The fleet is temporarily staying on Sao Tome, which has been a long time since they sailed along the coast of West Africa.

"The relationship between our two countries is not so harmonious. You have brought strange Chinese people, so it's better to be more at ease. Recently, a batch of 'goods' is about to be shipped to Rio. We don't want anything wrong." The Governor of Sao Tome reminded the British again and asked them to tell Li Jinde and the others.

The target of Li Jinde, Sun Xu and others was not Sao Tome Island, but the British Isles and the European continent. They just regarded this place as a temporary destination with exotic style and were quite curious about it.

"My goodness, they actually asked so many indigenous people to help them work. The crops they planted seemed to be sugarcane? Such yields can be said to be very terrible." The Chinese merchants who were temporarily settled were unable to rest. They ignored the warning of the Governor of Sao Tome and observed the Portuguese plantation to find out what the Portuguese operates on this island.

"Somewhat similar to Manila ruled by the Spanish, Manila also has many plantations." Sun Xu, who once served in the Nanyang Fleet, is no stranger to the plantation economy of European colonists.

The Spice Islands have tropical plantations set up by European colonists, which also drive local indigenous people to plant cash crops for them, and they can draw a lot of rewards without paying much.

"You're guessing it is good. This was once the largest sucrose supply in Europe, providing a huge amount of wealth for the Portuguese. At its peak, they had 100,000 slaves planted sucrose, which was the Portuguese base in West Africa." Earl of Compton came over and was also observing the Portuguese's huge plantation with the entire island as the main body.

In an era of such dispersed productivity, if we look at it from the moral level, centralized management of plantations can be said to be a special case.

"Can't this place be no longer the largest sucrose supply place?" Li Jinde could hear what Earl of Compton meant.

"Later, after the West Indies and South America were developed, there were wider plantations there, and the Portuguese and Sao Tome could no longer monopolize the sucrose trade. Thanks to the competition, the price of sucrose has dropped. Moreover, the Portuguese moved their base in West Africa to the Congo River and directly plundered gold and population on the mainland... Despite this, Sao Tome is also an important sucrose production site for them." Earl of Compton said.

"So there is such a story behind it. Is it unethical to just enslave these people at will?" Li Jinde said.

"Mr. Li, before our civilization arrived, they were still a stone society that ate raw meat and drank blood. For our advanced civilization, they were not much different from animals. Only our east and west can be considered civilizations, and other places were barbarians. Don't think that only the Portuguese captured slaves here, as well as the Spanish, Britons, French, Ottomans, and Egyptians. The Ottomans were even more abominable. They also set up a pirate governor to attack our European ships and sell the captured crew as slaves."

"Also don't think that their indigenous kingdoms will be much better. Wars will break out between the indigenous kingdoms on the African continent, prisoners will be killed and sacrificed or acted as slaves, and some indigenous kingdoms will sell the prisoners to us." Earl of Compton explained to Li Jinde and others the cruel rules of the game here, which surprised Li Jinde and others who were educated in Confucianism since childhood. They have seen slaves who sold themselves as slaves, and also knew that the prisoners captured in the war in the East would also become slaves, but it was shocked for such a large-scale trade specifically for the purpose of capturing slaves.

When Li Jinde heard the theory of Earl of Compton, he felt that it seemed something was wrong, but he didn't know how to refute it, and just thought it was something that Westerners were used to.

While they were wandering around the Portuguese plantation, a group of slaves were driven onto a sailboat by the colonists. The slaves were handcuffed and numerous, but they did not dare to resist more when facing the Portuguese soldiers who were holding a medley gun and urged them to board the boat.

Li Jinde roughly counted the number of people boarding the ship in his heart and found that a sailboat worth only 100 tons was actually carrying more than 400 slaves!

You should know that the Victory, which has a capacity of more than 2,000 tons, only has more than 800 crew members. A 100-ton sailboat can carry dozens of people to have enough space and food, while 400 slaves seem very crowded. It is conceivable how many people will die during the voyage of such a crowded ship.

"These people were transported to plantations in America to serve as laborers." Earl of Compton didn't say anything more.

It is not a glorious thing for them. If it weren't for Li Jinde and his partner, they might also be involved in the slave trade here, he might not have explained patiently. After all, the slave trade is like a privateer who is a tacitly acquiesced on the sea, and it is a dark side that European countries have agreed upon.

"It is really unsettling for us merchants to make such conscience. I think this kind of trade can last for a while, but it is not a good idea after all. We should take the right path." Several Chinese merchants who arrived in Sao Tome whispered privately, not very interested in the slave trade.

Perhaps at this time, European countries were not strong enough to require bloody capital accumulation and profit from slave trafficking, but it seemed that it was not necessary for China, which was strong and did not lack population. The popularity of steam engines even endangered the employment of local handicraftsmen and farmers in China... If necessary, it was a tropical plantation.

What's more, in the traditional society, engaging in this kind of business will make the face-conscious Chinese businessmen feel embarrassed, and they can engage in decent trade such as silk tea and spice industrial products.

Everyone stayed on Sao Tome Island for two days. They just went ashore for a short stay and supplies. On the third day, they left Sao Tome Island, which was occupied by the Portuguese, and then continued to sail north along the coast of the West African continent. Along the way, they saw several strongholds set up by Westerners, basically engaging in the same activities as Sao Tome Island.
Chapter completed!