A strike was called soon after the opening by the 23 interpreters, who as members of the scholar class suffered severely from the inflation. Colonel Tseng demonstrated to an American friend how these matters were settled in China. He issued ammunition to a platoon of school troops whom he assigned to guard the interpreters’ barracks with orders to shoot anyone leaving, even for meals. When the interpreters sent word the next day that they were willing to negotiate, he had them brought to his office under armed guard, placing a loaded pistol and a prepared statement on his desk, and ordered
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