Canal Turmoil

After the deadlock was broken, the chaos the outside world had expected did not materialize. The only countries that truly moved to seize colonies were Britain, France, and Austria.

It was not that the other colonial empires did not want to compete; their strength simply fell short. Being able to hold on to their existing territories was already good enough—they had no capacity whatsoever to join the scramble.

Fewer competitors were naturally a good thing. If the matter had been settled through negotiations, Britain, France, and Austria would likely have been unable to keep the whole feast to themselves.

The London Government's seemingly absurd actions had in fact been carefully considered. For now, only small countries had suffered losses. Even if everyone nursed resentment, they could only swallow it.

Vienna Palace

Foreign Minister Wessenberg said, "Your Majesty, news has just arrived from South America. The French are contacting the Colombian government and preparing to restart the Panama Canal project."

Franz frowned. "Do we know the Frenchmen's true purpose?"

The Panama Canal could truly be called ill-fated. The plan had existed for several centuries, yet progress had always been fraught with setbacks.

As early as 1534, the Spaniards had sent people to conduct surveys. To dig the canal, they had even built a post road. But the outbreak of the great European war caused the plan to die before it was born.

In 1814, the Spaniards revived the canal project. Unfortunately, colonial uprisings erupted once again, and the plan was aborted for a second time.

The Republic of Colombia also had a canal plan, but after Austria occupied Central America, that plan too came to an end.

From the Republic of Colombia's perspective, opening the Panama Canal would indeed bring immense economic benefits, but the strategic pressure it faced would also