Chapter 259: Indian Chief (4K)
After dealing with Bernat, Liang Yao temporarily solved the worries of reclaiming Oregon.
It cleared the obstacles for California forces to infiltrate the Oregon region.
Although Bernat died, the conflicts between Indian tribes were not resolved.
In addition to the conflicts and wars with white people, there were also conflicts between Indian tribes.
For example, the Klamath tribe, whose territory was originally in Oregon, invaded the territory belonging to the Pomo tribe after moving south and went to war with the Pomo tribe.
The Salish and Chinook tribes in northern Oregon were also at war.
Since most of the Indian tribes on the west coast elected him as the chief, Liang Yao wanted to maintain a long-term influence among the Indian tribes on the west coast and gain the recognition of these Indian tribal leaders. He had to find a way to mediate the conflicts between the Indian tribes.
Compared with the vast territory of North America, the Indian population in North America was not large. When Columbus first arrived in North America, the Indian population in North America was estimated to be more than 10 million.
Of course, this includes the Indian population in the Caribbean and Mexico.
After the whites entered America, they brought not only guns and cannons, but also diseases and germs from the Old World. Guns and cannons and germs are very deadly weapons to the Indians.
Especially germs. When the whites knew that germs were far more lethal to the Indians than guns and cannons, they started to think crookedly and deliberately sold blankets with germs and fleas to the Indians, exacerbating the spread of the virus among the Indian tribes.
Although the population of North American Indians had not yet hit the bottom in the mid-19th century, it was an indisputable fact that the population of Indians in North America had sharply decreased.
The same was true for the West Coast, but the situation was better than that in the eastern frontier regions.
After all, after Liang Yao took office in California, California's mild policy towards Indian tribes could be said to be a breath of fresh air among the frontier states.
At this time, the mainstream policy of the frontier states (close to the territories and underdeveloped states) towards the Indians can be summarized in four words: genocide. The policy of slaughtering Indians and compressing their living space to ensure the absolute safety of white people in the frontier regions.
Therefore, compared with other frontier areas, the population decline rate of Indians in California and the territories near California has slowed down.
Liang Yao has conducted a survey of Indian tribes in California and Oregon. There are 18 major tribes. Thirteen of these 18 major tribes came to Sacramento after receiving Liang Yao's invitation to negotiate and participate in the action against the Bernat gang.
There are many small tribes under the big tribes. The population of these small tribes is much more difficult to understand than that of the big tribes.
After the United States occupied California, it carried out a bloody genocide on the local Indian tribes. Many small tribes fled into the mountains and forests to avoid the massacre. Out of caution, these Indians not only do not deal with white people, but also do not deal with Chinese in California.
According to rough estimates, the known Indian population in the West Coast region is about 200,000 to 300,000. If these Indians can be used for their own purposes, they will also be a considerable force.
The most lacking thing in California is population.
Before returning to California, Liang Yao summoned the chiefs of the tribes that participated in the meeting.
First, it was to mediate the conflicts between the tribes, and second, it was to celebrate that everyone had joined forces to eliminate the Bernat gang and eliminate a major cancer in the Oregon region.
At this time, alcohol had become popular among the Indian tribes.
The Indians did not have the habit of drinking. When the white people brought alcohol to the Indian tribe, the Indians seemed to have discovered a new world.
They believed that alcohol was holy water that could communicate with the gods. As long as they drank alcohol and entered the "spiritual wandering" state, they could "communicate with the gods".
Many Indians therefore developed the habit of alcoholism.
In fact, the so-called "spiritual wandering" and "spiritual communion" are just nonsense. To put it bluntly, after drinking a lot, people become a little floating.
After a few drinks at the banquet, while these Indian chiefs were still sober.
Liang Yao took a feather arrow, broke it, and swore to these Indian chiefs to break the arrow.
"Since you have elected me as the chief, as the chief, I have the obligation to mediate the disputes between your tribes."
"You are the chief sent by God to save us, and we are willing to listen to your opinions."
The slightly tipsy Pomo leader Big Bison said.
"Big Bison, I hope the Pomo and Klamath tribes can live in peace." Liang Yao walked to Big Bison and said to Big Bison.
Among all the Indian tribes, the most intense conflicts are between the Pomo and Klamath tribes.
"Absolutely impossible! The Pomo tribe killed 28 warriors of our tribe, and this blood debt must be paid with blood!" When mentioning the Klamath tribe, Big Bison's face fell instantly.
"There is an irreconcilable hatred between us and the Klamath tribe. If I don't avenge this hatred, I can't explain to my people!"
"Big Bison! You also killed 36 people of our Klamath tribe!" The chief of the Klamath tribe, Maquik, was also unwilling to be outdone.
"We haven't settled this account yet!"
"It was your people who rashly entered my territory!"
"What do you mean by your territory? 60 years ago, it was our Klamath tribe's territory."
The two of them started arguing.
Seeing that the two of them were locked in an endless argument, refusing to give in to each other, Liang Yao had no choice but to grab the gun from the guard on the side and fired a shot into the sky, which silenced the two of them.
"Big Bison! You just said that I was willing to listen to my opinion, what? You just said it, and now you have forgotten it?!" Liang Yao scolded sternly.
"And you, Maguik! You keep saying that you recognize me as the big leader, but you argue in front of me as the big leader. In my opinion, you don't have me as the big leader in your heart! This name is in vain. It’s okay for me not to be the big leader!
I don't care about your mess! You keep arguing! Keep fighting! Hit the white people and destroy your entire race! The past grudges have been completely wiped out! By that time, there will be no more Pomo people or Klamath people in the world! "
After saying that, Liang Yao angrily made a move to leave.
Of course, this is just a show to show off to Big Buffalo and Maguik.
Even if Big Bison and Ma Kuik ignored Liang Yao's departure, the other Indian tribes would retain Liang Yao and would not sit back and watch Liang Yao leave.
They also hope that Liang Yao will provide them with weapons and help them train warriors in the tribe.
As Liang Yao expected, the Indian chiefs of other tribes saw this and hurriedly stopped Liang Yao.
Hills and the deer hunters also blamed the big buffalo and Maguik, complaining that they did not give the big leader any face.
"Big Chief, please forgive our rudeness."
Big Buffalo and Ma Kuik had no choice but to apologize to Liang Yao.
Liang Yao ordered someone to serve two glasses of wine and said to the two of them.
“Our common enemy is the white people in Portland, not the brother tribes with the same skin color. If you only have hatred in your hearts, it will only benefit the white people.
After drinking this glass of wine, the grievances between the Pomo and Klamath tribes will be wiped out, and the old feud between the tribes will not be mentioned again. "
The Indians are also not united within themselves, which is why the United States was able to push the Indians in North America to the brink of extinction in just a century.
In addition to the crushing of civilization levels, part of the reason is that white American politicians took advantage of the conflicts between different Indian tribes and roped in some Indians to deal with other Indians, achieving twice the result with half the effort.
Big Bison and Maguik looked at each other and drank the wine in one gulp. Although the two of them did not settle their differences, their moods also relaxed a lot, at least they were not as tense as before.
"When I led the Klamath tribe south, I had to do it for the survival of the tribe. Now that Burnat has been eliminated, the Klamath tribe can safely return to the Oregon territory and continue living. However, our tribe is now short of supplies. I hope you, the Bomo tribe, can give me some time to raise supplies."
After drinking a whole glass of wine, Maguike felt a lot more comfortable and said to the big bison.
"That's right! We are all brothers and tribes. When we have difficulties, we should sympathize with each other, help each other, and overcome difficulties together."
Liang Yao also took a glass of wine from Deng Yan's hand, raised his head and drank it all, then slammed the glass on the stone.
The wine glass made of glass was instantly shattered into pieces and turned into a pile of glass shards.
Liang Yao pointed at the glass shards and said.
"Which tribe dares to provoke a war in the future will end up like this wine glass!"
All the Indian chiefs nodded in agreement.
After Maguik made concessions, Liang Yaoshan promised to give Maguik a batch of supplies, mainly grain and cloth, to help the Klamath return to the Oregon territory and rebuild their homes.
At the same time, Liang Yao also provided a batch of agricultural tools and seeds to the Indian tribes. As for farm cattle, Liang Yao himself was short of them and could not provide them with them.
In order to develop the farmland in the Central Valley, Liang Yao also purchased a large number of horses from Mexico and Central America to use as draft horses to make up for the lack of cattle.
Liang Yao provided Walter with a sketch of the steam tractor, and he didn't know whether Walter could reverse the steam tractor.
An internal combustion engine would not be possible without technological accumulation. Liang Yao did not expect to be able to develop an internal combustion engine so early. However, steam engine technology was already very mature in the mid-19th century.
It is still feasible to miniaturize steam engines and invent steam tractors. Although steam engines have low fuel utilization, steam tractors can still be popularized as long as coal is cheap enough.
After returning to San Francisco, Liang Yao began to intensively prepare for the expedition to Japan and prepare the supplies and ammunition needed for the expedition.
To ensure nothing went wrong, Liang Yao also entrusted Guangzhou merchants to raise grain, grass and military supplies for him in Guangdong.
Perry also sent a letter. The American East India Fleet had arrived in Panama. When Liang Yao received the letter, he estimated that Perry had arrived on the west coast of Mexico.
The telegraph line laid by the California Telegraph Office since the beginning of last year has also been connected to Houston, and Houston already has the first telegraph line of the First Telegraph Office of the United States directly to New York and Washington.
Liang Yao can now obtain information about the eastern region relatively quickly through telegrams and conduct micro-management of America Group's companies in the east.
Europe was not at peace during this period.
The first news Liang Yao obtained through telegraph was about Napoleon III.
Last year, in December 1851, Napoleon III launched a coup and succeeded. He extended the term of his president through constitutional amendments, which caused an uproar in the European countries.
Europeans remembered the fear that the whole of Europe was dominated by Napoleon III's uncle, Napoleon I.
The attitude of the European countries towards Napoleon III's coup was complicated. On the one hand, the European countries dominated by monarchy regarded the French Second Republic as an alien republic.
On the other hand, France's transformation from a republic to an empire was what they wanted to see, but they did not want the emperor of the French Empire to be from the Napoleon family.
Half a century ago, the powerful France that swept across Europe under the rule of Napoleon still made the European countries feel uneasy. They did not want France to have another emperor from the Napoleon family, especially a French emperor as talented and wise as Napoleon I.
The rapid success of Napoleon III's coup also showed that the Napoleon family still had residual power in France, and the French people all missed Napoleon.
This also made France's neighbors full of vigilance.
However, it was just a warning. France's neighbors were still weak. Neither Spain, the first empire that had long been in power in the west, nor the German states led by Prussia and Austria in the east, had the ability to interfere in France's internal affairs.
Tsarist Russia, which was complacent about the title of European gendarmes, focused its attention on the Crimean Peninsula, wanting to seize a coveted Black Sea outlet from the Ottoman Empire.
In general, as long as Napoleon III could handle the relationship with Britain well, the current environment on the European continent was very favorable for Napoleon III.
Extending the presidential term was just a stopgap measure for Napoleon III, and Liang Yao was clear about this.
Not to mention extending the presidential term, even a lifelong president could not satisfy Napoleon III's appetite.
After going through hardships and obstacles, Napoleon III returned to the French political arena with a very clear goal, which was to carry the ideal ambition of reviving the family, restore the once powerful French Empire, and restore the glory of the Napoleon family during his uncle's time.
The restoration of the French Empire will happen at the end of this year.
The golden statue Liang Yao had given to Napoleon III was not in vain. Napoleon III was also very happy after receiving Liang Yao's letter.
Especially the title at the beginning: His Majesty Napoleon III, Napoleon III felt very useful.
Napoleon III personally wrote a reply to Liang Yao, expressing his welcome to the American gold tycoon to invest in France. If Liang Yao is willing to invest in France, he can give Liang Yao some preferential policies.
At the same time, Napoleon was so happy that he gave Liang Yao a pair of swords as a gift.
However, these are all empty. The more real thing is that the two thousand-ton steam frigates that Liang Yao bought from France in the name of the American Group last year arrived in San Francisco under the escort of his old friend, the commander of the French Pacific Fleet, Rear Admiral Trott Meuran.
Liang Yao was worried that he only had a two-thousand-ton Roland to show off, and his maritime force was not strong enough for the trip to Asia. The two warships ordered from France arrived just in time.