Daming Military Empire

Chapter 435 The Canal Opens to Navigation
At the beginning of December, on the construction site of the Eurasian Canal between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, all construction workers began to leave the canal valley one after another. Put the water on and clear the dikes at both ends.

The Eurasian Canal was actually dug in two sections, because there is a big bitter lake that is tens of miles long in the north-south direction. If the section of the upper big bitter lake can be used, the construction period can be shortened by at least one sixth. Officials from the Ministry of Industry planned the canal and divided the canal into two sections, one from the Red Sea to the Great Bitter Lake, and the other from the Great Bitter Lake to the Mediterranean.

At this time, the dykes at both ends of the Great Bitter Lake and the dykes at the mouths of the Red Sea and Mediterranean canals were full of people, most of them were captives who built the canal, and some were soldiers of the Dingliao Army. There are civilians who come from all over to watch the excitement.

Why are there so many people watching the fun?Because it is impossible to dig the water-retaining embankment with manpower, the canal can be 20 meters deep, if someone digs the embankment, once the sea water pours in, the dike digger will be dead!

This water-retaining embankment can only be exploded with explosives, and it can’t be exploded all at once. It can only be exploded in the middle first. The embankments on both sides can only be washed by the water first, and then send people to bite the long pipe and slowly dive Go below to clean up.

The 20-meter-high water retaining dam must be spectacular when it explodes, so all the people from far away who heard the news rushed over.

There are a total of four water-retaining dams in the two sections of the canal. Qin Gongming is in charge of the one at the entrance of the Red Sea. It is almost noon at this time. He is standing on the top of the bastion closest to the canal, staring closely at the sundial in front of him. , the four parties have agreed that the dikes and dams will be blasted at the same time at noon today.

Below the bastion, a group of soldiers was standing near the embankment with their backs to the bastion, while another group of soldiers faced them, standing closer to the embankment, and each of them had a gun in his hand. There is a lead wire thick with hemp rope, and each of these lead wires is probably tens of meters long, winding and extending to the middle of the water retaining embankment.

When the pointer of the sundial coincided with the noon mark, Qin Gongming immediately said loudly: "Light it up."

The orderly next to him waved the command flag, and the soldiers holding the fuses immediately raised the fuses in their hands, while the soldiers holding the torches on the opposite side immediately waved down the torches and lit the fuses. When the blue smoke came out, the team of soldiers holding the fuse immediately put the lit fuse on the ground lightly, and quickly left the embankment with the soldiers holding the torches.

These lead wires are all the same length to ensure that they can ignite all the explosives at the same time. At this time, the width of the top section in the middle of the embankment is less than three meters, and the bottom section is only five or six meters wide. There were many holes, and each hole was stuffed with a tube of explosives that was as long as an arm.

As the fuse slowly burned to the explosive tube, the two sides of the canal, which were still full of people, gradually became silent. The 20-meter-high embankment is so spectacular. What kind of scene is it when it explodes?
Almost everyone stared at the dam in the middle with puffy eyes, for fear of missing this once-in-a-lifetime spectacle.

Finally, all the fuses burned to the end almost at the same time, and there was an earth-shattering bang, the dam broke and the soil splashed, and the surging sea water rushed into the canal with a sound, and the huge water pressure continuously washed the two sides about more than ten meters wide. The dikes, the water inlets are getting wider and wider.

Seeing this scene, Qin Gongming couldn't help clenching his fists and waved it a few times excitedly. Immediately afterwards, there were countless cheers from both sides of the river. Although most of them didn't understand the meaning of this canal, the scene just now was really spectacular. People can't help but want to applaud it.

The dam exploded, and the canal was about to be completed. However, Qin Gongming's wish to go back to celebrate the New Year could not be realized, because the canal still needs to be guarded. Now twelve bastions have also been built on both sides of the canal, where the Red Sea enters the sea. There are two on the left and right here, two on the left and right on the north end of the Great Bitter Lake, and two on the left and right at the mouth of the Mediterranean Sea, and these bastions are almost twice the size of the bastions built in the Strait of Dover. [-] soldiers must be stationed in each bastion.

According to the original agreement, the four bastions in the Red Sea were garrisoned by the Ming Empire, and neither Spain nor Portugal had sufficient troops, so they could only send people to guard the four bastions at the mouth of the Mediterranean Sea and the four bastions at the north end of the Great Bitter Lake. It can only be garrisoned by the Ming Empire.

Moreover, ports, forts, and cities need to be built at the entrances to the sea at both ends, and the river embankments on both sides must be reinforced with cement, and the Ministry of Industry must be assisted in building bridges on the canal, and the telegraph network of the two sections of the canal must be erected, etc. Wait, there's more to come.

The section from the Red Sea to the Great Bitter Lake is actually more than 100 miles long, so after about an hour, the entire canal is almost filled with water, and the water flow at the mouth of the sea gradually becomes calmer.

Qin Gongming looked at the nearly half of the dike and dam that was left, and gave an order: "Order, 5000 captives go up at each end, bring ropes, suction pipes, shovels, and frames, and immediately go into the water to dig. Go down to [-] people, one round in half an hour."

The messenger led the order and left, while Qin Gongming dragged his tired body to the temporary bedroom and went to rest.

Five days later, the four dams were finally cleared, and the canal was completely connected. Qin Gongming notified the warships of the South China Sea Fleet to enter the canal for trial sailing, and at the same time sent a speedboat to Goa to telegraph the emperor.

Such an important event must hold a grand celebration, will the emperor personally preside over it?
Zhu Cijiong was naturally ecstatic when he received the news. It got through, and finally got through. From then on, the voyage between Europe and Asia will be shortened by more than half. Half a month is more than enough time, and it doesn’t even take a week to travel from Mumbai or Goa in western South Asia to the port of Valencia in Spain!
This will give a huge impetus to the trade between Europe and Asia, and the economy of Ming Dynasty will step up to a new level. Spain, Portugal, the Ottoman Empire, and the Persian Empire at both ends of the canal will benefit endlessly.

Of course, this may not be good news for the anti-Habsburg alliance, because the canal is controlled by the Ming Empire, Spain, and Portugal. If they annoy the Triple Alliance, the Triple Alliance can completely deny them any ships Through the canal, in that case, they will suffer a lot.

As for the celebration, Zhu Cijiong didn't want to make the trip as the New Year's Eve was approaching. He sent a telegram directly to Nanyang Governor's Mansion, asking Zhennan Wang Zheng Zhilong to host the celebration for him.

Now he found the right person. Zheng Zhilong is quite enthusiastic about this kind of activities. He not only brought all the warships of the Nanyang Navy, South China Sea Fleet, and Beihai Fleet, but also contacted the four major firms of the Daming Imperial Family and the Daming Portuguese Trading Company. The company's thousands of cargo ships came to the entrance of the southern end of the canal in a mighty way, and organized a grand navigation ceremony.

The scene was quite spectacular. There were no less than a thousand warships on the sea, no less than a thousand merchant ships, and hundreds of thousands of people crowded both sides of the canal.

The Prime Minister of Portugal, Shivela, also came;

Admiral Oquendo of Spain comes;
And Condede, Governor of Portugal in Goa;
and Suyman Pasha of the Ottoman Empire;
And Rest Pasha, governor of the Ottoman Empire in Egypt;
Even the Persian Empire sent envoys to celebrate.

There was a burst of gongs and drums, another burst of artillery and firecrackers, and then thousands of warships and thousands of merchant ships began to sail side by side into the canal, and the Eurasian Grand Canal was opened to navigation!
(End of this chapter)