Chapter 6: The Sound of the Wind and Speaking Loudly

"As long as there are still men, we will at least not be destroyed immediately." The old chief continued, "And this disaster gives us a reason, a reason not to obey the war mobilization order of the great chief. We should not have the trouble of war in the future."

"That's right." Stone Crow nodded.

"What did you want to say just now? What is it?" the chief asked back.

Stonecrow explained, "I thought you meant to have the other clans join us."

The chief said, "I do think so, but we need to wait. As far as I know, there is no Apache clan in urgent need of asylum. If it is not necessary, no one is willing to take the initiative to merge with other clans."

After a pause, he continued, "In short, this matter is not urgent for now. At least wait until we finish the funeral of our tribesman. Perhaps at the funeral, the Great Spirit will have further revelations."

The two talked for a while, and then the sky began to brighten. Some early-rising tribesmen walked out of their tents, and the two went back.

In the early morning, Ma Shao opened his eyes, stretched, and felt satisfied with his super high-quality sleep.

Although he went to bed at around three in the morning, he did not feel sleepy when he woke up in the morning, especially after falling asleep at the speed of light last night. This made him feel particularly relieved as he was used to insomnia in his previous life.

Ma Shao started his morning hygiene work, which seriously destroyed the good mood brought by good sleep.

Indians don't have toilet paper!

After defecating, they just wipe themselves with anything. This is the norm of life, which is undoubtedly a torture for Ma Shao.

Fortunately, he realized the problem before he went to the toilet, and found a few stones with large surface areas and relatively rounded shapes in advance. This was a blessing in disguise, and a bowel movement in inconvenience...

Thinking that he would have to go to the toilet like this in the future, Ma Shao became more determined to promote the development of Indian society.

There is also the issue of washing.

Forget about brushing your teeth, just rinse your mouth. Washing your face is not very convenient either because there are no suitable containers.

The tribesmen used leather water bags to carry water, but this thing was obviously not suitable for washing faces. Ma Shao searched for a long time and the most suitable thing was a container made of a bison skull, which could barely be considered a basin.

While washing his face, he carefully observed his current appearance through the reflection in the water.

Well… although he looks very immature at the age of nine, I have to say he is quite handsome. Especially his eyes, which are very innocent.

People's main job is still to prepare for the funeral. As a child, Ma Shao does not have to participate in this, but he has to receive combat training and, of course, Fengsheng.

They are the only two children of this age left in the tribe.

The person in charge of training them was a burly warrior in his early forties with four feathers on his head. His name was Broken Axe and he was also Thick Shoulders' father.

Broken Axe is an experienced warrior, which can be easily seen from the four feathers on his head that symbolize his military exploits.

"Let's start with archery today." Broken Axe said, pointing his finger, "Take out your bows and arrows, shoot at the target over there, and I will correct your mistakes."

"Yes." The two children answered and then drew their bows and drew their arrows.

In a moment, there was a sound of "whoosh" and two arrows flew out one after another, both successfully hitting the target. Although it was relatively marginal, it was already pretty good for the two children.

The boring practice continued, archery, archery, archery, and then the axe.

In addition to bows and arrows, the Apache's most important weapon is the stone axe, which can be used in two ways: mainly throwing and secondly in close combat.

Buckle the rope on the axe handle, hold the rope and swing your arm in a circle, then let go at the right time, and the flying axe will shoot out.

The flying axe has a short range, but it is very powerful and can blow a person's head off. Wooden shields and leather armor will definitely not be able to block it.

After the morning training, Ma Shao returned to his tent and took out the Kentucky rifle.

At present, bows and arrows and throwing axes are still relatively useful, but he is very clear that with the development of firearms, the role of cold weapons will become less and less. Especially the approaching second industrial revolution is also a climax of the development of firearms. The Dresser needle-fired gun will be officially launched next year.

It is a bit of a waste to spend a lot of energy on training with cold weapons.

Thinking of this, Ma Shao took out the ammunition again and prepared to try to load it.

The most troublesome thing about firearms of this era is loading. Rifled guns are particularly troublesome because there are rifling inside the barrel, which causes a lot of resistance when the bullet enters from the muzzle. Not only does it have to be poked with a rod, but it also has to be knocked with a hammer.

He had watched some videos about firearms in his previous life and had a general idea of ​​the loading process of this muzzle-loading flintlock rifle, but he was not sure about the details.

Therefore, when trying, Ma Shao recalled and observed the structure of the Kentucky rifle, and it took him several minutes to load the ammunition.

Then he ran to the open space outside, deliberately away from the camp, and aimed at a tree several dozen meters away.

"boom!"

Good, he missed, but at least his reloading technique was fine.

Ma Shao did not shoot again. The ammunition he looted from the white man was few and could not withstand target practice. It would be enough for him to just know how to load the bullet.

If you want to practice shooting, you must first have enough ammunition, which is not available for the time being.

On the way back to the camp, Ma Shao unexpectedly encountered Feng Sheng: "Why are you here?"

"I heard gunshots. Did you fire it?" Feng Sheng looked at the rifle in his hand.

"Yes, this is the white man's weapon. I think it is very powerful. We should learn it like we learn the bow and arrow." Ma Shao said.

"Do you think it's better than a bow and arrow?" asked the wind.

Ma Shao: "At least in some scenarios, this is inevitable. If this thing has no advantages, the white people will definitely not use it as their main weapon... Our enemies are not fools."

Feng Sheng was silent for a while, then nodded: "You are right."

The two returned to the camp together.

Unexpectedly, as soon as I returned to the camp, I saw many tribesmen gathered not far away, seemingly discussing something eagerly.

"What's going on?" Ma Shao was puzzled.

At this time, a tribesman ran over and said to Fengsheng excitedly: "Fengsheng, your father is not dead, he is back! Go over quickly!"

"Ah? Oh..." Feng Sheng was stunned at first, then he showed a lost expression, lowered his head and walked towards the crowd silently.

Ma Shao noticed the change in Feng Sheng's expression.

This kid obviously hates his father, as for why...

"Ahahaha! Son, Daddy is back!" Fengsheng's father, named Dasheng, said loudly, "Are you surprised? Hahaha!"

"What's wrong, son? You must be very happy, right?" he said loudly, still laughing. He was wet and dirty, like a fish that had fallen from the pot.

"Yeah." Feng Sheng tried his best to look neither happy nor sad, but when his father tried to hug him, a look of resistance was inevitably revealed.

Fengsheng is introverted and quiet, while his father is just the opposite. As his name suggests, he is rude and wants the whole family to hear him when he speaks.

Moreover, Dasheng said that there was only one feather on his head, which was given to him by the chief as a consolation. This shows that his level as a warrior is really not that good and he has no military achievements to speak of.