Nie Shicheng

In April 1894, Nie was recalled from Manchuria due to the worsening situation in Korea vis-à-vis the Empire of Japan. By order of Li Hongzhang, he landed with a detachment of 800 soldiers in Asan, Korea on 9 June 1894, where he constructed fortifications and made forays to suppress the activities of the Donghak rebels in the surrounding provinces. He was noted for implementing strict discipline in his forces to prevent looting and violence against the local civilian population. Reinforcements brought his command to 3800 troops; however, the Japanese had occupied Seoul and Incheon by the end of July with approximately 30,000 troops.

On 27 July, after receiving information about the Battle of Pungdo, and realizing that neither reinforcement nor retreat would be possible by sea, Nie decided to withdraw his forces by a circuitous route to Pyongyang to avoid becoming trapped at Asan. However, on 29 July, a Japanese combat brigade led by General Oshima Yoshimasa attacked his positions in the Battle of Seonghwan. Nie lost approximately 500 men in the engagement, along with his artillery and most of his stores, but the remainder of his forces escaped to Pyongyang. Using his good relations with the local population, he was about to avoid the bulk of the Japanese army during his escape.

On 3 September, after reviewing the defenses of Pyongyang, Nie departed for Tianjin on an unsuccessful mission to request reinforcements. Ordered back to Pyongyang, he was still travelling when he received word of the Chinese defeat at the Battle of Pyongyang. Nie was subsequently in the Battle of Jiuliancheng, where his forces were assigned to the Chinese flank at the village of Hushanqian (虎山), which bore the brunt of the Japanese assault of 24 October. His forces mostly deserted their posts, and Nie escaped with the remnants to Dandong and then to Fenghaungcheng. He burned the city on 30 October rather than to let it fall into Japanese hands, and moved north to block the path of the Japanese advance towards Mukden. He was promoted to the rank of captain general for his efforts. On 12 February 1895, he was withdrawn to Shanhai Pass, the critical point in the route to Beijing, and took no further combat role.

After the war, in 1899 his army was restructured and renamed as Wuwei Front Division, trained by Russian military advisers and equipped with German and Russian weaponry, it was considered the most modern of the Qing armies of the time.[1]

In general, Nie was not an active participant in the political intrigues of the Qing court, but was considered politically conservative and supported Empress Dowager Cixi against the Hundred Days' Reform. In his suppression of the Boxer Rebellion, Nie was in an ambiguous position. On one hand, as a general in the Qing army, he pursued a vigorous offensive against rebel guerilla forces in early 1900. Condemned by the pro-Boxer faction of the Imperial Court, Nie achieved impressive success inflicting large numbers of casualties during the year.[2] On the other hand, he could not accept the invasion of China by the Eight-Nation Alliance so he fought against the Alliance forces. Because Nie's forces killed so many Boxers, it was Dong Fuxiang's Kansu Braves who instead allied with the Boxers to oppose the Seymour Expedition, a multinational force of over 2,000 men, in its march to Beijing.

On 9 July 1900, while personally leading a counterattack against Russian forces under the command of General Anatoly Stessel in the Battle of Tientsin, Nie was fatally wounded when an artillery shell exploded nearby.

In the Nankai District of Tianjin in present-day China, a "Nie Shicheng Martyrs Monument" is located in the area, to General Nie Shichen who died in battle in the Boxer Rebellion at the Battle of Tientsin.[3]