Europe's gaze on China has always been very complicated. As far back as the ancient Roman period, Chinese silk had fascinated nobles, not to mention jade-like porcelain. At that time, China was completely a country of gold and an ideal. country.
Marco Polo's travel notes, as well as the legendary stories passed down from the mouths of the Arabs, coupled with various notes brought back by the Christian forerunners, a dreamy China appeared in front of Europeans.
This is a country that even kings yearn for. The royal families of various countries have collected large quantities of precious porcelain and silk from the East. France even built a palace imitating the Chinese style, which shows the popularity of the Chinese trend.
Even according to the research of many scholars, the reason why Europe started the Age of Discovery was because the Arabs cut off the trade routes between Europe and China. As a last resort, they chose to take the ocean to open up a new golden trade route to China.
At that time, the word "China" represented the Europeans' yearning for wealth and civilization, and was the source of their courage to rush to the ocean.
Time is a very fair judge. While Europe strives to change and improve itself in pursuit of its ideals, China has chosen to rest on its laurels. Year after year, the footsteps of Europeans began to slowly expand on the earth, and the strength of various countries began to accumulate little by little, while the oldest country in the east continued to repeat its past life day after day.
The warm wind of the Renaissance blew away the religious haze in the hearts of Europeans, and the brilliance of reason began to shine in Europe. This was followed by the vigorous development of natural science, and then promoted the pace of European colonization of the world.
When European civilization completely stood up from the darkness of the Middle Ages, and when the British fleet was able to start bombarding Guangzhou, Europeans finally understood that there is no El Dorado in the world, and only their own ideals are the hope. .
From that moment on, China's image collapsed, and the once-dream suddenly became everyone's joke. The long pig tail became the protagonist of all caricatures, showing that it was wretched, timid, and incompetent.
The collapse of the image did not happen in a day or two. The huge China could fully withstand one or two defeats. After all, it was just a few artillery battles at the coastal ports. The huge inland of the Qing Empire was not open to these foreigners. The face of the Chinese people has not been completely torn apart.
But when the British and French forces entered the interior from Dagukou and captured the city of Beijing, and when a fire in the Old Summer Palace stunned all European scholars, the whole of Europe finally understood that that ancient country was on its deathbed, and they had no idea. Not worthy of respect.
Six years have passed since the fire in the Old Summer Palace. During these six years, the Qing Empire only knew about civil war, but had no plan for revenge. Such a cowardly country does not deserve the respect of Europeans. Gradually, even the weak countries in Central Europe have They began to look down upon the Chinese, including the rising Prussian nation.
Leo, who was born in a declining Junker landowner family, received a good education. During the years when he worked at The Times, he was exposed to a lot of news from the East, and he had a more thorough understanding of the decline of that legendary country. To be honest, he also looked down on these Chinese people in his heart.
"If it weren't for the monthly salary of thirty silver coins, I wouldn't work for these Chinese people, but there is no other way. I haven't paid the rent for next month yet..."
These were Leo's exact words. He complained to his friends in the bar more than once. Of course, this did not involve the issue of leaking secrets. Now all the people in Hamburg know that Envoy Jonas spent money to get a group of mercenaries from China. But why hire weak Chinese? The people are confused whether they are alive or dead.
Leo couldn't understand either, but he couldn't fight against the silver coins. Since he took over this topic, he had to live with the Chinese in the military camp every day, watching them eat, train, and entertain until they went to bed. Leo used his pen and camera to record every detail of these Chinese people.
In the thick diary, the words Leo left not only recorded the life of the new army, but also recorded his own mental journey.
"Strange Orientals, their eating habits are really hard to understand. One-tenth of the three hundred people are also cooks? Oh, no, no, no, they don't have the position of cooks. They are just cooks. Just holding multiple jobs, wouldn't this distract their energy? Only God can know this question..."
"This is the first time I have eaten steamed food. These Chinese people have made a very weird pot. They call this pot a steam pot. All kinds of pasta are actually processed using the heat of steam. I can't help it. I don’t admit that these Chinese people are really smart, but this is just like the rumors. Chinese people are all greedy for pleasure..."
"Oh, I have to say that the food they steamed called 'baozi' was really delicious. This gave them a bit of credit in my heart. But I still think these people should cook for the Prussian army. , this is the most suitable position for them..."
"As my topic deepens, and as time goes by, these Chinese people make me more and more curious. They always fold their blankets into a standard square shape every morning. From a distance, they look like some kind of standardized The parts and the soft blanket actually reveal a metallic quality. I really can’t understand why they did this..."
"In addition, I can't understand these soldiers' obsession with queues. The queues of our Prussian soldiers are already the most strict in Europe, but from my observation, these Chinese are even worse. In their daily training , there are the most queues, and they even have strict standards for walking in the camp..."
"Two people must form a row, and three people must form a line. What is the role of this almost harsh code of conduct? Is it true, as the leading officer said, that this code of conduct is a shortcut for farmers to quickly evolve into soldiers? Maybe, maybe discipline is developed bit by bit from square blankets and harsh queue training..."
Leo's record is getting thicker and thicker. Maybe he himself doesn't know that after a few days after calling him "Oriental" and "Chinese" incessantly at the beginning, the frequency of the word "soldier" in his words has actually increased. Getting higher and higher.
Sure enough, it takes time to change a person's inherent views. Leo's records clearly revealed that his views were wavering until something happened that completely changed his views on these Chinese people.
"I never thought that I would be so shocked by the evening of that day. These young soldiers from the East completely made me understand what a soldier is and what their bounden duty is. And all of this happened after the dinner that night. of……"
That morning, Jonas, as the first translator of the new army, accompanied the officers of the Army Staff to train the Chinese in Army tactical language, including simple tactical gestures.
There is nothing to say about the quality of the New Army soldiers. Now even the European armies cannot guarantee 100% literacy rate. However, these 300 New Army soldiers are all well-educated, and their neat notes make even senior army officials nod.
In the afternoon, there was shooting training in the woods, and a friendly fighting match with representatives of the Prussian Army. What surprised Leo was that the marksmanship and unarmed combat skills of these Chinese were incredibly powerful.
Especially in unarmed fighting, he actually won nine games in a row. In the end, in order to give the Prussians some face, Xiao Hexin deliberately let his men let go, and this allowed the Germans to regain the game.
This kind of competition is a bit bullying. Xiao Letian's new army is originally a carefully selected officer corps. More than 70% of the soldiers in it have a green forest background, and they are naturally talented in hand-to-hand combat.
In addition, Xiao Letian had previously secretly ordered Xiang Shaolong and the top masters of Xingtang to specially design a set of fierce unarmed fighting skills, abandoning all the showy things in Chinese Kung Fu and retaining those unique skills that can kill with one blow. As the standard boxing method of the new army.
This improved Chinese fighting technique has been ahead of its time since its birth. It is not easy to bully today's Prussian soldiers.
In the evening, the day's training officially ended. The new troops were in a good mood and actually used their own money to ask the quartermaster to buy large barrels of beer and wine from Hamburg, as well as German pork knuckles, sausages and other dishes. Tonight, the new troops were going to have a dinner party.
Naturally, Leo and Jonas were also invited. The lively dinner lasted until nine o'clock. At this time, Leo and Jonas were already a little tipsy. In the end, they simply did not go home and went to find them alone. He bought a camp bed and lived with the new army.
"I didn't expect it. I really didn't expect that these Chinese people would be so perverted. They actually invented this perverted training method of night training. There are people who blow brass whistles in the early morning..." Whenever Leo thinks about it, The scene that day still left me feeling aggrieved.
Beep, beep, beep... the sharp whistle broke the tranquility of the midnight. Xiao Hexin, Sima Yun and Luo Huo rushed in, fully armed and blowing whistles.
"Emergency gathering...late night training...all got up..."
"Three minutes, three minutes, three minutes... only three minutes, everyone gets dressed and packs their backpacks..."
"Don't forget your weapons, they are your lives. Do you want to fight with bare hands..." "Everything is for actual combat. The enemy on the battlefield will not care whether you are sleeping or not. Soldiers who cannot fight at night are not good. Soldiers..."
There was a sharp whistle, the sound of big leather boots hitting the ground, and the sound of wooden beds being hit, making the whole camp noisy.
Leo was almost given a heart attack from fright. As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw such a chaotic battlefield scene. He was so angry that he said fiercely, "No wonder other military camps have to maintain isolation zones with these Chinese people. Just blame this group of people." Crazy energy, no one wants to sleep..."
Complaints are complaints, after all, Leo received a high salary and his professionalism was very good. Without saying a word, he put on his clothes and ran out with the camera on his shoulder.
"The first company has assembled...the second company has assembled...please give instructions!"
"Direct north, enter the woods for night penetration training, set off immediately..."
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