gage whatever.
The enterprise to Yarkand then appeared in its true light as a rash
venture.

The Khitay in the fort of Yangy Hissar still held out, and Yakoob Beg
resolved to overcome them before he attempted any fresh enterprise. He
called up reinforcements from Kashgar, and pressed the siege with
renewed vigour, and alter strictly environing it for forty days the
garrison surrendered. Although Yakoob Beg himself seemed desirous of
showing moderation to the prisoners, more than 2,000 Chinese were
massacred. During all these petty events, which had not produced even
the results of past Khoja enterprises, there had been discontent and
division within, as well as opposition from without. At this time a
fresh danger was appearing on the horizon. A Badakshi army was advancing
with hostile intent on Sirikul, and although Yakoob Beg disregarded its
approach while he pressed on the works against the citadel of Yangy
Hissar, when that fort fell it attracted his attention once more. The
Khitay garrison in the Yangyshahr of Kashgar was also a source of danger
to the newly founded dynasty, and, although its inactivity had continued
for a long period, it was uncertain at what moment it might pass off. We
can only account for the extraordinary lethargy of the Chinese commander
by supposing that he was in complete ignorance of what was passing in
the country. At many moments it must seem to an observer of the facts
that the Chinese governor, who had under him 6,000 or 7,000 disciplined
troops, could have crushed all the opposition of such heterogeneous
crowds as those fighting under or against Yakoob Beg were up to this
time. With the destruction of the Yangy Hissar garrison the prospects of
Yakoob Beg greatly improved, and less opportunity was left to the
Chinese governor for assuming the offensive, than when he possessed an
ally in so close a position as Yangy Hissar. Yakoob Beg also resolved to
press the Khitay still more in this their last stronghold, and before he
encountered other opponents to crush the Khitay, as he already had the
Kirghiz. At this point Sadic Beg reappears in Kashgar at the head of a
Kirghiz force to oppose Yakoob Beg, and for a moment it seemed as if he
were to have better fortune on this occasion. But Abdulla, the most
trusted as well as the most courageous of Yakoob Beg's lieutenants,
collected such forces as he could, boldly threw himself in his path,
and, having routed Sadic in a sanguinary engagement, p