Chapter 219: East Asian Famine and International Students

At this time, Einstein was only a second-level technician at the Swiss Patent Office in Bern. Although he had just won the Victorian Prize in Physics, he was also well-known in the field of physics in Europe. However, due to his age, he was not highly regarded in Switzerland.

At least with Einstein's status as a second-level technician, some top laboratories could not be used.

But if he worked for Australasia, he would not only become the president of the Australian Physical Society in an instant, but also use all the physics laboratories in Australasia, and have the honorary professorship of physics at the National University of Australasia. The degree of respect he received was naturally incomparable.

Albert Einstein was a German who lived in Germany, Italy and Switzerland successively. He did not have such a high degree of recognition for a particular country.

The reason why he chose to become a citizen of Switzerland was nothing more than his appreciation of Switzerland's status as a neutral country and his hope to work in a peaceful homeland without war.

It was also because of this that after accepting Arthur's invitation, Einstein was not bound or burdened by national justice, but was seriously considering the pros and cons of staying in Australia.

For top scientists like Einstein, their own money is often not that important.

Besides, just relying on the Victoria Prize, Einstein can get a lot of bonuses and reputation, so naturally he doesn't care about money.

For Einstein, the working environment and the degree of satisfaction of scientific research needs are more important than other things.

At present, it seems that the academic community in Australasia may not be as developed as Switzerland, but at least the research sites and funds are absolutely sufficient, and there is no need to worry about external troubles.

In the end, under Arthur's persuasion and temptation, Einstein agreed to stay in Australasia and temporarily serve as an honorary professor of the National University as a temporary resident of Australasia.

Although he did not become a citizen of Australasia directly, it was only a matter of time.

Arthur generously promised to give Einstein at least 200,000 Australian dollars in research funds every year, and was willing to form his own scientific research team for Einstein.

Except for some more important research, all of Einstein's theoretical research belongs to him.

In addition to adding a great physics master to Australasia, Einstein's arrival also added a good teacher for Australasia's physics talents.

It is believed that under the influence of Einstein, the honorary professor of physics at the National University, the physics department of the National University will be able to produce more physics talents and experts, and Australasia's scientific research field will also be at the forefront of the world.

In February 1907, after the first funds of the Russian Empire arrived, the Royal Dockyard in Sydney Harbour also began to build Russian orders.

The huge keels of the two dreadnoughts began to be laid, attracting a large number of domestic and foreign media to watch, and Arthur also attended the groundbreaking ceremony of the two dreadnoughts.

Although the two dreadnoughts were built for Russia, they all used the technology mastered by Australasia, and the workers and experts who built them were all Australasia.

This is also a memorable thing in the naval history of Australasia. At least in the construction of dreadnoughts, Australasia has truly reached the world's first-class level.

Accompanying Arthur at the groundbreaking ceremony was the Russian ambassador to Australasia.

After the marriage between Russia and Australia, the connection between the two countries has become closer. Various products of Australasia began to be dumped in Russia, and Russia also began to send a large number of agricultural population to Australasia.

The two dreadnoughts were named Petropavlovsk and Poltava by the Russians. These two warship names happened to be the names of the first batch of dreadnoughts in Russian history, the Gangut-class battleships. It is a coincidence that they are now out in advance.

Because the full load displacement reached 20,910 tons, it took a long time to lay the keels of these two battleships.

After the groundbreaking ceremony, all domestic and foreign media present were also asked to leave. Next, the Royal Dockyard will become a military restricted area. Before the two battleships are launched, no unrelated personnel are allowed to approach.

In fact, the construction time of the dreadnought is not long. Instead, it is the sea navigation and testing after launching that takes a long time.

The British Empire's dreadnought battleship was built in only four months under the premise of adopting a variety of new technologies, which is enough to show the industrial scale and efficiency of the British Empire.

The construction time of Australasia will be much slower. According to experts' estimates, the Peter Pavlovsk is expected to be launched for testing at the end of this year, and the Poltava is expected to be launched for testing at the beginning of next year.

If everything goes well, the two battleships are expected to be delivered in the second half of next year or the end of the year, that is, around the end of 1908.

In mid-February, after more than a month of site selection, the Royal Military Academy of Australasia finally determined the site as the western suburbs of the capital territory.

Of course, this is only the location of the Army Academy and the Aviation Academy of the Military Academy. The Naval Academy will be close to the Port of Sydney. After all, naval training cannot be separated from warships, and warship training cannot be separated from the ocean and ports.

In order to make the Royal Military Academy larger in scale and fame, Arthur has gone all out this time, looking for military experts and professors in Europe and the United States to sit in the Royal Military Academy.

Because the construction of the Royal Military Academy will take at least a year, the training institution of the Aviation Laboratory has not been relocated for the time being, but will continue to stay in the Aviation Laboratory to carry out the pilot training program.

So far, Arthur has had people screened several times in the army, selected hundreds of excellent soldiers who are suitable to become pilots, and gave them a glorious and arduous task, which is to master the driving skills of the aircraft as soon as possible.

All the people who have received pilot training add up to almost 800 people.

After these people have thoroughly mastered the driving skills, Australasia can be regarded as having mastered the first batch of air force soldiers.

Also in February, East Asia suffered a serious famine due to natural disasters such as insect pests, malaria, and acid rain.

The major powers began to sell rice and flour food at high prices in these disaster-stricken areas to earn a lot of ill-gotten gains.

Arthur condemned this behavior very much, so he ordered the granaries in Australasia to mobilize a large amount of food to East Asia to join the ranks of the powers.

Of course, Arthur still took some actions on the surface. He collected 100 tons of food in a very high-profile manner and announced that it would be given to the disaster-stricken people for free.

However, Arthur could not guarantee how much of the 100 tons of food would eventually reach the hands of the disaster-stricken people.

This action of Australasia immediately made the disaster-stricken people grateful. After all, in the eyes of these people, the foreigners are high and mighty, and there are not many foreigners like Australasia who pity them.

The slave mentality of the people who have been oppressed, coupled with the current extremely backward situation of the country, has given birth to a very serious mentality of worshipping foreigners.

Even if the rest of the people do not worship foreigners, they have to bow their heads in front of foreigners.

What Arthur did not expect was that Arthur's little good deed on the surface actually made many disaster-stricken people want to get close to Australasia.

They placed their hopes of changing the national situation on advanced countries like Australia, believing that only by learning advanced systems and technologies and arming themselves with them can they change the crisis currently facing themselves and their nation.

It can only be said that these people at the bottom are too easy to be deceived. If they knew that Australasia shipped tens of thousands of tons of grain to the disaster-stricken areas, and except for the 100 tons given away for free, all of them were sold at several times or even several times the usual grain price, I am afraid their mood would become very strange.

The natural disasters and famine in East Asia from February to March have become a good opportunity for the powerful countries to exploit.

According to the business houses opened in East Asia, Australasia has earned several times the profit of the usual grain exports in just over a month, and has also gained some goodwill from the disaster-stricken people on the surface, which can be said to be a fame and fortune.

Arthur thought that the impact of this famine incident was just that, but he did not expect that in March, the government welcomed unexpected guests, a group of students from the Qing Dynasty, who requested Australasia to open the university so that some Qing students could enter the universities of Australasia to study.

Because it involved the interests of the Qing Dynasty, a powerful country, the government officials did not dare to make a rash decision, so they kicked the ball to Arthur.

At this time, most of the Qing Dynasty students were relatively wealthy landlords and officials. As for the poor people who had no money, they even had a problem with having enough food, let alone going abroad to study.

Poor people went abroad more to seek a livelihood, rather than to go to university to study, enrich themselves and save the nation.

In fact, these people may also be worried that Australasia will refuse, and the conditions they offered are also very generous.

In addition to all their expenses in Australasia, they will also pay a tuition fee of one thousand Australian dollars per person per year.

If calculated according to the current exchange rate, one thousand Australian dollars is almost equivalent to three thousand five hundred taels of silver, which is enough to show that the current students studying abroad are all dignitaries, merchants and gentry.

Arthur agreed to their request, but also made some corresponding requirements. The most important one is that the rule of Australasia must be maintained and no illegal activities can be carried out in Australasia.

Once these students are found to be engaged in any illegal and criminal activities, they will not only face large compensation, but may also be held accountable by the Australasia government.

The reason why Arthur agreed to their study abroad request was actually to cultivate talents close to Australasia.

If these people can reach higher levels in their countries, or gain more power and status, wouldn't they also be able to influence their countries to be closer to Australasia, and Australasia to gain more benefits?

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