The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 269: Boxer Leader

As soon as they entered the second gate, Wei Jinghai came out hurriedly to greet them. The two of them greeted each other hurriedly and then, led by Wei Jinghai, rushed to the flower hall.

Teng Yuzhao had never been to the Ministry of Revenue in his previous life, nor had he heard of its location. Teng Yuzhao guessed that the Ministry of Revenue must have been demolished due to expansion in later generations.

However, the layouts of all government offices in the Qing Dynasty were similar, and Teng Yuzhao had no interest in looking at them.

Due to the hot weather, the doors and windows of the flower hall were open. Before Teng Yuzao entered the flower hall, he heard Liu Shijiu's voice and bursts of noisy laughter coming from inside.

Teng Yuzhao could tell that Liu Shijiu was talking about the ambush on American troops that he had just fought in the outer city.

In the flower hall, around a long table that was put together hastily, sat a dozen people of varying heights, weights and skin, wearing red or yellow scarves on their heads. Almost all of them had their chests exposed and were in various postures. Some were drinking wine and listening excitedly to Liu Nineteen's narration of his heroic deeds, while others were whispering to each other as if they were discussing something. Only the two men sitting at the head of the long table had no expression on their faces, they were just holding their wine bowls and sipping the wine silently.

Although there were more than a dozen Boxer groups of varying sizes in the capital, like the Boxers in Tianjin, many smaller groups were affiliated with the larger ones. Therefore, the Boxers in the capital were roughly divided into two major groups, one headed by Li Laizhong and the other headed by Wang Jueyi.

In his previous life, when Teng Yuzhao was researching the historical battle of the Eight-Nation Alliance's invasion of China, he had seen information about the leaders of the Boxer Rebellion in the capital. However, both leaders of the Boxer Rebellion in the capital were extremely mysterious figures, and historical information about them was extremely scarce.

All we know is that Li Laizhong is from Shaanxi, but his hometown is unknown.

It is said that this man is energetic, capable and very influential. His subordinates include some anti-Qing Buddhist Zeng people, Lama monks, and chivalrous men. Since last year, he went to Shandong to develop the Boxer Rebellion. Because Yuan Shikai's suppression was severe, Li Laizhong ran from Shandong to Zhidi and Tianjin.

Starting from the first half of this year, Li Laizhong also entered the capital with a large number of Boxers, and soon stood out among the Boxers. Li Laizhong and his men participated in the siege of foreigners' residences, Xishiku Church, and the siege of the embassy district. However, after Li Laizhong led his men to block the Allied Forces in Beicang last month, his whereabouts are unknown. Some said that Li Laizhong died in the battle, but no one has confirmed it.

There are rumors that the leader of the Gansu Army, Dong Fuxiang, and the leader of the Boxers had recently become sworn brothers.

As for Wang Jueyi, this person is even more mysterious.

All we know is that the leader of the "Last Move Sect" in the late Qing Dynasty more than ten years ago had organizations distributed in 18 provinces including Zhili, Shandong, Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Hubei, Sichuan, etc.

Starting from the seventh year of the Guangxu period, there were several attempts to organize anti-Qing armed uprisings, but they were eventually suppressed by the Qing government forces.

Afterwards, under the imperial edicts to "punish them severely" and "eradicate them completely", the Qing government hunted down Wang Jueyi and his followers across the country. However, when the case was closed at the end of the tenth year of the Guangxu period, not only did the leader Wang Jueyi escape, but most of the core members had also disappeared without a trace.

But no one knows whether the Wang Jueyi in the capital now is the same Wang Jueyi.

Moreover, in history, this person was said to have died of illness when the allied forces approached the capital, and his whereabouts were never found.

At this time, the two men were replaced by their respective apprentices. Li Laizhong's apprentice was Zhou Zhan, and Wang Jueyi's apprentice was Liu Zhigang.

Teng Yuzhao subconsciously felt that these two silent people should be Zhou Zhan and Liu Zhigang.

Seeing Teng Yuzao walking into the flower hall accompanied by Wei Jinghai, Liu Shijiu, Cao Futian and Wang Decheng all stood up and saluted Teng Yuzao.

The Boxer leaders in the hall were puzzled when they saw Wei Jinghai walking into the flower hall with a man wearing ordinary military uniform, without the golden collar and epaulettes that Wei Jinghai, Liu Shijiu and other vanguard generals had. But when they saw Liu Shijiu, Cao Futian and Wang Decheng saluted Teng Yuzhao, they guessed Teng Yuzhao's identity.

These people also hurriedly put down the wine bowls in their hands, stood up hurriedly and saluted Teng Yuzhao with their fists.

Teng Yuzao also clasped his fists and said with a smile, "Everyone, please take a seat quickly. The battle is intense. I am sorry for keeping you waiting for so long. I beg your forgiveness, leaders!"

"Don't dare! Don't dare!"

"Your Excellency is very busy, so it is only right that we wait for a while." Everyone responded politely.

Liu Shijiu and others were also busy asking everyone to sit down again.

After everyone was seated, Teng Yuzhao walked towards the main seat in the front. When passing by Wang Decheng, Teng Yuzhao took Wang Decheng's hand and said.

"Brother Chengde, you've worked hard today. I'll give you credit for this battle at Qihua Sect."

Teng Yuzao was talking about Wang Decheng organizing the 8,000 new soldiers to join the war and the Xishiku incident, but Teng Yuzao was not willing to mention Xishiku. Wang Decheng naturally understood what Teng Yuzao was talking about, but he did not expect Teng Yuzao to do this. His face lit up with excitement and he said hurriedly, "Your Excellency, I am too kind to praise you. This is what I should do."

Teng Yuzao smiled and said to Cao Futian, "Brother Cao has worked hard too!"

Cao Futian waved his hands and said, "Your Excellency's words make me ashamed. I was just guarding the city wall and did not do anything worthy of your praise. Compared with Brother Chengxiang and Brother Chengde, what I did is not worth mentioning, not worth mentioning."

"I don't think so."

Teng Yuzao smiled and said, "It is precisely because of Brother Cao guarding the city wall that I can fight with confidence. Although you did not go to the battlefield yourself, most of your troops participated in the battle. This is inseparable from you, the chief officer. The credit for the outer city and Qihua Gate is naturally yours."

Teng Yuzao's words also excited Cao Futian, who kept saying, "Thank you for your cultivation! Thank you for your cultivation!"

Teng Yuzao finally walked to his seat and spoke to Liu Shijiu who was standing beside him.

"Brother, you fought even better this time. With a force similar to that of the U.S. Army, you not only defeated the Americans repeatedly, but also successfully cut off the retreat of the Americans and the British. Together with the Second Mixed Brigade, you surrounded the remaining British and American troops. It is only a matter of time before we destroy them. Your contribution is not small!"

Liu Shijiu sighed and said, "Xingfu, please stop praising me. If it weren't for Li Xietong and Brother Cao's help, I really wouldn't be able to surround the remaining foreign devils."

The Boxer leaders in the flower hall were stunned at first, and then filled with emotion at how friendly Teng Yuzao was with these Boxer generals. Teng Yuzao's behavior was very different from those high-ranking officials of the Qing court. If they could work under such a boss, it would be worth it even if they worked for him for the rest of their lives.

What surprised these people even more was that Teng Yuzhao called Cao Futian and Wang Decheng "Brother Cao" and "Brother Wang", but when he called Liu Shijiu he dropped the first surname, it was obvious that the relationship between the two was very close.

What surprised them the most was that Liu Shijiu actually dared to call Teng Yuzao by his given name!
This is a first-rank military official in the imperial court, especially since he is an earl.

"Brother, don't underestimate yourself. You all fought well and made great contributions."

Teng Yuzao turned to the Boxer leaders and said, "I have good news for you all."

"Our vanguard army not only assisted the Gansu Army in destroying thousands of old Russians who rushed into the city wall at the East Gate, but also destroyed nearly 8,000 American and British invading troops in the outer city, and destroyed nearly 10,000 Japanese devils in the Qihua Gate. We also surrounded about 10,000 British, American, and Japanese coalition forces in the outer city and Qihua Gate. It is only a matter of time before we destroy them."

The results of the battle described by Teng Yuzhao were a little exaggerated, but only a little. After all, the results of the battle had not been fully counted, and the number of coalition forces destroyed outside the city during the coalition siege could not be counted for the time being.

Counting from the time the main force of the vanguard army entered the city this morning, it has only been more than half a day, and they have already killed more than 10,000 foreign devils, and surrounded another 10,000. The two together add up to 20,000 foreign devils!

Teng Yuzhao's words shocked the Boxer leaders, and many of them even opened their mouths in surprise.

You have to know that there were only three or four thousand real and fake foreigners in the embassy district, but tens of thousands of Boxers had besieged it for more than two months and had not been able to take it down. However, this vanguard army, in just over half a day, had eliminated or was about to eliminate more than 20,000 foreigners under the siege of more than 100,000 foreigners. What a terrifying combat power!

Not only were the Boxer leaders shocked, but Liu Jiujiu, Cao Futian, and Wang Decheng were also shocked. Liu Jiujiu asked in surprise, "Xingfu, are you telling the truth?"

Wei Jinghai, who had just sat down with Teng Yuzao, said with a smile, "Captain Liu, don't worry. What the adults said is absolutely true. Even this is not the end. Hu Dianjia will soon lead his troops to attack the city. There are nearly 10,000 Japanese soldiers outside."

Killing so many foreign devils in the city is not enough, we have to fight our way out of the city!
Wei Jinghai’s words made everyone drop their jaws.

Seeing the expressions of the crowd, Teng Yuzao knew that the effect had been achieved, so he stopped talking about this topic. Looking at the several plates of braised pork liver, braised beef and fried peanuts on the table, he frowned and said to Wei Jinghai.

"Ningbo, why is there only wine? Why not some snacks?"

Wei Jinghai smiled bitterly and said, "Sir, it's not that I don't want to entertain the leaders well, it's Captain Liu who won't let me."

Liu Shijiu waved his hand and said, "Xingfu, I said that I have to go back to kill the foreign devils in a while. If I am full of food and drink, how can I go to the battlefield?"

Before Liu Shijiu finished speaking, a sturdy man in the lead spoke in a cold voice at an inopportune time.

"No need to bother. We all came here this time to ask you why you don't allow us to kill the foreign devils inside!"

(End of this chapter)