In 1893, at the request of Li Hongzhang, Nie conducted an inspection tour of the Manchurian borders with Russia and Korea, with the aim of planning strategies for potential combat operations.

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.

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.

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.

Condemned by the pro-Boxer faction of the imperial court, Nie achieved impressive success inflicting large numbers of casualties during the year.

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.