The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 195 My Englishman

"Oh!"

Seeing Colonel Phillips blushing and feeling a little embarrassed, little Christian exclaimed at the right time.

"My dear Teng, congratulations on your promotion to the rank of Second Class General. For such a great occasion, won't you treat us to a drink?"

Since he had already gained the upper hand in the verbal dispute, Teng Yuzao did not take it too seriously and nodded to Wu Peifu.

Wu Peifu waved his hand towards the room, and soon two guards came over with a tray carrying several opened bottles of German beer and four cups. They filled the four cups with beer that had been cooled with well water, and then placed the remaining beer on the coffee tables under the grape trellis.

Teng Yuzao pointed to the rattan chairs and said, "Please take a seat. I apologize for the simple conditions."

As Teng Yuzao spoke, he walked to the main seat and sat down first. Phillips sat down on a rattan chair in a sullen manner. Lehman turned his back to Phillips, winked at Teng Yuzao mischievously, then took out an unsealed envelope from his military uniform pocket and handed it to Teng Yuzao with both hands.

"Your Excellency, General."

Leiman changed his words quickly and started calling Teng Yuzao a general. Teng Yuzao was not embarrassed at all by this title. He was a genuine general without a trace of exaggeration. He was just not a general in the sense of military rank.

Moreover, Teng Yuzhao firmly believed that he would soon have a real military rank, and his rank would not only not be a mere lieutenant general, he would not even want the rank of general.

Lehman continued, "Your Excellency's kindness to the German prisoners of war, His Majesty the Emperor of the German Empire is deeply grateful to the General and has sent this telegram to express his appreciation and respect for your civilized behavior."

The current German Emperor is Wilhelm II. Teng Yuzao never expected that the German Emperor, who was known for his impulsiveness and arrogance, would actually send him a telegram of thanks. After taking it and reading it, he found that it was indeed written in the tone of Emperor Wilhelm, expressing great respect and warm gratitude for Teng Yuzao's behavior.

For Teng Yuzao, such a telegram made him happier than sending him a box of German chocolates.

Teng Yuzao handed the telegram to Wu Peifu behind him and said to Lehman.

"Colonel, please forgive me. Due to the war, I cannot call back to thank His Majesty the Emperor. I can only ask you to express my respect to His Majesty the Emperor on my behalf."

"However, I made the decision to treat your country's prisoners of war kindly at the request of my friend Christian. I think that the person your emperor should be most grateful to is Christian."

"Oh."

Without waiting for Lei Man to answer, little Christian, who had just sat down, said with a happy face, "Teng, because of your generosity and friendship, the great emperor of our country has granted me the title of baron. For our friendship, let's have a drink!"

Teng Yuzao was really happy for little Christian to get the title and become a noble from now on. After raising his glass and drinking a glass with little Christian, Teng Yuzao said to Leiman.

"Colonel, this is wartime and we all have a lot to do, especially since we are in a hostile situation, so if you have anything to talk to me about, just tell me."

Lehman shrugged. "General, I came here mainly to convey the gratitude of our Emperor to you. Secondly, I came here with Colonel Phillips, who has something to discuss with you."

After that, Colonel Lehman repeated Teng Yuzao's words to Phillips in English.

Phillips had already put away his arrogant demeanor. He bowed slightly to Teng Yuzao in his seat and began to speak.

"General, you have always been kind and generous. I am here on behalf of General Gasley, the Supreme Commander of the British Expeditionary Force, and General Yamaguchi Motoomi, the Commander of the Japanese Expeditionary Force, to ask for permission to remove the remains of our fallen soldiers on the battlefield."

Phillips looked at Teng Yuzao carefully again and said, "In addition, we also ask the general to agree that our officers and soldiers stranded in the city can withdraw from the city."

Teng Yuzao had anticipated Phillips' first question. After all, he didn't want to see so many corpses left on the battlefield in such weather, as that would cause plague. But Phillips' second question almost drove Teng Yuzao crazy. However, these were not enemies on the battlefield, but representatives who came to negotiate.

Teng Yuzao asked Phillips in a mischievous tone, "Colonel, can I ask a question?"

Phillips nodded and said, "Of course."

"Isn't the highest commander of your British army Seymour who fled back to the concession in Langfang? What's the matter with this General Gasley?"

Teng Yuzao's words almost made Phillips explode, but he finally held back and tried to control his emotions and said, "Your Excellency Vice Admiral Seymour is not very familiar with land warfare, which is why those damn Boxers and Wuwei Army succeeded. General Gasley is a lieutenant general of our British Empire Army. He just came from India. Now our British Empire Expeditionary Force is jointly commanded by General Seymour and General Gasley. General Gasley is mainly responsible for commanding the army to fight. Naturally, their division of labor is the most suitable."

The damned Wuwei Army that Phillips mentioned naturally also included the Vanguard Army. Teng Yuzao suppressed his anger and said, "Okay, now I will answer your request."

"I can agree to your request to clean up the remains of the fallen soldiers."

"It should be pointed out that you must abide by my rules. First, the personnel cleaning up the bodies are not allowed to carry any weapons, ammunition, food or water. Second, all personnel are not allowed to wear military uniforms and are not allowed to enter the area of ​​the remaining coalition forces that we have besieged. The remaining coalition forces are not allowed to take the opportunity to infiltrate the personnel cleaning up the bodies. Otherwise, we will immediately launch an indiscriminate attack and all personnel stranded on the battlefield will be killed by us."

"If you follow my rules, you can start cleaning up as soon as you get back."

"As for your second request, I will definitely not agree to it. They can only leave there under two circumstances."

I thought Teng Yuzao would simply ignore the second question, or even get furious, but what surprised Phillips was that Teng Yuzao actually gave two possibilities, which made Phillips very pleasantly surprised and he hurriedly spoke.

"What conditions need to be met before they can evacuate the city?"

Teng Yuzao took a sip of the cool beer and spoke in a flat tone with almost no emotion.

"It's very simple. One option is that you attack Tianjin City and rescue them. The other option is that you carry them out as corpses."

Phillips took a deep breath and said, "Your Excellency the General, we, the British Empire, have the most powerful army and navy in the world, not to mention that almost all the world's superpowers are on our side, fighting you together. You are not even a match for the tiny Japan, so don't expect to win by fighting against all the superpowers in the world. If you continue to fight, there is only one possibility waiting for you, and it will definitely be the only one, that is, failure."

"I solemnly advise the General to release the British and Japanese personnel stranded in the city. Otherwise, after the war, our British Empire will definitely hold the war criminals accountable."

Phillips's implicit meaning was, of course, to hold Teng Yuzao accountable.

This is almost as shameless as allowing a thief who breaks into your home to leave calmly after being beaten by the owner.

"I'm going to kill you right now, you fucking Englishman!"

Before Phillips could finish his words, Xu Ting yelled out a curse word, then pulled out the Mauser pistol from his waist, cocked the pistol with a "click", aimed it at Phillips and was about to pull the trigger.

Phillips' face turned pale in an instant without a trace of blood.

He knew that if the angry Qing general in front of him wanted to kill him, he would not be able to escape. At this moment, he could only hold on and try his best to maintain the image of a British gentleman.

Trying his best to control the urge to jump up and run away, Phillips closed his eyes tightly.
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(End of this chapter)