HLM -Chapter 1373 The Māori Carrying Shoulder Poles

Overall, New Zealand’s public security environment is quite good, and clashes between police and civilians are rare. Although Māori people are naturally proud and somewhat fierce, because of Mayor Wang Bo’s authority and the fact that the police did not use excessive force, the women did not resist. They merely watched from the side, displeased.

Wang Bo made a phone call, and two large pickup trucks drove over. Everything from the stalls in the square was loaded up and taken together to the courtyard of the government office building. All the women were taken away and escorted into the conference room.

Wang Bo instructed Atulu to lead the police in conducting inspections and issuing fines according to the usual regulations. When it became clear that they really had to pay money, the Māori women exploded with anger and all struck poses of non-violent noncooperation.

Atulu tried to enforce the penalties by force, but one of the women scratched him, and half his face instantly turned red.

Seeing this, Wang Bo’s expression darkened as he barked, “Arrest her for assaulting a police officer!”

Atulu waved his hand. “Boss, no need. I’ll handle my own business myself!”

Wang Bo recalled the ruthlessness Atulu had shown when leading the Māori auxiliary police unit, so he nodded and let him take care of it.

Atulu didn’t personally get tangled up with the woman. He made a phone call, and soon heavy thump thump thump footsteps sounded outside. The conference room door was pushed open, and his wife, Lily, appeared.

Lily’s build was imposing even among the women present. Wang Bo couldn’t help wondering whether the status of Māori men was maintained by the size of their wives.

Seeing the handprint on her husband’s face, Lily roared, “Who hit my man? Step forward!”

The woman who had scratched Atulu immediately shrank back into the crowd and didn’t dare show her face.

Atulu, however, perked right up. He turned around and pointed at her. “Honey, it was her!”

A full-blown battle between tigresses instantly erupted. Lily charged forward and slapped the woman hard, roaring as she did so, “You dare touch my man?! You’ve got some nerve! Which hand did you use? You still dare fight back? Today I’m going to tear your stinking face apart!”

Wang Bo subconsciously retreated several steps. Holy crap—these Māori women are terrifyingly strong.

Lily and the fat woman fought like sumo wrestlers, with actual technique—one retreating, the other advancing, one pulling, the other kicking. Very quickly, they smashed into the tables in the conference room, knocking them all crooked.

Uncle Bing, who had originally wanted to maintain order, was also scared by the sight and immediately retreated to Wang Bo’s side without hesitation.

Wang Bo smiled bitterly. “Now I understand why Atulu is afraid of his wife. If I had a wife like that, whether I’d even still be alive today would be hard to say.”

Uncle Bing said, “Māori women are indeed formidable. During the early wars of European migration, Māori women even formed combat units. One of those units would smear their entire bodies with deer blood before every battle and fight completely naked…”

As he spoke, he shook his head. “Shit. Just imagining it is enough to know how shocking that would be.”

In the end, Lily emerged victorious, pinning the fat woman beneath her and delivering a vicious beating.

Wang Bo shot Atulu a look. “Go—separate them.”

Atulu shook his head. “I don’t dare. Every time my wife beats someone, if she doesn’t feel satisfied, I can’t make her stop. Otherwise, she’ll keep hitting me instead.”

Wang Bo: “……”

After that chaotic brawl, collecting the fines became much easier. The women obediently paid up.

But fines alone couldn’t solve the problem. The next day, Wang Bo had Atulu notify all the Māori people, saying that he was putting up money to throw a party in the tribe to resolve the issue.

“Boss, how exactly are we going to resolve it?” Conley asked, troubled.

Wang Bo said, “I don’t understand—why are these people unwilling to sell jade at the farmers’ market?”

Atulu replied, “It’s not that they absolutely won’t go. It’s just that we think being farmers is shameful. Setting up a stall at a farmers’ market—wouldn’t that be just as shameful?”

“Shameful?” Wang Bo said. “Making money through your own labor—what’s shameful about that? You Māori are willing to take odd jobs, to work as gardeners, to work on farms. Isn’t that shameful too?”

“Only a small portion work on farms,” Atulu said. “But if it’s enforced, they’d be willing to go to the farmers’ market.”

Wang Bo thought for a moment and said, “Actually, it’s fine if they don’t go to the farmers’ market. But they’re not allowed to set up stalls by the roadside or in public places. If they still want to do business, I suggest they use small pushcarts, or carry their goods with shoulder poles. That would be acceptable.”

Atulu asked, “Wouldn’t that still obstruct traffic?”

Wang Bo waved his hand. “Don’t you understand? Obstructing traffic is just an excuse I casually picked. The main reason is that I don’t want these stalls turning into urban eyesores that ruin the town’s image!”

Atulu suddenly understood. “Alright, I think they’ll accept this solution. But… what is a shoulder pole?”

New Zealand doesn’t really have shoulder poles, and the country has very few large bamboo groves. Compared with the diligent and ingenious Chinese people, Māori really could only be called barbarians.

From programs Wang Bo had watched introducing traditional Māori life, he knew that when carrying things, they only knew how to lift, hug, shoulder, or balance items on their heads.
If something was heavy or messy, they’d bundle it up and find two people to carry it with a stick. For drawing water, for example, a Māori person would at most carry one bucket in each hand.

However, Māori people are often tall and strong, so carrying a bucket in each hand didn’t feel tiring to them.

Wang Bo showed Atulu pictures of shoulder poles online. “This—something you carry on your shoulder, with goods hanging from both ends. You’ve never seen it?”

Atulu nodded in realization. “I’ve seen it. I saw it in Auckland. I just didn’t know what it was for.”

The shoulder poles currently sold in New Zealand are mostly decorative—painted in various colors, some even carved with patterns. The materials aren’t limited to bamboo either; there are plastic ones as well.

After understanding how shoulder poles were used, Atulu suggested not holding the party so soon. Instead, they should conduct enforcement for a period of time first, then wait until the shoulder poles arrived and give them out as gifts at the party.

That way, with both punishment and reward, they could win people’s hearts and also, through a period of governance, get his fellow tribesmen to restrain themselves a bit.

Wang Bo nodded and decided to carry it out that way.

After collecting the fines, he returned all the confiscated goods to the Māori people. However, some of them had been selling fruit—cherries—which spoil quickly and are hard to sell. He bought all of those.

But cherries are delicious—sweet and sour, with lots of flesh and juice—so this was definitely not a loss.

The shoulder poles arrived a week later. During that week, Sunset Town carried out a comprehensive crackdown: absolutely no one was allowed to set up stalls by the roadside or in public places.

In early February, Wang Bo held a party in the Māori village—a hākari.

Large quantities of chicken, duck, fish, and meat were transported into the village. The Māori people gathered early. With food in front of them, they didn’t care about how Wang Bo had led the police to sweep away their stalls over the past few days—they were all just waiting to eat.

Taking advantage of the occasion, Wang Bo explained the ban on setting up stalls, then brought out the shoulder poles and gave one to every household.

These shoulder poles were paired with gorgeously styled baskets, layered so that handicrafts could be placed inside for sale.

Upon seeing the shoulder poles, the Māori women were very interested and quickly accepted this new tool.