Wild North America 1846

Chapter 585 It's Not Too Late
After receiving the report from his subordinates, His Highness Tang-Li Xin, the Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Army, attached great importance to it, and instructed the army that was carrying out military operations to dig out the Frenchman hiding in the dark and interrogate him secretly...

This batch of legally-made new rifles is no small matter. If there are other rifles left outside that are capable of causing serious damage to the expeditionary force, they must be investigated to the end.

This digging turned out a big melon.

Sana'a
After two days of bloody suppression, the situation in the city gradually returned to calm, but most of the people coming and going in the city were expeditionary patrols with live ammunition, and few locals could be seen.

Behind a certain mosque, there is an unremarkable one-story house. You can only see it by walking along the path on the side of the mosque and turning a corner. The appearance is ordinary.

Two officers came here with dozens of soldiers. Among them, the tall officer asked a cowering local man leading the way, "Is this the place?"

"Sir, I'm not sure if Master Sanjak is here? It's just that once I saw him come here in disguise once in a while, I didn't dare to go in, I just guessed that he might be hiding here."

"That should be right. Your lord is really well hidden. We searched almost all over the city, but we couldn't find it." The tall officer said and winked at his soldiers.

I saw a few soldiers push the door hard, and the door was blocked from the inside, and it remained motionless.

Immediately, a soldier stepped back a few steps, then stepped on the wall with his running foot, flew up vigorously, grabbed the top of the wall and flipped up.

The soldier went up to the wall and looked into the courtyard, just in time to see a blond-haired European looking out, and immediately shouted: "Sir, there is a ghost here."

The European was taken aback, and flinched back in a panic.

The soldiers climbed over the courtyard wall and opened the door. Dozens of soldiers with live ammunition rushed in, and soon found out all the people hiding in the small courtyard.

Not to mention... There are many people hiding in this yard.

In addition to the five Frenchmen, Sanjak Abdullah-Faris, his family members and some confidantes, a total of 5 men and women, were all dragged out by the soldiers with their hands cut behind their backs, in the small courtyard Knelt down.

"I want to strongly protest, you can't treat us like this, I'm the Frenchman Mitterrand..."

The leading Frenchman yelled and resisted, but was rudely hit on the face by the soldiers around him with the butt of his gun. He immediately fell to the ground with bleeding from his mouth and nose, and seemed to be knocked unconscious all at once.

Seeing this scene, everyone else became honest.

in a while
The short officer came out quickly with a smile on his face, dragged the tall officer aside and said in a low voice; "This is a treasure hunt. Do you know how good this Lord Sanjak is at collecting money? Search in the room. There are eleven large boxes of treasures, gold, silver, all kinds of jewelry, silk and satin, and the value is at least this amount."

As he spoke, he opened one hand with five fingers, smiling like a weasel stealing a chicken.

Sanjak Abdullah Faris, who was kneeling on the ground beside him, looked ashamed, as if he had lost his soul and wanted to cry without tears. He knew that the current situation was terrible.

The wealth accumulated through years of hard work worth more than 60 Tang yuan has now been looted.

These vicious orientals would not even keep half of their sons to themselves. Since they dared to bloodbath the city of Sanaa, they would not mind crushing a little grasshopper to death.

look at this scene

In order to keep the news of these atrocities from leaking out, whether he is a Frenchman or not, there is a high probability that he will be executed secretly.

Where does justice and axiom come from in this age?

When the Expeditionary Army of the Tang Dynasty brazenly launched an attack on the city, Abdullah Faris knew something was wrong, and hurriedly disguised himself and took his family to hide in this secret residence, along with these Frenchmen.

Abdullah Faris knew everything they did, but he just pretended not to know.

After ruling the city of Sanaa for so long, how could the small actions of the Frenchman be hidden from his eyes and ears?

The tall officer also had a smile on his face. Although all the property seized must be handed over in full, some will be reserved for the officers and soldiers in proportion.Everyone has the benefit to share the profit, but the more the share, the less.

"Seal all the boxes, put a seal on them, and send someone to report the important discovery here to the military headquarters immediately. His Highness also attaches great importance to these Frenchmen, and a secret interrogation must be launched immediately." He looked here, and then looked to the side The mosque then ordered: "You take people to clear out all irrelevant people in the mosque. We will interrogate on the spot when people come from Shangfeng."

"Obey sir!"

The soldiers acted quickly, pulled up a blockade in the surrounding area, cleared out irrelevant personnel, and imposed strict martial law on the area.

Under torture, the situation soon became clear.

The Frenchmen Mitterrand and Santos were originally businessmen doing business in the Middle East. They traveled between Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Yemen all the year round, and they also shouldered the task of collecting local intelligence.

The scope includes military politics, tribal conflicts, economy and culture, etc. They are loose peripheral personnel affiliated to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

This is not uncommon in today's era. Merchants, scholars, adventurers, and crews of old colonial powers such as Britain, France, and the Netherlands often take on such tasks to collect humanistic information about the places they pass, so that the colonial government can use them as a reference for decision-making.

Mitterrand and others played such a role. Their main business was doing business on weekdays, and they collected some information along the way.

This time under the command of Shangfeng

Carrying a batch of new rifles and supplies with the Egyptian envoy, the purpose is to set off a turmoil against the Orientals in the Yemen area, make the expeditionary force unable to gain a foothold in the area, disrupt its supply plan, and cause trouble as much as possible.

According to Mitterrand's confession, the expeditionary force quickly retrieved a batch of hidden weapons, including more than 520 brand-new legal-made Chasseport 1866 breech-loading rifles, which prevented them from wandering outside and causing greater harm.

As for more information, Mitterrand and others are just some small pawns on the periphery, and they don't know the inside story of France's policy in the Middle East.

But these are enough to clarify the position of the French side.

It was no secret that Britain, France and other countries did not welcome the expansion of the Tang Empire to the Middle East, nor did they welcome the emergence of a new international player in the region.

In the division of shares before the official opening of the Suez Canal, France once occupied an absolute majority of 52%, and retained a strong military presence in the Suez Canal to safeguard its own interests.

As the second largest shareholder, Datang Empire held 44% of the shares, neither stationed troops in the canal area, nor had commercial and extensive production and operation activities. It was limited to purely financial investment fields, and it was difficult to exert greater influence.

The UK's tough squeeze is the biggest variable. After some wrestling, the UK has become the largest controlling shareholder of the Suez Canal, possessing any substantive power to control the entire Suez Canal, and its policies have become tougher.

Not to mention Datang and other countries, even France, which has worked hard for more than ten years to dig the Suez River, is one of the third shareholders, and the United Kingdom still says that it will not give it if it does not.

This made the Tang Empire more aware of the importance of stationing troops in Egypt. Only military power can increase the right to speak in the Canal Zone, otherwise it is all empty talk.

This is an expedition to Egypt, a military expedition carried out by Datang in order to maintain a long-term military presence in the canal area.

The purpose of developing the Eritrean colonial zone is to establish a solid logistics base for Egypt's long-term military presence and avoid being stuck by the Europeans.

Whether it is Port Said at the southern end of the Suez Canal or Suez Port at the northern end, they are very close to Europe, with extremely convenient transportation and convenient material supply.

So why set up a colony of Eritrea?

This involves the logistics and supply of the long-term garrison. As a major country in the world, the Tang Empire paid great attention to sustainable development and self-sufficiency when formulating its foreign colonial policy, so as not to be stuck by outsiders.

France is the most obvious example. During the reign of Napoleon III, France followed Britain step by step to fight all over the world, and also won brilliant colonial achievements.

However, when the Suez Canal was choked by the British, the operation of the Governor's Mansion in Saigon on the French Indochina Peninsula was struggling, and the current situation could only be maintained.Wanting to further expand the depth and breadth of the colony is tantamount to wishful thinking.

This is because Britain felt the threat from the Indochina Peninsula, in order to maintain the security of the eastern flank of the Indian subcontinent colony.The British colonial army took the initiative to invade Burma, and through the first and second colonial Burma wars, it greatly expanded the margin of safety on the east side of the Indian subcontinent colony.

At the same time, in the nearby Kingdom of Siam, the penetration of powers such as Britain, France, and Tang Dynasty was relatively serious. The two countries agreed to maintain the independent status of the Kingdom of Siam, which was to curb the spread of French colonial power in the Indochina Peninsula.

There is both cooperation and competition, and they also guard against each other. This is the relationship between the world's major powers today, which cannot be summed up in simple terms of good and bad.

Some British people have always hated Tsarist Russian forces, but on the issue of invading Xinjiang and Tibet, the two countries have maintained a relatively tacit cooperation.

Tsarist Russia focused on Xinjiang, Britain focused on Tibet, and the Tang Empire maintained a strong opposition.And by sending weapons and funds to Zuo Zongtang, he frequently exerted pressure on the above two countries in diplomacy.

in Northeast Asia
Britain and Tang also maintained close cooperation and were highly vigilant against the attempts of Tsarist Russian forces to move southward from the three eastern provinces and the Korean Peninsula. While stabilizing the domestic situation in Fusang, they sent a clear signal to Tsarist Russia;

Sana'a Bay camp

"Your Highness, look..." Major General Duan Pengfei, the Deputy Commander, carefully asked for His Highness's opinion after reporting.

His Highness Tang-Li Xin waved his hand lightly, and Major General Duan Pengfei knew it right away, and promised in a low voice; "I know what to do." After speaking, he quickly turned around and left, and his figure disappeared outside the tent door.

Everyone involved in the legal rifle smuggling case, including the French, the Ottoman Empire dispatched to Yemen Sanjak Abdullah-Faris, his family members and confidants, and the locals who led the way, etc., should all be dealt with. The practice of leaving future troubles.

In this era, the law and order in the Middle East and Near East were chaotic, and incidents of murder and robbery occurred frequently. Istanbul, the ruling center of the Ottoman Empire, was far away in Europe, and it was beyond the reach of its jurisdiction.

What's so surprising about the death of a few Frenchmen?

As for the British businessmen who are not involved in it for the time being, don’t touch them. Regarding the turbulent situation in Yemen, the British can only guess but can’t produce any real evidence. What’s the big deal?

His Highness Tang-Li Xin temporarily put this matter aside, and after walking around the tent with his hands behind his back, he suddenly stopped, frowned slightly and said, "Da Qing, the Egyptians are now actively preparing to deal with the expeditionary army. I don't want to leave them too much time to prepare. How do you like it?"

"The 4th Division of the Army has just rested for two days. The mess here in Yemen has not been cleaned up, and the advance in the colonial area of ​​Eritrea has not yet been written off." Is it too hasty to go out at this time? "Colonel Liu Daqing is a man of steady character, and put forward different opinions.

His Highness Tang-Li Xin turned his head, looked at Colonel Pan Shouguo and asked, "Brother Shouguo, what do you think?"

Colonel Pan Shouguo is the oldest of the three, and he is 31 years old this year. After considering his tone, he said cautiously;

"I agree with His Majesty's opinion and immediately embark on an expedition to Egypt.

The main source of turmoil in the Yemen region has been cut off. The next step is to restore law and order and collect horses. The task can be carried out at the same time. The 3rd Royal Marine Division is responsible, and there is no need for a large fleet to be stationed here.

The horses currently collected can be shipped as soon as possible, and the current number is more than 7900, which should be able to meet the operational needs of the 4th Royal Marine Division.The subsequent confiscated horses can be sent to Egypt in batches, which is not contradictory.

Moreover, after the capture of Suez, our army was able to seize a batch of horses, mules and animal power, and the logistics supply will basically not affect the overall situation.

As for the establishment of the Eritrean colonial area, it can be carried out separately, and it is enough to send capable officers to sit in the town to make arrangements. The rice seeds sown in March will mature in early June.

In my opinion, both can be done at the same time. "

Hearing Colonel Pan Shouguo's unequivocal answer, His Royal Highness Tang-Li Xin was very happy. He slapped his thigh and stood up and said with a smile; The Eritrea regional plan is to establish a solid rear base camp for our expeditionary force. In this way, the army will have no worries!"

"Thanks to His Highness, how dare you not do your best in a humble position?" Colonel Liu Daqing gave a solemn military salute and accepted this important task.

"Pass my order; the expedition to Egypt fleet will step up supplies immediately, and the whole army will set off in three days, with the goal of the destination of this trip, Suez Port." His Highness Tang Li Xin waved his hand and ordered vigorously.

"Honestly obey orders."

"End the vacation of all fleet officers and soldiers, assemble the combat fleet and prepare to set off. Tomorrow morning, we will pledge to set off. The commander-in-chief will lead the expedition fleet to take the lead in clearing the small sampans of the Egyptians and controlling the waters around the city of Suez."

"Honestly obey orders."

(End of this chapter)