Chapter 118 Return to Australia (please subscribe!)

On May 11, 1902, after making all arrangements in New Zealand, Arthur left New Zealand on a warship and embarked on a journey back to Australia.

This trip to New Zealand took a month and a half, and also consumed a lot of manpower and material resources.

Of course, it's all worth it. If all plans in New Zealand can be completed smoothly, then not only is Australia expected to annex New Zealand, but Arthur will also gain a territory of considerable size.

New Zealand currently has three forces: the garrison, the colonial government and the political participation group. The checks and balances between them can also make New Zealand more stable.

Coupled with the spy arranged by Arthur in New Zealand, that is, the head of the Royal Relief Committee in New Zealand, Joshua Bullock.

Under various guarantees, it can be ensured that New Zealand's development will not be beyond Arthur's control.

Three days later, on May 14, Arthur successfully arrived at the Australian port of Sydney and returned to Australia.

Every time Arthur returned from overseas, Sydney's port was crowded with people who came to greet him.

This time is of course no exception. In addition to the welcoming team arranged by the government, Sydney's port was also filled with people who came spontaneously.

There was no speech this time. This is because Arthur's reputation has reached its peak in Australia and does not need to rely on frequent speeches to maintain it.

After returning to Australia, Arthur's first stop was the gold mines on the border of New South Wales.

Three months have passed since the discovery of this gold mining area.

During these three months, the Ministry of Industry conducted a detailed survey and division of the gold mining area, and sealed off the specific scope of the gold mining area, preventing unrelated persons from entering.

It took up to a month to conduct the specific survey scope, and nearly another month to prepare for mining and mobilize the indigenous people.

After more than a month of mining, tens of thousands of tons of gold ore have been stockpiled and are already being refined.

There are many gold mines in Australia, which also leads to many factories that can refine gold.

Although many of them are private workshops owned by gold diggers, there are also large factories belonging to the Australian government.

The closest refinery to the new gold mining area is the refinery in southern New South Wales, which is also Australia's second largest gold refinery.

The largest gold mine and refinery is located in Victoria, which is also the only state that can compete with New South Wales economically.

After arriving at the gold mining area, Arthur first met with the troops stationed in the gold mining area.

Originally, the troops of the First Division should be stationed here, but because the troops of the First Division had just been reorganized and were still undergoing intensive training, the task of protecting the gold mine was given to the Guards.

Currently stationed near the gold mining area is the 1st Infantry Battalion of the Guards Division Infantry Regiment.

The garrison at the gold mine adopted a rotational garrison strategy, changing guard every once in a while and mobilizing new troops.

Under the protection of the army, Arthur successfully entered the large storage area of ​​​​the gold mining area, where all the gold-bearing ore mined from the gold mining area is stored.

These gold ores will be loaded onto trucks here, transported to a refinery not far away to be refined into pure gold, and then smelted into fixed-weight gold bars and transferred to a more confidential location.

Although the storage area is only a few dozen kilometers away from the refinery, even using a horse-drawn carriage only takes four or five hours.

But for the sake of safety, in addition to using at least hundreds of cavalry troops to protect each gold ore transportation, at least 100 troops stationed there will also be mobilized to follow and protect.

It is impossible for such a security force in Australia to snatch this batch of gold ore from the army. Arthur and the government both nodded and agreed to protect their own interests.

Not to mention the refinery. In addition to the security force of the refinery itself, there is also an army of hundreds of people stationed nearby for the sole purpose of protecting this refinery that can produce gold.

These golds are related to Arthur's success rate in issuing his own currency in the next step, so Arthur cannot ignore it.

With thousands of indigenous people invested, the current mining efficiency of the gold mine is already very good. The maximum daily mining volume has reached 7,000 tons of gold ore. On average, each indigenous person can mine more than two tons of ore every day.

It is precisely because of these large amounts of indigenous investment that not only has the mining efficiency of gold mines developed rapidly in a short period of time, but the mining costs of gold mines have not actually increased much.

This does have a drawback, that is, the loss of indigenous people is too high, and even dozens of indigenous people die every day in gold mining areas.

But this kind of consumption is far less than the purchase volume of thousands of Aboriginal people every month, not to mention that few Australians care about the life and death of these Aboriginal people.

Living in this society where the jungle prevails, the only thing to blame is that their nation and country are not strong enough.

After visiting the gold mining area, Arthur took his own special seat to the gold mine's refinery.

A week has passed since the first batch of gold ore was delivered to the refinery, and now is also the day when the first batch of gold bricks are made and accepted.

Also following Arthur to the refinery were Prime Minister Evan and Minister of Industry Pierre.

Compared to carriages, cars are much faster after all.

Arthur, who could only ride a horse-drawn carriage in New Zealand, was finally able to experience the speed and convenience of a car again.

The gold mining area is about 60 kilometers away from the refinery. It may take three or four hours for a carriage to travel, but for a car, it can be reached in more than an hour.

Of course, this is only possible if a flat road is built. If there is no smooth and smooth road, then the current car can only do its best.

Just over an hour later, Arthur and his team arrived at the refinery.

This refinery is located near the industrial area of ​​New South Wales, an industrial area that existed during Australia's colonial period. It is not very large, but has a fairly complete range.

At the entrance of the refinery, the person in charge was already waiting at the door with the employees of the refinery.

Seeing Arthur and others getting out of the car, Adam Root, the person in charge of the refinery, quickly stepped forward and said respectfully to everyone: "His Royal Highness the Duke, Prime Minister Evan, and Minister Pierre, welcome to inspect the refinery!"

Arthur nodded and said: "The first batch of gold has been successfully refined, right?"

"Of course, Your Highness. We have successfully refined the first batch of about 4,000 tons of gold ore and obtained a total of forty-eight 500-gram gold bars. During the process of refining the gold ore, at least fifty grams were lost due to wear and tear. of gold, this is because our refining equipment is relatively backward." Adam Root introduced.

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