956. Chapter 920: Planning for the Post-War Period

Chapter 920: Post-war planning

Although he sympathized with the Russian army, Arthur, at least for now, had no intention of supporting the Russians.

The Russians were big and powerful, and the loss of hundreds of thousands of troops was not considered a heavy loss for Russia. Of course, if we were to calculate the loss in terms of face, Russia was actually suffering heavy losses at this time.

As early as the Tsarist period, that is, the reign of Nicholas II, Russia had gradually lost the title of the European bulldozer.

Although Russia had a population of over 100 million at that time, the combat effectiveness of the army was very weak, and it could only barely fight back and forth with the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

At that time, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was a multi-ethnic empire, and the domestic ethnic issues had almost ignited the existence of the entire country.

This led to the combat effectiveness of the Russian army being despised by mainstream powers including Britain, France and Germany after entering the 20th century, and even the islanders could step on it.

After the loss of the Western Front, this impression was obviously more profound, and the combat effectiveness of the Russian army became a laughing stock for European countries.

This is a serious loss of reputation for the current Russian government, and it has a profound impact on the spread of their ideas.

After all, the combat effectiveness of the army under this concept has been fully demonstrated in the war between Germany and Russia.

"Your Majesty, Ambassador Enrique reports that the British have begun to contact the Russian government and may sign a large arms purchase agreement." At the cabinet meeting, Foreign Secretary Wellington reported with a serious face.

The British have contacted Russia privately, which also means that the British do not completely trust Australasia.

For Australasia, this may not only affect the relationship between Britain and Australasia, but also Australasia's diplomatic decision-making in this war.

After all, before the outbreak of this war, the relationship between Britain and Australasia was relatively friendly, and it can even be said to be close cooperation.

Arthur nodded, and he had long expected the contact between Britain and Russia.

In fact, long before Germany attacked Russia, Arthur had told Churchill and asked Churchill not to tell the Russian government about the German attack for the time being.

But Churchill only postponed for a few days and finally told the Russian government the news. Fortunately, the Russian government did not believe the British news, which made Arthur's goal come true, and Russia quickly lost a front under the German sneak attack.

But this was still just an appetizer for Arthur. Russia has a population of hundreds of millions. Arthur would not be at ease if it did not lose at least tens of millions in this war.

And Russia's industry, if it was not occupied or even destroyed by Germany, Arthur would not be at ease.

This also means that unless Germany has occupied most of Eastern Europe, Arthur will not really support Russia.

Arthur originally thought that the British would also support him, but from Churchill's current actions, the British still chose to do the same as the previous regional balance policy, and even included Australasia in the regional balance policy.

Perhaps it was because of seeing Australasia's crushing of the island countries that the British were afraid of Australasia, a power that was about to occupy the entire Pacific.

In addition to not wanting to see Germany occupy the whole of Europe, Churchill chose to support Russia because he wanted to preserve Russia's strength as much as possible, so that Russia could balance Australasia after the war.

If Australasia defeats the island nation, its sphere of influence will naturally expand to the mainland of the island nation, which also means that Australasia will conflict with Russia.

The British purpose is very simple. After the war, they will let Russia and Australasia fight each other internally, so as to give Britain a chance to restore its strength.

Arthur naturally saw through Churchill's purpose. To be honest, if the British government did not respond to Australasia at all and did not believe in Australasia without any reservation, Arthur would find it strange.

As I said before, there are no eternal allies in politics, only eternal interests. Before Australasia became completely strong, Britain and Australasia had the same interests.

But after Australasia became completely strong, the contradiction between Britain and Australasia was greater than the interests. The British government must take corresponding measures to prevent Australasia from affecting Britain's world hegemony.

This is equivalent to the ancient struggle for imperial power. The emperor must be cautious of anyone who threatens his imperial power unless he is willing to give up the power in his hands.

How many emperors throughout history can voluntarily give up their power? At the national level, in the face of the public opinion of tens of millions of British people, the British government will certainly not give up its hegemonic position.

Although Arthur understands the British's fear and even hostility, he does not intend to respond to the British's actions for the time being.

First, it will destroy the cooperation between Britain and Australasia in the war. Second, can a response at this time prevent the cooperation between Britain and Russia?

Not at all.

Therefore, Arthur did not intend to respond to the British's actions from the beginning, and even just pretended that nothing had happened. Although there will be no response now, the British's gradually alienated attitude also made Arthur decide to start accepting British property.

Don't the British want to maintain world hegemony?

Okay, let Britain and Germany fight.

Australasia will still fulfill its obligations as an ally, but will never take any additional actions beyond this.

If Britain could unite with Russia to defeat Germany at this time, Arthur could only say that it was destiny, and the British should continue to sit on their seat of world hegemony.

But if Britain and Russia could not unite to defeat Germany, Britain would lose its last hope and could only use its own land area to exchange for the intervention of Australasia to win the war.

"How is our navy built? If the island nation's navy attacks us, can the navy successfully respond and repel the island nation's navy?" Arthur did not pay attention to Britain's actions in Russia, and focused his attention on the naval confrontation with the island nation.

Because the air force is already ahead of the island nation, this has also formed a trend of Australasia's crushing of the island nation.

There is a premise for this, that is, the strength of the island nation's navy will not surpass Australasia in all aspects.

Once the island nation's navy strength is surpassed, the island nation's army is likely to break through the Australasia coastal blockade and even counterattack the Ryukyu Islands and the Philippines.

Hearing Arthur's question, Defense Minister Thomas stood up quickly and replied with a smile: "At present, our naval construction plan is very smooth. It is expected that 2 aircraft carriers, 6 destroyers and 12 light cruisers can be built this year.

Considering the heavy burden of our navy in the Pacific, except for 2 destroyers and 3 light cruisers, the remaining warships will all be assigned to the Pacific Fleet.

By then, our Pacific Fleet will have 10 aircraft carriers, 4 super dreadnoughts, 3 dreadnoughts, 5 battlecruisers, 8 heavy cruisers, 24 light cruisers, 49 destroyers and 222 submarines, and the naval strength will still be ahead of the island countries in all aspects.

If the island country navy dares to attack the Pacific Fleet, our navy can defeat the island country fleet at any time as long as it has the confidence to annihilate any invading enemy."

Hearing the report of Defense Minister Thomas, Arthur nodded and expressed satisfaction with the work of naval construction.

In addition to confronting the island country people, the navy currently being built may also compete with the British in naval arms in the future.

Of course, if the war is over, there is a high possibility of a naval struggle with the Russians.

This also means that the size of the Australasia navy is very important, both during and after the war.

Unless it can be determined that other countries have suffered heavy losses in this war, Australasia must prepare for the planning after the war in the construction of the navy, army and air force.

Even whether Australasia can sit on the throne of world hegemony after the war must rely on the size of the Australasia navy.

Of course, the construction of the air force is also very important. After the war, the size of the army will be greatly reduced.

But the size of the navy and air force will basically not be reduced, and even after Australasia gains world hegemony, it will be expanded and deployed accordingly according to its influence on various regions.

"What about the construction of the air force? How many aircraft can we build now? How many aircraft do we have?" Arthur continued to ask.

At present, the importance of the air force has been highlighted. It is not inferior to the army and navy, but even more important in some battlefields and battles.

As the first country to research and develop military aircraft, Australasia is naturally important to aircraft and air force.

"Your Majesty, we have contacted Boeing and Douglas. Both companies have rebuilt their production lines and have the ability to produce Raptor fighters and Falcon bombers.

At present, our annual output of military aircraft is about 2,600. If Boeing and Douglas are allowed to fully enter the production of military aircraft, the annual output is expected to increase to about 5,000.

In addition, in terms of the output of Sop-34 transport aircraft, our annual output has also exceeded 220. We currently have 317 Sop-34 transport aircraft, which can transport at least one division of troops at a time." Industry Minister David reported.

Although there are many small private airports in the field of civil aircraft in Australasia, in the field of military aircraft, the current Royal Aircraft Factory is still a well-deserved giant.

However, Boeing and Douglas have also made some achievements in the field of military transport aircraft. Their production lines can also be converted into production lines for fighters and bombers, which is still of great help to Australasia's aircraft industry.

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