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Shortly after the death of Chaghtai Khan, Kaidu, a great-grandson of Genghis, obtained the throne of Kashgar and Yarkand; and a few years later on, by a skilful piece of diplomacy, backed up by force, added thereto the greater part of Khokand and Bokhara. His triumph was, however, of brief duration, and he was displaced by other competitors. Dava Khan, the son of Burac, the great-grandson of Chaghtai, had been appointed governor of Khoten, but his ambition was not satisfied with less than the throne of Western Turkestan also. He eventually obtained his desire; but in a rash moment he threw himself in the path of the Chinese Emperor, Timour Khan, who was returning from a raid carried almost to the gates of Lahore. He was defeated somewhere in the neighbourhood of Maralbashi, and was compelled to acknowledge the supremacy of China. He is of some note to us, as having been the father of Azmill Khoja, who was selected as ruler by the people themselves, about the year 1310, and from whom descend that line of Khoja kings of Kashgar, who have clung to their hereditary claims for a longer time than any other royal Central Asian house. The last of the Chaghtai Khans who held the sceptre with any effective purpose, was Kazan Ameer. On his death another period of trouble broke out, and military governors and rival princelets of dubious titles advanced their pretensions to the vacant seat. Up to this all the rulers had, however, been Buddhists. Toghluc Timour, one of the few remaining representatives of the Genghis families, had only been saved by the pity of a leading man in Kashgar, from one of the most extensive massacres of his kinsmen, and for years he was obliged to lead an uncertain existence in the mountains or deserts bordering on the state. His associations were all Buddhist; but one day he was so struck by the definition of the "true faith" given by the descendant of a Mahomedan priest, spared by Genghis Khan at the destruction of Bokhara, that he made a vow to become a Mussulman when he had regained his rights. Not long after this the turn of events in Kashgar made people seek for some person with recognized claims to be their ruler, and none in this respect surpassed Toghluc Timour. He, on succeeding to the throne, openly owned his conversion to Islam, and in a few years he was gradually imitated by all the leading chiefs of Turkestan. From this time downwards to the present day, the religion of the majority in this state has been Mahomedanism, except perhaps during the Chinese rule, when the number of Chinese merchants, officials, and soldiers, put the minority of the followers of Buddha on a par with those of the rival religion. Toghluc died in 1362.

It was about this time that the second great conqueror of Asia appeared upon the scene. Timour was born in 1333 in the Shahrisebz suburb of Kish. He was the son of Turghay, governor of that district and chief of the Birlas tribe, and on the death of his father he himself became governor of Kish also. During his earlier years he was hospitably received at the Court of Kazan Ameer, and that ruler, in addition to giving him several high and distinguished appointments, married him to his beautiful granddaughter Olja Turkan Khaton. Timour did not continue long in favour at Court. His restless spirit impelled him to fields of greater activity than any the Ameer could, or indeed felt disposed to, place at his disposal. He openly mutinied against the central authority in his government of Kish, and on being overthrown by the troops of the state, he sought safety with his wife among the Turcomans of the Khivan desert. Among these uncertain nomads he felt scarcely secure, and collecting round him a small band of desperadoes, he entered upon a more ambitious enterprise by undertaking a marauding expedition into the Persian province of Seistan. This was attended with considerable success, but he himself was wounded in the foot by an arrow. From the effects of this wound he never completely recovered, and was known henceforth as Timour Lang, Timour the Lame, whence the well-known name of Tamerlane. The éclat obtained by this marauding expedition stood him in good stead, for shortly afterwards he was able to raise a sufficient force to invade Tashkent. He occupied the whole of what is now Russian Khokand including Ferghana, and he placed a fresh occupant on the throne, Kabil Shah, in 1363. In the following years he contended for supremacy with another chief named Husen, and in 1369 had so far been victorious that he threw off the mask, and declared himself king. He made Samarcand his capital, and converted that once populous city into the wonder and admiration of Western Asia. Having settled his internal affairs, he commenced operations against the states lying beyond his border. The mountaineers of Badakshan were the first to incur his wrath, and after several stubborn battles they were obliged to acknowledge his supremacy. He then turned his attention to his northern frontiers, beyond which the Jattah princes reigned in Jungaria. He overcame their prince, Kamaruddin, in several encounters, but not with complete success until his final campaign against him in 1390. As he advanced they retired to the fastnesses east of Lake Issik Kul, and only reissued from their hiding-places when the invader had withdrawn.

To return to Kashgar, on the death of Toghluc, his son Khize Khoja was displaced and did not regain possession of his kingdom till 1383, when he was thirty years of age. He was a stanch Mussulman, and was on terms of as much amity and as close alliance with Timour as it was possible for any neighbour, wishing to preserve his independence, to be. Allied as he was with, yet not participating in the wars of Timour, against the Jattahs, he suffered in common with those people from the expedition of 1389–90, when both sides of the Tian Shan were ravaged by the armies of that ruler. Although for the next fifteen years they maintained friendly relations, it can easily be imagined that Khize Khoja was not very comfortable with so formidable a suzerain just over his frontiers. The irksomeness of the position is well illustrated by the orders transmitted to Khize Khoja by Timour, to have corn planted and cattle collected at certain places for the immense army which he was levying for the invasion of China. It was while engaged in fulfilling these commands, that news reached the ruler of Kashgar that this "Scourge of God" had died suddenly on the 5th of February, 1405. Khize Khoja himself survived but a short time afterwards. For the second time within the short space of 150 years had the possessions of a great conqueror to undergo the process of redistribution. In Timour's case it was simpler than it had been in that of Genghis Khan, for the former ruler left no worthy representative of his cause as the Mongol conqueror had in Ogdai and Chaghtai. The branches of the great family of Genghis struck root so deeply, that down to modern times he has had descendants who perpetuate his name, but Timour left none such. With the death of his favourite son Jehangir, his hopes of having a worthy successor expired.

Kashgar was in particular the scene of confusion and trouble, and it was not until about 1445 that any settled government was attained, when Seyyid Ali, grandson of the aged and patriotic minister Khudadar, restored some order and cohesion to the distracted country for a short period. He died in 1457. During these years Yunus, king of Jungaria, played a very prominent part in all the disturbances that were occurring on his borders. He is represented to have been a very enlightened prince, and emissaries from foreign nations returned from his court relating with surprise how they had found a courteous and refined man where they expected to have seen a coarse and savage Mongol. While Yunus ruled in Jungaria another striking individual was predominant in Kashgar. Ababakar, son of Saniz, who was the son of Seyyid Ali, ruler of Kashgar, was one of the few sovereigns of that state whose acts entitle them to consideration. During a long and troubled tenure of power he had the good fortune to overcome many difficulties, and although his career was to become clouded before his death, the brilliant years that preceded the catastrophe justify us in considering his career for a little while. He was a great athlete, hunter and soldier, and was so favoured by his mother on that account that he distanced his brethren in the race for supremacy. As governor of Khoten he soon absorbed Yarkand, and long and furious were the wars he waged with Hydar, the ruler of Kashgar, who was assisted by Yunus of Jungaria. Nor, although successful on several occasions in the field against the allied forces, could Ababakar hope to overcome the huge armies at the disposal of Yunus; and it was not until Hydar himself foolishly broke off from Yunus, that Ababakar succeeded in asserting his claim to all Eastern Turkestan. War then broke out between Hydar and Yunus, and the latter with the assistance of large reinforcements from Jungaria overthrew and captured his former ally. But these dissensions favoured the cause of Ababakar, and on the death of Yunus in 1486, his possession of Kashgar became undisputed. The first serious danger with which he was menaced after his complete possession of Kashgar, was in 1499, when Ahmad, the son of Yunus, or Alaja the "slayer," as he was generally called, invaded his territory at the head of the Jattah Mongols. The campaign was in the commencement indecisive, but Ababakar before long triumphed over his northern invader.

During the next fifteen years Ababakar ruled in peace and prosperity in Kashgar, accumulating great riches and presenting an object of attraction to his covetous neighbours. During these years the country, although ruled in an arbitrary way, flourished, and, as one of the native chronicles put it, "A traveller could go from Andijan to Hamil on the borders of China without fear of molestation, and without having to make an extra long march in order to find a place wherein to rest and obtain refreshment." But in 1513 a storm broke upon his country that resulted in his complete overthrow. Said, son of Ahmad and brother of Mansur, who was ruling in Jungaria, undertook the invasion of Kashgar in that year, and it was not long before he occupied Kashgar, which, however, Ababakar left but a heap of ruins. His advance on Yangy Hissar was opposed, but, having defeated the army of Kashgar before that city, he occupied it without any further opposition, and thus secured what has been called the key of Yarkand as well as of Kashgar. For some months Ababakar remained shut up in Yarkand, but on the approach of Said's army he abandoned that position and fled to Khoten. But not long afterwards he retired still further into the mountainous country south-east of Kashgar, and halted some time at Karanghotagh. But being first plundered and then deserted by his attendants, he withdrew into the valleys and deserts of the Tibetan table-land. For many months he wandered, half-starved and solitary, in this deserted region, and at last it was reported that he had been found murdered by some of the mountaineers. Such was the end of the once magnificent Ababakar, a prince who in his fortunes reminds us very much of the great Darius. That he was avaricious is clear to those who read of the great treasures he had stored away; that he was bloodthirsty and cruel is impossible of denial; but that he possessed in his earlier years many of the virtues, with some of the vices, of a great ruler is equally incontestable. His son Jehangir, whom he had left in command at Yarkand, on the approach of the army of Said fled to Sanju, and was in a few months captured and executed. About this epoch the third great Asiatic conqueror was appearing on the scene. Babur was born in 1481, and was chosen to succeed his father Uman Sheikh on the throne of Khokand, by the nobles of that state, when he was only twelve years of age. This conqueror of India influenced but indirectly the fortunes or Kashgar. His career was in another sphere, and it is not necessary here to enter into any description of his life, such as has been given of his predecessors Genghis Khan and Timour.

Said, having overcome Ababakar, employed himself in extending his rule over the neighbouring states. He was seized with the desire of occupying that mountainous region, which is divided into almost as many petty states as it contains mountain chains, lying between our Indian frontier and the Pamir and Badakshan. But although he employed all his resources in endeavouring to subject the Kafirs of Bolor, or Kafiristan as it is now called, he was unable to make any permanent additions in this direction. In other years he carried fire and sword into Tibet and Cashmere; and it was when returning from one of these expeditions, in the year 1532, that he expired from the effects of the rarefied atmosphere, near the Karakoram pass. His death was the signal for the outbreak of fresh disturbances. His legitimate sons were ousted by Rashid, the son of Said by a slave, who had already distinguished himself as a general in the wars against Kafiristan and Tibet, and on the death of Rashid after a brief reign, the confusion became, if possible, worse confounded. It would be tedious in the extreme to follow the variations that now took place. Benedict Goes, a Portuguese missionary and traveller, found a ruler named Mahomed Khan on the throne in 1603, by whom he was hospitably received; but as he had placed the sister of the Khan, when returning from a pilgrimage to Mecca, under an obligation to him, this is scarcely a fair criterion either of the personal merits of this ruler, or of the state of civilization to which the country had attained.

It was now that the Khoja family appeared prominently upon the scene. Two factions were playing the parts of Montagu and Capulet in Eastern Turkestan in the earlier years of the seventeenth century. They were known as the Aktaghluc and Karataghluc, and in the course of their strife the leader of the former called in to his aid the Khoja Kalar of Khodjent, a descendant of Azmill before mentioned. It was in the year 1618 that this Khoja first came to Kashgar, and his grandson, Hadayatulla, was the chief means of attracting the affections of the people to this family. That veneration has not disappeared to-day, and the Hazrat Afak, as he is generally spoken of, is scarcely inferior in the eyes of the people to Mahomed himself. The great miracles he is reported to have wrought, and the peculiar sanctity which attached to him during his life, gave him complete ascendancy throughout the country, and before his death he was entrusted with the supreme authority. His son, Yahya or Khan Khoja, succeeded him during his lifetime, but was murdered in a riot a few months after the death of Hadayatulla. Then recommenced with fresh vigour the old series of disturbances. Aspirant after aspirant appeared in the political arena, but, as each had little claim to lead on account of original merit, a successful rival always was forthcoming, and so this wearying cycle continued until 1720.

The course of the history of Kashgar has now been brought down to the commencement of the eighteenth century, during which a fresh change occurred in the history of the country by the Chinese conquest. It may be well, therefore, before narrating that event and the causes which immediately produced it, to consider the chief lessons taught us by the history of Eastern Turkestan, as revealed in the preceding pages. The most cursory reader must have been struck by the fact, that only twice in the course of eight centuries did the country secure a firm and settled government, and they were when two conquerors, Genghis Khan and Tamerlane, reduced every semblance of authority to one bare level of subjection. At fitful moments there arose, indeed, some leader, Yunus, Ababakar, or the first Khojas, capable of preserving for a few years his frontiers against the inroads of hostile neighbours, and of maintaining an outward show of prosperity and tranquillity to foreign travellers; but even such gleams of sunshine as these were transitory on the dark horizon of the condition of mankind in Central Asia. With the fall of each pretender, too, hopes of an improvement became fainter in the breasts of the people; and when the successors of the Khoja saint showed themselves not less amenable to the errors and frailties of their predecessors than any past ruler had been, it was to some extraneous circumstance, we may feel sure, that the people looked for aid. There is an old saying in this part of the world, that when "the people's tithe of bricks is full, then comes a Moses in the land;" and it cannot be doubted that in the year 1720 the people of Kashgar had suffered much and for so long, that relief, so that it came effectually from some quarter or another, could not be otherwise than welcome. But the Moses who had been, for centuries almost, expected, had as yet not proved forthcoming, and as "hope deferred maketh the heart sick," so had the Kashgari lost the courage even to look forward to a period when their life of misery, under oppressive tyrants and exorbitant taxation, aggravated by every form of peculation in its levy, might be changed for a more favourable state of being. There can be no doubt that if the chaos which reigned throughout Jungaria and Kashgar had continued much longer those vast regions would have been completely exhausted. As it was the population decreased in alarming proportions, and the wealth and general resources of the country disappeared with no apparent means of supplying the gap. What is, perhaps, most surprising of all is that all these later rulers seem to have lived in a sort of fools' paradise with regard to the resources of their state. The thought never seems to have occurred to them that there must be an end some day or other to a realm distracted by continual wars and sedition, and that subjects who have been tyrannised over for centuries will at last rise up in arms and teach their tyrants, in the words of the poet, "how much the wretched dare." These Khans or Ameers of Central Asia are not worthy of one moment's consideration for their own sake; but, as some account of them is a proper preparation for the modern history of Kashgar, they have been described in this chapter. From the disappearance of Chinese authority in Central and Western Asia in the eighth and ninth centuries, down to the commencement of the eighteenth century, the history of Kashgar, in common with that of its neighbours, was a series of misfortunes. There is nothing to attract our sympathies in any of the rulers, with the exception perhaps of Yunus; and all our commiseration is monopolised for the unhappy races who peopled that region. We therefore have arrived at this crisis in a fit state to appreciate the feelings of the Kashgari at the changes that occurred in the eighteenth century; and before we consider, in a fresh chapter, those alterations we may close this without regret at the disappearance of a long line of Central Asian Khans, who possessed scarcely one redeeming quality among many vices.

CHAPTER IV.
THE CONQUEST OF KASHGAR BY CHINA

Before continuing the narrative of the events that took place in Kashgar after the year 1720, until it fell into the hands of the Chinese in 1760, it may be as well to consider briefly the history of China, in order that it may be intelligible to us how that power was induced to undertake such far distant enterprises, and how, moreover, it was able to accomplish them successfully. In the earlier years of the seventeenth century the dynasty of Ming was seated on the throne of Pekin, but its power had been shaken to its foundations by repeated disasters in wars with the Mantchoo Tartars, who had wrested the province of Leaou Tung from the Emperor Wan-leh, before his death in 1620. The Mantchoos are said to have been the descendants of the Mongol conquerors of the thirteenth century, who had been forced to take refuge in the wilds north of China when the native Chinese rose up and destroyed their power. Whether this very plausible suggestion be true or not, or whether, as some affirm, these were a new race issuing from the frozen regions of Kamschatka and driven south by the necessity for obtaining sustenance for their increasing numbers, matters little for our present purpose. It is certain that they were a warlike people at this time, and that they could bring considerable numbers into the field, and it is very probable that, when they had obtained some success, their ranks were swollen by recruits from their Tartar kinsmen of Eastern Jungaria. On the death of the Chinese Emperor Wan-leh, dissensions broke out in China as to his successor, and in the struggle that ensued the Mantchoos were invited in to support the cause of one of the claimants. Their aid turned the scale in his favour; but when the fortunes of war had been clearly manifested, the Mantchoos showed no disposition to take their departure as had been stipulated. As the Saxons in our own history, and the Mongols in the Chinese had acted, so now did the Mantchoos, and in 1644 their first Emperor Chuntche was installed in the imperial dignities, as the first of the present ruling dynasty of Tatsing, or "sublimely pure," When Chuntche was crowned by his victorious soldiery, it must not be supposed that he had conquered the whole of China. During the seventeen years of his reign he was constantly engaged in warring with the native Chinese forces; but always with invariable success. In 1661 Kanghi, his son, ascended the throne, and by a series of judicious measures and successful enterprises, firmly maintained the position won in China by his father. It was during this brilliant reign that Tibet was annexed to the Chinese Empire, and from Cochin-China and the frontiers of Birma to the River Amoor there was none to question the power of the Mantchoo Government. It cannot be doubted that the conquest of Tibet opened up fresh ideas in the minds of the Chinese as to their right to rule in Eastern Turkestan; and with the re-assertion of their old suzerainty over the Tibetan table-land, the remembrance of a similar claim, at a far distant epoch, over Jungaria and Turkestan would be forced on the minds of the Chinese people, until some ambitious ruler or viceroy might avail himself of the opportunity of distinction by acquiescing in, and giving effect to, the popular desire. Kanghi was too prudent to jeopardize his recently consolidated state by expeditions either into Jungaria or Turkestan; and was quite satisfied with the respect shown to his empire by the Eleuthian princes of those regions. On Kanghi's death, in 1721, his son, Yung-Ching, came to the throne, and during his short reign, the example of his two predecessors not to interfere in the troubles of the states lying beyond Kansuh, was closely followed. Yung-Ching died in 1735, and thus made way for his ambitious and warlike son, Keen-Lung. When Keen-Lung first commenced to reign for himself he found that he was irresponsible ruler of a most powerful empire, at peace within itself, and satisfied to all outward seeming with its de facto government. His treasury was full; the country was, perhaps, at its very highest point of prosperity, and the sovereign had only to maintain in this wealth and vigour the nation which had been brought to such a pitch by the wisdom of his predecessors. To a warlike monarch, however, the career of ruler of a thriving, peace-loving, and domestic people, has never been a palatable one, and Keen-Lung thought, as have many other great sovereigns of our own age, that the only use of a wealthy and numerous subject race was to enable the ruler to undertake high-sounding enterprises, and to spread the terror of his name through distant regions. The reputation and the real strength of the Chinese Empire were so great at this time in Asia, that no single power, or even any possible confederacy, would have thought of entering the lists against it. Keen-Lung had, therefore, no just cause for hostilities with the neighbouring states, as they were always too willing to offer the amplest reparation for any cause of offence to the Imperial dignity. The conquest of Turkestan was therefore an object with which he would heartily sympathise; and when we remember his warlike disposition, and the exact condition of China at the time, possessing a superabundance of wealth, and of numbers sufficient to achieve far more difficult enterprises than the one in question, it is easier to understand the eagerness with which Keen-Lung intervened in the affairs of Jungaria, when the following opportunity, which we are about to narrate, offered for so doing.

It is now time to return to Kashgar and narrate the events that were happening in that troubled district. The feud between the Aktaghluc and Karataghluc factions reached its height when Afak, who had been placed on the throne of Yarkand by the Calmucks, under Galdan, the chief representative of the Aktaghluc, succeeded in expelling all the prominent supporters of the rival clan. Afak ruled for some years, but with difficulty maintained himself in some parts of Kashgar, against the Calmucks, Kirghiz, and Kipchak. His sons had no better fortune, and the state was finally divided between a Kipchak and a Kirghiz leader. These quarrelled between themselves, but happily they each expired in the first encounter. Acbash, one of the sons of Afak, was executed at Yangy Hissar in the course of this contention; but he had previously called in to his assistance from Khodjent, in Khokand, a Khoja, Danyal, of the rival Karataghluc faction. This roused the enmity of the more bitter among the Aktaghluc, and, on this, Khoja Ahmad was brought in to represent their interests. Danyal was besieged in Yarkand, but, with the assistance of a contingent of Kirghiz, he was able to repulse his assailants. But, although successful in the field, Danyal was compelled shortly afterwards to flee, and leave his rival in possession of the state. He fled to the Calmucks, in Jungaria, and pleaded so well, that an army was lent him to regain Kashgar. Victory attended this expedition, but the Calmuck leader, who had captured Ahmad at the siege of Kashgar, instead of placing Danyal in power, took both him and his rival as prisoners to his capital of Ili. With so forcible a settlement of the question, little room was left for useless complaining to the ambitious Danyal, and from this time down to the Chinese conquest, the Calmuck rulers of Ili asserted their right to supremacy over Eastern Turkestan. Danyal, himself, was appointed, some years later on, governor of Kashgar, now called Alty Shahr, or six cities; but, under him, there was a local governor for each town, appointed by the Calmucks themselves. His power was more apparent than real. His eldest son was kept at Ili as a hostage for the good behaviour of his father, and Danyal, himself, had frequently to proceed to Ili to make his report on the state of affairs in Kashgar. Such was the condition of Kashgar, as a subject province of the Calmuck rulers of Ili, governed by Danyal, a member of the Karataghluc party, in the year 1740. On the death of Galdan, the son of Arabdan Khan of Jungaria, in 1745, two chiefs, Amursana and Davatsi, or Tawats, seized the governing power, and for a time they divided the authority fairly between them; but it was not long before they fell out, and resolved to advance their own interests at the expense of each other. Amursana was unable to cope with the armies of his rival, Davatsi, and, having been defeated in several encounters, fled from Jungaria to China. On his arrival at Lanchefoo he demanded permission to proceed to Pekin to lay his grievances at the feet of the Emperor, and to offer in his name, and in that of many of his compatriots, the districts of Ili and of Kashgar to his omnipotent majesty.

The request was granted, and Keen-Lung received him with favour, promised to consider what he had stated, and, in the meanwhile, gave him titles and revenues within the Chinese Empire. Amursana's address was so insinuating, and he played so skilfully on the king's ambition and love for military renown, that at last Keen-Lung consented to lend him the forces, which he had been so lavish of promises to secure. In 1753, the Chinese army, under Amursana, appeared in Jungaria, and, after several desperate encounters, Davatsi was driven out of that state, and, according to one account, was delivered up to the Chinese by Khojam Beg, the governor of Ush Turfan. According to another version, he was captured in the field; but both agree that he was taken to Pekin and there executed. Amursana, having regained his position in Jungaria, now turned his attention to the conquest of its dependency, Kashgar. He was now supreme in Jungaria, with his capital at Ili; but his army, which maintained him in his position, was a Khitay force, owing allegiance solely to the Emperor of Pekin, and only obeying the instructions issued by his general accompanying the Eleuth prince Amursana. At this epoch Yusuf, a son of Galdan, had seized the chief authority in Kashgar, and, raising a cry that the true religion of Islam was in danger from the advance of the Khitay, endeavoured to rally to his cause in the struggle that he saw was approaching the Mahomedan governments of Khokand and Bokhara. Amursana, on the northern frontiers of Kashgar, was eagerly watching for the opportunity to arise for an active interference in that state, and Yusuf was prudent in seeking beyond his frontiers for allies that were able to assist him against the machinations of his foes. Yusuf had made himself the leader and representative of the Karataghluc party in the state, and Amursana accordingly resolved to put forward the pretensions of the rival Aktaghluc faction. In this design the Chinese general acquiesced, and, with the assistance of the Calmuck governors of Ush Turfan, and Aksu, no delay interfered with its prompt realization. The descendants of the ancient Khojas were consequently sought out, and Barhanuddin, son of Ahmad, was selected for the purpose. He, at the head of a mixed following, promptly seized Ush Turfan, and was there received with acclamation, and several of the minor tribes joined him at once. Yusuf was, however, hurrying up with a large force from Yarkand, and Barhanuddin's chances seemed to be more than doubtful, when Yusuf died on the way. His son Abdulla, who took the name of Khoja Padshah, hastened on, however, and besieged Barhanuddin in Ush Turfan. Abdulla then endeavoured to come to terms with Barhanuddin, and made overtures for the reconciliation of the Karataghluc and Aktaghluc parties to be cemented in a crusade against the invading Khitay. Barhanuddin, a true Mussulman, was personally inclined to accept the arrangement offered, but, as he was surrounded by Chinese officials and their allies, he was constrained to give instead the advice that Abdulla should surrender to the Chinese and acknowledge their supremacy. Abdulla was not at all willing to forfeit his independence without some struggle, and the siege of Ush Turfan was pressed on. In the camp of the besieging forces there were some who favoured the pretensions of Barhanuddin, and these deserting from the Karataghluc cause, the remaining forces of Abdulla were compelled to retreat with precipitation. Barhanuddin immediately advanced on Kashgar, where he was received with open arms. Yarkand soon afterwards fell into his possession, and the conquest of Kashgar by the descendant of the Khojas and the triumph of the Aktaghluc party were complete.