I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 730 Explorer

Although Akmujin was not a grand duke, he was an earl at least, so he would not be unemployed just like that.

Although George was not a tsar, he was still very caring towards the nobles of the Imperial Russia era.

There's nothing we can do about it.

Although the nobles of the Imperial Russian era were not decent, it should be said that the aristocracy received elite education since childhood. Even those who just lived a life of idleness and waiting to die had experienced much more than ordinary people.

Although the position of diplomat is highly anticipated, it actually has little power and is just a mouthpiece.

Russian diplomats are basically aristocrats left over from the imperial era, and their main characteristic is to make unreasonable demands.

Dmitri followed George's example and gave instructions to Akmudin in person.

It must be burned, but it must not be done by the Russians, so as not to leave any handle for the British.

Since all the cavalry under Reza Khan were Cossacks, this is enough to prove that there were many Cossacks in Persia.

The Cossacks were notorious for burning, killing and looting.

So there are horse bandits everywhere in Persia.

In the past, Akmutin received very limited support from St. Petersburg, and it was difficult for him to achieve anything without the necessary support.

Constantinople could give Akmudin all the support he wanted.

If this fails to produce results, then we cannot blame the general environment.

The Russians have a very high level of execution.

If the British or French were to do the same thing, they would definitely think it over again and again to make sure there were no risks before taking action.

Russians are quicker with their hands than with their brains. No matter whether it works or not, just give it a try first.

Less than 10 days after Dmitry arrived in Tehran, the Anglo-Persian Oil Company's oil fields in the Masked Suleiman area were attacked by horse bandits.

This kind of thing has actually happened before.

The difference is that the horse bandits in the past only wanted money. They would rob things and leave without burning the well frames. As long as the mountains are green, there will be no shortage of firewood.

The horse bandits of today are extremely vicious. After robbing things, they set fire to the oil derricks, causing heavy losses to the Anglo-Persian Oil Company.

Dassis finally had no time to bargain and asked London to transfer British troops from Baghdad to Persia to protect the oil fields.

In January this year, the British chose Faisal from the Hashemite royal family of Mecca as king and established the Faisal dynasty in Baghdad, which was the Kingdom of Iraq.

Lloyd George wanted to send troops to Persia.

But if Russia also sends troops, the risk of conflict between the British and Russian armies will increase dramatically.

The original agreement between Russia and Britain stipulated that neither Russia nor Britain could station troops in Persia.

Although Constantinople had taken the initiative to tear up the agreement, if Lloyd George went further, Constantinople would only go further.

In desperation, Lloyd George had to ask Egyptian Commissioner McMahon to go to Tehran in person to negotiate with Dmitry about jointly developing Persia's oil and natural gas resources.

How do we unite?
What Lloyd George meant was that Russia should dig its own land, and Britain should dig its own land, and they should keep to themselves and not interfere with each other.

To be more specific, according to the original distribution method between the Russian Empire and Britain, the oil and gas resources in northern Persia belonged to Russia, and those in the south belonged to Britain.

Dmitry sneered, I thought too highly of you.

Dmitry also thought that McMahon would take out the oil fields of Anglo-Persian Oil Company and share them with Russian-Persian Oil Company.

Unexpectedly, McMahon still wanted to divide the country into two parts.

In 1907, the Russian Empire had just suffered a severe blow in the Russo-Japanese War. In order to seek loans from Britain to rebuild its finances, it had to agree to "divide the country by the river."

At that time, Russia believed that the division between the North and the South was beneficial to Russia, because Britain generously gave the relatively prosperous northern region, including Tehran, to Russia, and only took the seemingly barren southeast. In addition, a buffer zone was established between the Russian and British spheres of influence, and Britain and Russia enjoyed the same power in the buffer zone.

Looking back now, Britain established the Anglo-Persian Oil Company as early as 1905.

So when Britain was dividing its spheres of influence, it quietly betrayed Russia.

That's very British.

McMahon could never have imagined that this damn Russian-Persian Oil Company, of which Dmitry was the general manager, was not there to drill for oil, but to cause trouble.

Making trouble means that if I don’t dig, you can’t dig either.

Russia has Baku and Tyumen, and is the largest supplier of oil and gas to Europe.

George didn't even think much of the oil that Anglo-Persian Oil Company had.

What really worried George was that Anglo-Persian Oil Company would continue to invest in finding new oil fields after making money.

The Persian Gulf is located south of Persia, and the entire Persian Gulf is surrounded by oil fields.

Once the oil and gas resources in this region are fully utilized, Russia's oil and natural gas will be difficult to sell.

The negotiations cannot be completed in a day or two, and the production of Anglo-Persian Oil Company cannot be stopped.

To prevent similar incidents from happening again, Dacis hired Cossacks to form a guard team and offered a reward of 1000 pounds to the horse bandits who attacked the oil fields.

Don’t think it’s too little. In Persia, you can buy a carefully bred Persian cat for 30 pounds.

There will always be brave men when there is a big reward. Soon, a warrior who was quite famous in Abadan came to Dasis's manor.

Dacis tested the warrior named Calamis and found that Calamis was not only proficient in riding and shooting, but also had served in the Persian army. Dacis was very satisfied and gave Calamis 5000 pounds to let him organize a guard team of no more than 100 people.

Karami got the money and disappeared that night.

Darcis waited for a whole week, but there was no news from Karami.

It was then that Darcis realized that Karami was a liar.

Well, maybe Karami is the leader of the horse bandits who attacked the oil field.

After this lesson, Dassis no longer trusted the Persians and directly hired a retired officer named Henry from France.

Henry graduated from the French Saint-Cyr Military Academy and served in the French Foreign Legion during World War II, fighting on the Western Front.

After the end of World War II, Henry retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel and stayed at home.

While waiting for Henry, the Anglo-Persian Oil Company's oil fields were attacked again, and this time the losses were even greater. If the derrick was to be repaired, the fire had to be put out first.

The problem was that Anglo-Persian Oil Company did not have the technology to extinguish oil field fires.

Darcis had no choice but to ask Rockefeller for help.

The two countries in the world with the most experience in oil and gas extraction are Russia and the United States, while the United Kingdom is just getting started.

Although Darcis didn't know who burned the oil fields of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, it was definitely related to Russia, so Darcis could only go to Rockefeller.

Rockefeller was overjoyed. He had long disliked the Anglo-Persian Oil Company and was worried that he had no reason to get involved in Persia.

George ignored the increasingly complicated situation in Persia. On June 6, representatives from Britain, France, the United States and Russia held a meeting in London to discuss a new compensation plan for Germany.

George had no expectations for the London Conference, so naturally he would not go to London to waste time. The person who represented Russia in London to attend the conference was Mannerheim, Russia's Deputy Ambassador to the League of Nations.

After three years of reconstruction, Russia has finally entered the harvest period.

Since March this year, good news about the completion of major projects has been coming almost every day.

The most important project in Constantinople is the Bosphorus Bridge which is about to be completed and opened to traffic.

The Bosphorus Bridge was originally expected to be completed by the end of the year. Thanks to the efforts of the construction department, the task was completed five months ahead of schedule and will be completed and open to traffic in July.

The bridge took four and a half years to build. It is 1560 meters long, spans 1074 meters across the strait, and is 64 meters above the sea, allowing all types of ships to pass through.

The Bosphorus Bridge is the longest suspension bridge in Europe, but not the longest in the world.

The longest suspension bridge in the world is the Manhattan Bridge, which was completed in 1909 and has a total length of 2089 meters.

George attended the opening ceremony of the Bosphorus Bridge and then decided to continue building a bridge across the Kerch Strait. This project was larger in scale and required higher technical requirements.

On July 7, before the negotiations between Dmitry and McMahon were over, news suddenly came from the Persian Gulf that the famous British explorer Robert Chandler had died in the Persian Gulf.

This is the fourth explorer to die in the Persian Gulf in the past six months.

When it comes to the profession of explorer, many people are unfamiliar with it and don't know what these explorers do.

Darcis, who founded the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, was an explorer by profession.

To put it simply, an explorer is a wanderer who wanders around the world. If he discovers undeveloped resources, he will be handsomely rewarded.

There are many explorers all over the world, except in developed countries such as Britain, France, the United States and Russia.

This fully illustrates the essence of the profession of explorer.

The development of the British and French mainland is already very mature, so it is normal that there are no explorers.

The Russian Far East is full of undeveloped virgin forests. The United States is still undergoing a westward movement, so why are there no explorers?
In the United States or Russia, that is not called exploration, it is called adventure.

Regardless of whether you are an explorer or not, if you dare to wander around Yuriev, you will be treated as a spy and dealt with on the spot.

The same is true in the United States.

Does the United States need explorers to help find mineral resources?
You dare to steal business from big American companies. You must be tired of living, right?

Therefore, explorers can only survive in backward areas.

There are many explorers around the Persian Gulf, and Dasis used to be one of them.

If these explorers find oil fields or other undeveloped mineral resources around the Persian Gulf, they can sell the information and make a profit even if they do not have the ability to develop them themselves.

In just half a year, four explorers died in the Persian Gulf, and it is impossible to count how many explorers could not call themselves "home".

On August 8, Le Figaro published a news report saying that there is a mysterious force around the Persian Gulf that is preventing people from deepening their understanding of the Persian Gulf region.

Look how elegantly others describe the word "occupy".

This news not only failed to dampen people's enthusiasm, but instead attracted more attention.

On August 8, the famous French explorer Provence decided to organize an expedition to the Persian Gulf.

In order to strengthen the expedition team, Provence invited other famous explorers, hoping to attract more attention.

This is where things go wrong.

Exploration is a personal act. If you take an army to the Persian Gulf, can that still be called an exploration?

(End of this chapter)