Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 604 The Encounter of Young Renault

Many years later, when Renault returned to the African continent on a merchant ship from Beihai Town, he had mixed feelings in his heart. What he was facing was a place that was both familiar and strange.

Familiar because of his skin color, this continent is his hometown.Everything is the same as when he left. Diseases still spread in hot and humid areas. Droughts still cause famines on a regular basis. Kings and local tribes will wage wars for various reasons. As soon as the red brand imprinted the buyer, it was replaced by guns, gunpowder and textiles.

That is to say, Reynolds was wearing a military uniform with the rank of major, otherwise he would probably be beaten with a sap, and then sent to the sailboat bound for the Andes Islands.

However, for Lei Nuo who has lived in China for many years and married a wife and had children, this land seems so strange, which makes him feel sad.Since he was only seven years old when he left, he couldn't remember the location of his hometown at all. What's more, he couldn't understand Yoruba 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 to come to the outskirts of St. Louis, kneel on the bank of the Senegal River with tears on his face, facing the east, humming The singing of his mother to lull him to sleep kissed the land and took away a bag of soil.

All the memories began on that cloudy and drizzle afternoon, and onwards, whether it was the family, the village at home, or the sufferings experienced during the long journey to St. Louis, in Renault's memory, it has become a blurry shadow
On October 1792, 10, when Zhao Xin and the others arrived in Saint-Louis by boat from Goree Island, it was already the day after they arrived there.Since he learned from his fellow interpreter Degine that the local area is the most important trading center for gold, ivory and gum arabic in West Africa, he wanted to go ashore to have a look while replenishing fresh water and some fresh food.

In the late [-]th century, although European thinkers had turned from blind worship of classical China to contempt and criticism, there were no thinkers in places like colonies, and everyone who came here had only one purpose—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 objects of onlookers by passers-by, and even caused traffic congestion for a time.The scene would have been even more chaotic had it not been for the accompanying French officers to yell and drive away.

To the surprise of the onlookers, Zhao Xin and his group did not look like Chinese people with shaved heads, pigtails, and long gowns in picture books or rumors, but wore strange hats (baseball caps) ), with no cheeks, wearing dark green clothes, and a belt around the waist; except for a few people who look a little thin, the rest are all strong.The most conspicuous among them is Zhao Xin, who is 1.8 meters tall, and that head is rare even among Europeans in this day and age.

"Hoff, why do I feel that these guys don't look like Chinese."

"Oh, Mr. Carrington, I haven't seen Chinese people 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 seen a lot of Chinese people?"

"Yes, but I only went to Macau. There are a lot of Chinese people there, and they all have pigtails, which are completely different from these people in front of me."

"Then you mean these are not Chinese?"

"I can't say that well. Just like what Mr. Hoff said, there may be many kinds of Chinese people."

"You see, there are some Frenchmen in their ranks. Maybe you can meet them in the tavern in the evening, and ask them about it then."

After that, Zhao Xin and his party met the local sheriff under the recommendation of Degene.When he learned that Zhao Xin and the others were going to Paris, the guy from a declining nobleman looked haggard and depressed.Compared with distant local governance, it is much more timely for Senegal to obtain news from the European continent.

"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 finished speaking, he took out a letter and a few expired newspapers from the drawer and handed them Gave it to Degene.

"My God! They attacked the Tuileries! The Princess de Lamballe is dead and they plan to dethrone the king?! My God, this is crazy!"

The magistrate said helplessly: "Yes, sir, all this is too crazy to accept."

Deng Fei at the side heard the conversation between Degene and the magistrate, and immediately whispered a few words to Zhao Xin beside him.Zhao Xin nodded silently after hearing this, knowing that what the other party was talking about should be the "Tuileries Massacre" that happened on August 8 and the "September Massacre" that followed.

Don't look at the newly released "Marseillaise" cheering for freedom and resistance, but the first thing the revolutionaries did when they sang this song was to invade the Austrian Netherlands, and the result was a squirrel face beaten by the Austrians.The French were defeated and even killed their general Dillon on the way to retreat.
By September 9, with the fall of Verdun, rumors of intimidation from the commander of the Prussian-Austrian Allied Forces reached Paris, and panic intensified.A massacre began after Marat's incendiary two-hour speech.

"The Prussians have taken Verdun! Nobles, priests, traitors, and conspirators are in prison awaiting the arrival of their foreign masters! This will lead to mutiny! They will incite the people to join the Prussian army!"

"Execute these traitors! Kill them all!"

The so-called "revolutionaries" broke into all the prisons in Paris with axes, pitchforks, and spears, and carried out extremely cruel lynchings of all prisoners suspected of supporting the king.Compared with those male prisoners who were directly hacked to death, stabbed to death, thrown from the tower to death, or even carried and smashed their heads, the female prisoners who suffered various abuses ended up more miserable.

One of the most unlucky is Queen Mary's best friend - 43-year-old Princess de Rambala. The "revolutionaries", both men and women, tore her clothes, opened her mouth, and beat her teeth with sharp objects, forcing her to wake up.Then drove her to stand up, humiliated and tortured her in turn; even when she was still awake, cut off her limbs, disemboweled her heart, and held her head to the queen who was locked in the temple castle.
Mara, a skin patient, triumphantly attributed the massacre to himself afterwards, but less than a year later, he was killed in the bathtub by Charlotte Corday, a descended nobleman. Bad 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 Degigne has stayed in Guangzhou for several years, all the businessmen with whom he associates are from the Thirteen Lines. They usually communicate in Cantonese and are not familiar with northern Mandarin.At this time, he heard Zhao Xin's emotion, and asked curiously: "Mr. Zhao, what are you talking about?"

Zhao Xin did not reveal his identity after boarding the Thunder God on Bourbon Island. He only said that his surname was Zhao. He was a good friend of Deng Fei for many years and had been staying on Beihai No. [-] before.Many people came to Beihai Town this time, and it is impossible for Degigne and several French officers to know everyone, so there is no doubt about it.

Deng Fei explained in French: "O Liberté, que de crimes on commet en ton nom!"

Several French people present were all stunned when they heard this. Degigne repeated it several times, then found a piece of paper to record it, and exclaimed in his mouth: "Mr. Zhao, what you said is really good!"

Zhao Xin smiled slightly, and said in his heart that if one family falls, another family will rise ten years later.Although this "Great Revolution" was inevitable in history, in the end, the so-called revolutionary leaders went to the guillotine one by one, and it became a bloody human farce.It is a pity that Mrs. Roland died.

Ouch!Zhao Xin suddenly came to his senses at this moment, and said to himself that I had told someone's famous quote, and if it was passed back to Paris, what would Mrs. Roland have to say then?

After leaving the sheriff's office, Zhao Xin and his party, accompanied by local officials, went around the market in the city. After visiting several shops, he bought fifty pieces of ivory and One hundred bags of gum arabic.

After negotiating the price with Deng Fei, the shopkeeper asked, "What do you plan to pay with? Ecu 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 came from the east. Let me do the math. You can exchange it with fifteen boxes of tea."

"Our ship is docked at Gorey Island. I will send someone to bring the tea later, and we can complete the transaction at the port."

"Okay!" The owner was very happy. Ivory and gum arabic are not very valuable locally, but tea is different.While 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 England, do you want it?"

Carrington's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he walked over and said, "This is a good deal, but I don't have much cash. I just took more than 100 slaves. How about I give you the slaves?"

The shopkeeper drooped his face when he heard this, and shook his head, "I'm just a shopkeeper, what's the use of having slaves?"

He paused for a moment, turned his head to look at Deng Fei who was talking to Zhao Xin, and then walked over, taking advantage of the time when the two of them were talking, he said kindly: "Sir, there is something I want to discuss with you. Do you know if you would like to listen to my chatter?"

"You said."

"Well, I'd be very grateful if you could give me tea. But I'm a small businessman, and I don't have a ship to my name, so I thought of selling tea to this Mr. Carrington. Oh, he's English. , the British have a soft spot for oriental tea, you know that."

"Go on."

"Mr. Carrington is short on cash, but he has just taken in a good batch of black slaves. Are you interested? I can guarantee that Mr. Carrington's goods are very good. Take them home for a little training, no matter what kind I will still be a servant, and I will definitely satisfy your request."

After hearing this, Deng Fei was stunned, thinking that I was just buying some ivory, why did it suddenly involve black slaves?When Zhao Xin on the side heard the explanation, his brows twitched slightly, and then he said to Deng Fei: "Why don't you go and have a look first, it's also a good insight."

In this way, more than half an hour later, Zhao Xin and his party came to the outskirts of Saint-Louis, on a river bank near the mouth of the Senegal River, where the "warehouse" that the shop owner called was also located.

"This, is this a warehouse?"

When Zhao Xin, Deng Fei and his group saw the low, dim, and damp semi-underground huts, they were all stunned.However, when Carrington's men opened the door of a narrow room, a stench mixed with moisture hit his face, almost throwing Zhao Xinxun into a tumble.When he took the flashlight from his subordinates, covered his nose with his cuff, and looked into the room under the surprised gazes of several white people, Zhao Xin's hairs all frowned!

What a sight!All the black slaves in the house, regardless of gender or age, squatted naked in the filth one by one, wearing an iron sheath around their necks, and tied each other two by two with iron chains, and their feet were He also wears heavy shackles.Everyone's faces are full of fear and extreme despair!

At this time, Deng Fei was still looking around, and saw several square stone piers about 1.5 meters high under several watchtowers on the bank of the river.Beside the stone pier, several slaves were lying on the recesses of the table and drinking water with their heads bowed.Because their hands and feet were firmly locked on the iron rings around the stone pier, they couldn't move their hands and feet, so they had to stretch their heads like cattle and horses to drink.

Jiao Xun and Huang Chengji, who were accompanying them, looked at each other in astonishment when they saw such a scene.Although there were people in the Manchu Qing Dynasty who were used to buy and sell people, no one would treat their "goods" like this.The two carefully observed everything around them, including the shape of the building and the tragic conditions of the black slaves, and recorded it in the book when they were about to return to the ship.

Since the room is not big, with the movement of the light of the flashlight, Zhao Xin soon saw a child curled up in a corner.

"What's up with him?"

Hearing this tall oriental man 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 such a thing before. You can exchange it with three, no, five slaves."

While speaking, he covered his nose and walked to the door of the hut, looked at the light of the flashlight, and felt that something was wrong, then rushed to the subordinates behind him and said: "Go and see the little thing in the back, it seems to be sick, damn it , he must not infect the entire room!"

(End of this chapter)