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

M.V. During the period of this invasion, Western China was disturbed by the revolt
in Shensi and the capture and massacre of Bárkúl by the Musalmáns, and con-
sequently the Chinese troops did not concentrate at Ghúlja or Ila till the following
January, after the Khokand army had retired from Káshghar.
In the spring of this year (1831), whilst they were re-occupying the evacuated
towns, Muhammad Ali Khán, who had staved off his difficulty with Bukhárá, sent
Hace Culí Beg with an army of 7,000 men to subjugate the Kará Kirghiz who,
during the recent troubles, had been raiding his border. He dispersed the Sáyak
camps on the Upper Nárin, and took prisoners their chiefs Atantai and Tailac; whilst
the Koshbegi of Táshkand at the same time pursued the Boghu tribes and penetrated
beyond Ila to the military post of Sibo.
These successes of the Khocand Khán altered the policy of the Chinese Gover-
nor, who now sent four envoys to treat with Muhammad Ali Khán. He detained
three of them as hostages, and with the fourth sent Alím Pádshah, a rich merchant,
as his agent to Pekin, with certain demands for the government of the Musalmán
population of the towns of Eastern Turkistan. He secured the following concessions
for the Khán: first, dues as per shariat on all merchandise brought by Musalmán
traders to the towns of Acsú, Ush Turfán, Káshghar, Yángí Hissár, Yárkand and
Khutan to go to the Khán of Khocand; second, the power to appoint in each of
these towns an Aksakál,—" white-beard" or "elder" as commercial agent to collect
these dues under a Khocand inspector to reside at Káshghar as political represen-
tative; and third, that all foreign Musalmáns residing in these towns were to be
under the entire control of these agents. In return the Khocand Khán agreed to
restrain the Khoja party and to prevent their invading the country, and to imprison
any member attempting to do so.
The envoy on his return from Pekin, in 1832, was appointed Inspector at Káshghar
on the part of Khokand, and, according to the Andijan custom, held the post on lease.
His authority extended over the "six cities" to which the treaty regulations applied,
and hence the country was called by the Andijan people Alty Shahr, or by a different
reckoning (in which Marálbáshí belonging to Yárkand was counted separately) Yatty
Shahr "seven cities." And this was the region in which Khokand influence was
greatest, its effects being as yet barely perceptible in the eastern cities.
Thus were established trade and political relations between Western China and
Khokand. Through them the Khokandi acquired an increasing influence in the coun-
try, and a firmer grasp on the sympathies of the people, in opposition to the rule of
the Chinese, to whose prestige the revolts of Jahángír in 1826, and of Yúsuf in
1830, coupled with the influence exercised by the proximity of the Russians, proved
serious blows.
After reducing the Kará Kirghiz Muhammad Ali Khán extended his frontiers,
and in 1832 built the Kurtka Fort on the Nárin and that of Táshkorghan on the
Pámir border, and he held besides nearly a fourth of the population of these towns
under the rule of his agents. To keep this power, it was his interest to restrain the
Khojas, and he consequently strictly watched their movements.
Until 1846 the country enjoyed peace under the just and liberal rule of Zuhúrud-
dín, the Governor on the part of the Chinese. He appears to have been a native
of Káshghar, and to have emigrated to Khokand in 1830. From this he went
to Petropavlovsk and Kazán, and returned thence by Semipalatinsk to Ghúlja
where he represented to the Chinese Governor that he had escaped from prison at
Khokand. He was, in consequence, taken into favour and appointed Ishikághá, or
"Mayor" of Káshghar, and gradually rose to the post of Hákim Beg, or Sul Ambán
as he is styled in the inscription over the gate of Káshghar, of which, in 1255 H.
(1839 A.D.), he restored the fortifications and built the palace. During his rule were
erected the new Chinese forts, called Mángshín or Yánglshahr, outside each of the
towns of this country, for the accommodation of the Chinese garrisons and arsenals,
instead of the former citadels, called Gulbágh, which were destroyed by the rebels.