unable to take control of the region on their own, the dungans and kyrgyzs turned for help to kokand's ruler alim quli. assistance arrived in early 1865 in both spiritual and material form. spiritual aid came in the person of buzurg khoja (also known as buzurg khan), a member of the influential afaqis family of khojas, whose religious authority could be expected to raise the rebellious spirit of the populace. he was heir to a long family tradition of starting mischief in kashgaria, being a son of jahangir khoja and brother of wali khan khoja. material assistanceas well as the expected conduit of kokandian influence in kashgariaconsisted of yaqub beg, a young but already well known kokandian military commander, with an entourage of a few dozen kokandian soldiers, who became known in kashgaria as "andijanis".