In order to neutralize the threat from the upper reaches of the Crescent River, the successive kings and cabinets of Canaan have worked out a series of countermeasures, from domestic affairs to foreign affairs. During the reign of Jacob IV, the Canaanite royal family was forced to bow to the Assanite Empire under practical pressure, and signed two unequal treaties as a "ransom" to ensure the flow of the Crescent River. The first is that the Canaanite authorities promised to gradually abolish the colonial bases established in the New World and give up overseas competition with the Yashan Empire, which caused Canaan to miss a feast of dividing up the colonies, and the national strength was successively surpassed by Feizhen and Hailan, and became the "second echelon" on the international stage. The second was that the Canaanite government had signed a grain purchase agreement with the imperial government, and at least two million tons of grain were to be imported from the Assanite Empire every year to make up for the shortfall in the domestic food supply. The price of grain exported by the empire to Canaan was high, and the Canaanites had to bear the transportation and storage costs themselves, so they had to endure the exploitation of the empire when they could have purchased cheaper grain, and spent a lot of money every year for it.

Under such circumstances, the Canaanite government and the opposition generally harbored hostility to the Assanite Empire and were eager to get rid of the coercion of the imperial hegemony. To this end, Albert VI formulated two national policies: to invest heavily in the research and development of "seawater desalination" technology, to establish a national irrigation and water supply network, and to reduce the dependence of industrial, agricultural and domestic water on the Crescent River; Externally, it supported agents in the Far Eastern provinces of the empire, and worked to separate the Far Eastern provinces from the imperial territory, establish political forces close to Canaan, and make them a geopolitical buffer zone between Canaan and the empire.

Joshua VIII succeeded to the throne and continued his father's strategy with great success.

Today, Canaan's "seawater desalination project" ranks among the top in the world in Varess in terms of technical level and industrial scale, and a quarter of the production and domestic water in Canaan comes from the "seawater desalination magic factory" located on the shore of Yinsha Bay - this is the largest "state-owned enterprise" in Canaan, and it deserves to be the lifeblood of the country. The cost of desalination is certainly much higher than pumping river water directly, but this strategically important mega-project has given Canaanites a sense of security and a willingness to pay additional taxes for freshwater security.

In terms of foreign policy, the Marquis of Joshua chose Rudolf Kolas as his agent in the Far East, and set off a revolution in the autumn of 1620, successfully achieving the strategic goal of splitting the empire and becoming independent in the Far East.

Prince Colossa attended the Far Eastern National Day in an unofficial capacity, showing goodwill to the Far Easterners on behalf of the Canaanite royal family, and shortly thereafter the Kingdom of Koras returned the favor by organizing a delegation to participate in the Bethlehem Expo, and the relationship between the two countries entered a honeymoon period. However, at the moment when the cooperation between the two sides was getting closer and closer, a news from the Medes shook the Bethlehem court, and at the same time brought the diplomatic relations between Canaan and the Far East to a freezing point, and everyone in the know was nervous: from Bethlehem to Medes, the clouds of war lingered, and the air was so tense that it seemed to explode if it touched a spark, and how to deal with this imminent crisis became a difficult problem to test the political wisdom of policymakers.

Early morning on November 27th. The light rain fell all night, and the rain turned around at dawn, enveloping the Canaanite king Bethlehem in a damp curtain, the marble buildings on both sides of the street were white and shining, the towering Masada Palace in the center of the city shone faintly in the rain, and the mellow architectural style was like a huge silver amphora under the arch of the annexes on both sides, showing the oriental style.

Mr. Jeffries pulled the window of the car, and the rain and mist poured into the carriage, refreshing the old man in his fifties. The moist and cool atmosphere, the gloomy sky, and the wet buildings and streets all reminded him of his hometown, a small island country located in the north of the stormy ocean, which rained and did not see the sun for half the year.

Jeffries has been Fergen's ambassador to Canaan for nearly ten years, and he can speak the Canaanite dialect more standard and fluent than most native-born locals, and is familiar with all the rules and regulations, factions and customs of the country, but he still can't adapt to the strange weather of Bethlehem's hot, dry summers and mild and rainy winters, which is too different from his hometown.

Bethlehem, known as the "Silver Capital" and "City of the Holy Lance", is located at the confluence of the Crescent River and Silver Sand Bay, with a population of nearly three million, it is the most prosperous city in the Tianfang region, and it is also the agricultural, industrial, commercial and political center of Canaan. Jeffries's gaze slowly swept across the streets, the parasol-wielding pedestrians hurried through the streets, the shops along the streets were still open to solicit business, life was as calm and busy as ever, and only a few people as prescient as him could smell the danger of the impending storm.

The embassy's official carriage stopped in the square outside the Masada Palace, and Jeffries got out of the carriage, walked to the gate, accompanied by his secretary, showed his credentials to the guards, and then walked up the stairs into the center of power in Canaan.

"Mr. Jeffries, please wait, and I'll keep you informed." The palace attendant invited His Excellency the ambassador into the living room, and then left in a hurry.

It wasn't the first time Geoffries had walked into this ornately decorated drawing-room, and he was prepared to be left to wait here for an hour or two, and it was no wonder that Joshua VIII and his ministers had a headache at this time. The leather boots that had stepped through the door suddenly stopped, and the old man Jeffries raised his eyebrows, and the nonchalant look on his face turned to surprise.

"Hey, 'Old Lobster', good morning, I knew you were coming!" There was playful laughter in the living room, and a fat man in a tuxedo sat on the sofa, with his legs crossed, and a glass of red wine in his hand, looking in a good mood.

The corners of Jeffries' pursed lips twitched, and he walked into the living room with a gloomy face, and sat down on the couch away from the other. The fat man who thought he was funny was named Parini, who came from a noble family and had made a name for himself in Bethlehem's high society with his social skills in less than two years as La Mer's ambassador to Canaan.

Jeffries was probably the most disgusted Lord Parlini in all of Bethlehem, not only because of a certain degree of rivalry over their missions, but also because Parini had no respect for an older gentleman like him, and gave him the sarcastic and vicious nickname "The Old Lobster".