In 1724, the magistrate Chen Shiguan submitted the following memorial to Beijing:
[Islam] is a perverse doctrine that deceives the people and should be banned by law. Those who enter it do not respect Heaven and Earth and do not worship the gods, instead setting up their own cultic deity [...] They aid evil and harm the people. Please force them from their teaching and destroy their mosques.
The emperor's views, however, were rather different:
All over the direct provinces, the Muslim people, having resided there from old, are enumerated as part of the population and are all still children of our country. It follows that they cannot be regarded as separate [from the Han] [...] The Muslims have their religion because their ancestors bequeathed them their family traditions and local customs [...] As long as they live peacefully they are not to be compared with traitors, lawbreakers, or those who seek to delude or lead people astray [...] Our court looks on them with the same benevolence as in all.
What if the Yongzheng emperor had a change of heart and ordered all Muslims to leave either their religion or their country under pain of death? What would be the most likely result? It seems likely that the Zunghars could manipulate this event to further consolidate control over the Uyghurs, for one.