Gordon's thoughts slowly wandered, and he gradually returned to the time when he first came to the Qing Dynasty!
Gordon was born into a British military aristocracy. His father was a general in the Royal Artillery. When he was young, Gordon was raised according to typical military standards.
After graduating from the Royal Military Academy, he was assigned to the Royal Engineers as a second lieutenant. Gordon's specialty was actually the construction of military fortresses.
During the Crimean War, he was only a lieutenant. Later, due to his military exploits and continued hard work after the war, he was promoted to captain in 1859!
At this time, Gordon's road to joining the army encountered an important hurdle, which was how to achieve the position of school officer!
In Britain during the colonial era, there was an unspoken rule in the army that lieutenants were at the head of the army, while field officers were at the end of the generals!
In other words, although there is only one step between captain and major, this step is very difficult to reach the sky!
If you are promoted to the rank of a colonel or even a major, you will become a reserve talent for the empire's future generals. You will be a seed of potential!
But as an ordinary soldier, even if you spend your whole life fighting, your ceiling will only be a captain!
The leader of the soldiers is the captain, and the tail of the general is the major!
Although Gordon's father is a general, the British Army itself has its own special historical reasons. The British Army has never been named Royal from beginning to end!
Within the British military system, the navy is first-class, and the army is a stepmother... There is nothing you can do about it. Who allowed the army to kill the king in history?
Moreover, Gordon's father is also a general in the Army Artillery Corps. This position is more about honor than power!
Therefore, at the critical moment when Gordon was attacking the captaincy, his father could not provide much help. If there were no historical adventures, Gordon might sink into the position of captain and never be promoted!
Another possibility is that he will eventually be promoted to major, but that will have to wait until he is forty or fifty years old. When he is older, he will no longer be promoted to general.
His superiors took pity on him and rewarded him with the position of school officer based on his seniority, so that he could get a high salary for his retirement in the future!
There are only two paths, neither of which are good choices!
Gordon struggled to find a breakthrough, but at this time an important historical opportunity appeared!
Sure enough, what was a disaster for other countries was a carnival for our own country. In 1860, relations between Britain and the Qing Dynasty deteriorated extremely, and the Second Opium War broke out!
The expedition to China was an opportunity that Gordon had to seize. It was his only chance to make a comeback. At this time, Gordon was just 27 years old and was at his most energetic.
If he could reach the glass ceiling through his expedition achievements at this age and become a major at the age of thirty!
Oh, God! Then his future is limitless. He will become a young and strong officer worthy of training in the empire!
A thirty-year-old major, how bright do you think his future will be?
It's a pity that opportunities are never given to everyone equally. No matter how much Gordon pleaded, the expeditionary force did not choose him in the end!
At that time, Gordon was working as an ordinary teacher at an engineering college in the UK!
Gordon never thought that his invitation to fight would come to nothing. After thinking for a long time, Gordon decided to go to China voluntarily. Without orders from the Imperial Military Department, he followed the transport ship to China as an individual.
This is a huge adventure, leaving the military school and going to war as an individual? Will the British mainland punish him? Will the commander of the expeditionary force accept him when he arrives in China? These were all questions, and they all required Gordon to risk his life!
Why is Gordon working so hard? In fact, it also has something to do with the system of the British army at that time. Captains can be changed based on merit, but the position of colonel is a carrot and a pit!
Unless the British Empire forms an additional army, the number of school officers will be fixed!
If you, Gordon, want to be a major, you have to wait until the major above him resigns for various reasons. Whether he retires or dies in battle, at least one hole must be vacated before you can be awarded the medal!
It can be seen that the competition among school officers is ten thousand times more cruel than that among lieutenant officers!
There is only one way to plunge into the torrent of war. If there is a war, there will be military exploits, there will be people who die in battle, and there will be all kinds of opportunities!
Gordon volunteered to go to the Qing Dynasty, but he did not catch up with the Battle of Dagukou and the Battle of Baliqiao!
But he was lucky. With the coordination of family relations and the appreciation of the expedition commander, the army accepted him instead of kicking him away. His gamble was finally half successful!
As soon as Gordon arrived in Beijing, he encountered the fire in the Old Summer Palace. In his diary, he recorded with great regret that "after looting, they set fire... These civilized people are using the most barbaric way to destroy these precious properties." …”
Did Gordon participate in the looting of the Old Summer Palace? No one knows this, and he himself categorically denies it. He even swore an oath to Emperor Tongzhi!
Gordon's reasons were quite good. He was one of the latecomers. When he entered the army, the Old Summer Palace was already in flames. Even if he wanted to grab it, he had no chance!
It was precisely because of his frankness that the young emperor Zai Chun liked him a little more, which is why the relationship became so close when they were in England!
But is Gordon really a moral gentleman?
fart! Gordon's family is indeed a military aristocratic family. They are gentlemen and very civilized, but don't forget that almost all British aristocrats in that era were colonialists!
What is a gentleman who believes in colonialism? It's not a crime to steal someone's things. They don't have the slightest pressure of moral condemnation. They are gentlemen to their own people internally, but look like robbers to the colonies outside!
When Gordon was in the expeditionary force, he traveled between Tianjin and Beijing for a long time, delivering documents to the garrisons and officials in both places, and coordinating and handling matters within his power.
When he was in Tianjin, the British minister proposed to the Governor of Zhili that he wanted to lease a piece of land beside the Hai River to build the concession. As a result, the Governor of Zhili, Heng Fu, had not yet expressed his opinion, but Gordon had already taken action!
Gordon was originally from the Engineering College, and surveying was his strong point. He led a group of soldiers from Tianjin's Purple Bamboo Forest to the south along the Haihe River to circle a small area of 500 acres!
These five hundred acres of land eventually became the British and French embassy area, and Gordon built five major roads on this land!
This is the famous Five Avenues of Tianjin in later generations!
What is now Hubei Road in Tianjin was named Gordon Road a long time ago. The Ministry of Industry Building in the British Concession was also named Gordon Building, and its remains are still there today!
This shows that Gordon is a colonialist through and through! How could such a person have clean hands and feet when he arrived in the colony?
And this Bai Qiwen's pistol opened a dark memory in Gordon's heart!
Note: Brothers and sisters, check if there are any recommendation votes in your account? If you have any, please vote for Hidden Dragon!
