The Rise Of Australasia

For most Australasians, the events hosted by Arthur were the ones they should attend; wherever Arthur was, that was where they wanted to be.

Over the decades, their feelings for Arthur had evolved from recognition to worship, from admiration to fervor.

Especially for the common people who benefited from Arthur's subsidy and welfare policies, their adoration for Arthur had reached its peak, and their enthusiasm for his rule had escalated to madness.

It was this support that made Arthur's throne exceptionally stable, impervious to any individual or force.

About such a situation, the European media once sincerely exclaimed, "Other monarchs can command their own militaries, but His Majesty Arthur can command the people of the entire nation.

When a nation unites from the bottom up, that country's potential for war is the most formidable."

Including the Australasian media, the world's media had recognized Arthur as the greatest monarch of the early 20th century and had named him the most influential figure of the world from 1900 to 1930.

It could be said that, in terms of public love and recognition, Arthur's achievements had surpassed those of his contemporaries, like Emperor William II of Germany, Tsar Nicholas II, Austrian Emperor Francis, and the kings of the United Kingdom, Edward VII and George V.

What Arthur hadn't anticipated was that, due to a multitude of unexpected events similar to the coffee shop incident, news of the television expo spread quickly throughout Sydney.

What kind of frenzy did it create?

The television expo was announced on April 13th, and by the next day, the National Stadium was surrounded by a crowd full of curiosity and anticipation.

This directly led to the roads around the stadium being blocked, causing complete traffic paralysis.

With no other choice, the Sydney government had to urgently organize a large number of police officers to maintain order around the stadium and to alleviate the traffic on the adjacent roads.

At the same time, the City of Sydney used wireless broadcasting and written notifications to advise the public to stay at home and not to affect the traffic around the stadium.

After the urgent measures taken by the City of Sydney, by April 16th—the official opening day of the television expo—the roads around the National Stadium finally returned to normal traffic flow.

It was also on this day that the television expo officially commenced, and Arthur attended the ceremony.

Of course, Arthur's appearance was very brief, lasting even just a few minutes.

After welcoming the capital from domestic and foreign enterprises, Arthur quickly left the expo site.

After all, Arthur's presence at the venue would have interfered with the order of the expo.

Of course, as he left, Arthur did not forget to wave to the people gathered around the expo venue.

This gesture received an enthusiastic response from the public, whose heartfelt cheers echoed through the skies of Sydney.

With the atmosphere fueled by the public, the television expo proceeded very smoothly.

On the third day, Baird reported to Arthur with a smile the overall successes of the television expo.

First was the technical sale of televisions. Australasia alone couldn't possibly cater to the global television market; after all, the world was too large, and governments were sure to favor their own capital investments.

Instead of waiting for other countries' capitals to develop their own televisions, it was better to make money from them before their research and development were complete.

With this in mind, Baird and the powers, including Britain and France, as well as the European nations, reached cooperation agreements.

The television technology was sold in a package deal, including the manufacturing technology for televisions, the technology for wireless signal conversion and reception, and the construction technology for television towers, priced at 35 million Australian dollars.

The price wasn't really high, after all, whether it was the sale of televisions or the production and sale of TV shows, the market behind them far exceeded 35 million Australian dollars.

Because of this, Baird quickly reached cooperation agreements with more than ten European capitals and even included a small amount of American capital, totaling seventeen shares of television technology and patent rights sold.

In theory, the selling price for seventeen shares of related technology should have been as high as 595 million Australian dollars.

Although domestic and foreign capitals were very strong, 35 million Australian dollars was still not a small figure.

Currency devaluation is one thing, but it hadn't devalued to such an exaggerated extent. The current 35 million Australian dollars represented nearly half a year's fiscal revenue for a medium-sized country and was a large amount of funds that was difficult for large capitals to come up with.

But there was a solution. If it was really impossible to gather 35 million Australian dollars, it could be converted into shares of a new television company.

In other words, these capitals mortgaged a portion of their shares to the Baird Television Company in exchange for the complete set of television-related technologies.

Once they made money, they could choose to buy back the shares at market price, or let the Baird Television Company become one of their shareholders.

Although companies around the world suffered from the economic crisis, these large capitals were not as badly hurt as one might imagine.

The market value of these assets was still very high, and trading their shares was not a bad deal at all. Moreover, the headquarters of these capitals were mostly in Europe. If World War II were to break out in the future, they were bound to be greatly affected.

In other words, this could also be seen as a loss to Arthur's property. After the war ended, he could use these property losses to demand more benefits.

In the end, the income the Baird Company received from selling the television-related technology was about 225 million Australian dollars.

While it seemed like a lot, this money was not paid in one lump sum. According to the agreement reached by the Baird Company and the others, in this year, 1931, the Baird Company could get up to 75 million Australian dollars.

Over the next three years, the Baird Company would receive 50 million Australian dollars each year until the consortiums paid off their debts.

This was tantamount to these capitals owing Baird Company 150 million Australian dollars temporarily. Neither Arthur nor Baird was too worried about this large debt.

After all, behind the Baird Company was Arthur's royal financial group and the entire Australasia, a fact the other consortiums were also aware of.

If they thought about defaulting on Arthur's account, they would have to consider whether their country was an opponent of Australasia and whether their country would risk going to war with Australasia to protect their company.

The dignity of the royal family and the country must not be violated, which is a basic principle that a country must adhere to in order to maintain its status abroad.

Especially for a strong country, it is imperative to maintain its own status and dignity.

If the dignity of a strong country can be trampled upon by weaker nations, can that country still be considered a strong country?

Not to be outdone, if any country dared to challenge the dignity of Arthur and Australasia, Arthur would make it clear why this era was one of survival of the fittest.

Rather than using non-lethal diplomatic protests, Arthur believed that an actual war would show those weaker countries who was the strongest.

Especially when dealing with some rather jumpy enemies, only truly hurting them could make them understand the principle that the tiger's butt is not to be touched.

According to the actual shares of the Baird Company, the total of 225 million Australian dollars sold, Arthur could obtain 220.5 million Australian dollars.

And Baird, the main force behind the development of the television and the actual controller of the Baird Company, could also earn a whopping 4.5 million Australian dollars.

Although this was far less than the 220.5 million Australian dollars Arthur received, a post-tax income of over 3 million Australian dollars still made Baird very satisfied.

3 million Australian dollars was not a small number. According to the current per capita income level, it would take an average Australasian person not eating or drinking and saving for 20,000 years to accumulate 3 million Australian dollars.