There are many independent Muslim leaders in…

There are many independent Muslim leaders in Shensi and Kansu, but they have neither a common headquarters nor unified policy, and there are no all-out revolutionaries.

Pacification of rebellious Shensi and Kansu is delayed because the Imperial camp is preoccupied with the Taiping and the Nien and cannot afford the expenditure needed for an expedition to the remote border provinces.

In 1866, Zuo Zontang is made governor-general of Shensi and Kansu to quell the Muslim rebels there with part of the Huai Army.

Encouraged by the Nien invading Shensi at the end of 1866, the core of the rebel troops return from Kansu to Shensi, and sporadic clashes continue in the two provinces.