WENQUAN, China — Wenquan means “hot springs,” and the town, nestled in a fertile swath of Central Asia, certainly has its share. But an abundance of natural beauty is not what brought the Mongolian warriors to this land of broad valleys in China, next to present-day Kazakhstan. Qianlong, the greatest of the Manchu rulers of the Qing dynasty, cobbled together a vast multiethnic Chinese empire through conquests and alliances. Mongolian khanates, armies and tribes fell under his rule, often after vicious battles. Qianlong dispatched a Chahar army from near the Mongolian steppe to newly conquered territories along the empire’s northwestern rim, where the Chahar were to form a border garrison.

Source: New York Times June 18, 2017 16:43 UTC