章節 121: Chapter 122: [Unit Price: 50 US Dollars]
"That's right," said Horse Whistle. "The Plains tribes will not participate in this war, and we cannot affect the outcome. We will not attack Mexicans, and we will not attack Americans either."
General Carney stared at him and asked again: "So what do you think will be the outcome of the war?"
Ma Shao smiled slightly: "Of course, the righteous side will defeat the evil side, and the counterattack side will defeat the aggressor side."
Carney groaned for a moment and said, "Of course you can remain neutral, but I have to say that your integrity has always been questionable - you don't have a spirit of contract, at least traditionally."
"We just don't have a contract," Ma Shao said. "Any fair and valid contract must be in duplicate. But in the past, we didn't have our own writing system, so we couldn't sign a contract."
Carney was slightly startled: "You mean, you have writing now?"
"Yes." Ma Shao nodded. "If you are not confident about our neutrality, we can sign a neutrality agreement now. How about it, General Carney?"
"Sure," General Carney replied. He actually wanted to see what the Apache writing looked like.
Ma Shao took out two contracts that he had prepared long ago and handed them to Carney: "This is the contract we wrote in advance. The content is very simple. Take a look."
Carney took the contract and looked at the English on it.
The content is indeed very simple, just a few words. The general meaning is that in this war between the United States and Mexico, the Apache Plains Tribe will remain neutral throughout and will not attack either side. And Fort Leavenworth will also respect the Plains Tribe as a neutral party and will not attack the neutral party.
"I can't understand your writing, even though it's made up of letters," said General Kearny.
"Apache writing is a phonetic language, and its phonetic rules are similar to English," Ma Shao said. "As long as you understand Apache, it is not difficult to understand our writing."
Being close to English pronunciation is one of the principles in the design of the Chinese Pinyin system.
General Kearney thought for a moment, then turned around and said, "Send the translator over."
Soon, a translator who understood Apache came over and Ma Shao slowly read the contents of the contract to him in Apache. Then he said, "I believe you already know which Apache words these letter combinations correspond to."
"That's right." The translator nodded. "It's really not difficult to tell the difference. The pronunciation rules are very similar to English."
General Carney asked, "Is there a problem with the content?"
Translation: "No, the content in Apache is exactly the same as the content in English."
General Kearney looked at the contract again, and then couldn't help asking, "Chief Albert, I'm a little curious, who invented this set of characters?"
Ma Shao smiled and said, "It was me, of course, with the help of a friend of mine."
General Kearney was amazed: "You made the Apache the second Indian tribe to have writing."
Both parties signed this simple contract.
General Carney: "I believe you are a man of integrity, Chief Albert. But I am still unsure whether you have the ability to control your tribe, after all, a tribe often has many scattered clans."
Ma Shao: "Please rest assured, General Kani. The Plains Tribe has gathered all the clans. All members of the tribe live in the Sleeping Bear City behind me. There will be no situation where a clan violates the contract."
"In that case, you must not disturb our troops when they pass through this area," General Kearny said. This was his most basic requirement. Although he believed that neither the Mexicans nor the Indians had the power to defeat them, he still tried his best to avoid being attacked from both sides.
"Of course." Ma Shao said, and then changed the subject, "Also, General Carney, we have obtained a batch of advanced pistols from a certain European country that does not want to be named. I wonder if you are interested in buying some?"
"Pistol?" General Kearney thought for a moment. "Pepper bottle pistol?"
Before revolvers became popular, pepper shaker pistols were a more common type of pistol.
This pistol has many barrels and a dense muzzle, and looks a bit like a pepper shaker, hence the name.
"No, it's a revolver." Ma Shao took out a Browning revolver and handed it to General Kearney.
Seeing this novel-looking revolver, General Kearney's eyes lit up. He took it in his hand and played with it for a while, nodding his head repeatedly: "It looks good. I have used Colt's pistol, and this is better than Colt."
He looked at the words on the gun: "Browning... Is that the name of the company that produced it?"
"Not really." said Ma Shao.
"Who produced it then?" General Kearney asked.
Ma Shao smiled and said, "I said it came from an unnamed European company. They don't want anyone to know the origin of this gun."
Carney frowned, then seemed to think of something: "Because of patent law?"
Ma Shao did not answer, but continued to smile, looking noncommittal.
"So you become the middleman?" Carney smiled.
Ma Shao still didn't answer.
Carney looked at the Browning revolver in his hand again: "Anyway, this is definitely a good thing. I am willing to buy it. How much is it?"
"General Kearney, you know, this is war time," said Ma Shao slowly. "So, as a weapon of excellent performance, the Browning revolver is priced at fifty dollars a piece."
"Fifty dollars!" Carney's expression changed. "This is too expensive. It's more expensive than the Colt pistol."
"But it's better than the Colt, isn't it?" said Ma Shao. "At least it's far more reliable than the Colt. If you don't believe me, you can compare it now."
General Carney did not try because it was too obvious.
It is no longer the case before 1844. After the battle between Captain Hayes and Captain Walker, the US military gradually realized the advantages and disadvantages of Colt and began to promote it.
Apart from anything else, in terms of appearance and feel, the Browning is clearly superior to the Colt, exuding a luxurious and practical temperament.
It was because he was a professional soldier that General Kearney believed that the Browning pistol was superior to the Colt pistol.
If a layman sees the image of the Browning pistol, he will definitely conclude that the Colt pistol is garbage.
So to be fair, in a war like this, the price of fifty dollars is not outrageous, it is just the price of two Colts.
But it's still too expensive.
Fifty dollars a piece, a thousand pieces would cost fifty thousand dollars.
Fifty thousand dollars!
Carney felt that it wouldn't cost that much to bribe Amijo.
So after a brief thought, he said, "Twenty-five dollars at most, or no one will buy it."
"Then we have no choice but to give up this deal." Ma Shao had no intention of lowering the price. He knew that it would not be long before someone would be willing to buy it at fifty dollars.
Seeing him so calm, Carney became a little uneasy: "Wait."
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