At this time, the imperial court sent people to the front line to convey the will, saying that at this time, the imperial court had declared war on the eight countries, hoping that the armies would fight to the death to defend the Beijing division, and then praised the Boxers and rewarded 200,000 taels of silver.

When Nie Shicheng saw the envoy, what he heard was that "there has been no record since ten days, and I really don't know how to cheer up when I hear that the army has collapsed", and immediately punished Nie Shicheng with dismissal and retention. After the envoy left, Nie Shicheng took the paperwork, trembling with anger, Qin Zhihong also felt that this matter was too unfair, the Qing army could be said to have fought to the death in the past few days, and it was not easy to drive the coalition army back to Tianjin with the Boxers, but the imperial court rewarded one by one, and really didn't understand the intention.

Nie Shicheng said hatefully: "I don't forgive the court, and I don't know if I am forced by the boxers!" ”

In fact, the main battle faction in the imperial court, headed by King Duan, had long said that the Queen Mother wanted to use the power of the Boxers to fight against the foreigners, and was quite dissatisfied with Nie Shicheng's previous suppression of the Boxers, and this time the senior brother Wang Qingyi has been in charge of the contact between the Boxers and the imperial court in Beijing, so he made a hindrance from it, saying that King Duan would punish Nie Shicheng to avenge the repeated blows of the TJ Boxers by Nie.

And Qin Zhihong also learned that in fact, the Boxers smashed the railway at that time, which was too rampant, and Nie Shicheng had the responsibility to protect the law and order of one party, so what he did was naturally understandable, but at this juncture, it was too unwise for the imperial court to make such a partial treatment.

So Qin Zhihong also persuaded Nie Shicheng: "General, it seems that someone in the court is stumbling on you, as the commander of the troops, you must see the situation clearly!" ”

Nie Shicheng smiled bitterly: "What a personal honor and disgrace, but now that our army's ammunition consumption has exceeded half, we can't get any replenishment, which makes me worried." ”

The coalition forces had been fighting fiercely with the Boxers and Nie Bu for several days, and at this time they did not know the whereabouts of Cao Futian and his boxers, and when he was at Laolongtou Station, Qin Zhihong seemed to see that his Boxer troops had suffered heavy losses and had been transferred. And Nie Shicheng has turned to attack TJ's foreign concession area, the two sides are fighting fiercely, Nie Jia's army has invaded the concession several times, and several times almost all of them are occupied, but the coalition countries gradually reinforced troops from the sea, and several counterattacks back.

I don't know why, but the Boxer tribes seem to have no intention of attacking, but are fighting guerrillas, sometimes even harassing the Qing army fighting, and burning and looting the areas inhabited by the people of TJ. Nie Shicheng thought that he could take the concession in one go, and then completely annihilate the allied forces of various countries and block their steady stream of reinforcements from the sea, but at this moment, a spy suddenly came to report that the right flank of our army was attacked and harassed by a unit of the Boxers, and the offensive was frustrated.

Nie Shicheng was furious, and immediately ordered one of the lieutenants:

"You quickly lead a thousand people, cut off the Boxers on the right flank, and kill all the boxers within five kilometers of our army!"

The deputy general was ordered to leave, and Qin Zhihong also knew that the shape was in danger, so he had no choice but to do so, so he didn't say anything.

Sure enough, in less than half an hour, someone from there came to report that more than 1,000 boxers had been annihilated and harassed, and the right flank was safe, so Nie Shicheng reorganized the team and prepared to attack the concession. However, in the middle of the hour, in the place of the Allied Concession, Vice Admiral Seymour received the newly arrived reinforcements from Japan and Russia, and his strength increased greatly, and sure enough, the Qing army's attack was frustrated, and there were countless casualties.

At this time, the 5,000 men and horses gathered by Zhang Decheng arrived, and the Boxer in Zhang Decheng's hands was known as "the first regiment in the world". At this time, Seymour counterattacked under the momentum of reinforcements from various countries that had just arrived, and had reached the Zizhulin concession on the west bank of the Meihe River, and Zhang Decheng immediately reorganized his troops and attacked Zizhulin.

The coalition forces of various countries thought that the Qing army had become the end of a strong crossbow and was ready to make great strides, so the front and back echoes were not in place, Zhang Decheng's "first regiment in the world" suddenly killed from the flank, and the coalition was caught off guard, and it was impossible to arrange the defense line for a while, and after being approached by the soldiers of the Boxers, the two sides immediately fell into a melee, and the coalition army suffered heavy losses.

The foreigners rushed to the front of the Russians, this time the loss of nearly 500 people, but after the follow-up troops arrived, they immediately arranged the defensive line, set up machine guns, arranged minefields, the Boxers saw that the situation was not good, they sent the famous "Fire Bull Array" to rush into the concession, fortunately the reinforcements arrived, and the coalition forces that attacked rashly from various countries were saved from being wiped out, so Zhang Decheng led the Boxers to prepare to retreat, but it was too late, and many people were shot and killed in the process of retreating.

At this time, the coalition army in Seymour's hands was close to 40,000 people, although it was equivalent to the total strength of the Qing army, but the Qing army rushed all the way from Jingshi, Zhili and other places, after nearly ten days of fierce fighting, it was already tired, and a large part of the coalition army was indeed a new force, and the combat effectiveness was strong.

Moreover, after the coalition forces landed at Dagukou, they had begun to encircle TJ from the south flank, and Zhang Decheng saw that the situation was not good, so he immediately led his troops to the south gate, preparing for a decisive battle with the foreigners at the south gate. At this time, Nie Shicheng's Qing army also arrived in the area of Nanguang Temple in Chengnan, and was ready to meet the coalition army.

Qin Zhihong had been fighting with Nie Shicheng, and he was deeply worried about the estrangement between Nie's army and the Boxers, and if the two forces could not be unanimous with the outside world, the entire operation would inevitably suffer heavy setbacks. Just when he was worried, someone really came to sue Nie Shicheng that the old and young of the Nie family had been taken away by the Boxers.

Nie Shicheng looked up to the sky and sighed, but he knew that he couldn't leave, Qin Zhihong also felt that this matter was very important, and he thought to himself, if General Nie had a heart, it would inevitably affect the command of the operation, so he said to Nie Shicheng:

"General, why don't I take someone to chase your family back!"

When Nie Shicheng heard this, he said gratefully: "Then there is Brother Lao Qin!" ”

This was the first time Qin Zhihong had heard a court admiral call him brother, and he couldn't help but be greatly moved, and said firmly: "I will definitely bring your family back safely, you can rest assured." ”

So Qin Zhihong took the battalion of officers and soldiers assigned to him by Nie Shicheng to go after the Boxers who had taken away the Nie family.

However, Qin Zhihong and Nie Shicheng never expected that most of the Qing troops in this battalion were boxers of the Boxers! When the officers and troops were in large numbers, they didn't dare to be arrogant, but at this time, they all exchanged heads and whispered, Qin Zhihong became suspicious and asked them:

"What are you doing here when you don't have a good march?"

A bold soldier said: "This son, I know that you were sent by Leader Cao to contact the Qing army, so I will tell you the truth, we are not going to help Nie Shicheng find his family!" ”

Qin Zhihong wondered, "Why is this?" ”

The man looked up at Qin Zhihong who was riding on a horse and said: "It's not a secret, most of the brothers in our battalion are Boxers, just now I saw them shoot nearly a thousand of our brothers with machine guns, I was really angry, presumably the rest of the brothers in order to avenge the dead, so they kidnapped Nie Shicheng's old and young, Qin Gongzi, you must have seen this!" ”

Qin Zhihong was not only shocked, it turned out that there were so many boxers in the Qing army, so he quickly explained: "I was sent to the Qing army by Leader Cao, just for the sake of harmony between the two families, and always to the outside world, so that the foreigners can be defeated, if you do this, then it will inevitably make the foreigners cheap, and the country will die!" ”

The man seemed to be extremely eloquent, and sophistry: "Regardless of his grandmother's court, we have been ruled by the Manchus for so many years, and we are all foreigners, why do we have to hang ourselves on a tree!" So saying, he gathered the people together and shouted:

"Brothers, Nie Shicheng killed our brothers, it can be said that his hands are stained with the blood of our boxers, and now his whole family has been captured by other brothers, but we still want to get him back, do you say there is such a good thing?"

"No—" Everyone replied in unison. When the man saw that the respondents were gathered, he continued to say triumphantly:

"Not only can we not help Nie Shicheng find his family, but we also have to go to our brothers to join us, and along the way we said that Nie Shicheng collaborated with the enemy and treasoned and took refuge in foreigners, how about it?"

Everyone applauded together, Qin Zhihong saw that the situation was not good, if he didn't stop it, it would be too late, so he slowly dismounted, walked to the center, and said to everyone:

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am the envoy sent by the leader of Cao Futian to contact the Qing army, it can be said that I have the most right to speak, now that the national crisis is at the head, if anyone is still fighting in the nest, I will remove the people who bewitch the people on behalf of the head Cao!" After speaking, he pulled out the long knife on the waist of a Qing soldier, and looked at the man, the knife rose and fell, and the man had been killed.

When everyone saw that Qin Zhihong was short in stature and had such courage and courage, they couldn't help but be stunned, but not long after, someone said:

"Gongzi Qin, although you are under the orders of Leader Cao, we are too oppressed by him Nie Shicheng, so we will not help him find his family anymore......"

When everyone saw that someone was openly disobedient, someone said: "Gongzi Qin, you came to find his family on the orders of Admiral Nie, and secondly, you are also the confidant of Leader Cao, so we should obey your orders whether we are Qing soldiers or boxers, but this time it is difficult for us to obey our orders!" ”

Seeing that the situation was irreparable, Qin Zhihong sighed and said, "Go ahead, I have nothing else to ask for, just ask you not to help the foreigners anymore." ”

As he spoke, Qin Zhihong got on his horse and galloped away the same way. And after everyone watched the fast horses in Qin Zhihong Park leave in the same place, they all acted for a moment, at a loss, and dispersed, but some boxers were still stubborn, spreading false news that Nie Shicheng was communicating with foreign countries and taking refuge with foreigners, demagoguery.

Returning to Nie Shicheng, Qin Zhihong angrily exchanged the words just now with Nie Shicheng, and Nie Shicheng did not blame him, but sighed and said:

"Since the world says that I am a traitor, then today I have no choice but to kill myself to become a benevolent person to clear my eternal infamy."

Soon after, the coalition army attacked, Nie Shicheng went to the Balitai front line every time to personally supervise the battle and boost morale, Qin Zhihong looked at this world full of gunpowder smoke and bullet holes, he couldn't help but feel a little sad, he thought of Lian'er, but he didn't know if she was okay in the capital, he remembered his mother who hadn't seen him for nearly two years, and he didn't know if he was left out in the house of his relatives in SD. Thinking of this, Qin Zhihong couldn't help but burst into tears.

At this time, the offensive of the coalition forces was becoming more and more fierce, but Qin Zhihong was very worried, and suddenly, he saw a cannonball falling next to Admiral Nie Shicheng, and Nie Shicheng fell to the ground in response. Qin Zhihong was startled, hurriedly ran over, everyone dug up the soil, and finally carried out this battle-hardened general, everyone kept calling him, Nie Shicheng heard the shout, slowly opened his eyes, and said weakly to Qin Zhihong:

"It seems that I can't escape death this time, but I have also cleared the charge of colluding with foreigners, Brother Qin, you are a man, foreigners are about to attack, you go quickly, or foreigners are coming, what mistakes do you have, I can't explain to Lord Yang."

As he spoke, Nie Shicheng slowly raised his hands, pulled out a six-method revolver equipped by a Qing Dynasty officer from his waist, and said:

"You can use this for self-defense, let's go."

Qin Zhihong took the pistol and didn't know what to say. At this time, the foreigners were slowly approaching, and Qin Zhihong wanted to flee with Nie Shicheng on his back, but Nie Shicheng pushed him away and said:

"No, the best way for a soldier to die is to die on the battlefield, and the horse leather is shrouded in ......" After speaking, Nie Shicheng lost his breath because of excessive blood loss.

Qin Zhihong had no choice but to get up by himself, put away his pistol, and headed north.

When Qin Zhihong was there, the boxers in the Qing army next to him, and there were also many Boxers who cooperated with the Qing army, who were eyeing from the sidelines, and after seeing Qin Zhihong leave, these people were going to come up to kill Nie Shicheng's corpse. But at that time, the shape was critical, a team of German ** team had rushed to the position, and the Boxers saw that the shape was not good, and immediately fled, and later, the body of Nie Admiral was also sent to the imperial court by the coalition army, which saved him from the humiliation of the people. Later, Nie Shi's cost could be compensated, but because of the obstruction of Zaiyi and others, it was just "mistaken and lost, it is really hateful, and I remember the previous merits, and the mercy was granted", until the 28th year of Guangxu, there was Yuan Shikai, the minister of Beiyang, asked for mercy on his behalf, posthumously presented the prince Shaobao, posthumously Zhongjie, and the National History Museum established a biography.

Zhang Decheng, who was guarding the south gate, could not resist the offensive of the coalition forces, retreated, and conquered TJ in a few days. Then the Boxers led by Zhang Decheng retreated, but although he gathered almost all the Boxers in a short time, he did not prepare enough food and could not fight for a long time. So Zhang Decheng sent people to various villages to raise grain, but he was robbed by the landlord's armed forces and died in Wangjiakou Town. After the Boxers led by Cao Futian failed to resist the coalition forces, they also returned to their hometown JH and were arrested and killed the following year.

In fact, Nie Shicheng is a controversial figure, even if it seems to be a contemporary, it is mixed, if his greatest achievement, it is not necessarily the victory in the Sino-French battle in the tenth year of Guangxu (1884) with Liu Mingchuan in Taiwan; It is not necessarily a small victory in the Pyongyang Battle in the twentieth year of Guangxu (1894); Not to mention the command, dispatch and handling of the Gengzi State Change, which is still controversial to this day, the greatest merit should be that he can be said to be the first person to establish China's modern army.

If you look at his army, there are about 13,000 men, armed with 10,000 rear-loading single-shot and repeating Mauser guns of 11 mm caliber, 200 rear-firing Mauser guns of 7.9 mm caliber, 10,000 rear-loading repeating Manlisa rifles of 8 mm caliber, 1,400 rear-loading revolvers, and a small number of rifles and cavalry rifles such as Winchester and Hazikais. In addition, there were 2 7.9-mm Maxim machine guns, 16 75-mm 12-pounder Krupp guns, 32 60-mm 7-pounder breech-loading guns, and 32 57-mm 6-pounder Grusen rapid-fire guns, all of which could fire more than 10 shells per minute. In addition, it was armed with a 37-mm 2-pounder Krupp rapid-fire gun, an 87-mm 20-pounder breech-loading gun, etc.

The most important thing is that he used the combat mode of the modern army's combination of infantry and artillery, and really sent the cavalry mode of the Chinese fast horse scimitar to the grave.

And to investigate the cause of Nie Shicheng's death, it is not so much that he was killed by the Eight-Nation Alliance, or that he was killed by the Boxers, but that he died in the political struggle.

At that time in China, there were the main battle faction, there was the main peace faction, one side wanted to use the Boxers to resist foreign humiliation, and finally abandoned them, and the other side wanted to forbear in order to do it later, but Nie Shicheng was the person who opposed the Boxers in the main battle faction, so he was an alternative among the foreigners, the main peace faction and the main war faction, or the antagonist, so the tragedy was inevitable. -- Such people, Yue Fei is, Yuan Chonghuan is, Nie Shicheng -- too. But compared with the previous two, Nie Shicheng made a wise choice in the end - that is, to die on the battlefield and not let the opposition of the political struggle make up for the last sword, so all three are heroes, and only Nie Shicheng can be called a national martyr.