The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 288 Panama

Zhu Jianxuan gave the overall work instructions, and Duan Yucai, Liu Quanzhi and Li Baozhu immediately said goodbye and left Zhu Jianxuan's office.

In addition, they found a conference room in the cabinet and the three of them gathered for a high-level meeting to discuss the project and the company's overall plan.

Li Baozhu is a craftsman in water conservancy engineering. As the company's chief engineer, he is mainly concerned with technical issues.

Li Baozhu is the one who makes requests in this small team.

It requires people, money, and resources.

However, Li Baozhu currently does not know much about the Panama region, so for the time being he only put forward some general ideas that are usually used in canal projects.

It is required to have at least two guards of immigrants ready before the next dry season in the Panama region.

Including enough tools and resources for land reclamation, and enough ships to transport them in the east and west directions to both sides of the Isthmus of Panama.

According to the direction previously proposed by Li Baozhu, the first step was to reclaim wasteland, cultivate farmland, and build ports and cities.

After the request was made, Li Baozhu went to the West Factory to find Yang Qing immediately after the meeting and applied for intelligence from Central America, the Caribbean and Panama.

Then he went to the Honglu Temple and asked the Spaniards to organize their current engineering status and data and send them to the Panama region.

Next, we went to the Academy of Engineering and transferred a group of craftsmen with experience in tropical water conservancy projects, including some of Zhu Jianxuan’s former apprentices, to serve as craftsmen for the Panama Canal Company.

Then Li Baozhu took these craftsmen, his appointment letter and his family, and set off for the Panama Canal construction site in advance.

Also traveling with them were a thousand guards, a thousand immigrant workers, and a batch of machinery and equipment.

Li Baozhu and his party boarded a steam sailing ship prepared by the Ming Immigration Company (formerly the Wu Immigration Company) and took the North Pacific route to North America.

After replenishing and resting at the American Palace near Seattle in the previous life, they headed south and arrived in Panama City on September 25, the fourth year of Tiangong.

Two hundred years ago, Spain confirmed that this place was the narrowest point in the American continent.

In order to facilitate communication between the east and west coastlines, the King of Spain had long ago ordered the construction of a gravel road here.

Panama City, as the starting point of the gravel road on the Pacific side, has indeed become the most important town here, but its scale is still limited.

Eight years ago, after the King of Spain decided to dig a canal, he invested a large number of engineers and slaves here, making this place much more lively.

But Spanish officials, like most European officials at the time, simply did not have the coordination and management capabilities required for large-scale projects.

After the tropical town suddenly exploded in population and size, it quickly became extremely chaotic and dirty.

Especially when the rainy season comes, the city's domestic garbage and the bodies of dead slaves overflow into the surrounding stagnant water, causing a new round of pollution.

The Spanish Governor of Panama, engineer of the Panama Canal, had long been tired of the job.

We have now received notice from Madrid that the canal has been handed over to the Ming Dynasty, and that Ming Dynasty's engineers and workers will come to take over.

They thought they were finally free, but they received another order, requiring them to provide all engineering data to the Ming Dynasty and learn the Ming Dynasty's development and construction technology.

There was no problem delivering the engineering materials since they didn’t want to do it anymore, but it was difficult for them to continue studying.

They did not receive a complete explanation and did not know how the Ming Dynasty built the canal, so they subconsciously thought they would have to continue to suffer here.

So even though the information is ready now, the main officials and engineers are very uncomfortable.

When Li Baozhu and his companions arrived in Panama City, as the fleet gradually approached the port, they realized that something seemed wrong with the place they came to.

The exotic scene on the shore made Li Baozhu and others feel uneasy.

Luo Xing, an older craftsman in the team, put on an air of observation and began to chant:
"The city and the countryside are filled with gloomy air. It is obviously a land of malaria. The Western barbarians are completely incompetent. After working here for seven years, it is not only still a wild place, but the feng shui has also been broken..."

The deified Qi-sensing ability in fantasy novels certainly does not exist.

However, craftsmen who are usually engaged in geographical exploration, engineering planning, and water conservancy facilities are very familiar with the advantages and disadvantages of the geographical environment.

In the original history, during the modernization process, Shenzhou Dam deliberately broke away from the old traditions and redescribed modern knowledge with a new discourse system.

The world has not experienced the erosion of foreign dominant cultures, and traditional vocabulary is still often used to express the continuous development of science and technology.

For example, the Feng Shui that Luo Xing mentioned now refers to the original naturally formed environmental state without external interference.

But what is usually referred to is a skill, which is to make the planning of man-made buildings and cities match the original natural conditions such as wind direction, climate, temperature, water source, etc.

If the natural conditions are excellent, then we need to achieve harmony between man and nature. If the natural conditions are insufficient, then we need to repair and fill them.

His words were full of astonishment and ridicule. The Spaniards had been here for seven or eight years, but the surrounding area still looked wild and there was no mature land to be developed.

The key point is that the original natural environment has been destroyed, and the state of the built-up area is also in a mess, to the point of being "surrounded by yin energy".

The word "yin energy" has often been interpreted as the accumulation of various garbage, the rampant mosquitoes, snakes and rats, and the release of various toxic and harmful gases and smoke.

All kinds of toxic and harmful air pollution in Zhu Jianxuan's previous life may be seen as yin energy by the Ming people in this world.

Li Baozhu also said with a rather disgusted expression:

“According to the report from the Western Factory, Spain has sent nearly 200,000 slaves here in recent years, and perhaps less than one-third of them are alive now.

"The Western Yi people don't have a tradition of cleaning up urban garbage, so it's inevitable that there's a lingering evil spirit. Everyone, please be careful."

After the ship docked at the pier, Li Baozhu first asked the accompanying guards to go ashore to confirm the safety of the pier and to confirm their identities with the Governor of Panama who came to greet them.

Many of the craftsmen headed by Li Baozhu were students of the Ming Emperor, and they could not let this Spanish barbarian treat them as ordinary engineers.

In fact, someone had already informed Li Baozhu of these matters before his fleet arrived.

Then Li Baozhu and others went ashore. The Governor of Panama came forward to greet them, and then led Li Baozhu and others into the carriage to the Governor's Palace in the city.

Because of reminders from Ming officials and envoys, the Governor of Panama knew in advance that the Ming envoy was coming and knew that the people of Ming were particularly fond of cleanliness.

Therefore, the governor specially ordered people to clean the Governor's Mansion in advance, so that at least there was no feces or urine anywhere within sight.

But Li Baozhu and others were still worried. After arriving at their residence, they sat on chairs in the yard to rest for a while, and asked the accompanying guards to bring alcohol to sweep the room inside and out.

The key is to replace all the daily necessities with those brought from the Ming Dynasty, and then Li Baozhu and others go into the house to rest.

The next morning, the Spanish Governor of Panama brought the former Spanish engineers to visit the Ming craftsmen headed by Li Baozhu.

The main purpose is to hand over the exploration data and canal planning scheme in their hands to Li Baozhu, and to explain the current situation of the canal construction.

By the way, I'd like to sound out the opinions of the Ming Dynasty craftsmen to see what they think about this project and how they plan to solve the problems of the canal project.

The two sides exchanged greetings in the living room. After the host and guest sat down in the reception room, Li Baozhu first looked at the canal plan map.

(This is an 1832 plan of the canal and the major rivers and roads along the Isthmus of Panama.)
(When the canal was eventually dug, this route was not actually taken.)
Build a canal in Central America connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

This is an issue that has been discussed since the Age of Exploration, when Spain was establishing colonies in America.

Spanning a period of four hundred years, many proposals were put forward.

There are two most famous ones.

One is in Nicaragua, where by connecting existing rivers and lakes, at least 20 kilometers of river channels need to be dug.

This is even a channel that is already in use and has been in actual use since the Age of Exploration.

From the Pacific side, we crossed a 20-kilometer land route and entered Lake Nicaragua.

Enter the San Juan River from Lake Nicaragua, follow the San Juan River into the Caribbean Sea, and then enter the Atlantic Ocean.

But the total length of this route is too long, with at least 300 kilometers of inland waterways.

If there is no higher plan for the future, this channel, which is mainly an inland waterway, can continue to be used as a makeshift channel, which is relatively economical. However, if there is a higher plan, such as allowing large warships to pass through the isthmus, the amount of work required to expand the river channel will be huge.

So there was another plan, which was to build a canal in the narrowest part of Central America, that is, in Panama, and to build a larger canal.

However, after a careful exploration of Panama's inland areas, it can be found that there are two rivers flowing to the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans respectively.

The distance between the upper reaches of the two rivers is only three to five kilometers at its shortest point.

If a canal of the lowest level is built, it would only take less than five kilometers of river channel to open up navigation between the two oceans.

However, these rivers are obviously too narrow and of course cannot accommodate large ships.

Whether it was the Spanish or the Ming people, as well as the historically independent Gran Colombia, or finally the French and Americans, they all wanted to build a large canal.

This is to allow large sea vessels to cross the isthmus directly, instead of converting to inland vessels or even traveling by land as before.

Most of the earlier canal plans in history were direct canals, and the plans at that time were generally of higher specifications than the Panama Canal that was actually built later.

So there was no intention to use the existing local river channel, but instead to choose another location to dig a wider river channel.

But in reality, it has gone through decades of repeated turmoil by the Spanish colonial government, the independent Gran Colombia government, and the split Panamanian government.

When the canal was actually built, neither the French, who were the first to receive the project, nor the Americans, who later completed the canal, had the ability to complete a direct canal.

Especially for Americans who only care about money, they always take the most cost-effective and quickest solution when doing projects.

The Americans not only used the original natural river channel, but also blocked the valley where the river was located to form a reservoir, which was later known as the Gatun Lake on the Panama Canal.

Using the reservoir as a canal waterway saves a lot of engineering work.

Some garbage articles on the Internet later said that the United States built a lock canal instead of a direct canal to protect the creatures in Gatun Lake.

That is pure nonsense, the reality is even quite the opposite.

Originally, there was no Gatun Lake in Panama. The Americans built a dam to flood the valley, sinking the animals and plants in the valley to the bottom of the lake.

In fact, when the Panama Canal was being built, the concept of modern environmental protection had not yet taken shape.

If the designers had included the issue of protecting valley animals in the project plan when planning the project, Theodore Roosevelt would definitely have thought they were crazy.

However, this contrived solution meant that a direct canal could not be built, and the river channel had to be raised above the existing valley.

The Spaniards are now also preparing to build a direct canal.

However, it was a reckless act that resulted in a total of more than 60 kilometers of river channel being dug, but after seven years of hard work, only less than 30 kilometers were dug.

However, more than one-third of the more than 20 kilometers of river channel has been blocked by landslides.

During the rainy season, the river water gathers in the river channel and turns into long artificial lakes.

Since the craftsmen from the Ming Dynasty have arrived, especially Li Baozhu, a disciple of the emperor, they have already lacked nothing in their personal lives, and now they just want to make some big moves.

Of course it is impossible to make do like the Americans.

They will definitely build a large direct canal, which will definitely be larger than the Spanish plan and will have double lines like the Suez Canal.

After Li Baozhu understood the situation, he said to the Governor of Panama:
"The King of Spain should have made arrangements to make your existing craftsmen and slaves accept our arrangements and cooperate with our work, right?"

The Governor of Panama immediately said:
“Yes, but only to the approximately 80,000 slaves we have now; we will not be adding any more slaves or workers.

“Moreover, the food stored now can only last until the next rainy season.

"After the existing food is consumed, the Ming Dynasty will need to provide food for the slaves."

When the Governor of Panama said this, he subconsciously wanted to remind everyone that the ownership of these slaves belonged to Spain and they were only loaned to the Ming Dynasty for use.

After the canal project was completed, the remaining slaves would be returned to Spain.

But he also felt that based on the previous slave mortality rate,
Li Baozhu nodded directly after hearing this:
"No problem. Let your workers continue to serve as interpreters for us. I will assign some simple tasks to the slaves so that they can adapt to their new jobs."

The Governor of Panama asked subconsciously:
"A new job? What exactly is it going to be? I can have them prepare in advance."

Li Baozhu said casually:

"Collect the timber, level the land, and plant the crops."

The Governor of Panama now understood that the Ming people wanted to cut down trees and open up wasteland for farming, and they were planning to start working during the rainy season.

During the rainy season in Panama, it rains for half of every month.

Even if the rain stops, there will most likely be water on the ground, and heavy rain may come again at any time, making it difficult to carry out large-scale projects in such humid conditions.

However, the rainy season is about to end, and the rainfall will become less and less in the next half month, so it is not impossible to start cutting down trees now.

As long as you stay around the residential area and don't go into the forest far away from the residential area, there shouldn't be any danger.

Li Baozhu's arrangement was to cut down trees on the edge of the urban area, but the trees would be cut down all the way west along the existing Panama city area.

Li Baozhu's goal was to distance himself from Panama City and build a new residential area in Daming.

Two days later, all the guards, workers and machinery on board the Ming fleet disembarked, and the logging team arranged by Li Baozhu also began to work.

The workers from Daming came with new gasoline saws, removed the trees on the west side of the city and carried out simple repairs.

The Spanish workers were responsible for directing the black slaves to pile the felled tree trunks together, remove all the weeds around them, and cover them with soil along with the leaves.

During the agricultural era, humans’ development or destruction of forests was not particularly fast, as human tools had limited efficiency.

But after the industrial age, this speed will directly increase by an order of magnitude.

Especially during the Second Industrial Revolution, chainsaws driven by internal combustion engines had terrifying destructive power, or from another perspective, they had extremely high logging efficiency.

The workload that was originally calculated on a daily basis is now calculated on an hourly basis.

At the same time, the large gasoline saws operated by the Ming people horrified the Spanish workers and black slaves.

The steel serrated chain can continue to rotate at high speed by pulling the switch with a rope. In addition to being a tool, it is obviously also a very terrifying weapon.

It is conceivable that if an ordinary person were to be touched by it, even if his limbs were not directly severed, he would become a bloody mess and be in excruciating pain.

Although the Ming Dynasty only brought more than 2,000 craftsmen, their work efficiency and deterrent power are epoch-making.

It took the logging team a month to cut down trees all the way from Panama City to the west of the Grand River, which is west of the natural river channel that the Americans used to build the canal in history.

And a large open area has been developed on both sides of the river mouth.

Spanish craftsmen led black slaves and followed the Ming workers to weed, level the land, dig canals, and build dams to store water.

If there are no trees or grass on the ground, rain will wash away a lot of soil, and the original grass in the area is a mess of weeds that may not be able to hold enough soil.

At the same time, the stagnant water under the weeds is also a breeding ground for mosquitoes and flies. Many of the grasslands here are actually small freshwater swamps.

First, we need to dig drainage channels to drain the original accumulated water, and then level the low-lying areas where the small swamps are located.

Then they built low dikes around the area to allow the original swamp to store water again and turn it into a pond, and then planted rice seeds brought by the Ming people.

The Governor of Panama looked at what the Ming people were doing and couldn't help but keep saying in his mind every now and then:

"Farming turns out to be such a troublesome thing..."

(End of this chapter)