The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 853 Worry
When talking about Yemen’s present, we have to talk about Yemen’s history.

Yemen has a recorded history of more than 3000 years and is one of the cradles of ancient civilization in the Arab world.

From the 14th century BC to 525 AD, three dynasties, namely the Main, Saba and Hemiyyad dynasties, were established in Yemen. In the 7th century, Yemen became part of the Arab Empire.

The Portuguese invaded in the early 16th century, and the British occupied the Perim Island belonging to Yemen in 1789 and Aden in 1839. From 1863 to 1882, Britain successively annexed the territories of 30 chiefdoms including Hadramaut to form the "Aden Protectorate", dividing most of the territory in southern Yemen.

It was also around that time that South Yemen became a British colony, with Britain establishing a buffer zone in the area around Aden in the form of a loose alliance.

In 1918, the Ottoman Empire collapsed. North Yemen declared independence from the Ottoman Empire and established the Yemen Arab Republic, becoming the first Arab country to declare independence from colonial rule.

In 1934, the Kingdom of Yemen was defeated in the war with the Saudi royal family. Britain took the opportunity to force it to sign an unequal treaty, recognizing Britain's occupation of South Yemen. Yemen was officially divided into North and South.

From 1959 to 1963, Britain successively pieced together the six sultanates in southern Yemen into the "South Arabian League". Later, the "Aden Sudan" announced its joining. A revolution broke out in North Yemen, and then a large-scale anti-British armed struggle broke out in South Yemen.

In 1967, the British withdrew and the Republic of South Yemen was established. In 1970, it was renamed the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen and began to pursue pro-Soviet extravagance.

With the development of the international situation, the two countries accelerated the pace of unification. In 1988, the two sides signed an agreement on free transit of North and South residents and joint development of oil and mining resources in the border area, which opened the prelude to accelerating unification.

In 1990, North and South Yemen declared unification and established the Republic of Yemen.

Yemen seems to be unified on the surface, but in fact the contradictions on issues such as unification are very sharp. There are also various contradictions in other aspects. A civil war may break out in Yemen at any time.

After the first oil crisis in 1973, oil prices rose. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other Middle Eastern countries made a lot of money from oil trade, but Yemen missed out. After the Iran-Iraq War, oil prices remained high for more than a decade. Other Middle Eastern countries made a lot of money in this wave of oil price increases, but Yemen still missed out because Yemen did not develop an oil extraction industry. Even if it had abundant oil, it would be useless if it could not be extracted.

Therefore, the current situation in Yemen is not optimistic. There are many contradictions between the north and the south. It is basically a paper unification, a superficial unification rather than a de facto unification.

Saudi Arabia's intention to attack Yemen is most likely because Saudi Arabia has been doing well in recent years, becoming rich and powerful, and its military has become strong and expanded. It wants to rely on force to solve the problem in Yemen, or to be more precise, to solve the problem of Shiites in Yemen!

Saudi Arabia is a very unique country. In theory, it is legitimate for Saudi Arabia to launch a war against any Arab country in the Middle East.

Liu Tao frowned slightly. He didn't expect this trend to appear.

This is not a good sign.

Not that he sympathizes with Yemen, or anything.

Instead, he couldn't help but think of the classic scene, in which the Saudi veterans, armed to the teeth with a lot of high-tech equipment, were beaten so badly by the Yemeni soldiers that they lost their way and became the team leader of the transport team.

Although Saudi Arabia now has a total armed force of 50, to be honest, Liu Tao has a big question mark about the combat effectiveness of its army.

No matter how advanced the equipment these old soldiers have, their own combat capabilities are not strong and their military qualities are insufficient.

Otherwise, in contacts with the Americans, the list of weapons to be exported to Saudi Arabia would not be restricted, except for a very small number of strategic-level weapons.

Americans know Saudi Arabia all too well.

Liu Tao naturally does not want Saudi Arabia to use force, because Saudi Arabia now has a golden body and can bluff people.

Once military action is taken, all the underbelly will be exposed, the deterrent effect will be lost, and perhaps the Middle East will begin to fall into unrest again.

Liu Tao hopes that the Middle East will maintain overall peace, so that the price of oil exports will be relatively low and stable, which will naturally be of great benefit to China, which is constantly increasing its oil imports. Any increase in oil prices will increase costs and then be transmitted to the consumer end.

But he couldn't persuade him, otherwise the Saudi king might be unhappy and destroy the friendship between the two sides.

"How do you think you would march and fight if you were commanding the troops?" Liu Tao looked at Li Fen and asked a question.

"I will mobilize at least 30 troops, divide them into three routes, and launch attacks from the east, center, and west. I will send the navy as an aid to delay the Yemeni army and prevent it from concentrating." Li Fen picked up a pencil and baton and began to think and introduce.

From the perspective of comprehensive national strength, Saudi Arabia is undoubtedly much stronger. Saudi Arabia is so rich that it can purchase weapons, ammunition and supplies from all over the world.

Comparing the military strength of both sides, Saudi Arabia is obviously much stronger, possessing a large number of weapons and equipment. Its army, navy and air force are now the most powerful in the entire Middle East.

Because Yemen has no air force, no air defense forces, and its navy is almost negligible.

This means that Saudi Arabia can learn the tactics of the US military in the Gulf War, first using the air force to bomb the hostile forces, destroying the towns, arsenals, material depots, and transportation hubs of the hostile forces, and inflicting a devastating blow to the armed forces of the hostile forces in Yemen.

At the same time, Saudi Arabia can subsidize the Sunnis, divide and disintegrate them, and let these forces cooperate with the Saudi army to launch an attack on hostile forces.

Liu Tao nodded slightly. Li Fen's ability was more than enough for him to be a commander in Saudi Arabia.

Of course, this is theoretical. In fact, it may happen that the Saudi army, armed with advanced weapons, may not be as good as the armies of the European powers in World War I.

And the probability of this happening is quite high.

Besides, the Saudi military is not necessarily that strong in terms of execution capabilities.

If Liu Tao were King Fahd, he would have at least three ways to swallow up Yemen step by step and thus realize his strategy.

Unfortunately, his methods are suitable for him, but may not be suitable for the Saudis.

"You need to pay more attention to things related to Yemen," Liu Tao warned.

Now that the situation has not happened, there is nothing he can do.

Even if it happened, his main purpose was to make money.

As for sympathizing with the weak, he doesn't have that much sympathy.

The nature of this world has never changed. It has always been the law of the jungle, where the strong prey on the weak!

This has been the case since ancient times, both in ancient and modern times, in China and abroad.

"Yes!" Li Fen replied with a clear and neat 'yes'!
Afterwards, Liu Tao had lunch with the mercenaries. The cafeteria catered to mercenaries from different places and provided all eight major cuisines, so whatever they wanted to eat was available.

It's not delicious, but definitely pretty good.

Obviously, the mercenaries' logistical support capabilities are still very strong.

(End of this chapter)