approach over the steep but short () Takhtakaracha Pass, and suggested the possibility that this would catch the Türgesh by surprise. Junayd followed al-Mujashshir's counsel, and encamped before the entrance of the defile. The decision was unpopular with the army, largely Khurasani Arabs who distrusted the "outsider" Junayd. The usual quarrels between the Qays–Yaman factions also re-emerged, and some men deserted. Undeterred, Junayd pressed on with 28,000 men. The subsequent events are described in detail in al-Tabari's 10th-century History of the Prophets and Kings, which in turn draws upon the work of the earlier historian Abu'l-Hasan al-Mada'ini, written about a century after the events. As a result, according to the historian Khalid Blankinship the Battle of the Defile is "by far the best-documented one to occur during Hisham's reign". The two armies that met at the Takhtakaracha Pass represented two different military philosophies. The Umayyad armies fielded a sizeable cavalry contingent, both light and heavy, but their mainstay was their infantry. In battle, the Arab cavalry was often limited to skirmishing during the initial phases, before dismounting and fighting on foot. In contrast the Türgesh, a typical Central Asian nomadic empire, had an army composed exclusively of cavalry. Their unmatched skill in horsemanship, especially as horse archers, and their natural hardiness combined to make them extremely dangerous opponents. They were adept at a fluid and highly mobile fighting style of feints, ambushes, and feigned retreats, which they exploited to outmanoeuvre the slower-moving Arabs. As the historian Hugh N. Kennedy writes, "when the nomad [Türgesh] allied with the local Iranian princes, they provided what was perhaps the fiercest opposition the early Muslim armies ever encountered". Supported by troops from the rulers of Sogdia, Shash, and Ferghana, the Türgesh attacked the Umayyad army in the pass, two days after they had left Kish (a Friday), six () from Samarkand. The Türgesh attacked while the Arab army had stopped to take a meal. The Arab vanguard, under Uthman ibn Abdallah ibn al-Shikhkhir, was overwhelmed, but Junayd was able to hurriedly deploy the main body of his army, placing his troops according to their tribal affiliations, with the Tamim and Azd on the right and the Rabi'ah on the left. The Arabs hurriedly erected earthworks in front of their lines, and the initial Türgesh attack, directed against the Arab right, was pushed back. Junayd, who had placed himself in the centre to direct the