Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 275 Karma Tribe

"Whoosh!" With a sound, a white-feathered arrow flew out and hit an antelope in the eye.The antelope wailed and fell to the ground, its body still twitching unconsciously.

"Banga! Banga! Banga!" Several blacks with bare upper body and burlap and other fiber fabrics around their waists cheered as they rushed up to grab the dying antelope and carried it on their shoulders, and then He trotted back again.

The tall black man named Banga threw the longbow in his hand into the hands of the entourage behind him, then took a musket from the entourage, skillfully loaded the ammunition, and aimed at the distance, finally He shook his head helplessly, put down the gun, and said in Xhosa to the followers behind him: "Although the weapons of those outsiders in the south are powerful, their accuracy is really poor. And the rate of fire is very slow. There was a man with a gun pointed at me, and I was able to plant a string of white-feathered arrows in his chest before he had loaded and fired."

"Banga, this shouldn't be a reason for you to hate muskets." Behind Banga, a burly Xhosa man said. Like Banga, he was wearing clothes that had never been seen among Xhosa—— shirt.And obviously, the style of this shirt is not the European style with a lot of complicated lace patterns piled up on the neckline and cuffs, but the simple and lively cotton shirt of the East Coast people. I don't know where he bought it.

"Of course I know the benefits of muskets, Shawi." Bonga undid two wooden buttons of his shirt on his chest, revealing his well-proportioned and strong chest muscles under the fabric, and then saw him roll up a heavy wooden shield , said: "Even with such a strong and thick large shield, it is difficult to withstand the bombardment of muskets at medium distances, but it can easily block arrows shot from the front at the same distance. However, the price of muskets It’s just too expensive, we can’t afford much.”

"Two sheep can be exchanged for a matchlock gun. If it is that kind of flintlock gun, it takes a cow to exchange it." Shawei said expressionlessly, "Those outsiders in the southwest rely on this kind of weapon Easily defeating two tribes that were going to be conquered by Karma, Karma was angry, but was overwhelmed by this weapon. He thinks we should master the skills of using this weapon and maintain a good relationship with those outsiders relationship, it is best not to break out of conflict with them in a short time."

"Kama is too cautious." Banga disapproved, "The total number of outsiders in the southwest is only a few hundred people, and they only dare to hide near their strong houses to graze and farm all day long. We only come into the mountains when we trade, and they are too timid, just like Karma."

"Banga!" Shawei raised his voice with some dissatisfaction, "Kama is our patriarch and your elder brother, and he is the king of our tribe. No matter in the past or now, Kama is the bravest warrior in the tribe , and is also the wisest person in the tribe. For more than ten years, Kama has led our tribe to fight continuously, and now it is a powerful tribe with a population of tens of thousands. Even those Zulu people in the east and north The Zhuanna NPC tribe has to face up to our rise. Most of this is due to Karma, he is unique, and our tribe is prosperous because of him!"

"You went out to fight with Karma when you were 12 years old, you are too influenced by him, Shawi." Banga still doesn't agree with him, "Kama doesn't respect tradition, he even ordered everyone in the whole tribe They are not allowed to slaughter livestock at will to sacrifice to the gods, and the elders are somewhat dissatisfied with this. But Kama is plausible. He believes that in order to expand the cattle and sheep, and multiply the tribal population, the act of slaughtering a large number of livestock to sacrifice to the gods must be banned, which will make the gods wrath brings disaster."

Hearing what Bangka said, Shawei was speechless for a while.Although he faintly agreed with Karma's approach in his heart, the fear of the gods in his heart was real, which made him not know where to justify.

Seeing that Shawi was choking, Banga got excited, and he continued to complain: "Kama even made us make deals with those cunning...well, Dutch people, buy muskets, Ammunition and leather armor. That’s not counting, he even wants us to learn the characters, skills, and costumes of the Dutch people, which is especially hard for me to accept.”

"Banga, there is nothing wrong with learning the script of the Dutch." Shawi retorted, "I have thought about these issues carefully, and Kama is right. We Xhosa people do not have our own script, so we will not be able to Record the history, culture and even some technologies of our tribe and pass them down to future generations. Therefore, many things can only be passed on orally, but this is often full of mistakes, so we need to master a practical language to record everything about our tribe .”

"But I prefer to learn the characters of the people on the east coast in the west, at least that kind of characters are more pleasing to the eye and easier to understand." Banga said stubbornly, "And look at those people who are attached to the people on the east coast The tribe, their children can eat enough to eat, all of them are very thick, and they even have spare money to consume the goods of the people on the east coast..."

"People from the east coast are dangerous enemies." Shawei suddenly became excited, "Kama said that the people from the east coast are cruel, and the means of dealing with free tribes who refuse to surrender are usually bloody conquests accompanied by a large number of deaths. And They are different from those Dutch people, the Dutch people only care about business, they are not interested in our land. The east coast people are different, they only came here with more than 100 people at the beginning, but after all these years pass Now, do you know how many people they have now? According to the report of our spies in those tribes attached to the people on the east coast, there are already several thousand settlers near their castles, and more than [-] are ready to Men who are fighting. Their territory is constantly expanding, their thirst for land, cattle and sheep, and slaves is endless Too much. Kama is right, we must be on good terms with the Dutch, the Dutch don't get on well with the East Coasters, and they're happy to do us some favors."

Even Banga couldn't refute Shawi's words.Over the years, the aggressive expansion policy of the people on the east bank has wiped out many small indigenous tribes that originally scattered between the Kama tribe and the river castle. Some of the eight tribes packed up their bags and fled to the mountains to be annexed by the Kama tribe. Now the Kama tribe, which is almost directly bordering the sphere of influence of the East Coast people, understands the aggressive momentum of this new neighbor better than anyone else.

Although more than half a year ago, Banga personally commanded more than 2000 elite fighters to defeat an eastward attempt by the people on the east coast by using the rugged terrain in the mountains, but in that not fierce battle, Banga's elite men also They paid a heavy price of 200 casualties, while their opponents seemed to have only killed or injured dozens of people, most of whom were even slightly injured.

The fighting power of the people on the east coast is beyond doubt.Although after that battle, the people on the east coast stopped their attempts to advance eastward for some unknown reason, and instead began to search northward for the remaining San tribes.However, some vassal tribes attached to them began to gradually move eastward, pressing the grazing area to the foot of the mountain, and had a lot of friction with some small tribes attached to the Kama tribe over the ownership of some pastures and water sources. Disputes, and even a few small-scale battles broke out for this, resulting in certain casualties.Fortunately, the upper echelons of both sides were relatively restrained, and did not allow this kind of fighting to continue to spread, so the fragile peace between the two sides was temporarily maintained.

However, everyone knows that this kind of peace between the two sides will not last for too long. Maybe in the near future, the people on the east coast will gather an army larger than the last time for some purpose. The eastward march begins, leading to an all-out war with the Kama tribe.And this does not seem to be good news for the Kama tribe who is still fighting around and annexing small tribes.

Facing such a strange and critical situation, and facing the unprecedented changes in the hundreds of years before and after the Xhosa people moved into South Africa, not everyone can face it calmly and soberly.Maybe, really have to rely on the strength of those Dutch people?Banga thought a little lonely. The relationship between the Dutch and the people on the east coast was also very tense. Maybe they could find a way to intensify the conflicts between them, so as to buy some more precious time for the Kama tribe.

However, after sufficient contact with the outside world, how much of the tradition and culture that the Xhosa people have maintained for hundreds of years can remain under the invasion of a strong foreign culture?How long can the independence and integrity of the tribe be maintained under the oppression of the superior force of outsiders?Banga knew that "using the barbarians to control the barbarians" and "learning from the barbarians to control the barbarians" are not so fun. If one is not careful, the tribe may be wiped out, just like the countless tribes that have disappeared in history.

"Shawei, I'm going to the Dutch castle the day after tomorrow." After a long silence, Bonga smiled self-deprecatingly, "Although I'm reluctant in every possible way, Kama still insists that I lead some My son is going to study in the country of the Netherlanders. After I go, Kama will definitely ask you to garrison in the river valley in the mountains to the west. Shawei, be careful of those people on the east coast. They are like poisonous snakes, sinister and cruel. I I don’t want you to have an accident, my friend! The gods will also bless you and me—although Kama has angered the gods, the tribe needs to change now, and it will take time, let us work together.”

(End of this chapter)