1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3778

Rui's goal was to weaken and restrict Hai Han's development in the Persian Gulf, not to go to war with Hai Han head-on, so he did not want to show any hostility in front of Hai Han officials such as Qian Tiandun, so as not to arouse the other side's vigilance.

As for the Xihu tribe, or the soon-to-be-established Xihu country, Rui Ke did not regard it as an opponent.

The strength of the Xihu tribe is basically an open card to Portugal. Rui also does not think that the Hai Han people can significantly increase the military power of the Xihu tribe in the short term. No matter how much these Arabs struggle, they are only a small supporting role and are unlikely to directly threaten the security of Hormuz Island.

However, if the Xihu tribe could be wiped off the map, it would certainly greatly slow down the construction progress of Fubo Port, and would also effectively undermine the influence that Hai Han has just established in the local area.

Upon hearing that little Abdullah would become the actual ruler of the Xihu Kingdom, Rui immediately expressed his hope to have more opportunities for private contact with little Abdullah in order to discuss the cooperation between the two sides in detail.

Little Abdullah, who didn't know what was going on, immediately agreed, while Qian Tiandun just smiled and said nothing. He certainly knew that Rui had no good intentions in doing this, but in front of everyone, he would not expose Rui immediately, but he had already made up his mind.

After Rui left, Qian Tiandun said to little Abdullah: "Don't say everything when you meet with the Portuguese. I will let the intelligence officer communicate with you about the details of the discussion later."

Little Abdullah also immediately noticed the change in Qian Tiandun's attitude and nodded in agreement.

Since Rui wanted to get information from little Abdullah, Qian Tiandun could of course take advantage of the situation and use little Abdullah as a channel to convey some misleading information to the Portuguese.

In the blink of an eye, it was the day of the ceremony. More than a hundred guests from all parties came early to the venue which had been hastily built the night before.

In order to make the ceremony more popular, Qian Tiandun specially arranged a holiday. Except for the troops performing combat readiness and alert missions, the special warfare division and the East China Sea Fleet were given a one-day temporary holiday.

All infrastructure projects in Fubo Port were suspended and closed to allow the many Arab workers to attend the ceremony.

As a result, there were tens of thousands of people watching the ceremony around the venue. Although more than half of the audience were not locals, at least in the history of the Xihu tribe, there had never been so many people gathered together to hold a celebration. This scene was enough to be recorded in the history of the Xihu country.

The content of the ceremony was very plain and simple. Qian Tiandun and little Abdullah first gave speeches on behalf of Hai Han and Xihu respectively. The content was nothing more than tracing the long history of the Xihu tribe's reproduction and development in the local area, and the good cooperative relationship they had established with Hai Han.

However, even if we count from the time Hai Han set foot here, the time they have been dealing with the Xihu tribe is less than a year. In such a short period of time, whether the relationship between the two sides has really reached the level of closeness as they claim, probably not many people would believe such high-sounding rhetoric.

Of course, that is not the focus of today's ceremony. The audience is more concerned about what kind of image the Xihu Kingdom, established with the support of Hai Han, will present to the world.

The scene of Chief Abdullah's coronation did not look ideal. As the chief had difficulty walking, he was carried to the stage by four strong men while sitting on a chair. Shi Diwen stepped forward and read Hai Han's letter of credence, recognizing the establishment of Xihu State, and conferred Chief Abdullah as the first king of Xihu State, and young Abdullah as the crown prince.

The king then swore that the Kingdom of Xihu would become a vassal state of Hai Han, accept Hai Han’s protection, and assist Hai Han in building the Fubo Port and carrying out various trade activities in the Persian Gulf region.

Although these subordinate relationships had been anticipated by the guests attending the ceremony, many were still a little surprised to hear King Abdullah say it so openly.

Since its founding, Xihu has clearly recognized Hai Han as its suzerain state, which is rare in the international community. Of course, this is also equivalent to announcing to the world the real reason why Hai Han assisted Xihu in establishing the country.

Then came officials from various countries who arrived with Shi Diwen and took to the stage one after another to present their credentials to King Abdullah.

For these countries, establishing diplomatic relations with Xihu is actually of little importance. Although diplomatic relations have been established in name, there is no need to set up any official institutions or send diplomatic personnel here. All diplomatic affairs are temporarily entrusted to Hai Han's agent.

Everyone knows who the real boss here is, and submitting the letter is just a matter of giving face to Hai Han.

Of course, there were officials from a very small number of countries who attended the ceremony but did not go on stage to present their credentials. Rui, who represented Portugal, was one of them.

Rui was of course very clear about what was going on, but he couldn't help but be a little surprised that these countries were so obedient to Hai Han and were willing to establish diplomatic relations with a small emirate like Xihu that had no international status at all.

He also realized that Hai Han's international influence far exceeded his previous understanding. Even if several countries in the Persian Gulf region did not recognize the legitimacy of the Xihu Kingdom, this small country would quickly gain international status under the protection of Hai Han.

Thinking of this, Rui couldn't help but feel a little hesitant. If he instigated the tribal armed forces in the surrounding areas to attack the Xihu, he would probably not achieve the desired results. It might even backfire, allowing Hai Han to use the name of protecting the Xihu as a reason to station a large number of troops in the Persian Gulf.

If the situation continues to develop in this way, the only two countries that may have the power to destroy the Hijri Empire are Persia and the Ottoman Empire.

Persia was also invited to send official representatives, but it did not submit its credentials like other countries that attended the ceremony. Instead, it maintained a wait-and-see attitude like Rui. It was obvious that Persia had no intention of currying favor with Hai Han through this matter, which was good news for Rui.

As for the Ottoman Empire, no one came at all. It was unclear whether Hai Han did not issue an invitation or the Ottoman Empire refused to send anyone. Rui believed that the former was more likely.

After all, most areas on the Arabian Peninsula, including the Hijrah Kingdom, were nominally under the jurisdiction of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire did not set up official agencies in the local area, and most areas were autonomous among the Arab tribes.

But even so, the Ottoman Empire would probably not be happy to see a tribe in its jurisdiction establish a country without permission. Moreover, the establishment of the Hijra Kingdom came from the support of foreign forces.