Report of a Mission to Yarkund in 1873 : vol.1 / Page 267 (Color Image)

0267	Report of a Mission to Yarkund in 1873 : vol.1

M.V. established himself in the palace with the title of Syad Jahángír Sultán, and at
once organized his government on the Khokand model, substituting the Musalmán
turban for the Chinese cap, balls, and feathers. He allowed most of the Begs to
retain their posts, but appointed Andiján partizans to the principal offices, and exe-
cuted Muhammad Sáid of Khámil, the Wang=Governor on the part of the Chinese,
for his opposition.
On the fall of Káshghar, the people of Yangi Hissar, Yárkand, and Khutan rose
simultaneously, and massacring the Chinese everywhere, razed their forts and joined
the service of the Khoja. In June Muhammad Ali Khan, jealous of the Khoja's
success, himself appeared at Káshghar with fifteen thousand men to join in the ghazá,
but he was coldly received by Jahángír, who looked upon him as a dangerous rival.
The Khan, however, set vigorously to work to take the Chinese fort of Gulbágh, a
few hundred yards to the west of the city, in which the garrison still held out ; but
his efforts proving ineffectual, and having lost a thousand men under its walls in
twelve days, his ardour cooled as rapidly as it had glowed, and he returned to his
principality there to make amends for the disappointment in adding a new province to
his dominions by stamping the envied title of Ghází on his coinage.
Jahángír meantime continued the siege of the Gulbágh, and it fell to him on
the seventeenth day. The Chinese Governor and principal officers committed suicide,
whilst their troops fleeing in all directions were captured and massacred to the number
of eight thousand men. Only four hundred of the captives were spared on their
professing Islám, and they were at once distributed over Máwarának as an induce-
ment to the Faithful to rally round Jahángír. *
Muhammad Ali Khan now uneasy at the growing success of the Khoja, dis-
couraged volunteers and plotted with Isa Dádkhwáh to raise a mutiny amongst his
troops. The General's plans, however, were timely discovered, and he was reduced
from his post of Mingbáshí, and the disorder quelled. Many other plots against
Jahángír now came to light, but he was generally popular and had the support of
the Musalmáns everywhere.
P. Meanwhile the Chinese Viceroy at Ila had been active in his preparations to
recover the revolted cities, and despatched an immense force of Tungáni, Khitáy, and
Kalmák against the rebels. The Chinese army arrived at Aksú in January (six
months after the fall of Káshghar), under the command of a Jáng Júng Tán, with
a Jáng Júng and several Ambán. From this in the early spring a force of twelve
thousand men was sent by way of Cáy Yoli to Khutan, and another of seven
thousand men to Yárkand, whilst the main army of eighty thousand men assem-
bling at Marálbáshí set out thence against Káshghar. Jahángír in the meantime had
concentrated his Khutan and Yárkand levies at the capital, and on the approach of
the Chinese sent out an army of fifty thousand men to oppose them.
The hostile armies met at Yangabad, and according to custom each put forward
a champion for single combat. That of the Chinese was a giant Kalmák archer
fantastically dressed like a devil dragon ; whilst the champion on the side of Jahángír
was a noted Khokandi warrior equally versed in sword and rifle practice and clad in
gaudy silks and chain armour. The two advanced to the contest on the open plain
backed by their respective supporters. But whilst the Khokandi was adjusting his
rifle the Kalmák shot an arrow through his chest and out between the shoulders, and
his adversary fell dead on the spot. A skirmish followed between the supporting
parties, but the Káshghar army, disheartened by the untoward commencement of
the contest, soon broke and fled in disorder. They were pursued with great slaughter
and loss in captives as far as Cazán Kul, where the Chinese army camped for the
night.
Next day they advanced in three great divisions by the Yangi Hissar road on
the south, Daulatbagh on the east, and Sarman on the west, and invested the city
on three sides. During the night Jahángír with seven followers fled by the
Chaemác Pass to the Karátakka mountain, where he was stopped by the snow, and
a 18

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National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

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National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books