Chapter 3989
Chapter 3989
Chapter 3989
Seeing that Qian Tiandun was not at the dock, Chen Pingliao asked, "Is the Commander busy with official business?"
Such a large fleet arrived at Fubo Port, bringing with it a large amount of supplies and personnel. Logically, Qian Tiandun, as the local official, should have come out to welcome them, to demonstrate the importance the government attached to this matter.
Moreover, the Qian and Chen families had a close relationship. Before Chen Pingliao departed from Hanban Port, he had already sent a telegram informing Qian Tiandun of the approximate voyage. He knew that this elder had always treated him like his own son and never put on airs in front of him. When he was a child, he would travel by boat from Dengzhou to Jinzhou for sightseeing. Whenever Qian Tiandun was not on official business, he would almost always come to the port to pick him up personally. His treatment was quite extraordinary.
Having not seen each other for several years, the two sides should not have missed such a long-awaited reunion. However, Qian Tiandun did not appear immediately, and Chen Pingliao guessed that he was probably tied up with official duties.
Qian Shaobao replied, "My father isn't in Fubo Port. He went to Basra City a few days ago and probably won't be back for some time."
Chen Pingliao suddenly realized, "Go to negotiate with the Ottomans?"
Qian Shaobao nodded, not directly answering Chen Pingliao's question, but instead gesturing for him and Sun Zhen to mount their horses and head towards the local military camp.
Due to limited resources, Fubo Port has not yet been able to build a decent guesthouse like Hamban Port, and only has two small inns for traveling merchants to stay in. However, when officials of Chen Pingliao and Sun Zhen come here, they will certainly stay in the much better-equipped military camp.
After all, the living conditions and food in the officers' barracks were much better than those simple inns, and the security was also much better.
As for the salt merchants' sons and other immigrants who arrived in Hong Kong and disembarked later, officials would organize their reception and resettlement, so Qian Shaobao did not need to stay at the dock.
Li Yuande also had to stay at the dock to oversee the unloading. The goods he had transported to Fubo Port from thousands of miles away were priceless, and many of them were fragile. He dared not let those lazy Persians move them at will, lest all his efforts be in vain.
If they were too rough during unloading and accidentally broke a few items, their worthless lives wouldn't even be enough to cover the shipping costs.
Furthermore, once the sons of salt merchants disembark, seeing a familiar face like Li Yuande will surely put them at ease, and it will also make it easier for them to connect with local officials.
To ensure that the news would not leak out, Qian Shaobao only brought up his father Qian Tiandun's whereabouts after entering the military camp.
“My father went to Basra to discuss with the Ottoman Empire a long-term lease of the Suez Canal. If we can persuade them to lease that area to us, the subsequent canal project will be much easier, and we will avoid the trouble of going to war with the Ottoman Empire.”
Qian Shaobao succinctly explained the purpose of Qian Tiandun's trip. After listening, Chen Pingliao and Sun Zhen exchanged a glance, both feeling that this move was unexpected.
Before departing from Hangzhou, they carefully studied the international situation in the area under the jurisdiction of the special operations division, and roughly understood the difficulties that Qian Tiandun would face in his attempt to dig a canal in the Suez region.
Organizing and implementing such a massive project as canal excavation in a foreign country will inevitably present obstacles in terms of funding, manpower, and construction conditions.
The greatest difficulty lay in the fact that the planned canal area belonged to another country—the Ottoman Empire, a vast empire spanning three continents and currently at the height of its power. Before Haihan's arrival, even European nations with advanced military forces found it difficult to adopt a conqueror's stance towards the Ottomans. Only by seeking cooperation could they conduct trade activities on Ottoman territory.
While Haihan's national strength is no less than its opponent's, and its military power is second to none in this era, it will certainly be much more difficult to subdue the Ottoman Empire, the regional hegemon, than to tame the small countries surrounding Haihan.
Realistically speaking, unless absolutely necessary, there's really no need to create trouble for ourselves by engaging in military conflict with the Ottoman Empire.
Therefore, Qian Tiandun's goal was not to militarily defeat the Ottoman Empire, but to gain long-term control of the Suez Canal. As for whether to achieve this through military or economic means, judging from Qian Tiandun's approach of seeking negotiations, he probably wasn't too fixated on either, choosing to try the relatively simpler method first.
However, those in the know, including Chen Pingliao and Sun Zhen, understood that for Haihan to gain control of the canal's operation once and for all, leasing the area from the Ottoman Empire was not the best strategy.
Even if the Ottoman decision-makers, due to shortsightedness, temporarily agree to Qian Tiandun's proposal, once the canal is open to navigation, they will soon realize the enormous benefits that the project can bring. In comparison, the rent paid by Haihan to the Suez region will certainly be far less.
At that point, the other party, coveting the canal's profits, might proactively demand higher rents, or even break the lease, attempting to regain control of the canal prematurely. Haihan, of course, will not yield, making conflict and even war inevitable.
Of course, there is another, even more undesirable situation: the Ottoman Empire had long understood the importance of the Suez region, but for various reasons, it was unwilling to invest heavily in its development.
The Ottoman Empire was certainly happy to see Haihan willingly step forward to be the sucker. They would first pretend to lease the area to Haihan to dig a canal, and then turn their backs on the Ottoman Empire once the canal was opened.
Regardless of the scenario, the conflict of interests may eventually escalate into a localized war. The root cause is that the ownership of the Suez region has not been fully grasped by Haihan, which will become an unpredictable variable.
There is only one way to completely resolve this variable: for Haihan to seize complete control of the area and turn it into part of Haihan's territory.
Of course, this would most likely require defeating the Ottoman Empire on the battlefield first, and even if Haihan won and occupied the Suez region, it would still not be able to completely eliminate the long-term conflict that would follow.
After studying the matter, Chen Pingliao and Sun Zhen both believed that stationing a large number of troops around the canal year-round for protection was more likely to become the norm in the Suez Canal basin in the future.
Chen Yixin's decision to send reinforcements to Qian Tiandun was basically based on the same view – only by maintaining sufficient troops in this region could the surrounding countries be deterred and the normal operation of the canal be maintained.
Chen Pingliao said, "The commander-in-chief wouldn't pin his hopes on the Ottomans making concessions, would he?"
Qian Shaobao said, "Whether or not they will make concessions will only be known after the talks. This time, a member of the Ottoman royal family has come to Basra, so my father wants to test the Ottoman leadership's thoughts and see if there is any possibility of cooperation."
Qian Shaobao paused for a moment and then said, "Don't worry, my father said before he left that he would be negotiating on one hand and preparing for war on the other, and he wouldn't let his guard down on either one!"