In the Tibetan-inhabited areas, there are four most famous holy mountains. One is Gyiamo Murdo Mountain, towering over the upper reaches of the Dadu River in western Sichuan Province. To its west is the Greater Jinchuan and to its east is the Lesser Jinchuan. Two rivers meet on the southern slope of Murdo Mountain. Historically, this part of the world was called the Jinchuan area. During the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Emperor Qianlong three times sent troops to fight headmen of the Greater and Lesser Jinchuan areas. In the Jinchuan area, they encountered stubborn resistance from local troops entrenched in stone pillboxes.

The Jinchuan area is mountainous and local villages were all guarded by pillboxes built entirely with stone slabs. In various shapes, they generally rose 20-50 meters high. Each side of the pillbox was complete with loopholes through which those inside could keep watch and shoot. And these stone pillboxes were all built in places accessible only by small paths.

According to historical records, when the Qing troops sent by Emperor Qianlong reached the Jinchuan area, there were confronted by innumerable stone pillboxes. In bloody fighting, they seized more than 2,400 pillboxes in the area. The battle started in April 1747, or the third month of the 12th year of the reign of Emperor Qianlong. Qing troops, numbering some 30,000, marched into the Greater Jinchuan along seven routes. Armed with cannons, they occupied one pillbox after another.

Historical records say, however, the Qing cannons could only knock off pieces of stone slabs when they hit the top of the pillboxes. Having no way out, they resorted to fire. Wood was felled and piled around the pillboxes. However, the lower part of each pillbox, about 10 meters high, was solid and the area was rainy. So, the Qing troops failed again.

Eventually, they were forced to dig underground tunnels with a view to getting so close to the pillboxes that they could plant mines to blow them apart. To their surprise, all the pillboxes were well prepared. They had ditches dug outside them and all of them had stored food and drinking water that could last for months. Each pillbox was guarded by several people up to 10 or slightly more. However, the Qing forces had to use several thousand troops simply to attack one of them. Even so, they had no way of seizing it and many died in the battles.



In July 1771 or the sixth month of the 36th year of the reign of Emperor Qianlong, the second batch of Qing troops was dispatched to the Jinchuan area. They moved in two prongs from west and from south. In December of the second year, they captured the Lesser Jinchuan. When the Qing troops reached the Greater Jinchuan, the local troops fled into the heart of dense forests and would not come out to counter-attack until the middle of the night. In August 1773, the local troops re-captured the Lesser Jinchuan, forcing the Qing court to amass 750,000 troops to attack the Jinchuan area in three prongs.

Drawing lessons from previous failures, the Qing troops had heavier cannons built. These included 55 cannons sent along the western route, including one weighing 4,000 kg.

In eight days, the Qing troops seized the Lesser Jinchuan. Some of the strategic points, which the Qing troops fought for six months but still could not capture in previous assaults, fell in two days. In February of the following year, the Qing troops occupied the entire Jinchuan area.

Selected from China's Tibet
BY CHEN XUEYI