I couldn't help frowning on a rainy day: "Why do I think this sentence is a little familiar?" ”

Ma Whistle didn't explain, but changed his words: "Of course, you can still use it to explore the neighborhood if you have nothing to do." ”

"Maybe...... You can find gold ore or meteorite or something, right? ”

For a long time, North American Indians were a standard stone society.

But the standard stone society does not mean that there is no metal at all, at least there is still a little bit of meteoric iron.

Meteorite iron that fell from the sky was one of the first metals that mankind mastered, and it is older than bronze.

Also like the vast majority of ancient civilizations, the Indians would have regarded meteorite as a noble and even divine metal, no cheaper than gold.

……

The Mexican-American War continued.

Thousands of miles away from Kansas, fighting in south-central Mexico intensified, with tens of thousands of troops fighting against each other.

By contrast, in the northwest of Mexico, or in the southwest of the North American continent, the war was largely over.

Precisely, it is the frontal war that is over. As for the non-frontal wars, they have intensified, and on the whole, they are similar to the situation in southern Mexico.

With the change of sovereignty, guerrilla warfare and law and order warfare spread everywhere like wildfire, especially the guerrillas led by Chavez, shuttling in all directions, growing in momentum day by day.

Northern Mexico is a mountainous terrain that is the best terrain for guerrilla warfare, and guerrilla tactics can be said to be at home here.

One can imagine how much trouble a well-armed guerrilla force with a high level of tactics would bring to the US army.

In addition to the sporadic battles between Americans and Mexicans, Indians were also present in various conflicts.

Sleeping Bear City, the largest Native American settlement in western North America, was also inevitably affected.

Of course, Sleeping Bear City will not take the initiative to cause trouble, it is the trouble that comes to you.

"Great Chief, there are a few foreign Navajo people who want to see you." Soldier Bulletin.

"What's the matter with me?" Ma Whistle was burying his head in writing and asked casually.

"They said they wanted to seek help from Sleeping Bear City," the soldier said. ”

Ma Sentry thought for a moment: "Let them in." ”

"Yes."

Moments later, led by the soldiers, a young man in his twenties entered the Chief's Hall with a bitter look on his face.

"Venerable Son of the Sky, you must be the master for us!" The Navajo knelt on the ground and said in an exaggerated tone.

Ma Sentry finished writing a line, then closed the manuscript, which read "Guns, Germs, and Steel" on the cover, the book he had planned to write.

At present, the book has been written for a short time, and the progress is not fast, mainly because it is written in two languages, one in Apache and one in English.

Ma Whistle raised his head: "What's your name and what difficulties are you experiencing?" ”

The Navajo people, as a close people of the Apache people, still have to help as much as they can, not to mention that they also need to absorb the population.

"I ...... My name is 'Big Mouth'. The young Navajo said, like the name, his mouth was a bit big, especially when he knelt down to complain.

Big Mouth continued: "The American army in Santa Fe City has kidnapped our chieftain, noble son of the sky, please save our chieftain. ”

"Why did the American army kidnap your chief?" Ma Whistle asked first.

Big Mouth shook his head: "We don't know why, we didn't provoke them, we didn't even have contact with them." ”

Ma Sentry thought for a moment: "It was the American army that attacked you?" ”

"Yes!" Big Mouth nodded again and again, "We have absolutely not attacked or touched any of the Americans, I swear to Da Ling!" However, not long after the Americans occupied Santa Fe, they attacked us and took our chieftain and several of our tribesmen captive. ”

"Everyone knows that the children of the sky of Apache are merciful and powerful, so we have come to ask for your help."

"Please!"

Ma Sentry pondered for a moment: "You should know that the American army is a dangerous existence. Frankly, this is beyond the reach of Sleeping Bear City. ”

Big Mouth was stunned: "Even you can't help it?" ”

"It's not a question of means." The horse whistle said slowly.

"We're willing to give gifts!" Big Mouth immediately said again.

Ma Whistle shook his head: "It's not a matter of gifts. ”

"What's that?"

Ma Whistle looked at the big mouth: "It's a risk." If it is to protect the citizens of our tribe, we are willing to take a high risk, and we can even consider going to war with the Americans. ”

After a pause, he continued: "But unfortunately, you are not part of the tribes of the Apache Plains, so we must not risk war with the Americans for this. ”

"This ......," the big mouth was stunned, "then, can we join the Plains Tribe now?" ”

"Yes." "We welcome all the Indigenous peoples, and it's the Apache who come." ”

Big Mouth immediately said, "Okay, we are willing to join the Plains Tribe." ”

The horse whistle nodded.

Although this is just the words of one person with a big mouth, it does not seem to necessarily represent the opinion of the entire clan of the other party. But for the horse whistle, this is enough.

"Tomorrow we'll leave for Santa Fe City and make contact with the Americans." He said.

The next day, the horse sentry headed for Santa Fe with two hundred cavalry, as well as a few Navajo people including Big Mouth.

Now Santa Fe belongs to the United States.

Not only Santa Fe City, but also New Mexico, California, and the entire southwestern part of North America have been included in the U.S. map.

Judging from the map, the current territory of the United States is almost the same as that of later generations.

Mainly, there is only one Alaska and one Oregon. And in the original history, it will not be long before these two large areas will be integrated into the United States one after another.

Of course, the United States has now received large swathes of Mexican territory, but not the people of Mexico.

Chavez, the former militia commander of Santa Fe, is still leading his guerrillas to frantically attack large and small US military positions, forcing the US military to continuously increase its strength.

It will be a few years before the United States wants to get the people of Mexico.

In a few years, in the 21st century, the United States no longer wants the Mexican people, but the Mexican people want the United States to get themselves.

In later generations, the Horse Whistle often heard the phrase that the Mexicans hated that the United States had annexed half of their country, and that the United States had not swallowed the other half......

The horse sentry arrived in Santa Fe with the men, and soon met with the American commander who was now stationed there.

This chief is also an acquaintance - Alexander Donivan.

The horse whistle remembered Colonel Donivan, and the Browning pistol on the man's waist was sold by him himself.

The meeting place for both sides was outside the city, and both were on horseback.

"Colonel, long time no see." The horse whistle greeted politely.

"Hello, Grand Chief Albert." Donivan said, "Do you want to come to Santa Fe to sit down?" ”

"No, I'm here to negotiate with you this time." "About Chief Greybird." ”

Donivan thought for a moment: "Gray Bird...... That's the name of that Navajo chief, right? ”

Ma Whistle nodded: "That's right." As far as I know, you kidnapped him. ”

Donivan shook his head: "Then you must have been deceived by the Navajo people, we didn't kidnap the gray bird, we arrested him." ”

"Arrest?" Ma Whistle frowned slightly.

"Yes." Donivan paused, "I used to be a lawyer, and I can't mistake both. ”

The horse whistle asked, "You said you arrested the Greybird, so what crime did he commit?" ”

"Kidnapping." "They were the ones who committed the kidnapping. They kidnapped twenty American citizens, and as the American army, we are certainly obliged to sanction them. ”

Ma Sentry looked at the big mouth next to him and asked in Apache, "He said you kidnapped twenty Americans, is that true?" ”

"Nonsense!" Big Mouth categorically denied, "We absolutely did not kidnap Americans, not a single one!" ”

Ma Sentry spoke to Donivan in English: "My people say they didn't kidnap the Americans. ”

"Your people?" Donivan was visibly surprised, "Aren't they Navajo people?" ”

"That was before, and now they are members of the tribes of the Apache Plains." Ma Whistle said.

Donivan nodded slowly, thoughtfully, and then said, "Well, they are now your people, and I hope we can solve this problem." ”

Then he looked at the big mouth: "I hope you can abide by the most basic honesty, you attacked a village two months ago, kidnapped 20 villagers, and there are all the human and material evidence, do you need me to call the victim's family before you admit it?" ”

The horse whistle relayed the message to the big mouth.

Big Mouth immediately pointed at Donivan and scolded: "Shameless Yankee, we are obviously Mexican, what does it have to do with you!" You're just here to find trouble! ”

"......" Ma Whistle was silent for a moment, not knowing how to translate.

The big mouth is still scolding.

After a while, the sentry motioned for him to stop, and then looked at Donivan: "He thinks they're capturing Mexicans, not Americans." ”

Donivan smiled: "Now that New Mexico belongs to the United States, of course the citizens who live here are Americans. They are Mexicans, but only before. ”

He gestured to Big Mouth and a few other Navajos, "Just like them, they used to be Navajos, and now they're Apaches. You turned them into Apaches, I admit it, then I turned Mexicans into Americans, you should admit it too, right? ”

Ma Whistle was silent for a while: "Do those villagers think they are Americans?" ”

This time it was Donivan's turn to be silent for a moment, and then he shrugged his shoulders: "At least the few people who came to me for help said they were Americans. ”

The air was quiet for a while.

Donivan said: "In this way, let's release each other's hostages, and this matter will be written off, what do you think?" ”

It seems that this is the only way to deal with things.

The whistle persuaded a few Navajo people and immediately agreed: "Yes, we will release each other's hostages, you give us back the Apaches, and I will give you back the Americans." ”

The two talked a few more words.

"There is chaos in the southwest at the moment, and we are annoyed by the rebel guerrillas, and I don't want many more Indians to be involved in this chaos," Donivan said. ”

"In fact, my boss wants me to take the initiative against the Indians, but I haven't done that yet."

He paused and continued: "I still consider myself a lawyer, I don't like violence...... If I could, I would prefer to use non-war means to quell the chaos. ”

"Grand Chief Albert, I know that your tribe is a civilized tribe. So, you'd better be able to restrain the Indians in the Southwest. No matter what grievances they had with the Mexicans before, but nowadays, there are only Americans and rebellious Americans here, and I will not allow them to encroach on the interests of the Americans. ”

The horse whistle was silent for two seconds: "I don't like violence either. But Sleeping Bear is only a tribe, a small city, and we don't have much to do to mediate conflicts involving the indigenous people, unless you are willing to offer some cooperation. ”

"Absolutely." "Just like today, we had a good conversation, didn't we?" ”

……

December.

It's the season of cold and withering again, and every winter, people always have a difficult time.

Not surprisingly, just before the depths of winter officially fell, several more Indian clans took refuge in Sleeping Bear City.

Most of them are clans that are more closely related, and there is also a clan that is more distantly related.

"Where are you from?" The horse whistle asks about the clan.

"We're Chumash, from California." Said the clan chief who had come from afar.

"California?" When Ma Whistle heard this, he couldn't help but look slightly moved.