The deerhand looked left and right, convinced that his idea would hardly be supported by anyone, and finally bowed his head and said, "No." ”

Ma Sentinel nodded: "In a few days, we will bring a batch of new pistols to Santa Fe and sell these high-performance killing machines to the Mexicans." ”

"I hope the Mexicans can compete a little bit and not lose too badly."

After some more things were said, the horse whistle announced the adjournment of the meeting, and the people dispersed one after another.

"I'm going to add these paragraphs to the Spiritual Message, what do you think?" On a rainy day, I took the note to the horse whistle and looked at it.

"Yes." Ma Whistle still has to check it, after all, sometimes, if you think about what you said before, you may not approve of it.

The two talked.

"Actually, I feel that there are not many people in the tribe who have similar thoughts to the deerhands, especially the old shamans who have been arranged to retire." "They are obsessed with tradition, even everything that is traditional; Failure to understand change, especially learning from white change. In their view, to learn from whites is to be brainwashed by whites. ”

Ma Whistle: "Brainwashing also exists objectively. The problem with these people is that they can't distinguish between what is brainwashed and what is learning. ”

After a pause, he added, "Actually, it's not all their fault...... Learning and being brainwashed are conjoined babies in the first place, and only the most skilled in swordsmanship can separate the two. ”

In ancient and modern times, at home and abroad, backward civilizations have always studied the essence and dross together, and there is no "only taking the essence" of learning.

Characters at the juncture of history, even many who are identified as heroes, have endogenous limitations, and often introduce civilization while introducing barbarism, cutting off the braid on the head, but growing a new braid in the heart.

For example, in China at the end of the Qing Dynasty, among the many innovators, which one of them did not speak about violence? In the extreme, even the abolition of the Chinese language and the improvement of the human race can be proposed.

Even Ma Sentinel, who is a traverser, does not dare to say that he can completely get rid of such historical limitations.

The so-called spiral of history is probably like this.

The two continued to talk.

Rainy day: "...... If it weren't for the special subsidy, those old shamans probably wouldn't be so honest. ”

Speaking of this, he couldn't help but sigh: "It's really depressing to have to pay such a bribe every month. ”

"In a way, this is the duty of a changemaker," he said. Stability maintenance is one of the costs of change, and if the income brought by the change cannot even cover the cost of stability maintenance, the change may not be much advanced. ”

"You're right." Rainy day thought for a while, "But it makes people feel unwilling, these old shamans are useless, they don't study, they don't work, and they have to get a large subsidy every month, in your words, it's called 'corpse vegetarian meal'." ”

"I'm not reconciled." "So we opened drinking houses, not only for spirits, but also for tobacco, and to use tobacco and alcohol to get back all the subsidies they received." These old guys are very repulsive to the white calendar, and they are quite fond of white people's tobacco and alcohol. ”

……

A few days later.

With more than a hundred soldiers, the horse sentinel set out from the tribe and rode southwest to Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico.

The journey was not very far, and after about ten days, they arrived at their destination, standing in the snow, and saw the city of Santa Fe in the distance.

"City ......" Ma Whistle exhaled, looking at the scene in the distance.

For the first time in the years since he was reborn, he had seen a place that could barely be called a city—and only barely.

Santa Fe, the largest city in the southwest, is actually far inferior to the county seat if compared to the memories of his previous life.

Not to mention that there are no high-rise buildings, the scale is also unusual, an earthen city of 18,000 people, surrounded by low walls, and even more sparse under the winter snow, reminds him of the scene near the police station in his hometown in his previous life.

"It's a big city!" Some soldiers exclaimed.

"It's my first time in Santa Fe, and this time I've seen it for a long time."

"I believe that Sleeping Bear City will become such a big city in the future!"

Ma Whistle pouted: "That's it?" The Sleeping Bear City in the future will definitely be much bigger than Santa Fe. It's just a small place, don't take it personally, let's go. ”

The crowd then rode towards Santa Fe.

Soon they saw Santa Fe's cavalry, both of them looking at each other warily.

"We have no ill will! We're here to talk business! The interpreter next to Ma Whistle shouted in Spanish.

The Apache have long been associated with Mexicans, and there are slightly more Spanish speakers than English. Ma Whistle also learned a little Spanish, but the level is still very low, so it is necessary to bring an interpreter.

The dozen or so Mexican cavalry on the opposite side seemed to discuss for a moment, and then approached.

The leader was a man with a short beard, he wore a military hat, he looked in his thirties, and as he approached, he looked up and down at the horse whistle and the others.

There is no doubt that these yellow-skinned guys with eagle feathers on their heads are Indians.

But the Mexican officer looked at it for a long time, and he didn't recognize which tribe they were Indians from.

After all, these people have almost no Indian features, except for eagle feathers and yellow skin.

The various colorful patterns painted on the face, or ornaments such as shells, tassels, bone ornaments, or the scalp of the enemy hanging from the waist, were all nowhere to be seen on the group of Indians, only the almost uniform style of cowhide coats.

"What tribe are you from?" The Mexican officer had to ask, he really couldn't tell the difference.

"We're from Apache." Ma Whistle said, and the translation conveyed the meaning to him.

"Apaches......" the Mexican officer frowned, "what are you doing here?" ”

Ma Whistle said slowly: "For the sake of business, we have brought something that Colonel Achulita will definitely be interested in. ”

"What's that?" The officer asked again.

Instead of answering, the horse whistle said, "Call your colonel." Anyway, we also came with a hundred and fifty people. ”

The officer was silent for a while, and finally nodded: "You guys wait here, I'll go and inform the colonel." ”

He snapped the reins and rode back to the city of Santa Fe.

A short time later, the military commander of the area, Colonel Diego Achulita, came out with a group of soldiers, accompanied by a young man with curly hair.

"Apaches, I heard you're here to do business." Colonel Achulita was in his thirties and had small eyes. He rode a tall horse, but he still had to look up at the horse's whistle.

"That's right." The horse whistle nodded.

"That's a strange thing," said Achulita, "the last time I saw you doing business here, you wanted to sell us a group of captives as slaves. It's a pity that no one wants to buy it. ”