Munitions have always been a lucrative industry.

This is especially true in times of war, when the more intense and protracted the fighting, the more benefits arms dealers can receive.

As a physics teacher, Ma Whistle likes to use some physical models to understand the world.

He often felt that the relationship between the arms dealer and the war was like the relationship between the heat engine and the combustion.

Burning is a process of destruction.

In combustion, fuel is constantly consumed, while the heat engine absorbs the energy it releases and converts it into its own kinetic energy.

War is also a process of destruction, where many things are destroyed, even irreversibly.

But it is in this process of destruction that the arms dealers always absorb the benefits.

The Mexican-American War has been going on for less than a year since the two countries officially declared war.

But by selling Browning pistols, Sleeping Bear City, as a neutral arms dealer, has accumulated almost $400,000, most of which is profit.

Four hundred thousand dollars.

Even in the 21st century, when the dollar is no longer directly pegged to gold, this is a huge amount of money.

Moreover, the US dollar at this time was a veritable US dollar, and one US dollar was 1.6 grams of gold or 24 grams of silver.

Of course, gold and silver coins count.

Banknotes can't be counted like that.

Even strictly speaking, the so-called dollar bills are actually bank bills, issued by private banks.

The banknotes issued by some of the big banks are quite reliable, but the others are difficult to say, and some are even close to waste paper, and no one wants to ask for them.

The Americans themselves did not trust paper money, and for the Indians, paper money was certainly even less reliable.

Gold and silver, by contrast, are natural currencies.

Gold and silver have been trusted currencies at almost any time and in any place of human civilization.

Therefore, Sleeping Bear City has always used gold and silver coins to buy and sell, and never accepts paper money, so the $400,000 in hand is real money.

Before that, the tribe earned more than $300,000 a year.

The profits brought by the arms business in these few months are equivalent to an extra year's financial revenue.

Through the intermediary in Clarktown, what ordinary white people can buy, Sleeping Bear City can also buy, and it is a normal price, and it will not be slaughtered.

The extra hundreds of thousands of dollars allowed Sleeping Bear City to splurge and buy a large amount of food and industrial supplies.

And more importantly, technical talent.

Food is bought to support population growth, and despite the rapid development of agriculture in the city, due to the staggering population growth, Sleeping Bear City has always had to buy food from the outside world in order to cope with the constant influx of immigrants.

Even if there is enough food, Sleeping Bear City will continue to buy food, just in case.

In addition to agriculture, industry should also develop.

Therefore, Ma Whistle also purchased a large number of industrial materials and hired some technical personnel with high salaries to drive the tribe to transform into an industrial society.

At present, there are quite a few industries in Sleeping Bear City.

The level of these industries is not high, they are basically small workshops and handicrafts, and many materials such as steel rely on imports, but the coverage is relatively comprehensive.

From the perspective of future generations, this is also the level of a township.

But considering the background of the western region, Sleeping Bear City can already be regarded as an industrial city and a manufacturing city.

The windfall profits brought by the arms have brought the development of Sleeping Bear City into the fast lane, and the scale and structure are rising rapidly.

No outsider would have imagined that just over two years ago, it was a stone society of hundreds of people......

There is no doubt that Sleeping Bear City is a huge munitions production site.

But inside the city, there are strict weapons controls in place - the horse sentry does not want the tribe to stage the proliferation of guns like the United States in later generations, or "gun involution".

It is said that East Asia is involuted, but in fact, the United States is also involuted.

It's just in a different direction.

East Asians involuted in the field of doing questions, and Americans involuted in the field of guns.

On the east and west sides of Sleeping Bear City, there is a place for civilians to buy weapons, and there are also two civilian gates, allowing anyone to enter and exit.

With the boom in the arms business, the name of the sleeping bear gradually became known to the outside world, and outsiders appeared at the east or west gate of the city almost every day.

"Excuse me, is this Sleeping Bear City?" A group of whites came from the east, a few dozen of them.

They were all white, looked dusty, mostly on horseback, and had some caravans loaded in the procession, apparently caravans.

"Of course, you won't find a second place like this!" The Apache soldier standing guard at the gate spoke in proficient English, his tone full of pride in the city.

Then he asked, "Merchants, where do you come from?" ”

"We're from Arkansas." The American businessman said, "I heard that this is an open Indian city, can we go in and rest?" ”

The soldier said, "Yes." Both the east and west of the city have special places for guests where you can rest and shop. ”

"There's also a casino in the east of the city, so you can try your luck too." He added.

The merchant smiled and looked at his companion behind him: "Great, let's rest here for a while, maybe we can buy some souvenirs." ”

"Casino!" Someone also noticed this.

The Apache soldier smiled and said, "Yes. And our casino is holding an event recently, where every guest who comes from afar will receive a 'gambling voucher'. ”

"Gambling vouchers, what's that?" The merchant asked curiously.

"If you lose the bet, you can use it to deduct some of the money, and each coupon is worth a dollar."

"You're going to give me a dollar?"

"It's not. The voucher does not allow for exchange of money, it can only cover some of the lost money if you lose a bet, and it can only be used by you. The soldier patiently explained.

More and more outsiders are visiting Sleeping Bear City, many of them business travelers, because it's not far from the Santa Fe Trail.

After this business trip, of course, they had to take a rest, and Sleeping Bear City also provided them with taverns, inns and other places.

But the tavern inn can only make a few bucks.

In order to get more oil and water from the white caravans who passed through the area, Sleeping Bear City opened a casino.

Public, monopoly casinos.

And in fact, it is only open to outsiders, and if a tribe member participates in gambling, although it is not a crime, it will become a bad record, which will affect work and welfare.

After all, gambling is not a serious activity, and the original intention of the casino is also to gather the wool of white merchants, and Ma Whistle naturally does not want to let the clansmen participate.

The specific business strategy, or routine, is based on the advertisements that some men in later generations understand.

For example, gambling vouchers.

It seems to be giving money, but in fact it is just bait.

"And this kind of good thing?" Where have these people experienced this kind of routine, they all think that this is a good thing.

The soldier's smile was kinder: "yes, why don't you go and try it?" I've heard that the event will be over in a few days. ”

At his instigation, there were people in the caravan who were eager to try: "Brothers, I feel that I have been very lucky lately, and today may be the time for me to get rich!" ”

"Let's try our luck, it doesn't matter if we lose, anyway, there are vouchers, and we don't have to lose money."

"Let's go, make a lot of money!"

"Come with me and register first." The soldier beckoned, and led a caravan of dozens of people to register.

When the registration was completed, the soldier told the caravan: "Leave your dangerous items here, and you can enter the city." These items will be returned to you when you leave the city. ”

"Dangerous goods?" The white businessmen were stunned.

"This is it." The soldier pointed to the guns and knives that many people were carrying, "Kentucky rifles, plain rifles, Boi knives, gunpowder...... These are. ”

"Isn't Sleeping Bear City a place to sell Browning pistols? How is it forbidden to bring guns? The white man questioned.

Soldier: "There is no contradiction between selling guns and banning them. ”

"You can buy Browning pistols from us, and you can buy weapons from other places, but you can't bring them into town."

Some whites blurted out, "How can this work, without weapons, who will keep us safe?" ”

"We." The soldier replied, "Anyone here will be protected by us—as long as you obey the law." ”

"Weapons don't protect you, in fact, it's weapons that put you in danger."

"When everyone is unarmed, the most you can do is a thief, not a robber with a knife and a gun."

The white man then added, "But you have weapons." ”

"We are soldiers and police." The soldier had apparently answered the question many times, "There must always be some people who are legally in possession of weapons." ”

"In that case, why can't I be the one who legally possesses weapons?"

"If it could be you or Mexican, would you be so fond of gunplay?"

"Nothing to do with it!" The American pointed to the weapons on the Apache soldiers, "Even if you want to ban weapons, you should ban all weapons, including yours." ”

"You can't just ban our weapons, but you have them yourself!"

The soldier asked rhetorically: "If even the weapons of the law enforcers are to be banned, then who will enforce the law against weapons?" ”

"Then don't ban weapons!"

"It's just going to bring chaos."

"It's freedom!"

Several impulsive whites refused to give up their weapons, and argued, and finally broke into the city with weapons in hand.

"Grab a few of them!" The surrounding Apache soldiers sprang into action and quickly subdued the whites who tried to break through with guns.

At the same time, the troops, trained a little farther away, responded at the call, and a hundred soldiers raised their dual-wielding Browning revolvers, aiming at everyone in the caravan.

"Lay down your arms!"

Looking at the barrels of the two hundred black holes, and the neat rebuke, the merchants were instantly stunned.

They hurriedly laid down their weapons and raised their hands in horror: "Surrender, we surrender!" ”

The soldiers collected their weapons and said, "This is not war, it's law and order — Americans, you don't seem to understand the difference." ”

……

The Plains tribes need to maintain stability within their territories, and they also need to coordinate the order outside.

Just like last time, Horse Whistle settled the matter of Greybird through negotiations with Donivan.

Since then, Sleeping Bear has largely become the representative of the Southwest Indians.

The Indian tribes recognized the status of Sleeping Bear, and Donivan also considered Sleeping Bear to be a civilized and easy object of communication.

The horse whistle also needed to expand its influence among the Indians.

So he took up the responsibility and became the representative of the Indians in the southwest region, communicating with the American army.

As long as there was a conflict between the Indians and the Americans, Sleeping Bear City would intervene to mediate, eliminate the conflict as much as possible, ensure peace and stability, and at the same time absorb the population and spread influence.

Soon, Sleeping Bear City began to mediate not only between the Indians and the Americans, but also between the various Indian races.

Even contradictions between whites.

For example, just a few days ago, there was a conflict between two white villages and towns not far northwest of Sleeping Bear City, and in the end, Ma Whistle personally intervened to help them resolve the conflict.

The basic principle of mediation is to act in accordance with the law, and the law according to it is, of course, the law of Sleeping Bear City.

More and more people know that the Great Chief of the Horse Sentry is a trustworthy mediator and a formidable inquisitor, and that Sleeping Bear is also a civilized city in good order.

Thanks to this, the expansion rate of Sleeping Bear City has always remained at an astonishing level.

It is not surprising that at least a few hundred people, thousands of people, move into the city every month, mostly Indians of all ethnic groups, but also a small number of whites.

The whites were predominantly skilled people such as stonemasons and blacksmiths, as well as the townspeople of Clarketown.

As the first white town to accept the influence of horse whistles, Clark Town naturally was the first to have a group of white converts.

The Spiritual Teachings are a crucial factor.

With the help of cheap public schools and hospitals, the shamans were able to preach among the poor quite smoothly.

As for the middle-level wage earners, although they don't feel much about it, the Spiritual Oracle Sect is still very attractive to them.

After all...... In the ideological core of the Spiritual Oracle Sect, there are actually quite a few red theories.

These red ideas are not utopian like Robert Owen, but a summary of later history, which is more vigorous.

Even, a very small number of diligent thinking workers, after being exposed to the ideas of the Spiritual Oracle, simply turned red.

After the reddening, he naturally abandoned some stubborn racist ideas, and was deeply attracted by the ideas of the Spiritual Oracle Sect and the large public economy of Sleeping Bear City, and was eager to join it.

The enthusiasm of these redders to join Sleeping Bear City is often very high, even higher than that of many Indians who come to join them.

In fact, Horse Whistle and Rainy Days had already begun to set out to train the first white shamans, to further instill in them knowledge and ideas, and to master the Apache language.

Of course, the whites with the highest degree of assimilation are not these reds, but the twenty white children at the beginning.

After more than two years of assimilation and adaptation, the twenty children have fully integrated into life in Sleeping Bear City, identifying themselves with the Apache or Sleeping Bears.

In Sleeping Bear City, the Apache have become an almost pure cultural identity, more akin to the concept of "civilized people".

In addition to self-identification, they are fluent in Apache.

Children are more sensitive to language than adults and learn naturally faster.

(End of chapter)