On July 11, 1884, without warning, three divisions of the Guards suddenly advanced into Transzasak Mongols, and the troops marched to Uriya Sutai, Kobdo, and Kulen (i.e., Ulaanbaatar) in three separate directions.

The operation was so abrupt that even the officials of the central government did not know about it, and the official document explained only that "the troops passed by for hiking training." By the 16th of July, the Guards had seized the three cities.

"Passing by", this reason shocked and frightened the princes of the four major tribes of Outer Mongolia, Tushetu Khan, Saiyin Nuoyan, Chechen Khan, and Zasaktu Khan.

Ding Yuntong's move seemed sudden, but in fact, it was carefully considered and fully considered the political and geographical conditions of Outer Mongolia.

First of all, although Outer Mongolia has been unruly for a long time, it is not the same as Tibet in that it is not completely an "independent kingdom", and the ministers stationed in Mongolia still retain some influence. In this case, it is not appropriate to tear the face immediately, to give the princes a chance to choose, which can also divide them to a greater extent.

Secondly, the three cities of Uriya Sutai, Kobdo and Kulun are the few cities in the real sense of the word in Outer Mongolia, and they are the economic center of Outer Mongolia, especially Kulun, which concentrates two-thirds of the trade volume of the entire Outer Mongolia. Cowhides, wool, gold and silver, tea bricks, salt, and even rifles, etc., are all available here, and almost all tribes need to obtain materials here.

Outer Mongolia covers an area of more than 1.5 million square kilometers and is extremely vast, and once a war starts, it is impossible to imagine that it can be resolved in a short time. As long as these three cities were occupied, the Guards would be able to control the economic lifeblood of Outer Mongolia, and even if the princes resisted, they would not be able to hold out for a long time.

This trick really worked, and the Tushetu Khan and Chechen Khan, who were closest to Kulun, first gave in and handed over the account books of land, population, cattle and sheep, and taxes to the minister in Mongolia, and in order to show loyalty, the tribal forces were also placed under the command of the minister in Mongolia.

On July 17, Yuan Chang sent an official telegram demanding that the princes of the Sayin Noyan and Zasaktu Khan tribes, Nachuk Bagabandi and Nambar Enkhbayar, immediately come to Kulen to "discuss official business".

Bagabandi quickly called back and agreed, but he delayed waiting to see the situation on the grounds that he was seriously ill. And Enkhbayar simply did not return to power, and the sound was silent.

Seeing this, on July 19, Liu Jintang officially issued an order, the sixth division was stationed in the Kulun area, and he personally commanded the third and ninth divisions, plus the cavalry units of the Tushetu Khan and the Chechen Khan, with a total strength of nearly 40,000, and began to attack the Zasaktu Khan in three ways.

Liu Jintang was ready to adopt the tactics of splitting and attacking together, and the three-way Zuihou would join forces at the core of the Zasaktu Khan's department, the city of Dulbert (that is, Ulanguto) in northern Outer Mongolia. He believed that as long as the Zasaktu Khan was defeated, the Sayin Noyan would abandon their illusions.

The Outer Mongolian side has started fighting there, and the Tibetan side has already collapsed on this side.

On July 21, the 8th Panchen Lama Tenbai Wangchuk and Kalun Tashi Daji arrived in Ganzi with a Tibetan negotiating delegation. Although Danbai Wangchuk came forward to mediate, he and the Dalai clique were not of the same mind, because he had already received a secret letter from the emperor himself. In the letter, the emperor promised him that there would be no change in the political status quo in Shigatse. Moreover, in Tibet in the future, the Panchen system will have a greater say.

Although Danbai Wangchuk did not fully believe in this promise, after all, he felt that he had more room for manoeuvre, so he did not want to confront the central government at all, and instead adopted the method of "stepping on two boats".

On the one hand, he expressed support for the Dalai clique's gathering of troops in Qamdo, and if the Dalai clique can hold back the guards, he will also enjoy the success.

On the other hand, he cooperated with the central government and provided the Guards with a great deal of information about the Tibetan army.

The delegation soon entered Ganzi County, only to see that on the side of the avenue, in the leeward and sunny mountain col, tents were connected one by one, and all of them were the most cold-resistant, brand-new Mongolian felt bags.

On the distant road, yaks and pack mules carrying grain, vegetables, and firewood are still driving in a steady stream. A division of the Guards, plus more than 20,000 transporters, made the always desolate county town of Ganzi bustling.

In the evening of the same day, Zhang Yinheng hosted a banquet to entertain the Tibetan delegation, at which Tashi Daji made a big speech: "Tibet is the place where Guanyin Bodhisattva was indoctrinated, and has become a beautiful place where religion flourishes. Since it shares a border with China's Qinghai and Xinjiang provinces, please do not allow troops to cross the border and invade Tibetan territory. Moreover, some of Tibet's territory has been occupied by China in recent years, and it is hoped that it can be resolved through peaceful negotiations. ＂

Zhang Yinheng was completely unacceptable to this, sternly refuted many parties, and made clear the attitude of the central government: Tibet is an inalienable part of China, Tibet must recognize the rule of the central people's government, and the central government will take over Tibet's national defense, trade, and foreign affairs in an all-round way. If Tibet accepts these demands, the central government will "peacefully occupy" Tibet.

But Tashi Daji insisted on using suzerainty to define the relationship between the two countries, demanding that the central government guarantee respect for the "territorial integrity" of the Tibetan Kashag.

The views of the two sides were completely conflicting, the difference in positions was too great, and the banquet broke up unhappily. Zhang Yinheng sent a report to Beijing: "There is no other way to resolve the Tibet issue than by force. He believes that the talks can be declared over before they have officially begun.

On July 23, seeing that the sneak attack troops had also been deployed in place, Nie Shicheng issued an attack order to the troops.

In the war in Tibet, logistical supplies, especially food supplies, will determine the outcome of the war.

Due to the high altitude of the Tibetan region, oxygen is very scarce, and it is impossible to use cattle, horses, and donkeys from the mainland, so the government negotiated with the Tusi Tou people in the Kham region, and received support from 4,000 yaks.

Relying on this batch of animal power, in the past two months, the Guards have stored more than 2 million catties of grain and other materials in Ganzi, and have made sufficient preparations.

In addition to material reserves, as soon as Nie Shicheng arrived in Ganzi, he made every effort to collect military intelligence in Tibet. According to the information provided by the Panchen, the Dalai clique has a total of 14 "substitutes" and more than 15,000 officers and men.

In the Tibetan army, the "Dai Ben" is equivalent to a regiment commander and is the largest establishment level in the Tibetan Army, with an average of only a little more than 1,000 Dai Ben, which is smaller than a normal regiment. It consists of "Ruben" (the same as the battalion commander), "Jiaben" (the same as the company commander), and Dingben (the same as the platoon commander), and "Ma Ji" is the commander-in-chief of the Tibetan army. At present, there are a total of nine generations and more than 10,000 troops assembled in Qamdo, which can be said to have concentrated the main force of the Tibetan army. The person who served as "Maki" was Kalun Alamba Rawang Dorjee, who advocated fighting to the death.

The weapons of the Tibetan army are very backward, although out of the ambition of independence, through the Yadong port, through India, three batches, a total of more than 1,000 rifles, but there are still a large number of arquebuses, bows and arrows, knives and spears, etc., the level of equipment is completely different from that of the Guards. Moreover, the Tibetan army is hereditary, inherited from father to son, and the will to fight is also very weak.

But the Tibetan army also has its own advantages, first of all, it is familiar with and adapts to the terrain of the plateau; Secondly, the mobility is very good, not only is there more cavalry, but the walking speed is also relatively fast, because there is no problem with altitude sickness.

Through the analysis of information from all quarters, Nie Shicheng believes that the Dalai clique has no strategic thinking and knows nothing about military tactics.

As the weaker side of Liliang, the Dalai clique should give up a frontal decisive battle, shrink its forces, lengthen the battle line, fight guerrilla warfare with the Guards, make full use of the favorable time and place, and carry out more small-scale attacks to bring down the Guards.

However, now the Dalai clique is well aware of the disparity in strength, but it has sent the main force to Qamdo to block the main road for a decisive battle in an attempt to "keep the enemy out of the country." How foolish is this!

Therefore, the capture of Changdu is secondary, the key is to annihilate the main force of the Tibetan army, and if the Tibetan army is allowed to withdraw to Tibet, things will become very stingy.

According to this understanding, Nie Shicheng secretly dispatched a partial division in early July, commanded by Major General Wei Rugui, with two infantry regiments and a cavalry battalion, to carry out a long-distance detour along the flank.

In more than half a month, more than 4,000 people from Wei Rugui's department penetrated from the west side of Qinghai into northeastern Tibet, crossed the Hengduan Mountains, the Jinsha River and the Lancang River, endured the pain of thin air, hunger, cold, and fatigue, and traveled more than 700 kilometers day and night, day and night.

As a result of the continuous march, many horses died, and many cavalry became infantry, and finally on July 22, they reached Nda, west of Qamdo, and cut off the retreat of the Tibetan army to Lhasa from the rear.

On July 23, Nie Shicheng led the whole army across the Jinsha River, captured Dergegangto and Songwakamei, and then divided his troops and ordered Major General Zhou Shengbo to lead two regiments of more than 3,000 people to attack Qamdo from the south side, and he himself led 5,000 people to begin to attack Qamdo from the front.

On July 24, Nie Shicheng launched a fierce attack on the Zuyong Pass in front of Qamdo. Accurate field artillery carried out "targeted clearance" of the Tibetan army's pillboxes, and Jishu's superb guards gunners even turned their guns to the sky, using the curve of the ballistics, like a mortar, to let the shells fly over the hillside to attack the Tibetan army.

Where have these poor Tibetan officers and soldiers ever seen such a way of fighting, and feel that the enemy's shells seem to be "possessed by ghosts", otherwise how could they fall from the sky and chase after them? The superstitious soldiers felt that the other party had the help of the gods, and their morale collapsed even more quickly.

On the night of the 24th, the Nie army had captured Zuyong, annihilated the entire two generations of the Tibetan army, and also inflicted heavy losses on the two generations, killing and capturing nearly 4,000 Tibetan troops, while the Guards suffered less than 100 casualties.

At the same time, the Zhou Shengbo division of the southern road also captured Mangkang, annihilating the Tibetan army of a daiben, and Wei Rugui's department also captured Lagong in the rear of Qamdo, and the Guards army had formed a three-sided attack on Qamdo.

In just a few days, all sides pounced on them, and they did not give them any time to breathe, and "Maki" Alamba Rawang Dorjee was completely panicked, and completely lost the ruthlessness of the original "desperate battle", and he reported to Lhasa: "The situation is extremely critical, either rapid reinforcements or quick peace talks, our army is afraid that it will not be delayed for long." ”

When the news came, the upper class of the Lhasa aristocracy was in chaos.

When the war report was sent back to Beijing, Ding Yuntong smiled, his judgment was correct, it seemed that the war between Mongolia and Tibet was going well, but in fact there was an international background.

At this time, European countries are arguing over how to carve up Africa, and a total of 14 countries are preparing to hold a meeting in Berlin, Germany, to divide each other's shili range. It is precisely because of this that Britain and Russia will not have the spare energy to interfere with the Chinese government's "reconquest" of Tibet and Outer Mongolia.

Ding Yuntong was determined in his heart, and set his sights on Japan, at this time the Japanese civil war had reached a critical moment.