Chapter 209 The Focus of the Banquet

Arthur's words startled the nobles and officials of many countries, and also made the cheers of the Australasia crowd even more enthusiastic.

Is a fleet consisting of two battleships, five large main warships, ten medium cruisers and dozens of small warships strong?

This level is only about half of the current size of the island nation's fleet, and it can only reach the top fifteen in the world.

But what if these two battleships are the latest dreadnought level? At present, the only country that truly owns dreadnought-class battleships is the British Empire, and there are only a few countries that have plans to invest in budgets to design and produce dreadnoughts.

If the warships to be produced in Australasia are of the dreadnought level, then the strength of this warship can even reach the top ten in the world.

Especially near the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific, the strength of this fleet in Australasia should not be underestimated.

For the Australasia people, nothing is more exciting than the country's real main warship battleships.

After truly owning battleships, the Australasia Navy can be on the stage and recognized by other countries in the world.

Amid the surprise of foreign officials and the cheers of the people below, Arthur's coronation ceremony officially ended.

The national flag on the square was also replaced with the already selected flag of the Kingdom of Australasia at the last moment of the coronation ceremony.

More than one country is interested in Australasia's naval plan, especially those with interests in the Indian Ocean and the west coast of the Pacific Ocean.

If the two battleships that Australasia is about to start construction are of the dreadnought class, then they should also consider how to adjust their foreign policy towards Australasia.

However, after the coronation ceremony, Arthur went straight back to Sydney Palace. Even if these nobles and officials had many questions, they could only wait until the evening banquet to ask privately.

After the announcement of Australasia's naval construction plan, the happiest were actually the German Empire and the Russian Empire.

Germany did not have many interests in the Indian Ocean and the west coast of the Pacific Ocean. The only one closer to Australasia was the German New Guinea colony.

But this piece of land was really not that important, and even William II saw it as a means to win over Australasia.

The same is true for the Russian Empire. After Arthur and Grand Duchess Mary made an engagement, the Russian Empire and Australasia became de facto allies.

In addition, the Russian Empire's area of ​​interest is located in the Far East, which is too far away from Australasia, so it is naturally impossible for the two countries to have a conflict.

Under such circumstances, Australasia has a stronger naval force, which is a good thing for the Russian Empire.

Of course, Arthur's direct return to Sydney Palace is not for any important matter. Princess Louise will also take care of the evening banquet. Arthur only needs to be the protagonist and make a shining appearance in the evening.

In fact, Arthur saw Grand Duchess Mary. Yes, because the heirs of Tsar Nicholas II are too young, the representative sent by Russia this time is Grand Duke Sergei.

After hearing that they were going to Australasia, Grand Duchess Mary also wanted to come. Nicholas II just wanted to cultivate their relationship, so he also added Grand Duchess Mary's name to the list of delegations.

Arthur was in a very good mood when he saw Grand Duchess Mary again after more than a year.

After choosing Grand Duchess Mary, Arthur also corrected his attitude, formally treating Grand Duchess Mary as the future queen of Australasia and his wife, and worked hard to cultivate feelings.

After a year, Grand Duchess Mary was already 18 years old, which was the best age.

In fact, Grand Duke Sergei brought Grand Duchess Mary to Australasia this time to complete a more important task, which was to agree on the specific wedding time of Arthur and Grand Duchess Mary.

Now Arthur is 23 years old and Grand Duchess Mary is 18 years old. Since they are almost the same age, it is time to promote the close union of Russia and Australasia!

Of course, the specific time and various procedures of the wedding will be left to Princess Louise and Hunter to discuss and organize. Arthur has no time to direct the process of the wedding.

Of course, Princess Louise will not let Arthur intervene, after all, Arthur does not know much about the traditional wedding of Western nobles.

However, since the Kingdom of Australasia has been established, the king's wedding must be much more luxurious than imagined.

Arthur also prepared a large amount of funds and materials for this purpose, and even the Royal Guards could be dispatched at the wedding to show the luxury and power of the Australasian royal family.

Of course, Arthur's current task is to build a good relationship with Grand Duchess Mary, so that their marriage will have more love, rather than a simple political marriage.

To this end, Arthur took Grand Duchess Mary to visit almost the entire Sydney Palace, visited the gardens and lakes in front of the Sydney Palace, and also saw the monument prepared by Arthur for the future heroes of Australasia, as well as the statue in front of the palace.

Currently, the statues of Queen Victoria and Arthur have been built.

Next to the statue of Arthur, there is a prepared platform, and the statue of Grand Duchess Mary will soon be carved.

Of course, the real carving will have to wait until after the wedding, when Grand Duchess Mary truly becomes the queen of the Kingdom of Australasia, and she will leave her own statue as the queen.

Listening to Arthur talking about the purpose of various constructions in Sydney Palace, and then imagining that her statue would be erected next to Arthur, Archduchess Mary had to admit that she was very moved.

Women, when they are excited, they will have all kinds of wonderful guesses about some things in the future. Especially when it comes to weddings, Archduchess Mary also has many dream scenes.

For this reason, Arthur Tongtong waved his hand and allowed Archduchess Mary to do whatever she wanted and participate in the wedding arrangements to her heart's content.

For Arthur, the king of a country, this matter is really not troublesome, and it may just cost more money.

But with the Benz Automobile Factory making a lot of money every day, Arthur said that these expenses are really just a drop in the bucket.

After brushing up the favorability of Archduchess Mary, Arthur also focused on the upcoming banquet.

Eight o'clock in the evening, Ballroom No. 1, Sydney Palace.

This is the largest banquet hall in Sydney Palace, and it is also a place carefully designed by Arthur to hold large banquets.

This banquet hall can accommodate up to six hundred people for banquets, and has exclusive servants and maids.

The time has not yet reached eight o'clock, and there are already many foreign guests and officials from Australasia, drinking red wine carefully prepared by Australasia, and forming small groups to communicate.

Most of the wine at the banquet was red wine produced in Arthur's private winery, containing the unique flavor of Australasia.

After several years of development, Arthur's private winery has gradually become famous in the aristocratic circle. Whether it is high-end red wine or low-end red wine, it has a certain market.

Especially in Australasia, Arthur's winery almost occupies most of the market, which has also generated a lot of profits and income.

The red wines at the banquet were all limited edition wines produced in 1901 and 1902. Because the production was not high at that time, the price also increased.

The price of a single bottle of these red wines is at least more than 500 Australian dollars, and some even exceed thousands of Australian dollars.

Coupled with the various delicacies and snacks carefully prepared by more than a dozen chefs, Arthur's expenditure for this banquet started at least 200,000 Australian dollars.

As Arthur entered the banquet hall, the noise in the banquet hall also stopped abruptly. All eyes were on Arthur, because he was the irreplaceable protagonist tonight.

"Congratulations to you, Arthur, and congratulations to Australasia for gaining the status you deserve." Crown Prince William walked up first and congratulated Arthur with a smile.

As a contemporary of Arthur, Crown Prince William established a relatively good relationship with Arthur during Arthur's visit to Germany, and the relationship between the two was also very familiar.

"Thank you." Arthur hugged Crown Prince William closely and was very satisfied with Crown Prince William's arrival.

The fact that Germany can send royal personnel of the crown prince level to Australasia is enough to show that Germany currently attaches great importance to Australasia.

After all, the Crown Prince is the next German Emperor. Except for the monarchs and princes of some important countries, there are not many people who can let Crown Prince William go to congratulate him in person.

After Crown Prince William, Grand Duke Sergei also stepped forward and congratulated Arthur with a smile.

As the de facto guardian of Archduchess Mary, he was very satisfied with Arthur.

As the king of Australasia, Arthur managed this newly united country in an orderly manner, and the potential currently displayed by Australasia is also visible to the naked eye.

More importantly, Arthur had the noble bloodline of being born into a European royal family, but he was not as promiscuous and extravagant as most European nobles.

It has been several days since Grand Duke Sergei arrived in Australasia, and he has not heard any rumors about Arthur's private life. This shows that Arthur still puts national affairs first, and not ordinary nobles can compare with him. of.

After Grand Duke Sergei, Arthur deliberately took a few steps forward and started a conversation with Prince George of England.

In fact, Prince George is already 41 years old. At least when he stands with Prince William, Arthur and others, he seems a little out of place.

In fact, this was indeed the case. Because they were not of the same age, Arthur and Prince George had nothing to talk about. After accepting the blessing, Arthur simply thanked him and ended the conversation.

If it were not for taking care of the mood of the British people, Arthur would not even have any intention of getting close to Prince George.

It is worth mentioning that the surname of the British royal family is still Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, a luxurious family from Germany.

This family has successively ruled the Principality of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the Kingdom of Belgium, the Kingdom of Portugal, the Kingdom of Bulgaria, the British Empire and now the Kingdom of Australasia. It is one of the families with the longest history and the largest number of countries in Europe. one.

Europeans also attach great importance to such families. When many small countries independently choose their monarchs, they often choose princes from luxurious families.

However, the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha family was not so prominent after World War I. First of all, in order to appease the British people who were dissatisfied with Germany, the then British King George V decided to abandon the German surname of the British royal family and changed the surname of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to the British-style Windsor, which became famous in later generations. The House of Windsor.

Portugal and Bulgaria successively transformed into republics, and the family also lost the right to rule these countries.

Finally, the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha family also lost the source of its name, the Principality of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, and the family's glory was no longer as dazzling as before.

But before that, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was still one of the most prominent families in Europe, and it could also allow Arthur and Australasia to gain more support from Europeans and win the favor of more European royal families.

After George V, representatives of powerful countries such as Austria-Hungary, Italy and the United States also came forward to congratulate.

The island country also congratulated Arthur very respectfully, as if it didn't know about the treaty and marriage between Australasia and Russia.

After the representatives of these powerful countries came forward to congratulate, it was the turn of the representatives of non-powerful countries to speak.

This is actually the mainstream of the world. Weak countries have no diplomacy. If the strength of a country is not recognized by others, then the diplomatic representatives sent out can only wait until others have finished speaking before they are qualified to speak.

Of course, whether others want to listen to what they say is another matter.

After accepting everyone's blessings, more than an hour has passed.

Arthur also signaled that everyone should enjoy the banquet, and the scene returned to the initial noise.

Such a banquet is a good opportunity for everyone to establish diplomatic relations. Representatives and nobles of various countries have their own social circles, and they are also trying their best to make friends with people who are useful to them.

As the protagonist today, Arthur's every move naturally attracted the attention of many people.

However, Arthur mainly talked with people from powerful countries such as Crown Prince William today, and it was not so easy for nobles and officials from other countries to talk.

The shipbuilding plan of Australasia has attracted the attention of many powerful countries. They are very curious whether the two battleships in the Australasia shipbuilding plan are dreadnoughts.

You know, there are only three countries that have clearly stated that they will start building dreadnoughts, and there are only six countries with construction plans.

In such a period of time, any country with a dreadnought can usher in earth-shaking changes in its naval strength.

This is also the reason why these countries are concerned about the Australasia shipbuilding plan. Australasia, which has two dreadnoughts, can even rival the naval strength of the island country with five old battleships.

The reason why Arthur chose to publicly announce Australasia's shipbuilding plan within ten years was to expand Australasia's international influence.

Therefore, when facing the inquiries of the representatives of these countries, Arthur directly admitted that the two battleships in the Australasia shipbuilding plan were all advanced warships of the dreadnought class.

Arthur even mysteriously stated that the other three of the five main battleships in the Australasia shipbuilding plan were also powerful warships developed by Australasia itself, above the old battleships and below the dreadnoughts.

If you calculate it this way, Australasia's battleships are very likely to reach five, and at least two of them are powerful battleships of the dreadnought class.

This also means that after the completion of Australasia's shipbuilding plan, the level of naval strength will rise to the top ten in the world.

Such strength is enough to attract the attention of some countries, especially along the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean.

The influence that Australasia can have in these two regions will even be comparable to that of the great powers.

At least apart from the British Empire, few countries can guarantee that their squadrons in these two regions can reach the strength of the Australasian fleet.

Of course, in addition to being somewhat surprised by the huge naval construction plan of Australasia, representatives of various countries are also very interested in the two main battleships in the Australasian construction plan.

The first main battleship is a powerful battleship of the dreadnought level, and the second main battleship is also an advanced warship with combat effectiveness higher than the old battleship.

There are currently few dreadnought designs in the world, and the two warship designs of Australasia have directly brought Australasia's progress in this regard to the forefront of the world.

Of course, if we say that the countries that are most curious about the specific data and performance of the two warships in Australasia are the British Empire and the island countries.

The reason is that the British Empire has a lot of interests on the coast of the Indian Ocean and the west coast of the Pacific Ocean. India, which is very important to the British Empire, is not far from Australasia.

Under such circumstances, the British Empire urgently needs to evaluate the future naval strength of Australasia in order to make better diplomatic decisions.

Although the island country is far away from Australasia, the enemy of the island country in the Far East, the Russian Empire, has established a relatively good relationship with Australasia, and the two sides have even reached a marriage.

This also means that Russia is very likely to receive a lot of assistance from Australasia in future wars, including support for warships.

In this way, it is very necessary for the island country to understand the specific data and performance of the two types of warships in Australasia to prevent the warships produced in Australasia that are likely to appear in the Russian fleet in the future.

In fact, Russia is really interested in the design of Australasia's dreadnought.

Historically, Russia's dreadnought was designed with the help of the British Empire, based on the Italian Dante-class dreadnought.

But judging from the current situation, it is basically impossible to ask the British Empire to help Russia design a dreadnought.

France, Russia's current ally, has no plans to produce dreadnoughts, let alone help Russia design and produce them.

Russia may be able to get help from Germany, but the price may be to completely sever the Franco-Russian alliance, which Russia cannot accept in the short term.

In this way, Russia will not see the hope of designing and producing dreadnoughts in the short term, which is unacceptable to Nicholas II, who has always regarded his country as a top power.

In fact, the Russian Empire did not pay much in the last Russo-Japanese War, and there was no compensation.

This also led to the fact that the Russian Empire was not as badly damaged as in history. After receiving additional financial assistance from Germany, the Russian Empire has even recovered a little vitality.

In addition, a neutrality treaty has been reached with Germany for the time being, so there is no need to worry about the impact on the western border, and there can be more troops to assess the domestic crisis.

This has led to the current Russian Empire indeed having some funds and a strong interest in the most powerful warship, the dreadnought.

It's just that Russia's ability to design warships is too poor, and without the help of other countries, it is basically impossible to achieve its own production.

Britain, France and Germany are all unable to help the Russian Empire for various reasons. The United States wants to reach out to the other side of the Pacific Ocean, so it is naturally impossible to help the Russian Empire, the hegemon of the Far East.

Currently, the only country that can allow the Russian Empire to obtain dreadnoughts seems to be Australasia.

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