Zuo Zongtang has not only destroyed the Muslim rebels in Kashgaria and elsewhere but also reestablished Chinese power so convincingly that China regains, by the Treaty of St. Petersburg in 1881, the important border passes that Russia has occupied during the Muslim rebellion.

The Russians are reluctant to leave the territory they have occupied for ten years, but agree to a treaty in which most of the land reverts to China and Russia receives nine million rubles to pay for the cost of the occupation.