Intimidation

In May 1801, after a series of battles, the Free Trade finally returned to mainland France. Accompanying the Free Trade was Jean- Jacques de Dessalines, the representative of the Governor-General of Saint-Domingue -Domingue, Toussaint Louverture. He was to travel to Paris to first meet with Ministry of Truth Lucien, then Minister of Foreign Minister Talleyrand, and, when the time was right, to meet with First Consul Napoleon.

Jean- Jacques Dessalines was originally a plantation slave with little formal education, but he was very intelligent. He distinguished himself during the slave revolt in Saint-Domingue and gradually became one of Toussaint Louverture's most capable generals. In the original historical account, after the France expeditionary force used negotiations as a pretext to capture Toussaint Louverture, it was Dessalines who continued to lead the rebellion, fighting against the France and ultimately driving the France out of Saint-Domingue, establishing the world's first independent black republic. Dessalines became the first president of this black republic and later proclaimed himself emperor of Haiti.

However, the Haiti emperor did not have a good ending. After Haiti gained independence, in order to solve the land problem, he adopted the most direct and decisive method—killing all the white people and then distributing all the land to his supporters.

However, after Haiti's independence and this subsequent move, Haiti's trade routes were almost completely severed. Even the Britain, who had always supported it, although not officially imposing a trade embargo, effectively withdrew from Haiti's trade network. The newly formed Haiti was a Haiti that could only grow cash crops and could not even achieve food self-sufficiency. At this point, they could only rely on smuggling, exchanging coffee and sugar for food from smugglers at prices far below the international market price.

Famine began to spread in Haiti, forcing many "free blacks" to flee the world's only "free nation" inhabited by blacks. To protect the interests of his supporters, increase agricultural production, and maintain the state, Dessalines re-established the plantation system, using harsh measures to bind laborers to their contracted lands and punishing those who escaped or harbored escapees. In other words, he turned a large number of free blacks back into serfs, while some blacks who followed him replaced the former white slave owners.

Such reactionary measures naturally aroused widespread opposition from the people, and in a rebellion, Dessalines was assassinated. Haiti subsequently descended into division and civil war...

Along with the "Free Trade, a group of white people arrived in France, in addition to representatives of Black people. However, they were not representatives of anyone, but prisoners.

These men were plantation owners, or rather, slave owners, in Santo Saint-Domingue. Governor Toussaint Louverture fabricated pretexts to accuse them of conspiring with the exiled nobles to overthrow the Republic.

These accusations are, of course, pure slander, but if we were to say that these people had close ties with the nobles back then, it wouldn't be a problem to find something. In fact, if needed, evidence wouldn't be a problem either. Both the Ministry of Truth and the Ministry of Police have ways to produce seemingly irrefutable and irrefutable evidence.

In recent years, the axe of dictatorship has temporarily sheathed its edge, and many people have begun to forget its existence. But it has not disappeared as people feel. With the arrival of peaceful times, it has quietly hidden in some dark corner, like a knife being sheathed in a gorgeous scabbard. People often only see the various beautiful patterns on the scabbard, but forget the sharp knife hidden inside.

Over the years, the power of dictatorship has not weakened; in fact, it has become even more refined than in Robespierre's time. In Robespierre's era, the Committee of General Security was merely a large stick—powerful, but requiring immense effort to wield and completely incapable of performing any delicate tasks. But today's dictatorship has evolved into a sophisticated scalpel, capable of greater precision and causing less collateral damage.

For example, creating "ironclad evidence" was something that Robespierre's Committee of General Security couldn't have done with such high technology in the past.

However, France will most likely not immediately sentence the "suspects" sent to them, but will instead place them under house arrest and investigate them slowly, while reserving a reason to turn against Toussaint Louverture later.

Dessalines landed, but the France government did not immediately arrange for him to go to Paris. Instead, officials from the France Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Trade took him to inspect France agricultural and industrial production.

Dessalines knew that the France meant to demonstrate their power to him. In the France view, Saint-Domingue was incapable of achieving food self-sufficiency under any circumstances, so even if it became independent, it would still have to depend on some powerful force. The France were demonstrating their power to make him understand that if he was going to find a father figure, then he should find the strongest one who was also the one most willing to treat him well.

For example, they are now taking Dessalines to visit the wheat-producing areas along the Seine River. In May, the winter wheat is entering the grain-filling stage, which is when it needs water. However, the Seine River area has encountered drought this year. Fortunately, the area now has well-developed irrigation facilities, so wheat production has not been significantly affected.

Dessalines had farmed before, but he had never grown wheat, so he didn't really know how wheat grew. Even so, the fact that the France could use a machine to easily pump river water to irrigate land far above the river was almost a miracle that deeply shocked Dessalines.

If the France countryside only surprised Dessalines, his subsequent visit to France industry horrified Dessalines. The France led him to an artillery factory, where he witnessed firsthand how large, red-hot steel ingots were squeezed and deformed under the roaring forging presses, like dough; he saw cannon blanks being drilled on drilling machines, sparks flying; and he witnessed cannons being produced one after another in the factory. The sheer power of France deeply shocked this black man from distant Americas.

Although he knew the France were using these things to intimidate him, Dessalines was still frightened by them. He couldn't help but start calculating how many cannons this factory alone could produce in a year, and if he could acquire them in Saint-Domingue...

The idea of letting Dessalines visit France first, and then negotiating with him, actually came from Joseph.

In that previous life, United States often used this tactic against people from less developed countries. Many times, these less developed countries would send someone to United States, intending to learn United States's advanced technology and ideas. However, after spending a considerable amount of foreign exchange and completing their studies, the learners would end up with these two sentences:

"Look at that United States, she's really..."

"United States is! Our country will be eating dirt behind her for a hundred years..."

Furthermore, large numbers of these people have become mouthpieces for United States's thoughts and interests, even uttering such self- United States and incompetent laments:

"This loess soil alone can no longer nurture a new culture," and "This yellowish-brown land cannot teach us what true scientific spirit is."

And further, they concluded that "we must embrace blue civilization," a complete surrender.

Of course, the approach United States, also carries risks. Back then, when Emperor Chengzu traveled Qin Shi Huang Wu-Yue, he also wanted to use his power to intimidate those who refused to submit. And his actions did indeed have some effect. However, what distinguishes heroes from ordinary people is that when faced with a huge gap in power, ordinary people would only prostrate themselves in submission, while heroes are inspired with the ambition of "I can replace him" and "A true man should be like this."

What China can be most proud of is that we have never lacked heroes. "Are kings and generals born with a special destiny?"

However, Dessalines was not a hero like Liu Bang or Xiang Yu, so what the France showed him deeply shocked him, which laid a good foundation for France subsequent negotiations.