1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3685

After the camel caravan had traveled through the desert for three days, a small market town finally appeared in front of them. Li Yuande and Dong Shangyi both breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that they had reached their destination.

But the Arabs told them that the camel caravan would take a short rest here and continue on their way after getting supplies, because their destination was not here and they had only completed half of the journey.

"Brother Dong, I really don't understand why these people want to settle in the deep desert. Even if they go to the seaside, the environment is much better than this place full of yellow sand!"

Hearing Li Yuande's complaint, Dong Shangyi responded: "Brother Yuande, Arabs have lived here for generations and have long adapted to the environment. If you had lived here for ten or eight years, you might have gotten used to it by now."

Li Yuande waved his hands and said, "I like green mountains and clear waters. The desert environment is not suitable for me. Whoever wants to come can come. Anyway, I will definitely not be stationed in the Persian Gulf in the future."

Dong Shangyi smiled and said, "Don't brag too early! The general also said that the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula are a place of great feng shui, and the fortune will last for at least hundreds of years. Such a good place, first come first served, you mustn't let such a good opportunity go to waste!"

Li Yuande sighed and said, "Even if there are mountains of gold and silver buried under this desert, it would take tens of thousands of people to slowly dig out the treasures. The general wants to immigrate to this place, and this task is really not easy to handle!"

"It's hard but we have to do it!"

Dong Shangyi pointed at the Arabs nearby and said, "The general once said that Hai Han will ultimately rely on the Han people as the foundation of the country. We can't expect these foreign races to take on the great cause of revitalizing Hai Han, right?"

Li Yuande said: "Of course! Those who are not of our race must have different hearts. Even if they are naturalized, they must intermarry with the Han people for two or three generations before they can be considered as of the same race. This military and political power must not be handed over to the control of foreign races!"

Although there was a competitive relationship between the two, they had many similar views on the general situation of the world. Normally, they rarely had the opportunity to communicate alone, but this mission deep into the heart of the desert forced them to let go of their guard against each other and speak out some of their own ideas and thoughts.

Of course, tasks like immigration are a matter for the future. The most important thing at the moment is to negotiate with the Arabs and persuade them to give up the area of ​​Haisab to Hai Han for management.

After the camel caravan completed its supply replenishment, it continued to travel in the desert for two days before finally arriving at the core area of ​​the Xihu tribe, a small town on the edge of the desert.

It is called the edge of the desert, but it is actually the junction of the desert and the mountains. The Arabs who were traveling with them told them that the reason why the Xihu tribe chose this place as the seat of government was because there was a spring flowing down from the nearby mountains, forming a rare oasis at the foot of the mountain all the way to the west.

It is said that there are several small lakes in the depressions of the mountains, which are even more precious in this water-scarce environment. Within a radius of hundreds of miles, no other place has as much fresh water resources as Xihu City.

Li Yuande and Dong Shangyi were both shocked to see that there were large tracts of wheat fields outside Xihu City. The tall date palm trees on both sides of the road had formed a shade, and just looking at them seemed to give them a sense of coolness.

Such a scene completely overturned their impression of the desert. They realized that the desert environment was very complex and not just the barren land they had seen a few days ago.

Upon learning that a delegation from the Hai Han Kingdom was visiting, the Xihu tribe showed some enthusiasm, sending a special person to the city gate to welcome them and arranging accommodation for them in the city. It is said that few foreigners visit Xihu City, and there is only one inn in the entire city for caravans to stay. However, this inn is really large, and it can accommodate all the hundreds of camels in the caravan, and it is no problem to accommodate the dozens of people from the Hai Han delegation.

Of course, the accommodation conditions in this kind of place are naturally not very good. Compared with the inns and hotels in Hai Han, they can only be described as simple.

But Li Yuande and Dong Shangyi were already very satisfied. They had been trekking in the desert for so many days without even sleeping on a bed. Every night they fell asleep wrapped in quilts on the sand, and they had been looking forward to having a good night's sleep after reaching their destination.

Although this inn was simple, it had rooms and beds, and they no longer had to suffer from the wind and sand when sleeping, so there was nothing to complain about.

What made them feel most gratified was that after arriving here, they could finally eat all kinds of hot food to their heart's content, and they no longer had to worry about getting a mouthful of sand.

On the second day after arriving in Xihu City, the tribal chief met with Li Yuande and Dong Shangyi.

Their first impression of Chief Abdullah was that he was actually fat, so fat that he needed two servants to support him to walk.

Since landing in Khasab, most of the Arabs they met maintained a thin figure due to their living environment, and they had hardly seen anyone who was fat. This Chief Abdullah was a bit different. He probably had more fat on him than ten ordinary people combined.

From this, we can infer that he must have lived a pampered and affluent life in the small city of Xihu in the desert, and rarely left this place, which is why he has such a body.

Li Yuande even noticed that in the hall where Abdullah met them, there were windproof oil lamps made in Hai Han. The price of this thing should be quite high when it is sold here. This chief is a man who knows how to enjoy life.

The two men then introduced their identities. Of course, they tacitly omitted the mention of merchants and instead called themselves special envoys officially appointed by Hai Han.

Since he discovered that there were items produced in Hai Han here, Li Yuande became more confident about the gifts he had prepared and immediately ordered his followers to present them.

Li Yuande prepared colorful glass crafts, exquisite kerosene lighters, and a short knife made of high-quality material for this meeting.

These things are not common goods available on the market. Instead, they are gifts customized by Hai Han’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They are specially given to foreign dignitaries to demonstrate Hai Han’s industrial strength and are exquisitely made.

Chief Abdullah was obviously a connoisseur of valuables. After playing with it for a while, he couldn't let it go and immediately became more enthusiastic towards this guest who came from afar.

He then told them that in fact, as early as ten years ago, a caravan had brought Hai Han products to Xihu City for sale. At that time, he felt that Hai Han, which was able to produce such interesting products, must be a very interesting country. It was just a pity that he could not visit it because it was thousands of miles away.

Unexpectedly, one day, a Hai Han person would actually come to Xihu City in person, which fulfilled a wish he had had for many years.