1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3777

After some effort, the old chief finally understood his illness, but he still had some doubts about the Hai Han people's request that he put aside government affairs and rest for a long time.

The most important thing is that a country cannot be without a leader for a day. If I go back to Xihu City to recuperate, how will this newly established Xihu Country operate?

Qian Tiandun had already made arrangements for this: "After the founding ceremony, you will still retain the title of king, but the specific military and political affairs will be handed over to little Abdullah. This way, you can rest assured to recuperate and don't have to worry too much about state affairs."

"For the sake of convenience, you can announce that little Abdullah will be in charge of all state affairs and take control of the military power of the new Xihu army. This will also ensure the long-term stability of the Xihu country to the greatest extent."

The old chieftain could understand what Qian Tiandun meant by "long-term stability". He knew better than the Hai Han people that there might be power struggles within Xihu in the future. He had not yet thought of a reliable plan to eliminate these hidden dangers.

But the Hai Han people obviously realized this, so they planned to support little Abdullah to take over in advance and leave no chance for other competitors to cause trouble.

As for why they did not directly support young Abdullah to ascend the throne as king, the reason is very simple. At this stage, the old chief is still needed to intimidate the internal Xihu and give young Abdullah some buffer time to establish his prestige.

In fact, there was no need for the Hai Han medical officer to give professional advice. The old chief knew that his physical condition was not suitable for ruling the country, and being king was just a necessity of the situation. The solution currently provided by Hai Han could just solve many of his concerns, and it seemed to be the most reasonable arrangement.

After the two sides discussed some operational details, the matter was basically finalized. Now that Hai Han was backing up little Abdullah, the old chief no longer had to worry about power falling into the hands of others.

In the following days, almost all of Sihu's foreign affairs activities were handled by little Abdullah. The officials from various countries who came to watch the ceremony also learned that His Majesty the King of Sihu was in very poor health, and it was likely that the young crown prince would actually hold power in the future.

The more than 2,000 Xihu people who came to Fubo Port with Abdullah and his son provided sufficient manpower for the construction of the venue. In just a few days, the open-air cargo yard at the port was transformed into a venue for the ceremony.

The venue actually consists of two main parts: one is the rostrum where the important figures of Xihu and Haihan sit, and the other is the viewing area where the guests and many people are. There are only a few dozen seats, and most people will still have to stand to attend the ceremony. Most of the construction time was spent on leveling the ground again.

Although this venue cannot be compared with the celebration venues in Hai Han, it cannot be done better due to local environment and time constraints.

The day before the ceremony, the Portuguese finally arrived at Fubo Port on time.

Rui deliberately came at a certain time, just to show that he was indifferent to the founding of the Xihu Kingdom. However, when his ship arrived at Fubo Port, he saw something that made him feel extremely uneasy.

The dock at Fubo Harbor was filled with dozens of Hai Han sailboats of various sizes, which was not unexpected to him, but one particularly large sailboat was particularly eye-catching. The Majestic-class warship next to it was actually about one-third shorter than this giant ship.

Rui gasped. From the conspicuous gun turrets on the deck, he knew that this was a giant warship that he had never seen before. The two-color flag flying on the tall mast indicated that it belonged to Hai Han. The last time the Hai Han fleet visited Hormuz Island, Rui was frightened when he saw the Majestic-class warships in the fleet, because Portugal itself did not have the ability to build such large warships.

But only half a year later, a giant warship with a larger tonnage appeared in the Persian Gulf. In Rui's opinion, this was not only a reflection of Hai Han's advanced shipbuilding technology, but also showed that Hai Han's maritime armed forces were very sufficient, and Fubo Port already had a certain level of support capabilities, so this giant warship could be mobilized to a place thousands of miles away from Hai Han's homeland to perform missions.

Of course, if Rui knew that among warships of the level of Zhoushan, only this one has been in service so far, it might make him feel a little relieved.

Of course, Rui was not the only one who was surprised by the appearance of Zhoushan. The sailors on the ship he was on and his entourage were all shocked by the appearance of Zhoushan.

Although no one dared to say anything, many people were silently comparing their own strength with that of Hai Han, and calculating how many warships they would need to dispatch to deal with this big guy.

Of course, the results of the calculations are generally pessimistic. After all, in this era, the combat effectiveness of a warship is directly related to its tonnage.

What’s more, the Hai Han naval fleet has long been famous. Maritime powers such as Spain and the Netherlands have all been defeated by it. Its battle records are traceable and it is no joke.

Rui also felt that the emotions of the people around him were affected by this giant ship, but he could only pretend to be nonchalant and say something like "Maybe it's just a showpiece that looks good but is useless", so as to avoid a severe blow to the morale as soon as they arrived at Fubo Port.

What made Rui even more depressed was that the construction progress of Fubo Port was obviously much faster than he expected. The port had already taken shape and had several berths in operation.

Qian Tiandun was still very considerate and personally came to the dock to greet Rui's arrival. This was not the first time the two met, and after a few pleasantries, Qian Tiandun introduced him to little Abdullah who came to greet him.

"As an ally, we hope that Portugal will be able to provide necessary assistance to the Xihu Kingdom in the future, especially in terms of security protection. I heard that many forces in the Persian Gulf do not like to see the establishment of the Xihu Kingdom and are trying to make enemies with it. Our two countries must become the strong backing of the Xihu Kingdom!"

After hearing Qian Tiandun's words, Rui felt very uncomfortable.

It was his idea to gather forces from all sides to deal with Xihu, but now the Hai Han people asked him to provide defense for Xihu. This is too ironic.

Rui couldn't even tell whether Qian Tiandun's words were unintentional or intended to mock him in person.

But he couldn't get angry in front of the Hai Han people, so he could only agree first. However, he was thinking about how to take this opportunity to find out more about Xihu so as to pass the information to the tribes that wanted to take action against Xihu.

Little Abdullah seemed completely unaware of the role played by the Portuguese. He thanked Rui very warmly and invited him to visit Xihu City when it was convenient.