"Tony, have you heard? The chief of Dahomey is coming to New Orleans!" On this day, Maxi came over excitedly and said to Downing.
"I heard that suppliers are visiting big customers. It's a normal operation!" Tang Ning replied casually while drawing.
"Tony, what are you talking about, why can't I understand?" Maxi asked curiously.
Only then did Tangning realize that she had just said the wrong thing, so she changed the subject and said, "What I mean is, if I were an African chief, I would come over curiously to see why someone would spend so much money on something useless.
Slaves! Just like if we didn’t know that there were so many textile factories in Britain, we would definitely be curious about why the British bought so much cotton!” (As mentioned before, for these African tribal chiefs, the role of slaves is very limited,
If there are too many, you can only kill the priest.)
Maybe it was because he went to London and was shocked by the industrialization there, so after Maxi came back from London, he especially liked to brag and describe the big factories in London, so Tangning's words immediately aroused his interest.
I forgot all the questions I had just now and continued to talk: "Tony, what you said makes sense. If I hadn't gone to London in person, I would be very curious as to why the British bought so much cotton...
..”
While Tangning was praising Mark with "Yeah, this is a hey, hey, hey," she was thinking about whether she should meet this chief. It is said that after the British banned the slave trade, the African chiefs were the ones who opposed the most fiercely...
...
It's a pity that Tangning can only think about this idea. Although according to his understanding, it is natural to have a good relationship with suppliers, slave owners in New Orleans and even the entire United States look down on African chiefs.
It seemed that this was no different from a large black slave and was not worthy of being treated as a guest, so if Tangning didn't want to appear too different, she didn't dare to act rashly.
"Tony, let me tell you that you should really find a chance to go to London. Um, no, you are so good at painting, so you should go to Paris. There are all painters there, but you don't seem to know French. What should I do?
"
Seeing Maxi's troubled face, Tangning laughed and said, "Don't worry, I will definitely go to Europe to have a good time."
In fact, Tang Ning's words were not deceiving Maxi, because his plan B was to hide in Europe during the Civil War. After all, there were wars in the south, and in the north, he, a southerner, would probably encounter someone when he went to New York during the Civil War.
There is a lot of discrimination, so it is more appropriate to go to Europe.
Then he added: "As for French, don't worry about it. It's not easy to find someone who can speak French in New Orleans!"
The reason why Downing said this is because there are so many people who speak French in New Orleans. The origin of the state name "Louisiana" is to commemorate the French King Louis XIV. The name of the city "New Orleans" also comes from
It is located in the "City of Orleans" in France, and most of the most distinctive buildings in New Orleans are in the French Quarter. Although it has suffered two fires, the strong French style can still be seen in the French Quarter until now, so in such a French culture
It’s really easy to find someone who can speak French in a city with a strong cultural atmosphere!
What surprised Tangning was that after Maxi left, the black slave supervisor Agubin suddenly came over and begged Tangning: "Master, I want to ask you something!"
"What's the matter? Tell me!" Tang Ning replied casually.
"I heard that our chief came to New Orleans and I wanted to see him!" Agubin explained.
Although Agubin's request was reasonable, Tangning clearly had a wrong idea. He looked nervous and asked, "Oscar, are you trying to get revenge on him?"
"Revenge? Revenge for what?" Agubin asked in confusion.
"Because he sold you as a slave to New Orleans, so you hate him and want to kill him!" Tangning replied matter-of-factly.
Agubin replied dumbfounded: "Master, you have misunderstood. I want to thank the Chief. If he hadn't sold me to New Orleans, how would I have had the opportunity to live such a good life now!"
Tangning was stunned when she heard Agubin's explanation, but then she realized that for Agubin, working as a supervisor in his own manor is definitely much better than being in Africa. The food, clothing, and horizons here are much better.
The experiences he experienced were beyond what he could have imagined in Africa.
In fact, at that time, most of the black slaves in management such as housekeepers, overseers, nannies, and coachmen were very supportive of slavery, except for a few particularly inhuman masters. They were even more cruel to ordinary black slaves than white people.
, during the Civil War, many such black people joined the southern army and fought very bravely...
After thinking about this, Tangning agreed: "Okay, you go ahead and come back before the manor closes in the evening. If we didn't chat enough today, we can continue chatting tomorrow!"
"Okay, thank you, master!" Agubin walked out happily.
After Agubin left, Tangning thought for a while, then went upstairs and asked Isabel and Caroline: "Will you thank the chief who sold you to New Orleans?"
Isabel shook her head without hesitation and replied: "No, because it was not the chief who sold us here!"
This nonsensical answer made Tangning not know how to answer. Fortunately, at this time, Caroline replied seriously: "If I had known beforehand that I would live a good life with you, Master, then I would definitely be grateful to Abu."
Bakar, but I guess he didn’t think so, so I don’t thank him at all.”
"Who is this Abubakar? Is he your chief?" Tangning asked curiously.
Caroline shook her head and replied: "No, how should I put it? He is a small businessman who is responsible for collecting female slaves like us and then selling them to big businessmen like Mr. Sheffield!"
"I see, another layer of middlemen!" Tang Ning suddenly realized.
"Middleman, master, your word is very accurate!" Isabel praised.
While the two were chatting, the butler suddenly came in and reported: "Master, a gentleman named Yule claims to be your uncle and wants to see you!"
"My uncle Jules?" Tangning muttered to himself in surprise, but then he realized that this had nothing to do with Maupassant's novel. He did have a distant relative named Jules...
.
PS: Thanks to the book friend "Seals Belong to Yes" for their strong support. Also, I would like to say that I was really tired today. I got in the car at 11:30, didn't eat lunch, and went straight to work. I was busy until nearly six o'clock...