Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 82 Entering the Indian Village

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After confiscating more than 400 muskets from the Bolivian troops, more than 1,000 Chinese cavalrymen turned around and headed back, passing through an Indian village that had been attacked by Bolivian soldiers on the way.

The wooden fence used by the Indians for defense was completely destroyed, and hundreds of wounded were lying behind the fence. The Indians who were lucky enough not to be injured walked back and forth, taking care of the injured tribesmen.

The shock brought by more than one thousand Chinese cavalry was much greater than that brought by four or five hundred Bolivian soldiers. The Indians behind the fence gathered together vigilantly, preparing to deal with the possible battle.

Li Mingyuan sent out two cavalrymen to explain their purpose to the armed Indians.

When the two Chinese cavalrymen approached the front of the Indian village, Bernardi, who was leading the young people of the tribe on guard, recognized the two Chinese cavalrymen. They were the outsiders who had traded with the tribe yesterday.

Bernardi signaled his tribesmen to put down their bows and arrows, calm down, and let the two Chinese cavalrymen approach.

One of the two cavalrymen understood the language of the Aymara people. He expressed the goodwill of the Chinese troops to the Indians behind the wooden fence and conveyed Li Mingyuan's intention to invite their tribal leaders to meet.

Bernardi asked two cavalrymen to wait outside the fence, and he ran to the back to tell the old patriarch the news.

"Do you believe that they were the ones who drove away the Bolivian soldiers?" The old patriarch asked with some doubt after listening to Bernardi's introduction.

"What they said must be true. I saw seven or eight carriages in front of the cavalry outside, and they were piled with muskets."

The old patriarch nodded slightly, mostly believing what the Chinese troops said.

When the Bolivian soldiers came to attack, they robbed the Aymara people's carriages outside the village. The carriages in the hands of the troops outside should be the spoils they stole from the Bolivian soldiers.

"Benadi, you go to the back to look after the tribesmen. I'll go outside to meet their leader." The old patriarch ordered.

"Chief, let me go with you. With me by your side, I can protect your safety."

"No need. If they want to harm us, they can just send troops to attack the village. There is no need to capture me." The old patriarch waved his hand and refused.

What the old patriarch said made a lot of sense. After the Indian village was attacked by Bolivian soldiers, the defensive fences and young and strong people in the tribe suffered serious losses. If the Chinese troops were hostile to them, they only needed one round of cavalry attack to occupy the Indian village, and the remaining Indians would not pose a threat to the Chinese cavalry.

After giving instructions on village affairs, the old patriarch brought two elders from the tribe to meet Li Mingyuan.

The old Indian chief, leaning on a wooden stick, walked up to Li Mingyuan, bowed and said, "My friend from afar, thank you for rescuing my people. The Aymara people will always remember your kindness."

After listening to the translator's words, Li Mingyuan jumped off his horse and laughed, "The Han people are a peace-loving nation. When faced with injustice, we will not let it go."

Li Mingyuan had a gentle demeanor, and the Chinese cavalrymen around him did not show any arrogance. The old patriarch felt much more relaxed and no longer worried that the Chinese would do something bad to them.

With the help of an interpreter, Li Mingyuan exchanged a few words with the old patriarch, then pointed to a carriage road and said, "We came here today to make friends with the Aymara people. The muskets on the three carriages over there are our gifts to the Aymara people."

There were about one hundred and fifty muskets on the three wagons, with sufficient ammunition to greatly enhance the defense of the Indian village.

Zhao Erlang acted as an interpreter and told the old chief what Li Mingyuan said. The old chief excitedly held Li Mingyuan's hand and spoke for several minutes. Without Zhao Erlang's translation, Li Mingyuan knew that the old Indian chief was expressing his gratitude. Li Mingyuan slowly let go of the old chief's hand and said with a smile, "These muskets already belong to the Aymara people. The chief can ask the warriors of the tribe to transport them to the village."

The old chief was very excited. He called out to the two Indian elders beside him. They immediately walked back. Then the fence was removed and more than a hundred Indians lined up on both sides.
At this time, Zhao Erlang reminded: "Prince, they are welcoming you to the village as a guest."

In order to deal with the possible hostile actions of the Bolivian army, Li Mingyuan made a special trip to the Aymara village to develop good relations with them as a potential ally in the future. The Chinese troops contacted the Aymara twice, and this time they not only helped them drive away the invaders, but also gave them more than 150 muskets as gifts. The series of goodwill actions made by the Chinese troops won the friendship of the Aymara people, so they were wary and welcomed the Chinese troops into their villages.

Li Mingyuan stationed most of the cavalry outside the village, and led more than a hundred cavalrymen to follow the old patriarch into the village.
The Aymara villages are built along the valley. At the narrowest part of the valley, a 70 to 80-meter-long fence is built as a defensive fortification to separate the villages in the valley from the outside world.

Different from the traditional Chinese wooden buildings, the Aymara people's houses are small round buildings made of clay and bricks. The whole building has only one doorway, which is similar to the cave dwellings on the Loess Plateau in China.

Inside the doorway, groups of Indian children poked their heads out and stared curiously at the strangers riding tall horses outside.

After asking the Indian chief next to him, Li Mingyuan learned from him that the building where the Indians lived was called Chulpa, which could not only protect against the harsh weather on the plateau, but also serve as a tomb to cover the dead.

However, with hundreds of years of European colonization, the Aymara people gradually gave up the practice of burying their dead in chulpa and turned to burial.

When we walked to the center of the village, we saw more than a hundred injured Indians sitting on the open space around them, and eighty or ninety corpses placed next to them.

Li Mingyuan ordered the accompanying cavalry to dismount and slow down their pace to approach the injured Indian.

"Old Patriarch, I have doctors accompanying my troops. I can ask them to help heal the injured Aymara people."

The injured Aymara people were simply treated and bandaged with herbal medicine. Li Mingyuan couldn't bear to watch this and offered to ask a Chinese doctor to help treat them.

The old patriarch had never witnessed the effectiveness of the Chinese doctors' treatment, but judging from the excellent weapons and equipment of the Chinese cavalry, the Chinese civilization was no less developed than that of the white people. The old patriarch had seen white doctors and missionaries, and they were much better at treating diseases than the priests in the village. So, in order to make his people recover faster, the old patriarch agreed to let the Chinese doctors treat the wounded.

Among the three Chinese doctors who set out with the army, one was an old doctor selected from the village of Ming Dynasty survivors. The other two Chinese doctors did not understand the Aymara language. They first followed the old doctor and helped the wounded clean their wounds. After treating seven or eight wounded, they dispersed to bandage the wounds of other wounded.

The old chief followed the doctor and asked the injured Indians a few questions from time to time. After the injured answered and their wounds were treated, the discomfort was relieved a lot, and the old chief felt a little relieved.

The Chinese doctor worked for more than an hour and bandaged nearly half of the wounded. At this time, an Indian boy of about 11 or 12 years old suddenly ran up to the doctor and pointed anxiously to one side.
The doctor followed the boy to the edge of the clearing and saw an Indian lying on the ground with a wound on his right abdomen. His face was pale and beads of sweat kept falling from his forehead because of the pain.

The doctor quickly took out the medicine box he was carrying, took out the hemostatic medicine, then threw away the rag on the wound, cleaned the wound with medicine first, and then carefully applied the medicine.
The Indian's condition was not optimistic. After his wounds were treated, sweat continued to drip from his head and his face became paler and paler. The doctor shook his head helplessly at the old patriarch who asked him about it, indicating that the wounded man would not survive.

The wounded Indian realized that he was going to die, but he endured the severe pain and did not utter a sound. Although he did not have much strength left, he still raised his right hand, held the boy's hand with difficulty, and looked at his child with reluctance.

The old patriarch lowered his head and spoke a few words to him softly. Then he slowly put down his hand, a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, and then he slowly closed his eyes.

The Indian boy shook his father's hand and cried for a while, then shouted "Badu" (meaning death).
His face regained its composure and he knelt before the corpse, praying softly.

The Aymara people believe in the sun god Inti. They believe that there are two souls in the human body. Once a person dies, the first soul flies away to heaven.

The second soul gathers all the good and evil causes and effects of the physical body and stays near the place where the deceased lived.

Because of their serious injuries, a total of 15 Indian wounded died.

In the afternoon, the Indians held a traditional funeral for the dead and then buried them in front of the village where they had fought, allowing their second souls to guard the safety of the village.

(End of this chapter)