From Robinson Crusoe

The interrogation process was not long.

When the native covered his eyes and returned to the board in a trance, the other natives turned their heads and looked at him with concerned eyes.

They all wanted to know what kind of torture this person had suffered, what kind of pain he had endured, and how he had come back alive.

But Sunday was staring at them, and the terrible sense of oppression made no one dare to ask.

"next."

Motioning the unsteady native to return to his own position, Sunday pointed out the second man.

The native glanced nervously at his companion who had just returned, thinking that since he came back alive, he should be fine too.

But his face still showed fear, but he could not disobey the "tyrant" Sunday, so he could only obediently follow Saturday to the cave.

……

For the natives, the process of waiting for each companion to return feels like an eternity.

In the interrogation room, Saturday repeated the questions.

The lights were still bright, and the people in the chairs were equally frightened and uneasy.

……

The words on the notebook in Chen Zhou's hand increased line by line.

He sorted out the natives' answers, removed the exaggerated and distorted parts that involved the natives' "gods" and the omnipotent "priests" and leaders, and finally came up with a complete answer -

The content of the interrogation mainly revolved around three aspects.

1. The reasons why the natives landed on the island and why they landed in the southwest of the mountain instead of the northeast corner where they usually go.

2. What is the relationship between the indigenous tribe and the Spaniards? More than 20 warriors disappeared during the last sacrifice, so why did the tribe still have enough people to go to the island?

3. Why did the Spaniards linger around here, why did they have relationships with the natives, how many people they had, how many large ships they had, and what kind of weapons they used.

……

Faced with these three questions, the natives can basically only answer the first one completely and answer the second one vaguely.

As for the third item, they usually know nothing about it or make it up.

However, among these natives, there was an "old acquaintance" - a warrior with white stripes painted on his body, the "leader" who was scared away when he touched the boat.

He was once a close confidant of the tribal leader, and because of his tall stature and bravery in combat, he had been commended by the leader several times.

As one of the most capable warriors in the entire tribe, he had several contacts with the Spanish and even entered the camps established by the Spanish on the archipelago. He also had excellent language expression skills.

His answers to the third question were the most detailed and credible.

Without the "information" he provided, Chen Zhou would probably only be able to squeeze the value of the brown-haired guy.

But relatively speaking, the Spaniards are not as honest and simple as the natives after all. Even if everything the brown-haired man said was true, Chen Zhou would probably have to put a question mark after his "confession."

……

The cause of the matter is actually very simple.

Just as Chen Zhou expected, these natives came to search for the twenty or so warriors and priests who had disappeared before.

The most important of them is the old priest.

As the mouthpiece for communicating with God, new priests have always been trained independently by old priests, who teach them how to communicate with God, how to hold correct sacrificial ceremonies, and how to please God with dance and song.

Normally, given the old priest’s age, he should have already started training a successor.

But he happened to be in a period of rapid development of the tribe, and he was in high spirits and in good health, so he decided to delay it and choose a successor from among the many members after the tribe unified the archipelago.

He never expected that what he waited for was to be shot to death by Chen Zhou himself.

Having lost the old priest and with no new priest available, the tribe has been in chaos for the past few months.

After much difficulty, they selected a priest from among the captives from other tribes to temporarily replace the old priest. However, the content of the ceremony was very different from the previous one, which aroused dissatisfaction among the original members of the tribe.

The chief alone bore the external pressure from expansion and the pressure from within the tribe to absorb too many new members. He finally managed to stabilize the tribe. The first thing he did was to send this group of people to the "Sacrificial Island" to look for the missing old priest.

Even if we can't find the person, as long as we find the body and the feather crown on the old priest's head, it will be an explanation to the tribesmen in the tribe.

In order to ensure that the operation was foolproof, he also approached the Spaniards and begged for their help. The brown-haired man was the helper sent by the Spaniards.

The result was obvious. Facing Chen Zhou, not only were the 14 indigenous warriors left on the island forever, but even the Spaniards could not escape.

……

As for why the natives chose to land from the southwest corner of the mountain this time, it was due to the influence of ocean currents.

Ocean currents change every few months.

The indigenous people often hold sacrifices from December to March. The ocean current passes by the northeast corner of the mountain. It is the easiest to row a boat to land at that time, and if you encounter a storm, the chance of survival is higher.

In July, the ocean current surrounding the northeast corner of the island began to surge outward and was extremely turbulent. At this time, even if the natives' canoes were smoking, it was difficult to resist the power of nature and land from the northeast corner.

After all, their boat was too small and had no sails, so the power was limited relying solely on manpower.

……

As for why the natives did not go directly to the northeast corner after landing on the island, but chose to stay where they were and some to go deep into the coastal woodlands, it is even simpler.

The natives originally planned to go ashore and walk along the beach to the northeast corner to look for their missing tribesmen and the old priest.

Unexpectedly, before they landed, they saw the eye-catching wooden and stone walls and the wide cement salt drying field on the beach from a distance.

After landing, the natives found neatly stacked wooden boards and stone bricks not far from the wooden and stone wall, as well as a large number of felled trees in the forest and traces left by carts.

This made the Spanish leaders certain that there were people living on the island.

There happened to be a road formed by long-term trampling from the edge of the woods where building materials were piled up to the camp at the foot of the mountain, so he took the four natives up the mountain along the road.

He then successfully found the emptied camp at the foot of the mountain, and found a large number of abandoned shacks, large wooden houses and Chen Zhou's fishing gear.

Because they were too close to the mountain, they happened to be observed by Sunday and were attacked by Chen Zhou shortly afterwards.

……

After the Spaniards left, the original team of 15 people was reduced to only 10 people.

These natives did not dare to act on their own without the permission of the Spanish.

It just so happened that they hadn’t eaten enough before they set out on their rowing trip.

Out of habit developed in the tribe, the ten people naturally divided some people to stay on the beach to make a fire, while the others went to the woods to look for food.

This is what they should do.

Even if they didn't look for food now, after searching the northeast corner of the island and finding or not finding the old priest, they would have to eat before returning to the archipelago.

Otherwise, if you go hungry for a whole day, you might run out of energy halfway through paddling and have to drift in the sea.

……

The above answers were basically the same from all the natives, and Chen Zhou felt that they were accurate, excluding the possibility of collusion. As for what he was most concerned about, the relationship between the native tribes and the Spaniards, most of the natives could not answer and could only guess the truth through indirect means.

If it weren't for the tall native who was painted like a zebra, Chen Zhou might not have been able to figure it out based on information from other people whose authenticity was unknown.

……

In fact, even the chief's confidant, the tall native himself, did not know the detailed process of the contact and cooperation between the tribe and the Spaniards.

All he knew was that their tribe was not large at first and was located on the edge of the island, a place with scarce food resources.

Their lives were not easy in the early days, until one day a huge ship stopped on the sea not far from their tribe and sent a small boat that was completely different in shape from a canoe to contact the chief.

Since then, the chief has made a deal with the man who wears the clothes.

They gave up an area of their already small territory for those who wore clothes to build houses, and also sent some warriors to help the outsiders carry things off the ship.

They simply couldn't understand the language of outsiders.

But those people gained the trust of the chief through various shining containers, soft materials that could be wrapped around the body, extremely hard weapons, tobacco and fragrant wine that made people dizzy after drinking.

In addition to these gifts, the Spanish shadow was also behind the expansion of the tribe.

They not only told tribal leaders how to improve their fighting methods, but also provided them with intelligence on other tribes.

Chen Zhou suspected that the Spaniards would even secretly use crossbows or other cold weapons to help the tribe profit in the war, thereby accelerating the growth of their agents and gaining more rights and interests.

The help of the Spanish set the tribe on a path of crazy expansion. The chief's warriors were invincible in the conflict, and the tribe was becoming stronger every day.

Because the tribe expanded too quickly and absorbed too many warriors from other tribes, it became a mixed bag.

Warriors from the original tribe usually held higher status, but the number of prisoners of war who joined later was greater.

This is also the fundamental reason why the canoe used to land on the island this time is different from the canoe used last time.

The boat builders of different tribes had different habits, so the canoes they made were naturally different.

……

In return for these favours the chief gave to the Spaniards some of the young female captives, and some of the stronger ones, for their use.

These people were not taken away by the Spanish, but remained in the strongholds they had built on the edge of the island.

Women provided relief for the sailors, while men helped them dig deep pits, carry supplies or do other physical work.

Because the tall native had personally participated in the task of handing over prisoners, and had once helped the leader take something from the Spanish camp, he knew so much about the inside story.

……

However, when it comes to the issue that Chen Zhou is most concerned about - the specific strength of the Spaniards, he was vague.

According to him, the Spaniards had at least two large ships that were unable to dock and usually drifted far away from the shore, only sending small boats to communicate.

Moreover, the large ships were not on the shore most of the time and could only be seen once in a very long time. Every time they came to the island, the Spaniards had to unload at least a day's worth of supplies.

……

There is also something that Chen Zhou is more concerned about——

"Has the expansion of the tribe been affected since more than 20 warriors mysteriously disappeared last time? If so, why did they send people to the island again?" The tall native also revealed more details.

In fact, the sudden loss of more than 20 strong laborers from the original tribe did have a significant impact on the large tribe, not to mention the disappearance of a priest.

If it weren't for this sudden incident, the Spaniards would not have changed their past stinginess and given the tribe a batch of metal weapons, allowing them to regain the upper hand in the conflict.

You know, the Spanish have always been extremely strict in managing weapons.

They had only a dozen permanent staff on the island, and faced with the increasingly large indigenous tribes, they had no numerical advantage.

If they did not strictly control the combat effectiveness of the natives, they were also afraid that the natives would become greedy and endanger the lives of the permanent personnel, and more importantly, endanger the supplies they had buried.

……

After finishing asking all the questions, out of appreciation for the "high-quality source of information", Chen Zhou turned off the high-intensity flashlight, told Zhou Liu that he could give the native some extra care in the future, and gave the "zebra" a piece of chocolate.

He has always been generous in rewarding promising talents.

It is inevitable that in the future the natives will be divided and those who are perceptive, willing to be attached to them and offer their loyalty will be promoted.

Now that such a sensible person has come forward, Chen Zhou has no reason to reject his frankness and honesty.

……

We have learned almost all the information we need to know, and there is only one prisoner left - the brown-haired guy.

Chen Zhou felt that this person was totally untrustworthy.

But if you think about it carefully, he still has some value.

Although they could not communicate with each other through language, as a person from the "civilized world", the brown-haired guy should be able to write and draw. Letting him depict everything he knew through patterns could be a way of confessing.

In addition, as a person who once was high and mighty and managed and ruled the natives, the death of the brown-haired man itself could provide some help in taming the natives.

……

This newly captured group of natives was different from those on Saturday and Sunday.

Not only were they larger in number, but they were also captured and forced into submission out of fear of death and violence, rather than being rescued.

Therefore, it is essentially impossible for them to be as faithful and thankful as Saturday and Sunday.

When dealing with these people, we must clearly distinguish between rewards and punishments, and at the same time erase the traces of their previous tribal life left on them.

Chen Zhou believed that the first step in taming them could be to start with this Spaniard.

By trampling on the power and majesty of those who symbolize authority and status, we tell the indigenous people:

On this island, who holds the power of life and death, and who is the boss?

Afterwards, they would win over some and suppress others.

Those who work well, do more, learn quickly, and can quickly adapt to the new environment will naturally be rewarded, improve their status, get their own house, and even better food.

Those who were lazy and slacked off in their work would be starved at best and whipped at worst, so that the natives would know right from wrong.

At the same time, some strictly prohibited things must be made clear to the natives in advance so that they can be ruthless when punished later.

As for the "cultural classes" that are the same as those on Saturdays and Sundays, Chen Zhou thinks he can take a break.

No matter in which era, knowledge is the most valuable resource.

Saturday and Sunday impressed Chen Zhou with their loyalty, which enabled them to obtain this wealth that was beyond the cognition of the entire era.

All natives are unworthy of knowledge until they prove themselves worthy.

They can only temporarily act as "smarter livestock" and complete the tasks assigned to them by managers without complaint.

They don't need to know why, the whip will teach them what is the right thing to do. (End of this chapter)