Although he was ready to cruise around the country, Arthur also needed to go through some meticulous preparation before he could travel.

After all, as the ruler of a country, you always have to settle your domestic affairs before you travel, don't you?

First of all, because of the slack government affairs caused by accompanying Queen Mary for more than half a year, Arthur spent more than half a month to deal with all the accumulated tasks, and also held a meeting with the cabinet government to check the progress of the cabinet government.

Then he settled the affairs of the palace, left Hunter's butler to take care of the palace, and left most of the guards and guards in the palace.

Arthur's first corps of the Guards Division will be in charge of the escort, so the guards and guards will also have enough strength to stay in the kingdom.

The cruise will cover several parts of Australasia, starting from the capital city of Sydney, and first arriving in New Zealand in a fleet for a six-month visit.

He then departed from New Zealand on a fleet and went to the colonies of New Guinea for inspection and review.

This was followed by Australian Timor, from which he headed south to inspect the construction of the Leonora Industrial Base in Western Australia, and then took the industrial rail to Adelaide and Melbourne and finally back to Sydney.

This is equivalent to a full circle around the territory of Australasia, and with the time spent inspecting and reviewing the various areas, the study tour is expected to take about two months.

Arthur's departure was in mid-October, which meant that 1909 was almost the end of the cruise.

On October 12, 1909, Arthur returned to the Royal Dockyard in Sydney Harbour after more than a year.

He was accompanied not only by Prime Minister Walter and Secretary of State Kent, but also by Defense Secretary Raul and a number of government officials.

The real reason why Arthur and his cabinet officials were able to gather at the Royal Dockyard was that after a gap of more than a year, all three battleships of Australasia's five-year shipbuilding program had been built.

In fact, the first battleship, the Australasia, was already built in February of this year.

Arthur also attended the launching ceremony, but hurried back to the palace after the ceremony.

This time, the battleship Australia and the battleship New Zealand were built at the same time, and both ushered in the launching ceremony, which is of great significance to Australasia.

The Monarch-class battleship is an advanced battleship manufactured by Australasia itself, which also means that the current shipbuilding level of Australasia has come to the world's first-class.

And these three battleships were also the beginning and clarion call for naval expansion for Australasia.

No matter what level Australasia's navy was before, with three dreadnoughts, Australasia's navy will definitely be able to reach the top ten in the world.

Of course, if only dreadnoughts are counted, the number of dreadnoughts in Australasia has reached the top three in the world, and it is also the fourth country in the world to have dreadnoughts.

The historic leap in naval scale was a memorable event for both Arthur and Australasia.

On the day of the launching of the battleships Australia and New Zealand, a large number of Australasian newspapers and foreign media gathered in the harbor to write news about Australasian battleships and battleships for the rest of the population throughout Australasia and the world.

Although dreadnoughts have become common for powers such as Britain and France, the arms race between the two sides has been in full swing, and each has even drawn up several shipbuilding plans.

But dreadnoughts are still unattainable and formidable warships for other countries in the world.

Not to mention the high cost of dreadnoughts, which cost more than a million or nearly two million pounds, if you want to build a dreadnought, you must first master the ability to build old battleships, and then you must master all kinds of new technologies for dreadnoughts, which almost all non-great powers are excluded.

Not to mention dreadnoughts, there are currently less than 15 countries that have mastered the more advanced technology of building battleships, not to mention that they have to master all kinds of new technologies of dreadnoughts, and design and build their own dreadnoughts based on these new technologies.

The battleships Australia and New Zealand were built exactly from the design drawings of the Monarch-class battleships, and the guns were also the latest 45-diameter 305 mm guns from Germany.

The original 283 mm guns of the battleship Australasia were also replaced, all of which were replaced with 305 mm guns.

Because at that time there was enough room for the replacement of the main guns, so the task of replacing them was not onerous.

And the Monarch-class battleship equipped with a 305 mm main gun can be called a real dreadnought that can be compared with the battleship Dreadnought.

Looking at the three behemoths drifting in the offshore sea, and the hideous muzzles on the behemoths, Arthur nodded with a proud and satisfied smile.

These three battleships are not only a further proof of the Australasian Navy, but also the hope and clarion call for the rise of the Navy.

Australasia is a country made up of many islands, and sea power is the most important for Australasia at present.

After the construction of the next two battle cruisers, Arthur decided to work non-stop on the next construction plan, aiming to increase the size of Australasia's navy to at least five dreadnoughts, four battle cruisers, fifteen submarines, and dozens of small and medium-sized warships before the start of World War I.

If Australasia had had such a navy before World War I, it would not only be able to protect itself in World War I, but would even be able to seek more expansion and benefits.

After all, such a navy is definitely at the level of a great power, and for such a powerful country that is far away from Europe, European countries can only choose to woo them.

The successful launch of the two battleships also provided good news for Australasia, as the construction of the next two battlecruisers was about to begin.

However, the completion of these two battle cruisers will have to wait until at least the second half of next year, which means that there will be basically no major expansion of Australasia's navy before 1911.

On October 17, 1909, after everything had been settled, Arthur took the 1st Guards Division and Secretary of Defense Raul, the commander of the 1st Division, Thomas Johnson, and the Minister of Propaganda, Grant Wilson, to officially embark on a tour that lasted at least two months.

This time, the fleet responsible for escorting Arthur was not unluxurious. Because the two battleships that had just been launched also needed to undergo naval tests, they were directly incorporated into this escort team.

This also led to the fact that the fleet escorted this time had three dreadnoughts, one submarine and ten frigates, which was also considered a national force for Australasia.

Arthur's first stop was Wellington, the capital of North New Zealand. Lington is not too far from Sydney, and it only takes a little more than a day to reach it if you travel as fast as you can by warship.

But after all, this time it was mainly for the purpose of parade, and Arthur came out to relax, not to rush to official business.

Therefore, the speed of the fleet was not fast, and even the average speed was only about fifteen knots.

As a result, when Arthur arrived in Wellington, it was already the night of October 19th.

Officials in Wellington and Northern New Zealand had already received news of Arthur's arrival, and even though Arthur had arrived at night, they had organized a large number of officials and citizens to wait at the port.

On his first night in New Zealand, Arthur did not do any official business, but stayed in a room prepared by the City of Wellington.

After a day's rest, Arthur headed to the outskirts of Wellington and the surrounding industrial areas to carry out his own rounds and parades.

Australasia has a well-developed livestock industry as a whole, and New Zealand accounts for more than 20% of Australia's total livestock industry.

According to the report of the state government of Northern New Zealand, there are at least 10,000 large and small pastures in the whole of Northern New Zealand, and the total number of cattle, sheep and other livestock raised is as high as 15 million.

Arthur is also convinced of this, after all, there are many large and small pastures around Wellington alone, and cattle and sheep of different colors can be seen everywhere, which is completely deceiving.

It is worth mentioning that, at least in Northern New Zealand, there is a relatively separate distinction between industrial and livestock areas and agriculture, which also makes it much less likely that livestock and agriculture will be affected by industry.

This made Arthur quite satisfied, after all, the industry of this era can be seen from the thick black smoke gushing out of the chimney into the sky, this is not an environmentally friendly thing.

It's just that in this era, if you want to make the country strong, the development of industry is indispensable.

The development of industry cannot avoid the destruction of the environment, who makes the industry of this era so distinctive.

On his second day in New Zealand, Arthur inspected the agricultural and livestock areas around Wellington and visited one of the industrial estates around Wellington.

It had been a busy day, at least for Arthur.

For the next few days, Arthur's life in Wellington was spent eating, drinking, and merrymaking. What little official time Arthur had was used to learn about and investigate the living conditions of the inhabitants of Northern New Zealand, particularly Wellington.

The results of the survey are quite encouraging, and although the life of the citizens of Wellington is not very good, they can still be satisfied.

Ensuring that all the people had no shortage of food and a better life was Arthur's first wish when he succeeded to the throne.

At present, it seems that the initial realization has been made, at least in the area that Arthur can understand, that the Australasian people will not go hungry.

After all, in addition to the various welfare policies promulgated by the government, the Royal Relief Committee also helps a large number of low-income people every year to ensure that they have at least food to eat and do not go hungry.

The first update of 3,000 words, ask for support!

(End of chapter)