At this point, at the cost of the lives of more than a dozen soldiers, the expeditionary force was very successful in its long-distance raid, occupying a large area of territory in the Primordial Plain, and the colony established by the French was across the river from New Madrid (the Mississippi River), and on the west side of the Mississippi River, there were many places inhabited by the Spaniards, because the place was too small, the Shu army was too lazy to go to the conquest, and as a result, the Indians were cheaper, and they either killed or captured those scattered Spaniards as slaves.

Duan Fei learned that the expeditionary force had captured New Madrid, occupied the western half of the Coastal Plains, and suffered little losses, so he was overjoyed to hold a banquet in the Rocky Mountain to invite political and business dignitaries to celebrate, and everyone discussed how to go to the eastern part of the Americas to do business, but the distance was so long and difficult that most people shook their heads.

From the western part of the Americas to the eastern part of the Americas, you need to cross several mountain ranges, as well as many plateaus, hills, deserts, the terrain is rugged and difficult to travel, from the land, you can't reach the destination for a month, people are not tired of mules are also tired to death, if you want to open a mountain road, I am afraid that you will not be able to open it for ten years, and there are many fierce beasts on the road, and some Indian tribes are very unkind to outsiders, even if the east coast of the Americas is full of gold, the cost of transporting it back is too high.

Hearing everyone's discussion, Duan Fei's heart suddenly moved, and he said, "Everyone, since the land route is not easy to walk, why don't we take the sea route?" ”

The sea merchant Wu Haiyan shook his head and said, "Sea route? Lord Governor, judging from the map, it is not possible to take the sea route, no one has ever walked these sea routes, and from the map, the road is too far away, just like the land route, it is not easy to walk. ”

It seems that everyone has been developing new routes over the years, but it is not so easy to go around the other side of the Americas.

Duan Fei smiled confidently: "If this official comes up with a way to let everyone take a boat, it only takes about half a month to reach the eastern part of the Americas, and charge 10,000 taels of silver for each boat, what do you think?" ”

Wu Haiyan and other big businessmen thought about it in their hearts, and they all said: "My lord, if there is really such a shortcut, this 10,000 taels of silver is worth it!" Tell us, my lord, where the shortcut is. ”

Duan Fei smiled mysteriously and said, "There is no such shortcut for the time being, but ...... The official will find a way to find out, and when the time comes, everyone can say that the toll fee of 10,000 taels of silver per boat will be collected by the official! ”

Because of the long distance, it was difficult for the Ming army, who had captured the city of New Madrid, to get support from the rear, so they planted corn and sweet potatoes on the coastal plain at the beginning of summer, preparing for a protracted battle.

In the rear, Duan Fei is also actively preparing, he wants to take a shortcut out, so that the big ship will arrive in New Madrid in the eastern part of the Americas within a month after leaving the port of Rocky Mountain, by that time, not only the only remaining Britain, France and the Netherlands in the eastern part of the Americas are no longer in Duan Fei's eyes, but also can play a major role in promoting the future plan to conquer South America.

This shortcut is the Panama Canal in Duan Fei's memory!

Duan Fei remembered that the Panama Canal traverses the Isthmus of Panama, connects the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean in the central part of the Americas, greatly shortens the route from the eastern part of the Americas to the western part of the Americas, and greatly strengthens the connection between Europe and the western Americas, Australia and Asia.

After Duan Fei made a decision, he began to organize people to go to the central part of the country to survey the terrain, planning to dig a canal in the Panama region of the central part of the country within five years.

Two months later, the latest news came back from the people sent by Duan Fei to explore the terrain of Central America, who had found traces of white colonists in Central America, and that they needed strong support from the military to carefully explore the terrain.

The whites have all arrived in North America, and it is not surprising that they appeared in the middle of the Americas, Duan Fei thought about it for a long time, and finally made a difficult decision, he was going to Panama in person to expel the whites there!

Now that the western part of North America is extremely stable, the new immigrants and the Indians get along harmoniously, Duan Fei's only worry is the east, but there seems to be nothing to worry about, the two Jiao Xu brothers are veterans of the battlefield, there are 20,000 musketeers in their hands, and their enemies are only more than 2,000 even if they are united, unless these two boys have their heads in the water, how can they defeat the battle?

Just when Duan Fei was thinking about when to go south, news of a great victory came from the eastern part of the Americas, Jiao Xu, who was supposed to spend the winter dormant and then decide whether to attack the British, French and Dutch colonies depending on the situation, suddenly raided the Dutch colony after the first snow, and then launched a blitzkrieg against France, and killed the British in the last breath.

Duan Fei was very surprised when he first heard the battle report, Jiao Xu's process of conquering the British, French and Dutch colonies in the eastern part of the Americas was too smooth, but when he saw the detailed battle report, he saw a familiar name, and finally understood, it turned out that Li Marseille had gone to the Americas, and he had also become the deputy of the French Supreme Commander in the Americas! With him, a high-ranking general, making trouble behind the scenes, Jiao Xu and them were able to quickly wipe out the Three Kingdoms Alliance like divine help and completely occupy the Three Kingdoms colonies in the eastern part of the Americas.

It turned out that Li Masai did not take revenge after returning to France after returning to France, but was discovered by the enemy, he fled and had nowhere to live, so he could only mix in the low-level mercenaries, with his ability, he gradually emerged, but the opportunity for revenge still did not appear.

He heard that the Shu army had fought several naval battles with the Francophone in Southeast Asia, and also occupied Manchuria, and he became more and more convinced of Duan Fei's words that one day he could lead the naval fleet back to France, but unfortunately France's goal was not in East Asia, and he had no chance to return to Asia, just when he felt more and more hopeless, he suddenly heard that the army of the Ming Dynasty appeared in the New World, and eliminated the Spaniards there, and occupied a large colony in the east of the New World, and the French colony was in danger and needed urgent reinforcementsAt this time, Li Marseille knew that his chance had come!

When he learned that the commander of the army in the eastern part of the Americas was his old acquaintance, Jiao Xu and Jiao Yang of Jinyiwei, he immediately contacted the two commanders and told the information and inventory of the British, French and Dutch colonies, and his only request was to ask the Duke of Wei and the Ming Governor in the Americas to keep his promise and let him personally lead a fleet back to France to take revenge!

Li Marseille's request Duan Fei naturally agreed, this is a good thing that cannot be asked for, but if Daming wants to send a fleet to France, he first has to solve the problem of the ship's long-distance detour to Cape Horn in South America.

Now that the threat from the eastern part of the Americas had been temporarily eliminated, Duan Fei's gaze crossed over to North America and looked towards the central part of the Americas......

It's the middle of winter in North America in December, but at Rocky Mountain Harbor, a large group of ships is slowly leaving the harbor, heading south with the howling north wind.

The farther south it went, the warmer it became, and when the fleet arrived near Central America, everyone took off their thick clothes and put on thin summer clothes.

"Daddy, are we in the Southern Hemisphere? It's almost the New Year, is it really as hot as summer in the Southern Hemisphere? Duan Yu, who was nearly ten years old, ran to Duan Fei with his younger brother and asked curiously.

"yes, it's the hottest summer of the year in the Southern Hemisphere, but we're not there yet, it's just near the equator, so it's not that hot." Duan Fei explained with a smile.

Now that the children are getting older, Duan Fei has spent a lot of time cultivating and educating them, but fortunately, his prestige is very useful for both adults and children, the children are convinced of the knowledge he says, and more and more discoveries have confirmed Duan Fei's 'prophecy', everyone has almost regarded Duan Fei as a god, and Duan Fei took Da Vinci's manuscript and told everyone: I am nothing, the foreign person who wrote these things is amazing! There are people outside the world, "There are immortals outside the sky"!

The fleet finally came to the middle of the Americas, and the advance team that took refuge on this small island was reconciled, and the advance team reported the latest news to Duan Fei, in fact, those whites had just arrived in Central America, and they set up camp on the east side, and sent people to the west coast from time to time to inspect, so the advance team sent by Duan Fei did not dare to station on the west coast, but hid on a small island overseas.

Hearing that there were only about 100 people on the other side, Duan Fei smiled, and he did not hesitate to order the fleet to immediately send landing ships to the west coast that Duan Fei named Central America, and a musket team of 5,000 people led by the guide of the advance team rushed over the mountains and mountains to the camp of those Spaniards.

After sending a team to clear the Spaniards, the geological experts of the advance team showed Duan Fei the results of their careful exploration in Central America, and the experts concluded that this part of Central America is very narrow, and the mountains are relatively low, and there are even fault areas, which is indeed more suitable for digging canals, but because of the amount of work, the canals should be sluice canals.

The technique of building a sluice canal is complicated, but when Duan Fei asked these experts if they were sure, the experts smiled to themselves and replied, "Governor, you have been to Guilin Mansion, have you ever visited the Ling Canal?" It was built by the Qin Dynasty almost 2,000 years ago! ”

Duan Fei suddenly smiled and said: "This governor understands, you are right, the Lingqu was built two thousand years ago with the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, and there is only one Panama Canal, how can it be difficult for everyone?" Tell me, how many people are needed? What tools are needed? How long will it take to build the canal so that two large ships like the Governor's flagship can pass through each other? ”

"The Grand Duke, because of the white robbers on the west coast, we have not yet found the best canal route, so we cannot answer the question of the Grand Duke," the experts said, "but ...... According to our estimates, although the river is less than 150 miles, it needs to cut off a mountain range, so the amount of work is relatively large, and it is estimated that it will take 100,000 people and at least ten years to dig the canal......"