Chapter 420 Colonial Deployment

October 1915, Australasia.

Arthur has been in a very good mood recently. The army has won victory after victory on the front line, and through peace talks, it has also obtained the Persian Gulf coastal area from Kuwait to Qatar.

This is of vital importance to Australasia's future oil reserves and economic development.

If it can exchange the truce states from Britain in the future, Australasia will control at least a quarter of the world's oil reserves, or even infinitely close to a third.

It is not difficult to exert influence on some countries and regions in the Middle East and control the pricing power of international oil.

The importance of oil is self-evident. At least in the past 150 years, oil has been the most important energy source, and there is no other.

Although Europe is fighting hard, this large-scale war still has little impact on Australasia, and the social order in Australasia has not been affected at all.

At present, all occupied areas in Australasia are under wartime control. At least before the end of the war, Arthur has no intention of integrating these areas.

In fact, this is also easy to understand. If these newly occupied areas belong to the war zone, it is natural to implement militarized management, and no one objects.

But if these areas are formally integrated, they will be used as territories or colonies of Australasia, and some shady plans will not be implemented.

First of all, German New Guinea. During the period of occupation of German New Guinea, the Australasia army expelled more than 400,000 natives in this area, and deliberately let go of some natives and residents who opposed Australasia's rule, allowing them to escape to the area controlled by the Netherlands.

If there is a current administrative map, it can be clearly seen that the entire New Guinea Island is cut into two pieces from the middle, the west belongs to the Dutch East Indies, and the east belongs to Australasia.

New Guinea Island is the second largest island in the world, second only to Greenland in the extremely cold zone.

Although Greenland is larger, because it is located in the Arctic Circle, its development potential is lower, and even now there are not many people living there.

But New Guinea is different. New Guinea is located in the tropics, with sufficient rainfall and flat land, which is suitable for development.

The entire New Guinea Peninsula covers an area of ​​786,000 square kilometers, which is higher than the total area of ​​France and the Low Countries (only the mainland is counted).

More importantly, the entire New Guinea Island is rich in mineral resources, including oil, natural gas, copper, gold, chromium, nickel, aluminum, etc., with huge potential value.

This island alone can accommodate tens of millions of people and is an excellent grain-producing area.

Compared with Australia, which does not have sufficient water resources, New Guinea has abundant water resources. Arthur's previous plan to transfer water from the north to the south is to draw water resources from New Guinea Island and transport them to Australia.

Moreover, the distance between New Guinea Island and Australia is closer than that between New Zealand and Australia. It is an excellent land that is easy to control and suitable for development.

Half of such excellent land is in the hands of the Dutch, which is something Arthur does not want to see, and I believe that the Australasians do not want to see it either.

Therefore, Arthur felt that Australasia had to solve this problem for the Dutch, find an excuse to take over the Dutch-controlled West New Guinea Island, and unify the entire New Guinea.

This is also the reason why people who resisted Australasia slipped away from German New Guinea and went to the area controlled by the Netherlands.

When the right opportunity came, Arthur would angrily declare that there were a large number of forces lurking in the Dutch East Indies that resisted Australasia and conspired to overthrow Australasia's rule in New Guinea.

Then, it was time for the Australasia army to perform. European countries were busy with wars, and this was the best opportunity for Australasia to expand, and no country would oppose Australasia's expansion.

Of course, expelling the natives was also Arthur's goal. The entire German New Guinea region had at least one million natives living there, which was not a good thing for Australasia's future rule.

It just happened that while German New Guinea was still under militarized management, these natives were forcefully expelled.

For some natives who were unwilling to leave German New Guinea, they could only ask them to stay on this land forever.

The strong expulsion of these natives was not as gentle as that of the families of the natives who joined the colonial army.

The families of the colonial army would also be given severance pay, and transport ships would be arranged to transport them to their destinations.

The army often had only one sentence for these natives who were forcibly expelled, and they had to leave within a week, otherwise they would face serious consequences.

For so long, there were challenges to the Australasian army, but they faced more brutal massacres.

Judging from the sophisticated equipment of the Australasian army, these natives had no contribution except increasing the kd of the Australasian army.

Behind the expulsion of 400,000 natives, the army had massacred at least 200,000 natives, and all the natives were still being hunted.

At least in the current Australasian, Arthur did not welcome these black natives. Even if they made a high contribution to the country, they would only receive a bonus and then be persuaded to leave.

Even if the population of Australasian was a big problem, Arthur would never include these black natives in the immigration plan.

The newly acquired land in the Middle East was also under militarized management. Fortunately, with the exception of Kuwait, the population in other regions is not too large.

Of course, even if Kuwait is included, the indigenous population of the Middle East occupied by Australasia is not as large as that of German New Guinea.

Especially in the Persian Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia and areas such as Qatar and Bahrain, the total resident population does not exceed 150,000. With only a little immigration, this area can be completely controlled.

The population of Kuwait is relatively large, but it is only over 100,000. Moreover, after the Iraq region is controlled by the United Kingdom, the connection between Kuwait and the Ottoman Empire will be cut off, and it is still easy to control a small Kuwait.

As long as there is a large-scale immigration to this area in the next few decades, so that the Australasians occupy the majority of the population of this land, then this land will be the sacred and inviolable territory of Australasia since ancient times.

Of course, before the oil in this area is developed, most Australasians are not willing to immigrate to the Middle East.

After all, this land has too many deserts and the temperature is too high to be suitable for living. In addition, there is a lack of water resources, so it is better to live in Australasia or other colonies.

But when the oil resources in this area are developed, the value of this area will increase significantly.

Oil workers, family members of oil companies, etc., these will be the first batch of immigrants to the Middle East.

Using the oil resources in the Middle East, we can also create some oases in the desert to attract more immigrants.

Of course, when the oil resources of this land are developed, there will inevitably be at least one division of troops stationed in this area.

Even from the scope of the land occupied by Australasia, at least 2 to 3 divisions are needed to properly protect this area.

When the navy expands in the future, there will even be a Persian Gulf Fleet, etc., in order to strengthen Australasia's rule in this area, while influencing other countries in the Middle East, to achieve Arthur's goal of controlling the world's oil prices.

In addition to the layout of overseas territories, Australasia will also usher in a good news, that is, two Hope-class battleships will be officially put into service.

The battleships Hope and Dream officially started construction in January 1914, and it has been nearly two years since then.

As early as the beginning of this year, the two battleships were almost built. But because Arthur wanted to equip 15-inch main guns instead of the current 13.5-inch main guns, it was delayed for two months.

The good news is that after the cooperation between Britain and Australasia, the 15-inch main gun has indeed been developed, and both Britain and Australasia have used it on the latest warships.

It is also because of this that the two super battleships of Australasia will be equipped with 15-inch main guns for the first time, becoming veritable super battleships.

In terms of firepower, these two battleships have taken a great lead. Not to mention surpassing all, at least surpassing most of the super battleships in various countries in the world. In terms of combat effectiveness, they are definitely in the first tier of super battleships.

At present, the battleships Hope and Dream have been launched for testing in March this year, and there is hope that they will be officially put into service in early next year, that is, two or three months later.

This will greatly enhance the naval combat effectiveness of Australasia and increase the hope of the Allies' victory.

Since the outbreak of the war, the speed of building warships in European countries has not fallen, except for Russia.

Therefore, Arthur also signed the next round of naval expansion plan, and there are still two super dreadnoughts, named Dawn and Day of the Sun.

These two super invincible ships will start construction in October this year, and the estimated time is the end of 1916, and the estimated time of service is the end of 1917.

In addition to the two main battleships, Arthur also signed an order worth 10 million Australian dollars, including dozens of small and medium-sized warships.

Some small and medium-sized warships will be built at Melbourne Shipyard and Orange Shipyard. With the joint efforts of powerful shipyards, it is no problem to complete the construction within a year.

After the completion of the new round of naval expansion plan, Australasia's naval strength will be second only to Britain, Germany, France and the United States.

Of course, this is only compared with the current naval size of other countries. European countries have their own naval expansion plans, and no one is sure about the size of the navies of each country in two years.

If a large-scale naval battle breaks out on the European battlefield, it will also have a greater impact on the strength of the navies of various countries.

Unlike wars on land, wars on the sea involve a large number of enemies, and often a large sea battle can determine the outcome.

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