He began by making the Amīr overtures of peace, on the basis of the _statu quo_ as regards boundaries, the grant of equal rights to Russians and natives in the matter of trade, and the payment of a war indemnity of 125,000 tilās.[551] No reply was returned by the Amīr, but he obtained reinforcements from Khiva, and massed troops to attack the Russian outpost at Jizāk. The general, in consonance with the policy pursued by all Asiatic conquerors, anticipated the onslaught by a forward movement. Samarkand was the objective, the holiest of Central Asian cities, with a fierce and crafty population and many remains of past splendour to remind its inhabitants that it had been once the seat of an empire which regarded Russia as an outlying province. On the 12th May 1868 Kauffman, at the head of 3600 troops, attacked the united Bokhāran and Khivan host, 40,000 strong, massed on the heights on the left bank of the Zarafshān, fifteen miles from the capital. The Russians forded the shallow river and fell upon the foe with such impetuosity that an utter rout followed. Samarkand surrendered on the following day.[552] The cowardly Sarts[553] offered sumptuous banquets to the victors. But a note of warning was sounded by the Jews, whom ages of cruel oppression had rendered friendly to the Russian cause. They were disregarded by Kauffman, who had hurried on to capture the towns of Urgut and Katti Kurgān, on the direct road to Bokhārā. Learning that the warlike population of Shahrisabz had joined the movement, and were encamped to the east of Samarkand, while the Bokhāran forces menaced Katti Kurgān, he moved out to attack the foe. His wounded were left in the citadel, a fortress nearly surrounded by scarped ravines in the centre of Samarkand, under a guard of 762 men, commanded by Major Von Stempel, under whom Colonel Nazaroff, with a chivalry equal to Outram’s, consented to serve.