ave stood uncertain, and the most
resolute inactive until hurried into action by the progress of events.
For some months Yakoob Beg seems to have remained uncertain what should
be his next move.

In 1865, before his last advance on Yarkand, he had seized Maralbashi or
Bartchuk, and by so doing not only had he secured communication between
Aksu and Yarkand, but also between Aksu and Khoten. This position, lying
200 miles to the east of Yangy Hissar, has always been and is still very
important, and Yakoob Beg is supposed to have fortified it very
strongly. This success was the permanent result of his great victory
over the Tungani from Aksu and Kucha in the neighbourhood of Yangy
Hissar, and it effectually secured his flank during further operations.
It was not, however, until he turned his attention to the southern city
of Khoten, that the importance of this acquisition was made
incontestable. Then it enabled him to devote his attention exclusively
to the extension of his sway southward to the mountains of Karakoram
and Kuen Lun, beyond which he might expect no enemy. In Khoten the Mufti
Habitulla had been invested with supreme control, after the deposition
of the Chinese authorities; and during his government of the city and
district, order appears to have been maintained without unnecessary
exactions. When Yakoob Beg made his first appearance in Yarkand, after
his earlier successes round Kashgar, it will be remembered that the
Yarkandi acknowledged the supremacy of the new Khoja king. Their example
was speedily followed by Habitulla of Khoten, and it is not stated that,
even during the progress of hostilities with Yarkand, this ruler
repudiated the arrangement into which he had entered. It is true that he
was far removed from the immediate sphere of action, but that will not
alone account for an indifference to the progress of events in Kashgar,
which Khoten had never manifested on any previous occasion. Khoten may,
therefore, be considered to have been exceptionally well behaved towards
the new Khoja dynasty located at Kashgar; and when Yakoob Beg advanced
to the south of Yarkand, Habitulla hastened to send representatives to
the camp of the conqueror. They were received with consideration, but
deep down in the breast of Yakoob Beg there lurked either an inveterate
distrust of, or dislike to, the Mufti Habitulla. Dissembling his true
feelings, Yakoob Beg sent a message requesting the presence of the Mufti
in his camp.