Of course, the so-called "Panama land roads have been opened" does not mean that the road connecting the two oceans of Panama has been repaired, but rather that the colonial team commanded by Gollard finally opened up an empty dirt road in the tropical rainforest in the Panama region by cutting down trees to open up roads.

Mr. Lu Xun once said—“There is no road in the world, and when more people walk, it becomes a road”…but this refers to the grassland area, and in the tropical rainforest, this process is much more difficult…

First of all, you have to cut down the trees that block the road. Otherwise, if there are big trees blocking them, how can you build the road? The trees in Panama are tropical rainforests that have grown naturally for thousands of years, and are by no means comparable to those small trees in front of and behind the village. The trees here are mostly tall, and many people can only circle the trunks.

Therefore, it is very difficult to cut down the trees here. What's more, you have to dig out the same huge roots...

If there is only such a problem, it would be better. After all, it is just a labor. However, the Panama region is special. In the tropical rainforest, there are various poisonous mosquitoes and poisonous insects, spreading tropical diseases such as malaria, yellow fever and other tropical diseases. You should know that because these poisonous mosquitoes spread malaria and yellow fever, the Panama Canal was excavated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, how many 22,000 workers died of illness...

Fortunately, Marin was a time traveler. He knew the horror of the Panama rainforest. So he made preparations in advance - he made a lot of mosquito-proof flower dew water for the colonial team to use it to prevent death.

But despite this, dozens of colonial teams of thousands of people in Panama have died in the past few years...

Finally, Marin had to use his ultimate move - to buy black slaves from the Portuguese...

The living environment of blacks, especially blacks in West Africa, is very similar to that of Panama's tropical rainforest areas. Therefore, generally, blacks in West Africa who can grow to adulthood have antibodies to the viruses carried by tropical poisonous mosquitoes and poisonous insects in their bodies. If this is not the case, they will not live to adulthood.

Therefore, it was a very correct decision to introduce West African black slaves and come to the Panama rainforest to cut trees. For this reason, Marin contacted Jorge de Renkastre, the illegitimate son of the previous king of Portugal, the Duke of Coimbra, to buy black slaves from him.

Jorge de Rencastre, Duke of Coimbra, happens to have great interests in Africa - Madeira (the hometown of Ronaldo) and Sao Tome (the earliest colony of Portugal on the coast of West Africa), are both its territory. The black slaves purchased by Marin were actually exported by Sao Tome. Because the merchant ships under the Duke of Coimbra, based on Sao Tome, can contact black tribes on the nearby African coast, and can use valuable goods to buy prisoners of war obtained from tribal wars as slaves...

It was precisely because of the purchase of more than 6,000 black slaves from Jorge de Renkastre, Duke of Coimbra, Portugal that Golad struggled to complete the rainforest tree-cutting plan in the Panama Isthmus. These black people in West Africa were in great health. Golad didn't give them any mosquito-proof flower dew. In the end, the more than 6,000 people died of illness, which was almost the same as the death toll of thousands of colonists sent to Marin...

However, don't think that cutting down the trees and wading out a dirt road is done. It's still early, and getting out the dirt road can only be regarded as the beginning...

Why? Because there is so much rain in Panama...

Once the rainy season comes, the tropical rainforests in Panama will definitely be pouring in torrential rain. Once it rains heavily, the dirt road will inevitably be muddy.

It would be fine if you leave, but at worst your shoes will get dirty and wet. However, this road is originally intended for transportation... So, dirt roads are absolutely not possible.

According to the plan, Malin plans to build a cement road here. It should not be too wide, as long as it is as rural cement road as it is three or four meters wide. Anyway, the width of the carriage is only 1.414 meters.

However, considering that the Panama region has a rainforest climate, it is easy to accumulate water on a large scale. The roadbed may be soaked in water for a long time and it is easy to break down. When the vehicle is overturned, the road surface will be crooked.

Therefore, Marin had previously explained that Golad had to choose a route with a good drainage environment...

Therefore, in the Panama Isthmus, which is only 65 kilometers wide, the total length of the road selected by Gorard reached 80 kilometers. The reason why the extra 15 kilometers is to avoid low-lying areas and specifically walk in higher areas is mainly to drain water and prevent the roadbed from being soaked.

Of course, even if some low-lying areas are avoided, some connecting areas and low-lying areas are still difficult to avoid. Therefore, after the dirt road is opened, while building cement roads, it is also necessary to dig drainage ditches on the side of those low-lying areas that cannot be avoided, and try to send the accumulated water to nearby rivers and lakes...

...

So, this land route across the Isthmus of Panama isthmus is just the beginning. Next, the highlight...

First, Marin would mobilize a large amount of cement and bricks from Newfoundland and transport them to Panama in a new schooner to provide construction teams with cement roads. Connabrook, in the western part of Newfoundland, is now the most important cement production under Marin's rule. There is limestone and clay here. Just transport coal and fly ash from Cape Breton Island and fluorite from the local area to produce high-quality fly ash cement on a large scale. Without fly ash, it is ordinary Portland cement. However, the salt base and paper mill in Cape Breton Island produce a large amount of fly ash every day, so it is not necessary to waste it.

Secondly, while building cement roads, excavation of drainage ditches in low-lying areas also needs to be carried out at the same time. After all, if the drainage work is not done well, it will be difficult to deal with the roadbed being soaked in the rainy season. This era is not later generations. There are so many road and bridge companies that can build roads at any time. Once the road is broken, maintenance is very troublesome. Moreover, the road construction requires rapid air-drying special cement, and Marin does not have it...

In addition, Malin will also send people to plant a large number of pyrethra and mugwort on both sides of the cement road while building roads and digging trenches...

Pythorax and mugwort are both nemesis plants of mosquitoes, especially pythorax. Mosquitoes are immediately poisoned when they smell it, which is very powerful. In this way, as long as the roadside is full of pythorax and cannot smell the pythorax, the poisonous mosquitoes and poisonous insects in the Panama tropical rainforest will retreat and dare not approach the cement road. Then, the drivers of transport vehicles on the cement road will be safer and will not get malaria, yellow fever and other terminal illnesses after being bitten by mosquitoes...

...

After learning that the land roads in Panama were opened, Marin was extremely excited. After all, Panama City will be an important transit station for trade with the Ming Dynasty in the future and a transit place for Chile's saltpeter transportation.
Chapter completed!