Chapter 69: Ibn? Saudi helplessness

In 610 A.D., Muhammad founded Islam in Mecca. His successors unified the Arabian Peninsula and gradually established an Arab empire that spanned Europe, Asia, and Africa. In the 16th century, the Hejaz region in the western part of the Arabian Peninsula was occupied by Turkey and became a province of the Turkish Ottoman Empire.

Around 1446, the ancestors of the House of Saud left Kardiff in the eastern part of the peninsula and settled near the Wadi-Mulgar valley in the Najd region, where they named the place Deriyah. In the late 17th and early 18th centuries, the House of Saud became one of the three most powerful families in Najd. In the first half of the 18th century, a new sect of Islam, Wahhabis, emerged in the Najd region. As an ideological weapon to achieve political unity, Wahhabism was fully accepted by the Saud family and later played a decisive role in the establishment of a centralized state by the Saud family.

In 1750, the Bedouin chieftain Muhammad? Ibn? Saudi Arabia establishes an emirate in Del Iyah. After that, the head of the House of Saud conquered Najd, captured Riyadh, and attacked Kuwait and Karbala, annexed Al Ahsa, conquered Mecca and Medina, seized the entire Hejaz from the Turks, and established the first Wahhabi dynasty ruled by the House of Saud in 1811. Seven years later, the troops of the Egyptian province sent by the Turkish Sultan razed the capital of the Saudi emirate of Del Yiyah.

The Saud family was forced to flee to coastal towns in Kuwait and the Persian Gulf. In 1824, Mohammed's grandson, Turki, seized Riyadh and established the second Saudi Emirate. In 1834, Turki's eldest son, Faisal, succeeded to the throne, but was captured in an engagement with the Turks and exiled to Egypt. In 1843, Faisal fled from Egypt and regrouped, regaining control of the central peninsula in 1845.

After Faisal's death in 1865, civil war continued as the sons fought for power. Shemar tribal chief Muhammad of the Northern Territories? Root? Rashid took the opportunity to invade and occupied Riyadh in 1891. The second Saudi emirate was destroyed. Faisal's youngest son, Abdu? Rahman fled to Kuwait with the remnants of the Saud family.

In 1902, Abdu? Rahman's son Ibn? Saudi grew up in Kuwait. In Kuwait Sheikh Mubarak? With the support of Al-Sabah, 21-year-old Ibn ? Saudi Arabia led more than 40 warriors, riding camels, to attack Riyadh, recapture Riyadh, and establish the third Saudi emirate.

In 1904, Turkey was forced to recognize Abdul? Aziz's reign in Najd. Before the European War, the two major alliances of the Entente led by Britain and France and the Central Powers led by Germany and Austria-Hungary fought on two fronts in Europe, and there was an urgent need for someone to contain the military power of the Ottoman Empire to disintegrate and reduce the military pressure on the Entente. Thus in 1913, with the support of the British, Ibn ? The Saudis went to war against the Ottoman Empire and attacked the Al Ahsa region in order to seize the Al Ahsa region and thus gain access to the sea.

So, Ibn? The kingdom of Saudi Arabia is in a three-pronged position with the Hejaz kingdom of the Hashemite family in the west of the peninsula and the Rashid family in the north. But Ibn who is trying to restore the territory of his ancestors and glory? Saudi Arabia was not satisfied, but when he tried to further expand the territory of the Kingdom of Najd, he unexpectedly collided with China, which suddenly broke into the Arabian Peninsula.

Riyadh, the capital of the Kingdom of Najd, is a brick house in the Arabesque style, the same sand yellow color as the desert, and in the center of the city there is a building that looks indistinguishable from other buildings, and this is the royal palace of the Kingdom of Najd, although this palace is so simple in the eyes of outsiders.

"The Chinese demand that we withdraw from the Al Ahsa region and the Nefud region in the north!"

In the hall, listening to Abdullah's narration, Ibn ? Saudi Arabia is silent, and the Chinese's ultimatum is ostensibly to make Najd responsible for his "mistakes", but in fact, it is to seize Arab land. …,

"Those infidels, they are only there to take our land!"

Ibn? Saudi Arabia snorted, but at the same time, he could clearly realize that Najd did not have the capital to fight against China at all.

Although the Saud family had the support of the British, and although Ikhwan's soldiers were brave and good at fighting, it was impossible for Ikhwan's soldiers, armed with rifles and a small number of machine guns, to stop the Chinese with aircraft artillery and a steady stream of troops.

"If Chinese want to, they can mobilize tens of millions of troops......"

Once again, the words of the English adviser of Hax were in Ibn ? Saudi Arabia's ears rang, and because of this, when the Chinese attacked the Al Ahsa region, he chose to remain silent, from the day the Chinese troops entered the Arabian Peninsula, he hoped to avoid their edge, and even alienated the British to some extent, and at the same time took the initiative to send people to contact the Chinese expeditionary force, which was quite successful at that time, and the Chinese even provided him with thousands of rifles.

As the relationship between the two countries grew closer, an unknown "attack" changed everything. In just a few days, the Chinese army destroyed dozens of Ikhwan agricultural settlements in the eastern region and expelled thousands of Bedouins who had become accustomed to agricultural life.

"Maybe we should join the Turks in a jihad with the Chinese!"

"Jihad? Now that the Chinese army has reached Iraq, the Turks are already unable to defend themselves, and to wage jihad with them will only destroy the whole of Najd! ”

Ibn? Saudi Arabia's uncle, Abdullah, interrupted Ali and spoke.

"Ibn, whether it is Al Ahsa or the desert in the east, it is not the territory of Najd, nor the glory of the ancestors, you have restored the glory and history of the Saud family, and now if the Chinese want it, give it to them, didn't you say it?" When we are inferior to the enemy, then we will meet the enemy's demands, and when we are strong and the enemy becomes weak, we will take back everything that belongs to us. ”

"However, if we choose to compromise, who knows if the Chinese will be like Turkey, greedy to annex the whole of Arabia!"

In speaking, Ibn? Saudi Arabia turned to its adviser, Haqs, a lawyer from British Yemen through whom he had been in contact with Britain for many years.

"If they had done that, they would not have sent people to contact the Rashid family, China is different from Turkey, they are the same as the British, they are just trying to gain a foothold in Arabia, and all they have is two deserts, they want to build ports there, send troops, just like the British, a few years ago, they had friction with the British because of Persian oil, although there was no war between the two countries, but for the Chinese, they wanted to keep their oil fields in Persia, It is necessary to have its own ports and troops in the Persian Gulf region! ”

While explaining to these Bedouins, who had just turned from a nomadic life in the desert, what was the "attempt of a great power", Harris was worried about the current British influence in the Near East, and while Britain was still hesitating to send troops to the Near East, the Chinese sent a steady stream of troops to the Near East.

Their armies continued to attack the hinterland of Baghdad province, the richest crescent in the entire Near East, and even if they stopped attacking now, British influence in the Near East would be diminished in the future. On the surface, they occupied a barren desert, but for the Chinese, in the Persian Gulf, all they needed was a piece of land, whether it was a desert or an agricultural area, all they needed was land and ports, and through this war, they got everything they needed. …,

Once the Chinese have a port and army and naval forces in the Persian Gulf, China will only exert more and more influence in the Near East, and as a British, Harris must take into account British interests, and it is precisely because of British interests that he hopes that Najd will not be ruined by China's ultimatum.

Najd must continue to exist, only in the future, through British support for Najd, to ensure the presence of British influence in the Near East, while the Chinese's ultimatum will also make the country hostile to them from top to bottom.

So - the territory of Najd must be ceded!

"Is that that, even if they refuse the demands of the Chinese, the Chinese will still take everything they need?"

Ibn? Saudi Arabia's tone was strongly suppressed with anger, but more from the heart of helplessness.

"At that time, they will not only seize all this, but may even occupy the whole of Najd by supporting the Rashid family, and the Chinese will only take what they need, and the rest will be given to the Rashid family as a reward, with the Rashid family as its spokesperson in the Near East!"

Harris, who knew about the feud between the House of Saud and the House of Rashid, naturally knew how to make Ibn ? Saudi Arabia made a choice, and sure enough, as soon as his voice fell, Ibn ? Saud's brow tightened, and after a moment of contemplation, he looked at his uncle, then at Ali, and finally sighed heavily.

"Get in touch with the Chinese! Give them everything they want! ”

He stood up, but his shoulders, which had seemed to be burly, suddenly collapsed, and he seemed to have lost all fighting spirit for this young man who had led more than forty people to seize the city, rebuilt the kingdom of Najd, and restored all the honor and glory of the Saud family.

The helplessness of being the head of a small and weak country, Ibn ? Saudi Arabia will experience this vividly, although he is extremely reluctant in his heart, but he clearly knows that he has no choice at all.

"Your Majesty, please believe that Britain will not abandon its friends at any time!"

Won't abandon?

Ibn who turned away? After Saudi Arabia heard Harris's words, he sighed in his heart, didn't the British abandon it? Haven't you abandoned him now? But he knew that the only people he could rely on now were the British!

*J