Dai Xiansheng came charging over in three steps instead of six after that thunderous shout, then snapped to attention.
"Brigade Commander! You called?"
His heart was pounding. What kind of act was this? Just now, he had been bragging to the brothers in the Artillery Battalion about how accurate their new cannon was. How had the brigade commander turned around and sold him out?
Zhang Xueming gave him no time to react. Pointing at Yamada Ichiro's nose, he cursed Dai Xiansheng instead.
"I told you to fire! Fire into their lousy sports field! How the hell did you aim? Huh? The shell landed fifty meters away. Were you trying to give them a grand opening gift?"
"Did you waste your time at artillery school? Go back! Write a ten-thousand-word self-criticism! If you can't explain yourself properly, get lost to the stables and scrub the horses! I don't keep useless trash here!"
That performance plunged the entire venue into silence.
The expressions on Yamada Ichiro and Matsui Shigeki's faces were as colorful as a painter's palette. They had prepared a bellyful of questions, pressure, and even threats, yet the other side had completely refused to play by the rules.
He didn't explain or apologize. Instead, he was blaming himself for missing the mark?
What kind of mind worked like this?
Dai Xiansheng was even more bewildered. He stood where he was, his face flushed crimson, neither admitting nor denying anything. At last, he realized what was happening: the brigade commander was using him as a prop and putting on an act! But the act was far too convincing. He was genuinely afraid the brigade commander would kick him out.
"No... Brigade Commander, I..."
"You what? Get out of the way! Just looking at you makes me angry!" Zhang Xueming waved impatiently and sent him off to one side.
Throughout the entire process, he had not once looked Yamada Ichiro in the eye.
Only now did he slowly turn his head and size up the Japanese man in the suit, his gaze carrying three parts amusement and seven parts disdain.
"Yamada... You're the adviser, right? What do you want?"
Yamada Ichiro drew a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the anger in his heart and struggling to maintain a diplomat's composure. He adjusted his glasses, trying to pull the conversation back onto his own track.
"Colonel Zhang, let's speak frankly. I want to know why your army has suddenly displayed such obvious hostility toward the Great Japanese Empire."
He paused, then tossed out what he thought was an olive branch.
"I know your side may still be nursing a grudge over what happened in Nanzhen, Hunchun. But as far as I know, that impulsive imperial officer has already received severe punishment. We came here in good faith."
Zhang Xueming snorted when he heard this.
"Nanzhen, Hunchun? Oh..."
He dug at his ear, the motion utterly crude.
"That happened ages ago. I forgot about it long ago."
Then his tone changed, and his eyes suddenly sharpened.
"Now, Adviser Yamada, I want to ask you something."
"Half a month ago, at Laohei Mountain, were the five Forest Protection Squad members of our Feng Army shot dead by men from your Kwantung Army?"
Yamada Ichiro's pupils contracted slightly.
He had not expected Zhang Xueming to bring the matter up so bluntly.
He steadied himself and argued, "Colonel Zhang, there's been a misunderstanding. According to our investigation, those five men were not ordinary Forest Protection Squad members, but bandits who had kidnapped Overseas Chinese from the Empire! We were merely punishing the culprits!"
"Punishing the culprits?" Zhang Xueming laughed, his shoulders shaking.
"Adviser Yamada, have you stayed in Harbin City so long that you've forgotten where you are?"
"This is Chinese soil!"
"On this land, only Chinese police have the authority to arrest people, only Chinese courts have the authority to try people, and only Chinese law has the authority to execute people!"
"What right did your men have to execute our people on our territory without a trial? That isn't called punishment—it's called murder! Do you understand?"
Zhang Xueming's voice rose higher and grew louder with every sentence.
"Don't give me any of that bullshit about kidnapping Overseas Chinese! Even if it really happened, we should be the ones to handle it! Who the hell do you think you are? You think you're entitled to use extrajudicial punishment here?"
Fine beads of sweat seeped across Yamada Ichiro's forehead.
He realized he had been completely forced onto the back foot. Zhang Xueming's logic was clear, and every word stood on the high ground of law and sovereignty, leaving him utterly unable to refute it.
The guests around them—especially the officers wearing Feng Army Military Uniforms—were already looking at him differently.
Yamada Ichiro knew that continuing to argue would only make things more humiliating. He had no choice but to compromise.
"...Our handling of this matter was indeed somewhat inappropriate. On behalf of the garrison, I express my regret."
At that moment, Matsui Shigeki, who had been standing behind Yamada Ichiro with an iron-gray face, finally exploded.
He could not stand the sight of Yamada Ichiro bowing his head to a Chinese man!
"Yamada! Why are you compromising with them? This despicable bunch of—"
His eyes bloodshot, he roared the insulting term in Japanese.
"Shina people!"
Those two words were like a fuse igniting a powder keg.
The air throughout the banquet hall froze instantly.
Wu Junsheng's heart lurched. Damn it!
Zhang Xueming reacted faster and more explosively than anyone could have imagined!
A moment ago, a trace of mockery still lingered in his smile.
The next moment, every expression vanished from his face, replaced by a savage fury that made the heart tremble.
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