On
November 4, After A Two Months' Siege, Haiyen, As The Chinese Named The
Mohammedan Leader, Came Out And Offered To Yield The Town.
His offer seems
to have been partly accepted, and on the 6th of the month the survivors of
the brave garrison, to the number of between two and three thousand men,
sallied forth from the west gate.
It was noticed as a ground of suspicion
that all the men carried their weapons, and that they had placed their old
men, women and children in the center of their phalanx as if they
contemplated rather a sortie than a tame and unresisting surrender. The
Chinese commanders were not indisposed to deal with the least suspicious
circumstances as if they meant certain treachery. The imperialists
gradually gathered around the garrison. The Mohammedans made one bold
effort to cut their way through. They failed in the attempt, and were
practically annihilated on the ground. Those men who were taken by the
cavalry were at once beheaded, whether in the city or among those who had
gone forth, but the aged, the women and the children were spared by
Kinshun's express orders. All the leaders taken were tortured before
execution as rebels, and even the bodies of the dead chiefs were exhumed
in order that they might be subjected to indignity. The siege of Manas was
interesting both for the stubbornness of the attack and defense, and also
as marking the successful termination of the Chinese campaign against the
Tungani. With its capture, those Mohammedans who might be said to be
Chinese in ways and appearance ceased to possess any political importance.
It would not be going much too far to say that they no longer existed. The
movement of rebellion which began at Hochow in 1862 was thus repressed in
1876, after having involved during those fourteen years the northwestern
provinces of China, and much of the interior of Asia, in a struggle which,
for its bitter and sanguinary character, has rarely been surpassed.
[Illustration: KANG, THE REFORMER]
The successes of the Chinese gave their generals and army the confidence
and prestige of victory, and the overthrow of the Tungani left them
disengaged to deal with a more formidable antagonist. The siege of Manas
had been vigorously prosecuted in order that the town might be taken
before the army of Yakoob Beg should arrive. The Athalik Ghazi may have
believed that Manas could hold out during the winter, for his movements in
1876 were leisurely, and betrayed a confidence that no decisive fighting
would take place until the following spring. His hopes were shown to be
delusive, but too late for practical remedy. Manas had fallen before he
could move to its support. The Chinese had crushed the Tungani, and were
in possession of the mountain passes. They were gathering their whole
strength to fall upon him, and to drive him out of the state in which he
had managed to set up a brief authority. While the events recorded had
been in progress, Yakoob Beg had been ruling the state of Kashgaria with
sufficient vigor and wisdom to attract the observation of his great
neighbors, the governments of England and Russia.
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Page 326 of 366
Words from 170040 to 170572
of 191255
