1840 Indian Rebirth

Chapter 16 [Stirrups]

The structure of the stirrup is not complicated, so that it is often surprising that it appeared so late—such a simple and practical thing did not appear until the Western Jin Dynasty.

Anyone who has ever seen a stirrup can reproduce it easily.

The only trouble is with the material.It's still an old problem. The Indians are a stone society, and they don't know how to smelt metal, and the serious stirrups have metal structures.

There will be no suitable metal for a while, so the horse whistle has to be replaced by wooden boards, which can also be made, but the durability is poor.

For cavalry, the role of stirrups is self-evident.With this seemingly inconspicuous tool, the cavalry's adaptability to horseback will be greatly improved.

But it is a pity that the Indians did not fully understand the value of stirrups, or even did not understand them at all. Even if all white cavalry were equipped with stirrups, few Indian tribes were willing to follow suit.

To a certain extent, it can be said that this is the arrogance of the horseback nation.

In a very short time after the introduction of horses to the American continent, the hunting Indians quickly evolved into a mature horseback nation. Even without stirrups, their riding skills were not inferior to the whites.

In their view, stirrups are a sign of lowly cavalry. Real cavalry don't need stirrups, not even saddles.

This view is undoubtedly blind.

Ma Shao believes that there is no natural horseback nation at all, and the reason why Indians can quickly adapt to horseback is entirely due to the fit of social forms.

In more developed civilizations, the pillars of society are agriculture and industry, and workers and peasants have almost no chance to touch horseback.And many Indians, as safari people, were born to live with horses. In this case, it is strange that they cannot adapt to horseback.

The lack of materials and the arrogance of this mentality have caused the Indians to fail to popularize stirrups, which has dragged down their combat effectiveness.

Whistle didn't have that mindset and knew how to look for alternatives, so as soon as he got his own horse, he decided to make stirrups and saddles.

As for the saddle, don't worry just yet.

One is that the role of the saddle is less, and although the Indians do not have a saddle, they at least have a "horse pad", that is, a simple leather pad on the horse's back; secondly, the manufacture of the saddle is more troublesome than the stirrup up.

The simplest stirrup only needs a leather ring to function, but if the saddle is not done well, it will hurt the horse's back and hurt the buttocks, so it is better to have no.

After tossing for a short time, the horse whistle successfully made a pair of stirrups and installed them on Hei Feng's body.

He rode it for a try, and felt that it saved a lot of effort. He nodded in satisfaction and decided to promote it in the clan.

"Hey, isn't this something used by white people?" The little beast looked at it and suddenly recognized the stirrups. "Brother Whistle, why are you learning from those white people? Their riding skills are worse than my sister's."

"I'll give you one tomorrow, just try it and you'll know." Ma Whistle didn't say much, the fact of this thing speaks louder than words.

"Impossible, I will never imitate the white man's way of riding a horse!" The little beast said disapprovingly, "Even if it is really useful, I will not use it, I would rather fall off the horse!"

the next day.

The little animal rode a pony with simple stirrups on it, walked around the camp, and couldn't help being pleasantly surprised: "It's really easy to use!"

Under the active promotion of the horse post, the Sleeping Bear clan quickly accepted the stirrup and became a must-have horse gear.

Looking at the warriors of the Sleeping Bear clan equipped with simple stirrups and improved bows and arrows, a thought flashed through Ma Shuo's mind: Could this be the most elite warrior of the Indians right now?

No, after all, some Indians in the east are already proficient in using firearms, and even created a writing system, so their strength should be stronger.

Of course, the Indians in the east were hit harder because they were easier to contact with the whites, and many of them had been scattered and driven to reservations.

The densest Indian reservation is just a few hundred kilometers to the south of the area where the Sleeping Bear Clan is located. Later generations will call it Oklahoma.

Although the soldiers of the Sleeping Bear Clan were not the most elite Indian fighters, they could definitely be regarded as a team with outstanding strength after this equipment improvement.

Thinking of this, Ma Shao couldn't help sighing secretly.

It's a long way to go...

……

America in 1844 was not peaceful.

The conflict centered on the relationship between the United States and Mexico.

In the early years, Mexico relaxed its immigration policy in order to develop the sparsely populated Texas. As a result, a large number of Americans entered Texas, completely changing the local population structure.

Americans have become the mainstream of the Texas population, and the US government certainly will not miss this opportunity.

Therefore, under the cooperation of the inside and the outside, in 1836, Texas successfully separated from Mexico and established the "Lone Star Republic".

Since then, the Lone Star Country has been trying to integrate into the United States, but due to various reasons, it has not been able to do so. Until this year, the United States and the Lone Star Country finally reached an agreement to merge.

To be precise, the President of the United States and the Lone Star Nation have reached an agreement, but the US Congress has not yet agreed.

As long as the U.S. Congress agrees, it will be done.

And once the Lone Star Country becomes the state of Texas in the United States, the conflict between the United States and Mexico is bound to intensify, and many people have faintly smelled the breath of a war.

At the same time, the world of North American Indians was in turmoil.

The Arapaho, the most warlike of the Indian tribes, once again attacked the tribes of the South.

As one of the main enemies of the Arapaho people, the Apaches were not immune.

"It's going to be another war with the Arapaho..." The old chief sighed at the clan meeting.

"Need to go to the Horde?" Someone asked.

"Definitely." The shaman Stone Crow nodded. "Because we were attacked by the whites, the chief of the tribe allowed us to recuperate. Now we don't have this privilege. We have to fight against the Arapaho together with other clans again."

"How many people should we send this time?"

"How about 30 people?"

The old chief shook his head directly: "Too many, maybe 20 people... We haven't recovered yet, the great chief should not blame us."

The Sleeping Bear clan recovered very well, but the chief was a person who opposed war, especially this kind of war between Indians, so naturally he sent as few soldiers as possible.

Shi Ya nodded: "Then let me lead the team with 20 people."

Then he looked at the horse post: "Do you want to join, to fight the Arapaho?"

"Of course." The horse whistle did not refuse.

Stone Crow: "Every mature warrior needs to endure the test of war. I believe this experience will make you grow a lot, and—"

His words stopped abruptly, as if something interrupted his thoughts.

"What's wrong, teacher?" Ma Shao couldn't help asking.

　New books for collection and recommendation.

　　


(End of this chapter)