1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3696

The local Arabs did not know Chinese, nor did they understand what the name Fubo Port meant. But Qian Tiandun did have some ideas when he named this place.

The so-called "Fu Bo" means subduing the Persian Gulf, and it was used to name the new port of Khasab, which also expressed Qian Tiandun's high hopes for this port.

"There will be many twists and turns on the road ahead, but the future is bright. The future of Fubo Port depends on your joint efforts!"

Before leading his troops on the journey, Qian Tiandun cheered on the builders who remained in Fubo Port, hoping that they could complete the established construction goals.

Due to objective conditions, Qian Tiandun is currently unable to deploy too many manpower here. He only left an engineering company as the main force for construction here, and also left two ships as a means of transportation to facilitate the purchase of necessary supplies at Port Abbas and Port Hormuz.

Qian Tiandun actually understood that an engineering company plus the locally hired workers were only a drop in the bucket for the labor required for such a large-scale port infrastructure project, and it would be difficult to speed up the construction process.

He had compiled the findings of his visit to the Persian Gulf into a written document and sent it back to Hangzhou via telegram, requesting the Executive Committee to allocate more resources as soon as possible to build Hai Han's first foothold in the Persian Gulf.

Qian Tiandun believed that the Executive Committee would be fully aware of the strategic significance of this place without him having to say much. After all, Hai Han’s long-term development would definitely not be able to bypass the energy-rich Middle East.

However, Hai Han has too many directions for external expansion, and the Middle East is only one of them. Moreover, the impact of this region on the country is probably far less than that of other directions. The resources at the Executive Committee are limited after all, and the specific projects assigned to the Special Operations Division may not meet Qian Tiandun's expectations.

What made Qian Tiandun feel a little relieved was that Li Yuande and Dong Shangyi were very optimistic about the prospects of Fubo Port. They both said that after returning this time, they would try to organize immigrants from their hometowns to participate in the construction of Fubo Port.

The news that the Hai Han fleet had left the Persian Gulf reached Hormuz Island the next day. Rui heaved a sigh of relief when he learned of this. He had finally gotten rid of these uninvited guests and prevented Hai Han from reaching a possible cooperation with Persia that would be detrimental to Portugal.

But when he heard that Hai Han had left a group of people stationed in Khasab, Rui's heart, which had just been relieved, became tense again. It was obvious that the Hai Han people did not intend to give up this remote place, Khasab, and were actually preparing to develop the area.

Rui was not unfamiliar with the situation in Khasab. Portugal gave up developing there because the development of that place was too difficult.

But the Hai Han people have created countless miracles over the years, and the speed of their external expansion has made a number of old European colonial countries ashamed. It is hard to say whether Khasab will have different development prospects if it is handed over to Hai Han.

If Khasab really becomes a trading port in a few years, it will inevitably squeeze out the trade share originally belonging to Hormuz Island, which is not a good thing for Portugal.

Rui was not sure what conditions Hai Han used to convince the Xihu people, or whether it directly used force to drive out the local indigenous people. If it was the latter, then Hai Han’s development in the local area would definitely not be smooth sailing.

But if the Xihu tribe is really cooperating with Hai Han, then they have to think of other ways to delay or stop Hai Han’s development progress in the local area.

Rui would never consider doing it himself. This kind of thing is too risky, and he, a small local governor, cannot afford the consequences. The most appropriate way, of course, is to find someone else to do it on his behalf.

Although there were many forces in the Persian Gulf, only a few were strong enough to provoke Hai Han. They could be counted on one hand. Therefore, the options left for Rui were very limited.

After some consideration, Rui immediately asked someone to prepare paper and pen, wrote several secret letters, and ordered people to send them to several places in the Persian Gulf.

He was not sure whether the local forces here could challenge Hai Han, so he had to take multiple approaches to increase the chances of success.

Qian Tiandun, who had already left the Strait of Hormuz, had no idea of ​​the Portuguese's little plan. What he was now concerned about was the fleet's next itinerary.

It had taken more than two months to travel from Hamban Port, and the time spent on the road had actually exceeded his expectations. But for the entire exploration itinerary he had planned, he had only reached the halfway point.

Next, the fleet will first go east around the eastern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, then turn southwest and continue along the coastline of the peninsula to the Gulf of Aden at the southern tip of the peninsula.

After leaving the Strait of Hormuz, the fleet first visited a place in the adjacent Gulf of Oman.

This small place, called Suhar by the locals, didn't even have a decent dock, let alone the ability to accommodate the large-scale Hai Han fleet. Qian Tiandun arranged this temporary stop not for supplies, but because there was coal in the mountains near Suhar.

People living nearby would transport the mined coal to the merchant warehouse on the seashore, where there were two or three merchants specializing in purchasing coal. Then several ships would come every month to transport the coal to several ports in the Strait of Hormuz for sale.

Coal mining is a profitable business, but since the demand for coal in the vicinity is not too great and the coal mines have limited production capacity, this business has never been very popular in Sohar. For the locals, it is just a means of making a living.

But the arrival of the Hai Han people immediately changed the coal market here. Several coal-purchasing merchants could not resist the price offered by Qian Tiandun, and soon signed a contract to supply all the coal produced in Suhar to the newly opened Fubo Port, and promised to organize more workers to enter the mine to increase output within the year.

Although Qian Tiandun felt a little painful about his lavish spending, he had to spend the money if he wanted to quickly advance the construction of Fubo Port.

Only after a stable supply of coal is provided to Fubo Port and the local energy is guaranteed, can subsequent project construction and resettlement of immigrants proceed steadily.

Li Yuande and Dong Shangyi saw boxes of silver being unloaded from the ship and carried into the gate of the local coal merchant, and they could not help but admire Qian Tiandun's decisiveness. The port of Fubo Port was not even built yet, but the huge amount of real money had already been spent.

Qian Tiandun took this very lightly and consoled the two, saying, "Compared to the money we can earn from this area in the future, these expenses are nothing. You must remember that no matter how much money we invest here now, there will be huge returns in the future. The faster we build the port, the sooner we can enter the profit period."