Chapter 4007
Chapter 4007
Chapter 4007
The negotiations during the dinner ultimately failed to make any substantial progress, which was within Qian Tiandun's expectations.
It's unrealistic to expect an imperial envoy to make a decision on such a large-scale cooperation project on the spot. Even if both parties are willing to cooperate, it will still require a long and complicated negotiation process to gradually move forward.
Such major negotiations, which involve regional affiliation and international relations for the next century or so, are perfectly normal and could take three to five years or even longer.
Of course, Qian Tiandun didn't have that much patience to drag things out with the Ottomans year after year. His original plan was to negotiate while preparing for war. If the negotiations failed to make progress, he would eventually use force to seize control of the Suez region.
After leaving the Governor's Mansion, Qian Tiandun asked Takahashi Minami for his impressions of the meeting, especially his opinion on the Imperial Envoy Arif.
Although Takahashi Minami did not speak during the negotiations, he listened attentively to the entire process and had already made up his mind. He replied in a deep voice, "Sir, the imperial envoy on the other side does not seem very shrewd. He may be the breakthrough point in the negotiations. If we offer him substantial benefits, I think he will be more likely to waver."
Qian Tiandun nodded and said, “Your thoughts coincide with mine. Arif’s attitude seems tough and uncompromising, but his emphasis on national righteousness in every word makes it seem too deliberate. Moreover, Galler obviously did not consult with him beforehand about our trade with Basra, which shows that there is no tacit understanding between them, and this imperial commissioner’s understanding of the local situation is also very limited.”
"However, we first need to figure out what Arif is most interested in, whether it's money or power. Only by targeting our interests can we achieve twice the result with half the effort."
Takahashi Minami nodded and said, "Since he is a person with a name and identity, I believe it won't be too difficult to gather intelligence on him. I will give the order to have our spies here work harder."
Qian Tiandun said, "There is still a thorny issue at the moment."
Takahashi Minami understood and replied, "You mean the message we released earlier, sir?"
Qian Tiandun said, "It's not enough to just spread false information. I believe Galar will soon receive news from the border that there are no so-called Persian armed cavalry. This will make the exchange conditions we offer less valuable... We must find a way to keep enough pressure on the Ottomans so that they will value these conditions."
Takahashi Minamido: "How about we send a group of men disguised as Persians to infiltrate the border region?"
Qian Tiandun shook his head and said, "We're in an unfamiliar place, and if we're exposed, all our efforts will be wasted."
Takahashi Minami said, "Then ask the Persians to send troops? They might not even be willing to give us that much face!"
Qian Tiandun said, "It's not necessary to actually deploy troops on the border to have a deterrent effect. I plan to invite Persia to conduct a large-scale joint military exercise in the near future, and take this opportunity to give the Ottomans a warning."
Takahashi Minami laughed and said, "Couldn't we also take this opportunity to showcase our equipment and promote it to the Persians?"
Qian Tiandun said, "We can kill two birds with one stone. As long as the Persians agree, we can pass this message on to the Ottomans, and they will naturally try to find out the situation." The two spoke in a relaxed tone, but they both knew very well that this matter would not be as easy as it sounded.
To contact the Persians and wait for their approval, it would take at least several rounds of negotiations before a plan could be made, a date set, and troops dispatched. The whole process would probably take three to five months to complete.
Whether the Persians would cooperate with Haihan's proposal for joint military exercises remained highly uncertain. Even in an optimistic scenario, the Persians would likely take the opportunity to impose certain conditions, such as demanding that Haihan sell a batch of weapons at a low price.
The two returned to their lodgings, whereupon a telegram from Fubo Port had already arrived. During Qian Tiandun's absence, Fubo Port sent a telegram almost daily, the contents of which were drafted by Qian Shaobao to report on the local situation.
The telegram contained mostly good news: the newly arrived immigrants had been largely settled, and the newcomer, Mr. Su, had agreed to serve as the principal of Fubo Academy. As for the unveiling ceremony, that would have to wait until Qian Tiandun returned to Hong Kong.
After reading the telegram, Qian Tiandun handed it to Gao Qiaonan and said, "Li Yuande has done a great job this time. He brought back this Mr. Su, who is from Wansong Academy in Hangzhou and is said to be a famous educator in the area. Appointing him as the headmaster of our Fubo Academy is really like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut!"
Takahashi Minami said, "This Mr. Su must also admire your reputation, which is why he is willing to travel so far to come here and join us. We should not let his enthusiasm go to waste."
Qian Tiandun said, "Shaobao's words reveal that he has a high opinion of this person's academic level. After I go back and have a face-to-face meeting, I can hand over the cultural and educational affairs to him. That's good, it will be one less thing to worry about in the future."
Although Qian Tiandun was a military leader, he was also quite concerned about education and culture. Moreover, the special operations division's territory along the Indian Ocean coast was far from the mainland of Haihan, and relying solely on sending personnel from within the country was no longer sufficient to meet the demand. Only by developing education and culture could the long-term solution be achieved.
Moreover, the role of culture and education in civilizing barbarians and winning over vassal states has been fully demonstrated over the past thirty years, and the Executive Committee is willing to provide the necessary support for the Special Operations Division to carry out cultural and educational work in the West.
Now that we've brought in a professional like Su Zhixing from China, it's a move that avoids many detours and gets things done in one step. Qian Tiandun no longer needs to do everything himself and spend a lot of energy arranging the school's teaching content. In the future, he only needs to assess Su Zhixing's teaching results.
Su Zhixing's reputation probably won't have much impact on local student recruitment, but if his deeds are publicized domestically, it might attract more scholars to apply. In another ten or eight years, Fubo Academy might truly become the highest institution of learning in the Indian Ocean region.
Although negotiations with the Ottomans were not going well, the good news sent by telegram somewhat eased the unpleasantness.
Negotiations with the Governor's Office lasted for three days, but progress was still far from ideal. Arif insisted on seeing the details of the cooperation plan before reporting the matter to Istanbul. Qian Tiandun believed that this was clearly because they had not exerted enough pressure, and the other side was so assertive because it felt emboldened.
In terms of intelligence gathering, the locals in Basra knew very little about Arif, because it was too far from Istanbul. The important figures living in the capital were unreachable to the locals. At most, they knew that Arif was a person close to the Queen Mother, but they had no way of knowing any more details.
The spies infiltrating Basra went to great lengths to buy some potentially useful information from the servants of the governor's mansion: the imperial commissioner was said to be a heavy drinker, and from the day he arrived at the governor's mansion, he hadn't eaten a meal without alcohol.
This news made Qian Tiandun wonder if the other party had remained sufficiently sober during the negotiations, and whether he had been negotiating with a drunkard for the past few days.