Chapter 147 Military Parade Plan

On December 23, 1902, after a week-long preparation and sailing, Australian Foreign Minister Andrew set off from the port of Hamburg in Germany to a port in the Tsarist Russian Empire, and was immediately received ceremoniously by the Tsarist Russian Empire.

Of course, it was not Minister Andrew and his party who were given the grand reception by the Tsarist Russian Empire, but the relationship from the German Empire.

Australia does not deserve too much attention from the Russian Empire, but the German Empire is different. Although the Allied Powers organization, where the Tsarist Empire is located, and the Central Powers organization, where the German Empire is located, are currently engaged in a very fierce arms competition in Europe, there are also frictions between them.

But this does not change the powerful fact that the German Empire currently has the largest army and the second largest overall strength.

In the absence of a war between the two major military blocs in Europe, anyone with ties to the German Empire will be taken seriously wherever they go.

Although the Russians do not quite believe the fact that the island country has begun to take some actions against them, they are still able to accept Germany's loan worth up to five million pounds.

Although these loans must be used to purchase military weapons and equipment from Australia, after all, the money is not paid by themselves, and the Tsarist Empire does not have to worry about financial burdens.

As for the issue of future repayments, isn’t there a French guarantee? Besides, in the event of a war between the two major military groups on the European continent, the Russian Empire might not have to repay the German Empire's loan.

It is precisely because of this mentality that the Russians' intention to purchase weapons and equipment became more obvious and stronger after receiving military loans from the German Empire.

Of course, it cannot be denied that Russia became interested in Australia's military industry only after Minister Andrew admitted that Australia possesses a complete set of German small arms production technology.

But no matter what, as long as the final result is good, no one cares how tortuous the process is.

On the third day after arriving in the Tsarist Russian Empire, that is, December 26, 1902, Minister Andrew reached a preliminary arms purchase treaty with officials of the Tsarist Russian Empire.

Of course, the funds for this treaty are within the scope of the German Empire's loans, and the Tsarist Russians will not spend their own money to purchase additional weapons, even if it is used to maintain the Tsarist Empire's hegemony and advantages in the Far East.

The detailed treaty included 10,000 German Gew98 rifles, one million rounds of ammunition, hundreds of heavy machine guns and more than ten 105mm howitzers.

The Tsarist Empire has no plans to expand the Far East Fleet for the time being, so the weapons purchase treaty only covers various weapons for the army.

However, such a number of weapons can already slightly enhance the combat effectiveness of the Far East Army of the Russian Empire, and can even deal a heavy blow to the island country's army when the island country's army is not prepared.

In order to ensure that Australia would not be at the center of the storm, and at the same time, the German Empire's wooing plan would be carried out secretly, after friendly negotiations with the Russian Empire, the arms trade between the two countries and Germany's assistance were conducted privately and would not be made public.

Even countries with certain intelligence capabilities in the Tsarist Russian Empire may not necessarily know what the specific treaty between Australia and the Tsarist Russian Empire is.

Not to mention Asian countries like island countries, they don’t even know anything about it and are still immersed in their so-called secret development, defeating Tsarist Russia and seizing hegemony in East Asia.

While Minister Andrew and his diplomatic team are conducting painstaking diplomatic operations in Europe, Australia is also preparing a big plan.

In fact, it is not a private matter. Because Australia's National Day is approaching, and five new warships for the expansion of the Australian Navy have been launched, a grand military parade will be held on National Day after discussions between Arthur and the government.

Of course, unlike the last army parade, this time the parade is more inclined to the navy.

Not only will all five of Australia's warships, which took half a year to build, be on display, but previous naval warships will also be on display one by one.

Of course, this is also because the Australian navy is not large in size.

If it is an extremely large fleet like the Royal Navy of the British Empire, the review of one ship after another may take most of a day or even more than a day.

Because the troops and services involved in the military parade are different, the venue for this military parade has also been changed to the Sydney Port in Australia.

In order to better prepare for this naval parade, the Australian government has made preparations near the port two months in advance.

Not only has the road connecting the city and the port been widened to ensure that more people can go to the port smoothly, but a solid site has also been built near the port, which will then be the best viewing platform for all people visiting the naval parade.

In order to ensure that more people can watch the Navy's military parade, there will be dedicated personnel patrolling the venue throughout the National Day, and even the first two days, to ensure that there will not be any behavior that occupies the venue for sales.

In order to increase Australians' enthusiasm for participating in military parades and even for their country, this naval parade will randomly select hundreds of lucky spectators to ride on the Australian Navy's new warships and watch the Australian Navy shoot at strategic targets offshore.

Although the current scale of the Australian Navy is not large, it is completely enough to give an ordinary person a complete shock.

Of course, such a session is actually a review of the Australian Navy's combat capabilities. If the timing of strategic goals is deviated in full view of the public, it will undoubtedly greatly reduce Australians' favorability of the navy, and even reduce trust in the government and the royal family in disguise.

After all, the navy that the country spent a lot of money to build cannot even hit the target accurately, so can it effectively protect all citizens?

Especially for an island country, the importance of the navy is unique. People can accept that the army is not very strong, but they absolutely cannot accept that the navy has always been weak or even decayed.

Like previous National Day holidays, even though it is just approaching the National Day, Australian flags made to the same proportions have already begun to be sold in streets around Australia.

These flags are not officially made, but come from many small and medium-sized private workshops in Australia.

Australians still have a high degree of recognition of their country, which also leads to a surge in sales of Australian flags at this time of year. It is also a good opportunity for these small and medium-sized private workshops and craftsmen to make money.

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