Although Qin Zhihong knows a lot about Yihequan, he doesn't know much about these things in TJ, and he doesn't know much about the style of Zhang Decheng and Cao Futian and other leaders, and even if he is his senior brother Wang Qingyi, he doesn't dare to say that he knows it completely, let alone this Qing army general he has never met but is about to meet.

Sure enough, Qin Zhihong traveled west along the railway, and in less than an hour, he encountered the Qing army marching eastward. At this time, it was already dark, so he immediately dismounted and greeted him, saying that he was the messenger of Cao Futian, the leader of the TJ Lu Zutang altar, and there was an important military report, and the Qing soldiers were also more sympathetic to the Boxers, and even many soldiers had already joined the Boxers, so he didn't embarrass Qin Zhihong, so he went to report.

Soon, the reported soldiers took Qin Zhihong to the depths of the team, and Qin Zhihong saw that the equipment of the Qing army marching for a long time was completely different from that of the boxers: the Boxers were all big swords and spears, but these Qing troops were equipped with foreign guns and cannons, some even a few horses pulled a cannon, and a few people carried a gun, and Qin Zhihong was also dazzled. The soldier who led him said:

"How is it, this is called 'Maxim', haven't you seen it?"

Qin Zhihong thought to himself, why haven't you seen it, isn't it the gun used to strafe the Boxers during the day? That being said, he was also shocked by this big guy, a thick barrel (of course, Qin Zhihong didn't know that this structure was mainly used for cooling water cylinders), there was a bracket on the lower body, and a rocking wheel in the back, he had seen the Qing soldiers shaking the wheel in their right hands in the distance, and the muzzle of the gun would quickly erupt a tongue of fire, and a piece would fall off in front of it. He couldn't help but shudder when he thought of the scene during the day.

After walking for about a quarter of an hour, he arrived in front of Nie Shicheng's horse team. Qin Zhihong saw that in the center of the horse team was a middle-aged man riding a tall horse with a slightly fat body, presumably the famous former military commander of the Wuwei Army, Nie Shicheng. Before Qin Zhihong could speak, Nie Shicheng asked him:

"You're a boxer?"

"It's not." Qin Zhihong replied frankly.

Nie Shicheng immediately said angrily: "Diao Min, dare to talk nonsense, pull me out and cut it!" ”

Qin Zhihong was shocked, he didn't expect that a Qing army general would be so unreasonable, better than Lian'er, but joking with Lian'er was just a few beatings, but this Nie Admiral wanted his own life, and in a hurry, Qin Zhihong immediately said:

"I mean, I'm not here to see you as a boxer!"

Nie Shicheng couldn't help but let out a "huh", thinking to himself, this kid had something to say, so he waved his hand, signaled his soldiers not to arrest him first, and then asked:

"Then you say, in what capacity did you come to see me?"

Qin Zhihong saw that he was safe for the time being, so he dusted off the dirt on his body and said: "I have heard the name of General Nie for a long time, and when I see it today, I really have an extraordinary demeanor, and I don't know if the general still remembers Lord Yang, who was meritorious in destroying the Taiping Army and defending the Beijing Division to fight the British and French troops, and then resigned because of his connivance with the Restorationists?" ”

Although Qin Zhihong was already the quasi-son-in-law of Old Man Yang, he had never inquired about his real name, so he had to say a few more things about him, and the more vague the better, the less likely it was to make mistakes.

When Nie Shicheng heard this, his eyes couldn't help but light up, and he said, "Could it be that you are talking about Lord Yang Zhongqi, the Admiral when I was in the Huai Army?" ”

Only then did Qin Zhihong know that his future father-in-law was called Yang Zhongqi, so he immediately responded: "It's his old man!" I am the son-in-law of his old man, my father-in-law has no children under his knees, only one daughter, that is, the inner man below, my father-in-law and his old man saw that the country was in trouble, so he asked me to find the old man and spread the word. ”

Nie Shicheng was also skeptical, but Nie Shicheng's lieutenant was personally brought out by Old Man Yang, so he then asked: "You said that you are Lord Yang's son-in-law, relying on these alone, obviously the evidence is not enough......

Qin Zhihong knew that this was to ask him to tell him more details that he knew, so he told Master Yang about saving Xiao Liuzi back then, and the deputy general nodded in belief, but Nie Shicheng said: "This hearsay is also possible." ”

Qin Zhihong couldn't help scratching his ears and cheeks, but after thinking about it, he suddenly thought of something, so he said, "Then I have to take out this." ”

So he took out a cloth bag from his arms, and then peeled it off layer by layer, Nie Shicheng and the other officers on the horse all poked their heads to see what was inside, and even some soldiers also probed over to see what was inside, and when it was completely opened, by the light of the fire, it turned out to be the "Atlas of the Sea Kingdom" given to him by Old Man Yang.

The adjutant really recognized this book, so he took it, couldn't put it down, opened it and read a few pages, and immediately said: "Lord Admiral, it is Lord Yang's book, these annotated notes are familiar to the villains, Lord Yang loved this book back then, even if he went on an expedition, he had to take it with him, and the last general would follow him for many years, and he was the most familiar." ”

Nie Shicheng nodded, hurriedly dismounted and gave Qin Zhihong a look, and said, "I offended Your Excellency just now, and I hope to forgive you, and by the way, I will ask Your Excellency's name." ”

Qin Zhihong told Nie Shicheng his name, and felt that he had escaped a catastrophe again, so he couldn't help but be a little complacent, and said: "Lord Taishan is no longer as good as he was back then, and it is inconvenient to walk, so I will let the villain come to see you, the general." ”

Nie Shicheng was also puzzled, so he asked: "But Qin Gongzi, just now the soldiers came to report that you are the messenger of the Boxer, which puzzles me." ”

Qin Zhihong didn't dare not admit it, so he said: "Oh, that's the case, my father-in-law is now at home, but I also saw that the boxers in SD, ZL and TJ are all flocking to Jingshi, but the foreigners are also pressing step by step, and my father-in-law thinks that the imperial court will definitely hesitate between the two......

Nie Shicheng interrupted Qin Zhihong's words and said: "What is there to hesitate about, whoever is unfavorable to the imperial court and unfavorable to the people will be exterminated!" ”

Qin Zhihong smiled and said: "The general's spirit is magnificent, but the current situation is that the foreigners are ready to land from TJ in a big way, and then go straight to the Beijing Division, while the southern provinces have already made peace with the foreigners and do not provide food and salary to the central government. So what my father-in-law meant was that the foreigners were the first, and the boxers were second, and now we should unite the Boxers as much as possible and drive out the foreigners first. ”

Nie Shicheng couldn't help but have nothing to say, and was silent for a long time, so he continued to hurry with the generals, and Qin Zhihong also rode on his horse and followed the horse team. At this time, Nie Shicheng opened his mouth and said:

"What Lord Yang said is reasonable, the national crisis is at the head, so I have to let go of these internal grievances first......"

When Qin Zhihong heard this, he couldn't help but immediately say: "General Nie's demeanor is worthy of the blessing of the country." But there's something I don't know about ......."

Nie Shicheng said: "You want to ask, why have I never been at odds with Yihequan? ”

Nie Shicheng sighed and said: "When I was a commander in SX, I advocated the extermination of the boxers, and later I was transferred to TJ to be in charge of the defense here, but the Boxers formed a party to destroy the railroad tracks, cut the wires, and affect the normal official affairs of the imperial court; They poured out each other for personal grievances, and oppressed the good from time to time, so I sent troops to exterminate them, killing more than 500 deliberately sabotage bandits, but I was accused by King Duan and other ministers who intended to win over the Boxers. ”

Nie Shicheng continued: "And in TJ, my soldiers are often attacked by boxers, and sometimes the bodies cannot be found, and even if they are found, they are unrecognizable, heinous, and the crime cannot be punished. But under the pressure of the court, I didn't dare to speak up, and I really hated me. It's not today, the court sent someone to reprimand me, but he gave all the credit to the boxers, he's really angry! ”

Qin Zhihong heard Nie Shicheng's almost scolding complaints, and felt that he was basically the same as what Cao Futian said, but their positions were different, and in all fairness, they had their own rights and wrongs. It is wrong for Nie Shicheng to regard the Boxers as bandits, because people like the master and the cousin are obviously not bandits who can only bully the people; And the Boxers are indeed loosely organized, good and bad, otherwise it would not have happened that Master Yang was almost killed, and in addition to foreign embassies in Dongjiaomin Lane, even private houses would have been set on fire.

But from Qin Zhihong's personal feelings, he likes to be with people like Nie Shicheng, because he feels that Nie Shicheng seems to have the shadow of his cousin's vermilion lantern - decisive and courageous. So he said:

"General Nie, to tell you the truth, before I came to you, I had already met Cao Futian, the leader of the Boxers, and he asked me to tell you to cooperate in the attack on Laolongtou Station, and now he has discovered the enemy army inside.

Nie Shicheng heard this and said: "It is best to have the same hatred for the enemy, but one Cao Futian cannot represent everyone......" But he also felt that it was too pessimistic to say this, so he immediately changed his words again: "I still want to believe that they are sincere!" ”

So the large army continued to march, to the old dragon head station, at this time Cao Futian led by the Boxers have been connected with the foreigners, the two sides are in a confrontation situation, because it is dark, no one dares to attack rashly, the Boxers are because they have suffered the loss of the foreigners' guns and artillery firepower is too fierce, and the foreigners consider that they can not attack at night, so as not to fall into the boxers' dang.

Nie Shicheng immediately sent soldiers to the Boxers led by Cao Futian to "supervise the war", in fact, to inform the other party that he was willing to temporarily put aside his prejudices with the other party and fight the enemy together, although Cao Futian said that he had suffered a loss during the day, but he did not dare to tear his face, so he agreed, and Nie Shicheng's soldiers told Cao Futian that Qin Zhihong was also in the camp of the Nie family's army to "supervise the war". Hearing this, Cao Futian was slightly relieved.

The next day, Nie Shicheng officially launched an attack, and the Boxers also attacked at the same time to cooperate with the officers and troops. The Nie family army has tens of thousands of people, well-equipped, and the number of artillery pieces is extremely large, and the varieties are different, rapid-fire guns, heavy guns, high-explosive shells, armor-piercing iron bullets, and even high-kill shells such as submunitions.

The first wave of attacks of the Qing army surprised the foreigners, and the fearless attack of the Boxers made the foreigners even more timid. In fact, the later commander of the coalition army, Seymour, once said that if the Boxers encountered in Yangzhuang were equipped with modern guns, then they would have been wiped out at that time; Moreover, the foreigners later became Nie Shicheng, who was the strongest fighting force in the Qing army at that time, and there was no one.