Chu Sheng looked at Cairo Port. The size of this port ranks among the top in Europe.
Under the leadership of pilots, the cargo ships of the fleet entered the port one after another to unload their cargo.
The technology used in the port is the technology of the early Great China Empire.
At the port, a steam gantry crane is used to load the cargo from the ship onto a train pulling a flatbed.
Chu Sheng was surprised that railway tracks were built here in Fujian and steam trains could be built.
This completely went beyond what he thought was common sense, even if the relevant factories could be transferred from the Dahua Empire.
There are no workers with rich knowledge base here, and they cannot build a railway track in such a short period of time.
Li Xingge was also very surprised when he saw this freight train.
"Brother Chu, Fujian is so fast. When I left here two months ago, I didn't see the shadow of this railway track."
After Li Xingge finished speaking, he looked at a large number of cargo ships waiting to unload.
"Brother Chu, I have dozens of ships here, waiting to unload, transport, and load again.
I will accompany you for a walk around, but it will take three or four days before we can continue our journey."
Chu Sheng agreed, he also wanted to observe the development here in Fujian.
He was promoted to the right minister of the Ministry of Rites, and was mainly responsible for overseeing diplomatic work.
Except for England and France, these countries have established diplomatic relations.
His most important job was to maintain the relationship between the Great China Empire and its vassal states.
Understanding the situation in Fujian now will be beneficial to future work.
Chu Sheng also wrote down all his experiences after leaving England on paper.
He plans to return to China, bind these experiences into a book, and publish them to broaden the horizons of the people.
Chu Sheng and Li Xingge, with their bodyguards and waiters, were preparing to go to Cairo City.
They stepped on the concrete floor of the port, changing from the unstable environment on the ship to the stable shore, and their bodies felt slightly uncomfortable.
Li Xingge suggested: "Let's go to a hotel in the port to taste the local food and adapt to life on the shore."
Several of them took a carriage and arrived at a rather luxurious hotel.
While tasting local delicacies, listen to the chats of the surrounding diners.
When dining at Cairo Port Hotel, most of these diners are businessmen from all over the world, and they are extremely well-informed.
Two of the news were the most explosive. In order to learn the details, Chu Sheng even treated everyone to a few jars of wine.
The most important news is that the construction of the Suez Canal has begun.
Fujian raised a large amount of funds by selling bonds.
They used captives from the Ottoman Empire and captured African slaves as labor to dig the Suez Canal.
Another piece of news is the railway they just saw.
This railway was not manufactured and built in Fujian, but a complete set of equipment was imported from the Great China Empire.
This railway is the earliest Beijing-Tianjin Railway.
The Dahua Empire train has been replaced with a more advanced horizontal steam engine.
In order to withstand the corresponding speeds, railways need stronger steel.
The old track of the Beijing-Tianjin Railway was abandoned.
It was packaged and purchased by Zhang Yuliang, the king of Fujian, to connect the Mediterranean and the Red Sea to facilitate the transportation of goods between the two places.
After Chu Sheng listened to the introductions of these businessmen, he was relieved of his doubts.
It is true that the technology of building railways cannot be achieved by relying solely on the development of Fujian during this period.
They were full of wine and food, and Li Xingge remembered how excited Chu Sheng was when they talked about the Suez Canal just now.
He suggested: "Brother Chu, it will take a few days to load the goods.
We went to the Suez Canal excavation site to have a look.
Our family also spent tens of millions of taels of silver coins to purchase bonds of the Canal Company.
This must not be a scam, our family has invested so much, it will definitely be a strain."
Chu Sheng originally wanted to see the Suez Canal.
The news about Fujian has just reached Europe, and European countries are still relatively calm.
When they defeated the Ottoman Turkish Empire army, they prepared to dig the Suez Canal.
This has caused countries in Europe to become abnormal.
Chu Sheng could realize the strategic role of the Suez Canal just by looking at the map.
But he really wanted to conduct an on-site inspection and personally verify the strategic role of the Suez Canal.
Chu Sheng nodded and said: "Brother Li, I really want to see the Suez Canal.
But did the Fujian court allow others to approach the Suez Canal?
Don't let some accidents happen because of our recklessness."
Chu Sheng didn't want them to be arrested as spies, which would become the laughingstock of his life.
"Brother Chu, I have asked my staff to find out that people are not prohibited from visiting the Suez Canal."
After Li Xingge finished speaking, Chu Sheng immediately stood up and walked outside the hotel with a look of surprise on his face.
They took a carriage and headed to the Suez Canal excavation site.
The carriage was walking on a bumpy dirt road, and from time to time they could see carriages transporting goods.
As they moved eastward, there were more and more carriages on the road.
Chu Sheng knew that they were about to arrive at the construction site.
The constant noises ahead and the sound of whips made them realize that the carriage had arrived at the construction site.
Chu Sheng has never been to a construction site. In his impression, construction sites in various places are similar to the working environment when they visited the grassroots level.
The workers worked in an orderly manner, and under the guidance of officials, they dug out the canal channel in an orderly manner.
He also thought that given the conditions of Fujian, various steam machines could be used to connect the canal as quickly as possible.
What Chu Sheng saw at the construction site was completely different from what he imagined.
When he saw the unsurprised looks in other people's eyes, he knew that the construction site of this era was exactly what he saw in front of him.
The officials who manage the entire construction site hide in the pavilion to rest.
A few petty officials and scholars, accompanied by many others, guided the excavation work of the canal.
More than a dozen workers were divided into groups and worked under the command of the supervisor.
An overseer with an Egyptian face, he manages a dozen slaves with a whip.
The slaves used simple tools such as shovels to slowly dig out a river channel.
When the overseer saw a slave slacking off, he immediately whipped him.
Chu Sheng stayed at the construction site for a whole day and learned about the progress of the construction site.
During his stay, from time to time there would be supervisors holding their stomachs or foreheads, making a look of pain, and they would go to a nearby hospital for medical treatment.
As for the working slaves, they had no access to medical treatment.
He only stayed for one day, and more than a dozen slaves were carried out and cremated.
When Chu Sheng saw how full the hospital was, he knew that the sanitary environment here was worrying.
He also saw some people who obviously looked like high-ranking officials, leading people to plan the direction of the canal.
They held the drawings, and some were still using a sextant to determine the location and calculate the direction of the canal excavation.
Chu Sheng learned that the canal was excavated from the north to the south in opposite directions.
If there is a deviation in the direction of the canal and the two rivers cannot be connected, the entire project will have major problems.
Chu Sheng endured the discomfort and left the canal construction site.
When Li Xingge saw Chu Sheng's performance, he was not surprised at all.
Mining and building railways all require human lives, not to mention the more difficult canals.
If the canal was easy to dig, the Sui Dynasty would not have exhausted its energy building the Grand Canal and was eventually overthrown by the Tang Dynasty.
The Fujian country now uses slaves to dig canals. This is normal behavior and can save a lot of money.
Slaves who do such heavy work are basically treated as disposable consumables.
Brother Chu is a scholar. He has never seen this kind of situation at the lowest level of society. It is completely normal for him to be somewhat shocked.
Chu Sheng went to the seaside and important nodes of the canal to inspect the strategic situation of the Suez Canal.
He saw the Suez Canal very clearly.
As long as this canal can pass battleships, it is the most important strategic location in the world.
The sea levels of the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea are not much different, and the distance between the two places is not far.
Even if there are no natural waterways, it won't take long to dig a canal.
Based on the progress of the construction site, Chu Sheng estimates that the Suez Canal will be opened in as little as three to five years or as long as ten years.
By then, the world situation will surely undergo major changes.
They had arrived at the Red Sea and saw many cargo ships loading and unloading goods.
Among these cargo ships is the Li family's cargo ship.
Chu Sheng looked at Li Xingge and asked: "Brother Li, do you want to stay in Fujian for a while or leave for home?
I saw that many people in your fleet did not come to the Red Sea ports.
This time it was me who delayed your schedule. In order to see the Suez Canal, you didn’t even go to Cairo."
Li Xingge flashed a hint of panic and said quickly: "Brother Chu, I often take this route and am very familiar with Cairo City. There is no need to go to Cairo City.
I feel I have gained a lot from being able to accompany Brother Chu.
The goods shipped by our Chamber of Commerce from the Empire have been unloaded at the port and loaded with goods shipped from Europe.
I just need to get on the ship with the cargo. The sailors in Cairo Port specialize in the Mediterranean route, and they will not come here.
We can leave and return home at any time."
After saying this, he invited Chu Sheng to board the merchant ship, contact the merchants from the same chamber of commerce, and prepare to return.
There were so many merchant ships that the Red Sea seemed crowded.
When they left the Red Sea port of Fujian, Chu Sheng felt a little regretful that he did not go to Cairo to learn about the current situation of the largest city in Egypt.
But along the way, he observed the lowest living environment in Fujian, and at the same time, he was able to learn about some conditions in Fujian from other people.
The basic ethnic integration has been completed here in Fujian.
Women from local tribes are proud to marry Han men, which is an excellent phenomenon.
Chu Sheng admired the national hierarchy here the most.
He believes that this system can allow countries such as Fujian to develop rapidly with the help of local resources, and these countries will not lose themselves.
Chu Sheng stood on the deck and looked around. He looked at the scene on both sides of the Red Sea.
A strong navy is necessary to ensure the security of both sides of the Red Sea.
He felt a choking smell in the air and saw a gust of wind blowing from the western shore.
This wind is accompanied by yellow sand, making the front look hazy.
Soon the cargo ship was enveloped in a sandstorm, and visibility became very low.
When Chu Sheng saw this situation, he shook his head and said nothing.
The environment on both sides of the Red Sea is relatively harsh, and the Arabian Peninsula has a huge desert.
The Egyptian region is even close to the largest desert in the world that he knows about.
This area is severely short of water and arable land, and war will come again.
He didn't know whether Fujian could survive and lose this key strategic position.
The fleet quickly passed through the area covered by sandstorms.
Li Xingge walked to Chu Sheng, pointed to the south and said: "Ahead is the Jixing Port of Jin, a port next to the entrance and exit of the Red Sea.
The fleet is replenishing some supplies at Jixing Port, and we will return to China without stopping."
Chu Sheng asked in surprise: "Brother Li, we just left Fujian, why did we go to Jixing Port to purchase supplies?"
"The price is cheap, and the quantity we purchase is too large. Every penny cheaper can save a huge amount of money.
What's more, the price gap between the two places can reach dozens of dollars." Li Xingge explained the reason.
Seeing that Chu Sheng didn't understand, he simply explained: "The Red Sea ports in Fujian are far away from inland rivers and do not provide free fresh water.
There is little cultivated land in Fujian and the price of vegetables is high.
Jixing Port in Jin State is completely different. They provide free fresh water, fresh vegetables and dried vegetables at extremely low prices.
Fujian built the Suez Canal, attracting a large number of merchants to take the Red Sea route.
The State of Jin also took advantage of Jixing Port to provide some services for passing ships.
In addition to free fresh water and cheap food, Jixing Port also has a shipyard that provides ship repairs and sells cargo ships.
All of Fujian’s shipbuilding capacity is invested in the Cairo Shipyard.
They built ships for the navy and protected the Mediterranean coast."
Chu Sheng knew the situation of the two countries. One was in the hinterland of the desert, and there were only a few oases in the whole country.
The other is far away from the desert and in the tropics.
In the fields of agriculture and forestry, Jin State must have surpassed them in all aspects.
The fleet arrived at Jixing Port, which is larger than Cairo Port.
There are many shipyards nearby, where huge cargo ships are being built.
Chu Sheng saw a large number of cargo ships departing from Jixing Port.
These ships transport bulk cargo directly, covered only with rainproof cloth.
When the sea breeze blows, he can see through the gap what kind of goods are being transported?
Mainly grain and cut wood, and a small amount of steel.
When Chu Sheng saw this, he understood that the Jin State was continuously providing strategic materials to the Fujian State.
These two countries were at odds with each other, Fujian was wiped out by the Ottoman Turkish Empire, and the fate of Jin would not be good either.
He also understood that Jin Wang Li Fengming was by no means a short-sighted person.
The fleet dispatched several cargo ships specifically to transport food, and supplies were quickly completed at Jixing Port.
They immediately left the port and headed for the junction of the Red Sea and the ocean.
Chu Sheng saw the warships of the Jin Navy patrolling the strait.
There is no navy of the Ottoman Turkish Empire here at all, and ships can pass smoothly after their identities are verified.
Lord Chu Sheng believes that if the Suez Canal can be opened, the strategic position of this strait will not be inferior to that of Gibraltar.
Li Xingge saw that they were about to pass through the strait.
He couldn't help but said: "There used to be the navy of the Ottoman Turkish Empire here.
The Jin and Fujian states purchased decommissioned warships from the Imperial Navy, and these battleships overwhelmed the Ottoman Turkish Empire's navy.
The Jin navy destroyed all the Ottoman Turkish military ports near the Red Sea.
They asked the Ottoman Empire to learn from similar practices of the Ming Dynasty, abandoning coastal areas and focusing on defending inland cities."
Chu Sheng nodded and analyzed: "These countries that use cold weapons and have long and narrow coastlines will have their navies destroyed.
They cannot defend the narrow coastline at all, so they can only resort to shrinking tactics."
The fleet sailed into the wide ocean, turned around and headed east.
Chu Sheng looked at the long and narrow Red Sea, a place visited by Zheng He during the Ming Dynasty's voyages to the West.
Now that the vassal states of the Great China Empire occupy this place, they will no longer retreat.
