1850 American Gold Baron

Chapter 256 Indian Chiefs on the West Coast

After the opening of the San Francisco-Sacramento Railway, traveling between the two largest cities in California became very convenient.

Prior to this, the main mode of transportation between the two places was inland shipping, and it only took one day to travel down the American River from Sacramento.

But traveling upriver from San Francisco to Sacramento takes two to three days, or even longer.

The opening of the railway changed everything. Whether it is from San Francisco to Sacramento or from Sacramento to San Francisco, it only takes 7-8 hours.

Liang Yao has a good reputation among the Indian tribes on the west coast. After receiving Liang Yao's invitation, many Indian tribe leaders expressed their willingness to visit Sacramento.

After the leaders of the Indian tribes on the west coast gathered in Sacramento, Liang Yao took a train to Sacramento to meet with these Indian leaders.

The place where I met with the Indian tribal leaders was Liang Yao's residence in Sacramento two years ago.

As time has passed, the original simple brick and stone courtyard has been transformed into a luxurious villa.

"Welcome to Sacramento."

Liang Yao, dressed in military uniform, took off his big-brimmed hat to welcome the Indian chief who came to Sacramento.

Before the word "guest" came to his lips, Liang Yao took it back. After all, he still couldn't say it.

As for the owners of this land, they are the real original owners.

Liang Yao handed the big-brimmed hat he DIYed to Hu Jinchen and motioned for the Indian chiefs to sit down.

Some of these Indian chiefs wore leather coats made of beaver skin, while others wore woolen or cotton coats.

The degree of external influence of different Indian tribes can also be seen from their clothing.

For example, Deer Hunter, the leader of the Maidu tribe, and Big Bison, the leader of the Pomo tribe, whose territory is relatively close to Sacramento, wear woolen clothes purchased in Sacramento due to frequent exchanges with Sacramento.

"The chief of California is a person we can trust. We agree that the chief of California will mediate the war between our tribes and the white tribes of Oregon." Big Bison said.

White people have repeatedly invaded their territory and massacred their people, which has long disturbed these Indian tribes. Even the Indian tribes in California have been affected.

Originally, the Pomo tribe of the Big Bison and the Klamath tribe in the northern Oregon region did not interfere with each other. Due to the massacre by Bernat and others, the Klamath tribe went south and occupied the territory that originally belonged to the Pomo tribe.

The Pomo have often clashed with the Klamath over the past year.

At this time, the development of Indian civilization was limited, and their worldview was limited to the tribal era.

The chiefs of each tribe do not know what the governor, deputy governor, and speaker of the United States are, but they rely on their inherent world view and experience.

They believed that Liang Yao was the chief of the Chinese who had the same skin color as them, so they respectfully called Liang Yao the chief of California.

Liang Yao was also happy to accept their title.

"I am Hills, the representative elected by the Salish tribe. If the dispute can be resolved peacefully, we are willing to resolve the dispute with the white tribe in a peaceful way," Hills said.

"However, if the white tribes in the Oregon region insist on continuing the war, we Salish tribe will also fight to the end and defend our land to the death!"

Liang Yao looked at the chief of the Salish tribe, Hills, who had long hair, firm eyes, and a firm tone.

Another translation of Hills, Seattle, is better known to the world. In later generations, many people also knew this name.

However, when more people hear this name, they first think of Seattle, a city in the northwest of the United States, rather than the tragedy of this man who was forced to give up his territory and had to move with his people to an Indian reservation in a barren land.

Chief.

Liang Yao vaguely remembered that when he was in elementary school in his previous life, there was a text called "This Land is Sacred." The text was revised based on "Chief Seattle's Declaration," but the extent of the revision was a bit larger.

The "Chief Seattle Declaration" was originally a "declaration" issued by white politicians after substantial modifications and polishes. The content of the declaration's accusations against white colonists has been largely deleted.

The deleted "Chief Seattle's Declaration" has changed beyond recognition, but there are still a few words such as: In the eyes of white people, every piece of land is the same, and they can take advantage of it, take what they need, and leave. To white people, the land is not theirs.

Brother, the earth is his enemy, and he will conquer them one by one.

What is outrageous is that in the original text of the Chinese text "This Land is Sacred", there is no paragraph, not even a few words, that accuses the atrocities of the white colonists.

In the declaration, all the passages about the opposition between red Indians and white Americans were completely cut out.

Especially the sentence at the end: The earth does not belong to humans, but humans belong to the earth.

This sentence made Liang Yao's scalp numb even more. In a country that was also a victim of the slaughter of white colonists in modern times, the textbook compiler actually used untenable, illogical sentences and beautiful prose in his own textbooks.

White colonists whitewashed.

Liang Yao is still worried about how such a text found its way into Chinese language textbooks.

Who would be willing to leave the homeland where their ancestors lived if they were not forced into desperation by the white colonists?

In the early days of the Great Plains, Plains Indian tribes were forced to barren Indian reservations with negligible compensation.

As for the tribes in Seattle and other West Coast areas who were forced to leave their territories and move to Indian reservations in the later period, the white people did not give them a cent.

Liang Yao admired him very much for being able to convey genocide, the use of other people's land, and racial conflicts to the conflicts between man and nature in such clear and refined prose.

When Liang Yao was mentally retarded, he didn't have much feeling when he read this text. He just felt that white people did not care about the natural environment and that Indians cared more about the natural environment than white people.

Looking back now, I feel really numb.

"I am not here to mediate the dispute between you and the white tribes in Oregon. With the greed and unreasonable hatred of the white tribes in Oregon, there is no room for peaceful resolution."

Liang Yao subconsciously touched his numb scalp, feeling increasingly uncomfortable as Bernat's harsh words about scalping him to make boots echoed in his ears.

"We?" Hills was very surprised.

"Yes, we have the same skin color. Maybe we were the same clan thousands of years ago." Liang Yao said to Hills.

"Bernet also threatened to scalp me to make boots. He is our common enemy."

"You want to participate in this war?" Hills looked at Liang Yao.

"My men will fight side by side with you! Destroy these brutal white people! I just want to join the war in your name, and you need to provide your clothes and information about the Burnat armed forces. Let's work together to destroy these white gangs!"

Liang Yao said loudly.

Burnett was an obstacle to his control of Oregon and must be removed. In the future, unfriendly white people in Oregon must also be eliminated.

Using the name of the Indians to eradicate these unfriendly white forces can save him a lot of trouble.

At this stage, he does not have the strength to confront the federal government head-on, and he still needs to take some necessary measures.

Liang Yao was willing to take action directly, which greatly delighted the Indian tribal leaders who were present. They were very happy and excited about this.

"Great, if you are willing to take action, we are confident to eliminate these white gangsters!"

Said the deer hunter, the leader of the Maidu tribe.

"If we can solve the problem of Bernat, we, the Pomo tribe, will elect you as our chief! Please mediate any disputes between tribes in the future!" the big bison said excitedly.

"We, the Maidu tribe, are also willing to elect you as our chief!" the deer hunter agreed.

The chiefs of several other Indian tribes in and near California, such as the Yurok, Hupa, Coos, and Klamath tribes, agreed with this proposal.

"We are willing to elect you as our great leader!"

"It's just that this wave of white people has left, and there will be white people flooding into our territory later. What should we do then?" Hills frowned, expressing his worries.

"The muskets in the hands of those white people are very powerful, and they are a group of well-trained thugs. We will not have the upper hand in fighting them."

"I will provide you with weapons. My guns are better than those of white people. Of course, I am also willing to send instructors to help you train warriors from various tribes and teach you how to maximize the power of these weapons and let those white gangsters

A long lesson.”

After speaking, Liang Yao changed the topic and glanced at the Indian chiefs with cold eyes.

"The premise of all this is that you are not allowed to invade my tribe. I don't want my caravan to report to me the bad news of being robbed again."

Liang Yao was also willing to provide weapons to the Indian tribes in Oregon. The Indians and white people in Oregon were trapped in the quagmire of war, and he was the biggest beneficiary.

The more heroic the Oregon Indians performed on the battlefield, the fewer white immigrants and explorers who would choose to settle in Oregon. This also facilitated their immigration to Oregon and turned the Oregon region yellow.

The more chaotic the West Coast became, the more the federal government had to rely on him and become more wary of him.

At the same time, Liang Yao also had more reasons to ask Congress for military funds and continue to expand the army.

After all, no one except him can handle the relationship with the Indian tribes on the west coast.

"We are very sorry about the caravan. The white people burned our food, stole the beaver skins, and occupied our forest farm. Last winter was very cold, and we really couldn't survive, so we robbed your supplies.

I promise you, as long as these white people are driven away, nothing like this will happen from tonight on! We will also use beaver skins to compensate for the looting of the Chinese caravan's supplies last winter."

The chiefs of the Indian tribes expressed their apologies to Liang Yao.

(End of chapter)