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Report of a Mission to Yarkund in 1873 : vol.1 |
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and their followers, next day made their appearance at Fa.rrash. They were P.
welcomed and robed, and assigned a place in the fort as troops in the service of the Khoja Buzurg Khan, before whom Kichik was sent to pay his respects as to an eldest brother.
As before mentioned, Hamrah Khan had summoned an army from Badakhshan, which shortly after arrival at Stirigh Kill heard of his death at the assault of Yangi
Hissar. The chiefs on this consulted whether they should return empty-handed to
meet the jeers of their countrymen and taunts of their wives, or advance and seek a share in the profits of war ; and they decided on first offering their services to Yakûb
Beg. He accepted their offer, only too glad to draw any men to his ranks, for, owing
to the divided state of parties in the country, the single district of Kashghar offered but a limited field for recruiting, and sent Masdm Khan Tora to Sarigh Kûl to
reassure the Badakhshi leaders and to bring the whole force to him at Farrish by way of Yangi Hissar. On arrival they were feasted and robed, and quartered with the Kirghiz and Kapchak, 2,000 men altogether, who with one accord acknowledged Yakûb Beg as their leader and ruler ; the first sign of the independence Yakûb Beg presently asserted, and soon after made good.
From Farrash these new troops were shortly removed to assist in the siege of the Kashghar Yangishahr. A few days later, about the end of July 1865, news
came from Khanaric that the troops of Kûcha, Aksû, and Ueh Turfan, having met
at Maralbashi, had moved on to Tagharchi, and there, in conference with the'I'ungani and Yarkand chiefs, had agreed to attack and destroy the Khokand invaders, to seize
Kashghar and make it the capital, and then to annex Audijan. Jamaluddin Khoja
of Aksû had been elected Anz rilcrshkar, and being joined by the Tungani from Yarkand with 100 tyft and four large cannon had marched to Mughal Tarim
and there mustered his force, 40,000 men including 1,500 Tungani. From this he had marched, with the Tungani in advance, and camped in the settlement of Khanaric; from which he threatened Yangi Hissar.
On learning this intelligence, Yakûb Beg appointed Kichik Khan Tora to continue the siege of Yangishahr, and bringing Buzurg out of the city, where he was besotting
himself with drugs and debauchery of the vilest, took him with a force of only
2,400 men to confront the enemy and divert attention from Yangi Hissar, and camped at two farsakh from the Kûcha army to conceal his strength. That night they
offered prayers and sacrifices for victory, and next morning disposed their force
in three divisions—Buzurg with 1,200 Badakhshi and Kirghiz in the centre, Yakûb Beg with 1,000 Kapchak and Andijani on the right, and Abdulla and
Ghazi Beg Pcinsad with only 200 Andijani and Kapchalr on the left. They all now performed prayers, and then confessing and repenting their sins formally pardoned each the other's faults and offences, and then imploring victory from God mounted and went against the enemy's host.
The Melia army was in readiness, and the battle closed on all sides at once. Yaktib Beg was soon hard-pressed, and, wounded in two places by gun-shot, was
obliged to retire a little. His Kirghiz and Kapchak, seeing this, turned and fled the
field to take up a safe position four miles off. The Badakhshi now Caine in for the brunt of the enemy's attack, and losing a few men quickly followed with Buzurg
at their head to join the other fugitives. At this critical juncture the Kûcha troops,
oppressed by heat and thirst, slackened the attack to slake their parched throats at an intervening canal. Yakûb Beg seized the opportunity, whilst denouncing the
cowardice of Buzurg, to rally some of his special adherents, and "applying to his wounds the ointment of the empire he aimed at," banished hesitation and cheered them to a renewal of the contest. " Victory is -the gift of God, " he said, " and depends not on mere numbers and arms. This is the moment for exertion. The least hesitation now, and all is lost." With these words he lead them afresh to the attack, and driving the enemy from the canal, slew some hundreds as they lay on its banks exhausted by the heat and fatigue.
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