Expedition to Europe

While Churchill was forming alliances, Gu Weijun was not idle either.

Compared with the British who had been abandoned by the people of the Middle East, although Lan Fang had a bad reputation in the Middle East, it did not lack allies.

The relationship between Lan Fang and France was originally good. During the Syria-Iraq War, the Rashid family of Saudi Arabia successfully established a relationship with Lan Fang, thus defeating the Aziz family in one fell swoop and becoming the master of Saudi Arabia. The relationship between Lan Fang and Saudi Arabia was also in a honeymoon period.

As for Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates -

Sorry, there is no shadow of these countries now.

Gu Weijun came to Cairo, and the most important task was to negotiate with Yemen.

Yemen is also a strange country. Yemen has a history of more than 3,000 years of written records and is one of the ancient cradles of Persian civilization.

It sounds good, but Yemen does not have a national strength comparable to its history. In 1918, the world war was about to end, the Ottoman Empire collapsed, and Yemen took the opportunity to become independent. The full name of the country is now the Kingdom of Mutawakkiliya of Yemen.

Lan Fang established the Western Province in the Middle East. The British blocked the Gulf of Aden, so Chen Kangjian landed in Yemen.

Facing the fierce army under Chen Kangjian, the Kingdom of Mutawakkiliya had no ability to resist. So far, the entire southern Yemen, from Mukalla Port to Perim Island in the Red Sea, has been occupied by Lan Fang.

Gu Weijun wants to negotiate with the Yemeni government about the ownership of this vast area.

In fact, objectively speaking, except for the land on both sides of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the other lands occupied by Lan Fang are basically of no value.

The geographical location of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait is very important. Controlling the Bab el-Mandeb Strait is equivalent to controlling the Red Sea waterway. With Djibouti on the other side of the Red Sea, Lan Fang can break the British blockade of the Red Sea, which is of great significance to Lan Fang. Therefore, Gu Weijun's bottom line is that Lan Fang must control the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

Relatively speaking, Mukalla Port is not worthless. After all, Chen Kangjian built a huge airport in Mukalla Port. After several months of hard work, the port facilities of Mukalla Port have gradually become complete. Chen Kangjian is really unwilling to give it to the Yemenis.

For Muhammad Badr, the king of the Mutawakkiliya Kingdom, he was even more unwilling.

Badr knew that Yemen was weak, so he did not dare to get involved in the confrontation between Lan Fang and Britain. Chen Kangjian's invasion of Yemen was like a fire in the city gate that affected the fish in the pond. Badr did not provoke anyone, but lost a large piece of land out of thin air. Badr's frustration was really nowhere to complain.

Gu Weijun was in a good mood. When he was in the Republic of China, Gu Weijun, as a diplomat, suffered a lot of grievances. The saying "weak countries have no diplomacy" is not just talk. If a country is poor and weak, it really has no say in international affairs, just like Yemen now. Even if it is treated unfairly, it can only grit its teeth and swallow its tears and blood, begging for justice everywhere.

It was not until he arrived at Lan Fang that Gu Weijun understood what "the heavenly country" meant. Apart from other things, the hateful eyes of Churchill and Charles Hughes, representatives of the British and American countries, were enough to make Gu Weijun proud.

If you are not envied, you are a mediocre person. The same is true for state relations. If you were another country and dared to be so presumptuous in front of countries like Britain and the United States, these old imperialists would have beaten you up long ago. Who would have the time to hate you?

Only when you know that the other party is hateful, but you can't do anything about it, will you choose to use the "killing with eyes" approach that does not hurt the bones.

Gu Weijun enjoys this feeling.

Only when facing Churchill and Charles Hughes, Gu Weijun can find the hatred in their eyes. When he turns around and faces Faris Rashid of Saudi Arabia and Wahid Badr of Yemen, Gu Weijun can only see flattery and fear in their eyes.

This feeling makes Gu Weijun even more satisfied.

As soon as Gu Weijun arrived in Cairo, Wahid Badr of Yemen took the initiative to find Gu Weijun.

Gu Weijun followed the negotiation strategy formulated by Lu Zhengxiang, so he naturally would not give Wahid Badr a good face. Facing the peace request of the Mutawakkiliya Kingdom, Gu Weijun brazenly made territorial demands on Yemen, including the vast area between the southern city of Taiz and the port of Mukalla in Yemen, with an area of ​​about 100,000 square kilometers.

This is basically the current Lanfang-controlled area.

Wahid Badr would definitely not agree to this request. You should know that the entire territory of Yemen is only more than 500,000 square kilometers. Gu Weijun's opening was equivalent to cutting off one-fifth of Yemen's territory. If Wahid Badr agreed to this request, then Wahid Badr would not have to return to Yemen, and it would be more straightforward to kill himself in Cairo.

Gu Weijun was not worried that this condition would scare Wahid Badr to death. After all, in negotiations, it is normal to ask for a high price and pay it back on the spot.

Wahid Badr did not even dare to respond to Gu Weijun's request on the spot. After contacting King Muhammad overnight, Wahid Badr, under the mediation of Paul Reynaud, who was still the French representative at the time, put forward conditions to Lan Fang.

Yemen will not give up any inch of its territory. All the Yemeni territory currently occupied by Lan Fang is illegally occupied. Lan Fang should withdraw from Yemen. In order to thank Lan Fang for helping "build" Mukalla Port, Yemen leased Mukalla Port and Perin Island to Lan Fang for 99 years with an annual rent of a symbolic franc.

Gu Weijun rejected Wahid's request without hesitation. Lease? Don't be funny, Lan Fang's bottom line is Perin Island and Little Aden, and it is not a lease at all, but a forced cession.

Moreover, how come the negotiation between Lan Fang and Yemen came up with a "one franc"?

Even if France wants to find a sense of existence, it is not this way.

Given the huge gap between the conditions of Lan Fang and Yemen, there was no progress in the negotiations for more than a month. During this period, Chen Kangjian was not idle. This dignified commander of the Western Military Region did not go to the Persian Gulf to take office, but stayed in Little Aden to command the troops to continue to attack Yemeni territory, which made the Mutawakkiliya Kingdom miserable.

Every day the negotiations dragged on, the land occupied by Lan Fang would expand, and the Mutawakkiliya Kingdom would become more passive at the negotiation table. Although Wahid Badr knew this reality, he had no way to deal with it, because since Paul Reynaud went to French Indochina, Wahid Badr had difficulty meeting with Gu Weijun, and did not even give him a chance to bargain.

The original text is in the book/bar of June # 9 @!

In mid-July, Wahid Badr asked the Americans for help, and with the mediation of Charles Hughes, the negotiations between Lan Fang and Yemen were restarted.

This time, Gu Weijun's conditions were more stringent. Lan Fang requested to further expand the area of ​​land from the original 100,000 square kilometers to 250,000 square kilometers, which is equivalent to half of Yemen's territory.

"No, no, no - this is absolutely impossible. We will never agree to such a request. You are too much. Where is justice? Where is justice?" In the conference room of the hotel where Gu Weijun lived, Wahid Badr exclaimed after hearing Gu Weijun's request.

Gu Weijun could understand Wahid Badr's sorrow. Gu Weijun had once questioned him in this way, but there was no answer, just like the current result.

"Gu, in my opinion, your request for these lands is useless. These are all deserts. The people living on them are all poor people. They have no purchasing power. The desert cannot be cultivated. Instead, you Lan Fang will bear a heavy burden. So be realistic. That will be more conducive to solving the problem." Charles Hughes said from the side.

Gu Weijun and Charles Hughes are old acquaintances. Gu Weijun graduated from Columbia University in the United States. During his time at school, he specialized in international law and diplomacy and obtained a doctorate. Later, he served as the ambassador of the Republic of China to the United States. At that time, Charles Hughes was a justice of the US Supreme Court, so Charles Hughes and Gu Weijun were not strangers.

"Mr. Charles, in the eyes of us Chinese, the desert also has its uses, and the poor cannot be poor forever. It is precisely because of the incompetence of the Mutawakkiliya Kingdom that the Yemenis have fallen into such a miserable situation. What we bring to the Yemenis is not war and violence, but the hope of a prosperous life. Isn't this worthy of encouragement?" Gu Weijun is also very good at lying with his eyes open.

Hearing Gu Weijun's words, Charles Hughes couldn't help rolling his eyes, but couldn't find a way to respond.

Don't think that Gu Weijun is shameless when he says these. This is the common diplomatic rhetoric of all colonizers in this era. The United States can openly annex Hawaii and occupy the Philippines, and it also relies on this set of rhetoric, so Charles Hughes can't find a suitable response. If Charles Hughes denies Gu Weijun's words, it is equivalent to denying all colonial acts, including the United States.

"But we don't accept your so-called 'hope'. In fact, what you bring to us is war and violence. We used to be peaceful, but it is because of your war and violence in Lan Fang that we can't live in peace." Charles Hughes can keep silent, but Wahid Badr can't help but speak.

This is reasonable, and Wahid Badr has reason to say this.

"You can't represent all Yemenis. As for what we bring, I suggest that Mr. Charles go to Little Aden and Mukalla Port to take a look. Facts speak louder than words." Gu Weijun didn't look at Wahid Badr at all when he spoke, and his attention was on Charles Hughes.

Gu Weijun said the facts. After Lan Fang occupied Little Aden and Mukalla Port, it immediately carried out large-scale construction in Little Aden and Mukalla Port. There were only one or two thousand people in these two places. These people found jobs on Lan Fang's construction site. Their lives are indeed a world apart from before.

Little Aden is a port in Yemen close to the exit of the Red Sea, only 150 kilometers away from the Red Sea estuary. In terms of port conditions, Little Aden has more advantages than Mukalla Port. After Lan Fang occupied Little Aden, it immediately carried out large-scale construction in Little Aden. Chen Kangjian plans to build it into a military base like Djibouti. In this way, Little Aden and Djibouti will support each other to control the Gulf of Aden on the left and right.