Chapter 20: The First Clash between Germany and Japan

  ument.write(

  The middle-aged man in the Western suit looked at Hu Min'er with a hint of surprise, seeing her demeanor like a young lady, and her still elegant clothes. He guessed that this girl might have some background. His tone became more respectful as he asked Hu Min'er: "May I ask for your name, miss?"

  "My surname is Hu, and my name is Min'er. My father is Hu Mingyu, the supervisor of the Ministry of War." Hu Min'er said proudly, with a haughty expression, just like when she first met Xu Shaowen at the train station.

  The middle-aged man in the Western suit's eyes lit up slightly, saying: "So you're Hu Xiedu's daughter, that makes things easier. You all wait for a bit." After finishing speaking, he stood in place and thought for a moment, then walked back to Miyazaki Motozaburou's side and said something with an exaggerated expression.

  Miyazaki Motozirō fell into deep thought after listening to the Western-clad middle-aged man's words. He looked at Hu Min'er again, but his eyes were no longer filled with lust, instead, they were filled with doubt. In the end, he nodded thoughtfully and said another round of words to the Western-clad middle-aged man. The Western-clad middle-aged man's face changed color, looking very embarrassed, he tried to refute a few sentences, but the little Japanese man's attitude was very tough.

  The middle-aged man in the Western suit walked back to Xu Shaowen and first looked at Hu Min'er behind Xu Shaowen, then said to Xu Shaowen: "Miyanaga Motozaburou has decided to take back what he said earlier and apologize to Miss Hu. However, you might not be so lucky, I told him that you are a student of the Army University, one of the participants in this match against Baoding Military Academy, and under government protection, but Miyanaga Motozaburou insists that you kneel down and apologize."

  Xu Shaowen smiled coldly and turned around to say to Hu Min'er and Xiao Lan, "You two leave here, I'll handle the rest myself."

  "No way, you're here to help us, how can we just abandon you?" Hu Min'er looked somewhat urgent and very serious as she stared at Xu Shaowen, her small white face showing a stern expression. "Hmph, if this little Japanese devil dares to hurt me, I'll make sure my father teaches him a lesson when I get back to Beijing."

  "They are diplomatic envoys, enjoying diplomatic privileges. I'm sure your father wouldn't want to offend the Japanese because of me, a young whippersnapper," Xu Shaowen smiled calmly, although he was touched by Hu Min'er's words, but what worried him most at this moment was still having these two girls by his side, once something happened, they would become a burden. "Let's do it this way, you go out first, I absolutely won't have any problems."

  "You tell him, you are the nephew of State Councilor Xu Shichang." Hu Min'er saw that Xu Shaowen was very persistent and seemed to be even more gathered.

  A middle-aged man in a Western suit who was standing nearby heard Hu Min'er's words and took another good look at Xu Shaowen, asking: "Is your uncle Mr. Xu Shichang?"

  Xu Shaowen turned around, puffed out his chest and put on a serious face. In fact, he had no intention of revealing his family background like Hu Min'er to calm things down, let alone taking Xu Shichang as his uncle to use as a shield, what if Xu Shichang didn't take him seriously at all, and their previous meeting at the teahouse was just a courtesy, in the end he would be the one who ended up being embarrassed.

  "You don't need to know who my uncle is, I'll take care of this matter myself. But as for kneeling down and begging for mercy? Ha! It's the Japanese who are accustomed to kneeling down in front of people all the time. A warrior can be killed but not humiliated. Let alone Miyazaki Motoichiro asking me to kneel down and beg for mercy, I'd rather have him kneel down and apologize to Xiao Lan instead." Xu Shaowen's tone was filled with sternness, his eyes gleaming with a sharp light, as if a ruthless killer had locked onto his target.

  The middle-aged man in Western attire let out a sigh, his eyes fixed on Xu Shaowen's with an increasingly complex expression, as if he was torn between admiration and concern, and perhaps even a hint of sadness. He seemed lost in thought for a moment before speaking to Xu Shaowen: "Young man, do you know that if this matter continues to escalate, it may very well become a political dispute between the two countries? President Yuan is still counting on Japan's support politically and economically; if Miyazaki Bonshirō insists on not forgiving you, your troubles will be great."

  Xu Shaowen didn't respond to the middle-aged man in the suit. He turned back again, his face full of seriousness and his tone carrying a commanding air, saying: "You all leave first."

  At this time, Miyazaki Motojiro saw Xu Shaowen, a primary school staff member, treating the Chinese government's high-ranking officials' daughter like this. He immediately became furious and rushed forward quickly. Using his unskilled Mandarin, he scolded Xu Shaowen: "You are too reckless, unforgivable! I will severely punish you!" After finishing speaking, he pushed away the middle-aged man in a suit and then gave orders to his two military officers in Japanese.

  Two Japanese military officers immediately became furious and rushed towards Xu Shao-wen with gnashing teeth.

  Xu Shaowen smiled coldly, if not for the conversation with the middle-aged man in a suit, he would have taken action to teach these Japanese people a lesson. The two Japanese military officers had naturally received military training, but after working at the consulate for a long time, their movements looked awkward. Although there were two of them, Xu Shaowen quickly found their weaknesses, and just as Hu Min'er's shrill cry was still echoing, the two officers were already beaten to the ground.

  However, Xu Shaowen's mouth was still punched in the corner, which was to avoid a military officer's straight punch attacking his own nose when he didn't have time to dodge. The corner of his mouth was bleeding, but it was much cheaper than a nasal fracture. He looked at the two Japanese military officers who had fallen to the ground, one with a fractured wrist and the other dazed after hitting his head on the sofa corner. He gasped for breath, his chest heaving due to intense exercise, and raised his gaze to stare at Miyazaki Motoichirō.

  Miyazaki Motohiro did not expect that Xu Shaowen alone could take on two people, and even more unexpected was the speed at which he knocked them down. For a moment, he was stunned. When he saw Xu Shaowen's cold gaze directed at him, his whole body felt somewhat uneasy, and a sense of panic gradually arose in his heart. He slowly retreated several steps, suddenly pretending to be calm, ran to his own sofa position, and took out an Oriental long sword from the wall hanging nearby.

  With a "clang", Miyazaki Motozirō suddenly drew his sword, and the gleaming blade flashed by. Everyone in the carriage was shocked into stillness. Although Miyazaki Motozirō was filled with fear towards Xu Shao-wen, when he held the deadly weapon in his hand, his confidence increased greatly. He let out a loud shout, his anger surging as he charged at Xu Shao-wen.

  The middle-aged man in the suit saw the situation change suddenly and hurriedly went up to try to stop Miyazaki Motozirō, but the latter was already furious and swung his sword at anyone who stood in front of him. The middle-aged man had no choice but to jump out of the way and dodge, watching with wide eyes as Miyazaki charged towards Xu Shao-wen.

  Xu Shaowen had indeed learned the technique of disarming an opponent with a katana at the Central Police Academy in the 21st century, but the katanas used for training back then were not as large as the ones used today, so he was still a bit nervous. Just as he was about to focus and make his move, a voice suddenly came from the end of the carriage, shouting "Halt!"

  A foreigner wearing a deep yellow military uniform, with a red band on his hat and several shiny eagle-shaped medals on his chest, walked over quickly. He shouted in German to stop the commotion, but when he arrived in front of Miyazaki Bunsanro, he said in somewhat stiff but fluent Chinese: "Mr. Miyazaki, you've gone too far, I advise you not to make things worse."

  Miyazaki Motozirō was originally in a furious state, but after being shouted at by the German officer, he suddenly calmed down. His expression was still very angry, but he did not refute the German officer's words, and instead slowly put down the Oriental sword in his hand. He had been in China for many years and could still understand some Chinese, but speaking Chinese would make him sound even more awkward, and he didn't speak German either, so at this time he couldn't converse with the German officer.

  Finally, Miyazaki Motozirō scolded in Japanese and glared at Xu Shaowen fiercely.

  Xu Shaowen took a look at the German and immediately recognized that he was wearing a high-ranking general's uniform from the German Army during World War I, which meant that he must have come from a very important background. The German looked to be over thirty years old, with a tall nose bridge below which was a very exaggerated large beard, typical of the Teutonic style.

  The Germans looked at Miyazaki Motozaburō with vigilance for a while, until the latter returned to his seat and sat down gloomily. He then glanced at the two Japanese military officers who had been knocked to the ground by Xu Shao Wen, and a faint smile appeared on the corner of his mouth. He looked at Xu Shao Wen and said: "Chinese soldier, you are very capable, but not calm enough, this will lead to big trouble, I hope you can remember my words."

  Germany and Japan were indeed hated by the whole world during World War II, but for Xu Shaowen, it is clear that after the end of World War II, Germans are more worthy of recognition than Japanese people. Therefore, he still has a good impression of Germans. Especially now, this German person stood up to help him out, so he should be grateful no matter what.

  "Thank you, I will remember what you said." Xu Shaowen's face didn't change much, still with a cold and indifferent expression, but he still thanked the German officer.

  The German smiled and said, "I'll help you. One reason is that I can't bear to see this happen, but another reason is that I absolutely cannot tolerate being rude to the beautiful lady behind you. This is not what a gentleman does." After he finished speaking, he put on a very proper demeanor and slightly bowed to Hu Min'er standing behind Xu Shao Wen.

  Hu Min'er looked somewhat surprised and stupidly responded with a smile to the German.

  Xu Shaowen shook his head helplessly, feeling at a loss for this era's foreigners. However, no matter what, this German was still considered frank.

  The German saw Hu Min'er smile at him, and his face lit up even more. He took a step forward and asked politely: "Miss, may I ask your name?"

  Hu Min'er was amused by the other's strange Chinese and also felt some goodwill in her heart, she replied: "My name is Hu Min'er, it seems you are a high-ranking military officer too?"

  At this time, the middle-aged man who had previously translated for Japan helped two injured Japanese military officers to their feet and walked up to Xu Shao-wen and the German. He said to Xu, "This is Major Filies of the German Army; he too was one of the impartial judges at the Baoding Military Academy competition."

  Xu Shaowen nodded slightly, he knew why Phyllis had just mocked the two Japanese military officers who were lying on the ground. At this time, World War I had just begun in Europe, and Germany and Japan had a severe diplomatic relationship due to conflicts of interest in China. In fact, three months later, Japan would launch an attack on Germany's stronghold in Shandong, followed by Germany's defeat in Shandong, and then Japan would take over the rights and interests in Shandong.

  The middle-aged man in Western suit said again: "Now that Mr. Phyllis has helped you out, take them away quickly."

  Xu Shaowen looked at the other party, then looked at Phyllis again. In fact, Phyllis had heard Xu Shaowen's conversation with the Japanese interpreter on the side, he didn't make any moves, just nodded to Xu Shaowen.

  "Then, thank you, Major Phyllis and... sir," Xu Shaowen said to the middle-aged man in a suit and Phyllis, his expression somewhat complex, still unclear about what this Japanese interpreter in a suit was all about.