1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3746

In addition to the huge gap in construction funds, Qian Tiandun currently has to face another problem, which is the response of neighboring countries to the special operations division's actions in the past six months.

Compared with those neighboring countries in East Asia that have long been accustomed to Hai Han’s expansion trend, the countries in the Indian Ocean region are obviously not yet used to the sudden appearance of such a strong country around them.

In just two or three years, Hai Han's controlled area extended westward from the Strait of Malacca, first to Phuket Island, then across the Bay of Bengal to Ceylon Island, and then across the Arabian Sea into the Middle East. Its long tentacles have reached the junction of the three continents of Asia, Africa and Europe.

In terms of the effectiveness of external expansion, many countries have spent thousands of years trying to achieve their goals, but Hai Han, an outsider, has accomplished it in a short period of time. It seems to be quite easy for this country to expand its territory by constantly setting up new ports.

Many countries in the region are dissatisfied with Hai Han's approach, believing that this leapfrog expansion is just a form of opportunism.

Although they had heard of Hai Han's influence in the Far East, they had never really dealt with Hai Han in depth, and subconsciously believed that Hai Han's actions were simply taking advantage of the weak points between the spheres of influence of various countries.

However, several tribal armed forces sent troops to besiege Hai Han’s garrison in the Strait of Hormuz. They used several times their number of troops to deal with a small number of Hai Han troops that had not yet established a firm foothold, but ended up being defeated and captured. This incident undoubtedly sounded a wake-up call to many countries that were eager to try.

It was only at this time that many people remembered that Hai Han had a resounding reputation as an invincible country in the Far East. Even European countries such as the Netherlands and Portugal, which had always acted arrogantly, seemed to maintain a strange silence about the arrival of the Hai Han people.

It was not difficult to find out about the experiences of the Europeans in the Far East, so many people learned for the first time that these Europeans who were running rampant in the Indian Ocean region had already suffered great losses at the hands of Hai Han, so they turned a deaf ear to its entry into the Indian Ocean.

In the eyes of other countries, the fact that these Europeans did not respond to this is actually a statement.

If these Europeans who own a large number of armed sailing ships do not dare to confront Hai Han, then those who want to stand out must first carefully consider their own strength.

However, even though these countries did not take the initiative to break off relations with Hai Han due to various concerns, they could not help but become wary of Hai Han. The direct consequence of this was that the newly established Fubo and Zhenhai bases almost lost all regional trade activities.

Even the port of Hamban, far away in Ceylon, has seen a decline in trade in recent months. The number of merchant ships from the Middle East has obviously decreased, and it is difficult to say whether this is related to the previous actions of the special operations division.

One of Qian Tiandun's purposes in building these ports is to create an international business network led by Hai Han in the Indian Ocean region by establishing commercial routes between ports, and to slowly recover the initial construction costs through the profits from these trade activities.

But if other countries became wary of Hai Han, or even took the initiative to reduce trade activities with Hai Han, Qian Tiandun’s plan would fail.

The value of a colonial port that loses its trading function will be greatly reduced, and its attractiveness to capital and immigrants will plummet. That is not a situation that Qian Tiandun is happy to see.

Qian Tiandun summoned his main generals, as well as Li Yuande and Dong Shangyi, two non-staff members familiar with business affairs, to discuss how to improve the current unfavorable situation. When it comes to marching and fighting, Qian Tiandun has many capable people under him, but when it comes to operating ports and cross-border trade, as well as engaging in various diplomatic activities, these military attachés are indeed not so professional.

When the military attachés heard Qian Tiandun's request for ways to improve trade conditions, most of them could only stare at each other in confusion and could not come up with any decent ideas.

Qian Tiandun listened for a while, then turned to Gao Qiaonan and said, "Gao Qiao, what do you think?"

"Sir, I remember that when Lord Shi from the East China Sea Region attacked Japan, he went directly to Japan with an armed fleet and asked the Tokugawa Shogunate to sign a trade agreement. You also commented that this method is called 'opening the door and free trade'. Why don't we follow this practice and conduct another armed parade at the appropriate time to let those who don't know how to appreciate it see our true strength!"

Qian Tiandun couldn't help but laugh and cry after hearing his answer. When he commented on Shi Diwen's behavior, it was somewhat sarcastic, but Gao Qiaonan didn't know the allusion and didn't understand the mystery.

However, the fact that Takahashi Nan still remembered what he had said inadvertently many years ago was a testament to his loyalty, and it also made Qian Tiandun unable to bear to refute his opinion in public.

But Dong Shangyi was unaware of the entanglement in this matter. Seeing that Qian Tiandun did not say anything, he boldly retorted: "General Takahashi is wrong. The situation in Japan at that time was different from the situation we encountered here, and we need to treat them differently."

"At that time, Japan was already showing signs of internal division. The shogunate pursued a policy of isolation because it lacked control over the domestic situation. Lord Shi Diwen took advantage of this and sent troops to Japan to win without fighting."

“Moreover, there are very few countries surrounding Japan. Korea to the north and Ryukyu to the south are all vassal states of Hai Han. Even if Japan tries to resist, it will not get any external support. Instead, it may attract a multinational coalition force, making the situation even more serious.”

"The environment in Fubo and Zhenhai is much more complicated than that in Japan. There are big countries like Persia and the Ottoman Empire, as well as many Arab tribal forces and Europeans intervening in the area, and their interests are different."

Takahashi Minami thought what he said made sense, so she did not argue with him, but just asked him what good ideas he had to solve the current dilemma.

Dong Shangyi said: "In my humble opinion, these countries suspended trade with us out of their own interests, fearing that we would further occupy more places and thus undermine their rule in the local area."

"Master Qian, I suggest that you notify all parties and use promises to dispel their doubts, and the dilemma will be resolved."

Qian Tiandun shook his head slightly and said, "Your earlier analysis of the differences between the environments of Fubo and Zhenhai ports and Japan is basically correct, but it may be a bit difficult to make promises to these countries to dispel their concerns."

"You should also know that in the long run, our goal is to open up the Suez node between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. Other places are easy to deal with, but this location must be under our complete control in the future, so there will inevitably be a war between us and the Ottoman Empire. Making a promise now and then going back on it in the future will damage our country's image."