Rise of Australia

Chapter 278 Unexpected Gains

Although the possibility of war breaking out in Europe at this time is very small, neither the cabinet government nor Arthur dared to bet on that possibility.

Judging the current situation and making preparations in advance is the first thing Australasia should do.

However, in terms of national interests, Arthur does not want to start a war now.

After all, if World War I breaks out, countries will naturally impose certain restrictions on the number of people leaving the country.At that time, it may not be easy for Australasia to absorb more immigrants.

That is to say, the number of immigrants in Australasia must be greatly reduced when the war is about to start and during the war.

There is no way to do this, after all, there are many civilians who do not want war.If it is during the war, there must be many immigrants who choose to go abroad.

But if these immigrants are allowed to leave the country, it may lead to more population loss.This is very detrimental to a country that is at war, so it must be eliminated from the source.

As the king of the most powerful country in the world today, the grand scale of Edward VII's funeral is absolutely unimaginable.

In fact, it is true. If Arthur remembers correctly, there were nine European emperors, five crown princes, more than 40 royal noble children, seven queens, and many nobles participating in the funeral of Edward VII in history. The largest royal gathering in history.

This is almost the pinnacle of the gathering of nobles. After World War I, the monarchy has been greatly weakened, and the power and status of nobles in various countries have also been weakened one after another. The monarchy and nobles have gradually left the political stage of most countries.

Arthur must participate in such a grand gathering of nobles.Of course, as a member of the British royal family, Arthur had to attend Edward VII's funeral.

After all, Arthur is the nephew of Edward VII and the grandson of Queen Victoria in terms of blood relationship.

After the arrangements were made and the royal family's affairs were entrusted to the government, Arthur took Prime Minister Walter, Foreign Minister Andrew, and a diplomatic visiting team and set off for London on the battleship Australasia.

Of course, the accompanying warships are not limited to these.The other two battleships also followed, and there were more than a dozen frigates and a large supply fleet.

Although doing so would leave the coast of Australasia empty, Arthur believed that no country would land on the coast of Australasia at this time.

The surrounding capable ones may now only be the island countries and the United States.But both countries are quite far away, and neither has the guts to provoke the major European powers.

This time with three battleships, one is to show the outside world the current naval strength of Australasia, and the other is to show off our own shipbuilding capabilities, to see if we can get some battleships from the major European powers and monarchies orders.

You know, a battleship can bring Arthur a net profit of nearly 140 million Australian dollars, and an order for two foreign battleships is enough for Arthur to build another battleship.

Such a cost-effective deal, even Arthur, who is not short of funds at all, thinks it is necessary to fight for it.

At present, the competition for shipbuilding in European countries is fierce. Many countries want to own dreadnought ships, but they do not have the ability to build them.

Countries with construction capabilities in Europe are basically busy building their own dreadnoughts.

This has also led to the hope that Australasia will get some dreadnought orders from Europe, which is why Arthur wore the Minister of Foreign Affairs this time.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is very talkative, and maybe they can get more orders for dreadnoughts, which is good for the royal family and the government.

You must know that the only countries that actually own dreadnought ships are the British Empire, the German Empire, the Tsarist Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Australasia.

Italy and the United States can be added to those that are under construction or have construction plans.

At present, only the British Empire, the German Empire and Australasia are truly capable of exporting dreadnoughts.

However, the navies of the British Empire and the German Empire competed fiercely, and it was too late for both sides to build dreadnoughts for themselves, let alone find time to build them for other countries.

Although a dreadnought can also make them hundreds of thousands or even millions of pounds in profits, in the face of national competition, these profits are somewhat insignificant.

On Arthur's way to London, the British government has officially notified countries all over the world, presumably the political arena has tended to be initially stable.

Of course, although Edward VII died on May 5, the funeral was arranged in mid-June, in order to prepare enough time for the major countries to go to London to attend the funeral.

Especially in a country like Australasia that is far enough away from the UK, Arthur's identity is still very important, so the funeral can only be postponed for a few days.

Fortunately, it is currently the fastest dreadnought ship, and it only takes more than 20 days to travel from Australasia to London.

If it was an old-fashioned battleship or warship before, I am afraid that it would be impossible to arrive in London within a month.

Of course, if you are on a battlecruiser currently under construction, I am afraid that this time can be advanced a few days.

It's a pity that the construction of the battlecruiser will take a long time, and the navy that is actually equipped may have to wait until the end of next year.

In early June, the Australasian fleet officially arrived in London port.

At this time, the atmosphere in London was already very solemn, and the laughter of the British street people was much less, which was enough to show that Edward VII was still quite recognized by the British.

Those who were farther away like Arthur were almost the last to come.

Portugal, Norway, Denmark, Spain, Belgium, etc., which are relatively close, basically arrived in May.

However, King Carlos I of Portugal did not look so friendly at Arthur. After all, not long ago, Australasia took over Portuguese Timor from Portugal and used it as its new colony.

Of course, the interests between countries are not the reason why Carlos is really hostile to Arthur.The main reason is that Arthur manipulated the public opinion in Europe at that time, making Carlos a European clown, and was even ridiculed by many European nobles.

The status and majesty of the monarchy of a country have been seriously turbulent. It is no wonder that Carlos hates Arthur so much.

Arthur couldn't help feeling a little funny. Carlos I didn't care about his hatred of Arthur. After all, Portugal was only a third-rate country in Europe, and its influence was not even comparable to that of Australasia.

What's more, without Arthur's influence on the situation in Portugal, perhaps Carlos I would have been assassinated together with his crown prince as in history, and the current King of Portugal might have become Manuel II, and the Portuguese royal family might have It is close to death.

Queen Victoria is known as the grandmother of the European royal family, and Edward, the eldest son of Queen Victoria, naturally became the uncle of the European royal family.

Of course, this is not just talk.Edward VII's prestige in the European royal family is still quite high, and his funeral also attracted the participation of most European monarchy countries and royal families.

Although Carlos I was more hostile to Arthur, on British soil, Manuel could only pretend to be his grandson.

What's more, on Arthur's side, William II and Arthur were talking and laughing, which was enough to show the relationship between William II and Arthur.

After all, with so many European royal nobles present, William II chose to stay by Arthur's side, which is enough to show that he has the best relationship with Arthur.

At such a juncture, if Carlos I went to find trouble, I am afraid that his brain is really broken.

It is worth mentioning that Nicholas II did not attend the funeral.It's not that Nicholas II has any opinions on Edward VII. Russia and Britain have reached a compromise long ago, and formed the Triple Entente with France. Naturally, it is impossible not to give Britain face at such a juncture.

It's just that Nicholas II's son, Crown Prince Alexei, suffered from hemophilia and had an attack some time ago, so Nicholas II had to stay with his son and could not attend the funeral .

For the European royal family, hemophilia is also a taboo.Even many European people call it royal disease, after all, many European royal family members suffer from this disease.

In fact, the birth of hemophilia should theoretically be attributed to the tradition of close relatives in the European royal family.

The current source of European royal hemophilia should be Queen Victoria.

A considerable number of Queen Victoria's children suffer from hemophilia, and along with marriages with other countries, they enter the royal families of other countries.

But the good news is that neither Arthur nor the old Duke Arthur has hemophilia, which is why the old Duke Arthur lived a long life in the original history.

The hemophilia of the Russian Crown Prince Alexei seems to have been cured by a pseudo-mystic.

However, Arthur didn't know the details. Anyway, Arthur couldn't do anything for the time being, so it was better to care about the interests and things in front of him.

In mid-June, Edward VII's farewell ceremony officially began.

The scale, grade and number of participants of the farewell ceremony created a new world record.

Of course, there is no such thing as a world record in this era, but various news and various records all remember this event.

A total of ten kings rode forward with the hearse and saw Edward VII off with hundreds of thousands of British people.

Arthur is also among these ten people, and is still in a relatively high position.

Although the strength of Australasia was not enough to make him enter the top ten emperors, Arthur was born in the British royal family, so the relationship was naturally closer, so he gained the power at the top.

On the bright side, Arthur was very sad about the death of Edward VII.After all, the relationship with the British government and the British people still needs to be maintained. Anyway, as a qualified monarch, some disguise is essential.

Judging from the reaction of the British people, Arthur's disguise was still very successful.Many British people also remembered Queen Victoria's instructions to Arthur when she died. A large number of British media praised Arthur as a great monarch who valued blood ties, loved relatives, loved family, and cared for his people.

All kinds of praiseworthy words were used by these British media in reporting Arthur's news, and then they were printed and sold all over the British Empire.

No way, praising Arthur at this time has become a kind of political correctness.After all, the British people are very satisfied with Arthur. If the newspapers and the media say otherwise, will there still be market and sales?
It is precisely because of the exaggerated praise of Arthur by more media and newspapers that many unexplained British people love Arthur even more.

This instead increased Arthur's support and favor in the UK, allowing Arthur to show his face in front of the British people again.

Arthur was worried that with the end of the Victorian era, the British people might gradually forget him.

Unexpectedly, with this accident, the British people liked him even more. Many British people even went to the cemetery and assassination site of the old Duke Arthur spontaneously to commemorate the beloved son of Queen Victoria and the benevolent Duke of the British Empire. .

　The third update of 3400 words, please support, please ask for a monthly ticket!

　　Today, I have updated 10600/10000, and the task has been overfulfilled, please support!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)