Part 3 (2/2)

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 G.o.d,” 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 a.s.suming 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 l.u.s.tre 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 Maralbas.h.i.+, 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 emba.s.sy 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 wors.h.i.+p 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 circ.u.mstance, 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 a.s.sumption 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 faineant_, and Yakoob Beg was a more than ordinarily resolute and determined _maire du palais_.

The citadel of Kashgar had not long surrendered when messengers arrived, reporting the near approach of a large body of men from Khokand, but who they were, or with what intention they came, none knew. These were the unsuccessful conspirators against Khudayar Khan, who, after the death of Alim Kuli, had obtained his power once more; and these having been driven out of Khokand by his armies, were compelled to seek refuge in Kashgar. Yakoob Beg sent them the laconic message, while they were hovering on the frontier, that ”if they came as friends, they were welcome; if as foes, he was ready to fight them.” Until the arrival of this declaration there appears to have been some hesitation among the Khokandians what to do, as some were wis.h.i.+ng to attempt the conquest of Kashgar in their own interests; but when so clear a statement was sent them by Yakoob Beg, and when they learnt more definitely of the permanence of his success, they threw off their reserve and joined the confederacy of Kashgar. In the meanwhile fresh disturbances were breaking out in Yarkand, and thither he proceeded in the later months of 1865 to quell them, taking Buzurg Khan with him. On his arrival before the town both the Khojas and the Tungani hastened to profess the greatest desire to fulfil his wishes, although they kept him outside their gates. It is probable that neither party could have offered any prolonged resistance to him, had they not been encouraged to do so by Buzurg Khan. That prince had for some time been fretting against the iron will of his lieutenant, and, now, in an ill humour at being carried from his amus.e.m.e.nts and idleness at Kashgar to suffer the deprivations of a camp life before Yarkand, broke loose from all control, and plotted in his own camp, and in the enemy's, to free himself from his troublesome general. The plot among the Tungan soldiery had a.s.sumed alarming proportions, and all was ready to put an end to the career of Yakoob, when it was fortunately discovered by his faithful friend Abdulla. Precautions were taken, and the plot in the camp was effectually thwarted; but Yakoob Beg was not strong enough then to show his resentment. This danger was only removed to give place to another.

The Tungani soldiers in Yakoob's service now opened up communications with their kinsmen in the Yangy-Shahr, and they formed the following plan to destroy the remaining portion of the Kashgarian forces. The garrison was to simulate a desire to yield into the hands of Yakoob Beg both their own persons and the fort, and when he, unsuspecting any covert design, should be lulled into a false sense of security, the Tungani in his service could join the Tungani in the fort in making a night attack on the other forces. The plan promised well. Yakoob Beg was deceived by the friendly overtures of the Tungani, and relaxed his precautions, and, during the night that was to precede the surrender of the Tungani, the conspirators marched out of the fort, and being joined, as had been arranged, by the other confederates, surprised Yakoob Beg and his immediate followers. A desperate resistance was offered by the half-armed men, but the Tungani were victorious, and Yakoob Beg had much difficulty in collecting around him on the morrow a few hundred soldiers. Among those, however, was Abdulla and some of his more trusted companions. The Kirghiz under Sadic Beg could not be trusted, and it seemed that that chief was still inclined to play for his own hand. At this, the most critical period of his life, Yakoob Beg's tact and resolution were most conspicuous. When he was surrounded on every hand by hostile factions, and could count on the fidelity of scarce five hundred men, he triumphed over every obstacle, and rose omnipotent over the petty jealousies and dissensions of those who sought to crush him.

Buzurg Khan seized the moment of this disaster to draw off into a separate camp with a large body of troops and all the Kirghiz, and it is very possible, as has been a.s.serted, that he instigated the successful Tungan _coup_. There is no evidence that he did, and I am personally of opinion that it originated among the Tungani themselves, and that Buzurg Khan only rejoiced at its occurrence, as he would have done at any other reverse to Yakoob. The position now was as follows:--In the citadel were the victorious Tungani, and in the town they shared the distribution of power with the townspeople. Outside in one part was Buzurg Khan, with a force that was equivocal in its sympathies, and that might at any moment become hostile, to Yakoob Beg; and in another part was Yakoob Beg himself and his attenuated following. Affairs could not look less hopeful, and if the three parties could have accommodated their own differences for but the short s.p.a.ce of twenty-four hours, Yakoob Beg must infallibly have been destroyed: as it was, they did nothing with an enemy like Yakoob Beg in their proximity, and permitted him to redeem all he had lost by his too great credulity in the good faith of his brother Mussulmans. Let us now see how he saved himself. The first point to do was to restore the courage and self-confidence of his own soldiers, and to do that, it was necessary to strike a sharp blow that was sure of success. The fort could not be taken by a _coup de main_, but the city, large and straggling, presented a more inviting aspect for such an attempt. Abdulla, the Murat of the army of Kashgar, with the most determined intrepidity, carried it by a.s.sault, although here again he attacked without awaiting the arrival of the other contingents. Like Edward Bruce,

”Such was his wonted reckless mood, Yet desperate valour oft made good, Even by its daring, venture rude, Where prudence might have failed.”

This achievement put an end to the rejoicings among the Tungani, and compelled them to recognize what a terribly energetic and enterprising foe they had to deal with. But, at this moment, a severe mishap occurred which almost neutralized the advantage thus gained. Buzurg Khan, unable either to crush Yakoob Beg or to enjoy the indulgences to which he had enslaved himself, resolved to secure the latter, happen what might. He accordingly fled from Yarkand with many followers, and retired to his palace at Kashgar. There, not content with pillaging the palace of Yakoob Beg, he proclaimed him a traitor and rebel, and offered a reward to whomsoever should bring him his head. Another general was appointed to the command of the army, and preparations were made for defending Kashgar against any attempt of Yakoob Beg to attack it. But fortunately the Tungani in the citadel of Yarkand were not aware of this dissension among the Kashgari, and as they were struck with admiration for the valour of Yakoob Beg, they surrendered to him soon after the flight of Buzurg. He was then able to turn his undivided attention to his refractory chief. Yakoob Beg had always, as we have said, befriended the church; he was now to experience some benefit for that very commendable respect. Among the first means of crus.h.i.+ng Yakoob Beg that Buzurg Khan had employed was an appeal to the Sheikh-ul-islam of Kashgar to proclaim his Baturbas.h.i.+ outside the pale of the law. This the ecclesiastic refused to do, and a.s.serted, on the contrary, that Yakoob Beg had deserved well both of his country and of the Mahomedan world. Foiled in his effort to stir up a religious feeling against his general, Buzurg Khan was reduced to the more cogent, but in his hands quite useless, argument of the sword. Nor was the field, limited as it must appear to us, free from other pretenders. Sadic Beg, instead of coalescing with Buzurg Khan, set up his own pretensions to rule the country; and the Kucha Khojas and Tungani began to collect troops in view of possible eventualities.

The army of Buzurg Khan, which had marched out to oppose the entry of Yakoob Beg, was outflanked and defeated by Abdulla in the country between Yangy Hissar and the capital; and Yakoob Beg, pressing on with irresistible strides, was received in Kashgar with the acclamations of the people and of his soldiers. He was then publicly proclaimed ruler, and his friend the Sheikh-ul-islam ratified the people's choice. Buzurg Khan, who had taken refuge in the Yangy-Shahr, was seized in his palace there, after a very slight resistance. Some of the more prominent of Yakoob Beg's rivals were executed, and Buzurg Khan himself was placed in a state of honourable confinement. He still persisted in futile intrigues, and so long as he remained in Kashgar was a source of endless trouble to the new government. For more than eighteen months he was permitted to remain however, and then, being detected in instigating the murder of Yakoob Beg, was banished to Tibet. After wandering for some years, he found his way to Khokand, where he is believed to be still residing with a large family. He may be considered to have been the last Khoja prince ruling Kashgar, for it is scarcely probable that, in any future settlement of that country, a restoration of the old reigning family will be supported by any one. He is no exaggerated type of the rule among Central Asian despots, who present to our gaze a long series of petty tyrants and debauchees, until for a few years they are displaced by a successful soldier such as the Athalik Ghazi, or by a skilful minister such as Mussulman Kuli was in Khokand.

The Kirghiz chief, Sadic Beg, did not long hold out against the consolidated power of Yakoob Beg; and the Kucha movements were suspended. In a little more than twelve months Yakoob Beg had occupied Kashgar, Yangy Hissar, and Yarkand. Sirikul and Khoten also acknowledged his rule; but his further operations against them will be narrated by-and-by. He felt now so secure in his seat that he permitted the Badaks.h.i.+ contingent to return home, presenting each soldier with a large present. Ever since that time Yakoob Beg seems to have maintained some influence in Badakshan, and to have been inclined on several occasions to compete with Shere Ali of Afghanistan for the possession of that province. His ambition was never fully revealed in this quarter; but it is certain that Shere Ali regarded him with scarcely concealed suspicion and dislike.

With the a.s.sumption of personal power by Yakoob Beg, on the deposition of the Khoja Buzurg Khan, the first part of the enterprise undertaken in the later days of 1864 was brought to a termination. In the more extended operations of Yakoob Beg against the Tungani and Khoten, may be perceived the effects of events outside his immediate sphere upon, this energetic ruler, who, until his last years, never realized the strength of the Russians, and who had, up to the year 1870 when Kuldja was occupied, convinced himself that he could r.e.t.a.r.d the progress of the great Northern power. It was that idea, besides a thirst for military renown and excitement, that urged him on to the construction of what he fondly believed might prove a formidable and extensive state. As ruler of Kashgar, he could not be anything but a kind of va.s.sal of the Khan of Khokand; as monarch of Eastern Turkestan, he might treat on terms of equality with the Czar of Russia or the Emperor of China. It was no unworthy ambition, and Yakoob Beg, created Athalik Ghazi, Champion Father, in 1866 by the Ameer of Bokhara, accomplished so much of it as was possible.

CHAPTER VIII.

WARS WITH THE TUNGANI.

Yakoob Beg, having deposed Buzurg Khan and suppressed all resistance on the part either of the Tungani or of the Chinese in Western Kashgar, had some leisure to make a careful survey of his exact position. The result of the desultory fighting of the previous twelve months had been eminently satisfactory to himself; but, to say the least, it was dubious how long this state of things might last. Former adventurers had accomplished as much as he had, but the Chinese had always returned with renewed vigour. How was Yakoob Beg to know that the rumours were well founded which a.s.serted that that empire had been sore stricken in other fields than against the Tungani, and that even the victories over the Taepings were not considered a complete set-off to the disasters in every other quarter of the empire? European critics predicted that the last hour of the Chinese Empire was fast approaching; but Yakoob Beg, with far more imperfect means of intelligence at his disposal, feared still, even when the citadel of Kashgar surrendered, that the Khitay would return for revenge. His fears were not groundless, as we now know, but he antic.i.p.ated events by more than ten years. Yakoob Beg was not so sanguine in his own resources or good fortune that he believed that he should not have to encounter the danger that had overwhelmed all his predecessors, and his first object accordingly was to gather all his strength together in a compact ma.s.s to resist the Chinese when they should come. But the dissensions that had, during the conquest of Altyshahr, manifested themselves so palpably in the ill-a.s.sorted conglomeration which had gathered round the standard of Buzurg Khan brought home to the mind of Yakoob Beg the disadvantages of a divided people. He accordingly determined that, whatever else he might fail or succeed in achieving, his most resolute effort should be to weld into one cohesive and effective whole Andijani and Tungani, Kashgari and Khitay. It was no mean ambition; but to cement such discordant elements a policy of ”blood and iron” was required. Yakoob Beg did not shrink certainly in its application; but when he had accomplished the task he had set himself to bring about he discovered that the cost had been so great that the state, both in population and in wealth, was at a lower point than it had ever been before. But in the earlier days of 1866 no doubt crossed his mind on this latter point. It must be remembered that, strange to say, the great success of Yakoob Beg in Kashgar had alienated the sympathy of the government of Khokand from his cause; and, although this may be explained by the antipathy of Khudayar Khan, now firmly seated on the throne, who could not entertain any amity for a subject who had on several occasions deserted his cause, it is impossible to attribute to that sentiment alone a fact which must have had some deeper and less personal explanation. At all stages of the history of these petty princes of Asia are we met by the spectacle of mutual jealousy and recrimination, whenever any one of themselves seemed about to exalt himself above his fellows, either by the success of his arms or by the beneficence of his rule. Rarely, indeed, had any of them shown that he possessed more than ordinary ability or courage; but, whenever the phenomenon did appear, he was at once proclaimed by his neighbours to be a dangerous innovation, and as such to be thwarted and opposed. The practice has come down to our own day, and during the long wars that Russia has waged in Asia we have never beheld two states, no matter how insignificant, combine to oppose the common foe. The Khokandians have never aided the Bokhariots or the Khivans, nor have the Afghans or the Kashgari the Khokandians. They have kept the ring, so to speak, as each of them has gone down singly before the prowess of the Muscovite, in a manner that ought to excite the admiration of all those who preserve the memories of the traditional honours of the prize ring; but, as their own existence has been the penalty, it is questionable whether their conduct, inspired by regard for no law of chivalry, but simply by mutual antipathy, has been very prudent. Over such petty jealousies had Yakoob Beg to triumph before he could hope to complete his dream of an united Kashgaria. His path was beset with difficulties. In satisfying himself with too little he might imperil what he had secured, but in attempting too much he might jeopardize everything he had won. Under such circ.u.mstances the boldest man might have stood uncertain, and the most resolute inactive until hurried into action by the progress of events.

For some months Yakoob Beg seems to have remained uncertain what should be his next move.

In 1865, before his last advance on Yarkand, he had seized Maralbas.h.i.+ or Bartchuk, and by so doing not only had he secured communication between Aksu and Yarkand, but also between Aksu and Khoten. This position, lying 200 miles to the east of Yangy Hissar, has always been and is still very important, and Yakoob Beg is supposed to have fortified it very strongly. This success was the permanent result of his great victory over the Tungani from Aksu and Kucha in the neighbourhood of Yangy Hissar, and it effectually secured his flank during further operations.

It was not, however, until he turned his attention to the southern city of Khoten, that the importance of this acquisition was made incontestable. Then it enabled him to devote his attention exclusively to the extension of his sway southward to the mountains of Karakoram and Kuen Lun, beyond which he might expect no enemy. In Khoten the Mufti Habitulla had been invested with supreme control, after the deposition of the Chinese authorities; and during his government of the city and district, order appears to have been maintained without unnecessary exactions. When Yakoob Beg made his first appearance in Yarkand, after his earlier successes round Kashgar, it will be remembered that the Yarkandi acknowledged the supremacy of the new Khoja king. Their example was speedily followed by Habitulla of Khoten, and it is not stated that, even during the progress of hostilities with Yarkand, this ruler repudiated the arrangement into which he had entered. It is true that he was far removed from the immediate sphere of action, but that will not alone account for an indifference to the progress of events in Kashgar, which Khoten had never manifested on any previous occasion. Khoten may, therefore, be considered to have been exceptionally well behaved towards the new Khoja dynasty located at Kashgar; and when Yakoob Beg advanced to the south of Yarkand, Habitulla hastened to send representatives to the camp of the conqueror. They were received with consideration, but deep down in the breast of Yakoob Beg there lurked either an inveterate distrust of, or dislike to, the Mufti Habitulla. Dissembling his true feelings, Yakoob Beg sent a message requesting the presence of the Mufti in his camp. The Mufti, deluded by the friendly treatment bestowed on his emissaries, came with many of his relations and followers into the camp of the Kashgarian general. At first, we are told, they were treated with every mark of respect and kindness; they were feasted and clothed in precious garments, but all these honours were but the preliminaries to the concluding ceremony. During the progress of the evening meal they were disarmed, and led out to execution, while an attack was made from several quarters on the town. Even then the resistance was prolonged, and the slaughter by the infuriated soldiery of the Athalik Ghazi continued long after all serious opposition had ceased. It is impossible to exonerate Yakoob Beg from the chief blame on this occasion, and if he had been a civilized European general, we should have made use of the phrase, that ”It must ever remain a blot on his career;” but it would be the height of irony to apply such a phrase to this unscrupulous Asiatic, who, if not worse than the school in which he was brought up, was certainly not much better in a moral sense. As the fact stands, the seizure of Khoten, and the ma.s.sacre of the unarmed leaders of that city, appear to have been acts as unnecessary as they were unjustifiable.

Khoten may have seemed to the Athalik Ghazi of exceptional importance for several reasons, and he may have felt doubtful of the fidelity of Habitulla and his followers; but, so far as we are aware, the reasons for this action are shadowy in the extreme, even regarded from the point of view of political expediency. Down to the present day, too, the memory of this ma.s.sacre, needless even in the eyes of a people accustomed to the shortest cuts to power by wholesale slaughter, has rankled in the minds of the inhabitants of Khoten and Sanju, and the Athalik Ghazi was least popular in that part of his state in which, according to the traditions of his predecessors, his action had been most sweeping, and accordingly most safe. This was early in the year 1867, and the Athalik Ghazi had now an opportunity for settling his relations.h.i.+p with his eastern neighbours, the Tungani.

The Tungan movement proper originated, as explained in the last chapter, in the Chinese provinces of Kansuh and Shensi, and then extended with scarcely a check to Turfan south of the Tian Shan and to Urumtsi north of that range. The flame soon spread from Turfan to Karashar, Kucha, and Aksu, and at all of these towns it was fomented by the appearance of the new element of the Mahomedan Khokandian, and native settlers, acting in combination with the Chinese Tungani. North of the Tian Shan the movement received a temporary repulse; and it is necessary to say something in explanation of the course of the Mahomedan revival in Ili before we proceed to discuss the earlier wars of Yakoob Beg with the Tungani. As early as 1860 serious complications had arisen in that province, although the Chinese had always been more firmly situated there than in Kashgar. In that year a plot was concocted to murder the Chinese viceroy and to upset the existing government. It was discovered, however, and fell through. There appear to have been more causes at work in Ili to produce discontent than in the southern state, and it was not so much a question here between Khitay and Tungani, as it was between a people clamouring for work, for less taxation, and for payment for what they had done, and an administration that was unable to satisfy the demands made upon it from all sides. That last resource of a government at its wits' ends for money, the depreciation of the current coin and the issue of fict.i.tious paper, was adopted by the Viceroy of Ili. The measure, which it had been expected would lessen the difficulty, only added fuel to the flame. The situation of affairs was becoming desperate; the people were encouraged by the disasters of the Chinese in the neighbouring states to increase the number of their demands; and the Chinese officials appear to have lost their heads in the storm that was gathering from all sides around them. They were but the effete representatives of a system which in its vigorous days had claims to general admiration, and they are only saved from incurring our contempt by the possession of courage, the sole virtue left them. When the Chinese first conquered Eastern Turkestan they brought from Kashgar a large number of settlers, and placed them in the country round Ili. They became known as Tarantchis, and, in the course of two or three generations, had increased into a very numerous community. These were always at heart disaffected to the Chinese, but, as they occupied a very subordinate position, would probably never have thought of revolt had not a large division of the conquerors set them the example of insubordination. So soon as the discontent among the working cla.s.ses had a.s.sumed formidable proportions by the pecuniary embarra.s.sment of the Chinese, and the Tungan su

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