Many years later, when Renault returned to the African continent on a merchant ship from Beihai Town, he had mixed feelings in his heart. He faced a place that was both familiar and unfamiliar.
Familiar because of his skin color, this continent is his hometown. Everything remains the same as it was when he left. Diseases still spread in hot and humid areas, droughts still regularly lead to famines, kings and local tribes launch wars for various reasons, and thousands of prisoners of war or kidnapped blacks are there. After the red brand imprinted the buyer's mark, it was immediately replaced by guns, gunpowder and textiles.
That is to say, Renault was wearing a military uniform with the rank of major, otherwise he would probably be beaten up and put on a sailboat bound for the Andes.
However, for Renault, who has lived in China for many years and is married and has children, this land looks so strange, which makes him feel sad. Since he was only seven years old when he left, he could not remember the location of his hometown at all. More importantly, he could not understand Yoruba language at all. The only thing he could remember was his real name - Lamin labake.
However, when Renault spoke fluent French and asked many slave traders and even black slaves but found nothing, he had no choice but to come to the outskirts of Saint-Louis, kneeling on the bank of the Senegal River with tears on his face, facing the east, and humming The song that his mother used to put him to sleep kissed the land and took away a bag of soil.
All the memories began on that gloomy and drizzly afternoon. Going forward, whether it was his family, his hometown village, or the hardships he experienced during the long journey to St. Louis, Renault's memory has become... A blurry shadow...
On October 7, 1792, when Zhao Xin and the others arrived in St. Louis by boat from Gorée Island, it was already the day after they arrived. Since he learned from his fellow translator Deguine that the local area was the most important trading center for gold, ivory and gum arabic in West Africa, he wanted to go ashore to take a look while replenishing fresh water and some fresh food.
In the late eighteenth century, although European thinkers had turned from blind worship of classical China to contempt and criticism, there were no thinkers in a place like the colonies. Everyone who came here had one goal - money. Because the East is so far away, China, which is rich in tea and silk, is full of gold in the eyes of those who have never been there.
When Zhao Xin and his group walked onto the port, they quickly became the target of onlookers and even caused a traffic jam. The scene would have been even more chaotic if the French officers accompanying them had not shouted loudly to drive them away.
To the surprise of the white people who were watching, Zhao Xin and his group did not look like the Chinese people with shaved heads, pigtails, and long shirts as in the albums or rumors, but instead wore strange hats (baseball caps). ), with beardless cheeks, wearing dark green clothes, and a belt around their waists; except for a few people who looked a little thin, the rest were all strong. The most conspicuous among them is Zhao Xin, who is 1.8 meters tall. He has a head that is rare even among Europeans in this era.
"Hoff, why do I feel like these guys don't look like Chinese."
"Oh, Mr. Carrington, I haven't seen any Chinese either. I've only heard of them from people who came back from the East. Maybe just like the Scots and the English, there are different races in China."
"Hey~~ Taylor, I remember you went to the East with a boat a few years ago. You should have met a lot of Chinese people, right?"
"Yes, but I have only been to Macau. There are many Chinese people there, and they all have pigtails. They are completely different from the people in front of me."
"So you mean these are not Chinese?"
"I can't say for sure. Just like Mr. Hof said, there may be many kinds of Chinese people."
"Look, there are a few Frenchmen in their team. Maybe you can meet them in the tavern in the evening and you can ask them about it then."
Afterwards, Zhao Xin and his party met the local sheriff under the introduction of Degenie. When he learned that Zhao Xin and the others were going to Paris, the guy from a declining noble family looked haggard and depressed. Compared to distant local governance, news from the European continent is much more timely received here in Senegal.
"Mr. Deguigne, I advise you not to go to Paris. The current situation there is really terrible."
"How to say?"
"This is the news I just received the day before yesterday. It was brought by a merchant ship from Le Havre. You can take a look." After the Sheriff said, he took out a letter and a few expired newspapers from the drawer and handed them to Gave it to Deguine.
"Oh my God! They attacked the Tuileries Palace! Princess de Rambala is also dead... They actually plan to depose the king?! My God, this is crazy!"
The Sheriff said helplessly: "Yes sir, this is all too crazy and hard to accept."
Deng Fei on the side heard the conversation between Degene and the Sheriff, and then whispered a few words to Zhao Xin beside him. Zhao Xin nodded silently after listening, knowing that the other party should be talking about the "Tuileries Massacre" that occurred on August 10 and the subsequent "September Massacre".
Although the newly released "La Marseillaise" cheers for freedom and resistance, the first thing the revolutionaries did when they sang this song was to invade the Austrian Netherlands, and the result was a grey-headed rat face slapped by the Austrians. The French were so defeated that they even killed their general Dillon during their retreat...
By September 2, with the fall of Verdun, rumors of threats from the Prussian-Austrian commander reached Paris, and panic intensified. A pogrom began after Marat's two-hour inflammatory speech.
"The Prussians have taken Verdun! The nobles, clergy, traitors and conspirators are all waiting in prison for the arrival of their foreign masters! This will lead to a mutiny! They will incite the people to join the Prussian army!"
"Execute these traitors! Kill them all!"
The so-called "revolutionaries" armed with axes, pitchforks, and spears broke into all the prisons in Paris and carried out extremely brutal lynchings of all prisoners suspected of supporting the king. Compared with the male prisoners who were directly hacked to death, stabbed to death, thrown from towers, or even carried and had their heads smashed, the female prisoners who suffered all kinds of abuse ended up in a more tragic end.
The most unlucky among them is Queen Mary's best friend, the 43-year-old Princess de Rambala. The "revolutionaries", men and women, tore her clothes to pieces, opened her mouth, and repeatedly hit her teeth with sharp instruments to force her to wake up. Then he forced her to stand up, and in turn subjected her to all kinds of humiliation and torture; even while she was still awake, she cut off her limbs, disembowelled her and took out her heart, and held up her head to show the queen who was locked in the Temple Castle. .....
Marat, a skin disease patient, proudly attributed the massacre to himself afterwards. However, less than a year later, he was killed in the bathtub by Charlotte Corday, who was born in a declining aristocracy. Unhappy retribution!
Thinking of this, Zhao Xin couldn't help blurting out Mrs. Roland's famous last words: "Freedom, how many crimes have been committed in your name!"
Although Degene has stayed in Guangzhou for several years, the people he interacts with are all businessmen from the 13th industry. They usually communicate in Cantonese and are not familiar with northern Mandarin. At this time, when he heard Zhao Xin's emotion, he asked curiously: "Mr. Zhao, what are you talking about?"
After Zhao Xin boarded the Thor on Bourbon Island, he did not reveal his identity. He only said that his surname was Zhao. He was a good friend of Deng Fei for many years and had been staying on the Beihai 2 before. A lot of people came to Beihai Town this time, and it was impossible for Deguigne and several French officers to know everyone, so there was no doubt about this.
Deng Fei explained in French: "O Liberté, que de crimes on commet en ton nom!"
The French people present were all stunned when they heard this. Degeigne murmured and repeated it several times, then found a piece of paper to record it, and exclaimed: "Mr. Zhao, what you said is so good!"
Zhao Xin smiled slightly and said to himself that if one family and the world fell, another family and the world would rise again in ten years. Although this "Great Revolution" was a historical necessity, in the end, the so-called revolutionary leaders went to the guillotine one by one, and it became a bloody human farce. It was a pity that Mrs. Roland died.
Ouch! Zhao Xin suddenly came to his senses at this moment and thought to himself, I have told someone's famous saying. If it gets back to Paris, what will Mrs. Roland say then?
After leaving the Sheriff's Office, Zhao Xin and his party, accompanied by local officials, went to the market in the city. After visiting several shops, he purchased fifty pieces of ivory and ivory from one of them. One hundred and ten bags of gum arabic.
After the shopkeeper negotiated the price with Deng Fei, he asked: "What do you plan to pay with? EUR or British pounds? Or Maria Theresa silver coins?"
Deng Fei smiled and said: "Do you want tea? Pure Wuyi BOHEA thé, the quality is very good."
The shopkeeper looked happy and said with a smile: "Oh, I almost forgot that you are from the East. Let me do the math... you can exchange fifteen boxes of tea."
"Our ship is docked at Gorée Island. I will have someone deliver the tea later, and we can complete the transaction at the port."
"Okay!" The shopkeeper was very happy. Ivory and gum arabic are not very valuable locally, but tea is different. While he was talking, he saw a familiar face walking into the store, so he smiled and said: "Hey, Mr. Carrington. I just made a big deal, fifteen boxes of the best Wuyi BOHEA thé, You can make a fortune by bringing it back to the UK, do you want it?"
Carrington's eyes lit up after hearing this, and he came over and said, "This is a good deal, but I don't have much cash. I just acquired more than a hundred slaves. How about I give the slaves to you?"
When the shop owner heard this, his face drooped, and he shook his head and said: "I'm just a shop owner, what's the use of having slaves..."
He paused for a moment, turned to look at Deng Fei who was talking to Zhao Xin, and then walked over. Taking advantage of the pause between the two of them, he said in a kind tone: "Sir, I have something to discuss with you. No. Do you know if you would like to hear a few words from me?"
"you say."
"That's right, I'm very grateful that you can give me tea. But I am just a small businessman and I don't have a ship to my name, so I just want to sell the tea to this Mr. Carrington. Oh, he is British. , the British have a special liking for Eastern tea, you know this."
"Go on."
"Mr. Carrington is short of cash, but he has just acquired a group of good black slaves. Are you interested? I can guarantee that Mr. Carrington's goods are very good. Take them back and train them a little, whether they are breeding The earth will still be a servant and will definitely meet your requirements.”
After hearing this, Deng Fei's face was filled with astonishment. He thought to himself, "I just bought some ivory. Why did it suddenly involve black slaves?" When Zhao Xin on the side heard the explanation, his eyebrows jumped slightly, and then he said to Deng Fei: "Why don't you go and take a look first, it will also gain you some insights."
In this way, more than half an hour later, Zhao Xin and his party arrived at the outskirts of Saint-Louis, on a river bank near the mouth of the Senegal River, where the "warehouse" the shop owner called was also located.
"This, is this a warehouse?"
When Zhao Xin, Deng Fei and the others saw the low, dark, damp semi-underground huts, they were all stunned. However, when Carrington's men opened the door of a small room, a stench mixed with moisture hit their faces, almost knocking Zhao Xinxun away. When he took the flashlight handed to him by his subordinates, covered his nose with his sleeves, and shined it into the house under the surprised eyes of several white people, the hairs all over Zhao Xin's body started to stand up!
What a scene this is! All the black slaves in the house, regardless of gender or age, were squatting naked in the filth. They all wore iron cuffs around their necks and were tied to each other with iron chains. On their feet He also wore heavy shackles. Everyone's faces were filled with fear and extreme despair!
At this time, Deng Fei looked around and saw several square stone piers about one and a half meters high under several watchtowers on the river bank. Next to the stone pier, several slaves were lying on the recess of the table, lowering their heads to drink water. Since their hands and feet were firmly locked on the iron rings on all sides of the stone pier, they could not move their hands and feet, so they could only drink by stretching their heads like cattle and horses.
Jiao Xun and Huang Chengji who were accompanying him looked at each other in astonishment when they saw such a scene. Although there was a human market under the Manchu Qing Dynasty for the purpose of buying and selling people, no one would treat their "goods" like this. The two carefully observed everything around them, including the shape of the building and the miserable condition of the black slaves, and prepared to record it in the book when they returned to the ship.
Since the room was not big, Zhao Xin quickly saw a child huddled in the corner as the flashlight light moved.
"What's up with him?"
Hearing the tall Oriental speaking in English, the slave trader Carrington was stunned for a moment, and then smiled: "So you can speak English. What is that thing in your hand? I have never seen anything like this. I I can give you three, no, five slaves in exchange."
As he spoke, he held his nose and walked to the door of the hut. He looked at the light of the flashlight and felt that something was wrong. Then he rushed to the men behind him and said: "Go and see the little thing in the back. He seems to be sick. Damn it." , he must not infect everyone in this room!"
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