Basra is located on the west bank of the Shatt al-Arab River at the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. It is the only hub connecting the Persian Gulf and the inland water system. It was once called the "Venice of the East."

The Kunlun Mountain is stationed in a huge harbor, surrounded by soldiers with guns and live ammunition.

There were even a few Stukas circling in the sky.

Almost all the Stukas produced in the Ming Dynasty were sent to the Russian front line, and not many were sent to the Middle East.

It is estimated that these few planes are all Sun Zhijie's possessions.

For this time the commander-in-chief came to Basra, Sun Zhijie took security to the extreme.

From the port to the city of Basra, on both sides of the ten-kilometer-long road, there is a soldier with a loaded gun every two meters.

For the safety of the commander-in-chief, Sun Zhijie sent out all his guard battalions to stand guard.

"There's no need to mobilize troops like this!" Li Xiao on the jeep glanced at the battle and looked at Sun Zhijie beside him.

"Commander, your safety is related to the future of Ming Dynasty. We must not be careless.

You don't know that for your safety, Governor Sun cleared out all the Arabs in Basra.

Now in Basra, even the dogs are purebred from the Ming Dynasty." Zhao Liangdong, who was sitting in the front row, said with a smile.

Are there any purebred Ming dogs? Chinese garden dogs?

Li Xiao glanced at Sun Zhijie helplessly. His caution showed how much Ming Dynasty distrusted the local Arabs.

"Chen Tingjing is transferred to the governor of Singapore. You can only maintain the Middle East. The burden on your shoulders is heavy and it will be difficult for you."

"Commander, you don't know. These Arabs are really greedy, lazy, stupid and bad.

The imams in those religions are always against us overtly or covertly. And because of their religion, they often collude secretly with the Kurds.

In the first half of this year alone, we have uncovered more than a dozen cases of sabotage against the Basra oil field.

Some people even kidnapped other people's children and asked their parents to carry explosive bags to blow up oil fields.

If they didn't obey, they would cut off the child's arms and legs. The cruelty of the method was simply outrageous.

Our prospecting experts said that oil fields have also been discovered on the Qatar Peninsula, but the oil layers are buried deeper than here.

After asking engineers, it seems that it can be mined with our current technology.

I have sent out teams to try to drill oil wells there."

"Although Qatar is surrounded by sea on three sides, it is also facing the coast on three sides. The area you need to defend is actually longer than on land.

Let me tell you, you should make good use of the Suez oil field. After the war is over, we will have a new policy."

Li Xiao looked at the city of Basra in the distance and said.

"New policy?" Sun Zhijie's eyes flashed with excitement.

"I heard that in the canal zone, the rent charged by the chiefs was half of the grain they harvested?"

"yes!

In Basra too, these chiefs were frightened by what happened last time.

Many people are hiding in places like Morocco and Greece. They only have stewards here. They only come back for a few days throughout the year to collect rent.

My subordinates tolerated these people, and when the war ended, they decided to deal with them hard."

"Oh, how do you deal with it?" Li Xiao smiled and looked at the Ming Dynasty Governor of the Middle East.

"As long as you give me enough troops, I can...!" Sun Zhijie was about to continue, but saw Li Xiao's expression that was half-smiling but not smiling.

"Please give me instructions, Commander!"

"I looked at the Canal Zone and the people there worked hard but had to hand over half of their harvest.

Those chiefs made money in our name, but we only got 10% of the harvest despite our bad reputation.

Do these chiefs think we are idiots?

The Marine Corps will send you three divisions specifically to station in the Canal Zone.

Starting from this year, only 10% of the harvest in the canal zone will be given to Ming Dynasty. You no longer have to pay it to anyone!"

"Commander, this will cause a backlash from the chiefs in the Canal Zone. This situation...!" Sun Zhijie knew very well how deeply entrenched the chiefs who had been dominating there for generations were.

It was because of their secret instigation that the last war took shape and started a prairie fire.

"Haha! Let me tell the chiefs in other areas clearly that the Ming Dynasty only needs two areas, and that is Basra and the Canal Zone.

I will not interfere or control other places. On the ground, they still make the decision."

"Wonderful!

In this way, the sheikhs throughout the Middle East will not collectively oppose us."

"The war is still going on, so we can only break the status quo to a limited extent.

After the war is over and we have sufficient strength, the first step is to exterminate the Kurds and set an example for everyone in the Middle East.

None of the nations that defy our Ming Dynasty and go against our Ming Empire, from the octogenarians to the children in their confinement, can live in this world.

When the Kurds were being massacred, the chiefs should be organized to visit. Let them know that the Ming Empire is what it is today because of endless piles of bones.

If they are stubborn, they will become a stepping stone for Ming Dynasty."

"No!" Sun Zhijie knew that the commander-in-chief was becoming fierce again.

Since we can systematically kill the Jungar Mongols, we can continue to systematically kill the Kurds.

Over the years, the Kurds have always been enemies of the Ming Dynasty, which has exhausted the commander's patience and their hope of survival.

"And after the war is over, you will continue to encourage the Arabs to rebel against the sheikhs.

As long as they get rid of the chief's stewards and give us 10% of the tax every year, we can live happily there.

Daming will provide them with protection and will not allow anyone to harm them.

If so, let them end up like the Kurds.

Even if they are in Greece, Tunisia, or Libya, they must be captured and sent over by the local authorities.

It all starts with the Canal Zone."

When the jeep arrived in the city of Basra, Li Xiao saw that the streets were quite clean. Not only were they clean, they were also very quiet.

Except for the Ming Dynasty soldiers patrolling with live ammunition, there was not even a stray dog ​​to be seen.

The tower inside the Governor's Palace is very high and can be used as a watchtower.

Surrounded by everyone, Li Xiao climbed onto the watchtower.

With a fixed high-power telescope, you can see that there is a wall in the distance, and you can faintly see people patrolling it. Against the wall, there are oil production machines one after another.

Nowadays, people call this thing a kowtow machine. The crude oil used in the Ming Dynasty was extracted from the ground in this way.

“A few years ago, we only produced 10,000 barrels per day, but now we produce 12,000 barrels per day.

Mr. Tsusuke always sends telegrams to urge us to increase production.

But this production requires one oil well after another, and the current speed of oil well drilling really cannot keep up with consumption." Sun Zhijie took the opportunity to complain to Li Xiao.

As the governor of the Middle East, he devoted almost all his energy to this oil field.

But no matter how much oil is pumped out from the ground, Ming Dynasty is always noisy enough.

"There are more and more cars in the country, and the Russian war is a huge sinkhole. There is definitely not enough fuel!

The country will continue to send people to help you drill oil wells. In the future, Ming Dynasty's demand for crude oil will be more and more. Perhaps it is not enough to drill all the oil wells in Basra.

The entire Persian Gulf must be filled with oil wells!

When did you build that high wall? The Ming Dynasty no longer needed city walls, so you are still building them here?" Li Xiao pointed to the high wall in the distance and said.

"There is no way, there are always people who want to blow up the oil production machines. Therefore, we can only build a wall to separate the city of Basra from the outside.

Even so, there are still people climbing up the wall, even if their palms are bloody and bloody after being stabbed by iron thorns.

Now, there are still people digging tunnels. It’s really hard to guard against!”

"Oh, is there such a thing? Let's go to the city wall and have a look!" Li Xiao came with great interest, but he didn't expect that the city wall that had been eliminated by the Ming Dynasty would be revived again in the Middle East.

Sun Zhijie must have been forced to have no choice, so he mobilized troops to build such a long city wall.

Sun Zhijie hesitated for a moment, but he could not stop Li Xiao.

The jeep drove for more than an hour before arriving at the bottom of the city.

The city wall is entirely made of reinforced concrete, with a bottom thickness of about fifteen or six meters.

Climb up the steps, which are three stories high.

On one side of the city wall, many iron spikes are buried in the cement. Years of exposure to wind and sun have caused these iron spikes to become severely corroded.

If this thing sticks on the body, tetanus and infection can kill a person.

The city wall is very wide, and there is no problem running two trucks side by side at the top. In fact, there are two trucks on the city wall, which are used to load patrol soldiers and collect and store sentries on weekdays.

Every one kilometer or so, there are three soldiers guarding with guns. There are also mobile patrols patrolling the city wall with wolf dogs.
To be continued...