Chapter 224 Establishment of the Patrol System

The soldiers of the Guards also reorganized their equipment and joined the landing army.

Although the country's fiscal revenue is still in deficit, the annual military expenditure is not small and is growing steadily.

Of course, this is also due to Arthur's attitude towards military training. Arthur believes that excellent soldiers are fed by bullets and a lot of training. Therefore, whether it is the Guards or the National Defense Force, the number of bullets consumed in daily training is not small, and each person shoots at least 30 bullets per day on average.

The luxury of the Australasian army can be seen from the equipment of the Guards soldiers. This operation not only carried multiple spare magazines, but also grenades and pistols.

Although it will cause a lot of weight to increase for each person, for the well-trained Guards soldiers, these are already commonplace.

The way the Australasian army advances is a bit too luxurious. Any place where pirates may hide will face continuous bombings of several grenades.

This also made the pirates completely unable to resist. Their muskets needed to be close to cause damage, and it took a long time to reload the ammunition.

This also led to the fact that when the surviving pirates had just fired a shot and were not sure whether they would cause casualties, they had to face the firepower network coverage and grenade bombing from the Australasian army.

Such luxurious firepower coverage, let alone these pirates with very poor equipment and training, even the regular army from European countries may not be able to withstand it.

Seeing that resistance was hopeless, the pirates hoped to hide and wait until the people in front of them left the island.

Perhaps some people have regretted looting Australasian merchant ships, but now no one will give them a chance to do it again, and they have to pay the price for angering Australasian.

The action lasted until dawn. After ensuring that there was no survivors on all the islands, Minister Kent was satisfied and ordered all fleets to return.

April 9, 1907, Sydney Port, Australia.

The news that Minister Kent had successfully completed the mission had already been sent back to Australasia, and Arthur and the Australasia government also announced the good news in a timely manner.

All the Australasia people who were concerned about the pirate robbery were cheering and encouraged by the victory of the army.

Many people have spontaneously assembled at Sydney Harbor, ready to welcome their brave army, the army that can truly protect their safety.

In order to express his importance to this action, Arthur also came to Sydney Harbor before the fleet returned, waiting with government officials.

Not long after, the fleet successfully approached Sydney Harbor and docked at the pier.

Under the protection of the soldiers, more than a dozen captured Australasia people returned to the port with a look of relief.

"Your Majesty!"

Seeing Arthur and his party waiting at the port, these survivors hurriedly stepped forward respectfully and saluted sincerely and enthusiastically.

They also naturally understood that Arthur was the only one in Australasia who could mobilize the army on a large scale.

In other words, they were able to successfully survive the pirates and return to Australasia, all thanks to Arthur's mobilization of troops to rescue them.

For these people who almost experienced life and death, their attitude towards Arthur has become fanatical, and they will become Arthur's die-hard fans.

Arthur smiled and nodded, and the faint smile seemed like God's warm embrace in the eyes of these people.

"Your Majesty, this operation has successfully completed the mission. All pirates have been executed, and all their hideouts have been destroyed. There were no casualties in this operation, except for the consumption of some weapons and ammunition." Minister Kent stepped forward and reported respectfully.

Arthur nodded again, not looking at Minister Kent, but at the crowd watching at the port.

"My people, this pirate robbery is a wake-up call for the entire Australasia. We have too little control over the surrounding oceans, which is why the pirate robbery happened before our eyes. Fortunately, our action was not too late, so we were able to successfully rescue all the captured people. My loyal soldiers are the protectors of all people and will defend all the people of Australasia at all costs." Arthur said slowly in a serious tone.

"Long live His Majesty!"

"Long live Australasia!"

"Long live the kingdom!"

People cheered with all their might, which was the best response to Arthur.

"But we can't act after the fact. I declare that the government will send more fleets and form various patrol teams to protect the safety of all our people on our important waterways. No country or force shall attack ships flying the Australasia flag, otherwise it will be regarded as a threat and declaration of war against Australasia. My army and I will use practical actions to prove that the kingdom will always protect its people." Arthur solemnly announced.

This pirate incident gave Australasia an excuse to send out various patrol fleets to control the nearby waters.

The inland sea of ​​the Dutch East Indies, which was controlled by the Netherlands, would also become the target of the Australasia Navy patrol.

There was no other way. Who allowed pirates to appear in the Dutch East Indies? And these pirates happened to rob the merchant ships of Australasia. Isn't this just a trap?

Arthur was not worried about the reaction of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. As long as other powers did not participate, the Netherlands was no longer a rival to Australasia near Southeast Asia.

Even if a few years passed, when Australasia's warships began to be launched crazily, the Netherlands would not even be qualified to be an opponent of Australasia.

All the decisions Arthur made at the port were published in two official newspapers of Australasia the next day.

Let's not talk about the sensation caused by Australasia. These decisions caused quite a stir in Europe.

Of course, the most difficult to accept was definitely the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The most essential part of Australasia is located in the southeast of the Australian continent and the North Island of New Zealand.

And if these areas want to go to Europe or East Asia, they must pass through the Dutch East Indies, either west through the Strait of Malacca and across the Indian Ocean to Europe, or north to East Asia.

This also means that part of the ocean of the Dutch East Indies is also within the patrol range of Australia. If it is not stopped, the Dutch East Indies will be equivalent to opening the door to Australasia.

But the question is how to stop it? It is basically impossible to use the Netherlands' own strength.

Although the Netherlands has more than 100,000 troops, the army in the Dutch East Indies is only 50,000. Whether in terms of training or equipment, it is not as good as the army of Australasia.

In terms of population and industrial scale, Australasia has surpassed the Kingdom of the Netherlands. In addition, due to close combat, the slight advantage is infinitely magnified.

The biggest reason why the Kingdom of the Netherlands can defend the Dutch East Indies is actually the support of European powers.

But Australasia is even worse. Australasia not only has a good relationship with the German Empire, but also has a marriage and interest alliance with the Russian Empire.

Not to mention Britain, Australasia itself is the merger of two colonies of the British Empire, and the ruler is also from the British royal family.

As long as it is not a major interest related to the survival of the country, Australasia and Britain are basically impossible to fall out.

After all, Queen Victoria's will is still vivid, and most British people still have a lot of good feelings for Arthur.

Although it was known that it was difficult to stop Australasia, the Kingdom of the Netherlands had to bite the bullet and ask the great powers to deal with it, trying to fix the naval patrol range of Australasia to the territorial waters of Australasia.

But the Dutch action was doomed to fail. Germany and Australasia are currently in a honeymoon period. The expansion of Australasia poses no threat to Germany and can even help Germany.

Therefore, William II decisively chose neutrality, and Germany made it clear that it would not participate in the affairs of the two countries.

On the British side, because of the previous suitcase incident, Edward VII hated the name of Arthur and naturally did not want to participate in this matter.

In addition to Britain and Germany, France is now in a difficult choice between Britain and Russia, and currently has no extra energy to take care of other things.

Russia and Australasia have just concluded a marriage relationship. It is good not to support Australasia, let alone support the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The remaining great power, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, is Germany's younger brother. If Germany is neutral, Austria-Hungary will definitely follow suit.

Needless to say, Italy's influence in Southeast Asia and Oceania is not even comparable to that of the Netherlands, and it is naturally impossible for Italy to offend Australasia for the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

In this way, there is basically no external force to rely on for this problem. After searching for a circle, the Kingdom of the Netherlands can only pretend not to see it and default to Australasia's patrol plan.

The Dutch are also very good at self-consolation. After being forced to allow Australasia's patrol plan, the Dutch comforted themselves: "This is just a patrol plan that was born because they were angry about pirate looting. When the influence of the pirate incident dissipates, it is naturally impossible to maintain such a large patrol plan."

What the Dutch did not expect was that Ah Si not only made this patrol a normal practice, but also added dreadnoughts and a large number of medium-sized warships a few years later, turning half of the Indian Ocean and half of the Pacific Ocean, as well as the territorial waters of the Dutch East Indies, into Australasia's patrol area.

This also greatly increased Australasia's influence in these areas, and even some indigenous forces in the Dutch East Indies showed goodwill to Australasia.

There is no way not to show goodwill. The fate of the Kingdom of Branmongondo is still vivid in our memory. Because of offending Australasia, the high-ranking officials of the Kingdom of Branmongondo were almost wiped out, and the land was almost divided up by the Manda people and the Ruwu Sultanate in the south.

More importantly, the Governor of the Dutch East Indies and the Kingdom of the Netherlands did not respond to the two massacres of Australasia in the Dutch East Indies.

What does this mean? The Dutch are also afraid of the Australasia's military force, so they remain silent.

Since the Dutch are afraid, then these indigenous forces who are forced to submit to the Dutch East Indies naturally know which country they can't afford to offend the most.

Arthur acted quickly. Since mid-April, the Australasia navy has been frequently dispatched to conduct high-frequency patrols along the coast of Australasia and the northern ocean.

Although doing so will increase the consumption of materials, especially coal and oil. Australasia has countless coal reserves and several large oil fields, so there is no need to worry about these problems.

After the fleet patrolled and protected, there were no more problems with Australasian merchant ships. Even the fishermen and ships of the indigenous tribes basically avoided Australasian merchant ships for fear of getting into trouble.

Arthur also commended the soldiers who had participated in the rescue operation within the Guards.

Although no medals were directly awarded, verbal rewards were given to the entire army, and each person was rewarded with a fund of one thousand Australian dollars, which won the fanatical and loyal eyes of those soldiers.

What Arthur did not expect was that this large-scale naval and military rescue of the captured Australasians not only made him and the government more fanatical about the Australians, but also gained the favor of many Europeans.

After all, there are not many monarchs like Arthur who can really care about the lives of the lower-class civilians. In addition, Arthur's various tax reduction policies and benefits in Australasia have increased the attractiveness of Australasia to immigrants.

Since May 1907, it can be clearly felt that more and more people have migrated to Australasia and chosen to become permanent residents of Australasia.

Compared with the data in 1906, the number of immigrants in Australasia has increased by more than 30%, which is a huge increase.

You know, the number of immigrants in Australasia now is as high as 400,000 people per year. If the growth rate of 30% can be maintained, it means that this year's population will increase by more than 120,000 compared with last year.

Coupled with Australasia's policy of encouraging childbirth, Australasia's population is very likely to exceed 7 million before 1908.

Of course, a large number of immigrants still have some troubles for Arthur. These immigrants generally want to live in large Australasia cities such as Sydney and Melbourne, and are unwilling to go to Western Australia and South Australia.

This is not a good phenomenon. Western Australia and South Australia have a large amount of mineral resources and need sufficient population and labor to mine.

In addition, with the influx of a large number of immigrants, Sydney and Melbourne will inevitably cause insufficient planning, which will also cause some chaos in the construction of the city.

In the end, Arthur introduced a policy that as long as you are willing to go to the western region and small cities, you can get 50% more land allocation than normal, which can barely solve this problem.

Four thousand words today, please take a leave