unclear

Chapter 1109 Lawrence of Arabia

"Do you think we can use the conflict between the Mamluk nobles and the Ottoman Pasha to create trouble and divert the attention of the Ottoman Sultan?"

Wang Datou's speech was a bit endless, and the topic was not limited to the Ottoman Empire, but turned to Egypt. But Hong Tao heard some connotations, and in addition to admiring Wang Datou's ability to collect and analyze intelligence, he was also a little tempted by this suggestion.

However, whether the Mamluk nobles had the courage to resist the rule of the Ottoman Sultan and why they wanted to resist was a key question. If they just fought a small battle, it would definitely not delay the Ottoman Sultan from leading his army to attack Baghdad.

"It's not that the students think so, but we have already found the right person. His name is Piyali, a Mamluk Bey who mainly deals in Islamic wine and owns several taverns in Port Suez.

In addition, he was also very interested in cocoa tea and chocolate. He stationed representatives in Colombo, who purchased them at high prices from the Portuguese and shipped them back to Egypt for sale. It is said that his business was very good.

The student got to know Piyali through his representatives, using cocoa and chocolate supplies, and they had been in contact for three or four years. This time, he followed the Portuguese caravan that was transporting cocoa to Egypt to inquire about the Ottomans, and overheard his complaints.

After defeating the Mamluk dynasty and occupying Egypt, the Ottomans stipulated that there could be 12 Beys, but this law has never been strictly enforced. To date, the number of Beys in Egypt has grown to more than 40.

There were frequent open and covert struggles among the Ottomans, which led to increasing exploitation of the people and sparked several rebellions. The most serious one even killed the Pasha sent by the Ottomans.

The new Hussein Pasha intended to change this situation after taking office, and planned to reduce the number of Beys from more than 40 to the stipulated 12. However, it could not be done overnight, so the first step was to eliminate 10 Beys.

But who should be eliminated and who can be retained, and what criteria should be followed? Hussein Pasha did not say. As a result, many beys felt insecure and had to give gifts to the Pasha privately in an attempt to maintain their status.

Piyali was also sent, but he did not receive a clear pardon, but instead brought disaster upon himself. The Pasha's servants privately said that if Piyali would give up half of the Islamic taverns in Suez Port, he would be spared from the reduction of Bey.

Without asking, Piyali knew that this was Pasha's intention. But the tavern was inherited from generation to generation, and it did not belong to just one person, but to the entire family. His words did not count.

The elders in the family also had the same idea, and would rather give up the position of Bey than hand over the ancestral property to outsiders. Without the status of Bey, the Piyali family is still a big family in Port Suez; without the tavern, the family is equivalent to decline.

But Piyali knew that he was powerless and if he refused to give it, the Pasha would not openly turn against him in the short term. However, it is difficult to guard against thieves for a thousand days, and he could never be sure that he would be harassed one day.

In order to protect himself, he and two Beys who were also blackmailed by the Pasha secretly contacted the Bedouins, intending to take armed measures to protect themselves if they were forced into a desperate situation, and to protect their family business at the cost of their lives.

But they have the manpower, but lack the weapons. So they specifically asked me if I could buy muskets and cannons from the Portuguese to expand their armaments, even if the price is higher.

The student did not agree on the spot, saying that he had never run such a business before and had to go back to Goa and Macau to ask the Portuguese. At this time, he thought that Piyali seemed to be useful to the court. If the power of these Bey families could be used to open a breakthrough from the Port of Suez, it might be possible to mobilize more threatened Beys to fight against the Pasha and even the Ottoman rule.

These Beys were also connected to the Bedouins of the Arabian Peninsula, who had long resisted the Ottoman advance into the interior of the peninsula.

If they could be armed and disrupt the situation in Egypt, Sultan Murad would probably not be in the mood to compete with the Persians for control of Mesopotamia."

Seeing that the emperor was interested in his proposal, Wang Datou immediately became excited. He carefully recounted the process of finding the crack in the eggshell in Egypt and explained the method of planting maggots. Then he waited eagerly for the final opinion.

"Suez Port... Red Sea, this is not difficult. Big Head, you really impressed me this time. Your level of intelligence work is embarrassing for the General Staff!
I think it's feasible, and it has to be done quickly. So, you write down the preliminary plan here, and after I approve it, I will give it directly to the astronauts and Tan Mingming, and ask them to gather people to conduct simulations overnight, and the results must be available tomorrow... or the day after tomorrow at the latest!"

Hong Tao only listened to half of it, then walked to the map and secretly planned in his mind. The conclusion he finally came to could be summed up in two words: wonderful!

I used to think that Wang Datou had a talent for intelligence work, but I didn't expect him to have a strategic vision. If he continues to develop like this, he will be the chief of the general staff in the future.

The choice of Egypt's crack was too accurate. In military terms, it means to attack while the enemy must be rescued. Why did the Ottoman Empire always dislike Persia? The religious factional dispute was one of the factors, but the obstruction of trade routes was probably more important.

The Ottoman Empire had a unique geographical location, being located right at the junction of Asia, Europe and Africa. Although the land was relatively barren and the natural climate was not very good, both farming and nomadic life were very useless, it was the only way for the circulation of goods among the three continents.

The former Arab Empire created its brilliant civilization and powerful force by acting as a middleman and trading goods from three continents. It once spread Islam eastward to Southeast Asia, westward to the Iberian Peninsula, and southward to occupy half of Africa.

After the Ottomans became bigger and stronger, they also engaged in entrepot trade. They used the two sea routes that penetrated deep into the interior of the country, the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, to move goods between Europe, Asia, and Africa back and forth between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean, earning a high price difference.

Egypt is one of the important cargo routes. Here, the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea are separated by a land strip that is only a little over 100 kilometers wide. Goods from Europe were transported to Egyptian ports by Venetian merchant ships, carried to the Port of Suez by camel caravans, and then loaded onto ships to enter the Indian Ocean, and vice versa.

The other route is to go through the Persian Gulf and connect to the Mediterranean Sea through Mesopotamia. Although the journey is long, the route is in the Mesopotamian region, where the population is dense and the roads are well developed, making it safer and easier to travel.

However, whether it is through the Red Sea or the Persian Gulf, it is much closer than going around the Cape of Good Hope. As long as the goods are not too large, even if you have to get on and off the ship twice, the transportation cost will not be much higher than sea transportation.

(End of this chapter)