On the death of Kutayba, Waki`, who had been a ringleader in the revolt, took upon himself the direction of affairs in Khorasan. After a lapse of nine months, however, a new governor arrived, in the person of Yezid ibn Muhallab, and Waki` was placed under arrest, while his partisans were subjected to punishment. According to the Persian translation of Tabari, Yezid this year “began a series of expeditions beyond the frontiers of Khorasan, to countries where Kutayba had not penetrated,”141 but they are not mentioned in the Arabic original, nor are such undertakings consistent with the rest of Yezid’s career. For his attention was turned to the subjection of the countries to the west of Khorasan,142 rather than to the extension of Mohammedan authority towards the Chinese frontier.

Thus we find him in A.H. 98 conducting his troops against Jurjan and Tabaristan. The former country was regarded as the key of Western Asia. It was strongly fortified; and its walls, extending as far as the Sea of Azof, were an effectual barrier to the aggressions of the Turkish hordes.143 But these attacks appear to have told severely on the inhabitants, who finally secured the withdrawal of their persistent foes by the payment of tribute. They had adopted similar tactics on an Arab invasion which took place under the Caliphate of `Othman: when the enemy again withdrew, on receiving a bribe of 2,000,000 direms. Jurjan thereafter enjoyed a long immunity from attack, although Kutayba had more than once solicited permission from Hajjaj to establish a direct route between `Irak and Khorasan by crushing its independence. Yezid’s anxiety to achieve a conquest which had been the unrealised ambition of his great rival can be easily understood. On his departure from Jurjan he left his son Mokhallad in charge of Khorasan. The force at his command included Kufans, Basrans, Syrians, and the Élite of Khorasan and Ray, and numbered 100,000, exclusive of volunteers and slaves. The first object of his attack was the town of Dihistan, which was peopled by Turks.144 Having reduced it by a close blockade, he proceeded to Jurjan, where the inhabitants, as was their wont, bought peace at the price of 300,000 direms. Yezid then passed in a south-westerly direction into Tabaristan. Its king took refuge in a mountain inaccessible to the Mohammedan troops, and organised resistance to the invader from this safe retreat. He obtained reinforcements from Gilan and Daylam, and called on the Marzaban of Jurjan to break the treaty entered into with Yezid, and massacre the Arabs in Jurjan. Thus was Yezid surrounded by active foes, and his retreat cut off. The only course open to him was to conclude peace with the king of Tabaristan, and gather his forces for the punishment of the faithless people of Jurjan. This he did, swearing that he would not stay his sword until he had shed blood enough to turn a mill, and had eaten bread made with flour therefrom. The Marzaban, on learning the approach of the Musulmans, shut himself up in a stronghold which crowned a mountain top, and was accessible by one road only. Here he held out for seven months against Yezid; but the latter enticed the garrison from their retreat by a ruse, and made prisoners of them all. Their punishment enabled the ruthless conqueror to fulfil his pledge.

Yezid now returned to Merv, and sent a highly coloured report of his successes to his master the Caliph. His career, however, was not destined to be a long one, for in the following year, A.H. 99 (717), Sulayman died, and was succeeded by `Omar ibn `Abd ul-`Aziz. Yezid received at the hands of the new Caliph treatment very similar to that meted out to Kutayba by Sulayman. He was summoned to appear at Basra, and after a brief interview with the sovereign he was thrown into prison. The government of Khorasan was at the same time transferred to Jarrah, son of `Abdullah. The ostensible reason alleged for Yezid’s disgrace was his retention of the immense booty of which, in his report to the preceding Caliph, he had boasted as the fruit of the Jurjan campaign. `Omar’s real motive was more creditable to him. Yezid had been accused by Mohammedan converts from Khorasan of harshness and caprice, and `Omar stood alone among the Eastern Caliphs in pursuing a policy of moderation in propagating his creed.145 This wise monarch died in A.H. 101 (719), and was succeeded by Yezid ibn `Abd el-Melik. On his accession Yezid ibn Muhallab effected his escape from prison, raised the flag of revolt against the new Caliph, one of his bitterest enemies, and made himself master of Basra. The movement spread over most of the Eastern provinces, and was not crushed until the end of the following year, A.H. 102 (720), when Maslama, who held the viceroyalty of the two `Iraks,146 defeated and slew Yezid in a fierce battle fought near Kufa on the banks of the Euphrates. In the same year Maslama appointed a new governor of Khorasan in the person of Sa`id ibn `Abd ul-`Aziz. This step was followed by a general rising of the inhabitants of Khojend and Farghana. The tributary Soghdians, being thus threatened on their eastern frontier, asked help from Merv, but the new governor, who was of a weak and vacillating disposition, delayed so long in sending reinforcements that the Soghdians made overtures to the Turks. When at length the Arabs arrived they were joined by the former; but disputes arose, which ended in the slaughter of the Soghdians to the number of 3000. Throughout the reign of Yezid II. the Moslem Far East was plunged in continual warfare, with no very marked results; for the army of `Irak was fully occupied with operations against the Khazar and Kipchak tribes occupying Armenia, which were, for the most part, attended by ill-success. In A.H. 102 (720) Yezid II. dismissed Maslama from his post, on the ground that his leniency had led to a serious falling off in the revenues from `Irak and Khorasan. `Omar ibn Hobayra replaced him. In the following year Sa`id, “the Effeminate,”147 while fighting beneath the walls of Samarkand, received the news of his dismissal. He was superseded in the governorship by a namesake, Sa`id ibn `Amr el-Harashi.148 El-Harashi at once set out for Farghana by way of Bokhara and Samarkand,149 and on reaching Farghana besieged the king in one of his fortresses. The king at last came to terms and paid an indemnity of 100,000 direms, besides surrendering many slaves. During the following night, while most of the Musulmans were asleep, the treacherous chief, at the head of 10,000 men, fell upon them and slew a great number. The main body, however, on receiving the alarm, hastily mounted and charged the infidels fiercely, putting them to rout and killing the king with 2000 of his followers. In the same year, A.H. 104 (722), El-Harashi was in his turn deposed,150 and Muslim ibn Sa`id, the Kilabite, put into his place as generalissimo of the Eastern army.

The Mohammedans meanwhile had their hands full in reducing disorders in Transcaspia, and their ill-success accounts for the perpetual changes made in the leaders of their troops. The Turks, indeed, were yearly growing in power and insolence. Muslim ibn Sa`id suffered a series of defeats at their hands which culminated in an utter rout of the Mohammedan army, the survivors escaping with difficulty across the river of Balkh. In A.H. 105 (723) Yezid II. died, and was succeeded by his brother Hisham, who at once appointed Khalid ibn `Abdullah al-Kasri governor of the two `Iraks, while he despatched Khalid’s brother Asad with a powerful army to bring the Turks into subjection. He failed as miserably as his predecessor; for thrice in successive years he crossed the Balkh River and marched into Soghdiana, as often to retreat with severe losses. Enraged by his continued misfortunes, he called together his generals and roundly accused them of being the cause. He then had them stripped, bastinadoed, and shaved, and sent them in chains to his brother Khalid.151 This outrageous behaviour disgusted the Caliph, who dismissed Asad and gave the command of the Eastern army to Ashras ibn `Abdullah.152 The new general was held in high esteem by his followers, and received the title of “the Perfect.” He made great efforts to induce the Christians of Central Asia to embrace Islam, by promising them exemption from the capitation tax. He appears, however, not to have abided by his word, but to have reimposed the tax, with the result that many of the recent converts rose in rebellion and attached themselves to the Khakan. But Ashras, too, met with a crushing defeat at the hands of the Turks, and was consequently recalled. In the person of his successor, Junayd ibn `Abd er-Rahman,153 we find a man more fit for supreme command than those who had preceded him. In his first engagement with the Turks he defeated the Khakan with a force of 170,000 men, of whom the Musulmans killed about 3000.154 Junayd then retired across the Balkh River to Merv, where he wintered.

In the following spring he crossed the Oxus with his whole force, and on gaining the right bank divided it into three corps. The first, consisting of 10,000 men, he sent under Saura ibn el-Hurr to occupy Samarkand. The second division was ordered to Tokharistan under Omara ibn Horaym, who quickly reduced the whole province; while Junayd himself took command of the remainder.

The accounts of the fighting that ensued, as given by the two versions of Tabari, offer great discrepancies. The Arabic original, which in this case seems the most trustworthy source, points to an almost total defeat of the Mohammedan forces in the first instance, while the Persian translation, in abridging this account, omits many of the details of disaster. According to the Arabic, Junayd was marching on Tokharistan when news reached him that Saura was hard pressed in Samarkand by the Khakan of the Turks, whereupon Junayd resolved to march to his relief. But his forces were so scattered that he was obliged to set out with the small contingent under his personal command. When about half-way he was surrounded by the Turkish hordes, and a fearful struggle ensued in which hundreds of his brave Arabs were slain. At last he withdrew to a defile,155 threw up entrenchments, and called a council of war. His officers pointed out to him that either he or Saura must perish. He therefore sent word to Saura156 to march out of Samarkand, which with much reluctance he did at the head of 12,000 men. Saura set out in the direction of Junayd’s camp, and had nearly reached it when he was suddenly attacked by the Turks. So great was the slaughter that of the 12,000 we are told only three finally escaped,157 Saura himself perishing with his army. Having created this diversion, Junayd thought fit to sally from his retreat, but only to find himself again outnumbered by the Khakan’s forces. He now promised freedom to the slaves of his camp if they would fight for him,158 and by the valour of these impromptu auxiliaries he was able to push his way through to Samarkand. When the Caliph Hisham received Junayd’s report159 of what had passed he sent him larger reinforcements of men from Basra and Kufa, numbering in all some 25,000. When Junayd had been four months in Soghdiana, tidings were brought to him that the Khakan was threatening Bokhara; he thereupon set out from Samarkand, leaving there a garrison in charge of Nasr ibn Sayyar. In the course of two years Junayd appears to have restored order in Transoxiana, and with the help of his new reinforcements to have driven out the Turks. The `Abbasid faction, which a little later brought about the downfall of the Umayyad dynasty, in the year 113 began to send emissaries into Khorasan; Tabari tells us that Junayd seized one of these men and put him to death. But, apart from this fact, Tabari has scarcely anything to relate of Junayd between the years 113 and 116.

In A.H. 116 (734) Junayd, in spite of his great services, was dismissed from his post by the Caliph for having married the daughter of Yezid ibn Muhallab, and `Asim ibn `Abdullah was appointed in his stead. He died of dropsy before his successor reached Merv. By his cruelty and injustice to all who had held office under Junayd, `Asim incurred the bitter hatred of his people.

A certain Harith ibn Surayj rose against him, took possession of many towns in Khorasan, such as Merv er-Rud, Balkh, and Bab-el-Abwab, and gathered a crowd of soldiers of fortune to his banner by distributing amongst them the tribute levied from his acquisitions. `Asim, failing to crush this revolt, was dismissed by the Caliph, and Asad el-Kasri was reinstated in the governorship of Khorasan.160 Asad at once advanced against Harith at the head of a large army, drove him to Turkestan, where he entered into league with the Khakan, who assigned him and his followers the town of Farab as a residence.

In A.H. 118 (736) Balkh became temporarily the Mohammedan capital of Central Asia. In the same year Asad planned a campaign into Khottal, but the Khakan took measures to forestall him. Asad’s advance column was taken completely by surprise, and his camp and harem were captured. A parley ensued without result, after which he returned to Balkh, while the Khakan again withdrew to Tokharistan. But in the following spring Asad attacked and completely routed the Khakan and rescued all the Moslem provinces.161 The Turk fled back to Tokharistan, and shortly afterwards, while on his way to attack Samarkand, he was waylaid and killed by a rebellious follower.