It was May 1904.

The issuance of the new currency has been a success, and although it has only been a little over a week, more than two million pounds worth of new currency, the Australian dollar, have already been circulated.

The currency was issued nationwide, and people were free to choose their own paychecks, with the British pound and the Australian dollar becoming one of the federally recognized payment methods.

Within Australia, there are already many people who have chosen to receive their salaries in Australian dollars.

They have a lot of trust in the current government and Arthur, and naturally agree with the new currency issued by the royal family.

Even the Australian folk have produced many collectors, who believe that a limited number of commemorative coins may become collectible in the future, which is not available in the current pound.

At present, according to the news from the Crown Banks in the Commonwealth, about one million Australian dollars, thirteen million shillings and forty-two million pennies have been exchanged, and half of them are currently in circulation in the market.

This is good news for the Commonwealth of Australia and New Zealand, as well as for Arthur.

The Commonwealth has been tentatively able to break free from the economic control of the British Empire and have a new currency of its own.

For Arthur and the royal family, these currencies were issued by the royal bank, which also meant that the country's current financial power was in the hands of the royal family, and it was an important means of consolidating royal power.

The financial power, military power, and popular support were in the hands of Arthur, and as long as Arthur reigned for one day, it was impossible to give birth to forces and individuals within the Federation who had the right to challenge the royal family.

Compared with Australia's political and political counterparts, the war in the Far East is much more tragic than in history.

Because of Arthur's disguised intervention, the weapons and equipment of both sides of the war were much more advanced, including artillery and heavy machine guns capable of causing wide damage, and the Tsarist Empire and the island countries were equipped with more.

Since the last Battle of Arthur, on the naval side, the island nation has regained a brief period of tranquility.

Vice Admiral Makarov kept his plan alive and occasionally saw warships departing from Port Arthur on some covert mission.

The silence of the sea also represents the cruelty of the land.

Since March 21, 1904, when the island's First Army landed in the Korean town of Nampo, the island's army has not done much.

Much of this is due to the fact that the island's army is waiting for the navy to act, and only the navy has gained the advantage and uses the navy's powerful naval guns to pose a threat to the fortress of Port Arthur.

But things developed beyond the expectations of the island nation, and the naval battle was not won, and even as far as the naval battle was concerned, the island nation was defeated.

But the war on land does not stop, and maintaining such a military size is a huge drain on both sides.

In mid-April, the First Army of the island nation successfully arrived in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula.

On the opposite bank, the East Manchurian detachment of the Tsarist Empire was in charge of defense, and the commander was Zasulich.

The First Army of the island nation had about 30,000 men, and the East Manchurian detachment also had nearly 20,000 men.

In terms of simple offensive and defensive superiority, it seems that the Tsarist Empire has the advantage. However, after the Russian Imperial defender Zasulich came to the position, he did not take any action for a month and a half, neither strengthened the fortifications, but also scattered the army on the frontal battlefield, and did not have any measures to deal with the enemy at all.

The only fortification was a long trench, not even the slightest camouflage.

Of these, the reserve units, which accounted for about half of their number, were stationed even ten kilometers away, and the artillery positions were completely exposed to the eyes of the enemy.

Not to mention how such a "talent" ascended to such a high position as the commander of the Mandong detachment and the lieutenant general of the Tsarist Russian Empire, for the army of the island country, this is simply a gift for nothing.

After more than ten days of preparation, the island nation launched an attack, trying to go around the rear of the enemy's left flank and surround the 20,000-strong army in front of it.

The next day, fierce fighting ensued between the two sides in the vicinity, and the Russian Empire was slow to resist the island's attack with artillery fire and counter-assault.

However, because of the superiority of the island's troops, coupled with the fact that the defensive positions of the Russian Imperial Army were too rudimentary, and the artillery positions had already been exposed, the artillery fire of the island country suppressed the Russian artillery fire, and the islanders also successfully attacked the position on the same day.

The Russian commander Zasulich was afraid of being surrounded, so he hurriedly ordered a retreat to the rear.

However, when the 11th Infantry Regiment of Eastern Siberia retreated, it was already deeply encircled by the army of the island nation, and after several breakthroughs, it still failed, and finally the whole army was annihilated.

However, this infantry regiment was not without results. Although it was not equipped with artillery from Australia, it was lucky to get two heavy machine guns.

After trying to break through to no avail, the 11th Infantry Regiment of East Siberia decisively chose to defend to the death, and finally exchanged the price of total annihilation for more than 6,000 casualties of the island army.

This was the first trading war between the Tsarist Empire and the island nation on land, and finally achieved the result of the defeat of the Tsarist Russian Empire and the crushing victory of the island nation.

Of the 20,000-strong East Manchurian detachment led by Gasulich, only more than 12,000 people managed to retreat.

The 30,000 troops of the 1st Army of the island country lost more than 5,000 people in this offensive battle, and more than 6,000 casualties when encircling and suppressing the 11th Infantry Regiment of Russian Eastern Siberia, but the number of combatants was sharply reduced to 18,000.

But on a strategic level, the ultimate beneficiary of this war is still the island nation. Zasulich's retreat directly opened the eastern gate of the Far East to the island nation.

After a short period of repair, the 1st Army of the island nation immediately advanced inland to the Far East.

At the same time, in early May.

The 2nd Army of about 40,000 troops of the island country also set out in full gear and landed at Piziwo on the Liaodong Peninsula in an attempt to capture the port of Arthur from north to south.

The reason why island countries attach so much importance to Port Arthur is because of the geographical location of Port Arthur.

As long as the Tsarist Empire remained in control of Port Arthur, the Pacific Fleet could threaten the sea lines of communication of the island's armies that had landed at any time.

And even if the Pacific Fleet makes a desperate bet, it is possible to completely cut off the logistical transport lines of the island nation and the landing force.

What can an army do without logistics? In addition to the mutiny, there were only prisoners and starvation.

The defending forces in the area north of Port Arthur were the 4th Infantry Division of the Tsarist Empire, the commander of which was General Fokk.

The 4th Infantry Division had a total of 18,000 men and had more than 150 artillery pieces and 20 heavy machine guns.

Because General Makarov was also aware of the importance of the port of Arthur, at the suggestion of General Makarov, the Governor-General of the Far East, Alekseev, handed over part of the equipment purchased from Australia to the 4th Infantry Division.

As a result, the 4th Infantry Division is now heavily equipped, with all of them uniformly armed with German-made Gew 98 rifles, as well as more than 20 CA-1 machine guns and 15 105mm howitzers and other artillery pieces.

In mid-May, the island's 2nd Army and the Russian 4th Infantry Division met smoothly and quickly engaged.

Whether it is artillery or the size of the number of people, the second army of the island nation has ample advantages.

General Obaogong also thought so, as the commander of the Second Army, he seemed to have seen the opportunity to attack Lushun, so he ordered all four divisions to press, in an attempt to quickly solve the defensive forces in the north of Lushun.

At the beginning of the battle, the artillery of the island nation suppressed the artillery of the Tsarist Empire very smoothly.

The island's troops were also approaching the 4th Infantry Division very smoothly, and the soldiers on both sides could even see each other's hideous faces and hair mixed with gunsmoke and dust.

"Shoot with all your might!"

With the order of General Fokk, the artillery from Australia opened fire smoothly. Under the leadership of the CA-1 machine gun, the Russian artillery regained the advantage, and the continuous shells exploded in the troops of the island country, causing heavy casualties to the island people.

"Yaga! Where did these Russians get so much artillery? With such a dense firepower cover, I'm afraid there must be at least a thousand doors. A little farther away from the battlefield, General Ao Baogong looked at the constantly exploding artillery fire in the battlefield with a frightened face, and asked puzzledly.

It's a pity that no one can answer him this question, all the islanders have never seen such dense artillery fire, and no one even thinks of making the army retreat quickly.

In fact, this is also normal, the current fully automatic technology is basically only used for firearms, and the machine gun is the best embodiment of fully automatic technology.

At present, only France and Australia have mastered the technology of automatic artillery, and even more so Germany.

But France was an ally of the Tsarist Empire, and Germany also supported the expansion of the Tsarist Empire in the Far East. Needless to say, Australia will not export Australian-grown weapons without Arthur's order.

At present, there is no automatic artillery option in Germany's open arsenal, and all the weapons imported by the island nation are from the technology of the Kluper factory, 75 mm and 105 mm howitzers.

One of the characteristics of these guns is that they are relatively slow to fire. In a minute, less than ten shells can be fired at the earliest.

But the CA-1 cannon fired at a terrifying rate of sixty rounds a minute, which was equivalent to a difference of six or seven times.

It was precisely because of the frantic fire bombardment from the CA-1 machine gun that General Obaogong had the illusion that the Russian army on the opposite side had thousands of artillery pieces.

By the time General Okubogong reacted, it was too late, and at that time, in order to quickly resolve the battle, the army of the island nation was almost all in one swollen and very dense with each other.

This also allowed the CA-1 machine gun to play a huge role. Although the relative power is not that great, each shell is enough to inflict varying degrees of light and severity on enemies within five meters of the surrounding area.

What's more, the CA-1 machine gun fired multiple shells in each round, and many soldiers of the island nation were hit by multiple shells before they even reacted.

The war ended with the sound of naval guns of the Pacific Fleet. Unlike the original history, the Pacific Fleet was still able to maintain a balance of power over the Combined Fleet, so the island army was not supported by naval artillery, but the Russian army was supported by naval artillery from the Pacific Fleet.

The main guns of warships are generally large guns of more than 200 mm, especially those battleships that rely on firepower, and the caliber of guns can even reach a terrifying 300 mm.

Such large-caliber artillery is a curse for the infantry, and even many people can only watch the black spots in front of them become more and more dull, drowning themselves in a cloud of white smoke.

The anger of the last naval battle, General Makarov has all spilled this time. This time, two battleships were dispatched and more than a hundred shells were fired from the ship's guns.

Three thousand two hundred words chapter 1, ask for support!

(End of chapter)