Germany could not visit, and the visit to Ottoman Turkey was also cancelled at the suggestion of Xie Jintai, and according to him, it would be better for him to visit later. If the diplomatic standards between China and Austria were very high from the beginning, then China would inevitably be involved in the diplomatic entanglement between Britain and France and the Ottomans, and it would not be able to calmly avoid those sharp contradictions -- judging from the public opinion within the Ottomans, China would either be consistent with Britain and France, or simply stand on the side of the Ottomans, and if Yang Rui really wanted to become a mediator, Yang Rui would never come forward, so the final route was to go from the Mediterranean Sea through the Red Sea to the Persian Gulf, and then return home directly through Central Asia after visiting Persia.

The whole voyage at sea was boring, and unlike cruise ships, there were no banquets and dances on the aircraft carrier, and some were just an inspirational meeting for the admirals. However, the aircraft carrier formation composed of an aircraft carrier, a battleship, and a number of cruisers is completely a crab walking sideways in the Asian world, so after receiving a telegram from Wang Guangqi, the minister stationed in Persia, that the Persian Prime Minister Wang would personally go to the dock to greet him, Yang Rui was a little surprised, but the fleet commander Liu Guanxiong looked ordinary -- just like the Qing Dynasty earlier, the Persians who were weak when they saw strong ships and sharp cannons, what could they do if they didn't greet them in person? The visit of such a powerful friendly country is completely the face of the imperial court.

On the afternoon of the eighth day of April, the fleet entered the Persian Gulf, and the next morning, the mouth of the river at its destination, the port of Khoram Shahr, was close at hand. Before sailing into the Shatt al-Arab, Liu Guanxiong pointed to a continent to the west and said, "My lord, that is Kuwait." ”

"Kuwait?" Yang Rui, who was standing on the bridge, picked up the telescope and looked into the distance, but he didn't get anything, it was just gray over there, "It's under the British, right?" ”

"It's a protectorate of the British." Liu Guanxiong said. When the fleet had sailed into the Shatt al-Arab under the leadership of the British pilots, he added: "The Middle East and India are closely connected, and the whole south of Persia is the British sphere of influence. The port of Abadan is their own. It is said to be the export channel for Persian oil, which is controlled by the Anglo-Polish oil company. ”

As long as it is the navy, there is no one who does not pay attention to oil, the Shenwu burns oil, and the Qinghe also let the Japanese convert it into an oil-fired boiler when it was repaired, and the Qingyuan battleship obtained from the German Navy will also be converted into an oil-fired boiler. It can be said that coal will not be seen in the navy in the future, and Liu Guanxiong is very worried about this, because he knows that domestic oil production is insufficient.

"Don't worry about oil." Yang Rui said with a smile. "You're still worried about your officers."

Yang Rui ended the conversation, and his greatest interest now is to use a telescope to look at the scenery on both sides of the river. This is not at all the Middle East in his mind, the vegetation on both sides of the Shatt al-Arab is still very dense, probably because of the water.

The speed of going north down the river was very slow, and after lunch was over, it was more than two o'clock in the afternoon. A so-so harbor appeared on the starboard side of the ship, with steel pipes that looked like children's toys and huge oil drums indicating that it was an oil refinery.

"My lord, this is the port of Abadan, and above it is the refinery of the Anglo-Polish oil company." Liu Guanxiong saw that Yang Rui was very interested in the port, and automatically became a tour guide. "Fourteen miles further up is the port of Khoram Shahr, which was owned by Persia at the time of the treaty with the Ottoman Empire a few years ago."

In addition to the Ottoman Empire, that is, the Persian Empire, the border dispute between the two countries continued until the Iran-Iraq War, and Yang Rui did not know the history of it. He only asked, "Why was the port given to Persia since it belonged to the Ottomans?" ”

"It is said that oil was found here. So the previous borders were made some adjustments under the auspices of the British. The port of Khoram Shahr was thus assigned to Persia, as well as the Shatt al-Arab, which used to belong to the Ottomans and now belongs to the two countries," Liu said, remembering that Iraq had been ceded from the Ottomans. Corrected: "It should be shared by Persia and Iraq." ”

"The river is quite wide and the water is quite deep." With Liu Guanxiong's introduction, Yang Rui couldn't help but look at the surface of the river, the draft of the aircraft carrier is about eight or nine meters, and the natural water depth that can sail here is more than ten meters.

"Mainly, it's the peak of the water season. After learning that our country was about to visit, the Persians asked the British to dredge and clear the channel last year. During the dry season, it may not be possible to walk so much from the ship. Liu Guanxiong said.

"Really?" Yang Rui responded lightly, he was thinking about the issue of the Western Regions Railway's access to the sea. According to Xie Jintai's earlier report, the railway that helped Persia build was connected to Khorramshahr, and I didn't want the draft here to be so deep, which means that the Western Regions Railway could directly enter the sea, which is almost as important as the 3B railway being built to Basra.

Yang Rui's imagination about the Western Regions Railway's entry into the sea was finally awakened by the salute of the port of Khoram Shahr. Prime Minister Mosildura, a neutral and moderate prime minister who had been waiting in the harbor for most of the day, ordered the ceremonial team to fire a gun salute as soon as he saw the shadow of the ship from the south, so that the salute was finished before the ship had fully docked.

The 20,000-ton Shenwu and the 22,000-ton Qingyuan battleship are the largest ships visited since the establishment of the port in Khoram Shahr, and the Shenwu is only known to be a cruise ship, but the 12 305mm main guns on the Qingyuan battleship are scary enough, and in the eyes of the welcoming crowd on the dock, this is a manifestation of more strength than the British.

Because there was not such a large berth, Yang Rui finally went ashore by a small boat, and when the dinghy came, Minister Wang Zhengting was also on it, and the other was the Persian Foreign Minister. When the dinghy headed for the pier, the welcoming military band began to play the national anthem of Greater China, and the Persian Prime Minister Mosil Dura in a white hat and a robe stood on the pier with a smile. After the completion of this set of etiquette, the next thing is to enter the city for a night and fly directly to Tehran, a thousand kilometers away, the next morning.

"Does Tiantong have a dock here?" After meeting Wang Zhengting, Yang Rui's first sentence was this.

"Premier Hui: The dock where we went ashore just now is owned by Tiantong Company." Wang Zhengting didn't want Yang Rui to ask this as soon as he came ashore.

"Oh......" Yang Rui nodded, "Okay!" How big is the pier? ”

"The wharf ......, there is one 10,000-ton berth, one 5,000-ton berth, and four 1,000-ton berths." Wang Zhengting recalled that the lease and construction of the wharf was handled by him and Zhou Zongliang, the general manager of Tiantong Company.

"It seems like too little." Yang Rui commented, "As long as the Western Regions Railway passes." The throughput of that port must be quite a lot. Why is Zhou Zongliang's pattern so small this time? ”

"It's small, but it's only the first phase of the project." Wang Zhengting is from Fenghua, and Zhou Zongliang, the general manager of Tiantong Company, is from Ningbo, and the two almost have nothing to talk about. "The leased area is 40 square kilometers, but the first phase of construction is only 7 square kilometers, waiting for the railway to be connected. The rest of the place will be built in phases. ”

"That's the right thing to do." Yang Rui finally nodded in approval, "As long as the Western Regions Railway leads here, then this place will become a port comparable to Shanghai, and the only worry is the political instability in Persia." ”

The Persian railway was the focus of Sino-British negotiations, especially since it was in the British sphere of influence, and Wang Zhengting was now a little excited when he remembered that the British agreed to build this road in Persia. It must be known that when the Germans built the 3B railway to find a joint venture with Britain a few decades ago, they kept dragging it out, did not agree or deny it, and signed an agreement with Germany before the European War. But along with the European war, anyone with a discerning eye could see that the initialling of the agreement was only a delaying tactic for the British, because war was about to break out.

In the eyes of Wang Zhengting and other diplomats at home, the 3B railway and the German naval bill were the root causes of the war in Europe, and the Franco-Russian alliance in the Entente countries was only a pawn used by the British to consume Germany and Austria. If the Persian Railway were to be built to connect the Central Asia-Western Regions Railway, a bad one would also arouse hatred and hostility from the British. Everyone in the Foreign Office breathed a sigh of relief when Britain finally nodded that the railroad could be repaired, but there were still those who believed that it was only a wartime British expedient measure. And Wang Zhengting, who is here, is trembling, and the railway is completed. He is a hero; If he doesn't, he's a sinner.

"Prime Minister, maybe there were some errors in our policy before." On the way to Khorramshahr, Wang Zhengting couldn't say anything, but when the welcome banquet was over and Yang Rui was alone, he began to report to work.

"How?" Yang Rui raised his eyebrows, he was actually worried about the political situation in Persia. Whether the Western Regions Railway can connect the Persian Gulf, in addition to the British not objecting, the other is to be supported by the Persian government, but according to history, there will soon be a revolution in Persia. This has a great impact on railway construction.

"Persia is a secular government at a glance, but the secular is very limited. Thirty years ago, King Nasser al-Din had given the entire Persian tobacco monopoly to the Persian Empire Tobacco Company, run by the British, for fifteen million pounds, which immediately aroused opposition from Ulema......"

Before Wang Zhengting could finish speaking, Yang Rui interrupted: "Is Ulma the Islamic Society?" ”

"Exactly." Wang Zhengting nodded, "They are the authority of Islamic law, and they have a very special status in the whole country, similar to my country's Xiucai, Juren, and Jinshi, but they are rarely officials, and they are not controlled by the king, and the king can be changed many times, but Ulma has been very stable for more than a thousand years." They have their own tax agencies, schools, mosques, and now their own newspapers, and the king often can't do anything about them, for example, if the king's prisoners are hiding in the mosque, the patrol can't rush in and arrest them, which is similar to another kingdom. ”

Wang Zhengting introduced this other force under the Persian Empire, and then said: "Our relief grain was first delivered to the Persian government, but after investigation, it was found that a lot of grain was resold to merchants by corrupt officials, and finally sold to the British; In the end, we had no choice but to hand over the food to Ulma, and the relief work really went smoothly. The previous work neglected Ulemma, and many jobs in Persia needed Ulemma's support if things were to go well.

For example, the king's sale of tobacco concessions to foreigners was opposed by many Ulmar, who had a lot of land in their hands, many of which were growing tobacco, and many tobacco merchants and market merchants in Persia paid religious taxes to them, so they took the lead in opposing the king and advocated that the merchants would wage holy war against them as soon as they entered Shiraz. ”

"Holy War?!" Yang Rui sighed, what a word this is in later generations, I don't want to hear it twice in a few years, and another time when the Ottomans declared war on the Entente. "And how did the Persian Railway come about?"

"I agreed to support their claim for a stake in the railroad, as well as to a number of other purely doctrinal demands, and then they agreed. However, the key is to hand over the food to Ulma, who will be responsible for the return of the disaster relief. Wang Zhengting said.

"Good!" Yang Rui nodded. The Persian railways were built in exactly the same way as the foreigners built the railways in China: China borrowed money from Persia and was responsible for the construction and operation of the railways, and after 30 years of recovering the investment in the railways, the railways were handed over to the Persian government. The treaty was signed in this way, but in practice thirty years later, the railways were still controlled by Chinese and Persian companies.

"What is the current political situation in China?" The railways are normally in the hands of China. But if a coup d'état in Persia overthrows the current government, it will be a different story.

"It's confusing. Not only did the Anglo-Polish oil company not pay the oil company's share of profits under the treaty, but it also made a claim against Persia - the British demanded two million pounds in compensation for the destruction of the oil pipeline by the gendarmerie under the command of the Germans. Now the stability of this country is fully supported by our support and 500,000 tons of relief food. Wang Zhengting said.

"If it was just an oil pipeline, it wouldn't have to pay two million pounds, would it?" Yang Rui was a little stunned. In 1914, the Anglo-Polish Oil Company invested 2 million pounds by the British Royal Navy to hold 51 percent of the shares, but this does not mean that he has 2 million pounds of assets in Persia, and the oil company is similar to a venture capital project, as long as the oil field is discovered, then the stock price will rise tenfold and dozens of times, and with the scale of the refinery just seen in Abadan, its fixed assets will not exceed two million Chinese dollars at most.

"Mainly, when the Germans instigated the Persian tribes to occupy Aladan, about 1.2 million barrels of oil were burned in order to prevent the Germans from getting oil. This loss was also counted on the head of the Persian government, and it did add up to two million pounds. Wang Zhengting said. Now Prime Minister Mosil Dura wants us to negotiate with the British to reduce some of the reparations and borrow from our country the amount that actually needs to be reparated. ”

"This money is also going to be borrowed?" Yang Rui said with a smile. "As far as I know, Persia has an annual revenue of about two million pounds."

"It was about two million pounds, but the Provisional Constitutional Government, which had expelled the king in 1909, had borrowed £12.5 million from Britain and Russia to keep it running. Although the Russian loans in the Treaty of Petersburg were not to be repaid, the British part still had to be repaid. Wang Zhengting said. He was worried that Yang Rui did not understand Persia, and said:

"Persia is actually very, very similar to the former Qing Dynasty. Also in the middle of the Anglo-Russian entanglement, the northern provinces were completely out of control until the army we had trained for the king drove out the Russians. Now we are helping them to help the victims, to support the army, to pay for the foreign debt, and the benefits are for the British. With a stable government, the British debt and the oil companies will have a steady income, and we will be able to protect them from the threat of Red Russia......"

In the end, Wang Zhengting suddenly felt some dissatisfaction, dissatisfaction with the Persians. China now seems to them to be a great good man, and as long as there are difficulties, it is not wrong to look for China, which is worse than the two khanates of Central Asia. Yang Rui did not react to his words, and supporting Persia was a long-term national policy. As long as it is a loan, there will be a day when it will be returned. "How likely is a coup d'état?" he said. ”

"If we have the slightest attitude of not supporting the current government in Persia, then there will definitely be a coup d'état." Wang Zhengting said. "According to the Intelligence Service, the British are approaching the leaders of some tribes, but it is not clear what they want to do."

"What about Ulma? Is it possible to carry out a coup d'état? Yang Rui remembered the later Islamic Revolution and asked.

"That's not a possibility, their approach is usually to unleash a riot among the parishioners, so that an agreement cannot be implemented, and there is no possibility of a coup d'état." Wang Zhengting said.

"Not necessarily." Yang Rui said. "Maybe it's not possible now, but after a long time, they will feel ......, how to say, any modernization process will weaken the control of religion, and without modernization, it will not be able to resist the strong ships and guns of the West, and eventually they will have to sign a traitorous treaty, so no matter what they choose, Ulema will be dissatisfied. You are right that the focus of our work in Persia is not only on the government, but also on Ulma. ”

"Prime Minister, what should this government do?" Wang Zhengting said, "Do you agree with the British and support a nationalist government to come to power, or let the current government exist?" That is, to agree to their request for borrowing. ”

"Two million pounds?" Yang Rui muttered that the current exchange rate of the pound is 3.66 US dollars per pound, which is 7.32 Chinese dollars, and 2 million pounds is 14.64 million Chinese dollars, which is much more than the last grain relief money worth 5 million. "What does Persia take as collateral?"

"The mortgage is a dividend from the concession of Anglo-Polish Oil. The king and the British agreed that 16 percent of the profits of the oil companies would be the return of the concession. In terms of Anglo-Polish oil production, this amount is at least 200,000 pounds a year. Wang Zhengting said. But the point is that the kings do not understand the financial operation of modern companies, they simply do not know how much money the British make? ”

"Oh......" Yang Rui became interested, "so according to their agreement with the British, does the king have the right to supervise the finances of the Anglo-Polish oil company?" Maybe it's not called supervision, is there any right to supervise? ”

"It stands to reason that there is." Wang Zhengting also did not read the original Anglo-Polish oil agreement. However, since the return on concessions is calculated on the basis of interests, it is natural that there should be the power to supervise finances. "The Prime Minister wants to send someone to supervise the finances of the Anglo-Polish oil company?"

"It was not us who sent men, but the Persian king hired our men to help him oversee the profits of the oil companies. Because our borrowings are secured by the concession dividends of oil companies. Yang Rui said.

He turned to Poland policy: "Persia is an important ally of ours in the west, and its status is equivalent to that of North Korea, but it is different from North Korea in that he has a low sense of identification with us, and there is a sectarian divide. Therefore, you should do more good deeds in Persia, make good friends with all forces, and at the same time keep your eyes on it, and since Ulema has such a position, you must not harm its interests. Now the most important thing for us is that this railway should be built as quickly as possible, and our interests are only ...... this railway."

"The lower officials are afraid that the British will eventually oppose it." Wang Zhengting suddenly expressed his worries. "It's always uneasy to put what you promised in wartime into now."

"Then let's start from both ends." Yang Rui doesn't have much hope for this railway, but when things come to this point, he always has to find a way to complete it. "When I go to Japan in a few months, I will discuss this railway with the Japanese. They wanted to participate in the shares for a long time, and if they really can't, then they will bring the Americans in again, and they have wanted to participate in the shares for a long time. The important thing for us is that the road exists, and then it works at normal rates and efficiency, and we don't have as many products competing with the British as Germany does. ”

"But after the Americans and the Japanese came, the situation was ......," Wang Zhengting said. China is still an exporter of raw materials and local products, not an exporter of industrial products like Germany. As soon as the Persian railway was opened, cotton and other local products from Central Asia and the Western Regions were connected to the international market. And the Persian Gulf is the sphere of influence of the British navy, that is, the British will benefit from it.

"This is just a deterrent, and according to the terms of the League of Nations, when there is a dispute between countries, it will be settled through arbitration and negotiation. If Japan and the United States come in, then the matter will be so troubled that the League of Nations Britain is not sure to win. Yang Rui said. He was still worried when he saw Wang Zhengting. Again: "Britain has been completely weakened after the Great War in Europe, and they cannot afford another Boer War, both financially and publicly, which is why they had to abandon Baku."

If he does not admit the League of Nations' ruling, then we support the Persians in a war of independence. I believe that not only will the railroad be saved, but the oil fields will no longer be owned by them, and although the Royal Navy can still blockade the Persian Gulf, Persian oil can be sold to East Asia through us. This ending is something they never want to see, after all, we have the chips to break the net;

And how much is this railway worth? 1,800 kilometers, that is, an investment of 100 million Chinese yuan, if you add the oil pipeline, will not exceed 180 million Chinese yuan at most. Not to mention the fact that we have come up with this money, even the railways and oil pipelines themselves can also bring stable profits; There are also oil fields, and the Persians have to turn to us to make them valuable. Not to mention being able to control the entire oil field, at least we will have a certain share of the Persian oil company in the future, and in the end, as far as Persia is concerned, Britain has suffered a big loss, Persia has taken a big advantage, and we have taken a small advantage. ”

Wang Zhengting's diplomacy is gentleman's diplomacy or technical diplomacy, while Yang Rui's diplomacy is revolutionary diplomacy or bayonet diplomacy. In the final analysis, Wang Zhengting was actually a Manchu diplomat who was not accustomed to reversing roles -- he used to be bullied by others, but now he is always polite and does not know how to threaten when bullying others.

"The lower official has been taught." Wang Zhengting said seriously.

Yang Rui recognized his attitude, and once again admonished: "Remember that we are completely consistent with the British in major matters, and small things, especially small things on land, should be led by us." (To be continued......)