1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3785

Although Qian Tiandun and Shi Diwen had cooperated on the battlefield before, it was a long time ago, and their status at that time was far less powerful than it is now. Now each of them has more complex interests, and cooperation will not be limited to the military level.

For these two senior generals, nothing can build a high level of trust faster than fighting side by side. A successful military operation may have a greater impact than signing a number of cooperation agreements.

Although the environment of the Arabian Peninsula is relatively unfamiliar to both troops, fortunately the opponents are not strong, making it suitable for training and gaining experience.

However, Shi Diwen still had some ideas that he did not express during the meeting. It was not until the meeting was over and other participants had left the venue that Shi Diwen told Qian Tiandun that he still had something to say.

"Old Qian, frankly, I don't think you can complete this plan in a year."

Hearing Shi Diwen's doubt, Qian Tiandun smiled and said, "Which link do you think will go wrong?"

Shi Diwen said: "I believe that after the special operations division is dispatched, it will be no problem to capture key coastal areas, but there may be some problems in the subsequent attack on the inland areas."

"Although the farthest point in this area is only two or three hundred miles from the coastline, the terrain is not suitable for our troops to carry out combat operations. The east coast has mountains that stretch for hundreds of miles, and the west coast is a large desert. Even if we can find local guides, it will take a lot of troops to clear these areas, and this is exactly what we lack."

"In addition, the clearing operation requires establishing supply lines in the desert and mountains. I think this will also take a lot of time and may not be as smooth as you expected."

What Shi Diwen said was indeed the truth, but these details were not fully reflected in the huge map shown by Qian Tiandun.

However, this map was originally produced in China based on satellite images from a large database. Shi Diwen had already done research on this, so he pointed out these details that were not specifically mentioned in Qian Tiandun's plan.

Qian Tiandun nodded and said, "You are right. If we want to carry out a thorough cleanup of the inland areas, the problems you mentioned will indeed arise. But my real plan is to establish a control zone in the coastal areas, cut off the supply of materials in the inland areas, and force those Arabs who are still resisting to surrender."

"Of course, it may not be that troublesome. It is possible that after we conquer a few tribes, the other tribes will surrender. I am optimistic about this. The Arabs may not be as resistant as you think."

Qian Tiandun's optimism is of course based on facts. In addition to his understanding of the old time and space before he traveled through time, he also specifically consulted the Hijri people about how they surrendered to the Ottoman Empire.

The answer from the Hiju people also surprised him. The Ottoman Empire's conquest of the Arabian Peninsula was not achieved by relying on the army to conquer it inch by inch. They only conquered several larger tribes on the peninsula, and then used the surrender of these large tribes to force small and medium-sized tribes like the Hiju people to submit.

Many small tribes, including the Hijrah, surrendered without putting up any real resistance. The Ottoman Empire also fulfilled its promise to persuade the tribes to surrender, retaining basic autonomy for these tribes and not setting up government offices in these places. The main reason for this situation was that for a long period of time before this, the Arabs had not formed a country that could rule the entire peninsula, which resulted in the inability of many tribes to form a real joint force.

Although some tribes formed military alliances, this fragile alliance would not play a big role when facing a big country like the Ottoman Empire. Once one link was breached, the entire alliance would often collapse.

Therefore, Qian Tiandun also took this factor into consideration when formulating the action plan. He believed that the resistance he would encounter would not be too strong and that he could quickly achieve his goals by simply defeating a few major opponents step by step and controlling some key areas.

Seeing that Shi Diwen did not refute, Qian Tiandun continued, "This is actually a snowball process. As long as one person chooses to surrender, other tribes will follow suit. For the Arabs, there is actually no essential difference between swearing allegiance to the Ottomans or other countries. All they want is to continue to preserve the tribal system and maintain their autonomy for thousands of years."

Shi Diwen said: "But you will definitely not allow these tribes to continue to maintain autonomy, right?"

Qian Tiandun did not answer the question directly, but talked about another matter: "After the establishment of Xihu State, many departments need to be set up to manage the country, so there will be a large number of vacant official positions. Xihu itself does not have so many suitable talents to fill the vacancies, so it may be a good idea to recruit talents from outside."

"This will not only improve the bureaucratic system of the Shi'u State, but also allow other tribes to become a community of interests closely related to the Shi'u State. These Arabs will soon realize that placing their tribes under state management will give them better development opportunities."

"If there are still tribes that insist on self-government, they can only be dealt with as disobedient to management. If little Abdullah doesn't know what to do, I will teach him step by step."

Qian Tiandun said it lightly, but it was obviously the result of careful consideration.

After the Xihu established their country, Qian Tiandun had certainly considered for Abdullah and his son what kind of system would be used to maintain the political system and rule, and how to manage other annexed tribes.

The first thing to be ruled out is maintaining the current tribal autonomy system. This backward form of rule is not what Qian Tiandun is happy to see. He needs Xihu to concentrate all the resources of the areas under his rule to serve Hai Han's expansion, rather than serving those chieftains who only care about their own interests.

The monarchy is probably the most suitable political system for Arabs at this stage, and it is also convenient to return the power of tribal chiefs to the hands of the state. Of course, if the chiefs want to gain more power, they have to put aside their tribes and give priority to serving the country.

It doesn’t matter whether you work for the Xihu Kingdom or the Haihan Kingdom. Those who are willing to work hard will be handsomely rewarded.

Although the expansion area that Qian Tiandun has drawn for Xihu is large, this is only a plan for one year. Compared with the entire Arabian Peninsula, the area he has drawn today only accounts for one percent of the peninsula.

When people realize that the future of the Xihu Kingdom will not be limited to the Strait of Hormuz, people with lofty ambitions will step forward and become the pioneers of Hai Han's conquest of the Arabian Peninsula.