All the heavens begin with the love in the courtyard.

France suffered the most. The Black Army, which was tasked with targeted elimination, attacked the French command post. Since most of the French troops were looting outside, there were only about eighty guards left. Fifty of the targeted elimination personnel began to eliminate the French troops in the base one by one. The highest-ranking French commander, Lieutenant General Faury, was shot dead, becoming the commander with the highest casualties among the Allied forces. The French high command was completely wiped out.

Other coalition command posts also suffered heavy casualties, with more than 150 middle and high-ranking officers losing their positions, bringing the total number of casualties to more than 4,300. The coalition forces in the capital city suffered a reduction of nearly 30%.

In fact, the British army suffered the most casualties, with nearly a thousand dead or wounded. Among them were nearly a hundred traitors from the Chinese Regiment. The Black Army was particularly ruthless towards these traitors, placing several TNT explosive packages in their camp. The explosion that Bai Jingqi heard at the time came from this.

The heavy casualties suffered by the coalition forces this time were largely due to TNT. In fact, long before the coalition forces entered the city, the Black Army's operations staff had already guessed where their troops would eventually be stationed, and had already deployed personnel and explosives in those locations. Explosives accounted for 70% of the coalition forces' casualties this time.

However, the Black Family Army also suffered heavy losses. Of the three hundred Black Family Army soldiers who participated in the targeted elimination mission, more than 80% were lost, with less than fifty surviving. In the end, everyone was wounded. Their retreat route had been planned in advance, and more than a dozen machine guns were even deployed along the way. These machine guns also killed hundreds of coalition soldiers.

However, the Allied forces launched a swift counterattack, even resorting to artillery fire to attack the Black Family Army's machine gun positions, completely destroying their retreat route.

Bai Jingqi had not expected the Black Family Army to suffer such heavy casualties. The planned casualties were already around 30%, and the plan was to eliminate about 1,000 allied troops.

But to his utter surprise, things had gone too far this time. However, since the deed was done, all he could do now was deal with the aftermath. With such heavy casualties among the coalition forces, a thorough search would undoubtedly be conducted next.

Plans can't keep up with changes. He originally planned to let everyone hide in the capital for a while before launching a small-scale attack, waiting for the situation to stabilize before finding a way to rescue these people from the capital. But now, the majority of the people are injured, and the casualties are so heavy that the allied forces will definitely be on guard against another operation. The next operation is no longer of much significance.

Now he must rescue the remaining surviving members of the Black Family Army from the capital. In the damp and sweltering basement, the wounded will not last long.

At this point, the Black Family Army's arrangements in Beijing over the years were truly put to use, and the seeds sown years ago were officially put into practice. A large number of Black Family Army peripheral members were mobilized, and countless gangs in Beijing were notified to assist the wounded Black Family Army members in escaping the capital.

At this moment, the gangs in Beijing finally realized that the big event that happened last night was actually done by the Black Family Army, who killed and wounded thousands of foreign devils. Such a feat would make any Chinese person feel excited, let alone these people from all walks of life who had been involved in the underworld for many years.

Humans have their ways, and rats have theirs. Transporting two or three hundred wounded out of the city was not a difficult task for these people from all walks of life. While the allied forces were still counting the number of wounded and planning their search, countless people began to move that night.

Late at night on the 18th, the Black Family Army began to be secretly transported out of the city through various secret passages and gaps in the city walls. Some even hid in the chamber pots while being emptied and were smuggled out of the city. In just one night, less than fifty members of the Black Family Army remained in the entire capital. These people were unharmed and would lie in wait for further instructions.

At this moment, in the command post of the Japanese army, Japanese Army General Yamaguchi Motoomi, with his hand bandaged, listened solemnly to the report from his subordinates in the conference room.

In this attack, the Japanese suffered nearly 500 casualties. Compared to the 8,000 troops the Japanese sent out, the casualty rate was not high.

As for the reason, it was because after the Japanese army entered the capital, they quickly occupied some important government offices, granaries, even money warehouses, as well as academies and the residences and warehouses of some wealthy families.

They have great ambitions; they want to get their hands on anything from China, so their army is widely dispersed. In addition, the Japanese army is more disciplined than other armies, so their casualties in this attack were not heavy.

However, the loss of nearly 500 people still pained the Japanese. Facing hundreds of thousands of Boxers and Qing soldiers, they suffered only two or three hundred casualties. This sudden attack in two hours resulted in nearly 500 casualties, which was a disgrace to the Japanese!

Another advantage of the Japanese is that they are motivated by a sense of shame and strive to learn from their enemies' strengths; this is a tradition of the Japanese.

This attack by the Black Army deeply shocked the Japanese high command, especially Yamaguchi Motoomi, who was a general in charge of the army. He never imagined that an army could launch such an attack, or even have such advanced assassination techniques. Most importantly, the perpetrators were Chinese.

On the conference room table lay the Black Family Army's bayonets, pistols, machine guns, and even explosives. In the interrogation room of their camp, eleven wounded members of the Black Family Army were being held. They wanted to find out what the origins of this mysterious Black Family Army were.

The Japanese are no strangers to the Black Army. They had already fought against them in the First Sino-Japanese War a few years ago, losing a major general and more than 300 men. Now, the casualties are even more severe.

In just over five years, this army called the Black Family Army has clearly grown into a man-eating tiger. The extent of the losses suffered by the allied forces has shocked the world, and foreign news media have already begun to report on it.

This matter is still unfolding and has not yet reached its climax. The outside world is not yet fully aware of the inside story of this attack. News reports only mention the large number of casualties. When the real inside story is revealed, that will truly ignite the entire world.

At this moment, the high-ranking officials of the governments of various countries probably already know the casualties of their own armies, and they are obviously in a great shock. It is estimated that every country is frantically collecting information about the Black Army, and the Japanese are no exception.

Yamaguchi Motoomi immediately reported the information and data about the Black Family Army to China. Now, China has dispatched more professional troops to China to conduct an investigation into the Black Family Army.

At this moment, Yamaguchi Motoomi listened with a grim face to the weapons expert's report on the Black Family Army's weaponry. These weapons were not produced by any country, and it was clear from the collected weapons that the Black Family Army must have a professional military factory, and the quality of the weapons produced was even comparable to that of the Japanese. This Black Family Army was clearly not a small-scale military organization.

Yamaguchi Motoomi picked up the dagger on the table. There was still a trace of black blood on the special groove. He slowly touched the blade. At this moment, an indescribable chill suddenly rose in his heart. He seemed to see his soldiers being stabbed in the heart by this dagger, and finally being pulled out, with a large amount of blood gushing out!

Yamaguchi Motoomi put down his military dagger and suddenly shouted at the officers in the conference room with a serious expression.

"Completely seal off all exits from the capital and search for all wounded members of the Black Family Army. This time, we must wipe out the Black Family Army in the capital. I'm going to the Allied Command Headquarters now to demand unified action from all nations. I have a premonition that the Black Family Army will become the greatest enemy of our Great Japanese Empire in the future. We must eliminate them in their infancy!"

All the Japanese officers below stood up in unison, bowed, and nodded.

"Hai!"

Chapter Twenty-One: Shock

Shocking Yamaguchi Motoomi's idea was indeed good, but unfortunately he still underestimated the Black Family Army's layout in the capital.

Perhaps no one would have imagined that a person and an army spent years preparing for the invasion of China by foreign powers.

This "Three Points Plan" did indeed cause great losses to the great powers, but the greater the damage, the greater the hatred. Yamaguchi Motoomi's report received timely support from the allied forces, and a massive, carpet-style search began.

"Oh!"

The door was kicked open, and a row of foreigners rushed into Baicaotang. The apprentices on duty were so frightened by the sight of so many foreigners and their long guns that they quickly ducked behind the counter.

The foreigner leading the group, wearing riding boots, entered the herbal medicine shop. He frowned as he looked at the few medicines scattered around the counters and called out in broken Chinese.

"I order you all to line up and come out within one minute, or we're going to open fire!"

The foreigner's words startled the few people who remained behind. They quickly stood up and cautiously walked out from behind the counter. Several soldiers began to search them. Finding nothing, they roughly pushed them out of the store.

The foreigners seemed to have already mastered the skill. Seeing that everyone had been driven out, they gave an order and several of them began to rummage through the boxes and cabinets. They stuffed anything they thought was valuable into their backpacks, not even letting go of the few copper coins at the very back of the counter.

After searching the front hall without much success, the officer immediately led his team into the backyard. The backyard used to be a warehouse for pharmaceuticals and medicines, but now it was all empty. After rummaging around inside for a while and finding nothing of value, the officer angrily led his team to the door.

A soldier skillfully took out a roster and matched it with the name of Baicaotang. After seeing the name, several people took out seals, pasted them on the door, and handed a receipt-like piece of paper to the timid waiter at the door.

A foreigner cursed viciously.

"We are informing you that we suspect you of harboring the Black Family Army. You have ten days to gather five thousand taels of silver and hand it over to the Allied Command. Before the silver is handed over, your Baicaotang is not allowed to reopen!"

After saying that, the officer ignored the waiter and led a group of soldiers, barging into a shop across the street and starting to ransack it. A dozen minutes later, another seal was affixed, along with an extortion receipt. However, the receipt on the other side showed three thousand taels of silver, indicating that the other party had ordered based on the dishes.

These foreign devils' stunts this time were truly impressive. Under the guise of a search and arrest, they first looted the place, then extorted money from it, killing three birds with one stone. Their thorough search certainly yielded a great harvest.

After a whole day of work, they made a good amount of money, with each foreigner carrying large and small bags. As for the real Black Army, they didn't find a single one. In the end, some of the Allied troops rounded up some of the arrogant-looking thugs on the street and took them all back.

For three consecutive days, all the shops, big and small, in the capital that were still open were visited by the Japanese soldiers. Eventually, they even went to private residences. Inside the shops, there were only the shop assistants and managers, and at most, they would only lose some silver and goods.

Inside the private residences, many families who didn't have time to escape were now completely unlucky. In particular, some women and girls were dragged and pulled by these foreign devils into their rooms, living rooms, studies, and even the streets, where they were publicly humiliated.

Countless women and girls could not bear this humiliation and committed suicide out of shame and indignation. There were even families who jumped into wells. In an instant, resentment rose up in the capital. No matter whether they were princes and nobles or ordinary people, they all became targets of these allied forces. Some men who could not bear the humiliation picked up carrying poles, kitchen knives, and stones and fought with the foreign devils.

However, this approach of throwing an egg against a rock was clearly unable to change the general trend. Some powers, such as the French army, even forcibly set up machine guns and opened fire on street after street in retaliation for the destruction of their command post, killing countless civilians. The blood stained the streets red, and within five days, the capital was filled with a stench caused by the corpses that no one was handling them, all in the sweltering heat.

On August 20, Emperor Guangxu, who was on the run, issued an edict of self-reproach, apologizing to the governments of the foreign powers and demanding that Li Hongzhang beg for peace with them.

Yes, it was begging for peace, not asking for peace. It was more like humbly pleading with the great powers, "Stop fighting, we admit defeat, how much silver do you want? Name your price."

However, it is clear that the foreign powers were blinded by greed. This time, not only were their gains less than expected, but their army also suffered such heavy losses. They had to make the Qing government and the Chinese people taste the bitterness of resistance.

At this moment, Bai Jingqi sat in the underground command room, his eyes bloodshot, looking at a document in his hand. All the wounded soldiers of the Black Family Army had been evacuated from the capital in the past few days. The remaining forty-odd men were all gathering intelligence and no longer taking action against outsiders.

These past few days, the foreign devils have gone mad with killing. In just one week, more than 5,000 civilians in Beijing have been massacred, and countless women and girls have been humiliated. Watching his compatriots being killed and humiliated by the foreign devils, even Bai Jingqi, who had long since become hard-hearted, has been burning with anger these past few days. This feeling of being choked so hard is really damn painful.

But Bai Jingqi was helpless. The Black Family Army had built its power through assassinations. If they fought openly, even if he transferred all the thousands of Black Family Army soldiers to the capital, he would only leave behind a coalition of less than 20,000 men. By then, the Black Family Army would probably be completely wiped out.

This victory, with 700 casualties for over 4,000 Allied casualties, can be considered a great triumph. One Black Army soldier for six foreign devils—this record will be a great victory even a hundred years from now. These were all elite troops, not supermen.

Bai Jingqi's Black Army was indeed changing history, because his Black Army caused more ordinary people to suffer the retaliation of the Allied Forces. This invasion of China by the Allied Forces was obviously more tragic and heroic than in the past!

Bai Jingqi ultimately held back. A small act of impatience could ruin a great plan. For the sake of his next plan, he had to be patient. A reckless act of courage would not accomplish anything significant.

Even if he could fight a hundred men, he could only kill a hundred foreign devils at most. Then, the foreign devils would kill ten thousand civilians in retaliation. So he had to be patient now and wait to give the foreign devils a final, severe blow.

The first two steps of his three-step plan have been basically completed. The forty-odd people who remain are mainly engaged in intelligence gathering and guarding the valuables sealed in the underground warehouse. The danger of these tasks is not great for these elites who have been in the capital for many years.

Unless the allied forces are prepared to massacre the capital, Bai Jingqi believes they would not do something so heinous.

Bai Jingqi is also preparing to leave Beijing. He will go to Taiyuan. On the surface, he will still be the head of Bai's Pharmaceutical. Bai's Pharmaceutical is now a well-known name in China's pharmaceutical industry. Every city is eager to welcome Bai's Pharmaceutical. Now, Bai's Pharmaceutical's drug research institute has basically moved there.

Today, Bai's Pharmaceuticals is quietly changing the medication habits of Chinese people, especially in the north. Many medicinal herb markets are gradually being monopolized by Bai's Pharmaceuticals. Bai's Pharmaceuticals can control the price and sales of medicinal herbs without any scruples. Of course, Bai Jingqi is not as ruthless as the capitalists of later generations. His goal of monopolizing the medicinal herb market is not simply to make money.

People in this era didn't understand what a monopoly was, and neither did the herbal medicine merchants. All they knew was that now, whether they picked or grew their own herbs, Bai's Pharmaceutical would buy them all, charging them prices according to their grade. This was fair, reasonable, and honest, which solved many of their problems, as they no longer had to worry about not being able to sell their herbs or transport them long distances to the herbal medicine market.

However, these medicinal herb merchants did not realize that their previous sales channels were gradually shrinking or even going bankrupt, leaving only Bai's Pharmaceutical's acquisition channels. Bai's Pharmaceutical acquired medicinal herbs from the places where they were produced and gradually formed a complete industrial chain from raw materials to finished products.

Besides herbal medicine merchants, other pharmacies gradually stopped purchasing herbs from other channels. As Bai's Pharmaceutical entered the market, other channels gradually declined completely. Some herbal medicine trading markets that had existed for hundreds of years saw their market share decrease by 70% in just a few years, and the remaining 30% could not last more than a few years.

Bai Jingqi's Bai's Pharmaceutical has invested a great deal of human and financial resources in its pharmaceutical market strategy. Many people do not understand the extent of the impact that Bai's Pharmaceutical will have on the Chinese people in the future.

With chaos looming, no force would dare offend a massive pharmaceutical company without cause. Bai Jingqi established a public relations department, which included various Qing officials, local powerful figures, and even foreigners. In reality, it was a network of relationships, a network of shared interests.

Throughout history, no industry giant has ever become a world-class company by working alone, and Bai Jingqi understands this principle as well.

When Bai's Pharmaceuticals goes to a new place, it invites the largest local forces to establish a joint venture. Bai's Pharmaceuticals holds a little more than half of the shares, while the other parties hold a smaller share. Bai's Pharmaceuticals is responsible for all services from procurement to sales, while the local forces are responsible for opening up all the channels and resources in the area to ensure the smooth establishment of Bai's Pharmaceuticals' business locations.

Dividends were distributed annually, with many regions receiving thousands or even tens of thousands of taels of silver in profit each year. Driven by such profits, Bai's Pharmaceutical quickly expanded its network of connections.

Through this alliance of interests, Bai's Pharmaceutical has formed a huge chain of interests, sweeping across the markets of several provinces in China in recent years. Currently, Bai's Pharmaceutical has become the dominant player in the northern region.

Moreover, this company also has its own armed organization. In the eyes of outsiders, the Guardian Escort Agency is not conspicuous because they have neither participated in any battles with foreign powers nor in the cause of dominating the world. Their main job now is to transport medicinal materials and medicines from various provinces, gradually forming a trend of armed escort.

Before September, Bai Jingqi left the capital and headed towards Taiyuan, Shanxi.

Throughout the journey, he kept a close eye on the movements of the Allied Forces. After ten days of thorough searching, the Allied Forces did not find the Black Family Army in the capital. Instead, they found a large number of Boxer Rebellion members and a large number of Boxer forces in villages on the outskirts of the capital. So the Allied Forces turned their guns on the Boxers and began to suppress and massacre them. Anyone who had any connection with the Boxers was killed.

This time, the Boxers were completely unlucky. After their defeat, they quickly became the scapegoats of the Allied forces. The powers demanded that Empress Dowager Cixi completely annihilate the Boxers and the Black Army. Finally, out of desperation, Cixi issued these two orders. However, the Black Army was nowhere to be seen, so they could only vent their anger on the Boxers.

In a short time, tens of thousands of Boxers were subjected to a horrific massacre, and several villages on the outskirts of Beijing were wiped out, adding another crime to the list of crimes committed by the foreign powers.

The news that the Allied forces in Beijing had lost more than 4,000 men could not be kept secret in the end, and it sparked a lot of discussion around the world. The name "Black Family Army" frequently appeared on the front page of newspapers.

In fact, the allied forces also captured some prisoners of the Black Family Army. Some of them could not withstand the torture and eventually confessed some of the inside stories of the Black Family Army that they knew. Although this information did not have a great impact on the Black Family Army, the mysterious veil of the Black Family Army was finally exposed to the world for the first time.

For example, there's the Black Family Army's training camp, the Black Family Army's Twelve Zodiac Organization, and even a military rank system. The leader of the Black Family Army is a man called Black Seven, but no one really knows what Black Seven looks like.

As for the higher-ups of the Black Family Army, they rarely participate in battles. The lower-level members of the Black Family Army are even less aware of who they are. They usually communicate missions using code names. They don't even know how many people are actually in the Black Family Army.

Because the members of each batch are different, they only have a general idea of ​​how many people are in the Black Family Army that they are training at the same time. As for the total number of Black Family Army members, apart from Bai Jingqi and the other 22 real high-level members, outsiders never know.

Bai Jingqi was unaware of foreign reports, but discussions about the Black Family Army had clearly begun to circulate among the people in China. Many people compared the Boxers and the Black Family Army to see who was more powerful. The general public did not know the Boxers' actual achievements in Beijing, but the Qing court was well aware of them. Therefore, the Qing court's attention to the Black Family Army was unprecedented.

Emperor Guangxu, who was already on his westward journey, heard about the Black Army's victories once again. His already disheartened heart was finally warmed by a spark. Faced with Empress Dowager Cixi's pleas for peace with the foreign powers, Emperor Guangxu felt extremely pained and conflicted.

Several times in his dreams, he dreamt of a Black Master Qi appearing beside him, whom he appointed as the Grand General of the Nation. The two of them lived in harmony as ruler and subject, together building a Black Army of millions to drive the foreign powers out of China in one fell swoop. But every time he woke up from such a dream, it was all for naught.

Bai Jingqi had no idea that Emperor Guangxu was thinking of him day and night. In fact, Emperor Guangxu and Empress Dowager Cixi were also in Taiyuan at that moment. He returned to Taiyuan on September 18, while Empress Dowager Cixi had arrived in Taiyuan on the 10th.

However, Bai Jingqi had no intention of meeting the old hag. After Cixi arrived in Shanxi, it was as if she were on a sightseeing tour. Officials from all walks of life tried their best to please her. In each place, officials from all walks of life presented her with all kinds of delicacies. Cixi was a famous foodie, and there are countless legends about her when it comes to food.

Shanxi had Jin merchants, who were the merchants with the closest ties to the Qing court. This was one of the reasons why Empress Dowager Cixi and her entourage fled to Shanxi. In addition to the Jin merchants, there were also Qing troops stationed in Shanxi cities under the Eight Banners. This was the real reason why Cixi fled to Xi'an. The Jin merchants could provide financial support and supplies, and with their own army, their safety was guaranteed.

After Bai Jingqi arrived in Taiyuan, he had no time to pay attention to Empress Dowager Cixi. With the current scale of Bai's Pharmaceutical, there were countless tasks waiting for his decisions every day, and he was so busy that he never had a moment to rest.

In addition, Bai's Pharmaceutical Research Institute recently invited several top medical students from Europe and America to work here. These foreigners will work in the institute as teachers, teaching some modern Western medicine. Of course, each of these foreigners will be surrounded by a series of surveillance personnel, and once they are found to be abnormal, they will naturally disappear.

These top medical students from Europe and America are somewhat interested in Baike Pharmaceuticals, not only because of the high salaries offered, but also because of their strong interest in Baike Pharmaceuticals' drugs.

Although artemisinin, a killer drug, is not yet on the market, many of the drugs produced by Bai's Pharmaceutical, based on mature formulas, are just as effective as those made by Western medicine, which is what these foreigners are most interested in.

After Bai Jingqi relinquished control of the Black Family Army, much information could only be received through secret channels. In reality, the Black Family Army was now basically under the control of Zhang Li and others. However, Bai Jingqi knew all the movements of their high-ranking members, and as long as Zhang Li did not harbor any rebellious intentions towards him, he would not interfere with Zhang Li's decisions regarding the Black Family Army.

By this point, the Black Family Army was no longer of much use to Bai's Pharmaceuticals. Over the years, Bai's Pharmaceuticals and the Black Family Army had supported each other's growth and had essentially become independent entities. Now, their war against the foreign powers in the capital signifies a complete separation between the Black Family Army and Bai's Pharmaceuticals. In the future, the relationship between the two organizations will only become more and more distant.