When the Zhiyuan sails slowly in the canal at the lowest speed, people can feel the narrowness of this canal. Sure enough, it can only be navigated in one direction, because the average width of the Suez Canal at this time is only fifty or sixty meters, and the narrowest The distance was actually only over thirty meters, so the two ships would have to collide if they were parallel.
Historically, after the Suez Canal was completed in 1869, it has undergone many dredging and expansion projects. By the 21st century, the average width of the canal is only more than 130 meters.
In the 19th century, humans could not rely on mechanical power, and canals could only be dug by manpower. Such a narrow canal also cost the lives of 120,000 Egyptian civilians. One can imagine the huge amount of this kind of project.
The huge Zhiyuan was sailing in the river. From a distance, it looked like it was driving on land. The entire river was almost crowded. The left and right sides were very close to the shore. People could see every detail on the battleship at close range. rivets.
The sky is getting darker and darker, and there is only a red glow on the western horizon, but the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are watching with enthusiasm. When a large number of gas lamps on the Zhiyuan begin to light up, the orange lights in the dark outline a beautiful battleship. , the distance looks like a dream.
"The first historical event that changed this land finally happened. In the future, this will be the place of human bloodshed..."
"What? What are you talking about..." Wang Huaiyuan stood aside and asked in confusion.
"I mean here, the entire Central Asia region, is about to be awakened from the unchanging life. The Suez Canal connecting Europe and Asia is a good thing for the world, but it is the beginning of a nightmare for Middle East Asia. !”
Wang Huaiyuan didn't understand. "Do you mean a conflict of interest? Will someone compete for control of this canal in the future?"
Xiao Letian smiled faintly and said nothing. He knew very well that the modern concept of the Middle East had gradually become a hot topic due to the digging of the canal and the discovery of oil resources.
Before the canal was dug, the Middle East belonged entirely to the territory of the Ottoman Empire. Today, Israel, Palestine, Egypt, most of Iran, and the two river basins, including the southern shore of the Mediterranean, are all Ottoman Empire territory.
The remaining Arab regions were basically loose tribal alliances in the Middle Ages and had no international status at all.
Entering the 18th century, the influence of the Ottoman Empire gradually declined. Europe increasingly improved its strength through maritime trade and industrialization, and the technological generation gap became larger and larger.
The Ottoman Legion, which once terrified the whole of Europe, was forced into a defensive phase. By the end of the 19th century, the religious empire needed the help of Britain and France to resist the invasion of Tsarist Russia in the north. What a travesty.
In today's Middle East, those tribal nobles are completely different from the tycoons of the Middle East in later generations. The society is backward, the people are extremely poor, and the culture is cut off... They only rely on the cohesion of religious beliefs to maintain the existence of the so-called country.
Xiao Letian pointed at the waterway and said lonelyly, "The information they brought back today is very important. The indigenous people in the Middle East have been gradually colonized. 120,000 migrant workers died during the eleven-year project, but the people did not hoard a large amount of it." hatred, do you know why?"
Wang Huaiyuan was stunned, "Hate! Yes, I also have such a question in my mind, but I have never been able to explain it... Now when you remind me, I suddenly realized that this is really a strange thing. The French killed so many local Egyptians." Migrant workers, why is there no hatred?”
"During the day, the locals in Port Suez acted as if they didn't care. They accepted money from the French and then dealt cruelly to us. Although they were all teenagers, they couldn't be so arrogant without the connivance of adults, right? "
Xiao Letian lit a cigarette for himself and looked at the bright cigarette butts flickering in the night wind and said coldly, "Do you still remember the concept of civilization being cut off? The fundamental reason is here..."
"Egyptian civilization has been broken and is now completely crushed by European civilization. In the future, their history will be written by Europeans, and their textbooks will also be compiled by foreigners. The people lack a large number of intellectuals to preserve the memory of their own nation, so there will be When something like this happens... forget about hatred!”
"Hey... More than 100,000 people of a nation were massacred, but there was no voice of resistance among the people. This is something that we in China simply cannot imagine!"
"When the Qing army entered the pass, more than 200 years had passed since the massacres, but there were still countless people among the people who clearly remembered it. That kind of deep-seated hatred has always existed among the people. Although it was suppressed, it never existed. Forgotten... It is precisely because of these memories of hatred that there will be continuous anti-Qing activities!"
"And here! The canal has only been opened to navigation this year, which means that the brutal oppression and killing of workers has only stopped for a few months. But look at these people, they act as if they don't know, and they are just for the colonists' petty profits. And risking your life! Isn’t this a very sad thing?”
"Of the four major ancient civilizations, only China has an uninterrupted civilization. It is precisely because the vitality of our own civilization is so strong that we can revive one after another without being destroyed by foreign invasions!"
"Remember, be sure to remember that hatred itself is the driving force for a nation to survive! If all the Han people in the Qing Dynasty forgot the Three Massacres in Jiading and the Ten Days in Yangzhou, then the power to resist the Qing would naturally disappear!"
"We have not forgotten how miserable it was when the Wuhu invaded China! We have not forgotten the killings caused by the Mongolian cavalry invading the Central Plains! We also remember the destruction of the Central Plains civilization by the Manchu Qing Dynasty! Because of these painful memories , we know what happiness is!"
"Where exactly is the influence of the Chinese people? It's not that I, Xiao Letian, have magic power, but I understand where the strong vitality of our Chinese civilization lies. There is a kind of power that exists among the people. Although it is dormant for the time being, as long as you give a little thunder, It will sprout immediately!”
"I, Xiao Letian, actually did not do well, and the Chinese are not that perfect! But at least I have a sense of gap. Compared with the Manchus, we Chinese have a sense of gap, and compared with the colonized indigenous people all over the world. Compared to that, we Chinese people still have a sense of disparity!”
"There is good and bad in contrast. If people want to know that they are happy, they must see with their own eyes how dangerous the outside world is! And people must be able to experience the happiness and peace before their eyes from thousands of years of suffering! "
"Yes, this is my philosophy of governing the country. I never promise to make all people rich. I just tell them what history is like and what the world is like, so that they can make comparisons in person and learn from themselves. Find the happiness of China in your heart!"
Xiao Letian pointed sadly at both sides of the Suez Canal, "Don't be like the ancient Egyptian civilization, don't be like the Mesopotamia civilization... The roots have been cut off, and the hatred of genocide has been forgotten!"
"Their civilization can no longer catch up and has been completely interrupted by Westerners..." m.
