The Nepal–Tibet war and the Chinese invasion of Nepal

01Coins, salt and Tashilhunpo

For generations the Malla kings had minted silver coins for Tibet. After the Gorkha conquest, quarrels over debased coin, over the salt Tibet sent back and over trade led to a first Gorkha invasion in 1788. By the Treaty of Kerung in 1789 Tibet promised a yearly payment, then stopped paying. In 1791 the regent Bahadur Shah sent his army over the passes again. It reached Shigatse and plundered the great monastery of Tashilhunpo, seat of the Panchen Lama. Lhasa appealed to the Qianlong emperor.

02Fuk’anggan at the Betrawati

In 1792 a Qing army under Fuk’anggan crossed the high passes, cleared Tibet of Gorkha troops and pushed down the Trishuli valley towards Nuwakot. Fighting in the gorges was heavy on both sides. At the Betrawati river, about a day’s march from Kathmandu, the advance stopped, worn down by the hills and the coming winter. Bahadur Shah sued for peace. Nepal returned the Tashilhunpo plunder and agreed to send a tribute mission to Peking every five years, a custom kept up into the twentieth century.