"… I have a lot of respect for the Chinese people. They can maintain a certain standard at all times. When they abandoned the fortress and used the railway to retreat, the Arabs who blocked them destroyed a small section of the railway track. The Chinese braved a hail of bullets and pushed the train over the damaged section of the railway track. Finally, they broke out of the encirclement … "
"… The mobs rushed into the fortress left by the Chinese after they retreated and took everything they could take, including things they could pry off the walls and other places. In order to fight for these spoils of war, these people fought like wild dogs fighting for food … "
From the 1899 book "Memoirs of East Africa" by Max Thomason. Max Thomason laughed at the local people in his book.
The British officer, Max, laughed at the locals in his book. At that time, he and the British team had gone to chase after the Chinese troops, so they had not been able to make it to the castle. After the incident, Max found that there was actually nothing to rob in the fortress.
Beef, mutton, cowhide, sheepskin, honey, these may be useful to the local people, but to the British who came all the way to Khartoum, they were worthless. There were no valuables in the outer fortress. When the Chinese took away all the East African currency from the savings office, there was nothing in the fortress that the British wanted. In the face of such a situation, Max found it fun to laugh at the ugly behavior of the local Arabs.
Of course, the British officer was not completely mocking the fortress itself. His "Memoirs of East Africa" also recorded something else: "… There were many wounded in the battle. When the Chinese retreated, they took all the non-combatants and wounded with them. So when we rushed into the hospital with the Red Cross sign, we found it empty. The mobs were not interested in looting the place. Our purpose was to look for medicine and healing equipment. In the inpatient department of the hospital, we unexpectedly found an injured local child. From the wound on his body and the stitches, he had received surgery from a Chinese doctor not long ago. Looking at the complicated and very delicate wound, I really wanted to meet this excellent surgeon from East Africa. Even in Britain, it is rare to see such a doctor … "
In fact, Max did not mention one thing. When he saw the child, there were two adults next to him. Before the Englishman entered the hospital, Eldoan helped the village chief's uncle into the hospital. The old man was not injured, but he felt unwell after running around. Erdogan had a good impression of the hospital. Those who were sick could basically recover after being sent in. According to the tradition of China's hospitals, the walls of the fortress's hospital were also painted white. This made the village chief's uncle instinctively show a sense of awe.
Erdogan could understand how the old man felt. In a place like Africa that lacked white, white was considered a pure and holy color. The interior of the three-story building had snow-white walls, a stark contrast to the mottled colors on the outside. Even though the people who broke in first looted the place and the ground was littered with papers and other things abandoned by the looters, Erdogan still felt that this building gave him the effect of relaxing one's spirit.
There were no doctors or nurses in the hospital. After entering the hospital and seeing such a reality, Erdogan still felt a little disappointed. With a desperate attitude, Erdogan walked around every room in the hospital. Not only did he check the rooms, but he also looked under the beds. In case there was a Chinese doctor who did not have time to run away hiding inside, Erdogan decided to protect that person's safety no matter what. When it came to killing people, Erdogan did not dare to say that he was better than the Chinese. But when it came to treating people, Erdogan knew that he was definitely not as good as the Chinese doctors.
Then, Erdogan saw the child, Luo An, in the ward on the second floor. At first, Erdogan greatly suspected that he was seeing things. He walked up to take a closer look, and Erdogan was sure that the pale child was Luo An. Even though Luo An's little face was as pale as a dead person, he was still breathing. The other beds in the ward were robbed of all the bedding, pillows, sheets, and so on, but the robbers did not touch the bed Luo An was lying on. So Luo An, who was wearing a blue and white striped hospital gown, was safely placed on the bed by the doctor and even covered him with a thin quilt.
The uncle of the village head looked at Luo An and Erdogan in shock. He firmly believed that Erdogan killed Luo An, so at this time, he was particularly confused. Looking at Erdogan's surprised and even somewhat happy expression, the uncle of the village head suddenly asked, "Erdogan, who did it?"
"… It was Gosim." Erdogan finally could not help but defend himself. Even if he just told him who the murderer was, it made Erdogan feel a lot more relaxed. "We met Luo An, and he said he was going to find his teacher. He just wanted to take his teacher away. But the teacher was not here, so Luo An asked if we saw him. He couldn't help but tell me this. I wanted to take Luo An away from the city, but I did not expect Gosim to suddenly attack. I only blocked Gosim's last knife. "
The old man listened quietly. After a while, he asked, "Then why didn't you tell us after returning to the village?"
"Humph!" Erdogan sneered. "Did you want the village head and the Gosim family to deal with me after I told them?"
In Erdogan's view, if he said such a thing when he was about to attack the China people, the village head and the Gosim family would most likely join forces to deal with Erdogan who "sowed discord". Instead of that, it was better to bear the crime of murder himself. As long as they could successfully seize the castle, there would be plenty of opportunities to clarify the boundaries of the problem. And … Erdogan knew that he did not have the slightest good impression of the village head.
The old man did not comment on this answer. He just said, "Erdogan, go and call the village head. If the child is fine, let his father know. "
When Erdogan was about to leave, the old man added, "Don't come back yet. First, ask how many people are ready to obey Lord Mahdi's order and continue to besiege Khartoum."
At this time, almost all the strongholds of the China people in northern Sudan were facing a siege. Some strongholds were captured, but more strongholds were held. The radio beeping sound of the China strongholds was quickly converted into electromagnetic waves that humans could not hear. After receiving the telegram, Khartoum made a judgment.
And near Khartoum, Lord Mahdi was waiting quietly in his tent. The European sitting next to him could not help but speak, "Mr. Mahdi, the troops attacking Khartoum will eventually gather together. Are you going to summon them now, or later? "
Mahdi replied calmly, "Mr. Gordon, don't think of us with the British point of view. The true believers will rush to Khartoum to participate in the war after receiving the news."
The British man heard this and quickly waved his hand. "No, no, Lord Mahdi, I absolutely did not question the loyalty of the believers."
The British man was called Charlie Gordon. George. Gordon was the commander-in-chief sent by England to assist Mahdi in the battle against China. He had been by Mahdi's side for the past few days and saw Mahdi display his outstanding charisma, making the doubtful believers accept the idea of 'Allah gives everything to the believers'.
Of course, the blessings of God were never one-sided. The believers also had to seize the "wealth bestowed by God" to complete the "trials given by God". Gordon could understand very well that this kind of trick was not created by Muhammad himself. The three Semitic cults all practiced the same thing. Gordon himself was a firm believer in God. He understood this very well and accepted it very well. Gordon believed that if a religion did not call on its believers to add glory to God, there would be no need or value for such a religion to exist.
The reason why Gordon spoke now was entirely due to his sense of responsibility towards his position and duty. "Lord Mahdi, it's not convenient for our artillery to move, so we need you to determine where to attack first. Khartoum? North Khartoum? Or Entuman? Please give us a clearer direction now. "
The Blue Nile and White Nile converged at Khartoum and flowed north. Its terrain was very similar to that of Wuhan. It was also composed of three towns: Khartoum, North Khartoum, and Entuman. The three towns were now transported by ship. The artillery that the British had painstakingly transported from Egypt did not have much mobility. Gordon did not believe that the three towns of Khartoum could be taken by infantry.
"The will of Allah determines the actions of the believers. Wherever the believers go, let the artillery follow. We have to believe in Allah! "Mahdi used his usual sacred tone to explain his views.
Gordon did not refute. Perhaps it was because he had been working with Mahdi for a while, he realized that Mahdi's battle command had a unique characteristic. He was very good at using the ability of the masses. The Mahdi army and the British army were both outsiders. In the past decade or so, China had been operating in Sudan. It was not the Mahdi army and the British army's turn to behave atrociously here. However, the Sudanese people were more familiar with Sudan than the Chinese people. Therefore, the Mahdi army did not take the initiative to choose. Instead, they instigated the masses and asked the masses for advice on where the Chinese defense was weak and where they could attack. Without the Sudanese masses, the Mahdi army and the British army would not have the chance to launch an attack on Khartoum.
Giving up on this topic, Gordon asked the uneasy topic in his heart, "Mr. Mahdi, what do you think is the reason for the believers to participate in the attack on Khartoum? They have already participated in the siege of the Chinese fortress in various places. Isn't it considered that they have done their duty? "
Lord Mahdi looked like he did not want to answer such a stupid question at first, but he still replied energetically, "Khartoum is the richest place in Sudan. This is the capital of Sudan that Allah has given to the believers. They will come, they will definitely come! "
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