1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3784

One year is not a long time for a large-scale military operation. Even in the history of the Hai Han army, many operations took more than a year to prepare for.

Of course, as the ace unit of the Hai Han Army, the Special Warfare Division is naturally qualified to propose some relatively high goals. After all, it has only been three years since the Special Warfare Division left Liaodong and headed south, and every year it has been expanding its sphere of influence at a speed visible to the naked eye.

During these three years, the special operations division has established multiple bases and ports across the Indian Ocean, and the Indian Ocean trade route connecting East Asia and West Asia has also taken shape. The progress can be described as rapid.

If it weren't for the fact that it is far away from Hai Han mainland and it is inconvenient to obtain supplies, resulting in the construction period being much longer than in China, the Special Operations Division might have achieved more results in the Indian Ocean.

However, before this, the places occupied by the Special Operations Division were all based on islands or ports, and the area under their jurisdiction was often no more than a hundred miles in radius. The area just demarcated by Qian Tiandun was comparable to the size of Hainan Island. Even Shi Diwen couldn't help but murmur after hearing this goal, worrying that the Special Operations Division's existing forces would not be able to complete such a task.

But Qian Tiandun looked confident and didn't seem to be making empty promises, so Shi Diwen didn't interrupt him and patiently listened to him continue to explain the plan.

It is impossible to occupy such a large area in one go, not to mention that there are several indigenous tribes similar to Xihu living on this land. These tribes may not cooperate as obediently as Xihu, and fierce resistance is an inevitable reaction.

Qian Tiandun divided the action into three stages. The first was to notify the surrounding tribes in the name of the Xihu Kingdom, requiring them to swear allegiance to the Xihu Kingdom, pay tribute, and obey the management of the Xihu Kingdom.

If nothing unexpected happens, such a request will certainly be rejected, and some of the tribes may even make extreme responses to Xihu, but this will also provide Xihu with a reason to send troops to start a war.

When the operation enters the second phase, the special operations division will select troops to disguise themselves as the Xihu Army, pick out a few troublemakers as targets, and eliminate them with lightning speed.

In the third stage, the other tribes were forced to surrender in the name of Xihu again. Those who surrendered were all brought under the rule of Xihu, and those who continued to resist were eliminated by the special warfare division.

The plan formulated by Qian Tiandun can be described as simple and crude, but in order to accomplish so many things within a year, he could only omit all unnecessary negotiation links and achieve his goals by force.

After Qian Tiandun finished speaking, Shi Diwen asked, "I have a question. Most of this area is desert. How can the special warfare division achieve rapid mobility?"

Qian Tiandun said: "The initial action targets will be concentrated in coastal areas, so that we can use the fleet to deploy troops from the sea. After controlling the main ports in this area, we will launch an offensive towards the inland areas."

Regarding this kind of sea-to-land attack plan implemented on the peninsula terrain, Qian Tiandun has much more combat experience than Shi Diwen.

When the Hai Han army entered the Shandong Peninsula and the Liaodong Peninsula, the Special Warfare Division was always the first to take the lead. The opponents they had to deal with at that time were obviously stronger than the nearby Arab tribes, and the Special Warfare Division also achieved impressive results.

The only thing that can limit the special operations division's performance is probably the desert environment here. Shi Diwen's worries are not unreasonable.

Even a strong special warfare division could only follow the Arabs' instructions in the desert, and the journey was easily affected by weather conditions. Qian Tiandun could not come up with a better solution for marching and fighting in the desert, so his approach was similar to that of previous wars in the north, first occupying important coastal areas, then using these locations as forward bases, establishing logistics supply lines, and then launching operations against inland targets.

Amphibious landing operations are one of the special operations division's specialty. However, these indigenous tribes on the Arabian Peninsula have almost no decent coastal defense fortifications, let alone an armed fleet capable of fighting at sea, so Qian Tiandun's plan is highly feasible.

Of course, this was still an unattainable goal for the Arabs who had just received training in Fubo Port. In their minds, the existing territory of Xihu had not changed for at least a hundred years, and the Hai Han people wanted to expand Xihu's ruling area by dozens of times within a year, which was far beyond their expectations.

It wasn't just those who heard about this for the first time who were shocked. Even little Abdullah, who had some knowledge of the Hai Han people's plan, was taken aback by Qian Tiandun's bold plan.

Qian Tiandun had previously revealed some preliminary plans to him, but compared with the plan announced now, what was previously said was at most only one-tenth of the scale of the action, and the time was compressed to within one year. Doesn't this mean that the war is about to start?

Qian Tiandun quickly confirmed little Abdullah’s guess and announced that the plan would be launched immediately. The specific combat plan would be jointly formulated by the officers of Hai Han and Xihu.

Young Abdullah was given an important task, which was to send out notices to the surrounding tribes of Xihu and inform Hai Han of the tribes’ reactions so that the combat command could select the targets for the next phase of operations.

Of course, this kind of task does not require little Abdullah to do it personally, and Qian Tiandun does not want to put him in a dangerous environment. He only needs him to be responsible for coordinating and directing the actions of relevant departments.

Little Abdullah was relieved when he heard that he didn't need to show up himself. If he met a family that was unhappy with Xihu's arrangement, he would be hard to get away.

Qian Tiandun did not let Shi Diwen sit idle. Since the East China Sea Fleet had arrived, he must contribute to this plan.

The East China Sea Fleet does not need to land and fight, it is enough to assist the special warfare division to complete the sea force projection. The ships belonging to the East China Sea Fleet that have arrived at Fubo Port are fully capable of quickly projecting local garrison troops to any coast inside or outside the Strait of Hormuz.

After listening to this, Shi Diwen laughed and said, "You must have come up with this idea on our way to Fubo Port, right?"

Qian Tiandun did not deny this: "This way your troops can also train at the same time. This kind of opportunity does not come at any time."

Shi Diwen said: "So I have benefited from the special warfare division."

Qian Tiandun said: "We are all family, so it's easy to talk."

This was of course just a joke. Qian Tiandun understood that Shi Diwen brought his troops to Fubo Port not to enjoy the scenery, but his real purpose was to find an opportunity to train his troops.