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列傳二百五十二
Biographies 252
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徐桐剛毅趙舒翹啟秀英年裕祿毓賢
Xu Tong; Gang Yi; Zhao Shuqiao; Qi Xiu; Ying Nian; Yu Lu; Yu Xian
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時擅訂約，下群臣議，乃條摘其不可行者：曰、各城定界； 曰、通商； 曰運貨迳至漢口； 曰行船直入。 六年，廷議徇人請，將赦罪，力持不可，謂：「揆度機要在樞廷，折衝俎豆在總署，講信修睦在使臣。 赦之而彼就範，猶裨國事； 若釁端仍不能弭，反失刑政大權。 推原禍始，宜肅國憲。」 又言：「今日用人之道，秉忠持正者為上，宅心樸實者次之。 若以機權靈警，諳曉各國語言文字，遽目為通才，而責以鉅任，未有不僨且蹶者！」 不報。 歷充翰林院掌院學士、上書房總師傅。 十五年，以吏部尚書協辦大學士，晉太子太保。 二十二年，拜大學士。
When Chonghou took it upon himself to negotiate the Russian treaty, the matter was laid before the full court. Xu Tong listed the terms that could not be accepted: delimiting the cities of Ili and Tarbagatai; opening trade in Xinjiang and Mongolia; allowing cargo to pass through to Hankou; and permitting vessels to navigate directly to Berdunier. In 1880, when the court debated yielding to Russian pressure and pardoning Chonghou, Xu Tong stood firm against it, arguing: "Strategic judgment rests with the Grand Council; negotiation at the council table rests with the Zongli Yamen; building trust and good relations rests with the envoys. If a pardon brings them to terms, it may still serve the state; but if hostilities cannot be settled, we forfeit the crown's authority over punishment and law. The root of the disaster should be traced to strict enforcement of national law." He added: "In appointing officials today, men who are loyal and upright should come first; men of plain and honest character should come next. To treat men merely because they are quick-witted and fluent in foreign tongues and scripts as universal talents fit for weighty office is to invite certain ruin." His advice went unheeded. He rose to be chancellor of the Hanlin Academy and grand tutor in the Upper Study Halls. In the fifteenth year (1889) he was appointed Minister of Personnel with concurrent duty as assistant grand secretary, then promoted to Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent. In the twenty-second year (1896) he was made a grand secretary.
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有者，字，內務府。 進士。 官至都統，以講學為所傾服。 方太后議廢帝，立子為「大阿哥」，主之甚力，實皆本謀也。 既而被命照料，益親。 各國不慊等所為，恚甚，圖報復。 二十六年，起釁仇外，大喜，導之入都。 謂：「當自此強矣！」 至且親迓之。 然及其亂時，仍被劫掠。 、之死，舉國稱冤，而則曰：「是死且有餘辜！」 時其子監刑，揚揚頗自得。
Yu Shi, whose style was Xizhi, served in the Imperial Household Department as a member of the Han Chinese Banner. He held the jinshi degree. He eventually became commander-in-chief at Urumqi, and Xu Tong looked up to him as a scholar. During the debate over deposing the emperor and elevating Prince Duan's son Pujun as heir apparent, Xu Tong pushed hard for it—the scheme was Yu Shi's in essence. Once Xu Tong was charged with supervising the boy, he grew even closer to Prince Duan. The powers resented Prince Duan's conduct and were determined on retaliation. In 1900, when the Boxers stirred up hatred of foreigners, Prince Duan was delighted and ushered them into Beijing. Xu Tong declared: "From this day China will grow strong!" He even went out in person to welcome them. Yet when the chaos broke out, he was looted like everyone else. When Yuan Chang and Xu Jingcheng were executed, the nation called it a miscarriage of justice; Xu Tong said: "They deserved worse than death!" His son Chengyu oversaw the executions, swaggering with evident satisfaction.
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剛毅，字子良，滿洲鑲藍旗人。 以筆帖式累遷刑部郎中。 諳悉例案，承審浙江餘杭縣民婦葛畢氏案，獲平反，按律定擬，得旨嘉獎。 出為廣東惠潮嘉道，遷江西按察使，調直隸； 遷廣東布政使，調雲南。 光緒十一年，擢山西巡撫。 請設課吏館，手輯牧令須知諸書，分講習，詔飭行各省。 治套外屯田，建分段、開渠、設官三策。 明年，移撫江蘇。 蘇患水祲，先後濬蘊藻河、吳淞江，以工代賑，民德之。 調廣東。 二十年，召授軍機大臣，補禮部侍郎。 二十四年，以工部尚書協辦大學士，疏陳實倉廩，嚴保甲，罷不急官。 二十五年，按事江南及廣東諸省。 迭疏請籌長江防務，籌餉練兵，清理財政，及整頓地方一切事宜，詔皆飭行。
Gang Yi, whose style was Ziliang, came from the Bordered Blue Banner of the Manchus. He rose from clerk through successive posts to director in the Ministry of Justice. Fluent in legal precedent, he handled the case of Ge Bishi, a commoner woman of Yuhang in Zhejiang, secured her exoneration, and drafted a lawful sentence that earned imperial praise. He served as intendant of Huizhou, Chaozhou, and Jiazhou in Guangdong, then became surveillance commissioner in Jiangxi and was transferred to Zhili; then treasurer of Guangdong, and finally was posted to Yunnan. In 1885 he was appointed governor of Shanxi. He proposed an academy for training officials, compiled manuals such as What Magistrates Must Know, organized instruction, and the court ordered every province to adopt the practice. For frontier garrison farming he advanced three policies: parceling land, digging canals, and appointing overseers. The following year he was made governor of Jiangsu. When Jiangsu was stricken by flood and drought, he dredged the Yunzao and Wusong rivers and used public works as famine relief; the people were grateful. He was then transferred to Guangdong. In 1894 he was recalled to the Grand Council and made Vice Minister of Rites. In 1898, as Minister of Works and assistant grand secretary, he memorialized to fill granaries, tighten local security networks, and cut superfluous posts. In 1899 he toured Jiangnan and Guangdong on inspection. He sent repeated memorials on Yangtze defenses, military funding and training, fiscal reform, and local administration; the throne ordered every item implemented.
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二十六年，拳亂作，命趙舒翹及剛毅馳往近畿一帶查辦解散，及還京覆命，而宣戰詔已先下矣。 匪集都城，肆焚殺，時方稱義民，亡敢誰何。 載漪等復疏言：「雪恥強國，在此一舉！」 又盛推拳民忠勇，有神術，可用。 太后愈信之，因命剛毅、載勳統之，比於官軍。 然匪專殺自如，勿能問，且擾禁城，日焚劫不止。 詔各軍營會拏正法，盡拆所設神壇，並諭責剛毅、董福祥親自開導，勒令解散，卒不能阻。 各國聯軍入犯，兩宮西狩，剛毅扈行至太原。 車駕欲之西安，又從。 道遘疾，還至侯馬鎮，死。 其後各國請懲禍首，以先死免議，追奪原官。
In 1900, when the Boxer uprising erupted, Zhao Shuqiao and Gang Yi were dispatched to the capital outskirts to investigate and disperse the movement; by the time they returned to report, the declaration of war had already been issued. The rebels massed in the capital, burning and killing at will; hailed as patriotic militia, they went unchecked. Prince Duan and his allies memorialized again: "National humiliation can be wiped away and the state strengthened in this single stroke!" They lavishly praised the Boxers as loyal, brave, possessed of magic, and fit for service. The Empress Dowager believed them still more and put Gang Yi and Zaiyi in command, treating the Boxers as the equal of regular troops. Yet the rebels killed as they pleased, beyond anyone's control, harrying even the Forbidden City with daily arson and looting. Edicts ordered every garrison to arrest and execute offenders, tear down their altars, and commanded Gang Yi and Dong Fuxiang personally to disband the movement—yet nothing could stop it. When the allied armies invaded, the court fled west; Gang Yi escorted the empresses as far as Taiyuan. When the court decided to continue to Xi'an, he went along. He fell ill on the road, turned back to Houma, and died there. Later the powers demanded the chief culprits be punished; his prior death spared formal proceedings, but his offices were posthumously revoked.
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趙舒翹，字展如，陝西長安人。 同治十三年進士，授刑部主事，遷員外郎。 讞河南王樹汶獄，承旨研辨，獲平反，巡撫李鶴年以下譴謫有差。 居刑曹十年，多所纂定，其議服制及婦女離異諸條，能傅古義，為時所誦。 光緒十二年，以郎中出知安徽鳳陽府。 皖北水祲，割俸助賑。 課最，擢浙江溫處道，再遷布政使。 二十年，擢江蘇巡撫。 捕治太湖匪酋葉子春，餘黨股栗； 復為籌善後策，弊風漸革。 明年，改訂日本條約，牒請總署重民生，所言皆切中。 是時朝廷矜慎庶獄，以舒翹諳律令，召為刑部左侍郎。 二十四年，晉尚書，督辦礦務、鐵路。 明年，命入總理各國事務衙門，充軍機大臣。
Zhao Shuqiao, whose style was Zhanru, came from Chang'an in Shaanxi. He took his jinshi degree in 1874, entered the Ministry of Justice as a principal clerk, and rose to vice director. In the Henan case of Wang Shuwen he followed imperial orders, secured a reversal, and Governor Li Henian and his subordinates were punished in varying degrees. After ten years in the penal bureaucracy he codified many rules; his treatises on mourning dress and on divorce and separation for women were praised for recovering classical principles. In 1886 he left the ministry as a director to become prefect of Fengyang in Anhui. When northern Anhui was stricken by flood and drought, he donated his salary to relief efforts. Rated top in performance reviews, he was made intendant of Wenzhou and Taizhou in Zhejiang, then provincial treasurer. In 1894 he was appointed governor of Jiangsu. He captured the Lake Tai bandit leader Ye Zichun, and the remaining gangs trembled; he devised follow-up policies, and local abuses were gradually curbed. The next year, during revision of the Japanese treaty, he urged the Zongli Yamen to put the people's livelihood first—every point he made was on target. The court was then cautious about ordinary criminal cases and recalled him as Left Vice Minister of Justice for his mastery of law. In 1898 he was promoted to minister and placed in charge of mining and railways. The following year he entered the Zongli Yamen and joined the Grand Council.
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拳匪據涿州，舒翹被命馳往解散； 匪眾堅請褫提督聶士成職，剛毅踵至，許之。 匪既入京，攻使館。 聯軍至，李秉衡兵敗，太后乃令王文韶與舒翹詣使館通殷勤，為議款計。 文韶以老辭，舒翹曰：「臣望淺，不如文韶！」 卒不往。 旋隨扈至西安。 聯軍索辦罪魁，乃褫職留任，尋改斬監候。 次年，各國索益亟，西安士民集數百人為舒翹請命，上聞，賜自盡，命岑春煊監視。 舒翹故不袒匪，又痛老母九十餘見此慘禍，頗自悔恨。 初飲金，更飲以鴆，久之乃絕，其妻仰藥以殉。
When the Boxers occupied Zhuozhou, Shuqiao was sent to disperse them; the rebels demanded Grand Commissioner Nie Shicheng be removed; Gang Yi arrived after him and agreed. Once the rebels entered Beijing they besieged the legations. When the allied armies arrived and Li Bingheng's force was routed, the Empress Dowager ordered Wang Wenshao and Shuqiao to visit the legations with courtesies to open peace talks. Wenshao pleaded old age; Shuqiao said: "My standing is too slight—I am no match for Wenshao!" In the end he never went. He soon followed the court's flight to Xi'an. When the allies demanded the chief culprits be punished, he was stripped of rank but kept under detention, then sentenced to imprisonment awaiting execution. The next year the powers pressed harder; hundreds of Xi'an residents petitioned for his life, but the throne ordered him to take his own life under Cen Chunxuan's supervision. Shuqiao had never openly sided with the Boxers, yet he was tormented that his mother, past ninety, should see this tragedy, and he bitterly repented. He first swallowed gold, then was given poison; death came only after a long struggle, and his wife took poison to join him.
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啟秀，字穎之，庫雅拉氏，滿洲正白旗人。 以孝聞。 同治四年進士，選庶吉士，散館改刑部主事，累遷內閣學士。 光緒五年，授工部右侍郎，調盛京刑部。 吉林將軍銘安被彈劾，啟秀白其誣，轉戶部。 論者以按銘安事多徇芘，攻甚力，命崇綺覆按，無左驗，免議。 東省練新軍，倚餉京師，閻敬銘掌戶部，方規節帑，未應也。 啟秀力言，始獲請，歲發四十萬濟之。 二十年，拜理籓院尚書。 中、日和議成，將換約，啟秀疏請：「條約宜緩發，先商諸各國，杜後患。」 不報。 敖漢王達木林達爾達克鑑朝陽覆轍，自請增練蒙軍。 言者論其苛派蒙眾，謀不軌，啟秀為訟其冤。 敖漢王雖奪扎薩克秩，而其子獲嗣，以故大得蒙眾心。 充總管內務府大臣。 二十四年，授禮部尚書，疏陳釐正文體，倡明聖學。 命充軍機大臣兼總理各國事務衙門。
Qi Xiu, whose style was Yingzhi, came from the Kuyala clan of the Plain White Banner. He was famed for filial devotion. He took his jinshi in 1865, entered the Hanlin Academy, then the Ministry of Justice, and rose to grand secretariat bachelor. In 1879 he became Right Vice Minister of Works and was transferred to the Mukden penal administration. When General Ming'an of Jilin was impeached, Qi Xiu cleared him of false charges and was moved to the Ministry of Revenue. Critics accused him of favoritism in the Ming'an case; Chongqi reinvestigated, found no proof, and Qi Xiu escaped punishment. Eastern provinces were raising new armies and depended on Beijing for pay; Yan Jingming at the Ministry of Revenue was cutting expenses and had not yet approved the funds. Qi Xiu pressed the case until approval came: four hundred thousand taels a year were allocated. In 1894 he was made Minister of the Court of Colonial Affairs. When the Sino-Japanese peace was concluded and ratification neared, Qi Xiu urged: "Ratification should be delayed until other powers are consulted, to forestall future trouble." His advice went unheeded. The Prince of Aohan, Damulin Da'erdake, seeing Chaoyang's troubles repeat, volunteered to expand Mongol troop training. Critics charged him with extorting the Mongols and plotting rebellion; Qi Xiu defended him. Though the prince lost his jasak title, his son inherited it, and he retained strong support among the Mongols. He became superintendent of the Imperial Household Department. In 1898 he was made Minister of Rites and memorialized to reform literary style and promote classical learning. He was appointed to the Grand Council and the Zongli Yamen.
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啟秀端謹有風操，為徐桐所賞。 自政變後，桐最被盻遇，欲引參機務，乃舉啟秀自代。 已而拳亂作，董福祥攻使館不下，啟秀薦五台僧禦敵，頗附和之。 逮兩宮狩西安，啟秀以母病弗克從。 日本軍拘啟秀及徐承煜嚴守之，承煜，桐子也。 朝旨褫職，而各國猶言罪魁不可縱。 明年，正法命下，日軍官置酒為餞，席次，傳詔旨，啟秀神色自若，曰：「即此已邀聖恩矣！」 肅衣冠赴菜市。 啟秀宅近日本權領地，日官與語，當善芘其家，第曰：「厚意可感。」 他無復言，遂就戮。
Qi Xiu was upright and principled, and Xu Tong held him in high regard. After the 1898 coup Xu Tong was the Empress Dowager's favorite; wanting a proxy in policy, he recommended Qi Xiu to take his place. When the Boxer rising erupted and Dong Fuxiang failed to overrun the legations, Qi Xiu recommended a Wutai monk to fight the foreigners and lent his support. When the court fled to Xi'an, Qi Xiu stayed behind because his mother was ill. Japanese troops seized Qi Xiu and Xu Chengyu and held them under close guard; Chengyu was Xu Tong's son. The court stripped them of rank, but the powers insisted the chief culprits must not go unpunished. The following year the execution order came down. A Japanese officer gave him a farewell feast; when the edict was read, Qi Xiu remained composed and said: "Even this is already imperial favor!" He dressed in full court robes and walked to the execution ground at Caishikou. His home lay near the Japanese concession; a Japanese official promised to protect his family. Qi Xiu replied only: "Your kindness moves me." He said nothing more and went to his death.
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英年，字菊儕，姓何氏，隸內務府，為漢軍正白旗人。 以貢生考取筆帖式，累遷郎中兼護軍參領。 光緒中，歷奉宸苑卿、左翼總兵、正紅旗漢軍副都統、工部右侍郎，調戶部。 拳匪亂作，以英年、載瀾副載勳、剛毅統之。 載勳等出示，招致義民助攻使館，英年弗能阻，匪益橫，任意戕殺官民。 聯軍既陷京師，兩宮幸西安，英年充行在查營大臣，旋授左都御史。 行次猗氏，知縣玉寶供張不備，疏劾之。 款成，各使議懲首禍，英年褫職論斬，羈西安獄，尋賜自盡。
Ying Nian, whose style was Juyi, came from the He clan of the Han Chinese Plain White Banner and served in the Imperial Household Department. He entered service as a tribute student, passed the clerk examination, and rose to director with a concurrent post as guard adjutant. Under Guangxu he held posts including Director of the Imperial Parks, Left Wing commander-in-chief, vice commander of the Han Chinese Bordered Red Banner, and Right Vice Minister of Works before moving to the Ministry of Revenue. When the Boxer rising erupted, Ying Nian and Zai Lan were appointed deputies to Zaiyi and Gang Yi in commanding the movement. Zaiyi and his allies paraded through the streets recruiting militia to attack the legations; Ying Nian could not stop them, and the rebels grew bolder, slaughtering officials and civilians at will. After Beijing fell, the court fled to Xi'an; Ying Nian served as traveling inspector of camps and was soon made Left Censor-in-Chief. At Yishi he found Magistrate Yubao's arrangements for the imperial procession inadequate and impeached him. After peace was made the foreign ministers demanded punishment of the ringleaders; Ying Nian was stripped of rank, sentenced to death, imprisoned in Xi'an, and soon ordered to take his own life.
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時官吏多信，布政使獨力主剿辦，嚴定州縣查緝匪懲戒辦法。 遽奉詔開缺回，匪愈橫。 居，稱「舉國第一壇」，為匪魁，二人者炫神術，為妄妖言相煽誘，不之問。 已，复致書請餉二十萬，自任滅外人，馳檄召之，於是二人出入節署，與抗禮。 當是時，城匪至可三萬人，呼嘯周衢市，又以熒眾，每入夜，家家懸紅燈，謂「迎仙姑」。
Most Zhili officials then believed in the Boxers; only Provincial Treasurer Ting Jie insisted on suppression and laid down strict county-level measures to hunt and punish them. An edict suddenly recalled him to Beijing, and the Boxers grew bolder still. Zhang Decheng at Duliang styled himself head of "the foremost altar in the realm," and he and Cao Futian traded boasts of magic and sedition; Yu Lu looked the other way. They soon demanded two hundred thousand taels, promising to destroy the foreigners; Yu Lu summoned them by urgent dispatch, and thereafter they came and went at his yamen as his equals. Boxers in the city may have numbered thirty thousand, roaring through the streets; the Red Lantern Society stirred the crowds, and every night households hung red lamps to "welcome the Immortal Maiden."
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頃之，各國兵艦大集，匪猶群聚督轅求槍砲，命詣軍械所任自擇，盡攫以去。 而聯軍絡繹登岸，索砲台，懼，疏告急，請敕來援。 聯軍索益堅，提督不允，戰失利，而且上團民殺敵狀，於是朝廷以團民為可恃，宣戰詔書遂下，而不知已先數日失矣。 又報大捷，盛張匪功，發帑金十萬犒團，更薦、於朝，飾戰狀，獲賞頭品秩、花翎、黃馬褂。 事急，官軍戰車站，敗績，退保。 閱三日，城陷，、挾貲走，卒係而罪之。 飛章自劾，詔革職留任。 踰月，失，又退，遂自殺。 和議成，奪職。
Soon foreign warships massed offshore, yet the Boxers still crowded the governor's yamen demanding arms; Yu Lu sent them to the arsenal to take what they wanted, and they carried everything away. Allied troops landed in force and demanded the Taku forts; terrified, Yu Lu sent urgent memorials begging the throne to summon Dong Fuxiang. The allies pressed harder; Commissioner Luo Rongguang refused and was defeated; yet Yu Lu also reported Tianjin militia victories, and the court, believing the militia dependable, declared war—unaware the Taku forts had fallen days earlier. He reported another great victory, lavished praise on the Boxers, distributed one hundred thousand taels to reward the militia, and recommended Decheng and Futian to the court with embellished battle accounts; they were given top rank, peacock feathers, and yellow riding jackets. As the crisis deepened the regular army fought at the railway station, was routed, and fell back to Beicang. Three days later the city fell; Decheng and Futian fled with their plunder but were eventually captured and punished. Yu Lu urgently memorialized to impeach himself; the throne stripped his rank but left him in post. A month later Beicang fell; he retreated to Yangcun and took his own life. After peace was made his offices were formally revoked.
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是時撫，適有仇西教，獎借之，戕二教士。 廷議以官久，諳河務，擢代之。 既蒞事，護尤力。 匪首搆亂，倡言滅教。 令知府按問，匪擊殺官軍數十人，自稱。 毓賢為更名曰「團」，團建旗幟，皆署「毓」字。 教士乞保護，置勿問。 匪浸熾，使詰總署，乃徵還。 至則謁、、大學士，盛言民忠勇得神助。 俄拜巡撫之命，於是術漸被。 府縣上書言匪事，痛斥之，匪益熾。 更命製鋼刀數百，賜拳童令演習，其酋出入撫署，款若上賓。
Li Bingheng was then governor of Shandong; anti-Christian sentiment ran high, and he encouraged it, resulting in the killing of two German missionaries. The court judged Yu Xian's long service in Shandong and knowledge of river works qualified him, and appointed him in Li's place. Once in office he shielded the Big Sword Society more zealously than ever. The rebel leader Zhu Hongdeng stirred up trouble and preached the extermination of Christianity. Yu Xian ordered the prefect to investigate; the rebels killed dozens of government troops and proclaimed themselves the Boxer militia. Yu Xian rechristened them "militia"; their banners all bore the character for his surname. Missionaries pleaded for protection; he ignored them. As the movement spread, the French minister protested to the Zongli Yamen, and Yu Xian was recalled to Beijing. In Beijing he visited Prince Duan, Prince Zhuang, and Grand Secretary Gang Yi, praising the militia's loyalty, courage, and supernatural aid. He was soon appointed governor of Shanxi, and Boxer practices spread across the province. Local officials reported on the Boxers; he rebuked them harshly, and the movement grew stronger. He ordered hundreds of steel blades forged for young boxers to practice with; rebel leaders came and went at his yamen, entertained like honored guests.
15
居無何，朝旨申命保教民，陽遵旨，行下各縣文書稠疊，教士咸感悅。 未幾，又命傳致教士駐省城，曰：「縣中兵力薄，防疏失也。」 教士先後至者七十餘人，乃扃聚一室，衛以兵，時致蔬果。 一日，忽冠服拜母，泣不可止，曰：「男勤國事，不復能顧身家矣！」 問之不語。 遽出，坐堂皇，呼七十餘人者至，令自承悔教，教民不肯承，乃悉率出斬之，婦孺就死，呼號聲不忍聞。
Soon the court again ordered protection of Christians; Yu Xian ostensibly complied, flooding the counties with reassuring documents, and the missionaries were reassured. He then ordered missionaries brought to the provincial capital, saying: "County garrisons are too weak to protect you." More than seventy missionaries arrived; he locked them in a single room under armed guard and sent them fruit and vegetables from time to time. One day he appeared in full court dress before his mother, weeping uncontrollably: "I am consumed by affairs of state and can no longer protect our family!" Asked what he meant, he would not answer. He rushed to the main hall, summoned the captives, and ordered them to renounce Christianity; when they refused, he had all of them beheaded—women and children among them—and their cries were unbearable.
16
聯軍既陷，請勤王，未及行，朝旨趣之再。 兩宮已西幸，遇諸塗，遂隨扈行。 和議成，聯軍指索罪魁，中外大臣復交章論劾，始褫職，戍。 十二月，行抵，而正法命下。 時權督。
After Tianjin fell he asked to march to the emperor's aid; before he could depart, urgent orders from the court summoned him twice. The court had already fled west; he met the procession on the road and joined the flight. After peace was made the allies demanded the ringleaders; Chinese and foreign ministers memorialized again; only then was he stripped of rank and exiled to Xinjiang. In the twelfth month, as he reached Gansu, the execution order came down. Li Tingxiao was then acting governor of Gansu.
17
論曰：戊戌政變後，廢立議起，患外人為梗，遂欲仇之，而庚子匪之亂乘機作矣。 太后信其術，思倚以鋤敵而立威。 王公貴人各為其私，群奉意旨不敢違，大亂遂成。 及事敗，各國議懲首禍，等皆不能免。 逢君之惡，孽由自作。 然刑賞聽命於人，何以立國哉？
The historian comments: After the coup of 1898, the struggle over deposing the emperor revived; seeing foreigners as the obstacle, the court turned toward hostility, and the Boxer rising of 1900 erupted in that moment. The Empress Dowager believed in their magic and hoped to lean on them to destroy enemies and assert her power. Princes and grandees each pursued private ends; all followed her will without dissent, and catastrophe followed. When the cause collapsed, the powers demanded the ringleaders be punished, and Xu Tong and his circle could not escape. They had indulged the ruler's worst impulses; the ruin was of their own making. Yet when punishments and rewards are dictated by foreign powers, what foundation remains for the state?