Chapter 1534: The Great Soviet Khanate

On the east bank of the Mississippi River, at the Cahokia Mounds.

Steel, the chief of the Great Soviet Lakota people, sat on horseback atop this tall, artificially piled earthen mound that had appeared from no one knew where, gazing out at the countless "Mongols" on the east bank of the great river making camp around the city of St. Louis.

He and the Marquis de Marigny had both been extremely "fortunate" to escape the "Mongols'" pursuit, and had returned to the St. Louis fort the day before. But Crazy Horse, chief of the Plains Apache, and his son Eagle were nowhere to be found — quite possibly they had already been killed by the "Mongols"!

Chief Steel had no time to grieve. With French support, he immediately took temporary command of the Plains Apache warriors, mixed them with the Great Soviet men he had brought, and together they crossed the Mississippi River. Then they burned all the boats before withdrawing southward with the French.

But Steel himself did not leave with them. Instead, he took a few Lakota warriors and a "French son-in-law" named Henri Martin up onto the great mound across the river from Fort St. Louis, and began observing the enemy situation, which looked rather frightening.

That was a force of two Chiliarchs! Moreover, because of the legend of the "Mississippi Gold River," many gold-seekers who had found no gold on the West Coast had racked their brains to join in. Zhu Hehao had also squeezed two Chiliarchs out of his own "prefectural military households" and stuffed them into the Chiliarchs of Prince Huai and Prince De (these two Chiliarchs were only temporarily commanded by Prince Huai and Prince De), which was why the total strength of these two Chiliarchs had reached a staggering 150,000 men!

150,000 men, plus over a million head of livestock of every kind, plus countless four-wheeled covered wagons and yurts — it had completely surpassed the imagination of the great chief Steel.

This Indian chief, who could even do multiplication (and division too), was stunned by the scene before him. Of course he understood the hard truth that many people make for great strength, and he would gather as many warriors as possible before tribal conflicts. This time, for example, he had summoned over a thousand Great Soviet warriors — for the Great Soviet tribe, summoning over a thousand men at once was not the absolute limit, but it was no small number. Yet a great assembly of one or two hundred thousand was entirely beyond imagination.

"Henri, how many of them are there?"

No one knew how much time had passed before Chief Steel finally recovered from his shock.

"Ah, Chief, they have, they have one hundred thousand or two hundred thousand, I'd say."

"One hundred thousand... two hundred thousand... how many is that?" Chief Steel asked.

His mathematical knowledge was no longer sufficient!

"This..." The French vagabond, dressed no differently from an Indian warrior, thought for a moment and replied, "It is roughly the same as the total population of the seven tribes of the Great Soviet."

"What?" Steel seemed not to have understood.

"Chief, all the people of our seven Great Soviet tribes added together number about one to two hundred thousand!"

"That many people?" Steel drew a sharp breath, his eyes wide, staring at the "Mongol" camp that seemed to stretch to the edge of the sky, finding it utterly inconceivable.

"Of course!" the French son-in-law said. "Right now the seven Great Soviet tribes are scattered across a very, very vast land. If they could be gathered together, they would naturally look far more numerous! And they would also be far more powerful!"

"More powerful?" Steel asked uncertainly. "Would we become as powerful as the Mongols?"

"We would!" The French son-in-law glanced at this Indian chief who had treated him quite well, and hastened to flatter him. "With a brave chief like you, and so many brave Great Soviet warriors... as long as we can unite, we will surely be invincible!

Then there will be a Great Soviet Khanate, and you will be the first Great Khan of the Soviet Khanate!"

"Great Khan?" Steel narrowed his eyes and thought it over. It sounded very impressive. "But how can we gather so many people together?"

That was the question!

The French son-in-law beside him merely shook his head. "Chief, the problem now is not how to gather everyone together, but that we must gather everyone together. If we Great Plains Indians continue to scatter and hunt as we always have, then we will very soon be destroyed one by one by the Mongols, who herd and move as one!

So we must gather together and establish a Great Soviet Khanate belonging to the Indians. Otherwise, we are finished!"

Steel nodded slightly. He knew the French vagabond's words were right — the Great Soviet people, scattered into countless small hunting tribes, simply could not withstand the "Mongols," who were concentrated and united.

And the consequence of being unable to withstand them was nothing but extinction — the struggles between Great Plains Indian tribes were extremely brutal, because they were all hunting peoples, not herding or farming peoples, and had no need for herding slaves or farming serfs. So they often slaughtered the enemy tribes they defeated.

"I understand!" Chief Steel said loudly. "We must unite, and like the Mongols, herd livestock across the Great Plains!"

"Right!" The French vagabond nodded. "If we want to survive, and to preserve the Great Plains for our descendants... this is the only way!

Let's go! We'll head to New Rome first, and see whether we can ask King Louis to help us establish the Great Soviet Khanate!"

"He will certainly be willing to help us!" Chief Steel said, tugging the reins and nodding emphatically. "Because we can help him too!"

This was getting serious!

The Great Plains Indians were going to learn from the "Mongols" and take up herding, establishing a khanate — if this succeeded, the North American continent was going to get very lively!

Just as Chief Steel and his "dog-headed strategist" rode down from the great mound together and galloped south to catch up with their main force, the two brothers Zhu Hekun and Zhu Hezhen had already merrily entered the wooden fort of St. Louis, and had even walked into the headquarters that had originally belonged to the Marquis de Marigny.

"Heh heh, not bad, not bad... a ready-made fort! Fifth Brother, how many days has it been since we last stayed in a city?" The second brother, Prince Huai Zhu Hekun, had been living in yurts for quite some time now, and dreamed of a house with a roof!

He looked up and glanced overhead — the roof was still there!

Zhu Hezhen laughed even more merrily. "What's a fort? The Gold River is what matters... Second Brother, look at this place — it's a godforsaken spot. Why would Westerners and Indians build such a big fortress here? There's no farmland around, and no Indian pasture either. If it weren't for digging gold, why would they come here to build a fortress? And why would they gather so many people!"

"Right," Zhu Hekun nodded repeatedly. "There must be gold nearby! The Gold River must be close by. Once we're settled, we'll search carefully... As long as we have gold, our days will be easy."

Zhu Hezhen laughed. "The land and water around here seem quite good. It looks suitable for both farming and herding. If the Gold River is nearby, it will quickly attract a good number of people. And once the population grows, it can develop... Second Brother, why don't we name this fort Gold City! And the great river beside it — we'll call it the Gold River. What do you think?"

This Zhu Hezhen was a prince after all; he thought about problems from a high vantage point. He was not thinking of digging some gold and leaving, but was making long-term plans.

Zhu Hekun understood his brother's thinking too, and nodded. "Fifth Brother, you've thought it through better than I have. Whether or not we find gold, let's first put up the names Gold City and Gold River — that's bound to attract some people!"

No one ever said Gold City or Gold River had to actually have gold! It was just a name... If anyone believed Gold City and Gold River had gold and wandered over to pan for it, and in the end found none, then they would just have to work for the two princes.

Zhu Cilang's two sons glanced at each other and both burst out laughing. Just then, Zhu Hekun's subordinate, Chiliarch Wang Shaohua, came in to report.

The great Chiliarch Wang saluted the two princes, then said cheerfully, "Your Highnesses, the Westerners and Indians have all crossed the great river and withdrawn southward!

Also, we've captured an Indian who looks like a chief!"

Zhu Hekun nodded with a smile. "Good. Then first ask him about the gold!"

(End of Chapter)