Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1010 Education Lessons in Recife

On June 1653, 12, it rained heavily.

The "Discovery" flying the flag of the East Coast Republic of China sailed into the port of Recife in Dutch Brazil with difficulty.After many days, he came to this sugar kingdom in the northeast of Brazil again (the ship stayed here briefly on the way out), Lieutenant Given was only surprised for a while.

When I passed by here in September, a fierce offensive by the Portuguese had just ended. Although the Allied Forces in Recife held the city and its outlying positions, the number of soldiers was greatly reduced—not only those who died in battle, but also those who died of illness Many—the wealthy businessmen and civilians in the city were also anxious, for fear of being beaten in by the Portuguese and suffering tragic consequences—this is not a joke, the Portuguese soldiers outside are mostly Indians and blacks, if the Dutch voluntarily surrendered or It's easy to say, if someone beats him in, it's hard to say what will happen.

Lieutenant Ji Wen still remembered that the city was in panic at that time. Even with the help of the Black Banners and Latvian musketeers from afar, the less than [-] whites in the city (Dutch accounted for most of them) still had no intention of holding this key city. confidence.Thinking about it, the losing streak in recent years has greatly affected their confidence, and the Indians and blacks on the opposite side have also shown momentum. Now if they want to reverse the decline, they must have the help of outsiders.

The houses that were demolished due to the war, the drunken mercenaries who retreated from the front line, the undercurrent of Portuguese immigrants who were ready to surrender at any time, and the worried Dutch sugar business owners all showed this The anxieties, fears and concerns of the city.Although outsiders came to help in the battle, the residents still had no confidence. They believed that if there were no ships to take them away, these people might have fled long ago.

However, after three months, Lieutenant Ji Wen clearly felt that this place was different.Although the buildings in the city are still a bit of a mess, at least many of the sugar mills in the dock area have resumed work, and there are already black slaves working in the plantations in the Dutch-controlled area on the outskirts of the city—Lieutenant Shay is very suspicious of those black slaves Whether it was trafficked by Li Renjun from Congo.

These black slaves are undoubtedly miserable. They are forced to cut sugarcane bent down from morning to night under the scorching sun, and they have to keep sending armfuls of sugarcane into the rolling machine; They have to work for a long time by the bright red stove, the living environment is extremely harsh, and they eat cassava noodles boiled into paste—maybe bran sold by people from the east coast—and live in mud hut.According to Given's knowledge, generally speaking, in the sugar cane plantations of Brazil and the West Indies, a healthy black person will usually be completely incapacitated within five years, and then die.However, their masters were still "benevolent" (or they thought they were more benevolent), because they generally did not let the black slaves die without repenting.

And even the black slaves living in such a state, the Dutch once wanted to arm them and let them fight for the Dutch slave owners, which is ridiculous!To put it bluntly, the reason why the black armed forces led by Dias (blacks) were willing to be driven by the Portuguese to fight was because the Portuguese promised them freedom and a certain amount of wealth, while the Dutch didn’t want to pay anything Just want black people to fight for them, is it possible?

But no matter what, the blacks in Recife will continue to struggle in misery, and their future is destined to be extremely gloomy, because the Portuguese outside the city seem to have retreated.Although they did not sign an armistice treaty with the Dutch, there was a de facto armistice between the two armies, which meant that the black people on the front lines of Recife, Olinda, and Fortaleza once again lost the opportunity to change their destiny.

"If you fall behind, you will be beaten. These black people did not make any mistakes. They lived quietly in Africa until they were trafficked as slaves, and then came to the New World to suffer. Pedro, come and translate for me!" Ji Wen The lieutenant grabbed Pedro who was wandering next to him, and then continued: "The English who have initially established a foothold on the east coast of North America will sooner or later enslave you like the Dutch did with black people. See? The lives of these black slaves No future at all, their health will probably deteriorate rapidly within five or six years, and then they can no longer do any heavy work, and they have been disabled since then, and slave owners don't support disabled people .”

Pedro was immediately dumbfounded when he heard Lieutenant Ji Wen's rambling talk.How can he translate this? His native language is the same, only some simple conversations and daily expressions. It is really difficult for him to communicate with Indians in such a long-winded manner.However, after seeing Lieutenant Ji Wen's warning eyes, he immediately gave in, and then stammered and translated to the Indians standing beside them with as simple words as possible.

Some of these Indians were Mobile, some were Choctaw, and even a Natchez, all of which were the "achievements" of Given and others a while ago.After their meeting in the Mobile tribe, they rushed to the territory of the Choctaws in New Orleans without stopping, and then set up a line with them-it was hard for Pedro and Fernandez, they actually mastered the territory at the same time. The language of the two tribes - the next thing is the same as before in the Mobile tribe. This somewhat civilized tribe readily agreed to maintain trade with the people on the east coast, and at the same time sent personnel after receiving gifts (weapons and ammunition) Leave with the people on the east coast, ready to go to the east coast to see and see.Of course, Ji Wen and others did not forget to set up a simple office there, and then left several people to learn the language and guide the daily production of the Indians.

When taking these Indians through Recife to stay for supplies, Captain Shay did not forget to use the example of the local blacks to warn these Indians and keep them 12 vigilant against foreign European colonists: Don't expect to be with them. Those white people - especially the English Puritans - are friendly, and they will eventually slaughter your tribe and take your lands.Therefore, even if you don't choose to fight against them, try not to form an alliance with them. It is best to cut off all trade, so that those British guys will not have enough strength to bully you in the short term.

Less than ten Indian "students" could barely understand (because the native language of Pedro and others is really bad), but some smart ones among them still guessed the meaning of the people from the east coast, that is, these foreign people The white colonists have always been malicious to them, so we must be vigilant against them, and don't be fooled by rhetoric.Even if you have to trade, you can choose my civilized Great East Coast Republic. We are the messengers of civilization and sincerely treat the Indians well. Everyone should help each other and finally implement "New World Co-prosperity"—ah, bah, It is "win-win in the New World".

The Indians did feel sympathy for the plight of these blacks, but they doubted whether the Brits would do the same to them.For this reason, Lieutenant Ji Wen immediately cited the fate of the Guala people who were struggling under the Spanish rule - which made the two of Pedro extremely embarrassed, and they didn't even know how to translate - and pointed out the fate of the people who came to the New World. Many of them are scum, adventurers, and unscrupulous profiteers. It is better to expect wild boars to climb trees than to count on their virtues. Therefore, it is very necessary to be vigilant against foreign colonists.

And after taking advantage of the tragic situation of the black slaves in the city to complete an "on-site education class" for the Indians, Lieutenant Ji Wen went to the city again, visited the liaison representative of the East Coast Republic here, and asked him if he needed to transport it away of goods.Because the cabin of the "Explorer" was completely empty at this time, according to regulations, their ship was obliged to transport property belonging to the government of the republic on the east coast from any foreign port to speed up the flow of materials.

The liaison representative was very happy with the arrival of Captain Shay, because he really had a lot of goods that needed to be shipped back: roughly some Brazilian sumac (dried in the shade, cut ship materials), cane sugar, dried fruits, tobacco, feathers, etc., in general It's not cheap.And perhaps because of the tipping off, when Ji Wen and others were in charge of loading the cargo, the Dutch in the city also negotiated and sent some Recife military and political officials and family members of big businessmen on board—they knew very well This war is far from over. Staying here in Recife, their families can only be in fear every day and at the same time they are also vulnerable to the attack of the disease. So it is better to send them to the peaceful east coast for the time being. Wait until the situation here is relatively clear and then find a way to bring it back.

Although Captain Shay was very shameless towards the Dutch, this matter was beneficial to the interests of the East Coast, so he still carried it out without hesitation.

On December 1653, 12, the "Explorer", which stayed in Recife for nearly five days, slowly left the pier after being filled with cargo and supplies, and then went south along the Brazilian warm current, heading straight for the capital Oriental Port. go.On the way, they encountered Portuguese warships that are becoming more and more active nowadays-but obviously these Portuguese navy dare not challenge the people on the east coast on the spot, they seem to be doing the final assembly and training before going to sea After the Portuguese fired salutes to each other, the 10-ton "Discovery" accelerated away from this sea full of right and wrong, hurried southward, and finally drove quietly into the naval dock of the capital's Oriental Port before the end of December. .

This "diplomatic" move to the Caribbean Sea has finally come to an end for the time being.

(End of this chapter)