"I think I understand what you're trying to say."
Zhang Heng nodded.
He had been trudging under the scorching sun for more than five hours, and his body was weaker than usual. Until now, he still had no idea where he was or where Lincoln County was. It was rare for him to meet a few of his own kind in the vast Gobi Desert. Before he pushed the door open and walked into the bar, Zhang Heng did want to be as friendly as possible.
But now it seemed that his original plan was about to fail.
Historians always emphasized the devastation that this vigorous westward movement brought to the Native Americans. In just a few hundred years, about a million Native Americans were massacred (only during the westward movement), and the rest were forced to move to reservations. However, few people mentioned the sacrifices of the Chinese in the process.
After the Civil War, the United States abolished the black slave system. At the same time, the westward movement opened up wastelands, and the laying of railways required a lot of cheap labor. So, merchants eventually turned their attention to Southeast Asia. At that time, China's population was exploding at the end of the Qing Dynasty. At the same time, there was the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Revolts broke out everywhere, and the poor who could no longer survive flocked to Hong Kong and Macau. After that, they volunteered or were tricked into sailing to the Americas to become coolies. Their wages were low, and they were obedient and willing to do all kinds of dangerous work.
The Pacific Railroad, known as one of the world's seven industrial miracles, covered more than 3,000 kilometers and ran through the entire American continent. Almost all of the most difficult and dangerous sections of the railroad were completed by Chinese laborers. Later, there was a famous saying that under every sleeper of the Pacific Railroad lies the bones of a Chinese laborer.
However, the influx of cheap labor who ate little and worked more than they ate, and they barely slept had a huge impact on the American labor market. Discrimination against Chinese laborers also reached its peak at that time, especially when the railroad was about to be completed. Worried that these Chinese laborers would rush into nearby towns and grab jobs, there were even cases of miners ganging up on the Chinese laborers. They rushed to the Chinese camps at night with knives and guns, and the terrified Chinese laborers could only flee in all directions.
In this era, widespread discrimination against Chinese workers was nothing new, and it wasn't as simple as it sounded. Zhang Heng didn't know if the story told by the bear-like man in front of him was true, but he did read some similar cases.
In the 19th century, someone shot and killed a black cowboy simply because he didn't like black people. He escaped before the sheriff arrived and hid his identity to drink in another town. He saw another black man in a bar and couldn't help but pull out his gun and kill him. After that, the bailiffs surrounded him and killed him.
There were countless similar incidents in the Western Region.
This was a place where bullets were more important than reasoning. Everyone was a walking constitution, and whose laws were more effective depended on whose bullets were faster.
Zhang Heng wasn't angry. In fact, he could understand what the man was thinking. He came to the bar alone, thirsty and tired, and he had no weapons on him. He didn't even have a knife, let alone a gun. On the other hand, there were seven men, armed to the teeth. They were strong and strong, and they were drunk. It was hard not to have some fun at a time like this to cheer himself up.
Zhang Heng had to admit that he had gone in the wrong direction from the beginning. In a chaotic place like this, it was pointless to try to be friendly to thugs. But it didn't matter. Dealing with thugs and villains had always been his forte. Perhaps it was because he had been away from the Black Sail quest for so long that he had almost forgotten the standard way to deal with such situations.
Zhang Heng then picked up an empty glass on the bar and raised it to the bear-like man. "This toast is to you. You remind me of those nostalgic old times."
Just as the man was wondering how Zhang Heng would propose a toast with an empty glass, he saw the empty glass getting bigger and bigger in front of his eyes.
Zhang Heng smashed the glass on the bear-like man's face, then punched the bottom of the glass. The next moment, he heard the sound of the man's nose breaking.
The rest of the people in the bar were stunned by this sudden scene. They were clearly immersed in a happy atmosphere a moment ago, and in the blink of an eye, their companion was beaten up. Was this Chinese man in front of them blind? Couldn't he see the situation he was in? Shouldn't a normal person behave himself in such a situation? Why would he make the first move?
However, they reacted quickly. The man with the rifle raised his rifle immediately, but Zhang Heng was even faster. As the bear-like man fell backward from the glass, Zhang Heng had already drawn the revolver at his waist.
The two men raised their guns almost at the same time, but Zhang Heng was still half a second faster. As soon as he pulled the trigger, a string of blood burst out of the man's head, and he lay on the table, motionless.
After that, Zhang Heng turned his gun to the table of people playing cards. One of them, a bearded man and a skinny man, also pulled out their pistols. Zhang Heng ignored the skinny man and shot him in the heart before the bearded man could pull the trigger. At the same time, the skinny man pulled the trigger, but the bullet grazed Zhang Heng's body and flew to the wine rack behind him.
Zhang Heng didn't even blink, turning his gun to kill the man next to the skinny man. At this time, the man with the knife had already rushed up to Zhang Heng, and the knife was only a few centimeters away from Zhang Heng's chest. At the same time, the skinny man finally aimed at Zhang Heng.
In this situation where he had to choose between two options, Zhang Heng remained calm. He chose the man with the knife, but when he pulled the trigger, Zhang Heng himself rushed toward the man with the knife.
In the end, just as the knife was about to stab him, the bullet took the life of the man with the knife first, and the skinny man's muzzle was blocked by the body of his companion.
Slowly, Zhang Heng sent another bullet between the man's eyebrows.
The gunfight woke the drunkard who was sleeping in the corner. When he opened his eyes, he found that his companions had fallen to the ground. His mouth was wide open, and he looked like he had seen a ghost. Fortunately, his confusion didn't last long. Soon, Zhang Heng shot him with the last bullet.
All of this happened in just a few seconds. If he didn't see it with his own eyes, he probably wouldn't believe that seven fully armed men could single-handedly annihilate them in an instant.
Zhang Heng threw away the empty revolver in his hand, picked up the lever rifle on the ground, and fired a shot at the owner of the bar.
The latter's body was sent flying, crashing into the wine rack. His eyes were filled with disbelief. After all, he had just reached for the revolver under the bar counter, and before he could fire at Zhang Heng, he was one step ahead of him.
Zhang Heng sighed and said, "Since you are already deaf, why don't you just do it until the end? Why do you have to get involved?"
Unfortunately, the bar owner couldn't hear his last sentence.
Zhang Heng picked up a new glass from the bar, then walked to the card table, poured himself a glass of whiskey, and drank it in one gulp. Finally, his body was rehydrated. After that, he moved a stool and took the whiskey to the bear-like man whose nose was broken.
The way the latter looked at him now was completely different. After witnessing his companions fall to the ground and die, his tall and strong body curled into a ball, shivering on the ground. He didn't even care about his bleeding nose. "You … Who the hell are you?"
Zhang Heng placed the stool in front of him and sat on it.
"Why don't we put your question aside, and you answer a few of my questions first?"
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