China -- Court and courtiers -- Anecdotes; Cixi, Empress dowager of China, 1835-1908 -- Anecdotes; Empresses -- China -- Anecdotes
afraid of the foreign guns, as all the gods were protecting him. Prince
Tuan told me that he had witnessed this himself. A Boxer shot another
with a revolver and the bullet hit him, but did not harm him in the
least. Then Prince Tuan suggested that I hand these two eunuchs supposed
to be Christians to the Boxer leader, which I did. I heard afterwards
that these two eunuchs were beheaded right in the country somewhere near
here. This chief Boxer came to the Palace the next day, accompanied by
Prince Tuan and Duke Lan, to make all the eunuchs burn incense sticks
to prove that they were not Christians. After that Prince Tuan also
suggested that we had better let the chief Boxer come every day and
teach the eunuchs their belief; that nearly all of Peking was studying
with the Boxers. The next day I was very much surprised to see all my
eunuchs dressed as Boxers. They wore red jackets, red turbans and yellow
trousers. I was sorry to see all my attendants discard their official
robes and wear a funny costume like that. Duke Lan presented me with
a suit of Boxer clothes. At that time Yung Lu, who was the head of the
Grand Council, was ill and asked leave of absence for a month. While he
was sick, I used to send one of the eunuchs to see him every day, and
that day the eunuch returned and informed me that Yung Lu was quite well
and would come to the Palace the next day, although he still had fifteen
days more leave. I was puzzled to know why he should give up the balance
of his leave. However, I was very anxious to see him, as I wished to
consult him about this chief Boxer. Yung Lu looked grieved when he
learned what had taken place at the Palace, and said that these Boxers
were nothing but revolutionaries and agitators. They were trying to get
the people to help them to kill the foreigners, but he was very much
afraid the result would be against the Government. I told him that
probably he was right, and asked him what should be done. He told me
that he would talk to Prince Tuan, but the next day Prince Tuan told me
that he had had a fight with Yung Lu about the Boxer question, and said
that all of Peking had become Boxers, and if we tried to turn them, they
would do all they could to kill everyone in Peking, including the Court;
that they (the Boxer party) had the day selected to kill all the foreign
representatives; that Tung Fou Hsiang, a very conservative General and
one of the Boxers, had promised to bring his troops out to help the
Boxers to fire on the Legations. When I heard this I was very much
worried and anticipated serious trouble, so I sent for Yung Lu at once
and kept Prince Tuan with me. Yung Lu came, looking very much worried,
and he was more so after I had told him what the Boxers were going to
do. He immediately suggested that I should issue an Edict, saying that
these Boxers were a secret society and that no one should believe their
teaching, and to instruct the Generals of the nine gates to drive all
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