the mass retreat of the rebel army shrank their sphere of control smaller and smaller. yaqub beg lost more than 20,000 men either though desertion or at the hands of the enemy. in october, jin shun resumed his forward movement and encountered no serious opposition. general zuo appeared before the walls of aksu, the bulwark of kashgaria on the east, and its commandant abandoned his post at the first onset. qing army then advanced on uqturpan, which also surrendered without a blow. early in december, all qing troops began their last attack against the capital city of the kashgarian regime. the rebel troops were defeated and the residual troops started to withdraw to yarkant, whence they fled to russian territory. with the fall of kashgaria qing's reconquest of xinjiang was completed. no further revolt was encountered, and the reestablished qing authorities began the task of recovery and reorganization, including the establishment of the xinjiang province in 1884.