Winter goes to spring.

The year was 1847.

About four hundred kilometers northwest of Sleeping Bear City, an Indian clan lived here.

Compared to the vast majority of Native Americans who lived on safari, they looked no different.

Their faces were painted, feathers were tied around their heads, they were used to being topless, hunting on horseback, and living in conical tents......

Just a few years ago, however, they belonged to one of the most feared people in the West – the Arapahoe.

The Arapahoe were the most warlike Indian tribes, and they were feared by all tribes, and the whites had a headache.

For now, though, the Arapahoe people live a peaceful life, at least for this clan.

"Chief Raven, there's an Apache messenger outside." The Arapahoe reported to his chieftain.

This clan is none other than the Raven's clan.

"Apache messenger?" The crow was stunned.

"Yes, messenger of Sleeping Bear City."

"Let him in." The crow said immediately.

Soon he met the messenger from Sleeping Bear City, a young man dressed in jeans and a cotton coat.

"Hello, Honorable Raven Chief." The messenger said in Arapahoe, "I am the messenger of Sleeping Bear City, turning drums. ”

"Hello, drumming." The crow also said.

The two exchanged a few words of greetings, turned the drum and said, "Chief Crow, I have come this time to represent the Great Chief of the Horse Whistle and invite your tribe to participate in the Spring Festival ceremony in Sleeping Bear City. ”

"Spring Festival Festival?"

"Apache has made some adjustments to the traditional festival and set up a Chinese New Year as our most important festival. We will be holding a grand party on this festival and invite guests from all walks of life to attend, including you, and the most anticipated guest of the Great Chief of the Horse Whistle. ”

The crow hesitated slightly, and muttered, "Of course I am happy to go to the invitation of the Children of the Sky. However, the distance is long, and the tribe needs me, so I'm afraid I can't be there in person. ”

Drum turning: "If you can't go in person, you can send a messenger as well." ”

In mid-March, it was close to the vernal equinox.

"Little brute, how are those comedies I gave you doing?" The horse whistle questioned the little brute in the chieftain's hall as he buried his head in writing.

The little brute is sixteen years old, and he still hasn't grown much taller, and he still hasn't gotten rid of the name: "Don't worry, Great Chief, we've memorized the lines by now!" ”

Ma Sentry nodded: "There will be thousands of people attending the Spring Festival party, many of them from other tribes, including the Oak Grand Chief of the Chirikawa tribe...... Don't go wrong. ”

Many Indian tribes have Chinese New Year, and Apache also has it, and it's very important.

This is not surprising, for all human beings, the arrival of spring is a time to celebrate.

According to the new calendar, Ma Whistle set the time of various traditional festivals in Apache, and the Spring Festival was directly set on the day of the vernal equinox.

Strictly speaking, it is not according to the calendar, but according to the fact that the earth moves.

He defines the time of the Chinese New Year as the moment when the direct sunlight returns from the southern hemisphere to the equator.

If there is a change in the calendar in the future, there is no need to change this definition.

During this festival, Sleeping Bear City will host a grand party that lasts from day to night.

At the party, people will sing and dance, as well as comedy, martial arts competitions and other programs, which are very lively, similar to the Spring Festival Gala in later generations.

In addition to this, there is the oldest tradition - the reception of messengers.

Although the Indians were divided into tribal unions, tribes, and clans, most of the time, tribes and tribal unions did not actually exist.

People are scattered all over the place in the form of clans.

Only on major festivals or wars break out that a tribe or tribal alliance gathers, or at least sends emissaries.

Sleeping Bear City has gathered the Plains tribes, but the influence of the Plains tribes today is no longer limited to one tribe.

Most of the Indian tribes in the southwest will send envoys to attend the Spring Festival party held in Sleeping Bear City.

"There will be absolutely no deviations." The little brute patted his chest and promised, "If it comes out, I won't call it a little brute!" ”

Ma Whistle thought for a moment: "But you're a comedy show, it's not a big deal if something goes wrong, just laugh and laugh." ”

"Great Chief, do you want to play together?" The little beast asked expectantly.

"Nope." Ma Whistle said, "You have such a talent for comedy, just leave it to you." ”

"What is this?" The little brute looked at the manuscript that Ma Sentry was writing with his head down, and on it was English he didn't know very well, "What kind of gun is that?" ”

"No, it's another book I'm going to write." Ma Whistle said.

The little beast looked at the text on it: "Why does it seem to be all in English?" ”

"Because it's for the British." The horse whistle didn't explain much.

"Alright, you can go back and continue to prepare for the Spring Festival party, this is the first grand party since the population of Sleeping Bear City exceeded 10,000."

For the upcoming Spring Festival, the people of Sleeping Bear City have been busy for a while.

A few days before the vernal equinox, guests from the outside world arrived in Sleeping Bear City one after another to meet with the horse whistle.

The Apache tribes sent emissaries, and most of them were important people. Outside of Apache, many tribes or clans within a radius of several hundred kilometers have basically sent emissaries.

Counting the envoy's entourage, there were hundreds of people who came to participate in the Spring Festival.

"Great Chief, this is Manshi, the younger brother of the Raven Chief." Turning Drums returns from Arapahoe, and with him is Manshi, who has come to attend the Apache Spring Festival on behalf of the crows.

Ma Whistle was a little surprised by this.

After all, while Arapahoe had ceased to act at war, there was no internal disagreement, with some advocating peace and others advocating war, even after the defeat of the Trinity Alliance.

Some of the Arapaho people knew they couldn't beat the Apaches, but they still clamoured.

Against this backdrop, the crow will have some hesitation about attending the Apache festival and may refuse.

Unexpectedly, the crow still sent a messenger, and it was his younger brother, so it can be said that he was very sincere.

Man Shi is obviously the crow's younger brother, and his appearance is six or seven points similar.

"On behalf of my brother, I send you greetings and respect." Man Shi leaned over.

"Welcome." "Tomorrow is the Apache Spring Festival, and we will have a big party where all the guests, the indigenous people of all ethnic groups, will come together to enjoy the food, the singing and dancing," Ma Whistle said. ”

After the full stone, another guest surprised the horse whistle.

To be precise, this is a standard "uninvited guest".

"Hello, Grand Chief Albert, I'm John Brown, representing Colonel Donivan for the Spring Festival in Sleeping Bear City." Brown was a young lieutenant, looking twenty-six or seventeen years old.

First of all, the name made Ma Whistle's heart move and recall the history for a while.

John Brown.

The armed uprising led by a famous, radical, and even extreme abolitionist largely contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War.

However, it seems that this one in front of him is just a duplicate name, and although Horse Whistle doesn't know much about John Brown, he still intuitively feels that this is just a duplicate name.

John Brown should be a lot older than the lieutenant in front of him.

And this lieutenant seems a bit bookish, nine times out of ten he is the same kind of person as Donifan, and may support abolition, but by no means the kind of radical who is willing to fight for abolition.

More important is the judgment of probability - there are too many names of bad streets like John Brown, and it is estimated that there are thousands in the United States.

"On the Colonel's orders, I also brought some gifts." Lt. Brown said, "Including some champagne." ”

"Lieutenant Brown, we don't seem to have invited you, or Colonel Donivan." Ma Whistle said lightly.

"Indeed." Lieutenant Brown smiled, "But Colonel Donivan thinks he should send you holiday wishes, don't you welcome it?" ”

The horse whistle is really not welcome.

The festival was for the Indians of all ethnic groups, with the implicit intention of uniting the indigenous people against the colonizers.

He certainly did not want the Americans to participate in such an event to unite the Indians, although he had a good impression of Donivan, and the lawyer-turned-officer was more reasonable and easy to get along with.

But everyone is here, tomorrow is the Spring Festival, and it's not good to send it back.

And Brown brought some gifts.

So Ma Whistle finally gave face: "Of course welcome, Lieutenant Brown, this festival will have a lot of rare singing, dancing and food, I hope you can have a good time." ”

"Thank you." Lieutenant Brown said.

Next.

On the day when the sun shines directly on the equator, at the time of the spring equinox, the Spring Festival party belonging to the sleeping bear city is officially held.

In the square, guests from the outside world, as well as many Sleeping Bear City residents, huddled together in anticipation of the show amid fireworks and bonfires.

There are also many people gathered outside the square, at least a few relatives and neighbors gather together to eat, like the Chinese New Year, which is very lively.

At the request of many clansmen, the drinking houses serve some cheap drinks to the adults to satisfy the thirsty drunkards.

But in general, drinking is still very little, at least no one gets drunk.

Except for one person – John Brown.

Not only did the whistle not impose any restrictions on John Brown's drinking, but even encouraged several people to take turns pouring the wine, so that he brought his champagne and sold it himself.

Naturally, I don't want Brown to get too much information about this grand event, and preferably nothing.

The plan went well, and Lieutenant Brown did not resist the temptation of champagne, was heavily drunk, and finally collapsed drunk in the audience, bragging to himself.

The gathering took place as scheduled.

Ma Whistle was still the host of the whole party, and on rainy days, the two took turns to play.

There weren't many opening lines or anything, most people didn't like to listen to these things, and after a short speech, followed by a song.

“…… Friends and friends, let's enjoy the choral song "Unity is Strength". The whistle announced.

"I'm going to lead the song, and we'll have our band accompaniment."

The Apache band's lineup was further upgraded to include a trumpet and a piano in addition to drums and flutes.

The piano was bought from the east and hired a white pianist, who is now on the field.

"Ready—up!" The horse whistle waved.

"Unity is strength, unity is strength, this strength is iron, this strength is steel, harder than iron, stronger than steel......"

Like the Chinese version, the song is almost impossible to read.

Anyone who has heard it before can't help but sing along.

The first sentence is still sung by dozens of people, and the second sentence is sung by all the sleeping bear people in the square.

After a few words, people who had never heard the song began to hum along to the rhythm.

"Unity is strength......," the Oak Chief, who sat in the front row of the audience, hummed along, and then looked at the sleepy man beside him, "Is this a song made up by the horse?" ”

"Of course, almost all the songs are." The sleepy man said, singing along excitedly, "The Great Chief created everything. ”

Oak touched his chin and fell into deep thought, but after a while he began to hum along: "Unity is strength......

The song spread throughout the city, almost everyone sang along, and thousands of songs quickly ignited the festive atmosphere.

This atmosphere was maintained until the evening.

Residents and thousands of people from all ethnic groups gathered in the square outside the Chief's Hall to watch the performance.

Outside the square, the Apache people also gather in groups to enjoy food, music in the distance, and duel cards, and the whole city is filled with a cheerful air.

The last program was the chorus of the army, and the song was an adaptation of "When That Day Comes", which is Ma Sentinel's favorite military song.

The Apache soldiers performed as much as a chorus and a military parade.

Soldiers in uniform appeared in neat and powerful steps, a hundred people, but they cooperated like a heavy and delicate machine.

Armed with swords and guns, they were majestic and high-spirited, and after they stood still, they sang in unison, and their majestic singing voices came like a wave.

"Are you ready!

"Brothers, soldiers!"

"Don't worry, tribe!"

"Don't worry, dear!"

"I want to go forward bravely for the sake of victory!"

The Sleeping Bear people were accustomed to their military style, but the Indians of all ethnic groups had never seen such a scene, and they were almost stunned on the spot.

No one doubts the combat effectiveness of such an army.

Including Lieutenant Brown, who could barely understand the lyrics, and the alcohol had left him unconscious, but it still didn't stop him from being blown away by the majestic chorus of Apache warriors.

He knows that the vast majority of American troops are far from having such momentum, like steel.

In addition to the abundance of food and entertainment, the Spring Festival gathering is also an important diplomatic event.

Yes, just like the Olympics in later generations, it is a great opportunity to show yourself to the outside world.

The Indian envoys who came to watch were all amazed by the majesty, richness and prosperity of Sleeping Bear City, and were impressed by the unique cultural style of Sleeping Bear City.

The day after the party.

The Grand Chief of Oak came to the sentry and hesitated, "I think we can talk about your proposal last time." ”

(End of chapter)