章 138: Chapter 139: [Public Security]
The arms industry has always been a highly profitable industry.
This is especially true during wartime; the more intense and prolonged the fighting, the more profit the arms dealers stand to make.
As a physics teacher, Ma Shao likes to use some physical models to understand the world.
He often felt that the relationship between arms dealers and war was like that between heat engines and combustion.
Burning is a destructive process.
During combustion, the fuel is continuously consumed, while the heat engine absorbs the energy released and converts it into its own kinetic energy.
War is also a process of destruction, in which many things are destroyed, even irreversibly.
But even in this process of destruction, arms dealers can always reap profits.
The Mexican-American War has only been going on for less than a year since the two countries officially declared war.
But through the sale of Browning pistols, Sleeping Bear City, as a neutral arms dealer, has accumulated nearly $400,000 in revenue, most of which is profit.
Four hundred thousand dollars.
Even in the 21st century when the U.S. dollar is no longer directly pegged to gold, this is a huge sum of money.
What's more, the US dollar at that time was truly American currency, and one US dollar was equivalent to 1.6 grams of gold or 24 grams of silver.
Of course, only gold and silver coins count.
You can't count money this way.
Strictly speaking, the so-called US dollar bills today are actually banknotes issued by private banks.
The banknotes issued by some large banks are relatively reliable, but it is hard to say about the others. Some are almost worthless and few people are willing to accept them.
Americans themselves do not trust paper money, so for Indians, paper money is certainly even more unreliable.
In contrast, gold and silver are natural currencies.
Gold and silver have been trusted currencies at almost any time and in any place throughout human civilization.
Therefore, slepping bear city has always used gold and silver coins for business and never accepted paper money, so the $400,000 in hand is real gold and silver.
Before this, the tribe's annual income was only about $300,000.
The profits brought by the arms business in the past few months are equivalent to an extra year's fiscal revenue.
Through the agents in Clark Town, anything that ordinary white people can buy can also be bought in Sleeping Bear City, and at normal prices, so you won't be ripped off.
The extra hundreds of thousands of dollars allowed Sleeping Bear City to spend lavishly and purchase large quantities of food and industrial supplies.
And more importantly, technical talent.
Food is purchased to support population growth. Although agriculture in the city is developing rapidly, due to the astonishing population growth, in order to cope with the influx of immigrants, Sleeping Bear City always needs to purchase food from the outside world.
Even if there is enough food, Sleeping Bear City will continue to purchase food just in case.
In addition to agriculture, industry also needs to develop.
Therefore, Ma Shao also purchased a large amount of industrial materials and hired some technical talents at high salaries to drive the tribe's transformation into an industrial society.
At present, there are already many industries in slepping bear city.
The level of these industries is not high, they are basically small workshop handicrafts, and many materials such as steel have to be imported, but the coverage is relatively comprehensive.
From the perspective of future generations, this is just the level of a small town.
But considering the backdrop of the western region, slepping bear city can already be considered an industrial city and a manufacturing city.
The huge profits brought by arms put the development of Sleeping Bear City on the fast track, and its scale and structure were rapidly increasing.
No outsider would have thought that just over two years ago, this place was a Stone Age society with only a few hundred people...
There is no doubt that Sleeping Bear City is a huge arms production site.
However, strict weapons control is implemented in the city - Ma Shao does not want the tribe to experience the proliferation of guns like in the United States in later generations, or the so-called "gun involution."
People say that East Asia is involuted, but in fact the United States is also involuted.
It's just a different direction.
East Asians are involuted in the field of solving problems, and Americans are involuted in the field of owning guns.
On the east and west sides of slepping bear city, there is a place for civilians to buy weapons, and there are two corresponding civilian city gates that allow anyone to enter and exit.
As the arms business flourished, the name of Mian Xiong gradually became known to the outside world, and outsiders appeared at the east or west gate of the city almost every day.
"Excuse me, is this the Sleeping Bear City?" A group of white people, dozens of them, came from the east.
They were all white people, looked tired and dusty, most of them were riding horses. There were some wagons loaded with goods in the team, obviously they were business travelers.
"Of course, you won't find a second place like this!" The Apache soldier standing guard at the city gate said in fluent English, his tone full of pride for the city.
Then he inquired, "Merchant, where are you from?"
"We are from Arkansas," the American businessman said, "I heard this is an open Indian city. Can we go in and rest for a while?"
The soldier said, "Yes. There are places dedicated to receiving guests in the east and west of the city. You can rest and shop there."
"There is also a casino in the east of the city. You can go there and try your luck," he added.
The tired merchant smiled and looked at his companions behind him: "Great, let's rest here for a while, maybe we can buy some local specialties."
"Casino!" Someone also noticed this.
The Apache soldier smiled and said, "Yes. And our casino is holding an event recently. Every guest who comes from afar will receive a 'gambling discount coupon'."
"Gambling deduction coupons, what are those?" the businessmen asked curiously.
"If you lose a bet, you can use it to deduct part of the money. Each deduction voucher is worth one dollar."
"You guys gonna give me a dollar?"
"No. The coupons cannot be exchanged for money. They can only be used to offset some of the money you lost when you lose money in gambling, and they can only be used by you." The soldier explained patiently.
More and more outsiders are visiting Sleeping Bear City, including many business travelers, after all, it is not far from the Santa Fe Trail.
Merchants and travelers passing through here would of course need to rest, and slepping bear city also provided them with places such as taverns and hotels.
But only taverns and hotels can make some money.
In order to get more money from the white businessmen passing through, a casino was opened in Sleeping Bear City.
A publicly owned, monopolized casino.
In fact, it is only open to outsiders. If tribal members participate in gambling, although they are not committing a crime, it will become a bad record, which will affect their work and welfare.
After all, gambling is not a serious activity, and the original intention of setting up casinos was to fleece white businessmen. Ma Shao naturally did not want his tribesmen to participate.
His specific business strategies, or routines, were taken from advertisements that were understood by some men in later generations.
For example, gambling deduction coupons.
It looks like giving money, but it's just bait.
"Is there such a good thing?" These people had never experienced this kind of routine before, and they all thought it was a good thing.
The soldier smiled more kindly: "Yeah, don't you want to give it a try? I heard that this activity will end in a few days."
Under his encouragement, some people in the caravan were eager to try: "Brothers, I feel that I have been very lucky recently. Today may be my day to make a fortune!"
"Let's try our luck. It doesn't matter if we lose. We have coupons anyway, so we don't have to pay any money."
"Let's go and make a fortune from him!"
"Come with me to register first." The soldier waved his hand and led a caravan of dozens of people to register.
After the registration was completed, the soldier told the caravan members: "Leave the dangerous items on you here, and you can enter the city. After you leave the city, these items will be returned to you."
"Dangerous goods?" The white businessmen were stunned.
"This is it." The soldier pointed to the guns and knives that many people carried with them, "Kentucky rifle, Plains rifle, Bowie knife, gunpowder... these are all."
"Isn't Sleeping Bear City a place that sells Browning pistols? Why is it prohibited to carry guns?" the white man asked.
Soldier: "Selling guns and banning guns are not contradictory."
"You can buy Brownings from us, and you can buy weapons from other places, but you can't bring weapons into the city."
Some white people blurted out: "How can this be possible? Without weapons, who will guarantee our safety?"
"We," the soldier replied. "We protect everyone here - as long as you obey the law."
"Weapons cannot protect you. In fact, they are what put you in danger."
"When everyone is unarmed, the most you will encounter is thieves, not robbers with knives or guns."
The white man then added: "But you are carrying weapons."
"We are soldiers and police." The soldier had obviously answered this question many times. "There must be some people who have legal weapons."
"In that case, why can't I be the one who legally possesses the weapon?"
"If it could be you, or a Mexican, would you like gunfights that much?"
"It has nothing to do with this!" The American pointed at the weapons on the Apache soldiers. "If you want to ban weapons, you should ban all weapons, including yours."
"You can't just ban our weapons and then hold them yourself!"
The soldier asked in return: "If even the weapons of law enforcement officers are banned, then who will enforce the law banning weapons?"
"Then don't ban weapons!"
"It will only lead to chaos."
"This is freedom!"
A few impulsive white people refused to give up their weapons and started arguing. In the end, they even tried to force their way into the city with weapons in hand.
"Catch them!" The surrounding Apache soldiers immediately took action and quickly subdued the white people who tried to force their way in with guns.
At the same time, the army that was training a little further away responded, and one hundred soldiers raised their dual-wielded Browning revolvers in unison, aiming at everyone in the caravan.
"lay down your weapon!"
Looking at the two hundred black gun barrels and the uniform shouts of anger, the businessmen instantly became timid.
They quickly put down their weapons and raised their hands in fear: "Surrender, we surrender!"
The soldiers collected their weapons, saying, "This is not war, this is policing - Americans, you don't seem to understand the difference."
…
The plains tribes need to maintain stability within their own territories and also need to coordinate order outside.
Just like last time, Ma Shao resolved the Gray Bird issue through negotiations with Donivan.
Since then, Sleeping Bear has basically become the epitome of Southwestern Indians.
All Indian tribes recognized the status of Sleeping Bear City, and Donivan also believed that Sleeping Bear City was a civilized and easy-to-communicate community.
Ma Shao also needs to expand his influence among the Indians.
So he took on the responsibility and became the representative of Indians in the southwest to communicate with the US military.
Whenever there was a conflict between Indians and Americans, Sleeping Bear City would step in to mediate, eliminate conflicts as much as possible, ensure peace and stability, and at the same time use it to attract population and spread influence.
Soon, Sleeping Bear City not only mediated conflicts between Indians and Americans, but also began to mediate conflicts between Indian tribes.
Even conflicts among white people.
For example, just a few days ago, a conflict broke out between two white villages not far northwest of slepping bear city. In the end, Ma Shao personally stepped forward to help them resolve the conflict.
The basic principle of mediation is to act in accordance with the law, and the law followed is of course the law of slepping bear city.
More and more people know that Chief Ma Shao is a trustworthy mediator and a formidable judge, and that Sleeping Bear City is also an orderly and civilized city.
Thanks to this, the expansion speed of slepping bear city has always remained at an astonishing level.
At least a few hundred people move into the city every month, and thousands are not uncommon. Most of them are Indians of various ethnic groups, but there are also a small number of white people.
The white people were mainly skilled workers such as stonemasons, blacksmiths, and the townspeople of Clark Town.
As the first white town to be influenced by horse whistles, Clark Town naturally also had the first group of white converts.
The Oracle religion is a crucial factor.
With the help of cheap public schools and public hospitals, the shamans' missionary work among the poor was quite successful.
As for the middle-class working class, although they do not feel much about this, the Oracle Church is still very attractive to them.
After all... the core ideology of the Spiritual Oracle Religion actually contains quite a lot of red theories.
These red ideas are not utopian like those of Robert Owen, but are a summary of later history and are more vital.
Even a very small number of workers who were diligent in thinking were simply converted to communism after being exposed to the ideas of the Oracle Church.
After becoming communists, they naturally abandoned some stubborn racist ideas and were deeply attracted by the ideas of the Oracle Church and the large amount of public ownership economy in Sleeping Bear City, and were eager to join it.
These communists are often very enthusiastic about joining Sleeping Bear City, even more so than many Indians who come to join them.
In fact, Ma Shao and Rainy Day had already begun training the first group of white shamans, further instilling knowledge and concepts in them, and allowing them to master the Apache language.
Of course, the white people with the highest degree of assimilation were not these communists, but the twenty white children at that time.
After more than two years of assimilation and adaptation, these twenty children have completely integrated into the life of Sleeping Bear City and identify themselves as Apaches or Sleeping Bear people.
In Sleeping Bear City, the Apaches have become a nearly pure cultural identity, more akin to the concept of "civilized people."
In addition to self-identification, they can also speak fluent Apache.
Children are more sensitive to language than adults and naturally learn faster.
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