Читать книгу The Heart of Asia - Sir E. Denison Ross - Страница 10

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The arrival of Kutayba on the scene marks a new epoch in the history of Mohammedan conquests in Central Asia. Though the Arabs had been for many years masters of Khorāsān, with an established capital at Merv,105 their hold on the country beyond the Oxus was very slight. The expeditions which they had hitherto made into Bokhārā106 and other parts of Transoxiana were mere raids, and their authority in those countries departed with the main body of their army. Kutayba was the first Arab leader who compelled the inhabitants of the tract lying between the Oxus and Jaxartes to acknowledge the Caliph’s supremacy, and to plant the standard of Islām in lands where the creed of Zoroaster had retained its greatest vitality.

CENTRAL ASIAN TYPES

1. PERSIAN

2. PERSIAN

3. AFGHAN

4. KALMUCK

In A.H. 86 (705), as we have seen, `Abd el-Melik died. He was succeeded in the Caliphate by his son Welīd, and in the same year Kutayba ibn Muslim made a triumphal entry into Merv as governor of Khorāsān. On arriving at Merv, Kutayba called together the inhabitants, and urged them to join a Holy War, emphasising his trumpet-call by quotations from the Koran. The fierce Arabs swarmed to his standard, and Kutayba soon found himself at the head of an army animated with the keenest enthusiasm, to whom he distributed pay sufficient to maintain their families during their career of conquest. The military and civil administration of the oasis during his absence was delegated by him to trusted lieutenants. Having thus organised victory, he set out in a westerly direction across the desert. The first town which he reached was Tālikān.107 Here he was received by the dihkans108 and chief men of Balkh, who escorted him across the Oxus. He was met on the right bank by the king of the Chaghāniān, who brought presents and a golden key, and invited him to enter his capital. Kutayba accepted his submission, and allowed him to remain in office under the Caliph’s suzerainty. He then marched to Akhrun and Shūmān, and after levying tribute on their chief, returned to Merv. Some authorities relate that Kutayba, before crossing the Oxus, made an expedition into Balkh, and there crushed a rising among the inhabitants, who were attempting to rid themselves of the Arab yoke.109 In the same year he concluded a peace with Nīzek, Tarkhūn of Bādghīs. In the following year, A.H. 87 (705), Kutayba set out for Transoxiana. During his march thither he passed through Merv er-Rūd, Āmul, and Zamīn; and, crossing the Oxus, sat down before Baykand. This place was, according to Tabari, the Bokhārān town nearest to the great river, and lay at the edge of the desert. It was known far and wide as the “City of Merchants,” and was equally renowned for the strength of its fortifications. The inhabitants, on learning Kutayba’s approach, put their town into a state of defence, and sent messengers into Soghdiana imploring aid. The call was obeyed, and Kutayba’s little force was soon hemmed in on all sides by numerous and determined foes. For a space of two months so closely was he pressed that he was unable to send a messenger to Hajjāj, whose consequent anxiety led him to order prayers for the army in all the mosques. Tabari tells us that Kutayba had in his employ a Persian spy, named Tandar, whom the Bokhārāns bribed to induce his master to retire from their country. Tandar obtained a private audience of Kutayba, which was attended only by a certain Dhirār ibn Hasan. He told the Amīr that his patron Hajjāj had lost his office, and that a new governor had arrived to replace the former. Kutayba called one of his slaves named Siyāh, and ordered him to strike off Tandar’s head. When this had been done, he turned to Dhirār and said: “No one knows of this affair except you and myself. If it is bruited abroad I shall be certain that you are to blame; so master your tongue. For should the people hear the story, they will be discouraged.” He then summoned his followers into his presence. When they saw the body of Tandar they were filled with fear, and threw themselves on the ground before Kutayba. He asked them why they were appalled by Tandar’s execution. They replied: “Verily, we thought that he was a friend to the Musulman.” “No,” replied Kutayba, “he was a traitor—may God punish him for his sins, but he has met with his deserts. Now go and prepare to meet the enemy to-morrow with more courage than you have hitherto shown.”

On the following day the Arabs took up their positions and began the fight with fresh vigour, while Kutayba passed through the ranks giving his commands and encouraging his men in every way.110 The battle lasted till sunset, when the enemy gave way and fled in disorder towards the town, hotly pursued by the Arabs. A few only reached the shelter of its walls, while the rest were slain or taken prisoners. Kutayba immediately began a regular siege of Baykand, which, though the place had lost most of its garrison, cost the assailants many lives.111 For fifty days, says Narshakhi, “the efforts of the Musulmans were of no avail, and their sufferings were great. At last they had recourse to stratagem. A party of soldiers dug a trench under the town-wall, near the citadel, connected with a stable within the fortress, where they made another breach in the wall. Hardly had the Musulmans reached the fortress ere these men sallied from the breach. Kutayba shouted: “To the first man who enters the fort by this breach I will give blood-money, and if he should be killed, then his children shall receive it.” This promise filled the besiegers with emulation. All threw themselves into the breach, and captured the fort. The men of Baykand begged for quarter, which Kutayba granted, and then retired laden with booty, leaving a lieutenant in the town with a detachment of troops. But when he reached Khunbūn,112 which is only a farsakh’s distance from Baykand, on the Bokhārā road, he learnt that the people of Baykand had risen against his lieutenant and garrison, and slaughtered them after cutting off their noses and ears.113

Kutayba immediately turned back and invaded the town a second time. The siege lasted a month, when the Amīr had a tunnel excavated under the wall and filled with wood, which was set on fire. The wall above crumbled and fell, crushing forty men to death. The Baykandis offered to capitulate on condition that their lives were spared, but Kutayba stormed the town and put to death all the fighting men. The rest were carried off into slavery, and the city became a heap of ruins. Kutayba then returned to Merv with much spoil,114 which, according to Tabari, exceeded in value all the booty that had been taken by the Arabs in Khorāsān.

The story of Baykand’s resurrection is a curious one. It was a town of long-standing fame and a great centre of trade; and, during the siege, most of the heads of families were absent in China and other distant countries with their caravans. On their return they redeemed their wives and surviving relatives from the Arabs, and soon repeopled Baykand. Narshakhi justly remarks,115 that it is the only town in history which, after undergoing a destruction, root and branch, was restored to its former prosperity by the same generation as saw its ruin. Tabari adds that the inhabitants agreed to pay a yearly tribute to the Arabs, and were guaranteed peace, under a written pact, by Kutayba.

The conquest of Baykand was achieved by Kutayba in the autumn of the year of the Hijra, 87 (705). He then returned for the winter season to his headquarters at Merv. It was not till A.H. 88 (706) that Kutayba entered on a career of conquest. During his first two years of command he had achieved little towards the extension of the Caliph’s authority in Central Asia. His predecessors had already carried their arms as far as the city of Bokhārā, while his own had never extended far beyond the frontier of that kingdom. The destruction of Baykand was, however, a feat of no mean value, as, quite apart from the immense booty which fell into the victor’s hands, the position of the town rendered it “the south-western gate of Transoxiana,”116 and hence its importance to the Arabs as a basis for further encroachments.

The immediate objects of Kutayba’s attacks were, according to Tabari,117 Numushkat and Rāmtīna, which obtained peace on condition of paying a yearly tribute.

Meanwhile the people of Bokhārā, Soghdiana, and the surrounding countries had banded together to oppose the Arab invaders, who found themselves surrounded in the country lying between Tārāb, Khunbūn, and Rāmtīna. The combined forces numbered about 40,000 men, and comprised the armies of the Tarkhūn Melik of Soghd, Khunuk-Khudāt, Vardān-Khudāt, and Prince Kur-Maghānūn,118 who was a son of the Chinese emperor’s sister, and who was, according to Narshakhi, a mercenary soldier of fortune. Kutayba had set out on his return to Merv when the Turks suddenly fell upon his rear-guard. The Musulmans were beginning to waver, but Kutayba appeared on the scene of action and filled them with fresh courage. The battle lasted till midday, when “God put the Turks to flight.”119 Kutayba then returned to Merv, taking the road in the direction of Balkh, and crossing the Oxus above Tirmiz. On reaching Fāryāb120 he received a letter from Hajjāj ordering him to march against the Vardān-Khudāt, king of Bokhārā. He therefore retraced his steps and crossed the Oxus at Zamīn. On the road through the desert he was met by some Soghdians and the people of Kess (Kesh) and Nasaf (Nakhshab), whom he engaged and defeated. He then plunged into Bokhārā, and pitched his camp at Lower Kharkāna, to the right of Vardān, where he was attacked by superior forces. After a battle which lasted for two days and two nights, victory declared for the Arabs. Kutayba now advanced against the Vardān-Khudāt, king of Bokhārā, but was repulsed and retreated to Merv. Here he informed Hajjāj by letter how he had fared, and was ordered to send his master a map of the country. Having examined this map, Hajjāj wrote to him in the following terms: “Return to your former purpose, and acknowledge in prayer to God your repentance for having abandoned it. Attack the enemy at vulnerable points. Crush Kesh, destroy Nasaf, and repulse Vardān.121 Take care that you are not surrounded; and leave the difficulties of the road to me.” On receiving these instructions, Kutayba left Merv, and in the beginning of the year A.H. 90 (708) again invaded the kingdom of Bokhārā. When the Vardān-Khudāt heard of Kutayba’s advance, he sent messengers to the Soghdians and their neighbours asking for their help. Kutayba arrived before their allies, and immediately laid siege to Vardān; but as soon as reinforcements appeared the garrison sallied forth and attacked the Arabs.

The versions of the battle that ensued as given by Tabari and Narshakhi122 differ materially, while both enter into so much detail that it is hard to reconcile them. That given by Tabari123 is graphic enough to deserve epitomising.

“When the Turks came out of the town, the men of the tribe of Azd asked Kutayba to allow them to fight separately. They straightway charged down on the Turks—Kutayba remaining seated the while, wearing a green mantle over his armour—and their endurance was great. At length they were driven back to Kutayba’s camp by the Turks, but here the women struck their horses’ heads124 and forced the Musulmans to turn against the enemy. They succeeded in driving them back to his first position, a piece of rising ground which appeared to them inassailable. Then said Kutayba: ‘Who will dislodge them for us from this place?’ No one advanced, and all the tribes remained where they were. Then Kutayba went up to the Beni Temīm125 and appealed to their old prestige, whereupon their chief Wakī` seized the banner and said: ‘Oh ye sons of Temīm, will you abandon me to-day?’ They shouted ‘No,’ and advanced until they came to the stream separating them from the enemy, over which Husayni, the commander of the horse, leaped, followed by his men. Meanwhile Wakī` gave the banner to Husayni and, dismounting, superintended the construction of a small bridge. He then said to his men: ‘He who is willing to risk his life, let him cross; and he who is not willing, let him remain where he is!’ Eight hundred men dashed across the bridge. Then Wakī` told Husayni to harass the enemy with his cavalry, while he himself attacked them with his foot-men. So great was the fury of their double onslaught that the Turks gave way, seeing which the Musulmans sprang towards the bridge as one man, but ere they could cross the Turks were in full flight. The latter were thus completely routed; the Khākān and his son were both wounded. When the inhabitants of the surrounding countries saw what had happened to the men of Bokhārā they trembled before Kutayba.”

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