In 1863, Gordon, the captain of the foreign guns, left a rare photo, in which the British major was wearing a yellow coat, a saber at his waist, and official boots.
Captain Gordon of the Foreign Guns
Gordon was born in London, England in a military family, his father was a general in the British Army, as a child Gordon listened to his father talk about military life every day, so he set up an ambition from an early age to take up arms and gallop on the battlefield like his father.
For this reason, when he was a little older, Gordon was first admitted to Taunton School, and after successfully graduating from Taunton School, he approached the Royal Military Academy in England and began systematic military study.
In 1852, at the age of 19, after graduating from the Royal Military Academy, he entered the British army and became a second lieutenant in the British army, officially starting his career as a horseman.
In October 1853, the Crimean War broke out, and Britain, France and other countries fought against each other on the Crimean Peninsula on the Black Sea coast in order to compete for territory with the Russian Empire.
At that time, after Gordon, who was in the British mainland, learned the news of the war, he wanted to go to the battlefield and live a "war addiction", so he wrote to the British War Department, asking to join the war, but the British War Department considered that he had no battlefield experience and did not agree to his request, and Gordon, who was rejected by the British War Department, did not let go of his desire to go abroad to participate in the war.
Seeing that Gordon was resolute and insisted on going, the British War Office finally agreed to Gordon's request and allowed him to go abroad to participate in the war, and in this way, in 1855, Gordon came to the Crimea region as he wished, and participated in the war that he had been thinking about day and night.
After Gordon came to the Crimea region, he followed the British army to participate in the siege of Sevastopol and the fortress of Rydan, in these battles, Gordon faced the rain of bullets and bullets of the Russian army, alone behind the enemy, carried out reconnaissance activities, and in many offensive battles, charged ahead, and made a lot of achievements, so after the end of the Crimean War, he was promoted to captain by the British War Department.
In 1859, after Gordon returned to England, he felt that it was too boring to be idle, so he wrote a letter to the British War Office, expressing his desire to go overseas to participate in the war.
After Gordon came to China, he invaded Beijing with the British and French forces, and after capturing the city of Beijing, he looted and burned the Old Summer Palace with the British and French soldiers, from a British officer to an out-and-out "robber".
In June 1860, in order to fight against the Taiping Army, the officials of the Qing court jointly funded with some wealthy businessmen to recruit foreign officers led by the American Wall, and formed a mercenary "foreign gun team" to fight against the Taiping Army.
American Wall
This "foreign gun team" had outstanding combat capability and sophisticated weaponry, and in the battle against the Taiping army, it won more and lost less, and gradually showed its common strength, becoming a "sharp weapon" for the Qing court to contain the Taiping army.
In 1862, the late Qing government expanded this "foreign gun team" into a "permanent winning army" and continued to fund the mercenary army led by the American Wall to continue to fight and compete with the Taiping army from all walks of life.
The Guns
But what people never expected was that Wall was killed on the spot by the Taiping army in a battle to attack Cixi County, and after Wall was killed, his successor was the Frenchman Bai Qiwen, who was a short-tempered and reckless person, he did not listen to the command of the Qing court at all, and also sent people to rob the Qing soldiers' salaries.
At that time, Li Hongzhang, as the governor of Jiangsu, was very angry with Bai Qiwen's actions, so he asked the general of the British expeditionary force, Strevley, to change someone to command the foreign guns.
On the side of Steverly, the general of the British Expeditionary Force, under pressure, could only remove the Frenchman Bai Qiwen from his post and make Gordon, who was then a British engineer officer, the third captain of the foreign guns.
After Gordon arrived, he imitated the British army system, implemented the salary system, and actively communicated with Li Hongzhang and other important ministers of the late Qing Dynasty, and cooperated with the Qing army to attack the Taiping Army.
In 1863, Li Hongzhang took Changzhou City in one fell swoop with the assistance of Gordon's "foreign gun team", after the battle, Li Hongzhang wrote to the imperial court to show his merit for Gordon, and the Qing court made Gordon the governor of Changzhou, and rewarded him with a yellow coat, and Gordon, who obtained the official position of the Qing court, became famous in Britain and became a well-known big man in Britain by virtue of this move.
In 1864, with the capture of Tianjing by the Qing army, the vigorous Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement was declared a complete failure, and after the fall of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Qing court saw that Gordon and his "foreign gun team" had lost their use value, so they ordered it to be disbanded.
Gordon disbanded the "foreign gun team" and prepared to return to Britain, leaving ten "strategies for strengthening the country in the Qing Dynasty" to the Tongzhi Emperor, but the Tongzhi Emperor, Gordon's old boss, and his old friend Li Hongzhang did not adopt it, which made Gordon very injured and could only return to Britain in disappointment.
After returning to England, Gordon continued to serve in the British army, serving as the commander of the British Royal Engineer Corps, and subsequently, Gordon briefly returned to China, but neither the rulers of the Qing court nor the high-ranking officials were enthusiastic about Gordon's return, so Gordon could only end the return trip in a hurry and return to England.
In 1884, Gordon, who was already middle-aged at this time, was sent by the British government to Africa to serve as the governor of Sudan and vigorously promote the British "colonial cause".
Oil painting of "The Death of Gordon".
After Gordon was killed in Sudan, the British authorities and the British military and civilians were grieved by this, and the British authorities sent troops to search for Gordon's body, and as Gordon's old boss, Li Hongzhang, an old friend, was also quite shocked and sad after learning of Gordon's death, in order to mourn this former subordinate and friend, Li Hongzhang took a delegation of the Qing court to Britain to mourn and mourn Gordon.