Bay, attempted to take the New City of Kashgar from Chinese Muslim troops under Gen. Ma Zhancang. They were defeated. Tawfiq Bey, a Syrian Arab traveler who held the title Sayyid (descendant of prophet Muhammed) and arrived at Kashgar on August 26, 1933, was shot in the stomach by Chinese Muslim troops in September. Previously Ma Zhancang arranged to have the Uighur leader Timur Beg killed and beheaded on August 9, 1933, displaying his head outside of Id Kah Mosque. Han Chinese troops commanded by Brig. Yang were absorbed into Ma Zhancang's army. A number of Han Chinese officers were spotted wearing the green uniforms of Ma Zhancang's unit of the new 36th Division; presumably they had converted to Islam. During the battle the Kirghiz prevented the Uighur from looting the city, mainly because they wanted to loot it themselves. They stole the belongings of, and started murdering, the Chinese's concubines and spouses, who were women of Turkic origin and Han and Hui Chinese people themselves. First Battle of Urumqi (1933) Chinese Muslim and Uyghur forces under Ma Shih-ming and Khoja Niyas attempted to take Urumqi from a force of provincial White Russian troops under Col. Pappengut and the Northeast Salvation Army under Sheng Shicai. They were driven back after fierce fighting. During the battle, Han Chinese Gen. Zhang Peiyuan, of Ili, refused to help Jin Shuren repulse the attack, a sign that relations between the two were becoming strained. Battle of Toksun The Battle of Toksun occurred in July 1933 after Khoja Niyas Hajji, a Uighur leader, defected with his forces to Gov. Sheng Shicai. He was appointed by Shicai through agreement to be in charge for the whole Southern Xinjiang (Tarim Basin) and also Turpan Basin; satisfied with this agreement, he marched away from Urumchi south across Dawan Ch'eng of Tengritagh Mountains and occupied Toksun in Turpan Basin, but was badly defeated by the Chinese Muslim forces of Gen. Ma Shih-ming, who forced him to retreat to Karashar in eastern Kashgaria, where he had his headquarters during July, August and September 1933, defending mountain passes and roads that led from Turpan Basin to Kashgaria in a fruitless attempt to stop the advancement of Tungan armies to the south. Second Battle of Urumqi (1933–34) Ma Zhongying conducted secret negotiations with Han Chinese Gen. Zhang Peiyuan for a joint attack against Sheng Shicai's provincial Manchurian and White Russian troops in