Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 238: Tribal Conflict, the Natives Frightened Away at the Sound of Gunfire [Please Subscribe]

Zhang Cheng thought that Lei Ming couldn't hold back and wanted to take advantage of the absence of the young and strong people in the native tribe to cause trouble, so he prepared to dissuade him.

Unexpectedly, when Lei Ming came over, he whispered, "The secret sentry to the east just reported an urgent report. A group of native men are coming, about a hundred of them. They are not friendly. Let's retreat quickly."

"A hundred people?" Zhang Cheng was surprised. "This tribe only has a few dozen households, and there are still some men, young and old, left behind. How could there still be over a hundred men?"

Lei Ming had participated in the war against the Miao people in Huguang and had some experience in this area. He said, "Most likely they are not men from this tribe, but are here to attack this place."

After saying that, he told the soldiers to take the baskets of wild fruits and a few leather bags and retreat, pulling Zhang Cheng with him into the forest...

When the old chief Bai Xiong saw the stranger who suddenly appeared said a few words to Zhang Cheng, he took Zhang Cheng and others away. Although he was confused, he relaxed.

Although there were only ten people who came before, they were all young and strong men. Moreover, with his knowledge, he could tell at a glance that these strange men were all powerful warriors.

Therefore, he was always worried during the previous transactions, fearing that the other party would take advantage of the absence of the young and strong men in the tribe to break in and rob.

Fortunately, the other party came for trade, and the item of trade was something good like salt.

It is said that only the huge tribe in the east knows how to obtain salt, and other large, medium and small tribes can only get a little occasionally through trade.

Ever since he was young and migrated with his tribe to this westernmost coastal area to escape enemies, he has not seen salt for decades. For decades, they have relied on drinking animal blood to supplement salt.

Unexpectedly, he saw salt again today, and it was much finer and tasted better than the salt he had seen when he was young.

In addition, the clothes and weapons of these strange men were very strange, something White Bear had never seen before.

However, he did not ask rashly. Firstly, the two sides did not speak the same language and it was difficult to communicate such a complicated issue. Secondly, such a question could easily offend the other party and cause hostility.

White Bear was not satisfied with just a small bag of salt - salt not only allows the people in the tribe to replenish salt, but is also a hard currency that all tribes on this land are willing to exchange.

Just as he was about to make a few more exchanges, he noticed a few strange men appearing from behind.

The tallest and strongest scarred man among them made him feel extremely dangerous, a sense of danger even greater than that of the male polar bear he had faced in his youth.

So his body immediately tensed up.

Fortunately, this man also had no intention of attacking the tribe, but instead took everyone away with him.

White Bear returned to the stone wall and instructed everyone, "Except for the elderly and children, everyone else should remain vigilant. Patrol the stone wall and keep a close eye on the outside. Tell me immediately if there is any movement."

He was worried that those strange and strong men would be like a cunning pack of wolves, pretending to retreat first and then returning to kill their prey when they were careless.

After White Bear finished giving his instructions, he was about to return to the house to study the small packet of salt and the bag it contained when he heard the young crow exclaim, "Chief, there are many people coming from the east!"

Bai Xiong was shocked and thought to himself: Were those strange men really enemies?
He reached the stone wall with an agility that was not in line with his age, and looked to the east. Only then did he realize that the people coming were not the strange strangers from before, but a large group of people dressed similarly to them.

"They are from the Apache tribe!" After seeing the appearance of the leader in front, White Bear suddenly looked extremely solemn.

The Apache tribe lived less than half a day's journey northeast of their tribe. There were one or two hundred adult men in it, making it one of the larger tribes in the area.

When White Bear first led the tribe to migrate to this area, the Apache tribe was still headed by an old chief, and there were only about a hundred men. After the transaction, they kindly instructed him to settle down in the west.

But when the old chief of the Apache tribe went to meet their ancestors, the old chief's son Eagle Claw took over and the friendship between the two sides was no longer friendly, and there was constant friction between the two sides.

Three years ago, during a hunting conflict, his son Little White Bear killed Eagle Claw, and the two tribes became mortal enemies.

Although Eagle Claw is dead, the Apache tribe is still strong. White Bear once thought about moving the tribe elsewhere, but unfortunately he is old, so he has to convince Little White Bear about this. However, Little White Bear has his own ideas and does not agree.

So the migration was delayed.

Today, the Apache chief is Eagle Claw's son, the young but ruthless Hawkeye, who is the leader of this group.

Hawkeye soon brought a large group of tribal warriors to a place within an arrow's reach to the east of the stone wall. Then a man covered in blood was pushed out with his arms tied behind his back and fell to the ground.

White Bear's eyesight was not dim, and he recognized the man immediately. He couldn't help but exclaimed, "My son!"

Others inside the stone wall also exclaimed, "Young Chief!"

The little polar bear was seriously injured. He lay on the ground with a face full of pain and unable to speak.

Hawkeye shouted, "Old White Bear, we killed all the hunting warriors from your tribe. Even the brave Little White Bear was captured by us!"

"The day of your White Bear tribe's demise has come—if you don't want us to kill all your women and children, open the wooden door and surrender to the Apache tribe!"

Although White Bear realized that something might have happened to the tribal warriors who were hunting when he saw the little white bear, he still felt dizzy and almost fell down when he heard that the warriors had been killed.

The tribesmen all showed expressions of grief, anger and panic.

"No..." The little polar bear lying on the ground finally turned over and uttered a voice with difficulty, "Hawkeye will not leave anyone alive..."

Hearing this, Hawkeye's face suddenly changed. He stepped forward and stepped on the little polar bear: "You ruined my plan. I will kill you first to avenge my father!"

After saying that, the wooden spear in his hand directly pierced the little white bear's neck!

"My son!" the white bear cried out in pain.

But Hawkeye let go of the wooden spear, pulled out an arrow and shot it towards this side!

Fortunately, the polar bear was still alert and narrowly avoided the attack.

Seeing this, Hawkeye waved his hand, "Go in and kill all the old men! Kill all the men taller than your thighs!"

Suddenly, nearly a hundred Apache warriors shot arrows into the stone wall or rushed in to throw spears! Although all the men from the White Bear tribe who went hunting had died, there were still a dozen men in the tribe. If you include men like White Bear who were too old to hunt, there were more than twenty men left.

There are more than ten teenagers who have not yet grown to the height of an adult's shoulders.

Add to that dozens of young and strong women who can also shoot arrows and throw spears, and there is actually still a fighting force of nearly a hundred people.

Therefore, they were not defeated by the Apaches at once, but instead fought back with grief and anger, relying on shelters such as stone walls.

In this way, an offensive and defensive battle between Indian tribes took place in the mountains of Seattle at the end of the fourteenth century...
In the dense forest a few dozen steps away, Zhang Cheng, Lei Ming and other Ming Dynasty soldiers were watching this scene indifferently.

As soldiers who had only been in the Ming Dynasty for over a decade, they had experienced countless battles and were accustomed to life and death. Naturally, they would not be too emotionally affected by the village-level "war" in front of them.

However, Lei Ming licked his lips, showing a hint of excitement, and the scar on his face was twisting like a living centipede.

"Zhang Cheng, this is our chance - judging from what happened just now, most of the men from this tribe who went out hunting were killed by another tribe, and then they took advantage of the situation and attacked us."

"If we can help them drive away the enemy, the remaining widows and young ladies in the tribe will have no choice but to follow us!"

Zhang Cheng frowned slightly and said, "The people can be saved—the three things we just traded are most likely grown by this tribe. The wild fruits and dried fruits are fine, but the beans might be a new crop not found in the Ming Dynasty!"

"Then won't we be able to accomplish great things?" Lei Ming was surprised to hear this.

"good."

"Then what are you hesitating about? You and I, each with our own small flags, will charge out from both sides and fire a round of musketry to see if we can scare off the natives from the other tribe."

"If not, then lead them into the woods and hunt them slowly!"

"No problem, let's do it."

After discussing it, the two of them immediately took their own flags and acted separately.

Although they had only twenty people and the other side had nearly a hundred people, and all of them were capable native warriors, Zhang Cheng and Lei Ming were still confident - they were elite spies of the Ming army, well-versed in swords, spears and armor, how could they be defeated by a group of natives using wooden bows, bone arrows, wooden spears and stone axes?

···
Hawkeye shot another arrow and finally hit the white bear.

His young, long face, painted with makeup, was suddenly filled with excitement as he shouted, "I shot down the old polar bear. The others are powerless. Follow me and charge in!"

After shouting, he rushed towards the stone wall with a wooden spear!
The other Apache warriors also let out wild beast-like howls and rushed forward!

"Don't let them rush into the wall, stop them!" The white bear struggled to get up, shouting and trying to throw a stone axe.

The remaining dozen or so adult men of the White Bear Tribe bravely used wooden spears to stab the stone wall, and the teenagers and young women also rushed forward to fight desperately.

In the short time that both sides clashed in close combat at the stone wall, several people were killed or wounded on each side!
After all, the White Bear Tribe lacked warriors and could not resist at all. Soon Hawkeye and his men climbed over the stone wall!
Seeing that the White Bear tribe had lost the support of the stone wall and was about to fall into a one-sided massacre, a series of crisp snapping sounds suddenly came from both sides of the Apaches' back!
However, it was Zhang Cheng and other Ming army spies who finally completed the tactical deployment, approached within thirty or forty steps, and fired a round of bird guns.

Because they were so close, more than a dozen Apache soldiers were shot and killed in an instant.

The remaining Apache warriors also looked back with surprise and confusion.

But I saw a group of strange men holding strange weapons retreating into the woods.

Because they did not see the scene of the bird gun being fired with their own eyes, Hawkeye and others were not afraid.

Hawkeye retreated outside the stone wall and shouted, "They must be other men from the White Bear Tribe. There aren't many of them, no more than the fingers on two hands and two feet. Wolf Tail, take a similar number of warriors and go hunt them down!"

"Don't worry, Chief. I will hunt them all down like a mature wolf!"

After saying that, he continued to call people - because there was no system, he could only call them one by one.

However, before Langwei could finish shouting, Zhang Cheng, Lei Ming and others loaded their muskets, came out of the woods and fired another round.

This time, Hawkeye, Wolftail and most other Apache warriors finally saw the scene of being fired with bird guns.

The strange fire and smoke, and the soldiers falling down inexplicably, made everyone who saw it look shocked, and then panicked.

"Devil! They must have been sent by the devil!"

Some timid Apache warriors were so frightened that they shouted and ran away subconsciously.

The Apaches had no such thing as military regulations. The others were already afraid, so when they saw this, they also ran away.

Even Chief Hawkeye was no exception - his mind was still confused at this moment.

As for Langwei, he was shot dead by Zhang Cheng.

Seeing the Apache warriors fleeing in disarray, Zhang Cheng, Lei Ming and others did not let them go. Instead, they divided into groups and chased and shot them with bows and arrows.

After chasing them for several miles and shooting and killing dozens of people, they blew the whistle and retreated.

However, when Lei Ming, Zhang Cheng and others returned to the vicinity of the mound, they found that there were no natives standing in the stone wall, as if they had all disappeared!

Lei Ming frowned and cursed, "Damn it, could it be that the natives of this tribe have also been scared away?"

　First update.

　　I won’t go into detail after writing about the Seattle native tribe.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)