In Shandong, after the martial artists were severely crushed by the governor, they could no longer stay in Shandong and fled to various places in Zhili, gathering in increasing numbers. They set up camps everywhere, going into villages and churches daily to provoke trouble, committing murder and arson, treating these acts as routine and showing no regard. At that time, the governor of Zhili, Yu Lu, even thought the martial artists were loyal and righteous, which made them even more arrogant and unrestrained, recklessly treating railway poles and other things as foreign possessions, attempting to burn them several times.
On the evening of April 29th, disaster struck. Previously, the stationmaster at Fengtai and others noticed that the train from Baoding had not arrived by evening, and they felt something must have gone wrong. Just as they were anxious, they suddenly received a telegram halting the sale of Baoding train tickets, which made them even more puzzled, completely unaware of what was happening. It wasn’t until the morning of the first day of May that they realized the railways at Lugou Bridge, Liuli River, Changxindian, and other places had all been set on fire by the martial artists on the evening of the 29th. Half of the railway poles had been pulled down, and thick smoke was billowing everywhere, with the fire still not extinguished. Consequently, the foreign stationmasters and telegraph operators quickly fled to Tianjin, taking only some money and important items, leaving everything else behind and locking the doors as they ran away.
At this time, it was nine o'clock in the morning on the first day of May. The villagers were surprised to see this; some savvy individuals rallied a group to break in, claiming they were going in to check, but in fact, they took the opportunity to loot and then set the place on fire. In addition to the ticket office, machine room, and telegraph office being burned, a dragon carriage was also set ablaze, which was intended for the emperor's troop review in Tianjin during the Wuxu year, valued at about 60,000 taels of gold.
The train was originally scheduled to go directly from Majiabao Station to Tianjin that afternoon, but as the stationmasters in Fengtai and other places had all fled, there was no way to keep operations going. Therefore, only one early train ran that day from Beijing to Tianjin, and after that, no more trains ran.
On the morning when the train from Tianjin to Beijing reached Yangcun, it encountered a train adorned with a flower car speeding towards it, displaying banners. Everyone knew something had happened, and the train immediately stopped, ceasing operations. It was said that all the foreigners dressed in Western clothes and wearing Western hats in the stations, as well as the Chinese who couldn’t escape in time, had been killed, and other atrocities occurred. Panic swept through the people, and rumors spread everywhere, all talking about the extraordinary events of the Boxer Rebellion, with countless bizarre stories circulating.
The Governor of Zhili, Yu Lu, upon receiving this news, immediately ordered the mobilization of the troops led by Nie Gongting, the commander of the Wuwei Front Army, deploying two battalions to rush to Fengtai that night in military vehicles; at the same time, he also mobilized two battalions from the Wuwei Front Army to move from Lutai to Tianjin to strengthen defenses.
Only the tram service continued uninterrupted that day, and it wasn’t until the morning of the second day of the fifth month that two trips were made. Suddenly, many Wuwei soldiers rushed to the ticket office and the control room causing a disturbance, shouting for the capture of foreigners, which led to the tram service stopping as well. Later, the battalion commander learned about it and immediately had a soldier publicly punished by being slapped in the face with an arrow to restore some order.
Today, both the Wuwei Army and the Shenjiying sent several teams of soldiers to garrison beside the railway. Secretary Xu Zhuyun, the supervisor, also arrived by military vehicle at Majiabao, bringing along several stationmasters, and ordered the train to go directly to Tianjin. Along the way, teams of soldiers were stationed in places like Caicun and Huangcun to guard against any unforeseen incidents. Inspector Tang also took a train from Tianjin to Fengtai to check the situation. It was reported that aside from the Baoding railway being dismantled for one hundred and fifty miles, all other infrastructure remained intact. Eight people who were looting were also captured and brought to Majiabao for questioning. The stationmaster in Fengtai and others had fled upon hearing of the incident, which resulted in the station being burned down; they certainly had it coming! Tianjin County should first detain them and deal with them more harshly later. This summarizes the detailed events of that day, May 2nd.
Later, General Nie Gongting said that protecting the railway was originally our responsibility, so how could we allow the Boxers to destroy it as they please? So, one day, he took his troops to patrol along the route. When they reached Luofa, they saw many Boxer members blocking the road with weapons. The general ordered them to leave immediately. They did not listen, so General Nie commanded his soldiers to advance to intimidate them. He also urged them, "The railway is the property of the state, not something for foreigners; how can you destroy it at will?"
The Boxers still did not listen and instead cursed, claiming that the foreigners must have bribed the soldiers, which is why they hated the Chinese. They threw bricks indiscriminately and even started shooting, killing two soldiers and a sentry. General Nie was furious, realizing that reasoning with them was no longer an option, and immediately ordered his men to fire, killing more than a dozen Boxers. The Boxers were not afraid; instead, they divided into four groups to attack, resulting in the deaths of six or seven more soldiers.
The commander was furious and directly ordered cannon fire! This led to a few more soldiers being killed. This time, the soldiers were completely furious and fought back fiercely against the bandits, killing many of them and even chasing into the village to burn down houses. In this operation, a total of four villages were burned, and over four hundred bandits were killed.
Although some soldiers sacrificed their lives, the number was relatively small. Only one guard was killed by the bandits because he got too ambitious, pursuing them too far. After that, the railway was finally secure. However, just a few days later, they faced harsh criticism from their superiors, saying they shouldn’t have taken military action against the bandits without permission and ordered them to withdraw to Lutai. As a result, the bandits grew bolder, and no one dared to go after them again.
