1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3788

Qian Tiandun and Shi Diwen did not intervene in the command of this small-scale battle, and the Zhoushan they were on did not immediately approach Suhar Port. In their opinion, Gaoqiao Nan was fully capable of handling such a small situation, and he only needed to patiently wait for the news of victory from the front line.

In fact, the many means that Qian Tiandun had prepared for this war of founding the country had not even been used before the battle was declared over, and the time taken was far less than expected.

"How is it? Are my men doing their job well?"

Hearing Qian Tiandun's question, Shi Diwen smiled and replied: "It's indeed very neat, but this should also be related to the opponent you chose. In my opinion, they chose to surrender without organizing a decent resistance, which did not give your troops a chance to give full play to their strengths!"

Qian Tiandun said: "After all, this is the first battle of the Xihu nation. Choosing a weaker opponent will also help them build confidence. Of course, we can also take a look at the level of these Arab tribal armed forces."

Shi Diwen continued to ask: "Is the situation of the people of Suhar representative?"

Qian Tiandun said: "It's not as good as the best, but it should be more than enough compared to the worst. After all, the income of the Suhar people operating the port is quite good. Their armed level is still so good, let alone those tribes whose economic conditions are far worse than theirs."

Shi Diwen nodded and said, "The tribes bordering Xihu are all similar to Suhar. There shouldn't be any tough opponents appearing in the short term."

Qian Tiandun said: "As long as there is no intervention from major powers, the subsequent operations should be as smooth as today. The one year I set is actually a little conservative."

Shi Diwen smiled but did not respond. He knew that this was Qian Tiandun's response to his previous doubt that one year was not enough time.

With the strength of the special operations division, it is indeed an overkill to deal with this kind of tribal armed forces. If nothing unexpected happens, the coalition forces should be able to take the area planned by Qian Tiandun as scheduled.

After the vanguard entered the city and took control of the situation, the Zhoushan docked at the Port of Sohar at a leisurely pace. Gaoqiao Nan was already waiting at the dock at this time and immediately reported to them the details of the combat operations and subsequent negotiations.

After listening to this, Shi Diwen said to Qian Tiandun: "Old Qian, do you think it is necessary for us to meet with the Suhar people?"

Qian Tiandun shook his head and said, "Since we are acting in the name of the Xihu Army, we should try to avoid public appearances. We can leave the matters of accepting the surrender to little Abdullah. I would like to take this opportunity to take a look at the local products first."

The property that Qian Tiandun was talking about was not the property of the Suhar elders in the city, but the copper and coal mines near Suhar. Compared with the port here, the mineral deposits were the main reason why Qian Tiandun listed this place as a target.

Shi Diwen readily agreed. If Hai Han could solve the problem of coal and metal mineral supply locally on the Arabian Peninsula, then some heavy industry could be established in this region in the future.

As long as there is industrial output, Hai Han’s influence in the region will increase, and may even far exceed the effects of military operations.

Gao Qiaonan quickly collected dozens of camels from inside and outside the city and formed a camel team temporarily. However, this camel team was not used for riding, but for logistics transportation. Gao Qiaonan would not trust the safety of his superiors to outsiders, and even if it was a camel team, his own camel team must be the first choice. Since the special warfare division settled in Fubo Port, it has gradually begun to form its own camel team to transport various commodities that arrived at Fubo Port. And this time, when going to Suhar Port, two troop transport ships were specially used to transport hundreds of camels, and preparations for entering the inland were made in advance.

With the addition of the coalition's two hundred cavalry, entering the inland shouldn't be a big problem. The only uncertain safety factor is probably the climate in the desert, which can change at any time.

The locations of the copper and coal mines within the Suhar tribal area have been clearly understood by spies sent by Shihu in recent months, so even a local guide is not needed to go to the mining area.

More than ten miles away from the coastline, there is almost no green in sight, replaced by endless deserts and sand dunes. Occasionally, traces of dry riverbeds can be seen on the ground. It is said that these rivers only appear in years with frequent rainfall, but as long as there is no rain for a few months, they will disappear silently.

After traveling forty or fifty miles inland, we arrived at the edge of the mountains, and the mine operated by the Suhar tribe was located in this area.

Although this place is not too far from the seaside port, the people of Suhar are obviously not good at infrastructure. The road for transporting coal and ore is just a slightly flat dirt road, and the means of transportation is carts pulled by mules and horses.

Looking at the so-called mines, they are just a few mine caves with a radius of ten feet. The ore and soil dug out from the deep mine caves are shipped out together with rope winches.

Such primitive mining and transportation methods are naturally not very efficient. Qian Tiandun also saw it with his own eyes and realized that what the Suhar people said before was true. The amount of coal they sold to Fubo Port was always in short supply. It was not to hoard goods and raise prices, but because the production capacity was limited and there was no way to guarantee a larger supply.

This is the result of the Suhar people expanding their production capacity after Fubo Port began to purchase coal on a large scale. The output before that was said to be even lower and could only meet the daily needs of the locals.

Although Tian Yeyou, who was in charge of mineral exploration and development, did not come in person, he sent two apprentices over to conduct on-site surveys to see whether the mineral veins here were worth large-scale mining.

"The people of Suhar simply don't understand the value of these minerals. They are guarding a treasure trove without even realizing it!"

After Qian Tiandun came out of a mine, he couldn't help but sigh.

This place doesn't have many products and the environment is not suitable for agricultural development. If we develop mining and smelting well, it can be a way to make a fortune.

But based on their previous inquiries to local miners, the people of Sohar clearly had no interest in this and were more willing to invest their resources in port operations, completely unaware of the role that minerals could play in revitalizing the local economy.

Shi Diwen said: "This should also be related to the industrial level of the Suhar people. You can see from their mining situation that they are still far from industrialization. With such a small amount of mining, how much money can they make? To meet our requirements, it would take more than cramming all the people of their tribe into the mine."

It is obviously impossible to turn these mines into what Qian Tiandun called a "treasure bowl" by relying on the mining method of hand digging and shoulder carrying. If Hai Han wants to develop the mineral deposits here in the future, it will inevitably have to introduce mechanized mining and transportation methods, and build downstream smelting and processing industries locally.