Nanyang Storm 1864

The Kingdom of Dubai now has far too many places where it needs money. The original tribal chieftain system has been completely destroyed, and the tribes' agricultural, pastoral, and fishing production has come to a complete standstill, relying entirely on imported food to meet their needs.

The latest batch of smuggled goods shipped by Eastern Shipping Company has just arrived in Hong Kong and has not yet been sold. Not only is it tying up a lot of capital, but there is also no return on investment in the near future.

The current Sultan of Dubai, Chu Zhengtao, is riding high, but he is also heavily in debt. He can't even come up with tens of thousands of silver dollars, let alone hundreds of thousands, and is in dire financial straits.

This amount of money is nothing in the Great Chu Empire.

However, for the newly established kingdom of Dubai, even a hero is stumped by a single penny. Without money, many grand ambitions cannot be realized, let alone bringing prosperity and stability to the people.

But this was a difficult and arduous process that had to be experienced in the early days of the nation's founding.

The Kingdom of Jeddah and the Kingdom of Sara relied heavily on Chinese capital within their borders, and were forced to relinquish large amounts of land, ports, and other rights in exchange for the favor of imperial capital.

In the long run, ceding part of the kingdom's sovereignty in exchange for capital for development is certainly an extremely unprofitable deal.

The Kingdom of Dubai is unwilling to do that and would rather take out higher-interest bank loans.

King Chu-Zhengtao frowned upon hearing this, looked at the political official Mei Jianfeng, and seeing that he also looked troubled, he spoke sternly.

"Immediately urge the representatives of Eastern Shipping Company. No matter what difficulties they may have, the promised investment funds must arrive on time."

The port project is vital to the kingdom's economy, and no mistakes are allowed to occur.

"As for the gap, I'll think of a solution."

Mei Jianfeng knew the matter was of great importance and nodded in reply, "Your Majesty, please rest assured, I will immediately urge the shipping company representative to understand the situation and secure funding for the subsequent construction of the dock. We will have a response within a week at most."

The port project, which the Kingdom of Dubai regards as its number one priority, is also a major project in the eyes of Eastern Shipping Company. With the relevant funds being allocated in batches, some delays are inevitable.

They discussed it for a while longer.
Dubai's King Chu-Zheng Tao instructed his political officer, Mei Jianfeng, to stay and handle any issues on the spot before hurriedly leaving with several officers.

This newly formed kingdom has a small population and a weak foundation. Its core territory currently consists of two small cities, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, with a population of just over 10,000 each.

The administrative structure was kept simple, with Mei Jianfeng serving as the political officer, and only a little over a hundred officials at various levels under his command, most of whom held multiple positions.

The overall governance and operation model was similar to that of the county government in the Great Chu Empire.

There was no clear distinction between the prime minister and ministers; instead, general appointments such as "political appointee," "vice minister for civil affairs," "vice minister for police affairs," "vice minister for justice," and "vice minister for economic affairs" were used instead, making it almost a makeshift organization.

The palace of Dubai's King Chul-Zheng Tao was originally the estate of the Maktoum family. It is a building with strong Islamic characteristics, but it looks more like the mansion of a nouveau riche in the countryside.

After returning

King Chu-Zheng Tao and Lieutenant Colonel Mo Yuanhang, the garrison commander of Ain Town and commander of the Ranger Regiment, walked one after the other along the shade of the grape trellis to the pavilion.

After a slight exchange of polite words, they sat down one after another.

Arab court maids brought out sliced ​​melons, apricots, and dried fruit, along with freshly brewed hot tea and several small snacks, filling the table to the brim.

"Come on, have something to tide you over." King Chu-Zheng Tao casually invited, showing no airs at all. He picked up a melon and started eating it, just like an ordinary friend.

After all, this kingdom is too small. Even with the two ships of Chinese immigrants that just arrived, the total number of Chinese is less than 10,000.

It's called a kingdom, but it's actually more like a town, just a bit bigger.

Lieutenant Colonel Mo Yuanhang didn't stand on ceremony. He said, "I've overstepped my bounds," and then picked up a melon and started eating it in big bites, the juice dripping onto his beard.

After eating a few pieces of melon, some sweet apricots, and some snacks, I wiped myself down with a hot towel.

After taking a couple of sips of tea, they began to discuss the most pressing matters at hand.

"Tell me, how's the formation of the Ranger Regiment going?"

“Your Majesty, we have no shortage of warhorses. With the addition of some Chinese cavalrymen from the East African colonies, I have about 410 men under my command. If we select some more Arab cavalrymen, we can make it about a thousand cavalrymen.”

"How's the mission going? Any difficulties?"

"The previous two cross-border raids went relatively smoothly, but now the news has spread to the Kingdom of Oman. Many tribes that used to roam the border areas have moved into the mountains or away from the border and have strengthened their defenses. If we were to launch another operation, it probably wouldn't be so easy."

"We can't stop. In the next two months, we need to abduct at least 10,000 people, both men and women. There's a labor shortage right now, and many projects are unattended."

"In that case, we would have to attack some large tribal settlements, which greatly increases the danger."

Lieutenant Colonel Mo Yuanhang's concerns were not unfounded. Although the Arab mountain tribes in the Kingdom of Oman were poor, they were quite fierce and had plenty of warhorses and weapons.

Although they were some old-fashioned units, their sheer numbers gave them the ability to inflict serious damage on the Dubai Rangers, who were deep in the heart of the country.

The key is to strike and retreat quickly, avoiding getting entangled. King Chu-Zheng Tao of Dubai only had this one cavalry unit suitable for raiding, and despite the great risk, he still decided to send it out.

The profits from the robbery were enormous. The 5000 Arab women were worth at least 150 million to 160 million silver dollars. The stolen cattle and sheep could be used to expand the herds, and the Arab men could fill the labor shortage. These were all resources that were urgently needed at the moment.

Go ahead, but be careful.

"Your subordinate obeys." Lieutenant Colonel Mo Yuanhang nodded solemnly.

He had finally managed to build up this ranger regiment, and naturally he didn't want to see serious losses, so he had to make a careful plan.

After Lieutenant Colonel Mo Yuanhang left, King Chu-Zhengtao of Dubai picked up his teacup and took another sip, his expression serious as he considered the current financial predicament.

He has already sent a telegram to Yuehu Guandi, requesting that the Great Chu Empire provide certain financial support and preferential policies.

I imagine my father would also consider lending a helping hand in times of difficulty.

Building a kingdom with just one or two maternal relatives and one's own meager funds is nothing short of a pipe dream. There's nothing shameful about clinging to powerful figures when necessary.

Although the Kingdom of Yemen, the Kingdom of Sara and the Kingdom of Jeddah are located in semi-arid regions, they all have large oases suitable for growing drought-resistant crops, and are largely able to achieve self-sufficiency.

The missing portion was imported from the East African colonies.

Dubai is an exception. Its oases are not only small in area but also fragmented, arid and with little rainfall, making them unsuitable for growing drought-resistant crops, and its population carrying capacity is also low.

Despite its harsh natural environment, it has the advantage of a good geographical location.

The kingdom's population of over 100,000 people needs food, drink, and shelter, and the amount of grain they need to import each month is not small. Now, it is all being sent from their East African colonies, which has solved their immediate problem.

This time
Dubai's King Chu-Zheng Tao is preparing to visit the East African Governor's Office and, on his return journey, will make stopovers in the Kingdom of Jeddah, the Kingdom of Sana'a, and the Kingdom of Yemen to discuss matters related to strengthening cooperation.

This includes a joint military operation to plunder the Kingdom of Oman, a large and lucrative target that should be exploited.

In addition, we should make more contact with the smuggling channels of the mercenary groups under the East African Governor's Office. Those guys have been smuggling to the Persian Gulf region for decades, and each group has its own methods.

Inviting them to Dubai City to discuss major smuggling matters and invest there, thus establishing a major base for smuggling to the entire Persian Gulf, would revitalize Dubai's local economy.

This single principle is enough to enable the Dubai Kingdom, with a population of just over 100,000, to develop rapidly.

With money, why worry about not being able to buy food?
Dubai's King Chu-Zheng Tao is a worldly man who has carefully planned for his small kingdom and knows that developing marine fishing and food processing industries is a viable path.

The Great Chu Empire could produce all kinds of canned seafood, prepared in various ways such as steaming, braising, and spiced, which were very popular in Europe. The Kingdom of Dubai could do the same.

But that's a matter for the next step; for now, we need to get the smuggling operation underway.

Growing up in the royal family of the Great Chu, the emperor's colonial history of expanding the territory had been regarded as a golden rule in the royal education and deeply rooted in the hearts of the princes.

Dubai's King Chu-Zheng Tao is also following suit, preparing to focus on developing and assimilating the territory in front of him, gradually transforming it into a small but powerful coastal kingdom.

As for the future
His true desire was to expand northward and further conquer Qatar and Al-Malama, the Arab tribal emirates located in the central Persian Gulf.

Both have small populations, are underdeveloped, and are extremely poor.

As the saying goes, "Pick the softest persimmon."

Compared to the Kingdom of Oman in the south, the Emirate of Qatar and the Emirate of Al Mamah were typical easy targets and did not receive much attention from the British.

For now, it's best to focus on your own business.

The outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War in the Far East attracted worldwide attention, and the changes in these small countries in the northwestern Arabian Peninsula did not attract much attention from the world's major powers.

Aside from a few reports in The Times, the British government has not made any public statements.

As for the other major powers, they all paid close attention to the latest developments in the Russo-Japanese War, completely forgetting about the Kingdom of Dubai.

nowadays

The Japanese Allied Fleet is making every effort to encircle and annihilate the Russian Pacific Fleet. The two sides have already clashed several times, with each side suffering casualties on several large warships.

The Russian Pacific Fleet's breakout attempt failed, and it was forced to retreat back into Port Arthur, where it relied on the long-range strikes of the coastal forts and the fleet's firepower to block the attack of the Japanese Allied Fleet.

The Japanese Allied Fleet attempted to forcibly drag the enemy into Port Arthur, but after suffering heavy bombardment from Russian coastal artillery, resulting in one ship sinking and another being damaged, they reluctantly withdrew and tightened their blockade around Port Arthur.

在陆地上
The Japanese army, which was landing one after another, was winning victory after victory. They launched a frenzied attack regardless of casualties, and successively captured several important high defensive areas, approaching Port Arthur.

The battle was extremely brutal and bloody, revealing new characteristics and tactics of 20th-century battlefield competition to the various powers, attracting their close attention. (End of Chapter)