Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 2.pdf/63

 was agreed upon as the place of meeting. Early in 1688 Emperor Shêng-tsu appointed Songgotu,, and two other officials as the Chinese representatives. They, with their servants and staff, were escorted by 800 Banner soldiers commanded by and three officers. Since in those days each soldier was entitled to one servant, and officers more, according to their rank, the escort amounted to upwards of 2,000 men. On the st aff also were the Jesuit Fathers, Jean-François Gerbillon 張誠 (1654–1707) and Thomas Pereira (see under ), who acted as interpreters. One of the Chinese secretaries was. The Embassy left Peking on May 30, 1688, taking a northwestern course via Kalgan and Kweihwa. Three days after leaving the latter place (June 20) the expedition was divided, for convenience of water and forage, into three sections. On July 5, the eighth day of their journey in Outer Mongolia, Songgotu and the men of the eastern section met whole families of Mongols with herds of cattle moving southward, and from them he learned that the Mongols had just been defeated by and that the latter was pushing eastward, pillaging and killing. After another day of marching, Songgotu decided to turn back and wait at an oasis for the return of the men in the two other contingents who had penetrated further into the desert. Rumors that Galdan was approaching caused many soldiers to desert. A few days later the other contingents returned and the expedition halted in a state of indecision. On July 22, much to Songgotu's relief, two imperial couriers came from Peking with the message that in view of the war between the Mongols and the Eleuths, the conference should be postponed, that the expedition should return to Peking, and that a message should be sent to the Russian envoy at Selenginsk explaining the situation.

Three contemporary accounts of the embassy have come down to us: Voyages en Tartarie, by Gerbillon (in du Halde, vol. IV, p. 103); Fêng-shih Ê-lo-ssŭ hsing-ch'êng lu, by Chang P'êng-ko; and 出塞記略 Ch'u-Sai chi-lüeh, by Ch'ien Liang-tsê 錢良擇 who accompanied Songgotu as a private secretary. According to Ch'ien's account this fruitless expedition cost the lives of more than 900 men, 1,000 camels, and 37,000 horses, and drained the treasury of some 2,500,000 taels silver.

In 1689 the Russian envoy urged a speedy settlement of the boundary dispute. Emperor Shêng-tsu named Nerchinsk as the place of meeting and reappointed Songgotu and T'ung Kuo-kang as chief envoys, with Gerbillon and Pereira as interpreters, and Langtan in charge of the escort which was even larger than in the preceding year. In his final instructions to Songgotu the Emperor intimated that, if necessary, Russia might be permitted to retain Nerchinsk as a trading post—a conciliatory attitude probably motivated by the hope of preventing Russia from giving aid to Galdan. The party left Peking on June 13, 1689, proceeded north through Outer Mongolia, and arrived on the bank of the Shilka River, opposite Nerchinsk, on July 31. Accompanying them on the river were boats laden with Manchu and Chinese troops and provisions which had been brought from Aigun by Sabsu, then military governor of Heilungkiang. The latter had been instructed to bring 1,500 men, but the actual number, counting servants, must have been twice that many—a display of force that astonished the Russian governor at Nerchinsk. Golovin arrived on August 18 (August 8 in the Russian calendar) and negotiations began four days later.

At first the conference seemed destined to fail because opinions differed widely on the boundary question. Nevertheless, a settlement was reached and the Treaty of Nerchinsk was signed on September 7 (August 27 in the Russian calendar), 1689—the first to be signed by China with a European power. It contained six articles and had versions in five languages: Latin (the copy which was signed), Manchu, Chinese, Mongolian, and Russian. The rivers, Kerbechi 格爾必齊 and Argun 額爾古訥 and the Hsing-an 興安 mountains were taken as demarking the boundary between the two empires. Albazin was to be vacated by the Russians, and no hunters of either nation were to cross the frontier. Songgotu was the first to attach his signature, which was followed by those of T'ung Kuo-kang, Langtan, Bandarša 班達爾沙, Sabsu, Mala 瑪喇 (1632–1692), and Unda 温達 (d. 1715). Songgotu and his staff left Nerchinsk on September 9, two days after signing, and arrived in Peking on October 18. Thereafter Songgotu was for several years in charge of Russian affairs, carrying on correspondence with the Russian governors of Nerchinsk and Irkutsk—a task which was later transferred to.

After playing a part in the campaigns against Galdan (in 1690, 1695, 1696, see under and ), Songgotu retired in 1701 on the 665