Just a few hours before Big Ear went to Donggu City, several white people visited his Wild Duck Clan, led by a man with a bald head and a beard.
Big Ear came out to greet him and said respectfully in his broken English: "Hello, Mr. Latin."
The bearded man immediately corrected him, "It's not Latin, it's Redding, Pearson Redding."
Big Ears smiled hastily and said, "Yes, Mr. Pearson Redding."
In fact, his pronunciation was still not standard, and Redding was too lazy to correct it. "Sutter's Fort needs to build a few new houses. Let your people come with me... Mr. Sutter likes you very much. This time you can get an extra five ounces of bread or flour every day."
One ounce is about 28 grams, and five ounces is about 140 grams.
An extra 140 grams of flour, rounded off to the nearest hundred, is equivalent to one extra meal. If it were the former Wild Duck Clan, they would probably be overjoyed.
However, after working for East Valley City for a period of time, they naturally felt only disdain and resentment towards Sutterburgh's exploitation.
Although he felt disdainful in his heart, Big Ear still had to put on a polite smile: "Okay, okay, we will definitely go, but..."
"But what?"
Big Ear said carefully: "But can we give him two days and go to Sutter's Castle the day after tomorrow?"
Redding frowned slightly: "What?"
Da Er explained, "Many of my people are doing business with a clan in the south. They are coming back soon, but they haven't returned yet, so we don't have the manpower for the time being."
Redding looked around the Wild Duck Clan and said, "I see you have quite a few people, can't twenty people come?"
Big Ear said, "The clan must leave some people to guard. If we send twenty people to Sutter's Castle, only women and children will be left here."
After a pause, he continued, "Just two days, at most. Mr. Redding, in two days, or tomorrow, I will definitely go to Sutter's Fort with twenty skilled builders."
Redding nodded: "Okay, don't forget, I'm going back first."
Big Ear smiled happily and thanked repeatedly: "Thank you very much, generous Mr. Redding."
Pearson Redding casually molested a young girl and then left the Wild Duck Clan with his men.
After Redding left, Da'er immediately called a few tribesmen and said, "Let's go to Donggu City and inform Chief Ma Shao immediately!"
Several people rode their horses at full speed and arrived at the town hall of Donggu City that afternoon: "Chief Ma Shao, I think we can take action now!"
Ma Shao looked at the panting men and asked: "Did Sutterburgh ask you to go to work?"
Big Ear nodded: "Yes, and we will go into Sutter's Castle to repair the house the day after tomorrow."
"Very good." Ma Shao immediately called Du Tiao and instructed, "Du Tiao, pick twenty of the bravest soldiers and have them dress up as members of the Wild Duck Clan. Then follow Da Er to sneak into Sutter's Castle and seize the tower and the city gate when the time comes."
"Yes!" Du Tiao responded excitedly.
At this time, there were about twenty Maidu people working in Donggu City, so the Apache soldiers only needed to borrow a set of clothes from them.
However, the people of the Wild Duck Clan did not wear shirts, which caused them some trouble.
"Centurion, they all have no shirts, where should we hide our guns?" asked the soldier.
"Of course I'll hide it in my crotch!" Du Tiao hid the Browning pistol in his crotch without hesitation.
The soldiers looked at each other in bewilderment: "What if it goes off accidentally?"
Du Tiao looked at the soldier who spoke: "Didn't you say before that you were not afraid of death?"
"This seems more terrible than death..."
Du Tiao interrupted him: "Stop talking nonsense, hide your guns in your crotch immediately, the liberation of Sutter's Fort depends on us!"
"Yes." The soldiers obeyed the order and carefully hid their pistols in their crotches and secured them with ropes.
In terms of attire, twenty Apache soldiers could easily dress up as members of the Wild Duck Clan, but there was a big difference in temperament between the two.
The Apache soldiers were professional elite soldiers with firm eyes and full of fighting spirit, completely different from the Maidu people who had been oppressed by Fort Sutter for a long time.
At least from the perspective of an Apache or Maidu, the two groups can be distinguished almost at a glance.
Shulang couldn't help but say with some doubt: "There is still a difference, will the white people find out?"
Big Ear laughed and said, "White people will definitely not be able to tell the difference. We all look the same to them. They look the same to us, too."
"Okay." Shulang thought about it and found that he was indeed a little face-blind when it came to white people.
Using the last bit of time before departure, the Apache soldiers practiced the few words of Maidu they had just learned, and learned more about the situation at Fort Sutter to make adequate preparations.
The soldiers rested in advance, and in the second half of the night, Ma Shao led more than 80 people and set out from Donggu City.
Among these more than 80 people, there were several genuine Maidu people such as Big Ear, 60 Apache soldiers, and 20 Apache soldiers disguised as Maidu people.
Sutter's Fort is not far from Donggu City. They crossed a river and approached Sutter's Fort in the early morning. They hid behind a slope and observed Sutter's Fort in front of them with a telescope.
"Du Yao, after you sneak into Sutter Fort, first seize the tower, and then seize the east gate or the south gate. I will then attack from the outside, and together we will control the entire fortress." Ma Shao put down the telescope.
Du Tiao nodded: "I understand."
"Okay, let's go." Ma Shao patted his nervous Da'er and said with a smile, "Relax, as long as we can enter the fortress, those amateur white soldiers are no match for us."
"Amateur?" Big Ear didn't quite understand this concept.
Du Tiao said, "We are truly professional soldiers. Look at those guys with guns in Sutter's Fort. It's already six o'clock, and there's no sign of training."
"Okay." Big Ear took a deep breath and calmed himself down.
"Soldiers, secure your pistols," Du Tiao reminded, and then said, "Let's go."
Several Maidu people led by Big Ear walked in front, and twenty soldiers in disguised as Apaches followed behind them. Soon they arrived near Sutter's Fort, only about a hundred meters away from the city gate.
"Wait." At this moment, a voice suddenly sounded from the side, making everyone a little nervous.
Especially Big Ear, he had no such experience, and had never even had the experience of fighting with others. His face suddenly turned pale and he turned his head slowly.
Then he breathed a sigh of relief. The person who spoke was not a soldier or manager of Sutter's Fort, but a shop owner, and he knew him.
The shop owner looked quite young, probably less than 30 years old, of medium build, with some beard: "Big ears, right?"