Chapter 793： Repair of Panama Cement Road

Of course, the so-called "Panama land road is cleared" does not mean that the road connecting Panama to the two oceans has been repaired, but that the colonial team commanded by Gorard finally opened the road in the tropical rainforest of Panama by cutting trees and opening up It was just an empty dirt road.

Mr. Lu Xun once said-"There is no road in the world. If there are more people walking, it becomes the road" ... but this refers to the grassland area. In the tropical rain forest, the process is much more difficult ...

First, you have to cut down the trees that are blocking the road. Otherwise, there is a big tree, how to build a road? Panama ’s trees are tropical rainforests that have grown naturally for thousands of years, and are not comparable to the small trees behind the houses in front of the village. Most of the trees here are very tall, and many people can hug the tree trunk only when they hug.

Therefore, it is very difficult to cut down the trees here. Not to mention, the same huge roots have to be dug out ...

It would be nice if there were only such a problem, after all, it was just some labor. The situation in Panama is special. In the tropical rain forest, there are various poisonous mosquitoes and poisonous insects. Malaria, yellow fever and other tropical diseases such as malaria are spread widely. You know, because of the malaria and yellow fever transmitted by these poisonous mosquitoes, the Panama Canal was dug in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, so how many 22,000 workers died of disease ...

Fortunately, Marin is a traverser, he knows the terrible tropical rainforest in Panama. Therefore, he made preparations in advance-obtained a lot of mosquito-repellent toilet water for the colonial team to avoid death.

But despite this, in the past few years, dozens of colonial teams of thousands of people in Panama have died ...

Finally, Marin had to make a big move-buy slaves from the Portuguese ...

The living environment of black people, especially those in West Africa, is very similar to that of the tropical rainforests of Panama. Therefore, black people in West Africa, who can grow up in adulthood, generally have antibodies against the viruses carried by tropical poisonous mosquitoes. If this is not the case, they will not survive into adulthood.

Therefore, it is a very correct decision to introduce West African black slaves and come to the tropical rainforest of Panama to cut trees. To this end, Malinte contacted the illegitimate son of the last king of Portugal, João II, Jorge de Rencastre, Duke of Coimbra, and bought slaves from him.

Jorge de Rencastre, Duke of Coimbra, happened to have great interests in Africa-Madeira (also known as Cristiano Ronaldo's hometown) and Sao Tome (Portugal was earlier on the West African coast Colonies) are their sites. The slaves that Marin bought from him were actually exported from Sao Tome Island. Because the merchant ship under the Duke of Coimbra, based on Sao Tome Island, can contact the black tribes on the nearby African coast, and can use valuable goods to buy prisoners of war from tribal wars from those black tribes. slave……

It was precisely through the purchase of several batches of more than 6,000 black slaves from Jorge de Rencastre, Duke of Coimbra, Portugal, that Gorard struggled to complete the plan to cut trees in the tropical rainforest of the isthmus of Panama. These black people in West Africa are also in good health, and Gorard did n’t apply much mosquito-repellent toilet water to them. In the end, these more than 6,000 people died of illness, that is, dozens of people, and the death toll of thousands of colonists sent by Marin. It looks like ...

However, don't think that the trees are cut down and it's done when you wade out of a dirt road. It's still early, and dirt roads can only be regarded as a beginning ...

Why? Because of the heavy rain in Panama ...

Once the rainy season comes, the tropical rainforests in Panama are definitely downpours. Once a heavy rain falls, this dirt road is bound to be muddy.

If it's okay to leave, it's a big deal to get your shoes dirty and wet. However, the original intention of this road was for transportation ... so, dirt road is absolutely impossible.

According to the plan, Marin intends to build a cement road here. Don't be too wide, as long as there is a country cement road, it can be three or four meters wide. Anyway, the width of the carriage is only 1.414 meters.

However, considering that the Panama region has a tropical rainforest climate, it is easy to accumulate large areas of water. But the roadbed is soaked in water for a long time, it is easy to soak. When the vehicle rolls over again, the road will be crooked.

Therefore, Marin has explained to Gorard before-must choose a route with a good drainage environment ...

Therefore, the Panama Isthmus is only 65 kilometers wide, and the total length of the road chosen by Gorard has reached 80 kilometers. The reason why the additional 15 kilometers is to avoid low-lying areas and to take higher lots is mainly to drain water and prevent the subgrade from being damaged.

Of course, even if some low-lying areas are avoided, low-lying areas are still unavoidable in some connected areas. Therefore, after the dirt road is opened, while building the cement road, it is necessary to dig drainage ditch on the edge of the low-lying areas that cannot be avoided, and try to send the accumulated water to the nearby rivers and lakes ...

...

So, this land road across the isthmus of Panama is just the beginning. Next is the highlight ...

First, Marin will mobilize a large amount of cement and bricks from Newfoundland and ship it to Panama with a new schooner, which will be provided to the construction team to repair the cement road. Corner Brook in western Newfoundland, because of its limestone mines, is now the most important cement producing area under Marlin. There are limestone and clay here, just need to transport coal and fly ash from Cape Breton Island, and fluorite from the local area, you can mass produce high-quality fly ash cement. Without fly ash, it would be ordinary Portland cement. However, Cape Breton Island produces a large amount of fly ash every day in its salt cooking base and paper mill, and it is also wasted.

Secondly, while building cement roads, the excavation of drainage ditches in low-lying areas also needs to be carried out simultaneously. After all, if the drainage is not done properly, the roadbed will be difficult to be damaged during the rainy season. Once the road is broken, maintenance is very troublesome. Moreover, road construction requires fast-drying special cement, and Marin does not have it ...

In addition, Marin will allow people to build a lot of pyrethrum and wormwood on both sides of the cement road while building roads and digging trenches ...

Pyrethrum and wormwood are both nemesis plants of mosquitoes, especially pyrethrum. The mosquitoes smelled immediately after being poisoned, which is very powerful. As a result, as long as the roadside is full of pyrethrums, the smell of pyrethrins will continue to be emitted. Then, the driver of the transportation vehicle on the cement road is safer, so that he will not get malaria, yellow fever and other terminal illnesses after being bitten by mosquitoes ...

...

After learning that Panama's land road was open, Marin was very excited. After all, the Panama City side will be an important transit point for trade with Daming in the future, and also a transit point for Chile's saltpetre transportation.

Therefore, in order to start the construction of the Panama Cement Road as soon as possible, Marin signed an order to order the local cement road craftsmen to immediately go to Panama and guide the local colonial team to construct the cement road. In addition, local pyrethrums will be sent to Panama and planted on both sides of the road ...