The Battle of the Siliguri Corridor, which spawned the term 'human wave tactics', shocked the entire United Kingdom. In late October 1926, many articles discussing 'Chinese human wave tactics' appeared in British newspapers. The previous bloody battles reported by British newspapers, where the British Army paid a huge price, might not have been fabricated, but those were attacks launched by only one or two battalions.

In the Battle of the Siliguri Corridor, there were genuinely 150,000 troops on the British defense line. In one day, the British army was routed, and the defense line was seized by the Chinese army. Because the defeated British troops lost their organization under the fierce pursuit of the Chinese army, and the headquarters was also captured, the news sent back from the front line was exceptionally chaotic and terrifying.

The Chinese Air Force blotting out the sky and sun, thousands of heavy guns, and more than 1 million army troops committed at once on a 30-kilometer-wide front. These pieces of news awakened the tragic memories of the Great War in Europe among the British public. If anyone still doubted the authenticity of this news, the British would not doubt the data on China's mainland population versus Britain's mainland population. China now had 480 million people, while the British mainland population was 45 million, less than one-tenth of China's.

Experts in British military publications wrote that if China and Britain possessed weapons of the same level, with China's population of 480 million, China could consistently maintain a combat force of between 12 million and 18 million on the front line. The military publication experts only mentioned China's data and did not mention Britain's data. Moreover, there was no need for experts to mention British data. Even if one didn't understand the concept of 'maintaining troop strength on the front line', anyone who graduated from elementary school and had the concepts of men, women, old, and young in their brains could probably calculate roughly how many people Britain, with a total population of 45 million, could send to the front line at most.

Even the most stubborn conservatives in Britain were unwilling to make any more remarks about expanding the war at this time. If the war was not expanded, Britain had only one choice left at this moment.

On November 1, *The Times* 'reprinted' an article.

'The words "imperil the world's future" will doubtless provoke a laugh—well, let them laugh! But let them please themselves and laugh on...

The episode of today [The Boxer Rebellion] is not meaningless; it is the prelude to a century of change and the keynote of the future history of the Far East: The China of the year 2000 will be very different from the China of 1900!

National sentiment is a constant factor which must be recognized, and not eliminated, when dealing with national facts, and the one sentiment that is universal in China is a pride in Chinese institutions and a contempt for everything foreign...

...The Chinese are a people of high intelligence and culture, sober, industrious, and with a civilization of their own; they are Chinese in thought, language, and feeling...

...After thousands of years of seclusion and self-sufficiency, they have been forced by circumstances and the superior strength of the outsider into treaty relations with the rest of the world; but they regard that as a humiliation, they know they get no benefit from such relations, and they are looking forward to the day when they will be strong enough to revert to their old life and do away with foreign intercourse, interference, and intrusion. To use a metaphor, the sleeper has been asleep for a long time, but he has now awakened, and every member of his body is tingling with Chinese feeling. "China for the Chinese and out with the foreigners!"

...Fifty years hence there will be millions of Boxers in serried ranks and war's panoply at the call of the Chinese Government: there is not the slightest doubt of that! And if the Chinese Government continues to exist, it will encourage—and it will be quite right to encourage—uphold, and develop this national movement; this movement bodes no good for the rest of the world, but China has the right to do so, and China will carry out her national program!

...China will have a long period of struggle, will do many wrong things, and suffer many great disasters, but sooner or later, this country will present itself to the world in a healthy, strong, and experienced posture, and possess the military strength that the world has forced upon it. Moreover, since it must have it, it will certainly have the best—the best weapons, the most appropriate training, the highest education. The number of soldiers will depend on what the population allows and the circumstances require, and the quality of soldiers will improve from generation to generation.

Today, to punish China for the Boxers' actions last year, the West has included weapons among the items prohibited from export to China. regarding this point, a noble scion once said to me: "Very well, this will force us to become producers, and please mark my words, one day we will become exporters; not only that, but we will sell cheaper than the manufacturers of today."

—Robert Hart, 1901.'

Robert Hart was a Briton who served in the Manchu Qing government for a long time as the Inspector General of Customs; he had already passed away by this time. After reading the concise biographical introduction of Hart in *The Times*, the British people were conquered by the foresight of Hart's posthumous work.

Twenty-five years after Hart wrote this article, the British saw what Hart described: twenty million or more armed, well-trained, disciplined Boxers inspired by patriotic (even if misunderstood) motives finally appeared in reality, and as Hart said, 'imperiled the world's future'. So, how should Britain deal with such a situation?

Doubts and criticisms of the Baldwin government weakened a lot. Facing a huge crisis, the British public instinctively began to expect the British government to perform well.

As top-level power holders, the Baldwin government was happy to see the period of political opportunity brought by such terrifying imagination. If they could effectively seize this opportunity, the Baldwin government, which was originally passively meeting this challenge, even had a great chance to redeem its reputation.

Lampson, who was in the Capital (Beijing/Xinjing), made a special trip to seek a meeting with Morrison carrying orders from the Cabinet. Morrison received Lampson in his two-story duplex townhouse. This was a small building district; the buildings were all four-story row houses. The lower two floors had their own small garden, and the upper two floors had their own rooftop terrace. One entrance served four households. Minister of Commerce Morrison lived upstairs; downstairs was the Minister of Education, and his neighbor across the wall was Minister of Industry Zhuang Jiaxiong.

Seeing Morrison wearing a Chinese civil servant uniform, Lampson in a suit said as soon as he opened his mouth: "Sir Morrison, I pay my respects to you on behalf of the Foreign Office."

This sentence already expressed Lampson's formal official identity. Morrison was not surprised to hear this. At this stage of the matter, if Britain still wanted to express a tough attitude, Morrison would actually be disappointed.

In the glass greenhouse on the rooftop terrace, Morrison and Lampson sat by a table. The greenhouse was warm and humid, and the starry sky could be seen through the open skylight. As long as their voices were not loud, there was no need to worry about outsiders hearing. Conversing in such an environment made Lampson feel very relaxed.

"Sir Morrison, have you seen the recent evaluation of Mr. Hart in *The Times*?"

Hearing the name of his old employer, Morrison smiled. From a columnist for *The Times* back then to a British political broker in China, then becoming a high-ranking official in the He Rui government, as well as becoming a British noble. Now Lampson addressing him as 'Sir' was reminding Morrison not to forget that he was a subject of the British Empire, a glorious noble of the British Empire.

"Mr. Lampson, I have read that article. I didn't expect *The Times* to mention me in the same breath as Lord Hart; it truly honors me."

Lampson had read that article carefully. *The Times* believed that Morrison's influence within the He Rui government was above Hart's, not just 'mentioning them in the same breath'. Of course, *The Times* also believed that Morrison's loyalty to the British Empire was inferior to Hart's. However, for European nobles, loyalty to the motherland was not their highest consideration. Being loyal to the family and loyal to the object of allegiance was the morality of nobles at this time.

In the Great War in Europe, among the opposing armies, there was no lack of cousins or even brothers fighting each other. This did not make these noble officers choose to betray the objects of their allegiance. The former Morrison did not have this qualification; the current Sir Morrison acted according to noble morality and would no longer be despised by the British upper class.

"Sir, peace can only be maintained by expressing sincerity," Lampson advised.

Morrison couldn't help nodding. He had seen the Manchu Qing government and the Beiyang government. Compared to the He Rui government, the Manchu Qing government and the Beiyang government were inferior to a heinous degree. Only such governments allowed Morrison to understand where the Chinese confidence of being the 'Celestial Empire' actually came from. Even though the He Rui government was so strong, the cultural aspect of the officials within the government was still insufficient.

Not providing room for gaming, but only preaching 'those who submit prosper, those who resist perish'—this was not a government, but an Imperial Court. Many officials in the He Rui government still viewed political power with the mindset of the Celestial Court. In the eyes of these officials, making compromises for peace was no different from selling out the country.

There was no lack of such officials in the Manchu Qing court. They only recognized violence, yet did not know where their power came from. In the diplomatic field, they focused on face and pursued arrogance that overrode the other party. Precisely because they viewed the world this way, when suffering setbacks, this bunch of people who were usually stern in voice and countenance would often bow and scrape to violence without any dignity.

However, Morrison did not agree with Lampson because of this. He asked: "Does the British government believe that China retreating back to the border line is an expression of sincerity?"

Lampson knew very well that Britain had already decided to establish peaceful diplomatic relations with China and accept China's diplomatic principles. For the British government, making such a decision was already very difficult. Establishing diplomatic relations with China according to China's diplomatic principles meant that Britain had to fully abandon interests obtained through war. Lampson himself had studied Chinese culture hard, and he had a strong feeling for a piece of ancient Chinese prose: 'Arriving at the First Emperor, he exerted the surplus valor of six generations, brandished his long whip to drive the universe, swallowed the Two Zhous and destroyed the feudal lords, stepped into the supreme position to rule the six directions, whipped the world with punishment, his might shaking the four seas.' This praise seemed tailor-made for the Victorian era.

From 1840 to 1926, the Baldwin government accepting China's diplomatic principles was tantamount to the interests obtained in China by the previous 20 British governments turning into flowing water in a single morning. If the Baldwin government had to accept such conditions, the previous border between China and Britain must be restored. This was Britain's negotiation bottom line at the beginning of the Sino-British peace talks.

Lampson knew very well that the current British government could no longer make such a demand. According to European tradition, negotiations are based on the areas actually controlled by both sides during the negotiations. After the Battle of Siliguri, Britain would likely lose more.

"Return Lower Burma to Britain. The status of the Assam region and Upper Burma will be decided by negotiation between China and Britain." Lampson stated the content Britain was striving for now.

Morrison did not answer, but just asked: "Is this Mr. Lampson's view?"

Lampson shook his head. He explained seriously, "The Foreign Office would like Sir Morrison to convey this condition to Chairman He Rui."