Chapter 1397: Submission

"Why is it impossible?"

Facing Batu's astonishment, Qin Zhangfeng walked to the front as if he saw nothing, and served himself a bowl of fragrant braised pork.

He found a random spot and sat down; the Indians nearby greeted Qin Zhangfeng and joked with him.

"General Qin, I hear you don't have a wife yet?"

"Sigh, that's right."

"How about my daughter? She's not even thirty yet this year; I think she'd be a perfect match for you."

"Go on, go on, your daughter is clearly twenty-nine, just a few days shy of thirty, and you're still there pretending to be young."

"General Qin, what do you think of my daughter? She's twenty this year."

A group of Indian men were actually playing matchmaker for Qin Zhangfeng at the dinner table. Seeing this, Batu felt his brain go a bit numb.

First it was this meat, and then his own tribesmen actually started wanting to let a Longyan man be their son-in-law.

At this moment, he felt his brain had received a massive shock; he could not understand why these people could treat a foreign colonizer this way.

Those British, French, and Spanish people had committed unforgivable crimes here.

Could it be that these Longyan people were different in some way?

Reality and his original stereotypes kept colliding in Batu's mind, and finally, with the rumbling of his own stomach, Batu decided to stop thinking about it for now.

He would go serve himself some meat to eat first.

He ran over, and looking at the full wooden barrel of meat, he was even more dumbfounded.

Although their tribe was a relatively wealthy place in the vicinity, they didn't eat luxury items like meat this way; in fact, to survive, they had to trade most of their meat with the Spanish in exchange for a little bit of grain.

They stored it away to survive the difficult winter.

So, it would be good if they could eat meat twice a year, and when they did, it was just a small piece shared among five or six people.

They had never been this extravagant before, with a whole wooden barrel of meat just sitting there.

Batu asked the Longyan cook in disbelief: "How much can I take?"

The Longyan cook, who didn't understand the Indian language, looked completely confused. At this moment, an Indian eating nearby kindly said to him: "Eat as much as you want, but there is one thing: you cannot waste it!"

"If you can't finish it, you absolutely cannot throw it away!"

Upon hearing this, Batu exploded—waste it? This is meat! How could one waste it!

Batu tremblingly served himself a bowl of meat, sat at Qin Zhangfeng's table, and panted heavily, unable to believe it.

What was placed in front of him was truly a large bowl of meat!

Batu reached out his hand to grab the meat, but this barbaric and rude action was immediately stopped by others.

"What are you doing?"

"Is that how you eat food?"

Batu was dumbfounded—if you don't eat with your hands, what do you eat with?

He then noticed the two stick-like things the others were holding in their hands and pointed at them: "Eat with these?"

The others nodded: "That's right, these are Chopsticks, a good thing brought by General Qin."

Chopsticks? What are those?

Batu was stunned. He had heard that the Spanish, British, and French all used knives, forks, and spoons to eat; he had never heard of such a thing as Chopsticks.

Seeing Batu staring at the meat in his bowl but unable to eat it with his hands, drool was almost flowing from the corner of his mouth.

Qin Zhangfeng laughed, then shouted: "Bring him a spoon."

Soon, a spoon appeared in Batu's hand. Although he wasn't skilled at using it, he at least managed to get the meat into his mouth.

Qin Zhangfeng glanced at him without saying a word.

Batu ate until tears were almost flowing; soon, the bowl was empty.

But his stomach signaled that it wasn't enough.

He looked at the wooden barrel holding the meat and wanted to go eat, but his legs were like

cast lead, and he didn't know how to move.

At this moment, he saw the Indian eating at his table go and serve himself another bowl.

He placed it in front of his face and started eating, but he didn't know that this casual action of his had set off a stormy sea in Batu's eyes.

"What are you doing? This meat, you... why can you eat two bowls!"

That person was stunned, as if it were something that could be eaten, and said: "Is there a problem?"

This sentence gently awakened Batu's dormant soul.

Qin Zhangfeng said calmly from the side: "If you want to eat, then eat."

These words fell into Batu's ears, and his pupils suddenly constricted; he finally understood why the Longyan people could take his tribesmen for their own use.

Why those Indians regarded the Longyan people as their own, rather than as outsiders.

Or even colonizers!

This group of Longyan people, at least Qin Zhangfeng, treated them, the Indians, as his own family.

When eating, did one have to be so cautious?

It was just eating when you want to eat and drinking when you want to drink.

Batu put down his bowl, and this Indian chief, who had quite a bit of prestige in the area, revealed a look of sincere admiration on his resolute face.

Then he stood up and performed a gesture that only the local Indians could understand.

This gesture represented submission.

This kind of submission was not the kind where the British or French relied on force to compel these Indians to submit.

This kind of submission was a gesture made only when the chief truly approved.

"Longyan people, you have won my heart and mind!"

"From now on, we, the Batu, are willing to submit to you Longyan!"

The Indians eating nearby saw this scene and were so shocked that their chopsticks fell.

Some of them did not know what had happened at the entrance, but when they heard the three words "Batu," it was like a thunderclap to their ears!

Before the arrival of the colonists, the Batu were also a very prestigious tribe; after the colonists arrived and displayed their guns and cannons, some large tribes chose to submit under the threat of death.

Yet the Batu never submitted, even swearing to fight these colonists to the end.

Their own tribe was united from top to bottom, but they suffered a devastating blow; it is said that his only son died in battle, and the young and strong men of the tribe suffered countless casualties.

He himself was even captured by the French.

But the Batu never lost heart; even in the French prison, he did not submit.

Yet at this moment, this man of iron will actually expressed his submission.

Submitting to the Longyan!

Qin Zhangfeng was taken aback, not expecting this Indian chief to submit just like that.

"General Qin, your policy toward us Indians is..." Batu did not know what vocabulary to use to praise it.

Qin Zhangfeng smiled and waved his hand: "This is not my credit."

Batu was stunned; everyone knew that Qin Zhangfeng was the City Lord of Yun City, and all orders of the Longyan must have come from his hand, so why did he not admit it?

"Then who is it? General Qin, you are the City Lord of Yun City; if it were not for you, who would issue such an order?"

Qin Zhangfeng recalled that great man of the Longyan, the person who pushed the prosperity of the Longyan with his own strength, and exhaled a breath of turbid air.

"I am merely acting under orders."

"The person who truly issued such an order is our Longyan Chief Minister, Lord Liu Zheng!"