American: Native Empire

Chapter 10 < The Consequences of Expansion >

Regardless of Kim Kiwoo’s speech, the preparations for the expedition were already complete.

The day after the speech.

“Let’s move out.”

“Yes! All troops, move out!”

“Move out!”

Six thousand warriors, four thousand more than the defense battle two years ago, left the territory of Creek.

Among them, the warriors of Creek’s faction remained at two thousand, and the rest were supplemented by the warriors of the tribes that had been subjugated.

It might seem unlikely that anyone would join the army of those who had subjugated them by force, but surprisingly, there were more volunteers than needed.

They were warriors. Many warriors wanted to remain as beings who used force, not as workers.

Moreover, most of them were fascinated by the magic of steel weapons and group combat in the last war.

Thanks to that, they were able to select only the best among the warriors and make them Creek’s troops. 

Of course, they still couldn’t trust them 100%, so the command was given to the warriors of Creek’s faction.

Kim Kiwoo divided the selected six thousand troops into three groups. Each with two thousand.

The divided troops began their punitive expedition in three directions.

Their march was relentless. They avoided forests, swamps, or places with rough roads, and only looked for villages where people lived.

The purpose of sending troops was not to secure territory, but to increase the number of people.

There was no one who could stop Creek’s warriors’ advance.

For two years, rumors about Creek’s tribe had spread far and wide.

“The gray army!”

“Run, run! We can’t win against them!”

As soon as Creek’s warriors appeared, the villagers of the tribes fell into despair.

There were some large tribes that resisted, but most of the tribes chose one of two options.

They either abandoned their villages and ran away before the army arrived, or obediently surrendered to Creek’s tribe.

“We don’t want to see unnecessary bloodshed. If your tribe peacefully joins us, you will enjoy equal status as a member of Creek’s tribe! And under the guidance of our great chief, the sacred spirit, you will not only get these powerful weapons, but also escape from hunting and gathering and never go hungry again!”

Creek’s warriors made this proposal to every tribe they visited. As a result, many tribes surrendered without further resistance.

Creek’s tribe was becoming the rising sun of North America.

*

North America was undergoing a strange ecological change. 

Many tribesmen flocked to Creek’s tribe, while people disappeared from where they lived. And even more distant tribes were preparing to flee from Creek’s tribe.

In other words, the surrounding area was quickly becoming empty with Creek as the center. 

As a result, other tribes living in different regions faced an untimely frost.

They had to either coexist with or wage war against the tribes that ran away to their territory.

And Kim Kiwoo, who caused this chaos, was having a headache.

“The stockpiled food is disappearing at a fast pace. We need to expand our farmland quickly for the future.”

“We also need to increase our manpower in the coal mine by several times!”

“We’ve heard that Chikaso tribe is coming soon. If that big tribe arrives…”

“The language problem is serious too. Some tribes are hard to understand.”

“Don’t we need to send administrators to each village? There are many conflicts among different tribes in each village!”

“Hmm…”

It was a total mess.

Creek’s tribe was experiencing a population explosion. This was far beyond Kim Kiwoo’s expectations.

‘Don’t they surrender too easily? Don’t they have their own identity?’

Kim Kiwoo thought most of the tribes would run away. In fact, many tribes had run away for two years.

But most of the remaining tribes chose surrender over escape.

Some of the reasons for this were:

The superiority of force, abundant food, promise of equal status, rumors about Kim Kiwoo as a sacred spirit, etc.

There was even a warrior who appeared out of nowhere and offered to guide the marching army to subjugate his own tribe. He was practically a traitor in modern terms.

Thanks to him, they had attracted too many people during the scheduled period.

As a result, the territory of the Creek tribe was forcibly expanded. It was enough to be called a nation.

Kim Ki-woo had filled the manpower he needed in an instant.

‘What do I do now? I think I’ll be too busy digesting this population for a while!’

He had originally planned to gradually increase the population and start new things…

Kim Ki-woo gave up his thoughts and began to give instructions one by one.

“First of all, whether they are Creek or not, mobilize all the tribesmen who have learned farming and cultivate the uncultivated land! Allocate most of the iron that is being produced to make farming tools!”

“Do we not need to appoint a leader among the non-Creek tribes?”

“Is that important right now? Don’t we have to sort out this chaos first?”

You can live in a shabby house. The same goes for clothing.

But food is essential for survival. He didn’t know how many people would be absorbed this year, but he had to cultivate at least several times more land than now for the next year and beyond.

In this situation, he couldn’t afford to monitor the behavior of the non-Creek tribesmen who had learned farming.

Also, they were generally satisfied with their current lives and adapted well. There would be no big incidents like rebellion.

“Increase the manpower in the salt mine as well. Salt is also essential for survival.”

They didn’t need to get salt when they were hunting and gathering, but now that their diet had changed to mainly grains, getting salt was not a choice but a necessity. 

But fortunately, this blessed North America was a continent with a large amount of rock salt.

They had been collecting and using rock salt since farming began on a large scale. There was no need to produce solar salt or sea salt at all.

In fact, most countries in modern times also use rock salt the most. Well, unless it’s a country like Korea where rock salt doesn’t come out.

“Eventually, we’ll have to solve the language problem gradually. For now, teach them Creek’s language as much as possible.”

“…Yes.”

A trembling voice. But there was no clever way around this. He had no choice but to educate them slowly over a long period of time.

‘I need to make a standard language dictionary. Language is important.’

The farther away the region, the bigger the language problem would be.

“First of all, set up a police station in each village. After finishing this expedition and returning, split up the warriors and assign them to the police station to manage the village for a while.”

“Police station… you say?”

“Yes. Let them handle the incidents and accidents that are happening in the village right now. I can’t afford to worry about that kind of thing right now.”

Until now, security was maintained by the tribe’s warriors, but from now on it would be done by an institution called the police station.

‘Damn it. I wanted to do some other work, but I have to focus on farming again for a while?’

He should have said to subjugate the tribes moderately. He regretted ordering them to subjugate all the tribes they saw during the given period.

‘But once this pain is over, I’ll finally be able to execute my plan…?’

It would be like that.

No, it had to be like that.

*

Another hectic year passed like that.

During this period, they estimated the newly increased population and it exceeded 500,000.

That is, the total population of the Creek tribe exceeded 600,000!

It meant that it had grown thirty times compared to when he first came to the Creek tribe.

Of course, he wasn’t sure because he didn’t do an accurate census, but it was probably right.

‘Does this make sense?’

That was the thought that crossed Kim Ki-woo’s mind when he first received the population report.

The population had increased by thirty times in only five or six years. He couldn’t help but think that way.

Wasn’t it like a shrimp eating a whale? 

Now, the Creek tribe had become a very small minority among the Creek people.

The things that Kim Ki-woo and the Creek leaders had done in the last year were very simple.

They built villages and placed people from various tribes in a certain proportion. They forcibly tore them apart to erase the colors of each tribe. 

Thanks to that, they were able to prevent the people who were from the same tribe from gathering and resisting.

Of course, there were many people who were dissatisfied with this policy from the beginning, especially the warriors. 

But by offering them a carrot of accepting them as full-fledged tribesmen from the start, they were able to suppress these complaints to some extent.

‘It’s different from three years ago.’

They weren’t subjugated as a price for invading, so what did they have to be guilty of?

Their languages were slightly different and their cultures were slightly different, but Kim Ki-woo forced them to comply with Creek’s standard language and culture. The effect was still minimal. But it would get better over time.

They invested most of the newly created village leaders in land reclamation. And they made the rest of the people into workers for the expanded industry.

Thanks to that, whether it was farming or industry, one skilled person had to teach several unskilled people how to work.

And they created a space for childcare, where they gathered and raised children in groups. 

They used the female labor force that was created in this way for tasks that required less strength, such as spinning and weaving.

Thanks to that, the clothing level of the subjugated tribesmen improved at a fast pace.

‘Do I have to do this much? I can do it more slowly.’

As he spent every day like a war, Kim Ki-woo, who was human, became exhausted. He had this thought countless times.

But every time, Kim Ki-woo pulled himself together.

There were still many places where explosions were heard, but he could see that the countless tribesmen who gathered under Creek’s flag were gradually finding stability.

And by now, he was finally able to create an environment where he could feed himself to some extent.

‘Finally.’

No matter how much he couldn’t farm with animal power or machines, and no matter how much pesticides or sowing methods weren’t developed, modern genetically modified grains and tuber crops and fertile land produced a certain amount of surplus labor.

And enough farming tools were also secured, and he was in a state where he could do other work in the industrial sector.

Kim Ki-woo had been waiting for this moment.

He had definitely increased in size tremendously. But there were too many things that were lacking compared to pre-modern society.

Kim Ki-woo started to supplement these parts with the remaining manpower.