Ma Shao hopes that the artillery training at Fort Sutter can lay some foundation for Apache's artillery units in the near future.
In addition to technical talents such as artillery, there is another noteworthy group among the prisoners at Sutter's Fort.
puppet army.
Sutter's Fort not only had white soldiers and Indian slaves, but also a part of puppet troops composed of local Indians.
They took orders from John Sutter, lived like white men, and shot at Indians like white men.
The Apache was relatively lenient in dealing with these puppet soldiers, basically treating them the same as white prisoners, without adding the additional charge of "Indian traitor".
After all, they were somewhat forced, and they had no self-identity as Indians.
To them, there was not much difference between Indians from other tribes or even other clans and white people, so shooting Indians from other tribes could not be considered betrayal.
They still need time to gradually develop a unified group identity like the residents of Sleeping Bear City.
After resolving Sutter's Fort, the Sacramento area entered a period of stable development.
The East Valley Lumberyard continued to pan for gold, making profits at an astonishing rate, and of course also cut trees on the side to provide materials for construction projects.
As Donggu City continued to improve, it continued to absorb population. Indians from the surrounding areas could all move in, as well as a small number of white and black people.
Compared with slepping bear city, Donggu City's assimilation policy is much more moderate.
After all, there are few Apaches here and the cultural differences are huge. The influx of more and more foreigners will inevitably greatly increase the difficulty of assimilation.
Therefore, the assimilation implemented by Donggu City is more inclined to economic means. Since they happen to occupy the gold mine and have money, even if there are compulsory measures, they will be disguised as much as possible to reduce the stimulation.
The situation is different at Sutter's Fort, or Western Springs Fortress.
After Sutter's Fort became Xiquan Fortress, Ma Shao immediately arranged for its restoration and expansion.
The repairs naturally involved the repairs of the city gates. In previous battles, both the South Gate and the North Gate had been bombarded and needed to be repaired.
Expansion means not only the expansion of area and buildings, but also the expansion of people. Ma Shao plans to turn this place into a more qualified military fortress in his eyes, which requires at least recruiting several hundred local Indians as soldiers.
In addition to being a military base, Xiquan Fortress was also a labor reform camp for white people and puppet soldiers, implementing a more coercive reform and assimilation policy.
In the future, all non-death row prisoners captured by Apache in California will be sent here for forced assimilation.
In early October, Ma Shao held a meeting, made some arrangements for the lumber camp, East Valley City and West Spring Fort, and prepared to return to Kansas.
In fact, he didn't want to go back so soon. After all, California's development was just starting and needed his direct participation more than Sleepy Bear City.
But considering his next plans, he had to hurry back.
Before leaving, Ma Shao repeatedly told Du Tiao and Shulang that these two would be his agents after he left, responsible for all affairs in the Sacramento area and even California.
"Remember, your first priority is to protect and operate the gold mine."
"Under this premise, other problems can be solved with money as much as possible... Xiquan Fortress and Donggu City can each receive one-tenth of the mined gold as development funds. This amount of money is more than enough."
"You must remember this." Ma Shao asked emphatically at the end.
Du Tiao and Shulang both nodded and said, "Don't worry, Chief."
After instructing the two men, Ma Shao called up Toutouwen alone and said, "Toutouwen, I have a secret mission for you..."
Forehead wrinkles say: "No matter what the task is, I will definitely work hard to complete it."
Ma Shao pondered and said, "It's not a difficult or complicated task. I just want you to secretly monitor Du Tiao and Shu Lang."
His forehead wrinkled, as if he didn't quite understand: "Secret supervision?"
Ma Shao smiled and said, "I've said before that human nature is unreliable, no matter whose human nature it is. The gold mine contains staggering wealth. Although Du Tiao and Shu Lang are both very loyal to the tribe, for such an important matter, we obviously have to rely as little on human self-discipline as possible."
"So, in addition to public supervision, secret supervision is also essential. You need to keep a close eye on the operation of the gold mine to prevent someone from being swallowed up by desire."
"Of course, you should also pay attention to things other than gold mines, such as justice and the military..."
He nodded solemnly, "I understand."
Ma Shao pondered for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Forehead wrinkles, do you think I should arrange for another person to secretly monitor you?"
"Having more secret supervisors to check and balance each other should make supervision more effective." He said with forehead wrinkles, and then, as if he thought of something, he suddenly showed an expression that seemed to want to say something but stopped.
Ma Shao: "What's wrong?"
"Great Chief, I have an idea..." He hesitated with forehead wrinkles and didn't say anything for a long time.
"If you have any questions, just tell me. You are my student," said Ma Shao.
Forehead wrinkles finally made up his mind: "Great Chief... I feel like no one can supervise you."
Ma Shao was stunned for a moment, then laughed: "You are right, there is indeed no one who can supervise me, but——"
Suddenly, the wrinkles on his forehead dawned on him: "I understand now. It is human nature, not divinity, that needs to be supervised!"
"No, I'm not divine. Don't say that. You are a student I value very much." Ma Shao said immediately, frowning slightly.
The air was quiet for a few seconds.
Ma Shao continued slowly, "You are right, forehead wrinkles. No one can supervise me, at least no one can supervise me strictly. And I am not a god. I have unreliable human nature just like you."
"But this is an unsolvable problem… because any system will have at least one loophole, any axiom system will have things that cannot be proved, and any question will ultimately lead to a question that is absolutely unanswerable."
"We can infinitely admire laws and systems, and advocate procedural justice, but no matter how perfect the laws and systems are, and how strict the procedures are, they can only approach perfection, but never reach it."
"In any situation, there will be at least one incident that renders all rationality, laws, procedures, and systems ineffective, leaving us with only personal or even unexpected factors to rely on, with no better solution."
After a pause, Ma Shao continued, "If someone says that the building of physics has been completed... he is destined to become a joke."
"It's not just physics, it's also ourselves. A perfect building can never be built."
"In a complex division of labor society, there are bound to be institutions that are difficult to supervise," Ma Shao said. "For Apache now, I am this institution."
Although Ma Shao had already subtly instilled many similar ideas about forehead wrinkles, it was still difficult to accept this statement.
"Is this really... inevitable?" he couldn't help but ask.
"It is inevitable, or the cost of avoiding it is unbearable," said Ma Shao.
"How to avoid it?" asked the wrinkles again.
Ma Shao: "Just let society degenerate. If everyone does the simplest, self-sufficient work and never interacts with each other...there will be no social division of labor and cooperation, no public interest, and naturally there will be no need for supervision."