1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3786

Qian Tiandun actually had plans for the first batch of target areas to be taken into his possession, but whether military means were necessary would depend on the outcome of the negotiations between young Abdullah and the other party.

The place that Qian Tiandun had his eyes on was the Port of Sohar, located on the east side of the Strait of Hormuz.

The location of this port was exactly at the eastern end of the dividing line he had drawn on the map earlier. This was certainly not a coincidence, but he had originally intended to use Suhar Port as the southern border of the Xihu Kingdom for a period of time in the future.

Before the Hai Han people came to the Arabian Peninsula, the main industries of the port of Sohar were pearls, furs, dates and copper products.

However, after Hai Han established Fubo Port, some small coal mines inland near Suhar Port benefited from it, and coal mining quickly became the most important industry in the area. The reason was that Fubo Port needed a large and stable supply of coal to meet the daily consumption of the local garrison and the needs of various steam-powered equipment.

Precisely because of the established trade relations with the local area, Hai Han also had some vested interests in Sohar Port, and was able to gain more information about the local customs and culture.

The port of Sohar was located on the edge of the Ottoman sphere of influence, and adjacent to it was the Yariba tribe living on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula, which called itself the Yariba Dynasty.

Yariba is a relatively loosely structured regime, also composed of many tribes. In most cases, each tribe maintains autonomy, so Hai Han does not treat it as a country.

The Surha tribe, which rules the port of Suhar, nominally belongs to the Yariba tribe, but because of the nature of its port operations, it also has close ties with the Ottoman Empire, Persia and other countries. Of course, now there is also the Hai Han.

Therefore, the nature of Sohar Port is more like a neutral area, but Qian Tiandun hopes to take over Sohar Port, so as to ensure that local important resources such as coal and copper can be stably supplied to the future industrial center to be established in the Persian Gulf.

In the letter that Abdullah the Younger sent to the Suhar tribe, he demanded that they submit and be loyal to the newly established Shi'u Kingdom, otherwise they would be attacked by force.

The Suhar tribe only had three days to consider.

The Suhar tribe was naturally confused when they received this news. Although they learned about the founding of the Xihu Kingdom, they did not send anyone to Fubo Port to attend the ceremony, so they were not too clear about the role Hai Han played in it.

But there is no doubt that both the Yariba tribe and the Ottoman Empire are definitely stronger than the newly established Shihu Kingdom. In this case, why should the Surha tribe give up its long-standing neutral position and rely on a newly established small country?

This is obviously illogical and not in the interests of the Suhar tribe. However, there are smart people in the Suhar tribe who noticed that the notice also mentioned the wording "Xihu will take necessary actions together with its allies", which obviously shows that there are people behind Xihu who support it.

As for who this backer is, it is not difficult to guess. After all, it is no news that Xihu and Haihan are close, and the most likely party to form an alliance with Xihu seems to be Haihan.

The Suhar tribe had a good relationship with Hai Han, so perhaps they should send someone to Fubo Port to get more accurate information. Unfortunately, the person who noticed this did not have much say within Suhar, and no one listened to his words. In the end, Xihu's request was rejected.

The reaction of the Suhar tribe was not beyond Qian Tiandun's expectations. Even the troops had been deployed in advance. As soon as the Xihu messenger left the Suhar port, the coalition forces of Hai Han and Xihu arrived.

The Suhar people were unprepared for this expedition and had almost no time to organize a resistance before the Xihu army, which had come from afar, landed and occupied the port.

Four troop transports quickly docked at the port, and several gangplanks were pushed out from the ship to the shore. Then hundreds of soldiers armed with muskets moved ashore at an extremely fast speed, and soon controlled the entrances and exits and high points of the port.

The few Suhar warriors who tried to resist were knocked down by the enemy's muskets in just one encounter. This also made the others calm down quickly, realizing that these Xihu soldiers with black cloth covering their faces were not easy to deal with.

Some Hizbul soldiers kept shouting loudly, asking the Suhar people not to put up any form of resistance, otherwise they would be killed without mercy and their families would be implicated. Although this method of persuading them to surrender was simple and crude, it achieved excellent results, causing many Suhar people who originally had the intention to resist to lose their courage in an instant.

The gunfire from the port soon reached the neighboring city of Sohar, and the guards quickly closed the city gates to delay the enemy's offensive.

However, the coal-carrying ships belonging to the Special Operations Division had been here many times and had already fully understood the situation inside and outside the city of Sohar. They knew that there were no decent city defense fortifications here, let alone an organized armed force stationed there. Closing the city gates was just a symbolic means of resistance.

Several heavy artillery pieces that were hoisted ashore were quickly towed outside the city by several pack horses. Under the watch of hundreds of people on the city wall, the artillerymen calmly selected suitable gun positions, dug pits, dragged the artillery pieces into the positions, loaded ammunition, aimed at the city gate, and then fired, blowing it to pieces.

After the city gates were blasted open, the Xihu army began to persuade the enemy to surrender. The defenders had almost no resistance, and the attacking side's display of force must have been enough.

Someone holding a tin loudspeaker began to shout to the people in the city, revealing his identity and demanding that the upper echelons of the Suhar tribe immediately leave the city and surrender to avoid greater casualties.

It was not until this time that people in the city realized that the one who had raised troops to attack here was the Xihu Kingdom whose envoys had just been driven away.

No one knew when the Shihu had such a powerful army equipped with muskets and artillery, but the previous warnings from the Shihu envoys were obviously not empty words. The other side really wanted to use force to defeat the Suhar people who were unwilling to surrender.

The elders of Suhar also felt very aggrieved. If you, the Xihu people, had already told us that you had such powerful means, then the matter of surrendering to the Xihu could be discussed. Why did you have to go to this point?

But their opponents obviously had other plans, and it was most appropriate to use Suhar as the first target. This would not only achieve the effect of promoting military power and making an example of someone, but would also help to integrate the participating coalition forces and allow the Arab soldiers who had just completed their recruit training to adapt to the Hai Han army's combat methods more quickly.

Of course, the tasks that these Arab soldiers can perform at present are very limited. Basically, they act as translators and are responsible for calling on soldiers to surrender during breaks in combat. They do not have to risk their lives for the time being.