The center really doesn't care about the war that happened in Lunan anymore. Because of the problems caused by the ringing horse that gave Yuan Shikai a headache, it was really not worth mentioning compared to the current situation. The ministers of the Empress Dowager, who had learned about this from different sources and had the opportunity to play the role of controlling the imperial situation, felt that this matter was too trivial in the face of the increasingly complicated situation.

For example, Jingshi's problem is a big problem with his henchmen, while Lunan's problem is a disease of ringworm.

The core problem of the chaos in Beijing is the Boxer Rebellion, which has spread and originated in Shandong and achieved in Zhili. At this time, the governor of Zhili was called Yulu, a typical weak and mediocre Manchurian nobleman. For the Boxers, Yulu's original attitude was exactly the same as Yuan Shikai's, and he had ordered Nie Shicheng, who was stationed in Tianjin, to suppress it harshly, but then his attitude changed, because he was a banner man, and the chance of knowing the secrets of the highest level of the empire was much greater than that of Han Chen, Yulu "keenly" felt that Cixi had the intention to support the Boxers, so he changed his attitude: not to care, but not to really care, not not to suppress, but not to really suppress. This attitude, in written language, is to use both suppression and appeasement. Its essence is set aside a hundred years later, and to describe it in one word is inaction.

For the Boxers, this was connivance. So much so that at the end of February and the beginning of March, the dignified Governor Yamen of Zhili turned out to be the location of the boxing ring of the Boxer brothers, and thousands of majestic and high-spirited people wearing various turbans could freely enter and leave the Governor's Yamen to practice their invulnerable divine skills.

At this point, Yulu was still a little unsure of Cixi's attitude, and after listening to the high opinion of a staff member, he simply allocated 200,000 taels of silver to the Boxers as "military expenses", so that they could march towards Tianjin, where the situation was becoming increasingly tense. At this time, the bottom of the court was poked out, and Cixi actually added 100,000 taels of "military expenses". Yulu had a bottom, so he simply sealed the senior brother of the Boxers as a rank, sat in the green sedan chair of the first rank, and then opened the military warehouse of the Governor's Mansion of Zhili and let the Boxers take it.

Tianjin was in turmoil.

On 10 March, the envoys of Britain, France, the United States, Germany, and Italy, who were in a state of anxiety, convened another special meeting in Beijing on the Boxer Rebellion issue, which was the second meeting on this issue. The Qing government's ass was increasingly on the side of the mob, and God's emissaries to China and their followers were under increasing threat, and the five ministers agreed to speak out more on behalf of their countries.

After this meeting, the ministers of the five countries submitted a statement to the Manchu government: if the Qing imperial government did not explicitly express its stance to suppress the Boxer Rebellion, the countries would carry out a joint naval demonstration!

The Manchu government apparently did not take this statement of naked threat seriously. The Manchu court at the turn of the century was a typical mixture of arrogance and inferiority, as far as the top decision-making class of the empire was concerned, the level of knowledge of the world was low, except for those officials who were obsessed with foreign affairs, the entire court was controlled by a group of ignorant and arrogant people, who either tried to pursue their own interests, such as Zaiyi; or adopt a consistent attitude that it is not about oneself, such as Wang Wenshao; or maintain the consistent style of figuring out Cixi's attitude as his own attitude, such as Yulu; or hate foreigners and blame all problems on the interference of foreigners, such as Gangyi and Prince Zhuang Zaixun; There are also people who may see clearly but don't say anything, such as Rong Lu.

In the entire imperial court, few people are soberly aware that the rules of the game have been formulated by a very small number of countries that have awakened and completed the transformation first, and this rule of respect for the strong is covering the whole world, and China is by no means an exception.

The imperial court was indifferent, the Boxer Rebellion in Zhili was in full swing, and the diplomats of the foreign powers in China, who were concerned about the development of the situation and were increasingly dissatisfied with the Manchu court, issued a joint note again on April 6: ordering the Qing court to exterminate the Boxers within two months, otherwise the countries would suppress it on their behalf!

This was a clear signal that it was ready to carry out armed intervention against a sovereign state, but it was a pity that the Qing court did not or was unwilling to clearly understand the significance of this signal.

Seven days later, warships from Russia, France, Britain, and the United States held a demonstration and sailed in a convoy on the sea outside the mouth of Dagu in Tianjin.

At this time, that is, when Xu Shichang was entrusted by Yuan Shikai to go to Beijing to carry out high-level mediation on the repeated failures of Shandong's suppression of bandits, a serious civil and religious conflict occurred in a village near Baoding Mansion, the capital of Zhili. Because of a play, the non-religious villagers invited the Boxers, and overnight, 30 families of Catholics were completely ransacked, and all 30 families, men, women, and children, were killed.

When the news reached Beijing, a French bishop named Favier wrote a letter to the French minister: the situation had become increasingly serious and dangerous. In Baoding, more than 70 Christians were slaughtered – Beijing was already surrounded by a crowd of boxers approaching the capital. Religious persecution was just a smokescreen, and the purpose of the Boxer Rebellion was to exterminate all foreigners, and this purpose was clearly written on the banner. The allies of the Boxers were waiting for them in Beijing. It began with an attack on a church and ended with an attack on an embassy. Even, the date of our attack has been set, and we are already in the same precarious situation on the eve of the Tianjin Massacre in 1870. In this case, Mr. Minister, I think it is my duty to ask you to send us at least forty or fifty sailors to protect us and all that we have. This has been done in the past in non-emergency situations. I am confident that with our humble request, you will be gracious to consider __

This bishop whose Chinese name is Fan Guoliang will surely leave his mark in modern history because of this letter. In the long river of history, there are always some small people from time to time, and their role is huge, like a fuse, igniting the entire ammunition depot.

Fan Guoliang has been in China for nearly 40 years, speaking an authentic Beijing accent, and even has a big braid on the back of his head that is the same as that of the subjects of the Qing Dynasty. It must be admitted that Fan Guoliang, a Frenchman who has been Sinicized, has a complete grasp of China's customs, etiquette and customs, national character, and officialdom, and the rise and spread of the Boxer Rebellion has aroused his high vigilance, and even smells a trace of blood. Amazingly, the China expert accurately anticipated the next move of the Boxers: starting with the attack on the church and ending with the attack on the embassy.

On 20 May, the ministers of various countries convened their fourth meeting, and the number of participating countries has expanded to 11 countries: Russia, Britain, the United States, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, Austria, Spain, Belgium, and Portugal. The meeting was chaired by the Spanish minister, who first read out Fan Guoliang's letter, although it had already been carefully read by the ministers. The French minister then took the floor and confirmed the credibility of the letter of Fan Guoliang, a Frenchman who had lived in China for forty years, and whose analysis was indisputably authoritative. As you can see, the dangers faced by foreigners living in China cannot be overestimated given the current situation.

If someone in the Qing court had studied the history of aggression against foreign countries by imperialist countries, they would have come to the conclusion that the most difficult thing about every invasion was not the lack of force, but the lack of excuses. As far as China, an ancient eastern power, is concerned, there really aren't many excuses for the invasion that the great powers can find: China has not armed itself into other countries to open up its own sphere of power, has not provoked any armed disputes overseas, and has not occupied even an inch of land in any sovereign country! China is so disciplined! There are so few of the great powers that covet this huge eastern market that they can find a reason to invade!

But, now there's it!

The ministers of all countries attending the ministerial meeting could not contain their excitement. They knew that despite the loss of the lives of the missionaries and merchants, the situation was exactly what they wanted to see. The Boxers did them a great favor! The escalating state of affairs justifies possible armed intervention in the future.

At this time, the recognized number one power in the world was not the thriving United States, but England, on which the sun never sets. The veteran British Minister Dou Nale saw the eagerness of the colleagues attending the meeting, and said: You should deal with it calmly, wait and see the development of the situation, and do not be in a hurry.

The American envoy immediately agreed with the British proposal, and the ministers of all countries immediately understood the meaning of the proposal of their British counterparts. Finally, the French minister suggested a written thing, so there was something similar to the "Law of Rebellion" and sent it to the Qing government, which violated the principle of diplomacy and replaced the will of the sovereign state, a total of six articles, requiring the Qing court to suppress the boxers with unprecedented severity, and all local government officials who failed to suppress and caused the loss of life and property of foreigners must be punished. The Qing government was required to publish these articles in Beijing, Zhili, and other northern provinces, and to make sure that everyone knew about them.

This was an "ultimatum" that required a five-day reply from the Qing court.

The Qing court, which received the note, was frightened. The diplomacy of the late Manchu government basically embodied the law of arrogance and ignorance to panic. is like a child who doesn't know the severity of things, he is not afraid of heaven and earth before causing trouble, but after he causes trouble, he trembles with fear and almost collapses.

The Qing court was not slow to act this time, and immediately issued a series of announcements to suppress the Boxers, including the "Statute of the Prohibition of Boxing" and the "Notice" jointly issued in the name of the commander of the infantry army, the Supervision Yuan, and the Yamen of the Shuntian Prefecture to maintain the security of the capital: it strictly prohibited the practice of boxing, and sent armed guards to suppress it.

But late. Regardless of whether the imperial court really wanted to suppress the Boxer Rebellion, the situation had developed to the point where it had spiraled out of control.

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