xymnovel 88. They still don't know our importance.
88. They still don't know our importance.
Five German soldiers, all in their twenties or thirties, who had led the street brawl, were quickly brought before Dugen.
They stood with their hands at their sides, heads bowed, their eyes filled with trepidation and unease.
Not only them, but Colonel Decken, Major Halkert, and all the German Regiment officers and soldiers surrounding them were also filled with unease.
Duggan was a British nobleman, while they were merely Hanoverian soldiers living under someone else's roof and in exile. Although they belonged to the royal family, they were, after all, outsiders.
Everyone believed that the young British commander would inevitably side with the British and severely punish these foreign soldiers in order to quell the anger of the British army.
The entire room fell silent, all eyes fixed on Dugan.
Gris and Ken, inside the carriage, were also very nervous, fearing that Dugan might mishandle the matter and incite a mutiny within the German Legion, which could cost them their lives.
Dugan said to Colonel Deken, "Colonel, I don't speak German. Could you translate for me?"
"Yes, sir." Deken cleared his throat and got ready.
Dugan asked calmly, "Did you win that fight yesterday?"
"Huh?" Colonel Decken was taken aback and looked at Dugan with a surprised expression.
"What are you standing there for? Translate!" Dugan looked at Deken with a surprised expression.
"Gestern bei der Schlägerei– habt ihr gewonnen?" Colonel Deken translated according to Dugan's wishes.
The inexplicable question left the five soldiers stunned. They looked at each other, none daring to answer.
After all, it wasn't on the battlefield, but a deadly battle between friendly forces. If they admitted it, wouldn't that confirm their guilt?
"Answer truthfully," Dugan said calmly. "I want to hear the truth."
After a brief standoff, the leading German sergeant gritted his teeth and said, "Ja."
"Sir, he said..." Colonel Deken was thinking about how to quote him verbatim.
Dugan waved his hand and said, "I understand that. It's good that we won. I'm at the age where I'm full of vigor. If someone called me a coward, I would also teach them a lesson."
"Huh?" Colonel Deken looked at Dugan with utter astonishment.
"Translate! Why are you looking at me?" Dugan looked at Colonel Deken with some displeasure.
"Das verstehe ich gut. Gut, dass ihr gesiegt habt. Ihr seid in dem Alter voller jugendlicher Hitze; würde man mich als Feigling schimpfen, würde ich dem anderen ordentlich eine Lektion erteilen."
Colonel Deken continued to translate truthfully.
"At first, only the three of us were surrounded by more than fifty drunk British soldiers. Later, our comrades in the camp heard that we were being attacked and came to our aid, gathering more than two hundred men in total. In the end, more than two hundred of us chased after more than five hundred British soldiers for an entire street."
The German sergeant felt that Dugan's attitude did not seem to indicate that he was going to be severely punished, so he became more and more enthusiastic as he spoke.
Colonel Deken translated this passage faithfully.
"Huh? 200 people beat 500 people?" Dugan found it a bit unbelievable.
The Germans have been fighting since the Germanic era, and once they wiped out an entire Roman legion.
But the British aren't pushovers either! But their fighting strength is just too...
Gris and Ken, who were standing nearby, also looked incredulous after hearing Colonel Decken's translation.
Five hundred British soldiers were chased and beaten by two hundred German soldiers. Such a lopsided reversal was truly unexpected.
Dugan, with a wry smile, repeated, "It's good that we won."
Then, Dugan stepped forward and patted the German sergeant on the shoulder.
Dugan's move instantly eased the tense atmosphere in the room.
But the next second, Dugan immediately put on a serious face and said, "But engaging in a group fight is indeed a first offense against military discipline, and punishment is inevitable."
The atmosphere immediately became tense again.
The German sergeant, who had been speaking with great enthusiasm, began to regret his overconfidence.
Some German soldiers gripped their rifles again, ready to mutini if their new commander dared to risk their own men's lives to curry favor with their British compatriots.
Just as everyone's hearts were in their throats again, Dugen said, "Starting today, you will be in confinement for a week. Everyone must write a profound self-criticism and reflect in detail on their mistakes."
The punishment was lighter than anyone expected.
A large-scale brawl broke out between the two armies, nearly escalating into a mutiny.
In the end, it only resulted in a week of confinement and a written self-criticism.
There was no demotion, no caning, and no handing over of the person to the British army for disposal.
I've seen people protect their own, but I've never seen anyone protect their own so blatantly!
The German soldiers' gazes toward Dugen suddenly became complicated.
"Sir, this is too lenient a punishment..." Deken felt that the punishment was too light. Not to mention that the news would reach the War Office, even the British troops outside the camp would not agree to it.
Duggan noticed the confusion among the German soldiers and continued, "I know you're all worried. Worried that I'm British and will side with the British, and that you'll be sacrificed to quell the unrest."
"But today I tell you clearly, any soldier under my command is my man."
"You don't know, but when I was in India last year, I established a rule prohibiting British soldiers from discriminating against Indian soldiers. It also prohibited behaviors including rape, robbery, and murder. But a few British soldiers violated military discipline, and I personally ordered them to be hanged in public."
"If any of my soldiers violates military law, I will have him executed. Similarly, if any of my soldiers are insulted, I will defend him!"
Colonel Deken translated this passage into German with great enthusiasm.
The entire training ground fell silent for a moment, but a few seconds later, the German soldiers immediately cheered.
"Es lebe! (Hooray!)"
Outside the camp gates, the commotion of the British troops on the mainland continued unabated.
"Report..." A soldier at the camp gate jogged up to report to Colonel Decker, "More British soldiers have arrived outside the camp, along with a colonel who claims to be their superior."
Major Harkert served as the translator this time, and his English was even more fluent than Colonel Decken's.
"Colonel?" Dugan glanced at the general's tassel on his shoulder and snorted disdainfully.
Suddenly, Dugan had a flash of inspiration and called out to Gris and Ken inside the carriage, "Stop watching the show, shouldn't you come out and show yourselves?"
When Griss and Ken saw the German soldiers cheering, they realized that Dugan must have the situation under control, so they got out of the carriage and went to Dugan's side.
Dugan introduced Gris and Ken to Colonel Deken and Major Harkert.
"This is Gris Abraham, Earl of Cranbrook, son of Edmund Abraham; this is Ken Rivers, Baron of Plymouth, son of Arthur Rivers," Dugan said. "They will both be officers in this legion afterward."
"Nice to meet you!" Deken and Harkert greeted Gris and Ken.
Gris and Ken returned the greeting briefly, but they were very dissatisfied with Deken and Harker's reaction.
"Brother, these two Germans don't seem to know our worth," Gris whispered to Dugan.
The Abraham family are hereditary members of the House of Lords, and Edmund Abraham himself was the Under Secretary of the Treasury in the Pitt cabinet and Chairman of the Standing Committee on Army Funding. The Abraham family also controls three pocket constituencies in Kent, each providing two seats in the House of Commons, for a total of six controlled seats.
The patriarch of the Rivers family, Arthur Rivers, was the Inspector General of Logistics for the Royal Navy, with naval ship construction, artillery procurement, canvas and rope supply, and privateering license approval all under his jurisdiction. It is said that nearly 30% of the Royal Navy's mid- to high-ranking captains were his old comrades-in-arms and subordinates.
“They’re Germans, they don’t understand the political situation in Britain,” Dugan replied in a low voice. “So this is your chance to show your power. If you can handle those people outside, then the men in this legion will be completely at our beck and call.”
"So that's how it is." Gris and Ken understood.
They were helpless against the Germans, but they had plenty of connections against the British.