Chapter 180 War Breaks Out, Referendum Results Announced

On February 6, after the island country broke off diplomatic relations with the Russian Empire, the Russian Empire asked the army and navy in the Far East to prepare for a possible war, while delaying the arrival of the war as much as possible so that the army would have more time to prepare.

According to international practice, two countries generally have to go through two stages before going to war: declaring war and severing diplomatic relations. Because the island country did not declare war on the Russian Empire, officials of the Russian Empire, including Tsar Nicholas II, believed that the island country was just threatening and testing, and did not think that the island country really dared to start a war.

This also affected the war preparations in the Far East to a certain extent. Many Russians had this mentality and believed that the island country could not start a war without authorization, so the war preparations were also slow.

At this time, most of the warships of the Pacific Fleet of the Russian Empire were still anchored in the outer port of Lushun Port, and the alert of the ships was still the same as usual. Although it had been decided to take measures to strengthen the alert, this decision had not yet been fully implemented.

Although the then Governor-General of the Far East, Alexeev, had already learned about the breakdown of negotiations between the island country and the Russian Empire, he did not take more urgent contingency measures.

He blindly and arrogantly believed that the island country would not start a war, so a few hours before the war, he vowed to General Wittheft, Chief of Staff of the Pacific Fleet: "War is impossible."

But just a few hours after he said this, on February 8, 1904, the island country dispatched a fleet and launched a surprise attack on the Pacific Fleet of the Russian Empire in the outer port of Port Arthur.

At this time, the Russian Empire's Far East Fleet was divided into three parts, one part still stayed in Vladivostok, and the other part was stationed in Incheon Port in Korea.

The main fleet of the Pacific Fleet was stationed in Port Arthur, commanded by Admiral Tasker of the Russian Empire.

The island nation's sneak attack plan this time is also divided into three parts. A small part of the fleet went north to guard against the return of the Tsarist Russian Empire fleet stationed in Vladivostok, and the other part of the fleet consisted of six cruisers, including cruisers produced in Australia.

The target of this fleet is the Vagrian and the Korean in Incheon Port.

The main force of the remaining combined fleet, their target is the main force of the Pacific Squadron located in Lushunkou.

At about ten o'clock in the evening, the island nation's combined fleet successfully arrived outside the Lushun Port. At this time, it was already night, because it was winter, it was dark earlier, and the sky was already dark at ten o'clock.

For the arrival of the island nation fleet, the Pacific Fleet of the Tsarist Russian Empire had no defense.

This also doomed the fate of this fleet. Even though there were many war trends, the Governor-General of the Far East Alekseyev and the Commander of the Pacific Fleet Stark turned a blind eye, arrogantly believing that the island nation could not start a war, and there was no strengthening of war preparedness.

In order not to alert the enemy, the island nation first sent out several torpedo boats and quietly entered the Port of Lushun.

However, the warships anchored outside the port still found something wrong. After turning on the searchlights, they found these torpedo boats.

But this did not stop the torpedo boats from taking action. In just a few minutes, several torpedo boats fired dozens of torpedoes at several battleships and cruisers around them. Although more than half of them did not hit, more than ten torpedoes still hit nearby Russian warships.

The most damaged were the Perswit battleship and the flagship of the Pacific Fleet, the Crown Prince.

It is worth mentioning that when the roar of torpedoes and the return fire of Russian warships reached the shore, General Tasker and others were still confused.

Some people at the banquet speculated that the warships were firing salutes, and some speculated that the army was exercising, which made the fleet commander Tasker believe and hesitate.

It was not until someone reported that the warship was attacked that Tasker was shocked and quickly ended the banquet.

The sneak attack lasted for several hours. In the end, the island fleet had to leave in disappointment under the defense of the port's solid fortresses and coastal defense guns.

But the attack was not unsuccessful. The battleships Persvet and Crown Prince of the Pacific Fleet were seriously injured and could not participate in the battle for a short time.

Others, including two cruisers and some small warships, were also injured, and their combat effectiveness was greatly reduced.

The most successful sneak attack was the small fleet in Incheon. Because of the advantage in numbers, the Russian warships were no match for the island warships. In the end, after a battle, both warships were sunk.

When the news of the fleet's sneak attack was passed back to the Russian Empire, it was already noon the next day.

A group of senior officials of the Russian Empire were quite angry, and Tsar Nicholas II even smashed several ornaments.

Soon after, the Foreign Minister of the Russian Empire received a declaration of war from the ambassador of the island country.

The islanders helplessly explained that the propaganda book was delayed for one day because the telegraph machine was broken.

The Russian Empire despised this, and replied with disgust and hatred: "Your shameless remarks are quite disgusting, and the Russian Empire will make you pay the price."

Since the island country's sneak attack on the Russian Empire's Pacific Fleet on February 8, the war between the Russian Empire and the island country broke out the next day, February 9.

As one of the old powers, the war between the Russian Empire and the emerging island country is also a major event in the world.

After the full outbreak of the war, the Far East once again attracted the attention of the world.

As in the previous crisis, the British Empire and the United States stood on the side of the island nation, and the German Empire stood on the side of the Russian Empire.

In order to win over and maintain relations with the Russian Empire, France had to stand on the side of the Russian Empire.

Other countries basically watched the war with a melon-eating mood. After all, the war was in the Far East and could not affect Europe at all.

Australia and New Zealand also acted quickly and declared neutrality on February 9.

In addition to selling arms to these two countries, Arthur was indeed not interested in this war.

After all, for Australia and New Zealand, the referendum at hand is the most concerned thing.

However, this is also a good thing. With the attraction of the Far East War, New Zealand's referendum is not eye-catching, and Arthur's role in it is gradually forgotten.

On February 15, 1904, the referendum voting phase in New Zealand officially ended and entered a one-month counting phase.

Because all votes may be as high as hundreds of thousands, New Zealand deliberately borrowed hundreds of officials from the colonies of the surrounding powers to help with the counting.

As for why they didn't borrow people from Australia and the British Empire, it was because these two countries were also one of the protagonists of the referendum, and it was inevitable that they would be criticized if they were asked to help count the votes.

In fact, thanks to the hundreds of officials borrowed from the colonies of the great powers, otherwise the referendum vote counting might waste more time.

After a month of hard work, the results of the New Zealand referendum were officially released on March 15, 1904.

This referendum attracted the participation of the vast majority of eligible people in New Zealand, with a total of 466,327 votes received, accounting for 94% of the number of voters.

Among the three options available in the referendum, the least supported option was New Zealand independence.

There were only more than 13,000 people who supported New Zealand independence, accounting for only 3% of the total number of voters.

This also shows from the side that New Zealanders do not think that the country's independence will allow them to live well, but will be coveted by more countries.

The most chosen option is to join Australia.

Perhaps it was because Arthur, the Duke of Australia, did a lot during the New Zealand crisis, or because of the natural favorability and recognition of New Zealanders for Australia, or because of the brainwashing of New Zealanders by the Alliance Party led by Grant. In short, the option of joining Australia received overwhelming support in this referendum.

There were 57,000 votes in support of New Zealand's continued stay in the British Empire, accounting for 14% of the total number of voters.

There were more than 336,000 people who chose to join Australia and form a federation with Australia, accounting for more than 82% of the total number of voters.

The option of joining Australia became New Zealand's choice after this referendum with an overwhelming advantage of 82%.

When the New Zealand colonial government officially announced the results of the referendum on March 15, the streets of New Zealand were once again filled with people crying with joy.

New Zealanders seemed to see the hope of prosperity in their country, and they also seemed to see that New Zealanders had a rich and beautiful life like Australians.

Since March 16, various slogans such as "Long live the Federation!" and "Long live the Duke of Arthur!" have appeared on the streets of New Zealand. People seem to be using this method to celebrate the rebirth of New Zealand and the joy of having Arthur as their monarch.

On March 17, 1904, Arthur gave a speech in Wellington as the Governor-General of New Zealand, announcing that the New Zealand colonial government recognized the results of the New Zealand referendum and announced that after Australia took over New Zealand, the New Zealand colonial government would be formally reorganized into the New Zealand government, and the House of Commons and the House of Lords would remain unchanged.

On the same day, New Zealand and Australia received congratulations from many countries, including the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Russian Empire, the island countries, France and the United States. The congratulations from the British Empire were the last to arrive.

On March 18, 1904, Arthur, as the Duke of Australia, welcomed all New Zealanders and promised that after the establishment of a new federation, all New Zealanders would be treated as Australians. New Zealanders and Australians are all Arthur's people.

Chapter 2 of 3,000 words, please support!