Chapter 143: Chapter 142: Island and Macau Agreement and Reactions from Various Parties

“Respected Australian Foreign Minister, I am willing to reach a new naval procurement deal with your country. Your Duke-class armored cruisers are well suited for our coastal defense needs, and I wonder if your country could provide us with at least four of such warships within two years’ time?” Yukichiro Tamura asked with a smile.

If one paid close attention, they would realize that Yukichiro Tamura’s requirements for battleships, armored cruisers, and even various weapons and equipment were all to be delivered within two years.

Although these weapons and equipment could indeed be built and delivered smoothly within two years, the accumulation of all these requirements seemed somewhat unusual.

Moreover, the Island Nation is currently importing a large number of weapons and equipment, various large and small warships, as well as important strategic resources and other supplies, including coal mines and iron mines.

Various signs indicated that after two years, the Island Nation would make a big move, and its ambitions might not be that small.

It should be noted that within the scope of East Asia, the only enemy that could make the Island Nation mobilize to such an extent without worrying about opposition and sanctions from other powers was the Russian Empire.

Although there is currently a large country capable of making the Island Nation exhausted, the interests of this country have been divided by the major powers, and they will not agree to the Island Nation monopolizing these fertile areas.

“There should be no problem, Mr. Yukichiro Tamura. But our shipyards are currently only this large in scale. If we want to build these armored cruisers while completing the battleship construction plan, we must expand the shipyards to a certain extent and recruit more manpower.” The Australian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs nodded and said with some difficulty, “This may raise the construction cost of armored cruisers, and even return to the original price of these warships.”

The public sale price for these armored cruisers is 59,130 pounds, and the preferential price for the Island Nation is 52,000 pounds.

What the Australian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs said about returning to the original price actually means raising the price of each warship by 7,000 pounds to balance the cost of expanding the Australian shipyard and recruiting workers.

“How about 55,000 pounds?” Yukichiro Tamura asked with a smile, “This is a reasonable price we can accept. If your country agrees to this price, we can immediately sign a treaty for the purchase of four armored cruisers.” 55,000 pounds? The Australian Deputy Foreign Minister calculated quietly. Even after making some expansions to the shipyard, the profit of each armored cruiser would be more than 20,000 pounds.

If the Island Nation could order four or more armored cruisers at once, the total profit of this order would exceed 80,000 pounds, which would cover the cost of Australia’s naval expansion.

The saved costs could also be used in other places, adding bricks and tiles to Australia’s development and construction.

“No problem, Mr. Yukichiro Tamura. The handover time for these four armored cruisers and the battleships will be within two years. As a commemoration of the first warship trade between your country and Australia, on behalf of Australia, I would like to present a small coastal defense escort to your country. This coastal defense escort will be handed over together with the battleship and armored cruiser, witnessing the friendship between your country and Australia.” The Australian Deputy Foreign Minister responded with a smile after thinking for a while.

“I really appreciate it, Mr. Minister. May the friendship between the Island Nation and Australia last forever.” Yukichiro Tamura showed an overjoyed expression and responded with a smile.

In fact, a small coastal defense escort is not an important concern for both Australia and the Island Nation.

The construction cost of a coastal defense escort is only a few thousand pounds, which is far from significant in comparison to the overall warship trade deal.

By presenting the Island Nation with a warship of this kind, Australia can not only confirm the theory that a friend’s friend is a friend, making the Island Nation feel at ease in conducting warship transactions with Australia but also be more pleasing in appearance, satisfying both politicians and the public of the Island Nation.

After all, before the birth of dreadnoughts, Arthur didn’t plan to equip the Australian navy with extravagant warships like pre-dreadnought battleships.

Not only does a single pre-dreadnought require millions of pounds, but it also requires a large number of workers and experts to build for more than a year. And what do they get in return? After the birth of dreadnoughts, even the newest pre-dreadnoughts lose their luster and resistance in front of dreadnoughts.

However, in order to enable Australia to quickly master the dreadnought construction technology after its birth, the pre-dreadnought construction technology must be mastered.

It is like the accumulation of school knowledge; it would be like forcing growth without any achievement if you let someone who has never attended school go directly to university for study without the accumulation of knowledge from basic education.

And this is impossible. If a country cannot even master the pre-dreadnought construction technology, what qualifications does it have to start building dreadnoughts after the birth of dreadnoughts?

Although dreadnought is a new type of warship born after the all-around technological improvement of pre-dreadnoughts, almost all technologies have been reformed and upgraded, creating the crushing advantage of dreadnoughts over pre-dreadnoughts.

But without pre-dreadnoughts, the birth of dreadnoughts would no longer exist.