Transmigrated as the Crown Prince

A few days later, the hijacked freighter San Francisco arrived in the Panama Canal.

The Panama Canal is located in the Central American country of Panama. It crosses the Isthmus of Panama and connects the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. It is an important shipping channel and is known as the "World Bridge" one of the seven engineering wonders of the world.

As early as the 15th century, Vasco Cortes, the Spanish conqueror of Mexico, proposed building a canal, but did not specify a suitable location for digging. Later, after Vasco Nuñeri Balboa conquered Panama, the Spanish king in 1523 Charles I (i.e. Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire) clearly proposed the construction of a Central American canal.

In 1534, King Carlos I of Spain ordered a survey of the Isthmus of Panama. The Spanish paved a post road across the isthmus with cobblestones along the ridge, which was considered preparation for excavation.

Starting in the 18th century, the Spanish colonial government successively sent personnel to explore four alternative locations: the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in southern Mexico; a point near the Atrato River in northwest Colombia; the Isthmus of Nicaragua; and the Isthmus of Panama.

Later, as Spain's national power weakened, this plan was shelved.

In 1869, after 11 years of construction, the Suez Canal was opened to navigation at a cost of only 18.6 million pounds.

As the person in charge of the construction of the Suez Canal, the accomplished Frenchman Ferdinand de Lesseps ambitiously stated that he wanted to build a passage connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans on the American continent.

Subsequently, the French government signed an agreement with Colombia, the sovereign country of Panama, and obtained a construction license for the Panama Canal, and the Panama Interoceanic Canal Universal Corporation was established. After two years of intense preparations, excavation of the Panama Canal officially started on January 1, 1881.

The successful construction of the Suez Canal brought Lesseps' reputation to its peak. He became an academician of the French Academy and the French Academy of Sciences. He received the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor and the Indian Star. The British royal family awarded him the title of Honorary Citizen of London.

Lesseps was very intoxicated by past successes. He mechanically copied the successful experience of building the Suez Canal, but he underestimated Panama's special terrain and hastily formulated a construction plan without detailed research. The result was a disaster. disaster.

The Isthmus of Panama has a tropical rainforest climate, humid and hot, dense jungle, traffic congestion, complex terrain, backward infrastructure, and lack of minimum construction conditions. When 40,000 construction troops from 55 countries moved in, people discovered that it was like a human world. Hell: The towering jungle is filled with poisonous insects and is unbearable. The hot weather has caused the spread of terrible diseases, claiming the lives of a large number of workers and technicians. On the Mount of Hope near the Gatun Water Gate, there are many tombstones. People shudder.

What is more terrifying than the hot climate and harsh environment is human error. At first, Lesseps copied the experience of the Suez Canal and believed that the numerous lakes in the Isthmus of Panama could be used to build a sea-level canal. Who knew that four years after the construction, the arrogant French talent It was discovered that the sea surface at the end of the Isthmus of Panama facing the Pacific Ocean was more than 20 centimeters lower than the end of the Caribbean Sea, making it impossible to build a sea-level canal. This belated discovery dealt a fatal blow to the French Interoceanic Canal Company.

What bothered Lesseps the most was the dismantling of the Americans. The canal was designed to run parallel to the Panama Railway operated by the Americans. This was mainly to facilitate the transportation of supplies, but the Americans did not cooperate at all. The railway department set up various obstacles to the distribution of canal supplies and treated them negatively. In the end, the French Canal Company was forced to buy the railway, which was only worth US$7.5 million, for a sky-high price of US$25.5 million. However, the retained American employees continued to cause trouble and sabotage work. , causing the railway to be unable to operate normally.

Finally, the French Canal Company also had problems in its operation and management. When the project was unsustainable, the senior management headed by Lesseps embezzled funds from publicly issued canal stocks; in order to cover up the truth, they continued to issue additional bonds. The company spent large sums of money to bribe officials. 150 ministers and members of the French government accepted bribes. However, the fire could not be suppressed. By 1889, the French Interoceanic Canal Company was at the end of its rope and had to declare bankruptcy. Lesseps himself also went to jail. He went to court and was sentenced to five years in prison.

In 1898, during the Spanish-American War, the United States felt deeply the inconvenience of mobilizing troops between the two oceans, and its desire to connect the Panaba Canal became increasingly urgent.

In 1902, the United States took over the Panama Canal project, which had been unfinished for many years, for US$40 million, and wanted to own the 100-year lease of the Panama Canal for US$10 million and renew the contract indefinitely. But the Colombian Congress rejected the request.

At that time, Panama's awareness of independence was strong, and the United States did not talk nonsense with Colombia and directly sent warships to Panama to support Panama's independence. Facing the powerful United States, Colombia had no choice but to swallow its anger.

In 1903, the United States and Panama signed a treaty, Panama gave the United States a 10-mile wide canal zone, and the United States was responsible for protecting Panama's independent status. A one-time payment of US$10 million to Panama, followed by annual rent payments of US$250,000.

After a 10-year construction period and an investment of US$500 million, the Panama Canal was in American hands and was finally officially opened to navigation in 1914.

After the opening of the Panama Canal, the voyage between the east and west coasts of the United States was shortened by 20,000 kilometers. The voyage from New York to San Francisco was shortened by 16%, the voyage from Liverpool to San Francisco was shortened by 43%, and the voyage from New York to Sydney was also shortened by 28%; the crossing fees charged by the canal company were also very considerable.

It was Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States, who ordered the construction of the Panama Canal. This was his main achievement during his term of office, and for this reason, he was carved into the Presidential Hill by the American people.

After queuing from early morning to midnight, it was finally the turn of the freighter "San Francisco". The tractor locomotives on both sides of the canal fixed the traction ropes to the ship and drove forward slowly. These tractor locomotives were shaped like boats, with only the bottom wheels touching the ground. And there are fixed tracks, and these locomotives walk on these tracks, a bit like small trains.

Since the Panama Canal is a lock-type canal, all ships must first enter the lock chamber when passing through the Panama Canal. The role of these large numbers of tractors distributed on both sides of the canal is to help the ships in the lock chamber adjust their posture. , ensuring that these vessels are always located in the center of the canal. However, the traction locomotive does not provide power for the movement of the ship. The power of the ship still relies on the ship's own power system.

The role of the traction locomotive is only to help the ship slow down and brake and maintain its position. Because of this, these tractor locomotives on both sides of the Panama Canal received the famous name "canal mules."