The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 288 Bold Yikuang

Chapter 288 Bold Yikuang
Although Yikuang was an iron-hat prince of the Qing Dynasty and held a high status, he had never seen such a scene before. He was frightened out of his wits, and with the help of several servants, he could barely stand. It took him a long time to recover.

Yi Kuang's lips trembled as he spoke in a trembling voice to Teng Yuzao who was looking at him coldly.

"Teng Teng Xingfu, it would be fine if you protected those who indulged you, but the Empress Dowager has already issued an imperial decree to release all the foreigners in Dongjiaomin Lane. When the Empress Dowager left Beijing, she also made it clear that she would wipe out the Boxers in all places."

"Not only did you disobey the Queen Mother's order, you also condoned the Boxers to smash my carriage. Are you planning a rebellion?"

Yikuang was so frightened that his mind was a little confused. How could Teng Yuzhao know what Cixi had said to him before she left Beijing? It was just that Yikuang was so scared at this time that he blurted out what he wanted to say.

As soon as Yikuang uttered the second half of his words, the Boxer leaders who had come to watch were all horrified. Many of them had already reached their hands to their waists and began to look around, as if looking for a way to retreat so that they could find a way to escape if Teng Yuzao suddenly attacked.

However, when these leaders saw the streets full of fully armed vanguard officers and soldiers who were on high alert, they did not dare to act rashly, and some even began to secretly look at the surrounding walls and houses.

Almost all of these Boxer leaders had excellent martial arts skills. Many of them could climb over ordinary walls of houses. If necessary, they could even escape by climbing over the walls.

Yikuang's words made Teng Yuzao secretly shocked.

Although he knew that Cixi issued an edict in the name of Guangxu during her escape, after entering Shanxi, requiring all localities to suppress the Boxer Rebellion.

The reason why Cixi made such a 180-degree turn was mainly because she saw that the foreigners were serious about her and seemed to want to kill her. Cixi was frightened and, by suppressing the Boxer Rebellion, she was clearing the way for negotiations with the foreigners.

But now, not to mention that the imperial edict has not been issued yet, even if it has been issued in advance, Yikuang cannot tell this matter in front of so many Boxer leaders.

This news will surely make the Boxer leaders panic, and if they are not careful, it may easily lead to an accident.

Thinking of this, Teng Yuzao could not help but shout, "Shut up, you daring Yikuang, you are presumptuous and disturbing the morale of the army. You should be executed on the spot to set things right, but considering that you are the heir of the royal family, I will temporarily put your head on the line. Why don't you return home and reflect on your mistakes and wait for me to impeach you."

Without giving Yikuang a chance to speak, Teng Yuzao immediately said in a stern voice, "Come here, take this nonsense away from me."

This time, the sentry who had just been dismissed and retained did not hesitate any more. He waved his hand and rushed over with a dozen officers and soldiers from the Guards Battalion, swung the butts of their guns and smashed hard at the Goshahas and Yikuang's servants around them.

The hard and sturdy buttstocks of the guns were wielded fiercely by the vanguard officers and soldiers, making the Goshahas and servants scream in pain. Even Yikuang was kicked hard by the sergeant and fell to the ground.

Seeing Teng Yuzao being so arrogant, these Goshaha and servants were already frightened. Seeing that this group of soldiers, with the connivance of Teng Yuzao, attacked without mercy and smashed them with the butts of their guns, they dared not wait for Yikuang's order. They carried Yikuang and ran away without caring about the three corpses on the ground.

Seeing Yikuang and his group tumbling and crawling away in a panic, someone shouted first, "The Marshal is mighty!"

Immediately afterwards, the vanguard officers and soldiers on the streets, including those in front of the gate of the Ministry of Revenue, raised their guns and shouted excitedly.

"The handsome man is mighty!"

"The Marshal is mighty!" Liu Shijiu raised his sword high, his face flushed, and he jumped up and down, shouting, "Brothers, tell me, is it worth it to follow such a Marshal and sell our lives?"

"value!"

Liu Shijiu's shout once again drew loud shouts from the soldiers.

Looking at the excitement of his officers and soldiers, Teng Yuzhao knew that his move of standing up for his two ordinary soldiers, even at the risk of offending Yikuang, the iron-hatted king, had been completely successful!
Teng Yuzhao believed that today's incident would soon spread throughout the army, and his prestige in the vanguard army would be unprecedentedly high. If ordinary people wanted to do something that was detrimental to him, even if the officers were bribed, I am afraid that a large number of soldiers would not follow anyone and would stand firmly on his side.

Yikuang ran away, but Teng Yuzao still had to clean up the mess left by Yikuang's careless words.

Teng Yuzao turned around and whispered to the ministers including Dou Nale and Kang Ge.

"Gentlemen, it's getting late. You should hurry up and leave the city. It's better to do it sooner rather than later. Otherwise, if something goes wrong, it won't be easy for you to leave."

Teng Yuzhao's words were not entirely meant to intimidate the ministers. There were 70,000 to 80,000 Boxers in the city who were irreconcilable with the foreigners.

Although Wang Decheng recruited nearly 10,000 Boxers in the capital, and because Liu Shijiu and Zhu Kaishan became sworn brothers and won over a group of Boxers, the rest should be the Boxers led by Liu Zhigang, Zhou Zhan and others, as well as the leaders and their followers who were close to them.

But even so, since Liu Zhigang and Zhou Zhan's Boxers were the largest, plus there were several Boxer leaders who were attached to them, the number of Boxers who would not completely obey Teng Yuzhao's command and arrangements would probably be at least 20,000 to 30,000.

Twenty or thirty thousand people are not small numbers. If these people cause trouble in the city, even if Teng Yuzhao has more than 40,000 troops, it will be impossible to drive these Boxers out of the city in a short period of time in the capital city that can accommodate one million people.

At that time, there were allied forces attacking from outside and the Boxer Rebellion rioting from inside. Even if Teng Yuzhao had three heads and six arms, he would not be able to take care of everything.

Now, there is only one way, and that is to send these foreigners away as soon as possible, and then immediately try our best to divide and appease the leaders of the Boxers.

These ministers obviously realized the seriousness of the matter. The Boxers became jealous when they saw them. Even now, these foreigners still feel frightened whenever they see the Boxers wearing red or yellow turbans.

Dou Nale nodded hurriedly, "Yes, we really want to leave here immediately."

After expressing his approval of Teng Yuzao's arrangement, Dou Nale hurriedly said, "General, you can hand over the seriously injured British and American soldiers to us to take away, so that you don't have to worry about this anymore."

Teng Yuzao shook his head regretfully and said, "Sir Claude MacArthur, I have changed my mind on this issue now."

感谢：平凡之路二、Di调De、铭玄、地灵人杰杰、20240313434-ae、雪浪花、希格拉之耀、三石又三十、20220313161636348、20180927104339797、20210301105267525784、稻草人1970、121022092051640、铁甲第一战队、深蓝等书友的月票、推荐票支持！！！

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(End of this chapter)