There is a saying; A man cannot fall twice in a pit. Huh

As if the enemy of fate, the French have fallen countless times in the pit of England, and France has twice had the opportunity to ascend to the throne of world hegemony, and was pulled down by the British.

The Seven Years' War between Britain and France is counted once, and the French Emperor Napoleon's dominance of Europe is counted as another, and when it comes to modern French history, it is impossible to avoid the shadow of England hanging over our heads.

Emperor Richard saw this very well;

The British are the magic stars of the fate of the French, Napoleon III is not as heroic and bold as his uncle, since ascending the French throne, he has always adhered to the obedience concept of Britain to do whatever he wants, and it has actually been smooth sailing.

Since Napoleon III ascended the throne of France in 1852, he has always followed the baton of the British command and acted as the leading horse.

In 1853, Britain and France declared war on Russia and participated in the Crimean War.

In February 1856, the Paris Peace Conference was convened, Russia conceded defeat, and France, Britain, the Ottoman Empire, the Tang Dynasty, and Italy won the war. Huh

This major victory in the European war also brought Emperor Napoleon III's personal prestige to the peak, allowing him to taste the sweetness of the little brother of the head horse.

In 1857, France and Britain declared war on the Qing Dynasty, provoking the "Second Opium War".

In November of the following year, the Anglo-French forces invaded Beiping and burned the Old Summer Palace, forcing the Qing court to sign a treaty, and the Second Opium War ended with the victory of the Anglo-French forces.

If history had not changed, in 1862, France would have joined forces with Britain and Spain to invade the stormy Mexico......

Just like a combination of robbers all over the world, Britain and France have tasted the sweetness in cooperation.

However, with the rise of the Tang Empire in North America, the historical trajectory has changed, and the re-alliance between Britain and France will naturally come to naught.

Based on these bad deeds of the French, Emperor Richard concluded that the agreement reached in the memorandum of the meeting was likely to be overturned by the French themselves when he returned. Huh

If England is the magic star of the fate of the French, then the Germans should be the nightmare of the fate of the British.

No matter how the British talk about it, the Prussians, who are upright and inflexible, admit to death...... If you say that you have to see the real chapter under your hands, you will be done!

Emperor Richard thought for a moment and said; "The exchange of interests is not impossible, if Britain can get the Brazilian Empire to sign the defeated treaty and settle the war in South America as soon as possible, it can be relieved of development, and it is acceptable to transfer no more than half of the equity at the original price. Let's talk about the specifics. ”

"Wechen obeys!" Prime Minister Yoo Hyun-jun received the order with a respectful expression.

Obedient and listening

It seems that His Majesty the Emperor is not satisfied with the procrastination of the war by the Andean Viceroyalty in South America, and does not approve of some bullshit "onion peeling tactic"?

Gather a large army and storm all the way, first break the defenses of São Paulo, and then occupy Rio de Janeiro, the largest city in the Americas, to achieve a clean and complete victory. Huh

Rio de Janeiro is nothing more than an agricultural city with a population of more than 430,000 people, can't it be defeated?

If the war drags on for one more year, the imperial side will have to spend tens of millions more military spending, and the first governor, Lord Gu Aaron, has made a mistake and has lost his favor on this issue, so don't count on the position of the center of Qingyuntai in the future.

After discussing the matter, Prime Minister Yoo Hyun-jun took the initiative to raise it;

"Your Majesty;

On the occasion of the official opening of the Suez Canal, the French engineer Fernand de Dresseb, who presided over this magnificent project, showed a strong interest in digging a Central American canal, and sent French engineers to jointly survey with us to actively promote cooperation in canal engineering.

The government, for its part, did not reject international cooperation, but preferred that the empire should complete the project independently, and that the ownership of the Mesoamerican Canal would be firmly in its hands.

The idea of the Mesoamerican Canal has been around for a long time, and in 1771, during the Spanish colonial rule, the opening of the Tehuantepec Isthmus was contemplated, and considerable preparations were made for it. Huh

However, the outbreak of the Latin American War of Independence in the early 19th century disrupted the whole plan.

Since then, the plan to dig the Mesoamerican canal has been mentioned many times, but in the end it has not been fruitful.

During the reign of the Empire

The representatives of the provinces of Panama and Nicaragua have repeatedly mentioned the proposal to open the Central American Canal, and after careful consideration, the Government believes that there are indeed huge economic benefits and that it is very feasible.

The smooth opening of the Suez Canal has strengthened our confidence.

Of the four proposed excavation sites, the Isthmus of Panama is the narrowest, and the Isthmus of Nicaragua is available with Lake Nicaragua and the San Juan River.

The Panama Canal is proposed as the most preferred solution because of the minimum amount of earthwork excavation, the low difficulty of construction, and the affordable construction period and investment. Huh

The Nicaragua Canal is a natural Mesoamerican waterway that allows for the use of the wide Nicaraguan Lake and the Holy Lake An, which are deep and wide waterways in Central America, and can allow hundreds of thousands of tons of large ships to come and go unhindered once connected, and the geographical and hydrological conditions are better.

The drawback is that the investment is almost double that of the Panama Canal project, which passes through the famous volcanic strip of Momotumbo, which is also one of the hidden dangers of the canal project.

However, the advantages of the Nicaragua Canal are also obvious, compared to the Panama Canal, the length of the canal is shorter, the water area is wide, suitable for large transoceanic ships, and the economic benefits are more significant.

From Los Angeles to Baltimore, the Nicaragua Canal route is 4,000 kilometers shorter than the Suez Canal and 7,500 kilometers shorter than bypassing the Cape of Good Hope.

The benefits of digging a canal are self-evident, and with the increasing development of shipping between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, it is clear that a more convenient route will bring many benefits.

The empire would be the biggest beneficiary, and if the canal were opened, take the Panama Canal as an example;

The range from New York to the imperial capital of Chang'an can be shortened by 16%, the distance from Liverpool to the imperial capital of Chang'an by 43%, and the flight from New York to Sydney can also be shortened by 28%. "Huh

"Aiqing's words are reasonable, the construction of the Central American Canal is imperative, and from the perspective of long-term development, investing in a larger Nicaragua Canal project has greater advantages." Emperor Richard agreed, but asked again after a change of tone; "Today, the development of Beihai Province, the development of Central America and the war in South America are all going on, and these are all places to burn money. With the financial resources of the government, can the follow-up project funding be guaranteed? ”

This question is true, Prime Minister Liu Xianjun is an army, he replied with a little hesitation;

"Your Majesty;

If the project survey and design is promoted this year, and the cement plant, prefabricated plate factory, stone quarry and other engineering preparations are built in advance, the entire Sino-US canal excavation project will be invested in 12~15 years in phases, and Wechen thinks that the current financial support is enough.

If there is really a shortfall, we can use bank loans and the support of the Imperial Cabinet to promote the construction of the project. ”

"Liu Aiqing, are you playing the idea of the royal family's money bag?" Richard couldn't help but laugh dumbly.

Prime Minister Yoo Hyun-jun replied confidently; "Your Majesty; Wei Chen thought that it was necessary for the imperial family to participate in this important project, after all, this was a century project that demonstrated the strength and glory of the empire, benefiting all the people, how could he be absent? "Huh

"Hehehe...... Very convincingly, I agreed. This project will require a lot of labor, and in the case of the Nicaragua Canal, where will this labor come from? ”

"Your Majesty; Wechin thought that the matter could be left to the discretion of the Andean governor. The current war in South America is progressing slowly, providing no less than 500,000 workers for the Nicaragua Canal construction site. It can be seen that Prime Minister Liu Xianjun has already thought deeply about this project, and continues to talk about the money;

"Benefiting from the industrial progress of the empire, the government is ready to make extensive use of construction machinery such as automobiles and tractors in the Nicaragua Canal project, and will also customize some engineering equipment such as mud and stone conveyor belts, high-power water pumps, bulldozers, and the use of blasting technology and many emerging technologies, so as to promote the construction of the excavation project quickly and well.

The government plans to reduce the use of labour by putting in freight trucks and tractors in batches as the canal is excavated.

The provinces of Panama and Nicaragua are now experiencing good economic development, and the ability to supply the grain and oil products needed for the canal project on the basis of reducing exports has allowed us to keep our investment at a low level.

……”

In 1869, the last year of the second term of the Yoo Hyun-jun Cabinet, a general election was held in June of this year, and after several rounds of primary elections, the Prime Minister and a new Cabinet for the next five-year term were elected at the end of November, and two-thirds of the members of the Imperial Diet were elected. Huh

This is a time of major political change

Prime Minister Yoo Hyun-jun was still able to concentrate on political affairs and vigorously promote major projects that would benefit the integration of the empire's territory and economic development, which reflected the responsibility of a diligent minister, which made Emperor Richard particularly satisfied.

Therefore, after the discussion in the court, Emperor Richard directly made a decision in favor of the Nicaragua Canal project, agreed to the imperial government's project construction, and warmly praised the prime minister and a group of cabinet ministers, and really poured a chicken soup for the soul of the country and the people.

The effect was also immediate, Prime Minister Liu Xianjun and a group of ministers who participated in the court meeting were like chicken blood, and the footsteps of leaving the Qinzheng Palace were all tigers, and they couldn't wait to rush to Nicaragua in Central America to start a big job.

Therefore, not only children need encouragement, but also the old and sophisticated ministers need encouragement!

History has taken a turn here

Originally, the Panama Canal disappeared, and the Nicaragua Canal was prepared under the leadership of the imperial government. Huh

The Andean Viceroyalty received a royal decree;

In 1869, no less than 300,000 able-bodied young laborers were deported to the Nicaragua Canal construction site, and 200,000 young and middle-aged laborers were deported the following year.