Because of the harsh natural conditions of the Panama Canal, the casualty rate among construction workers remained high in the early days, forcing the Panama Canal Company to spend a lot of energy on improving the local natural conditions.
In order to dig the canal and reduce the casualty rate, the Panama Canal Company directly cooperated with several major domestic chemical companies to develop specialized pesticides, herbicides and other specialized drugs, which were sprayed directly along the canal in large quantities.
But even so, the canal digging work here is still very difficult.
At present, the main project of the canal has not been completed. Even the Tang Dynasty people themselves have accumulated at least hundreds of deaths in this ghost place over the years.
You must know that when people from the Tang Dynasty come to work here, they basically serve as managers and technicians, and their treatment in all aspects is not comparable to that of workers at the bottom.
But when it comes to disease, it doesn't matter whether people from the Tang Dynasty or natives are natives. People who should get sick will still get sick, and people who get sick will still die.
So many people of the Tang Dynasty themselves died, and the number of casualties among the indigenous workers was even greater.
Fortunately, they had signed contracts with several labor service companies, and these labor service companies had been working hard to maintain at least 100,000 workers for the canal project. Otherwise, the canal would not have been dug at all.
Because of the casualties caused by serious diseases, the progress of the canal project has not been great. Later, the canal company gritted its teeth and spent a lot of money to purchase chemicals. It directly sprayed various chemicals on a large area indiscriminately.
Applying for the use of various large-scale steam and gasoline engine machinery will speed up the progress of the project.
But so far, the estimated opening time announced by the Panama Canal Company is that it will take at least three years.
If it is successfully opened in three years, not only will shipping in the Americas become more convenient in the future, but ships heading to the Americas will be able to travel directly to the east or west coast of the Americas through the Panama Canal.
This will further stimulate the development of shipping in the Americas and further strengthen the empire's control over the Americas.
From this perspective, the Panama Canal and the Suez Canal both have the same important strategic role and are core strategic locations for empires to control the world.
There are also several natural straits with the same strategic role, such as the Strait of Malacca, the Black Sea Strait, the Strait of Gibraltar, the English Channel, the Denmark Strait, etc.
The Tang Empire, especially the Tang Navy, liked to control these strategic places, directly control these places, conduct immigration, and establish military bases for complete control.
The most typical example is the Black Sea Strait. For this strait, the coastal areas of the strait were cut off from the Ottoman Kingdom without even thinking about the appearance.
You must know that the Tang Empire has paid more attention to food and appearance in recent years, and it is rare to directly occupy a certain place by force.
Most of the time, the Tang Empire preferred to spend money to purchase, or use other conditions to exchange benefits.
The American colonies and Eastern Europe are typical products of this policy.
The purchase may seem like a waste of money, but in fact, this amount of money to purchase land is nothing to the huge Tang Empire, and funds can also be withdrawn through other channels such as military procurement. In the end, it is much cheaper than taking it through war.
.
In Eastern Europe, there is a direct exchange of benefits, which results in lower costs.
But on the issue of the Black Sea Strait, the Tang Empire took very tough measures. It seemed that it was a peaceful negotiation and the final purchase, but in fact it was done by staring at other people's heads with a gun.
trade.
It’s a bit ugly to be popular!
And this further proves that the Tang Empire valued these straits.
These straits represent routes, routes represent global maritime hegemony, and the further extension of global maritime hegemony is global control.
This is why the Imperial Navy has been sparing no effort to control these strategic locations.
It can even be said that this has become an important policy for the navy to continue to maintain its presence in recent years. Otherwise, even with the support of the prince, it will be difficult for the navy to convince the majority of citizens to continue to maintain its scale.
Such a huge navy.
Today's Tang Dynasty navy is extremely large.
The total number of warships of various types exceeding 1,000 tons exceeds 150...
But the problem is that so many large-tonnage warships are actually useless at ordinary times, and they will also consume a lot of military expenditures.
As for maritime security, in fact, some offshore patrol ships of several hundred tons and even inland river gunboats can complete these tasks.
However, the Tang Navy still maintains a large ocean-going fleet, even if there is currently no clear threat.
Moreover, the prince has always firmly supported the navy in maintaining its scale.
Why?
This is naturally to protect overseas territories.
No one said this clearly, but everyone knew it.
However, in fact, the size of the current main fleet has been much reduced compared to earlier years. Seven or eight years ago, the size of the Tang Imperial Navy's ocean-going main fleet reached its peak, with more than two thousand-ton warships of various types.
Hundreds of ships, not counting various supply ships and other auxiliary ships.
In the past few years, through the upgrading of warships, new generation warships with more advanced combat capabilities, better endurance, and higher combat effectiveness have gradually replaced the backward frigates and cruisers of the old area. This number has slowly reduced to
One hundred and fifty ships now.
The current size of the Datang Navy has entered a stable stage as a whole. Battleships and armored cruisers, as the main battleships, have been maintained at a total of sixteen ships. This capital ship is the core strategic deterrent force of the navy, mainly garrisoning several
As the core naval base, these capital ships are currently only stationed at the four major ports of the mainland, Malacca Port, Ceylon Island Port, and Pearl Harbor.
What highlights the naval presence in overseas areas is the large number of cruisers and frigates. These two types of ships are relatively large in size, with a combined number of nearly a hundred ships.
In daily life, part of it is overhauled and maintained on the mainland, part of it is on the way to the predetermined sea area, part of it is on patrol in the target sea area, and part of it is on the way back.
Because they have to patrol the global seas, it is really not feasible to have such a small number.
But, in fact, those who usually deal with the indigenous people are not these ocean-going warships, but more of the small offshore patrol ships and inland river gunboats.
However, if we want to effectively deter those lords with evil intentions in the future, Prince Li Hao believes that we must rely on these main battleships.
This is the purpose of Prince Li Hao to support the navy to maintain its scale and continue to update it!
The enemies of the Tang Navy were never the natives, but their own people!