At this time, the Entente of Britain, France, and Russia had not yet reached the close ties of war, and the progress of the preparations for war on the three sides was also different.

Australasia offered to have command of his own troops at this time, and Minister Gray had nothing to say.

Because judging from the current situation, even if war breaks out, Britain, France, and Russia will at most only cooperate in battle, and it is impossible to hand over their armies to the command of other countries.

Under such circumstances, it is only natural for Australasia to demand independent command of its own army, after all, no one is so kind as to surrender the command of its own national army to others, which is equivalent to handing over the lifeblood of the army.

As for the issue of military spending for the army, at the suggestion of the Prime Minister of Kent, Minister Gray has also made some changes to it.

Once the Australasian army embarked on its journey to Europe, the British government provided half of the soldiers' salaries and covered all expenses incurred by the Australasian army during the war.

This also means that after the Australasian army arrived in Europe, all kinds of weapons could be fired with impunity, because there were British people with strong families.

The Australasian government only needed to provide half of all the new soldiers, both for training and for the British's request to send troops to fight.

Of course, the British did not pay for nothing. Minister Gray also put forward a new requirement, that is, in the event of a war in Europe, Australasia's combat force in Europe must be maintained at a size of more than 200,000 men.

In the event of attrition for various reasons, Australasia will need to continue to send troops to Europe to keep the number of troops fighting in Europe above 200,000.

This also meant that Australasia would need to mobilize at least 500,000 troops to join the war in Europe to meet the demands of the British, taking into account all kinds of casualties.

However, Minister Gray's condition did not impose a mandatory requirement on the number of Australasian main forces.

This was also acceptable to Arthur, after all, after the First World War, it was necessary to reduce the number of natives in order to avoid possible national problems in the future.

As for the hidden danger of manpower problems brought about by the decline of the natives, in fact, most of the aborigines' capable manual labor has been gradually replaced by machinery.

And Australasia's population is also growing, and based on the current number of new people per year, if World War I breaks out as it has historically, Australasia's population will hopefully exceed 13.5 million before the outbreak of World War I.

By 1920, Australasia's population would have exceeded 20 million, and the problem of manpower shortages would have been less severe.

Even a long time after the end of the First World War, coupled with the period when Australasia received a large number of immigrants.

If it is done well and succeeds in replacing the United States in World War I, it will be faced with millions or even millions of immigrants every year.

Coupled with absorbing the heritage of defeated countries, before the outbreak of World War II, Arthur even hoped to turn Australasia into a top power with a population of 30 or 40 million, the world's top three in military strength, and the top five in the world in terms of comprehensive strength.

In addition to these military agreements, there was another important topic in the talks, that is, the issue of the division of interests after the war.

It's a topic that can never be escaped. If the German, Austrian, and Italian allies were trying to break the old colonial order, Germany to gain more colonies, Austria-Hungary to expand in the Balkans, and Italy to gain new territories, then the Entente also had their own goals.

Although the Entente was originally formed to jointly resist German expansion, as long as the war was won, it was certain that the defeated countries would have to provide a lot of benefits to compensate the victorious countries for their military expenses and attrition.

Britain, France, and Russia are fine, whether it is to receive the colonies of the Central Powers or to obtain the territories of the Central Powers, in short, there are many ways to obtain benefits and expansion.

But Australasia is different. Australasia is located in remote Oceania, and the Confederate sphere of influence and the adjacent area of Australasia is only a small German New Guinea.

But German New Guinea certainly could not satisfy Australasia's appetite, and Arthur agreed to send a large number of combat troops, certainly not for the sake of a land that could be taken over immediately at the beginning of the war.

In the vicinity of Australasia, with the exception of German New Guinea, the rest of the land was either the Anglo-French Pacific islands or the Dutch East Indies in the north.

However, the Dutch country was already too weak compared to Australasia, and Australasia could even obtain any desired Dutch East Indies land without the support of any country.

This also meant that in order to satisfy Australasia's appetites, Britain and France would have to make some trade-offs between the Pacific islands.

In particular, the British Solomon Islands, French New Caledonia, the Anglo-French New Hebrides, British Fiji, the French Wallis and Futuna Protectorate, the British Gilbert and Ellis Islands Protectorate, the British Tokelau, the British Phoenix Islands, etc.

These islands and archipelago are not far from Australasia, but very far from the mainland of Britain and France.

Coupled with the fact that it is located in Oceania, it is impossible for Australasia not to want to acquire these lands.

It is important to know that these islands and archipelagos are all islands in the Pacific Ocean, which is an important line of defense for Australasia.

If these islands are obtained, Australasia can build several complete island defense chains in the southwest Pacific Ocean.

With a large number of coastal defense guns, powerful warships and air forces, it is completely possible to block any enemy from the Pacific Ocean in the Pacific Ocean, and the enemy will not be able to get even half a step close to the mainland of Australasia.

What's more, the islands completely encompass the core of Australasia (Australia, New Zealand and New Guinea) and serve as a solid bulwark for the defense of the Australasian mainland.

If Australasia wants to confront the United States, these islands must be taken. Only in this way can we have sufficient confidence and cards to compete with the United States before industry and economy can catch up with the United States.

With these islands as a defense, mainland Australasia is safe at all times.

But all this depends on whether Britain and France are reluctant to give up these islands in the Pacific Ocean in order to completely tie Australasia to the chariot.

Minister Gray and the British government had anticipated Australasia's request for a long time.

For Australasia, these islands of Oceania are fat to put on the pillow and must be eaten as long as there is ambition.

Judging from Australasia's several expansions in Southeast Asia, Arthur's ambitions are not small, and the requirements for the islands of Oceania are also expected.

In addition, after Australasia broke away from the British Empire, British control over the Pacific islands had weakened considerably.

In fact, this is normal, after all, the British Empire has vast colonies, and these scattered islands in the Pacific Ocean are not so important to the British.

But after all, these islands also involved the territory of the French, and even if the Anglo-French Entente brought Britain and France closer together, Britain could not directly make decisions for France.

In principle, however, Minister Grey agreed to Australasia's request that after the outbreak of war Britain transfer all of the said islands directly to Australasia in exchange for Australasia's direct participation in the war.

At the same time, because Australasia was at war with Germany after entering the war, German New Guinea was the spoils of Australasia.

As long as Australasia was able, it could take over the land even on the day the war broke out.

As for the French islands in Oceania, Minister Grey also promised to do his utmost to negotiate for Australasia and to obtain the direct consent of France to the transfer of these islands.

But the French probably won't refuse. After all, for France, these islands of Oceania are also not so important.

The core of France's colonies is still in Africa. On the premise that the African colonies were not lost, a few islands and archipelagos in the Pacific Ocean were exchanged for the support of hundreds of thousands of combat troops in Australasia, so that the French would sacrifice a little less, and this deal was not a loss.

What's more, as long as the war is won, the French can completely get some land from Germany, and isn't the land of Europe as important as the islands of Oceania?

In order to express his sincerity and that of the British Government, Minister Gray sent a telegram to the British Government on the very day that Australasia made the offer, requesting that the British Government negotiate with France to reach a consensus on the islands as soon as possible.

It was several days later on 19 March that Minister Gray received a reply from the British Government.

Sure enough, neither the UK nor France paid much attention to the islands of Oceania.

Both sides agreed to transfer the islands of Oceania to Australasia in exchange for Australasia's direct accession to the Entente countries after the outbreak of war.

The French were interested in Australasia's entry and the plan to commit 250,000 combat troops, and even wanted to invite Australasia to the Allied Conference in 1913.

Since the last time the Entente Conference and the Allied Conference were convened, it had become a tradition of the two major military blocs.

If there is no special event, it will be held once a year.

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss how to deal with the outbreak of war in light of the latest situation.

At this time, the major European countries already knew that this European war was impossible to avoid.

Up to now, the great powers of Europe have paid countless sums of money to compete with each other.

Many countries are already in financial problems, and even stopping the arms race now will cause irreversible damage to national development.

The only way to solve this state of affairs is to increase national cohesion and support in the country with a hearty victory, and at the same time, to save the government's finances with a large amount of war booty and war reparations.

"Only war can put an end to the current situation." This sentence has already been uttered by the military top of many European powers.

Regardless of how governments are preparing for war, the militaries of various countries are already eager to try it anyway.

Now that it has been decided to join the Entente and exchange military efforts for more benefits for Australasia in World War I, the next Entente conference will also be involved.

Minister Gray also invited Arthur, who naturally nodded in agreement and agreed to attend this year's Entente meeting.

Since the Allied Conference was held in 1911, the place where it was held also had a certain political meaning.

The venue of the first Entente Conference was London, England, and as the core of the Entente Powers, it was understandable that the conference should be held in London.

The previous year's Allied Conference, the 1912 Conference, was held in Paris, France.

France was the bridgehead against Germany, and France had to bear most of the pressure on Germany's forces.

Therefore, the venue of the Second Entente Conference in Paris, France, not only to highlight the status of France as the second power of the Entente, but also to tell all French people that Britain and Russia will be closely united in France.

As is customary, this year's meeting of the Entente will be held in St. Petersburg, Russia, which is also the treatment that the third power of the Russian Entente deserves.

In addition to this very necessary meeting of the Entente powers, Arthur also planned to take advantage of the future conference to visit Britain, France and Russia, and take the opportunity to establish good relations with these three countries, and also to gain more benefits in future wars.

Although Arthur's relations with Russia had always been good, Arthur could not guarantee that the Tsarist Empire, which was in better shape than in history, would not disappear in this war.

If the in-law ally of the Tsarist Empire is lost, then Australasia can only rely on the relative ally of Britain.

Therefore, it is very necessary to take this opportunity to move around with Britain and France.

Moreover, Australasia, as the weakest of the four major powers of the Entente, would not be too much to take the opportunity to ask Britain and France for the benefits!

You must know that Britain and France, as the old top powers, naturally have a lot of background.

All kinds of military technology and warship technology, if you can get a little bit, there is also a lot of improvement for Australasia.

More importantly, after establishing good relations with these two countries, Australasia was able to completely replace the position of the United States in World War I by virtue of its status as one of the four major powers of the Entente.

Even though the United States was stronger than Australasia, it was unlikely that Britain and France would have been recognized as long as it had not entered the war at the beginning of World War I.

Arthur also planned to do so in the early stage, wanting to sell arms to both sides in the early stage according to the American way, and directly join the superior side in the middle and late stages to completely end the battle.

But after talking to the Prime Minister of Kent and the butler of Kent, Arthur completely figured it out.

If Australasia and the United States take the same approach, the United States, with its more developed economy and industry, will definitely have a higher advantage.

In this case, it is impossible for Australasia to prevent the rise of the United States, and it is easy to lose the trust of the British government and the British people after the end of the war because of its early support for Germany.

But if Australasia had entered the war at the beginning of the war and had experienced the world war as one of the four great powers of the Entente, its identity and status would have been very different.

Compared with the way that the United States makes profits in the early stage and picks peaches in the middle and late stages, Australasia is obviously the "own people" of Britain and France.

Coupled with the British government's existing precautions against the United States, if the United States wants to obtain the huge profits and benefits in the next World War, it must not only depend on whether Australasia agrees, but also whether the British and French governments are so stupid.

Ask for a commuter pass!

(End of chapter)