1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3716

Local tribal armed forces like these disguised as pirates to plunder, even if they join together, will only have a strength of a few thousand people in the end. Qian Tiandun naturally would not take them seriously.

The force that can really catch his eye must at least be an independent country with a certain level of national strength.

There is no need to count the forces of this level; there are only three in the Persian Gulf.

Persia and the Ottoman Empire were the indigenous regimes in this region. According to Qian Tiandun's standards, they could be considered powerful countries in terms of population, territory, and armed force.

Another country is Portugal, which arrived here before Hai Han and has established a long-term base in the Strait of Hormuz.

When Qian Tiandun led his troops to visit the Persian Gulf, he also visited officials from these three countries one after another and explained to them the purpose of the Hai Han fleet's visit to the Persian Gulf.

At least when they met, the officials of these three countries did not openly oppose Hai Han's establishment of a permanent agency in the Persian Gulf. Of course, if they later learned that the "permanent agency" Qian Tiandun was referring to was actually a port and a military base, they might not approve of Hai Han's move.

But in any case, attacking Hai Han’s resident institutions was a very serious act of hostility. Perhaps considering the risk of a war with Hai Han, the mastermind behind the scenes did not come out in person, but instead found a group of rabble to attack Fubo Port.

However, the other side probably did not expect that these hastily gathered tribal armed forces were not strong enough. After struggling for many days, they could not even take over the small Fubo Port. Instead, they were wiped out by the Hai Han fleet that was rushed back to put out the fire.

After Qian Tiandun listed the suspects, he asked everyone present: "Who do you think is most likely to have strong hostility towards us among these three parties?"

Takahashi Nan said: "I visited Bandar Abbas in Persia before, and the attitude shown by Governor Bayim was quite friendly. What they hope is to bypass the Portuguese and establish diplomatic relations with us."

"Based on this attitude, I think it is unlikely that Persia will attack Fubo Port. The most important thing is that this place is not the territory of Persia, but belongs to the Ottoman Empire."

Qian Tiandun nodded and said, "You make sense. I've been thinking about it, but I can't think of any reason why Persia would take the initiative to oppose us."

"As for the local governors of the Ottoman Empire, I have met several of them one after another. It can be seen that they are not so concerned about the division of territory, but are more concerned about practical interests."

"The key point is that the Ottoman Empire's administrative system is bloated and its territory is very large. It would take at least three to five months for the central government to respond to something that happened in Fubo Port, a marginal area of ​​the empire. And this wave of attacks on Fubo Port came too quickly."

Li Yuande said: "Is it possible that the decision to secretly gather and command these pirates was made privately by Ottoman officials. This should not be difficult for the local governors who hold power to do it, right?"

Qian Tiandun said: "They do have such capabilities, but the Ottoman officials I have met are all very self-righteous and have no intention of considering us as a threat. If they want to expel us from the Middle East, they will definitely say it to our faces without any scruples, instead of doing such petty tricks behind our backs."

Dong Shangyi coughed dryly and reminded: "Sir, according to what you said, there is only one suspect left!" Qian Tiandun said in a deep voice: "If all other possibilities are ruled out, then the only possibility left is an irrefutable fact no matter how outrageous it is!"

Since the possibility of Persia and the Ottoman Empire attacking Fubo Port is extremely small, the biggest suspect now is of course Portugal.

But the problem is that Portugal is a long-term ally of Hai Han, and Rui on Hormuz Island did not show any obvious hostility towards the arrival of the special operations division. Is it really possible that the attack on Fubo Port was secretly planned by the Portuguese?

With the suspect in mind, the next step was verification. Qian Tiandun asked the commander who stayed behind to think carefully about whether the Portuguese on Hormuz Island had visited Fubo Port after the main force left the Persian Gulf.

After careful recollection, the commander confirmed that the Portuguese had never sent any ships or personnel here.

Qian Tiandun nodded slowly and said, "This is a bit like avoiding suspicion just for the sake of avoiding suspicion."

Although Portugal and Hai Han were allies, they also competed with each other in their overseas expansion. In particular, Hai Han had been moving westwards more and more aggressively in recent years, and had already extended its hand into Portugal's traditional sphere of influence. It was impossible to say that there was no grudge between the two.

The base chosen by Hai Han in the Persian Gulf this time is only 200 miles away from the Portuguese-controlled Hormuz Island. To put it nicely, it means that the two countries can take care of each other. To put it bluntly, it means that they are competing face to face.

From the Portuguese perspective, does Hormuz Island need Hai Han to take care of it? In theory, of course not. They have been here for a long time and have maintained a delicate balance with all forces in the Persian Gulf. They do not need a so-called partner to appear here.

The areas in which Hai Han excels just happen to overlap with those of Portugal. Transnational maritime trade, port operations, arms business, and colonial rule are almost all areas of direct competition with Portugal.

Apart from anything else, during Qian Tiandun's visit to the Ottoman Empire, he discovered that the arms they purchased from the Portuguese were old second-hand goods from Hai Han, and that the profits they earned from the Ottoman Empire were extremely high.

But now that the real owner has entered the Persian Gulf, the Portuguese will have to say goodbye to this lucrative business.

The Persian carpets and handicrafts that were smuggled to the East by the Portuguese in the past will inevitably see some of their sales diverted after the establishment of Fubo Port in Hai Han.

For Hormuz Island, which relies on regional trade to maintain its existence, the emergence of Fubo Port will undoubtedly greatly affect its interests. And this impact will be immediate. As long as the port begins to operate, Hormuz Island's trade share will immediately decline.

Under such circumstances, the Portuguese on Hormuz Island had sufficient reasons to take some actions to prevent Hai Han from settling in this area.

However, judging from the specific implementation methods, Qian Tiandun could confirm at least two things. First, the other party did not dare to openly challenge Hai Han and could only achieve their goal by instigating pirates to attack Fubo Port.

Secondly, the other party had not come to Fubo Port, which was only 200 miles away, once in more than two months. In Qian Tiandun's opinion, this way of distancing himself from the matter could only be described as cleverness that backfired.

But so far, these are all just speculations, and there is no real evidence to confirm that the other party is the mastermind behind the pirate incident.