After this victory Kutayba again withdrew to Merv. The chroniclers differ as to the part which the Tarkhūn Melik of Soghd played in this battle. Tabari relates that the Tarkhūn, seeing that the day was going with the Musulmans, rode, accompanied by two horsemen, close up to Kutayba’s camp--there being only the river of Bokhārā between them, and asked him to send a man across to confer with him. A certain Hayyān, the Nabatæan, came over, and through his mediation a peace was settled upon, the Tarkhūn agreeing to pay tribute to Kutayba. The Tarkhūn then returned to his own country, while Kutayba, as stated above, retired to Merv, accompanied by Nīzek. Narshakhi, on the other hand, says that Hayyān, the Nabatæan, told the king of Soghd that it would be much wiser for him to abandon the allies and return to his own country. “We,” he said, “will remain here as long as the warm weather lasts, but when the winter sets in we shall retire, and then you will find the Turks all against you,--for nothing will induce them to leave your beautiful Soghd.” The Tarkhūn, convinced of the value of this advice, asked what course he should pursue. Hayyān replied: “First, you must make peace with Kutayba, and pay him an indemnity. Next represent to the Turks that Hajjāj is sending reinforcements by way of Kesh and Nakhshab. Then you must turn back; and haply they will do likewise.” That same night the Tarkhūn concluded a treaty with Kutayba, and gave him 2000 direms;[126] Kutayba, for his part, promising not to molest his kingdom. He then sounded his trumpets and marched off, and his example was very soon after followed by the emperor of China’s nephew. “Thus did God deliver the Musulmans from the great straits in which they had been plunged for four months.” During this period Hajjāj had received no news from Kutayba, and his anxiety was so great that special prayers were offered in the mosques for his safety. “This was Kutayba’s fourth expedition into Bokhārā.”[127] CHAPTER VII KUTAYBA’S LAST CAMPAIGNS Among Kutayba’s followers was a certain noble named Nīzek, prince of Bādghīs, and a minister of Jighāya, ruler of Tokhāristān, who was in all probability attached temporarily to his court as a prisoner on parole. Nīzek had watched Kutayba’s campaigns with keen interest, in the fond hope that he might receive a serious check, and that Transoxiana and Khorāsān might be emboldened to throw off the Arab yoke. The great leader’s success in Bokhārā convinced the moody rebel of the folly of such anticipations; and he saw only too clearly that the moment had come for the oppressed nationalities of Central Asia to strike a last despairing blow for freedom.[128] His first step was to obtain from the unsuspecting Kutayba permission to visit Tokhāristān, his next to raise the standard of revolt, which he did on reaching the defiles of Khulm.