The Rise Of Australasia

The successful organization of the World Airplane Exposition finally gave Arthur the leisure to prepare for the establishment of the two kingdoms in North America.

In addition to the already decided Kingdom of California, another kingdom was named the United Kingdom of the West Coast, with its capital located in Seattle, the largest city in the state of Washington.

The reason for choosing this location was that Seattle, being close to the sea, could develop maritime areas, and had greater prospects for urban development.

Moreover, Seattle was the largest city in the northwest region of the United States, with its population size and economy ranking among the top in the United Kingdom.

Of course, due to the originally sparse population of the state of Washington, Seattle's population certainly could not compare with Los Angeles, currently housing just over 300,000 people.

This relatively large urban city in the northwest of the United States has left quite a few footprints in history.

Currently, Seattle's shipbuilding industry is relatively developed, and by relying on this industry, the economy of the United Kingdom of the West Coast could be somewhat better.

As for the capital of the Kingdom of California, it was of course chosen to be Los Angeles, the city with the largest population at the moment.

Differing from the choice of the capital for the state of California, setting it in Los Angeles was more beneficial for controlling the entire kingdom's situation.

After all, the total population of the Kingdom of California was just over five million, and Los Angeles alone provided more than one million of that population, playing a crucial role in the development of the entire country.

The names of the two countries and their capitals had been determined, but it had not yet been decided which of the two young boys would become the king of which country.

To ensure fairness, Arthur adopted the simplest method–drawing lots to determine the territories for Peter and George.

The final result was that Peter became the King of California, and George became the King of the United Kingdom of the West Coast.

Both boys had no objections to this drawing result, and the final distribution outcome was thus settled.

Considering their ages, Peter would be the first to grasp power. As George was still younger, he would have to wait a few more years, which would also be a good opportunity to learn some political balancing skills, preparing himself for his role as a king.

After arranging the territories for the two young boys, Arthur turned his attention to William and Anna Miller's marital affairs.

William and Anna Miller were born in 1909 and were both 19 years old currently.

Although there was no urgency to marry, if there were suitable engagement candidates, arranging an engagement for William and Anna Miller would also be acceptable.

Moreover, when it comes to royal family members, especially future heirs to the throne, marriages must be carefully selected, indicating that it would take a longer time.

European royal marriages are about matching social statuses and are quite strict. For an heir to the throne like William, the lowest status his fiancée could have would be the daughter of a duke; an earl's daughter would hardly be considered.

Luckily, there were still many European royal families at the moment, and both the German and Russian royal houses had survived, so there were options to choose from. Find adventures on My Virtual Library Empire

Arthur also spoke directly to the two young ones, indicating that he would support their freedom to love within the available range and would not force an engagement upon them in the short term.

But the time frame was within three years. If they could not find their own preferred candidates within three years, Arthur would then select suitable marriage partners for them from among the European royal families.

Of course, as the heir to the throne, William's range of choices was much smaller than that of Anna Miller's.

As for his only daughter Anna Miller, Arthur's requirements were not too many. If Anna Miller chose to marry into a foreign royal family, Arthur would provide her with a substantial dowry, the total value of which was an unimaginable figure.

If Anna Miller chose to marry a member of the nobility or a common person within Australasia, Arthur would bestow a title of nobility upon Anna Miller and her betrothed so they could live a noble and luxurious life in Australasia.

This is the difference between ordinary members of the royal family and heirs to the throne. It was impossible for William to marry a commoner, as doing so could potentially cause their descendants to lose the right to succession to the throne.

But Anna Miller had not so many restrictions. With Arthur's support, she could freely choose her ideal husband, and Arthur would ensure that Anna Miller had enough assets.

Of course, the two boys soon to be kings would not be an exception. Although they were about to possess two vast kingdoms, they were still his children, and naturally, the gifts for them also had to be prepared.

Moreover, Arthur would tailor the gifts according to the specific conditions of their respective countries, inevitably ensuring that they could have better development in their new kingdoms.

George's United Kingdom of the West Coast was doing well in the shipbuilding industry. Once George truly controlled the government's power, Arthur would establish cooperation between the government and the United Kingdom of the West Coast, helping the latter become a distinguished shipbuilding power in North America and second-class in the world.

Such a scale was utterly sufficient; more or less would not be appropriate. With the shipbuilding industry, the United Kingdom of the West Coast could also have enough fiscal revenue, and the country's finances would not be burdened.

For Peter's Kingdom of California, what was actually needed the most was not the shipbuilding industry. California's population and economy were more developed than those of the United Kingdom of the West Coast, but this also implied that California would be more chaotic.

Arthur would give Peter an additional small-scale navy, along with some support of weapons and equipment, to ensure he had a relatively ample military strength.

Arthur had also roughly tailored the future developmental direction for the two young ones' countries.

California was more suited for developing industry and technology; if it focused on new technology, it might not be much different from California of later generations.

The United Kingdom of the West Coast was even more suited for agricultural development. Montana and Wyoming, in later generations, were famously known as grain-producing states.

As long as agriculture could be developed there, the grain from the United Kingdom of the West Coast would definitely sell well throughout North America, and its economy might not necessarily be inferior to California's.

Moreover, the United Kingdom of the West Coast had more land, which certainly meant a higher potential for long-term development.

If they could attract enough people from the Great Lakes Industrial Area and the East Coast of the United States, it would not be impossible to achieve rapid development in a short time.

Of course, these were all tasks that would have to wait until the two little ones had truly taken power.

After all, if these were indeed accomplished, the political achievements would substantially enhance their prestige and help solidify their positions of power.

If these plans were proposed now, they would merely solidify the governments of California and the United Kingdom of the West Coast, not the status of the two young Monarchs.

At present, the curriculum for the two youngsters had doubled compared to before, with many new courses on politics being added.

They also studied various modern histories, including the reasons for America's rise and fall, to allow them to understand the country of America more profoundly and rule over the American people more effectively.

Of course, there was another reason—to make the two little ones acutely aware of the terrible situation the United States had previously faced.

To quickly resolve the conflicts within the United States, they had to cut through the Gordian knot and directly exclude the black population from the rule.

However, this would clearly saddle them with a large burden and have a significant impact on the reputation of a Monarch.

While most European nations were racist, none would admit it openly, after all, among the Caucasians, there were quite a few who are saintly.

The best approach was to let the government take the blame and have it enact policies that abolished the legal status of black people.

In the worst-case scenario, they could simply dismiss the government and the two little ones could even gain prestige through this action.

This was also a part of political tactics, which the two young ones needed to learn and apply personally to grasp.

Plainly speaking, politics cannot be fully understood just from books. Only by experiencing it firsthand and finding solutions to political dilemmas can one's political experience be enhanced.

After the two youngsters took power, they would face not only the wily politicians but also the few capitalists on the West coast of the United States.

Steering the nation in the direction they envisioned would definitely require an enormous effort.

Although they had Arthur as a backer, he certainly could not take personal charge of developing their nation.

Even Arthur believed that some setbacks would make them better and that these were necessary experiences for becoming competent rulers.

There are, by any measure, neither too many nor too few European royal families. However, finding suitable engagement partners for William and Anna within these families was not easy.

Arthur did not wish to form alliances through marriage with the British Royal Family because his grandmother, Queen Victoria, was a carrier of hemophilia. Allowing the Australasian Royal Family to be afflicted with such a disease would be a heavy blow to their reign.

A stable royal family required numerous offspring, and hemophilia was one of the reasons for the extinction of several European royal lines.

Germany and the Russian Nation were also not within Arthur's considerations. Germany's current situation was far from calm, and if it were to start World War II as in history, whether William II could retain his throne was highly questionable.

Arthur had already married a Russian princess, so there was no need to have his son marry another. Besides, Russia Nation could not offer any help to Australasia at the moment, and deepening ties might even become a burden.

This essentially excluded almost all of the Powers. Besides British-German-Russian, the only other monarchies that could be classified as Powers were Austria and Italy.

The situation in Italy was even worse than in Germany, and the monarchy in Austria was unstable, which meant the only options left were the smaller countries of Europe.

However, at this point, Australasia did not need much external support. Arthur preferred that the two little ones find someone they truly liked. The best approach was to let them choose for themselves.

Yes, just as straightforward as that.

Arthur had Queen Mary take William and Anna on a visit to the Russian Nation and included almost all the monarchies in Europe along the way.

Arthur's intention was simple: to give William and Anna ample opportunity to visit each Monarchical country in Europe and inspect all potential engagement partners themselves.

After all, there were many private gatherings among European royal families, and many were solely for the purpose of royal family members finding their desired mates.

Historically, many royals had found their spouses this way, although more often through arranged marriages by their elders.

William and Anna, of course, understood that Arthur was already being quite lenient. Without further ado, they followed Queen Mary to Europe to begin their tour.