Chapter 9 < Explosive Expansion >
“Spears forward!”
“Forward!”
As soon as the powerful archer shouted, spears protruded from between the shields. The warriors of the allied tribes noticed them too late.
They were almost at the front line. They had no way to escape.
“Ugh!”
“Aaargh!”
Thud! Thump! Thwoosh!
A disaster in an instant. Countless warriors of the allied tribes lost their lives, skewered by the spears.
A difference in numbers?
It didn’t matter. The terrain limited how many could clash at once, and their weapons couldn’t penetrate the front line of the Creek tribe anyway.
“Kuuaaah!”
“Don’t push! Don’t push, you bastards! Cough!”
A hellish scene.
Not long after the melee began, corpses of warriors piled up at the front.
“This is impossible…”
“That’s a devil’s weapon. We have to flee. We have to!”
Not long after the melee began, the warriors of the allied tribes realized.
This was no longer a battle.
It was a massacre. They were no match for them.
“This is different from what they said! How can they be weak?”
“I can’t die like this!”
The warriors of the allied tribes quickly fell into chaos.
“Don’t run away! Hold your ground!”
“Move! Move out of the way!”
The command system of the chiefs was completely shattered. The warriors scattered in all directions to escape from the calamity before their eyes.
An overwhelming victory for the Creek tribe.
It was the moment when the Creek tribe, which had been crouching, began to stretch out in earnest around them.
*
The war was practically over after the first battle.
Of the five thousand or so enemy warriors, fifteen hundred died in one fight.
And more than that died while being chased down as they fled.
It was an unbelievable feat accomplished by just two thousand warriors.
They had defended perfectly. But Kim Ki-woo and the Creek tribe warriors were not satisfied with that.
“Bring back all the remnants. You can deal with anyone who resists as you see fit.”
Kim Ki-woo decided to send out an expedition.
Two thousand warriors marched straight to the base of the invading tribes.
There were warriors who had fled from the first battle, but they had already lost their will to resist against the Creek tribe warriors.
Many people ran away from the Creek tribe’s invasion, but those who couldn’t escape surrendered to them.
The powerful archer returned to the village with all the tribespeople who had surrendered from four tribes. It was a mass migration of people.
Their number exceeded sixty thousand. It was two or three times as many as the original Creek tribe.
“You dared to invade the sacred land of the Creek tribe with impure intentions. Do you admit it?”
“…We admit it. It’s all our fault.”
The chief of the Chokto tribe, Charging Buffalo, bowed his head low. He looked like he had no intention of resisting anymore.
Kim Ki-woo looked at the countless warriors kneeling before him and said:
“The sin you have committed is grave indeed. But I do not wish for the cycle of bloodshed to continue. Therefore, I will grant you mercy and forgive your crime.”
At those words, the Charging Bull raised his head and looked at Kim Ki-woo with a glimmer of hope in his face.
“However, I cannot let you go without any responsibility. Under the condition that all of your tribesmen serve the Creek tribe for five years from now on, I will spare your lives. What do you say?”
The Charging Bull thought for a moment and replied.
“What will happen after five years?”
“I swear by my name that I will accept you as equal tribesmen.”
In other words, he meant to merge them under the name of Creek. It was practically the end of their tribe.
But for a tribe that had been completely conquered, this was a very generous offer.
The Charging Bull knew this well.
“I agree. We will do as you say, Spirit Chief.”
With that, the number of Creek tribesmen increased dramatically in an instant.
Of course, it was still a very unstable situation, as they had only absorbed another tribe by force.
From that day on, many new villages were built within the territory of the Creek tribe.
They used to live scattered over a wide area because hunting and gathering were their main activities. But as they switched to an agricultural society, they could live together more easily.
Besides, apart from those who worked in agriculture, they had plenty of manpower for industry.
Of course, they would have to focus on farming for a while, since the population had increased rapidly.
Kim Ki-woo expanded the size of the central village and made it into a city of considerable scale. He accommodated many tribesmen there.
*
Two years passed since then. That is, more than five years had passed since Kim Ki-woo arrived in ancient America.
Kim Ki-woo decided to call the year he arrived as Arrival Year One.
That is, it was now Arrival Year Five.
It was the time when all the harvests were over. And they had mobilized most of the increased manpower for agriculture.
Thanks to that, they had been storing a huge amount of food in the warehouse for the past few years. The power of improved seeds was amazing indeed.
The number of chickens also exploded, so chicken and egg dishes became common.
Food was abundant and everyone had at least one set of clothing and shoes.
‘It finally looks like a place where people live.’
Of course, the houses were still shabby. This was something that needed to be improved.
Except for that, well, it was decent enough in Kim Ki-woo’s opinion.
The population also reached close to 100,000 from 90,000.
There was an increase in population due to childbirth and a decrease in infant mortality rate, but more importantly, small-scale tribes around them voluntarily surrendered because of the abundance of food.
But could he be satisfied with this?
After a long discussion, the leaders of the tribe agreed to raise an army.
In fact, there was not much resistance. Kim Ki-woo had completely taken over the Creek tribe by now.
He even created a new position called Grand Chief and took that seat himself.
“Grand Chief Kim Ki-woo is entering!”
Straight Tree, who had become Kim Ki-woo’s aide-de-camp, shouted loudly. Then the noisy square became quiet.
Clank, clank.
Every time Kim Ki-woo took a step, his iron shoes and flashy iron armor made a loud noise.
Kim Ki-woo climbed onto the wooden platform. Then he could see the whole scene around the square, which was quite spacious.
‘It has changed a lot.’
He had divided the houses, which were built haphazardly, into different zones as much as possible during the past time.
A market area was created according to Kim Ki-woo’s intention, an industrial zone was built around the furnace, and residential areas were separated. And he made a large square in the center of them.
The countless tribesmen gathered in the square were all looking at Kim Ki-woo.
There were those who had been Creek tribesmen from the beginning, and those who had been conquered by the Creek tribe or voluntarily surrendered.
Kim Ki-woo looked around them and opened his mouth without delay.
“We have achieved development faster than any other time in the past few years. This is all thanks to the tribesmen gathered here and all the men and women who are still working at their workplaces. Are you satisfied?”
“Yes! We are satisfied!”
“It’s all because of your brilliant wisdom, Grand Chief!”
“That’s right!”
“Woo! Woo! Woo!”
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Everyone had a smile on their lips. Kim Ki-woo knew that smile well.
It was the hope of getting better. It was the expression that only humans surrounded by such hope could make.
They had to work hard every day, but they could eat without starving because of it.
Even most of the tribesmen who had surrendered were satisfied with this situation.
But Kim Ki-woo poured cold water on this atmosphere.
“I am not satisfied! I am very dissatisfied!”
The square became silent like a dead mouse for a moment. It was because intense anger flowed out of Kim Ki-woo’s voice and frowning face.
Kim Ki-woo spat out his words as if he was vomiting.
“We could have achieved development faster and better! But we didn’t!”
“Then…”
“Hmm…”
The tribesmen swallowed their saliva, overwhelmed by Kim Ki-woo’s fiery speech.
“Why? Why did this happen!”
Kim Ki-woo paused for a moment, then resumed his speech.
“There is only one answer to this!”
“What is it?”
Someone asked loudly at the right time. Kim Ki-woo spat out his answer to the curious tribesmen.
“It’s because we lacked people! We all worked without a single day off, starting from me! Some had to finish their work by relying on torches even after the sun went down! But aren’t there still many tasks that are postponed day after day due to lack of manpower! How lamentable is this!”
Of course, it had improved compared to before as the population increased, but as mentioned earlier, they had to focus more on agriculture than industry for the past two years.
That is, they were still busy without a break, and there was a chronic shortage of manpower.
“We will wage war again! This time, not to prepare for the invasion of other tribes, but to enter their lands ourselves!”
Many tribesmen who did not like this idea appeared. Kim Ki-woo looked straight into their eyes and shouted.
“Some may think! Why do we have to invade other tribes when our lives are getting better! Why can’t we just live like this! But I think differently!
This is not a war of aggression! We will not plunder the food of other tribes! Rather, we will share our food with them! We will accept them and treat them as we do ourselves! By doing so, we will solve our tribe’s chronic manpower problem, make more people wealthy, and make our Creek tribe a great nation beyond a tribe!”
It was rhetoric. Blood would inevitably flow. It was a clear war of aggression. But this logic was enough to ignite fire in the hearts of the tribesmen.
“Woahhhhhhh!”
“For the great Creek!”
“For the great Grand Chief, the holy Spirit!”
“Woo! Woo! Woo!”
Thump! Thump! Thump!
It was such a scream and vibration that one might mistake it for an earthquake in the square.
“Sons and daughters of Creek! Shake off your lethargy and rise up to follow me! I will make you live well and full!”
Arrival Year Five. The signal for explosive expansion was fired.
< Explosive Expansion. > The end