Chapter 68: Conspiracy

"Come with me to Clark Town tomorrow. I will gradually hand over the management of Clark Town's garrison affairs to you." Ma Shao said.

"Yes!" replied the prairie wolf.

Every once in a while, the Apache garrison in Clark Town would rotate a squad.

This was mainly to prevent the garrison's training from being out of touch with the clan, and also to allow more Apache soldiers to understand white society.

Clark Township.

Without a doubt, the busiest place in the town now is the garment factory. This seemingly simple factory is in operation every day, producing jeans continuously, while constantly constructing and expanding the factory.

After working here for a month, a skilled tailor can get a salary of $25. Although this level cannot be compared with workers in the eastern region, it is already high in the Midwest, and naturally higher than farmers.

Moreover, garment factories implement the 996 work system, which was regarded as extremely evil by many people in later generations. But at present, many workers even have to work more than 14 hours a day, so 996 is relatively relaxed.

Most tailors are women, and job opportunities are scarce, let alone such well-paid jobs. Therefore, anyone who knows a little about tailoring skills is scrambling to get a job in the factory.

At the entrance of the expanding garment factory, Mary was looking at the busy garment workers and construction workers with a thoughtful look on her face.

She heard someone coming this way, turned around and saw that it was Sheriff Tom coming for inspection.

"Tom."

Sheriff Tom also nodded with a smile. Although he was dressed neatly and had a revolver on his waist - only he, Floyd and the Apache garrison were allowed to carry such guns in the town, he still looked like an old farmer who had just walked out of the field.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked casually.

Mary said, "Nothing much, just something about the factory."

Tom didn't care. He looked at the factory and sighed, "I feel like this will be the largest factory in the central region."

Mary nodded. "Indeed, I never thought that overalls would be so popular."

Tom said, "I had expected it. When I was working, my trousers would be worn out from time to time, and Mr. Jones complained more than once that it would be nice to have trousers that would not be worn out."

Mary was silent for half a second, then suddenly said, "I really envy you."

"What?" Tom was stunned.

Mary: "I mean you and Jones. Mr. Jones is a kind man. He never abused you even when you were his slave."

"That's right." Tom smiled. "We are still friends now. We had a drink yesterday and he said--"

Mary's years as a slave were obviously not as lucky as Tom's, and her expression was a little gloomy.

Tom noticed her expression and realized that he shouldn't continue to discuss this topic. He immediately changed the subject: "But then again, I still didn't expect Clark overalls to be so popular. I have to say that the chief is a visionary."

"I feel like he's more like a wizard who can predict the future. You may not have seen the look on his face when he says, 'This will definitely be a big hit.'" Mary smiled.

While they were talking, the sound of footsteps was heard. It turned out to be Ma Shao who came over at this moment.

"Chief."

"I think I heard you say I'm a wizard?" Ma Shao's English had improved a lot. He smiled and walked in front of the two of them. "Then I have to correct you. I'm a shaman, not a wizard."

"How's the factory doing lately, Mary?" he asked, looking around the garment factory.

The garment factory is filled with indigo denim, jeans and semi-finished jeans made from it. A group of female workers are holding needles and threads, sewing.

Not far away, some construction workers were building a new factory building. The collision of bricks and wood caused dust to fly. Compared with the existing factory building, the area of ​​the new factory building was obviously much larger.

"This is last month's income and expenditure." Mary took out a list and handed it to Ma Shao.

"The net profit for March was $1,145.14. This month's figure should be doubled..."

"After the new factory building is completed, the factory will be able to accommodate a hundred workers, but there are not so many tailors in the town, so we may need to recruit workers from outside."

"So far, we have connected with two wholesalers, one that can sell our overalls to Santa Fe and another that can sell to St. Louis."

Mary gave a general account of the factory's situation, and then hesitantly asked, "Chief, isn't the salary the factory pays its workers a bit high? There are very few such salary levels in the Midwest."

"Not high." Ma Shao said, "You just said that we need to recruit workers from outside, and the town also needs to absorb population. How can we attract people if the salary is not high?"

"Jeans don't have much technical content, and patent protection may not be very effective. We need to increase production as soon as possible."

…

On the other side, shortly after Ma Shao left, a conspiracy was brewing in the territory of the Mianxiong clan.

The current population of the Sleeping Bear Clan is about 1,500 people. Most of them live in tents, but some live in wooden houses. More and more wooden houses are being built, making the clan look more and more like a village.

Numerous tents and wooden houses are distributed roughly in a circle on the grassland. One area is slightly separated from the surrounding area, looking like a corner cut off from a cake.

This was Comanche territory.

At this moment, several Comanche men were gathered in a tent, discussing something.

"We can't go on like this!" The speaker was a square-faced young man, who insisted, almost gritting his teeth, "Our children are all speaking Apache and learning Apache writing. Soon, they will become Apaches!"

"I don't know how to write my name in Apache, and someone scolded me a few days ago! He said I was illiterate!" said another person.

"What should we do now?"

"Brother Square Face, you have to go find the chief and ask the two wolves to leave here. We can't stay in the Sleeping Bear Clan any longer. We are Comanches, free Comanches!"

Fang Lian sighed, "I looked for him, but the chief was unwilling. He said that the Sleeping Bear Clan saved us in a time of crisis, and we cannot betray them."

Everyone was silent for two seconds, and someone hesitated and said, "The Mianxiong Clan did help us..."

Before he could finish his words, he was interrupted: "Nonsense, the Sleeping Bear Clan didn't help us at all - if it weren't for the Sleeping Bear Clan asking us to cancel the trade with the white people, we wouldn't have encountered this crisis at all!"

"That's right, the Mianxiong Clan is the culprit!" Several people became excited.

At this moment, Fang Lian hesitated for a moment and suddenly said: "Everyone, I have a way, maybe it will work..."