Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 558 A Strategic Maritime Pass (Part Two)

On November 18, 1642, during the dry season on Honolulu (Oahu), the sky was crystal clear, displaying an almost transparent azure blue, with a few wisps of thin clouds as faint as blank spaces left unintentionally by a paintbrush.

The sea breeze blows from the northeast, carrying the unique saltiness of the deep ocean, yet it cannot dispel the increasingly rich sweet fragrance permeating the air.

The sweetness wasn't the fragrance of flowers and fruits, but rather a richer, more substantial flavor, a crystallization of the earth and sunshine—the aroma of ripe sugarcane.

The vast sugarcane fields stretched from the outskirts of Taiping Fort (now Honolulu) all the way to the distant foothills, covering more than 20,000 mu, resembling an undulating green ocean.

The sugarcane stalks are thick and tall, taller than a person, with distinct nodes, and gleam with a mature, coppery luster in the sunlight.

Standing in the fields, you can smell an extremely rich, sweet aroma, mixed with a hint of the greenness of plants.

At this point, the sugar content of the sugarcane has reached its peak (approximately 15%-16%), making it the optimal time for harvesting.

"Old Zhou, how many people did you mobilize?" Lin Yide, the Hawaiian colonization commissioner and naval lieutenant commander, stood on the edge of the field, looking at the sugarcane field that was as dense as a green curtain, his face beaming with joy.

The sugarcane production is estimated to be more than three times higher than last year. Although it cannot fully meet the needs of the hundreds of thousands of people in the country, it can at least reduce some imports and create some economic value for the colonized areas.

"Commander Lin, we have mobilized more than 1,600 people from Taiping Fort (now Honolulu) and the surrounding eight settlements." Chen Yannian, the chief of the settlements on Tanhua Island, cupped his hands in greeting and replied with a smile, "In addition, we have also recruited about five or six hundred local tribes with wine, ironware and grain as rewards."

“We still don’t have enough manpower!” Lin Yide shook his head. “At the rate of harvesting one to one and a half acres a day, it will probably take more than ten days for these two thousand people to finish the harvest. If it rains a few times a day, it will be troublesome.”

“Commander Lin, judging from the weather in previous years, there is usually not much rain during the dry season.” Chen Yannian subconsciously looked up at the sky. “Even if it rains occasionally, in this warm climate, the fields will dry out in less than half a day and it won’t affect the harvest.”

"That would be perfect!" Lin Yide clapped his hands, walked down the ridge, and headed towards the fortress. "I wonder if the machinery factories on the mainland have developed any sugarcane harvesting machines. If they do, bringing a few over would save a lot of manpower. Then we can free up some labor to replant more grain crops for the use of the immigrant ships."

"Commander Lin, the annual immigrant ships don't pass through our area..." Chen Yannian reminded him.

“In the past, due to the influence of trade winds and ocean currents, immigrant ships naturally wouldn’t pass through here. But…” Lin Yide turned his head, a mysterious expression on his face, and deliberately lowered his voice: “But, in a few years, our island will become a stopover for immigrant ships.”

"Well, to be precise, from now on all ships crossing the Pacific Ocean and traveling between the two continents will have to pass through here."

"Huh?" Chen Yannian looked at him in surprise. "Commander Lin, what do you mean by that...?"

“Steamship!” Lin Yide uttered three words.

"A steamship?" Chen Yannian's eyes widened upon hearing this. "You mean... that steamship that doesn't need sails and can run on coal alone?"

“Excellent!” Lin Yide nodded and said, “The news from the Navy Department indicates that the steamship project is progressing very well and is expected to be finalized and built soon. At that time, we will no longer need to take a long detour from the mainland to our Hawaiian settlement to catch the trade winds and follow the ocean currents, which takes a lot of time and effort.”

"Commander Lin means that point-to-point direct navigation can be achieved by using steamships?"

“That’s right!” Lin Yide raised an eyebrow. “Steamships do not need to rely on trade winds and ocean currents, so they can take a relatively straight route at sea to reach their destination. This will greatly save travel time, reducing the entire journey from the original 40-50 days to just over 20 days.”

Currently, the route from Xinhua's mainland to Hawaii largely overlaps with the immigration route. The route first takes advantage of the California Current flowing from north to south, traveling south until reaching a lower latitude of approximately 15 to 20 degrees north. Then, with the help of the northeast trade winds, it turns west, sailing for more than 2,000 nautical miles, directly approaching the longitude of the Hawaiian Islands.

Once the accurate longitude is calculated using astronomical navigation (observing the sun and stars), the ship will adjust its course slightly northward and head towards Hawaii.

This route is relatively smooth sailing, and a well-maintained Xinhua Express ship takes about 40-50 days.

The return journey from Hawaii to Xinhua takes much longer due to the multiple headwinds and frequent detours.

Starting from Hawaii, ships do not head directly east, but first sail northwest.

Because the northeast trade winds in low latitude regions blow from northeast to southwest and then northwest, although they are not completely tailwinds, they can transform the strong northeast winds into crosswinds at a certain angle, allowing ships to slowly move northwest.

When the ship struggled to sail westward to about 30-35 degrees north latitude, it entered the mid-latitude prevailing westerly wind belt.

Here, the captain will order a turn to cut into the North Pacific warm current zone. This section of the voyage is the fastest and smoothest, with the ship riding the westerly winds and warm currents at high speed toward the New World.

As the ships approach the mainland, the North Pacific Current carries them to the northern part of the western coast of the New Continent. From there, the ships can use the ocean currents and winds along the coast to sail south and eventually reach their destination, Xinhua Headquarters.

This circuitous route is very long, covering more than 4,000 nautical miles, and will take at least 60 to 70 days, or even longer, much longer than the outbound journey.

In fact, the journey from Hawaii to Ming China takes much less time than this voyage.

The advent of steamships will completely change this situation. Chen Yannian was shocked by Lin Yide's words. He subconsciously looked around - in the distance were verdant mountains, nearby were busy sugarcane fields, there was a sugar factory in the fortress with wisps of smoke rising from it, and a simple wooden dock by the harbor.

All of this may be given a completely new meaning because of the word "steamship".

He could almost see that in the near future, steamships belching black smoke would ignore the constraints of trade winds and ocean currents, cutting straight through the waves and bringing a steady stream of people, supplies, and government decrees from the central government to the island.

“If that’s really the case…” Chen Yannian’s voice was filled with excitement and anticipation, “then our Hawaiian colony will no longer be an isolated overseas enclave, but a true Pacific hub.”

“This is also the fulcrum for Xinhua’s dominance of the Pacific.” Lin Yide nodded heavily, his gaze sweeping over the sugarcane field again. “Therefore, every bit of construction we do now is to continuously solidify the foundation of this fulcrum.”

Over the past four years, Xinhua Central has been developing this archipelago slowly and sparingly, with an almost strategic patience, and the number of immigrants has been only over 2,100.

Besides the core area of ​​Hon Hua Island, which gathered more than 1,800 people, a settlement of about 200 people was established on Flame Peak Island (now Maui). On the more extensive but also the most primitive Rusi Island (now Hawaii Island), only a little over 100 immigrants painstakingly built a wooden village on a corner of the coast.

With this small population, it's less about ruling the Hawaiian Islands and more about planting a few flags on the map, symbolically claiming ownership of this strategic maritime location to prevent other maritime powers from coveting it (in reality, the more important reason is the obsession of the time travelers).

Xinhua's colonization and development of this archipelago was pragmatic and slow.

In the first two years, immigrants from Fujian and Guangdong provinces of the Ming Dynasty took advantage of the local hot and humid climate and geographical environment to divert water and dig canals in the fertile river valleys of Tanhua Island, creating paddy fields and widely planting rice.

Despite the climate being vastly different from their homeland, the new immigrants, with their talent for farming, still managed to achieve a bumper rice harvest.

With meticulous farming practices, the rice harvested twice a year finally yielded enough food to feed the people, eliminating the need for imports from Xinhua's own territory.

At the same time, drought-resistant and high-yield sweet potatoes were also widely planted on the slopes, further consolidating the food supply for the immigrants and even becoming a commodity traded with the local indigenous people.

Only by achieving basic food self-sufficiency can this colony truly take root without relying on distant and unreliable local supplies.

After basic food and clothing needs were met, the cultivation of cash crops was put on the agenda.

The successful trial planting of sugarcane last year is undoubtedly the biggest highlight of the development of the colonization area to date.

The local demand for sugar is enormous, and the climate and soil of Tanhwa Island are practically a natural sugarcane field, further proving to the local area that this place has significant economic value.

That steam-powered sugar factory, though perhaps just an ordinary industry in its homeland, was a symbol of Xinhua's civilization and power in this wild archipelago, with its roaring machines and huge metal rollers.

In addition, the sandalwood growing in the mountains of the archipelago is another kind of wealth bestowed upon Xinhua by nature.

Fragrant pieces of wood were transported by immigrant ships to markets in Ming Dynasty, Japan, Korea, and even Southeast Asia for sale, becoming the most important source of revenue for the colony governments.

As for the fact that this archipelago was named "Hawaii," it seems to be a name specially bestowed by the central government.

As the name suggests, it uses the power of the Xia dynasty to intimidate the Yi people!
Yes, it fully interprets the traditional Chinese worldview.

Of course, in the eyes of the central government of Xinhua, it symbolizes that Xinhua will use these islands as a base to bring the vast Pacific Ocean under its rule, thereby subjugating all "barbarians"—whether European colonists or natives of the Pacific islands—and demonstrating the influence of Chinese civilization radiating across the ocean.

However, in the four years prior, the Hawaiian Islands had not truly served as the intended maritime supply depot.

It's more like a hidden piece in the central government's strategy, with limited investment and slow development.

The only dock was still a wooden structure, so rudimentary that it could only accommodate one large sailboat.

Of course, most of the time, it is deserted and quiet, with few ships coming and going or anchoring.

The initial focus was entirely on survival: reclaiming land, planting crops, and establishing preliminary cooperative relationships with the local indigenous people.

It was only last year, with the successful trial planting of sugarcane and the establishment of that small steam sugar factory, that a slight change was brought to this place.

This proves that the place can not only survive on its own, but also generate considerable economic value, which has attracted the attention of the local central government. This has led to the relocation of sugarcane farmers and the installation of some industrial equipment, bringing a more modern atmosphere to this pristine land.

The advent and commissioning of steamships will completely reshape the landscape of this ocean.

It is foreseeable that when the first steamship billowing black smoke breaks free from the constraints of the trade winds and reaches Tanhwa Island along a shorter route, it will represent not only an increase in speed, but also a completely new kind of dominance.
-
(End of this chapter)