1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3763

As the young master of the Xihu tribe, young Abdullah was quite knowledgeable and familiar with artillery. Among the fortifications of Xihu City, there were several artillery pieces that his father had purchased from the Portuguese in his early years.

However, the main purpose of the small-caliber bronze cannons was not to defend the city of Xihu, but to serve as a prop for the tribe to demonstrate its strength and inspire people.

The city of Xihu, located in the desert, had a very low chance of being invaded by foreign enemies. The guns were very heavy and difficult to maneuver in the desert, so they could only be deployed as fixed turrets on the city defense. After being placed there, they were never used once, and naturally became decorations over time.

Little Abdullah also knew that this thing was extremely powerful and its role on the battlefield was far better than that of a musket, but he knew that it was extremely difficult to train artillerymen who could operate cannons. That year, the tribe selected a group of people and sent them to Hormuz Island to ask the Portuguese to train them, but it turned out that none of them could meet the qualification standard - this was also one of the reasons why the cannons bought by the tribe became decorations.

Little Abdullah did not want to expose his weakness, so he had to tactfully remind Takahashi Nan that such a heavy weapon was difficult to transport over long distances in the desert, and using it in actual combat might not be a good idea.

Takahashi Nan smiled and explained to him: "These guns are indeed difficult to transport in the desert, so the way to deliver them is mainly by sea."

Little Abdullah immediately understood what he meant: "You mean that the targets we will attack in the future will mainly be concentrated near the coastline?"

Takahashi Nan said: "After all, most of the big cities near the Persian Gulf are located on the seashore. It is much faster to send troops from the sea than by land."

Obviously, the city of Xihu in the desert, or cities in similar environments, are not among the big cities mentioned by Takahashi Minami.

From this perspective, famous cities and ports such as Bandar Abbas, Kuwait City, and Basra are probably the ones that are qualified to be targeted by Hai Han.

Thinking of this, little Abdullah asked anxiously, "I think we can try to fight with the surrounding tribes, but if we want to go to war with other countries, do our Xihu tribe really have the strength to do so?"

Takahashi Nan said: "It is true that there is no such thing now, but whether there will be in the future depends on how hard you work. If you just sit at home and wait, you will definitely not be able to become the hegemon of the Persian Gulf. But as long as you are willing to learn and have the courage to fight on the battlefield, you will get all the help you need from our country!"

Although the goal Gaoqiao Nan mentioned was still a bit far from the Xihu tribe, his words did give little Abdullah some confidence. At least the military aid from the Hai Han people was not just empty talk, but they really intended to provide the Xihu tribe with powerful weapons and equipment to help the Xihu tribe become a regional power.

Of course, young Abdullah was not overwhelmed by this. He knew very well that these aids were not provided completely free of charge, especially the weapons and equipment, which had to be priced.

The Xihu tribe does not have the financial resources to purchase so many weapons and equipment, so Hai Han still adopted its usual practice, which is to provide a special loan to the Xihu tribe to purchase weapons and equipment from Hai Han.

Qian Tiandun set a repayment period of twenty years for the Xihu tribe, and the interest rate was extremely low. The repayment could also be made with the dividends that the Xihu tribe would receive from the future operating income of Fubo Port. This was actually a half-sale and half-giveaway, and he did not expect to make any money from it.

However, the principles behind this were still too complicated for young Abdullah, who was not familiar with trade and finance. He only knew that his tribe would owe Hai Han a large debt after receiving these weapons, equipment and supplies.

This huge debt must be repaid to Hai Han through the Xihu Tribe, the future Xihu Kingdom, after it achieves great success in the Persian Gulf. Although the Xihu Tribe can obtain relatively stable income from the port operation by leasing its land to Hai Han to build Fubo Port, if it fails to achieve the goals set by Hai Han, then the Xihu Tribe will also lose the sovereignty of the land in the Fubo Port area as collateral for the loan.

Therefore, for the Xihu tribe, now that they have boarded the Hai Han ship, there is no possibility of getting off halfway, and they can only continue along the route set by Hai Han.

Little Abdullah did not ask any more questions. He just stood quietly beside Takahashi Minami, watching the cannons being unloaded from the ship one by one.

He realized that it was meaningless to discuss the difficulty of the nation-building plan at this time. In the words of Hai Han, once the arrow is shot, there is no turning back. The Xihu tribe must go all out, otherwise what they may lose in the future is not just the land here.

Takahashi Nan was quite satisfied with the reaction of little Abdullah. He did not want his partner to be a coward, but he also did not want the other party to be a lunatic who did not know his own limitations.

Little Abdullah's attitude exactly met his expectations: humble but not timid, courageous but not reckless, which would save him a lot of time and energy.

The only problem was that little Abdullah's cultural foundation was too poor. He couldn't even read a military map, let alone formulate a complex combat plan. It might take much longer than expected to train him.

In late July, more than 800 immigrants sent from the rear arrived at Fubo Port. Most of them were immigrants who had been sent to Phuket by Shi Diwen. After preliminary screening, Qian Tiandun sent a fleet to send them to Fubo Port.

This immigration journey across India was not smooth, and there were still some casualties along the way. Fortunately, the number was not too large and was still within an acceptable range.

The arrival of this group of immigrants greatly encouraged the garrison at Fubo Port. This was not only because the additional labor force could speed up the progress of local infrastructure projects, but more importantly, one-third of the immigrants were single women, which could alleviate the garrison's need for spouses to a certain extent.

One of the latest instructions Takahashi Minami received was to arrange for these female immigrants from Japan to start families locally as soon as possible.

This is certainly not an easy task. To put it simply, there are too many people and too little food, so it is impossible to distribute it evenly. But if the distribution method is unfair, it will easily affect morale.

Gaoqiao Minami's solution is as simple and crude as ever, that is to draw lots directly. Single soldiers who are willing to participate will get the chance to draw lots after signing up, and the lucky winner will get a female immigrant spouse.

But even for these few lucky winners, they do not have the chance to be picky. They can only choose their spouse by opening a blind box, and if the other party has children, they must accept and raise them as well.

Even with so many restrictions, soldiers still signed up enthusiastically. There was nothing they could do about it. It was hard to meet women while stationed overseas, and it was hard to find a wife and start a family. It was good to have such an opportunity, and there was nothing to be picky about.

Although this distribution method is purely an arranged marriage, it is the fairest and most efficient solution that Takahashi Minami can think of. He is also very clear that if these Japanese women cannot quickly form a family in a foreign country, many of them may find it difficult to survive and most of them will end up becoming prostitutes to make a living. It is obviously better for them to marry these soldiers stationed overseas.