The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 262: Chapter 239: "London Contract"

The statemt from the Portugal Republic Party caused a ssation in Portugal and quickly spread across much of Europe, becoming one of the most talked-about topics among European citizs in rect times.

Of course, this was also beficial for Australasia, as it could quickly clear itself of suspicion for the assassination of King Carlos I of Portugal and immediately gain more goodwill from European citizs.

After all, Australasia and Portugal were at war, and the Portuguese people were already beginning to oppose Carlos I's rule, ev harboring goodwill toward the emy nation of Australasia.

In contrast to Carlos I, Australasia and Arthur were se as the most righteous side.

As the saying goes, without comparison, there can be no harm. Carlos I sought to maintain his autocratic rule and used the conflict with Australasian fisherm to establish a loving and fearless image for himself among his subjects.

However, he neglected the real public opinion in Portugal; continuing the war was of no befit to Portugal, only serving to sustain the image Carlos I had built for himself.

Moreover, the Portuguese governmt increasingly appeared to be offding Britain, Germany, and Russia. At prest, trade betwe the United Kingdom and Portugal has gradually decreased, causing significant financial losses for many Portuguese factories and individuals.

As a result, the Portuguese people grew ev more disillusioned with Carlos I. After all, at the time, there was clear evidce and photos of the conflict involving fisherm from Australasia. These fisherm indeed suffered severe injuries, and their catch and property were also plundered.

In contrast, the Portuguese governmt's statemt on the fisherm conflict was vague and lacked evidce, relying solely on the fisherm's testimonies.

If the governmt continues to offd Britain and Germany, Portugal may lose any standing in Europe.

Currtly, Britain and Germany respectively represt the powerful groups of the Allies and the Ctral Powers. Britain has a close alliance with France, which in turn is allied with Russia.

Meanwhile, Germany, Italy, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire are part of the Ctral Powers alliance, meaning that Britain and Germany are connected to all other powerful European nations.

If Portugal offds all the great powers in Europe at once, isn't it merely shooting itself in the foot?

Befiting from a few decades of constitutional monarchy before Carlos I's reign, Portugal had dozs of parties and supporters of republicanism and democracy.

The ideals supported by these people were inhertly opposed to the principles of autocracy, and thus were naturally targeted by Carlos I's oppressive regime.

Carlos I's failed scheming prested a gold opportunity for the republicans and democrats, who risked governmt crackdowns to make their stand.

This newspaper's impact on Portugal isn't only limited to this; if there were detailed public opinion polls available now, one could draw a surprising conclusion that the Portuguese Kingdom Governmt's civilian support rate has plummeted dramatically, with ev less than 40% remaining.

Although this may seem exaggerated, considering that the Portuguese Kingdom historically lasted for only a little over two years before vanishing, one can gradually comprehd why this has happed.

Carlos I established a high-pressure oppressive system and autocratic rule in Portugal, but he did not bring about many befits for the Portuguese people.

It's no surprise that such a monarch, who only cared about his own power and status, would evtually face opposition.

Carlos I did manage to gain some support from the Portuguese common people, thanks to his seemingly unwavering dedication to protecting their fisherm.

However, after this incidt, the common people started to wake up to reality, which was a reason why the Portuguese governmt's support rate among the civilians dropped drastically.

Hearing reports of nationwide protests, Carlos I felt rage rising in his chest but could do nothing about it.

This wasn't the only bad news either; after several hours of intsive rescue efforts, the hospital treating Crown Prince Louise ultimately declared their efforts unsuccessful.

This was another blow to Carlos I, making the previously vibrant king appear over a decade older in an instant.

By the time Carlos I returned to the Governmt Building, the high-ranking members of the Portuguese Kingdom Governmt were shocked to find that the king's hair had turned .

Portugal currtly faced internal and external threats, and the combined pressures of negotiating peace with Australasia and dealing with domestic pro-democracy forces pushed the governmt to the brink.

In order to maintain his rule, Carlos I reluctantly decided to compromise with Australasia and focus on resolving domestic threats, securing the governmt's position and his own rule.

On October 8, 907, the London Agreemt, paused by an accidt for five days, resumed.

This time, Portuguese ambassador Herbert Simon was noticeably more proactive and officially acknowledged Portugal's defeat in the war.

Seeing the Portuguese governmt finally taking action, the represtatives from Britain, Germany, and Russia nodded in satisfaction.

After several days of negotiation and with the witnesses of the represtatives of Britain, Germany, and Russia, Chief David of Australasia and Herbert Simon, the represtative of the Kingdom of Portugal, signed the "Australasian and Portuguese Agreemt on Fisherm's Conflict and War Incidt Resolution and Compsation" with a smile in London.

Due to the signing in London, this treaty is also known as the "London Agreemt" betwe Australia and Portugal.

According to the provisions of the London Agreemt, Portuguese Timor will be ceded to Australasia as Portugal's compsation and recognizes Australasia's sovereignty over it.

In addition, Australasia has the right to berth at ports in Portugal's East Asian colonies, whether its warships or civilian ships can freely ter and exit the ports of the East Asian colonies.

Furthermore, there is the compsation for the fisherm and the war funds. All Australasian fisherm affected by the conflict and war are to be compsated by Portugal. Finally, the compsation amount is set at 5 Australian dollars per person.

As for the Australasian fisherman involved in the conflict, the Portuguese governmt must pay him 0,000 Australian dollars and publicly apologize to him.

Regarding war reparations, the Portuguese governmt must compsate the Australasian governmt with five million pounds, which must be paid within three years. After three years, any unpaid amount will have an annual interest rate of one-fifth.

What does this mean? If the Portuguese governmt does not pay any funds within three years, the annual interest after three years will be as high as one million pounds, which is no small sum.

As long as two years' worth of interest amounts to the value of a dreadnought, Arthur is happy to see Portugal repay the debt late.

Anyway, with the witnesses of Britain, Germany, and Russia, Arthur isn't worried about the Portuguese governmt defaulting. There are not many countries that dare to ignore the three veteran powers in Europe.

Of course, the main reason why the represtatives of Britain, Germany, and Russia agreed to mediate the negotiations was because of Arthur's face.

Such favors need to be repaid. After all, to put it bluntly, there is a family relationship betwe Australasia and Britain, Germany, and Russia, and it is very necessary to maintain good relations with these countries without any interest conflicts with them since Australasia is far away from Europe.

If it wer't for the support of these three rogue countries, it would take some time for Australasia to sign a real contract with Portugal.

Although Australasia is not afraid of Portugal's military, Portugal's navy is indeed troublesome.

Of course, the main focus is on improving relations with Germany and Russia. Although Australia's main developmt target in the future is the navy, the British navy is currtly the strongest in the world, and its shipbuilding industry and technology are naturally top-notch.

However, as long as Edward is the King of Britain, Australasia cannot establish too close a relationship with the British Empire.

Not to mtion other things, ev if Arthur personally said that he didn't care about the previous matters, would King Edward believe it?

However, thanks to Arthur's good relationship with the previous Que Victoria and his popularity in England, there is no need to worry about malice from England, unless Arthur repeatedly stands on the opposite side of England.

In response to Europe's thusiasm for researching airships, Arthur gerously donated an AU- airship to both Britain and Germany.

With the technology of Britain and Germany, it wouldn't be a difficult task to quickly master the AU- airship.

Especially for Germany, the AU- airship is an improved and hanced version of the AU, and the AU is a replica of Zeppelin LZ's rigid airship.

With such a connection, Germany's research on the AU- airship would be ev faster, and it may ev be able to manufacture it on its own soon.

The gift to Russia is differt from those of Britain and Germany. This is not to say that there is a differce in closess, but Russia's research capabilities may not ev be able to successfully grasp its technology by the time Britain and Germany have developed the next-geration airship.

Therefore, Arthur catered to their preferces and gave Russia a batch of weapons and ammunition produced by military factories, which were originally prepared for this war.

Australasia was well-prepared for this war, with many weapons and equipmt produced.

Although many weapons and ammunition were consumed under the powerful firepower of Australasia, there were still a large number of leftovers.

These remaining weapons and ammunition did not matter much to Australasia, but they were like sding charcoal in the snow to Russia's Far East Army.

Although the currt situation in Russia is much more stable than in history, it is still the Far East Army that suffers as Russia invests in dreadnoughts.

Receiving this batch of weapons and ammunition reserves, the Far East Army of Russia finally had a bit of foundation and was able to prepare for possible wars in the future.

The Russians appreciated this gesture greatly, and ev Nicholas II himself st a telegram to Arthur, thanking Arthur for the gift and praising the fridship betwe Russia and Australasia.