e whole of his available
force he attacked the city on three sides; but the Tungani resisted
strenuously, and all his direct attacks were repulsed with heavy loss.
To his son Khooda Kul Beg he had entrusted an attack in the rear of the
city, and on the success of that movement now entirely depended the
result of the assault on Kucha. That division by great good fortune and
the gallantry of its leader was victorious, and, although this promising
son of Yakoob Beg, then only a little more than twenty years of age, was
killed in the confusion that ensued on the entrance into the city, Kucha
fell. The triumph was, perhaps, not too dearly purchased. The Tungan
power had received a blow, which took the sting out of its menace, and
effectually protected Kashgar from any possible confederacy among the
Tungan cities. Yakoob Beg followed up the success of Kucha with all his
usual promptitude, but his power was not yet sufficiently matured to
justify him in carrying on extensive operations at such a distance from
the base of his resources. But another reason at this time combined to
recall his attention to another part of his dominions. The Russians were
advancing both in Khokand and in the district of Vernoe to the west of
Kuldja.

It was evident that prudence demanded a prompt return, and for the
present all further triumph must be abandoned. However, before Yakoob
Beg returned to regulate events in the western portion of his dominions,
he had the satisfaction of receiving the submission humbly tendered by
the ruling bodies of Karashar, Turfan, Hamil, and Urumtsi. After this
brilliant campaign, he slowly retraced his steps through Kucha to Aksu.
Then he turned into the mountains, and reduced Ush Turfan, which in his
onward march he had passed by; and, after this acquisition, the Tungani
of Ili expressed a desire to enter into terms of amity with one who had
brought his empire into direct contact with their state. All these
events occurred during the year 1867; and, although now and then
uncertain rumours reached England of these changes in Eastern
Turkestan, the world in general, even the Russian world, remained
indifferent to the progress of events of which it is now difficult to
trace the exact course. But, with the close of this first Tungan
campaign, and with the extension of the new state up to the walls of
Kucha, the Russian Government, as will be seen in a later chapter,
endeavoured to arrive at some clear view on the exa