The young navy lieutenant He Xiyang has been very upset recently, sometimes sweet and sometimes sad. The sweet thing is because of the Indian girl with long braided hair on the other side, but the sad thing is how to explain to her father who is thousands of miles away.
I sent a telegram saying that I have canceled the marriage I booked before. Your son already has someone he likes?
He Xiyang dared to conclude that even if he dared to do this, his father He Xiwen would break his legs and then force him to marry the girl he had never met.
This is outrageous! How dare you find an overseas barbarian if you don't want it! Besides, how will the girl from the other party behave in the future if she breaks off the engagement without any reason?
Although Beihai Town has a law against taking concubines, it does not interfere with the marriage custom of "the parents order the matchmaker to speak". This kind of thing can only be publicized and educated slowly, and the subtle influence cannot be achieved overnight, otherwise the backlash will be very violent.
The first few days of training ended in the afternoon, and I found He Xiyang on purpose. He gestured and asked a few serious questions in Spanish.
Do you like my daughter? Are the black leather boots you gave me a token of love? How many people are in your family? When are you going to marry her?
Oh my God! He Xiyang only felt numbness on the front of his forehead and cold sweat on the back of his neck.
When they were still on the ship, Rucci had half-jokingly talked about Indian customs to these young officers. He said that what these natives like to do most is to cut off their opponents' scalps as trophies. Later, when cleaning the battlefield after the "Battle of San Bruno Mountain", He Xiyang saw with his own eyes several Miwok men using daggers to cut off the scalps of the killed Spaniards, and then howled like wild wolves.
If I promise but can't do it, or give up in the end, will I have my scalp cut off in vain?
"Giggle~~"
Just as He Xiyang was standing in the open space outside the fortress gate, thinking wildly, a pair of rough little hands exuding the scent of soap suddenly covered his eyes from behind, and at the same time, a silver bell-like laughter came from behind.
"Katata. Where did you come from? I didn't see you." He Xiyang grabbed the other person's hand and moved it away from his eyes, then turned around.
"Haha~~"
Katata raised her head and looked at He Xiyang, with a bit of pride and joy in her clear and bright eyes. Then the two began to communicate with each other with words and gestures.
Katata: "How long have you been waiting for me?"
He Xiyang: "It didn't take long, I just came out for a while."
Katata: "Look, I have my boots on. Do they look good?"
He Xiyang: "It looks good."
Katata: "Hehe, now I'm only half a head away from you, and I'm almost catching up with you. By the way, I saw you were worried just now, what's the matter?"
He Xiyang: "Nothing, just thinking about something."
Katata: "Can you tell me something?"
He Xiyang: "Business matters. You know, it must be kept confidential."
"Okay, I won't ask anymore." Katata pursed her lips playfully and changed the subject: "Let's go see my father first. Mother asked me to bring him some food, and you can have your share."
The two first met at the trading market outside the fortress. At that time, Katata came here with her father to set up a stall to do business, but Baibai couldn't sit still and ran with a group of people to watch the Beihai navy dig a well, leaving her alone to look at the stall. At this time, He Xiyang came over.
He Xiyang has no interest in furs and has bought a few before to take them back to his family. And because of his father He Xiwen, he had always lived the life of a young master with no worries about food and clothing, even when he later went to the Youth Military Academy in Beihai Town.
It happened that in addition to sea lion skins, there were two Katata necklaces on the white stall. They were decorated with snow-white sea lion teeth, shells on the beach, obsidian and kingfisher feathers. They were very beautifully polished. He Xiyang thought this thing was good and planned to buy it.
As for Katata, because he believed deeply in the prophecy of the "Soaring Eagle", he instinctively had a good impression of the Orientals who came in the white ship. At the same time, she hoped that these people could help her find her brother who was taken away by the Spaniards, so she said she didn't want any money. However, the Beihai Navy has discipline, and transactions must be fair, and it is not acceptable to take things for free.
If Katata doesn’t want it, why should I give it to you? As a result, during the dispute between the two, He Xiyang's hand accidentally touched Katata... The air between the two seemed to freeze for a moment. The young man's face instantly turned red and he could not speak anymore. Then he dropped the money and ran away, even forgetting to take the jewelry he bought.
Katata was shocked by He Xiyang's "escape behavior" at the time. It wasn't until the other person disappeared that she realized that he was really interesting and his blushing face was very attractive.
In fact, the occasional physical contact between unmarried men and women is nothing to the Indians. But He Xiyang can’t do it! The education he received since childhood was "Don't look at anything that's not polite, don't hear anything that's not polite, don't say anything that's not polite, don't do anything that's not polite." Even after studying in Beihai Town for several years, the concept of "men and women guarding against each other" is still deeply ingrained.
Even though He Xiwen was a pirate, he, like those warlords of later generations, attached great importance to the education of his children. If you are too poor to survive and go to sea to become a pirate, you can't let your descendants become pirates, right? So He Xiyang started his education at the age of seven, and was good at both civil and martial arts. The teachers in his family were all scholars who came from Jiading to avoid the war.
In the next two days, Katata would come to the trading market with his father and stare at the gate of the fortress. It's not okay to do otherwise. I still have the necklace here. Besides, she didn't know the other party's name, so she could only stare at the officers and soldiers coming in and out.
After three days like this, she finally saw He Xiyang. She went up and grabbed the hem of his military uniform. The problem was that He Xiyang was not just hanging out at that time. He was going to follow a platoon of troops to reconnoiter the terrain in the south. As expected, Katata's move caused a collective uproar among more than 30 officers and soldiers, and He Xiyang wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl in.
Long story short. After He Xiyang clarified the misunderstanding, everyone was relieved. But since then, Katata seems to have identified He Xiyang and looks for him every time he comes to Kinmen Town. Gradually, He Xiyang was also infected by the innocence of this Indian girl, leaving traces of their walks on the seaside and in the mountains and forests.
A few months later, He Xiyang finally took a crucial step with the encouragement of Katata's eyes... Don't think blindly! People just kiss, hug and lift them up. Although Katata doesn't mind things between men and women, He Xiyang really doesn't dare! He finally explained to the other party clearly that the Chinese people attach great importance to matters between men and women, and they must obtain the consent of their parents and hold a formal ceremony.
Katata was dubious about this, but she really liked the shy He Xiyang, so she reluctantly accepted this reason. But sometimes she also wonders, if what He Xiyang said is true, why did she see guys in green military uniforms going to the market to talk to women several times?
And after those guys and women murmured, they would secretly go to the back of the hill with the husband's nod of permission, and not come back until a while later. When my father was talking to my mother one time, my father told me this as a joke. He really didn't understand why Chinese people were so secretive. Isn't this kind of thing normal?
Well, North American Indian society is different from the etiquette taboos of Eastern and Western civilized societies. It is very relaxed about matters between men and women. As long as they are not close relatives, it does not matter even if they have sex with outsiders before or after marriage, and they do not need to be responsible for the other party if they have children. better. Faced with the cruel natural living environment, especially the diseases brought by Europeans, which caused a sharp decline in the population, the continuation of the tribal bloodline was the first priority.
It is said that in the process of Europeans conducting the North American fur trade, racial discrimination was only a hidden state and was not obvious. After all, the fur traders needed the support of the Indians to purchase large quantities of furs from the latter.
In these days, almost all fur traders would associate with Indian women, and even many company employees and managers would marry local women in accordance with Indian customs. Since Indian society advocates polygamy, there are many white people who marry multiple wives. The most famous one is a guy named Moses Norton, who was the head of the Hudson's Bay Company in the Churchill River region of Canada. He married a total of six Indian wives.
There were many advantages for a fur trader to marry an Indian wife. First of all, they are an important labor force in the family. In addition to taking care of children and families, they are also responsible for collecting and cooking food, making clothing, and carrying supplies when men hunt. Secondly, they can serve as translators, negotiators, and interpreters in the fur trade. They served as middlemen and taught white people the language and culture of indigenous societies; in addition, some indigenous women even directly participated in the fur trade and became excellent housekeepers.
In today's eastern part of North America, with the popularity of intermarriage with indigenous people, the number of mixed-race descendants is increasing. Among them, mixed-race women have gradually replaced indigenous women and become the first choice for white people to marry.
In the history of another time and space, with the decline of the fur trade in the 19th century and the large-scale agricultural development in the west, the white people finally showed their ferocious faces. In order to seize the land of the Indians, even intermarriage became "the cohabitation of civilized men and savage women". As long as it did not go through Christian rituals, it was not recognized. Because the mixed-race descendants were also rejected by mainstream society, they could only huddle together for warmth, and eventually evolved into an independent Indian group - the Métis.
It's too far off topic.
Since the overseas corps came to Kinmen Town, there have been many cases of soldiers secretly engaging in field battles with married Indian women while they were out for a break because they could not control their loneliness. Since the system of the Northern Navy requires permission to go out, and at least two people are traveling together, it is a gang behavior, taking turns to look out for the situation.
Afterwards, they would also give the Indian women some daily necessities, such as a few pieces of soap, a small bottle of soju, two boxes of cigarettes and so on. Later, I gave Beihai dollars directly, one 50 yuan at a time, which is equivalent to more than one yuan of silver.
Lu Qi was furious when he found out about this situation. What the hell, I brought you here to conquer and transform this continent with Chinese civilization, not to be prostitutes! Didn't you realize that I came here alone? Why is I so busy all day long? Why don't you just fall on the bed and sleep to death without having to think about it!
He immediately ordered the gendarmerie to investigate the matter strictly, and those found out would be detained for two days, and then held a meeting for education and self-examination. In the words of the Beihai navy, it is called "an introspection that touches the depths of the soul."
As a former low-level employee, Lu Qi knew that just punishing people blindly would not work. Just like what Wang Yuanfang told him on the ship to Kinmen, he should be strict with the soldiers to maintain military discipline and combat effectiveness, and at the same time, he should care about their lives like a loving mother.
Moreover, it is useless to talk to these guys who have not received much education. Even if they are repeated many times, it will not hurt the skin or the flesh. These soldiers were former prisoners of war of the Qing army, and had served several years of hard labor on Kuye Island. They originally had few opportunities to interact with women, and their eyes would light up when they saw sows. Now that he has joined the army and has come to the North American continent, he will definitely not be able to continue living a life without women.
After discussing with several of his officers, Lu Qi summoned the platoon leaders of each platoon, and after some instructions, asked them to go back and hold life meetings for their men. At the meeting, the platoon leaders told their bachelors that if you want to find a local Indian woman to start a family, there is no problem. Commander Lu will even personally help you propose a marriage. After that, they will worship the matchmaker of heaven and earth to get married, and they will also divide the house and land. The land in the Lushui Plain is very fertile. Each family has 200 acres. In the future, there will be machines to help plant and fertilize the land.
But those with families should pay attention. If you marry an indigenous wife now, will your wife and children in Liaodong still be able to take over? After all, the law of Beihai Town is that you can only have one wife. Now that everyone is a member of the Beihai Navy, they must abide by it. If anyone can't bear it and still wants both, they can only be forced to retire and take a boat trip home to farm. Anyway, a life of "a warm bed for wife and children, fifty acres of land for a cow" can also make a family rich.
As soon as these words came out, the soldiers present were excited and deep in thought.
go home? If this was the time when the labor service on Bitter Leaf Island had just ended, no one would hesitate. But now, whoever goes back is a fool!
Even though they are thousands of miles away from home, they are training every day, and the war seizures must also be returned to the public; but since the first batch of furs purchased from the Indians were shipped to Anping Port and sold, everyone has received a considerable amount of income. . The part of the profit deducted was agreed upon in advance and only accounts for 30%, which is really not much. Many people are thinking about using the money they earn to continue purchasing furs from the Indians. In this way, they can earn thousands of dollars in less than two years.
The most important thing is that with the big tree of the Northern Navy at your back, you can really catch and destroy whoever you want on this land. Although the previous battle with the Spaniards was fought with less and more, the winner was a clean one, and There were not many casualties. Serving as a soldier like this is really for a landlord and he won't change it.
I have to say that the effect of this life meeting was quite good. Every soldier made a speech and expressed his determination. Those who had made mistakes before also promised not to violate discipline again.
While He Xiyang and Katata were looking for Bai Bai, a meeting attended by representatives of surrounding tribes was taking place in the fortress. To be called a representative is actually to select one from the Indians in each village doing business in the market, explain it clearly to them, and then ask them to go back and spread the message.
The person who came forward on behalf of Lu Qi was the commander of the overseas corps, Major Officer Li Shi; the person in charge of the translation was a guy who had the best command of Mandarin among the tribal militiamen who were being trained.
It was the first time for a group of Indians to enter the fort. They looked around curiously. When they arrived at the conference room, they were chattering again. Everyone had question marks on their faces. They didn't know why they were called here. However, when the tribal militiaman finished speaking, all the Indians present were stunned.
"The leader here has said that he wants to find wives for his hundreds of warriors! Because the Easterners have had good relations with various tribes this year, they want to marry you. The conditions are that they must be young and unmarried. Those under fourteen years old are too young. No, she must be over fifteen years old. Yes! She must be fifteen years old, this is very important. Each girl’s home will give her a strong horse, a musket, three blankets, and a full set of iron pots and pans! "
