"That's how the plantation ......"

Standing on a high watchtower, little Pierce let out a long sigh with his big curious eyes.

They are in all the plantation villages of Drake Manor.

The village is adjacent to agricultural land, consisting of a sunny hillside and a large flat area connected to it, with a total area of more than 300 acres, which is inhabited by 22 black slaves, 3 Indian administrators, and about 20 hired farmers of all colors.

These people and things are Lorraine's assets.

Speaking of which, Lorraine and his party had visited the plantation town in Bahibba, and Clen and Pierce had also stayed near the plantation for a short time in the Mississippi Delta, but it was the first time they had actually seen the plantation in person for this group of people from Europe who had little knowledge.

The scene here is very different from the farmsteads of Europe.

In Europe, most of the farmers' houses are built on the edge of the farmland, and there are auxiliary buildings such as warehouses and barns on the left, and there are poultry and livestock raised in front of the house and behind the house.

None of this can be seen on the plantation.

In order to conserve as much land as possible, the plantation labor was concentrated in fences and barbed wire, and the living conditions were small and cramped.

Moreover, slaves were not allowed to own private property, so poultry and livestock had to be kept uniformly.

In addition to the farm, Lorraine also has a small pasture, built in a corner of the manor, which is connected to the pasture in front of the villa, and produces enough to meet the demand for eggs and meat in the estate.

Plantations do not have such a demand.

The staple food of the slaves and hired farmers was black bread baked from a mixture of wheat bran and wood chips, and the meal of the Indian administrators was relatively elaborate, but it was not supplied to the villages, but was delivered daily by special people from the estates.

The combination of heavy work, harsh conditions, and coarse food creates black people who work in the fields, often skinny, with slender limbs, cloudy eyes, and lifeless.

This brought a huge psychological impact to Lorraine and his party.

They've seen a lot of black people.

Blacks in Europe were mostly used as slaves, such as Friday when Lorraine was a fledgling, or Arle, who was hanged on Kent Manor, although they could not control their own lives, but at least they did not appear to be excessively deprived of food, clothing, and shelter.

The health of those blacks represents the wealth of their masters, even for the sake of their own face, and the masters do not allow them to be weakened and not ghosts.

The other type of black people are the freedmen of New Orleans, who run for a living, work hard for life, a few get ahead, and the majority struggle at the bottom of society, the scene is rarely different from Lorraine's impression of later generations, and the spirit in people's eyes is almost identical.

However, the black in front of him is the true appearance of the black slaves of this era, like the walking dead, like skeleton zombies, just one glance, people can no longer have the desire to see a second look.

Sighing, Lorraine left Pierce, who was excitedly asking questions, and walked down the tower alone.

He was strolling through the small, humble plantation village when he heard footsteps behind him.

Miss Aoiffe caught up and stretched out her arms in front of Lorraine: "Master, you don't plan to break the slave contract with the black slaves, do you?" ”

Lorraine was stunned for a while: "Do you think I look crazy?" ”

"I think you feel like you're moved by compassion."

"Aoife, you are indeed a competent butler." Lorraine shook his head and laughed, "Don't worry, I'm not a saint, and I never had the idea of emancipating black slaves from beginning to end." I knew it was going to make me a target. ”

"It's good that you know that." Miss Orfe let out a long sigh of relief.

Lorraine picked a chair and sat down with interest: "Speaking of which, why do you think that I want to emancipate the black slaves?" ”8090

"Because you've got blacks on your ship, Ms. Yesla, and it looks like you're on top of that."

"It's because Henna ......," Lorraine could only laugh and cry, "and you need to add to your knowledge of history and geography." Henna is an Egyptian, ethnically originating from Arabia, related to the Moors, and not a race with African slaves. ”

"Isn't it?"

"Although they have a darker complexion, they can't be confused with blacks. If anything, they have to count as brown people. ”

"I see...... Miss Orphee let go of her worries and bowed deeply to Lorraine, "now that the misunderstanding has been resolved, I have to go back and explain the history of the plantation to Mr. Artis, and I have prepared for the night." So, goodbye. ”

"Goodbye."

Miss Aufe vanished at the end of the road until she was no longer to be seen, and a shadow fell silently over Lorraine behind her.

"Henna?"

"It's me." Henna stepped forward and stood against Lorraine, "You are not a soft-hearted person, how can you react so much to black slaves?" ”

"How so?" Lorraine scratched her hair in embarrassment, "You know what we're up for, right? ”

"The main job is business, and the part-time job is robbery." Henna thought for a moment, "Smuggling is very lucrative, and if it goes well, the proportion of illegal business will rise." ”

"I'm a serious privateer, what do you think I'm like......" Lorraine shifted her ass to the side to make room for Henna, "Like you said, we're merchants, maritime merchants, and more generally, transporters." ”

"We don't produce goods, but we rely on producers, including these plantation owners, and the more prosperous mill owners."

"Commodities are everything." He drew a large circle in the void, cut it in half, and set it aside, "At this stage, cane sugar, tobacco, indigo, coffee, these rough products are more profitable, so we are also more dependent on the plantation owner. ”

"But you also see those black slaves today. Do you think you can afford to continue to expand the plantation's production capacity with such labor? ”

Henna tilted her head and thought for a long time: "You can catch more." ”

"The blacks in Africa will be scratched out. While I was in Kingston, I spoke with Lieutenant Colonel Nelson and heard that there were about 200 British-flagged slave ships at sea, which could carry 50,000 slaves to the New World every three months. France was slightly less than England, thirty thousand, Portugal third, ten thousand, plus other bits and pieces of small trafficking, nearly half a million black slaves were sent to the New World each year. ”

"So much?"

"500,000 people a year, 20 years is the population of Great Britain, can Africa produce so many people? More importantly, how many will die each year, depending on how much the plantation is depleted? ”

"Labor Value!" Lorraine crossed his ten fingers together and covered his mouth, as if to deceive the gods in the sky so that they did not know who the next words came from, "Black slaves need more security, and other labor forces also need to, not for the sake of hypocritical fairness and justice, human rights and civilization, but to better squeeze out the value of their labor power." ”

"Slave owners cannot do this, so they will inevitably lose to the capitalists, and the owners of the manors will inevitably lose to the workshop owners, which is a historical necessity."

Henna looked at Lorraine quietly, and suddenly reached out and grabbed him: "What are you going to do?" ”

"In addition to being more clear about the future business direction of the Chamber of Commerce, I don't plan to do anything for the time being. Children should not think about the world of adults, and the weak do not need to worry about the order of the world. ”

"And what about after that?"

"Later? Who knows what the world will come to come? Lorraine smiled and looked up, just in time to see the starless slaves and hired peasants dragging their tired bodies back to the village under the escort of the steward.

A white figure stood out in the crowd, and Lorraine rubbed her eyes several times before she cried out in disbelief.

"Judea-san?"

"Drake......" Bell stood on the spot, his lips trembling, his eyes teary, "Lorraine, I've found you!" ”