In October, Baton Rouge, the capital of Louisiana on the Mississian River, is at its most scenic in the summer. On the campus of Louisiana State University in the south of the city, President Middleton is smiling in his garden and chatting with John, smiling through pictures www.biquge.info of his godson, Eric Jr.

Don't look at academically, Louisiana State University is only about 100 in the overall ranking of colleges and universities in the United States, but his landscape architecture major is among the top three in the United States. Spanning more than 8 million square meters, the campus is also recognized as one of the most beautiful college campuses in the country.

Principal Middleton's home is on the lake on the west side of campus, and from the garden you can see the clock tower on high ground in the distance. The heights, once the estate of wealthy merchants, are now the core of the school. Hundreds of small European-style buildings with gray walls and red roofs are dotted in the ancient oak forest, like a fairyland in the forest where the elves live in the legend.

Middleton is 51 years old this year, with gray hair combed neatly, wearing a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, and exuding a strong bookish air all over his body, and there is no sign that he will be a general who will lead an army of 70,000 to sweep through eastern France.

Not surprisingly, however, Middleton had not left the podium since he became one of the first instructors at Fort Benning's Infantry School in 1921. Even if he went to the Philippines in 1936 for a short year of service, he went to serve as an instructor in the officer training corps. Counting up, he has been a teacher even longer than a commander.

This is John's second visit to Baton Rouge to meet Middleton. The last time was a week ago, when he came to invite Middleton to be the godfather of Eric Jr., accompanied by Alfred.

Counting up, the Middleton family and the old Fan family have been friends for several lifetimes. Middleton's grandfather was a good friend and personal legal counsel to William's grandfather, and one of William's grandfather's executors. Middleton's father and the second Bethzakim were college classmates, and the two had a close personal relationship, and Sagem was also Middleton's godfather.

In 1900, after Middleton's father died in an accident, the second uncle has been taking good care of Middleton, who was only 11 years old at the time. Middleton's recommendation for West Point was from the Vanderbilt family. It's a pity that because of his failing math scores, Middleton was not admitted to West Point in the end.

By the way, poor math seems to be a common problem among US Army generals in their student days. For example, Patton and Simpson (commander of the Ninth Army) either failed a grade or almost repeated a grade because of their math scores.

The most serious was Fredendor, who later served as the commander of the Second Army (the same one who was removed from his post for being beaten by Rommel in the Battle of Caselin Pass), who was simply dropped out of school because of repeated failures in mathematics, and was considered a West Point dropout. (Interestingly, after Fredendoll came out of West Point, he turned around and was admitted to the famous Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which became the hardest school of any American general during World War II.) I don't know how he was admitted to MIT with his level of math. ）

Although Middleton was not accepted into West Point, the second uncle managed to make him a second lieutenant in his second year in the army. You know, most West Point cadets graduate as a second lieutenant after four years of school. A person like Eisenhower, who had poor grades, could not even be a regular officer when he graduated, so he had to become a sergeant major first.

Over the next seven or eight years, Middleton rose through the ranks with the support of the Vanderbilt family. Taking advantage of the East Wind of World War I, he was not yet 30 years old when he served as a colonel in the "Ivy League" Division (the Fourth Infantry Division of the United States Army, which was later reorganized into the Fourth Mechanized Infantry Division, the first fully digital infantry division in the United States), and was regarded as a young talent in the United States Army second only to MacArthur (then acting commander of the Rainbow Division and temporary brigadier general).

Middleton originally had the opportunity to become a high-ranking member of the military, but it was a pity that he made a mistake. First of all, without waiting for his order to be promoted to brigadier general and deputy division commander, the battle was over.

Don't look at the difference between the colonel and the brigadier general, but the future after the war is very different. MacArthur was a temporary brigadier general at the end of World War I, and after the war he was able to continue to serve as a principal at West Point with the rank of provisional and even become chief of staff of the Army. And Middleton, the temporary colonel, could only obediently retreat to the rank of captain and continue to work on his seniority step by step.

To make matters worse, the second Bosakim died in 1920. Without the support of the Vanderbilt family, Middleton's development would have been even more difficult. It's not that as soon as the second uncle died, the old Fan family turned their faces and didn't recognize people. It's because after the death of the second uncle, the leader of the family, the entire Vanderbilt family has no backbone, and its strength is rapidly declining, and it is unable to support Middleton at all.

So, it took Middleton 15 years to become colonel again. In 1936, in order to fight for the last chance to be promoted to brigadier general, Middleton went to the Philippines to join his old comrade-in-arms MacArthur. A year later, MacArthur fell out with Washington and simply retired to become his Philippine Field Marshal. This also led to Middleton having to return home gloomily and accept the fate of retirement.

After Middleton retired, the old Fan family used Alfred's influence in the academic community to help him secure a position as director of discipline at Louisiana State University. Later, he took advantage of a financial scandal at the school, first supported him as the school's vice principal and auditor general, and then pushed him step by step to the throne of the principal.

Because of this, Middleton is particularly concerned about John's affairs. At the beginning, the old Fan family spent so many resources on him, but he failed to help the Vanderbilt family support the military world, which has always been a regret in Middleton's heart, and he feels ashamed of his support for the godfather's family.

So, when John and Alfred visited together last time, he simply stated that he would fully support John's development in the military. In a sense, Middleton saw John as his successor to his unfinished business. Today, he is nominally Eric's godfather, but in fact John's advisor and mentor in military matters.

"This opportunity to study at Fort Leavenworth is very rare." During this time, Middleton thought most about how to get John to complete the transition from civilian to career officer as quickly as possible: "This is very important for your future development. Remember, you're not here to mix qualifications or learn things this time. What you have to do is to calm down and observe and experience how a real front-line commander thinks and handles problems. As long as the way of thinking is changed, everything else is easy to say. ”

John was a little confused by Middleton's words, what is the way of thinking that a front-line commander should have, this is also a little too mysterious. When I was in the General Staff Headquarters, I didn't think my way of thinking was much different from other people.

"What about the final assessment?" John asked hesitantly.

"You don't have to worry about the final exam, Fort Leavenworth Military Academy is not West Point, and test scores don't matter. This short course is only 3 months, and it is impossible to arrange any more internship subjects, as long as you get that final thesis right, you will be fine. Middleton, who had taught at Fort Leavenworth Military Academy for many years, knew what the final exam was all about.

"Of course, you do have some basic shortcomings, but this is not something that can be made up for in three months of training. I've made a list of books here, so you can take a good look at them when you go back. As he spoke, Middleton handed John a long list of books, "It's okay if you can't understand some things, as long as you change your way of thinking, you will naturally understand it in practical work in the future." ”

Well, John nodded incredulously. It seems that this time I really have to take a good look at the students from the front-line troops. Perhaps, as Middleton said, being a commander in a front-line unit and being a staff officer in the office of a higher authority are two different things.