My Apprenticeship to Uncle Jiu: I Was a Warlord in the Republic of China

Seeing this, Jiang Li stopped dealing with government affairs and looked up with surprise, asking, "Zhao Hong, are these people friends or enemies? Why don't you serve tea?"

As he said this, he took out a pistol and opened the safety.

After hearing Jiang Li's question, Zhao Hong's mind was full of question marks, and for a moment he didn't know how to answer.

So he turned to the diplomat and asked, "Excuse me, sir, who are you? Are you our friend or enemy?"

The diplomat was already panicking when he saw Jiang Li and took out his gun to open the safety. He became even more nervous after hearing what the translator translated for him.

So he immediately stood up and spoke, and the translator naturally translated it to Jiang Li truthfully, "I am a diplomat of the British Empire. I am a friend, not an enemy!"

Jiang Li heard this and looked as if he had suddenly realized something. "Oh, it turns out to be a friend. I seemed to hear someone scolding me just now, and I thought it was an enemy coming to kill me!"

"Since we are friends, please tell us about your identity and origins in a friend's identity, tone, and words."

"If I hear this again, the enemy will say it to me, don't blame me for using it against the enemy!"

As he said this, he raised his pistol and gestured.

At this time, the diplomat was obviously no longer as arrogant as before, and the tone of his speech had improved significantly, but his address remained unchanged.

"Dear County Magistrate Jiang, I am Henry Thomas, a diplomat from the British Empire. This time I am here in the name of the Queen of the British Empire to ask you about our cooperation."

When Jiang Li heard the translation, he immediately showed a puzzled expression on his face, "I don't know what Mr. Henry means by cooperation?"

"Didn't I make it clear to Earl Edward before that I couldn't meet his conditions, so I would no longer trade with him?"

Henry Thomas immediately explained when he heard this, "County Magistrate Jiang, you misunderstood. I'm not talking about a trade, but a cooperation where both of us join forces to divide China equally!"

Jiang Li immediately slammed the table and stood up when he heard this. "How dare you say such unreasonable things? Do you want me to be a traitor and bring shame to my family?"

Henry was stunned when he heard Jiang Li's words. He immediately asked carefully, "Didn't Baron William say that you took the initiative to ask for help from the British Empire to restore the glory of your family?"

When Jiang Li heard this, he immediately said to Zhao Hong with an angry face: "Go and bring William up. I want to ask him in person what kind of rumors he spread outside!"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Hong immediately took the order and brought William here soon. It turned out that Jiang Li had already anticipated that the British envoy would come during this period, so he brought William to Nanxi County in advance.

William was taken to the hall and immediately begged for mercy from Jiang Li, "Commander Jiang, I know I was wrong. I will never think of splitting up China again. Please let me go!"

Jiang Li did not comfort him after hearing this, but asked him to tell Henry Thomas the whole process of his contact with her.

Even his identity as a "messenger of God" and the speculation that Edward was a vampire were revealed.

Henry and the translator were shocked when they heard this, but after seeing Jiang Li offer a talisman that turned into a fireball, they had to believe it.

At this time, Henry Thomas exclaimed, "Did you just say that Earl Edward is a vampire?"

"How is this possible? What evidence do you have?"

Jiang Li shook his head, but did not elaborate, "You don't need to know how I know this, just think of it as God's guidance!"

"There is one more thing. You should have heard clearly from what William said just now that I never revealed any intention of treason from the beginning to the end. This is just a misunderstanding caused by the different words between the two sides!"

"If the British Empire is still willing to trade with me, then I will be very happy to do so. If not, I can only find another seller!"

After listening to the translator's long speech, Henry Thomas frowned. He was digesting and thinking about what Jiang Li said. After all, the British upper class still valued this opportunity very much.

If they could cooperate with a slightly more reliable Chinese warlord, they would be able to quickly occupy a large piece of land in China, and then colonize China, which would be much easier.

Henry Thomas knew his mission very well, so he did not give up this opportunity. "County Magistrate Jiang, you know that our British Empire has colonies all over the world, just to bring civilization to the world!"

"If we can reach a cooperation this time, it will be a good thing that will benefit both of us. Please consider it carefully!"

Jiang Li once again firmly refused, "Thank you for your kindness, Queen. We will handle China's internal affairs ourselves. If the Queen is willing, we can reach a deeper economic cooperation."

But Henry Thomas was not willing to give up. Seeing that literary means were not working, he decided to use force to intimidate.

"County Magistrate Jiang, you should know that our British Empire's Invincible Fleet is invincible."

"As long as we enter the Minjiang River from the sea, we can deploy hundreds of thousands of troops, and then we will be able to greatly increase the speed at which you can conquer your homeland!"

When Jiang Li heard him mention military force, he also kept it to himself, "Since Mr. Henry said so, I'll tell you the truth. It's hard to say anything else about China, but our population is the largest in the world!"

"Ever since you entered this door, you have been calling me County Magistrate Jiang."

"Then do you know how much territory I have now? How many people are there? How many troops are there?"

Henry was very confused when he heard this. Although they had inquired about Jiang Li's general intelligence, because China is a landlocked country with a vast territory, the data they obtained was not very clear.

So he tentatively guessed a few numbers. "I did some research when I came here. County Magistrate Jiang has occupied almost the entire Guangdong Province. The population should be over 10 million, and the army is no more than 200,000. It should be difficult for him to conquer the whole country independently!"

Jiang Li laughed when he heard this. "Mr. Henry, your information is outdated. I have occupied the entire Guangdong Province, and I even took over the mountainous Guangxi Province some time ago."

"Now we have the sole control of Guangdong and Guangxi, govern 90 million people, and have an army of 2.1 million. We can march north at any time and sweep across the country without the help of Britain!"

Henry Thomas' eyes almost popped out of his head when he heard this. The British Empire Army had its largest number of troops during World War I, when their army reached a staggering one million.

Not to mention that after World War I, they carried out disarmament, and now their active-duty soldiers are only a few hundred thousand.

So when he heard Jiang Li talk about an army of more than two million, his jaw dropped.