Kangxi commissioned his own two half-brothers,
Fuquan, Prince Yu and
Changning, Prince Gong, as the commanding generals, dispatching Fuquan with an army north through the pass at
Gubeikou, and Changning with a second force through the
Xifengkou pass.
The emperor also sent his eldest son
Yunti, Prince Xun as an assistant to Fuquan, and was himself preparing to join the forces in the field, when he was stricken by illness. The result was victory for Galdan, who held off the imperial forces at
Ulan-Butung.
Spence, Jonathan D. (2002),
"The K'ang-hsi Reign", in Peterson, Willard J. (ed.), Cambridge History of China, Vol. 9, Part 1: The Ch'ing Dynasty to 1800, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 120–182,
ISBN0521243343.