“Then Asad marched towards Samarqand by way of Zamm, and when he reached Zamm, he sent to Al-Haytham ash-Shaybānī, one of _H_ārith’s followers, who was in Bādhkar (the citadel of Zamm), saying “That which you have disowned in your own people is only their evil ways, but that does not extend to the women ... _nor to the conquest by the unbelievers of such as Samarqand_. Now I am on my way to Samarqand and I take an oath before God that no harm shall befall you on my initiative, but you shall have friendly and honourable treatment and pardon, you and those with you....” So Al-Haytham came out to join him on the condition of pardon which he had given him, and Asad pardoned him, and Al-Haytham marched with him to Samarqand and Asad gave them double pay.” The expedition therefore was obviously against unbelievers. That the whole of _S_ughd was lost to the Arabs is clear from the fact that Asad found it necessary to take provisions for the army with him from Bukhārā. He was not successful in recapturing the city, however, and attempted no more than the damming of the canal sluices at Waraghsar. The fate of the garrison of Samarqand has thus been passed over in silence, unless, perhaps, it is hinted at in Asad’s reference to the capture of Muslim women. Whether Ghūrak recaptured it with his own troops or with the aid of the Türgesh, it can scarcely be doubted that he had taken advantage of the dissensions in Khurāsān to realise his ambition and at last drive the Arabs out of his capital. Of all the conquests of Qutayba beyond the Oxus, Bukhārā, Chaghāniān, and perhaps Kish alone remained to the Arabs. A confirmatory detail is the cessation of _S_ughdian embassies to China between 731 and 740: now that independence (even if under Türgesh suzerainty) had been won again, there was no need to invoke Chinese support. Negative evidence of the same kind is afforded by the absence of any Arab embassy during the same period. Had the Arabs been in possession of _S_ughd, it is practically certain that Asad, as he had done before, would have renewed relations with the Chinese court. Against this view may be set the statement in _T_ab. 1613. 5 that Khāqān was preparing an army to invest Samarqand at the time of his assassination. This report is, however, from its nature untrustworthy, and is contradicted by the presence of the king of _S_ughd with _S_ughdian troops in the Türgesh army in 119/737 as well as by Na_s_r b. Sayyār’s expedition to Samarqand two years later. _S_ughd thus enjoyed once more a brief period of independence. In 737 or 738 Ghūrak died and his kingdom was divided amongst his heirs. He was succeeded at Samarqand by his son Tu-ho (? _T_arkhūn), formerly prince of Kabudhān. Another son Me-chuʾo (? Mukhtār) was already king of Māyamurgh, while the king of Ishtīkhan in 742 was a certain Ko-lo-pu-lo who may perhaps be identified with Ghūrak’s brother Afarūn[91].