Chapter 645: Trip to London, Godfather, Monetary System

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

Whether it is a previous battleship, an aircraft carrier, or a small or medium-sized warship, as long as the size and space are sufficient, such a radar must be installed.

Fortunately, the area occupied by the radar is not too large. Except for small ships of a few hundred tons, warships of thousands of tons basically have space to install such a radar.

Even the construction of Hercules-class aircraft carriers and Hurricane-class aircraft carriers also requires the design of radar installation space.

Radar is crucial to improving the combat effectiveness of a warship. A warship with radar is more than one and a half times more powerful than warships of the same level.

While the Ministry of National Defense became busy due to radar experiments, the Palais des Nations located in Fort Saint-Arthur suddenly became busy at this time.

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

1. Currently, he has completed his studies and is serving in the military.

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 in national governance so that he can have a qualified or even excellent successor.

Although Arthur had many children, he could choose the best to inherit the throne. However, the law of primogeniture (daughter) inheritance is also deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. As long as William's ability is not too bad, Arthur has no intention of abolishing William's inheritance rights.

After all, we are already in the 20th century, and the fight for the throne does not need to be so cruel. Although the throne represents power, power also represents responsibility.

What Arthur hopes more is for a few little guys to work together to push the country of Australasia to a new level while maintaining the rule of the royal family.

Because this was William's first official diplomatic visit, the destination was undoubtedly London, the most prosperous city at present.

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 trip to the UK is not only a diplomatic visit on behalf of Australasia, but also a member of the British royal family to establish ties between the next generation.

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

George V was Arthur's cousin and William's cousin, which could be considered a direct relative within three generations.

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

Speaking of London, this 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. The current population remains above 7.5 million, which is larger than the population of some second- and third-rate European countries. This is enough to show the exaggeration of London's population.

The population of New York is about just over 7 million. Due to the influence of Australasia, the United States has received fewer immigrants than historically.

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

You know, a large city population is not always a good thing. The increase in population means more intense competition for jobs, and more stringent tests on urban 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.

Judging from the current population growth rates in London and New York, a city with a population of tens of millions is no longer a dream, and may even be realized 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 size.

1 Some 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 world's top ten cities 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.

One characteristic can be seen from the ranking of these ten cities. Except for the island country, which is a special existence with a vast territory and a large population, there are only two countries with two top ten cities, and that is the United States and Australasia.

These two countries have an obvious characteristic, that is, they are both countries of immigrants. The large cities of immigrant countries have relatively large populations, but more areas are undeveloped or rarely developed barren areas.

The situation is different in Europe, where development is relatively complete. Although it seems that only one European country occupies the top ten largest cities, there are many cities with a population of one million. Such a heritage cannot be matched by the United States and Australasia.

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

Titles such as the financial capital of the world, the political capital of the world, the economic capital of the world, the industrial capital of the world, the pearl of Europe, the beacon of mankind, etc., have made London's reputation unparalleled.

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

Yes, basically all cities with larger populations have this problem. After all, the current industry does not pay attention to environmental protection, and the pollution and impact of industry on the environment are huge.

London was not only the first city famous for its smog, but also the first city to suffer a large number of deaths due to environmental pollution.

This is also one of the dark histories in the development of the British Empire. There used to be a large number of homicides disguised as deaths caused by smog. The medical treatment at that time was not developed, and it was impossible to tell whether it was a death caused by chronic poisoning or something else.

Of course, there are also many people who have actually died due to smog. There were no masks a few decades ago. The harm to human health caused by breathing and living in a severe haze environment for a long time can be imagined.

During this trip to London, Queen Mary specially prepared several customized masks for William to protect against the smog in London.

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

On the surface, London is glamorous. More than a quarter of the world's financial transactions occur in London. 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 are also those who starve to death and freeze to death, no one can find them in dark corners, and they have no impact on this huge city.

Although it was already late March and almost April when William arrived in London, Queen Mary still did not dare to let down her guard and insisted that William wear more masks and even bring the royal family's personal doctor.

Fortunately, we were not traveling to London in winter. Under severe smog conditions, visibility in London was less than 100 meters, which has seriously affected life in the city.

This was one of the reasons why Arthur wanted to move the capital. Rather than letting Sydney develop into such a smoggy city, it is better to strictly limit the scale of Sydney and minimize the harm caused by environmental pollution to Sydney.

Fortunately, when building industrial zones in Australasia, environmental pollution was already a consideration.

Although industry cannot avoid pollution, the pollution in Australasia is still within a 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 already warmed up their welcome in newspapers in advance.

On the Australasian side, although the nominal head of the diplomatic mission is William, the government will also send Deputy Prime Minister Raul, Foreign Minister Dazer, Education Minister Kelo and others as members of the diplomatic mission.

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

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

1st, London.

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

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

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

William was greatly disappointed that the most prosperous city in the world looked like this. At the same time, he was also curious about how the British royal family could live in such a city.

"Indeed, Your Highness." Deputy Prime Minister Raul nodded and said to William very respectfully.

Raul was promoted from the Guards step by step. He has 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 was asked to follow William on a diplomatic visit, not only to allow Raul to control the overall situation, but also to allow William to get in touch with the royalists in Australasia early, and at the same time understand who is his own in the cabinet.

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

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

Of course, the current George VI is only the second in line to the throne, with his brother Prince Edward in front of him.

Australasia is different from the United Kingdom. The identity of Crown Prince Edward's heir to the throne has long been determined, so it is naturally not suitable 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. Naturally, he first went to the palace to meet George V, 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 their factories would be 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 ordered to rectify the environment of the factory.

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 cannot take the initiative 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 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 could 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.

During George V's reign, Germany and the United States had already posed a huge threat to Britain, and Victoria's glory was no longer what it once was.

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, would you mind if my father becomes the godfather of your unborn child?" William's expression 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 that 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. Coupled with the good relations between Australasia and the United Kingdom, this may be able to show the close connection between Britain and Australia, or so William thought.

"Godfather? Of course you don't mind. This is an honor for me and this child." Duke George said quickly.

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

In fact, this is normal. If you are not a time traveler, it is impossible to understand Arthur's intention of doing this.

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 re-stabilized the British royal family and national rule.

Of course, speaking of which, George VI’s brother Edward VIII is also very famous. This monarch who truly loved beauty rather than country was also the first and only king in British history to voluntarily abdicate.

Giving up the British throne for what he believed to be love was a move that perhaps only Crown Prince Edward could make.

However, later generations have different opinions on the inside story of Edward VIII's abdication, and various news continue to emerge.

Apparently the reason for Edward VIII's abdication was that he fell in love with a woman who was married twice. After all, divorce and remarriage are not allowed in the Church of England. Such behavior that offended religious concepts made all the people in the UK express their opinions. be opposed to.

But in fact, there was German influence behind the abdication of Edward VIII.

Intelligence obtained by the FBI showed that the real reason that forced 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 is why Edward VIII had to abdicate.

Mrs. Simpson was not only a staunch supporter of Germany, but also had close contacts with the then German ambassador to the United Kingdom.

How close is it? Not only is the connection between important information, but the bodies of the two people are also closely connected.

They were so bold that the German ambassador to the UK gave Mrs. Simpson 17 pink carnations every day, a number that represented the number of secret trysts they had.

Even when Edward VIII and Mrs. Simpson were exiled to France, the connection between Simpson and the German ambassador remained.

The dual physical and intelligence connections not only made the inside story of Edward VIII's abdication a scandal for the British royal family, but also became a secret document that was not released at the time.

Although the Germany of this world has changed a lot, the hatred between France and Germany still exists, and Mrs. Simpson cannot become innocent.

Although Arthur had no idea about the British throne, it was obviously in the interests of Australasia to arrange the successor 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 investigation, the subordinates who saw Prince Edward crying discovered that the reason why those military cadets 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 to the British royal family. This not only means that the British royal family's prestige 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. With such an identity, he could be bullied by ordinary trainees at the Naval Academy, and even cry in grievance. It was doomed that Edward's ruling career would not go smoothly.

When the people at the bottom have no respect for the royal family, it also means that the status of the royal family no longer exists, and it may be overturned by the overwhelming anger of popular dissatisfaction at any time.

Although Arthur values ​​the thoughts of the people at the bottom, the royal family is the royal family after all and cannot be bullied by ordinary people.

In a few words, it was decided that Arthur would become the godfather of Duke George's first child.

In Western concepts, a godfather refers to a person who gives a baby or young child a Christian name when he is baptized and promises to undertake his or her religious education.

The influence of the Godfather on a person is still very great. After all, for Westerners, the importance and role of religion is much higher than that of religion in the minds of Easterners.

After this episode, William followed Duke George to visit George V and settled in Buckingham Palace.

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

The main purpose of this diplomatic visit, in addition to negotiating some new cooperation, is to contact the relationship 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 the attention of various countries.

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

It is worth pondering that Britain and Italy, which have not devalued, are suffering from unemployment crises, while France, whose currency has depreciated, has only a small number of unemployed people, far from being called a crisis.

This has also made many countries excited. If no precautions are taken, 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 turn into a competition. However, the benefits brought by currency depreciation are indeed worth it for all countries. Instead of maintaining the value of the currency and suffering losses, it is better to proactively depreciate the currency and become the beneficiary of this competition.

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

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

As the most powerful country in the UK, the value of the pound is widely recognized. If it can be combined with the Australian dollar to create a pound-Australian dollar currency system, it can theoretically unify the currency.

Of course, the unification here is not to allow other countries to use the pound and the Australian dollar as official currencies, but to use the pound and the Australian dollar as a universal currency, directly linked to the currencies of other countries, thus affecting the economic situation of the entire world.

The good news is that the Australian dollar has been pegged to the pound from the start, and uniting the pound and the Australian dollar is easy to achieve.

The pennies and shillings under the Australian dollar system are not much different from the pennies and shillings under the British pound system, which also lays a good foundation for the union of the Australian dollar and the British pound.

This is a big chapter of 7,000 words. Please vote for me and support me!

I originally planned to write 10,000 words, but I’m urging you to update it, so I’ll post it as soon as possible.

The daily number has been changed to the 21st. I will be the editor-in-chief on the 21st. The daily number is 10,000 per week. Please give me your monthly vote and support!