Chapter 64: The Blood Case Caused by a Steamed Bun

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  In the midst of the struggle for power and profit between the emperor and the empress in the capital, a small market town in Heze, Shandong Province.

  Du San carefully put the two steamed buns he had just begged for into his bosom. This year, North China was hit by a severe drought, with no harvest to speak of. The imperial court's relief efforts were far from sufficient, so Du San had no choice but to bring his two daughters to town to beg, hoping to make it through the winter.

  "Get out of the way! Scram! If you bump into us, your superiors, can you afford to compensate?" Du San looked up and saw that it was two foreign missionaries from the town who were traveling, while in front of them clearing the path were three Chinese converts. These people were called "secondary devils" by the Shandong peasants.

  Du San didn't want to provoke these people, so he could only step aside. But things were just so coincidental that Du San, who hadn't eaten for days and had weak legs, accidentally fell in front of the Er Maozi. The Er Maozi saw him and shouted loudly, "Ah! There's actually someone who dares to block my way!" These people used to be local rascals, but after joining the foreign religion, they became even more lawless and arbitrary, doing whatever they wanted, to the point where even the government didn't dare to interfere much.

  Two men saw two steamed buns fall out of Du San's arms, one of them stepped forward and trampled the buns into a mess. The other two kicked Du San several times and shouted: "Damn it, I'll let you block my way! You don't want to live!"

  The surrounding onlookers glared at these two rascals, and the two foreign devils who were preaching behind them, fearing a bad influence, stepped forward to stop them: "The Lord is merciful, sinful people, let the Lord forgive your sins. Amen!"

  Du San's mouth was bleeding, half-reclining on the ground, his eyes staring dead at the trampled steamed bun. Thinking of the two daughters waiting for him back home, he gritted his teeth and crawled towards the steamed bun again. The foreign priest saw Du San ignoring him, felt a slight anger in his heart, stepped onto the steamed bun and said: "Merciful Lord, forgive your disciple! Those who believe in our Lord shall have eternal life, those who do not shall fall into hell! Amen!"

  Du San's heart was like dead ashes, but he suddenly let out a loud cry like a madman, picked up a stone from the ground, and with all his might, crawled to his feet, then rushed towards the foreign priest.

  One of the foreign priests slowly pulled out a pistol from his body, aimed at Du San and fired. Du San was shot and fell into a pool of blood. Er Maozi took advantage of the situation to shout at the crowd: "You bunch of ignorant people, don't you dare to mess with us? Who dares to block our way will end up like this."

  Er Mao's words were like pouring oil on fire, instantly igniting the crowd's anger. Over a hundred people had gathered around, and at first they couldn't believe that the foreign devil would kill someone in public. By the time they reacted, Du San was already lying in a pool of blood. These people were originally furious with the foreign priest, but Er Mao's words had blown things wide open.

  It was unclear who started it, but the crowd suddenly became chaotic and surged towards the foreign missionaries and the Russian spies. The two foreign missionaries' faces turned pale as they fired three or four shots in a row, only to be engulfed by the angry crowd. The three Russian spies were even more pitiful, having already curled up on the ground with their heads in their hands, but the enraged crowd would not let them off either.

  Before long, two Western priests and three Russian men were trampled to death by the crowd of onlookers. The authorities received the news and were shocked, immediately sending out orders to arrest the perpetrators while reporting to their superiors.

  The Qing government was ineffective in dealing with external threats, but when it came to internal affairs, they were highly efficient. Within half a day of investigating the gunshot wound, they had arrested over twenty ordinary citizens and thrown them into prison for interrogation.

  Among them was a big man named Zhao Sanduo, who looked like a "violent element" at first glance, and he was interrogated first!

  Zhao San Duo had learned Mei Hua Quan and practiced it well, so he was fearless when facing the government officer.

  "What were you doing there at that time?"

  "Sunbathing!"

  The official asked again: "Then why did you go forward and kill that German priest?"

  "Because he's blocking my sunlight!"

  Shandong Governor Nie Shicheng soon received the news, and while quickly sending a telegram to Beijing, he secretly made preparations and ordered the Huai'an County Magistrate to release the arrested persons first, so as not to provoke a riot. With his rich experience, he believed that Germany would not give up easily, and hastily deployed troops to make all necessary preparations for any unexpected event.

  After receiving Nie Shicheng's telegram, the Grand Council and the Military Affairs Bureau instructed Nie to apprehend the culprits and apologize to the German government while communicating with the German embassy in an attempt to negotiate.

  On the third day after the incident, Emperor Wilhelm II received the news. Wilhelm II was somewhat manic and arrogant because he had a brain-damaged illness in his childhood, even the French Foreign Minister believed that he had mental problems.

  You can call him a monster, but you must add the word "excellent" in front of it. He is an excellent monster who has long dreamed of opening up colonies in the East. At least since 1869, Germans have begun to investigate and study Qingdao Bay and its surrounding areas. In 1877, the famous German geologist Ferdinand von Richthofen submitted a report to the German government on "Shandong's geographical environment and mineral resources", emphasizing the superior geographical location of Qingdao Bay and suggesting that a port be built there.

  After the outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War, capturing Qingdao became a goal that Kaiser Wilhelm II was eager to achieve, and he began to make plans for the occupation. Although China ultimately won the war, in the eyes of the arrogant Wilhelm II, China was a dwarf, Japan was a pygmy, and the dwarf defeated the pygmy - did this giant have anything to worry about or be afraid of?

  The Ji'nan Incident filled him with joy, having waited for a long time and finally seeing the day arrive when he could shout to take immediate action against the Qing Dynasty. He secretly ordered Admiral Tirpitz of the German fleet anchored in Shanghai: "Have all fleets immediately set sail for Jiaozhou and wait for an opportunity to occupy it."

  The Qing government in Beijing was still arguing and thinking about how to extinguish Germany's anger, without expecting the German fleet to secretly sail north. The Beiyang Fleet was completely unprepared, and it wasn't until 15 days after the incident that the German fleet suddenly appeared off the coast of Jiaozhou. General Zhang Gaoyuan did not dare to fire a shot, and the Germans occupied Jiaozhou without firing a single bullet. Kaiser Wilhelm II triumphantly renamed the occupied area Qingdao.

  The news came, and the Qing government was in an uproar. Shandong Governor Ning Shicheng firmly advocated for war with Germany, dismissing Zhang Gaoyuan from his post on charges of not resisting, and ordering the various Huai Army troops in Shandong to surround Jiaozhou and prepare for a counterattack.

  Cixi and Li Hongzhang were worried that the troops would not be a match for the German army, and also feared that after the war started, it would provoke Wilhelm II's anger, sending more troops to China, hesitating and unable to make up their minds.

  After the incident, Ye Zhikui, who was in Tianjin, ordered the direct control of Huaijun and other troops to imprison German instructors, preventing them from becoming guides for the enemy. At the same time, he petitioned Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu to send new troops into Shandong Province, making preparations for a potential war with Germany.

  "The minister, Ye Zhiqi, said: 'I have heard that when the common people in the countryside encounter a wolf, they neither retreat nor run away. The wolf is then afraid and does not dare to advance. Now, the Western countries are like a pack of wolves. If our great Qing dynasty only fears and yields to this lone wolf, Germany, it will inevitably lead to the scrutiny of the pack of wolves, and the consequences will be unpredictable. I think that our great Qing should rise up and resist, fighting a limited and controllable local war. The navy should not lightly go to war but should prevent the Germans from launching a surprise attack. The army can quickly annihilate the German landing troops. This way, we can prevent the Germans from expanding the war in desperation and also demonstrate our great Qing's determination to resist to the Western countries. I am just a low-ranking officer, but the Empress Dowager and Your Majesty have not considered me insignificant and have promoted me from obscurity. I am grateful for this and wish to repay my country with my life. I beg the Empress Dowager and Your Majesty to order me to lead the new army into Shandong Province. I would rather be shattered like jade than remain intact like a tile!'"

  Guangxu looked at it for a long time, repeatedly covering the scroll and sighing to those around him: "He is truly a loyal minister of the Great Qing!"

  The Empress Dowager Cixi saw Ye Zhichao's analysis as reasonable and summoned Li Hongzhang and other military ministers to discuss the matter. Since they had just defeated Japan, the court officials still had some confidence and did not dare to advocate for war openly, even if some of the more cautious ones did not express opposition. As a result, the imperial court soon issued an edict ordering Ye Zhichao's new army to enter Shandong Province to help quell the bandit uprising. On another front, the Qing government had not declared war on Germany, but Nie Shicheng's troops had already clashed with German forces, and China and Germany were thus at war without a formal declaration.