Rise of Australia

Chapter 462 Developments in the War and Russian Visitors

At the beginning of February 1918, all the government's war expenses and the current situation in the country were fully counted, and the final results were reported to Arthur's desk.

Compared with the last census, the population of Australasia has grown to 1867.8 million, which is infinitely close to the 2000 million population mark.

Now that the war is over and the foreign immigration policies of various countries have gradually resumed, the new year is likely to usher in more immigration growth, thus exceeding the 2000 million population mark.

Throughout 1917, the gross national product of Australasia reached 22.40 billion US dollars, equivalent to 4.48 million British pounds, 8.96 million Australian dollars, with a growth rate of about 7%.

From this data, it can be seen that the impact of the war on the development of Australasia was minimal.

Even the war promoted the development of various industries in Australasia, including military industry, clothing industry and various light industries, all of which benefited from this war.

In 1917, the total fiscal revenue of the Australasian government was 1.661 million Australian dollars, and the growth rates in the past two years were 17% and 15%, respectively, and the growth rates were very gratifying.

In 1917, because the United States joined the war, it did take away part of the Australasian market, which also led to a slight decrease in the growth rate of the Australasian government's fiscal revenue, but the war ended when the impact was not significant.

In contrast, the government's total financial expenditure in the same year was as high as 1.455 million Australian dollars, an increase of nearly half compared to before the war.

In 1917, the government's total financial surplus was as high as 2060 million Australian dollars, which was equivalent to six super dreadnoughts, and the financial situation was still very good.

Also very exaggerated is the income of the royal consortium.It is no exaggeration to say that the expansion rate of the royal consortium during the war was not weaker than the growth rate of government fiscal revenue.

If the royal consortium before the war was famous for various heavy industries, then the royal consortium at this time also had many light industries, such as the royal clothing factory, the royal military boot factory, the royal canned food factory and so on.

According to the statistics of the royal consortium, during the three years of the war, Australasia exported more than 500 million tons of canned products to Europe.

Based on the adult weight of a hare ranging from 80 catties to 100 catties, these cans are equivalent to about 1.2 million hares, which is enough to show the number of wild animals that Australasia has killed in recent years.

There is no way around this. Compared with European countries, the ecological environment of Australasia is very fragile. After all, Australia is a completely independent continent, and its ecological environment is different from that of Europe and Asia.

In recent years, Australasia has implemented relatively strict environmental protection laws and animal and plant protection laws, and has carried out quite strict protection with carnivores in Australasia, prohibiting random hunting.

In addition, the government encourages people to hunt wild animals such as kangaroos, hares, wild boars, and wild camels. These wild animals can be sold to canning factories or eaten by themselves.

Basically every other month, the government and the royal family will organize a large-scale hunting event, and certain rewards will be given to those who rank among the best in hunting performance.

In addition to the official hunting operations of the government and the royal family, there are many hunting associations in Australasia, which are responsible for hunting wild animals and selling them to canneries to make money.

Don't underestimate the income of these hunting associations and clubs. If the hunting skills are more skilled, the income can even exceed that of farmers and herdsmen.

Of course, wild hunting also has certain risks, especially in the more dangerous wild environment of Australasia.

But as the so-called high risk, high return, there are still a large number of people who are willing to participate in these hunting activities every year. First, to relax, and second, to earn extra income, and to show off in front of their family, friends, and even others. .

In addition, the government has also promulgated relatively strict laws on alien species to prevent alien species from damaging the ecological environment of Australasia as much as possible.

Creatures like hares and camels are all alien species.It is precisely because of the extreme reproduction of wild rabbits that a large amount of land has been gnawed and even desertified.

Protecting the environment is one thing Arthur can do for future monarchs, and it is also an important way to protect the environment of Australasian land.

In any case, environmental protection and wild animal hunting will continue, and it is imminent to manage the ecological environment of Australasia.

On February 2, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs suddenly reported that Grand Duke Paul of Russia was visiting, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was already entertaining him.

Arthur nodded, and immediately decided to meet Archduke Paul immediately.

In any case, the Australasian royal family and the Russian royal family are related by marriage and natural allies.

No matter what the circumstances, it is still necessary to meet Archduke Paul.What's more, the Russian monarchy has not yet been overthrown, whether it is noble etiquette or Queen Mary's side, Arthur must receive this Russian visitor.

In fact, Arthur already knew the purpose of Archduke Paul's visit.Although the Russian monarchy was preserved, the power of Nicholas II was severely restricted compared to the civil strife. It can even be said that he did not have much power and could only live in the Winter Palace.

Such a status quo made the ambitious Nicholas II very dissatisfied. Nicholas II had been waiting for an opportunity, an opportunity to regain power.

Now that the war is over, the anti-war thinking of the Russian people will naturally come to an end.As the Russian troops returned home one after another, Nicholas II also regained control of some royalist forces, allowing Nicholas II to see the hope of regaining power.

Relying solely on the power of Nicholas II and the royalists is not enough. After all, apart from the provisional government, Nicholas II also has a bigger confidant, that is, the Workers' Union.

Because of this, Nicholas II wanted to find more allies, such as several countries of the Entente.

In addition, I thought of the joint declaration of the European royal family proposed by Arthur before, so I thought of Australasia first, and sent Archduke Paul, who has the closest relationship with Australasia, as a representative.

Grand Duke Paul is the younger brother of Grand Duke Sergei and the youngest son of the late Tsar Alexander II.

In terms of blood relationship, Grand Duke Paul is the uncle of Queen Mary, and besides Grand Duke Sergey, the person closest to Queen Mary by blood.

And, of course, Queen Mary's brother.But young people are not convincing after all, so Nicholas II decided to send Grand Duke Paul as a representative.

As for Queen Mary's adoptive father, Arthur's titular father-in-law, the Grand Duke Sergey, who was killed by a bomb in an attack, has stepped into heaven.

Arthur and Grand Duke Paul have only met a few times, and they are not very familiar with each other.

However, Archduke Paul got the orders from Nicholas II. As soon as they met, he played the emotional card, asked Queen Mary's situation many times, and expressed Nicholas II's love for Arthur, Queen Mary, William, and Anna. concern.

"Your Majesty! Russia needs your help, and the Romanov family also needs your help!" After a short chat, Grand Duke Paul returned to the subject and mentioned his real intention to come to Australasia.

"Where did you start? Grand Duke Paul. As far as I know, although the civil strife has had a certain impact on the Romanov family's rule, the status of your royal family is still stable, and it seems that you don't need the help of Australasia. Arthur raised his eyebrows, pretending to be surprised, and asked.

"Your Majesty, as you know, Russia has made great contributions to the Allies in this war. But some damn rebels, taking advantage of the troops deployed at the front, launched a rebellion rashly, and captured the government departments and the Winter War. Palace. Although His Majesty temporarily succumbed to these rebels, he never wanted to restore the rule of the Romanov family. For the Russian people, the monarchy is bright, and only under the leadership of the great His Majesty Nicholas, in the Romanov Only under the rule of the husband’s family can Russia bloom again.” Grand Duke Paul knew that Arthur and Australasia were no longer what they were before, and they were countries that even Russia before the war needed to pay attention to.

Among other things, the status of the four major powers of the Allied Powers alone is enough for any country in the world to value.

Although the strength is still behind Britain, France and Russia, they are already on an equal footing with Britain, France and Russia in terms of status, and can sit together at the same negotiating table to divide up the interests of the allies, instead of waiting for the meeting notice like Italy.

Arthur nodded, understanding.

In fact, this is indeed the case. Russia's army of up to millions is all on the front line. This is the reason why the rebels were able to quickly break through St. Petersburg and the Winter Palace.

But in fact, Nicholas II also made frequent tricks, but if he did a few stupid things, there would not be so many workers and civilians joining the previous rebellion.

Seeing Arthur nodded, Grand Duke Paul was overjoyed and said quickly: "Your Majesty, for the sake of the Russia-Australia Covenant, for the sake of the marriage between the two royal families, and for the sake of the joint declaration of the European royal families, please Your Majesty." Support His Majesty Nicholas to regain power, abolish the provisional government, and destroy the Moscow regime established by the Workers' Union without authorization, so that the great and glorious monarchy with a long history will return to the whole of Russia."

"Grand Duke Paul, just tell me, what kind of support do you need?" Arthur asked directly.

The monarchy doesn't seem too bright, at least for Russia at the moment.As long as the monarchy and Nicholas II gave the people hope, rebellions of this scale would not have erupted across Russia.

But in any case, with the marriage relationship between the two countries, the joint declaration of the European royal family proposed by Arthur himself, and out of the interests of Australasia, it is still necessary to maintain a Russia with a monarchy.

Monarchy Russia is an ally of Australasia, but Republic Russia is uncontrollable.

Looking at it this way, it becomes very clear how to choose.However, support is support, and it is limited to the provision of weapons, equipment and funds, and the scope of support must also be within the range that Arthur can accept.

After all, Arthur is not doing charity, so he does not intend to spend a lot of money and development time in Australasia to make wedding dresses for the Romanov family and Nicholas II.

If Nicholas can pull in Britain and Italy at the same time, Arthur doesn't mind helping Britain and Italy and contributing a little more.

But if it's just Australasia helping Russia, then it can only be a friendly help, and the amount depends on Arthur's mood.

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(End of this chapter)