silk Road in the Western Regions, and the natural environment in the Northeast is harsh. Since Zhang Qian's mission to the Western Regions, the Western Regions have become an important link between China and the West, and the operation of the Western Regions is conducive to the export of China's goods overseas and earning high profits.
As the first country in the world to manufacture silk, China earned a lot of real gold for ancient China. In the 1st century B.C., silk imported into Rome from the Silk Road was as high as 12 taels a pound, but this still could not stop the nobles' thirst for silk.
Western heads of state and aristocrats once wore Chinese silk dyed with Phoenician red as a symbol of glory, and the Roman Empire imported silk and lost a large amount of **.
The same was true throughout Europe, and it was not until the 15th century that silkworms were imported into England that the situation improved. In addition, porcelain is also an important luxury consumable on the Silk Road, the porcelain that spread west to Constantinople is extremely high, when Taizong of the Song Dynasty, a blue and white porcelain plate can be sold for 500 in Rome, and the sea of wine is 1,500 yuan each, which can be described as a huge profit.
1.The Western Regions is not only a place to increase the revenue of the national treasury, but also an important bridge for cultural exchanges between the East and the West, which plays an important role in spreading Chinese culture overseas and enhancing the prestige of the country.
Westerners' understanding of China originated from silk, so they called China "Seris", that is, the country of silk. The Romans were amazed by the Chinese silk craftsmanship: "The Chinese were able to collect such delicate 'wool' from the leaves!" ”
This magical eastern power naturally attracts the yearning of Westerners. Although the Northeast also has precious resources needed by the Central Plains Dynasty, such as ginseng, mink, and ura grass, it is still slightly insufficient compared with the output of the Western Regions**.
What's more, further north of the Northeast is a land of ice and snow that is inaccessible and has little use value. 2.The Western Regions not only contributed to the national treasury revenue, but also played the role of an envoy of cultural exchanges between the East and the West, helping Chinese culture to go overseas and enhance the country's influence.
Western countries were the first to know China through silk, so they called China "Seris", that is, the country of silk. China's silk-making skills are so amazing that the Romans once said: "The Chinese can actually collect very fine 'wool' from leaves!" ”
For such a magical eastern power, the hearts of Westerners are full of yearning. Although the Northeast region also had valuable resources needed by the Central Plains Dynasty, such as ginseng, mink, and ura grass, it was still slightly insufficient compared to the export of the Western Regions**.
In addition, further north in the Tohoku region is a sparsely populated land of ice and snow, and its use value is limited.
Although today, the Northeast region is an important heavy industry base in China, with rich resources such as iron ore, oil, diamonds, gold mines, forests, grasslands, fresh water and marine fish, in ancient times, due to the difficulty of exploiting resources and the harsh natural environment, the ancient Central Plains Dynasty was not interested in the Northeast region.
Although the Central Plains region also has natural environmental challenges, such as deserts, there are also some suitable places for human habitation, such as the Hetao, the Hexi Corridor and the Tarim Basin. However, although the land in the Northeast is fertile, due to its high latitude and cold and dry climate, it is not suitable for the ancient Han people to live.
Militarily, the Central Plains Dynasty had always faced the threat of northern nomads. In the era of cold weapons, cavalry is the trump card, and nomads are born with excellent cavalry, they have an innate advantage in combat effectiveness, and cavalry also has an incomparable speed advantage of infantry, and the vast grassland is their best place to fight.
Therefore, the operation of the Western Regions can flank the northern nomads in order to achieve the purpose of containing and compressing their living space.
1.The Hetao and Hexi Corridor have been important horse-producing areas in China since ancient times, and the water and grass here are abundant and beautiful, which is conducive to the growth of horses. Occupying these places could enhance the cavalry strength of the Central Plains Dynasty.
As the old saying goes: "The horse is the foundation of the armor and the soldier, and the country is of great use", and modern people also believe that "the number of horses represents the size of a country". Before firearms were widely used, the development of Ma Zheng was the key to strengthening the military power of the Central Plains Dynasty.
However, in order to vigorously develop horse politics, there must be good horse breeding land. For example, the Song Dynasty never forgot the Hetao and Youyun, in addition to the concept of "no inch of land can be lost", but also because the Song Dynasty lacked a place to raise horses, and the Hetao and Youyun have been important horse breeding places in the Central Plains Dynasty since ancient times.
In fact, among the six major horse breeding areas in ancient times, the northwest horse breeding area ranked first, and its representative horse breeds Hequ horse and Dawan horse were all well-known military horses in ancient times. The Hip Horse is the largest and most excellent horse in the Chinese landrace, and its biggest advantages are weight resistance, strong endurance, and fast recovery from fatigue.
Qin Mugong shepherded for Zhou Tianzi was a Hequ horse, and the war horse of the cavalry used by Qin Shihuang to unify the Six Kingdoms was also a Hequ horse. 2.The Hetao and Hexi Corridor were important horse-producing areas in ancient China, where the water and grass were abundant and beautiful, suitable for the growth of horses.
Occupying this place can increase the cavalry strength of the Central Plains Dynasty. As the old saying goes: "The horse is the foundation of the armor and the soldier, and the country is of great use", and modern people also believe that "the number of horses represents the size of a country".
Before firearms were widely used, the development of Ma Zheng was the key to strengthening the military power of the Central Plains Dynasty. Therefore, in order to vigorously develop horse politics, it is necessary to have good horse breeding land. For example, the Song Dynasty never forgot the Hetao and Youyun, in addition to the concept of "no inch of land can be lost", but also because the Song Dynasty lacked a place to raise horses, and the Hetao and Youyun have been important horse breeding places in the Central Plains Dynasty since ancient times.
In ancient times, the six major horse breeding areas, the northwest horse breeding area ranked first, and its representative horse breeds, Hequ Horse, Dawan Horse, are all well-known military horses in ancient times. The Hip Horse is the largest and most excellent horse in the Chinese landrace, and its biggest advantages are weight resistance, strong endurance, and fast recovery from fatigue.
Qin Mugong shepherded for Zhou Tianzi was a Hequ horse, and the war horse of the cavalry used by Qin Shihuang to unify the Six Kingdoms was also a Hequ horse. 3.The Hetao and Hexi Corridor were important horse-producing areas in ancient China, where the water and grass were abundant and beautiful, suitable for the growth of horses.
Occupying this place can increase the cavalry strength of the Central Plains Dynasty. As the old saying goes: "The horse is the foundation of the armor and the soldier, and the country is of great use", and modern people also believe that "the number of horses represents the size of a country".
Before firearms were widely used, the development of Ma Zheng was the key to strengthening the military power of the Central Plains Dynasty. Therefore, in order to vigorously develop horse politics, it is necessary to have good horse breeding land. For example, the Song Dynasty never forgot the Hetao and Youyun, in addition to the concept of "no inch of land can be lost", but also because the Song Dynasty lacked a place to raise horses, and the Hetao and Youyun have been important horse breeding places in the Central Plains Dynasty since ancient times.
In ancient times, the six major horse breeding areas, the northwest horse breeding area ranked first, and its representative horse breeds, Hequ Horse, Dawan Horse, are all well-known military horses in ancient times. The Hip Horse is the largest and most excellent horse in the Chinese landrace, and its biggest advantages are weight resistance, strong endurance, and fast recovery from fatigue.
Qin Mugong shepherded for Zhou Tianzi was a Hequ horse, and the war horse of the cavalry used by Qin Shihuang to unify the Six Kingdoms was also a Hequ horse.
The Dawan horse, also known as the sweat and blood horse, is the most prestigious horse breed in the Western Regions. It is well-built, obedient to commands, and fast, making it suitable for long marches. It was not only a weapon in warfare, but also the mount of choice for ancient emperors.
The Tang Dynasty's "Shivachi" and "Tellebi" two Zhaoling six horses are Dawan horses. The world's largest and oldest horse farm, Shandan Military Horse Farm, is located on the south side of Yanzhi Mountain in the Hexi Corridor, and although there are excellent horse breeds in the Northeast, their main characteristics are cold resistance, strong gravity, roughage tolerance, suitable for agricultural use, such as Northeast Horse and Heilongjiang Horse.
There is only one kind of good horse suitable for military use in Northeast China - Jilin horse, which has better speed, endurance and adaptability than other Northeast horse breeds, so most of the horses used by the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty are Jilin horses.
However, as a military horse, the Jilin horse still cannot be compared with the Hequ horse and the Dawan horse.
The climate in the Northeast was cold, which was not suitable for the large-scale use of troops by the Central Plains Dynasty. Although it was difficult to control the Western Regions, it was mainly due to the southward movement of the nomads on the Mongolian Plateau or the northward movement of Tibetans on the Tibetan Plateau, and had little to do with the local forces in the Western Regions.
The Northeast region has been the world of nomads and fishing and hunting peoples since ancient times, such as the Khitan, Jurchen, Mongolian and other ethnic groups. In a difficult environment, these ethnic groups exercised the excellent qualities of hard-working, brave and good at fighting, which made it difficult for the Central Plains Dynasty to conquer the Northeast, and even the Song and Ming dynasties were exterminated by the Jurchen people from the Northeast.
The military strength of the Northeast region far exceeds that of the Western Regions, and it has a long history and cultural heritage. As early as the pre-Qin period, the Northeast region was recorded as an independent region in the classics.
Zhou Li Zhifang's "called the Northeast as Youzhou, and its town mountain is the medicine witch lu, and it is also recorded in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas", "Beyond the Northeast Sea, there are mountains in the great wilderness, the name is not salty, and there is the country of Su Shen." ”
In the "Shangshu Yu Gong", it is recorded that Kyushu was set up after Yu ruled the water, of which Yingzhou and Youzhou are located in the northeast of Qingzhou and the northeast of Jizhou respectively, which is the general name of the land in the northeast of China.
Yan was a feudal state of Zhou Tianzi during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and its first feudal history can be traced back to the period of King Wu of Zhou. According to the "Historical Records", after King Wu was destroyed, Zhaogong was named Beiyan, and Zhaogong was the son of King Wen of Zhou and one of King Wu's most trusted ministers.
Therefore, Zhao Gong became the ancestor of the Yan Kingdom. The country of Yan is located in the wilderness of Yan Mountain, hence the name. In the 7th century B.C., the Yan Kingdom began to expand to the northern Hebei and western Liaoning regions, and after annexing the Ji Kingdom, the capital Ji was established.
However, during the Spring and Autumn Period, due to limited strength and the threat of Shanjung, the territory of Yan did not expand significantly. At that time, the territory of Yan included not only the Beijing-Tianjin region, but also today's Hebei, Liaoning and other places.
During the Warring States period, the Yan State ranked third in terms of territorial area, after the Qin State and the Chu State. In 284 BC, King Yan Zhao appointed Le Yi as a general, and led an army united with the five kingdoms of Qin, Han, Zhao, and Wei to attack the Qi State, capturing more than 70 Qi cities within five years, and expanding its territory to the Shandong region.
In 283 BC, when Le Yi fought fiercely in the cities of Jimo and Ju, Qin Kai led the Yan army to resist the attack of Donghu, and the Yan army conquered many passes from west to east, forcing Donghu to retreat to the upper reaches of the Liao River.
Under the heroic leadership of two generals, Le Yi and Qin Kai, Yan successfully expanded its territory for 2,000 li, and for this reason, King Yan Zhao established a series of counties in these newly occupied lands, including Yuyang, Youbeiping, Liaoxi, and Liaodong.
Liaodong County was seated in Xiangping (present-day Liaoyang) and governed a vast area including east of the Daling River in present-day Liaoning and south of Kaiyuan City. Liaoxi County, on the other hand, governed the area east of Songling Mountain and west of the lower reaches of the Daling River in present-day Liaoning.
This means that most of today's Liaoning was once the territory of the Yan Kingdom. Coupled with the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region originally occupied by the Yan State, the territorial scope of the Yan State was among the best among the Seven Heroes of the Warring States, even surpassing the countries of Qi, Zhao, Wei and Han.
The period of King Yan Zhao was the most powerful period of the Yan Kingdom, but then, the Yan Kingdom began to decline, until 222 BC, when Wang Ben attacked and destroyed the Yan Kingdom, and the Yan Kingdom existed for 822 years.
On the land of the Yan Kingdom, Qin Shi Huang established Liaodong County and Dai County.
1. Regarding the origin and development of Goguryeo, in fact, Goguryeo does not refer to Goryeo on the Korean Peninsula, but is a national regime that existed from the 1st century BC to the 7th century AD in the northeastern region of China and the Korean Peninsula.
Together with Baekje and Silla, it is known as the Three Kingdoms period of Joseon. The people of Goguryeo were mainly composed of the people of Ho and Fuyu, and later absorbed some of the Geon people, the remnants of ancient Korea, and Samhan.
Because of its unique geographical location, Goguryeo straddles the three kingdoms of present-day China, North Korea, and Korea, so all three countries claim Goguryeo as their own primitive people. The founding of Goguryeo can be traced back to 37 BC, that is, in the second year of the Jianzhao of the Western Han Dynasty, established by the Fuyu people, and the capital was located in Susheng Gucheng (now Huanren, Liaoning).
In 3 A.D., King Liuli moved his capital to the domestic capital city of Marudu (now Ji'an, Jilin).
Since the Han Dynasty, Goguryeo has been a vassal state of the Central Plains Dynasty. However, during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Central Plains were in turmoil, and Goguryeo took the opportunity to annex the Buyeo Kingdom and the Yeontar tribes in the north, and brought Silla and Baekje into its submission through war.
In order to better control Baekje and Silla, King Jangshou moved the capital from its original location to Pyongyang in 427 and renamed it "Goryeo", which was not directly related to Goryeo, which was founded in the 10th century.
By the 6th century AD, Goguryeo had reached its heyday, with its territory bordered by the Sea of Japan to the east, the Han River basin to the south, the Liao River to the northwest, and the Huifa River and the Second Songhwa River basin to the north.
However, in 551, Baekje and Silla joined forces to attack Goguryeo, causing Goguryeo to lose the strategically important Han River valley in the central part of the Korean Peninsula. Subsequently, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty conquered Goguryeo three times between 612 and 615, and although the Sui army once conquered more than 50 cities, due to the intensification of internal contradictions, the Sui Dynasty eventually fell before Goguryeo.
During the Zhenguan period, Li Shimin also personally led an army to conquer Goguryeo, but due to the harsh geographical environment and severe cold weather, he finally failed to successfully besiege Pyongyang. In 668, Tang Gaozong appointed Li Ji as the chief of the Liaodong Provincial March, and led Xue Rengui and others to go to Goguryeo again.
In this battle, the combined forces of the Tang army and Silla successfully eliminated Goguryeo, and the 27th king of the treasure king, Gozang, was captured by the Tang army. Most of the population of Goguryeo was moved to the Central Plains by the Tang Dynasty, and the rest of the population was integrated into the Balhae Kingdom.
The Goguryeo regime, which existed for 705 years, was one of the longest-standing local regimes in Chinese history, creating a highly developed agrarian civilization that made a significant contribution to the economic and cultural development of the southern part of the Northeast region.
After the fall of Goguryeo, Tang Gaozong established the Andong Protectorate in Pyongyang, which governed the Liaodong Peninsula, the northern part of the Korean Peninsula, the northwest region of Jilin, and the hometown of Baekje in the southwestern part of the Korean Peninsula, including the east of the present-day Ussuri River, the west bank of the lower reaches of the Heilongjiang River, and Sakhalin Island.
After the Tangluo War, the Andong Protectorate moved from Pyongyang to Liaodong and became the Tang Dynasty's military and political institution to administer Liaodong, Goguryeo, and Balhae. Under the Tang Dynasty, most of Liaodong still belonged to the Tang Dynasty.
During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the ancestor of the Murong clan, Mo Huba, was a Xianbei person in the Cao Wei period, because he was meritorious in Sima Yi's war against Gongsun Yuan in Liaodong, was named the king of Yiyi, and established his own country in the north of Yixian County, Liaoning.
He learned from the Han people to wear steps and shake crowns, so he was called Murong, which is the origin of Murong's surname.
During the Western Jin Dynasty, the Xianbei Murong clan moved from western Liaoning to northeastern Liao, and around 307, Murong Diao proclaimed himself Xianbei Dadanyu, ruled the Liaoshui Basin, and accepted the official position of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
In 337, Murong Diao's son Murong Hao was canonized as the king of Yan, and the capital was Longcheng (today's Chaoyang City), and Qianyan was established. Qianyan attaches great importance to agricultural production, builds water conservancy, stipulates taxation, and encourages non-industrial and commercial people to engage in agriculture, which makes agricultural production in western Liaoning region develop significantly.
In December 342, Murong Hao personally led 40,000 elite soldiers to attack Goguryeo, and the Yan army was overwhelmed, and Goguryeo was defeated everywhere he went. In February 343, the Yan army burned down the imperial palace of Goguryeo, captured more than 50,000 people, and won a great victory, and the king of Goguryeo, Gao Zhao, submitted to Yan.
In 344 AD, Murong Hao, the leader of the Yan State, appointed Murong Han as the forward general and led the army to attack the Yuwen Department. Soon, the Yan army captured Zimengchuan, the capital of the Yuwen Ministry, and the leader Yidougui fled and died in Mobei, and the Yuwen Ministry.
Since then, the Xianbei Murong clan has become the only armed force in eastern and western Liaoning. During the reign of Murong Ke, Qianyan reached an unprecedented power, with a population of 10 million according to the four prefectures of You, Hebei, and Ping, and was undoubtedly the first power in the north.
After the fall of Qianyan, Murong Ke's fifth brother Murong Chui established Houyan and set his capital in Zhongshan. The Later Yan once owned present-day Hebei and Shandong, as well as most of Liao, Jin, and Henan, but in 395 they were defeated by the Northern Wei Tuoba at the Battle of Shenhepi.
The following year, the Northern Wei Dynasty captured Zhongshan, the capital of Houyan, causing Houyan to fall apart and collapse. Eventually, it was replaced by Gaoyun of Northern Yan in 407. On the other hand, the Bohai Kingdom also came into being in the first year of the Sacred Calendar (698 AD) after the Tang Dynasty.
Da Zuorong, the son of the beggar Zhongxiang, the leader of the Sumo Yak, relied on his headquarters and the alliance with other tribes to establish a political power between the "White Mountain and Black Water" - Zhenguo. Although Da Zuorong originally had no surname, he took the surname Dashi in the honorific titles of later generations.
However, in 696, the Khitan launched a rebellion, and Da Zuorong and his son were forced to participate in the anti-Tang Dynasty. The following year, the beggar Zhongxiang died, and Da Zuorong led the rest of the troops to move to the area of Tianmen Ridge, successfully inflicting heavy losses on the pursuing Tang army.
After that, Daejorong gathered the remnants of Goguryeo and built a city based on Dongmu Mountain, thus establishing the Balhae Kingdom.
After the founding of the state, Daejorong adopted a policy of alliance with foreign countries, established friendly relations with the Khitan and the Eastern Turks respectively, and gradually became powerful under the domination of Silla. Their territory covers the eastern and southern parts of the Northeast and the northern part of the Korean Peninsula and the coastal regions of Russia, with a population of nearly 5 million and an army of hundreds of thousands.
In 713, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty canonized Da Zuorong as the general of Zuo Xiaowei and the king of Bohai County, and granted him the state of Kuhan, so that the Su Mo Yan regime took Bohai as the title and became a feudal state in the territory of the Tang Dynasty.
In 762, the Tang Dynasty officially decreed that the Bohai Sea should be a state. In the early days, the capital was set up in the old country (now Dunhua, Jilin), and later moved to Xiandefu in Zhongjing (now Helong, Jilin), Longquanfu in Shangjing (now Ning'an, Heilongjiang) and Longyuan Mansion in Tokyo (now Hunchun, Jilin).
The Bohai Kingdom was deeply influenced by the culture of the Tang Dynasty and was known as the "prosperous country of the eastern part of the sea". However, in 926, the Bohai State was destroyed by the Liao State, which lasted for 15 generations and lasted 229 years, but in fact it had no direct connection with the Bohai Sea.
5. The Khitan tribe gradually rose under the leadership of the leader Yelu Abaoji, and in 916 A.D., Yelu Abaoji ascended the throne and established the Khitan State. After the death of Yelu Abaoji, his son Yelu Deguang succeeded to the throne, and in 947 AD changed the name of the country to Liao and the capital to Shangjing.
During its heyday, the Liao Dynasty confronted the Northern Song Dynasty in the east as far as the area of today's Selenga River and Shilka River, northeast to the Outer Xing'an Mountains and the Sea of Okhotsk, and south to today's Tianjin City, Baxian County in Hebei Province, and Yanmen Pass in Shanxi Province.
6. In 1113 A.D., the leader of the Jurchen Wanyan tribe, Aguta, led an army to capture the Songhua River Valley, and the following year the founding of the Jin, the capital was Ning (now south of Acheng, Heilongjiang).
After that, he continued to go south to fight, in 1125 to destroy the Liao, in 1127 to destroy the Northern Song Dynasty, the territory included the three provinces of Liao, Ji and Hei and the Mongolian steppe, the Jin cavalry had galloped across the coastline of northeast Asia, almost occupied all the homeland of the Sushen clan, west to the Hetao, Shaanxi Hengshan, eastern Gansu and the junction of Western Xia, south to the Qinling Huai River and the Southern Song Dynasty.
In 1234, under the dual pressure of the Southern Song Dynasty and the Mongols, the Jin Dynasty was overthrown in Caizhou. Then, in 1287, the Yuan Dynasty established the province of Liaoyang to take full control of the land in the northeast.
In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang set up the Liaodong Metropolitan Division in the northeast, which governed the 25 Wei, 138 institutes, two prefectures and an alliance in Liaodong. At the same time, he also divided his sons in the north and northeast, such as the king of Yan in Beiping, the king of Han in Kaiyuan, the king of Ning in Daning (now Chifeng Ningcheng), and the king of Liao in Guangning.
His purpose was to "control the key points according to the name of the feudal domain, and divide the sea". However, after the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the national power began to decline, and it was no longer able to maintain its rule over the northern frontier.
By 1435, the Nurkandus had been abolished, but its subordinate guards still existed. With the rise of the Jurchens, the effective control of the Ming Dynasty in the northeast retreated to the Liaodong region.
In 1616, the leader of the Jianzhou Jurchens, Aisin Jueluo Nurhachi, was crowned Great Khan in Hetuala, and he used this as an opportunity to rebuild the Dajin Kingdom, a period known as the "Later Jin Period".
In the Battle of Salhu in 1619, the Ming Dynasty suffered a heavy defeat, and in just a few years, the Ming Dynasty lost more than 70 cities in Liaodong. In 1621, Nurhachi led the Eight Banners to capture Liaoyang and Shenyang, and set Liaoyang as the capital; In 1636, the Qing Dynasty succeeded in subjugating the Mongols, and Huang Taiji subsequently ascended the throne, changing the name of the country to "Great Qing" and the Jurchen clan name to "Manchuria".
In the middle of the 17th century, Tsarist Russia crossed the Outer Khing'an Mountains and invaded the Heilongjiang River valley in China, burning down villages, and the Qing army clashed with it many times. It was not until after the Battle of Yaksa in 1685 that the Kangxi Emperor instructed the Qing army to pursue the victory and sign a surrender.
In 1689, the Sino-Russian Treaty of Nebuchu was signed. Before the treaty was signed, the Qing Dynasty extended its territory to Inner and Outer Mongolia in the west, the Arctic Ocean in the north, the Pacific Ocean in the east, including Sakhalin Island and the Kuril Islands, and the Kamchatka Peninsula and the Bering Strait in the northeast.
After the signing of the treaty, the Qing Dynasty gradually retreated to the Trans-Khing'an Mountains, the Udi River, and the area south of the southern shore of Lake Baikal. At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, China weakened, Sakhalin Island and the Kuril Islands were ceded, and the territory of the Northeast eventually shrank to what it is today.