Chapter 702 Hawaii and Nicaragua

Regarding the ratio of male to female laborers, the Austrian Empire can indeed ask the shogunate and the various feudal domains to only provide women, or to 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 feudal domains who will do it. Once someone does it, others will be jealous, and then force those officials with conscience and integrity to change their positions. If those people are still unwilling to change their positions, they will even be removed as stumbling blocks.

However, this kind of thing exposes one's intentions too obviously, and it is easy for others to take advantage of it.

Moreover, no one who can reach the pinnacle of power in any era is a fool. Franz can crush them with technology, system, and foresight, but if he wants to suppress them with pure IQ, he must turn on the aura of reduced intelligence.

At this time, the Austrian Empire and the shogunate are allies on the surface, but in fact the latter is very clear about its colonial (vassal) position.

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 since ancient times is actually not completely correct.

At least for the Qing Dynasty, Japan only recognizes it as a mutual trade country. As for what they learned, they still studied Sinology and Chinese medicine, and even the information sent back from the Qing Dynasty was called "Tang-style storytelling".

In addition, the "Memorial Code" by Shiquan Lao Ren also acknowledged the concept of the countries that traded with each other, which included Russia, Britain and Japan.

The stamp-stamping maniac would definitely write about the rewards he gave to Japan whenever he had something to brag about.

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

I won't continue to talk about it here. First, it has little to do with the content of the book, and second, there are many controversies.

Back to the book, although the high-ranking officials of the shogunate and the feudal lords of various places were like licking dogs to 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 commodities until they regained the dominant position in trade.

Rather than being discovered and then doing bad things in secret, it is better to let the other party discover this bug that can make money.

It is actually very easy to do bad things. Let some sick individuals who are not easy to detect sneak in. The possibility of detecting them is not high with the medical level at that time. In addition, the local chaos will soon spread to a large area. Such insidious tricks have been used by the Japanese in history.

On the contrary, if the shogunate and the various feudal domains find this shortcut to make money, they will form an organization and spontaneously maintain its order.

When the spies of the shogunate and the various feudal domains discovered this phenomenon, they soon established a special organization to make money in the colonies of the Austrian Empire.

There is another advantage to this, that is, there is no need 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 feudal domains will find a good excuse for Franz.

In contrast, the life of Japanese workers on the island of Hawaii is much more boring. They can only repeat the heavy work in the plantation day after day, and have to deal with the natives who may appear at any time.

The Austrian-Mexican Joint Development Company also promised these people that they would be free if they cultivated for nine years, but the small population of Austria on the Hawaiian Islands did not give them many opportunities to engage in side jobs.

The treatment of shellfish workers was better, but the risk was also high. However, with the arrival of Austria's own diving equipment, the requirement for the number of workers was greatly reduced.

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.

Fortunately, they do not 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 enough food on the Hawaiian Islands, and it is a good thing that the workers can have enough food. As for the cash crops such as coffee and sugar on the island, they can forget about it.

In short, the Hawaiian Islands, with beautiful scenery, pleasant climate, abundant sunshine and white beaches, are just an agricultural base at this time.

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

The treatment in Hawaii was much better than when they were in their hometown. They could eat as much as they worked. Thinking of the days when they could not eat enough no matter how hard they worked, they were almost moved to tears.

The officials of the Hawaiian colony also liked these workers very much, because compared with the local natives who always looked lazy and could not learn anything, the attitude and work efficiency of the Japanese workers were affirmed.

Although Franz did not ask the officials in Hawaii to teach the Japanese workers German, the latter proposed to learn it actively, and this spirit did move some idealists.

In fact, in Franz's plan, the Japanese workers could also get a salary, and the latter could use this money to buy goods from the colonial government.

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

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

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

Compared with the workers in California and Hawaii, the Japanese workers who went to Nicaragua had a much harder life.

Digging canals has never been an easy task in history. Emperor Yang of Sui dug the Grand Canal, and the Sui Dynasty died in the second emperor; King Fuchai of Wu dug the Han Canal, and the country was destroyed and he died; Kublai Khan, the founder of the Yuan Dynasty, dug the Huishui River, and the national strength took a sharp turn for the worse.

Huishui refers to Huitong River and Tonghui River.

It can be seen that digging canals is definitely a high-risk industry. However, Emperor Yang of Sui was also promoted to the Internet Temple because of the Grand Canal and became one of the "Ten Sages"; King Fuchai of Wu was even one of the Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period; Kublai Khan at least did not lose his country..

Historically, 120,000 Egyptian workers died when the Suez Canal was opened, and 30,000 people could never return home in the Panama Canal.

In fact, the Panama Canal was built twice, but the specific death toll of the French that time cannot be verified, and the United States has always reserved the death toll.

However, according to the tombstones of foreign populations counted 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, forget it. The great powers are not fools, and any rash actions may become a reason for joint encirclement and suppression.

Even if they can take this place like a cheat, the great powers will use their influence to endlessly trip it up.

In history, the French suffered a loss at the hands of the boss and left Panama in tears. If it weren't for the First World War, the Americans might not have been able to hold on to this small river. In fact, the Panama Canal was opened to the world shortly after the First World War.

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

In order to connect the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, Franz planned to dig a canal in Nicaragua. However, he did not intend to use the later practice of crossing the Central American Isthmus to connect Lake Nicaragua.

The route of the Nicaragua Grand Canal 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. It is about 276 kilometers long, three times the length of the Panama Canal.

In the 19th century, this approach was tantamount to a fool's dream. Franz planned to use the existing waterways. The San Juan River has many rapids and can accommodate 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 bank of Lake Nicaragua is only 19 kilometers away from the Pacific Ocean.

Historically, the San Juan River is located on the border between Nicaragua and Costa Rica, so it is controversial and conflicts between the two countries have broken out over the waterway.

Moreover, the river itself is affected by three dangerous rapids, Torroel, Castillo, and Machuca, and only small ships can navigate.

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

Although the apparent length of the canal is only 19 kilometers, in order to enhance practicality, the three dangerous rapids mentioned above must be turned into thoroughfares, and the actual amount of work will not be less than 40 kilometers.

Even so, the required construction period is much lower than other plans in later generations, and it can also save a lot of manpower and material resources.

However, 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 through all those dangerous shoals, it cannot change the essence of the river channel. Therefore, the channel is not deep or wide enough. At most, medium-sized ships can pass through, and large sea vessels still cannot pass through.

Especially the end needs to pass through the canyon, which makes the cost of widening the river rise exponentially. Moreover, the future maintenance and upgrade costs will be astronomical, but it is still no problem to use it to transport people and a small amount of goods at this time.

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

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

In fact, most of them moved to California, and the rest who were willing to leave were pulled to build the canal.

However, these people were still not enough, so Japanese workers were needed to fill in.

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

In addition, the natives who were unwilling to leave would often attack the lone laborers, and there were crocodiles and sharks in the water.

Yes, there are sharks in the freshwater lakes of Nicaragua.

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

There are many wild animals in Central America, and no one competes with them, so the local native species have been slaughtered inhumanely.

Most of these strange meats ended up in the stomachs of Japanese laborers. After all, this kind of heavy physical work cannot be done without some oil in the stomach.

In Japan during the Edo period, even samurai lords could not eat meat often. Most Japanese farmers could not eat meat several times a year (except rat meat).

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

However, this decree was not actually implemented very effectively. Except for merchants, the classes other than samurai ate whatever they had.

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

Many Japanese people in this period had very serious tooth decay. In history, the founder of Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. (later Mitsubishi Heavy Industries) Yataro Iwasaki was a lower-level samurai and was famous for his black buck teeth (he ate less meat).

So even in the face of such a harsh reality, Japanese workers still felt that it was similar to the New Year.

As long as they dug the canal well, they could have enough food and even meat. Although it was a bit hard, everyone's face was filled with happy and satisfied smiles.

The colonial officials felt a little guilty after seeing this, but beef was too expensive, and they wanted to eat pork themselves, so they could only let these laborers make do with all kinds of strange jungle meat and chicken, duck and fish.

Compared with the natives of Central America, Japanese laborers worked hard, almost never ran away, and would not bargain all day long, which made the Nicaraguan colonial government praise them unanimously.

It's just that the consumption rate is a bit high. On the one hand, digging the canal is indeed tiring and dangerous, and on the other hand, it is also due to those strange meats and the harsh environment.

In fact, at this time, leaving Asia and entering Europe was not only the ideal of the Japanese aristocracy and samurai class, but also the civilians had this idea.

The huge number of guides and scabs made a very difficult task simple. Although the Japanese laborers behaved very obediently, the superiority of Westerners or white people was engraved in their bones at this time, so whether it was scabs or laborers, they rarely got a good end in the end.

The church took advantage of this opportunity to establish a wide range of influence among Japanese workers. Although the church may not regard them as its own people, 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 drown in a tightly woven net.

The church will play its role of spiritual comfort, so that people will have more courage to face the miserable life and blood.

Work hard and don't rebel. Even if you are in a life of poverty, you must have children and raise children to complete the major events of life, and you will have no regrets in your life.

Assure them that everything will be there in heaven after death, and how to go to heaven? Of course, be a five-good youth who is loyal to the emperor and patriotic.

Of course, the church will not make money for nothing, such as listening to some preaching lectures to give eggs or food, especially listening to preaching can rest, so this is still very attractive to Japanese workers.

People need positive feedback. Letting workers listen to preaching lectures during their breaks may cause resentment or even provoke mutiny, but if you tell them that they can get rest time by listening to preaching lectures, these people will definitely flock to it.

Over time, they will associate joy with preaching. The 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 long come up with plans to deal with various situations.

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

For Franz, this is a double-edged sword, and he always knows this, so he uses it and guards against it.

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

Actually, I feel that the writing is okay, and I wanted to add more today, but I found that there is no time now, so I can only say sorry at this time.