1840 Indian Rebirth

Chapter 172 [Buying Cannons]

The horse sentry stayed in Oaxaca for a few days to arrange the manpower of the news agency branch.

In addition to the previous twelve Apaches, the news agency had several more Mexicans.

Several Mexicans were recommended by Juarez.

Among them were Indians and whites, who would assist the Apaches in distributing newspapers.

"Sanchez, you used to be a lawyer?" Sanchez was one of the few people recommended to him by Juarez. Judging from his facial features, he was obviously of mixed race, both Indian and white.

"Yes, I'm one of Governor Juarez's assistants." Sanchez was in his early 30s, beardless, dressed in formal attire, and looked urbane.

Ma Sen asked: "Have you ever served in the state government?"

"No ... I mean, when Governor Juarez was a lawyer, I was one of his assistants. He was a lawyer before," Sanchez explained.

Ma Shao nodded, and said after a while: "Although you were recommended to me by Mr. Governor, I still want to investigate you. I hope you can understand."

"Of course." Sanchez said, "I believe I can pass the inspection. In fact, my coming here is the result of my initiative and the governor's request."

"Oh?" Ma Shao was slightly surprised, "Why do you ask for this?"

"I know the story of Apache, your story." Sanchez's expression fluctuated, looking a little excited, "I have to say, you are a legend."

The horse whistle smiled, and then asked: "Sanchez, can you tell me your views on the aborigines, or the Indians. For example, why do you think the aborigines lag behind the whites?"

Sanchez thought for a while: "My father is white and my mother is Zapotec... As far as my experience is concerned, I think it is because the vast majority of Indians have no writing, only a little sign language, and without writing, they cannot record and transfer knowledge."

"Then why do you think Indians don't have writing?" Ma Whistle asked again.

Sanchez hesitated and said: "I don't quite understand this either. After all, I don't know how words were born. Maybe the words were born by accident."

The horse whistle didn't ask any more questions.

Attributing the creation of writing to accident is actually a good answer for a person who has not been trained in historical materialism.

After all, faced with such problems, many contemporaries tended to resort to strange things, such as ghosts and gods, or racial racism, thinking that white people have writing and Indians do not because white people are inherently superior.

Even if it is made up, people always have to find some reason. The factor of "accidental" is not so easy to be paid attention to, although many things are accidental.

"Sanchez, do you have the habit of writing?" Horse Whistle hoped that the editor of the newspaper had at least some interest in writing. "Or, do you have any ready-made articles that you can show me and my translator."

"Yes, I will write a diary, mainly about the case." Sanchez took out the diary and handed it to the horse post.

It can be seen that Juarez is extremely concerned about the Apache News Agency, and even has some intentions to plan for a rainy day.

Probably, he has certain expectations about his future choices and encounters.

After all, he had always been a staunch opponent of Santa Anna, and a rather radical reformer.

If you want to fight dictators and conservatives, you should naturally hold back.

Otherwise, even if one day he committed suicide with twenty shots in his body, it would not be impossible...

In fact, in the original history, after a few years, Juarez will go into exile for a period of time and work to survive.

As Juarez said, these Mexicans who entered the news agency are excellent writers who can write moving articles in Spanish.

Of course, the horse whistle cannot confirm this.

His current level of Spanish is still not high, not because he has not studied it carefully, but because he has too many languages ​​​​to learn.

His example is a certain wise man—no matter which country or region he goes to, he can read a manuscript in the local language, and some languages ​​can be written off, talking and laughing.

The more you learn, the harder it is to master.

What's more, he not only has to learn the language of each major country, but also the language of each major Indian tribe.

Among the many languages ​​he needs to learn, Spanish is the one that is not well-received.

After all, in later generations, Spain really has no sense of existence, and the horse post has no interest in it.

So naturally, his Spanish level is just like this, not very good now, and probably won't improve in the future.

Simple dialogues or scripted texts are fine, but there is nothing you can do to appreciate the fineness of complex Spanish articles.

But the Apache people who are relatively proficient in Spanish say so, which shows that the articles written by these Mexican employees should be pretty good.

The only thing he can confirm is that the attitudes and concepts of the few Mexicans selected by Juarez are indeed relatively reliable.

Whether they are white or Indian, they are all supporters of the concept of equality and freedom.

Equality and freedom, such a concept or slogan is commonplace in later generations, even closer to the meaning of whitewashing peace and sanctimonious.

Everyone can say a few words, but there are not many people who really believe in it, and even fewer people put it into practice.

But right now, it’s not even popular pop culture, at least in North America, where slavery remains, and it’s rare to see people espousing it.

For a newspaper owned by Indians, such a concept is very important.

If the white man who works here doesn't even have such a concept, it's hard to imagine what kind of moth he will make in the news post.

Subsequently, the horse sentry mentioned the purchase of artillery to Juarez.

"Juarez, you know, we're disturbed that the Apache tribe is in the United States," he said.

Juarez nodded and said: "Americans are aggressive and greedy. It's hard not to be next to such neighbors."

"Especially the slave-holding Southern Americans," he added, "they were particularly aggressive about invasion and expansion, and they were very unabashed."

"They not only invaded, but also turned the invaded territories into slavery territories. It is a heinous crime!"

The horse sentry continued: "Yes. Although the professional army in Sleeping Bear City is not small, I am still worried about being attacked by the Americans."

"Sleeping Bear City is a fast-growing Indian city, and slavery has been strictly abolished. Those Americans who are keen to invade and promote slavery must regard it as a thorn in their side."

"In order to better protect the tribe, I really need some artillery. I wonder if I can buy it here?"

"Cannon..." Juarez pondered for a while.

"Apache can pay a high price." Horse Whistle added.

Juarez shook his head: "It's not about the price."

"The real problem is that we don't have much artillery now." He sighed slightly.

"I told you that Santa Anna has been weakening the local army before, and the artillery units of the local army are naturally the focus of weakening, and many artillery units have been cancelled."

"After the outbreak of war, this weakening was stopped, but the artillery has not been sufficiently replenished."

After a pause: "So, even if you really need artillery, Oaxaca can't provide much in a short time."

"I can only provide you with three doors... Well, four doors, this is the most."

"Four doors." Ma Shuo couldn't help frowning slightly, this number is indeed a little small.

If you want to guard Sleeping Bear City, you need at least ten cannons.

Juarez changed the subject at this time: "However, there are more artillery and gunsmiths."

"After the local artillery was cut down, a lot of the gunners and artillerymen went away, and you can find some in the city."

"For example, I know a gunsmith in the city. He used to be a skilled gunsmith. There are people like this not only in Oaxaca, but also in other states."

"If you can pay them a decent salary, I think they'd be willing to go back to their old jobs."

Horse Whistle nodded: "It's not bad to recruit gunsmiths and artillerymen. But Apache may lack some materials for making cannons."

Apache had been asking Clark Town to purchase various industrial raw materials and tools, including raw materials for making weapons.

This is obviously risky.

Maybe one day the U.S. government will notice and block this hole.

If possible, Mashao hopes to have more ways to obtain products from the industrial society.

"You can buy materials from Chihuahua or Coahuila," Juarez said. "I'll introduce you to a few companies. They should have what you want."

Horse Whistle: "Then thank you, Juarez."

Juarez smiled: "We are friends."

"Go and see those cannons."

Not long after, the two came to a place that looked like a blacksmith's shop. In fact, this was a gunsmith's shop, and the gunsmiths who were in charge of making artillery worked here.

"These four cannons can be sold to you." Juarez pointed to the four cannons in the room.

"These two cannons are six-pounders," he said, pointing to two small cannons.

"The other two are twelve pounds." There were two larger ones that looked like the ones Whistle had seized at Fort Sutter, California.

Four cannons.

Two six-pounders, two twelve-pounders, not really cannon.

But for Sleeping Bear City, these four cannons are undoubtedly an important start.

At the same time, he also found some artillerymen and gunsmiths, including many Indians, and hired them in Sleeping Bear City.

The salary for employing them is naturally not low, and it also includes a lot of money to settle down.

If it weren't for the riches and wealth of Apache, which is sitting on a gold mine, this expenditure would be enough to hurt for a while.

It is precisely because of this that these artillerymen and gunsmiths willingly traveled thousands of miles to work in Sleeping Bear City with their families.

With four cannons, and a dozen hired artillerymen and gunsmiths, the large Apache army set off to return to Sleeping Bear City.

Of course, they did not turn back the same way. On the way, they also needed to contact the companies in Chihuahua and Coahuila to purchase raw materials and tools for the production of artillery and other important industrial products.

This made Ma Shao sigh, the hardships of industrial development.

Relying on the unique agricultural conditions, the agricultural development of Sleeping Bear City is very smooth, and the yield per mu and total grain output are increasing every year.

If it weren't for the rapid population expansion, Sleeping Bear City could export a large amount of food and become an agricultural base like Kansas in later generations.

In contrast, the development of industry is much more difficult, and there is no sense of security, and many tools and raw materials are dependent on imports.

The industry in Sleeping Bear City seems to be fairly prosperous. It can be self-sufficient in simple daily necessities, and it can also manufacture Browning pistols in large quantities.

But all of this is based on the daigou in Clark Town.

In case the United States draws the salary from the bottom of the pot and chokes the neck, it will fall apart in an instant.

To make matters worse, Horse Whistle has so far found no coal, iron, or copper mines for Apache, which are the basis for self-developed industries.

Without coal and steel, it is impossible to develop an independent industrial system.

Therefore, before owning its own coal and steel, the only option for Mashao is to expand import channels, and cannot rely too much on Clark Town, the US import channel, or smuggling channel.

The Mexican side went well thanks to the help of Juarez.

When Juarez becomes the president of Mexico in the future, the horse post can get more support.

Next is to go to Europe.

"Are you going to Europe?" Juarez was a little surprised when he learned of the horse post's plan.

"Yes."

"Now?" Juarez asked again, "I mean, you should have heard that Europe has been a little bit uneasy recently."

"There was a revolution in Italy. The people of Sicily drove away the army of the Kingdom of Naples and established their own government. Of course, I am actually not optimistic about the outcome of this revolution."

"Followed by France, their movement is even bigger, and other European countries seem to be affected as well."

Juarez pondered: "To be honest, the horse whistle... I feel that this may be a storm."

"I think so too. It will be a storm." Of course Horse Whistle knew it, and he knew it a long time ago, "but in the face of this storm, I don't intend to stand still."

It is now 1848, the year when revolutions swept across Europe, and the famous February Revolution in France has broken out.

But that didn't stop him in the slightest.

Not only could it not stop him, but he even wanted to go even more because of it.

Behind the chaos, there are also opportunities.

The impact of this European spring is quite far-reaching. The rise of Napoleon III and the unification of Germany all have its factors.

Moreover, he couldn't wait for the revolution to subside before going to Europe to publish "Thermodynamics".

Before long, the first and second laws of thermodynamics will be clarified one after another, and there is not much time left for him to grab the head.

Horse whistle: "I'm leaving tomorrow, going to Veracruz or Villahermosa to take a boat to Europe."

If it's peacetime, take a boat to Veracruz.

But now that the war has just ended, he is not sure if he can find a ship in Veracruz. After all, Veracruz just finished a big battle last year.

Juárez could see that he had made up his mind: "Well, then good luck, my friend, and hope you get what you want out of this storm."

……

(End of this chapter)