Chapter 1341 - 350: Said the Traitor

Chapter 1341: Chapter 350: Said the Traitor

Beibu Gulf territory.

Originally, Qatar and East Africa’s Beibu Gulf (United Arab Emirates) territory were not adjacent, but with East Africa’s ’bandit suppression’ activities, the border area between Qatar and the Arabian Peninsula fell into East African hands.

And this area is quite controversial, situated at the convergence of East Africa, Qatar, the Ottoman Empire, the Hijaz Kingdom, and the Neizhi Kingdom.

The reason East Africa was able to spread its influence here so smoothly can be attributed to the Arab Uprising that erupted in 1916.

The Hijaz Kingdom is a kingdom established by the Hashim Clan, which is also the family of the future Jordanian royal family. With the decline of the Ottoman Empire’s influence, the Hashim Clan gained independence with the help of the Arab Uprising.

The so-called Arab Uprising is actually a nationalist movement that broke out on the Arabian Peninsula. Although there are many Arab Countries, the ethnic composition of these countries or regions does not equate to Arabs, just like in Persia, the Ottoman, or North Africa, Central Asia, Nanyang, and other regions with Arab Countries.

The Ottoman Empire was not an Arab country either, its ruling class belonged to a branch of the Turkic people, which is also the root cause of the nationalist movement on the Arabian Peninsula.

And the Arab Uprising unfortunately encountered East Africa’s expansion in the Persian Gulf Region, which allowed East Africa to successfully seize many areas after occupying the Beibu Gulf territory.

East Africa’s actions are very similar to when neighboring forces like Turkey and Israel took advantage of the turmoil in the Syrian regime to occupy Syrian territory.

The difference between the two is that the Arab Uprising was not instigated by East Africa, while the civil unrest in Syria was the result of support and development by many countries.

Taking advantage of this chaos in the Arab region, Qatar naturally became a neighbor to East Africa.

Qatar border.

The 34th Motorized Brigade of East Africa has already assembled and sealed off the area. The entire 34th Motorized Brigade is a semi-mechanized infantry unit.

Equipped with a certain number of vehicles, but still having a significant number of cavalry units and a large number of camels to carry supplies.

In desert regions, especially the Middle East without a well-developed road system, vehicles are not the best means of transportation, so the 34th Motorized Brigade couldn’t entirely rely on vehicles for movement.

Altogether, the 37th Motorized Brigade consists of more than 6,000 people, this force can easily handle Qatar, which only has a population of a little over 20,000.

The commander of the 37th Brigade, Sevler, listened to detailed intelligence on the Qatar region.

The person doing the reporting was a Zanzibar Merchant, who can also be referred to as an Omani merchant. This Omani merchant’s name was Said, who had long been active in the Qatar region and dealing with local tribes.

Said held a simple map, which was very crude, lacking many iconic buildings, showing only a rough coastline outline of Qatar.

Said told the East African officers gathered around him: "Gentlemen, the residents of the Qatar Peninsula are concentrated in the eastern part of Qatar, especially the coastal areas. There are almost no settlements inland, nor any so-called cities, only larger villages and towns, with populations ranging from hundreds to thousands."

"Moreover, these villages and towns are not fixed settlements. Most of them are nomadic or change residence based on the abundance or scarcity of pearls or fishery resources, so most Qatar residents are in a state of instability."

"Perhaps they were living in one place yesterday, and because the grass has been eaten up, they move their livestock to the next place the next day."

"Qataris who rely on pearl diving or fishing for a living are relatively more stable, but their activity areas also frequently change. However, the cycle can remain stable for one or two months, or even longer periods."

"Currently, the only definite settlement for Qataris is the Sani Clan residence located on the East Coast. This is also the center of daily trade activities for Qataris; we engage in business with Qataris in the Sani Clan’s area."

The Sani Clan is actually the ruling clan of today’s Qatar. Of course, given the level of civilization in Qatar, it can also be called the Sani Tribe.

The only clearly marked "city" on the map is the Sani Clan’s station, of course, according to Said’s description, Bedha certainly does not meet the standard of a city, with a population of only a few thousand, most of whom are from the Sani Tribe.

But this is already the largest tribe in Qatar. Last century, before the Sani Tribe became the actual rulers of Qatar, their population was barely over 200.

This shows Qatar’s poverty. Even the largest tribe in Qatar, in terms of population, is only on par with a small village or town in East Africa, which Said’s subsequent words also confirmed.

"The chief of the Sani Clan, or Emir Jasim, should be counted as the ruler of Qatar, but their tribe’s population is not as large as your troops. Not to mention more than 6,000 imperial troops, your country actually only needs to dispatch a few hundred people to easily control the entire Qatar region."

"In fact, in the past, the Bahraini royal family, the Ottoman Empire, and the British, all only dispatched a few hundred troops to make most of Qatar’s tribes submit."

"The reason the Sani Clan could grow was mainly by exploiting the conflict between the Ottoman Empire and the British, becoming their agents, and thereby gradually controlling the entire Qatar and getting rid of the original control of the Bahraini royal family."

Don’t be fooled by the fact that Bahrain is much smaller than Qatar, but Bahrain’s strength is far greater than Qatar’s, mainly because Bahrain has more oases than Qatar.

Although in the 21st century, Qatar’s population was nearly twice that of Bahrain’s, with about three million in Qatar and a little over a million in Bahrain, that was influenced by the oil economy. Without oil, Qatar’s population might not even have surpassed Bahrain’s.

After all, Bahrain has very little land, even if equally wealthy, urban construction cannot blindly expand. In the last century, nearly half of Bahrain’s island was developed into urban areas.

And for East Africa, both countries are just small territories, but even such small territories, the area difference is quite staggering. Qatar’s area is about more than 10,000 square kilometers, while Bahrain’s area is just a mere 700 square kilometers, not even a tenth of Qatar’s.

With that, Bahrain’s population could reach half of Qatar’s, highlighting the difference in the living environment between the two places.

Moreover, an interesting point is that in the last century most of the population of Bahrain and Qatar were immigrants from South Asia or Southeast Asia, like the three million population of Qatar, where more than two million were immigrants from India, Pakistan, and other countries, and the true Qatari population was only tens of thousands.

So even with prosperity and high birth rates, by the 21st century, Qatar’s population would only be tens of thousands, excluding immigrants. Naturally, the population of Qatar in the early 20th century was pathetically small.

Said said: "Your army, if you want to conquer Qatar, would be remarkably easy; the only difficulty would be how to locate the small tribes in Qatar. Some small tribes in Qatar have populations of only a dozen people, but fortunately, Qatar’s area is small, the terrain is not complex, and with just a bit more time, you could figure out the entire population situation in Qatar."

After hearing the intelligence on Qatar, Commander Sevler was somewhat at a loss and said, "Earlier I tried my best to underestimate the strength of the Qataris, but I still seem to have overestimated them."

"Among these tribes in Qatar, perhaps only the Sani Clan barely counts as worthwhile, but to conquer this largest tribe, a single company’s strength could probably do it."

"As for taking the whole of Qatar, a battalion’s strength is more than enough, but now we have mobilized the entire brigade’s manpower for tackling such a minor issue, which now seems excessive. However, since the matter has reached this stage, let’s treat this war as a journey!"