The Life of Yakoob Beg; Athalik Ghazi, and Badaulet; Ameer of Kashgar

The reader may have observed that we have said little of Buzurg Khan during the operations of the campaign up to this point. Indeed, there is little or nothing to say of the movements of that prince, for he had been mainly stationary at Kashgar, where he passed his time in his harem, or besotted under the use of drugs. Yakoob Beg had from the very commencement come to the front as responsible chief, and as events progressed the people and the army came to look upon him as their future ruler. But Yakoob Beg, it would seem, was really in earnest in supporting the Khoja prince, for on several occasions not only did he give Buzurg the most salutary advice, but he also compelled him to take an active part in the public business. Such fits of action were most distasteful to the effeminate prince, and he always returned with renewed zest to the illicit pleasures in which he indulged. One of the occasions on which Yakoob Beg endeavoured to instil into his sovereign some idea of the responsibilities of his office was this invasion by the Khoja-Tungani power of Altyshahr. Early in the summer a large force, estimated at 40,000 men, collected by the cities of Aksu, Kucha, and Turfan, appeared at Maralbashi, whence it equally threatened Kashgar or protected Yarkand. Yakoob Beg's utmost efforts, if we are to credit the native report, only availed to bring some 2,500 men into the field; but it is more reasonable to suppose, that, with his Kirghiz, Kipchak, and Badakshi auxiliaries, he had many more troops under him, perhaps 12,500 instead of 2,500 men. Be the exact numbers of the forces what they may, however, it is certain that he was greatly outnumbered by the invader, and that the diverse elements of his army detracted very much from its effective strength. The Tungan army advanced from Maralbashi on Yangy Hissar, where Yakoob Beg had concentrated his army. He had drawn Buzurg Khan and such of the court followers as he could from their ignominious inaction in the capital to encounter the dangers and risks of a field of battle. Both sides were eager for the encounter, which took place in the neighbourhood of Yangy Hissar. The tactical disposition made by Yakoob Beg of his forces was such as would command the approval of skilled officers, and, having done all that mortal man could do to insure the result, he commended himself and his cause to Allah. The battle was long and stoutly contested. During hours it was impossible to say to which side the balance of victory was inclining; at last the Kirghiz troops, half-hearted in their fighting, were driven from the field, and the Badakshi division, which had up to that moment stubbornly held its ground, immediately followed the shameful example thus set it. There now only remained the division under the immediate orders of Yakoob Beg to withstand the onset of a whole army victorious in two different quarters of the field. The situation, on which the fate of the whole enterprise depended, might have filled the boldest heart with momentary despair. 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 God," 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 assuming 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 lustre 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 Maralbashi, 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 embassy 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 worship 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 circumstance, 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 assumption 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 fainéant, 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 wishing 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 amusements 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 assumed 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 asserted, 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 space 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 assault, 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 crushing Yakoob Beg that Buzurg Khan had employed was an appeal to the Sheikh-ul-islam of Kashgar to proclaim his Baturbashi outside the pale of the law. This the ecclesiastic refused to do, and asserted, 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 Badakshi 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 assumption 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 retard 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 vassal 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.