1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3759

"Excuse me, Mr. Shi, does your country plan to deploy this Zhoushan battleship to Phuket for a long time?"

Shi Diwen was not surprised to hear someone raise such a question. He had long expected that neighboring countries would have such concerns after seeing the true appearance of the Zhoushan.

After all, facing such a powerful military force, anyone who is not an ally of Hai Han would worry that their country will become a target of Hai Han’s attack.

Shi Diwen responded in a deep voice: "As I said just now, the purpose of our country's construction of the Zhoushan is to maintain regional peace and stability. Wherever the situation is not peaceful, the Zhoushan will be deployed there. If there are no disputes between countries near Phuket, and no pirates threaten the safety of the route, then there seems to be no urgent need to deploy the Zhoushan here."

This answer was actually a reminder to the envoys from various countries present that if they did not want to see the Zhoushan permanently stationed at their doorstep, they had to maintain the stability of the region and not give Hai Han a reason to deploy heavy troops here.

The surrounding countries of course still remember the reasons given by Shi Diwen. Just three years ago, Hai Han sent troops from Xingdao in the name of attacking pirate gangs on the north side of the Malacca Strait, and then claimed that Phuket and other places were pirate dens and that long-term garrisons were needed to maintain regional peace, which led to the current situation.

If Hai Han were to catch any evidence again, it would not be impossible for them to resort to military means again to seize a larger territory around Phuket.

As a result, envoys from various countries vied to express their willingness to work with the special operations division stationed in Phuket to maintain regional peace, resolve problems through diplomatic consultations, and avoid military conflicts as much as possible.

What this means, of course, is that they hope Hai Han will not send more troops to Phuket, especially sea monsters like the Zhoushan, which are built for war.

Shi Diwen smiled and nodded to express his appreciation, but would not make any promises.

The Zhoushan will naturally not be deployed in the Indian Ocean for a long time at present, but after the production capacity of the Glory-class battleships is increased, it will sooner or later be allocated to the troops on the western front. It is only a matter of time before it is deployed to Phuket or other Indian Ocean ports.

However, considering the military strength of the countries surrounding Phuket, even if Slava-class warships are deployed here in the future, they will most likely not be targeted at these countries.

In fact, Qian Tiandun chose Phuket as the main base of the special warfare division because of its relatively stable surrounding environment. In the future, the places where troops will really be needed will probably be mainly in the Middle East in the west of the Indian Ocean.

After staying in Phuket for nearly ten days, Shi Diwen took the initiative to suggest to Qian Tiandun that it was time to set off for the next stop.

According to the plan made before departure, Shi Diwen will not only inspect Phuket, but also visit Hamban Port in Ceylon. As for whether to visit the newly established Fubo and Zhenhai ports, it depends on the development of the situation as there are still some variables in the local area.

As the chief officer, Qian Tiandun naturally had to accompany him throughout the trip.

At this time, the troops led by Takahashi Minami had arrived at Fubo Port in the Strait of Hormuz after traveling day and night.

Gao Qiaonan's mission this time had to be carried out in secret, so he did not enter the Strait of Hormuz with great fanfare like last time. Instead, he chose to enter Fubo Port quickly after nightfall. In order to avoid being discovered by the outside world that there were suddenly more than a dozen ships in Fubo Port, Gao Qiaonan arranged for the fleet to move to another bay ten miles east of the port to anchor after unloading the personnel and cargo overnight.

Before setting out this time, they had contacted the garrison troops in Fubo Port via radio and asked them to contact the Xihu tribe first. The key point was to let the other party arrange for the senior figures who could make the final decision to arrive at Fubo Port in advance, so that a meeting could be arranged as soon as Gaoqiao Nan arrived.

The pot-bellied chief of the Xihu tribe still did not come to Fubo Port in person this time. It seemed that he really did not want to leave his beloved Xihu City.

However, the chief accepted the invitation and sent his successor, his eldest son, Abdullah, as the plenipotentiary representative to Fubo Port.

This little Abdullah had dealt with Li Yuande and Dong Shangyi who visited Xihu City before, but the two had other schedules and did not come to Fubo Port with Gaoqiao Nan this time. So when facing Gaoqiao Nan, whom he met for the first time, little Abdullah couldn't help but seem a little nervous.

"I heard that you are one of the most meritorious generals in Hai Han, and that all Hai Han troops west of the Strait of Malacca are under your command. Is this true?"

Even though Gao Qiao Nan didn't care about these empty names, he felt very happy to hear the other party's almost flattering question. He smiled and replied: "The commander west of the Strait of Malacca is my superior, General Qian Tiandun. He has always hoped to have a face-to-face meeting with the honorable chief at an appropriate time."

As for young Abdullah calling him "one of the generals with the most military achievements in Hai Han," he did not refute it, which was considered as tacitly accepting the other party's compliment.

The meeting between the two parties got off to a good start. Next, Takahashi Nan began to test indirectly whether the Xihu tribe had ambitions for external expansion.

According to the reports of Li Yuande and Dong Shangyi, the Xihu tribe should have had some ideas, otherwise Chief Abdullah would not have been persuaded by them at the time to cooperate with the newly arrived Hai Han army to develop Fubo Port.

However, Takahashi Nan still needs to confirm personally how big this ambition is and whether it can support the military assistance that Hai Han will provide.

Takahashi Minami first asked little Abdullah to tell him honestly the approximate population size of the Xihu tribe, especially the situation of young and strong men, and the area currently actually controlled by the tribe.

This was a big problem for little Abdullah. Telling Gao Qiaonan about these situations was actually equivalent to telling Hai Han everything. If Gao Qiaonan had any bad intentions, mastering this information would be equivalent to controlling the lifeblood of the Xihu tribe.

As if seeing little Abdullah's worries, Takahashi Nan took the initiative to add: "The reason why we need to know this is because we will provide all-round military assistance to the Xihu tribe and make your tribe the most powerful force on the peninsula!"

Little Abdullah said: "Similar words were said by the two envoys sent by your country last time, but I don't understand how to achieve such a goal? Compared with those large tribes in the western Persian Gulf, our Xihu family has no advantage in population and territory."

Takahashi Nan said: "What you said is true, but that was only the situation before we came here. Our country is willing to carry out in-depth military cooperation with the Xihu Tribe. In addition to providing you with weapons and equipment and military training, our country can even send troops to help you capture the surrounding areas and quickly upgrade the Xihu Tribe to the Xihu Kingdom!"

"Chief Abdullah will go down in history as the first king, and you, who participated in the creation of the Kingdom of Xihu, will also become the most famous prince on the peninsula and be respected by all people in the future!"