The Rise of Australasia

After all the people involved in the beating were taken to the police station, the Asian onlookers also gathered near the police station.

They wanted to see Australasia’s official attitude towards this incident, which would also indicate their stance towards the Island Nation.

Less than two hours later, all the Australasians involved in the beating left the police station cheerfully, surprising the Asian spectators. Discover hidden content at empire

Such joyous departure from the police station indicated that these Australasians would not receive any punishment.

Meanwhile, the two Islanders had not left the police station for treatment. This stark difference in attitude indicated Australasia’s stance towards the Island Nation would not be favorable.

The looks they exchanged revealed their sheer delight. It implied that Australasia would not ally with the Island Nation, and could even become its enemy.

As the saying goes, ’The enemy of my enemy is my friend’. This meant they might get some support from Australasia, although this would come at a high price. (There’s no such thing as free support among nations.)

Later, several royal guards from the Royal Palace conveyed Arthur’s attitude to the police station: "Whoever tramples on the national flag is provocative to the nation and the royal family. Those who repeatedly trample the flag and do not change should be severely punished to serve as a warning to others."

Arthur’s attitude was the highest order in Australasia, and once the royal guards were sent off, the police station made an immediate decision on the sentencing of the two Islander students: Jingxia was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment and 15 years of labor reform for repeated flag desecration; Murakami was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment and 2 years of labor reform for aiding and abetting in repeated flag desecration.

This sentence was quite severe, at least it was the first instance in Australasian history where trampling on the flag led to such severe punishment.

Especially since the defendants were Islander students, this decision was bound to provoke diplomatic protests from the Island Nation.

But Arthur did not care. Australasia was not a weak country. If the offense of trampling on the flag could be easily forgiven, wouldn’t this mean that students from major powers could trample on the flag of Australasia?

In the face of such severe punishment, the Island Nation would surely protest. Arthur directly ordered the Foreign Ministry to take the initiative and confront the Island Nation first.

As for reducing the punishment for the two Islander students, that was impossible.

After everything was instructed, Arthur shifted his focus to the three R108 battleships currently being built at Sydney Shipyard.

The government attached great importance to the construction of the R108 battleships, assembling many technical experts from other shipyards. This accelerated the construction speed of the R108 battleships, whose current overall progress estimate was 17%.

Although it seemed to be less than one fifth of the total, only about two months had passed, and the overall progress was quite rapid.

Because of their size far exceeding any of Australasia’s previous lead battleships, these three battleships had a very impressive visual effect. The keel currently laid could already be described as massive.

"How’s the progress on the cannon research? Can we complete the development of 18-inch guns before the battleships are constructed?" Arthur inquired curiously.

Looking at the giant before him, Arthur’s ambition grew even greater. If I said before that Arthur was only satisfied with the mainstream 16-inch main guns of the world, then now, Arthur even wanted to equip these three battleships with the most powerful 18-inch main guns.

"Our collaboration with the British is still ongoing, and as of now, there has been no breakthrough in the research of the 18-inch main gun. Plus, the long testing phase means we likely won’t have results within a year," answered Raul, the Defense Minister who was standing nearby.

This kind of military research was generally overseen by the Ministry of Defense. Thus, as the Defense Minister, Raul had the clearest understanding of the research situation of the 18-inch main gun.

"Try to expedite the progress. If the E108 battleships can be equipped with 18-inch main guns, they would be the world’s strongest battleships!" Arthur said with anticipation.

A battleship with top-tier armor, power, and firepower would be overpowering when compared to other countries’ 16-inch-gunned battleships.

Although it may not reach the level of the dreadnought’s overwhelming performance against the pre-dreadnought, it would certainly have a significant lead in the actual combat power of a warship.

"The British are also interested in the 18-inch main gun. I believe the Nagato Battleship puts pressure on the British. If all goes well, the British Empire should also build powerful battleships with 18-inch main guns. They probably also want to see the birth of the 18-inch main gun as soon as possible," said Minister Raul with a smile.

Not only did Australasia have such ambitions for naval expansion, but basically all countries had similar ambitions.

As the country with the most powerful navy, the British Empire naturally wanted to maintain their naval advantage by reserving the title of the ’most powerful battleship’ for the Royal Navy, rather than the Island Nation, which was elevated to an imperial power with the help of Britain and the United States.

Arthur nodded, not surprised at what Raul had said.

The Island Nation had ambitiously built the Nagato Battleship, which is claimed as the world’s most powerful battleship. It would be unbelievable if the British did not react.

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