The Rise Of Australasia
Chapter 538: Chapter 422: Nicholas II's Big Spending

The inter-faction fighting happening within Russia didn't concern Arthur, but Russia's temporary abandonment of domestically-produced weapons in favor of imported ones, specifically those produced by Australasia, was definitely positive news for both Arthur and Australasia.

Firstly, Russia's decision to exclusively choose Australasian weapons could result in closer ties between Russia and Australasia.

In addition, the marriage alliance between the royal families of the two countries would make the Russia-Australasia alliance even more stable. Enjoy exclusive chapters from m-v l'e|-NovelFire.net

Although the second batch of Russian airplane orders wasn't voluminous, it still amounted to around 200 units. Including training expenses for sending flight students to Australasia, the total trade value exceeded 50 million rubles.

Even when converted to Australian dollars, the order was almost 11 million Australian dollars, potentially bringing Arthur and the royal family an income of around 6 million Australian dollars.

Keep in mind, this order could just be the beginning. In the original history, the countries involved in World War I manufactured over a hundred thousand airplanes in total, an impressively large number.

Despite the fact that the progress of airplane technology has significantly changed in this world, manufacturing tens of thousands of airplanes doesn't pose a problem.

Even for a country like Russia, the demand for airplanes could reach up to hundreds or thousands. To secure an aerial advantage over Germany, Russia would actually need to equip at least a thousand airplanes.

According to Arthur's intelligence, Germany was heavily committed to the research of airplane technology.

The country was not only mass-producing airplanes, but had also invested considerably in trying to develop airplanes that could match the performance of first-generation military aircraft.

If Germany succeeded in doing so, the Allies' advantage over Germany's airplanes would be negated, and the outcome of airplane warfare would be determined merely by numbers.

Once Germany started mass-producing airplanes, even if Britain, France, and Russia were reluctant, they would still have to maintain or exceed Germany's numbers for balance.

The only supplier of airplanes currently was Australasia, as Britain and France were urgently researching first-generation military aircraft technology and could only start production around 1916.

Of course, it's worth noting that apart from the participating countries, the United States also possessed airplane technology and indeed had evolved military aircraft.

However, the performance of the American aircraft was still far behind that of the German aircraft, not to mention the aircraft from Australasia.

When the prices were roughly the same, Britain, France, and Russia would naturally know which type of aircraft to choose.

It's worth mentioning that in the military trade with the Russians, Australasia had consistently demanded that payments be made in resources or gold.

Although the war had only lasted for over a year, it was visibly evident that the Russian ruble was gradually depreciating and making payment in rubles was equivalent to taking advantage of Australasia.

Anyway, the trade route from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea had already been opened. The Russians could gather mineral resources or gold domestically, and Australasia could load up the shipment from the Black Sea harbor.

Of course, under ordinary circumstances, the use of gold reserves for payment is typically the last resort that no country would wish to use lightly.

In this era of the gold standard, a country's gold reserves determined the issuance level and the value of its currency, and were also an important tool to guarantee the stability of its currency.

Almost all the currencies were pegged to gold. Before the war, one pound was equivalent to 7.33 grams of gold, one Australian dollar was equivalent to 3.66 grams of gold, and one ruble was worth 0.81 grams of gold.

However, not speaking of the pound for now, it was true that the ruble was depreciating. Before the war, one pound had been worth approximately nine rubles. Now, one pound could be exchanged for more than ten rubles, and the purchasing power of the ruble within Russia was significantly reduced.

Due to some Russian citizens' dissatisfaction with the government and the country, there were many workers requesting that gold and grain supplies be used to issue their wages.

They feared that the rubles they received would eventually become worthless paper. If the country disintegrated, those rubles would only serve as toilet paper.

Of course, Australasia had considered this aspect. While Australasia was not worried about the Russians defaulting on their debt, even if the Russian Empire collapsed, the newly established government would have to acknowledge the debt that they owed to Australasia.

However, it was better to avoid troubles when they could, because minerals, resources, and gold would never depreciate.

Previously, when purchasing airplane technology, the Russians used a considerable amount of mineral resources, along with a small amount of gold and Australian dollars.

Because of Australasia's unique population trade with Russia, and the frequent trade between the two countries, Russia still had some reserves of Australian dollars.

This reserve had almost been completely used for the purchase of airplane technology, thus saving Russia a considerable amount of mineral resources and gold.

However, with Russia facing continuous defeats on the frontline, Russians had also begun to use gold for payments, as gold was easier to gather than mineral resources.

After paying for the airplanes with mineral resources and gold, Australasia quickly transported 200 aircraft to Russia and generously presented over 1.5 million rubles worth of aircraft parts.

If all goes well, Russian pilot training could be completed by the beginning of next year. The current training of pilots is relatively straightforward, as the combat style of aircraft is singular and there are no complex control systems involved. All that is needed is proficient flying skills and the ability to use weapons.

Roughly, it takes no more than a month to train a qualified pilot, but to refine an elite pilot, it needs continuous combat practice and transformation through various air battles.

Inside Russia, Nicholas II's secret purge of some capitalists and logistical officers had begun.

Thanks to the opening of the route from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, the Russian government and military's tolerance of domestic capitalists was not high.

Even if domestic capitalists couldn't provide supplies for the military, the Russian government could still buy from Britain, France, and Australasia.

Without the collusion of those logistic officers and capitalists, importing goods from abroad would be cheaper and of higher quality.

Especially after confiscating the properties of several logistical officers and seizing illicit funds worth tens of millions of rubles, Nicholas II was free of any worries.

At worst, he could use the properties of the capitalists and logistic officers to buy more supplies and food. As long as the military was satisfied with the supply, they would support Nicholas II's rule and suppress any domestic uprisings.

On the contrary, if those capitalists and logistical officers continue to exploit the frontline troops, they would be the ones who would run away the fastest when the military mutinies.

They can run, but Nicholas II cannot. The majority of his wealth is in Russia and his position comes from the Russian monarchy and throne.

If Russia was gone, Nicholas II would lose power and status, and he might even be in danger of losing his life.

In fact, Nicholas II's purge of logistic departments and capitalists was timely. If it had been a few days later, not just the Southwest Army, but also the risk of the Northwest Army heading to Saint Petersburg to question him, would have increased.

During such a time of war, the power and status of the military will surge. Once the entire military has complaints against Nicholas II and the government, no one can salvage Russia's situation.

Nicholas II's timely purification of logistics departments and capitalists won the favor of the frontline military.

After the frontline troops tasted the long-missed rabbit and beef canned food, their recent dissatisfaction was quelled, but they started to despise those logistical officers and capitalists who were purged by Nicholas II.

Nicholas II, as the Tsar who controls the whole of Russia, has some political ability despite his lack of military abilities.

Having learned of the logistics situation on the front line, Nicholas II quickly realized that the current poor logistics situation needs a scapegoat.

Otherwise, the newly appointed commander-in-chief of the Russian Army, that is, himself, would be hated by the frontline troops.

The deterioration of logistics on the forefront has occurred since his tenure, which obviously raises eyebrows. But Nicholas II had never shortchanged the logistical budget of the front line troops.

After cleansing part of the logistical officers and capitalists, Nicholas II started a massive propaganda among the troops and the public, pushing the responsibility for the defeat of war onto those officers and capitalists, claiming they were the ones who withheld logistics supplies from the front line and therefore should be blamed for the loss.

Although some people don't believe this, there is at least a scapegoat on the surface. The voices calling to overthrow Nicholas II and the entire Tsarist regime have not been as strong as before.

Nicholas II knew that the subsequent performance of the frontline troops is pivotal. If they can achieve good results after the purification of the logistics department, perhaps some of the public's dissatisfaction could be diminished.

If the frontline troops continue to retreat, does it prove that those capitalists and logistical officers are merely scapegoats?

Because of these considerations, Nicholas II was not stingy about military expenditures, he even brushed off opposition in the government to increase next year's estimated military expenditure by ten percent.

Naturally, not only next year. After cleansing the logistics officers and capitalists, Nicholas II obtained a large sum of money and used all of it to purchase military equipment.

Nicholas II placed a large military order with Britain, France, and Australasia. Just Australasia's share of the order included 500,000 rifles, 1.5 million military uniforms, 1 million gas masks, 500 million rifle bullets, 2500 heavy machine guns, 50 million machine gun bullets, 1500 cannons of various calibers, 2.5 million shells of various calibers...

Even Arthur had to be surprised by Nicholas II's magnanimity. Just the equipment from Australasia's order alone would make Russia's frontline equipment no inferior to the German army.

With the added advantage of aircraft, as long as the Russian military doesn't make assertive moves, losses on the Eastern Front like the Gorelitz Campaign are unlikely to happen again.

Even conservatively, if Russia's commanders adopt trench warfare tactics against the Germans, causing the Germans to be exhausted in fighting wars on both fronts, they could replace the opportunity to encircle the German army and possibly win a big victory.