Chapter 239: Chapter 223: Establishment of the Patrol System_2

Arthur was not worried about the Kingdom of the Netherlands’ reaction. As long as the other powers did not intervene, the Netherlands was no longer a match for Australasia near Southeast Asia.

Even in a few years, once Australasian warships begin to launch like crazy, the Netherlands wouldn’t even qualify to be Australasia’s opponent.

All the decisions Arthur made at the harbor were published in Australasia’s two official newspapers the next day.

Without saying much about the sensation caused by Australasia, these decisions also caused quite a stir in Europe.

Of course, the Kingdom of the Netherlands must have found it the hardest to accept. The essence of Australasia is located in the southeast of Australia and the North Island of New Zealand.

To reach Europe or East Asia from these areas, one would have to pass through the Dutch East Indies, either by going west through the Malacca Strait and across the Indian Ocean to Europe, or north to East Asia.

This also meant that part of the ocean in the Dutch East Indies fell within Australia’s patrol range. If not stopped, the Dutch East Indies would essentially be wide open to Australasia.

But the question was how to stop it? Using the Netherlands’ own power was almost impossible.

Although the Netherlands had over 100,000 troops, only 50,000 were stationed in the Dutch East Indies. Neither their training level nor their equipment could match that of the Australasian army.

When it comes to population and industrial scale, Australasia had surpassed the Kingdom of the Netherlands. And due to geographical proximity, the slightest advantage was greatly magnified.

The Kingdom of the Netherlands was able to defend the Dutch East Indies mainly because of the support from European powers.

But more than that, Australasia not only had a good relationship with the German Empire but also had a matrimonial and mutual benefit alliance with the Russian Empire.

As for the United Kingdom, Australasia was formed by the merging of two colonies of the British Empire, and its rulers also came from the British royal family.

Unless it’s a matter of national survival, Australasia and the United Kingdom are unlikely to have a falling out.

After all, the memory of Queen Victoria’s will is still fresh, and the majority of Britons have a lot of affection for Arthur.

Despite knowing the difficulties of stopping Australasia, the Kingdom of the Netherlands had to grit its teeth and ask the powers for mediation, trying to fix the naval patrol scope of Australasia within its territorial waters.

But the Netherlands’ actions were doomed to fail. Germany and Australasia were currently in a honeymoon period, and Australasia’s expansion posed no threat to Germany, even being of help to it.

Therefore, William II decisively chose neutrality, and Germany explicitly stated that it would not interfere in the affairs of the two kingdoms.

On the British side, Edward VII had a deep hatred for Arthur due to the briefcase incident, and naturally did not want to get involved in this matter.

Apart from Britain and Germany, France is currently struggling with the choices of Britain and Russia and does not have the extra energy to deal with other matters.

Russia and Australasia had just formed a matrimonial relationship, and not supporting Australasia was already a favor, let alone supporting the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

As for the remaining powers, the Austro-Hungarian Empire sided with Germany. If Germany is neutral, so is Austro-Hungary.

Italy doesn’t need to be mentioned. Italian influence in Southeast Asia and Oceania is even less than that of the Netherlands, so they are naturally unlikely to offend Australasia for the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

As such, no external force could be relied upon to address this issue. Upon seeking out, the Kingdom of the Netherlands had no other option but to feign ignorance and accept the patrol plan of Australasia.

The Dutch were very good at consoling themselves. After being forced to permit the patrol plan of Australasia, they reassured themselves: “This is just a patrol plan borne out of their anger due to pirate raids. Once the influence of the pirate incident diminishes, they will naturally not be able to maintain such a massive patrol plan.”

What the Dutch did not expect was that ‘Arthur’ not only turned this patrol into a norm, but also added dreadnoughts and a large number of medium-sized warships a few years later, turning half of the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, as well as the territorial waters of the Dutch East Indies, into Australasia’s patrol area.

This significantly increased Australasia’s influence in these areas, and even some of the indigenous forces of the Dutch East Indies started showing their favor towards Australasia.

They had no choice, especially considering the dire fate of the Bolang Menggongduo Kingdom for offending Australasia. The upper echelons of the Bolang Menggongduo Kingdom were almost wiped out, and its land was almost partitioned by the Manda people and the Sultanate of Ruhunu from the south.

More importantly, the governor of the Dutch East Indies and the Kingdom of the Netherlands had no reaction to Australasia’s two major massacres in the Dutch East Indies.

What does this signify? The Dutch were also afraid of the sharp edge of the Australasian army, and therefore kept silent.

Since the Dutch were frightened, the indigenous forces that were forced to submit to the Dutch East Indies naturally knew which country they could least afford to offend.

Arthur’s actions were swift. Starting from mid-April, the naval forces of Australasia were frequently deployed to patrol along Australasia’s coast and the northern sea.

Even though this would increase the consumption of supplies, especially coal and oil, Australasia has numerous coal reserves and several large oil fields, so they naturally didn’t have to worry about these issues.

With the fleet’s patrol and protection, no further issues befell the Australasian merchant ships. Even the fishermen and vessels of the indigenous tribes typically avoided them for fear of inciting trouble.

Arthur also commended the soldiers who had previously participated in the rescue operation within the scope of the Guards.

While there were no medals awarded, there were verbal commendments across the entire army, and each person was rewarded with 1000 Australian dollars. This won the fanatic and loyal gazes of the soldiers.

What Arthur did not expect was that this large-scale naval and army rescue operation not only made him and the government more beloved by the Australians, but also garnered the goodwill of many Europeans.

After all, not many monarchs, like Arthur, truly care about the lives and deaths of the lower-class citizens. In addition, Arthur’s various tax reduction policies and benefits in Australasia have significantly increased its appeal to immigrants.

Starting from May 1907, it was noticeably apparent that more and more people were migrating to Australasia to become permanent residents.

If compared to the data of 1906, the number of immigrants to Australasia has increased by more than thirty percent, which was a considerable increase.

Please note that Australasia now has an annual immigration of four hundred thousand people. If it can maintain a growth rate of thirty percent, this means that this year’s population will increase by more than one hundred and twenty thousand compared to last year.

Furthermore, with Australasia’s policy to encourage fertility, it is highly probable that Australasia’s population will exceed seven million before 1908 arrives.

Of course, the large number of immigrants did pose some problems for Arthur. These immigrants generally prefer to live in large Australasian cities like Sydney and Melbourne, and are unwilling to move to Western Australia and South Australia.

This was not a good phenomenon as Western Australia and South Australia have abundant mineral resources and need ample population and labor for excavation.

Furthermore, with the influx of a large number of immigrants, Sydney and Melbourne were inevitably facing planning insufficiencies which added a certain level of chaos to city construction.

In the end, Arthur introduced a policy that anyone willing to go to the western region and small towns would receive fifty percent more land allocation than normal. This somewhat solved the problem.