1840Indian rebirth

Chavez's actions shocked everyone in the room. No one expected that he would kill Magoffin directly.

Looking at Magoffin lying on the ground, Armijo came to his senses after several seconds and looked up at Chavez: "What did you do?"

"I killed the American envoy." Chavez took a deep breath, "Now we can organize our defense with peace of mind."

"God!" Armijo ran around the room, waving his hands up and down, "I should never have brought you here!"

Chavez: "Uncle, there is no need for you to be so anxious. We are not hopeless. After all, we are on the defensive side, and we have better weapons."

Armijo stamped his foot again: "Buying those weapons was also a mistake!"

Chavez said nothing.

Archuleta said at this time: "Governor, no matter what, we have only one choice now - drive the Americans back."

Armijo was silent for a moment, and finally sighed: "Oh, you are right."

"Archuleta, tell the soldiers and people that the whole city is in a state of war and is ready to fight the Americans at any time!"

"yes!"

…

August.

As temperatures rise, the stability of the virus is obviously weakened.

Although the prevention and control measures in Mianxiong City are crude, after all, it is only a place with a few thousand people. After about half a year of isolation and control, finally on a sunny day, the epidemic was completely ended, and there was no longer an infected person.

.

During the entire process, Sleeping Bear City paid the death of more than a hundred people.

Objectively speaking, this is a big loss. But compared with the plagues the Indians experienced in the past, a death rate of about 3% is definitely a big victory.

At all times and in all countries, disaster management is an important way to gain legitimacy.

For example, in farming civilizations, it is not uncommon for people to become sages and even monarchs by controlling floods.

Plague is to the Indians what floods are to farming civilization, and even worse.

After all, farming civilizations always have people who can control floods, but the Indians have never seen anyone who can control the plague. In the face of the plague, they have been waiting for death for a long time.

The horse whistle allowed the plains tribes to overcome the plague, which can be said to be the first time the Indians created the world.

So naturally, no amount of prestige he has gained can be overstated.

Prisoners in the labor camps also worshiped Ma Shao. Many people who originally resisted reform became devout followers of the Spiritual Enlightenment Sect, or followers of Ma Shao, after the epidemic.

They all chose to fight for parole, learn the Apache language, and move their families to settle in Sleeping Bear City to gain conditional freedom.

They did this not only to gain freedom for themselves, but also for the future safety of their families. After all, Sleeping Bear City was the only place that could resist the plague.

Mashao sent envoys and prisoner representatives to help the prisoners deliver the news.

In July, the prisoners' family members had already arrived in Mianxiong City one after another, and some even came with the entire clan.

I heard that Sleeping Bear City was a "holy city" that could resist the plague, so some clans moved there. Not only the clan where the prisoner belonged, but also neighboring clans came after getting the news.

As a result, throughout July, the population of Mianxiong City increased by about a thousand people.

In August, there are only a lot more.

Sleeping Bear City once again began to grow rapidly.

With a large scale, there are many problems.

One of the more troublesome issues is the slave issue. Some Indian clans also have the tradition of keeping slaves. For example, the forest tribe headquarters where Owl is located is a large slave-holding family.

The clan of more than 200 people has more than 40 slaves, most of whom are prisoners captured from the Utah clan.

Of course, there is no slavery in Sleeping Bear City, but Mashao did not directly release these slaves, but formulated a compensation policy.

First of all, slave owners cannot settle in Sleeping Bear City. If they want to live in Sleeping Bear City, they must free their slaves in Sleeping Bear City.

As long as their slaves become residents of Sleeping Bear City, they can receive a compensation.

Of course, the compensation was not high, far lower than the market price of slaves, but slaveholding by Indians was not serious in the first place. In order to live in the "holy city", most slave owners were willing to do so.

If prisoners or their families own slaves, they can either choose to free the slaves and receive compensation like ordinary slave owners, or they can choose to "exchange freedom for freedom."

The so-called freedom-for-freedom means that they give slaves freedom, and Sleeping Bear City reduces their sentences, at least one month, and up to two years.

A shed was set up at the entrance of Sleeping Bear City. Several soldiers and shamans were sitting in the shed, with various documents piled on the table in front of them.

At this moment, a Comanche clan and several Arapaho families were gathering here to go through various procedures before entering the city.

"Slave owners can't settle in Sleeping Bear City?" A Comanche slave owner opened his eyes wide when he heard the news.

"Yes, slavery is prohibited in Sleeping Bear City." The soldier continued to explain while making a register for registration.

"Why?"

Soldier: "There is no reason. This is the teaching of the Spiritual Encyclopedia, and it is the decision of the chief. Slavery is a barbaric system, and the enslavement of compatriots is especially shameful."

"Of course, as long as you free all the slaves, you will be eligible to settle."

"If the freed slave becomes a resident of Sleeping Bear City, you will also receive a compensation equivalent to one-tenth of the market price."

The slave owner couldn't help but said: "One-tenth, this is too little!"

"It would be nice to have compensation. Strictly speaking, slavery is a crime." said a shaman.

The slave owner hesitated for a moment, then took out some silver coins and wanted to hand them to the soldiers and shaman: "Brother, can you..."

When several soldiers and shaman saw this, they laughed directly.

Although corruption has not been completely eradicated in Sleeping Bear City, such bribery in broad daylight has no room for survival.

In their view, this kind of retro behavior is like performance art, and only newcomers from outside the country would do it.

"This is bribery and a crime, do you understand?" the shaman said, "Considering that you still don't understand the laws of Sleeping Bear City, you can be exempted from punishment this time."

At this moment, an Arapaho family nearby suddenly said something to a shaman, and then the shaman said to the Comanche slave owner: "They plan to acquire some slaves to exchange for their families."

Free, you can sell slaves to them."

"How much?"

"Twice the compensation is one-fifth of the slave price," the shaman said.

"One-fifth, this is still too little." The slave owner was still dissatisfied.

"You can also choose to take your slaves and leave Sleeping Bear City." The shaman said lightly, "Sleeping Bear City needs warriors, shamans, farmers... but it does not need slave owners."