However, after paying Oman a hefty ransom, Saud immediately withdrew its troops.
What Joseph wanted was for Saud to utterly crush Oman, thereby knocking out the United Kingdom's most important pillar in the Arabian Sea.
On the other hand, he also had to prevent Egypt from swallowing all of Diriyah as it had in history, growing so powerful that it could wrestle with the Ottoman without relying on France—Diriyah's territory encompassed nearly 90 percent of the Arabian Peninsula and could directly threaten a swath of Ottoman southeastern territory stretching over a thousand kilometers from Nejd.
This required giving Saud a chance to catch its breath, at least enough to hold on to the city of Diriyah by relying on the desert.
Ottwal glanced at his pocket watch and impatiently instructed the Diriyah envoy, "Prepare 350,000 Krusch. His Highness the Regent's diplomats will try to persuade the Egyptians to accept the money and withdraw from Hejaz."
Marwan's face paled somewhat, but he still gritted his teeth and bowed. "Thank you, great Regent. I will convey your wishes to His Majesty the Imam."
Saud was nowhere near as skilled at managing affairs as Ali. Holding Jeddah Port, it only collected some agricultural and fishing taxes, with annual revenue totaling less than 900,000 Krusch. To them, 350,000 was already an astronomical sum.
Ottwal then gave further instructions regarding the attack on Oman. Just as Marwan was about to take his leave, Ottwal seemed to recall some insignificant matter and said, "Oh, yes. The Ministry of Justice recently wishes to establish a new penal colony and hopes to lease the Dhahran region for 199 years."
Marwan froze. Even with his extensive familiarity with the Arabian Peninsula, it took him quite a while to remember where Dhahran was.
Well, that place was practically all wasteland.