I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1091 The Heart of the Caribbean - Santo Domingo

1796 4 Month 4 Day.

The southern part of Andros Island, the largest island in the Bahamas.

Maspoont Harbour was packed with people. The groans of the wounded could be heard everywhere. The babies in their mothers' arms looked numb, neither crying nor laughing.

These people came here to escape Aron's cruel rule, simply because they heard there would be a boat to take them away.

However, at this moment, the five or six hundred people on the shore stared longingly at the surging sea, but there was no sign of any ships.

With light brown skin, slightly curly hair, and a height of 1.9 meters, Mike Grant frowned as he looked behind him. No one knew when Aaron's "Royal Guard" would catch up.

At that time, these fugitives would be executed immediately—without any trial.

He suppressed his anxiety and comforted his wife, saying, "Julie, the boat will be here soon. That's how the Dunn family escaped to Santo Domingo."

He picked up his son and continued, "I heard that they really need people who know how to grow sugarcane over there. Especially mixed-race people like us, who can even run for office."

The black man next to him glanced at him and whispered, "Actually, black people can too, sir. The vice-president of Santo Domingo is black."

Just then, cheers erupted from the crowd: "Look, it's a ship!"

"God, a ship really came to pick us up."

"Great, we're saved now!"

About 20 minutes later, a gray-black two-masted sailing ship slowly entered the rudimentary harbor—Muspoint Harbor had been burned down by Aron and had only recently been able to be used as a docking point thanks to the repairs made by countless refugees.

Soon, a gangplank was extended from the ship, and more than a dozen sailors jumped onto the dock.

Grant quickly grabbed his wife and rushed forward. The surrounding Black people immediately and instinctively made way for them.

However, when Grant saw the captain's face clearly, he immediately stopped and turned to shout to the crowd, "Run! It's pirates!"

He recognized the captain—Sean Grant—his distant cousin, who had joined the pirates eight years earlier. His name had been on the British government's wanted list.

Seeing this, Sean Grant hurriedly pulled out a piece of paper, unfolded it, and shouted, "I was sent by the Santo Domingo Council! This is the employment document. I will get you out of here!"

Half an hour later, Grant looked at his cousin with surprise in the foul-smelling captain's cabin and asked, "When did you stop doing that kind of work?"

“Ah, last month,” Sean said. “The Santo Domingo Council was recruiting ships everywhere. They were offering 400 francs per ship for transporting people from the Caribbean to Port-au-Prince, plus political asylum from the Council.”

Mike Grant hesitated for a moment and said, “That doesn’t sound like much. Pirates… ah, I mean, free captains should be able to acquire a lot of treasure very easily.”

“Nonsense!” Sean handed him a glass of sour wine. “The British, French, and Spanish fleets are all hunting us down. We can’t do more than a few deals a year.”

"In the fall, we even go to Jamaica to harvest sugarcane and earn money for food."

"Don't talk about me. What have you been doing all these years? I can tell you already have kids."

“I’ve saved up some money and become a partner at Tompkins Plantation.” Mike Grant took a sip of wine, the rancid taste of which almost made him vomit. “Ugh—this is really good wine.”

"Yes, at our best, we could produce more than 90 dan (a unit of weight) a year and make some money."

"Later, the uprising to free the slaves broke out, and the plantations were destroyed, but still produced about half of their original yield."

"But soon Corey Aaron declared himself king and began killing people everywhere. I heard that the British supported him in order to take revenge on black people."

“Yes, it was the British who did it.” Sean downed more than half a glass in one gulp, as if it were really good wine. “People in Santo Domingo are talking about it in the streets. The British gave Aaron a gun, and the same thing happened in Jamaica, Saint Vincent, and other places. The British plan to kill all the blacks involved in the riots.”

He suddenly remembered something and stared at Mike, saying, "By the way, you said you have a sugarcane plantation?" "It's not just mine, we have four partners."

"It doesn't matter. So, you're really good at growing sugarcane?"

"Ah, more or less, that's my job."

Sean's eyes lit up: "If I give you 30 black slaves... cough, I mean black people, can you manage 60 acres of sugarcane plantation?"

“It’s not difficult. The Tompkins Plantation is 18 acres, or 110 mu, and I manage more than half of it.”

“Great!” Sean exclaimed excitedly. “Let’s work together. I’ll sell this wrecked ship and buy a piece of land in Santo Domingo to grow sugarcane.”

"Do you know how cheap sugarcane fields are there? You can buy 60 acres of land for 200 francs."

"And now, 1 pound of sugar can sell for 2 francs and 3 sous!"
“Santo Domingo is now full of black refugees. Just give them some food, and you hardly have to pay them wages.”

“I’ve calculated that if the harvest is good, a 60-mu sugarcane plantation can earn more than 4000 francs a year.”

Mike Grant also became interested: "The profits are good. But I'm worried that if there are more plantations over there, sugar merchants will drive down prices."

"Don't worry, the Santo Domingo Council has a government caravan that announces the purchase price at the beginning of each year, and it won't change within a year."

“Then we can definitely buy more land, like 100 mu. I also have some savings.”

"Can you manage it?"

"Of course!"

A week later, Sean's ship docked in Port-au-Prince.

He mortgaged the boat to a local bank and quickly received a sum of money.

However, when he and Mike went to the land market, they were stunned.

There were at least three or four hundred people gathered here, shouts in French, English and Spanish filled the air, and the land for sale notice board in front of them was nowhere to be seen.

It was only after most of the day that Mike Grant learned from conversations around him that, due to the political turmoil in the Caribbean countries, almost everyone had fled to Santo Domingo, the last paradise.

In recent months, the population here has increased by hundreds of thousands.

Of course, this was all thanks to Joseph hiring a large number of French and Spanish merchant ships to transport people from various islands to Santo Domingo. Even the French Atlantic Fleet joined the ferry service.

At the same time, the French government also allocated millions of francs to provide shelter for these refugees, as well as half a month's worth of free food rations.

It should be noted that most of those who managed to escape were strong and able-bodied men, which nearly doubled Santo Domingo's labor force.

Santo Domingo has plenty of land, but what it has always lacked is people.

This is also why plantation owners were willing to spend huge sums of money to buy black slaves back then.

Now, all the able-bodied men have come to Santo Domingo for free.

The Saint-Domingo council was also very cooperative—because of the fervor of the converts, the entire government was so law-abiding that it was more obedient than even the French provinces themselves—and introduced a series of policies to expand sugarcane cultivation.

In addition, Joseph also brought in 800 French troops and more than 3 flintlock muskets to ensure political stability in Santo Domingo.

(End of this chapter)