Chapter 96 Brief Peace

With the arrival of Saudi envoys, the war slid towards an unpredictable track again. The Yulin and Yemeni coalition forces did not stop the attack, but the intensity was reduced by two-thirds.

Saudi envoys expressed their willingness to give up other conditions and only wanted to include disputed areas such as Baha, Jizan and Najran into Saudi territory in order to reach a 20-year ceasefire agreement.

Of course, Yemen would not agree to such conditions. King Yahya now has the support of the Yulin mercenaries. He looks down on Ibn Saud. His inner pride is rapidly expanding, and he will never allow him to surrender to Ibn Saud.

Yemen said Saudi Arabia must withdraw unconditionally from Yemen, the two sides must maintain their pre-war borders and pledge non-aggression.

Ibn Saud was also very conflicted at this time. If he agreed to these conditions, then the war would be in vain and he would suffer heavy losses. If he continued to fight, the outcome would be unpredictable and the new kingdom might fall into turmoil.

The establishment of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was also achieved through the conquest of other small countries and tribes. The failure of this war also made the newly surrendered forces in the country ready to move. After all, it is difficult to take care of more than 200 million square kilometers of land with the current population and military force.

After several days of unsuccessful negotiations, the Yulin mercenaries launched another round of attacks. Unexpectedly, this time they did not encounter the fierce battle they had imagined, and the Saudi army was basically defeated at the first blow.

Li Yalong couldn't figure out what Saudi Arabia was up to. It was impossible for Saudi Arabia to be without the ability to defend itself now, but he couldn't care less. The battlefield was changing rapidly and opportunities could not be missed.

Li Yalong commanded the Yemeni army to charge in the front, while the Yulin mercenaries followed behind and provided heavy firepower support. There was no fierce fighting. The Saudi army retreated all the way, and the Yulin Yemeni coalition forces pursued them all the way.

Soon the Saudi army was driven out of the border, where they encountered Saudi resistance. After a round of exchange of fire, the two sides tacitly retreated several kilometers, forming a ceasefire buffer zone 3 kilometers along the border between the two countries.

Saudi Arabia did not send any more envoys to negotiate, and it is unclear what its intention is.

In fact, Ibn Saud did not want to continue the war, so he temporarily stopped his expansion, suppressed internal opposition forces, and built and developed the domestic economy.

But he did not want to sign any treaty so as not to damage his image of wisdom and bravery. He could also postpone the war and retain the reason to start another war, and then make a comeback when he is stronger.

Yemen did not launch another war because its goal had been achieved. The losses in this war were severe, and it would be great if it could just stop the fighting.

Just when everyone thought the matter was over, Saudi Arabia sent people over again and asked the two sides to exchange prisoners.

In the simple prisoner-of-war camp, the captured Saudi soldiers had just returned from work and were eating. The prisoners' work was generally to do logistics, carry supplies, or repair buildings and facilities damaged by artillery fire in the city. Some were even escorted to villages with high civilian casualties to farm.

After the war stopped, Ye Qian was assigned to manage a prisoner-of-war camp in a restored city. His original task was only to guard the prisoners, and all other matters were left to the Yemenis.

But he felt that the guard work was too boring, so he also participated in the post-war reconstruction work. He learned the architectural features of the Middle East while integrating the Chinese architectural style into it.

This made the Yemenis very helpless, but they did not dare to object. In this way, a city combining Chinese and Western elements was born.

After returning to the prisoner-of-war camp, Ye Qian, along with his apprentice Faisal Hussein, began to inspect the camp.

Faisal Hussein was the boy who learned Chinese, chess and Go from him. Because his family was very poor, when Ye Qian left his village and rushed to the front line to fight, Ye Qian arranged a job for him in the logistics transport team.

Now he has been transferred to his side to continue educating this Middle Eastern teenager.

When the two of them have nothing to do, they will find a place, one teaches and the other learns, or they may play a game of chess.

War promotes cultural exchange and technological development. After more than half a year of fighting, many of the Yulin mercenaries learned some Arabic. Correspondingly, many people in the villages where the Chinese soldiers passed through also learned a few words of Chinese.

During their time in the prisoner-of-war camp, these Saudi captive soldiers, under the management of the Chinese soldiers, cleverly learned simple and common communication language, and also acquired a lot of knowledge under Ye Qian's impartial teaching.

"Simon, come here. If you can pass 15 hands of Faisal, you don't have to go to work today."

Ye Qian said to a Saudi soldier who was less than 20 years old that when he had nothing to do, he would arrange such small games for fun.

Sometimes it is reciting a five- or seven-character quatrain, sometimes it is writing a Chinese character with a brush, and sometimes it is playing chess or Go.

Whenever Saudis or Yemenis successfully completed these tasks, he was very pleased and gave them many rewards, thinking that their efforts were not in vain. Faisal and Simon stood up and saluted first, then shook hands and bowed to each other after sitting down, sitting upright opposite each other, with a chessboard in the middle. After both sides saluted, Simon's red chess piece went first.

The two sides fought back and forth, and Simon was ultimately defeated by Faisal, but he managed to hold on for 15 moves and won the reward of not having to work today.

This made the other Saudi prisoners of war extremely envious. There was nothing they could do as Simon was the only one among them who could survive in Faisal's hands for so long. Those who were somewhat talented also secretly made up their minds to practice more after finishing their work.

"Sir, can I also learn Go?" Simon said to Ye Qian cautiously. He had lost to Faisal in chess many times and wanted to regain his confidence through Go.

"If you want to learn Go, then you should solve this problem first and let me see how talented you are. You may be released soon. If you don't have enough talent, you won't be able to learn it in a short time."

Ye Qian did not refuse, and placed a medium-difficulty endgame on the Go board next to him and asked him to try.

Simon had watched Ye Qian teach Faisal Go before, and Faisal had also taught him the basic rules privately.

A month later, Yemen and Saudi Arabia completed the prisoner exchange, and the Yulin mercenaries' mission in Yemen was basically completed. As for the second phase of the agreement, it is still early and we need to wait for the right time.

Aden Governor's Palace. After nearly half a year, White once again came to Aden, the capital of the British colony in Yemen.

When he saw the governor again, he looked unhappy and didn't even ask White to sit down.

"Your Excellency, Governor, this is a document from the King of Yemen, granting the Meihua Company national treatment and allowing it to conduct any commercial activities within the territory of Yemen. In addition, Muha was sold to the Meihua Company for $50. By the way, it is now renamed Loulan."

White smiled and looked at the Governor of Aden, paused and continued: "At present, we are also Middle Easterners and residents of the Red Sea, so we hope that you can lift the ban on the unwarranted blockade of the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea and allow the ships of the Meihua Company to enter their own land freely."

The Governor of Aden did not look at the document. He just snorted and said, "I don't recognize the document from the Kingdom of Yemen. The Meihua Company is obviously a group of yellow monkeys. As a white person, you are willing to serve the yellow people. Don't you feel ashamed?"

White's expression remained unchanged. He thought to himself, who am I in the white man's world? How could I have the power and status I have now? Even the King of Yemen has to be respectful when he sees me now.

Therefore, the Governor of Aden’s few words could not shake his heart. In the face of interests, everything is empty.

"I work for the Meihua Company and the company pays me. I have nothing to be ashamed of. Your Excellency, the war between Yemen and Saudi Arabia is over now. If you disagree, then we will support the Kingdom of Yemen to take back the southern region."

White said calmly.

After hearing this, the Governor of Aden looked even uglier and said, "Do you think that you can defeat the invincible British Empire Royal Navy with just a company like the American-Chinese Company?"

"We are certainly not going to defeat the Royal Navy. I don't think the Royal Navy can send out its invincible fleet to fight us on the vast land in the south. I wonder if you can explain to the Empire if we lose a large area of ​​southern territory."

The Governor of Aden also understood that since the American-Chinese Company was able to defeat Saudi Arabia, its strength should not be underestimated. Britain's colonies were too large, and there were not many soldiers in Yemen. Moreover, the combat effectiveness of the army was hard to describe. They were all weak soldiers. Once a battle was fought, even if it was a protracted war, it would be more of a loss than a gain.

During the Boer War, hundreds of millions of pounds were spent each year, which was really terrifying. It would take many years to earn back the money, and that was because South Africa had gold mines.

Over the years, the British Empire was forced to allow many of its colonies to gain independence, as it was simply unable to do so.

Now that Saudi Arabia has become independent, there is no need to fight with the American Chinese Company over something that has no immediate benefit. It would be good enough to maintain the status quo.

"I can lift the blockade of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden on the Amerindian Company, but the Amerindian Company must not support Yemen's claims to any territory in the southern region, nor take any actions that harm the interests of the British Empire. Otherwise, we will meet on the battlefield." The Governor of Aden threatened in a stern but cowardly manner.

Finally, the two sides reached a friendly agreement. The Aden Navy lifted the maritime blockade of the Meihua Company and recognized the Meihua Company's interests in the Middle East. The Meihua Company was not allowed to support Yemen's territorial claims in the southern region, and could not acquire any territory in the Middle East except Loulan, and could not continue to increase its military forces in the Middle East in order to maintain regional balance.

With the signing of the agreement, the Red Sea crisis that lasted for half a year came to an end, and the Middle East once again ushered in a brief peace.

After reading the agreement, Zhang Feng simply ordered to develop Yemen's oil resources as soon as possible and develop the Loulan base in preparation for tearing up the agreement in the near future.

(End of this chapter)