"Vice Captain Sun, why didn't you rescue those miners after we entered the city just now?" Wang Chenglin asked while walking on the streets of Arequipa.
"Platoon Leader Wang, our main task is to investigate the distribution of military forces in Arequipa. As for other things, we can only do them after completing the task. I hope you can prioritize things and don't ruin the prince's life because of your impulse.
event."
Sun Qisheng stopped and said seriously.
"This is the truth, but I feel unhappy when I see my compatriots being mistreated by Peruvians."
"You have to hold it back for me even if you are not happy, and put the overall situation first in everything." Sun Qi's Holy Instructions scolded.
Wang Chenglin Nono said nothing and turned around a street. Sun Qisheng and a dozen people came to a commercial street in the north of the city. Most of the goods sold on the commercial street were livestock. Large plantation owners in Peru often traded on this street.
Sun Qisheng and the others walked into the commercial street. In addition to seeing the common alpacas (commonly known as *****), they also found more than 300 slaves in the corner, most of whom were Chinese.
In 1854, Peru abolished slavery. At the same time, in order to save production costs, Peru introduced a large number of workers from China to replace the original slave labor.
When Chinese coolies arrive in Peru, their employers will sign an eight-year labor contract with them, which stipulates that they can receive a meager monthly salary (4 pesos per month). It also stipulates that after the eight-year period, the employer has no reason to extend their labor term.
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In fact, due to the meager wages, Chinese coolies usually cannot afford to return home after eight years and have to choose to renew their contract with their employer again, or engage in other low-level labor to make a living.
In the Spanish part of the contract, the Chinese workers were called "Asian settlers." In fact, their employers never treated them as settlers. In the eyes of their employers, the Chinese workers were just coolies or slaves.
This can also be seen from the fact that in contracts, employers are often called "consignor" or "owner".
The labor contract of Chinese coolies and relevant Peruvian laws actually recognize the fact that during the eight-year service period, the coolies are the property of the employer and form part of the fixed assets in the employer's plantation or enterprise.
The overseers who supervised the Chinese coolies were recently emancipated slaves.
In order to control coolies, overseers can directly use the methods used to control slaves, such as whips, sticks, shackles, confinement, and even execution.
On any plantation or mine in Peru, corporal punishment is commonplace.
You can often see headlines such as "Coolies Escape" and "Coolies for Sale" in local newspapers, although according to the law at the time, coolies could not be bought or sold.
"Captain, please save these Chinese brothers. They all have scars on their bodies. If they are bought by other plantation owners, they will definitely not survive."
The Chinese workers on the commercial street are different from those seen before. They all have scars on their bodies, and some even have gunshot wounds.
Wang Chenglin's brother came to South America with him. A year ago, his brother was beaten to death by a Peruvian supervisor. That's why he was so excited when he saw the Chinese workers who suffered the same fate as him. His hatred of white people was also because of his brother's death.
"Captain, to save the Chinese brothers escorted by the middle-aged white men, we need to kill the group of Peruvians, which may alarm the Peruvian army in the city. But now we can buy them and save their lives as long as we pay for them. I hope the captain will consider it."
one time."
Another Chinese soldier beside him said.
Sun Qisheng is a laborer who has suffered just like the soldiers he requested. He can also understand their feelings when they see their compatriots suffering. However, he is the commander of this unit. He needs to look at the problem from a higher perspective, so just now
Resisting Wang Chenglin's impulse to rescue Chinese workers.
The current situation is different from before. In order to cope with the inspection by the Peruvians, Sun Qisheng and others brought a lot of money in advance and prepared to bribe the Peruvians when they needed it.
So Sun Qisheng had enough money to buy them. After thinking about it again and feeling that there was nothing wrong with saving these Chinese workers,
Sun Qisheng said, "I agree to save them, but let Anthony do it. Don't say anything, lest you reveal your flaws."
"Follow your orders, we will definitely pay attention." The soldier next to him whispered.
"Anthony, ask two soldiers to go to the front with you and buy those Chinese back," Sun Qisheng said, handing him a dozen Peruvian banknotes.
"Okay, I'll go now." Anthony understood that Sun Qisheng sent two soldiers to monitor him, so he didn't waste any time, took the money and walked forward.
"Brother Cai, I'm afraid we won't survive long if we fall into the hands of those plantation owners this time."
A Chinese worker tied up with a rope in the fence.
Two months ago, more than two hundred Chinese workers escaped from the mine and were caught by the Peruvian army and thrown into prison.
Then the Chinese Independence Army revolted, and the defenders of Arequipa released them from prison to build fortifications. However, these trafficked Chinese workers were injured during the arrest and could not bear the labor of building fortifications, so they were trafficked by a trafficker.
He colluded with the defenders to buy it and resold it on the commercial street.
"If I hadn't grabbed weapons when I escaped, I would have killed all those damn Peruvian supervisors." The man said with hatred in his eyes.
"These Peruvians don't treat us as human beings. In order to make us work more, they lure us into taking opium. Many brothers died because of taking opium." The man who just started to speak said.
In the plantations in Peru, the Chinese workers got up at 4:30 in the morning to take roll call and began their long work of more than 12 hours a day. They worked seven days a week, and at night, they were locked in dilapidated, dirty, and crude wooden houses.
inside.
Due to heavy fatigue and temptation from plantation owners, some Chinese workers resorted to opium to numb themselves.
The plantation owners seized on the Chinese workers' dependence on opium and used this to threaten the Chinese workers who smoked opium, not completing their daily work tasks and not distributing opium.
Chinese laborers sought to exchange goods in kind for opium, and the crime rate of robbery and murder increased, including suicide. Suicide was also a crime under Spanish law. Of the 1,878 criminal activities registered by Chinese laborers in 1860, 900 were suicides, 203 were robberies, and 210
418 were murders against Chinese, 418 were deliberate murders against whites and blacks, 72 were arson attacks on sugar cane fields or buildings, and 12 were uprisings or collective protests.
On the one hand, plantation owners used opium to prevent large-scale rebellion among the coolies. On the other hand, in addition to hanging themselves, throwing themselves into wells, and jumping into vats of sugar refining, the desperate Chinese workers took opium overdose, which was the most common and the most common.
Simple and easy way to commit suicide.
"I heard that the compatriots outside have launched an uprising and have occupied Moquegua. It's a pity that I can't join them and go into battle to kill the enemy."
The two men who spoke, one named Cai Jiu and the other Chen Luer, are both poor farmers from Guangdong. It has been two years since they were deceived by human traffickers from the Qing Dynasty to Peru. Now they have no hope of going back and just want to return home.
To take revenge by killing Peruvians.
"Brother Cai, you see someone wants to buy us," Chen Luer said curiously.
"Anyone who falls into his hands will die. There is nothing to be alarmed about."
"No, the person who bought us this time is different from others. All he bought are us Chinese, and do you think the two Indians next to him look like Chinese?" Chen Luer pointed at Anthony who had finished the transaction with the trafficker.
road.
Cai Jiu raised his head and looked at Anthony and the other three, and said, "That white man only uses two Chinese as his subordinates, and he may not necessarily be very kind to other Chinese workers."
Cai Jiu thought that the two Chinese people around Anthony were his men, so he disguised himself as Indians in order to avoid inspection by the Peruvian defenders.
A very small number of Chinese in South America also live a good life, but most of these people obtain a relatively better status by helping the Peruvians to oppress other Chinese workers. This can be seen from the Chinese Kapitan in Southeast Asia.
The British colonists appointed some Chinese as Kapitan and used them to monitor and suppress the lower-class Chinese, thereby squeezing the value of the Chinese to the greatest extent.
Anthony completed the transaction formalities with the trafficker, rejected the trafficker's offer to send people to help him escort the Chinese workers, and brought 104 workers to the place where Sun Qisheng and others were staying.
Originally, the money in Anthony's hand could not buy so many Chinese workers, but because these Chinese workers were all injured, the traffickers sold them to Anthony at a price that was one-third cheaper. One hundred and four Chinese workers were not worth buying in the eyes of the Peruvian human traffickers.
For goods that are bought and sold casually, you can buy a Chinese worker for fifty or sixty pesos (the peso is the currency of Peru.) You can even buy the life of a Chinese worker for fifty or sixty pesos. The life of a Chinese worker is so cheap here.
