on the night of june3–4, 1864, the dungans of kucha, one of the cities south of tianshan, rose up and were soon joined by the local turkic people. the han fort, which, unlike many other xinjiang locations, was inside the town rather than outside it, fell within a few days. government buildings were burnt and some 1000 hans and 150 mongols killed. as neither the dungan nor turkic leaders of the revolt had sufficient authority over the entire community to become commonly recognized as a leader, the rebels instead choose a person who had not participated in the revolt, but was known for his spiritual role: rashidin (rashīdīn) khoja, a dervish and the custodian of the grave of his ancestor of saintly fame, arshad-al-din (? - 1364 or 65). over the next three years, he sent military expeditions east and west in an attempt to bring the entire tarim basin under his control; however, his expansion plans were frustrated by yaqub beg.