Age of Conquest: A Kings and Generals Podcast

Last time we spoke about the 8 nation alliances occupation of Beijing, the flight of the royal family and the Boxer Protocol. You would think after taking the city, everything was won and done, but not necessarily. Empress Dowager Cixi with her faithful guardian Dong Fuxiang fled to the northwest of China. Meanwhile Peitang waited longer than most for their rescue, enduring an unbelievable amount of hardship during their siege. Poor Li Hongzhang was forced to endure another humiliation on behalf of the Qing Dynasty, negotiating peace with the western powers. The indemnity payments would last until world war two for China. Empress Dowager Cixi escaped any punishment, while other officials literally lost their heads. In a grandeur fashion, the empress returned to Beijing, performing a large spectacle. It was intentional and brilliant PR work. Things were going to dramatically change for China.   #68 The Russo-Chinese War Part 1: Manchuria rises up   Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. As we have seen, as of June 1900 the eyes of the world were focused on Beijing. The foreign diplomats of numerous nations were under siege by the fanatical Boxers and Qing forces such as the Kansu army. The Boxer Rebellion as a whole is captured by this focus, go find any book on it, there are many. What you often come across, is the mention of Russian forces somewhat to the distance in Manchuria. Typically if anything is said at all, you get a few paragraphs stating when the escalations began, the Russians invaded Manchuria. Invaded Manchuria, that sounds like a hell of a story no? Its simply overshadowed by the events that played out around Beijing, but an entire other war really sprang up in Manchuria. The event is virtually unknown to the west. When the Boxers sprang up and expeditions emerged, the two closest powers were Japan and Russia and as we have seen when it came to the march upon Beijing, the Japanese sort of took the lionshare. Yet Russia was the most capable to rush troops to the scene, given her work on the Manchurian railways.  The Boxer Rebellion was a bit awkward for Russia. Yes Russia took up the side of the western forces and joined the 8 nation alliance. However, her views on what exactly the Boxer Rebellion was, differed from the rest. Russia felt the Boxer movement was not directed against her, but rather at the Manchu dynasty. Russia in many ways intervened to save the Manchu dynasty from a full blown revolution. She saw the symptoms of the revolutionaries as a result of western economic and missionary encroachment in China. The Chinese often referred to westerners as “ocean devils”. The Russians did not come from the sea, they shared a vast border with the Chinese. Russia and China had a special relationship unlike the rest, one that had been going on for centuries. Russia typically acted with greater restraint and often spoke of Russo-Chinese friendship. But don’t get me wrong. Like Britain, Germany, France, Japan, etc, Russian was most definitely taking advantage of a weakened Qing dynasty, she certainly encroached, specifically in Manchuria. Their border was one of the longest frontiers in the world. Siberia was underpopulated and exposed to Chinese infiltration. A buffer zone existed in Manchuria and Mongolia.  The trans-siberian railway’s construction began in 1891 for strategic and economic reasons. It was to be the worlds longest railroad, initially thought to wind along the Amur River up to Khabarovsk then south to Vladivostok. But the terrain proved hellish, the route too circuitous, thus a shortcut through Manchuria was strongly advised. In 1896 Russia obtained concessions from the Qing to begin construction of a station on the Trans Baikal section of the Siberian railway. Following her lease of Part Arthur and Dalien, Russian then sought to connect a new railway line to the main line of what would be called the Manchurian railway. Construction began from both ends simultaneously at a pace of 1.75 miles per day. Vladivostok and Port Arthur were linked up by July of 1900. It would not be too long until the Trans-Siberian railway and the Chinese eastern railway would bridge the land mass from the Baltic sea to the Pacific Ocean, giving the Russian empire an unbelievable toehold in the Asia-Pacific.  The line passing through Manchuria was under the control of a private corporation, the Chinese eastern railway company. The majority stakeholder was Russian, but there were also Qing investments. Now the protection of the railway, its workers and other infrastructure was not going to be defended by standard Russian troops. Instead the company hired special military forces. The engineers were nearly all Russian, the laborers, 100,000 or so, were Chinese coolies. The project was done in collaboration between the two empires, it heavily depended on China. If the Qing were to, let's say, pull back the laborers, the construction efforts would stop dead. Worse, what if the Chinese began sabotaging the construction? Well both of these things began in 1900.  A railway guard named Konstantin Kushakov had been in southern Manchuria for two and a half years. He witnessed the shooting of a Russian captain and two Cossacks by Qing soldiers in April 1900. In May at the small city of Hsiungyuehcheng, placards were erected stating the local populace should help exterminate the foreigners. The Boxer movement was hitting Manchuria. Locals told Konstantin not to be alarmed and the Qing commanders stated the placards were just the work of youthful pranksters. Then one evening, Konstantin saw Chinese wearing yellow sashes and headbands speaking through interpreters to Russian commanders. When Konstantin approached for a closer look the Chinese had their lips, cheeks and eyebrows painted, one of them was doing bizarre gymnastic exercises and shouting furiously. A nearby Cossack remarked “that has to be a Boxer”. One of the interpreters stated that was not true, there were no Boxers in this part of China. The next morning, more Boxer youths emerged doing gymnastics in the open, then the local merchants began to quickly sell whatever arms they had in stock and blacksmiths began forging knives, swords and spears. Sabotage work began to occur. Russian telegraph lines were being repeatedly cut, attempts were made to derail trains by lifting up rails or pilling up stuff on tracks. It seemed to all the Russian-Chinese cooperation was falling apart. Countless interpreters, servants, laborers quit their jobs. Russian supervisors and foremen who were notoriously cruel to their Chinese workers, no longer lashed out at them, instead they walked around armed to the teeth. The Russians also noticed an increased in Qing soldiers, many of whom were not recognized from the area. But the Russian commanders believed the Chinese were a submissive and inoffensive people, so they took all these signs with a grain of salt. The situation became worse, more railway guards were needed, but as you can imagine, Manchuria is an enormous place. Konstantin had roughly 240 men to guard a sector of around 172 miles. Thus to strengthen one post would weaken another. There were troops in the Kwantung region on the southern tip of the Liaodong Peninsula guarding Port Arthur and Dalien. Colonel Mishchenko, commander of the railway guards along the Port Arthur Line requested further troops from Vice Admiral Evgenii Alekseev the commander in chief of the Russian land forces in the Kwantung region and naval forces for the far east. He was denied, because Chief Engineer Iugovich stated on July 2nd that the Chinese were peaceful and wanted to continue the joint project. There was also the belief, if they sent more troops the Qing would be more inclined to the Boxer cause. On May 23rd, a mob attacked 3 Cossacks that Konstantin had sent to purchase supplies for a kitchen, the men escaped having to saber down a few Chinese. The populace was in an uproar, the Qing commander at Hsiungyeuhcheng demanded Russian troops be barred from the city. In June Boxers were out in the open screaming for violence against the foreigners. Many Qing officials refused to collaborate with the Boxers and were run out of towns. Boxers were taking control over large areas and recruiting a militia. The Boxers began to assemble around Mukden. On July 2nd, Mishchenko telegraphed Konstantin that the northern outposts were in serious danger and ordered him to rush over to Liaoyang with all the guards that could be spared from southern outposts. A detachment of 56 soldiers and 20 cavalrymen was raised. Konstantin tried to use a locomotive, but the Qing switchman sabotage it. Soon Konstantin heard word Qing detachments and Boxers were sabotaging multiple railway stations, outposts were under attack. Konstantin ordered all construction efforts to cease and for all Russians to prepare themselves at posts for attacks. He promised the men reinforcements would soon arrive from the south, many replied they didn't need the help to face off against “Boxer riff-raff, whom we would soon teach how to fight”. Konstantin worried not for the outposts with 15-20 men, but some only had a handful of guards. He recalled “I kept thinking, what will they die for? It is too dear a sacrifice to the stubbornness of 3, 4 high railway agents. To die for the Tsar, to die for the glory of the fatherland, that is an enviable death; but to let honorable and selfless soldiers perish for the sake of stubbornness or mistake would be regrettable indeed”. He ordered the smallest outposts to be abandoned, and for the men to rush to the nearest larger outpost.  The Russians saw multiple villages emptied of women and children, railway lines likewise were abandoned. Konstantin arrived to Liaoyang with 76 men on July 3rd, he quickly made way to the nearby village of Baitouzi where the 2nd company headquarters and Mishchenko were. Konstantin was informed hostilities had begun in the region. On June 27th, a railroad bridge and barracks near Liaoyang were razed to the ground, the men there chased off by gunfire from local Qing forces. Two Cossacks and their horses were killed, the telegraph lines were being damaged constantly, coal mines were attacked, Mishchenko bitterly complained that Port Arthur refused to send reinforcements and instead berated them for their lack of cooperation with the Qing. Suddenly a Cossack messenger arrived to the HQ reporting 400 Qing soldiers with 100 cavalrymen and mountain guns were engaging a forces of 50 Cossacks, casualties were already mounting. Mishchenko immediately took 56 railway guards of the 6th company under Konstantin and 25 men of the 2nd company led by Shchekin to go save the force.  They arrived at the scene of a battle, the Qing were moving around the Russian’s eastern side trying to cut them off from Liaoyang. The Qing were trying to push the Russians towards their main force, over 3000 men strong who were advancing upon Mukden. Konstantin jumped off the train with his men to hit the right flank of the enemy, but the Qing diverted over to a local village to better prepare defenses against them. The Russian lines advanced quickly and once they were 300 paces from the enemy, Shchekin and his men took the train directly to the village, leapt off and charged with bayonets fixed. The men screamed “ura!” as they stormed the Qing who fell into a rout quickly galloping towards Mukden. Many Chinese were killed in hand to hand combat, volleys also took lives as they fled. The Russians reported 200 dead while receiving 4 deaths and 5 wounded in return. The victorious Russians returned by train to Liaoyang, reflecting on how the situation had changed. A force of nearly 3000 regular Qing soldiers were most definitely in league with the Boxers. They had even brought artillery, they would most likely hit Mukden soon where they could join possibly 10 newly formed Qing battalions. What were the Russians to do in the face of such numbers? On the way back to Liaoyang, Boxers were seen burning bridges over the Sha river, 12 miles south of the city. Russians rushed over to put out the fires and sent patrols to hunt down Boxers, but found none. As they approached Liaoyang station, the Chinese switchmen sabotaged the rails and fled. Engineer Girschman, the chief of railway construction for the southern section that passed through Liaoyang was ordered by Mishchenko to inform Port Arthur of the recent clashes and to again request reinforcements. Girschman still thought there was no cause for alarm, he asserted over 5000 taels had been given to the local Manchu General in charge of Liaoyang who promised they were safe to work. Thus Girschman ordered railway employees back to work. Girshman’s train was to be the last train from Liaoyong as on July 6th the bridge south of the station was destroyed. Liaoyang was cut off. Girshman was left behind with 104 civilian employees and their families. The Qing offered Mishchenko free passage for all Russians, but he refused to leave Liaoyang. Instead he ordered Shtabs-kapitan Sakharov with the 3rd Sotnia to join up with him and demand of Port Arthur more reinforcements. He dispatched Cossacks to the various northern posts to spread word of what was going on and if they could run to him, or Harbin.  Mishchenko decided to fortify a wooden, iron roofed isolated barracks near Baitouzi. His men numbered 204, exhausted from endless patrolling of a vast region. They were enclosed by a 7 foot earth wall, which the Russians with Chinese labor help, added breastworks. Their shelter was an ice house, where the families were taking cover. Meanwhile the Qing forces were digging their own trenches on nearby hills to the north, east and south. The Russians could see them working, multiple Qing scouts came over to look at what the Russian were doing. Chinese were torching all buildings the Russians had previously utilized in the villages around Liaoyang. Any Russians caught at isolated posts were tortured, many beheaded. Barracks, stations, railway lines, coal mines all were burnt down. Mishchenko was livid that Port Arthur was not sending more men. He was unable to hold on indefinitely and could not hope to cut his way through, he had nowhere to turn. His Cossack scouts reported on July 6th, in all directions Qing forces were seen erecting barricades, moving artillery and fortifying. From Liaoyang the Chinese began taking potshots at the Russians, but they were too far away to hit anything. The Chinese were not advancing, too busy plundering what was left behind at Baitouzi. Firecrackers and celebrations could be heard, as Qing troops arrived from Mukden. Konstantin was talking to an interpreter on July 6th who told him he heard rumors the Chinese would attack the next morning. The next morning began with an artillery bombardment. Mishchenko watched using binoculars from a breastwork and proclaimed ‘they have begun their advance. Forbid the men to shoot needlessly. Instead, begin to fire platoon volleys at those cannons there. They have already adjusted their fire well, and must be silenced”. Suddenly grenades were lobbed into the inner courtyard, one ripped open the stomach of a horse and wounded some men. Rifle fire was cracking from Baitouzi and nearby hills. Konstantin was commanding the southern defenses, Shchekin and Sotnik Mamonov the east, Denisov the north, Mishchenko held overall command. The Russians remained calm, taking orders for targets. Mishchenko walked the perimeter encouraging men, he never was killed twice by rifle fire and grenades. Konstantin directed guns at the Qing artillery. It took a dozen or so volleys to get the Qing to move their positions. Suddenly a private yelled ‘Sir! The Chinese are crawling already from the railway embankment nearby!”. The Chinese were nearly 400 paces, Mishchenko ordered volleys and the well-aimed rapid fire drove them back. At 10am, the Chinese were advancing on foot and upon horse using large carts to cover themselves from fire. The Qing hit the Russian right flank hard, killing a few, wounding many. The Qing artillery was performing something akin to a creeping barrage, and soon the Qing riflemen were crawling towards the Russian lines. When the Chinese appeared, the Russians opened fire. The defensive lines were small, around 350 square feet. Blood, corpses and body parts littered the area.  The Qing launched several consecutive attacks, but the Russians gutted their offensives. Suffering heavy casualties the Qing were cautious in their approaches until they withdrew from Baitouzi to Liaoyang. They had no idea the Russians were on the brink of collapse. Russian munitions had shrunk to 20 cartridges per a man, the men were exhausted, men were literally falling asleep as the battles began. The Russian positions at Baitouzi was critical, they could not survive another attack, there was zero indication Port Arthur was sending help, thus Mishchenko called for a meeting of all commanders. They decided their only hope was to fight their way south towards the Kuan Cossack Sotnia of Shtabs-Kapitan Strakhov, who at that time was battling their way towards them. That night they buried 9 men before abandoning countless costly railway equipment, a ton of silver taels which were dumped into a local well and other personal belongings.  Upon seeing the activity the Qing began another attack. The Russians threw up volleys dangerously as they had only so much ammunition left. Their bayonets were fixed at all times. Instead of waiting for a Chinese wave to close in on them, Mishchenko ordered a feint attack. The 2nd company of Malinov and Shchekin charged screaming hurrahs at the Chinese. This was a brilliant move for it saved them all. The Qing fled back to Liaoyang to defend the city allowing the Russians to quickly move south. Konstantin led the vanguard, the civilians were in a panic, countless Cossacks got off their horses and gave them to women, children and wounded. It was a grueling trek as they marched 2 miles west of the railroad trying to avoid detection. Only twice were shots made upon them, but they did not respond and simply carried on quicker. On July 8th they reached the Sha River to see its bridge, the Russian barracks and other buildings over at Shahotzu had been burned down. There were Chinese corpses and expelled shell casings indicated a battle had occurred. It would turn out to be the work of a local guard post of 12 Russians, they were besieged by roughly 200 Chinese. They locked themselves in their stone walled barracks, kept the enemy at bay until their ammunition ran out. Then Boxers came and began burning the doors and windows. Miraculously a train came nearby and began firing upon the position shrilling its whistle. The Russians stormed out with bayonets, attacked the Chinese and fled for the train to escape to Anshanchan. Back over at the Sha River area, the Russians saw Strakhov with 70 Kuban Cossacks of his 3rd Sotnia alongside 40 infantry of the 2nd company coming forward. They had fought their way from Yingkou to Liaoyang station only to find Mishchenko’s party gone. They had missed each other en route because Strakhov had followed the railroad tracks. Strakhov reported seeing the Qing plundering the Russian barracks, some local christian Chinese told Strakhov that Mishchenko and the rest fled south, so he came looking for them. Their numbers were thus bolstered to 307 railway guards and 102 civilians, some of whom were armed and would have to fight. Mishchenko’s force continued along the railway to Anshanchan to find its bridge and pump house had been destroyed. However the telegraph line and railway to Port Arthur was still intact from Anshanchan. He dispatched an officer to Port Arthur to give a detailed report of the situation and to purchase more ammunition. Meanwhile the wounded and civilians were escorted to Tashishciao where Colonel Dombrovskii had a detachment of men. On July 11th, another 100 men from the southern railway posts led by Poruchiks Gulevich and Rozhalin joined Mishchenko to bolster him to 450 men. Now Mishchenko was prepared to play the role of a forward detachment and execute army orders. However Port Arthur  was not recognize Mishcheckno’s detachment as a regular army force, and thus would not supply him with artillery or additional troops for any offensive actions. Instead Port Arthur ordered him to withdraw to Tashishciao within army protection. The next day native Chinese sympathizers reported to Mishchenko that 200 Qing troops were approaching, they were a patrol for a much larger army. Soon Russian scouts were reporting that several hundred Chinese were approaching. The Russians had no provisions, nor tents, thus a siege was not going to favor them. They soon found out from the chief of Haicheng station that over 2000 Qing soldiers had threatened his station and the railway line there. It seemed senseless to hold out at Anshanchan, better to rush over to Haicheng to save it from the fate befalling other stations. At 7pm when they were just about to depart, Cossack scouts rode up reporting that a large Qing detachment with artillery were near the eastern heights and had engaged some of their patrols. Mischchenko dispatched Rozhalin with a half sotnia to the eastern heights to distract the enemy attention away from their departure.  Dawn the next day the Russians made it to Haicheng station. Friendly locals urged Mishchenk to avoid Haicheng because a large Qing force was present, but he was confident in his force after their string of victories. Mishchenko requested aid from the 7th company of the 7th east siberian rifle regiment led by Dombrovskii. Dombrovskii sent them via train from Tashihciao and they arrived an hour after Mishchenko. The western heights near Haicheng was occupied the Qing troops who had to be cleared out if the trains were to come closer to Haicheng. The Russians took cover behind the railway embankment and began advancing up the height shooting from ridges as they did. The Russians eventually began to charge hitting the Qing right flank, sending them scattering. Cossack cavalry ran many down before being called back to protect against a possible assault from the city. The Russians placed 4 artillery pieces on the height and dug in, they now held a good overlooking view of the city. At 9am on the 14th, Dombrovskii came over with an additional company of his regiment and a half battery. The company was led by Captain Ivanov, the artillery by Shtabs Kapitan Petrenko and COlonel Nikolai Desenko held overall command of the whole detachment. Mishchenko sent word to the civilians in Haicheng to warn them a battle was soon to take place. But before the Russians could launch their assault, Qing forces stormed out of the city to hit their flanks. The 7th company, 7th regiment stayed to defend the artillery while company of the 11th regiment took the right flank, the 2nd and 6th companies took the left. Russian volleys and artillery rained hell on the incoming Qing. Petrenko led an excellent bombardment, spraying shrapnel across the Qing formations. Soon the artillery began to bombard Haicheng as the Qing rushed out of its east gate heading for nearby hills. Haicheng fell to the Russians mercy quickly, but Dombrovskii gave strict orders not to go on the offensive, the Russians did not press into the city.  The half battery and company of the 11th regiment departed via train back to Tashihciao, half an hour later the company of the 7th regiment began loading upon another train. When the Qing troops saw this they began swooping down the hills, and set fire to the train station buildings, the pump house and railway bridge. The Qing cavalry even attempted attacking the locomotive carts, but Russian volleys kept them away. Slowly the trains moved south, with Cossacks patrolling their flanks. When they were around 6 miles from Tashihciao, Chinese militia forces and Boxers with antiquated rifles attacked the trains. Russians leapt off the carts and took cover while returning fire. Rozhalin led his Kuban Cossack squadron to run down the enemy killing many. By 8pm Mishchenko and his men reached Tashihciao. At Tashihciao was the south Manchurian detachment consisting of a regiment, a company, a Cossack sotnia and field battery there; there was also another unit from Hsiungyuehcheng consisting of 3 rifle regiments with some stronger batteries from Port Arthur, 86 fortress guns at Jinzhou and some men of a Cossack regiment were patrolling the railway line. This was all of course welcomed, but Mishchenko was still livid to learn no additional troops nor ammunition had departed Port Arthur to help them. 170 miles of railroad north of Tashihciao was in the hands of the Qing, who continuously argued there was no conflict and no destruction of railways was taking place. Konstantin estimated property damage incurred by Russia at this point amounted to some 18 million rubles on the southern line alone. Mishchenko had lost 62 men dead, 53 wounded, 12 missing in action.  Over in province of Fentien, was a Manchu General who was very much against the Boxer cause. He was well educated, and realized China did not at the time wield the necessary power to drive out the foreigners and the Boxer’s and their supporters were adding to China’s plight. He was zealous persecuting the Boxers in his province, many were arrested, many executed. He then decided he was going to expose their professed invulnerability spells in front of his people. He gathered 400 arrested Boxers and proclaimed a large execution would take place. The Boxers would be killed by firing squad, obviously to showcase how their spell would not work against the bullets. He entrusted the execution operation to a General in the army, unbeknownst to him, there were many Boxers within his army and the General was one of them. The General secretly removed the bullets from the cartridges for the firing squad weapons. Thus at the appointed time the crowds gathered alongside the military governor to watch several volleys fail to kill the Boxers. The Manchu General in fury ever ran up, grabbed a rifle and fired 6 times doing no harm to the boxers. The Boxers stood and bowed politely to the crowd. People began to cheer them on. The Manchu General kept up his anti-boxer campaigns, but the public was dissatisfied with them and his own military was becoming quite insubordinate. The Manchu General reported to Beijing his plight before handing over control to local forces, walking away from his duty.  The railway station located about 10 miles from Mukden was guarded by the 2nd Transcaspian rifle battalion of Poruchik Valevskii. Valevskii received a report on July 5th, the Qing forces were gathering artillery and digging in near his station. He ordered neighboring outposts to join hi mat once and the next day the Qing unleashed an artillery bombardment upon his barracks. The Russians estimated the Qing had 3000 infantry and 5000 cavalry. The Russians trapped in the barracks watched as they fired on the enemy as they cut the telegraph lines and burned bridges and buildings around them. At 1am 14 Russians from a neighboring outpost came rushing in from the north fighting their way to the barracks. The Russians received word from Chinese christians that all the outposts were under attack. Valevskii gathered all the troops and civilians and made a dash over to the Mukden station to find Qing forces plundering it. From there they fled south to the station of Su-chia-tun only to find it burned down, with Russian corpses littering the area. Next Valevskii led them to Yentai station where they ran into Qing forces coming over from Liaoyang. They defeated the Qing forces in two engagements and made their way to Liaoyang.  By this point, Valevskii was trying to reconnoiter the enemy positions and find Colonel Mishchenko who had given out orders for all forces in the region to come to him. From a captured Qing soldiers they learnt Mishchenko’s detachment had fled the area and was being pursued. The railway lines appeared to be destroyed, there was no aid coming from Port Arthur. Valevskii announced they would turn eastward to try to get to Yingkou where perhaps Russian ships could get them to somewhere safe. They traveled east along the Taitzu river, running into small Qing forces along the way. Valevskii was hit with a rifle bullet to the chest. Pilipenko took over command and announced they would proceed to Korea for safety. It was a long and arduous journey, they lost many civilians and soldiers. Their story was to be one of many, Manchuria was falling into chaos.  I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. The Boxer Rebellion had spread to Manchuria. Railway station, barracks, anything foreign was being destroyed, countless isolated Russian pockets were now under threat, not just by the Boxers, but by a angry and vengeful Manchu populace. 

Last time we spoke about the battle of Beijing. General Gaselee and the 8 nation alliance began a grand march upon Beijing. They fought numerous battles at places like Beicang and Yangcun utterly routing the Qing and Boxer forces. The road to Beijing was laid bare open to them, lest it not be for the extreme summer heat which took the lives of many. The Russians attempted to outrace everyone else to Beijing, but quickly bit off more than they could chew. Ultimately the British were the first ones to enter the foreign legations. The besieged foreigners in the legations had been met with a last ditch effort by the Qing to overrun them, but they held on for dear life. Now Beijing was being occupied by the 8 nation alliance. What was to become of the Qing officials, of Empress Dowager Cixi? How would justice be served?   #67 The Boxer Rebellion part 7: The Boxer Protocol   Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. Usually you would assume the story was won and done. The 8 national alliance was flooding into Beijing, as they say “the cavalry had arrived”, but it was not over. The next day of August 15th saw more violence. The French deployed 4 artillery pieces onto the Tartar wall and began bombarding the pink walls of the Imperial City. Meanwhile General Chaffee was mounting an assault upon the Imperial city alongside the American forces who were battering their way through a series of courtyards trying to get to the Imperial Cities southern gate. Their ultimate objective was the Forbidden City. When it seemed they were within reach of the Forbidden City, suddenly General Chaffee commanded a withdrawal. The commanders had been arguing at a conference and they all agreed that the 8 nation alliance should take a more conciliatory approach towards the Qing government. Everyone was wondering whether the Emperor and Empress Dowager remained within the Forbidden city. If there was to be a conciliation at all, they would be needed. Rumors began to emerge stating if the Empress Dowager were still in the city, she would most likely commit suicide rather than be taken prisoner. Lenox Simpson was trying to investigate the situation, riding up to the Imperial City where he discovered a terrified Eunuch huddled in a Qing guardhouse in the outer wall. He asked the eunuch how many forces guarded the Forbidden city and the whereabouts of the Emperor and Empress Dowager. The Eunuch blurted out “The Emperor, the Empress Dowager, and indeed, the whole Court, had disappeared—had fled, was gone.” There are countless tales of how it occurred, the dramatic flight of the Qing court. It is most likely the decision to flee Beijing came about in the early hours of August 15th. One account given by magistrate Wu Yung claimed he helped the Empress Dowager flee. Cixi was disguised in dark blue clothes of a Chinese peasant woman, they even clipped her nails, go google a picture of Cixi, imagine clipping those things haha. Allegedly Cixi told Wu Yung as she was hastily grabbing some personal belongs “Who would have thought it would come to this?” Of the things she hastily grabbed, one was a precious bloodstone that she believed protect her through all dangers. She boarded one of three wooden carts, and Cixi forcefully grabbed the emperor not allowing him to be taken as a hostage, alongside her niece and the heir apparent. The Imperial concubines were forbidden to accompany them and made tearful farewell. It is said Emperor Guangxu’s favorite concubine begged to take her with him, prompting Cixi who hated the girl to demand she be tossed down a well. Apparently the Eunuchs rolled the poor girl up in a carpet and literally tossed her down a well in front of Emperor Guangxu, which is hardcore? Another account has it that Cixi tricked the girl by telling her “We will all stay where we are, but we cannot allow ourselves to be taken alive by Western barbarians. There is only one way out for you and me—we must both die. It is easy. You go first—I promise to follow you.” Then the Eunuch tossed her in the well, one other account has the Eunuchs simply tossing the girl down the well after the imperial party departed because they didn't like her. Can’t help but picture Varies from GOT leading eunuchs to get revenge on a royal family haha.  Empress Dowager Cixi had fled the Imperial city once before, in fact 40 years prior during the 2nd opium war. Was a symbolic moment. Back then she had apparently told the Emperor to stay in the city lest the British and French raze Beijing to the ground, this time she did the opposite. On August 10th, Cixi had made an imperial decree ordering General Jung Lu and some other Qing officials to remain in Beijing and maintain the government in exile. The royal party fled through roads filled with others fleeing the city. Their eunuch planners assumed they would buy provisions along the way, but when they entered the countryside they found it completely devastated. On August 17th the royal party made it to the small town of Huailai, north of Beijing. The Boxers and disaffected troops had devastated the town so much, there was only a bowl of millet and green bean porridge to serve the Empress Dowager. Apparently to this she said to her host “In time of distress this is enough. Can I at this time say what is good and what is not good?” From Huailai they traveled to Kalgan and Tatung, near the Mongolian plateau, before they turned towards Taiyuan. Now being so far from Beijing they felt safer and thus instead of conducting themselves under the guise as peasants they now openly showed themselves and told people they were performing an official tour of inspection. It is said by Wu Yung the empress dowager enjoyed talking to him and told him “talk as you please”, and she herself took a large interest in talking to locals and visiting temples and attractions. Wu Yung theorized she had been cooped up for so long in the imperial city, the outside world fascinated her. The mule litters were replaced with sedan chairs, Cixi began wearing luxurious Manchu garb and regrew her fingernails.  Soon the royal party were issuing edicts and receiving reports on the situation of the court in Beijing. Countless governors, viceroys and other Qing officials flocked to pay respects and tribute to the royal party. They stayed in Taiyuan for 3 weeks at the home of Yuxiang where he boasted to Cixi of how many foreigners he executed. However the Taiyuan massacre meant the foreigners might come to the city for revenge, so the royal party continued southwest towards Sian, the old capital of the Tang dynasty. This was territory held by General Dong Fuxiang whose troops were the primary ones escorting the royal party. It was under Dong Fuxiang’s protection the royal party now hunkered down for winter. It is said Guangxu’s nephew began drawing pictures of demons and would often sketch a large tortoise with the name Yuan Shikai on its back. You see the tortoise was a symbol of homosexuality, thus it was to insult Yuan Shikai who was seen as an enemy who betrayed Guangxu. It is also said Guangxu took the pictures, hung them up on walls and fired crossbows at them. Personally this story to me sounds like an author giving a bit of foreshadowing flavor, for Yuan Shikai would perform even greater betrayals later on. Indeed Yuan Shikai is kind of a meme on my personal channel, over there I have to the point of me writing this script, covered 1830-1932 thus far for Chinese-Japanese history. Yuan Shikai is a behemoth when it comes to the formation of modern day China and honestly his story is interesting to say the least. If you ever want to jump into the future, just check out my content at the Pacific War channel on the Xinhai revolution and China’s warlord era episodes, or better yet the full China warlord documentary that encompasses pretty much all of it. Anyways. Back over in Beijing, news of the flight of the Qing court was not met with surprise by the foreigners. Now the foreigners were uncertain what to do next. For some it was a bit reminiscent of Napoleon’s arrival to a deserted Moscow, without the highest ranking Qing officials, what could they do? Meanwhile, one place that was still under threat was Peitang. Over at the Peitang Cathedral the foreigners had been fighting for their lives the entire time. When news emerged that the foreign legations had been rescued, everyone in the Cathedral at Peitang rejoiced awaiting their own rescue. The Cathedral was the only Christian building within the Imperial city that was able to hold on and defend itself. It was a miracle they managed to do so. The commander of 30 French marines sent by Pichon on June 1st to help out at Peitang was Lt Paul Henry. At the age of just 23, Bishop Favier had to say of his conduct “he was as pious as he is brave— a true Breton.” Henry had been given an impossible task, to defend an area with around 1400 yards of wall 12-15 feet high with a tiny amount of troops. Henry had the men dig trenches, erect parapets, and used the Cathedral as a last stronghold if they were overrun. The first week of June saw fires erupt throughout the capital and gunfire could be heard everywhere. Bishop Favier looked out from the top of the cathedral to see on the 13th and 14th churches and cathedrals in Beijing being razed to the ground. Refugees poured into Peitang Cathedral more and more, and on the 15th a group of Catholic sisters and children were running from Boxers to the cathedral with Favier giving this account of the scene “Their leader, on horse, is a lama or bonze [priest]; he precedes an immense red flag, surrounded by young Boxers who have undergone the incantations and are likewise dressed in red. They burned perfumed sticks, prostrated themselves on entering our street to the south, and then advanced in compact bands”. The French marines allowed them to reach 200 yards from the barricades before unleashing a volley wounded 50 and sending them fleeing. By June 18th, Henry worried about enemy artillery and tried to fortify the defenses more so. On the 20th, news of von Kettelers death came, Pichon sent a message to Favier, there was no hope of fleeing Beijing. 3420 people, two thirds of which were women and children were trapped in Peitang. Their defenses were comically small, 30 French and a dozen Italian marines, whose commander was Lt Olivieri aged 25. The able bodied Chinese christians volunteered to bolster the forces, making spears, brandishing some knives and a few were given rifles by the marines. June 22nd saw Krupp guns firing upon Peitang shattering windows and sending bricks flying. The main gate to Peitang was being battered by shells. Lt Henry led a sortie of 4 marines and 30 Chinese christians to seize the artillery piece hitting the main gate. They managed to seize it, losing 2 Chinese in the process. The next day simply saw more artillery bombardment. By the 26th, all the buildings near Peitang were ablaze and Boxers were seen erecting ladders and scaffoldings against the walls. The defenders were being pot shotted at every day. On the 27th Henrys second in command Jouannic was shot in the shoulder and would die 3 days later. By July 1st the defenders of Peitang began to eat mule and horse as they ran out of vegetables. Smallpox broke out amongst the children, by July 3rd 15 were dying per day.  The french marines began making scarecrows to help against snipers. It turned out the watchmakers amongst their Chinese christians were capable of creating cartridges for Mausers and other guns. The defenders were able to manufacture powder for cannons with things they seized from the surrounding enemy during sorties. The men fired only 100 rounds per day, Henry noted on July 5th 13 rounds were only fired, on the 14th 74. Famine was more threatening than lack of ammunition. On July 6th Henry checked rations and estimated they could hold out for 20 days. The Boxers began manufacturing exploding missiles that they lobbed at the cathedral. These were a sort of fire pot, a container carrying around three pounds of gunpowder with long fuses. On a single day the Boxers tossed more than 250 of these, but the defenders ingeniously put buckets, casks and even bathtubs full of water everywhere to fight the emerging fires.  The Qing artillery smashed the cathedrals clock tower and walls without mercy. On July 18th, the defenders were countermining when a mine exploded killing 25 and injuring 28. One French marine described the carnage “where bits of waste meat were being dragged out, fragments of flesh and severed limbs were spattered about and part of someone’s chest was smashed against a wall”. Qing troops atop the Imperial City walls fired down upon the defenders at all times. By July 28th rations were a meager 8 ounces of food per day. On July 30th the Qing assaulted the north wall, setting the cathedral roof on fire. Henry tried rallying the men and took a bullet in the neck and another into his side. Henry died in the arms of a priest 20 minutes later and was buried beneath a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes in the Cathedral garden. Olivieri took command after his death. The Qing and Boxers seemed emboldened and began firing arrows with messages to the Christian Chinese urging them to abandon the foreigners and return to the old ways. “You, Christians, shut up in the Pei-tang, reduced to the greatest misery, eating leaves of trees, why do you resist? We have leveled cannon and set mines against you, and you will be destroyed in a short time. You have been deceived by the devils of Europe; return to the ancient religion . . . deliver up Bishop Favier and the others, and you will have saved your lives, and we will give you to eat. If you do not do so, you, your wives and children, will all be cut into pieces.” It is said the Boxers believed Bishop Favier was a demon who was using an invulnerability spell by smearing menstrual blood over his faced and nailing naked women and dead fetuses to the Cathedral walls. They also believed the foreigners posed a weapon called “the ten thousand woman flag” woven from female pubic hair which stole power from the Boxer gods. Gotta hand it to their imagination. Despite the messages, the Chinese Christians stayed put. By August 2nd the besieged were starving and began trying to capture stray dogs to eat. On August 5th, Favier wrote this “we can resist balls, bullets, and bombs, but there is no defense against famine.” On August 10th, 400 pounds of rice and a mule were all that remained. Favier was forced to send Christian Chinese out in desperation to try and reach the foreign legation for help. Many were flayed, beheaded and put in spikes near Peitang. On August 12th a violent explosion shook Peitang a giant mine had gone off causing a crater 7 yards deep and 40 yards wide. It buried 5 Italian marines with Olivieri and 80 Chinese. Olivieri recounted being saved with the burial “They succeeded in uncovering one of my hands, and finding it still warm, redoubled their efforts until my whole body was free”. However his men were mutilated and dying. The mine had caused a large breach in the wall and the enemy could easily have stormed Peitang, but they didn't. Another mine went off the following day, but the enemy did not storm Peitang. Just when it seemed they were all going to die on August 14th the defender heard Boxers scream out “The devils from Europe are approaching!” The Boxers were also screaming at the defenders of Peitang that they would all be massacred before their rescuers got to them. But Oliveiri and the defenders watch as Qing banners were lowered from walls, Qing soldiers and Boxers were beginning to flee.  By 5pm they saw europeans on the walls waving an american flag.  The defenders waited for their rescue on August 15th, but no one was coming. Olivieri worried the relief force had been repelled. Then suddenly Japanese troops climbed over the walls and stormed into Peitang. Olivieri rushed over shouting “we are saved!”. The other members of the 8 nation alliance were rather shocked by the actions of the Japanese, Peitang was a French responsibility. The French force that entered Beijing however was too small to fight their way to Peitang. As General Frey noted “What was our surprise to see ahead of us between 250 and 300 Japanese whose presence nobody could explain.” The Japanese without any fuss simply did the deed on their own merit.  Peitang saw 400 people including 166 children die during the siege, unlike the fight for the legations Peitang never had a single day of rest. There was no truce for Peitang, the defenders fought every single day. As Favier assessed the damage in Beijing he had this to say “In Pekin, three churches, seven large chapels, the colleges, hospitals—all are destroyed. . . . The Peitang . . . damaged by shells, is the only building undestroyed. . . . In short, the ruin is almost entire, the work of forty years is nearly annihilated; the courage of missionaries, nevertheless, is not on the wane; we shall begin over again.” As Bishop Favier wandered Beijing, he estimated perhaps 30,000 catholics had been killed. News emerged that 200 foreign nuns, priests, missionaries and their family members had been murdered. Half the population of Beijing fled in terror as the foreign armies flooded in. Many Qing officials committed suicide, many Chinese women with bound feet likewise did so. The special correspondent of the Daily Telegraph, Dr. E.J Dillon wrote “Chinese women honestly believed that no more terrible fate could overtake them than to fall alive into the hands of Europeans and Christians. It is to be feared that they were right.” Dillon personally saw the corpses of women who had been raped and bayoneted to death. Luella Miner within the foreign legation had this to say of the matter “The conduct of the Russian soldiers is atrocious, the French are not much better, and the Japanese are looting and burning without mercy.... Women and girls by hundreds have committed suicide to escape a worse fate at the hands of Russian and Japanese brutes. Our American soldiers saw them jumping into the river and into wells, in Tungchow. Twelve girls in one well, and one mother was drowning two of her little children in a large water jar.” Roger Keyes added his own account “Every Chinaman . . . was treated as a Boxer by the Russian and French troops, and the slaughter of men, women, and children in retaliation was revolting.” A British officer, Major Luke, told Keyes that “he had never seen anything more horrible, and some of his young Marines were literally sick”. Lenox Simpson stated he say British Indian forces molesting female Chinese christians until they were flogged by some foreign women. It is said the Japanese had planned ahead of time for the situation. According to Roger Keyes “their Government had wisely taken the precaution of sending their ‘regimental wives’ [prostitutes] with them, and they were established in houses at Tientsin and Peking directly the troops settled down”. The first days of the occupation saw indiscriminate looting and rape by all nationalities. The allied commander in chief von Waldersee who only arrived in late september wrote “Every nationality accords the palm to some other in respect to the art of plundering, but it remains the fact that each and all of them went in hot and strong for plunder.” On August 18th all the diplomats and military commanders met at the Russian legation to discuss how to go about reprisals against the Qing. The Germans argued for severe punishment because of Von Kettelers murder, they wanted a punitive expedition and to raze the Imperial city. The Russians favored a more conciliatory line in northern China, but of course something I have not talked about was going on, the Russians had basically invaded Manchuria. One thing they all agreed upon was an enormous victory parade through the Imperial City, a grand humiliation. Each nation scrambled to be the first in the parade, the Russians argued they had the largest force, which was a lie, it was the Japanese. There are countless photographs of the foreign armies in the city and of the parade, but to give a brief description on August 28th George Morrison stated “the appearance of the French troops, complaining that there was every excuse for their uniforms to be dirty but that the faces of many of the men should be so too was quite inexcusable. The French looked singularly decadent in blue dungaree and that their commander, General Frey, was small and pot-bellied. He thought the Cossacks were “heavy” and “rough” but that the Germans looked “splendid” and the Japanese officers “very smart.” The British, by contrast, looked ather “rag tag and bobtail.” The dignity of the occasion was further undermined by the ineptitude of the Russian band, which could not keep pace with eight successive national anthems and found itself blasting out the “Marseillaise” as the Italians marched past the saluting base”. An army of eunuchs escorted by Qing officials brought the foreigners into the Forbidden city which saw looting. Indeed the looting of the capital of China by the 8 nation alliance is probably one of the largest looting accounts in human history, one of the sources I am using has an entire chapter dedicated to only story accounts of what was stolen and by whom, but its simply too much to delve into. Many museums today hold stolen items from this event. Within 24 hours of taking the city not a race of Boxers existed. There was a wild Boxer hunt that saw much horror. Daily executions occurred as described to us by George Morrison “The execution and the long drawn out neck. The butcher with his apron. The executioner tearing open his long coat—the grunt as he brought down the knife—the dogs lapping up the blood—the closeness of the head to the ground, the face nearly touching.” Apparently the Germans got their prisoners to dig their own trench before being shot in the back of the head. During september the allies were awaiting the arrival of von Waldersee, but a number of military operations were mounted against Boxer strongholds in the Beijing region.  Von Waldersee arrived to Beijing in October assuming command and established his HQ in Cixi’s palace in the forbidden city. Von Waldersee decided punitive expeditions needed to be increased and Germany began taking the lead in several dozen. The countryside was butchered in a wild hunt for Boxers. Civilians, Qing soldiers, Qing officials, just about anyone faced numerous foreign troops who killed or abused them. Von Waldersee faced a more daunting task however, peace negotiations. There was a mutual distrust amongst the nations and conflicts broke out often. Li Hongzhang, poor old Li Hongzhang and Prince Qing were appointed the imperial plenipotentiary powers and only arrived in Beijing in October. The first meeting was held on Christmas Eve between them and the foreign ministers. Li Hongzhang was not present due to illness. The foreign ministers questioned whether the Qing plenipotentiaries were even real agents of the Emperor or Qing government in exile. Prince Qing managed to convince them he held authority. The allies pondered if the dynasty should change, but it was quickly apparent the Manchu would never allow for such a thing. All the ministers agreed the Manchu dynasty should remain on the throne. Then they pondered punishment of the guilty and a large indemnity on behalf of the Qing dynasty. The indemnity fee first brought up was 67,500,000 roughly 4.3 or so billion dollars by todays figures. The Americans argued it was far too high and would bankrupt China. American secretary of state John Hay sent a telegram to the great powers stating “America’s policy was to bring permanent safety and peace to China and to preserve China’s territorial integrity”. Von Waldersee would go on the record to say  “the United States it seems to desire that nobody shall get anything out of China.” However on May 26th an imperial edict announced that the indemnity payment would be 67,500,000$ to be paid in full over 39 years. The sum was to be distributed as follows: Russia 28.97%, Germany 20.02%, France 15.75%, Britain 11.25%, Japan 7.73%, United States 7.32%, Italy 7.32%, Belgium 1.89%, Austria-Hungary 0.89%, Netherlands 0.17%, Spain 0.03%, Portugal 0.021%, Sweden and Norway 0.014%. The payment by the way would only be amortized on December 31st of 1940.  Now the negotiations for punishments were a lot more complicated. The allies first wanted to see the executions of prominent pro-Boxer officials, which Empress Dowager Cixi wanted to avoid. Cixi made many counter proposals, but eventually was forced to hand over some officials. Yuxiang, the mastermind behind the Taiyuan massacre was reportedly executed, though notably there is a myth he simply went into exile. Qing official Ying Nien straggled himself, some other officials apparently were killed by having their mouths and nostrils stuffed with rice paper by eunuchs, which is a pretty weird one I must say, many were poisoned. Prince Duan and his brother escaped the death penalty and were exiled to Turkestan. Dong Fuxiang was too powerful to kill much to the dismay of the foreigners. Indeed his Muslim army in the northwest was the bulwark at the time, all he suffered was a demotion, but in reality he was now a major leading figure. Over 100 Qing officials were executed or exiled in the end.  A peace treaty containing 12 articles was signed in the Spanish legation on September 7th of 1901 known as the Boxer Protocol. The Qing were prohibited from importing arms and ammunition for 2 years; the Taku forts were ordered to be destroyed; the legation quarters would receive special status; Boxers and Qing officials who had supported them would face justice; the Zongli Yamen was replaced with a foreign office; the Qing government was to prohibit under the pain of death, any membership for anti-foreign societies; civil examinations were suspended for 5 years in any area that saw violence against foreigners; the Emperor Guangxu was to apologize to Kaiser Wilhelm for the murder of Baron von Ketteler; Emperor Guangxu was to appoint Na’t’ung to be a special envoy to be sent to apologize the Emperor Meiji for the murder of Mr. Sugiyama; the Qing government was to erect a commemorative arch over the spot Baron von Ketteler was killed; and at last the great powers would be allowed to occupy numerous important cities so as to make sure their legations were protected. Empress Dowager Cixi was surprised by the terms of the treaty and that she was not punished personally. Hell China was not required to surrender any more territory. Some members of her court argued China should continue the war and that the 8 nation alliance could not hope to face the interior of China. Some argued if Dong Fuxiang were to be allowed to raise his force to 50,000 he could dislodge the foreign encroachment. Cixi however was as much a pragmatist as she was conservative in her ways. If the allied nations would allow Emperor Guangxu and her to return to Beijing retaining their honor, she believed she had little to lose. She also was not a moron and understood exactly why the Boxer Protocol was made in the way it was, the great powers wanted to received payments and in order to do so, needed the Manchu to sit on the throne. She ordered Li Hongzhang to do all he could to re-establish relations with the foreign governments. She also ordered any decrees she made praising the Boxers to be expunged from the official records and secretly ordered all blame to be placed on Guangxu. She gave posthumous honors to all the progressive Qing officials she had beheaded during the siege and disinherited the heir apparent son of Prince Duan, whom apparently she did not like much. An imperial decree in the name of Emperor Guangxu announced “Our Sacred Mother’s advanced age renders it necessary that we should take the greatest care of her health, so that she may attain to peaceful longevity; a long journey in the heat being evidently undesirable, we have fixed on the 19th day of the 7th Moon [1 September] to commence our return journey and are now preparing to escort Her Majesty.” The return to Beijing should be held as one of the greatest feats of public relations exercises in history, second only to Robert Downey Jr. The 700 mile journey began in October of 1901 seeing the imperial family carried in yellow sedan chairs, sparing no expense. George Morrison details it quite well  “Along the frost-bound uneven tracks which serve for roads in northern China, an unending stream of laden wagons croaked and groaned through the short winter’s day and on, guided by soldier torch-bearers through bitter nights to the appointed stopping places. But for the Empress Dowager and the Emperor there was easy journeying and a way literally made smooth. Throughout its entire distance the road over which the Imperial palanquins were carried had been converted into a smooth, even surface of shining clay, soft and noiseless under foot; not only had every stone been removed but as the procession approached gangs of men were employed in brushing the surface with feather brooms. At intervals of about ten miles, well-appointed rest-houses had been built.The cost of this King’s highway, quite useless of course for the ordinary traffic of the country, was stated by a native contractor to amount to fifty Mexican dollars for every eight yards—say, £1,000 per mile—the clay having to be carried in some places from a great distance. As an example of the lavish expenditure of the Court and its officials in a land where squalor is a pervading feature, this is typical.” The Empress Dowager crossed the yellow river in a gilded, lacquered, dragon shaped barge after offering wine and incense to the river god. Believe it or not, the last part of the journey was done by train and Empress Dowager Cixi looked excited to be in what she called an “iron centipede”. Everyone in Beijing was given an imperial decree to graciously permit them to watch the royal family return to the Imperial Court. We are told “As Cixi got out of her chair, the Empress glanced up at the smoke-blackened walls and saw us: a row of foreigners . . . and, looking up at us, lifted her closed hands under her chin, and made a series of little bows.” Cixi was a lover of theatricals and made sure it was a hell of a show.  Within days foreign ministers were summoned to present themselves to the Emperor and for the first time officially enter the forbidden city. On February the 1st Cixi invited the ladies of diplomats to her. The foreign community nor Cixi could know it, but the Boxer rebellion was to be one of the last nails in a coffin made for the Qing dynasty.  I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. And so the Boxer rebellion excluding some events in Manchuria was ended. The Boxer protocol ushered in a brand new Qing dynasty that surely would survive the test of time and not succumb to an agonizing death as the people of China could take it no longer.   

Last time we spoke about the battle for Tientsin. Tientsin had be relieved momentarily of its siege, but the Boxers and Qing forces quickly went back to work assaulting the foreign held part of the city. Forces from the great powers began arriving at Taku, heading for Tientsin to finally lift its siege once and for all. The battle against the Chinese held part of the city was to be the bloodiest battle of the Boxer Rebellion and it was the Japanese who ushered in victory. The southern and eastern gates of Tientsin were breached as the foreign troops sent the Qing and Boxer forces fleeing. Now with Tientsin firmly in their hands and with even more troops arriving by the day, the new 8 Nation alliance was preparing for a march upon Beijing. Would this new international force be able to get to Beijing quickly enough to save the besieged foreign community there?   #66 The Boxer Rebellion part 6: The Fall of Beijing   Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. German Field Marshal Alfred von Waldersee was chosen to be the supreme allied commander, but he was in Germany with his soldiers set to depart on August 18th. Meanwhile Lt General Sir Alfred Gaselee was at Tientsin and he managed to get the Americans to back him temporarily to be the leader of the new 8 Nation alliance. I would like to note, General Yamaguchi Motomi was the highest ranking officer present at Tientsin during this time, but non-white racism disallowed the other commanders to allow him to take command. It was estimated by most of the great powers that some 50-70 thousand troops would be necessary to march upon Beijing, Gaselee had 22,000. 10,000 Japanese, 4000 Russian, 3000 British, 2000 Americans, 800 French, 200 Germans, 100 Austrians and 100 Italians. Telegraph lines were cut, the railway was damaged and many of the Great powers advised waiting for more troops before marching. But the British and Americans threatened to go it alone if they did not march at once.  Back in Beijing the truce had gradually died down and now the foreigners lived in a confused paradox. At one moment the Zongli Yamen would send them gifts of food and assure them protection, the next they were plotting their death. The hostilities had resumed while the Zongli Yamen began publicly stating any soldier caught firing on the legations would be beheaded. It was unbelievably contradictory. Rumor also had it Li Hongzhang had been appointed the negotiator for peace talks and would soon send telegrams to the foreign governments. On August 12th, Prince Qing sent a message indicating the Zongli Yamen intended to have a meeting with the ministers the very next day. The foreign community hoped this meant a relief force was close to Beijing and that the Qing were panicking. They had all received information two days prior from General Gaselee stating “Strong force of Allies advancing. Twice defeated enemy. Keep up your spirits.” They also received a message from General Fukushima stating “Probable date of arrival at Peking August 13 or 14.” The legation defenders morale had thus boosted considerably, but they were still under a violent siege taking the lives of people every day. Bullets and shrapnel peppered them each day and the Qing forces seemed even more aggressive, planting their banners just 20 yards from the defenders outposts. In fact some of the banners bore the name of a General they had not heard of until that point, it was our old friend Yuxian. Yuxian had been appointed governor of Shanxi province and reigned a campaign of terror against Christians and foreigners there. On July 9th, it was rumored Yuxian had executed 44 foreigners including women and children from some missionary families whom he had personally invited to the provincial capital, Taiyuan under the guise he was going to protect them. It is disputed by historians who were the actual culprits who killed the foreigners, but the incident became known as the Taiyuan massacre. What is known, by the later half of 1900, Shanxi saw as many as 2000 Christians murdered. It seemed Empress Dowager Cixi brought Yuxian over to Beijing as a last-ditch effort to overrun the foreigners.  The tenacity of the besiegers had increased exponentially, as told to us by Lenox Simpson “all thoughts of relief have been pushed into the middle distance—and even beyond—by the urgent business we have now on hand. . . . What stupendous quantities of ammunition have been loosed-off on us . . . what tons of lead and nickel! Some of our barricades have been so eaten away by this fire, that there is but little left, and we are forced to lie prone on the ground hour after hour.... The Chinese guns are also booming again, and shrapnel and segment are tearing down trees and outhouses, bursting through walls, splintering roofs, and wrecking our strongest defenses more and more.”  The commanders of the Gaselee force figured they would be facing roughly 70,000 Qing soldiers and anything between 50-100 thousand boxers between them and Beijing. They had roughly 70 artillery pieces, and lacked any real cavalry, aside from a few Cossacks. There was some Japanese cavalry, but their horses turned out to not be able to face the heat, 60 out of 400 of them would not make it to Beijing. So they were going to be mostly an infantry force. The commander chose to take the exact same route to Beijing that the British and French took during the second opium war, rather fitting if you ask me. They departed on August the 4th and the first battle they would face was at Beicang. Their intelligence reported General Dong Fuxiang had deployed roughly 20,000 troops at Beicang, though in reality it was around 11,000. The British, Americans and Japanese advanced along the west side of the river, while the French and Russians marched on its east. As the army approached Beicang on August the 4th they camped outside near the Xigu fort arsenal, the very same arsenal Seymour and his expedition had come across. The commanders planned to have the British, Americans and Japanese turn the right flank of the Qing while the Russians and French turned their left flank on the opposite side of the Hai river. At 3am the Japanese launched their attack under the cover of allied artillery and they quickly seized a Qing battery on the extreme right of their defense lines. They then pushed forward on the flank as an artillery duel between the Qing and allies raged for half and hour. During the duel, a Japanese regiment performed a direct assault on a Qing position along the river. The Japanese requested some cavalry aid from the British, but it failed to reach them on time, leading the Japanese to take heavy casualties. None the less the Japanese stormed some Qing entrenchments forcing the defenders to retreat. On the east bank of the Hai river, the French and Russians were unable to hook around the Qing left flank due to flooded terrain, but the Japanese victory in the west broke the Qing’s will to fight as a general retreat was sounded. The allies lost 60 men dead, all Japanese with 240 wounded. Around 50 Qing were killed in the battle that lasted until 9am, it was a relatively easy victory, though the Japanese paid heavily for it. American medics notably treated the Japanese wounded. The Qing forces retreated 12 miles back to Yangcun where they took up positions between the east bank of the Hai river and its railroad embankment. Yangcun was heavily fortified and the Qing forces led by Generals Ma Yukun and Song Qing hoped to halt the allied advance there. The British and Americans took the vanguard this time advancing on Yangcun by August 6th. The Japanese advanced along the west side of the Hai river, but would not find themselves taking part in the battle. The Qing numbered nearly 11,000 again, though its unknown how many actually took part in the battle. The allies faced something nearly as bad as bullets that day, tremendous heat. Indeed during the Gaselee expedition the weather often reached 42 degrees, or 108 freedom units for your americans. 20% of the men who marched on Yangcun fell out of rank, and a ton of sunstroke related deaths occurred. The allied forces advanced within 5000 yards of the Qing positions. The Russians were on the easternmost, followed by the British, then the Americans. The assault began at 11am, and soon it became an endurance competition between both sides. Men clutched their water canteens as they marched. The Americans bore the brunt of the Qing resistance as they hit the strongest held position behind the railroad embankment. Men were seen collapsing from sunstroke as Qing artillery and rifle fire poured upon them. The Americans were advancing in open terrain and had to run to avoid being hit. As the Americans charged over the railroad embankment they would find most of the positions abandoned. The battle ultimately became one enormous rearguard action. As the Americans advances so rapidly, the British and Russian artillery began to mistake them for retreating Qing forces and shells began to be lobbed over the US 14th infantry. 4 Americans were killed with 11 wounded as the Americans frantically signaled back to stop the shelling.Placing a handkerchief on the point of a sword an American commander galloped up the embankment waving it at the artillery fire. To make matters worse, upon seeing the shelling, the French joined in also firing upon them. By the late afternoon the battle for Yangcun was over, the Qing took very few casualties as they had abandoned their positions fairly early on. The Americans had 9 dead, 64 wounded, 15 of which would die later on. The British had 6 dead, 38 wounded and the Russians 7 dead, 20 wounded. Within Yangcun the allies found the trains Seymours expeditionary forces had abandoned, as told to us by Frederick Brown “Still standing on the embankment were the boilers and wheels of the engines used in that fruitless attempt to reach Peking. How the Boxers must have gloated in their hate when they rushed upon these inventions of the ‘foreign devils’! They had burned the woodwork . . . looted the brasses, nuts, and bolts, and had even torn up and buried the rails and sleepers. But the wheels and boilers remained there in defiance”.  The route to Beijing was a nearly treeless plain, the landscape was littered with fields of 14 foot high corn. It was actually terrifying because one could not see over the corn fields for possible enemies lurking about. On one occasion Lt Roger Keyes of the HMS Fame was horrified to see “the banners of a large body of Tartar cavalry and the pennons of our Bengal Lancers showing above the standing maize, and within a mile of one another, apparently unaware of each other’s proximity, but closing fairly rapidly.” Keyes galloped over to warn the Bengals, but it was like finding a needle in a haystack. The Japanese actually began carrying bamboo ladders so they could peak over the corn, must have been silly as hell to watch this march. The heat was a constant enemy, as the commanding officer of the US 14th infantry, Colonel Dagget recalled “a fierceness in that China sun’s rays which none had experienced in the tropics or our Southern States during the Civil War.... Its prostrating effect was unaccountable, and caused our men to fall by hundreds. The dust of ages . . . rose at every footstep. The corn obstructed the breeze, and did not allow it either to blow away the dust or fan the burning faces of the fainting soldiers.” The men would abandon countless blankets, greatcoats, haversacks and such along the roads. Even the British Indian troops were suffering from the heat. Lt Steel remarked “The heat was awful, the whole road being littered with men fallen out, Americans, Japs, and ours. The country is so dense with crops we couldn’t see anywhere, and the flies and bad water made life pretty sickening. Everywhere one came across dead bodies of Chinese and mules and horses in various degrees of foul composition. I nearly catted [vomited] dozens of times.”  Despite the conditions, the 8 nation alliance marched 25 miles and won two easy victories. After a council of war on August 7th, the commanders had all agreed to continue the march and not wait for reinforcements. The Italians, Austrian and Germans had returned to Tientsin to reequip themselves as they had greatly miscalculated the gear needed for the expedition. Many French likewise would have to turn back. The field was thus set for the Russians, British, Japanese and Americans to push on. The Qing who saw them march would simply flee, seeing countless villages abandoned along the way. In some villages, a few Chinese civilians would be found, and as noted by Dagget “the villages were all deserted, except occasionally a Chinese man or woman would be found crouching in some hidden corner, expecting to be killed every moment. And, to the disgrace of humanity . . . some of these innocent, unresisting people were shot down like beasts but not by Americans.” British journalist Henry Savage-Landor traveling with the expedition would write “the majority of the “American boys” were “as a rule extremely humane, even at times extravagantly gracious, towards the enemy.” Henry would also claim his countrymen showed more humanity than the other nationalities. Many prisoners were taken, some Qing troops, some Boxers. The Chinese regiment was in charge of prisoners, but the other troops sometimes grabbed prisoners and abused them. Henry wrote of how a Boxer prisoner was dragged away by some French and Japanese troops and shot in the face “The poor devil, who showed amazing tenacity of life, afterwards had all his clothes torn off him, the soldiers being bent on finding the peculiar Boxer charm which all Boxers were supposed to possess. The man lived for another hour with hundreds of soldiers leaning over him to get a glimpse of his agony, and going into roars of laughter as he made ghastly contortions in his delirium.” On August 8th a message came from MacDonald to Generals Gaselee and Chafee. The message was accompanied by a map of Beijing, advising them to enter Beijing through the south gate of the Chinese city, then to advance up the main street, before turning towards the Tartar wall. MacDonald promised they would mark portions of the Tartar wall with American, British and Russian flags to help them. Unfortunately the notes were written in cipher, but the Gaselee force had left the key back in Tientsin. Captain Griffin of the 1st Bengal lancers was given the task of running back to Tientsin to get it deciphered.  The army found themselves halfway to Beijing at the town of Hoshiwu. There they found written plans that the Qing forces sought to flood the countryside and drown them out. Lt COlonel Vaughan of the 7th Rajputs recalled “We found the cutting nearly completed, and the workmen’s tools and baskets lying in it, so precipitately had they fled. However, although the thing didn’t come off, the Chinese general informed his government that he had cut the banks of the Peiho, and inundated the country, drowning 25,000 of the foreigners, at which, he naively concluded, ‘they are much disheartened.’ We read this account of our being drowned some months later in a Chinese paper, and were much amused,”. On August 12th, the allies came across the sealed gates of Tungchow. The Qing garrison fled upon their arrival too which Frederick Brown would write .“As we followed the retreating army, we came across pots, pans, umbrellas, and fans, the necessary paraphernalia of a Chinese army, scattered about in all directions. . . . It seemed, therefore, that there would be no serious stand till Peking should be reached,” The south gate of Tungchow was blown up, allies pouring in and began looting. Gaselee tried to control the men and reassure the local population who were terrified and hiding in their homes. Meanwhile Li Bingheng who had promised to repel the foreigners at the first sign of a battle on August 11th he wrote to Empress Dowager Cixi .“As we followed the retreating army, we came across pots, pans, umbrellas, and fans, the necessary paraphernalia of a Chinese army, scattered about in all directions. . . . It seemed, therefore, that there would be no serious stand till Peking should be reached,” After the fall of Tungchow, Li Bingheng killed himself. On the 12th the commanders held another war council. General Linevitch of the Russians argued they would be too exhausted to perform an assault upon Beijing immediately upon arrival. The other commanders agreed to a three phase operation. Each nations army would send a cavalry reconnaissance on the 13th, followed by the main bodies expected to arrive on the 14th and the general attack would commence on the 15th. The French commander General Frey had just returned to the force with an additional 400 French troops from Tientsin making them 5 national armies. The general attack called for a simultaneous advance with each national contingent aiming for a particularly gate in the eastern wall of Beijing. The Russians took the furthest north position on the right flank; then the Japanese, then the French, then the Americans and last the British on the southern most left flank. Their intelligence reported the Qing were concentrated on the south and southeast portions of the city, thus Gaselee chose to have the British take the most exposed position. The Russians were assigned the Dongzhi gate, Japanese Chaoyang gate, Americans Dongbien gate and the British the Guangqui gate, while the French were simply left out of the planning all together ahaahah. On the evening of the 13th, rumors suddenly emerged that the Russians were breaking the plan and making a wild dash for Beijing. As told to us by Keyes  “A message has just come from the Russians that some Cossacks have pushed on to within a mile and a half of Peking, and the gates are open. I wonder if it is true; if so we are properly left behind.” What actually occurred is unclear, but Russian scouts were well ahead of everyone else on the night of the 13th and sent word that Dongbien, the gate the Americans were to attack, was lightly defended. General Lineivitch sent a vanguard under General Vassilievski with some artillery to secure the approach to Dongbien. Apparently it was Vassilievski who saw an opportunity so instead of waiting he charged with his men over the moat bridge taking the 30 or so Qing defenders by surprise in their outer guardhouse. The Qing tried to raise an alarm but it was too late as the Russian artillery blasted a hole right through the Dongbien and before dawn of the 14th were the first to enter the city. The Russians would soon find themselves in a crossfire however between the courtyard and inner/outer door killing 26 Russians and wounding 102. The survivors would be pinned down for many hours. MacDonald got his men together to raise the Stars and Strips, Union Jack and Imperial eagle of Russia atop the Tartar Walls to signal the advancing allies. Upon seeing this the Qing siege forces went into a frenzy last ditch assault upon the legations. It was to be known as “the three terrible nights”, as Captain Poole wrote “Legation full of danger, up all night, fiercest attack I can remember, let them do their worst.”. The Qing artillery began smashing the Fu palace as Qing riflemen fired upon anyone they could see. In the midst of the chaos a messenger from the Zongli Yamen showed up bearing a note stating “dating from today, neither Chinese nor foreigner would ever again hear the sound of a rifle.” Meanwhile Colonel Shiba was ordering men to bang pots and pans while the Italians shouted and whistled trying to convince the Qing soldiers they were a larger force than they were. MacDonald called up reserves three times trying to rush forces to critical points. Qing rifleman armed with Mannlicher carbines were storming through the Mongol Market with a large modern piece of artillery that was deployed upon a high point on the Imperial cities wall. It was a two inch quick firing Krupp gun which did more damage in 10 minutes than the Qing had done in 5 weeks. The foreigners unleashed their colt machine gun and Maxim gun upon it, but were met back with Mannlichers, Mausers, Jingals and older muskets. Bricks and stones exploded, hand to hand combat erupted. Then suddenly through the chaos, the sound of heavy artillery could be heard coming from the east. A sudden lull began on both sides, until the foreigners in the legations realized it was the relief force outside the city, they were engaging the Qing troops! The news spread from building to building, MacDonald watched as the legation guards all suddenly became alive again, everyone was joyous. They all wondered whose national army would come first. As news spread that the Russians had already stormed the Dongbien gate the race began. The Japanese march turned into a rapid sprint, followed by the Americans. General Gaselee refused to believe the Russians had abandoned the plan but when he himself heard the sounds of artillery hitting Beijings walls, he was livid. At 3:30am on August 14th the British main body was 6 miles outside Beijing. They marched upon Guangqui and General Gaselee had two artillery piece brought up. According to Lt Steel “The battery fired some dozen shots, and the Chinese scuttled, and we burst the door open and were inside.” Keyes took a Union Jack and scaled the wall just right of the gate placing it atop the wall. Keyes had hoped to hop down and open the gate for his comrades, but they busted it open before he could do so. Gaselee dispatched two detachments through the breach to seize the Temples of Heaven and Agriculture as the rest of the main body proceeded westwards to the Tartar Wall. Lt Colonel Vaughan described the scene “Not a Chinaman was to be seen, but the banging of doors was heard, and many of the rings hanging from the door knobs were shaking as we passed, showing that the doors had only just been shut. At last we entered a long and broad street, and while going up it saw hundreds of Chinamen running down the side streets away from us.” The British forces estimated they were lined up with the “Sluice” gate also called the watergate which led to the legations quarter. They turned north as Qing troops fired down upon them from houses, but as noted by Keyes “we saw no troops and there was no real opposition.” As they approached the Tartar wall they came under fire from the outer gate of Hatamen. The Qing were using smokeless powder, making it very difficult to see where shots were coming from. As the British got closer to the legations they saw the American, Russian and British flags atop the Tartar Wall indicating where the Sluice gate was.  Lt Steel described the scene as the men went towards the Sluice gate “we all dashed across the canal, bullets fizzing and spitting all round, a small shell exploding in front of my nose, no harm done.” It’s unclear who exactly was the first man to enter the British legation, but according Mrs Ker, a British diplomats wife “it was a Sikh, an unforgettable sight, naked to the waist, sweating like a pig, hair tumbling on his shoulders. He kept waving his rifle and shouting ‘Oorah!’ . . . and in a bunch, with officers and men, that old darling, General Gaselee, about twenty-five yards behind.” The besieged foreigners were in a daze, shortly before 2pm MacDonald received news that foreign troops were beneath the Tartar Wall opposite of the Sluice gate. MacDonald rushed over just in time to greet General Gaselee. MacDonald led the force to the British Legation. Two hours after the British arrived, General Chaffee and the 14th US infantry arrived who were also quickly brought over to the British legation. The Americans led by the 14th infantry had reached the walls of Beijing only to find the Russians stuck in the Bongdien gate. The Russians had assumed they would strong right into the city, but instead they were being torn to pieces from the wall top riflemen. General Vasilievski was hit in the chest by a Mannlicher as he tried to rally his men on the lower parts of the wall. The main body of Russians only reached his vanguard force at 10am. The Americans proceeded to scale the wall south of Dongbien, taking some of the pressure off the Russians.  A 20 year old bugler, Calvin Titus volunteered to scale the wall first. Unarmed he climbed the wall, earning himself the Congressional Medal of Honor and an appointment at West Point for the action. When he got to the top he signaled the rest to start climbing and by 11am the regimental flag was flying over the walls of Beijing. By 12 US forces were charging Qing soldiers atop the walls around Dongbien. The Americans advanced through the southeast of the Tartar city too which they were embroiled in street fighting. It took hours for them to work their way to the Tartar Wall. When they got through the Sluice gate, they then realized the British had won the race after all. The Japanese encountered stiff resistance at their assigned gate, the Chaoyang. The Qing hit the incoming Japanese with artillery, greatly stalling them. Despite the relief forces getting into the legations, the siege was still raging on. As Lt Steel remarked “everyone was talking and cheering and waving their hats whilst the bullets were flying thick overhead and banging on the roofs all high, no one caring a hang! The Chinese simply went mad when they realized we were in and let off every bally gun they had at random.” Colonel Shiba launched a final attack on the Qing barricades at the Fu, driving off the soldiers. The relief forces went to work clearing snipers out of the Mongol Market who were shocked upon seeing the soldiers, they had no idea Beijing had been breached. As Captain Poole blasted a hole through the Imperial Carriage Park wall and stormed through it with 60 marines he discovered two mines with the powder and fuse lying about. He would later remark “If the troops had come one day or one night later, God only knows what the result would have been!” Upon seeing the British troops enter the Sluice gate, the Qing began lowering banners atop the Tartar wall and withdrew. American and Russian forces surged forward as hundreds of Qing soldiers fled. The British, Russians, Japanese, Americans and French forces went to work securing gates of the city and were actively fighting their way to the imperial court. Lenxo Simpson was at the Hotel de Pekin where he found Russian soldiers getting drunk and openly discussing plans, he had this to say “the Russians had attempted to steal a march . . . on the night of the 13th, in order to force the Eastern gates, and reach the Imperial City and the Empress Dowager before anyone else. That had upset the whole plan of attack, and there had then simply been a mad rush, everyone going as hard as possible, and trusting to Providence to pull them through.” The Russians had managed to enter the legations an hour before the Americans, while the Japanese had the most frustrated time getting in. George Lynch accompanying the Japanese described their attempts to blow the Chaoyang gate “The Japanese engineers went forward one by one until twenty minutes passed and expanded into half an hour. With cheerful and unwavering gallantry these men went forward to blow up that gate, across the open space over the bridge, from which they could be fired on by hundreds of Chinese. The attempt was absolutely hopeless. It was not that there was any wavering amongst them after ten had been shot. . . . But it was a task that the bravest man could not accomplish. Working like marionettes, they fired their guns again and again, but they were of very light caliber—little war dogs, spat their rather impotent projectile against that great mass of centuries-old masonry, they might as well have been firing peashooters”. It took the Japanese until 9pm to blast their way through the wooden doors. They then stormed the city skewering Qing soldiers upon their bayonets until they reached the legation. The French were the last, they only arrived to Beijing a day late because their route went through a marsh. The battle to seize Beijing claimed 66 foreign lives and 150 wounded, simply astonishing when you think about it. The losses to the Qing are unknown, but expected to be quite high. While Beijing was being seized, the work of the 8 nation alliance was not done just yet. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. And so at last the 8 nation alliance had made it to the great walled city of Beijing. The British, Russian, Japanese, American and French stormed Beijing's outer walls to rescue the foreign legations, but what of Empress Dowager Cixi?  

Last time we spoke about the darkest days of the siege of the foreign legation quarters in Beijing. The Hanlin Academy was burnt down taking with it irreplaceable books. The Fu Palace and French Legation were falling to pieces. Colonel Shiba and his men fought for weeks without changing their closes or sleeping more than 3-4 hours. Countless friends and colleagues were dead or wounded, funerals were becoming a daily event. Ammunition was running low, men were running low, medical supplies were running low, everything was running low. Suddenly some messages began to trickle in allegedly from Prince Qing. The Ministers were weary to trust them, but gradually pushed Prince Qing to show the Qing’s good faith by establishing a truce. It seemed the darkest hours were just before the dawn as Prince Qing established a truce on July 17th, and now all wondered, what was next?    #65 The Boxer Rebellion part 5: The Battle for Tientsin   Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. The July 17th truce came at a perfect time, the defenders were exhausted. Food had become so scarce, they had begun sending raiding parties to the Mongol Market, but for most the regular diet consisted of horse, pony, mule meat and rice. Random note, I am from Quebec and we eat horse meat here, typically for tartar, not all the time, but if you go to the grocery store 9/10 its there, apparently this is pretty weird for everyone else in North America, I dunno, a bit on the dry side as meat goes. One thing that was easy to come by was champagne and wine, there was a enormous supply of it in the legation buildings. As Lenox Simpson put it “had it not been for the Monopole, of which there are great stores in the hotel and the club—a thousand cases in all . . . I should have collapsed.” There was a enormous concern for the Chinese Christians in the Fu Palace who were constantly attacked and very isolated. Lenox Simpson investigated them and wrote this “The feeding of our native Christians, an army of nearly two thousand, is still progressing, but babies are dying rapidly, and nothing further can be done. There is only just so much rice, and the men who are doing the heavy coolie work on the fortifications must be fed better than the rest, or else no food at all would be needed. . . . The native children, with hunger gnawing savagely at their stomachs, wander about stripping the trees of their leaves.They had terrible water-swollen stomachs and “pitiful sticks of legs. To the babies we give all the scraps of food we can gather up after our own rough food is eaten, and to see the little disappointed faces when there is nothing is sadder than to watch the wounded being carried in. . . . Thus enclosed in our brickbound lines, each of us is spinning out his fate. The Europeans still have as much food as they need; the Chinese are half starving.” The CHristian Chinese laborers complained about working for the British legation telling supervisors “the work at the British legation is crushing and they don’t feed you enough. And if you do not carry out their orders to the letter, they flog you. . . . Therefore, we don’t want to go there.” The Chinese CHristian laborers preferred working for the non-Christian Japanese and Colonel Shiba even raised a force of Christian Chinese volunteers as riflemen who he trained personally. There were also incidents of Chinese Christian girls being sexually assaulted, particularly by Russian guards whose barricades were close to their girls lodgings. A written notice was erected forbidding anyone to approach the girls lodgings prompting the Russian commander Baron von Rahen to quote “Take off his cap, and assuming a very polite air of doubt and perplexity, he inquired of the lady missionary committee which oversees the welfare of these girls: ‘Pardon, mes dames,’ he said purposely in French, ‘cette affiche est-ce seulement pour les civils ou aussi pour les militaires?’”—“Excuse me, ladies, does this apply only to civilians or also to the military?” Sexual assault was not the only thing going on, apparently the British legation gardens saw people come together each night to make romance.  Over in Taku forces were coming over to help lift the siege of Tientsin. Men of the US 9th infantry came over from the Philippines. Now that the situation looked more land based than naval, Vice Admiral Seymour was sent back to his squadron on July 11th, leaving Brigadier General Dorward in command of British forces, but there was no supreme allied commander. There were tremendous delays as each nations officers argued who should lead and finally it was agreed the Qing held part of Tientsin had to be taken before any talks of marching upon Beijing. A plan was formed to attack the Qing held part of the city beginning on July 13th. They were widely outnumbered, around 6900 to a Qing force of around 30,000, half of which were Boxers. There were 2500 Russians, 2000 Japanese, 900 Americans, 800 British and 600 French. They would be facing the formidable walls of Tientsin, which were 20 feet high and 16 feet thick. Within the city and nearby forts were around 12,000 Qing soldiers well armed with artillery, machine guns and modern rifles.  The French, Americans, British and Japanese were to advance upon the south gate in three columns while the Germans and Russians circled around to hit the east gate. The approach was a flat marshy plain, intersected by canals and lagoons, by no means ideal. Herbert Hoover knew the land quite well and volunteered to guide forces and had this to write of his experience  “We came under sharp fire from the Chinese located on its old walls. We were out in the open plains with little cover except Chinese graves. I was completely scared, especially when some of the Marines next to me were hit. I was unarmed and I could scarcely make my feet move forward. I asked the officer I was with for a rifle and at once I experienced a curious psychological change for I was no longer scared, although I never fired a shot. I can recommend that men carry weapons when they go into battle—it is a great comfort.” Hoover described how the attack was badly coordinated, riddled with miscommunication and ill tempered men. The main force was pinned down in front of the south gate taking fire from the city walls. The allied forces were huddled face down in mud with the American troops standing out like sorethumbs wearing their dark blue uniforms. The Qing wielding Winchesters, Mannlichers and Mausers were exacting terrible casualties upon them. Lt Harry Rotherham of the Royal Welch Fusiliers recalled “the whole of the city wall was lined with Chinese firing through loop-holes and they just fired all day as hard as they could. They also attacked our left flank and we were told off to keep them back, so we were under fire all day from the front and the left flank as well. I never want anything quite so warm again.” Captain David Beatty noted the British forces took a entirely exposed position while the 9th US infantry were extremely exposed to Qing sharpshooters. Their commander, Colonel Emerson Liscum was fatally shot as he was trying to grab the regimental flags from a standard bearer who was falling. His dying words were “keep up the fire, men!” Beatty led a company of British to rush over to help the Americans and gradually they pulled back as it got dark. They had no news on how the Russians were doing with the east gate.  It was to be the Japanese who turned failure into success. General Fukushima Yasumasa who had fought the Chinese during the first sino-Japanese war sent word to some of the other commanders that Qing forces would fight to the death if they were trapped, but if you left an escape route, like two gates open, they would retreat. At 3am the Japanese blew up the south gate, in a scene I can only describe as the one Uruk-hai in the film the Lord of the Rings the Two Towers. The Japanese had been trying to light fuses to explode bombs, but the Qing kept stopping them so one Japanese soldier ran with a short fuse to blow up the gate and was killed by the explosion. He would have made Saruman proud. As told to us by Herbert Hirschinger of the US Marines “The Japanese had been trying to accomplish it for some time, but the Chinks would cut the fuse. In the end a Japanese officer volunteered to light a short fuse. The gate was blown in . . . but the officer went up with the gate. This only goes to show the mettle of which the little fellows are made.” After the breach was made, the Japanese stormed into the city followed by the second battalion, the Royal Welch Fusiliers and Beatty’s men. A bit later that morning  the Russians charged the esat gate on July 9th led by General Anatoly Stessel, General Nie Shicheng personally led a counterattack to try and stop them. An allied artillery shell exploded nearby him, showering him with shrapnel and fatally wounding him. As the Russians broke through the east gate prompting the Qing soldiers to withdraw from the city. French doctor Matignon was irritated to see that although the Japanese did the lionshare of work in the southern sector, the Union Jack was flying side by side with the Rising Sun over the south gate. In his words “trois ou quatre soldats anglais . . . flegmatiquement, fument leur pipe”—“three or four English soldiers . . . calmly smoking their pipes.” Sounds like Merry and Pippin after Isengarde fell, what is with the LOTR references?  Countless Boxers and Qing soldiers slipped away, leaving little fighting over the city. The civilians bore the brunt of what became an orgy of looting and murder. A Chinese eyewitness had this to say “People rushed about in all directions in dread of what was to come next. When someone shouted that the North gate was open and that it was possible to leave by it, the whole city converged on the North Gate. In an instant the press of the crowd was such that one couldn’t move.... The foreigners and Christians . . . fired repeatedly on it [the crowd], each volley resulting in the deaths of several tens of people.... The greater the numbers of people killed, the greater became the numbers of those fighting to escape. . . . Dead from bullets, dead from artillery shells, dead from swords, dead from trampling. It was horrible. . . . The corpses were piled several feet high. After three days of cleaning up, following the foreigners’ entry into the city, the streets still were not clean.” The photographer James Ricalton stormed into the city as well to record what he say.  “a holocaust of human life, lines of homeless, weeping human beings—their homes in ashes, without food, friendless, and, in many cases, their kindred left charred in the ruins of homes. Doors were smashed; shops were entered and plundered; men and women were fleeing, carrying their precious heirlooms—their jewels, their silks, their embroidery, their money. These much-prized valuables were snatched from them, and they dared not protest.” American Marine Harold Kinman recalled “the streets wet and slippery with blood” while a British sailor described “brains strewn over the streets and dead Chinese pinned to the walls by Japanese swords and bayonets”. Many of the accounts place atrocities upon the Russians and Japanese. But soldiers from each nation took part in the orgy and there are many photographs for those with the stomachs to google them,  On July 15th, in an attempt to stop the looting, the British put up pickets with orders to not allow anyone to get past except for the French whose authorities had not agreed to suppress looting, haha. So as a result many British just pretended to be French, apparently doing bad french singing impressions to get by and spoke terrible French phrases to another. Notably British civilians took part in this as they knew which houses and shops had the best goods. It was to be the bloodiest battle for the 8 nation alliance during the Boxer rebellion. 250 allied soldiers had died with 500 wounded. Of this the Japanese paid the most with 320 casualties, the Russians and Germans around 140, the Americans 25 dead, 98 wounded, the British 17 dead, 87 wounded and the French 13 dead with 50 wounded. There was no official calculation of the losses for the Boxers and Qing forces, but it was expected to be very heavy. I think for you long time listeners you can see a distinct difference now from our Opium Wars days to the turn of the 20th century. Warfare had changed considerably, casualties were much higher now, something that would be proved to a horrifying extent during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, or as many like to call it World War Zero. Tientsin was now being secured as a launching point for the future advance upon Beijing. Back over in Beijing, the foreign community found it surreal after the July 17th truce was announced. The sudden silence of guns was more disconcerting than comforting, some even found it difficult to sleep. The Qing war banners were brought down and white flags were hoisted all around in their place. Countless Qing soldiers began peering over walls and barricades to look at the legations. Likewise the defenders looked out into the desolate landscape around them, corpses were everywhere, dogs were picking at them. As everyone's confidence built up some Qing soldiers went over to the defenders positions and began fraternizing with the foreigners. Many began to talk to the foreigners, giving them news the Taku Forts and Tientsin had fallen to the allied nations and that General Dong Fuxiangs Kansu army and many Boxers were now performing offensives between Tientsin and Beijing. Many of the Qing troops who came forward explained they did not want to be part of the battle, but were being were being coerced into it. The foreigners were beginning to suspect the truce had been made because of the Qing losses at the Taku forts and Tientsin, perhaps a relief force was already on its way.  Within the Qing court, the loss at Tientsin had proved the progressive and moderates right that joining the Boxers was a doomed cause. This was a view shared by most of the governors and viceroys in the southern and eastern provinces who were actively holding their troops back, not daring to attack foreigners. Going back to early June when edicts were being made declaring war, most viceroys and governors ignored it and refused to send troops. In fact, the foreign community had no idea, but their most valuable allies were amongst the Qing high command. The Manchu General Ronglu, whom Empress Dowager Cixi appointed as Imperial Commissioner in command of the Wuwei Corps consisting of the 5 most modern armies led by Nie Shicheng, Dong Fuxiang, Song Qing, Yuan Shikai and Ronglu himself was helping the foreigners! When the Boxer rebellion broke out, Prince Duan was pressuring Dong Fuxiang and his Kansu Army to seize the foreign legations. It was Ronglu who behind the scenes was sand bagging the entire situation. At first he tried to countermand orders to Dong Fuxiang, trying to stop him from attacking the foreign legations, but that gradually failed when Prince Duan began ordering anyone hampering the war effort to be arrested or killed. Then when Dong Fuxiang requested artillery to breach the legation defenses, Ronglu began blocking the transfer of artillery pieces and constantly made up excuses. Ronglu and Prince Qing coordinated efforts to sneak some food into the legations and even used their most loyal Manchu bannermen to perform minor attacks on the Kansu army and Boxers who were besieging the foreigners. Ronglu also withheld orders that were to be sent to General Nie Shicheng in Tientsin, telling him they were at war with the foreigners, so for the majority of the time Nie Shicheng had thousands of his men still fighting the Boxers! Seymour getting past Nie Shicheng and the Tientsin settlement surviving as long as it did was specifically because of this action. Ronglu even tossed blame for inaction all upon Nie Shicheng, who luckily for Ronglu ended up dying before he could explain what had occurred. During the siege of the legations the major reason so many riflemen were aiming so high was because of Ronglu countermanning orders. As Dong Fuxiang would order the men to kill the foreigners, Ronglu continuously ordered men to just make it seem like they were helping the siege but not to kill the foreigners.  Yes one can argue the MVP of the 8 nation alliance was Qing Generals like Ronglu or Prince Qing.  The foreigners knew none of this, but they would received enormous intelligence on July 18th from one of Colonel Shiba’s messengers who went over to Tientsin and returned confirming it was in allied hands. The messenger also told them a force of 11,000 British, Russian, Japanese, American and French would begin a march upon Beijing, starting on the 20th. MacDonald then invited a nearby Kansu officer to parley with him and the man reluctantly acquiesced. The men shared cigars and spoke using an interpreter. The officer asked MacDonald who the men wearing the big funny hats were and MacDonald explained they were American marines. The officer shrugged and stated his men were afraid of them because they were good shots. The officer then explained his superior was not Dong Fuxiang, but General Ronglu who had overall command. He also stated Ronglu wished the fighting to stop. MacDonald was puzzled by this and explained the fighting was never started by the foreigners. The officer was puzzled by that statement and said perhaps he should write to Ronglu to explain his views. Both men shook hands and departed. MacDonald before departing the wall took one last look at the scenery and described the situation “I could see the enemy’s positions stretching away to the north until they disappeared in the direction of the Imperial City. There were barricades in the streets below the wall; a large temple was loopholed and . . . full of men; more men were amongst the ruins west of the Russian Legation and a species of mound which commanded this Legation and the Mongol Market was gay with the uniforms of hundreds of Imperial infantry. Following the line west of the Mongol Market, the tops of the houses carried nests of these bright-coated soldiery; altogether from my position I saw some 1,500 to 2,000 men, and many more must have been hidden behind the walls and ruined houses.” MacDonald wrote to Ronglu proposing rules of conduct going forward. He promised the foreigner forces would only fire if being attacked, except in the case of seeing Qing forces building barricades closer to them. Any unarmed persons who approached the legation defenses could do so safely but only two men at a time. MacDonald gave the letter to the officer he had talked to who delivered it to Ronglu. The very next day Ronglu sent a man carrying a flag of truce who came over to officially accept the proposals. However there was a catch. The man explained this would be on behalf of the forces loyal to Ronglu and Prince Qing, they were commanding the south and eastern portions of the siege, but Dong Fuxiang’s troops held the north and west. In fact the officials explained the officer whom MacDonald had spoken to was one of the very few Kansu soldiers who was willing to follow commands from Ronglu, Dong Fuxiang was quite the renegade. It became clear after a few days the word truce was a bit of a misnomer, it was more of a half armistice. Some Qing were still mining close to the Hanlin and various barricade forces continued to fire upon the legations. Some Qing soldiers east of the Fu Palace began using a dog to send communications to the Japanese as noted by their officers “One day a large dog trotted into the Japanese barricade with a note tied round its neck; this was from the Chinese general commanding in that quarter pointing out the futility of further defense and recommending unconditional surrender. A reply, declining the suggestion in somewhat forcible terms, was tied on the dog’s neck, with which it trotted back, this was repeated several times, the dog seeming to enjoy the fun, the advisability of surrender being urged with greater insistence each time, the answers varied only in the strength of their language.” Some Qing troops began offering fruit, vegetables and chickens to the foreigners, bargaining for money. The Japanese even were able to barter for rifles and ammunition from some Qing soldiers. The Zongli Yamen began sending gifts of fruit, vegetables, even ice to the besieged, all in the name of Emperor Guangxu. Many worried the food was poisoned so they first gave it to a dog. A constant stream of letters began to go back and forth between the foreigners, Prince Qing and other moderate Qing officials. The recurring theme on behalf of the Qing was that the foreigners needed to depart Beijing and that the Zongli Yamen would provide protection to Tientsin. This was constantly ignored. The Qing government also began mediating on behalf of the ministers and their governments, ferrying messages back and forth. On July 28th, the foreigners received word from the Shandong youth who had been sent out to Tientsin. He sent a letter back to them stating this “Your letter 4 July. There are now 24,000 troops landed, and 19,000 here. General Gaselee expected Ta-ku to-morrow. Russian troops are at Peitsang. Tientsin city is under foreign government and ‘Boxer’ power here is exploded. There are plenty of troops on the way if you can keep yourselves in food. Almost all the ladies have left Tientsin.” On August the 1st, another letter arrived dated from July 26th addressed to the Japanese Minister Baron Nishi. It officially stated troops were on their way, but they were delayed because of the railway damage, but their vanguard should arrive in two to three days. The foreigners checked their food stores noting they had 600 lbs of white rice, 11,5000 lbs of yellow rice and 34,000 pds of wheat left. They estimated it would last them 5 more weeks of siege alongside the 30 ponies they had left…poor ponies. Nigel Oliphant also noted “cigars and tobacco are running out, which is more serious to some of us than want of food.” The condition of the Christian Chinese at the Fu was horrible. As written in the diary of Lenox Simpson on July 24th “the miserable natives imprisoned by our warfare are in a terrible state of starvation. Their bones are cracking through their skin; their eyes have an insane look; yet nothing is being done for them. They are afraid to attempt escape even in this quiet, as the Water Gate is watched on the outside night and day by Chinese sharpshooters....Tortured by the sight of these starving wretches, who moan and mutter night and day, the posts nearby shoot down dogs and crows and drag them there. They say everything is devoured raw with cannibal-like cries.” I should note, while you hear sympathies from some accounts by the foreigners in regards to the Christian Chinese, by no means were they distributing out food equally amongst them. As you can only imagine with the 19th century attitudes, the Chinese were treated like subhumans. After a few days it seemed the half armistice was fading away. The Qing were constructing a large barricade across the north bridge which the foreigners began to use the International gun against. Qing sharpshooters took up positions to thwart the men using the international gun. The barricade reached 6 feet high over the length of the bridge. The foreigners reacted by building their own barricade over the south bridge securing communications between the British and the other legations. All the while the Zongli Yamen was sending reassurances and advising the foreign community to take their offer to depart under their protection. By August the 4th, there was still no sign of a relief force and the truce was certainly all but over as artillery were pounding the legations heavily. Back on July 26th, the former governor of Shandong, Li Bingheng had come to Beijing and began pressuring the Boxers and Qing to ramp up the siege efforts. Empress Dowager Cixi favored Li Bingheng and gave him the rare honor of riding within the forbidden city before the received the promotion to Deputy commander of the Northern armies. Two days after he showed up, two moderate Qing officials were executed as traitors for criticizing the Boxers and advocating to lift the siege. Three other moderate officials would follow days later in what was becoming a purge within the court. More Boxers began to flood Beijing, cowing the surviving moderates into submission. A very nervous Prince Qing wrote to some southern viceroys and governors who all agreed the Boxers needed to be suppressed, but Prince Qing did not dare publicly give the order. When Vice Admiral Seymour  was rescued from his rescue attempt he sent word to the British admiralty that at least 40,000 troops would be needed to lift the siege at Beijing. The other nations such as American thought it should be 80,000, Japan estimated 70,000. But the logistics of mounting an international rescue became difficult quickly. Not all the great powers involved could afford to muster troops at this time, hell America was fighting a war in the Philippines; Britain was fighting the Boer war; the French were fighting in IndoChina and the Russias had a full on war in Manchuria, that we will tackle later. Japan was one of the few nations free and quite able to send a large force, so the other nations appealed to Japan who agreed to send an additional 20,000 men to Tientsin. Then there was the issue of a supreme allied commander. Kaiser Wilhelm, as usual sought to grab the reigns for Germany and used von Ketteler’s murder as justification. Kaiser Wilhelm nominated Field Marshal Count von Waldersee whom would go on to say of the appointment “a Japanese Supreme Command, no less than an American, was out of the question from the start. The French had not made any effort to get the Supreme Command, leaving only Russia and Britain as Germany’s rivals. But, neither would concede it to the other, and, moreover, no one favored England, as the reputation of the English Generalship had suffered a set-back in the Boer War.” The Kaiser persuaded Russia and Japan to back his nominee and everyone abided by the decision. Von Waldersee was set to depart for China on August 18th. Meanwhile in Berlin, the Kaiser gave a speech, tossing away the prepared text for his own words “You must know, my men, that you are about to meet a crafty, well-armed foe! Meet him and beat him! Give no quarter! Take no prisoners! Kill him when he falls into your hands! Even as, a thousand years ago, the Huns under their King Attila made such a name for themselves as still resounds in terror through legend and fable, so may the name of Germany resound through Chinese history . . . that never again will a Chinese dare to so much as look askance at a German.” Ironic he made the link about the Huns and Attila haha. By the end of July, 25,000 men were at Taku and Tientsin with a lot more on the way. Britain was calling up forces from India, America from the Philippines. Tientsin was swimming with foreign troops, so much so, Doctors began vaccinating their men against smallpox. Tensions were mounting, as most of these nations were in proxy wars with another. The Russians and Japanese particularly did not like each other.  Then on July 27th, as quite a cheeky maneuver, the British commander in chief General Gaselee, began to argue there was a need for quick action. He was met by resistance from the French and Russians who cautioned delay, but Gaselee argued “The rainy season will set in in a few day and the whole place will be under water.” Gaselee determined to take control of the situation suddenly told the other leaders Britain would go it alone if necessary. The Americans backed him thus forcing the hand of the others, for none of the other great powers wanted to see Britain and America steal the glory. It was agreed they would all march on August 5th as an international relief force and they would be quite a sight to behold as told to us by US Marine officer Smedley Butler :“French Zouaves in red and blue, blond Germans in pointy helmets, Italian Bersaglieri with tossing plumes, Bengal cavalry on Arabian stallions, turbaned Sikhs, Japanese, Russians, English. we are going to fight the greatest battle at Pekin that has been fought for one hundred years.” I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. The Qing were at war with 8 different great powers and even amongst themselves in many ways. The Taku forts had fallen, Tientsin had fallen and now the 8 nation alliance was going to march upon Beijing, by all means it was time to toss in the towel wasn't it?  

Last time we spoke about the battle of the Taku Forts and the siege of Tientsin. The allied admirals gave an ultimatum to the Qing to hand over the Taku Forts, which they declined. The western navies attacked the Taku Forts officially beginning a war with the Qing dynasty. The seizure of the Taku Forts led the Qing to fully support the Boxers who raised a siege against the foreign legations in Beijing and the foreign settlement in Tientsin. The foreign community at Tientsin found themselves surrounded by 30,000 Boxers and 15,000 Qing with only 2400 troops of various nationalities to defend them. The siege was grueling and the Chinese forces nearly overran them, but the allies were able to hold out until reinforcements arrived from Taku. Despite receiving extra troops and restoring communications to Taku, the allies were still greatly outnumbered and now those in Beijing were in more severe danger.    #64 The Boxer Rebellion part 4:Darkest Days before the Dawn in Peking   Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. Much of China’s national library, the Hanlin Academy and other buildings had been burnt down by the Boxers. The firefighter teams did their best to stop the fires, which threatened to spread towards the British legation. Countless, irreplaceable books had perished in the fires. Within the legation quarters, they all awaited Seymours rescue force eagerly, none knowing the truth that he had been forced to withdraw. On June 24th, Qing forces deployed a 3 inch krupp gun on the charred Chien Men, the gate opposite of the Forbidden city. They began firing shells into the legation quarters, some managing to hit the British legation. Then the Chinese turned their attention to the Fu Palace being guarded by Lt Colonel Goro Shiba with a small force of Japanese soldiers. A part of the Fu’s walls was breached allowed Boxers and Qing soldiers to swarm in. They were met with Japanese riflemen behind loopholed barricades who unleashed volleys upon them. The Japanese were vastly outnumbered, prompting Colonel Shiba to request urgent reinforcements as the Christian Chinese began fleeing the Fu in panic. The fleeing Christian Chinese soon realized it was even more dangerous outside the Fu than in and quickly scrambled back. A detachment of Americans and Germans dashed along the Tartar Wall behind their legations, scattering the enemy before them back towards the Cheinmen as they made their way to help the Japanese at the FU. The Americans under the command of Captain John T. Myers with aid from Christian Chinese managed to build a breastwork across the width of the wall while the Germans built their own fortification. There positions were 500 yards apart, a critical defense to deny the enemy access to the Tartar Wall. Just yards in front of them were Chinese barricades. Boxer corpses lay in heaps with the hot sun just feet away from most of the legation defensive lines. The stench was putrefying, gangs of Chinese laborers would risk their lives tossing corpses over walls when they could. During the evening of the 25th, as the sun was dying down, British author Bertram Lenox Simpson recalled this “The sun . . . was sinking down slowly towards the west, flooding the pink walls of the Imperial City with a golden light and softening the black outline of the somber Tartar Wall that towers so high above us, when all round our battered lines the dropping rifle-fire drooped more and more until single shots alone punctuated the silence.... All of us listened attentively, and presently on all sides the fierce music of the long Chinese trumpets blared out uproariously—blare, blare, sobbing on a high note tremulously, and then, boom, boom, suddenly dropping to a thrilling basso profondissimo.” Gunfire suddenly ceased and created an eerie silence. The foreign troops watched with suspicion from their barricades as the Chinese departed their barricades. A giant white placard then appeared on the north bridge. It was an imperial edict announcing “in accordance with Imperial orders to protect the foreign ministers, firing shall be stopped at once”. The placard also stated a dispatch should be delivered to the Imperial canal bridge, so the defenders sent one extremely nervous Chinese laborer with a written note over. The man was so scared, when the Qing troops began chanting at him, he simply bolted back. The foreigner community were baffled, why was there now a ceasefire? Was it some sort of hoax? Was Seymours force here? Some felt safe enough to go atop the walls and look out into the city. Lenox Simpson was one of them who had this to say of the scenery. “Just outside the Palace gates were crowds of Manchu and Chinese soldiery—infantry, cavalry, and gunners grouped all together in one vast mass of color. Never in my life have I seen such a wonderful panorama—such a brilliant blaze in such rude and barbaric surroundings. There were jackets and tunics of every color; trouserings of blood-red embroidered with black dragons; great two-handed swords in some hands; men armed with bows and arrows mixing with Tung Fuhsiang’s Kansu horsemen, who had the most modern carbines slung across their backs. There were blue banners, yellow banners embroidered with black, white, and red flags, both triangular and square, all presented in a jumble to our wondering eyes. The Kansu soldiery of Tung Fu-hsiang’s command were easy to pick out from amongst the milder-looking Peking Banner troops . . . but of Boxers there was not a sign.”The foreigners looked on to see the Chinese were busily fortifying their positions, at midnight the firing resumed. Meanwhile the Qing Court had been tossing out quite a few imperial edicts as the conflict escalated. On the 21st of June an imperial edict told the Chinese “with tears have we announced in our ancestral shrines the outbreak of war”. This edict wa accompanied by some words describing the Boxers as patriotic soldiers and that they were being incorporated into the militia’s and rewarded for their bravery with silver and food. On the 23rd another decree “ the work now undertaken in Peking by Dong Fuxiang should be completed as soon as possible, so that troops can be spared and sent to Tientsin for defense” It should be noted the word used for “work” “shih” was intentionally vague and a euphemism for a swift massacre, obviously of the foreigners. No one in the foreign legations were aware of these edicts, nor did they know of the plight of their comrades outside Beijing. The one thing the foreigners know in the legation quarter was that they did not just face Boxers, it was obvious to all that the Qing government was now helping them. On June 29th a message from the legations managed to sneak out via a Chinese courier. He slipped out all the way to Tientsin with two messages in hand. The first was from Sirt Robert Hart “Foreign community besieged in the legations. Situation desperate. MAKE HASTE!” The second was from a missionary, telling the tale of what happened to Von Ketteler. The allied admirals were in despair for they all knew Seymours mission had failed and Tientsin was again under siege. The first child born inside the legation quarter since the conflict began was named Siege in the hopes he might actually be raised. Over five Qing armies were now in Beijing increasing the ferocity of the attacks on the legations. The foreigners estimated that on a single night over 200,000 bullets were fired at them by riflemen, but what baffled them all was why the riflemen aimed so high? Casualties should have been massively worse than they were. Some began to theorize the Qing were keeping up a barrage to force them to surrender or flee. By July 3rd 38 legation troops had been killed with 55 wounded. Every window was bricked up to protect occupants from bullets and shrapnel. Doctors and nurses struggled to keep pace with the number of operations. They had no X-rays to help find shrapnel or bullets in patients making it gruesome work. Several ministers' wives were working as nurses, everyone was trying their best to survive. Dysentery was becoming rampant. As bad as things seemed for the foreigners, it was terribly much worse for the Chinese Christians at the Fu. On July 1st, British civilian Nigel Oliphant wrote this in his diary  “the Chinese Christians were dying like sheep from smallpox, we do not reckon Chinese converts in our casualty lists and that he could not therefore be more precise. Morrison went to inspect the Fu, where the Chinese refugees were crowded like bugs in a rug, and was appalled. His doctor’s sensibilities were outraged by conditions that were stinking and insanitary . . . children ill with scarlet fever and small-pox, with diptheria [sic] and dysentery.” MacDonald was directing the defensive efforts as the Boxers and Qing assaulted their barricades. Gaps were continuously being made and plugged up. On June 30th, another major attack was directed at the Fu. The 3 inch Krupp gun was battering the Fu’s walls prompting the commander of the Italian forces supported the Japanese, Lt Paolini to led a brave sortie against it. Captain Poole had this to say of Paolini’s sortie ‘Paolini appeared to have lost his head and taken the wrong turnings.” Yes the poor Italian Lt had led his small party through some alleyways and it seems they got a bit lost. They also ran into Qing forces who fired upon them, Paolini was hit. They desperately tried to escape, finding a small gap between a wall and the Fu. The most desperate fight would be for the Tartar Wall, which if it fell, all hope was lost. On July 1st, Qing soldiers were spotted creeping up the ramp to its top. The Qing surprised the German barricade who according to Nigel Oliphant “fled before the Chinese had fired a single shot, and without having had a man even wounded” The flight of the Germans left the American barricade 500 yards away exposed. This prompted the Americans to pull back, the situation was extremely dire. MacDonald called for a war council and it was decided a mixed force of British, Russian and Americans would storm back up the wall to reoccupy the American position. Fortunately for the foreigners, the Qing had not pressed home their advantage to bolster the barricades. On July 3rd the men gathered under a bell tower and Captain John T Myers who would lead the assault made a speech as told to us by Nigel Oliphant. ““because it was so utterly unlike what a British officer would have said under similar circumstances. He began by saying that we were about to embark on a desperate enterprise, that he himself had advised against it, but that orders had been given, and we must do it or lose every man in the attempt. He then explained what we had to do—viz. line up on the wall and rush the covering wall . . . then follow up that covering wall till we got to the back of the Chinese barricade. He ended up by saying that . . . if there was anyone whose heart was not in the business he had better say so and clear out. One man said he had a sore arm and went down—not one of ours, I am glad to say.” At 2:00am on July 3rd, the mixed force of 26 British, 15 American and 15 Russians stormed up the Tartar Wall led by Captain Myer’s. The Americans were hollaring like natives from their homeland as they they caught 20 Qing soldiers sleeping who they butchered and sent survivors fleeing in panic. Two American marines were killed and Captain Myers tripped over a spear wounding himself in the thigh,  but the wall was recaptured. Retaking the wall was the key pivotal moment of the fight. For the rest of the siege the barricade atop the Tartar wall was nicknamed Fort Myers. It was a fitting action to be a prelude to the American celebration of July 4th the next day. The American marines celebrated the 4th with som well earned drinks atop the Tartar wall, must of been hella awkward for the Brits.  Meanwhile Colonel Shiba was struggling to keep the assaults upon the Fu at bay. By late June nearly a third of the Fu had to be abandoned forcing the Japanese to pull back to their second line of defense. All the other nations forces agreed, Colonel Shiba was an outstanding commander and led his small but efficient force to their admiration. Late June brought in some rainstorms that made everyones guard life hell. Many of the Chinese beleived thunder and lighting was a signal from their gods. Temperatures reached 43 degrees, in freedom units thats 110. Black flies were everywhere because of the corpses. The men began smoking cigars from morning till night to overcome the stench and bugs, even the women began chain smoking cigarettes. The situation was becoming worse and worse, taking a toll on everyone. Apparently the French Minister Pichon began pacing around telling everyone who was near him ‘La situation est excessivement grave; nous allons tous mourir ce soir.’ [“The situation is exceedingly grave; we are all going to die tonight.” I can be quite annoying with my french, if any francophones listen to this podcast I am actually releasing a episode in french on my youtube channel about France’s role during the Pacific War and you will be happy to know I got my wife to narrate it instead of my anglophone accent self.  By the way apparently by this point most of the ministers were doing pretty much nothing to aid the situation. As one of my sources put it, the Russian Minister de Giers took walks between his legation and the British making himself look like he was working. The Spanish minister Senor Cologan was extremely ill. The Dutch Minister Knobel offered his services as a sentry, but also acknowledged he did not know not know how to fire a gun and was extremely shortsighted. The American Minister Conger just walked about, taking a cue from his Russian counterpart. The Japanese minister Baron Nishi, kept silent as he spoke only Japanese and Russian, and the Japanese and Russians were certainly not friends. The German minister, Von Below went into his legation and began playing Wagners Ride of the Valkyries on the Piano, apparently he was determined to die in a storm of music. Thus MacDonald had his hands full and had this to say of his colleagues “The Russian Minister asks, twice, that the British should remove a sandbag barricade which is blocking his withdrawal route to the British Legation. . . . Sir Claude replied that he is being heavily attacked from the north and can spare no men for this duty. ‘Indeed I may have to call upon you and Mr. Conger for help to repulse this attack—so please have some men ready.’ . . . Mr. Conger’s comment is: ‘We are having the heaviest attack we have ever had here and every man is engaged.’ . . . At 2:30 P.M. Sir Claude writes again: ‘It is absolutely essential that the Fu should be held at all hazards. I hope therefore you will order over as many men as possible.’ . . . The Russian Minister complies: ‘I am sending you my last ten men, but I must have them back as soon as you no longer need them.’” Being the middle man to all was certainly not the best logistical setup.  At one point the Chinese turned their 3 inch Krupp gun upon the Union Jack flying over the British legation’s gateway. Three shells hit the gateway and one went over hitting the tennis court. It was decided the flag was too provocative and MacDonald had it hauled down. Luckily for British pride, the Chinese turned their attention to other targets, thus Mcdonald canceled the order to haul it down. Aside from mediating between all the other nations, MacDonald was greatly frustrated by the lack of news from outside the legations. A young Chinese boy from Shandong province volunteered to carry a message out on July 4th. The message was directed to the British consul in Tientsin and was put inside a rice bowl filled with rice. The little boy was the first messenger to reach Tientsin since late June, he got there on July 21st after a hard and long journey.  Meanwhile casualties were piling up, the French consul general in Shanghai’s son was shot dead during an attack against the French legation on July 1st. On July 5th David Oliphant if the british consular service and brother to Nigel was shot while trying to cut down a tree in the Hanlin. David died of his wound and would be buried shortly after. On the 8th Austrian captain von Thomann, the chaos maker, was hit by a shell burst that took him in the chest killing him instantly. Funerals were becoming a daily thing whenever the enemy let up their attacks. By early July the shelling began to concentrate upon the French legation. To make matters worse there were rumors the Qing were sapping mines towards the French legation. Two Qing were then caught and interrogated by Paul Pelliot an archeologist and member of the French volunteer corps who recounted “We killed two prisoners with rifle shots and with bayonets. One said little of significance . . . the other revealed without being asked the existence of a mine being dug in the East.” The Qing began aiming 4 and 8 pound guns at the British Legation, some shot piercing its walls.  After the first week of July, the defenders were in despair finding the ammunition running low. They had 14 shells left for the Italian one pound artillery piece that had been deployed all over the legation. In desperation a munitions expert from the HMS Orlando began melting down pewter vessels, teapots, candlesticks, vases and such to make conical shot fitted with old copper shell casings. The defenders also began filling fireworks with nails and scrap iron, pretty innovative stuff if you ask me. By this point the Qing had only brought to bear 10 artillery pieces into the siege and they were antiquated at that. They most definitely had larger and more modern pieces, but they were not deploying them, puzzling the defenders. Some of the foreigners questioned the Qing gunnery as well, it was as if their riflemen were all at Tientsin and the Beijing troops were all novices. Many of the Qing were able to fire on the outer walls of the Fu at point blank range, but they were not hitting anyone. The Qin barricades were getting closer and closer and the defenders could physically see them mining. On July 7th the defenders came across a rusty old muzzle gun which looked like it came from the 2nd opium war, most likely it was just an old Qing iron cannon. To everyone's surprise it still worked and a American gunner, Sergeant Mitchell cleaned it up and outfitted some Russian shells to it which fired! The new gun was not very accurate, had terrible recoil and made a ton of black smoke when it was shot. But it was another artillery piece and could fire upon the Qing barricades to great effect. Allegedly, Empress Dowager Cixi would go on the record stating to a minister that the cannon was so noisy it kept her awake during her afternoon naps. The rickety old cannon was nicknamed “the international’.  Meanwhile over in Tientsin, Boxers were continuing to terrorize the Chinese Christians and any unfortunate Chinese who had connections to foreigners. The river nearby was said to be clogged with mutilated bodies and human limbs. In early July a photographer named James Ricalton was sent to China to record the Boxer uprising and he had this to say of his travels over to Tientsin “Many mud villages were passed . . . from most of which the inhabitants had fled back into the country. We were constantly passing dead bodies floating down, and on either bank of the river, at every turn, hungry dogs from the deserted villages could be seen tearing at the swollen corpses left on the banks by the ebb tide. It was forty miles of country laid waste, deserted homes, burned villages, along a river polluted and malodorous with human putrefaction.” When Ricalton made it to Tientsin on July 5th he saw buildings in shambles, barricades, smoke and corpses floating in the river. The Qing continued their bombardment of the foreign settlement at Tientsin and snipers made pot shots all day long. The reinforcements from Taku had reached Tientsin on June 23rd, but they were not nearly enough to lift the siege. The Qing were firing 3 and 4 inch quick firing guns from within the Chinese part of the city. Casualties were mounting to around 20 a day. The foreigners stuck within the siege heard rumors that there was conflict between the force of Nie Shicheng and the Boxers, apparently they were not a united front. According to one reporter, Nie Shicheng had deliberately put himself in danger because he believed the orders coming from the Qing Court were impossible to fulfill. Vice Admiral Seymour was no longer in command at Tientsin and a lot of disorderly conduct would be found. Take for example one instance where some French sentries left their position, exposing the position of some nearby British Indian Sikh guards. Herbert Hoover had this to say about what they did “Not knowing what it meant for other than traitors to run under attack without orders, the Sikhs set about exterminating the squad of Frenchmen, which only the most frantic commands of the English officers prevented.”  With the arrival of over 10,000 reinforcements to Tientsin from Taku people were breathing easier, but these were by far not crack troops, many were sailors. The new forces managed to seize two Qing arsenals nearby Tientsin aiding their situation significantly. But all knew their job was to lift the siege and lift it quickly for their comrades in Beijing were in much more peril. By July 9th, with Seymours rescue party still not in sight, the foreigners in Beijing began to doubt it was still coming. In fact that very day a Christian Chinese messenger was sent into the city and returned with some bad news. He told them all Emperor Guangxu and Empress Dowager Cixi were still in the capital and that nothing was known about approaching foreign forces. Everyone fell into despair. Also on that day the British government sent a warning to the Qing envoy in London that his government would be held personally guilty for any damage to the foreigners in Beijing. July the 13th, which yes was a Friday, was a truly grim day for those under siege in Beijing. As dawn rose, the Fu Palace was met with shell fire from the Krupp gun. The Japanese and Italian guards were dodging a hailstorm of shells and shrapnel. The buildings all around were burning and collapsing. Colonel Shiba was forced to order a retreat, he had originally set up 9 lines of defense, but they had fallen back to the last one. No one could blame him, he had led his men fanatically. Captain Poole went on the record to say “I put Colonel Shiba . . . on a golden pedestal for endurance and perseverance.” At 4pm, the Qing attacked from all sides. The alarm bell went off as MacDonald frantically gave our orders for men to dash to the most vulnerable positions. MacDonald was about to order the Russian marines over to the Fu when he received word from Colonel Shiba that he had regained his hold over it again. It was at that exact moment the German second secretary Von Bergen screamed the German Legation was nearly overrun. The Russian marines rush over in the nick of time to meet some Kansu troops charging in. The Russian and Germans led by Lt Von Soden counter charged with bayonets driving them off in melee combat. Then as evening was coming up them a tremendous explosion was heard and the earth around them shook. Two mines had been exploded under the French Legation. The blast completely destroyed the second secretaries house and the ministers house and killed two French sailors as they collapsed. But it would be the Qing who suffered the most, as they had misjudged the force of the blast. The foreigners would watch throughout the night as they were frantically digging the tunnels out trying to save countless who got buried alive. Qing carts carried away perhaps 30 bodies from the crater. With the legation so battered, many predicted the French would be forced to pull back to the Hotel de Pekin.  In the meantime in the Hanlin area, Captain Poole led a small group through some broken down walls to take up a position in the ruined library. The men grabbed bricks and sand bags to create new defensive positions. They were so close to the Qing soldiers, they could hear them complaining to another about terrible rice rations. Although there was no breakthrough and many Qing had died in the blast, the French Legation and Fu Palace had shrunk considerably, 5 men were dead and 10 wounded. The most important position, the Tartar Wall had Captain Newt Hall replacing the wounded Captain Myers to command the US Marines. The Marines were all suffering from diarrhea and drank far too much.  On July 14th, a Chinese messenger who had been sent out on the 10th returned. He had been captured by the Boxers and beaten quite badly, before he was grabbed by some Qing forces working on behalf of Prince Qing. They helped him recover and Prince Qing gave him a message that blamed the attacks on the legations actions and that of the foreign soldiers at Taku. It advised any ministers alive to come take the protection of the Zongli Yamen, promising them safe conduct as long as they did not bring armed guards to accompany them. As you can imagine the message was not trusted one bit. However two days later the French took a Qing soldier prisoner and he told them there was conflict between Prince Duan and Prince Qing. This led some to think perhaps Prince Qing could be trusted. MacDonald sent out a messenger to tell the Zongli Yamen that they would not stop defending themselves and if they wanted to negotiate, they should send a official with a white flag.  While they waited for a response, Colonel Shiba sent word that all his sailors and volunteers were exhausted. They had been on duty since June 20th and not a single man had even changed his clothes, nor any had taken more than 3-4 hours of consecutive sleep. Shiba asked that his men be taken off duty for 24 hours to recuperate and if the British could sent help. MacDonald could only agree as all knew the Japanese had fought like lions for weeks. On July 16th, Captain Strouts led a relief party to the Fu, accompanied by George Morrison who recalled a traumatic event “we were caught in a shower of bullets. I . . . felt a cut in my right thigh. At the same moment, ‘My God,’ said Strouts, and he fell over into the arms of Shiba, who was on his left. Shiba ran for a surgeon while I tried to apply a tourniquet but it was no good. The thighbone was shattered and Strouts’s body was “soaking in blood.” Both myself and Strouts were carried by stretcher to the hospital, under such heavy fire that a bullet passed through Shiba’s coat. It was immediately obvious that nothing could be done for Strouts, who had a severed artery in his thigh. He died three hours later”. Captain Wray replaced Strouts to command the British Marines taking up the Fu position. MacDonald figured by the end of July, there would be nobody left to oppose Dong Fuxiangs forces from storming in and killing men, women and children all. The night they were burying Strouts, the messenger they had sent to the Zongli Yamen was returning with a letter. The message was stated to be from Prince Qing “and others”. It begged the ministers to refrain from attacking the Qing soldiers and promised their government would “continue to exert all its efforts to keep order and give protection”. The messenger also carried a cipher telegram for Conger the official from the United States. It read “communicate tidings bearer” it had no date and no indication of who it was from, but it was the first communication received from the outside world since mid june. Conger wrote a cipher response stating “For one month we have been besieged in British Legation under continued shot and shell from Chinese soldiers. Quick relief only can prevent general massacre.” The next day Conger found out the telegram had been sent on June 11th and was transmitted by the Qing envoy to Washington Wu Tingfang. When Washington received Congers message, they assumed it was a forgery and that all the foreigners had been massacred.  By mid July, most of the world assumed the foreigners in Beijing were dead. In fact many newspapers wrote of how everyone had died and even made obituaries for some of the ministers. Many news outlets would be embarrassed come August when it became known the foreigners were alive and fighting still. MacDonald replied to the message from Prince Qing et al, by suggesting a ceasefire might be a goodway to show some goodwill. Prince Qing agreed and gave the ministers assurance there would be no fighting and a truce would begin on July 17th. The foreigners were in shock, what was to happen next? I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. The darkest days come just before the dawn as they say. The foreign defenders within Beijing were barely holding on losing men, food and ammunition. Then as if a miracle, the Qing provided them a truce…or was it all some foul trick to finally deal the killing blow?

Last time we spoke about the Qing - Boxer siege of Beijing and the 8 nation alliance expedition led by Seymour. Baron Von Ketteler was murdered by Kansu soldiers, ushering in a real siege of the foreign legation’s in Beijing. The situation was dire, communications were cut and soon the railways also. The foreign ministers called for aid and thus came an expedition of 8 nations led by Seymour to the rescue. Seymours expedition started out quite well, but soon the Boxers disrupted the tracks stopping them in…well their tracks. To the dismay of the westerners it turned out the Qing were joining the Boxers in battle against them and Seymour’s force had to make a fighting withdrawal back to Tientsin. They fought all the way to a secret arsenal where they dug in, until another relief force rescued them! Now they all marched back to Tientsin as gunfire could be heard.   #63 The Boxer Rebellion part 3: The Siege of Tientsin & Battle of the Taku Forts   Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. When Seymour set out on his expedition a lot of events had unfolded. I mentioned it a few times, but gunfire could be heard by his expeditionary forces coming from Tientsin. When thousands of Boxers began storming the region looking to kill christians and foreigners, many flocked to Tientsin. Tientsin consisted of two adjacent but quite different subdivisions. To the northwest was an ancient high walled chinese city around 1 mile per side. 2 miles southeast along the Hai River were the foreign settlements around half a mile wide. The chinese city held around a million Chinese, the foreign settlements around 700 foreign civilians with their thousands of Chinese servants. The Boxers came at first to the railway station carrying placards and chain letters stating “Those who see this sheet and distribute six copies will deliver a whole family from calamity. If ten sheets are circulated they will save an entire district. If any see this hand-bill and fail to disseminate it they will certainly be beheaded.” Within mere hours of Seymour’s expedition departing, reinforcements were landed at Taku to head over to the foreign settlements at Tientsin to defend them. On June 11th, Commander Beatty of the Royal Navy had 150 sailors, marines and 2 Maxim machine guns with him. He would be joined a few days later by 1600 Russians who rushed to the scene from Port Arthur, before their railway lines were cut by Boxers. Alongside the other nations forces, Tientsin had roughly 2400 troops to defend the foreign settlements, facing a force of 30,000 Boxers and 15,000 Qing soldiers camped nearby.  On June 15th the Boxers began burned down all the missions outside the Chinese city like the Notre Dame Des Victories. They stormed the streets attacking Chinese christians, massacring as they went. They destroyed all christian and foreign goods or property they could find. The foreigners in the settlement watched this unfold in horror from a distance, then at 2am on the 16th they were attacked. Beatty recalled seeing Boxers “came in great strength, setting fire to all the Houses and outlying Villages they could. . . . They came on quite heedless of the Volleys we opened on them, never replying because the poor beggars had no arms to reply with, and coming up to within 300 and 400 yards armed with swords, spears, and torches. So there we squatted, knocking them over as they came along.” Chaos ensued in Tientsin, as the Admirals on their warships off the Taku Fort bar became more and more anxious.  The western navies had received no word since June 10th, Tientsin was clearly under attack and Seymours expedition force was gone. Seymours last message to them came on the 14th and all evidence suggested the Boxers and Qing would block the way between them and Tientsin. The Qing naval forces were seen priming torpedo tubes on their warships and laying mines in the rivers mouth. The entire situation looked like a trap. If the Peiho river was closed, the naval squadrons would be unable to rush up it to rescue the civilians of Tientsin and Beijing. On the 16th the Admirals met aboard the Russian flagship. They all formed a multinational ultimatum that was issued to the Qing, the Taku forts had to be surrendered by 2am the next day or they would attack. A russian officer was sent to deliver the message to the Taku Fort commander who responded “I would be glad to surrender the Forts, but I am here to obey orders”. The French consul general in Tientsin then took it upon himself to telephone the local viceroy and advised him to surrender the Taku Forts or face the consequences. The Admirals knew their actions were tantamount to declaring war on China and that taking the Taku Forts would not be easy. The Taku Forts were 4 forts with pairs of 2 on each side of the river mouth. They had been recently rebuilt and reinforced by German engineers. The walls were made of mud mixed with chopped straw, which might sound silly, but this made them impervious to shell fire. Their garrison was around 3000 men, equipped with quick firing Krupp guns and other heavy pieces. Approaching from the sea was the most hazardous and would see men fighting through oozing mud flats surrounded by sharpened stakes. The Qing Navy held 4 new German built destroyers equipped with rapid fire guns patrolling near the forts. To attack them by land was also not favorable it would see men clamoring over small canals, irrigation works and behind the forts were the Boxer infested towns of Tongku and Taku. Another issue was the Taku mud bar, it only allowed shallow water vessels to pass, the allied navies only had 9 ships that could pass; 3 British ships the HMS Algerine, Fame and Whiting; the German Iltis; Russian Gilyak, Bobr and Koreytz; French Lion and Japanese Atago. 900 men consisting of 380 British, 300 Japanese, and the rest Russian, Austrian and Italian were loaded aboard the 9 ships as the allies, we shall call them that from now on for simplicity by the way, awaited the deadline on June 16th for the Qing to respond. All the warships arranged their broadsides aimed at the Taku forts with a bombardment order to commence at 2am if the Qing did not respond. However the Qing did respond, by opening fire at 12:50, as a eye witness recalled ““A shell shrieked over the Algerine in unpleasant proximity to her topmasts”. To this 7 of the 9 allied ships opened fire. The Russian gunboat Gilyak made the poor decision of turning her searchlight, turning her immediately into the most prominent target, she was nearly sunk by shell fire. The HMS Fame and Whiting pulled in close trying to capture the Qing destroyers and within the mayhem the two ships managed to slip upstream abreast of the 4 Qing destroyers. At Lt Keyes aboard the Fame recalled “The shells were literally shrieking around us; several fell just short and splashed muddy water right over us; several pitched just over; we really had a charmed existence.” The British destroyers cast out whaler ships holding dozens of men to board the Qing destroyers. The British sailors and marines boarded the Qing destroyers with ease, capturing all 4 without firing a shot and receiving no casualties. Lt Keyes gave explicit orders to hit men not to fire upon the Qing who were in the process of escaping up the riverbank. Meanwhile the Russian gunboat Korietz was severely damaged by the opening salvo; the Monocacy despite being at quite a distance holding many women and children aboard took a far flung shell to her bow, luckily not hurting anyone. The Qing fort guns were very accurate managing hits on the HMS Whiting, SMS Iltis, French Lion and Giliak was forced to ground  herself lest she be sunk. Giliak had 18 deaths and 65 wounded. Meanwhile at 3am landing parties began their advance upon the forts, struggling through thick mud. The first fort was on the north bank and the landing forces came at it with bayonets pointed. British and Japanese troops were the first to scale its walls and they were even racing another. British officer Cradock recalled “I was frantic at the idea of the Japanese getting in first; they were very keen and in better condition than anyone else.” The union jack was soon hoisted followed by the rising red sun, the defenders of the Fort made a symbolic defense, but fled quickly.  As the men cheered, suddenly two Qing soldiers burst out of a gateway 20 yards away with bayonets fixed firing their rifles as they marched forward from the hip. A Lt emptied his revolver at them and pulling out his sword to defend himself. The allied troops raced towards the second fort on the northern bank as allied shells struck its walls. The air was filled with dust and smoke as the Qing soldiers fired their guns until the last minute upon which they fled. There was to be barely a need to seize the southern forts. The Qing commander was seen galloping away on a white horse and as the Shanghai Mercury put it “The forts were a mass of ruins, rivers of blood, with headless and armless bodies everywhere, which the blue-jackets were gathering together and cremating in heaps.”  The allied troops in the northern forts turned their guns on the southern forts. One shot hit a powder magazine exploding a part of the southern fort walls, creating a large fire. Through the smoke and dust the Qing defenders could be seen abandoned the forts. By 6:30am the battle of the Taku fort was done. By 8am many of the allied troops were coming back aboard their ships, the allies had suffered 172 casualties. Rivers of blood were seen around the forts. The survivors of the carnage aboard ships or the forts ate tinned beef, salmon and ship biscuits reflecting on their good fortune to be alive. With only 9 ships the allies had secured the mouth of the river. All in all it was a brave action helped considerably with some luck. Many questioned its necessity as it undoubtedly would increase the attacks upon the foreign legations in Beijing. Herbert Hoover recalled “it was this act of aggression which marked the downfall of the moderate party in Peking, unmasked the gigantic plot of the powerful party behind the Boxers, and turned the Government over definitely into their hands . . . no more favorable moment could have been chosen by our Admirals to precipitate a general massacre.” At the same time it was happening, MacDonald had been sending assurances to Empress Dowager Cixi that Britain wished to remain on friendly terms with China. Cixi was literally receiving reports of the attack on the Taku Forts as MacDonald’s letters came in and when he found out he wrote “this would put the old buddha in a good temper”. Back over in Tientsin’s foreign settlement, people could hear the loud gunfire coming from the Taku Forts. At 8am Tientsins foreign community received word the Taku Forts had been taken and now all wondered what would happen next. As recalled by Lou Hoover in Tientsin “All the forenoon at Tientsin there was an ominous silence, nothing doing on either side, each waiting for the other to play the next card, neither knowing the result of the attack at Taku, and yet both sides knowing that now we were committed to a war, if not with China itself, with Northern China and the Manchu Dynasty.” At 3pm Qing artillery began to open fire upon the foreign settlements. Shells were hissing overhead, explosions followed everywhere. An alarm bell began to ring on the Municipal Hall as foreign residents ran through the streets. Rifle fire was cracking against brick walls as civilian dived for cover. It looked like a hopeless situation, 600 foreigner civilians were trapped in a mile long by quarter mile wide area bounded by a river on one side and a flat plain on the other. It was a maze of narrow alleys and single storied Chinese houses, perfect conditions for snipers. The whole was enclosed by a mud wall around 15 feet high and wide enough for 4 people to stand across. As Midshipman C.C Dix recalled “The prospect was hardly brilliant; inside the settlement was a mixed force of 2,400 men, with nine field guns, and a few machine guns; outside were 15,000 Imperial troops, with immense numbers of quick-firing guns. Their ammunition was of the best, and practically unlimited, and they had the dreaded Boxers at their back.”  The most senior officer in Tientsin at the time was Russian Colonel Wogack who took control of the multinational force of Americans, Russians, Australian, Germans, French, Japanese and Italians, the except of course were the British who chose to be led by Captain Bayly of the HMS Aurora. The Russians deployed in a very exposed position trying to defend the railway station on the opposite side of the river from the foreign settlement. They were in close proximity to a Chinese grave site, some houses and ditches, places Qing snipers could hide in. With the Russians were the French who took up a position in front of the French concession at the north end of the settlement near the Taku road. The Americans defended a stretch with the British along the eastern side of the entire settlement; it was a very thin line. The Germans, Austrians, Japanese and Italians deployed along the mud wall near the riverbank. Civilians who were capable were given the task of policing, sentry, engineering and medical duties. Herbert Hoover and his men were the only engineers in Tientsin, Colonel Wogack asked them to get people building barricades. Hoover and the men frantically searched for Chinese laborers to help and any materials that were sturdy enough for barricades. As Hoover recalled “Soon we . . . had a thousand terrified Christian Chinese carrying and piling up walls of sacked grain and sugar along the exposed sides of the town and at cross streets.” Within the first hours of battle it seemed the Qing and Boxers would overrun them. Hoover had this to say “With the smoke of many burning buildings pouring over the settlement, with the civilians erecting barricades across the streets for the final rush, the terrific bombardment, the constant sound of rifle-fire in the distance, and the knowledge,—if not the sight,—of the scores of wounded brought in from the lines—it all seemed bad—very bad. It was really the climax of terror, of the black fear, as it was of the fighting. And this was the ‘black fear,’ not that the siege would be successful and we should be compelled to lower our flag and surrender to an honourable enemy,—but that, if every man fought to his utmost strength and was beaten, there were without,—Chinamen, —mobs of Chinamen, at their very worst,—barbarians who knew no quarter.”  The women, children and non combatants huddled in fear within the catacombs beneath Gordon Hall, the most robust stone municipal building available. The Qing assault was first directed at the railway station. Upon seeing this Commander Beatty formed a bridge of boats and took sailors across to reinforce the Russians, but they soon became pinned down. The sailors tried to hide amongst some Russian artillery horse carriages as Chinese artillery and snipers fired hell upon the area. The allied forces had to allow the Chinese to approach closer, because their artillery and snipers were wielding an enormous advantage, no one could stand up right unless they wanted shrapnel or sniper bullets to hit them. Those who did advance were armed Boxers who were driven off by volley fire from the defenders. The defenders could not know this, but the Boxers and Qing despite appearances were not really coordinating together. The Qing troopers were awaiting orders from Beijing whether they were to support the Boxers or the protect the foreigners! It was only a result of the attack upon the Taku forts that finally led the Qing government to officially take the side of the Boxers and orders began to trickle over to support them. Despite the official orders, there were many moderates counter ordering and commanders out in the field who did not support the Boxers and were only putting up symbolic efforts at battle. General Nie Shicheng led the forces in the field overall and he had his artillery fire constantly, it is reported nearly 60,000 shells would be fired upon the foreign settlements. These shells however, much akin to what occurred during the first sino-japanese war, were not all exploding upon impact. Corruption was still rampant and the shells were quite lackluster in their results. The Boxers who did advance were quickly met with volleys at close range, and Beatty noted this of the Russians s “they worked their guns like men, scorning to build up protection with the bales of goods that were there and which we utilized for our riflemen.” Beatty was less impressed with the Germans who continuously sent messages stating they were under heavy attack and required reinforcements, lest they be forced to abandon their positions. According to Beatty the Germans were crying wolf and he made it clear they would receive no reinforcements from the British. Sailors and marines pushed through against Qing and Boxer infiltrators tossing them out. The allied forces formed a closed ring around the civilians as Hoover described it “It was in the center that the melodrama and comedy were played—the rim was nearly all tragedy.” Sniper fire was coming from within the settlements prompting wild hunts. Chinese Christians within the settlement numbered 3-4 thousand were prime targets for Boxer attacks. Hoovers wife Lou Hoover volunteered at the hospital using a bicycle to move between alley’s and had a sniper bullet hit her tire once. The hospital saw around 200 wounded brought in a day, people requiring bandages, bedding, dressings, disinfectants all of which were in short supply. Tientsin was under siege. Herbert Hoover bicycle around the defensive perimeter braving the streets to see his barricades were working. The situation was incredibly stressful for the civilians, cooped up together while artillery and gunfire raged outside their buildings. According to Herbert Hoover many friendships ended because of the stress and he recalled ““No one will again dare to organize a dinner party in Tientsin without consulting an inmate of Gordon Hall, for how could Mrs. E. ever sit at meat again with Mrs F., who slapped Mrs. E.’s Peking pug?” So…someone slapped a pug? War never changes. By the 22nd of June things were becoming critical. Commander Beatty had been shot and was losing a ton of blood after the attempted seizing and enemies gun in a narrow escape when a shell burst near him. The men fighting in the barricades were mutilated by shellfire and gunshot. Contact with Taku had been lost on the 17th, casualties were piling up and the settlement was completely surrounded, there was no escape. The only reason the settlement had not already been overrun was because the Qing and Boxers were not working in concerted efforts to simultaneously hit all fronts. The Russians sent word that if the fighting continued the way it had been for the past 4 days, their ammunition would run out and they advised preparing a night time escape. Their recommendation was for the women, children, wounded and sick to be escorted by the Germans, Austrians, French, Japanese and Italians while the Russians and British would perform a rearguard. Upon hearing this, the very injured Beatty remarked “it was the maddest, wildest, damndest, rottenest scheme that could emanate from the brain of any man. Doing this would mean abandoning Seymour to certain destruction”. Beatty made it known to the Russians the British would not comply. Unbeknownst to them all, help was on its way and quite close by. On June 19th, my birthday random factoid, a young British volunteer, James Watts set out with 3 Cossacks in an attempt to make contact with Taku. They men rode through hostile villages as Boxers tried to attack them. Watt carried a message from Captain Bayly stating “Hard pressed, heavy fighting; losses, 150 killed and wounded; Chinese Imperial Artillery shelling the Settlement; women and children all in cellars; fires all over the Settlement; every one worn out with incessant fighting.” A rescue force of Russian infantry and American marines had already been dispatched but they were pinned down near the outskirts of Tientsin. According to one American Gunnery Sergeant “We fell into a trap . . . we laid on our faces with the bullets coming like hail not knowing what to do . . . we fell and got up, staggered, crawled—but got out. I never saw such a tired party in my life and yours truly was on the hog!” The force was 131 US marines and 400 Russians who got ambushed 2 miles from the city. The Americans suffered 3 deaths, 13 wounded before they withdrew back to Taku. Bayly’s message made it clear a more substantial force was required.  Taku and her forts were left with just 1000 men as a garrison as the allies prepared an expeditionary force. Luck was theirs again, as two new warships arrived, the HMS Terrible from Hong Kong carrying 300 Royal Welch Fusiliers and a Russian troopship from Port Arthur carrying hundreds of Russian troops. On June 23rd a multinational force 2000 men strong set out which also held the British 1st Chinese regiment from Weihaiwei, so even some Chinese troops were in their ranks. They rushed up to Tientsin reaching it the same day and upon seeing them the Qing and Boxers dispersed into the east. Lou Hoover described the scene of their arrival to Tientsin as such “A good many hundred civilians and a couple of thousand troops sat still and repelled faint hearted charges while 10,000 or 15,000 Chinese troops and 20,000 Boxers plunked shells of all sizes into us for exactly one week without a sound or a word from the outside reaching us. Then the first relief cut their way into us . . . enough to get in but not to do anything more than we could when they got there.”  With the Chinese siege lifted momentarily, the lines of communication and supplies from Taku to Tientsin were quickly restored. However Tientsin’s battle was nowhere close to be over as the Qing and Boxers would quickly remount their siege.  Back over in Beijing the foreign legations work up to their first day of siege on the 21st. The first hours of the siege brought panic, the Austrians from the offset abandoned their isolated legation to fall back upon the French barricades leaving the northeast sector in enemy hands. The next day, Professor Huberty James who had been working with missionaries at the Fu Palace calmly walked up to the north bridge going over the canal. He gave the appearance of someone trying to parley, but Qing troops on the other side shot him dead upon the bridge. They all awaited Seymours rescue party, but it was not to be seen. A letter from Captain McCalla, Seymour’s second in command dated June 14th managed to pass through to the American legation. The letter had been written 35 miles from Beijing and whose contents were nothing more than small chat, indicating nothing about when they would arrive. On June 22nd, by 9am the Italians, Austrian, French, German, Japanese, Russian and American detachments suddenly abandoned their positions and frantically ran to the British legation. Three-quarters of the legation quarters defenses were left undefended, including the Fu Palace, which held nearly the entire Chinese christian population that had fled into the legation quarters. Everyone was in a tremendous panic, it turned out a single man had caused it. Captain von Thomann of the Austrian cruiser Zenta whom from the offset of hostilities had been trying to take command of the defenses for the legations went into a panic when he reportedly was told the American legation had to be abandoned by a random American marine. Von Thomann lost his wits at the news and without verifying it to be true began screaming to everyone that all forces east of Canal street had to retreat immediately to the British legation. So yeah, everyone blindly began running. Once everyone figured out what had happened all the troops were ordered to retake their positions, but in the mayhem the Italian legations was already being burnt down. Boxers and Qing forces occupied the allied barricade in the Customs street, but had failed to press their advantage further. Von Thomann was relieved of command and now it was MacDonald in command. MacDonald was an ex-soldier, but held little experience in the guerilla style warfare they faced. MacDonald also had no official control over any non British forces. MacDonald would write orders and give it to the respective ministers who would arrange them to be carried out. It was a terrible system, but it was all they had it seemed. One of MacDonalds first orders was to dispatch the Italian guards who had no legation to guard to help the Japanese with the Fu Palace defenses. If the Fu Palace were to fall, the French, German and Japanese legations would be cut off from the British legation which was the last stronghold. MacDonald took a stock of the legations defenses: over 400 men, 20 officers and 389 men of 8 differing nations. They were supplemented by two bands of armed volunteers. The first were 75 men with some military experience, such as Nigel Oliphant of the Chinese imperial Bank who had served with the Scots Greys, Captain Poole of the East Yorkshire Regiment and Captain Labrousse of the Infanterie de Marine. The second group were more amateurish, titled the carving knife brigade because of their variety of weapons going from elephant rifles to fusil de chasse. Professionals and amateurs alike were all short of ammunition and each nationality used differing weapons with differing types of ammunition making it a nightmare logistically. The legation had only one piece of real artillery, the Italian one pounder and that too held little ammunition.  Their lines of defense had shrunk alarmingly after just the second day, they only had 7 legations to defend. The outliers such as the Belgian and Dutch legations had been abandoned at the beginning, the Austrians shortly after and the Italians lost theirs during the Von Thomann confusion. The area they defended was now 700 yards east to west from the Russian and American legations and 750 yards north to south from the Fu Palace and British legation to the north and the Tartar Wall in the south. Sandwiched between these were the Japanese, Spanish and German legations alongside some other buildings. All the legations, excluding the British one, were on Legation street. The Germans and Americans were on the south side of the street overshadowed by the massive Tartar wall. MacDonald knew the Tartar wall had to be held at all cost, if it was taken anyone from its top could lob incendiaries down, spelling doom. The British legation grounds quickly became the place everyone congregated searching for further information, everyone was starved to know what was going on outside. Meanwhile the Chinese Christians were doing their part helping with labor an invaluable aspect to the defenders plight. There was also the issue of having to watch over them, lest the enemy infiltrate using them as cover. The foreigners and Chinese likewise were introduced to the hazard of fire which constantly was an issue. Boxers would toss torches and firecrackers at all hours trying to burn the legations out. It was all to easy for the Boxers to dip rags in kerosene attach it to the end of a long bamboo pole and lit it ablaze. On the 22nd, many buildings in the western sector were lit of fire and it took the defenders a long time to put it out. The first casualty for the British was to be Private Scadding who was shot dead as he stood watch while the fire committee went to work putting out fires. The very next day was the same, the Chinese tried to burn them out again, this time they aimed for the Hanlin Academy just due north of the British legation. Thousands of silk covered books were there, it was a tremendous tragedy to try and burn the place.  On the morning of the 23rd, the enemy was spotted running through the four acre compound tossing torches soaked in petrol around. The foreigners were stunned the Chinese would burn such a place, but burn it they did. The fire teams tried to put the flames out, but the Chinese were firing down upon anyone who would go near the academy. Eventually MacDonald sent some royal marines to go through a hole in the wall getting into the academy where firefighting efforts were organized. Scholars among the foreign community were in despair knowing the academic treasures being burnt. Morrison had this to say  “the combustible books, the most valuable in the Empire, were thrown in a great heap into the pond round the summer house . . . a heap of debris, timber in ashes, sprinkled with torn leaves, marked the site of the great library of the Middle Kingdom . . . what can we think of a nation that sacrifices its most sacred edifice, the pride and glory of its country and learned men for hundreds of years, in order to be revenged upon foreigners? It was a glorious blaze. The desecration was appalling.” By the night time the fire was still burning as soot covered fire fighters struggled.  Other fires were seen that day, the Russo Chinese bank containing 80,000 dollars of cash was burned down, many officials houses alongside it. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. The battle for the Taku Forts was won at a small cost, but the battle for Tientsin and Beijing would rage on for many more days. Time was of the essence if the allies were to reach the foreign legations in Beijing to save their countrymen.

Last time we spoke about the Boxers march upon Beijing. The situation in China escalated until the point of no return. The Boxers began attacked Christians and foreigners, seeing less and less opposition from the Qing government. The Qing court were hard pressed to do anything to suppression the boxers lest they fall into a full blown rebellion. The foreign community in Beijing scrambled to call for help from their navies before the Boxers cut the railways and telegraph lines to the capital. Not only were the Boxers a threat to the foreign community, but the recently arrived Kansu army of General Dong Fuxiang were also causing troubles. The foreign legations held tight waiting to see what would occur and on June 11th of 1900 the violence escalated. Mr. Sugiyama of Japan was murdered by the Kansu army, it seemed all hope for avoiding conflict was now lost.    #62 The Boxer Rebellion part 2: Seymour's 8 Nation expedition   Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. The death of Mr. Sugiyama drove the tension through the roof. 40 French and Italian marines had detached from the legation main force to defend the Peitang Cathedral. They were led by 23 year old Paul Henry and Italian officer Olivieri who was 22. The two went to work directing a defense of the Cathedral, as Henry’s commanding officer sent a message to quickly recall him back over to the legations, the message never arrived. A detachment of US Marines, were also sent to guard the large Methodist Mission half a mile from the American legation. At this point the mission was housing some 1500 refugee’s within its walls. Streams of refugees had flooded in when the panic began, as told to us by Frank Gamewell running the mission “The missionaries are coming in from outside districks [sic]; some with only such articles of clothing as they could carry in their arms, as they had to flee for their lives. The situation is getting more serious as the Boxers are gathering and getting more bold every hour; as the Chinese soldiers sent out to guard Foreign property are assisting the Boxers to loot the places.” On June 12th the ministers sent another message to the Zongli Yamen. The Japanese were invited to partake in the message but declined so they could submit another message bearing this. “The Chinese have murdered our Third Secretary of Legation, and Japan can have no more communication with China—except war.” The next day, a Boxer appeared on Legation Street wielding a large carving knife. Baron von Ketteler was so livid at the scene he rushed into the street and began hitting the boxer with a stick. The Boxer leapt out of his cart, running for an alley, whereupon von Ketteler discovered a young boy hiding in the cart and seized him as a hostage at the German legation. Later that afternoon thousands of Boxers stormed the city wielding spears and swords. The Boxers had prepared blacklists and were quote “hunting down all who had been connected with the foreigners, cutting them down, hacking them to pieces, or carrying them off for more terrible torture in a Boxer camp”. Beijing was filled with torches held by Boxers who began destroying all the Missions they could. The East Cathedral, South Cathedral, Nan Tang and Tung Tang were ablaze. Christians caught outside the legation quarters were cut to pieces when caught. A group of US Marines rushed out to save 300 Christians fleeing. Men, women and children lay in heaps, hacked to pieces.  American socialite Polly Condit Smith, who was staying with some relative at the US legation described the scene of seeing refugees fleeing into the legations “Half starved, covered with soot and ashes from the fires, women carrying on their breasts horribly sick and diseased babies, and in one case a woman held a dead baby. One man of about fifty years old carried on his shoulders his old mother. . . . A great many of these people were terribly wounded—great spear-thrusts that made jagged wounds, scalp-cuts and gashes on the throat where the victim had been left for dead.” To house more refugees, the palace belonging to Prince Su was seized.  The Austrian compound isolated on the northeastern part of the Quarter came under attack on June 13th. The Austrians unleashed their Maxim machine gun to lackluster resulted as Captain Francis Garden Poole of the East Yorkshire regiment recalled “The Austrian picket opened fire with their machine gun at what they said was Boxers but they killed none and after that the French, Russians and Italians squibbed at shadows etc. We shall have a lot of trouble with these irresponsible jumpy folk.” It seemed the Austrians aimed too high and hit nothing more than a few Telegraph lines. This reinforced the Boxer belief in their invulnerability spells. On June 16th, the Boxers attacked the richest trading quarter of Beijing, setting ablaze all the shops and foreign goods. 4000 stores, jewelers, furriers, fans, silk, curio shops, goldsmiths, lantern shops all were incinerated along with the Chienmen city gate. Chinese fire teams tried to save what they could and the legation Quarter was only saved because of the city walls, else it would to have gone down in flames. The foreign troops erected barricades across legation street and established their defensive perimeter. The Americans and Russians defended the west barricade, the French and Italians the east. Until now the main legation Quarter was not seriously threatened, that was until June 17th. Von Ketteler ordered some of his men to fire upon some nearby Kansu forces. Australian journalist George Morrisons noted of the event “Ketteler and his merry men have just shot 7 Boxers from the top of the wall. 50 or 100 were drilling at a distance of 200 yards.... The stalking was excellently done.”  The week of violence was followed by the Zongli Yamen sending reassuring messages to the foreign diplomats while the Qing court issued contradictory edicts. On the 16th Empress Dowager Cixi asked the Qing court what should be done with the Boxers. The reformers and conservatives began bickering as usual, but it would be Prince Duan arguing passionately in defense of the Boxers actions. The end result of the meeting was everyone agreeing the Boxers should be pacified, but no one had any real ideas on how that was going to happen. The next day, they Qing court met again and suddenly they were given an ultimatum on behalf of the foreign powers. The ultimatum demanded the foreign minister be given full responsibility for all military matters and raising of revenues and that Emperor Guangxu be restored to the throne. Now the ministers never issued this ultimatum that was in the form of a document. It is theorized to be the work of forgery done secretly by Prince Duan. According to someone present at the court when the document was issued, Empress Dowager Cixi was furious upon hearing its contents and issued an imperial edict calling upon all the provincial governors to send troops to Beijing. Prince Qing in dismay began preparing for hostilities. Two days later, Empress Dowager Cixi was informed the foreign powers were demanding the surrender of the Taku forts which in her mind was tantamount to a declaration of war.  The Qing court sent an ultimatum in neat red envelopes to each minister. It was all in police and precise wording, with a clear deadline. The ultimatum also explained that the Qing government saw the foreign demand to takeover the Taku forts as a declaration of war by all said powers. Their passports were now void and each had 24 hours to depart Beijing. Von Kettler of Germany was convinced if they attempted departing Beijing they would all be killed. Pichon of France and Conger of America argued there was no alternative but to depart. MacDonald of Britain was undecided. All the ministers were moving from one legation to another debating the issue around. Morrison remarked “If the ministers vote to leave Peking the death of every man, woman, and child in this huge unprotected convoy will be on your heads, and your names will go through history and be known for ever as the wickedest, weakest, and most pusillanimous cowards who ever lived.” The ministers told the Zongli Yamen they accepted the demand to leave but argued 24 hours was simply too short a time to make the necessary preparations. They further demanded details on how they were to travel and be protected, they demanded a meeting with Princes Qing and Duan on the matter set for 9am the next day.  At 9:30am the next day no meeting was to be found as all the ministers met at the French legation. They were uncertain as to what they should do next, they felt going as a large body to the Zongli Yamen would lose face. Apparently von Ketteler was livid and announced his intent to go to the Zongli Yamen and wait there until they met with him. Pichon warned his German counterpart that it was a dangerous course of action. Russian minister de Giers proposed going as a collective under an armed escort. Von Ketteler argued it was silly, he had in fact sent a secretary named Heinrich Cordes to the Zongli Yamen a few days prior and he returned unscathed. To this de Giers asked, why not send Heinrich again, to which Von Ketteler agreed. Everything was fine and dandy, until Von Ketteler joined Heinrich in his sedan chair at the last minute. Armed with only a cigar and book, as he expected to be waiting at the Zongli Yamen for some time, Von Ketteler and Heinrich set out. Half an hour later news came back Von Ketteler was dead. As reported in the Times “Mr. Cordes, the German interpreter, desperately wounded, had just been brought through our barricades by some of our students; that he had told that Baron von Ketteler . . . had been shot in the street by an officer of the Chinese imperial army; that he himself had been fired upon and had barely escaped; and having told his tale, exhausted by lack of blood, he sank into unconsciousness. Cordes saw a banner soldier, apparently a Manchu, in full uniform with a mandarin’s hat with a button and blue feather, step forward, present his rifle within a yard of the chair window, level it at the Minister’s head and fire.”” The story hit several European papers and was telegraphed around the world. The death of Von Ketteler signaled the end to any talks of foreigners leaving the legations. As MacDonald put it  “the Empress Dowager had made up her mind to throw in her lot with the antiforeign party.”  The foreign troops began aiding as many christian Chinese and foreigners they could get safely to the legations. Missionary women and children came first, hundreds of Christian converts began moving. They all went past the barricades set up across legation street. Many went the Fu palace, but the missionary leaders there were in dismay because they knew there was not nearly enough food for everyone.  Over in Peitang, 3000 refugees huddled together, protected by just a dozen French and Italian marines. The Cathedral fort at Peitang had been under attack for a few days and to the despair of Bishop Favier over there, Pichon sent a message indicating no additional help was on the way.  The American legation began issuing out crackers, sardines, scrambled eggs and tea to who they could, the storerooms were being cracked open. The American legation was too close to the city walls to be easily defended and word came they were all to proceed to the British legation. 4000 people from 18 different nations were now in the legations. 473 foreign community civilians with around 400 military personnel, 3000 or more were Chinese christians. Nearly all the foreign women, children and men who were unable to fight crowded the British legation. At 4pm heavy gunfire was heard from the east as some bullets began hitting the tops of trees. The siege had begun. Vice Admiral Seymour had first received word of the legations plight from MacDonald on May 28th when he sent a small dispatch of forces to help guard the legations. Then alarming reports came in on the 31st, prompting him to sail up the coast to join the French, German, Austrian, Italian, Russian, American and Japanese naval forces anchored off the Taku forts. He invited the commanders of each fleet to his ship for a meeting and they all agreed to work in concert. If necessary they would send a combined allied brigade to Beijing. Seymour became the most senior amongst them because he had a great deal of experience with China, ever since the 2nd opium war. He sent a telegram to Britain about the combined actions and dispatched his chief of staff, Captain John Jellicoe to Tiantsin to investigate the situation. On June 9th Jellicoe reported word had come from MacDonald, the situation was dire, communications would be cut at any moment, they needed to land men at once. Seymour wasted no time, at 1am on June 10th he ordered the landing of a British force and personally came over to take a train Tongku to Tientsin. Seymour told the other nations commanders his intentions and they all followed suit. At 7am Seymour arrived to Tientsin and he began arranged train carts to fetch the multinational force, over 2100 men in all. The British numbered 916 and Seymour was careful to choose some men as interpreters as he knew the european languages would be difficult to juggle. Alongside the British were 455 Germans, 326 Russians, 158 French, 112 Americans, 54 Japanese, 41 Italians and 26 Austrians. At 9am they began their march and within hours the telegraph line between Beijing and Tientsin was cut by Prince Duan who had just replaced Prince Qing as president of the Zongli Yamen. Seymour expected a quick train ride to Beijing with an extravagant show of force. Seymour had gambled on the iea the railway line to Beijing was still intact. There was 80 miles to Beijing from Tientsin and all seemed well until they reached Yangtsun, 15 miles away from Tientsin. There some 4000 Qin troops led by General Nie Shicheng were waiting. Nie Shicheng was struggling with conflicting orders coming from General Ronglu. At one moment he was told to suppress the Boxers which he was doing, he had in fact cut the heads of 70 off and sent them in baskets back to the capital. Then he was suddenly ordered not to fire upon them. When Seymours trains came, Seymour and Nie exchanged friendly greetings and the multinational force went on its merry way without incident.  The trains continued and it was not long until Seymour encountered the first signs of Boxer sabotage. Rails near Lofa station, around halfway to Beijing had been torn up and a bridge was damaged. The Boxers were lighting up huge fires beneath the rails to warp them and destroy the wooden sleepers. Seymour halted the trains and ordered hundreds of Chinese laborers he had brought with them just for this type of situation to go to work repairing the railways. Seymour’s men would soon find the bodies of 4 dead Chinese railway officials in a passenger shed, they had been horribly mutilated. Their hands and feet were hacked off, one of them had their heart torn out. The workers got their work down and soon the trains were enroute to Langfang and it was here the Boxers made their first attack. According to Captain Lt Paul Schlieper with the Germans of what “The Boxers came with wild gestures swinging their spears, lances, or swords about their heads. . . . We often saw Boxers spring up into the air, execute a sort of war dance, and then drop to the ground . . . but when we got nearer and could see them plainly, they proved only to have been shamming to make us believe they had been killed and so avert our fire.” British diplomat Clive Bigham had this to say “They came on us in a ragged line, advancing at the double.... Not more than a couple of hundred, armed with swords, spears, gingalls [a giant smooth bored two-man blunderbuss usually fired from a wooden tripod], and rifles, many of them being quite boys. To any one who had been some little time in China it was an almost incredible sight, for there was no sign of fear or hesitation, and these were not fanatical ‘braves,’ or the trained soldiers of the Empress, but the quiet peace-loving peasantry—the countryside in arms against the foreigner.” It was agonizingly slow work for the laborers and every time the trains stopped to let them work, Boxers began to attack. The Boxers destroyed the water tanks at stations, laborers were forced to water the engines by bucket, a extremely tedious process. The men likewise needed water and were delighted to find a well near Langfang, prompting Seymour to halt the trains to allow men to drink. On June 12th a message arrived from the American legation in Beijing telling them their advance was causing the capital to erupt in further violence. It also warned them that Qing troops were massing south of the city. This was bad news, but what was worse was Seymour figuring out the trains would not be able to go past Langfang very far as his reconnaissance was reporting to him the railway was terribly damaged going forward. They made camp at Langfang for 5 days trying to repair the railway line and were attacked multiple times by Boxers. British Lt Fownes-Luttrell had this to say of fighting the Boxers “They often stopped a few yards off and went through their gesticulations for rendering themselves immune from bullet wounds. Many were shot while kowtowing towards the trains and remained dead in that position. Bowling them over like so many rabbits. . . it has to be done, they are doing such a lot of fearful damage to the country.” Commander Mori with the IJN began inspecting the dead bodies of Boxers and recalled this “They were young and old . . . their costumes were various, and they had red bands tied round their heads and hanging down behind, as well as red aprons.... Their shoes also were tied with red.” June the 14th saw the telegram line to Tientsin cut. The supply train at the rear of the convoy had failed to get past the Yangtsun station because Boxers attacked a bridge between them. General Nie Shicheng’s force at Yangtsun did not seem to be doing anything about the situation, simply staying away. On the same day, hundreds of Boxers began to show up, 5 Italian solders were playing cards when they were surprise attacked by Boxers who hacked them to pieces.  Seymour still hoped to make a breakthrough to Beijing and sent a courier to MacDonald stating he hoped to enter the city within days. However by June 16th, Seymour was sending Schlieper with some German troops back down the track to restore communications with Tientsin. The party got just past Lofa when they ran into extremely damaged tracks. Schlieper sent word back to Seymour that he required laborers and reinforcements. Seymour came over to see things for himself and realized the grave situation. “We were now isolated, with no transport or means to advance, and cut off from our base behind.” Seymour was forced to make the decision to repair the line going back to Tientsin, lest they found themselves surrounded. This decision has been criticized heavily ever since. Sir Robert Hart would go on the record to state “had [his force] left the train and marched straight across the country to the Capital it could have been with us on the 13th or 14th and so changed history.” From Langfang to Beijing it was some 30 miles or so, but Clive Bigham who was physically present with Seymour he had a different view of the situation “There was no road, we were absolutely without transport, and directly in front of us lay . . . the camps of the Peking Field Force . . . and in front of the south gate of the Chinese city lay, we knew, most of General Dong Fuxiang’s Kansu soldiery.” Seymour prepared the men to withdraw. The commander of the German forces, Captain von Usedom was ordered to hold Langfang and protect their rear while the laborers worked tirelessly to repair tracks going back. The trains managed to get to Yangtsun, but there a bridge had been so heavily damaged it became impassable. The Yangtsun station and its water tanks were destroyed, the situation was dire. Seymour summoned the commanders of each nation for a war council. They all agreed the trains had to be abandoned, they would simply have to trek the rest. Over at Langfang von Usedom was suddenly attacked by a 5000 strong force of Kansu and Boxers. Dong Fuxiang alongside his comrades, Ma Fulu, Ma Fuxiang and Ma Haiyan had secretly departed the Beijing area to attack the western invading army. General Ma Fuxiang and Ma Fulu personally planned and led the attack, employing a pincer maneuver. On June 18th, the Kansu forces who had been stationed at Hunting Park in southern Beijing had marched and attacked multiple points towards Langfang. The 3000 Kansu men were armed with modern rifles and had a ton of cavalry units personally led by Ma Fulu who would go on to cut down western forces with his sword.  The Boxers and Kansu were working together to ambush the western army. The employed human wave attacks. The Boxers showed no fear of death as they charged at the western forces engaging in melee combat with swords and spears. Many also tossed firecrackers to give off the effect of guns. The psychological effect was tremendous on the western soldiers. The western army would suffer the vast majority of their casualties not from the Boxers however, it was the Kansu troops. The mounted Kansu with rifles in hand were tenacious, battle hardened from wars in the northwest. Von Usedom’s right flank were on the brink of collapse, until French and British troops further down the track stormed up to help them. The western army was forced to make a fighting withdrawal while under attack the entire way. The trains at Langfang were ridden with bullet holes like swiss cheese. The Germans under Von Usedom fought like lions against wave after wave killing an estimated 400 and wounded 57. Of these the Kansu lost 200, the Boxers 200. Despite their losses to gunfire the Boxers never ceased charging the enemy, unnerving the westerners greatly at such a sight. The British were armed with .303 Lee-Metford rifles, the American M1895 Lee Navy’s. At point blank range these men reported it could take 4 bullets to stop a Boxer, single rifle shots was not enough. There are primary accounts from the battle which I would like to read, the first is from Clive Bigham “Early on Sunday morning, 17th June [1900], a week after we had started, the Taku Forts were taken by U the Allied Forces in order to relieve Tientsin. That city was invested by the Boxers who began to bombard it next day. Of this of course we were quite ignorant. But the Court in Peking must have received instant news of the fact, for on the afternoon of the 18th Captain von Usedom, the German officer in command of the troops left at Langfang, was attacked by the Imperial forces belonging to General Tung-fuh-siang's division. Their numbers were estimated at 7,000 and they were well armed _^ with modern rifles which they used with effect, so that we suffered considerable casualties.” The next comes to us from Seymour  “On 17th messages were sent back to Lofa and Langfang to recall Nos. 2, 3, and 4 trains, it being evident that the advance by rail was impossible, and the isolation and separate destruction of the trains a possibility. No. 3 returned on the afternoon of 18th June,, and in the evening Nos. 2 and 4 from Langfang. Captain Von Usedom (His Imperial German Majesty's Navy), the senior officer present with Nos 2 and 4 trains, reported that they had had a severe engagement with the enemy, who unexpectedly attacked them at Langfang about 2.30 p.in. on that day (18th) in great force estimated 'to be-fully 5,000 men (including cavalry), large numbers of whom were armed with -magazine rifles of the latest pattern. The banners captured show them to have belonged to-tho army of General Tung Fu Hsiang, who commands the Chinese troops-in the Hunting Park- outside Peking, and it was thus definitely known for the first time that Imperial Chinese troops were being employed against us. The attack was made in front and on both flanks, the enemy pouring in a heavy fire on the allied forces coming out to engage them ; they were driven off with much loss, but when they saw our forces retiring towards the trains they rallied and made another attack ; a halt was then made and the men were once more beaten off with greater loss than before, and then finally retreated. In this action the Chinese lost over 400 killed, the allied forces 6 killed and 48 wounded.” Seymour concluded from the battle that the Qing government was officially in league with Boxers. They abandoned their trains, but were able to find 4 Chinese war junks along the river that they quickly commandeered for transporting the wounded and essential equipment. On June 19th they marched to Tientsin following the left bank of the Peiho. A lot of non essentials had to be abandoned and thus tossed into the river. As Seymour recalled ““All our trophies of war . . . the large standards, the curious weapons, all the plunder with which our carriages had been hung, all had to be sacrificed.”” The sailors aboard the war junks could see Boxers pouring in from all sides descending upon abandoned train carts which they set on fire. The western army had ablaze to their backs as they marched. To reach Tientsin was some 30 miles and the men were exhausted from combat and marching with little water, some even reportedly took their chances drinking from the Peiho. Going to go ahead and say dysentery came quickly to those boys. The Boxers held most of the small villages along the riverbank, prompting the western army to deploy guns at each. As Schlieper recalled “When one village was cleared a still hotter fire was sure to be opened on us from the next. It was a tough bit of work.” Many of the men had unsuitable clothing as well. The Germans were wearing thick blue clothing, designed for operations in the North Sea for winter time. Seymour had 62 deaths and 228 wounded, as they marched closer to Tientsin, they could hear gunfire. On June 20th, they had marched only 8 miles and had to fight the entire way. Two British soldiers were buried that night, having died from wounds. The men made it to the larger village of Peitsang where they fought a brutal battle. Schlieper took a rifle hit to his left shin, Captain Jellicoe likewise shot in the chest and coughing a lot of blood. Medics tended to him with morphine, but it looked grim so they told him to write out his will. Seymour approached Captain Von Usedom and asked him to act as his chief of staff and if he were to be killed to take over command. You have to take a step back and think about how unprecedented this entire situation was. 8 nations together with different policies, cultures, etc. It’s not every day you see a British officer asking such a thing of a German. Seymour had around 200 wounded now and acquired a new war junk on the river for more of them. Seymour knew, anyone left behind would be massacred. The men were down to fewer than 10 rounds a man and all food was gone. On June 22nd the men made camp along the Peiho river bank and at dawn saw hope at last. On the other side of the Peiho river they saw a fortified position with a parapet. This was the Hsi-ku Arsenal, a place where Qing forces kept stored munitions. It held rifles, millions of rounds, rice, medical supplies and other war materials. Now that is lucky. The Arsenal was defended by a tiny force which got up and left upon seeing the western army. Seymour’s men took refuge at the arsenal, but nearby General Nie Shicheng were given word of the situation. Nie Shicheng ordered forces to retake the arsenal, but the western army repulsed them. At 3am on June 23rd Qing forces attacked again, but this time they had Boxers helping them. Qing soldiers and Boxers managed to scale some of the walls during the night causing casualties upon the western army. Seymour realized departing the fortified positions was suicide. Seymour deployed his forces as best as he could and told the men to dig in. They could hear gunfire again coming from the direction of Tientsin. Seymour sent a Chinese servant named Chao Yinho with a message to make a run for Tientsin. Chao set out on the 24th with a cipher message, ordered to eat it if caught. Chao was forced to swim many parts of the way through the Peiho, going 8 miles. He was caught by Boxers and Qing soldiers and interrogated. He swallowed the message and convinced his captors he was innocent and they let him go. He made it to Tientsin where he told them the plight of Seymour and his men. A rescue party was formed, but the men of Tientsin were under threat themselves and could only spare so many. 1800 men consisting of 900 Russians, 500 British and others from the other nations departed on June 25th led by Russian Colonel Sherinsky. The rescue party came under Qing sniper fire along the way, forcing them into a single file formation. They reached the arsenal at 10:30am carrying food and cigarettes. Commander Mori of the Japanese shaked the hands of their rescuers. Sherinsky and Seymour got the men together and on way the next day, spiking the artillery pieces and destroying countless munitions they could not carry. The arsenal was ablaze on the 26th as they made their way to Tientsin. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. Seymour grand 8 nation alliance force set out to rescue the trapped foreign community in the legations at Beijing. However the Qing and Boxers had joined forces and turned the tables of Seymour, for it was he who would end up needing rescue in the end.

Last time we spoke about the road to the Boxer Rebellion. Christians and foreigners were encroaching into China. Boxers and other anti-foreign groups were emerging in places like Shandong and Zhili. Conflicts were growing rapidly as the two forces converged, leaving the Qing government in a terrible situation trying to please both. It seems for a time, they were keeping the hawks of war at bay, but the more incidents flared up the tougher each side became. Then came an evolution to the mayhem, the Yihetuan emerged to the stage, a large scale movement of Boxers seeking to revive the qing and destroy the foreigners. The Qing tried to crack down upon the movement, but it seems all was for nought as they only grew in popularity. Beijing has called upon forces from the northwest to bolster defenses, but can they stop the inevitable clash?    #61 The Boxer Rebellion part 1: The Boxer’s March on Beijing   Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. After the battle of Senluo Temple Governor of Shandong province, Yuxiang ordered the boxers caught, but not to be killed. The missionaries and foreigners remarked “it was insane orders not to have the soldiers kill any one”. But Yuxiang sought to not drive a wedge between the state and the people. Zhu Hongdeng fled south joining other boxer leaders to discuss what to do next. Major boxer activity halted, as they watched to see what the Qing government would do. THe magistrate of Pingyuan was removed, there did not seem to be any real hunt after them. After awhile Zhu Hongdenf and the other boxers began raiding christians in Yucheng, Changqing, Chiping and Boping. They burnt homes, stole property, performed violence and even killed a few people. Outside Boping, Christians fought back leading to skirmishes and fatalities. Yuxiang’s lenient policies were failing, the Christian community felt the Qing government could not protect them. Yuxiang began targeting the boxer leaders, as he had done with the Big Sword Society prior. Tactically it went brilliantly, he managed to arrest and execute the main leaders, but these Boxers were nothing like the Big Swords. Following the elimination of the boxer leaders, boxer movements sprang up in new places all over the region, villages were being attacked all over. Whenever one Boxer leader was arrested or killed, another would generate at a moment's notice, it was like a Boxer Hydra.  Now the Boxers had been targeting small villages with Christian communities, but then on November 15th they attacked the fortified Catholic village of Zhangzhuang. The boxers successfully raided the village and it seems this emboldened them greatly as their next targets became mission stations holding foreigners. As the missionaries and foreign communities felt threatened, they began complaining to remove officials like Yuxiang. On December 5th, the complaints worked, the Qing government replaced Yuxiang with Yuan Shikai. Although Yuan Shikai was convinced Yuxiangs lenient policies led to the Boxer problem and sought to use military force to quell it, prominent Qing officials advised him to not brutalize the Boxers, as they rightly feared it would spark a large-scale rebellion against their government. Thus Yuan Shikai used his forces defensively to try and protect foreigners and Christians, little actually changed. On December 31st of 1899 the British missionary S.M Brooks was murdered in Feicheng by bandits. The Boxers continued to spread and rumors of what they did were heard everywhere. Mission stations were being attacked everywhere in a wild frenzy of panic field by rumors. The Boxers would claim missionaries were poisoning wells. Boxers would target all things foreign such as railways which they said “had iron centipedes or fire carts which desecrated the land and disturbed the graves of their ancestors” Empress Dowager Cixi would love that one. Likewise telegraph lines were feared. Some thought the rusty water dripping from their wires looked like blood of air spirits. Foreign own mines were seen as disturbing the spirits of China’s earth. Boxer Manifestos began to state “When we have slaughtered them all, we shall tear up the railways, cut down the telegraphs, and then finish off by burning their steamboats.” When rumors emerged of the new Yihetuan slogan “Revive the Qing, remove the foreign”, those in the Qing court like Prince Duan and Empress Dowager Cixi listened with keen interest. For once it seemed the peasants were on their side! The Empress Dowager was also extremely superstitious and seemed to be transfixed on the tales of Boxers practicing ritual exercises to induce gods to possess them. She was also intrigued by tales of the female Boxer group known as “Hong Deng Zhao / the red lanterns”. Yes, female Boxers of this order practiced rituals and healing techniques to aid the male Boxers. They trained in martial arts and were said to carry red lanterns used to burn down missionary buildings. Rumors had it they had magical powers to fly, honestly the tales run the gambit. Now something that interested Cixi and some conservative Qing the most was the prospect a group of warriors were out there that did not require payment to fight. On the last day of 1899 in Shandong province the Boxers killed an english reverend named Sidney Brooks. Brooks had been helping his sister defender a mission “about twelve miles from Ping Yin he was attacked by a band of about thirty armed ruffians who after struggling with him and wounding him on his head and arms with their swords bound him and led him away towards Ping Yin. It was an intensely cold day and snow was falling. In spite of this they took from him all his outer garments and led him about for some hours. He endeavored to ransom himself with promises of large sums of silver but they were unwilling. . . . It is said that by some means he managed to escape and fled in the direction of Ping Yin. He was quickly pursued by three horsemen who cut him down when only a mile from our little church at Ta Kuang Chuang and there by the roadside the last act in this terrible crime was committed. His head was taken from his body and both were thrown into a gully.” News of Brooks murder reached Beijing on January the 2nd of 1900. American Minister Edwin Conger, a bearded civil war veteran met with Herbert Squiers, the American first secretary. They talked about Brooks murder and two other incidents that had recently occurred. The first was the imperial decree ordering Qing officials in the coastal and Yantze provinces to be on their guard against foreign aggressors. The second was a complaint given in November of 1899 about how foreigners were carving up China and urged the Chinese to defend their land. Conger was unsure how to react to such rhetoric. The US favored an open China policy, but certainly not a xenophobic and aggressive one. Conger decided to alert Washington, but did not go as far as to state the foreign community was outright in danger.  Over in the British legation, Sir Claude MacDonald was also reeling over the recent news. MacDonald had been appointed minister to Beijing in 185 and was a soldier who had fought in Egypt. MacDonald had been complaining for awhile to the Qing government about the conflicts brewing in Shandong, Brooks murder seemed to be the latest and worst of them. He often dealt with the head of the Zongli Yamen, Prince Qing, who was a moderate amongst the Qing court, unlike Prince Duan who was adamantly conservative and quite anti-foreign. The Zongli Yamen immediately promised Brooks murderers would be brought to justice. To the foreign community everything looked like the Qing government favored their protection, but it became gradually apparent to them the Qing were not fully suppressing the Boxers.  On January 27th the Americans, French, Italian and German legations sent a mutual protest demanding the suppression of the Boxers, but they received no reply for over a month. The Qing court was far too busy dealing with the imperial succession since Emperor Guangxu’s health was declining, Cixi nominated Pujun, a son of Guangxu’s cousin, no other than Prince Duan as the presumptive. Pujun was much alike to his father, extremely anti-foreign. The following weeks saw the foreign ministers scrambling with demands to the Zongli Yamen to increase measures against the Boxers. Telegrams were frantically sent back to home nations in March suggesting an international naval show of force was needed. America, Britain and Italy began sending a handful of warships to anchor outside the Taku forts, while Kaiser Wilhelm sent an entire squadron to Jiaozhou.  On April 16 of 1900, Empress Dowager Cixi persuaded MacDonald into believing the Boxer problem was coming to an end and this saw the British warships Brisk and Hermione withdraw from the Daku Fort area. The foreign community began breathing a bit easier, but the reality was the Qing Court was considering incorporating the Boxers into an official militia group. The Qing court was at war with another. Prince Duan, leading the conservatives had purged many progressives, he was married to Cixi’s niece and now his son was the heir apparent. Alike to Prince Duan, Cixi was very anti-foreign, ever since her summer palace was burnt down during the second opium war. She like many of the conservatives blamed the foreigners for all problems facing China, never recognizing the corruption present within. But unlike Duan she was much more cautious, she lent an ear to those around her like Li Hongzhang, Yuan Shikai and Jung Lu, the commander of Beijings local forces. The progressives had prevailed until now, walking a tightrope against fully or partially denouncing the Boxers to please the foreigners.  The missionaries in the more interior parts of China provided the best source of intelligence to the legations. They were sounding the alarm, but there was little anyone could do but place their faith in the Qing government and wait to see what occurred. In early 1900, a British missionary named Frederick Brown was writing out of Tientsin that it was being overrun with Boxers, endangering the Christians there. The foreign diplomats were failing to appreciate such reports, many believed and quite rightly so, the missionaries were the aggressors, bringing conflict upon themselves. There was quite a belief going around that these reports were cases of “crying wolf” as they say. The foreign community in Beijing were failing to notice, thousands of Boxers were venturing out of places like Shandong and Zhili enroute to the capital. Zhili held nearly 100,000 Christians at this point and large foreign populations at Tientsin and Beijing. The 250 foreign missionaries in Beijing were becoming extremely anxious, though they were certainly better off than their colleagues our in the countryside.  By late april the Boxers began placing placards in Beijing. One was dated April 29th stating “Disturbances are to be dreaded from the foreign devils; everywhere they are starting missions, erecting telegraphs, and building railways; they do not believe in the sacred doctrine, and they speak evil of the gods. Their sins are numberless as the hairs of the head. . . . The will of heaven is that the telegraph wires be first cut, then the railways torn up, and then shall the foreign devils be decapitated. In that day shall the hour of their calamities come.” By May 1st, Herbert Hoover, yes that Herbert Hoover happened to be in China at the time, he found the situation too dangerous and recalled his geological expeditions from the interior. Hoover and his wife Lou, stayed put in Tientsin. By mid May, news of Boxer atrocities flooded Beijing. 60 Chinese catholics had been slaughtered in Kaolo a village 90 miles away from Beijing. The bodies had been tossed down a well, the entire village razed. Then just 40 miles outside Beijing a Chinese preacher working for the British was murdered. MacDonald telegraphed Britain and the Zongli Yamen demanding an apology, but was given the usual run around. On May 19th, Bishop Favier sent a letter to the French Minister Stephen Pichon, urging him to send for troops. ““I am well-informed and I do not speak idly. This religious persecution is only a façade; the ultimate aim is the extermination of all Europeans.... The Boxers’ accomplices await them in Peking; they mean to attack the churches first, then the legations. For us, in our Cathedral, the date of the attack has actually been fixed.“pour protéger nos personnes et nos biens”—“to protect our persons and our possessions.” The next day the foreign minister met to discuss Bishop Faviers' warning. MacDonald was skeptical, Pichon conceded Favier was a bit of an alarmist, but could be telling the truth. In the end the ministers agreed not to send to Tientsin a demand for further guards, but instead would ask the Qing government to crack down on the Boxers, or else they would summon troops. Well the Qing did not do so, in fact on May 23rd, George Morrison and Australian journalist wrote in his diary “the Boxers had the cognizance and approval of the Government, as shown by them drilling in the grounds of Imperial barracks and royal princes”. Morrison was one of the most knowledge westerners in China at the time and one of the few who could see the very real looming threat the Boxers were. Meanwhile MacDonald and his wife were preparing a major social event, a party to honor Queen Victories 80th birthday. Most of the foreign community took part and there were some of the conversations that emerged were about the rise of the Boxers. Yet still many waved it all off as nonesense that would soon fade away. The next day the foriegn community saw their Chinese gardners, washermen, house workers all begin leaving their work and going into hiding. It had become unsafe for Chinese, whether they be Christians or not to work for foreigners. At the same time Christian refugees began flooding the Beijings churches and gathering centers. Many of them bore wounds such as burn marks from Boxer attacks. On May 28th a refugee hobbled over to Morrison’s house reporting to him dire news. The Belgian construction staff building at Changsintien had been attacked by Boxers. The Boxers were destroying the railway line linking Beijing and Hankou. Not only that, they were cutting telegraph lines and the stations at Fengtai were razed to the ground. These were the first reports of concentrated mass action against the foreigners. Morrison was so disturbed by the report he went himself with two friends racing over to Fengtai on horseback and what he saw was “black smoke curling ominously into the sky. It was as if the whole countryside was afoot, streaming towards the station. The engine sheds were on fire . . . and the villagers from all around were shouting. We could do nothing, though we should have shot a Chinaman who threatened us with a sword and swore to cut our throats. It will always be a regret to me that I did not kill this man.” A bit hardcore to be honest.  Herbert Squiers 47 servants, most being Christian Chinese began raising alarm stating “these people are all Boxers, most of them flaunting the red sash, [and] are preparing for a general uprising when the time shall be ripe—an uprising that has for its watchword, ‘Death and destruction to the foreigner and all his works.’” Smoke and flames could be seen rising the locomotive shed that housed Empress Dowager’s railway coach, something she naturally never used, mind you. Boxers blew up the foreign built steel bridge over the Peiho river. When trouble began in Fengtai, the Qing forces withdrew. Morrison went to work going out to the foreign villas to warn those there of the incoming Boxers. Herbert Squiers went to his villa accompanied by a Cossack guard lent to him by the Russian minister, de Giers. Russia had maintained a small armed guard in Beijing for quite some time now. The Chinese servants were saved by the party before the Boxers reached them. However the party now had to travel back to Beijing and could face two possible threats, Boxers or the Kansu. It was a 15 mile journey that took 5 hours, but they made it safely without incident. Meanwhile the Belgian engineers 16 miles from Beijing in Chansintien were stuck. Luckily for them the French dispatched a small force to rescue them before the Boxers struck. As the Belgians made their way to Beijing, they could see their residence up in flames in the distance. They also noticed Qing troops sent to aid them were joining the Boxers in looting their former residences. Another group of foreign engineers at Paotingfu were not as lucky as the rest and were attacked as they fled for Beijing. They were attacked at the same time as the railway line, thus they were unable to flee by train. The telegraph lines went soon after cutting their communication as well. Unable to communicate or know where Boxers may be coming from, they fled east to Tientsin using river boats. 30 Belgian, French and Italians with women in children departed Paotingu on May 31st. When they were boarding boats the Boxers attacked, and some of the families fled in the wrong direction and would be murdered. The majority huddled together and took dangerous routes through swamps to avoid further detection. Two men rushed to Tientsin as fast as they could reaching it on june 3rd to raise an alarm. The rest of the survivors showed up, most semi naked, dehydrated and wounded. Hearing news of these incidents, the foreign diplomats in Beijing were now beginning to freak out. On may 28th MacDonald formed a meeting with the ministers and argued they had no option left but to request the foreign fleets anchored outside the Taku forts send forces to the legations. There was a very real danger the rail link from Tientsin to Beijing would be severed, if they did not act quickly enough the foreign fleets would be unable to move troops by train. The French and Russians stated they already made their requests, so MacDonald hastily telegraphed Vice Admiral Sir Edward Seymour, yes the veteran of the second opium war who was now the commander of British naval forces in China. Seymour was currently patrolling the coast with his squadron when he received the telegraph. Meanwhile MacDonald lambasted the Zongli Yamen that they were damn fools or liars, before demanding they inform Prince Qing who was at the summer palace with Cixi “that the troops are coming tomorrow, and if [there is] any obstruction, they will come in ten times greater force.” On May 31st the Zongli Yamen gave official permission for the foreign troops to come to Beijing, but imposed a limit of 30 guards per legation, which all the foreign diplomats ignored. The first contingents departed Tientsin that same day for Beijing. The foreign diplomats knew having troops come over would bolster the Boxers to attack even more, but it seemed to all that the Qing court had no intention of helping. In fact they did not know it, but the Qing court were in a hell of a mess. On May 22nd, the Boxer attack upon Christians in Kaolo had also seen the death of the Manchu commander, Yang Futong. The Qing did not react to this and the Boxers were greatly emboldened, as they quickly went after the railways. An imperial edict was made on May 30th stating “the really guilty must be distinguished from those merely led by the excitement of the moment.” Sir Robert Hart, working as the inspector general of the Qing maritime customs had been closely observing the Qing response to the Boxers and would remark “The government seemed entirely unable to cope with the movement, even when they were willing; and the Government would, or could, do nothing but issue edicts, many of which were so dubiously worded that they might have been taken as equally favorable to the ‘Boxers,’ or to Christians and foreigners.” The terrible position the Qing government were in was not lost on the foreigners as Sir Robert Hart told his colleagues  “the Court appears to be in a dilemma: if the Boxers are not suppressed, the legations threaten to take action—if the attempt to suppress them is made, this intensely patriotic organization will be converted into an anti-dynastic movement!” Thus the foreign ministers knew they could not depend on the Qing government. They also knew they had inflamed the situation by calling up troops, but what choice did they have? There were worries the foreign troops would not reach Beijing in time, the ministers began issued protective directives. Women were not to leave the legation compounds, the diplomats and military personnel were to make efforts to investigate the situation at all times. One of the first things they uncovered were placards being places around the legation Quarters giving “helpful tips on how to destroy the foreign buildings”. This prompted MacDonald to telegraph the foreign office in London “The situation is one of extreme gravity, people very excited, troops mutinous; without doubt it is now a question of life and property being in danger here.” Boxers began parading openly in the streets of Beijing. Foreigners if caught walking the streets could expect rocks thrown at them by not just Boxers, but angry locals. French diplomat, Baron D’Anthouard described the scenes as such “handbills, and advocating the massacre of foreigners and the destruction of all religious institutions. They no longer take the trouble to hide, and move about carrying their insignia: a red scarf tied around their heads with the inscription ‘Fu’ [Happiness] on the front of it, a kind of red coat of arms on their chest, and red bands around their wrists and ankles. They also carry flags with the inscription, ‘We fight by order of the Emperor and for the salvation of the Dynasty.’ Their handbills announce the forthcoming massacre of the ‘Western devils.’” The foreigners in the legations began to plan defenses against possible attacks. I really recommend at this point checking out maps of the legation quarters 1900, there are excellent maps, photo’s and renderings. The British legation was quite strong, had high walls, held the Jade river to one side and the Imperial Carriage park on the other, it was by far the strongest position. MacDonald knew it was their greatest stronghold and he immediately offered sanctuary to any and all British residents seeking refuge. There was news, 6000 Kansu soldiers had been deployed to the railway terminus at Machiapu just outside the city walls. The foreigners wondered if they would join in attacks against them. Machiapu also happened to be the railway station the foreign troops would be arriving at, was it going to be a battle when they did? The foreign diplomats bit their nails waiting for the trains to arrive and at long last they did bearing 350 men from Britain, Russia, America, France, Japan and Italy. Another group of Germans and Austrians were coming in the next few days. There were curses and screams thrown at the foreign troops, but no violence as they entered the city gates. The foreign community came rushing out to see the various soldiers march into Beijing. Captain Francis Poole of the East Yorkshire regiment acting as a guard at the British Legation had this to say of the sight “the British fighters were naturally the smartest, that the Americans were “a serviceable-looking lot,” but that the French, Russians, and Italians were “very dirty.” All the guards were ill-equipped for what was going to go down. The admirals who sent them did not anticipate how long they would be stationed there. Most had rifles with a few hundred rounds per man, but there was no reserve ammunition, no heavy weapons, aside from 3 machine guns. The British carried the Nordenfelt .45 which was prone to jamming; the Austrains had a Maxim gun; the Americans carried light Colt 236’s. For artillery there was a single one pounder the Italians had brought with 120 shells. The Russians intended to bring a 12 pounder but left it behind at Tientsin because of space issues, though they did bring shells for it. Despite the small size, the diplomats were extremely grateful to see their new guards. MacDonald expressed his relief stating “the Empress Dowager would see the error of her ways. The crisis I think is past as far as Peking is concerned.”   On June 3rd MacDonald sent word to Vice Admiral Seymour stating their situation had calmed down. The remaining German and Austrians arrived turning their guard force of 350 to 435. All seemed quiet at the legations, but outside Christian attacks were becoming more violent and systematic. News began to emerge that the Boxers were now targeting the railway line  and stations to Tientsin. The foreign ministers met to discuss things going forward and it was argued immediately, the Boxers would most likely cut the telegraph lines to Beijing next. This of course met they would be unable to cable their governments to request more aid if it came to that. On June 4th, MacDonald requested the Zongli Yamen to publicly denounce the recent murder of two missionaries, but was ignored. The next day another meeting was made with Prince Qing, leading MacDonald to conclude the Zongli Yamen were powerless to do anything. His conclusion was bolstered by recent imperial edicts that exonerated the Boxers and instead began placing blame on Christians for violence. The atmosphere in Beijing was one of foreboding again.  On June 9th a mob of Boxers burned down the grandstand the Beijing Race Course near the southern city gates. The news drew an excited young student interpreter to gallop over to take a look and he was confronted with a violent crowd. A Chinese civilian was shot during this process, the first to be killed by a foreigner. MacDonald was livid at the news and ordered no other foreigners to ride out of the city again. The ministers yet again met and debated if they should request further troops from the navy outside the Taku forts. MacDonald told everyone he already requested such from Vice Admiral Seymour as they expected the telegraph lines to be cut any day. Emperor Guangxu and Empress Dowager Cixi had also returned that day to the forbidden city from the summer palace. This would have brought relief to everyone if it was not also reported, General Dong Fuxiang and his entire Kansu army had escorted the royal party into the city.  MacDonald sent word again to Seymour that he should send all available troops at once. He received a confirmation of the order on June 10th, help was on the way, just before the telegraph line to Tientsin was cut. The only line left was one running north to the Russians. The Kansu troops began massing around the Machiapu railway station clearly looking for a fight with the incoming relief force. Hours passed with no trains. Meanwhile Prince Qing was replaced as president by Prince Duan. Then the chancellor of the Japanese legation, Mr. Sugiyama, neatly dressed in a tailcoat and bowler hat went to the Muchiapu station to check out the situation. As he got outside the city gate, Kansu troops grabbed him out of his cart and according to Morisson “disemboweled and cut him to pieces. It is said his heart was ripped out and sent as a gift to General Dong Fuxiang”. There was zero attempt to recover his body. The remaining telegraph line to Russia was cut. The normally bustling streets of the legation Quarter were emptied of servants and shopkeepers who vanished. The situation had escalated beyond control now. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. The foreign community in Beijing managed to gain some extra guards for their legations, but what were a few hundred against tens of thousands? Mr. Sugiyama was murdered in cold blood and now the violence would hit the legations.

The podcast discusses the growing movement of Yuhu-Chuan boxers in China and the Qing government's failed attempts to mediate. It explores the reforms and divisions in Qing China, including Emperor Guangxue's reforms and the divide between Reformers and Conservatives. The podcast also explores the violent activities of Dongfusiang's Muslim troops, the Kansu Braves, and the escalating violence and tensions between foreign powers and China. It delves into the rise of the Red Boxers and their transformation into a unified force.

Last time we spoke about the Juye incident and the scramble for China. The Big Swords society and their armor of the golden bell technique certainly made some waves in the mid 1890’s. However it would seem to get them in trouble, at minimum by proxy. The Juye incident was quickly seen as another Big Sword attack on christians and Kaiser Wilhelm utilizes it to gain something he was looking for a long time, a naval port in China. Jiaozhou bay was quickly seized by the Germans and suddenly all the western powers were seizing parts of China left right and center. The carving up of China had thus gone into overdrive and it looked to the common Chinese people that christian missionaries were all behind it. German was truly rubbing their nose in and allowing their missionaries to abuse their authority in Shandong province, but for how long would the Chinese put up with all of this?   #59 Yihequan “Why is everyone Kungfu fighting?”    Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. So there has been this group I have kept alluding to for a few podcasts now. They went by a few names, but they truly pop into the scene in the year of 1898 in what other place than Shandong province, to be specific Guan county. Guan county lies along the western border of Shandong and is just a bit due west of Jinan. The people of guan county were known their “brave spirit and love of righteousness”. Their county held poor soil, many grew cotton and this lent itself to weaving. It was quite an impoverished county, their people lived simple lives. As noted by a gazetteer “The young have become like knights-errant, and like to indulge in wine, and drink for pleasure. They form cliques and seek revenge." By the mid 19th century, these young knight types were allying themselves with White Lotus sects. This led to conflicts such as the Song Jing-shi uprising of the 1860s. As we have seen over the past few episodes, where there are young men practicing boxing and there are sectarians, well they seem to just find common cause and love to rebel. There was a small market town in Guan county called Liyuantun. It was an exclave among 24 settlements in Guan, isolated across the Shandong border inside Zhili. Bordering it to the north was Linqing and Qiu county. A peasant from Liyuangtun described Liyuantuns locations as such “Speaking from our village, either two li [one kilometer) to the east or ten li to the west was Wei county. Twelve li to the northwest was Qiu county; twelve li to the south was Jize [Zhili]; fifteen li to the southeast was Linqing; ten li to the south was Quzhou; five li to the west were 300 mu of Guangzong [Zhili] land; and we were 130 li from the Guan county seat”. The small town historically had changed administrative boundaries multiple times. Now when conflicts began to break out with Christians, a magistrate was told be local residents of Liyuantun "Before, the prefect and magistrate repeatedly came to calm and pacify us. They would fix a date and only when they received permission did they dare to enter this territory." Alongside the christians, the region was of course a natural refuge for bandits. Bandits seemed to increase dramatically between 1894-1899 and these bands were coming well armed and dared to raid villages during daylight. Even casualties were beginning to increase, it was said during one raid, 7 people were killed in a single village. Highway robbery was particularly popular in the area. Theft was often directed at the wealthy, the kidnapping of members of rich families, the ordinary peasants did not suffer from this, but instead benefited, as the bandits took their riches and spent them in the poor villages. The local Qing forces were too weak and incompetent to do anything.  The isolated county of Guan was very susceptible to heterodox sects. There were countless such as the White Lotus, the Green “Qing Bang” or Red “Hong Bang” gangs, the “Huang shahui / the Yellow sand society”, the “shen-ren dao / way of the sage” and so on. Historians point out the isolation of the county, low education and weakness of the orthodox gentry to be the reason for the popularity of such sects. These very same factors would bolster certain boxing groups to fight christians. With a weak Qing state, the Christian missionaries flooded the area. French Jesuits dominated the Zhili side towns and Italian Franciscans the Shandong side towns. The French were particularly large, as stated by resident of the region “Early in the Guang-xu period, the White Lotus were active here. The county magistrate sent troops to make arrests. The French priest "Liang" told everyone, "I am a missionary. Whoever wants to join the Catholic Church raise your hand and register. I guarantee that nothing will happen to you." Several who had joined the White Lotus raised their hands and joined the church. In this way the government troops did not arrest them.” The town of Liyuantun saw its first congregation come about in a similar fashion. In the wake of the Song Jingshi uprising, a former rebel was arrested. A secret christian in Liyuantun convinced the man’s family to join the church and appeal the for the mans release. That is just what they did and taking upon their example, many others followed suit. Soon there was some 20 catholic families mostly from the Wang family. Now while I call Liyuantun a “small town” it was fairly large. It held 300 households, had a marketplace attracting business. It was what we call a multiple surname town: 40% of the households were Yans; 20% Wangs: 10% Gaos and so on. Kinship had a special role in the town, as it did in most towns in China. Liyuantun was really no different than the rest of the towns in the north China plain; her residents had mud walled and thatch roofed homes. The people supported themselves farming, spinning, weaving and peddling. The farmers planted what, sorghum, millet and cotton, the soil was fairly fertile compared to the surrounded towns. With a bit better soil came some social differentiation within the town. The wealthiest family owned about 300 out of 4000 mu of land, 6 others households had around 80mu each. Some of the larger landholders rented out land, but it was far more common to just hire laborers. There were countless landless households, most of whom were hired as laborers. Some owned only 3 to 4 mu of land supplementing their farm income from secondary occupations, like weaving and peddling. The entire dynamic of the town allowed for some gentry types, and they commanded influence above the county level of governance, though their town was still very isolated. Now in the middle of Liyuantun, stood a pair of small worn out buildings which once housed a temple dedicated to Yu-huang miao, the Jade Emperor. It was alongside a little school. The temple was said to go back to 1861 and during the rebels it took damage and was left in disrepair. Meanwhile by 1869 christians were increasing and it was decided the Christian and non-christians should divide the temple property and its associated lands, around 38 mu worth. An agreement was made between neighborhood leaders, the christians and the local constable stating the Christians would receive the temple property of 3.91 mu and the 38mu of farmland would be divided into three sections for the christians. This as you can guess was extremely unpopular and many of the neighborhood leaders who signed the agreement would dispute it later. Now the key issue was the right to the buildings which houses the temple to the Jade emperor, the highest god in the pantheon. In 1873 and 1881 the magistrate of Guan, Han Guangding enforced temporary settlements, trying to push the Christians to buy another site. But the missionaries did not want to give up the location and demanded the original deal be met. In 1887 a Franciscan showed up carrying bricks and tiles, attempting to dismantle the temple and turn it into a church. But as he began to do so, two gentry types, Liu Chang-an and Zuo Jianxun led a mob of very pissed off villagers to drive off the christians who were trying to evict their temple to the jade emperor. Magistrate He Shizhen tried to remedy the situation with another temporary agreement. He Shizhen was devoted to confucianism, and quite loved by the people for he was notably not corrupt. He Shizhen personally went to Liyuantun and confirmed the mob was roused by the two gentry types who were punished, but he also made sure to take down the bricks and tiles the Franciscan had put up.  The issue with the temple never went away, other magistrates were unable to resolve the matter. He Shizhen would come back to try and make a more permanent arraignment and got the christians to agree to accept an alternative location for their church. Liu Chang-an agreed to purchase another site for said church to be constructed. He Shizhen and a new magistrate added 100 taels of their own money to be put towards the churches construction. And it seemed to all the issue was finally resolved.  To the Italian and French missionaries however, they refused this resolution. They claimed the chinese christian villagers were not qualified to agree to such a settlement and only they could. He Shizhen argued the dispute was between two chinese parties in Liyuantun and so a stand off began that spanned a few years. He Shizhen stood his ground, and refused to meet with the foreign missionaries, so the non christians held possession for the temple. Then in 1892, the French minister to Beijing applied pressure to the court who applied pressure to the local officials who applied pressure to the villagers. The French protest brought upon a predictable verdict, the temple was to be given to the Christians. He Shizhen donated 200 taels and 1000 cash for the construction of a new temple at a different location, but the Christians said it was a no go. The Christians complained about the meddling of officials and this escalated the situation. It seems a bit of revenge was on the menu, for a unknown person apparently invited a Daoist priest named Wei He-yi from Linqing into the picture. Wei He-yi happened to have an armed local militia whose leader was Zuo Jianxun, it always comes full circle doesn't it. The militia came over to defend the temple and things quickly got out of hand. The local Qing officials responded quickly sending the Daotai of the area alongside a group of other Qing authorities, the Dongchang prefect, Lingqing subprefect, magistrates of the surrounding Zhili counties of Qinghe, Quzhou and Wei alongside He Shizhen to meet the mob. The Qing officials told them they needed to preserve the peace and eventually persuaded them to disperse. The christians were allowed to come to the site, and it seemed they had won the day. Now this entire time, it was the gentry leading the charge against the Christians. They went through the appropriate means, they pressed their complaints to the prefectures, then to the provincial capital and all of this was quite expensive to do. A few of the gentry were very vigilant in their efforts and this earned them jail time. Several lost property because of the expenses. Liu Chang-an was stripped of his degree. By 1892 it was clear these gentry, despite some holding degrees, having money, land or influence could not challenge the missionaries. When the Qing authorities came in force in 1892 it signaled to them no further protests would be allowed, the gentry bent the knee. The gentry had thus given up the cause, but the struggle was passed to a younger and more volatile group.  Once the Christians got back the rights to the temple site they immediately went to work building a church. They soon found themselves under attack from a group of poor, young peasants known as “shi-ba kui / the 18 chiefs”. One story goes, the Christians were forced to fortify the church and hid inside as they were met with rocks and gunfire. The mob stormed the church and assaulted several of the Christians inside. The christians fled to the missionaries residence over in Wucheng and for a long time did not dare leave the residence. Another stand off occurred where upon if either side tried to build upon the temple location the other side would intervene and tear it down. The prefect of Dongchang, Hong Yongzhou ordered both sides to stop constructing anything and to agree to a new settlement.  These so called 18 Chiefs seem to represent the chiefs of the 18 surrounding villages, basically militia leaders. However oral tradition has it that they were all in fact young residents of Liyuantun, mostly poor peasants who simply took on the task of protecting the temple. Their leaders included Yan Shuqin, martial artists of the “Hong-quan” Red Boxing school and Gao Yuanxiang, known to the locals as “Gao Xiaomazi” Pockmarked Gao. Yan Shuqin owned around 5 mu of land and supplementing his incoming by peddling and spinning cotton. He had two brothers who were part of the 18 chiefs who worked as farm hands. Gao Yuanxiang had around 10 mu of land and made side money milling and reselling grain. The largest land owner out of the lot was Yan Mingjian with over 100 mu of land. 3 other chiefs were completely landless, most peddling to subsidize their income.  The missionaries saw the 18 chiefs as nothing more than some impoverished thugs, pushed into the situation by the gentry who had failed. However the 18 chiefs would prove to be a resilient group, take Gao Yuanxiang who spent 2 years in prison beginning in 1895 but carried the fight on. The 18 chiefs knew they could not hold back the Christians forever, they were a small and isolated force, so they turned to a man they thought could help them out named Zhao Sanduo. Zhao Sanduo lived 5kms southwest in Shaliuzhai a large village with 300 households in Wei county. He was a notable martial artist, who also went by the name Zaho Luozhu. He taught Plum Flower Boxing, a martial art going back to the early 17th century. Feng Keshan back during the eight trigrams uprising taught Plum Flower boxing.  Plum Flower Boxing was for self protecting, utilizing physical and spiritual exercise. There was little to no religious aspect in this martial art, except for some bowing to Sun Wukong or Shaseng. The prefect of Dongchang described Plum flower boxing as  “In the districts along the Zhili-Shandong border, the people are sturdy and enjoy the martial arts. Many of them practice the arts of boxing to protect themselves and their families, and to look out for each other. Great numbers practice [boxing] and it has spread widely. In Henan, Shanxi and Jiangsu there are also those who teach it, so that its name is widely known. Each year in the second or third [lunar] month there are fairs, and the boxers use this opportunity to gather and compare their techniques. They call this "liang-quan" ("showing off their boxing"). Thus in the countryside they are regarded as plum boxing meetings.” The plum flower boxer often practiced on market days and would often stage shows. Zhao Sanduo had roughly 2000 students, many of whom were employed as Yamen runners, giving him quite a advantage when dealing with disputes with Qing authorities. It is said Zhao may have had up to 400 mu of land and ran his own store, but countless accounts also claim he was a poor peasant with a meager 10 mu of land. When dealing with oral traditional history its always hard to feel out what is true and what is fable. Regardless Zhao was noted to be a very generous man and would use his considerable influence to right wrongs, particularly when it came to christian meddling.  The 18 chiefs pleaded for Zhao’s help and at first he rejected them, not wanting to get involved, but somehow they twisted his arm. In april of 1897 the Christians yet again tried to bring their materials over to build upon the temple site. At the same time, Zhao had staged a major plum flower boxing exhibition in Liyuantun. It seems Zhao was just making a show of force, but soon violence broke out. Yet again the Christians hid in their church construction, then on april 27th, somewhere between 500-2000 men stormed the site and occupied it. The Christians attempted a counter attack which resulted in a single fatality and many injuries. The church was destroyed, the Christians had their homes looted and all of them fled. Upon receiving the news of the incident, He Shizhen sympathized with the non christians and the Governor of Shandong, Li Bingheng tried to prevent foreign intervention. By the fall of 1897 the Qing authorities endorsed a new settlement which gave a major victory to the non christians and their boxer allies. The Qing officials sought to buy the Christians a new site and supply all the supplies for their new church, while the old temple site would be used as a charitable school for all villagers. However in truth they sought to rebuild the old temple and even put on a grand celebration to commemorate it.  It seemed a grand victory, but it was to be short-lived as the Juye incident came about. The Germans seized Jiaozhou, Li Bingheng was demoted and now the Christians overwhelmingly had the upper hand. Imperial edicts were being frantically tossed around demanding all incidents to be avoided at all costs, while the missionaries pressed for revenge. The Italian bishop rejected the 1897 settlement and demanded the Qing officials get rid of the old temple and return the site to the christians. In the meantime Zhao Sanduo was joined by a man named Yao Wenqi, a native of Guanging, Zhili. Yao had been teaching boxing in the town of Liushangu, southwest of Liyuantun. Yao was senior to Zhao in the Plum Flower boxing school, thus his boxing teacher or Senpai as the Japanese would say. Yao radicalized the scene, by introducing some new recruits who were notorious for anti-manchu activities. Many of Zhao’s students pleaded with him “Do not listen to Yao, he is ambitious! Don’t make trouble. Since our patriarch began teaching in the late Ming and early Qing there have been 16 or 17 generations. The civil adherents read books and cure illness, the martial artists practice boxing and strengthen their bodies. None has spoken of causing disturbances”. Zhao headed the advice at first, but it seemed he could not break away from the anti-christian followers amongst the ranks. In early 1898 the Qing authorities threatened to arrest any of the Plum Flower boxers if they dared to assemble. The leaders of the Plum Flower Boxers who did not share the anti-christian stance advised Zhao and the others to leave, and he did. Zhao left with many followers and they took on a new name, Yihequan.  The translation of Yihequan is something along the lines as “the righteous and harmonious fists” or “boxers / fists united in righteousness'. The Yihequan of Guan county were united in righteous indignation over the Christian encroachment on the Liyuantun temple. This was not exactly a new thing, there were many Yihe organizations historically we have already covered. In the 1860s there were Yihe militias in southern Zhili fighting off the Nian rebels. In Wei county there were 3 different militias the Zhi he tuan “militia united in purpose”; Pei-yi tuan “militia worthy of righteousness; and the Yihe tuan “militia united in righteousness”. These three militias disbanded in the early 1870’s, but were resurrected in 1896 because of the explosion in banditry. Interesting to note, the Yihe tuan were led by Zhao Laoguang, a cousin of Zhao Sanduo. Such Yihe boxer groups formed a coalition against the Christians. The most radical of them were aggressive members of the 18 chiefs of Liyuantun, under the leadership of “Big Sword” Yan Shuqin. Then there were aggressive members of the Plum flower boxers like Yao Wenqi. Zhao Sanduo had a fairly large network of friends spanning militia leaders and gentry class. Thus for the Qing government it was quite frustrating, as when they tried to crack down on certain groups, these groups suddenly were being aided by others and well hidden. It was a true Boxer coalition. The French demanded the dismissal of the popular magistrate, He Shizhen, who they saw as an obstacle and by early 1898 they got their way. He was replaced by Cao Ti who said as he entered the area “boxers were seen everywhere, wearing short jackets and knives, they filled the streets and alleys. Everywhere one looked, one saw their disorderly appearance”. Christians were fleeing Liyuantun in fear, thus Cao Ti's first task was to ease the tense situation. Cao Ti began with an investigation of the Boxer groups and learned that Zhao Sanduo was the key leader. He began systematically shaking down Boxer leaders trying to get Zhao to come forward, but he would not come out of the shadows. The Boxers in general were in hiding as Qing forces were building up a presence in the area. By February of 1898, prefect Hong Yongzhou took charge of the situation. On February 28th, Hong Yongzhou accused Yan Shuqin to be the murderer of a local Christian killed in the spring time. Hong went into Liyuantun and occupied the town with Qing forces, ushering the Christians to come claim the temple. While this solved the temple issue, it did not solve the Boxer issue as they were now gathering in local villages. Hong Yongzhou knew he needed to take out Zhao Sanduo, so he managed to convince local militia leaders he would provide Zhao safety if he would meet with him in Ganji. Zhao finally came over and Hong had this to say about their meeting  "I instructed the boxer leader Zhao San-duo very clearly, and showed him that for his best interest the Plum Boxers must be dispersed, and if they ever assembled again he would be prosecuted. I said to the man ‘ Your family is said to be well off and your sons and grandsons already established. Why have you not sought to protect yourself and your family, and have instead loosed your disciples to cause trouble, even committing murder and arson? Why do you let yourself be the puppet of others?" To all of this Zhao confessed his organization was infiltrated by some unruly men as a result of what was occurring at Liyuantun, but the Christians labeled him a criminal chieftain so he had to keep his boxers together for self protection. The Qing officials all agreed to offer him protection if he would disband the boxers. The Qing officials went with Zhao to his home in Shaliuzhai and got him to official disperse his boxers. However the Boxer coalition was vast and by no means was Zhao telling them to stop going to work for all. In Liyuantun in April, a notice suddenly appearance on the examination hall reading this “The patriots of all the provinces, seeing that the men of the West transgress all limits [literally: over-reach Heaven] in their behavior, have decided to assemble on the 15th day of the fourth moon and to kill the Westerners and burn their houses. Those whose hearts are not in accord with us are scoundrels and women of bad character. Those who read this placard and fail to spread the news deserve the same characterization. Enough. No more words are needed.” So yeah it was clear there were still a lot of angry boxers. The Qing officials attempted a new approach, they tried to recruit the peaceful boxers into militias. The First Sino-Japanese War had greatly diminished Qing authority in the region and such groups were necessary to restore law and order. Governor Zhang Ru-Mei began recruiting them with the primary intent to combat banditry and it looked extremely successful. As Zhang reported to the court in May “I have already sent deputies to the various localities to work together with the local officials to clean up the bao-jia [registers] and establish rural militia (xiang-tuan). Originally I wished to clear up the sources of banditry, but these can also be used to mediate between the people and the Christian converts. ” Zhang and other Qing officials were not naive, they knew many of the boxers in the militias would not be neutral when it came to Christian disputes. This led Zhang to make a rathe controversial recommendation on June 30th “If we allow them [the boxers] to establish private associations on their own authority, and officials take no notice, not only will foreigners have an excuse [to protest], but in time it could become a source of trouble. Northerners are customarily willful. Their bravery and fierceness in struggle are an established custom. The techniques of these boxers, and their system of masters and disciples have had some success in protecting the countryside and capturing bandits. We should instruct the local officials to order the gentry and people to transform these private associations into public undertakings, and change the boxing braves into people's militia. This would conform to public opinion and make them easier to control, and it would seem that both people and converts would benefit greatly” Come fall, rumors spread that the Qing officials were going to crack down and arrest more people. Qing soldiers in Linqing crossed the border into Zhili and began searching for anti christian biligerants in Shaliuzhai. This began an uproar and Yao Wenqi alongside the 18 chiefs took Zhao Sanduo and his entire family hostage and forced him to push the coalition to attack.  Boxers began to gather in hundreds along the border area of Zhili-Shandong. Boxers from Shaliuzhai marched north, assaulting Christians and destroying a few homes in some villages northwest of Liyuantun. Over the course of a few days bands of boxers passed through Hongtaoyuan which held a large christian population. There they destroyed a church and several houses. Rumors began to spread that the boxers were going to rescue Yan Shuqins brother and members of the 18 chiefs from jail. 50 horses were borrowed from supporters which the boxers mounted with large flags bearing what would become the famous slogan of the boxer movement ‘Fu Qing mie-yang / support the Qing, destroy the foreigners”. This was the first known appearance of the slogan and the Qing reacted with force. Qing forces were brought over from Linqing in Shandong and Daming in Zhili. The governor of Zhili, the magistrates of Qiu, Wei and Guan alongside other Qing officials quote “ordered the militia heads and gentry directors (shen-dong) of the three counties to go forward to enlighten the people to sincerity and public spiritedness, and to make them aware of the pros and cons. They strenuously reasoned with the boxers. Zhao Luo-zhu [i.e., Zhao San-duo] then publicly kowtowed to Yao Luo-qi [i.e., Yao Wen-qi] and the boxer crowd, and asked them to disperse and return to their homes. The boxers were deeply repentant and on October 31 and November 1 they dispersed in small groups and returned home.” The springtime dispersal of the boxers would have earned the Qing a summer of peace, but as the Boxers headed back to their homes, some passed through Hongtaoyuan. It is said the Christians there tossed insults at the boxers, prompting Yao Wenqi and some more hot headed types to seek revenge. On November 3rd, 80 boxers assaulted the Christian community of Hongtaoyuan, burning down a church and seven houses killing perhaps 3 christians. After this they advanced upon some other Christian villages in Wei county, but French missionaries had been organizing a militia 477 men strong. So the boxers instead attacked the nearby village of Disankou where they burned and looted more Christian homes. The next day saw Qing troops attack the boxers at Houwei village, where 4 were killed and 19 were arrested including Yao Wenqi. Yao Wenqi was beheaded the next day in Hongtaoyuan.  Peace was thus restored to the 18 villages and as late as November of 1899 a Protestant missionary reported “a cordial welcome in Liyuantun”. The long struggle over Liyuantun had seemingly come to an end, or had it?  I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. The Yihequan, Boxers of the righteous and harmonious fists had risen to face off against the Christian menace plaguing China. The christians retaliated heavily and seemingly have quelled the boxers, but for how long would such a peace last?