As early as the middle of the 17th century, Tsarist Russian expeditions reached the Heilongjiang River Valley. They encountered strong resistance from the Evenks, Daurs and other indigenous peoples.
However, these natives were far from being the opponents of the Tsarist Russia, so the Tsarist slaughtered several villages here, and even used the locals as rations, thus leaving behind the notoriety of the Rakshasa (ogre).
By 1685, Tsarist Russia had fought a battle of Yaksa with the Qing army at Yaksa. After the defeat of Tsarist Russia in the first battle, it was unwilling to transfer a large number of people from the Baikal region, and the result was another defeat. The two sides began to sit down to discuss the eastern border, and the Treaty of Nebuchu in 1689 was established.
The lion of Tsarist Russia opened his mouth, and the Qing Dynasty did not show weakness
As soon as the negotiations began, Tsarist Russia put forward its own point of view, because the Qing Dynasty did not garrison troops north of Heilongjiang, but only collected some taxes from the local people, so it was not a rule, so it must use Heilongjiang as a border.
The Qing Dynasty was not to be outdone, they thought that Tsarist Russia was only a few hundred people, and it was a fool's dream to conquer the huge Heilongjiang River Valley. Not to mention the defeat, just this little bit of people and horses, there are not as many local aborigines, why do you dominate here?
Moreover, the Qing Dynasty's rule north of Heilongjiang had been determined long before the Qing army entered the customs. In the Later Jin period, in order to lay the foundation for entering the customs, the Later Jin Dynasty made three expeditions to Sauron and conquered a large number of local native peoples. So this place is clearly the territory of the Qing Dynasty.
For this reason, the Qing Dynasty gave the boundary of the Lena River and Lake Baikal. If we divide it according to this line, there will not be so many things in the future, at least we can ensure that the Northeast and the Outer Northeast are foolproof.
Tsarist Russia, knowing that they were at a loss and unable to bring the Qing Dynasty to its knees by force, took a step back and demanded that the Buréa River be the border. The Qing Dynasty looked at it here, yo, Tsarist Russia gave in, so they also took a step and asked for the line of the Yinguoda River-Nebuchu as the border.
The Tsarist side felt that they had suffered a big loss and did not agree, but they still took a step back, hoping to use the Jieya River, that is, the Jingqili River, as the border between the two sides. This time, the Qing Dynasty was obsessed with it, and refused to live or die, that is, to use Nebuchu as the boundary. For a time, the negotiations reached an impasse.
The bottom line on the side of Tsarist Russia is the Jingqili River, and the bottom line of the Qing Dynasty is Nebuchu. In the end, the two sides chose a compromise area, which was the Gelbizi River.
In this way, the two sides finalized the boundary between each other in the east, that is, the Gelbiqi River, the Erguna River, and the Trans-Khingan Mountains as the boundary, and the Wudi River area as the waiting area.
Tsarist Russia felt that they had suffered a big loss, because from their point of view, if they did not take advantage, they would have lost. It is obvious that this trip to Tsarist Russia did not take advantage of the Qing Dynasty.
The Qing Dynasty also felt that they had suffered a great loss, because they believed that the vast eastern region, including Lake Baikal, should not be the territory of Tsarist Russia. If it weren't for Galdan doing things in the northwest, Kangxi would have to compete with Tsarist Russia.
It is not necessarily impossible to use the Lena River as the boundary
This is the proposal proposed by Soetu from the very beginning, calling for the border between the two sides along the Lena River and Lake Baikal. Why is this possible?
- First of all, the vast area east of the Lena River is all East Siberian mountains, where the mountains go south, and the population is sparse, and Tsarist Russia really will not go to war with the Qing Dynasty for this territory.
- Secondly, the mainland has a very deep relationship with Lake Baikal in history, where the Su Wu sheep grazing land was located, and the Tang and Yuan dynasties included it as their territory.
- Moreover, the transportation conditions were very poor at that time, so Tsarist Russia crossed the mountains and mountains, and finally came to the East, and it did not have the strength to compete with the Qing army that was recuperating and waiting for work, after all, the generation difference in weapons at that time was not very large.
Therefore, if the Qing court insisted on using the Lena River as the boundary, then we might be able to fish on the shores of Lake Baikal now.
After all, if Tsarist Russia wants to negotiate, then the Qing Dynasty can negotiate with them, and if Tsarist Russia wants war, then the Qing Dynasty can also give them war. The bottom line is the line between the Lena River and Lake Baikal.
With this place, we will not only be able to obtain a huge amount of land, but also not even have to worry about resources. This is definitely a good thing that is good and harmless.
Whether from a historical point of view or from the perspective of actual strength, in fact, Tsarist Russia is not qualified to compete with the Qing Dynasty for territory east of the Lena River, so I think this line is a more reasonable demarcation line between China and Russia.
Tsarist Russia felt that it had suffered a great loss, so it remembered it for more than 100 years
Tsarist Russia is very grudgeful, since what they wanted was the Heilongjiang River valley back then, but what they got was only the barren land north of the Waixing'an Mountains, then they must be unhappy.
But at that time, the combat effectiveness of the Qing army was there, and there were many of them, so there was no need to worry about logistics and supplies. Even if Tsarist Russia could turn the locals into rations, it would not be able to sustain them for a long time.
Therefore, Tsarist Russia could only agree to a series of demands put forward by the Qing Dynasty under such circumstances. In the eyes of Tsarist Russia, this is a great shame, and they are determined to win the Heilongjiang River Basin.
Even in the 17th century, they could not touch the Heilongjiang Valley, but in the 18th, 19th and even 20th centuries, Tsarist Russia and its descendants could not forget this event.
In 1858, Tsarist Russia took advantage of the opportunity of the Qing Dynasty falling under the double blow of the Taiping Army and the Anglo-French alliance to decisively cross the Outer Xing'an Mountains, occupy a large area north of the Heilongjiang River, and forced the Heilongjiang general Yishan to sign the famous "Aihui Treaty".
Two years later, Tsarist Russia, acting as a mediator, forced the Qing Dynasty to sign the Sino-Russian Treaty of Beijing. These two treaties ceded more than 1 million square kilometers of land in the outer northeast to Tsarist Russia.
After a lapse of 171 years, Tsarist Russia not only pushed the eastern border between China and Russia to Heilongjiang, fulfilling the last wish of its ancestors, but also included a large coastal area east of the Ussuri River, resulting in the complete loss of coastal areas in Jilin Province.
Originally, a good card of the Qing Dynasty was played like this. If the Lena River had been used as the boundary, then Tsarist Russia would certainly not have put too much thought into the east, after all, there was not even a port, and in the absence of a railway, it was impossible to transfer troops for thousands of miles.
However, the Qing Dynasty missed the best opportunity and lost the east of the Lena River and Lake Baikal. Otherwise, once we have Lake Baikal, which accounts for 20% of the world's freshwater resources, what else will we do to divert water from the south to the north? You can't just smoke it from here.
If it weren't for the Kanto, the Northeast wouldn't have been able to keep it
Tsarist Russia's original goal was not to take the Heilongjiang River as the boundary, but to take the Heilongjiang River basin into its pocket. In other words, in addition to the north bank of the Heilongjiang River, the south bank is also the goal of Tsarist Russia, and this goal has been set for hundreds of years.
After gaining the north bank of the Heilongjiang River, Tsarist Russia also began to plot to seize the south bank of the Heilongjiang River. After all, there is not only fertile land here, but also many natural harbors, especially Lushun and Dalian, and Tsarist Russia has long been right.
But after the Qing Dynasty lost the Outer Northeast, it also realized its own problems. In particular, the policy of banning the Northeast and the Outer Northeast is a big mistake. For this reason, from 1860 onwards, the Qing court no longer forcibly blocked the entry into the eastern part of the country.
Beginning in 1860, a large number of people poured into Tohoku, which immediately enriched the population, and by around 1900, Tohoku had a population of more than 10 million. There are even many people who go to the Outer Northeast to make a living, but the fate of these people is more pitiful.
Therefore, when Tsarist Russia occupied the northeast in 1900, they were also dumbfounded, and they couldn't eat at all in the place where so many people lived. The anti-Russian rebels who have been fighting one after another will be able to break their teeth.