1855 United States Tycoon

Chapter 222, How Did the Arms Race Start?

The Panama referendum that attracted America’s attention was held. This referendum has attracted the attention of all countries in America. Colombia scolded this as an illegal act, and said that it would not allow the country to split; United States said it was an attempt at democracy, a small step for Panama and a big step for mankind; and Venezuela, who had had similar experiences with Panama Countries like this said that although they should have been playing soy sauce, they are also very happy to see the progress of the Panamanian people in terms of democracy and freedom.

In the eyes of everyone, the referendum in Panama began. The referendum process is like this. The first is to confirm the qualifications of voters. According to the standards proposed by the Mayor of Edu’s preparatory committee, if a person wants to have the right to vote, he must meet the following conditions:

First, he must be born in Panama, or own real estate and live in Panama for more than ten years. Second, he must be an adult white man over the age of twenty with a proper occupation. Well, what black people, what Indians, and what women are all stepping aside. In addition, poor ghosts who can only live in shacks without housing also stay aside. Poor ghosts who are unemployed at home are also honestly stepping aside. Otherwise, the poor ghosts will have the right to vote. In the future, those who are quite presidents will not do well, and they will inevitably have to lean a little bit like the poor ghosts when formulating policies. How does that work? Is there still a king? Is there still a law?

There are not many residents in Panama City, so after being screened, there are naturally fewer people left. The number of voters is only about 10,000, so even though there are only two polling points set up, the voting process is still going on very quickly. In just one day, the voting process is over.

The counting of votes started the next morning in the Municipal Square, based on the principle of fairness and openness. In fact, this is not necessary, because all the people who are eligible to vote have been done work, and there will be no accidents. The subsequent count of votes indeed proved this point. The final result of the vote count was announced two days later. Ninety-nine percent of the voters expressed their support for Panama’s independence.

…

“Mr. Edu, you see, more than ninety-nine percent support!” Edu’s assistant Reid said with a smile on his face.

“Reid, are we going too far? This approval rate is too high, right? It’s not like the voting ratio that a democratic country should have?” Edu frowned, “Or, we If you change this ratio and increase the ratio of invalid votes a little bit, it will say that it is 90% support. What do you think?”

“No need? Anyway, as long as the United States and the British recognize that we are democratic, no matter what we do, we must be democratic.” Reed said, “On the contrary, as long as they say we are not democratic, no matter what we do, They must all be undemocratic.”

“Well, what you said makes sense.” Edu said, “Then, we will announce the results and begin preparations for the founding of a nation.”

…

“The United States government has stated that it recognizes the independence of Panama and is ready to exchange ambassadors with Panama. It is reported that the two sides will discuss and sign an agreement on the excavation of the Panama Canal. At the same time, in order to strengthen national defense and respond to possible aggression by the Colombian government, Panama The government uses the future proceeds from the Panama Canal as collateral to loan two million dollars to the United States McDonald Innovation Investment Bank for the establishment of the government and the construction of the army…”

“Well, no need to read. The rest is definitely the Panamanian government ordering weapons and related services from McDonald’s Infantry Weapons Company.” Morgan said.

The female secretary put away the newspaper and sat next to Morgan.

“Have you all heard it?” Morgan said, raising his eyes to look at the bankers around him.

“Ah, Mr. Morgan, is there any way we can join in and make money?” a banker asked.

“In Panama, Scrooge has taken control of the situation. However, the entire investment for a project as large as the canal is tens of millions, and he can’t afford it alone. Moreover, his stall is already large enough. So, not long ago, Scrooge and I joined forces and hoped that we could organize a canal company together. Of course, there may be financial issues and political considerations. The current United States government is due to the conflict between the president and the parliament. Almost paralyzed. Only our joint influence with them can make the government more effective in related matters. But in addition, we can actually contact Colombia.” Morgan said.

“Then Mr. MacDonald, what are they asking for? And, what can Columbia do?” Someone asked again.

“The Colombian side, whether it is sincere or not, must at least make a posture to maintain national unity. This requires money. They need money to buy weapons-of course, they will certainly not buy Scrooge’s weapons, but this It’s not a bad thing for Scrooge. In a sense, he is also hoping to make Colombia get bloodshed under the muzzle of his weapon.”

…

A train stopped slowly at the station in Panama City. On the flatbed truck, there were many things covered with canvas, but it looked like a cannon. Gonzalez stood at the window, silently counting “12, 13, 14… a total of 24 cannons.”

At this time, the train finally stopped. A group of “Free Panama”, oh, no, now it is the soldiers of the Panamanian army ran over and set up a long thick wooden springboard between the flatbed and the platform. Then several people dragged the canvas-covered cannons from the flatbed truck.

Perhaps it was to boost the morale of the residents of the city and show their strength, so the soldiers removed the canvas from the cannon, then hung it on the back of the carriage, and dragged these cannons slowly past the streets of Panama. Gonzalez could see from the window that these cannons were different from any cannon he had seen before.Compared with the bronze-colored bronze cannons or black cast-iron cannons he had seen before, the barrels of these cannons with green paint and unclear materials were obviously much longer and slender. In addition, some cannons are bigger and some are obviously smaller. However, the distance is still a bit far away, so Gonzalez can’t see the details clearly. He noticed that many passers-by were watching the cannons on the side of the street, and the soldiers seemed to have deliberately slowed down the speed so that the onlookers could see the majestic cannons clearly.

The convoy dragging the cannon came slowly towards this side of the street. Gonzalez estimated the speed. Before the cannons could reach downstairs, he must have had time to run downstairs to observe these strange cannons up close.

So Gonzalez ran down from the stairs to the side of the street. In a short while, the first cannon pulled by four beautiful chestnut horses slowly walked past his eyes. This is a bigger cannon. The barrel is very long, but it is rocked so low that you can clearly see the muzzle of the black hole and the rifling in the muzzle. The inner diameter of the cannon is not small. The barrel looks slender only because the wall of the barrel is very thin. Well, at least compared to the bronze or cast iron guns that Gonzalez has seen before, the wall is very thin. .

Gonzalez knew that this meant that this was the latest type of steel artillery, and this artillery had just been promoted on the European continent. There has never been such an artillery in South America. There is also a tubular structure under the barrel of this cannon. I don’t know what it is for. In addition, this cannon is also equipped with an anti-shield, which seems to be used to defend against bullets. The cannon drove past his eyes, and the citizens on both sides of the street also cheered to the cannon and artillery. Obviously, although these citizens are not as knowledgeable as Gonzalez, such a majestic cannon still gives them a lot of confidence. These days, newspapers have been analyzing every day once independence is successful. What are the economic benefits? So the vast majority of people do support independence.

Following this cannon are eleven other cannons identical to this one. And behind them is the much smaller cannon. The barrel of this gun is much shorter, even when compared with the old, bronze cannon, its barrel is not long. However, the barrel wall is still very thin, and the rifling can also be seen, and like the former, it is also equipped with a stiff tube and a smaller anti-shield. So Gonzalez can be sure that this is also a steel artillery. Unlike the previous cannon that requires four horses to tow, this cannon is obviously much lighter, and it only needs one horse to move it, and looking at the horse effortlessly, Gang Sarez was sure that even two people could easily drag it away.

Gonzalez remembered that in the Prussian-Austro-Prussian War that ended not long ago, the Prussians used an extremely lightweight artillery that could follow indistinctly. I don’t know if it was the one in front of them. There are also twelve guns of this kind.

After these guns passed by Gonzalez, there were ten six-horse-horse heavy-duty carriages with boxes stacked on each other. These wooden boxes are also not covered with canvas, so you can easily see the words written on the boxes: “75mm caliber grenade”, “75mm destructive shells (in fact, solid shells)”. And as far as Gonzalez has seen, the proportion of grenade shells is almost as high as 60%.

“These guys are really rich!” Gonzalez thought. He knew that the price of steel artillery or howitzer was much higher than ordinary cannons and shells. He bought so many cannons and grenades in one go. Shotgun, these guys are really willing to spend money. However, after thinking about it, it is clear that they must have obtained so much money by selling their rights and interests in the future canal.

“If our equipment is not updated, it will be impossible to suppress this rebellion.” Gonzalez came to this conclusion.