Rise of Australia

Chapter 146 The arms deal on the surface, but the German-Russian negotiation in reality

"Another country?" William II frowned, thought for a while, then turned his gaze back to Minister Andrew, and said with a smile: "The other country that Arthur mentioned would not be your Australia. Bar?"

In fact, it is very simple. Those who can help the German Empire to win over the Tsarist Russian Empire must at least be countries that the German Empire can trust.

Counting the countries that are currently capable of exporting weapons and warships, the only one that the German Empire trusts is the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

But the Austro-Hungarian Empire is also located on the European continent, and there is no movement from other European powers.

Moreover, there are unresolvable contradictions between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Tsarist Russia. It is basically impossible for the Austro-Hungarian Empire to export arms to Tsarist Russia.

Outside of Europe, there are even fewer countries that are capable of exporting arms and warships that the Tsarist Empire favors.

In addition, it must be a country that has a good relationship with the German Empire, which also made William II set his sights on Australia immediately.

Australia fully meets the requirements of these two points. Not only does it have a good cooperative relationship with the German Empire, but the relationship between the monarchs of the two countries, Arthur and William II, is also very good.

And Australia also has the light weapons systems of the British Empire and the German Empire, including artillery and warships, and also has good technology from the British Empire and the German Empire.

From a geographical point of view, Australia is also far away from Europe, and some actions will not be taken too seriously by European countries, especially when the current disputes in Europe are somewhat serious.

It's just that Australia has just exported a large amount of weapons and equipment and warships to the island country, the enemy of the Tsarist Empire in East Asia, and has also signed an agreement on the import and export of mineral resources. Take it all!
Looking at William II's scrutinizing and questioning eyes, Minister Andrew did not hide anything, and explained without any panic: "Yes, Your Majesty. Although France does not support the actions of the Tsarist Russian Empire in the Far East, the relationship between the two countries There have been some differences of opinion during the period. But for now, the German Empire still cannot shake the joint relationship between the Tsarist Russian Empire and France. If the German Empire wants to communicate with the Tsarist Russian Empire, it is absolutely impossible to avoid France, its formidable enemy .”

"But it is a pity that as long as the plan to win over the Tsarist Russian Empire is exposed to the French, then this plan will never succeed. Therefore, His Royal Highness's suggestion is that the German Empire should look elsewhere and use non-European forces to promote The plan to aid the Tsarist Russian Empire. Australia satisfies this condition very well. Not only does it have good diplomatic relations with Germany, but even many of Australia's weapons and equipment and warships and military industries come from Germany. Assisting the Tsarist Russian Empire through Australia's hands will not only be able to Keeping Germany hidden behind the scenes will also allow the Tsarist Russian Empire to clearly understand who is helping him and achieve your country's plan to win over the Tsarist Russian Empire." Andrew explained with a smile.

The weapons and equipment exported by Australia are basically from German military industry, including Gew98 rifles, various howitzers from the Krupp factory, German-made Maxim heavy machine guns, various small and medium-sized warships and even Brunswick-class battleships. , all of which are German military technology and technologies.

This can indeed highlight the role of Germany, especially when the Tsarist Russians get these weapons, the German standard weapons will let them know who is really helping them behind the scenes.

After hearing Minister Andrew's explanation, King William II nodded flatly, smiled, and said, "Arthur really has a good plan! I thought that Australia's export of weapons, equipment and mineral resources to the island country was intended to be exported to the Far East. region to win over an ally, I didn't expect him to want to take it all, even the Tsarist Russian Empire. But what he said is indeed reasonable. It is impossible for the German Empire to win over the Tsarist Russian Empire with its own strength. France is A hurdle that cannot be bypassed."

"Using the conflicts and disputes between the Tsarist Russian Empire and the island countries in the Far East to open the way for your own arms trade is really a good plan! However, Arthur's words really moved me, and I will give you the information you want to help you obtain An order for the arms trade. But please don’t forget what you promised, this time the arms trade and aid will be carried out secretly in the name of the German Empire.” William II laughed, first affirming and admiring Arthur’s strategy , and then agreed to proceed with the whole plan.

The arms market of the entire Tsarist Russian Empire is obviously not something that the German Empire can intervene.In other words, even if the German Empire can rely on arms trade and financial assistance to gain the favor and closeness of the Tsarist Russian Empire, it will be offset and checked by France's further actions.

What's more, the Tsarist Russian Empire will definitely choose the latter without hesitation in the choice between the German Empire and France. If you don't want the wooing plan to fail, then it is best not to let France join in.

However, European countries, especially the European powers, have many spies, and their intelligence acquisition capabilities are also very strong.

The actions of European countries, especially the great powers like the German Empire, will definitely attract attention, especially for France, the enemy of the German Empire.

Therefore, if you want France not to show up in this arms trade, the best way is for Germany not to participate in it, so that the French will relax their vigilance.

That's why William II used the word "secretly". On the surface, the arms trade was still completed by the Tsarist Russian Empire and Australia alone, but in fact the benefits of the relationship were given to the German Empire.

"Of course, Your Majesty. Our purpose is to open up the arms trade in Australia, and we are also willing to ease the relationship between the German Empire and the Tsarist Russian Empire." Minister Andrew nodded as a matter of course, and said with a smile.

"I am afraid that according to the financial situation of the Tsarist Russian Empire, there is basically no extra funds to purchase weapons and equipment. Although their backward logistics and transportation systems have led to the backwardness of their military equipment in the Far East, funds are also very serious for them. One problem. Although the Tsarist Russian Empire has a lot of financial assistance and loans from France, most of these loans need to be used for the purchase of French industrial products and other resources, and it is basically impossible to use them to buy your weapons and equipment." William The II said: "I am afraid that before signing an arms trade treaty with the Tsarist Empire, you have to sign a loan treaty with them."

"His Majesty the Kaiser, I think this is also a good opportunity for the German Empire. If it is just the Far East issue, the Tsarist Russian Empire will not get too many loans from France. This also leads to their very large funds on the Far East issue. Scarcity is also the reason for their backward equipment and lack of supply. Australia can privately provide an interest-free loan to the Tsarist Russian Empire in the name of the German Empire. This loan must be used to solve the Far East issue. Insufficient problems can also make Russians more grateful to Germany." Minister Andrew replied.

It is true that Australia wants to sign an arms trade treaty with the Russian Empire, but this does not mean that Australia will be taken advantage of.

The economic situation of the Russian Empire has always been poor, and the country also has a lot of debts and loans.

Among other things, the Tsarist Russian Empire obtained countless loans from France, and the repayment of these loans would take decades. How could they have time to repay other loans?
The Germans are rich and powerful, and they really want to win over the Russian Empire.So, why not let the Germans come out with this money?

"Hahaha, no matter. I will give you a check of [-] million marks as a fund to win over the Tsarist Empire and lend them money. The only requirement is that this fund can only be used by the Tsarist Empire for military equipment and warships in the Far East cannot be used anywhere else." William II naturally heard Minister Andrew's intentions, but he didn't care.

For the German Empire, it is very worthwhile to spend a little money to win over a relatively powerful country, not to mention that this powerful country is also an ally of its own enemies.

It takes a sum of money to strengthen one's own strength and weaken the enemy, so why not do it?

Besides, 500 million marks is really nothing to William II, and it is only [-] million when converted into pounds.

If it is really possible to win over the Tsarist Russian Empire, then even if the interest-free loan of [-] million marks is converted into a gift and assistance to William II, it will not feel bad.

Just imagine, the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Gaza Russian Empire, and the Kingdom of Italy, just for a moment. How powerful is the combined power of the four countries?

Even if the two old powers, the British Empire and France, unite, they may not be the opponents of these four countries.

In terms of the army, the German Empire has already been able to defeat France, not to mention the Austro-Hungarian Empire with a good overall army strength and the Tsarist Russian Empire with a large gray population.

Although the army of the Tsarist Russian Empire cannot catch up with other countries in terms of weapons and equipment and the quality of soldiers, the country has a very large population and can easily arm millions or even millions of troops.

In this era, the number of soldiers in the army is still one of the extremely important factors.A country with a larger population also has many natural advantages in military terms than a country with a smaller population.

After gaining the support of William II, Minister Andrew breathed a sigh of relief.

Although the German Empire cannot directly participate in this arms trade, the intelligence they have about the Tsarist Russian Empire and the reputation of German-made weapons are still very helpful to this arms trade.

If it is a weapon researched and produced by Australia itself, it will have to go through layers of tests if it wants to export it.

But if it is a weapon produced by the powerful German Empire, basically it will not arouse too much suspicion.

This is the blessing that the country's prestige brings to a country. Unless Australia can grow into a great power country or achieve military achievements, such doubts will always exist.

And this arms trade also solved a potential problem, that is, the Russian Empire may not have enough funds.

Anyway, it was the German Empire that provided loans to the Tsarist Russian Empire. The Tsarist Russian Empire must have money to pay for the arms trade to Australia. As for whether there will be money to repay the loan in the future, that is not what Australia cares about.

Anyway, the German Empire and Wilhelm II gave the funds very willingly, and the only dissatisfied person may be France, who will learn about the situation in the future.

"Do you know when the island country will take action? If you don't make preparations quickly, it may be too late even if you sign an arms trade treaty with the Tsarist Empire." After everything was discussed, William II asked.

Whether it is light weapons or heavy weapons, or even large, medium and small warships, their manufacture takes a certain amount of time, and the same goes for transportation.

Army weapons are okay, and the manufacturing time is generally not very long. Even if it is a large number of orders, it can usually be completed within a year.

But warships are different.Even if it is a small warship, the construction period may be as high as two to three months, let alone a medium and large warship.

The construction period of a medium-sized warship is about five to seven months, and it will increase and decrease according to the difficulty of building the warship and the weapons and equipment it carries.

Not to mention a new type of battleship, the construction time generally takes more than a year, and even lasts for about one to one and a half years.

What's more, after the construction of the warship is completed, it will be delivered after a series of steps such as launching, sea trial, and testing. This period of testing will take at least half a year to a year.

That is to say, the time required for the delivery of a complete warship may be much longer than the construction time, unless there is some rush to reduce or even greatly reduce the test time of the warship.

Take the battleship purchased by the island country from Australia as an example. Although the construction time is about one to one and a half years, the actual delivery time may take more than one and a half years, or even nearly two and a half years.

Of course, this does not mean that after two and a half years, this battleship will be truly capable of combat.

The crew on the warship will need at least two and a half years of training before they can become more familiar with the performance and facilities of the warship and be able to truly have combat effectiveness.

And these crew members must also be well-trained crew members, otherwise the training time of the crew members may take another two and a half years.

To sum up, from placing an order to formal delivery of a warship, the general time is about two and a half years.

The training time for the crew also takes almost two and a half years, and they can barely grow into a qualified naval officer.

At the same time, after taking over the new warship, the crew also need to adapt to it for two and a half years before the warship can truly have combat effectiveness.

It takes at least two and a half years for a warship to be manufactured to a certain degree of combat effectiveness, and it takes three and a half years at most.

　Two-in-one chapters for support

　　
　
(End of this chapter)