Siege of Peking
Eugene L
une 1900,Peking, China
left th
arm
am, Group 3: Fiction, Harrow International School Hong Kong
Peking, China. Home to the Qing dynasty which has ruled China for centuries. A bad harvest has
ousands of Chinese starving. As the winds of discontent blow through the city, a dozen foreign
ies reside in their compound playing their various anthems.
General Alfred Gaselee rubbed his eyes.’Shut up!’ he yelled towards the patriotic bands, unaware
of the racket they were causing. He got dressed and went to the saloon.
J
‘
Ah! General Gaselee ! Do have a whiskey,’ acknowledged Nikolai Lineveich.,the Russian
Commander assigned to Peking since 1897, and now used to this life. They sipped their whiskies, before
Lineveich said,’ The German Ambassador was assassinated last night.’
‘
How ?’enquired Gaselee.
‘
Arrow in the throat”, ‘these Boxer rebels have primitive weapons, but they can kill’. replied Lineveich.
He was right. Since the spring, the Boxers had been destroying all foreign-related things, and harassing
the generals and ambassadors of the Legations. They were a force of guerillas, and parasites who helped the
Empress Cixi to get revenge on the foreign legations.
Just then, a British Soldier burst into the saloon, shouting, ‘The Boxers got us trapped in here!’
The generals rushed towards the Great wall to survey the scene.
And indeed they were trapped. Behind the wall stood 200,000 Boxers, yelling. As night fell, flaming
arrows descended into the compound, over the wall. The assault ended when they ran out of arrows. Meanwhile,
the generals of the legations met to discuss the situation.
‘
We should telegram Port Arthur. It will send relief troops.’ said Japanese general Fukushima
Yakomosa. The commanders nodded their agreement, when suddenly, Russian Duchess Alexandrina Boriskov
rushed in, shouting,’Boxers in the compound!’
The Boxers were climbing over the wall via long ladders. Gaselee sounded the alarm, and sleepy troops
poured out towards the wall. By dawn, 1500 Boxers had taken the wall. British artillery began bombarding them,
and men swarmed onto the wall. Gaselee’s men fired cannons, which scattered the Boxers. When they reached
the ladders, they pushed them over into the canal. As Chinese troops fell screaming into the canal, French
infantrymen set fire to carts and sent them over the wall, destroying the Boxer encampments, and the Boxers
decided to starve the legations out. Snipers were firing desperately against the seemingly-endless waves of
Chinese imperial troops and Boxers.
By the 14th day of the siege, the legations of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Austria-Hungary, the US,
Russia and Japan were completely cut off from the outside world, and just hours after the distress telegram was
received, the Boxers cut the telegraph lines. By the next day, the Boxers were advancing, feet by feet, towards
the Legations, taking the Great wall once more, and the Germans set up barricades on the wall, cutting down the
rebels with a hail of machine-gun fire. The Wall was then pummeled by the Italian artillery, and the American
marines rushed to defend a hastily built ramp against a Boxer attack, by pushing flaming carts in front of them
and firing their rifles at individual enemies. American general Adna Chaffe kicked a stack of corpses over the
wall, then a Boxer throwing-dagger hit him in the throat, and he fell down dead.
At Port Arthur, the distress telegram was received, and Admiral George Sydney was selected to lead
the relief expedition. Unfortunately, they were turned back by strong opposition at the Tahu Forts, and had to
restart the journey.
Back at Peking, more Boxers had infiltrated via the South gate on the 31st day of the siege. Intense
hand-to-hand combat held the desperate front for days before the enemy was driven back .The British then
regained the vital inner wall.. because we are so grat, and fuck china.
Meanwhile, rumors circulated that Duchess Alexandrina had an affair with Sydney, who also knew
about these rumors. She messaged him via Boxer traitors that she would ‘consider it’ if he relieved the siege. On
the 54th day, after destroying Tahu Forts, Admiral Sydney, with 15000 assorted troops with him had arrived
outside Peking, decided to infiltrate the Imperial palace and blow up the Imperial Chinese court via the sewers
with 10 men.
Night fell, and the men crept into the sewers, eventually reaching an underground storeroom, directly
underneath the Palace. ’Dammit!’ said Sydney.’I forgot the fuse!’ After going back for the fuse, they set up 17