A mother's baby is a child, and a hero's baby is ambition.

- Evenki proverb

During the reign of the three emperors of Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong, he made achievements in cultural and martial arts, and made important contributions to the consolidation of a unified multi-ethnic country and the development of the prosperous situation of the Qing Dynasty.

In 1760, the Qing Empire entered the stage of prosperity, and its territory reached its broadest. In the northeast, it is bordered by the Russian Empire on the Erguna River, the Gelbitsy River, and the Trans-Khingan Mountains, which reach the Sea of Okhotsk and Sakhalin; Due north it is bordered by Russia on the Sayan Mountains, the Shabinayi Mountains, Kyakhta and the Erguna River; The northwest is bordered by the Kazakh Khanate and other northwestern vassal states in the Sayan Mountains, Zaisangbo, Alahu, Issyk-Kul Lake, Balkhash Lake and the Pamir Plateau; The southwest was bordered by the Monghal Empire (present-day India), Gorkha (present-day Nepal), Bhutan and other countries from the Himalayas to the Savage Mountains; It is bordered by Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam due south; It is separated from Japan and the Ryukyus in the East China Sea and the East China Sea in the east, and along the Tumen River and the Yalu River with North Korea, and also has Taiwan, Penghu, Hainan and Qianli Shitang, Wanli Changsha, and Zengmu Dark Sands, with an area of 13.16 million square kilometers, almost restored to the land area of the Great Yuan Dynasty.

Beyond the vast expanse of the country, the Qing Dynasty had many vassal states. During the reign of Emperor Taiji and Kangxi, the vassal states of Korea and the Ryukyu Kingdom (present-day Okinawa, Japan) were vassal states. By the Qianlong period, the vassal states had expanded into Southeast Asia including Annam (present-day Vietnam), Nam Cheung (present-day Laos), Burma, Siam (present-day Thailand), Cambodia, the Republic of Lanfang (present-day Indonesia, the island of Kalimantan in Malaysia), Luzon (present-day part of the Philippines), and Sulu (present-day part of the Philippines); South Asia includes Gurkha, Jemengxiong (Sikkim in present-day India), Bhutan and Ladakh (Kashmir in India); Central Asia included the Kazakh Khanate, the Burut Khanate (present-day Kyrgyzstan), the Kokand Khanate (present-day Uzbekistan), the Bukhara Khanate (present-day Uzbekistan), Aiukhan (Afghanistan), the Badak Mountains (present-day Tajikistan and Afghanistan), and the Gandzat (Kandjuti, the Kashmir of Pakistan).

The Qing Dynasty's administrative area in the interior was divided into 18 provinces: Zhili Province, Jiangsu Province, Anhui Province, Shanxi Province, Shandong Province, Henan Province, Shaanxi Province, Gansu Province, Zhejiang Province, Jiangxi Province, Hubei Province, Hunan Province, Sichuan Province, Fujian Province, Guangdong Province, Guangxi Province, Yunnan Province, and Guizhou Province. In 1884, Xinjiang Province was established. In 1887, Fujian Taiwan Province was established. In 1905, the province of Jianghuai was established.

In Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Hubei, Gansu and other provinces with large ethnic minority populations, the Qing court implemented the Tusi system.

The Tusi system was developed on the basis of the county system of the Tang Dynasty and the Great Song Dynasty, with a Tusi, which was divided into the Xuanfu Division, the Xuanfu Division, the Recruitment Division, the Appeasement Division and the Chief Officials, as well as the Tufu, Tuzhou and Tuxian. The imperial court appoints the heads of the local ethnic groups to serve as the chief of the Tusi, and it can be passed down from generation to generation, and the imperial court or local government issues a seal, which is under the jurisdiction of the local governor and the minister stationed there. The chief of the Xuanwei and other divisions is subordinate to the Ministry of War. The Tu Prefect and Tu Zhi Prefecture officials are subordinate to the Ministry of Officials.

The essence of the Tusi system is to use the self-government of the local officials to manage the local people, recognize the hereditary leadership status of ethnic minorities, give certain official titles and assume servitude, and replace the imperial court for indirect rule.

Later, the national power of the Qing Dynasty gradually became stronger, and the imperial court had enough power to rule the minority areas.

In 1726, Ortai was transferred to the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, with jurisdiction over Guangxi, and implemented the establishment of prefectures and counties in Yunnan, and began to vigorously implement the policy of changing the land and returning it to the stream, and selected foreign officials with a certain term of office to carry out direct management in the minority areas, depriving the local leaders of the privileges of Tusi and strengthening the central government's rule over the minority areas.

The policy of changing the land and returning it to the people of the river involves the fundamental interests of the leaders of the ethnic minorities, so it has met with widespread resistance.

Ortai resolutely suppressed the large and small Tusi who dared to resist, and soon conquered the ethnic minority areas of the frontier.

The ethnic relations of the Qing Dynasty began to take on the characteristics of the dominant nation.

The Manchurians of the Qing Dynasty were barbarians from outside ancient China, and they had a sense of superiority over the Han people as conquerors, but also a sense of economic and cultural disparity, and their inner feelings were extremely complex. After the conquest of the land, in order to conquer the minds of the people of this land, the Qing Dynasty adopted a national policy of divide and rule, and implemented different forms of rule over the five major groups of people in Manchuria, Mongolia, Han Chinese, Tubo and Hui.

The Manchurians, as the ethnic group of the rulers of the country and the main component of the army of the Eight Banners, have always been the foundation of the national spirit and the solid pillar of the imperial court. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, advocating Manchuria first was the established national policy of the Qing Dynasty.

The children of Manchuria enjoyed special powers in the political and living fields, such as education, imperial examinations, filling vacancies in officials, laws and regulations, and living conditions.

The Qing Dynasty set up Manchu cities in the garrisons of the Eight Banners throughout the country for Manchurian officers and soldiers to live in, and Han people were not allowed to enter and leave Manchu at will. The imperial court set up a long wicker side in the hometown of Manchuria in the northeast to prevent the Han people from entering the land of Longxing in Manchuria.

The policy of worshipping Manchuria and the privilege of fostering the banner people caused the life and social customs of the Manchurians to degenerate from the industriousness and simplicity of the cavalry and archery people to luxury and waste, so that there were fewer and fewer talents to manage state affairs.

The imperial court had to be forced to appoint talents from other nationalities to fill the shortage.

Manchuria and Mongolia fought against each other in history, that is, during the period of the Jin State and the Great Mongolian State, until the Mongols eliminated the Jin State. Later, Manchuria and Mongolia became closer and closer to each other. The relationship has also become more intimate.

Therefore, the Qing Dynasty implemented a gentle management method for the close relatives of Mongolia, on the one hand, they used marriages to envelop the leaders of the Mongolian tribes, and married the royal princesses to the Mongolian leaders and their sons and nephews; On the other hand, politically, the divide-and-rule Zazak system, that is, the flag system, was implemented.

According to this system, the original Mongolian ministries were called Leagues, which became the most basic administrative units in the Mongolian region, equivalent to the regional level. There is a flag under the league, which is equivalent to a county. The flag commander is Zasak, which is a hereditary position. A number of adjacent flags form an alliance. The head of the alliance is directly appointed by the imperial court, and most of the people with great power, high prestige, and close relationship with the imperial court are selected from among the banner commanders. Each league and each banner was directly responsible to the imperial court and accepted the management of the feudal court.

Hasbargan, a descendant of Badr, was the leader of a Mongol tribe on one side of the separatist party. When the Qing Dynasty unified the whole country, Hasbargen was aware of the current affairs and resolutely led his tribes to submit to the Qing Dynasty.

The imperial court first appointed him as the head of the alliance, gave him a vast grassland, and asked him to guard the frontier for the Qing Dynasty and provide horses for the army. Later, the Qing Dynasty promoted him to a higher position, and as a role model, he showed the Mongol tribes everywhere, especially the Dzungar tribes, who were vigorously resisting the Qing Dynasty, that the future of submitting to the Qing Empire was bright, and it was a dead end to be enemies of the Qing Dynasty.

The Qing Dynasty not only wanted to make Mongolia no longer a force in the border troubles of Shuofang, but also to encircle the Mongolian nobles to rule the Mongolian people, so that Mongolia could become an important military force in the Qing Dynasty's rule over the whole country and an undefended barrier in the northern territory of the Qing Empire. The imperial court vigorously supported and popularized Lamaism in various Mongolian ministries, and used religion to win over the hearts of the people, effectively maintaining the long-term stability of the Mongolian region.

This is the only time that the official promotion of religion has been successful in all dynasties, and it deserves to be studied and analyzed by future generations.

The Qing court's measures over Tibet were also moderate, relying mainly on the canonization system, the ministers stationed in Tibet, and the golden vase lottery system to administer it.

In the early years of the Qing Dynasty, the fifth Da Da, a religious leader of Tibet, came to Beijing to congratulate him.

Emperor Shunzhi received him ceremoniously and officially gave him the title of Dalai Lama.

Later, Emperor Kangxi canonized another religious leader in Tibet, the Fifth Panchen Lama, as the title of Panchen Erdeni and gave him a seal.

From then on, the titles of Dalai Lama and Panchen Erdeni were officially fixed. Later, all the successive generations of Dalai and Panchen had to be canonized by the imperial court and became customized.

In 1727, the Qing Dynasty set up a minister in Tibet to handle the affairs of Tibet. On behalf of the imperial court, the minister in Tibet jointly administered Tibet with Dalai and the Panchen Lama. The establishment of the minister in Tibet marked the strengthening of the imperial court's jurisdiction over Tibet. It should be said that in addition to the Great Yuan, the Qing Dynasty took the management of Tubo to the Central Plains Imperial Court for the second time. Of course, the Mongols, Manchurians, and Lamaism are inextricably linked, and there may be something that can be used for reference in terms of policy.

Compared with the Mongols and Tibetans, the Qing court adopted a harsh policy towards the Han Chinese, especially the Han who dared to resist. The imperial court forced the conquering Han people to change their hairstyles and clothing, and even the surrendered Ming soldiers had to shave their hair and change their clothes, and this was used as a sign of submission to the Qing Dynasty.

Since ancient times, the Han people have attached great importance to clothing and clothing. The "Book of Filial Piety" clearly stipulates: "The body is skinned, and the parents who receive it dare not destroy it, and the beginning of filial piety is also." "It was a tradition not to shave your hair when you were an adult. Men, women and children tie their hair into a bun and coil it on the top of their heads.

The Manchurian custom of growing hair was different from that of the Han Chinese, that is, the hair on the forehead and the top of the head was shaved off, and the hair at the back of the head was left in braids.

After the Qing Dynasty occupied Jiangnan, the regent Dolgon proposed to reissue the shaving order. Everywhere the Qing army went, it was clearly declared: "Keep your head without hair, and keep your hair without your head." "Regardless of the government and the people, all heads are shaved and their hair is cut and dreaded within 10 days, and those who do not obey will be beheaded.

The descendants of Gong Huaizhou and Zheng He, who lived in Nanjing, received special treatment from the Ming court for generations, and were always loyal to the Ming Dynasty, hated the Tartars of the Qing Dynasty, and resolutely refused to shave their hair and change their clothes.

The rulers of the Qing Dynasty carried out a bloody crackdown on the rebels, killing almost all the Han Chinese who insisted on not changing their clothes. More than a dozen people from the Gong family and the Zheng family were slaughtered because of this.

In order to survive, most Han Chinese were forced to shave their hair and braids and wear Manchurian clothes instead. Some of those who did not want to obey either fled to Southeast Asia or fled into the void and led their practice under the pretext of religious rules.

The rulers of the Qing Dynasty hoped to shave their hair and change their clothes to attack and destroy the national spirit of the Han people, especially the upper classes, to maintain the legitimate dominance of the Manchurians, and to take the initiative to assimilate the Han people instead of being assimilated by the Han people.

Later history shows that this measure by the rulers of the Great Qing Dynasty basically achieved the desired effect. The Han people gradually forgot about their own costumes and became accustomed to the Manchurian hairstyle and clothing. More than 200 years later, when the Xinhai Revolution overthrew the Qing Empire and called on the people to cut off their braids and grow their hair, there were still many Han people who were reluctant to cut their braids, one of the reasons was that they were afraid that they would be arrested and killed by the government after cutting off their braids. It can be seen how profound the impact of the shaving policy of "keeping your head without hair, and keeping your hair without leaving your head" on the Han people.

In order to seize and consolidate its rule over the whole country, in addition to employing early traitors, the Qing court successively recruited the Han important ministers of the Ming Dynasty, Hong Chengchou, the generals Wu Sangui, Li Chengdong, Shang Kexi, Geng Zhongming, and the Han army under their command in the process of entering the customs, and named them vassal kings. Shi Lang, who later led troops to recover Taiwan, was also a Ming Han officer who surrendered to the Qing Dynasty.

During the Kangxi period, the imperial court used them to rebel and cut off three of the main vassal kings. Historically, it is known as the three feudal clans.

In order to rule the whole country and maintain its own rule, the Qing court had no choice but to vigorously respect Han Confucianism, and set up the imperial examination in accordance with the tradition of the Han dynasties of previous dynasties, and selected outstanding talents from them to participate in the management of the country.

People saw that they could participate in the imperial examination and become officials of the government by reading poetry and books, so as to realize the beautiful dream of the harrier turning over and the carp jumping over the dragon gate, so they saved money and sent their children to schools and private schools to study.

In 1781, Gong Dengke, a descendant of Gong Huaizhou, who lived in Nianbo County, was an indirect beneficiary of this policy in the Qing Dynasty. He was born in a scholarly family that has been learning for generations, inherited the family's academic tradition, opened a private school, taught literacy and arithmetic to the children of ordinary people, although the life is not rich, but compared with those farmers who work the yellow earth all year round, at least the cold wind can not blow, the scorching sun can not be exposed, and the social status is relatively high.

If someone wants to ask him to help write a letter home, they will also prepare fruits and meals. Even if Gong Dengke resolutely refused, the owner had to wrap up the fruit and pot helmet for him to take home.

Gong Dengke likes to read since he was a child, and he has a kind and affectionate heart. Every time he helps others write letters to his family, there are nothing more than words of care and care such as "There is nothing wrong at home, don't worry", "You are in a foreign place, take care of your body", "Eat and drink more every day, don't miss your family" and other words of care and care.

The master often dictated that he couldn't help but burst into tears, and even choked up and sobbed, unable to continue talking.

Gong Dengke wrote the letter while accompanying the main family to shed tears.

His tears dripped onto the letterhead, wetting the calligraphy he had just written, and staining it with a large black stain. As a last resort, he tore up the paste-stained letterhead and started writing from scratch again. In this way, a letter home has to be written several times.

Gong Dengke's wife, Gong Gu, is the daughter of a distant relative arranged by her parents, with a strong personality and quick work, and has always spoken ill of Gong Dengke, who has a slow temperament, but she is very good to him in her heart.

On this day, Gong Gu's family had to wash the clothes of the whole family at home, and waited left and right to wait for Gong Dengke, who went out to help write letters to the villagers, go home. Gong Gu's anger hit his heart. As soon as she pushed open the courtyard door, she was about to look for her husband.

Gong Gu walked out onto the street and suddenly saw a group of Hui people wearing white hats and black hijabs walking on the road. They were unkempt one by one, carrying large and small burdens, helping the old and the young, and staggering towards the county town of Nianbo.

Gong Gu felt curious: In these years, the world is also peaceful, and he has not heard of disasters nearby. Where did these refugees come from?

Gong Gu stepped forward and asked a middle-aged Huihui woman, "Where did you come from Ali?" What happened to Amen? ”

The Hui woman, dressed in a long dust-stained gown with a green hijab on her head, looked at Gong Gu with frightened eyes, and said in a not very fluent Chinese: "The Nao (we) are from Xunhua. The Sarahs who believed in Zhehe and forbearance rebelled. The officers and soldiers of the Yamen (government) came and killed. Killed a lot of people. The Nau's life is really not going on. ”

Gong Gu asked, "Are you going to Ali now?" ”

The woman replied with a confused look in her eyes, "Nao...... Nau didn't know either. ”

Not good! Gong Gu hurriedly spread his three-inch little feet and ran back to his house in a leisurely manner.