After receiving a report from his subordinates, His Royal Highness Don Leeshin, Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force, attached great importance to it and instructed the troops who were carrying out military operations to dig up the French who were hiding in the shadows and interrogate them secretly......

This batch of new rifles made by the law is not a trivial matter, if there are other rifles left behind, capable of causing great damage to the expeditionary force, it must be traced to the end.

This digging turned out to be a big melon.

Inside the city of Sana'a

After two days of bloody raids, the situation in the city gradually returned to calm, but most of the people in the city were armed expeditionary force patrols, and the locals were rarely seen.

At the back of a mosque, there is a nondescript bungalow, which can only be seen by walking along the path on the side of the mosque and turning a corner.

Two officers arrived with dozens of soldiers, one of the taller officers asked a cowering local man leading the way; "Is this it?"

"Sir, I'm not sure if Lord Sanjak is here? It's just that once in a while, I saw an adult coming here in disguise, and I didn't dare to go in, but I just guessed that it was possible to hide here. ”

"That's right, you adults are really tightly hidden, we almost searched all over the city, but we couldn't find it." The tall officer said, and glanced at his soldiers.

I saw a few soldiers push the door hard, and the door was inserted from the inside, not moving at all.

Immediately one of the soldiers took a few steps back, and then a runner kicked on the wall, and his sturdy body flew up, grabbed the wall and turned over.

The soldier went up to the wall and looked into the courtyard, just in time to see a golden-haired European looking out, and immediately shouted; "Sir, there's a ghost here."

The European was startled and retracted his head in a panic.

The soldiers climbed over the courtyard wall and opened the door, and dozens of soldiers with loaded guns rushed in, and soon turned out all the people hiding in this small house.

Not to mention...... There are quite a few people hiding in this courtyard.

In addition to the five Frenchmen, there were also Sanjak Apudullah Faris and his family and some henchmen, a total of 16 men and women, all dragged out by the soldiers with their hands behind their backs, and knelt on the ground in the small courtyard.

"I want to strongly protest, you can't do this to us, I'm Francois Mitterrand......"

The leading Frenchman shouted and resisted, but was rudely smashed in the face by the soldiers around him with the butt of his gun, and immediately bleed from his mouth and nose and was knocked to the ground, and it seemed that he was knocked unconscious at once.

Seeing this, everyone else was honest.

It didn't take a while

The short officer quickly walked out with a smile on his face, dragged the tall officer aside and whispered; "Now you can dig up treasures, do you know how good this Sanjak master is at collecting money? Eleven large chests of treasures were found in the room, gold, silver, and all kinds of jewelry, all of which were worth at least this amount. ”

As he spoke, he opened one hand with five fingers and smiled like a weasel stealing chickens.

Kneeling on the ground, Sanjak Apdullah Faris looked ashen and wanted to cry as if he had lost his soul, knowing that the situation was terrible.

The wealth worth more than 600,000 Tang Yuan, which has been accumulated for many years, has now been looted.

These fierce Orientals will not even keep half of their eldest son for themselves, and since they dare to wash Sana'a City in blood, they will not mind pinching a little grasshopper to death.

Look at this scene

In order for these atrocities not to leak the news, whether it is a Frenchman or not, there is a high probability that they will be secretly executed.

Where does justice and justice come from in this era?

When the Tang Expeditionary Force brazenly launched an attack on the city, Abdullah Faris knew that something was wrong, and hurriedly disguised himself and took his family to hide in this secret residence, along with these Frenchmen.

Abdullah-Faris knew everything they were doing, but he was just pretending to be stupid and didn't know.

After ruling the city of Sana'a for so long, how could the small actions made by the French be hidden from his ears and eyes?

The tall officer was also happy, although the seized property must be handed over in full, but some will be kept for the officers and soldiers in proportion. Everyone has a good share of profits, but more and less.

"Seal all the boxes, affix seals, and send someone to report the major discovery here at the military headquarters immediately. His Highness also attaches great importance to these Frenchmen, and must immediately start a secret interrogation. He looked here, then at the mosque next to him and ordered; I took people to empty all the irrelevant people in the mosque, and when the people from the upper peak came, we interrogated them on the spot. ”

"Obey the order, sir!"

The soldiers moved quickly to erect a blockade in the surrounding area, emptying unrelated personnel and imposing a tight martial law on the area.

Under severe torture, the situation soon came to light.

Francois Mitterrand and Santos were originally businessmen in the Middle East, traveling between Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Yemen, as well as gathering local intelligence.

The scope includes military-political, tribal conflicts, economic and cultural aspects, and is a loose peripheral personnel subordinate to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

This is not uncommon in our day and age, as merchants, scholars, adventurers, and sailors from the old colonial powers such as Britain, France, and the Netherlands are often tasked with gathering human information about the places they pass through for the colonial government to use for decision-making.

Mitterrand and others play such a role, and their main business is business on weekdays, and they collect some information by the way.

This time, it was ordered by the peak

Carrying a new batch of rifles and supplies, the Egyptian envoys were accompanied by an attempt to unrest against the Orientals in the Yemeni region, to make the expeditionary force untenable in the region, to disrupt its supply plans, and to cause as much trouble as possible.

According to Mitterrand's confession, the expeditionary force quickly recovered a cache of weapons, and the Convention had more than 520 brand-new French-made Chasepo 1866 breech-loading rifles, which prevented them from being left out to cause greater harm.

As for more information, Mitterrand and others are just small pawns on the periphery, and they do not know the inside story of France's policy in the Middle East.

But this is enough, and it is already possible to determine the position of the French side.

Britain, France and other countries do not welcome the Tang Empire's hand to the Middle East, nor do they welcome the emergence of a new international player in the region, and it is no secret that the boycott is heavier.

France held an absolute majority of 52% of the shares in the Suez Canal before its official opening, and maintained a strong military presence in the Suez Canal to protect its interests.

As the second largest shareholder, the Tang Empire holds 44% of the shares, and has neither garrisoned troops in the Canal Zone, nor has commercial and extensive production and business activities, and is limited to purely financial investment, making it difficult to exert greater influence.

Britain's hard-line squeeze was the biggest variable, and after some wrestling, Britain became the largest controlling shareholder of the Suez Canal, with any substantial power over the entire strip and a tougher policy.

Not to mention Datang and other countries, even France, which has worked hard for more than ten years to dig the Suez Far River, is one of the third largest shareholders, and Britain still says that if it doesn't give it, it won't give it.

This made the Tang Empire more aware of the importance of garrisoning troops in Egypt, and only military power could increase its voice in the Canal Zone, otherwise it would be empty talk.

This is an expedition to Egypt, which is a military expedition carried out by the Tang Dynasty in order to maintain a long-term military presence in the Canal Zone.

The development of the Eritrean colonial zone is to establish a solid logistics base for Egypt's long-term military presence and avoid being stuck by Europeans.

The port of Suez, the southern entrance to the Suez Canal, and the port of Suez, the northern entrance, are very close to Europe, and the transportation is extremely convenient, and the supply of materials is also very convenient.

So why was the Eritrean Colonial Zone created?

As a world power, the Tang Empire paid great attention to sustainable development and self-sufficiency when formulating foreign colonial policies, so as not to be stuck by outsiders.

The most obvious example of this is France, which followed the British throughout the world during the reign of Napoleon III and won brilliant colonial successes.

However, as soon as the British choked the neck in the Suez Canal, the operation of the Saigon Governor's Office in the French Indochina Peninsula was struggling, and the current situation could only be maintained. Wanting to further expand the depth and breadth of the colony is tantamount to a dream.

This was because Britain felt threatened from Indochina and wanted to secure the eastern flank of its colonies in the Indian subcontinent. The British colonial army took the initiative to invade Burma, and through the first and second colonial wars of Burma, greatly expanded the margin of safety on the eastern side of the colony in the Indian subcontinent.

At the same time, in the Kingdom of Siam, the British, French, Tang and other powers infiltrated more seriously, and the British and Tang unanimously agreed to maintain the independent status of the Kingdom of Siam, that is, to curb the spread of French colonial power in the Indochina Peninsula.

There is both cooperation and competition, and there is also mutual protection, this is the relationship between the great powers of the world today, which cannot be summed up in simple terms of good and bad.

Some British people have always hated the Tsarist forces, but on the issue of invading Xinjiang and Tibet, the two countries have maintained relatively tacit cooperation.

Tsarist Russia focused on Xinjiang, Britain focused on Tibet, and the Tang Empire maintained a strong opposition. And by sending weapons, funds and other means to Zuo Zongtang, he frequently exerted pressure on the above two countries in diplomacy.

In the situation in Northeast Asia

Britain and Tang also maintained close cooperation, were highly vigilant against attempts by Tsarist forces to move south from the three eastern provinces and the Korean Peninsula, and sent a clear signal to Tsarist Russia while stabilizing the domestic situation in Fuso. If necessary, he did not hesitate to send the Anglo-Tang expeditionary force to fight.

In the Sana'a Bay Camp

"Your Highness, what do you ......see," Deputy Commander Major General Duan Pengfei reported and cautiously asked His Highness's opinion.

His Royal Highness Tang Li Xin waved his hand lightly, and Major General Duan Pengfei immediately knew it and promised in a low voice; "The lowly knows what to do." After saying that, he quickly turned to leave, and his figure disappeared outside the door of the tent.

All those involved in the legal rifle smuggling case, including the French, the Ottoman Empire sent to Yemen Sanjak Apudullah Faris, their families and henchmen, and the locals who led the way, were all dealt with.

At this time, the Middle East and the Near East were chaotic, murders and cross-border incidents occurred from time to time, and Istanbul, the center of Ottoman rule, was far away in Europe.

A few French guys died, what's so strange?

As for the British businessmen who are not involved for the time being, don't touch them, for the turmoil in Yemen, the British can only guess but can't come up with any real evidence, it's a big deal to fight a lawsuit?

His Royal Highness Don Li Xin put this matter aside for the time being, and after he turned around the tent a few times with his hands in his hands, he suddenly stopped, frowned lightly, and said; "Daqing, now that the Egyptians are actively preparing for the expeditionary army, I don't want to leave them too much time to prepare. What do you think? ”

"The 4th Division of the Army has just rested for two days, and the mess here in Yemen has not yet been cleared, and the advance of the Eritrean colonial area has not yet been skimmed" Is it too hasty to go out at this time? "Colonel Liu Daqing is a person of steady personality and has a different opinion.

His Royal Highness Don Li Xin turned his head and looked at Colonel Pan Shouguo and asked; "Brother Shouguo, what do you think?"

Colonel Pan Shouguo, the eldest of the three, is 31 years old this year, and after considering his tone, he said cautiously;

"I agree with Your Highness, and immediately set out on an expedition to Egypt.

The main source of unrest in the Yemen region has been cut off, and the next step of the task of restoring law and order and collecting horses can be carried out at the same time, and the 3rd Royal Marine Division will be in charge, and there will be no need for a large fleet to be stationed here.

The horses collected at present can be loaded onto ships as soon as possible, and there are currently more than 7,900 horses, which should be able to meet the operational needs of the 4th Royal Marine Division. It is not contradictory that the horses that were subsequently collected could be sent to Egypt in batches.

Moreover, after the capture of Suez City, our army can also capture a number of horses, mules and animals, and the logistics supply will basically not affect the overall situation.

As for the opening up of the Eritrean colonial area, it can be carried out separately, and it is enough to send capable officers to take charge of the plan, and the rice seeds sown in March will mature in early June.

In my opinion, it can be done at the same time. ”

Hearing Colonel Pan Shouguo's unequivocal answer, His Royal Highness Don Li Xin looked very happy, he patted his thigh and stood up and said with a smile; "Then it's decided, this will trouble Brother Daqing to sit in the rear, steadily advance the plan to colonize the Eritrean region, and establish a solid rear base camp for my expeditionary force. In this way, the army is free of worries! ”

"Thanks to His Highness's attention, how dare you not do your best?" Colonel Liu Daqing gave a solemn military salute and accepted the important task.

"Pass my commands; The expeditionary Egyptian fleet immediately stepped up its supplies, and three days later the whole army set out, aiming at the port of Suez, the destination of the trip. His Royal Highness Tang Li Xin waved his hand and ordered in high spirits.

"Obedience."

"After the end of the leave of all the officers and men of the fleet, assemble the battle fleet and prepare to set off, and swear to go out early tomorrow morning, the commander of this command will lead the expeditionary fleet to take the lead in leveling the Egyptian sampan and control the sea around Suez City."

"Obedience."

(End of chapter)