1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3796

Rui finally understood why the Ottomans had been monitoring him the entire time he arrived in Basra. It turned out there was something else he didn't know about. It seemed that Galar had arranged this just to verify whether the Hai Han people's claims were true.

But what puzzled Rui was how the Hai Han people could predict that he would come to Basra to visit Galar, and even announce his words in advance.

Galar may not trust the Hai Han people, but the Hai Han people’s prediction completely matches Rui’s behavior. From the Ottomans’ perspective, they naturally cannot believe what Rui said.

Rui could already vaguely feel that the purpose of his trip might not be achieved. No matter what he said now, the other party might not believe him. He could only say goodbye and leave, and take the time to sort out his thoughts and figure out his situation.

Portugal had a trading post in the city of Basra, which was not too far from Galar's official residence, so Rui settled down quickly.

Only at this time did he calm down and begin to review the situation he had encountered.

Regarding the plan to visit Basra, he actually made the decision about four or five days before departure, and then he mobilized personnel, prepared travel supplies, checked the condition of the ship, and made a schedule.

Since this preparation process involves many aspects, there are probably dozens of people who know his itinerary in advance, and these people may spread the information to a wider range intentionally or unintentionally.

For example, the captain may tell his crew the destination of the trip after receiving the order. Or the accompanying personnel may inform their wives or lovers of the itinerary in advance in order to reassure their families.

All of these actions could result in the leakage of itinerary information, and there are undoubtedly Hai Han’s spies on Hormuz Island. As long as this information is transmitted back to Fubo Port in a timely manner and the Hai Han people send a speedboat to Basra, it is indeed possible for them to successfully play the role of "prophet."

If he could meet Galar before Rui, then the rest would be easy. Rui understood this key point, but his mood became even heavier.

If the facts were as he expected, then Hai Han must be very clear about his true attitude, which would mean that the previous cover-up was completely ineffective and the other party must have already grasped the inside story of the attack on Fubo Port.

In fact, it is not difficult for Hai Han to speculate the purpose of Rui's visit to Basra at this time.

Qian Tiandun already knew that Rui was the mastermind behind a series of attacks on Fubo Port, and as Hormuz Island's trade status declined, his hatred for Fubo Port would only grow.

Rui could neither take the initiative to declare war on Fubo Port, nor could he count on the Arabs to attack Fubo Port. Under such circumstances, he could not find much external help, and the Ottoman Empire was the strongest one among them.

If Rui wants to continue to fight against Fubo Port, he will have to rely on the power of a big country like the Ottoman Empire, so the purpose of visiting Basra will definitely not be simple.

Qian Tiandun also knew that the Ottoman Empire’s perception of Hai Han must have been affected by the founding of the Xihu Kingdom. It might not be effective to directly persuade the other party not to cooperate with Portugal, so he came up with a trick and told Galar about Rui’s visit to Basra in the form of a prophecy. If Rui really came to persuade the Ottomans to send troops, then with Hai Han’s prophecy in mind, Galar would definitely be suspicious of Rui’s persuasion and would be unlikely to cooperate with him.

Even if Rui did not instigate Galar to confront Hai Han after arriving in Basra, at most the punch would have been hitting the air, with extremely limited impact on Hai Han itself.

As for whether this would offend Galar, Qian Tiandun was not particularly concerned about it. He knew that even if Galar was dissatisfied with Hai Han, it would be difficult for them to make any major moves in the near future.

According to historical records, the 19th Sultan Muhammad IV was in power in the Ottoman Empire at that time. However, this sultan, who succeeded to the throne at the age of six, was only eleven years old now, and his government affairs were managed by the female elders in the harem.

At this time, the Ottoman Empire's main foreign military direction was actually in the Mediterranean and southeastern Europe, far away from the Persian Gulf.

The Ottoman army conquered Crete, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean, two years ago and used it as its maritime barrier in the region.

In another direction, the war with the Kingdom of Hungary was in full swing. At this time, they should be attacking the Principality of Transylvania located next to the Eastern Carpathian Mountains. The straight-line distance between this battlefield and the city of Basra was more than 5,000 miles away.

If the normal historical trajectory had been followed, in the next few decades, the Ottoman Empire would have continued to attack Budapest and Vienna to the west, and to attack Ukraine along the western coast of the Black Sea to the north. It was not until it was defeated by the European coalition organized by the Habsburg dynasty and signed the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699 that the Ottoman Empire's external expansion came to an end.

Therefore, at this time, Qian Tiandun could be certain that the Ottoman Empire did not have enough resources to open up a new battlefield on the Eastern Front, and it was absolutely impossible to transfer troops from the Western Front to the Eastern Front in a short period of time.

Moreover, when he visited Basra last time, he had conducted a detailed investigation of the local naval armed forces and concluded that the Ottoman Empire had transferred its naval combat forces to the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions, retaining only a small number of warships in the Persian Gulf to prevent its old enemy Persia from taking advantage of the situation.

The few combat ships left in the western Persian Gulf are far from enough to launch a large-scale expedition against Fubo Port. I think Galar should be well aware of this.

However, Qian Tiandun did not want to tear his face with the Ottomans at this time. After all, the foundation of the special warfare division in the Persian Gulf was not very solid and needed some time to develop. With just a little trick, he could destroy Portugal's attempt to join forces with the Ottomans and buy more buffer time for Fubo Port.

As for the effect, there is no need to ask Galar in person. Just observe how long Rui stays in Basra and you can roughly infer the result.

Rui almost did not sleep all night, and the next day he went to see Galar again with red eyes. He was unwilling to come all the way here and get nothing. Even if he could not persuade the Ottomans to send troops, he had to at least explain it to Galar in person to prevent Galar from misunderstanding Portugal's position.

However, this time, he was rejected. It was said that Galar left Basra early in the morning and went to the oasis in the upper reaches of the Euphrates River to inspect agricultural production. As for when he would return, there was no definite time.

Whether this was an unintentional coincidence or a deliberate excuse to refuse to meet him was actually unimportant. In either case, it showed that Galar had no interest in joining forces with Portugal to deal with Hai Han.