paralyzed when the danger that had for many
months appeared menacing came upon them. The resistance encountered at
Aksu, naturally and artificially a very strong place, was not prolonged,
and Yakoob Beg swept on against Kucha. Here the Tungani, having somewhat
recovered from their trepidation, made a desperate stand, and with the
reinforcements that had arrived from Turfan presented a sufficiently
formidable appearance. The ruling authorities in Kucha were Khojas, who
in the time of the Chinese had the custody of a shrine sacred to the
memory of a Mahomedan saint, but who at the outbreak of disturbances
left the temple for the council chamber, and the offering up of prayers
to the memory of the saint for the more difficult task of issuing edicts
for the management of a people. Unhappily for their reputation in our
eyes, they had specially distinguished themselves in the massacres of
the Khitay. Their brief tenure of power seems to have been fairly
beneficent, and, in the lull that succeeded the deposition of the
Chinese and preceded the invasion of Yakoob Beg, they obtained without
doing anything very noteworthy the approval and affection of their
subjects. At Kucha, therefore, more than 500 miles distant from his own
capital, with a long line of hostile country in his rear, Yakoob Beg
found himself opposed by the full power of the Tungani. Previous to
advancing beyond Aksu he had sent back officers to Kashgar to bring up
fresh levies, and he had resorted to that doubtful expedient of drafting
into his army many of the Tungani captured at Aksu. Arrived in front of
Kucha he was unable to prosecute the siege with any vigour until the
arrival of his reinforcements. The moment of delay was attempted to be
turned to account by Yakoob Beg and some of the more prudent of his
counsellors; but the Tungani, whether unwilling to acknowledge their
inferiority or incredulous of the good faith of the Athalik Ghazi,
refused to enter into negotiations that they asserted were unnecessary.
Yakoob Beg had invaded them in their possessions, and he had annexed
Aksu; the only condition in which they could acquiesce was a withdrawal
of his army. All the efforts of the more peaceful and the more prudent
on either side were unavailing, and each party used every exertion to
bring up fresh troops to decide the question of superiority between
Tungani and Kashgari. For several weeks the two armies stood facing each
other, the one stationed on the hi