Rise of Australia

Chapter 930 Loan Arrival
Judging from the British government's response, they will most likely choose to compromise with Australasia.

Just over a week before Churchill returned to London, the British government notified the Australasian ambassador to the UK to discuss the A$10 billion loan mentioned by Arthur.

At the current exchange rate, 10 billion Australian dollars is roughly equivalent to 5.347 million pounds, which is close to one-third of the island nation's total GNP.

Seeing how quickly the British advanced, Arthur had to admire the scale of Britain's economy and the countless wealth brought by its vast colonies.

Judging from the economic size of the UK and Australasia, there should not be much difference in income between the two.

But in fact, the British government's revenue is more than twice the annual fiscal revenue of the Australasia government. The A$10 billion loan is only the British government's fiscal revenue for less than one year.

What caused such a huge gap in fiscal revenue between Britain and Australasia? Of course, it was Britain's vast colonies, such as India, Canada and South Africa.

According to Australasia's intelligence on India, India's grain production last year exceeded 4000 million tons, which is an extremely terrifying number.

In comparison, the UK's grain production is only one-tenth of India's, and Canada's grain production is only about a quarter of India's.

Such a huge grain output brought the British almost countless income. With such a developed grain output alone, India was enough to become the most important colony of Britain.

Not to mention that India has a huge population, rich mineral resources and so on.

However, precisely because India has a large population, even if India's grain production exceeds 4000 million tons, it still cannot meet the food consumption of the entire Commonwealth.

As a major food exporter in the world, Australasia has also gained some advantages in this regard.

The population of Australasia remains at the same level as that of the United Kingdom, but Australasia's food production is nearly eight times that of the United Kingdom.

According to data compiled by the agricultural department, the total cultivated land in Australasia exceeded 1936 million acres in 4925, which is a huge area of ​​19.9 square kilometers.

How exaggerated is the area of ​​nearly 20 square kilometers? You should know that the total land area of ​​the four major parts of the United Kingdom, namely England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, is less than 30 square kilometers.

The combined land area of ​​the two largest parts, Scotland and Ireland, is just over 20 square kilometers, almost the same as the land area of ​​Australasia.

Using land equivalent to half of the United Kingdom to grow crops is the reason why Australasia's food production continues to increase. After all, the vast land area is really arbitrary, and the land of half of the United Kingdom is just a fraction of the land area of ​​Australasia.

The vast arable land area has brought about a grain output that is unimaginable for ordinary countries. In 1936, Australasia's grain output reached an astonishing 3157.5 million tons, and the annual cumulative grain exports reached more than 1450 million tons.

Thanks to the country's population of only more than 4000 million, nearly half of Australasia's grain production is exported, making it one of the top three grain exporting countries in the world.

Currently, farmers' income in Australasia remains above the average annual income level, and agricultural workers are still relatively popular.

However, due to the overall population limitation, the growth of cultivated land is very slow. But this growth rate can match the population growth rate, and there is basically no food shortage in Australasia at present.

With more food production, the price of food will naturally decrease. Coupled with the extremely developed animal husbandry, people of all income levels in Australasia can have enough to eat, which is what Arthur considers to be his most important political achievement over the past 30 years.

At least in Australasia at present, there is really no such concept as starvation. As long as you are willing to work, you can get enough income from the Royal Relief Committee and various enterprises and factories to buy a large amount of cheap food.

Also, because a large amount of grain is exported every year, grain prices can be maintained at a level, ensuring that farmers' income will not be too low.

How exaggerated is the grain production in Australasia? According to the current agricultural department's estimate of the national per capita grain consumption, the current grain production of 3157.5 million tons can basically ensure that 1 million people consume for more than one year.

Because the population of Australasia is less than 5000 million, the current food production can ensure that the entire Australasia population will be fed for more than two years.

Coupled with strategic food reserves, the more than 4000 million people in Australasia will not face famine even if food is not produced for two years.

Ambassador John to the UK quickly reported to Arthur the loan proposal offered by British capital.

Of the total A$10 billion in loans, about A$6.9 million came from the British private sector. This part of the loan is a low-interest loan with a loan term of 15 years.

The remaining approximately A$3.1 million in loans comes from the British government and the royal family, of which A$1.6 million is an interest-free loan and the remaining A$1.5 million is a low-interest loan with a loan term of 20 years.

Although he only received an interest-free loan of A$1.6 million, Arthur was quite satisfied with the British solution. The loan could be used by the Australian government without any restrictions.

Such conditions are better than the low-interest loans of many countries and capitals. Before World War I, France, which was famous for its loans, had many restrictions on its loans, one of which was that a certain portion of the loans had to be used to purchase industrial equipment and other materials in France.

The prices of these industrial equipment and materials will increase to a certain extent compared to the market price, which means that the French will make a large profit in addition to the interest on the loan.

This is also the reason why the French loved lending before World War I. No matter which country they loaned to, they could continuously create income for the French government.

In addition, the borrowing countries purchased large amounts of industrial equipment and materials from France, which in turn promoted the development of French industry and other industries.

The French were so intoxicated by the good data on paper that they went on the path of lending and never turned back.

From a historical perspective, France's actions did not make the country stronger, but instead made it lag behind other countries in the competition for European hegemony.

If huge amounts of capital could be invested in the development of domestic industry and technology, France might have been even stronger during World War I.

Because the total value of loans of A$10 billion comes from different banks, the calculation of the overall interest is quite complicated.

Arthur didn't need to pay attention to the calculation of interest, he just needed to wait for the final interest calculation results.

According to the final interest rate given by Ambassador John and British banks, Australasia needs to repay 10 million Australian dollars in interest for this 1.23 billion Australian dollars loan, plus the principal, a total of 11.23 billion Australian dollars. Most low-interest loans have an interest rate of around 1%, and the British did not ask for too much. Among international loans between countries, the interest rate is indeed relatively low.

At Arthur's suggestion, Ambassador John formally signed the loan agreement. The loan, with a total value of 10 billion Australian dollars, will be transported to Australasia in various ways within half a year.

Most of the loans are in British pounds, with smaller amounts in Australian dollars and other currencies.

It doesn't matter to Australasia, as the pound is still the strongest currency in the world, at least until Australasia runs out of money.

In fact, the exchange rate between the British pound and the Australian dollar can show that the Australian dollar is slowly decoupling from the British pound. In the first 20 years of the Australian dollar's issuance, the exchange rate between the British pound and the Australian dollar has been stable at 1 to 2.

But since the gold standard was abolished by all countries, the exchange rates of various currencies have fluctuated greatly. Arthur did not force the Australian dollar and the British pound to continue to maintain a 2:1 exchange rate, but tried to reduce the impact between the two currencies.

For Australasia, after this world war, the Australian dollar will definitely be pushed into the mainstream of world currencies.

After becoming the world currency, Australasia will be able to control the world economy by issuing the Australian dollar, just like the United States in later generations.

But there is a prerequisite for doing so, that is, the connection between the Australian dollar and the British pound must be weakened as much as possible. If the connection between the two currencies still exists, the British pound will still be the main currency after World War II, and even the Australian dollar cannot replace it.

With this funding, Arthur finally had real money in his hands and was no longer worried.

Even if a large-scale war is launched against the island country, the 10 billion Australian dollars will still allow Australasia to survive for at least 2 to 3 years.

As long as the island nation is destroyed, a large amount of wealth in the island nation will be divided up by Australasia. With the gains from exploiting the island nation, I believe there will be no problem in persisting in this war.

After the first batch of 7200 million Australian dollars in funds arrived from the British, Arthur immediately signed the plan to manufacture armaments and weapons.

Over the next year, Australasia's military industry will need to manufacture at least 350 million rifles, 9 million rounds of ammunition, 2250 machine guns, 1.2 artillery pieces, 7500 million rounds of artillery shells, 7200 tanks and 4250 aircraft.

In order to successfully manufacture these weapons and equipment within the expected time, the Royal Arsenal and other private military factories will usher in a new round of expansion.

Even if the war against the island countries does not require so many weapons, they can be used in the war against Europe later. Besides, Britain and France will also need a large amount of weapons and equipment for the war against Germany, and weapons and equipment will not have trouble selling in this war.

In addition to the construction of weapons and equipment, Arthur also signed a plan for the expansion of the navy.

在1937年中旬到1938年中旬这一年的时间里，澳大拉西亚预计将建造3艘航空母舰、6重型艘巡航舰、7艘驱逐舰、12艘轻型巡洋舰和36艘潜艇。

Only when the navy and air force become strong together, will Australasia have the strength to compete for the throne of world hegemony after the end of World War II.

More importantly, if Britain wants to take over the position of world hegemony from the British, it must have a fleet size that can threaten the Royal Navy.

At present, in terms of the overall size of the navy, Australasia is far behind the British fleet. However, if we compare the comprehensive combat effectiveness of the main battleships, Australasia actually has an advantage.

After all, aircraft carriers are too powerful for old battleships, which is a fact that has been confirmed in naval battles.

In addition to the naval battle in which the island nation attacked the Hawaiian port, two small-scale naval battles broke out in the current World War II battlefield, in which aircraft carriers played a huge role.

This is also the reason why the island nation's navy is hiding in the port and dare not go out. Because of Australasia's powerful air force, the island nation's navy is always facing the pressure of a large number of aircraft.

In addition to signing the arms manufacturing plan, Arthur also formally signed the order to launch a large-scale attack on the island nation.

The official attack on the island nation took place on July 1937, 7, one month later.

Arthur was not going to continue playing around with the island nation. According to the large-scale offensive order signed by Arthur, Australasia would deploy at least 300 million troops, of which the Australasian army would be as large as 120 million.

The West Coast United Kingdom and the Kingdom of California have sent a total of about 10 troops, and this army will also join the war against the island country.

In addition, the Philippines sent 60 troops and the United Sultanate of Kalimantan sent more than 110 million troops, together forming a powerful army of more than 300 million people.

Of course, the only troops that are truly capable of fighting are the 120 million regular troops of Australasia. The only role of the other troops is to launch a feint attack on the front to distract the attention of the island nation's army.

You know, although the island nation’s army claims to have more than 300 million troops, their elite troops are less than 100 million.

The remaining troops can only be considered qualified. Most of the Type C divisions have not completed their training so far, and some of them have not even experienced target practice a few times.

It is obviously impossible for such an army to exert sufficient combat effectiveness. In addition, with the lead of Australasia's navy and air force, 120 million troops are enough.

Including the 30 troops deployed in Europe and the 20 troops deployed in North Africa, the estimated number of troops deployed in Australasia is close to 170 million.

This was the war with the largest number of regular troops deployed since the founding of Australasia, which also proved Arthur's importance to this war.

But then again, Arthur did take this war very seriously, but he definitely did not take the island country seriously.

If the premature exposure of the atomic bomb had not caused more problems, only a few dozen atomic bombs would have been needed to destroy the faith of the island nation.

Even if it were a bit more cruel, the Australasian army could avoid landing on the island country. They only needed to drop a large number of atomic bombs on important cities on the island country and try to use atomic bombs to activate the volcano of Mount Fuji, which could bring the entire island country to the brink of destruction.

(End of this chapter)