Chapter 46 Arab

In 831, 1453, after two years of encirclement, Mehmed II conquered Constantinople, the Byzantine emperor Constantine XI died, the Eastern Roman Empire was destroyed, and the Ottoman Empire was the capital of Istanbul. At its peak, the Ottoman Empire crossed three continents, including the whole Bar. The trunk peninsula, the Asia Peninsula, the entire Middle East and most of North Africa, west to Morocco, east to the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf, north to the Austrian Empire and Romania, and the south to the south and Sudan. It controls the entire passage from Western Europe to the East and is a veritable big country. After the 17th century, the territory gradually declined, and the territory of Tsarist Russia, Britain, France and other countries was ennibalized. After entering the late 19th century, the empire, which had made the whole of Europe tremble, had declined to the point that the help of the British who did not see the Russian navy entering the Mediterranean Sea, was able to save the danger and preserve the existence of the country.

Leadled by Tsar Nicholas I, the European powers have ridiculed the Ottoman Empire as the "sick man of Europe". All countries are calculating how to divide up the richest heritage as possible when the "sick man" finally dies.

The Ottoman Empire at its deathbed, like any declining empire in human history, was called Bo Xishan. In this era, the Ottoman Empire, which had the title of "sick man", had almost no industry except for the carpet. Stupid and superstitious rule has corrupted Turkey for centuries, ruling Oss. The last sultans of the Man Empire were deeply immersed in the abyss of luxury. They lived in a luxurious palaces stretching for several kilometers along the coast of Constantinople, surrounded by more than 3,000 concubines, eunuchs, court servants and jesters. The huge court expenditure spent two million pounds a year, and owed 200 million yuan. The foreign debt of the pound, the magnificent appearance of the Ottoman court, human beings have been unmatched in history except the Roman Empire, overeating, barren silver, laziness, torture and all kinds of perverted murders. All the sins are shown to the world through the Ottoman sultans known as the "shadow of God".

After entering the 20th century, the founding monarchs of the Ottoman Empire, the performance and prestige that made the whole of Europe and the world tremble under the iron hooves, have long been a bleak myth. The last scene of the empire is staged here all the time. In fact, the reason why it survived is that it is completely determined to compete with each other. Qiang can't reach an agreement on how to divide up the legacy of the "sick man" because of the will and determination of the "sick man".

As an emerging country, although it has just achieved the liberation of the nation and the restoration of national rights and interests, under the leadership of the emperor himself, China is full of interest in the "Greater Arab region" ruled by the Ottoman Empire, which is what Europeans call the "near East". The Near East has been a province of the Ottoman Empire for the past 400 years. Arabs living in this area mainly include farmers in the two rivers of Iraq and the Bedouins, nomadic people in the desert of the Arabian Peninsula. The Bedouins are scattered all over the Arabian Peninsula in tribal units. There have been constant conflicts and feuds between tribes, and there has never been a unified leader for hundreds of years.

Since the three years of the empire, because the Imperial Intelligence Agency secretly intervened in the coup of the "Young Turks" of the Ottoman Empire, it has given him financial support many times. After the success of the "Young Turks" coup, China has received a rich return - the right to sell goods and trade in the Ottoman Empire. In the following years, hundreds of Chinese businessmen went deep into the country. Although the treatment was average, it was the first real "international market" opened by Chinese goods. Chinese goods were dominated by British goods, French goods and developing in the Ottoman Empire. German goods in the market are competing.

Compared with these traditional industrial powers, Chinese goods have their own characteristics and markets. Thousands of Chinese businessmen in the "near East" are developing Chinese goods in the desert of the Near East and the "fertile crescent moon" like Jin merchants who pioneered Mongolian trade in those years. For several years, the Arabs in the Near East have long been used to the existence of Chinese businessmen, and they are also used to the convenience they bring.

Of course, among these Chinese businessmen, there are inevitably some merchants from Japan. Even in the past two or three years, more and more Japanese businessmen have come to the Near East. When ant-like Chinese retailers became wholesalers, they quickly filled this gap.

In the sunny weather of the Euphrates River, Senteng, who accompanied the president of the village, sailed towards the hinterland of Iraq with his usual calmness. When the boat was walking, the temperature was never too hot. Bai Yuli, like other passengers, lay in the shade, often in the warm air of the south wind at night, on the deck wet with water under the starlight, enjoying a rare refreshment.

However, when the last port of Senteng and his party was moored, the white-hot town hung far away between the blazing sky and its reflected illusion, which swept over the whole wide lagoon. At that time, the heat of Arabia was like a drawn blade piercing Moriteng. The man who had just arrived in Arabia and did not adapt to the climate here made him speechless. This is noon, and the sun at noon in the east hypnotizes all colors like moonlight. The whole world is left with sunshine and shadows, white houses and black depressions in the streets. In the front, the light light of the mist shines above the inner harbor; in the back, the glare of the monotonous sand stretching for miles after another extends to the edge of the misty mountain formed by heat in the distance.

The camels with goods crossed the palm groves, which connected the scattered homes of Labig Village like a belt, and then walked into the star-lighted wilderness and took them away along the plain desert. This desert is bounded by the Arabian West Coast and stretches for thousands of miles between the coast and the mountains along the coast. During the day, the low-lying plain is unbearably hot, and the area around the road has become a forbidden area due to lack of water. However, this is another road that must be taken, because the shady mountain road is too rugged to allow heavy-duty livestock to pass north and south.

After the monotonous delay and discussion, the coolness of the night is very pleasant. Under the guidance of the guide, Sen Teng found that the president, who was also his direct person in charge, continued to move forward almost without saying a word all the way, and the camel walked silently on the soft and flat sand. As the camel caravan moves forward, looking at this desert, it is difficult for him to imagine that such a poor place can bring hundreds of millions of yuan of markets to China every year.

"There is a market of 200 million a year, but it is definitely not suitable for life!"

Thinking of the president's words, Sen Teng could only endure it like this and walked for a few hours without change, unless the camel occasionally got stuck in the sand, pulled out hard with some minor injuries, and the saddle squeaked. This phenomenon indicates that the soft plain has entered the foundation of the short sand, and occasionally there are some short bushes, so it is difficult to walk. The root system of the plant forms a small mound in order to catch the soil around it, and the vortex formed by the sea breeze digs out some holes in the middle of the gap. The camel's footsteps in the dark seemed to be unsteady, and the sand under the starlight had some shadows, making the potholes on the ground difficult to see. Before midnight, the camel team finally stopped. Sen Teng quickly wrapped himself in a robe, chose a concave that was just right for his body, and lay in and slept until dawn.

In the morning, in the shout of the guide Tafas, Morito jumped up from the sand with the president. A few minutes later, the caravan swayed forward again. An hour later, it was dawn when I climbed to the top of a low neck area that was almost submerged by wind and sand. A small stream is inserted near the coast of the main volcanic rock to Hanzhi. The western edge of the flint rock extends to our right, making the coastal road its current position. There is a lot of gravel in this narrow area, but it is not long. On both sides of the narrow area, gray volcanic rocks piled up into very low shoulderposts.

In the morning sun, the camels galloped steadily on the easy-to-walk road in the bushes and ran towards a well. A few minutes later, they found the well. There are some decadet stone walls next to the well, which used to be a thatched house, and there are shade sheds built by sycamore branches and leaves opposite it, in which there are several Bedouin people. They didn't say hello to them, and Tafas turned his face down the camel to the cringeed wall.

While the camels were resting, the village was sitting in the shade, while Senteng and Abdullah, an employee of the trading company, were drinking water for the camels, and then began to put some water in the water bags for everyone. The well is very old and wide, with a well-built stone fence and a manhole cover covering the top. The well is only a few meters deep. In order to facilitate travelers like them to get water without a rope, the four corners of the well are equipped with scaffolding. In this way, people can go down to the surface of the water and fill it with sheepskin water bags.

Because people threw a lot of stones into the well pit, half of the bottom of the well was blocked, and the water source was not too abundant. Abdullah put his long sleeves on his shoulders, rolled up his gown behind the elastic band, climbed up and down little by little, and each time he took a bag of water and poured it into a stone bar prepared for the camels by the well. Each camel drinks about two or three bags of water at a time.

As the leader of this caravan, the village was just sitting quietly. Originally, as the president of the commercial company, he did not need to lead the caravan by himself at all, but this time, he took on other missions. If it hadn't been for the war, he would not have bypassed this long way to avoid the Ottoman army.

Some Halb people came over, drove a large group of camels in the same nest, and began to give them water. They sent a man down to the well to fill a large leather bag of water, and then sang loudly and intermittently and passed it on by hand. The village saw Sen Teng. The guy who had just been sent was looking at these people with great interest, and the Arabs in the business community also looked at each other. The village, who was familiar with the environment in the desert, knew why, because they were Muslachs, and the employees in their caravans were Beniselems, here In the desert, the war between tribes has never stopped, and the two tribes are just in a period of peaceful exchanges, and they can pass through each other's territory. This is the only and temporary way for the chiefs, although there is no basis for deep understanding.

Just as the village and Sen Teng were looking at these people there, another two people sat on the fat camel and ran towards them from the north. Both of them are young. One of them wears a precious kasmi robe and thick silk thread embroidered head cloth, and the other wears a relatively simple white cotton coat and a red cotton cloth headcoat. They stopped by the well and slid directly from the camel before the camel could kneel down in gorgeous clothes. His movements were very agile. He threw his reins to his companions and said casually:

"Give it a drink, and I'll go there to rest for a while."

Then he came over carelessly, glanced at the two Orientals casually, and sat down against the wall in the village. He handed over a newly rolled cigarette and licked it and said:

"Are you from China?"

"Yes, sir!"

The village replied politely.

"Is it me?"

There is a trace of contempt on the other party's face. The Chinese are different from themselves, which is reflected in the temperament they show. The Chinese temperament has a kind of... Well, the taste of a big country, and then the man hinted that he was from Mecca. There is a well-known secret in Arabia. As long as he has money, he is a businessman. Everything can be sold to them, so all tribes are quite welcome to Japanese merchants.

"My name is Ali? Ibn? Hou Sein!"

When the young Arab said this, there was a strong sense of pride on his face. Obviously, he was proud of his surname, but as soon as he finished his words, the information about the Arab region immediately appeared in the village's mind. Since the young Turks took power six years ago, they have been talking about the truth. The great Turkish political axe disbanded all non-Turkish political organizations and cancelled the majority of the seats of Arab representatives in the imperial parliament. This policy of the young Turks made Arab nationalists quickly part ways with them, and the establishment of Arab nationalists centered on Syrian intellectuals. The Young Arab Association, some chiefs and dignitaries in other Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire secretly set up the military organization "Ahd" against Turkey, ready to use violence to establish a fully readable Arab country.

In the southern provinces of the Ottoman Empire, the opposition to the Ottomans was centered on the Khanzhi region, and the actual ruler of the Khanzhi region was the Great Sharif of Mecca, Ali? Ibn? Hussein, that is, Hussein, the father of the person in front of him? Ibn? Ali, whose Hashim family is a direct descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his daughter Fatima, enjoys a very high status and prestige in Mecca and the Khanh region.

According to the information now, Hussein maintains a close relationship with the Turks and has been secretly planning and organizing anti-Turkish activities. He tried to use Hanzhi reading and unify the whole Arara region to restore the Arab Empire. As early as half a year ago, he sent his second son Abdullah to In Cairo, he contacted Marshal Kitchinna, the British Consul General in Egypt. Hussein tried to obtain British funding to launch an uprising to realize his Arab revival. However, the British did not make a move on his proposal to launch an uprising, and some Arabs were also worried that the uprising would lead to complete control of Britain and France. The Arab region hopes to reach an agreement with the Turks and suggests that the Austro-Hungarian-style Confederate countries, due to differences of opinion among the Arabs, Turkey still controls the Arabian Peninsula until now.

The fact that the British are not interested does not mean that China is not interested. Although China does not intend to help the veneror build an Arab empire, it is quite interested in helping the Arab region gain literacy and thus obtaining the privileges of this region, which is also his mission.

"Sang Pingzhi, I'm Chinese!"

When he stood up to salute, the village said his name in front of the Arabs for the first time, and Ali noticed that the temperament of the Oriental in front of him had also changed.

"Chinese?"

Looking carefully at the sudden change of words of the Oriental man in front of him, Ali became curious. Although he had almost never left Arabia, he knew that China was also a big country, and even for him, China was also the object of his father's desire to learn.

In his father's view, China and Arabia are very imagined and are ruled by aliens. However, after China gained reading power, it quickly achieved the strength of the country. At this point, China is an example worthy of any nation that wants to learn from. Because of this, his father has considered it, no You should go to China, but that's just an idea.

"Mr. Sang!"

Ali nodded and answered, and then looked at his camels full of goods.

"Is Mr. Sang's caravan preparing for Han Zhi?"

"Yes, if you can introduce your father, there is nothing more pleasant than this!"

Although Chinese commercial cooperatives and Japanese commercial cooperatives have been active in the Arab region for five years, they have never really penetrated into the hinterland of Arabia. Arabs also have the tradition of business. In many areas, for security reasons, few Orientals go deep. Even if they go to Hanzhi this time, they still bear the risk. After all, China and the Ottoman Empire are now divided into two camps, although the two countries have not yet declared war.

"It's time to go to Hanzhi. My father and I very much welcome caravans. Since last month, after the Turks declared war on Britain and France, many businessmen have evacuated Arabia. You know, the reason for the war, so now Hanzhi needs a lot of goods..."

While talking, Ali looked at the camels again. As we all know, the Japanese businessman is just a "servant" of the Chinese businessman. The so-called Japanese businessman can get everything, but those goods are ultimately provided by the Chinese businessman. Can this Chinese businessman provide what his father needs?

(to be continued)