The Rise of Australasia

Besides, Arthur had also instructed to vigorously attract German technical talents, skilled workers and research and military industrial enterprises, including some important industrial enterprises.

After the war, Germany was bound to go through a long period of chaos. In history, there had been the famous 500,000 Mark Bread Incident, which proved that the situation of the Germans after the war was not good.

Under such circumstances, if a part of outstanding German talents could be attracted to immigrate to Australasia, it would be much more useful than fighting for some reparations.

If Arthur remembered correctly, it seemed that Germany's debt from World War I was not fully repaid until the 21st century.

Instead of fighting for the proportion of reparations, it is better to obtain some practical benefits, such as the equipment, talents, and skilled workers of German military factories and chemical factories, as well as some industrial enterprises, including the talents of the German education system and so on.

The policy of Australasia attracting talents adhered to the principle that if they couldn't get them, they would never let other countries get them either. It was not unacceptable for German talents who were unwilling to go to Australasia.

However, these people would be closely monitored by the Royal Security Intelligence Agency. If there was any intention to go to other countries, especially the United States, these talents would be assassinated by the Royal Security Intelligence Agency.

At present, the representative of Australasia in the peace talks was Ambassador Carl Pul to France. Prime Minister Kent, who was responsible for the real peace talks and the struggle for benefits, was also on his way.

It was the French President's decision to participate in the peace talks in person to vent their anger, so there was no choice but to send the Prime Minister [to represent them].

On the other hand, Britain was not to be outdone, sending Prime Minister Asquith as their representative.

Under such circumstances, if other countries sent representatives with lower positions, it would inevitably seem disrespectful to the leaders of Britain and France.

After comprehensive consideration, Australasia decided to send Prime Minister Kent as the final representative.

Although it would take Prime Minister Kent a month to go to Europe, the meeting on the distribution of benefits was bound to last for a long time, as the division of Germany was a big project.

Of course, Prime Minister Kent was not the only one going to Europe. Since this distribution of benefits involved various aspects of the country, almost all departments would send personnel, including ministers and deputy ministers.

Before going to Europe, the ministers of various departments also needed to have a plan for the interests they wanted, so it would be more convenient to ask for their needs after arriving in Europe.

When Arthur saw the list of war losses and claims submitted by the ministers of the various departments, he understood why Germany would bear a debt of 2260 billion marks after World War I. (It was reduced in 1921 because it was too much)

The cost of war for each country was indeed not small, but everyone wanted to use war reparations to recover all costs at once, and even make some profits.

For example, Australasia's actual expenditure in this war did not exceed 300 million pounds in total.

However, the list of claims given by the Finance Department was worth as much as 1.7 billion pounds. Coupled with the technology, factories, technical personnel, etc., that Germany needed to transfer, the total value of claims reached more than 2 billion pounds.

Arthur couldn't help but gasp. He didn't expect the Finance Department to be so good at talking nonsense.

However, since they were seeking more benefits for the government, Arthur didn't say much and agreed to this list of claims.

If they could fight for so much, it would be best; if not, there would be no loss for Australasia.

It is estimated that other countries have a bigger appetite than Australasia, after all, it is not so easy to make up for more than 2000 billion marks in reparations.

In addition to asking for reparations, Arthur also issued another order to the Ministry of Finance, which was to use the opportunity of this reparations to transfer Australasia's external debt as much as possible.

Although Australasia's finances were very healthy, they had borrowed a lot of foreign debt from countries such as Britain, France, Germany, and the United States over the past ten years or so.

Naturally, there was no need to say more about Germany, as the reparations could be used to offset the external debt. It would be best if the remaining debt to Britain, France, and America could be offset by Germany's reparations, so that the Germans could help them repay their debts and alleviate their pressure.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Kevin Taylor was initially unwilling to listen to Arthur's request, as all of Australasia's foreign debts, at the earliest, would not begin to be repaid until around 1925.

Moreover, except for the United States, the debts owed to other countries were not much, owing about 10 million pounds to Britain and 15 million pounds to France.

The bulk of the government's foreign debt was actually owed to the royal family and the United States. The government owed the royal family 110 million pounds and owed the United States 2.2 billion dollars, which is equivalent to about 440 million pounds.

Although the government's foreign debt was as high as nearly 580 million pounds, the government's available funds had exceeded 750 million pounds, so there was no need to worry about the pressure of foreign debt.

Moreover, there was no need to rush to repay the debt to the United States, as it was an interest-free loan that had only been owed for about half a year.

However, Arthur's question made Chancellor Kevin Taylor change his mind instantly.

Arthur looked at Kevin, who was obviously reluctant to give up the German reparations, and asked with a hint of meaning: "Chancellor Kevin, are you really sure that the Germans can repay all their reparations?"

If it was just the 2 billion pounds Australasia wanted, Germany would not be incapable of repaying it.

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