Chapter 295 The Balkan Alliance and War Readiness
In mid-May, when Italy and Turkey were at war, Arthur also sent a business team north to Southeast Asia to integrate all the rubber estates and companies that were bargain hunting.
Although all of Arthur's bargain-hunting rubber companies are located in Southeast Asia, Southeast Asia is currently one of the world's most important rubber production areas, and will even be the world's most important rubber production area in the future.
If Arthur remembers correctly, historically since 1914, the rubber production in Southeast Asia has accounted for half of the world's total production, and Southeast Asia is also a veritable rubber kingdom.
Now, integrating these rubber companies in Southeast Asia in advance to create an exclusive rubber brand will also be beneficial to the future development of the rubber industry in Southeast Asia.
The first person in charge of the Australian Rubber Company was Charles Venn, who was originally the person in charge of the rubber company under the royal family consortium.
Charles Venn has been in contact with the rubber industry for more than ten years. Letting him take control of the Australian Rubber Company will have a positive effect on the business development of the Australian Rubber Company.
Charles Venn's first task was to visit and control more than 200 rubber companies and more than 1,000 rubber estates that the royal consortium had bargained for.
These rubber companies and estates will become the industries of Australian Rubber Company and the main business of Australian Rubber.
In order to ensure the safety of Charles Venn, Arthur assigned Charles Venn a security team of more than ten people. These people were all composed of royal guards or senior police officers, and all carried Kassadin submachine guns and AS-1898 semi-automatic pistols. Do your best to keep Charles Venn safe.
After all, the capital behind the more than 200 bargain-hunting rubber companies is mixed, and no one can guarantee whether they will safely hand over the rubber companies to Charles Venn.
After all, most of the people employed by these rubber companies are Southeast Asian natives. These natives don't have a good sense of Australasia, and they can easily be fooled by others and do some unexpected things.
With the protection of more than a dozen security personnel, Arthur felt relatively at ease. After all, if you want to break through the defense of more than a dozen security personnel, you must mobilize at least thousands of indigenous people.
There should be no forces in Southeast Asia who don't want to live. Thousands of indigenous people should be mobilized to attack Australasian merchants.
At the end of May, with the help of the British, the Italian army quickly defeated the small Turkish garrison in Tripoli and successfully occupied Tripoli and the coastal areas.
However, because the Italian army encountered strong resistance from the local Turkish residents, the Italian army advanced very slowly into the hinterland.
In early June, before the war was over, Italy eagerly announced the annexation of Tripoli and Cyrenaica, and restored the region's old name of Libya.
However, Italy's harsh demands were directly rejected by the Turkish government. The local Turkish residents also began to carry out extensive guerrilla warfare against aggression. The Italian-Turkish war entered a long and protracted war.
While the Italian-Turkish War was in full swing, on June 21, 1911, Tsar Nicholas II called Arthur in a private name and asked whether the Australasian military industry had sufficient production capacity.
Arthur didn't know why, but he quickly accepted the order of 50,000 rifles and 3 million rounds of ammunition proposed by the Russian Empire.
In July 1911, the Kingdom of Serbia and the Kingdom of Bulgaria formed an alliance. Immediately half a month later, Montenegro and the Kingdom of Greece also joined the alliance, forming the famous Balkan League.
Only then did Arthur understand why Nicholas II asked about Australasia's military production capacity. It turned out that his younger brother was instigated by the Tsarist Empire to start trouble.
The purpose of forming the Balkan Alliance is to jointly seize Turkey's territory in the Balkan Peninsula and expand its own country and territory.
With the support of the Tsarist Empire, Pan-Slavism has become the mainstream idea in the Balkans, and various Balkan kingdoms are also actively expanding their military and conducting diplomatic work.
In addition, it is currently in the period of the Italian-Turkish war. Most of Turkey's domestic attention has been attracted by this war. Now preparing for a war with Turkey can achieve unexpected results.
If nothing else happens, the order for 50,000 rifles from the Tsarist Empire should also be prepared for several countries in the Balkan Alliance.
But no matter who it is given to, Australasia is the one making money, and Arthur doesn't care that much.
In early July, something else caught Arthur's attention.
Since setting off for Southeast Asia at the end of May, Charles Venn has spent more than a month integrating the rubber company.
On July 3, more than a month later, Arthur received a progress report from Charles Venn, but the results of the report made Arthur not so happy.
According to Charles Venn's report, key personnel from the Australian Rubber Company arrived in Southeast Asia at the end of May to start the process of integrating all small rubber companies.
However, the road to integration has not always been smooth. First, the previous rubber crisis caused the management of major rubber companies to fall into chaos. Not only did the senior management disappear, but even the employees of the rubber companies also ran away.
Secondly, there are some rubber company executives who are violating Charles Venn's words. This is not the main problem. What is more serious is that two indigenous attacks have broken out. Although they were easily solved by guards armed with submachine guns and semi-automatic pistols, But there must be others behind these natives.
After sitting on his desk and thinking carefully for a while, Arthur asked the guard to call Barty Crouch, the director of the Royal Security Intelligence Service.
Looking at Director Batty who was rushing over, Arthur handed him the report directly and said with a slight sneer: "Director Batty, I will give you a week to find out the forces behind the indigenous people. Can you do it?"
"No problem at all, Your Majesty. Just wait for my good news!" Director Batty decisively accepted Arthur's order. At Arthur's signal, he returned to the Royal Security Intelligence Agency to do his own thing. s arrangement.
The Royal Security Intelligence Service has developed for nearly ten years now, and its scale is no longer the small intelligence organization it once was.
There are currently thousands of intelligence officers in the Royal Security Intelligence Service, nearly a thousand of whom are elite intelligence officers. Some are stationed in Australasia, and some are scattered in Europe, the United States, Southeast Asia and other regions.
In addition to the nearly a thousand elite intelligence personnel, more than half are part-time intelligence personnel.
In other words, they also have their own normal identities and jobs, but they also have transactions with the Royal Security Intelligence Service and provide intelligence clues to the Security Service from time to time. The distribution of these people is even more scattered. Except for the management system of the Royal Security Intelligence Service, even ordinary intelligence personnel do not know the whereabouts of these people.
There may even be pedestrians and shopkeepers who look normal on the roadside, or well-known businessmen and capitalists from other countries. In short, these intelligence agents are more widely distributed.
Director Batty acted very quickly, and it actually only took him four days to investigate the forces and purposes behind the attack on Charles Venn.
This is actually because Charles Venn controlled and integrated the Southeast Asian rubber market.
The forces behind those indigenous people were actually a rubber company that was acquired during the crisis.
The original owner of this rubber company was a member of the aristocracy of a state in the Dutch East Indies. During the rubber crisis, he took advantage of the high price and sold his shares in advance.
Now that the rubber crisis has passed, I want to buy my company back at a low price, but I find that my rubber company has been fully acquired by a man named Charles Venn, and it was delisted a few months ago. .
This made the original owner of the rubber company very angry, because he spent most of his own capital to create this rubber company. It was not only his hard work, but also created a lot of profits for him every year.
Although he had already made a lot of money by selling stocks at high prices, facing the fact that the company that should have belonged to him was taken away by others, he couldn't help but use his brain.
However, after learning that Charles Venn was from Australasia, the original owner of the rubber company did not act rashly. Instead, through layers of connections, he summoned dozens of indigenous people in a way that hardly implicated him. , wanting to create an accident that would cause Charles Venn to die due to indigenous unrest.
As long as Charles Venn dies, he can easily get his company back. This is simply the best of both worlds.
But what this person didn't expect was that just a few days later, a group of indigenous people assassinated Charles Venn. This also made what originally seemed to be an unexpected indigenous unrest become very suspicious, and also made Charles Venn En made up his mind to report to Arthur personally.
After knowing that something was wrong, the forces behind these two groups of natives hid themselves and cut off as much contact as possible with these two groups of natives.
Arthur sneered and shook his head, looking at the two behind-the-scenes forces investigated by Director Batty.
The first behind-the-scenes force was the large Hortmann family in the Dutch East Indies. The history of this family in the Dutch East Indies can even be traced back to 1596.
Of course, this does not mean that the history of the Hortmann family has been passed down since 1596, but that in the late 17th century, a colonial admirer from the Netherlands, in order to commemorate the first Dutchman to arrive in the Dutch East Indies, Hortmann, History after changing his last name to Holtmann.
But in any case, the Hortmann family has been hovering in the Dutch East Indies for more than 100 years. It naturally has a lot of power and voice. It is also the largest family in the Dutch East Indies.
Another power was the Kingdom of Larantuka, a Catholic country within the Dutch East Indies.
The people of Larantuka are called Topas. They are actually the blood of the local Portuguese who married indigenous wives. These people are also called the Black Portuguese by the Dutch.
The kingdom is home to the DaCosta family and the Dehonai family, which have been engaged in a bloody power struggle.
Coupled with the small number of Muslim forces and the Sudan in the country, the domestic situation in this Catholic country located in the southern part of the Dutch East Indies was very chaotic. The Dutch, the suzerain, only sent a military and administrative official and did not respond to Larantuka's plan. Too much political interference.
After looking at the information about the two forces behind them, Arthur glanced at the map of Southeast Asia and found that the Kingdom of Larantuka was very close to Australian Timor, just across the sea to the west of Australian Timor.
After pondering for a while, Arthur slowly spoke out, with a hint of firmness and unquestionability: "The Royal Security Intelligence Service immediately went to the vicinity of the Kingdom of Larantuka to find out more information, and at the same time pay attention to the Dutch East Indies Colony. The government's reaction. Guard, summon the cabinet government, I want to hold an emergency meeting."
Director Batty responded quickly and withdrew very wisely.
Soon, the cabinet ministers rushed to Sydney Palace, waiting for Arthur's order.
"Everyone, since its establishment, the purpose of the Australasian military has always been to protect the country and all people. Since the last fishermen crisis, I think our military has done a good job. No country dares to provoke Australia. The majesty of Lasia and the Australian people." Arthur looked at the cabinet members who were a little confused and said.
"But I have received news that the legitimate business of some of our domestic businessmen in Southeast Asia has not only been greatly hindered by local forces, but has even used a large number of indigenous people to threaten the lives of our businessmen. I hope the government can investigate the matter as soon as possible process, and ordered relevant cases to give a reasonable explanation. Otherwise, they will face the full suppression of the Australasian army, and the Australasian army will fight for the dignity of the country and its citizens." Arthur
's After a few words, the cabinet ministers instantly understood several things.
Firstly, some forces in Southeast Asia have made Arthur unhappy, and secondly, Arthur has made a decision to take action against these forces.
As for some of Arthur's other remarks, cabinet members will certainly not take them seriously.
What allowed Arthur to mobilize so much and directly convene the cabinet government for an emergency meeting was definitely not as simple as holding those forces accountable.
"In this incident, the Kingdom of Larantuka in Southeast Asia is the most likely person behind the scenes. If it is confirmed, I recommend that the army enter the Kingdom of Larantuka to give all our citizens a fair result." Arthur He looked at Defense Minister Raul and said with a hint of meaning.
"Yes, Your Majesty." Defense Minister Raul nodded quickly.
Although what Arthur said was a suggestion, Defense Minister Raul would not stupidly regard Arthur's words as just a suggestion.
Not to mention that Arthur is the actual person in charge of the army, even if Arthur just suggested it, Minister Raul would not dare to disobey it.
"Okay, the meeting will end here. The government will immediately be responsible for contacting the Dutch East Indies. The army will enter a state of combat readiness from now on. Within three days, I want an accurate answer from the Dutch East Indies." Arthur ignored it. The cabinet members who were still receiving the information directly issued their final orders.
Take a day off for four thousand words today, and ten thousand words tomorrow.
(End of chapter)