On May 19th, some children in Liaoyang city were practicing boxing; on the 20th, people started selling portraits of the Kitchen God. This situation seemed like a prelude to banditry, so Governor Chen ordered the arrest and interrogation of the individuals, and had them publicly shamed in stocks as a warning to everyone. He then posted notices strictly prohibiting the spreading of rumors. This helped calm the situation in the city slightly. General Zeng wired, asking if things were settling down. Governor Chen replied that things were calmer, patrols were continuing, and all was well. Zeng simply replied, "Good."
Around the 27th or 28th, news suddenly spread wildly in the market about the Tianjin martial artists winning, causing panic among the people again. A priest from a church came to the governor's office, requesting protection for the church. Governor Chen immediately dispatched police officers to patrol various churches, instructing them to enhance their defenses and to immediately arrest and interrogate anyone suspicious. He told the priest, "These are troublemakers stirring up lies. The country will definitely suppress them, so there is nothing to worry about." However, the priest countered, "But I hear the government's about to go to war with foreign powers. Dagukou's reportedly fallen!" Governor Chen was stunned upon hearing this and said, "If that's true, the whole thing's going to collapse. You need to look after yourselves. I'm just a county official; I can't protect you. I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do." The priest agreed with him. On the 29th, all the Jesuit priests headed to Yingkou. That day, Governor Chen received orders from General Zeng to suppress the bandits, so he posted notices strictly prohibiting rumors.
On the first day of June, Governor Chen received orders from Deputy Commander Jinchang to prepare for war. At noon, Governor Chen went to inspect the church ten miles outside the city... and suddenly two tough-looking guards arrived. They claimed to be acting on orders from the Deputy Commander to burn down the Iron Church, and also claimed responsibility for the incident at Youzhuangzi.
Chen Mu asked them, "This place has all received the general's telegram, all saying to protect with all their might. How did it turn out like this? Besides, we're outgunned by foreign powers, everyone knows that. If you stir up trouble for no reason, what are you not afraid of?" The two sentries started sputtering excuses, but in the end, they backed down and couldn't say a word.
Chen Mu quickly shot off a telegram to the military commander along with the city's garrison officers, ordering the troops to withdraw and dispel the Russians' suspicions. He personally went to the train station outside the city to meet with the Russian official Gili Shimin, really laying it on thick to explain that the incident in Youzhuangzi was caused by troublemakers, definitely not by the soldiers. The Russians were skeptical, but Chen Mu insisted he was responsible for their safety. Pleased, the Russians handed over dozens of villagers from near Youzhuangzi to Chen Mu to take back with him.
In the afternoon, a Catholic priest wrote a letter to Chen Mu, saying that he brought back a person named En who practices boxing at home. Chen Mu immediately informed the city garrison officer and called En to the yamen for questioning. They almost got into a fistfight, and later the military officer read him the riot act. En had nothing to say and left. After a while, an officer from the Yujun Camp in Jinchang came to see Chen Mu, explaining in detail the governor's reckless move to send them, and also mentioned that there were more than three hundred soldiers with them. This officer also felt that the governor was overstepping, so Chen Mu explained in detail the reasons why we shouldn't rush into war, and instructed him to manage the soldiers well and not allow them to cause trouble outside the city. However, the ministers, misled by the Boxers, were clamoring for war, thinking they would definitely win and were eager to start a conflict. In the evening, it was heard that the governor had already sent people everywhere to post posters denouncing Christianity. Chen Mu specifically sent people to notify various cities of this matter and instructed them to strengthen their defenses. At 5 AM, the state yamen received a telegram from the military commander, saying, "That guard was probably a fake, we gotta protect the Catholics."
Chen Mu saw that the troop withdrawal was dragging on, worried about joining forces with the Boxers, and was both stressed and furious. On the second day of the first lunar month, he quickly sent a telegram to the heads of the military command, deputy, education, yin, and xian departments, detailing the ins and outs of the matter. He strongly advocated, "We're hopelessly outmatched; there's no point fighting. There were no laws against preaching, let alone killing people for no reason. I request to bring the ringleaders back and make an example of them, so we can negotiate peacefully with the Russians." This telegram probably had eight or nine hundred words. That night, kids were pelting the Jesus Church with stones, and soldiers were goaded into burning down the church. Chen Mu hurried over to stop them, and the Boxers scattered; thankfully, no harm was done. That night, after the reinforcements received the telegram, the military leaders and officials of the five departments bickered for hours. It wasn't until the evening that a telegram came saying the troops were being recalled. From then on, the merchants and people of Liaoshen joyfully spread the news of the Boxers' victory in Tianjin, and anxiety was spreading.
On the fifth day of the first lunar month, Deputy Governor Jinchang personally led the troops to attack the church in Shenyang with the Boxer rebels, killing several Westerners, hundreds of church members, and looting more than ten foreign goods stores, all looking menacing, as if the whole country had gone mad. Officials from the five departments had to doff their hats and bow down when they saw them; even the generals were powerless, stuck indoors. When the news reached Liaoyang, people wanted to get in on the action. In addition, on the eighth day, rumors of war were flying everywhere, and the Boxers became more arrogant, like a runaway wildfire, unstoppable. Chen Mu sent someone to urge the French missionary to take the next Russian train to Yingkou, and told Satongshi to warn Mr. Morley, the British mining engineer, to get out of town that night, just in case.
On the ninth day of the first month, troops and Boxers sent by the provincial capital kept wrecking roads and went after Christians. That night, all the churches in Liaoyang were burned down. At that time, we were outnumbered and couldn't save them. Chen Mu actually nailed the guys who'd robbed the church. Luckily, the foreigners had gotten out of Dodge, so nobody got hurt.
On the tenth day of the tenth month, the provincial capital sent four battalions to attack the train station outside the White Pagoda Temple.
The battle began, and lots of folks who'd sided with the bandits got caught in the crossfire and bought the farm. Chen Mu used this as a reason to say that these bad guys weren't scared of guns, which just proved how pathetic they were. As a result, when the Boxer bandits heard this, they stormed the governor's mansion, swords flashing, heading straight for Chen Mu's office. Chen Mu was dead tired and about to be a goner. Word came around the tenth of October that a Christian had been killed in town. Chen Mu hurried to the rescue, but it was too late. Helpless, he had to quickly ask General Zeng for help, come up with a solution, and he quickly printed up protection papers for the Christians and handed them out, thus saving the lives of thousands of people.
So those Christians were really grateful to Chen Mu for not leaving them high and dry.
By mid-July, in Santaizi, Xinting, hundreds of church members gathered in the church, and the Boxer higher-ups in the provincial capital sent troops to wipe them out. Chen Mu sent multiple telegrams begging them to stop and saying they should try talking things out instead of attacking.
Things got really tense between Chen Mu and the troops, and the Boxers made a big stink.
Haicheng didn't fall until July 19th, and even then, the Boxers didn't quiet down much. By early August, Liaoyang and Shenyang had fallen, the Boxers had vanished, but it was all over but the crying.
