The Rise of Australasia

Although the first meeting ded with Arthur failing to make a sale, Arthur knew that it was not because the warships he was promoting were unattractive, but rather that the other party's finances were somewhat strained.

Moreover, the emissary did not know much about warships, and it would have be problematic to sign a warship order for the first time.

In fact, ev though the other party was a backward and decaying country, some reforms and industrial construction in rect years have increased their financial revue several times compared to decades ago.

If Arthur remembered correctly, in 908, the other party's financial income reached 30 million taels of silver, which was not a small amount.

Of course, this level of financial income was nowhere near as exaggerated as it seemed on the surface.

If converted slightly, 30 million taels of silver would only be equivalt to 3.85 million pounds and 65.7 million Australian dollars.

This was almost equivalt to twice the financial income of Australasia last year. Australasia's total population last year was just over 7 million, while the other party was a huge country with a population of nearly 400 million.

Furthermore, due to a series of previous evts, a significant portion of the 30 million taels of silver in financial income was used as compsation, while most of the remaining funds were divided among the high-ranking nobility. Not much was actually available for the governmt's use.

Maintaining such high revues was largely due to the exploitation and oppression of the lower-class citizs.

It would make no sse for a country like this not to perish. However, a unified country also has befits for Australasia, and the interests of the major powers in the region are deeply tangled. A unified country is beficial for all the major countries, except for the island nation.

But who cares about the island nation's opinion? Due to the incomplete victory in previous wars, the international community now perceives the island nation as an emerging secondary power, barely able to touch the threshold of the major powers.

But if the island nation wants to be recognized as a major power by first-class powers like Britain, Germany, Russia, and France, it probably has a long way to go.

On May 7th, the East Asia delegation sought to meet with Arthur again.

To make discussions more convit for both parties, the scale of this meeting was significantly larger. The other party had an tire delegation, and Arthur also brought a lineup that included several ministers and deputy ministers.

The subsequt negotiations were mostly about price wars, and Arthur's position was no longer suitable for involvemt.

After all, there was no need for someone of Arthur's status to compete for those minor profits. Such matters were better suited to seasoned politicians.

However, Arthur still set specific targets and bottom lines. Firstly, for battleships, if the other party really had inttions of purchasing battleships, the lowest price could be offered at the same level as Russia's selling price.

For industrial equipmt and weapons, the price should be higher, as this kind of money should not be wasted.

The reason for slightly lowering the battleship's price was that battleships were the most valuable items that could currtly be manufactured by Australasia's industry. The cost of a battleship was comparable to a large-scale armamts trade order.

The negotiation lasted for several days, during which some ministers reported matters that needed Arthur's judgmt.

For example, the other party wanted to sd some studts to study at universities and military academies in Australasia.

Because graduates of the Australasia Royal Military Academy had to serve in the Australasia Army for two years, Arthur had to make a decision on the matter.

After careful consideration, Arthur finally decided on the other party's proposal to sd studts.

However, he set a fixed amount for the expses of each studt, which was no less than 3,500 taels of silver per person per year, or ,000 Australian dollars. nσvel.cøm

For studts st to the Royal Military Academy, Arthur also waived the requiremt of serving in the Australasia Army for two years.

After all, these military studts would become outstanding talts wh they returned to their country, and they might ev become indepdt warlords or trusted talts of warlords.

This would be beficial for Australasia's pursuit of more interests, as a country close to Australasia is always better than a country close to other nations!

Of course, this request for studts was differt from the previous one. The last request was mainly for civilian studts, while this time it was from the governmt of the Qing Empire.

Moreover, the studts from the previous request mostly wt to universities in Australasia, while this time, their main goal was the newly built military academies in Australasia.

As for weapons and equipmt, the other party's order this time was not small.

The Royal Intelligce Bureau had an intelligce agcy in some parts of East Asia, so Australasia was aware of some of the other party's information.

For example, the rect uprisings, although failed due to lack of support, have indeed caused considerable impact on this decaying empire.

According to the tone of this delegation, they intd to establish a division armed tirely with foreign weapons and equipmt, and they have set their sights on Australasia.

The reason for this is Australia's arms trade has gained some popularity in the Far East and East Asia, and they also had their eye on the Russo-Japanese War arms trade.

To win the trust of both Russia and the island nation, Australasian weapons and equipmt are believed to be of good quality.

More importantly, the British are more inclined to support the island nation wh it comes to exporting weapons, while Russia, needless to say, is short on weapons itself.

Germany would be a good choice, but in order to sign a neutrality treaty with Russia, Germany has be scaling back its interests in East Asia.

Additionally, purchasing German weapons would involve high transportation costs, so it is better to choose closer Australasia instead.

Hearing the Minister's report on the oppont's proposal regarding the Australian armed division, Arthur's gaze was momtarily strange, but he still approved this order.

According to their plan, at least ,000 Gew98 rifles, t MA-96 Maxim machine guns, twty mm artillery pieces, and millions of matching bullets and thousands of shells will be purchased to arm a division to test their strgth.

If the armed division proves to have good combat effectivess, they will consider arming more divisions to strgth their defsive forces.

As for the weapons orders, Arthur's attitude is naturally that the more, the better.

After all, not only can weapon orders strgth Australasia's arms trade market, but most of the profits would go directly into Arthur's own military factory, for both him and Australasia, it's a win-win situation.

As for the more expsive battleships, although the voys seemed to be interested, they still claimed that they needed to consult the governmt and emperor for a decision.

Arthur was not surprised by this, as it seemed that their primary purpose in coming was to seek talt to help them reform, with the arms trade as an added bonus.

Finally, it was the matter of sding talt to help them reform. According to the fridly agreemts betwe both parties, Australasia needs to sd 0 legal and administrative talts, 5 industry experts, 5 economic experts, and military experts to help the other party reform their governmt, economy, industry, and military.

Under the premise of protecting the personal safety and property security of these 40 experts, the other party must pay. million taels of silver to Australasia annually, and provide various necessary resources at a low price.

The previously mtioned arms trade and study abroad plans will require a one-time paymt of 300,000 taels of silver to Australasia, plus an annual minimum of 350,000 taels of silver.

Yes, according to the study abroad plan signed by both parties, the number of studts st by the other party is fixed at a 0 per year, which is not a small figure.

It seems that the other party does indeed have the inttion to reform, but whether the reform can succeed will ultimately depd on the attitudes of the major powers and domestic forces.

With both parties responsible for the negotiations signing the treaty, this fridly exchange treaty betwe both parties has officially come into effect and is being implemted.

As of now, this treaty has only brought income to Australasia, which is the fundamtal reason why Arthur agreed to sign it.

No one would refuse the befits brought to their doorstep, and as for the personal safety of the experts st out, Arthur believed that they would be guaranteed.

Not to mtion the extreme backwardness born within this country due to its admiration and fear of foreigners, the fridly relations betwe Australasia and the major powers alone would be ough to make the other party attach importance to these talts.

If there are really people who are blind to this, ev at the risk of world destruction, Arthur will let them taste the pressure of a powerful emy.

The signing of this treaty is just a minor evt for Australasia and Arthur and is not so important for the developmt of Australasia.

The most important thing at the momt is still the House of Represtatives elections, but before the elections, there were already proposals in the House of Represtatives.

On May 9, 908, shortly before the June election month, the House of Represtatives submitted several proposals to the Royal Parliamt, requesting the Royal Parliamt to review and notify Arthur.

This situation is also quite common for Australasia, as the power of the Royal Parliamt is relatively the greatest, and the House of Represtatives oft reports to the Royal Parliamt for review wh it counters problems it cannot solve.

However, once the Royal Parliamt received the proposal, they immediately reported it to Arthur, asking for his opinion on how to handle it.

Gerally, this situation signifies the importance of a proposal and involves relatively significant national issues; it is only wh the members of the Royal Parliamt cannot make up their minds that they wait for Arthur's final decision.

Arthur picked up the several proposals on the table, and the promint words that caught his eye were the resolutions regarding the House of Represtatives voting to request additional seats in the Cabinet Governmt.

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