Chapter 89: You are late

Rifles have been fully popularized in Sleeping Bear City. Although bows and arrows are still often carried, they are only used as backup weapons and only in rare cases.

In contrast, only a few people in the coalition army of the three tribes used firearms, and most of them were smoothbore guns, which had inferior range and accuracy than rifled guns.

Therefore, in just the first round of attack, the dense rain of bullets dealt them a heavy blow, and their formation became chaotic.

At the same time, the Prairie Wolf and Du Diao's cavalry quickly outflanked them on both sides.

The coalition forces of the three tribes certainly understood that they had to guard against encirclement, so they promptly sent out a number of soldiers, about three or four hundred in number, to intercept the Sleeping Bear Cavalry from the left and right.

"Fire!" Prairie Wolf and Du Tiao shouted almost at the same time, and the Sleeping Bear Cavalry raised their rifles, aimed and fired.

"Bang, bang, bang!"

Two hundred bullets temporarily blocked the interception of the three-tribe coalition forces.

Then, the Sleeping Bear Cavalry hung the fired rifle on the side of the horse and took out the Colt revolver in his hand.

This is the plan designed by Ma Shao. All professional soldiers will be equipped with at least two guns, a rifle and a revolver, and officers will be equipped with at least two pistols.

Rifles are used for long-range shooting. In a charge, you can basically put them down after firing a round. After all, there is no time to reload ammunition while charging on horseback.

When they reach medium and short distances, the revolver will fire a hail of bullets, pouring out ammunition in a very short time and hitting the enemy hard.

The two cavalry teams did exactly that. After a round of shooting, they advanced at full speed along the encirclement route, revolvers in hand.

The coalition forces of the three tribes had already found it extremely difficult to deal with the shooting from Mianxiong City, and had no time to intercept them. They could only barely gather their formation.

Soon the two teams of cavalry successfully circled the enemy's flank and rear, and immediately launched a charge, rushing towards the enemy from the flank and rear.

"Bang, bang, bang—"

What followed was a hail of bullets from the revolver, and the enemies standing in the front fell down instantly, with screams ringing in the ears.

"Houjian, follow me!" Witnessing this scene through a telescope, Ma Shao immediately ordered the soldiers in the city to go out to meet the enemy, and together with two hundred cavalrymen, he attacked the coalition forces of the three tribes.

What happened next was no surprise.

Faced with the complete crushing of equipment, combat quality, and formation, the coalition forces of the three tribes had almost no ability to fight back, and the pincer attack was formed and they were instantly in chaos.

"Surrender and you won't be killed!"

"lay down your weapon!"

As essential foreign language knowledge for professional soldiers, words of persuasion to surrender in Arapaho, Cheyenne and Comanche resounded on the battlefield.

The three-tribe coalition had no choice but to surrender as they were doomed to defeat. Nearly a thousand people became prisoners, and the rest were corpses, as well as a few clever guys who escaped from the battlefield in time.

The leaders of the coalition forces, several great chiefs and war chiefs, were brought before the cavalry.

They all looked miserable, with ragged clothes, dusty faces, and blood on their bodies. The leader among them was Arapahoe's Broken Bow.

Ma Shao looked at Broken Bow and said slowly, "Chief Broken Bow, I heard that you like war. I thought you were a good fighter."

When Duan Gong heard this, his face suddenly turned red, and the veins on his forehead popped out: "You can cut off my scalp, but you can't insult me!"

"Insult? Am I not telling the truth?" Ma Shao snorted, "Look at the bodies on the ground. How many Arapaho youth paid the price of their lives just for your stupid and selfish desire for war?"

Rainy Day, who was acting as the translator, purposely said this out loud so that the other Arapaho captives could hear it.

"We shouldn't be here..."

"If we had known this, we should have listened to the crow's advice."

"Yes, Crow is right. We are no match for the Apaches, at least not for Sleeping Bear."

"It was all because of the broken bow that my brother died in the battle!" Some voices of discussion were heard among the Arapaho captives.

Broken Bow felt extremely humiliated when he heard this, and his body trembled slightly: "Apaches, the Arapaho will never surrender to you, just kill me!"

"Yes, I will kill you." Ma Shao pronounced his death sentence, "but not now. You will be judged by the law and then executed by me personally as a war criminal."

"And I won't scalp you. The Sleeping Bears have abolished that tradition."

In addition to these leaders, there was another person who was brought before Ma Shao. He was Fang Lian, the man who betrayed Mian Xiong.

Ma Shao originally wanted to talk to Fang Lian for a few words, but this guy seemed to be crazy and kept scolding him, so he had to gag him.

In the end, he said nothing, and stopped looking at the men who were to be tried. Instead, he turned and ordered, "Take care of the prisoners, build a shelter for them to keep out the rain, and do not mistreat them."

"Yes." The soldiers went to settle the prisoners.

"What are you going to do with so many prisoners?" asked Rainy Day.

"Heal their wounds first." Ma Shao said, "Our soldiers have suffered almost no casualties, but they have many wounded. The shaman will be busy for a while."

"What happens next?" Rainy Day asked again, "I guess you won't let them go back."

Ma Shao smiled and said, "Of course, we couldn't let them go last time. Now it's different. We can keep them and let them cultivate farmland and build buildings."

"During this period, remember to bring your shaman to preach to these captives, change their minds, and encourage them to call their families to settle down in Mianxiong."

"As long as these captives put aside their hostility and settle down in Sleeping Bear City with their families, we can grant them freedom and allow them to become ordinary residents."

Rainy Day nodded, and suddenly his eyes fixed, pointing forward: "That is——"

Ma Shao also looked up and saw a group of figures appearing at the end of his vision, rushing towards him at full speed.

He quickly picked up the telescope and took a look, but soon heaved a sigh of relief.

"It's the Chiricahua tribe."

The visitors were none other than the Chiricahua tribe of the Apache, also known as Oak's tribe, and they were obviously coming to aid Sleeping Bear.

"Long time no see, Chief Oak." Ma Shao went over to greet him and said with a smile.

Chief Oak looked around in surprise. It was obvious that a battle had just taken place here, but Ma Shao and others looked calm and composed, as if nothing had happened.

"I heard that the Comanches came to attack Sleeping Bear, so I brought some warriors to help you, but this... is the battle over?" he couldn't help but ask.

Ma Shao nodded: "Yes, you are late. If you were a little earlier, we could fight side by side."

Chief Oak came back to his senses and smiled awkwardly: "Haha, it seems that it doesn't matter whether I come or not. Those Comanches are no match for you."

"Since you are here, rest for a few days in Mianxiong." Ma Shao said, "We will hold a trial tomorrow."

"Trial?" Oak frowned.

Mianxiong: sleeping bear city