The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 23 Different Treatment

In particular, after hearing that the Qing army on the other side not only released their seriously wounded and some of the lightly wounded, but also agreed to allow the Germans to exchange two thousand sets of military uniforms and equipment for the remaining German prisoners of war, Britain, Italy and Austria also saw hope and sent representatives to follow Christian and the German representatives across the river by boat.

Among them was Christian the Younger, the manager of the German firm of Lihe, who had a good personal friendship with the commander of the powerful Qing army, but after all, this Qing officer also took the risk to rescue the believers stranded in Tianjin.

According to the wounded who were released, among the people rescued by this Qing officer, in addition to the employees of Lihe & Co., there were also dozens of Qing religious believers, including Ming Enpu, a 55-year-old missionary from the American Christian Mission who came to Qing Dynasty to preach.

Fearing that he would be treated unfairly differently because he was not a German, Ming Enpu did not reveal his identity to the Qing officers.

This news also made Major General Adna Chaffee, the highest commander of the American troops in the Allied Forces, overjoyed. Since Min Enpu did not reveal his identity, Chaffee was inconvenient to show up, so he repeatedly instructed Colonel Lehman, the current highest commander of the German Army in the Allied Forces, to take care of the American missionary on his behalf and bring this American citizen back to the concession safely.

As for the commanders of Britain, Italy and Austria, they also wanted to try to contact the Qing officers on the opposite side to see if they could also pay ransom or some supplies other than arms in exchange for their captured personnel.

So, when the sampans returned, Christian brought the officers of the Four-Nation Alliance, including German officers, to the river bank on the side of the Beiyang Military Academy.

When they were still on the boat, Teng Yuzhao had already seen these Allied Forces officers coming by boat from afar through the telescope, and he immediately understood the purpose of these officers' visit.

Now, all the captains and generals in the Wuwei Army are equipped with the more advanced German Zeiss six-fold military binoculars, instead of the simpler telescopic monocular telescopes used during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895.

However, the advanced binoculars currently distributed to the Wuwei Army and commonly used in Western armies have an obvious shortcoming, which is that they are too heavy. Because their shells are made of copper, they are very heavy when hung around the neck, which will make people feel very uncomfortable after a long time.

Teng Yuzao's telescope was usually carried in the cowhide backpacks of two clerks who followed Teng Yuzao's guards. The same was true for Teng Yuzao's sharp German-made saber made of manganese steel, which was also kept by them.

If there is one piece of German military weapons and equipment that Teng Yuzhao complained about, it was this German saber.

Although the German army's saber is not only sharp and strong, but also looks majestic and imposing when hung on the body, it is too short and is a one-handed knife, so it is not suitable for hand-to-hand combat. It is only a command knife, or to be more precise, it is a flashy ceremonial knife.

If Teng Yuzhao had his current preferences, he would have discarded this saber long ago. However, he still had to carry it in some ceremonial occasions.

"Qionglin."

Teng Yuzao put down the telescope and said to Li Yulin, "When those foreigners come ashore, only Christian and the German colonel are allowed to come over. The other foreigners can only stay on the shore for the time being. They are not allowed to move around freely."

Li Yulin agreed and was about to run over to make arrangements, but Teng Yuzhao stopped him again.

"Order our troops to be on high alert and show some momentum so that these foreign devils will not underestimate our vanguard army." Soon, Christian walked up to Teng Yuzhao with a German colonel in a neat uniform and a wide-brimmed hat.

The German military uniforms of this period were finalized in 1895. They were dark blue with red piping on the lapels and high collars. Except for the color, which was different from the gray uniforms of Yuan Shikai's Wuwei Right Army, which were similar to field gray, everything else was exactly the same. Teng Yuzhao's battalion used the same color as the Wuwei Right Army.

Just now, Teng Yuzhao had carefully observed the uniforms of the captured German soldiers. He originally thought that the color of the German uniforms at that time was field gray, but now he saw that the real color of the German uniforms was not the same as he assumed, which surprised him.

However, what made Teng Yuzhao curious was that the uniform color of the Wuwei Right Army, which is now the uniform color of the Vanguard Army, was inexplicably very similar to the color of the German uniform a few years later, and he and Yuan Shikai were the first to use it, although the current uniform color is just similar to field gray.

At that time, the wide-brimmed hats worn by German officers were used by only three countries in the world. First, it was Tsarist Russia, then the German Army followed, and the Wuwei Army learned from the German Army. The only difference was that the Wuwei Army, to be precise, was Yuan Shikai's Wuwei Right Army. Both officers and soldiers wore wide-brimmed hats, but the decorations and logos on them were different.

The German and Tsarist Russian armies at that time only wore wide-brimmed hats, and the German army only wore them as daily uniforms. Once in battle, they also had leather, gorgeous-looking helmets, which were the unique Prussian style with metal peaks.

Since landing, the German colonel accompanying little Christian has been carefully examining this newly emerged and powerful vanguard of the Wuwei Army that has surprised the Allied Forces.

When he got closer to Teng Yuzao, he couldn't help looking Teng Yuzao up and down.

Coming closer, little Christian introduced, "Teng, my friend, this is Colonel Lehman von Strahn of the German Imperial Army."

Teng Yuzao also kept looking at Colonel Lehman in front of him.

Colonel Lehman was about forty years old, with an upright figure, silver hair, and bright grey eyes, a typical Prussian soldier.

Leiman took off his military cap and bowed slightly to Teng Yuzao, saying sincerely, "Dear President, I salute you on behalf of the German army. We are very grateful for your generosity and kindness to the German soldiers!"

Teng Yuzao extended his hand, shook hands with Lehman and said, "Colonel, Christian and I are good friends. I agreed to release the captured German soldiers only after accepting his request."

As for little Christian, Teng Yuzao didn't mind helping him a little more. This would earn him the respect of the German army and even the German high-ranking officials, and might even bring great benefits to his future business.

This is a situation that Teng Yuzhao is very willing to see, because he will need little Christian's help in many areas in the future.

Your support is the driving force of Zuima!
(End of this chapter)