The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 764 Gurkha - The Invincible Force
In fact, the reasons for all conflicts in human history can be traced back to economics, and the Gurkha invasion of Qaidam is no exception.

After the collapse of the Tubo Empire, the Qiangtang Plateau was able to maintain its independence from the central dynasty for a long time, and its internal operations did not collapse. This was not only due to the formation of a vassal system with U-Tsang as the core and mixed with religion in culture, but also in the economy.

At this time, Qiangtang had formed a set of economic rules with places such as Shigatse in U-Tsang and Tsang as consumption centers, and places such as Kham, Yushu, Sikkim and Bhutan paying "taxes" to them through religion.

In this invasion, Nepal was a supplier of goods, and a very important one.

Unlike Qiangtang, which had almost no large-scale smelting and handicraft industries at that time, Nepal was doing very well in smelting, casting and other aspects.

The Qiangtang authorities not only needed to transport Indian cotton cloth, Indian sugar, spices, lacquerware, jewelry and other consumer goods needed on the plateau through Nepal, but also needed Nepal to mint coins for them.

As for why the entire Qiangtang has such strong consumption power despite having only 1.6 to 1.7 million people?
Haha, that’s because, among these 1.6 to 70 million people, the vast majority are serfs. In fact, the top nobles would not exceed 50,000. Together with the monks who did not engage in production, there would be no more than 130,000 to 140,000 people at most.

In addition, areas outside of U-Tsang also offer large amounts of money and goods to the masters and great virtues of Resa every year.

Therefore, the consumption power of Resa is very strong, so selling goods to Resa has become a major source of income for Nepalese people.

However, this situation underwent a drastic change during the Qing Dynasty.

First, the Dzungar Khanate invaded Qiangtang and destroyed the Khoshut Khanate. Then the Qing Dynasty sent troops to clear the Dzungar Khanate's forces in Qiangtang and incorporated it into the system of the central court.

This was the first time in history that a central dynasty sent troops directly into Qiangtang, which was of great significance.

After gaining such an advantage, the Qing court began to support Han merchants to go to Qiangtang and trade directly with the top living Buddhas and Kashag noble officials in Qiangtang.

This has caused great trouble for Nepal.

India's cotton cloth, sugarcane, etc. are completely incomparable to those produced in the Central Plains. In addition, the Nepalese are also middlemen, so the prices cannot be lowered at all.

As a result, with the dual advantages of quality and price, in less than ten years, Nepalese products were almost completely driven out of the Changtang.

Having lost this income, the Malla Dynasty, which nominally ruled Nepal, suddenly fell into crisis, which directly led to financial chaos, economic collapse and dire straits for the people in more than a dozen semi-independent tribal states within it.

The Gurkhas, who lived in northwestern Nepal and had deep Indian cultural influences, saw the opportunity and immediately began to attack the Kathmandu Valley, quickly destroying the Malla dynasty.

However, although the Gurkhas were more brave than the Malla Dynasty, they still faced the same problem. The Nepalese sold Indian goods to Qiangtang, and the profitable trade routes used by middlemen were completely lost, and they were unable to make ends meet.

Therefore, the Gurkhas have only two choices: one is to give up this source of income, and the whole country has to tighten its belt and live a hard life.

The second is to provoke a war and use force to force the Qiangtang authorities to continue purchasing goods from them.

The Gorkha Shah dynasty was newly established, so naturally they would not choose the first option, nor could they choose the first option, so they decisively chose the third option.

That is, they took advantage of the Nepalese power to mint coins for Qiangtang, and mixed a large amount of copper and lead into these Zhangkas (silver coins). The actual value was less than half of the original value, but they were sold at the original price.

However, this still could not solve the financial problem after the trade routes were almost cut off, so the Gorkha Shah Dynasty once again negotiated with Qiangtang, demanding that Qiangtang not use the zhangga cast by the previous Malla Dynasty, but must use their own cast.

This... this is blatant robbery. The old stamps are not allowed to be used. You are waiting to recycle them and then cast them into new low-quality stamps for circulation, right?

As for the second reason, it is even more ridiculous. The Gorkha Shah Dynasty accused the Changtang salt sold to Nepal of being mixed with too much soil.

Haha, only a few places in the northeast of Nepal use Tibetan salt. These places are controlled by very independent tribes. Even if it is mixed with soil, it has nothing to do with you Gurkhas.

March 1798, 3. This was the 11th day of the first lunar month in the rd year of the Guangzhong reign of the Great Chinese Emperor, originally the rd year of the Jiaqing reign of the Qing Dynasty.

Even though the ice and snow have not completely melted yet, Fu Kangan can no longer wait.

He led 2,000 Black Flag Army soldiers, 1,000 Qinghai Eleuth Mongolian light cavalrymen who believed in the White Lotus Sect, and 1,000 Haner volunteers from the Hehuang Valley, and set out from Xining towards Nagqu.

In early March, the troops forced their way through the ice and snow and arrived in Nagqu. Waiting for Fu Kangan there were 2,000 chieftain soldiers from the 40 tribes of Yushu and 1,300 strong men from the 39 tribes of Hor.

At the same time, Luo Siju, who had completed the conscription in the Jiarong area, also led 4,000 Han and Tibetan soldiers from Kangding to the northwest, passed through Chamdo, and arrived at Jiaomu Zong, which is near Linzhi in later generations.

Luo Siju's journey seemed to be just heading north after recruiting soldiers, but it was actually very important and difficult.

Because at that time, Dayu had a very low presence in Qiangtang, and even the Qing Dynasty did not have a minister stationed in Tibet. The Gurkhas invaded Ngari and U-Tsang for eight years, but the Qing Dynasty almost ignored it.

This situation caused a large number of Qiangtang people to not take the central dynasty seriously, and even believed that the central dynasty was less powerful than the Gurkhas, and they looked down on it extremely.

So in fact, Luo Siju basically fought as he went along, and only continued to move forward after defeating all those who dared to defy the central authority.

When Luo Siju arrived near Linzhi, only about 300 kilometers away from Resa, panic broke out in the city of Resa.

Because at this time, Nagqu where Fu Kangan was located was only about 270 kilometers away from Resa.

Linzhi and Nagqu are the northern and eastern gates of Resa. Once the two cities are in the hands of others, Resa will basically be undefendable.

In mid-March, Luo Siju sent someone to contact Fu Kang'an in Nagqu, and agreed to attack Resa at the same time on March 20, to attack the 4,000 Gurkha troops in the city and the 5,000 to 6,000 private soldiers of local nobles who had defected to the Gurkhas.

However, what Luo Siju did not expect was that the people of Qiangtang found it very difficult to accept that Taksin, the Compassionate Buddha, had entered Resa and that the Great Perfection Wisdom Master had left for the capital.

This level of unacceptability was even more difficult than accepting the Gurkhas taking control of Resa, so the news soon leaked.

After receiving the news, Udate Tabal, the general of the Khwarizmi army stationed in Resa, began to transfer the Khwarizmi army stationed in Shigatse and other places to Resa, and sent people to ask for help from King Rana Bahadur Shah of Yangbu (Kathmandu).

Under such circumstances, Luo Siju decisively chose to advance quickly. He killed 100 yaks and 300 sheep as rewards for his troops on the banks of the Yarlung Zangbo River in the south of Linzhi, and swore an oath with the blood of the yaks and sheep.

The entire army must advance and never retreat. Those who advance will live, and those who retreat will die!

After eating and drinking their fill, Luo Siju and his entire army abandoned their baggage and took only dry food and weapons. They ran wildly for eleven days and nights, advancing an average of more than thirty kilometers a day, and arrived outside the city of Resa in early April.

You should know that it was the end of February in the lunar calendar, and the temperature on the Qiangtang Plateau was generally around 7 or 8 degrees Celsius, with many nights still below zero. There was still a lot of snow everywhere that had not melted, and the walking conditions were very bad.

In this kind of terrain, soldiers could carry more than ten kilograms of weight and run thirty kilometers a day. In ancient armies, this was basically superhuman level.

Luo Siju came so quickly that the Gurkha army in Resa did not expect it. Even the Gurkha army in Shigatse had just started to dither after receiving the transfer order when Luo Siju arrived.

Udat Tabar, the Gurkha general stationed in Resa, was also a veteran of the battlefield. Seeing that Luo Siju had few men, he simply chose to stay indoors and ordered the Gurkha troops stationed around him to burn the food supply to prevent Luo Siju's troops from receiving logistical supplies.

But Luo Siju never chose to go around to collect grain, because although Resa is also a thousand-year-old ancient city, it actually has no city walls. It only has a layer of "outer walls" similar to earth walls formed over thousands of years due to various reasons.

Moreover, this outline has not been closed, because its formation was not mainly due to military needs, but because of religion.

Therefore, in Luo Siju's opinion, the Gurkha general of Resa was mentally ill, otherwise how could he expect Resa, which had no city walls, to stop his 4,000 elite troops.

On April 4, the third day after Luo Siju arrived, he began a direct siege of the city. He first used 9 soldiers to attack the parts of Resa where the city walls were not closed.

Luo Siju's Han and Tibetan soldiers were armed with rifled rifles, with accurate shooting skills, continuous firepower and great momentum, which successfully made the Gurkha Army General Udate Tabal think that this was the main attack direction and sent most of the troops here.

But Luo Siju was just bluffing and his real breakthrough direction was the south of the city.

On April 4, elite soldiers from Yunnan Town under Luo Siju's command mixed 10 kilograms of gunpowder with other flammable materials and detonated them in the southern part of Resa City.

The explosion was so loud that it shook the sky and directly blew down the southern city wall by seven or eight meters. Luo's soldiers rushed in.

The private soldiers of the Resa nobles organized by Udate Tabal did not dare to respond at all. After the explosion, they almost ran away, so that the Dayu soldiers who poured in from here did not encounter much resistance at all.

Afterwards, the soldiers pouring in from the south city rushed to where the fierce fighting was going on and killed the Gurkha army from behind, catching them off guard.

Although the Gurkha Army was also equipped with flintlock rifles, the intensity of their training was no match for that of the Dayu Army. Many Gurkha soldiers had only a few actual combat experiences, so they were unable to reload quickly once they arrived on the battlefield.

More than 2,000 Gurkha soldiers were attacked from both sides and quickly fled into the city. Six or seven hundred of them were killed or wounded along the way, and they retreated in a panic to the inner city where the Potala Palace was located.

At this time, the inner city where the Potala Palace was located had a city wall and was built high up in the city center, forcing attackers to attack from above. It can be said that it had a certain defensive capability.

But Luo Siju would not be frightened by such a small difficulty. He would send troops to attack without completely capturing the outer city.

At this moment, scouts came to report that Fu Kang'an had arrived from Nagqu with an army of 8,000.

It turned out that although Fu Kang'an had not received any orders, he knew very well that he could not give the Gurkhas time to calmly mobilize their troops and deceive the Tibetans.

So when the temperature thawed a little and rose a bit, he gave the order to set off, and it turned out that he arrived just in time.

The two armies combined had more than 12,000 men, providing ample manpower for attacking the city.

In desperation, the Gurkha army commander Udat Tabar sent someone to deliver a letter of surrender, stating that as long as Luo Siju and Fu Kangan gave him a way out, he would immediately lead his troops away and return all the looted property.

If they did not agree, he would burn down the Potala Palace and kill all the great monks of the Gelug sect.

"You little nation, so ignorant and shameless, do you still think that the entire Central Plains, or even the entire China, is populated by followers of the Gelugpa sect?"

He Lin laughed loudly, and a smile appeared on Luo Siju's face.

Thank you so much for killing all the great monks. This will save me from having to do it myself.

"Our army's artillery has not arrived yet. We might as well agree to it first and attack after the artillery arrives." Fu Kang'an suggested. His army was equipped with several twelve-pound field mortars, which could be used to attack the city.

On April 4, Luo Siju replied to Udate Tabar, agreed to his conditions, and asked Udate Tabar to come out and surrender in person.

Udate Tabal smiled contemptuously. If you want me to surrender, wait for the next life. As long as Resa is not completely conquered, the situation will be different once the 6,000 reinforcements from Shigatse arrive.

However, he did not know that Luo Siju was also using a delaying tactic. While expressing his acceptance of Udatetabar's surrender, Luo Siju ordered Fu Kang'an to lead 1,500 cavalrymen to ambush on the road.

At the same time, in accordance with the imperial edict, Luo Siju ordered Zhang Shicheng, the former prefect of Chengdu who came with the army, to set up a government office and, based on the list obtained, began to arrest all Qiangtang nobles and monks who served the Gurkhas.

On April 4, Fu Kangan led his troops to the Renbenzong Valley in the upper reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River and ambushed 17 Gurkha reinforcements that came to reinforce Resa.

At this time, the Gurkha army in Shigatse still had not received the news that Resa had declared an emergency. Eight years of bullying had made them lose all vigilance.

The Gurkhas did not think that the Dayu Dynasty would send many people to retake Qiangtang. They even thought, like those ignorant people, that the Dayu Dynasty was just so-so and could not withstand a single blow in front of the powerful Gurkha army.

The result was that Fu Kangan's Night Soldiers found the main force of the Shigatse Gurkha Army, but the other side knew nothing about it. Not only did they not form a battle formation, they also did not post any sentries.

Six thousand people were advancing slowly in a long snake shape in the valley of Renbenzong, with their muskets and cannons still on the yak carts.

These six thousand people, plus seven or eight thousand conscripted Tibetan civilians, were scattered across the valley, as if they were here for tourism.

Fu Kang'an was overjoyed and ordered 300 men to go around to the other side of the valley entrance to block the enemy. He then personally led the remaining 1,200 cavalrymen to charge directly into the enemy formation.

At five o'clock in the afternoon, the Gurkha army began to take the tents off the yak carts, prepare rice and grain for cooking, build the stoves, and find firewood. Everyone was waiting for the meal with a smile on their faces, completely losing their vigilance.

At this moment, Fu Kangan suddenly led his troops to charge. The leading Black Flag Army first shot arrows to disrupt the Gurkha front army. Then, 1,200 cavalrymen were divided into three waves and took turns to use wall-style charges to attack the Gurkha army.

The cavalry at the front of the Black Flag Army, armed with long spears, would charge forward. After breaking through the crowd, the cavalry behind them, armed with sabers and pistols, would come and reap the rewards.

The Gurkhas were caught off guard, and their commander Santapur was killed during the first Qing army charge, leaving them without command as soon as the battle began.

Therefore, Fu Kangan's Black Flag Army was like a force to be reckoned with. They charged left and right among the Gurkhas, squeezed them back and forth, and killed the Gurkhas so that their blood flowed like a river.

The extremely terrified Gurkha army could only retreat to the valley entrance from which they came, and happened to run into the 300 Black Flag Army soldiers who were ambushing again.

Three hundred Black Flag soldiers used rifled rifles to continuously shoot at the Gurkha troops who escaped from the valley, causing the Gurkha army to lose more than five hundred people.

At this point in the battle, the Gurkhas had completely lost their will to fight. They didn't even cause any damage to the Black Flag Army and were only concerned with escaping.

What an invincible force, but they are just a bunch of chickens and dogs!
Afterwards, the Black Flag Army pursued them all the way to the Yarlung Zangbo River. The desperate Gurkha army was not allowed to surrender even on their knees, so they had no choice but to swim towards the river in panic.

It was early spring, and their limbs were immediately numb from the cold after entering the water. Almost no one survived. More than 6,000 Gurkha troops in Shigatse were almost wiped out.

(End of this chapter)