Chapter 5 Chapter 4 The Vulnerable Boxer and the Seven Kingdoms Motley Fool

The most hateful tragedy in modern Chinese history is that our capital was occupied by enemy countries three times in a century.During the occupation period, the cruelty of the enemy's rape, robbery and burning was also rarely seen in the history of world civilization. The first of these three times was when the "British-French Allied Forces" broke through Beijing in 1860 and burned the Old Summer Palace, the "Oriental Versailles," to ashes.But this national humiliation has little lesson for the Manchu rulers.At that time, less than 20,000 foreign soldiers invaded, and within the Forbidden City of Beijing, there were more than 9,000 majestic palaces.In addition to the Old Summer Palace, the Summer Palace, and the Dongling and Xiling, the property managed by the Royal Household Office alone is enough for these foreign robbers to move.At that time, Zhongtuan did not have a railway to Haikou.In addition, the princely mansions of high-ranking officials and nobles in Beijing and Tianjin, and the huge shops and mansions of tens of thousands of wealthy businessmen.Tens of thousands of small robbers rushed in once, and they all came back with a full load, exhausted to death, and they couldn't move the several gold warehouses and silver warehouses of the "Tianchao".

The most deplorable thing is that there are some Manchu nobles, but they think that the invasion of the British and French allied forces is a blessing in disguise for the Qing Dynasty.why?Because in China's 3,000-year history of imperial autocracy, the fall of the capital meant either the country was subjugated or the dynasty was changed.How can it be like the British and French allied forces captured the capital, only signed a few "documents" in the end, and retreated quickly! ——How can there be such an easy thing in history? Furthermore, after signing a few documents, not only the barbarians were completely withdrawn, but also the "British Barbarians" could still be loyal to the imperial court, and sent General Gordon to China to train the "Ever Victory Army" to help suppress the "thieves" and eliminate the rebellion. ——How can there be such a cheap thing in the world?

Friends, in your opinion, the series of "Beijing Treaty" signed by the Qing court after the British and French allied forces, how humiliating and humiliating the country? ——Under the protection of these treaties, the British opened up the Chinese mainland market, and "openly and legally sold opium" in large quantities across the country, making a fortune in drugs!The Russians also took our Eastern Seaboard Province (including Vladivostok) and the whole of Siberia east of the Xing'an Mountains!This piece of land is almost as large as the eighteen provinces south of our Great Wall!

But these losses are too far away for the noble concubine Yi who enjoyed the deep palace at that time, and the two little queen mothers who later "listen to the government behind the curtain", so what's the matter? So this is the first time the capital has fallen, and there is not much lesson for these Manchu nobles.On the contrary, they took it lightly, thinking that the result of the fall of Beijing was nothing more than that. In the modern history of China, the third fall of our capital was the "Nanjing Massacre" that happened in the winter of 1937.After the Japanese army broke through our capital Nanjing on December 13, 2009, the invading Japanese army slaughtered more than 300,000 soldiers and civilians in one fell swoop.Unexpectedly, when their blood was gone, a group of traitors led by Wang Jingwei actually started "returning the capital" to make amity between China and Japan.For the next fifty years, in order to curry favor with the Japanese chaebols, the governments of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party did not sacrifice a single day to my martyrs who died in those days—what kind of heart is it?It will be discussed in detail in a special article later.

In the year of Gengzi (1900), the capital fell, which was the second time out of three times. The so-called Eight-Power Allied Forces entered Beijing. These eight imperialists are competing for the fat sheep of China, and they are at war with each other, and they are not willing to give in to each other; but this time they are able to cooperate with each other and jointly send troops to attack Beijing. provoked.The saying goes: "The country must conquer itself, and then others will conquer it." This national humiliation is the result of a very standard self-defeating by the people of the country.How we "cut ourselves down" has been discussed in detail in the previous chapter.In this article, let’s take a look at the tragedy of our “cutting down”.

It turned out that when the Boxers gradually moved northward from Shandong in the spring of 1900, the embassies of the great powers in Beijing's Dongjiaomin Lane were already tense.The envoys of major powers such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, France, and Japan to China have asked the governments of various countries and their navies stationed in China to send troops for protection. According to the international practice at that time (and even today), the security of the embassy or consulate should be the responsibility of the government of the host country.The embassies of 11 countries living in Beijing's Dongjiaomin Lane should be protected by the Chinese government's military and police.However, when there was chaos, foreign envoys lost confidence in the Chinese government. ——Looking back today, we really can't blame them heavily for this.We are indeed too backward and too barbaric, that is why foreigners lose confidence in us.Didn’t you see that Secretary Sugiyama of Japan and Minister Klinder of Germany mentioned in the previous article both died on the streets?

Since the foreign envoys had no hope of Qing protection, their sailors stationed in Tianjin were ordered to go to Beijing to serve as guards.According to international law, foreign sailors sent to Beijing to defend embassies violated China's sovereignty. Therefore, Xu Yongyi, Lian Yuan and others in charge of the Chinese Prime Minister's Office went to protest in person at embassies of various countries (see US State Department archives).But Xu, Lian and others couldn't even keep their heads. How can we blame foreigners for not trusting them? ——It is said that a British minister went to the prime minister's office to negotiate in person, and one of the two or three ministers who received him might be too fat and old, and the weather was so hot that he actually started snoring during the meeting.The British Minister once cited it as a great insult.However, after several discussions, the Prime Minister's Yamen finally agreed that the ministers of various countries could bring their own security guards, but each country was limited to 30 people.

Now that the Chinese government has made concessions, the sailors of various countries in Tianjin are ready to go to Beijing-their own agreement is to send 100 sailors each.However, there are too many sailors in Tianjin, and the Russians can only send seventy-nine sailors, but they also agree that the maximum amount is limited to seventy-nine sailors.The number of people sent to Beijing from the eight countries is as follows: 79 from the United Kingdom, 79 from Russia, 75 from France, and 53 from the United States.Thirty-nine from Italy; twenty-four from Japan. The guards from the above six countries entered Beijing by train on May 31.Fifty-one German sailors and thirty-two Austro-Hungarian soldiers arrived in Beijing on June 3.Plus nineteen officers.So when the embassy was besieged, there were 451 armed guards from all countries.Among them, two officers and 41 sailors were sent to guard Beishiku Church.The rest of the people are all armed to defend the embassy area.Among them, the British, American, Austrian and Italian teams each carried a heavy machine gun. ——The strength of the Dongjiaominxiang Guard, which had more than 400 "breech-loading steel guns" and four heavy machine guns, was not too small at that time.Therefore, Dong Fuxiang's local army was unable to attack repeatedly, which was also expected by Li Hongzhang.

This small guard team made up of eight countries turned out to have their own ulterior motives—especially Russia, whose ambition was not in Beijing and Tianjin, but in the Northeast.Its consistent strategy is to act as a peacemaker in Beijing, so that it can show goodwill in exchange for its plundering of Northeast China.Therefore, the seventy-nine people it sent this time brought a large amount of gunpowder, but they carried few guns and even had machine guns; and its batch of "Made in Russia" large-caliber ammunition was not applicable to the guards of other countries.The cunning Russians put on a gesture for the Mandarin, but the Mandarin (such as King Duan) knew nothing about it.

Japan and Russia were originally incompatible.Only twenty-four Japanese sailors came this time.Secretary Sugiyama Bin thought he was too young. On August 11th, he went out of the city to visit the reinforcements. He ran into the Gan army on the way, and was innocently killed. Dong Fuxiang, a big boss, and foolish Manchu relatives, how do you know that there are also many kinds of "old Maozi", "big Maozi", "Catholic" and "Christianity"?If all the "Maozi" are boiled in one pot, the Maozi residents in Dongjiaomin Lane will live and die together regardless of whether they are north or south.

Their little guard finally arrived at the right time.Less than a week after the whole team arrived in Beijing, Japanese secretary Akira Sugiyama was killed.Nine days later, German Minister Klind also died on the street.Within twenty-four hours of Ke's death, Cixi issued an edict to declare war on eleven countries; Dong Fuxiang's Gan army besieged the embassy.Without this small guard, I am afraid that the ministers of the eleven countries and their staff, as well as the thousands of "ermaozi" who took refuge in the embassy area and a hundred foreign priests, would all be massacred.As mentioned in the previous article, the Red Guards of the Boxer Regiment at that time and their leader, the Gang of Four, were irrational and unkind in their hearts and hands. When the embassy in Beijing was in a hurry, the consuls of various countries originally stationed in Tianjin and the naval generals of various countries cruising outside Dagukou also held an emergency meeting to discuss organizing a "coalition army" and send them to Beijing for reinforcements.After several discussions and approval by the governments of various countries, the eight countries finally formed a reinforcement force to be sent to Beijing.This supporting force included 915 British troops, 540 German troops, 312 Russian troops, 158 French troops, 112 American troops, 54 Japanese troops, 40 Italian troops, Twenty-five Hungarians.A total of 2,066 people.The British Navy Admiral Seymour (Admiiral Sir Edward H. Seymour) was recommended to unify the command, and on June 11, 1900, he took a train to Beijing to defend the embassy. But this mighty two barbarians were too powerful.The boxers in the four suburbs of Tianjin blocked it one after another and demolished the railway tracks.Zhili Governor and Beiyang Minister Yu Lu also ordered the Wuwei Army led by Nie Shicheng to encircle them.Nie Shicheng was originally a fierce general of the Huai Army.The Wehrmacht under his command is also an elite unit equipped with heavy machine guns.Nie Jun was extremely resentful towards the Boxers.When he was assigned to suppress the Boxer Regiment a month ago, there was a bloody record of shooting and killing 500 Boxers, and he was envied by King Duan and King Zhuang who were in power in Beijing.But this time he was ordered to stop and invade the foreign army, and he felt that he had no hesitation. ——Nie Junmen was originally a fierce man, a national defense general responsible for guarding the soil!Therefore, when the Seymour Allied Forces first set out to Yangcun in the western suburbs of Tianjin, it was surrounded by Boxers and Nie Jun.The coalition forces want to break through the encirclement, and the war is about to start. The Boxers boasted that they were "invulnerable".Nie Jun then transferred them to the front line to charge.As a result, under the enemy's machine guns, the flesh and blood were messed up.He turned around and fled, but was stopped by Nie Jun again.It is difficult to describe the tragic death of these poor villagers in the confrontation of machine guns on both sides. The boxers, the mob, were massacred, and the regular troops of the enemy and ours were engaged in hand-to-hand combat.In fact, Seymour's coalition army is also a patchwork of mixed forces.Seymour himself is an admiral who is afraid of land battles, but Nie Shicheng is a general who treats death as his own.There are no weak soldiers under a strong general, so after a fierce battle between the two sides, Seymour fell into a tight siege.There is only power to parry but no power to fight back.Difficult to advance or retreat, had no choice but to stand on the spot and wait for help. Seymour's setback alarmed the governments of the eight countries, and the navies of the great powers who were on standby outside Dagu at that time also panicked.They lost contact with the Beijing embassy after June 10.After the 14th day, Seymour did not know whether he was alive or dead; after the 16th day, all information between them and the consulate in the Tianjin Concession was cut off.After discussions with the admirals of various countries, they made their own decisions. From a purely military point of view, these foreign commanders would naturally think that they should organize a joint fleet to occupy the Dagu Fort first, and then march into Tianjin to relieve the siege of Seymour.Now that the siege of Seymour is over, they should organize a powerful coalition force and push it to Beijing, so that they can save the ministers of various countries who are dying.In fact, the subsequent movements of the Eight-Power Allied Forces followed this logic.It's just that the countries involved are suspicious of each other and want to fish in troubled waters, but dare not venture into it.It is not easy for them to form a unified organization. Our country was originally the hometown of Su Qin and Zhang Yi.At that time, if we had the powerful Su and Zhang Yu Sun, pretending to be false, to instigate them, and to combine vertically and horizontally, the Maozi's "alliance" would be difficult to realize.In desperation, the old women in Beijing at that time would only cry and make trouble when things were urgent; Queen Victoria of England, Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany... were all cursed to death.And the group of relatives and nobles "Gang of Four" surrounding the old queen is another group of reckless and cracked fools who have no modern common sense and only know how to play tricks in international casinos. Among Chinese and foreign casino heroes, there is a common gambling rule that everyone abides by, which is called "seeing adultery, gambling cunning, and not gambling".At the end of World War II, in the "sand crab" in Yalta, Stalin won the biggest victory in the Far East after the war with the last shot - the "independence" of Outer Mongolia, the lease of Lvda, the sharing of the East Railway, and the specialization of North Korea. Occupation——This is the result of Shi Mo's "gambling with adultery and cunning", but he did not "gambling against".In the "anti-rightist campaign" in 1957, Chairman Mao made a glorious, correct and great guarantee: "The speaker is innocent, and those who hear it are bound to be warned!" Get up and send to reform through labor.Some "rightists" complained that the chairman engaged in "conspiracies" and "broken his promises."Mao said this was not a conspiracy; it was an "overt conspiracy" to "lead the snake out of its hole"!This is 100% "losing and winning".Chairman Mao did not gamble with adultery or fraudulent gambling, but those who gambled badly were his old man who "sit in the bank" and gambled a lot.Although being a scoundrel on the court is despised by the heroes of the rivers and lakes.But he finally didn't "beat the pot".In the end, it took all the audience and swept away. —— Enjoy yourself too.Is it a rascal? It's a pity that during the Gengzi period, a group of relatives and noble gamblers headed by King Duan surrounded Xihou.They occupied the prime minister's office and squeezed into the international roulette field.But I don't know how to see the law. ——There is no gambling skill, no taste, and no gambling capital.I only know how to place bets and see a game blindly. At that time, our country's ministers abroad, such as Wu Tingfang in the United States, Yang Ru in Russia, Luo Fenglu in the UK, Lu Haihuan in Germany, etc., were all first-rate diplomats.However, the Prime Minister's Office (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) under the occupation of King Duan gave them no instructions.The group in power in Beijing only wanted to urge Dong Fuxiang to fire at the embassy. They are a bunch of idiots in diplomacy.Therefore, it is not the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the central government that my envoys abroad ask the government for training, but the three governors of the local government: Li Hongzhang of Guangzhou, Zhang Zhidong of Wuchang, and Liu Kunyi of Nanjing. Each has its own way.Li Hongzhang valued Russia; Liu and Zhang tended to favor Britain and Japan.In diplomacy, it is impossible to unify the command, and even if the envoys have the talents of Su and Zhang, it is in vain. Now let's look at how the eight ocean gamblers around the table place their bets. As mentioned in the previous section, they defended the embassy, ​​attacked Dagu, occupied Tianjin, and marched into Beijing, all of which were to adopt a united front.But Zhu Yi Yi Xia, their mutual interests are always in conflict.Under normal circumstances, they cannot be united.The reason why they were able to cooperate closely this time was that King Duan and King Zhuang drove the fish away from the Yuan, which was the result of their guidance. After the Dagu Fort was captured by the coalition forces on June 17, our Jingu barriers were completely withdrawn and the sea lanes were opened;After regrouping on land, the coalition forces first broke the siege of Seymour (June 23), and then made contact with the concessions of various countries, and then advanced to the outskirts of Tianjin.The boxing people scattered and the governor of Zhili, Yulu, ordered the admiral Nie Shicheng to command the former Wuwei army to resist with all their strength. Before this campaign, Shi Cheng had been discriminated against by courtiers and was "dismissed and retained".But at dawn on July 9th.When the enemy pounced on the Balitai position outside the south gate of Tianjin with strong artillery fire, bullets fell like rain.Both of Shi Cheng's legs were wounded by gunshots, and the Judu soldiers were not allowed to retreat.Song Zhanbiao, the battalion official, persuaded him to avoid it for a while, but the soldiers became "unstoppable", and continued to supervise the battle with a knife.Until both cheeks were pierced by enemy bullets, the side of the neck, forehead, etc. were seriously injured, until the inch below the navel was also pierced by shells, "intestines protruding a few inches", and finally died heroically for the country.Song Zhanbiao, the battalion officer, was also martyred along with him. (See Volume 1 of "Boxer Archives and Historical Materials", page 277.) It was extremely tragic. But the bravery of the soldiers cannot make up for the wrongs of the courtiers.The city of Tianjin finally fell on July 14th.The invading coalition forces plundered and killed people like hemp.Zhili Governor Yu Lu led some remnants of the defeated generals and retreated to Beicang.When the invading coalition forces launched another offensive, Yulu committed suicide in front of the army. Although Yulu was also a corrupt bureaucrat in the government at that time.However, he knew that it was his responsibility to defend the land, and after the defeat, he committed suicide in anger.Since ancient times, the only difficulty is death.Yulu's martyrdom is much more respectable than Tang Shengzhi who abandoned the city and fled thirty-six years later, leaving hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians alone. ——This is a later story. Since the invading coalition forces occupied Tianjin, they set up another puppet government outside the concession to collect taxes and husbands.The Chinese name of this organization is "Temporary Management of Local Affairs Inside and Outside the City of Jin County" ("Tianjin Dutong Yamen" for short), and the English name is Tientsin Provisional Government (TPG for short, the original meaning is "Tianjin Provisional Government").Tianjin used to be the four-nation concession of Britain, France, Germany, and Japan, and this interim government consisted of only members from Britain, Japan, and Russia.The absence of the United States is obviously based on its consistent policy: the United States is not a "belligerent country", so the United States should not participate in the occupation government.Outside of Germany, Guy has other plans.Because the Kaiser is asking all countries, the German is also the commander-in-chief of the coalition forces.France may also have other ideas and is unwilling to participate.In short, the coalition forces at the time were in the same bed and different dreams, and they were not the same.After they jointly captured Tianjin, they each had their own plans for how to march into Beijing.It's just that although the Boxer Regiment was vulnerable to a single blow with loud thunder and little rain, it was a mass movement after all, and it was everywhere in North China.The invasion of the eight countries dare not be taken lightly.That's why they cling to the organization of the "Allied Forces" all the time.At that time, no one country, or even the coalition forces of two or three countries, could have the confidence to attack Beijing directly. ——The "Boxers" foreigners call them boxers (boxers), because they have their mass base.this mass base.Not only did it make the old lady think that "the hearts of the people are available": it can also frighten foreigners. When the leaders of the Eight-Power Allied Forces were discussing how to march into Beijing in Tianjin, they did have great concerns in the face of this vast ocean of masses: what if this vast and boundless mass organization really wanted to attack them? "Human Sea Tactics"; come to "surrounding the city from the countryside"; Surrounding and aiding dots, crossing rivers and demolishing bridges...their mere group of foreign soldiers are indeed powerless.In addition to the hot summer, our group of Boxers who have long been accustomed to living with flies, mosquitoes, bedbugs, fleas, and mice have no immunity in the world; Every day when we encounter these small animal allies, they all vomit and have diarrhea, feel dizzy, and even lie drunk on the battlefield, unable to return to the west.... Therefore, at the staff meeting held in Tianjin for the attack on Beijing, the generals of the invading coalition forces agreed that no one would be sure of victory if they marched into Beijing without a gathering of one hundred and eighty thousand people.If they fail to win the battle, they will definitely lose their lives as hundreds of hostages trapped in Beijing. (See Volume 3 of Morse's previous book, pages 264-268, and the original documents of the countries cited.) But where can we gather such a large force?After all, they turned out to be a bunch of paper tigers too! Especially Britain, the leader of imperialism with the most ideas and worries at that time, had the most difficulty in invading other countries.At this time, in order to seize the gold mines in South Africa, Britain was fighting its "Boer War" (Boer War) with the two small colonial countries established by Dutch immigrants in the area.The Polish War was launched in the winter of 1899 and lasted for two years. It was the largest international war Britain was involved in after the Napoleonic Wars and before World War I.At the turn of the spring and summer of 1900, the extremely barbaric British Battle of Waves was unsuccessful.At that time, Churchill, who was only 25 years old, was also in the South African army, but he was captured by Boll (“Boll” means “peasant” in Dutch). "Bohr" was trapped; when they marched into Beijing, there were several million more Bohrs waiting for them. Therefore, Britain's invasion of China at this time was also in a hurry. It got rid of the four companies of artillery that barely showed the regular army and came to China. In addition, there are no more soldiers to adjust. The force to invade China depends entirely on the "red-headed assan" (Sikh soldiers) it trained in the Indian colonies, and the few Chinese mercenaries (puppet troops) it trained in Weihaiwei up. The United States has no heart to fight.It was Minister Conger who called for help when the U.S. military finally joined the group, and the U.S. did not have many troops to deploy.At this time, the war between the United States and Spain had just ended; the Philippines, which President McKinley had inadvertently acquired a hot potato, was in a hurry and did not know how to deal with it!In terms of China, it is better to do less than to do more.But Kang was trapped in Beijing, and his life was dying, so how could he sit idly by: the United States had reluctantly joined in the invasion of Beijing. As mentioned earlier, Germany and Italy were originally rising stars of imperialism in the nineteenth century.Germany, in particular, has unlimited ambitions and vicious tactics, but after all, he is a novice; it is not easy to be caught between the old players and to catch up from behind.This time in Tianjin, its idea is to lead a strong force and rank first among the bandits.Otherwise, just don't participate, waiting for a strong backup. ——It doesn't want to be like Italy: no soldiers to go out, only a few dozen small soldiers, carrying a big banner, following the heroes of the powerful, pretending to be tigers, to show their existence. ——Germany does not want to imitate the country, so it was actually only the "Seven-Nation Alliance" that broke through Beijing in the Gengzi Year. The commander of the Allied forces, Count von Waldersee, led 7,000 German troops in a hurry only two months and three days (October 17) after the seven-nation coalition broke through Beijing (August 14). Come to Beijing, go straight to the Forbidden City, and live in Cixi's Yiluan Palace to show off your might.At this time, the climax of the seven-nation coalition's rape, kidnapping and burning in Beijing has passed. ——Which is the turn of Sai Jinhua, the "Mrs. No. 1 Scholar" who was a prostitute in Beijing at that time, to make an ugly show?This is of course a digression. The cunning and greedy countries of France, Russia, and Japan also know very well that taking Beijing will bring them nothing but a share of gold and silver.Their real success lies within their individual "spheres of influence"—Russia is in the northeast and northwest.Law is in the southwest (the four provinces of Yunnan, Guangxi, Guizhou and Sichuan); Japan is in southern Fujian, especially Xiamen.Fishing in troubled waters in these areas, the muddier the water in China, the better.If this "alliance" takes down Beijing, then the 11 major powers headed by the United Kingdom and the United States will organize a Far East United Nations to filter this pool of water and jointly supervise this "sub-colony".Then the pickpockets stop—in fact, the diplomatic waterfowl of the United Kingdom and the United States are gliding in this direction at this time.It is the so-called "open door" policy based on the principle of "territorial integrity, sovereign independence, and equal interests". ——Those who "open the door" insist on China opening its door.Was the Qing Empire eligible to "close its doors" at that time?The open door is the old British hooligan with vested interests, using a big-armed but simple-minded American "cowboy" (cowboy) to order other new robbers and pickpockets not to allow them to draw up their sphere of influence in China. ——The next article will discuss it in detail. In short, the eight countries met in Tianjin this time to discuss the plan to march into Beijing. The United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, France and the United States all felt that their troops were insufficient.Only Japan and Russia can send troops without restrictions, and at this time, reinforcements from Japan and Russia have been pouring in.This situation, in the eyes of scheming British politicians, won't the situation be worse than the Boxers when Japan and Russia increase their troops by 100,000 and jointly occupy Beijing? ——So they decided to put it to death and survive, and took the risk of attacking Beijing without waiting for a large number of reinforcements from Japan, Russia and Germany to enter. This little "Seven Nations Allied Forces" was a paper tiger!What is hateful is that our hundreds of thousands of invulnerable Boxers are just paper lanterns wrapped in fire. ——In this way, the Allied Forces of the Seven Nations will drive straight in, and the momentum will be like a broken bamboo.Even more lamentable are our talented guerrilla experts.Liu Bocheng, Lin Biao, Mao Zedong, Vo Nguyen Giap, Ho Chi Minh... were still herding cattle and hogs at this time.They want to come out thirty years earlier, hum!I will call you barbarian soldiers from the Seven Kingdoms, and the piece of armor will not be returned! [Note] Those of us who write modern Chinese history cannot use national heroes such as Syngman Rhee, Ho Chi Minh, Vo Nguyen Giap, and Xin Guangyao.considered "alien".China has not been a pure "nation-state" since ancient times; they are not foreign immigrants like the Sanbao eunuchs "If you don't believe me, look up their genealogy"; they are orphans abandoned by the Empress Dowager Cixi.The author didn't study, so he wanted to make a biography of them in the history of the country. The above-mentioned seven-nation coalition was organized soon after they occupied Tianjin.The total number is about 18,800 people.The number of people allocated by each country and the names of commanders are as follows: Yamaguchi, commander of the Japanese army, led 8,000 officers and soldiers; 4,800 officers and soldiers of Linievitch, the commander of the Russian army; Three thousand officers and soldiers of the British commander Gaselee; Commander Chaffee of the U.S. Army has 210 officers and soldiers; Eight hundred officers and men of Frey, commander of the French army; Fifty officers and soldiers holding the Austrian flag; Fifty-three officers and soldiers holding the flag of Italy. The number of invading officers and soldiers of the above-mentioned countries was originally based on the self-reports of the commanders of each country, which is quite different from the actual number.Among the 3,000 British troops, only the four companies were British officers and soldiers from the three islands.The rest are colonial miscellaneous troops mainly composed of Indian Sikh soldiers.The main body of the French army was mercenaries (annamese tirailleurs) conscripted in Annan (now the three countries of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia).The total number of the Division of the Seven Kingdoms does not cover 16,000 people. (Historians have different opinions on the total number of the Seven Nations Allied Forces. The humble article is based on the historical materials cited in Morse, Volume 3, Chapter 10, pages 260-288. In contrast, Jue Mo’s It is more honest.) In this large platter of international armed forces, no one will obey anyone.So they don't have a commander in chief.Everyone meets and fights.The army heads took up good positions on both sides of the canal; to the north, they attacked the Qing army's defenses separately.In the early morning of August 5th, with the sound of a cannon, the invading coalition forces, fighting independently, began to attack. At this time, Nie Shicheng, the only general on the Chinese side, was dead.The Wuwei Army was led by Ma Yukun and Song Qing.Both Ma and Song were corrupt old-fashioned officers in the Qing army and defeated generals in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, fearing the Japanese army like tigers.What's more, after the 8,000 Japanese troops this time, there are tens of thousands of red-haired and yellow-haired troops!Therefore, as soon as the two sides came into contact, the Qing army was in chaos and collapsed out of control.The defeated army and the boxers took the opportunity to plunder.Although the invading coalition army was not a powerful force, the defense army was too poor. Compared with the two, they rushed to the north and showed their prowess.Qing Fangma and Song generals fled.Yu Lu, who felt responsible for defending the land, committed suicide in the midst of the rebellion.In a few days, the invading coalition forces occupied Tongzhou.There is no need to describe the tragedy of rape, robbery, burning and killing along the way. In this battle against the Allied Forces of the Seven Nations, which lasted less than two weeks, the Qing court could be said to be extremely useless.Among this group of wretches, it is worth mentioning that the instigator in Shandong was Li Bingheng, who attempted to organize the Boxer Regiment. Li Bingjie (1830-1900), No. Jiantang, was born in Haicheng, Fengtian (now Liaoning), and was a small fellow of Zhang Zuolin.In the early years, he worked as a small official in the local government of the Qing Dynasty.But this person is very honest and upright and brave to do things.It was once praised by the Qing Dynasty.During the Sino-French war in 1885, he acted as the governor of Guangxi and cooperated with Feng Zicai to win a small victory in the "Victory of Lang Son", which was praised by many scholars.Before the Caozhou teaching case in 1897, Li was the governor of Shandong and was promoted to the governor of Sichuan.Because the teaching plan was opposed by Germany, he went to "supervise the training of the Yangtze River Navy".It has already been explained in the previous article. According to Yu Xian, he and "Jian Shuai" started the Boxer Rebellion. ——Arguing from the standpoint of absolute impartiality of historians, what is wrong with a local official who governs the happiness of the local people for his own responsibility and puts official restrictions on the civil self-defense association parties and teams everywhere at that time, and puts them on the right track? Let’s try two Isn’t that the case for both the KMT and the Communist Party, especially the Communist Party, in the middle of the tenth century?Zhu De, He Long, Liu Bocheng...not all came from gangs. As for Sun Yat-sen from the Hong Gang, Chen Yingshi and Chiang Kai-shek from the Green Gang; Yihequan is a chaotic and superstitious civil society party with the largest mass base. "Jian Shuai" wants to organize them in an orderly manner, what's wrong, unfortunately the time has not yet come; that rotten court does not have the conditions to organize the masses.Not to mention that there is no academic reason to follow, and the group movement will be derailed. ——My friend, if they were born a few decades later, they would be the "Communist Party" and the "Vietnamese Communist Party"!With a new type of organization, the group of bumpkins of the Viet Cong can defeat the French emperors to surrender en masse and the American emperors to flee. ——The tragedy of Li Bingheng is that the times have not yet come, and he is a victim of the times. In the summer of Gengzi, Tianjin fell.The Queen of the West panicked, so she dispatched King Qin's division to the southeastern provinces.At this time, the three governors of the southeast thought that the old woman was to blame for herself and did nothing about it.But at this time, Li Bingheng, an upright Dongbei guy who was in the "Yangtze River Supervision and Training Navy", couldn't help it.He thinks he wants to "be diligent"; if he fails to be a diligent king, he should die! Bingheng originally participated in the "Southeast Mutual Insurance" in the Yangtze River Basin.At this last juncture, you can live in South China and protect yourself.But at this time, regardless of his own safety, he went north alone.When the soldiers approached the city, there was no mastermind in the court, and the empress dowager's relatives and nobles were in chaos, Bingheng suddenly appeared, really a bright light in the darkness.Later, Chinese and foreign historians regarded Li Bingheng as a die-hard fighter.In fact, the Li family is not as confused as Duan Wang and Zhuang Wang.He knew that it would be difficult for China to fight against the division of the Eight Kingdoms.But weighing the combat capabilities of both sides at that time, when he met with the Queen Mother on July 26, he believed that "only when there is a war can there be peace."He advocated "reining in the Boxers with the Ministry of War" and blocking foreign soldiers from entering Beijing, so that peace can be made. (See "The Changes of the Gengzi Kingdom" - Li Bingheng is overly confident. If he can really "strangle the righteous people with the Ministry of War", he is the Communist Party. The emergence of the Communist Party in his time was too much It's too late. But Bingheng's words are reasonable; the art of war is credible. The old lady was overjoyed when she heard it. She assigned a few useless military guards in the suburbs of Beijing to Bingheng to command, and rushed to Tianjin to block the coalition forces. Who knows that he hit the stone with an egg , The army was defeated until Tongzhou was defeated. He witnessed the situation of the Qing army in chaos without fighting, so angry that he decided to die. Before Bingheng committed suicide in Zhangjiawan, Tongzhou on August 11, he left a suicide note saying: "Tens of thousands of troops filled the Taoist priests, and only witnessed it for a few days. There was no real battle." "I have experienced many wars and fires, and I have never seen it before." He felt that "he should bear the court and the people, and there is no escape. If he steals his life again, he really has no heart." Six four six.) Li Bingheng was the coach of the Qing army in the Anti-Japanese War at that time.After defeating Tongzhou, he could have surrendered to Beijing; if Beijing was not defended, he could still escort him westward.But he is a man, the situation of the war is like this, he has no face to endure humiliation and survive, willing to be defeated.He chose the act of the coach committing suicide before the battle, at least leaving some bones for us Chinese men! Li Bingheng is one of the very few national heroes in the modern history of our country, the enemy is at present and the inevitable. "Send a message to passers-by not to cover your nose, the fragrance of the living is not as good as that of the dead!" Bingheng should be famous in history!Foreigners later listed him as a "war criminal"; we historians should recognize him as a national hero. According to the system and official rank, Bingheng was the head coach of the frontline Qing army and the soul of the anti-Japanese soldiers.When the coach dies, his soul is lost.The army was defeated like a mountain, and the majestic thousand-year-old capital once again fell into the enemy's hands. As mentioned in the previous section, the Allied Forces of the Seven Nations attacked Beijing by holding meetings and fighting.They had their first strategy meeting in Tianjin.According to the resolution of the first meeting, the second meeting was held in Tongzhou.They broke through Tongzhou on August 12, raped, kidnapped, burned and killed for a day, and also held a meeting.The resolution allocated the positions of the various armies to attack jointly, and the occupied areas of the invading armies inside and outside Beijing after they invaded Beijing. ——But when the children's treasures are present, the one who enters the customs first is the king.In the middle of the night on the thirteenth, there was a scandal involving generals fighting for merit.Especially the Russian army wanted to enter the city first.Unexpectedly, they underestimated the height of the Beijing city wall and failed to climb it repeatedly; but the British army who came later climbed in through the water gate and took the "first achievement". (see ibid.) On August 14th of the Gengzi Year (July 20th in the lunar calendar), the Allied Forces of the Seven Nations broke through Beijing. It was a bloody catastrophe for Beijing citizens, especially women.The most hateful thing is that when the invading coalition forces approached Beijing, the Manchu relatives Zai Yi, Zai Xun and others of the local warlords closed the nine gates tightly, preventing the residents in the city from fleeing and evacuating to the surrounding suburbs.Once the foreign soldiers entered the city, it was the women in Beijing who suffered the most.In the patriarchal era where "dishonestity was a big deal", if a woman was defiled by thieves, her life would be worse than death.So once the foreign soldiers entered the city, they found several female corpses in each well.As for those who hang on the beam and take poison, they have no household.Among them, the calamity of Xu Tong's extermination of his family, although it is only one case, can be seen in others. University scholar Xu Tong was originally an old Jinshi who advocated helping the Qing Dynasty and destroying foreigners.When foreigners invaded Beijing, he committed suicide knowing that it was inevitable.His son Xu Chengyu, the left servant of the Ministry of Punishment, is the supervisor and beheader of Xihou's murderer and five ministers.When Beijing fell to the enemy, he was captured by the Japanese army and handed over to the Qing for execution. (See the biography of "History of the Qing Dynasty" and other people's notes.) The death of Xu and his son can be said to be the result of a political mistake.But when the foreign soldiers entered the city, 18 women from their Xu family committed suicide collectively. ——From an old grandmother in her eighties to a girl of a few years old, and the whole family's female relatives, none of them were spared.Among them, the immature girls, young and ignorant, how could they "suicide"?They were clearly persecuted and killed by their elders.What's wrong with these little girls? ——The author holds the tube so far, stop the author again. ——遥想九十年前他们徐家遭难的现场情况，真不忍卒书。 我国历代当国者的误国，所作的孽，实在太大了。What does the husband say? 联军既占北京，分区而治。杀得人头滚滚，其后又意欲何为呢？ 义和团之起，原是激于列强的“瓜分之祸”。如今闯下了滔天大祸——八国联军占领了首都，中国已成为八国共有的一块大饼。大切八块，各分其一，应该是不可避免的必然后果呢！ 谁知大谬不然。老太后对十一国公开宣战绝交，一仗之下，被打得大败亏输，逃之夭夭。谁知又一次因祸得福。首都沦陷之后，瓜分之祸，竟随之消失。她闯下如此滔天大祸之后，竟然寸土末失。最后只赔了银子了事，不能不说是外交上的一个奇迹！ 至于这项奇迹究竟是怎样造成的，那就说来话长了。 历来我国治拳乱史者，甚少涉及外交；而专攻外交史者，亦不愿钻研拳乱。殊不知拳乱始于瓜分（所请“势力范围”也）；而瓜分之祸亦终于拳乱。岂不怪哉？拙篇原非外交史，本想一笔带过，然其中错综复杂的关系也波及内政；治政治史少掉这一外事专章，政治史就不是全貌了。读者如不惮烦，下篇再把这场国际“沙蟹”，分析一番，以就教于高明。 * 原载于台北《传记文学》第六十二卷第三期