November 25, Port of Bushehr.

More than 20 years ago, the port of Bushehr was a small fishing village with a population of only 200 people, desolate and lonely, and did not attract anyone's interest or attention in the slightest.

However, in the sixteenth year of Shaoning (1702), the Persian trading company of Qi proposed to lease this small fishing village on the small peninsula on the northern shore of the bay (Persian Gulf) in view of the location of Bandar Abbas being too easterly and the distance to the rich Persian cities such as Shiraz and Isfahan, so they proposed to lease this small fishing village on the north shore of the bay (Persian Gulf) and establish a trading port here.

The Persian trading company was granted a 25-year lease of land within a three-kilometer radius of Bushehr for a 25-year lease of land within a three-kilometer radius of Bushehr for the price of 10,000 silver dollars and a few pieces of fine porcelain to the powerful Prince Mariam Begmu (sister of Suleiman I and aunt of the current Imperial Shah Sudan Hussein).

After more than 20 years of development and construction, Bushehr has become a major commercial port in the Gulf second only to Bandar Abbas, and more than 100 merchant ships from various countries gather in this port every year. They brought a great variety of goods from all over the world overland to the vast interior of Persia, from where they brought shiploads of Persian goods, as well as countless amounts of gold and silver, back to their own countries.

Of course, in addition to a large number of Qi merchants, administrators and armed guards, tens of thousands of Persians lived and worked in the port of Bushehr, where trade activities were flourishing, so the Safavid Dynasty sent a number of official institutions and ulemas (such as the true god patriarch, religious judges, etc.) to manage and restrain their own people, so as not to bring them into conflict with the Qi people.

Because it is a leased land, it is not surprising that the people of Qi have obtained extraterritoriality, and no matter what they do, they will only accept the sanctions and punishments of the relevant laws and regulations of Qi State, and the local officials of Safavid cannot deal with it on their own.

Over the decades, as the Qi state grew in strength, so did its influence on Persia. The trade volume between Qi and Persia accounted for more than 60% of its overall trade volume, and commodities such as steel, hardware, machinery, glass, metal products, ceramic products, cotton textiles, cane sugar, tea, coffee, precious timber, and rice monopolized the entire Persian domestic market.

The weapons and armor of the Imperial Forbidden Army and the Shah Guards were all provided by Qi factories, and the artillery units, which were comparable to those of the Ottoman Empire, were also trained by Qi military instructors.

In the first Qi-India War (also known as the Zimo War) that broke out in the seventh year of the Han Dynasty (1677), the Qi State defeated the more than 200,000 troops of the Mughal Empire with less than 20,000 troops, and also killed the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in the battle, which greatly shocked the Safavid Empire.

You know, the Mughal Empire is a huge empire with a population of more than 100 million, an annual government income of up to 100 million taels of silver, and an army of hundreds of thousands. It is really surprising that a powerful empire of such strength behaved so vulnerable in the face of the attack of the Qi State. The Safavid Empire, both in terms of population size and financial resources, was inferior to the Mughal Empire, and the only thing that could be relied on was the fierce (poor) Persian cavalry.

In addition to the strong land combat force, what made the Persians even more fearful was that they also had a naval fleet that was the best in the Indian Ocean region, and could easily block all the maritime trade of the empire, which was even stronger than Portugal back then. They thought that the armed merchant ships from Britain, the Netherlands, and France were already very powerful, but when they saw a large number of professional warships of Qi cruising in the Gulf, the Red Sea, and the surrounding waters of the Arabian Sea, the Persians really understood what the real maritime supremacy was.

With deep jealousy, from the previous Shah Suleiman I to the current Shah Sudan Hussein, they all upheld a friendly and humble attitude in their dealings with Qi and tried their best to avoid any conflicts and disputes with it.

Fortunately, although the Qi people were extremely powerful, they did not show an aggressive posture because of this, and the Qi merchants in the territory also maintained a certain respect for the imperial government, and also gave full respect and understanding to the religious beliefs in the country.

In the evening, when the crimson sunset dyed the entire sky red, three Qi warships quietly sailed into the port of Bushehr and docked at the exclusive berth of the Persian trading company on the west side of the wharf. Immediately, a group of heavily armed officers and soldiers of the Qi State Army rushed out of the boat, and under the guidance of several port personnel, they settled in Haixing Fort near the port.

"What is this for?" Yan Shaowu, the commander of the 3rd Mixed Battalion of the 106th Regiment of the Qi Army, saw several large bags of Persian robes and uniforms brought by several trading company guys, and couldn't help but ask in surprise: "Are you going to let all the officers and soldiers of my unit disguise themselves as Persian civilians and go to Isfahan?" ”

"Sir, isn't it possible that all of your officers and soldiers are dressed in the uniforms of our Qi Army and go to Isfahan in a big way?" Ren Shude, the head of the black-clothed guard stationed in Bushehr Port and Lieutenant Renyong, said with a wry smile: "Although our Qi country can enjoy all kinds of privileges in Persia, it is too ...... to march to the vicinity of people's capitals in full armor It's too ostentatious, and it's an affront to a kind of red fruit of the Safavid dynasty. ”

"Since we can't enter Isfahan in the name of our Qi army, can't we wear the clothes of the Persian trading company's guard?" Yan Shaowu grabbed a Persian robe with some disgust, pouted and said, "Our officers and soldiers are all wearing such clothes, in case of encountering the enemy, how to deal with the battle?" You see, this robe is a burden on the body! ”

After more than two months of "bitter fighting," the 3rd Mixed Battalion seized all the islands occupied by the Omanis in the Gulf, causing the "hegemony" of the Gulf that had taken several years of hard work for the Kingdom of Oman to establish collapsed in an instant. Just when all the officers and soldiers were preparing to make persistent efforts to counterattack to the Bahrain Islands and annihilate the local Omani defenders, they took the initiative to "kneel" and issued a request for an armistice and peace to the Qi State.

Through some questioning with the envoys of the Kingdom of Oman, the Qi people realized that the Omanis asked for a truce, not because they were delaying the war, but because they really couldn't fight anymore.

The mighty King Sudan bin Seif II of the Omani kingdom died suddenly two years ago, and he was succeeded by Sudan Rashid I, a child who was less than eight years old. This led to a resurgence of power in the kingdom and local princes, and fierce conflicts between some pretenders to the throne, which also led to the resumption of the war between the Hanawi and Jafari tribes, and there were already signs of a divided civil war.

Mohsin al-Ghassani, the Vice-Chancellor of the Kingdom of Oman, wanted to establish his personal prestige by resisting the "invasion" of the Qi State, so that he could suppress the opposition forces in the country. However, he did not expect that the Qi State would seize all the islands occupied by the Omanis in only two months with a devastating offensive, losing more than 3,000 troops and more than 80 large and small warships. If this situation continues, sooner or later the Qi State will attack Muscat, not to mention the destruction of the entire Omani Kingdom, or to capture him and the young Rashid I and bring him to the Qi State to punish the crime (this powerful empire has a tradition of capturing the enemy king and asking him for guilt), it is estimated that it will not be a difficult task.

In exchange for the arrest of the Qi state and the cessation of the war, Muhsin al-Ghassani accepted all the peace terms proposed by the Qi state, paid indemnities, trade, ceded land, and granted various trade privileges to the merchants of the Qi state, all of which were agreed one by one. In order to quell the internal conflict and ensure his regent, he also invited Qi troops to enter Muscat, so as to suppress the rising opposition forces in the country.

In order to knock the Kingdom of Oman and restore the order of trade in the Gulf, Qi specially dispatched eight warships, seven armed merchant ships, and nearly 2,000 marine troops, preparing to inflict heavy losses on Oman with a thunderous blow. In addition to expelling them from the many islands entrenched in the Gulf, Qi had even drawn up a plan to attack Muscat, trying to force the Omanis to sign a humiliating alliance under the city.

Who would have thought that the joint combat force of our Qi country has not really exerted its strength, but the Kingdom of Oman directly "knelt down and submitted", accepted all the conditions put forward by Qi country, paid 700,000 silver dollars in compensation, ceded the Musandam Peninsula, fully opened the domestic market to Qi country, and gave Qi merchants extraterritoriality.

In response to Omani Regent Mohsin Ghassani's invitation to the Qi army to enter Muscat, the commander of the Persian fleet in charge of the operation, General Guangwei (Major General) Kwong Housheng readily agreed, and immediately ordered the army commander-in-chief Luo Zhanping to lead two dragoon companies and three battalions of Mozhou servants into Muscat to help Muhsin Ghassani stabilize the situation.

At the same time, the Qi people also re-armed the more than 1,500 Omani troops captured in the previous battle, mixed with hundreds of Persian youths, and handed them over to the Omani regent to enrich his armed forces.

As for the remaining two companies of line infantry, they were transported to the port of Bushehr, and then by way north to Isfahan for a special mission.