The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 260: Chapter 238: Assassination_2

The first day of negotiations was destined to be difficult, and it seemed that the Portuguese side had no inttion of negotiating, with their demands ev more shocking.

Despite being the losing side in the war, the Portuguese insisted on war reparations from Australasia and demanded an apology from the Australasian governmt and people for starting the war.

Moreover, Australasia must release all captured Portuguese prisoners without any compsation and provide high compsation for all killed Portuguese soldiers.

This did not ev take into account the property losses in the occupied Portuguese colonies. If these were included, the Portuguese would demand at least 40 million Australian dollars in compsation from Australasia.

These conditions were met with sneers from Chief David and silce from the represtatives of the British, German, and Russian countries.

It was unknown how confidt the Portuguese were to make such an astronomical offer in this situation.

In response, Chief David prested Australasia's position. First, the Portuguese governmt must compsate for the war, including the losses incurred by Australasia in the war, the casualties in the Australasian army, the loss of people's property, etc. The Portuguese governmt needs to compsate the Australasian governmt with £0 million, to be paid off in five years.

Any compsation not paid off annually would be calculated with a 5% interest rate.

Since the Portuguese were demanding exorbitant prices, Chief David naturally wasn't polite either.

Beyond these astronomical indemnities, Portugal needed to cede Portuguese Timor and Portuguese India to Australasia, and Australasia would gain joint control of Portuguese East Asia Colonies.

Last but not least, for the over one thousand captured Portuguese prisoners, they only needed to pay 5,000 pounds each to safely return to Portugal.

These conditions are very harsh. With the financial compsation alone, the Portuguese governmt may face bankruptcy, let alone losing two colonies and being unable to keep the remaining East Asian colonies.

If they agreed to these conditions, Ambassador Herbert Simon felt he could escape the punishmt of Carlos I, but he would still be torn apart by the angry Portuguese citizs.

However, Australasia's attitude made Herbert Simon understand that Australasia was not a target to be manipulated by Portugal.

Moreover, Britain, Germany, and Russia were all prest here, and Portugal's continued wrangling could risk offding these three powerful countries.

After the first day of negotiations ded, Ambassador Herbert Simon st a telegram to Portugal seeking Carlos I's opinion.

Neither Australasia nor the three countries of Britain, Germany, and Russia were foolish.

The attempt to stall the progress of negotiations with such tactics was too naive.

The next day, Ambassador Herbert Simon's attitude changed drastically. He gave up on the idea of ??war reparations from Australasia and only asked for compsation for the deaths of Portuguese soldiers.

At the same time, Australasia should withdraw from the three Portuguese colonies, and the spheres of influce betwe the two sides should return to the pre-war status.

Australasia naturally could not accept these conditions, and Chief David could not help but directly convey Arthur's words to Ambassador Herbert Simon: "If the Portuguese don't accept the negotiations within a short period of time, Australasia will lease warships from Russia at any cost, annihilate Portugal's army, and sign contracts on Portuguese territory."

Considering the currt military strgth of Portugal and Australasia, the only advantage that Australasia lacked was in the navy.

However, if Australasia successfully leased warships from Russia, ev directly rting a battleship, the naval superiority betwe Portugal and Australasia would be directly wiped out or ev reversed.

By th, Australasia could not only easily complete defsive wars, but also land on Portugal's African colonies.

However, Portugal had no good solutions for this. Europeans gerally supported Australasia in the currt war, which meant that European countries basically would not lease ships to the Portuguese.

Ambassador Herbert Simon could not refute Chief David's threat and could only sd a report to Carlos I about what had happed in the negotiations with a heavy heart.

On October 3, 907, an ominous day, an important evt occurred in the Kingdom of Portugal.

The th reigning King Carlos I, together with his Crown Prince Louise, wt to the governmt to attd a meeting to discuss the ongoing negotiations with Australasia.

As they drove along, two black-clad m approached and fired two shots at Carlos I's convoy with handguns from their pockets.

Due to being closer to the assassins, Crown Prince Louise was hit directly in the chest by a bullet, while King Carlos I, who was sitting further away, was grazed by a stray bullet on his shoulder.

It took several seconds after the shooting for the King's guards to react. They immediately shouted to protect His Majesty the King and quickly chased the assassins.

Meanwhile, the injured King Carlos I and Crown Prince Louise were escorted to the nearest hospital for treatmt under the protection of the remaining guards.

King Carlos I's injuries were not severe, and after the bullet was removed, there was no longer any danger to his life.

However, Crown Prince Louise was injured very close to the heart, and due to the large amount of bleeding, it was very difficult to save him.