The Qing government imposed several types of duties on the Qalq-a Mongolian people, the main one being military service. Such duties, generally called “Alba”, have merely been considered a means of exploitation by most researchers. However, the volume of documents preserved at the National Archives of Mongolia reveal that many Mongolian soldiers in the military service in fact earned a profit through various - often illegal - activities. This paper focuses on two cases to clarify the actual situation of soldiers’ activities: Smuggling at the Kiran watch post on the Qalq-a-Russian border in 1844, and silver counterfeiting in Kuriy-e in 1880−81. A close examination of the materials produced the following two findings: One was that their economic activities were based on the human relationships formed during military service. The other was that they collected useful information through contacts with local residents and merchants around the garrisons whom they would have no chance to encounter in their homelands. In summary, the soldiers turned their position of being tasked with military service to their own advantage for financial gain. How the relationships between soldiers/residents/merchants were sustained or transformed and what role this played in the economy of Qalq-a Mongol should be studied further.

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