The Life of Yakoob Beg; Athalik Ghazi, and Badaulet; Ameer of Kashgar

The Khitay troops, unarmed, were surprised during the night, and cut down without quarter, and the small body of survivors sought refuge in the Yangyshahr fort. This was in August, 1863, and no fewer than 7,000 Khitay soldiers are computed to have fallen on this single occasion. The Tungan troops were thereupon joined by the townspeople, and the question then to be decided was, who was to be supreme, the Tungani or the Andijan-Kashgari Mahomedans. The former were simply an unlettered and rather savage soldiery; the latter possessed keen intellects for manipulating a fanatical people, and for improvising an administration of a superficial character. The balance of power was evenly distributed until reinforcements arrived from Aksu and Kucha to the anti-Tungan party. Two Khojas who had been banished from Kucha, for endeavouring to promote their own interests in the name of Khokand, had fled to Aksu, where they met the same fate. In this latter flight many of similar principles joined them, so that when they reached Yarkand they had a numerous force at their back. The Khojas in the first place joined their forces to the Tungani, to storm the remaining Khitay in the Yangyshahr. The Khitay after a gallant resistance perceived that further opposition was impossible. Then occurred one of those deeds, which, if Europe instead of Asia had been the scene, would have been handed down to posterity as a rare example of military devotion and courage, but which, although not unique even in the annals of the campaign we are entering upon, having occurred in little-known Eastern Turkestan, is not realized as an event that has actually taken place. It is a myth of the myth-land to which it belongs. And yet, when we read how the Amban summoned all his officers to his chamber, where he sat in state surrounded by his wives, his family, and his servants; how all were silent, and yet sedate and prepared; how, at the given signal that all were present, and that the foe was at the gate, the aged warrior dropped his lighted pipe into the mine beneath; how the exulting foe won after all but a barren triumph; and how the Khitay taught the natives that if they had forgotten how to conquer they had not how to die, we feel that there is an under-current throughout the story, that, apart from the admiration it must command, has claims to our own special sympathy. The Chinese, as we did in India in the dark hours of 1857, asserted their superiority over the semi-barbarous races under their sway, even when all hopes of a recovery seemed to be abandoned. After the fall of the citadel the Khoja element was supreme in Yarkand, and a priest named Abderrahman was set up as king.

The other cities of Altyshahr promptly followed the example of Yarkand, and the Chinese power was completely subverted on all hands. The Khitay were massacred whenever they fell into the hands of the Mahomedans, and the only places that still held out were the citadels, notably the Yangyshahr of Kashgar. The inhabitants of this city appear to have been unable to keep their advantage over the Chinese, for they appealed to the Kirghiz to come in and assist them. These nomads, under their chief, Sadic Beg, were nothing loth to join in expelling the Chinese, as such a change could only increase their advantages by substituting an unsettled for a settled government. Siege was accordingly laid to the citadel of Kashgar, but the irregular troops of the new allies were unable to make any impression on the fort, defended as it was by a large Khitay garrison. If the Chinese commander had assumed a more active policy, he might have destroyed his opponents, but he was waiting for the arrival of reinforcements, which he expected before many months. In not relying solely on his own resources he proved himself unable to read the changed signs of the time; if, indeed, he was not already meditating that surrender, which he ultimately concluded with Yakoob Beg. Sadic Beg, finding himself unable to take the fort, and knowing that it was uncertain how long the Kashgari would remain friendly to himself, resolved to play the part of king-maker, and sent the embassy to Tashkent for a Khoja to come and rule Kashgar, only he omitted to say that Kashgar was not conquered.

We can now return to Buzurg Khan and his commander-in-chief. When they left Tashkent they had only a following of six, among whom were Abdulla, Pansad; Mahomed Kuli, Shahawal; and Khoja Kulan, Hudaychi. All of these played a very prominent part under Yakoob Beg. From Tashkent they went to Khokand, where their numbers rose to sixty-eight. Here the final preparations were made, and during the first days of January, 1865, this band of adventurers crossed the Khokand frontier into Eastern Turkestan. The mountain forts seem to have been deserted, for no opposition was encountered in the passage of the Terek defile. Several small bodies of troops joined them, and they reached Mingyol in the neighbourhood of Kashgar with increased numbers and confidence. Sadic Beg had conceived a more sanguine view of his situation by this time, and half repented that he had invited the Khojas in at all, more particularly when he found that the Khoja had a following of his own, and a skilled commander and minister in Yakoob Beg. He then strove to dissuade Buzurg Khan from proceeding further with an enterprise fraught with great peril, for he represented the Chinese as sure to return, when summary vengeance would be exacted. But his arguments were unavailing. Either Buzurg Khan or his adviser, Yakoob Beg, was deaf to all entreaty. The enterprise they had embarked on must be continued to the bitter end. They could not think of returning to Khokand with nothing accomplished, with the stigma attaching to them of a retreat when there had been no foe. Sadic Beg could not but submit with the best grace possible; and Buzurg Khan was accordingly placed on the throne of his ancestors.

In his "orda" or palace he administered justice and received the congratulations of his own followers and of the Andijani townspeople. The court rules were drawn up on the model of those in use in Khokand, and while the expedition had but established itself, in an uncertain manner, in one city it was thought necessary that etiquette should be as strictly defined and enforced as if all this were taking place in a brilliant and luxurious capital. In a few days Sadic Beg, on finding that he played but a secondary part, revolted, and set himself up as ruler at Yangy Hissar. It was now that Yakoob Beg came to the front, and assumed the control of affairs until the fall of the contemptible Buzurg. With great difficulty after the desertion of their Kirghiz allies was a force of 3,000 men collected around the new Khoja in Kashgar. Sadic Beg advanced on the capital with a much larger army, and Yakoob Beg had for a time to remain on the defensive. Each day, however, brought in recruits to his camp, while, the army of the Kirghiz leader presenting no object of sympathy to the people, his rival's remained stationary, if it did not decrease. An encounter at last commenced between the two forces which was made general by the intrepidity of Abdulla. The Kirghiz levies of Sadic were unable to withstand the vigorous charges that were led against them, and broke after a short combat into headlong flight. In the mountains the Kirghiz gathered around their chieftain in force, and, hovering on the northern districts of Kashgar, presented a danger that must be removed by Yakoob Beg before he could advance farther. His troops were therefore directed to proceed against the Kirghiz in their fastnesses, and it was not long before the Kirghiz, driven into a corner, turned at bay on their pursuer. The forces on either side were about equal, some 5,000 men in either army. But, as is customary in the East, the Kirghiz army put forth a champion, Suranchi by name, who had obtained great renown for his extraordinary height and strength. The challenge did not remain unanswered, for Abdulla stepped forward to the encounter. The fight, though furious, was short, and the smaller Khokandian warrior was victorious over his more ponderous antagonist. The Kirghiz power after this reverse was broken up, and Sadic Beg took refuge with Alim Kuli at Tashkent. Yakoob Beg's first campaign against the Kirghiz, who had sworn alliance with him, and by whose invitation he was present in Kashgar, had thus ended victoriously, and he was now able to resume the main purpose of conquering Kashgar. Having rendered Kashgar secure from surprise on the north, and leaving a force to maintain their hold on it, and to keep in check the Khitay garrison, Buzurg and Yakoob proceeded south to occupy Yangy Hissar. The town was occupied without difficulty, but an attempt to storm the citadel in which the Khitay had taken refuge was repulsed with loss. Sending Buzurg Khan back to Kashgar, Yakoob Beg resolved to go on to Yarkand and endeavour to bring that city under their immediate influence.

At this period he loudly proclaimed that there should be no differences among the Tungani, or Mahomedans, in their war with the Buddhists, and that Khojas and Tungani had but one interest in common. As we have seen, the Tungan disturbances broke out first in Yarkand of any city of Altyshahr, and accordingly an earlier settlement founded on a compromise had been attained there, than was the case in its northern neighbours, Kashgar and Yangy Hissar, where an ambitious Kirghiz chief had sought to carve a kingdom for himself. After Abderrahman Khoja had been made king or ruler in Yarkand, and after the Khitay had been destroyed with their citadel, a fresh arrangement was agreed upon between the Tungani and the Khoja party. By its terms the Tungani maintained possession of the citadel, and the Khojas held jurisdiction in the city. Neither of them would be disposed to view with any friendly eye the appearance of a claimant to supremacy in the person of a Khoja sovereign of the whole country, and it was as the representative of such a person that Yakoob Beg resolved to visit Yarkand. His march was delayed as much as possible, and it was not without some difficulty that he at last obtained admittance with his small following into the city. Yakoob Beg was naturally incensed at this inimical treatment from his fellow-religionists, and he soon set himself to the task of humbling the dominant Khojas of Yarkand. During a street riot that was probably instigated by the wily Khokandian, the leading Khojas were seized, and their followers expelled from the city. With a force of only a few hundred men, Yakoob Beg had established himself as master in the largest city of the country; his success on this occasion was very temporary. As ill fortune would have it for him, a fresh army of 2,000 men from Kucha had arrived at Tagharchi, and, there joined by the forces from Yarkand and the neighbourhood, presented a very formidable appearance. They marched on the city at once with complete confidence in their superior numbers, and Yakoob Beg, always in favour of the boldest course, marched out to meet them. In a skirmish, however, the detachment under Abdulla was badly cut up owing to the rashness of that officer, and Yakoob Beg at once recognized the necessity for a prompt retreat. During the following night he made a forced march and arrived the next day at Yangy Hissar with no very great loss in men, but without any baggage whatever. The enterprise to Yarkand then appeared in its true light as a rash venture.

The Khitay in the fort of Yangy Hissar still held out, and Yakoob Beg resolved to overcome them before he attempted any fresh enterprise. He called up reinforcements from Kashgar, and pressed the siege with renewed vigour, and alter strictly environing it for forty days the garrison surrendered. Although Yakoob Beg himself seemed desirous of showing moderation to the prisoners, more than 2,00 °Chinese were massacred. During all these petty events, which had not produced even the results of past Khoja enterprises, there had been discontent and division within, as well as opposition from without. At this time a fresh danger was appearing on the horizon. A Badakshi army was advancing with hostile intent on Sirikul, and although Yakoob Beg disregarded its approach while he pressed on the works against the citadel of Yangy Hissar, when that fort fell it attracted his attention once more. The Khitay garrison in the Yangyshahr of Kashgar was also a source of danger to the newly founded dynasty, and, although its inactivity had continued for a long period, it was uncertain at what moment it might pass off. We can only account for the extraordinary lethargy of the Chinese commander by supposing that he was in complete ignorance of what was passing in the country. At many moments it must seem to an observer of the facts that the Chinese governor, who had under him 6,000 or 7,000 disciplined troops, could have crushed all the opposition of such heterogeneous crowds as those fighting under or against Yakoob Beg were up to this time. With the destruction of the Yangy Hissar garrison the prospects of Yakoob Beg greatly improved, and less opportunity was left to the Chinese governor for assuming the offensive, than when he possessed an ally in so close a position as Yangy Hissar. Yakoob Beg also resolved to press the Khitay still more in this their last stronghold, and before he encountered other opponents to crush the Khitay, as he already had the Kirghiz. At this point Sadic Beg reappears in Kashgar at the head of a Kirghiz force to oppose Yakoob Beg, and for a moment it seemed as if he were to have better fortune on this occasion. But Abdulla, the most trusted as well as the most courageous of Yakoob Beg's lieutenants, collected such forces as he could, boldly threw himself in his path, and, having routed Sadic in a sanguinary engagement, prepared to press that unfortunate chieftain into flight or ruin. Yakoob Beg, in want of allies and soldiers however, interfered and suggested an alliance instead of a war à outrance. The thwarted Sadic was only too glad to get off on such favourable terms, and joined his forces to those of his late enemy now besieging the Khitay with renewed vigour. This merciful termination of a difficulty, that might have become serious had it not been cured in time, was a performance very creditable in a diplomatic sense to Yakoob Beg. In a small way it may be compared with Frederick the Great's action at Pirna, where he received the services of 40,000 Saxon troops. But, perhaps, still more remarkable was the manner in which Yakoob Beg averted the danger from the Badakshi army. The Badakshi, like their kinsmen the Afghans, may be considered, cæteris paribus, to be superior soldiers, on account of their larger build and more active habits, to other Asiatics, so that Yakoob Beg with his half-disciplined followers would have had some difficulty and must have incurred considerable loss in overcoming these new invaders. He made overtures to them, and the Badakshi, seeing that he was likely to give them exciting and profitable employment, entered into negotiations with him. The result was that they took service under him; and Yakoob Beg for the first time found himself at the head of a large army, composed of Khokand, Kashgar, Kirghiz, and Badakshan levies. It was fortunate for himself that he had been able to arrange his affairs so satisfactorily, for a fresh danger was approaching from the east.

The reader may have observed that we have said little of Buzurg Khan during the operations of the campaign up to this point. Indeed, there is little or nothing to say of the movements of that prince, for he had been mainly stationary at Kashgar, where he passed his time in his harem, or besotted under the use of drugs. Yakoob Beg had from the very commencement come to the front as responsible chief, and as events progressed the people and the army came to look upon him as their future ruler. But Yakoob Beg, it would seem, was really in earnest in supporting the Khoja prince, for on several occasions not only did he give Buzurg the most salutary advice, but he also compelled him to take an active part in the public business. Such fits of action were most distasteful to the effeminate prince, and he always returned with renewed zest to the illicit pleasures in which he indulged. One of the occasions on which Yakoob Beg endeavoured to instil into his sovereign some idea of the responsibilities of his office was this invasion by the Khoja-Tungani power of Altyshahr. Early in the summer a large force, estimated at 40,000 men, collected by the cities of Aksu, Kucha, and Turfan, appeared at Maralbashi, whence it equally threatened Kashgar or protected Yarkand. Yakoob Beg's utmost efforts, if we are to credit the native report, only availed to bring some 2,500 men into the field; but it is more reasonable to suppose, that, with his Kirghiz, Kipchak, and Badakshi auxiliaries, he had many more troops under him, perhaps 12,500 instead of 2,500 men. Be the exact numbers of the forces what they may, however, it is certain that he was greatly outnumbered by the invader, and that the diverse elements of his army detracted very much from its effective strength. The Tungan army advanced from Maralbashi on Yangy Hissar, where Yakoob Beg had concentrated his army. He had drawn Buzurg Khan and such of the court followers as he could from their ignominious inaction in the capital to encounter the dangers and risks of a field of battle. Both sides were eager for the encounter, which took place in the neighbourhood of Yangy Hissar. The tactical disposition made by Yakoob Beg of his forces was such as would command the approval of skilled officers, and, having done all that mortal man could do to insure the result, he commended himself and his cause to Allah. The battle was long and stoutly contested. During hours it was impossible to say to which side the balance of victory was inclining; at last the Kirghiz troops, half-hearted in their fighting, were driven from the field, and the Badakshi division, which had up to that moment stubbornly held its ground, immediately followed the shameful example thus set it. There now only remained the division under the immediate orders of Yakoob Beg to withstand the onset of a whole army victorious in two different quarters of the field. The situation, on which the fate of the whole enterprise depended, might have filled the boldest heart with momentary despair. Yakoob Beg had, however, so braced himself to the effort, that no more than ordinary emotion was permitted to betray the disturbed mind within, and with the exclamation that "Victory is the gift of God," he inspired his soldiery to continue the fight throughout the afternoon. The enemy, dismayed at the dauntless courage shown by this mere handful of men, and having incurred great loss in his effort to crush them, drew off his weakened forces towards evening; and Yakoob Beg, boldly seizing the opportunity for assuming the offensive, drove them from the field in disorder and with considerable loss. In addition to the loss in killed and wounded, more than 1,000 Tungan soldiers enlisted under the standard of Yakoob Beg, and that general found himself on the morrow of one of his greatest battles, with a greater force under his command than he had just before it commenced. This great triumph gave fresh lustre to the Khoja family, and redounded to the military renown of Yakoob Beg. Nor should it be forgotten that on this occasion he showed that he possessed, besides military genius of some merit, qualities of an estimable character. For the first time in the annals of these wars the prisoners were treated with some consideration. For some reason or other this victory was not followed up, and the defeated Kucha army retired on Maralbashi, which it continued to hold for some months longer. The indirect results of this victory were scarcely less important, however, than the immediate and direct consequences of it.

Buzurg Khan, who had been present at this battle, was among the first to seek refuge in flight; and when he received intelligence of the final success his satisfaction was almost eclipsed by his personal chagrin and mortification. Up to this event he had been content to let Yakoob Beg act the king so long as he could indulge undisturbed in his debaucheries; but from this date there became mingled with his wounded vanity a conviction that Yakoob Beg was becoming so powerful and so popular that he might prove a dangerous subject. The weak-minded prince then permitted himself to be made the tool of every rival that the success of Yakoob Beg had raised up for himself either in the court or in the camp, and listened to tales brought him of his lieutenant's plots, when the conspirators most to be feared by himself were the ambitious chieftains in whose power he was placing his person and his crown. After the defeat of the Kucha army, the ruling parties in Yarkand thought it would be wise to come to terms with their victorious and aggressive neighbour, and accordingly an embassy was despatched to Yangy Hissar by the Khojas of Yarkand to tender their submission to the sovereign of Kashgar, and to ask to be favoured by the nomination of a city governor, who would be agreeable to Buzurg Khan and his vizier, Yakoob Beg. It is suggestive to watch how the name of the vizier occupies almost as prominent place in all their addresses as that of his master. The Tungan governor in the Yarkand Yangyshahr, not to be behindhand in his worship of the rising sun, immediately sent a similar expression of obedience to Kashgar.

The course of events once more takes us back to Kashgar, where the Chinese still held the citadel against all comers. But with each fresh success of Yakoob Beg over his numerous opponents, and with the spread of the Tungan power into Jungaria, hope almost completely deserted the unfortunate Khitay, who, in this solitary fort, alone maintained the name of Chinese authority. Treason, within the walls, was now to aid the efforts from without. Kho Dalay, the superior officer in the citadel, although not the commandant, came to an arrangement with Yakoob Beg, by which honourable terms were conceded to the garrison; and 3,000 Khitay troops surrendered and settled in Kashgar. They were required to acknowledge formally the supremacy of the Khoja, and to make a profession of Islamism. But they were never really interfered with in the observance of their own rites among themselves, and had nothing to complain of in their duty. They were called after their recantation "Yangy Mussulmans," or "New Mussulmans." These were the last Khitay troops who surrendered to the new conquerors, and with them every vestige of Chinese authority disappeared from every part of Jungaria and Eastern Turkestan. Even among this garrison, reduced by a long siege and its attendant deprivations to despair, there was a small minority who preferred death to the dishonour involved in surrender. Chang Tay, the commandant, refused to be any party to the arrangement made between Kho Dalay and Yakoob Beg. When the day approached for the entry of the Kashgarian army, this resolute Amban withdrew to his palace, and having collected his family and dependents around him blew them all up with the explosion of a mine that he had constructed underneath. In the confusion that arose from this incident, the enemy broke into the fort, and it was not for some hours that Yakoob Beg succeeded in obtaining control over them once more. During that interval of insubordination many Khitay were murdered, but not without resistance. Kho Dalay and almost 3,000 men remained to take service in the conquering army, as already explained. The new alliance was cemented by the marriage of Yakoob Beg to the beautiful daughter of Kho Dalay, by whom he has had several children, too young as yet to take any part in public affairs. Perhaps Yakoob Beg's moderation to the Khitay is to be explained by this circumstance, and it is certain that down to the very end his Khitay wife exercised great influence over her husband.

This was in September, 1865, nine months after his first arrival in Altyshahr, and in that period he had worked, if not very rapidly, with considerable thoroughness. The Khitay destroyed, the Kirghiz subdued, and the Tungan influence checked in its aggression against Western Kashgar, such was the tale of his achievements. Several battles and sieges successfully brought to an issue, and a numerous army formed out of the diverse fragments of conquered and conquerors. Personally, too, Yakoob Beg had done much towards preparing the public mind for the assumption of power by himself, and the reigning chief had done still more by his neglect of duty and abandonment to pleasure. Buzurg Khan might stand for the typical roi fainéant, and Yakoob Beg was a more than ordinarily resolute and determined maire du palais.