Why was the Qing Dynasty able to solve the Mongolian problem in history?
There is both historical inevitability and historical contingency.
The inevitability was the development of firearms and the advancement of productivity.
In addition, having learned from the lessons of other dynasties, the Qing Dynasty conquered the Mongols by using the method of fear, power and virtue.
The coincidence was that the Little Ice Age and the southward invasion of Tsarist Russia greatly reduced the Mongols' range of activities.
What the Qing Dynasty could do, Chongzhen felt that he could do too.
Thinking of this, he ordered Wang Chengen: "Send an order and ask the cabinet to come here."
"I will go and convey the order right away!" Wang Chengen ran out happily.
While waiting for several cabinet ministers, Chongzhen began to recall how the Qing Dynasty dealt with the Mongols in history.
The first is to strike militarily.
This was the first and crucial step in conquering the Mongols.
After defeating the Mongols, the Qing Dynasty began to implement the league and banner system within Mongolia and sent officials to manage it.
Simply put, the league and banner system divides territories among the Mongolian tribes, and herders from each tribe must migrate within the territory of their own tribe.
Otherwise it will be out of bounds and you will be severely punished if caught!
The league and banner system appears to have eased conflicts among tribes over competition for pastures, but in reality it has restricted the migration and movement of herders.
Moreover, due to the large number of leagues and flags, the power of the various Mongolian tribes was extremely scattered. They could neither unite together nor engage in separatist rebellion.
The threat is greatly reduced!
In addition, garrison generals were stationed at the border.
Such as Shengjing General, Suiyuan City General, Xi'an General, Ningxia General, etc.
Once they discovered any unusual movement by the Mongols, they would immediately send a large army to attack them.
The second is economic assimilation.
In order to change the Mongols to the greatest extent possible, the Qing Dynasty made them learn farming and forced them to assimilate into the Han culture.
Although the Mongols were not completely sinicized, many nomadic tribes were successfully transformed into semi-agricultural and semi-pastoral tribes.
With the constraints of arable land, the Mongols could no longer graze their horses and come and go freely as before.
In addition to governing the Mongolian tribes militarily and economically, the Qing Dynasty also thought about culture.
The Qing Dynasty built a large number of temples in the Mongolian region, promoted Buddhism, and encouraged herdsmen to become monks.
After becoming monks, herders only need to stay in the temple every day to recite scriptures and chant Buddha’s name. They can still eat and dress warmly without doing anything.
The only taboo is not being able to get married and have children.
Under the temptation of this system, a large number of Mongols embraced religion, and as time went on the number of Mongolian herdsmen began to decline.
Finally, the Qing Dynasty had a trump card: marriage!
This is the most difficult aspect of Chongzhen to imitate.
According to statistics, there were nearly 600 marriages between Manchus and Mongolians during the Qing Dynasty.
Among them, there were more than eighty times before entering the customs and more than five hundred times after entering the customs.
They form alliances with high-level officials to create a community of interests, set up alliances with the middle-level officials to divide and rule, and assimilate the lower-level people or even bind them by religion.
This three-step strategy enabled the Qing Dynasty to basically resolve the threat from nomadic tribes.
After recalling these countermeasures, Chongzhen felt a little overwhelmed.
The Qing Dynasty was able to resolve the Mongolian issue thanks in large part to marriage alliances.
Everything else can be imitated except marriage.
What to do?
While he was thinking, the cabinet ministers walked in.
After the salute.
Chongzhen gave Fan Jingwen a seat and asked the others to continue standing.
No matter what the occasion, he would help Fan Jingwen, the chief minister of the cabinet, to establish his authority.
"Your Majesty," Fan Jingwen bowed his hands gratefully, "Why did you summon us here today to discuss this?"
"The Mongolian issue!" Chongzhen got straight to the point. "Now that the Xitumed and Ordos tribes have clearly expressed their willingness to submit to the imperial court, I intend to take this opportunity to reform and govern the various tribes on the grasslands so that they can no longer stir up trouble!"
Several ministers immediately straightened their backs and asked, "How does Your Majesty want to change this?"
"This is the first step... I plan to set up guard posts in various Mongolian tribes..."
"Your Majesty," Fan Jingwen reminded Chongzhen immediately before he finished speaking, "The court has abolished the garrisons in northern Zhili and Shaanxi, and now it is setting up garrisons. Do you want to abolish or establish garrisons?"
"This...I always felt that there was something wrong with abolishing the garrisons, so I didn't implement it nationwide!" Chongzhen explained somewhat embarrassedly.
"In other words, I can tell the generals below that the court has no intention of completely abolishing the guards?" Fan Jingwen asked again.
"You can say that!" Chongzhen nodded.
Abolishing the garrisons is a matter that would affect the entire body, and it cannot be abolished before a suitable alternative is found.
After carefully taking note of Chongzhen's words, Fan Jingwen suddenly said, "Your Majesty, you cannot set up a garrison on the Mongolian territory. Although these Mongolians have submitted to the court on the surface, they have the seeds of rebellion in their hearts. If you let them serve as garrison commanders, they may be as double-minded as the three guards of Duoyan back then!"
The three Doyan guards were established in the 22nd year of Hongwu, namely Taining Guard, Doyan Guard and Fuyu Guard.
Since the Doyan Guard was the most powerful among the three guards, and they were Mongolian Uriankhai people, the Doyan Three Guards were also called the Uriankhai Three Guards.
After the establishment of the Three Guards of Doyan, changes occurred frequently.
First, Taining Guard rebelled at the end of Hongwu period and was suppressed.
Although the Three Guards of Doyan later helped Zhu Di conquer the world, they did not stop there.
As a result, in the 20th year of Yongle, Taining Guard joined forces with the other two guards to make trouble, but was defeated by Zhu Di at Qulier River and had to surrender again.
During the Zhengtong period, it was the turn of the Fuyu Guards to perform. They colluded with the Oirat and repeatedly went south to plunder.
Zhu Qizhen sent Duke Chengguo Zhu Yong and Marquis Gongshun Wu Kezhong to lead troops to suppress the rebellion.
The Fu Yu Wei was badly defeated and had to flee northward to the area around Naowen River (now Nenjiang River in Heilongjiang).
Although Duoyan Guard was not honest, he always followed the other two guards to cause trouble.
But the leader of Duoyanwei was smart.
Every time the Ming court sent troops to attack, they surrendered when they were unable to defeat them.
The result is that the number of people in Duoyanwei is increasing and its power is growing.
In the late Ming Dynasty, the name of the Three Guards of Doyan gradually disappeared, and was replaced by the Horqin tribe and the Dongtumed tribe. (The Horqin tribe and other tribes were part of the Three Guards of Doyan.)
The deeds of the Three Guards of Doyan told Fan Jingwen that the Mongolian garrisons were not only incapable of defending the Ming Dynasty, but would also find ways to oppose the Ming Dynasty.
That's why Fan Jingwen strongly opposed it.
Seeing Fan Jingwen's anxious look, Chongzhen smiled and said, "Don't worry, Minister Fan. I will certainly not allow the incident with the Three Guards of Doyan to happen again."
"Then Your Majesty, please do not set up garrisons on the Mongolian territory, and do not allow Mongolians to hold any official positions!" Fan Jingwen stood up and bowed to Chongzhen.
"No," Chongzhen shook his head slightly, "I will not only set up garrisons on the Mongolian territory, but also set up a large number of garrisons! The more garrisons there are, the more generals we will need, which will lead to the more dispersed the power of the Mongolian tribes!"
"The more dispersed the power, the more beneficial it is to the court!"
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