Chapter 90: Sleepy Man

Judgement, Oak had no idea what this strange word meant.

Indians have almost no concept of law. Even though there are some basic social norms such as "life for life", there has never been a judicial trial.

Ma Shao did not explain too much, because the explanation would involve several new words, and it would take at least several minutes to explain it clearly, so he just said: "You will know tomorrow."

The Chiricahua Apaches followed the horse whistle to Sleeping Bear, where they soon saw nearly a thousand prisoners being housed, and of course many bodies being collected.

As someone who had fought with Ma Shao before, Oak had somewhat expected this, so he was not too surprised.

But others were different. The Chiricahuas who had not participated in the last Arapaho battle were all talking about the large number of prisoners and corpses.

"How many enemies have they defeated? There look to be a thousand prisoners! And so many corpses!"

"I heard that the Comanche, Arapaho, and Cheyenne have gathered five tribes in total, probably at least 1,500 people in total to attack Sleeping Bear."

"It's incredible that the Plains Tribe defeated five tribes alone!"

"Look at their weapons, they are all muskets... Are muskets really that useful?"

A tall young man had a frown on his face, and it seemed that he always had that expression, as he observed the astonishing number of corpses.

After a moment, he couldn't help but ask his own question: "Why not scalp?"

The Chiricahuas then noticed that none of the Comanches, Cheyennes, and Arapahos who had been killed had lost their scalps. The Sleeping Bear soldiers were carrying the bodies but ignored this proof of their military exploits.

Ma Shao heard his question and explained without turning around: "Mian Xiong has abolished this tradition. We only shoot the heads of living people, not scalp the dead."

"Then how do you calculate your military achievements?" the young man stepped forward and asked again.

"Observers will use telescopes to observe the entire battlefield, and of course they will also count the military merits. Moreover, our military merits are mainly calculated by team." Ma Shao said slowly.

"telescope?"

Ma Shao took out his telescope and handed it to the boy: "This is it. Put it in front of your eyes and look into the distance."

The boy did as he was told, and then he couldn't help but wonder, "What kind of magic is this?"

Ma Shao smiled and said, "It's a skill. Just like the bow you use, the arrow flies out because of the elasticity, not some magic."

The boy was still confused, frowning as he stared at the inconspicuous telescope in his hand.

"If you want to know the specific reason, you can go find him later. His name is Feng Sheng, an excellent battlefield observer. He will tell you how the telescope works." Ma Shao pointed to Feng Sheng not far away.

"Okay." The boy returned the telescope to him, and then said, "You count the merits by squad, so even if someone kills more enemies than I did, he won't get a separate reward, right?"

"Hahaha!" Oak couldn't help laughing. "Boy, no one can kill so many enemies."

An old man next to the boy said with a bit of embarrassment: "Sleepy Man has just become a warrior. He is too young and sometimes very naive."

Ma Shao didn't take it seriously and continued, "Of course, warriors who perform particularly well can also receive exclusive rewards, but they are a minority, and will become fewer and fewer. With the development of muskets, individual bravery will become less and less important, and collective cooperation will be the key."

After saying that, he couldn't help but look at the boy a few more times: "Your name is Sleepy Man?"

"Yes," the sleepy man replied.

Ma Shao didn't say anything, but he was a little confused in his heart, because he felt that he seemed to have heard this name before, but he couldn't remember it. It was obvious that he had a very vague impression of it, and he might have just glanced at it somewhere.

After much thought, Ma Shao finally thought of a man in later generations who was dubbed the "Sleeping King".

When thinking of the King of Sleep, one can't help but think of the King of Understanding.

When thinking of the King of Understanding, a lot of ghost and animal clips emerged in Ma Shao's mind, and his thoughts gradually drifted away.

Later, when Ma Shao and the shamans were treating the wounded, a soldier came over and reported: "Chief, the owl wants to see you."

Ma Shao thought for a moment and said, "I understand. I'll go over later."

A moment later, he came to where the owl was kept, a small separate tent with two soldiers guarding outside.

"Chief Owl, do you have any last words?" Horse Whistle said in Comanche.

Upon hearing this, Owl's already pale face turned even more pale, and he said in panic, "I... I was deceived by Square Face! I didn't want to do this, he lied to me that Sleeping Bear forcibly annexed the Twin Wolf Clan!"

"So you realize now that the Twin Wolf Clan is indeed part of Sleeping Bear?" Ma Shao asked.

Owl nodded quickly: "Yes, yes, of course... There is no doubt about this, it was all Fang Lian who lied to me!"

He continued to defend himself, but his words were flustered and weak, as if he was a tape recorder, and he only knew how to repeat that he was deceived by Fang Lian.

Ma Shao didn't listen carefully, but thought for a while and said, "I can spare your life, but only if you are honest enough."

The owl seemed to have grasped a life-saving straw, and his eyes suddenly lit up: "I will definitely promise you, I will promise you anything!"

Ma Shao looked at him and said calmly, "Let me tell you what I want first. My goal from the beginning was to unify all the indigenous peoples on this continent, to merge the Apaches, Arapahos, Comanches, Cheyennes... all the tribes into one. I have never concealed this purpose."

"To achieve this goal, I will not necessarily use force, but if someone tries to stop me, I will definitely fight back with force."

"This is the only thing I care about the most. As for whether you live or die, it doesn't matter to me at all."

After a pause, Ma Shao continued: "So, do you know how to please me?"

Owl nodded quickly, "I know."

"I wish you knew," said Ma Shao, "that I will arrange for the captives to cultivate farmland the day after tomorrow, and you will be among them. I will not harm you, and I will even give you food and some wages. I don't want to see any chaos among the captives, especially the Comanche captives. If there is any chaos, it will be your responsibility."

After leaving Owl, Ma Shao contacted several other captured great chiefs and war chiefs to understand their attitudes.

The more stubborn ones should naturally be executed, while the relatively weak ones can be spared.

Of course, tomorrow's trial process must still be followed, procedural justice. Hypocrisy is a necessary condition for civilization.