When Empress Dowager Cixi made a "proclamation of war" to make her stance toward the allied western powers clear, some influential bureaucracy in the local provinces such as Liu Kunyi, who was the Viceroy of Liangjiang, Zhang Zhidong, who was the Viceroy of Huguang, and Li Hongzhang, who was the Viceroy of Liangguang, stated that the above order was a forgery and refused to participate in suppressing the Boxers.
西太后が「宣戦布告」の上諭を出して列強への態度を明確化した頃、両江総督劉坤一や湖広総督張之洞、両広総督李鴻章ら地方の有力官僚らは、この上諭を偽詔とした上で従わない旨宣言し、そして義和団の鎮圧に動いた。