Chapter 35: Fighting Arapahoe Again

The incident of the white woman caused some waves, and no one could understand Ma Shao's thoughts.

In the eyes of most Apaches, the nature of Ma Shao's behavior was clear - destroying other people's property, and there seemed to be no reason for it.

In fact, it would be easy for Ma Shao to calm down the situation.

As long as he claimed in the name of a shaman that he had received revelation from the great spirit and that killing the white woman could avoid a disaster, no one would care about it anymore.

But as before, he didn't say so because he had an instinctive resistance to supernatural powers, so he had to go to see the chieftain of the tent and the chieftain of the oak. The chieftain of the tent was his superior, and the oak was the bald head's superior, so these two people asked the reason for the horse whistle.

"Why did you do that?" the tent keeper asked, frowning.

With Rainy Day's mediation, the relationship between the chief guarding the tent and Ma Shao improved, but this incident deepened his dissatisfaction with Ma Shao.

Chief Oak also looked at Ma Shao, waiting for his answer.

"Rape and abuse are not what a soldier should do... I just wanted to give her a quick death." Ma Shao said.

"She's white." The tent guard interrupted him, "How can you defend white people?"

Oak's attitude was better, and he said slowly: "This is how the white people treat us. My wife's sister had the same experience. She was tortured to death by white soldiers... We should treat white people in the same way. This is fair, isn't it?"

Ma Shao really didn't know what to say. On the one hand, he knew that it was almost impossible to convince his fellow tribesmen, or any nation or country in this era, on this issue. On the other hand, he himself couldn't think of a good enough reason.

According to his way of thinking, if you want to convince someone to do something, you must explain the value of that thing.

Moreover, Ma Shao would not talk about some vague things, such as "what makes humans human beings". What he always wants to explain is the value of reality, as clear and specific as physics.

So what was the value of not harming white civilians and prisoners?

So that whites would not harm their own civilians and prisoners? So that they could take the moral high ground? Or so that whites would not fight as hard as they did against Indians, who could be prisoners anyway?

To the Indians at that time, these reasons were not convincing at all, and most people could not even understand the logical relationship between them.

"Isn't it enough to kill her with one shot? If she is tortured to death, what's the difference between us and the white people?" Ma Shao was unable to come up with a reason that could convince the Indians.

"How is there no difference?" Oak said, "Although both are killing and torture, the whites are invading and we are seeking revenge. They are not the same thing."

The tent guard added: "We cannot be merciful to the enemy, there is no doubt about that!"

Rainy Day said at this time: "Ma Shao's integrity is as innate as his strength. I think this is just a small mistake. I am willing to compensate him for Bald Head, Chief Oak."

"You don't need to pay compensation. He's just a white man who was about to die. Baldhead didn't lose anything." Oak waved his hand. "I understand Ma Shao. Any thirteen-year-old boy will have some naive ideas, even a genius like him."

The tent guard looked at Ma Shao and said, "I hope you won't make the same mistake again. You are now the war chief of the Plains Tribe."

"I understand." Ma Shao nodded.

After a while, he left the chief's tent, and Rainy Day followed him and asked, "To be honest, I'm a little confused as to why you acted like that? Although I know you're very upright, this is still a little..."

Ma Shao was silent for a while, then patted Yutian on the shoulder and said, "Just like you said, it's innate."

After a few days people forgot about it.

After all, to the Apaches, this was just a white captive.

Ma Shao's life also returned to its previous rhythm. Every day he was either teaching in a literacy class or leading the pistol unit in training.

In the blink of an eye, it was October.

The Arapaho, their great enemy in the north, had not made any move so far, which almost made the Apaches think that they had retreated to the Colorado Plateau and would never come out again.

But the Arapaho were Arapaho after all. As the most warlike of all Indian tribes, they would never give up and abandon their plan of marching south just because of a small defeat.

So on this day, while the Apaches in the camp were enjoying the cool autumn breeze, the dark clouds of war once again rolled in from the northern plateau.

"The Arapaho are coming!"

Several wounded cavalrymen returned to the camp. They were the tribesmen in charge of patrolling.

At this moment, they looked in a miserable state, everyone was injured, and one was unconscious on horseback.

"How many of them are there?" asked Chief Oak.

"Maybe there are a thousand people." The leading messenger was panting and pale. There was an arrow stuck in his arm and blood was flowing. "This is a big battle."

One thousand Arapaho!

Everyone who heard this number was horrified.

After all, the Arapaho were already very powerful, and their numbers were almost the same as their total military strength, which was chilling to think about.

After a few months of silence among the Arapaho, the big one is finally coming.

But the Apaches were able to hold out against the Arapaho until now, so they were certainly not cowards. So they did not hesitate and immediately prepared to fight.

A thousand Apaches mounted their war horses, armed with bows and arrows, tomahawks, wooden shields, guns and other weapons, waiting for their impending enemy.

"Ding ding--" The unique whistle of the horse whistle resounded throughout the camp. What he blew now was naturally the assembly call, or the assembly whistle.

The soldiers trained by him assembled in response, lined up at astonishing speed, and stood at the front of all Apache warriors.

They looked different, with their peculiar weapons and neat formation, which formed a sharp contrast with the rest of the tribe who were more scattered.

"Do you remember what I taught you?" Ma Shao looked at the two hundred pistol cavalrymen, "Now is the time to test it!"

He had no doubt about the fighting capacity of this unit.

"Hurray!" the soldiers shouted in unison.

The two hundred-man pistol unit, each equipped with a Colt revolver and a bayonet, were neatly lined up in a horizontal formation, with great momentum.

Although other tribesmen already knew the pistol unit's unique slogan, they were still shocked when they heard the wave-like shouting on the battlefield.

Soon, a group of figures appeared on the plain ahead. They came on horseback, and the ground trembled slightly as they moved forward.

The distance between the two sides was rapidly shortened, and soon it was less than a kilometer.

Just then, the horse whistle blew the charge whistle.