This letter recounts the failure of the Baohuang Hui's boldest military venture, which came as close as any of the reformers' actions, before or after, to armed insurrection. Qin Wang [raising righteous troops to save the emperor] was Kang's and the Baohuang Hui's attempt to mount a coordinated military action during the chaos of the Boxer Uprising in the summer of 1900 and restore the Emperor to his throne. Armies of insurgents in four provinces were to rise up in unison and spread throughout China. Perhaps unknown to Kang and Liang, some of their commanders had agreed to coordinate their risings with Sun Yat-sen, who was planning actions in Guangdong. In preparation, the Baohuang Hui solicited funds from the rice merchant Qiu Shuyuan in Singapore and collected smaller donations from members in Canada, Hawaii, Japan and the US, smuggled arms into China through a sham hardware store set up in Hong Kong as cover, made alliances with more experienced fighting tongs including the huge Independence Army, and recruited foreign military advisors like Homer Lea. Lea was an American military genius with no military experience, who would not only impress Kang but later Sun Yat-sen.
At the court of the emperor, two gentlemen, Martino and Frederick, discuss the imminent arrival of Bruno and Faustus. Martino remarks that Faustus has promised to conjure up Alexander the Great, the famous conqueror. The two of them wake another gentleman, Benvolio, and tell him to come down and see the new arrivals, but Benvolio declares that he would rather watch the action from his window, because he has a hangover.
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