Rise of Australia

Chapter 209 The Focus at the Banquet
Arthur's words surprised the nobles and officials of many countries, and made the Australasian crowd cheer even more enthusiastically.

Is the fleet composed of two battleships, five large main warships, ten medium cruisers and dozens of small warships strong?

This level is only about half of the current island nation's fleet size, and it can only reach the top fifteen levels in the world.

But what if both battleships were of the latest Dreadnought class?At present, the only country that actually owns dreadnought-class battleships is the British Empire, and there are only a few countries that plan to invest in budgets, design and produce dreadnoughts.

If the warship to be produced in Australasia belongs to the dreadnought class, then the strength of this warship can even reach the top ten in the world.

Especially near the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific, the strength of this Australasian fleet should not be underestimated.

For Australasians, there is nothing more exciting than the country's actual capital warship battleship.

Only after truly possessing battleships can the Australasian navy be able to stand on the stage and be recognized by other countries in the world.

Amidst the astonishment of foreign officials and the cheers of the audience, Arthur's coronation ceremony officially ended.

At the last moment of the coronation ceremony, the national flag on the square was replaced with the selected national flag of the Kingdom of Australasia.

More than one country has an interest in Australasian naval plans, particularly those with interests in the Indian Ocean and the west Pacific.

If the two battleships to be built in Australasia belong to the dreadnought class, then they should also consider how to adjust their foreign policy towards Australasia.

However, after the coronation ceremony, Arthur went straight back to Sydney Palace.Even though these nobles and officials had many questions, they could only ask them privately after the banquet at night.

After Australasia's naval construction plan was announced, the happiest people were actually the German Empire and the Tsarist Russian Empire.

Germany's interests in the Indian Ocean and the west coast of the Pacific Ocean are not many, and there are even only German New Guinea colonies closer to Australasia.

But this piece of land is really not that important, and even William II regarded it as a means to win over Australasia.

So did the Russian Empire.After Arthur and the Grand Duchess Mary made a marriage contract, the Tsarist Russian Empire and Australasia also evolved into de facto allies.

In addition, the area of ​​interest of the Tsarist Russian Empire is located in the Far East, which is too far away from Australasia, so it is naturally impossible for the two countries to have conflicts.

Under such circumstances, Australasia has a stronger naval power, which is a good thing for the Russian Empire.

Of course, it is not important for Arthur to return directly to the Sydney Palace. Princess Louise will also arrange the evening banquet. Arthur only needs to be the protagonist at night and make his debut.

In fact, it was Arthur who saw the Grand Duchess Mary.Yes, because the heirs of Tsar Nicholas II were too young, the representative sent by Russia this time was Grand Duke Sergei.

After hearing that she was going to Australasia, the Grand Duchess Mary was also coming.Nicholas II just wanted to cultivate the relationship between the two, so the name of the Grand Duchess Mary was also added to the delegation list.

Seeing the Grand Duchess Mary again after more than a year, Arthur was still in a very good mood.

After choosing the Grand Duchess Mary, Arthur corrected his attitude and formally regarded the Grand Duchess Mary as the future queen of Australasia, his wife, and worked hard to cultivate feelings.

After a lapse of one year, the Grand Duchess Mary is eighteen years old, which is the best age.

In fact, Grand Duke Sergey brought Grand Duchess Mary to Australasia this time, and there is one more important thing to accomplish, which is to agree on the specific wedding time of Arthur and Grand Duchess Mary.

Now Arthur is 23 years old, and the Grand Duchess Mary is also [-] years old. Since they are about the same age, it is time to promote the close union of Russia and Australasia!
Of course, the specific time and various procedures of the wedding will be discussed and arranged by Princess Louise and Hunter, and Arthur has no time to direct the wedding procedure.

Of course, Princess Louise would not let Arthur intervene. After all, Arthur didn't know much about traditional weddings of Western nobles.

But now that the Kingdom of Australasia has been established, the king's wedding must be much more luxurious than imagined.

Arthur also prepared a lot of funds and materials for this purpose, and even the guards could be dispatched at the wedding to show the luxury and power of the Australasian royal family.

Of course, Arthur's task now is to establish a good relationship with the Grand Duchess Mary, so that their marriage will be more romantic, rather than a simple political marriage.

For this reason, Arthur took the Grand Duchess Mary to visit almost the entire Sydney Palace, visited the gardens and lakes in front of the Sydney Palace, and also saw the monument Arthur prepared for the future heroes of Australasia, as well as the palace in front of the palace. statue.

The statues of Queen Victoria and Arthur have been completed.

Next to the statue of Arthur, there is another pedestal that has been prepared, and the statue of the Grand Duchess Mary will be carved soon.

Of course, the actual carving will have to wait until after the wedding. After the Grand Duchess Mary becomes the queen of the Kingdom of Australasia, she will leave her own statue as the queen.

Listening to Arthur talking about the various uses of the Sydney Palace, and imagining his own statue being erected next to Arthur, the Grand Duchess Mary had to admit that she was very moved.

As a woman, once your heart moves, you will have all kinds of good guesses about some things in the future.Especially in terms of weddings, the Grand Duchess Mary also has many dream scenes.

For this reason, Arthur waved all his hands, allowing Grand Duchess Mary to play freely and participate in the wedding arrangement to her heart's content.

For Arthur, the king of a country, this matter is really no trouble, and it may just be paying more money for it.

But with the Benz Automobile Factory, which is making a lot of money every day, Arthur said that these expenses are really just sprinkling water.

After swiping the favorability of the Grand Duchess Mary, Arthur also focused on the upcoming banquet.

Eight o'clock in the evening, Ballroom No. [-], Sydney Palace.

This is the largest banquet hall in the Sydney Palace, and it is also a place carefully designed by Arthur to hold large banquets.

This banquet hall can accommodate up to 600 people to participate in the banquet, and has exclusive servants and maids.

It was not yet eight o'clock, and there were already many foreign guests and Australasian officials in it, drinking the red wine carefully prepared by Australasia, and they formed small groups to communicate.

Most of the wine at the banquet was red wine from Arthur's private winery, which contained the unique flavor of Australasia.

After several years of development, Arthur's private winery has gradually gained a reputation in the aristocratic circle. Whether it is high-end red wine or low-end red wine, there is a certain market.

Especially in the Australasian region, Arthur's winery has almost occupied most of the market, which has also produced a lot of profits and income.

The red wine at the banquet was limited edition wine produced in 1901 and 1902. Because the production was not high at that time, the price also increased.

The price of a single bottle of these red wines is at least [-] Australian dollars, and some even exceed thousands of Australian dollars.

Coupled with various delicacies and snacks carefully prepared by more than a dozen chefs, Arthur's expenditure for this banquet started at least 20 Australian dollars.

As Arthur walked into the banquet hall, the noise in the banquet hall stopped abruptly.All eyes are on Arthur, because he is the irreplaceable protagonist tonight.

"Congratulations, Arthur, and congratulations to Australasia for obtaining your due status." Crown Prince William walked up first, and congratulated Arthur with a smile.

As someone of the same age as Arthur, Crown Prince William established a relatively good relationship with Arthur during Arthur's visit to Germany, and the relationship between the two is also very familiar.

"Thank you." Arthur hugged Crown Prince William intimately, and was also very satisfied with Crown Prince William's arrival.

Germany's ability to send royal officials at the crown prince level to Australasia is also enough to show that Germany currently values ​​Australasia.

After all, the crown prince is the next German emperor. Except for the monarchs and princes of some important countries, there are not many people who can let Crown Prince William go to congratulate him in person.

After Crown Prince William, Grand Duke Sergey also stepped forward to congratulate Arthur with a smile.

As the actual guardian of the Grand Duchess Mary, he was very satisfied with Arthur.

As the king of Australasia, Arthur has managed this newly united country in an orderly manner, and the potential that Australasia is currently showing is also visible to the naked eye.

More importantly, Arthur has the noble blood of being born in the European royal family, but he is not as promiscuous and extravagant as most European nobles.

It has been several days since Grand Duke Sergey arrived in Australasia, and he has not heard any rumors about Arthur's private life. It is enough to show that Arthur still puts the country's affairs first, and not those ordinary noble children can compare of.

After Grand Duke Sergey, Arthur took a few steps forward and started a conversation with Prince George of the United Kingdom.

In fact, Crown Prince George is also 41 years old, at least when standing with Crown Prince William, Arthur and others, he seems a little bit out of place.

In fact, this is indeed the case. Because they are not of the same age, Arthur and Prince George have nothing to talk about. After accepting the blessing, Arthur simply thanked him and ended the conversation.

If it weren't for taking care of the emotions of the British people, Arthur didn't even intend to get close to Prince George.

It is worth mentioning that the surname of the British royal family is still Saxe Coburg Gotha, a luxurious family from Germany.

This family once ruled the Principality of Saxony Coburg Gotha, the Kingdom of Belgium, the Kingdom of Portugal, the Kingdom of Bulgaria, the British Empire and now the Kingdom of Australasia. It is one of the families with the longest history and the largest number of ruling countries in Europe. one.

Europeans also attach great importance to such families. When many small countries independently choose their monarchs, they often choose princes from luxurious families.

It's just that the Saxe Coburg Gotha family was not so prominent after World War I.First of all, in order to appease the British people who were dissatisfied with Germany, the then British King George V decided to abandon the British royal family's German surname and changed the surname of Saxe Coburg Gotha to Windsor, which is famous in later generations. Windsor dynasty.

Portugal and Bulgaria were successively transformed into republics, and the family also lost the right to rule these countries.

In the end, the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha family also lost the source of its name, the Principality of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, and the family's glory was no longer as dazzling as it used to be.

But before that, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was still one of the most prominent families in Europe, and it would also allow Arthur and Australasia to gain more European support and the favor of more European royal families.

After George V, representatives of great powers such as Austria-Hungary, Italy and the United States also stepped forward to congratulate.

The island nation also congratulated Arthur very respectfully, as if they did not know about the treaty and marriage between Australasia and Russia.

After the representatives of these great powers came forward to congratulate them, it was the turn of the representatives of non-great powers to speak.

This is actually the mainstream of the world, weak countries have no diplomacy.The strength of the country has not been recognized by others, so the diplomatic representatives dispatched can only wait for others to finish speaking before they are qualified to speak.

Of course, whether others want to hear what you say is another matter.

After accepting everyone's blessings, more than an hour has passed.

Arthur also signaled for everyone to enjoy the banquet to the fullest, and the scene resumed its original hustle and bustle.

This kind of banquet is a good opportunity for everyone to establish diplomatic relations. Representatives and nobles from various countries have their own social circles, and they are also trying their best to make friends with people who are useful to them.

As today's protagonist, Arthur, his every move naturally attracted the attention of many people.

However, Arthur mainly talked with people from the great power countries such as Crown Prince William today, and it was not so easy for nobles and officials from other countries to chat.

The Australasian shipbuilding plan has attracted the attention of many great powers. They are very curious whether the two battleships in the Australasian shipbuilding plan are dreadnoughts.

You must know that there are currently only three countries that have clearly stated that they will start building dreadnought ships, and only six countries have construction plans.

During such a period of time, any country with a dreadnought will experience earth-shaking changes in its naval strength.

This is why these countries care about the Australasian shipbuilding plan. With two dreadnoughts, Australasia's naval strength is even comparable to that of the island nation's navy with five old battleships.

The reason why Arthur chose to publicly announce Australasia's shipbuilding plan within ten years was to open up Australasia's international influence.

Therefore, when Arthur faced inquiries from representatives of these countries, he directly admitted that the two battleships in the Australasian shipbuilding plan were all advanced warships of the dreadnought class.

Even Arthur said very mysteriously that the other three of the five main battleships in the Australasian shipbuilding plan are also powerful warships developed by Australasia itself, above the old battleships and below the dreadnoughts.

Based on this calculation, the number of battleships in Australasia is very likely to reach five, and at least two of them are powerful battleships of the dreadnought class.

This also means that after the completion of the Australasian shipbuilding plan, the naval strength level will rise to the top ten in the world.

Such strength is enough to attract the attention of some countries, especially in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean.

The influence that Australasia can have in these two regions will even be comparable to that of the great powers.

At least with the exception of the British Empire, few countries can guarantee that their squadrons in these two regions can reach the strength of the Australasian Fleet.

Of course, in addition to being a little surprised by the huge naval construction plan of Australasia, representatives of various countries are also very interested in the two main warships in the Australasian construction plan.

The first type of main battleship is a powerful battleship of the dreadnought level, and the second type of main battleship is also an advanced warship with a combat effectiveness higher than that of the old battleships.

At present, there are not many dreadnought ship designs in the world. The two warship designs of Australasia have directly brought Australasia's progress in this area to the forefront of the world.

Of course, if you want to say that the country that is most curious about the specific data and performance of the two types of warships in Australasia, it should be the British Empire and the island countries.

There is no other reason. The British Empire has a lot of interests on the Indian Ocean coast and the west coast of the Pacific Ocean. India, which is very important to the British Empire, is not far from Australasia.

Under such circumstances, the British Empire urgently needs to assess the future naval strength of Australasia in order to make better diplomatic decisions.

Although the island country is far away from Australasia, the Tsarist Russian Empire, the enemy of the island country in the Far East, has established a relatively good relationship with Australasia, and the two parties have even reached a marriage.

This also means that Russia is very likely to receive a lot of assistance from Australasia in future wars, even including support from warships.

In this way, it is very necessary for the island country to know the specific data and performance of the two Australasian warships in order to prepare for the possible Australasian-made warships that may appear in the Russian fleet in the future.

In fact, Russia did take an interest in the Australasian dreadnought design.

In history, the Russian dreadnought was a warship designed with the help of the British Empire, with the Italian Dante-class dreadnought as the main body.

But judging from the current situation, it is basically impossible for the British Empire to help Russia design dreadnoughts.

And Russia's current ally, France, does not have a dreadnought production plan, let alone help Russia with its design and production.

Russia may be able to get help from Germany, but the price may be to completely sever the French-Russian alliance, which Russia cannot accept in a short time.

As a result, Russia cannot see the hope of designing and producing dreadnought ships in a short period of time, which is unacceptable to Nicholas II, who has always regarded his country as a top power.

In fact, the Tsarist Russian Empire did not pay much in the last Russo-Japanese War, not even any compensation.

This also caused the Tsarist Russian Empire to not suffer as much vitality as in history. After receiving additional financial assistance from Germany, the Tsarist Russian Empire has even recovered a little vitality.

Coupled with the fact that a neutrality treaty has been temporarily reached with Germany, there is no need to worry so much about the impact on the western border, and more troops can be used to assess domestic crises.

This has led to the fact that the current Tsarist Russian Empire does have part of the funds, and it also has a very strong interest in the most powerful warship at present, the Dreadnought.

It's just that Russia's own ability to design warships is too poor. Without the help of other countries, it is basically impossible to realize its own production.

Britain, France and Germany are unable to help the Tsarist Russian Empire for various reasons. The United States wants to extend its hand to the other side of the Pacific Ocean, so it is naturally impossible to help the Tsarist Russian Empire, the hegemon in the Far East.

At present, the only country that can allow the Russian Empire to obtain dreadnoughts seems to be Australasia.

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(End of this chapter)