Chapter 140: [Spring Festival Gathering]

Winter goes and spring comes.

The year was 1847.

About four hundred kilometers northwest of Sleeping Bear City, there lives an Indian clan.

They looked no different from the vast majority of nomadic Indians.

They painted their faces, tied feathers in their hair, went topless, rode horses and hunted, and lived in conical tents...

Yet just a few years ago they were among the most feared people in the West—the Arapaho.

As the most warlike Indian tribe, the Arapaho were feared by all other tribes and were a real headache for the white people.

But now, the Arapaho live a peaceful life, at least that clan does.

"Chief Crow, there's an Apache messenger outside." The Arapaho reported to his chief.

This clan is none other than the Crow clan.

"Apache messenger?" Crow was startled when he heard that.

"Yes, the messenger from Sleeping Bear City."

"Let him in quickly." Crow said immediately.

Soon he met the messenger from Sleeping Bear City, a young man wearing jeans and cotton clothes.

"Hello, respected Chief Crow." The messenger said in Arapaho, "I am the messenger from Sleeping Bear City, Flip Drum."

"Hello, drum." The crow also said.

The two exchanged a few pleasantries, and then said, "Chief Crow, I am here on behalf of Chief Ma Shao to invite your tribe to participate in the Spring Festival celebration in Sleeping Bear City."

"Spring Festival Celebration?"

Fangu explained: "The Apaches have made some adjustments to the traditional festivals and set up a Spring Festival as our most important festival. We will hold a grand party during this festival and invite guests from all over the world. You are also invited and are the most anticipated guest of Chief Ma Shao."

The crow hesitated for a moment, then said thoughtfully, "Of course I am happy to go if the Son of the Sky invites me. But the journey is long, and the tribe needs me, so I am afraid I cannot be there in person."

Fan Gu: "If you can't go there in person, you can send a messenger."

Mid-March is approaching the Spring Equinox.

"Little bastard, how were the rehearsals of those comedies I gave you going?" Ma Shao asked the little bastard in the chief's hall while concentrating on writing.

The little bastard was already sixteen years old, but still hadn't grown much taller, and still hadn't gotten rid of this name: "Don't worry, Chief, we have memorized the lines by heart now!"

Ma Shao nodded: "There will be thousands of people attending the Spring Festival party, many of whom are from other tribes, including Chief Oak of the Chiricahua tribe... Don't make any mistakes."

Many Indian tribes have the Spring Festival, and the Apaches do too, and it is very important.

There's nothing surprising about this; the arrival of spring is a time to celebrate for all of us.

According to the new calendar, Ma Shao determined the dates of various traditional Apache festivals, and the Spring Festival was directly set on the Vernal Equinox.

Strictly speaking, it is not based on the calendar, but on the facts of the earth's movement.

His definition of the Spring Festival is the moment when direct sunlight returns to the equator from the southern hemisphere.

If the calendar changes in the future, there is no need to modify this definition.

During this festival, Sleeping Bear Town will host a grand party that will last from day to night.

At the party, people will sing and dance, and there will also be comedy, martial arts competitions and other programs. It will be very lively, similar to the Spring Festival Gala in later generations.

In addition, there is the oldest tradition - receiving envoys.

Although Indians are divided into tribal alliances, tribes, and clans, most of the time, tribes and tribal alliances do not actually exist.

People were scattered everywhere in the form of clans.

Only on major festivals or when war breaks out will a tribe or tribal alliance gather together, or at least send envoys to the scene.

Sleeping Bear City has brought together the Plains Tribes, but the influence of today's Plains Tribes is no longer limited to just one tribe.

Most of the Indian tribes in the southwest will send envoys to attend the Spring Festival gathering held in Sleeping Bear City.

"There will be absolutely no deviation." The little bastard patted his chest and promised, "If there is any deviation, I will not be called a little bastard!"

Ma Shao thought for a moment and said, "But this is a comedy show. It's no big deal if something goes wrong. Just laugh it off."

"Great Chief, do you want to come and perform with us?" the little beast asked expectantly.

"No." Ma Shao said, "You have such a talent for comedy, I'll leave it to you."

"What is this?" The little bastard looked at the manuscript that Ma Shao was writing on, which was written in English that he could not recognize. "What kind of gun is that?"

"No, it's another book I'm going to write." Ma Shao said.

The little bastard looked at the text and said, "Why does it seem to be all in English?"

"Because it is prepared for the British." Ma Shao did not explain further.

"Okay, go back and continue preparing for the Spring Festival party. This is the first grand party since the population of slepping bear city exceeded 10,000."

The people of slepping bear city have been busy for some time in preparation for the upcoming Spring Festival.

A few days before the Spring Equinox, guests from outside arrived in slepping bear city one after another to meet Ma Shao.

Each Apache tribe sent envoys, and most of them were important figures. In addition to the Apache, many tribes or clans within a few hundred kilometers also sent envoys.

Including the envoys' entourage, there were hundreds of people coming to participate in the Spring Festival.

"Great Chief, this is Chief Crow's brother, Manshi." Fangu came back from Arapaho, and with him was Manshi, who represented Crow to attend the Apache Spring Festival Celebration.

Ma Shao was still a little surprised by this.

After all, although the Arapaho had stopped their war, their internal opinions were not unified. Some advocated peace, while others advocated war, even after the defeat of the three-tribe coalition.

Some Arapaho people knew they could not defeat the Apaches, but they still shouted.

In this context, Crow would be somewhat hesitant to attend the Apache festival, and it is entirely possible that he would refuse.

Unexpectedly, Crow still sent an envoy, and it was his own younger brother, which could be said to be very sincere.

Manshi is obviously Crow's younger brother, and they look about 60% similar.

"On behalf of my brother, I extend my greetings and respect to you." Manshi leaned forward and said.

"You are most welcome." Ma Shao also said, "Tomorrow is the Apache Spring Festival. We will hold a grand party. All the guests and indigenous people of all ethnic groups will gather together to enjoy delicious food, singing and dancing."

After Manshi, another guest surprised Ma Shao.

To be precise, this is a standard "uninvited guest".

"Hello, Chief Albert, my name is John Brown, and I'm here to attend the Spring Festival in Sleeping Bear City on behalf of Colonel Donivan." Brown was a young lieutenant who looked to be about twenty-six or twenty-seven years old.

First of all, this name made Ma Shao's heart move and he recalled the history.

John Brown.

A famous, radical, and even extreme abolitionist whose armed uprising largely contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War.

However, the person in front of him seemed to be just a person with a homonym. Although Ma Shao didn't know much about John Brown, he intuitively felt that it was just a person with a homonym.

John Brown should be much older than the lieutenant in front of him.

Moreover, this lieutenant looked a bit bookish, and was most likely the same type of person as Donifan. He might support abolition, but he was definitely not the kind of radical who was willing to fight for it.

What is more important is the judgment of probability - there are too many duplicate names like John Brown, and there are probably thousands of them in the United States.

"I have brought some presents, too, by the Colonel's orders," said Lieutenant Brown, "including some champagne."

"Lieutenant Brown, it seems we didn't invite you or Colonel Donivan." Ma Shao said lightly.

"Indeed." Lieutenant Brown smiled, "But Colonel Donivan thought it appropriate to send you holiday greetings. Wouldn't you welcome that?"

Ma Shao is really not welcome.

This Spring Festival celebration was prepared for Indians of all ethnic groups, and an implicit intention was to unite the indigenous people to fight against the colonists.

Of course, he did not want Americans to participate in such an activity to unite the Indians, although he had a good impression of Donivan, who was a lawyer and was more reasonable and easy to get along with.

But the people are here, and tomorrow is the Spring Festival, so it's not easy to send them back.

And Brown also brought some gifts.

So Ma Shao finally gave him face: "Of course you are welcome, Lieutenant Brown. This ceremony will have many rare songs, dances and delicious food. I hope you can enjoy it."

"Thank you," Lieutenant Brown said.

The next day.

On the day when the sun is directly above the equator, at the time of the spring equinox, the Spring Festival party of slepping bear city is officially held.

In the square, outside guests and many residents of Sleeping Bear City crowded together, looking forward to the show with fireworks and bonfires.

There were also many people gathered outside the square, at least a few families of relatives and neighbors gathered together to eat, it was like the Chinese Spring Festival, it was very lively.

During the festival, at the request of many tribesmen, drinking houses provided some cheap drinks to adults to help the cash-strapped alcoholics satisfy their cravings.

But overall, drinking is very rare, at least no one gets drunk.

Except for one man—John Brown.

Not only did Ma Shao not impose any restrictions on John Brown's drinking, he even encouraged it and let several people take turns to force him to drink, allowing him to bring and sell the champagne he brought with him.

The reason for doing this is naturally because they don't want Brown to get too much information from this ceremony, and it would be best if he knew nothing.

The plan went smoothly. Lieutenant Brown could not resist the temptation of champagne and was forced to drink a lot of it. He eventually fell drunk in the audience and kept bragging.

The party went on as planned.

Ma Shao was still the host of the entire party, even on rainy days, and the two of them took turns to perform.

There wasn't much of an opening statement, most people don't like to listen to that stuff, so after a brief speech, the songs started.

"...My fellow tribesmen and friends, let us enjoy the chorus song "Unity is Strength." Ma Shao announced.

"I will lead the song, and our band will be accompanying us."

Apache's band lineup was further upgraded to include trumpets and a piano in addition to drums and flutes.

The piano was bought from the East, and a white pianist was hired, who is now also on the scene.

"Ready - go!" Ma Shao waved his hand.

"Unity is strength, unity is strength. This strength is iron, this strength is steel, harder than iron, stronger than steel..."

Like the Chinese version, this song is almost impossible to pronounce.

Anyone who has heard it before will involuntarily sing along.

The first sentence was sung by dozens of people, while the second sentence was sung by all the Mianxiong people in the square.

After a few sentences, people who had never heard the song began to hum along with the rhythm.

"Unity is strength..." Chief Oak, who was sitting in the front row of the audience, also hummed along, then looked at the sleepy man next to him, "Is this a song composed by Ma Shao?"

"Of course, in almost all of them," said the sleepy man, singing along excitedly. "The Big Chief created everything."

Oak stroked his chin, lost in thought, but soon he began to hum along again: "Unity is strength..."

The singing spread throughout the city, almost everyone sang along, and thousands of voices quickly ignited the festive atmosphere.

This atmosphere continued until the evening.

Thousands of residents and people from all ethnic groups gathered in the square outside the chief's hall to watch the performance.

Outside the square, the Apaches gathered in groups of three or five to enjoy delicious food, music in the distance, and play duel cards. The whole city was filled with a happy atmosphere.

The last program was a military chorus, and the song was an adapted version of "When That Day Comes", which was Ma Shao's favorite military song.

The Apache soldiers' performance was both a chorus and a military parade.

Soldiers in uniform appeared on the stage with neat and powerful steps. One hundred people worked together like a heavy and precise machine.

They were equipped with swords and guns, and looked heroic and proud. After standing still, they sang in unison, and the powerful singing came like a wave.

"Are you ready?

"Brother soldiers!"

"Don't worry, tribe!"

"Don't worry, dear!"

"I must march forward bravely for victory!"

The Sleeping Bear people were accustomed to their own military style, but the Indians of various tribes had never seen such a scene and were almost stunned on the spot.

No one would doubt the combat effectiveness of such an army.

Including Lieutenant Brown, he could hardly understand the lyrics, and the alcohol made his consciousness a little unclear, but it still did not prevent him from being shocked by the Apache warriors' powerful chorus.

He knew that the vast majority of American troops were far from having such momentum, such steel-like momentum.

In addition to rich food and entertainment activities, Spring Festival gatherings are also important diplomatic events.

Yes, just like the Olympic Games in later generations, it is an excellent opportunity to showcase ourselves to the outside world.

The Indian envoys from various tribes who came to watch were all amazed at the majesty, richness and prosperity of Sleeping Bear City, and were impressed by its unique cultural style.

The day after the party.

Chief Oak approached Ma Shao and hesitated for a moment: "I think we can talk about your last proposal."