Volume 2: The crown and the hat are all over the capital, and the spirit is full of energy and enter the foggy city Chapter 65: Fight or Not
Subtitle of this chapter: Civilized duel, quality reporting.
"I remember now, Mr. Roosevelt. I'm still in need of a lawyer. Would you be willing to help me?"
"Thank you very much, Mr. Roosevelt. I have to arrange the duel first, and you must come and show up."
"Good night then, Mr. Roosevelt."
As soon as our Master Yuan put down the phone, he heard his duel assistant ask curiously: "Brother Hongjian, are you a martial arts master?"
"Master of Chinese martial arts?" Yuan Yanshu had even returned the military boxing he had learned during college military training to his instructor, so he shook his head and said, "Brother Qingzhi, how could I know any Chinese martial arts?"
At this time, Emma Pulitzer interrupted and asked, "Neo, so you must be proficient in Western swordsmanship?"
Master Yuan chuckled and said, "Emma, have you ever seen me being mean... um, sword? To be honest, I can't even use a kitchen knife."
Major Cao still held onto a glimmer of hope and said, "Brother Hongjian, your marksmanship must be extremely accurate, right?"
Yuan Yan slowly lit up a cigar, and after a while he scratched his head and said, "Guns... I don't know how to use them either!"
"ah?!"
Cao Linsheng and Emma Pulitzer jumped up from the sofa at the same time and asked in unison: "Then what should you do?"
"Haha..." Our Master Yuan smiled slightly, picked up the phone again and said, "That's what I'll do!"
"Main station? Please connect me to Fort Myer, Virginia..."
"Good night, Major Patton. I'm Neo Yuan, whom you met on the train..."
"Major Patton, I'm calling to ask you for a favor. I'm going to duel this Sunday afternoon, so I need to borrow a place from you..."
"Major Patton, why should I make fun of you? I really want to duel with a British Army Lieutenant Colonel..."
"Major Patton, you will arrange a racecourse for me. By the way, the bigger the venue, the better. I think there will be a lot of people on that day..."
"Major Patton, thank you very much. See you on Sunday..."
Yuan Yan nodded with satisfaction. The venue was finally ready, and the next step was the equipment.
"Main station? Let your Frank answer the phone..."
"Frank, I'm Neo Yuan. I need your help..."
"Frank, do you understand? Don't worry about the money, but I want the original ones, the original ones from Ireland..."
"Frank, how many do I need? At least two dozen..."
"Frank, what do you mean by 'I can bear it or not'? I don't want a woman, I want 'em.'
After Master Yuan arranged the equipment, he thought to himself, pretending to be cool without friends is like walking in the night in fine clothes. So he picked up the phone again.
"Main station? Please connect me to New York..."
" Ann, I'm Neo. Listen, I'm going to duel with someone on Sunday..."
"An, you're asking me what I want to do? A duel... You heard me right, I want a duel!"
"An, don't cry. I'm going to a duel, not to die..."
"An, tell those friends to come to New York to watch me perform in the duel..."
Well, now everything is ready, except for the east wind.
Ignoring the strange looks from Major Cao and Miss Pulitzer, Yuan Yan found a piece of letter paper, took out a gold pen, and quickly wrote a letter.
He folded the letter and put it in an envelope, then handed it to his duel assistant and said, "Brother Qingzhi, please deliver this letter to Alexander tomorrow morning."
"This..." The other two looked at each other and asked cautiously, "Nio, can I see it?"
"Of course." Our Master Yuan said nonchalantly, "I'm going to take a shower first, you guys take your time to watch."
"Bang!"
Yuan Yan had just taken off half of her clothes when two friends rushed in.
He quickly covered his upper body with his hands and said, "You, you, what are you doing? I'm telling you, I'm a gentleman, I don't want to do a threesome right now..."
"What 3|P?" Major Cao Linsheng held up the letter and said excitedly, "Brother Hongjian, do you think that Alexander will agree to your duel method?"
"Why not?" Our Master Yuan blinked his eyes and said, "Such a wonderful, civilized, and elegant duel, why wouldn't he agree?"
And Miss Emma Pulitzer, pen in one hand and pad in the other, asked, "Neo, how should I report it?"
"Emma, just say that this duel will fully demonstrate the gentlemanly manners, chivalry, fighting skills and...physical qualities of our two gentlemen."
The two of them looked at each other and couldn't help but ask loudly: "Are you kidding?"
"Is that Chinese guy kidding me?!"
After Lieutenant Colonel Harold Alexander finished reading the letter written by Yuan Yanshu, his eyes suddenly widened and he asked the poor Major Cao in disbelief.
It was already the morning of March 5, 1921. As a duel assistant, Cao Linsheng dutifully delivered the letter to the challenger.
"Lieutenant Colonel Alexander, this is not a joke." He gritted his teeth and mustered up the courage to say, "Mr. Yuan has already said in the letter that you are all gentlemen in the civilized world, so you should duel in a civilized manner."
"Of course, Mr. Lieutenant Colonel. You can also refuse..."
The other party interrupted him angrily, "Of course I refuse! I am a lieutenant colonel in the British Army, not a juggler in China..."
"Harold, I don't think you can refuse."
At this moment, someone outside the door spoke loudly.
Lieutenant Colonel Alexander asked loudly and angrily: "Who? Who said I can't refuse?"
"It's me." The person who walked in was Sir John Hall, the British ambassador to the United States. He said with a sullen face, holding a pile of newspapers, "Harold, have you read today's newspapers?"
"Today's newspaper?" the lieutenant colonel asked in confusion. "Sir, what do you mean?"
Sir Hall made a face as if he had a toothache, handed the newspaper over and said, "Harold, take a look. Newspapers all over the United States are full of news about your duel..."
The competition in the American press at that time was so fierce that even the "Gray Lady" The New York Times had to publish news about the "First Dog of the White House" in succession. So when there was news that was more important, more eye-catching, and more popular than a dog, what reason was there not to report it?
So, Lieutenant Colonel Harold Alexander saw those big, bold headlines on the front page:
The New York Times: Duel revived in the United States: This time the duels are not between Americans!
The Washington Post: Fighting for national honor: British lieutenant colonel vs. Chinese writer
Le Monde: The duel of the century is fully documented in this newspaper - Battle of Fort Myer: Gentleman! ? Knight! ? Warrior! ?
…
"Harold, do you know what this means?" Sir Hall and other lieutenant colonel asked in a deep voice after they had quickly read the newspapers.
“Plop!”
Lieutenant Colonel Alexander sat down on the chair and said with a distorted expression: "This means I must agree!"
