Located in Central America, the Panama Canal connects the Pacific and Atlantic oceans across the Isthmus of Panama and is an important shipping artery. Ships sailing between the east and west coasts of the United States had to make a detour to Cape Horn in South America, but the Panama Canal could shorten their voyage by about 15,000 kilometers.

The Americans finally obtained the right to dig the Panama Canal and the right to lease the canal area, but a series of events led Colombian public opinion to believe that the United States was not in a hurry to build the canal at all, but was only interested in monopolizing the canal area. In 1869, when the French-led Suez Canal was opened, European financial capital naturally shifted its attention to Central America. On March 20, 1878, the French-controlled International Citizens' Association for the Interoceanic Canal Project succeeded in reaching an agreement with the Colombian government for the construction of the Panama Canal by France. On July 5, 1879, the French Interoceanic Canal Engineering Corporation was officially established. Concessions were granted for the construction of the canal, and active preparations for the canal project began. But the time is 1889. The French Interoceanic Canal Company was exhausted and declared bankrupt.

September 1894. In order to clean up the mess, the French government took the lead in forming another French canal company to take over the canal project. However, due to early mistakes, in November 1898, the French side had to ask the Colombian government to extend the construction period to October 1910, and the Colombian government fully understood the difficulties of the French side and allowed a four-year extension to complete the project. Nevertheless, the completion of the Panama Canal is still in sight.

The U.S. government was unhappy that France had been granted a concession to the Panama Canal so easily. In order to put pressure on Colombia and European countries, to contend with the French canal company. The United States also organized a temporary association for the construction of the Panama Canal, and also sent two cruisers to Colombian ports for a "visit" to show off force. In order to relieve the pressure on the United States, Colombia called on European countries to jointly guarantee the neutrality of the Panama Canal, but this demand was firmly resisted by the United States, which intends to have exclusive control of the Panama Canal. Just because before the Spanish-American War, the new US battleship "Oregon" actually had to make a detour to Cape Horn in order to rush from Seattle to Cuba to participate in the war, which greatly stimulated the US government and public opinion.

However, things have changed a little bit here. The dramatic change in the situation in Cuba in 1898. The United States, which had thought that it would be able to occupy Cuba by defeating Spain, was deeply involved. With the help of the reserves of external supplies obtained over the years, the Cubans fought several battles in succession at the very beginning, and taught the United States, which "does not know the height of the sky," a harsh lesson, but the United States' powerful national strength began to exert its might. The United States Navy blockaded the Cuban coast, depriving the Cuban Independence Army of supplies. Many of Cuba's top leaders have gone abroad to seek international assistance. However, no one wanted to offend the United States for the Cubans, and Hawaii, which was willing to support Cuba as always, demanded that the Cubans carry the supplies themselves because they could not guarantee the delivery of military supplies to Cuba. Guns and ammunition are getting less and less, and the war is becoming more and more brutal. Fortunately, there were countless sharpshooters in the Cuban army, who were always able to kill the American commander in the fierce battle and throw the American army into chaos, so as to save the Cuban army from successive defeats. And that doesn't change the fact that Cubans are running out of ammunition because of lack of food. The Cuban regular army began to suffer widespread defeat, and the country was lost. The only resort is to wage guerrilla warfare for the whole people.

However, the United States, which was deeply trapped in Cuba, still did not give up control of the Panama Canal, because Britain had established after protracted negotiations that the United States presided over the construction of the Panama Canal and enjoyed the privilege of formulating regulations for the management of the canal, and Britain only retained the right to freedom of navigation of the canal, so the United States could concentrate on dealing with France. In August 1899, the United States sent a technical committee to Paris to contact the French government to explore a request to acquire the French Canal Company, but the company's general manager, Hutan, and the French government refused. In order to put pressure on France, the United States set up a Panama Canal Company at the end of September, launched a large-scale lobbying campaign, and deliberately said that it would cooperate with Nicaragua and build another canal to compete with the Panama Canal. Things have changed since then.

At the beginning of October, Lin Yongxiang, general manager of the Pacific Freight Company in Asia, came to Paris and found the French government and Yu Tan, the general manager of the canal company, and frankly explained that he had come to represent the Qing Emperor and hoped to participate in the excavation and management of the Panama Canal. If the French government and the French Canal Company do not object, the Qing State will immediately recruit laborers from the United States and other places into the Panama region. The Chinese are well-known in the world for their hardships and hard work, and if the excavation of the Panama Canal can be supported by Chinese manpower and financial resources, it is entirely possible to complete it on schedule. Therefore, after three days of urgent consultations, the French government agreed in principle to the proposal of Qingguo American Engineering Company to acquire 40% of the shares of the French Canal Company, but the details of the terms still need to be discussed and confirmed.

However, such a programme involving third countries would necessarily require the consent of third countries. At this time, in order to resist the infiltration of the United States, the Colombian government also urgently needed to allow the Panama Canal to pass in exchange for international attention, coupled with the good reputation of the Qing State for never encroaching on and colonizing other countries, Colombia agreed the day after receiving the French notice. As soon as Qingguo American Engineering Company got the news. Immediately transfer 10 million US dollars to the company's account in France, and only need to wait for the terms to be confirmed before the payment is made. Meantime. Recruitment in the U.S. was launched at the same time. This move of the Qing State won the welcome of the people of Colombia and France, and the negotiations between the three countries were carried out in a friendly atmosphere. And yet the United States is crazy.

"-stirring sticks. Qing Guo is a-stirring stick - "President William? McKinley had already smashed four water glasses. For the control of the Panama Canal, more than a dozen presidents of the United States and more than half a century of efforts have been completely yellowed because of the intervention of the Qing Dynasty.

It can be confirmed that Roosevelt was deliberately murdered, but it is impossible to identify the protagonist of the murder, because until now it is not known when Roosevelt was poisoned. And the poison in it is incredible, American medical scientists have not been able to analyze what the toxin is, but it is said that it is a synthetic poison from ancient China.

In the Spanish-American War, it was the warships sold by the Qing to Spain that inflicted fatal damage on the United States. The Americans did not think that the Spaniards had such clever use of ships and such accurate attacking behavior. In addition, the Spanish fleet had been trained by the Qing navy, and it happened to "rob" the coal ships of the Qing country. No matter how you look at it, it looks like it was deliberately arranged by Qing Guo.

In Cuba, the U.S. military has repeatedly lost the strategic initiative because of the assassination of its commander when it gains battlefield superiority, and its accurate marksmanship and uncatchable traces once made American soldiers think that they had encountered a ghost. However, this method of training was only available to the Qing Army's Central Reconnaissance Company, which had made several appearances in the Qing-Russian War and the Qing-Japanese War, and achieved remarkable results, and even Germany, which had always maintained a high degree of friendship with the Qing State, did not know much. Britain, France, Russia and many other countries have begun to model this approach.

Although there is no evidence of this, the Qing Kingdom must be inseparable. In East Texas, Qing was directly involved in the plundering of American mineral deposits. The person in charge of the Qing Emperor's dispatch to receive the oil field property was a eunuch of a small Deng Zi in the Qing Imperial Palace, and the person in charge of accounting was an official of the Qing Ministry of Finance. D. Rockefeller negotiated the company's finances on an equal footing. Rockefeller's slightest suggestion of some terms that were unfavorable to the Qing people would be immediately rejected by Xiao Dengzi. If there were words of contempt for the Qing Emperor in his speech, Xiao Dengzi would immediately slap the table and ask Rockefeller to apologize. Because his contempt would be unreasonably regarded by the Qing Emperor as an American contempt for the Qing State, the Qing Emperor even issued an order to freeze the Americans' property in the Qing Kingdom, close the Americans' factories, cancel the Americans' contracts, and pay no compensation. All the businessmen who have invested in China have suffered. Therefore, the collective demand that Rockefeller compensate them, and the entire American business community will not lose the huge Chinese market for a Rockefeller, at least they will not be discriminated against for their Chinese investment. Rockefeller was under tremendous pressure and had to apologize. In order to avoid being constrained by the Qing State in the future, he deliberately offered to buy 10% of the shares in the hands of the Qing Emperor with 10 million US dollars. Unexpectedly, Xiao Dengzi said that the emperor wanted oil, not dollars. If you really want to buy 100 million, or don't talk about it. One sentence made Rockefeller angry and hospitalized for half a month.

It was Qing Guo who murdered Roosevelt! It was the Qing who helped Spain! Qing participated in the war against Cuba! Qing began to plunder the resources of the United States! Now the Qing Dynasty has even more muddyed the United States' attempt to control the Panama Canal. They also recruited Chinese from the western United States to work in Panama. Their plan was to recruit 100,000 laborers to build the Panama Canal in four years. 100,000 workers, plus their families, is more than 200,000. In recent years, the large-scale development of the Qing Dynasty has taken many Chinese from the United States, but once the western United States really loses these 200,000 Chinese engaged in low-level jobs, who will fill this gap? No one is doing these inferior jobs, so where do the higher Americans go to exploit wealth? Is the American West going to be relegated to the wilderness?

"This is the ambition of the Qing Kingdom, and they want to reach into the Americas. Go to the British and let them join us in stopping the conspiracy of the Qing people. McKinley ranted in the White House.

However, the British did not respond to this suggestion, and Britain was mired in the Boer War and could not afford to care about the Americas. In addition, after the completion of the canal, the British will guarantee the right to freedom of navigation, and the British are certainly not willing to offend the Qing Dynasty at such a time. The United States, which had no choice but to change the name of the newly established Panama Canal Company to the Nicaragua Canal Company, began to negotiate with the Nicaraguan government on the construction of a new canal, hoping to compete with the Panama Canal. However, the fact that the United States deliberately sank its own warship and framed Spain, and that the United States attempted to colonize Cuba under the pretext of supporting Cuba all seem to prove that the United States is an ambitious country. Therefore, the United States still hopes to monopolize control of the Nicaragua Canal. Inevitably, provisions were made to safeguard the interests of the United States to the detriment of Nicaragua's interests, and negotiations were almost suspended.

The economy of the United States, which was beaten by Spain, almost collapsed. Now mired in the Cuban War, penetration in South America has encountered the greatest obstacles. Now a canal has completely destroyed the US strategy, and the United States has encountered the greatest crisis since the founding of the country. However, the United States cannot control a speed run connecting the east and west sides of the United States, and I am afraid that the United States will really have to be bound to the North American continent for the rest of its life.

However, at this time in France, Lin Yongxiang's negotiations with the French finally collapsed. The arrogance of the white people did not allow the yellow race to act on an equal footing, and the French gave a clear refusal to Lin Yongxiang's request for the same canal management rights as the French. The French only needed Chinese investment and labor, and did not need Chinese participation in the management of the canal, and in the end the two sides parted happily. That's when the Americans intervened, and they saw that France could not complete the canal. Again, it was offered to purchase all the rights to the canal.

"What if we go and encourage some American continents to become independent at this time?" At the regular meeting of ministers and above in January in the Qing Dynasty, Guangxu proposed.

"Britain has begun to notice the sale of arms and ammunition to the Boers in our country, and Wechen has ordered the cessation of any smuggling to the Boers. Just last week, the Second Mountain Division of Liu Yongfu, the commander of the Liangguang Army, clashed with the French border guards in Annam, and our army completely routed the French army and entered Annam, which has already aroused protests from the French minister. Add to that the fact that it was already at odds with Russia, and then count the United States. Then our country will be attacked on all sides. Li Hongzhang said with a look of shame: "Your Majesty, we'd better stop making trouble in the near future." Otherwise, if these four countries collectively attack, the Qing Dynasty will not be able to withstand it. ”

Guangxu looked around. Since everyone did not support this proposal, Guangxu could only shrug his shoulders: "Okay, we are indeed focusing on internal affairs, and we are still focusing on observation externally. But the United States built the Panama Canal. Its strong military presence in the West Bank will be integrated with the East Bank, which is not to our advantage. For Central America, we still can't give up. Let Lin Yongxiang contact the Nicaraguan government. They were persuaded that we were willing to finance the development of the Grand Canal with them, and that we had to talk about it. ”

"Your Majesty. You don't really plan to build the Grand Canal of Nicaragua, do you? Lin Qizhao stood up: "It is impossible for the Qing Dynasty to take out so much money." ”

"If you negotiate an agreement, you don't have to implement it. Besides, it takes time for this preliminary investigation, and it takes time for planning the project. It's going to be two or three years like this. What will the beauty think at this time? They could not have wanted to have a canal in Central America that could compete with Panama, and then they could only buy the right to dig the Grand Canal of Nicaragua from us at a high price, and then scrap it to ensure the uniqueness of the Panama Canal. ”

"What if the U.S. doesn't ask Ben and lets us dig the Grand Canal in Nicaragua? After all, financially speaking, it will be difficult for us to come up with such a large amount of money even if we unite with the Nicaraguan government. ”

"Yes, it's a possibility. You should pay attention to the fact that the Grand Canal of Nicaragua has the advantage of natural lakes and rivers, and once it is completed, its navigable capacity will inevitably be on top of the Panama Canal. Although we are short of funds, if we sell shares to the major powers of the world in the name of the absolute neutrality of the Nicaraguan Grand Canal, we will have a guarantee not only financially but also diplomatically. We can also announce that the Qing Dynasty will recruit 200,000 laborers, which is not possible for other countries, but it is not a problem for the hundreds of millions of Chinese. At this time, the United States wants to maintain the uniqueness of the Panama Canal, even if we offer a sky-high price, they have to accept it. ”

"Your Majesty, you are too bad."

"Shame shame, third in the world."

Lin Yongxiang had just talked with France and sent a telegram to Nicaragua. In order to cooperate with Lin Yongxiang diplomatically, Ouyang Geng, who had just been promoted to North American tour ambassador, also immediately set off from Washington to Nicaragua. In Managua, the Nicaraguan government hosted Ouyang Geng and Lin Yongxiang in a high-profile manner, and announced on the spot the intention of the two countries to jointly develop the Grand Canal in Nicaragua. It's not just a matter of revenue distribution, but the fact that the Qing State is not stationed here alone is enough to get the Nicaraguan government to agree. In addition, the two countries also called on all countries in the world to participate in the construction of the canal, so that the canal can be truly neutral and become a link between the Pacific and the Atlantic.

Yu Tan, the general manager of the French Canal Company, collapsed, believing that the Qing was retaliating against the French. Moreover, the Colombian government, annoyed by France's refusal, has officially informed the French Canal Company that if it fails to meet the deadline, the Colombian government will take back the right to excavate the canal according to the contract. Whether the two countries can come up with enough funds to build this canal has become Yutan's last hope. The idea of the United States is different, once the countries of the world are involved, with the huge labor force of the Chinese, as long as there is sufficient funds, it can be done quickly. So what to do with the Panama Canal, which has no shipping advantages? A canal that is not in the hands of the United States, once it is artificially blocked, the east and west banks of the United States still need to bypass South America, can it be said that the United States will have to spend countless construction funds and huge maintenance costs in the later stage, just to ensure smooth operation in the event of war? But what if there are no wars in the coming decades?

The Grand Canal of Nicaragua must not be allowed to begin! After reaching an agreement, the United States began to carry out intensive diplomacy with France, Britain, the Netherlands, and other countries. In the city of Managua, however, the negotiations went well, but problems arose when it came to implementation. Because the information provided by the Nicaraguan government is too crude and crude to make an effective assessment based on the available information, and because the Qing Dynasty has been engaged in the past few years, the white Europeans believe that it is necessary to suppress the Qing Dynasty. Even Germany said very euphemistically: There is still huge potential for development in the domestic construction of the Qing Dynasty, and Germany believes that the Qing State should pay more attention to domestic development.

Under tremendous external pressure, Qing Guo "regrettedly" took the initiative to abandon cooperation with Nicaragua. The Qing people left, and the hand that the yellow race had just stretched out was beaten back fiercely. However, a Qing engineering delegation was still on the way to Nicaragua, because both the Qing and Nepalese understood that the abandoned country was not due to external pressure, but really needed to re-explore the Nicaragua Grand Canal, so the Qing and Nepal reached a secret agreement, and the Qing country would send an inspection team and Nicaragua would send an escort army to make the preliminary planning first.

The Panama Canal is a core interest of the United States and must be controlled by the Americans. Without the troubles of the Qing Dynasty, the Americans would be relieved, and now they could go all out to fight with France for the Panama Canal. However, at this time, no one noticed that the Jin merchants, Hui merchants, and Zhejiang merchants led by the Lin family, who was the secretary of the household department of the Great Qing Dynasty, and the Xi family, the president of the Daqing Bank, set their sights on Ecuador. (To be continued......)