Chapter 4001
Chapter 4001
Chapter 4001
With his hands behind his back, Su Zhixing strode back to his residence, his face flushed. When Su Ji came out to greet him, he instructed him to prepare writing brush, ink, paper, and inkstone.
The two entered the study, and Su Ji asked as he took something, "Is Young Master in a hurry to prepare his lessons?"
Su Zhixing smiled and said, "We can talk about lesson preparation later. Right now, my thoughts are flowing freely, and I want to compose a poem!"
Before long, Su Ji finished grinding the ink and left the study to make tea for Su Zhixing.
Su Zhixing held his breath for a moment, adjusted his breathing, and then picked up his pen and finished the work in one stroke.
With a heart set on serving the country, I ventured westward, enduring a long and desolate journey through the desert.
I would not hesitate to teach under the scorching sun, nor fear the fierce north wind when passing on my knowledge.
With tongue, I cultivate the land and enlighten the ignorant; with pen, I sweep across the barren plains and plant the pillars of society.
When the peach and plum trees flourish in the future, the people of the Middle East will recognize the Han Chinese heroes.
After seeing the plaque in the school's storeroom, Su Zhixing was in high spirits. On the way back, he was inspired to write this poem in gratitude to his country.
Su Zhixing put down his brush, carefully examined his work, and nodded in satisfaction after a long while. He then picked up his brush again to write a postscript and affix his seal.
Su Ji returned with the tea and, after reading the poem, immediately praised, "Young Master, what excellent writing you have!"
Su Zhixing smiled and said, "What do you think about offering this to Commander Qian?"
Su Ji cautiously replied, "Young Master, do you intend to use this opportunity to demonstrate your resolve to Commander Qian? Isn't this topic a bit too broad? I heard this school isn't very big!"
Su Zhixing shook his head and said, "The size of the school and the number of students are not things we should care about. Otherwise, why would we have come from Wansong Academy? Even if we only teach elementary education, we must do our best and teach everything we know. Otherwise, we would be letting down the special forces soldiers' trust and our own journey of thousands of miles."
Su Ji looked ashamed and said, "Young Master is right, I was narrow-minded."
Su Zhixing coughed twice and said, "Whether it's a primary school or an academy, I will dedicate myself to teaching with utmost seriousness, so as not to fail the identity of a teacher!"
Su Zhixing wasn't sure how many people knew about the school's naming, but since Chang Mingxuan hadn't mentioned it, he didn't dare to publicize it too early.
However, there was one thing he had confirmed with Chang Mingxuan: the official opening ceremony of the academy would have to wait until Qian Tiandun returned to Fubo Port.
So even though Su Ji was like family, Su Zhixing still didn't reveal this secret to him at this time, lest the news leak out in advance.
Even the smallest academy is still an officially recognized institution of higher learning in Haihan. If Su Zhixing can successfully become the first dean of Fubo Academy, even if he doesn't go down in history, he will at least bring glory to his family.
After the initial excitement subsided, Su Zhixing gradually calmed down and realized that his previous preparations for teaching might have been far from sufficient. It wasn't a question of how many lessons he needed to prepare for teaching elementary education, but rather that managing an academy required considering longer-term teaching arrangements and planning for the students' future development.
At the very least, when Commander Qian returns to Fubo Port, I need to come up with a decent plan, lest Commander Qian think that I've dug up a good-for-nothing from the country.
Of course, the patriotic poem I wrote couldn't be wasted; I had to present it at the right moment.
However, Qian Tiandun's whereabouts are a military secret, and no one has revealed the exact time when he will return to Hong Kong to Su Zhixing. Therefore, the plaque for the academy will probably not be hung up for a while.
While preparations for the academy's opening were in full swing at Fubo Port, Qian Tiandun and Gao Qiaonan had just arrived in Basra, a city two thousand miles west of Fubo Port.
This was not Qian Tiandun's first visit to Basra. At the beginning of last year, when the special forces division had just entered the Persian Gulf and before the construction of Fubo Port had started, he made a trip to the Persian Gulf coast and also went to Basra to make contact with the Ottoman Empire.
At that time, Qian Tiandun discovered in Basra that the Portuguese were reselling Haihan weapons to the Ottomans at high prices. He then negotiated an arms deal with the local governor, Galleer, intending to take over the business himself.
Although the two sides did trade several times afterward, the volume of transactions was not as large as Qian Tiandun had expected. Moreover, Qian Tiandun learned from other sources that although the Ottoman Empire had reduced the amount of second-hand Haihan weapons it purchased from the Portuguese, it had not completely ended this seemingly extremely unprofitable trade.
The Ottomans' purpose was obvious: they wanted to maintain their relationship with the Portuguese in this way, even though they knew the Portuguese were charging more than the original owner, they still swallowed their pride and accepted the loss.
Of course, there was another possibility that Qian Tiandun was not entirely sure of: the Ottomans were worried that if the cooperation ended, the Portuguese would have nowhere to go with their secondhand weapons and might sell them at a discount to the Persian Empire, with whom they were not on good terms.
The Ottoman Empire and Persia were evenly matched rivals. If Persia's military strength were to improve, it would certainly be more painful for the Ottoman Empire than being extorted by the Portuguese.
After arriving in Basra, Qian Tiandun had already met with Galler once. Through his subtle questioning, the information Galler revealed seemed to subtly corroborate this speculation.
Galer proposed to him that he hoped to sign an exclusive arms supply agreement with Haihan, meaning that in the Persian Gulf region, Haihan's arms sales could only be to the Ottoman Empire, and there could be no other supplier.
This agreement was clearly drafted by the Ottomans after they realized the superior performance of the Hehan munitions, in order to prevent them from falling into the hands of their rivals, the Persians.
However, such a request would obviously not be accepted by Qian Tiandun. Persia was undoubtedly a very powerful buyer, and maintaining the balance between Persia and the Ottoman Empire was also one of the means by which Haihan controlled the situation in the Persian Gulf.
If Persia believes that the Han Dynasty is inclined to side with the Ottomans, then the peace in the Strait of Hormuz is likely to be broken, and Qian Tiandun does not want the special forces division to stand on the opposite side of Persia and become its enemy.
Even though Galer claimed that this move would gain the friendship of the Ottoman Empire and allow Haihan to export more types of goods to the Ottoman Empire, Qian Tiandun did not immediately agree to the other party's request.
He knew that a higher-ranking figure from the Ottoman Empire had arrived in Basra, and that this important figure would only appear if Galer could reach an agreement on the matter.
As it happened, Qian Tiandun also had other plans and hoped to discuss them directly with the high-ranking officials of the Ottoman Empire, so he left Galer hanging for the time being.
Takahashi Minami went to the city under the pretense of purchasing supplies and returned with more information.
Over the past year, the special operations division has sent a number of spies to Basra, almost all of whom are Arabs from the Kingdom of Shihu. They stayed in Basra as merchants and peddlers, collecting military and political intelligence and transmitting it back to Fubo Port periodically.