Thomas. William. Bob, the Times' correspondent in China, is a captain of the Royal Artillery Corps. Bob's son, his mother was the daughter of General Balfour. He was born in Gibraltar and was the eldest son of a large family.

As a young man, Bob studied with Dr. Cowan for a long time, a Scottish teacher who settled in the town some 40 years ago. In the Academy, Mr. Bob did not show any remarkable ability, but he always performed well in his classes and became an impartial classical scholar. After leaving school, he was employed as a lawyer by his brother Russell. Mr. Bob, this man is in Sunderland. During these years he enjoyed his legal work, but the profession of legal work did not suit his unique tastes, and he spent much of his time reading literature, and had some friends who were stars of Chinese studies in the Metropolitan area. He was one of Shakespeare's most ardent admirers and read and quoted his works.

Shortly after the end of his practice, in 1848, Mr. Bob began to associate himself with the great career of journalism for the first time. At that time, the trend of bourgeois revolution hit almost the entire European continent; As soon as the wave arrived in Berlin, Mr. Bob was sent to Berlin as a special correspondent by The Times. Therefore, he visited several places on the continent; Shortly after his return to England, he contributed several articles to The Times, which he subsequently sent to China.

During his time in China, he faithfully recorded the entire process of the war with his camera and pen and ink, from the arrival of the expeditionary force in Hong Kong, to the Battle of Dagukou, the Battle of Tianjin and the Battle of Baliqiao, and Bob witnessed the entire process with the British army. He recorded the innocent civilians in Tanggu who were robbed and killed by the Indian rebels, and also recorded the women who committed suicide by swallowing opium in Tianjin. It also recorded the unyielding posture of the Tatar warrior who held the banner at Bali Bridge, and also recorded the Taiping army's counterattack. The miserable scene of the allied retreat from Tongzhou until finally he entered the prisoner of war camp with many British soldiers.

A few days in a prisoner of war camp were boring. They were always on the march, and Bob and the British returned to the city of Tianjin along the escape route, and along the way Bob saw a large number of villages that had been looted and burned by the Allied forces. Bob muttered to himself, "What kind of pain has been imposed on the common people of this country by an army that claims to have brought civilization to this country......

Upon his return to Tianjin, the prisoners of war were treated separately, priests, doctors, journalists, and diplomats were taken away, and Bob considered himself lucky to have chosen to come to the Far East as a journalist rather than as a soldier in the Royal Guard.

The Taiping did not mistreat them, although they saw their civilians spitting and throwing stones at them along the way. But they are generally safe. After leaving the camp, Bob was told that he could return to Shanghai with Minister Ergin and other diplomats, or that he could stay and continue his career as a journalist.

Having been promised a guarantee of safety, Bob was of course happy to stay and continue his reporting, hoping to be able to faithfully record the future of the captured officers and soldiers of the British and French forces. Bob's request for an interview was personally approved by the Supreme Leader of the Taiping Army, King Xi, and Bob began his free interviews in and around Tianjin, including the prisoner of war camps.

At first, the soldiers in the POW camp were very panicked. Especially after the officers, priests, doctors, journalists, and diplomats were taken away, the prisoners of war thought that the Taiping army was trying to kill ordinary soldiers to vent their anger. But doubts were quickly dispelled, and Bob and several other reporters returned to the POW camp the next day, armed with cameras and pen and paper. It seems that they were not abandoned.

The prisoners of war in the camp began to be assigned to rebuild the villages near Tianjin that had been destroyed by the coalition forces, and they were divided into several companies. A company is responsible for a village.

Bob and a company of British prisoners of war arrive at a village that had been looted by coalition forces. Many houses were burned and some villagers were shot inside. British prisoners of war removed the bodies and buried them, cleaned up burned houses, and then re-cut wood to build new ones. The whole process was carried out under the supervision of Taiping soldiers, and those who did not work had nothing to eat. It was not a pleasant feeling to clean up what they had destroyed with their own hands, and the British soldiers swore that they had never done it themselves, but Bob noticed that many of them had trembling hands when they swore an oath.

Bob spent two months in a POW camp and went to different POW camps, where the work and status quo were much the same, and in Bob's view, the GIs were atoning for their own sins.

Of course, there were three escapes, in which several British soldiers secretly hid several logging tools with the intention of attacking the sentries guarding them, but they were eventually discovered, several of the escaped soldiers were flogged, and the two British soldiers who attacked the sentries were killed on the spot, and no one escaped.

Bob was a little tired of being in the prisoner of war camp, the Taiping army was still more merciful to prisoners of war, and those heavy reconstruction work should have been done by these people in Bob's opinion, which was better than just confessing a few words in front of the priest to atone for their sins. Bob then asked for an interview with the Taiping soldiers and their leader, King Xi, which was granted.

In this way, Bob came to the camp of Nanyuan, followed the West King all day long, and faithfully recorded some things about the West King, of course, some occasions when the West King secretly discussed the military situation, Bob still needed to avoid, and the two West King's guards always followed Bob's side.

The two guards admired the King of the West very much, and from their mouths, Bob learned more about the deeds of the King of the West, and Bob suddenly had an idea that he wanted to write a biography of the King of the West, so that more people could know about the king of the Far East.

Bob's idea was approved by King West, who smiled and said to Bob, "Of course it's good to have someone write a biography of themselves, I like that feeling, but I hope you don't write me like a devil." ”

So Bob began to visit many people to learn about the life of King Xi, from the family background to the unfortunate experiences of his early years, from the beginning of the establishment of the God Worship Cult with several princes of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to the Jintian Uprising, from the raid on Changsha to the founding of Sufu Province, Bob obtained a lot of detailed information from different populations.

Two months have passed. Bob also recorded several counterattack campaigns by the Qing army at the Nanyuan camp, but over time. The Qing army's counterattack became weaker and weaker, and the Taiping army firmly held their camp. did not allow the Qing army to break through the defensive line.

On this day, there was a thunderous roar in the camp, and Bob ran out of his tent, and the Taiping soldiers who knew him told him happily that they had joined forces with the army from the south, and that supplies from the south had reached here through the Guò Canal. Bob couldn't help but be happy when he saw the simple, joyful faces.

When he arrived at the Great Tent of the King of the West, he met in the tent several other important generals of the coalition with General Grant and General Montauban, all of whom had been taken prisoner together. Previously, Grant and General Montauban had been injured in Tianjin, and Bob had visited them before, and now it seems that the injuries of the two should be all healed, and they look good spirits, but they are wearing Chinese-style robes, which looks a little funny.

Seeing Bob come in, King Xi smiled and said, "Today, the canal supply line has been opened, and I invited a few generals to dinner." Reporter Bob, a couple of other reporters and pastors and doctors will be coming over later, so let's celebrate. ”

General Grant frowned and said, "Your Excellency the King of the West, you are the most peculiar king I have ever seen. No king celebrates with a group of captives, unless you want to celebrate your accomplishments and then taunt us. ”

The king of the West was not angry. He smiled and said, "No, Grant." You and we are old acquaintances, and we have not felt sorry for you since we were captured. The officers were kept in solitary confinement inside the city, and the soldiers outside the city were well cared for in the prisoner of war camps, and this time I am very sincere to celebrate with you, as a friend. ”

Montauban nodded and said, "Alright, Your Excellency the King of the West, but we are eager to know how our battle is going at the moment. ”

King Xi looked at everyone and said with a smile: "General Montauban is very smart, knowing that when the supply line is opened, the news from the south will continue to come, in fact, there is nothing to hide from you, this king has just received some detailed battle situation from the south." ”

At that moment, one of Xiwang's staff officers briefed the captured British and French generals in the tent about the battle in the south, from the defeat of the allied fleet back to Shanghai, to the naval battle in the south, and then to the naval guerrilla warfare that the two sides have been engaged in in the South China Sea recently.

After hearing this, Grant said with a bitter face: "Your Excellency the King of the West, although your delaying tactics have achieved some results now, Britain and France will definitely send more warships and soldiers to the Far East, can you resist these offensives in the future?" ”

King Xi said with a smile: "It's not just Britain and France, we got news from the northeast, Russia has also sent tens of thousands of Cossack cavalry to the east, and we will face Britain, France and Russia in the future!" ”

Seeing King Xi say such things so calmly, both Grant and Montauban couldn't help but shake their heads, and Grant couldn't help but say: "Your Excellency King Xi, I need to remind you that you will face two industrial powers in the Western world and a country with the largest population and land, do you think the Taiping Army led by you will have a chance of winning?" ”

After hearing this, the smile on his face disappeared, he stood up, his tall body looked so tall, he looked at everyone very strictly, and said word by word: "Gentlemen, the rise of a great power, there must be a war, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in the Far East to revive the glory of the Han people for thousands of years, joining us is just the Taiping Army alone against Britain, France and Russia naturally has no chance of winning, but we are not only the Taiping Army, we are the whole country, the whole nation is fighting together, we will fight for the independence of the country, Rejuvenation and the freedom and dignity of the nation, and fight against any country in the world that does not respect us! We're going to win! ”

That night, Bob recorded not the excitement of the dinner that day, but the heroic words of the King of the West, in his biographical manuscripts, and finally he wrote a few comments: "It is undeniable that the Far East, once the nation that once stood at the top of the world, will rise again in the East under the leadership of this wise and valiant king, and I am pessimistic about the more severe war conflict that is coming, and as an Englishman, I do not see the possibility of a British victory......" (to be continued......