The power of the Government of France was much greater than that of a few capitalists. After being authorized by the Government of Paris, Minister Tom's confidence was suddenly full.
In less than a month, he obtained the rights to develop the Panama Canal from the Colombian government in exchange for a batch of material aid.
The main reason was arms. The Colombian armed forces did not fight, mainly due to external pressure.
Everyone was afraid of the outbreak of civil war, which would be taken advantage of and become a colony again.
In particular, they were afraid of Austria next door. Austria's Central American colony already had military power that threatened their survival.
Because of the example of the Central American countries, the Colombian government did not even dare to accept European immigrants, for fear of being subverted from within.
Colombia itself did not have a large population and did not dare to accept a large number of European immigrants, so the economic development was naturally not fast.
Now the Panama Canal was authorized to the French, in addition to material aid, it was also to introduce the French power to balance Austria.
These were all small problems. Neither Fao nor France took Colombia seriously. If they wanted to play balance, they had to see if they could control it. If they couldn't control it, they would suffer a backlash.
If the Panama Canal was already open to traffic, then for the sake of interests, the Fao and France might indeed have a conflict. Unfortunately, the current canal was only on paper.
It was impossible to let the two big countries have a conflict over the possible interests. To put it bluntly, digging a canal also required preconditions. If the geological conditions were not suitable, it was not surprising that it could not be dug.
Everyone was very realistic. It was far-sighted to be able to consider things ten or twenty years later.
It was nonsense to consider things a hundred years later. The world was changing so fast, who knew what would happen in the future?
The price offered by the French was good, and the Government of Vienna did not interfere.
The establishment of the canal company was very smooth. Nino, the scapegoat president, was in high spirits organizing personnel to explore the terrain.
The headquarters of the Paris Canal Company had already begun to prepare for listing and financing. There was no exploration report, no design plan, and the listing plan came out first.
This was not a joke, but reality. In the face of interests, these procedures were not important. Capitalists had ways to avoid it.
There were many such scams in the capital market. As long as they could make money, the success or failure of the project did not matter.
Nino still had some ability, otherwise he would not have become a scapegoat. Looking at the investigation report in his hand, President Nino had a headache.
The Straits of Panama had a tropical marine climate, with plenty of rain and loose soil.
In terms of construction, the loose soil seemed to be a good thing, as it was easier to excavate the earth. But for the canal project, it was a disaster.
In CEO Nino's opinion, "sufficient rain + loose soil = landslide + silt" not only meant that the cost of developing the canal would increase, but also the operating costs in the later stages would increase.
In addition, there were many poisonous insects in the local jungle, and diseases were often encountered during the construction of the canal.
"Dead" Nino didn't care. With the classic example of the Suez Canal, he knew very well that it would take tens of thousands of lives to dig out the Panama Canal.
The Strait of Panama seemed narrower, but it was only 61 kilometers, only slightly more than a third of the Suez Canal. In fact, it was more difficult to construct.
After a preliminary evaluation of the incomplete information in his hand, Nino helplessly came up with the conclusion that he didn't want the most.
The secretary, Ralph, reported in a deep voice, "President, the embassy has just sent news that the Colombian government is refusing to provide us with labor on the grounds of a lack of labor force."
Everyone knew that in order to dig the Suez Canal, hundreds of thousands of workers had died. This was no secret at all.
The Colombian government had naturally heard about it. The Egyptian government had jumped into this huge pit and made life difficult for the people in the country, which gave the French the opportunity to occupy Egypt.
The Colombian population was even smaller, and it was impossible for them to provide hundreds of thousands of workers.
Recruiting indigenous labor was fine, but if they dared to use white people as laborers, there would probably be war in the country before there were enough workers.
Nino frowned. "Contact the embassy and ask them to continue to communicate with the Colombian government. No matter what, we have to get them to provide a group of workers first.
The board is trying to find cheap labor. As long as we get through the beginning of the project, we won't need them later. "
There was no other way. There were too many scams these days, and investors were not easy to fool. They had to start early to make money more easily.
How could a project on paper compare to a project that had already been implemented? The Canal Company's IPO plan had been boasted to the sky, and the board of directors urged him to start every day.
Ralph, "Yes, President."
Just as he was about to leave, Nino added, "Wait, report the information we have to the board of directors.
Remember to hide the possibility of a disease outbreak. Even if it's a local outbreak, the shareholders won't want to see such a note. "
Without doing a cost analysis, Nino knew that the canal project had already exceeded the initial cost estimates. It was impossible to build a canal with a third of the Suez Canal's budget.
It hadn't been easy for him to become the person in charge of this project, and Nino didn't want to see the canal project fail. If he missed this opportunity, he might never have a chance to go any further in his life.
The best way was to start the canal project first. Once they invested more money, the capitalists would be reluctant to give up, and they could only bite the bullet and continue.
As for whether or not it would cause trouble for the big shots behind the scenes, Nino wasn't worried at all. The Panama Canal Company was going to be listed for financing, and these costs could be passed on to the investors.
It was normal for there to be loopholes in the work. As long as they could bring rich returns to everyone, nothing was a problem.
Nino was very confident in the Panama Canal project. As long as the canal was open to navigation, he was confident that he could recover the cost within ten years.
Nino was very confident in the Panama Canal project. As long as the canal was open to navigation, he was confident that he could recover the cost within ten years. Such a rich return would be enough to appease the shareholders' resentment.
…
In London, Prime Minister Benjamin was worrying about the war report. He already knew what would be written in the newspapers the next day.
The opposition would definitely take the opportunity to cause trouble and damage the government's prestige.
That was what everyone did. They worked hard on stage to implement their political views and reap benefits, but when they were offstage, they did their best to undermine their competitors.
At the cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin threw a telegram on the table. "This is a telegram from that useless Ismail asking for help. The war has just started, and we've already lost a fifth of our troops, including an army regiment that was crippled.
As for the results, it's really brilliant. Two hundred thousand enemy troops were wiped out.
I'd rather believe that the sun will rise from the west than believe this result is real. We've already wiped out two hundred thousand enemy troops, and they're still asking for reinforcements. Does the enemy have millions of troops? "
False reporting of results had become a chronic problem in the British Army. This was especially true when they were defeated. In order to escape responsibility, they had to create a glorious victory.
It was just that they had gone too far this time. If they had reported tens of thousands of troops, the Government of London would have accepted it. After all, if the lid was opened, the government would also be scolded.
Based on the principle of turning big things into small things and small things into nothing, usually when something like this happened, everyone would quietly cover it up.
Minister of War Fox said awkwardly, "Your Excellency, the radio operator may have made a mistake and typed an extra zero.
We've already sent someone to verify it. Our army suffered 5,876 casualties, three-quarters of which were Indian colonial soldiers. A total of 15796 enemy troops were wiped out, which is rounded up to 20,000. "
This number was much more acceptable to most people. They had lost more than five thousand people, and they had annihilated nearly three times their number. This was barely acceptable.
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