**Chapter 35**
**Dam and Irrigation System (1)**
My mother soon entered Agustín I's office.
"Mother, how have you been?"
"Son, why is it so hard to see you? That Crown Prince of yours is never in the palace, he's always running around."
"Haha, I'm working hard for the empire, Mother. I'm sorry for worrying you."
"Still, it would be nice if you came to the palace sometimes and showed your face."
"Yes, Mother. I'll try to visit more often from now on."
"Anyway, you're 22 now, so you should get married. Your younger brother's marriage is also delayed because of you. We should have prepared earlier, but you've been running around so much that we couldn't prepare."
"Oh."
"Marriage?"
"Yes. As the Crown Prince of the Empire, you should get married soon and have an heir."
She's not wrong.
"An heir is important."
22 isn't too late, but it's not a comfortable situation either.
In this era, it was common for women to marry as young as 16 and men a little older, at 18.
The marriageable age is considered to be between 18 and 25, so I'm in danger if I don't start preparing soon.
"Yes, your mother is right. It's time to get married."
My father agreed.
My mother took out a booklet she had brought with her.
"Here, I've compiled a list of suitable marriage partners for you, take a look. There are European noble families too."
"Wait, you're deciding my marriage partner like this?"
At least she didn't just decide and inform me, so I should be grateful. Looking at the booklet, there were about 30 candidates, most of them daughters of pro-Emperor families in the country, and some European noble families as well.
"It's strange that there are no European royal families. Even though we beat Spain, is it still too soon?"
Considering their haughty pride and their emphasis on history, perhaps the Iturbide family, which is only eight years old, is not on their level yet.
I didn't mention this fact. It would just hurt my parents' pride.
Sigh-
"What's wrong? Don't you like anyone?"
"No, it's not that."
I didn't get married until I was in my mid-30s in my previous life (I decided to call my life before the possession this). That's because I wasn't interested in marriage. But I have to get married here. I understand that, but...
"Is this the right way to decide?"
As I was flipping through the booklet, my mother said in a stern voice,
"You're not trying to say something like 'I'll find my own marriage partner,' are you?"
My mother looked at me with narrowed eyes.
That's not what I was thinking. I know I can't do whatever I want, considering my position as Crown Prince.
"No, it's not that... Can we take some more time and decide carefully?"
"I want to find someone I can at least talk to."
Of course, the main purpose of this marriage is an heir. As long as there's an heir, I don't have to care about conversation. But I don't want to do that. I should at least try, shouldn't I?
I came here with a mission to develop Mexico and make the people of Central and South America prosperous, but I'm not a machine that exists solely for national development.
"Give me a year. I'll find a marriage partner within that time. I'll refer to this list as well."
I picked up the booklet.
"···Alright. But if you can't find one within a year, I'll choose. I got married that way, so don't complain."
"Ahem. It's not bad to live like that after getting married."
Agustín I coughed suddenly when his own story came up.
"···It's not bad?"
"Oh, no, I mean it's good."
When my father seemed a little embarrassed, I chimed in.
"Yes, I understand. If I can't find one within a year, Mother will find one for me."
"Yes, I understand."
My mother looked unhappy, but she decided to give me time for now.
"Then, I'll be on my way."
"Where are you going this time? You should tell your mother before you leave."
"I'm going to our royal farm. I'm going to build a dam and irrigation system there."
"I haven't heard about that, are you going to build it for free?"
My mother manages all the finances of the royal farm (Agustín I's farm).
"Yes, Mother."
"There's no need for that. If you're going to build it, there must be some good effect. You can bill me later."
"No, honey. Our son, who's making good money, is offering to build it for free, why would we..."
My father said, sounding disappointed at the idea of paying.
"We're not going to use the money we've saved anyway. If we give that money to our son and he uses it to do bigger business, wouldn't that be a big asset to the royal family soon?"
"Yes, that's right, Mother!"
"Ahem. Well, I mean, that's what I'm saying."
Ah, my mother is the best, after all.
***
"Your Highness, the 500 mechanical reapers we exported to the United States have been sold out quickly."
Diego, who had received a report from the Ministry of Finance, handed me the report and told me what I was most likely curious about.
"Thank you for telling me. ...Things are improving overall."
"Yes. For the first time, we've achieved significant export results for something other than silver, gold, and agricultural products."
Mexico's trade balance was improving steadily.
The main exports were still silver, copper, gold, sugar, and agricultural products, but for the first time, mechanical reapers and jeans were included.
"We need to get more ships. Exports are increasing."
"Yes. The shortage of merchant ships is serious."
Mexico didn't even have proper merchant ships right after independence.
That's because Spain had strictly controlled trade during the colonial period. It was so strictly controlled that trade was only allowed once or twice a year.
That's why small illegal trade flourished. There were only small ships, not large merchant ships.
"It's not enough to be happy that we're making a lot of money domestically. We need to increase exports to increase the total national wealth."
"I'll order you to increase exports by finding as many foreign ships as possible."
"Yes, Your Highness."
Since there is no international patent treaty in this era, copycat products of mechanical reapers and jeans will soon appear. I prepared for mass production from the start of product development.
"I'll push it with production cost."
The cost of materials has decreased due to the influence of steel mass-produced using new methods at Estrada Steel. On top of that, mass production using steam engines has lowered the production cost even further.
"Tell them to lower the price of the mechanical reaper to 120 pesos and the price of jeans to 1.5 pesos."
Mechanical reapers in the United States didn't sell for $120 until the 1940s. Jeans were invented in the 1970s and sold for $1.50.
Even if foreign businessmen make copycat products now, in 1830, they will never be able to match our production cost.
"It's impossible for them to compete with us, considering that copycat products are more expensive than the original."
"The import side is doing well too."
I finished reading the export report and flipped to the import report.
"Yes, the demand for textiles, various iron products, weapons, and ammunition, the top three main imports, is gradually being met by domestic production."
"Good."
The numbers for export value and import value in the trade balance report were almost the same.
"We'll be in the black soon."
It's an unimaginable number in Mexico's original history.
I put down the report with a happy feeling. It's time to go out and work again.
***
Reinforced concrete.
It's the basic material of modern architecture, and it's absolutely essential for large structures, especially high-rise buildings, stadiums, bridges, and dams.
Concrete, which has been used effectively since Roman times, has many advantages, but it has the disadvantage of having weak tensile strength (resistance to pulling forces). Reinforced steel was introduced to compensate for this fatal flaw. Reinforced steel and concrete complement each other's weaknesses, and their thermal expansion coefficients are similar, making them the best building materials.
Without reinforced concrete, I can't build a modern dam, no matter how much modern civil engineering knowledge I have.
Reinforced concrete doesn't exist at this time, but it can be reproduced.
"The cement is good enough for now."
Compared to modern cement, it's crude, but something similar in form to modern cement was invented in Britain in 1824. It's called Portland cement.
"We'll be using this material the most from now on."
I gathered the architects of Ortega Construcción and spoke to them.
I didn't know the exact proportions of Portland cement, but I knew what materials went into it and how it was made.
"Crushed limestone and clay powder."
These simple materials, simpler than modern ones, were enough to make cement.
"Concrete is made by mixing this cement with water, sand, gravel, and other mixed materials. It's a good building material on its own, but if you add this to it, it becomes a much better building material."
I took out a wrought iron bar that I had asked Estrada Steel to make.
"It's not comparable to products made of steel, but wrought iron can perform a similar function."
Reinforced concrete was first experimented with in the 1850s.
In the 1950s, steel's exorbitant production cost made it unsuitable as a building material that required large quantities of materials.
In other words, even though reinforced concrete initially used wrought iron, the reinforcing function worked well enough.
"What we're going to do now is experiment."
"Yes? Experiment, not construction?"
One of the architects asked.
"We need to know how much this basic reinforced concrete can withstand before we can proceed with construction. What we're going to build now is a dam. It's a terrifying structure, costing hundreds or thousands of times more than a normal house. If it collapses, it's no different from creating a natural disaster with our own hands. Keep this in mind."
"Yes, I understand. I will keep it in mind."
After that, we experimented with reinforced concrete, constantly making it and testing its performance and limits for two months.
"It might be faster to experiment and calculate on my own, but it's not a good idea if you consider the future."
Honestly, the houses and commercial buildings built in the Mexican Empire so far haven't been built with this level of calculation.
It's also wrong in modern architecture, but the houses and commercial buildings we've built so far have been relatively low-difficulty, so it didn't matter.
"Dams are different."
Dam collapse is a disaster.
Building a dam is not something to be done by eye, like building a house. To prevent this, our empire's architects need to experience construction through experimentation and calculation.
"If you're careless, there will be an accident."
We need to calculate the optimal number of reinforcing bars through careful calculations and experiment with the strength that reinforced concrete can withstand. Site management is also very important. We must not forget the reinforcing bars. If that happens in a dam, it's over.
I taught President Andrés and the architects the basics of calculation.
"You have to follow the calculations meticulously during design and construction. You might think one reinforcing bar won't matter, but the entire dam could collapse."
"Yes!"
The experiments showed that the basic reinforced concrete I made was sufficient to build dams of a certain size, as long as they weren't super-large dams.
"Fortunately, the Cointzio River in Michoacán is a medium-sized river."
"Yes, Your Highness. It's also connected to the railroad, so it'll be easy to transport building materials."
The royal farm was in Morelia, Michoacán.
It's the same Morelia on the Las Truchas-Morelia-Mexico City section, the first railroad section in the Mexican Empire.
"Ahem. It's strange, but Agustín I's large farm was in Morelia."
At the end of 1830, we began construction of the Cointzio Dam.
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