Kama stood silently in front of her "royal palace" and watched as several solemn-looking elderly priests danced around a slaughtered animal. It is said to be a royal palace, but it is just a few decent wooden houses. However, even these wooden houses are unique among the Kama tribe with thatched huts, after all, it is not easy to find some wood in this part of South Africa.

In front of him was a low, wailing calf, bound on all fours, and stabbed in the neck with a sharp knife that was not small and not too small. Blood was gushing out of the blood cave, filling a radius of several meters with a pungent smell of blood. The cow was to be sacrificed to the "gods", and according to the priests, the Kama tribe had angered the gods by their actions for nearly a year, thus incurring the conflict with the people of the east coast to the west. The wrath of the gods must be extinguished with sacrifices, and the washing of mortal sins also requires a certain amount of sacrifice - outside the palace, a dozen or so prisoners of war have been tied to the ground, and they are flanked by swords-wielding warriors of the Kama tribe, who will be openly killed and sacrificed to the gods to wash away the sins of the Kama tribe.

In recent days, the people of the east bank in the west have become more and more restless, and they have become more and more unabashed in their greed for the land and their malice towards the Kama tribe. First, the Eight Banners, who had taken refuge in the East Coast, suddenly marched eastward, seized a treasure land of abundant water and grass to the west of the mountain, and began to hunt down any Xhosa or Khoisan who grazed on the meadows for no apparent reason. Some of the Xhosa tribes tried to resist, but without any suspense they all failed. There are also some tribes that think they are incapable of being invincible, and frequently send people to their "royal court" to ask the powerful Kama tribe to send troops to expel this evil and cruel Eight Banners tribe.

About the Eight Banners Tribe. Kama still knows a little bit. This was thanks to the many spies he had arranged in these tribes. As the name suggests, there are eight tribes in total. Each tribe had a flag granted to them by the people of the East Bank. The strength of these tribes varies from large to small. Among them, there are more than 2,000 people who are powerful, of which hundreds are strong men; There are only a thousand people who are weak, and there are only two or three hundred people who are pitiful. The stalwarts of the Eight Banners tribe are called "samurai", and these are half-time soldiers, just like the elite guards under the command of Kama herself.

The total number of warriors of the Eight Banners was about 3,000, and every five days they would practice collectively for one day, and the content of the drill was mainly to form a formation to engage the enemy. The spear was the main weapon they used. The warriors of the Eight Banners formed a phalanx with spears in their hands, advancing like hedgehogs to meet the enemy; The spear array is supplemented by a small number of archers as a long-range output force.

The people of the East Coast still value the Eight Banners warriors. It is said that they would gather the Eight Banners warriors for a joint training once a month, which the people of the East Coast called "Hui Cao". In the exercises, not only the military formations of a single tribe and the combined military formations of multiple tribes are considered, but also the individual skills of the samurai are also tested. During the exercise, the tribe that takes first place will be rewarded with a large amount of money, and the last tribe will be fined a lot of money. The same. In the individual martial arts school, the top 10 of each tribe will be rewarded. Among them, the best ones have the opportunity to become officers in the samurai class; The last ten were warned for the first time, fined for the second time, and stripped of their samurai status as freemen for the third time, and they lost all kinds of privileges in the future.

Such a strict and almost strict system ensured that the warriors of the Eight Banners were enterprising, and it was also the secret of the rapid improvement of the combat effectiveness of the Eight Banners in recent years. To be honest, as a ruler and administrator, Kama still appreciates these systems set up by the East Coasters, and he is ready to implement them in the Kama tribe after appropriate improvements. But on the other hand, the better the East Coasters behave, the more pressure the Kama tribe will have.

"God says that the people of the East Coast are destined to be the enemies of the Kama tribe!" The calf had already died of blood loss with wide eyes, and a respected priest smeared the blood on his face, then closed his eyes and said: "They have plundered us as slaves, robbed us of our cattle, sheep and food, and even corrupted the will of our warriors with spirits. Destroy them! This is God's will! The people of the East Coast must be exterminated! ”

Kama stood motionless in front of the sacrifice, as if listening to the will of the gods. And at a distance of only two hundred meters from the palace, beside two small wooden houses with steeple roofs, several men with European faces chatted solemnly while looking at this side from a distance.

"Second Lieutenant Potter, what is your fighting power with the East Coasters?" A blond, blue-eyed, bearded man asked.

"Mr. Hagel, it is difficult for me to give a definite answer to your question. In fact, the people of the East Coast have never had a direct conflict with us, and it has always been the so-called Eight Banners tribe that is weak in war to harass us. "But I can tell you unequivocally that the regular army of the East Coasters is definitely stronger than the mercenaries under your brother's command. You understand, I'm not talking about fighting skills, I'm talking about the will to fight. ”

Ensign Potter was dressed in a white woollen shirt with a boat-shaped hat on his head, and a scruffy beard that looked like some down-and-out officer. In fact, he was in a very poor situation, having recommended Ensign Potter to the new Governor de Young before Knight Heywood withdrew after the Dutch took over the colony of Cape Town. Governor de Young, perhaps out of the need for a capable officer who knew the situation in South Africa, continued to hire Second Lieutenant Potter to command the English militia at Fort Good Hope to assist the Dutch in defending the colony.

However, after the Dutch brought in a large number of immigrants from the mainland and hired the prestigious mercenaries of the Hagel brothers, Ensign Potter was embarrassed to find himself gradually marginalized. First of all, the newly arrived German mercenaries took the lead in the defense, and they pushed aside the "hillbillies" under Lieutenant Porter. The next step was for the Dutch West India Company to reorganize the local militia and take command of the militia into its own hands, making Second Lieutenant Potter even more dispensable. Eventually, Governor Dejan finally remembered that there was such a man as him, and with a series of agreements with the Kama tribe, Ensign Potter was kicked here to teach the barbarians how to use muskets.

Little Hagel turned his head a little displeased, and quickly changed the subject, and said to another middle-aged man in a priest's uniform beside him: "Priest Strom, this is the religious rite of the barbarians?" What a foolish people, may they soon come back to the Lord's arms. ”

"The Almighty and All-Knowing Lord is the only destination for their souls." Priest Strom held the cross in his hand and whispered, "In recent months there have been a number of lost lambs who have been converted to the arms of the Lord, and their devotion is beyond doubt. At this, Pastor Strom subconsciously glanced at the precious furs, flesh fat, and food piled up in the room—all gifts from the faithful.

"But the temptation of the devil is everywhere, and more of the Lamb of the Lord is still under the temptation of the devil and does not return." Priest Strom narrowed his eyes at the priests in the distance, "Of course, those heretics on the East Coast are a group of demons who have completely degenerated. Too many of the Lord's godly people, coerced by them to pray to the Lord alone at night, should be completely destroyed. ”

At this point, the three people present whispered a prayer to the Lord.

"Ensign Potter, then." After praying, little Hagel turned to Ensign Potter again and asked, "Do you think these barbarians are already proficient in the use of muskets?" ”

"No, only a small percentage of them are skilled in the use of muskets." Ensign Potter shook his head without hesitation and said, "Time is too short, these barbarians spend most of their time on the field, and they don't practice using muskets together for a long time. Only a few of them have mastered how to charge, load, and fire, and they don't know anything about the formation and tactics of using muskets. But at this point I have to honestly remind you that these barbarians are not an unorganized and undisciplined rabble. On the contrary, their military discipline is very strict, even harsh, and they are not afraid of death, they are very brave, and they have mastered certain tactics in the long war, so they should not be underestimated. ”

"What do you think of the war that is about to break out between the barbarians and the people of the East Coast?" Hagel Jr. asked a question that he was concerned about, and this was also a question of Governor de Young, because it was about whether the Cape Town colony was worth continuing to invest in the tribe.

"I'm not very optimistic." Second Lieutenant Potter shook his head, "First of all, these barbarians have hostile tribes in other directions, and they can't use all their forces on the East Coasters. Secondly, their equipment was very rudimentary, most of them were spears, short spears and iron knives, and there were not many bows and arrows. Armor was scarce, and they believed in crushing the enemy with the most courageous charge, but it would be a great tragedy for such an outdated tactic to run into the dense musket formations of the East Coasters. In the end, their supplies were also very poor, and a big reason why they fought for years was that the existing land and pastures could not support too many people, and the newly born population of the tribe had reached an unprecedented peak, so outward expansion became inevitable. But again, their supplies were dreadastically poor, and the warriors needed to loot the enemy to get enough rations, but the Easterners were clearly not a good target for robbery. ”

"Then why are they going to insist on this damn war that is not ripe for the time at all?" Hagel was a little incomprehensible. (To be continued......)