The march to Peking Seymour commandeered five trains in Tianjin and departed for Beijing with his entire force on the morning of 10 June.The first day the soldiers travelled 25 miles without incident,crossing a bridge at Yancun over the Hai River unopposed,although Chinese Gen.Nie Shicheng and thousands of his soldiers were camped there,Nie's soldiers were "friendly"and did not attack. The next few days went slowly,as Seymour had to repair railroad tracks and fight off Boxer attacks as his trains advanced. On June 14 several hundred Boxers armed with swords,spears and clumsy gingals attacked Seymour twice and killed five Italian soldiers.The Americans counted 102 Boxer bodies left on the battlefield at the end of one battle.Seymour continued to repair tracks and advanced very slowly.Chinese Gen.Nie let Seymour's army slip past in trains,because Ronglu had deliberately issued contradictory orders that left Nie confused.However,the Muslim forces were not "confused",and immediately set out attacking the foreigners.The march to Peking Seymour commandeered five trains in Tianjin and departed for Beijing with his entire force on the morning of 10 June. The first day the soldiers travelled 25 miles without incident, crossing a bridge at Yancun over the Hai River unopposed, although Chinese Gen. Nie Shicheng and thousands of his soldiers were camped there, Nie's soldiers were "friendly" and did not attack. The next few days went slowly, as Seymour had to repair railroad tracks and fight off Boxer attacks as his trains advanced. On June 14 several hundred Boxers armed with swords, spears and clumsy gingals attacked Seymour twice and killed five Italian soldiers. The Americans counted 102 Boxer bodies left on the battlefield at the end of one battle. Seymour continued to repair tracks and advanced very slowly. Chinese Gen. Nie let Seymour's army slip past in trains, because Ronglu had deliberately issued contradictory orders that left Nie confused. However, the Muslim forces were not "confused" , and immediately set out attacking the foreigners