Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 60 Cuban Port
In the eastern Cuban port city of Boqueron, a group of ragged Chinese workers with dull expressions lined up waiting to board the ship.

Cuba was still a Spanish colony at that time. After the abolition of the slave trade, Spain, like Peru and the United States, recruited Chinese workers from mainland China to replace slaves.
It was not until 1874 that Spain abolished the system of employing Chinese workers under international pressure.

There is a grocery store run by a Chinese near the port. The owner is a Chinese coolie who was freed the year before.

"Boss, another batch of Chinese workers are going to be shipped away." In the grocery store, the clerk who went out to get information reported.

"Which batch is this?"

"The fifth batch. The first four batches of Chinese workers were shipped away three days ago. The two escort warships parked in the port have also left."

"Have all the warships left?" The shopkeeper stopped writing, closed the account book, looked up and asked.

"Both large warships left, along with five merchant ships and two wooden sailing frigates."

The grocery store clerk said.

"The grocery store is closed today. Come with me to the port again." The store owner took the newly bought hat from the wall, closed the door and walked towards the port.

The Port of Boqueron is one of the transit points between North and South America, and many ships for trade are moored in the port.

The grocer and his clerk were paying attention to a row of Peruvian ships carrying Chinese workers in the harbor.

The Peruvian fleet consisted of a total of seven ships, including five medium-sized merchant ships and two small sailing frigates. Five or six cannons could be seen placed on the sides of the frigates.

The Chinese workers in front began to board the ship, and the Spanish tax collectors and Peruvians at the port were chatting and laughing.

"Mr. Sun, isn't Cuba short of labor? Why are they still shipping Chinese workers abroad?" After observing the Peruvian ships at the port, the grocery store owner walked up to a Chinese man and asked politely.

In order to better manage the colonies, Western colonists often promoted some people to serve as colonial officials to assist them in managing the colonial personnel. Sun Liande was one of the people selected to manage the Chinese workers.

"Manager Wang, it was the Governor's idea to send the Chinese workers out. How would I know the reason?" Sun Liande said indifferently.

"Haha, several of my relatives have been taken away on the ship, so I hope Lord Sun will be flexible this time." The grocery store owner said with a smile and secretly stuffed two silver dollars into Sun Liande's hand.

Sun Liande glanced at the silver coins in his hand and found that they were two Spanish silver dollars. He immediately knew what was going on. He put away the silver dollars and said gently, "Don't worry, Shopkeeper Wang. I am also Chinese and will not harm my compatriots."

The grocery store owner's face twitched and a feeling of nausea surged in his heart.

Sun Liande was originally a Chinese worker in Cuba. Later, he was valued by the Spanish colonists for reporting a rebellion of Chinese workers. He was appointed as a minor port tax official to assist the Spanish in collecting taxes.

After Sun Liande gained his freedom, he helped the Spaniards and Qing officials to build bridges and use deceptive means to transport a large number of Chinese people from China to Cuba to work as coolies.

Although he knew that Sun Liande had done many bad things, the grocery store owner still suppressed his hatred and pretended to be respectful to listen to what he said.

"I heard that there is a labor shortage in Peru. In order to develop the land, the Peruvians promised to distribute the newly developed land to those who reclaim the land," Sun Liande said solemnly.

In fact, these Chinese workers were bought by the President of Peru, who was going to collect 30,000 people and hand them over to Li Mingyuan's men. Family disgrace should not be made public, and Peruvian President Pedro did not pass on the news of the Chinese workers' rebellion, but only gave the Spanish colonists a reason to contradict each other. Therefore, Sun Liande did not know the real situation.

Shopkeeper Wang was somewhat disappointed. Recruiting Chinese workers to reclaim the land was almost like a scam. The land in Peru was in the hands of big miners and farmers. Would they allocate the land to foreign Chinese workers?

Shopkeeper Wang did not give up and asked Sun Liande again, but in the end he did not get the information he wanted, so he said goodbye and left. He walked to a secluded beach and imitated the call of a bird. After a while, a small boat came from behind a deserted island.

"Brother Wang, long time no see." A dark-faced man jumped off the boat and bowed to Manager Wang.

"I have urgent business to see General Hou, and I hope Brother Li can hurry on his way." Shopkeeper Wang did not bother to be polite with the dark-skinned man and urged him to start the boat.

The two men were old acquaintances. The dark-skinned man saw that his words were not false, so he immediately helped him onto the boat. Then he called out to the other sailors on the boat, who understood and maneuvered the boat away.

The Caribbean Sea is surrounded by small islands and was an active pirate area before the 20th century.
Although pirates around the Caribbean had been quiet for a while after more than a hundred years of crackdowns by Britain, since Haiti’s blacks defeated the Spanish, French, and British armies and gained independence in 1794, Caribbean pirates have become active again.
The pirates obtained daily necessities by trading with Haitian blacks, and many pirates were directly Haitians. Haitians were farmers on weekdays, but when they saw there was money to be made, they put down their farm tools and turned into pirates.

The boat carrying Manager Wang and the dark-skinned man left the coast of Cuba and entered the central Caribbean Sea.

The small boat that Manager Wang was sitting in was about ten meters long and three meters wide, and there were a total of fifteen people on the boat.

Such a small boat seems insignificant compared to the merchant ships that are tens or hundreds of meters long in the sea, but thanks to the triangular sail on board, the small boat can run faster than the merchant ship in a favorable wind.

The boat sailed through the busy waters of the Caribbean Sea towards a remote area.

"Brother Li, there are people blocking the way ahead." The boat was moving forward when suddenly two small boats appeared not far away, appearing and disappearing in the waves, as if the boat would be destroyed and people would die if they were not careful.

"Don't be nervous, we've met people of the same trade." The dark-skinned man did not move, and when the two boats came by, he raised a flag with a dragon head painted on it and waved it left and right. After the black man on the opposite boat saw it clearly, he mumbled a few words, then made way for them and let them go.

The dark-skinned man belonged to a nearby pirate group. The dragon head flag was their symbol, so the pirates on the opposite side quickly let him go after seeing the flag.

"Brother Li, these black people are really brave to go out to sea with just a small broken boat." Shopkeeper Wang chatted with the dark-skinned man while they were still some distance away from their destination.

"Who said it wasn't? Our boat is ten meters long and it's too small, but look at them. They simply hollowed out a big tree to make a canoe and dared to go to the sea. Their courage is really admirable." The dark man joked.

"They are just a bunch of uncivilized natives. Even if you give them a large amount of good wood, they can't build a big ship." Shopkeeper Wang said contemptuously.

What Manager Wang said was the truth. After the Haitian blacks occupied Haiti, they massacred all the white people on the island, and even killed most of the black and white mixed-race people. Without the technical support of the whites and mixed-race people, the blacks made the island of Haiti a mess. Millions of blacks could not even build a large ship, and could only survive by looting passing merchant ships. What they did was even more arrogant than the Somali pirates in later generations.

"Haha, Brother Wang is right. How can a bunch of barbarians compare to us?" The dark-skinned man laughed. The other sailors also laughed.

Listening to the laughter of the sailors on the ship, Manager Wang suddenly felt lost. The black people who were laughed at by his own people were able to defeat the French, Spanish and British armies in succession and gain independence.

What about the Chinese workers who are the subjects of the Celestial Empire? I just saw them being bought and sold like livestock.

Thinking of the miserable plight of overseas Chinese workers, Shopkeeper Wang fell silent and did not speak a word along the way.

(End of this chapter)