Chapter 21 Chapter 21 Yu’s father and daughter generously sacrificed their lives

Zhang San shouted: "Oh, it turned out to be Cunyi, come in quickly." The person who came was "Single-handed Li" Li Cunyi. hurt.But Li Cunyi sat down on the kang and said angrily: "Qingyan is really abominable. They sent people to erect a wooden sign on Beiyuhe Bridge early this morning: "Follow Yi's order and protect the embassy"; that old thief Cixi has ordered to stop the embassy." Attacking the embassy, ​​the Boxers are being transferred away from the front line of Dongjiaomin Lane; Rong Lu also gave orders to the Qing soldiers not to attack violently; the Minister of the General Administration, Prince Qing Yikuang, also sent letters to the ministers of various countries; And then shot at the embassies of various countries... We were betrayed!" Weeping as he spoke.

Zhang San asked, "What's going on with the fifth brother Wang?" Li Cunyi said, "I just heard from Yang Banhou that more than 10,000 Boxers and many Qing soldiers surrounded the Xishiku Church. It has not been captured for a long time..." Zhang Sandao: "We will go there to help them." Li Cunyi nodded: "The Boxer Regiment headquarters that attacked Xishiku Church is located in Zhuanta Hutong in Xisi..." The Catholic North Church in Xi’an Gate is a tall and straight Gothic building, more than 30 meters high, higher than the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Qing Palace; the top is composed of 11 tall and straight minarets, and the upper parts of the doors and windows are decorated with pointed arches carved with white marble. shaped lace.The interior decoration of the hall is exquisite, with 361 huge pillars and 48 sets of pointed arch ribs; the front is the main altar of Jesus; there are 80 flower windows of different sizes around the hall, inlaid with colorful stained glass.There is also a chanting building for 400 people behind the lobby; there are two Chinese-style pavilions with yellow glass tile roofs, red lacquered columns, bucket arches and cornices, and painted paintings in the hall.Beitang was first built at Canchikou on the west bank of Zhonghai. In the 11th year of Guangxu, the Empress Dowager Cixi wanted to repair Zhongnanhai. She worried that the tower of Beitang located at Chikou was too high, and people could see the activities in the palace garden from the top of it, so she ordered it to be restored. For its relocation, 20 acres of the old Xishiku land of the pigeon house and 450,000 taels of silver were used as the price for the relocation.The North Church was designed by French missionaries with reference to the Notre Dame de Paris architecture, and there are paintings by the famous Italian painter Gherardini.In addition to the North Church, there are also famous Catholic churches such as the South Church on the left side of Xuanwumen, Wangfujing Bamiancao Catholic East Church, Xizhimen Catholic West Church, and Dongzhimen Inner Orthodox Church.At this time, the Beitang was the focus of the foreign missionaries. Before the Boxers entered the city, the foreign missionaries had stored a large amount of artillery, ammunition, food and vegetables in the church, and foreign missionaries from some small churches also flocked here.Therefore, although the Boxers mobilized more than 10,000 people to attack the church, they failed to capture it for a long time.

Zhang San and Li Cunyi first came to the brick tower alley at the T-junction of Xisi South Street. This is the oldest alley in Beijing. It was founded in the Yuan Dynasty. The fragrance of Liyuan's cosmetics and books is endless.At the east entrance of the alley, there is an octagonal blue-gray brick pagoda with seven levels of dense eaves, named "Wansong Old Man Pagoda".The old man Wan Song was a very famous Buddhist master in the Jin and Yuan dynasties, and Yelu Chucai, the prime minister of the Yuan Dynasty, was his disciple.After the old man Wansong passed away, people built this simple and unique brick pagoda for him.It used to be the camp of the right-wing Han army platoon team under the jurisdiction of Shenjiying, but soon this alley resumed its prosperous scene of "Longyan rushing to the ground, singing and singing to the sky. Jinzhang teenagers, riding together and forming teams".

The headquarters of the Boxer Regiment was set up in a courtyard under the Pagoda of the Old Man of Wansong. When Zhang San and Li Cunyi came to the courtyard, they saw the Boxers resting in twos and threes under the shade of the locust trees. Qing Yan.At this time, a man with a white scarf wrapped around his head came out of the house. Zhang San saw that it was Yu Jiwen, so he called out, "Brother Yu, where is Wang Wu?" Yu Jiwen was overjoyed when he saw it. One held Zhang San's hand: "Oh, Mr. Zhang, it's you! Mr. Wang Wu is leading the brothers from the Yuanshun Escort Bureau and the Boxers to attack the Xishiku Church!" Zhang San asked urgently, "Where is the church?" What's going on?" Yu Jiwen sighed: "Foreigners and Christians are defending with foreign cannons and guns, and our brothers have suffered heavy casualties." Zhang San frowned: "Should we attack with fire?" Yu Jiwen said He said: "There are densely populated houses nearby. If you use fire to attack the people, it will definitely hurt the people." At this moment, a voice came from the house: "Brother Li Cunyi has arrived, please come in quickly." A middle-aged man with a good face came out.Zhang San took a look and recognized him as Zhang Decheng, the leader of the Zhili Boxer Regiment.Li Cunyi hurried up to meet him and introduced Zhang San to him.Zhang Decheng said: "Cixi changed her mind and withdrew a large number of Boxer brothers who attacked the embassy area in Dongjiaomin Lane. The Qing soldiers feigned an attack. How can the embassy area be captured? Fortunately, the Boxers who attacked the Xishiku Church and the brothers from the Yuanshun Escort Bureau worked hard. Otherwise, it will collapse." Li Cunyi asked: "How many brothers are there who attacked the Dingshiku teaching?" Zhang Decheng replied: "There are more than 20,000 people, and some brothers have withdrawn to guard Guangqumen." Zhang Sandao: "I see Xishi Ku Church should only be outsmarted, not forced." Zhang Decheng asked: "What's the best strategy, brother?" Zhang Sandao: "I'll go to Xishiku Church first."

Li Cunyi stayed with Zhang Decheng, and Yu Jiwen walked through several alleys to the outside of Xishiku Church.The sounds of gunfire and shouts of killing were mixed together, and the church was surrounded by boxers.The Boxers launched several attacks, but they were all stopped by the foreign soldiers with dense bullets.In front of the sandbags in front of the church, Wang Wu was brandishing a big knife, directing the brothers of Yuanshun Escort Bureau to charge and kill.A row of bullets came, and several bodyguards fell to the ground. Wang Wu's eyes turned red in anxiety, and he cursed loudly: "You foreign grandchildren, you have the guts to put down that iron thing and fight with grandpa with real swords and guns!" As he spoke, he jumped out of the trench and rushed forward, but was grabbed by Yu Yunniang.Yu Yunniang was wearing a red dress and red trousers, a red turban on her head, and a precious sword in her hand.Yu Yunniang shouted: "Uncle Wang, get down!" Another string of bullets was fired from the church, and Yu Yunniang threw herself on Wang Wu fiercely.Seeing that the guns had been fired, Wang Wu rubbed his eyes and saw that Yu Yunniang was lying on top of him motionless, with blood dripping on his face. Knowing that something was wrong, he rushed to push Yu Yunniang.Yu Yunniang's eyes were closed tightly, her face was pale, and blood gushed from her forehead and back... "Yunniang! Yunniang!" Wang Wu's cry startled Yu Jiwen and Zhang San who had just arrived here. The two rushed forward desperately, but saw Wang Wu walking slowly holding the dying Yu Yunniang, and Wang Wu's pants were stained red with blood.Wang Wu's tears fell down on Yunniang's face.

Yu Jiwen rushed forward and shouted loudly: "Yunniang! Yunniang!" He reached out and snatched his daughter.Yu Yunniang seemed to feel the warmth of her father's embrace, and opened her eyes with difficulty; a few smiles appeared on the corners of her mouth.She murmured: "Father...buried my daughter on the Loess High...before..." Before she could finish speaking, her arms dropped weakly and she stopped breathing.Yu Jiwen put down Yu Yunniang madly, then drew out his sword, and shouted: "Kill the foreign boy! Kill the foreign boy!" and rushed towards the church.Fearing that he might make a mistake, Wang Wu rushed over with a wave of his knife, and the Boxer Brothers and Yuanshun Escorts also rushed over like a flood.

Zhang San hugged Yu Yunniang's body which was getting colder, tears streaming down his face.What a beautiful Hui girl, she passed away in her youth, when the buds were just blooming.She has never enjoyed maternal love, never enjoyed love in the world, so she passed away quietly, and when she died, she was still nostalgic for her hometown on the Loess Plateau... Yu Jiwen, Wang Wu and others finally broke through the iron fence set up by the foreign priests and rushed to the first row of foreign soldiers with guns.Wang Wu chopped down two foreign soldiers one after another, and saw Yu Jiwen being entangled by a foreign officer, who was hiding behind a sandbag and secretly shooting at him.With a roar, Wang Wu rushed forward, chopped off the foreign soldier's head with a single blow, and then came to Yu Jiwen like a whirlwind, and stabbed the foreign soldier to death.Yu Jiwen was so jealous that he jumped up and rushed forward again.Yu Jiwen jumped over the ditch and came to the short wall.At this time, a foreign gun protruded from a hole in the east wall of the church. The French military attache Enri Baolu pointed the gun at Yu Jiwen, and Yu Jiwen desperately climbed up the short wall. They fled one after another. "Bang, bang, bang!" The gunshot rang out, and the sinful bullet hit Yu Jiwen's chest. Yu Jiwen shook his body a few times and fell down.

Wang Wu saw Yu Jiwen was shot and fell down from behind, so he hurried to the Boxer artillery position, hugged the cannon called "Invincible General" by the door, and fired angrily.The first shell knocked off the three spires of the hall, and the second shell was hitting the east wall where the French military attache Enrique Paulo was hiding.Wang Wu fired cannonballs in succession, Zhang San rushed forward amidst the sound of the cannonballs and carried Yu Jiwen's body back. Seeing Ji Wen's father and daughter's death, everyone felt very sad. They sent their bodies to the Niujie Mosque. According to Islamic customs, the imam bathed and prayed for them.Later, Wang Wu asked the two bodyguards of Yuanshun Escort Bureau to send their coffins back to their hometown in Ningxia.

Wang Wu, Zhang San and others haven't had a good meal these days. They all shed tears for Yu Jiwen and his daughter, and thought hard about attacking Xishiku Church. way of revenge.According to Wang Wu, Fan Guoliang, the bishop of Xishiku, secretly wrote to the French minister before the Boxers entered Beijing, requesting that the minister send troops to Beitang for protection.He went to the embassy several times in person to request to send troops, and once he simply sat in front of the public naming hall and refused to leave unless he sent troops.At that time, more than 3,000 priests and people hid in the Xishiku Church from inside and outside the city. The French Embassy also sent French military attache Enli Baolu to lead 30 French soldiers into the North Church to guard.Later, Fan Guoliang invited 10 Italian sailors, plus foreign missionaries.Thus.There are more than 70 fully armed foreigners in the Xishiku Church, in addition to 3,200 Chinese believers.The French soldiers set up six gun holes at the two gates of Xishiku, guarding day and night; they also sent believers to dig deep trenches along the walls around Xishiku to prevent the Boxers from planting landmines; Inside, 600 young and middle-aged believers were selected to counter-revolutionize with wooden boards, armed with flower guns, and defended at all times. The foreign soldiers were armed with live ammunition and guarded the surrounding fortresses.In order to capture the church, the Boxers set up artillery positions around the church. On the open space in front of Zhantan Temple in the east, at the entrance of Xixinsi Hutong in the south, and on the gate tower of Xi'an Gate, there were cannons with fir frames; At the root of the imperial city and at the northern imperial city, there were also cannons, which bombarded the church one after another.At the same time, the Boxers also fired soil rockets at the church, and attached a leaflet to the tail of the rocket, which read: "Only hand over Fan Guoliang, and the rest are innocent", and there was a reward clause for arresting foreigners.Wang Wu also told Zhang San that there was a severe shortage of food in the church. A few days ago, a leader of the foreign soldiers led soldiers out of the church to search for food, but was beaten by the boxers and ran away, and the leader of the foreign soldiers was also shot to death.Another leader of the foreign soldiers came out to look for food yesterday, but his eyeball was injured.The residents around the church also actively assisted the Boxers by cutting off the supply of food, vegetables and other materials to the church.However, Qingyan kept flirting with foreigners, sometimes sending people to the church to deliver food and vegetables, sometimes urging the Boxers to fight desperately, but at the critical moment, they did not provide the Boxers with urgently needed cannons, ammunition and other materials, and at the same time ordered their subordinates to find excuses to massacre the Boxers Leaders and soldiers.Na Chengxuan, the wing commander of the Hushen Battalion of the Qing Army, mixed the gunpowder distributed to the Boxers with coarse paper ashes; the infantry commander of the Qing Army, A Jiechen, falsely framed a sharpshooter proficient in gunnery in the Boxers as a spy for no reason, and killed them recklessly.At the same time, he also ordered the Qing army to use wood as shells and empty the cannons to pretend to attack when attacking the Xishiku Church, so as to deceive the Boxers.It was these that caused tens of thousands of Boxers to take turns to attack the mere Xishiku Church for more than 60 days, but they were unable to attack for a long time, and sacrificed many outstanding fighters in vain.When Wang Wu said this, his voice was hoarse, and he punched the table, shattering the teacup.

Zhang San sighed and said: "No wonder tens of thousands of people took so much effort to attack such a small church. It turns out that this is the case. Our dignified Chinese are bad in the nest. When foreigners come, many small traitors pop up. Huh , They should really be sent to heaven! Take a few brothers to dig a tunnel to go in, first to find out the truth, and then plant some landmines to blow up the church and turn it upside down!" Wang Wuxi said with expression: "This is a good way."