I Am Louis XIV

Chapter 542 Indians from Montreal and Jamestown (Part 1)

Walking on the streets of Paris, the "horns" are still the focus of people's attention. Although he had taken off his feather crest and put on a French coat, shirt and tights, his face, reddish-brown skin, tall figure, and rough skin that were very different from those of Europeans still made him stand out from those around him. A misfit.

"Ox Horns" is no longer as nervous as when they first came to Paris - when they followed the Governor of Montreal to Paris to meet the king, "Ox Horns" and other partners' hearts were still tense. They had been fighting the British, and even the white-skinned French - and they couldn't figure out the difference at that time.

Later, under the instruction of the king, French officials and generals began to try to get along peacefully with the Indians. Only then did the Indians realize that white-skinned people also had their own tribes and chiefs. And just like them, they would fight for the bison, the rivers and the land.

When Niujiao was willing to come to Paris, he did so after careful consideration. His companions and his father disagreed, because there was an incident where an Indian chief said he was going to sign a contract, but was immediately hanged as soon as he entered the camp of the white-skinned people. He might not even be the "big chief". He was executed by them without even seeing each other, but Niujiao really wanted to try it. He had used the weapons brought by the merchants of the "Sun Chief". Although he could not understand the technology inside, no matter it was Accurate and powerful, the later businessmen were much more honest than the people they originally dealt with.

Sure enough, they met the French chief. He was a white-skinned man with sky-like eyes. He was covered with shining gold and gems. He lived in a huge palace, but he was very kind to them. People around him Although people are a little curious, they are not like the people "Niuhorn" saw before - looking at them rudely and wantonly like looking at animals.

They came and went in a hurry that time, but "Horn" and the others received a handsome reward.

This time, the warriors of the "Sun King Chief" drove away the "horns" and the white-skinned people who were not liked by the surrounding tribes. Some people said that these white-skinned people should also be driven away, but this view was quickly dismissed. Chiefs or priests like "Horn" who knew the fighting strength of both sides blamed and suppressed them - there are always people who think that the Indians are a group of unruly savages. They are really wrong. In fact, these Americans The indigenous people are very smart - although their warriors are very brave, after so long and fighting so many battles with outsiders, they have also noticed it. It is obvious that since the introduction of muskets and artillery, it is impossible to rely solely on muskets and artillery. Human flesh and blood cannot control the outcome of a war.

Otherwise, why would the Indians be so keen on trading guns and ammunition with white-skinned businessmen?

There is no doubt that the weapon owned by the "Sun Chief" is the strongest among all people - whether red-skinned, black-skinned or white-skinned. He also has soldiers who use this weapon. Thousands of them, like bison running in the wilderness, the reason why they did not come to America is because their chief is still competing with other chiefs here for the ownership of a large tribe-this is the "horn" from his The soldiers learned about it.

Once they did something stupid like that, the blue-eyed chief would be filled with rage and pour those thunderous cannonballs onto their tents.

So after careful consideration, "Niujiao" not only agreed to continue the contract with the French, but also believed that he should pay respect and condolences to the "Big Chief" like a friend. He heard about the death of the "Big Chief"'s mother. News - of course this kind of request would not be refused, especially at this moment, so he and several other chiefs followed the governor of Montreal to Paris.

Compared with the calm "horns", the other Indian next to him is a little restless, although his skin color may be lighter than any of the Indians, because his grandfather is not an Indian, but An Englishman, he even had an English name, Rolf.

Rolf is the chief of the Indian tribe in the Jamestown Bay area, but despite his grandfather being an Englishman with light brown skin and green eyes, he has a deep hatred for the British - this kind of hatred It comes from the irresolvable contradiction between the Indians and the British.

For the land.

People of later generations are very familiar with the story of the "Mayflower". We will not explain how the British Puritans received help from the local Indians to gain a foothold in the New World, and how they began to repay kindness with enmity after establishing a firm foothold. Mention, but they are indeed not the first British people to come to America. The British began to try to build settlements in the New World as early as 1584, but they had not learned how to disguise themselves at that time, so they had to fight with the Indians. During the conflict, they were defeated by these savages whom they looked down upon.

The British who came to Jamestown later learned this lesson. They tried their best to maintain a friendly appearance with the Indians, and even entered into a marriage contract with the daughter of the local tribal chief - Rolf's grandfather. In those years, the British and the Indians It can be said that the relationship between people is in the honeymoon period. Unfortunately, the illusion is an illusion after all. The British never considered treating the Indians as the same human beings as themselves. When conflicts over water, land, and bison increased, the After the war became more intense, the British, who no longer needed the help of the Indians, openly turned against them - but they were still in the primitive commune period and had not even entered the feudal stage. Not only were tribes unable to unite, but the weapons they used were also Armed only with bows and arrows, a handful of muskets, and even at odds with each other, the Indians were no match for their former allies.

It is for this reason that Rolf is wary of all white-skinned people. "The contradiction between us and them is like the roots of a big tree entangled in the ground," he said. "Just pruning the branches and leaves on the ground has no effect." , unless we die or they die, there will be no solution."

"But if the chief here is willing..."

"He wouldn't do it," said Rolf. "He named his son Montreal. If a white-skinned man here has the same name as a place, it means that he is the master of that place. He will They are driving people away, not for us." He looked around, and the dense flow of people made him feel suffocated: "His people also need to eat, wear clothes and build houses to live in. On our land, they will also hunt us. bison, taking over our rivers, and maybe taking our corn.”

"But the war chief's soldiers have not done that for a long time." "Horns" said: "His soldiers swore to me that there will be laws to restrict their behavior in the future, and any crime will be punished accordingly. .”

"This law is also against us."

"In your tribe, sinners will not be punished, and good people can only suffer innocently?" "Ox Horns" said: "As long as he is willing to give us justice."

“Praying for justice from others is worse than holding justice in your own hands.”

"The problem is that the chief here has a pair of extremely powerful arms," ​​said "Ox Horns": "If you are unwilling to accept his gift, but want to snatch his power, he will definitely beat you." He glanced at Roel sideways. Husband glanced at him and said, "And you definitely can't beat him. Your tribe, my tribe, and even all the warriors of everyone's tribe combined are not as many as his warriors. He also has countless weapons, wheat and priests." "

Rolf was silent.

"I have to say that you have also taken his gift, and you will continue to take it from now on. Every Indian, from women to children, from old men to warriors - the plague brought by those white-skinned people, only his priests It took a spell to contain it, he was a great and good man and no matter what the future holds, I want to express my sincere gratitude to him now for my tribe."

"Horn" refers to smallpox.

Hearing this, Rolf couldn't help but sigh. Smallpox was brought to America by white-skinned people. As long as they contracted this disease, people in the tribe would die one after another. Even the priests and chiefs were not immune. , the survivors will also become physically weak and ugly, as scary as a devil. Such cursed Indians will not be accepted by other tribes.

It was the great chief of the French who allowed their priests to bring "cowpox" among them. Many tribes around Montreal today have been blessed with this blessing, but the Jamestown Bay area was the first British settlement. At the last evacuation point, although the tribes there were enemies of the British, they didn't know how to get immune to smallpox until the "Oxhorn" tribe came into contact with them.

"Horn" said that if they were willing to ally with the "Sun Chief", then the kind chief would be willing to let his priests cast spells, but he also knew that Rolf was determined to regain the Indians. Land - but Rolf must also know that this is almost impossible.

No wolf pack is willing to give up the food in its mouth, and no chief is willing to give up the tribe's land. Moreover, Jamestown was not taken back by Rolfe's tribe.

"Let's go discuss it with the chief," said Horns. "Maybe he will consider it carefully."

"If we can," Rolf said quietly, "we can also give in. You are right, "horns", life and continuity are the most important."

——————

"What is the contradiction between the Indians and us, or in other words, with all immigrants?" Louis XIV said: "Except for those tribes that are too barbaric or naive, they are the same as our former enemies and friends. Everything can be talked about and discussed. The key is that the Indians’ thoughts and beliefs are still at a very pure and simple moment.”

"I have heard that they do not believe in any fixed gods. They believe that everything is a god and should be respected. They believe in the sky, wind, flowing water, mountain peaks, and even bison. For this reason, brother," The Duke of Orleans said: "They need us to follow the laws of nature and not to plunder excessively. Every inch of land must be recuperated after a season of cultivation, every forest must have a breathing space after hunting, and every fishing net cast by a river must They must also be limited to a certain number. They are not allowed to cut down trees arbitrarily, nor are they allowed to use gunpowder to blast rocks, nor are they allowed to burn wilderness to reclaim land.”

"And they have also learned to protect their property from loss," Bontang interjected: "Originally it was convenient for everything to be public."

“Private ownership is sometimes easier to solve problems,” Louis said. “It is easier to ask for permission from one owner than from a group of owners. But as Philip said, the biggest contradiction is the conflict between the ideas of immigrants and indigenous people. superior."

"That's because of the number of immigrants," the Duke of Orleans fiddled with the candies in the box. "Why are refugees so scary? Your Majesty, it's not because as long as a person is a human being, he has to have food, clothing, housing and transportation. At least he has to have food. As an immigrant Too many were concentrated in one place, such as Jamestown. It is said that they originally got along well with the Indians, but it was a swampland with not much cultivated land. When the number of British finally reached a terrible number, they had to When they compete with the Indians for corn, of course they will fight to the death.”

"So we must avoid this situation." Louis said: "We must avoid excessive concentration, beware of bad weather, ensure adequate supplies, and ensure contact with allies at all times."

"It's like a war." The Duke of Orleans looked at his brother and said: "How kind you are, Your Majesty, if it were Charles II, Leopold I, no, no matter that king, there would be no such thing. "You are so considerate of such a useless group of indigenous people," he said with a hint of darkness: "You may not know it well, but the cowpox vaccine you gifted to the Indians is eliminating a crisis brought by the British. .”

"It's not surprising what those people did." Louis XIV would not say that every Englishman is a shameless thief and a cruel executioner, but who are the people who can abandon their hometown, wander thousands of miles, and go to the New World? Woolen cloth? Peasants who lost their land, workers who lost their jobs, Puritans who had to leave because of religious persecution - reality did not give them the opportunity to be noble, so they could only become despicable, cruel and unscrupulous.

What is a blanket full of smallpox, typhoid or dysentery germs? It's better than dying yourself or your relatives. What's more, for the Puritans, those Indians who were unwilling to convert were just stubborn pagans, and we all know that devout believers are sometimes the most stubborn pagans. Ruthless thugs.

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