April 1st.
On the other side of Earth.
To the east of the Suez Canal in the Suez Region, a parallel waterway had now been twinned and widened.
It was slightly longer than the Suez Canal, with a single-channel width of 550 meters and a depth of 25 to 45 meters—enough to accommodate 300,000-ton-class giant vessels.
The canal’s opening immediately attracted a large number of massive transport vessels.
Although the European Union and the Gulf Countries were very wary of the Homo Sapiens Company, the Second Suez Canal was just too good to pass up. Not only was its navigational capacity excellent, but its transit fees were also slightly lower than the Suez Canal’s.
Although the European Union had reached an agreement with Saudia Arabia and the Kingdom of Judah to build a brand new oil pipeline, their construction speed was another matter.
Even if they pushed themselves to the limit, it would still take three to five years to complete. What’s more, the European Union, the Kingdom of Judah, and Saudia Arabia all had their own ulterior motives; it would be a miracle if the project got off the ground quickly.
As for the Dead Sea Canal that America was building in the Kingdom of Judah, it would also take at least four to five years, or even more than a decade.
For now, the two Suez Canals were the true maritime lifelines for West Asia and Europe.
However, for the Homo Sapiens Company, the Second Suez Canal was actually less important than the Northern and Southern Canals in the Suez Region.
After all, the Homo Sapiens Company did relatively little trade with the European Union.
If the European Union ever dared to run its mouth, the Homo Sapiens Company would even dare to cut off the Suez Canal directly.
This was also why the European Union was gritting its teeth and insisting on building the onshore oil pipeline; since the Homo Sapiens Company had little trade with the European Union, closing the Suez Canal would cause the company no losses whatsoever.
After the Homo Sapiens Company’s full entry into the Suez Region, canal tolls were no longer the pillar industry.
Now, the pillar industries of the Suez Region were agriculture, mining, textiles, aquaculture, and serving as a trade hub for northeastern Africa.
Five new Giant Rhinoceros Canal Boats arrived in the Suez Region. Two were assigned to excavate the Second Suez Canal, one was digging the Southern Canal, and the remaining two were excavating seawater channels in the coastal plains of the Red Sea Province.
Currently, the area of seawater rice paddies in the Red Sea Province had reached as much as 420,000 hectares, a quarter of which had already been planted with seedlings.
「Near Hongku Port.」
Xu Yingcheng was leading a working group from the Demand Business Division to the First Settlement.
The passenger ferry slowly sailed towards the First Settlement along a seawater channel about 130 meters wide.
The investigation team leader, Kadir, looked through a pair of binoculars at the endless rice paddies on both banks, finding it hard to imagine that just four months ago, this place had been nothing but a vast expanse of yellow sand.
Kadir turned his head and asked with a smile, "Manager Xu, won’t birds come here to eat the rice? Could that cause ecological problems?"
Leaning against the railing and chewing gum, Xu Yingcheng shook his head. "No need to worry. We’ve set up pheromone repellent devices in the surrounding area. When the birds are stimulated by the special pheromones, they’ll automatically stay away."
"I see."
After saying that, Kadir continued to scan the surrounding scenery with his binoculars.
In the distance, hundreds of large, hovercraft-like rice planting machines were at work in the muddy seawater paddies.
To supplement the soil’s organic matter here, large amounts of organic fertilizer are also added as a base fertilizer during the paddy leveling process.
And after each harvest, the cut straw is collected and sent to an organic fertilizer fermentation plant to be composted, then brought back to enrich the fields, ensuring the soil’s organic matter content is maintained at a certain level.
Once the planting stage begins, the accumulation of organic matter in these rice paddies will soon enter a virtuous cycle.
「About two and a half hours later.」
The passenger ferry arrived at the small pier of the First Settlement.
This place was actually one of Hongku Port’s satellite towns.
Stepping off the pier, Kadir saw orderly houses and streets, as well as busy employees. It was a typical agricultural town.
This small town was responsible for operating the surrounding 80,000 hectares of rice paddies and 2,000 hectares of marine aquaculture farms.
The total population wasn’t large—it was the size of a small town, with just over eight thousand people, most of whom were Haitian Agriculture employees.
Kadir turned his head. "Manager Xu, thanks for guiding us here. We’ll get to work now."
"Don’t mention it. It was on my way."
After saying goodbye to Kadir, Xu Yingcheng continued north on the passenger ferry. His destination was the Second Settlement.
At the same time, he was also thinking about the next steps.
’Having canals isn’t enough. They’re fine for transporting goods, but passenger transport is too slow, which is detrimental to the head office’s strategy.’
He looked at the rice paddy area, crisscrossed by a dense network of canals. ’Building surface highways and railways here isn’t practical, given the situation.’
’After all, we can’t just build a fifty-meter-high elevated bridge for every single seawater channel we cross!’
’Therefore, a subway system is the best choice.’
’This kind of large-scale agricultural area will definitely be vast and sparsely populated in the future. The distance between the various small towns and the main city becomes an issue that must be considered.’
’Why consider this issue?’
’The reason is very simple: Homo Sapiens Company does not want township branches to emerge.’
’To a certain extent, townships are naturally insular, clannish, exclusionary, conservative, and prone to corruption.’
’If the transportation problem between the small towns and the main city isn’t solved, then no matter how high the employee mobility is at Homo Sapiens Company, it will be difficult to prevent the degeneration of the township branches.’
’Therefore, the problem must be solved at its root: by destroying the "island" characteristic of these townships, integrating them with the main city, and turning them into just another one of its districts.’
’Homo Sapiens Company is pushing for rapid urbanization in all its branch locations precisely to eliminate these "township islands" and prevent the long-term isolation from fostering the concept of "locals."’
Xu Yingcheng deeply understood the head office’s concerns. Huddling together for warmth is human nature; he himself came from the Luzon Xu Clan.
The existence of large clans had its pros and cons.
When facing harsh living environments, large clans were undeniably more resilient to various disasters than ordinary people.
But the internal dynamics of a large clan could sometimes give rise to all sorts of problems, even leading them to resist the company’s management for the sake of the clan’s interests.
The new cities currently being planned would have no townships, only subordinate districts, precisely to reduce the fertile ground where large clans and conservative forces could grow.
Over two hours later, Xu Yingcheng’s ferry finally arrived at the Second Settlement.
This was a town under construction, 103 kilometers from Hongku Port, placing it right within the "half-hour transit circle."
The "half-hour transit circle," as defined internally by Homo Sapiens Company, was any area that could be reached by high-speed subway within thirty minutes.
Currently, Homo Sapiens Company’s high-speed subways had an average operating speed of 241 kilometers per hour, which meant a half-hour ride covered 120.5 kilometers.
In other words, once the subway was built, travel between these settlements and Hongku Port must take about half an hour.
If a location fell outside the half-hour transit circle, it could not be included within the scope of the Hongku Port branch. Instead, it would have to be assigned to the branch of another city or have a new branch established for it.
Isolated, island-like towns were not permitted to exist, unless they were special, secret bases.
Xu Yingcheng toured the Second Settlement and didn’t find many problems. The main issue was communication difficulties between the newly arrived migrant workers from the Nile River Delta Region and the employees from Southeast Asia.
As for other things like construction, supporting facilities, and daily management, Homo Sapiens Company had long since established a complete set of procedures. Even the most incompetent manager wouldn’t cause any major problems as long as they followed the book.
After inspecting the site, he hurried back to file a report requesting that the head office approve the construction of a high-speed subway for the Hongku Port branch.