The Chinese Had Now Got Within
Striking Distance Of The Capital Of The State.
They had only to provide
the means of making the blow as fatal and decisive as possible.
In
December they seized Maralbashi, an important position on the Kashgar
Darya, commanding the principal roads to both Yarkand and Kashgar. Yarkand
was the chief object of attack. It surrendered without a blow on December
21. A second Chinese army had been sent from Maralbashi to Kashgar, which
was defended by a force of several thousand men. It had been besieged nine
days, when Liu Kintang arrived with his troops from Yarkand. A battle
ensued, in which the Mohammedans were vanquished, and the city with the
citadel outside captured. Several rebel leaders and some eleven hundred
men were said to have been executed; but Kuli Beg escaped into Russian
territory. The city of Kashgar was taken on December 26, and one week
later the town of Khoten, famous from a remote period for its jade
ornaments, passed into the hands of the race who best appreciated their
beauty and value. The Chinese thus brought to a triumphant conclusion the
campaigns undertaken for the reassertion of their authority over the
Mohammedan populations which had revolted. They had conquered in this war
by the superiority of their weapons and their organization, and not by an
overwhelming display of numbers. Although large bodies of troops were
stationed at many places, it does not seem that the army which seized the
cities of Yarkand and Kashgar numbered more than twenty thousand men.
Having vanquished their enemy in the field, the Celestials devoted all
their attention to the reorganization of what was called the New Dominion,
the capital of which after much deliberation was fixed at Urumtsi.
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Page 633 of 704
Words from 171729 to 172021
of 191255
