“…… I have a lot of respect for the Chinese soldiers, they can maintain a fair standard at all times. When they abandoned the fortress and retreated by railroad, the Arabs who blocked it destroyed a small section of railroad tracks. And those Chinese braved the hail of bullets and propelled the locomotive over the damaged section of railroad tracks, and finally broke out of the siege......"

“…… The mob stormed the fortress left behind by the Chinese and took everything they could take, including what they could pry off the wall or something. In order to compete for these trophies, there was a wild dog-like brawl between the men......"

Excerpt from the Memoirs of East Africa, published in 1899, by Max 61 Tomerson.

Max, a British officer, laughs at the locals in his book, and when he and the British army went after the Chinese troops, they were unable to catch up with the looting of the castle. And afterwards, Officer Max found out that there was actually nothing to rob in the castle.

Beef, lamb, hides, sheepskins, honey, which may be useful to the locals, are of no value to the British, who have travelled all the way to Khartoum. There were no belongings in the outer castle, and when the Chinese took away all the East African administrative currency in the savings house, there was nothing in the castle that the British could look at. Faced with such a situation, it became the pleasure of the British officer Max to laugh at the ugliness of the native Arabs.

Of course, the British officer's mockery of the fort itself was not entirely ridiculed, and there is another incident recorded in his "Memoirs of East Africa"...... There were many wounded in the battle, and when the Chinese withdrew, they took all the non-combatants and wounded from their side. So when we rushed into the hospital with the Red Cross sign, it was empty. The thugs had no interest in ransacking the place. Our goal was to find medicine and healing equipment, and in the hospital's inpatient unit, we accidentally found an injured local child. Judging from the incisions on his body and the content of the stitches, he was operated on by a Chinese doctor not long ago. Looking at the intricate and delicate incision, I was eager to meet this excellent surgeon in East Africa, which is rarely seen in England......"

In fact, the British officer Max did not mention one thing, when he saw the child, there were two adults next to him. Before the British entered the hospital, Erdogan helped the village chief's uncle to enter the hospital as well. The old man was not injured, but he felt unwell after such a rush. Erdogan was very impressed with the hospital, and those who were sick were basically able to recover after being brought in. According to the tradition of Chinese hospitals, the hospital in the fort was also painted with white walls, which made the village chief's uncle instinctively show some awe.

Erdogan can understand the old man's feelings, in such a place in Africa where there is a lack of white, white is considered a pure and sacred color. The interior of the three-story building is uniformly snow-white walls, and the gap between the mottled colors on the outside is too great. Even though the first intruders looted the place, littered with paper and other discarded objects by the looters, Erdogan still felt that the building had a rejuvenating effect on his spirits.

There were no doctors or nurses in the hospital, and Erdogan was still a little disappointed when he saw such a reality after entering the hospital. With a desperate attitude of trying it out, Erdogan walked around every room in the hospital. Not only did I have to look at the house, but I also looked under the bed. In case a Chinese doctor who didn't have time to run away was hiding inside, Erdogan decided to keep the man safe no matter what. When it comes to the ability to kill, Erdogan does not dare to say that he is better than the Chinese. But when it comes to the ability to treat diseases, Erdogan knows that he is definitely not as good as Chinese doctors.

Then, Erdogan saw the little boy Luo Ann in the hospital room on the second floor. At first, Erdogan wondered if he was dazzled, and when he stepped forward to carefully identify it, Erdogan was sure that the pale child was Roan himself. Even though Luo An's little face was as white as a dead man, he still breathed. The bedding, pillows, sheets, and other beds in the ward were all snatched clean, but the looters did not touch Luo An's bed. So Luo An, who was wearing a blue and white vertical strip hospital gown, was put on the bed very safely by the doctor, and even covered him with a thin quilt.

The village chief's uncle looked at Luo An and Erdogan in shock, and he firmly believed that Erdogan had killed Luo An, and he was extremely confused at this time. Seeing Erdogan's surprised and even somewhat joyful appearance, the village chief's uncle suddenly asked: "Erdogan, who did it?" ”

“…… It's Gosim. Erdogan finally couldn't help but defend himself, even if it was just to tell who the murderer was, which made Erdogan feel much more relaxed, "We ran into Roan, and he said he was going to find his teacher. Just take his teacher away. But the teacher wasn't here, so Luo An asked if we had seen the teacher. He didn't hold back and told me this, I wanted to take Roan out of the city, but I didn't expect Gosim to do it suddenly. I only blocked Gosim's last shot. ”

The old man listened quietly, and after a while he asked, "Then why didn't you say anything about it when you got back to the village?" ”

"Humph!" Erdogan sneered, "After I said that, let the village chief and the people of the Gosim family deal with me together?" ”

In Erdogan's view, if he said such a thing when he was about to take action against the Chinese at that time, the village chief, who is a large population in the village, and the Gosim family are most likely to join forces to deal with Erdogan, who "sow discord". Rather than that, it is better to bear the charge of murder yourself. As long as you can successfully capture the castle, there are more chances to clear the boundaries of the problem. And ......, Erdogan knows that he doesn't have the slightest affection for the village chief.

The old man did not comment on this answer, he just said: "Erdogan, you go and call the village chief." If the child is fine, he should 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 orders and continue to besiege Khartoum." ”

At this time, almost all Chinese strongholds in northern Sudan were under siege, some were captured, and many more were held. The sound of radio "Didi Didi" in China's stronghold was quickly converted into electromagnetic waves that could not be heard by humans and rushed into the distance, and Khartoum made a judgment after receiving the telegram.

Near Khartoum, Lord Mahdi was waiting quietly in his tent. The European sitting next to him couldn't help but speak, "Mr. Mahdi, the troops attacking Khartoum will eventually come together. Are you going to call them now, or later? ”

Mahdi replied, "Mr. Gordon, don't think of us in British terms, for the true believers will rush to Khartoum to join the war when they receive the news. ”

Hearing this, the Englishman hurriedly waved his hand, "No, no, Lord Mahdi, I have absolutely no doubts about the loyalty of the faithful. ”

The Englishman, Charlie 61 George 61 Gordon, was the commander-in-chief of the forces sent by the British to assist Mahdi in his fight against China. He has been with Mahdi these days, and he has seen him exert his excellent charisma, which has made the doubtful Green Christians accept the idea of "Allah gives everything to believers" one by one.

Of course, God's gifts are never one-sided, and believers also complete the "trial given by Allah" by taking the "riches of Allah." Gordon himself understood that this trick was not the work of Muhammad himself, but of the three Semitic cults. Gordon himself believed in God, and he understood and accepted it very well. Gordon believed that religion would have no need or value if it did not call on believers to glorify God.

The reason why he is speaking now is purely out of his sense of responsibility for his position and duty, "Lord Mahdi, our artillery is not easy to move, so we need you to determine where to attack first. Is it Khartoum? Is it North Khartoum? Or Omdurman? Please give us a clear direction now. ”

The Blue Nile and the White Nile flow north at the confluence of Khartoum, and its topography is similar to that of Wuhan, and it is also composed of three towns: Khartoum, North Khartoum and Omdurman. The three towns were now transported by ship, and the cannons that the British had brought to Egypt with great difficulty were not very mobile. Gordon did not believe that the three towns of Khartoum could be taken by infantry alone.

"The will of Allah determines the actions of the believers, and wherever the believers go, let the cannons follow. We have to believe in Allah! Mahdi expounded his views in a plain tone full of sacredness.

Gordon did not refute, perhaps because he had been acting with Mahdi for such a while, and he found that Mahdi's operational command had a characteristic, that is, he was very good at using the abilities of the masses. The Mahdi Army and the British Army are both outsiders, and in the past ten years, China has been operating in Sudan, and it is not the turn of the Mahdi Army and the British Army to spread the wilderness here. However, it is the local people of Sudan who are more familiar with Sudan than the Chinese. Therefore, the Mahdi army itself did not take the initiative to choose, but instigated the masses, and then asked the masses from the masses where the defensive positions of the Chinese were weak and where they could be attacked. Without the Sudanese masses, the Mahdi and the British coalition would not have had a chance to launch an offensive on Khartoum.

Abandoning the subject, Gordon asked the uneasy question, "Mr. Mahdi, what do you think is the reason for the participation of the faithful in the attack on Khartoum?" They have already participated in the siege of Chinese fortresses in various places, is it not considered to have fulfilled their obligations? ”

Master Mahdi did not seem to want to answer such a stupid question at first, but he still spoke energetically, "Khartoum is the richest place in the whole of Sudan, and this is the capital of Sudan given by Allah to the believers. They will come, they will definitely come! ”

Hearing such an answer, Gordon couldn't help but nod again. He found himself in real resonance with Mahdi, and Gordon believed Mahdi very much. When personal interests and religious interests converge, it is incomprehensible that no one comes.