Dzungarian Gates

This book goes over the journey and life of Johan Gustaf Renat and Brigitta Scherzenfeldt. Two Swedes who following the battle at Poltava later came to serve in the Dzungar royal court for the Dzungar Khong Taiji: Tsewang Rabtan.

Table of Contents:

Renatus: The Dzungarian Gates (1680-1744)

Foreword: The story told in this text is one based on historical documentation, personal opinion, and folktale, and should thus be treated only as one likely version of events. It is a scattered, obscure and in large part contradictory history that cannot be fully encompassed within one single text, as the actual truth of the many people and their lives has long been lost to time.

The Caroleans: The great military force of the late Swedish empire, the army that had defeated Denmark-Norway, ousted the Saxon King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and destroyed Russian armies much larger in size. The force that had once punched well above its weight on countless occasions, had finally been beaten at the outskirts of the Ukrainian city of Poltava. Its steam had finally run out. The Swedish King: Charles XII, who had been unable to lead lead his men during the battle due to having been shot in the foot the day prior to the battle, fled to the Ottoman Empire with a small retinue. The rest: Nearly 3000 soldiers and camp followers where captured by the Russians and taken prisoner. Among them: An artillery officer by the name of Johan Gustav Renat. A man who had fought throughout the many battles of the Great Northern War, and participated in instilling the fear of Swedish might against their enemies. But who’s story until his capture by the Russians in 1709 would most likely have been forgotten like the countless others who served and died during this time. Circumstance would bring his knowledge and expertise of war to the dead-centre of Asia, and eventually bring victory against China whilst serving in the court of the last true nomadic empire.[1]

I: Exodus

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In the late 1600s, multiple families of Austrian Jews set out from their homes after facing persecution and deportations following an increase in anti-antisemitism among the Catholic Austrian nobility. This group of Jews abandoned by their neighbors and homeland fled to the Dutch Republic, a hub of religious freedom in a Europe that had been ravaged by religious upheaval. There they were able to practice their religion openly and were able to establish businesses and attain capital in peace, unbothered by the regular persecutions that were occurring through out the continent. But one family of these Austrian Jews continued on their journey in search of a permanent home, a man by the name of Moses Jacob crossed the north sea and landed with his family in Stockholm, the capital of the Kingdom of Sweden: A renowned military power of the era, and the dominant power in Baltic Sea.

Jews and heretics were officially banned from settling in the city, as it was a strictly protestant country where all other forms of practice were outlawed. Discovery of residency in the city whilst practising a different sect or religion would be met with expulsion after 2 weeks notice. But Moses still decided to migrate in spite of this, Holland was already full of skilled and educated migrants to the point that it became difficult to find work or establish business with the amount of competition in the country. However growing military powers like Sweden still had plenty of room for skilled migrants to aid in the country’s many wars. Many thousands of Dutchmen from the provinces and Walloons from the Spanish Netherlands had migrated to Sweden to aid in their ever growing steel industry across the county, which possessed many iron mines and had a great desire for skilled blacksmiths that could best put its resources to use.

– The Great Jewish baptism –

The German Church, Stockholm 1681

Copper engraving by Priest Christophorus Bezelius

In 1680: The small Jewish population in Stockholm petitioned the consistory to allow for permanent residency for the Jews in the city, but this petition was rejected and the same 2 weeks notice was issued to the petition’s signatories. To be allowed to settle in Stockholm, Moses and his friend Israel Mendel contacted the Swedish government and church to ask if they and their families would be allowed to convert to Protestantism, and be granted permission to settle in Stockholm. This request was permitted and Moses and Israel’s families were granted Swedish citizenship following their conversion.

The family participated in a group baptism to Protestantism with the royal family in attendance at the German Church in Stockholm. Moses adopted a new name for his family, they were from now on known by the name: ‘Renatus’; Latin for ‘born again’, in reference to the conversion, later this name would be shortened to simply ‘Renat’. Moses himself would change his name to a more fitting Swedish one: Gustav Mikael Renatus. A year later: Moses would have his final child with his wife Eleonora. A second son and the youngest of 5 children, and the only one in the family to be born in Sweden as a Christian: Johan Gustaf Renatus.[2]

Moses’ family quickly integrated themselves in Stockholm’s young and growing industry thanks to the land and pension the king had sponsored them with. With that land and money, Moses was finally able to begin construction of an iron factory in the city. He was not only a skilled businessman but also a good teacher to his children, whom he hoped would be able to inherit his business one day. His two sons were granted with apprenticeships in these factories and were thought both the practical and financial needs for the factory’s production and management. This business was not simply for growing their family’s personal wealth, but also in growing Sweden’s arsenal of firearms and cannons. Sweden had been in a state of near constant war since gaining its independence from Denmark in the 1500s, and Sweden’s later entry into the Thirty Years’ War decades prior had cemented Swedish military might around the Baltic, turning the sea into a Swedish lake.

Despite only possessing a population of around one and a half million inhabitants, Sweden had been able to maintain this state of constant war and expansion by forcing this small population into becoming a standing and well disciplined army. With the new development of native arms factories established by migrants from the Low Countries, the kingdom could produce a constant supply of arms for its soldiers, something that would become integral to the kingdoms survival when in 1700: A coalition of three kings sought to destroy Swedish power in the Baltic and retake lost lands that were now controlled by the 18-year old king of Sweden: Charles XII.

Frederick IV of Denmark, Augustus II – Elector of Saxony and king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and Peter I of the Russia, secretly signed a pact to partition Swedish lands between them. This alliance had been brought together by a disgruntled Baltic-German nobleman who disagreed with the Swedish Kingdom’s attempt at abolishing serfdom in Livonia and wished to maintain German supremacy over the region. Establishment of the coalition did not prove to be a difficult task to accomplish as all of them held claims on at least some part of its lands.

The war started with the Commonwealth’s besiegement of Riga, the capital of Swedish Livonia, which had been promised to them following the conclusion of what would most likely be a quick war against a young and inexperienced king. Denmark followed suit by invading Swedish Holstein whilst Russia made preparations to invade Ingria in due time.

At the age of 17, Moses’ son Johan joined the Swedish army, leaving behind his family and the manufactury to serve directly under King Charles XII at the beginning of the Great Northern War, and partook in the lading by Copenhagen. With the Danish army down in Holstein; unable to protect their capital, the Swedish army landed on Sjaelland, and with the aid an Anglo-Dutch fleet, the Swedish King in the crossing of the strait, threatening the Danish capital and knocking them out of the war.

– Battle of Narva –

The fort of Narva, Swedish Ingria 1700

After signing a peace with Denmark-Norway, Charles landed in Estonia to confront Peter I’s army. The Russians had laid siege the fort of Narva, long earthworks had been dug up for defence and to surround the fort, but Peter himself had left for Novgorod upon hearing of the arrival of the Swedes, thinking that the siege would last for a long time. The Swedes bombarded the Russian lines with cannon fire, and a snowstorm draping the area in white, the force of 10.500 Swedes marched on the fortified positions of 40.000 Russians, rushing through their defences and utterly crushing the Russians.

Charles had slain 9.000 Russians and capitulated 20.000 of them; forcing most of them back into Russia. The Swedes celebrated the lifting of the siege of Narva, the battle had been a miracle and Charles had proved himself a formidable warrior king. Renat himself was promoted to artillery officer for his participation in the battle. The soldiers settled themselves in the city for the rest of the winter, later, they would make their way south into the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth to continue fighting there, no-one them knew just how long this war would last.

Eight years later; the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth had been subjugated after many years of harsh fighting. Augustus II had been forced to accept his resignation and a loyal king to Sweden was placed as the new ruler of the Commonwealth. Now the only enemy remaining was Peter I. Peter had constructed a fortress on the mouth of the river Neva within Swedish territory, the fort was to be the groundwork for his new capital on the Baltic Sea and to the rest of Europe once the region had been fully annex into Russia. The fortress had withstood multiple Swedish assaults but still managed to hold out. But the arrival of the main Swedish army to Minsk caused Peter to greatly increase the defence of his new capital, fearing that Charles would march north, but Charles had other plans in mind. Peter’s obsession with his new capital on the Baltic caused him to neglect his other defences, so Charles gambled on marching to Moscow to oust Peter himself like he had done with Augustus.

– Gå På –

The aggressive battle tactic of the Swedish army

The Russians burned the countryside, leaving nothing for the Swedes to supply themselves with, Charles’ men were starving and exhausted, and the decisive battle that he had wanted against Peter never came. The army continued to wander deeper into Russian territory, with the only things in sight being plumes of smoke on the horizon from villages burnt by the Russian army. Not only that, the winter was beginning to set in, and this one would be the coldest Europe had experienced in 500 years, which took the lives of thousands of troops.

It seemed like Charles’ luck had finally run out, and his commanders had begun bickering amongst one another. But Charles was still convinced another decisive battle against the Russians like at Narva would spell the end for Peter’s reign. When he received a letter that could solve the problem of the starving Swedish army, he decided to quickly change course and abandoned the march east to Moscow, in spring they would be instead marching south to Ukraine and invade Russia from there.

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II: Poltava

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The Hetman of the Zaporozhian Host: Ivan Mazepa, who had previously been fighting against Charles decided to switch sides after becoming dissatisfied with Peter I attitudes towards the Hetmanate and his failure to aid in protecting the Hetmanate from Polish aggression. The fertile and unburnt lands of Ukraine would be plenty to supply Charles’ troops, and Mazepa’s Cossacks would come in good use. The Decision was made to march south, but Swedish reinforcements coming from Riga were attacked and lost most of their supplies and cannons.

Charles was still under the belief that his Polish ally would be marching east to join him. But the winter had stopped communications with the two armies, and the Polish forces were still stationed far away in Warsaw. The tens of thousands of Cossacks that Mazepa had promised turned out to be only a few thousands. Charles was still eager for that decisive victory against Peter, but he was in desperate need for supplies. The fortress at Poltava, deep in Ukraine would have just the provisions needed. The Russian fortress at the city of Poltava was put to siege but Charles did not want to risk destroying the fortress with an assault, in fear of loosing too many men and having the provisions in the fortress destroyed. Peter I found out about the Swedish march southwards and followed them down to Ukraine, and began constructing redouts around their camp on a hill close to Poltava.

Insisting on taking part on scouting missions and wanting to lure Peter out of his camp for open battle despite the danger, Charles rode out with his cavalry into the forest to scout out the Russian’s camp. Whilst riding out at night when the Swedish cavalry and Russians Cossacks stumbled upon one another in the forest, taking both off guard. Fighting ensued and Charles was shot in the foot by one of the Cossacks who most likely had no idea he had just shot the Swedish king.

They retreated and Charles had his wounds tended to, he insisted upon still leading his troops but his wound had resulted in great blood loss and was at risk of becoming infected. The following day: Renat took part in the siege and subsequent battle at Poltava, during which he was part of the 30 artillerymen to attack the Russian redouts during the early morning of the battle, only a handful of mobile artillery was used as most of the cannons were left to continue the siege of the fortress. Just like at Narva, a barrage of cannon fire would be followed by a Carolean storming of the Russian lines.

The Caroleans centre pushed through the Russian lines but were eventually pushed back whilst the two flanks continued forwards, they escaped into the woods but were surrounded and captured as the rest of the Swedish army was uncoordinated and did not come to their rescue. Renat was taken as a prisoner at the early stages of the battle as the rest continued to attack the Russian camp where the main Russian force was situated.

The two armies lined up for battle and the starving, battered and exhausted Caroleans marched forwards towards the much large Russian army. But the Russians had changed in the eight years since Narva, the same tactics that had beaten the Russians there was no longer effective. The small Carolean force was ripped apart by volley after volley from the Russian lines, but they still continued charging the Russians with sword and bayonet. Only a handful of men managed to reach the wall of Russian men, where they were enveloped and massacred without mercy. After the main Swedish force was crushed, Russian Cossacks and Kalmyks perused the rest of the Swedish army, and Charles made the difficult decision to abandon Poltava and flee to the Ottoman Empire.

– Capture of the Swedish Caroleans –

Poltava, 1709

The survivors that did not flee with Charles to seek the protection of the Sublime Porte were eventually hunted down and captured, nearly the entire Swedish army had been destroyed following the battle. The prisoners of war were forced to Moscow, where the war captures were paraded around in a triumph for Peter I. After that, the Caroleans punishment for their years of brutal fighting was to be sent to the small Siberian village of Tobolsk in Siberia. Tobolsk itself was already made up of Russian exiles, but now became filled with Swedish prisoners who were put to work in order to develop the village for years to come. In the following years, some of the Swedes were eventually offered jobs within the Russian military, which many of them accepted in order to attain better living for themselves.

The Russian Empire had spent an inordinate amount of money during the years of fighting with Sweden, and was struggling to pay all their soldiers. Peter had gotten word of gold that supposedly flowed through the Syr-Darya river and of a rich gold city on the silk road. An expedition was ordered to find this gold and city, success could not only expand Russia’s control over Central Asia’s trade, but finding gold could also potentially both pay its debts and its soldiers. An expedition was prepared to set off in search of the city of Yarkand: Russia’s own El-Dorado.

General Ivan Buchholtz was to be the man in charge of the expedition and had already begun to construct wooden forts along the Irtysh, on the borderlands of Russian control. Some Swedes of Tobolsk were assigned as reinforcements to aid in the Russian expedition down to Yarkand, with Renat himself commissioned to create maps of Turkestan for use of the Russian army. Renat was part of a reinforcement group that would meet up with General Buchholtz’s expedition up the Irtysh River at the newly constructed fort named: Yamyshevskaya. The reinforcement party had to travel over land since the river was still frozen over, they were transporting supplies for the troops and trade goods for the people of Central-Asia. Unknowingly to the reinforcements however, they were marching straight towards an enemy army.

The men wore simple loose coats with a string of cloth tied around their waists around as belts, under these coats however was a shirt of chain mail, appearing almost alien to the Europeans. On their hips they carried swords and bows, and in their hands they held massive pikes twice the length of themselves. Meanwhile the small reinforcement force were taken completely by surprise and paralyzed after seeing the sheer the size of the enemy army.

The fort had been besieged by a 10.000 strong Dzungar host since February, led by one of the Dzungar’s best generals. The Russians had refused the Dzungar general’s orders to tear down the fort and withdraw back to Russia, and had been unable to inform anyone of the siege. The defenders had already lost 2000 soldiers of the fort’s garrison from disease and starvation; when the reinforcements were surrounded and descended upon by the Dzungars, they knew the situation was truly hopeless.

– Siege of the Dzungars –

Yamyshevskaya Fortress, 1716

Most of of the reinforcement force fought back but were killed without much struggle by the Dzungars, Renat himself was gravely wounded in the encounter after being struck in his side by a sword; after the fighting was over, most of the expedition’s dragoons were dead, with the survivors being taken prisoner. Out of the 400 men that travelled down to the fort, only 65 survived.

Renat was stripped and had his hand tied, along with a handful of other survivors. It was only now that orders were finally given to abandon the fortress. As the ice broke and the river opened up again, 700 people remained to sail down the Irtysh back into Russia, whilst the survivors of the reinforcement party were turned into slaves. Being taken prisoner would actually end up saving Renat’s life as he was able to get aid for his wound, otherwise he would have simply been left to bleed to death by the fort. Still, the Dzungars forceful march of the prisoners took a great toll on his health.

The rest of the prisoners where too stripped naked and forced to march down to the Dzungar capital in the Ili valley. There they would toil away; working as slaves for the Dzungars whilst Renat was still recovering from his near deadly wounds. He worked as an ordinary slave for several months before he finally got the opportunity to escape enslavement, as another person high up in the court managed to bring attention to him, a Swedish woman by the name of Brigitta Scherzenfeldt who had been with him on the expedition. In a short period of time she had managed to become an influential character in the Dzungar court and managed to tell the Dzungar’s ruler of Renat and his expertise.[3]

– Johan injured during battle against the Dzungars –

Irtysh River, 1716

III: Blonde

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Brigitta Scherzenfeldt had been one of the Swedes captured by the Dzungars at the Irtysh. She was the daughter of a Swedish lieutenant in Scania and had became orphaned at a young age, and was thus was raised by her aunt. At the age of 15 she married an army man by the name of Mats Bernow whom she followed at the outbreak of the Great Northern War. The two went to Riga where she stayed with a widow as she had become pregnant, meanwhile her husband continued with the army south. The widow was a seamstress who taught Brigitta all the skills needed for when Mats returned and the two could live a normal married life with their child. But Brigittas plans for the future would quickly all fall apart. Her child died during the process of birth, Mats died in Poland during the siege of Thorn, and her aunt back in Scania had also passed away.

After a few years of grieving she remarried to yet another Swedish army man named Jonas Lindström. The Swedish king was marching down to Ukraine in 1708 to meet up with his Cossack allies and Brigittas husband was to be part of the king’s reinforcements lead by Ludwig Lewenhaupt, and Brigitta decided that she would follow her husband into war with as a camp follower. Surviving battle against Peter I’s army in Belarus, they joined the King’s forces on their way down to Poltava, where Lindström participated in the battle. Following the Swedish defeat, the Russians took many prisoners. Brigitta and her second husband were among those taken prisoner and sent to Moscow.

– Brigitta Scherzenfeldt –

Whilst imprisoned in Moscow in 1711, Brigitta’s second husband would die from disease in captivity and yet again she remarried into the Swedish army to avoid starvation. This time to a German from Mecklenburg named Michael Ziems who fought under Swedish service and was also a prisoner of war in Moscow. The prisoners were granted somewhat normal lives in Tobolsk. Brigitta lived together with Zeims who had now entered into Russian service, his German heritage granted him privileges that the rest of the Swedes were not given, and by extension Brigitta as well. In 1716, Zeims got an offer to join a Russian expedition down into Central-Asia, there were rumours of sand gold in the Syr-Darya river as well as potential gold deposits in the city of Yarkant. The offer was very enticing to the exiles in Tobolsk, if Zeims were to get his share of the gold, he could gather enough funds to travel out of Russia with Brigitta to Sweden.

The soldiers set out of Tobolsk as a reinforcement force for General Ivan Buchholtz, they were to link up with him at his newly constructed wooden fort. Brigitta followed Zeims and the Russian expedition up the Irtysh River. When the reinforcement party reached the fort, they were attacked by the Dzungar and Zeims was killed in the battle, now making Brigitta a widow three times over and a captive for the second time in her life. He was left unburied like the rest of the fallen, as the prisoners were disarmed, beaten and stripped naked by the Dzungars and made into slaves.

– Death of Zeims –

Irtysh River, 1716

The march down to the Dzungar’s capital was brutal, the slaves were rarely given food nor water. During the day the heat was so intense that the prisoners had to walk in the footsteps of the camels to avoid the heat from the ground, and during the nights the slaves nearly froze to death from the cold. Despite the harsh condition the prisoners went through, Brigitta kept their spirits high by turning to her faith and trying her best to help her fellow prisoners. The march was long and the slaves were not given neither food, nor water or any shelter or clothing. What they did eat were whatever they could pick up off the ground on the way, which was usually very little. Many died on the way, either from their wounds, sickness, or starvation. None of the Dzungars spoke Russian so their orders were difficult to follow. If their wishes were not fulfilled the prisoners were beaten until the either understood their tasks, or until they could no longer stand up.

Eventually the endless steppe over the horizon would come to an end as mountains appeared in the distance. They would make their way through the Dzungarian gates and reached the capital of Kulja, but they were not yet allowed permission to actually enter the city gates.

The world that the Europeans found themselves in was completely different to the one they had been familiar with prior. The women mostly dressed the same as the men, only occasionally differentiating themselves by wearing more braids than the men, or having it loose, meanwhile the married women wore two braids over their shoulders. The prisoners where only given raw meat to eat and where forced to tend to the horses and wash clothes whilst not being allowed to wear anything other than simple rags, even during the cold autumn season. They stayed in The Ili valley until winter as the Khong Taiji was away putting down one of the many annual rebellions.

– March Through the Steppe –

Eastern Kazakhstan, 1716

As a captive she came under the admiration of one of the Dzungars, who’s advances she refused multiple times. But the soldier continued to harass her, as well as a Russian interpreter who was able to communicate in their language. Brigitta rejected him sternly with the help of the interpreter who both told him off, but this only infuriated the soldier who threw her on the ground in rage and attempted to assault and beat her. Brigitta resisted his assault by biting him on the forearm so hard that she tore a chunk of flesh off.

The commotion brought the attention of another Dzungar soldier who asked the soldier what was going. Her assaulter asked the soldier to give him his sword so that he could put her to death for injuring him, but the other soldier simply began to laugh and ridiculed the man for having been bitten. She was spared and her assailant was loudly mocked by the other Dzungar soldiers when they found out about his injury from the foreign woman. This whole ordeal had been so strange to the Dzungars soldiers who simply though the whole thing to be hilarious, but the event did end up with the Dzungars keeping a closer eye on this strange foreign woman and prevented her from being pestered further.

During their wait to meet with the Dzungar’s ruler, they were forced to take up menial jobs as ordinary jobs for the soldiers, though them they got to learn just who their captors really were, and who Tsewang Rabtan was. The Empire was ruled by a man bearing the title ”Zorigt Khong Taiji” and the name of Tsewang Rabtan; Zorigt meaning courageous in the Oirat language and their rulers bore the title of Khong Taiji: meaning crown prince, a naming tradition dating back to the Yuan.

– Chunk –

– Zorigt Khong Taiji, Tsewang Rabtan –

The Oirats had been loyal servants and warriors to Chinggis during his conquest of Eurasia; after the fall of the Yuan they had formed a confederation known as the Four Oirats which came to dominate the later Yuan and won great victories against the Ming. Following the confederations collapse the Choros clan came to rule over a vast area of what used to be the western part of the Yuan Dynasty, an area it ruled and defended through fierce violence.

Rabtan had usurped the Dzungar throne away from his uncle, the famous Boshigt Khan, when he was away during his lightning invasion of Mongolia. Boshigt’s Khan’s wife and Rabtans mother Lady Anu died during the invasion. His uncle had taken his own life in Khovd after he was defeated by the Qing. Lady Anu had died during the Battle of the Hundred Trees, she was shot by a Qing musket ball whilst protecting her husband. With Rabtan now in charge, he had greatly expanded Dzungar power and established its reputation as a war machine amongst its neighbors and annexed the Yarkent Khanate; cementing Dzungar rule over Altishahr.

In the winter, Rabtan returned to Kulja and the ceremony of dividing up the prisoners began. He had heard of the strange woman with blonde hair and blue eyes who had fought one of his men and brought her forward for questioning. With the help the Russian interpreter she told him of her home county, their war with Russia and how she ended up here. Rabtan was intrigued but also confused as to why she had rejected the soldiers advances so fiercely, to which she had to explain to him the customs and religion of her country. Rabtan showed her respect and proclaimed that she would never come under harm again.

She was gifted as a servant to his first wife Gonggara: A Tibetan princess who was the sister of Lhabzang Khan of the Khoshut Khanate in Tibet. Brigitta managed to impress the queen when she showcased her talents in weaving, sewing and embroidery, as well as her respectful demeanor witch greatly impressed Gonggara and her attendants. But she became a point of contention when Rabtan transferred her to serve his second wife Zetersiap in the little court. Zetersiap was the daughter to Ayuka Khan, ruler of the Dzungar’s brothers: The Kalmyks, who lived on the lower Volga in Russia. Gonggara was furious at this but could not argue much with Rabtan as his mind was clearly made up. The two queens despised each other and refused to attend meetings if the other was present. Brigitta became another point of argument between the two. Rabtans eldest wife Gonggara was the mother of his heir: Galdan-Tseren, and a daughter: Botalak. The younger wife Zetersiap, was the mother to another son: Louzan-Shunu as well the mother to Rabtans favourite daughter Seson.[4]

Brigitta was to tutor Rabtan’s young daughter Seson, who had become interested in her expertise. Despite him being generally viewed as a harsh ruler, he was also an incredibly doting father to Seson, and was able to show a great deal of compassion and understanding like he had done when sparing Brigitta. If Seson wanted or like anything she would get it, so when Seson wanted to learn weaving and sewing, he would order the transfer of Brigitta who had showcased her skill to become Sesons teacher.

Brigitta was able to secure her reputation among the Dzungars, her friendship with Zetersiap and Seson made her able to better the condition of the other captives. Her blonde hair colour made her stand out among the Dzungar women who were very eager to meet with the proactive foreigner. She studied the language with the help of the Russian translator and was also able to roam freely around Kulja and visit the other captives and bring them food. It was here that she became closer to two Swedish captives, Johan de Besche and the aforementioned Johan Renat, for whom she tended to his wounds.

– Brigitta Teaching Princess Seson –

IV: Johan, Johan and Brigitta

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The three Swedes formed a friendship and an alliance of sorts to make sure they and the other Swedes stayed safe in this foreign land. Brigitta had brought the two Johans into the attention of the court as Rabtan was looking for skilled men to aid in modernizing his army. Rabtan had high hopes for Renat especially, and hoped that his knowledge of cannonry could be used as a tool against his enemies. The Dzungars were not unfamiliar with this kind of technology as they had captured cannons from both the Chinese and Russians in the past, but have never been able to produce them domestically; Renat was to be the man to change that, and would be the one to teach the Dzungars how to forge and use them most effectively. Much like how his father had decades prior, Renat was given the funds and land needed to construct a factory. He was given a few hundred slaves as labourers for iron mining operations and for building the manufacturies, and direct support from the Taiji himself to make sure the production of these cannons was successful.

As a former lieutenant, de Besche had joined the Russian army back in Tobolsk together with Zeims and survived the encounter with the Dzungars. He himself descended from a Dutch family of architects that had migrated to Sweden just like Renat’s father had. Due to this family heritage, he was a good carpenter and helped Renat with construction work, and thanks to his charismatic character he got along well with the Dzungar, despite the vast cultural differences. After being freed with the help of Brigitta he was given command of a few dozen Dzungars and was sent out for anti-bandit operations around the Tengri Tagh.[5]

– Alliance of the Three Swedes –

Brigitta and de Besche were both the same age, and where both from rural Scania whilst Renat was about two years older and was from Stockholm. None of them were properly educated people, but since Renat had grow up in a big city he was much more familiar with the early industry of the age, and since he had helped his father Moses with a variety of work during his youth he had some direct knowledge of arms manufacturing. But now Renat’s main job was to recreate European style cannons that the Dzungars could actually use.

Renat was granted his freedom, but lest to say he under a lot of pressure to perform the acts that Brigitta had promised that he was capable of. Renat was incredibly busy and hard working during this time, and bearing the responsibility of kick starting industrialization within the semi-nomadic Dzungar realm was a heavy weight on his shoulders. Being a proper renaissance man, he was not only in charge of military production in Dzungaria, but also created new printeries, carpentries, mines and iron factories in the counter. As well as maintained a garden in Kulja and even went so far as to built a small military port on lake Balkhash to protect the lake from potential Russian invasion. His works impressed Rabtan and he was able to form a close relationship with the Khong Taiji. But the promise of the cannons had yet to be fulfilled.

Due to a lack of roads, cannons had to be transported by camel, and so the cannons also needed to both be small and light enough for their camels to carry but also thick enough to not crack from the pressure of regularly firing them; therefore the process required a lot of trial and error as well as regular artillery drills from the Dzungars he personally trained. Needless to say, Renat was under a lot of pressure. Not only did he need to create cannons, but to even begin the process he had to build up the infrastructure to create large amount of bricks to be used for the creation of blast furnaces strong enough to properly smelt ore. Then the ore needed to be extracted from mines and refined for the casting to even begin.

All of this needed to be established by Renat himself from scratch, all whilst not having a precise expert in any of these areas. Failure to fulfill the Khong Taiji’s request could mean the end of his career, and potentially a return to slavery.

The construction of the manufacturies took an extend amount of time, the Dzungars rarely built structures other than temples or simple huts; so Renat turned to the Russians and his fellow country men that were still kept as slaves for help in areas where he lacked the proper knowledge. Thanks to the help of Brigitta he was able to employ most of them and used their collective skill for the ore extraction. The mining engineers who would have extracted gold down in the Syr-Darya for the Russians had the expedition had not been captured now served the Khong Taiji in his mines. With their aid they eventually constructed a mill wheel to keep the furnaces constantly hot, and that could finally bore holes in cannons once they had been smelted. Their countries were still at war, but here the Russians and Swedes were forced to work together to ensure that they would be able to keep the limited freedom they had now been able to gain. ’’Soon enough, they will be ready’’ Renat ensured Rabtan. he would have his cannons, and not only that, with Renat’s aid the Dzungars would begin their transformation from a semi-nomadic empire into an industrialized state build for war.

Brigitta meanwhile became well respected among the women within the little court. The skills that the seamstress from Riga had taught her came into good use in Dzungaria as she was able to teach the women methods of sewing and weaving that they were unfamiliar with. With the help of the two Johans, they were able to build joineries used to created European style looms which Brigitta used for her work, with the manufactury employing Brigitta’s servant girls whilst the three of them co-managed it.

These new manufacturing methods streamlined the production of silks, clothes and carpets that the Dzungars themselves were able to incorporate and take full advantage of. Brigitta was also overall simply a very sociable person who got along well with everyone, she had quickly become fluent in the Oirat language and frequently mingled with the Choros upper class.

During the transition of the Four Oirats from a confederation into a unified state under the rule of the Choros clan, many Torghut and some Dörbet made their way across Kazakhstan and settled in the lands of the Nogai. The relationship between the Dzungars and Kalmyks was complex, as most relationships with estranged family are. Zetersiap had been gifted to Rabtan at a young age as compensation for her brother Sanzhip’s actions. In the past he had separated from his father and marched his army to Dzungaria to overthrow Rabtan and take his place as Khong Taiji, but this invasion ended in complete failure as Sanzhip’s men were seized and he was forced back to Kalmykia. As compensation for his son’s actions: Ayuka gifted Rabtan with his daughter Zetersiap. She was forced abandon her lover to go and marry the Khong Taiji, still she managed to make Dzungaria into her new home and made sure to birth many children that would become influential members of the Dzungar elite.

– Brigitta with Seson and Zetersiap –

The division within the Choros royal family itself was also very prominent, and arguments between family members was a frequent occurrence. Though the Kalmyk little court was separate from the larger royal court, it still held great influence over Dzungarian affairs through Rabtan. Brigitta had already witnessed the feud between Rabtan’s two queens first hand, and now she was now able to bear witness the feud between his sons. Rabtan’s eldest son to Gonggara was called Galdan Tseren; he bore the title Supreme Noyan, and was set to succeed his father. His younger brother from Gonggara was named Lobsang Phongsuk who had become a Khambo (Buddhist abbot) up in Altai, and so was not involved with the family. Louzan Shunu was the eldest son of Rabtan’s second wife Zetersiap, and was the grandson to Ayuka Khan of the Volga Kalmyks.

Shunu also had various younger brothers and sisters, including Brigittas young apprentice Seson. Both Tseren and Shunu were born just a few years apart, and both had recently reached adulthood. The two had been bickering with one another since childhood. At first Shunu was shown a lot of affection and attention from his father, at the time Rabtan favoured his new Kalmyk wife and focused on that side of the family as his first wife stopped being able to produce any more children.

Tseren had grown up neglected, and his mother instilled a distrust of of the Kalmyk side of the family onto him from a young age. He took out his frustrations on his younger brother Shunu, viewing him as a rival to his father’s affection and frequently fought with him. As the two boys grew up, their rivalry had escalated. Tseren was generally disliked and had a hard time forming meaningful relations with people, and was generally considered a bully. He had few friends or allies withing the Dzungar elite; even his own father was unreliable at times and the only real ally he had was his mother. But Rabtan had become increasingly frustrated with Shunu, and the blame for the brother’s dispute was starting to be put on him. Tseren was able to gain the affection of father through showcasing his prowess in war and cruelty in battle; in effect, enabling his more asocial tendencies.

– Galdan Tseren –

Firstborn Son of Khong Taiji Tsewang Rabtan

V: Roof of the World

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Whilst the Swedes continuing their work and improving their standing within the Dzungar regime, the border tensions between the Dzungars and the Russians had continued even after the capture of the reinforcements of Yamyshevskaya. The Russians had continued to construct forts along the Irtysh and Ob Rivers, determined to establish their presence in Central Asia and Mongolia. Rabtan ordered for most of the Telengit to be moved south into inner Dzungarian territory and away from Russian influence, he also did the same with the Bukharans living along the border with the Qing. Various regions and people like the Telengit and Yenisei Kyrgyz were spit and taxed by both empires. But his attention would be diverted from the Russians when he received a request from the Lamas of Tibet: To invade Lhasa and overthrow Lhabzang Khan to restore Tibetan sovereignty.

Lhabzang Khan, the ruler of the Khosut Khanate, which spanned from the area around Lake Kokonor to the Himalayas, had meddled in the affairs of Tibet and overthrown the 6th Dalai Lama; replacing him with his own candidate. The Khoshuts had been settled in Kokonor since the reign of Güshi Khan. Güshi was a devout follower of the Yellow School, he intervened at the behest of the young Dalai Lama’s regent in the war between the Gelug and Kagyu schools happening in Tibet at the time. Together with the first Dzungar Khong Taiji: Erdeni Batur, he had conquered Kokonor and defeated the previous Khalkha ruler and Kagyu supporter of the region: Tümengken Choghtu Khong Taiji. Following the conquest of Kokonor, he defeated the Kagyu school’s forces and established his role as the military protector of the Dalai Lama and his court, and with that a relationship between the two peoples was established: Güshi was given the title of Khan and served as the military ruler over the new Khanate. Erdeni Batur meanwhile was given the title ‘Khong Taiji’ as he was not a Chinggisid, he would promote Buddhism to become the dominant religion among the Oirats.

The Dalai Lama ruled over the Ganden Phodrang and the Gelug school, whilst attended to religious affairs. The Dzungars, Khoshuts and Tibetans had been in a perpetual alliance since then and many of the Choros nobility spend time studying in Tibet among the Lamas during their youth. But the relationship Tibetans and Khoshuts had now become broken as Lhabzang Khan had imposed his will upon the affairs of the Ganden Phodrang. The 6^th Dalai Lama, a man by the name of Tsangyang Gyatso, had been discovered at at the age of 15 as the reincarnation of the 5th Dalai Lama. But he was not interested in his spiritual duties, instead taking up drinking and women, growing his hair out and writing love poems. He was by no means disliked by the Tibetan people, in fact he was generally well liked and often interacted with the common people in the open. But Lhabzang saw him as unfit for the role of Dalai Lama and had replaced him with a man named Yeshe Gyatso: Supposedly a man who was his own son. Though Yeshe possessed great piety and virtue, and generally acted as a Dalai Lama should, he was not someone the Tibetans would accept. It did not matter how justified or right Lhabzang was in his judgment, the fact that he, an outsider, had imposed his own will upon the religious matters of the Gelug school was too far. Not only that, but he had done so with the permission of the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing. A call for aid was sent to the Khong Taiji Rabtan, who himself had studied in Tibet at a young age, to kill Lhabzang and restore the 6^th Dalai Lama.

In spite of being married to Lhabzangs sister, and his daughter Botalak being married to Lhabzangs son and heir: Galdan Danjin, Rabtan had no qualms about starting a war over Tibet. He had been seen as a more passive ruler compared to his uncle by the Qing, but now this attitude was about to change. His daughter: Botalak, was heavily pregnant at this time with her firstborn, but her husband Danjin lived far away in Tibet and the young couple rarely got to see one another despite the two having been in love with one another since childhood.

Rabtan sent Danjin a letter to inform him of the birth of his son, and asked him to come to Khulja to meet with his wife. Danjin’s father: Lhabzang objected to the invitation. But Danjin threatened to take his own life if he could not see his wife and child; meeting them was more important to him than ruling Tibet, or even living. The two argued and cried together, and afterwards Danjin was allowed to leave and go to see Botalak on the condition that he return after a period of time.

When Danjin arrived in Dzungaria, he was greeted by Rabtan as well as Rabtans cousin: Tsering Dondup the older, the general who had captured the Swedes in the first place. Along with his nephew, Tsering Dondup the younger. The two Dondups were the two most powerful generals in Dzungaria. Danjin was not met with Botalak’s warm welcome the way he had hoped, instead he was imprisoned and kept as a hostage in secret. Some time later: The old Tsering Dondup led the charge into Tibet with Tuvan troops, marching over the tallest rout in the world to reach the Portala Palace, under the disguise of transporting the couple back to Tibet. When the army was greeted unsuspecting Khosut troops, they were all put to death and the army continued to march south unopposed. Lhabzang was informed of the incoming Dzungar army, but still believed it to be escorting his son and did not take the reports of a battle seriously. He ordered his troops to stand down and not intervene, still believing that the Khoshut and Dzungar realms to be close allies.

The older Dondup announced to the Tibetans that he was here to restore power to the Lamas, and only now did Lhabzang finally realize the situation he was in. Lhasa was besieged and Lhabzang was betrayed by his ministers and monks who opened the gates for the Dzungars to enter the city. Lhabzang Khan sent a message to the Qing emperor, begging for support, but it was already too late, the message would never reach the Peking. Lhabzang was old and overweight, and struggled to fight off his attackers by using only a bow and arrow inside the palace. But he was killed by enraged monks, along with his usurper Dalai Lama.

– Dondup’s Conquest of Tibet –

Lhasa, 1717

Lhasa was now in chaos, they had opened the gates for the Dzungars and now they, along with the residents of Tibet took their time to loot and burn the city. Dondup having previously been a monk of a rival monastery did not spare the privileged Lamas and stripped them of all their possessions and sacked the city of its riches. After failing to capture the 5^th Dalai Lama before he was escorted to China, he ruled over Tibet for three years as his personal fiefdom. The Tibetans now realized they had only forgone one oppressor for another. Rabtan had not authorized the sacking of Lhasa and condemned Dondup for his actions. Yeshe Gyatso was deposed but spared due to the pleads of the Panchen Lama, he was kept under house arrest at the Chakpori medical college, but wasn’t treated harshly as Dondup saw him only as a puppet and not an actual threat. Dondup sought to cleanse Tibet of its rot. He executed many people from the rivalling red schools and seized wealth from monasteries, believing riches it the be antithetical to proper Buddhist beliefs. The lamas were also forced to show off their tongues to the Dzungars to show if they were dark in colour and had been reciting the mantras enough. Even visiting Dzungar officials were not exempt from this practice.

Followers and supporters of Lhabzang Khan were also imprisoned. One of Lhabzang Khans ministers by the name of Pholhane was one of the few Tibetans to organize a defence of Lhasa, but it had amounted to little and he had to hide in Drepung Monastery for several months. He was captured during the looting of the monasteries and brought naked through the streets of Lhasa. He received 15 lashes to his back and was then imprisoned, but thanks to Tagtsepa, the civilian administration under Dzungar rule, was able to allow him to be set free. Pholhane took the opportunity to leave for Ngari and organized a new Tibetan resistance against the Dzungars together with the regions governor: A man by the name of Khangchenne.

– Tibetan Militia –

Eventually, Dondup’s rule became too much, and a member of the Khoshut royal family my the name of Lobsang Danjin: receding in Kokonor, contacted the Qing Emperor and asked for him to intervene and expel Dondup. The Qing finally intervened to expel the Dzungars, the Kangxi Emperor sent the Red Banners and Hui troops to capture Lhasa. Rabtan tried to mediate with the Qing, but Kangxi was unwilling to negotiate, for now this was only a dispute over Tibet, but it was only a matter of time until the conflict escalated. The Qing expedition set out from Xining and made their way through Qinghai into Northern Tibet in September of 17, the area was desolate and lacked any supplies to forage, so the invasion force began to suffer from exhaustion and starvation.

Having finally reached Tibet, they began to build up a fort at the Salween River for defence, far from both Lhasa and Xining. After constructing the fort, they continued to Lhasa where they finally encountered the Dzungar army and Tibetan militia. There the Red Banners commander: Erentei, was killed and the Banners were forced to retreat back to the fort, where they were surrounded. The situation was hopeless and the expedition was already a failure, the Manchus along with some Lama mediators negotiated a truce and a withdrawal from Tibet with the Dzungars in order to ensure their survival. The Dzungars agreed to the truce but turned back and massacred the entire Qing force whilst they were attempting to leave.

– Eaters of the Dead –

Salween River, 1717

VI: Land of Seven Cities

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As Seson grew older, she also started to fit the description of a proper princess. Beautiful, intelligent, proper, well beloved by all around, and soon to be married off to a distant prince. With the issues regarding the Qing had resolved for now, and his family disputes calmed, he sought to make political negotiations with their Oirat siblings in the Kalmyk Khanate. He hoped that marrying Seson off to Ayuka’s grandson could bring the Kalmyks and Dzungars closer again, and hopefully be a stepping stone in getting the Kalmyks to re-migrate back to their homelands in Dzungaria. Zetersiap and Ayuka’s wife Darmabala had previously been the bridges connecting the Kalmyk and Dzungar realms, but now a new generation was needed to strengthen their relationship. Rabtan made his father-in-law an offer for his grandson (the future Kalmyk Khan Donduk Ombo) to marry Rabtans young daughter Seson: the Kalmyk Khan’s granddaughter and Donduk Ombo’s cousin. The offer was accepted and Rabtan began the process of creating an elaborate dowry for the planned marriage.

The extraordinary wedding reception and dowry that Rabtan demanded was however not very well received by his vassals, as he made ever greater demands out of them. The wedding plans for his favourite daughter suddenly became the most important thing on everyone’s mind. Sesons teacher: Brigitta, was granted the honor and task of travelling down to the Silk Road to collect silks, linen and girls for Seson’s dowry. For this journey, de Besche was ordered to accompany her, along with a small retinue of soldiers, and Bukharan guides. They were to make their way down to the Tarim Basin and to the city of Yarkand. Renat however was to remain with Rabtan, he saw off the caravan and wished them well as their journey, as it would be a long one. In the meantime, he continued with his regular busywork, only being able to wish them the best of luck during their travels.

– Princess Seson –

Daughter of the Khong Taiji

The Dzungar Tursum Kasim took the responsibility as head rider, and would be the one to guide the caravan on their journey. With them were a dozen soldiers under the command of de Besche, along with hunting dogs and a small heard of sheep and cows for them to slaughter and eat along the way. Brigitta took 4 Dzungar maids with her on the journey and in mid April they began they journey down to the silk road.

The caravans travelled over the Celestial Mountains, their Bukharan camel driver Muhammed Baj taught them a lot of the local people and their faiths in the Altishahr: The land of six cities. The region had been a vassal state to the Dzungars for many years and was home to much political intrigue by the Muslim orders that the people of the basin served. The Black and White Mountain sects were Sufi orders that had battled for supremacy over Altishahr throughout the rule of the Muslim Yarkent Khanate. The two sects had picked sides in Rabtan’s war against his uncle for the Dzungar throne. The Black sect had sided with Rabtan, and the White with the Boshigt Khan. The White sect had expelled the Black sect out of Altishahr into exile in Tibet, but following the death of Boshigt Khan and Rabtans invasion of Altishahr, the Black sect was restored thanks to the aid of Rabtan and the Dalai Lama. The White Mountains Khojas were imprisoned in Ili, but still held great influence over the Bukharans in the region, an influence that might come to pose a problem in the future. The Dzungars relied greatly on the region for trade, production, mining, conscription and taxation. A list of demands that were taking a heavy toll on the local Bukharans. If the locals were unable to pay their taxes then their livestock would be taken by force, when they did not have livestock to give their women would be taken.[6][7]

– Black and White Mountain –

Tarim Basin, 1718

On their journey they passed by all kinds of cultures around the region from nomadic Mongols and Burut, to travelling lamas and pilgrims. Buddhist temples and shrines and many devout Muslims praying towards Mecca. De Besche, having been a hunter back in Scania befriended a yak hunters by the name of Battsengel, who himself was an avid storyteller. He informed the Swedes of the Dzungar’s history as a people, and of their rulers. Of Rabtans uncle Galdan: The Boshigt Khan and his amazon wife Lady Anu. In his youth he had apparently been part of the couple’s lightning campaign across Mongolia and took part in the fight against the Qing, riding all the way to the Qing capital. But late he had been forced to flee with the Boshigt Khan following the failed battle of the Hundred Trees where Lady Anu had died saving the Khan’s life. But when questioned about the Khan’s fate and how he had died on the way back to Dzungaria, he simply refused to answer.

During theirs many nights in the desert: Brigitta and de Besche pondered if they would ever be able to return home and what people would say. Would de Besche be shunned for having joined the Russians? Zeims at least had the excuse that he was German, whilst de Besche and Renat did not have that kind of excuse. Zeims never got to see any gold that they was looking for, he never got to live in relative comfort that they now had, and now they were finally travelling down to see the mysterious city on the Silk Road. They both thought of Zeims.

Battsengel helped guide the caravan down to the city of Aksu and they had reached the first city of six on they journey. When they later finally reached Yarkant, the city they had dreamed of for many years, they saw the great silk markets that made the city famous, but the city did not have the large amount of gold that the Russians had claimed. In the city they obtained a large amount of silk, linen and girls that they would eventually transport back to Khulja.

– Yarkant –

City of Yarkant, 1719

For many months they travelled between Yarkant and the other cities of the Tarim Basin, the amount of goods that Rabtan had demanded was enormous and they were forced to gather more caravans to be able to collect and transport all the needed goods. The two grew very close whilst living in Altishahr, and de Besche had no qualms about making flirtatious and playful remarks towards Brigitta. But no real relationship between the two bloomed as the task issued to them by the Khong Taiji took centre stage.

Whilst Brigitta and de Besche were out in the Altishahr, Renat was keeping himself busy as usual. He mainly lived in a small mining village named Bolac, a couple of miles north of Kulja. He was given hundreds of slaves to work the mines, most of whom being fellow Swedes and the other Russian prisoners, along with other people who were already present in Dzungaria. But Renat granted them the freedom of normal villagers, and allowed them to mainly manage themselves as he was against the practice of slavery. Strangely, many of the ones already from Dzungaria claimed to have been the ancestors of Germans, Poles and Hungarians that where sent here all the way back during Chinggis’ invasion of Europe. They did not speak their original language, did not have any of their old customs or religious practices left, only some vague idea that they were descendants of some people to the west. The village was poor and barren with plenty of fatalities in the mines, both men and women worked inside the mountain to collect ore for the cannons. At the village were also orphaned children, Renat took time to make sure they were kept safe and entertained by playing with them and giving them sweets.

– Children of Bolac –

Bolac Village, unknown, 1719

VII: All Under Heaven

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The expedition to Tibet had not only been a failure, but a humiliation to the Qing. The talks between Rabtan and the Kangxi Emperor began to grow more intense as the Qing’s thirst for revenge began to boil over. Kangxi wall well experienced in fighting the Dzungars, as he had fought directly with the Boshigt Khan during his invasion of Mongolia, and was well aware of the threat that the empire on their border posed. When Rabtan had succeeded his uncle Galdan as Khong Taiji, he had been supported by the Kangxi Emperor who though he would be a more docile ruler for the Dzungars. His rule had created peace between the two states, but the dispute over Tibet was the final crack in the fragile peace between the two empires.

The conflict had gone beyond just Tibet and the old rivalry between the Dzungars and Manchu flared up once again as an invasion was planned to conquer Dzungaria itself, and to annihilate them for good. In 1720, the Qing lead a second invasion of Tibet, this time invading from Sichuan. This, in combination with the rising dissatisfaction from the local Tibetans against Dondup’s rule and the ongoing altitude sickness from the troops forced Dondup to retreat from Tibet; giving it up to Qing occupation and returning to Dzungaria. The Dalai Lama was returned to Lhasa, Tagtsepa was executed for collaborating with the Dzungars and Khangchenne replaced him as the new administrator under Qing occupation. Bolstered by their success in Tibet, along with hearing rumours of dissent in Ili and of Kazakh and Burut aggression against the Dzungars in the west, the Kangxi Emperor sent another force from Gansu into eastern Dzungaria, intending on conquering Dzungaria and solving the problem of their western border once and for all.

– Invasion of the Manchu –

Turpan, 1720

In the invasion, the beg ruling Turpan changed sides to the Manchus, and the city was fortified by 15.000 Qing troops; with additional troops capturing the city of Urumqi. Within the Forbidden City were now talks about exterminating the Dzungars once and for all, as the Dzungars were beginning to crack from the Manchu pressure. The Kangxi Emperor sent the Jebtsundamba, the highest ranking Lama of the Khalkha, to convince Rabtan into surrendering; if he refused then the plans of extermination were to be put into effect. But luck would finally turn in Rabtans favour when the Kangxi Emperor suddenly passed away. The older Donduk was reprimanded for his action in Lhasa but was allowed back to lead the Dzungar forces against the Qing. Under his command, Turpan was recaptured during a night attack and the Qing garrison killed. Renat manage to both prove their loyalty and military experience by participating in the retaking of the city by commanding a force of 5000 whilst fighting under Dondup. The Dzungars then continued to Kumul, a city that had been under Dzungar control a decade prior, destroying it in the process. Rabtan wanted to continue further east to Kokonor, the northern part of the former Khoshut Khanate. They hoped to at least incorporate the Upper Mongols into the Dzungar realm after loosing control over Tibet, but this advance was met with defeat from Qing forces coming in from Gansu.

The destruction of the Qing’s invasion force and the sacking of Kumul, as well as the Dzungar’s failure to wrestle control of either Tibet or Kokonor resulted in a lull in the fighting. When Kangxi passed, many of his sons who were preparing another invasion of Dzungaria had to abandon the fight to return to the capital, which is what had ultimately saved Rabtan during this war. The issue of who would succeed Kangxi restarted, there had already been infighting between his sons for the inheritance for many years and Kangxi had no qualms about stripping his own sons of titles or imprisoning them for trying to go against one another. Just before his death, he called upon his most liked sons to be by his side as he passed. Following is death: Kangxi’s ministers announced his who he had selected.

His fourth son Yinzhen succeeded him as Emperor to the Dragon Throne; taking up the name Yongzheng Emperor. For the new Emperor to ensure stability within his realm, he offered a truce to the Dzungar in order to focus on domestic affairs in China, as well as the new possessions of Tibet and Kokonor. The Khoshut saisans of Kokonor, now left without a leader began fighting amongst themselves for power, and the man who had opened Pandora’s box and brought the Qing to the region in the first place: Lobsang Danjin, was the man who managed to unite the Kokonor mongols under his rule. But he was now forced to fight against the Qing himself as the Yongzheng Emperor claimed the entire Khoshut Khanate’s lands to now fall under China’s control, not just Tibet. Even though Yongzheng proclaimed no person who submitted to the Qing would be harmed, and that no looting was to be permitted, these promises were not upheld what so ever. The Qing army led by general Bandi continued to ravage the region, burning down monasteries and torching over a hundred villages to the ground.

Dzungaria was spared from devastation, but the region of Kokonor would now face the brunt of the Qing oppression. Rabtan was forced to once again pay tribute to the Qing and give up all ambitions on Tibet, no envoys or even religious pilgrimages were to be permitted from now on. Though Rabtan had managed to avoid any significant loss when it came to troops or people within his realm, the religious and political loss of access to Tibet was devastating. Whats more, Rabtan was now forced to attend to the conflicts brewing from within, in large part due to the fallout over Tibet. Many of the Khoshut saisans fled to the Dzungar lands, Lobsang Danjin himself would seek shelter at Tsewang Rabtan’s court, abandoning Kokonor and escaping capture whilst dressed in women’s clothing. Rabtan’s son in law Danjin was still alive and had gained a frenzied hatred against Rabtan upon hearing what Rabtan had done. He had kidnapped him, killed his father, and destroyed his country and his people; he truly hated Rabtan who was by no means ignorant to that fact.

VIII: Family

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Rabtan had angered many of his family members after the fiasco over Tibet, his daughter Botalak shared her husband’s anger towards her father for what he had done. Danjin was still kept as a hostage, albeit surrounded by his in-laws and finally being able to live together with his wife. But if he ever were to leave his residence – the guards would have him killed on sight, he was still very much a prisoner. Despite this, Danjin had been able to conspire with Shunu, the second in line to the Dzungar throne.

Shunu had a very open dispute with his older bother Galdan Tseren, and frequently feuded with him. Their dispute had however angered their father, and the blame for the dispute was put on Shunu. His brother was his enemy, his father distrusted him, and the religious Shunu was appalled with the loss of Tibet. Danjin the exile, the rightful ruler of Kokonor and Tibet, wasn’t able to do much whilst under house arrest. But with Shunu’s aid, the two devised a plan. Shunu would free Danjin and together they would defect to China and offer their services to the new Bogda Khan of the Qing. From there on, Shunu hoped the Qing would support his claim for the Dzungar throne and Danjin’s claim over Kokonor, as loyal vassals. This plan was risky, and there was no guarantee the Qing would even accept the proposition, and if it was they would most likely be used as political pawns against the Dzungars. That was if they were even able to escape Dzungaria in the first place. But the plan would never get the opportunity be enacted in the first place.

– Shunu visits Danjin and Botalak –

The plot was revealed to Rabtan by another family member, Rabtan ordered the two to be arrested for the conspiracy to defect to the Qing. The punishment for such a crime was death, but Shunu was spared execution as his father showed him mercy. He argued Danjin was an evil sorcerer who had put a spell on Shunu by using black magic, and had forced him into going along with the plot. The argument was made that even though Shunu had committed a crime, he was not the one to orchestrate it, and was thus given leniency. Danjin however, was deemed to be not only a traitor, but an evil sorcerer as well. He very much had a motive to try to curse the Khong Taiji and his family, and Danjin was given the death penalty in spite of the please from Rabtan’s family members to spare him, but Rabtan was unmoved. For the crimes of sorcery, the Lamaist clergy executed Danjin by pressing and burning him to death between two hot cauldrons.

His wife Botalak was left confused and dazed, how could this have happened? How could her father have done this? How could such evil have befallen her and her husband? And how could her own father have allowed this to happen to her husband? If it was not for her young son Banzhur, she would be without any purpose in life. Because of her fathers actions, she would not raise her young son to Danjin as a Dzungar, instead she made sure to instill in his mind that this young boy was a Khoshut, and the inheritor to his father’s realm. She was eventually gifted by her father to a Khoit prince far away in the Tarbagatai mountains, to whom she would birth another son. The child was born drenched in blood, in one hand the boy held a blood clot, and in the other he held a black stone, and when coming into the world he produced a scream, not like that of a newborn, but something akin to an animal being slaughtered alive, or like that of a demon howling in pain. The birth had scared the couple and their son went without a name for three years, as they hoped evil spirits would not be interested in a child seemingly abandoned by its parents. But eventually the fear wore off and the couple met with the Khong Taiji and the Lamaist clergy for the boy to be granted a name. He was given the name: Amursana – peaceful thought.

– Birth of Amursana –

Tarbagatai, 1723

IX: In Sickness and in Health

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The fighting with the Qing had come to an end, but the drama at home had yet to stop. Renat stayed close the Rabtan, not just because he was an interesting person to discuss matters with, but he had no other allies he could rely on, and his position was entirely dependent on his usefulness to Rabtan. And so as to not come under the ire of the Khong Taiji, he to make sure to attended many meetings, both diplomatic and religious, even when he was not called upon. Even though Renat was not at all a religious person, he often attended the various Buddhist events held in Kulja to further learn about the customs and culture of the Dzungars. Rabtan personally taught him a lot about Buddhism and their beliefs. On his way back after the event, he laughed to himself how the devout Brigitta would probably be in hysterics if she’d the ‘heathen’ Cham dance.

Brigitta and de Besche were still gathering provisions, one of the girls by the name of Lamankiss had gone missing. Everyone began to worry after three days of searching went by without finding her, Battsengel was able to get help from a local who aided in the search. After three days they finally found her, beaten blue and dressed in rags in a slave quarter. The group gathered enough money to purchase her back, she came back to the group crying into Brigittas arms. After finally being reunited with her friends, Lamankiss refused to go outside anymore, in fear of being kidnapped again. Brigitta tried her best to take good care of her girls, as most of whom were young orphans. With her they could find a better life in her care and from now on she would act as a sort of godmother for the girls. By now they had gathered enough goods to begin their journey back to Khulja, but travelling through the Tarim during the august heat was unbearable to the caravan.

– Lamankiss –

De Besche’s face grew pale and suddenly he passed out from exhaustion whilst riding his horse. He was unable to properly stand up and was in a constant state of cold sweat. Their funds were already low but a Chinese doctor was found and hired to see him to look after his ailments, but to no avail. Brigitta sat next to his bed as a stand in for a priest, reading him psalms from the bible as he kept slipping in and out of lucidity; occasionally throwing up. Brigitta was desperate to save de Besche’s life, the man who she had grown so close to these years, whatever was left to spend she gave to the doctor in order to cure him. De Besche then slept for a few days and then simply never woke up; at the end of August 1721, he passed. The Chinese doctor that tried to heal de Besche informed her of de Besche’s passing, and that she did not have to pay for his services, as he only revives payment when the patient is healthy again.

A month later, peace was finally formalized between the warring parties of the Great northern war at the treaty of Nystad, 12 years after Poltava. Sweden ended up loosing territory and its status as a great power in Europe, but none of the Swedes would find out about this. De Besche was buried according to his wishes under a Tamarix tree up in the mountains. Again Brigitta mended her sorrows by helping others and by being a figure to look up to. She took on all the responsibilities that de Besche had previously been in charge of, taking care of provisions and finances. During the day she was a strong and able woman who made sure to look after her girls first and foremost, but at night she cried alone. After being gone for about two years now, she decided that the following spring she would return to Kulja.

– De Besche’s Grave –

News of Brigitta’s arrival had reached Khulja, Renat was already waiting by the gates when the caravan was approached the gates. Seson had also heard the news and took her horse to meet with Brigitta and ran to hug her. Renat informed Brigitta that a feast had been set up by Rabtan in her and de Besche’s honor, to thank them for their hard work and to inform him about the state of affairs in the region. But Renat was saddened to find out that de Besche had passed just a few weeks prior. Still, there was a feast to attend, so the grieving had wait until afterwards. A Kalmyk envoy had also arrived some time earlier and were also taking part in the feast, they were the ones who would eventually escort Sesons to the Volga.

Brigitta told Rabtan of her journey, and more importantly what the Bukharans attitudes about his rule were. After almost 3 years away there was much to talk about, Seson especially was glad to see her favourite tutor back. Seson gave Brigitta gifts and held a speech in her honor, She had only been a little girl when Brigitta first arrived, but now she was a genuine woman and friend to Brigitta. The two cried and talked through the night, whilst Renat was quiet through out the feast, he had only just found out about de Besche’s passing and had a lot on his mind. Through his relationship with Rabtan he had also began to worry a lot about the growing court intrigue, things had been calming down when Brigitta left, but since then things had been escalating.

After the feast Renat took Brigitta aside to tell her everything that had happened since she had left. She had been completely unaware of the war that had broken out whilst she was out in the Tarim. The situation at home was was not great either. Shunu’s imprisonment and Danjin’s execution had torn the family apart and now rumors went around that Zetersiap wanted her son to be declared heir instead of Rabtans actual firstborn Tseren. For now Tseren was the official heir, but things could always change; in spite of being the firstborn son, Tseren was unpopular. Meanwhile Rabtan was too old and did little to manage this family dispute. Shunu was gone for now, but what if he returned with an army under him once Rabtan passed?

– Brigitta Returns –

Khulja, 1722

Everyone went back to their regular duties and Brigitta continued to work on the final preparations for Sesons dowry. The political situation in both Dzungaria and Kalmykia had changed a lot since Brigitta first left, but Sesons marriage was still going to go through. Hopefully the marriage could at least mend relation and bring the Kalmyks closer to the Dzungars. After going back to work as usual, the whisperings that Renat mentioned now began to reach Brigitta, which began to worry her a great deal. She became especially worried when Zetersiap announced that most of the little court was to escort Seson all the way to Kalmykia, and that Brigitta was to go with them along with all her workers. The Volga was closer to home but still far away, and who knew how she would be able to get back home from there? She would be with people who liked her like Seson, who was a close friend and someone she deeply cared for, but she would also be away from her countrymen, and believed that she would not be able to return home if she went to Kalmykia.

When Gonggara passed in 1723 the dispute of succession only grew worse. Additionally in 1724, Zetersiap’s father Ayuka Khan had passed away from old age, and was succeed by his son: Tseren Donduk. The journey for the wedding was delayed as preparations had to be made for the queen’s funeral, and condolences were sent to the Kalmyk Khan’s family and successor. The dispute over succession would only grow stronger, Zetersiap outright demanded Rabtan free her son from imprisonment. Rabtan was less than enthusiastic about setting his rebellious son free again, but agreed to allow Shunu to prove his loyalty when the opportunity came. This agreement only fueled more rumours, Brigitta herself began to hear talks of how Shunu’s imprisonment had been unjust, how his brother had unjustly slandered him to secure his possession in the succession, and that Shunu would make for a far better Taiji in future than Tseren.

Brigitta confided her worries with Renat who swore to do everything in his power to keep her safe. But he did not have any authority over the little court. The two had already lost de Besche, and could not stand the thought of being separated from one another again. Either they both had to stay or leave. But Renat had too many obligations to the Dzungar military and was too valuable of an asset to be let go, he would never be allowed to leave as long as he was needed. The two wanted to stay together and needed one another, and there was only one way that the two would be able to stay together. The two decided to get married.

Since there was no priest to formalize the union, the two did not have an actual wedding ceremony; the years long planning for Sesons wedding had already spoiled any desire for extravagances. Renat manage to pull some strings and got their marriage acknowledged, and got Brigitta was allowed to leave the little court. The two now began to live together in Bolac, the ever devout Brigitta began to proselytize to the miners and their families, her grief and hopes turned to motivation as she became somewhat of a priest in the community, giving clothes and food to the villagers. They were able to live somewhat normal lives before Renat was called by the Khong Taiji to participate in the Dzungar’s new war.

X: Barefoot Fight

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After years of work, Renat was finally able to produce functioning cannons for the Dzungars. He had drilled his soldiers regularly both as artillerists and gunners. Rabtan had been overseeing the progress of the cannons, both because he truly believed them to be useful in the future, and to take his mind off of things at court. Renat had become one of Rabtans most trusted advisors, he was not sullied by the political machinations at court and his sole loyalty was to Rabtan and the other Swedes. That, and both of their lifetime of experience in wars, alien to one another, made for great discussion in both tactics and history. Renat spouted all his available knowledge of the European kingdoms and Sweden’s military accomplishments; likewise Rabtan of his people’s history under Chinggis, and how they came to rule an empire of their own. Renat had been able to properly demonstrate his cannons to be functioning, and assured Rabtan of their effectiveness in battle. Now he just had prove they could give actual results in a real conflict. That conflict would come from the Dzungar’s old rival to the west: The Kazakhs.

The Dzungars and Kazakhs had been feuding over their respective borderlands since the establishment of the Dzungar realm. The Kazakhs had become subjects of the Dzungars following the Boshigt Khan’s war against them, but Rabtan was old and had failed to properly reign in the Kazakhs again as a Dzungar tributary. Intermittent fighting had broken out between Kazakh rebels and Dzungar forces, and now Rabtan had had enough. He organized a punitive expedition into Kazakhstan to force the Kazakhs back into becoming loyal subject yet again, or to destroy any way they might resist again. Tseren was sent south to the Burut lands to subjugate and passify the region to eventually secure passage to the Kalmyks. For the invasion of the cities on the Syr-Darya, Rabtan made the decision to have Shunu lead the invasion.

– Shnuu’s Warband –

Shunu was freed from his imprisonment and was made to lead the Dzungar army in this campaign. Rabtan hoped he could redeem his son Shunu with a military victory, as Dondup had done at Turpan against the Qing. Renat meanwhile was tasked with bloodying his hands against the Kazakhs and to field test the cannons under Shunu’s command.

During the campaign, around 4 out of 10 Kazakhs in the region died during the invasion. It was a total and complete devastation of the upper Syr-Darya region where the Dzungars ran rampant on the undefended Kazakh population. Tseren eventually joined the advance down the Syr-Darya, as over just the course of a few years, 100.000 Kazakh soldiers were felled in battle, and their lands razed to the ground. But the Kazakhs still did not submit to Rabtan. Many more civilians had to flee the Dzungar devastation that steadily made its way towards the Aral Sea. The cities of the Bukharan Khanate were also sacked for not paying tribute.

Tents and houses laid abandoned with only the sick and old remaining as residents, their families having abandoned them after escaping to safety. This event became known as the: ”barefooted flight”, as thousands hurriedly fled to escape the Dzungar advance; leaving behind most of their possessions behind and driving the soles of their feet white from the constant walking to avid death at the hands of the Dzungars. Renat tried to prevent unnecessary atrocities and abuses, but there wasn’t much he could do when the Dzungars sacked and looted cities like Tashkent and Turkistan. The winter made the Kazakhs plight even worse, many of the fleeing civilians starved out on the steppe and desert on their way to safer areas. Rabtan had sent a clear message to the Kazakhs: This is what their continued struggle for liberation would look like, total and decisive destruction of everything they held dear.

– Barefooted Flight –

Syr-Darya River, Kazakhstan, 1723

The Kazakhs had been crushed swiftly and brutally. There was no peace treaty nor, any official end to the war; instead there simply wasn’t anyone left for the Dzungars to fight, so the conflict slowed down on its own. The Dzungar’s march of destruction was so effective and decisive that not a single battle was lost during the war, and the Kazakhs were eventually made subjects of the Dzungars once more; with large swathes of eastern Kazakhstan coming under Dzungar occupation.

Shunu oversaw the occupation of the Kazakhs to finally pacify them under Dzungar rule, hopefully him being away from Kulja would calm things down for a while. The Dzungars had utterly crushed the Kazakhs, now they would rebuild them to ensure their loyalty. Rabtan had hoped that having the Kazakhs as a united enemy would unite the Dzungars and his two sons on to a united goal. But when the fighting stopped, the old feuds within the family started again. In exchange for getting some Kazakhs to convert to Buddhism, Shunu had made an alliance with the Kazakhs, offering up his loyalties them, and in Tseren’s eyes betraying the Dzungars. Rabtan however did not approve of sending an army to arrest Shunu for his alleged disloyalty, he did not want to cause further strife within the family. But he was old, and his health was worsening. Thus he could do little when Tseren took is army to the northern shores of the Aral Sea where Shunu’s camp was. But Shunu had been informed of Tserens march and he evaded capture by hiding deeper within Kazakhs.

Renat returned to Brigitta as the war started to wind down. His cannons had proved themselves useful against the fortifications of the Kazakhs, which was of great value to the Dzungars and rendered the need for long sieges unnecessary. But Renat still wanted to prove their effectiveness in an actual field battle When the newlyweds where travelling back to Kulja one day, they found themselves outside the city with its gates closed in the middle of the day, a line of people stood outside its gates confused not knowing what was going on inside. Little did they know at the time that the closed gates where a sign of terrible news: Tsewang Rabtan had been assassinated.

– Field Testing Cannons –

Tashkent, Kazakhstan 1724

XI: I Love You

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A grand funeral was held for Rabtan. During a parade he had slumped on his horse, and after a few days he had fallen dead from some sort of poison. Vassals and nobles of all the different tribes where in attendance. The body of Rabtan surrounded by lamas in prayer, and Seson’s journey to the Volga was cancelled for the time being. Lamas from Tibet were granted special permission by the Yongzheng Emperor to oversee Rabtan’s funeral. Attended of course by a sleuth of Chinese representatives sent by the Yongzheng Emperor, both to send condolences and to assess the situation.[8]

Brigitta and Renat sat anxiously by Zetersiap and Seson with pale faces, they where innocent of any crimes and they knew that, but could not be sure if everyone else thought the same. It was no secret that Rabtan had been murdered, everyone was under suspicion and suspicious of each other. Rabtans actual killer and their motive however remained a mystery, but narratives were more convenient than figuring out the truth. The two sons of Rabtan now had to sort out who would be his true successor. After his body was burned on the funeral pyre, his ashes where put into a clay jar and buried under a stone mound; covered in prayer flags. Dzungaria’s most powerful ruler was now buried, and so was the only link keeping the two halves of the family together.

Some days later Brigitta had gotten some terrible news: The entire little court, along with Zetersiap and Seson – had been imprisoned, along with the Kalmyk envoy. The Lamaist clergy in Khulja had accused the envoy of delivering poison from Shunu and giving it to Zetersiap, who used it to murder Rabtan, and attempting to poison Tseren as revenge.

– Rabtan’s Funeral –

Khulja, 1727

There was no arguing for their innocence. The decision had already been made and it was just a matter of getting the accused to confess, whether they had actually committed the crime or not did not matter. Zetersiap and Seson endured weeks of torture to try to force a confession out of them.

Brigitta was able to visit Seson to tend to her wounds whilst she was imprisoned. Her back was bloodied from all the lashes inflicted against her during interrogation. The two talked for hours, Brigitta did not want to leave Seson’s side and she did not want her to go. They cried together at this injustice, they cried as student and teacher, and as friends. Brigitta prayed for Seson, but there was no saving her in life.

Then the day came, the accused were taken to the outskirts of the city. Brigitta and Renat were in attendance, they hoped that their presence would offer some form relief to Seson, to see their faces one last time. Zetersiap went first, along with her secret paramour. The two were stripped and bound together, so as to humiliate them before the crowd. Then they were beheaded, their tongue was cut off, and eyes gouged out. Zetersiap’s forehead was marked with red ink, and her body hacked to pieces to be left in the grass. She was followed by her daughter Seson, then by the rest of the little court. Brigitta and Renat did not stay to see the rest get executed. All the executed were left in the fields, the punishment for moving or burying their bodies would also mean death. Zetersiap and Seson’s heads where nailed to the gates of Kulja. A few days later in the city of Urumqi, Tseren: The first born son of Rabtan, was elected as his successor – taking the title of Khong Taiji Erdeni Batur II, the same name as his great-grandfather; the founder of the founder of the Dzungar Empire.[8]

– Mending Wounds –

Flies swarmed Kulja as the rot and stank laid a heavy blanket of death over the city; the smell was unbearable. In spite of all the hardship that the two had faced throughout their life, this was one of the worst. So much death had happened all around her in such a short time, both Renat and Brigitta were still in shock, and now all they could do was wounder what would happen to them now. The bodies had been left to rot outside of Khulja, the heat had made the smell unbearable and insects had swarmed the area to feast upon what used to be the couple’s friends. Brigitta fell deep into sickness and depression and Renat took care of her as best he could. Even for a man like him, who was used to blood and rot from fighting, and who had seen many close die in battle, was still effected deeply by all of this. The two were forbidden from leaving their home in Khulja; all that Brigitta wished for now was to go back home.

Shunu had been spared from the executions because he had been staying in exile in Kazakhstan, living together with the people he had conquered. He had however not been staying idle during his stay there, he had forged many local loyalties and even married the daughter of the Kazakh warlord of the Junior Juz. The Kazakhs had had a troubled relationship with his father Rabtan, but Shunu was able to act as a middleman and facilitated stability in the region building an army of his own, made up of local Kazakhs loyal to him. He didn’t find out about what had happened in Khulja until later, of his mother and sister’s deaths, and of his brother’s crowning. Shunu rallied his Kazakh allies and marched back east into Dzungaria to kill his half brother and avenge his family. Tseren was however occupied and unaware of the incoming army, he had taken Renat’s troops along with his own to suppress opposition within the country. With Renat’s artillery troops, Tseren created a dedicated unit called the Baoqin, and by seizing the lands of his opposition and implementing a new military estate and standing army called the Angjis. Renat himself however did not participate in the pacification of Dzungaria.

– I Love You –

In the winter: Shunu returned with an army of 10.000, most of whom were Kazakhs loyal to him. They were spotted marching north in the forest and mountain paths of the Uriankhai where Shunu had his old camp. Tseren marched north to meet his brother for the first time in years, the two skirmished but neither side properly formed up for battle. The Yongzheng Emperor was informed of the now ongoing civil war and had taken a great interest in Shunu, the Emperor informed Shunu that he would be supported if he were to submit to China, and would be granted many luxuries and military support in return. Yongzheng also moved troops to the borders of the Dzungars to intimidate Tseren and threatened to invade in favour of Shunu, but Tseren was steadfast and moved to block the Altai road and prevented Shunu from defecting to China. Even though Tserens army was now surrounded on two sides, the Qing did not cross the border to battle with Tseren, and Shunu’s army was too small to defeat him on their own. Betting on the fact that the blanket of snow and fog covering the area would prevent the Qing from coming to Shunu’s aid, Tseren attacked and defeated him decisively; destroying his army, and scattering the Kazakhs who fled the battlefield. Tserens rule was secured, but this event made him an enemy to the Yongzheng Emperor, and a problem that eventually had to be dealt with.

Shunu had managed to escape in the chaos with only seven people remaining with him, after a long journey he found safety among his relatives among the Kalmyks. He informed the Kalmyks of the events that had transpired in Dzungaria: How the Dzungars had supported him becoming the heir and that his half-brother had killed his whole family and the Kalmyk envoy to take the throne for himself. The Kalmyks however were suspicious of him, they had been going through their own internal disputes and were weary of the Dzungars interfering in their affairs. Shunu was taken in by his cousin Donduk-Ombo: His sister Seson’s fiance, he lived there quietly and was unable to forge many ties as most Kalmyks thought he was a Dzungar spy.

– Shunu’s War –

Altai, 1727

XII: Issues of Faith

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Tseren had won and managed to make the Dzungar realm stronger in its aftermath. The coming winter frost covered the stained blood somewhat and their lives returned to some form of normalcy. Tseren immediately went about about with reforming the Dzungar army and expanding its reach south into the Fergana valley, the Kokand Khanate and northern Afghanistan. The Kazakhs loyalties were questionable, but for now they allowed Tseren to move his armies through their lands and payed their tribute.

Tseren knew of Renat’s skills and intended to put then to use, he was called upon to train and build the artillery under the new Taiji, taking up the jobs he had done for his father as well as attending hunts and meetings. Brigitta returned to managing the weaveries and taking care of her girls. Despite the incident with the little court, the couple managed to move on and build up a relationship with Tseren and his young children. Tseren was about a decade younger than the couple and they were able to talk frequently and on equal footing as friends instead of just subjects.

In their free time the couple continued to stay with the villagers in Bolac. Brigitta continued to act like a priest for the villagers, reading the Bible out loud to them and holding mass. But not everyone was accepting of Brigitta’s missionary work and a couple of the Russians tried to accuse Brigitta of being part of the plot against Rabtan to Tseren. But that was quickly shot down, it was thanks to Brigitta herself that the accusers where not put to death afterwards.

– Brigitta Reading the Bible –

As Tseren continued to secure his rule, his attention was brought on to other matters withing the state. His main concern had become focused on religious matters within the Dzungar Empire. The loss of Tibet still effected the Yellow Sect in Dzungaria greatly, which was isolated from the temples and the Dalai Lama in Tibet. Due to this separation, the Buddhist clergy, mainly settled in the Golden and Silver Roof temples in Khulja had begun to act more independently; taking greater influence in the country and acting through their own will. Their execution of the little court showcased just how much power they held, and their actions had nearly caused the country to collapse through the following civil war. Their influence needed to be reigned in. On top of that, nearly half of the population he ruled over was Muslim, further dividing the Empire. Tseren wanted something to unite all his people, be it a united religion or national identity. Renat’s tales of the Caroleans had inspired Tseren, as both the Dzungar and Swedish realms were militaristic powers with a low population surrounded by larger powers.

Tseren also grew even he became interested in the religion advocated by Brigitta. Tseren’s Empire was made up of Buddhists, Shamanists, Muslims, followers of Confucius and the Tao, and Tseren had to juggle all of these group’s interests. Due to this he dedicated himself to studying these various beliefs and philosophies, and kept many scholars of a variety of nationalities around him at all times. Brigitta became part of these scholarly advisors to Tseren by teaching him the beliefs and customs that the Europeans practised.

Brigitta had become more religious with age, but she found discussing religious matters with the irreligious Renat to be a frustrating task, so she found much comfort in talking religion with the villagers and Tseren. Renat doubted that Tseren was actually interested in Christianity, he thought Tseren merely saw it as a political tool to increase trade with the west or lessen the influence that the lamas held. But Brigitta, who was actually talking to him about religion knew that he was at least interested in knowing what was in the Bible.

– Wandering Lamas –

Tseren might have been having a bit of a crisis of faith, but all he told the couple was that he would need to find the ‘right way’, whatever that meant neither of them knew. It was through these discussions that lead Tseren to make an interesting proposition, that Renat and Brigitta would return back to Sweden as an embassy and return with protestant missionaries for him.

This was exactly the thing that Renat and Brigitta were looking for, this was their chase to finally go back home, even if it was just for a time. Travel through Kazakhstan and Russia would be difficult as a lot of the Kazakh Khanate was dangerous and not fully under the rule of the Dzungars, and there was no guarantee that the Russians would allow them to travel through their lands. There were talks about going south into India to then somehow sailing back to Europe, but that would be and even longer and more unknown of a journey.

– Garden –

Brigitta and Renat were starting to get old, both well into their forties, having now spent 15-years in Dzungaria and many other years around the Baltic, Poland and Russia. Things where finally calm for the first time in a while as Tserens advisors were planning up a rout for them to travel home through. Renat’s hair had started to grey and he had more wrinkles than before, he worked in his small Bukharan-style garden in Kulja whilst Brigitta sat next to him thinking of finally being able to return home. But this peace would not last long.

XIII: Dorje Drilbu

Khulja, 1728

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In 1729: Another conflict broke out between the Dzungars and Qing over Tibet. The year prior, Tseren had sponsored the anti-Qing forces in a civil war between Khangchenne and the attendants of the Dalai-Lama. Khangchenne had been assassinated and Pholhane had taken up his position, as the anti-Qing faction took over Lhasa. Both sides were followers of the Yellow school but Pholhane was a collaborator of the Qing, he had been expelled from Lhasa but was eventually able quell the rebellion by recapturing the city. The Qing then also arrived to reoccupy the region and executed the rebels by slow slicing. The 7th Dalai Lama was forced into exile in Lithang Monastery for the rebellion, and Tibet was officially made into a protectorate. Now matters could be focused on the Dalai-Lama’s sponsor, the Dzungars.

Not only had Tseren meddled in Tibetan affairs, but areas like Altai where the Dzungar vassal, the Dzungar vassal: The Khotogoid Khanate, was under dispute. The Qing administration claimed it was a vassal of the Zasagtu Khan Aimag, a Khalkha Qing subject. But in actuality the Dzungars still kept control over the area and the town of Khovd. The passive peace between the Dzungars and Qing was beginning to break. There had never been formalized agreement of peace between the two, and the Qing had for a long time planned to solve the Dzungar issue. The ascension of Tseren as the ruler of the Dzungars had already heightened tensions between the two empires, and the Yongzheng Emperor knew Tseren was not going to kowtow to China. He had already displayed an unwillingness to acknowledge Yongzheng as the ‘Son of Heaven’ and pay tribute to the Qing.

– The 7^th Dalai Lama, Kelzang Gyatso –

Contemporary Tibetan Painting of the Dalai Lama

After Lobsang Danjin’s failure to defend Kokonor against the Qing invasion many years prior, many of the Khoshut nobility had fled across the border to seek refuge among the Dzungars; this along with Shunu’s war against Tseren made the Qing eager to finally subjugate the Dzungars. The Qing wanted the Upper-Mongolian rebels to be sent back to be executed, especially their leader Lobsang. But Tseren simply ignored the demands sent by the Yongzheng Emperor. Tseren had no real loyalty to Lobsang but he still refused the Qing’s demand to hand him over for several years, for Lobsang was an asset if they ever were to conquer Kokonor from the Qing. All of these issues compiled into the Yongzheng Emperor preparing for war against the Dzungars.

Meanwhile in Kalmykia: Qing agents had been dispatched to the Volga in order to make contact with Shunu, they had hopes of using him for their future plans. They wanted him to be their puppet ruler after they had conquered the Dzungars, a Khong Taiji subservient to the empire. But Shunu declined. He still claimed to be the rightful heir and that Tseren had been the one to poison their father to secure his own power, but he was unwilling to return with the Qing agents to reclaim his throne. He had abandoned war and had already given up on taking revenge, now fully embracing the peaceful living of Tsongkhapa. He had lost everything, and in some ways it was because of the decisions he himself had made. He would dedicate the rest of his life to reach a peace with himself and the world. The agents tried their best to convince Shunu, but he had lost all motivation to return and lacked the traits that once made him a warrior. He was but useless to the Qing now., and the Qing would now not be invading to place a loyal Khong Taiji on the throne, they were there to conquer it completely.[10]

The Qing finally responded to Tserens long aloofness by launching a two pronged attack into Altai and Turpan. A force made up of 230.000 troops in total was sent to Dzungaria to conquer and destroy any form of resistance, meanwhile the Dzungars only had a maximum of 80.000 troops. The invincible Qing banners that had conquered China were now marching into the Dzungar desert to once again destroy the Dzungar army and their young ruler. The Qing had for a long time had plans on finally extermination this thorn in their side since the rule of Kangxi and this had been the last straw. Tseren attempted to surrender and gave up the nobles demanded by the Yongzheng but it was too late. The Qing were here to conquer and exterminate any threat to their rule.

The western army going into Turpan was lead by the Chinese Duke Yue Zhongqi, Viceroy of the Chuan-Shaan provinces and a descendant of the legendary general Yue Fei. His ancestor had been a Song dynasty general made famous for his victories against the Jurchen Jin dynasty, now his decendant was leading Jurchen troops under Jurchen banners. The Northern army was led by Duke Fu Erdan, who was leading the famous Yellow Banner. Yue’s army was made up of many Han Chinese whilst Fu’s was mainly Manchu, both had previous experience in fighting the Dzungars and won battles during the war over Tibet.

The Yongzheng Emperor demanded the Khotogoid Khanate submit to his rule, which they did without a fight, and Fu moved his army into their territory. Constructing a new fort for the Qing at Khovd that would act as his base for the war.

On the other side of Dzungaria; hearing of the Qing invasion to the east, the ruler of the independent Junior Juz of the west: Abul Khair Khan. Not only was he was the only independent Kazakh that wasn’t under Dzungar rule, but he had a personal connection to Shunu as well, having married off one of his daughters to him. Now after Shunu was gone, he was planning on uniting the forces of the three Kazakh Juzes to overthrow Dzungar rule over Kazakhstan.

“We shall avenge our losses; we cannot stand idly by while our pastures are plundered and our children taken captive. If we must die, we shall die with weapons in our hands! When have the warriors of the Kipchak steppe ever bowed their heads? When my hands were first stained with my enemy’s blood, my beard had not yet turned gray! How can we endure the tyranny of these invaders? We still have swift horses, and our quivers still hold sharp arrows!”

– Kazakh General, Khan Batyr.

At Bulanty in the centre of Kazakhstan, Abulkhair had massacred the Dzungar garrison stationed there, and now he was marching his bloodthirsty horde of revenge fueled Kazakhs eastwards; setting out to reclaim old herding grounds in Jetisu. They then crossed into Dzungaria from the southern end of Lake Balkhash, with another group crossing from the north. Around Lake Lake Alakol, they managed to defeated Dzungar forces there, chasing them into gorges and destroying them by outmanoeuvring them. But this Kazakh coalition of different tribes would eventually collapse with the egos and differing interests of its commanders and tribes. Thus in spite achieving a great victory against the Dzungars, the Kazakhs Juz’s failed to stay united and did not capitalize on this victory.

– Battle of Anyraqai –

Lake Balkhash, 1730

The situation on Dzungaria was on the verge of catastrophe, the Kazakh threat had subsided for now, but it had taken its toll and brought many losses. Fu and Yeu fought against Dzungar skirmishers for over a year without any substantial battle occurring, the Manchu nobles were getting frustrated at the lack of action from the Chinese troops and leaders. Yue was far away in Barkul, he had lost many camels and mules due to Dzungar raids and was unable to properly fight the small and fast Dzungar skirmishers who retreated deep into the desert once faced with resistance, then once pursued they returned to strike their pursuers. This back and forth greatly frustrated the Qing so badly that Emperor Yongzheng made the decision to abandon Turpan and pull back the army due to these raids.

Not only were these raids slowly bleeding the Qing army, but the army itself was simply too big to pay properly, and the longer that he war continued the more expensive it would become, Yongzheng made the decision to disband a large part of the initial invasion force.

The setback that the Qing experienced were mended when exciting news finally came to them: A captured prisoner had been tortured and leaked information about the Dzungar troops and their movements. It became known to the Manchu that Tseren was only able to assemble a small force of a few thousand and that he his camp was hidden in the Altai mountains, and that he was preparing to surrender. Tserens campaign into Central Asia had forced many of his troops to be stationed there, his military reforms had alienated his supporters and the war with his half-brother had devastated the old guard of the army. If the Dzungars were to fight them head on, and if Tseren was captured or killed: The Dzungar state would seize to exist. Fu commanded an army of almost 30.000, once the main Dzungar army showed itself it would be an easy victory. With the newly gathered information he had on the Dzungar army, he decided split his army to quickly reach the Dzungar Taiji in battle; with some of the northern army stationed in Khovd to fortify the area and better control their supply lines against Dzungar raids.

– Victim of Qing Torture –

Fu found Tserens army and pursued them as they tried to flee. This was the decisive victory that they needed, if Tseren was felled here, it would be the end of this generational long conflict. Fu’s mighty cavalry caused the earth under them to shake and the storm clouds above caused the sky to thunder. The soldiers hands and faces were freezing from the hailstorm, but still they continued their charge – determined to end the conflict here and now at Khoton. Then large bells rang out in the distance, and lightning struck down on the Qing army, in a symphony of organized cannon fire.

”This shall become my music”

– Charles XII.

– Charge of the Qing Cavalry –

Khoton-Nuur, 1731

XIV: A New Yuan

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The Qing army was ripped apart by Renat’s cannon volley; for the first time they were put to use against a proper large army, and they proved more than effective. The cannons were stationed surrounding the valley that the Qing rode in to, and Renat quickly rode between the batteries to adjust their fire to provide maximum damage to the Qing lines. Both artillery and regular firearm usage that could be unleashed against the Qing formations.

After the barrage, the younger Dondup led the Dzungar cavalry to run down and envelop the remaining Qing troops. The captured soldier that the Qing had tortured for information had been personally sent of by Tseren himself to give false intel to the Manchu. He had frustrated their soldiers by not attacking and hiding away, he made them overconfident by faking his surrender. The Qing troops tried to flee and regroup away the Dzungar force but was continually stopped, Renat’s artillery was mobile and able to follow and attack the Qing through the mountain valleys, and they had no opportunity to properly regroup and organize. Whenever they tried to regroup and counter attack, Renat’s artillery would be prepared to obliterate their formations again and again.

Over the course of several days the Dzungars surrounded and eliminated the Qing remnants with most of the commanders committing suicide on the field. The army then went on to attack the remaining forces stationed in Khovd, and killed the garrison there too. The Dzungar war machine that Renat had helped create was now in full effect in its war with the Manchu. Tseren could now continue the ambition that his great-uncle had started, free the Khalkha lands and unite the Mongols. Fu was the only one of the northern army’s commanders to escape alive, with only around a thousand troops he returned to China to inform the emperor of what had happened.[11]

– Aftermath of Battle –

Khoton-Nuur, 1731

Renat reported to Tseren about his artillery’s performance against the Manchu, having fought in the fiercest battles of the Great Northern War, he was not impressed with the performance of the Qing army; stating that if the Dzungars continued to utilize his cannons in the right environment the Qing would not stand a chase in any battle they fought. The effectiveness of the artillery had already been proven succinctly during the war with the Kazakhs, but the victory at Khoton showcased their true destructive power. Renat’s words struck something deep within Tseren, and lit a fire within him, the same fire that had been lit withing his great uncle.

With victory over the Qing and their plans to conquer their lands completely shattered, Tseren now announced his intentions to all Mongols: The re-unification of all Mongol people under one union, the reformation of the Yuan, and the formation of a new Mongol Empire. He sent out letters to the Khalkha Noblemen, to join him in his war against the Qing, appealing to their shared heritage of the Mongol Empire and the Yuan, and to free themselves from the Manchu yoke.[12]

Nearly 40 years prior, Tserens, granduncle: The Boshigt Khan, had invaded and forced the Khalkha under his rule, until he died and the Qing enforced their ruler over the Khalkha. His invasion had been brutal and had instilled fear into the Qing of a united Mongol realm encircling the Middle Kingdom. Now Tseren set out to do what the Boshigt Khan had failed to accomplish during his campaign through Mongolia. He was going to unify the Mongols and liberate them from Manchu oppression.

”Once upon a time, the seven banners’ Mongols and Four Oirats weren’t ruled by others, united religion-state, and lived in harmony. We became inharmonious in Boshigt Khan’s time by talking against each other. Later, as you know, my father Taiji remembered the previous harmony’s roots, despite even if war occurred, he repeatedly informed the Yongzheng emperor that let the Mongols and Qinghai become as they were before. Since China attacked us, we asked the previous birth Jebtsundamba Khutughtu’s opinion, and then he sent his response. Had become quiet when the princes informed their thoughts too. Recently, the Yongzheng emperor to enter our banner service like the Mongols and Qinghai, to receive name and title, to feed by money, and to become mine. I wouldn’t come near if the great personality were quiet. Since then, I started the war and sent an army to let the Mongols and Qinghai become as they were before, and if they couldn’t do that, at least not be ruled by others. You are the descendants of Chinggis Khan, it is beneficial for us if you consider us Oirat Mongols and live harmoniously as before, instead of being ruled by someone. Otherwise, since you have become a friend of China and your livestock is being ridden, there is no choice left to me.”

– Galdan Tseren

Only those of the golden lineage, those descendant of Chinggis Khan, were allowed to inherit the title of Universal Ruler. Tseren was of Choros descent and thus unable to take the title for himself. But there was one candidate perfect for this role, a 7-year old boy by the name of Luvsandambiydonmi, the second Jebtsundamba of Mongolia and a direct descendant of Chinggis. Tseren wished for this boy to become the Emperor of his new Mongol realm, with himself as the boy’s guardian. Taking inspiration from the Khoshuts, Tseren wished the boy to act as the spiritual ruler of the new Buddhist Mongol empire, whist Tseren acted as its true and secular ruler.

This offer however would be rejected by the Khalkha, most had no love for the Qing, but to them this letter was nothing but the madness of another foreign conqueror. That, and many of their own having died at Khoton, the nobility began amassing in support of the Qing. They were not willing to submit to another empire and they refused to allow Tseren to meet with the boy; with this decision from the Khalkha, Tseren decided on using force to unite his brethren.

The following year after the battle with the Manchu, Tseren had organized his new plan to unite the Mongols. If they would not join him willingly, then they must be forced to. Just as his great-uncle had done decades prior. With Tseren acting as the Commander-in-Chief; the younger and older Dondups acting as Field marshals and directly commanding the troops on the field, and Renat acting as Master of Artillery, they lead a force of 30.000 troops into Mongolia with plans of travelling to the Erdene Zuu Monastery. Adjacent to the old Mongol capital of Karakorum, to capture the 2nd Jebtsundamba Khutuktu. There he would form his new empire, there with the Jebtsundamba Khutuktu as his hostage, he would become the most powerful ruler in all of Asia, there he would found a new dynasty, a new Yuan.

– A New Yuan –

XV: True Mongol

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Even though the Khalkha had decided to side with the Qing, they would not be coming to defend Mongolia from the coming Dzungar host. Instead the defence of the vast steppe was left to a single Khalkha: Efu Tseren Borjigin, himself a descendant of Chinggis. He was instructor for the light cavalry in Beijing, and was the son-in-law to the Kangxi Emperor. Following his actions against the Boshigt’s Khan in the 1690s; he had married the 10th daughter of the Kangxi Emperor: Gulun Chunxun, but she had passed away shortly after their marriage. Still, Efu Tseren kept his title and defended the Khangai Mountains from possible Dzungar attack. He had already participated in fighting off the Boshigt Khan’s invasion of Khalkha and fought multiple smaller Dzungar armies during the war over Tibet. He was loyal to the Manchu, and therefore he became the main link to secure Manchu rule over the Khalkha. Now that the Manchus had been devastated in Altai, Efu Tseren had to organize a defence of the entirety of Mongolia, essentially all on his own.

As the Dzungars rushed to Erdene, with the Qing Banners in tatters; it was up to the local Khalkha Khans to defend the territory. Many smaller battles were fought on the way to the monastery and the Dzungars gradually took losses. Tserens army had crossed half of Mongolia in just a couple of days, exhausting themselves in the process. The army had reached the monastery; it laid abandoned with its fortifications having been left torn down since Galdan’s invasion over 40 years prior. The Jebtsundamba and all the other lamas at the monastery were nowhere to be found, they had left for Urga a some time ago despite the Dzungar’s fast advance.

– Efu Tseren Stalks –

Khangai Mountains, 1732

Tseren ordered the army to form camp at the monastery and began to fortify to avoid further Khalkha attacks until he could figure out what to do next. The Khalkha prowled the open steppe outside the monastery like wolves, hiding their main force and attacking with small skirmishers against the Dzungar encampment. The army was essentially besieged but they could not see their enemy, they had to leave soon as they had few supplies left. But to where and how to avoid further attacks was not clear. The Dzungar army, as well as Tseren, the two Dondups and Renat began to grow weary.[12]

The commanders debated on what to do next, their plans to capturing Luvsandambiydonmi had failed, and no Khalkha were willing to join Tseren. If they continued on to Urga, they would continue to suffer losses and attrition from the hostile Mongol forces stalking them. Tseren was in need of a proper fight, an a victory to carry the army the rest of the way across Mongolia.

The younger Dondup had spotted a weak force of Manchus stationed with their backs to the bank of the Orkhon river, at Efu Tseren’s old camp. He had already proven his abilities at Khoton and now wished to organize the main charge against the small Qing force. He asked Tseren for permission to pursue the force and to hunt down the Khalkha who where still hiding in the hills. Tseren agreed and Dondup rallied his forces to kill off the Manchus, but the cannons were made to stay behind at the temple with the rest of the army. The Dzungars quickly defeated the Manchus and pursued them into the mountains; there, the advance was interrupted by a force of 10.000 Khalkhas that ambushed Dondup’s army. Unprepared, the Dzungars attempted to escape across the river, before they were attacked again from the other side by more Khalkha troops. Many Dzungars drowned in the river whilst fighting against the Khalkha, and Dondup’s army became surrounded.

– Erdene Zuu –

Erdene Zuu Monastery, Karakorum, 1732

Few survived the encounter as the elite units of the Dzungars were hacked to bits. The fighting lasted until nightfall when the Dzungar forces managed to block the rout with the little supply they had left, as well as the bodies of their fallen to return to Erdene Zuu to regroup. Tseren had to make the hard decision to retreat, all the way back to Dzungar territory. He had hoped to exceed his great uncle, but he had ultimately failed. Tseren and his commanders would probably not have survived the journey back if it was not for a rebellious Khalkha general’s decision to stay put whilst the Dzungar army fled; a decision that saved the Dzungars, but would eventually cost his own life when the Qing ordered his execution.

In the meanwhile; a mass funeral was held by the families of the fallen banners of Khoton in Beijing, to mourn their great loss. The Yongzheng Emperor was in attendance and in a speech swore revenge against their killers, one day they would destroy the barbarians, and the devil that had brought cannons to the Dzungars.

Tseren and Renat returned to Khulja to lick their wounds. The younger Dondup was stripped of his position for loosing many of his disciplined soldiers at the Orkhon. Following their return to Dzungaria, there was an informal peace between the Dzungars and the Qing. Both sides had taken heavy losses and were weary of the war escalating again as the cost and supply for the war had become too costly and neither side could afford to be at war any longer. The specifics of the peace talk would continue for years, the Yongzheng Emperor had died by swallowing poison whilst reading court documents during these talks, he was replaced with his son: The Qianlong Emperor, who was young and much more eager for a proper peace, and the end of war would lead to a prospering of trade between the two states. Still the peace was not necessarily favourable to Tseren, as he had to give up any claims to Tibet, Kokonor or Kumul, and give away the lands west of the Altai Mountains.

– Battle at Orkhon River –

The new border would be drawn along the Altai mountains, separating the Dzungars from the Khalkha completely and Dzungar practitioners would be allowed to enter Tibet freely. Tseren also finished construction of the Guerzha Temple that his father had begun construction on. Even though peace had for all intents and purposes returned to the realm, the situation that Dzungaria was in was starting to gnaw away at him. He was truly surrounded by enemies on all sides, the Kazakhs had regained their independence, the Russians were slowing growing their influence in his northern territories, and the peace with the Qing could end at any moment. Tseren was desperate for allies, even if they receded in far away places; and the ”right way”, whatever that might be still had not been found.

XVI: Caravan

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During one of the long days of negotiations, well dressed men stood outside of Tserens residence. They were not well dressed in an eastern clothing, but wearing western clothing and speaking Russian. They were part of a Russian delegation come to see Tseren, in hopes of bringing Russian slaves back home and establishing better trade relations with the Dzungars and Chinese. Brigitta spoke to the men fluently in Russian who were a bit confused of her appearance and dress. Brigitta was brought to meet with the head of the delegation: A young military officer, and chief of the Russian Ural mines, Leonty Dmitrievich Ugrimov, along with his wife Sterseskij Ugrimov who agreed to meet up with Brigitta again the following day during their meeting with Tseren. Brigitta brought Renat with her and the couple was informed about all that had changed since they had been gone. Sweden had lost the war and its Baltic possessions, Karl XII had died in Norway and was succeed by his cousin Queen Ulrika Eleonora, who subsequently gave the throne to her husband, Fredrick I. Peter I had died and was succeeded by his wife: Empress Catherine I, and subsequently by Peter’s grandson, and then later by Peter’s niece Anna. So much had changed whilst they had been away.

Renat likewise informed Ugrimov about his service to the Dzungars; that he had fought against the Qing and Kazakhs and that after years of work he had managed to produce around 15 four pounder guns, 5 small guns, and 20 ten pounder mortars on behalf of the Dzungars, and that now they were to set out on a journey back home on behalf of the Khong Taiji. His story impressed Ugrimov, who offered to escort the couple and the rest of the Swedes through Russian territory.

– Ugrimov’s Delegation to Galdan Tseren –

Khulja, 1733

Tseren agreed to the terms and preparations were made to accommodate the travellers. Ugrimov was able to free his countrymen that had been taken as prisoners many years prior, and on March 22, the final preparations were made to return to Russia. Renat and Brigitta would be able to return home and fulfill the mission issued by Tseren. It truly was a long shot but Tseren truly wanted those protestant missionaries in his country; for what purpose exactly he still would not be clear about. Tseren also understood the couples desire to return home but was also weary of them not returning, the couple were too valuable to loose and he still wanted those missionaries. He seized their possessions and riches, which was to be given back once they returned. Even though they were glad to finally return home, their farewells were full of tearful goodbyes from Tseren, his wife, children, the villagers in Bolac and their workers in Kulja. Never had a pair been this widely beloved. The artillery factory that the Swedish and Russian captives had forged continued churning out pieces. Though the Europeans would be gone, their Dzungar assistants had been trained more than well enough to take over production.

With their departure, they finally managed convince Tseren to free the still living 18 Swedes and 134 Russians in Dzungaria, along with 20 Dzungars girls that they previously had managed. Renat was also given a special gift from Tseren, two maps containing Central Asia, Dzungaria, as well as western Khalkha and Kokonor. Together with the Russian delegation and the liberated prisoners, the couple left for Kazakhstan’s deserts. The journey was long and the weather hot, but whilst under Russian protection they would at least not have to worry about any hostility on their journey.[14]

– Farewell –

After a few weeks of travelling trough the empty steppes of northern Kazakhstan, Brigitta woke up dizzy one warm morning with a swelling headache; but still kept herself together as the caravan prepared to continue their travel for the day. It might have just been the heat and the bumpy wagon ride that had caused her to fall ill, but even when they had continued it only grew worse. She started getting a high fever and began to sweat profusely whilst shivering from feeling cold. One of their Dzungar girls also fell ill and the two were forced to rest. They slept inside the wagon as the caravan continued on, but after a while Renat had to stop his wagon to let Brigitta throw up. Renat gathered up the rest of the girls only to find more of them had fallen ill too. As the rest of the caravan came by to see what was going on, to which Renat informed them of their illness and asked a rider to find a doctor among the Russians. It did not take long for the doctor to diagnose them with a grave infection; not only was it deadly, but it was also highly contagious.

They made their way to the nearest village, where the sick were isolated in an abandoned barn. One of the Swedes rode over to Renat with a sad look and apologized, they would not be staying; none of them wanted to risk dying of sickness now that they had finally set out on their journey home. He wished Renat the best of luck as he and the other Swedes left with the Russian caravan. Renat was left to look after Brigitta and the girls that had fallen ill. Hopefully they could recover quickly and rejoin the caravan later, but those who were not infected could not take the risk of staying. Ugrimov’s wife Sterseskij however decided to stay behind to help the sick recover, despite arguments made by her husband; as well as the Russian doctor who directed the remainders on what to do. Brigitta and Sterseskij had quickly became friends after their meeting in Kulja, and their friendship grew strong in spite of only knowing each other for a short time.

– Caravan –

Kazakh Steppe, 1733

It speaks volume to Brigittas ability to make such a strong impression on people that they would risk their own health and life for her by deciding to stay behind to look after them. Renat thanked them all he could. The villagers from nearby provided them with food whilst they were taking care of the sick, as their illness would only get worse and more of them would fall ill. Brigitta remained lucid for some time as she rested in a straw bed, until she then began to fall in and out of consciousness.

When she was awake she was confused and reduced to only speaking Swedish with Renat. Eventually she went deaf, and after that she fell asleep; then she simply refused to wake up. Whilst asleep, she dreamt about her mother when she was very young, her aunt and her foster family in Riga, her girls and her friends. Of Zetersiap and of Seson, of her time in service of the Dzungar rulers. Of Renat; of how de Besche probably went through the same thing years before. Of her home, which she had longed for so long, but which was still far away.

– Dreams of Home –

XVII: Through all the Russias

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When Brigitta finally woke up she had lost a dangerous amount of weight, as well as all her hair. It had been a month since she was last awake. Renat and Sterseskij had spent the last month anxiously tending to the sick by feeding them boiled water mixed with strong wine. Luckily they had both avoided getting sick. Eight of the Dzungar girls had died periodically throughout the time that Brigitta was asleep.

All the languages she had learned through out her life slowly started to come back, German, Russian, Oirat and East-Turkic; but she was still too weak to talk for long periods of time. In lieu of Brigitta, Renat had taken charge of organizing everyone to do their part, and paying the villagers for their help. He was not as much of a people person as Brigitta but he was still more then competent enough. Brigitta and the surviving girls slowly started to eat solid food again, but they were still too week to restart their travel.

– Recovery –

The melting spring snow had melted and flooded the countryside, many of the villages they passed through were either abandoned. After passing the southern Urals and finally reaching Europe, they made their way through the cities and large villages before finally nearing Moscow. Russia was also very different from when they were last there, it was a lot more western than before. People in the cities wore clothing and spoke more akin to people from Germany and France than the Russia they knew before. Their home in Sweden was but a stones throw away relative to the endless steppe and desert they had already travelled through.

They stayed in Moscow for a while, living in the Ugrimovs Moscow residence. Brigitta as usual made friend whilst in Moscow. They managed to find a Lutheran church in Moscow where they attended service for the first time in over 30 years. Brigitta had another dream she wanted to fulfill before they left Moscow. In the same church, the couple went to the and finally got their marriage legally recognized.

The couple palled to wait until in Moscow until after winter, and then set out for St. Petersburg the next spring. Together with their girls they lived together with the Ugrimovs, as a mostly ordinary family of the era. Brigitta the ever active socialite began to mingle with many rich people of Moscow through her relationship with Sterseskij, and shared her story with anyone curious. She had the opportunity to talk to not just natives of the city, but people who like her had ended up here from far away, people from France, Britain and even her native Sweden.

But the warm atmosphere of Moscow soon dissipated when some of the girls went missing. The Russian authorities had ordered 6 of the girls be held in the city which greatly upset Brigitta. They claimed that they had to stay due to them supposedly having converted to the orthodox faith, in spite of them not knowing how to speak Russian. Many unattended foreigners without any form of protection had been forcibly baptized into the Russian faith; duping them into conversion was a way to take the girls away from Brigittas care. They were away from their home, without family or friends in a country who’s language they did not speak and now they were away from Brigitta the one who had taken care of them all for so long. Brigitta was unable to get most of them back, but the Ugrimovs managed to employ one of the girls themselves and got her back to Brigitta; the rest they managed to get into the care of good families. The four remaining girls were Altan, Lamankiss, Gurban, and the youngest Zahwa: Their adoptive daughter whom they called Sara. The 20 girls that Brigitta had originally brought with them had been reduced to only 9.

– Marriage Church of St. Michael in Moscow –

Moscow, 1733

The disappearance of their girls would unfortunately not be the end for their troubles in Moscow, as their peace was interrupted by the arrival of Russian guards and Streltsy to their residence. They had come to arrest Renat after they found out about him producing artillery for the Dzungars and acting as an enemy of the Russian Empire.

Renat was jailed, he began to get a feeling of Déjà vu from being put in this wet cold grave of a jail. Back when he first arrived as a prisoner after Poltava, he had spend time in a similar jail in Moscow, jailed for being an enemy of Russia. Months went by without any clue what was going to happen to him now. Brigitta and the Ugrimovs sent a letter to the Swedish ministry in St. Petersburg to try to get them to intervene and free Renat. They coordinated and tried to pull as many strings as they could, but it still took time. Brigitta was deeply worried but the Ugrimovs provided some comfort.

Renat would spend the whole winter in prison. Joachim von Dittmer: The Swedish representative in St. Petersburg had gotten word of Renat’s situation and managed to convince the Russians to release Renat. But the Russians were not so eager to simply let go of Renat, and instead offered to enlist him into the Russian army with a high rank and good pay; both as a way to repay him for the trouble they put him through, and to prevent his expertise to be used against them again. But Renat refused the offer sternly, both because he was still angry at the Russians for jailing him, and for them having taken away the 6 girls earlier.

– Imprisoned –

XVIII: Home

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St. Petersburg had been founded in the midst of the Great Northern War. At the time there was only a small Swedish fort by the river Neva, by the name of Nyenskans, which acted as the regional capital of Swedish Ingria. When the two had left their home country and later became prisoners after Poltava: Neither the city, nor the Russian Empire had existed; now it was the seat of its imperial power. It was an actively growing city made up of all kinds of people from all over Europe and Asia, among them a large amount of Swedish migrant workers, Kazakhs and Volga Kalmyks; as well as every other minority that lived withing the empire. By way of the couple still being able to speak Swedish fluently, and thanks to the money given to them by the Ugrimovs, they were finally able to set sail back home to their fatherland.

On the 9^th of July 1734, after zigzagging the hundreds of islands of Stockholm’s archipelago, they finally stepped foot on Swedish soil for the first time in 34 years. They had both been teenagers when they left their home country during the outbreak of the Great Northern War, and finally they were back. Renat being a native of Stockholm, he was still familiar with its layout and guided Brigitta and the through, but a lot had changed since they were gone. The effects of the war that ended over a decade ago still showed its effects, poverty, disabilities and sickness played their parts. It was hard to find many men their age, an entire generation of men had vanished from the war. The few Carolean veterans still living all had their own wild tales of the war and the years after and they frequently met up with one another.Renat managed to regain his position in the Swedish army as a teacher. Renat also tearfully reunited with the remaining members of his family after believing he had been dead for decades.

– Stockholm –

Stockholm, 1734

Thanks to the war college and his family’s old business, Renat managed to find a residence for him, Brigitta and the girls to live in. Despite his age he was still strong and healthy and met with many former Carolean that had also survived Russian, many of whom had even been with him at Tobolsk. Around 200 Swedes had stayed in the village during the expedition to Yarkant, in 1722 they were allowed to return home after the peace between Sweden and Russia. Hearing Renat and Brigitta’s story had stunned them, as they had all thought that those who went along with the expedition had perished a long time ago.

Renat also got work at a textile manufactury where he thought eastern techniques with the help of Brigitta, and was able to purchase a home for himself, Brigitta and the girls. Brigitta was relieved to finally be settled, she spent most of her time taking care of the girls and trying her best to make sure they readjusted to their new living situation, the girls did not speak a word of Swedish, so they clung closely to Brigitta at all times. She still wanted to return to her native Scania one day, but she had no living family left there. But for all intents and purposes she was home.

The girls were baptized in the artillery church in Stockholm. Altan was given the new name of Anna-Catarina, she was about 32 years old. Lamankiss was named Maria-Stina, she was about 20. Zahwa was named Sarah-Greta at the age of 16. The fourth, Gurban was not interested in getting baptized.[14]

– Dzungar Girls –

Brigitta started to get weaker and weaker whilst living in Stockholm, eventually she was bedridden once again. She was still set on returning to Dzungaria with missionaries, and she felt guilty about letting down Tseren. But Renat simply told her that: ‘We aren’t going back… You know we aren’t.’ Brigitta asked Renat to call upon a priest to hold communion; afterwards she was calm. She was about to return to her true home. With a last sigh, she passed in her home surrounded by Renat and her girls at the age of 51, in April 1736. She was buried next to the artillery church where she had baptized her girls.

Following the years after Brigitta’s death, Renat isolated himself away from people, the light in his life had been snuffed out. During all their time together they had cared and save each other on many occasions but now just tried to keep his mind occupied with work and taking care of the girls in Brigitta’s wake. The war had left many widows who looked for his attention but he snubbed them all, not being interested in remarrying. He never wrote down anything about his life in the Dzungar lands in spite of being frequently asked to. He kept it all private to himself, he was already a private person before, but Brigittas passing only made that trait worsen.

During his time of grief he worked on redrawing the map of Dzungaria and translating it to Swedish. He was frequently pestered by orientologists for a copy of the map and to give useful information about Dzungaria, but Renat did little to satisfy these requests. The only one he did help was fellow Carolean who had also been captured at Poltava and forced to work in Tobolsk: A now author by the name of Johan Christian Schnitscher. He had not joined Buchholtz’s expedition down to Yarkant, instead staying in Tobolsk and later become part of the Chinese legation to Ayuka Khan, of the Kalmyks; among whom he stayed with for a period of time.

– Deathbed –

Stockholm, 1736

Schnitscher was writing a book on the Kalmyks and their way of life, their gods and belief and of his personal anecdotes in Kalmykia. Renat agreed to help with the project as he had more expertise of the Oirats, having stayed with them for close to half his life. Christians book was the only time he wrote of his own experiences in Dzungaria. He added notations and corrected mistakes where he felt it needed; in small Paragraphs at the bottom of the pages, those are the only things he wrote of them and of his time with them.[16]

After three years he eventually he met a widow by the name of Elisabet Fritz, an owner of a silk factory in Stockholm that she managed following her husbands passing. Johan had only a little expertise in silk, Brigitta had been the expert and he had only managed to pick up some knowledge from her and his time in Dzungaria. Elisabet already had three children and one adopted daughter, who helped her manage the factory. When Renat and Elisabet got married by law he had became the official owner of the factory but Elisabet continued to manage and control it in practice with Renat being more of an advisor. Renat never had any children of his own, and was too old to start now; instead focused on teaching the girls Swedish, helping them to assimilate, and eventually find husbands.[17]

He left the army the same year as a captain because he was starting to loose his vision due to cataracts. The only ones who he would interact with for the rest of his life was his wife, the girls, and Christian to give comments about the book he was writing. Then on the first of may of 1744, he passed away quietly, mostly forgotten by the rest of the world. Tserens two maps, as well as Renat’s version were sent to the University of Uppsala library right before his passing, along with Brigitta’s Dzungar dress that he had kept until now.

– Silk Factory –

A mere decade following Renat’s passing, the Great Dzungar Khanate would no longer exist. A near constant state of civil war over the throne would lead to a decline in the industry and trade that Renat had constructed. The empire would loose its cannon manufacturies, its printeries and its silk road trade; its gardens, wells, town, villages; along with almost all of its people; all exterminated on the orders of the Qianlong Emperor. The territory would be civilized into China’s newest province, and attain the name of the new frontier. The war that would eventually conquer the Dzungars for good was the first out of Qianlong’s Ten Great Campaigns; its second and third campaign, would dedicated to the annihilation of the Dzungars as a people. [18]

– The Qianlong Emperor –

Afterword:

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A flame only kept alight if fed, a language only if spoken, a culture only if practised, and history only if shared.

Though their lives have long since passed, history does not stop at mere death. Through this project a part of their existence have brought some part of them alight again. Their story, experiences and impact; and so have you, by being a part of their history, what little part that may be. Thank you for reading.

Extra notes:

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[1]: Everything in this work is based on real history but presented in a narrativized manner. Though large parts come down to personal interpenetration and speculation, an effort has been made to keep this story as close to what might have happened as possible. This work heavily relies on the book: ‘Från Bäckaskog till Kalmuckernas rike’ (From Streamforest to the kingdom of the Kalmyks – Birgitta Scherzenfeldt’s life) from 2005, which focuses mainly on the life of Brigitta Scherzenfeldt. Pretty much everything written in regards to Brigitta, Seson, de Besche, and the two queens is directly translated from that book and most of the book is featured in the work; albeit summarized or compressed a bit. The book is however heavily narrativized and fills in the gaps in history with imagined events.

[2]: Det Stora Judedopet, or the Great Jewish Baptism was the first of a series of conversions by Jews to Protestantism in Sweden in the late 1600s to the early 1700s. Moses and Israel’s being the first and largest one of these conversions.

[3]: The Dzungars were part of the larger Oirat or western Mongol group, their name means something akin to ”Left Hand” or ”Left handed”. The Choros clan from which the Choros family rule changed the name of their tribe from Choros to Dzungar in the early 1600s. Though the family (Choros) name remained largely unchanged.

[4]: A lot of people presented in the story have the same name, there is the older and younger Tsering Dondup not to be confused with the Tseren Dondup the Kalmyk, or prince Galdan Tseren, or Galdan Tseren’s great uncle: Galdan Khan, or Tseren of the Khalkha. The last names have been used for the most part when those are available, with the exception of Brigitta since she has around 5 separate last names over the course of their story.

[5]: As for the printeries: They were most likely made to produce things like prayer flags en-masse, since they are often made from pieces of coloured cloth with mantras and symbols stamped onto them.

[6]: The term ‘Bukharan’ was a catch all term for Mohammedans or Muslims in Dzungaria, most of whom were Uyghurs but they did not go by that name at this time. Bukhara was one of the largest and oldest cities in the region, and was a large centre for Muslim scholars where Muslims would often travel to. The cities’ name eventually became synonyms with Muslims themselves. Similarly: Europeans would later use the term Bukharan to refer to central Asian Jews due to the same logic.

[7]: The White Mountain (Aq Taghliq), and the Black Mountain (Qara Taghliq) were Muslim Sufi orders ruled by the class of Khojas in the Tarim Basin. These sect were instrumental for the stability and control of the region. The Tarim was the main source for gold, iron, saltpetre and nitrate. The stability and prosperity of the region was essential for the well being of the rest of the empire. On top of extracting resources for the Dzungar war effort, many Uyghur men were conscripted into the army, as much as a third of all men in the region.

[8]: Tsewang Rabtan’s assassination is still a mystery to this day. As stated in the story, it was more convenient to put the blame on political enemies than find out the truth. In the book: ‘Från Bäckaskog till Kalmuckernas rike’, the plot was orchestrated by Gonggara to put the blame on Zetersiap.

There is a section where she freed a thief from being executed and hired him to act as a painter for Seson and to give Rabtan poisoned tea, which he suddenly dies of days later. In actuality Rabtans assassination remains a mystery to this day, and Gonggara had probably passed away a few years prior to Rabtans assassination. The Book ‘Från Bäckaskog till Kamluckernas rike’ was written in 2005 and mainly used English and Swedish sources, so i cant imagine they had a lot to go off of. The section in the book is also written to be both fictionalized and ambiguous. It might have been angry nobles upset about his spending on his daughters wedding. It could have been Zetersiap that wanted powers to be handed down to their son. It could have been Galdan who feared that Rabtan would replace him as his heir. It might have been the Black or White mountain sects that were mentioned before as both of them had their own grievances with him. It could have been Kazakh, Qing, Khalkha or Kalmyk spies that wanted rid of him for whatever reason, there still is no answer.

[9]: Seson’s age is never stated, however with some guessing she would have possibly been a young adult when she died. The Swedes had arrived in 1716 and spent 11 years serving Rabtan, with Rabtan and Seson both dying the same year of 1727. 3 or 4 years prior to 1722 when Brigitta returned to Khulja she was betrothed to Donduk Ombo. If Seson was about 16 or 17 when betrothed she would have been around 13 when Brigitta was made her teacher and around 24 when executed. Brigitta had essentially been a second mother to Seson, being with her through most of her youth.

[10]: The exact course of events are not exactly clear and the statements we have from those involved contradict one another. Tseren wrote to the Russians in regards to these events as following:

“After my brother went to Kalmykia, he joined forces with Dundup Ombu and brought poison to my stepmother, hoping to kill me. My stepmother did not dare to poison me, fearing that my father would find out and she would be in great trouble, so she tried to poison my father. She really did it, and my father died of poisoning.”

However this statement is contradicted by Shunu himself, who arrived to informed Donduk Ombo in Kalmykia after his family’s execution; contradicting the timeline Tseren told the Russians. He claimed that he was beloved by the Dzungar people, but was cast out by his father and half-brother: Who then killed his family before he fled to Kalmykia. One account from a man named Bolou, who had served under Shunu in Kazakhstan and remained in Dzungaria after the civil war made a report to the Qing which details the most likely course of events. However his account may also be biased as his father was put to death by Galdan Tseren.

[11]: The reason the Dzungars are depicted with firearms whilst the Qing are still using bow and spear is due to how the two armies structured their armies. The Qing commanded their armies under the banner system which had its own lords in charge of not just leading but also paying for their whole banner. Wheres Tserens Angjis where under his direct authority, and were paid and maintained by the Dzungar state. Tserens army reforms and standing armies, as well as the Russian imports of firearms and local manufacturies made hand held guns more common among the late Dzungar troops. The Dzungars still used bows and spears but they began to utilize muskets and arquebuses in greater numbers during this time. The Qing armies was also massive so it was a lot more economical to have the troops make/maintain their own weapons and quickly replace them. The Qing did have many cannons and firearms but they were mainly used for foot soldiers rather than the more mobile horse and camel centric armies of the Dzungars.

As an example: During the opium wars occurring over 100 years later, it was believed that only around 30% to 40% of the Qing army possessed muskets or general firearms; with most soldiers using bows, spears and swords. This combined with the Aisin-Gioro’s emphasis on keeping archery traditions alive made the Qing slow to adopt firearms, especially for cavalry warfare.

[12]: The Yuan Dynasty or Great Yuan was founded by Kublai Khan, the grandson of Chinggis and the last Khan of a somewhat united Mongol Empire. It ruled China for almost 100 years before being exiled to the north in modern day Mongolia for another 260 years. But Yuan was more the just the concept of an old state to the Mongols, at the time it refed to a united Mongolia that included the lands of the Oirats, Khalkha, Buryats, Etc. It could also mean Mongol rule over China and its dominance over the Chinese people and their culture, or it could mean unification the entirety of the Mongol Empire, stretching from the Baltic to the Sea of Japan. To the Mongols that lived in the wake of the Yuan it was both an aspiration for unity, and for conquest. The Yuan was a deeply religious institution, only those of the golden lineage, descendants of Chinggis Khan had the spiritual authority to rule the Yuan and the Mongol Empire. Tserens intentions during the war with the Qing was to reignite this idea of a new Yuan, despite the fact that he was of the Choros lineage, a family unrelated to the golden lineage. He most wanted to get the 2nd Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, a direct descendants of Chinggis to act as the spiritual leader of the new Mongol state whilst he acted as the secular and military ruler. Similar to how the Khoshut Khanate operated with the Khosut elite and the Dalai Lama and other Tibetan Lamas. At the time the 2nd Jebtsundamba Khutughtu was only a child, Tseren probably though that he would be easy to handle, unfortunately Tseren would never get him to join him, nor would he get him as a hostage.

[13]: Johan is confirmed to have fought in two battles against the Qing whilst serving in the Dzungar army. In Turpan as a lieutenant and at Khoton as a Master of Artillery (or what the Dzungar equivalent of that rank would be). There is no mention of him from outside sources having fought in Kazakhstan during the Barefoot Flight but it is more than likely that he was there in some capacity. Records from the Kazakhs themselves is sparse and Dzungar records are non-existent, so its not hard to imagine why his presence was not recorded. He probably did not fight in many anti-bandit campaigns or against minor rebellions in Dzungaria like de Besche is said to have done, as his main duty would have been the construction and production of artillery. He was possibly at Erdene Zuu but was not present during the actual battle at the Orkhon River.

[14]: The maps that J: had brought with him to Sweden were re-discovered in the Uppsala University archives by eccentric Swedish author August Strindberg who was undergoing one of his many public feuds; this one being about who was the first European and Swede respectively to have reached the Gobi.

[15]: There is very little on the Dzungar girls after Renat passed, the girls were not given last names and there are no records of their lives after their baptism. There is a possibility that Altan, who was baptized as Anna-Catarina, might have had a child by the name of Anna Dorothea, who died in 1800, or that she at some point changed her name to that and lived to the age of 97.

[16]: Other than Johan Renat, Johan de Besche and Johan Schnitscher (Why is everyone named Johan?), there was another prisoner taken from Poltava that entered Russian service and went on their own adventure to the east. Lorenz Lange was part of the Swedish cavalry and was taken by the Russians after the battle. He later became part of a Russian trade mission to China, crossing over Mongolia and the Gobi to reach Peking, staying for many years in service of both the Manchus and Russians where he tried to better trade relations between the two.

[17]: Johan Renat never had any children of his own, nor did his brother as far as i can find. His sister Maria however had 15 children throughout her life and was alive when Johan lived in Stockholm, though it is unknown if they reunited. Many of her descendants still live in Stockholm to this day.

[18]: There is one very glaring issue in this work, most of the research and sources are not from the actual Dzungars themselves, instead its primarily from a wide variety of article of varying quality from the perspective of their neighbors: The Russians, Manchu, Chinese and Khalkha, with the main source being Swedish that itself takes a lot of information from English, Swedish and Russian sources. A lot of the clothing, hair and other minor things are based on the Kalmyks and for their army depiction i have mainly relied on Qing era portraits from around the time period, as well as museum reconstructions from a variety of places. The Oirat people were not completely wiped out by the Qing but a lot of their history was, thus this is the way i have gone about researching them as a people; Accepting that many accounts, especially Russian, Chinese and Manchu, are going to be biased.

Sources:

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Från Bäckaskog till Kalmuckernas rike – Colibrine Sandström

China marches west : the Qing conquest of Central Eurasia – Peter C. Perdue

最後的可汗 The Last Khan – 班布爾汗

Berättelse, om Ajuckiniska Calmuckiet […] – Johan Christoffer Schnitscher.

Gustaf Mikael Renatus:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Renatus-2

Great Northern War (1700 – 1732) : Every other day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0paFNDPUS8

The Caroleans: The Strengths and Weaknesses of Gå-På:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5_YJNDXhlw

Johan Gustaf Renat’s biographical dictionary:

https://sok.riksarkivet.se/sbl/Presentation.aspx?id=7586

Demographic consequences of the conquest of Dzungaria by the Qing Empire troops:

Демографические последствия завоевания Джунгарии войсками империи Цин

A Letter Sent from the Dzungar Empire Galdantseren Khan to a Khalkha Nobleman Lamajab in 1731:

Lkhagvasuren_Enkhsaruul_A_Letter_Sent_from_the_Dzungar_Empire_Galdantseren_Khan_to_a_Khalkha_Nobleman_Lamajab_in_1731_The_Journal_of_Mongolian_Area_Studies_Vol_10_Seoul_2025_pp_105_119

BICHURIN N. Ya. [IAKINF] HISTORICAL REVIEW OYRATOV or KALMYKOV from the 15th century to the present day:

https://www.vostlit.info/Texts/Dokumenty/China/Bicurin/Oirat/frametext1.htm

Wuyunbilige: Small Figures, Big Stages and Big Roles: Lobzang Shunu and the Relationship between the Oirat Khanate and the Qing Dynasty in Eurasia in the 18th Century:

http://iqh.ruc.edu.cn/old/qdbjmzyj/bj_ztyj/xbbj/3f4e73017b794397b28712e52bf7a27c.htm

THE STRUGGLE OF THE KAZAKH PEOPLE AGAINST ZHONGAR AGGRESSION:

https://itest.kz/kz/ent/qazaqstan-tarihy/8-synyp/lecture/qazaq-halqynyng-zhonghar-shapqynshylyhyna-qarsy-kuresi

A Study on the Khalkha Mongols and the Qing Dynasty:

http://www.historychina.net/qsyj/ztyj/bjmz/2007-03-01/25349.shtml

Tibetan Buddhism among Dzungar Mongols of Xinjiang 1994:

https://studybuddhism.com/en/advanced-studies/history-culture/buddhism-in-mongolia/buddhism-in-the-mongol-regions-of-china-1994/tibetan-buddhism-among-dzungar-mongols-of-xinjiang-1994

The Conquest of Xinjiang – Afakv’s Momories: https://afakv.home.blog/2020/08/03/the-conquest-of-xinjiang

Mitirov A.G. Oirats-Kalmyks: centuries and generations. – Elista: Kalm. book publishing house, 1998. – 384 pp.: ill. . Tsevan-Rabtan and Galdan-Tseren:

https://kalmyki.narod.ru/projects/kalmykia2005/html/mitirov/chevan.htm

Further Reading on clothing, weapons and armor:

Click to access Pastukhov-2021b-E.pdf

Click to access Pastukhov-2021c.pdf

Click to access Pastukhov-2021b.pdf

https://mongoloved.kigiran.com/jour/article/view/704/500

http://en.chinaculture.org/library/2008-01/29/content_28829.htm

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhLuRxEDmWA&

https://kalmchat.com/2018/08/31/kalmyckie-pricheski/

https://samlingar.shm.se/object/C4301B5B-475E-4CFD-8AAE-72491A1C6F9D