The Khitay in the fort of Yangy Hissar still held out, and Yakoob Beg resolved to overcome them before he attempted any fresh enterprise. He called up reinforcements from Kashgar, and pressed the siege with renewed vigour, and alter strictly environing it for forty days the garrison surrendered. Although Yakoob Beg himself seemed desirous of showing moderation to the prisoners, more than 2,000 Chinese were massacred. During all these petty events, which had not produced even the results of past Khoja enterprises, there had been discontent and division within, as well as opposition from without. At this time a fresh danger was appearing on the horizon. A Badakshi army was advancing with hostile intent on Sirikul, and although Yakoob Beg disregarded its approach while he pressed on the works against the citadel of Yangy Hissar, when that fort fell it attracted his attention once more. The Khitay garrison in the Yangyshahr of Kashgar was also a source of danger to the newly founded dynasty, and, although its inactivity had continued for a long period, it was uncertain at what moment it might pass off. We can only account for the extraordinary lethargy of the Chinese commander by supposing that he was in complete ignorance of what was passing in the country. At many moments it must seem to an observer of the facts that the Chinese governor, who had under him 6,000 or 7,000 disciplined troops, could have crushed all the opposition of such heterogeneous crowds as those fighting under or against Yakoob Beg were up to this time. With the destruction of the Yangy Hissar garrison the prospects of Yakoob Beg greatly improved, and less opportunity was left to the Chinese governor for assuming the offensive, than when he possessed an ally in so close a position as Yangy Hissar. Yakoob Beg also resolved to press the Khitay still more in this their last stronghold, and before he encountered other opponents to crush the Khitay, as he already had the Kirghiz. At this point Sadic Beg reappears in Kashgar at the head of a Kirghiz force to oppose Yakoob Beg, and for a moment it seemed as if he were to have better fortune on this occasion. But Abdulla, the most trusted as well as the most courageous of Yakoob Beg's lieutenants, collected such forces as he could, boldly threw himself in his path, and, having routed Sadic in a sanguinary engagement, prepared to press that unfortunate chieftain into flight or ruin. Yakoob Beg, in want of allies and soldiers however, interfered and suggested an alliance instead of a war _à outrance_. The thwarted Sadic was only too glad to get off on such favourable terms, and joined his forces to those of his late enemy now besieging the Khitay with renewed vigour. This merciful termination of a difficulty, that might have become serious had it not been cured in time, was a performance very creditable in a diplomatic sense to Yakoob Beg. In a small way it may be compared with Frederick