Chapter 645: London Trip, Godfather, Monetary System

After the role of radar is guaranteed, the next most important task is to install these radars on warships.

Whether it is the previous battleships or aircraft carriers, or small and medium-sized warships, as long as the size and space are sufficient, such radars must be installed.

Fortunately, the area occupied by radar is not too large. In addition to small ships of several hundred tons, warships of thousands of tons basically have space to install such radars.

Even the construction of Hercules-class aircraft carriers and Hurricane-class aircraft carriers must design the installation space for radars.

Radar is crucial to the improvement of the combat effectiveness of a warship. Warships with radars are more powerful than warships of the same level.

While the Ministry of Defense became busy because of the radar experiment, the Palais des Nations in Fort Saint-Athur suddenly became busy at this time.

It was not a special holiday. In fact, Queen Mary and a few little guys were preparing for William's first official diplomatic visit on behalf of the country.

William, born in 1909, is now 16 years old and is about to complete his high school studies and go to serve in the army.

As Arthur's eldest son, according to the country's inheritance law, William is the first heir to the throne of Australasia.

Because of this, Arthur has been cultivating William's ability to govern the country so that he can have a qualified or even excellent heir.

Although Arthur has many children, he can choose the best one to inherit the throne. But the law of primogeniture is also deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. As long as William's ability is not too bad, Arthur does not intend to abolish William's inheritance rights.

After all, it is already the 20th century, and there is no need to make the fight for the throne so cruel. Although the throne represents power, power also represents responsibility.

Arthur hopes that the little guys will work together to push Australasia to a new level under the premise of maintaining the rule of the royal family.

Because William is on his first official diplomatic visit, the destination is naturally the most prosperous city at present, London.

The relationship between Britain and Australia is the main tone of the current development of Australasia. Going to London as the first stop can also prove how friendly the relationship between Britain and Australia is.

In fact, this is normal, after all, the royal families of the two countries are still one family. William's visit to the UK this time not only represented Australasia on a diplomatic visit, but also established a relationship bond between the next generation as a member of the British royal family.

Because only more than 20 years have passed, the relationship between Arthur and the British royal family is still relatively close.

George V is Arthur's cousin and William's uncle, which can be regarded as a direct relative within three generations.

Even the current Arthur and William have the right to inherit the British throne, but they have to rank behind the children of George V and Edward VII, which is more than a dozen people away.

Speaking of London, it is definitely one of the most prosperous and largest cities in the world. The only city that can be compared with London is New York in the United States, but New York is still slightly behind London.

This is not an exaggeration. London's population exceeded 7 million a few years ago, and the current population remains above 7.5 million, which is more than the population of some second- and third-rate European countries, which is enough to show the exaggeration of London's population.

The population of New York is about 7 million. Because of the influence of Australasia, the United States has received fewer immigrants than in history.

Although cities with a population of tens of millions are normal in later generations, a city with a population of one million was considered huge 100 years ago, and a city with a population of tens of millions was unheard of.

You know, a city’s population is not always a good thing. An increase in population means more intense competition for jobs, and more stringent tests for the city’s public security requirements, medical environment, education, etc.

More importantly, a large population will make traffic very congested and reduce the efficiency of transportation within the city.

According to the current population growth rate of London and New York, cities with a population of tens of millions are no longer a dream, and there is even hope to achieve it within 20 to 30 years.

In addition to these two behemoth cities, other equally famous cities, whether Paris or Vienna, or Rome, Berlin, St. Petersburg or Sydney, cannot compare with London and New York in terms of population and scale.

In 1925, some Australian media selected the top ten cities in the world. This ranking received a lot of praise, with London and New York ranking first and second respectively.

The ranking of the top ten cities in the world is as follows:

First place, London, with a total population of 7.56 million.

Second place, New York, with a total population of 7.11 million.

Third place, Sydney, with a total population of 3.71 million.

Fourth place, Tokyo, with a total population of 3.32 million.

Fifth place, Chicago, with a total population of 3.27 million.

Sixth place, Paris, with a total population of 3.03 million.

Seventh place, Philadelphia, with a total population of 2.94 million.

Eighth place, Melbourne, with a total population of 2.47 million.

Ninth place, Osaka, with a total population of 2.11 million.

Tenth place, Vienna, with a total population of 1.97 million.

From the ranking of these ten cities, we can see a feature. In addition to the island country, which is a special existence with a large land area and a large population, there are only two countries with two of the top ten cities, that is, the United States and Australasia.

Both countries have an obvious feature, that is, they are immigrant countries. The population of large cities in immigrant countries is relatively large, but more areas are undeveloped or rarely developed barren areas.

Europe is different. The development of European regions is relatively complete. Although it seems that European countries only occupy one of the top ten cities, there are many cities with a population of one million, which is a heritage that the United States and Australasia cannot compare with.

As the most populous city at present, London has many nicknames. If its fame is ranked second, there will be no city that dares to claim to be the first.

The titles of the world's financial capital, the world's political capital, the world's economic capital, the world's industrial capital, the pearl of Europe, the beacon of humanity, etc., disguise London's reputation as unparalleled.

But at the same time, the negative reputation of what is the smog capital and the city of exploitation is also a common shortcoming of cities with a large population.

Yes, basically all cities with a large population have such problems. In the final analysis, the current industry does not pay attention to the protection of the environment, and the pollution and impact of industry on the environment are huge.

London is not only the first city famous for smog, but also the first city where a large number of people died due to environmental pollution.

This is also one of the dark histories in the development of the British Empire. There were a large number of homicides disguised as deaths caused by smog. At that time, medical care was not well developed, and it was impossible to distinguish whether it was death from chronic poisoning or other causes.

Of course, there are many people who really died because of smog. There were no masks decades ago. The harm to human health from breathing and living in a severe smog environment for a long time can be imagined.

This time when she went to London, Queen Mary specially prepared several customized masks for William, specifically for protecting against London's smog weather.

Although industry has made London the largest city in the world, it has also made London the most dangerous city.

London is glamorous on the surface. More than a quarter of the world's financial transactions take place in London, and dozens of companies are listed on the London Stock Exchange every day, which is enough to witness the prosperity of London's economy.

But at the same time, in the dark corners and behind the scenes of London, a large number of people die every day due to severe smog pollution.

There were also people who died of starvation and freezing in the dark corners, and no one noticed them, which had no impact on this huge city.

Although William arrived in London at the end of March and almost April, Queen Mary still did not dare to relax her vigilance and insisted that William bring more masks and even bring the royal family's private doctor.

Fortunately, it was not winter when he went to London. In the case of severe smog, the visibility in London was less than 100 meters, which had seriously affected the life of the city.

This is also one of the reasons why Arthur wanted to move the capital. Instead of letting Sydney develop into such a smog city, it is better to strictly limit the scale of Sydney and minimize the harm brought to Sydney by environmental pollution.

Fortunately, when Australasia built industrial zones, environmental pollution was already considered.

Although pollution is inevitable in industry, pollution in Australasia is still within the controllable range, at least it will not cause great harm to human health.

Both sides attach great importance to this diplomatic visit, and the British have warmed up their welcome in the newspapers in advance.

On the Australasia side, although William was nominally the head of the diplomatic mission, the government would also send Deputy Prime Minister Raul, Foreign Minister Deze, Education Minister Kello and others as members of the diplomatic mission.

Although it was his first time to travel far away, William was not timid at all, and even looked forward to this trip to London.

With Arthur's encouragement and Queen Mary's farewell, William embarked on a journey to London.

March 30, 1926, London.

After a long journey of a month, William and his party finally arrived in London, the world's most prosperous city.

As soon as he got off the cruise ship, William frowned. This was completely different from the prosperous London he imagined. The light haze completely covered the face of London, and it looked like a gray city.

"Prime Minister Raul, has London always been like this?" William couldn't help but ask curiously.

The world's most prosperous city actually looked like this, which made William very disappointed, and at the same time he was curious about how the British royal family lived in such a city.

"That's true, Your Highness." Deputy Prime Minister Raul nodded and said to William very respectfully.

Raul was promoted step by step from the Guards, and has successively experienced the Guards, the Ministry of Defense and the current position of Deputy Prime Minister. He is loyal to the royal family and Arthur.

This time, Deputy Prime Minister Raul accompanied William on a diplomatic visit, not only to allow Raul to control the overall situation, but also to allow William to contact the royalists in Australasia as early as possible, and at the same time understand who are his own people in the cabinet.

"Your Highness, the Duke of York is here." Looking at the figure of the person coming from afar, Deputy Prime Minister Raul hurriedly reminded William who was about to complain.

The Duke of York is the second son of George V and the famous George VI in history.

Of course, the current George VI is only the second heir to the throne, and his brother, Prince Edward, is ahead of him.

Unlike the United Kingdom, the identity of Prince Edward as the heir to the throne in Australasia has long been determined, so it is naturally not suitable for him to come to greet William in person.

After all, William is currently just an ordinary prince. He has neither received a title nor confirmed the identity of the heir to the throne. It is most appropriate for Duke George, who is also an ordinary prince, to greet him.

After hearing Deputy Prime Minister Raul's reminder, William quickly put aside his complaints, showed a very formal smile, and walked towards Duke George who was walking towards him.

"William, welcome to London!" Duke George said with a smile on his face.

The two of them had met in Australasia during the National Day Ceremony before. After all, they were considered a family, so they were not that unfamiliar.

"It's my pleasure, Cousin George." William nodded and also smiled.

"The weather has not been very good in the past few days. Let's go directly to the palace." Seeing that William was obviously concerned about the haze outside, Duke George, who was already familiar with this environment, smiled and invited William.

William is also considered a member of the British royal family, so he naturally went to the palace to meet George V first, and then discussed the diplomatic visit with the government.

Coupled with the good relations between the two countries, everything to be discussed during this diplomatic visit will basically be achieved.

William nodded and followed George in the car to Buckingham Palace.

In the car, William couldn't help but asked curiously: "Cousin George, is the weather in London like this every day?"

As if he understood what William wanted to ask, Duke George smiled and replied: "Strictly speaking, it's not like this. It's more serious when the weather is cold, but it's okay in the summer. I'm used to such horrible weather."

"This is really bad, Cousin George. Won't such severe smog have an impact on health? Why don't you think of ways to control it?" William said with some surprise.

"The environment of the palace is not bad, there are quite a lot of trees and so on." George V said: "Perhaps only God can manage such an environment, and it is impossible for others to do it."

"Why not try to close some factories?" On the way to Buckingham Palace, William couldn't help but frown and asked as he looked at the thick smoke emitted from the factory chimneys.

"William, you have to understand that capitalist factories are not easy to close. For those greedy capitalists, they don't care about the harm that factory emissions do to the environment, and the harm to London and its citizens.

For them, if the factory is open, they will make money, and if it is closed, they will lose money. This is the simplest truth. Closing down their factories is no easier than rebuilding London. "Duke George shook his head helplessly and explained very seriously.

The biggest difference between Britain and Australasia is actually that the British capitalists have already formed a climate and are even large enough to influence the country's situation.

The British government has to consider the opinions of the capitalists, because if the capitalists are angry, it will also make the British government uncomfortable.

Australasia is different. Although capital has experienced considerable development in the past 20 years, except for Arthur, no capital large enough to influence the country has been born.

Most of the capital in Australasia is small and medium-sized private capital. Coupled with relatively strict controls, capital will not pose a threat to the country.

If it were under the rule of Australasia, the factory would be closed at the request of others, and the capitalists could even be forced to order the factory environment to be rectified.

But if it were in London, England, once the British government issued such an order, I am afraid that the capitalists would directly mobilize the workers and start a riot.

And the most important point is that the British government does not have anyone who can be ruthless enough to make this decision.

The government is afraid of taking on responsibilities, so it is impossible to take on such a burden and bear the risk of being stigmatized and hated by capitalists.

After all, officials have to make a living. If they don't cooperate with the capitalists, they are already loyal to the country. Do they still have to go against the capitalists for the sake of the country?

No matter how brilliant the British Prime Minister is, there are term limits, but capitalists have no term limits. Most prime ministers are smarter when it comes to choosing between short-term glory and long-term prosperity.

Logically speaking, the King of England can be the one who makes the final decision and sets the rules. But it is a pity that the power of the British King has been interrupted from George V.

When George V succeeded to the throne in 1910, Germany and the United States had already posed a huge threat to the United Kingdom, and Victoria's glory was no longer the same.

Although changing his surname allowed George V to calm public anger, it also caused George V to lose the favor of European royal families and German nobles.

The current British king is more of a symbol and may not be able to defeat those powerful capitalists.

"By the way, cousin George, are you about to give birth to your first child?" William seemed to have thought of something, looked at Duke George, and asked suddenly.

"Yes, the doctor's estimate should be in late April. If you stay longer, you should be able to see the birth of the little one." Although Duke George did not understand the intention of William's question, such a question obviously did not What is taboo, Duke George naturally doesn't mind answering.

"Well, to convey my father's thoughts, do you mind if my father becomes the godfather of your unborn child?" William's face changed and he asked slightly embarrassed.

This behavior of rushing to be a godfather before he was born was completely opposite to the mature and steady image Arthur always gave people, and it also made William really unable to understand what his father wanted to do.

However, this is equivalent to just becoming the godfather of one's own relatives, which is nothing in the end. In addition to the good relationship between Australasia and the United Kingdom, doing so may be able to show the close connection between Britain and Australia, anyway, William thinks so.

"Godfather? Of course I don't mind, it's an honor for me and this child." Duke George said hurriedly.

If he was the heir to the throne, there would be no surprise in Arthur's behavior. But he is only the second heir to the throne. When his brother is in good health, Arthur took the initiative to ask to become the godfather of the children of an ordinary prince, which is actually a bit of self-degradation.

In fact, this is normal. If you are not a time traveler, you can't understand Arthur's intention at all.

Because Duke George is the famous George VI in history, and his first daughter is the famous Queen Elizabeth in later generations, the monarch who stabilized the British royal family and national rule.

Of course, speaking of it, George VI's brother Edward VIII is also very famous. This monarch who truly loves beauty and not the country is also the first and only king in British history to voluntarily abdicate.

Only Prince Edward could have given up the British throne for his supposed love.

However, there are many different opinions about the inside story of Edward VIII's abdication, and various news have emerged.

On the surface, the reason for Edward VIII's abdication was that he fell in love with a woman who had been married twice. After all, divorce and remarriage are not allowed in the Church of England. Such behavior that offended religious ideas made all the people in Britain at that time express opposition.

But in fact, there was also German influence behind Edward VIII's abdication.

Intelligence obtained by the FBI showed that the real reason for forcing Edward VIII to abdicate was that his wife, Mrs. Simpson, was suspected of being a supporter of Germany.

Of course, this suspicion was eventually confirmed, which was why Edward VIII had to abdicate.

Mrs. Simpson was not only a staunch supporter of Germany, but also had close contacts with the German ambassador to the UK at that time.

How close was it? Not only the contact between important intelligence, but also the close contact between the two people's bodies.

They were so bold that the German ambassador to the UK would give Mrs. Simpson 17 pink carnations every day, which represented the number of their secret trysts.

Even when Edward VIII and Mrs. Simpson went into exile in France, the contact between Simpson and the German ambassador never stopped.

The double contact in terms of physical and intelligence not only made the inside story of Edward VIII's abdication a scandal of the British royal family, but also a secret document that was not published at the time.

Although Germany in this world has changed a lot, the hatred between France and Germany still exists, and Mrs. Simpson is unlikely to become innocent.

Although Arthur had no idea about the British throne, it was obviously in the interests of Australasia to lay out the heir to the British throne in advance.

And to put it bluntly, Edward VIII was not a qualified heir to the throne. As early as when he was the son of the crown prince, he was bullied in the military academy.

After seeing Prince Edward crying, his subordinates investigated and found that the reason why those military academy students bullied Prince Edward was actually to show off to others that they had kicked the king after serving in the future.

This kind of thing happened in the British royal family, which not only means that the prestige of the British royal family among the people has been greatly reduced, but also represents Edward's cowardly character.

At that time, he was already the eldest son of the crown prince and the next heir to the country. Such an identity can be bullied by ordinary cadets of the Naval Academy, and even cry in grievance, which has doomed Edward's reign to be unsuccessful.

When the lower-class people have no awe of the royal family, it also means that the status of the royal family no longer exists, and it may be overturned by the raging anger of the people at any time.

Although Arthur values ​​the ideas of the lower-class people, the royal family is the royal family after all, and it is not something that ordinary people can bully casually.

In a few words, Arthur has become the godfather of Duke George's first child.

In Western concepts, godfather refers to the person who gives the name of the baby or child when he is baptized and guarantees to undertake his religious education.

The influence of the godfather on a person is still very large. After all, for Westerners, the importance and role of religion are far higher than that of religion in the hearts of Oriental people.

After this episode, William followed Duke George to visit George V and stayed at Buckingham Palace.

The scheduled time for this diplomatic visit was one week, which was quite long, so there was no rush.

The main purpose of this diplomatic visit, in addition to negotiating some new cooperation, was to maintain relations between the two countries and to ask the British about their views on currency devaluation and the gold standard.

Currency devaluation and abandonment of the gold standard have become commonplace topics in this era and have attracted much attention from various countries.

France, in particular, has officially adopted a policy of paper currency inflation. The devaluation rate of the franc cannot be controlled at all, but the benefits brought by the devaluation have made the French government earn a lot of money.

It is worth pondering that Britain and Italy, which have not devalued, are suffering from an unemployment crisis, while the number of unemployed people in France, where the currency has devalued, is not large, far from being a crisis.

This also makes many countries excited. If they are not prepared, I am afraid that all countries will follow France's footsteps and create a new round of currency devaluation competition.

Who would have thought that currency devaluation would also become a competition. But the benefits brought by currency devaluation are indeed worth it for all countries to do so. Instead of maintaining the value of the currency and suffering losses, it is better to take the initiative to devalue the currency and become the beneficiary of this competition.

One of the purposes of this diplomatic visit is to strengthen cooperation with the UK, build a new pound and Australian dollar currency system, and advance and retreat together in this currency devaluation competition.

The French's active currency devaluation has made the Latin Monetary Union exist in name only, and the currency systems of various countries have become chaotic again.

As the most powerful country, the British pound is highly recognized for its value preservation. If it can be combined with the Australian dollar to create a pound-Australian dollar currency system, it is theoretically possible to unify the currency.

Of course, the unification here does not mean that other countries use the pound and the Australian dollar as official currencies, but that the pound and the Australian dollar are used as a universal currency, directly linked to the currencies of other countries, thereby affecting the economic situation of the entire world.

The good news is that the Australian dollar has been linked to the pound from the beginning, and it is easy to unite the pound and the Australian dollar.

The difference between the pennies and shillings in the Australian dollar system and the pennies and shillings in the British pound system is not much, which also lays a good foundation for the union of the Australian dollar and the British pound.

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