1 Conquest of the Punjab. 95
2 Fateh Khan was well out of the way, he determined
3 to try conclusions with Azim Khan. This time,
4 owing to the ill-health of Diwan Mokham Chand, he
5 led the expedition in person. Acting on the advice
6 of the chief of Rajaori, he divided his force into two
7 portions, which advanced into the valley by different
8 routes. The result was calamitous. Ere the two
9 divisions could unite, the foremost was met and
10 completely routed by Azim Khan, and Ranjit Singh
11 was forced to order a general retreat. In the mean-
12 time the hill-chiefs had risen behind him, and it was
13 only with great difficulty that he was able to fight
14 his way back to Lahore. Soon afterwards Fateh
15 Khan rejoined his brother Azim ; and Ranjit Singh
16 wisely determined, as far as Kashmir was concerned,
17 to hold his ambition in check and bide his time.
18 The condition of affairs at Kabul 1 made it unlikely
19 that Fateh Khan would absent himself for any long
20 period from the side of his feeble lord and master.
21 The Barakzai brothers, of whom he was the eldest,
22 were now the dominant power in Afghanistan ; and
23 for some years to come their doings kept the Eastern
24 world in a state of ferment. Dost Muhammad Khan,
25 the most capable of them all, and the founder of the
26 present Barakzai dynasty, was the' governor of the
27 provinces of Ghazni and Kabul ; Kashmir was held by
28 Azim Khan, and Peshawar by Yar Muhammad Khan ;
29 while Shah Mahmud was a puppet in the hands of
30 his skilful and crafty wazir. It was obvious that
31 the downfall of the Durani dynasty was imminent,
32 and in the scramble for power that was bound to
33 1 See Appendix B.