My British Empire

Chapter 388: robbery

??Chapter 388 Tribulation a Wave

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??After untold hardships, Hawkins finally led the entire fleet to the small Spanish island——Hispaniola. Another common name is Haiti and the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean Islands of North America.

??Of course, Little Spain Island is not its official name, it was named by the Spaniards—Santo Domingo.

?? It's just that Hispaniola is bordered by Haiti to the west and the Dominican Republic to the east.

Haiti was originally inhabited by the Arawak Indian tribe. When Hispaniola Island was discovered, there were about 1 million Indians living on the island, mainly Taino people, and a little Sivone lived in the northwest of the island. people.

??At that time, there were already five native Indian regimes on the island. They lived in large densely populated villages, captured birds, fish, rodents, and cultivated the land. The Indians of Hispaniola used stone axes to cultivate and cultivated with wooden shovels. Their main food was cassava and sweet potatoes.

??In 1492, during the first voyage of the great navigator Columbus, because his flagship ran aground and could not bring the crew of the other two ships back to Spain, the Navidade Castle was established near today's Cap Haitien.

??When Columbus returned here in 1493, he found that no one in the fort survived.

??He then established the Isabella Colony on the north coast of Hispaniola, and the colonization of the island began.

??In 1502, Hispaniola officially became a Spanish colony, and the military resistance of the Indians on the island was crushed. In the 16th century, the Spaniards had established 15 cities on the island.

??In addition, the Spanish officers and soldiers all got the land on the island and turned the Indians living on these lands into slaves for mining gold, growing sugar cane and raising cattle.

??Due to the impact of smallpox, the Arawaks disappeared on the island in 1544, so the western part of Haiti Island was abandoned by the Spaniards. It became a stronghold for immigrants and fishermen from other countries, and also became a paradise for pirates and smugglers.

??The black slave trade has always been monopolized by the Spaniards, so Hawkins' pedestrians, in a sense, are smugglers.

??So, he was in the early morning, around five o'clock, and there was a thin mist in the sky, making it difficult to see clearly.

??However, Hawkins still took his three boats and quietly parked on a simple pier. There were already several boats docked near the berth, but they were all small boats.

?? Seeing these small boats, Hawkins frowned. Although he had enough personnel, these boats were not a big problem.

?? Afterwards, the fog gradually dispersed, and the entire small pier was clearly presented in front of his eyes.

??Five middle-aged men in clothes and leather shoes waited anxiously. Dozens of guards followed them, and they also followed their masters, looking anxious.

??Looking carefully, he knew the bald man in the middle, this is the plantation owner he met last time through his relationship, and he introduced the other four plantation owners.

??His arrival was obviously also seen by these plantation owners, and their faces were overjoyed.

?? "Oh! Dear Mr. Hawkins, I have been waiting so hard for you!"

??When John Hawkins got off the boat, the bald man greeted him and gave him a big hug.

?? This made Hawkins, who has a reserved character unique to England, a little unaccustomed, but for the sake of gold coins, he had to endure it.

?? "Hello, Mr. Francois, and gentlemen!" Hawkins gave a gentleman's salute after leaving his arms, and then pointed to the three ships behind him and said:

?? "The **** you want has arrived!"

?? Immediately, Hawkins clapped his palms, and the sailors who had already prepared on the ship quickly escorted the naked black slaves down one by one.

??Walking at sea for more than a week, these people were locked in a narrow space, and their daily food was nothing more than some leftover and wormy bread of some sailors.

??All of them were so hungry that they were weak all over, their eyes were dull, and they were a little floating when they walked.

??In order to prevent infectious diseases, Hawkins listened to Domingo's advice, let these black slaves be naked, and washed them with sea water several times vigorously, and then he was relieved.

??The black slaves were strung together with ropes and pulled off the ship by the sailors.

?? And Hawkins communicated and chatted with these plantation owners.

??The guards brought by the plantation owners opened the mouths of the blacks from time to time, as if they were looking at animals, to look at their teeth, pat their arms and thighs, and check their physical condition.

??Some pinched the black woman's breasts, looking serious, as if checking the production conditions of women.

??Hawkins was doing this kind of black slave business for the first time. Seeing this from the corner of his eye, he was still a little uncomfortable for a while, and felt a little nervous.

?? After all, treating humans as livestock is a bit of a challenge to the nerves.

?? After getting used to it for a while, Hawkins felt a lot better when he thought about the gold coins he was about to get.

"Mr. Hawkins, you have a total of one thousand one hundred and sixteen black slaves. I want two hundred males and one hundred females. The male price is five pounds, the females are three pounds, and the children are two pounds. So here Thirteen hundred pounds is yours!"

?? "I want one hundred!" "I want three hundred!"…

??After receiving feedback from their subordinates, the five plantation owners quickly bid and brought out boxes of gold coins.

??So, at this moment, more than a thousand black slaves were sold out, and Hawkins made a profit of 3,800 pounds, which was his profit for this month.

??After making an appointment with these planters, Hawkins sailed the empty boat to Santo Domingo, the central city of Little Spain Island.

??Because Spain and England signed an agreement, the English were allowed to go to Spain and the colonies to do business.

??So, Hawkins bought a lot of ginger, sugar, and tobacco with slave money, and prepared to bring them to England for sale.

?? In this way, with a full load of harvest, Hawkins and others returned to England.

?? On the way back, the wind went smoothly all the way, until they were more than a hundred miles away from England, a merchant ship suddenly appeared in front of them, flying the flag of Portugal.

?? Hawkins quickly looked through the binoculars, and saw the armed merchant ship with a heavy draft and a size of about 150 tons.

?? "It's such a big fat sheep, I didn't expect that it will make a lot of money when it's almost home!"

??Hawkins stared wide-eyed, wiped the saliva from the corner of his mouth, and muttered softly.

?? "Boss, let's do this vote! This will make us eat inflation!"

??The first officer on the side came over, like him, watching the gradually accelerating merchant ship ahead, swallowing his saliva, and kept talking.

?? "Okay, it's done!" Hawkins waved his fist and shouted excitedly, and then there were cheers on the ship.

??(end of this chapter)