Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 92 Where is the capital chosen?

Back to Davao City

Without even two days' rest, Zheng Guohui became busy again, participating in the new urban construction boom.

Count on your fingers

It has been nearly a month since the occupation of Davao City, and the total number of indigenous convicts sent in from all over the country has exceeded 4, and is still increasing.

The towns and villages thoroughly implemented the "replace the dragon with the bird" policy, and the surplus labor force was squeezed into the cities. This was a good opportunity to promote large-scale infrastructure, and various planned construction projects were launched.

A Class 2 rural-urban road is planned from Davao north to Tagum town, eventually connecting to the Hamda Valley.

The project was called the "Northern Highway". The first phase of the project was 78.2 kilometers long and 57 new bridges were built along the way. It took more than eight coolies at once.

On average, there are about one hundred workers for every kilometer of urban and rural roads.

Of course

Not all of this labor force was used to build roads. There were four quarries and seven lime kilns along the way, which were used to produce bulk materials such as stone powder and crushed stone needed for high-standard roads, and stone slabs, lime, and other bulk materials needed to build bridges and milestones.

Another major road project planned is the "Gulf Boulevard", which will extend east and west along Davao City like a string of pearls, connecting all the important towns in the coastal plains.

This "Gulf Avenue" route is longer, with the planned first phase of the project exceeding 130 kilometers and the long-term plan of approximately 340 kilometers, covering almost all coastal areas of the Davao Plain.

This also includes areas that have not yet been developed and will take 2 to 3 years to build gradually.

In and around Davao City

There are now more than 20 newly built brick kilns, 12 wood drying kilns, several lime kilns and traditional iron and copper smelting blast furnaces, and large-scale production has begun.

Stone slabs, gravel, stone powder, various picked tropical fruits, fresh vegetables and fruits, etc. transported from the Hamda Valley and other places are transported by ship in an endless stream.

This quickly made the market in Davao City prosperous.

Recently

Zheng Guohui inspected the city and found that a large number of original thatched houses, shacks and illegally built earthen houses had all been razed to the ground, and the prototype of a "well"-shaped urban trunk road had been planned.

It is obvious that some of the newly demolished indigenous buildings have not been cleaned up yet, but have been painted with lime lines.

Compared with the original lime line, the width of the city's main roads has been expanded a lot, reaching the standard of 36 meters.

Zheng Shouzhong followed his instructions exactly, which made him very satisfied.

What does thirty-six meters mean?
Even according to the standards of more than 150 years later, it means eight lanes in both directions plus a central green belt, green strips on both sides, and sidewalks on both sides.

Zheng Guohui insisted on making it so wide because he wanted to build the garden city he had in mind, with birds singing and flowers blooming, and tall trees providing shade.

Therefore, the central green belt of the road is 18 meters wide, with 9 meters on each side, including 4.5 meters for the carriageway, 2 meters for the dividing strip, and 2.5 meters for the pedestrian walkway. This looks much more reasonable.

Urban construction was accompanied by the demolition of a large number of indigenous thatched houses, as well as the construction of a large number of new brick and wooden houses. Some large municipal buildings were also under construction. Scaffoldings were everywhere in the city, and there was a construction boom.

In theory, promoting such a large-scale construction requires a huge amount of money. How is this problem solved?

It's actually very simple

The main force of the project construction was the indigenous forced labor, which did not cost money, as long as they had food to eat and did not starve to death.

In the early stages of capital accumulation
Full of exploitation and bloodshed, the colonial army led by Zheng Guohui naturally could not escape the laws of the market and inevitably followed this old path, becoming more and more adept at using it.

Among the Chinese immigrants, there are a large number of construction veterans who are familiar with building houses. It would be a good idea to have them serve as foremen and lead the convicts to do the work.

The vast majority of these new Chinese immigrants are farmers, and are half-bricklayers themselves. As for carpenters, stonemasons, bamboo weavers, blacksmiths and other craftsmen, there are also many of them, which can be said to be a place of great talent.

It just so happened that these new Chinese immigrants were burdened with a lot of debt, and after finishing their work on the farm, they would rush to the city to earn money.

Most of the money earned was used to pay off debts, and all that was needed was to cross out a number from the account.

In the final analysis
As long as there is enough food, such a large-scale infrastructure project can be supported, and all the necessary building materials will not be a problem.

Mindanao Island is rich in resources and is known as the "Kingdom of Fruit Trees". In September, when a large number of fruits are off the market, pineapples and bananas are everywhere.

To some extent
Fruit replaced part of the grain, and combined with the kelp steamed buns given to the convicts, the actual amount of grain consumed was not as much as imagined.

Davao City
There were now more than 16000 convicts, led by three or four thousand Chinese workers, who were mainly engaged in building houses, as large areas of houses were completed.

The buildings along the street are mainly 2-3 storey brick and stone buildings, the planned large municipal buildings are 4-5 storeys, and the residential areas are mostly bungalows, with a large amount of wood used in construction to reduce costs.

If the current construction efforts are continued, it is expected that by the end of the year, a brand new Davao City will show its proud charm and become an increasingly brilliant emerging coastal city in Southeast Asia.

Back to the City Hall
Zheng Guohui once again convened a meeting of his administrative staff to focus on some of the problems that had been discovered, and to brainstorm and come up with improvement plans to address the shortcomings.

In a meeting
He also proposed a major project to be built as a landmark for Davao City. Zamboanga's landmark project is the nine-story, hexagonal pagoda. Once completed, it will tower majestically on the Posonanca Plateau, visible from dozens of kilometers.

What about the Davao City logo?

Some people suggested building a grand palace, and the reasons were very good;
General, you can't stay at the City Hall every time you come, right?

This "Grand Palace" proposal was a subtle test, and Zheng Guohui did not shy away from denying it. Instead, he nodded generously and said;

"Yes, but this requires someone experienced in palace design and construction. It's not something that can be done by just one person. The location can be reserved, but construction should be done slowly rather than hastily."

"General, can we build a memorial archway?"

"Tell me……"

"What I mean is to build a large memorial archway, perhaps a merit memorial archway, of the highest grade, the imperial memorial archway, right where the general gave his speech to the crowd of over ten thousand at the dock, so that future generations will forever remember this historic moment."

This was typical flattery. Zheng Guohui gave a noncommittal "hmm" and then asked, "Anything else?"

When it comes to these large-scale projects that cost the people a lot of money and time, no other nation is more experienced than the Chinese.

Either a military fortress, such as the Great Wall, Shanhaiguan, or the Forbidden City, or a tower, four-cornered, five-cornered, six-cornered, or seven-cornered. Zamboanga has already taken the lead.

The pagoda can be built, but building another iconic pagoda in Davao City will inevitably be seen as plagiarizing others.

There are not many other options. Either it is a place for worshiping heaven, earth and ancestors, such as the Temple of Heaven, the Confucius Temple, clan ancestral halls, etc., but there seems to be no rush.

The only things left are palaces and buildings. The general has already tacitly agreed to this proposal, but the conditions are not met now, so it can only be postponed.

Seeing that no one had come up with any good ideas, Zheng Guohui did not make things difficult for them, but just gave the order;

"Everyone, you can go back and think about it. Once you have a mature idea, we can discuss it another day. Let's leave it at that for today."

"Your humble servant respectfully bids farewell to the General!"

Everyone stood up and saluted, watching Zheng Guohui leave the meeting room first. Then they walked out, talking in a lively manner, with this important event in their minds.

A few staff members who did not understand the significance of this secretly criticized the general for being too ostentatious and always making such a grand display.

After Zheng Guohui returned to his study, he frowned and thought about it, still a little hesitant.

What kind of landmark project Davao City builds depends on the city’s positioning.

Zheng Guohui has not yet made a final decision on whether to make this city the future capital, or to place it in Manila or other big cities.

His hesitation also made it difficult to advance the landmark project.

Establishing Davao City as the royal capital has both advantages and disadvantages, so it can be said to be a mixed blessing.

First, let’s talk about Davao City’s geographical location, which has both advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages

Davao is located in the center of the Western Pacific Islands. It is about the same distance from Manila to the north, Batavia to the south, Singapore to the west, and Jayapura on New Guinea, the second largest island in the world, to the east.

It is not far from Australia in the southwest, which perfectly fits Zheng Guohui's ambitions.

Zheng Guohui's ambitions extended beyond the Luzon Islands. He also targeted New Guinea, which had a small indigenous population, Borneo, where the Dutch had little influence, and even Sumatra, opposite Singapore.

How far can we go?
It’s hard to say now, we can only take it step by step and adapt to the development of the international situation. We can’t act blindly.

If you look at it that way, Davao City is a perfect fit.

Manila is located too far north and Batavia is too far south, which is not conducive to ruling the vast archipelago kingdom.

Everything has its pros and cons. The disadvantage of Davao City's geographical location is that it is too close to the sea.

The port of Davao City is on the Davao River, only a few kilometers away from the estuary. Large ocean-going ships can reach the river mouth dock unimpeded, which means that enemy warships can also arrive.

From a security perspective, this is very disadvantageous.

If we compare
It is appropriate to compare it with Fuso's Tokyo Bay, which has similarities with Manila.
The Davao Plain faces the Davao Gulf in the south, which is 72 kilometers wide from east to west and covers an area of ​​about 4800 square kilometers.

The Davao Gulf contains Samal and Taliku Islands, forming a semi-enclosed bay with water depths deep enough to accommodate giant ships of 10 tons.

The biggest problem is
The opening in the southeast of Davao Gulf is too large, 56 kilometers wide, and there are no islands in the middle, which makes defense doubly difficult.

If there were an invasion by enemies from the European powers, it would certainly come from the sea.

This is what Zheng Guohui is most worried about. If Britain and France join forces, this island kingdom will not be able to resist no matter what and the capital will be easily invaded.

(End of this chapter)