I paused for a moment to make sure everyone's attention was focused on me.
"······."
All the chiefs looked at me with curious expressions.
"Let's find out the population of each village. Since you are the leader of the village, you will know how many people there are in the village. I will give you some time. As soon as you finish organizing, please come to the communal hut."
Boom boom!
As expected, the Lenape chiefs were in an uproar, apparently not understanding the order.
"Chief! Why do you have to do that?"
"As you may know, Chief, everyone is busy because it is spring."
It was necessary to make them understand to some extent. I answered their questions simply.
"I need to know the exact population of my tribe so I can make sound policies and decisions."
"······."
The chiefs were momentarily speechless at that answer.
* * *
The 'Forest Hunter' was the first to report on the population of the village.
"Chief! How can I help you?"
"Please let the chiefs waiting outside come in one by one."
"Okay."
Just then, the second chief came in. I checked his abilities with my own eyes.
"Come this way."
"Yes, Chief!"
"What is the name of the village?"
"It is a flowing river."
"It's a flowing river···."
He calmly wrote in Korean on the ground with a branch.
"Where is it?"
"It is located in the middle reaches of the Lenape River."
"How many people are there in the village?"
"One hundred and twenty-two people."
"What about men?"
"Just a moment."
He thought for a moment, wondering if the old chief was not immediately remembered.
"Fifty-two? Fifty-five?"
"···hmm!"
As expected, when we started to investigate the population in detail, the old chief didn't know much.
"Please tell me, even roughly."
"Before I came, one of the village elders passed away. And a baby boy was born, and he was very sick. It seemed like he was going to die."
"Then, let's make it fifty-three for men and sixty-nine for women."
"that is···."
It seemed as though he had more to say, but the old chief let out a short sigh and said:
"Okay, please do so."
The census didn't end there. I dug a little deeper so I could figure out what was wrong with myself.
"What about the child?"
"What about the old man?"
"Young man?"
Of course, I asked based on age. However, the old chief was sweating profusely and could not give a clear answer to my question.
"Okay. First of all, the flowing river village has one hundred and twenty-two people, right?"
"···Yes, Chief!"
"Thank you for your hard work."
"no."
As he left, he zoomed in on the map window and wrote down the location and population of the town of 'Flowing River'. Of course, this is not accurate either and will have to be revised later.
"Next person, please come in."
After a while, in the afternoon, the census of each village was finally completed.
"It's hard. Even writing on the ground. I still have to make paper···."
However, since writing was not widespread, it seems that making paper will have to be postponed to a later date. I looked up and checked the Lenape tribe's territory on the map window.
"That's incredible."
From New York to Philadelphia, including New Jersey and Delaware. However, the population density was too low compared to the vast territory.
And the Lenape population was smaller than expected. It's not an exact statistic, but roughly 23,262 people. Moreover, the two hundred or so villages were scattered all over the place.
"First of all, we need to divide it into two large cities and develop it."
One is Philadelphia, where I am now. Another is New York, which has a 'very large' town. At that moment, the 'Forest Hunter' entered the communal hut.
"Chief! The chiefs are waiting for you."
"Yes, I will go out."
* * *
Boom boom!
The chiefs who had finished the census were talking.
"I can't remember exactly how many children there are in our village."
"Don't talk nonsense. I couldn't even give a proper answer to the chief."
"I wonder if it's long or short, too."
"I'll investigate again when I get back to the village."
At that moment, when I revealed myself, it became quiet as if nothing had happened.
"···It wasn't a long time, but everyone worked hard. Of course, I had a hard time because some people didn't have an accurate count of the number of people in the village."
He didn't say exactly who. However, most of the chiefs avoided my gaze and turned a blind eye.
"Now, we will conduct a census every season. As I said before, I need to know the exact population of our tribe so that I can implement proper policies. I believe that the chiefs here will have their own thoughts about the census this time, so I believe they will not oppose this decision."
"······."
The chiefs couldn't even refute my decision, and just nodded their heads as if they were mute. At that time, 'Wide Land', who was a candidate for the position of Chief, raised his hand and asked a question.
"So, where should I report after the census?"
He spoke with a friendly smile about the 'vast land' that was good with words and had diplomatic abilities.
"That's a very good question. I'll talk about that later when we talk about other policies."
"···All right."
As soon as the 'vast land' was settled, we moved on to the next policy. I thought there would be some opposition from the chiefs to this policy.
I tried to persuade them calmly.
"···When we fought the Susquehannock tribe, many villages were lost because they were not properly defended. I want to address that problem properly. Warriors gathered from each village? That takes a long time to move and is very inefficient."
"······."
I could see that the chiefs were gradually yielding to my persuasion.
"···Even in normal times, each village should recruit warriors and prepare for any eventuality. That way, if another tribe invades, we can immediately counterattack."
As soon as I finished my explanation, the chiefs here and there started asking questions.
"Chief! Are you recruiting all the warriors in the village?"
"No. We need warriors to protect the village, so we will recruit warriors with an age limit."
"What is the age limit?"
"We will recruit young warriors as much as possible. Around fifteen to twenty years old. No exceptions."
"Then, how long will the warriors recruited from each village have to carry out that mission?"
"This is the year. The warriors who have completed this year's mission will return to their respective villages."
"This isn't the end of it, but rather we recruit warriors every year when they reach the appropriate age?"
"Yes. I plan to recruit young warriors every year and personally teach them combat skills to raise them into strong warriors."
Above all, the chiefs were delighted at the news that I was teaching them, and the place became noisy.
Boom boom!
"If a warrior of God teaches you, then I don't really have to worry."
"It's even better. When the warriors trained by the Great Chief return, the village will be safer."
"This year... will be a great experience for the young warriors."
"That's right. If I were a little younger, I could have learned from Daechuchang. What a pity."
Most of the chiefs responded positively. However, the chieftains forming the faction were having a serious conversation with serious expressions.
At that time, the 'Calm Lake', who was good at plotting, raised his hand and tackled the recruitment of warriors.
"Chief! I also wholeheartedly agree with your opinion and think it is a very good policy. However, there are some problems."
"······."
Phew!
He fell for the bait I threw out.
"Go ahead."
"Yes. Each village is recruiting young warriors, and there are about two thousand of them. Do you have facilities or space to accommodate them? And the food they will eat will be considerable. How do you plan to solve that?"
"That's a very good question."
I spoke very loudly so that all the chiefs there could hear.
"First, I plan to have the warriors build the facilities they will stay in themselves. I'm afraid that everyone will misunderstand, so let me explain further. Training is not just about combat skills. Leaving the village and building a temporary hut in a campsite, or being isolated and looking for food alone is also part of the process and training to become a great warrior."
"Yeah, that's right."
"It's not all about combat skills."
"Both finding food and building temporary shelters are very important skills."
The chiefs sitting on the floor agreed with my opinion by speaking one by one.
"And what about the soldiers' food problem? I should have asked the chiefs here anyway."
"······."
"As the Calm Lake Chief just pointed out, our village cannot afford to feed over two thousand warriors. So I would like the chiefs and each village to provide us with the appropriate amount of food, weapons, and various items each season."
It was said in a roundabout way to persuade the chieftains, but if we interpret it differently, it was essentially a tax.
"The young warriors are working hard for our tribe, so we should at least take responsibility for providing food."
"You'll probably need weapons and leather, too."
"If each village just joins forces a little, I think food and other problems will be easily solved."
"Four times a year... I don't think it will be much of a burden."
The chiefs' response was better than expected. I didn't miss this opportunity and solved the census problem in one go.
"······And when you supply food each season, you just have to report the population of the village to me."
Some time passed like that. The three policies I put forward were implemented at a rapid pace and concluded successfully.
Finally, we have a basic framework for a country, even if it is small. Territory, population, military, taxes. Above all, I was most pleased to have gained control of the Lenape tribe's military power.
The plan going forward was simple. I train young warriors thoroughly and make them loyal warriors. And through these young warriors, I increase my influence in each village.
After a while, the chieftains who had made their promise began to leave the village of 'Big Foot' one by one. After seeing them off for a while, we also prepared to leave.
At that moment, the 'Forest Hunter' approached.
"Chief! Let's go too."
"yes."
The 'wise fox' and the elders were waiting to see us off.
"Chief! Please lead our Lenape people well."
"···I will do my best."
Originally, he was supposed to stay in the village of 'Big Foot' and perform the duties of the chieftain. But I didn't do that on purpose.
First of all, since we plan to make our village, the 'Very Big' village, bigger, we elected a new chieftain for the 'Big Foot' village and let them rule it.
After saying hello to the 'Wise Fox', I left the 'Big Foot' village with my group.
'I guess I should focus on internal affairs now.'
* * *
Pequot tribe village. There was a brief lull in the war with the Mohegans.
"······There is no concrete evidence yet. This is just my personal speculation."
The 'Burning Weasel' who had been receiving reports of 'Strong Power' in the communal hut had his eyes shining coldly.
"No. I am also certain that the Lenape village you found has a new weapon."
"What should we do?"
The 'Burning Weasel' spoke without hesitation.
"We must check it out right now. The warriors from each village have gathered with difficulty because of the war with the Mohegan tribe. If not now, then when?"
"That's true."
"You said the Lenape village was quite large? At the very least, there would be three hundred warriors there."
"······."
"Very well. I will give you four hundred warriors. As you well know, the important thing is not the weapons, but the capture of the men who made the weapons."
"I will keep that in mind."
"Conquer that Lenape village as quickly as possible without the Mohegans noticing."
"Yes, Chief!"
* * *
A 'very big' town. The 'fast deer' and the 'stubborn bear', who discovered something by the river, ran as fast as they could towards the village.
"Honest bear! If you keep doing this, all the villagers will die from the Pequots. Come quickly."
'The honest bear' answered, breathing heavily.
"Ah, I get it. I'm running fast."