"This is the flag of the tribe." said Ma Shao.
What was recorded on the paper was the flag he designed for the tribe and the army. The pattern was a golden fist with the flag pointing vertically outward, with a golden circle around the fist and the rest of the area was scarlet red.
He called it the Golden Fist and the Red Flag.
The structure of the pattern is very simple, and even ordinary people without any talent or skills in painting can copy it easily.
The meaning is also simple and clear - unity and struggle.
Ma Shao doesn't like patterns that have a lot of meanings. In his opinion, the most important thing about things like flags and logos is the visual effect, and the meaning is secondary.
If a pattern needs to be accompanied by text annotations to make people feel its beauty, then it is definitely a failed pattern.
"It turns out to be a flag. It looks pretty good." Mary observed it for a while and nodded.
"Help me make twenty." said Ma Shao.
"no problem."
…
The city of Mianxiong is becoming more and more lively.
The sounds of construction, the sounds of recitation in school, and the slogans coming from soldiers training in the distance...
Everyone can feel this booming atmosphere, but not everyone is excited about it.
Mo Gu was an old shaman with sparse white hair and deep wrinkles on his face. He looked to be at least fifty years old.
At this moment, he was sitting in the wooden house, holding a pipe in his hand, smoking frustratedly, surrounded by a few old friends.
"...The Shaman Tribe has now become the place of those young men." Mogu sighed, his face gloomy, with smoke floating out of his mouth and nose.
"They even say we are not qualified shamans!" said another old shaman angrily, "because we can't read the Oracle, the thing written in so-called characters!"
"These young people are too arrogant. They disdain the most ancient shamanic knowledge and only care about what Ma Shao said! Ma Shao is just a young man. He is only fourteen years old. He knows nothing about the true heritage of Apache Shaman!"
"We are the real shamans. The wisdom we possess has been passed down for thousands of years!"
"Rainy Day arbitrarily modifies myths and makes up stories, yet he calls himself a true shaman!"
Several old shamans expressed their distress and resentment to each other.
With the continuous innovation in all aspects of Sleeping Bear City, they have been completely marginalized - they can hardly or do not want to keep up with any changes in Sleeping Bear.
Deer Hand was also in the room. He looked at the old men and said, "Ma Shao not only disrespects tradition, he even lets outsiders into the Apache tribe, including white people and Pawnee. This is what I cannot tolerate the most! And the captives are being treated better and better every day. Some of them can even take vacations. I don't think it will be long before Ma Shao lets them join the tribe!"
"The world is going downhill, downhill!" Mogu sighed, his eyes even reddened, "My tears are rolling in my stomach, and those young people are still laughing! They don't care about the loss of tradition at all!"
Deer Hand: "Everyone, I think we should unite and drive Horse Whistle and Rainy Day off the altar! Let them apologize to all the Apaches!"
"That's right, for the Apache, for our traditions, and for the true shamanism, we should drive away these two ignorant young men!" someone responded.
Deer Hand added: "We must stop the degeneration of our people. We cannot allow these two to continue to pollute the soul of the Apache nation!"
But when it came to this point, the atmosphere quickly cooled down, and the old shamans were no longer so angry.
Mo Gu took a puff of cigarette and frowned, "We want to do the same, but... Ma Shao and Xia Yu Tian are too powerful. They firmly control everything in Mian Xiong City, including the army."
"Those officers are all students and diehards of Ma Shao. We can't even convince a sergeant. How can we fight them without the help of the army? It's unrealistic."
"Yes, now many people really regard the horse whistle as the incarnation of the gods." Several old shamans sighed, "Some even call the horse whistle 'holy light' - is that the word, Vulture?"
"That's right." The old shaman called Vulture nodded.
"As far as I know, in the book "Spiritual Oracle" compiled on rainy days, it seems that it does say that the horse whistle is a beam of light... Haha, what nonsense."
Deer Hand snorted, "Humph, a false god!"
He obviously wanted to encourage these old shamans to join him in opposing Ma Shao, but he also realized that these old guys were all cowards who dared to talk but not to act.
He was still unwilling to give up, and said: "Is it possible for us to just hide in the house and complain? Shouldn't we do something?"
"It's not the right time yet." Mo Gu thought for a moment.
Deer Hand asked: "When is the right time?"
"Hmm..." Mo Gu knocked off the ashes of his pipe, then refilled it with crushed tobacco. He pondered for a long while without uttering a word.
Until the vulture said, "I had a dream not long ago."
"What dream?"
"I dreamed that black snow fell from the sky!" Vulture said confidently, "This must be the revelation of the Great Spirit. The Great Spirit is about to punish Ma Shao!"
"Could it be that the Great Spirit will punish Ma Shao when it snows?" People looked at each other in confusion.
Mo Gu frowned: "Hasn't it snowed this year?"
"It could be another snowfall, we'll know when we get there."
"That's right, the horse whistle and the rainy day will definitely be punished, it's only a matter of time!"
They talked for a while longer.
At last, someone suddenly said, "By the way, tomorrow is the day to distribute the 'retired shaman subsidy', right?"
"That's right. I have to go to the drinking house to have a few drinks after receiving the subsidy. I have been feeling very depressed these days!"
"Are you going together?"
"Together, together!"
When it comes to drinking, the resentment in the room disappears and is replaced by a happy atmosphere.
…
Twenty golden fist red flags were made, and Ma Shao first handed the first flag to the Apache garrison in the town.
"Hunter Mouse, I give you this flag. It symbolizes our tribe and army." He handed the red flag on the wooden pole to Hunter Mouse, "Preserve it well, and protect the eagle feathers on our heads even more."
"Yes, Chief!" Rat Hunter took the flag.
After a while, Ma Shao said again: "Most of the soldiers I brought with me will not return to Sleeping Bear City with me this time. From now on, the number of garrisons in Clark Town will be increased to fifty."
Rat Hunter asked, "Fifty people, isn't that a bit too many? We always had twenty people before."
Ma Shao: "Not much. We are not far from Texas and the US-Mexico border. If a war breaks out between the US and Mexico, it is likely to affect here. It is not a bad thing to have more manpower."
He also warned: "If you find the white army, do not provoke a conflict, do not confront them head-on, especially if the other side has a large number of people, inform me as soon as possible, understand?"
A diagram of a golden fist and a red flag was made in the book review section.