immediate
influence.

At this period he loudly proclaimed that there should be no differences
among the Tungani, or Mahomedans, in their war with the Buddhists, and
that Khojas and Tungani had but one interest in common. As we have seen,
the Tungan disturbances broke out first in Yarkand of any city of
Altyshahr, and accordingly an earlier settlement founded on a compromise
had been attained there, than was the case in its northern neighbours,
Kashgar and Yangy Hissar, where an ambitious Kirghiz chief had sought to
carve a kingdom for himself. After Abderrahman Khoja had been made king
or ruler in Yarkand, and after the Khitay had been destroyed with their
citadel, a fresh arrangement was agreed upon between the Tungani and the
Khoja party. By its terms the Tungani maintained possession of the
citadel, and the Khojas held jurisdiction in the city. Neither of them
would be disposed to view with any friendly eye the appearance of a
claimant to supremacy in the person of a Khoja sovereign of the whole
country, and it was as the representative of such a person that Yakoob
Beg resolved to visit Yarkand. His march was delayed as much as
possible, and it was not without some difficulty that he at last
obtained admittance with his small following into the city. Yakoob Beg
was naturally incensed at this inimical treatment from his
fellow-religionists, and he soon set himself to the task of humbling the
dominant Khojas of Yarkand. During a street riot that was probably
instigated by the wily Khokandian, the leading Khojas were seized, and
their followers expelled from the city. With a force of only a few
hundred men, Yakoob Beg had established himself as master in the largest
city of the country; his success on this occasion was very temporary. As
ill fortune would have it for him, a fresh army of 2,000 men from Kucha
had arrived at Tagharchi, and, there joined by the forces from Yarkand
and the neighbourhood, presented a very formidable appearance. They
marched on the city at once with complete confidence in their superior
numbers, and Yakoob Beg, always in favour of the boldest course, marched
out to meet them. In a skirmish, however, the detachment under Abdulla
was badly cut up owing to the rashness of that officer, and Yakoob Beg
at once recognized the necessity for a prompt retreat. During the
following night he made a forced march and arrived the next day at Yangy
Hissar with no very great loss in men, but without any bag