Chapter 780 South American Conflict

The sale of TV technology will bring Arthur about 220.5 million Australian dollars in revenue, but a considerable part of it will be paid to the government as taxes.

In fact, for Arthur, it is possible to avoid taxes in some reasonable ways to reduce the taxes that the royal consortium needs to pay every year.

But as the monarch of the country, Arthur's words and deeds play an important leading role. If Arthur starts to avoid taxes legally, then there will definitely be more capitalists and entrepreneurs who choose to avoid taxes.

In this way, the tax revenue obtained by the country will be greatly reduced, which will in turn affect the country's annual fiscal revenue.

Anyway, for Arthur, paying taxes is just a matter of transferring money from one hand to the other. The increasing tax revenue and annual fiscal revenue obtained by the government are also a good thing for Arthur.

According to the tax rates of relevant aspects of Australasia, the tax revenue required to pay for this income of 220.5 million Australian dollars is at least about 50 million Australian dollars.

For the government, there will be an additional 10 million Australian dollars in tax revenue every year in three years, which is also quite good news.

In fact, the royal consortium controlled by Arthur is not only the largest taxpayer in Australasia, but also the enterprise with the largest number of employees in Australasia.

According to the annual report of the royal consortium, the royal consortium paid more than 17 million Australian dollars to the government in 1930, accounting for 35.7% of the government's total tax revenue.

If some other industries are included, the taxes paid by Arthur's industries to the government are almost equivalent to the total taxes paid by all other industries to the government.

The high taxes paid also represent one thing, that is, Arthur's annual income is actually very high.

After the depreciation of the Australian dollar, the annual income generated by all of Arthur's enterprises has actually doubled.

In 1930 alone, the total profit of all of Arthur's enterprises has exceeded 180 million Australian dollars, which is close to half of the country's total fiscal revenue.

This seems exaggerated, but it is actually a more reasonable number. Although the royal consortium on the surface only has banks and military industries, Arthur controls all extremely important industries in Australasia behind the scenes.

From grain and food processing to all kinds of industrial products and machinery, including mineral mining and processing, oil mining and refining, etc., the royal consortium's investment can be seen everywhere.

If Arthur had not deliberately concealed some enterprises, I am afraid that the people of Australasia would be surprised to find that their daily lives are inseparable from the enterprises of the royal consortium.

Because there are royal consortiums in all walks of life, and there are a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises and factories invested by the royal consortium.

Making a fortune from television sets really made Arthur feel good, and he smiled at the cabinet meeting.

In fact, since more than ten years ago, Arthur rarely expressed his emotions at the cabinet meeting.

After all, as a qualified monarch, it is better not to let subordinates guess his mood.

Not showing emotions on the face is still the most important performance of a qualified monarch.

Speaking of this cabinet meeting, the discussion was not about domestic topics, but a new crisis abroad.

This is also the main theme of this era. Although the overall tone is still peaceful, it is inevitable that crises or even wars will break out in some regions.

This crisis is not in Europe, nor is it in the region where the great powers competed before. Arthur did not expect that such a crisis could break out in South America when all European countries tended towards peace and the United States had been eliminated in advance.

The protagonists of this crisis are Bolivia and Paraguay. And this crisis is also well-known in history, known as the Chaco War.

It is easy to understand from the name that the real reason for the outbreak of the Chaco War is the sovereignty dispute between Bolivia and Paraguay over the Chaco region.

Speaking of which, the situation in South America has always been unstable. Although there are no super-large-scale wars, there have always been many small-scale wars and disputes between several countries.

In addition to the three most powerful countries, namely Brazil, Argentina and Chile, the relations between countries including Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay and others are not so good.

The Chaco region is located west of the Paraguay River, east of the Andes Mountains, south of the Amazon Basin, and north of the Pampas. It is an uninhabited area of ​​more than 650,000 square kilometers.

The reason why there was no large-scale conflict before was that this area was not only sparsely populated, but also had no valuable products.

Although Bolivia and Paraguay have always had considerable disputes over the North Chaco region, it is naturally impossible for the two countries to go to war in such a region with no people and no products.

But the situation has changed subtly in recent years. Before the demise of the United States, the American Standard Oil Company announced that it had explored a large number of oil fields in the North Chaco region.

Originally, with the suppression of the United States, although the contradictions between Bolivia and Paraguay were more intense, they were far from the point of war.

But with the demise of the United States, the relationship between Bolivia and Paraguay could no longer be maintained.

In 1930 alone, the two countries broke out more than ten small-scale armed conflicts in the border area, two of which almost turned into wars.

Speaking of which, this large-scale conflict is also related to Arthur. Previously, because Arthur and Britain agreed to control the world's oil prices, international oil prices generally rose, and major oil companies made a lot of money.

Because of this, countries paid more attention to the oil fields discovered in the North Chaco region. As time entered 1931, powers including Britain, Australasia and France also entered the North Chaco region, making this area, which was already filled with smoke, even more chaotic.

As the first oil company to discover oil in the North Chaco region, Mobil Oil Company was not treated so well at this time.

After the demise of the United States behind it, Mobil Oil Company was a lamb to be slaughtered by the powers.

It is undoubtedly a foolish dream for Mobil to compete for the right to exploit oil in the North Chaco region, even when the powers have already participated.

Although only Bolivia and Paraguay are in conflict in the North Chaco region, there are already countless countries behind the scenes.

After Mobil Oil and the French cooperated, the situation in Bolivia and Paraguay became more delicate.

Mobil Oil, France and Chile supported Bolivia, while Dutch Shell, Britain and Argentina supported Paraguay.

The purpose of the cabinet meeting was to determine Australasia's bias in this conflict.

As a power with a relatively large influence in South America besides Britain and France, Australasia still has a relatively high voice in this conflict.

In fact, from the geographical location, it can be seen that the powers that can influence South America are nothing more than Britain, France and Australia.

The other powers are either insufficient or too far away, and they are powerless to participate in the competition in the North Chaco region.

So the question is, what attitude should Australasia take in this competition?

To put it bluntly, this competition is a competition between Britain and France, and Bolivia and Paraguay, and even Argentina and Chile are just pawns.

Australasia's attitude not only determines the strength of the two sides in this conflict, but also determines the final situation in South America.

After the demise of the United States, South America actually became a no-man's land. The three most powerful countries in South America are still small countries in front of the great powers, and they are powerless in the face of the invasion of the great powers.

This incident seems to be just a competition for oil, but in fact it is also the expansion of the sphere of influence of several great powers to South America.

No matter who wins this conflict, they can take the opportunity to expand their sphere of influence in South America.

It is precisely because of this that Arthur's choice must be cautious and he must fully consider the impact of his choice.

In fact, according to the current situation, Arthur is more inclined to continue to cooperate with the British and continue to control the world oil market.

At this time, Britain still needs Australasia, because they may not be the opponent of the French in South America alone.

After all, Mobil Oil Company has chosen to cooperate with France. This oil company established in Texas was the largest non-governmental oil and gas company in the United States before.

Its history can be traced back to the Standard Oil Company founded by Rockefeller. In the ranking of the world's top 500 companies in later generations, it can be steadily ranked in the top ten.

It is only natural for Standard Oil to cooperate with the French. After all, Texas has now become independent as the Lone Star Republic, and the Lone Star Republic is under the control of the French.

Standard Oil was the first to come to the North Chaco region. If they are determined to reach a cooperation with the French, coupled with the help of Chile, it will definitely give the British a headache.

"Your Majesty, I think we should enter the market in a high-profile manner and let Britain and France take the initiative to win us over." Prime Minister Raul took the lead in proposing at the cabinet meeting.

Seeing that he had successfully attracted everyone's attention, Prime Minister Raul explained slowly: "Whether we support Britain or France, we cannot get the greatest benefit under the premise of taking the initiative.

Instead of this, it is better to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger, and let Britain and France take the initiative to win us over. In this way, we can choose the most sincere party to join them and create the greatest benefit for us.

Whether Bolivia or Paraguay wins, it doesn't matter to us. Only interests are the most important, and it also determines which side we should support in this conflict."

It has to be admitted that Prime Minister Raul, who came from the military, is still very decisive from a political perspective.

Because he is Arthur's absolute confidant, Prime Minister Raul will not take the initiative to lean towards any party when thinking about problems, but will give priority to the interests of Arthur and Australasia.

This is different from some officials. Because of their origin in Australasia, some officials have a very deep British background, and they will involuntarily lean towards Britain when thinking about problems.

In the past few decades, leaning towards Britain was Australasia's strategy, and it is naturally understandable to do so.

But judging from the current situation, Australasia cannot blindly support Britain. Britain and Australasia also have conflicts of interest, which means that the relationship between the two countries is impossible to return to the previous state.

"What is the current situation in South America?" Arthur did not rush to make a decision, but raised his own question.

"Currently, the two sides have already had a conflict in the border area. Bolivia and Paraguay are both buying weapons on a large scale, and there is a high possibility of war." Foreign Secretary Wellington replied.

The world situation is very complicated, and the cause of the incident is definitely not as simple as it seems on the surface.

Although it seems that the conflict is only caused by Bolivia and Paraguay's competition for the oil-rich Chaco region, there are various factors behind it.

Having said that, a considerable part of the reason for this conflict can be attributed to the previous economic crisis.

After the outbreak of the economic crisis, the imports of all powers have been greatly reduced, causing the prices of agricultural and animal husbandry products and industrial and mining primary products to fall sharply.

South America is a typical export region of agricultural and animal husbandry and industrial and mining primary products, and the same is true for Bolivia and Paraguay.

Bolivia has long relied on the export of silver and tin mines to obtain reliable income, and a large part of the Paraguayan government's fiscal revenue relies on the export of agricultural and animal husbandry products such as beef and mate tea.

The impact of the economic crisis has caused social unrest in these two countries, and all classes have begun to be dissatisfied with the rule of the oligarchic elite.

In this case, even without the oil in the Chaco region, the possibility of the two countries eventually going to war is very high.

Because once the domestic contradictions fall into an irreconcilable state, the last resort can only be to divert the contradictions through war.

"Let the diplomatic ambassador contact Bolivia and Paraguay to see if we can reach an arms trade order.

In addition, send a new guard to our farm in Argentina. I believe that Britain and France will take action after hearing the news." Arthur thought for a while and issued his order.

For Australasia, even if it enters the market, it must not be too abrupt.

After all, the main theme of the world situation is still peace, and the people do not want to see the outbreak of war.

If Australasia supports the outbreak of war in a high-profile manner, it will not stand firm in the public opinion level.

But if it changes the way, by selling weapons and sending a small-scale guard to announce its existence, it can also achieve the same goal.

Doing so can not only remind Britain and France that it is time to win over itself, but also avoid being framed as a warmongerer.

After all, arms trade is very normal, which is what other countries are doing. You can't implicate Australasia for the crime of war just because of an arms trade order, right?

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