Volume 4: Hot! The whole world is a warring state Chapter 645 Suez Opened
"Long live!"
"God bless!"
“God is great!”
When Sun Chuanting landed in America and prepared to adjust the force configuration to strike a critical blow to the Spanish American colonies. At 9 o'clock in the morning on May 5, 1636, at the junction of Asia and Africa, when Philip's convoy entered the construction site. With the order of Chief Engineer Steven, a solid cement wall was completely blasted, and the boundless Mediterranean water rushed into the river channel that had been dug in front of the wall, merging with the Red Sea water that had already flowed into this place.
After Spain gained North Africa in 1626, it used the whole country's strength to build the Suez Canal, even at the cost of incurring huge debts every year. After more than nine years of hard work by 300,000 workers day and night, it was finally opened!
"Congratulations, Mr. Steven! Your name will be passed down forever with this great project!"
"Your Majesty, thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving me the opportunity to be in charge of such a great project! Yes, my name will surely be passed down with the opening of the canal. However, the world will never forget that it is because of your foresight and persistence that this canal was finally born!"
In the historical plane, many sages, wise rulers and ministers in Asia, Africa and Europe have proposed the idea of building the Suez Canal. However, due to the limitations of the scientific and technological means at the time (scientists in the 16th and 17th centuries believed that the sea levels of the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea were inconsistent, and the construction of a canal connecting the two seas required the construction of ship locks, but the technology at the time was not feasible), and the Ottoman Empire was still very strong at that time, and refusing to build the Suez Canal would lead to the geographical marginalization of the Ottoman mainland. So it was not until 1856 in the 19th century, when the Ottoman Empire had become so weak that the French finally obtained permission to build a canal in Suez.
Construction began in 1859 and opened in 1869. Two hundred thousand workers took ten years to complete. By the time the project was completed, 120,000 workers had died on the construction site.
In this dimension, perhaps in terms of engineering technology alone, Spain at this time is still inferior to a French company in the 19th century. However, in terms of organization and security, it is much stronger. And due to the progress of medicine, the plague did not break out at the construction site during the construction of the Suez Canal in this dimension, which happened many times.
Therefore, after nine years of construction, out of 300,000 workers, less than 30,000 died on the construction site - for such a project in the harsh environment of the hot and dry desert, the casualty rate was less than one-tenth, let alone the Europeans, even the local Arabs could not complain.
"Your Majesty, this canal is 195 kilometers long, and the narrowest part is 150 meters. However, due to the terrain, the shallowest water in the canal is only 11 meters deep. At this depth, sailing warships can pass safely. Existing ironclad ships, even the Prince of Asturias battleship currently being fitted out, will have no problem. But if there really comes a day in the future when the tonnage of ironclad ships rises to more than 50,000 tons, it will be difficult for them to pass through."
"Steven, it doesn't matter. It may take many years for a 50,000-ton giant ship to appear. If the shipbuilding industry has made such progress over the years, mechanical engineering materials must have also made progress. When the time comes, we can dredge, widen and deepen the canal."
"Oh, Your Majesty always has foresight and can see things that we cannot see."
"Hahaha, Steven, how can a professional like you learn to flatter? Okay, let's not talk about this. I want to ask, how long does it take to enter and exit a 195-kilometer river?"
"According to your instructions, we have established a system of guide ships and escort ships. The current estimate is that a sail-powered ship will take 40 hours. A steam-powered ironclad ship will take 50 hours. Of course, this is just our estimate. The exact time will require a lot of data to be collected before we can analyze and improve it."
It's not bad. Hearing this data, Philip had a toothache: After all, the passage time of the Suez Canal has been shortened to less than 15 hours in later generations. However, the power of the ship and the speed on weekdays are not important when sailing here. Safety is the first priority when sailing in the canal, so no matter how fast you can sail, you must sail slowly when entering the canal - the larger the ship, the slower it must sail. After all, if it really sinks, a large ship can block the river.
However, 50 hours is also good. If you really want to go around the Cape of Good Hope, with the African continent's coastline of more than 30,000 kilometers, no matter how hard the Spanish steam ironclad squeezes the boiler, it will take more than two months to go around. And given the current situation where there are only a few supply points and maintenance stations along the African coast, the condition of the ship after going around the African continent really depends on faith...
In short, the opening of this canal finally provides Spain and the European Union with a channel to quickly and effectively deploy their power to Asia.
"Steven, once again, congratulations and thanks to you and all the engineers. Next, I appoint you as the chief engineer of the Suez Canal Authority. Please come up with a better technical support plan based on the actual operation of the canal."
"As you command, my Lord."
After returning to Suez from the construction site, Philip, who had his ears filled with sand from being outdoors, took a shower first, and then asked someone to invite his Prime Minister Osvalles.
"My Prime Minister, who are you going to recommend as the Director of the Suez Canal Authority?"
"Eh? Your Majesty, isn't that Steven?"
"Haha, the Dutch are professional technicians, they are not good at management."
"…Then Your Majesty, I recommend Duke Agazo Cordoba. As the descendant of Duke Gonzano, this gentleman has certain ability to lead troops. He has also been very helpful in helping me deal with domestic taxation in recent years. If he is responsible for the management of the canal, it should bring rich tax revenue to Your Majesty and the kingdom. And if there is any emergency in the canal area that requires the use of force, I believe he can handle it."
"Okay, then let him take office on a certain day. I hope that in a year, the Suez Canal will be able to provide the Royal Government with more than 10 million in taxes every year."
"Not to mention the European Union, there are more than 20,000 Spanish merchant ships sailing on the sea right now, and more than 80% of them are traveling between Europe and Asia. Therefore, your goal should not be difficult to achieve."
“Hahaha, I’m very much looking forward to it.”
After Osvalles bowed and left, Philip paced slowly in the room with a smug look on his face, and then his eyes fell on the globe on the table in the room.
After looking at Suez, the border between Asia and Africa, several times, he gently turned the globe and focused his attention on Panama, the narrowest area in South America.
However, after watching for a while, he shook his head helplessly: the sea levels of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans are different, at least in the waters of Central America, which means that if you want to build the Panama Canal, you must have multiple levels of locks. And this technology is too difficult for Spain at present.
Moreover, why build the Panama Canal? Spain is not the United States. Its national foundation is in Europe, and its core territory in the Americas is also located on the east coast of the American continent. Is it to build the Panama Canal at this time so that the Chinese can deploy their forces to the eastern part of America through this canal in the future?
So, the option of building a Panama Canal, at least for now, does not exist.
He turned the globe back and began to stare at the Suez area. After looking at it for a while, he still felt dissatisfied, so he simply found a pen and painted the area where the Isthmus of Suez was originally land in light blue.
After doing all this, he was still not satisfied, so he simply spread out a piece of letter paper and started writing a letter to Ibrahim of Osman.
The history professor's letter was written with great literary talent, but it can be summarized into three points:
1. The opening of the Suez Canal, an event that had a major impact on geopolitics, commerce, and people's livelihood, was realized two hundred years ahead of schedule in my hands. Am I awesome?
Second, as an ally, I allow your ships to use the Suez Canal at the same rate as EU ships. Isn't that fair?
3. I am so powerful and so righteous. Don't you have any expression? Now, I am ready to use my main force to fight for India. After all, the human resources and natural resources there are too rich. I can't do anything before the Suez Canal is opened. But now, I will never allow such a good place to be sucked dry by the Chinese time traveler for a long time!
But my main force has gone to Asia, what should I do if you attack me? So, my ally, please give me some assurance.
After all, Suez , so Ibrahim's reply arrived ten days later: How can I guarantee it? Your intelligence agents are spying on my country and buying off informants. I didn't arrest them and stone them to death because of our alliance. Moreover, since you have so many intelligence agents, you should know that my main focus is on annexing Persia. The entire Ottoman Empire now has 200,000 new troops, and 150,000 of them are on the eastern front. How can I guarantee it?
Philip: Let's establish a system of mutual dispatch of military observers. We dispatch observers to the Balkans and southern Asia Minor. You can dispatch observers to Vienna and North Africa.
Yiplash: Okay, okay, that's it. Don't bother me anymore in the future. I hope you suffer a big setback in India.
There was no instant communication technology like WeChat in this era, so after the two exchanged letters many times, it was already late June 1636 .
After receiving Ibrahim's last letter, Philip smiled helplessly: You are so grown up, why do you still talk like a child?
Then he began to arrange for observers to be stationed in the border area between the other side and the European Union, and instructed the European Commission and the Spanish government to start making plans for an expedition to India.
In fact, the EU and Spain had done plans before. But now that the Suez Canal has been opened, there is no doubt that more manpower can be invested. Therefore, even if it was a modification of the old plan, his subordinates did not come up with a plan that he approved until August of this year.
However, at this time, he received an urgent message from America: the Chinese and Indians launched a counterattack against Spain on the American continent!
