Chapter 663 Naval Expansion Plan

Although the economic crisis has only started for more than a month, the number of bankrupt companies in Germany is still as high as thousands.

There are also a large number of individual businesses and traders who have suffered huge threats, which is a devastating blow to Germany's real economy and makes the German people even more disappointed with the government's decision-making during the economic crisis.

Like Nicholas II before him, William II, who realized that the people no longer trusted the government, also realized that this was his best opportunity to regain power.

Although Germany failed in the war, William II believed that he had no responsibility in the war. The reason for the failure of the war was the last extreme choice of the Junker nobles and the military group.

If William II had been in power at that time, Germany, which had the advantage, would have already started negotiations with Britain and France, and the last war would not have lasted for several years.

Looking at the German ambassador in front of him, Arthur asked calmly: "Crown Prince William, long time no see!"

"He is no longer the Crown Prince." Crown Prince William, the son of William II, said with a bitter look on his face, rather helplessly.

"The current situation in Germany is probably not good, right? Does it need financial assistance?" Arthur nodded, not bothering with the title of the Crown Prince, and instead focused on testing Crown Prince William's intentions.

"This is just incidental, His Majesty Arthur." Crown Prince William said quickly: "Because of this economic crisis, the political situation in Germany has entered chaos again. This is also an opportunity for the Hohenzollern family to regain control of Germany.

Your Majesty Arthur, for the sake of the friendship between the Hohenzollern family and the Royal Family of Australasia, please provide us with help, thereby taking control of the power of the country and saving tens of millions of German people from fire and water.

In return, Germany will never forget the kindness of Australasians and is willing to support Australasia unconditionally in the World Alliance, strengthening the ties between our two countries. "

Arthur didn't make any movement and looked at Crown Prince William calmly.

Crown Prince William was slightly anxious while waiting, but he did not dare to ask again. He could only lower his head and wait respectfully for Arthur's reply.

"Regain power?" After a while, Arthur said: "With the support of Australasia, can we regain power in German politics?"

"We have made sufficient preparations, and some of the troops will cooperate with our actions and quickly occupy the government." Crown Prince William explained: "As long as we quickly take control of the imperial government, the situation will not be out of control."

Hearing Crown Prince William's explanation, Arthur chuckled, shook his head, and said with a smile: "You may not take the problem too simply. Neither the Junkers nobles nor those countries, nor France, will Allowing the Crown to regain control of Germany.

In other words, the current Germany must be divided in order to reassure all countries.

Besides, what if you could regain Germany's rights? Will we sharpen our troops and then head towards an all-out war again? "

"We..." Crown Prince William was about to explain, but Arthur immediately interrupted his speech and persuaded him earnestly: "

I think the most important thing at the moment is to first understand the current situation in Germany and the reasons why it has developed to this point.

Although the economic crisis is an unavoidable disaster for all countries, you must also understand why Germany is so serious.

Where has the hatred of the German people gone? Aren’t they all transferred to Britain and France? No matter who controls the power, as long as Germany's current economic crisis cannot be resolved, Germany will inevitably return to the path of war against Britain and France.

Please convey my words to His Majesty William. If you want to ensure the survival of the German royal family, the most important thing now is not to obtain rights, but how to keep yourself out of the situation and avoid the economic crisis and future wars from affecting you. "

Out of the interests of the Australasian monarchy and his previous good relationship with William II, Arthur had so many words to persuade Crown Prince William and William II.

If it were an unrelated country, Arthur would not persuade him so earnestly. Because the survival of the royal family of a country with a low sense of existence is not important. As long as Arthur is willing, he can support a new royal family at any time.

"This..." Crown Prince William fell into silence, already thinking about the truth in Arthur's words.

This is indeed the case. Although the German people do not know that the real reason for such a serious economic crisis is the blame placed on Britain and France, this does not prevent the Germans from madly hating France.

With such fierce contradictions and hatred between Germany and France, there will definitely be another war in the future.

It is nothing more than that this economic crisis has intensified the hatred between the two countries and made it easier for Germany to take an extreme path.

Just like in the later stages of World War I, such a Germany is no longer controllable. No matter who is in power, Germany cannot avoid going back to the path of war.

Even if the German royal family can regain power, it will only become a scapegoat for the next war, and the royal family will be deposed by the victorious side of the war.

"I believe His Majesty William will figure it out." Looking at Crown Prince William who hesitated to speak, Arthur said with a hint of meaning: "If it is financial assistance, I can help you. Let's not mention other things for the time being, we still have Relatives related by blood.”

After sending away Crown Prince William, who seemed to be worried, Arthur also ordered the guards to inform the director of the Royal Security Intelligence Service, Batty, and asked Director Batty to closely monitor the political trends in Germany.

After giving all the orders, Arthur turned his attention to the country, or to be precise, the construction of military industry.

The economic crisis has had an all-round impact on countries around the world. Both civilian and military industries have suffered massive destruction.

This has also led to general difficulties in the shipbuilding plans of various countries around the world. Even the British shipbuilding plans have been almost cut off because they no longer have much funds to build a large number of new warships while dealing with the economic crisis.

But this is a good opportunity for Australasia, which has hardly been affected by the economic crisis.

Australasia, which has no shortage of funds, supplies, manpower and time, has no reason not to take advantage of this period to develop its armaments crazily and narrow the gap in naval size with other countries.

Although there is a naval limitation treaty, the total naval tonnage of Australasia has always been very small. The total naval tonnage is almost at the same level as Italy and has not yet reached its own limit.

This also creates opportunities for Australasia's crazy shipbuilding plan. Whether it is battleships or aircraft carriers, Australasia can build many.

1. St. Arthur's Castle, regular cabinet meeting.

At Arthur's suggestion, Defense Secretary Thomas produced a plan for building a sufficient-scale navy and submitted it to the cabinet government for discussion.

If it is an ordinary warship construction, the government will generally not block it if the fiscal budget allows.

However, the scale of the naval expansion in the plan proposed by Secretary Thomas was too large, which also caused everyone in the cabinet to start arguing, and everyone was worried that their department's financial budget would be cut.

"Minister Thomas, is this naval expansion plan too big? Build two Hope-class battleships, five Hurricane-class aircraft carriers and four Hercules-class aircraft carriers? Oh my god, are we going to war with the British Empire? "Secretary of Public Security Meron Angelo asked with slight surprise.

The construction cost of two Hope-class battleships, five Hurricane-class aircraft carriers and four Hercules-class aircraft carriers exceeds A$40 million, which is already a considerable amount of expenditure.

Including the cost of matching these main warships with auxiliary warships to form a complete fleet, the minimum guarantee is 50 million Australian dollars.

As the construction of railways and highways has begun in various places and industries are still expanding, it is already obvious which departments will be deducted from these fiscal budgets.

After all, education and medical care are relatively basic departments, and their expenses cannot be deducted.

Agriculture is also planned for large-scale development, and agricultural development in the Capital District has entered large-scale growth.

Only Minister Mellon's Public Security Department, because the order in Australasia is still good, has not seen a significant increase in manpower.

This also means that the Department of Public Security is the department most likely to have its funding cut, which is why Secretary Mellen rushed to oppose it.

"You can't say that." Minister Thomas said with a smile: "The economic crisis has made the order of all countries unstable, and civil wars are likely to break out in the United States and Germany.

The World Alliance's separate actions to increase import and export tariffs on the United States and island countries may also lead to hatred between the two countries and the outbreak of a possible war.

The United States and island countries both pose a huge threat to us, and their combined navies can easily destroy us.

For preparedness, we must also build more navies to strengthen our maritime protection capabilities.

Folks, in my opinion, this naval expansion order is not huge, it's just enough to protect our coastline.

While other nations' economies are in shambles, this is our best chance to catch up on the naval front.

We must seize the opportunity in naval construction and build the navy to a level that is the third largest in the world after Britain and the United States.

In this case, even if a war breaks out between us and the United States or an island country, we can deal with it calmly, confine them outside our coastline, and place the battlefield outside our territory. "

"But there is no need to build so many warships, right? Nine aircraft carriers? This will have to be built in three years. Won't other countries react?" Although he heard Minister Thomas's explanation, Minister Mellen still Unwilling to give up his own financial resources, he continued to ask.

"Based on our expanded shipyard, construction of nine aircraft carriers has started in Sydney, Orange and Melbourne. It will only take two years to complete and launch, and in the third year they can be officially equipped with the army.

Therefore, we do not need to worry about whether other countries will follow suit in building warships, triggering a new round of naval arms competition.

I believe you all know that the situation in various countries around the world will not ease in a few years. This is also what I think is our best chance to catch up with the size of the navies of the top powers. "Although this is a naval expansion plan formulated only after Arthur's suggestion, it must be clearly explained to others before the entire cabinet can agree to allocate funds.

Although Arthur has the right to directly bypass the cabinet to achieve this plan, it is better to do less such authoritarian behavior, which will have a huge impact on both the government and Arthur.

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