To us modern people, New Orleans may just be the prefix of KFC Chicken Leg Burger, but before the American Civil War, this seaport city in Louisiana was the base camp of the slaveholding forces, and its importance was far more important than that of the "U.S.A."
Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy, had a much higher status because it was the largest slave transit station in the world at that time and also had the largest and largest slave market.
This phenomenon was determined by the special economic situation in the southern United States at that time. Unlike the northern United States, which developed capitalism and established factories, most of the southern United States were large estate owners who operated plantations. This estate economy made them have a large demand.
African black slaves who are healthy, adapted to the humid climate of the south, and highly resistant to common infectious diseases come to work for them. Of course, the most important reason is that the price of these slaves is cheap enough, and they can be aroused without any psychological burden, even if
After being tortured to death, all that was lost was the money of a big livestock, so the black slave trade here was extremely prosperous.
In fact, not only those large plantation owners, but also many ordinary people in the southern United States would buy one or two black slaves as servants or money-making tools, so basically there were slave owners all over the southern United States, and the difference was only in size.
Of course, for those slave traders who trafficked black slaves from the distant Ivory Coast, they were most welcome to the big slave owners, because they could buy dozens of black slaves at one time, as long as there were a few of them
If you are a big customer, then this business is basically over.
Therefore, when the slave trader Sheffield saw from a distance a tall and thin boy who was not handsome but very sunny walking towards him with more than a dozen people, he greeted him loudly and excitedly:
"Master Tangning, I am here. Your most loyal friend Sheffield is waiting for you here."
When the boy came closer, Sheffield immediately went up and gave him a warm hug, and then said: "My dear Tony, I heard that you were sick some time ago. I was really worried. Fortunately, God bless you and you are fine now.
!”
Listening to a slave trader saying "God bless you", Tony Tangning felt extremely uncomfortable in her heart. If God knew that you were doing such an immoral business, it would be great if he didn't throw you into hell.
Can I still bless you?
Speaking of that illness, in fact it was not an illness at all, but a time-travel. Yes, a street writer from 2016 traveled to the body of the slave owner's son in Louisiana in the southern United States in 1858, that is.
At this moment, Tony, Mr. Tang Ning, may look like an American, but his soul has long been replaced by another Chinese named Tang Ning.
Fortunately, Tangning was a writer in his previous life. He already had several time-travel protagonists in his works, not to mention the time-travel novels he had read, so he adapted quickly and only used one.
It took me just a few months to get used to my new identity.
To be honest, he was very excited when he first got used to it, because he was now a slave owner, and he only had a frail father and no brothers or sisters around him, so he had the final say in this family.
Three large estates, hundreds of black slaves, dozens of thugs, and several little black girls in the house who can warm themselves up at any time. Well, I can't accept the last bit, because it turns out that this body
The aesthetics of the owner are really different from my own. In fact, the aesthetics of European and American men are very different from those of Asia.
If these little girls are just a small problem, then there is still a big problem waiting for him, and that is the Civil War three years later. After this war is over, the good life of a big slave owner like himself will be
It's over, but that's all for later. The most important thing right now is to pick all the mature cotton. This will be the starting capital for everything in the future, especially this year's cotton harvest, so Tang Ning had to come
The slave market purchased a group of black slaves to supplement the manpower gaps in various plantations.
Therefore, when facing the slave trader Sheffield, although he didn't like the other person's profession very much, he still had to reply in an arrogant manner: "It's okay, I'm just a little sick." Then he immediately changed the topic: "By the way, you guys
How was the voyage? It looks like it must have gone well."
"Speaking of which, I really thank God. This voyage was particularly smooth for us. Not only was there no storm at all along the way, but only a dozen black slaves died. If this happened every time, then I would really be rich.
." Although Tangning's argument that "only a dozen or so people died" sounds a bit ridiculous, he also knew that this was a fact.
Because the death rate during the voyage of the slave trade, especially the black slave trade, was quite high, the Atlantic route transporting black slaves was a death line. From West Africa to the Americas, black slaves had to endure six to ten weeks of hardship. First of all,
Slave ships were often overloaded. You can often see records in books that a 90-ton ship carried 390 slaves, or a 100-ton ship carried 414 slaves.
The space allocated to each slave on the ship was only 5.5 feet long and 16 inches wide. The black slaves were crowded one by one, like books arranged on a bookshelf. Every two black slaves were locked side by side, right leg to left leg, right hand
To the left hand. The place where each black slave lay was smaller than the coffin, and his movements were strictly restricted.
Secondly, black slaves lived in crowded cabins with dirty air, rampant epidemics, poor diet, and insufficient fresh water supply, resulting in frailty and illness. Many slaves were thrown into the sea after contracting infectious diseases and died in the belly of fish. Therefore, like Sheffield
It was said that only a dozen people died on this trip, which was indeed a rare success.
So Tangning smiled and said to Sheffield: "If that's the case, then you must have a lot of good products here, so don't fool me this time with those sickly seedlings that are crooked and cracked."
"It's not like there were epidemic diseases during shipping in the past. There was nothing we could do about it. But this time, don't worry. All the slaves are healthy and strong. Let me tell you, what I caught this time is good.
Damn it, these guys are said to have been warriors in the tribe before, and they are all in good health. I guarantee that you will be satisfied." Sheffield said proudly.
PS: I actually wrote this beginning several years ago, and it’s quite interesting to read it now.