Did not do so Yakoob Beg would, the fact remains that the
Russian government did a good thing in the cause of order by interfering
for the restoration of tranquillity in the valley of the Ili.
The Mohammedan outbreaks in southwestern and northwestern China resulted,
therefore, in the gradual suppression of the Panthay rebellion, which was
completed in the twelfth year of Tungche's reign, while the Tungan rising,
so far as the Central Asian territories were concerned, remained unquelled
for a longer period. The latter led to the establishment of an independent
Tungan confederacy beyond Kansuh, and also of the kingdom of Kashgaria
ruled by Yakoob Beg. The revolt in Ili, after several alternations of
fortune, resulted in the brief independence of the Tarantchis, who were in
turn displaced by the Russians under a pledge of restoring the province to
the Chinese whenever they should return. Judged by the extent of territory
involved, the Mohammedan rebellion might be said to be not less important
than the Taeping; but the comparison on that ground alone would be really
delusive, as the numerical inferiority of the Mohammedans rendered it
always a question only of time for the central power to be restored.
The young Emperor Tungche, therefore, grew up amid continual difficulties,
although the successes of his principal lieutenants afforded good reason
to believe that, so far as they arose from rebels, it was only a question
of time before they would be finally removed.
