By the time Jordan returned to Beijing with a group of European reporters, it was already December 19, 1923. It was less than two weeks until January 1, 1924.

Eight years had passed since He Rui, back in the Northeast, had first defied the Republic of China's designation of January 1st as "New Year's Day" (Yuandan). Instead, he had insisted on calling January 1st the "Beginning of the Year" (Suishou) and reserving the title of "New Year's Day" for the Lunar Spring Festival. Now, He Rui could finally promulgate the calendar he approved of as he pleased, with no so-called Central Government left to block his will.

Receiving Jordan was Li Shiguang, Director of the Department of Western European Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China, with Yan Huiqing attending as an attaché. Both sides had to go through the motions first: Jordan and Li Shiguang expressed the strongest protests to each other. Jordan protested the He Rui regime's hanging of prisoners of war, while Li Shiguang protested the British government's shelling of Shanghai and the massacre of Chinese civilians there.

After the formalities were concluded, the two sides continued the subsequent negotiations in a relatively calm manner. Jordan demanded that the He Rui regime protect the safety and interests of British personnel in China.

Li Shiguang immediately asked, "Is this the intention of Downing Street, or is it the personal request of Your Excellency the Ambassador?"

In the past, when Jordan met with He Rui, He Rui had tried his best to avoid discussing Jordan's official standing. At that time, as a regional power, if He Rui had publicly claimed diplomatic relations with the British government, it would have been completely contrary to diplomatic tradition. Hearing Li Shiguang explicitly ask who Jordan's words represented, Jordan sighed with emotion; the He Rui regime was finally conducting itself as the Central Government.

Now, however, it was Jordan who could not say too much. As a Special Plenipotentiary Ambassador, Jordan could not make official commitments to the unrecognized He Rui regime. At least, not before the two sides held a formal conference.

So Jordan played dumb, "As a civilized nation, this is a legal system that must be observed."

Yan Huiqing smiled and said, "Mr. Jordan, I solemnly remind you here, please do not use words like 'civilization' and 'legal system' in front of us. In terms of civilization and legal systems, the Republic of China is far above Britain. Britain needs to ask us for advice on what a legal system is with a sincere attitude."

Before Jordan could express his dissatisfaction, a reporter from *The Times* who was attending the meeting could not bear it any longer and asked directly, "Mr. Yan, what gives you the courage to speak such boastful words to Britain, which possesses centuries of legal history?"

The other British reporters held their notebooks, ready to record. Every one of them wore the same look of displeasure as the *Times* reporter!

Yan Huiqing smiled faintly, "Mr. Reporter, I am a *citizen* of the Republic of China. And you? Are you a *citizen* of the British Empire, or a *subject* of the British Empire?"

The reporter instantly realized he had chosen the wrong focal point for the confrontation, but there was no way to change the proposition now. The indignation on the faces of the other reporters turned into anger, but they were helpless.

Yan Huiqing's tone was sincere, "The foundation of law is equality before the law. If a law itself determines that the people within a country are born with distinctions of high and low, noble and base, then for such a country to discuss who is more civilized with a country where everyone is equal is simply a joke. Mr. Reporter is knowledgeable and experienced; surely you have heard of the theory of the 'fruit of the poisonous tree'."

***

When it came to verbal sparring, Yan Huiqing would never lose to He Rui's subordinates. It was just that He Rui's subordinates had always been supported by military power, while Yan Huiqing had no such backing behind him.

Both parties at the meeting knew very well that what Yan Huiqing said actually didn't matter. What was important was that apart from a trade embargo, Britain no longer had the ability to threaten the He Rui regime with its former methods.

If it wanted to impose a trade embargo on China, Britain would have to convene an international conference on the China issue. At such a conference, it was very possible to reach an agreement on an arms embargo against China by all nations. However, regarding civilian goods, Belgium and Italy might agree to an embargo on civilian goods to China, but those two countries had little trade with China to begin with, so an embargo made little difference. As for other countries, the United States might not conduct arms trade with China, but it was impossible for them to cut off civilian trade with China.

Therefore, the He Rui government had nothing to fear, and indeed had the qualifications to be fearless.

So Jordan acted as if he hadn't heard Yan Huiqing's ruthless ridicule at all. He said, "The British Empire is very concerned about the land policy of the He Rui regime in the occupied areas. This policy is barbaric; it savagely deprives landlords of their land ownership rights and has caused massacres targeting civilians. Britain has a very deep and friendly relationship with China and is very concerned about recent developments in the situation."

After speaking, Jordan was ready to wait for Li Shiguang and Yan Huiqing to attack with "sheep eating men" (the Enclosure Movement) or the "Great Irish Famine." And Jordan had already prepared a routine to deal with it.

However, Li Shiguang and Yan Huiqing just looked at each other, and Li Shiguang asked, "Mr. Jordan, where did you hear these fictitious accusations? Can you tell me the names of these people?"

The reporters immediately recorded the dialogue. A news story about a barbaric military government demanding the names of whistleblowers and sending troops to arrest them was already forming rapidly in their minds.

Jordan shook his head, "To protect these people, I cannot reveal their names."

The *Northeast Daily* reporter was also recording the dialogue between the two sides, and heard Li Shiguang answer straightforwardly, "Then I can only suspect that you are fabricating lies, because the Republic of China government's land policy is **redemption**, not confiscation. Moreover, this policy has not yet begun to be implemented. We have not made any changes to land ownership rights."

The foreign reporters were a little startled, and their recording speed slowed down considerably. Jordan was even more surprised; he had never imagined that He Rui, who was considered a Communist, had adopted violent land reform in the Northeast but was adopting a redemption policy for national land reform. This change was too great!

But Jordan was not unprepared. He immediately asked, "Then what about the Qian family in Jiangsu and Zhejiang?"

"Oh. That traitor from the Qian family," Li Shiguang nodded slightly. "I have heard of the matter Mr. Jordan mentioned. According to our laws, the private property of traitors will be confiscated. British law also has such articles and precedents."

Speaking of this, Li Shiguang smiled brightly, "Of course, I know very well that those traitors who harm China's interests are close partners for Britain. I completely understand."

...

The verbal sparring continued to unfold, and at the same time, some information was flowing in the midst of it.

When the meeting ended, Li Shiguang and Yan Huiqing took the meeting minutes and summary to seek an audience with He Rui. It was not until past 8:00 PM that they saw He Rui.

In the small room, He Rui was holding a bowl of shredded pork noodles and pickled vegetables, eating voraciously, with a steamed bun (mantou) in his hand. Seeing the two enter, He Rui swallowed the food in his mouth and asked, "Have you two eaten?"

"We ate in the cafeteria," Li Shiguang answered quickly.

He Rui pointed to the chair opposite the table that served as desk, office table, and dining table. "Sit. Don't mind my table manners, let's just talk directly about this meeting."

Yan Huiqing did not feel that He Rui lacked table manners. If He Rui was willing, he could be much more dignified. But He Rui had not chosen that kind of life. Sitting in front of He Rui and listening to him eat with such gusto, Yan Huiqing unconsciously felt like swallowing his saliva. It was good to be young.

Li Shiguang told He Rui the main content of the meeting, and He Rui listened quietly. He finished the noodles quickly, poured plain boiled water into the bowl, used his chopsticks to poke the few small sections of noodles stuck to the bowl into the water, and lifted it up to drink it all in one gulp.

By this time, Li Shiguang had finished reporting the general content. He Rui exhaled comfortably, "It seems Britain wants to compete with us for the middle and upper classes in the country."

Yan Huiqing's impression of He Rui was that he knew how to govern, was formidable in war, and absolutely did not fear foreigners. As for his level of diplomacy... Yan Huiqing felt he didn't have the chance to have the same background as He Rui, so he couldn't fully compare. But it should be somewhat above Yan Huiqing's own ability.

Seeing He Rui eating and listening to a general summary, yet arriving at a conclusion that had taken Yan Huiqing and Li Shiguang hours of careful review and discussion to determine roughly, Yan Huiqing felt great admiration for He Rui in his heart.

He Rui didn't care about all that. He asked Li Shiguang, "Besides Britain, who else in Europe has made accusations on these issues?"

Li Shiguang replied, "No one for the time being."

He Rui instructed, "Continue to pay attention to this matter. Especially in those countries that have newspapers in China; they will definitely propagate the idea that we are an evil regime to their audiences."

Seeing that the meeting was about to end, Yan Huiqing seized the opportunity to ask, "Chairman He, are we really going to implement land redemption?"

He Rui's evaluation of Yan Huiqing was "a sensible person"; this evaluation was much higher than his evaluation of Gu Weijun (Wellington Koo). Since Yan Huiqing asked, He Rui nodded, "That's correct. We are going to implement redemption."

"Then will the redeemed land be distributed to the people for farming free of charge?" Yan Huiqing was really concerned about this.

"Of course. It is to be distributed to the people for farming free of charge." He Rui continued to affirm Yan Huiqing's guess.

"What about industry and commerce?" Yan Huiqing asked the thing he cared about most.

Yan Huiqing knew very well that farming didn't make much money; it just kept one from starving. What really made money was industry and commerce, but industry and commerce were fat sheep that had always been subjected to various forms of exploitation from the Qing Dynasty to the Republican government. He Rui's policy would determine the future of industry and commerce. He had to get this clear.