The largest core city in the entire Yemen region is the city of Sana'a, an ancient city with a history of more than 2,500 years, with the earliest historical records of Sana'a dating back to the first century AD.

Sana'a Castle was built on the land of the ancient Saba Kingdom. In the 3rd century, a new royal palace was built to the southwest outside the castle, the famous Gudan Palace. The city of Sana'a developed around these palace buildings, first in the east and then in the west.

Sana'a is also the center of Arab religion, with more than 100 mosques and a population of more than 300,000 people, and is an important town in the Arabian Peninsula ruled by the Ottoman Empire, with more than 2,000 troops stationed here.

However, due to its remote location and the distance of the emperor, the decaying Ottoman Empire was unable to rule the Yemeni region.

The Arab tribes are powerful, and in many cases, Ottoman officials in Yemen turned a blind eye to what was happening there, and they had neither the heart nor the power to do so.

Within more than 100 kilometers of Sana'a, there are more than a dozen powerful Arab tribes, large and small, each of which is capable of providing at least 500 Arab cavalry or camel soldiers.

Among them, the largest Hussein tribe was able to produce nearly 3,000 cavalry, and the total number of the tribe exceeded 10,000.

This Hussein tribe was one of the main culprits in stealing the horses and besieging the squad, as well as four other large tribes, all of whom were instigated by the Egyptian emissaries to do so, and of course there were also profit-driven factors.

Ironically, these tribes were the ones who sold their horses in the first place, and they accounted for the lion's share.

This means that several tribes led by the Hussein tribe not only took the money, but also snatched back more good horses, and also got the benefits promised by the Egyptian envoys, and made a lot of money inside and out.

If it weren't for the backward weapons of the nomadic tribes and the members of the small detachment holding on to the mansion, the whole army would have been wiped out.

This blood feud must be recovered no matter what.

Considering that the situation in Sana'a City was extremely complicated and he was not good at commanding land operations, Viscount Zheng Huaishan, the commodore who led the fleet, did not act rashly.

His Royal Highness the Commander-in-Chief, Don Li Xin, is in the second fleet, and it is estimated that it will arrive in a few days, and there is no hurry in these days. Anyway, these local people might as well run away from the monks, and if they can't run away from the temple, where can they hide?

He only sent 500 soldiers into the city, broke the encirclement of the local tribes, and picked up the survivors of the small detachment that were stuck in the courtyard of the mansion, as well as more than 440 healthy horses.

An exchange of fire broke out during the period

After killing dozens of tribal militants, the soldiers of the expeditionary force paid the price of five casualties, which allowed them to open a gap and complete the rescue operation;

From beginning to end, the local Ottoman officials did not come forward, but instead loaded the turtle with a shrunken head, and even the Ottoman soldiers defending the city withdrew.

Neither of the two parties can afford to offend, so they simply pretend not to know.

In a luxurious Arabian mansion in Sana'a

Several local chiefs in robes and turbans were threateningly questioning the Egyptian envoys, and two Frenchmen were among them, apparently the ones who had provided the Egyptians with the news.

"Almighty Allah is above, we originally had nothing to do with these Orientals who came here in big iron ships, all because of you...... The cunning and vicious Yusuf Shaheen has pushed us to the forefront of the conflict with the Easterners. ”

"Now that I and my clan could face terrible retribution, today...... We also suffered dozens of casualties of fearless warriors, and the muskets of the Orientals are too sharp, and you must be held accountable for them. ”

"That's right, the price we paid was too great."

"See the bay? The big iron ships piloted by the Orientals were as huge as mountains, the thick muzzles could fit into a person, and a dozen large ships covered the bay, and we could not compete with such a great force. ”

"It's terrible, O Almighty Allah! May the heavenly fire of your punishment burn to death this vicious Yusuf Shaheen, who has pushed us all into a dangerous situation......"

Several chiefs shouted loudly, their faces flushed with anger, and surrounded the Egyptian envoy Yussef Shaheen in the middle of the accusation, and denounced it vigorously, as if the sky had fallen.

The two Frenchmen standing next to them, wearing light-colored suits and sunhats, were completely untouched and watched the show leisurely.

Talking in French while watching, this is bullying these Arab tribal chiefs for not understanding French, as for their anger, just look at it, don't take it seriously.

These Arabs were no less cunning and did not have a single fuel-efficient lamp.

Making this frightened and frightened appearance is more of a performance, just to get more compensation.

"Mr. Mitterrand, if I tell these Arab idiots now that in the next 1~2 weeks, there will be more Oriental ships arriving, do you think they will really be scared to pee?"

"That's not true, at least the big ships can't come up on land. But they will be really scared, and not as they are performing now. ”

"Poor Arabs, they are going to bear the wrath of the Easterners again."

"That's also because of their own greed, and when you reach out, you should think about the consequences of being caught. Some will let him go because of mercy, and those Orientals with little chicken stomachs are obviously not among them. They will punish the thieves with a fierce counterattack, and I have already foreseen the sad fate of these Arabs. ”

That is to say...... The benefits we promise can be paid without payment. ”

"That's right, so you can raise the price and even give them a little sweetness. Let these Arabs unite to cause some trouble for the Orientals, which can buy Egypt more time to prepare. ”

"Mr. Mitterrand, are you referring to the rifles we have in the city? That's a total of about 820 strokes, was it delivered to them in whole or in part? ”

"Give 200, huh...... 300 rifles are good, as long as they can be fully utilized, they can still create a lot of trouble for the Orientals, at least in the city. ”

"Understood, Mr. Yusuf Shaheen, you know what to do, right?" Another Frenchman, Santos, spoke, still in French.

He knew that Yusuf Shaheen understood French, was a learned, cunning and articulate man, fluent in the local tribal language and English, French, and even some German, and a qualified diplomatic envoy.

The little tricks of a couple of Arab sheikhs are simply not worth mentioning in front of him.

Without this ability, it would not have been possible to coax a few Arab sheikhs around and be willing to be used as gunmen by the Egyptians.

This is also to blame a few Arab sheikhs for not knowing it, and they have never heard of the powerful Tang Empire, let alone how deep the water is. Tempted by the Egyptian envoys, he was hot-headed and got into a huge trouble that could bury the entire tribe.

Obviously, these chiefs were completely unaware of this.

The Egyptian emissary, Youssef Shahin, who was surrounded in the middle, heard the conversation between the two Frenchmen and instantly understood, but his face did not make any expression, and he still looked extremely sincere.

After falling for more than 10 minutes in the storm of words of several chiefs, he said with some caution;

"Something like this happens...... My heart aches and I swear to Allah that no one would have thought that these demonic Orientals would come across the sea and harm our dear fellow Arabs.

I am very sure that they want to conquer Egypt, which is ancient and fertile and not the barren land of Yemen, which will not last long.

No one wants a war, it is a war of aggression imposed on us by the Easterners, from which the Egyptian people have no escape.

The great Ismail Pasha has urgently appealed to the Empire for help, and it is expected that reinforcements from the frontier provinces will arrive one after another, and the situation will improve, because we have a brave army and European friends.

At this point, I remembered that Egypt had ordered a shipment of arms from a French friend, and I was willing to give it to several chiefs free of charge.

These are 100 state-of-the-art rifles that will allow the Horde warriors to have weapons as sharp as the Orientals, and no longer need to fear them......"

"100 rifles...... Are you sending a beggar for food? At least a thousand. ”

"Dear Sheikh Hussein, there really aren't that many of them, I can only give 150 rifles."

"Don't say so much, you cunning liar, several of our tribes have been caught up in a great maelstrom, and we have lost dozens of warriors this afternoon, and we must be adequately compensated. 800 rifles could not be less. ”

"Not that much, so let's ...... I try to persuade the benevolent and generous Ismail Pasha to find a way to get you 10,000 rifles and enough ammunition to arm the whole tribe. From now on...... In Yemen, you are the most powerful military force. But now there are not so many weapons, so I can only allocate 200 of them, and it will take time for the arms to be delivered later. ”

"500 sticks, too little is not enough points!"

"There are only 300 rifles in this batch of ammunition, and even if you kill me, you won't be able to make any more. I can promise you that 10,000 rifles will arrive in Yemen in the future, but it will take time and you will need to make a greater effort to unite against the evil people of the East. That's the only way to ...... I was more convincing when I reported to the great Pasha......"

With a lot of ingenuity, the Egyptian envoy Youssef Shaheen finally made several Arab sheikhs smile, and promised several tribes to unite against the Orientals, and even more tribes could be contacted.

These Arab tribes in Yemen are xenophobic and very difficult to manage, and the Ottoman officials are very big.

The land in Yemen is barren, and the local Arab nomads are quite strong, the poor and tyrannical type, who rebel every few years.

If the Ottoman Empire went on an expedition, the cost was huge, and there was no benefit.

Over time, a policy of restraint was adopted, usually by allowing these Arab tribes to stir up trouble for a few years, and then co-opting and dividing some of the tribes to reassert their dominance with the support of the Ottoman Empire in the form of hereditary high officials and benefits.

Anyway, after a few years of trouble in this poor place, it won't be able to go on.

Just 300 rifles were exchanged for more than 30,000 people from 5 major tribes, and it can be said that throwing bones attracted a bunch of wolves.

This is that the tribal chief of Yemen, a poor and remote country, has never seen the world, and a small profit can coax him into obedience and be willing to work for his life.

These tribal chiefs have no idea what kind of ruthless characters they are messing with?

4 days later

The arrival of a mighty second group in the Gulf of Sana'a, accompanied by His Highness Don Leesin, the 3rd Royal Marine Division, and some of the migrants, who planned to rest and replenish their supplies in Sana'a before departing for Eritrea on the other side of the Red Sea to begin the process of colonial conquest.

Why anchor in Sana'a?

This is because Sana is the largest city in the entire Red Sea region, with a strong supply capacity, and the large fleet that has made a long voyage across the Indian Ocean has bottomed out of fresh vegetables, fruits and water, and is running out of coal, so it must be fully replenished locally.

Across the Red Sea, in the wilderness of Eritrea, black tribes were still backward slash-and-burn production, and the Ethiopian Empire on the Ethiopian plateau had no time to care for the coastal wilderness, which was only a remote area that no one cared about.

Like all land empires, the Ethiopian Empire adopted a policy of no-sea conditions, fearing invasion by white or Arab conquerors from the sea.

The large fleet of the Tang Empire did not even have a port to dock on the northern shore of the Red Sea, and everything had to start from scratch, so the supply in the port of Sara was particularly important.

On board the luxury cruise ship "Ocean Traveler".

When His Royal Highness Tang Li Xin, who was sitting here, heard that the team had been robbed and killed, and the horses had been robbed, he couldn't believe his ears, and his surprised eyes immediately laughed angrily after seeing Brigadier General Zheng Huaishan's affirmative nod, and said;

"Hahahaha...... These ignorant and stupid Arabs were really blinded by lard and offended the majesty of the empire, and it seems that this expedition was really necessary! The barbarians are not convinced by the king, what kind of cats and dogs have jumped out, if you don't use thunderbolt means, how can you show the bodhisattva heart of my Tang Empire? ”

In the words, a thick murderous intent has been revealed.

Brigadier General Hu Changda, commander of the 3rd Royal Marine Division on the side, immediately stood up and reported with his hands in fists; "Your Excellency Commander-in-Chief, what is the mere clown? The last general was willing to lead more than 10,000 officers and soldiers of the Third Division into the bandit suppression department, and he happened to stay on the ship for so long that he was so depressed that he let the cubs come out to see the blood and kill them happily. ”

"There's no rush in these days, huh...... All the officers and men of the Third Division went ashore to rest for a few days, and let the Joint Logistics Department make up for you by slaughtering cattle and sheep, and fresh vegetables were left open to eat. My soldiers have been traveling for more than a month, and some of them are hungry and thin, and they are vain when they walk. Eat some good mats first, and there is a chance that you will have a good addiction to killing enemies. ”

After all that is said

His Royal Highness Tang Li Xin turned around and looked at Colonel Liu Daqing and said word by word; "The Empire has always been justified in sending troops, and this is the same thing that we salute before we serve.

Brother Daqing, I would like to trouble you to go to Sana'a City to deal with those Ottoman officials, and order them to hand over the tribal leaders and all the murderers of the Imperial detachment within a time limit, the number is limited to 500 people.

For five days, if they can deliver them, we will hang them in the city of Sarah.

If they can't hand it over, hum ...... Don't blame me for being ruthless, after the capture of Sana'a, tell the brothers that they will not seal the sword for seven days, and I will fear all the Arabian Peninsula and the whole of North Africa in the future, and dare not raise the tiger's beard.

As for the Arab tribes that dared to invade the personnel of the empire, one was exterminated, and all the men above the chariot were killed, and the women were to be rewarded to the soldiers.

You go into the city tomorrow and let them figure it out for themselves. ”

"Glad to help, Your Excellency Commander-in-Chief." Colonel Liu Daqing replied solemnly.

(End of chapter)