The Rise of the European Emperor

"Grand Duke, this is the Gulf of Panama you marked. Your subordinates did find the Pearl Islands you marked here, as well as Taboga Island and Taboguila Island. However, the Panama City you marked is not there. Found..." Aben was a little puzzled.

Marin smiled - of course you can't find it, it was my mistake, and I marked Panama City on the map. In fact, the Spaniards have not been to Panama, where did they come from Panama City? However, building a city in the location of Panama City is a plan that must be implemented. With Panama City, the invasion of the Peruvian Inca Empire and the trans-Pacific trade with Ming were facilitated. Among them, the trans-Pacific trade with Daming is currently the most important.

Aben continued:

"Although I didn't find Panama City, my subordinates inquired near the coast. In a seaside fishing village more than a dozen kilometers northeast of Taboga Island, I did inquire about the place where the pronunciation of 'Pnama' is. It's just... it seems to be a small place. fishing village..."

"Fishing village is right!" Marin interrupted Aben.

"In this way, Aben, you have found this small fishing village called Panama, and you have completed the task. I plan to send you with a fleet to occupy this fishing village called Panama and build a castle there, how about it?"

"Ah? But...but...I can only sail..." The bald Aben was a little confused.

"It doesn't matter, I will send someone who knows how to build castles to assist you. Your task is to organize people to build a dock in the local area. In the future, this place will become an important base for shipbuilding and repairing. As for building a city and developing local For other matters, I will arrange a deputy for you to solve. When Gollard's manpower has opened up the way to get here, all matters will be solved by him, and you can return to China. "

"This...this..." Aben hesitated. After all, he was not good at running a colony.

"It's done, I'll give you the title of a hereditary knight!"

"Okay, I've done it!" Without any hesitation, Aben agreed.

Aben's current credit is barely enough to make him a knight. However, that was just an ordinary knight, he died, and the descendants could not be hereditary. And Aben already has a one-and-a-half-year-old son. If he can get the title of hereditary knight, then his son will definitely be a noble in the future, and his descendants will be all in the future. This deal is well worth it!

Besides, Aben only needs to be in charge of operating the route and the dock, and other things, professional people are in charge, which is very in line with his wishes.

"So, is there a suitable place to build a dock near that small fishing village?" Marin asked with concern.

You know, the ships of this era are all wooden ships. Wooden boats are afraid of sea maggots, and sea maggots can only live in seawater areas, but are afraid of freshwater areas. Once the boat enters the freshwater area, the sea maggots that attach to the bottom of the boat and devour the hull will leave on their own.

Therefore, in this era, many of the fine ports of later generations are not suitable. Only those estuaries of freshwater rivers are good ports.

Aben thought for a while, and after trying to remember for a long time, he said:

"There is a river next to that small fishing village, but it's not big. It's okay to use the river's mouth to build a small dock, but it's not enough to build a large dock..."

"Then change the place! Is there a bigger river outlet nearby? It's better to bring your own harbor."

"Yes, a few kilometers to the east of that small fishing village, there is the mouth of a larger river. It may be more suitable to build a dock and a dock there!" Aben said after thinking about it.

"Okay, let's do it like this, build Panama City there!" In this way, the address of Panama City, at the suggestion of Aben, shifted a few kilometers eastward from the original historical location of the ancient city of Panama...

However, this has no effect. Anyway, Marin is temporarily unable to dig the Panama Canal. All he wanted was to build a rural concrete road from Cologne to Panama City. Shifting Panama City a few kilometers to the east has little effect.

Because the matter is too important, it affects the trade route with Daming, as well as the future control of Peru and Chile. To this end, Marin temporarily put aside all other business and began to help Aben choose assistants.

The construction of Panama City naturally requires a person who is proficient in architecture. So Marin found an architect named Storm and appointed him as the deputy mayor of Panama City, in charge of the construction of Panama City.

Because Panama City is surrounded by tropical rainforests, it is too difficult to collect stones from the tropical rainforest to build the city. So, Marin simply planned to send a few boats along with bricks and cement. Once there, build a small city wall compound directly with the bricks and cement that comes with it. Then, the buildings in the city walls are slowly built.

And Panama City, in fact, is to serve the port of trade with Daming. Therefore, this small town must have been built on the edge of that big river.

Storm is responsible for the construction of the city. Presumably with a few ships of bricks and cement, building a fortress that can house a few hundred people is not a problem.

What? Are you saying that a fortress that can hold a few hundred people is too small? Don't worry, this is for emergency use only. After all, when Panama was newly built, the population must have been small, and there was a need to guard against indigenous attacks. Therefore, it is the most correct choice to quickly build a fortress that can accommodate a few hundred people. As for the fortress being too small, when there are enough bricks and cement in the future, can't it continue to expand?

In addition, the focus is on the construction of ports and docks. To this end, Marin transferred several supervisors from the Emden Shipyard and followed Aben to Panama City, where he was responsible for the construction of the dock and the Long Bridge pier. In addition, they will be accompanied by three hundred craftsmen, responsible for the manufacture and maintenance of ships. Of course, this is only the first batch of craftsmen, and there will be people who will go there in the future. It's just that Marin has a shortage of shipbuilders right now, so he can only send 300 of them to set up the grass-bed team...

In order to solve the problem of lack of shipbuilding craftsmen, Marin has imitated the captain's school and established a special shipbuilding technical school to recruit young people who are willing to be craftsmen. Then, after a round of selection, some of those who are too clumsy are eliminated, leaving those young people with more flexible hands and feet for further technical training. And their training method is also very simple and rude - start with small canoes, and then change to small fishing boats when they are done. It's for the big fishing boat)...the big fishing boat can be built well...well, it is qualified and sent to the shipyard...

Currently, the Shipbuilding Technical School is cultivating 1,500 young craftsmen. However, due to the tight schedule, it is estimated that it will take another year or two before these people can basically start their training and then be sent to shipyards in Emden and North America...

In addition to the shipbuilding talents, Marin has also selected several agricultural talents to be responsible for growing food and fruit outside Panama City. After all, shipping food from home used to be too expensive. If it is possible to grow food on a large scale locally and be self-sufficient in advance, that would be the best. Considering the local hot and humid climate, growing rye is not suitable. Therefore, growing crops such as Indian rice and bananas outside Panama City is the best option. Of course, there is also the magical crop that comes with America - sweet potato... This is definitely the only magic weapon to fight hunger.

In addition to growing food, Marin also plans to have wormwood and pyrethrum planted on a large scale near Panama City to isolate those dreaded Panama poisonous mosquitoes. First, of course, someone has to cut down those damn trees. You know, those poisonous mosquitoes hide in the woods and bushes near the water during the day.

Therefore, Marin planned to buy another 1,000 slaves from Jorge de Castro, Duke of Coimbra in Portugal. Then, let those black uncles take their saws and go and cut down the trees outside Panama City. At the same time, the shrubs by the river were also pulled up... In this way, the poisonous mosquitoes near Panama City couldn't find a place to hide, and they could only be killed by the scorching sun during the day...

In addition, Marin will also supply large quantities of home-made mosquito coils to Panama City. The so-called home-made mosquito coils are made by mashing pyrethrum and wormwood, adding a small amount of yellow mud, and kneading them into strips. Then, get an incense burner, which is specially used to light mosquito coils, smoke and kill mosquitoes, and protect the lives of the colonists... After all, the poisonous mosquitoes in Panama are too deadly, and a bite may kill them...

This kind of home-made mosquito coils, which Marin personally tried, works very well, no less than modern mosquito coils. Also, it's not very toxic. Unlike the mosquito coils of later generations, chemical poisons are used, which endangers people's health. Of course, pyrethrum is also toxic after all. Children, especially infants, should be used with caution. It is pure wormwood mosquito coils, although the effect is almost, the taste is also great, but the health is guaranteed. As for why the mosquito coil is not made into a plate shape for later generations, but a simple and rude strip, it is because it requires a special mosquito coil plate to make it, which is very troublesome. And it is very easy to make a long strip, you can light it on any earthen incense burner, or even a bowl can be used, it is not troublesome at all, it is in line with the principle of "simple and rude"...

Finally, there is the issue of security. To this end, Malin specially selected 200 militiamen to protect the new port city. To enhance their combat effectiveness, Marin specially provided them with 200 clockwork-fired rifles. Panama City has a tropical rainforest climate, where arquebuses can easily go out. Therefore, it is the most appropriate to use a clockwork gun that is not afraid of rain...

It has the backing of the cement city wall, plus it has 200 clockwork muskets. Even though the combat effectiveness of these militias is far inferior to that of the regular army, there is no problem in defending Panama City and repelling the attack of the indigenous people...