1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3708

Qian Tiandun didn't disbelieve that there were high-ranking officials behind these people in the Chamber of Commerce, but he didn't believe that these businessmen could drive the high-ranking officials to obey their arrangements.

In Qian Tiandun's view, the entire Chamber of Commerce is just a tool for the financiers behind the scenes to make money, and all business activities must serve the interests of the financiers. However, according to the businessmen, the financiers have become tools of the Chamber of Commerce. Isn't this a rebellion against Tiangang?

Therefore, he was certain that the statement made by the Chamber of Commerce must be exaggerated and untrue, and it might not be safe to cooperate with it. He should wait and see the situation.

Until the delegation left Port Said, Qian Tiandun still had not reached a clear cooperation agreement with the Chamber of Commerce and it remained at the intention stage.

But Qian Tiandun is no longer in a hurry about this. It will take some time to establish a shipping route from Hamban Port to Suez Port, not to mention the sales channels on the Mediterranean side.

Moreover, many things cannot be proven by words, and the other party may not necessarily believe them. Once the Hai Han goods arrive at the Port of Suez and some Ottoman merchants have tasted the sweetness, people like the Said Port Chamber of Commerce will naturally show greater sincerity in seeking cooperation.

For Hai Han, there was no need to explore the Mediterranean at present. Qian Tiandun was more interested in the fertile Nile Delta. So his next route of investigation was to go to Mansoura, a city in the middle of the delta, which was said to be one of the agricultural product trading centers in the Nile River Basin.

Going to Mansoura to inspect the local agricultural product market would undoubtedly save a lot of time, but his plan was opposed by the team leader Murat.

Murat's reason was very direct. Mansoura was not only a local agricultural product trading center, but also an important garrison point of the Ottoman Empire in the Nile Delta. Nearly one-third of the local population was engaged in various jobs related to the garrison. It was not an exaggeration to say that it was a large military base.

According to the agreement between the two parties in the Port of Suez, the Hai Han inspection team must avoid all military areas, so they definitely cannot go to Mansoura.

Although Qian Tiandun was helpless, he still abided by the agreement to prevent Murat from mistakenly thinking that the inspection team had other intentions.

So Qian Tiandun changed his destination and proposed to go to Cairo. This time Murat did not object, but was a little curious about Qian Tiandun's reason for going to Cairo.

"Reason? It's the largest city in the Arab world, with countless cultural treasures passed down for thousands of years. I want to go there to broaden my horizons and learn more. Is this a sufficient reason?"

Qian Tiandun certainly couldn't tell his purpose openly, but what he said was indeed the truth. Cairo is undoubtedly one of the largest and most important cities in the region. Now that he has come to the Nile Delta, how can he miss the opportunity to visit this big city.

The journey from Port Said to Cairo is about 400 miles. Fortunately, it is still early for the one-month deadline planned by Qian Tiandun, so there is no need to rush. You can walk and see along the way to understand the local customs and practices.

Since we can't go to Mansoura, we can only investigate the local agricultural production conditions on the way.

The Nile Delta has a dry, rainless Mediterranean climate. Qian Tiandun and his party arrived here in late February, and most of the crops for this season had already been planted.

The scale of the cultivated farmland here reminded Qian Tiandun of the Jiangnan region in China, with crisscrossing fields and endless green farmland.

This season is the dry season of the Nile River. The riverbed exposed after the water level drops is the most fertile field. The crops planted in these low-lying areas will be harvested before the flood season arrives in June. After that, there will be a three-month flood season, and the low-lying areas of the delta will be submerged. The water level will gradually drop after winter, and then the dry season will come again at the end of the year, when it will be the time for a new round of crop planting.

In addition to producing food crops such as wheat and grains, there is another widely planted crop here, the world-famous Egyptian long-staple cotton.

However, the living standards of local farmers have not improved much because of the output here. Since the ancient Egyptian period, farmers have never been the masters of these fertile lands.

Whether it was the Egyptians, Greeks, Arabs, or the Ottomans who ruled here, the real owners of these lands have always been the nobles. And ordinary people who cultivated the land for them were lucky enough to have enough food and clothing after working hard for a year.

Although Qian Tiandun was not an agricultural expert, he had experience in organizing reclamation during his early years in Shandong and Liaodong, and was no stranger to the planting and care of general crops.

After going to the fields and taking a look, he realized that the gap between the agricultural level here and Hai Han was far greater than what appeared on the surface. The grain output under the same cultivated area was more than doubled.

The reason is very simple. The fields are not the farmers' fields, the crops produced do not belong to the farmers, and even the farm tools and livestock used for farming do not belong to the farmers. So it is easy to imagine how much effort the farmers put into taking care of the fields and crops.

Moreover, these farmers have almost no concept of seed selection and breeding, and basically do nothing about human intervention in crop seedlings. They basically rely on luck and grow as much as they can.

Thanks to the fertile land in the Nile Delta, the guaranteed production capacity of these crops is not too bad. However, in Qian Tiandun's opinion, this relatively backward farming method is a waste of this Feng Shui treasure land given by God.

If these were handed over to the Han people to cultivate, not only would the grain production capacity be doubled, but a large number of higher-value cash crops could also be grown.

However, the locals have apparently become accustomed to this way of allocating resources based on social status, and believe that this "orderly" lifestyle is also good, without having to consider things beyond their capabilities.

Qian Tiandun observed the reactions of the locals and kept them in mind. If Hai Han ever had the opportunity to take over the Nile Delta, then these observations today might serve as a reference for future governors.

After traveling southwest for several days, they saw more and more people on the road, and Murat said that Cairo was not far ahead.

The history of Cairo is said to date back to 3,000 BC, but the city that the delegation is about to visit was actually founded by Arabs a thousand years ago.

The Nile Delta has changed hands several times during this millennium, and the city of Cairo has undergone several renovation and expansion projects under the rule of different owners, gradually becoming the largest city in the entire Middle East.

However, after the Ottoman Empire invaded Egypt and occupied Cairo in 1517, the condition of this ancient city began to decline.

The reason is very simple. The Ottoman Empire did not want the city to continue to exist as a spiritual symbol of the Arabs, so it transferred many resources, including the population, from Cairo to other places, causing the city to slowly fall into a state of natural decline.