order to prevent "something untoward from happening". The Uriankhais appear to have accepted this arrangement without dispute, at least none is recorded. Qing subjugation of the Altai Uriankhai and the Altainor Uriankhai occurred later, in 1754, as part of a broader military offensive against the Oirots. Qing administration The Tannu Uriankhai were reorganized into an administrative system similar to that of Mongolia, with five banners ("khoshun", 旗) and 46 or 47 arrows ("sum", 佐領) (Chinese and Russian sources differ on the number of khoshuns and sumuns). Each khoshun was governed by a magistrate (not hereditary) nominally appointed by the Qing military governor at Uliastai. In the latter half of the 18th century, the magistrate of Tannu Banner was placed in charge of the others as governor ("amban-noyon", 四旗總管) in recognition of his military service to the dynasty, until 1872. Tannu Banner (唐努旗) Salajik Banner (薩拉吉克旗) Tojin Banner (托錦旗) Khövsgöl Nuur Banner (庫布蘇庫勒諾爾旗、庫蘇古爾旗) Khemchik Banner (克穆齊克旗) Uliastai General (Amban) 25 sums (烏里雅蘇臺將軍所屬烏梁海二十五佐領) Zasagtu Khan 5 sums (札薩克圖汗部所屬烏梁海五佐領) Sain Noyan Hošo Prince 13 sums (賽音諾顏部額魯特前旗所屬十三佐領) Jebtsundamba Khutugtu's Shabinar 3 sums (哲布尊丹巴呼圖克圖所屬沙比納爾三佐領) Tannu Uriankhai (as well as Altai and Altainor Uriankhai) occupied a unique position in the Qing dynasty's frontier administration system. If Qing statutes rigorously defined procedures to be followed by the nobles of Outer and Inner Mongolia, Zungaria, and Qinghai for rendering tribute, receiving government stipends, and participating in imperial audiences, they are silent regarding Tannu Uriankhai. After the demarcation of the Sino-Russian border by the Treaty of Kyakhta (1727), the Qing inexplicably placed border guards ("yurt pickets," Mongolian: ger kharuul) south of the Tannu-ola Mountains separating Tannu Uriankai from Outer Mongolia, not along the Sayan Mountains separating the region from Russia. (This fact was used by 19th-century Russian polemicists, and later Soviet writers, to prove that Tuva had historically been "disputed" territory between Russia and China.) The Qing military governor at Uliastiai, on his triennial inspection tours of the 24 pickets under his direct supervision, never crossed the Tannu-ola mountains to visit Uriankhai. When problems occurred meriting official attention, the military governor would send a Mongol from his staff rather than attend to the matter himself. Indeed, there is no evidence that Tannu Uriankhai was ever visited by a senior Qing official (except perhaps in 1726). Chinese merchants were forbidden to cross the pickets, a law not lifted until the turn of the 20th century. Instead, a few days were