With the acceleration of construction, the two cities in the north and south of Panama have initially begun to function as trading cities, mainly because their geographical location is so advantageous.
Zhu Hao saw the first batch of Native American ships in the North City of Panama, later known as Cologne. They came from the islands in the northeastern Caribbean. They had early contact with Europeans and retained their own city-state structure.
of indigenous peoples.
Zhu Hao's communication with this group of people was not very smooth, and he could only rely on the Aztecs to communicate with them. Based on his description, this group of people probably had their own country on the island of Haiti or Cuba.
It can be said that they are envoys sent by the Europeans to come to Panama for trade on behalf of the Europeans. All they want is gold and silver.
"They are here to negotiate with us...The captain explained that if we hand over the silver mines in the north to them, they will pay at least half of the silver to us every year, and they do not need us to send people, they will lead the people themselves.
To mine... In addition, we want to hand over the silver we get from all over the Americas to them, and they will give us various supplies..."
Zhu Hao temporarily calls this group of people Caribbean middlemen.
This group of people came to act as a mouthpiece for the Europeans. After the Europeans gradually lost control of Central America, many silver mines were left there. Moreover, they found out through some channels that Zhu Hao had no interest in mining silver mines.
I ordered many mines to be sealed, and I was heartbroken over this.
Since they knew that the Ming Dynasty did not focus on the mining of gold and silver in the Americas, and that Zhu Hao did not implement a silver standard system in South America, they had the idea of profiting through trade.
You must know that the amount of silver in circulation in Europe is very large today, and most countries in Asia and Africa use silver as the main currency. This thing can be exchanged for real benefits for the European colonists. They feel that you
We will mine things that are not rare in the Ming Dynasty, and we only need to pay you taxes.
Kill two birds with one stone, why not?
Zhu Hao's reply to this was simple: "I also need silver, but I won't mine it for the time being. If they want to trade, then bring what I need, that is, horses, cattle, sheep and other livestock. Only this can be obtained from me."
Exchange gold and silver here, otherwise there is no need to discuss it at all!"
The territory controlled by Zhu Hao does have some supplies that are in short supply right now, and that is livestock.
Although he is already preparing to send a fleet across the Atlantic to Europe and the African continent for trade, his current focus is still on how to consolidate his existing territory so that when he takes over the Ming Dynasty, the Americas will not be overrun by Europe.
People reoccupy.
Under this premise, what Zhu Hao has to do is to use Europeans to complete trade.
In other words, first ease relations with the Europeans so that the Europeans have channels to obtain the silver produced in the Americas, and at the same time Zhu Hao gets what he wants.
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After the Caribbean middlemen returned, within a month, they brought back the livestock Zhu Hao needed.
Unfortunately, because the Europeans had never planned to vigorously develop animal husbandry in the Americas, Zhu Hao could not get more useful things from them. The horses he brought over were only twenty, and there were slightly more cattle and sheep, but
It is far from meeting Zhu Hao's requirements.
"Do they think this is some rare treasure? They want to exchange a large amount of gold and silver from me for such a small thing? They are indeed profiteers!"
Zhu Hao suddenly felt that these people were not middlemen, but simply a group of profiteers, and they were the kind of profiteers with a huge appetite.
Guan Jing, who was standing behind Zhu Hao, shouted loudly: "Why don't we send a few ships and destroy them all!"
Zhu Hao was not interested in this, and said: "Set the price with them, two hundred taels of silver for a horse, one hundred taels for a cow, twenty taels for a sheep, and the rest... we can figure it out."
The price Zhu Hao offered was already very high.
It left a way for European colonists and middlemen to make money. The price of a horse in Europe would not exceed twenty taels of silver. If it was shipped to America, it could be exchanged for two hundred taels, which was equivalent to ten times the profit, and
Zhu Hao monopolized the silver output in Central America, and Europeans were now in desperate need of a way to earn silver.
Setting out specific prices will make it easier for Europeans to carry out smuggling trade. They may not need to transport horses from Europe to this side. Horses are also produced in Africa, West Asia, and Central Asia.
In fact, only the Americas and Australia have been unable to obtain horses because they were isolated from several major continents in the past and had never had trade contacts.
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After the price was set, the Caribbean middlemen replied to Zhu Hao, and they actually counter-offered... They asked for a good war horse, priced at three hundred taels of silver, while the prices of cattle and sheep did not fluctuate much.
Zhu Hao maintained the price for cattle, sheep and other livestock, and raised the price for horses to 230 taels of silver per horse, which was considered an additional freight.
After the Caribbean middlemen returned, they immediately discussed with the European colonists about transporting livestock to the Americas. Guan Jing and others did not understand this, because in their view, the Ming Dynasty's fleet could actually go to Europe and Africa to plunder.
There is no need to let unscrupulous middlemen make the difference.
At a military meeting, Zhu Hao explained the situation to these people: "Our top priority now is to ensure the stability of our territory. Sending troops to sea across the rough Atlantic Ocean and reaching the European continent will bring us more risks than rewards, and we will be there after we pass."
A war will immediately break out with them, and supplies cannot be obtained directly until the opponent is defeated.
"The current situation in Europe is complicated, and various countries are fighting against each other. If we go there, it will make them unite and work together to deal with us. In this case, it is better to sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight and reap the benefits. Sooner or later we will kill them
All the countries and territories will be occupied, but before that, we can exchange the money that is not currently needed into useful materials to increase our strength and lay a solid foundation for winning future wars."
In fact, Zhu Hao has never stated in the army that he will send troops to the Ming Dynasty. He still regards himself as a citizen of the Ming Dynasty. If he tells his men at this time, he will turn back and attack the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Hao does not know that these people are not around at home.
What would you think in this situation?
Therefore, if Zhu Hao wanted to attack the Ming Dynasty, he would have to rely more on the Indian recruits trained by himself.
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Europeans had to transport livestock from Europe and Africa to and from the American continent. Fortunately, they were already familiar with traveling back and forth between several continents, so it didn't take much effort.
Colon City in the north of Panama will serve as Zhu Hao's terminal for receiving Atlantic trade supplies in the future. It will also be the only city in the entire continent that legally conducts ocean trade. Its status is destined to be higher than that of SF City in South America.
But there are not many residents here. Even if 600,000 people migrated from the entire Panama region, after all, the terrain here is long and narrow, and there are many tropical rainforests that are not suitable for farming, so there is not that much land granted to the people.
The population can only extend to the east and west wings. There is not enough land in the surrounding area to build big cities. We can only build some small towns first and let the residents living in them organize their own defense. After all, there are still many scattered Europeans in the American continent, even in the south.
On the east coast of America, there are still many towns where Europeans are settled.
Zhu Hao has not yet marched to the east coast of South America, nor has he attacked many islands in the Caribbean.
For Zhu Hao, these are things that can be put aside later. He just wants to accumulate more strategic materials now.
At this time, he had an obsession in his heart. The significance of going back and taking down the Ming Dynasty was far greater than conquering Europe.
As a Han Chinese, Zhu Hao left his hometown and completed primitive accumulation in America. Now he seems to have used his full ambition to benefit the indigenous Americans. On the contrary, the Chinese people are still in a feudal and backward state, suffering from natural and man-made disasters.
pain.
Zhu Hao didn't want to regard himself as a saint, but if he had occupied the Ming Dynasty, he would have been much more proactive than he was now if he only had the 60 million people.
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The construction of Cologne City and Panama City was very smooth, with 600,000 people filling them. Zhu Hao felt that within a few decades, this place would become the most prosperous place in the Americas.
What restricts Panama's development is still the land issue.
The population can no longer grow rapidly.
The shipyard in Cologne City is stepping up production day and night. Various materials such as wood, coal and even steel are obviously insufficient. Zhu Hao originally planned to build a railway from SF City in South America directly to Panama City, and then extend to Cologne City and the north.
The new city, Chang'an City... This plan seems too exaggerated.
Of course, Zhu Hao has a more ambitious plan, which is to build the Panama Canal, but Zhu Hao knows that this plan is not feasible for the time being.
Under today's technological conditions, it may not take hundreds of thousands of people ten or even twenty years to build a canal. This is much more time-consuming and laborious than the Grand Canal in China. After all, it is built in a tropical rainforest area.
The canal also needs to be able to accommodate large ocean-going ships, so it cannot be built casually.
As for building the railway, Zhu Hao had done some exploration before, but because he needed to accumulate steel to build large iron wheels, he could only postpone the plan for building the railway temporarily.
There was not enough steel, so wood had to be transported from the south and north. Most of the ships built by shipyards on the Atlantic coast were wooden ships.
Ports on the Pacific coast are mostly used to receive goods and then deliver the goods from Panama City to Cologne by land.
From this point of view, Zhu Hao needs a short-distance railway, that is, the railway from Panama City to Cologne City. After all, minerals from SF City and other places can be easily transported to Panama by sea. In this way, the railway from Panama to SF City can be
Slowly, but the railway between Panama and Cologne cannot wait.
After careful exploration, Zhu Hao transferred more than 20,000 professional road construction workers from SF City to cooperate with construction workers from Cologne City and Panama City to start building this railway connecting the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
The total length of the railway is one hundred and fifty miles.
The locomotive was manufactured in Panama City, the rails were manufactured in SF City, and the sleepers were completed in New City and then transported by ship to pave the road in one direction from south to north. The length of this railway exceeds the railway from SF City to the southern coal mining area.
Because this railway is of great significance, Zhu Hao attaches great importance to it.
Mainly because of the special terrain here, we have to prepare for the future construction of the Panama Canal. The location of the railway is very important. Fortunately, the terrain here is relatively flat compared to the South American continent. The only thing that needs to be crossed is the Chagres River, which is equivalent to building a
Railway parallel to the canal.
Zhu Hao set a construction period of three months for this railway.
But in the end, the railway was completed within two months.