Chapter 702 Hawaii and Nicaragua

Chapter 702 Hawaii and Nicaragua

Regarding the issue of the ratio of male to female workers, the Austrian Empire can indeed ask the shogunate and each vassal to provide only women, or provide a large proportion of women.

Even if there are people with conscience and integrity in the shogunate, there will definitely be people in the local vassals who do it. Once someone does it, other people will be jealous, and then force those officials with conscience and integrity. If those officials People who are still unwilling to change their stance may even be removed as a stumbling block.

But this kind of thing exposes one's intention too obviously, and it is easy for others to manipulate it in reverse.

And no one who reaches the pinnacle of power in any era is a fool. Franz can use technology, systems, and foresight to crush them, but if he wants to rely on pure IQ to suppress them, he must turn on the aura of reducing intelligence.

At this time, the Austrian Empire and the shogunate were ostensibly allies, but in fact the latter was very clear about its position as a colony (vassal state).

The first thing they have to do after they become "strong" in the future is to get rid of this relationship. In addition, the stereotype that Japan has been a vassal state of China from ancient times to the present is actually not completely correct.

At least for the Qing Dynasty, Japan only recognized it as a mutual trading country. As for what he studied, he still studied Sinology and Chinese Medicine (TCM). Even the information returned from the Qing Dynasty was called "Tang style storytelling".

In addition, Master Shiquan's "Huidian" also recognized the concept of mutual trade between countries, including Russia, Britain and Japan.

As long as the sealing madman has something to brag about, he will definitely write down the rewards he gave to the Japanese country.

Tribute trade and mutual trade between countries are not the same concept. As for the Qing Dynasty's contempt for Japan, it was actually mutual. The latter called the former "Hua Yi Wei State" (かいへんたい). After World War I, some Japanese even felt that they were the orthodox Chinese.

I won’t go into details here. Firstly, it has little to do with the content of the book, and secondly, there are many controversies.

Back to the main story, despite the fact that the high-ranking officials of the shogunate and the local feudal lords were licking the Austrian Empire at this time, they just wanted to use the power of the Austrian Empire to regain control of the situation.

What they wanted was to reduce their dependence on the Austrian Empire after regaining power, and even stop the trade of some goods until they regained dominance in trade.

Rather than being discovered secretly and then secretly causing harm, it is better to openly let the other party discover this profitable BUG.

It is actually very easy to cause harm. You can get some sick individuals who are not easy to detect and mix them in. The possibility of detecting them is not high based on the medical level at the time. In addition, the local chaos will soon spread to a large area, and so on. The Japanese have used many destructive tricks throughout history.

On the contrary, if the shogunate and the various vassals discover this shortcut to make money, they will form an organization and spontaneously maintain their order.

When spies from the shogunate and various vassals discovered this phenomenon, they quickly established special organizations to fish for gold in the colonies of the Austrian Empire.

Another advantage of this is that you don't have to bear the infamy. After all, it is the industry of the allies, and it is also a traditional Japanese custom. In short, the shogunate and the various vassals will find good excuses for Franz.

In contrast, the life of Japanese laborers on Hawaii Island was much boring. They could only repeat the arduous work on the plantations day after day, and had to deal with the indigenous people who might appear at any time.

The Omo United Development Company also promised these people that they would be free after nine years of farming. However, the sparse population in the Hawaiian Islands did not give them many opportunities to engage in side jobs.

The treatment of shellfish workers is better, but the risks are also high. However, with the arrival of Austrian diving equipment, the number of workers required has dropped significantly.

Modern diving equipment cannot guarantee 100% safety. The diving equipment at that time was full of loopholes, and the probability of safety accidents was not low.

In addition, in order to maintain the stability and security of the colony, the personal freedom and rights of Japanese workers will be greatly restricted.

But fortunately they don't need to learn German, which means that even if they want to learn, no one will teach them. Generally speaking, heavy physical labor makes it difficult for people to have other thoughts.

There is plenty of food on the Hawaiian Islands, so it is a good thing that workers can have enough to eat. As for cash crops such as coffee and sugar on the islands, they can forget about it.

In short, the Hawaiian Islands, with their beautiful scenery, pleasant climate, ample sunshine and white sandy beaches, are nothing more than an agricultural base at this time.

However, even in this dark and dark hell according to Franz, the Japanese workers were very happy, especially when the whip fell, they found the feeling of home.

The treatment in Hawaii is much better than that in their hometown. They can eat as much as they work. Thinking of the days when they could never have enough to eat no matter how hard they worked, they were almost moved to tears.

Officials of the Hawaiian colony also liked these workers because compared to the local indigenous people who were always lazy and could not learn anything, the attitude and work efficiency of the Japanese workers were recognized.

Although Franz did not ask officials in Hawaii to teach Japanese workers German, the latter proposed active learning. This spirit did impress some idealists.

In fact, Franz's plan also provided Japanese workers with a salary, which the latter could use to purchase goods from the colonial government.

Franz hoped to use this subtle method to attract a small group of smart people to learn German, which would be more conducive to cultivating scabs and creating internal antagonism.

However, all this money was embezzled by colonial officials, and some scabs did not need to be trained. These people knew Dutch and began to compete for the position of foreman as soon as they got off the ship.

Because there were so many Japanese rapists who signed up, the Governor of Hawaii had to hold a real sword fight to decide the candidate. After all, being a foreman also requires force.

Compared to laborers in California and Hawaii, the Japanese laborers going to Nicaragua had a much harder time.

Digging a canal has never been an easy task in history. Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty dug the Grand Canal, which led to the death of the second generation of the Sui Dynasty; King Wu Fu Chai dug the Handou ditch, and the country was destroyed and died; the founder of the Yuan Dynasty, Kublai Khan, dug the Huishui River, and the national strength Take a turn for the worse

Huishui refers to Huitong River and Tonghui River.

It can be seen that canal digging is definitely a high-risk industry, but Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty was also carried into the Net Temple because of the Grand Canal and became one of the "Ten Philosophers"; King Wu Fu Chai was one of the five hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period; Kublai Khan at least did not subjugate his country...

Historically, 120,000 Egyptian workers died when the Suez Canal was opened, and 30,000 people who worked through the Panama Canal never returned home.

In fact, the Panama Canal was repaired twice, but the specific death toll of the French cannot be verified, and the United States has always had reservations about the death toll.

However, according to calculations based on the tombstones of migrant workers collected by later generations, the actual death toll should be around 70,000.

At this time, Panama still belonged to the Republic of Gran Colombia, and Britain, France, and the United States were all eyeing this area, so it was impossible for Austria to obtain the right to build the Panama Canal.

As for occupying Panama, don't even think about it. The great powers are not fools, and any reckless move may become a reason for a joint encirclement and suppression.

Even if they can win this place by cheating, the great powers will use their influence to create endless obstacles.

Historically, the French suffered a humiliating loss from their boss and left Panama in tears. If it hadn't been for the advent of World War I, the Americans might not have been able to hold on to this small ditch. In fact, just after the end of World War I, the Panama Canal was opened to the world.

The Panama Canal is 81.3 kilometers long and the Suez Canal is 173 kilometers long. However, the technical level at this time was relatively low. Franz felt that one thousand people per kilometer was a relatively conservative number.

In order to connect the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, Franz planned to build a canal in Nicaragua. However, he was not prepared to connect Lake Nicaragua across the Central American isthmus as later generations would do.

The Grand Canal of Nicaragua runs from the Punta Gorda River on the Caribbean side, along the Dule River into Lake Nicaragua, and then to the mouth of the Brito River on the Pacific coast. The total length is approximately 276 kilometers, which is three times the length of the Panama Canal.

In the nineteenth century, this approach was tantamount to wishful thinking. Franz planned to use existing waterways. The San Juan River had many rapids and could be navigable by shallow-draft ships.

Before the construction of the Panama Canal, this waterway was an important channel connecting the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. The west coast of Lake Nicaragua was only 19 kilometers away from the Pacific coast.

Historically, the San Juan River was located on the border between Nicaragua and Costa Rica, so conflicts between the two countries over the waterway continued.

Moreover, the river itself is affected by three dangerous shoals: Toroel, Castillo, and Machuca, so only small boats can be used.

However, at this time, both Nicaragua and Costa Rica had become colonies of the Austrian Empire, so there was no controversy.

Although the apparent length of the canal is only nineteen kilometers, in order to enhance its practicality, the three dangerous shoals mentioned earlier must be turned into thoroughfares, and the actual project length will not be less than forty kilometers.

Even so, the required construction period is far shorter than other future plans, and it can also save a lot of manpower and material resources.

But this plan is not perfect. First of all, although the part that needs to be excavated is greatly shortened, the length of the entire canal will be 2.2 times that of the Panama Canal.

Secondly, the upper limit of this canal is very low. Even if Franz digs out all the dangerous shoals, it will not change the river-based nature. Therefore, the channel is not deep nor wide enough. It can only pass medium-sized ships and large sea-going ships at most. Still can't pass.

In particular, the end needs to pass through the canyon, which increases the cost of widening the river exponentially. Moreover, future maintenance and upgrade costs will be astronomical, but at this time there is still no problem in transporting people and a small amount of cargo.

The Austrian version of the Nicaragua Canal will greatly shorten the time from Europe to California, while also making it possible to transport the latter's goods to the mainland.

In the past few years, the governments of Nicaragua and Costa Rica have filled in almost all the local indigenous people.

In fact, most of them moved to California, and those who were willing to leave were dragged to build canals.

However, these people are still not enough, so Japanese workers are needed to fill them.

At this time, the environment in Nicaragua was quite harsh. There were poisonous insects, ferocious beasts, malaria, yellow fever, and cholera that are common in tropical areas. It can be said that there were all five poisons.

In addition, the indigenous people who are unwilling to leave often attack lone workers, and there are also crocodiles and sharks in the water.

Yes, there are sharks in Nicaragua’s freshwater lakes.

However, due to the existence of waterways, eating is still not a problem. It's just that every meal could be their last.

There are many wild beasts in Central America, and no one competes with them, so the local native species were brutally slaughtered.

Most of these strange meats ended up in the stomachs of Japanese workers. After all, this kind of heavy physical work could not be done without some oil and water in the stomach.

In Japan during the Edo period, even samurai masters could not often eat meat. The vast majority of Japanese farmers may not be able to eat meat (except rat meat) several times a year.

In fact, according to the shogunate's decree at the time, civilians were not eligible to eat pork or beef. The meat they should eat was bird meat and fish.

However, this law was not implemented particularly effectively in practice. In addition to businessmen, most of the time classes other than samurai ate what they had.

Another point to note is that Japan is indeed an island country surrounded by sea, but not everyone can eat fish.

Many Japanese during this period had very serious dental caries. Historically, the founder of Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. (later Mitsubishi Heavy Industries), Yataro Iwasaki, was a low-level samurai who was famous for his dark buck teeth (he ate less meat). ).

So even in the face of such harsh reality, Japanese workers still feel that it is almost the same as celebrating the New Year.

As long as you dig the canal well, you can have enough food and even meat. Although it is a bit hard, everyone's face is filled with smiles of happiness and satisfaction.

The colonial officials felt a little guilty after seeing it, but beef was too expensive, and they still wanted to eat pork, so they had no choice but to let these workers make do with all kinds of weird bush meat, chicken, duck, and fish.

Compared with the indigenous people in Central America, Japanese laborers worked harder and almost never ran away, let alone bargaining all day, which earned the Nicaraguan colonial government unanimous praise.

But this consumption rate is a bit high. On the one hand, digging the canal is indeed tiring and dangerous. On the other hand, it is also due to the strange meat and harsh environment.

In fact, leaving Asia and joining Europe at this time was not just an ideal of the Japanese aristocracy and samurai class. Common people also had this idea.

A large number of leading parties and scabs made a very difficult task simple. Although the Japanese workers were very obedient, the superiority of Westerners or whites was engraved in their bones at this time, so whether they were scabs or laborers, It's rare to get a good death in the end.

The church took advantage of this opportunity and established extensive influence among Japanese laborers. Although the church may not regard them as one of its own, it is the only one willing to listen to them.

The main difference between Catholicism and Protestantism at this time is reflected in the control over believers. Through the social transformation of believers and communities, those Japanese believers will be drowned in a tightly woven network.

The church will play its role of spiritual comfort and give people more courage to face the miserable life and the dripping blood.

Work hard and honestly, do not rebel, and even if you are in trouble all your life, you will still have children and raise them to accomplish major life events, and you will have no regrets in your life.

Assure them that everything will be fine when they go to heaven after death, but how to go to heaven? Of course, I want to be a good young man who is loyal to the emperor and patriotic.

Of course, the church will not give away nothing. For example, if you listen to some preaching lectures, you will be given eggs or grains. Especially, listening to the preaching can give you a rest, so this is still very attractive to Japanese workers.

Everyone needs positive feedback. Asking workers to listen to preaching lectures during their breaks may arouse resentment or even provoke mutiny. But if you tell them that they can get some rest by listening to preaching lectures, then these people will definitely flock to it.

Over time, they will associate joy with preaching. That kind of indescribable throbbing and excitement will deepen their worship of some illusory idols.

In fact, the church has been preaching around the world for so many years and has already developed plans to deal with various situations.

In Franz's view, religion is a low-cost and high-return psychological investment for the people at the bottom, which can solve the most complex and unresolved problems in the simplest way.

For Franz, this is a double-edged sword, and he is always aware of this, so he uses it as well as defends against it.

(The Austrian version of the Nicaragua Canal route map has been sent to the group.)

In fact, I feel that my writing is okay, and I originally wanted to add an update today, but I found that I don’t have the time now, so I can only say sorry at this time.