1855 United States Tycoon

Chapter 303 Silent Forest

Just after the New Year in 1872, a boat docked at the pier on the east coast of Panama. Some people in light gray overalls got off the boat, embroidered with a pattern of yellow and black umbrellas on the front of their overalls. Local people recognize that this is the symbol of the Panama Canal Company’s immunization water supply department. When the yellow fever broke out among Japanese workers, these people were in charge of various things in the workers’ camp. Now that people with such signs have returned to Panama, it seems that the development of the canal is really about to start again.

Since the ship docked, more ships have arrived continuously. More people and supplies were shipped ashore. Then the workers began to arrive one after another. Unlike last time, these workers this time are mainly white people.

Scrooge originally wanted to use Japanese workers or simply use Chinese workers. Because both Japanese and Chinese workers are cheaper to use than whites, even the cheapest Irish whites. And this time with DDT, there should be no large-scale casualties. So even if Chinese workers were used, Scrooge felt that there would be no major problems.

However, the development of the matter was a bit beyond Scrooge’s expectations. In Japan, after the Restoration government came to power, it publicized the death of a large number of Japanese workers in the Panama Canal as an important evidence of the shogunate’s traitorousness. As a result, when Scrooge’s people came to the door again, the Japanese government’s price was much higher. cut. As for China, it was not difficult to recruit some workers. Even the operation is almost the same, but I don’t know how to do it. Some political changes suddenly occurred in the Manchuria. A group of so-called “clear currents” attacked the Westernization faction traitors through this incident, and then, um, at least for a short time, Chinese workers can’t count on it anymore. Of course, only Irish and blacks are available.

Unlike last time, it was not the workers who entered the forest first, but the employees of the immune water supply department and a small number of loggers with axes and machetes to open the way. What these people want to do is to wipe out the dangerous mosquitoes in the Panamanian rainforest before the workers start to work.

The climate in the rainforest area near the equator is very regular. Basically every day there will be a heavy rain in the afternoon. In addition, the woodland is extremely dense, and various trees and rattans shade the sun, so the woodland is very humid and sultry. Such an environment brings very favorable conditions for the growth of various insects, especially mosquitoes. Here, for twelve months a year, the heat necessary for mosquito reproduction and stagnant water are everywhere. So in the rain forest, there will never be fewer mosquitoes.

“Bart, you nigger, don’t pull the protective suit away if you don’t want to die!” Squad leader Kurt shouted at Bart the lumberjack. The mosquito control team was wearing special protective clothing that covered the whole body. This kind of protective clothing made of thick canvas and brushed with a thin layer of vulcanized rubber on the outside can block any mosquitoes or other insects from attacking, and in the specially reinforced position-calf, foot, head The head, hands, and even the fangs of the viper. Of course, this kind of protective clothing is not specifically designed for this project. Although it is publicized in this way, in fact, it is a chemical protection suit designed for possible chemical warfare in the future.

Although this kind of clothing can provide very good protection, but when it comes to comfort, it is a complete mess. In the already hot tropical rain forest, the temperature in the airtight protective clothing can easily exceed forty degrees. And lumberjacks who have to engage in relatively heavy physical labor are naturally even more painful. It has become the habit of lumberjacks to open the zipper of the protective clothing to allow ventilation whenever possible.

“Captain, it’s so hot, I’ll faint!” Bart complained.

“Okay, okay, I’m not responsible for your death.” Kurt said, “you are not a kid anymore, take care of yourself. Well, there is a big puddle here, Simlin, come and deal with it.”

“Okay Captain!” Simlin replied loudly, carrying a sealed tin bucket and walking over. A black and yellow umbrella is also painted on the barrel.

Simlin walked to the puddle. The puddle was not small in size and looked like a small puddle, but the water was not deep, and the deepest place could be no more than knees. There are some dead branches and fallen leaves floating on the water. With a little bit of sunlight from the top of the tree, you can see that the water is full of small moving insects. Simlin recognized that this was the larva of the mosquito. He skillfully unscrewed a small lid on the iron bucket and poured some milky white liquid directly into the water.

Originally, DDT should be used to hydrate it with an appropriate amount, and the amount of use should be judged according to the amount of water. However, if you really want to do this, there will be a lot of trouble and a lot of extra effort. In the case of wearing protective clothing that can heat people to death, if you do this a little bit, it will be even hotter. Moreover, the above requirement is to ensure that all the mosquitoes are killed. As for how much DDT is used, just as the Lord does not care about the life or death of these mosquitoes, it does not care how much DDT is used. Anyway, this thing is cheap. Compared with the amount of DDT, the above attaches more importance to the speed at which these things are done.

Therefore, the following practitioners will naturally adopt the most comfortable and efficient method-seeing the puddle, go directly to the original solution, and it will melt by itself anyway. Pour as much as you want, but of course it’s best to use more to ensure the effect. Therefore, the general usage will exceed the standard three to five times. Anyway, the above doesn’t care. Whether it is the above person or the above master.

The milky white liquid slowly melted away in the water. In order to ensure the effect, Simlin lifted the bucket and walked a few steps to the other side and poured some more. Then he was satisfied to see that the larvae that were still bombing and bombing just stopped moving centered on the location where he fell the original DDT solution. There must be quite a few larvae in the center of the puddle, but they won’t last long, at most half an hour, all the larvae in the puddle will die out, and for a long time thereafter, here No more larvae or other bugs will grow.

There are also two black people in the team who are responsible for spraying DDT indiscriminately towards the leaves and things along the road with the medicine barrel. It is said that they have prepared tens of thousands of tons of DDT for this forest. Mr. Scrooge even threatened to let the Panama rain forest. There will be no mosquitoes that dare to fight against humans in the next few decades. So everyone has to hurry up and use these DDTs.

Walked forward again. They dealt with several large puddles and a real large puddle. It was a depression in the rainforest, where the rainwater accumulated so deep that no trees could grow there. The sun shone unobstructed, and the eyes of the team members who had become accustomed to the dim light in the rain forest could not be opened. Regardless of three or seven twenty-one, Simlin simply put the rest of the original liquid into it.

“I don’t know if it will be enough.” Kurt looked at it and said, “The water here is deep enough, um, simply, you pour all the original liquid and potion in. Then we go back.”

…

Every day, more than ten mosquito-killing teams will kill mosquitoes in front, clearing out a mosquito-free safe area several kilometers wide and one kilometer deep. A large number of loggers without protective clothing followed to cut down the rainforest along the line, and then construction workers followed behind to dig the river. The effect of this is very good, not to mention the mosquitoes, the lumberjacks following have not even seen any insects that are still alive. Not only has the threat of mosquitoes been eliminated, but the threats posed by poisonous spiders, wasps, water leeches, dry locusts, and various snakes have also been solved. DDT has a very reliable and highly effective killing efficiency for this kind of cold-blooded animals, even the largest snakes, the anacondas are inevitable. Lumberjacks have found poisoned anaconda more than once in a puddle or under a big tree. The largest of them weighs 400 pounds. In this forest, it was originally well-deserved. The king, apart from time, almost no creature can threaten a snake like it. Even the crocodile staying in the lake has to retreat to it. However, when it swims through the water full of DDT, DDT, which is extremely toxic to cold-blooded animals, will kill it in a short time. .

The only crocodiles that sometimes dare to compete with the anacondas are not much better. Except for some of the crocodiles that have escaped life in a very large lake, those crocodiles who have found a big pond to dominate are also Become a victim of DDT. Of course, the condition of warm-blooded animals is much better, like the America Leopard, at least not directly poisoned to death. However, he was also shot to death by the black water members who were in charge of the security. So when the loggers start to cut down these forests that have been growing for so many years. These forests are so silent, except for the sound of one tree after another being cut down and the huge crown of the tree hitting the ground, there are no other sounds, no insects, no birds, no The America Leopard’s low roar, of course, didn’t have the big bear to gag.

The effect of large-scale use of DDT in the rain forest is very obvious. The yellow fever that once made people talk about it has disappeared. It has been more than two months for construction workers to enter the rainforest on a large scale. At this time last time, most of the unlucky people from Japan have only left the value of contributing to the advancement of medicine, but now, whether it is Irish or black, there has not been even one yellow fever. , Or a case of an insect-borne disease such as malaria or something.

“We can basically cheer. We have defeated the rain forest and the disease that has been entrenched there for countless years. From now on, on the earth, there will be no forbidden zone closed to mankind. This is a victory for mankind. It is the victory of science. This is a small step for science, but it is a big step for mankind to overcome nature!” Scrooge said triumphantly in subsequent talk shows.