Boxer Rising-The Price of Tea

“Not for all the tea in China” was an expression when I was a child. Also, “As far back as the Chinese.” These were Victorian echoes and they are gone now. All the tea in China indicated colossal wealth. As far back etc indicated the lack of modernity in China. Gone are the days.

In the 19^th Century the British working poor were greatly immiserated. Only one thing brought any comfort. It was tea. Tea was great, it soothed the masses and didn’t inflame or excite them. Gin had been tried previously and hadn’t worked at all.

The Poor had a discerning taste in tea. We are told they would not accept inferior product. A small price to pay you might think for peace of mind of the Rulers. Alas, it was not so.

The Chinese would only sell tea for Silver. This is where the seeds of the Boxer Rising take root.  We must tell the tale if we are to understand the Righteous, Harmonious Fists and the like.

The British didn’t have sufficient silver to sustain the trade. Suspending the trade was unthinkable. The Poor were pacified give or take Transportation and Starvation. They might, denied tea, revolt. Something had to be done.

With some skill and a great deal bribery the British managed to smuggle tea plants out of China to India. All very well but it would take time for production to meet need.

Bengal Opium looked like an option. Enjoying opium was a well-known international recreation. The Chinese Government was well aware of its dangers. Consequently while a senior Mandarin might puff away a peasant farmer couldn’t, save as a pain killer or a rare treat. Importing Opium into the Celestial Empire was forbidden.

The British needed to flood China with cheap opium to break the Tea for Silver paradigm. This they did in a series of wars. The French joined in and the victors got inventive. The Chinese would pay for the cost of the British and French military actions. Also, territorial concessions would be made. Free Trade including opium would replace Chinese Regulations. 

The destruction to Chinese society was truly immense. Should you ever have lived or worked in an area with a serious drug problem you will understand precisely what happened.

At the top of Chinese society sat the Manchu providing Emperor and aristocracy. Below sat the Han Chinese and various minorities.  It was from the Han that the Boxers arose. The last great conflict to wrack China had been the Tai Ping. Mainly a non Han enterprise.

By the time of the Rising China’s predators had multiplied and the future looked bleak. As is the way of things the cost of paying off the predators fell increasingly on the common folk.

Enter the Boxers. 

Boxer Rising-The Imperialist Powers

 

Old Glory Russian Dragoons and Cossacks above and below. These are the Ussuri Regiment. Ussuri started off as Cossacks and transformed to Dragoons. Here we have both incarnations. The Ussuri Cossacks are two men light. Did I ever have them? Don't know. Can I find them? Not so far. I need to find a solution.

Obviously, if you know TMWWBK that is, these will be rated as Regular Cavalry and Irregular Cavalry with Modern Carbine respectively. The latter for variety.

Russian Sailors. I'm fielding these as Irregulars with Modern Rifles. Once again I'm missing a figure. This time it is the Russian Officer. I'm using the Campaign Dress excuse by way of justification.

Western Regular Infantry and good quality at that. Italian Bersiglieri who will be Regulars, Modern Rifle and Veteran. Expensive in TMWWBK but formidable.

Russian Regular Infantry, these ones are from Blue Moon. Bigger than the OG ones but workably so.

German Regular Infantry from OG. The Chinese building in the background is a work in progress. 

Many more to come. Including a couple of units from Frontier miniatures. These I bought with some Falcon Imperial Chinese for the Tai Ping Wars. My main reason for the purchase. The "Falcons" are incredibly difficult to find and long out of production.

You might have noticed I've forgone the usual historical context. I will get to it. I like to aim for an objective view and in this case it was eluding me. Inspiration came in the form of a cup of tea. Appropriately enough. That's for another time. Then we will see the rest of my Western Troops. That's a clue. I don't own any Japanese. Yet.

If I had some Japanese I could do the Russo-Japanese War in big skirmish/small battle. Maybe.

Back To China

 

Above Imperial Guardsmen old style. From Old Glory 15mm. As is everything else you will see today.

Long ago I had a big box of Boxers. China don’t you know, and the Century of Shame. I didn’t do much with them. Mainly because I didn’t know if I was big battles or recreating 55 Days in Peking.  I did a fair bit of painting and that was it. An abandoned project.

TMWWBK has worked its magic. Behold the Kansu Braves. Originally raised as a provincial unit the Kansu lads were formidable. That was not unusual in China. Provincial troops often proved to have the edge over the centrally raised professionals. Often this was because they were defending their home province. Better motivation at a guess. Less prone to the vices of the Big City too.

Anyhow, the Kansu, mainly Moslem, were used to supress a Moslem Rebellion. Then they were called to the Capital to shore up the Dowager Empress. Once there they were enlisted into the Rear Guard of the Imperial Army. This meant pay, rations, training and Mauser rifles. 

European sources often called the Kansu Irregulars. Possibly because they didn’t know about their absorption into the Regular Army or maybe because they were newly arrived to Beijing.

How to rate them for TMWWBK? I’m going for Irregulars with modern rifles. if you have a better idea let me know.

Another Imperial unit here. Old style once more. I'm not sure how these fellows were armed. The actual figures have modern rifles but surely that is not the decider. If you happen to know do let me know.

Two of the new Imperial units here. These troops were Western trained and equipped, well motivated too. As you can see by the basing they are Regulars who can form close order and volley.

That's it for the moment. There will be more. Jingals and Tiger Men.  Mongols too. 

Miao and Nien - Allies of the Tai Ping

The Heavenly Kingdom of the Tai Ping had two important allied groups.  These were provided by the Miao tribesmen and the Nien rebels against the Manchu.  Both groups brought something valuable to the Tai Ping cause.

The Miao fielded two types of infantry.  Some were simply spear men of which the Tai Ping had a near endless supply.  Others were armed with a Chinese version of the jezail.  The latter were very useful.  They provided the Tai Ping with accurate distance weaponry that was otherwise in short supply.  

 

There were two main groupings of Miao, the black and the white. So named for their clothing colour choice.   

 

 

The Miao were capable and well-motivated soldiers.  Using Taiping Era I’d rate them as Committed Chinese Troops.  Here are the stat’s for them that I will be using for Field of Battle 3.

Troop Type	Unit type	Unit class	Defence Dice	Combat Dice	Arms	Formation
Miao ‘jezails’	Infantry	Regular	D4	D10	Rifle	Line, Skirmish
Miao Spears	Infantry	Regular	D6	D8	Spear	Attack Column, Line, Square

The Nien, bandits to the Manchu authorities, controlled an extensive territory.  They secured this by placing garrisons in fortified villages and via the use of an extensive cavalry arm.  The Nien cavalry were mainly lancers and once again were good soldiers. These proved to be a useful asset to the mainly foot slogging Tai Ping.  Using Taiping Era I'd once more opt for Committed Chinese Troops. In FoB3 they will look like this.

 

Troop Type	Unit type	Unit class	Defence Dice	Combat Dice	Arms	Formation
Níen	Cavalry	Regular	D6	D10	Lance	Attack Column, Line,

Every now and then the Tai Ping deployed a unit of European manned modern artillery.  Should you want to emulate that rate them as European regulars-that's what most of them had been. The British Royal Navy sailors were particularly keen to desert. One battery only.  I'd suggest 9 pounders.  In reality the available ordinance varied considerably.