The Conquest Of Central Asia Had Been Among The Most Brilliant And
Remarkable Of The Feats Of The Great Keen Lung.
Peace had been preserved
there as much by the extraordinary prestige or reputation of China as by
the skill of the administration or the soundness of the policy of the
governing power, which left a large share of the work to the subject
races.
Outside each of the principal towns the Chinese built a fort or
gulbagh, in which their garrison resided, and military officers or ambans
were appointed to every district. The Mohammedan officials were held
responsible for the good conduct of the people and the due collection of
the taxes, and as long as the Chinese garrison was maintained in strength
and efficiency they discharged their duties with the requisite good faith.
The lapse of time and the embarrassment of the government at home led to
the neglect of the force in Central Asia, which had once been an efficient
army. The Chinese garrison, ill-paid and unrecruited, gradually lost the
semblance of a military force, and was not to be distinguished from the
rest of the civil population. The difference of religion was the only
unequivocal mark of distinction between the rulers and the ruled, and it
furnished an ever-present cause of enmity and dislike, although apart from
this the Mohammedans accepted the Chinese rule as not bad in itself, and
even praised it. The Chinese might have continued to govern Ili and
Kashgar indefinitely, notwithstanding the weakness and decay of their
garrison, but for the ambition of a neighbor. The Chinese are to blame,
however, not merely for having ignored the obvious aggressiveness of that
neighbor, but for having provided it with facilities for carrying out its
plans. The Khanate of Khokand, the next-door state in Central Asia, had
been intimately connected with Kashgar from ancient times, both in
politics and trade. The Chinese armies in the eighteenth century had
advanced into Khokand, humbled its khan, and reduced him to a state of
vassalage. For more than fifty years the khan sent tribute to China, and
was the humble neighbor of the Chinese. He gave, however, a place of
refuge and a pension to Sarimsak, the last representative of the old Khoja
family of Kashgar, and thus retained a hold on the legitimate ruler of
that state. Sarimsak had as a child escaped from the pursuit of Fouta and
the massacre of his relations by the chief of Badakshan, but he was
content to remain a pensioner at Khokand to the end of his days, and he
left the assertion of what he considered his rights to his children. His
three sons were named, in the order of their age, Yusuf, Barhanuddin, and
Jehangir, and each of them attempted at different times to dispossess the
Chinese in Kashgar. In the year 1812, when Kiaking's weakness was
beginning to be apparent, the Khan of Khokand, a chief of more than usual
ability, named Mahomed Ali, refused to send tribute any more to China, and
the Viceroy of Ili, having no force at his disposal, acquiesced in the
change with good grace, and no hostilities ensued. The first concession
was soon followed by others. The khan obtained the right to levy a tax on
all Mohammedan merchandise sold in the bazaars of Kashgar and Yarkand, and
deputed consuls or aksakals for the purpose of collecting the duties.
These aksakals naturally became the center of all the intrigue and
disaffection prevailing in the state against the Chinese, and they
considered it to be as much their duty to provoke political discontent as
to supervise the customs placed under their charge. Before the aksakals
appeared on the scene the Chinese ruled a peaceful territory, but after
the advent of these foreign officials trouble soon ensued.
Ten years after his refusal to pay tribute the Khan of Khokand decided to
support the Khoja pretenders who enjoyed his hospitality, and in 1822
Jehangir was provided with money and arms to make an attempt on the
Chinese position in Kashgaria. Although the youngest, Jehangir seems to
have been the most energetic of the Khoja princes; and having obtained the
alliance of the Kirghiz, he attempted, by a rapid movement, to surprise
the Chinese in the town of Kashgar. In this attempt he was disappointed,
for the Chinese kept better guard than he expected, and he was compelled
to make an ignominious retreat. The Khan of Khokand, disappointed at the
result and apprehensive of counter action on the part of the Chinese,
repudiated all participation in the matter, and forbade Jehangir to return
to his country. That adventurer then fled to Lake Issik Kul, whither the
Chinese pursued him; but when his fortunes seemed to have reached their
lowest ebb a revulsion suddenly took place, and by the surprise and
annihilation of a Chinese force he was again able to pose as an arbiter of
affairs in Central Asia. The fortitude of Jehangir confirmed the
attachment of his friends, and the Khokandian ruler, encouraged by the
defeat of the Chinese, again took up his cause and sent him troops and a
general for a fresh descent on Kashgaria. The khan had his own ends in
view quite as much as to support the Khoja pretender; but his support
encouraged Jehangir to leave his mountain retreat and to cross the Tian
Shan into Kashgaria. This happened in the year 1826, and the Chinese
garrison of Kashgar very unwisely quitted the shelter of its citadel and
went out to meet the invaders. The combat is said to have been fiercely
contested, but nothing is known about it except that the Chinese were
signally defeated. This overthrow was the signal for a general
insurrection throughout the country, and the Chinese garrisons, after more
or less resistance, were annihilated. An attempt was then made to restore
the old Mohammedan administration, and Jehangir was proclaimed by the
style of the Seyyid Jehangir Sultan. One of his first acts was to dismiss
the Khokandian contingent, and to inform his ally or patron, Mahomed Ali,
that he no longer required his assistance.
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