Yakoob Beg collected his forces to chastise them. The doctrines of the Tungani were impeached as not being in strict accordance with the Shariàt, and the religious fervour of the Sunnis was appealed to, to bring these recalcitrant people to an acknowledgment of the error of their ways. In addition to the semi-religious element thus imported into the question, Yakoob Beg also laid claim to the country up to Kucha as part of the old territory of the Khoja kings. In the spring of 1867 his army set out in two divisions for Aksu. The Tungani appear to have been paralyzed when the danger that had for many months appeared menacing came upon them. The resistance encountered at Aksu, naturally and artificially a very strong place, was not prolonged, and Yakoob Beg swept on against Kucha. Here the Tungani, having somewhat recovered from their trepidation, made a desperate stand, and with the reinforcements that had arrived from Turfan presented a sufficiently formidable appearance. The ruling authorities in Kucha were Khojas, who in the time of the Chinese had the custody of a shrine sacred to the memory of a Mahomedan saint, but who at the outbreak of disturbances left the temple for the council chamber, and the offering up of prayers to the memory of the saint for the more difficult task of issuing edicts for the management of a people. Unhappily for their reputation in our eyes, they had specially distinguished themselves in the massacres of the Khitay. Their brief tenure of power seems to have been fairly beneficent, and, in the lull that succeeded the deposition of the Chinese and preceded the invasion of Yakoob Beg, they obtained without doing anything very noteworthy the approval and affection of their subjects. At Kucha, therefore, more than 500 miles distant from his own capital, with a long line of hostile country in his rear, Yakoob Beg found himself opposed by the full power of the Tungani. Previous to advancing beyond Aksu he had sent back officers to Kashgar to bring up fresh levies, and he had resorted to that doubtful expedient of drafting into his army many of the Tungani captured at Aksu. Arrived in front of Kucha he was unable to prosecute the siege with any vigour until the arrival of his reinforcements. The moment of delay was attempted to be turned to account by Yakoob Beg and some of the more prudent of his counsellors; but the Tungani, whether unwilling to acknowledge their inferiority or incredulous of the good faith of the Athalik Ghazi, refused to enter into negotiations that they asserted were unnecessary. Yakoob Beg had invaded them in their possessions, and he had annexed Aksu; the only condition in which they could acquiesce was a withdrawal of his army. All the efforts of the more peaceful and the more prudent on either side were unavailing, and each party used every exertion to bring up fresh troops to decide the question of superiority between Tungani and Kashgari. For several weeks the two armies stood facing each