Ten Great Campaigns The Ten Great Campaigns ( ) were a series of wars fought during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor , much celebrated in the official Qing Dynasty annals . They included three to enlarge the area of Qing control in Central Asia : two against the Dzungars ( 1755 – 1757 ) and the pacification of Xinjiang ( 1758 – 1759 ) . The other seven campaigns were more in the nature of police actions on frontiers already established – two wars to suppress the Jinchuan rebels in Sichuan , another to suppress rebels in Taiwan ( 1787 – 1788 ) , and four expeditions abroad against the Burmese ( 1765 – 1769 ) , the Vietnamese ( 1788 – 1789 ) , and the warlike Gurkha s in Nepal on the border between Tibet and India ( 1790 – 1792 ) , the last counting as two . The Dzungars and pacification of Xinjiang ( 1755 – 1759 ) . Of the ten campaigns , the final destruction of the Dzungars was the most significant . It secured the northern and western boundaries of Xinjiang and eliminated rivalry for control over the Dalai Lama in Tibet , and thereby the elimination of rival influence in Mongolia . It also led to the pacification of the Islamicised , Turkic - speaking southern half of Xinjiang immediately thereafter . In 1752 , Dawachi and Amursana competed over the title of Khan of the Dzungars . Dawachi defeated Amursana various times and gave him no chance to recover . Amursana was thus forced to flee with his small army to the Qing court . Qianlong pledged to support Amursana since Amursana accepted Qing authority ; among those who supported Amursana and the Chinese were the Uyghur brothers Burhān al - Dīn ( 波羅尼都 ) and Khwāja - i Jahān ( 霍集占 ) . In 1755 , Qianlong sent Zhao Hui aided by Amursana , Burhān al - Dīn and Khwāja - i Jahān . After several skirmishes and small scale battles along the Ili River Zhao Hui was able to approach Ili ( Gulja ) and Dawachi surrendered . Qianlong made Amursana Khan of Khoit as one of four equal khans to the displeasure of Amursana , who wanted to be Khan of the Dzungars . In the summer of 1756 Amursana started a Dzungar revolt against the Chinese with the help of Chingünjav . The Qing Empire reacted at the start of 1757 and sent Zhao Hui with support from Burhān al - Dīn and Khwāja - i Jahān . Among several battles , the most important ones were illustrated in the paintings of Qianlong . One Kalmuk leader of the Dzungars named Ayusi defected to the Chinese side and attacked the Dzungar camp at Gadan - Ola ( Battle of Gadan - Ola ) . The great general Zhao Hui defeated the Turkmen in two battles : the Battle of Oroi - Jalatu ( 1758 ) and the Battle of Khurungui ( 1758 ) . In the former battle Zhao Hui attacked Amursana ' s camp at night ; Amursana was able to fight on until Zhao Hui received enough reinforcements to drive off Amursana . Between the time of Oroi - Jalatu and Khurungui , the Chinese under Prince Cäbdan - jab defeated Amursana at the Battle of Khorgos ( known in the Qianlong engravings as " The Victory of Khorgos " ) . At Mount Khurungui Zhao Hui defeated Amursana in a night attack on his camp after crossing a river and drove off Amursana . To commemorate the two victories of Zhao Hui , Qianlong had the Puning Temple of Chengde constructed , home to the world ' s tallest wooden sculpture of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara and hence its alternate name , the ' Big Buddha Temple ' . Afterwards Huo Jisi of Turfan submitted to the Qing Dynasty . After all of these battles , Amursana fled to Russia ( where he died ) and Chingünjav fled north to Darkhad but was captured at Wang Tolgoi and executed in Beijing . After the second campaign against the Dzungars in 1758 , two Eastern Turkestan nobles the brothers Burhān al - Dīn and Khwāja - i Jahān began a Muslim revolt against the Qing Dynasty . Aside from the remaining Dzungars they were also joined by the Kyrgyz peoples and the Muslim Uyghur tribes in East Turkestan . After several captures of towns in Eastern Turkestan there were still two rebel fortresses , Yarkand and Kashgar at the end of 1758 . Zhao Hui unsuccessfully besieged Yarkand and fought an indecisive battle outside Yarkand , this engagement is known as the Battle of Tonguzluq . He instead took other towns east of Yarkand but was forced to retreat , the Dzungar and Uyghur rebels laid siege to him at the Siege of Black River Fort ( Kara Usu ) . In 1759 , Zhao Hui sent for relief troops , 600 troops showed up and were under the overall command of generals Fu De and Machang with the 200 cavalry led by Namjal ; other high - ranking officers included Arigun , Dou Bin , Duan Ji Bu , Fulu , Yan Xiangshi , Janggimboo , Yisamu , Agui and Shuhede . On February 3 , 1759 , over 5 , 000 enemy cavalry led by Burhān al - Dīn ambushed the 600 relief troops at the Battle of Qurman . The Uyghur and Dzungar cavalry were stopped by the Qing zamburak artillery camels , musketry and archers ; Namjal and Machang led a cavalry charge on one of the flanks . It seems that Namjal was killed and Machang was unhorsed and fought well on foot with his bow . After a hard fought battle the Qing were victorious and attacked the Dzungar camp , causing the enemies besieging Black River to withdraw . After the victory at Qurman , the Qing overran the remaining rebel towns and Ming Rui led a detachment of cavalry and defeated Dzungar cavalry at the Battle of Qos - Qulaq . The Uyghurs retreated from Qos - Qulaq but were defeated by Zhao Hui and Fu De at the Battle of Arcul ( Altishar ) on September 1 , 1759 , the rebels were again defeated at the Battle of Yesil Kol Nor . After these defeats Burhān al - Dīn and Khwāja - i Jahān fled with their small army of supporters to Badakshan . Sultan Shah promised to protect them but he contacted the Qing Dynasty and promised to turn them over . The fleeing rebels came to Sultan Shah ' s capital and after some time he attacked them and after a quick battle captured them . When the Chinese came to Sultan Shah ' s capital he handed over the rebels that had fled from them and Sultan Shah submitted to Chinese authority . Suppression of the Jinchuan hill peoples ( 1747 – 1749 , 1771 – 1776 ) . The suppression of the Jinchuan hill people was the costliest and most difficult , and also the most destructive . The Jinchuan ( literally " Golden Stream " ) was northwest of Chengdu in western Sichuan . The tribal peoples there were related to the Tibetans of the Amdo . The first campaign in 1747 – 1749 was a simple affair ; with little use of force the Manchu general induced the native chieftains to accept a peace plan , and departed . Interethnic conflict brought the Manchus back after twenty years . The result was the Qing expeditionary force being forced to fight a protracted war of attrition costing the Qing treasury several times the amounts expended on the earlier conquests of the Dzungars and Xinjiang . The resisting tribes retreated to their stone towers and forts in steep mountains and could only be dislodged by cannon . The Manchu generals were ruthless in annihilating the rebellious tribes , then reorganised the region in a military prefecture and repopulated it with more cooperative inhabitants . When victorious troops returned to Beijing , a celebratory hymn was sung in their honor . A Manchu version of the hymn was recorder by the Jesuit Amoit and sent to Paris . The Burmese Campaigns ( 1765 – 1769 ) . The Qianlong Emperor launched four invasions of Burma between 1765 and 1769 . The war claimed the lives of over 70 , 000 Chinese soldiers and four commanders , and is sometimes described as " the most disastrous frontier war that the Qing Dynasty had ever waged " , and one that " assured Burmese independence and probably the independence of other states in Southeast Asia " . Burma ' s successful defense laid the foundation for the present - day boundary between the two countries . At first , Qianlong envisaged an easy war , and sent in only the Green Standard troops stationed in Yunnan . The Qing invasion came as the majority of Burmese forces were deployed in the Burmese invasion of Siam . Nonetheless , battle - hardened Burmese troops defeated the first two invasions of 1765 and 1766 at the border . The regional conflict now escalated to a major war that involved military maneuvers nationwide in both countries . The third invasion ( 1767 – 1768 ) led by the elite Manchu Bannermen nearly succeeded , penetrating deep into central Burma within a few days ' march from the capital , Ava . But the Bannermen of northern China could not cope with unfamiliar tropical terrains and lethal endemic diseases , and were driven back with heavy losses . After the close - call , King Hsinbyushin redeployed most of the Burmese armies from Siam to the Chinese border . The fourth and largest invasion got bogged down at the frontier . With the Qing forces completely encircled , a truce was reached between the field commanders of the two sides in December 1769 . The Qing kept a heavy military lineup in the border areas of Yunnan for about one decade in an attempt to wage another war while imposing a ban on inter - border trade for two decades . The Burmese too were preoccupied with another impending invasion by the Chinese , and kept a series of garrisons along the border . Twenty years later , Burma and China resumed a diplomatic relationship in 1790 . To the Burmese the resumption was on equal terms . But Qianlong unilaterally interpreted the act as Burmese submission , and claimed victory . Ironically , the main beneficiaries of this war were the Siamese . After having lost their capital Ayutthaya to the Burmese in 1767 , they regrouped in the absence of large Burmese armies , and reclaimed their territories in the next two years . The Pacification of Taiwan ( 1786 - 1788 ) . In 1786 , Taiwan ' s Minister discovered and suppressed the Heaven and Earth Society , the members of Heaven and Earth Society had gathered Ming loyalist comrades , and their leader Lin Shuang - wen proclaimed himself king . Many important people took part in this revolt and the insurgents quickly rose to 50 , 000 people . In , less than a year the rebels occupied almost the entire part of southern Taiwan . Hearing that the rebels had occupied most of Taiwan , Qing troops were sent to suppress them in a hurry . The east insurgents defeated the poorly organized troops and they had to resist falling to the enemy . Finally , the Qing court sent General Fuk ' anggan while Hai Lan , Counselor of the Police , deployed nearly 3 , 000 people to fight the insurgents . These new troops were well equipped , disciplined and had combat experience which proved enough to route the insurgents . The Ming loyalists had lost the war and their leaders and remaining rebels hid among the locals . Lin Shuang - wen and Zhuang Datian Tiandihui and other leaders had started a rebellion which at first was successful , and as many as 300 , 000 took part in the rebellion . The Qing general Fu Kang ' an was sent to quell the rebellion with a force of 20 , 000 soldiers , which he accomplished . The campaign was relatively expensive for the Qing government , although leaders Lin Shuang - wen and Zhuang Datian were both captured . After the revolt ended , Qianlong was forced to rethink the method of government for Taiwan . The Gurkha Campaigns ( 1788 – 1793 ) . The Gurkha wars display the Qing court ' s continuing sensitivity to conditions in Tibet . The late 1760s saw the creation of a strong state in Nepal and the involvement in the region of a new foreign power , Britain , through their British East India Company . The rash Gurkha rulers of Nepal decided to invade southern Tibet in 1788 . The two Manchu resident agents in Lhasa ( Ambans ) made no attempt at defense or resistance . Instead they took the child Panchen Lama to safety when the Nepalese troops came through and plundered the rich monastery at Shigatse on their way to Lhasa . Upon hearing of the first Nepalese incursions , the Qianlong Emperor commanded troops from Sichuan to proceed to Lhasa and restore order . By the time they reached southern Tibet , the Gurkhas had already withdrawn . This counted as the first of two wars with the Gurkhas . In 1791 the Gurkhas returned in force . Qianlong urgently dispatched an army of 10 , 000 men . It was made up of around 6 , 000 Manchu and Mongol forces supplemented by tribal soldiers under the able general Fuk ' anggan , with Hailancha as his deputy . They entered Tibet from Xining ( Qinghai ) in the north , shortening the march but making it in the dead of winter 1791 – 1792 , crossing high mountain passes in deep snow and cold . They reached central Tibet in the summer of 1792 and within two or three months could report that they had won a decisive series of encounters that pushed the Gurkha armies across the crest of the Himalaya and back into the valley of Kathmandu . Fuk ' anggan fought on into 1793 , when he forced the battered Gurkhas to sign a treaty on Manchu terms which forced Gurkhas to pay tax every five years . The Campaign in Vietnam ( 1788 – 1789 ) . For most of her history , the Vietnamese rulers sometimes recognized the Chinese Emperor as their feudal lord , while ruling independently in their own land . This had been the case throughout the reign of the Later Lê Dynasty . This changed however when the brothers of Tây Sơn , leading a national uprising , defeated the feuding Trịnh and Nguyễn lords and overthrew the last Lê ruler , Emperor Lê Chiêu Thống . Emperor Lê Chiêu Thống fled to China and appealed to Emperor Qianlong ( ) for help . In 1788 a large Qing army was sent south to restore Lê Mẫn Đế to the throne . They succeeded in taking Thăng Long ( Hà Nội ) and putting Emperor Chiêu Thống back on the throne , but many of his supporters were angered by their subservient position . Chiêu Thống was treated as a vassal king by Qianlong and all edicts had to be authorized by the Qing before becoming official . In any event , the situation did not last long as the Tây Sơn leader , Nguyễn Huệ , launched a surprise attack against the Qing forces while they were celebrating the Chinese New Year festival of the year 1789 . The Chinese were unprepared but fought for five days before being defeated at Battle of Đống Đa . Chiêu Thống fled back to China as Nguyễn Huệ was proclaimed Emperor Quang Trung . Although Nguyễn Huệ won this battle , he eventually submitted himself as vassal of Qing China and agreed to pay tribute annually . The Campaigns in Perspective . In his later years , Qianlong referred to himself with the grandiose style name of " Old Man of the Ten Completed [ Great Campaigns ] " ( 十全老人 ) . He also wrote an essay enumerating the victories in 1792 entitled " Record of Ten Completions " ( 十全记 ) . The campaigns were major financial drain on Qing , costing more than 151 million taels of silver .