Chapter 42: Girl Millie

"Four clans have decided to join us now." Stone Crow said as he took out a scroll from his waist and opened it to reveal a map. The map showed an area of ​​several hundred kilometers nearby and marked the locations of many Indian clans.

He pointed at the map and continued, "If we follow this route on our way back, we can pass through these four clans and take their people back to Mianxiong."

Ma Shao took a look and found that the route indicated by Shi Ya was almost the same route the Mian Xiong Clan took, except that it took a slight detour. If everything went well, they should be able to return to the Mian Xiong Clan in half a month at most.

"what do you think?"

Ma Shao nodded: "Let's go, we will get ready and set off tomorrow."

Then he suddenly remembered something and hesitated for a moment before saying, "By the way, what about rainy days? What did he say?"

In the past few months, he and Rainy Day have been together the most and they have gotten along best. If possible, he hopes that Rainy Day can also join the Sleeping Bear Clan.

"After all, he is the chief priest of the tribe, so of course he followed the chief back." Stone Crow said, "But before he left, he told me that he had asked the newspaper delivery person to deliver the newspaper to the Sleeping Bear Clan in the future."

Ma Shao nodded and said nothing.

After a day of preparation, under his leadership, everyone left the camp, a total of ninety-eight people, and headed east.

"This expedition was really unexpected." As he walked on the road, Shi Ya sighed again. He looked back at the team behind him and said, "I was worried that there would be a few less people, but I didn't expect there would be so many more."

"Not many. Including their clansmen, the four clans have at most six or seven hundred people. Adding ourselves, there are less than a thousand people in total." Ma Shao said.

Having grown up in China, the world's most populous country, in his previous life, Ma Shao's concept of population is naturally deeply rooted in Chinese style.

Eight or nine hundred people is about the size of a village in China, and it's not a big village, so it's not considered a large village.

"Isn't that enough?" The Stone Crows and other Indians certainly wouldn't think so. "With their joining, we may be the largest clan."

"What's more, there will definitely be other clans joining in the future. I'm afraid that in a few years, the population of the Sleeping Bear Clan will reach a terrifying number. For example..." He thought for a while and finally came up with a number that he thought was shocking enough, "3,000 people!"

"..." Looking at the stone crow who excitedly stretched out three fingers, Ma Shao was speechless.

"Strange, why do you still think this is not a lot? There are three thousand people. I have never seen so many people in my life." Stone Crow said.

After a while, he changed the subject: "There is no doubt that people trust you. How do you plan to manage so many people?"

"First, we need to settle down." said Ma Shao.

Many Indian clans, including the Sleeping Bear clan, made their livings as nomads, often migrating back and forth following herds of buffalo.

The Sleeping Bear Clan is relatively well off, located in the central United States, with a relatively mild climate and thriving bison herds nearby, so their settlement is relatively stable and they have not moved far away in recent years.

However, if one wants to develop industry and agriculture, this semi-settled state is obviously not enough and a long-term settlement is necessary.

"Settlement? What if the bison herd moves far away?" Stone Crow asked involuntarily. This was also the question many members of the tribe had.

"So we have to develop agriculture." Ma Shao said, and then looked back, "Tukuai, I remember you have experience in growing wheat, right?"

The round-faced young man called Lump of Earth is a Navajo. The Navajo and Apache have a close relationship and speak the same Apache language, so it is common for them to live together.

The clod nodded and said, "The Navajo clan I was originally in grew wheat. Later, I joined my current clan and started hunting buffalo."

"In the future, we should eat more things grown in the fields and not just rely on bison," said Ma Shao.

North American bison are difficult to domesticate, and eating bison as the main food is like eating up all the land. But he knew that in the 21st century, bison would become a protected species.

The result of the Indians' dependence on bison is that they themselves are endangered, so it is imperative for them to develop agriculture and animal husbandry.

As they rode forward, they discussed the clan's future development plans, and before they knew it, they came to a small river surrounded by many plants and trees.

"hiss--"

At this moment, the black sword under Ma Shao's crotch suddenly neighed and stopped where he was.

"What's wrong?" Ma Shao leaned over and patted Heifeng, trying to understand what it was thinking.

"Hiss--" Heifeng slowly took a few steps and came to a dense bush, then stopped and continued to make sounds.

Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment.

Ma Shao looked at the bushes in front of him and frowned.

Is there something in there?

Horses have a very keen sense of smell, at least much more so than humans, so even though he didn't feel anything, he had reason to believe that there might be something hidden in the bushes.

He immediately dismounted, picked up his dagger, and carefully groped in the bushes.

However, just as he moved, he saw the bushes shaking, and then the girl's desperate cry suddenly burst out from it: "Wow - help!"

Then, the white girl, in a beautiful white dress but in rags, stumbled out of the bushes like a frightened deer.

She hadn't run a few steps before she fell flat on her face.

"Dad, Mom, wuwuwu..." She continued crying while trying to get up. Her face was covered with mud, tears and snot. She looked dirty and there was some blood on her body.

The girl got up, but unfortunately there was a river in front of her and a group of Indians with guns behind her. She had no way to escape and could only stand pitifully by the river, crying and looking around.

Someone pointed a gun at her.

Ma Shao quickly raised his hand to signal: "She is just a child, don't hurt her."

The tribesman put down his gun, walked up to the girl, organized his words, and said in English: "Are you okay?"

"Wow, wow, wow…" The girl didn't say anything and continued wiping her tears.

"We are good people." Due to his limited English level, Ma Shao could only say this kind of conversation which sounded a bit stupid.

"Good...good man?" The girl's fear seemed to ease a little. She looked up at Ma Shao in front of her and felt that he did look like a good man, or rather, quite handsome.

"That's right, we won't hurt you." Ma Shao nodded and asked, "What's your name?"

"I... my name is Millie." The girl said with a slight sob. She looked about eleven or twelve years old. Although her face was covered in dust, her moist eyes were bright.

"Where are your parents? Why are you hiding there?" Ma Shao couldn't remember how to say "bullshit", so he pointed with his finger.

Millie hesitated for a while, and finally seemed to have made up her mind: "You are a good person... Can you save my parents? They are over there."