Australasia, October 1915.

Arthur has been in a very good mood lately, with his army winning on the front lines and gaining the Persian Gulf coast from Kuwait to Qatar through peace talks.

This is vital to Australasia's future oil reserves and economic development.

If it could be exchanged from Britain to the truce states in the future, Australasia would have at least a quarter of the world's oil reserves, or even close to one-third.

It is not difficult to exert influence on some countries and regions in the Middle East and grasp the pricing power of international oil.

And the importance of oil is self-evident, at least for 150 years, oil has been the most important energy source, and there is no one.

Although Europe was inextricably linked, the impact of this large-scale war on Australasia was still small, and the social order of Australasia was not affected in any way.

All of the occupied areas of Australasia are currently under wartime control, and Arthur has no intention of consolidating them, at least until the end of the war.

Actually, this is also very understandable. If these newly occupied areas were in a zone of war, militarized administration was a matter of course, and there was no objection to it.

But if these regions were formally integrated, they would become territories or colonies of Australasia, and some shady plans would not be implemented.

The first was German New Guinea, where Australasian forces expelled more than 400,000 Aborigines during the occupation of German New Guinea and deliberately released some of the Aborigines and inhabitants who opposed Australasian rule and absconded them to Dutch-controlled areas.

If there is a current administrative map, it is clear that the whole island of New Guinea is divided into two parts in the middle, the west side belonging to the Dutch East Indies and the east side to Australasia.

The island of New Guinea is the second largest island in the world, after Greenland, which is located in the extreme cold zone.

Although Greenland is larger, its location in the Arctic Circle has less potential for development and has not been inhabited by many people even now.

But New Guinea is different. New Guinea is located in the tropics, with abundant precipitation and flat land, which is suitable for development.

The entire peninsula of New Guinea covers an area of 786,000 square kilometres, which is larger than the total area of France and the Low Countries (only the mainland).

What's more, the entire island of New Guinea is rich in mineral resources, rich in oil, natural gas, copper, gold, chrome, nickel, aluminum, etc., and the potential value is huge.

This island alone can accommodate up to tens of millions of people, making it an excellent food producing area.

Compared with Australia, which has less water, New Guinea has abundant water resources, and Arthur's previous plan for the north-south water transfer is to transfer water from the island of New Guinea to Australia.

Moreover, the island of New Guinea is closer to Australia than New Zealand and Australia, making it an excellent land that is easy to grasp and suitable for development.

Half of such excellent land was in the hands of the Dutch, which Arthur did not want to see, and I believe the Australasian people did not want to see.

Therefore, Arthur felt that Australasia needed to solve this problem for the Dutch, and find an excuse to take over the Dutch-controlled island of West New Guinea and unify the whole of New Guinea.

This is why there were people who rebelled against Australasia who slipped away from German New Guinea and went to Dutch-controlled areas.

When the right opportunity arose, Arthur would angrily proclaim that there were many forces in the Dutch East Indies against Australasia and plotting to overthrow Australasian rule in New Guinea.

Then, it was time for the Australasian army to perform. The countries of Europe are busy with war, this is the best opportunity for Australasia to expand, and there will be no country against Australasia's expansion.

Of course, the expulsion of the natives was also Arthur's purpose. The entire region of German New Guinea, inhabited by at least one million indigenous people, was not a good thing for future Australasian rule.

Just while German New Guinea was still under militarized administration, these natives were forcibly expelled.

For some natives who are reluctant to leave German New Guinea, they can only be asked to stay in the land forever.

The forceful expulsion of these natives was not as gentle as the aboriginal families who joined the colonial army.

Dependents of colonial troops were also given severance pay and transportation was arranged to be transported to their destination by transport.

These natives who have been forcibly evicted often have only one sentence from the army and a deadline of one week to leave, otherwise they will face serious consequences.

For so long, it was not without a challenge to the Australasian army, but they faced even more brutal slaughter.

Judging by the sophistication of the Australasian army's equipment, these natives have contributed nothing other than to increase the KD of the Australasian army.

Behind the expulsion of 400,000 Aborigines, the army has slaughtered at least 200,000 Aboriginal people, and the search for all of them is ongoing.

At least in Australasia for now, Arthur does not welcome these black natives. No matter how high their contribution to the country is, they will only receive a bonus and will be persuaded to leave.

Even if Australasia's population was a big problem, Arthur would never include these black natives in his immigration plans.

Newly acquired land in the Middle East is also under militarized management. Thankfully, with the exception of Kuwait, the population of other regions is not too large.

Of course, even with Kuwait, the indigenous population of the Middle East occupied by Australasia is not as large as that of German New Guinea.

In particular, the Persian Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, Bahrain and other regions have a total population of no more than 150,000, and only a little immigration is needed to completely control this area.

Kuwait has a relatively large population, but it is just over 100,000 people. Moreover, after the Iraqi region was controlled by the British, Kuwait and the Ottoman connection would be severed, and it would be easy to control a small Kuwait.

As long as there is a mass migration to this area over the next few decades, so that Australasian people make up the majority of the land's population, then this land is the sacred and inviolable territory of Australasia since ancient times.

Of course, most Australasian people were reluctant to migrate to the Middle East before the region's oil was developed.

After all, there are too many deserts in this land, and the temperature is too high to be inhabitable. Coupled with the lack of water resources, it is better to live in Australasia or other colonies.

However, when the oil resources in this area were developed, the value of this area also increased significantly.

Oil workers, family members of oil companies, etc., these will be the first immigrants to the Middle East.

Using the oil resources of the Middle East, it can also create some desert oases to attract more immigrants.

Of course, when the oil resources of this land are developed, there will inevitably be at least one division of troops stationed in this area.

Even from the extent of the land occupied by Australasia, it would take at least 2 or 3 divisions to properly protect the area.

In the future, the navy will be expanded, and there will even be the Persian Gulf Fleet, etc., in order to strengthen Australasia's rule in this region, and at the same time influence other countries in the Middle East, so as to achieve Arthur's goal of controlling the price of world oil.

In addition to the layout of the overseas territories, Australasia will also have good news, that is, two Hope-class battleships will soon be officially commissioned.

Construction began in January 1914 on the battleships Hope and Dream, and it has been nearly two years since they were built.

Back at the beginning of the year, the two battleships were built about the same. But because Arthur wanted to equip the 15-inch gun instead of the current 13.5-inch gun, it was delayed for two months.

The good news is that the 15-inch gun has indeed been developed through the cooperation of Britain and Australasia, and both Britain and Australasia have used it on the latest warships.

Because of this, for the first time, Australasia's two super-battleships will be equipped with 15-inch guns, making them veritable super-battleships.

In terms of firepower, the two battleships were already in a huge lead. Not to mention more than all, at least more than the vast majority of super battleships in the world at present. In terms of combat effectiveness, it is definitely in the first gear of super-battleships.

At present, the battleships Hope and Dream have been launched for testing in March this year, and there is hope that they will be officially commissioned at the beginning of next year, that is, in two or three months.

This would greatly strengthen Australasia's naval combat power and increase the hope of victory for the Allies.

From the outbreak of the war to the present, the pace of construction of warships in European countries has not fallen, except for Russia.

As a result, Arthur also signed the next round of naval expansion, and there were still two super dreadnoughts, named Aurora and Sun.

The two super-invincible ships began in October of this year, and their construction was expected to take place at the end of 1916 and enter service by the end of 1917.

In addition to the two main ships, Arthur also signed an order worth $10 million for dozens of small and medium-sized warships.

A number of small and medium-sized warships will be built at the Melbourne shipyard and the Orange shipyard, and with the joint efforts of the powerful shipyards, it will be possible to complete the construction within a year.

By the time the new naval expansion plan was completed, Australasia's naval strength was second only to Britain and Germany, and France and the United States were on the same level.

Of course, this is only on par with the current size of the navies of other countries. Each European country has its own plans for naval expansion, and in two years no one is sure of the size of their navies.

If a large-scale naval battle breaks out in the European theater, it will also have a greater impact on the strength of the navies of various countries.

Unlike wars on land, wars on the sea can affect the whole body, and often a single battle at sea can determine the outcome of the war.

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(End of chapter)