Chapter 180 The war breaks out and the referendum results are announced

On February 6, after the island country severed diplomatic relations with the Tsarist Empire, the Tsarist Empire asked the army and navy in the Far East to prepare for a possible war, while delaying the arrival of the war as much as possible to give the army more time to prepare.

According to international practice, two countries generally have to go through two stages of declaring war and severing diplomatic relations before going to war. Because the island country did not declare war on the Tsarist Russian Empire, officials of the Tsarist Russian Empire, including Tsar Nicholas II, They believe that island countries are just threats and temptations, and do not think that island countries really dare to launch a war.

This has also affected war preparations in the Far East to a certain extent. Many Russians have this mentality and believe that it is impossible for island countries to launch a war without authorization, so war preparations are also very slow.

At this time, most of the warships of the Pacific Squadron of the Tsarist Empire were still moored in the outer port of Port Arthur, and the vigilance of the ships was still the same as usual. Although it had been decided to take enhanced vigilance measures, this decision had not yet been fully implemented. .

Although Alexeyev, the then Governor of the Far East, had already learned of the breakdown of negotiations between the island country and the Russian Empire, he did not take more urgent response measures.

He blindly and arrogantly believed that it was impossible for the island country to launch a war, so just a few hours before the war started, he said with great confidence to General Witthoft, Chief of Staff of the Pacific Squadron: "There is no way to start a war."

But just a few hours after he said these words, on February 8, 1904, the island nation dispatched its fleet and brazenly launched a sneak attack on the Pacific Fleet of the Russian Empire in the outer port of Port Arthur.

At this time, the Russian Empire's Far East Fleet was divided into three parts, one part still stayed in Vladivostok, and the other part was stationed in Incheon Port in North Korea.

Stationed at Port Arthur is the main fleet of the Pacific Squadron, commanded by Admiral Tasker of the Tsarist Russian Empire.

The island country's sneak attack plan this time is also divided into three parts. A small part of the fleet goes north to prepare for the return reinforcements of the Tsarist Russian Imperial Fleet stationed in Vladivostok. The other part of the fleet consists of six cruisers, including cruisers produced in Australia.

The target of this fleet was the Wagarian and Koryo in the port of Inchon.

As for the rest of the main force of the combined fleet, their goal is the main force of the Pacific Squadron located at Lushunkou.

At about ten o'clock in the evening, the island nation's combined fleet successfully arrived outside the port of Lushun. It was already dark at this time. Because it was winter, it got dark relatively early, and the sky was already pitch black at around ten o'clock.

The Tsarist Russian Empire's Pacific Fleet was unprepared for the arrival of the island fleet.

This also doomed the fate of this fleet. Even though there were already many war trends, the Governor of the Far East Alexeyev and the Commander of the Pacific Fleet Stark turned a blind eye. They arrogantly believed that it was impossible for the island country to launch a war and had little regard for war preparations. There are no enhanced measures.

In order not to alert the enemy, the island country first dispatched several torpedo boats and quietly entered the Port of Port Arthur.

However, the warships parked outside the port discovered something was wrong. They turned on their search lights and searched for these torpedo boats.

But this did not stop the action of the torpedo boats. In just a few minutes, several torpedo boats fired dozens of torpedoes at several battleships and cruisers around them. Although more than half of them missed, there were still as many as ten torpedoes. Hit a nearby Russian warship.

The most damaged were the nearest battleship Perthwaite and the flagship of the Pacific Fleet, the Crown Prince.

It is worth mentioning that when the roar of torpedoes and the sound of Russian warships' counterattacks reached the shore, General Tasker and others were still confused.

Some people at the banquet speculated that the warships were firing salutes, while others speculated that the army was conducting exercises, which made Tasker, the commander of the fleet, somewhat convinced and hesitant.

It was not until someone reported that the warship was attacked that Tusker was taken aback and quickly stopped the banquet.

This sneak attack lasted for several hours. In the end, the island nation's fleet was forced to leave in frustration under the defense of the strong fortress and coastal defense guns at the port.

But the attack was not unsuccessful. The Pacific Fleet's battleships Perthwaite and Kronprinz were seriously injured and could not participate in the battle for a short time.

Others, including two cruisers and some small warships, were also injured, and their combat effectiveness was greatly reduced.

The most successful sneak attack was the small fleet located in Incheon. Due to their numerical advantage, the Russian warships were no match for the island nation's warships. In the end, after a battle, both warships were sunk.

When the news of the sneak attack on the fleet was sent back to the Russian Empire, it was already noon the next day.

Many senior officials of the Tsarist Empire were very angry, and Tsar Nicholas II broke several ornaments.

Shortly afterwards, the Foreign Minister of the Russian Empire received a declaration of war from the island country’s ambassador.

The islanders' helpless excuse was that the telegraph machine was broken, which caused the promotional materials to be delayed by one day.

The Tsarist Empire despised this, and replied with disgust and hatred: "Your country's shameless remarks are quite disgusting, and the Tsarist Russian Empire will make your country pay the price."

Since the island country's sneak attack on the Tsarist Russian Empire's Pacific Fleet on February 8, the next day, February 9, a full-scale war broke out between the Tsarist Russian Empire and the island country.

The war between the Tsarist Empire, one of the established powers, and emerging island countries is also a major event in the world.

After the full-scale war broke out, the Far East once again attracted the attention of the world.

As in previous crises, the British Empire and the United States sided with the island nation, and the German Empire sided with the Tsarist Empire.

In order to win over and maintain relations with the Russian Empire, France had no choice but to side with the Russian Empire.

Other countries are basically paying attention to this war with a fussy mood. After all, the war is in the Far East and cannot affect Europe at all.

Australia and New Zealand also acted quickly, declaring neutrality on February 9.

Besides selling arms to both countries, Arthur really had no interest in the war.

After all, for Australia and New Zealand, the referendum in front of them is the most concerning thing.

But this can be considered a good thing. With the attraction of the Far East War, New Zealand's referendum was not eye-catching, and Arthur's role in it was gradually forgotten.

On February 15, 1904, New Zealand's referendum voting period officially ended and entered the month-long counting period.

Because the total number of votes cast could be in the hundreds of thousands, New Zealand deliberately borrowed hundreds of officials from surrounding colonies to help with the counting.

As for why Australia and the British Empire are not borrowing people, it is because these two countries are also one of the protagonists of the referendum. It is inevitable for them to help the statistics to ensure the actual population.

In fact, thanks to the hundreds of officials borrowed from colonies like the great powers, otherwise the counting of votes in the referendum might have been a waste of more time.

After a month of painstaking statistics, the results of New Zealand's referendum were officially announced on March 15, 1904.

This referendum attracted the participation of the vast majority of eligible people in New Zealand. The total number of votes received was as high as 466,327 votes, and the number of voters accounted for 94% of the number of people who could vote.

Of the three options available in the referendum, the one with the least support is New Zealand's independence option.

There were only more than 13,000 people who supported New Zealand's independence, which was only 3% of the total number of voters.

This also shows that New Zealanders do not believe that the independence of the country will allow them to live a good life. On the contrary, they will be coveted by more countries.

The most chosen option was joining Australia.

Perhaps it is because Arthur, as the Duke of Australia, has done a lot during this crisis in New Zealand, perhaps it is also the natural favorability and recognition of New Zealanders towards Australia, or perhaps it is the negative attitude of the Alliance Party led by Grant towards New Zealand. Sealander brainwashing, all in all, the option of joining Australia was overwhelmingly supported in this referendum.

A total of 57,000 votes were cast in favor of New Zealand remaining in the British Empire, accounting for 14% of the total votes cast.

A total of more than 336,000 people chose to join Australia and form a federation with Australia, accounting for more than 82% of the total number of people voting this time.

The option of joining Australia became New Zealand's choice after this referendum with an overwhelming 82% margin.

When the New Zealand colonial government officially announced the results of the referendum on March 15, the streets of New Zealand were once again filled with people crying for joy.

New Zealanders seem to see the hope of prosperity in their country, and they also seem to see that New Zealanders have a prosperous and beautiful life just like Australians.

Since March 16, various slogans such as "Long live the Federation!" and "Long live Duke Arthur!" have appeared on the streets of New Zealand. People seem to be using this method to celebrate the new life of New Zealand. They also share the joy of Arthur as a monarch.

On March 17, 1904, Arthur delivered a speech in Wellington as the Governor of New Zealand, announcing that the New Zealand colonial government recognized the results of the New Zealand referendum and announced that after Australia took over New Zealand, New Zealand would The colonial government of New Zealand will be formally reorganized into the Government of New Zealand, with the House of Lords and House of Lords remaining unchanged.

Also on this day, New Zealand and Australia received congratulations from many countries, including the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Russian Empire, island countries, France and the United States. The congratulations from the British Empire were the last to arrive.

On March 18, 1904, Arthur, as the Duke of Australia, welcomed all New Zealanders and promised that after the establishment of a new federation, he would treat all New Zealanders as Australians. and the Australians are all Arthur's subjects.

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