The trade with the Oneida and Tuscarora tribes was quickly completed. The first item was that both parties would swear in their traditional forms not to attack each other or incite a third party to attack the other.
Subsequently, the natives revealed the locations and spheres of influence of four other tribes in the Great Lakes region. The closest tribe was only five days' ride for regular cavalry from Pittsburgh, and infantry could reach it in about ten days.
The total military strength of the four tribes was around two thousand people, some of whom were equipped with British firearms and were being trained by the British army. Due to the need for training and coordination, a possible attack time would be in two or three months. In return, Pittsburgh provided them with a general route to the uninhabited areas in the northeast, as well as boats to cross the Ohio River. They also exchanged some food, salt, cloth, and clean fresh water with the natives.
Both sides also reached an agreement that in the future, natives from these two tribes could trade herbs, game, furs, gold, and gems with Pittsburgh for daily necessities such as food, salt, ironware, and cloth. This indirectly brought these native tribes into Pittsburgh's sphere of influence. Charles had considered incorporating these tribes into his town's rule during the negotiations, but he was rejected by the two chiefs and Patrick.
These natives also warned Charles and his people about their continuous westward expansion, stating that the four Iroquois tribes and several other surrounding native tribes had not originally intended to participate in the war. However, due to the recent appearance of colonists in their living and hunting grounds, surveying and attempting to train land, their vigilance was aroused, leading them to ultimately agree to participate in the war.
This news, of course, greatly annoyed Charles. He blamed the greedy Pennsylvania Assembly. If it weren't for their reckless land sales, how could so many colonists have appeared west of Pittsburgh? But what was done was done, and annoyance was useless. Charles could only discuss with Patrick, preparing to train the militia well and then notify people in nearby villages, towns, and colonial settlements to actively attack those natives.
In fact, ever since people established a foothold in America, they had generally maintained a considerable advantage over natives. This was not only due to advanced weaponry but also because the colonists were all soldiers.
White children, typically thirteen or fourteen years old, would learn to shoot, and by fifteen or sixteen, they could generally hunt with a gun. natives were also all soldiers, but they had difficulty acquiring firearms, and their primary weapons remained spears and bows. These weapons required considerable strength and technical skill, and certainly could not be learned as quickly as firearms.
If natives were to attack this time, Pittsburgh would inevitably suffer severe losses, but it would not be so damaged as to be unable to recover. The attacking natives, however, would also pay a heavy price.
Historically, American people were often heavily defeated by natives, but primarily on frontal battlefields. If colonists attacked natives, they could basically achieve a great victory, completely eliminating them, and the gains would not be too bad.
Now, receiving the news in advance meant gaining the priority to attack. Pittsburgh feared the harassment and plunder by those natives the most, but they were not afraid of direct confrontation or offense. The remaining four Iroquois tribes actually did not yet know that their information had been leaked, and Pittsburgh could completely take the initiative at its leisure.
Charles and Patrick immediately jointly issued a notice to the surrounding villages and colonial settlements, canceling the original warning and instead informing them of the joint attack plan by the British army and natives. They requested them to send personnel to Pittsburgh to prepare for action against the four Iroquois tribes.
However, Pittsburgh was, after all, the westernmost colonial settlement, and there were not many large villages or towns near it. Any towns that could send regular militia were at least two or three days' journey away. Coupled with formal negotiations and preparations, the matter of punitive expeditions against natives would have to proceed slowly.
Although his time for visiting Pittsburgh was tight this time, as he had to return to Philadelphia for a meeting soon, Charles, after dealing with the native "raid" incident, still managed to squeeze out some time from his busy schedule to specifically go to Scarlet Manor to "inspect" his land.
To express their welcome to their master, Jonathan led nearly a hundred slaves to line up at the manor's gates.
But the first order Charles gave upon meeting nearly scared the poor old butler senseless.
"Jonathan, I finally realize how unrefined our Scarlet Manor is. I've decided to tear it all down and rebuild a new stone castle. Even if it can't compare to a royal palace, it must be elegant and unique. It absolutely cannot be this ugly two-story wooden house anymore!"
"Tear it all down?"
Jonathan swayed, somewhat unsteady on his feet.
"Yes... This damned building is truly an eyesore!" Charles said fiercely. "For now, we'll keep it. Anyway, building a good castle will probably take several years, and we'll still have to live here. In a few years, this damned wooden house will be pretty old, so tearing it down then won't be a pity, as long as we move the valuables from the rooms."
"Even if we don't live in it, we could let the slaves live there in the future, couldn't we? This house cost thousands of pounds to build; it would be a real shame to just demolish it," the old butler, reluctant to see such extravagance, dutifully offered his opinion. "Besides, we don't have that much money to build a castle, do we?"
"You don't need to worry about that. I have arrangements for the slaves' housing too. Furthermore, our family's future development should focus on industry and commerce, and it's uncertain whether we will retain a large number of slaves then."
Charles was unwilling to listen to Jonathan's suggestion. The biggest reason he disliked the house was its fire hazard; it wasn't safe for slaves to live there either. Besides, this was a place he had once lived. If he kept it, and one day he came back to visit, only to see some little brats playing in the mud and urinating in a place that held great sentimental value for him, wouldn't that just be asking for trouble? So, it was better to simply demolish it.
"Yes, sir! Then I will call the designer to survey and select a site so we can build the castle as soon as possible."
Once Jonathan accepted an order, he acted very quickly.
"No! Don't rush to find a designer yet. This time, I plan to personally design the exterior of the castle!" Charles shook his head, disagreeing.
He had long been mentally prepared for building a castle, or rather, a new house. He went to the study, which he originally liked very much but now found awkward to look at, prepared paper and pen, and began to draw.
When he first arrived in this world and saw Scarlet Manor, Charles still felt that it was indeed a manor lord's house; it was large enough, and the decoration was quite elaborate. Especially the vast fields and numerous slaves made Charles feel as if a medieval European king would be no more impressive.
But after a trip to Philadelphia and a comparison with truly wealthy and influential people, he realized that no matter how much the old butler Jonathan tried to glorify the family, his family was indeed just a manor lord, a "farmer," not even counting as a fallen noble.
Many of the wealthy people in Philadelphia had residences that were stone-built castle-like structures. Even if many of their houses were not actually beautiful, houses made entirely of raw stone far surpassed wooden manors in terms of grandeur and safety alone. Moreover, the rooms of those truly rich people were filled with various gaudy but valuable items. When interacting with them, Charles felt like a country bumpkin, not only lacking taste but also very poor.
Anyway, he now had a large amount of spare money, and expanding factories and the like wouldn't cost much. So, the first thing he planned to do upon returning home was to tear down the house and rebuild. Of course, when building his new house, he couldn't follow those old-fashioned, gaudy castle designs.
When Charles first thought about building a new house, for some unknown reason, the image of the White House, the official residence of the American President, immediately popped into his mind.
This was a building that was relatively consistent with the current level of productivity, and Charles' current capabilities made it entirely feasible to build. Of course, that consistency referred to the original structure of the building, not the super-residence that had been improved and renovated countless times in the 21st century.
In fact, the construction of the White House was not originally centered on themes of grandeur and majesty; the initial design concept was that of an ordinary British country house. Washington put forward three requirements to the designer for the presidential residence: spacious, sturdy, and elegant, giving a sense of timelessness.
He believed that his country would quickly become prosperous and strong, expand its territory, and occupy an increasingly important position in the world, so the construction of the presidential residence could not be vague. For the presidential residence that was about to be designed and built, Washington insisted that it did not need to be tall; three stories would be sufficient.
When the White House was first built, it was not white, nor was it called the White House, but rather "President's House" or "President's Palace." When construction began in 1792, it was a gray sandstone building. From 1800 onwards, it was the place where the American President worked and lived with his family during his term.
However, in the Second American-British war that occurred in 1812, the British army invaded Washington. On August 24, 1814, the British army burned down the building, leaving only an empty shell. When it was restored in 1817, President Monroe ordered a layer of white paint to be applied over the gray sandstone to conceal the burn marks.
Since then, this presidential residence has been commonly known as the "White House," and in 1902, American President Theodore Roosevelt officially named it the "White House."