"Dagong, this is the Panama Bay you marked. I did find the Pearl Islands you marked, as well as Tavoga Island and Tavogira Island. However, I did find the Panama City you marked..." Aben was a little confused.
Marin smiled - of course you can't find it. That was because I misled it and marked Panama City on the map. In fact, the Spanish had never been to Panama, so where did Panama City come from? However, building a city in Panama City is a plan that must be implemented. With Panama City, it will be conducive to the invasion of the Peruvian Inca Empire and the trans-Pacific trade with the Ming Dynasty. Among them, the trans-Pacific trade with the Ming Dynasty is currently the most important one.
Aben continued:
"Although I didn't find Panama City, my subordinates were close to the coast to inquire. In a seaside fishing village more than ten kilometers east of Tavoga Island, I did find out where the pronunciation of 'Pnama' was called. But... it seemed like a small fishing village..."
"It's right for the fishing village!" Marin interrupted Aben's words.
"In this way, Aben, you discovered this small fishing village called Panama, and it was considered to have completed the mission. I plan to send you a fleet to occupy this fishing village called Panama and build a castle in the local area. 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 a castle to help 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 ships. As for other local matters in the construction and development of the local area, I will arrange for you to solve the problem. When the Golard's men open up the road here and all matters will be solved by him, you can return to your country."
"This...this..." Aben hesitated. After all, he was not good at managing a colony.
"The matter is done, I will give you a title of hereditary knight!"
"Okay, I've done it!" Ah Ben agreed without any hesitation.
Aben's current contribution is barely enough to be a knight. However, that was just an ordinary knight. When he died, his descendants could not be hereditary. And Aben already had a 1 and a half-year-old son. If he could get the title of this hereditary knight, then his son would definitely be a noble in the future and his descendants would be all his descendants in the future. This deal is very worth it!
Besides, Aben only needs to be responsible for operating routes and docks, and other things, with professional people responsible, which is very in line with his wishes.
"So, is there any place to build a dock next to that small fishing village?" Marin asked with concern.
You should know that the ships of this era are all wooden boats. Wooden boats are afraid of the erosion of sea maggots, and sea maggots can only live in seawater areas and are afraid of freshwater areas. Once the ship enters the freshwater area, the sea maggots attached to the bottom of the ship and gnaw on the hull will leave on their own.
Therefore, in this era, many excellent ports in later generations were inappropriate. Only the estuaries of the Tamsui River were excellent ports.
Aben thought about it and tried to recall it for a long time before saying:
"There is a river next to that small fishing village, but it's not big. It's okay to use the river to build a small boat dock, but it's not enough to use it to build a large boat dock..."
"Then let's change the place! Is there a larger river estuary nearby? It's best to have your own harbor."
"Yes, a few kilometers east of the small fishing village, there is an entrance to a larger river. It may be more appropriate to build a dock and a dock there!" Aben said after thinking about it.
"Okay, just do it this way, build Panama City there!" In this way, the address of Panama City, at the suggestion of Aben, moved several kilometers eastward from the original historical location of Panama City...
However, this did not have any effect. Anyway, Marin did not have the ability to dig the Panama Canal for the time being. What he wanted was just to build a rural cement road from Cologne to Panama City. And moving Panama City to the east for a few kilometers would have little impact.
Because things were too important, it affected the trade routes with the Ming Dynasty and the future control of Peru and Chile. For this reason, Marin temporarily put down all other matters and began to help Aben select 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 lord 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 a city. So Marin simply planned to send a few boats to accompany him with bricks and cement. When he got there, he would directly use the bricks and cement to build a small city wall courtyard. Then, the buildings in the city walls would be built slowly.
Panama City is actually for the port of trade with the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, this small town must be built on the edge of that big river.
Storm was responsible for the construction of the city. With several ships of bricks and cement, it would be no problem to build a fortress that could accommodate hundreds of people.
What? You said that the fortress that can only accommodate hundreds of people is too small? Don’t be anxious, this is only for emergency purposes. After all, at the beginning of the construction of Panama, the population was definitely not large, and it was necessary to be guarded against attacks from indigenous people. Therefore, quickly building a fortress that can accommodate hundreds of people is the most correct choice. As for the fortress that is too small, can we continue to expand after we have enough bricks and cement?
In addition, the focus is on the construction of ports and docks. For this reason, Marin drew several supervisors from Emden Shipyard and followed Aben to Panama City to be responsible for the construction of the docks and Long Bridge Pier. In addition, they would also take 300 craftsmen to be responsible for the manufacturing and maintenance of ships. Of course, this is only the first batch of craftsmen, and there will be people to go there in the future. However, Marin has a shortage of shipbuilders now, so he can only send 300 people to build the straw troop...
In order to solve the problem of the lack of shipbuilding craftsmen, Marin has imitated the captain's school and specially established a shipbuilding technical school to recruit young people who are willing to be craftsmen. Then, after a round of selection, some of the stupid people were eliminated, leaving behind those who are more flexible, and conducting further technical training. Their training method is also very simple and crude - starting from a small canoe, and when done, it will be changed to building small fishing boats. When the small fishing boat is built, it will try to build large fishing boats (a fishing boat with more than 50 tons can be called large fishing boats in this era)... The big fishing boats can be built well... Well, if qualified, sent to the shipyard...
At present, the Shipbuilding Technology School is training 1,500 young craftsmen, but because of the tight time, it is estimated that these people will basically go on a year or two before they can start their training and then be sent to Emden and shipyards in North America...
In addition to the shipbuilding talents, Marin also selected several agricultural talents to be responsible for growing grain and fruit outside Panama City. After all, the cost of transporting grain from the local area was too high. If you could grow grain on a large scale locally and be self-sufficient in advance, it would be the best. Considering the local humid and hot climate, it is not suitable to grow rye. Therefore, it is the best choice to plant crops such as Indian rice and bananas outside Panama City. Of course, there is also the magical crop in the Americas - sweet potato... This is definitely the only magic weapon to fight hunger. Kang Mazi made the emperor of the ages with sweet potatoes...
In addition to growing food, Marin also plans to let people plant mugwort and pyrethrums on a large scale near Panama City to isolate the terrible Panama poisonous mosquitoes. Of course, the first thing to do is to cut off those damn trees. You must know that those poisonous mosquitoes hide in the woods and bushes by the water during the day.
So Marin planned to buy 1,000 black slaves from Jorge de Rencaster, Duke of Coimbra, Portugal. Then, he asked those black uncles to take a saw to saw the trees outside Panama City. At the same time, he also pulled out the shrubs by the river... In this way, it was difficult for poisonous mosquitoes near Panama City to 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 native mosquito coils to Panama City. The so-called native mosquito coils are to crush pyrethrum and mugwort, add a small amount of yellow mud, and pinch it into strips. Then, a incense burner is specially used to light mosquito coils, smoke and kill mosquitoes, and protect the lives of colonists... After all, the poisonous mosquitoes in Panama are too deadly. If you get bitten, you may die...
Marin personally tried this kind of local mosquito coil, and the effect is very good, no less than that of modern mosquito coils. Moreover, it is not very toxic. Unlike later mosquito coils, chemical poisons are used to endanger people's health. Of course, pyrethra is also toxic after all, and children, especially babies, should be used with caution. However, the mosquito coils of pure mugwort have a poor effect and a large smell, but their health is guaranteed. As for why the mosquito coils are not made into plate shapes of later generations, but are made into simple and rough long strips, because it requires a special mosquito coil plate to be made into plate shapes, which is very troublesome. It is easy to make it into long strips. You can light it by just finding a earthy incense burner, or even find a bowl to use. It is not troublesome at all. It is very consistent with the principle of "simple and rough"...
Finally, it is the issue of safety. For this reason, Marin specially selected 200 militias to protect this new port city. In order to enhance their combat effectiveness, Marin specially provided them with 200 clockwork rifles. Panama City has a tropical rainforest climate, and the mesh gun is easy to shut down there. Therefore, it is the most suitable to use a clockwork that is not afraid of rain to fire...
Chapter completed!