Chapter 42: The Boxer Rebellion (I)
On June 9, 1900, Cixi transferred Dong Fuxiang's military guard army into the city and stationed near the Temple of Heaven and Xiannongtan, and since Cixi issued an edict to defend the Boxer Rebellion in January, many soldiers in Dong Fuxiang's military guard army have participated in the Boxer Rebellion in the past few months. Therefore, the Wuwei Rear Army was deeply influenced by the Boxer Rebellion and used the slogan of "Supporting the Qing and Destroying the West".
On June 10, Duanjun Wang Zaiyi was appointed as the prime minister and minister of national affairs. At the same time, the Boxers began to enter Beijing in a big way. In just one day, nearly 100,000 Boxers poured into Yanjing City, and after entering the city, the boxers destroyed various churches in Yanjing City and hunted down foreigners, missionaries, believers, and believers...... At that time, the foreign embassies in Yanjing were cut off from external communications.
On 11 June, Sugiyama Bin, secretary of the Chinese embassy in China, was killed by a soldier of the former Ganjun army of the Wuwei Right Army, who had just been transferred to Beijing, and was disemboweled. The consuls of various countries stationed in Tianjin organized a coalition of more than 2,000 people, led by British naval commander Seymour, and took a train to reinforce the legations of the 11 countries in Yanjing. Because the railroad was destroyed by the boxers, Seymour was blocked in the area of Yangcun and Langfang outside Tianjin, and fought with the Boxers and the Qing soldiers. The battle was considered a major victory against foreign enemies by the Qing Dynasty and the Boxers, and was named the "Langfang Victory".
On June 13, the Boxers entered the inner city of Yanjing City, and on the same day burned down 11 churches, including Yasli Church in Xiaoshun Hutong, London Church in Shuangqigan, East Catholic Church in Bamiangou, Congregational Church in Dengshikou, American Gospel Church in Dongsi or Wutiao West Exit, Ertiao Presbyterian Church in Jiaodaokou, Presbyterian Church in Xiya'er Hutong in Gulou, West Catholic West Church in Xizhimen, Christian Church in Xisi Mutton Hutong, Anligan Church in Shijumaqiao, and South Catholic Church in Xuanwumen. More than 3,200 Catholics fled to the North Catholic Church, which was occupied by 42 French soldiers, and more than 2,000 Christians fled to the embassy district in Dongjiaomin Lane. The boxers set fire to the church and all things related to the West in Yanjing, and gold, silver, jewelry, and other items were controlled by the Wuwei Right Army.
On June 15, the Military Aircraft Department once issued an edict ordering Li Hongzhang, who was serving as the governor of Liangguang, and Yuan Shikai, the governor of Shandong, to enter Beijing quickly. The Chinese people cut off I don't know how many, and it can't be repaired in a short time, and the telegraph line to Jiangnan is even more impossible to repair, because Jining, the transit station of the telegraph line that runs through the north and south, has been completely captured by the Tai'an army, and within a month or two, the Qing government axe wants to get in touch with the governors and governors of the provinces in the Jiangnan area. (Afternote)
On June 16, more than 1,000 shops in the Qianmen area were burned to ruins due to the fire at the Lao Deji West Pharmacy, and 24 silver foundries in Zhengyang Gate Tower and Yanjing were also burned down. At the same time, the boxers vandalized the church and attacked the parishioners, and the compound in front of King Zhuang's mansion was used as a place of execution for mass massacres. In addition to massacring the Christians, the Boxers also killed innocents indiscriminately, falsely accusing many citizens of burning and killing for the White Lotus Sect. disguised as a child in a costume and referred to as the White Lotus Sect; Overnight, the criminal department did not confess, and beheaded the West City. There is a woman in Ning's family, and she is also trapped in it, and she is mischievous, and her son is still hugging."
On June 17, the coalition forces captured the Dagukou Fort.
The day after the fall of the Dagu Fort, Cixi received the news of the fall of the Dagu Fort and received false information that the foreigners had asked her to return to Guangxu.
On June 19, Cixi's attitude changed 180 degrees to support the Boxers and wage war against the foreigners. Ordered Gangyi, Zaiyi, Zaixun, Zailian, and Zai Lan to lead the Boxers, and Zaixun was appointed as the commander of the infantry army to lead the Nine Gate Admirals.
On 20 June, the German minister to China, Klinder, on behalf of other countries, went to the Chancellor's Yamen to ask for protection, but because Clinder had shot and killed the Boxers, he was ambushed by Qing soldiers on the way to the Chancellor's Yamen, which became the fuse of the war.
On June 21, the Empress Dowager Cixi single-handedly controlled the Qing political axe, and in the name of Guangxu, declared war on the eleven countries of Britain, the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Austria at the same time. Forty taels for killing a foreign woman; Thirty taels for killing a foreign child".
In just four days, the Boxers and Qing soldiers besieged the embassies of various countries in Yanjing. More than 3,000 people were besieged in the embassy area, of which about 2,000 were Chinese seeking protection. 400 were foreigners, 147 were women, and 76 were children. There were also 409 men, sailors and marines, armed with three machine guns and four small-caliber guns. While the embassies were being rescued by force, the embassies were fortified, and the British Minister Douglas was in charge of the resistance.
On June 25, the Qing court authorities sent more than 60 Boxers to Yingtai to kill Guangxu, but were stopped by the Empress Dowager Cixi but failed.
On the evening of June 25, after more than half a month of night marching, Wang Jundao finally led more than 7,000 soldiers of the Tiger Ben Army to arrive at Tanzhesi Town in the Taihang Mountains in the southwest of Yanjing City and west of the Yongding River.
(Note: In 1879 (the 5th year of Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty), wars at home and abroad broke out frequently, and Tsarist Russia took the opportunity to forcibly occupy China's Ili and sent warships into China's territorial waters.) In order to communicate the military situation, the Qing Dynasty sent Li Hongzhang to negotiate with the Danish Dabei Telegraph Company, which opened a telegraph office in China, and China paid for it to build the Dagu Fort and the Beitang Fort to Tianjin, as well as the telegraph line from the Tianjin Arsenal to Li Hongzhang's Yamen. This was the first military telegraph line independently built in Chinese mainland.
In April 1881, construction began at both ends of Shanghai and Tianjin, and by December 24, the Tianjin-Shanghai telegraph line with a total length of 3,075 miles was completed. On December 28, 1881, it was officially opened for business, sending and receiving public and private telegraphs, and telegraph sub-bureaus were set up in Zizhulin, Dagukou, Qingjiangpu, Jining, Zhenjiang, Suzhou, and Shanghai. This is the first long-distance public telegraph line built by China itself.
In 1899, Li Hongzhang served as the governor of Liangguang and Guangzhou, and was the first to use radio communication in Guangzhou. Radio sets were set up on the fortresses of the Governor's Office, Makou, Qianshan, Weiyuan, and other fortresses, as well as on the Jiangfang warships such as Guanghai, Baobi, Longxiang, Jiangda, and Jianggong, and the radio transmission distance at this time was limited, only a few miles away, and in the following years, China's information and communication was still dominated by wired telegraphs.
In July 1905, Yuan Shikai, the minister of Beiyang, opened a radio training course in Tianjin, and hired the Italian Gras as a teacher. He also asked Glas to purchase Marconi sudden fire extinguishing fancy radios, which were installed in Nanyuan, Baoding, Tianjin, and other places and some warships, and used radio to communicate with each other, and China began to enter the era of radio communication. )