3.72 Fall and Rise of China: Red Bearded Honghuzi

<p id="docs-internal-guid-24747758-7fff-9b3e-749f-9c2330a659d5" dir="ltr" style= "line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"> <span style= "font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #000000; background-color: #00ffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Last time we spoke about the conquest of southern Manchuria. The Russians had consolidated their hold over northern Manchuria and now had the necessary amount of forces to quell the chaos in the south. The two last major strongholds held by the Qing and their Boxer allies were Liaoyang and Mukden. The Russians consolidated their forces while the Qing spread themselves out far too thinly. Each engagement saw Russian victories, despite the fact the Qing had the necessary numbers and weaponry necessary to serve decisive defeats to the Russians, if only they consolidated and coordinated properly their forces. Liaoyang fell easily, and with its fall the Qing commanders began to loot and abandon their infantry. Leaderless the infantry gradually scattered into the countryside leaving Mukden pretty much open for the taking. Manchuria was in chaos, and within that chaos the same type of people always emerged to take advantage,  bandits. But who were these people really?</span></p> <p> </p> <p dir="ltr" style= "line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"> <span style= "font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> #72 The Red Bearded Honghuzi </span></p> <p> </p> <p dir="ltr" style= "line-height: 1.38; text-align: justify; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 10pt;"> <span style= "font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #000000; background-color: #ff00ff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decorati