1840 Indian Rebirth

Chapter 171 [Private armed forces]

In this war, although Mexico's overall strength is not as good as that of the United States, Santa Anna still has to bear some responsibility for Mexico's failure.

To strengthen centralization, Santa Ana untimely weakened Mexico's local military.

As a result, when the US military invaded, the resistance of the Mexican state soldiers was often extremely weak, and they even surrendered altogether.

After the war began, Mexico rushed to re-strengthen the local army.

But unfortunately, it was too late. Even if the number of soldiers could be recovered quickly, the recovery of combat power would not be completed in a short while.

Within two years, Mexico was completely defeated, and half of the country was taken by the United States.

These lands have not been formally ceded, but everyone knows that the meat eaten will not be spit out again.

Polk's heart is well known to passers-by.

Everyone knows the current US president's desire for expansion. This workaholic president will definitely expand the territory of the United States as much as possible.

"Santa Anna has always brought disasters to Mexico, and now it has plunged the country into a bottomless abyss. How dare you compare yourself to Napoleon!" Juarez had a big opinion on Santa Anna.

"He proudly said that he is the Napoleon of the Western Hemisphere, but I don't think he resembles Napoleon at all except that he was exiled!"

"I hope he will never come back after this time!" Juarez took a sip of his wine.

"As far as I know, Santa Anna seems to have served as president many times? Maybe ten times?" Ma Shao asked.

“Yes, the situation in Mexico is turbulent, it’s not a big deal, and it’s not uncommon for two presidents to change in one month. Many of Santa Anna’s terms were only a few months or shorter.” Juarez said.

After a pause, he sighed again: "But I must also admit that the people have not completely abandoned him."

"He was seen as a hero in the first place - when Mexico became independent. Today, after this tragic and humiliating defeat, he is still seen as a hero."

The horse whistle was silent for a moment: "People are always nostalgic."

"Yeah." Juárez nodded, "but nostalgia is terrible sometimes, at least Santa Anna is not worthy of our nostalgia, he should be completely discarded, just like we discard the sludge on our clothes!"

Ma Shao smiled and said meaningfully: "There is no doubt that the Mexican people need a new leader."

Juarez smiled and said nothing.

Later, Margherita came into the room: "It's time for dinner, Benito."

"Okay honey," Juarez replied.

Then he said, "Let's have dinner together, Whistle."

"my pleasure."

Mashao and Juárez had dinner and tasted some Oaxaca specialties.

This city has some food genes, at least much richer than the Mexican food he had seen in the previous two months.

The next day, Horse Post began to form the Mexican branch of the Apache News Agency in Oaxaca.

Thanks to the help of Governor Juarez, the process went very smoothly, especially in terms of procedures, which can be described as a green light all the way, so the legal news agency was established very quickly.

Then, the news agency also needs a house.

"Come with me, Horse Whistle. Not far to the north of the official residence, someone is selling his house. I think it should be suitable for a newspaper office." Juarez personally took the Horse Whistle to choose the office location of the news agency.

Soon they came to their destination, a residential area near the north of the governor's mansion.

"Fernandez, is your house sold?" Juarez asked from a distance, and then a middle-aged man in front of him turned around.

"Not yet, Mr. Governor." Fernandez greeted.

Juarez smiled: "That's right, I found a buyer for you, Mashao, you can talk about it."

"Hello, Mr. Fernandez." The horse whistle greeted this person, while looking at the house behind him.

"Are you going to buy a house?" Fernandez asked.

"That's right." Ma Shao nodded, "This seems to be your home?"

Fernandez: "Yes, but I'm planning to move out and probably won't come back. So before I leave Oaxaca, I have to sell this house. How, do you want to live in this house ?”

Horse Whistle: "I didn't buy it to live in."

"Isn't a house just for living in?" Fernandez disagreed, "Or do you plan to transform this house into a shop?"

"Almost." Said the horse whistle, walked around the house, and then entered it to observe.

He was quite satisfied with the house.

The area is spacious, and the decoration suits his wishes. Although it is not gorgeous, it is simple and elegant. More importantly, it is located next to the governor's mansion.

"It looks good." Horse Whistle said, "How much are you going to sell it for? Dollars are the best. I have quite a few gold coins."

"For U.S. dollars, um... [-] U.S. dollars." Fernandez said, "It must be gold or silver coins. I don't accept banknotes, unless they are from those big banks and you are willing to discount them."

Juarez said at this time: "Fernandez, five thousand three hundred dollars, I think it is a bit expensive."

Fernandez hesitated: "Mr. Governor, you should understand that this is the housing price nearby, neither high nor low."

Juarez: "Yes, but you also know that very few people want to buy a house these days."

Fernandez: "Of course, because of the war. But the war is over and I'm sure things will change soon."

"That house is also for sale. It's not even as big as mine, but it's about a hundred dollars more expensive." He pointed to a house not far away.

Ma Shao said: "Sell it to me for five thousand dollars, it will be more convenient to settle the accounts, what do you think?"

For Apache, which is sitting on a gold mine, more than $5000 is not worth mentioning, but it is not a loss to cut three hundred dollars in a few words, not to mention showing wealth is not a good thing.

Fernandez hesitated for two seconds, and finally nodded: "Well, for Mr. Governor's sake, it's only five thousand dollars."

Juarez smiled.

"By the way, I don't accept banknotes." Fernandez emphasized again.

Horse whistle: "Don't worry, I don't even have banknotes."

After a short inspection and bargaining, the sale was successfully completed.For $[-], Horse Whistle bought Fernandez's house.

The next step is to remodel.

However, the house is well-decorated and comes with furniture, so you don't need to spend too much thought.The Apaches furnished the house a little and made it a news agency branch.

Twelve Apaches will remain here, including two official editors.

The remaining ten were soldiers.

Changmao is the president here, responsible for managing everything here.

The soldiers sent to the Mexican branch were all screened and had good writing skills.

They not only perform security duties, but also trainee newspaper editors and reporters, assisting Changmao in handling news and intelligence.

In addition to various daily utensils, the most important items in the branch are books, which are all books selected by the horse sentry, mainly natural science and history.

By leaving Sleeping Bear, the Apaches are undoubtedly out of the best learning environment, and they still have a lot to learn.

These collections are a kind of compensation.

It's definitely not as good as Sleeping Bear's class, but it's better than not learning at all.

Of course, there is also the essential one. Almost every Apache man, woman, and child has a copy of the "Spiritual Oracle", which is the most important teaching material.

"Lingyu" concentrated the most core viewpoints of Ma Shao, and also concentrated a set of knowledge structure that is not advanced but quite complete.

In Ma Shao's view, if anyone can fully understand and agree with the content of this book, leaving aside a small amount of religious elements, then he is no different from his own clone.

"These books are very good." Juarez flipped through the library of the news agency, holding a book about the Pythagorean school in his hand, "Although I don't know much about mathematics."

Ma Whistle pointed to the bookshelf: "Most of these mathematics and natural science books do not require advanced knowledge. Strictly speaking, they should be regarded as subject history."

"History of the subject?"

Ma Shao nodded: "Yes, the history of mathematics, the history of physics...and of course the history of society and politics, that is, history in the general sense."

"It can be seen that you are a history buff." Juarez smiled.

Ma Shao: "Hegel said that philosophy is the history of philosophy. I think this sentence can be extended to all disciplines."

"It is impossible to understand mathematics and physics without knowing the history of mathematics and physics, nor chemistry, biology or law."

"An important reason why Faraday was able to achieve the scientific achievements that people know today is that he had a deep understanding of the history of science in his early years."

When Ma Shao was a high school physics teacher in his previous life, he always attached great importance to the history of physics.

For him, it is not difficult to teach the physics score of any class to be the first in the grade.

The real challenge is to give students a deep understanding of the history of physics.

There are a lot of content about the history of science in textbooks. For example, the experience of Faraday he just mentioned is the content in physics textbooks.

Unfortunately, there are not many teachers and students who value the history of science.

Or to a certain extent, it can be said that there are not many teachers and students who have the spare energy to deeply understand the history of science.

The exam is almost impossible to test, at most one or two multiple-choice questions, such as "Which of the following experiments shows the existence of atomic nuclei" and so on.

In the long run, the history of science is precisely what matters.

After all, for the vast majority of people, those troublesome formulas and problem-solving skills will be left behind and forgotten soon after leaving campus.

In other words, formulas and problem-solving skills are knowledge that depreciates extremely quickly.

Not so with the history of science.

The history of science is generally a story, less involving formulas, more suitable for human memory, and not easy to be forgotten.

More importantly, the history of science can better understand the nature of science.

People who know nothing about the history of science tend to look at science from the perspective of mysticism, and regard science as some kind of indescribable new age witchcraft.

A common example is that some people often regard science as a religion or superstition.

But anyone who has a little understanding of the history of science knows that the history of science is a history of self-questioning, and the predecessors of science are used to overthrow it, which is fundamentally different from religion.

Scientists can say that they are closer to the truth than their predecessors, and even say that their predecessors are wrong, but the magician will never dare to claim that he is better than the prophet on any level.

The term "superstitious science" is like "a triangle with four sides", which is a self-contradictory expression, and the two words should not be combined at all.

Horse Whistle never expected most Apaches to be mathematicians and physicists, or to master complex problem-solving skills, nor did it need to be.

But the history of science is essential.

In his opinion, only by making the history of science the common sense of the Apache people and letting the Apache people know how the truth came about can it be possible to truly save this nation.

In particular, those trial and error experiences in the history of science are extremely valuable lessons, applicable to almost all problems.

It is not very meaningful to just let the Apache people have stronger material weapons, overthrow the United States, and achieve a simple revenge.

Juarez looked at the Apache soldiers who were moving furniture, especially the weapons on them, and said after a while, "Are they all soldiers?"

"Yes." Ma Shao nodded, paying attention to his expression.

Juarez pondered: "Although I personally don't care much about these, after all, I also know that you all have the tradition of being soldiers... However, I still hope that you will not carry weapons, at least not rifles."

Horse Whistle: "The rifle is indeed a bit conspicuous, and they will definitely not go out with it in the future."

"I think pistols are essential. They need self-defense. And in critical moments, these weapons may also help you, Juarez."

"Oh?"

Juarez's expression moved slightly.

The horse whistle continued: "These soldiers only obey my orders, but I will definitely not stay in Oaxaca for a long time."

"In my absence, my friend, you are their supreme commander. They will serve you as they serve me."

Juarez is governor and can mobilize Oaxaca's military.

But the reason why Oaxaca's army is willing to obey Juarez's orders is simply because he is the governor.

If he is not the governor, these state soldiers will naturally no longer obey him, and it is not surprising that they even turn around and attack him.

In other words, the state government's military is loyal to the governor, but not to Juarez.

Regardless of his official position, Juarez himself has no powerful force, at least not one armed force loyal to him.

But now, the horse post is equivalent to lending him such a private armed force. Although the number is not large, it is obviously the elite of the elite, ten high-quality soldiers.

As the horse whistle said, at critical moments, this private armed force will be able to help Juarez.

Juarez naturally understood the truth, and smiled immediately: "I believe these warriors, they will definitely become an important force to maintain the order in Oaxaca!"

(End of this chapter)