"This is the map, what I want to say is written on it, you can see for yourself, I'll try the cannon first." Swancai didn't care what the shells were made of, or what material the tail was made of, he only cared about the effect. As long as this seemingly harmless cannon can be carried on horseback, can hit farther than a gun, and has enough lethality, even if you use cotton as a barrel and potatoes as a cannonball, he has no problem.

"Uncle Qi, you and Xiao Qi are staring at the battleship and the new artillery, I'm still a little anxious." Hong Tao took a roll of drawings thrown down by Swan, looked at it a few times, squatted on the ground and calculated it a little, and immediately set off with the guards. It doesn't matter what new battleships, new guns, mortars are, now he has more important things to do.

Don't look at Swan's speech, but the efficiency and seriousness are still good. The topographic maps he brought back to Hong Tao were very clear, and contour lines were marked in some places, but instead of using the sea level as a reference, he found a large rock by the river. This stone is not found casually, it is the farthest you can go up the river. After this point, the river in front of it suddenly narrowed, and there was no place on the bank where no one could walk, and even the fiber could not be pulled.

When Hong Tao and a few hundred people came to the shore where the big rock was located in a boat according to Swan's map, it was already February of 1252. He brought the vanguard troops, and planned to build a camp here first, and get the houses and living facilities ready, and a large number of men and horses led by Luo Youde were still assembled in Sun City, and they would come from the waterway one after another when they were ready.

The location of the stone is about 17 degrees 05 minutes north latitude, and from Swan's map it is seen that between 16 degrees 62 minutes north latitude is a mountainous area, and to the south of the mountains is a plain, and two rivers go south into a bay. As to where the bay leads, Swann did not explore. Hong Tao didn't know where this big bay was, but he thought that outside the bay, 99 percent was the Pacific Ocean.

Therefore, in order for this canal to communicate with the isthmus, it is necessary to excavate this mountainous area between 17 degrees 05 and 16 degrees 62 minutes, which is less than 50 kilometers in a straight line. Of course, when digging a canal in the mountains, you can't go in a straight line, and you have to take advantage of the trend of the valley to choose a route with a low altitude, so you will inevitably take some detours, and the distance will definitely be lengthened and doubled.

Now it was time to boast again, and when he led the men to explore, he meandered along the lowest part of the valley, and found three great valleys in this mountainous area. If the canal is designed according to his route and connects these three valleys, there are not many places where it is really necessary to open up mountains and split roads.

"This Nima has enough for tens of thousands of people to dig for half a year...... "The ancients said that civil engineering should not be moved lightly. Looking at the map and talking about the amount of work, it seemed that ten people could dig it in ten days, but when he arrived in front of the first small mountain beam, Hong Tao was immediately dumbfounded.

"Is this river really that important? Do you have to dig it? "Luo Youde is also a little toothy, Hong Tao didn't take the initiative to say why he wanted to dig this canal, there must be a reason, but such a big project must first determine whether it is worth it.

"It's so important...... From here, you can go directly back to the Great Song Dynasty and Jinhe Kingdom, and the journey is more than half the time through Cape Town. The warm current of the north equator and the northeast trade winds will allow us to return to the port of Guangzhou in less than a month. When you come, with the help of the ocean currents and westerly winds, it will be more than a month at most, do you say it is important? At this time, Hong Tao didn't plan to hide Luo Youde anymore, pointed to the side of the mountain, and said lightly.

“…… This is the sea east of Luzon! Luo Youde remembered that he had asked Hong Tao where the sea east of Luzon Island could go, and Hong Tao replied that he could go to a vast new continent.

"Ran also ......" As soon as he talked about geographical knowledge, Hong Tao's Dana faction came up again, and he dragged his head with his hands behind his back.

“…… You can get here all the way west from Jinhe City, and if you go all the way east, you can get here? Wouldn't it really be a big ball at our feet! "Luo Youde's brain is really smart, and he reacts faster than most of his contemporaries, and he quickly remembered another problem, and deduced a possibility.

"Yes...... I've said it countless times, but unfortunately no one believes me. Hong Tao wanted to continue, but there were no words in his mouth.

"That must be dug up! We are still rich in food, and there will be more in the second half of the year, but there are not enough people, why don't we let Swan come back with more slaves? Luo Youde should have also figured out the importance of this canal, from here he can shorten the journey and time to return to his hometown, and this alone made him determined.

"Those in the north can't be arrested, those people are the population of all countries in the future, and they all come here to arrest me, and they can't be rushed back when the time comes, right? Moreover, it is difficult to walk in the north, and there is no stronghold in the interior, so Swann can't catch many people if he is tired. I'll solve people's problems, and you'll be responsible for feeding them and watching them work. How many people do you think we have enough food to feed us now? "The canal has to be dug, but it will have to be lived in the future, Hong Tao does not want to disrupt the balance of countries in the future because of this canal, and he has a better source of labor.

“…… 5,000 people, we can only produce 5,000 people here, any more will affect farming and production, and I think it's no problem to catch more than 10,000 slaves back. The land in the valley is very fertile, and now it has been reclaimed a lot, and the grain production has doubled this year, and I estimate that it will double next year. It is no problem to feed more than 10,000 people. "Calculating manpower and transportation volume is Luo Youde's old business, and he doesn't need to take paper or pen, and he can get a roughly reliable figure with his fingers.

"That's it, it's decided, you go and get 5,000 people to come over first, divide it into several sections of the project and construct it at the same time, and I'll figure out a way for the rest. But don't tell anyone about the canal just yet, I like to keep a few hole cards in my hand. Hong Tao believes that Luo Youde will not be foolish, since he said it, let's do it, say not in a hurry, in fact, he is the most anxious.

"I can't change your cunning rabbit's three holes! Don't worry, I'm not going to talk nonsense. By the way, you go back this time and bring a letter to America, so that he can go to Cape Town as well, and come with Carl if you have a chance. We are short of trustworthy manpower now, and no matter how bad he is, he can still bring a few ships to transport goods. Luo Youde is not surprised by Hong Tao's approach, this person has been a mysterious person since he first met him.

Where did Hong Tao get people back, he probably knew that it was Karl Bei except for Martini. Since Hong Tao is going back to Cape Town, the matter of Rome has to be mentioned. Luo Youde also knows Hong Tao very well in this regard, if you don't say that he dares not to mention it for several years, it is not a heart, but he really forgot.

"Yes, these two children have never been married, and I don't know what they are doing. Do you miss your son? If Luo Youde didn't mention it, Hong Tao would really forget about Luo Mei and Hong Salamander. The two of them had already finished their expedition, but they didn't meet them in Carburg and Cape Town, so they went straight back to Golden River. But I haven't heard much from them since then.

"You don't want to?" Luo Youde did not deny it.

"I don't want to, and I don't have time to think about it! They live theirs, I live mine, you can't let me raise them for a lifetime! As soon as this question was mentioned, Hong Tao had no interest in chatting, and climbed up the mountain beam with his hands behind his back, no longer caring for Luo Youde.

With two Virginia-class battleships, three salmon-class cargo ships, two hundred and twenty sailors, and one hundred shotguns, this was the first professional slave trading fleet formed by Hong Tao. He was going to take this slave trade to Africa and the Mediterranean coast to capture slaves, both black and white.

Since he knew that this canal could bring him closer to the motherland, Luo Youde was a little uneasy. In addition to his day-to-day work, he devoted all his attention to preparing for the canal, and issued Swann an unlimited arrest warrant to go south to the Yucatan Peninsula to capture slaves. Catch as much as you can, regardless of men, women, young and old, and send them all to dig canals.

(To be continued.) )