Rise of Australia

Chapter 483 Railway Tenders and Expansion of the University

The news of the Russian Civil War immediately hit the headlines of European and American countries.War is a big news at any time, especially a civil war in a great power country, which will not only cause the media from all over the world to rush to report, but also be taken seriously by major countries.

It is not even an exaggeration to say that the Russian civil war is closely related to the interests of many countries.First of all, Russia and Australasia have very close ties. The millions of immigrants Russia sends to Australasia every year determines that Arthur will not sit idly by and ignore Russia's civil war.

If the Workers Union won the civil war, even if the Workers Union wanted to continue to implement the immigration treaty, Arthur would never accept it.

Just kidding, the brainwashed Russian people will definitely spread the revolution in Australasia. This is absolutely unwilling to see it, and it is something Arthur must put an end to and guard against.

Secondly, a republican Russia would not be in Australasia's interests.During Nicholas II's reign, he was able to ensure that Russia was a close ally of Australasia.

But if power in Russia is taken over by the Workers' Union, the new Russia will only be a rival to Australasia.

In addition, Britain, which has disputes with Russia in some areas, also pays close attention to Russia's development.

France, which has an alliance with Russia, also attaches great importance to Russia's civil war. In addition to Russia's two allies, Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, there are as many as five great powers paying close attention to the development of the situation in Russia.

Theoretically speaking, most countries, including the United Kingdom and Australasia, still support Tsarist Russia where Nicholas II sits.

Unlike the previous bourgeois government, the Soviet Russia formed by the Workers' Union is a brand new political system, which will have a huge impact on traditional countries.

Historically, after the establishment of Soviet Russia, European countries formed a coalition to destroy this new country.

But now the situation has changed, but the British Empire does have the idea of ​​forcibly extinguishing this regime.

Not long after the Russian Civil War, representatives of the British Empire emphasized at the weekly regular meeting of the World Alliance that the World Alliance should have the responsibility to protect the world situation and world peace.

But the current situation is much better than in history. The strength of the Workers' Union is obviously weaker than that of Tsarist Russia controlled by Nicholas II, not like in history, neither the bourgeois government nor Nicholas II The power of resistance.

Although countries are very concerned about the civil war in Russia, countries around the world that have just been ravaged by influenza are obviously unable to gather millions of troops to attack the newly established Soviet Russia.

The major representatives had to consider the interests of their respective countries, and naturally it was impossible to nod and agree to dispatch troops just because of a word from the British representative.

The British representative was helpless, because it was impossible for the British alone to send troops to Russia.

The British representative could only change the request for sending troops to a request for assistance, to assist Tsarist Russia controlled by Nicholas II, and to free the Russian people from the misery of the civil war.

Tsarist Russia controlled by Nicholas II was called the real Russian regime by the British representatives, and Soviet Russia, which was recently established in Moscow, was called an evil rebel regime by the British representatives.

Although all countries are reluctant to send troops to Russia, it is no problem to provide some assistance to Russia.

Romania, which is particularly close to Russia, and Serbia, which has always held Russia's thigh, have agreed to provide assistance to Tsarist Russia to help it fight against the evil Soviet Russian regime.

The panic in these countries is not unreasonable. If Nicholas II failed in the Russian Civil War, then it might be these neighboring countries of Russia that would be troubled by the Russian revolution.

Even defeated countries like Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire cannot escape at all, especially the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The contradiction between the imperial government and the government of the Kingdom of Hungary has become very obvious. Any accident may cause this ancient empire to fall apart.

The good news is that the strength gap in the Russian Civil War is still relatively wide.Although a large area of ​​land in the southeast is occupied by the Workers' Union, the size of the Workers' Union's armed forces has not exceeded 50.

On the other hand, Tsarist Russia in the north successfully received the troops of the previous Russian government. Coupled with the weapons and equipment prepared by Nicholas II, the number of troops quickly exceeded 50, and it was even approaching one million.

Even without the help of other countries, Tsarist Russia can spend some time with Soviet Russia.

After all, Britain's attitude was unequivocally in support of Tsarist Russia, which also meant that the compensation paid to Russia by Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire would basically be accepted by Tsarist Russia.

The financial ratio between the nascent Soviet Russian regime and the tsarist regime controlled by Nicholas II was fundamentally unbalanced, which was also the biggest factor limiting the strength of the workers' union.

In any era, buying materials and strengthening strength requires huge funds.The newly established Soviet Russia can be regarded as poor and blank. In addition, most countries do not have a high opinion of this new regime. Even under the leadership of the United Kingdom, they directly refused to trade with Soviet Russia.

In fact, Nicholas II's request for help was quickly conveyed to the World League and European countries, and Australasia was no exception.

In order to win this civil war and allow the rule of the Romanov family to come back to all Russian territories, Nicholas II spent a lot of money this time, ordering a batch of more than 150 million rifles from Australasia, 5 million rounds bullets, a huge order for 2000 machine guns and 1500 artillery pieces.

At the same time, Nicholas II was also very interested in Australasian tanks, as well as aircraft, all of which were in Nicholas II's military orders.

In order to distribute supplies to the domestic people, Nicholas II has spent a considerable part of Germany's reparations, and the financial situation of the Russian government is not very good.

For this reason, Nicholas II directly took out the gold that the Tsarist family had stored for a long time, and used genuine gold to trade with Australasia.

In addition to weapons and equipment, Nicholas II also ordered a large amount of food and medical supplies from European countries for distribution to the domestic people.

After previous setbacks, Nicholas II had understood the importance of winning the hearts and minds of the people.

But it will not be completely reborn, but Nicholas II is still clear about gaining the support of the people on the surface.

Even if some supplies are distributed to the public for free, the cost is destined not to be too much.But such behavior can greatly gain the favor of the people, which is still very important for stabilizing one's own rule.

In the face of such a powerful enemy as Soviet Russia, Nicholas II can be said to be omnipotent.

Arthur decisively agreed to Nicholas II's request to purchase weapons and equipment. After all, a Russia ruled by the Tsar is also in the interests of Australasia.

But Arthur's attention is not all focused on Russia, after all, the development of Australasia in the new year is also very important.

The first thing to do was the construction of the railway in the Persian Gulf territory.

Australasian construction companies are clearly unable to meet all domestic construction needs. Therefore, only by bidding for foreign construction companies can the railway in the Persian Gulf Territory be successfully constructed.

As you can see from the map, the Persian Gulf Territory of Australasia is a long and narrow area along the coast of the Persian Gulf.

Although it is only necessary to build a coastal railway from south to north, the distance of this railway is not short, and it has even exceeded 1000 kilometers in the estimation of the transportation department.

The need for the construction of this railway, in addition to meeting the transportation requirements of the Persian Gulf territory from south to north, is to mobilize the troops of the Persian Gulf territory faster.

After all, it is a piece of land far away from the mainland of Australasia. It is difficult to guarantee that this place will always be peaceful. The guarantee of transportation capacity is very important.

The estimated investment for this thousand-kilometer railway is A$2500 million, with a construction period of approximately three to five years.

The main reason is that there are many deserts in this area and it is relatively hot, otherwise the investment cost and cycle can be reduced.

In the end, this section of the railway was taken over by the British railway company. After all, apart from Germany at the current industrial level, Arthur believed in the UK most.

Moreover, the United Kingdom is currently the most important ally of Australasia, and there is nothing wrong with giving the British a face.

I believe that the British will not have problems with the quality of the project. After all, the quality of the project is clearly written in the contract, and the British government will not sit back and watch their credit collapse.

The second foreign contracted railway is the Ring Island Railway in New Guinea.The circum-island railway in New Guinea has actually been completed for less than half, which is the area previously controlled by Australasia.As for the area controlled by Germany and the Netherlands, it is the area where the ring-island railway will be built this time, an ultra-long railway with a total length of nearly 4000 kilometers.

Yes, the railway around the island of New Guinea alone has a total length of about 4000 kilometers.

Although this may seem unbelievable, if you think of New Guinea as the second largest island in the world, it seems a bit natural.

This island is rich in water resources and mineral resources, and is the most important area in Arthur's plan besides Australia and New Zealand.

This island is an important source of water resources in Australasia, and it is also the core area of ​​the north-south water diversion project in Arthur's plan.

It is no exaggeration to say that this island can bring new hope to the Australian region, even more important than New Zealand.

This will also be the first directly-administered state among all the colonies and territories of Australasia. After there are enough immigrants and scale, this will be the new directly-administered state of Australasia.

Of course, as a single state, the area is too large.The best outcome would be to divide it into 2 or 3 states and join the Australasian dominion.

Speaking of this, I have to mention the huge administrative division of Australia.

It is no exaggeration to say that Australia alone has a land area larger than most countries in the world.

But the whole of Australia is divided into seven administrative divisions of Western Australia, South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and the Capital Territory.

Such administrative divisions are somewhat unreasonable. The largest Western Australia even occupies more than one-third of the Australian region, and the smaller Capital Territory and Tasmania are only a few tenths of Western Australia.

For such an extremely large piece of land, Arthur's ideal administrative division is to divide it into at least ten administrative regions.

Among them, the three administrative regions of New South Wales, Victoria and the Capital Territory in the southeastern region must be divided into at least five administrative regions. After all, this is the most populous region in Australia, and even accommodates more than half of the population of Australasia.

The New Guinea Circum-Island Railway, a railway of more than 4000 kilometers, except for some railways in Australian New Guinea and German New Guinea, the scale of the railway to be built is at least as high as 2000 kilometers.

For the construction of this section of the railway, what Arthur hopes most is to be undertaken by the private railway company in Australasia.

As early as when Australia was still a colony, there were many private railway companies in Australia, but they were not large in scale.

After more than ten years of development, some medium-sized railway companies have indeed emerged, but without exception, they are not qualified to contract this railway alone.

In the end, the 2000-kilometer-long railway was contracted by more than a dozen railway companies in sections, and the average railway mileage built by each railway company did not exceed 200 kilometers.

Although there are many railway companies building them, Australasia's transportation department has clear specifications for New Guinea's ring-island railway, and there is no need to worry about the railway specifications built by these railway companies being different.

This can also be regarded as supporting the domestic private railway companies in Australasia and helping these private small private railway companies develop better, provided that the railways they build must meet the specifications and quality requirements.

Compared with other foreign countries, the prospects for the development of private enterprises in Australasia are relatively good.

For various reasons, Australasia was neither affected by World War I nor the influenza, and its economic development was relatively more stable.

During the flu, at least tens of thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises went bankrupt in the United States. This number and scale are quite exaggerated.

Although many small and medium-sized enterprises have gone bankrupt in Australasia, the measures introduced by the government are also very timely, reducing the number of bankrupt enterprises to within three digits.

In the final analysis, it was because of Arthur's preventive measures in advance that the epidemic did not affect the important cities in Australasia, and they were basically isolated from the ports.

Even in relatively bloated cities like Sydney and Melbourne, more than half a year has passed since the discovery of the flu, and the total number of people infected with the flu in the two cities has not exceeded 1000.

Except for the newly built railways in these two areas, the scale of railways built in other areas is not large, and the railway company under the royal consortium will be responsible.

The development of the royal consortium has now become a very large behemoth. It is no exaggeration to say that it is an incomparably rich country.

But there is also a good point, that is, the annual financial revenue of the royal consortium to the government even exceeds that of the populous states of Victoria and New South Wales.

The royal consortium is very strict in paying taxes, and even some taxes that could have been avoided, under Arthur's order, the royal consortium will pay in full.

In fact, this is equivalent to the left hand and the right hand. The large amount of taxes paid by the royal consortium to the government are basically used in the development of the country.

The strength of the royal consortium is a good thing for Arthur, and the strength of Australasia is an even better thing for Arthur.

Moreover, a considerable number of enterprises of the Royal Consortium are also jointly operated with the government, including the newly established Royal Petroleum Company, which is the result of joint funding and establishment of the Royal Consortium and the government.

This also brought more taxes and income to the government, and government officials naturally would not have any dissatisfaction with the huge royal consortium.

The public's attitude towards the royal consortium is basically supportive.After all, the employee treatment and benefits of all companies in the royal family consortium are the best in Australia. Not only do they strictly implement the eight-hour work system and double wages on holidays, but they also give out free gifts and supplies during holidays.

In addition, Arthur spends a considerable part of the Wang's consortium's income every year and transfers it to the Royal Relief Committee to help all low-income people, orphans, widowed elderly and other groups in Australasia.

Most of the nursing homes and orphanages in Australasia were funded and established by the Royal Relief Committee, and they accommodated orphans and widowed elderly in Australasia free of charge.

Although the life in these nursing homes and orphanages is not destined to be very good, it can be regarded as having a meal every meal, basic necessities of life, food, housing and transportation, and no worries about food and clothing.

It is precisely because of the large sum of money that Arthur spends on the public every year that the public will not have any dissatisfaction with the royal consortium that is making money every day.

After all, a considerable part of the income of the royal consortium is directly returned to the people, which is much better than those greedy capitalists.

In fact, if you think about it, Australasia’s pensions, free distribution of materials, orphanages, nursing homes, education subsidies and scholarships, medical subsidies and relief, and relief for low-income groups are all inseparable from the efforts behind the royal consortium.

With the royal family consortium giving back tens of millions of Australian dollars to the public every year, the royal family consortium's reputation among the public will definitely not be low.

In addition to large-scale domestic construction, Arthur also intends to further upgrade domestic education and medical care.

The first is the Australasian education system.After more than ten years of development, education in Australasia is actually quite successful.

The average academic level per capita has been raised to junior high school or above, and the number of college students is no longer the pitiful number it was in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

What needs to be further strengthened in education is the number of universities and technical schools in Australasia.

With the increase of the population, the increase of the number of universities is also very necessary.Especially after Australasia re-divided the administrative regions, each new administrative region must have a university, which is also the most basic guarantee.

In addition to increasing the number of universities, it is also very necessary to improve the international status of universities.

The best solution at present is to increase investment in universities, hire more professors and experts from Europe, and build more high-precision laboratories.

Large investment in education is inevitable, after all, education is the foundation of a strong country.

　Just one update today, [-] words, just lazy, please support me!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)