Before horses were brought to Europe, there were no horses in America itself.
Therefore, the natives were all running on foot. There were about twenty or thirty people, setting up ambushes along the way to drive them away, constantly attacking with flying stones and javelins until the bison were exhausted to death or were bleeding to the point where they could no longer run.
The natives were not greedy. They only hunted one bison and stopped pursuing it.
These people gathered around the prey and cut up the carcass. A strong man quickly disembowelled the bison and took out the heart of the bison and presented it to the leader.
The leader held the bloody heart, opened his mouth and bit it, while the other natives laughed and cheered.
After only two symbolic bites, the leader put the heart away, tied it with withered grass and hung it on his shoulder. The bison carcass was cut into dozens of parts, and each of the indigenous people had them in their hands, but except for the heart, all other internal organs were discarded.
In place.
Suddenly, the natives stood up alertly, pointing their weapons in the distance.
The Ming Dynasty expedition team, totaling fifty people, slowly walked toward the natives. The natives did not attack immediately, but curiously observed the other party's clothes, as if they had never seen such clothing before.
The two sides were twenty or thirty steps away when Zhu Hai shouted: "We don't mean any harm."
The indigenous leader also stepped forward and said: "Jili Gua La..."
Chickens talk to ducks, but they don't know what they mean.
Li Changzhu was sent to negotiate. This man was holding an iron ax and pointed the handle of the ax towards the natives to show that he had no ill intentions.
The natives also sent one person, who soon came face to face with Li Changzhu, dancing and not knowing what he was talking about.
Li Changzhu handed out the iron ax and said: "It's for you, take it."
The natives were stunned for a moment, curiously took the iron axe, put down the bison leg on their shoulders, and chopped the ax into the meat of the beef leg. Looking at the cut area, the natives were overjoyed, and ran back to hand it to the leader, who also tried it with the axe.
few times.
Suddenly, the leader raised his iron ax high, and the natives around him cheered loudly and even danced around the ax in celebration.
The Ming Dynasty expedition team was all amused. These natives had no idea that an ax could be so happy.
After the natives finished dancing, the leader hung his ax on his waist and led all his men over. Except for the heart of the cow, they piled all the buffalo meat they had hunted on the ground.
"Jiliguala..." The leader pointed to the iron ax and then to the beef on the ground.
Zhu Hai also started to smile and gesture: "You mean, exchange beef for an axe?"
The leader thought that Zhu Hai was dissatisfied, so he pointed to the herd of bison that had fled away, as if to say that he could hunt a few more cattle to make up the difference.
Zhu Hai watched the other party's gestures for a long time, then he finally understood. He waved his hand and said, "No, no, this is a gift for you."
Zhu Hai asked people to move the beef back, pointed at the ax, and kept waving his hands to express his meaning.
The leader probably understood it, and became even more happy immediately. He walked to Zhu Hai, babbled a few words, and then turned around and pointed to the northeast.
"Is this...inviting us to be guests?" Zhu Hai muttered.
The deputy captain Li Guangcheng quickly reminded: "Master Governor, be careful, don't be harmed by these natives."
Zhu Hai said: "All the fire guns are loaded with ammunition. If anything goes wrong, fight immediately."
The indigenous people carried the beef and led the Ming Dynasty expedition team to set off. After walking for about an hour, they finally arrived at their settlement.
They are all thatched huts, and there are not many of them. This tribe probably only has a few hundred people.
Moreover, there are actually crops near the settlement!
An expedition team member ran over to check, and came back excitedly and said: "Duke, these natives are growing broad beans (broad beans)!"
"Is there anything else?" Zhu Hai asked.
The expedition team members shook their heads: "No more, only Hudou."
The Rocky Mountains serve as a natural barrier, blocking human migration and the spread of crops. These indigenous people have never seen corn, sweet potatoes, etc. They mainly make a living by hunting and collecting wild fruits, and have also developed relatively primitive agriculture.
, but the types of crops grown are relatively simple.
As soon as the expedition team arrived at the settlement, the indigenous people here came to watch one after another. Many women were holding clay pots in their hands. It seemed that they had learned how to make pottery.
The leader held the iron ax high, chattering and pointing at Zhu Hai and others, probably introducing the situation. He then demonstrated the power of the iron ax, striking a piece of wood repeatedly, which attracted bursts of exclamations from the tribesmen.
The natives began to get busy, cooking food in clay pots. They threw in dried broad beans, something similar to grass seeds, some unknown wild fruits, some beef and butter, and finally
Sprinkle in a little gray-black rock salt.
Most of the beef is roasted and seasoned with berries, which smells quite fragrant.
After the beef was roasted, the leader personally handed a piece of beef shank to Zhu Hai's hands enthusiastically. He wrapped the rock salt with leaves, took a bite of the meat himself, and dipped his fingers in a little salt to demonstrate the correct way to eat rock salt.
Zhu Hai curiously licked the rock salt. In addition to the salty taste, it was bitter and astringent, and it was unknown what impurities it contained. He asked someone to bring a pack of salt, which was much whiter than rock salt, and handed it to the indigenous leader with a smile.
The leader took a sip, his eyes widened, and he made various gestures while giggling.
Although there is no such thing as a yellow race at this time, the skin color is still very intuitive. The Chinese and Native Americans are both of the yellow race, at least not as separated as they are when facing white people.
The first meeting between the two parties was very harmonious. After the natives had eaten their fill, they even performed a dance for the Ming expedition.
That night, everyone didn't sleep well, and they were always on guard against plots by the natives.
Fortunately, nothing happened overnight. Early the next morning, the leader came to Zhu Hai and pointed out the waist sword and iron ax on their bodies.
"You still want it?" Zhu Hai was a little unhappy, thinking that the natives were too greedy.
The leader brought many animal skins, mostly bison skins. He also brought hats made of feathers, and carefully polished stone javelins... There were a lot of various items, all placed on the ground, and pointed at the expedition members again.
of ironware.
"Exchange?" Zhu Hai shook his head and said, "We don't need these."
The leader was very upset and asked the tribesmen to collect treasures, including colorful stones, pottery with exquisite patterns, and even necklaces made of wolf teeth.
The members of the Ming Dynasty expedition kept rummaging through this pile of garbage.
Suddenly, an expedition team member's voice trembled: "Dog... dog-headed gold?"
These crew members were all recruited in Singapore, and there is the Johor Gold Mine next door to Singapore. They have heard the legend of nugget gold countless times.
Zhu Hai quickly went over to check it and handed it to other team members. Everyone unanimously identified it as nugget gold.
Zhu Hai picked up the gold and said, "I want this, but it's not enough. Ten pieces of gold will be exchanged for an axe!"
The leader said he didn't understand.
Zhu Hai personally knelt down, drew an ax on the ground, and drew ten golden patterns with dog heads.
The leader understood now, but after searching the entire settlement, there were only two pieces of nugget gold.
After feeling frustrated for a while, the leader suddenly became happy and pointed to the northwest. He pointed to the gold, then to the axe, and then continued to point to the northwest with his hand.
Zhu Hai also pointed to the northwest, then pointed to the gold, and asked: "You mean, there is gold nugget over there?"
The leader thought Zhu Hai understood and danced and laughed.
The northwest here is the source of the American Gold Rush!